What did you do on Yom Haatzmaut?
Or were you just stuck at work, day-dreaming about a Starbucks latte?
We constantly hear the rising generation is distanced from Israel. Rather than being a passive product of comfortable middle class American living, a reaction to certain Israeli policies or to the simplistic approach our communal institutions take toward our fealty to Israel, something in young people’s lack of indoctrination is the real problem crisis.
They must be taken to Israel for free to walk their arba amot, their minds re-trained and their loyalty made unflinching. Yet most Jews, even young Birthright alumni, were not aware it was Yom Ha’Atzmaut. Most think that’s a holiday for shoe-shining or something. Is this passivity, this ignorance and laisaez-faire attitude really a problem or one of our own creation, a reflection of our ongoing anxiety?
I get the desire to express moral ‘support’ for our brethren. I applaud celebrating the birth of the State. Surely, those really interested will do more than attend purile “Get Wasted for Israel or-the terrorists-win” Zionism-themed Bar Parties. Most would never dream of davka, marking the Nabka. That’s beyond the pale, but is the only other positive outcome mindless flag-waving and cheer-leading for a nation they will rarely visit and never live?
How do young Jews actually spend Israeli Independence Day? Are they really ‘distanced’ from Israel, are their feelings and actions more nuanced or are they just, you know, typically self-absorbed Americans?
Share what you actually did on Yom Haatzmaut in the comments and lets find out.
Take a look at these videos that J Street NYC’s New Media Committee put together for this Yom Ha’atzmaut:
http://jstreet.org/yom-haatzmaut-videos/
How do young Jews actually spend Israeli Independence Day?
Last year, I went to a Yom Haatzmaut barbeque. This year, I forgot about it until I saw this post.
Are they really ‘distanced’ from Israel…
I am. Which doesn’t mean I don’t care or that I’m not generally aware of news out of Israel. But I think distanced is an appropriate term.
…or are they just, you know, typically self-absorbed Americans?
I’m definitely self-absorbed, but I like to pretend that my personal brand of self-absorption is atypical.
And I think that last bit should be “and/or” rather than simply “or.”
I went to the library, and so did most of the other Jews I know. Yom Ha’atzmaut + Exam season = לא טוב
Here’s a slightly different take: compare and contrast how you celebrate, or don’t celebrate America’s Independence Day with Yom Haatzmaut. I’ve been to maybe 2 or 3 “events” for Fourth of July in the last decade – mostly fireworks watching – but I rarely give America’s Independence Day much thought, and I don’t see the point of finding yet another reason to go drink at a bar. Why do people who like drinking need an excuse to get drunk? Just go drink, who is stopping you?
I went to special prayer services established by the Rabbanut for Maariv and Shacharit. I also played Naomi Shemer songs while studying for finals and really missed being in Israel.
In honor of Israeli Independence Day, I listened to Tomer Yosef’s incredible second album, briefly considered the theological ramifications of a Jewish State, debated politics alternately with a lefty American Jew and a right-wing gay Israeli acquaintance, thought about my National Religious cousins who live in Rehovot and a wild Shabbat in Marmorek, wondered why the local branch of the American Zionist Movement featured a Klezmer band at their suburban synagogue Mesiba, ate some sabra hummus with my dinner and put a mini-Israeli flag in my car’s glove box.
I sat outside shirtless in the 80 degree weather in Galut Chicago while thinking about Israel… Ended up doing a wikipedia journey through the Azrieli Towers, Kerem Hatemenim, Lehi and Beitar… Then having read up on enough on the romanticism of Revisionist Zionism, I leafed through a few chapters of books on my shelf: The Hebrew Republic by Bernard Avishai, and Essays on the State of Israel and Diaspora and Jewish Continuity: Essays on the ‘Ever Dying People’ by Shimon Rawidowicz.
Then I prepped for a presentation on Poland’s Jewish Revival (goooooooo Golut!) and watched the Bull’s game.
I think I’m an exception, however.
On Israeli Independence Day I engaged in deep personal paranoia that birds outside were all plotting to invade the house, shot at them with a home-made howitzer, built a fence around the house to keep out the neighbors, stuck my head beneath a pillow to make reality around me disappear, drafted my dog into sherut leumi because it refuses to serve in the yard, and constructed an iron dome over the roof… because, you know, the sky is falling… Then in peaceful seclusion, I celebrated my freedom from all that nonsense when I moved to America.
@Talia I was looking for something a bit less scripted, but I guess what you’re saying is that you and several others spent the day making some very nice J-street propaganda. Not so distanced then.
@Dwilinsky Forgot about it. Distanced.
@victor the comparison is a bit flawed since we live in America. Part of the aspect of the ‘distancing’ argument that confuses me is that it is natural for anyone living half the world away from someplace to which they are remotely connect to be ‘distanced.’
