by Cole Krawitz · Thursday, August 31st, 2006
For those of you who love text study, or just enjoy reading different interpretations of Torah, JVoices has three different readings on this week’s Parasha, which examines the Torah’s prohibition on cross-dressing. For Rabbi Eli Kukla and Reuben Zellman, prohibitions are not always as they appear. Jill Weiss gives a personal account of growing up in an Orthodox Jewish commmunity and coming to understand her identity as a transgender woman and Aaron Freeman provides a little comic relief.
Enjoy!
by Rooftopper Rav · Thursday, August 31st, 2006
Nearly 20 years, 9 addresses, and 3 states later, NCSY has found me. Ironically enough, I belonged to NCSY for one year long ago, mostly because the USY chapter in my town represented a gathering of some of the meanest and most cliquish kids I’d ever met. However, my NCSY tenure was brief. Even back then I was asking too many questions about women and Judaism and egalitarianism.
I hadn’t thought about the experience in years, when all of a sudden a few months ago I started receiving mail from NCSY at my current address (again, 9 addresses and 3 states removed from my NCSY days!). They all start “Dear NCSY Alumnus…” and end by asking for money. The tone of the letters has become increasingly ridiculous, as evidenced by the letter I received at the beginning of this week. Here are two excerpts:
Today’s average Jewish public school teen believes Israel really belongs to the Palestinians and that the stories of the Holocaust are greatly exaggerated. Needless to say, they date non-Jews almost exclusively.
Once they’re out of high school, we’ll never be able to find them, and their children may never know that they’re Jewish.
The hyberbole is striking. As someone else who saw this letter remarked to me, in two sentences NCSY manages to manipulate the Holy Trinity of the Jewish community’s fears (Israel, the Holocaust, and the existence of Jewish babies). The text also implies a direct connection between one’s politics on Israel/one’s knowledge of the Holocaust and one’s choice of romantic partner, as if someone with different ideas about Israel will, “needless to say,” wind up partnered with a non-Jew. (I’m not sure that my acquaintances are a representative sample, but virtually all the post- or non-Zionists I know are active, religious Jews who are in– or seeking to be in– relationships with other Jews.)
Anyway, even if the above statements were all true, I’m still not interested in giving money to an organization whose pedagogical goals seem to include fostering a totally uncritical support for Israel, basing one’s Jewish identity on the Holocaust and victimization (anyone remember those tearful NCSY seudah shelishits?), and producing Jewish children early and often simply for the sake of producing Jewish children (and not, say, for the sake of the good those Jewish children might do in the world).
Please, before you jump down my throat, let me be clear: Israel is very important to me, I believe all Jews should be competently educated about the Holocaust in specific and genocide in general, and I also believe that Jewish babies should continue to thrive. However, using hyperbolic scare tactics to catalyze people into giving to an organization like NCSY is doing really annoys me. It’s the same thing Chabad often does, and it’s one of the reasons that lots of secular Jews, many of whom don’t give to other Jewish causes that more represent their values, give to Chabad.
by Rooftopper Rav · Thursday, August 31st, 2006
Dr. Tikva Frymer-Kensky, the groundbreaking feminist Bible scholar, died today after a long battle with cancer.
Her official University of Chicago biography is below:
Tikva Frymer-Kensky’s areas of specialization include Assyriology and Sumerology, biblical studies, Jewish studies, and women and religion. Her most recent books are Reading the Women of the Bible, which received a Koret Jewish Book Award in 2002 and a National Jewish Book Award in 2003; In the Wake of the Goddesses: Women, Culture and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan Myth; and Motherprayer: The Pregnant Woman’s Spiritual Companion. She is also the English translator of From Jerusalem to the Edge of Heaven by Ari Elon (Alma Dee, original Hebrew).
by Y-Love · Thursday, August 31st, 2006
Today the German Der Spiegel ran an interview with Charlotte Knobloch, president of the German Jewish Council. In her interview, she warns of growing resentment towards Jews:
SPIEGEL ONLINE: When you took office you said one of the main focuses of your work would be the struggle against right-wing extremism. Has the conflict in the Middle East worsened anti-Semitic attitudes in Germany?
