Rarely have I felt that a piece of mine was so misunderstood as the one from Mishpacha Magazine entitled “Trauma Ahead” posted a couple of weeks ago. More than a few readers accused me of some form of chareidi triumphalism and, as it were, rubbing the noses of the national religious world in the apparent setback to the vision of Eretz Yisrael Hashleimah.

I cannot say that this reading is wrong or that there is nothing in the piece that could lead one to think that was my intention. What I can say is that what I thought I was doing was something just the opposite. In my own mind, I was addressing the message to the chareidi that we should NOT look upon the withdrawal from Gaza with a feeling of “I told you so” or with any hopes of the chareidi ranks swelling as a consequence. Rather the withdrawal should be seen as a disaster from the point of view of the religious world in general because of the crisis of faith that it will engender. (Of course, there were readers who denied that any such crisis would take place no matter whether … Read More >>

Several days ago, Rabbi Adlerstein commented regarding the deleterious effects of television, and wrote that children whose classmates were free of its influence could perceive the difference between themselves and other children even in grade school. This post has generated an extraordinary number of comments (both here and elsewhere) from writers who — whether wilfully or blindly — could not bring themselves to confront what Rabbi Adlerstein actually said. The addiction to television runs so deep that even its most obvious harm is to be ignored.

I was amused to see one writer assert that Rabbi Adlerstein surely has no knowledge of what it means to have a television, given that he is a cloistered charedi Rabbi. Anyone who has read this journal for a few weeks knows that only the latter adjective (charedi) is anywhere near accurate — and a few purists out there might quibble even with that. There are few people out there who cloister themselves less among friends and acquaintances with whom they agree. And, of course, the disturbing number of televisions in charedi homes also needs to be taken into account.

Only a bit better were those criticisms which said that Rabbi Adlerstein … Read More >>

Speaking, as I did in my last post, of the failures of democratic institutions, albeit in an entirely different vein, the following is an unpublished letter of mine to — you guessed it — the Forward, responding to an article by a freshly minted Ivy League Jewish Studies grad regarding the 1945 burning of Mordecai Kaplan’s prayerbook and the excommunication of its author by a group of American Orthodox rabbis. Kaplan, it will be recalled, is the dude who invented Reconstructionism (patent pending), thereby inspiring the wag’s line that “there is no G-d and Kaplan is His prophet.” Personally, I prefer to Jewishly identify myself in the way a friend of mine recently did, as “a Jew under construction.” Shouldn’t we all be?

Another legacy of Kaplan is his innovation of the rite of “bat mitzvah,” having been, it seems, the first to fete his daughter’s coming of age in that way. Well, at least that ritual was started by a guy with “rabbi” in front of his name; the “bar mitzvah,” by contrast, was probably the brainchild of the American Association of Kosher Caterers.

How, you ask, do I know the bat mitzvah was Kaplan’s baby? … Read More >>

No, it’s not a typo. Nonoo is Ebrahim Nonoo, who has a fascinating opinion piece in this week’s Forward (boy, with all the press I give those folks, I oughta start drawing commission). Mr. Nonoo is himself more than a tad interesting, considering that he is a member of the upper parliamentary house of the Kingdom of Bahrain and is also . . . Jewish.

Although his essay begins with the bracing sentence “Whenever I hear the word democracy, I shiver,” it is the farthest thing from a jihadist rant. It is, instead, an enlightening treatment of both the advantages and flaws of Western-style democracies and a persuasive case that there may well be a better form of governance than pure democracy, which Churchill famously termed only the second worst way of ordering a society, all others being first. Nonoo notes the wide-ranging societal dysfunctions secular democracies facilitate or even engender, such as progressive dissolution of the family unit in various ways, reliance on debt to maintain artificial living standards and a liberal justice system based on moral relativism, but he also freely acknowledges the benefits of economic growth and personal freedoms that democracies confer on their citizens.

Because … Read More >>

The current issue of the Columbia Journalism Review provides independent confirmation of positions taken by two of the favorite people in my life – Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l and my youngest son, Akiva .

It did not take Rav Moshe, the greatest halachic decisor of the last generation, too long to weigh in concerning television. In its earliest years, when sitcom families still had two parents, and their children brushed their teeth, made their beds, and lived in houses surrounded by white picket fences, you could also not find too much salacious material on the airwaves. There was suggestion, to be sure, but nothing explicit. So Rav Moshe’s objections to the new medium did not focus on titillation, but on values. How, he asked, can you watch something that turns murder into something frivolous?

