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Jewish Journal

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December 30, 2009

Free God Now! – posted by R. Yosef Kanefsky

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“From the day that the Temple was destroyed, the Holy One, blessed is He, has nothing in His world, except for the four cubits of Halacha.” (Berachot 8a).

This soulful rabbinic reflection is both an expression of grief over Jerusalem’s destruction, and an affirmation of the religious power of halachik study. Only in the places and times where Halacha is being studied, can the Divine Presence that had formerly dwelt in the holy of holies, now be found.

I wonder whether this rabbinic teaching has been taken way too far in our contemporary context, to disastrous effect.

It goes without saying that we don’t actually believe that God has abandoned the vast swaths of world that exist outside of Halacha’s four cubits. Every morning we speak the sacred words, “The One who mercifully gives light to the world and all who inhabit it, and in Whose goodness renews daily the work of creation”. After every meal we acknowledge God who “sustains the entire world in His goodness”. And every Monday and Thursday we plead, “have compassion upon us and upon all of Your creatures”. On Friday nights we even call upon the entire Earth to sing to Him. We definitely believe that God is still everywhere, and that His care and concern continue to be universal.

But it’s impossible, of course, to reconcile this conviction that God’s eyes are everywhere and that His mercies are upon everyone, with the awful behavior of Orthodox Jews that has captured public attention over the past months and years. Unquestionably, many factors contribute to a religious person’s (a religious leader’s) decision to behave illegally and unethically. Greed and base temptation figure in prominently. But we shouldn’t underestimate the mindset which confines God to the beis hamedresh, to the four cubits of the yeshiva and to the “heimishe” community, to the exclusion of the wider world which is populated by those who do not enter the beis hamedresh, or who are not part of the halacha-bound fraternity.

You can’t launder money unless you’ve convinced yourself that God doesn’t really know from the IRS, and doesn’t really care about the beneficiaries of taxpayer-financed government programs. You can’t abuse and manipulate people who are hoping to convert to Judaism unless you’ve concluded that God looks away from the anguish of the non-Jewish “stranger”. You cannot protect men who are utilizing a “get” as an instrument of extortion against their ex-wives unless you believe that women – who in many communities are outsiders to the clique of the beis hamedresh – fall outside God’s concern. And you cannot underpay and otherwise maltreat Guatemalan workers unless you don’t regard them as being God’s creatures in quite the same way that you are.

It’s a disturbing and dangerous sort of arrogance that can arise from a misreading of the Talmud’s statement that God is only found within the four cubits of the yeshiva. If the great contribution that Modern Orthodoxy makes to Orthodox Judaism is to restore the God of Israel also to the world outside the Beit Midrash, and to speak with clarity about what needs to be fixed – dayenu. 

Free God Now! – posted by R. Yosef Kanefsky Read More »

Holiday Music & Jewish Wisdom

Leave a Comment / Opinion /

As seen in The Jewish Week

Shorter days, colder weather and “Jingle Bells” aren’t the only harbingers of the holiday season – classic rock also tends to drift in this time of year. At parties and in cozy cafes, Top 40 hits from the ‘70s and ‘80s always seem to make a comeback. Although secular on the surface, you don’t have to dig too deep to find Jewish values at the roots of this rock and roll. In that spirit, we asked our resident pop culture Rashi- Rabbi DovBer Pinson- to give us the Jewish take on these “holiday” classics. Rav Pinson who is a direct descendant of the 12th century Rashi, is a prolific author and spiritual mentor. He offers unique learning and life experience at his IYYUN Center in NY (www.iyyun.com). Tell us what you think at {encode=”connect@jinsider.com” title=”connect@jinsider.com”}.

“Lean on Me” (Bill Whithers, 1972)
Inspired by West Virginia coal miners, this song was recently performed at the Obama inauguration.

Sometimes in our lives
We all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there’s always tomorrow

Life can at times be painful and bitter, yet we need to make sure we don’t become bitter ourselves. Otherwise, when tomorrow comes and new possibilities open up, we will not be equipped realize them. When the recently freed nation of Israel journeyed from Egypt they came to Marah, and as the Torah says, they were not able to drink the found water because “they were bitter.” (Exodus 15:23) They can refer to the waters, or as Reb Mendel of Kotzk teaches, they can refer to the people themselves. They were bitter, thus any water they tasted was bitter. As the verse says, “All the days of the afflicted [seem] wrong, yet, one that has a merry heart (full with hope for a tomorrow) enjoys a continual feast (everything seems right).” (Proverbs 15:15)

“Imagine” (John Lennon, 1971)
“Imagine” was ranked as the third greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine behind The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” and Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.”