Knobloch: It has, unfortunately. I see an absolutely hostile attitude towards Jews and Israel. Signs that read “Israel — Child Murderers” are being carried through the streets at demonstrations here, for example. The police don’t confiscate these placards. Persons that deal with the issue only marginally, or not at all, are influenced negatively. That’s the basis of this hostile attitude. You can find it everywhere. We’re currently organizing a fundraising concert, for example, and even there we get negative, anti-Semitic mail. No distinctions are made. We’re sucked into the current Middle East conflict one hundred percent, as Jewish citizens in Germany.
She points out people like Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, the Minister of Economic Aid and Development who is an outspoken critic of Israel, calling for UN investigations into Israeli cluster bombs and slamming Israel for breaching international law in Lebanon, as “encouraging” the sentiment.
While anti-Semitism in Germany is certainly no surprise, Germany is one of the most stringent countries vis-a-vis Nazi-style rhetoric, criminalizing public displays of swastikas and pro-Holocaust speech.
But when the president of the German Jewish Council describes the mood there as “absolutely hostile” following the incursions into Lebanon and Gaza, and says “I’ve never experienced anything quite like this. It’s on a new level,” I think it behooves Jews of the world to at least glance at the situation of our German counterparts.
Crying out in reaction to an IDF-committed injustice is one thing. Doing so in front of swastika-concealing anti-Semites is something else entirely. Some people can’t make the distinction between “Jews” and “Israel.” Some people don’t even want to.
by Kol Ra'ash Gadol · Thursday, August 31st, 2006
I’ve heard all this before. A few years ago, a very close friend went to Limmud and there had a complicated conversation with an Orthodox attendee, in which the upshot was, “I don’t know why you Conservative Jews are so set on being ‘Conservative.’ Just call yourselves ‘creative orthodox’ or something, and be done with it. That will solve your problems.”
Now, I actually don’t think that that would be the end of it. I do think that we have a self-image problem, but I don’t think we have just a self-image problem. I think we have a self-image problem, an other-people’s image problem, along with several other problems, some of which are our own making, and others of which are not. Some of which may solve themselves, or already are, and some of which will remain problems because of the cultural milieu in which we bathe. I do think very few of our problems are about the sorts of things that Rabbi Schorsch was complaining. What are some of the problems? Well, we can spend a desert island’s stay worth of discussion time on the matter (and we have, and will), so I won’t dwell on it here.
But, nevertheless, I think that Shmuel Rosner does have a certainpoint to make, and that we would do well to quit chewing our cud and move on to doing things differerently - or even doing them the same, but doing, teaching and being faithful to God, rather than discussing this question endlessly, which really ultimately, is beside the point. And if we don’t remain the center of American Jewry? Well, so what? What’s important is that we do what we believe, through study of halacha to be true and right in serving God and being holy. And when we decide what that is, then we need to teach it and do it, even if we might lose some members in doing so.
Text below:
What’s wrong with the Conservative Movement?
A year ago, in one of the first articles I wrote from Washington, I chose to write about the Conservative Movement in Judaism. The occasion was somewhat strange: The decision by the USCJ’s public policy committee to send a letter stating that John Roberts, President Bush’s conservative nominee to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, “is qualified to serve.”
However, this was more an excuse than a reason. What I really wanted to highlight (and I was in no way the first to do so) was the crisis within the movement. For years, “the Conservatives were at the center of American Jewry. The mainstream. What then happened is similar to what is also happening in the political world and to American Jewry in general: The flanks are getting stronger, while the center is weakening.” It was not a big scoop, but rather a pending issue on which many people commented and had an ongoing debate.