Decades later my children found themselves in what was called the “Yiddish track” in their day school. Although theirs was (at the time) the only haredi school in town, the parent body evidenced a much more varied continuum of behavior than in the analogous schools in Flatbush. The administration would have liked to ban TV at home as a … Read More >>

I just spoke with a wonderful man named Rabbi Dovid Vandervelde. He is a real estate manager, and serves as the (unpaid) president of a licensed adoption agency. You may have received an email that originated from him.

Several weeks ago, he sent an email to a woman with an update on current issues. Included in this email was a brief mention that he needed to find a good family to adopt two boys.

Two Jewish boys, brothers aged 7 and 9, are now separated from each other and in foster care. They needed immediate placement in a warm, “frum” home, and the agency was given all of one month to find that suitable home — or they would remain separated and sent to (possibly) non-Jewish homes.

He gave the woman his phone number, and of course his email address. She forwarded the message to a few people. And they forwarded it on. And then it stormed the Jewish Internet.

Over 3000 calls. From all over the world. Most every state of the union. Litvaks, Modern, Young Israel, Lubavitch, Satmar, Bobov, observant Conservative, you name it. And those who couldn’t adopt, offered money, free legal services, and more.

He was so beseiged that he “spun” … Read More >>

previously published in
The Jerusalem Post
July 15, 2005

The debate over the Gaza withdrawal has become one of competing nightmares. Opponents fear, along with recently retired Chief of Staff Boogie Yaalon, that the Palestinians will be emboldened by Israel’s retreat to launch a third, more violent intifida. Supporters are terrified that Israel will become a pariah state, if the withdrawal does not take place, and pressure will grow for a one-state solution.

Neither nightmare is implausible.

Each side of the debate poses strong questions. Opponents wonder how Prime Minister Sharon plans to prevent Gaza from becoming an arms bazaar, especially if Egypt is entrusted with policing the Philadelphia corridor and the Palestinians are eventually allowed to build a port and reopen their airport. What will Israel do, if missiles hit Ashkelon or Ben Gurion airport? Will we reoccupy Gaza and northern Samaria, and if so, what was gained?

Proponents of withdrawal ask, what Israel intends to do with the millions of Palestinians under her control: (1)expel them; (2) continue to rule over them without granting them civil rights and risk being labeled an apartheid state; or (3) grant them full civil liberties and thereby sign Israel’s death warrant as a Jewish state.

Both sides … Read More >>

Many years ago, one of the Rabbis teaching through Torah.org was embarrassed to realize he had sent out a weekly message concerning the Torah Reading for Parshas Bila’am. It was a very understandable slip, though, because Bila’am and his intended curses, which G-d inverted to blessings on our behalf, are really the topic this week. [The Hebrew names of the readings are simply based upon the first relatively-unique word -- this week begins "VaYar Balak," Balak saw. "Seeing" is used far more commonly than the name of King Balak, so the reading is called by his name. But in actuality, Bila'am is discussed more.] The following thought is even more tangential — since the topic of the week is blessings, and a visitor to my home gave an interesting insight into a blessing that is part of Birkas HaMazon, the Grace After Meals, there’s a connection…

In Birkas HaMazon we ask, “please may we not need, HaShem our G-d, not the gifts of human beings, and not their loans, but only Your full, open, Holy and generous Hand…”

So a chassid was visiting the Spinka Rebbe, and saw the Rebbe saying this blessing, and thought it interesting how we … Read More >>

Published in Mishpacha Magazine, July 14, 2005

The impending removal of 8,000 Jews from the Gaza Strip constitutes a trauma of unprecedented magnitude for the national religious world in Israel. That trauma is both theological and sociological.

On the theological level, religious settlers have been betrayed by the very state that they came to view as holy. As Hillel Halkin points out in the March 2005 Commentary, Rabbi Tzvi Yehudah Kook, the most important figure in national religious thought since 1967, spoke frequently of the “holiness of the state [of Israel],” and that holiness was in no way conditioned on the Torah observance of its citizenry. Now that same state has become the instrument of the most dramatic retreat yet from the vision of Greater Israel which has dominated religious Zionist thought since 1967.

