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February 19, 2013

Israel denies mystery 2010 detainee spied for Australia

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

Israel denied on Tuesday that an Australian immigrant who committed suicide in 2010 while jailed for security offenses had spied for his native country.

The statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, which oversees Israel's intelligence services, was the first to confirm the affair concerned Ben Zygier, who was named in an Australian TV expose last week.

One of Zygier's lawyers has since linked him to Mossad, fanning speculation the 34-year-old Jewish man from Melbourne had been arrested and held in isolation on suspicion of betraying the Israeli spy agency's secrets – perhaps to Australia.

“Following many reports, the prime minister's office emphasises that Mr. Zygier had no connection to the Australian security services and organizations,” the statement said.

It said that Israel and Australia shared “excellent cooperation, full coordination and full transparency in dealing with the issues on the agenda”.

Zygier was held under alias to stem serious harm to national interests, Israel says, but has not given any other details.

In a separate measure to douse speculation of foul play, an Israeli court allowed the publication of a judge's inquiry, completed two months ago, that said Zygier hanged himself in his cell.

The investigation showed the prisoner looped a wet sheet around his neck, tied it to the bars of a bathroom window in his cell and hanged himself, choking to death.

Israeli media reported the bathroom area was not covered, for privacy reasons, by closed-circuit television cameras that transmitted images from other parts of the isolation cell.

Ruling out foul play on the basis of medical and physical evidence, Judge Dafna Blatman-Kardai said entry to the cell was monitored by cameras and examination of their footage showed no one “intervened in causing the death of the deceased.”

She said his family – which has not commented publicly on the case – agreed with the findings.

“A small amount of sedative was found in his blood. There was no alcohol or drugs. This does not change my determination … about the cause of death,” a forensic medical expert was quoted as saying in the judge's report.

Civil liberties groups and some lawmakers in Israel, protesting at the state censorship restricting local reporting on the case, have demanded to know whether Zygier's rights were violated by his months of incarceration, isolated from other inmates, and whether his death could have been prevented.

Those calls were echoed in Australia, where media suggested Zygier had been suspected of betraying Mossad missions to Canberra's spy services. Australia was angered in 2010 by the fraudulent use of its passports in the assassination of a Hamas arms procurer in Dubai, which the Gulf emirate blamed on Israel.

NEGLIGENCE IN QUESTION

In her report, the judge said there was prima facie evidence that the Prisons Authority had been negligent, noting that it had received special instructions on supervising the prisoner to prevent a possible suicide.

A Justice Ministry spokesman said state prosecutors would decide whether charges would be brought.

A source briefed on the affair told Reuters that Israel has since installed biometric detectors in the toilet stalls of high-risk prisoners, designed to summon guards within seconds should they stop breathing or display other signs of distress.

Responding to the media reports about Zygier, Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch told parliament on Monday that the detainee had received frequent family visits and been “supervised by mental-health support and treatment systems, both external and those of the Prisons Service”.

Zygier also consulted with Israeli lawyers, one of whom, Avigdor Feldman, said he saw the married father of two shortly before his death to discuss “grave charges” on which he had been indicted, and the possibility of a plea bargain.

“I met with a balanced person … who was rationally weighing his legal options,” Feldman told Israeli television last week, adding Zygier had denied the charges against him.

“His interrogators told him he could expect lengthy jail time and be ostracised from his family and the Jewish community. There was no heart string they did not pull, and I suppose that ultimately brought about the tragic end.”

Feldman declined to comment on an Israeli newspaper report that Zygier faced between 10-and-20 years in prison.

Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor on Saturday called Zygier's death a “tragedy” but said his treatment was justified.

Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell; Writing by Dan Williams and Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Michael Roddy

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New planets, a God for the cosmos and exotheology

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Is Featured?, Judaism, Mobile, Mobile Sections, Mobile-Homepage, News, Tech /

   We are blessed to live in an age of great discoveries. Prior to 1992, astronomers had not been able to identify with certainty any planet in orbit around a star outside of our solar system. But these planets, known as extra solar planets or exoplanets, have now been found. In fact, in the first decade or so from the discovery of the first exoplanet, hundreds of such planets were located in diverse areas of the known universe.

   The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (“NASA”) launched the ” target=”_blank”>announced the discovery of several Earth sized exoplanets. One, called Kepler-20e, is somewhat smaller than Earth and the other, called Kepler 20-f, is somewhat larger. Neither seemed suitable for life, however. The smaller of the two exoplanets orbits so close to its parent star that its surface temperature approaches 1400 degrees Fahrenheit.  The other, by comparison, is relatively cooler, but still registers around 800 degrees Fahrenheit.

   Last month NASA ” target=”_blank”>before our species evolved.  And even if there is life, and intelligent life at that, communication with it is problematical. Our own language skills have been developed only recently, by the cosmic clock, and our ability to utilize electromagnetic waves for communication is barely more than a century old.

   It is not too soon, though, to contemplate the implications of a discovery of life on other planets. People have speculated about other worlds for centuries, of course, even millennia. The Jewish commentary is rather sparse, but still provocative.

   There are psalms, one of which, depending on the translation, has been read to refer to thousands of worlds (see Ps. 68:18) and another of which, again by ” target=”_blank”>Avodah Zarah 3b.) The number 18,000 may be derived from a perceived allusion in Ezekiel (at 48:35) to a circumference of 18,000. In any event, the Tikunei Zohar (c. 13th Century C.E.?) continues the theme, contending that the 18,000 worlds are to be presided over by 18,000 Tzaddikim (righteous men). We do not know, though, whether these references are to physical worlds or spiritual worlds.

