thisisbabylon.net

As if the 500 anti-Semitic incidents in 2001 weren't enough. As if the rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Israel in 2003 wasn't enough of a travesty.

Haaretz reports:

Haaretz has uncovered Internet sites put up by Israelis in their 30s who immigrated from the CIS that supply Nazi and Russian nationalist content.

In 2003 a Web site operated by Ilia Zolotov, an Israel Defense Forces soldier who called himself a "Russian patriot," was exposed. The Web site, whose name translates to the White Israeli Union, was housed on an Israeli server. Its content included Nazi and Holocaust-denial materials. It was eventually closed down by the police. Zolotov was sentenced to community service and sent on a tour of death camps in Poland.

Since the closure of Zolotov's Web site, his successors have gotten more sophisticated. Now they use servers based abroad, usually in Russia, to evade the authorities. One such site operator is Alex [a pseudonym], who is in his 30s and holds a security-related job. His site, www.rusnatcentre.tk, is hosted by a Russian server.

Alex refers to himself on the site as "the Russian tank operator" or "the fighter from Jerusalem," a tribute to his service in the Armored Corps. In a conversation with Haaretz, he denied that his site carries anti-Semitic messages, asserting that it is pro-Russian only.

"The Russian National Center is a Russian nationalist association that lives in Israel," Alex explains. "The main mission of our organization is nationalist propaganda among ethnic Russians residing in Israel, encouraging their return to Russia, opposing the return of Jews from Israel to Russia, and opposing conversion to Judaism," Alex said.

Irina, 18, lives in central Israel. She belonged to a group of..."Nazi skinheads," that terrorized the ultra-Orthodox residents of a central-Israel city...[Irina] was the girlfriend of the group's leader, Leonid [a pseudonym - M.K.]. Leonid, who is now about 19, immigrated at age 10 from Azerbaijan on the Law of Return. The only Jew in his family was one of his grandfathers....

A group of about 15 teens who believed in the Nazi ideology coalesced around Leonid. One of their favorite activities, Irina says, was attacking Haredi. "Nazi skinheads hate the religious, especially Haredim, for them the Haredim are the ugly Jews ... On weekends we'd meet in the parks, drinking and smoking and listening to Nazi music," and then they would go out in search of dossim [a derogatory Hebrew term for religious Jews], Irina related. "On Hitler's birthday we'd met at a cemetery and celebrate," she said.

Outside of the glaring neon underscore that this gives to the problem of unchecked immigration from Eastern Europe, does this show that Israel is failing even more of its new olim than originally expected? Are Russian youth being left to feel this disenfranchised? What is Yisra'el Beiteinu - the quite Russo-centric Israeli immigrant party - doing with itself, then? Don't they advocate a citizenship framework which would "require all Israeli citizens to pledge allegiance to the State"? What about Alex?

Posted by Y-Love at 03:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

This beautiful op-ed piece (look at the tone of voice, I'd like to call it "news", but the reality is, it's basically an op-ed piece) from ABC News tells us what we already suspected, and what many of us already knew: the people don't want no stinkin' war.

Sixty-four percent now say the war in Iraq was not worth fighting, up six points from last month to a new numerical high. (It was 63 percent in October.)

A majority hasn't said the war was worth fighting since April 2004, and it's been even longer since a majority has approved of how Bush is handling it. Sixty-seven percent now disapprove; 55 percent disapprove strongly.

In a fundamental change, 56 percent now say U.S. forces should be withdrawn at some point even if civil order has not been restored in Iraq. That represents a continued, gradual departure from the "you break it, you've bought it" sentiment that until now has mitigated in favor of continued U.S. involvement until some stability is attained.

Among those who do support a deadline, 85 percent said it should be within the next year (including 46 percent who said it should be within the next six months), essentially unchanged from previous polls.

Bush himself is also taking a beating in the ring of public opinion:

Two-thirds oppose George W. Bush's troop surge; most oppose it strongly.

It all makes for a continued hard slog for the president: Just 36 percent approve of his job performance overall, very near his career low of 33 percent last month. Bush hasn't seen majority approval in more than two years — the longest run without majority support for any president since Harry Truman from 1950-53.

While rooted in Iraq, Bush's problems with credibility and confidence reach beyond it.

Sixty-three percent of Americans don't trust the administration to convey intelligence reports on potential threats from other countries honestly and accurately.

And he has no one but his own cabal to blame.

Posted by Y-Love at 01:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

When it comes to trustworthiness, Americans differ from the rest of the world in many ways, according to Saurage Research.

In most countries, citizens trust the media more than they trust the government (63% versus 52%).

However, Americans say they trust the government more (67% versus 59%) per a recent BBC/Reuters/Media Center poll.

The countries included in this survey were Brazil, Egypt, Germany, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia, South Korea, the UK and the US.

Posted by Y-Love at 02:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Pew Forum, at people-press.org, released their study of current opinion surrounding the War in Iraq. Among the breakdowns among party lines, one thing jumped out to my attention:

Republicans Remain Confident of Success

Despite their widespread concerns about the current state of affairs in Iraq, most Republicans remain upbeat about the prospects for the future. More than three-quarters (77%) of Republicans believe the U.S. will definitely or probably succeed in achieving its goals in Iraq.

About a third of Democrats (34%) believe the U.S. will succeed, while 61% say it will definitely or probably fail; somewhat more independents think the U.S. is likely to achieve its goals in Iraq.

Consistent GOP Support for Bush Policy

Just as Republicans remain confident of success in Iraq, they also have consistently supported the Bush administration's Iraq policy. Roughly three-quarters (76%) say the war was the right decision, which is unchanged from January and virtually the same as in August 2006. Last February, GOP support for the decision to go to war was only modestly higher (81%).

Similarly, stable majorities of Republicans believe U.S. troops should remain in Iraq until the situation there is stabilized; 71% say that now, which also is about the same as in last August (72%) and February (73%).

