There’s No Such Thing As ‘Half-Jewish.’ Just ‘Jewish.’ – The Forward by Alyssa Pinsker

08 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Ethics, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Women's Rights

This article published by the Forward breaks my heart. Why should Alyssa have to suffer the indignities of being excluded from Jewish life when she herself has a Jewish parent and identifies as a Jew?

The story of the Reform movement’s acceptance of patrilineal descent as a determiner of Jewish status that accompanies a public commitment to living a Jewish life is already 35 years old. We Reform Rabbis at our 1983 CCAR Conference in Los Angeles voted in a large majority to accept as Jewish any individual born of a Jewish parent (father or mother) as long as he/she identified with the experience of the Jewish people and led a Jewish life.

This wise and far-reaching decision has impacted a generation of children of families in which the Jewish parent is the father. The Forward article explains quickly the historical reasons for matrilineal descent as recorded in the Mishna, namely that a Jew is born of a Jewish mother and it is irrelevant what the religious identity is of the father. This is not a biblical law. Rather, it is rabbinic passed during Roman times when intermarriage or rape cause a pregnancy. Out of concern for the dignity of both the mother and the child in those years, the rabbis determined that the Jewish status of the child was according to the Jewish status of the mother. In the Hebrew Bible, the priesthood follows the father’s line and not the mother’s. So much the more so should Jewish status follow the line of either parent as long as the child is raised as a Jew and identifies publicly as a Jew.

The Patrilineal Descent resolution passed by the CCAR is operative for Jews living only in the United States. Those living in Israel, Canada, and elsewhere have not yet arrived at this logical and compassionate evolution of the tradition – I’m still waiting. In the meantime, they would need to go through a conversion to be fully accepted in those other countries as Jewish.

Though Alyssa decided that at some point she is going to convert for the sake of her future children not having to suffer the indignities that she has suffered, my heart breaks for her and anyone in her situation.

They should all know that the American Reform movement accepts them as Jewish right now, fully and completely. They are not “half-Jewish.” They are simply “Jewish.”

See – https://forward.com/life/faith/393654/theres-no-such-thing-as-half-jewish-its-simply-jewish/?utm_content=daily_Newsletter_MainList_Title_Position-1&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20-%20M-Th%202018-02-08&utm_term=The%20Forward%20Today%20Monday-Friday

In Defense of Congressman Adam Schiff against the Tweet of President Trump

05 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Politics and Life, Ethics

≈ 11 Comments

I sent this letter to the White House this morning (February 5)

Dear Mr President:

Your tweet about my Congressman is deeply offensive to me as the Senior Rabbi of Temple Israel of Hollywood, one of Los Angeles’ historic congregations.

Permit me to spell out why I am so offended by what you tweeted most recently:

1. Your designation of my Congressman should be “Congressman Schiff” not “Little Adam” – he is a distinguished Representative in the House of Representatives and he has worked long and hard serving not only his district but the nation in various capacities;

2. You have no idea if Congressman Schiff has aspirations for higher office because he has never said anything of the kind and for you to dismiss him on the basis of ambition speaks more about you than him;

3. You call him a “liar.” I have known Congressman Schiff for many years and he is the opposite of how you characterize him. I suspect you don’t know him at all. He is measured in speech and thought and only speaks specifically when he has the objective facts.

4. You demean not only my Congressman in the way you have tweeted about him but the office of the Presidency when you attack other distinguished leaders for your own personal purposes. I ask you to stop and be the President this country deserves.

Sincerely,

Rabbi John Rosove

Senior Rabbi

Temple Israel of Hollywood, Los Angeles

Every Jew and Arab Should Watch Nas Daily on Facebook or Instagram

02 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Israel and Palestine, Stories

≈ 4 Comments

Nas Daily is a Facebook and Instagram site with a charming young Palestinian Israeli man (age 25) who has enmassed more than 5 million followers, and growing.

He posts his videos every day for 1 minute as he travels all over the world. He recently bought an apartment in Rawabi (a new Palestinian complex north of Ramallah) and in Israel and invited anyone of his followers to stay in either one free of charge. There is a bed in each apartment and that’s it.

Nas is smart, brave, kind, charismatic, and wise – way beyond his years.

Put him on your Facebook page – you will not regret it and if you watch him daily, you have at least one minute of joy that day.

The following is his longest post ever (4 minutes) and when you watch it, you’ll understand why. This segment is in a Haredi Jerusalem neighborhood.

