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Jewish Journal

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November 28, 2012

Home after Birthright

Leave a Comment / California /

Moledet means “homeland” in Hebrew, and it’s no coincidence that it’s been chosen as the name of a pilot program aimed at maintaining the passion of recent Los Angeles Birthright alumni following their return home from Israel. 

Applications for the new program, created by American Jewish University (AJU) in cooperation with Birthright NEXT, will be available beginning Dec. 1.

The success of the Taglit-Birthright Israel program is no secret. More than 300,000 Jewish young adults between the ages of 18 and 26 have been inspired by its all-expenses-paid trips to Israel since 1999. While in Israel, they’ve embarked on journeys all over the nation: hiking Mount Carmel, eating falafel on a beach in Haifa and praying at the Kotel. Participants also have taken part in a mifgash  — or “encounter” — with their Israeli peers.

However, once these young adults return to the United States — 16,000 of them to the greater Los Angeles area so far — it’s proven more difficult to maintain their enthusiasm for Israel. Moledet aims to re-create the awe and profound sense of identity felt by many upon their first trip to Israel, according to Gady Levy, dean of the Whizin Center for Continuing Education and vice president of AJU.

“We wanted to create a program that emphasizes advocacy and knowledge about Israel and how to incorporate that into your own identity, and retaining that connection to Israel while living in the States,” Levy said.

Moledet will begin this summer, July 18-28, with an immersive retreat for 50 participants at AJU’s 2,700-acre Brandeis-Bardin Campus in Simi Valley. While there, attendees — who must have participated in Birthright during the past 18 months — will delve into Jewish and Israeli-themed activities while living kibbutz style.

“There will be an emphasis on the arts, with Judaism being taught as a civilization rather than just a religion. So we’ll teach things like music, painting, photography, dance and cooking,” Levy said.

Throughout the year that follows, participants will be invited to private events, receive literature about Israel on a regular basis and be paired with a mentor — a community leader who will help them become leaders in their own right.

“Our ideal candidate would be somebody who actually understands and wants to continue their relationship with Israel and their Jewish identity,” Levy said. “We also want people who are very passionate. Our ideal is someone who can help foster this passion and understanding in the community and can commit to the time to work with the community throughout the year.”

One of the ways participants will “pay” for this otherwise free program — it is funded by a grant from the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles and other donors — is by creating two Los Angeles-wide events for the Jewish community, whether it be a program for Jerusalem Day or something else that promotes education or the social betterment of the city.

Levy hopes that this pilot program will help create the framework for a program that can be used nationwide. 

“My ultimate goal would be to create the masterbook for Moledet — from how to interview applicants to perfecting the curriculum,” Levy said. “That would be, for me, the greatest outcome.”

For more information, visit this story at jewishjournal.com.

Home after Birthright Read More »

Israel’s crazy election cycle

Leave a Comment / Israel, Mobile-Homepage, News /

This might be the craziest election cycle in the history of Israel. It is short, but not a week passes without shifts and changes in the political landscape: On Nov. 26, it was Defense Minister Ehud Barak resigning from his post to pursue new horizons. Barak is the cat with nine lives, perhaps even more, but his next incarnation will not be a political one — or so he says.

In fact, it’s been clear for a while that his political future might be in doubt (I have witnesses in Los Angeles whom I told two weeks ago that Barak’s political career is probably over). Benjamin Netanyahu could not give him what he really wanted — a place within the Likud Party and another term at Defense. His party, Atzmaut (Independence), wasn’t taking off. Going back to the Labor Party wasn’t an option. So a dignified departure seemed the appealing choice.

Our Israel Poll Trends tracker was updated on Monday (to see it, visit my blog at jewishjournal.com/rosnersdomain/). But our statistician-in-chief, professor Camil Fuchs, keeps having to make alterations to the graph. True, Netanyahu began this cycle as the most likely candidate to lead the next coalition and is still likely to keep his job as prime minister — the Likud-right-religious political bloc currently has 69 mandates, according to Fuchs. All other things, however, are moving quickly: Parties form and crumble, alliances are shaped, old rivals find common ground, ideologies become blurred. If Israelis are somewhat cynical about the motivations of their leaders, they should be forgiven. If they seem confused, that, too, should be patiently tolerated.