Moreover, the number of Republicans who say more troops are needed in Iraq increased sharply after Bush announced the surge plan last month. Currently, 42% of Republicans say more U.S. forces are needed in Iraq; that is a bit lower than last month (47%). But twice as many Republicans now say more troops are needed than did so last August (42% vs. 21%).

We've seen death. We've seen bombs, we've seen civilians, we've seen mutilated children. We've heard car bombs, we've listened to "The Angry American" and then, seen more IEDs. What could be making Republicans -- over 75% of them -- still think that Iraq is a good idea, and that we should send more troops?

As Dr. Phil Zimbardo, Emeritus Professor of Social Psychology at Stanford University, notes, there was a 27 percent increase in terrorist incidents and a 56 percent increase in casualties during a time (pre-Iraq-early-Iraq) when there was "unprecedented spending by the United States to wage a war on terror." Military maneuvers are not a panacea for terrorist incidents.

Dr. Harry Triandis, in 1989 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, in his article entitled "The Self and Social Behavior in Differing Cultural Contexts", noted that in collectivist social structures (like the current PR-driven GOP) people can develop a "conformity to ingroup goals, which leads to internalization of
the ingroup goals. Thus, people do what is expected of them, even if that is not enjoyable."

To connect this to our context, for many American Republicans, "W's goal became my goal." Do we know what W's goal is? No. To many American Republicans, perhaps, "W is fighting for me. W wants what I want."

Yet this is the same administration which has slashed veterans' benefits, left hundreds of thousands of children "behind", and balked at raising minimum wage to livable levels. The goals of this cabal are "not enjoyable" for many of the people backing it.

Yet they still seem to be supporting him in large numbers.

Insane.

Posted by Y-Love at 01:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I can't say that I'm still shocked by the parallels people draw between Orthodox Jews and pro-terrorist regimes, it's become so old hat in Israeli media, it's news older than Genesis itself at this point.

But when it's in As-Sharq Al-Awsat it means something more:

Today, Israel is witnessing a confrontation that will reach the High Court of Justice between a group of women and followers of the Jewish faith who have come to be known as the ‘Israel’s Taliban’. What is interesting is that this confrontation is not between secularists and fanatics since even the religious Israeli women can no longer tolerate the rigidity and attitudes of hatred that these Jewish zealots practice, and therefore have launched a legal campaign, which enjoys wide popular support, to put an end to it.

In the coming few days, five of these women will take the witness stand in court to appeal against the ad hoc ‘modesty patrol’ of the fanatical Jewish men who subject them and thousands of other religious women like them to attitudes of frustration and hatred, which they call against by enforcing penalties over some who have affronted them in what has become a ‘war of the buses’.

Does this back-of-the-bus zealot really think that, at the end of 120 years, malachim/angels are going to be singing his praises, "Praiseworthy is he who beats a woman down to the ground for not upholding separation of the sexes on buses"? My rabbi says that all of our actions should be viewed in this lens, that "this action will be among those I have to recount to my Creator."

I couldn't agree more.

Posted by Y-Love at 01:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

YNet today gives us the heartwarming story:

Sometimes the ingenuity of one person is enough to carry over an entire community. Meet community policeman Shuki Der’i (44) who has been running an original project in the Jerusalem haredi neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo: he has started a group for teenage boys dealing with different disabilities including Down’s Syndrome, autism, and other communication problems, and meets with them once a week to help connect them to their community.

While he is at it, Der’i, a qualified fitness instructor, gives them a fitness lesson and asks them to tell him about the good deeds they have done...

The first days the secular Der’i spent in the neighborhood were accompanied with trying to feel out the haredi population, he recalls. “When I just started my post here there was a wave of break-ins on Friday nights, when the residents were at Shabbat services,” he describes.

“Every Sunday I would file the complaints and listen to the testimonies. My heart broke at all the loss of possessions. I met with the neighborhood rabbis and they permitted me to work on Shabbat eve, and we were able to reach a state of no break-ins. I was also trained in negotiations and mediations, which is a privilege not all policemen have.”

And his young charges? “Everything they do moves me,” Der’i announces. “I also stay in constant contact with their parents, who report their progress. The boys tell them what happens in the meetings as well.” He explains that working with ‘regular’ children is not a real challenge for him. “Working with them is very special, and it gives me much joy and satisfaction.”

Currently, he is rehearsing a play with the members of the group, which will be performed in front of their parents, and will be dedicated to their mothers. Recently, the proud instructor escorted the boys on an outing to the Western Wall.

Posted by Y-Love at 01:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, well, well!

Straight from the UAE, ArabianBusiness.com gives us the 411 on where Prince Al-Walid Bin Talal is looking for real estate: Tel Aviv.

Saudi Arabian Prince Alwalid Bin Talal is rumoured to be building a beachfront hotel in Tel Aviv.

US business magazine Forbes says that the billionaire businessman is considering an eight-story, 150-room hotel in the Israeli capital.

Bin Talal's regular architect, London-based Basil al-Bayati, is said to be in charge of planning for the project.

Tel Aviv city planner Chezy Berkowitz is quoted in the Jerusalem Post saying that initial discussions have taken place, but said reports that architectural plans had been submitted to the municipality were incorrect, and that the start of any construction is months away.

Posted by Y-Love at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The Jerusalem Post today ran an article which almost made me exclaim out loud, "it's about damn time":

Academic degrees sought by growing number of haredim

A growing number of haredi women - and men - want professional careers based on academic training, says Rabbanit Adina Bar-Shalom, founder and chairman of the Haredi College (Michlala Haredit) in Jerusalem, which teaches both. Bar-Shalom, daughter of Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, said at a conference yesterday that "most rabbis" realize not every yeshiva student is cut out to be a Torah scholar, and they allow such men to go work if economic hardships are causing a serious crisis in the family.

