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They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But what the hell do you call it when 50 Shekel’s friends at Jews for Jesus hijack your website’s name, logo and format and launch their own site, truejewschool.com? Oh, wait, I think it’s called “trademark infringement.”
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Dear 50,
I’m sorry I dissed your music and made you want to kill yourself and take Jesus into your heart. I think I’ve already said that. But, please don’t make me sue you. For your own sake, get over it.
Love,
Mobius
*** UPDATE ***
The other night I was hanging out in Kikar Tziyon, waiting for CK and Laya, when this dati (Orthodox) guy frantically approached me and asked if he could use my cellphone. When I asked him what the trouble was, he explained that there was a missionary a few yards from us, proselytizing. He wanted to call an anti-missionary task force to come and hassle the guy. I explained to him that while I thought that missionizing was reprehensible, particularly in Israel — a state born out of the Jewish determination to be free from Christian and Muslim oppression — that he had a right to free speech. He isn’t forcing anyone to listen, nor to accept what he has to say, and anyone weak-willed, ignorant and foolish enough to buy into it — well, that’s on them. Each individual is responsible for their own actions. If they’re truly that thick and gullible, either blame Chabad for not getting to them first, or blame the nominal Jewish world for being so uninviting, or worse yet, alienating.
I’ve taken this position for a few reasons. The first is that, as Reb Chomsky says, “If you believe in freedom of speech, that means you believe in freedom of speech precisely for views you despise. Otherwise you’re not in favor of freedom of speech.” The second is a result of the conclusions I’ve drawn from my encounter with a missionary at the Metalist Festival in Palmakhim. The manner in which the Israeli youth he was proselytizing to responded to him gave me extraodinary confidence in Jewish youth to counter the arguments of missionaries. They don’t need folks to stand up for them. They’re critically-minded and well-informed enough that they’re more than capable of doing so on their own. Finally, I’m compelled to consider the effect of Abe Foxman and the ADL in countering antisemitism and Holocaust denial, and other individuals and organizations of their ilk, such as Alan Dershowitz who unsuccesfully campaigned to ban Norman Finkelstein’s latest work, Beyond Chutzpah. By considering antisemitism, Holocaust denial, anti-Zionism and missionizing important enough to protest and even censor, we affirm their value as something worth taking seriously, and even help give them the status of “a truth so dangerous,” that it must never reach the public’s eyes nor ears — thus making them all the more compelling. As such, some folks advised me to simply ignore this incident. No one would even know about the site, suggested Harry, if I didn’t blog it myself. (Tell that to Gothamist.)
Thus, in dealing with this particular situation, I’m conflicted. I am no fan of copyright, trademark, or intellectual property in general. Some might recall my run-in with Teenage Millionaire for my parody of their “Jesus Is My Homeboy” t-shirts, where I argue that Jesus wouldn’t sue, as Teenage Millionaire threatened to do. However, I do see a difference between parodying a single piece of merchandise and outright coopting an entire brand, along with its logo and color scheme, while operating in the same market as that brand. When it’s done with the intention of waging a valid critique — and particularly when it’s tongue-in-cheek — such as Jewlicious’s Jewschool parody, I don’t find it troubling at all. When it’s done, as it is in this case, as a means not to criticize necessarily, but to missionize, it’s much more problematic.
Jews for Jesus isn’t a Jewish initiative. It is not, as some people have remarked, simply Jews who think Jesus is the Messiah. The organization is primarily bankrolled by various evangelical groups, such as Baptist churches and Assemblies of God ministries (the same folks we call “Christian Zionists,” whereas they are some of the Zionist movement’s biggest allies and financial supporters). In their mission statement, the Assemblies of God state that they are “committed to making ‘disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything’ that Jesus Christ commanded.” Their agenda is to convert all people to Christian worship, and see Jews as a primary target.
This philosophy de facto asserts that Jews are misled, that their religious beliefs are “wrong,” and that they can not and should not be left alone to believe and worship as they see fit. It is an inherently antisemitic doctrine and particularly offensive as it shields itself behind the tyranny of good intentions: “We do it because we care about your souls.” Take the Mormons, for example, who have gone so far as to baptize Holocaust victims in their graves — something which, in Jewish law, constitutes a desecration of their gravesites, but which is ultimately seen as a furtherance of the Final Solution: The elimination of the Jewish people. It is a double-kick in the teeth to the victims of Hitler’s attrocities. Yet the Mormons see themselves as trying to help us poor, ignorant Jews who “missed the bus” and rejected the Messiah. How thoughtful!