I was reminded of this piece yesterday, reading a long piece in Slate by Samantha Shapiro. “I grew up in the Conservative movement,” she tells the readers, “and my religious ideals line up with it in many ways. Yet I agree that it often misses the mark and suffers… from ‘a failure of nerve.’” Most of her article is dedicated to the farewell speech made by Ismar Schorsch, the outgoing chancellor of New York’s Jewish Theological Seminary, in which he criticized the movement in a rather harsh manner (you probably heard about it before, if not, read about it here). Her conclusion: “The project of looking squarely at the demands of our time and Jewish texts is both true to Jewish tradition and badly needed at this particular historical moment, and I wish it didn’t seem to be faltering.”
So here’s what I think about this piece: It’s part of the movement’s problem, not part of the solution. As long as such pieces will be published (and I’m not suggesting this should somehow be banned), the Conservatives will only suffer from the one real problem they have - a self image problem.
This came up in a long conversation I had a while ago with Prof. Arnold Eisen, the man who was surprisingly chosen to be Schorsch’s successor. “There’s a problem with morale,” he said dryly, and then moved to highlight the “potential.” What’s the point about whining over “the crisis.” This, he said, will not take Conservatives anywhere. And Eisen believes there’s plenty to do besides complaining about the current state of affairs.
Truth must be told, he was somewhat vague when he talked about the place of Conservatives, squeezed between the Orthodox and the Reform. “There are overlaps,” he willingly admitted, “but there’s room in the middle.” A clearer message is needed in order to define the boundaries of this room for the benefit of the community members.
Since I wrote my piece about the movement a lot has changed. For once, Eisen was chosen, Schorsch has retired, the committee dealing with possible ordination of gay rabbis and acceptance of same-sex marriage is very close to completing its work (The Jewish Forward reported last Friday what was practically something everybody knew by now, that “The ordination of gay rabbis and the sanctioning of same-sex marriage within Conservative Judaism is near certain.”)
“Many challenges await a leader or leaders, as well as the committees now busy with their important missions,” I concluded last year. “The challenges can be expressed thusly: The Conservative movement definitely needs to search for its path, but at some stage it also needs to find it.” And in fact, in one tumultuous year, Conservatives did find quite a lot, they achieved some remarkable goals.
One can convincingly argue, that for the past year it was the most vibrant Jewish movement - not because its daily activities were somehow more impressive than they were in the past, but rather because the movement has acknowledged and dealt with mercurial problems, and because it was ready to enter the operation room for a risky procedure. So far so good, signs of life are still visible.
by The Town Crier · Thursday, August 31st, 2006
This is a very strange story that has a very strange ending. Basically, A man was upset because his wife was a lesbian cheating on him with another woman. He sought the advice of his rabbi who advised him to put special sand on the other woman’s doorstep and his wife would return. The man mistakenly involves his son, and things go awry…
by Mobius · Thursday, August 31st, 2006
Photo by Joanna Steinhardt
by Danya · Thursday, August 31st, 2006
Global Links series: Culture, Conflict, and Identity
Moderated panel discussion
In conjunction with the exhibition Sovereign Threads: A History of
Palestinian Embroidery, the Craft and Folk Art Museum hosts a panel
discussion with artists, scholars, and global thinkers on cultural and
national identity in the face of conflict, exile, and globalization.
Panelists include:
Dr. Laila Al-Marayati, former president, Muslim Women’s League
Dr. Sami Shalom Chetrit, Center for the Study of Religion, UCLA
Dr. Aryeh Cohen, dept of Rabbinic Literature, University of Judaism
Dr. Suheir Daoud, dept of Political Science, Pomona College
Hanna Elias, filmmaker/peace activist, The Olive Harvest (2004)
Sandy Tolan, Graduate School of Journalism, UC Berkeley
Moderated by:
Dr. Cecelia Lynch, Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies, UCI
Sunday, September 17, 2006, 4pm - 6pm
Goethe-Institut Auditorium
5750 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Free parking available at the Goethe-Institut
$10 Non-members / $5 CAFAM Members
Seating is limited and guaranteed only with a paid reservation.
RSVP: 323.937.4230 x50
Related exhibition
Sovereign Threads: A History of Palestinian Embroidery
On view through October 8, 2006
5814 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036
T. 323.937.4230
www.cafam.org
by Kol Ra'ash Gadol · Wednesday, August 30th, 2006
Well, what more is there to be said, really?