Nas is a peacemaker – I love him and hope to meet him one day.

Nas – if you read this, contact me!!!!

My son Daniel’s friend (his parents are Israeli) turned me onto him – and I now hope you will wait for Nas’s posts every day. They are well worth it.

11 Percent of Israelis now Identify with Reform and Conservative Judaism

02 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Israel/Zionism, Jewish Identity

≈ 1 Comment

In David Suissa’s Column “Pew Pew Pew” (Jewish Journal, February 2) he states the following:

“In terms of Jewish identity, there’s more bad news: 53 percent of American Jews identify as Reform or Conservative, compared with only 5 percent of Israeli Jews.”

David’s figures about Israeli affiliation with the Reform and Conservative Movements are based on a Pew study in 2017. A different study comes to other conclusions.

In 2017, a leading public opinion research firm headed by the respected researcher Professor Camil Fuchs was engaged by the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) to assess the Israeli Reform movement’s impact on Israeli society and how large a following of Reform Judaism currently exists in Israel. Dr. Fuchs conducted a comprehensive survey assessing the status of the Reform Movement and religious pluralism in the State of Israel, and he found the following: the number of Israelis who identify as Reform Jews has doubled since 2011 (3.5%). Today it is 7%. When that figure is added to the 4% of the Israeli Jewish population that identifies with Conservative Judaism, there are now 11% of Israelis, nearly 800,000 that identify with either Reform or Conservative Judaism in Israel. That number is equal to the number of Haredim (Ultra-Orthodox Jews) in Israel.

The reason for the increase in positive identification of Israelis with the Reform movement is that there are now 100 Israelis who have been ordained by the Reform seminary in Jerusalem, the Hebrew Union College, and those rabbis are conducting hundreds of bnai mitzvah ceremonies and weddings in Israel thus attracting hundreds of thousands of Israelis over the course of the years who have been exposed to non-Orthodox religious leaders for the first time and have found what they do and how they do it refreshing and appealing as opposed to their experience of the Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Israeli Rabbis.

Let America Be America Again

01 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Politics and Life, Ethics, Poetry, Uncategorized

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Langston Hughes

In light of the corruption in this Presidency and in this Congress, the words of Langston Hughes (poet, novelist, playwright, columnist, and social activist – 1902-1967) are particularly poignant:

“Let America be America again. / Let it be the dream it used to be. / Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed – / Let it be that great strong land of love / Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme / That any man be crushed by one above.”

Flags on the Bimah – Do they belong?

01 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Israel/Zionism, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Social Justice

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I was sitting in front of the ark this past Shabbat and ruminating during a few moments of quiet prayer about the two flags that have framed my synagogue’s ark for as long as I can remember – the American flag on one side and the Israeli flag on the other. I love them both, but I asked myself, ‘Do they belong here in our Sanctuary, in our house of prayer?’ After all, they are national symbols and not religious ones.

I took a look at what has been written in Reform Responsa literature over the past 50 years since the question first was asked of the Central Conference of American Rabbis Responsa Committee about the appropriateness of placing flags in the sanctuary of our synagogues.

Essentially, the following is what I gleaned from a number of Responsa (links below):

“Though the flags are not religious symbols, they are symbols of our spiritual and emotional attachment to our country and to the State of Israel.”

“As citizens of the United States, the American flag represents some of our most sacred American ideals, our acceptance of the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship, and our devotion to the prophetic ideals of social justice and freedom.”

“The State of Israel is the political embodiment of the age-old Jewish dream of national redemption, a dream that Jews have expressed in our prayers for two millennia, and the Israeli flag represents the prayers of the Jewish people for a return to the land of Israel and the re-establishment there of our Jewish national life.”

So, yes! They do belong, in my opinion, and as a consequence of my ruminations last week, I feel that these flags in fact add something to the iconography of symbols that characterize our holy spaces.

Sources – Central Conference of American Rabbis Responsa

Hatikvah and The Star-Spangled Banner – https://web.archive.org/web/20170824182820/http://ccarnet.org/responsa/rr21-no-5758-10/

Israeli flag on a synagogue pulpit – https://web.archive.org/web/20170824183123/http://ccarnet.org/responsa/arr-66-68/

National flags at religious services LXIV(1954) 79-80 – https://web.archive.org/web/20170824183218/http://ccarnet.org/responsa/arr-64-66/

Flags on the bimah – https://web.archive.org/web/20170824182928/http://ccarnet.org/responsa/tfn-no-5753-8-29-32/

Reform Jewish Movement Statement on Expulsion of Asylum Seekers from Israel

26 Friday Jan 2018

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

≈ 1 Comment

1/26/2018

You shall not wrong nor oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. (Exodus 22:20)

January 26, 2018 – The statement below is issued by the following organizations of the Reform Jewish Movement, the largest movement in Jewish life:

We strongly urge the Israeli government to reverse its decision and recognize the legitimate status of the 37,885* asylum seekers in the country.

