By Jonathan Rosenblum, on January 31st, 2009 President Obama is now safely sworn in. Even the few curmudgeons left who have not been completely won over by the new president felt a surge of pride in their country as they watched a black man take the oath of office. That could not have happened in any of the European countries that view themselves as America’s moral betters.
The new president had an impressive two months between the election and the swearing-in, during which period he succeeded in winning over half those who voted for his opponent. Conservative columnist Charles Krauthamer’s assessment of Obama, after his cool in the face of the financial meltdown, has been more than borne out. Krauthamer updated Harry Hopkins description of FDR as “a second-rate mind with a first-rate temperament,” calling Obama “a first-rate mind, with a first-rate temperament.”
If anybody has been disappointed with America’s new president in the months since the election, it has been his left-wing supporters. His cabinet appointments were mainstream in the extreme. He delivered his major economic policy speech at George Mason University, the last bastion of free market economics, supped with conservative columnists at the house of George Will, and reached out generously to his defeated opponent … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on January 31st, 2009 It is far too early to write of Rabbi Avraham Ravitz, zt”l, as a public figure or of his historical impact. Just after the levaya is not the time to concern oneself with such things.
I last saw Rabbi Ravitz just a week ago. Not in person, but in a documentary film by a secular Israeli filmmaker, in which the two major, contrasting figures are Rabbi Ravitz and Rabbi Shmuel Papenheim, the former editor of the weekly newspaper of the Eidah Hachareidis. While watching the film, I wondered why Rabbi Ravitz agreed to participate in the documentary. (At least he did not lose his job because of the film, as did Papenheim, who was fired as editor of HaEidah for being too open to the world.)
The answer, I concluded, is that Rabbi Ravitz was always eager to reach out and make contact with as many Jews as possible and to provide them with a glimpse into his life and world view. The film was but one more means of doing so. As director of Am Echad, whenever I had to provide a foreign journalist with a prominent chareidi figure with whom to speak, I knew I could count on … Read More >>
By Avi Shafran, on January 30th, 2009 I hope my wife and kids don’t find out that I consider it kosher to force 16-year-old girls to work 20 hours a day.
In fact, I was shocked at myself for having said such a thing – or, at least, I would have been had I actually said … Read More >>
By Eytan Kobre, on January 28th, 2009 Morning dawns.
It is Sunday, but not just any Sunday morn – it is the dawn of the Hallowed Day. America a secular land? Hah! Silly Hitchens, Dawkins, Harris, et al – sacred devotion is so very much alive in America.
There are, of course, those who are deeply faithful throughout the year, who perform the Ritual of the Watching and all the ancient rites attendant thereto each Sunday, in Temples throught the land. The most pious of these even make the Pilgrimage to the Sanctum Sanctorum itself and partake of the sacred parking-lot Feast that precedes it. But on this Hallowed Day, we are all, men, women and children, part of — to coin a phrase — a “kingdom of priests, a holy nation.”
Rise, then, with alacrity, tend to what chores need be done, for the afternoon cometh speedily, when all thine work need have already been done. And there is much to be done in anticipation of the Watching.
Much of the beloved work has been done in advance, of course, and pity those foolish souls who’ve waited until the Hallowed Day to prepare; do they not know for what it is we are on this … Read More >>
By Guest Contributor, on January 22nd, 2009 [by Rabbi Meyer May, Executive Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and President of the Rabbinical Council of California. This letter was hand-delivered to President Bush a few days ago. The text also appears this week in Hamodia.]
Dear President Bush,
By way of introduction, I am the Executive Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (warm regards to you from Rabbi Hier) and President of the Rabbinical Council of California. I am writing to you from the depths of my heart because how much I wanted to, I was not able to express these sentiments to you in person.
Mr. President, as an Orthodox Jew and rabbi, I am schooled in clarity of focus and a clear unequivocal moral compass which is rooted in my faith. I know someone with such clarity and with such an unequivocal moral compass when I see him. You, Mr. President, have these! Indeed, you have epitomized these qualities never wavering no matter how vicious and hurtful the political and personal attacks have been. No doubt, your faith guided you and you let it!
Your steadfast determination to rid the Iraqi people and the world of the murderous Sadam Hussein, and your … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on January 22nd, 2009 There is no pleasure like the resolution of doubts, say Chazal. We have been hard-wired by our Creator to expect a certain order precisely because He created an orderly world, with rules governing both the natural and spiritual universe. And when the functioning of those rules cannot be discerned, when we cannot make sense of the data, we are unhappy.