We see from Scripture (Numbers) that G-d allowed His Name to be erased in the sotah-waters drunk by a woman suspected of infidelity. G-d says that the altar of the Holy Temple itself cries during a couple's first divorce (Malachi). Why should something which is causing so much hardship as financial strain due to Torah learning be held up as a virtue in our community?

The Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) codifies as Jewish Law for all eternity that one should have a job (Orach Chaim 156), to which the Mishnah Berurah -- whom I heard referred to as "rabban kol Yisra'el/the rabbi of all of Israel" by a prominent Brooklyn rebbe says that while some people should learn Torah full-time, this is for "select individuals"/yechidim.

What would the Chofetz Chaim ztvk"l (author of the Mishnah Berurah) advocate for Jewish men newly married? That they dedicate the next 10 years -- during which up to 7 of their children will be born ken yirbu -- to learning, at the expense of their marriage, of their family?

The article continues:

Studying at university is widespread among haredi Jews in the US and Europe, but it is still eschewed by most haredim because they fear content and environments in secular universities that conflict with Halacha and could lead believers astray.

But Bar-Shalom said that "Israeli society is marching towards academization. It is harder now for those who don't have academic degrees to find work. So I decided that instead of sending our young people to [secular] universities and colleges, we can create our own with our own content."

G-d provides, yes, and no one should EVER doubt -- "those who seek the L-rd will never lack any good" (Psalms). Kollels are wonderful things and they should see nothing but expansion -- full-time Torah learning is wonderful.

However, there simply must be an alternative for those not cut out for full-time Torah learning, or for those under strain in their marriages, or for those who simply "need to be able to get a job".

Students pay tuition, and the college also receives support from the Council for Higher Education, but there are not enough scholarships and stipends to meet the demand, she said.

Does Heaven not want us to help ourselves?

Posted by Y-Love at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This poll from Harris Interactive gives a detailed glimpse into where we, as a country stand, versus the EU.

France is by far more atheist than America, and most of America has no problem with face-veils/niqab or burqas.

Are we becoming a bastion of secularism? Nowhere near as fast as Europe, apparently.

Posted by Y-Love at 06:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In Table 5 of this PDF provided by the Pew Forum, we find a shocking statistic.

One hundred percent of "white Jewish Americans" (deep breaths, deep breaths) called the war in Iraq the "one issue that mattered most" in this past election.

Zero percent said the economy, or immigration, or anything.

Granted this is still a survey. But I can't help but stare at my Adobe Acrobat and go, "that just sucks."

Posted by Y-Love at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

UPI's Religion and Spirituality.com today ran this story from a Southern Baptist preacher. Basically, he says something which I think all Jewish parents have known for quite some time: the answers to successful child-raising are right there in Scripture.

Now, as a Torah-believing Jew, I believe that the answers to everything are in Scripture. As I read somewhere, "Everything is in the Torah." "Even quantum physics?" "Yes, if you know Torah well enough."

Where does the wise mom or dad turn for guidance in rearing a happy and confident child? Where does that same parent turn to find direction for his or her own life? The answers to both of these questions are identical - the Word of God.

"Lessons for Parents from a Perfect Parent" by Jim Barclay illustrates that the examples of God as Father in Scripture are clear guidelines for training godly children, as well as a picture of the personal Father/child relationship each of us can have with Him, Christian Newswire reported Monday.

Using God's relationship with the Israelites as a model, Barclay advises parents to, "Treat your children as though they were adopted." Deuteronomy 7 explains that God chose to rescue the Israelites from Egyptian slavery not because of their worthiness, but because of His great love.

The Israelites became His children - He adopted them. This divine example of choosing and loving perfectly illustrates the relationship between a parent and child, and between the heavenly Father and the Believer.

As if parents should be any different than the rest of humanity.

Yet another lesson we learn from Scripture.

Posted by Y-Love at 01:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

...now that a journalist from Newsweek has been assaulted?

Let's hope so.

Posted by Y-Love at 01:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I don't know who these people are, or what their authority is to issue such a decree, but it's a nice gesture.

The Jerusalem Post reports today:

"The Arab, Muslim, Palestinian side has accepted" the idea of negotiating a two-state solution with Israel, but was awaiting an affirmative response from Israelis and world Jewry, Sheikh Abdullah Nemer Darweesh, the founder of the Islamic Movement in Israel, told participants of the Global Forum for Combatting Anti-Semitism on Sunday evening.

"I am a soldier, and hopefully the lead soldier, in the war against anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the region," he declared, adding that "you have nothing to fear from the one-and-a-half billion Muslims [who think as I do]."

As proof, Darweesh gave the example of the Saudi initiative at the 2002 Beirut Arab Summit, noting that it not only included a call for recognition of Israel, but "full normalization of relations, something that amazed me."

"Believe me," he added, "nobody questions the Jewish right to Jewish holy places."

Can't hurt.

Posted by Y-Love at 01:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The newest imported delicacy in Israel: anti-Semitism!

YNet reports:

Here is a phenomenon that none of the authorities in Israel want to deal with: Anti-Semitism by people who have come from the Soviet Union, and who use the word 'Jew' as a legitimate curse. Number of incidents is on the rise

“I was walking my dog in Tel Aviv. When I went to cross the street there was a drunk- looking man standing next to me. My dog got scared and started to bark at him. I apologized and continued walking. I suddenly felt someone push me and I fell on the floor. The drunken man pushed me to the ground, took the leash and started to choke the dog. He was screaming at me “Stinking Zhidovka! (A derogatory name for a Jew in Russian). You Jews destroyed Russia and disturb all the normal people living here”. (Ella Shapira, a Russian immigrant)

“Everyone sweeps the issue of anti-Semitism in Israel under the rug” says Zalman Glichevsky, the president of the organization. “There is a leading skinhead website, and I discovered that they have a discussion group which includes Russian speakers from Israel”. Glichevsky, who immigrated to Israel in the early nineties, began to investigate the matter. He put an ad in a newspaper for Russian speakers and appealed to anyone who had ever experienced anti-Semitism in Israel.

