This process is rooted in the dark underside of the best teaching of Torah, "Love the stranger, the pariah, for you were strangers, pariahs, in the Land of Egypt." This is repeated 36 times in the Torah. Why? Because to repeat the command so often means it is being rejected, disobeyed.

The NY Times recently reported that some advisers of presidential candidate Mitt Romney urged him to reverse the Obama Administration's ban on the use of torture. I'm writing to urge that we join in calling on Mr. Romney to explicitly and publicly reject that advice.

We know why the ancient Temples burned. Today the role of Imperial Babylon and Imperial Rome is played by Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Gas.

The week evokes memories and teachings about resistance to tyranny, racism, economic inequality, ecological disaster and militarism. Remembering this past, we should renew our work to resist these evils in the present.

Let us stand together to rescue and heal our Earth from the Crushers in our own society.