Jews for Jesus is even more odious and outrageous, because it coopts Judaism in order to destroy Judaism. Bad enough we have Madonna’s commodification of our culture to contend with. Now we need Christians telling us we’re not authentically Jewish? The cooptation of Jewschool is a perfect example of this: Jews for Jesus taking something organically and authentically Jewish, sloppily inserting their Yeshua crap into it and calling it “truer” than the original. It’s a total affront.
Look, freedom of speech is a fundamental human right which most certainly cannot and should not be challenged, as its “pros” most certainly outweigh its “cons.” As such, Jews for Jesus are free to proselytize everywhere, from subways to mikvahs (ritual baths), using their devious interpretations of scripture to “prove” to the unwitting and uninformed that Jesus is the Messiah. They target those who have sorely lacked meaningful religious experience, giving them a glimpse of what a positive Jewish community could look like were they only offered the chance. Jews who fall for the Jews for Jesus shtick are usually those who have not had fulfilling Jewish experiences, and are therefore more open to alternatives. It is only because these individuals feel unwelcome in their communities and dissatisfied with their Jewish experiences, that they seek fulfillment elsewhere. Jews for Jesus’ success, then, should be a wake-up call to the Jewish establishment to examine its failure in providing substantiative communal experiences.
That’s why I believe the ultimate answer to Jews for Jesus is to create more open, inclusive, and engaging Jewish communities. As one person I consulted on this matter states, “The answer to bad speech is more speech.” And I wholly agree. In terms of censorship, this is why, rather than signing Steven Weinstock’s petition to have Jew Watch removed from Google, I launched the Jooglebomb instead. It is for this reason that I refuse to compromise the value of free speech in order to combat these views and practices, and so I do not wish to file legal proceedings against the individuals responsible for this site. I would rather invest my energy in creating a more welcoming and fulfilling Jewish community, rendering such “spiritual competitors” irrelevant.
However, there’s another matter in play here, on which I am compelled to act: If I do not issue (at the very least) a nastygram, I will be seen as to be abandoning my trademark in the eyes of U.S. copyright law, thus giving way to everyone and anyone who so chooses to coopt the Jewschool brand and its notoriety to push whatever they’re hawking — be it Christianity or the bankrupted affects of mainstream Judaism. With Jewschool in the press every couple of weeks, and with all the individuals whose names are attached to this site, I can not allow the possibility let alone the “likelihood of confusion” to create the impression that I nor anyone associated with Jewschool support the views promulgated by those who steal our identity.
So I reiterate my request to Aviad Cohen and friends: Please, don’t make me sue you. I really, really, really don’t want to, but I really will have to. My hands are bound. Don’t blame me. Blame stupid, unintelligible copyright laws.
***
Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing informs me:
Abandonment of trademark is trotted out by lawyers all the time, but in practice, trademarks that are still used by their creators are practically never treated as abandoned in the US and the rest of the West. Hoover, Kleenex, Google — all these are routinely used without permission, in a generic sense, and no lawyer would seiously argue that Bissel could ship a Bissel “hoover” and not get sued. The last major trademark to be taken away from a commercial actor (barring German trademarks expropriated during the war) who was making use of it was “cola” in the early 20th century, which Coke sued Pepsi over.You don’t lose your right to sue people who use your marks deceptively under common law or black-letter law. What you get is an infinitesimally increased risk that someone might violate your trademark and when you sue, the court will find that because in this instance you failed to sue, that an unsophisticated member of the public had concluded that your marks were not distinctive indicators of your company’s goods and services.
Now, put yourself in the shoes of an “unsophisticated consumer” who reads your site who encounters the J for J site. Will she assume that you must have endorsed the J for J’s position and offered them a license? If so, you’ve got a trademark claim: the J for Js are appropriating your goodwill to market their services. If not, you’ve got no claim and you bear no risk by failing to threaten them with litigation.
That being the case, meh. Aviad, you are lame and obsessive. “True” Jews know the difference between Moshiach (the Messiah) and avodah zarah (idolatry). TrueJewschool is FalsehoodForFools. Hell, I’m amused that we’ve inspire you to invest so much energy, but holy crap—stop martyring yourself. All we said was that you’re a corny rapper. You’d think we killed your lord or something.
*** UPDATE ***
TrueJewschool has changed its logo.
