Monthly Archives: December 2013

Helping Families Have the Most Difficult Conversation

31 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Ethics, Health and Well-Being, Life Cycle, Uncategorized

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Over the weekend I listened to a moving interview on NPR by Linda Wertheimer of former Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman concerning a project that Ms. Goodman helped to establish to encourage adult children and their parents to talk openly about the most difficult and challenging of life’s transitions at the end of life. It is called “The Conversation Project.” Its home page says that

“It’s time to transform our culture so we shift from not talking about dying to talking about it. It’s time to share the way we want to live at the end of our lives. And it’s time to communicate about the kind of care we want and don’t want for ourselves.”  [See: http://theconversationproject.org/about/]

Most people, Ellen Goodman says, have not had that conversation and therefore are unprepared for the inevitable, though most elderly parents have clear ideas about what they want at the end of their lives. They don’t share their wishes with their children, however, because they fear burdening and worrying them, and adult children don’t raise the matter with their parents because they fear upsetting them.

Goodman notes that as unsettling an experience as a parent’s death is, surveys indicate that when conversations about it take place there results less depression, less sorrow, less guilt, and less regret felt by everyone. The conversation can be among the richest and most intimate that we ever have together.

When there is no conversation, however, children often feel lonely and uncertain about what to do when their parents die because they do not know what their parents would have wanted. If adult children, in trepidation, fear and/or denial avoid the inevitable and suppress conversation when their parents want to talk, their parents feel cut off and likely never will have the opportunity to make known what they really want to their children.

The Conversation Project has conducted surveys showing a substantial gap between what people want and what they have shared with those closest to them:

  • 90% know it is important to have these conversations, but only 30% are having them;
  • 60% say that it is “extremely important” that families not be burdened by tough decisions, but 56% have not communicated their end-of-life wishes;
  • 70% say they prefer to die at home, but 70% actually die in a hospital, nursing home or long-term care facility;
  • 82% believe it is important to put their wishes in writing, but only 23% have done so.

The Conversation Project’s “Starter-Kit” offers a workbook of questions that needs to be clarified and shared, and acknowledges how difficult it is for many people to know how to begin the conversation. The Project organizers suggest starting by completing this sentence: “What matters to me at the end of life is…..”

They offer other questions for parents to ask themselves and then share with their children for discussion:  

  • What is most important to me?
  • What can I not imagine living without?
  • What are my greatest worries at the end of my life?
  • Who do I trust to talk to about my desires and wishes?
  • What milestones do I want to meet before I die?
  • What do I want to know about my health?
  • What do I want my loved ones to know about my health?
  • How aggressive should the treatment be in the last stages of my life?
  • Who do I want involved in my end-of-life care?
  • What do I want my loved ones, doctors/nurses and clergy to understand about my wishes?
  • Do I wish to be alone or surrounded by my loved ones when I die?
  • What do I want my loved ones to do when I die?
  • What affairs do I need to get in order now?
  • Do I have a will/trust set up and an Advanced Directive (AD), Health Care Proxy (HCP) and Living Will in place?

The Conversation Project is a gentle, thoughtful and loving prod to help open the hearts, minds and souls of parents and children to each other as the end of life approaches.

See Wertheimer’s and Goodman’s NPR conversation here:  http://www.npr.org/2013/12/28/257822206/helping-families-have-the-most-difficult-conversation

To assist Jews in thinking about Judaism’s traditions concerning terminal illness, death, funerals, burial, and mourning, I have written a 45-page life-cycle guide called “Preparing for Jewish Burial and Mourning”  in an easy-to-use format that addresses most of the questions Jews concerning end-of-life matters, as well as a practical step-by-step guide to prepare for it. See: http://www.tioh.org/images/Worship/ClergyStudy/preparing%20for%20jewish%20burial%20and%20mourning.pdf or http://hillsidememorial.org/images/Jewish-Lifecycle-Guide.pdf.

Don’t put off thinking about these matters, putting your wishes in writing, and discussing them forthrightly with the people you love the most. The time is now.

Year End Reflections of a More Personal and Rabbinic Kind

29 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by in American Jewish Life, Ethics, Health and Well-Being, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Life Cycle, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Social Justice

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On June 10, 1979, I ascended the steps to the bimah at Temple Emanuel in New York City and stood before the open ark with Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk (z’l), President of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (the Reform rabbinic seminary). He placed his hands upon my shoulders in the traditional gesture of S’michah (lit. “Laying on of hands”), looked intensely into my eyes and asked, “Are you prepared to serve as a Rav b’Yisrael (a Rabbi in Israel)?”

“Yes!” I said, and he ordained me “Rabbi.”