From the Six Day War on, religious Zionists viewed themselves as the vanguard of societal renewal. Since the Rabin assassination, however, the national religious community has been forced to recognize that they are a vanguard with no followers. Far from representing an ideal for secular Israelis, they are increasingly viewed as public enemy number one. When Israelis describe secular communities beyond the Green Line, such as Alfei Menashe, … Read More >>

Israel is these days experiencing a major crisis concerning its unilateral withdrawal from Gaza. Below are some impressionistic notes from the field.

ORANGE
The streets of Jerusalem are ablaze with the color orange – which has become a potent symbol of solidarity with the Jews scheduled for expulsion from Gaza. Strips of orange are cropping up everywhere: On apartment porches, on children’s bookbags, on briefcases, in wrist bracelets. Orange ribbons are festooned on automobiles, on flagpoles, on tree branches, in gardens – a bumper crop. One can sense a gradual turning in public opinion against the proposed eviction and withdrawal. Even the recent polls – although not always to be trusted – show a clear swing away from governmental policy. Another very powerful sign is also widespread: bumper stickers reading, Yehudi lo megaresh Yehudi – “A Jew does not drive out another Jew.”

SHARON: WHY?
No one seems to understand what Sharon has in mind. We hope Sharon does. One might have expected this of a Peres or of one of the left-wing doves. But what caused Arik Sharon — this old soldier who was the hero of the settlers, who encouraged … Read More >>

Jonathan Rosenblum wrote: “I have been thinking for some time about how to fashion an argument against the “Gay Parade” in Jerusalem (and elsewhere) that would resonate with non-religious people and those who do not view homosexual acts as sinful. Citing Leviticus will be inadequate.”

I have also thought about this for a very long time (not in the context of the parade, but in the overall context of gay marriage) and have concluded that there is no such perspective; those who do not accept that there is a G-d Who gave us Leviticus have no source for a consistent moral code. Absent this consistency society can legislate whatever it wants based on passing trends. For example, witness the shift in ‘morality’ concerning abortion, euthanasia and gays over the past 35 years. The great ‘ethicist’ Peter Singer has written that “we find that we can no longer accept the ethics of the past.” I would argue instead, as Henry James said, that “a great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. ”

Our current cultural debate about gay marriage necessarily engages two camps who cannot hear each other precisely because they are living under different mental … Read More >>

While Dr. Schick has just contributed a new article, I think his previous one, about Jewish outreach, warrants further analysis and exploration.

To an extent kiruv (Jewish outreach) requires a suspension of reality. This is not necessarily a bad thing because from a religious Jewish standpoint, the reality of American life is harsh. The many good people who engage in kiruv blot out circumstances that suggest that their efforts are akin to a steady uphill climb. We should admire them all the more because of what they have accomplished.

While I understand Dr. Schick’s intent, I disagree that those involved with outreach cannot remain cognizant of the harsh reality of assimilation. On the contrary, I think it is a powerful motivating factor.

The largest Jewish group in America today is the unaffiliated. They have not found any meaningful form of Jewish expression, and are thus paradoxically more open to Jewish outreach than those satisfied with a non-halachic expression of Jewish religious involvement. There are millions of Jews to be reached, and who are open to being reached.

When the Supreme Court cut the constitutional baby in half and ruled that some Ten Commandment displays are kosher and some are not, the spokesman for the Orthodox Union warmly welcomed the development. Good public relations, but bad Judaism.

What is there to celebrate when four Justices say that any public display of the Ten Commandments violates the First Amendment? What is there to celebrate when in all likelihood, the Supreme Court ruling will mean that most displays will be ruled unconstitutional? What is there to celebrate when we continue to have decisions that are hostile to religion?

I know that the Ten Commandments issue is not per se that important. People do not respect religion because a tablet is installed in a public place. No one’s belief or behavior is affected. As a practical matter it makes small difference whether the Ten Commandments can be posted in a public place.

What concerns me essentially is not what the Supreme Court did but how we as Jews – and particularly Orthodox Jews – look at the matter. Overwhelmingly, American Jews are not only secular, they embrace a brand of secularism that is … Read More >>

Last week’s Forward reported that Washington lobbyist David Saperstein, director of the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center, called on liberal religious and political leaders to launch a campaign to cut in half the number of abortions performed, currently estimated to be as high as 1.3 million per year, within two years. Saperstein told the Forward that such a campaign would help liberals “take back the moral high ground” on this highly divisive issue.