Russian immigrants beating Jewish immigrants

“To my surprise”, he tells, “I received hundreds of responses and I continue to receive them today....Shapira is angered by the comprehensive disregard of the problem. “This is a subject that no one likes or is afraid to speak of. For the workers in the Jewish Agency, bringing new immigrants to Israel is a good business, many people profit from it. But they are bringing people who have no connection to Judaism, and some who have been brought up to hate it. I often encounter these situations...a few weeks ago I went into a clothing store and the two saleswomen began to talk about me in Russian: 'Here is a dirty Jew, she is going to touch everything and make it dirty.' They were shocked when I answered them in Russian and explained to them that it is forbidden to speak that way”.

Observant Ethiopian Jews who came to Israel -- who by any other standards in Edut ha'Mizrach would be charedi -- were told flatly that their lineage was not provably Jewish and that they would have to convert. Yet members of Nazi organizations are allowed to operate with no question in their status as Jews? Officials talk seriously about barring Ethiopian immigrants from even entering one town, but immigrants from Europe are given carte blanche? This can happen?

I can't help but fault, at least partially, if not by commission then by omission, Tzafon Tel Aviv Ashkenazi elitism and ethnocentricity for allowing this to happen. I'm not generalizing -- the majority of the perpetrators of anti-Semitic incidents within Israeli borders are "Russian-speaking youth", some the "descendents of Jews" -- were there an influx of "descendents of Jews" (70% of whom do not qualify as Jews under Jewish Law) from Arabic-speaking countries bringing with them Hamas mindsets, I highly doubt it would be tolerated to this point.

500 incidents in 2001? An increase in 2003? Authentic Jews have to go around gathering signatures of rabbis and re-converting (or re-marrying, or re-divorcing) -- and there's this?

I'm pissed off and this can not be tolerated in any capacity. There has yet to be any serious talk of reducing the unchecked immigration from Eastern Europe -- in anywhere near the same capacity as it's been spoken of for their Ethiopian or Indian counterparts. Other than racism, I fail to see why. I fail to see any more of a detrimental element the Jewish state could possibly contain. Nazi activity? Even if there's "no chance" of them "gaining any power."

If there's any pressing issue that calls for the revamping of the Law of Return, it for damn sure is not some underpaid Thai worker.

It's ha'Reich ha'Shlishi.

(Crossposted to Jewschool.com)

Posted by Y-Love at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The American Muslim today features an article from Dr. Abdul Cader Asmal which states, basically, that Jewish-Muslim coexistence is no longer simply a good idea, but rather an imperative.

In his article, Dr. Asmal states:

The time to ratchet down hostilities is now.

The coming together of typecast foes may not be easy. On the other hand allowing fascists to chart the future of humanity is not a viable option. Rapprochement is the only answer to Israel’s survival and Islam’s renaissance. There is nothing incompatible between Islam and Judaism that prevents Muslims and Jews from living together again. They have a moral imperative to do so, resting on the Muslim belief of a divinely-assigned stewardship of God’s creation, and the Jewish belief of ‘Tikkun’ or healing of God’s creation. With these credentials Muslims and Jews should not only be able to coexist but respond to the call, ‘peace on earth and goodwill to all men’, a timeless message with a universal appeal, we can all live with.

(I'm assuming that everyone knows, already, the Talmudic quote from the Mishnah in Sanhedrin 4:5, which states that "for the sake of peace, no man may say my father was better than your father". Not being prejudiced against Muslims, and by extension, combatting Islamophobia and all bigotry, is not only a "moral imperative" but a law.)

So then, how about this: it is a well-known fact in Jewish Law that one is not allowed to do things which would cause anti-Semitism ("hatred" for Jews, or eivah). R' Moshe Feinstein, perhaps one of the greatest codifiers of Jewish Law in the 20th century, said in his work Igros Moshe (1:184) that Eivah can mean two things: 1) Such ill will that the non-Jew will want to take revenge against the Jew; or 2) where the Jew did not do anything that warrants revenge, but the non-Jew develops feelings of hatred. We see from the Code of Jewish Law (Volume Orach Chaim, opinion of the Rem"a to 148:12 and 291:2) that (mainly the second type) of eivah can override a rabbinical prohibition, if one has sufficient reason to believe that by doing the rabbinically prohibited thing he will decrease/prevent eivah, he can do so.

And if we have sufficient reason to believe that the anti-Semitism could lead to life-threatening violence, one may even be allowed to violate even a Scriptural commandment (as it is saving a life).

How much more so if we are not talking about transgressing anything. How much more so if we're talking about unity and "baseless kindness", the two things which we know will bring the coming of the Messiah (he should come quickly). Even if you would say, somehow, that it is forbidden to show love and kindness and unity to Muslims, we see, that since by doing so, anti-Jewish hatred would be decreased, the whole point is moot and it would be permitted anyway.

So at least from a Jewish standpoint, there's no reason not to work toward coexistence and unity.

A moral imperative? It's way past that.

Posted by Y-Love at 03:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Even worse news for the Neturei Karta rabbi who was so infamously pictured embracing Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadenijad. Not only has his wife left him, not only has he been told he has "overstayed his welcome" in the community, but now his children have been kicked out of school.

It just keeps getting worse for Moshe Aryeh Friedmann.

The Yeshiva World News reports:

The children of Moshe Aryeh Friedman who attended the Holocaust Denial Conference in Iran, have been expelled from their school on Monday - and were told that no other Jewish school in Austria will take them, their father said Tuesday.

Moishe Arye Friedman said he has begun legal proceedings against the school.

A letter shown by Friedman with the letterhead of the school said one of the reasons for the expulsions was his outrageous behavior in attending the Holocaust conference last month.