Truth be told, I wasn’t at all prepared. Yes, I had learned a great deal and thought deeply about many things, but I had no clue about what would be demanded of me in serving a synagogue community, the Jewish people and God.

Among the most difficult and persistent challenges I have had as a congregational rabbi is to constantly shift my mood and thinking at the drop of a hat (often multiple times daily) according to the demands of the occasion (e.g. birth, b’nai mitzvah, conversion, marriage, divorce and other life traumas, illness, death, and mourning).

Add to that challenge my need to grow spiritually, deepen my Jewish understanding and Hebrew knowledge, and help my congregants understand what it means to be American Jews, ohavei am Yisrael (lovers of the Peoplehood of Israel) and ohavei M’dinat Yisrael (lovers of the State of Israel).

Being a Reform rabbi these days means being a kol bo (i.e. all things to all people) and an emotional chameleon.

The American Reform rabbi’s multiple roles as master of the tradition, teacher, ethical and spiritual leader, friend and pastor, trouble-shooter and problem solver, communal and personal healer, progressive visionary and social activist, and representative of Judaism and the Jewish people are daunting, overwhelming and impossible for any one person to fulfill. I think back to the moment as an undergraduate at the University when I decided to enter the rabbinate, and I realize how very naïve I was.

Having said this, I know that many in other professions and life-roles confront equivalent demands and pressures. What we all share is the need to compartmentalize our lives to such an extent that we can jump effectively from one situation to the next without losing ourselves, damaging our integrity or becoming hard-hearted. We have to be able to hold multiple thoughts and conflicting feelings at the same time, to feel both the joys and sorrows of living without being overwhelmed by one or the other, to appreciate ourselves and others as reflections of Divinity despite our numerous flaws, and to set high moral and ethical standards even as we expect failure, without our resorting to unpleasant, cruel and unnecessary rancor and personal attack.

None of us can do this by ourselves. We need good people in this work – loving spouses/partners, trusted friends, kind and capable colleagues, smart and big-hearted lay leaders, and a community that shares common values, ethics and vision.

Despite the challenges I face continually as a congregational rabbi, this sacred work has been and continues to be rewarding beyond measure. I am grateful for that and for all the people alongside whom I work and love.

As 2014 commences, I wish for you and all those dear to you a year of good health, joy amidst sorrow, spiritual and emotional growth, and expanded meaning.

May Israel reach, at last, a secure and lasting peace with the Palestinian people in a two states for two peoples final resolution of their conflict.

And may all humankind live peacefully under their vines and fig trees with none to make them afraid.

Happy New Year!

Getting to 100 – What Makes for a Long and Healthy life?

27 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by in American Politics and Life, Ethics, Health and Well-Being, Life Cycle, Uncategorized

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“Eat boiled corn with codfish and cream, and laugh…”

“Smoke a good cigar, avoid alcohol, drink water, stay positive, and sing.”

“Thumb your nose at sadness, turn the tables on tragedy, laugh instead of getting angry, and don’t feel envious of anyone.”

“Find a good wife and drink two scotches every night.”

“Fight injustice, help people in trouble and keep your mind active.”

“Do something new each day, avoid drama and stay far away from difficult people.”

“Mind your own business, don’t eat junk food, treat others well, and work hard at what you love.”

“Live for God, pray and surround yourself with nice people.”

These are ten responses given by people who have lived more than 100 years to the question – “Why have you lived so long?”

I’ve thought about the fact of longevity, especially this week, because I visited a house of mourning for a 39 year-old man whose life was cut way too short by cancer, and two days later I officiated at the funeral of a venerable 102 year-old woman who had it all.

Common wisdom says that if we eat well, exercise and manage stress; if we maintain our social connections and faith, then we’ll live long and happily!

Of course, this isn’t always the case. Some of us are more prone to disease and accident than others no matter how healthy we try and live.

Researchers say that genetic factors offer only part of the explanation for why we live longer or shorter amounts of time, but there’s much more to it. It’s now clear that there are many behavioral factors contributing to a person’s longevity including health and health behaviors, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, stress, social and environmental support, mental health, and life satisfaction.

Perhaps the most important study on longevity is “The Longevity Project” written by psychology professors Howard Friedman and Leslie Martin of UC Riverside, who culminate an eight-decade long study begun in 1921 of 1500 precocious children by Stanford University psychologist Lewis Terman. Terman died in 1956 so future researchers picked up where he left off, including Drs. Friedman and Martin.

