Jews vs. Christmas

The question of how Jews should react to public Christmas displays continues to generate debate. Lamed seems, by tone at least, to disapprove; Charles Krauthammer and Jeff Jacoby are pro. My thoughts here.

UPDATE: And one Jews Vs. Christmas wrap-up to rule them all: See Dov Bear.

Closing off opportunities for Russian immigrants

I find the Israeli government's now successful campaign to stop Germany accepting so many Jewish immigrants from the FSU extremely offensive. You may or may not agree that Israel is the natural place for all Jews to live, but Israel has no right to try and force people who do not want to move there to do so. The enormous wave of Aliya from the FSU in the past decade and a half has shown that Russian Jews who want to have no compunctions about moving to Israel. Unfortunately, Israel isn't for everyone and Russian Jews who choose to go elsewhere have every right to do so.
If Israel thinks that more Jewish immigrants should be coming its way, perhaps it should do more to create economic opportunities for them and more to genuinely integrate already existing immigrants. Taking in people who see Israel as their second choice and who resent Israel for deliberately closing off opportunities for them to go elsewhere is not going to result in successful Aliya in any case.
(For another take on why Israel's campaign was ill-advised, see Jewlicious.)

Women's prayer groups -- do they survive over time?

This Friday night, I went to an Orthodox women's-only prayer group -- the first time I've been to such an event in years. Although such groups are still relatively unknown in the UK (there was an enormous battle over them in the early 90s and the Orthodox United Synagogue does not allow them to take place in any US Synagogue), I was impressed to see that there was a wide range of women in attendance, both in terms of age (everything from teenagers to pensioners) and religious affiliation (within Orthodoxy). In fact, there were a number of women there I would never have imagined would be interested in such a group, and certainly many women who don't normally go to Friday night services. The very existance of such a group, and its wide appeal, seemed to me to show at least how the UK Jewish community is changing, and finally becoming a little less conformist and a little less conservative than it was 10 years ago. I do, however, wonder how 'women's-only' prayer groups do over time; I'm sure there was a 'novelty factor' at play here. Anyone got any evidence from elsewhere?

Is this better or worse than Rubashkins?? I ask: What is a hashgacha worth??

This story - posted here on Bloghd only minutes after breaking on an unsuspecting world -- relates another OU-supervised horror story.

The Mrs. Smith's plant made regular pie crusts with pork lard, and crusts stamped kosher by the Orthodox Union, a New York organization that certifies kosher foods...
In 2001, Raleigh lawyer Marvin Schiller heard the allegations of a plant employee that workers often substituted regular crusts for kosher ones when the plant ran out.

What I can't understand is why part of the $2.5 million settlement is going to the OU? Shouldn't the OU be compensating its Kosher consumers for failing to exercise supervision?? I'm thinking of becoming a fruitarian -- no tracheas,no oesophagi, no lard ... no hashacha. Have a wonderful shabbat, y'all! (BTW - in answer to the headline -- at least the offending pie-crusts didn't get up and try to escape from the factory in "unconscious nervous reflex acts").

Monica? That was nothing

Azi was right: American-born Kimberly Quinn is Jewish (the daughter of American actress Lugene Sanders, who was, more than 50 years ago, among the highest-paid television actresses in America). Her disgraceful affair with British Home Secretary David Blunkett, which I wrote about at length a couple of weeks ago, has now ended in his rather tearful resignation and swift replacement. And thus, one of the greatest scandals to hit the Blair government -- and arguably, one of the greatest scandals to hit any British government in the last 20 years -- comes to an end.

Make Aliya, go 'off the derech'?

Simcha summarizes an article in the current edition of the Jewish Observer, which encourages Haredi families with children to consider Aliya carefully:

What is at issue is the vast cultural divide between communities outside of Israel and that in Israel... In Israel, affiliation with a group and belonging to it is much more important than in America. Furthermore, the groups in Israel expect strict compliance to their social norms and lack of conformity leads to a degree of ostracization. While many adults can deal with that, children frequently have great difficulty with that. Generally, they either need to adjust completely to Israel or be able to live in relative isolation. Especially those who make aliyah in their teen years, when social patterns and cliques have already developed, have difficulty fitting in. Many - too many, end up leaving the Orthodox community entirely.

When I was a feature writer for The Jerusalem Post, I wrote an article about haredi girls going 'off the derech.' Having made aliya was cited by all the experts as one of the major 'risk factors,' for boys and for girls, and most of the girls I talked to were originally from the US/Canada/UK. The result for many of these kids is not just leaving Orthodoxy, but can include leaving school, falling prey to drugs and alcohol, and unwanted pregnancies. (There are several homes for pregnant haredi girls in Israel.) To the credit of the Haredi world, this is a problem they are dealing with more and more openly, and I witnessed some really sensitive, helpful programmes for these kids. Whilst I wouldn't want to stop anyone make Aliya, it is extremely positive that these issues are being discussed honestly.

Not long enough...

Brandeis has unveiled a study of the long-term affects of the birthright programme, up to 4 years after participation. On the plus side:

They found that 52 percent of participants felt "very much" connected to Israel when they were surveyed in late 2003 to early 2004, or two to four years after their trip. Beforehand, only 35% gave such an assessment... Feelings of strong connection to the Jewish people jumped from 58% among participants before their visit to 69% after, a rate sustained years later.... Additionally, the rate of non-participants who felt it was very important to only date Jews dropped from 27% to 24%, while for those who participated it rose from 22% to 35%.

On the minus side: The report also found that,

"despite positive attitudes toward Jewish peoplehood, the trip has little effect on ethical behavior, religious behavior or participation in organized Jewish life."

This, of course, seems like a disappointment; birthright will only have fulfilled its potential if positive feelings are translated into positive behaviour. I would suggest, however, that it is still way too early to really measure the effects of birthright. These will only become clear in 10-15 years time, when we know whether participants were more likely to marry Jewish and bring their kids up Jewish. The effects of such experiences often do not kick in until it's time to settle down and have children.

'Frum Affair'

The blogosphere really is becoming the confession booth of the religious world. Just came across this blog, 'Frum Affair' -- which is pretty self-explanatory. The affair -- now ended -- was, incidentally, pretty frum (as affairs go):

If you are thinking how I can halachically rebuild a bayit neeman b'yisroel after an affair, well, the bottom line answer is that I never did the "ultimate deed," but emotional affairs can be just as devastating.

Oh G-d, not another useless Jewish organization

Plans for a Diaspora 'parliament'/'assembly', which I had originally assumed was just a flight of fancy by Israeli President Katzav, seem to be gathering pace. The 'parliament' (if that's what they choose to ultimately call it) will have the power to consult Israel on policy matters which will affect Jews across the globe, and is also intended to help forge closer relations between Israeli Jews and Diaspora Jews. A working draft should be finalized in the next three months.
I outlined my reservations regarding such a project in June (although it was then purely theoretical), and believe those reasons still stand, so I won't repeat them here. In any case, this particular initiative has 'disaster' and 'big bore' written all over it. My favorite quote comes from Uzi Dayan, who recommends that the parliament include 'young people,' perhaps as young as 40 (!) -- cutting edge, I suppose, compared to the rest of the Jewish institutions where you're considered young if you're five years into your pension.
Ultimately, the idea of forging closer relations between Israel and the Diaspora by creating another body where a bunch of unelected old codgers can pontificate is noble, but completely misguided (I'd register my protest, but unfortunately don't have a vote in any of the Jewish organizations which will make the decision). Spend the money by doubling the allocation to Birthright, or paying for every Israeli high school student to spend two weeks with a Jewish family in the Diaspora. That's where you'll make a difference.

Quite a compliment

Ma'ariv calls Israel21c "Israel's most efficient hasbara body" and Israel's "real ambassadors."
In the past year, the not-for-profit organization -- which is run by three former Jerusalem Post-ers, David Brinn, Allison Kaplan Sommer and Harry Rubenstein -- has managed to place more than 1300 positive articles about Israeli science and culture with top American publications, including the NYT, Reuters and Time Magazine. You may remember them from such recent stories as the Israeli who defeated halitosis and Hadag Nahash's tour of America. Kol Hakavod!

Mmmm, I like it like that, can't eat this and that, I want a Big Mac, I don't know how to snack, So kosher for me, so kosher for me...

According to WND, the Hanukka Hey Ya! song has now surpassed Adam Sandler's Hanukka Song in popularity, and has been downloaded more than 800,000 times 'since the last holiday season.'
WND also interviews song creator Eric Schwartz. The Hanukka song, it emerges, is not a one-off shot of genius -- he's made an entire career out of putting Jewish lyrics to well-known raps. Whilst the Hey Ya song is extremely funny, listening to all his songs in sequence (on his website under 'audio and video'), without amusing animations to accompany, suddenly brings back horrible memories of shlock Rock and MC Rebbe. Oy (and don't tell me that's just yo backwards).