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…

The utopian dream is the Messianic era. The great Maimonides (Rambam) writes of the time of the Messianic era: “In that time there will be no famine or war, no jealousy or rivalry since there will be abundant good and all the delicacies will be as plentiful as the dust of the earth. The only occupation of the entire world will be to know the Creator.” (Rambam Hilchos Malachim)

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

Everything new begins with a dream. “There is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Yet, as the Zohar teaches, “Under the sun there is nothing new, but under the moon there is.” (Zohar) Sun represents rigidity, predictability, what was will be. The moon, the night, is the place of dreams, dreaming of a better tomorrow, a tomorrow that is radically different than today.

“We are the World” (Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, 1985)
A charity single recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa, this may be the ultimate tikkun olam song of the 1980’s.

Send them your heart
So they’ll know that someone cares
And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us by turning stones to bread
And so we all must lend a helping hand

 
The mere fact of showing that you care brings healing. The Talmud teaches, “One who visits the sick takes away one-sixtieth of his pain. (Nedarim 39b) Simply by visiting and showing that you care about the other alleviates their pain.

When you’re down and out, there seems no hope at all
But if you just believe there’s no way we can fall
Well, well, well, well let us realize oh! that a change can only come
When we stand together as one

We are all in it together. A Chassidic parable illustrates this point. Once as a ship set sail one passenger took out a knife and began drilling a hole under his seat. When rebuked by his fellow passengers to stop and not endanger the ship from sinking, he responded, “I paid for my seat and I am only making a hole were I am sitting.” As we navigate the seas of life we need to be acutely aware that we are all in one ship.

We are at 770…  and no image. This fits and should work at this point. Not sure how lyric size may add more column space. Only if there is room in layout add the song below (170—becomes 940)
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“Don’t Stop Believing” (Journey, 1981)
Despite lead vocalist Steve Perry’s initial hesitation, “Don’t Stop Believing” was used in the final scene of Sopranos.

Working hard to get my fill
Everybody wants a thrill
Paying anything to roll the dice
Just one more time
Some will win, some will lose
Some were born to sing the blues
Oh the movie never ends
It goes on and on and on and on

Indeed, it may seem that some people win and some people are destined to lose. The truth is that life’s journey extends beyond our present incarnation. Each of our souls needs to reach its completion and full articulation. A person who is wealthy in this lifetime needs to work on kindness and giving while those who are less fortunate materially work on learning to receive – each person wrestling with his own area of struggle. In the next life, or in the previous life, it was the opposite, and the wealthier person was the one working on the attribute of receiving

Holiday Music & Jewish Wisdom Read More »

Jewish groups still angling for health care bill fixes

Leave a Comment / Health, United States /

Repair the world? Jewish groups would be happy just to fix health care legislation. 

For months, Jewish groups have been at the forefront of lobbying the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives for health care reform, framing their support within the Talmudic mandate of Tikkun Olam, repairing the world. The National Jewish Democratic Council even earned a special thank you from Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) when the bill finally passed the Senate on Dec. 24.

Now that the House and Senate versions of the legislation are on the verge of converging into a single bill acceptable to both houses of Congress, the Jewish groups that focus on health care lobbying have correspondingly sent out the usual statements praising its advance.

Each of these statements, however, is peppered with a plethora of qualifications – most having to do with the absence of an option for government-run health plans that would compete with the private sector, although there are other aspects that irk Jewish groups, including language on abortions and pricing for seniors.

The statement from the Reform movement’s Religion Action Center was typical of the Jewish responses.

“The time is long past due to repair our broken system that leaves over 47 million people uninsured and millions more underinsured each year,” it begins. “We commend our nation’s senators who have been working tirelessly to bring us to this historic moment.”

Then comes the “while”: “While we are pleased to see a commitment to increased access to health insurance, we remain disappointed with key pieces of the legislation. The bill lacks a government-run public insurance option, which would control costs to further improve affordability and accessibility of care. We are also concerned about severe limitations to women’s access to reproductive health services.”