Think about the following duos:

Netanyahu and Lieberman: With all other parts of the puzzle moving, the merger of Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman now seems like an island of stability and calm. Barak, by deciding to make his dramatic announcement now, somewhat helped the Likud Party to make even the primary debacle go away.

Livni and Olmert: As of now, it seems that Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni will not be running together. Or maybe they will. One thing is for sure: Wearing the mantle of decision-maker is becoming tricky for these two politicians, who can’t seem to make up their minds. 

Yachimovich and Lapid: The Labor Party is another island of relative stability and is ideologically coherent. Shelly Yachimovich is going to be the big winner in these elections. Her slogan was written for her by her rivals: One real party against the many ad hoc job seekers. Yair Lapid will be the big loser. If one wants a makeshift, incoherent, centrist-in-the-sense-that-it-has-no-clear-agenda, Ashkenazi, upper-middle-class party — if one wants the new incarnation of Kadima, without the heavyweights Ariel Sharon and Shimon Peres — one will vote for the new Livni party.

On Tuesday, Livni was back, as promised. She gave a good speech but had no list of candidates yet, and no real prospect of becoming prime minister. Fuchs explains on our Israel Poll Trends that, so far, Livni is simply stealing votes from other parties in the same political bloc — the center-left. She’ll have to be able to steal a lot from the other bloc to make her presence of any significance.

Further news: The Likud Party has elected its candidates for the next Knesset, and, as usual, the list was greeted with definitions such as “radical,” “extreme” and the like.

Fact: The Likud is a right-wing party — it’s time people got used to it. 

Fact: Israeli voters — unlike their representatives in most media outlets — tend to be quite fond of right-wing political parties.

Fact: In every election cycle, a number of familiar faces are forced out, to be replaced by newcomers, and every time, the knee-jerk response is something in the mode of, “How can this novice replace that veteran?” Well, in many cases they can. Give them a term or two and they will also become veterans. 

Fact: Benny Begin and Dan Meridor will be missed, but their absence from the list is not as significant as political rivals of the party would like you to believe. When Begin was elected five years ago on the Likud list, the Kadima Party — back then, the main party of the other “bloc” — greeted him by saying that Begin was proof of the radicalization of the Likud. Today, Kadima is arguing that the elimination of Begin is proof of such radicalization.

As of press time on Tuesday, the week was not yet over: The Labor Party — probably the leading party of the center-left this round — will be electing its representatives on Thursday. The question for Friday will be: Did it pick a “radical” and “extreme” list of left-wingers? Party leader Yachimovich is working hard to prevent such an outcome, but it’s not clear if she’ll be able to get what she wants (among other things, not to have the head of Peace Now on the list).

Shmuel Rosner is the Journal’s senior political editor. He is the author of “The Jewish Vote: Obama vs. Romney: A Jewish Voter’s Guide” (Jewish Journal Books), available at amazon.com.

Israel’s crazy election cycle Read More »

Jacob’s stand: Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43)

Leave a Comment / Judaism, Torah /

Jacob returns to Canaan, where 20 years earlier he fled his brother Esau’s wrath after stealing his birthright. But time does not seem to have healed the wound. Esau comes to greet him with 400 men, an army. Apparently, he will fulfill his 20-year-old intention to kill Jacob.

Frightened for his life and the life of his family, Jacob sends seven sets of gifts to mollify Esau and prays to God for help. Camped on the Jabbok River, he divides his household so that some might survive the expected attack. 

Sensing that the danger is already upon him, he moves his family across the Jabbok in the dead of night. Left alone on the far bank, Jacob is suddenly accosted by the mysterious ish, the “man” who Jacob will later refer to by saying, “I have seen a divine being face to face, yet my life has been preserved” (Genesis 32:31).

Jacob and the ish wrestle through the night. The man wrenches his hip, but Jacob forces the ish to bless him with a new name. Jacob becomes Israel, the God-wrestler.