These asylum seekers, including men, women, and children—primarily from Eritrea and Sudan—are likely to face imprisonment, indefinite military conscription, additional expulsion, physical harm or even death if they are deported. The plight of Jewish refugees inspired the nascent State of Israel to ratify the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention, a commitment that is being ignored today. A State founded by refugees should feel a special responsibility to provide safe haven to those facing persecution and violence.

We are equally disheartened by the rhetoric used to incite the public against asylum seekers. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s blanket rejection of the status of “refugees” for those who have fled to Israel (calling them all “infiltrators”) and his assertion that granting refugee status to these asylum seekers endangers the Jewish character of the State belie the facts.

We recognize that there are many in the world in need of assistance, and it is unreasonable to expect Israel to accept an indefinite number of newcomers. Still, Israel has the ability to assist and absorb the 37,885 asylum seekers already in the country. The real threat to its Jewish character is the refusal to provide shelter to the persecuted.

*According to the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority

American Conference of Cantors
Arzenu – International Federation of Reform and Progressive Religious Zionists
Association of Reform Jewish Educators
Association of Reform Zionists in Canada
Association of Reform Zionists of America
Central Conference of American Rabbis
Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism
Men of Reform Judaism
North American Federation of Temple Youth
Reform Pension Board
Union for Reform Judaism
Women of Reform Judaism
World Union for Progressive Judaism

Poll: Deep Divide Among Americans Over Israel – AP

24 Wednesday Jan 2018

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Israel/Zionism, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Josef Federman reports, “The bitter divisions in the United States are being felt across the world in the Middle East, where Israel is emerging as an increasingly partisan issue in the Trump era. A new opinion poll released Tuesday showed U.S. Republicans to be far more supportive of Israel than their Democratic counterparts. It also found Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close ally of President Donald Trump, to be a divisive figure. The findings by the Pew Research Center could be a cause for concern for Israel, which has traditionally relied on broad bipartisan support in America.”

This divide has occurred over the last decade when the Republican party decided to make Israel a partisan issue. In discussions I had with then Congressman Henry Waxman while he was still in office, he told me that had tried, without success, to persuade the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives to not use Israel for partisan purposes.

The difficulty was compounded when Prime Minister Netanyahu violated protocol and accepted an invitation to address Congress on the Nuclear Agreement without the courtesy of informing the President of the United States. President Trump has deepened the rift with his friendship with the extreme right wing of the Republican party and the evangelical movement in America.

This is a dangerous trend. Israel has always been supported by both Democrats and Republicans and it should continue to be so supported. This does not mean, however, that we need to agree on policy – only that we agree not to diminish the pro-Israel bona fides of the other party with which we may or may not agree.

See https://apnews.com/86f32e653fca4c0a8f2778fcefca3f28

The Ebb and Flow of Night and Day – a poem by Leslie Kaplan

19 Friday Jan 2018

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Divrei Torah, Poetry

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The following poem was written by Leslie Kaplan. Leslie grew up at Temple Israel and is now in her early 40s. She has struggled with mental illness throughout her adult years. She is a smart and talented young woman.

Her father, Michael, read this poem today at our Men’s Torah Study. The theme of Leslie’s poem reflects the 9th plague in this week’s Torah portion Bo – Darkness.

Leslie granted me permission to share it with you and I do so here:

“Balance is achieved between the ebb and flow of night and day / The opposites of land and sea.

One cannot achieve enlightenment by merely staring at the sun / The stars also need their say.

You cannot achieve goodness by showing only your attractive attributes / The shadow will grow into a beast if not shown in the light.

The fire will burn your eyes if not cooled by cold blackness of closed lids.

If you want to be awakened you must know yourself / Know not only who you were or who you want to be but also the you right now / Old and charted / Grimed and calloused.

Find compassion for your tainted soul before it is too late.

Fight the monsters of your psyche with all the strength you can muster.

Untangle that which threatens to strangle the goodness still remaining.

And please, I beg, face the darkness within before the darkness becomes your face.