Half the world away is about as distanced as you can get. HaLevi felt it geuinely, but it would appear our hearts are not nearly as in the east when we are in the even more uttermost west…
July 4th can’t be escaped in the US close to civilization. But you didn’t answer- how did you spend the day?
I don’t even celebrate the independence of the country in which I was born, raised and live, so why would I celebrate the independence of a country in which I wasn’t born, raised or live?
Nor do I celebrate the independence of countries which I’ve visited or have friends, so why would I celebrate the independence of this other country which I’ve visited and have friends?
I’ll tell you what I didn’t do–I didn’t celebrate Israel’s independence by eating foods appropriated from Arab culture or by doing folk dances imported from Europe.
I wore a black shirt yesterday, but I only attributed it to Y”H ex post facto. I did learn a little, which allowed me to reflect on the majesty of the Jewish tradition and the utter impoverishment of a Judaism based primarily in nineteenth-century ideas of nationalism.
I like Justin’s response too.
I prayed with the stollel minyan at YU
http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=US#/watch?v=9cMkIauL_Ho
Why is marking the nakba “beyond the pale”?
(Which, btw, is an odd choice of words given the circumstances).
I can’t say that I celebrate the day, though I did read some bloggers who had thoughts on the subject. In all honesty, were I not an english-language Israeli media news hound, I wouldn’t have know the day from any other.
Nor do I think a Jew in the US, or Germany or Australia, say, needs to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day, or is expected to do so by Israelis. Frankly, I’m still recovering from Pesach – a real “peoplehood” holiday, if not a national one. The Jewish “religious” calendar is sufficiently filled with holidays for me to not take the secular ones – Holocaust Day, Israeli Independence Day, etc. very seriously.
Just to bring up something which is, perhaps, not in the experience of other Jewschoolers, I did “celebrate” Victory Day – if by “celebrate” you mean pick up a phone and congratulate someone. Victory Day? That’s right. Both my grandfathers fought in WWII in the Soviet Army, and my family suffered massively in that war. Victory Day falls on May 9th each year, commemorating Nazi Germany’s capitulation, and is a big deal where I come from.
You bring up an interesting point about “distancing”. I really don’t see how an observant Jew could ever feel distanced from Israel (the boundary between “the land of Israel” and “the state of Israel” is sufficiently porous, in this context, as to be irrelevant). We continuously pray, learn, debate about events, laws, etc. – all revolving around Israel. It’s nonsensical to say that an observant Jew is distanced from Israel, in a general sense, given the sheer human effort expended on that connection – spiritual, legalistic, etc. – daily.
On the other hand, an observant American Jew may not be connected to the daily life of the Jewish state. Is that “distancing”? If don’t share the same mindset, collective memory and frame of reference as Israeli Jews, is that “distancing”? And how would one ever resolve such “distancing” without actually making aliyah?
As for the non-observant, how can anyone expect people to maintain a connection to a place, or an idea, without expending any effort to do so? And the effort is never convenient, otherwise it wouldn’t be an effort; it is by nature unnatural. As someone who others consider “observant”, I don’t feel natural praying, either, but I have made a commitment to do things which I don’t necessarily like doing, things which are unnatural and inconvenient, for a specific purpose whose value I see as greater than my discomfort at expending the effort.
But what outcome or purpose do largely non-observant Jews want to achieve which can incentivize them into expending the effort necessary to maintain that connection? A loose socio-cultural-transnational affiliation? Meh.
Which day was Yom Ha’atzma’ut? Serious question.
I attended a solemn Mincha marking the end of Yom HaZikaron and a festive Maariv that included Hallel and Al HaNisim.
The next day I gathered with friends for a veggie Bar-G-Q.
As to the question “Why should I celebrate an independence day which is not mine?”
By the same token: Why celebrate Hannukkah if the victory was not yours?
Brooklyn Jews hosted (with PSJC, Next Dor NYC, and Locally Grown Shabbat: a project of Kolot Chayeinu) a Yom Ha’azmaut Party and Bar Night at Soda Bar in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn on Monday night. About 50 people came to celebrate, play Israeli trivia, and meet one another.
I was traveling. But hey – those J Street videos are pretty cool!
http://jstreet.org/yom-haatzmaut-videos/
Were I in Israel, I would have traveled to a demolished former Palestinian village to pay my respects. There is no true independence until Palestinians enjoy equal rights.
@sholom, I laughed really hard at your comment. Very funny.
As to the question “Why should I celebrate an independence day which is not mine?”