   Subsequently, different rabbis considered the issue of extraterrestrial life and produced, don’t be shocked, different results. In the 14th Century C.E., the Spanish Rabbi Chadai Crescas wrote in Or HaAdonai (HaShem) that nothing in Torah precluded the existence of life on other worlds. (At 4:2.) His student, Rabbi Yosef Albo (d. 1444?), on the other hand, held a different view. He reasoned in Sefer HaIkarrim that such creatures would have no free will, and therefore there would be no reason for them to exist. For him, as a theological matter, they could not and did not exist.

   Some four hundred years later, the Vilna kaballist Rabbi Pinchas Eliyahu Horowitz took a position between Crescas and Albo. In Sefer HaBris, he agreed that extraterrestrial beings would have no free will and no moral responsibility, but thought that they might still exist. Concluding his review of the literature, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan said: “We therefore have a most fascinating reason why the stars were created, and why they contain intelligent life. Since an overcrowded Earth will not give the Tzaddikim the breadth they require, each one will be given his own planet, with its entire population to enhance his spiritual growth.” (See The Aryeh Kaplan Reader, (Mesorah, 1983), at 173; see also, Aryeh Kaplan, “” target=”_blank”>Rabbi Norman Lamm, who was to become and still is Chancellor of Yeshiva University in New York, considered at length man’s place in the universe and the religious implications of extraterrestrial life. He feared neither technological advances nor mankind’s changing role in the universe. He saw “no need to exaggerate man’s importance” or “to exercise a kind of racial or global arrogance, in order to discover the sources of man’s significance and uniqueness.”(Lamm, Faith and Doubt (KTAV 1971), at 99.) Moreover, while recognizing the difference between conjecture and proof, Lamm acknowledged that “(n)o religious position is loyally served by refusing to consider annoying theories which may well turn out to be facts.” (Id. at 124.)

   Judaism has seen mankind as the purpose of creation, and man as made in the image of God, but Lamm asserts that “there is nothing in . . . the Biblical doctrine per se . . . that insists upon man’s singularity.” (Id. at 128.) “Judaism . . . can very well accept a scientific finding that man is not the only intelligent and bio-spiritual resident in God’s world.” (Id. at 133.)

   Forty years after Lamm wrote his comments, exoplanets are more than a theoretical possibility to be considered by philosophers. If the astrobiologists actually found life elsewhere, a second genesis event, if you will, the discovery would be stunning, maybe literally so. Whether everyone would be as sensitive and humble as Lamm is an open question.

   No doubt there will be those who will welcome the development with open arms. For instance, Father Jose Funes, a Jesuit astronomer at the Vatican Observatory, ” target=”_blank”>asked, presumably in all seriousness: “Did Jesus die for Klingons too?”

    Jews don’t have to answer those questions. But they will have some of their own dilemmas to confront. That there really are – not just theoretically, but really are – actual planets out there that may serve as the hosts for extraterrestrial life is a fact that colors a question Christopher Hitchens asked some years ago in an ” target=”_blank”>Rabbi Arthur Green, current rector of the Rabbinical School at Hebrew College in Boston and a man who is as devoted to Judaism and the Jewish people as anyone, has asked essentially the same question. Using similar words, but in a different context and no doubt with a different purpose, Green has asked “Can we imagine a God so arbitrary as to choose one nation, one place, and one moment in human history in which the eternal divine will was to be manifest for all time? Why should the ongoing traditions, institutions, and prejudices of the Western Semitic tribes of that era be visited on humanity as the basis for fulfilling the will of God?” (Green, Seek My Face, Speak My Name (Jason Aronson 1992), at 105.)

   Of course, Hitchens and Green provide different responses to their independent recognition of the origin and nature of Biblical stories. One sees myth, the other Myth. One finds at best nothing special, while the other sees the basis for a morality applicable to all humanity.  But, if the underlying question being raised by both Green and Hitchens, is a good one, why isn’t it a better one when raised to the cosmic level?  Can the God which once spoke sparingly to selected individuals, and then became the God of a family, of a tribe and, ultimately, a people and a nation, now expand its reach not just around our globe and to everything that lives in this biosphere but beyond, to other star systems, even other galaxies? Can we on Earth accommodate such a God?

   Even without the benefit of the discoveries of the Kepler mission, ” target=”_blank”>www.judaismandscience.com.

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Purim event calendar 2013

Leave a Comment / Holidays, What's Happening /

ALL AGES

FRI | FEB 22

TEMPLE JUDEA
A three-day carnival includes rides, food, games and a kids’ zone. Fri. Through Feb 24. Presale: $17 (20 tickets), $35 (Friday wristband), $25 (Saturday wristband), $45 (Sunday wristband); day-of prices: $1.25 (per-ride ticket), $20 (20-ride tickets), $40 (50-ride tickets, Friday wristband, Saturday wristband), $50 (Sunday wristband). Temple Judea, 5429 Lindley Ave., Tarzana. (818) 758-3800. templejudea.com.

SAT | FEB 23

“PURIM PANDEMON!UM”
University Synagogue’s carnival features Moe Deli and Canter’s food trucks, games, rides, prizes and more. Fun for kids and adults alike. Sat. 5-9 p.m. $20 (presale), $25 (door). University Synagogue, 11960 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles. (310) 472-1255. unisyn.org.

“HAMEN’S HOLLYWOOD”
Join Kehillat Ma’arav for a megillah reading, raffle, dinner, costume parade, a game of “Hamen’s Hollywood Squares” and more. Sat. 6 p.m. Free. Kehillat Ma’arav, 1715 21st St., Santa Monica. (310) 829-0566. km-synagogue.org.