What was Jacob doing alone on the bank of the Jabbok River? According to the commentators, Jacob was either making sure that nothing was left behind or acting like the captain of a ship, the last one to depart after the others are safe. I still remember that random day in the yeshiva when I read the dissenting opinion of the 12th century rabbi and grandson of Rashi, Shmuel ben Meir, the Rashbam: “Jacob was left alone … in order to flee a different route where he intended to avoid Esau. And a man (ish) wrestled with him so that he would not be able to flee …”

What? Jacob, the father of our people, was preparing to abandon his family and run? Is that possible? Unfortunately, it makes sense. Jacob fled twice before — once from Esau and once from Laban. He never stands his ground. 

In the apt words of Avivah Zornberg, Jacob is a “rear admiral.” Biblical names in Genesis refer to the essence of the person they describe. Jacob, Ya’akov in Hebrew, means “he will circumvent.” One step forward, two to the side. Jacob cleverly maneuvers to avoid the battles he would likely lose. He cleverly manipulates the world around him to acquire status and wealth.

But all this ends on that fateful night. The gifts, the prayers, the strategic placement of his household — it all comes to naught as Esau’s army approaches. Jacob thinks he is about to die, so he tries one last maneuver. He moves his family south across the Jabbok River, placing them between himself and Esau, who rides from Edom (below the Dead Sea). Why? Because he is preparing to run north, back from where he came. At this precise moment the ish attacks.

The stories in the book of Genesis are famously terse. Every detail is there for a reason; every word counts. Running again, Jacob? Not this time. The ish goes for the hip. Jacob never runs again. The Rashbam surely gets it right.

What is the purpose of this strange wrestling match?

Jacob is in the very situation he has tried to avoid his entire life. He is defenseless before the superior force of his brother and, presumably, the ish. Could a divine being not defeat Jacob? But like a big brother, (indeed, some suggest the ish is Esau himself), the ish gives Jacob just the right amount of fight to let him find his strength and his courage. 

Jacob doesn’t need another clever idea. He needs to find his inner strength and resolve. This is a story about male spirituality, one that many women will find compelling as well. Jacob comes into his own when he learns that he can fight.

The Hebrew word used to describe Jacob’s success against the ish, vatoochal (Genesis 32:29), is usually rendered as “prevailed.” The literal translation: “You are able.” The ish gives Jacob the fight he needs to discover his own abilities.

Then he gives Jacob the name that will define the essence of the Jewish People. Yisrael, God-wrestler. Another interpretation: read the same letters with different vowels and you get Yashar-El, “the straight one of God.” The circumventer has become the straight one: the honest, the able — the authentic — man of God.

The next morning, Jacob starts out as Ya’akov. When Esau approaches with his army, Jacob again puts his family in harm’s way, between himself and Esau. The rear admiral, once again. But then, Yashar-El takes over. “He himself went on ahead” (Genesis 33:3). Jacob takes his stand between his family and his brother. 

The conflict with Esau ends here and now. Defenseless, with courage and resolve, straight as an arrow, Jacob limps toward his brother.

Rabbi Mike Comins is the founder of the TorahTrek Center for Jewish Wilderness Spirituality (torahtrek.org) and the author of “A Wild Faith: Jewish Ways Into Wilderness, Wilderness Ways Into Judaism” and “Making Prayer Real: Leading Jewish Spiritual Voices on Why Prayer Is Difficult and What to Do About It” (Jewish Lights Publishing, makingprayerreal.com).

Jacob’s stand: Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43) Read More »

Gazan breached border fence for moshav attack

Leave a Comment / Israel /

The Gaza Palestinian who stabbed a woman in an Israeli farming town near the Egyptian border had breached an unguarded border fence.

The attacker entered the Sde Avraham home of Yael Raam-Matzpun early Monday morning. Raam-Matzpun managed to send her four children to safety and fight off the attacker, sustaining stab wounds to her face and shoulder.

She locked the assailant in the bathroom, but he escaped through a window. Israeli soldiers pursued the attacker, and he was shot and killed him when he put the soldiers' lives at risk, according to reports.

The breach in the border fence came during a protest by Palestinians on Nov. 23 near Khan Younis, according to Ynet.

