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November 19, 2014

Obituaries: Week of November 21, 2014

Leave a Comment / Obituaries /

Craig Aaronson died Oct. 29 at 49.  Survived by wife Britt; son Rayce; daughter Eisley; father Anthony; mother Madeline; brothers Spencer, Evan (Lillian); stepbrothers David Benveniste, Bobby Benveniste; stepsister Alexis (Bret) Benveniste; mother-in-laws Joni Soble; father-in-law Michael Soble. Mount Sinai

Richard Barschak died Oct. 22 at 95. Survived by wife Rita; son Lance; daughter Barbara Barschak Goodman; 5 grandchildren. Hillside

Douglas Lawrence Bendell died Nov. 4 at 78. Survived by wife Mary Alice; sons Adam (Tracy), Ryan (Joanna), Spencer (Kelly), Michael (Debbie) Lee; daughters Lisa (Randy) Howard, Michelle (Jeff) Mattson; 13 grandchildren; brothers Hanoch (Meladee) McCarty, Rob (Marlene); sister Mollie (Stephen); nieces and nephews. Groman Eden

Laura Benichou died Oct. 23 at 16. Survived by father Richard; mother Veronique; brother Alexandre; grandparents Michel Matsey; Germaine Mastey; grandmother Leonie. Mount Sinai

Alfred Benjamin died Oct. 30 at 98. Survived by wife Selma; daughters Roberta Edwards, Wendy Meyer. Hillside

Phyllis Birdie Benson died Oct. 30 at 92.  Survived by son Gary (Genie); daughter Lissa; 2 grandsons; 2 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Sandra Bloom-Lowe died Nov. 8 at 78. Survived by son Stephen (Adrienne) Bloom; daughters Jodi (Randy) Cooper, Alyson (Michael) Bennett, Marissa (Alec) Feinstein; 8 grandchildren; sister Marlene (Robert) Ridgely. Mount Sinai

Regina Bronner died Nov. 4 at 89. Survived by daughter Cys (Dave Rittenhouse); 8 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Beatrice Cooper died Oct. 29 at 85. Survived by daughters Gayle Ann (Daniel) McNeir, Marla; 2 grandsons. Groman Eden

Betsy Copelan died Oct. 28 at 63. Survived by mother Lillian; brother Dennis; sister-in-law Judi Uttal. Hillside

Tiby Diskin died Oct. 27 at 92. Survived by son Stephen; daughter Susan. Hillside

Lazaro Dunkelman died Oct. 26 at 99. Survived by daughter Aviva (Leon) Biederman; son Daniel. Mount Sinai

Elliott Farkas died Nov. 10 at 50. Survived by mother Ziviz; sister Betty. Mount Sinai

Dorothy “Dubby” Fink died Oct. 27 at 94. Survived by daughter-in-law Nancy Fink; 1 grandson. Mount Sinai

Sylvia J. Forman died Nov. 6 at 86. Survived by sons Glenn, David;  5 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Bernard Goetz died Nov. 4 at 93. Survived by son Joseph; daughter Regina Skwaruzynska; 5 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren. Hillside

Bernard Goldman died Nov. 4 at 90. Survived by aunt Adelina (Irineo) Basilio; cousin Irene Ahmadi. Mount Sinai

Joe Goldwine died Oct. 29 at 83. Survived by daughter Cathy; sons David (Marjie), Kenneth; 4 grandchildren; 6 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Stanley Goodman died Oct. 26 at 76. Survived by wife Linda; son Jonathan (Linda Pearlman), daughter Sharon (Todd) Squires, sister Wendy (Jerry) Bookin; 2 grandchildren. Hillside

Regina Gooze died Nov. 4 at 89. Survived by son Stephen (Roberta); daughter Marjanne; 1 granddaughter; 3 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Samuel Alvin Gordon died Oct. 26 at 97. Survived by wife Faye; daughters Elaine (Dennis) Roman, Betty (Stuart) Mednick; 5 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren; 2 nephews. Groman Eden

Estelle Gray died Nov. 2 at 96. Survived by daughters Beverly (Bernie) Bienstock, Judy (Louis) Fridks; 5 grandchildren; 7 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Rae Guthartz died Oct. 22 at 100. Survived by daughter Marilyn (Stuart) Lisell; 3 grandchildren; 4 great-grandchildren; 3 great-great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Phyllis E. Harkavy died Nov. 9 at 83. Survived by husband Dennis; son Jeffrey; brother Burt Fogelman; 3 grandchildren; daughter-in-law Anita Judson Harkavy; son-in-law Neal Young. Groman Eden

Sylvia Kirsch died Oct. 25 at 91. Survived by sons Joel, William. Mount Sinai

Edwin Kanner died Nov. 5 at 92. Survived by wife Barbara; sons Richard (Leslie), Keith (Amber); daughter Jamie Stephenson; sister Gladys Bender. Hillside

Blossom H. Kanouse died Oct. 31 at 86. Survived by husband William; daughters Laura (Murray) Berg, Audrey (Ken) Hilborn; son Steven (Kristi); 6 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Max M. Kerman died Oct. 31 at 99. Survived by wife Eunice; daughter Andrea (Arthur) Drake; son Harlan (Penny); 4 grandchildren; 7 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Beatrice Korengold died Oct. 30 at 101. Survived by sons Lee (Paula), David (Kathy); daughters Ann (Gerald) Marten; Paula; 7 grandchildren; 7 great-grandchildren; brother Sherwood Sarles. Hillside