“SHUSHAN IDOL”
Beth Chayim Chadashim’s Purim bash features musical performances by mystery celebrity guests, a multilingual reading of the megillah, multimedia storytelling of the book of Esther and a sing-along. Sat. 6 p.m. (bring your dinner), 6:30-7 p.m. (children’s festivities), 7 p.m. (Havdalah, “Shushan Idol” and megillah reading). Free. Beth Chayim Chadashim, 6090 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. (323) 931-7023. bcc-la.org.

NASHUVA
The progressive congregation stages a megillah rock opera. Sat. 6:30 p.m. Free. Location TBD. nashuva.com.

“PURIM GRAMMY’S”
Sinai Temple’s Purim-themed sendup of the annual music awards show features Sinai staff and students doing impersonations of the some of biggest pop stars, including Taylor Swift, Cee Lo Green, Rihanna, Maroon 5 and Carly Rae Jepsen. Traditional megillah reading follows. Sat. 6:30 p.m. (Havdalah and show). Free. Sinai Temple, 10400 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. (310) 474-1518. sinaitemple.org.

SEPHARDIC TEMPLE
Games, rides, prizes and other entertainment highlight the Conservative synagogue’s carnival. Sat. 6:30 p.m. $10 (member, presale), $14 (members, door), $15 (general, presale), $20 (general, door). Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel, 10500 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. (310) 475-7000. sephardictemple.org.

“LES MIZ-SHUGINAH GIRL”
Congregation Kol Ami’s Purim spiel is a classic tale of love, politics and the Academy Awards. Sat. 7-10 p.m. Free. Congregation Kol Ami, 1200 N. La Brea Ave., West Hollywood. (323) 606-0996. kol-ami.org.

“A NIGHT AT THE ESTHERS”
Shomrei Torah’s Oscar-themed Purim spiel and party features live music and entertainment, clips from the best picture nominees, photo opportunities and more. Walk the red carpet in your Esther’s best. Sat. 7:30 p.m. Free. Shomrei Torah Synagogue, 7353 Valley Circle Blvd., West Hills. (818) 346-0811. Stsonline.org.

BETH JACOB CONGREGATION
Games and prizes, a costume contest, dancing, a dunk tank, food, moon bounce, music and rock climbing highlight the Orthodox synagogue’s Purim carnival. Sat. 7:30 p.m. (immediately after a megillah reading). Free entry. Beth Jacob Congregation, 9030 W. Olympic Blvd., Beverly Hills. (310) 795-3857. bethjacob.org/eventscalendar.html.

“FIFTY SHADES OF PURIM”
Larger Than Life, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of children who have cancer, celebrates Purim — and its 10th anniversary — with food, drinks, a costume contest and surprises. DJ Eyal spins. Sat. 8 p.m. $85. Unici Casa Gallery, 9461 Jefferson Blvd., Culver City. (818) 887-7640. largerthanlifela.com/purim/purim_2013.php.

TEMPLE ALIYAH
Aliyah’s Purim carnival, which lasts two days this year, features a battle-of-the-bands for middle school and high school students — the winning band gets four hours of studio recording time — rides, games and more. Sat. 8-11 p.m. (battle-of-the-bands), Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Presale: $65 (unlimited all-day ride bracelet — Saturday and Sunday), $40 (unlimited all-day ride bracelet — Saturday night only), $45 (unlimited all-day ride bracelet — Sunday only). Temple Aliyah, 6025 Valley Circle Blvd., Woodland Hills. (818) 346-3545. templealiyah.org.

SUN | FEB 24

JUSTICE CARNIVAL
Join progressive congregation IKAR for family-friendly fun and activities. Sun. 10 a.m. $15 (members), $20 (general). Adult admission included. IKAR, 5870 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles. (323) 634-1870. ikar-la.org.

PURIMland
Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s religious school’s carnival features food, arts and crafts, a bake sale, a Candyland zone and more. Sun. 10 a.m. $55 (wristband, presale), $65 (wristband, door). Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Audrey and Sydney Irmas Campus, 11661 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles. (213) 388-2401. wbtla.org.

TEMPLE AKIBA
A petting zoo, video game stations, food, games, prizes and a silent auction highlight the Culver City synagogue’s carnival. Sun. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. $10 (24 tickets, presale). Temple Akiba, 5249 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City. (310) 398-5783. templeakiba.net.

“THE SULTAN OF OZ”
Valley Beth Shalom’s Purim carnival features games, prizes, attractions and food. All proceeds benefit VBS Israel programs and summer camp financial aid. Sun. 10 a.m-3 p.m. Free entry. Valley Beth Shalom, Ventura parking lot, Malkin-Burdorf Hall and Glaser Hall. (818) 788-6000. vbs.org.

SHOMREI TORAH
Rides, games, food and more highlight Shomrei Torah Synagogue’s carnival and street fair. Sun. 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Pre-sale: $70 (family fun pack), $25 (wristband), $18 (20 tickets). Shomrei Torah Synagogue, 7353 Valley Circle Blvd., West Hills. (818) 346-0811. stsonline.org.

STEPHEN S. WISE TEMPLE
Rides, food, a raffle and more highlight what is one of the Reform synagogue’s largest fundraisers and most popular volunteer days. Sun. 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. $36 (presale). Adult admission is free, but scrip must be purchased for food, rides and games. Stephen S. Wise Temple, 15500 Stephen S. Wise Drive, Los Angeles. (310) 889-2300. wisela.org.

BETH SHIR SHALOM
A moon bounce, snow cones, dunk tank, face painting, bake sale and games highlight the Santa Monica congregation’s Purim carnival. Sun. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Free entry. Beth Shir Shalom, 1827 California Ave., Santa Monica. (310) 453-3361. bethshirshalom.org.

