Sh’ma at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in SF
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Hip Hop and the Holocaust
One of the last members of the Auschwitz women’s orchestra has got a new crew: Esther Bejarano is now dropping beats with the Cologne-based rap group Microphone Mafia.
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Holocaust Torah Scrolls, and Judging Favourably
Hatam Soferet’s inbox today twinkled with forwards of this Washington Post article.
Basically, there’s a guy, R’ Youlus, whose shtick is rescuing sifrei Torah from Nazi-stricken Europe – removing them, restoring them to usable condition, and rehousing them in America. (As someone with a personal interest in resurgent European Jewry I have my reservations regarding the idea that the appropriate way to “rescue” a sefer Torah is to remove it to America, mind you.) Jolly good. He’s been doing this for some years. A generally laudable project.
This article suggests that perhaps all is not quite as it should be in the realm of R’ Youlus’ sifrei Torah, that these are no more genuine Holocaust-surviving continental sifrei Torah than they are splinters of the True Cross.
In particular, certain highly-coloured, heart-wrenching tales of dramatic Torah-scroll rescues don’t appear to stand up so well to close examination.
There was a legend of a Torah scroll that had been hidden under the floorboards at Bergen-Belsen…[R' Youlus] came to Bergen-Belsen on a tour and literally fell into a hole in the corner of the floorboards, felt something strange, suspected that this might be where it was. It was dug up. Indeed it was the Torah, fully there. After some negotiations, Rabbi Youlus was able to purchase the Torah…But Youlus’s discovery at Bergen-Belsen comes as news to the historian at the camp museum. “I can definitely exclude that there could have been a find of the Torah scroll on the grounds of the Bergen-Belsen Memorial” in recent years, writes Thomas Rahe.
That sort of thing. Well, you can read the article yourselves and see what you think. Wouldn’t be the first time a pious-looking person has fleeced people by selling fake relics.
But. More »
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Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
Am I the last person to know that such an exciting group of activists exists? They seem to be classifiable as “special” in all sorts of new and creative ways.
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Which Temple Israel?
Hey Jewschooliverse,
How many of you listen to WFMU or follow their blog? If you do, as I do, you saw their post this evening:
Temple Israel Senior Youth Group Presents: The Troubadors
Here’s a nice album that a friend of mine found somewhere or other, knowing that it would be much to my liking. And he was right (and thank you very much, Stu!).There’s no indication of when this album was recorded, or where this Temple is or was located. I don’t think I can add anything to what is written on the back cover, so I’ll refer the reader to those notes, linked below.
Check out their post for mp3s for each of the album tracks.
But here’s the question: Does anyone know which of the 100′s of Temple Israels put together this album? Or when? Or why?
And, while we’re asking questions… Did your youth group do anything similar? The only thing my youth group did was come together and attempt to lynch me for coming out – but that doesn’t really have the same lasting effect as an album.
xo,
TWJ
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More on the War on T’filin
You may have heard about the 17 year old kid who thought it would a be a great idea to wrap t’filin on a US flight and got the whole plane diverted because everyone thought it was a bomb or something.
Comedian Joel Chasnoff had a similar, significantly funnier experience with the TSA and t’filin. Here’s the video.
Joel’s new book, a comedy/memoir about his time in the Israeli army, The 188th Crybaby Brigade: A Skinny Jewish Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah comes out next month.
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Biblical Art Collection Now Online
A nice new index of Biblical art is online now, thanks to the Tali Education Fund. It’s not the first-ever of its kind, of course, and there’s nothing technically amazing here, but its organization–by subject, artist, medium, etc.–is useful and will hopefully be a boon to teachers and others looking for one stop shopping on “visual midrash.”
Here‘s the site.
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Interfaith Jamming in the Desert!
Just learned that the great alt-Jewish band The Sway Machinery recently played at “Le Festival au Désert” – an amazing international music festival held annually in the Sahara desert near Timbuktu, Mali. Apparently, SM played before a largely Muslim audience and performed with several local African musicians as well.
