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Jewish Journal

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December 4, 2014

In new Israeli elections, security issues returning to fore

Leave a Comment / Israel /

This government was supposed to be different.

During the last election campaign in 2012, Israelis seemed to tire of the existential issues that have plagued the country for decades. Barely anyone talked about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Long-simmering social tensions over the rising cost of living and the economic burdens of the underemployed haredi Orthodox community were going to finally get their due.

The Knesset’s arrivistes — former television personality Yair Lapid and technology millionaire Naftali Bennett — swept into government by championing middle-class concerns. As members of the coalition, Bennett’s Jewish Home party and Lapid’s Yesh Atid worked on a number of social and economic initiatives, including efforts to lower dairy prices and curb growing housing costs.

Though Jewish Home vehemently opposed Palestinian statehood and Yesh Atid supported it, both agreed that haredi Orthodox men should be drafted into the army and integrated into the workforce.

Less than two years later, the partnership has broken up over the very issues that the parties had downplayed. Bickering over peace talks began in the spring and the shouts grew only louder after this summer’s war with Hamas. The recent crisis in American-Israeli relations further fanned the flames.

The rifts came to a head last week with the Cabinet’s adoption of the so-called nation-state law —  a measure to enshrine Israel’s Jewish character into law. Bennett supported the bill, while Lapid, the finance minister, and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni were opposed.

In announcing Tuesday that the coalition had faltered, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited three areas of disagreement: building in eastern Jerusalem, demanding Palestinian recognition of Israel’s Jewish character and maintaining a strong stance against Iran.

Netanyahu also singled out Lapid and Livni for their criticism of government policy after firing them from their Cabinet posts. The next government, the prime minister vowed, would be like the previous one — a stable coalition of hawkish, conservative parties.

Following the collapse of peace negotiations, the kidnapping and murder of three teenagers in June, the 50-day war in Gaza over the summer and the recent violence in Jerusalem — including the killing of four Jewish worshippers and a Druze policeman at a Jerusalem synagogue last month — politicians are focusing again on the issues that have always preoccupied them. After elections, now scheduled for March 17, everything old will become new again.

“The 2013 campaign was after relatively quiet years,” said Tal Schneider, author of the respected political website Plog. “Israel is not used to having such a length of time without any terror attacks. We’re back to normal, [but] last time it wasn’t on the agenda.”

Recent polls predict the elections will be good for parties on tיe far left and right that have made the Palestinian conflict their principal issue. Surveys show Jewish Home jumping from 12 to 16 seats, even 19, and the far-left Meretz, which went from three to six seats in the last election, rising to nine. Every survey shows Yesh Atid losing seats.

Meanwhile, Likud’s historic chief rival, the left-wing Labor party, has returned to its dovish roots, electing as chairman Isaac Herzog, a former corporate lawyer who strongly supports peace talks with the Palestinians. Herzog replaced Shelly Yachimovich, an assertive former journalist who stayed all but silent on the Palestinian issue in the 2013 elections.

And that shared agenda of integrating haredim into the army and workforce? The realities of parliamentary politics will almost definitely make that a thing of the past.

If he wins again in March, Netanyahu has vowed to ally again with haredi parties who seek to roll back the law passed earlier this year requiring some haredi men to serve in the army. Even a left-wing government would likely need haredi support to form a parliamentary majority.

Israelis, of course, still care about housing prices that have soared 80 percent since 2007 and growing income inequality. An as yet unnamed party founded to address those concerns, headed by former Likud minister Moshe Kahlon, is expected to draw plenty of votes.

But Israelis aren’t pitching tents on the street to protest economic policy as they did in 2011. This year, they have massed to support soldiers fighting in Gaza, pray for the kidnapped teens, oppose the nation-state law and protest the torching of a Jewish-Arab school.

“People vote by security,” Schneider said. “They may say in the polls that they’re more into the housing crisis, but it’s really never about the economy.”

