Be’col Lashon is taking nominations for its “Excellence in Reporting on Global Judaism” media awards. Winners are awarded $1000.
“Seven rabbis traveled to Washington, D.C., Tuesday seeking a remedy for what they say is overly harsh and unjust treatment of Sholom Rubashkin, the former Agriprocessors executive convicted of fraud at the kosher meat packing plant, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2008.” Pardon me while I throw up a little in my mouth. Story here.
Maharat no more! Sara Hurwitz takes on the title of Rabba (ie, the feminine construction of the Hebrew word “rabbi”.) And this rabbi says: About damn time.
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.”
On January 5th, Anat Hoffman, director of the Israel Religious Action Center and one of the leaders of Women of the Wall, was interrogated by the Jerusalem Police. This is, of course, on the heels of Nofrat Frenkel’s arrest at WoW in November. Hoffman was told that she is a suspect in a felony, accused of not obeying a legal order and disrupting the peace at the Western Wall. The interrogation lasted over an hour.
Below is Hoffman’s account of the incident; here’s a piece about it from the Forward.
Hoffman writes,
At the beginning of the session, the interrogating police officer, Rav Samal Bachir (Senior Staff Sergeant Major) Yoram Suleiman, notified me that I was being interrogated as a suspect in a felony: not complying with a legal order and disturbing the peace.
The interrogation took place at the Kishle police station.
The police got my address from the rasham ha-amutot (the registry of non-profit organizations), and I was asked the following questions:
1. Do you know what the Supreme Court decision was?
2. What did the police officer demand from Women of the Wall during
their prayer services on Rosh Hodesh Kislev (November 18) and Rosh
Hodesh Tevet (December 18)?
3. Are you a member of the organizing body of these prayer services?
It is hard to imagine a more embarrassing situation in which to find an exclusive ultra-Orthodox organization – a group that was a standard-bearer in the fight against “breaches in the wall of conversion” and “the penetration of complete gentiles into the vineyard of Israel.”
These breaches pale into insignificance in comparison with the accusations against the man who heads the organization itself: according to the claims, Rabbi Leib Tropper of Rockland County abandoned the apparently stringent Halakhic standards of his Haredi organization and established a conversion process based on his most private impulses.
A report in the New York Post earlier this week revealed a sensational story about “a prominent Orthodox rabbi has been caught on tape discussing his apparent love affair with a shiksa he was converting to Judaism.”
The woman involved is 32-year-old Shannon Orand of Houston, who still seeks to convert from Christianity to Judaism. The bulk of the report deals with embarrassing comments that the rabbi made during a phone call, during which he was recorded demanding the woman perform a number of sexual services for himself and his friends in exchange for granting her a conversion certificate.
…
Rabbi Tropper’s stated goal in founding the Eternal Jewish Family was to “fortify the walls of conversion,” amid an ideological debate between the Haredi and national camps in Israel. …As such, the doors of senior Haredi officals were thrown open to him…. because of his efforts and comments against conversions by the Conversion Authority, against the “infiltration” of gentiles into the people of Israel.
The question I pose to you all: Why is it suddenly seemingly acceptable to use this tired old stereotype? Is it truly ironic now, or is it the same song on a different day? (I think the latter, really, but folks like Heeb have tried to make it the former for years–do they succeed? If so, what’s different about what they do and some of the nastier versions of this? If not, why not?) What’s going on in our culture that gives rise to this now? Some of it, sure, is that the people who were kids when this came around the first time are now hipster adults–but somehow, I don’t think that’s the whole story. What else is going on?
(We’ve written about this before, including this week, but the phenomenon just keeps coming, so perhaps it’s worth thinking about why in a bigger way.)
In any case, here’s the latest addition to the canon:
Oh, Focus on the Family, if you weren’t so scary and powerful, I’d call you the gift that keeps on giving, since truly, there is always something new with you.
This year, for example, you bring us Stand For Christmas to help us figure out how “Christmas-Friendly” various chain retailers are. By “Christmas,” you of course mean “Christian,” and by “friendly,” you mean, “explicitly excluding Muslims, atheists, Jews, Wiccans, or anyone else horrible like that.” (And by “Christian,” you mean, “crazy fundamentalist who makes everyone else who identifies as a Christian look bad,” natch.)
Wonkette helpfully went through a bunch of the reviews, though I found some good ones on my own as well. A few nuggets:
Eddie Bauer:
“I was made to feel very uncomfortable by their employees who would only respond to my ‘Merry Christmas’ with a ‘Happy Holidays’. If they know I believe in Jesus, why can’t they just wish me a Merry Christmas???”
American Eagle Outfitters:
“Was wished a Happy Hanukkah as I left the store. When I stopped and explained I was Christian, the lady at the counter told me ‘Happy Holidays!’ This was very offensive!”
“They gave me a King James Bible after I wished them Merry Christmas. I’m going back again tomorrow.”
