By Yaakov Menken, on April 28th, 2007 The Washington Post has an article on Jerusalem’s “Kosher Gym,” which has separate hours for men and women and doesn’t have “MTV-tuned televisions and piped-in hip-hop.”
The Post doesn’t get everything right, of course. Observant Jews are not “encouraged to shun physical exercise in favor of time with the Torah.” I would say that yeshivos seem to treat PE with benign neglect, although getting physical exercise to stay healthy and energetic is part of guarding your health. It is a hyper-focus on sports and physical prowess that is discouraged. So going to a Kosher Gym doesn’t necessarily involve “emerging from their cloistered precincts” or finding “an athletic refuge away from their religious one.” The Kosher Gym in NY is so successful that it is actually two separate facilities — one each for men and women — complete with a library of Torah tapes so you can learn and lift at the same time.
But here’s an eye-catching passage. The article notes that the gym has “attracted a small clientèle of secular women tired of see-and-be-seen health clubs.” Would we say that health clubs in government buildings cannot provide separate hours? If we are not going to let the … Read More >>
By Yaakov Menken, on April 27th, 2007 The case against the Egged Bus Company’s “Mehadrin Lines” is moving forward and in the news. I think it deserves its own comment thread, independent of the plagiarism complaints against one of the parties.
Sitting here in Baltimore, I cannot claim any special access to information. I read the news, articles and comments from Israeli authors and commenters here on C-C, and receive an occasional private email — for example, a copy of Mrs. Shear’s original complaint. If my facts are wrong, please correct them, because from what I have read and discerned between the lines, what is being portrayed in the press is far from the truth.
First and foremost, the plaintiffs have gone to the press with their fight against “Jewish fundamentalists” with their “Taliban-like rules.”
Small problem: They are not suing Rabbis. They are not suing the Edah HaCharedis, the Torah factions in the Knesset, or Chaim Mod’chl Brecher and his gang of goons that terrorize female passengers. [N.B. In case you didn’t click the link, the reference to CM Brecher is a joke – it’s a spoof call to an operator. I’m not aware of … Read More >>
By Avi Shafran, on April 27th, 2007 In a Jerusalem Post opinion piece, Dr. Jonathan Schorsch calls me a “clever fellow” whose “handwringing” over the hatred I’ve encountered aimed at Orthodox Jews is “somewhat posed, if not disingenuous.”
Dr. Schorsch can be easily disabused of his first assertion by perusing my high school scholastic records, or by consulting my wife and children, who can regale him of all manner of dumb things I’ve said and done (but who love me, I hope, all the same).
As to the second charge, I assure him that I am sincerely pained by my observations.
Dr. Schorsch quickly moves to his real point, the contention that Orthodox Jews are themselves the cause of the hatred aimed at them, because they lack sufficient ahavat Yisrael, or love for fellow Jews. He cites personal experiences of Orthodox Jews insulting him and the Orthodox refusal to accept the Jewish legitimacy of non-Orthodox theologies.
The latter has nothing to do with ahavat Yisrael. Loving other Jews doesn’t mean embracing everything they may embrace. The very essence of Orthodox conviction is the rejection of changes to the Jewish religious mandate, like those changes embraced, to one or another degree, by non-Orthodox movements. So there … Read More >>
By Yitzchok Adlerstein, on April 27th, 2007 Like many others, I grew up with the understanding that there really weren’t any bona fide apikorsim (heretics) any longer. “Do you know how much a person has to know before he can be considered an apikorus?” teachers used to say. The assumption was that one had to have studied far in excess of the hoi poloi to be a candidate for the title. (One cynical young man I knew sported a T-shirt with the slogan “Aspiring Apikorus.”)
