by Kol Ra'ash Gadol [➚] · Monday, November 27th, 2006
Rabbi Jill Hammer speaks about narrative, practice and embodiment.
“On paper, you’d think that two semi-heretical, queer-identified, post-renewal/post-denominational Jewish spiritual leaders would agree about everything. But as we’ve taught together, useful differences have emerged. I tend more toward meditation, Jill toward narrative and ritual. My spiritual practice tilts toward the ayin, emptiness; Jill’s toward yesh, or form. And of course, I’m a man and Jill’s a woman.
As luck would have it, Jill and I both have books coming out this Hanukkah season. Her “Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons†was published in September by the Jewish Publication Society; my book, “God in Your Body: Kabbalah, Mindfulness, and Embodied Spiritual Practice,†was published this month by Jewish Lights. Both are in large part about bringing Judaism back to the world of the senses, and to religious experience as opposed to concept and myth. That’s where we began our conversation. ”
More here
by Kol Ra'ash Gadol [➚] · Monday, November 27th, 2006
This is merely a very sweet video: former president Bill Clinton, and singer Liel with a choir of (as she puts it) Jewish and Arab children. I don’t know if the Arab children are Israeli or not.
by Mobius [➚] · Monday, November 27th, 2006
- Rabbi Yisrael Rozen of the Alon Shvut settlement in Gush Etziyon — you know, the liberal religious settlement — has called for the creation of unauthorized Jewish militias to wage attacks against Palestinians in response to rocket fire from Gaza. “The eternal response to terror is counter-terror, an eye for an eye,” said Rozen.
- The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations will play host to Israeli protofascist Avigdor Leiberman on his visit to New York this week.
- Blowhard Charles Krauthammer attacks the premise of the Borat film, claiming that antisemitism isn’t a problem in America, despite all evidence to the contrary.
- After an Israeli soccer victory over France, a Jewish fan of the Israeli team escaped a near-lynching by French fans after a police officer opened fire into the mob chasing him, killing one.
- Jewish congressman Henry Waxman announced his intentions to launch several investigations into the ongoing misconduct of the Bush administration.
- Israel will spend a quarter-billion dollars to increase tourism to Israel. The 25% of Israelis living below the poverty line have obviously had their needs met.
- Democrats attack Carter for calling Israel an apartheid state.
by Mobius [➚] · Monday, November 27th, 2006
The Voice of America reports,
Some groups contend the new U.N. Council might be even worse than the discredited Commission on Human Rights that it replaced. They say the Council has become obsessed with the Israeli-Palestinian issue to the near exclusion of the vast majority of the world’s human-rights violators.
Since the Council was inaugurated in June, it has held two special sessions dealing with the situation in the Gaza Strip and one special session on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon in August.
Even U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who pushed strongly for the creation of the Council, says it should broaden its focus and look at as many situations as possible.
“Whether their meetings coincided with the Lebanese war, or not, they have tended to focus on the Palestinian issue, and of course, when you focus on the Palestinian-Israeli issue, without even discussing Darfur and other issues, some wonder what is this Council doing? Do they not have a sense of fair play? Why should they ignore other situations and focus on one area?,” Mr. Annan asked.
Full story.
by Jewish Robot [➚] · Monday, November 27th, 2006
by Mobius [➚] · Sunday, November 26th, 2006
Frances Fukuyama was the first to go. A once prominent member of the Project for A New American Century, Fukuyama broke ranks with the Neocon establishment as early as 2003, denouncing the Bush administration’s Iraq War strategy and announcing his intention to vote against Bush in the 2004 election. In early 2006, Fukuyama came out in full force against the war, proclaiming the philosophy of Neoconservativism itself a disastrous failure.
Fukuyama cleared the way for fellow PNACers like William F. Buckley, a once staunch advocate of the war, to insist in the pages of The National Review that it was time for Bush to cut his losses and wrap things up in Iraq.
Immediately after the 2006 midterm elections, war architect Richard Perle — also a member of the PNAC — decided it was safe to come out of the closet, telling Vanity Fair, “I think if I had been delphic, and had seen where we are today, and people had said, ‘Should we go into Iraq?,’ I think now I probably would have said, ‘No, let’s consider other strategies.’”
Mind you, these concessions say nothing of the now well-established fact that these same men and their colleagues engaged in the wholesale manipulation of intelligence (on a scale that would render William Randolph Hearst a baal keri) in order to lie America into a now conclusively unwinnable war.
But old habits die hard, as they say, and for those who have not yet come around to the Realists’ side of the fence, the mistruths continue unabated, though the drumbeat of war is set to a new rhythm called Iran.