LEO BAECK TEMPLE
Live music, hamantashen, games, prizes and more highlight Leo Baeck’s spiel and carnival. Sun. 11 a.m. Free entry. Leo Baeck Temple, 1300 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. (310) 476-2861. leobaecktemple.org.

TEMPLE EMANUEL
Pinkberry, In-N-Out Burger, Sprinkles Cupcakes — these are just some of the food choices at Emanuel’s annual Purim carnival. Other highlights include the Aquarium of the Pacific on wheels, a “Diva Makeover” station, an inflatable rock hall and more. Rain or shine. Sun. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Presale: $100 (120 tickets), $75 (90 tickets), $50 (60 tickets). Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, Steinbaum Burton Way Building, 8844 Burton Way, Beverly Hills. (818) 849-5737. tebh.org.

TEMPLE ISRAEL OF HOLLYWOOD
Activities for all ages highlight the Hollywood synagogue’s carnival. Sun. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Presale: $100 (135 tickets), $75 (100 tickets), $50 (67 tickets), $25 (33 tickets). Temple Israel of Hollywood, 7300 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles. (323) 876-8330. tioh.org.

“THE WHOLE MEGILLAH”
Temple Ahavat Shalom’s Mardi Gras-style carnival features food trucks, games, rides and more. Includes a wine tasting for adults. Sun. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. $45 (all-inclusive, presale), $50 (all inclusive, day of event). Other pricing options available. Temple Ahavat Shalom, 18200 Rinaldi Place, Northridge. (818) 360-2258. tasnorthridge.org/purim.

TEMPLE ADAT ELOHIM
More than 20 rides, games and attractions highlight Adat Elohim’s Purim bash. Sun. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. $15 (presale), $20 (door).  Temple Adat Elohim, 2420 E. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks. (805) 497-7101. adatelohim.org.

TUE | FEB 26

“PURIM AT THE PIER”
Kehillat Israel’s Purim celebration includes rides, games, food and more. Tue. 4-8 p.m. $30 (wristband, includes free dinner), $10 (game swipe card) $25 (three-game swipe card). Pacific Park, 380 Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica. (310) 459-2328. ourki.org.

SUN | MARCH 3

TEMPLE BETH AM
Rides, games, a magic show and arts and crafts highlight Beth Am’s carnival. The synagogue needs 150 volunteers to run the event. Sun. 11 a.m. $10 (tickets), $50 (wristbands). Temple Beth Am, 1039 S. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles. (310) 652-7353. tbala.org.

ADULTS AND/OR YOUNG ADULTS

SAT | FEB 23

“A MAGICAL PURIM EXTRAVAGANZA”
Temple Adat Elohim’s party features three magicians (stage, parlor and close-up) from the Magic Castle performing illusions and prestidigitation. Includes live auction, hors d’oeuvres, dessert and no-host bar. Sat. 6 p.m. (hors d’oeuvres and cocktails), 7:30 p.m. (magic show). $50. Temple Adat Elohim, 2420 E. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks. (805) 497-7101. adatelohim.org.

“PURIM IN THE VALLEY”
Valley Ruach’s carnival exclusively for young professionals features an inflatable gladiator joust, arcade basketball, a costume contest, raffle, silent auction, carnival games and open bar with beer, wine and well drinks. Ages 21-39 only. Sat. 6:45 p.m. (megillah reading with Adat Ari El community), 8 p.m. (carnival), 9 p.m. (joust tournament), 9:30 p.m. (basketball tournament). 10:30 p.m. (costume contest). $25 (presale), $30 (door). Adat Ari El, 12020 Burbank Blvd., Valley Village. (818) 835-2139. valleyruach.org.

“PROM NIGHT PURIM”
Bring out the tuxes and gowns to relive that iconic evening, as Leo Baeck Temple’s truly post-adolescent event features music, drinks, hors d’oeuvres, desserts and more.  Sat. 7 p.m. $20. Leo Baeck Temple, 1300 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. (310) 476-2861. leobaecktemple.org.

THE GROUNDLINGS
Performing a show created exclusively for Wilshire Boulevard Temple, the nationally acclaimed comedy troupe presents improvisations on the story of Esther. For teens and adults only. Sat. 7-8:45 p.m. (Korean barbecue buffet and no-host bar), 7:45-8:45 p.m. (Groundlings Improv show and megillah reading). Free. Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Temple campus, 3663 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. (424) 208-8932. wbtla.org.

“THE PURIM PROM”
AtidLA’s party for young professionals features a live DJ, food, a costume contest and more. JSpace co-sponsors. Sat. 9 p.m. $18 (advance), $25 (door). Tiato, 2700 Colorado Ave., No. 190, Santa Monica. (310) 481-3244. atidla.com.

JUSTICE CARNIVAL
Join progressive congregation IKAR for a night of Purim-themed debauchery, with drinks, games and light snacks. Sat. 9 p.m. $20 (members, not including cash bar), $25 (general, not including cash bar). IKAR, 5870 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles. (323) 634-1870. ikar-la.org.

“QUEEN ESTHER’S MASQUERADE BALL”
Temple Beth Israel of Highland Park and Eagle Rock throws a party with an open bar, live DJ and dancing until 2 a.m. Hip-hop artist AB SOTO performs. 21 and older. Sat. 9 p.m. $30. Highland Park Mason Building, 104. N. Avenue 56, Los Angeles. (323) 255-5416, tbila.org/purim.

PURIMPALOOZA X: “DISCO FEVER”
Dust off the polyester, platforms and Jewfros and head down to Steingarten LA, a gourmet beer garden, for a ’70s-themed party. Organized by JConnectLA. 21 and older. Sat. 10 p.m.-2 a.m. (megillah readings at 10:30 p.m., 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 p.m.). $10 (advance), $20 (door). Steingarten L.A., 10543 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. (310) 277-5544. jconnectla.com/2013/02/purimpalooza-x-disco-fever.

