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Jewish Journal

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February 20, 2019

Excerpts from ‘Modern Conservative Judaism: Evolving Thought and Practice’

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WOMEN IN JEWISH LIFE
From the very beginning of the twentieth century, men and women worshipped side by side in Conservative synagogues, and boys and girls, as well as men and women, studied together in the classroom. (To this day, in most Orthodox communities, after the third or fourth grade, learning occurs in gender-specific classes. Also, teenage boys often study Talmud, while teenage girls study Bible, commentaries, and laws governing Jewish practice.) 

In 1922 Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan inaugurated the bat mitzvah ceremony for his daughter Judith, and by the middle of the century most Conservative synagogues were scheduling them for young women. The ceremonies varied, however. Some bat mitzvah girls did what most bar mitzvah boys did: recite Kiddush on Friday night, chant the Torah blessings and the haftarah on Saturday morning, and give a homily on the Torah reading. At other synagogues, the bat mitzvah only recited some readings and delivered a homily on Friday night.

Some Conservative synagogues were fully egalitarian by the late 1940s, but that was rare. Only in the 1970s did a significant number of Conservative synagogues move in that direction. Gradually, legal rulings were needed to justify the emerging customs and to augment them in areas that custom could not determine. This happened with the decision to ordain women in 1983 and with subsequent CJLS [Committee on Jewish Law and Standards] rulings that enabled women to count as part of a prayer quorum, to lead services, to act as witnesses on documents, and to serve in other capacities in Jewish life.

THE ORDINATION OF WOMEN AS RABBIS
Unlike other developments in women’s Jewish rights that entered Conservative Jewish practice first by custom, the Conservative movement’s ordination of women rabbis was a conscious decision grounded in extensive legal and moral reasoning. At present, about three hundred of the approximately seventeen hundred Rabbinical Assembly members are women. 

In 1977 the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTSA, or, more commonly now, JTS) and the Rabbinical Assembly (the Conservative movement’s rabbinical association) formed the Commission on the Ordination of Women as Rabbis. As you will read in the following excerpts from the official 1979 report, the majority of members believed that women could be ordained because most of the tasks rabbis do are not restricted to men in Jewish law. Since then, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards has validated rabbinical rulings that open to women the few remaining rabbinical functions traditionally limited to men, such as leading services and serving as witnesses on documents. Even so, women rabbis can choose not to take advantage of these permissive rulings and ask men in their community to perform these tasks instead. 

“The role of the rabbi as we know it today is not one that is established in classical Jewish texts, but rather is one that has evolved through social need and custom. Consequently, there is no specifiable halakhic category that can be identified with the modern rabbinate, nor with the currently accepted mode of ordination. … To summarize, then: The halakhic objections to the ordination of women center around disapproval of the performance by a woman of certain functions. Those functions, however, are not essentially rabbinic, nor are they universally disapproved, by the accepted rules governing the discussion of halakhah in the Conservative Movement. There is no direct halakhic objection to the acts of training and ordaining a woman to be a rabbi, preacher, and teacher in Israel.”

RULINGS ON BIOETHICS
When the authors of classical Jewish law weighed ethical issues in medicine many hundreds of years ago, they could never have imagined today’s incredible medical advances. As a result, whereas the conditions and therefore also the rules for building a sukkah have not changed much in more than two thousand years, the medical rulings of yore offer few straightforward answers to most of today’s bioethical questions. 

Modern Conservative movement thinkers have consequently approached new medical realities by applying traditional Jewish perceptions and values to the new circumstances. Sometimes that may mean trying to balance conflicting goals. For example, one responsum permits contraception and yet encourages couples not to wait too long to have children and then to have three or more if they can. Because of the radically new medical realities of our times, it should not be surprising that different Conservative rabbis who endeavor to strike the right balance in applying the tradition to contemporary circumstances sometimes arrive at different conclusions. (This is true in the Orthodox and Reform movements as well.) So, for example, Rabbis Elliot Dorff and Avram Israel Reisner agree on most end-of-life issues but differ on whether it is legitimate to withhold or withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration from a dying patient and the amount of morphine that may be used in quelling pain.

CONTRACEPTION
The following responsum by Rabbis Miriam Berkowitz and Mark Popovsky asks: When is contraception permitted within Jewish law, and what classical teachings should guide the decision to employ it? When contraception is permitted, does Jewish law determine which contraceptive method is preferable? Does Jewish law distinguish between contraceptive methods initiated prior to intercourse and “emergency” or other contraception introduced only after intercourse?

