• About

Rabbi John Rosove's Blog

Rabbi John Rosove's Blog

Tag Archives: Women’s Rights

Sarah Zoabi – A Brave Israeli-Arab and Proud Zionist Speaks Out in Support of Israel

10 Tuesday Nov 2015

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Israel and Palestine, Israel Zionism, Social Justice, Women's Rights

These two videos of Sarah Zoabi, an Israeli-Arab citizen from Nazareth, are eloquent expressions of her Arab-Israeli-Zionist identity, by which she means that the Jewish people have a right to a state of their own. They are extraordinary examples of courage in speaking out as an Arab-Israeli in an environment in which she, like her son Mohammed who has done as she has done, will likely receive death threats. Sarah believes that for an Arab to live as a citizen in the state of Israel is “paradise.”

She explains that Israeli Arab citizens enjoy freedoms in the democratic state of Israel that do not exist in any other Arab country ruled by dictators. She acknowledges, as well, that Israeli society is not perfect explaining that “perfect countries exist in theory and not reality.”

Sarah calls upon all Israeli minorities to join together and publicly express their support for their democratic state of Israel.

Kol hakavod to you, Sarah. The Jewish people needs more people like you to speak out.

https://www.facebook.com/theisraelproject/videos/10154262718827316/

https://www.facebook.com/mirilavi/videos/10154436057032715/

Kotel and LGBT Resolutions Pass WZC Committee – Report From Jerusalem #4

23 Friday Oct 2015

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

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

It’s bad enough that Israel is being attacked by terrorists, now mostly in the West Bank and less in Jerusalem after Israel’s government imposed strong security measures separating East Jerusalem Arab neighborhoods from West Jerusalem Israeli neighborhoods. What is perhaps even more searing to the Jewish soul is the way some Jewish delegates at the World Zionist Congress behave towards their fellow delegates.

We of ARZENU (the world Reform Zionist movement) were warned that yelling and delaying tactics would be likely in committee meetings and in the plenary sessions, especially when discussing contentious resolutions. The warnings were prescient. Almost from the beginning of our committee meetings one Mizrahi (the nationalist right-wing religious delegation) delegate starting screaming from the moment the Chair, Rabbi Lea Muehlstein of the United Kingdom (an ARZENU delegate) opened the session.

The rules of debate in committees according to the WZC are determined exclusively by the chair. Roberts Rules of Order do not apply. Some chairs are more fair than others. The chair of this session gave all voices equal time, and when she thought the issue had been completely discussed she called for a vote.

The two most contentious resolutions were those concerning the “Establishment of an Egalitarian Prayer Space at the Western Wall,” introduced by ARZENU, and “Recognition of Support for the LGBT Community,” also introduced by ARZENU.

Jewish Agency Head Natan Sharansky, the Women of the Wall (WOW), the Conservative and Reform movements, and the Chief Rabbi of the Wall have already agreed that a third section in the Western Wall site would be established equal in size, funding and visibility for a dignified space of worship for the Conservative and Reform streams and for Women of the Wall. This WZC resolution was meant only to confirm what the Israeli government and interested parties have already determined, and to push forward towards the realization of this new prayer space.

After debate the resolution passed with a substantial majority. When I saw my friend and Chair of WOW, Anat Hoffman and asked how she felt about the good news, she said:

“John – nothing has happened to move this matter forward in the government over the past year and more, this resolution notwithstanding, and given the controversy over the Waqf charge that the status quo on the Temple Mount is being questioned, and given that the area we want for the egalitarian prayer site is only 50 yards from Al Aqsa, Israel isn’t going to touch this issue now.”

So much for that.

The LGBT resolution was the next especially contentious fight. The resolution commended the Education Minister, Naftali Bennett (the head of Mizrahi faction) for announcing an increase of support for the Israeli LGBT community. The resolution called on him to ensure adequate funding for “Israel Gay Youth” and other LGBT organizations so as to secure the role of members of the LGBT community within Israeli society. It also called on Minister Bennett to ensure that all Israeli students (and in particular in the Orthodox school systems) take part in programming that promotes diversity, inclusion and equality for the LGBT community, to support equal rights for the LBGT community in all Zionist entities and to encourage their activities within the national Institutions.

The right wing parties in our committee were strongly against this resolution and began immediately to challenge key elements of it. Some began a campaign of yelling and screaming to prevent us from having a reasoned debate ending in a vote. Orthodox delegates introduced several amendments, only one of which was accepted by ARZENU.

The most important amendment, however, we refused to accept because it gave license to Orthodox schools to choose to accept or to pass on tolerance education.

All the while, the disruption did not stop for a moment, and Rabbi Muehlstein finally ruled that anyone screaming would not have his/her votes be counted.

At last, a vote was taken and the resolution passed with about 35 votes, and 35 abstentions. Those in Mizrahi and Likud factions who negotiated with ARZENU on an amendment on which we found compromise language, in the end refused to vote “nay.” Indeed, they never intended to vote for a resolution no matter what it said. They only wanted to delay and water down the original resolution.