Rachel Goldberg, the director of aging policy for B’nai B’rith International, said health care reform advocates hoped to salvage some elements of the public option in the final version of the bill, once it emerges from a conference of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

“The important thing is to make sure there’s a mechanism to ensure competition,” she said, even if such an option is not government run; one possibility is the creation of nonprofit cooperatives. Health care reform advocates want a public option to crack insurance monopolies and duopolies that prevail in many states.

Like many other health care reform advocates, the Jewish Federations of North America, the umbrella body for federations, focused on urging Congress to preserve the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act, a voluntary insurance buy-in that covers long-term care for the elderly and disabled; both Senate and House bills include versions of the CLASS Act.

“This is the largest step forward in long-term care reform since the creation of the Medicare and Medicaid program nearly 45 years ago,” said William Daroff, the federation umbrella’s Washington director. “We believe the CLASS Act would create a fiscally responsible program that will strengthen our ability to deliver vital services to those most in need of them in our community.”

Critics contend that the proposed insurance plan is not self-sustainable and will require massive taxpayer funding.

“The real danger comes after 10 years, when the long-term care program will increase deficits and create even greater pressure for government rationing of medical care,” Scott Harrington, a professor of health care management at the Wharton School, wrote recently in The Wall Street Journal.

Jewish groups, representing one of the most rapidly aging demographics in the United States, also want to see aging removed as an insurance pricing factor, just as the legislation does with pre-existing conditions. They also want to remove the “doughnut hole” from Medicare, the government-run insurance program for Americans over 65. Currently, medicines are subsidized up until $3,000; recipients must then cover a “hole” of about $3,600 until they are again eligible for government subsidies.

For some groups, a critical issue is abortion. Both versions of the bill would introduce bureaucratic restrictions that abortion rights advocates believe eventually could end any government funding for insurers who provide abortions. The House version bans insurers from paying for abortions for clients eligible for any public funding; the Senate bill introduces a process for paying for abortion insurance that critics say is cumbersome and could lead to insurers simply not offering the coverage.

“On the one hand this should be a great moment,” said Sammie Moshenberg, the Washington director for the National Council of Jewish Women. “On the other, the extension of coverage to many people comes on the back of women’s access to reproductive rights.”

The intense, heated and often personal nature of the debate did not leave the Jewish community unscathed.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who had backed versions of the public option in the past, withdrew his support recently, saying he no longer believed the government could afford them.

That led to at least two petitions from American Jews urging Lieberman, the best-known Orthodox Jewish lawmaker, not to turn his back on the helpless.

“In our eyes, this is not the behavior of an ‘observant’ Jew,” said one petition, organized by Philadelphia’s Shalom Center and signed by 2,000 people, including 126 Jewish clergy. “’Tzedek tzedek tirdof, justice justice shall you seek,’ is among the Torah’s most important commandments. And in pursuit of justice, no autonomous Jewish community has ever allowed the poor to go without healing.”

That in turn led to a blast from Agudath Israel of America, which said that impugning belief was out of place in the public square.

“People should not appropriate the mantle of Judaism to promote their own personal or political convictions,” said Rabbi David Zweibel, the executive vice president of the organization, which is fervently Orthodox. “The Torah has much to say about caring for the sick. But turning it into a tool to promote a particular provision of a health care plan—or into a bat with which to pummel an outstanding public servant who happens to think that provision is objectionable—dishonors the Torah.”

Jewish groups still angling for health care bill fixes Read More »

Israel approves 15 West Bank buildings

Leave a Comment / Israel /

Israel’s Defense Ministry approved plans to legalize the construction of 15 buildings in a Jewish West Bank settlement.

The approval of the structures, which were built illegally, was announced late Tuesday. It came in response to a petition filed in August by Peace Now to Israel’s Supreme Court asking that the state raze the buildings, which were constructed without necessary permits.

The construction in Kiryat Netafim, in the northern West Bank, reportedly began long before the announcement last month of a 10-month freeze on construction in Jewish settlements in the territory. This week’s approval of the construction appears to violate the freeze. Peace Now says some of the structures were built on Palestinian land.

Meanwhile, Civil Administration officials have completed inspections of about 150 settlements in the West Bank and issued 174 stop-work orders at construction sites that violate the freeze, according to the Jerusalem Post. Inspectors reportedly will visit the settlements to make sure the orders are being obeyed.