“JEWISH PROGRAMMING FOR COMCAST AND BLUE RIDGE CABLE TELEVISION SUBSCRIBERS!
DON’T MISS OUT — ORDER TODAY!
Programming on Shalom TV is for every Jewish home!
All during the month, Shalom TV features 50 hours of meaningful, entertaining, and educational telecasts on a Video On Demand format. Watch what you want, when you want, and as often as you want for one low monthly price.”
All right - I have to say, looking at the programming schedule, it might bear giving it a chance, if you’re into television, and you are jonesing for Jewish programming.
by Cole Krawitz · Wednesday, August 30th, 2006
Following on Ruby K’s great post below, the JTA syndicated a piece that recently ran in Lilith magazine called, “Who cleans your home?“:
I am sitting in a Brooklyn diner, having breakfast with Marlene Champion, 61, a tall, striking woman from Barbados. Champion makes her living as a domestic worker, and right now she works as a nanny caring for a 4-year-old girl in Brooklyn Heights. Champion is also an active member of Domestic Workers United, a Bronx-based organization fighting for domestic workers’ rights. In the 16 years since she immigrated here, Champion has worked in four households, all Jewish. With the exception of one family which treated her badly, she says she’s had good relations with all of them…
Some bosses, in flagrant disregard of Jewish teachings and basic consideration, don’t pay their domestic workers on time. “Do not withhold the pay of your workers overnight,” it says in Leviticus 19:13. Or, in a striking lack of empathy, some employers don’t recognize the dire financial consequences to a day worker who may be counting on the next day’s wages to pay the rent, or feed her kids, who gets a call the night before, announcing “I don’t need you tomorrow….
Rabbi Ellen Lippmann of the Brooklyn congregation Kolot Chayeinu devoted last year’s Rosh Hashanah sermon to employing domestic workers, not a usual High Holidays theme. Lippmann cited the story of Sarah and Hagar, whom the infertile Sarah mistreats when Hagar conceives. The Ramban, Lippman said, “says Sarah sinned when she did this and so did Abraham by letting it happen.”
She added: “When we hire someone to work in our homes, we must see that person as fully human, seen by God.”…
“I could see people shifting categories, for the first time,” said Kirshenbaum. “It was like light bulbs going on. These women had thought of their domestic workers as casual babysitters, not as women who were counting on this salary to pay their own household bills. And now, they were suddenly realizing, ‘We are employers and they are our employees, and of course I get sick leave, so why shouldn’t they?’ ”
“There is no shame in hiring someone to work for us,” Kirshenbaum said. “The only shame is in not treating them well.”
Jeremy Burton over at jspot also wrote on this piece.
Domestic Worker’s United just released an eye-opening study called “Home is Where the Work Is: Inside New York’s Domestic Industry”. The interviews, stories and facts are really a remarkable compilation that will be an invaluable resource for years to come. Both JFREJ and Brennan Center provided employer surveys and interviews for the report, and JFREJ has been working with DWU and is continuing to support DWU’s work in NYC synagogue communities “over the next 2 years through advocating for change in employment practices and educating and empowering members to speak out and educate other members and the community at large about Jewish values and domestic labor.”
If you are in New York, or are a member of a synagogue and would like to work with JFREJ in making this issue a part of the social action and dialogue of your congregation, get involved with JFREJ’s Shalom Bayit campaign. For resources on best employment practice, standard working contract, sample pay stubs or to learn more about Domestic Worker’s rights in New York City, visit JFREJ or DWU’s website.
by The Town Crier · Wednesday, August 30th, 2006
This is London, indeed.
“I thought it is the normal, human thing to go to help two young girls, as we were screaming. There were people there acting like nothing happened. “
by Y-Love · Wednesday, August 30th, 2006
From Yediot Aharonot (with the apologetic update from Italian news agency AGI):
President of southern Chieti province uses ‘work makes you free’ slogan that topped gates at Auschwitz in brochure to promote local job centers, saying he could not remember source but was impressed by quote
“Work makes you free. I don’t remember where I read this phrase but it was one of those quotes that have an instant impact on you because they tell an immense truth,” Coletti wrote in the pamphlet, Ansa reported.