Perhaps the most disconcerting experience of doubt is when something in the Torah does not make sense to us, since the Torah is Hashem’s most direct revelation of Himself. A breakdown of the laws of nature or our inability to discern the Divine Hashgacha concerning the Jewish people also occasions distress, since Hashem also reveals Himself through nature and the history of the Jewish people.
Accordingly, there is no joy like that experienced when all the pieces of the puzzle in a Talmudic sugya fall into place or one learns a Reb Chaim Brisker that resolves a series of seemingly irresolvable questions on the Rambam. When Yosef told the brothers, “Ani Yosef,” I imagine they experienced a certain relief, along with their fear — relief at the resolution of … Read More >>
By Avi Shafran, on January 16th, 2009 Painful as it is to ponder, sometimes the gravest harm is what we unwittingly visit on … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on January 14th, 2009 Let us start with the good news. First, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has removed the stain of the 2006 Second Lebanon War. The Winograd Commission found drastic failures in both the political echelons and the command level of the IDF. But it also found that troops on the ground had lacked the commitment to the completion of the “the mission” at all costs that had always distinguished the IDF.
By contrast, the IDF has, by all accounts, performed admirably in Gaza. Though Defense Minister Ehud Barak has received most of the credit (if polls showing a sharp jump in support for the Labor Party are any indication), the true hero of the war so far is Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi. The ground forces have had clearly defined missions – something totally absent in Lebanon – and have consistently achieved their objectives as scheduled or even in advance of schedule. Both regular soldiers and reservists have been well-trained and equipped for fighting in tight urban environments.
Though it is forbidden to ever refer to Jewish casualties as light, it is safe to say that the ten soldiers killed in action so far (four by friendly fire) is far less … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on January 14th, 2009 Most discussions of the so-called Shidduch Crisis focus on the plight of young women. According to the common wisdom, every boy — or at least his mother — has a long list of young women eager to meet him, and the only difficulty confronting mothers of boys is sifting through all the competing “offers.” In truth, however, young men are not necessarily well-served by the knowledge that their mothers need secretarial help just to handle all the calls about them.
Many years ago, a friend of mine went to discuss a shidduch with his Rosh Yeshiva. He had already met the young woman in question a number of times, and he answered positively in response to all the Rosh Yeshiva’s questions about her. Yet when he was done describing how things were going, he added, “Still, maybe I could do better.” The Rosh Yeshiva cut him off. “When you enter the realm of dimyonos (imagination), you are playing on the yetzer hara’s field. Your focus should be on her, and only her.” My friend married the young woman, and lived happily ever after.
Unfortunately, too many young men today are dancing to the yetzer hara’s tune, and the long list … Read More >>
By Emanuel Feldman, on January 14th, 2009 The late senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois once famously said to Lyndon Johnson about the national debt: “A few billion here, a few billion there and before you know it, you’re talking real money…” The world economic meltdown is painful, but there is one silver lining: At least we are now talking real money. We no longer deal with mere millions. Billions are the currency of the hour.
Ah, Madoff, ah, Ponzi! They have shown us what real money is. But let us not exaggerate: The Madoff billion dollar losses are only cumulative. After all, individual investors lost mere millions.
For example, Long Island Jewish Health Systems lost almost $6m. But not to worry, they tell us, because this was “less than 1 percent of our portfolio.” Not a bad portfolio, one that exceeds the real money threshold. Yeshiva University lost $110m. This is not that serious, it says, “because it is only 8% of our endowment total, and our work will not be affected.” The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles lost $18m. and the Technion, Bar-Ilan University, Hebrew University and Hadassah all lost heavy millions, but they all assure us that – even though they will never recoup those millions … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on January 11th, 2009 At the outset of Operation Cast Lead, Israel had two immediate precedents in front of it. The happy precedent is Operation Defensive Shield launched in 2002, after a month in which 130 Israelis were killed in terrorist attacks, culminating in the Seder Night Massacre in Netanya. At that point, then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon realized that Israel’s citizens had come to feel like ducks in a shooting gallery – an untenable situation. In the face of overwhelming international condemnation and a constant stream of wild, atrocity stories in the mainstream European press, claiming that Israel had slaughtered thousands of Palestinian civilians in cold blood, the IDF took control of Judea and Samaria once again. Even an order from an initially sympathetic President Bush for the IDF to halt its military operations went unheeded.