In new Israeli elections, security issues returning to fore Read More »

Oil spill floods into Israeli nature reserve

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

Millions of litres of crude oil have gushed out of a pipeline to flood 200 acres of a desert nature reserve in southern Israel, officials said on Thursday.

Israel Radio reported that the breach happened by accident during maintenance work on Wednesday night on the Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline, some 12 miles north of the Red Sea resort of Eilat.

Doron Nissim of Israel's Nature and Parks Authority said the black slick had run and pooled in ravines, but appeared to have spared the 4,250-acre Evrona reserve's rare deer and douma palms.

In the absence of heavy rainfall, there was little chance of the oil sluicing to Eilat and endangering Red Sea marine life, but there was “no doubt that insects and other crawling animals have been harmed,” he said.

Three people were taken to hospital after inhaling oil fumes, police said.

The leak was stopped before the torrent of oil could cross the nearby Jordanian border, Israel's Environment Ministry said. Civil defence officials in Amman said several Jordanians had gone to hospital as a precaution after smelling the fumes, but had not required treatment.

Environment Ministry official Guy Samet estimated the spillage at millions of litres, telling Israel Radio: “Rehabilitation will take months, if not years.”

Nissim said pools of oil would probably be drained with suction equipment, and contaminated earth might also be removed.

The main road leading to Eilat from central Israel was closed intermittently. The Environment Ministry advised the town to cancel a triathlon that was due to take athletes through the contaminated area.

Writing by Dan Williams and Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Kevin Liffey

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Conservative Jews Need Orthodoxy

Leave a Comment / Culture, Weddings /

I have never considered myself Orthodox or even Conservadox. I have always felt a part of the wide spectrum of the Conservative Movement. However, I attended an Orthodox high school, which I loved and tag my Orthodox rabbis for triggering my passion for Jewish learning. I also take pride in playing a large role in the non-egalitarian minyan (that still exists) while at the Jewish Theological Seminary. And yet today I proudly serve a fully egalitarian synagogue that prides itself on its progressive nature and historically experimental decisions in the realm of Jewish law. I am a Conservative rabbi and a Conservative Jew.

Last year I embarked on a journey I labeled ““>Conservative Judaism Journal, Rabbi David Golinkin tackles a question that has linked the two sects for decades; was Rabbi Saul Lieberman Orthodox or Conservative? Perhaps the greatest Jewish scholar of the 20th century sat in an office at JTS while at the same time was arguably the most pious man of his generation. In the Conservative Movement’s heyday, with Rabbi Lieberman’s leadership, the lines between Orthodox and Conservative Jews were at times blurred. So much so that one of, if not the, leader of Conservative Judaism was Orthodox or at least some claimed him to be. But today things are different and numbers suggest not for the better.

For arguments sake, let’s say Orthodox leadership is not afraid of liberal Judaism. The truth is that most of the young Conservative Jewish leaders find themselves with two options post college; either become a rabbi or find an Orthodox shul (maybe an independent minyan) to daven at. Of course there are exceptions; small percentage become educators, work for AIPAC, or hold non-Jewish jobs. It is a running joke amongst Conservative rabbis because there is a lack of serious traditional minyanim and surrounding practitioners in the Conservative Jewish world. It has little or anything to do with egalitarianism or even the hard working rabbis; but in general our services are not compelling enough to keep serious practicing Jews around. There are coastal exceptions, but our traditionalists do not want gimmicks, shtick, or guitars during services (unless played really well). There are many who do, and I respect that, but there are plenty who do not and our Movement has lacked finding a space for the observant leaning Conservative Jews.

The truth is that we do not only need to look to the right for guidance, partnerships, and opportunities but frankly Conservative Jews need to accept that it is because of Orthodoxy that our brand of Judaism can thrive. For example, without the Orthodox world Kosher food would basically be non-existent. Kosher restaurants would vanish and also in smaller towns the availability for kosher food would be insufficient. I understand there are issues regarding Orthodox Hashgacha (kosher supervision); however without the Orthodox Jewish community our options would be sparse.