At one point, five of the most badly behaving delegates actually charged our table. I happened to be sitting two people away from Rabbi Muehlstein. I am not a violent person, but I was prepared to jump between them and Lea to protect her from their physical assault. It should be noted that she was a paragon of patience and brought dignity to the proceedings and to the ARZENU delegation.

I left the meeting feeling as though I needed a shower. Though justice was done in the resolution, we also witnessed the dark side of Zionist politics.
I heard that other committee meetings went far more smoothly and with good behavior by all. For me who attended the WZC for the first time, the bullying behavior of the right-wing did not have the intended effect of intimidating us. It had the opposite effect of my bearing down and committing to fight the good fight respectfully on behalf of compassion, justice and human rights within the World Zionist Congress.

See my earlier post titled “Non-Stop Zionism.”

The Parliament of the Jewish People to Convene in Jerusalem – October 20-23

04 Sunday Oct 2015

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

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

This month I will be attending the World Zionist Congress (WZC) meeting in Jerusalem (October 20-23) as a delegate of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA), representing 1.4 million American Reform Jews from 900 Reform synagogues and communities nationwide.

Known as “The Parliament of the Jewish people” this will be the 37th meeting of the WZC since Theodor Herzl convened it for the first time in Basel, Switzerland in 1897. Though mandated by its constitution to meet every five years, for a number of reasons the WZC has not held elections since 2005, so this will be a meeting of some significance.

Given the challenges and changes taking place in the Jewish world today, the WZC will meet in the wake of Secretary of State Kerry’s failed Middle East peace efforts and following successful negotiations between the P5+1 nations and Iran to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

In this upcoming WZC conference, 500 delegates representing the Jewish people world-wide will debate cutting-edge issues confronting the state of Israel and the Jewish people. The 500 delegates are chosen based on the following demographic formula: 38% are from Israel and are divided along Israeli political party lines as determined by the results of the last Israeli election earlier this year; 29% come from American Zionist organizations according to the last American Zionist Congress elections, also earlier this year, and the remaining 33% come from other countries of the Jewish Diaspora.

The American delegation is composed of 145 delegates out of the total of 500: ARZA (Reform movement = 56), Mercaz (Conservative Movement = 25), Religious Zionists (Orthodox AMIT, B’nei Akiva and RZA = 24), American Forum for Israel (Russian speaking Jews = 10), HATIKVAH (Progressive Zionists = 8), Zionist Organization of America (far right-wing Zionists 7), Zionist Spring (7), World Sephardic Organization (4), Alliance for New Zionist Vision (2), Green Israel (1), and Herut North America (1).

There is a natural alliance (though not yet formal) within the American delegation on many issues between ARZA (the largest vote-getter in the American Zionist election), Mercaz, HATIKVAH, and Green Israel for a majority of 87 of the 145 (60%). The Israeli delegation includes natural partners with ARZA and ARZENU (the international progressive/Reform Zionist movement) of representatives from the Labor-Zionist Union, Meretz, and Yesh Atid. Because ARZA was the largest vote-getter of the American delegation, we are in a position to chair a number of important committees and assure funding for projects benefiting Israel’s Reform movement (the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism – IMPJ).

As goes the Jewish world, so too will those views be reflected in the WZC as a whole, and strong debate on virtually every issue is expected.

Resolutions will be presented, debated and voted upon on many cutting-edge issues including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, settlement growth, Israel’s relationship with world Jewry and vice versa, the status of democracy and religious pluralism in Israel, egalitarian prayer at the Kotel (Western Wall), the religious rights of Israel’s non-Orthodox Jews, the rights of Israel’s LGBT community, and current Israeli policy concerning asylum seekers from Africa and Syria. Many of the resolutions to be presented originated with ARZENU, the International Federation of Reform and Progressive Religious Zionists.

Our ARZA delegation, in conjunction with ARZENU (as well as our natural allies in the Israeli and international delegations), is in a strong position to make a significant impact on the future of the World Zionist Organization, which means that we will be working hard to assure the continued growth of democracy, religious pluralism and diversity in the state of Israel for all its citizens, religious streams and those under its control (i.e. Palestinians living in East Jerusalem and the West Bank who are not Israeli citizens).

I will file reports from Jerusalem on this blog as the pre-conference deliberations with ARZENU begin on October 18, and upon the commencement of the WZC itself on October 20. Upon my return I will also file a longer report for The Los Angeles Jewish Journal.

For those who live in Los Angeles, I invite you to an early morning briefing at Temple Israel of Hollywood upon my return. We will meet on Wednesday morning (8-9 AM), October 28.

Note: To understand the mission and action statement of the Association of Reform Zionists of America, see the ARZA Website at http://www.ARZA.org and http://www.arza.org/about-us-our-mission. ARZA, as well as its parent body, the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), supports a negotiated two-state final resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as being in Israel’s best interests as a Jewish and secure democratic state.