Discovering the Chazon Ish changed all that. The Gemara is quite clear about urging an “exit strategy” for them, in a manner short of actively spilling their blood. However, says the Chazon Ish (Yoreh Deah 2:16), this was true only when the community clearly recognized the operation of Divine Providence in its midst, and understood that any backsliding towards transgression jeopardized society by compromising its relationship with G-d. Eliminating spiritual fifth columnists was roundly appreciated as vital to the security of the community. In contemporary times, ridding ourselves of heretics would cause even greater contempt for religion, and is counterproductive. We have no choice, he says, but to attempt to win back the heretics with … Read More >>
By Emanuel Feldman, on April 26th, 2007 Item: ‘Government panel to alter conversion policy’ (Jerusalem Post, March 5); Item: ‘Since intermarriage is inevitable, humanist liberals say that conversions are unnecessary’ (Haaretz, March 28); ‘New calls for reform of rabbinic conversion courts’ (Jerusalem Post, March 29); Item: “Conversion in crisis” (Jerusalem Post editorial, April 5)
I have in my hands a copy of the eagerly awaited Inter-Ministerial Committee to Re-Examine Yom Kippur Practices report. The reexamination is in response to widespread demands, led by liberals and the secular media, to loosen the Yom Kippur restrictions, which have become a major stumbling block for non-Jewish immigrants who want to convert to Judaism.
Transcripts of interviews with these immigrants reveal that many abandoned the conversion process because of the adamant attitude of the rabbinic courts. The immigrants, most of whom are Russian, were willing to accept Judaism, but balked when told about Yom Kippur.
“These restrictions are 3,500 years old. Why should I have to deny myself food and drink for 24 hours?” asked one potential convert.
“This is the 21st century, not primitive times,” said another. “These uncaring rabbis force things upon us, refusing to compromise. If they cared, they would not prohibit food for a full day.”
OTHER IMMIGRANTS stated they were willing … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on April 26th, 2007 A few weeks before Pesach, I tagged along with my wife for an extended weekend at Moshav Hispin under the auspices of Chayeinu (the Israeli branch of Chai Lifeline). The purpose of the weekend was to provide a treat for children with cancer, and some relief from the constant stress for their families.
And the weekend delivered. Though some of the children came straight from the oncology ward, an outside observer would have had a hard time discerning the nature of the group, apart from the number of the completely bald children. For those two-and-a-half days, the families looked like any other families savoring a long-awaited vacation.
Much of the success of the weekend can be attributed to the presence of two groups of youthful volunteers who came as counselors. During the year, these volunteers visit the hospital wards to pray or learn or just schmooze with the patients, and to offer encouragement and practical assistance to their families. In addition to the work in the hospital wards, each family has its own volunteer, who is in regular contact and works with both the patients and their siblings.
Over the weekend, the volunteers provided most of the ruach; singing, dressing up … Read More >>
By Guest Contributor, on April 24th, 2007 by Sarah Shapiro
In the Jerusalem Post of February 23, 2007, I read of a plagiarism charge against the author Naomi Ragen, and was prompted by that report to inform the plaintiff’s attorney of my own related experience. Two respected rabbinical authorities on shmiras halashon were consulted as to whether it was advisable and permissible to make this matter public, before doing so.
My first book, entitled “Growing With My Children: A Jewish Mother’s Diary,” was published in 1990 by Targum Press. A daily journal from the years 1986 to 1989, the book recorded virtually all the events in my life during that period but its main focus was my participation in an ongoing parenting workshop, and the ups and downs I experienced along the way to becoming a more skilled and patient parent. After its publication, the head of Targum at the time, Rabbi Moshe Dombey zt”l, called to say he had given a copy of the book to Naomi Ragen, of whom I hadn’t heard at that point. He said she had previously done some work as an editor for Targum, and he thought my book would be of interest to her.
I soon received a call from Ms. Ragen. She … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on April 24th, 2007 Frankly, I could not care less whether Winston Churchill wrote, “The central fact which dominates the relations of Jew and non-Jew is that the Jew is ‘different.’ He looks different. He thinks differently. He has a different tradition and background. He refuses to be absorbed.” Certainly, nothing in those words detracts one iota from Churchill’s status as the greatest world leader of the 20th century, and the one to whom, more than any other, we owe our existence today.