The Conservative Movement needs the Orthodox community for far more than just food, but for most religious aspects in a community: mikvah, day schools, etc. and we need Orthodoxy for the survival of the Jewish people. Conservative Jews have spent a lot of time over the last 30 years working on opening all kinds of doors, and I think it’s time to reopen another one. The Conservative Movement needs to invest more time making closer connections with the one sect that has been able to maintain Jewish growth. By no means am I suggesting cutting ties with other sects and I am not suggesting a move right for Conservative Jews, but I am suggesting looking at best practices as we continue remodeling. The saying goes: Look both ways before you cross the street. If the Centennial Convention was meant to steer us down a new path, then I hope we are looking in all directions.

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Love, Awe and Fairy Tales.

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Food /

I am constantly shocked by the self imposed noose of reality worn by adults, turning them into the walking dead.

C. S. Lewis wrote “someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”  Children live in joy, encouraged by those who nurture them to see beauty and believe in magic.  The world is endless, full of infinite potential.

In our fairy tales, we learn of dragons, but more importantly that they can be defeated.

In youth, we make the impossible probable, and the improbable possible.  Each verse of a poem, every musical note, all shades of purple stir a sense of wonder planted deep within our souls.

Prior to the fatigue of age, before the jaded shades worn by adults and settling into the roles we play, we see a field of dreams within a grain of corn, and a flock of birds in the shadows cast on a wall by hands, we hold infinity at the tip of our tongue, and shrug off eternity vibrating inside a minute.

Why do we allow that sense of wonder evaporate with time?

Without awe, love is impossible, boringly mechanical; awe is the essential gate through which we meet God.

Those arrested by incapacitating love, deprived of breath, eyes wide and mouth motionless, paralyzed, have danced the tango between love and awe.

Yeats wrote “the world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” We can’t allow time to dull our senses, committing spiritual dementia.

Rumi believed that our essence is yearning, longing to discard the temporary cage of the body to reunite with the Beloved. Kafka, on the other hand, believed “I am a cage, in search of a bird.”

For most, aging is an imprisonment.  Reason becomes a bird-less cage.  Science becomes obstruction to adventure.  Fear of being illogical turns into a shovel that buries the cocoon despite the butterfly. Rather than creating a profound source of spirituality, they diminish the light.
And what we forget is that each of us has a story to tell- our own fairy tale.

Science and reason, art and music, religion and spirituality, all should enhance our story.  In the words of Maya Angelou, written so delicately in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

Perhaps all our fears are dragons we must slay, to return to the beauty of our cores, so that the bird of our yesterdays desperately seeking love, can feel free again, and sing a song of praise.

In every atom I crush under my bare feet, I feel Your Love supporting my fall.

Love, Awe and Fairy Tales. Read More »

The Most X-Rated Story in the Bible

Leave a Comment / Food /

Time to tell the truth about biblical movies: In general, they are pretty poor. I know that I might be trampling on some toes here, and I hope that I am not insulting some of my readers who might be movie producers, but really: “The Ten Commandments” — a little cheesy, don't you think? Has there ever been a good movie about, say, Samson, or David (I expect that the future film based on David Wolpe's new book about David will be the exception). Last year's “Noah” had its moments, but some of it was just too bizarre. The Coen Brothers' “A Serious Man” was a good midrash on the book of Job, but in terms of biblical epics, that's about as far as it goes. 

For that reason, I am very eager to see Lifetime's miniseries “The Red Tent,” which airs Sunday and Monday evenings. “The Red Tent” is an adaptation of Anita Diamant's novel of the same name, which is itself an adaptation and intepretation of the biblical story of Dinah. Dinah was the daughter of Jacob and Leah, who is raped (or seduced?) by an impetuous Canaanite prince, Shechem. 

