Vom irdischen Shabbat in den Himmlischen – Jüdischer Befreiungstheologe am 15. Juni 2024 gestorben

Heute ist es ein trauriger Anlaß:

Prof. Marc H. Ellis ist am letzten Samstag, 15. Juni 2024 gestorben.

Marc Ellis war AphorismA seit 1989 verbunden, seit ich ihm im Büro der Middle East Councel if Churches in Amman ‚zufällig‘ begegnet bin … bei AphorismA erschien zum ersten Mal eine Schrift von ihm auf Deutsch, noch in der Schriftenreihe des Kulturvereins AphorismA, aus dem die AphorismA gGmbH vor 20 Jahren hervorgegangen ist, später weitere Titel und Beiträge …

Echte Befreiung könne es nur geben, wenn sich auch Israel, wenn sich das jüdische Volk von der Besatzung und der Unterdrückung der Palästinenser befreie – das war sein unterschütterlicher Glaube …

Er ruhe in Frieden – Rainer Zimmer-Winkel | AphorismA

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Hier die Mail der Familie zum Tod:

Dear friends,

This is Marc’s family–Isaiah, Aaron, and Coy–writing to notify you all of Marc’s passing this past Saturday morning.

At the age of 71, some have told us he was quite young to have passed away. Yet he lived an extraordinarily full life, connecting with and engaging people from all over the world, on every continent and from all backgrounds. As a liberation theologian, pursued justice with fierceness and grace, and with the utmost care and concern. His career-long commitment to Palestinian freedom, self-determination, and an end to the Israeli occupation, in many ways defined his life. Since 1986 he has insisted: Jews and the Jewish future are intertwined with Palestinians and the Palestinian future. There is no Jewish liberation, without Palestinian liberation. With this as a foundation, he opposed oppression of all kinds, and sought to center the voices and cries for justice from those who are most oppressed, all across the world.

We want to remember and celebrate his lifelong commitment to the Jewish prophetic and his belief that there’s only one reason to be Jewish–to draw near, embrace, and embody the prophetic. For him, life is a continuing discussion and a series of encounters. He valued those encounters that have extended until his last months. We–his family–are grateful for the intimate encounters during his final days.

He wrote voluminously, and traveled and spoke tirelessly, and, later in life, photographed and painted copiously. He was also a devoted father, playful, caring, and a great cut-up who never tired of embarrassing his children by breaking into dance and song in public, in front of their friends, etc. He loved the New York Yankees, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young. He was thoughtful, generous, and silly, and he remained full of wit and joviality even as his illnesses progressed.

We miss him dearly, and were grateful to be with him during his final days. We are grateful that he passed peacefully, without pain, and not alone.

While we process his passing, we are considering whether and in what form we might be able to join you all in publicly mourning his passing. In the meantime, we hope you will reach out to us to share your pictures and stories of your encounters with him–the sillier the better