By the same token: Why celebrate Hannukkah if the victory was not yours?
and let’s not forget that the Rabbis were so disturbed and disgusted by the militarism of the Maccabean militias that they stripped them of the victory and focused instead on the miracle of the oil… But if you want to celebrate rag-tag brigands and forced circumcisers, be my guest…
My 6 year old listens to Laughing Underground obsessively. He has good taste. (He also likes Charming Hostess and Soulico)
Justin,
It wasn’t the militarism of the Maccabees that Judah HaNassi had a problem with. The traditional rabbinic view is that the Maccabees, of Levite priestly stock, did not surrender the nation’s reins to the Davidic descendants from the tribe of Judah, which is entrusted by G-d to bear the kings of Israel.
Instead, the Maccabees instituted the Hasmonean monarchy. Their victory was widely celebrated, but their inability to give up the power they had amassed created resentment between the two tribes. Judah “the Prince”, the compiler of the Mishnah, was a descendant of King David, from the tribe of Judah.
However, the Lubavitcher Rebbe has a different, very unique take on the matter, which you should read.
Ate food that my family brought with them from Arab lands and danced dances which my family brought back from European ones.
Followed by a large bowel movement and a nap.
When I walked by the Independence Day celebration at my university, I took a flier from a Palestinian student at their counter-demonstration.
Is it… you wanted us to know… are you asking for… in order that… Can someone get Julie a medal, please? I’ve got an old plastic sheriff’s badge, if that works.
@krg I would be very interested to know your what kid likes about these cd’s. Good insight into the next generation….
@victor huh? sherif’s badge
@sholom very funny.
@tzachi I hope everything came out okay.
Not sure that Y’Ht is really a martial holiday since it does not celebrate a victory itself but the Declaration if Independence, yes? I should add that were I in Israel, I myself would probably do something rather mainstream to celebrate… rather like tzachi I imagine.
Justin,
I’ve recently learned that you will soon be ordained by ZSRS. I was in the first ZSRS class ordination class of 1999. Your comment “and let’s not forget that the Rabbis were so disturbed and disgusted by the militarism of the Maccabean militias that they stripped them of the victory and focused instead on the miracle of the oil…But if you want to celebrate rag-tag brigands and forced circumcisers, be my guest” is an inaccurate representation of the tradition as reflected in the “Al HaNissim” paragraphs of Chanukah found in the Amidah and Birkat HaMazon.
Now, I strongly support your right to your opinions, but aside from my deep concern about your suitability as a Conservative rabbi due to your expressed opinions regarding the State of Israel I also am concerned about your suitability as a Conservative rabbi due to your public misrepresentation of our Tradition. Either that misrepresentation is due to ignorance or willful manipulation — neither of which has to do with supporting your right to an opinion.
@ Justin: You write:”I didn’t celebrate Israel’s independence by eating foods appropriated from Arab culture …”
If you refer to Humus, Tehina, shashuka, Kubeh,couscous, shwarma, baba ganush,etc. you would be incorrect to say that these were “appropriated” from others. Our people (Jews) were a part of these cultures. We shared the same foods, musical styles, garment styles, and more. They have been a part of our culture as long as we lived in the Levant. In 1947 there were Palestinians who were Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Druze,etc. These were very much our foods too.
With regard to Hannukah-you imply that owing to its militarism and fanaticism you do not celebrate the holiday (you don’t state this but certainly imply this). Does this mean you feel that you are free to choose which holidays you, and those you may lead, may observe? and reject those that do not fit your ideal world view? Does this mean that you do not wish to fulfill the Mitzvot of hHannukah as they came about as a result to a victory by the “militarism of the Maccabean militias ?”
In your response to Gordis you said it was unfair to refer to you as anti-Israel. Yet you have called Zionism “racist” in Jew School writing (by the way, you have whitewashed that by having those posts removed) Here you even charge Israeli culture as lacking authenticity – essentially stolen “appropriated”) from others.
Is there anything positive you have to stay about the State of Israel?
Why would you join the Rabbinical Assembly who has a clear commitment to Zionist values and is on record with scores of resolutions that support an Israel that you have called “vile.”