More »
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Sunday, November 26th, 2006
After an extraordinary festival earlier this fall, they posted a reading online by Taha Muhammad Ali in Arabic, and Peter Cole in English, of Taha’s poem, “Revenge.”
Bit of background they offer: In 1948, Taha fled from Galilee to Lebanon with his family when their village came under heavy bombardment during the Arab-Israeli war. A year later, still a teenager, he went back across the border and settled in Nazareth where he still lives, now as an Israeli citizen. When he is not reading and writing poetry, he runs a souvenir shop.
View the reading here.
by Mobius [➚] · Sunday, November 26th, 2006
According to LAist, Michael Richards’ publicist is running around town swearing up and down that Richards is a Member of the Tribe. There’s just one problem: Despite whatever Jewish heritage he may possess, Richards was raised a Catholic and is currently a practicing Freemason.
Sorry, but no posthumous admission of Jewishness is gonna let you off the hook for this one. It doesn’t make you look good, it makes us look bad. So I’m gonna side with the Jewish Journal on this one. Michael Richards: Not a Jew.
by matthue [➚] · Sunday, November 26th, 2006
Debbie Friedman
One People
Jewish Music Group; 2006
Rating: 8.902
In 1987, Roots frontman Tariq “Black Thought†Trotter and drummer Ahmir “?uestlove†Thompson were a three-piece street group, playing for spare change on a makeshift drum kit, a Casio keyboard, and no microphone. The trio was completed by Scott Storch, a white Jewish kid from Philly who went on to collaborate and ghost-write several of Dr. Dre’s latter-day compositions, including Kiss of Death, The Chronic 2001 and work on Eve’s debut Ruff Ryders’ First Lady.
It’s fundamentally ironic that the same genetic line to create Storch also spawned Debbie Friedman, an underground and independently-made songwriter who’s toured for several years without the support of a major label. From playing small synagogues and underground synagogues, she’s gone over the course of several albums to playing major-label synagogues and sold-out arena synagogues. Anyone who ever doubted Friedman’s ability to sell out will be pleasantly taken aback by her latest collection One People, whose title clearly alludes to D.C. funk-punk pioneers Q and Not U’s song “Wonderful People,†whose lyrics “The future’s always brighter/the building’s always lighter†are the spiritual grandfather to Friedman’s song “Sing Unto God†when she proclaims: “Sing a new song and rejoice/Cry out with joy from your heart.â€
Unabashedly post-ironic in a way that shows due respect to her progenitors like Smog and the Postal Service (whose influence on songs like “We Return to You†is remarkable for similar guitar tunings and shimmery lullaby-like verse structure), Friedman combines the religious sensibilities of gospel and Tuvic throat chanting with an indie-pop-punk-bubblegum-malt-ball-infused upbeat songwriting sensibility to produce a collection of songs that manage to gain depth without being overtly preachy—much like a 7 a.m. Sunday morning gospel broadcast on a high-numbers A.M. radio station. Tell it, Debbie Friedman!
Kafkaesque but shiny, songs like “Sow in Tears, Reap in Joy†and a Doug Moensch-inspired “Sh’ma Ko-Lei-Nu†display a flexibility and turn of phrase that listeners can identify with, but feel alienated from, not unpleasantly. Clearly subversive lyrics like “God bless our country/and all who lead us†allude to the domestic dissention and the holes that creep through the net of mistrust and unease that have sprung up. The earnestness with which Friedman sings “God guard our borders/keep us safe and strong,†juxtaposed by the climax of the final verse “May we be free of hate and war/lay down your swords and shields/Nations will not fight again†markedly exfoliates Friedman’s keen sense of comedic timing and sharp-edged (pun intended) sense of poetic justice.
All in all, another masterful entry in the Debbie Friedman canon.
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Sunday, November 26th, 2006
Amidst travel and much much family time (whew) I did squeeze in some interesting TV moments, including catching CNN highlights in the airport this afternoon, particularly this beauty of a story.
The GOP group at BU is starting a white scholarship, which Republican Party on a state and national level have stated that they do not endorse.
Brian Dodge, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party, said the state party did not endorse the scholarship. “Their actions are misguided and offensive,” he said.
This blog piece highlights one particular point that I think is the most cogent part of its argument, which is the need to address education, not only at the college level, the but the huge disparities in education that people receive starting at an early age, and how those disparities impact low-income people and people of color.
More »
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Saturday, November 25th, 2006
Yes, you’re reading right. My sister sent this to me the other day. Why not, I believe in energy.