Talk about persona non grata.

All consequence is preceded by decision. I just wonder if whatever was achieved by embracing Ahmadenijad at the conference was worth everything that he has gone through since.

Posted by Y-Love at 06:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The controversial Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, of TLC "Shalom In The Home" fame (as well as from works like Kosher Sex, his magnum opus on Jewish love and marriage) wrote an article in the Jewish Press last week which could not possibly be more relevant.

His article, "The 'S' Word Has No Place in a Religious Jew's Vocabulary" is perhaps one of the most powerful condemnations of the word 'shvartzer' that I have seen to date:

Last week I delivered a sermon based on the Torah portion of the week and which compared Moses, the great Jewish redeemer, with Abraham Lincoln, the martyred American emancipator. When I finished, I was approached by an acquaintance who happens to be an Orthodox Jewish engineer. He seemed, up until that time, to be devout, educated, and sophisticated. But what he told me was sacrilegious, ignorant, and primitive.

This gentleman maintained that Lincoln was no hero, seeing as he had freed a people who were the descendants of Ham, the son of Noah, who was cursed for humiliating his father. “Ham’s children are black, and are condemned by God to eternal slavery,” he said. “There was even a rebbe in Poland who predicted that Abraham Lincoln would be shot for liberating a people against God’s wishes.”

I looked this man in the eye and said to him, “I’m confused. Judaism believes that every man is judged according to his actions. Now you are telling me that every black person in the world is cursed for something an ancestor did millennia ago. We Jews don’t believe in Original Sin, and we don’t believe in vertical accountability. So how can you tell me something so abominably racist like the fact that blacks are cursed?”

He responded that I was denying scripture. I told him that his views were repugnant to everything Judaism stood for in terms of the equality of all mankind. And on an angry note, our mini-debate ended.

I would not even mention this unhappy episode if I had not, at times, heard similar sentiments expressed by others purporting to be religious.

Rabbi Boteach -- whose views on all issues I can not say I uniformly agree with -- continues:

The foundation of Judaism is God’s moral law. The cornerstone of the Bible is that every human being is created in God’s image. One cannot call oneself a religious Jew and harbor even the smallest hint of racism.

Which is why it is time for all Jews to forever retire the odious term “shvartza.”
From the time I was a boy I have heard the word shvartza used by many Jews to describe blacks. These were decent people with no intention of causing offense. To them, the term connoted nothing more than the Yiddish word for black. But, truth be told, the term has become one of condescension; a pejorative, a word that incorporates within it a hint of derision.

My children were raised around many black men and women who are close family friends. From Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, who is like a brother to me, to Peter Noel, my esteemed colleague and former co-host on America’s oldest black radio station, to countless others, our Shabbos table has been a home away from home for African-Americans whom we have treated as family. So when my children went to a chassidic sleep-away camp one summer and heard the expression shvartza thrown about so loosely, they returned upset and disillusioned.

When they asked me why so many religious Jews used the term, I had no real explanation. The overwhelming majority of religious Jews are committed to the highest humanitarian and ethical standards. Racism, to them, would be utterly unconscionable. So why use the term? There is no excuse. And it must be permanently retired.

I have wanted to write this column ever since my children expressed their indignation, but refrained from doing so for fear it might be misunderstood as implying that there is racism among Orthodox Jews. To be sure, there is racism among all groups, just as there is, unfortunately, anti-Semitism among all groups. It seems that humanity is destined to forever harbor irrational hatred, even as we do our utmost to stamp it out. But of late, I have heard the term shvartza with such frequency that it could no longer be ignored. My children were absolutely right and we must all speak out.

Yes, there may be racism among other groups. But among Jews it is especially reprehensible.

First, because we Jews know what it is like to be hated simply for being what we are.

Second, because Jews and blacks share a common spiritual history that includes slavery and emancipation, followed by discrimination and a shared yearning for entry into a promised land of acceptance and hope. We share also a mutual love for the redemptive utterances of the great Hebrew prophets like Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Micah, which formed the backbone of the most memorable speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.

Third – and this applies to religious Jews even more than to non-observant Jews – because we Jews are entrusted by God with spreading the message that all human beings are God’s children. The first great theological declaration of the Torah is that all people are created in the divine likeness.

I don’t think there is anything as off-putting in a religious person as even a hint of racism. When a businessman wearing a yarmulke uses the word shvartza, he undermines the spiritual integrity for which that yarmulke stands.

Likewise, many Muslims are today infected by an irrational hatred of Jews that belies Islamic history and which cannot be accounted for merely by the territorial dispute between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Such racist views are a sin against Islam which subscribes to the biblical belief of the divine character of all humanity.

Religious Jews, especially, must never empower such heretical views by harboring even the slightest hint of bigotry or prejudice.

A religious Jew must never empower heretical views by harboring...bigotry or prejudice.

In Islam, there is a concept called takfir, calling someone a heretic for their out-of-line views and beliefs. Will we see a similar thing in Judaism, will gedolim rally around and call racism for what Rabbi Boteach has called it?

Posted by Y-Love at 05:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

You learn something new every day.

Posted by Y-Love at 02:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

From The Sun:

A BRITISH Muslim school is teaching children that Jews are “repugnant apes” and Christians “pigs”, a former teacher claims.

Colin Cook, 57, says when he raised his concerns to chiefs at the Saudi government-funded King Fahad Academy in West London he was told: “This is not England. It is Saudi Arabia.” Some of the 1,250 pupils at the faith school are alleged to have been heard idolising Osama bin Laden, praising 9/11 and saying they want to “kill Americans”.

Mr Cook — himself a Muslim — warned yesterday: “The school could produce a dangerous harvest.

“It is clearly racist and very divisive. It’s deeply immoral to put such ideas into the heads of young children.