Martin Krevitz died Nov. 3 at 94. Survived by daughters Barbara (Isaac) Krevitz-Bernato, Rosalind Press, Sharon Woloz; 4 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren. Groman Eden

Gail Lenvin died Oct. 25 at 63. Survived by son David; daughter Amanda; brother Jeff Stern. Hillside

Mollie Levin died Nov. 5 at 100. Survived by daughters Ellen (Martin) Jacobs, Nancy (Daniel Caraco); son Hal; daughter-in-law Maria Chiara Tallachini-Levin; 4 grandchildren; 4 great-grandchildren. Hillside

David Miles Levy died Nov. 6 at 73. Survived by wife Rosanne; daughter Dana; son Wayne; sister Gail (Brian); 2 nephews. Groman Eden

Elizabeth R. Lieberman died Nov. 3 at 97. Survived by daughter Linda (Jerry) Schroeder; 3 grandchildren; 7 great-grandchildren; sister Harriett Ellis; daughter-in-law Vaggi. Mount Sinai

Nathan Ligerman died Nov. 2 at 94. Survived by sons Steven (Robin), Jeffrey (Keri), Robert; 4 grandchildren; brother-in-law Bill (Sara Beth). Groman Eden

Pearl Litvak died Oct. 31 at 101. Survived by son Ronald (Robin); 3 grandchildren. Hillside

Leona Lodawer died Oct. 30 at 90. Survived by daughter Barbara Jacobs. Hillside

Harold Lyon died Nov. 4 at 83. Survived by sons Lonnie (Jeannine), Lance (Stephanie); daughter Lori (Conrad) Lyon-Diaz; 3 grandchildren. Hillside

Rafael Menchaca died Nov. 85. Survived by wife Xian Min; daughters Lucia (Steven) Paxton, Nora (Russell) Helfer; 2 granddaughters. Mount Sinai

Debra Michel died Nov. 9 at 58. Survived by sister Simonne (Gerald) Yarslow; nephew Jeff; niece Amy (Daniel) Herbst. Hillside

Violette Millien died Oct. 31 at 88. Survived by daughter Noelle (Jeffrey Kovach); 2 grandchildren; brother Joseph Wanounou. Mount Sinai

Saul Morantz died Nov. 1 at 87. Survived by wife Ann; sons Richard (Sheree), Martin (Lisa), Steven; daughter Susan (Evan) Rubin; stepdaughters Janni (Lenny) Lehrer-Stein, Lauren Leighton, Carla Wertman; 7 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Rhea Doris Newman died Nov. 5 at 88. Survived by daughters Darlene (Burton) Gombiner, Esther Pava; 3 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren. Groman Eden

Miriam Norber died Oct. 26 at 91. Survived by sons Sam (Arlene), Dan (Ilene); daughter Phyllis (Mark) Shinbane; 6 grandchildren; 1 great-grandson. Mount Sinai

Rose Ourieff died Oct. 26 at 99. Survived by daughter Benedicta (Jeffery) Oblath; sister Bessie Alexus. Hillside

Myrtle Pasternack died Oct. 29 at 90. Survived by daughter Tina (Lawrence Weiss); 2 grandchildren. Hillside

Henry J. Pinczower died Nov. 8 at 82. Survived by son Eric (Gail); daughter Rachel (David) Rosenstein; 4 grandchildren; brother Joe (Dinah). Mount Sinai

Charlotte Pivo died Nov. 7 at 80. Survived by husband Jack; daughters Karen Adams, Lori; 2 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Leatrice Posner died Oct. 27 at 90. Survived by daughters Diane (Moshe) Uziel, Nadine (Arthur) Rose; 5 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Lois Provda died Oct. 25 at 72. Survived by sons Asher  (Jennifer), Alexander (Kim); sister Monica Maharam; brother David Maharam; 5 grandchildren. Hillside

Jerome Rapport died Nov. 8 at 94. Survived by wife Toby; son James (Esperanza); daughter Lauren; 2 grandchildren. Hillside

Morris Rittner died Nov. 3 at 90.  Survived by wife Sydell; sons Richard (Dulce); William; 3 grandsons; 4 great-grandchildren; sister Sara Pancirir. Mount Sinai

Renee Reiff died Oct. 28 at 93. Survived by sons Kenneth (Angela), Russell; daughter Isabel (Lee); 6 grandchildren. Hillside

Freda Robbins died Nov. 3 at 94. Survived by daughters Margaret Shearon, Donna (Bernard) Gudvi; 4 grandchildren; 4 great-grandchildren. Hillside

Ronald J. Rubenstein died Nov. 9 at 68. Survived by wife Ilene; daughter Marta (Carl) Rubenstein Harmon; son Jeffrey; 6 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren; mother Betty; brother Richard (Phyllis); sister Cindy (James) Capodice. Mount Sinai

Manya Schaff died Nov. 6 at 83. Survived by daughters Pamela (Elie Gindi), Elizabeth Sloan; son William (Cynthia); 8 grandchildren. Hillside

Ann Scheuer died Oct. 28 at 81. Survived by daughters Margaret Rockey, Kathlene (Henry) Buchbinder; 3 grandchildren. Hillside

Sanford Schubert died Oct. 28 at 78. Survived by wife Mahlia Lynn; sons Robert (Catherine), Dirk; daughter Gwen (Albert) Schubert-Grabb; 7 grandchildren. Hillside