With the knowledge that two US Anti-Submarine Fleets are en route to the Persian Gulf, an activist couple are calling for the first annual synchronized Global Orgasm for Peace.The Global Orgasm for Peace was conceived by Donna Sheehan, 76, and Paul Reffell, 55, whose immodest goal is for everyone in the world to have an orgasm Dec. 22 while focusing on world peace.
”The orgasm gives out an incredible feeling of peace during it and after it,” Reffell said Sunday. ”Your mind is like a blank. It’s like a meditative state. And mass meditations have been shown to make a change.”
The couple are no strangers to sex and social activism. Sheehan, no relation to anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, brought together nearly 50 women in 2002 who stripped naked and spelled out the word ”Peace.”
This started a “mini-movement” called Baring Witness.
From their press materials:
Our minds influence Matter and Energy fields, so by concentrating our thoughts during and after The Big O on peace and partnership, the combination of high orgasmic energy combined with mindful intention will reduce global levels of violence, hatred and fear.
“Our feelings about yet another escalation of war are not unlike what initiated and spawned Baring Witness.Org. in Pt. Reyes Station, California. Again, it is time to try something new. We are inspired by Princeton University’s Global Consciousness Project as a scientific way to measure and honor our efforts.†said Donna Sheehan.
Read more here and here.
And then do some prep work online here and here.
crossposted to JVoices
by Mobius [➚] · Thursday, November 23rd, 2006
Via The Flickr Israeli Street Art Group, brought to you by Jewschool.
by Mobius [➚] · Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006
The night I came up with my now infamous kaffieyh tzitzit (aka tallit kattan shel Shabbatai Tzvi) one of the thoughts that crossed my mind was to create a blue and white kaffieyh laden with Magen Davids instead of black diamonds. The scope of the project was well beyond my means, but it was one of those brain crack ideas I kept on the back-burner, awaiting the right moment in which I could finally pull it off.
Well, it looks like I’ve been beaten to the punch — and by someone coming from a very different place than I.
Personally, I conceptualized “the Jewish kaffiyeh” as an art piece — a commentary, if you will, on the nature of Jewish extremism in Israel, and what I viewed then as the narrowing gap between Jewish and Muslim extremists in the Occupied Territories.
For Mark Israel, creator of the kaffiyeh yisraelit, “The Khaffiya has become a trendy accessory among students but has obvious connections to the Arab cause preventing Jews from wearing it. Our idea was to produce an Jewish/Israeli version that would allow the wearer to identify themselves with Israel and at the same time be fashionable.” In that, Israel wanted “to allow Jewish people to wear this popular item without any reference to being a supporter of Arab or anti-Israel groups.”
As an art piece, I consider it an intellectual provocation — a think piece, if you will — particularly when contextualized within the safe setting of an art gallery. As a fashion accessory? I find it a somewhat troubling co-optation of a Palestinian symbol of resistance — one with a lot of baggage, as the kaffiyeh rises in ascendancy on the far-Right and the far-Left as a symbol of explicit hostility towards Israel and its supporters.
Let alone the fact that, in hipster enclaves such as Berlin and Brooklyn, the kaffiyeh is so ubiquitous it’s already passe, as a fashion item it is viewed by many in the Palestinian solidarity movement as a trivialization of the Palestinian struggle. As an explicitly pro-Israel rendition of a “fashionable” kaffiyeh? Frankly, I’d be afraid to walk the streets in one of these. You’re just looking for a fight.
That said, I’m still going to get one. But only because I thought of it first. 
Pre-orders, props, and hate mail can be directed to mark at bianca-alena dot co dot uk.
by Mobius [➚] · Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006
The Israeli authorities have censored posters of Borat sporting his signature neon-green singlet because they are “indecent.” However, if Shlomo Amar gets his way, that’ll be the least of Sacha Baron Cohen’s worries.
Should Cohen and his bride-to-be, Isla Fisher, choose to make a life for themselves in the Holy Land (yeah, right, who am I kidding?), Fisher, who has recently converted to Judaism, may no longer be eligible for Israeli citizenship under the right of return. Amar has petitioned the government to deny citizenship to Jews who are not considered halakhically Jewish — ie., those whose mothers are not Jewish, or who did not receive an Orthodox conversion.
Luckily for Cohen, a Habonim veteran with an Israeli mother, he already has Israeli citizenship, so Fisher could apply for citizenship as his spouse, bureaucratically-choked a process as that may be. But for those who have made the leap to non-obtuse forms of Jewish observance and have committed to a life in an already inhospitable nation, should Amar succeed, their good deeds shall not go unpunished. That is, of course, unless they can dribble a ball.
