This is a guest post by Nikki Ralston, Director of Online Communications at Hiddush, a non-profit working to advance religious freedom and equality in Israel.
The mysterious inner workings of Israeli politics can produce some strange bedfellows, or should I say ‘coalition partners’, but the latest push to completely hand over the reins of Judaism and Jewish unity to the haredi establishment might at least make sense if it was coming from a haredi political party like United Torah Judaism or Shas. But why is MK Rotem of Israel Beiteinu trying so vehemently to shove his conversion bill down the throats of Israeli law makers? For those of you scratching your heads asking “Isn’t that the Russian olim party headed by Avigdor Lieberman? Since when do Russian immigrants support religious coercion?”, you’re absolutely right, but Lieberman isn’t the kind of guy who lets his constituents get in the way of his politics.
The majority of Israel Beiteinu voters are Russian-speaking Israelis, a demographic characterized by a strong liberal secular social agenda. Recent Religion and State Index surveys show strong support for religious freedom:
Source: Israel Religion and State Index, Spring 2010
88% of Israel Beitenu voters support ending the Orthodox monopoly on marriage
92% of Israel Beiteinu voters oppose new religious legislation
79% of Immigrants support religious equality for all denominations of Judaism
76% of immigrants oppose ALL religiously coercive legislation
So why is Israel Beiteinu pushing a Conversion Bill that would grant complete monopoly control over conversions to Judaism in Israel to the ultra-Orthodox rabbinate?
It may be that given the ultra-Orthodox coalition partners Israel Beiteinu has to work with, the party is just being pragmatic. Realizing that there is little chance of garnering support for the religious pluralism and separation of religion and state that its voters seek, the party has settled to concentrate on its international/security agenda and leave social issues for later. This is a broken record in Israel. How often have we heard the security situation used as a catch-all excuse for why Israel can’t tackle its pressing internal social issues?
Or maybe the conversion bill is an example of how the need to compromise can mangle what may have started out as a very good bill, meant to truly open up and ease the conversion process and prevent the horrific occurrence of retroactive annulments. I’ll give Rotem and Israel Beiteinu the benefit of the doubt and assume that their original intentions were good. In fact, Rotem’s original 2007 Conversion bill (Hebrew) was indeed a genuine attempt to address the needs of his constituents and find a real solution to help ensure successful integration into Jewish Israeli society. But when Rotem was unable to advance the original 2007 bill due to opposition by haredi parties, he realized the only way was compromise. This compromise spun out of control and eventually turned the bill into a Trojan horse – an anti-conversion bill dressed up as a pro-conversion bill.
According to analysis by Uri Regev, rabbi and jurist, a leading expert and activist for religious freedom, the proposed conversion bill “is the worst and most damaging in the sequence of conversion bills that MK Rotem, who chairs the (Knesset Constitution & Law) Committee, has proposed. It represents an unsavory surrender to the rabbinical establishment and the ultra-Orthodox politicians. The proposal is designed to expand the authority of the Chief Rabbinate and undermine conversions done by the major religious movements within the Jewish people. It pretentiously claims to facilitate easier access to conversion for new immigrants and halt the increasing trend to nullify conversions after the fact, on the grounds of non-observance of commandments. This proposal does not solve the problems faced by new immigrants, and it puts at risk Israel’s strategic interests, by jeopardizing the cooperation and solidarity with Diaspora Jewry. It places Israel on an inevitable collision course with most Jews of the world today – and represents an unfortunate example for highly objectionable legislation. It may have started with good intentions, but after passing through the ultra-religious political mill it has become an appalling bill which must be rejected outright.”
What is clear is that Israel Beiteinu voters, along with the majority of constituents of all the major secular political parties in Israel, oppose religiously coercive legislation and support the recognition of non-Orthodox conversion. This may not help understand how Lieberman’s party became an agent of religious coercion, but it certainly explains why world Jewry is opposing the latest conversion bill so passionately and it looks like PM Netanyahu is getting the message. He announced within 24 hours of the bill passing the Law & Constitution Committee that he would not allow the bill to reach the Knesset plenum. Let’s keep the pressure on by making sure he hears directly from each and every one of us.
That was my view in the Carpathians. The capital of hisboydedus.
