Posts from — April 2007

My competition is so hustling for votes. His was a news story about a blast in Damascus. It’s long over. Anyway, thanks to his top post on his own site, I got the link for voting in this category of News Post in the JIB Awards:

My post, “The Dark Light Invasion of College Campuses Begins,â€? broke the story on how Ohr Somayach is using a front–”JET”–to recruit college students in Chicago to winter trips to the “JLE,â€? which brings students to Ohr Somayach/Neve in Israel. Horrifically, Hillel is “actually” (see the post for that reference) helping them, as JET’s Rabbi Kahn successfully manipulated Holocaustism as an entry point, which many find hard to say no to.

I chose to push for this post because it is doing relatively well, and I suspect that while some in the traditional camp are unsure about some aspects of kiruv, it seems more do at least agree on the blatantly fundie Ohr Somayach/Neve being…problematic.

My goal here is not winning for winnings sake – I have been fortunate to have been paid for my writings occasionally, even if not as much as I would like, and consider that a much greater compensation than a democratically contested blog award.

However, I do seek to be a thorn in the bubble of the fundamentalists’ search for ever more recruits from secular and liberal Jewry into the black hole of unmitigated haredism, an idealism something even many of my detractors would agree I have, even if they would depict it with a different word choice to “idealism.”

Winning this category would further my goal of preempting a greater alliance with Hillels as Ohr Somayach seeks a greater expansion of this partnership on a national level. The most critical weapon at our disposal here is awareness. A win in this category might help that. Not much, but a little.

As many of you may be aware, there are a few of us in the vocal, affiliated secular Jewish community—and right now, we are indeed a small minority–who swerve to the right on aspects of immigration policy. The most high-ranking member of the mainstream Jewish community to take a vocal stand criticizing the Jewish community’s position on immigration is Stephen Steinlight, the former national director of the American Jewish Committee.

But what is bombasted publicly is not the same as what is murmured privately. There are others who are also unconvinced that American exceptionalism will preempt the problems afflicting France, England and Holland, or worse ones.

For those of you who believe greater immigration restrictions and a rejection of Bush’s amnesty are outside the pale of mainstream Jewish communal discussion, I would refer you to Dr. Stephen Steinlight’s new essay. His new essay not in Commentary, not in the National Review, but rather, in the Jewish Daily Forward.

“Indeed, survey research shows that most ordinary American Jews, like the great majority of ordinary Americans, oppose the “Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act.� The mainstream Jewish leadership, however, has chosen to disregard the majority of the Jewish community and back Bush’s bill — and it seems the only defense they can offer for their obduracy is Leviticus 19.

Mainstream Jewish organizations can’t get enough of Leviticus 19 — “When strangers sojourn with you in your land, you shall not do them wrong. The strangers who sojourn with you shall be to you as the natives among you, and you shall love them as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.� The biblical passage is the routine rhetorical climax, the putative ace in mainstream Jewish groups’ hand. Drenched with scriptural authority, it’s presumably unassailable. Leviticus 19 supports Bush’s immigration bill, end of story.

Or is it?

Mainstream Jewish organizations cite ancient Leviticus 19 like a contemporary policy recommendation, as though the Torah’s authors were policy wonks with foreknowledge of 21st-century America’s immigration debate. It’s disturbingly reminiscent of the lunatics who believe they’ve broken the Bible Code, deciphering names like Reid, Kennedy and Hagel buried in Scripture — though it’s unlikely their numerology will uncover Sensenbrenner’s, Tancredo’s or any Blue Dog Democrats’.�

What is also important here is that Steinlight is careful to attack Neocon greed. This is not a simple Left vs. Right divide at all.

“Leviticus 19 commands us to love the stranger. Bush’s cynical, reactionary bill, you can be certain, is not about love, and Leviticus 19 surely does not command us to exploit strangers as cheap labor or for political gain. Cherry-picking the Bible to support a shameful scheme to exploit poor immigrants at the expense of impoverished Americans to engorge the wealth of rich employers is a sacrilege. Why not just cite the Wall Street Journal?�

Resistance to the mainstream organizational position will not come from the Jewish Right, but from the hawkish Left.