@Rabbi Frank-
First off, kudos on using your real name and website–it’s sadly rare. I suggest you take a very close look at the paragraph you’re referring to. I also suggest that you consider the purpose of constructed mythic narrative and its role in liturgical compositions, and consider archetypal modes of representing a historic memory. The al ha’nisim for hannukah speaks of the victory of Torah over wickedness as embodied by the restitution of the Temple service and the rededication of the altar and the kindling of the oil. This is in direct reflection of how the holiday is recalled in the gemara, which I do not think I need to cite for you as I assume you know, have learned and understand ‘mai hannukah’. However, I do not think you understand what the Rabbis are doing when they construct their narrative in the gemara and in the liturgy. They could have wrote a prayer about military victory; but they didn’t, they wrote a prayer about moral victory and divine providence. All I have said is that the Rabbis chose to focus on things other than the military victory, and this is only supported by the composition of al ha’nisim. So before you accuse me of ignorance and willful misrepresentation, I believe that you can assume that the fine deans, rabbis and professors of the institution we both owe our ordination to (yours in 1999 and mine tomorrow night) have educated me well enough to read prayers, analyze and interpret them with grace. Now, as to my being suited or not to be a rabbi in the Conservative Movement, I have two responses to–1) leave that up to the deans of the Ziegler School and 2) I have doubts as to the suitability of a number of rabbis in the Conservative movement, especially those who would seek to sabotage the career of an honest person, or who would threaten others in anonymous emails, simply because of a disagreement of politics and opinion. I wonder, Rabbi Frank, what is your opinion on rabbis anonymously sending emails under pseudonyms or assumed names threatening the career of others? Is that proper behavior of a Conservative rabbi? I’d love to know your answer.
@Meir Eynaim-
Really? Still using the pseudonym? Still don’t want to come clean with your real identity? Okay, I’ll continue with your charade… So, food. Jews ate Arab food, and still do. This is true, but that does not make hummus a “Jewish” food. It can’t be an “Israeli” food because hummus has been around a whole while longer than Israel. There is a difference between a food that Jews eat and a “Jewish” food. There are actually very few “Jewish” foods, and most of them are variations of local cuisine adapted for slow cooking for yontif or shabbos. My critique is that Israeli hasbarah has claimed Arab foods as Jewish or Israeli and they’re not. I recently got reprimanded by someone for using the term ‘arab salad’ to refer to cucumbers and tomatoes–that’s what i’m getting at… but I don’t know why I’m bothering with you… On to more pressing matters…
I have never, ever deleted any single thing I have ever wrote for this website or any other. Not one time. I stand by every word I have ever written or said–I have integrity (it’s a good quality for a human being to have). I have never attempted to white wash or anything of the sort. In no way did I insinuate that I do not celebrate Hannukah. That was a willful misread on your part, and it would certainly not be the first time you’ve willfully misread by words. I said regarding Hannukah that I do not celebrate the military victory of the Maccabees. That is not how I relate to the holiday. The reason I do not celebrate the military victory is because that is not what the Rabbis perceived when they envisioned it, according to my opinion. The mitzvos of Hannukah came about because the Rabbis envisioned a way to honor the miracle of light in darkness–physical and metaphorical. The Maccabean revolt did not create the mitzvos–now that would be a major misrepresentation of our Tradition!
Now, on to your questions about Israel–Again, nothing I have ever written has ever been removed by myself. There were posts lost when Jewschool switched servers a while back, but I have never deleted anything I have ever written. The statement to which you refer was written in the comment to a post, not in a post itself. I said, as I say often, that nationalism is racist, that Zionism is not exempt for that since it is a nationalist ideology. I believe my exact quote was “Zionism LIKE ALL OTHER FORMS OF NATIONALISM is racist”. I believe this. I’m allowed the right to my opinion. As to the authenticity of Israeli culture, I don’t even know what that means. Can modern nations have authentic culture? I’m not sure. All culture is appropriated (i NEVER said stolen). Culture is built by appropriation–I don’t think I believe in “authentic culture”…
Is there anything positive I have to say about the State of Israel? What a silly and insecure question. What do you want, a list?
As to joining the RA–get over it! people have diverse opinions and this is good for the Jewish people! You have blown this all way out of proportion and it causes me to have great concern for your mental well being (I mean that with love, seriously). Why do I threaten you so much? What is it that you think I’m going to do? Do you think I support terrorism or something? What have I done wrong, in your opinion? Do I deserve to be sabotaged? Do I deserve to be threatened? Is it appropriate rabbinic behavior to engage in such activity? And all over some misread words. Seriously, it’s time to lay this all to rest and put it behind you. Let me get on with my life, please leave me alone. I have not wronged you personally, I am not a risk to your country or whatever it is that you’re worried about. I’m an honest person, a good teacher who has sound values. There are many who do and would vouch for me–it’s time to give it up, it’s time to leave me alone. Please. Now, I’m going to bed, because tomorrow I am being ordained as a rabbi.
@Justin
In your response to me you write: “All I have said is that the Rabbis chose to focus on things other than the military victory, and this is only supported by the composition of al ha’nisim.”
But your earlier comment which I responded to is: “the Rabbis were so disturbed and disgusted by the militarism of the Maccabean militias that they stripped them of the victory and focused instead on the miracle of the oil…”
There is a literary disconnect of integrity of intent between the representation of your views.
Second,
Here are words of al ha’nisim.