I’m inclined to believe Sir Martin Gilbert that Churchill did not write the words quoted above, and that they were those of a ghostwriter. Ghostwriters — at least if they are any good — are paid to reflect the sentiments of their principal. And the sentiments expressed by Churchill, in my opinion, far from being contemptible, reflect a certain spiritual sensitivity – the recognition that the Jew is different. I only wish more Jews today were equally confident of that difference, and that more gentiles shared Churchill’s awareness of Jewish distinctiveness, and were as little inclined to marry us as they once were.
There is a great chasm between the genteel discomfort around Jews … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on April 23rd, 2007 The influx of one million Russian-speaking immigrants in the 1990s was a blessing for Israel, albeit a mixed one. The mass immigration provided hundreds of thousands of Jews with a chance to reconnect to their heritage after 80 years of Soviet dictatorship.
Shuvu, a nationwide school system, whose enriched Jewish curriculum combined with superior secular studies has benefited tens of thousands of immigrant youths, and which is funded by the overseas haredi community to the tune of more than $10 million annually, is the most intensive effort at reconnecting young immigrants to Jewish tradition.
At the same time, the wave of immigration brought the country as many as 500,000 non-Jews, under the Law of Return and the Citizenship Law. When prime minister Ehud Barak went to greet the millionth new immigrant, few Jews could be found on the plane. Of 1,004 new immigrants from Chaburusk in 1999, only 38 were Jewish. Former Diaspora affairs minister Michael Melchior lamented that on visits to Israeli embassies in the FSU, all he found were “people… with no connection to Israel or the Jewish people.” One family of eight had only a grandfather who was one-quarter Jewish, and 20 years dead to boot.
Government … Read More >>
By Yitzchok Adlerstein, on April 20th, 2007 Koreans took the news hard. Lee Tae Sik, South Korea’s ambassador to the United States, suggested that Koreans in the US fast for 32 days, one day for each victim. President Roo Moo-hyun devoted a press conference to the story; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs felt compelled to issue a statement. Cardinal Nicolas Cheong Jin-suk said. “As a South Korean, I can’t help feeling apologetic about how a Korean man caused such a shocking incident.” Koreans were reported to be in a state of shock, stirring from it to offer a string of apologies.
Not everyone found this so admirable. One Los Angeles talk show host accused Korean-Americans of using the tragedy to stimulate sympathy for their community through a display of exaggerated contrition. He accused them of “playing the race card…. Now look who’s stereotyping.” An online Korean news source offered its own distaste. “It’s an overreaction. It’s doubtful whether the South Korean reaction will really help anyone.”
Some spun it more sympathetically. They pointed out the vulnerability that all minority groups feel. The Los Angeles Times reported that Muslims, African-Americans, and Latinos all expressed relief when they learned that they could … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on April 19th, 2007 The perfect, it is said, is the enemy of the good. Striving for unobtainable perfection can leave us empty-handed when very good solutions were within easy reach. On the other hand, no religious person can, with a clear conscience, either falsify or compromise his deepest beliefs.
The tension between these two principles is currently playing itself out in a fascinating fashion in the deliberations of the Knesset Law Committee, which is involved in drafting a constitution for Israel. Constitutions are by their very nature compromise documents. They are almost always drafted by a committee, not by a single individual, and reflect that multiplicity of authorship. More important, they are efforts to reconcile a variety of interests in order to command the widest possible support.
The proposed constitution of the Institute for Zionist Strategies reflects the fundamental compromise between the desire to preserve something of the Jewish character of the State, on the one hand, and the desire to command wide support, on the other. In several places the proposed constitution can be seen as a response to particular Supreme Court decisions. Paragraph 27 states, “The State shall act to ingather the Diaspora of Israel and to establish Jewish settlement in Israel,” … Read More >>
By Yitzchok Adlerstein, on April 18th, 2007 AP will likely not pick up the moving story, reported on Yeshiva World, of the mobilization of forces to provide the final tribute to Prof. Librescu.