Lawrence Seewack died Nov. 7 at 83. Survived by son David (Robin); daughter Cyndi (Richard) Mazarian; 5 grandchildren. Hillside

Marvin Robert Selter died Oct. 28 at 86. Survived by wife Shirley; son Eric (Lynn); daughter Bonnie (Don) Traylor; 4 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Robert Sherwindt died Nov. 4 at 90. Survived by wife Millicent; daughter Jann (Trevor) Griffiths; son Jed (Joanna Gardner); 2 grandchildren. Hillside

Ina Sue Shulman died Nov. 4 at 74. Survived by husband Sanford; son Len (Dodette); daughter Eileen Daley; 5 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren; brother Harold (Sharon) Ritzer. Mount Sinai

Myer Shuman died Nov. 1 at 81. Survived by daughter Nancy (Lonnie) Jarvis; son Fred (Suzanne); 4 grandchildren; brother Sidney (Lydia); sister Carmela Sanders. Hillside

Herbert Sinder died Nov. 3 at 92. Survived by niece Lisa Hazan. Hillside

Allen Jay Skore died Nov. 9 at 63. Survived by wife Jo-El; daughters Eryka, Nikki (Chris) Wyman, Samantha (Edward) Aguilar; son Maxxtan. Mount Sinai

Sol Smolensky died Nov. 7 at 90. Survived by son Louis; daughter Miriam (Mel) Wiener. Mount Sinai

Harriet Snider died Nov. 10 at 87. Survived by sons Steve (Jane), Ron (Sophia); sister Sylvia Hurwitz. Mount Sinai

Katalin Snow died Oct. 31 at 66. Survived by daughter Michelle (Scott) Augustine; 1 grandson. Mount Sinai

Nettie Soter died Nov. 8 at 94. Survived by daughters Wendy (Paulus) Walchenbach, Kathy (Laurence) Van Vliet; son Gary (Julie); 2 grandchildren. Groman Eden

Stanley Stavis died Nov. 7 at 85. Survived by wife Janet; daughters Gail (Stephen) Silver, Susan; son Richard (Alison); 5 grandchildren; sister-in-law Eileen Pearl; brother-in-law Manny Kaplan. Mount Sinai

Corrine Steinmeyer died Nov. 4 at 86. Survived by daughters Barbara (Steve) Ganser, Denise; 4 grandchildren; 4 great-grandchildren. Hillside

Stanley Sunok died Nov. 7 at 87. Survived by nephew Paul; nieces Lisa Aiken, Jeri. Hillside

Norman Teeter died Oct. 23 at 51. Survived by wife Catherine Shain-Teeter; mother Louise; father Robert; stepdaughter Elizabeth Ashly Shain; stepson Ryan Shain. Mount Sinai

Shirley Thorner died Oct. 30 at 91. Survived by daughter Debra (Roy) Bellon; son Brad (Ellen); brother David Gaber; 4 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren. Hillside

Eva Tobman died Nov. 3 at 96. Survived by daughters Karen (Don) Blaisdell, Relissa; 2 grandchildren; 1 great-grandson. Mount Sinai

Leon Tyrangiel died Nov. 7 at 97. Survived by sons Henry (Debbie), Jerry; daughter Ruth; 4 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Lea Wapner died Nov. 2 at 87.  Survived by son Leonard (Mona); 1 granddaughter. Mount Sinai

Rose Woolf died Nov. 5 at 96. Survived by son Jeff (Caryle); daughter Andrea (Dan) Statum; 2 grandchildren. Groman Eden

Helen Zisovic died Nov. 3 at 92. Survived by daughters Debbie, Miriam; son David (Katharine Cox); 4 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren; nieces and nephews. Groman Eden

Obituaries: Week of November 21, 2014 Read More »

Special Needs Round Up: Seinfeld, Inclusive Mommy &Me and Jobs for Adults with DD

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Comedian Jerry Seinfeld recently said in an NBC interview with Brian Williams that while watching a play that had a character with autism, he found himself relating to some of the common traits of that developmental disability such as “When people talk to me and they use expressions, sometimes I don’t know what they’re saying”, adding, “I don't see it as dysfunctional; I see it as an alternate mind-set.”

Although in later interviews, Seinfeld said he is not a person with autism, and hasn’t been diagnosed as being on the spectrum, most advocates applauded his comments anyway, because if a major celebrity can identify with the condition, that will help take away some of the stigma of autism that currently exists.  Other advocates were worried, however, that Seinfeld’s words would turn autism into just another celebrity fad. In the words of one Sun Times columnist who is also the mother of a son with severe autism: “What I fear is that these public faces of autism will allow society, and more important, policymakers, mentally off the hook. You can have autism and get a Ph.D.! It helps you write jokes! Your charming quirks and aggravating behaviors are now explainable,” Marie Myung-Ok Lee wrote.

Time will tell if other celebs will join Jerry in indentifying with autism, or if this was just one more case of “yada, yada, yada…”

*****************
When our son with special needs was little (how can it be that he’s turning 20 next week?), there weren’t many ways to connect with other Moms outside of the waiting rooms of therapy sessions and doctor offices, and even less in a Jewish environment.

One innovative program that’s filling this gap is a new, free, Mommy and Me program that has started at Friendship Circle Los Angeles to give Moms and their young children with special needs ages 2-4 the chance to enjoy Jewish-themed music, art sensory play and circle time, joined by typical children of the same age span. Sessions are held at the inclusive, state-of-the-art “My Backyard” playground on site at 1952 S. Robertson Blvd, Los Angeles 90034.

