By Eytan Kobre, on August 31st, 2009 “You have to wonder what they’ll come up with next.”
With that snide introduction, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports that 20 Israeli hotels catering to an Orthodox clientele have signed a “modesty code” committing them to unplug in room televisions and block views of the pool. Was this move the result of boycotts, protests, and implied or overt threats of some sort?
Apparently not. The report notes only that senior rabbis directed a committee they had establishedto compose a list of vacation venues appropriate for the Orthodox public. Lo and behold, a little over a month later, these resorts considered their economic self-interest and decided that, as we say on these shores, “the customer is king.” Five of the hotels are under religious ownership and will be accommodating their observant guests’ wishes year round, while the other 15 sites have agreed to uphold the new standards only during particular periods when Orthodox patronage is at its heaviest.
From the snarky lead-in line quoted above and a later reference to the hotels “bowing to haredi pressure,” it’s obvious that all of this really bothers the JTA reporter. But it’s difficult to understand how this is any different from the “pressure” that consumers apply when … Read More >>
By Yitzchok Adlerstein, on August 31st, 2009 Long before I helped begin Cross-Currents, the place my keyboard’s output called home was Jewish Action, the quarterly of the Orthodox Union. To the credit of the OU, its leadership encouraged the production of a serious Orthodox magazine that allowed different points of view on a given topic. In my mind, an appreciation of diversity remains one of the most sorely needed elements in contemporary Torah-true Judaism. Too many people are aware of the complexity of both life itself and the Torah’s response to it to be serviced by one-size-fits all approaches. Denying the legitimacy of different Torah approaches (to the exclusion of non-Torah approaches which indeed often have to be dismissed) rings hollow to many people; to others, it breeds contempt of anyone who does not think exactly as they do. Jewish Action remains one of the few places where people can see different opinions championed with equal skill and authority. I believe that this is the reason why quite a few people on JA’s Editorial Board maintain with alacrity an active role, even though they may personally be to the right of where much of the OU finds itself.
The new issue is of special interest to … Read More >>
By Yitzchok Adlerstein, on August 28th, 2009 Can a quadriplegic dance? Can a thin, raspy, artificially high-pitched voice make sonorous music? I would not have believed these to be true had I not seen them myself at the Kids of Courage (KOC) event in Orlando.
Many other Americans caught at least a glimpse of it, since ABC News carried some of it on its news feed. When a chartered and fully utilized Continental Airlines jetliner left Newark last Thursday, they were there, along with three other networks and print media. What greeted them stirred them to the core. A veteran journalist conceded that she had never seen anything like it, and talked her way on to the plane, staying for hours till takeoff. It may have been the largest group flight ever of children and young adults afflicted with major handicaps and serious illness (a total of 89 between the special Newark flight and others from different points of departure), accompanied by a much larger group of medical personnel, counselors and logistics specialists. In Orlando, the kids would be feted for a week of theme parks and activities that would allow them to have the fun that is ordinarily completely beyond their reach. … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on August 24th, 2009 My op-ed “Under the Guise of Learning in Eretz Yisrael ” in the July 23 Hamodia has occasioned more than the usual amount of comment, both in the form of an unusually large outpouring of published letters to the editor and in phone calls and private comments conveyed to me. Some of those comments have been favorable, even effusively so, and some no less critical – at least one anonymous caller took the time to call from the States to convey his opinion that I had lost my Olam Haba, chas ve’shalom.
Most of the comments to date have focused on what I am assumed to have meant rather than on what I actually said. About the latter there has been relatively little dispute. So perhaps it would be well to first review the areas of broad agreement. My first major point was that the year or more of learning in Eretz Yisrael has changed in important ways in recent decades. Whereas once only individual bochurim, who were self-selected and tended to have high aspirations in Torah learning, came to Eretz Yisrael to study, today it is pretty much assumed that all yeshiva bochurim will spend one or two years in … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on August 24th, 2009 No Torah Jew finds it difficult to justify Israeli government expenditures on Torah education. For us, it is clear that without the citadels of Torah that all the efforts of the IDF to protect us from the dangers all around will be for naught.
But obviously few secular Israelis share that view. From their perspective, the most notable aspect of Torah education – at least that of males – is that it leaves many of its recipients lacking basic numeracy and unable to enter the workforce at anything above menial jobs, which will, in any event, prove insufficient to feed their large families. At most, some will acknowledge that the intellectual acuity attained in Talmud study makes it possible for many chareidi men to acquire later some of the missing skills and knowledge.
In Yoder vs. Wisconsin, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Free Exercise Clause of the United States constitution prevented Wisconsin from enforcing its mandatory school attendance laws against religious groups who opposed education for those over 14. In reaching that conclusion, the Court noted that the religious groups in question are, in general, law-abiding citizens almost never found on the welfare roles. Few secular Israelis look at … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on August 24th, 2009 Haredim think that the media shows a persistent and blatant bias in its coverage of the community. They are right.