“ועל המלחמות שעשית לאבותינו בימים ההם בזן הזה…רבת את ריבם…נקמת את נקמתם מסרת גבורים ביד חלשים”
“And for the wars that you battled for our ancestors in those days at this time of year…you fought their fights…you avenged their wrong and delivered the mighty into the hands of the weak…”
The literal meaning of this prayer certainly includes military references. You are correct that the Gemara omits any reference to the military victory (we both know due to fear that it would embolden another surge of Jewish resistance to the occupying Romans which could prove harmful to the Jewish community), but you are incorrect to represent that our Tradition’s sages were ‘disturbed and disgusted’ that Jews took up arms when necessary. Of course the prayer has Gd responsible for victory as we believe in Divine providence and justice, but this attribution does not instruct that the rabbis were disturbed and disgusted that the Maccabees served as the agents for Gd’s expressing Her will in the world.
My accusation of willful manipulation stands because you drash the words of al hanissim to give a non-literal representation of its meaning and present this representation as certainty of fact without acknowledging it as interpretation.
As to the other points you mention:
1. Your suitability as a Conservative rabbi: you contradict yourself when you tell me to leave the decision of who gets to be ordained as a Conservative rabbi to the ordaining institutions and then admit that you, too, question the suitability of some who have already been ordained by those very institutions.
2. Anonymity: I believe anonymity reduces the effectiveness of message.
@Justin:
I deeply appreciate your concern for my mental health. Thank you for caring so deeply.
I believe my exact quote was “Zionism LIKE ALL OTHER FORMS OF NATIONALISM is racist”.
You may believe anything you wish but allow me to quote your exact words: “I absolutely think that Zionism is racism.”
Why you think that is another issue. You did, indeed, go on to explain that you hate all forms of nationalism.
Again, on Jewschool (the part that was not deleted but “lost”) you wrote: “but I am not going to praise Israel when they are, hands down, one of the most repressive, violent countries on the planet.”
You ask “Is there anything positive I have to say about the State of Israel? What a silly and insecure question. What do you want, a list?”
Silly question? Really?
As a person who is deeply committed to fairness in the Middle East and to an end of violence, there is much that troubles me about the policies and actions of my country. I will not defend my credentials except to say that there is not a day that goes by where I do not actively work to change those policies.
But if you look at the nearly 200 UN members do you really put Israel “HANDS DOWN” by the top of that list?
We are commanded to be a “Light unto the Nations.” So we may have an obligation to hold ourselves to a higher standard – but we are really HANDS DOWN “one of the most repressive, violent countries on the planet?”
Is my question really so silly after reading that we are ” HANDS DOWN “one of the most repressive, violent countries on the planet.”
Secondly, I frequently publish under my own name. On Jewschool nearly everyone uses a Blog name. There is a good deal of logic to this as one can read an idea and have it stand on its own.
If a, Reform Rabbi, lets say, writes a column, there are often viscous talk-backs, not because of the content, but because there may be a bias against where the writer comes from.
However, if you offer me permission to publish the full texts of the back and forth between us – I will be happy to do so using my full name.
That way I can set the record strait.
With regard to all of your “Do I deserve…” questions, my answer is simple. No, you do not deserve this.
1. Your suitability as a Conservative rabbi: you contradict yourself when you tell me to leave the decision of who gets to be ordained as a Conservative rabbi to the ordaining institutions and then admit that you, too, question the suitability of some who have already been ordained by those very institutions.
I just can’t believe that some of you are having these types of conversations for the whole world to say.
Now, I’m going to bed, because tomorrow I am being ordained as a rabbi.
@Justin.
I don’t know you, but I would advise you to have these comments deleted from this stream. What are you thinking writing about these things here?
say
see
@Rabbi Frank-
the wars which YOU fought for us… This is a large theological statement, and I’m not sure you understand its point. We recite al ha’nisim at Purim, a holiday which clearly has no historical reality… I think you’re being a bit too literal. As to my questioning of the suitability of other rabbis, I do not see that as a contradiction. My point is that you and I do not get to choose who is and is not a rabbi. If you want to accuse me of willful misrepresentation, you’re mistaken, but you can do whatever you want, Adam.
@ME-
So we always do what others around us are doing? That sounds dangerous to me… As to our correspondence from THREE YEARS AGO, it’s really time to move on. Why do you need to publish emails which were in private correspondence? What does that have to do with this? Again, you’re willfully misreading my stance on Zionism, which I have stated more than once. But I don’t think you’re ever going to see what it is I actually am saying. As to whether or not I deserve to be sabotaged. I’ll put it straight out there, if you feel I am not deserving of sabotage, then why did you attempt to sabotage my career?