The first session was successfully held today, and I was told that the hardest part was saying goodbye.

In partnership with the Los Angeles Jewish Federation’s Joint Special Needs Task Force for Jewish Education and Engagement, the program will be held again Feb. 24, April 21 and June 9th, from 10-11 am. For more information, contact chanie@fcla.org or call (310) 280-0955.

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Did you know that 85% of all adults with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) don’t have a paid job? In Los Angeles, a great new employment program has recently launched, with a partnership between the local office of Best Buddies and the Ruderman Family Foundation to provide opportunities for young Jewish adults ages 18-30 with I/DD to enter the workforce and work alongside their peers without disabilities in a supported setting.

Best Buddies is a “sister” non-profit to the Special Olympics and is dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for 1:1 friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with I/DD. One of the core areas of interest at The Ruderman Family Foundation is advocating for and advancing the inclusion of people with disabilities throughout the Jewish community and it has offices in Boston and Israel.

With the Ruderman Foundation’s $50,000 grant, a new employment consultant, Michelle Homami, has been hired to work with individuals and to outreach with local employers in Los Angeles. Homami said that she has already placed two Jewish participants under this grant, and hopes to place a total of 8 or more participants by the end of the grant period. Call her at (310) 642-2620 ext. 204 if you are an interested employee or employer.

Special Needs Round Up: Seinfeld, Inclusive Mommy &Me and Jobs for Adults with DD Read More »

Unrelenting Gore

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized /

I’m jumping in to share my thoughts on the issue of whether it’s right for people to spread horrific images on Facebook. There’s no question that we suffer for seeing high definition photos of bloody bodies and beheadings. We are indelibly altered when we see what we are not emotionally equipped to see.

The issue as I understand it is: what is the value of doing so? Is it to become more viscerally aware? To feel more then we already do? To more powerfully express the awful dimensions of a story to people that can’t possibly understand it the way we can? If I felt there was a commensurate benefit to subjecting myself, and others to the gore then I’d be the first to say: “shut up and look hard”. The fact is, I don’t see the value in staining souls. On a purely technical level, if you feel you can’t resist exposing people to these sorts of images, at least give them a chance. After all, you’re not presenting a case to a governmental agency, you’re spewing this stuff to folks that are eating their corn flakes and looking for pictures of their grandkids. If for some reason you just need to share, then for God’s sake, put up a warning: CAUTION GRAPHIC PHOTOS and add a link.

But all this discussion of what to post and what not to post is hardly the point. We are being confronted again by ancient forces – forces that seem to me to be part of the spiritual fabric of the world. I think the more essential question is whether or not the actions of this depraved people compel us to act with more moral clarity. Is this insane culture making us more – or less sane? Is each act of evil causing each of us to reflect upon our own behavior, to correct and refine it in real ways – not just in ways that have us spouting the same old angry platitudes? Are these killings causing us to be kinder to our children, to our spouses and to our neighbors?

I could be dead wrong, but the entire world feels to me like it’s being split into two parts: the productive and the destructive. I ask simple things of the hatchet bearers, the automobile-killers and the beheaders: What have you created lately? What have you done for the betterment of mankind? Something in the field of the arts? Something in the area of medicine perhaps? Maybe you’ve created some much-needed advance in agriculture that can help to feed the hungry of the world? Some technology that speeds up commerce and communication? By my reckoning, you haven’t done a damn thing. You’ve been involved with death. You’ve grown to become nothing more than a child with a perverse and untempered id. You are full of greed and lust and the same dark jealousy that has animated you since time immemorial.

But what do we do now; we who have the power to defend ourselves after so many years of murders and pogroms, the Shoah? Do we need even more images to spur us into action? Do we need more information, more evidence, more public opinion on our side to shout that we must finally take an unequivocal leadership role and show the world how to oppose evil? Can we, with a calm and steady justice, protect the innocent as far as possible, but come down on the killers like a fu&*ing hammer?

Is it moral to let politics stand in the way of reason? Is it right to wait for an even greater catastrophe to occur? And who says we would react differently, inured as we’ve become, to each new horror.

In the end I suppose, the greatest single reason to stop sharing the brutal images on Facebook is because they become less moving over time. When we’ve seen enough of them, our humanity will leech away – just as it appears to have done in the minds and hearts of our enemies.

Unrelenting Gore Read More »

The David and Goliath exchange, part 3: On the dishonesty of Palestine’s most vocal intellectual

Leave a Comment / Domain's Guest, Israel, Middle East, Rosner's Domain, Rosners Domain-mobile /

Joshua Muravchik is a fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies and formerly a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He has published more than three hundred articles on politics and international affairs, appearing in, among others, the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the New York Times Magazine, Commentary, the New Republic, and the Weekly Standard. Muravchik, who received his Ph.D. in International Relations from Georgetown University, serves on the editorial boards of World Affairs, Journal of Democracy, and the Journal of International Security Affairs. He formerly served as a member of the State Department’s Advisory Committee on Democracy Promotion, the Commission on Broadcasting to the People’s Republic of China, and the Maryland Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights.

This exchange focuses on his recent book Making David into Goliath: How the World Turned Against Israel (Encounter Books, 2014). Parts one and two can be found here and here.

