By Avi Shafran, on February 29th, 2008 Asked by The New York Times in 2005 what today-taken-for-granted idea or value he thinks may disappear in the next 35 years, Professor Peter Singer, the Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University’s Center for Human Values, responded: “the traditional view of the sanctity of human life.” It will, he explained, “collapse under pressure from scientific, technological and demographic developments.”
This past January 30, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, Canada issued a policy statement that may come to permit the professor to add “prophet” to his curriculum vitae.
In that document, the governing body of the Canadian province’s medical profession directs that doctors have the final say with regard to ending life-sustaining treatment of patients – regardless of the wishes or religious beliefs of the patients or their families. It also establishes a baseline for justifying life-sustaining treatment – including a patient’s ability to “experience his/her own existence” – below which a doctor is directed to end life-sustaining treatment, regardless of the wishes of the patient’s family. The new policy paper has garnered much attention, and may well have ramifications throughout Canada and, conceivably, elsewhere.
Underlying the document – saturating it, actually – is the premise … Read More >>
By Yitzchok Adlerstein, on February 25th, 2008 You cannot help but feel bad for Lori Gottlieb, and good for the mindset about marriage with which we provide our kids.
NPR correspondent and author Gottlieb was not looking for sympathy, but to offer heartfelt-advice. Writing in the current issue of Atlantic Monthly, she makes the case for “settling for Mr. Good Enough.”
“Is it better to be alone, or to settle? My advice is this: Settle!” Waiting too long for the perfect, one-of-a-kind soul-mate left Gottlieb single, with a biological clock winding down. She opted to become a single parent, which she does not regret, but has left her with less time to do the things she thought she would share with her mate, and less flexibility to keep trolling for a partner she would not have to settle for. Looking back at it all, she advises others to get practical.
Ask any soul-baring 40-year old single heterosexual woman what she longs for in life, and she probably won’t tell you it’s a better career, or a smaller waistline or a bigger apartment. Most likely she will say that what she really wants is a husband (and by extension a child.)
Gottlieb pits the romantic … Read More >>
By Avi Shafran, on February 22nd, 2008 Vindication is nice, but there’s sometimes bitter mixed in with the sweet.
Back in October of last year, a headline in the New York Jewish Week read: “No Religious Haven From Abuse.” The subheader amplified: “New study finds Orthodox women are sexually victimized as much as other American women.” As I wrote shortly thereafter, first in a letter to the Jewish Week and then in a longer essay, the study found nothing of the sort.
Because of the sample it recruited, the study, in the American Journal of Psychiatry, could not and did not make any claim at all about the relative prevalence of abuse in the Orthodox and general American communities.
The study’s authors themselves in fact stated as much, noting that “those who chose to participate may not be representative of the [Orthodox] population,” and that the unfeasibility of obtaining a representative sample constituted a “major limitation of this study.” What is more, over half the women comprising the recruited study sample were receiving mental health treatment at the time. Victims of abuse, needless to say, are more likely than others to seek counseling, and so the sample would be expected to yield a larger number … Read More >>
By Emanuel Feldman, on February 19th, 2008 There is nothing like an early morning snow. The brown winter earth is covered by a stunning white tablecloth – pure, clean, and unsullied.
As the day goes on, the snow becomes victim to reality; people have to walk upon it, and drive through it, and before very long its pristine whiteness begins to fade and to turn into gray and brown.
By nightfall, the pure countenance of the morning has been transformed into slush and mud.
Before going to sleep we glance out the window for one last look at the darkened snow. Perhaps it will snow again overnight; perhaps in the morning we will once again be greeted by another blanket of purity and pristine whiteness.
Is there any way to maintain the bright whiteness of a morning snow, any way to keep it from being violated by our human footsteps? Only by constructing a fence around an area of snow, to keep out all human traffic, can this be done. But even as we construct that fence, we know in our heart of hearts that it is inevitable that snow is impermanent. Soon enough – even fenced in – it will shrink, melt and disappear.
Only a hazy memory will remain.
THERE IS … Read More >>
By Avi Shafran, on February 15th, 2008 There are three distinct ways to look at school vouchers.
One is to regard them as a bogeyman threatening to destroy the American public educational system and undermine the sublime values that system instills in its students. Call that the “teachers unions” approach.
The second is to regard them as a lifeline for poor parents, a means of allowing those without means to provide their children a chance to escape failing public schools.
That was President Bush’s approach in his final State of the Union address, wherein he lauded the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program Congress approved at the beginning of 2004. That enactment permitted more than 2600 of the poorest children in Washington, previously enrolled in the District’s poorly performing public schools, to transfer to nonpublic schools, including religious ones, of their parents’ choice. The President went on to propose a “Pell Grants for Kids” initiative, intended to help children “trapped in failing public schools” attend private and religious schools, presumably along the lines of the D.C. program.
But the reference to Pell Grants – which provide need-based grants to low-income students for postsecondary education – was somewhat puzzling. Because the Pell Grant model applied to younger students would … Read More >>
By Yitzchok Adlerstein, on February 15th, 2008 The American Jewish Committee’s 2007 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion is out, and it reflects once again the growing importance of the Orthodox community. Some will celebrate with high-fives and I-told-you-so’s. This would be a big mistake. For alternative reactions, read on.