It’s been exactly one week since my return to California. I was in Warsaw, Krakow and some small villages near Nowy Targ, in the heart of Polish Galicia. It has been a whirlwind of air travel and rugaluch for all three meals. When I sat at a café table here the other day with a friend who moved out of Brooklyn frum aristocracy to northern California, I got an earful. When I spoke of the Polish Jewish communities that welcomed me for Shabbosim, he said “They might as well be dead to me. There is nothing there but antisemites and martyrs in that country.”
at shul eating breakfast never felt so good. there are few veggie or kosher places in Warsaw.
Indeed, the members of the only shul in Warsaw are keenly aware of these types of things. They admit that there is a superstition that basically puports they don’t really exist. “We know that most Jews come here to visit gravestones. American and Israeli Jews have somehow invested in the persecution and genocide that happened here. The byproduct of that is that we’re sometimes ignored.”
The Polish Jewish community is supported by a few foundations you may have heard of: Taube/Koret, Lauder and The Joint. These baaley-chesed are the plaques and the symbols. But the kind of dynamic examples of Jewish creativity in Poland, they are here in full force, operating underneath Zionist assumptions about the very essence of Jewish history. The Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow may seem like a minstrel show, but the few Polish and Western Jews who hang around it are just as troubled as you are about that. In Poland, us Jews can feel like Sitting Bull at a sideshow. You can also meet political and cultural activists wearing tzitzis running out a café for mincha. Of course, this person, raised Catholic, may have ‘discovered’ that their grandfather was a Jew and their going a little overboard with the mitzvos. It’s a special community no doubt, but with all that’s going on in Poyln, and all that’s being fought over in ideological and political battles about the identity of the Jews in Tel Aviv and New York, it is definitely among the most unafraid communities I’ve ever experienced. Shacharis is at 7:15, the hospitality is sweet and the history is pretty damn complex.
More to come, working on gathering some things. AGitShabbuhhhhs.
This is one of the most important points I will consistently make until the day I die: you should not support “Israel” in any generic way for the principle of the matter, but instead Israelis and a vision of Israel that matches your values. The establishment isn’t peddling a Jewish state of any values — just a hook on which to hang their paranoia of extinction. Take a look at this video and post by Moriel Rothman, student president of J Street U, taking Peter Beinart’s advice in finding Israelis that match his values:
MarGavriel points us to a little Agnon story. A story appropriate for the season:
סיפר לי ר’ אהרן פריימן ז”ל משמו של ר’ אליהו פלנסר ז”ל. ר’ איציק אייכל וחבריו מצאו להם נכרית אחת שבישלה להם לתשעה באב. שבאותו הדור קשה היה ליהודי בברלין למצוא תבשיל בתשעה באב. היו קוראים לאותה נוכרית הגויה של תשעה באב.
Aaron Freiman, of blessed memory, told me the following in the name of Elijah Palnser, of blessed memory. Itzik Eichel and his friends found themselves a certain gentile woman who would cook for them on the Ninth of Av. For in those days, it was difficult for a Jew in Berlin to find food on the Ninth of Av. They used to call that gentile woman “di tishebov goyte”.
ערב תשעה באב באו והודיעו לר’ איציק אייכל שהגויה של תשעה באב מתה. אמר להם לחבריו, חברי בואו ואומר לכם, אי אפשר שבין היום למחר נמצא ערלית אחרת שתבשל לנו לתשעה באב, אם כן מאחר שמתה הגויה של תשעה באב נתענה בתשעה באב זה עם כל ישראל על חורבן ירושלים.
One year, on the eve of the Ninth of Av, Itzik Eichel was informed that the Tishebov Goyte had died. He said to his friends: “My friends, come and let me tell you something. Between today and tomorrow, it is not going to be possible for us to find another gentile woman who will cook for us on the Ninth of Av. Since this is so, for the Tishebov Goyte has died, let us fast on the Ninth of Av this year, and mourn, together with all Israel, over the destruction of Jerusalem.
תכריך של סיפורים, ע’ 159
trans. MarGavriel
It seems to me interesting that the non-Jewish woman is in the role of Jerusalem.
I wonder – what do you make of this? Especially those of you who have studied Agnon in college and so forth. It is so short that it cannot be so simple, it seems to me, but I do not have literary-analysis tools to explore it.