“On black Friday the store in Lithonia Ga was playing Christmas music throughout the store. I noticed because it was actually an overtly Christian song that said Jesus Christ over and over! The sales ladies were very nice and it was a wonderful experience.”
Best Buy:
“Just bought an ipod from Best Buy, but then learned of their anti-Christmas/pro -Eid al Adha actions. I so regret having purchased from them. Best Buy, give glory to the one who has allowed and attributed to your success…Jesus Christ, not Mohammed!”
“It’s so rude that Best Buy has a Muslim Wish on the front of their WebFlyer. This is America! Wish us a Merry Christmas! I will not be shopping at Best Buy ever again!”
Rabbi Steven Wernick, the new head of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, has made it clear that one of his priorities for the organization is outreach to Jews in their 20s and early 30s. As Conservative Jews gather for the USCJ’s biennial in Cherry Hill, N.J., December 6 — the first of Wernick’s tenure — and begin to chart a new course for the movement, it’s worth considering how best to go about pursuing this important goal.
Obviously, there are a lot of exciting possibilities when it comes to enfranchising and exciting 20- and 30-something Jews. But there are also some pitfalls that are common in efforts to reach this particular demographic. More »
As a coda to the discussion about the woman arrested for wearing a tallit at the Western Wall, this little Torah nugget came through my Facebook from my friend Simon. This, he writes, “opinion [was] expressed almost 300 years ago in R. Yom Tov Ben Yisrael Algazi’s Yom Tov deRabbanan, quoting his father, Yaakov Algazi, Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem in the first half of the eighteenth century.”
“The meaning of the expression ‘Strength and dignity are her clothing’ is that she used to put on tefillin and tallit, which are called ‘strength and dignity’ [based on Midrash Tehillim on Psalm 90], and the verse states that ‘she laugheth at the time to come’: that she has a reward in the time to come, in the next world. For even though she is performing a commandment that she is not obliged to perform, she still earns a reward … Her wisdom also supports her, because she doesn’t go and ask the rabbis whether to put them on or not — ‘She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and the law of kindness is on her tongue.’ — she performs time-dependent commandments that she is not obliged in on her own initiative and relies on her own opinion.”
Nofrat Frenkel, a medical student from Beersheva, was arrested for wearing a tallit at a gathering of Women of the Wall at the Kotel (Western Wall) today. (That’s not a picture of her–that’s some other folks from Women of the Wall.)
The stam (anonymous voice) of Menachot 43a tells us that “Everyone is obligated in tzitzit–Priests, Levites and Israelites, converts, women and minors.” The Rambam tells us that if women want to wrap themselves in tzitzit, we do not protest. The Shulchan Aruch says that women and slaves are exempt from tzitzit, and the commentator the Rema says that, nevertheless, if they wish to wrap themselves and say the blessing, it is permissible as with all positive time-bound commandments. R. Moshe Feinstein says that “women are permitted to perform even mitzvot from which they are exempt by the Torah, and they get a mitzvah and a reward upon performing them…. and if so, also regarding tzitzit it is appropriate for a woman who wants to wear a garment that is different from a man’s clothing but has four corners, that she put on tzitzit and fulfill this mitzvah.”
The theocracy in Israel is not about the love of and service to God.
Rabbi Elyashiv of the Lithuanian stream of ultra-Orthodoxy has ruled that it is best not to wear Crocs shoes on Yom Kippur even though they are not made out of leather and, therefore, would seemingly be permissible for the holiday. His reasoning behind the ruling is that they are too comfortable, and thus don’t provide the level of suffering one should feel on the holiday.
Do with this what you will. (Haven’t Crocs’ 15 minutes expired, even in Israel?)
Periodically people tinker with the street signs in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv; I hadn’t seen these particular ones before (from TA) and thought they were cute, so I figured I’d share. The full set can be found here.
It’s good to get inspired by a little hesed now and again.
JTA reports,
ACEGEREKINEI VILLAGE, Uganda (JTA) — After four hours of driving on ever tinier roads this morning, our food truck becomes stuck in the sand and we have to push it out. We are following the packed pickup in Rabbi Gershom Sizomu’s SUV — four members of his Abayudaya Jewish congregation, two Ugandan TV reporters and me, a semi-retired Canadian journalist volunteering with the Abayudaya.
Just then we see thatch-roofed mud huts in the distance under a bright blue sky dotted with puffy clouds. We see people gathered under a large tree. The high-pitched trill of ululation greets our arrival at last in Acegerekinei, a remote village in northeastern Uganda.
We begin unloading the 2,420 pounds of food relief we have donated to hungry families among the estimated 3 million Ugandans facing starvation in a worsening famine. I was happy to have contributed 220 pounds of corn flour.
The Ugandan government says there are food shortages in 52 districts in the north and east brought on by drought and other factors. Nearly 40 people have died of hunger-related complications in the East African nation of about 32 million.