JTA reported on the January 31 forum convened to discuss the survey. It made for irritating reading. The quoted notables spoke of the growing divide in attitudes and positions between the more politically conservative Orthodox and everyone else. This divide “threatens the long-term unity of the Jewish people,” as if it were the Orthodox who walked away from everything that Jews held sacred for centuries, rather than the other way around. It is hard to tell, however, whether the negative tone of the piece reflected the opinions of the participants, or was an artifact of the writing style of the author.
There aren’t many surprises in the results, save for the fact that what we sensed is now supported by the more scientific methodology of the pollster. According to the survey, 69 percent of Orthodox Jews said they feel “very close” to Israel, compared to 29 percent … Read More >>
By Yaakov Menken, on February 13th, 2008 Two familiar stories: “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” and “George Washington and the Cherry Tree.” For argument’s sake, let’s take George Washington’s name out of the second story, because he’s so famous. In the first story the boy and his sheep are both eaten because of the boy’s persistent lies. In the second, the boy is praised for his honesty.
Which one of these stories would make a child less likely to lie? If you’re like most people (75%, in a recent survey), you would answer that “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” would be the more powerful motivation.
You would also be wrong. The virtue of honesty, rather than the threat of dire consequences, was by far the more powerful motivator. This is one of the conclusions of a study by Dr. Nancy Darling, a developmental psychologist, described in New York magazine.
It is interesting how this jibes with an educational system that focuses upon the virtues of good conduct. The Torah mandates that children replace “finders keepers, losers weepers” with “Eilu Metzios” — “these found objects are his, and these he is required to announce.” Nonetheless, one could also point to the rather fantastic consequences in “Wolf,” … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on February 13th, 2008 I suspect that some Mishpacha readers are beginning wonder whether the magazine has developed an obsession with at-risk youth ever since the well-publicized tour of chareidi MKs of the teen hangouts around Jerusalem’s Ben-Yehudah street. Mishpacha recently carried an interview with the highly respected Bnei Brak dayan Rabbi Yehudah Silman dealing, inter alia, with chinuch issues and featured the Novominsker Rebbe’s words to a group of mechanchim under the aegis of Binat Halev.
In addition, Rabbi Grylak, Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz, and myself have all addressed aspects of the topic more than once. (For the record, we do not discuss among ourselves or with the editors of Mishpacha what we are going to write about.) Even the English serial Black and White touched on it.
The objections of some readers on this score would be well taken if we were talking only about the obvious drop-outs from mainstream educational frameworks. If they were an isolated phenomenon, one could argue that they constitute the exception that proves the rule of our overwhelming success in raising children whose connection with the Ribbono shel Olam is vibrant and positive.
But the truth is that drop-outs constitute only the most glaring example of … Read More >>
By Yaakov Menken, on February 8th, 2008 I have a son approaching Bar Mitzvah age, which means he will be needing Tefillin shortly. My mother mentioned that her grandfather’s old Tefillin were in a package in a basement. I had never known of them before, but as you can imagine was excited to learn that they existed. Well… when I opened the bag my wife and I were dismayed. The batim, the boxes, were green. Mold green. We thought that after years in a wet basement, all was lost.
When I opened them, however, I got a surprise in the opposite direction. Not only were the parshiyos (the written parchments) in decent condition, but the writing was truly beautiful. I showed them to an expert sofer, who restored them. They are perhaps 150 years old, and the writing, he said, was only used by a pretty elite group. The batim were constructed from multiple pieces of leather, which we wouldn’t use today with such fine parchments. But what we found inside them were hidden gems. “He spent his money on the writing,” said the sofer. And who knows… what spiritual impact might have been felt from that level of sacrifice for the sake of a Mitzvah, … Read More >>
By Avi Shafran, on February 8th, 2008 Alighting from the Staten Island ferry at Manhattan’s southern tip on my way to work February 5, I was greeted by a phalanx of stern-looking police, padded with Kevlar and armed with assault rifles. Then, suddenly, from behind me, came a loud, hoarse shout, echoed by the roar of hundreds of voices. Before me, a small army fell into formation, front guard carrying large flags, troops marching dutifully behind, determinedly heading north on Broadway. It was post-Super Bowl Tuesday, and Agudath Israel’s national offices lie a few minutes’ walk up the celebrated boulevard, along the parade route they call the Canyon of Heroes.
After making my way through the gathering crowd (the parade’s start was still two hours away) and the peddlers of timely trinkets, past the rows of police scooters and motorcycles, the early inebriated and the cordons meant to keep celebrants from celebrated, I arrived at our offices. The front entrance to the building was blocked; I entered though the back, on another street.