Little else in life is as painful and horrifying as the death of a loved one. The experience
of loss can be all the more difficult for the bereaved in the case of a sudden departure,
such as in the case of murders and freak accidents. Whereas the Torah’s response to pre-
meditated murder is fairly simple and direct, its treatment of unintended manslaughter is
somewhat more involved and ethically advanced for its times.
Last Shabbat’s Torah double-portion, Mattot-Mase’ei, introduces a system whereby
individuals responsible for accidental manslaughter can seek refuge in one of six cities
specially designated as a safe space for them until the death of the current KohenGadol
(the High Priest). Outside of these cities of refuge, the accidental killer could be pursued by the victim’s loved ones, within the legal bounds of Torah law. (Note, however, that Deut. 19, in its review of this case, does not mention the clause about returning home upon the death of the Kohen Gadol. Additionally, under the broad designation of “unintended manslaughter,” the Mishnah distinguishes between three separate categories)
The entire concept of the cities of refuge forcefully reminds us that there is an essential and insurmountable gap between that which is felt—that which is lodged in the innermost chambers of our hearts—and that which is expressed. While symbolic expressions of grief (and quite possibly anger) are inextricably bound to the emotion that triggered them, these forms are always a culturally-conditioned performative measure and should never be mistaken for the incommensurable raw emotion itself.
Indeed, the six identified cities not only represent that impossible gap between what is internally felt and externally performed, they themselves literally enact that distance in a formalized legal setting, collectively honoured and acknowledged by the whole of that society. The symbolic power of the cities of refuge lies in its very designation as an outwardly symbolic response. Clearly, the deceased has not been, and cannot be, returned to her/his loved ones; any proposed quid pro quo ‘exchange’ (such as a ‘blood price’ or execution) is not only a superfluous measure, but this kind of symbolic restitution actually undermines the unspeakable tragedy of the loss itself in literally ‘quantifying’ the loss.
As we see in TheIlliad, in a different context (this time involving an intended murder), Achilles cannot accept Agamemnon’s offer of material compensation in the face of his unbearable tragedy. Ajax’s response to Achilles’ refusal of any blood-price by connecting that insuperable distance between feeling and expression to the reparative power of social forms and to human mortality itself:
And yet a man takes from his brother’s slayer
the blood price, or the price for a child who was killed, and the guilty
one, when he has largely repaid, stays still in the country,
and the injured man’s heart is curbed, and his pride, and his anger
when he has taken the price; but the gods put in your breast a spirit
not to be placated. . . .
The stability of human social interaction, according to Ajax’s response, is contingent upon the feasibility of social exchanges that do not express individuals’ feelings, but rather, gives concrete form to them in a purely symbolic manner. In this way, we can view the creation of the cities of refuge not as an adequate correlative of what the bereaved individuals feel, but rather, as an attempt to forge a fixed symbolic understanding of the very nature of loss and the emotions it engenders. And while the cities of refuge presents a particularly illustrative example of the essential distinction between symbolic and literal compensation, Mattot-Mase’ei offers other instances of symbolic arrangements. The double-portion opens with a discussion of the handling of vows (Num. 30) and closes with a recap of Zelophehad’s daughters’ land settlement (Num. 36).
After a week and a half, I’ve reached the end of my short time in Israel. My airport shuttle hurtles through Jerusalem neighborhoods, swooping up bleary-eyed 2 am passengers airport-bound. The hills are as black as the night sky, making the highway down from the Jerusalem hills look like a rollercoaster in outer space. House lights on opposite hills become arms of the Milky Way, orbiting past. By divine providence, the radio is playing “Streets of New York” by Alicia Keys and I can’t help but smile. Time to go home.
I am reinvigorated, recharged, galvanized anew. Unlike my first visit, I come away not with a feeling of embattled loneliness but crackling excitement. Being a great activist is greatly about being a great storyteller — and I come away with both inspirational yarns and disturbing anecdotes. Doing this work requires finding hope, however small, in the actions of tzadikim on the ground here. The prognosis is bad, the occupation’s steamroller crushes lives daily, and the politics are ugly. But aside from newfound urgency, I bring back with me new plans, projects and connections that will turn the tide.
