Women of the Wall Agree To Historic Plan – A Victory for Religious Pluralism and Democracy in Israel

12 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Ethics, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Social Justice, Uncategorized, Women's Rights

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American Jewish Life, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Social Justice, Women's Rights

It seems that Natan Sharansky has successfully gained agreement between the Israeli and international Reform movement, the Women of the Wall (WOW) and the Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall (ultra-orthodox) that a section at the southern end of the Kotel beneath Robinson’s Arch will be designated by the government of Israel as being free for egalitarian liberal prayer on a footing equal to the area currently dominated by the ultra-orthodox.

The newly designated section will have its own entrance and will be allowed to host prayer and religious celebrations according to Conservative, Reform, Renewal, and Reconstructionist practice, meaning that women can pray alongside men, lead religious services, read from the Torah, wear tallitot, and sing aloud without concern of offending the ultra-orthodox community. (See complete story in the Jewish Daily Forward. http://forward.com/articles/174588/kotel-egalitarian-prayer-plan-set-in-motion-by-dra/?p=all)

The agreement will end police tolerance of the ugly insults by ultra-orthodox men and women against WOW including the orthodox screaming profanities, spitting on women worshipers, and police arresting women wearing tallitot, carrying Torah scrolls and reading from the sacred literature. Details are still to be worked out, but Natan Sharansky is to be congratulated on his “shuttle diplomacy” between the ultra-orthodox officials and liberal Jewish leaders that resulted in this compromise agreement.

This is a huge victory for religious pluralism and democracy in the State of Israel, but it is arguably only the beginning.

Other outstanding issues affecting non-orthodox Jews are still outstanding and need to be addressed. These include the need for the government to grant equal financial support for non-orthodox synagogues and institutions, equal pay for regional non-orthodox rabbis such as Rabbi Miri Gold (regional rabbi for Kibbutz Gezer who has not been paid despite the Supreme Court order that this occur), marriage equality for all Israeli citizens and the right to marry in the state without orthodox approval, and ending institutionalized preference for Orthodox Judaism.

In meetings yesterday here in Los Angeles with five members of the Knesset who were brought on tour of the Jewish communities of Chicago, Los Angeles and New York by the Jewish Federation of North America and the Jewish Agency of Israel (MK Avi Wortsman of Bayit HaYehudi, MK Yoel Razvozov of Yesh Atid, MK Hilik Bar of Avodah, MK Nachman Shai of Avodah, and MK David Tsur of HaTenuah), all five said they would support this historic compromise and bring their respective political parties, Bayit Hayehudi, Yesh Atid, HaTenuah, and Avodah along with them.

In my next blog I will report on the 90 minute frank, candid, and important conversation that we ten American Reform and Conservative Rabbis had with the five Members of the Knesset.

Shabbat Shalom

The Unholy Alliance Between The Chief Rabbi of the Wall and the Jerusalem Police

08 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Uncategorized

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Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Social Justice, Women's Rights

Two important blogs have appeared in recent days shining a light on the desecration of the holiest site in Judaism, the Western Wall (Hakotel), at the hands of the Chief rabbi of the Kotel, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz and the Jerusalem District Police Chief Yossi Pariente.

Not only are women not allowed to wear a tallit as they pray in this holy site, they are also barred from singing the Psalms of David and the Jewish liturgy aloud, and from reading from a Torah scroll. Now, there is a new controversy that threatens to prohibit women from saying the Mourner’s Kaddish at the Kotel.

Who makes those decisions? One man, who Susan Ester Barnes (below) rightly calls a “dictator,” the Chief Rabbi of the Kotel with the acquiescence of the Jerusalem District Police Chief.

According to Katharine Nasielski’s blog (below):

“Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky met with Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, chairman of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. He told the rabbi in their meeting, “The Kotel must continue to be a symbol of unity for all Jews in the world and not a symbol of strife and discord.” According to Sharansky, Rabbi Rabinowitz ensured him that the restrictions would be stepped back, although we are still waiting for that statement to be made formally.”

These two blogs will bring you up to date. Communicate directly with Prime Minister Netanyahu your outrage that anyone controls the religious character of the most important religious site in Judaism.

