10 Thursday Jan 2019
Posted in Ethics, Quote of the Day
10 Thursday Jan 2019
Posted in American Politics and Life, Ethics, Human rights, Social Justice
“In contrast to the prophets of the Hebrew Bible who sought to establish goodness in the world, the President’s Oval Office speech this week exposes his malignant world view.”
This is taken from my blog at the Times of Israel. To read it, please go to https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/there-are-hearts-that-are-stones/
07 Monday Jan 2019
With the announcement this past week by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu that elections will be held on April 9 for a new Knesset, I hope that the words by Tamir Pardo, a former head of the Mossad (Israeli’s intelligence services), will be uppermost in the minds of a majority of Israelis when they cast their votes. He said:
“Israel has one existential threat. It is a ticking time bomb … Israel must deal with the demographic reality and [decide] which state we want to be. Life with alternative facts harbors a disaster for the Zionist vision. The key to saving the state requires brave leadership.”
The alternative facts he warns against is a one-state solution as the answer to Israel’s Palestinian conflict. But a one-state solution will compromise Israel as both a Jewish and a democratic state that the founding generation envisioned. The only credible alternative is a negotiated end-of-conflict two-state resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
06 Sunday Jan 2019
Posted in Israel/Zionism, Jewish History
Note: For those following the news in Israel since the Prime Minister called for new elections (scheduled for April 9), the jockeying of position among potential candidates and their parties, the creation of new political parties, the hardball politics that’s even tougher than in the United States, AG Avichai Mandelblit’s long-awaited report of Netanyahu’s alleged corruption charges could have a significant impact on the political fortunes of the PM. Though some observers believe Bibi will be elected Prime Minister regardless of whether the AG indicts him on alleged corruption charges (as has been recommended by the Israeli police after a very long investigation), they also don’t believe that an indicted PM can remain in office over the long term. If he is convicted, Bibi’s fate could be similar to that of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who went to prison for corruption while he served as Mayor of Jerusalem.
See https://bit.ly/2GTCzai for the article itself. For those who don’t subscribe to Haaretz, here is the piece that appeared in today’s Haaretz by Revital Hovel.
“Avichai Mendelblit to announce whether Netanyahu will be indicted in three cases before April 9 election, source says
Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit is expected to make a decision on whether to charge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the three criminal investigations pending against the prime minister before the April 9 Knesset elections and will announce his decision next month, a source close to Mendelblit has told Haaretz.
The attorney general himself declined to comment on when he would make a decision, saying: “It’s no secret that we’re trying to work as quickly as possible.” But he added that the decision would “in no way [come] at the expense of professionalism.”
Amid speculation as to how the decision might affect the election, and criticism from Netanyahu, who said he would not resign if summoned for a pre-indictment hearing, the attorney general has received backing from senior Justice Ministry officials and from his own predecessors in his efforts to make a decision before the election.
These backers said they believe it is Mendelblit’s obligation to made the decision public before the election. Mendelblit added that there was “nothing to prevent” the prime minister from serving in office prior to a pre-indictment hearing if it is decided to file charges against Netanyahu. For his part, late last month, Netanyahu, said: “It’s inconceivable that a hearing against me will be launched before the election and it will end after it.”
One of the cases against the prime minister, dubbed Case 1000, involves allegations that the prime minister accepted gifts from wealthy business figures in violation of the law.
A second case, Case 2000, centers on discussions between the prime minister and Arnon Mozes, the publisher of the Yedioth Ahronoth daily, allegedly involving favorable news coverage for the prime minister in exchange for government policies benefitting Yedioth.
The third case, Case 4000, involves allegations that Netanyahu provided regulatory concessions to the controlling shareholder at the time of the Bezeq telecommunications firm in exchange for favorable coverage from Bezeq’s news website, Walla. The prime minister denies any wrongdoing in the cases.
Mendelblit began marathon meetings on the cases about two weeks ago. Deliberations on Case 1000 took two weeks and have concluded. On Sunday discussions are expected to begin on Case 2000, to be followed by Case 4000. In Case 1000, Mendelblit is reportedly inclined to indict the prime minister for fraud and breach of trust.