Aliya -- up, up, and away

Amid reports that American Aliya is approaching record levels, the always thought-provoking blog Lamed asks a question I have never heard asked before: If our best, our brightest, our rabbis and educators are leaving for Israel, what does that do to the communities left behind?
The question was originally posed by Rabbi Reuven Spolter in Jewish Action, and provoked many letters. To be fair, Aliya is just one factor amongst many in the shortage of Modern Orthodox leaders which he talks about -- but more on that later.
In the meanwhile, just one small point about the rising rate of American Aliya. According to reports, "in the first 10 months of the year, 2,240 Americans exercised their right to automatic Israeli citizenship," quickly approaching the 2,385 who made Aliya in the whole of 2003. Wonderful.
This very week, however, it was also reported that French immigration levels have reached a 30-year high, with 2,236 French Jews immigrating between January and the end of October 2004.
Ie. -- although the US has approximately 10 times more Jews than France, it still only managed to send 4 more Jews to Israel in the first 10 months of this year.

Tabloid sensationalism

Ma'ariv has a scoop: One of Arafat's main doctors in Paris was a French Jew.

"[D]espite his Jewish identity, his loyalty to the State of Israel and his wish to assist Israel in any way he can, he refused to divulge any information on Arafat’s condition to Israeli officials."

Ma'ariv should be ashamed for publishing this. Jewish doctors -- in Israeli hospitals -- have treated Arab terrorists for years, and actually saved terrorists fresh from a murder operation. You would expect no less from anyone who has taken the Hippocratic Oath. They have now, as they themselves have pointed out in the disgustingly tabloidy Hebrew version of this article, contributed to the conspiracy rumors over the cause of Arafat's death.
They have also done a real disservice to the doctor, who was put in an impossible position -- and now has his ethnic identity suddenly made a public factor and the possibility of a conflict-of-interest planted in the minds of others. I can't really take issue with the Israelis trying to get information out of him -- I'm sure every agency would act the same. However, do they really need to reveal this to the world? They were asking a man to put his career on the line, break doctor-patient confidentiality. By revealing this, they are making an issue of his ethnic identity possibly for the first time in his career, and probably making him profoundly uncomfortable. Shame on them.

Taking candy from a schoolkid...

Yesterday, a French schoolteacher had to send back 1,300 packages of chocolate donated as a gift by the City Hall, when it emerged that the chocolates were shaped like crosses and Santa Claus. Accepting them would have, strictly speaking, contravened the law that was implemented last September, banning overtly religious symbols (including kippot) in public schools.
To a North American reader, this all seems bizarre: isn't religious freedom a right the state should protect, rather than limit? Isn't it ironic, don't you think, that a law which emerged partially out of a desire to stop religious coercion* imposes secular coercion instead -- which is just as bad? And is making everyone pretend in public they're all the same really the answer to France's integration problems?
Indeed, my first thought on reading the chocolate story was that now the law is affecting the French Christians, maybe they will see how ridiculous it is.
But perhaps not. For some original insight and historical context about why the French are so hung-up about keeping their schools religion-free, click here.

*One of the reasons for the law was to help girls who were being forced to wear the headscarf by their communities, against their will

I'm going to be sacrilegious here...

The NY Post reports:

Ali G, aka Sasha Baron Cohen, has been plying his satirical trade in New York with mixed results. In character as Kazakhstan-born journalist "Borat," one of his personas on "Da Ali G Show," the British comic was on Park Avenue Sunday afternoon with a big map of the city turned upside down. He approached p.r. man Ronn Torossian and his wife and asked: "Where is Lexington Avenue? Is that where the Jews are?" Sadly, Torossian and 90 percent of the other New Yorkers he approached identified Cohen immediately. Luckily for us, some tourists were caught in his snare.

Am I the only person out there who simply does not find Borat funny? Personally, I wouldn't mind watching the footage of the people who recognized Sasha. I'm sure that their reactions -- as well as Sasha's -- were at least as funny, if not funnier, than his tired shtick. Time for some new material.

Rescued from the Reich

Came across a copy of Rescued from the Reich: How One of Hitler's Soldiers Saved the Lubavitcher Rebbe, which was published a couple of months ago by Yale University Press. The blurb says:

The escape of Rebbe Schneersohn [the 6th Rebbe -- MS] from Warsaw has been the subject of speculation for decades. Historian Bryan Mark Rigg has now uncovered the true story of the rescue, which was propelled by a secret collaboration between American officials and leaders of German military intelligence. Amid the fog of war, a small group of dedicated German soldiers located the Rebbe and protected him from suspicious Nazis as they fled the city together. During the course of the mission, the Rebbe learned the shocking truth about the leader of the rescue operation, the decorated Wehrmacht soldier Ernst Bloch: he was himself half-Jewish, and a victim of the rising tide of German antisemitism.

I took it home. Anyone read it?

Not sacrosanct

The obligatory classes on family purity which every Israeli bride must take are notorious turn-offs from religion, one of the major reasons why so many secular Israelis resent the Rabbanut. Today, the Rabbanut finally and officially ruled that the haredi women giving Kalla classes through them must stop haranguing secular brides about the 'correct' way to treat their husbands, why they must immediately become religious, etc. etc., and concentrate on what they are supposed to teach: the laws of family purity.
This is a positive first step, which -- one hopes -- will do something to alleviate some of the trauma associated with the ordeal for many brides (although I am sceptical whether women who have been teaching in a certain way for decades will really be able to change). The pity, however, is that this experience doesn't have to be merely 'painless' or 'neutral'; one wonderful organization, Tzohar, has shown it can be a downright positive and valuable encounter with religion, through true openness, respect and dialogue.
The fact the Rabbanut made this change after years of resistance, shows just how loud the protests must have become; perhaps they were also feeling the heat from Tzohar. Either way, the fact that this ruling was announced, particularly in a week when the religious parties look set to rejoin the government, is hopefully a sign they finally realize that they are not sacrosanct, and must shape up -- or else face the consequences.

Before we call the BBC antisemites and Nazis (again)

The campaign to free Ron Arad, Maariv, and some corners of the blogosphere are steaming because various international networks - including the BBC - are refusing to air paid ads offering a reward for information about the missing airman.

Duh! The BBC, as a publicly-funded broadcaster has never, anywhere, at any time, accepted paid advertising of any sort. That's probably why they refused to accept the ads ......

Isn't a vital background fact missing in this story?

An unbelievably asinine travel piece on ABC describes contemporary Europe's "rich Jewish culture", in cities like Prague, Paris, Krakow etc. I am left with a nagging feeling that a vital background fact is missing. Perhaps the travel writer doesn't want to disturb the air of seasonal bonhomie he is describing? Krakow's Jewish quarter was 'neglected for years' (why would that be??). Possibly that is connected to the events of the "tumultuous 20th century" whose artifacts are displayed in one of the Prague Jewish Museum's buildings? ("Tumultuous" - could be fun!)

It reminds me of the plaque that I saw years ago outside the shul in Worms, which described (in German) the history of the site - it ran something like: "Because of the crowded nature of the ghetto, it was subject throughout its history to town fires ('stadtbrennen') - on the last occasion in 1938". People were notoriously careless with their cigarette butts in 1938 (November was a particularly bad month.)

Oy.

Mazal Tov

Checking out a minor fact about Eric Nederlander, I came across this site. Remember the guy who read Protocols so you don't have to? This guy reads the NYT Weddings section so you don't have to. Gevalt.
Anyway, as a one-off public service ('cos I'd never read the weddings section otherwise), I've done some research myself, and come up with my favorite Jewish weddings of the past month:

• The JuBus -- still exist, apparently, and are married by a JuBu minister (On The Face elaborates).
• The Doctor who picked up the assistant rabbi at the funeral of a little boy she was caring for. ''This is a sign that life continues, and it continues with Henry in it,'' [the boy's mother] said. And also a sign that some people have no shame.
• The woman who accepted some random guy's invitation to a dinner party he was making for his friends, although she was totally not interested in him ("He is younger than I am, bald, and only talked about a new frying pan he just bought"). In fact, she only agreed to go because she was hoping to meet some other eligible bachelors. Hours before the event, can you believe it, he announced that the sole other dinner guest 'dropped out.' Says the woman: "I had gone on several dates that had been boring, so when Jason invited me out, I figured, `How bad could this one be?'"

I guess he stopped talking about frying pans.

Which makes me wonder: Could Chayyei Sarah's nightmare singles Shabbaton possibly -- possibly? -- still have a happy ending? Perhaps for Miriam and Levi? We're on installment number 14 -- and it's still only Friday night!

British Jewry, shrinking fast

What are we to make of the fact that there are more Jedi Knights in Britain than Jews -- by a long way?
I hope the force is with us, 'cos demographic trends ain't.

