by chillul Who? [➚] · Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
Now we’re talking. Just in time for your Shavuot Night Torah Study, the American Jewish World Service has launched On1Foot.org, a user-editable repository of social justice-oriented texts from Jewish tradition.
If you were wondering where in the Jerusalem Talmud is the original source for the dictum “one who saves a single life has saved the world entire”, a simple search yields Sanhedrin 4:22.
If you’re looking for a well-spoken prophet of antiquity who railed against the exploitation of the poor — Amos pops up with some choice words.
If you are curious what statement was made by some Jewish leaders arrested working for civil rights in Florida in 1964, you can read a passage from it here.
It’s a veritable wiki-concordance of “tikkun olam”! Here is how it is described in an announcement from AJWS:
On1Foot is an online, open source database of Jewish social justice texts. We invite you to visit On1Foot to explore this exciting new resource for Jewish social justice education.
On1Foot allows users to:
- Search and browse hundreds of biblical, rabbinic and contemporary Jewish texts about social justice
- Upload new texts
- Comment on existing texts
- Create custom source sheets using the texts and suggested discussion questions
On1Foot is a project of American Jewish World Service and is co-sponsored by AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps, Hazon, Tzedek, Mechon Hadar and Uri L’Tzedek.
As we say down here in the District: Happy learning!
by chillul Who? [➚] · Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
Last night I attended a program featuring Congressman Jared Polis at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in DC. Polis is a progressive, freshman representative from the Boulder, Colorado area. He’s also the first gay Jew elected to Congress. And in my imagination we’ve just eloped to MassachUtah, the magical land of same-sex polygamy (my other husband, of course, being my awesome boyfriend).
Congressperson Polis answered questions from an interviewer and from the audience on a wide range of topics. He spoke about his Jewish background and how his upbringing influenced his political values. He talked about being the first politician elected to Congress as an out gay person, and how his partner Marlon is popular with his Republican colleagues. “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” and the need for change in that policy came up a few times along with other LGBT rights issues like outlawing workplace discrimination, and he told stories about speaking with military officials, Iraqis, and Afghanis as part of a congressional delegation to the war zones. Polis had a lot to say about education as well, as the former director of a network of charter schools for older immigrant high school students. He also expressed his take that while a single-payer national health care system would be ideal, the currently ascendant framework of a public option to complement the private health insurance companies would function adequately. You can find out more about the Congressman, his life, and his politics by reading his blog.
But anyway, enough about politics. He’s brilliant, gregarious, funny, and totally cute. If you’re in Colorado’s second district and agree with his positions, re-elect him. I’ll just sit here staring off into space and doodling “CW + JP” in my notebook…
by Justin [➚] · Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
During their first meeting in their official capacities as heads of state, Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama offered no surprises.
Netanyahu refused to explicitly mention two states while he did make vague references to some sort of Palestinian “self governance” and Obama made clear that US foreign policy is to have an independent state of Palestine along side a Jewish state of Israel established as soon as is possible.
It seems that, as should be expected, Israel’s security is obviously “paramount” to both US and Israeli interests and in that regard no one should expect a drastic policy change from the US.
Many people on both sides of the pond were saying that each leader was going to tear the other leader “a new one” and that simply didn’t happen. By most accounts in the media, the meetings between Netanyahu and Obama, and also between their aides, were respectful and cordial and all around not so out of the ordinary.
The two spent most of their time focusing on Iran, where it seems that Israel has given America a few more months to go the diplomatic route before reevaluating their position (which should be read, IMHO, if we don’t see progress using your methods, we will use our own methods).