DInah and I go way back. When I was in my final year at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, I was searching for a thesis topic. My advisor. Norman Cohen, suggested that I write about a forgotten woman in the Torah — Dinah. I jumped in to the tale, surrounding myself with biblical texts and midrashic intepretations that spanned more than fifteen hundred years. By the time I was done, I was in love. I became a Dinah-ologist, and I continue to research the implications of her story. To read a great book by Norman Cohen, check this out. “>http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/12/03/368008742/cdc-considers-counseling-males-of-all-ages-on-circumcisionDinah's brothers go on a rampage. They rescue Dinah, and they kill all of the men. 

This is bad stuff. On his deathbed, Jacob condemns Simeon and Levi, the brothers who were in charge of Operation Get Our Sister Back From The Pagans. But in the moment itself, what does Jacob say when he finds out about the atrocity? “You have brought trouble on me, making me odious among the inhabitants of the land…my men are few in number, so that if they unite against me and attack me, I and my house will be destroyed.” (Gen. 34: 30). In other words, this is bad for my reputation. Moreover, I am weak and powerless.

And how do the brothers respond? “Should our sister be treated like a whore?” (Gen. 34: 31). The boys are not only overdosing on testosterone here; they are saying that no one is going to treat us as victims. We are taking charge of ourselves. 

Jacob sees himself as a victim — both of popular opinion and of the relative strength of others. The sons reject victim status. 

I submit to you that herein we find one of the most pertinent and powerful conversations that are happening in the Jewish world right now. The conversation is about Israel. 

Are we victims? Are we powerless? Do we worry about how the nations of the world view us?

Or: do we, even beligerently, declare our independence from world opinion and simply do what we think we have to do?

I am suggesting that the entire contemporary srael conversation can be encapsulated in simply that couplet of conversation between Jacob and his sons. Jacob whines. The sons roar. 

Oh, one more thing to contemplate. 

Was Dinah raped? Which is to ask: is the outside, gentile world a threat?

Or was she seduced? Which is to ask: is the outside, gentile world a seduction?

I mean, seriously: a few days ago, a Jewish woman was raped in Paris. The Jewish consciousness sees rape as an eternal metaphor for Jewish powerlessness. Even a cursory investigation of Eastern European Jewish literature reveals rape evoking Jewish vulnerability.

In Lamed Shapiro's short story “White Challah” (1919), a young Russian soldier rapes and even bites into the shoulder of his Jewish victim. 

Recall the painful verses of Bialik's epic poem “City of Slaughter,” in which the Jewish men creep forth from the pogrom, having witnessed the rape of their wives, only to ask the rabbi if their wives are now permitted to them…or had they become (as Dinah is called in the bibilcal text) “defiled?” 

The parallel question appears in Reb Oshry's tragic responsa from the Shoah: can a Jewish husband resume sexual relations with a wife who had been coerced into service at the brothels of the S.S., and whose arm now bears a tattoo attesting to her degradation? (Oshry permitted the husband and wife to resume sexual relations).

Watch the series. And for more, especially the part about “The Red Tent” and contemporary rape culture click here. “>http://www.jewishlights.com/page/product/978-1-58023-364-4

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My Four Month Aliyah Anniversary- My Life in Israel

Leave a Comment / Blogs /

Last week, I passed the four month mark as a new immigrant to Israel by celebrating Thanksgiving with 200 other  “Olim Chadashim” from America at the NefeshBNefesh Thanksgiving Bash in Tel Aviv.  Now moving from one place to another is never easy. I went to four high schools as a teenager- and it wasn’t because my father was a drug dealer and we were being chased by the “popo”. Moving to another country with another language and culture is even more difficult.  And moving to Israel and dealing with 8.5 million Israelis screaming at each other, is even more so.