***

Dear Professor Muravchik,

A very interesting chapter of your book is devoted to Edward Said's role in the rebranding of Israel as a colonialist “Goliath” among many western liberals (our readers can find your basic arguments in this article). Your narrative stresses the disingenuous aspect of Said's work, his positions, and even the way he presents his biography. The picture that arises is one of multi-faceted phony.

Of course, many important leaders and advocates of causes have embellished their biographies and taken intellectual 'shortcuts' in promoting the causes they believed in. While you convincingly argue that the picture Said presented to the world about Israel is black and white and deeply problematic, one could claim that that's the way people effectively advocate for what they believe in. After all, Palestinian suffering and difficult conditions in refugee camps cannot be dismissed as a lie invented by Edward Said…

What do you think makes Said worse than one-sided advocates of Israel? 

Yours,

Shmuel.

***

Dear Shmuel,

My criticism of Said is not that he is one-sided but that he is dishonest. His work deserves to be given no intellectual weight, no consideration, because at each crucial point it rests on lies, double-talk, and deception.

We can see this on three levels: his account of his own life, his presentation of the Palestinian position, and his theory of “orientalism,” which was his intellectual signature.  Let me elaborate.

He claimed for most of his career that his personal experience was emblematic of the plight of Palestinians: namely that he had grown up in Palestine until he and his family were expelled by the Jews in 1948 when he was a teen.  He even made a television documentary about it.  It turns out that, although he had occasionally visited some cousins in Jerusalem, he and his family lived his entire childhood in Cairo in resplendent upper class luxury.  When he was nailed on this by Justus Reid Weiner, his ultimate response (after orchestrating a vicious attack on Weiner) was to shrug off his deception by saying: “I have never represented my case as the issue to be treated. I’ve represented the case of my people.”

Throughout the years of flagrant PLO terror operations and while it openly espoused the position that Israel must disappear along with most of its Jewish citizens Said insisted to Western audiences that the Palestinians wanted only peace and compromise and that it was Israel that instigated violence and refused reconciliation.  He spoke with authority because he served on the Palestinian National Council, the highest body of the PLO, and his writings lionized Yassir Arafat.  Then when the Oslo accords were signed in 1993, and the Arafat renounced terror and accepted in principle Israel’s existence, Said turned against him in fury, denouncing him as a “loser” and “has-been” who had “sold his people in enslavement.”

Said’s immensely influential theory of “Orientalism,” presented in the book of that title that made him famous, boils down to the claim that “every European, in what he could say about the Orient was . . . .a racist, an imperialist, and almost totally ethnocentric.” (On another page he stated that whatever he said about Europeans went for Americans, too.)  In order to prove this he offered up a miscellany of quotes and snippets from Western writers, some of them distorted, some selected from individuals of little influence, while omitting or suppressing an abundance of evidence that disproved his contention. 

For example, he altogether left out, except for a glancing and misleading mention, the work of Ignaz Goldziher.  Although not a familiar name today, Goldziher, a late-19th century scholar, was a towering figure in the field of Orientalism.  As one authority relied upon by Said (but not quoted in this respect) put it: “It is no exaggeration to say that Goldziher had created Islamology in the full sense of the term.”  Far from reflecting the enmity Said attributes to Western scholars of the Orient, Goldziher, a Hungarian Jew, was flagrantly philo-Islamic.  Living for years in the Arab world, Goldziher wrote:

I truly entered into the spirit of Islam to such an extent that ultimately I became inwardly convinced that I myself was a Muslim, and judiciously discovered that this was the only religion which, even in its doctrinal and official formulation, can satisfy philosophic minds. My ideal was to elevate Judaism to a similar rational level.

In short, Said was, as the (not-pro-Israel) British scholar, Donald Irwin, put it, a “malign . . . charlatan.”  Like, say, the tracts of the great dictators, Said’s work is worth reading for what it tells us about the mind of the author, not for its mendacious characterizations of the world.  If there are advocates for Israel who rely on similar dishonest methods, theirs would be of no greater value.

The David and Goliath exchange, part 3: On the dishonesty of Palestine’s most vocal intellectual Read More »

With pro-Israel groups all but absent, UCLA student government endorses divestment

Leave a Comment / California, Is Featured?, Lead Story, Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News /

UPDATE, 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 19: UCLA Chancellor Gene Block released a statement, which reads in part: “UCLA and the UCLA Foundation share the Board of Regents conviction that divestment decisions should not hold any one organization or country to a different standard than any other. The Board of Regents does not support divestment in companies that engage in business with Israel and UCLA agrees with that position.”

Some students held up posters, others wore t-shirts with pro-divestment slogans and most of the 400 UCLA undergraduates present repeatedly snapped their fingers along in near-unanimous agreement as they packed an auditorium on campus Tuesday night to hear – in the school's second public hearing in 2014 – their student government debate passage of a symbolic resolution that would call on school administrators to divest university funds from American companies that do business in the Israeli-controlled West Bank.

And unlike in the previous attempt in February, which failed by two votes, the student government voted this time for divestment by a decisive 8-2 margin, adding UCLA to a small but growing list of universities where the elected, representative undergraduate body endorsed the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which aims to weaken Israel and promote the Palestinian cause via economic pressure.

Supporters of the resolution, who comprised nearly 100 percent of the audience, saw the move as a protest against American economic support of what they view as Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.