In my opinion, as an American tax payer, I would like to see President Obama be much more forceful with PM Netanyahu in encouraging him to diplomatically and politically use explicit language in accepting a sovereign Palestinian state, rather than a self-governed occupation, which is apparently what he is interested in. It seems diplomatically preposterous to me for the Netanyahu government to make demands, such as that the PA must recognize Israel as a Jewish state (which is actually different than the demands of the past to recognize Israel’s right to exist) while simultaneously denying the right for the Palestinians to their own state. We all know, no matter how hawkish or hard-lined Bibi and his cohort may be, any Israeli government is beholden to their American overlords simply because of a matter of funding. So, in that regard, if the US president wants to see the Israeli PM in negotiations under the premise of establishing a Palestinian state, it would be nearly impossible for any PM to avoid such a fate.
Needless to say, this meeting is a clear reminder of the nature of the US-Israel relationship, where Israel is beholden to the interests and desires of the US and the US does not seem to have it in their political will or interest to force into to make the hard choices the world would like to see it make. What will be interesting to keep an eye on is how Obama reacts when Israeli settlements continue to grow, and Israel continues to actively change the “facts on the ground” to deepen their hold on the areas surrounding Jerusalem, and also if Obama (or his staff and envoys) will eventually make more direct statements regarding the separation barrier and its route.
For a full transcript of the press conference following the Obama/Netanyahu meeting click below.
More »
by David A.M. Wilensky [➚] · Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
Jewlicious alerted the world today to the latest expansion area for the Worldwide Jewish Conspiracy–Summer music festivals. Apparently, the Shabbat Tent team has actually been at this for years, but I’d never heard of it until Jewlicious mentioned an upcoming Shabbat Tent at the Wakarusa Music Fesitval, which will feature Matisyahu.
The basic concept is simple. Set up abig tent at a music festival on Shabbat and let them come. Jews, goyim, whoever. Services are organized, kiddush is made, people hang out, etc. Sounds like a good time to me! It reminds me a little of the stories you hear about Carlebach in San Francisco.
I’m totally intrigued by this concept and I love it. Anyone have firsthand experiences with the Shabbat Tent that they wanna share?
by dlevy [➚] · Monday, May 18th, 2009
Want to see the cutting edge of eating? It’s not the locally grown, free-range kosher chicken co-op I recently joined. It’s not the raw food movement or the slow food movement or even the creeping horror that New York has unleashed into the world that places calorie counts on fast food menus (coming soon to Boston and beyond)!
No, the best thing to happen to food, perhaps ever, happened tonight, in my kitchen.
I give you…
Deep-fried Tofutti Cuties
(This is what happen when you leave me and TheWanderingJew alone with a deep fryer and free time.)
And you can do it too! Take one Tofutti Cutie. Cut it into smaller pieces. (I like it cut in thirds; TheWanderingJew liked it cut in half.) Roll it around in crushed up Rice Krispies mixed with a dash of cinnamon. Dip into tempura batter. Roll it around again in the Rice Krispies. Deep fry in Canola or your favorite vegetable oil. Share and enjoy.
Suck it, JCarrot! Eat dirt, KosherBlog! The cutting edge of kosher deliciousness is in my belly.
by Danya [➚] · Monday, May 18th, 2009
The Jewish Standard reports,
As the community continues to struggle with the high costs of Jewish day school, the Jewish Center of Teaneck is planning to launch an after-school program in the fall to supplement a public school education.
The synagogue’s Rabbi Lawrence Zierler revealed plans on Tuesday for what he called “an open yeshiva.” The four-day a week after-school program geared toward fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-graders will provide b’nai mitzvah preparation, Jewish education, and Hebrew language arts.
“With this economic crisis there will definitely be families that can no longer afford going to the day schools and will be looking for some way for their children to still get a secular education and follow that up with a Jewish education,” said Eva Gans, the center’s expected incoming president. “If this works for them then we’re doing a service for the community.”…
“It’s not an old-fashioned cheder,” he said, referring to the classical model of intensive Hebrew programs. “It’s giving people the skills you need to live well as a Jew but at the same time in an exciting environment.”