Although I moved here speaking some Hebrew, I was basically illiterate, not being able to read or write. There were times in the beginning when I felt completely lost and helpless.  I had to depend on my amazing friends to read basic papers and contracts for me and to help see me thru basic everyday life – like setting up cable, internet, cell phone and buying furniture and setting up an apartment. I am very grateful because without them, I would be quickly out of here and back to America before I finished singing the chorus of “Yankee Doodle Dandy”.

Arriving in the middle of the war this summer played very heavily on my emotions that “we are all one in our homeland” and I quickly felt like I belonged here.” I am Israel” and songs of Naomi Shemer filled my head.  Then reality quickly set in.  This is not an easy place to say the least. You really have to fight for everything here.

A few times some Israelis have made the mistake of seeing $$$ signs on my American accented Hebrew. They have tried to take advantage of me sizing me up as a “dumb rich American”. That is until I opened my big mouth – which can be used as a weapon-coupled with my size – from the local bakery who tried 2x in a four day period to rip me off, to cab drivers who thought to take the long way home, to a cheap Thai restaurant –my mouth turned around the scales of justice. Did they really think that I would not catch on that I was paying double? “I mean, I ain’t the smartest Jew in the minyan but c’mon now.”

At the beginning of September, I started intensive Hebrew classes to learn Hebrew with other new immigrants mostly from France and a couple of Americans thrown in.  Yes, at my age I am back in Hebrew school. Last time way back when, the rabbi threw me out. This time I promised to behave if only because the Russian office manager looked like a stern lady.  The ulpan is dominated by the French who have moved from France recently by the thousands, making France the largest source of immigration to Israel. In 2015 the number of French immigrants to Israel is expected to double to more than 10,000 people.

Now learning Hebrew is very important if you want to integrate into Israeli society and culture and not shine shoes for the rest of your working life. I supplement the ulpan by watching Israeli TV, with Hebrew captions on the bottom of the screen. My daily variety of mostly reruns include a mixture of comedy sitcoms, soap operas and reality shows with simple to easy understand Hebrew. My proudest moment came last week when I translated Hebrew to English for a French immigrant in a hardware store who couldn’t understand the store clerk. I then strutted like a peacock on home.

After feeling more comfortable with the Hebrew language and my speaking ability, this week I have begun my job search.  What exactly is out there for me in the field of public relations, non-profit, broadcasting or writing is a good question, but I’m ready to set sail on a new adventure “Love Boat Israel”- (cue music).

To be honest there are days when I long for America and my life in Los Angeles, my family and friends and I ask myself-“ Yo LiAmi, what are we doing here?” and then there are other days when I wouldn’t trade being in Israel for anywhere in the world.

Spending Thanksgiving with other American immigrants in a new home was very special. Never mind that I’m a vegetarian or that I ate humus instead of turkey, or that I had a few drinks before being interviewed on Israeli news, I was enjoying the experience of realizing that my new adventure in life will include Hebrew subtitles and a plate of humus wherever I go.

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Israel’s elections Q&A, week 1: Can anyone replace Netanyahu?

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

In the next three months – until March 17, the day of Israel's election – I will try to answer the many questions I receive by mail and on social media in an orderly fashion. Here's the first batch of questions I collected in the last couple of days and my short answers. You can send more questions to rosnersdomain@gmail.com.

On Monday I wrote that “Haredi leaders are in stormy waters when they start flirting with the idea of a left-of-center bloc. They risk losing their right-of-center voters”. A reader asks: aren't haredis supposed to be more moderate on political issues?

Answer: this used to be true, and still is for some factions within the haredi world. But, all in all, the haredis are going through a long process of “Israelization”, part of which manifests itself by many of them adopting hawkish views on foreign affairs (Palestinians, the peace process, etc.). Moreover: with all due respect to the dream of an anti-Bibi coalition that has both the “left” and “haredis” within it – there are many issues that would make such a coalition very fragile. I do not see members of Yesh Atid, Meretz, and Labor rushing to compromise with the haredis on issues such as conversion, the rabbinate, the status of progressive Judaism, and more. So both for haredi voters, and for voters of the center-left, an alliance that would stick these two camps together is going to be very uncomfortable.