The 1500 children were followed in meticulous detail throughout their lives. In studying them Friedman and Martin conclude that

“The best childhood predictor of longevity [is] conscientiousness—the qualities of a prudent, persistent, well-organized person—somewhat obsessive and not at all carefree….It’s not the happy-go-lucky who thrive—it’s the prudent and persistent who flourish through the years.”

They offer three possible reasons for this. First,

“…conscientious people do more … to protect their health and engage in fewer [risky] activities …. are less likely to smoke or drive too fast. They buckle their seat belts and follow the doctor’s advice…They are not necessarily risk averse but they tend to be sensible in evaluating how far to push the envelope.” 

Second, some of us are

“…biologically predisposed to be …more conscientious and healthier ….less prone to develop certain diseases, … these people have different levels of the chemical…serotonin in their brains [serotonin helps to determine happiness and well-being]…Individuals with low levels of serotonin tend to be much more impulsive…” and they eat more and sleep less.

And third,

“Having a conscientious personality leads a person into healthier situations and relationships… happier marriages, better friendships and healthier work situations.”

This study showed that kids described as cheerful and optimistic did not live as long as those boring and serious kids who worried constantly about school, studied and worked hard.

The one factor that best predicted long life, even more than happiness itself, is purposeful goal-oriented work, whether for a paycheck or for its own sake. People who are drawn to live their lives, however, with other like-minded, healthy, active and involved people significantly increase the odds of their living longer and more happily.

And so, what does our tradition have to offer about what makes for a long and good life?

The Book of Proverbs instructs us to behave moderately in all things, to seek the middle path, to acquire knowledge and understanding in the ways of the world, and to seek higher wisdom. We’re called upon to build stable communities that care for all its citizens, to act with dignity, integrity, honesty, generosity, and kindness, to respect the wisdom given us by the generations, to heal ourselves and repair the world, and to walk humbly before God.

Judaism teaches that it’s not the number of days or years that we live, it’s the quality of those days that matters.

I pray that each of us will be blessed not only with length of years, but also with the knowledge that we lived ethically and compassionately having contributed to making our world a better, more compassionate and just place. Amen!

Express Your Gratitude to 25 American Universities for Protesting ASA Boycott of Israeli Universities

24 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Ethics, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Uncategorized

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My friend and colleague, Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin, has written an appeal for us to perform an important mitzvah: hakarat ha-tov – “recognizing the good” by thanking the Presidents and Chancellors of 25 American colleges and universities that have refused to join the boycott of Israeli universities called by the American Studies Association (ASA).

Not only have these academic leaders refused to join the ASA boycott, but many have made strongly worded public statements condemning the Association’s bigoted assault not only on the integrity of Israel’s institutions of higher learning, but on the State of Israel itself.

Israel is a great democracy, and as all great democracies it has its share of imperfections. However, for the ASA to single out Israel when truly grievous human rights abuses are occurring in countries all over the world that make Israel’s imperfections pale by comparison raises serious questions not only about the fairness of the supporters of the ASA anti-Israel boycott, but also about their deeper motives, their anti-Jewish and anti-Israel animus, and their personal integrity.

Rabbi Salkin has provided us the names, email addresses, and mailing addresses of the leadership of these 25 institutions. He says

“… it is not enough to scream gevalt when we have been wounded. We also have to scream ‘thank you’ to those who are our friends, to those who stood up for truth, to those who have refused to have their educational institutions seduced by all too common siren song of anti-Israelism. We need to thank those institutions, especially if we are alumni of them, and/or our children or grandchildren attend them.”

Here is the letter that I wrote and sent this morning, in answer to Jeff’s call, to each of the twenty-five university and college presidents and chancellors. I urge you to follow suit and fill their mailboxes with our individual and collective love and gratitude. Feel free to use my letter as is, or change it, or write your own; but write to let them know that their courage and commitment to truth and decency has not gone unnoticed nor unappreciated.

Dear President/Chancellor:

I want to add my voice to the voices of countless fair-minded people in expressing my deepest gratitude to you and your university for your commitment to truth, intellectual honesty and independent inquiry, to common decency and fairness, and to your courage and generosity of spirit in standing up to and protesting the American Studies Association (ASA) boycott of the State of Israel’s academic institutions.

What you have done preserves the dignity and integrity not only of Israel’s institutions of higher learning, but of your own.

I am grateful beyond words.

