by John Brown · Thursday, March 31st, 2005
Unfortunately the bad news is that the consensus that leaders of the three major Western religions were able to reach is negative: They don’t like the upcoming ten-day long gay pride festival, Jerusalem WorldPride 2005.
Laurie Goodstein and Greg Myre write in today’s edition of the New York Times that major leaders of Judaism, Christianity and Islam have joined forces to try to stop the annual parade.
Shlomo Amar, Israel’s Sephardic chief rabbi was quoted as saying “They are creating a deep and terrible sorrow that is unbearable, It hurts all of the religions. We are all against it.”
Abdel Aziz Bukhari, a Sufi sheik, and head of the Uzbeke community was also quoted as saying: “We can’t permit anybody to come and make the Holy City dirty. This is very ugly and very nasty to have these people come to Jerusalem.”
Finally Rabbi Yehuda Levin, of the Rabbinical Alliance of America - which says it represents more than 1,000 American Orthodox rabbis - added “This is not the homo land, this is the Holy Land.”
However, on a more positive note the Times article reports that:
75 non-Orthodox rabbis had signed a statement of support for the event, and that Christian and Muslim leaders as well as Israeli politicians were expected to announce their support soon.
The festival is planned for August 18th through the 28th and is expected to draw thousands of visitors from dozens of countries.
by Mobius · Thursday, March 31st, 2005
I’m not a big sports fan. Never have been. But I used to manage the girl’s soccer team at my high school. And thus I’ve always had an appreciation for soccer, regardless of whether I’ve followed the game or not, which, really, I haven’t. But soccer is huge here in Israel. Walking around town the night of a big soccer match, you can hear the entire city shouting in unison from their windows when their beloved teams score or miss a goal. It’s a beautiful thing, really, for a nation, so divided by politics and religion to have even this one thing to rally around.
And so, when I heard that Israel was going to play France in a World Cup preliminary last night, I made it my mission to find the best place possible to go and watch the game: A pub with a big screen TV. And holy hell, it was glorious.
France has a tradition of antisemitism. It’s a fact that can hardly be ignored. And that streak of antisemitism prevails unto this day, which made this game between Israel and France all the more important, because it gave the Jewish people an opportunity to prove something: That we are neither weak nor inferior. It was my hope that we’d pummel them actually — that we’d avenge ourselves after centuries of Jew-baiting and hating, especially after Fabien Barthez said he wouldn’t play here — but the game ended in a draw. And that’s okay too. Because to me, that proves that we are no better nor worse than France nor anyone else. We are, in fact, their equals. And that too, is a beautiful thing.
So I sat at Rani’s Pub in Nakhalat Shiv’a, tossing back Goldstars with my friends, listening to French Jews having an identity crisis, and watching the Israelis erupt at every turn. G-d, it was magnificent. The energy was so intense, you felt like you were a part of something just by watching TV, knowing that the entire nation was watching along with you.
Generally I’m put off by rank displays of nationalism. On Tisha Ba’av I was at Kikar Safra with some friends where Women In Green and Manhigut Yehudit had organized a megillah reading and a march around the Old City in solidarity with the settlement movement. The crowd waved Israeli flags all about and it made me so, so uncomfortable (knowing their beliefs and their false assertion of representing Israel) I left just after the megillah reading.
But last night? I’m looking on television at all these Israeli flags, people in the stands wearing white and blue, kids with “Yisrael” and magen davids painted on their faces, with the crowd all the while (on television and around me in the pub) chanting, “Ay, ay, Yisrael!” and I, too, swelled with pride. This wasn’t the rank, ethnocentric nationalism I felt at the Tisha Ba’av rally. Hell, Israel’s top scorers are Arabs! This was a true display of national pride and unity: One which transcended ethnicity, religious affiliation, class, and every other human border imaginable. It was a moment of pure light, and I loved every minute of it.