Operation Defensive Shield resulted in a dramatic transformation of Israel’s security situation. With the IDF now able to enter Palestinian cities at will and with the kind of intelligence that is only possible with an on-the-ground presence, the IDF brought terrorism from the West Bank to a virtual halt. That situation continues until the present.
The other, less happy precedent is, of course, the 2006 Second Lebanon … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on January 11th, 2009 Ben Stein had a nice piece in the New York Times last week. He concluded, “It is a myth that money determines who you are, and if you have gotten over that myth by now, then 2008 will have been a very good year.” In general, the ongoing financial meltdown has led to a positive reevaluation of Benjamin Franklin’s Thirteen Virtues.
Frugality, not purchasing more than one can afford or has any way of paying for, is perhaps the most obvious. Millions of families in affluent countries are dramatically downsizing their consumption habits and finding that their happiness levels are not thereby diminished. Many are learning that delaying gratification until we have earned the money to pay for something makes our purchases much dearer. Who knows, perhaps even traditional courtship rituals will enjoy a renaissance.
The calamity brought about by twenty-somethings pursuing multi-million dollar bonuses by creating and marketing complicated instruments that no one really understood may also revive traditional notions of craftsmanship, taking pride in the products of one’s efforts, not just the amount those products fetch at market.
The older I get, the more wisdom I find in the refusal to treat “new” as a synonym for “progress” or … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on January 11th, 2009 Last week, I ran into an acquaintance at a minyan in Boro Park. “The situation is azoi shver,” he told me, as he directed his woeful gaze upwards. I asked him whether he was talking about the financial situation or the war in Gaza.
Actually, the war in Gaza and the economic disaster that has hit the Torah community are not unrelated. The drying up of the vast philanthropic resources of America has hit Israeli Torah institutions at all levels, from high school age mesivtos to yeshivos to kollelim. A number are on the verge of closure. Kollelim have stopped paying stipends and yeshivos and mesivtos are cutting down on food for bochurim.
Housing for young couples in the major chareidi centers of Jerusalem and Bnei Brak is almost impossible to find. Thousands of young couples in Jerusalem are starting married life in tiny apartments consisting of little more than a bedroom and kitchen, often without even a window.
The Israeli system of long-term learning is predicated on the assumption that newly married couples will start life together with their own apartment. Otherwise, it is argued, rent alone will gobble up most of the couple’s income from his kollel stipend and … Read More >>
By Yitzchok Adlerstein, on January 9th, 2009 Abuse, especially of children, continues to be the elephant in the Orthodox room. The news stories won’t go away. The cynicism won’t go away. The problem won’t go away.
While victims cry out for recognition, many average citizens agonize over the glacial speed at which the problem is addressed, the secretiveness of some major players, and the continued besmirching of the Torah community.
All of this goes on while one city has put together a program that not only works, but has become a model of what could be in other communities.
Aleinu is the Orthodox unit of Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles. It provides a gamut of intervention and counseling services to the frum community. Its hottest asset, however, is a multi-tiered program that addresses abuse. Through Aleinu, the LA Orthodox community shed its previous reputation with some governmental agencies for being secretive, reclusive and uncooperative, and replaced it with one of successful partnership.
A huge amount of credit goes to Debbie Fox, a licensed clinical social worker who just happens to be married to one of my closest friends, Rabbi Dr. David Fox. Debbie has nurtured the project since its infancy, presides over it, administers it, does the … Read More >>
By Avi Shafran, on January 9th, 2009 When one lacks any semblance of moral justification for one’s belligerence and lust to murder innocents, there is only benefit in having as many dead civilians as possible of one’s own to display in lieu of logic. … Read More >>
By Yaakov Menken, on January 7th, 2009 Long-time readers may remember that the same was done during the War in Lebanon. Your prayers are needed!
An open letter to Acheinu Benei Yisroel [Our Brethren, the Children of Israel]
After learning about the heart-rending appeal of the Gedolei Torah [Leading Torah Scholars] to intensify our Tefilos [prayers] and Torah learning during this very trying time for Klal Yisroel, we have undertaken to join and aid them in their prayers.
The Medrash Rabah and the Yalkut relate that during the war against Midyon, for every one that went out to battle there was a designated person whose task it was to pray and learn for him.
The Great Gaon and Sage Rebbe Chaim Kanievsky shlitah when asked about this tradition pointed out that Dovid Hemelech, as well continued and instituted the practice, that for every individual who was in combat, there was another person selected for the specific task of praying and learning for him.