For proof one need look no further than the coverage of the grisly July 23 attack on a counseling center for teenage homosexuals in Tel Aviv, which left two dead and more than a dozen others injured, three critically.
Before the blood had even been wiped from the floor, the media was rife with the presumption of haredi culpability. Some were quick to assume that the perpetrator was himself haredi. A moment’s reflection should have made clear how unlikely that was.
For one thing, murder is not a haredi thing, as Anshel Pfeffer noted in Ha’aretz. Second, despite Israel’s large Orthodox population, there is no history of religious Jews seeking out homosexuals and attacking them. Finally, the venue of the counseling center was not public knowledge, and would have been unlikely to be known to any haredi.
Western media, in general, and the Israeli media, in particular, avoid pegging ethnic labels on the perpetrators of crimes, unless, of course, they are haredim or settlers. After 9/11, for instance, then Secretary of State Colin Powell was quick to admonish against identifying the hijackers as Muslims, … Read More >>
By Avi Shafran, on August 21st, 2009 things other than money can also be … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on August 17th, 2009 The final stanza of Eli Zion, the last kinnah recited in many shuls on Tisha B’Av, reads, “. . . for Your Name, which was desecrated by the mouth of those who arose to torment her . . . .” Following the interpretive principle that the conclusion (chatima) is determinative, we infer that the greatest tragedy associated with Tisha B”Av is the Chilul Hashem caused by the destruction of the Temple.
That insight strikes with particular force today. What gentile looks at us and thinks, “Perhaps they really are the Chosen People?” What non-religious Jew looks to the Torah world and finds his curiosity aroused about the source of such refinement and simple mentschlikeit? The janitor in an Orthodox-owned factory recently asked his boss, “If you really are the Chosen People, why are you all so corrupt?”
We each carry around a set of adult pacifiers to grab onto at such moments. Who has not repeated many times Rabbi Berel Wein’s famous line, “Don’t judge Judaism by the Jews.” But the Torah is judged, for better or worse, by the behavior of Torah Jews. Meeting a Torah Jew who exemplified something he or she has never before encountered serves as a major … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on August 14th, 2009 Whenever some scandal breaks involving Orthodox Jews, as happened with a vengeance last Erev Shabbos, I’m reminded of a story about Rabbi Yaakov Kaminetsky. When Reb Yaakov was Rosh Yeshiva in Torah Vodaath, a high school student was caught helping another student on the state-sponsored regents exams. Reb Yaakov immediately expelled him. Decades later that former student was involved in a major financial scandal, which made front-page headlines.
At that time, Reb Yaakov expressed his bitterness at other institutions that had been quick to take in the expelled student. Had they not been so quick to forgive his cheating, Reb Yaakov felt, the student might have come to realize that cheating is a serious matter. Instead it became a way of life for him.
Reb Yaakov did not make exceptions for cheating on secular subjects. He knew that dishonesty is habit-forming. He also knew that children must learn early that actions have consequences, sometimes very serious ones, and that those consequences cannot always be wiped away by saying, “I’m sorry.”
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky delivered a similar message recently to a yeshiva bochur who sought his blessing prior to his trial for driving without a licence. The bochur in question had hit a wall … Read More >>
By Avi Shafran, on August 14th, 2009 Reports have it that a popular inscription of late on coffee mugs and t-shirts is “wise Latina woman.”
The reference, of course, is to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s contention in a 2001 lecture that “a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” The comment was much discussed during the hearings that preceded Justice Sotomayor’s confirmation. While purchasers of the shirts and mugs are likely only taking ethnic pride in the Justice, who is of Puerto Rican ancestry, the comment is worth pondering. It may even hold a thought of particular value to Jews.
The idea of a judge’s personal experience influencing – enhancing or degrading – his or her judgment is intriguing. To be sure, a victim of a violent crime might not make the best judge in the case of someone accused of the same sort of crime, or an acceptable juror. That is why there are judicial recusals and jury disqualifications.
But the question of whether our general objectivity is necessarily skewed by who we are is less obviously clear. All … Read More >>
By Yitzchok Adlerstein, on August 13th, 2009 Two years away from Israel is far too long, but it allows you to see the changes that you might miss if they happened under your nose. My daughter provided the excuse (a new baby and a bris, B”H), and remarkable hashgacha (as always seems to be the case in regard to Eretz Yisrael – more on that later) provided the funding, so I was afforded the privilege of spending a week in our Land. This piece is my attempt at decompressing on the plane back to chutz l’aretz. If you will be offended or bored by an individual travelogue, the more serious Torah begins about half way through.