Highlight of the evening: When French center David Trezeguet headbutted Tal Ben Haim, I called out, “Awww man, that’s so underhanded! It’s like the Dreyfuss affair all over again!”
Awww…So wrong.
So, word yo, props to Team Yisrael on last night’s match. We’re now tied with France at the head of our qualifying group, which means we move on to the next round. May it be the will of Hashem that we go all the way, and get the opportuntiy to shine this light throughout the whole world.
by Mobius · Wednesday, March 30th, 2005
Theodor Herzl’s gravesite was vandalized this morning. The asshole responsible wrote “Neo-Nazis” and “Yossi Beilin” in the area surrounding the late Zionist leader’s grave. Beilin is the Israeli politician behind the Oslo Accords and the Geneva Accords.
What a muddled and ultimately idiotic political statement. I’m all for graffiti whether I agree with your statement or not, which in this case, I most certainly do not. But likening people making honest attempts to end this conflict to Nazis is not only counterproductive, it’s just plain stupid — especially if you’re trying to dispell the anti-Zionist world’s portrayal of Israelis as Nazis.
That being said, nobody fucks with Teddy’s grave! I hope they find the bastard and give him what for!
[Update] They wrote “Hitler” on Ben Gurion’s grave too. Ugh.
by Mobius · Wednesday, March 30th, 2005
Jewish Women Watching (JWW), the anonymous collective of feminist rabble rousers, has claimed responsibility for infiltrating last night’s Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) event celebrating twenty years of women as Conservative Jewish rabbis. Unsuspecting attendees at a public panel discussion entitled “A Movement Transformed: Women’s Ordination and Conservative Judaism” enthusiastically greeted a press advisory announcing JTS’s plan to accomplish gender and sexual equity in the Conservative Movement by the year 2010. The press advisory was a fake created by Jewish Women Watching.
“JTS has been talking for so long about their intention to fully incorporate women in the rabbinate, we thought they might just need some creative thinkers to figure out a plan to make it happen,” said JWW’s Adah Menken. The three-step plan detailed in the press advisory committed the Conservative Movement to ending exclusion of gays and lesbians from the rabbinate, closing the $10,000+ pay gap between male and female rabbis, and dismissing non-egalitarian synagogues from its roster. “If JTS had wanted to claim the plan and commit to the actions outlined in it, JWW would have been happy to step back and let them take the credit,” said Clara Lemlich, a JWW member.
In reality, the panel’s moderator dissociated JTS from any proposal to comprehensively embrace egalitarianism and equity. “The Conservative Movement has a lot of chutzpah to celebrate 20 years of women’s ordination when they continue blatantly sexist and homophobic practices in the rabbinate,” said JWW’s Sophie Tucker. “It’s time for JTS to match action to their rhetoric.”
To view the fake press advisory and JWW’s candid assessment of the Conservative Movement’s rhetoric, click here.
(This text is excerpted in its entirety from a JWW press release.)
by Mobius · Tuesday, March 29th, 2005
Scott Ian of Anthrax and JJ French of Twisted Sister
during a taping of VH1’s upcoming Pesach special,
“Matzoh & Metal: A Very Classic Passover.”
(c/o Isaac G.)
by shamirpower · Tuesday, March 29th, 2005
New York based writer, Sam Apple, an editor at Nerve.com, who has written for The New York Times, The Jerusalem Report, the Forward and The New York Sun, and is former editor in cheif of New Voices Magazine, publishes his first book this week: Schlepping Through the Alps.
The Library Journal writes:
Apple, a young Jewish writer from New York with a neurotic fear of illness and strange foods, here meets a gentile Austrian shepherd, Hans Breuer, who is a passionate singer and preserver of Yiddish songs. Apple takes up Breuer’s invitation to shepherd with him in the Austrian countryside, where the Holocaust is still alive in tiny detail. As the two “schlep through the Alps,” Apple comes to some shocking discoveries about the Austrians and their Nazi past as well as his own knowledge of the Holocaust (or lack thereof).