Raam-Matzpun and other residents of the southern Israeli moshav said they were lucky the attack did not end like the one in March 2011 in Itamar, a West Bank settlement, when five members of the Fogel family were killed by two assailants.

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Ban at interfaith meeting in Vienna offers hopes for lasting cease-fire

Leave a Comment / Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News, Worldwide /

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at a meeting promoting interfaith dialogue said he hoped the cease-fire between Israel and Gaza would hold.

Jewish interfaith leaders joined Muslim and Christian leaders for Tuesday's meeting in Vienna, which came in conjunction with the opening of the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, a project sponsored by the Saudi royal family.

Along with his hopes on the Egypt-moderated cease-fire ending more than a week of escalated conflict, Ban also said that understanding and dialogue between peoples of all faiths was essential to resolving ethnic strife across the globe.

Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and vice president of the World Jewish Congress, was among the Jewish leaders who attending the meeting.

“While we all looked on with deep concern at the recent events, we know that the strong bonds that exist between our religions will not be defined by violence,” he said. “Our goal is to ensure that the vast majority of the Muslim world, which practices peaceful interaction with peoples of all faiths, will continue to be our partners in promoting greater tolerance and dialogue across the international community.”

Along with Schneier, Jewish leaders attending the meeting included his father, Rabbi Arthur Schneier, president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation; Rabbi David Rosen, director of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee; the chief rabbi of Moscow, Pinchas Goldschmidt, who also serves as president of the Conference of European Rabbis; and Lawrence Schiffman, chairman of the International Jewish Committee on Interfaith Consultations.

Ban at interfaith meeting in Vienna offers hopes for lasting cease-fire Read More »

Letters to the Editor: Gaza war, “Lincoln” and Special Needs

Leave a Comment / Letters to the Editor, News, Opinion /
Hope for Peace With Hamas
 
When David Suissa wonders “If Hamas had the ability to murder thousands of Jews, wouldn’t they?” he is letting stereotypes get in the way of helpful analysis (“Pogroms Interrupted,” Nov. 23). He is also, in effect, arguing that Hamas is not an organization with which peace and order can be reached.
 
I believe he is wrong on both counts. Hamas gets much more political mileage from holding Israelis hostage than from killing them. The Gilad Shalit kidnapping is an indication of this. It is both a tragedy and a very big opportunity for peace that Israel and the Palestinians keep each other hostage. Their rising and reliable ability to kill each other — although on different scales — is precisely what ought to motivate leaders to negotiate peace, so that the killing does not recur. 
 
Barry H. Steiner
Professor of political science
California State University, Long Beach
 
 
 
David Suissa Responds:
 
That's right, professor. The 12,000 missiles that Hamas has sent into Israel were not intended to kill humans, but to capture hostages. Is that a serious comment? If you want to talk about hostages, just look at the Palestinians in Gaza who are forced to live in misery under the oppressive rule of Hamas despots and Jew-haters.”

Israeli Efforts Reduce Casualties

Israel spends $90,000 per Tamir rocket to shoot down a projectile (sometimes two) fired by Hamas toward Israeli civilian areas (“What Now?” Nov. 23). The projectiles may cost $200 to $5,000 to produce.
 
It would be quite simple to use Iron Dome to send a $200 mortar shell or shells right back to that originating point. However, Israel chooses instead to attempt pinpoint strikes on Hamas with airplanes, drones, etc. at a much higher cost and risk.
 
I know of no other country in history that has gone to this extent to avoid its own civilian casualties, reducing the likelihood of all-out war and its consequences on both sides, and the casualties on the other side’s civilians.
 
David Schechter
Los Angeles

‘Lincoln’ Twists History

Tom Teicholz perpetuates a number of errors and myths in his recent article “Lincoln, in the Abrahamic Tradition” (Nov. 16). He comes up with a fanciful theory that Lincoln had Jewish ancestry — something that has eluded great Lincoln biographers like Carl Sandburg and David Donald. It’s entirely based on unreliable, unprovable anecdotes.
 