Therefore in order to continue and accomplish this Minhag, we ask soldiers and/or their relatives who would want a “partner” in Torah and Tefillah to email maortlmo [at] gmail.com or fax 011 9728 9450027 and give their Hebrew name and mothers Hebrew name without any other … Read More >>
By Guest Contributor, on January 7th, 2009 by Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe
CRITICIZING ISRAEL doesn’t make you anti-Semitic: If it’s been said once, it’s been said a thousand times. Yet somehow that message doesn’t seem to have reached the hundreds of anti-Israel demonstrators in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who turned out last week to protest Israel’s military operation in Gaza. As their signs and chants made clear, it isn’t only the Jewish state’s policies they oppose. Their animus goes further.
Demonstrators chanted “Nuke, nuke Israel!” and carried placards accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and bearing such messages as: “Did Israel take notes during the Holocaust? Happy Hanukkah.” To the dozen or so supporters of Israel gathered across the street, one demonstrator shouted: “Murderers! Go back to the ovens! You need a big oven.”
The Arab-Israeli conflict induces strong passions, and the line that separates legitimate disapproval of Israel from anti-Semitism may not always be obvious. But it’s safe to assume the line has been crossed when you hear someone urging Jews “back to the ovens.”
The Danish website Snaphanen posted a photo the other day of a pamphlet being distributed in Copenhagen’s City Hall Square. On one side it proclaimed: “Never Peace … Read More >>
By Yitzchok Adlerstein, on January 7th, 2009 Unless you are living under a rock, you realize by now that we are at war. It is not they who are at war – a much beloved they to be sure – but we. In the new asymmetrical warfare, all Jews are targets. Whatever your political leanings, whatever your take on how this came about, it is incontrovertible that in recent years tens of millions (if not hundreds) have been taught, urged, cajoled to believe that their religion demands the eradication of Jews, and that any partial success in meeting that goal will be instantly rewarded by the richness of Heaven.
Here are two unrelated images and vignettes from the home front, nine thousand miles from Gaza, but a front nonetheless in the latest hot-ammunition battle to destroy the Jewish people.
The Consulate
I always feel guilty in times of war for not being closer, for not being in uniform myself. Half to assuage those feelings of guilt, I try to involve myself in the war that is actually fought here – the important battle for public opinion and support. While I have a visceral distaste for all meetings, especially large ones, I felt that I had to respond to … Read More >>
By Harvey Belovski, on January 6th, 2009 I am sitting in the National Library at the Hebrew University on the third day of a visit to Israel. I am in here to catch up with young people from my community who are studying at various institutions in Israel, but have dedicated today, the Fast of Tevet, to rest and to some private study. Yet instead, I feel motivated to write a short post about the atmosphere here. In the interests of brevity, here are a few points that have stuck in my mind:
* Every minyan I have visited is saying a ‘Kapitl Tehillim’ – a chapter of psalms – after each service, every day, followed by a prayer for the wellbeing of Jews everywhere. For your interest, so far I have been to a shteibl in Meah Shearim, the minyan of a prominent Chassidic Rebbe, a religious Zionist Shul and the minyan at the Hebrew University library.
* There is a hand-written note pinned to the door of the lift in the building where I am staying, advertising opportunities to send non-perishable food to soldiers in Gaza. Apparently, there are many such notices, as well as those volunteering to deliver the goods.
* I spoke yesterday to the head … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on January 4th, 2009 The massacre of nearly 200 civilians by a ten-man terrorist group in Mumbai, India revealed a frightening new world. First of all, the terrorists’ attack was thoroughly planned and efficiently executed, with help from elements within Pakistan’s security and intelligence services. Their tactics are replicable in every country with a substantial Muslim presence.
Second, the attack on the Chabad House revealed that every Jewish institution in the world is a potential target. The cost of guarding those institutions would be prohibitively expensive and likely ineffective, given the attackers would inevitably be better armed, better trained, and enjoy the element of surprise. Iran is believed to have sleeper terror cells all over the globe, and they will target Jewish institutions. Indeed, they already have in the 1994 bombing of the Argentinian Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, which claimed 85 lives.
Perhaps most frightening of all, the response to Mumbai showed that the West is still not prepared to acknowledge the threat of radical Islam. And it is pretty hard to confront a threat that one dare not call by name. As the news of the attack broke, Western media pretended that the religious identity of terrorists remained a mystery. … Read More >>
|
|
