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The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Ethics was established in 1987. The Institute has taken Raoul Wallenberg as a model for engagement; not to stand on the sidelines, but to seek out and address injustice and conflict in all areas of life.
6th Annual Peace Conference at the Jack London High School
Co-sponsored by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Ethics
On May 22, 2010 the Wallenberg Institute co-sponsored and participated in the Jack London CDS
annual Peace Conference in Van Nuys, California. Students, parents, community members, and representatives attended the conference from the Los Angeles Unified School District. The Jack London School is part of the District's Options program for students who have been removed from the comprehensive high school for a wide variety of reasons. (Link to video from the Conference.)
Wallenberg Institute director, Dr. Stephen Sideroff spoke about the seeming contradictions between the Golden Rule, and the mindset of "Survival of the Fittest." Ron Klemp and Doug Kaback from California State University, Northridge, and members of the Wallenberg Board made a presentation on "School DayZ" which is a program designed to teach students ethics and good decision making with vignettes about school related problems.
In this presentation, Ron, Doug, and assistant principal of the Jack London Community Day School (CDS), Walter Weronka, another Wallenberg Board member, worked with eight CDS students to perform a play that was spun from one of the School DayZ stories. The students began their performance, and then Doug would stop the performance and introduce a process from "Theater of the Oppressed," where audience members were allowed to make suggestions to the
characters about some of their actions. The play was described as an "anti-model" where solutions don't seem to be possible. The audience then contributes either by sharing ideas or by assuming roles in the play itself in this interactive and innovative genre of theater.
Miriam Stein, another Board member of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute conducted a very successful hour-long Yoga class attended by CDS students and members of a youth group from Huntington Park, California. For many of these participants, this was their first exposure to Yoga and the reaction was extremely positive. We are looking forward to a repeat performance at their annual conference next year. (link to pdf)
Be the Peace Walk, Santa Monica Mountains walk and pot luck
Sunday June 13, 4:45 pm
A Salaam Shalom Education Foundation event
Co-sponsored by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Ethics
"All of the earth has been made to me as, like, a mosque." Hadith attributed to the Prophet Mohammed
"How good and how lovely when one hears the song of the grass. It is therefore a precious thing to conduct oneself with piety when strolling among them." -- Rabbi Nachman of Breslov
Directions: From 101 freeway exit Kanan Road and head south towards the beach. In 1/2 mile at Cornell Way turn left and go 3 miles to Crags Street. (During the last mile Malibou Lake will be on your left. Crags will appear soon after you pass Malibou Lake. Crags leads to the back entrance of Malibou Creek State Park). Once you turn on Crags, go ½ mile and park on the dirt lot on your left.
December 2009
Raoul Wallenberg Institute Sponsors Ethics Program
School DayZ at Pio Pico Span School
For three days in December of 2009, students at Pio Pico attended a series of plays in which they were the subjects. The plays, sponsored by the Wallenberg Institute, presented ethics and conflict issues that teens confront at school on a daily basis. The stories, based on the School DayZ process from the book, "School DayZ" by Ron Klemp (Wallenberg Board Member, and professor at California State University, Northridge) provided the material for students to begin their script writing. Doug Kabak, who teaches Drama and Theater at California State University, Northridge, (and also a Board member of the Wallenberg Institute) guided the process. He brought the methodology called "Theater of the Oppressed" which is an intriguing process to bring the audience into the play.
Once a selected group of students had read and discussed the vignettes, engaged in some writing and discussions that stimulated students' critical thinking, the students then wrote their own scripts extending the stories. As the students performed their stories, the action of the play was stopped and a question was posed to the actors from the audience. Then the other students' suggestions were acted out in an improvisation. Students also added music and lyrics to their original songs to enhance the production. Students who participated in the plays also designed the stage sets and the artwork. The students who attended the plays also read the vignettes prior to attending the presentation to ensure that they could actively participate in the experience. The School DayZ book can be found at www.Incentivepublications.com.
Building on its 2008 Middle East Peace Project, the Wallenberg Institute is working towards a 2010 Middle East Peace Dialog with both Interfaith and Political components on the web by late 2010.
As part of the preparation for the Middle East Peace Dialog, and as a project of interest and value in its own right, the Institute is participating in a United Religions Initiative Interfaith Dialog using "Group Dialog" software developed by one of our Board Members. To join the dialog, contact Roger Eaton.
The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Ethics:
in Cooperation with the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation
Seeks Help From Holocaust Survivors Saved by Wallenberg
Please Help Us Before These Stories Are Lost Swedish Diplomat Raoul Wallenberg saved the lives of over 100,000 Jews in Hungary from 1944 to 1945. He issued schutz-passes (protective passes), and maintained a number of safehouses throughout Hungary. He was detained by the Soviet government in 1945, and his subsequent whereabouts are still unknown. The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Ethics is currently working to document and archive the stories of those who met Wallenberg or were saved by his courageous deeds. If you or someone you know were in Budapest during 1944 or 1945 and would like to contribute to this archive by offering your personal testimony, please call Rebecca Tobias at 310-916-8888 or email at Rebecca@raoulwallenberginstitute.org. link to International Wallenberg Foundation
"Love heals spiritually, physically, psychologically and politically. Politics is about relationships. Come to any relationship with a clear conscience, an open heart, and rolled up sleeves and the best that resides within us will manifest itself. G-d, and the universe rejoices, and the true nature of our souls are exercised." -- Rebecca Tobias, Wallenberg Institute Program Director