Teicholz is mistaken when he states that Lincoln “lobbied the House of Representatives to pass the 13th Amendment.” In truth, as Lerone Bennett Jr., author of “Forced Into Glory: Abraham Lincoln’s White Dream” (Johnson Publishing Co.: 2000), states: “There is a pleasant fiction that Lincoln … became a flaming advocate of the amendment and used the power of his office to ensure its passage. There is no evidence, as Donald has noted, to support that fiction.”
 
Bennett was executive editor of Ebony magazine for several decades, and spent more than 20 years researching and writing his book. Bennett argues that it was Lincoln who was literally forced into supporting the amendment by other politicians, not the other way around as portrayed in the Spielberg film.
 
The scriptwriter, Tony Kushner, along with director Steven Spielberg, are spinning the same sort of mythology in their movie — and distorting the historical record in the process — as in the days of the Hollywood studio system, when the moguls Teicholz so admires twisted historical facts into pretzels in period movies.
 
Joseph Dostal
Van Nuys

 
Special-Needs Inclusion Exists
 
I would disagree with Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi’s assertion that little to nothing has been accomplished to include children and adults with disabilities into our Jewish community (“The Sound of the Breaking Dam,” Nov. 23). Since I was a bar mitzvah, I volunteered every Sunday for six years at Valley Beth Shalom’s Shaare Tikvah program, which is designed to give kids with special needs a chance to engage their Jewish identities as they learn about Jewish holidays, study the Hebrew language, sing Jewish songs and develop strong bonds with other kids, thus establishing their permanence and acceptance in the wider Los Angeles Jewish community. 
 
There is certainly a public awareness of this program, as KABC 7’s “Eyewitness News” recognized the amazing accomplishments of Shaare Tikvah and singled me out for my volunteer work. The news crew interviewed me at Camp Ramah in California, where I was working as a counselor, because Camp Ramah contains another amazing program for special-needs kids called Tikvah, in which many of my students were enrolled from the VBS Sunday school. The program gives an opportunity for these kids to engage in all of the typical summer camp activities and actually be a part of the sleep-away environment. Some of the older kids actually have various jobs throughout the camp. I can speak from personal experience that going to Jewish camp was a huge part of solidifying my role in the Jewish community, and that is exactly what these kids are getting as they, too, became a part of Camp Ramah. 
 
The Los Angeles Jewish community, of which I am a proud partner, creates an accessible environment for children with special needs to grow into their Jewish identity and make themselves an integral part of the Jewish community as a whole. 
 
Arye Lavin
USC sophomore, neuroscience major 

Letters to the Editor: Gaza war, “Lincoln” and Special Needs Read More »

Iran nukes chief says enrichment to continue, leaked diagram shows mega-bomb

Leave a Comment / Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News, Worldwide /

The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said his country would continue to enrich uranium “with intensity.”

Wednesday's remarks by Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani came a day after the release of a diagram showing Iran was working on a mega-nuclear weapon.

The diagram, which was published by The Associated Press, shows that Iranian scientists ran computer simulations for a nuclear weapon that would be more than three times as powerful as the bomb dropped by the United States on Hiroshima during World War II.

According to AP, the diagram was leaked to the news agency by another country “critical of Iran's atomic program to bolster their arguments that Iran's nuclear program must be halted before it produces a weapon.”

The graph reportedly had been cited last year in an International Atomic Energy Agency report. The models shown on the diagram could have been created as early as 2008 or 2009, the AP reported. Some diplomats speculate the diagrams could have come from the United States or Israel, the countries that have provided most of the intelligence about Iran's nuclear program to the IAEA.

Abbasi-Davani said, according to the website of the Iranian state television IRIB, “Despite the sanctions, most likely this year we will have a substantial growth in centrifuge machines and we will continue (uranium) enrichment with intensity.”

Iran nukes chief says enrichment to continue, leaked diagram shows mega-bomb Read More »

Israel’s Foreign Ministry tells diplomats to refuse mail with ‘problematic’ terms

Leave a Comment / Israel /

Israel's Foreign Ministry has instructed its diplomats to refuse to accept any official mail that uses “problematic terminology” such as the “state of Palestine.”

The instructions come ahead of Thursday's scheduled vote in the United Nations General Assembly on the Palestinians' request to elevate their status to non-member observer state, Ynet reported.