SUN | FEB 24

THE SHANGRI LA PURIM BALL
Celebrate Purim — and the Jewish state — at the Creative Zionist Coalition’s party in Santa Monica. The evening includes an open wine-and-beer bar, hors d’oeuvres, a program honoring pro-Israel bloggers Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, and more. Sun. 5 p.m. (hors d’oeuvres), 6 p.m. (program and dancing). Hotel Shangri-La, 1301 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica. creativezionistcoalition.org.

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Nine months after Israeli court ruling, non-Orthodox rabbis still fighting for equal pay

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In a precedent-setting decision, Israel's Supreme Court ruled last May that a Reform rabbi, Miri Gold, should be paid a state salary, just like her Orthodox colleagues.

The Reform and Conservative movements hailed the decision as a step closer to full equality for non-Orthodox religious denominations.

But Gold, who works as a rabbi at Kibbutz Gezer in central Israel, still has yet to see her first government paycheck.

The government says Gold has not fulfilled the criteria set by the state for non-Orthodox rabbis. Gold and her allies say the criteria are onerous and unfairly set different conditions for Orthodox and non-Orthodox rabbis.

In a bid to challenge the rules, Gold, another non-Orthodox Israeli rabbi, and the Conservative and Reform movements filed a new court petition last week.

“I can’t tell you how aggravating it is,” Anat Hoffman, executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center, told JTA. “We thought this was a victory, and then it started to be a rigmarole. It’s a real insult.”


Last year’s Supreme Court ruling determined that Reform, Conservative and other non-Orthodox rabbis in rural communities could be recognized as “rabbis of non-Orthodox communities” and receive wages equal to those granted by the state to Orthodox rabbis.

Several caveats, however, set special conditions for non-Orthodox clergy. The decision applied only to Israel’s regional councils — large districts of rural communities — but not Israeli cities. The rabbis would be paid by the Ministry of Culture and Sport rather than the Religious Affairs Ministry, which pays Orthodox rabbis. The non-Orthodox rabbis would not have religious legal authority over such matters as marriage, divorce and conversion.

Two months ago, the Ministry of Culture and Sport released its new criteria for non-Orthodox rabbis to collect state salaries. To be eligible, the rabbis must work full-time and be present at their congregation for at least 40 Sabbaths per year. Only rabbis of congregations with at least 250 members can receive full-time pay; those leading congregations of 50-250 members may receive half a salary even though they’d be required to work full-time.

By contrast, Orthodox rabbis do not need to work a certain number of hours, and there is no minimum size requirement for their congregations to qualify for salaries.

Aside from the obvious inequalities, the new rules put Gold in something of a Catch-22 in 2012: Unable to raise a full-time salary on her own last year, she worked only half-time. As a result, she won't be paid at all for her work in 2012.

“Part of the reason our rabbis are part-time is that there isn’t enough funding,” Gold told JTA. “The idea is to have more of an even playing field. The more we can be available to people, the richer Jewish life will be in this country.”


A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Culture and Sport, Or Doron, said non-Orthodox rabbis are paid according to “set criteria” and that the ministry uses the same pay scale as those for Orthodox rabbis. Just two non-Orthodox rabbis currently meet the criteria for state wages: Rabbis Yoav Ende of Kibbutz Hannaton and Shai Zarchi of Nigun Halev, a congregation in the town of Nahalal, near Haifa.

Doron said that in light of complaints submitted by the Reform and Conservative movements, the ministry is considering changing its criteria for 2013 to allow for part-time salaries. Reform and Conservative advocates say the change is coming too slowly; last week’s court petition is an attempt to push things along.

“It’s hard to move these things without the courts,” said Orly Erez-Likhovski, the lawyer who submitted the petition. Aside from Gold, the other rabbi named in the petition is Benjie Gruber, a Conservative rabbi from Kibbutz Yahel in southern Israel.

Gold says she sees one potential glimmer of hope: the makeup of the new Knesset.

The Yesh Atid party, which controls 19 seats, includes advocates for religious pluralism such as the liberal Jewish scholar Ruth Calderon. In her inaugural Knesset speech, Calderon called for equal state support for secular and pluralistic institutions on par with Orthodox ones. Gold hopes that means a wider push for the rights of non-Orthodox rabbis.


“Meaningful change can happen in the Knesset,” Gold said. “It would be healthier if some of these decisions were coming out of the government and we wouldn’t have to run to the court.”

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Bill granting FEMA funds to Sandy-damaged shuls sparks uncharacteristic Jewish response

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How essential is a house of worship to a neighborhood?

That’s the crux of a question now exercising Congress as a bill advances that would provide direct relief to synagogues and churches damaged by superstorm Sandy last October.

The bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week by a vote of 354-72 with strong bipartisan support, adds houses of worship to those defined as a “private nonprofit facility that provides essential services of a governmental nature to the general public.”

The Senate is expected to take up the measure soon; backers there include Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.).

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has withheld funding for houses of worship, citing constitutional separations of church and state. FEMA, which fiercely opposes the bill, wrote in a backgrounder distributed to congressional offices and obtained by JTA that “churches, synagogues, mosques and other houses of worship” cannot “be broadly considered to provide ‘essential services of a governmental nature.’ ”

Despite the strength of its House approval, the bill has stirred controversy, but the divisions are novel: Instead of the classic disagreements engendered by church-state arguments, this one has liberal Democrats disagreeing and the two major Jewish civil rights groups on opposite sides.