Steinlight’s appearance in the Forward does not suggest the moderate Left’s policy has changed, and the essay’s general focus on a misappropriated Biblical verse by the pro-immigration Jewish camp is limited. But it signals that the conversation on the Jewish community’s position on immigration is changing to one of debate, and no longer confined to cheerleading.

Just as I said would happen.

Dr. Steinlight’s previous essay on immigration, “High Noon to Midnight,� can be read here.

So the JIB Awards keeps getting owned by hackers, and I have doubts if this awards contest is viable. Even if it is, let’s be honest – the frummies come in swarms (like the bees used to!) as if it’s a sale. A sale at Amazing Savings.

Anyway, I just want to note that in the Best New Blog Group A, Pissed Off Liberal Jew (whose name is censored, because we’re so frum and delicate in the Jewish blogosphere) is number two, and could use a little love. In Best New Blog Group C, Jewbiquitous is in fourth place, and that is a shande. Likelihood of Success is in 8th place, and that is complete bullshit. But they don’t have a chance, so just focus on Jewbiquitous.

For Slice of Life in Israel, Kumah is beating Jewlicious. I don’t like to talk trash about other blogs, but I will say that Kumah is the best of both worlds – fahfrumpt AND right-wing Zionist. The idea that they will beat out moderates (even if sometimes a bit too pop culture oriented) like Jewlicious is horrifying, but if you don’t get on your ass and do something about it, this is what will happen.

But more important than Zionism is Anti-Establishment Blog Group B. My main man Failed Messiah is in second place. He can be the successful anti-establishment blogger, and not just the potential anti-establishment blogger – with your help, if you have b’tachon.

As for me, gornisht helfen this round. I’ll do a shout out later for the best post awards starting Sunday.

I was taking part in a discussion about the Jewish community generally, when a fellow expressed pride in the accomplishments of “what we created since we came here sixty years ago.�

It amazes me how so many Orthodox Jews think like this. They often seem to believe the American Jewish community came into its own only after the end of WWII. Forget about the fact that we have really and truly been here for over 350 years. Even the bulk of Eastern European American Jewry specifically came in the late 19th and early 20th century.

And we are not chopped liver. You did not build the American Jewish community from scratch. You did not even found many of the important institutions you think of as your own.

Sunday night I was privileged to attend the Forward’s 110th year and corresponding book release party for “A Living Lens.” It was at the Museum of the City of New York, and the exhibit – which you should attend – is exquisite. Just the photos alone…amazing.

Sam Norich, the Forward’s publisher, remarked at how the Forward’s 50th anniversary, they were saying kaddish. But at the 110th, they are saying shechiyanu. Mr. Norich also noted how the Forward looks back at a Jewish history older than fifteen minutes.

Anyway. Rebecca Spence wrote a juicy story in the celebration issue, about the rivalry between Abe Cahan (the Forward’s founding and longtime editor) and I.B. Singer.

Spence writes,

At the core of the conflict, says Ilan Stavans, a Latin American culture professor at Amherst College who edited a three-volume collection of Singer’s stories, was a fundamental disagreement over the purpose of writing novels. Cahan[…]viewed fiction as a means of expressing his pro-labor ideals. Singer, on the other hand, was motivated by the exploration of character. “Cahan saw Yiddish literature as connected to socialist ideas,� said Stavans, “whereas Singer was apolitical and much more interested in mysticism and the plight of the individual.�

In a 1989 documentary on the history of the Forward, Singer describes how he ultimately won out over his tyrannical boss. “When I began to publish ‘The Family Moskat,’ he [Cahan] had already made up in his mind exactly how the novel should be. And when he spoke to me about it, I felt that this time I cannot just say, ‘I will do my best,’ because his plan was, from his point of view, a perfect plan. It was perfectly bad from my point of view.� When Singer told Cahan that he had “already made his plans� for the story, Cahan fired him on four weeks notice. “Then I had to complain to the management, and they stopped him not me, which was the miracle of my life,� said Singer. “No one believed that this has really happened, but it really happened.�

The internal friction of the Forward has always been critical to the vibrancy and nuance of the newspaper.