Other problematic terms include “occupied Palestine,” “occupied Jerusalem” and “occupied territories.” Palestinian Authority territories is an acceptable term, according to Ynet, which cited Foreign Ministry employee Galia Levanon.

All the terms have appeared in official letters from international organizations and foreign ministries, according to the report.

Letters containing the unacceptable terminology should be returned to the sender with a request that it be revised, according to Ynet.

Meanwhile, the Israeli media is reporting that Israeli will not pull out of the agreements of the Oslo Accords if the request for upgraded U.N. status is passed, as had been threatened. Other possible responses include calling in the Palestinians' debts, according to the Times of Israel.

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Euro Under-21 teams play down security worries in Israel

Leave a Comment / Israel, Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News /

Teams have shrugged off security fears in Israel and are looking forward to next year's Euro Under-21 soccer championships due to be held in cities targeted by Palestinian militants last week, coaches said on Wednesday.

Several sporting events in the Jewish state had to be postponed during an eight-day Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip during which Islamist militants launched hundreds of rockets on Israeli towns as far north as the outskirts of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Europe's national Olympic committees also scrapped a congress they were due to hold next month in Eilat.

The fighting, in which some 170 gazans – more than half of them civilians – and six Israelis including four civilians were killed, ended in an Egyptian-brokered truce agreement a week ago.

“We are professionals, we want to come to put on a sporting spectacle, politics really doesn't interest me,” England coach Stuart Pearce told Reuters after the draw for next June's tournament was held in Tel Aviv.

The biennial tournament is being held for the 19th time and will be hosted in the coastal cities of Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva, Netanya and in Jerusalem between June 5-18.

Norway coach Per Joar Hansen felt the situation had stabilised following the ceasefire.

“We were following events on television and saw the problems here but we talked to the Norwegian government and the Norwegian embassy here and to (European soccer's governing body) UEFA and now that the war has stopped we are looking forward to come to play here,” he said.

Holders Spain will face a tough challenge to retain their title. They will be up against 2009 winners Germany, the Netherlands and Russia in Group B.

Israel were drawn with England, Italy and Norway in Group A. The top two teams in each group advance to the semi-finals.

Pearce, leading his side to a fourth consecutive tournament, expects a difficult group stage against strong opposition.

“I think whoever (wants to win) this tournament will have their work cut out, there are eight fantastic sides here. This is my fourth tournament and this is the strongest pool of teams that have come to an Under-21 tournament,” Pearce told Reuters.

Israel coach Guy Luzon said it was clear the host side were the weakest team in the event and that his players would need an upset to have a chance of advancing to the semi-finals.

“The difference between our players and those of England or Italy is like the difference between our premier league and the English Premier League or Serie A. They are huge but on a given day, if we play our best and manage an upset, perhaps we can do something,” he said.

The tournament will be one of the biggest sporting events Israel has held in the past five decades – Tel Aviv hosted the Paralympic Games in 1968 – and its biggest soccer tournament since joining UEFA in 1992.

Writing by Ori Lewis, editing by Mark Meadows

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Petitions call on Stevie Wonder to cancel Friends of IDF gig

Leave a Comment / United States /

An online petition calling on Stevie Wonder to cancel his performance at a fundraiser for the Israel Defense Forces has garnered more than 3,600 signatures.

The petition was launched more than a day ago on the change.org website.

Wonder is scheduled to headline the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces annual gala in Los Angeles on Dec. 6. The event raises millions of dollars annually to support the Israeli military.

“You were arrested in 1985 protesting South African Apartheid, now we ask you: please remember that apartheid is apartheid, whether it comes from White Afrikaaner settlers of South Africa or from Jewish Israelis in Israel,” the petition reads. “Desmond Tutu has recognized that Israel’s Apartheid is worse than South Africa’s — will you stand with us against apartheid and cancel your performance at the IDF fundraiser.”

A second petition, launched by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, calls on Wonder to “(p)lease continue your legacy of speaking out for the oppressed. Please be a 'full-time lover' of justice by standing on the right side of history and canceling your performance for the Israeli army.”

Petitions call on Stevie Wonder to cancel Friends of IDF gig Read More »