The American Jewish Committee joined lobbying on behalf of the bill along with a number of other Jewish groups, including the Orthodox Union, Agudath Israel of America and the Jewish Federations of North America. The Anti-Defamation League is opposed. The Reform movement, meanwhile, has been careful not to take a position, noting its disagreement with such funding in the past but not weighing in this time.

“In general, we have serious constitutional concerns about this type of funding,” Sean Thibault, a spokesman for the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said in a Jan. 10 statement. “However, we recognize that this aid is, in certain respects, distinct from other forms of aid that we have historically opposed. We continue to work with congregations to help them understand the varied constitutional and policy concerns before each synagogue makes their own decisions.”

Rabbi David Bauman of Temple Israel in Long Beach, N.Y., said his synagogue suffered $5 million damage from Sandy and that the disrepair bled into the wider community. Religious school students who have not met for months recently gathered in each other’s homes for smaller tutorials — a situation that Bauman said is “not ideal.”

The local Alcoholics Anonymous group hasn't had a place to meet since the synagogue social hall was ruined in the storm. “Those people need to come together,” Bauman said, noting that he was searching for an alternative venue.

Such services are why houses of worship should be as eligible as other community service organizations, says Nathan Diament, who helms the Orthodox Union’s Washington operation.

“Already among the private non-profits eligible for FEMA’s aid are community centers, and FEMA’s definition of community centers are places where people gather to engage in educational and social and enrichment activities,” Diament said. “FEMA then decided on its own that if those activities are done in a house of worship, they are not eligible. What we are seeking to legislate is government neutrality and equal treatment.”

Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), whose congressional district includes much of the borough of Queens, co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.Y.). In an interview, Meng said she co-sponsored the bill because some 200 institutions in the New York-New Jersey region had been devastated but were still providing critical relief for neighbors.

“They were one of the first ones to open up their doors and feed people at the same time their electricity was out or their floors were ruined,” Meng told JTA.

The Orthodox Union has estimated that some 60 to 70 synagogues in New York and New Jersey of all denominations have been affected.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), whose district covers much of Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, vociferously opposes the bill, which he said would amount to government funding of religion.

“This bill would direct federal taxpayer dollars to the reconstruction of houses of worship,” Nadler said in remarks quoted by NY1, a cable news channel. “The idea that taxpayer money can be used to build a religious sanctuary or an altar has consistently been held unconstitutional.”

Those concerns were echoed by the ADL in its statement issued Jan. 4.

“Houses of worship are special — not like other non-profits and not like other buildings,” it said. “They receive special constitutional protections from government interference, special tax-exempt benefits for contributions and have special restrictions that prohibit direct public funding.”

Such concerns, also expressed by the American Civil Liberties Union, are misplaced, according to Marc Stern, AJC’s associate general counsel. He noted FEMA-directed relief for a church damaged in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing of a neighboring federal building, as well as relief for a Jewish day school hit in the 2001 Seattle earthquake.

“The ACLU-ADL position is a little bit odd,” he said. “You can pay for rebuilding a zoo, but houses of worship are not eligible.”

FEMA in its briefing for lawmakers said the precedents cited by Stern and others do not hold in this case. In the Oklahoma City case, the agency said, the congressional appropriation made it clear that the funding for the damaged church was a one-time exception. In the Seattle case, the money was applied to a school, not a house of worship.

“In contrast, a house of worship such as a synagogue is not an educational facility, nor does it fall within one of the other categories of facility specifically listed” under prior law, FEMA said.

Meng said FEMA easily could assess whether a house of worship was seeking funds to advance religion or to provide a community service in the same way it assesses whether homeowners are eligible.

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Sharansky wins second term as head of Jewish Agency

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Natan Sharansky was elected to a second term as chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Sharansky won four more years in the vote Tuesday by the Jewish Agency Board of Governors, which is meeting in Jerusalem.

A day earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called on the board to reappoint Sharansky, calling him a “symbol of Jewish unity and a symbol of the triumph of the Jewish people over adversity.”

Sharansky was a Soviet dissident who was incarcerated for nine years. After his release in 1986, he immigrated to Israel, where he was reunited with his wife, Avital. He served as a member of the Knesset for nine years and as a minister in several government departments, as well as deputy prime minister.

As head of the Jewish Agency, Sharansky has worked to strengthen relations between Israel and Diaspora Jewry.

In December, Netanyahu asked Sharansky to study the situation at the Western Wall and offer recommendations to the government on how to make the site more accommodating to all Jews.

Sharansky said Tuesday during a session at the Board of Governors meeting that he will not present recommendations on women's prayer at the Wall until a new government coalition is in place, Haaretz reported.

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SpaceIL: Israel’s race to the moon

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One day in 2015, a small Israeli spacecraft will land on and reconnoiter the moon, joining the United States and former Soviet Union in the world’s most exclusive extraterrestrial club.

That vision is not fantasy or chauvinistic braggadocio, but the sober prediction of Israel’s most experienced engineers and space scientists.

According to the leaders of the SpaceIL (for Israel) project, the unmanned micro-spaceship will pack more instrumentation into a smaller and lighter capsule than ever achieved before.

During a visit to Los Angeles in mid-February, Yariv Bash, founder and CEO of SpaceIL, and Ronna Rubinstein, the chief of staff, outlined the genesis, scope and anticipated impact of the moon mission.

In late 2010, Bash heard about the Google Lunar X competition, which offered awards up to $30 million for the first team to land a robotic craft on the moon that would perform several complex missions. For one, the craft had to move 500 meters (1,640 feet) from its landing site to explore the moon’s surface – or send out a search vehicle to do so – and beam high-definition videos back to earth.