@J1-
Why should I be concerned about having a private opinion? Because I am a rabbi? The discourse in our community will not change and will not become respectful if we crouch in fear of those who seek to defame us. I will stand up for my right to my opinion and I will always put my name behind it rather than hide behind anonymous pseudonyms like a coward.
@Adam,
also in my interpretation of al ha’nisim, I understood you to be referring to the entire prayer, including b’yemei…
I will stand up for my right to my opinion and I will always put my name behind it rather than hide behind anonymous pseudonyms like a coward.
Um, because the three of you look like a bunch of petty schoolboys bickering in this stream–I’m sure I do plenty times as well.
If you want these words to follow you around, as you pursue a life as a rabbi, that’s your choice I guess.
I don’t see what any of us are doing here that is so courageous, btw.
Congratulations on becoming a Rabbi, Justin. I second Jonathan1. A Rabbi’s private opinion expressed in the wrong context – and a public setting is always the wrong context – always leads to a loss in the respect with which people hold him and his office. Even among those who agree with your personal opinion, you become less a leader and more a partisan hack to be utilized for their own ends. A Rabbi is always on duty, and his public words always reflect on the Jewish people, communally, and on our faith.
and a public setting is always the wrong context
I don’t necessarily agree with this. I feel like my opinions are supported by traditions of our culture and faith. I also feel that it is the duty of any individual to speak their truth. I agree with you, there are dangerous ramifications when rabbis of certain communities teach and instruct their followers to believe certain things, but I have never taught in a rabbinic capacity my personal opinions and faith tenets. I have never told anyone to think like I do. When it comes to Israel, I think Jews should have a relationship with our ancestral homeland, in spiritual and emotional terms. I do not believe that the modern State of Israel is a necessary part of that equation. It’s about the land, it’s about kedusha, and it’s about connection–it’s not about following a political party line. I am not utilizing anything for my own ends. I would agree with you if I was taking advantage of people or victimizing people, but I have done no wrong here. My thoughts are being policed by people who do not know me and have never met me.
@Justin.
You can have any opinion you want, I’m just saying, as somebody who doesn’t really know the full extent of what these personal feuds are about, it isn’t shedding you in the best light as a rabbi.
for instance:
Do I deserve to be sabotaged? Do I deserve to be threatened? Is it appropriate rabbinic behavior to engage in such activity? And all over some misread words. Seriously, it’s time to lay this all to rest and put it behind you. Let me get on with my life, please leave me alone. I have not wronged you personally, I am not a risk to your country or whatever it is that you’re worried about. I’m an honest person, a good teacher who has sound values. There are many who do and would vouch for me–it’s time to give it up, it’s time to leave me alone. Please. Now, I’m going to bed, because tomorrow I am being ordained as a rabbi.
Sounds nuts, IMO–I’m sure I sound nuts plenty too–I’m no better than anybody else here. But, I’m sorry, I don’t think this is how I’d want my rabbi to sound on the internet.
Furthermore, I know that Rabbi Frank is a public figure in Israel, so I can’t believe that if he has issues with somebody’s suitability for the rabbinate he wouldn’t discuss it with that person, to their face. At the least I’d think he’d write somebody a private letter or e-mail. Instead he’s putting it out there for the whole world to see?
@J1-
It does sound nuts, right? Except that a rabbi in Israel did in fact contact synagogues I was applying to work at spreading lies about me trying to sabotage my career before it even began. They deceived a friend of mine to get the information they needed, and used a fake name to write these emails. I have been threatened more than once by people who know nothing of me. Because of an online disagreement three years ago, I still get threatened today–yet I do not understand what threat I am to anyone at all. I wish it was not true, but it is, this is the state of our discourse, where people who have a different opinion are victimized for their thoughts–talk about McCarthyism. So sad. Rabbi Frank could have contacted me personally, he has chosen not to despite having access to one or more ways to contact me. He chose this venue, which is his choice. They feel the need to defame me, but I don’t know why. I appreciate your thoughts, yet I do not see why my words paint me in a negative light–I have been unfairly treated, and I am asking if I deserve it from the person directly responsible for it. In my opinion, I’d rather my rabbi have a backbone and stand up for themselves rather than take unwarranted threats laying down.
@Justin.
If this is the case–and you are rock solid on the facts–then frankly I would write an entire post on Jewschool, explaining the situation, and using people’s actual names.
. . . because it’s all too confusing right now.
If you’re going to bring this fight here, you might as well go all of the way.
I do not want to expose this person, they know who they are. They now know I know who they are. I, for now, will wait for them to expose themselves if they are honest and upright. I am rock solid on the facts, this is the case. It saddens me deeply.
Jonathan1, I think Justin did write a post a while back touching on this subject, and what he feels is ideologically motivated persecution disconnected from his duties as a Rabbi. Like you, I also don’t know the details of this situations.
