An article in the December issue of the "Jewish" magazine Tikkun attempts to
shed some light on the increase in income disparities in Israel over the
past 20 years. I am in no position to judge the veracity of what the article
says, but it is an interesting commentary nonetheless, possibly containing
lessons/predictions if the US "war on terrorism" and would-be war against
Iraq proceed.

The article, "The Social Cost of the Occupation", is at
http://www.tikkun.org/index.cfm/action/current/article/138.html.

Note: I put "Jewish" in brackets because the Tikkun Community is rooted in
Judaic principles, but is nonetheless inclusive. As Tkkun's founding
principles put it:

"Our institutions provide us with the illusion of permanency (pretending we
won't die) and the illusion that the 'real world' is the world of power and
wealth. Compound this with the patriarchal assumption that we should be
tough and ignore our feelings, and we are left with a 'common sense' that
dismisses the relevance of our inner lives. We are told that spirituality
should be left in the home, relegated to the weekend, kept separate from the
pragmatic decisions that should shape politics and the business world. In
the TIKKUN Community, we refuse this kind of 'realism.' We will unashamedly
use and learn from the language and practices of spiritual communities. The
spiritual life can give us a level of mindfulness, focus, and calm so that
we can re-center ourselves and discover what we truly value.....
One reason we are proud to have the TIKKUN Community draw upon the spiritual
wisdom of Judaism is because we think that the spiritual practice of
Shabbat, a twenty-five hour meditation focused on turning our energies from
'getting things done' to a 'celebration of all that is,' can empower us in
the struggle to heal our planet. This is one example of the kinds of
spiritual practices that we encourage among our members and for the larger
world-even as we say this in a non-coercive way without implication that you
must be doing a particular spiritual practice to be part of our community."



John Butler
Markham Ontario

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