Two days? I can solve this problem in two minutes flat

Ma'ariv / NRG is reporting that Ha'aretz is holding a two-day conference for senior management in order to work out how to stop its readership falling any further. (Why doesn't Ma'ariv have any figures on this??). Not surprisingly, the paper concluded that it had trouble appealing to the younger generation. Amongst the options being considered is turning to tabloid -- a move which several broadsheets have executed successfully recently in the UK, although not without a price:

The Independent is becoming increasingly dependent on tabloid-style splashes on its cover, with recent high-drama headlines about the MRSA hospital superbug and the one billion children at risk from war, poverty and hunger.
Meanwhile, The Times was criticised by The Guardian’s Roy Greenslade on the BBC’s Culture Show this week for softening its journalism.

Can Ha'aretz really afford to soften its own style of journalism? Surely not; that is half of its appeal and uniqueness.
Clearly, the editors are simply in denial over the fact that there's only one solution: Moving towards the Center. The fact is, Ha'aretz's natural readership base has moved en masse rightwards over the past few years; the Left, which was the core readership of Ha'aretz, practically doesn't exist any more. If the paper doesn't move with them, it shouldn't be surprised if readership slides.

American Haredim flex some political muscles

Two weeks after the event, Eric Yoffe, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, has welcomed a statement made by Aguda's executive vice president, Rabbi Shmuel Bloom, in which he urged American haredim to take a greater role in American Jewish communal life.
This is, of course, an extremely interesting development, which, as Rabbi Bloom points out, seems to reflect shifting demographics and thus greater Haredi power. It also seems to reflect a growing Haredi dissatisfaction with some of the positions taken by the mainstream community, which is further to the Left politically. (I would be interested to hear other hypotheses on why this announcement comes now, specifically -- a question which seems to me to warrant some further thought. One person has suggested to me that perhaps they are a little scared of being too overshadowed by the OU, where Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb seems to have established himself in a short time as a very sensible player and effective leader, but I'm not sure if that's enough).
In any case, it seems interesting that while Bloom very clearly says that the Haredim are looking for more 'responsibility,' Yoffie seems to wonder, at least at the end of the article, if what they are actually looking for is more 'influence.'
It is also important to remember that as much as the Haredim can change the American Jewish community through increased communal participation -- they, too, are liable to be changed. It will be interesting to watch how all these factors play out.

Mistress of his domain

Eric Nederlander was famously dumped by wife Jessica Sklar, who left him for Jerry Seinfeld just a few days after their honeymoon. Yada yada yada, he's now tied the knot again, and by my count, his second marriage is already more successful than his first. Mazal Tov!

What's wrong with 'Merry Christmas'?

I've been overwhelmed in the last few days by articles both in the UK and the US suggesting that people should send out 'Happy Holidays' cards instead of 'Merry Christmas,' or reporting that workplaces should not display their Christmas decorations too prominently, etc. etc. etc. The most notable anti-Christmas move, of-course, came from Macy's, which suggested that managers avoid displaying "Merry Christmas" banners and have ordered employees not to talk about it.
The thought behind all this is that some people who are not Christians might be 'offended' because they are excluded.
Let me say that as a Jew, I am not remotely offended by other people celebrating their festivals. I accept that I am part of a minority culture, and do not want the majority culture to tone down their celebrations on my behalf. It would be different if I felt that I was in any way coerced to take part in celebrations which are not mine, or if I felt that I was being discriminated against because I am not taking part. But I'm not.
In the UK, at least, the country goes out of its way to mark Hindu and Muslim festivals, and indeed revels in their celebration. My entire office, for example, recently attended a Diwali party and everyone thought it was wonderful. I see no reason why Christians should be made to feel guilty about their own celebrations simply because they are the majority; religious freedom isn't just for minorities. Indeed, I find the suggestion that we might be 'offended' at this rather offensive in itself; how insecure and whiny do they think we are???

Messiah may be imminent -- previous experience suggests disappointment in view.

Rabbi Michael Melchior and Moshe Feiglin are reported as agreeing that religious parties in Israel are bad for Judaism.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture "reverses her view" of AgriProcessors

According to this breaking report, Iowa Secretary of State Patty Judge has reversed her view of the Agriprocessors plant after touring it. She is quoted as saying that "the animals she saw slaughtered died quickly and were treated humanely." This is a reversal of her previous statement , which implied condemnation of processes at the plant, made after she was called on by PETA to prosecute AgriProcessors. It then transpired that her department did not have jurisdiction over the processing plant.

Here is a longer report of the same visit. Mr. Rubashkin might be better served if he was a little more diplomatic.

Her statement may be significant. Will Temple Grandin now visit Postville?

BTW -- I don't think that any bloggers have yet drawn attention to the famous, and fascinating article on Dr. Temple Grandin written by Dr. Oliver Sacks (see here for an amusing profile) in his book 'An Anthropologist on Mars' (the book title is from the essay on Dr.G.). Highly recommended book. Oliver Sacks comes from a famous family of Hebrew scholars and doctors in London; an aunt was Elsie Landau, the legendary Principal of the Evelina de Rothschild Girls' School in Jerusalem. [The profile claims that Elsie Landau was his mother, which I don't think is correct.]

CORRECTION: Nope - my memory failed me (not so unusual nowadays .... ) Elsie *was* his mother. The famous aunt was Annie Landau. "Annie Landau was one of the brilliant hostesses of Jerusalem, comparable to her more famous contemporary Gertrude Bell in Baghdad. A spinster of the undisputed Jewish orthodox brand but catholic in taste, she gathered around her British officials, the Arab /Palestinian elite, Italian bishops and Greek patriarchs, besides Jews of all kinds." This quote turned up as the only reference on an A9 search as part of an article on Jacob de Haan. Now there's a story ........

What does Chanukah actually celebrate?

Ruminations on the malleable nature of Chanukah here and here. As Paul Greenberg concludes:

There is more than a single theme to this minor but not simple holiday. One can almost trace the ebbs and flows of Jewish history, its yearnings and fulfillments, its wisdom and folly, its holiness and vainglory, by noting which themes of Chanukah have been emphasized when in Jewish history.
So does history say more about the time in which it is written than the time it describes. The message of Chanukah changes from age to age. And the past we choose to remember becomes the truest reflection of any present.

Meanwhile, the local shul ... er, church ... er, shul celebrates Chanukkah

No comment.

This isn't going to win a war... I see it in the stars

Bit of luck the Americans were around to win the Second World War. According to today's London Times, the Brits' grand plan was... "to flood the world of astrology with fake horoscopes in an attempt to influence Hitler."

Hitler was known to be interested in astrology... British agents decided to exploit Hitler’s interest in the stars by inserting bogus horoscopes in newspapers around the world, knowing that reports of his impending demise would get back to Berlin.
It was hoped that the weight of celestial opinion would undermine Hitler’s authority and cause him to doubt his own decision-making ability...
Unbeknown to the British, however, Hitler had lost some of his faith in stargazers after Rudolf Hess, his deputy, had used astrological charts to plan a flight to Britain that ended with him being incarcerated for the rest of his life.

At this point, frankly, I'd rely on Rev. Sanchez' shechitah as more authentic......

This just-breaking story tells an interesting tale of members of a church in Albuquerque who had themselves DNA tested, and found that a high proportion of them had the unique Cohanim gene! According to their Pastor, the Rev. WIlliam Sanchez, it explained a lot, including "the special knives used to butcher sheep in line with Jewish kosher tradition"; and, similarly, the practice of Mr. Keith Chaves' grandmother: ""She kept a kosher knife rolled up in a piece of leather that she would only use for killing," Chaves said. "And she would kill the animal by cutting its throat in one motion. She abhorred the ways others killed animals."

Perhaps she could advise the OU??

The case of the heartless chicken

News today (reported in the Jerusalem Post, and quickly picked up by the bloggers -- see Jewlicious , who gets straight to the point) is of the Rabbinic counter-attack to the PETA accusations.
I totally agree that to defend the apparent practices at Postville as acceptable shechitah, and the PETA revelations as an attack on shechitah generally, is a **huge** mistake -- not only to the non-Jewish world, but to the Jewish world as well. What kosher-observing consumers want to hear at this point is that Postville was an aberration that will never happen again -- not that the shechitah was kosher, and therefore the animals were by definition dead, and therefore by definition not feeling pain, end of story, everyone who says otherwise is an antisemite and Nazi. (We also want some definitions of what hashgachah actually means , now that the credibility of the long list of 'choshever hashgochos' at Postville has been entirely discredited.)
Anyway .... one of the interesting points raised is how the halacha is going to reconcile current scientific data with psak halachah regarding animals' ability to feel pain after correct shechitah has been carried out. This raises the whole question of halachic adaptation to scientific knowledge, especially where that knowledge contradicts exisitng halachic assumptions.
One of the classic cases here is the 'Case of the heartless chicken', considered by the Chacham Tzvi in the early eighteenth century in Amsterdam. The Chacham Tzvi (Teshuvot 74 et seq) considered the case of a young girl who claimed that she opened a chicken after slaughter, and found that it had no heart. Was it kosher? (Central to the case was the presence of the household cat in the vicinity). The Chacham Tzvi ruled that it was inconceivable, given the state of scientific knowledge at the time, that any animal could exist without a heart, even though classic Jewish sources could be brought to hypothesise such a possibilty. He was attacked for this, but held his ground. In other words -- he based his halachic position fairly and squarely on new, contemporary scientific knowledge.
Poskim dealing with shechitah -- please take note, and stop the King Canute act (who sat on the sea shore trying to command the tide not to come in).