Rabbi Sizomu says he wants to act before the numbers grow worse, before a high death count is needed to trigger a response.
Nico Tarosyan and Olga Samosvatov will have a chuppah in a “festive public ceremony” in Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square on Tu B’Av (Aug 4th), in part to raise awareness about the lack of civil marriage in Israel and the fact that they, and many other Jews from the FSU and elsewhere who are not recognized as Jews by the rabbinate, are thus legally unable to marry at all.
Omri Casspi is the first Israeli to join the NBA. When told they also have hummus in the US, he replied, “Man, I tried it… I will bring some from Israel, maybe. I’ll let you taste it and you tell me.”
According to one survey, 80% of secular Israelis and 59% of Israelis overall define their level of Judaic knowledge and Jewish heritage as mediocre or lower.
A woman is suing an Egyptian hotel claiming her daughter got pregnant – from using the swimming pool.
Magdalena Kwiatkowska’s 13-year-old returned to Poland from their holiday expecting a baby.
Magdalena believes the teenager conceived from stray sperm after taking a dip in the hotel’s mixed pool. She is now seeking compensation from the hotel.
A travel industry source said: “The mother is adamant that her daughter didn’t meet any boys while she was there.
“She is determined to go ahead with the case.”
Tourist authorities in Warsaw, Poland, have confirmed they received the bizarre complaint.
Kind of wacky on its own, but particularly interesting in light of the fact that Judaism has a whole pregnant-via-the-pool thing going on. More »
As the community continues to struggle with the high costs of Jewish day school, the Jewish Center of Teaneck is planning to launch an after-school program in the fall to supplement a public school education.
The synagogue’s Rabbi Lawrence Zierler revealed plans on Tuesday for what he called “an open yeshiva.” The four-day a week after-school program geared toward fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-graders will provide b’nai mitzvah preparation, Jewish education, and Hebrew language arts.
“With this economic crisis there will definitely be families that can no longer afford going to the day schools and will be looking for some way for their children to still get a secular education and follow that up with a Jewish education,” said Eva Gans, the center’s expected incoming president. “If this works for them then we’re doing a service for the community.”…
“It’s not an old-fashioned cheder,” he said, referring to the classical model of intensive Hebrew programs. “It’s giving people the skills you need to live well as a Jew but at the same time in an exciting environment.”
Now, obviously the economic crisis and its impact on people’s ability to pay pricey day school tuitions is the Standard‘s lede here (so let’s cue the discussion in comments on how and whether day school can be made more affordable for more people in this post-Madoff era). But I find a lot of the language used here (“to live well as a Jew but at the same time in an exciting environment”, eg) very interesting. It sounds, basically, like a slightly frummer (maybe) and possibly younger (sometimes, sometimes not) version of programs that have been doing excellent work around the country for years, whether Boston’s Prozdor, LA Hebrew High, Berkeley’s Midrasha or many others like it in various cities around the U.S. Granted, some of the parents who send their kids to Midrasha or Prozdor do so because they choose public school and living in the larger culture as a value but also want their kids to have some Jewish grounding, others do so for the same reasons that the Jewish Center of Teaneck’s parents would–because day school is not a (financial) option.
Of course, one center opening isn’t going to have a significant impact on Orthodoxy in America…. but what if it signals the beginning of a greater trend among some segments of Orthodox Jewry? Is there a chance of returning to a more “modern” Modern Orthodoxy, of the sort that was much more prevalent 40 years ago?
ETA: A few things to stand corrected on, here, none of which mitigate the question of day school as more, or possibly now less, inevitable given pressing financial realities. Is the day school tuition model broken? Is there enough financial aid to go around? Is it better for the Jews if it is broken and everybody has to retool? Do supplementary programs hold a candle to the grounding kids get in a more comprehensive (day school) Jewish education, and if not, what will that mean if more people are moving away from the day school model?
Arkansas state Sen. Kim Hendren, who is currently the only announced Republican candidate for U.S. Senator against Democratic incumbent Blanche Lincoln in 2010, has apologized for referring to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as “that Jew,” at a county Republican meeting last week.
“I don’t use a teleprompter and occasionally I put my foot in my month,” Hendren told Arkansas blogger Jason Tolbert.
“At the meeting I was attempting to explain that unlike Sen. Schumer, I believe in traditional values, like we used to see on ‘The Andy Griffith Show,’” he explained. “I made the mistake of referring to Sen. Schumer as ‘that Jew’ and I should not have put it that way as this took away from what I was trying to say.”
As my friend Yehuda observes, the real point of interest here is that the implication is that Jews are not traditional, but that a TV show that ran from 1960-1968 is. Awesome.
A nice 
For several years, now, that 
Nofrat Frenkel, a medical student from Beersheva, was arrested for wearing a 
Ynet 
Madonna’s going to be 
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