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The first-ever Jewish television news broadcast was recently launched by The Jewish Channel. Because we need discerning audience members like those who follow every detail here at Jewschool, TLC is offering the entire Jewschool readership a free month of TJC to get your feedback. If you don’t like TJC, you can cancel at the end of the month.
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Josh Berer was raised in Victoria BC, but since 2001 hasn’t spent more than a year in one place. He is currently finishing a year in Israel spent working with the Bedouin community in the Unrecognized Villages. Edited and reposted with permission, all 29 before/after photos viewable at his blog.
In Jerusalem, and in fact all over Israel, racist scumbags spraypaint out the Arabic on street signs, or cover it over with political stickers. The message is clear: this is not your country, we don’t even want to see a trace of your heritage on our streets.
Friends of mine in Jerusalem, Ilana and Romy, started an amazing project: Re-Facing Jerusalem. They made a list of streets around Jerusalem that had been defaced, and set about putting the Arabic back. I was lucky enough to have a small role in this project over the past weekend.
I wrote 25 street signs out in Arabic calligraphy, and on Thursday and Saturday nights we drove around and stuck them back up. None of us are Arab or Muslim, but we all recognize the importance of shared existence, and are committed to the principle and reality of Jerusalem as a shared city.
General Pierre Koenig, Emek Refaim
Raban Yochanan Ben Zakai, same corner as above.
Marcus St, Rehavia.
The response of the general public was interesting. More »
I find myself surprisingly saddened by the passing of Michael Jackson. I was never the biggest fan, but I certainly have an appreciation for the musical legacy of perhaps the greatest entertainer of the past 50 years, (truth be told, I’m watching Moonwalker right now). That all said, I was totally surprised to find Eric Yoffie blogging about the Jewish response to MJ’s death:
The most widely distributed article by far from a Jewish source was the one written by Shmuley Boteach, an Orthodox rabbi and friend of Jackson, for the Jerusalem Post. Boteach’s comments were also featured on a number of TV entertainment shows. The Post article was painful to read, and for a rabbi, inexcusable. Boteach congratulates himself for accompanying Jackson to Shabbat dinners and for introducing him to Elie Wiesel. Boteach’s Jackson, far more sinned against than sinning, had no responsibility for his actions. Everything that he did is attributable to the failures of those in his inner circle. More »
Next Wednesday, July 8, I’m doing a free reading at the 92Y Tribeca with
one of my heroes. Michael Muhammad Knight wrote the Muslim punk-rock novel “The Taqwacores,” which might just be my favorite spiritual book ever. Sure, we get alterna-Jewish stuff tossed at us from every direction, but MMK started from ground zero, taking the seemingly disparate elements of punk culture and Muslim spirituality and fusing them together in a book about what matters most. (In the book, he wrote about an imaginary socio-political-art movement called Taqwacore — which, amazingly, solidified into a real movement after people read the book and were inspired to form bands. If you haven’t heard me rave about him, you don’t have to lookveryfar.
My own first novel, Never Mind the Goldbergs, was my kind of punk-rock Jewish fantasy. In it, a 17-year-old punk Orthodox Jewish girl is trying to prove to the world that it isn’t a contradiction in terms to like loud, passionate music at the same time that you like loud, passionate praying. (And then she stars on a TV sitcom, where she’s basically not allowed to be loud or passionate about anything.)
I might read some of Goldbergs and/or my memoir about becoming observant, Yom Kippur a Go-Go, as well as something new and exciting and unprepared. And then we might talk about the cultural value of revolution…
[Edited to add: sorry, Jewschool ate my HTML. Hopefully fixed now.]
The Story of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and the Cave.
You probably know this one, but you’ve never heard me tell it. It’s Shabbat 33b, if you want to read the original, but I find a certain degree of paraphrasing makes for more vivid retelling. And if your eyes are glazing over with “ugh, not another homily on Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in the Cave,” unglaze them, it’s okay, this post isn’t sappy.
Rabbi Yehudah, Rabbi Yose, and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai were sitting, and Yehudah ben Gerim was with them.
Rabbi Yehudah said, Aren’t the Romans great? They’ve done all this good stuff for us! Super markets, lovely bathhouses, and absolutely ripping bridges.
Rabbi Yose said nothing.
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said, Huh, they made markets so’s they could find whores, bathhouses for pleasuring themselves, and toll-bridges for ripping people off.