The part I find most ironic about all of this is that 50 Shekel has chosen Jewschool as his windmill at which to tilt. The reason we criticized Shekel to begin with was because he was a darling of the nominal, mainstream Jewish world. The guy got more press and more gigs than hundreds of artists with more talent and better acts — folks who don’t embody the demeaning stereotypes and arrogant ethnocentrism at the core of Shekel’s act. Somehow Shekel has come to see us as the mainstream Jewish world which rejected him, a now martyred Messiah in his own imagination. But the Jewish mainstream didn’t reject him. A brief glance at his press page proves that.
Jewschool’s not the mainstream. We’re the outsiders who have been rejected by the mainstream as well, and who have, in turn, rejected the mainstream itself. Our critique of Shekel was part of that critique. It’s simply ridiculous that he would use us to martyr himself. It stands reality on its head.
But well, that’s his whole game. This is another one of Shekel’s “brilliant” publicity stunts. And I guess I knew that getting into this. But now, after giving it some thought, I’ve decided this will be my final mention of Aviad Cohen aka 50 Shekel on Jewschool. Ever.
Good luck staying relevant buddy. I won’t be a pawn in your game.
This thread has been closed.
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A new German “social marketing” campaign which aims to boost national pride (oh joy!) has alarmed some Germans after a blogger discovered its slogan, Du bist Deutschland, was used for a Nazi demonstration in 1935.
See also: German Wikipedia entry. Flickr gallery.
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Jewlicious recently brought attention to Michael Jackson’s latest antisemitic shenanigans. And of course, we all also recently heard about his purchase of a palace in Bahrain. But did you hear he’s building a mosque there too?
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I’ve come across quite a number of articles recently which suggest, essentially, that belief in the active presence of God in the world is a trick we pull on ourselves which served, at some point, an evolutionary function. Here’s a little round-up:
The Atlantic Monthly:
Despite the vast number of religions, nearly everyone in the world believes in the same things: the existence of a soul, an afterlife, miracles, and the divine creation of the universe. Recently psychologists doing research on the minds of infants have discovered two related facts that may account for this phenomenon. One: human beings come into the world with a predisposition to believe in supernatural phenomena. And two: this predisposition is an incidental by-product of cognitive functioning gone awry. Which leads to the question…
Is God an accident? (Subscription required. Full-text removed at request of The Atlantic.)
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A new documentary on BBC4 called Jonathan Miller’s Brief History of Disbelief examines the culture of atheism. Check out his interview with Pascal Boyer.
***
In Edge, Daniel Gilbert writes,
Is God is nothing more than an attempt to explain order and good fortune by those who do not understand the mathematics of chance, the principles of self-organizing systems, or the psychology of the human mind? When the study I just described was accepted for publication, I recall asking one of my collaborators, who is a deeply religious man, how he felt about having demonstrated that people can misattribute the products of their own minds to powerful external agents. He said, “I feel fine. After all, God doesn’t want us to confuse our miracles with his.”That’s fair enough. Science rules out the most cartoonish versions of God by debunking specific claims about ancient civilizations in North America or the creatio ex nihilo of human life. But it cannot tell us whether there is a force or entity or idea beyond our ken that deserves to be known as God. What we can say is that the universe is a complex place, that events within it often seem to turn out for the best, and that neither of these facts requires an explanation beyond our own skins.
The Vagaries of Religious Experience
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Finally, a more thorough round-up at 3quarksdaily, in which Abbas Raza asks, “Until recently, few scientists have put much effort into explaining the ubiquity of religious beliefs. If it is so irrational, then why is religious conviction so widespread?”
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That’s right, I said creationism. Why? Because I think “intelligent design” is the same type of Orwellian political term concoted by White House advisers (like “The Clear Skies Initiative” and “No Child Left Behind”) meant to distort reality and I refuse to play along. I personally do believe in God (though I am lax to ever claim to know what that means entirely), and that the universe has an inherent “intelligent design” behind it, innate and apparent in the workings of nature, et al (Like, wow, DNA!). However, I don’t actually believe God clumped up a bunch of dirt in his hands and breathed life into a golem named Adam. Sorry. I’ll stick with Rambam on this one: Anyone who reads the Torah as a literal document is acting a fool.
And on that note, Catholic World News reports:
The director of the Vatican Observatory has lashed out at proponents of the theory of Intelligent Design, the Italian news service ANSA reports.“Intelligent design isn’t science, even if it pretends to be,” said Father George Coyne. He said that if the theory is introduced in schools, it should be taught in religion classes, not science classes. ANSA reported that the Jesuit priest made his remarks at a conference in Florence.