Yay, theocracy!
by Mobius [➚] · Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006
TMZ:
Did Michael Richards attack the Jews? Two Los Angeles residents have come forward and said that’s exactly what happened last Spring at L.A. comedy club, The Improv.
Carol Oschin and J.P. Fillet say they were at The Improv on April 22 when Richards took the stage. They say that in the middle of Richards’ skit, a man in the audience said something to the comedian, when Richards allegedly launched into an anti-Semitic rant. According to Oschin, Richards screamed at the audience member, “You f***ing Jew. You people are the cause of Jesus dying.”
Full story, plus ultra-apropos t-shirt at T-Shirt Hell.
by Mobius [➚] · Tuesday, November 21st, 2006
As you may have noticed, my server’s been having a major cow lately. Nobody can pinpoint the problem precisely. John Brown and I have put in quite a noble effort, but I’ve decided I’ve gotta get out of the webhosting business before I lose what’s left of my hair. Thus, Jewschool is going to be in flux over the next day or so as I move to a new hosting company that will actually manage the server for me. Feel free to comment, but please be aware that your posts may go poof between now and then.
Sorry for the troubles.
[Update] If you can see this, we’re good to go, and you can comment again!
by Josh Frankel [➚] · Tuesday, November 21st, 2006
Check this out, all of you who think Israel is a backwater theocracy. As reported in Ha’aretz Israel now recognizes same-sex marriages conducted overseas.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel that filed the petition on the behalf of the couples, argued before the court that the Interior Ministry’s refusal to register them as married compromises their right to equality and to hold family life, and is based on “homophobe social perceptions.”
The court rejected the position of the State Attorney, that states recognizing single-sex marriages cannot expect Israel to recognize such nuptial agreements drawn in these countries.
The state told the High Court that “Israel lacks the appropriate legal framework for such marriages,” and therefore it cannot register them.
While, I am happy about the result, there are a few problems that can’t be overlooked. First off, the State Attorney is right. Israel does not have the appropriate legal framework to handle same-sex marriage. In fact, the high court also ruled today that foreign civil marriages could only be ended through the rabbinical court system. It will be very interesting to see what happens when the first same-sex couple tries to get a divorce, chas v’chalila. Also, as is typical in Israel, the gap between the judicial ruling, and the actual practice of the executive can be quite wide. We probably shouldn’t celebrate just yet.
Aside from these technical concerns, the implications that the ruling have for Israeli society are quite troubling. The court was split 6-1, and while that might sound like a compelling majority, the one dissenting justice, Elyakim Rubenstein, is also the one religious Jew that sat on the court. While I have not read any of the court’s opinions, the impression that I, as long as many others quoted in the Ha’aretz article, have is this split is not coincidental. This majority opinion that did not include Rubenstein unfortunately furthers the tensions between the secular and religious communities, and deepens the growing schism and suspicions. After the riots earlier this month, it would have been nice to have seen justice carried out in a way that would have brought solace and harmony, but, for the time being, I guess we will have to make do with justice alone.
by Mobius [➚] · Tuesday, November 21st, 2006
Last night’s Darfur rally in Zion Square drew about 350 people, by my estimate, primarily young Orthodox yeshiva and seminary students of non-Israeli origin, some of whom wore ever-so-neutral orange hatzilu et amei Darfur t-shirts. The speeches, given by Jewish students and educators from across the spectrum (secular to Orthodox), were primarily conducted in English with supplemental Hebrew, and invoked several biblical precepts regarding the love of one’s fellow and saving a world by saving a life. Attendants were also led in prayers and chants of “Never again!”
The highlight of the evening was the speech by “The Ambassador,” Eytan Schwartz, who drew attention to the fact that 250 Darfurian refugees are still behind bars in Israeli prisons, treated as enemies of the Jewish state (as I’ve reported on previously). He is helping coordinate an effort with The Holtine for Migrant Workers to grant these refugees asylum in Israel.
The event kind of reminded me of Tisha Ba’av at the kotel: Everyone was supposed there for a really intense, meaningful purpose, but instead stood around socializing. Nonetheless, it was an impressive turnout though I’m not sure about the coverage it received, other than in The Jerusalem Post. It did manage to raise awareness among some onlookers, as I myself was asked by several passers-by what the rally was all about.
The evening, somewhat ironically, concluded with maariv, with the men and women separated accordingly. (Gender oppression? Naw…) But it was moving to see so many young men and women praying for the Darfurian people, as it was superb finger in the eye of those who would dare suspect Jewish leadership on this issue of being motivated by anti-Muslim politics.
More photos here.
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