In defense of J Street – Why the facts might change your mind

28 Friday Dec 2018

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Human rights, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Social Justice, Uncategorized

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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/

Polls: Likud Would Win Election Despite Majority of Israelis Not Wanting Netanyahu as PM – Haaretz, December 28, 2018

27 Thursday Dec 2018

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Israel/Zionism

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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:

Attorney General Mandelblit’s investigation of Netanyahu on bribery and fraud charges would be delayed to avoid the AG being accused of some “dark state” effort to sway the election against Bibi. Bibi’s announcement of new elections now delays Mandelblit’s indictments to be dealt with after a new government is to be formed, assuming Netanyahu as Prime Minister;
The opposition is in disarray and without a clear leader. Benny Gantz is the most popular Israeli after Bibi, and announcing elections now makes it more difficult for Gantz to organize his own political party and campaign;
Trump’s Middle East Peace Plan (“The Deal of the Century”) would likely cause problems for Bibi in his coalition and fracture his government giving Naftali Bennett’s Bayit HaYehudi party an advantage. Announcing elections now necessarily delays Trump’s announcement of a Middle East Peace deal until a new government is formed, again assuming Netanyahu becomes Prime Minister;
The Economy has been good, but dark clouds are forming internationally that may affect Israel’s economy and present Bibi with problems.

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.

See – https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/polls-likud-would-win-election-despite-52-of-israelis-not-wanting-netanyahu-as-pm-1.6783579

Jews, Muslims and Christians serve Christmas dinner to 1000 people in Hollywood

26 Wednesday Dec 2018

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Ethics, Health and Well-Being, Holidays, Human rights, Jewish Identity, Jewish-Christian Relations, Jewish-Islamic Relations, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Social Justice, Women's Rights

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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.

A pure soul – Moses’ selection as prophet

26 Wednesday Dec 2018

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Divrei Torah, Ethics, Human rights, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Social Justice, Women's Rights

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Moses at the Burning Bush – Marc Chagall

Why did God choose Moses to be the most important of prophets and the savior of the Israelites? The Biblical text this week in Sh’mot (Exodus 1:1-6:1) begins to tell the story of this extraordinary leader.

Born of a Hebrew slave-woman, Moses was raised as an Egyptian prince but was at home nowhere. His place was with God.

The Torah tells us that Moses was the most intimate of God’s prophets who communed with the Almighty panim el panim – “face to face” or ‘soul to soul’ (Exodus 33:11). No other prophet is described in such intimate and personal terms in all of Biblical literature. We learn as well that Moses was the most humble human being ever to live (Numbers 12:3).

Moses is our people’s gold standard of a religious, moral, and political leader. In our era the world has benefited from other great figures including Mahatma Gandhi, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Dr. Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, and Nelson Mandela. Nevertheless, Moses stands alone.

The prophetic message is old but ever new, and as we ourselves witness cruelty on the southern border of the United States, in Syria, the Congo, and in countless other places, Moses remains our moral standard-bearer.

What follows is my effort, drawing upon Biblical, midrashic and mystic imagery, to evoke Moses’ character and experience as he begins his prophetic mission.

To read my poem – go to my blog at the Times of Israel – https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-pure-soul-moses-selection-as-prophet/ .

“Birthright Blasted By Activists For New Ban On ‘Hijacking Discussions’” – The Forward

23 Sunday Dec 2018

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish Identity

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Taglit-Birthright is, arguably, the most successful project since the establishment of the State of Israel in creating positive emotional bonds between young Diaspora Jewish adults and the State of Israel. However, as this article in “The Forward” reveals, the refusal of the leadership of Taglit-Birthright to educate its participants about the deleterious impact of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank on Israelis and Palestinians alike and Birthright’s refusal to allow open discussion and debate is having a deleterious effect on the Taglit-Birthright brand.

One has to worry that the historically positive impact of Taglit-Birthright on young Diaspora Jews may change due to the refusal of the Taglit-Birthright funders to address the existential threat that the occupation poses to the democratic and Jewish State of Israel.

See article by Ari Feldman of The Forward: https://forward.com/news/israel/416486/birthright-blasted-by-activists-for-new-ban-on-criticizing-israel-while/

Feinstein, Sanders urge Senate not to include anti-BDS law in a spending bill

20 Thursday Dec 2018

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Politics and Life, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Uncategorized

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It may seem counterintuitive to supporters of Israel to do as Senators Feinstein and Sanders have done, to oppose including in a spending bill an anti-BDS law, but it ought not to be so difficult to understand their concerns and reasoning.

As this Times of Israel article states (link below), at a time when the Israeli Prime Minister and his government are doing everything they can to foreclose a two-state solution by legalizing illegal outposts in the West Bank and allowing the settlement enterprise to continue to grow and develop beyond the security fence, this bill would stifle criticism in America of those policies that are against Israel’s own self-interest – namely, sustaining Israel as a democracy and a Jewish State.

The only path forward to assure a democratic and Jewish State of Israel is in a negotiated two-states for two peoples resolution of the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel with the help and support of the United States, the EU, and Arab League.

While I know that Senators Feinstein and Sanders are opposed to BDS, as am I, I agree with them that this anti-BDS law would do more harm than good.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/feinstein-sanders-urge-senat…/

timesofisrael.com

Feinstein, Sanders urge Senate not to include anti-BDS law in spending bill

The Ardors of Youth over the Wisdom of the Aged? – Parashat Vayechi

19 Wednesday Dec 2018

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Politics and Life, Divrei Torah, Israel/Zionism

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Hearing that his father Jacob was on the edge of death, Joseph brought his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh to see their old grandfather. Knowing that they stood before him, his eyesight failing, Jacob said that his grandsons will be no less “his” than his actual sons. Joseph then positioned the boys opposite their grandfather Jacob for a blessing expecting that Jacob would bless the first-born Manasseh. But Jacob reversed his hands and blessed Ephraim instead. (Parashat Vayechi, Genesis 48)

For my complete piece, please click onto my Times of Israel Blog at https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-ardors-of-youth-over-the-wisdom-of-the-aged-parashat-vayechi/