If only we were half as good in our kavod ha-chayim as with our kavod ha-mesim…
By Yaakov Menken, on April 18th, 2007 Amid the horror of the massacre at Virginia Tech, the story of a hero is being told. One brave professor blocked the door to his second-floor classroom, holding it closed until his students could flee out the window. In doing so, he gave his own life. [Update: President Bush mentioned Prof. Librescu in a news conference, as well as the fact that this Holocaust Survivor gave his life on Holocaust Remembrance Day. "We honor his memory," said the President, "and take strength from his example."]
Liviu Librescu was an Israeli, a survivor of the Holocaust. He was a Jew. And although he did not have an easy life, one that could have made him bitter, he instead devoted himself not only to teaching, but to others. The Jerusalem Post quotes his son Joe: “He saw himself as the ambassador of Israel to that part of the world, to an American university that had few Israelis but many representatives from the Arab world.”
A teenager during WWII, he survived fascist Romania and life in the shadow of the Gestapo. His father was deported to a forced labor camp during the war, while Librescu spend part of the … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on April 16th, 2007 Writing laments for Israeli society is not hard. Declining educational achievements, youth violence, hedonism, materialism, and corrupt politicians all provide ample material for those wishing to up-date Lamentations. Over the last twenty years, I’ve probably written as many such lamentations as anybody.
But every once in a while, it is worth acknowledging Israel’s achievements as well. Over the last century it would be difficult to name one advance in any area of human endeavor coming from 22 Arab nations. By contrast, Israeli researchers make hundreds of lifesaving medical advances every year. The Israeli economy remains one of the industrialized world’s most robust, despite last summer’s war and the continued threats to Israel’s existence.
But I have something deeper and more fundamental in mind. The pintele Yid is still more easily discerned among Jews in Israel than among their secular counterparts in the Diaspora.
Western society today is characterized by a loss of belief in G-d, indeed by deep skepticism about all transcendent value. Those who advocate an ever-expanding recognition of individual rights in their own societies nevertheless show a remarkable tolerance for societies that deny all such rights to their own members – e.g., feminists who turn a blind eye … Read More >>
By Toby Katz, on April 16th, 2007 In today’s Miami Herald there are four articles, each one an interview with an elderly Florida couple who survived the Holocaust. Their stories are tragic and also inspiring, but here is the fact that caught my eye: each of these couples — all of them now in their eighties — had exactly two children, and today they have between them very few grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
I am not certain whether it is because of the conscious choices that non-Orthodox Jews made, or Divine Providence, but today it is only Orthodox Jews whose numbers are increasing. I don’t remember who made the famous remark about not granting Hitler posthumous victories, but Jews in America are famously reproducing at negative-ZPG rates.
The only non-Orthodox elderly Jews with significant numbers of grandchildren are those fortunate enough to have at least one BT child. It is too late for those elderly survivors, but young Jews today who do not want Jewish numbers to decline any further should 1. marry young and 2. have more than two kids and 3. give their children enough of a Jewish education so that their kids, too, will have more than two … Read More >>
By Guest Contributor, on April 15th, 2007 by Rabbi Harvey Belovski
In an attempt to catch the last moments of holiday spirit, my wife and I took our children to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew in West London on the day after Pesach. It was a magnificent day, matched by the beauty and diversity of the displays at the gardens. I hadn’t visited Kew Gardens for many years and had forgotten just how glorious it is. Our children, while initially reluctant to be schlepped along, enjoyed themselves in the end. A couple of comments they made there prompted me to write.