Father Coyne had criticized Intelligent Design previously, in an article that appeared in October in the British Catholic newspaper, The Tablet. In that article, he took issue with Cardinal Christoph Sch?nborn (bio – news), who had published an essay in the New York Times pointing to the weaknesses of Darwinian evolutionary theory. Whereas Cardinal Sch?nborn argued that a strictly material approach to evolution cannot answer ultimate questions about the origin of man, Father Coyne countered that critics of evolution are underestimating God’s willingness to give “freedom” to the processes of nature.
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Human Events online asks,
Did you know that the day we celebrate as Thanksgiving was supposed to be a fast?It took one politically incorrect farmer to change the course of history. When the government tried to impose a fast, he called for a grand feast—thanksgivings—so that Americans could celebrate their bounty and nourish their bodies, not lament their hardships through hunger.
Ben Franklin’s tale of the first Thanksgiving is revealed in a soon-to-be-released book, The Compleated Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin, edited by Franklin descendent Mark Skousen, a professor at Columbia University.
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Reuters reports,
Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays the spoof Kazakh television reporter in his “Da Ali G Show,” incurred the wrath of Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry this month after appearing as Borat at the annual MTV Europe Music Awards.He described shooting dogs for fun and said his wife could not leave Kazakhstan as she was a woman. The Foreign Ministry said his behavior was unacceptable and that Cohen might be serving political orders to tarnish Kazakhstan’s reputation.
Responding in character as Borat, Cohen, who is Jewish, said: “I like to state, I have no connection with Mr Cohen and fully support my government’s position to sue this Jew.”
Full story. View Borat’s video statement here.
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According to Online Casino News, an Israeli Casino in the resort city of Eilat may become a reality, establishing some 50,000 new jobs and attracting an estimated million tourists a year.
The Israeli Cabinet will debate the legalization of the first Israeli casino in the southern city of Eilat during its upcoming session. Although a formal decision is yet to be made, many groups of investors, including the owner of 5 star hotel “The Princess†and entrepreneur/former Knesset member Shmuel Flatto Sharon, have already shown interest.
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As holiday sales start to go into full swing and 2005 starts to close, I want to get a head start and beat the conventional media in identifying the most Jewish story of the year. In my mind, the choice is clear. Over the summer, the Jewish world was startled to hear the following:
Duncan Hines, the only commercial brand of pareve, or nondairy, cake mixes, recently announced that it will add milk-based ingredients to its products in the fall, according to the industry newspaper Kosher Today.
This has rightly caused an uproar in the Jewish world. A dairy dessert is kosherly impossible after a Shabbat meal full of chicken and meat because we not only refrain from cooking dairy and meat together, and from eating them at the same time, but we also make sure to wait until the next scheduled meal before eating dairy after meat.
I mention this not just because earlier today I only narrowly escaped the misfortune of having to eat a Duncan Hines cake which, as US News recently reported, “tastes like a chemical plant.” Think of all the pot-bellied men who won’t be able to eat their favorite bland dessert after filling their stomachs with a full meal of fish, chicken, and cholent. And of the women who will have to take time from their other important activities in order to bake real cakes or simply serve – gasp! – fruit as dessert. The sociological implications of this story are nothing short of staggering.
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Rabbi
Elements of California Jewry, like California itself, are often unfairly maligned as prone to half-baked New Age initiatives and sometimes even downright silliness. But if anyone had any doubts as to the national relevance of the theological minds emerging from the Reform Jewish clergy of Los Angeles, this week’s Torah portion commentary from Rabbi Zoe Klein of Temple Isaiah in the Jewish Journal will put them to rest once and for all.
It is noteworthy that while the liberal Jewish world is continually looking to popularize appropriate “inclusive†parallels to male circumcision for its girls, there is no such pervasive soul searching in the Islamic world. While some might believe that’s because Jews are more egalitarian than Muslims, it is more likely because Islam already has a parallel ritual – female circumcision. Of course, anti-FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) activists who never the less support male circumcision (like say, many of the numerous Zionist Jewish anti-FGM activists) frequently pretend that infibulation is the procedure in question, not female circumcision. But the most common female circumcision is not the more severe forms of FGM, but rather, the removal of the hood (sound familiar?) of the clitoris, not excision of the clitoris itself. And the reason for the lack of outcry for a parallel ritual by Islamic feminists is because they are, by and large, surprisingly not interested in this less pervasive egalitarian ritual, not because they can’t have one.