After attending a long staff meeting, having just settled in at my desk, I was startled by a swell of loud, raucous cheering from the street. Thirteen stories below. … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on February 7th, 2008 Rebbetzin Esther Farbstein is a great woman in many ways. She is not only one of the chareidi world’s leading public intellectuals, but also a model of refined middos. Michlala Seminary of Jerusalem sponsored an evening on campus two weeks ago in honor of the publication of her classic Hebrew work B’Seser Ra’am in English as Hidden in Thunder. to which almost 500 people showed up. (A closed circuit TV had to be set up for the overflow crowd.) The speakers included Rabbi Berel Wein, Mrs. Rose Stark, an Auschwitz survivor, who spoke on her experiences with Mengele, ym”sh, me, and Rebbetzin Farbstein. She acknowledged that her work is a major contribution, but added with characteristic modesty, “But it is not me. I do not feel that I wrote it.” She meant it. And it is true.
The Spiritual Response to the Holocaust
Every society or nation writes history with an eye to inculcating a particular national ethos. Thus the historiography of the Holocaust in the nascent Jewish state tended to focus on acts of physical resistance – most notably the Warsaw Ghetto uprising – that were consonant with the image of the proud “new” Jew” of outstanding bravery and belligerence. … Read More >>
By Yitzchok Adlerstein, on February 7th, 2008 My friend Judea Pearl’s writing is frequently moving, and always incisive. On the yahrzeit of his son, Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl, HY”D, brutally slain in Pakistan six years ago, Dr. Pearl creates a new litmus test for journalism in an article in the Wall Street Journal.
No one in whom a Jewish heart beats even faintly will ever forget the words that Daniel proclaimed just before al-Queda beheaded him. “My father’s Jewish, my mother’s Jewish, I’m Jewish! Back in the town of Bnei Brak there is a street named after my great grandfather Chayim Pearl who is one of the founders of the town.”
While we still grapple with the undiminished impact of those words, the task is so much more difficult for his parents. They have thrown themselves into the work of making their son’s death work against those responsible for it. While working to support voices of moderation and tolerance within the Muslim world, they have worked just as tirelessly to out the phonies, to expose the difference between those who are posturing and those who are genuinely committed to decency and coexistence. “Moral relativism died with Daniel Pearl in January … Read More >>
By Yaakov Menken, on February 3rd, 2008 When the Chief Rabbinate decided to reject a convert who accepted all the Commandments but professed the belief that the deceased Lubavitcher Rebbe is the Messiah, we should have expected a debate to follow. The Jerusalem Post took the role of host, giving us the ex-somewhat-Chabad Rabbi Shmuley Botach declaring “Chabad messianists: Wrong, but still Jews,” and Rabbi David Berger replying with “Rabbi Boteach, you’re wrong about Chabad.”
Now, the latest, from Eli Soble: “Our Rebbe is the messiah.” Troubling, to be certain… but how authoritative a representative is this author? He is described only as “a former Chabad rabbinical student and active in the movement’s educational work.” He’s not a Rabbi or a Shaliach, much less a leading figure within Lubavitch. Many self-declared Lubavitcher Chassidim contradict his statements and quotations in the article comments, as well.
On the day the Rebbe died, a reporter for WCBS News radio in New York gave air time to a young Chassid assuring us that the Rebbe will “get up,” that he will rise from the dead as Moshiach. I recall posting on an early Jewish mailing list that we should all respond with empathy to despondent … Read More >>
By Avi Shafran, on February 1st, 2008 Mere days before I was privileged to participate in a Washington, D.C. symposium on religious freedom in Israel, the Malaysian government threatened to withhold a Catholic newspaper’s publishing permit, to punish it for having dared to use the Muslim appellation for the Creator in its Malay-language pages.
A week later, an Afghan judge sentenced a journalism student in that country to death for distributing an article critical of Islam’s founder.
All in all, making the case for Israel’s respect for religious rights isn’t really much of a challenge.
An impressive number of students and interested others braved snowy weather to attend the January 17 event, sponsored by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University. Of the three presenters, I was last and, since the others – Knesset member Rabbi Michael Melchior and author Dr. David Elcott – did admirable jobs of covering much that lay in my prepared remarks, when my turn came I truncated my speech and focused on the increasingly restless elephant in the room.
Well covered before I spoke were the facts that Israel is both a democracy and a state with a special relationship to a religion (like many around … Read More >>
By Yitzchok Adlerstein, on February 1st, 2008 If buildings could speak, the message of Dallas’ new Ohr HaTorah shul is one of pride, confidence, and inclusiveness. Simply put, it is – architecturally – the most impressive building of a right-of-Orthodox-center shul I have ever seen.
The community that built it lives up to the promise of the structure.
It wasn’t the shul that brought me to Texas. A group of seasoned activists within the United Methodist Church, America’s largest mainline Protestant denomination are up to some serious anti-Israel mischief. They are trying to get the rank and file to pass a divestment resolution at their General Conference in April, so my day job took me to Fort Worth last week to see what I could do to counter a bald lie that they have carefully nurtured for years. (Of all liberal Protestant denominations, the Methodists promote the ugliest and most imbalanced set of materials about Israel and the Middle East.) The Jewish community is so divided about Israel, they argue, that taking the side of the Palestinians will not harm Jewish-Methodist relations. Of course, every time they make the argument, there is a large cheering section on hand of vocal, marginal, and irrelevant Jewish groups … Read More >>
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