Sincerely,

Rabbi John L. Rosove

Senior Rabbi – Temple Israel of Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA

Boston University. Dr. Robert A. Brown, President. John and Kathryn Silber
Administrative Center, 1 Silber Way (8th Floor), Boston, MA. 02215.
president@bu.edu

Brandeis University. Fred Laurence, President. Office of the President,
Irving Enclave 113, MS 100, 415 South Street, Waltham, MA 02453

Brown University. Christina Paxson, President. Office of the President,
Brown University, Box 1860, 1 Prospect Street, Providence, RI 02912

Cornell University. David J. Skorton, President. Office of the President,
300 Day Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. president@cornell.edu

Dickinson College. Nancy A. Roseman, President. Dickinson College, Post
Office Box 1773 , Carlisle, PA 17013. presofc@dickinson.edu

Duke University. Richard A. Brodhead, President. Office of the President,
Duke University, 207 Allen Building, Box 90001, Durham, NC 27708-0001.
president@duke.edu

George Washington University. Steven Knapp, President. Rice Hall, 2121 I
Street, NW, Suite 801, Washington, DC 20052

Harvard University. Dr. Drew Faust, President. Office of the President,
Harvard University, Massachusetts Hall, Cambridge, MA 02138
president@harvard.edu

Indiana University. Michael A. McRobbie, President. Office of the
President, Indiana University, Bryan Hall 200, 107 S. Indiana Ave.,
Bloomington, IN 47405

Michigan State University. Lou Anna K. Simon, President. Office of the
President, Michigan State University, 426 Auditorium Road, Hannah
Administration Building, Room 450, East Lansing, MI 48824-1046.
presmail@msu.edu

New York University. John Sexton, President. Office of the President, New
York University, 70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012
john.sexton@nyu.edu

Northwestern University. Morton Shapiro, President. 2-130 Rebecca Crown
Center, 633 Clark Street, Evanston, Illinois 60208.
nu-president@northwestern.edu

Princeton University. Christopher L. Eisgruber, President. Office of the
President, 1 Nassau Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544

Tulane University. Scott S. Cowen, President. Tulane University, 218 Gibson
Hall, 6823 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118-5684

University of California-Irvine. Michael V. Drake, MD, Chancellor.
University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697 chancellor@uci.edu

University of California-San Diego. Praddep K. Khosia, chancellor-elect.
Office of the Chancellor, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman
Drive # 0005, La Jolla, California 92093-0005. chancellor@ucsd.edu

University of Kansas. Bernadette Gray-Little, Chancellor. Chancellor’s
Office, University of Kansas, 230 Strong Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045-7518.
chancellor@ku.edu

University of Maryland. Wallace D. Loh, President. University of Maryland,
1101 Main Administration Building, College Park, MD 20742-6105
president@umd.edu

University of Pennsylvania. Amy Gutmann, President. Office of the President,
University of Pennsylvania, 1 College Hall, Room 100, Philadelphia, PA
19104-6380. presweb@pobox.upenn.edu

University of Pittsburgh. Mark Nordenberg, Chancellor. University of
Pittsburgh , 107 Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh, PA 15260

University of Texas-Austin. William Powers, Jr., President. Office of the
President, 110 Inner Campus Drive, Stop G3400, Austin, TX. 78712-3400

Washington University in St. Louis. Mark Stephen Wrighton, Chancellor.
Campus Box 1192, One Brookings Drive , St. Louis, MO 63130
wrighton@wustl.edu

Wesleyan University. Michael S. Roth, President. 229 High Street,
Middletown, CT. 06459. presoffice@wesleyan.edu

Willamette University. Stephen E. Thorsett, President. 900 State Street,
Salem, Oregon 97301 president@willamette.edu

Yale University. Peter Salovey, President. President’s Office , Yale
University PO Box 208229 , New Haven, CT 06520-8229
presidents.office@yale.edu

When Our Parents Reach Extreme Old Age

22 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by in American Jewish Life, Health and Well-Being, Life Cycle, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Stories, Uncategorized

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My mother was once a beautiful, vital, vivacious, smart, intellectually engaged, and generous woman. She was strong-willed, independent, high-powered, and passionate. Her family meant everything to her and she had many devoted friends.

Today, at 96 she is nearly blind, nearly deaf, and has dementia. She can no longer read, hear music, listen to books on tape/CD, or watch television. She falls frequently and has many aches and pains. Most of her friends have died and all her nine brothers and sisters are gone.

Two years ago it was clear to my brother, me and everyone who knew her that she needed to move from part-time to full-time care, but she could not afford to have someone live in her home 24-7. We decided to move her from independent to assisted living, but she resisted mightily. At last we refused to take “no” for an answer.

Over these two years her situation has worsened. At times my mother knows who I am, but she forgets seconds later and wonders what strange man is sitting with her, and why. I remind her that I am her son, but she is now more often than not bewildered, frustrated and angry because she is aware enough to know how much mental capacity she has lost and of the dramatically shrunken world in which she exists.

