Self Reflection and Social Action for the High Holidays
Chevre, I’m pleased to offer Uri L’Tzedek’s High Holiday supplement, Mah Ani, for free download here. Read, share, enjoy. Wishing you all a shana tova and a year full of sweet, sweet justice.
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Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street on last night’s The Colbert Report
Right now, public relations officers in AIPAC, the Republican Jewish Coalition, the Emergency Committee for Israel, and even Jewish Voice for Peace are wondering why they hell they couldn’t get on one of the most coveted platforms for reaching young people. Below the fold, Stewart’s comedic treatment of the UN vote as well.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Jeremy Ben-Ami | ||||
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Tweeting the Jewish Women’s Archive Encyclopedia
Back in May, I was part of a Jewish Women’s Archive project which involved tweeting articles from Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia to mark Jewish American Heritage Month. This week, September 19 to 25, is round 2 of that project, in observance of Rosh Hashanah. I’ll be tweeting an entry a day (@chaneldubofsky) from the Encyclopedia-I started today with anarchist Lucy Fox Robins Lang-with the intention of addressing each of these three questions:
1. Who do you choose to inspire and guide you through the New Year?
2. Who do you choose to inspire and guide your community through the New Year?
3. Who do you choose to inspire and guide the world through the New Year?
The goal of the project is to acquaint folks of the roles of Jewish women in American history, to generate conversation about gender and Judaism, and to contemplate these lives and works as we move into the New Year.
You can participate in the #jwapedia campaign by tweeting a link to the Encyclopedia using the hashtag #jwapedia, and follow the campaign at Twitter starting today, September 19th , by searching for #jwapedia or following JWA at @jwaonline.
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Justice in the City
So I up and got myself my very own blog “Justice in the City: Thinking about Judaism and Social Justice.” I will be posting there about the intersection and intertwining of Judaism and Social Justice. My latest piece is on Poverty and Obligation. You can read there and comment here.
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Domestic Violence Conference – NYC
Join us at Uri L’Tzedek’s Domestic Violence Awareness Conference, on Sunday, September 18th from 10:00am-4pm at Lincoln Square Synagogue (200 Amsterdam Avenue, NY ) to learn what Jewish tradition teaches and how to combat domestic violence in the Jewish community! Through education and activism we can stop domestic violence in our communities.
Guest speakers include many experts in the field, such as Blu Greenberg, the Founding President of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA), Shana Frydman, LCSW Director, Family Violence Services at MET Council, Sandra E. Rapoport, Author of Biblical Seductions and Jeremy Stern, the Executive Director of the Organization for the Resolution of Agunot (ORA), among others. Other partnering organizations include, Project SARAH, JOFA, Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York (JWFNY), Jewish Women International (JWI) and OHEL. Register today at Eventbrite!
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Yes, But Does My Vibrator Need to be Toveled?
For some reason, www.koshersextoys.net/ isn’t loading right now, which means either people are so excited about its mere existence that they’re flooding the internet in a sex toy frenzy, or it was all a beautiful, sexy, frum dream.
It’s back up! (Insert tehillim joke here.) KosherSexToys really wants you to be married to use their stuff (“Our website – while obviously only for married adults – contains no crude or indecent pictures or text. We believe that only two people belong in the bedroom – and bringing pictures of others in can only harm a marriage.”). According to the “About Us” section,”You will never see something on this site that will make you blush. When we need to use descriptive terms for our products, we use clinical and clean language; product pictures do not contain models; and our lingerie are photographed alone, not on a mannequin.”
As someone who, in spite of all her sex positive blather, is kind of a prude in real life, I appreciate the sentiment, but going to a sex toy website can still be uncomfortable, regardless of product descriptions and pictures. There is plenty avoidance of certain language on the site, by the way, like “tantalize body parts not reached by main shaft.”
Here’s a product description for the Vibrating Stimulator:
“The vibrating extension is on a flexible arm, allowing you to move and place it exactly where you want! This gives you ultimate control and the obvious benefits that come along with that. The top of the shaft also has heart shaped nubs and head for extra sensations against the body of the user.”
