Rabbi Michael Lerner, R.I.P.

Rabbi Michael Lerner, who merged Judaism with progressive thought and was a strong advocate for Palestinian rights as the founding editor of Tikkun magazine, died at his home in Berkeley, California on August 28. He was 81.

As a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley, he protested the Vietnam War, supported the civil rights movement and led the campus chapter of Students for a Democratic Society. Throughout his professional life, as he established himself as a psychologist and a rabbi, he argued on behalf of a “politics of meaning.” This new politics, he argued, would address “the psychological, ethical and spiritual needs of Americans.”

Tikkun magazine was best known for its criticism of Israeli policy toward Palestinians, including the occupation of the West Bank, the longstanding blockade of Gaza and the establishment of what Tikkun characterized as an “apartheid” society. He wrote in 2001 that, “In its treatment of Palestinians, Israel has engaged in activities that are morally unacceptable—-violations of fundamental human rights—-and deserve to be criticized.”

After the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Tikkun condemned the “horrific actions of Hamas” and noted that the “unfolding horror in Israel and Gaza is an escalation of decades of state-sanctioned violence by Israel against Palestinians…It is only by recognizing our shared fears and our shared tears that we will find our way through this nightmare.”

It was Lerner’s view that, “Judaism has things specific to teach the liberal and progressive world. We’ve been in a struggle against slavery and the forms in which the human spirit has been suppressed. So our experience is rich in how to carry that struggle on and not be destroyed. *