Justin, I’m not saying I have all the answers, but take a step back and look at this in the whole. You can’t expect people to disconnect your personal beliefs and your Rabbinic service. I know a couple of fairly extreme Marxist Arab bloggers in DC who stopped blogging when they got jobs with Newsweek, because they didn’t want anyone to even have the thought that their personal opinions were seeping into their work product.
I think you should consider which is more important – your professional life as a Rabbi, or the ability to make off the cuff remarks which might draw the wrong kind of attention and detract from your Rabbinical work. This is big boy time, and maybe you can’t do both. Again, the issue is not so much that you’re acting improperly, but that someone might think you are acting improperly.
When a Chabad Rabbi goes into a liberal community that is very pro-abortion, he doesn’t start writing a blog talking about those murdering abortionists. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his own opinion, or that he isn’t entitled to it. It’s simply not appropriate for him to express his personal opinion in whatever context he feels like, even when it is grounded in halacha.
It is McCarthyism and thought policing? Maybe. It’s also the reality of your chosen profession. A Rabbi should attempt to be beyond reproach, and whatever public positions you take must be both grounded in Jewish law and respectful of communal and individual sensitivities of the congregants. You are no longer responsible merely for yourself, or you won’t be when you are placed in a community, and your words may well be taken beyond their intent and limited context.
Am I saying that whoever is harassing you is acting in good faith, or wisely? Absolutely not. It sounds like you’re being hounded viciously, and if that person is reading this thread, I would urge them to stop, or at least to try another approach, as they are clearly not having the intended effect, and working to deny a Jew gainful employment is a serious issue.
just to clear the issue–the post in question which ME accuses me of deleting is right here:
http://jewschool.com/2008/12/11/14323/livni-wants-to-say-yallah-bye-to-israeli-arabs/
and the statement in question, in context, was this:
I absolutely think that Zionism is racism because I think that nationalism is racism. I don’t have an opinion on a one or two-state solution because I am not Israeli and it is not for me to decide. I think that the idea of a Jewish state for Jews is outdated and very 19th century.
@Jonathan1
@Victor
@Jewschool
The reason I remarked to Justin is specifically because he was on the verge of becoming an ordained Conservative rabbi. In my opinion, the role and title of rabbi demands a humility and responsibility that is absent in Justin’s public comments post. My intention was to inform Justin (and his readers) of the need to maintain integrity and humility when presenting ideas and making claims, and that his presentation of our tradition vis a vis Chanukah lacked both. His pedantic tone in response to me illuminates the justification of my concern.
There are Conservative rabbis who in hindsight were not suitable for the title. There are Conservative rabbis who in foresight were not suitable for the title. Recognizing this reality in a public manner need not diminish the work of those who suit the title. On the contrary, I am of the opinion that it can serve to maintain the integrity of the institutional role — in this case of Conservative rabbi.
@Rabbi Frank
@Rabbi Justin
@Meir Eynaim
This really isn’t my business. If you three aren’t going to present us with the whole story here then none of us really have the right to comment on it (and I’m still not sure how any of this arrived here in the first place.)
@Jonathan1 Amen, soul-sista’.
@Rabbi Frank
As a side note, I grant you a h/t for actually living in Israel (to return to the topic here) as a Conservative rabbi.
While the Conservative movement isn’t really my cup of tea, I have to respect anybody who moves to Israel to try to make it a better place.
(as opposed to those we read here who say intellectually dishonest things like “as long as Israel has XYZ policy toward my movement I’ll never move there”–when 99.9% of the people in these movements aren’t moving to Israel anyway. And the only way change would actually happen is if a critical mass of people associated with these movements moved to Israel. And the response to this point is the patronizing “if Israel wants the 5.5 cents I provide them in aid every year–through my tax return–then they should set up the country so that I am very comfortable there during my tri-annual visit.)
I guess that’s my Yom Haatzmaut moment.
That comment threads sometimes take on lives of their own not withstanding, given the spirit of inquiry of the post this exchange on appropriate Rabbinic behavior is odd.
You’ve hijacked a comment thread that provided an opportunity to LISTEN to current/future congregants. I know they teach listening in Seminary, and young people sharing what they did or did not do on Israeli Independence Day should be instructive.
Conservative Rabbis should bare this in mind rather than talking amongst yourselves and past the rest of us. My 2 cents.
@ I Justin: My statements stand. If you will allow me to publish the full texts of the back and forth between us (not simply those that appeared on JewSchool)to which we now suddenly have a link which I was unable to find until you posted it here despite my search efforts, unedited, in a place where you are not one of the editors, I think that people will be able to decide for themselves. I am happy to do so under my full name. I am not hiding behind anonymity. I will do so with my full name. This is what you keep requesting. For the, I do not know how many time it is now, I am happy to do so.