And prompted by a new strategy enacted by some of UCLA’s Jewish student groups, including Hillel at UCLA, Bruins for Israel and J-Street U, supporters of Israel effectively boycotted the hearing in an attempt to discredit and delegitimize UCLA’s strengthening pro-BDS movement. Only about 10 student representatives and members from those three organizations sat together during the hearing. While none of them participated in the public comment period that would have given the floor to dozens of divestment opponents in two-minute intervals, four of them made their case against divestment to the student government during a scripted 15-minute speech.

“We are not going to have our community sit through however long a session of bullying and hate speech,” said Tammy Rubin in an interview before the hearing began. Rubin is the president emeritus of Hillel at UCLA. She said that unlike last year, Hillel at UCLA, Bruins for Israel and J-Street U will now use the time not spent on opposing symbolic divestment resolutions to “reinvest in our community.”

“We’re not not fighting it [divestment],” Rubin said. “We are just fighting it strategically in a different way.”

Gil Bar-Or, president of the UCLA branch of J-Street U, described an approach that would differ markedly from that of last year’s pro-Israel community, which passionately and publicly opposed divestment actions in a climate of toxic relations between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students.

“We are trying to present an approach that’s creating positive things for both people that are involved in the conflict and not alienating anybody,” Bar-Or said. “In order to promote one community’s interests you do not have to trample on the other community’s interests.” In place of rallying against the divestment resolution, Hillel at UCLA, Bruins for Israel, and J-Street U hosted an alternate off-site meeting with about 125 pro-Israel students, where they discussed the thinking behind the new tactics and how Jewish UCLA students can strengthen their community.

At Tuesday evening’s hearing, while dozens of divestment supporters from a broad spectrum of various ethnic, national, religious and gender student groups took the podium during the hour they were granted for public comment, not a single pro-Israel student took the podium, even as the few present divestment opponents brought forward a list of 2,000 students who signed a statement opposing divestment.

And while the public comments coming from the pro-divestment side covered an enormously wide array of political grievances—from exploitative capitalism and U.S. drone strikes to discriminatory gender bathroom rules at UCLA and Chicano feminists—each settled on a similar opinion: UCLA should divest from American companies doing business in parts of Israel. Virtually every public comment was met with a sea of approving snaps and the occasional holler.

Some of the commenters included Arab-American UCLA students who described the plight of friends and relatives who live in the Gaza Strip, and two Palestinian students studying at UCLA—but who were not present—recorded an interview that divestment supporters played on a large projector.

During February’s vote, with no time limit and with members of the public permitted to submit public comments, the hearing went until dawn before the student government voted 7-5 against divestment. This year, though, security guards manned every door, only current UCLA students and approved media were allowed inside, and the student government ensured that the evening would end relatively early—this time officials voted just before midnight.

Just before the vote, when it was already clear that the student government would endorse divestment, Avinoam Baral, an Israeli native and the government’s president, emotionally lambasted divestment supporters, accusing them of targeting Jews and Israelis while purporting to be concerned about human rights in general.

“[The resolution] says this language that it’s not meant to target you, but there’s a difference between intention and action and if our intention is to divest from all countries violating human rights and the actual effect is to only divest from Israel, the only Jewish state in the world, it’s hard for me to take it any other way,” Baral said. “It’s hard for me to not feel targeted.” After Baral concluded, student government representatives voted, and as their votes were tallied, the auditorium erupted in applause. About 20 minutes later, around one hundred divestment supporters gathered outdoors and chanted slogans such as, “Free, free Palestine.”

Just moments after the vote, Amber Latif, a UCLA sophomore and member of the campus branch of Students for Justice in Palestine, was pleased with her side's victory but “unnerved” by Avinoam Baral’s vocal opposition.

“I’m trying to think if there’s anything that we could’ve done to make the Jewish community feel less targeted by this,” Latif said. “But I feel like we did everything to the best of our powers.”

The small and hugely outnumbered pro-Israel group of students that came all sat together and provided some lonely snaps in response to comments by Baral and the other representative who opposed the resolution. Those interviewed reaffirmed their support of the Jewish community’s decision to sit out the divestment vote, but still appeared visibly upset after the council resoundingly endorsed it.

Natalie Charney, the student board president for Hillel at UCLA, led the alternate off-site meeting and, while disturbed by what she saw at the divestment hearing, expressed no regret at Jewish groups’ decisions to avoid it.

“We don’t validate this conversation, not in a space where people are able to spew hatred and anti-Semitism,” Charney said. “We didn’t subject Jewish students, pro-Israel students, to the hate that is in this room.”

Omer Hit, the vice president of Bruins for Israel, said he’s concerned that UCLA may now be perceived as “not a good place for an entire Jewish community.”

“I am thankful that we did not have to bring our entire community to sit through that,” he said. “That would’ve been heartbreaking. Look at it now—it’s already heartbreaking for the six of us that came.”

“I know that this is all a PR thing,” Hit added. “I’m afraid that they were able to dominate that.”

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Ten Lessons Learned from a Rabbi’s Murder.

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1- The world is random.  No amount of holiness or payer can save a pious man from random evil.  Rabbi Moshe Twersky was a teacher of American students in Israel. His grandfather, had ordained 2,000 rabbis. His father, Rabbi Isadore Twersky, was a prominent American-Jewish leader, and started the Harvard Center for Jewish Studies.

2- Jews don’t control the media.  The bias is so unabashed that CNN used quotation marks to avoid committing to calling this a “terrorist act,” reported that it was in a mosque and not a synagogue, and mentioned the killing of the terrorists over the innocent victims.