“The vast majority of Muslims, including myself, are law-abiding, tolerant of others and peaceful. I understand now why pupils express anti-Western views at the school. Similar concerns at the sister school in Bonn, Germany, gave rise to the fear that the Academies could become breeding grounds for terrorists.”

This is not the first time I've heard this about textbooks. Is there a PDF -- anywhere -- of such things?

I hope that Mr. Cook's claims are untrue, because if they're not, this means that a group of Muslim children need to either find another school, or there is a school in the UK that needs to fire a significant percentage of its administration.

Posted by Y-Love at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I am privileged to have many people about whom I care deeply read my blog.

So sometimes, I do receive Email about something that I write -- and I like how infrequently it comes, so I don't put my contact information out on the blog's index page. :)

So, one of my good friends sends me this in his Gmail to me today:

I have a comment.I know you support Charedi politics in Israel, and...I'm unsure if you are Charedi totally or not...I think you are, after reading the article. I ask after this "Those who seek to exterminate the charedim, b'kol dor va'dor omdim aleinu l'chaloteinu, and even if the mindset survives "just barely", we believe G-d will always see to it that somewhere on His planet is SOMEONE who keeps His word as written."

DO you think that Charedis are the only ones who keep the word as written? I'm SO NOT trying to be divisive...I'm asking for knowledge. I mean, we all have things we find acceptable and not, I'm wondering what "types" of observance you find acceptable, and, obviosuly you agree most totally with that which you practice. I'm largely ignorant of the differences with Charedi, and confess with I see a Mitzvah Mobile I usually don't approach it, even if I would sincerely love to put on tefillin, or anything else, because I am scared of offending or doing something against my beliefs, regarding Rabbi Schneerson, and the Moshiac thing. This has, in general, caused me to not seek to learn so much with Chassidish people, in general. Please know, I'm not trying to be offensive, it's my fear of offending that is partially keeping me from doing so.

*thinking* I've never been more unsure of whether or not to send an email....but I trust that you will at the least know I'm not INTENDING to be an ass, and will cut me some slack if you don't care for the words...

I think the mainstream usage of haredi is horribly out of sync. Again: charedi means one who shakes out of reverence for G-d, trembling at His word.

Think of any equivalent English term. Yeshiva Orthodox. Torah Orthodox. Traditional Orthodox. Hell, even my personal peeve, Ultra-Orthodox. None of these terms necessarily denote anything Chassidic, Lithuanian, "black hat", or even Ashkenazi. But if I say, to anyone familiar with the term, "I was hanging out and then 3 charedi guys got out of a cab", instantly the person envisions either the Lakewood Bus Service or Monit K'far Chabad and anything contrary to that image results in cognitive dissonance.

I consider every traditional Orthodox person to be charedi. Whether the person calls himself dati, dati le'umi, "just plain Orthodox", Chassidic, yeshivish, Sephardi, Mizrachi, Ethiopian, or Lithuanian. Are you Orthodox? Would you compromise your beliefs? Would you compromise your traditions? No? Don't even check what color your hat is, to Y-Love, chances are, you're charedi.

And while charedi does differ from Modern Orthodox, I'll even go further.

It was said at a wedding I recently attended, granted in jest, that it may be forbidden to be Ashkenazi in America. The rabbi contended, since when one is in a new place one is beholden to follow the traditions of that place, and the first Jewish immigrants (q.v. the Touro Synagogue, Jewish settlements in the early South) to colonial America were Sephardi, the tradition of America was therefore de facto Sephardi and any Ashkenazi who came would have been required to become Sephardi upon arrival.

While this garnered guffaws and angry glares in Ashkenazi Chaba"d audiences where I repeated the story, it does bring out a point.

Let's say that it exists -- minhag America. The American tradition. What would it consist of? Today it probably looks quite "modern." But if, 200 years from now, everyone were wearing aluminum outfits, and a group of Jews were still wearing 2-piece suits and/or still eating turkey on the 4th Thursday of every November, they would have been uncompromising in their tradition. In other words, charedi.

This is in stark contrast to "adapting". However, perhaps one could contend that the Modern Orthodox tradition IS to adapt and in their belief of Torah and G-d's law meaning to be followed in its entirety, G-d's Law is (not that I agree with this at all) "adapt to your surroundings", and that would in effect make them charedi too.

The word has become synonymous with a specific group of Ashkenazi Jews and that must end now.

Any Jew who says "I believe in the Torah and G-d and I believe His law is to be followed and this is the way I do it and I'm not changing for anyone" should feel proud to call himself charedi (or any other terms he or she chooses, but "charedi" is not off-limits for any Torah-believing Jew). A ba'al teshuva who eventually adopts such a mindset has become charedi, and this neither requires them to vote for Sha"s nor to patronize Borsalino Hats, Inc.

My friend who has "ideological differences with the charedi" is one of the most uncompromising people I know, on fire with love for G-d and Torah. He is charedi in every sense of the word. And he'll probably never sit at the tisch bei der Rebbe munching on cold pa-cha.

And I will probably never muse over "the old country" while humming a Galizianer niggun.

And ain't a thang wrong with that.

Posted by Y-Love at 06:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

"Theres a war coming down between my brothers and I...
I don't want no war going down, going down tonight ... - Operation Ivy, "Unity"

The Kvetcher, a "modern Orthodox" blogger I have historically held in quite high esteem (and still do, as his blog reads like a "what to do" list in a writing seminar, his style of writing IS "the right way to write") wrote an inflammatory piece entitled "Maskilim vs. Haredim" where he - via his hat-tip to the illustrious Avakesh - juxtaposes the irreligious "Enlightenment" movement of 18th-19th century Europe with today's modern Orthodox. He says:

There are many frum Jews who are maskilim, in the sense that the values of Haskala are their values. We must remember that while Chareidi ideology barely survived, the Haskalah won. Haskalah had a right wing, fully Orthodox G-d fearing scholars who would never compromise one iota of religious observance. That is who we are now - right wing maskilim. We speak English, dress in the modern fashion and study secular subjects, at least through high school....