In addition, you have not shared here the link to the very matter that began the whole back and forth – your accusation of insensitivity on the part of the Masorti Movement (including the comments) that was posted here on Jewschool, stemming from the Map that the Movement published that did not delineate the so-called Green Line.
You may recall that in my comments to you I suggested that you may have been able to quietly resoled the entire issue you raised by contacting the people at Masorti by email. You responded with, and I still find it hard to imagine, by asking how would you know how to contact these people (people tied to the very Movement of which you are a part.
I have refrained from commenting on almost all of your posts over the past several years as I had no interest in engaging in an argument that would nowhere.
But your comments, on the heels of two days that are holy to so many of the Jewish People (Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut) coincidental to your joining the rabbinic ranks, brought me to respond.
I think that there is wide room for diversity in the rabbinate. I think that there is room for a wide range of opinions on the subject of Israel.
But the Conservative Movement has continued to define itself as a religious Zionist Movement. I do not think that those who feel that Zionism is racist fall within that very wide tent. That is MY opinion. I am entitled to it.
I would be happy to put an end to this back and forth – but I can hardly imagine that you will allow it to end here. I hope I am proved wrong on this.
I stand behind the idea that promoting an anti-Zionist position is too often a cover for self-hatred. Among non-Jews it is often a cover for anti-Semitism.
I hold this too with regard to the anti-circumcision camp in Europe. It is NOT true of all. Let me say this again. It is not true of all.
I just want to clarify that in order to find the link you accuse me of deleting I clicked on my most recent post, where I clicked on my name as the author, and kept clicking back through older posts until I arrived at the post in question. That is all, I’m not sure how you looked for it, but it was there all along.
Why do you have this need to publish a person exchange we had in email in 2008? What do you hope to achieve? As to the post about the map, also from years ago, it was a joke–it was tongue in cheek. You need to try and let these things go, it was years ago.
As always, you have grossly mischaracterized me, my beliefs and my motivations. I will request again, please, stop harassing me, stop threatening me, and certainly stop trying to sabotage my career. At least give me a chance, dan l’khaf zkhut and all that good stuff, who knows, I might surprise you.
Speaking of 2008, here is ME from that December, after I had predicted that Netanyahu would name Barak his Defense Minister:
Firstly, if Labor loses big time-Barak will be dumped as his party head(just as they did with Avram Mitznah). And with, or without Barak, Labor will need to grow an identity. This can only happen, as Likud just learned, in the opposition (barring a dramatic change in Bibi’s approach).
With Bogie Ayalon,and Shaul Mofaz, in his coalition, it is only your wishful thinking that Barak would be named defense minister.
. . .
It may be nice to hope for a Likud-Kadima-Labor coalition that leaves out Shas and the Nationalist party. But you are living in your own dream world if you think that is a likley scenario.
A Likud-Kadima-Labor government is not in the cards-however nice the thought. No serious pundit expects this (though some hope for it).
But as Hannukah will soon be upon us-miracles happen and You can dream.
I guess dreams do come true sometimes, at least partially.
In any event, this stream is one of the most painful streams I have ever read here. God willing, you two will come to some peace some day.
I have known my nephew Justin his entire life and I can say without reservation, he is a man of deep passion and integrety. While he and I do not agree on all matters regarding the State of Israel, Justin will be the kind of rabbi who has the ability and the compassion to see clearly the pain and anquish of all peoples in our world today, whether they be Jew, Arab, or Gentile. The tent of our people has always been strong due to the many different poles that bind all of us together. You weaken one pole, you weaken the entire tent.
I believe that it is important to challange, question and debate all that we believe as Jews and through that process, strengthen all of us. However, personal attacks and efforts to sabatoge another reflects a lack of a moral compass and ethical standard that one would hope we all share and hope to maintain. I would simply want to remind all, one leads by doogma, that is, by example. One does not inspire nor lead by devaluing or demeaning the beliefs and values of another.
So Rabbi Frank, be assured my nephew will be a great addition to the rabbinate not for what he writes in this blog, but for leading a moral and ethical life that will certainly inspire and challenge others to follow in his path.
Glenn Goldstein
@Glenn
@Jewschool
Glenn, thank you for your words — they are meaningful and helpful to me.
I do want to clarify for readers of this thread that Justin’s references to sabatoge of his career are not directed toward me. The entirety of relationship between Justin and me is contained on this page alone and I am hearing of Justin’s unpleasant experience for the first time with other readers of the page.
Mazal tov and yishar koach to all of the newly ordained rabbis of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies. Tizku l’mizvot.
Thread closed.