Mazel Tov to the Forward, and to the American Jewish community.

This is not a new issue. That is, it was first reported In January. But it is a problem. Coercion specifically for Jews from “weaker” backgrounds to morning davening.

Back in January, the Commentator, YU’s student newspaper reported,

“Rabbi Daniel Rapp, assistant dean of undergraduate Jewish studies, announced at a recent town hall meeting with Mechinah students that they would be required to attend morning prayers as a one-credit course beginning this semester.â€? […] Issues in the Mechinah program have led some students to question the program’s legitimacy. One student pointed out the program’s approach to students’ religious growth. “The guys who aren’t frum - they’re trying to be mekarev you. And the guys who are frum - they try to put you to that next level,” he said.

So you see, mandatory davening isn’t for everyone – just for the remedials in the Mechinah program. Guess who they are?

The “dean� of JSU and big man of NCSY Stephen Burg explains in the Commentator’s article from the end of March entitled, “NCSY Outreach Made Possible by Yeshiva� that,

“NCSY has been working closely with the Mechinah program to help recruit students from NCSY’s network of 166 public school clubs [editor’s note: the JSUs!] across North America. “Mechina has been a dream come true for us,” Rabbi Burg noted. “It gives our alumni, who may not have had the benefit of a Jewish education, the chance to attend one of the premier yeshivot in North America.”

How long is the davenning? Long.

“”It’s an hour and a half long. You can’t find a minyan you like. Sefardim, nusach sefard, all these people have to be thrown into one minyan. There’s no option based on what you’re looking for.”

Tell all secular Jews you know – not frummies, they are useless, they don’t care — tell absolutely every secular Jew you know that YU is selectively forcing prayer attendance–through mandatory academic credit– on students specifically from public school backgrounds.

AND GET NCSY OUT OF OUR PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM!!!!

What is our future in the U.S.? Let us look to Britain. Britain is the closest ally of the U.S., led by a prime minister who understands the Islamicist threat, and defiantly demands fair play when dealing with the Jewish State.

And still, still, the walls are closing in.

The Forward writes,

According to the BBC, “some schools avoid teaching the Holocaust and other controversial� — yes, “controversial� — “history subjects as they do not want to cause offence.� The network quoted the government study as reporting that “teachers fear meeting anti-Semitic sentiment, particularly from Muslim students.�

If antisemitism is so widespread among Britain’s 1.6 million Muslims as to force changes in what’s taught in the schools, that’s a fact that ought to cause deep alarm on many levels of British society.

In fact, it is cause for alarm for Jews everywhere. And though 1.6 million doesn’t seem like a lot, it is significantly more than the Jewish population of 300,000 in England. That – and their intense sympathies — affects the sympathies of the general population.

The Forward continues,

Barely a week after the school report was released, Britain’s National Union of Journalists betrayed its own prejudices by calling for a nationwide boycott of Israeli goods. The resolution, passed by a 66-54 margin at the union’s annual delegate meeting, compares Israel to apartheid-era South Africa and calls for other unions to join in the boycott effort.

The press union is taking sides, for crying out loud.

But hey – no reason to worry, no reason to reexamine our position on immigration. Since we can find certain differences between ourselves and the British, the French, and the Dutch, there is absolutely no reason to worry. Not at all. Clearly a different history as well as our positioning ourselves as a “nation of immigrants” absolutely eliminates any threat. Oh, sure. It won’t happen here. Oh, no – not here. Things are different here.

For now.

One of my favorite religious blogs, Avakesh, has turned out to have a relationship with Chabad, even though he is not a Chabadnik.