Activists on the ground are so utterly bereft of hope. They see their country continue to appropriate Palestinian land day to day, settlements rise despite the freeze, and the Israeli public remain apathetic if not outright hostile. They know they are few in number. But what they can’t see from their individual trenches is the vast community doing this work together. The percolations of a “new left” bubble out and reach our ears in the Diaspora. They are coming out of dormancy, asserting themselves with vehemence despite their limited numbers. And they’re winning small but important victories.
Meanwhile, the increasing number of Diaspora Jews who’ve been to the territories and maybe even made a Palestinian friend slowly but surely reach important echelons of communal leadership at home. There is a sleeper effect, waiting. And the sudden advent of J Street has altered the status quo in Congress, still yet to actualize its full potential. And I know of similar J Street projects now budding across the furthest reaches of Diaspora Jewry.
And what the activists on the ground cannot see is themselves: fighting the most important battles, standing up for Jewish-Arab equality, flexing democratic muscle, refusing to lay down the cause even when it is unpopular. They do not see how inspiring they are. They do not know how crucial it is for us out here to see them fighting in there. When the country seems to be striving as hard as possible to scuttle our connection, what saves my belief this country is worth saving? Them. Their laughing in the face of adversity, their 14-hour work days fighting for someone else’s rights. Scrappy, sunburned, impulsive, single-minded.
Out here in Diaspora, we owe them every ounce of matched passion. If they can sacrifice so much, then so can we. The State of Israel is not core to my being nor to my Jewish identity, but its progressive leaders are exemplars of a vision I am chasing for all societies. Their example fuels me. Can we inspire them in turn? Can I? Do they need — as I do — reinforcement by example? It is only fair to give them back what they gave me in spades: a sense of fraternity for those of us who live and breathe this issue.
They are all saying these days that a change will not occur within Israeli society, but must come from another player. The status quo is rooted in all parties — America, Europe, Israel, Palestine — and if but one of them shifted, we could break free. American Jewish communal politics is key and symbolic communities abroad like JCall are important. Our role is crucial. After the crash of post-Oslo, we are rebuilding, reconvening, reviving. For what are you waiting for?
New purpose, new projects, new people. These are what I’m bringing home to New York City. I came here and rolled up my sleeves, and as I return home, those sleeves are still up. In more ways that one, it’s time to get back to work.
In Jerusalem, I sleep like the dead. I sleep like someone who’s had every second of the last ten days scheduled, like someone who has hiked, climbed, schlepped and sweated across Israel with 38-44 people in tow at all times.
I sleep this way every night and day until Erev Rosh Chodesh, when my sleep is fitful, filled with dreams of women having bags of shit thrown at them. Actual shit. In one scene, a woman is hit in the head with said bag. She puts her hand on her hair to feel it. In my dream, I can see her eyes, but she is no one that I know.
I wake groggily and proceed with my plan to go to the Kotel and meet the Women of the Wall. Jerusalem is already hot, and by the time I’ve winded my way through the streets of the Old City, I am literally a hot mess. On the women’s side, there are the usual suspects, and so I go right to Robinson’s Arch, where there are people snapping pictures and singing. I’m stopped by a woman in an orange t shirt, filling her water at a fountain. “Are you with Women of the Wall?” she asks me. “I’m trying to be,” I say. “Well, something has happened,” she says gravely.
She tells me the story, that Anat Hoffman has been arrested for carrying a Torah across the Kotel Plaza. There is a group gathered at the police station at Jaffa Gate. “Who gave this order?” she wonders aloud. “What is going on in this country?”
We leave each other, and I head back, reviving my dislike of the Old City as I struggle to remember how I got to the Kotel in the first place. I just want to go back to bed, maybe in Israel, maybe in the States, but regardless, I want to neuter this exhaustion that’s suddenly taken everything hostage.
As I glue myself to the wall in order to avoid an oncoming bus at the edge of the Armenian Quarter, I see them: the group of women. There are probably fifty of them, maybe more, waiting. I stand with them, still exhausted, but now there’s also a numbness. It’s been this way for my whole trip, me waiting to feel something, I don’t care what, just something about this place that previously has made me feel everything.
There is not a romantic ending here, of course. There is not even an ending. I’m still sweaty and pissed off, and more importantly, there’s still a misogynist war being fought in the name of spiritual civil rights. But sometimes what you need finds you, and maybe that happened yesterday when we sang Esa Enai, a song I have beautiful memories of in a former life. I heard it differently this time, especially the verse “ezri me’im Hashem,oseh shamayim va’aretz.” My help comes from Gd who made heaven and earth. “Va’aretz” landed sharply on my ears, and I can’t stop thinking about it. It was the first flicker of authenticity, of purity, in two weeks, and there it was, in a most wrong moment.