Only two things sustain her these days. She has some of her long-term memory remaining, and so she recalls vividly her parents and siblings thus bringing them alive; and her knowledge that my brother and I we are well and happy offers her a measure of comfort.

I share my mother’s situation with you because I know that my brother and I are not alone. Many others also experience the disabilities that afflict their parents, grandparents and loved ones as they reach extreme old age.

In a lucid moment yesterday, my mother asked me, “What could I have possibly done that God hates me so much to make me so miserable!”

I took her hand and said, “Mom – How could God possibly hate you? You have always been loving and generous. You were always the first to respond to those in trouble and who needed help – to family, friends and strangers. You contributed to every good cause. You served the Jewish community devotedly. I cannot believe that God is angry at you. Rather, I am sure that God loves you. I love you. Michael [my brother] loves you. You are just very very old, and this is what happens when people get old like you!”

She listened but didn’t respond. I don’t know if she understood me.

What else could I say? She is miserable, and for good reason.

She spoke about another woman, Anna, who is a resident on her floor and a devout Catholic, and said that Anna has more reason than most to end her life because she is “even more miserable than me!” She added, “There are ways to end your life, you know. But she won’t do it, because she’s religious.”

“What about you, Mom? Do you ever want to end your life?”

“Yes, I want to die,” she said, “but I would never take my life for the same reason that she doesn’t take hers!”

I marveled at how strong, still, is my mother’s faith. From the time she was a child in Winnipeg, Manitoba she was a deeply spiritual and religiously inclined person. On Friday nights she secretly went to synagogue alone without her parents and siblings knowing because they thought religion was nonsense. She told them she was attending school events.

Every Shabbat for months I have been offering a mi shebeirach healing blessing for my mother over an open Torah; but of late, I have begun to wonder whether I should stop based on a famous story from the Talmud.

When the great Rabbi Judah HaNasi was near death his disciples came to pray on his behalf in the courtyard below his window. His maidservant, hearing the desires of those “above” for Rabbi Judah’s soul and the desires of the students “below” decided to drop an earthen vessel to the courtyard stones hoping that the crash would at least momentarily distract Rabbi Judah’s students from their prayers. The noise indeed diverted their attention and they stopped praying. It was then that Rabbi Judah gave up his breath to God. (Talmud Bavli, Ketubot 104a). Rabbi Judah’s maidservant is regarded positively and with respect by tradition.

The Biblical Kohelet wrote that there is

“A season set for everything, / A time for every experience under heaven; / A time for being born and a time for dying…” (3:1-2)

When is my mother’s time for dying? Are my prayers on her behalf in any way sustaining her when she so deeply wishes and is ready to pass on?

Excruciating questions, and I have no answers.

Final Word to Dr. Gerald Steinberg on Bedouin Human Rights – by Rabbi Jill Jacobs of T’ruah

20 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by in Ethics, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Social Justice, Uncategorized

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Over the past two weeks there has been a war of words published in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal on line between Dr. Gerald Steinberg of Bar Ilan University, Rabbi Jill Jacobs the President of Teruah, and me on the issue of Bedouin human rights in Israel and the recent Prawer-Begin Bill that passed the Knesset and then was cancelled by Prime Minister Netanyahu for reasons, frankly, that are unclear (some say that the human rights organizations forced him to withdraw the bill; others say that his coalition parties in the right were equally unhappy for other reasons with the bill).

I have deferred to Jill as the leader of a respected human rights organization of 1800 rabbis to respond to Dr. Steinberg. Jill’s most recent excellent and comprehensive piece (published yesterday) on the situation of the Bedouin who are citizens of the state of Israel, by the way, I believe, should settle the issue.

For Rabbi Jill Jacob’s piece, Paste http://www.jewishjournal.com/opinion/article/the_bedouin_human_rights_and_legitimacy_a_final_word_to_gerald_steinberg. Dr. Steinberg’s prior piece has a link within Jill’s article.

O Purest of Souls – D’var Torah Sh’mot

19 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by in Divrei Torah, Inuyim - Prayer reflections and ruminations, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Poetry, Uncategorized

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The Book of Exodus is essentially a story about God’s saving love for the oppressed Israelites. It begins with the birth of Moses and follows him as a young prince and then as he turned into a rebel and outlaw, then a shepherd, and finally THE prophet of God.

Why Moses? What was so unique about him that God chose him to be his most intimate prophet?

Moses was a complex man; passionate, pure, just, humble, at home nowhere, carrying always his people’s burdens while hearing God’s words.

Moses was absolutely unique, the only prophet to speak panim el panim (“face to face”) with God, and that is what my drash-poem is about. Moses is the most important Jew in our history and our gold standard of a religious, moral and political leader.