Avakesh writes,

I am a fellow traveler of Lubavitch and frequently daven in a Chabad Shul. I also study Chabad seforim along with other chassidic works. I absolutely agree and have personal experience that the Rebbe was a great man, probably the greatest that I met[...]In many ways I am suspended in between. I have an emotional attachment to Chabad and share a history, even with the Rebbe. My personal relationships within Chabad preclude frank questioning for I do not wish to offend and I am enough of an outsider that I might offend. On the other hand, I came up through a very different educational system. I also know enough to question effectively.

I enjoy many of Avakesh’s writings, and have often wondered what his background his. Now I guess we know a piece of the puzzle. Certainly having different lenses will increase a person’s wisdom and perspective.

Having said that, I never regularly davened at any Chassidic synagogue, and once even stopped attending a synagogue on Friday nights because a rabbi instituted singing yedid nefesh, a Chassidic custom. Even though they fired him (on parshas Korach, how awesome is that?!?) they continued to sing this song at the wrong time (Friday night), and in my humble opinion, in the wrong place.

My place.

My friend Chanoch Kanovsky’s brother Moshe committed suicide last week, jumping to his death. I paid condolences in Boro Park this evening, where Chanoch is sitting shivah until tomorrow.

I can’t speak about Moshe, who I did not really know, and who so many people expressed their love for. But Chanoch expressed communal insights that made a lot of sense.

Chanoch expressed hope that the Orthodox community will prioritize mental illness, and encourage members to seek treatment more openly and more strongly than it has been.

Additionally, Chanoch noted how at the beginning he was horrified to find some negative and insensitive comments about his brother’s situation on a couple of sites (“never google anybody,� noted Chanoch), and more than one person pleaded with me to remind the Jewish blog community that sensitivity in such a situation is critical. Particularly in times of tragedy, it is imperative not to underestimate the power of not only your own words, but also the words of those who comment on your sites.

I would plead with Seven Fat Cow to please be respectful and cautious in how you treat this heart breaking tragedy. Beyond avoidance of misappropriating Moshe’s circumstances, this should include special consideration of certain monikers being used within posts, as well as how we speak to each other.

So I went to Romemu, an Indy-Minyan this past shabbos. Unlike most of the few times I have gone to a “post-denominationalâ€? event, I actually got there in time for some davening. I have to admit – I kinda liked aspects of it, not least of all the fact that the rabbi, David Ingber, is himself an apikorus, and won’t drive you meshugeh with unremitting references to all the usual Lefty “halachic progress” and “social justice” drivel. You know – Rabbi Heschel, gender (hyper) sensitivity, Tikkun Olam, — all the stuff that makes a Litvak like me realize I’m better than you people uncomfortable in such situations. And I’m not the only apikorus there who feels the love – this is most important. During Kiddush, one guy blurted out, “This is stupid.â€?

Others like me. Maybe not people who “will probably commit suicide if they don’t overdose before that,� but like me in other important ways.

So anyway – it was alright, that is, until Hamotzei. Not because most people didn’t bother to bring food to the potluck and I brought a big expensive homemade salad with garlic stuffed olives and organic avocado and all sorts of good things. Rather, because of Hamotzei itself.

First of all, they have a minhag that everyone has to be touching the bread, by touching someone who is touching the bread. This was perhaps the goofiest things I have witnessed at a minyan ever (and I have been to K.O.E.). But then they go and pass the bread not in a plate, but by their hands. One to the other. I was at the end of the table. It’s really disgusting. THAT was stupid. They should stop that. It’s not spiritual, it’s not apikorsus. It’s narishkeit that does nothing for anyone.

But I’ll probably go back, though not on a regular basis. But I have friends who go there, and like being with them, and met some nice new people as well, like this one girl who told me she fell of a cliff and her dormitory burned down, and that’s why she was wearing a sweatshirt. I mean, even if she’s making that stuff up (I believe her) she’s more interesting than the Legal Aid society do-gooders, right? I wouldn’t say I found a community, but I‘m not looking for one anyway.