Hey yall, this is the first part of 3 part series I’m writing for the Huffington Post about the Jewish food movement. I broke it down into 3 areas: sustainability, social justice, and religion/spirituality. I’m real excited to have this opportunity to get the word out about all the great things going in Jewish food to the Huffpo audience. What do you think I’m missing? What should I include in future posts? How does food, spiritual tradition, and social justice intersect in your life?
Announcing Jewish Fiction .net, a journal committed to showcasing the finest contemporary Jewish writing (either written in, or translated into, English), and creating a virtual home for writers and readers of Jewish fiction from around the world. Unique among English-language Jewish journals today, only Jewish Fiction .net is devoted exclusively to the publishing of Jewish fiction. The journal is currently inviting submissions for their first issue in the fall of 2010.
Anat Hoffman, who is often the most public face of Women of the Wall (Nashot HaKotel), was arrested this morning during WoW’s Rosh Hodesh Av service. It’s not yet clear what the charges are.
The WoW gathering was huge this morning, and from the beginning, things were a little edgy. There was a lot of media present (which I might guess has been the case since Nofrat Frenkel was arrested, but this was my first time going since that happened, so I don’t know) and one of the police that works at the Kotel was assigned to the group–either to protect us from Haredi attacks or to keep us in line, as needed. We were positioned closer to the Wall than usual (because, naturally, there were so many people there that we had to move forward to give everyone space). Women were wearing tallitot as scarves, to which our assigned policeman did not object. He did, periodically, try to tell people not to sing too loud, and eventually another policeman came by with the same message.
We finished Hallel and began to proceed, according to the terms of the Israeli High Court (Bag”tz) decision, to Robinson’s Arch to read Torah, with the intent to preserve the continuity of the service by escorting the Torah in song.
Now, it should be noted here that WoW has had a hard time lately getting the Sefer Torah into the Kotel area, even though Bag”tz permitted it in its ruling. I won’t reveal how they got it in this time around, but it took some maneuvering.
It is perfectly kosher, according to the Bag”tz ruling, to take the Sefer Torah out of its bag, as Anat did this morning, by the Kotel, to carry it to Robinson’s Arch. It is not permitted to read from the Torah in the women’s section, and we did not. We were singing and escorting the Torah, and things got more and more tense, with police trying to physically push Anat out of the women’s section and she (and those of us holding on to her) was trying to walk out, but at a more dignified pace. Eventually there was a skirmish involving the police trying to physically take the Torah out of her hands (we were now out of the women’s section and on our way over to Robinson’s Arch) and somewhere in all of that, they arrested her, and she was taken into custody (as was the Torah).
The rest of the group proceeded over to the police station by Jaffa Gate to stand outside and finish our service–we read the Torah portion for Rosh Chodesh (from a Chumash, as we had no Sefer Torah) and davvened Musaf. We then kept singing for some time, because, Nofrat said, Anat (who was inside the police station somewhere) would be able to hear us. (Nofrat knows from personal experience, natch.) Presumably Anat will be released sometime in the next few hours and we’ll see what happens from there.
Hodesh tov, everyone. The Temple was already destroyed once because of sinat chinam (baseless hatred). I think my mourning this Tisha B’Av might be more about things present than things past.
ETA: Hoffman was released after five hours of interrogation, is barred from the Kotel for 30 days, was fined 5000 NIS, and evidently the police are consulting about whether and for what to charge her.
It is one thing to know that peace-loving Palestinians exist, but quite another to join several hundreds [700, I have since learned] of Palestinians giving a standing ovation five minutes long to a film about non-violence. Last Wednesday night, I sat in an IMAX-sized theater in the West Bank Palestinian city of Ramallah for the grand opening of Budrus, a documentary about a village that successful relocated the security barrier off their lands through peaceful protest. I was overwhelmed, galvanized.