...just as a connection to Judaism was transmitted by our ancestors, so was a connection to the Haskalah. But as we enter haredi life, the maskil is also educated. Even if the haredim assiduously avoid teaching us important general skills we would most appreciate, they still teach us the nonsense we learn to despise...

And, then to add insult to patch in punim:

And if the haredi kiruvniks want war with us, which apparently they do, who are we to say no? It’s going to feel like 1897. All over again.

I don't want a war. But were one to be fought, let's not be so haughty as to assume anything:

Both Avakesh and The Kvetcher assert that the "Haskala" won by virtue of the teaching of secular subjects and job training, etc., found in modern Orthodox schools. This would be valid, if these ideas came from the Haskala.

I think it actually tragic that so many people latch on to the words of luminaries like the Rem"a and R' Shimon bar Yochai, who advocated refraining from secular studies, as justification for much of the misinformation that is going on. You think secular studies started with some pork eating maskilim? (Oops, that's RIGHT, I keep forgetting, some of them were religious, my bad.)

It's right there in the Talmud: "Flay a carcass in the marketplace and do not rely on others (for support)." Need an earlier source? "Torah combined with an occupation lead one to forget sin" is right there in the Mishnah. Need an earlier source? The Book of Daniel tells us that he worked for the government, Jacob blesses two of his children with a blessing for business prosperity, even Abraham himself amassed money through trade!

What secular movement added to this?

Would the Ramba"m -- who did, in fact, influence the Haskala -- the same Ramba"m who worked as a doctor and advocated daily exercise, would he advocate one sitting around all day and learning absolutely nothing outside of Scripture? Rash"i was wrong for learning about wine production?

And I find it lamentable that Avakesh and Mr. Kvetcher, with such a beautiful Torah legacy in them, found it necessary to call those people who learn Torah in tandem with job skills "maskilim". Such a term which conjures up so much secularization theory filth -- regardless of the gradations which existed at the time in the Haskalah movement -- should not be attached to lomdei Torah, those who learn the Word of G-d and keep His practical law.

To do such is the heritage of the Ramba"m and Rash"i -- and would have remained so with or without Mendelssohn and his ilk.

Now, where did this blanket eschewing of secular study come from, and why is it being allowed to drive poverty and other horrible things? That's the issue that must be examined, so that the charedi community can correct itself and get itself more in line with the Divine Will.

Those who seek to exterminate the charedim, b'kol dor va'dor omdim aleinu l'chaloteinu, and even if the mindset survives "just barely", we believe G-d will always see to it that somewhere on His planet is SOMEONE who keeps His word as written.

And that, my friend, survival of the faith and G-d-view, is the true victory.

Posted by Y-Love at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

From the European Jewish Press, a story of peace and coexistence...live on the radio.

The first radio station in the UK ever to be run jointly by Jews and Muslims made history last Thursday night when it started broadcasting.

Radio Salaam Shalom, a project by students of two universities in England’s South West, has attracted media interest from around the world by bringing the two faiths together.

The station, which is broadcast over the Internet, features both Jewish and Muslim presenters and promises a mixture of music, talk and feature-led programmes.

Wait! Hold your yawns!

But while Radio Salaam Shalom hopes to focus on the faiths’ often overlooked similarities and shared culture, bosses have also vowed not to "duck" the potentially divisive issues between them, such as the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, during live discussions.

A spokesman for the station said it will focus on "the many aspects of Jewish and Muslim life and allow two cultures which have been linked for thousands of years to talk together and share their experiences."...

Farooq Siddique, a member of the Bristol Muslim Cultural Society and presenter on the station, said he hoped the project would help improve community relations.

“Basically when you think of two communities who don’t get on, the first one you think of is Jews and Muslims.

“The idea behind the station, at a time when chasms are opening up between communities here in the UK and around the world, is to act as a bridge and bring communities together to discuss their problems.

“There’s so much we have in common. The Israel-Palestine issue has come to define Muslim and Jewish relations, but prior to that the relationship was the exact opposite.”

The idea came from Jewish and Muslim students at two universities - Bristol University and the University of the West of England - as a means of forging closer links with each other.

Insha'All-h, im Yirtzeh Hashem this will be seen one day as the introduction to a sorely needed new chapter in UK Jewish-Muslim relations.

Posted by Y-Love at 02:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There is a dispute in Jewish law over whether or not a convert can use phrases like "the G-d of our forefathers" or thank G-d for having been made a Jew. According to one opinion, the convert should not say "the G-d of our forefathers" but rather say "G-d of the forefathers of Israel".

A similar opinion exists regarding the morning blessing where one thanks G-d for having been made a Jew. One opinion says that a convert should not say this, instead saying "Blessed are You, G-d...for having made me a convert."

The practical law comes out that a convert can say both of these things. But these past few weeks have given me a major insight into the hava amina, the thought process which would make someone think to make such a blessing of "thank You for making me a convert".

Growing up in church, a Christian child -- especially in Baptist or other evangelical Protestant circles -- hears as a mantra, "G-d is good" to which the socially mandated responses are either "Amen" (pronounced in the American faux style, Ay-men) or "all the time". No praise of G-d in a church goes without an "mm-hmm" or a "praise Him!" screamed by a floral hat-clad elderly lady, a recovering addict, or a Sunday school star.

G-d is good. G-d loves you. G-d wants only the best for you. These things are sine qua non for most G-d-fearing non-Jews, these are the foundations of faith upon which much of the Christian world is based. Now, growing up in the South (Maryland IS still the South), I was also raised with a healthy fear of G-d. "Do X and you will go to hell", a very real place where people boiled and horrible red figures were employed as torture personnel. This was the G-d view I was given, and the one that I brought to New York with me.

And then I converted.