“Assuming that all aspects of safety and efficacy with respect to more than one contraceptive method are equal for a particular couple, the couple is advised to follow the order set out in this teshuvah from most to least preferable means: Hormonal contraception (the pill, implants, vaginal insertion, transdermal patch) 

“Intrauterine device — copper or hormonal (IUD) 

“Diaphragm, cervical cap 

“Sponge, including spermicidal gel; spermicidal gel in combination with another method 

“Condoms 

“Emergency contraception (‘the morning after pill’) — only after the fact and not for regular use”

“If a woman elects to employ a method of contraception farther down the list for reasons of health, safety or efficacy specific to her circumstances, she may rest assured that such a choice represents a halakhically valid decision, fully justified within normative Jewish practice. Birth control of any means is far preferable to abortion. Every effort should be made to ensure access to and accurate information about contraception for all who might engage in sexual intercourse. The concern that such measures will encourage risky sexual activity or promiscuity is unsupported by scientific evidence and insufficient to warrant the increased health risks borne by those in communities where access to contraception is limited.”

THE PRESENT CHALLENGE
“Today the challenge is one of seduction into the general, secular culture through assimilation, intermarriage, and a commitment to work over family. … How shall we meet this challenge? Upholding the legal norm imposed by the later Rabbis on the male member of the couple of unlimited reproduction is neither practical nor desirable. Nor does it seem right or wise to say to the female member of the family, ‘Give up higher education and a career to have a large family.’ Rather, a reasonable course would be to encourage a fertile couple to have at least two children in compliance with the early Halakhah and at least one additional child to help the Jewish people replace those lost in the Holocaust and maintain its numbers in the modern world. The first two children that a couple produces are mitzvah children in the sense that they enable the couple (specifically, the man) to fulfill the command to procreate. We would like to suggest that the third child (and any further children) also be designated ‘mitzvah children,’ not only in the sense that classical Jewish law requires us to have as many children as we can, but also in the sense that having three or more children helps the Jewish people maintain its numbers and even regain a bit of the numbers we lost in the Holocaust. Another way to think of this is that the couple should have, if possible, at least one more child than they were planning for the sake of the Jewish people, with a minimum of three.”

Excerpts from “Modern Conservative Judaism: Evolving Thought and Practice” by Elliot N. Dorff.

This story was featured as part of Jonathan Kirsch’s Feb. 22, cover story. 

Excerpts from ‘Modern Conservative Judaism: Evolving Thought and Practice’ Read More »

Q-and-A With Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff

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Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, author of “Modern Conservative Judaism: Evolving Thought and Practice,” is a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary and earned a doctorate at Columbia University. He is rector and the Sol and Anne Dorff Distinguished Service Professor of Philosophy at American Jewish University, a visiting professor at the UCLA School of Law, and founding dean of the rabbinical program at the University of Judaism (now the AJU). Dorff is a renowned, much-honored and widely published expert on Jewish law and ethics, and he has served on several state and federal commissions on various issues in health care and bioethics.

Dorff spoke with Jonathan Kirsch, book editor of the Jewish Journal, from his office at American Jewish University in Los Angeles. 

Jewish Journal: Your book can be approached as a work of scholarship, but it also serves as an introduction and an explanation of Conservative Judaism for Jewish readers, not only Orthodox and Reform Jews, but also secular and unaffiliated Jews. Standing on one foot, as Rabbi Akiba was challenged to do, what is the message you want to give to your fellow Jews about the Conservative movement? 

Rabbi Elliot Dorff: Conservative Judaism tries to integrate commitment to Jewish tradition and engagement with modernity by applying the tradition in wise ways to the secular culture of our times. There’s a misperception that it’s sort of like Goldilocks, not too hot, not too cold, just in the middle. In fact, Conservative Judaism is a particular philosophical approach which honors the historical development of Judaism, which has always integrated tradition with modernity. This has been true at least since Mishnaic times. As I say in the dedication of the book, I have deep appreciation for the people and institutions of the Conservative movement because “[t]hey gifted me with a form of Judaism that is totally honest and intellectually challenging while also being vibrant, joyful, caring, morally sensitizing, and profoundly meaningful.” 

JJ: Do you agree with the reports that attendance in Conservative synagogues has declined, and if so, how do you explain it?

ED: Yes, attendance at services in Conservative synagogues has declined. When I was growing up in the 1950s, my parents (my father immigrated to the U.S. when he was 12; my mother was born in the U.S.) and their contemporaries attended synagogue primarily for two reasons: They wanted to be clearly American, and Americans (that is, Christians) attended services once a week; and it was a major social event for them. My generation and those thereafter no longer need to prove their American identity that way, and so they need to have other reasons to bring them to services on a regular basis. For many who do come, the social interactions are still part of the draw, but most contemporary Jews need to find other meanings as well. That is, frankly, hard to achieve in worship because prayer is, in my view, the hardest Jewish activity to master because it involves so many skills. That said, as I describe in the excerpt in the chapter of this book on prayer from my previous book, “Knowing God,” prayer is like baseball in that people should not expect to get a hit, let alone a home run, each time they come. Indeed, just getting a hit once in three times at bat gives you a .333 average, which is amazingly high. Home runs in prayer, though, can come in many forms (just as home runs in baseball can be at multiple places along the outfield fence) — spiritual, moral, communal, aesthetic, educational, family life-cycle occasions, etc. — and so it is well worth the effort to learn the skills of prayer to have these experiences.