The Women of the Wall and the Dictator – Posted by Susan Esther Barnes – http://www.jewishjournal.com/religiousandreform

Women Barred from Mourning at the Kotel? By Katharine Nasielski http://blogs.rj.org/rac/2013/04/04/women-barred-from-mourning-at-the-kotel/

The Organized American Jewish Community’s Response to President Obama’s Jerusalem Speech

31 Sunday Mar 2013

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

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American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Social Justice

President Obama’s Jerusalem speech has been praised by most American Jewish Organizations for his eloquent support of Israel, its security, his respect for the historic Jewish attachment to the land of Israel, his tough stand against the Iranian nuclear threat, and his desire to help the parties resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.

I should be happy with this praise, but I am instead worried, not for what most of these organizations said in their press releases following Obama’s Middle East visit, but by what they did not say.

In reading the statements of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC), the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), and J Street, in all but the RAC and J Street statements something important was missing.

The AJC quoted Obama as “reaffirming the US supported goal of a negotiated two state-solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” and calling “on the Palestinians to return to direct talks with Israel…” noting that the President praised “Abbas as a partner for peace.”

The ADL said that “The President conveyed a deep understanding of important challenges facing Israel, including the peace process…” and “that the peace process can only be achieved through negotiations without preconditions…”

AIPAC noted that both Obama and Netanyahu “share the view that direct talks should resume between the Israelis and Palestinians without preconditions, with the objective of two states for two peoples.”

The ZOA made no mention of a two-state solution because it does not support a two-state solution.

Here are the relevant remarks in the RAC and J Street statements that are missing from all the others:

The RAC, quoting Obama, repeated: “Israelis must recognize that continued settlement activity is counterproductive to the cause of peace and that an independent Palestine must be viable, with real borders that have to be drawn. I’ve suggested principles on territory and security that I believe can be the basis for these talks.”

J Street said: “[Obama] also laid out the moral case for peace with the Palestinians, based on full recognition of their national right to self-determination and their right to build their lives free of the daily humiliations of military occupation. The President also made it clear that peace is possible and that Israel does have partners in …Abbas and…Fayyad…who are committed to negotiations and to a peaceful solution.”

It seems to me that in their press statements the organized American Jewish community ignored most of the 20 minutes of the President’s 49 minute address that spoke directly and compassionately to the Israeli people about the plight of the Palestinians under occupation and their legitimate rights to a national home of their own side by side with Israel.

Here are a few of the most important lines of Obama’s speech that were not eluded to except by the RAC and J Street:

“[T]he Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and justice must also be recognized. Put yourself in their shoes – look at the world through their eyes.

Neither occupation nor expulsion is the answer. Just as Israelis built a state in their homeland, Palestinians have a right to be a free people in their own land.

Peace is possible. It is possible. I’m not saying it’s guaranteed. I can’t even say that it is more likely than not, but it is possible.

Let me say this as a politician, I can promise you this: political leaders will never take risks if the people do not push them to take some risks. You must create the change that you want to see. Ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things.

Today, as we face the twilight of Israel’s founding generation, you – the young people of Israel – must now claim its future. It falls to you to write the next chapter in the great story of this great nation.

What concerns me is the potentially obstructionist role that some in the organized American Jewish community might take (as has happened in the past) when President Obama and Secretary Kerry put concrete proposals on the table about borders, settlements, security, Jerusalem, and refugees. I hope that what is missing in their press statements are merely oversights. I hope as well that the organized American Jewish community will support President Obama fully in his efforts without second guessing him and without partisan rancor in order to help the Israelis and Palestinians find an end of conflict two-state solution without getting in his way.

If this occurs in this next year, come Pesach 2014 we will truly be able to say – Dayeinu!

What Conclusions Might We Draw Concerning the New Israeli Government

14 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Social Justice, Uncategorized, Women's Rights

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IOsrael/Zionism, Israel and Palestine, Jewish History, Social Justice, Women's Rights

Days before President Obama’s visit, PM Netanyahu has managed to form a new Israeli government with 68 seats (out of 120) for a ruling majority. What does it all mean? That is the question of the hour.