Much of what I hear from XO (ex-Orthodox) Jews sounds as if they could have benefitted from such an upbringing. Much of what I hear -- the blasphemy, the condemnations, the pain-driven rants against all things sacred -- much of this sounds as if it would have been trumped during childhood by a G-d-view I was raised with. Granted, much of it was JC-centered, but, removing that, the G-d-view was always clear: there was always One Above who was always watching out for us, who always loved us, who always wanted us to do better and to be better people.

And, also, much of what I hear from many nonobservant Jews as to "why they are not religious" also makes me thank G-d for the upbringing He gave me. I hear "X just doesn't matter enough to me" or, worse, "I don't think that G-d cares about X" and it makes me wonder why "putting the fear of G-d in 'em" didn't occur in their upbringings. Laziness is of course a factor -- if I were only able to count on one hand the number of times I've overslept morning services! -- but it would be overly simplistic to say that every claim I hear as to "why I am not religious" is no more than a justification for one's wanting to not expend extra energy.

Apparently, these mantras are not being repeated in mainstream Jewish day schools. I hear hokey exhortations to observance and mitzvah, but no strengthening of the foundation: G-d loves you so much, and He wants to hook you up, He wants to reward you with all things, "if only you will let Him into your HEART...can I get an Amen?"

To me, I always worshipped G-d. G-d being above all things, G-d being above all clergy, G-d being above all buildings. The Bible followed naturally -- if G-d wants us to "do good" He would have to, by definition, define what "good" is. The Torah, for many Jewish children, is not "what G-d says good is", it's "what the Rabbi/my dad/my yeshiva said I had to do."

Sure, every Yiddisher kind can repeat "Hashem is here, Hashem is there, Hashem is truly everywhere." But the basic pashut, "G-d loves you" is often sorely left unsaid. Were this stressed, I think it almost automatic that the XO movement would eventually begin to diminish.

Who but an emotional masochist would run away from so much love and benevolence?

Yet without the love and benevolence being stressed, one can eventually come to imagine the "CIA in the sky", a scrutinizing, authoritarian Deity who makes lists, itemizes every action and then doles out punishment or punctilious reward accordingly. And it is from this that so many of these "XO" kids are running.

How many children are told to obey G-d and how many are told to "keep the Torah"? The Torah is G-d's plan, the living entity with which He built the world, containing our instructions for living. Plans don't love. Blueprints don't hope for you. To-do lists don't embrace. Perhaps this is why the Zohar says that one who gets caught up only in the external observances, forsaking the inner connection to the Source of All Life and Good, of such a person it says "his soul should deflate" and "it is better that he were never created". And we see this: because it is from such people that XO young adults are scarred, many of them never to enter a religious establishment again.

Much ongoing pain could be soothed by an ongoing flood of "G-d loves you, and so do I."

And let the voices of all the tinokos shel beis rabban be raised to sing, "Hashem loves me, this I know, 'cuz the Torah tells me so!"

Posted by Y-Love at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The British 24Dash.com reports:

Attacks on British Jews 'reach record levels'

Attacks on Jews in the UK rose to record levels last year, a new report revealed today.

There were 594 anti-semitic incidents in Britain in 2006, up 31% from 2005, according to the Community Security Trust (CST).

More than one-fifth of the race hate incidents took place during the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon in July and August.

This is the highest level since the CST began collating antisemitic incidents in 1984, and 12% more than the previous record in 2004. The total included 112 violent assaults (up 37% on 2005), 70 incidents of damage of Jewish property (up 46%), 365 incidents of abusive behaviour (up 34%) and 27 threats (up 8%).

Jewish schools or schoolchildren were targeted in 59 of the incidents, and Jewish cemeteries were desecrated nine times.

However, let's apply the 1/5 number to all of the incident categories.

Israeli soldiers were captured on Lebanese soil - and 23 British Jews got beaten.
Hezbollah, the Israeli government, and the US all spun the media like the Harlem Globetrotters -- and 11 Jewish schools were vandalized.
Two Israeli soldiers, two Jewish cemeteries.

Regardless of how any Jew feels about Israel -- or how strongly we are opposed to its government's actions -- we can never deny that we are attached to it, whether we like it or not.

Posted by Y-Love at 02:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Do me a favor.

Just save me the justifications. Islamophobia like this needs to be called out, because it's a different kind of Islamophobia than I usually write about. From the UK's The Register:

The town of Herouxville in Quebec, which boasts one immigrant family among its 1,300 inhabitants, is at the centre of a race-relations rumpus after issuing a town council declaration on culture which reminds newcomers that "stoning [women] in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them etc", is an absolute no-no.

The guidelines on the town's website read:
"We wish to inform these new arrivals that the way of life which they abandoned when they left their countries of origin cannot be recreated here. We consider it completely outside norms to...kill women by stoning them in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them etc."

The BBC adds that the site "points out that women are allowed to drive, vote, dance and own their own homes". It also insists Sikh children are not allowed to bring "ceremonial daggers to school", despite a Supreme Court ruling to the contrary.

Salam Elmenyaw, president of the Muslim Council of Montreal, slammed the council, claiming it had "set back race relations decades". He told Reuters: "I was shocked and insulted to see these kinds of false stereotypes and ignorance about Islam and our religion."

"We would like to inform our visiting Catholic clergy that pedophilia is illegal, and as our province respects those of all faiths, we request that you refrain from burning any heretics at stakes in public."

"Our visiting Hindu legislation is advised that burning stores is illegal in our jurisdiction."

Do people in Herouxville really believe that even a sizable PERCENTAGE of Muslims in the WORLD -- let alone Quebec -- are actually throwing acid on women? Is this even on TV?

And the sad thing is -- there is ONE immigrant family in Herouxville. How do they feel knowing that they are assumed to be woman-maiming terrorists?

Does CAIR have an extra 1,300 "About Islam" packages for sending?

Posted by Y-Love at 01:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)