Calling Donald Trump Out for the Bigot and Demagogue That He Is

30 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

American Politics and Life, Ethics, Quote of the Day, Social Justice, Women's Rights

Finally, someone is taking Donald Trump seriously and not as “entertainment” in this pre-primary season.

Tom Friedman (“Bonfire of the Assets, With Trump Lighting Matches” – August 26, NY Times) called Donald Trump out as the intolerant bigot that he is.

More than any other political figure since Joe McCarthy, Trump is second to none in his insensitivity and lack of empathy for other human beings.

“You’ve Been Trumped,” is a 2011 documentary by the British filmmaker Anthony Baxter that documents Trump’s construction of a luxury golf course on a beach in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and the ensuing battles Trump provoked between the local residents, legal and governmental authorities. Trump effectively destroyed that community for the people who lived there.

Tom Friedman wrote of Trump’s campaign this week:

“And now we have Trump shamelessly exploiting this issue [illegal immigration]… He’s calling for an end to the 14th Amendment’s birthright principle, which guarantees citizenship to anyone born here, and also for a government program to round up all 11 million illegal immigrants and send them home — an utterly lunatic idea that Trump dismisses as a mere “management” problem. Like lemmings, many of the other G.O.P. presidential hopefuls just followed Trump over that cliff.

This is not funny anymore. This is not entertaining. Donald Trump is not cute. His ugly nativism shamefully plays on people’s fears and ignorance. It ignores bipartisan solutions already on the table, undermines the civic ideals that make our melting pot work in ways no European or Asian country can match (try to become a Japanese) and tampers with the very secret of our sauce — pluralism, that out of many we make one.

Every era spews up a Joe McCarthy type who tries to thrive by dividing and frightening us, and today his name is Donald Trump.”

I have been asking politically savvy people whether they think Trump could become the Republican nominee for President, and everyone believes this to be impossible, that he is so ignorant and ill-informed about policy and substance that it is only a matter of time before the public realizes that there is nothing there there.

I pray they are right, but I confess to being very worried that they are wrong as we watch Trump’s ratings grow (24% now of the Republican primary voters), and his savvy management of his image as a truth-telling take-no-prisoners business guy whose “politically incorrect” statements of “fact” attract more and more angry, bigoted and frustrated people to his campaign. Yes, the boil that is Donald Trump could be lanced and he could exit the political scene at some point in the near future, but I’m not counting on it.

Tom Friedman was right to reference the Joseph McCarthy era in relation to Trump. It can happen again. As a reminder, here is an account from the US Senate History of the McCarthy hearings of June 9, 1954 when the pivotal turning point of the McCarthy hysteria was finally reached after several years of McCarthy’s attack on thousands of Americans:

“…The army hired Boston lawyer Joseph Welch to make its case. At a session on June 9, 1954, McCarthy charged that one of Welch’s attorneys had ties to a Communist organization. As an amazed television audience looked on, Welch responded with the immortal lines that ultimately ended McCarthy’s career: “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness.” When McCarthy tried to continue his attack, Welch angrily interrupted, “Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?”

Overnight, McCarthy’s immense national popularity evaporated. Censured by his Senate colleagues, ostracized by his party, and ignored by the press, McCarthy died three years later, 48 years old and a broken man.”

Why is this not happening in the Republican Party at the very least?

I’m reminded of what William Butler Yeats said as a possible explanation:

“Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned; the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

And so, what ought we to do about this?

Every journalist, every editorial page of every newspaper in the country, every political leader, every decent American ought to be calling Trump out for the bigot and demagogue that he is before he can do any more damage to the American body politic and American democracy itself.

“Single Jewish Male Seeking Soul Mate” – A Book Review

12 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Ethics, Health and Well-Being, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Jewish-Christian Relations, Social Justice, Stories, Women's Rights

This second moving novel by Letty Cottin Pogrebin is a love story that catches the two protagonists in a clash of cultures and religious identities that reveals how powerfully the past plays upon the present and future.

Cleo is a beautiful African American left-wing feminist talk-show host in New York City and the daughter of a mid-20th century black Baptist preacher who had been mentored and supported by a Jew in the racist south. Upon her father’s untimely death, another kindhearted Jewish family gives Cleo’s mother a desperately needed job and her family a place to live. Cleo consequently has a warm spot in her heart for Jews despite the experiences of many of her African American radio listeners who bear anti-Semitic animus against the Jews they have known as slum-lords.

Zach is a politically liberal Bronx yeshiva-educated atheist child of Holocaust survivors, becomes an ACLU lawyer and does pro-Bono legal work for a nonprofit called “Families of Holocaust Survivors.” Zach’s only sibling was an older brother he never met who, as a toddler, was shot in the head by a Nazi as his parents watched in horror. He feels empathy with the African American situation and is a solid liberal thinker, but he feels duty-bound to honor the promise he made to his dying mother that he would marry a Jew and bring Jewish children into the world not only to assure Jewish continuity but to help replace the 6 million and avenge his brother’s murder.