How’s about doing just a little research next time?
by The Town Crier · Wednesday, August 30th, 2006
SLC to issue permit for the ‘Death to Israel’ rally
Day of protests: Jewish community concerned, but acknowledges First Amendment rights
When asked if he wants to see the elimination of Israel, Breeze said: “The President of Iran has an excellent idea. . . . I would like to see them move Israel to Virginia and put all the current Virginians in a concentration camp. Then we’ll see how popular Israel is [in the United States].”
…
“I’ve never really discriminated against anybody that is Jewish. It’s not anti-Semitic to criticize Israel.”
by Ruby K · Wednesday, August 30th, 2006
Here in the US, Labor Day is approaching. Got this nice piece that ties in traditional sources and the Jewish involvement in the development of the American Labor movement, from Eli Fishman and Arieh Lebowitz of the Jewish Labor Committee. Take a read, and think about what we need to be doing to help workers have decent lives now.
(if anyone knows how to fix the hebrew, great, if not, I’ll delete it shortly as I don’t know how to fix it.)
Take it away, gents:
Jewish Labor Committee
September 2, 2006
èòèéîà÷Îøòèòáøà øòùéãéé
LABOR DAY MESSAGE
In describing the Laws of Equity, Humanity and Kindness, the Torah’s most elemental precept with respect to the treatment of one’s fellow man is found in the first chapter of the Torah’s first book, Genesis, verse 26. It is written: ‘…åðúåîãë åðîìöá íãà äùòð íéäìà øîàéå.’ “And God said: ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…’ Remembering that all people are made in God’s image, we are reminded that treating all employees with dignity that befits their humanity is a biblical injunction. More specifically there is an important passage in the Torah that unequivocally explains responsibilities towards labor: (ãéÓãë íéøáã) ‘Óêéøòùá êöøàá øùà êøâî åà êéçàî ïåéáàå éðò øéëù ÷ùòúÎàì.’ “You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he be of your brothers, or of your foreigners who are in your land within your gates.” (Deuteronomy 24:14) The Torah also explicitly calls for the prompt payment of a worker’s wages: “On the same day as his work, you shall give him his wages: the sun shall not go down without this, for he needs these wages, and sets his heart on it; lest he cry against you to God, and you will incur the guilt of a sin.” (Deuteronomy 24:15) More »
by Lilit · Tuesday, August 29th, 2006
My friend and fellow Heeb magazine Contributing Editor Adam Chandler is keeping a blog about his travels in the Middle East. His latest installment is about traipsing through Ramallah. Adam may not have any prowess with women, but he’s pretty decent as a photojournalist.
You can see his photos here.
by Kol Ra'ash Gadol · Tuesday, August 29th, 2006
A new tactic in the ongoing attempt to find new ways to be anti-Semitic. Although in all honesty, I don’t know why one would be surprised by this comment by the woman who foiled therecount. I’m sure she knows something the rest of us only suspect.
From JTA Breaking News
Harris: Elect Christians or sin
U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.), the leading GOP contender for a Florida U.S. Senate seat, said not electing Christians amounts to “legislating sin.”
“If you are not electing Christians, tried and true, under public scrutiny and pressure, if you’re not electing Christians then in essence you are going to legislate sin,” Harris told the Florida Baptist Witness in an interview last week. “Whenever we legislate sin and we say abortion is permissible and we say gay unions are permissible, then average citizens who are not Christians, because they don’t know better, we are leading them astray and it’s wrong.”
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), who is Jewish, told the Orlando Sentinel that Harris’ comments were “disgusting.”
Harris, who also described the separation of church and state as a “lie,” later issued a clarification to Fox News saying that she is pro-Israel and supports Holocaust education.
