What’s Shalzed All about?

Shalzed is a superhero who tried to fix the world by force—and failed. Now he talks to people whose views on human rights seem outrageous, bizarre, or just plain wrong to try to understand where they’re coming from. He’s not exactly patient, and he has zero tolerance for nonsense or spin—but he’s slowly learning to listen.

The goal of this series is to use short fiction to make human rights questions more accessible and entertaining to read about. It’s also to show that human rights are more than political protests, condemnation, and finger-pointing. Instead, human rights are a rich and vital discussion of our shared values, critical for understanding one another and building a better future.

Subscribers receive an email each Friday. In some Shalzed confronts a political figure or activist with a controversial perspective on a current human rights question. While episodes are fiction, they include links to sources documenting the views expressed and end with questions for discussion. In others Shalzed sends only a question, giving some background and asking you to consider how human rights values apply to an issue in the news.

Thanks for joining on this journey to make human rights educational, accessible, and entertaining for all. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions.

Shlomo

Haggadah for Pesach

I also wrote a Haggadah that does for the Passover story what this newsletter does for the news- it examines underlying human rights values in the Passover story, how they may conflict, and where these conflicts are addressed in Jewish and secular sources. Suitable for use at the seder, this haggadah is intended for those who would like to find contemporary meaning in the ancient story by using it as a springboard to discuss human rights.

Order from Amazon or HaggadahsRus.