JJ: Whenever we discuss the differences between the various Jewish denominations, there is a sense that we are always measuring each one against a set of essential beliefs and practices that represent “authentic” Judaism. Do you agree that there is any such benchmark? If so, what are those essential beliefs and practices?

ED: I am a pluralist. I don’t think that the major problem in Jewish life is that we have too many denominations. If anything, that’s something we can teach our Israeli cousins. What is authentically Jewish is the attempt to try to take the tradition seriously in terms of its beliefs and practices and, at the same time, to apply them to what we know about science, economics and everything else in life. That said, there are certain central beliefs in Judaism — God, Torah and Israel — and that’s how I have structured my book.

JJ: Let me ask a very personal question. As a distinguished American rabbi, how does it feel to know that the marriages you perform, the conversions you supervise and even your ordination are not recognized by the State of Israel?

ED: How does it feel? Rotten! But it’s also a major issue as to why young American Jews are not identifying with Israel. I understand the history — [David] Ben-Gurion was trying to get everyone on board, and he made a compromise with the Orthodox, whom he thought would disappear in a generation, anyway. The fact that it’s still that way now has led to very bad things for Israel itself. You have Charedi men who can’t earn a living. Forgetting about me, even for them it’s not a good arrangement, and certainly not for Israel or the Diaspora Jews. I would hope that Israel would change the whole structure. One way of doing it would be to allow for secular marriages and divorces. Those who want to use the chief rabbinate will use it, and those who want to use other officiates, they can do so, too.

JJ: Your book is full of fascinating but often provocative examples of the intersection between Jewish law and Jewish values. For example, we discover that Conservative Judaism regards it as a religious obligation to have at least two children, and a third child is desirable in order to replace the Jews who were murdered during the Shoah. Even homosexual men and women are called on to procreate or adopt and to raise their children as Jews. Is this a hard sell to Jewish men and women who are accustomed to making these intimate decisions without rabbinical guidance?

ED: Absolutely! One woman responded by saying, “What are these rabbis doing in my womb?” And I understand it. American society is based on individual rights and individual choices, and as an American, I am proud of that. As a Jew, however, I realize that it has to be balanced against communal responsibilities. As one of the co-authors of the responsum [on the subject of child-bearing], I’m either famous or infamous for it, and I get a lot of blowback. But we have to realize that all of these individual behaviors have social consequences, and the consequences of a low birthrate for the Jewish people are really dire. We are really cutting ourselves as a people and as a civilization.

JJ: We do not have to look beyond the Talmud to know that Jews and even rabbis do not always agree with one another on even the most crucial questions of ritual and practice. If contention and diversity is one of the core values of Judaism, do you hold out any hope that Jews will ever be at peace with one another?

ED: I once observed that where there are two Jews, there are three opinions — and a man came up to me and said, “Do you really need two Jews for three opinions?” But sometimes the dissension covers up the core values that we share in common. With all of our differences of opinion, we really do pull together in trying to fight anti-Semitism, trying to make sure that Israel survives as a Jewish state, and trying to make this world a better place. When push comes to shove, the old saying is true: All Jews are responsible for each other.

This story was featured as part of Jonathan Kirsch’s Feb. 22, cover story. 

Q-and-A With Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff Read More »

Jewish Bucket List Item No. 2: The Miracle Project

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The song “Matchmaker” from “Fiddler on the Roof” is now in my head, thanks to my February Jewish bucket list community service experience at The Miracle Project.

I have been volunteering all of my life. I have early memories of my mom taking me to B’nai Zion synagogue in Chicago to do crafts with seniors, so I knew I had to find something unique for my Jewish community service bucket list item. 

When I discovered that February is Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month, I knew I’d found my focus. Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, president of the disability advocacy nonprofit RespectAbility, put me in touch with acting coach Elaine Hall, who founded The Miracle Project in 2004. 

The Miracle Project, supported in part by the Jewish Community Foundation, helps children and adults with autism and other disabilities develop communication and other skills through the expressive and performing arts. Basically, my community service was singing, dancing and playing theater games with a bunch of new friends. 

Volunteers (aka co-actors ages 12 and up) are invited to join and support The Miracle Project’s students in immersive experiences. Based in Beverly Hills, most of the classes take place at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Some of the volunteers are professional performers while others are simply family, friends, students and members of the community like myself. 

“We call it reverse inclusion,” Hall said. “We bring the neurotypical world into the world of autism and neurological difference so that we create a community not only of inclusion but of true belonging.”