I offer a few observations and Israeli press sites that, hopefully, will not confuse you more than you may already be. After all, Israeli politics isn’t for the feint of heart nor the simple minded:

PM Benjamin Netanyahu (with a total of 31 seats combined with Yisrael Bateinu) has been vastly weakened compared to his standing in the former government, though he continues to hold onto the powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministries.
Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) and Naftali Bennett (Bayit Yehudi) with a total of 31 seats together maintained their uncommon alliance (and growing friendship) and succeeded in excluding for the first time the ultra-Orthodox parties from the ruling coalition. Lapid’s #2 Rabbi Shai Peron will take over the Education Ministry and might be able to force the ultra-Orthodox yeshivot to include English, Hebrew, math, and science in their curriculum or risk losing government support for their schools. Bennett gets the important Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry, the Housing and Construction Ministry and the Knesset Finance Committee, which will help him continue to finance heavily the settler movement that elected him, throwing a wrench into any Israeli-Palestinian negotiations (Bennett is against a two-state solution – see below).
Lapid and Bennett’s alliance also insures that shivyon b’netel (“sharing the burden of military service”) will force Yeshiva buchers to serve in the military without the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism and Shas parties breathing down their necks. Yesh Atid has announced that a universal military service bill will be submitted to the Knesset, with Bibi’s approval, before the budget is submitted. It is likely that we can expect a sharp reduction of funds flowing to ultra-Orthodox synagogues and Yeshivot going forward.
Lapid will now be the Finance Minister and must come up with a national budget in the next 45 days. Lapid risks losing his image as Israel’s charismatic darling for the poor and middle classes because, as Finance Minister, he will have to make tough choices and propose cuts that might hurt the very people who voted for him and who are the most vulnerable in Israeli society. He is said to dread the prospect of protestors picketing his home.
Religious pluralism may or may not be a winner in this election. Lapid’s children became b’nai mitzvah at Reform Judaism’s flagship Tel Aviv congregation, Beit Daniel, and he is personally close to the Daniel Center’s Senior Rabbi Meir Azari. Though Lapid can, with a stroke of the pen, grant government funds equal to those going to the non-Orthodox for the first time, Israel’s culture still needs an aggressive non-Orthodox alliance between the secular population and Reform and Conservative Jews (estimated to equal 70% of Israel’s Jewish population) to fight hard to promote civil marriage and women’s rights, against government imposed Shabbat restrictions, separate gender seating on buses, and the ultra-Orthodox dominance of Judaism’s holiest site, the Western Wall (Kotel) and Plaza.
The right-wing Yuli Edestein was voted as the next Speaker of the Knesset which now retires my cousin, the respected long-time Likud leader, Reuven (Ruby) Rivlin from that seat. Ruby was second behind Shimon Peres for President of the State a number of years ago.
Iran and Palestinian-Israeli Peace Negotiations? Much will be revealed in the coming weeks on both fronts in light of President Obama’s mission to the Middle East starting next week. It is likely that Obama and Bibi already have an understanding on how they will deal with the Iran nuclear issue (I pray!). It is likely that something will begin anew between the Israelis and Palestinians. However, with Bennett in the government, I fear the worst even as I hope for the best – a two-state solution. In a conversation I had last week with one of Israel’s leaders, he does not believe that Bennett, representing a small faction of 11 seats, will greatly influence the Israeli-Palestinian issue. I pray he is right.

For ongoing information, I recommend that you read the English and/or Hebrew edition of Haaretz or The Jerusalem Post, and the Hebrew edition for Yediot Achronot at http://www.ynet.co.il. You can also check out http://www.walla.co.il, another Israeli Hebrew language news link.

“The Gatekeepers” – a Must-See Film

30 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Ethics, Film Reviews, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Social Justice

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American Jewish Life, Film Reviews, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Social Justice

The film “Gatekeepers” was made, according to Director Dror Moreh, for Israelis who do not think much about the lives of Palestinians living in the West Bank under Israeli occupation nor about the negative and corrosive impact the occupation has had on the moral and political character of the people and state of Israel. It is also intended for those American Jews who love Israel in their kishkes, who understand that Jewish history in light of the Holocaust compels them to appreciate the central importance of the Jewish state in their lives, but who have come to the wrong conclusion, that in order to love Israel they have to support her policies right or wrong.

The film has been nominated for an Academy Award at this year’s Oscars, and I am personally mixed about whether I want it to win or not, because winning means even wider exposure of this disturbing story before the world at large.

The film features interviews of six retired Directors of Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security services. These are hardened, pragmatic men, people with blood on their hands, who have seen it all, who have been the chief practitioners in the fight against terrorism, and who understand that though there are things Israel’s military has had to do to protect Israeli citizens, there is still something “unnatural” about this fight.