So it is most intriguing that Rabbi Zoe Klein, who is apparently not satisfied with the simchat bat ceremony she already offers at her Temple, looks to Islam for guidance:
“In many cultures, circumcision is performed on boys as a rite of puberty, at the age of Ishmael, 13. Circumcision in many cultures, it has been argued, is the male inorganic counterpart to menstruation, to the natural blood-covenant girls achieve. In Judaism, of course, circumcision is performed at Isaac’s tender age of one week and a day. Instead, bar mitzvah is the male puberty rite. There is little ritual or liturgy on menstruation. Just as boys undergo brit milah (covenant of circumcision), let us consider the girl beginning menarche as entering brit niddah (covenant of menstruation).â€
Rabbi Klein asked, “What ritual can surround entering brit niddah?†But just as I thought she was going to offer a Sunni style ritual for the sake of egalitarianism in our time, Rabbi Klein merely sought to bundle it with New Moon festivities.
“As menstruation ties naturally with the cycling of the moon, it would be appropriate to consider brit niddah as a part of a Rosh Chodesh ceremony.â€
Rabbi Klein had the obvious solution right in front of her, and then she wussied out, declining to think out of the box!
It is painfully clear that even in the most liberated, gender-sensitive sectors of the Jewish world, Jewish clergy refuse to endorse the only true parallel to male circumcision. While it is true that advancements have been made for much needed parallel ceremonies, they are invariably lip service only. Just as a simchat bat is unsatisfying to Jewish feminists such as Rabbi Klein, so too this new ritual of brit niddah will prove unsatisfying. True egalitarianism requires a similar excision. A new blessing or modified Moon Dance won’t cut it. It is just pretense, creative but specious, and ultimately unsatisfying. It is a way to sound like a visionary without changing the reality of the disparity in covenant between males and females. Rather, the remaining and crucial difference, the foundation for the male ceremony itself, is only illuminated more specifically.
To their credit, Jewish-Feminists are the only group of women in the world that I know of who witness male circumcision and feel comfortable expressing organizational jealousy. And while insensitive reactionaries might counter that nothing will mollify these women, this can be effectively rebutted, at least theoretically. For if there is an outcry from Jewish-Feminists about the lack of a true parallel ceremony to brit milah, just imagine the protests if there had been one instituted on a limited basis. Imagine if select Chassidic movements had instituted female circumcision in the 18th century as symbolic of their sexual chasity and restraint. Protests would surely greet many Orthodox gatherings in appreciation of this New Ritual, particularly those organizations that declined to endorse or condemn this Chassidic tradition, demanding them to clarify their stand. In support, of course. Because Jewish-Feminism is about egalitarianism, not a gender-restricted outlet for general Jewish victimology seeking to revel in, tinker with, but ultimately neither solve nor accept their perceived “second class citizen†status.
I would therefore suggest that the Jewish community institute Sunni style circumcision for girls, and choose real gender parity. However, in the off chance that women decline to elect taking that step, then they should instead accept that not everything in Judaism need be nor should be reconciled with purist notions of egalitarianism.
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Your underemployed correspendent is spending Thanksgiving in New Orleans with family. Today we did much of “the big tour” and I am busily posting photos to my mom’s blog, New Orleans Kvetch. Here’s one I thought would be of interest to the Jewschool community, given all the excitement about JCCs in the comments today.
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Today’s Judaism Today, I mean, New York Times reports on the University of Chicago’s annual smackdown between latkes and hamantaschen. There’s no contest as far as I’m concerned (savory all the way), but it sounds like a good event:
On Tuesday, the debate began in the audience even before the speakers, in academic robes and funny hats, paraded with all their pomp and circumstance under the competing latke and hamantasch banners.“They made hamantasch Republican!” said Will Cohen, 19, a sophomore sociology major, recalling in horror a political analogy from last year’s debate.
His friend Al Shaw, 20, who is studying philosophy, said, “They should be,” adding, “They’re doughy.”
Mr. Cohen, betraying his blue-state sympathies, countered, “But the latkes are greasy and slimy.”
Mr. Shaw interrupted, “And working class,” adding, “Only the rich elite eat a hamantasch.”