Koudede was followed by Sway Machinery’s own set. They were strong and energetic. They brought the audience into their groove within seconds. While (band leader Jeremiah) Lockwood sang singing in Hebrew, the Muslim crowd respected the music and showed its appreciation by dancing along. Haira Arby joined the group for their final song and showed once again her mastery of music. She was immediately in the groove and brought her own authenticity to the number.
The Sway Machinery website reports:
In an unprecedented act of intercultural exchange, underground rock cult favorites and iconoclastic champions of historic Jewish music traditions, The Sway Machinery, have been invited to perform at The Festival of the Desert in Esekane, Mali, in the depths of the Sahara Desert this January. The Sway Machinery will bring its unique vision of Jewish Spiritual Music traditions to the heart of Islamic Africa, performing for an audience of thousands!
While in Mali, The Sway Machinery will record a new album, featuring collaborations with stars of the Malian music world. A documentary film about this journey is also in the making!
“The Sway Machinery Pilgrimage, as they have entitled their Africa project, is a beautiful example for the world of the great role artists can play in building bridges of love and understanding between cultures. This project is of clear importance in establishing new and positive images of Jews and Muslims engaging with each other” (Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Chairman, Cordoba Initiative).
I wish I could find a clip from the set at the Festival. In the meantime, click above and check out their recent performance at the Krakow Jewish Culture Festival. (First one to recognize the Jewish liturgical lyrics gets the door prize…)
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The Vort: Bo – Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
In the spirit of great Jewess/puppeteer Shari Lewis, creator/host of the children’s television show Lamb Chop’s Play-Along and author of the revolutionary awful “One-minute Bible Stories” for children, this week I would like to share with you some very brief musings on Parashat Bo. I would like to thank Ben Fink for co-writing this piece with me.
Among the many episodes contained within this week’s Torah portion, we read of the Hebrew families in Egypt painting their doorposts with the blood of a slain lamb. The idea here is that the blood-covered doorpost will serve as a marker of the Hebrew home, and the first-born child will be saved. In killing the pascal lamb and partaking of its blood, each Hebrew father assumes the role of Abraham: slaying an animal in lieu of his beloved son.
On the one hand, this gesture represents a collective validation of the children of Israel. On the other hand, these latter-day Abrahams are not subjected to nearly as dramatic a test of faith as Abraham experienced. If every father thus is made a patriarch, the role of patriarch is then not revolutionary, but merely functionary.
Shabbat shalom.
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A Primer on the World Zionist Organization: No more than an arena for dividing the spoils
Ron Skolnik is the Executive Director of Meretz USA, a 501c3 educational nonprofit affiliated with the World Union of Meretz, whose Israeli affiliate is the Meretz-Yachad party holding six three seats in the Knesset. Originally written for Israel Horizons.
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
– George Orwell, “1984″, Part 1, Chapter 1
Consider this a primer in the underside of Zionist politics. At first blush, not the most riveting topic in the world. But don’t reach for the delete key just yet – unless you really aren’t concerned about how decisions get decided, deals get dealt, and money gets divvied up. And, to tell you the truth, it’s an incredible Orwellian tale, if you take the time to navigate the labyrinth.
You see, unbeknownst to most Jewish Americans, even those active in the Zionist world, the democratic nature of the Zionist movement is under severe attack – in the name of democracy and Zionism!
For those who don’t have the patience, here’s a three-bullet executive summary:
- The World Zionist Organization (WZO) has a hand in policy and controls millions of dollars.
- The World Zionist Organization is controlled by its 500+ elected delegates.
- The large Zionist organizations with the lion’s share of delegates want to consolidate control of the WZO by dismantling the electoral process.