I like how the user is just “the user,” by the way, and not “the woman,”even though it’s assumed, I’m sure, that the user is using it on her lady parts. I would not argue that KosherSexToys is a queer friendly operation.
On the website, you’re warned against comparison shopping, because the product names have been changed for reasons of tznius. I tried anyway, and visited the Babeland site searching for similar vibrators. Here’s what I found:
Rabbit Habit at Babeland: $90.00
Vibrating Stimulator at KosherSexToys: $29.99
Obviously, the experience of shopping at Babeland is very different and for a separate audience, but seriously? These vibrators are CHEAP. Get one for a friend!
The site also sells dildos, lube, anal beads, handcuffs, and soon, lingerie. You can get your sex questions answered by Dr. David S. Ribner, a sex therapist and rabbi with YU ordination.
In spite of all the stuff to find infuriating about KosherSexToys.net- the need for a spell checker, the lack of clinical language, the emphasis on heterosexual marriage-it’s pretty great that this exists. It’s an important move towards more sex positive Jewish relationships and communities.
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Haunting Recordings of 9/11 Last Messages Set to Eicha Trop
(Note: this post was first published in 2009)
Every once in a while, someone finds a creative way to use an ancient text or practice to see something in the present more profoundly. When done well, this elevates the present through a thoughtful link to longstanding traditions. It’s rare, usually attempts are stilted or out-of-place. But occasionally it works and when it does, it outweighs dozens of awkward non-synergies.
A few years ago Irwin Kula made just such a creative linking. A book had recently come out relating the last messages of 9/11 victims and he set those voicemails to Eicha trope.
It is among the most haunting presentations I have ever encountered. For me, contemplating mortality is a very important spiritual exercise. I try to listen to this recording on 9/11 and tisha b’av. Give it a listen, but be forewarned, this is really really heavy stuff.
If you do listen, take a moment to realize the blessings in your life and their profound fleetingness. Apologies you have been waiting to make, things you have been waiting to say, love you have been waiting to express, injustices you have been scared to confront…enough waiting. Don’t lament, act. We are here but for a very brief time.
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The Most Important Film You Will Ever Watch
In what seems like a development only possible on the satirical pages of the Onion, Mel Gibson’s Icon Productions has just unveiled plans to co-finance a new film about Judah Maccabee, with Joe Eszterhaus of Showgirls fame onboard as screenwriter. This is too good to be true. I mean, who better than
Mel Gibson, the man who boldly asserted that Jews are responsible for all wars in the world, to capture the quintessential epic military struggle of Jewish national religious pride versus the lures of assimilation?
I can see it now: in a creative twist on the Hanukkah story as related by the Talmud, Mel Gibson’s Hanukkah Tale: The Jews burn for eight days.
In light of this exciting news, I’d like to offer Mr. Gibson some free advice as preparations go underway for this sure-fire blockbuster:
Free Casting Advice to Mel Gibson from a Jewgirl Cinephile:
The first one is a no-brainer: we’re casting Russell Crowe as Matisyahu (if the connection isn’t obvious to you already, here’s a hint: follow the first link and check out 1Maccabees 2:46)
The role of Judah Maccabee is a tough call, but I think our winner is Vincent Gallo.
In his debut dramatic performance, Prince Harry of England will play Jonathan Maccabeus, and comedian Andy Dick will play Simon Maccabeus. John Hyrcanus will be played by Rick Sanchez.
Charlie Sheen needs a role in this cinematic masterpiece as well. Let’s cast him as Eleazer Maccabeus.
We’re going to offer the role of Antiochus to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—an offer he surely can’t turn down.
Oh, and wardrobe will definitely be by John Galliano.
Well, time will only tell what choices Gibson will make, but if he sticks to my above plan, we’re going to have something even greater than The Passion of the Christ (2004). Or, as Reb Yudel puts it, “If Gibson’s Hanukkah film succeeds, can his Tisha b’Av blockbuster be far behind?”