We were visiting the palm house admiring the trees when my elder son, who is seven, pointed at a gigantic leaf and asked, ‘Daddy, if this were Romaine, how many kezaysim (olive-volumes) could you get from that?’ This was a reference to the quantity of lettuce required for bitter herbs at the Seder. The answer, of course, was hundreds, but that is beside the point.
A little later, we were standing near some steps leading up to a building. At the side of the steps was a smooth concrete incline topped by a horizontal slab. Two of our daughters, aged … Read More >>
By Yitzchok Adlerstein, on April 15th, 2007 Finally, a treatment with some balance. The Jerusalem Post, just in time for Yom HaShoah, provides an important review of the new translation of Hidden in Thunder: Perspectives on Faith, Halachah and Leadership During the Holocaust by Esther Farbstein, a haredi Holocaust scholar and educator who has been enormously important in setting the course for contemporary Holocaust education in the haredi world.
Farbstein’s work, says the reviewer, focuses primarily on the acts of spiritual heroism – remaining steadfast in Torah practice under the most difficult circumstances imaginable. Drawing from haredi archives, however, she also shows that there was a more nuanced approach to physical resistance than is acknowledged in some circles today. While some Torah personalities denied any value to taking up arms not to extend the possibility of living, but to defend Jewish honor or exact revenge,
The Radzyner Rebbe, Rabbi Shmuel Shlomo Leiner, called on Jews to break out of the ghettos, flee to the forests and take up arms. Rabbi Shlomo David Yehoshua Weinberg, the Slonim Rebbe, allowed underground activists to use his basement as an arms cache. Rabbi Yehoshua Moshe Aronson, who was held in the Konim labor camp, supported … Read More >>
By Yaakov Menken, on April 13th, 2007 This in from an alert reader: “Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims.”
Not what you expected, was it? We’re used to being told how things like same-sex relationships need to be taught in the classroom, in order to support tolerance. We’re told that for teachers to do otherwise would be irresponsible, no matter how offensive some parents might find an extensive discussion of the topic. But now we see that teachers do use their discretion to avoid offending people… to avoid teaching basic world history.
A few days ago I saw a letter to the editor (which journal, I have already forgotten) in which the writer dismissed the idea that children need to be fully informed about all possible behaviors in order to learn tolerance. He is right, of course. The baby-boomers weren’t taught to tolerate people with green highlights or eyebrow piercings, they just do it. Teaching children a set of things and saying “you must tolerate these” is far less effective than teaching general principles of tolerance. And in truth, the key point to be made is that unless a person is truly evil, you condemn the behavior, not the person. To an individual homosexual, a … Read More >>
By Avi Shafran, on April 13th, 2007 It isn’t likely that very many people exhaled at long last with relief at the news that three entertainment industry executives had compiled their pet list of “America’s 50 most influential rabbis.” But there was still something worthwhile, if not terribly comforting, to learn from the venture.
It was, to be sure, an odd bird, rendered stranger still by its prominent reportage in Newsweek magazine, a periodical that once actually reflected its name. The roster, in any event, became fodder for much mirth-making – jubilant press releases from groups boasting connections to one of the Fab 50, and snickers from more disinterested corners.
There were even some knitted eyebrows, since lists of “influential” Jews more commonly reside in the darker recesses of the blogosphere, where they are usually festooned with swastikas, SS bolts and the like.
And there was some puzzlement too. Why, even if for some reason one wished to identify paradigms of Jewish influence, would one limit the focus to clergypeople? What of Jewish teachers, activists, writers?
What I found thought-provoking, though, was what the trendy troika’s choices say to us about the contemporary concept of influence.
To be sure, included on the list are some noteworthy people, … Read More >>
By Yaakov Menken, on April 12th, 2007 Less than two weeks ago, I mentioned that the akismet spam blocker included in WordPress had trapped over 80,000 spams to our blog comments. We just hit 100,000.
It’s an honor we could do without, but there you have it. 100,000 spams, and, as said earlier, barely a dozen false positives. I’m still waiting for akismet for my INBOX!
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