Now, obviously the economic crisis and its impact on people’s ability to pay pricey day school tuitions is the Standard‘s lede here (so let’s cue the discussion in comments on how and whether day school can be made more affordable for more people in this post-Madoff era). But I find a lot of the language used here (“to live well as a Jew but at the same time in an exciting environment”, eg) very interesting. It sounds, basically, like a slightly frummer (maybe) and possibly younger (sometimes, sometimes not) version of programs that have been doing excellent work around the country for years, whether Boston’s Prozdor, LA Hebrew High, Berkeley’s Midrasha or many others like it in various cities around the U.S. Granted, some of the parents who send their kids to Midrasha or Prozdor do so because they choose public school and living in the larger culture as a value but also want their kids to have some Jewish grounding, others do so for the same reasons that the Jewish Center of Teaneck’s parents would–because day school is not a (financial) option.
Of course, one center opening isn’t going to have a significant impact on Orthodoxy in America…. but what if it signals the beginning of a greater trend among some segments of Orthodox Jewry? Is there a chance of returning to a more “modern” Modern Orthodoxy, of the sort that was much more prevalent 40 years ago?
ETA: A few things to stand corrected on, here, none of which mitigate the question of day school as more, or possibly now less, inevitable given pressing financial realities. Is the day school tuition model broken? Is there enough financial aid to go around? Is it better for the Jews if it is broken and everybody has to retool? Do supplementary programs hold a candle to the grounding kids get in a more comprehensive (day school) Jewish education, and if not, what will that mean if more people are moving away from the day school model?
by Aryeh Cohen [➚] · Monday, May 18th, 2009
In honor of the 83 year and 10 month anniversary of the so-called Scopes monkey trial (conceived as a publicity ploy by the city elders of Dayton, Tennessee and ending up as a film polemicizing against the McCarthy witchhunts) I bring you the all-important Jewish connection.
One aspect of the defense strategy was to produce expert witnesses who argued that there was no contradiction between the biblical accounts of creation and the theory of evolution. Although the judge ultimately agreed to the prosecution’s motion to not allow the experts to testify, their testimony was read into the record (and became a part of the mythical trial in the form of “Clarence Darrow’s” [=Spencer Tracy's] cross examination of William Jennings Bryan [=Frederic March]). One of the experts on Bible who made the argument that all the problems stem not from the bible but from the King James translation, was none other than Rabbi Herman Rosenwasser (HUC ordainee, 1908; MA from the Western Reserve University of Cleveland in semitics and philosophy). He contributed the following to the defense:
In the first chapter of Genesis, the word ‘Adam’ is used. The word Adam means a living organism containing blood. If we are descended from Adam we are descended from a lower order—a living, purely organism containing blood. If that is a lower order of animal, then Genesis itself teaches that man is descended from a lower order of animals.
and also
If the Hebrew Bible was properly translated and understood, one would not find any conflict with the theory of evolution which would prevent him from accepting both. [creation and evolution]
(His full testimony is available here at page 227.)
While both of these claims (the former even more than the latter) are, you know… hooey, they did make for good cinema.
Happy Scopes week!
by Kol Ra'ash Gadol [➚] · Monday, May 18th, 2009
This is a reminder that AJWS is accepting applications to the Dvar Tzedek Lisa Goldberg Memorial Writers’ Fellowship for 5770 / 2009-2010. The deadline is June 1.
AJWS Dvar Tzedek Fellows receive a modest stipend and write weekly Torah commentaries relating to the Jewish imperative for social justice. They invite you to apply for the fellowship and to circulate information about the fellowship to anyone you think would be interested.
For more information, please contact Lisa Exler at lexler@ajws.org.
by Shalom Rav [➚] · Sunday, May 17th, 2009
In the wake of the news that Avigdor Liberman is now trying to outlaw memory itself, you should know about a coordinated effort by rabbis across the country to provide a Jewish remembrance of the Nakba. Remarkable, important gatherings organized last Thursday in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and the Bay Area…
by David A.M. Wilensky [➚] · Sunday, May 17th, 2009
I get these regular e-mails from Eichler’s because they have an annual sale on tzitzit that I’ve enjoyed for a few years now. But I also find the e-mails immensly entertaining. For instance, the price on this Ten Commandments commentary is a riot.