Incidentally, I vividly recall dragging a date to a Sunday matinee screening of his last Jew epic in 2004. We paid for two tickets to see Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights in the hopes that our tickets wouldn’t profit Gibson’s film, but later, a friend in the industry explained to me that films only benefit from concession stand money, not from actual ticket sales. Alas. The film itself wasn’t particularly noteworthy, aside from its curious subtitling choices. While Gibson promised to cut out any direct implication of the Jews in Jesus’ crucifixion, the English subtitling did not always match the Aramaic dialogue onscreen. (I attended a high school which forced us to learn Aramaic. Now on facebook, I smugly resent that under the languages option, there is an “Aramaic of Jesus” and not also an ‘Aramaic of Rabban Gamliel.”) We, along with busloads of young Christian children, some of whom were as young as four years old, proceeded to watch what amounted to two full hours of Jesus being beaten to a bloody pulp. ::Spoiler alert:: Jesus is killed.
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Remembering and Erasing Evil – 9/11 and Amalek
For most Americans, Sept. 11, 2001 was a day we can never forget. Where we were when we heard, the images on TV, the fear in the voices of our loved ones, the horrible loss of life: every time the anniversary rolls around, we encounter our own traumatic experiences.
However, as the event moves further into the past, and a new generation of Americans who don’t remember 9/11 grows up, we begin to ask ourselves a series of questions: How should we come together to remember 9/11? What parts of 9/11 should we remember? Is there anything we should forget? How should we memorialize 9/11 for future generations who do not remember that day?
This week’s Torah portion, Ki Teitze (“When you go” in Hebrew), concludes with a command to remember the actions of a nation of archetypal terrorists: the attack of Amalek. Amalek waged a war of terror on the children of Israel as they fled slavery in Egypt. They did not attack the soldiers. They attacked the weak and tired stragglers at the back of the camp. Like today’s terrorists, their goal was to incite fear and panic by inflicting as much harm on innocent civilians as possible. While the mainstream Jewish view is that the nation of Amalek does not exist physically today (see Talmud Bavli, Berakhot 28a), the Torah contains three specific actions to take when remembering this trauma:
- Remember (zachor) what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt…
- You shall erase out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.
- Do not forget! (Deuteronomy 25: 17-18)
Let’s begin with zachor, which means “remember.” The Ramban, a classic medieval commentator, teaches that zachor must happen through the mouth. The trauma must be transformed into speech, into a told story. Telling the story contextualizes the tragedy within our personal and national narratives. If we do not tell the story, the event stays both meaningless and all powerful. Telling the story is a critical step toward healing.
After being told to remember, we are told to erase the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. How can we remember and erase a memory at the same time? A close reading of the biblical text offers an insight into specifically what is to be remembered, and what is to be forgotten. “Remember what Amalek did to you,” followed by “erase the memory of Amalek from under the heavens.” This suggests we are to remember our experiences (where we were when we heard, the images of the falling towers, the names of those who were lost), but we do not remember the enemy itself: we aren’t to dwell on the sick strategies of the murderers, their story, glorify them through conspiracy theories or turn them into martyrs. Remember what happened — to us.
I’m reminded of President Obama’s decision to not release the photos of Osama bin Laden’s body. Though many clamored for them, releasing the photos would have served as rallying points for those who emulate bin Laden, strengthening the evil forces he channeled.
I’d like to suggest another way of erasing the memory of evil: do not become it. The hatred and nihilism that was released into the world on 9/11 can exist in each of us. When you feel it rising up inside you, in ways big or small, note it and then do whatever you can to erase it from under the heavens. Evil’s most precious victory is not military or political — it is the corruption of the good.
The final guidance the Torah offers is lo tishkach – don’t forget. Remember … and don’t forget? The Ramban again offers insight when he writes that zachor, remember, happens with the mouth through speech, but lo tishkach, don’t forget, happens with the heart. According to the Ramban, telling the story with only cognitive awareness is insufficient — we must experience the loss. For some, like those who lost loved ones, there’s no way to avoid the heart when remembering tragedy: there is no day, anniversary or not, when they do not feel the pain. Others fortunate to not experience that constant pain must find ways to connect to the memory in both our heads and our hearts. This ensures that we don’t just learn from trauma on an intellectual level but that we internalize the lessons into our hearts and will, transforming how we act in the world.