I love the scenic beauty of Israel – all of it. Yet one of the sights on the horizon that gives me most pleasure is man-made, and esthetically ugly. I love seeing massive building cranes that spoil the natural beauty. They speak of the continuing berachah of HKBH, Who not only brought us back to our Land, but presides over its development and prospering. Judging by the ubiquitous cranes, you could never know that the world is in the middle of a recession.
Traffic in many places is worse than before, if that … Read More >>
By Yaakov Menken, on August 11th, 2009 It is an interesting coincidence that two new volleys in the gay war on traditional religion were both fired last week, on two continents. While “GBLT” advocates in Israel were busy cynically misusing a shooting in a youth center to castigate rabbis who dare speak honestly about the Torah’s view of “alternative lifestyles,” the American Psychological Association also re-entered the fray, asserting that its members “should avoid telling clients that they can change their sexual orientation through therapy or other treatments.” Instead, its new official recommendation to those experiencing a “conflict between their sexual orientation and religious beliefs” is that they “explore possible life paths that address the reality of their sexual orientation.”
In other words, you can change your life path, meaning your religion, because, in contrast to your religious faith, your sexual orientation is an unchangeable fact.
A bit of historical perspective is in order. Until 1973, the APA classified homosexuality as a mental disorder. In fact, a psychiatrist who spoke out about the issue the previous year wore a mask to prevent professional repercussions for identifying himself as a homosexual. Then, quite suddenly, the APA reversed course and announced that homosexuals were perfectly healthy. … Read More >>
By Yaakov Menken, on August 7th, 2009 Even without the recent spate of well-warranted negative media attention towards Orthodox Jews, the cynical misuse of a recent murder in Tel Aviv for further Charedi-bashing is little surprise. It is, nonetheless, worthy of note. With even a cursory examination of the facts, it becomes clear that those whom the GBLT community seek to blame are a politically-convenient target, rather than those whom the police might do well to investigate.
Here is what we know. A single shooter, masked and dressed entirely in black, entered a GBLT youth center in Tel-Aviv and opened fire. After killing two teenagers and wounding over a dozen others, he ran back out and disappeared into the streets of the city. It is reasonable to suspect that the killer chose his target in advance, having planned to enter with his features already disguised, shoot, and run. So the police are looking for a person who knew something about the “scene” in Tel-Aviv, knew that this was a youth center, and chose that youth center as a target.
In one instance after another of mass shootings, the killer has imagined himself rejected by the target group. This is especially true of teenage (e.g. Columbine) and … Read More >>
By Jonathan Rosenblum, on August 4th, 2009 A great woman passed away suddenly last week in Jerusalem. Lifsha Feldman was only 45, but she had in the last decade of her life deeply touched the lives of hundreds of Jewish children with serious physical and mental disabilities and their families.
She was the daughter of a gadol — Rabbi Ephraim Zuravin; the daughter-in-law of a gadol — Rabbi Aharon Feldman, Rosh Yeshivas Ner Yisroel; and the wife of one of Eretz Yisrael’s most distinguished young talmidei chachamim — Rabbi Shlomo Feldman, the author of important volumes on Seder Taharos. Yet the thousands who attended the levaya came because of Rebbetzin Feldman herself.
Black-cowled Yerushalmi women were seen hugging non-religious therapists at MESHI, the Jerusalem gan and school for children with serious disabilities founded by Lifsha Feldman, each trying to comfort the other. Simple Jews and gedolei Yisrael stood together sobbing along with the maspidim over the magnitude of the loss to Klal Yisrael and to her husband, ten children, parents, brothers and sisters. One young boy in a wheelchair asked his mother why he was being punished yet again with the loss of his beloved principal. It would have taken Rebbetzin Lifsha herself to answer that question.
Lisha Feldman’s passing … Read More >>
By Yitzchok Adlerstein, on August 3rd, 2009 R Moshe Chait, zt”l, Rosh Yeshiva of the Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva in Yerushalayim, was niftar on Erev Tisha B’Av. His trademark smile spoke more powerfully than the words a bereft generation can possibly string together.
Smiling at someone does wonders for the recipient. It is the equivalent, says the Chovos Ha-levavos, of handing a passerby a glass of cold milk on a brutally hot day. If we had to continue the analogy, I suppose we would have to consider R. Chait a life-long dairy farm. Rabbi Chait’s perennial smile, though, was not the fixed kind, frozen by years of use.. It refreshed itself for every individual he encountered.
Some people smile because they are happy. Some people turn up the corners of their mouths because they are good-natured, or because they always have a funny anecdote in mind, or even because they are not particularly bright, and life’s seriousness evades them. Then there are those who smile, as the Chovos Ha-levavos also describes, because it befits their level of avodas Hashem. They live in a state of euphoria, a mixture of perfect faith in Hashem, and enthusiasm for the opportunity to serve him.
Such was the smile of Rabbi Chait. We … Read More >>
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