Yehudah ben Gerim spread this around (Careless Talk Costs Lives) and the Romans weren’t best pleased. They praised Rabbi Yehudah, exiled Rabbi Yose, and decreed that Rabbi Shimon should die.
Interlude on Yehudah ben Gerim, added in response to comments. Yes, this means “son of converts,” and the reader is cautioned against dismissing this with a “ugh, disgusting attitudes about converts, rotten Talmud.”
Remember “gerim” also means “strangers,” and that the Jews are in a particularly insular mindset at the moment. We’ve just had the Bar Kochba revolt; Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was a student of Rabbi Akiva, who supported the revolt and ended up being tortured to death. R’ Shimon bar Yochai and his chums aren’t so inclined to trust those on the outskirts of the community. Read it as dissing on converts if you will, but don’t get too invested in that. We continue: More »
There’s been something of a debate backstage at Jewschool this week as to whether or not it’s appropriate to post things we find on the web without comment. This, however, defies comment:
I will note that this sort of thing might be the answer to the alleged “boy problem” we’re hearing about in shuls these days. I should add that BZ strongly encourages everyone to enjoy the rap break that happens around the three minute mark.
On one side, there’s Facebook’s stance that unless groups directly advocate violence, asking Facebook to take down groups/individuals for Holocaust denial is a misunderstanding of its role. Their employees came out greatly on their company’s side, including Jewish ones. For example, employee Dave Willner very rightly explains that their company should not have “an official version of the world” against which to test hate statements. You can rightfully argue differently, although I agree such policing is the wrong road to go down.
On the other side is the nauseating activism of the JIDF and chief activist David Appletree, whose views are not separable from each other and were most easily summarized in an interview here. Regarding Obama: “We hope to continue to highlight the issues surrounding his terrorist connections…” On Islam: “99.9% of Muslims hate us…” On the conflict: “Palestinians should be transferred out of Israeli territories…”
Appletree’s ostensible goals for JIDF may be laudable (ending anti-Semitism online) but it’s used as a platform from which to spread reciprocal defamation. Islamophobes and Arab haters made poor representatives of the Jewish people for starters. But it’s particularly painful when it’s someone who’s advocating Arab transfer, selectively upholding self-determination, and makes insulting generalized claims about any people. My personal communiques with Appletree, presumably the admin behind JIDF’s Twitter profile, repeat those views.
Then there’s his misleading campaigns to Facebook advertisers that they’re “supporting” Holocaust denial. The JIDF web site manipulates the facts into an action alert targeted at 50 advertisers demanding they halt their Facebook ads. Several companies have since pulled their ads. The kind of defamtion we should be fighting becomes a tool in a campaign for retribution. More intelligent might be asking those companies to donate some proceeds to anti-prejudice groups who fight not just anti-Jewish hate but all kinds of hate.
Reinforcing anti-Arab stereotypes is also hatred. Spreading belief in a “global jihad” is the same as spreading belief in the Elders of Zion. Ignorance about Islam, Muslims and Arabs are unfortunately hatreds widely accepted as fact, especially in the Jewish community. Opinions such as “Arabs should be kicked out of Israel” and “Arabs already have 22 countries” are hatred. Those broadcasting such views should be denounced and then ignored.
Even if I could stomach the cause the JIDF is championing (in principle) or the methods it is choosing (not at all), then I still would never do so alongside Jewish haters like this. Personally, I’m against Jew haters as much as I am Jewish haters. Anyone interested in the Facebook-Holocaust denial debate best find a more credible organizer.
NYT reports that your favorite scam artist and mine, Bernie Madoff, has been given the maximum sentence for his gigantic ponzi scheme that left many broke, did irreparable damage to Jewish non-profits and gave immense amounts of ammo to “Jews control the money” variety anti-Semites.
Mr. Madoff has been sentenced to 150 years in prison, despite claiming remorse. The Judge responded, in turn, deeming Madoff’s crimes “exceptionally evil.” A fair characterization in my opinion.
Of himself, Madoff said: “I live in a tormented state now, knowing all of the pain and suffering that I’ve created. I’ve left a legacy of shame, as some of my victims have pointed out, to my family and my grandchildren.” Something tells me this was probably too little, too late.
By most, Mr. Madoff’s name will one day be forgotten, probably long before he dies behind bars for the 20 years of fraud perpetrated in the name of greed. Yet, this case highlights so much of what is wrong in the culture of money-making. One man lies, hundreds suffer, and the entire financial industries trembles. Amazing.