04 Friday Jan 2019
Note: This was sent to our congregants at Temple Israel of Hollywood in support of the LA Women’s March. Please note the strategic activities we have scheduled around this event.
To Our TIOH Family,
It would be impossible to overstate the power and uplift so many of us have felt witnessing and participating in the past two Women’s Marches. These marches, harnessing multigenerational expressions of women’s dignity and power and bringing to light so many issues of critical importance to our country, have been catalysts for much good in our world.
It is, at the same time, impossible to ignore published accounts claiming that specific individuals in leadership positions of the National Women’s March have made blatantly anti-Semitic remarks.
We at TIOH have been and remain committed to the Women’s Rights Movement, gender justice, and civil rights. We also refuse to let anti-Semitic statements or actions go without response. Our challenge is to hold both truths in this complicated and fraught time, which at its core, holds so very much potential for change.
We share with you our thoughts on this moment:
Please read these comments from the Union for Reform Judaism and Women of Reform Judaism. You will see that our position at TIOH is cast in the same spirit as our Reform movement’s leadership.
Join us at the LA Women’s March! TIOHers will be joining Jewish Center for Justice (JCJ), as well as folks from synagogues across Los Angeles, at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 19th to pray and march together. Meetup details will be forthcoming.
In addition to marching, come to the following events:
For questions about our Social Justice work at TIOH, please contact Heidi Segal heidijsegal@gmail.com.
If you would like to join TIOH’s Gender Justice Social Justice Working Group, please click here or contact co-chairs, Marilyn Szatmary and Margaret Katch.
B’tzedek –
Rabbi John L. Rosove – Rabbi Michelle Missaghieh – Rabbi Jocee Hudson – Shelly Fox, Cantorial Soloist and Musical Director – Heidi Segal, TIOH Vice President, Social Justice – Aliza Lesser, WoTIOH Chair
03 Thursday Jan 2019
Posted in American Jewish Life, Divrei Torah, Health and Well-Being
Image thanks to Shutterstock
Recently, I was talking with a good friend and colleague when he said, “John – I’ve been really irritable lately. Everything people do and say bothers me.”
I asked if anything particular was wrong. “No. Everything’s fine,” he said. His marriage is happy and strong, his children well, and his work satisfying.
“Yet, I feel impatient all the time. Things that normally don’t bother me now do.”
Knowing the way he works I suggested that he was likely exhausted. “Perhaps,” he said, “but I don’t feel any more tired than normal!”
That’s the rub. My friend’s “normal” isn’t normal at all. Though he does what many rabbis do, such work is so often overwhelming. When I spelled it out for him, he acknowledged that I was probably right.
Certainly, the rabbinate isn’t the only occupation that exhausts its practitioners. No one is immune in any walk of life.
In this week’s Torah portion Vaera (Exodus 6:2-10:1) we see the deleterious impact that relentless demands can have upon us.
The pivotal scene puts Moses talking with God. He and Aaron had appeared before Pharaoh to demand the people’s liberation; but, every request turned Pharaoh’s heart harder.
God responded by promising the people the greatest reward:
“I will take you out from under the burdens of Egypt and I will rescue you from their bondage and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great retributions. And I will take you to Me as a people and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God Who takes you out from under the burdens of Egypt. And I will bring you to the land that I raised My hand to pledge to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you as an inheritance. I am the Lord. And Moses spoke thus to the Israelites, but they did not heed Moses out of (kotzer ruach) shortness of breath and hard bondage.” (Exodus 6:6-8 – translation, Robert Alter)
What’s the meaning?
Rashi’s comment: “The people didn’t accept consolation [i.e. Moses’ message of their impending redemption] for they were too much under stress.”
Though we are no longer “slaves,” our schedules control us, people to whom we’ve given influence over our lives oppress us, obligations we’ve taken on weigh us down, and the legitimate needs of others burden us.
In thinking about the deleterious impact of being constantly burdened, I recall Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind: Why Right-brainers Will Rule the Future. He showed that in business, manufacturing, construction, law, medicine, the sciences, education, religion, and the arts, creativity will be the competitive difference that distinguishes one thing from another.
Speaking personally, my synagogue is a center of intense productivity, but for me, when I’m in my synagogue study almost nothing creative comes because of the constant demands made upon me in the building by young and old, staff and lay leaders. That’s a central part of my work, so I’m not complaining. Creativity, however, happens for me at home when I’m alone studying, reading, thinking, and writing.