UPDATE: Looking at the refs, or at least the first few listed on Google, it seems that Canute himself initiated this theatre to show his courtiers that he had no power, being fed up with their fawning. That's not quite how I remember it, but you get the principle. You cannot hold out against the tide, or reverse the inexorable facts of nature by commanding them that they are wrong. And, by the way, what have the EDAH or Chovevei crowd commented on the Postville debacle?

Camps and day schools - do you love your mother or your father more?

A recent survey reported in the NY Jewish Week by Marvin Schick shows an 11% increase in the Day School population over the last 5 years, including a 7% increase in the number of "non-Orthodox" students. (I wanted to wait until I had the full text of the survey to write about it - I still may - but it apparently will not be released for another few days, and, in the author's words, it's not clear how much longer it will take to get to Canada...... It's also not clear to me whether this latest survey includes the northern neighbour or not).
However, 68% of all day school students are in the NY area, of whom 97% are in Orthodox schools; overall, 80% of all students everywhere are in Orthodox schools, although that doesn't necessarily mean that they themselves, or their families, are Orthodox in practice.
The area in which I have a certain interest -- Community High Schools - is not specifically delineated in the JW article, but it reports that the total number of students in such schools (which are categorized as 'Non-Orthodox High Schools", presumably including a few Solomon Schechter High Schools) has increased from "1,500 in 1992 to 2,200 five years ago to 4,100 this year". Well, CHAT in Toronto has (as of Friday end of school!) 1,402 G9-G12 High School students, which means that we are doing pretty well compared to the whole of the USA. In every Canadian city (and in Australia, South Africa and, increasingly, the UK) there is a strong tradition of day school commitment by non-orthodox families that seems never to have existed in the USA.
While it is true that a good day school leaves an indelible Jewish imprint on its graduates, Jerry Silverman, the Director of the Federation of Jewish Camping, writes a paean of (deserved) praise for the Jewish Camping movement for the Jerusalem Post.
The answer is - both. The Day School provides an irreplaceable depth of knowledge, but it must perforce do so - and can only do so - in a school setting. The Camp is experiential, and complements, not rivals, the school. Interestingly, the AviChai Foundation (only lately rivalled by PEJE as discerning, focussed and effective agencies helping schools) has for some years funded a Shabbaton initiative, which encourages schools to run experiential programmes themselves. At CHAT the Shabbaton programmme has been phenomenally successful.
Objectively, the whole picture shows how for families who use them, Day Schools, Camps and perhaps other agencies are replacing the synagogue as the main institution of Jewish family affiliation ......

Israel and the Jewish genius

One of the things which has always puzzled me about modern Israel was why, considering the large percentage of Jewish Nobel Prize winners, the Jewish state had so few internationally outstanding scientists and mathematicians, was not better known for its science, and why its school system was in so much trouble. Has the 'Jewish genius' somehow skipped over Israel?
The simple answer, I think, is that the country has had no choice but to channel its creativity and cash into another area, namely the military, where they are clear leaders on a global scale. That is why it is so heartening to see two Israelis receive the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. The surprising thing here is not that a small country like Israel has finally won a Nobel in the sciences, but that they haven't already won more. The winners show that we still 'got it,' even when our resources are generally diverted elsewhere, and that when peace finally does break out in the Middle East, hopefully sooner than any of us dared imagine just a couple of months ago, you can be sure that Israel will be taking the scientific world by storm.

Pious and Rebellious

I just finished reading Pious and Rebellious by Avraham Grossman, another fascinating book on Jewish women in the High Middle Ages in Europe and elsewhere.
Grossman shows how between 1000-1300, women's status within the Jewish community gradually improved. The main impetus for this was economic; as the Jewish community became more bourgeois, the women themselves helped out in their husbands' businesses, took responsibility for the businesses when their husbands went overseas, and earned their own money. Mostly as a result, they gained a lot of power at home and within their communities.
Grossman lists ten main improvements in their status, including acknowledgement of the woman's right to initiate divorce proceedings, not to be divorced against her will, a ban on polygamy (particularly important because husbands travelling abroad could take new wives in their absence), a relaxation of the prohibition against teaching Torah to women, the effective abolition of the prohibition against marrying a woman who has buried two husbands, and the imposition of the herem and corporal punishment upon physically abusive husbands (domestic violence was apparently rife, as women were seen in such a feudal society as being under their husband's authority, and as corporal punishment was regarded as an educational tool).
Another improvement he notes is women's increased share in performing the mitzvot. In particular, they struggled for the right to recite blessings over mitzvot aseh shehazman grama (time-linked positive commandments). Women also acted as sandak to new babies, were included (by some) in zimmun with men, allowed to act as mohelot and ritual slaughterers, and allowed, in principle at least (it's not clear to me whether this one ever happened), to receive an aliya and read from the Torah in small communities where there are only Cohanim.
In general, however, the picture Grossman paints is of extremely unstable family life. Some other interesting facts in his study:

• Women were married at 12-16, sometimes earlier. They usually began married life living with their in-laws.
• Whilst polygamy was not generally known in Ashkenaz, when the men started travelling on business to Muslim countries where it was known, they sometimes took second wives. Sometimes, they abandoned their first ones, leaving them agunot; in any case, as women brought more substantial dowries to their marriages, the fear of a second marriage -- and their fortunes being passed into 'unrelated hands' -- increased. Hence the ban on polygamy, and strict fines on husbands who abandoned their wives or their fiancees.
• In Egypt in the 12th century, there was a widespread, well-organized rebellion of women who refused to use the mikveh, and followed the example of the Karaite women who sufficed with pouring water over their bodies at home or in the public bath houses. This continued for several years, encompassed thousands of women, and was only stemmed when Maimonides and his colleagues threatened that they would lose the money from their Ketubah. A similar, but less extensive phenomenon occurred in 13th century Byzantium.
• Sexual licentiousness was rife, particularly in the upper levels of society. There is clear evidence of the existance and acceptance of Jewish prositutes (particularly in Spain), gentile maids having affairs with their Jewish masters, women whose husbands were away on business taking lovers, and a general atomosphere of sexual frivolity.
• Whilst there are some examples of particularly learned women (eg. Rabbanit Asenath Barzani, who headed a yeshiva in Kurdistan, Dulca, the wife of R. Eleazar of Worms who died a martyr's death in 1196 and was an 'expert' in halacha, many women who copied Hebrew books and developed an expertise in halachic literature), the majority of women were illiterate in both Hebrew and the vernacular. There's lots of evidence that most women both prayed and read the haggadah in the vernacular because they didn't understand what they were saying in Hebrew. Women often davened in completely seperate rooms to the men and had female 'prayer leaders' who sang aloud for them.
• Despite this, the women seem to have been unusually 'pious' and dedicated to Judaism. They seem to have taken a leading role as martyrs during the Crusades and other pogroms, and are given major credit for stopping their husbands converting, refusing to go with their husbands who did convert even if this left them 'agunot,' and killing their own children and spouses to save them from the Christians.
• Divorce rate was at least 20% and was not stigmatised. The reasons for this include the early age of marriage, the improvement in the economic state of the women which made them less fearful of divorce, an improvement in women's status which contributed to their self-image and confidence, and increased mobility which meant that some women did not want to join their husbands who moved, particularly if they were very young and could easily marry again.

Whilst I haven't seen any reviews of this book in English (yet -- I'm going to review it together with the Baumgarten book for the Forward), it was an instant classic in Israel when it first appeared in Hebrew -- and deservedly so. It's published by Brandeis.

Now we know Hanukkah's really made it

MSNBC reports:

Hanukkah has made it to pet stores across the country, where animal owners can buy stuffed menorah, puffy gefilte fish or kosher bones...
Pet shops have offered Christmas toys for decades, but have just started offering chewy Hanukkah toys in recent years.

UPDATE: Perhaps not. Christian dogs seem to be getting much better prezzies.

Context

According to the UK's Jewish Chronicle,

"The BBC director-general, Mark Thompson, this week announced that enhanced Middle East news coverage would be part of the sweeping changes he was planning for the corporation.
Mr Thompson told the BBC’s 27,000 staff in a live relay that savings from job cuts and the moving of some departments to Manchester would be invested in programming, with more time devoted to current affairs and “enhanced” Middle East coverage."