“By creating opportunities for nondisabled peers to learn about our world, it allows the spirit in us to see the spirit in them and [vice versa]. And we learn that we’re all one.” — Elaine Hall

Among the myriad programs The Miracle Project offers are Triple Threat (choreography, vocal and performance technique training by entertainment professionals), TMP Company Class (participants collaborate to create an original musical) and Musical Theater.

On the day I volunteered, Hall greeted me with a huge smile and handed me a  bright blue The Miracle Project T-shirt to wear. I was immediately thrust into rehearsal of the aforementioned “Fiddler” song with four girls. I also had the opportunity to watch some of the rehearsals, and the performances were amazing. 

I then took part in a Jewish studies class where we sang songs in English and Hebrew. Some of the students sang solos. I was told this is to allow them to build their self-confidence. They also practiced self-expression through movement. We all encouraged one another. It was beautiful to see and be a part of. 

Another small group invited me to join them in theater games, which included playing the mirror game and building human machines. The entire experience was pure live-in-the-moment, cellphone-off, unadulterated joy.

“Tikkun olam is the essence of our Jewish tradition,” Hall said. “So we always want to be making the world a better place. We are all made in God’s image. By creating opportunities for nondisabled peers to learn about our world, it allows the spirit in us to see the spirit in them and [vice versa]. And we learn that we’re all one.”

I am seeking items for my 2019 Jewish bucket list. Please send your ideas to deckerling@gmail.com.

Debra Eckerling is a contributing writer to the Jewish Journal and a goal coach.

Jewish Bucket List Item No. 2: The Miracle Project Read More »

Report: 15 Violent Anti-Semitic Hate Crimes Have Occurred in Crown Heights Since October

Leave a Comment / Online, United States /

A new report from The New York Times states 15 violently anti-Semitic hate crimes have occurred in the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn since October.

According to the Times, each of these incidents have targeted “ultra-Orthodox Jews.”

“In January alone, several Orthodox Jews were punched, seemingly unprovoked, in broad daylight on Kingston Avenue, the main Jewish thoroughfare in Crown Heights,” the report states. “In late January, a 22-year-old Yeshiva student was beaten on the street while calling his parents on the phone in Australia. A few hours later, a 51-year-old man was beaten so badly by the same assailants that he was hospitalized.”

More recently, two men reportedly threw an unidentified object into the window of a Brooklyn synagogue, the Chabad of Bushwick, on Feb. 16. No one was injured.

Overall, anti-Semitic hate crimes have increased by 22 percent from 2018 to 2017 in New York City.

According to an Oct. 31 Times report, the rising anti-Semitism in New York City has received little attention nationally in part “because it refuses to conform to an easy narrative with a single ideological enemy.”

“During the past 22 months, not one person caught or identified as the aggressor in an anti-Semitic hate crime has been associated with a far right-wing group,” the report states, adding that “it is the varied backgrounds of people who commit hate crimes in the city that make combating and talking about anti-Semitism in New York much harder.”

Report: 15 Violent Anti-Semitic Hate Crimes Have Occurred in Crown Heights Since October Read More »

The Trick of Anti-Semitism

Leave a Comment / Israel, Rosner's Domain /

The State of Israel has done a few successful things since its establishment, but in one mission it certainly has failed. If the leaders of Zionism hoped that a Jewish state would eliminate anti-Semitism, they were wrong.

Of course, this was a mistake in good faith. These leaders assumed that anti-Semitism was closely linked to the situation of the Jews and found it hard to understand that anti-Semitism was more closely related to the situation of anti-Semites. When anti-Semites are angry, confused or seeking answers to complex questions, the Jews are a convenient explanation.

The State of Israel strongly rejects anti-Semitism, as do all Jews, but has never formulated a clear strategy for dealing with it. Perhaps this is because after the Holocaust and the establishment of the State, a relatively comfortable period of calm began in the anti-Semitic discourse — at least in Western countries. Perhaps it is for other reasons. Either way, it might be the right time to reformulate a response to anti-Semitism. And doing it in a way that Israel’s Jews and America’s Jews would accept won’t be easy.

Why do it now? Because there is an awakening of anti-Semitic discourse around the world, which has become difficult to ignore. We see it on the right and on the left, in Britain, Poland, the United States and France. And no — there is no reason to panic. Jews are not being persecuted. They still have a lot of support and firm protection from most governments. And yet, things that until recently could only have been whispered are now out in the open, uttered by a candidate for prime minister (United Kingdom), or a member of Congress (United States). Suddenly, Jews are having a silly debate about the exact rules a person has to follow if he or she wants to be a non-anti-Semitic critic of the Jews. 

You are familiar with many features of this debate: In what words can Israel be criticized without the criticism becoming anti-Semitism? Is it necessarily anti-Semitic to suggest that support for Israel in Congress is bought with Jewish money? Should the Jews conduct a civil dialogue with public figures who seem to toy with anti-Semitic tendencies? Should the Jews consider forming certain specific alliances with anti-Semites if this serves the greater purpose of securing the Jews? 