While many of the victims of Madoff’s crimes were famous, wealthy people, the saddest victims are clearly the individuals who went from riches to rags, over night, and perhaps more so the non-profits who lost so much and will struggle for years to recover from this loss.
Gush Shalom is petitioning MasterCard to rescind its Israeli franchisee’s coupon for tours in the Silwan/City of David neighborhood. The tours are through ELAD a lead settler organization engaging in “Judaizing” this Palestinian village just outside the walls of the Old City. Gush Shalom’s email asked supporters to send an email petitioning:
As the MasterCard name and logo were directly used, implicating your company with its world-wide business network, I feel it is incumbent upon your company to take up the matter with your “Isracard” business partners and firmly ask them to sever immediately and completely all connections with the Elad settlers.
The offending franchisee, IsraCard, defended its involvement by sidestepping the accusation, saying it conducts such coupon advertising with any government-recognized national park. IsraCard also sent Gush Shalom a letter claiming “great damage” was done to their business and leaving open the potential to sue Gush Shalom. MasterCard itself declined to comment.
Gush Shalom rightly rejected the depiction of the City of David as a normal government park:
“It is true that the City of David is officially a government park,” [Gush spokesman Adam] Keller said. “But unfortunately the the government is an absentee landlord and has given complete authority to run the park to an extreme right wing settler organization which indoctrinates anyone who visits it.”
Full email from Gush Shalom with phone numbers to IsraCard and MasterCard beneath the fold; recent Israel Channel 2 news expose about ELAD below:
The leading stories of Netanyahu’s resistance on most fronts is not doing justice to significant on-the-ground improvements in Palestinian life nor to the near-unimaginable freedom for 3-year Hamas captive Gilad Shalit. It is with begrudging acknowledgment that I note Netanyahu had to approve these measures. Is this a sleight of hand concession from him, wherein he saves face with his coalition by resisting a settlement freeze but delivers Palestinian needs on other fronts?
The magic is reportedly credited to several approaches decried by the right-wing and Bush. The most important is improved U.S. relations with Syria (and Egypt) brought extra pressure to bring Hamas to the negotiating table. A regional approach that deals with all actors together allows gains in one corner to benefit all. To stonewall Syria and punish the Palestinian populace, yet expect results from Hamas failed. It also should be seriously noted that negotiating with Hamas delivered more results than bombing them.
Personally, I am deeply encouraged. I am not letting the official rhetoric from Netanyahu distract from the progress on the big picture. Thank God for Obama, is all I have to say, and expanded diplomacy seems to be bringing in the results we need.
May Gilad come home, may the Palestinian prisoners come home. May we finally be free of this decades-long stalemate.
Kung Fu Jew is a signatory to the “We’ve Got Your Back, Mr. President” pro-peace process campaign. Sign online, on Facebook or Twitter.
You might remember the media hooplah in 2006 when DC comics introduced their newest incarnation of Batwoman, Katy Kane, who not only kicks ass but also enjoys breast and thigh. That’s right, the new Batwoman plays for my team.
Somehow, amidst all that hooplah, I missed any reference to another revelation about the society lady / crimefighter — she’s also Jewish. Apparently, DC’s Christmas special in 2006 included a depiction of Batwoman celebrating Chanukkah with her then-girlfriend Rene Montoya.
Well, thanks to Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool for bringing this to my attention.
Why is this relevant three years later? Well, this week Batwoman steps out of the shadows to take the leading role in Detective Comics, the flagship Batman book. In issue #854, which debuted on Wednesday, neither of Katy’s identities get much mention — a chanukkiah is visible in her apartment, and there’s a backup story featuring Katy’s ex-girlfriend who has assumed the mantle of The Question.
It remains to be seen how relevant these will be to the story as it unfolds. But what is clear from this first chapter is that writer Greg Rucka and artist J. H. Williams III are great storytellers. The artwork is detailed and textured and iconic without being derivative, with pages that invite the eye to linger and indulge. The script unfolds at a perfect pace, drawing the reader into the mystery at hand with just enough details to hook you in without giving away what’s happening next. I haven’t read a DC comic in years, but I had no trouble diving into this story and knowing everything I needed to know about these characters and their world. A few of the jokier lines are groaners, but that only adds to the sense that these characters are real people.