Now to fill in the details: The World Zionist Organization is the international umbrella and operational arm of the Zionist movement. Its various departments support Zionist education, the cultivation of young leadership, and settlement (link in Hebrew only) throughout Israel – unfortunately including the West Bank and Golan Heights.
According to the latest reports, the WZO holds approximately $85 million in assets and works off a budget of $12-$14 million dollars a year. Just as important, the WZO has a 50% share in the running of the Jewish Agency, whose annual budget is close to $300 million. More »
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el es frida kahlo: opening in St. Louis
If you’re anywhere near St. Louis, or are the type of person who watches videos online, check out the latest from one of Jewschool’s favorite artists, Maya Escobar, of Acciones Plásticas fame.
Bruno David Gallery
3721 Washington Boulevard
St. Louis, Missouri 63108
The gallery is open free to the public
Wednesdays through Saturdays and by appointment
Hours: 10 AM – 5 PM
Escobar writes:
el es frida kahlo will be on view at the Bruno David Gallery in St. Louis, MO from 1/22-3/6. In conjunction with the exhibition, I am offering a free embeddable animated el es frida kahlo gif.
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(Leather) Straps on a Plane!
Today, a kid’s tefillin caused an emergency landing. A plane that took off from New York’s La Guardia, and was bound for Louisville, KY, landed in Philadelphia instead.
It takes a certain level of frumkheit to want to lay tefillin at an airport or on an airplane. I have had numerous tefillin-related adventures whilst flying to and from Israel — namely, waking up with the bags and boxes on my head; apparently something about a girl in pants on a plane makes her an inanimate object to the ultra-Orthodox — but never in the States. This 17-year-old, however, was operating, er, davening by himself, and it appears he was not violating anybody’s personal space. He just wanted to do his ritual on the plane at a time he found to be appropriate for shacharit.
According to the AP, via the Washington Post, Tefillin boy said he explained himself, and the flight crew said his explanation didn’t make any sense. You know the sad song – the teenager tells the truth and parents just don’t understand!
I’ve always found it strange that I can bring knitting needles on a plane. Knitting needles, which are like a weapon waiting to happen, are allowed on a plane, but my nearly empty tube of toothpaste gets trashed because it at one point contained more than 3 oz. of Colgate.
Tefillin sure look funny, but do we really live in a world where people can’t figure out that they’re not dangerous through either (A) a clear conversation, (B) context clues, like a prayerbook, (C) your eyeballs or (D) asking someone else to help explain? You can’t tell me there weren’t other Jews or someone else who had ever seen a Jew on that plane — it went out of LGA!
In these uncertain times, where it’s possible to smuggle oh-so-many things on a plane or even into an airport, such as exploding underwear and romantic idiots, you sort of hope that the tefillin aren’t being used to house stolen or dangerous goods, and are rather just the vectors of meditations meant to serve as “God antennas” to those who travel with them – male or female.
More from: Gothamist, NY Daily Intel, and Tablet.
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More Days, More Ideas: Catching up with Sieradski
Daniel Sieradski‘s creativity has continued unabated since our last update on his 31 Days 31 Ideas project.
One common thread among many of the latest ideas is the benefit of creating centralized resources for the Jewish community. You might think a self-styled anarchist would enjoy the current status quo of messy everyone making Shabbos for themselves, but Dan is first and foremost a digital native and he understands the logic of the Internet. A singular Google and a singular iTunes have replaced local telephone books and record stores. Shouldn’t the Jewish community have single web interfaces?
This principle underlies ideas:
- #10 ShulShopper for Facebook, which takes Dan’s guide to shuls everywhere to the next level.
- #11 Jmetros is Dan’s vision for JTA: a platform for Jewish news with national, regional and local aspects
- #13 Universal Jewish CRM (customer relationship manager) provides a single sign-on for all your Jewish memberships
- #14 Jewish CMS/CRM & Hosting Platform, because why should every Jewish organization and institution need to reinvent the web wheel?