Budrus is a film that challenges everyone’s preconceptions — Jew, Arab, other — and aims to pry open space in reluctant hearts. Five years ago, the village of Budrus successfully averted the construction of the security barrier from cutting off a majority of their farming livelihood and through their cemetery. The film follows Ayed Morrar, Fatah activist turned community organizer, as he unites with local Hamas leadership, the town’s women led by his daughter, alongside Israeli activists. It heals doubts across multiple themes: the divide between Israelis and Palestinians, the rivalry between Fatah and Hamas, the place of women in Palestinian society, and the use of violence. A more inspiring combination couldn’t possibly be more remarkable to see, nor to witness its raccous support by the people of Ramallah. More »
If you had told me three years ago, when I first came to Israel, that I would be spending my Friday afternoons protesting in East Jerusalem, I never would have believed you. If you had told me that the behavior of this country and its residents was going to make it difficult for me to feel comfortable practicing Judaism, I would have believed you even less.
Since I started attending the weekly protests in Sheikh Jarrah, I’ve stopped going to shul on Friday night. In part, it’s logistics – I get home tired and sweaty at 6 or 6:30, and I want a break and a shower before dinner. Partially, though, it’s become uncomfortable for me. There’s something that Emily Schaeffer, an Israeli human rights lawyer who grew up in the Reform community outside of Boston, wrote once, which I increasingly feel in myself:
“Unless I’m with people who I am certain do not espouse Zionism or any form of oppression, I cannot comfortably honor the tradition, or even be sure I want to be part of it.”
Even in my struggle with Judaism itself, the past three years of studying gemara have oriented me toward the world through the lens of text and textual connections. So here’s the gezerah shavah I have to offer:
There is a liturgical similarity between Kabbalat Shabbat and the weekly protest. In L’cha Dodi, the line is “hitoreri, hitoreri, ki va orech kumi ori” – wake up, wake up, for your light has come, arise and shine. In the protest “liturgy,” one of the chants uses the same verb – “ezrachim lehitorer, hafascism kvar over” – residents, wake up, fascism has already passed (it works better in Hebrew).
I’ve been dwelling on those lines as representative of the tension that I’m feeling around typical religious practice (as opposed to, say, Heschel’s praying with his feet). More »
“We are extending our hand in peace,” said Ghawi. “We have lost hope that the Israeli establishment is able to make decisions, so we wish to talk directly to the Israeli public. Also, we are here to say that the prisoners are our sons and we favor their release. It is impossible to talk only about one side of the equation – the release of Shalit also means the release of Palestinian prisoners.”
Neither my wife nor I were able to make it to the rally last night. Before reading this story, it didn’t even occur to us to go. But we discussed standing in solidarity with Nasser – as Bassam Aramin, one of the founders of Combatants for Peace, said to me recently, “they’re all our children.”
I woke up this morning to discover that Nasser, his son, and one of the Jewish Israeli activists who was with him were stopped for questioning on their way to the protest last night. They were detained, searched, and humiliated by the police, for no reason other than being a Palestinian and a leftist walking together in Jerusalem.
“They told us it was their right to search, take our cell phones and interrogate us. I asked them ‘Why are you arresting me,’ and they replied ‘because we hate Arabs, but we hate people like you even more’.”
Yotam Wolf, the Israeli activist who was with Nasser last night, tells his version of the story here in Hebrew.
It seemed to me a profound act, for Nasser to stand in solidarity with the Shalit family – to say that their child, as well as the many Palestinian children currently (and in many cases illegally) held in prison, deserve to be able to go home to their parents. I thought back to the night of the flotilla, when two women who were sitting in the Shalit protest tent outside the prime minister’s house, came to shout at those of us protesting nearby – a protest organized, at least in part, by the Sheikh Jarrah activists. How wonderful would it have been to have been able to say to them that our Palestinian friends protested in favor of Shalit’s release as well – that we want freedom and security for everyone’s children.
But alas, the forces that be seem not to be interested in that kind of solidarity. Ynet reports that Nasser will try again to visit the protest tent in the coming days. I hope the next visit is less eventful.
Two days ago, I was sitting next to an Israeli at a bank of computers when I heard a noise coming from his computer. I recognized the song and hoped that it was the fantastic Simpsons opening set to Ke$ha (source) that made me giggle so much from this past season that I’m sharing it below for you to adore as well:
I glanced over the Israeli’s shoulder and saw that he was watching something with soldiers (clearly in Israel) and assumed that the music was coming from somewhere else. Then I happened upon this gem on Jezebel.com when sifting through my reader today.