Israel approves 15 West Bank buildings Read More »

Israel’s population grows to 7.5 million

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Israel’s population at the end of 2009 stands at 7,509,000.

The Central Bureau of Statistics released the figures Wednesday, in advance of the secular New Year.

According to the bureau, 75.4 percent of the population is Jewish. 20.3 percent is Arab and 4.3 percent is classified as “other”—either non-Arab Christians or those without a religious designation.

Israel’s population grew 1.8 percent during 2009, with 160,000 births and 39,000 deaths.

Israel’s population grows to 7.5 million Read More »

ANGELINA JOLIE’S FACE-OFF!

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The room is small, dimly lit by lavender scented candles whose glow adds to the warm cozy feeling engulfing me as the gentle harmony of nature’s sounds wafts through the—

“Okay, now please take off your clothes,” the woman gently, but firmly, commands. Uh oh, I’ve done it again, I tell myself. When they advertised, “Treat yourself to a new you. You’ll feel born again,” I didn’t know they meant it literally.

“What?” I turn to her, simultaneously looking around for the hidden camera.

“If you like, I’ll leave the room while you undress,” she says soothingly, a little grin spreading across her face. I suddenly imagine her as the co-star of a girl-on-girl x-rated film. But here’s one time I’m not looking to be a leading lady.

“Does everyone have to get naked for a facial?” I ask, reluctantly stripping.

“No. We give young actresses preferential treatment, so that later we can sell their pictures to the Paparazzi.”

I freeze, unsure if she’s kidding or not, and just in case make a dash for the paper-thin covers atop the treatment bed.

“Is this your first time?” she asks, amused.  I’m nervously hoping we’re both referring to the same thing.

I feel there are many milestones I’ve missed out on as a woman. “Getting Ready” is one of them. When my sisters and I are getting dressed for an event, I’m always embarrassed to say “ready” when only five minutes have passed. I can never quite figure out what I’m supposed to do for so long. Many are the times I’ve simply locked myself in the bathroom and read a good book while telling my family, “Don’t rush me, I’m putting on my face.” Yes, I know, a whole new dimension to “two-faced.” And nails – pedicure, manicure – if only people knew that my technique for applying nail polish is simply paint the whole toe, then wipe off the excess polish around the nail.
That’s why I came to this “Sima’s Super Spa!”. I wanted desperately to fulfill another right of passage into womanhood—The Facial.

“Yeah, this is my first facial,” I point out, making sure she knows what I’m here for. “How’d you know?” I ask curiously.

She pulls up a chair and starts talking to my feet.  “A lucky guess,” she says dryly, “and you’re lying down in the wrong direction. Head goes in here,” she points to where I have my toes safely curled in a little pillow hole, and I clumsily, switch directions (under the covers).

“Oops. I’m not so good at this,” I apologize. “I was traumatized when I was twelve. My Mom made me go to a nail torturer. My virgin cuticles were never the same. I couldn’t play piano for days, and my psychologist says I’m the first person he’s met with cuticle phobia – I see a manicurist and I sit on my hands.”

“So what made you decide to be so brave now?” she asks, reaching for what I’m sure are restraints.

“Well, I’ll be flying to the USA soon for a few auditions, and I figured I’ll indulge myself.”

Then she lights up. “Since we’re preparing you for close-ups of you face, I’d like to recommend a very unique treatment, geared especially for public figures in front of the camera. Even Angelina Jolie does it!” and she takes out a photograph of Angie walking out of a beauty salon with the caption “FACE OFF”, and a one liner explaining the exquisite facial treatment Angelina regularly goes through to look her best.

Staring at the clipping, I begin to worry that maybe she wasn’t kidding about selling pictures to the paparazzi.

The beautician winks at me, “See, there’s a reason Angie looks so young. But we can have you looking like that in no time.”

“But I am young. I even got carded last night.”

“That’s the worst. People who feel young. Don’t you know that the skin begins aging at 12 or 13? If you don’t take care of yourself you’ll be all wrinkles before your first facelift.”

Wrinkles? Facelift?  I wince, touching my face self-consciously. People have been telling me lately how much I look like my Grandmother. I look at the tabloid clipping again. Well. If it’s good enough for Angie…

“Okay,” I comply, “what do we do?”