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For some, today is a national holiday that goes with Thanksgiving just like potatoes compliment the turkey and stuffing. After we spend a day stuffing our faces and being thankful, we spend the day hustling and bustling, swiping plastic all over town. Those who want to be “in” on all the biggest sales will be happy to learn about Black Friday 2005 a new project that started up just a few years ago: “to be the ultimate collection of rumored Black Friday 2005 deals.”
However, those who want to make a statement and mediate on anti-consumption and non-consumerism instead choose to celebrate Buy Nothing Day, founded originally in 1989 by Adbusters Media Foundation, a group based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
I am a huge supporter of Buy Nothing Day. Two years ago, I celebrated this holidy quite strictly. Some friends of mine and I made over 100 fliers completely out of junk mail that we handed out in Harvard Square in Cambridge to shoppers and other passers by, as we ate leftover vegetarian chili out of reusable bowls and drank tea from recycled plastic mugs. When confronted about the holiday, we always insisted that we were not extremists attemping to shut down the US capatalist system, rather we felt it was important to raise awareness about overconsumption, particularly on this major day of shopping.
A good friend of mine admitted that he felt he was not able to strictly observe Buy Nothing Day, stating: “I observe Buy Nothing Day once a week. It’s called Shabbat. The day after Thanksgiving has really good sales; I don’t make a lot of money, I rarely have time to shop, and I need to take advantage of the time off and discounts when I can.”
So, in my message to you Jewschool readers, whether or not you already know if you will be observing Buy Nothing Day this Saturday in honor of the holy Sabbath, to take into consideration the questions below (recommended by Adbusters) the next time you consider buying an item. I promise I will not chastise you if you decide not to observe strictly this year. That being said, if you are someone who is not shomer shabbat (in a strict sense of not spending money on Shabbat) and you feel you could benefit from this 24 hour consumerism fast, I highly challenge you to take the plunge.
For the earth and for our bank accounts, please shop mindfully.
Do I need it? * How many do I already have? * How much will I use it? * How long will it last? *Could I borrow it from a friend or family member? * Can I do without it? * Am I able to clean, lubricate and/or maintain it myself? *Am I willing to? *Will I be able to repair it? * Have I researched it to get the best quality for the best price? * How will I dispose of it when I’m done using it? * Are the resources that went into it renewable or nonrenewable? * Is it made or recycled materials, and is it recyclable? * Is there anything that I already own that I could substitute for it?
[Editor's Note] Also see “Remember the Sabbath,” a column from Adbusters by Douglas Rushkoff.
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As hard as it is to market an institution to both secular and religious Jews, it is even harder to market an institution to both gentiles and religious Jews. The gym is perhaps the hardest facility of the Y to keep closed, as the weekend is an obvious choice to get in a work out or two.
Since 1874, the 92nd Street Y has been closed on shabbes. Beginning in January, the gym will be open on shabbes. Religious Jewish programming will also be available for the first time.
Y spokeswoman Alix Friedman denied that opening the gym on shabbes was financially motivated in any way, but the Times did the math. “6,000 members at $925 a year works out to more than $5 million, a significant portion of the Y’s $50 million annual budget.”
The Times noted that the Upper West Side JCC keeps its fitness center open on shabbes as well.
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Credit Where It’s Due: Yesterday, the great intellectual linguist Noam Chomsky Hillel Halkin wrote in the New York Sun that Sharon’s decision to leave the Likud in order to pursue unilateral disengagement from the West Bank is proof that,
“his many critics on both the Left and the Right who accused him of carrying out disengagement as a mere ploy for remaining in power while under investigation on corruption charges owe him an apology. At this point of his life, he clearly cares about disengagement more than about power.”
Halkin noted that he,
“should have realized that the man who, in 1973, chose the risky offensive tactic of crossing to the Egyptian side of the Canal over remaining in safe defensive positions on the Israeli side, would prefer in 2005, to go for broke again. At the age of 77, Mr. Sharon, it is now clear, does not want to serve out one last term as a prime minister who cannot accomplish bold things.”
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Thanksgiving at the End of November: A Secular or Religious Holiday? (With an Appendix about Halloween) by Rabbi Michael J. Broyde
Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday. It is no longer (and perhaps never was) a celebration affiliated with any particular religion or faith, although some in America celebrate with religious ceremonies. On a social level, it is celebrated by Americans of a broad variety of religious backgrounds. This article discusses the halachic issues related to the different forms of celebrating Thanksgiving that one witnesses in America currently. In particular, this article will focus on whether the holiday of Thanksgiving is essentially a religious holiday, a secular holiday, or an ambiguous one… (more)
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