In our own time the world has benefited from great leaders including Mahatma Gandhi, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Dr. Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, and President Nelson Mandela. Nevertheless, Moses stands alone.

So often we walk in a daze, / Eyes sunk into creviced faces / Fettered to worldly tasks / And blind to rainbows.

I imagine Moses, in Midian, like that, / Brooding in exile,  / Burdened by the people’s suffering, / Knowing each day / Their screaming in stopped-up hearts / And their shedding of silent tears.

A simple shepherd he was, / Staff in hand counting sheep / Until one day / Weaving through rocks /Among bramble bushes he heard / Thorns popping. / Turning his head / His eyes opened  / As if for the first time.

God had long before / taken note of him,  / From his birth,  / But waited until this moment  / To choose him as Prophet.

Dodi dofek pit’chi li  / A-choti ra-yati  / yo-nati ta-mati. / “Open to me, my dove, / my twin,  / my undefiled one.” (Song of Songs 5:2)

Moses heard God’s voice / and beheld angels,  / His soul flowing in sacred rivers / Of Shechinah light.

‘Why me?  / Why am I so privileged / To behold such wonder?  / Unworthy as I am!’

God said, / ‘Moses – I have chosen you  / Because your heart is burdened / and worried,  / Because you know the world’s cruelty,  / and you have not become cruel. / Nor do you stand by idly / when others bleed.

You are a tender of sheep,  / And you will lead my people  / With the shepherd’s staff  / And inspire them / To open their stopped-up hearts / without fear.’

Trembling, Moses looked again  / Into the bush-flames,  / Free from smoke and ash.

His eyes opened as in a dream  / And he heard a soft-murmuring-sound  / The same that breath makes / As it passes through lips.

MOSHE MOSHE!—HINEINI!

Two voices—One utterance!  / He hid his face  / For the more Moses heard  / The brighter was the light  / And he knew he must turn away / Or die.

The prophet’s thoughts were free  / Soaring beyond form / No longer of self. / To this very day there has not been a purer soul / Than his.

God said, / ‘Come no closer, Moses! / Remove your shoes,  / Stand barefoot;  /  I want your soul.

I am here with you  / And in you –  / I am every thing  / And no thing –  / And you are Me. / I see that which is  / And which is not  / And I hear it all.

Take heed shepherd-prince / For My people‘s blood / Calls to Me from the ground, / And the living suffer / A thousand deaths.

You must take them out!  / Every crying child – / Every lashed man – / Every woman screaming.

And Moses, know this / “With weeping they will come, / And with compassion will I guide them.” (Jeremiah 31:8)

The people’s exile began with tears  / And it will end with tears.

I have recorded their story in a Book – / Black fire on white fire – / Letters on parchment  / Telling of slaves  / Seeing light  / And turning to Me  / To become a nation.

The Book is My spirit,  / The letters are My heart, / They are near to you  / That you might do them  / And teach them  / And redeem My world  / And free every human being –  / My cherished children all –  / That the world might not be consumed / In flames.

That book I give to you / O purest of souls.

Rabbi Jill Jacobs Responds to Dr. Gerald Steinberg’s Attack on Israeli NGOs

17 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by in Ethics, Israel/Zionism, Social Justice, Uncategorized

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Rabbi Jill Jacobs is Executive Director of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, and she alerted a few others and me in Los Angeles to the appearance of an article in the on-line edition of the Los Angeles Jewish Journal by Dr. Gerald Steinberg, who attacked harshly a group of  Israeli human rights organizations and NGOs because of their stance on the Knesset’s Prawer-Begin plan to relocate 40,000 Israeli Bedouin citizens from their homes in the Negev.

I thought it more important for Jill, speaking as the leader of one of these NGOs, to be the one to respond, and she did so in yesterday’s edition. See http://www.jewishjournal.com/opinion/article/a_response_to_gerald_steinberg_on_the_prawer_begin_plan – “A response to Gerald Steinberg on the Prawer-Begin plan.” Dr. Steinberg’s article has has a link in Jill’s piece.

My synagogue group met with Dr. Steinberg over dinner in October as part of our Israel-Palestine Mission. Despite my respect for him and his work over many years, I was shocked and disappointed by our time with him.

I had asked Dr. Steinberg to reflect on the politics of the Middle East and Israeli security where his expertise lies. Before eventually getting to these matters he took quite some time to criticize harshly those human rights groups who he charged defame Israel’s good name abroad.

