Getting to know us: Rabbi Michael Lerner, Cat Zavis, and Tikkun's Network of Spiritual Progressives

Tikkun's Network of Spiritual Progressives

About Rabbi Lerner and Cat Zavis... Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God: Taking Our Country Back from the Religious Right (Harper San Francisco, 2006), is rabbi of the Bay Area congregation Beyt Tikkun and editor of Tikkun magazine: a bimonthly Jewish and interfaith critique of politics, culture, and society. Tikkun is one of the most respected intellectual/cultural magazines in the Jewish world, but also one of the most controversial because of its stand in favor of the rights of Palestinians, on the one hand, which locates him in the minds of many as the leader and most prominent spokesperson in the United States of Jewish supporters of the Israeli peace movement, and on the other hand, because of his stand critiquing the anti-religious and anti-spiritual biases of the secular Left, insisting that they need to address the spiritual hunger of Americans as equally important to their material needs. He is the co-author with Cornel West of a book entitled Jews and Blacks: Let the Healing Begin, and several other books, including Healing Israel/Palestine. He is also the author of another ten books including The Politics of Meaning, Healing Israel/Palestine, The Socialism of Fools: Anti-Semitism on the Left, Spirit Matters and Jewish Renewal. Cat J. Zavis is the Executive Director of the Network for Spiritual Progressives as well as a collaborative divorce attorney, mediator, coach, and conflict resolution and Empathic Communication trainer. She has been practicing Empathic Communication, mediation, and collaborative law for seven years. She conducts workshops and trainings in Empathic Communication for parents, collaborative professionals, mediators, teachers, students, political activists and spiritual centers. In 2009, her business was awarded a Peace Builder Award for her contribution to building peace in her community. Her combination of personal experience and professional expertise give Cat a unique perspective and ability to help people in conflict navigate their differences, whether personal or political.