For a light taste of humor, visit their hilarious promo site for a silly new Passover song.
If you’re in NYC, however, you should come out for the main event next Wednesday, April 6: Reading & Yiddish Folk Concert With A Wandering Shepherd at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Tribeca. The evening not only feautres live readings from the book with Apple, but also live performances with Hans, JDub’s Yiddish Hip-Hop Master So Called, and internationally acclaimed klezmer clarinetist David Krakauer.
Get all the info (plus Jew*School discount)right here.
by Ari Frumsky · Monday, March 28th, 2005
Just in time for March Madness bangitout.com has released the Ultimate Shidduch Dating Tournament Guide.
by Ari Frumsky · Monday, March 28th, 2005
Last week at Ohel Nehama, a synogogue in Talbieh, Jerusalem, there was a discussion entitled, “Between him and her: Before marriage in religious society - danger or opportunity.” Unfortunately, I was unable to make it, but I understand that the discussion for the most part centered around premarital sex. There are articles on the Jerusalem Post, and Haaretz websites about this event.
Numerous comments on the articles suggest that many would prefer to either deny this issue is relevant or existent, or to attack Modern Orthodoxy. This reminds me of friends who were called an apikorais by a Rabbi in yeshivah for asking a question, after they were invited to ask anything they wanted. I’m sure everyone will agree that the key to a successful relationship and marriage is being able to discuss with your partner any issue openly. Perhaps this idea of being able to avoid legitimate issues, or even deny and sweep them under the carpet is yet another contributing factor to why so many are single today. People are subconsciously taught that they can run away from problems and they don’t have to address them.
by Mobius · Monday, March 28th, 2005
Madonna hit off a London Purim party last week dressed as a nun, with beau Guy Ritchie in-tow playing the Pope. You’d think she’d have dressed up like her “Kabbalic” name-sake, Esther. Oh, but how cliché that’d have been. Oh so more clié than a nun, obviously.
by Mobius · Monday, March 28th, 2005
Ynet reports,
Internet surfers who enter the word “Hamas” in Arabic in the Google search engine, will view, in addition to the search results, an AdWord message that links directly to the website of the organization’s military faction Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
The link also appears in a search of several other words, such as the “Gaza,” “Palestine,” “Jihad.”
Full story.
by Mobius · Monday, March 28th, 2005
Jo-Ann Mort discusses raves, Israeliness, and the potential of co-existence through nightlife in The LA Times.
by Mobius · Monday, March 28th, 2005
CK gave a mention of these guys in a post back in January. Now the NY Times has picked it up for a full-fledged story:
Just minutes before a high-stakes soccer game not long ago between this city’s home team, Ajax, and their rivals from the southern city of Eindhoven, a chant built to a roar in the hall packed with supporters where they were serving plastic pint cups of Dutch beer.
“Jews, Jews, Jews!” thousands of voices cried.
Outside, souvenir stalls sold Israeli flags or flags with the Ajax logo, the head of the fabled Greek warrior, emblazoned inside the star of David. Fans arrived with hats, jackets and scarves embroidered with Hebrew writing. Until recently, the team’s official Web site even featured the ringing tones of Hava Nagila and other Jewish songs that could be downloaded into fans’ mobile phones.
Few, if any, of these people are Jewish.
Read on…
by Mobius · Monday, March 28th, 2005
you know he actually wasn’t well respected at all. the talmud accuses him of idolatry and repeatedly calls him a son of a whore, claiming his father was a roman centurian. and not only do we admit killing jesus in the talmud, but we brag about doing it, and killing the disciples as well — a crime we historically have not even been accused of. of course, this was all written hundreds of years after it would’ve actually happened so it could just’ve been our rabbis incorporating an extreme dismissal of christianity into their work, but either way, it by no means reflects the greater values of love and kindness our tradition espouses. but hey, look at the bright side: if we didn’t kill jesus (if he did, in fact exist, and was, in fact, the messiah), none of you heathens would be saved.