I do not know why he chose to do this with us. Perhaps because he knew of my role as co-chair of the Rabbinic Cabinet of J Street and my support of B’tzelem, Shalom Achshav, Ir Amim, NIF, T’ruah, Rabbis for Human Rights, and other human rights groups in Israel. Our group also had some influential members in medicine, the law, politics, business, and the arts.

It felt like an old settled battle was being waged yet again, that being a critic of Israeli policy is conflated with hostility to the state of Israel. Being a critic of certain policies, of course, does NOT automatically imply anti-Israel hostility. Israelis themselves are among the most self-critical citizens of any nation in the world, and Jewish tradition encourages debate. Indeed, it is contrary to Jewish tradition to withhold legitimate criticism. To criticize from love, in my mind, is the highest form of patriotism.

This is what many of the human rights organizations do that Dr. Steinberg attacks, including T’ruah, Shalom Achshav, B’tzelem, Ir Amim, New Israel Fund, Rabbis for Human Rights, and others.

Each and every one of these organizations is concerned with justice and the dignity of the individual (regardless of nationality, gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or ethnic origin) as a reflection of the divine. The values and policies these NGOs support are reflected in Israel’s own Declaration of Independence.

I applaud Rabbi Jacobs in her response to Dr. Steinberg and urge readers to read both hers and his original piece.

Human Rights Organizations Challenge New Amendment to Infiltration Law

16 Monday Dec 2013

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As readers of my blog here and at the Los Angeles Jewish Journal (http://www.jewishjournal.com/rabbijohnrosovesblog)  know, I have been writing of the travails of the estimated 55,000 Eritrean and Sudanese Refugees who made it to Israel by walking hundreds of miles because they desperately sought safety from the genocidal dictatorships ruling their countries. In last week’s blog I wrote of the Knesset‘s passing a new amendment to the Anti-Infiltration Law that permits incarceration of these political asylum seekers for up to one year in an open incarceration center (i.e. prison) in the south in the middle of nowhere. In this center, there is a roll-call performed three times every day, so these people cannot successfully walk to the nearest Israeli town to buy food or toothpaste or anything in a grocery store and return to the incarceration center in time for roll-call. Should they not show up, they would be deported to their country of origin and most likely suffer death at the hands of their government.

Despite the High Court’s earlier ruling that the original Knesset bill calling for three years incarceration was contrary to Israel’s Basic Laws about freedom, the Knesset modified the law to one year.

I print below this morning’s press release (December 16) from Israel’s “Hotline for Refugees and Migrants” whose leader Sigal Rozen led my congregants and I on a walking tour of the South Tel Aviv neighborhood in which 35,000 Eritreans and Sudanese Refugees are forced to live (this is a 3 or 4 block area around the central bus station).

Israel’s human rights organizations are not taking the most recent Knesset bill without fighting back. As you can see below, they are going back to the High Court of Justice (Israel’s Supreme Court) and appealing the legality of the Knesset bill.

Stay tuned!

Press release
December 16, 2013
 
Human Rights Organizations Challenge New Amendment to Infiltration Law

New law even more unconstitutional than the one overturned by Court in September
 
Yesterday (December 15) several human rights organizations filed a petition with the High Court of Justice seeking the nullification of the new amendment to the Law to Prevent Infiltration. The organizations claim that the new amendment does not abide by the principles set forth by the Court’s September 15 decision to overturn the previous amendment to the law, and is in many ways more severe than the nullified amendment.
 
The petition was submitted by Attorneys Oded Feller and Yonatan Berman of theAssociation for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Attorneys Asaf Weitzan and Nimrod Avigal of the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants (formerly the Hotline for Migrant Workers), Attorneys Anat Ben Dor and Elad Cahana of the Refugee Rights Clinic at Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law, and Attorney Osnat Cohen Lifshitz of theClinic for Migrants’ Right at the Academic Center for Law and Business, on behalf of ASSAF – Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel, Kav Laoved, Physicians for Human Rights, the African Refugee Development Center (ARDC), and two asylum seekers from Eritrea transferred last weekend from Saharonim prison to the Holot “open” facility across the road.
 
The petition strongly criticized the state’s actions following the High Court decision. Rather than seek new humane solutions to the refugee issue as the Court directed, the respondents delayed the releases ordered by the Court as long as possible and rushed through a piece of legislation that undermines the ruling and continues treating the asylum seekers inhumanely. The new amendment’s one-year administrative detention provision ignores the Court’s ruling on the unconstitutionality of imprisoning people who cannot be deported. Perhaps worse, the amendment allows for the interminable detention of non-deportable migrants in facilities managed by the prison authorities and designed to break their spirit until they “voluntarily” self-deport, even if it means endangering their lives.
 