3- The splatter of bloody prayer books, prayer shawls and tefillins is the shattering of our central prayer, the Shema, which instructs their use.  Once again, we are reminded that this war is not only against Israel, but all Jews.

4- There is no safety and nothing sacred when a place of worship turns into a mass grave.  The rabbis’ crime was being observant Jews in Israel.

5- The same people that teach their children that matzot and hamantaschen are made with the blood of Palestinians publicly celebrate the murder of Jews at prayer by passing out cookies.  This is what we call “projection” in abnormal psychology.

6- Often the call of “end of occupation” is euphemism for “kill all Jews.”

7- We should remain hopeful as although a few bad actors always ruin it for the rest, the majority of Palestinians who live in Israel have been nonviolent.

8- There is also hope as a number of prominent Muslim leaders condemned this act of terror and we should seek to build alliances with them and engage them.

9- The biggest price of democracy is that you must protect the enemy within while affording them the freedom to kill you.

10- Once you injure a life, especially that of a teacher, you affect eternity.

 

Baruch dayan emet.

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The 1967 explanation of why Jews can’t pray at their holiest site

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Why did Israel gain control over the Temple Mount in 1967 and not establish any religious or cultural presence on Judaism's holiest site? 

Like many conflicts in Israeli society, this intriguing conundrum involves a mix of Jewish legal disputes, politics, and the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict, bringing with it a tender status quo that challenges Israel's claim to sovereignty over its holiest territory.   With tensions continuing to mount between Jews and Muslims since the recent attempted assassination of Yehuda Glick, an activist who has advocated for equal prayer rights on the site, it pays to review how we came to this explosive situation.   

Following the Six-Day War, in which Israel gained military control over the Temple Mount (“Har HaBayit” in Hebrew), Israel’s Chief Rabbinate promulgated a ban on Jews ascending to the site. This ruling coalesced with the desire of many Israeli officials to leave the Jordanian Waqf in charge of its religious, economic, and administrative activities.  As a result, Jewish civilian presence on the mount was severely limited, causing many Jews and gentiles to ignore its significance in Jewish thought and history. The recent attempt to rec­tify this situation, for both political and religious reasons, has re-ignited a passionate debate over the halakhic propriety of ascending the mount. 

Several biblical commandments regulated entrance to the various sections of the Temple, including the establishment of a guard system to enforce these rules (Num. 18:1–4). The Torah (Lev. 19:30) further com­mands a general reverence for the Temple, interpreted by the sages to include respectful behavior within permissible areas, such as not carrying a stick or wallet, wearing leather shoes, or walking around for mundane purposes.

Medieval commentators debated whether these restrictions became dormant following the Temple’s destruction.  In the 12th century, Rabad of Posquieres contended that although the land of Israel territory retained its general sanctity, the Temple Mount was desacralized by its non-Jewish conquerors.  Commentators understood this position to allow for Jews to walk on the Temple Mount, and he reported that they have historically done so. Indeed, as noted by Gedalia Meyer and Henoch Messner, talmudic stories and medieval travelogues indicate that Jews ascended the Temple Mount until Muslim conquerors banned entrance by non-Muslims in the twelfth century.

Maimonides, however, insisted that the entire compound has retained its sanctity, and that sacrifices may still be offered there, even without the Temple.  In fact, as Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Chajes pointed out, several talmudic passages indicate that many Temple rites – particularly the Passover sacrifice – continued into late antiquity.  (In the 19th century, Rabbi Tzvi Kalischer, inspired by messianic aspirations, attempted to renew such activity. Yet his proposal was shot down by figures like Rabbi Yaakov Ettlinger, who contended that sacrifices were not per­missible without finding the altar’s exact location, priests with proven pedigree, and various Temple apparatuses.)

Maimonides’ ruling, which demands continual reverence for the Temple Mount and restricts entry to it, was widely accepted by medieval and modern authorities.  As former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron noted, these laws also prohibit tour guides from encour­aging unrestricted visits to the site by non-Jewish tourists.

Nonetheless, the sages permitted entry into some of the sacred areas fol­lowing appropriate ritual preparation, including immersion in a mikve, a ritual bath.  Moreover, the current rectangular Temple Mount complex, which was expanded in the Herodian era to about 150,000 square meters, includes sections not within the original Temple area, which formed a square with sides of roughly 250 meters.  Indeed, in his collected letters, Maimonides indicates that he himself walked and prayed in the permissible areas when he visited Israel in 1165.

As such, two sixteenth-century rabbis, David ibn Zimra and Yosef di Trani, attempted to delineate the exact Temple location and permitted Jews to walk on certain areas of the mount. Yet their calculations were highly disputed, leading many scholars – including Rabbi Yisrael of Shklov, leader of Jerusalem’s Jewish community in the nineteenth century  – to prohibit entrance to the Temple Mount (which was regularly banned by the ruling authorities anyway). This position was advocated by numerous authorities following the Six-Day War, includ­ing Rabbis Ovadia Yosef, Yitzĥak Weiss, and Eliezer Waldenburg, and adopted by Israel's Chief Rabbinate. 