“First we take this little brush with these metal bristles,” she demonstrates excitedly, caressing my arm with the steel fingers. “We move it along your face, which tightens it, and fills in the wrinkles. It’s called undulating the epidermis.”

“Umm, so is that at all related to Botox?”

She winks at me. “And for only 2000 shekels you can look like Angie’s younger sister. Ah, but what’s the price for beauty?”

That’s just what I was thinking. Whatever happened to that natural look?

“On second thought, my wrinkles give me character. Let’s just go with the regular facial.”

She sighs, only slightly disappointed. I’m glad because I wouldn’t want to get the person who’s changing my face angry. 

She begins with a “face scrub”, which seems to be a special foam mixed with gravel so that it scratches up your face nice and evenly. Then “peeling”, which believe it or not, really is designed to peel your face off. I think it would’ve been more humane to use a vegetable peeler. She then spends the next ten minutes rubbing in ‘special creams’—which all smell suspiciously like hair mousse.

Just when I’m sure I can relax again, because all this pain must be a sign that it’s almost over, out comes the magnifying glass. I let out a little yelp, remembering what my mother said about the dermatologists in her day who used a magnifying glass to squeeze out blackheads and pimples. Ugh! How primitive can you get?

And she promptly proceeds to pinch, squeeze, nip and pick my face. Black heads. Gone. Pimples (Not that I have any). Gone. Eyebrows. Gone. Face. Gone

“Is it supposed to burn so much?” I ask, trying to blow on my cheek.

“Shh…. It means it’s working. Now just lean back and enjoy the pampering,” she forces my eyelids shut. Maybe it is working, since I notice I can no longer blink voluntarily.

That’s when she puts a net around my face, and has me hold a strange metal rod.

“Just hold that, and don’t worry about a thing. It’s just to complete the electrical circuit.”

I force open my eyes and look at her. “Electrical –???“

Zap! I swear she giggled as my whole body convulsed in response to the “magnet” electrifying my face. Between the humming sound and the zapping sound, I begin empathizing with those mosquitoes we treat so unjustly.

“Okay, now we’re just about done, and it’s time for your face massage,” she says, smoothing down my long hair, which is so loaded with static it’s no longer touching the ground, but actually pointing towards the near wall.

True to form, she rubs a burning cream into what’s left of my original face, holding me down with her elbows. I get the disturbing sensation that someone’s just smeared a whole tube of mint toothpaste onto my face.

“How do you feel?” she asks, as she helps me sit up.

“Did you catch the license of the truck that hit me?” I say miserably. “Is the plastic surgeon still on this floor?” The witch laughs.

“Wow! You’re positively glowing!” she lies. “You look like a million dollars, if I dare to toot my own horn.” And she hands me a mirror.

I look at my reflection: Red, blotchy, with net marks scorched into my skin. Not to mention my hair is higher than Marge’s (of the Simpson’s).

“Will I ever be able to wink again?” I ask hopefully.

“I guess you are a little red,” she admits, lowering her voice. “But you know, our face is just the mirror of our soul. So you must be a very special person if your face is so sensitive.”

My soul isn’t sensitive, it’s just blushing, looking at my new face. However, I’m about to give her a piece of my “sensitive” mind, when she pre-empts me, saying, “Or maybe, you should’ve splurged for the Angelina Jolie treatment.”

I can’t even imagine what it must feel like to take the rich and famous treatment. When I think of it, I have to hand it to Angie—she’s got a hell-of-a-threshold for pain.

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ANGELINA JOLIE’S FACE-OFF! Read More »

Bar Refaeli, Israeli pride of the celebrity rags

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Bar Refaeli is arguably Israel’s best-known ex-pat since Joseph. Who else could command such tabloid attention as last year’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover model?

The scuttlebutt now: Bar and Leonardo DiCarprio, who called it quits last summer, were spotted bar hopping together in Mexico over the weekend.

I know. Riveting.

Gotta love TMZ. Though this was a nice change of pace from the Jamie McCourt stories.

Bar Refaeli previously graced these pages when she appeared on the cover of Heeb’s Jewish swimsuit issue and later when she led SI’s swimsuit edition.

Bar Refaeli, Israeli pride of the celebrity rags Read More »