Cleo and Zach encounter one another in the early 1980s when a Black Preacher and a Rabbi invite them with other New York black and Jewish leaders to restore the Black-Jewish alliance that once existed during the civil rights movement. This occurs as Black-Jewish relations fray in the aftermath of the anti-Semitic rants of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and Jessie Jackson’s “Hymietown” remark.

Letty Cottin Pogrebin is a veteran writer of eleven books. She is a founding editor of Ms. Magazine, a journalist, political activist, wife, mother, grandmother, and a serious Jew who has spent years participating in dialogue groups with African American, Jewish, Israeli, and Palestinian women. Feminism, liberalism and positive Jewish identification permeate the novel.

Pogrebin’s prose can be deeply moving, such as the novel’s opening paragraph:

“ZACHARIAH ISAAC LEVY grew up in a family of secrets, of conversations cut short by his entrance into a room, of thick-tongued speech and guttural names and the whisper of weeping. His parents spoke in short, stubby sentences, as if words could be used up, and often in a language they refused to translate. From the grammar of their sighs, he came to understand that Yiddish was reserved for matters unspeakable in English and memories too grim for a child’s ear.”

As I neared the end of the novel, I visited a congregant struggling with metastasized cancer who herself is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, a serious Jew, a fluent Hebrew speaker with strong family ties in Israel, who has devoted her life to furthering justice and enriching Jewish community. Her son is in love with a non-Jewish woman and, though the young woman is wonderful, my friend is tortured by the very issues that are at the core of Pogrebin’s novel. I recommended that she read it because Pogrebin’s perspective could well offer my friend a measure of insight and comfort.

This book raises many questions: ‘What is Judaism?’ ‘Who is a Jew?’ ‘What ought a Jew know and do to enrich one’s own Jewish life and to assure that Judaism, Jewish practice, culture, ethics, and faith carry forward into the next generation?’ ‘What are the challenges that intermarriage brings to Jewish families?’

The book addresses as well the situation of children of survivors and, in light of the present, challenges their obligations to deceased parents who suffered the indignities of the Shoah.

Though Pogrebin does not deal with the question of how one justifies faith in the God of Jewish tradition in light of evil and the suffering of the innocent, nor does she offer a way to affirm Jewish faith in a liberal non-Orthodox context after the Holocaust, she does effectively present the tension between prophetic humanism and tribal particularism as it plays out in Zach’s inner conflict.

At the novel’s conclusion, Pogrebin brings everything together in a n’chemta (i.e. a hopeful and comforting series of teachings presented by Zach’s Orthodox childhood rabbi).

Rabbi Eleazar Goldfarb is a wise, loving and visionary mentor who lives comfortably between the two worlds of Jewish tradition and modernity primarily because he knows exactly who he is and what he believes. He deftly brings essential Jewish teachings to a tortured Zach.

This book is a wonderful read and provocatively challenges past Jewish assumptions in light of contemporary circumstances.

Community note: Letty Cottin Pogrebin will be the guest speaker at Temple Israel of Hollywood in Los Angeles on Friday evening, October 30 during a community Shabbat dinner following Kabbalat Shabbat services. She will discuss the many issues she raises in this novel. The community is invited.

 

Note to Justices Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, and Alito – from Thomas Jefferson

02 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

American Jewish Life - Ethics - Poetry - Quote of the Day, American Politics and Life, Ethics, LGBT Rights, Social Justice, Women's Rights

Since Thomas Jefferson is considered by most Americans as an authority on the original intent of the framers of the US Constitution, the conservative wing of the current US Supreme Court and all those fine Republican candidates for President who have claimed in the last week that the majority opinion in the equal marriage decision got it really wrong, I recommend for their consideration this statement of our 3rd President and author of the Declaration of Independence signed exactly 239 years ago today. Perhaps the four justices and Republican candidates will change their minds!?

“Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment. I knew that age well; I belonged to it, and labored with it. It deserved well of its country. It was very like the present, but without the experience of the present; and forty years of experience in government is worth a century of book-reading; and this they would say themselves, were they to rise from the dead. I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.”
-Thomas Jefferson

Source: Wordsmith.org – A thought for the day

The complete letter in which the above passage is found can be accessed here:

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/letter-to-samuel-kercheval/

“Racism and Gender in Israel” – Guilt and Accountability

10 Sunday May 2015

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Book Recommendations, Ethics, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Quote of the Day, Social Justice, Women's Rights

Now that the new Israeli government will be sworn into the Knesset this week, an issue that has festered unchecked for too long needs to be addressed more extensively – racist and gender-inspired incitement against Arab citizens of Israel. Though President Reuven Rivlin began his presidency by shining a light on this scourge in Israeli society and initiated a nationwide conversation and campaign to emphasize that anti-Arab racism has no place in the democratic state of Israel, bigotry continues against Arabs, and in a different way against Ethiopian Jews. The large presence of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers has, at the very least, exacerbated the problem.

The Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) and the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) have published a report called “Racism and Gender in Israel.” It includes introductory remarks by Rabbi David Saperstein, formerly the Director of the RAC in Washington, D.C. and now a Presidential appointee as United States Ambassador for Religious Freedom, and by Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ). Anat Hoffman, Executive Director of the IRAC, wrote the Preface (see below to obtain a copy).

This 66-page pamphlet was written by Israeli attorney Ruth Carmi who notes that though the assassinated MK Meir Kahana was condemned for his racist and extremist remarks in the 1980s when he charged that Arab men were threatening to steal “our” wives and daughters, such comments today by the most extreme Hareidi rabbis are “no longer confined to the margins but are becoming increasingly common in Israeli discourse, and have even found their way into official debates in the Knesset…. [these comments pray upon] emotions exploited with the goal of imposing complete segregation between Jews and Arabs in Israel, isolating and humiliating the Arab community in Israel, and depicting it as a dangerous enemy against which defense is essential… The goal is to marginalize Arab citizens in Israel, to prevent coexistence between Jews and Arabs, and to impose a misogynist perception of women as passive pawns in the conflict who lack any will of their own.”

Racial incitement is prohibited under Israeli law as a criminal and a disciplinary offense.

The “Gender and Racism” pamphlet describes how extremist orthodox religious organizations, associations and some ultra-Orthodox rabbis in Israel have devoted themselves to a campaign to “defend the honor of Jewish women.” The primary offending organizations are Yad L’Achim, Lev L’Achim, Lehava, Hemla, Derekh Chaim, and the website Hakol Hayehudi, and the chief rabbi of Safed, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, is most identified with this racist campaign to mark Arabs as schemers, seducers and abusers.

Carmi notes that “throughout history national humiliation has been closely associated with the sexual humiliation of women…and that a Jewish woman who submits to wooing by a non-Jewish man brings dishonor on herself and shame on the entire nation.” (p. 52)

“The woman’s body is the nation, and accordingly the war over this body is the war of the entire nation and becomes the focus of the conflict. Jewish women who have relationships with the enemy – Arab men – are perceived as contributing to the defeat of the Jewish people and the State of Israel and as humiliating Jewish men. The bodies of Jewish women become the focus of the Arab-Jewish conflict and ownership over these bodies determines the balance of power in the conflict.” (pp. 53-54)

This growing movement in Israel is promoted by flyers in Safed warning about “Arab Seducers,” posters in Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem and Beitar Illit opposing employment of Arabs, flyers in the Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood of Jerusalem calling for the expulsion of Arab residents, and letters given to IDF soldiers declaring “The War is at Home.” Statements by ultra-Orthodox rabbis warn against encounters and fraternization between Jewish women and Arab men and against Arab students and letters by some Rabbis’ wives are posted and distributed beseeching Jewish women not to date Arab men. In Ashkelon, there are efforts to exclude Arabs citizens from local places of entertainment, and kashrut certification is granted to businesses that follow this racist agenda. On the Lehava website there is a “Page of Shame” that lists names of Jewish women involved in intimate relationships with non-Jewish men. An Informers’ Hotline enables people to report incidents of Arab-Jewish fraternization.

Violent attacks against innocent Arabs whose sole “offense” was to be present in areas where there is a Jewish majority, have all created “an atmosphere of terror and intimidation that serves the agenda of those organizations and individuals that advocate for the total segregation of the two populations in the State of Israel.” (p. 13)

It remains to be seen whether this new government including two ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism and Shas, will prosecute this moral scourge in segments of Israeli society.

The Talmud is clear when it says “One who is able to protest against a wrong that is done in his family, his city, his nation, or the world and doesn’t do so is held accountable for that wrong being done.” (Bavli, Shabbat 54b).

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel echoes that reminder when he said, “We must continue to remind ourselves that in a free society all are involved in what some are doing. Some are guilty, all are responsible.”

Note: Contact the Reform Movement’s Religious Action Center for a free copy of “Racism and Gender in Israel” – 2027 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036 – Phone: (202) 387-2800 – http://www.rac.org/.

Secular Israelis are Studying Judaism by the Thousands – Israel Report XII

17 Sunday Nov 2013

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

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

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

A new kind of Judaism is developing in Israel. Thousands of secular Israelis are turning to the classic sources of Judaism (e.g. Torah, Midrash, Mishnah, Talmud, Codes, Jewish philosophy, ethics, and mysticism) to gain deeper insight, wisdom and knowledge about our people’s essence and roots, and they are learning these texts not from Orthodox rabbis but from secular teachers.

What is emerging is a way of being a modern Israeli Jew that is more than the secular Zionism that emphasized the centrality of the land, the Hebrew language and political sovereignty, and which has nothing to do with the religious Orthodoxy that has alienated the vast majority of Israelis. It is a return, in part, to the Cultural Zionism of Ahad Ha-am that sought to inspire the flourishing of the soul of Judaism and Jewish peoplehood, but with a modern contemporary emphasis.

My synagogue group visited one of the centers of secular Jewish learning called BINA, also known as “The Secular Yeshiva,” located in the Neve Sha’anan district of Tel Aviv. As we entered we saw bookshelves filled with rows of beautifully bound religious books. That, however, is where the similarity with an orthodox yeshiva ends.