truth be told, historically speaking, we used to lynch christians and burn effygies of jesus on purim. now we just take their money for nefesh b’nefesh and give them jabotinsky awards for being friends of israel. who said judaism wasn’t progressive?! as robert zimmerman hanevi once sang, “the times they are a changing…”
by Joshua · Sunday, March 27th, 2005
Habitus Magazine is a new, international journal of Diaspora literature and culture. Our focus is the Jewish experience in the Diaspora, and Diaspora as a universal experience that mirrors and invigorates our own. Emphasizing literature, photography, criticism and reportage, our goal is to explore the lives of Jews and others in various locales around the globe.”
For those readers in Israel, please come to Habitus’ release party on April 14th. Free drinks, music and readings.
The Habitus site was superbly designed by JewSchool’s own Mobius.
by Mobius · Saturday, March 26th, 2005
Read and cringe.
by Mobius · Saturday, March 26th, 2005
In the context of discussing the Schiavo affair, The Daily Show examines conservatives’ reckless use of the term “Nazi” and John Stewart staggers in awe of Shmuley Boteach’s props from Pat Buchanan. Click here to watch.
by Mobius · Saturday, March 26th, 2005
Reuters reports,
An Italian woman whose angry husband refused for 7 years to have sex with her was awarded divorce damages by Italy’s high court this week.
Did you know if she was Jewish she would’ve been entitled to a divorce immediately under halakha? It’s true! The rabbis were all about horny housewives! That’s why as long as a woman’s been to mikvah post-niddah, if she wants it, her husband has to give it up. And on the other hand, if he wants it, she doesn’t have to. That’s fair!
No really, women have “conjugal rights” under Jewish law. Just one more reason why being a Jew rocks. Or sucks, depending on your gender. Or gender-confusion.
by John Brown · Thursday, March 24th, 2005
In 1979 when Egypt signed its peace treaty with Israel, Egypt became a virtual pariah in the Arab world and was shunned for having made peace with “the Zionist state”. However, that set a precedent and teaches us a valuable lesson: today Israel and Egypt have a partial free trade deal and since Israel gave back the occupied Sinai and withdrew its forces, there has never been a break in that peace ever since.
That’s why it was considered so remarkable in 2002, When the entire Arab League came together and for the first time in history unanimously proposed a comprehensive peace plan put forward by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. Immediately after the proposal became public, Raanan Gissin - Sharon’s spokesman - was quoted as calling the proposal “a very interesting development, something that should be pursued.” As we now all unfortunately know, those turned out to be the most empty of words because Sharon did not in any way pursue the unprecented offer of full recognition from all the member states.
Just imagine all the lives that could have been saved and the positive effect on the economy the increase in trade could represent for Israel. I’m sure Israel’s high-tech, medical industries could use a few hundred million consumers to market to. There is a geo-political theory which says that the more trade interdependence there is between nations, the lower the chance of war breaking out becomes because of the economic harm that would result. Why don’t we try that approach out, since fighting has worked out so poorly for settling the conflict ?
In the spirit of “everything old is new again”, Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reports that the Arab League has decided to relaunch their 2002 initiative which offers Israel normal relations in return to the 1967 borders.
Hawkish Israel “supporters” will undoubtedly claim that the 1967 border is “indefensible” but as Ronald Hatchett so insightfully noted in the Houston Chronicle in 2002:
“The reality is that Israel’s security ultimately rests on the good will of its neighbors, its own military might (including nuclear weapons) and its special relationship with the United States. Hanging on to 10 percent of the West Bank — as the Israelis proposed in the Camp David talks in the summer of 2000 — would add little to the security of Israel.”
Will Sharon do what he has to do to become a real historical figure and make real peace ? Or will he twiddle his thumbs again and let this chance slip away like the last one while women and children continue to die ? I cannot escape my underlying cynical doubt of Sharon’s good intentions, but simultaneously I continue to hope, and dream of the day when someone in a position of authority will care more about the people than the land..