Now, Batwoman isn’t the first queer superhero, and certainly isn’t the first Jewish superhero, and isn’t even the first queer Jewish superhero (that might be Marvel’s Wiccan, from the Young Avengers… he might not have been first, but he’s my favorite, so I don’t care). But she’s certainly the highest-profile queer Jewish superhero, and she comes to the fore at a time when…. oh, hell, can’t I just be excited at another queer Jewish superhero? When one’s identity fits into a fairly small box, it’s exciting to see that identity represented in pop culture, particularly in such a well-told story. Don’t take my word for it – go out and buy yourself a comic book.
(Yes, I know I’m mixing references with the title, but I couldn’t come up with a suitable riff on Holy XXX, Batman!)
I just discovered this beautiful web site with quotes and photos by Dr. Abuelaish of three of his daughters who died in the Gaza fighting. A powerful endorsement of non-violence in the face of Palestinian extremism and Israeli belligerence: www.daughtersforlife.com. Pass it on.
It took a long time for me to be comfortable calling myself an activist. Although I have been in positions of leadership of some sort or another ever since the fateful night towards the end of the fifth grade when I forgot about Kadima elections and got voted in as the Religious Education Vice President in absentio (when I found out I sobbed), I’ve always seen a difference between “leadership” and “activism.”
When I look back, I can now trace the origin of my career as an activist to one moment, on Shabbat Shuva of 1997. The fall of 1997 began my sophomore year of college. True to form, I had found my way into several leadership positions on campus: I was director of a musical, co-chair of Hillel’s Shabbat committee, and one of four gabbaim (organizers) of the Conservative minyan.
A year earlier, I had kicked off my time in college by coming out to my parents. I had set a deadline with myself that I wanted to be out of the closet by the time I started college, and since I’m bad with deadlines, I told them as they were getting back into the car after unloading everything I owned into my dorm room. I imagined that once I told my parents, I would be “out” and it would cease to be a big deal in my life. Of course, that’s not how it works, and when a half-hour later I found myself in a room full of 40 other new freshmen, I couldn’t figure out how to share this newly open piece of my identity, so I kept quiet about it. More »
You’re young (say, under 40), post-college aged, and have moved to a new city. You want to have some sort of Jewish life, but you’re not sure what you’re looking for… For the sake of argument, let’s exclude NYC from this because, well, it’s the diaspora hotspot and you can be any number of different kinds of Jewish there, with minimal effort. But what do you do in other cities?
Seattle’s Ravenna Kibbutz got a shout out in the Seattle Times real estate section, with an article explaining their philosophy, how they’re building a neighbourhood of young Jews, and what programs they’re offering.
Founded in 2007 and inspired by other local cohousing arrangements as much as the socialist Israeli collective farms of old, the kibbutz has rapidly become a magnet for Jewish young adults moving to Seattle. Of the founders, Joel Rothschild, 30, is from Olympia; Masha Shtern, 25, from Moscow; Tamar Libicki, 24, from Columbus, Ohio; and Azura Newman, 31, is from southern Michigan.
The kibbutz recently expanded, opening its third house in late June and annexing the basement floor in one existing house when the renters moved out. Planned for the new home: chickens and more room for kitchen gardens.
Kibbutzniks describe their living situation in many ways — Jewish cohousing, a neo-shtetl, an intentional community, a nondenominational gathering place. Where the original Jewish kibbutz movement of communal farms helped build the state of Israel, modern urban kibbutzim — there are others in Israel, Toronto and Brooklyn — help young city Jews both live cheaper and stay involved in Judaism. The cheaper living also frees residents to devote time to civic projects; several residents work for local nonprofits. [Read more.]
What communities are there in your cities? Is there a Moishe House? A kitbbutz? Jewish co-housing? Groups that meet regularly to either do Jeiwsh things (going to Jewish movies) or do things with Jews (Jews going to the movies)? I’d love to see what’s happening in the comments, get some idea sharing happening…
We previously reported on that whole neo-Nazis/Heschel highway situation in Missouri. The NYTimes follows up with a second piece about it, with input from Susannah Heschel:
Missouri officials, thwarted in the past on free-speech grounds when they tried to keep the Ku Klux Klan from adopting a highway, took another tack after the National Socialist Movement adopted the half-mile stretch of road, on the outskirts of Springfield. The legislature voted to name it for Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who fled the Nazis’ advance in Europe and became a prominent theologian and civil rights advocate in the United States before his death in 1972.