Most BINA students don’t believe in God, don’t wear kippot, tallitot, tzitzit, nor keep kosher. Women and men learn together, dress in shorts, jeans, tee-shirts, halter-tops, and sandals, and come from every segment of Israeli society and world Jewish communities.

BINA was founded by scholars from the kibbutz movement in the wake of PM Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination. They pondered how a “religious” yeshiva student could murder the Prime Minister of Israel, and they determined to provide an alternative Jewish environment to attract young Israelis to learn about Judaism, counteract the extremism of the religious right, and close the gap between Israeli Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews.

BINA volunteers spend many hours weekly helping the poor, children, the elderly, infirm, disabled, foreign workers, and migrants. The center is deliberately located in a depressed area of Tel Aviv so its students can work towards tikun olam (“restoration of the world”) as an integrated component of their learning.

A week before coming to Israel, I attended the annual conference of J Street in Washington, D.C., (J Street is a pro-Israel pro-peace American political movement supporting a two-states for two-peoples end-of-conflict agreement between Israel and the Palestinians) and was fortunate to join a small group of J Street leaders for dinner with Ruth Calderon, a new Yesh Atid MK, who had addressed our conference.

Ruth is an Israeli academic turned politician with a Hebrew University PhD in Talmud. In 1989, she established the first Israeli secular, pluralistic and egalitarian Beit Midrash for women and men. In 1996, she founded ALMA which brings secular Israelis to study Hebrew culture. She became famous when she hosted a television program on Channel 2 that discussed classic Jewish texts.

Ruth’s first appearance in the Knesset (January, 2013) where she introduced herself to her colleagues took Israel by storm. It is considered the most unusual speech ever delivered by a new MK. Her 14 minute address went viral on Youtube with hundreds of thousands of views (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8nNpTf7tNo).

In that talk Ruth told her story, how she fell in love with Talmud, and that it is impossible to know one’s future without knowing one’s roots. She spoke about the importance in Jewish tradition of open and honest debate, of nurturing the values of inclusivity, diversity and tolerance in Israeli life, and that the state of Israel ought to provide equally of its resources to all religious streams and educational endeavors; not just the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox communities.

Ruth’s party, Yesh Atid, is committed to the principle of shivyon ba-netel (“sharing the burden”), that all citizens of the state have an obligation to serve in the military, work for a living, pay taxes, and that the here-to-for privileged status of the ultra-Orthodox has to end in order for both Judaism and democracy to flourish in the State of Israel.

In addition to BINA and ALMA, the Israeli Reform movement (i.e. “Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism – IMPJ”) has grown in recent years attracting thousands of Israelis from secular backgrounds to practice liberal religious Judaism.

The IMPJ includes nearly 50 synagogue centers throughout the country, with adult learning led by Israeli Reform rabbis and scholars, a system of schools and a youth movement, summer camps, pre-army mechinot, kibbutzim, and social justice projects addressing poverty, hunger, immigration, foreign workers, women’s rights, homosexual rights, racism, the environment, and religious pluralism.

According to recent polls 34% of Israelis now identify with the Reform movement, whereas only 23% identify as Orthodox.

BINA, Ruth Calderon and ALMA, the Israeli Reform Movement (IMPJ and IRAC), and other grass-roots efforts are transforming Israeli Jewish identity thus bringing hope for an enriched, open, pluralistic, and democratic Jewish State.

High Holiday Sermons – 2013/5774 – Ayeka? Where are You?

10 Sunday Nov 2013

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Divrei Torah, Ethics, Health and Well-Being, Holidays, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Musings about God/Faith/Religious Life, Social Justice, Women's Rights

This past High Holiday season (2013-5774) I asked myself and my congregation one central question in three different ways: Ayeka? (Lit. – “Where are you?”).

The question, of course, is not about one’s location. Rather, it asks about our identity, how we think and what believe, who we are and what values are central in our lives.

Ayeka is the first question to appear in the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 3:9). It was asked by God of the first humans in the Garden of Eden immediately after they ate from the forbidden tree.

Ayeka – Where are You?  Part I – American Jews

Ayeka – Where are You?  Part II – The Jewish People and State of Israel

Ayeka – Where are You?  Part III – God

I include here as well my Yizkor sermon on “The Death of Moses” based on a compilation of midrashim (rabbinic legends and commentaries).

In the context of my synagogue mission’s to Israel and the West Bank in October (2013) about which I am still writing in a series of Reports from Israel, the second sermon, in particular, informs my thinking.  All three sermons, however, ought to be considered together.