Bash, an electronics and computer engineer, said that SpaceIL will traverse the distance in one spectacular jump. SpaceIL, by the way, is only an interim name and when the time comes will be replaced with an official designation.

Initial names suggested by the project staff include Golda, for the former Israeli prime minister, Ramon, for Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, who perished in the Columbia shuttle disaster, and Hatikvah, Hebrew for “hope” and the title of the Israeli national anthem.

As soon as Bash absorbed the details of the Google competition, he posted one sentence on Facebook, asking, “Who is coming with me to the moon?” Among the first respondents was Rubinstein, a lawyer who now oversees the project’s organization, marketing and fundraising.

The total estimated cost for the project will be $30 million, of which $20 million has been raised so far, primarily from industry and private contributors. The Israeli government has allotted funds for 10 percent of the total cost, the maximum a government can put up under the contest rules.

Shimon

Israeli President Shimon Peres visits SpaceIL. Photo courtesy SpaceIL

According to Israeli statistics, the government money will be well spent, since for every $1 invested in Israel’s 10 satellites and other high-tech research, $7 are returned in civilian and commercial applications.

The prize for the winning entry is $20 million, with another $10 million available in bonus prizes for accomplishing different aspects of the mission.

But it’s not the prize money that is driving the 11 full-time staff members and some 300 professionals who are volunteering their services evenings and weekends, after finishing their regular day jobs. In any case, any money won will go to schools to enhance math and technology programs.

“What counts for us is the impact the moon landing will have on Israelis and Jews around the world, to show what Israel is and what it can do,” Bash said.

Most important is to instill both pride and scientific curiosity in Israeli youngsters, Bash added. Together with the Weizmann Institute of Science, the project has launched a nationwide program of high school visits, which so far has involved 27,000 students.

Plans also call for lectures and exhibits in Diaspora communities, and Bash and Rubinstein will address a plenary session at the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, DC during the first week of March.

Other key partners in the project are Israel Aerospace Industries, Tel Aviv University, Technion, Israeli Space Agency, Ramon Foundation and private companies like Rafael and Bezeq.

The Israeli spacecraft, whatever its final name, will compete against 24 other entries, of which 11 will be launched by various U.S. teams. Other competitors will come mainly from Europe and some from South American countries, but none from China, or, for that matter, Iran.

Early favorites are entries from the United States, Israel and Spain, Bash said.

Israel’s main strength, he noted, “lies in its nano-miniaturized technology, and SpaceIL will be the smallest craft ever sent into space.”

At liftoff, it will weigh 120 kilograms (264 pounds), but on landing, after burning off its fuel, it will weigh less than 40 kilograms (88 pounds). To get into orbit, SpaceIL will piggyback onto a commercial rocket, either American or Russian, at a cost of between $3 million to $5 million.

To Israelis watching the moon landing from 239,000 miles away, “it will be the most exciting reality show of all,” Bash hopes.

The impact on Israelis, especially young people, would be similar to that created in 1969 by astronaut Neil Armstrong as he descended from the Apollo spacecraft to the moon’s surface, proclaiming, “That’s one step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Israeli supporters of SpaceIL already have their own inspirational motto, taken from Theodor Herzl’s words as he prophesized the future creation of a Jewish state.

“Im Tirzu Ein Zo Agada” – “If you will it, it is no dream.”

For additional information, visit www.spaceil.com.

SpaceIL: Israel’s race to the moon Read More »

Report: 58% rise in anti-Semitic attacks in France in 2012

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France saw an increase of 58 percent in anti-Semitic incidents in 2012 compared to the previous year, according to a report by the French Jewish community.

The report released on Tuesday by the SPCJ, the security unit of France’s Jewish communities, showed that 614 anti-Semitic acts were documented in the republic last year compared to only 389 in 2011.

“2012 has been a year of unprecedented violence against Jews in France,” the report read, referencing the murder of a rabbi and three Jewish children on March 19 by an Islamist radical who gunned them down at a Jewish school in Toulouse.

Incidents in which the victims were accosted physically or verbally on the street saw an increase of 82 percent, from 177 cases in 2011 to 315 last year, SPCJ said, and 25 percent of the 96 physical anti-Semitic assaults involved a weapon.

The SPCJ report reflects a near doubling in physical anti-Semitic assaults, of which only 57 were documented in 2011.

Report: 58% rise in anti-Semitic attacks in France in 2012 Read More »

Broken Blog about Brokenness

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Culture, Health, Mobile, Mobile Sections, News /

By Michael Welch

I believe where I’m the most tortured is through my brokenness. It’s the concrete regions of where I exist. All-in or all-out. If I’m dieting, I’m eating 500 or less calories a day while exercising to the point of exhaustion, if I’m eating unhealthily I’m consuming 7000 calories a day while shouting at the roof tops how fat I am. I do this with everything; it’s debilitating and it’s never allowed me to sustain anything. It’s a set-up and my sobriety’s number one enemy. It makes me absolutely nuts and my neuroses are directly linked into this tennis game of thoughts because honestly, both places are awful.

I achieved quite a bit when I was young; this precipitated the “hook” for external esteem. Nothing came from within, so I lobbied from person to person/entity to entity to be fulfilled. This obviously comes with emptiness and limitations, making fulfillment quickly depleted (if it ever even existed). The main defect that comes with my inability to demonstrate any internal esteem is shortened relationships. I call it “burn out,” where people can only exist in my life at a limited capacity. Once a person has met said requirements of getting too close to me there is no longer any use for them. It always ends ugly and this cycle has repeated itself for years.