Shavua tov.
by EV [➚] · Saturday, May 16th, 2009
According to a full-page advertisement in The Forward, available as a pdf here, New York Senator Charles Schumer will be making a “Special Appearance” at an event in Central Park that apparently opposes a two-state solution, is opposed to negotiations over Jerusalem, refers to settlers as “heroic pioneer families,” insists “No! To The Surrender of Any Part of Israel,” and commits the cartographical catastrophe of depicting a map of Greater Israel, complete with annexed Territories, in the form of a guitar that stretches into Syria.
by Justin [➚] · Friday, May 15th, 2009
In an expansion of the racist rhetoric and legislation put out by Avidgor Lieberman of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, it has been announced that in the coming week the party plans to present legislation to the Knesset to ban the marking of al Nakba, or “the Catastrophe”, the term designated by the Arab community in Israel and Palestine for the destruction and expulsion experienced leading up to and during the war in 1948 when Israel declared its independence. It is no coincidence that this announcement comes today, May 15, the Gregorian date of Israel’s independence which is annually commemorated by Arab communities and those in solidarity with them.
According to the Reuters report anyone caught participating in the commemoration of al Nakba will be arrested and sentenced to a three-year jail term.
During the campaign in February Lieberman made himself internationally known by demanding that any citizen of Israel who votes in future elections must submit to a “loyalty pledge,” which the 20% Arab minority claimed was leveled specifically at them to deny their right to vote. In addition, considering the Netanyahu administration has been cold, if not outright hostile, towards the establishment of a Palestinian state in the occupied territories, this type of legislation does not bode well for encouraging peaceful coexistence.
What Lieberman is attempting to do here is to not only undermine peoples’ right to freedom of expression, but even their basic human right to freedom of thought. Freedoms such as these are at the core of democratic society. To infringe on the ability to freely express one’s opinion is, itself, undermining democratic institutions. Between the demand for loyalty pledges and the banning the ability of a minority population to remember their experience and their history, Lieberman is aiding the further erosion of any moral upper-hand the Jewish state may have at one time held. Legislation such as this further entrenches the cultural mindset of occupation, and brings that worldview from the territories deeper into Israel proper.
Amidst illegal housing evictions in East Jerusalem, settlement expansion in the occupied territories inside and outside of settlement blocs, a government coalition that denies the right to a Palestinian state while demanding the recognition of a Jewish one, and now parliamentary legislation dictating how people remember their personal narrative, the future for Israeli democracy looks bleak.
by Rooftopper Rav [➚] · Thursday, May 14th, 2009
I just got a huge announcement in a tiny email:
We are pleased to announce the opening of Yeshivat Mahara”t, an Orthodox Yeshiva of Higher Learning, founded by Rabbi Avi Weiss of The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale.
Yeshivat Mahara”t (Manhiga Hilchatit Ruchanit Toranit) will train women to become Orthodox Spiritual Leaders– full members of the Rabbinic Clergy– in Synagogues, Schools, and on University Campuses.
Resumes and letter of interest should be emailed to Mahara”t Sara Hurwitz at sarahurwitz@yahoo.com, or call 718-796-4730, ext 107.
by Danya [➚] · Thursday, May 14th, 2009
Here’s your lame apology of the day, via Talking Points Memo :
Arkansas state Sen. Kim Hendren, who is currently the only announced Republican candidate for U.S. Senator against Democratic incumbent Blanche Lincoln in 2010, has apologized for referring to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as “that Jew,” at a county Republican meeting last week.
“I don’t use a teleprompter and occasionally I put my foot in my month,” Hendren told Arkansas blogger Jason Tolbert.