The sermons are posted on the Temple Israel of Hollywood web-site at http://www.tioh.org/worship/clergy/clergystudy

  • Erev Rosh Hashanah 5774/2013 – “Ayeka – Where are You? Part I – American Jews”
  • Morning Rosh Hashanah 5774/2013 – “Ayeka – Where are You? Part II – The Jewish People and the State of Israel”
  • Kol Nidre 5774/2013 – “Ayeka? Part III – God”
  • Yizkor 5774/2013 – “A Midrash on the Death of Moses”

 

WOW & Anat Hoffman – The Ultra-Orthodox & Rabbi Ovadia Yosef – Israel Journal Part VIII

03 Sunday Nov 2013

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

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

On Tuesday, October 8, Israel’s daily Haaretz featured a photograph (front page above the fold, right-hand column) of Anat Hoffman, the Chair and public “face” of Women of the Wall (WOW). Adjacent to her photo (also above the fold, left-hand column) was a photograph of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the 93 year-old spiritual leader of the Shas Party, who had died the night before.

The article accompanying Anat’s photograph reported that by a majority vote, the Board of Women of the Wall accepted a “compromise” proposal presented by Natan Sharansky, Chair of the Jewish Agency, that would grant equal rights to women’s prayer groups and egalitarian prayer services at the Western Wall (Kotel) at a third section to be located south of the traditional prayer area and under Robinson’s Arch, now a limited space and part of an archaeological park.

The Chief Rabbi of the Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, agreed to the compromise and that he would have no authority over prayer in the new area.

Our synagogue group had attended WOW’s monthly Rosh Hodesh Cheshvan services on Friday morning, October 4, in which thousands of ultra-Orthodox had crowded into the prayer areas at the Kotel.

The last time I attended WOW Rosh Hodesh services was three years ago. Then, I witnessed a display of behavior by so-called “religious” Jews that was as ugly and undignified as anything I had seen anywhere in Jewish life. Ultra-Orthodox men screamed curses, filthy epithets and insults at the women of WOW as they prayed quietly at the back of the women’s section, and ultra-Orthodox women spit on them.

This October’s experience was not much better. Loud-speakers blasted prayers making it difficult to hear oneself think, and a group of religious settlers danced and screamed their prayers on the men’s side of the mechitzah just feet from the WOW women. The purpose of the loud-speakers, allegedly, was to offer prayers of healing for the very ill Rabbi Yosef, but effectively they drowned out WOW prayers (and everyone else too) thus fulfilling the “religious” prohibition against kol isha, the voice of women praying.

The women’s section was packed with hundreds of young ultra-Orthodox girls and women, a strategy the ultra-Orthodox had used in the past at the behest of Rabbi Rabinowitz to make it virtually impossible for WOW to find space in which to pray.

The juxtaposition of the photographs of Anat Hoffman and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in Haaretz was, of course, coincidental, unless you believe that “coincidences are God’s way of staying anonymous!” Regardless, that morning’s headlines visualized the culture war engulfing Israel.

My synagogue group had an appointment with Anat at 10 AM that day, but she was late because as soon as WOW made its decision, she was deluged with calls from the international press seeking comment. Under the circumstances we forgave her happily.

The WOW Board voted by a large majority in favor of the compromise; however, there are WOW members living in the United States and Canada who were angered by this decision because  they wanted prayer rights in the women’s section of the Kotel and not the “new“ area.

After voicing their criticism openly, Anat responded that the compromise, assuming all conditions are met, is the first time the government of the state of Israel recognized equal rights of women to pray openly at the Kotel, to be led in prayer by women, to wear tallitot and lay t’filin, and to chant aloud from the Torah. She said:

“This space is revolutionary. It will allow every Jew, man and woman, to pray, celebrate and hold religious ceremonies at the Western Wall. However, know that we are resolved: We will pray there only if it is built in this spirit and according to our conditions.”

There are sixteen conditions that WOW insists must be met for the compromise to go forward. (For details see “Women of the Wall issue list of demands for prayer space” – UPI.com – October 28, 2013 http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/10/28/Women-of-the-Wall-issue-list-of-demands-for-prayer-space/UPI-31671382962197/?spt=rln&or=1

This Monday, November 4th (Rosh Hodesh Kislev), marks the 25th Anniversary of Women of the Wall. The compromise agreement is a tipping-point victory not just for WOW, but for world Jewry.

PM Netanyahu, Jewish Agency Chair Sharansky and the Israeli government are to be congratulated for affirming the dignity and integrity of the Kotel, Judaism’s most sacred site, the rights of world Jewry at that site, and for affirming the principles of religious pluralism and equal rights for all Jews, as so stated in Israel’s Declaration of Independence.

On Tuesday, December 3rd (7:30 PM) Anat Hoffman will speak at Temple Israel of Hollywood (7300 Hollywood Blvd., LA 90046).  The community is invited at no charge. We ask that you RSVP to www.tioh.org/rsvp so we may plan appropriately.