The novelist and Nobel laureate Pearl S. Buck wrote:
“The truly creative mind in any field is … a human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him[her]… a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create – S/he must create, … s/he is not really alive unless s/he is creating.”
We need to be able to create environments that catalyze the greatness within us. An essential element to creativity is our solitude.
My rabbinic friend is not me disguised, but like him I too feel the effects of kotzer ruach, shortness of breath. Necessary breaks in our routine encourage ruach shalem, wholeness of spirit.
In this new secular year, I hope for each of you that measure of wholeness leading to your own creativity and expression.
Shabbat Shalom.
31 Monday Dec 2018
Posted in Ethics, Human rights, Israel/Zionism, Jewish Identity, Social Justice, Uncategorized
….Over the past two decades, a few hundred asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution in the DRC have come to Israel. Immediately upon their arrival most filed requests for political asylum, but the Ministry of Interior affairs has never reviewed them. Nevertheless, to Israel’s credit, for more than 15 years Israel has carried out a policy of group protection for the Congolese who reside in Israel legally and have been given the chance to rebuild their lives.
However, on November 7, 2018 without any change in conditions in the DRC, the Ministry of Interior placed a notice on its website that it intends to withdraw group protection from the Congolese community. The decision was based on a secret assessment drawn up by the Ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs that they deliberately kept from the public and which stands in contradiction to reports from reliable sources and by the international press that conditions remain dire in the Congo. Nothing there has changed.
For the complete story, please click onto my blog at the Times of Israel:
28 Friday Dec 2018
I write to address directly the constant sniping from pro-Israel right-wing rabbis and activists who repeatedly criticize J Street without knowledge of the facts of J Street’s record of statements and actions. These loud voices represent a minority in the American Jewish community. They serve to intimidate, drown out, and silence other voices willing to defend J Street’s position that a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the only path to sustain Israel’s democracy and Jewish character and to Palestinian national aspirations.
See entire article on my blog at the Times of Israel – https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/in-defense-of-j-street-why-knowing-the-facts-might-change-your-mind/
27 Thursday Dec 2018
Posted in Israel/Zionism
Note #1: Whenever I post an article from Haaretz, as I do below, I urge you to take up a subscription. Haaretz is the NY Times of Israel with a liberal editorial policy and journalists you can trust.
Note #2: This piece is for Israel political watchers. Bibi’s announcement of new elections scheduled for April 9, 2019 has forced political parties and individuals such as former Chief of Staff Benny Gantz to get prepared for primary campaigns and new alignments.
Note #3: Why did Bibi call elections early (they were scheduled for November, 2019)? Why not wait? There are four reasons:
Here is the article from Haaretz:
Former IDF chief Benny Gantz – who is reportedly still weighing his options – could potentially sway the vote, according to the polls, but Likud would still stay in the lead.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party is expected to receive the most votes in Israel’s upcoming election, according to polls published by three main television stations on Tuesday.
The results came a day after the government announced the election will be held early, on April 9. Similar results in April would most likely ensure Netanyahu another term as prime minister.
The News Company, Channel 10 News and public broadcaster Kan all put Likud at anywhere between 27 and 31 out of 120 Knesset seats, compared to the 30 seats it currently holds.
According to the News Company poll, however, 52 percent of Israelis do not want to see Netanyahu carry on to another term. Only 37 percent of respondents to the Kan poll said Netanyahu is the best candidate for prime minister.
Former army chief Benny Gantz, who is reportedly still weighing his options, could potentially sway the vote, according to the polls, but Likud would still stay in the lead.
If Gantz headed a new party, he would win over 16 seats, according to the News Company poll. The Channel 10 poll set the amount at 15, while Kan projected 10 seats.
The News Company poll put a Gantz-Zionist Union joint list at 25 seats. If Gantz would join forces with Yair Lapid‘s Yesh Atid, however, the two would receive 26 seats, according to the Channel 10 poll, which may put them at close competition with Likud.
Yesh Atid sans Gantz would get between 11 and 13 seats. The party currently holds 11 Knesset seats. Opposition party Zionist Union, currently at 24 seats, crashed in the polls to only nine to 11 seats.
