When The Shalom Center honored Tony Kushner as a "Prophetic Voice in the Arts," our interviewer (herself a prophetic film-maker as well) began by asking him: "What is a prophetic voice?"

He laughed and explained that when he told his life-partner that he was being honored for being a "prophetic voice" in the world, his partner cocked an eyebrow: "Pathetic voice? What kind of honor is that?"

So the interview begins. It winds its profound, funny, provocative, and never pathetic way into where you can find it now -- on videotape in The Shalom Center's YouTube "neighborhood."

You can watch and hear this exploration by two artists of "the artist as prophet" by clicking here:

Our interviewer was Ilana Trachtman, whom we also honored as a Prophetic Voice in the Arts for directing "Praying with Lior" – an award-winning documentary film about how a Philadelphia kid with Down Syndrome became bar mitzvah in the midst of a celebratory community.

On the same evening, we posted and honored the "prophetic visions" of the next generation –drawings by the children of Mishkan Shalom, the Philadelphia synagogue where we held the "Prophetic Voices in the Arts" event. Some of their visions are shown at a Flickr slide-show we’ve set up here. --

So we welcome you to the on-line version of our "Prophetic Voices" event. It’s all great, and we especially recommend letting yourself soak in the Prophetic wisdom of our own epoch by clicking to that amazing Trachtman-Kushner interview

We’re glad to make these goodies available. Summer is for most activist non-profit groups the “driest” time of year — and it would be a really great help to our work in general if you can contribute with a tax-deductible donation. Click on the "Donate" box on the left-hand column. Thanks!

Blessings of shalom, salaam – peace!
Arthur