Lawmakers said they hoped the new name would send a message that the area valued inclusiveness, not anti-Semitism and racism. But Rabbi Heschel’s daughter, Susannah Heschel, the Eli Black professor of Jewish studies at Dartmouth, said Monday that while she appreciated their intentions, attaching her father’s name to a road cleaned by neo-Nazis would be “vulgar” and would “dishonor” him.
Also, is “halakhic progressive” the new designation for minyanim like Shira Hadasha? Is “partnership minyan” out?
JOFA (the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance) invites submissions for its Seventh International Conference on Feminism and Orthodoxy to be held in New York City on March 13th and 14th, 2010.
Leadership within the Modern Orthodox community has, for too long, been the domain of men. Halakha has been used by those in power to exclude women from positions of authority. Traditional values and social conservatism have reinforced narrow interpretations of Jewish law. Despite this historic reality, over the past few years, we have begun to see a serious effort to change this monolithic male power model.
Halakhic progressive minyanim, such as Shira Hadasha in Jerusalem, where women lead parts of the service, have emerged as a viable alternative to traditional synagogues. A woman has recently been ordained as a member of the American Orthodox clergy and is serving in a rabbinic role in an Orthodox synagogue, and women are members of the religious staff of a number of Orthodox synagogues. More women are founding and leading serious schools of learning where women are being trained as halakhic decisors. And, in the home, more women and men are sharing responsibility for ceremonial and ritual practice, previously performed by men only.
The challenge we now face is to both accelerate these changes and at the same time make them an accepted part of the mainstream Orthodox experience. In this conference, we will explore historical precedents that can serve as models for women’s empowerment today. We will engage with texts to develop a balanced view of the halakhic dimensions of women’s leadership in communal and religious life. We will examine novel approaches to facilitate change within Orthodox institutions and traditions. We will hear from Orthodoxy’s young female leaders and scholars. Finally, we will discuss how to maximize the new facts on the ground to create a more vibrant, inclusive and democratic view of leadership within the Modern Orthodox community. We hope to address these issues through diverse perspectives and especially welcome proposals for interactive sessions, as well as those that focus on innovations in life cycle events.
Please submit a short abstract of your proposed presentation, as well as a brief CV via email to: conference@jofa.org. The final date for proposal submissions is October 15, 2009.
To the uninitiated, Rabbi Glanz’s ability to pull off such an outlandish event may seem wondrous. Certainly, concern over how the celebration came to be authorized, as it was by top Correction Department officials, has resulted in multiple investigations.
But interviews and city records show that Rabbi Glanz has a long history of access and influence, of seeking favors and performing them, and of acting as a liaison between the insular world of the Satmars and elected officials.
For two decades, he has been something of a Satmar master of ceremonies, arranging official tours of the community, based in Williamsburg, translating Yiddish for political leaders, charming mayors and their aides with gifts, then soliciting money and support for his sect’s priorities.
One Jewish political operative defends Rabbi Glanz thus:
(Rabbi Glanz) is the kind of person who would go anywhere any time to help somebody – I would never question his motivations, even in this case.
Anywhere, any time? Pardon my cynicism, but I’d say the salient point here is “…soliciting money and support for his sect’s priorities.”
The line between post-modern absurdity and shande fur de goyim continues to blur…
Michael Muhammad Knight wrote the Muslim punk-rock novel “The Taqwacores,” which might just be my favorite spiritual book ever. Sure, we get alterna-Jewish stuff tossed at us from every direction, but MMK started from ground zero, taking the seemingly disparate elements of punk culture and Muslim spirituality and fusing them together in a book about what matters most. (In the book, he wrote about an imaginary socio-political-art movement called Taqwacore — which, amazingly, solidified into a real movement after people read the book and were inspired to form bands. If you haven’t heard me rave about him, you don’t have to 
to the world that it isn’t a contradiction in terms to like loud, passionate music at the same time that you like loud, passionate praying. (And then she stars on a TV sitcom, where she’s basically not allowed to be loud or passionate about anything.)
NYT 
You might remember the media hooplah in 2006 when DC comics introduced their newest incarnation of Batwoman, Katy Kane, who not only kicks ass but also enjoys breast and thigh. That’s right, the new Batwoman plays for my team.
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