“At the meeting I was attempting to explain that unlike Sen. Schumer, I believe in traditional values, like we used to see on ‘The Andy Griffith Show,’” he explained. “I made the mistake of referring to Sen. Schumer as ‘that Jew’ and I should not have put it that way as this took away from what I was trying to say.”
As my friend Yehuda observes, the real point of interest here is that the implication is that Jews are not traditional, but that a TV show that ran from 1960-1968 is. Awesome.
by Kung Fu Jew [➚] · Thursday, May 14th, 2009
Also, Jewschool’s favorite dope, the ADL’s Abe Foxman, defended the Pope’s visit to Israel on the grounds of encouraging ongoing good relations between the Catholic and Jewish communities. I forget that as much as I can’t stand the man’s worldview on Israel and anti-Semitism, he’s not totally offensive. Just mostly.
by dlevy [➚] · Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
Dear Readers,
Jews, as you may have gathered, often have opinions. And it is my opinion that certain ideas in circulation have gotten so warped through vapid repetition that they have entered the domain of lies. Yes, you heard me. LIES.
We, as a people, value education and text. So, in the coming weeks, I am embarking on an occasional series here at Jewschool entitled Lies We Were Taught in Hebrew School. I will be attacking, head-on, the sorts of alleged truisms that get repeated and repeated so often that they have become utterly divorced from anything resembling truth. It is my hope that by debunking some of these commonly-propagated myths, we can elevate our discussions with knowledge, rather than resort to pithy aphorisms.
“What,” you may be asking, “is he talking about?” Well, dear readers, I’ll give you some examples. The first post in this series is entitled 613 is a Meaningless Number. Bold? Absolutely. An overstatement? Perhaps. But are you intrigued? Read on.
More »
by Ari Hart [➚] · Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
Exactly one year to the day after revelations of highly treif labor practices at Agriprocessors, Uri L’Tzedek, the Orthodox Social Justice Movement, is publicly launching the Tav HaYosher, the ethical seal for kosher eating establishments. “After seeing the pain and suffering inflicted by our own kosher industry on the stranger and the poor, the very people the Torah demands we protect, we realized we needed to be proactive and make a change,” said Shmuly Yanklowitz, founder and co-director of Uri L’Tzedek. “We asked ourselves – how can we, as Orthodox Jews, create a system to protect the standards that Jewish law and ethics demand?”
Check out the Tav HaYosher blog for the list of restaurants that carry it, more information on the project, and how you can get involved.
Also posted at – JTA, JCarrot, Chicago Tribune, Mixed Multitudes.
by TheWanderingJew [➚] · Monday, May 11th, 2009
Is this the twilight zone? What parallel universe has Yeshiva University Chancellor Rabbi Norman Lamm been living in?
According to Lamm, Reform Judaism has never played a role in American Jewry, and Conservative barely has. And the increased membership in Reform congregations is only because when you “add goyim to Jews then you will do OK.”
He claims that only Modern Orthodox and Hareidim will play a role in the future of American Judaism. “The future of American Jewry is in the hands of haredim and the modern Orthodox. We have to find ways of working together.” He is wrong. No, the answer is not doing kiruv to Reform and Conservative Jews (and, no, those denominations are not about offering a “watered down” version of Judaism).
His opinions are arrogant, insulting, and completely out of touch with reality. That someone with his (potential) influence, overseeing a large institution of students, teachers, and future leaders, can spread such a twisted version of history is amazing. Had he said, “denominational Judaism was disappearing,” sure, I wouldn’t disagree. But the blurring of denominational affiliation, the rise in independent and unaffiliated communities, does not mean “Orthodox wins!”
(It also seems like Lamm was just looking forward to having a soapbox, as he took the opportunity to talk about the Pope, interfaith relations, and homosexuality as well.
follow us on Twitter
follow us on Facebook
subscribe to our email