What I am aware of is that I have never had the ability to integrate the “2” selves, the demonstration of making “1” person. Honestly, I loathe ambiguity, it feels disingenuous and fake. It is usually followed by an excuse or explanation of how something appears so wrong, yet isn’t. It is already a contradiction when explaining that to make a whole person you have to live in the “both and.” I’m not a fan of this concept; it feels destructive to creativity, potentially problematic for initiative. Ambiguity feels like touching a hot stove. I would love to allow the embrace of both sides of misery that I jockey back and forth with. I have been in positions recently where I’m clear on what I’m feeling/not feeling. But I do not know how to embrace my brokenness. I have only begun to get out of the results of today. My current growth is defined as survival; I’m fucking terrified because at some point it will have to wear off. I come across as arrogant and a know-it-all, I speak to people with condescension and as if they are unintelligent. I get why I do it; I understand the empty broken Michael that is in there just crying for help. So maybe that mask is my cry for help, it may not appeal to those who take my charge personal, but maybe I can fine tune it to not look so abrasive. So if I’m stuck on the integration piece then that is where I’m best to identify where I am broken and also how I need to embrace it.

Broken Blog about Brokenness Read More »

‘Zero Dark’ writer faces the controversy

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

The time: 2003. The place: Black Site — Undisclosed Location. A battered man strung up by his wrists is being questioned by an interrogator. When he refuses to answer, he is forced to the ground and held down by three men wearing ski masks. A black towel is wrapped around his face, and the interrogator pours water from a pitcher over the towel while shouting questions at his prisoner: “Who is in the Saudi group? What’s the target? When is the last time you saw bin Laden?”  

This is the act of torture that is known as water boarding. And in an Oscar season filled with controversies, it is this scene — which takes place early in the multiple-nominated film “Zero Dark Thirty,” about the hunt for Osama bin Laden — that has created the most heated debates and angry protests, from the halls of the motion picture academy in Beverly Hills to the chambers of Congress in Washington, D.C. At the center of the controversy stands the film’s director, Kathryn Bigelow, and its screenwriter, Mark Boal, the same creative team who produced the 2009 Academy Award winner for best picture, “The Hurt Locker.”  

Boal, who also won the best original screenplay Oscar for “The Hurt Locker,” is nominated again this year for his “Zero Dark Thirty” script, while Bigelow was snubbed in the best-director category. The omission, many believe, may be at least in part due to the film’s appearance of supporting the efficacy of torture.  

Boal, who worked as a journalist for 20 years, moved into the film business when an article he wrote became the basis of the 2007 Iraq War-related film “In the Valley of Elah.” During his time as an embedded reporter in Iraq, he said, he also gained firsthand insights for his work on “The Hurt Locker.” For “Zero Dark Thirty,” however, Boal relied on information from people closely involved in the bin Laden operation, who supplied him with “firsthand accounts of actual events,” as stated at the opening of the film.

A scene from “Zero Dark Thirty.”  Photo by Jonathan Olley/©2012 Zero Dark Thirty

When he began the project, Boal’s script was about the failed hunt for bin Laden in Tora Bora, Afghanistan, but that version was shelved when the terrorist leader was killed by Navy SEALs on May 2, 2011. As a result of the news, Boal started fresh, telling the story that led up to that day.  

As with all feature films based on fact, Boal struggled with the delicate balancing act of staying true to the story while having to create a workable screenplay. “Storytelling is kind of universal, but screenwriting is its own craft,” he explained. “ ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ was based on some research that I did, but it’s also a written document; it’s not a documentary, it’s a screenplay. I talked to a lot of people who were involved in the mission and double-sourced information, but I approached it as a screenwriter. There’s homework and research to do, but I’m writing parts for actors, and, in this case, a story that follows one main character over 10 years.

“There are over 100 speaking parts in the film,” he added. “But, at the same time, it’s doubly challenging because it has to be honest and faithful to what actually happened. In some ways, this story would probably be easier to tell if it was pure fiction.”

Even so, Boal said, “I found it an exciting story to work on because of the dedication and the complexity and the morality and immorality and the excitement of the hunt. All that makes for good drama.” 

The torture scenes depicted in the film have been aggressively attacked from two sides: Some claim the film endorses the efficacy of torture, while others complain that the scenes are presented as more brutal than what actually occurred. 

But Boal thinks both miss the point. “The political point is that this work was carried out by people without regard to politics one way or another. It was carried out by civil servants, not by Republicans or Democrats,” he said. “But of course that’s the last thing they want to talk about in Washington. And the real point is that the country and Washington have to face that they’re culpable for what they did. Rather than bash the movie for depicting the policies that they implemented, they should have a frank discussion about it. The torture that’s in the film is still relevant. To see that these kinds of harsh punishments are still going on — not in the exact same way, but it’s always convenient to bash Hollywood instead of actually doing the hard policy work of going down the hall and seeing what could be done, for example, to stop doing business with countries that torture people.”

The fact that “Zero Dark Thirty” has been the subject of both public and secret investigations by Congress does not surprise Boal, who also believes the attention has helped bring audiences out to see the film. “That’s what they do in Washington. They use things to create publicity platforms for themselves. They’re politicians,” Boal said. “I think at the end of the day I find it gratifying that people go out and see the movie and have a solid or moving movie experience. I can’t change Washington, and I wouldn’t ever begin to try.” 

So far, Boal’s three films — “In the Valley of Elah,” “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty” — all have focused on events surrounding the war on terror. And though he said he has no definite plans to continue exploring that subject matter, he hopes others will continue down that road. 

“I think all three of these movies are important subjects for Hollywood to explore, and I hope there are other movies about them. But what movies can do that other mediums cannot do, is reach a broad public audience, and Hollywood has a responsibility to make films about tough subjects and not just superheroes.”

‘Zero Dark’ writer faces the controversy Read More »