Remember. Erase. Don’t forget. These three ancient, seemingly strange and contradictory ways of memorializing trauma in a collective consciousness offer profound insights into how to respond to trauma. On this 10th anniversary of 9/11, may we find ways to do all three, telling our stories to bring healing, erasing evil around and within us, and integrating the trauma’s unique truths into our fullest selves.
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Reinterpreting Jewish communal service
I am so rarely angry. Savlanut, “serenity,” in the face of insult is my superpower. But recently someone stepped on a landmine I barely knew I had: the tension between my work among my people and my concern for all peoples. Accused, I was, of not caring enough for those other than Jews. Of working only for Jews.
I should have seen it coming. Indeed, I am a Jew and I see the world through Judaism’s prism. Yet everything I do Jewishly is to benefit all, regardless of identity. I often have sectarian, parochial priorities in reaching out to Jews who care enough about Jewish values because my work is to move the Jewish community to care for everyone. Do not mistake this focus on Jews for selfishness. To be accused of this! Against what I know I stand for. I lost my temper, on my feet and yelling into a telephone. Let me clarify then.
There are plenty Jews in my world of the predominantly young and unaffiliated who are tired of the drumming of “Jew Jew Jew” and recoil from its incessant self-centered, self-referential, self-ish concerns. Every synagogue is just a ghetto to lock out the goyyim, they feel, every Jewish social event serves the agenda of the claustrophobic “marry a Jew!” crowd. Tied to a community that is lacking in fulfillment yet insists on their loyalty, they can’t stand to be around it. I feel the same. Yet here I am, working in the Jewish world. A young career-nik. More »
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Throwin’ down with the Tikvah Fund
Zak Braiterman has penned a strong indictment of the Tikvah Fund. In a long essay he connects the dots and fisks the public organ of Tikvah—The Jewish Review of Books. Zak’s essay articulates the fear that many of us had articulated in private conversations but had not done the leg work. Here is the punch line:
No one of us is free from ideological bias and no one contests the right of anyone inside or outside the academy to pursue this or any other ideological agenda. The argument is that the Tikvah Fund enters the university without proper respect for the rules of open transparency that a university ideally embodies. The Tikvah Fund acts as an interloper by setting up closed shops inside the university under the guise of misleading mission statements. Surely, any set of principles and practices should be subject to the free exchange of ideas and open argument. The intertwining of money, ideological content, and university life is one that needs to be examined much more forthrightly by all of us who seek to negotiate the creative lines between public political life and the critical and self-critical exploration of ideas inside and outside the university.
The rest of the piece is here.
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Dick Cheney, torture and teshuvah
According to press reports, Dick Cheney’s memoir, set to be released this week, is one long exercise is not regretting any decision he made while serving as Vice-President of the United States. This is a shame. The first step in teshuvah, repentance, is recognizing the wrongs that one has committed. Cheney, rather, articulates his continued support for interrogation tactics, including waterboarding, extremes of heat and cold, sleep deprivation, long-term isolation, sensory deprivation and stress positions. It’s clear he will continue to defend his authorization of such torture and has no remorse for the criminal acts of torture he authorized. Cheney could have helped in the effort to repair the harms caused by torturing prisoners by expressing some regret for his actions. He has not.
The rest of the piece is here. After you read it, come back and comment.
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Israelis in NYC organize Washington Square Park tent city
For the fourth weekend in a row, independently-minded Israelis in New York City are gathering to support some of the largest demonstrations in Israel’s history, in every major Israeli city demanding a change to Israel’s economic policies. This Saturday, Israel’s protest organizers have called for one million demonstrators to hit the streets. Possible or not, it’s the biggest change in politics there since 2002.
RSVP on Facebook, join the English- or Hebrew-language Facebook groups, and show your solidarity for average Israelis improving their own country. Read their full explanation below the fold, organizers are encouraging us non-Hebrew speakers to join as well. (Be prepared: learn by video tutorial how to chant “The people demand social justice!” in Hebrew.)
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