Obviously, different circumstances beget different answers to these questions from different Jews. Some American Jews complain when Israel becomes cozy with Hungary’s Victor Orban — but still want to have fruitful relations with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). Some Israelis are puzzled by the tendency of Americans to forgive Omar — but are ready to suppress what they know about Orban. American Jews feel that Israel is throwing them under the bus by forging close ties with President Donald Trump’s administration. Israeli Jews feel that American Jews are ready to throw Israel under the bus, as long as the hateful critics of Jewishness agree to keep their criticism focused on the bad Jews of Israel and spare the good Jews of America.

What can Israel offer in such context? Its main offer is a safe haven against anti-Semitism. This is a generous offer that should not be taken lightly. And yet it does not go beyond the familiar pattern of Zionism: If we distance the Jews from the rest of humanity and gather them together, anti-Semitism will become redundant. Of course, there is a problem with this offer, because it’s already clear that anti-Semitism does not follow this script. In other words, even if all Jews live in Israel, it is doubtful that anti-Semitism will come to an end. 

“Anti-Semitism is a serious matter. Many generations of Jews can testify to this. So whatever we do, we should not fall into the end-of-history trap.“

Israel’s Zionism is not naïve. So, the country responds to concerns about anti-Semitism with contemporary realism. True, there will be anti-Semitism but Jews will be protected. The Israel Defense Forces will protect them. That is, if they all gather here. And of course, that may be true. They will be protected as long as Israel is strong enough to withstand attacks. 

Is there a way for Israel and the Jews to go beyond safe haven (Israel) and condemnation (American Jews)? There is no easy answer to such a question, except that maybe the time has come to reconsider the options. We can assume that anti-Semitism is also our fault, and take the appropriate steps; we can prepare mobile homes for Jewish refugees who would soon be fleeing to Israel; we can form groups of assassins and kill anyone suspected of anti-Semitism (without being caught); we can provide economic assistance to organizations working against anti-Semitism in key countries; we can launch a campaign to change the image of the Jews. And still, it is not clear that any of these options, or a combination of them all, will be of much help. So, we also have the option of doing nothing for now. But even doing nothing is better as a conscious decision, and not as one born out of laziness.

Anti-Semitism is a serious matter. Many generations of Jews can testify to this. So whatever we do, we should not fall into the end-of-history trap. We shouldn’t assume that the establishment of the State of Israel, or the great Jewish renaissance in America, nullified the relevance of anti-Semitism. We should remember that this is a dangerous and cunning enemy. And one of its nastiest tricks is to turn the Jews against one another.  

Shmuel Rosner is senior political editor. For more analysis of Israeli and international politics, visit Rosner’s Domain at jewishjournal.com/rosnersdomain.

The Trick of Anti-Semitism Read More »

Danielle Bukra: One Woman Global Rescue Mission

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When she was 14, Danielle Bukra made a list of things she wanted to accomplish by the age of 30, including living on a desert island, sky-diving, getting a tattoo, learning sign language, deep-sea diving with whale sharks, bungee-jumping in Thailand, and drinking coconut water out of a coconut on a yacht in the Bahamas. By 30, Bukra had done all these things and more.

Over the past three years, Bukra, now 32, traveled to the United States and worked for a Kansas-based construction company that sent her around the Midwest. The job was a means to an end: traveling. “I don’t want to wait until I’m 70 and my body is half-working to start traveling,” she said. 

In those three action-packed years, Bukra traveled all over the U.S., Mexico, Canada and Egypt and spent eight months in Mauritius before embarking on what she called a World Cup tour in Europe. Because she didn’t have money to attend World Cup soccer games in Russia, she coordinated stops in participating countries, so that when there was a game featuring the team from Belgium, for instance, she flew there, and likewise for Switzerland, France and so on, watching the games alongside rambunctious soccer fans at random bars. 

“Danielle Bukra is naturally drawn to people who have experienced trauma, and that, coupled with her insatiable desire to travel, was why she chose to work in a high-stakes rescue organization.”

Part of Bukra’s impulse for travel and adventure is a vague feeling that has accompanied her all her life that she is destined to die young. The feeling, she said, is largely because of her namesake. She was named after a cousin, Daniel, who was killed in the 1982 Lebanon War, and throughout her life, Bukra had been aware of the whisperings of rabbis who tut-tutted that naming a child after someone who died in tragic circumstances never bodes well. She was stationed at the Lebanon border during the second Lebanon War in 2006

The other part, Bukra said, has to do with her perceptions about the fleeting nature of life.  “We are a country where everyone has a bit of PTSD,” she said. Bukra is naturally drawn to people who have experienced trauma, and that, coupled with her insatiable desire to travel, was why she chose to work in a high-stakes rescue organization and why she is now pursuing a master’s degree in public health in emergency and disaster management at Tel Aviv University.

