“Just war” theory, Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Prize, Israel, and Gaza

In accepting his Nobel Prize for Peace on Thursday, December 10, 2010, US President Barack Obama defended (text of speech here from Nobel website) the morality of a military seeking to bring peace to a conflict-torn land and the theory that some wars are just:
Over time, as codes of law sought to control violence within [...]

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Say hi to Hartman Institute at the UJC General Assembly in Washington, Nov. 8-10, 2009

Shalom Hartman Institute will be at the United Jewish Communities (soon to be Jewish Federations of North America) annual General Assembly from November 8-10, 2009, in Washington, D.C. (Booth 311). First, and foremost, I invite you to stop by for a chat. I plan to have some goodies from Israel with me to entice people [...]

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Quick report from Obama phone conference with rabbis

From our colleague Rabbi Jonah Layman:
So I just hung up and I must say that President Obama is quite impressive. He framed his presentation around the “unetaneh tokef” prayer quoting who shall live and who shall die, etc. and the shofar blast. This season he says prompts serious reflection and debate about matters of life [...]

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Hello. This is President Obama calling. Shalom, rabbis…

President Obama is set to call a group of religious leaders today – that’s Aug. 19, 2009 -  to push his health care reform proposal. At least one rabbi with ties to Shalom Hartman Institute is going to be in on the call. Rabbi Jonah Layman, rabbi of Shaare Tefila Congregation of the Washington, DC, [...]

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Heated commentary on Donniel Hartman ‘blog’ about Obama’s Cairo speech

President Obama’s speech in Cairo occurred more than a week ago, and Donniel Hartman’s commentary on the speech (“Are Jews Ready for Obama?“) also has been online for more than a week, but the debate – about the speech, and about Donniel’s commentary has yet to die down.
Several dozen comments have been published (and a [...]

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Donniel Hartman comments on President Obama’s speech in Cairo

UPDATE: Yes, Donniel’s post is already online, and has been so for several days. Sorry it took a while to get back to this post. See Donniel’s post here: “Are Jews Ready for Obama?“:
While President Obama’s speech in Cairo was also about settlements, and about the Road Map, in essence it was about neither. It [...]

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Obama’s ‘tough love’ for Israel: Did he read Donniel Hartman column?

Last November, a few days before the 2008 election that brought Barack Obama into the White House as the 44th US President, Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman wrote what we called a “Letter to the new American President.” We didn’t know who would be elected, Obama or Sen. John McCain, but Donniel wanted to write the [...]

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Donniel Hartman’s letter to the new U.S. president

Even before the U.S. election concluded Tuesday night with the victory of Barack Obama over John McCain, Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman was thinking about how the new U.S. president should address Israel in his incoming administration. His “Letter to the New U.S. President” is receiving a strong response from readers. Read the letter in Hebrew. [...]

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Some rabbinic thoughts on next week’s US presidential election

We mentioned Rabbi Sam Gordon’s involvement with the “Rabbis for Obama” group in a recent post. Here is an adaptation of a sermon he gave last summer in which he brings together the Israelites’ 40 years in the wilderness with the 40 years between the death of Robert F. Kennedy and the nomination of Barack [...]

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Hartman Rabbinic Leadership Initiative member cited as key influencer in presidential race

This came in a few days ago – OK, we were out for Sukkot: Haaretz reports that American rabbis are coming out publicly for the two U.S. presidential candidates in record numbers this year – the early ones for Barack Obama, with a Rabbis for McCain coming soon, as well.
One of the Hartman Institute’s Rabbinic [...]

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