- #15 Kickstarter + Back Office for Jewish Innovation, a one-stop site for innovative ideas to gain funders, tax deductibility and back-office support.
- #18 JDocs: Jewish Documentary Film Portal: One spot to watch, rent, download, and support Jewish documentaries.
A couple of ideas, however, seem to run up against the principle of centralization, inventing J-wheels where standard wheels are already rolling along quite fine:
- #16 Social Auctions suffers from the same problem of all non-Ebay auction sites: Ebay is where the buyers are. Unless… if you can make it a mitzvah imperative. Can we make TzchatkesForTzedakah.com a web destination? Maybe with the right Facebook interface. Do I want to let all my friends know that I just bid $10 for a used Star Trek model to benefit Haitian relief? Hmm….
- #19, JStock: The Jewish Designer’s Marketplace, also suffers from the same problem. I turn to iStockPhoto when I need cover art for my Jewish books… and iStockphoto.com currently has over 5000 Jewish images. Shutterstock has more than 6000. So do we need a specific Jewish site? Read Dan’s proposal for yourself.
The final ideas in this update’s minyan don’t deal with centralization, but are certainly worth discussing:
- # 12 Jewocracy lets people vote on issues facing the Jewish community.
- # 17 JCiv: Civilization (the game) for the Jews turns the classic video game into a Jewish history lesson and Jewish history into a classic video game.
Finally, Dan announced that the brainstorming project will continue through February, as Jewschool, JTA, The Forward, eJewish Philanthropy, Jewcy and the Jewish Federations of North America play tag team with Dan in producing 28 more ideas.
So: What are your thoughts on centralization in the Jewish community?
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Al Gore is GOD
In Episode 4 of The Adventures of Todd & God: Bal Tashhit (Do Not Destroy), a godly Al Gore teaches Todd how to go green, just in time for Tu B’shevat!
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What Makes a Hero?
“What Makes a Hero?” is a rough cut of a promotional video I produced for UJC’s Jewish Community Heroes awards in 2009. It wasn’t used during the campaign, but I am happy to release this long form version of the video, which features interviews with about 25 people on the streets of New York City and Brooklyn. The video was recently presented at the Limmud NY 2010 Conference.
Produced and directed by Jewish Robot, interviews conducted by Paul Berger, shot and edited by Simon Weaver.
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Post-Denominational, Pluralist, Reform, etc.
Crossposted to The Reform Shuckle. Limmud NY is mentioned in this post. For my Limmud NY 2010 wrap-up post, go here.
If it’s on Facebook, you know it’s official. So officially, I’m “Jewish – Pluralist, Reform, etc.” Labels are a big thing for me and I finally figured out why at Limmud NY this year.
I went to a panel called “One-Foot Judaism,” in which three rabbis — Renewal Rabbi David Ingber of Kehilat Romemu, Orthodox woman Rabba Sara Hurwitz of The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, and Reform Rabbi Leon Morris of the Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning — were asked a series of fairly big and random questions. Some questions came from the audience and one came from me. Knowing full well what Leon would say (he and I have had this conversation a few times), I asked,
How useful are labels? Are they a helpful shorthand for describing a person or are they detrimental and limiting? Are they good, bad or harmless?
Sara and Leon answered, but David did not. Leon said what I expected him to say, that it’s both good and limiting and that he struggles with it, but embraces the word Reform. Sara said something that Leon and I later remarked to each other was exactly what we’d been thinking, but had never actually found the words for. For Sara, the word Orthodox enables her to be who she is. Today, there is nothing remarkable about a woman being a rabbi, unless she is Orthodox. So Sara is who she is and is remarkable because she is an Orthodox rabbi. That a label can enable you to be someone special sounds very powerful to me, as a totally atypical example of a Reform Jew.