'Sources' in the Beeb suggest that 'enhanced' meant 'fuller context,' as recommended by the BBC’s senior editorial adviser on the Middle East, Malcolm Balen, who spent a year looking into allegations of bias. While any recognition that coverage has not been fair in the past and should change is welcome, I would hate to think what extra 'context' some of the BBC's Israel reporters, eg. the infamous Barbara Plett, are going to come up with.

Bank Leumi goes holy

Bank Leumi's new 'Shomer-Shabbat' credit card has received quite a lot of exposure over the past week, with some reports, such as this one, explaining that "A special chip will be added to the card so that it won't work on the Sabbath."
Now it appears that isn't quite true -- and that in fact, the card will be fully operative on Shabbat. One of the group behind the initiative explains why this was not deemed important:

"Hollander explained that the consortium's concept had not been to enforce the Sabbath, but to try to persuade companies to rest on Shabbat and let their workers rest, too. Therefore, they did not insist that the new card be inoperative on Shabbat."

The way it works, certain participating 'Shomer-Shabbat' companies will offer users of the card a 2-10% discount. However, if you look at the list of companies accepting the card, you quickly realize why the card is basically worthless as far as the consumers are concerned. At the moment, the only major chains Ha'aretz could list were Traklin Hashmal (electrical goods), Kfar Ha-shashuim (an amusement park), Gali shoes, Rav-Kat, Happening (posters and kitsch) and Sheshet home appliances. None of them, with the exception perhaps of Gali if you have 10 kids, are places where people shop regularly, and at least one of them, Happening, doesn't really have much to offer to Haredi shoppers. The main winner, it seems, is Bank Leumi, which suddenly has access to thousands of new haredi customers. I'm surprised, though, no one has asked yet whether it is really either appropriate or sensible for a national bank to be taking part in a crude effort to sway the outcome of one of the most controversial, complex, emotional and delicate political questions currently occupying the Jewish state, that is, the extent to which Shabbat should be enforced in the public domain.

Not forgotten

Congratulations to the Boim family, who today won a landmark $156m. from charities supporting Hamas, in an American courtroom. Hopefully this will constitute a blow to the terror organization's cash cows, and thus to Hamas itself.
The Boims' son David (/Dovid), an American-born 17-year old, was killed outside Bet El as he was waiting for a bus in 1996. I used to know David, as I was very good friends with his sister; he was also in my brother's year at school. What I mainly remember is his loud laugh. He was, as they say in Hebrew, a chevreman, socially-inclined.

On the witness stand Tuesday, Joyce Boim tried to give the jury a sense of her son, describing him as the family peacemaker — a sweet, happy, funny boy who volunteered on an ambulance. She remembered how he would bound up the stairs after school, slamming the door as he came into the apartment, and lift the lids of pots simmering on the stove to see what she was making for dinner.
“He was the one who cemented everyone together,” she said.
Joyce Boim’s own life changed unalterably the moment David died.
She told the jury about driving to the hospital after learning that David had been hurt and about the ambulance ride across town at breakneck speed to the trauma center at Hadassah Hospital at Ein Kerem, a towel wrapped around David’s neck.
Soon after David was wheeled into the emergency room, a doctor came out to tell her that he had died, Joyce Boim said, weeping.
“I knew the second David died that I’d never be the same,” she said.
To this day, she said, she feels terrible numbness, shock and emptiness.

When people are killed in terror attacks in Israel, they and their families naturally get a lot of press for a few days -- then they disappear from the public eye, either because another incident and more deaths take over, or simply because life goes on. I hope David's family know that there are people out there they probably haven't even thought about in 10 years or more, who still think occasionally of David and remember him fondly.

Chanukah present

Israel has finally -- finally! After four years! -- granted citizenship to the members of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) and their spouses, parents, and children. According to Ha'aretz,

The Knesset Tuesday also determined that the goverment will work towards finding housing and employment solutions for SLA members, for which it will allocate a multi-year budget....
In addition, the defense minister will give each SLA member a certificate attesting to his membership in the SLA. The law dictates that SLA members will be entitled to a one-time reward in recognition of their service in amount of NIS 40 thousand plus triple their wages for each year of service in the SLA.

Jewlicious.com -- which relies on Al Jazeerah for this story, for some unknown reason -- calls this is 'a nice Chanukah present' for the SLA members. Personally I think this is a nice Chanukah present for Israel and for Israelis -- who have, until now, behaved with disgusting ingratitude towards men and women who fought and sacrificed so much on their behalf. By finally rectifying this wrong, Israel gets to (partially) remove an enormous moral blot from its record.

Respek!

James Wolcott quotes H.L. Mencken as saying, "There is, in fact, nothing about religious opinions that entitles them to any more respect than other opinions get."
Or to any less, either, which is what they get in a lot of circles nowdays.

(Via Daniel Radosh)

UPDATE: DovBear rebuts.

Is Ha'aretz scared of English YNet?

Seems so. In a clear bid for overseas readers, they've just launched a Jewish World section.

Goodbye, Protocols

The J-blogosphere's uber-blog is now closed -- although it's still not clear why they decided to close down, and why now. And while the last few months have shown a rather rapid deterioration -- even within the last few weeks, the tone of some of the comments seems to have touched previously unimaginable lows -- I personally will always be grateful to the original elders for creating what was, for a long time, a truly vibrant, provocative, relevant and always interesting blog, which set the standard for us all. It is worth noting that even though Protocols was amongst the first, and launched in a much poorer and smaller J-blogosphere than exists today, it still is yet to be matched (in my estimation). I, personally, got my first taste of blogging on Protocols, and have been addicted ever since. Thanks for that opportunity -- and good luck in the future!

My seasonal pet hate

People who confuse 'Chanukiah' and 'Menorah' (and I don't care if a Chanukiah is technically a 'menorah,' in the sense that it is a candelabra. They are not the same).

Haredi war against cellphones goes up a notch

According to NRG, "a number" (which could mean anything from 2 up) of Haredim in Ashdod have smashed their cellphones with their feet and with rocks, after a psak by Rav Wosner that it is forbidden to own cellphones because of pornographic downloads was read in their shul. (It's unclear from Ma'ariv's wording whether he also said they should be 'broken' or whether that was an embellishment by the people reading the psak). Cellphones, apparently, were also banned for the same reason at some large Rabbinical conference in Jerusalem on Motzai Shabbat, although NRG does not say exactly who attended.
This, of course, is an old battle, but the assumption has always been that it's a losing one. Still, if you do decide to get rid of your cellphone (or wig....) for religious reasons, the question is: why do you have to physically -- and violently -- destroy it? Why isn't it enough to throw it away, or sell it and never buy another one again? The cellphone itself is not bad, it's how you use it.

UPDATE-- Repercussion #4

The Iowa State Agricultural Secretary says that she has no jurisdiction over AgriProcessors -- see our earlier report.

Is the Rubashkin plant really working on Shabbat?

As in every apparent scandal, the questions just keep on coming .....
This appears in the Q&A on www.kashrut.org , Rabbi Yitzhak Abbadi's website:

I know you probably don't want to answer this, and I guess I don't blame you. We had been told that the Rubashkin plant was operating on Shabbos and Yom Tov (the soaking and salting, butchering, packing and of
course shipping) and that Gentile employees were in control of the "kashrus is insured" labels too. We didn't want to believe it. One of the things that we noticed in the videos from PETA is that some of the shehita footage was
date stamped for Friday and I believe Erev Rosh Hashana too. If this were true, would this be permissible? With a Mashgiah? Without a Mashigiah? In other words, aside from the shehita issues, is it permissible to have
Gentiles soaking and salting (automated processes I assume), butchering, packing and shipping meat for the kosher consumer on Shabbos and Yom Tov? If a Mashgiah Temidi is required, (if it is permissible at all), is there one
and how do we know that there always is? (on Shabbos and Yom Tov. What if the Gentiles work without a Mashigiah Temidi, what does that do to the status of the meat? Thank you.

Reply:
It certainly can be done properly on Shabbat with the right direction. Was it done properly, is it done properly? I don't know.

Is this true? Is it not true? If it is, is this sort of arrangement common practice? Is it permissible? Is it desirable? Would it happen if the plant were in Boro Park rather than Postville?

One Tel Aviv coffee shop for sale....

On eBay. Asking price: $900,000. Details here.

Our friends the French. Really.

Why hasn't al Qaida hit America again? This article gives some well-known answers (al Qaida is known for taking years to plan major attacks; increased vigilence; it's not for lack of trying; they're tied up in Iraq) and provides one new one: the French. Yes, the French.