I’m not sure how I feel about armed soldiers who look like they’re on duty (and I really hope that they were off duty when they shot this), bustin’ a move, in one of the most hotly contested areas in the Middle East, particularly on the tails of the recent Birthright foray into Hebron. I wonder what is really going on over there?
I applaud the Birthright Staff for trying to show their participants the full picture of Israel, even thought I always felt too uncomfortable with what a trip over the Green Line represented. I don’t really know what the Birthright participants did while they were in Hebron, and everyone returned unscathed so that’s good. The Haaretz piece points out that Birthright doesn’t allow their participants to go to areas that are deemed unsafe by both the State and Birthright CEO Gideon Mark (not to mention authorities such as my mother). These include such unsafe areas as the West Bank and Gaza. Unless, and I quote the article, “Changes are [made] possible when permitted by the security authorities.”
If the soldiers that are guarding Hebron are too busy shaking their tails in the streets, guns flapping wildly, I wouldn’t necessarily see this as the safest side trip. Presenting this video without comment is jarring, and frankly, a little scary, as it makes one realize that the children (yes, children) that are guarding Hebron might not be up to the task 100% of the time.
But some legal experts question whether the measure will meet the requirements of the New York State Constitution, which has stricter prohibitions.
Critics have also raised questions about the timing of Paterson’s action. He inserted it in his budget plans last January, just nine days after he collected $140,000 at a fundraising dinner held in his honor at Kiryas Joel, an upstate village established by the Satmar Hasidic sect. Akiva Klein, who is a powerful businessman and a board member of the Uta Mesivta of Kiryas Joel, a rabbinical school with 1,300 students, chaired the dinner. Paterson was planning to run for re-election at that point, though since announced that he will not.
“I wonder if that proposition would have been presented if the governor had not announced his campaign plans that early on,” said Francis Clark, a spokesperson for the New York Public Interest Research Group, a good government organization. “It’s hardly a shocker and not the first time an elected official used their role in government to set himself up for reelection.”
Being a comic book nerd is hard enough when people think you have no social life. But is it un-American? Phyllis Chesler seems to think so.
In her latest article, Chesler cites how Wonder Woman’s new costume shows American submission to the evils of globalization. Chesler says Wonder Woman’s getup is “non-American, and therefore anti-American” because it is no longer red, white and blue; for her, this is a sign that “many Americans are ashamed of their own country.”
Is she reading the same comic book as me?
Chesler claims to be a feminist and writes that Wonder Woman “ fought evil in fabulous female form” that was “half-naked, dressed in a low cut bodice, high, sexy boots, and a short ice-skater’s skirt.” This is a great example to set for my niece: ff you want to fight evil, make sure to bring the stripper boots. Wonder Woman’s original costume made her into a sex symbol–but as long as the costume was red, white and blue, Chesler had no problem. Welcome to America, people, where the women are beautiful and wear nothing.
She adds that “Wonder Woman was conceived as a counter to the bloody ‘masculinity’ of most American comic books,” and rhapsodizes on how the series shows women as “natural leaders who could rule the world.” But in the comic, Wonder Woman was shoe-horned into being the Chick for two more popular male characters. In some continuities, she ends up de-powered and running a flower shop. Behold your feminist goddess.
For me, Wonder Woman was the girl who got to look pretty next to the real heroes, Batman and Superman. I never wanted to dress like her or be her, because she seemed so ridiculous. It’s neither empowering nor liberating to force women to dress a certain way for men, be it modestly or immodestly. Freedom is about loving your body and dressing in a way that makes you feel comfortable, not about submitting to chauvinist societal norms.
DC Comics has decided to re-brand Wonder Woman as a more universal symbol. That makes her anti-American? As forward-thinking people, we should be dancing on the rooftops to see a woman being de-sexualized and commanding respect. Wonder Woman doesn’t look like she’s fighting crime in a bathing suit anymore, there to make men star at her body. She looks like a sleek, sexy, crime fighter who is fantastic, practical and less silly. She may not wear the American flag, but she represents the best of America: strong, intelligent women who fight for justice. She can finally be my hero. For a formerly Orthodox girl who dreamed of flying, this represents a turning point. You can be modest and still save the world.