← Older posts

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 349 other subscribers

Archive

  • May 2023 (6)
  • April 2023 (8)
  • March 2023 (5)
  • February 2023 (9)
  • January 2023 (8)
  • December 2022 (10)
  • November 2022 (5)
  • October 2022 (5)
  • September 2022 (10)
  • August 2022 (8)
  • July 2022 (9)
  • June 2022 (5)
  • May 2022 (6)
  • April 2022 (8)
  • March 2022 (11)
  • February 2022 (3)
  • January 2022 (7)
  • December 2021 (6)
  • November 2021 (9)
  • October 2021 (8)
  • September 2021 (6)
  • August 2021 (7)
  • July 2021 (7)
  • June 2021 (6)
  • May 2021 (11)
  • April 2021 (4)
  • March 2021 (9)
  • February 2021 (9)
  • January 2021 (15)
  • December 2020 (5)
  • November 2020 (12)
  • October 2020 (13)
  • September 2020 (17)
  • August 2020 (8)
  • July 2020 (8)
  • June 2020 (8)
  • May 2020 (8)
  • April 2020 (11)
  • March 2020 (13)
  • February 2020 (13)
  • January 2020 (15)
  • December 2019 (11)
  • November 2019 (9)
  • October 2019 (5)
  • September 2019 (10)
  • August 2019 (9)
  • July 2019 (8)
  • June 2019 (12)
  • May 2019 (9)
  • April 2019 (9)
  • March 2019 (16)
  • February 2019 (9)
  • January 2019 (19)
  • December 2018 (19)
  • November 2018 (9)
  • October 2018 (17)
  • September 2018 (12)
  • August 2018 (11)
  • July 2018 (10)
  • June 2018 (16)
  • May 2018 (15)
  • April 2018 (18)
  • March 2018 (8)
  • February 2018 (11)
  • January 2018 (10)
  • December 2017 (6)
  • November 2017 (12)
  • October 2017 (8)
  • September 2017 (17)
  • August 2017 (10)
  • July 2017 (10)
  • June 2017 (12)
  • May 2017 (11)
  • April 2017 (12)
  • March 2017 (10)
  • February 2017 (14)
  • January 2017 (22)
  • December 2016 (13)
  • November 2016 (12)
  • October 2016 (8)
  • September 2016 (6)
  • August 2016 (6)
  • July 2016 (10)
  • June 2016 (10)
  • May 2016 (11)
  • April 2016 (13)
  • March 2016 (10)
  • February 2016 (11)
  • January 2016 (9)
  • December 2015 (10)
  • November 2015 (12)
  • October 2015 (8)
  • September 2015 (7)
  • August 2015 (10)
  • July 2015 (7)
  • June 2015 (8)
  • May 2015 (10)
  • April 2015 (9)
  • March 2015 (12)
  • February 2015 (10)
  • January 2015 (12)
  • December 2014 (7)
  • November 2014 (13)
  • October 2014 (9)
  • September 2014 (8)
  • August 2014 (11)
  • July 2014 (10)
  • June 2014 (13)
  • May 2014 (9)
  • April 2014 (17)
  • March 2014 (9)
  • February 2014 (12)
  • January 2014 (15)
  • December 2013 (13)
  • November 2013 (16)
  • October 2013 (7)
  • September 2013 (8)
  • August 2013 (12)
  • July 2013 (8)
  • June 2013 (11)
  • May 2013 (11)
  • April 2013 (12)
  • March 2013 (11)
  • February 2013 (6)
  • January 2013 (9)
  • December 2012 (12)
  • November 2012 (11)
  • October 2012 (6)
  • September 2012 (11)
  • August 2012 (8)
  • July 2012 (11)
  • June 2012 (10)
  • May 2012 (11)
  • April 2012 (13)
  • March 2012 (10)
  • February 2012 (9)
  • January 2012 (14)
  • December 2011 (16)
  • November 2011 (23)
  • October 2011 (21)
  • September 2011 (19)
  • August 2011 (31)
  • July 2011 (8)

Categories

  • American Jewish Life (458)
  • American Politics and Life (417)
  • Art (30)
  • Beauty in Nature (24)
  • Book Recommendations (52)
  • Divrei Torah (159)
  • Ethics (490)
  • Film Reviews (6)
  • Health and Well-Being (156)
  • Holidays (136)
  • Human rights (57)
  • Inuyim – Prayer reflections and ruminations (95)
  • Israel and Palestine (358)
  • Israel/Zionism (502)
  • Jewish History (441)
  • Jewish Identity (372)
  • Jewish-Christian Relations (51)
  • Jewish-Islamic Relations (57)
  • Life Cycle (53)
  • Musings about God/Faith/Religious life (190)
  • Poetry (86)
  • Quote of the Day (101)
  • Social Justice (355)
  • Stories (74)
  • Tributes (30)
  • Uncategorized (640)
  • Women's Rights (152)

Blogroll

  • Americans for Peace Now
  • Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA)
  • Congregation Darchei Noam
  • Haaretz
  • J Street
  • Jerusalem Post
  • Jerusalem Report
  • Kehillat Mevesseret Zion
  • Temple Israel of Hollywood
  • The IRAC
  • The Jewish Daily Forward
  • The LA Jewish Journal
  • The RAC
  • URJ
  • World Union for Progressive Judaism

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Rabbi John Rosove's Blog
    • Join 349 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Rabbi John Rosove's Blog
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar