Posts from — May 2007

Rabbi David Eliezrie, Chabad’s national liaison to United Jewish Communities, writes in this week’s Forward that,

We need to build on the positive, not the negative. It’s clear that the old principles that molded Jewish identity are not working with the new generation.

Look at any recent communal Holocaust Memorial Day observance: As the older generation passes on, younger Jews are not replacing their numbers. This generation does not see the relevance of these tragedies in the same way.

You can’t reach them by simply saying, “You know they really hated the Jews and tried to kill all of us.� Not only does it not inspire them, it might also cause more than a few to bolt from the community, figuring that being Jewish isn’t worth the price. Just look at the high intermarriage rate among children of survivors.

Is the intermarriage rate for children of survivor’s relatively high? What data is Rabbi Eliezrie referencing? Does anyone know?

If so, it is yet one more proof and inspiration for the mainstream Jewish community to say “Never Again!� to the Holocaustism which is foisted upon us and is debilitating in so many way.

My apologies to the Jewish Journal, which has no connection to the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles.

The JTA discusses poll statistics of the ADL with Abe Foxman. His group designed the polls, and then Abe himself offers the interpretation. That way we get two different opinions!

Were European Jewish leaders involved at all? Do they have anything to say?

No. Screw them. We just need to hear from our self-appointed prosecutor, judge, and jury. We can trust him, and him alone. He wouldn’t fudge statistics. Not one bit. This guy is a straight shooter.

A November 2006 study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, associated with Germany’s Social Democratic Party, showed that 18 percent of Germans considered Jewish influence “still too much.” Foxman said the differing results from poll to poll could be the result of many variables. But “one out of five is serious, too,” he noted.

The Federation controlled Jewish Journal writes,

“More than 1,500 Jewish students in Los Angeles public and secular private schools attended a weekly Jewish club during lunch hour this year, thanks to the Jewish Student Union (JSU), an independent [sic!!!!] organization dedicated to bringing a Jewish experience to unaffiliated high school students. JSU is supported by a growing number of federations across the country — including The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles”

Hat tip: NCSY in the News

Earlier

Failed Messiah analyzes the halachic cost to all of us for affinity membership in the B’nai Torah fundamentalist movement. Please note, when I refer to the “B’nai Torah,â€? I am employing the sociological term for the yeshiva movement’s members.

Failed Messiah notes,

The rabbi’s skills at applying the halakha have atrophied because he has become dependent on a far away rosh yeshiva to decide cases. He views himself as part of an affinity group. He does not wish to exclude himself from that group by deciding in a way that group does not, even though his decision would be well within halakhic norms.

He also has to fear other members of his group who, on hearing his decision may very well challenge him and harass him.

This is part of how we get trickle-down haredism. Isn’t it awful?

I just want to be clear that I feel Orthodox Judaism has a lot to offer American Jewry, and that includes traditional-secular and liberal Jewry. While I have many problems with NCSY (and so should you) the fact that they are Orthodox is not the problem.

I would like to see an alternative Orthodox youth group to NCSY; one in which the parents share power (or at least, have input) in terms of policy, and one that respects and seeks reconciliation with their value system whenever possible.

Haredism – particularly deceptive, predatory haredism – is a major problem. But Orthodoxy itself is not a problem. Orthodoxy, in some ways, in many ways, is– at its core– Judaism itself.

The NY Times has a disconcerting story on how Jerusalem is becoming less and less Jewish, and apparently, part of the reason for that is religious extremism.

“When it comes to job opportunities, affordable housing and a varied cultural life, Jerusalem is much less appealing to secular Israelis than Tel Aviv or other cities.

“Jerusalem just got to be too extreme and we decided it was time to leave,� said Alona Angel, 60, an Israeli who lived more than 30 years in Jerusalem before moving to Tel Aviv two years ago when her husband retired and the last of her children finished high school. “After so many years in Jerusalem, I thought it would be hard to leave, but it wasn’t.�

Ms. Angel said she was increasingly turned off by religious and political intolerance. She recalled being casually but modestly dressed one day when an ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman began yelling at her that she was not properly clothed. “I just felt less and less welcome,� said Ms. Angel, an interior designer.

Last year, Jews leaving Jerusalem outnumbered those moving in by 6,000, in line with figures for the past decade, according to the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies.�

Does anyone know if this happens on a regular basis? Is the Times story correct? Are secular Jews being driven out?

Not that you haven’t been supportive, you so have. But if you got a little more to give…send a message to Hillel to move a way from Dark Light.

Vote here.

I really thought we were going to make it to Monday without yet another story on NCSY’s irresponsibility with liberal Jewish teens. I really thought that with shabbos coming, we had a shot.

But NCSY is simply not normal. To not allow for controversy and betrayal from NCSY is like expecting a paranoid schizophrenic to stop talking to himself.

The Canonist points out that NCSY’s new ‘abstinence only’ website actually discourages condom use.

“Condoms are not the answer.”

Neither is NCSY. Would some kind person please chuck these fundamentalists out of our public schools?

Update: jspot weighs in!

NCSY recruits using pizza. NCSY bribes using pizza. And what better way to celebrate their success than to throw a Maimonideis Scholars Dinner for those public school teens (recruited in their public schools, of course) who successfully completed their ten week study with yeshiva students?

Brought to you by the ecumenical JSU, who has no official ties to NCSY and absolutely no agenda. None.

That’s why it’s being celebrated on the West Coast NCSY website! Cause they are so, so generous like that.

Tell the Orthodox Union to take their pizzas and put them where they mix milk and meat!