Polls predicted that the Joint Arab List, comprising of several Arab-majority parties, would largely maintain its 13-seat Knesset presence, with 12 to 13 seats.
Among coalition parties, right-wing Habayit Hayehudi, headed by Education Minister Naftali Bennett, was predicted to receive nine to 12 seats, up from its current eight. Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon‘s Kulanu is down from its current 10 seats to five to seven. Former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman‘s Yisrael Beiteinu, which quit the coalition but not the Knesset and still holds five seats, would win anything between four and seven seats.
Ultra-Orthodox party Shas is predicted to lose several of its seven seats, with polls putting it at four to six seats. United Torah Judaism is predicted to gain a seat, bringing it from six to seven.
Orli Levi-Abekasis, who was elected into the Knesset on a Yisrael Beiteinu ticket but resigned from Lieberman’s party and established an independent one, Gesher, is predicted to get four to six seats.
Left-wing opposition party Meretz, which currently holds five seats, is expected to regain some of its power, with polls predicting five to seven seats.
26 Wednesday Dec 2018
Volunteers preparing Christmas Dinner for 1070 people
For the past 33 years, my synagogue, Temple Israel of Hollywood, has served a full Christmas Dinner to the poor and homeless of Hollywood. We distributed this year toys, children’s books, hygiene products, blankets, and sox to more than 1000 people. We began the project in the mid 1980s to relieve our Christian brothers and sisters of the responsibility of helping the people in their neighborhood so they could celebrate their holyday with their communities and families.
The Hollywood United Methodist Church has graciously offered their facility at Highland and Franklin (a block north of the famed Hollywood-Highland Center and Academy Award Theater) these past 28 years. This year Temple Israel co-sponsored this effort not only with the Church but with the ILM (Intellect, Love, and Mercy) Foundation which has roots in Islam. Umar Hakim (the ILM Director) and the Reverend Cathy Cooper Ledesma (HUMC’s Senior Pastor) joined me as “siblings in faith” from the three great monotheistic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
This is the largest interfaith Christmas Dinner in Los Angeles County.
Volunteers served over 100 roasted turkeys with stuffing, mashed potatoes, vegetables, cranberry sauce, and a number of desserts. Retirees, homeless, working families with young children, and other hungry and needy individuals and families came to eat and enjoy their holiday.
Our congregation (Temple Israel of Hollywood) signed a Brit Olam, “a covenant with our world,” via the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center in Washington, D.C. to address the epidemic problem of food insecurity (40 million people in America) who do not know from where and when their next meal is coming. The problem of hunger is particularly acute in the closing days of the month. The number of homeless individuals in Los Angeles (though down 4% this year due to an aggressive effort by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to house homeless individuals) still hovers around 45,000 people of whom 1/3 are children.
Shelter Partnership provided us with blankets, hygiene products, toys and socks. NBC Universal and Big Sunday provided toys. The Book Foundation provided 250 contemporary books for children. Big Sunday (originally a project of Temple Israel and now its own 501C3 non-profit organization serving the greater Los Angeles area 365 days a year) connected us with a number of non-profit organizations to get the word out to the community that this dinner welcomed everyone.
The chairs of this year’s effort are Temple Israel members Ilyse Pallenberg, Sophie Grossman-Sartain, and Ken Ostrove. They led nearly 300 volunteers for the past few months culminating on Christmas Day.
I was asked by the media at the event why we Jews were doing this. I told them two things; first, there is the dire challenge of hunger that we all have to address actively in projects like this and in advocating public policy efforts in local, state and national government, and second, this co-sponsored dinner is a powerful response to the toxicity and polarization that has infected America in the last several years since President Trump began his presidential campaign of hostility and division pitting one group against another to inspire fear and hate.
Good people, I said, can bridge differences, reach across divisions in class, race, ethnicity, religion, and national origins and reaffirm the oneness of humankind and the principle that we are accountable to and responsible for each other, that walls should be torn down and paths forward together be forged.
That is what we did together yesterday. One interviewer asked me if this was a reflection of the spirit of this season. I responded “yes” but also that this is what we all ought to be doing 365 days a year.
Rabbi John Rosove's Blog 