There have been at least four attempts uncovered in the past two years to strike the U.S., says [Michael Swetnam, CEO of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies], including specific attacks on New York, but the plans were intercepted and the operations preempted. “The last one was a big attempt to strike our financial centers. A year before that, they were putting together a ricin attack. Both attacks were planned and staged from Great Britain,” says Swetnam. Also, adds Redlener, “attacks on American and international schools overseas have been detected in advance and prevented.”
How is that possible, when the CIA’s intelligence-gathering is supposedly in a shambles? Because of good friends in shadowy places. “The French intelligence services have been just phenomenal,” says Swetnam. “We wouldn’t have captured those cells in Great Britain if it wasn’t for the French..."

The reason: Thanks to their colonial past, the French have a better and more established Arabic-speaking 'spy force.'

(Via KesherTalk)

Artscroll Chrismukka

The winning entry (er, actually the only entry) of the Bloghead 'Write an 'Overview' to the Artscroll Chrismukka' competition is the anonymous 'A,' who wrote:

With gratitude to Hashem, Artscroll is pleased to present the Edgar Bronfman edition of Chrismukkah.
In this volume, Artscroll presents the ancient water...er... wine of Sinai/Golgotha distilled in the vessel of today's vernacular. This compelling explanation of the underlying history and customs (minhagim) of Chrismukkah will enlighten and inspire intermarried Jewish families for generations to come.
Including a family tree in the back of the book, the luxurious leather binding and gilt-edging ensure that this will be a treasured family heirloom that will be passed down from generation to generation. Join the Artscroll revolution!

Congratulations!

Al hanissim ve'al haniflaos

In today's mail, after discarding all envelopes showing reindeer, holly and red-coated Chassidish types, offers of credit cards etc., I see an envelope overprinted in 1" blue capital letters "YOUR PERSONAL BROCHA FROM THE GEDOLEI HADOR". Inside is a glossy, full-colour, 16-page brochure telling me about a tsedaka called 'Kupat Ha'ir'. (The return contact address for Montreal is an address in "Goyer Avenue", which is a bit suspish, but anyway..)
This charity is based in Bnai Brak, and apparently enjoys the leadership and control of a number of eminent Rabbanim - Harav Wosner, Harav Chaim Kanievsky, Harav M. Y. Lifkovitz, Harav A.L. Steinman,Harav Nissim Karelitz, and others. The leaflet is filled with gushing stories of the support of the Gedolim for this tsedaka, although it is a bit thin on what the money is spent on. Contributors are promised that "On Zos Chanukah 5765, the gedolei hador shlit"a, will pray for all the names that have come in by Wednesday, Zos Chanukah."
What is highlighted as an example of the efficacy of their prayers? A sick person who received a refuah shelemah b'nefesh u'baguf? A widow? An orphan? Nope. See the box on p.10 (unnumbered):

"AT the conclusion of the meeting, the gedolim were presented with the name of a contributor from the United States who had, only two days earlier, donated $18,000 to Kupat Ha'ir. The man, who was facing a trial for tax evasion to the tune of millions of dollars, had requested that the rabbanim, shlit"a, pray for him.
The gedolim took the sheet of paper and began praying for his success.
Two days before Rosh Chodesh Ellul ..... the United States government decided to drop the charges against him. ..... "It is clearly yad Hashem" the man cried out. He contributed an additional $3,600 in gratitude to Hashem for his rescue. In this case, it was clearly evident that a tzaddik's prayer makes an impression in Shamayim."

Do I have to comment?????????

Only a Jewish mobster

Ze'ev Rosenstein, the king of the Israeli underworld who is (allegedly) responsible for dozens of murders and an extensive drug empire, has asked the Israeli authorities to find him a cellmate -- "after he complained of loneliness and said he was on the verge of losing his sanity."
"The conditions in jail are horrible and they are out to get me," Rosenstein whined to The Jerusalem Post.
Some mobster. What next? He wants his mummy?

Anyone know what happened to Baynonim?

"When last we saw Adam Ragil, he was approaching the lecturn at a meeting of the shteeble membership." And he hasn't been seen since...

Mubarak luvs Sharon

Accounts of Ariel Sharon's phone call to Egyptian Hosni Mubarak to thank him for releasing Azzam Azzam show them absolutely fawning over each other:

Mubarak said to Sharon: "I did it especially for you."
Sharon thanked Mubarak for praising him to the Egyptian media last Thursday and said, "Together we can achieve great things for future generations."
Mubarak replied: "I wholly agree with you. Together we could accomplish many things, and I am sincere in these intentions."

"I did it especially for you"??? The two states could have upped their cooperation without this public love-fest. I wonder if it is more than a coincidence that they are busy cosying up to each other at the very moment the Palestinians and the Syrians decide to bury the historical hatchet and coordinate positions in any negotiations with Israel. From what I understand, there has never been any love lost between Syria and Egypt, who have always seen each other as rivals for the leadership of the region, either.

Chidushim on Jesus

As Dov Bear points out, the most famous Jewish carpenter in history is on the cover of both Time and Newsweek. You have to subscribe to read the Time story, so no comment, but the Newsweek one says nothing new. In fact, the only really interesting thing I've seen or read in recent years on Jesus (and I have to admit, that's not much) was the BBC's 3-part account of his life (now at least a couple of years old), which raised revolutionary theory after revolutionary theory. The two bits I most remember:

• Presenter Jeremy Bowen explained that Jesus was most probably born in a kind of a cave, quite unlike the stable as we think of it today. It seems that caves under the houses back then were used as stables. The houses were separated mostly into two levels - people slept upstairs, whereas the animals were kept downstairs. Apparently, an old translation of the word 'inn' (I can't remember any more in which language) means 'upstairs'. There was no room at the inn, there was no room upstairs, so they slept in the stable with the animals.
• The theory that the star of Bethlehem was an astrological, rather than an astronomical event.

Repercussions #4 - PETA announces intention to call for criminal charges against AgriProcessors

According to reports published late yesterday . PETA has announced that today (Monday) it will today seek to have criminal charges laid against AgriProcessors, charging that it transgressed Iowa State law humane slaughter regulations.

Rabbi Mayer Schiller responds

A month or so ago there was a series of postings on this blog (and in response, some discussion on Protocols) regarding Rabbi Mayer Schiller, and specifically, allegations that he has white supremacist connections and put in an appearance at an Orange-order linked assembly in Belfast, Ireland.
He has asked for a right of reply, and we are posting the following on his behalf:

With a limit of five hundred words the owners of this blog tell me that I may clarify my views which have come under some discussion here of late.
In brief -- It is one of the great tasks of contemporary man to find means, philosophical and practical, to allow faith and/or heritage based identities to cherish their own existence and continuity without demeaning (or worse) the Other. This is the theme of much serious soul searching among all those who see universal harmony in other than MacWorld consumerist, facelessness.
For Orthodox Jews, who carry absolute truth claims in their faith as well as some painful statements and halachot in their tradition, the need to articulate a theology which somehow embraces the Other demands a combination of self scrutiny and empathy.
From Rabbi Yitz Greenberg years ago till Chief Rabbi Sacks today, sensitive and thoughtful Torah believers have grappled with these questions.
I don't think a day goes by when I do not agonize over them.
Whatever the reconciliation is to be, it must find a way to allow the Other's identity (provided it is not immoral) to have space, theological and, physical.
I have found the the theoretical school known as the French New Right (although it is far from "right" by any current measuring rod, thus attractive to Telos, a New York based, New Left journal) to be the most diligent effort towards this goal. It is against all imperialisms, all attempts of any community to rule over the Other. (Unfortunately it also believes that the monotheism of Judeo-Christain-Moslim models is antithetical to true mutual respect, a position I most emphatically reject.)
I do not and have never advocated that any race or people should dominate another.
Northern Ireland is, as is Israel, a daunting test of peoples' abilities to sustain their own peoplehood while living with those who, for way too long, they have seen as enemies. Thus, I am drawn there in the hope that my spirit, often broken by my own people's inability to embrace the Other in their world view, may be sustained by spending time with those who advocate independence for Ulster, thus forcing the communities together without ties to Dublin or Westminster. I often go to Israel to meet Jews who are involved in similar reconciliatiry efforts there, especially in the Religious Zionist peace camp. This latter tendency roughly approximates my own (not as asserted by some, the harsh, yishuv hayashan anti - Zionist stance.)
May G-d grant that all believers and peoples find a way to be ourselves before G-d, alongside Others who do the same.
RMS

Keeping you post-ed

Rumor on the block is that when CanWest and Eli Azur take over the Jerusalem Post from Hollinger at the end of the month, they will be appointing a new publisher to take over from Mark Ziman (who, in turn, replaced the infamous Tom Rose when he got the boot). And the second rumor on the block is that he will be rather high profile: none other than Aviv Bushinsky, Bibi's former spokesman, and son of former JPost reporter Jay Bushinsky.
And in other media news, in case you didn't notice, Allan Abbey, Managing Director of YNet's English-edition, made a promise on the comment section of this blog (and in a seperate email to me) that the site will have "no yellow journalism and no sleaze, no registration and no fees for anyone, anywhere." Not sure how there can be 'no sleaze' unless they're not going to translate any of the Hebrew paper, but good news about the fees. We're eagerly anticipating the launch....