The petition further argues that the ostensible deterrence purpose of the legislation presents a solution to a problem that does not exist because no new asylum seekers are reaching Israel. “Less than three months after the decision, which included harsh criticism, the legislation was passed in lighting speed. What changed during this period? Nothing. Was there a substantial increase of asylum seekers entering Israel that required a response? No. According to Population and Immigration Authority publications, in the past three moths, 4 Sudanese men have entered Israel irregularly.”
 
To support their request for an interim injunction, the petitioners point out that despite the government having decided to build the “open” facility over than three years ago, it saw no use for it until the court’s decision to overturn the prior amendment. “The urgency of the legislation and the completion of the facility demonstrate that its establishment and operation are not the result not of substantive considerations but rather the desire to avoid releasing the detainees, in defiance of the decision of the Court.”
 
For these reasons, the petitioners claim that the new amendment, like the old one, is “outside constitutional boundaries and does not comport to the principles set forth by the High Court of Justice, to the point of ignoring [the prior amendment’s] having been voided at all.”  The petitioners seek an urgent hearing on the petition and an injunction to stay the transfer of asylum seekers to the Holot facility. Justice Handel ordered the respondents to file their response to the injunction request within ten days.
 
To read the entire petition (in Hebrew) click here.
For more information about the previous legal proceedings (in English) click here.
Media enquiries:
Anat Ovadia (Hotline for Refugees and Migrants)
054-3177851
Marc Grey (ACRI)
0544405203

A New Israeli “Anti-Infiltration Law” and Parashat Vayechi

11 Wednesday Dec 2013

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Vayechi is the final parashah in the book of Genesis (47:28-50:26) and it is unusual in a specific way that bears on the State of Israel’s new “Anti-Infiltration Law” aimed at containing 55,000 Eritrean and Sudanese political refugees seeking political asylum in Israel.

What is so unusual about Vayechi that I would make such a connection to contemporary Israel’s dilemma with African refugees?

Every Torah portion’s end is followed by nine open spaces before the first verse of the next parashah begins. But not Vayechi! It is completely closed; that is, it proceeds immediately without interruption by spaces after the last word of last week’s Torah portion Vayigash .

Rashi asks what this might mean, and he concludes that this section is closed “For when Jacob our father died, the eyes and hearts of Israel were closed because of the affliction of the bondage with which the Egyptians began to enslave them.”

Rashi teaches that the enslavement of the people was the beginning of their exile, a condition characterized by spiritual blindness and a hardening of the heart.

Exile takes on many forms – physical, emotional, and spiritual. This means that a Jew can be in exile even if he/she lives in the Land of Israel, in Jerusalem the holy city, in the Old City’s Jewish Quarter, and within meters of the Kotel (the holiest site in Judaism).

Indeed, exile is not just about one’s physical location. It is about being separate from God and distant from the Jewish people’s core spiritual aspirations, from the Jewish people itself, from our people’s prophetic moral and ethical principles, and from humanity as a whole.

The Knesset this last week passed a new version of the “Anti-Infiltration Law,” a law that mandates placing into detention centers asylum seekers who make it to Israel. A version of the policy that allowed for detention periods of up to three years was struck down by the Israeli High Court of Justice three months ago on the grounds that it amounted to an unacceptable deprivation of liberty. This new version allows for the detention without trial for one year and for refugees to be held indefinitely in a new “open facility.”

More than 55,000 refugees had made it to Israel on foot seeking political asylum as relief from Eritrean and Sudanese genocidal campaigns before Israel completed its southern security fence prohibiting further infiltration.

Though Israel has not deported them for what I presume are humanitarian reasons, I do not understand why Israel has passed this new law, why it refuses to grant these people political asylum or, shy of that, to grant them indefinite work permits until repatriation is safe. Eritreans and Sudanese refugees already work where they can in Tel Aviv’s hotels and on construction sites on a per diem basis, but they have no security as illegal aliens in the state, can be arrested and deported, and taxed heavily for whatever income they have earned thus depleting whatever financial security they have gained. It should be noted that the Eritrean and Sudanese crime rate in Israel is six times smaller than crime rates committed by Israeli citizens.

The State of Israel is a great democracy that has made great contributions in science, medicine, agriculture, water conservation, technology, education, archaeology, the arts, culture, immigrant absorption, and disaster relief in Haiti and the Philippines. It has most recently treated 800 Syrian casualties under the world’s radar from the Syrian civil war, to its enormous credit.

But in this area of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers, I do not understand why the Israeli government has chosen to do what it did this week.

Does Israel really wish to be closed like the end of the last parashah, shut off from its own Jewish heart and soul to peoples in desperate need?