Bukra worked for Magnus International Search & Rescue, an organization headed by Hilik Magnus, an Israeli septuagenarian famous for executing dangerous rescue operations stemming from kidnappings, missing persons and medical evacuations. Bukra is not in a position to talk about the work she did for Magnus, and said only that it was “fulfilling but very mentally challenging.”

Pursuing a master’s degree has forced Bukra to hunker down in Tel Aviv for the time being, and get a “boring” job on the side at an insurance company. But when she’s done, the degree will enable her to help people in emergency situations all over the world, as well as enable her to resume the role she said she’s played for the past 20 years: unofficial ambassador for Israel.

Danielle Bukra: One Woman Global Rescue Mission Read More »

Psychics in the ’Hood

Leave a Comment / First Person /

“Marcus, you are an idiot. I told you three times to stop doing that.”

My teacher had repeatedly told me not to pronounce the four-letter name of God out loud while we studied Kabbalah. I forgot. And on the third occasion, my nose started bleeding.

For years, I have been drawn toward psychic experiences. Through that pursuit, I have found a hidden network of Jewish energy healers in Pico-Robertson. Mainstream Judaism can seem at odds with their work, and because “psychic” tends to evoke images of carnival hustlers, most healers use the word “intuitive.” 

I regularly meet people who are starting to have intuitive experiences. As their ability awakens, they question how it fits with their Judaism, and few answers are readily available. One man told me he started seeing people’s auras. A woman described herself as an “empath” who could feel other people’s illnesses in her body when she walked into a room. (If someone had a pain in their right arm, her right arm would ache.) A more extreme case was a former girlfriend who was frequently woken up at night by her friends’ dead grandparents, who were asking her to send messages to their grandchildren.

Although there are many Jews involved in alternative healing and energy medicine, traditional Judaism recommends traditional medicine rather than holistic approaches. 

“The typical approach of halachic, normative Judaism is that you follow medical science,” Rabbi Elazar Muskin, of Young Israel of Century City and president of the Rabbinical Council of America, told me. “We follow a rational approach. This is the approach that most halachic authorities endorse and that I have always followed.”

Nevertheless, many Jewish seekers and healers are looking for answers.  

A frequent question I hear when teaching Jewish concepts is, “How can I become more psychic?” This is the wrong question. There are warnings around studying Jewish mysticism, and these warnings have merit. 

I once had a coaching client in Texas who previously hired a psychic teacher to help open his “third eye” through kabbalistic studies. He started hearing voices and ended up in a catatonic state, standing in the corner of the room. On two occasions, I took him to be admitted to a residential psychiatric unit. 

The danger of prying open psychic channels without God’s permission — that is, when it occurs naturally — is that it can be like turning on a television in your living room at full volume that you are unable to switch off. Whatever you are channeling can cause tremendous suffering.

There is a Jewish idea that HaShem gives us permission to see certain things at certain times. This is why we must not go looking for additional abilities. 

I have found this true from personal experiences that have ranged from very healing to very disturbing. I learned not to grasp for psychic abilities after I saw problems caused by this mindset. 

On one occasion, I was studying the sefirot (Divine energies) while writing my book “The Kabbalah Sutras,” and discovered that the sefirah of Gevurah (strength, discipline or restriction) can be used to channel wealth. For the next month, I meditated on this kabbalistic quality every day in a bid to increase my income. When I mentioned it to my teacher, he said, “Marcus, you are an idiot. Tell me, did you find that you got the opposite result? That your money dried up and you can’t pay the rent?” “Yes,” I replied. “How did you know?”

“Because the internal aspect of Gevurah is Din — judgment — and your lack of knowledge meant that you channeled down Divine Judgment for all of your deeds, thoughts and intentions … and you were judged unfavorably.”

“I regularly meet people who are starting to have intuitive experiences. As their ability awakens, they question how it fits with their Judaism, and few answers are readily available. One man told me he started seeing people’s auras.”

“Marcus, you are an idiot” became a regular refrain until I got the principles.

Things were out of control when, stupidly, I started playing with intuition and tried to psychically read people while walking down the street. My channels were open one night when I was walking home from a Shabbat dinner. I felt a sudden chill and two passing dogs started to bark at me. My tears welled up and a voice spoke through me, telling of a family who drowned in a shipwreck. Later, I looked into the bathroom mirror and saw a face I didn’t recognize staring back at me.

The next day, my teacher explained that these souls were just asking for help, so I should say Kaddish for them, read some psalms and light a yahrzeit memorial candle. This did the trick, but without a teacher I, too, may have been lost at sea. 

There is a massive difference between playing psychic games and using intuition for healing others. The majority of Jewish healers say it is God doing the healing, and they are merely the channel. 