Auschwitz -- huh?

Everyone seems very taken back and indignant at the revelation that six out of ten British adults under the age of 35 do not know what Auschwitz was.
Why is anyone surprised? Six out of ten British adults under the age of 35 probably have problems locating Britain on a map. Why should they know what Auschwitz was?

On to the next scandal

The Jerusalem Post claims that the FBI deliberately set up AIPAC:

Franklin, an Iran expert, was already under investigation by the FBI for allegedly passing classified information to AIPAC when, the Post's sources say, FBI counterintelligence agents approached him to play a central role in the setup operation this past summer.
The FBI had been monitoring AIPAC's activities for some two years when, last year, its agents observed two AIPAC officials, Steve Rosen, director of foreign policy issues, and Keith Weissman, a senior Middle East analyst with the lobby, at a lunch meeting with Franklin in Washington.
At this lunch, it has been widely reported, Franklin allegedly briefed the AIPAC pair on the content of a draft national security presidential directive on Iran....
Earlier this year, the FBI informed Franklin that, as a consequence of the lunch meeting, he was under investigation. The Pentagon analyst, hoping for leniency, agreed to cooperate with FBI agents in what would become the setting up of AIPAC, a process designed to bust the lobby for passing secrets to Israel.
The FBI agents told Franklin to request a meeting with Rosen and Weissman. He initiated contact with the AIPAC pair, and told them that he needed to discuss a ticking-bomb situation.
Franklin was then dispatched to meet the two AIPAC officials and outline the alleged threat to Israelis in northern Iraq, the Post has been told.

'Willing to Convert'

According to the NYT, JDate is considering adding a 'Willing to Convert' option in its religion category. Not quite what the non-Jews using the service, at least not those interviewed by the paper, have in mind; as one of the women's ads reads, "I am a gentile looking for my mensch, are you out there? I want to be your shiksa and your partner for life."

Repercussion # 3 -- OU backtracks, fast

According to this morning's NYT,

Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, the executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, which certifies more than 600,000 products around the world as kosher, said the video "raises all sorts of questions."
Rabbi Weinreb said he would ask that the plant stop letting workers tear the trachea and esophagus out of animals. He said he found the procedure "especially inhumane" and "generally unacceptable" but wanted to investigate how regularly it happened.
He said he was also considering asking that animals be held longer inside the rotating drum where they are killed.

Note: he did not say there were problems with the Kashrut, but merely that they would be changing their practice, presumably because of the spectre of lawsuits and investigations, the economic repercussions which have already been felt, and the publicity aspect, all of which they perhaps did not appreciate sufficiently at first (plus cruelty to animals??? Probably not).
Will this be enough to get them out of legal and economic trouble? Their problems clearly are just beginning, but admitting that there is a problem is an extremely important and responsible step, which as I wrote before, will help damage-control. Questions are, how many other abattoirs have they allowed (by policy, oversight or simply not appreciating the issues) to practice unneccesarily cruel/ publicly damaging shechita? And are they going to learn the systemic lessons, or leave it at this?

YNot YNet

Harry has noticed that the English version of YNet, Yediot Acharonot's website, is preparing to go live. He correctly says:

This is definitely good news for news junkies... Expect Israel coverage substantially deeper than the Post and far more centrist than the pretentious, "holier-than-thou" Ha'aretz.

And may I add: far trashier than any Israeli journalism you've seen in English before. Yediot,which is read by 70% of Israelis, is fun -- but totally, totally tabloid.

Repercussion #2 - PETA complains to USDA about the OU

The PETA website shows that on December 1, 2004, they submitted a complaint to USDA about the OU (technically an amendment to their earlier complaint about AgriProcessors), on the basis that AgriProcessors claimed in a statement that in procedures relating to shechita they follow the direction of their Rabbinical supervisors:

"Agriprocessors does not control anything that happens in the kosher ritual processes. We adhere strictly to the instructions given to us by the rabbinic authorities and will continue to do so,” the statement said.
“As we always have, we will also continue to follow the strict guidelines set out by both federal and Jewish law for the humane treatment of animals during the slaughter process.”

From the JTA

One has got all the goodness, and the other the appearance of it

Brits do scandals better than other people. And the current scandal Britain is embroiled in (isn't there always one?) may not have crossed the Atlantic, but boy is it a juicy story, real soap opera material -- so you'll excuse me if I stray a moment from matters of Jewish interest.
Our Home Secretary, David Blunkett, is a blind man who is known for sitting in parliament with his guide dog by his side. (In caricatures, his guide dog is occasionally shown biting his opponents. She once also apparently threw up in the Chamber during a speech by an opposition member). He worked his way up from a working class background, and until recently was widely admired across the country for his decency, honesty, hard work, ideals and perseverence, even if there were objections to some of his tough legislation. He was divorced in 1990 (with a couple of daughters, I think) but carried on wearing his wedding ring -- to signal that he was not 'casually' available. He once told the Telegraph: "I am not available because I am just getting on with the job."
About a couple of months ago, it was emerged that he had just finished a 3-year secret affair with Kimberly Quinn, the young, pretty, American publisher of the British Spectator (they don't call it the Sextator for nothing). Twist 1: Blunkett is a Laborite, the Speccie quite far right.... Twist 2: Quinn was married, had one child and another on the way when they split up. Twist 3: They embarked on this affair less than three months after Quinn had married and vowed to spend the rest of her life with another man.
Well, that was all bad enough -- but this week it emerged that Quinn's first son is Blunkett's, and that he thinks the child she is currently pregnant with is his as well. He is demanding access and according to some, custody. It has also been revealed that Blunkett, by all accounts a modest man, used his position to rush through a visa for Quinn's nanny, and shower Quinn with various other luxuries that she didn't need (married to a millionaire). Some of these, even spouses of ministers aren't entitled to.
Quinn is currently in hospital, sick with stress. Blunkett says he would rather resign than give up access to his child. Tony Blair is standing by him -- at the moment.

WHAT AMAZES me in all this is the reaction of Quinn's husband, Stephen. He truly is the best husband in the entire country -- for despite being cuckolded a mere 3 months after his marriage, and having this revealed to the entire country in the most embarrasing way, he is standing by his wife. Now, how is this different to thousands of women who stand by their cheating husbands, or why is this particularly remarkable?
A. He has no need to stand by her for financial reasons, or to maintain power, as many of those women do. As the British publisher of Vogue, he is a millionaire and a powerful man in his own right.
B. He is bringing up his wife's lover's child.
C. He seems sincere about it. He is incredibly protective of Kimberly, gently asking the press to stay away from her, defending her character, and telling a reporter he wants to bring up her next child as well -- but is worried the stress will cause her to go into labor early. He recently turned down an offer of £200,000 for his side of the story and freely declared: “I love my wife and I love my children and I want to take care of them. That’s my moral responsibility and it is also my delight and joy. We’ll remain married. I’m focusing on my obligations as a father to William and to our baby who is due in February – they are my children and I am not interested in biological details.”
I hope Kimberly Quinn finally appreciates what she has -- she certainly doesn't deserve him. You don't find many men of such honor and integrity any more.
Case in point: I was amused to see yesterday one of Blunkett's spokespeople saying that all he wants is to "do his family duty" by having access to his own children! He didn't seem to think much about 'family duties' when he seduced another man's wife. What a hypocrite.

Fatherhood in Bizarro World

Fatherhood 

It's a touching picture of a father and daughter in the Muslim world -- Iran, to be exact. You can see the pride on his face and can only imagine that he is dreaming of the best for his daughter and her future.
Except, according to the caption, this father is "prepar[ing] his daughter by covering her face in the same style of Palestinian and Lebanese militants, during a ceremony for the first suicide commandos unit at a cemetery just outside Tehran, Iran, Thursday." The group aims to attack Americans in Iraq -- and Israelis.
This perversity fits perfectly with what Mark Bowden wrote about Iran in this month's Atlantic:

For a visiting American, Iran is like Bizarro World, the mirror universe in Superman comics in which everything is inverted. Bad is good and good is bad. In Tehran patrioric symbols of the United States are everywhere, but always wrenched into images of violence, evil and defeat... In the West we are bombarded with advertising images of youth, beauty, sex, and life; in Tehran the preponderance of advertising images celebrates death. There are murals everywhere celebrating martyrs....

If you can get hold of the full article, by the way, it is a fascinating study of what happened to the students who stormed the Tehran US embassy 25 years ago. A good number of them regret what they did, recognizing the damage they ultimately did to the country, and are in constant trouble with the authorities; others are cabinet ministers.