Saperstein’s call to action is deserving of praise not only on its own merits, but also because it so very politically incorrect and, thus, vanishingly rare, for a pro-abortion activist to put aside the issue of whether abortion is legal and acknowledge that the procedure itself, stripped of its legal protections, is morally problematic. In fact, while Saperstein urged liberals to “take back the moral high ground,” Joshua Halberstam, in an insightful essay in the Forward earlier this year, argued that on this and a host of other issues, “the rightists did not hijack the moral high ground — they found no one standing there.” Written from a liberal perspective, the piece is worth reading in its entirety; the following is an … Read More >>

There are things you can’t learn from books. You’ve got to learn them from lawyers.

Strange as this seems, it is supported by Maharal. At least the first part.

Maharal on Avos 2:9 (according to his division of the mishayos, which is not the customary one) writes: “These matters (i.e. the good path that a person should cling to) they did not learn from the Torah. They understood them by examination of their surrounding reality.”

While Maharal does not specifically mention attorneys, a message I received this week got me thinking that there may be room to include them. A few paragraphs in a decidedly non-Torah communication got me thinking about the way we might look at issues, positions and disputes within our community.

The message had nothing to do with Jews or Judaism. It suggested a tool whereby the non-expert could evaluate material introduced by those laying claim to knowledge the rest of us do not have. An attorney I know introduced it in his description of how he deals with expert witnesses on the stand. I found it to be an intriguing suggestion, and I started to wonder about how effectively I had previously … Read More >>

(Note: For anyone interested in a bit of commentary on the Supreme Court’s Ten Commandments rulings, which haven’t been addressed on this site, see my piece today on Jewish World Review.)

Boy, does that Daf Yomi juggernaut have power! Until this morning, the next Siyum HaShas (celebration of the conclusion of the seven-and-one-half year, page-a-day cycle of Talmud study), set to take place, G-d willing, in the summer of 2012, was on a collision course with the 2012 summer Olympic Games, both vying for the use of the same New York- area stadia.

So what happens? First, a religious Jew single-handedly stops the stadium-building effort on which New York’s bid for the Games seemed to hinge. (Interestingly, only days before New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver put a halt to the proposed West Side stadium project, it had gotten a green light from another religious Jew, this one a New York State Supreme Court judge who rejected last-ditch legal challenges to NYC’s sale of the stadium site to the Jets — those [frum] Jews really do control everything, don’t they?!)

But, Mayor Bloomberg (not a Daf Yomi learner yet, so far as we know), forged … Read More >>

As a basketball player, I was always something of a streak shooter, and I’m afraid that the same will be true of my contributions to this site. Every time I finally summon up the energy to write something I’m reminded of the immense power of the blogsphere and its capacity to generate interesting discussion among many people with something to say, and can hardly wait to write again. The countervailing force, of course, is that no one makes you write for the blog and there are no editors demanding their material by a certain time as with the print publications for which I write. But let’s keep shooting while hot.

I have been thinking for some time about how to fashion an argument against the “Gay Parade” in Jerusalem (and elsewhere) that would resonate with non-religious people and those who do not view homosexual acts as sinful. Citing Leviticus will be inadequate.

My first thought was to express opposition to such parades as a part of a general opposition to any public celebrations of any form of sexual behavior. In other words, I would also be opposed to a parade of heterosexuals who wanted to proclaim the nature of … Read More >>

A few weeks ago, Marvin Schick threw out for discussion an incident in Ramat Beit Shemesh where a group of residents of Ramat Beit Shemesh “B” were alleged to have pelted a group of teenagers returning from a Yom HaAtzmaut celebration with eggs and tomatoes.

At the time, I asked myself whether it was permissible for me to feel about another group of Jews who surely see themselves as shomer Torah u’mitzvos that we belong to two different religions. I recalled something that Rav Schach, zt”l, once said about the national religious movement: it distorted the Torah by elevating yishuv Eretz Yisrael above all other mitzvos. And it occurred to me that a similar distortion can take place in the opposite direction as well. Isn’t that what has happened to the Neturei Karta members who spend their Shabbosos at Palestinian demonstrations? Their anti-Zionism has not just distorted, but warped their Judaism beyond recognition to the point where they feel more affinity for the murderers of Jews than for their victims. (Actually I wrote this many years ago in Yated Neeman in response to a news item that the widow of Rabbi Amram Blau, the former head of Neturei Karta, … Read More >>