Jill Moray Reichman belongs to The Happy Minyan on Pico Boulevard and is a medical intuitive. “I love working with Jewish clients,” she explained, “because I can incorporate Torah. It is comforting for religious people to work with a healer who is also an observant Jew, since I would not recommend doing something that is forbidden.”  

She told of working with a male client who liked gardening, and how she was “shown” through an intuition that he needed to create a specifically small space in which to create a private garden. “These specific dimensions sounded odd to me,” she recounted. “My client said that he had just finished learning a Mishnah that listed those exact dimensions for creating a garden. Feedback like that is thrilling.”

Different healers have different abilities. Dr. Shiri Rosenfeld, an Israeli naturopath living in Studio City, often helps clients using remote healing techniques. Her clairvoyance means that she frequently can see what may be in a client’s future, but often she holds back from sharing that information to respect that person’s free will. “HaShem is doing the healing work,” she stressed. “I am just the conduit, and I am lucky enough to be a part of it.”

The Torah prohibits seeking psychic powers, and the Bible tells how King Saul visited a psychic woman, requesting she resurrect his late mentor, the prophet Samuel. Things ended badly for the king, and we learn that consulting with the dead is prohibited, along with many types of clairvoyance (Leviticus 19:31 and Deuteronomy 18:9-12). 

The rabbis disagree on the permissibility of astrology, as the Talmud talks explicitly about rabbis who visited astrologers. Abraham was considered the world’s greatest astrologer, although after the Talmud explains how someone’s personality corresponds to the most influential planet on their birthday, it also stresses “there is no constellation for the Jews.” The Sefer Yetzirah, a cornerstone of kabbalah, discusses how astrological formations correspond with Hebrew letters.

That said, the Hebrew word for a constellation is “mazal” and “tov” means good, so “mazel tov” effectively blesses someone that the stars are aligned in their favor.

A higher level of intuition is “ruach hakodesh” (Divine wisdom), associated with many stories of supernatural phenomena over the centuries. 

The Baal Shem Tov (born in Ukraine in 1698) was a revolutionary who introduced kabbalah to the mainstream. He saved Jewish communities from destruction with the power of his prayers, exorcised demons and traversed great distances in impossibly short periods of time. 

The Baba Sali was a famous Moroccan kabbalist who died in 1984, and was renowned for bringing miraculous healings.

Possibly the most influential Jewish leader of the last century, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, was renowned for Divine intuition and how he helped people through prophetic abilities.

In 1987, the Rebbe told the stock trader Rabbi Joseph Gutnick to dig for gold and diamonds in Australia. Gutnick became a billionaire.

In his book “Rebbe,” Joseph Telushkin tells of a man who needed advice and telephoned Schneerson. The caller didn’t give his name, and a message was passed via the Rebbe’s secretary. “Tell him that there is a Jew who lives in Maryland that he can speak to — his name is Weinreb,” the Rebbe said. The caller responded, “But my name is Weinreb!” “If that’s the case,” the Rebbe replied, “then he should know that. Sometimes one needs to speak to himself.”

Rabbi Moshe Levin of Bais Bezalel, the Chabad synagogue, quoting the 16th-century kabbalist Shelah, said that every person has divine intuition according to their deeds, but we have to be highly suspicious of someone who says they are gifted with Divine guidance. Jews are to “look for healing within nature rather than rely on miraculous intervention,” and use medicine that is 100 percent proven, based on natural laws rather than healing techniques based on superstition or other religions. This is the guidance of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, a great halachic authority of our generation. 

The most important thing, Levin said, is to have a personal spiritual mentor, a mashpia rabbi, who can advise you with these circumstances. 

“The Torah prohibits seeking psychic powers, and the Bible tells how King Saul visited a psychic woman, requesting she resurrect his late mentor, the prophet Samuel.” 

Meanwhile, there have been Jewish energy-healing seminars at The Happy Minyan. Rabbi Ben-Zion Bar Ami is a popular teacher who trains people in healing arts, and he received a personal endorsement from Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri (1902-2006), a kabbalist who offered blessings and amulets that reportedly healed people and helped them find personal success.

Rabbi Bar Ami’s classes teach people how to use the four-letter Hebrew name of God to channel light and healing. Benson Simmonds is an energy healer and spiritual life coach who attended the trainings, and explained that “this is a kosher source of healing. [Bar Ami] teaches us kabbalistic protection methods to help ourselves and others, utilizing knowledge that we had centuries ago.”

Aaron Kemp also attended the training sessions and said Bar Ami “insisted that people never use these healing techniques in lieu of medical treatment.” Kemp enjoyed learning the rabbi’s techniques for astral travel and hands-on healing, but he found the greatest benefit was in strengthening his prayers when requesting healing for others.