Daniel Rubin asked on Twitter: “4 for Livni?”

Answer: take a look at our updated poll trend tracker for most of the numbers. Tzipi Livni's Hatnua party is indeed around four seats in the polls. That means the party might not cross the finish line. Under Israel's new electoral threshold, parties with a prospect of four better not run, because many voters could lose their votes if they vote for them. Thus, the assumption is that Livni will not be running as the head of Hatnua Party but rather as a second-in-command in another party – possibly Labor.

Many readers did not understand, or did not like my loose definition of “mainstream”. Here are several questions and protestations on this matter. First: How can you say Meretz is not “mainstream” while Habayit Hayehudi is mainstream?

I think I can. Meretz is a party that can join very few Israeli coalitions. Habayit Hayehudi is more flexible. Meretz is generally coherent – Habayit Hayehudi is more varied. Surely, the more extreme elements of Habayit are as far from the Israeli mainstream as the members of Meretz, but people like Ministers Bennett and Uri Orbach are well within the Israeli mainstream conversation. Let me put it this way: Bennett and Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid began the term of the outgoing coalition by forming the short-lived alliance of “brothers”. The alliance did not hold for very long, but it was the expression of a genuine instinct of possible kinship. Namely, these very different leaders of very different ideological camps still feel that they are part of the same larger group of modern-western Zionist society.

Why did you not mention Labor in your list of “mainstream” parties?

Two answers: one – I should have. Labor is mainstream. Two – there is one caveat, similar to the caveat I have regarding Habayit Hayehudi. Labor today has a mainstream top leadership and a more radical junior leadership in the Knesset. These two factions of Labor have been working together in harmony thus far, mainly because they have faced very few tests. I'm not sure if they can compromise in a more stressing context of having to govern.

A reader asks: can any of the leaders of smaller parties replace Netanyahu?

Answer: sure, why not? If the party has the votes and the leader can form a coalition of 61 supporters – it can happen. And yet, there are several things to consider. One – the public seems to think that no leader other than Netanyahu is ready for the PM job. In the polls, more than a third of Israelis say that Netanyahu is the proper choice for PM, and next in line is Labor's Herzog with around 15%. That's not much for a real challenger. Two – the voters put the inexperienced Lapid in a position of power in the last round and the result was not impressive. There is more suspicion this time about having inexperienced people in such positions of responsibility. Three – I've yet to see the center-left rallying around one leader that could be the challenger. At the moment, Netanyahu is not facing one formidable challenger, he is facing many small challengers. That is easier to handle.

A few readers asked: will these elections change anything?

Answer: they definitely might change many things. If the next coalition is one of the right plus Haredi parties, its policies will reflect the change. I do not think that this will manifest itself in a major change regarding foreign policy – Israel will still have to face a suspicious world and a very critical US administration that is going to make it hard for Israel to dramatically alter its policies rightward. But such a coalition can change things internally. For example: it would surely change the rules for haredi draft that the current Knesset approved – making them much less strict and more accommodating to haredis. Of course, this will ignite a renewed debate: some would argue that this puts an end to the dream – supported by a vast majority of Jewish Israelis – to see haredis serving their country. Others would argue that the right way to lure haredis into service is by using non-coercive means.

What about the Basic Law of the Jewish nation-state?

I give a detailed answer to this question here. But here's one sentence: “Netanyahu is more familiar with the math than anyone, and more than likely understands that the nation-state bill in its current form is a lost cause. The only remaining question is this: Would he really be upset about not being able to pass the bill? Or is he, in fact, satisfied that he was able to eat the cake (fight for the bill) and still maintain the status quo (saving Israel from having this unnecessary bill).”

Israel’s elections Q&A, week 1: Can anyone replace Netanyahu? Read More »