Why are these Shin Bet former directors speaking out now? After all, anyone working in Israel’s intelligence services historically has been closed-mouthed about what happens there. They agreed to be interviewed and part of this film because they believe that the direction of Israeli policy is leading the Jewish state towards a catastrophe, that the continued occupation of one and a half million hostile Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank is doomed for disaster, that the occupation is eating away at Israel’s political and moral heart and soul and threatening the survival of the Jewish democratic state of Israel.

The six characterized Israel’s policy in the West Bank as short-sighted, based on tactical matters and not reflective of a cogent long-term strategy. To a man they are soured on Israel’s political leaders who they say have failed to grapple with the core of the conflict and who have not demonstrated the courage necessary to find a two-state solution. They do not understand, for example, Prime Minister Netanyahu who on the one hand says he is for a two-state solution and on the other embraces the most extremist elements within Israeli society that are against a Palestinian state anywhere west of the Jordan River.

One can only hope that there will be a more moderate Israeli government that forms in the next few weeks reflecting the Israeli public’s rejection of extremism and a renewed effort by the United States to bring the parties together to talk and negotiate in good faith.

“Gatekeepers” is a must-see film for anyone who cares about Israel as the democratic state of the Jewish people.

The following link is a 25 minute interview with Dror Moreh, the Director of Gatekeepers by The Huffington Post.

http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/dror-moreh%27s-documentary-the-gatekeepers-on-israeli-heads-of-shin-bet/50f941c22b8c2a2169000416

“If you can’t win by playing fair, cheat!”

27 Sunday Jan 2013

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American Politics and Life, Ethics, Social Justice, Women's Rights

So writes Charles Blow of the Republican Party on the Op-Ed pages of the New York Times (January 25, 2013).

In key toss-up states controlled by Republican legislatures in the most recent presidential contest, the Republican Party had attempted to skew the vote towards Governor Romney by rigging the system so as to reduce the number of Democrats who would be able to vote. The GOP used a number of strategies including reducing the number of voting places and voting machines in Democratic districts, eliminating the weekend for voting before the election, and shortening the number of hours the polling places would be open that would adversely affect areas populated by minorities, seniors and the poor who tend to vote Democratic. The Republicans had also attempted to require photo identification in order to vote which puts the poor and elderly at a disadvantage, most of whom, of course, tend to vote for Democrats.

Despite this blatant assault on the most basic of democratic freedoms (i.e. the right to vote in free elections), voters in those targeted districts defiantly either voted early by mail or stood for hours in rain and cold to vote. Such long lines, of course, did not exist in districts where Republicans were in the majority.

After trying to unsuccessfully suppress the Democratic vote in 2012, the Republicans have devised a new strategy to win future presidential elections. Though both the Democratic and Republican parties have gerrymandered their state districts to give their respective party advantages, the 2010 gerrymander effort by Republicans has effectively enabled them to retain their majority in the House of Representatives despite the fact that Democrats nationally won more than one million more votes than their Republican colleagues.

Now the Republicans (as described by Charles Blow – click on link below) are trying something new, to rig the election by changing the way states allocate electoral votes in presidential elections.

Currently, states are winner-take-all for the Electoral College, meaning that the candidate who wins a state’s popular vote receives all that state’s electoral votes. The Republicans want to change the system and award electoral votes proportionally by congressional district regardless of who wins the most votes state-wide. On its face, this does not seem unreasonable until one looks at the numbers and connects the dots. This system would favor less populated rural areas that vote Republican over more populated urban areas that vote Democratic by giving them equal weight. Had this system been in effect in 2012, Governor Mitt Romney would have won the presidency despite losing by millions of votes nationally to President Barack Obama.

The only comfort I take from these underhanded undemocratic shenanigans is that they are a reflection of desperation within the GOP that is struggling to stay competitive in a country in which demographics have changed against Republicans and that Republican ideas and approaches to government are no longer held in the majority.

If the Republicans are defeated in these vote-rigging efforts I suspect that the GOP as currently constituted will die from its own self-inflicted wounds. In its place I would hope that there would emerge a new kind of Republican Party that is more moderate, more pragmatic, more inclusive, more compromising, and more democratic.

The United States works best with a viable two-party system that can meet often on common ground and arrive at a workable national consensus on policy while checking the excesses of the other. We certainly do not need one party like the current Republican Party that thinks nothing of cheating the public and undermining our democratic system.

See Charles Blow’s column:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/26/opinion/blow-rig-the-vote.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130126