My sense of the meaning of Shavuot, a Jewish holiday that begins in the evening on May 14, has been deeply transformed by an ancient teaching from the Nag Hammadi library, a collection of Gnostic texts.

This is a letter I never imagined writing, and am deeply grief-stricken to be writing. Rev. Bob Edgar, a great public servant and my friend, has died.

Let us learn together, celebrate together, act together to rescue and heal our Earth from the Crushers in our own society.

Forty years have passed since Dr. King and Rabbi Heschel worked and witnessed among us. Perhaps, like a biblical generation that represents a pregnant pause before a major transformation, we may be ready to act for a transformative rebirth in our time.

Both "brothers," Palestine and Israel, today need to make the choice that begins with the new cease-fire, but must lead from there to a long-term truce; the truce must give time for compassion to flower where there was fear and rage.

The article says that although they knew about the discussions, the Israeli government "nevertheless" approved the assassination. The question I think we need to ask is whether the Israeli government ordered the assassination not "nevertheless" but "therefore."

In the light of that Danger of Desolation hovering before us in our generation, let me offer what follows as a supplementary reading for this coming Shabbat, when Jews read the second portion of the Torah about God's decision to reverse and undo Creation with a flood.

We, all humankind, live in a sukkah, vulnerable. No great Twin Towers, no Pentacle of Power, is invincible. Only the shared knowledge of that truth can bring us peace.

On Yom Kippur about 2,500 years ago, Isaiah walked into a crowd that felt good because (having fasted for about 18 hours already) it felt bad. He called out that merely refraining from food and drink was not the point.

We are seeing a multidimensional campaign against women's religious, spiritual and conscientious freedom and against their physical health. It pops up again and again, in slightly new forms each time.

As the New Moon glimmered, the Jewish and Muslim communities both entered a solemn month, known to one as Ramadan and to the other as Av. In both, fasting takes on great importance as a way of focusing spiritual energy.

We gathered under the Rotunda in a tight circle to pray, to sing hymns, to speak our truths and to tell each other our stories about the visit, about encountering Congress, about getting arrested.

Uprisings, whether in ancient or in modern Egypt, are not fulfilled by overthrowing pharaohs. There needs to be a "Sinai" and perhaps many years of troubled experiment and exploration.