Harris, famous for her role as Florida secretary of state in stopping the 2000 presidential recount, is likely to take the Republican nomination, but lags substantially behind incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat.
by Y-Love · Tuesday, August 29th, 2006
Iran’s President Ahmadenijad challenged US President Bush to a televised debate today, to discuss, live:
“Let each one of us declare in this debate his opinion on means and ways for settling international crises,” Ahmadinejad said at a press conference in Tehran Tuesday, quoted by the Iranian News Agency, IRNA.
“We have just and balanced proposals to make based on the principles of respecting human dignity and equality between peoples,” Ahmadinejad said.
This quote, reported by UPI, was actually the only release given by IRNA which makes me lament even more the status of the average Iranian, receiving their media through news so spun it’s forming its own gravitational field.
Mr. Ahmadenijad said he and Bush needed to discuss “world issues and the ways of solving the problems of the international community.” (His Iran is the current problem of the international community, but whatever…)
Ahmadenijad also said such a debate would show “the proposals of the Iranian nation on how to run the world better, different from the U.S. method of use of force.” (What proposals are these?)
I’m actually glad the White House snubbed the debate invitation. In a battle of wits, you do not send a one-armed pixie wielding a wet tissue. Ahmadinejad has a PhD in transportation engineering, is a professor of civil engineering, and placed in the top 0.1% of all Iranian students on his college entrance exams. Bush has an MBA which, along with his military service, is marred by his substance abuse at the time, and his oratory skills — especially amongst world leaders — let’s just say they leave something to be desired.
Bush is not who you send to “defend the point of view of the free world” against a polished propagandist. No matter the merit of the message or the veracity of the claim, Bush is far outmatched forensically and intellectually, and in front of a potential billion viewers, this is not a good thing.
Could you imagine? There are enough reasons one could be embarrassed to be American as it is!
by Rooftopper Rav · Monday, August 28th, 2006
From Jewish FundS for Justice:
On Thursday, September 7, thousands will rally in support of comprehensive immigration reform and immigrants’ rights.
Join the Jewish contingent at this rally, either by riding with us from NYC, or by meeting us in Washington, DC for lunch and more. Note that you must register if you plan to join us either on the bus or for lunch.
The effort to mobilize Jewish support is a project of the Jewish Task Force for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, a broad coalition of twenty Jewish organizations recently co-convened by Jewish FundS for Justice and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society . The buses from New York are sponsored by the Jewish FundS for Justice.
The rally calls for:
1. Path to citizenship for millions of hard-working immigrants
here today and those who come in the future.
2. Keeping all of our families together by reducing backlogs
and ending deportations.
3. Protections for immigrant and U.S.-born workers.
4. Strong protections of civil rights & civil liberties for all.
We have a limited number of seats available on the New York bus, so click here to reserve your spot today. The bus will leave at 8:30am from Congregation Ansche Chesed on 100th and West End Ave in Manhattan. All are invited to join Ansche Chesed for an egalitarian, traditional minyan at 7:20 that morning. We will enjoy a bagel breakfast on the bus, courtesy of the Workman’s Circle.
At 1PM, the Jewish contingent (from NY, DC & everywhere else) will gather at the George Washington University Hillel (23rd and H, NW) for a kosher dairy lunch, sponsored by the HIAS, learning about Judaism and immigration, sign-making and socializing. From there, we will walk together to the mall for the 4PM rally.
The New York bus will leave at approximately 6:30 PM from RFK stadium (blue or orange line to the Stadium/Armory station). Those who wish to stay in DC longer may join in a march to the White House from 6-8PM.
Please join us to show your support for comprehensive immigration reform! If you want to come either on the buses or for the pre-rally lunch and learn, sign up here.
The members of the Jewish Task Force for Comprehensive Immigration Reform are:
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (co-convener), Jewish FundS for Justice (co-convener), American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, Avodah, Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action, Jewish Community Action, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, Jewish Labor Committee, JCRC-Tucson, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, Jews United for Justice, National Council of Jewish Women, Progressive Jewish Alliance, Religious Action Center, Shalom Center, UJA Federation-New York, United Jewish Communities, Workman’s Circle-Arbeiter Ring