Full story on the 'suicide unit' here.

More trouble for AgriProcessors

According to the Cedar Vally WFC Courier, AgriProcessors, the kosher plant at the centre of the accusations by PETA that their kosher slaughtering is inhumane, is now being sued by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) for violations of the pollution laws.

EPA sues Agriprocessors
CEDAR RAPIDS --- On the same day USDA officials opened an investigation into alleged animal cruelty at Agriprocessors, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also took separate legal action against the plant.
The federal agency filed a lawsuit and a request for settlement over numerous alleged environmental violations at the Postville facility. The EPA accuses the company of exceeding limits set in wastewater discharge permits and failing for several years to submit proper risk management plans or hazardous chemical inventory forms.
Agriprocessors spokesman Mike Thomas said the matters have already been resolved with city and state officials. He also said the discharge data was calculated based on "skewed" samples that did not factor the plant's production schedule.
"We think that we've been doing all the right things," Thomas said.
The city of Postville and Iowa Turkey Products, another meat processing operation in the city, recently settled similar lawsuits out of court."

Muslim clerics go to JTS for the day

The Forward reports on plans to launch a new Interfaith training institute, which is supposed to produce 'moderate' leaders from the three major faiths. The proposal was unveiled this week in NY and Boston:

"Partially funded by the U.S. Department of State, the interfaith summit assembled Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Protestant, Islamic and Jewish religious leaders from around the world to study biblical texts and begin planning for the joint-training institute. The group spent Tuesday at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the flagship institution of Conservative Judaism, interpreting and debating the Jewish, Muslim and Christian versions of the story of Abraham's binding of Isaac."

As The Jerusalem Post says, "It's not every day that a group of Muslim clerics from Arab countries goes to a Conservative rabbinical school to study Torah." It also quotes a Jordanian participant who said, "This is the first time I met any religious Jews."
The problem is, some have told the Forward, that some of the Muslim participants are well-known fundamentalists, who have publicly approved of 'martyrdom operations' against Israelis and have denied the existance of a Jewish temple:

"If they condone the murder of Israeli civilians saying suicide bombing is legitimate, they are not the kind of people that should be involved in a dialogue," said Yehudit Barsky, director of the department of counter-terrorism at the American Jewish Committee.

Of-course, the opposite is true: If they condone the murder of Israeli civilians, they are exactly the kind of people who should be involved in dialogue, if they are willing and genuinely open to it. Those are the people whose opinions most need to be changed, who most need to understand the humanity of the other side, the ones we can make the largest difference to.
It would be different had Barsky objected to these extremists embarking on a speaking tour of a Western country, for example. Their views are despicable and they should not be allowed to spread hatred. The context of dialogue, however, is what makes the difference here; they are coming to listen and to learn and are making a gesture merely by being there.
There are simply too many dialogue groups around where moderates end up speaking to moderates. But the old cliche holds true: you don't make peace with your friends but with your enemies. I hope that there are some really conservative (with a small 'c') Jews in that group too.

"Calls seeking comments from Al Manar in Beirut were unsuccessful" -- You don't say!

The Forward reports that the French broadcasting authority has had to go to court to request that the Hizbullah station's broadcasting license be removed just two weeks after it was granted. Apparently, the paper's "Calls seeking comments from Al Manar in Beirut were unsuccessful."
Back when I was reporting for the Jerusalem Post, I also tried phoning Hizbullah for a comment on something or other after I noticed their number on a contact list belonging to one of my colleagues, sitting freely on their desk, and got curious. My colleague told me that the best way to reach them was not to let on that you were an Israeli or from an Israeli/Jewish publication. He recommended I said I was from 'The Post,' and that if they pushed, I say I was calling from East Jerusalem.
Now, maybe I was silly for giving up the opportunity to get a quote, but I felt very strongly that I wasn't going to lie: if they wanted to speak to me as a Jerusalem Post reporter, fine, but if not, their quote was just an afterthought anyway. I phoned up, and some guy answered the phone perfectly politely -- until he asked what publication I was working for and hung up on me.
For a moment, I actually felt offended. One reason was because as Israeli journalists, we had absolutely no problem phoning up Palestinians from every part of the political map and speaking to them freely. Contacts with Hamas are (or perhaps were?) routine; every Israeli reporter has numbers of key Hamas spokespeople, and I daresay some of them even have 'working' relationships. On one occasion, I was looking for a cellphone number for some woman with the last name 'Barghouti,' and when I phoned the number another colleague gave me, was surprised to hear a man answer. It was, of course, Marwan -- my colleague had mistakenly read off the wrong number.....
This situation has come to feel so natural that no one really thinks how strange it really is under current conditions.
The difference between the Palestinians' and Hizbullah's attitude to Israeli reporters shows a couple of things. Firstly, that there is a degree of intimacy between the Palestinian and Israeli people which comes from having been in each other's homes, workplaces and cities for so long, and which actually allows some kind of cooperation when necessary. Perhaps that can be turned (back) into something positive in the future. Secondly, that the Palestinians realize the importance of Israeli public opinion and how easily they can influence it, and are pragmatically willing to talk to enemy reporters to do so. Hizbullah -- supposedly the media whizzes -- do not care how they are portrayed in Israel, and are not willing to talk to the Israeli press even if this would result in a strategic gain. That's how much they hate us.

Repercussion no. 1

The Israeli Rabbinate decides it will no longer accept animals slaughtered in the Postville abattoir as Kosher.

"Look," noted [head of the rabbinate's international shehita supervision department Rabbi Ezra] Raful, "he did not cut one of the jugular veins, so blood is still flowing. That's another reason for not accepting that shehita. It looks as though the animal wasn't slaughtered properly."

According to the NYT, Agriprocessors is/was the only American plant allowed to export to Israel. This latest development does not sound good for business.

2004 - "the year of the blog"

'Blog' has been chosen by Merriam-Webster as the word of the year!

Plug

Dr. Pinchas Peli's Torah Today, based on his column in the Jerusalem Post (many years ago) has just come back into print. I've ordered a copy of this inspiring, insightful book (which, last time I owned it, regularly gave me material for divrei Torah etc.).

Shechita-gate - some further thoughts

· This is an enormous issue which has the potential to rock our entire Kashrut system - and it must be addressed swiftly and effectively. Before rumors, accusations etc. get out of control, Rabbi Genack et al. must act on their offer to go down to the abattoir and clarify once and for all what actually went on at that abattoir, whether the shechita there was halachic, and whether the animals who appear to be conscious after shechita are indeed still alive and feeling, or not. Perhaps too the abattoir should suspend operations/have its operations suspended for it until these grave questions are cleared up.
· If there really is a problem with shechita in the abattoir, the OU and
all responsible MUST be honest and not attempt a cover-up, which ultimately will only result in more damage. There are already enough rabbis saying there is a problem to ensure that truth will out if there is any truth to the accusations. They must assure everyone they will act quickly to rectify the situation - and do so. This is the only way to damage-control, and the only responsible thing to do.
· This is true not only for obvious external reasons, but for internal reasons as well. People who eat Kosher are entitled to know whether they have been sold treif meat under the guise of Kosher, and to expect any systemic problems to be rectified immediately. If it turns out that there indeed is a problem with the shechita in Postville (something I emphasise again is not at all clear yet), the credibility of our mashgichim and of our entire Kashrut system will be enormously damaged. There may well be room for an enquiry at the supervising organisations as to how this state of affairs was allowed to exist. We have always been assured that the practice of shechita was done with the utmost concern for the welfare of the animals. It seems clear that whether or not the practices at Postville were "halachic," they were certainly not prudent. The entire credibility of supervision is in question - to us as Kosher consumers as well. The copepods fade into insignificance at the question of the danger to shechitah which this abbatoir - and it supervising rabbis - has exposed us. This is a food-based version of Lanner-gate for the OU.

· Again, if there are problems with the shechita in Postville, it is regretful that an organization like PETA was the one to bring them to light. On the other hand, you must ask whether they would ever have come to light without PETA - and whether you would prefer to carry on eating treif meat unknowingly.
· Even if there are no problems with the shechita in Postville, the PR
damage has been done and Jewish communities across the world are going to have to counteract renewed attacks. In the UK, for example, this comes at a particularly sensitive time. The assumption has always been that as long as fox hunting was permitted, Shechita would be allowed as well. Now that a ban is in force....
· If it emerges that there are no problems with the shechita in Postville,
the US Jewish community must be aware that, as Shawn says, the battle against Shechita has crossed the Atlantic and organize accordingly. EVERY kosher abbatoir and supervising organisation - throughout North America - must check their operations TODAY to ensure that they are above reproach.
Anyone who fails to do so must take the consequences, and bear the responsibility.
· And lastly, if you thought that tensions in Postville were high before this....