So now back to “Jewish – Pluralist, Reform, etc.” When I first attended Limmud in 2008, Facebook said I was “Jewish – Reform.” Between Limmud NY 2008 and Limmud NY 2009, it said “Jewish – Observantly Reform Litvak.” Now that Limmud NY 2010 has come and gone, what shall my labels be in the coming year?
I’m pretty happy with the words Reform and Pluralist right now, but there a few little things itching at me. Let’s take the word “denomination” for a moment. For many, the words Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, and Renewal are all denominations. But I’d conflate Reform as a denomination with Reform as an organized movement, something which I’m adamantly not a part of.
So if I’m not a member of a denomination and if I’d even go so far as to say that I think the denominational system is at least a little bit intellectually bankrupt, does that mean that I’m *gasp* post-denominational? Does it make me post-Reform?
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Israel Is Not Special
Friend of the blog and semi-frequent Jewschool commenter Yaakov shared the following piece with me, about the reactions in some quarters to the news coming out of Haiti about what an incredible job the Israeli rescue team and field hospital are doing.
In it, Bradley Burston contends very simply: if you can’t give credit to Israel for one good act, there’s something wrong with your approach. As he puts it (emphasis added, quote is taken mid-way through the essay):
“… Over the past week, the work of the Israeli medical team has become a kind of Rorschach for how people view Israel and Israelis. Most of the comment, it must be said, is supportive. Even on the part of those who cast the humanitarian misery in Gaza in contrast.
But for a shocking number of others, the bottom line is simple: Israel, and Israelis, can do no right…
The contention is that Israel sent aid to Haiti on purely cynical motives, harnessing public relations to divert attention from the Goldstone Report, to divert attention from Gaza, to divert attention from its never-ending, always expanding internal crises.
The implication is that Israel, and Israelis, are constitutionally incapable of doing good for its own sake. Or that whenever they appear to do good, people of conscience should recognize that the evil designs behind it render any good that may be done, complicit in wrongdoing.
True, it is willful blindness to contend that Israel can do no wrong. But it is nothing short of racism to maintain, in Haiti and in general, that Israelis can do no right.
Israel, like all countries where war is endemic, like much of the unfortunate world, and like Palestine, is a nation whose people have been ruined, distorted, permanently traumatized, emotionally stunted. Yet Israelis, like people in all countries where war is endemic, and like Palestinians, have demonstrated enormous reservoirs of humanity under inhuman stresses.
As Palestinian-American journalist Ray Hanania wrote of the Israeli aid effort this week: “200,000 Haitians died in an earthquake. They sent doctors and supplies to help. That is a good thing. Just because we are fighting with Israel doesn’t mean we should sneer at that assistance to people in need. YES, I wish Israel could show the same compassion for Palestinians. But Israel and Haiti are not at war and Israelis and Palestinians (mainly Hamas and the settlers) are.” …”
It’s been a needle stuck in my craw for a while, a background scratch of fingernails on chalkboards, just how many human beings live on this Earth for whom Jews, and for whom Israel, are not “normal” — who relate to us, all of us, not as fellow human beings with agency, opinions, and not-particularly-outlandish existences, but as:
- characters from the Bible, archetypes who exist to fulfill prophecies;
- lucky talismans, who can do your taxes right or channel God’s blessings onto you;
- demons, who steal children and organs and can barely help their own warmongering;
- angels, who can do no wrong, who are something even more than human;
- political tools, a good route to cash, to elected office, and a good scapegoat when your plans go awry.
Some things are just obvious, but they seem like special wisdom when they burst through the ever-present fog of agendas and caricaturization. (Jews &) Israelis can do bad things. (Jews &) Israelis can do good things. Just like everybody else. (Incidentally, that’s also why I believe in working to make Israel and Jewish society more just places — if they were essentially evil or already perfect, there’d be nothing to improve.)
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Just ’cause…
…sometimes at 11:30 at night you have to listen to Yehudit Ravitz (and Yoni Rechter). The song is דמעות של מלאכים/Tears of Angels.
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