One thing Wonder Woman wouldn’t like is criticizing women for “slumming” in foreign dress, calling it “their native, imprisoning clothing,” as Chesler writes. Respect for other cultures has always been a heroic virtue. Yes, many women wear more modest clothes when entering a more religious environment, but many non-Jewish men (including Superman in one memorable comic) wear yarmulkes in traditional Jewish homes. It’s called mutual respect. Comic books emphasize these universal values, and Ms. Chesler does a disservice to the genre by politicizing it.
I will end with a review from “The Simpsons’” Comic Book Guy himself: “Worst. Article. Ever!”
“And seek the well-being of the city in which you dwell… for in its peace you shall find peace.”
- Jeremiah 29.7
The Jeremiah Fellowship of the Progressive Jewish Alliance educates and trains a select cohort of emerging Jewish leaders to become the next generation of Jewish social justice change-makers. Participate in the Jeremiah Fellowship: Access a dynamic network of organizers, advocates, rabbis, visionaries and renowned scholars. Empower yourself through in-depth training in professional and leadership skills. Expand your knowledge of Jewish tradition, text and history to put ethics into action. Develop tangible organizing and activism skills within a Jewish context. Explore your city through the intersection of social justice, Jewish values, and leadership.
Build a lasting community of vibrant and engaged leaders.
The Jeremiah Fellowship connects young adults to the city in which they live and helps Fellows become effective and informed progressive community leaders and activists.
The Jeremiah Fellowship expands the leadership vision of participants, deepens their Jewish social justice values, and provides them with a progressive Jewish context and community for their activism.
The Jeremiah Fellowship is a 9 month program that runs from September through June. Fellows come together for two weekday evenings per month and several weekend experiences in the field, and participate in two weekend-long retreats. The program culminates with the Jeremiah Challenge, a self-directed and community-based action project. After the Fellowship, participants are invited to join the Alumni Network to stay engaged, informed and connected. Apply Today. Applications are currently being accepted for the 2010-11 Los Angeles Jeremiah Fellowship and are due Friday, July 16th, 2010 by noon.
For more information about the Jeremiah Fellowship go to www.JeremiahFellowship.org … or contact PJA’s LA office at
323.761.8350 or email Jfeldman@pjalliance.org.
Hey everyone, this awesomeness is brought to you by the Gan Project.
Ever wonder why New York and California seem to have so many exciting and fresh, lefty and liberal, progressive and oatmeally Judaism and Jewish community events while the Midwest gets the short change of traditional, conventional, Vanilla flavors of Judaism? Three Chicago Jewish women are hoping to improve the assortment of Jewish expression here in the Midwest by way of Jewish action oriented environmental and agricultural programming, cycling workshops, and gardening. The Gan Project is in its first year of operations. It is a board run organization composed of three founding members Jill Zenoff, Anne LaForti, and Suzanne Nathan. Their inaugural workshop season is underway and includes a fermentation and food preservation series, DIY natural bath and body products, urban gardening, and more.
Their first workshop, Food Preservation 101: Strawberry U-pick, Picnic, and Making Jam was a huge success with 11 participants and 34 jars of strawberry preserves and was featured on Chicago Public Radio’s website. The Gan Project’s website, www.theganproject.org, explains that their mission is “to create a vibrant, sustainable, and healthy Chicago Jewish community. Through working the land as our ancestors did before us, Jews from all walks of life can revitalize their connection to some of the most basic principles of Judaism. By providing positive experiences in nature we can breathe life into old traditions, explore the foundation of our faith, and foster a greater understanding of Torah.” While it might sound like it is geared for the Shomer Mitzvot, it is really pan-denominational, and open to non-Jews as well.
The Gan Project has been fortunate to be able to tap into the much-needed but undeserved “greening” of Chicago’s Jewish communities. The Chicago JCC has generously donated office space and Chicago’s Birthright NEXT has agreed to co-sponsor some of the summer workshop series. Also, Hazon has been instrumental in helping the new non-profit take off.
Their next workshop is set for July 11, at a community kitchen space, to teach and learn how to make lacto-fermented pickles out of season-fresh, local cucumbers. Crunch, crunch, crunchy time!
The WoW gathering was huge this morning, and from the beginning, things were a little edgy. There was a lot of media present (which I might guess has been the case since 
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