Others contended that this stringency would lead to the neglect of the sacred space. Most prominently, Rabbi Shlomo Goren dedicated a book, Har HaBayit, to determining the permissible areas of entry.   His determinations to grant Jewish prayer rights, however, were largely thwarted, as were the efforts of Rabbis Mordechai Eliyahu and She’ar Yashuv HaKohen to build a synagogue on the Temple Mount.  The debate, however, has been renewed over the past decade as scholars likes Rabbis Nachum Rabinovitch and Ĥayim Druckman have advocated, for spiritual and political reasons, Jewish entry (after strict halakhic preparation) into areas they claim are indisputably outside the restricted zones.  Yet other religious Zionist scholars, including figures strongly affiliated with the Israel's political right, such as Rabbis Avraham Shapira and Shlomo Aviner, have opposed such entry, maintaining that modern-day Jews are spiritually unprepared for the Temple’s holiness. 

Given Israel's commitment to freedom of worship, it remains difficult to justify denying the right of Jews to pray on the Temple Mount if they deem it to be permissible. This is especially true given its historical significance and Israel's stated interest in protecting its sovereignty over the site.  Yet like all conflicts in Israel that combine religion and politics, it must be handled with great sensitivity to ensure that our assertions of sovereignty avoid unnecessary bloodshed. 

Rabbi Shlomo M. Brody teaches at Yeshivat Hakotel, directs the Tikvah Overseas Seminars, and is a columnist for the Jerusalem Post.  He is also a presidential graduate fellow at Bar Ilan University Law School and a junior scholar at the Israel Democracy Institute.  This essay is adapted from his new book, A Guide to the Complex: Contemporary Halakhic Debates (Maggid Books).  

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The Shiva house

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I am going to begin this blog by writing about the recent arrest of a very popular and well-respected rabbi, who (allegedly) placed cameras in the mikvah in his shul.  He was a voyeur to two of life’s sacred mitzvot.  He could watch a woman immerse in in anticipation of the deepest intimacy a couple can share, and he was more than a witness to an individual, who upon immersion will join the Jewish people.

I am fortunate to be friends with a young couple who completed their conversion under the auspice of that rabbi, who like Voldemort, shall not be named.  They are a very observant couple.  He leaves his family to learn in a well-known yeshiva, and she is learning Russian, so she can help elderly Jews who are too old, frail and poor to make aliyah.  

After the rabbi was arrested, my friend paid a visit to his shul in Georgetown.  There was a gathering of people to talk and discuss what happened.  He description of the meeting was, “it was like being in a Shiva house.”

Aside from the bad jokes, snide remarks and mocking, the shul was a Shiva house.  People who had, in many cases given up their families, friends, homes and modified their work habits had lost a trusted advisor, mentor and father figure. 

They are hurt. They have been betrayed. Some have been shunned in their own communities because they had the chutzpah to come forward to discuss their experiences. 

The RCA (Rabbinical Council of America under whose authority the rabbi served) says that all of his conversions are kosher.  Israeli authorities, whose attitude toward conversion is “none is too many,” announced each conversion would have to be reviewed before the convert would be accepted in Israel.  The status of the individual, their marriage and even their children is in limbo.  

I will eventually write about my own experience, but in a nutshell, my first conversion was under the authority of the RCA and the second (because one conversion is never enough), was under the guidance of a Chassidic Rav. He felt that my initial conversion might not be universally accepted. He made me learn for an additional two years, but I am grateful for his insight.  It is wrong that anyone who undergoes the rigor or a kosher conversion should have his or her status continually questioned.  

A woman who had undergone her conversion with this rabbi wrote a column advocating a “Convert’s Bill of Rights.”  Most of our religious leaders have remained silent. Those who so easily lecture others on Sabbath observance, kashrut and prayer, have ignored one of the Torah’s most important commandments.  In doing so, they have ignored their own duties.

When giving the Torah, our Creator established a “Convert’s Bill of Rights.”  In his most consistent attribute of mercy, he remembered us. At least forty times in the Torah, he demands his people, including those entrusted with authority, to “ love the stranger” or convert. 

Judaism began with two, Abraham and Sarah.  They were not born into the covenant.  They gave up their comfortable lives and successful family business to follow G-d and establish the Jewish people.  They are the first converts, and all Jews are their spiritual descendants.  Kings David and Solomon did not descend from  “A” list royalty.  They descend from a Moabite princess, who choose to glean fields rather than return to her family and palace.  So important is her contribution that we read the book of Ruth on Shavuot.  Her words, “where you lead, I will follow” have been quoted in verse and on the silver screen. 

The silence we hear from our leaders may reflect bad manners, but I also think it reflects jealousy.  Abraham, Sarah and Ruth left their comfort zone for something they felt was higher.  Converts are willing to do that.  Most people are not. 

I have yet to meet a convert whose non-Jewish family danced in the street when they made their decision to join the Jewish people.  In my own journey, which began as a child, I my family mostly disowned me when I converted at the age of 19.  Once they stopped crying over my soul, I became known as “the Heb.” They do not contact me, and I don’t contact them.  It is better that way.  

It was a well-known Jewish advice columnist wrote, “Time wounds all heels.”  This is true.  The rabbi who brought pain to so many will never recover.  He has lost his reputation, respect, congregation and authority.  We will recover. Our pain and hurt will subside.   As a convert, I share your pain.  We are also Jews.  We have spouses, children, friends and rabbi’s who are compassionate and caring.  

As a convert, I have laughed and cried.  I have been the target of insults and have listened to people who opened their mouths just to switch feet.  I have developed a thick skin.  In the end, I joined this very special people.   I would not trade one day, moment or second to be less than a “stranger” in their midst.

Have a peaceful week,

Emuna

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