Every classical martial arts system incorporates forms of energy medicine, and Rabbi Brandon Gaines combines these worlds. A practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine with a masterful knowledge of kabbalistic wisdom, he leads Da’ati, a Los Angeles-based outreach organization. He is also an expert martial artist who won over 160 medals as a teenager and starred in the 1995 movie “Superfights” at the age of 21. When asked about Jewish energy healing, Gaines was quick to respond that “nobody is questioning whether these phenomena exist or not. That has already been answered.” Instead, he pointed to the legendary Rabbi Yitzhak Luria (1534-1572), who was possibly the most famous kabbalist of the last millennia, known as the Ari — the lion.

“The Ari had unbelievable abilities,” Gaines said, “but his primary student, Rabbi Chaim Vital, explained that the Ari did not get his abilities through practical kabbalah or magical sources, but by rectifying his character, ‘tikkun ha-middot.’” 

How can someone distinguish between a genuine intuitive healer and a fake? One way is whether the person seems driven by ego and money rather than humility and a trust in God. (Although it is essential for a “karmic exchange”; that is, to pay someone for their time so as not to create an imbalance, unless it has been agreed that the healer is helping on a pro bono basis.) Another is whether the healer is willing to turn away prospective clients if the healer feels unable to help, rather than taking them on just for the financial rewards.

It also is essential that the healer has clear “protocols” — specific procedures to protect and cleanse themselves. If the healer is not able to recognize when a client’s energy is stuck to them, they may face problems of their own. I have heard many stories of healers who get burned out and fall ill because they have absorbed a client’s energy. This can be avoided.

Last week, I was approached by a woman in the community who had started doing energy healing, and she wondered if I could “spread the word” to help her get clients. I asked who her teacher was. She told me she didn’t have one but had been learning from a book. When I inquired what protocols she had for grounding before a client session and clearing any “stuck” energy after a session, she had no answer. I asked her how long she had been cultivating her art. “Six months,” was her reply.

“How are you feeling?” was my last question, and she replied that she had been very sick for the last four days and nights. This is a very common phenomenon when people set up shop without rigorous training or supervision.

One of my former teachers emphasized that when you help people heal, there is the danger of being like a coffee filter for them. Their negative feelings are transferred onto you. They walk away feeling great and you will feel sick, as happened to this person. This is similar to what Sigmund Freud described as “countertransference,” when a therapist becomes entangled in their patients’ feelings. This danger can be present when people start working in a therapeutic format without any supervision or training.

What can someone do if they have a bad intuitive experience and have concerns? An official Jewish response would be to seek professional medical advice and ask your local rabbi. Energy healing approaches might include basic clearing procedures like washing your hands or bathing using Epsom salt, going to a mikvah or burning a “clearing” natural substance like sage or palo santo wood. Dealing with more serious cases where there are psychological disturbances could include speaking with a parapsychologist who specializes in exorcisms. Although this has a great precedent within Jewish kabbalistic literature, there is nobody within the Jewish community I am aware of currently offering this service. 

As Jews, we can use mezuzot and tefillin for spiritual equilibrium, as defects can correspond to sicknesses. While I was in the intensive care unit, my tefillin were checked and found to be nonkosher. The top front left of the head-box was worn down. Meanwhile, the top front left of my head was exactly where I had two brain surgeries. The tefillin were repaired, as was my head.

Right now, I am finding the balance between formal medicine and alternative healing. Fourteen months after undergoing two brain surgeries, I am very aware that I would not be alive except for the benefit of traditional medicine. When I was hit by a car while walking across Olympic Boulevard, my first impulse was to go to my friend, Metuka Daisy Lawrence, who incorporates intuitive abilities as part of her teaching and consulting work. 

Over the years, I experienced powerful healing through Metuka’s guidance, and she helped heal physical issues that were previously undiagnosed by doctors. On that night, however, she quickly called Hatzolah of Los Angeles, the Jewish emergency medical service. They rushed me to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and the rest is history.

Marcus J Freed is a Los Angeles-based actor. His website is marcusjfreed.com.

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The Fyre Festival and the ‘Palestinian Cause’

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The Fyre Festival and the “Palestinian cause” have a lot in common.

In 2017, the Fyre Festival was promoted to the American public on social media as the ultimate destination music festival, to be held in the Bahamas and attended by the world’s top models and celebrities. It turned out to be one of the biggest marketing scams in history — what concertgoers called a “living nightmare” after they spent tens of thousands of dollars on a ticket package and then found out there was no festival. Billy McFarland, the 26-year-old founder and CEO of Fyre Media, the company promoting the festival, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and in October a federal district court judge in Manhattan sentenced him to six years in prison and ordered him to forfeit more than $26 million. Hulu and Netflix are now showing separately produced documentaries about the scam. 

The “Palestinian cause,” as promoted by far-left activists, likewise paints a much sexier portrait of the situation than the reality. Fyre Festival ticket buyers were seeking a glamorous destination where they would be part of an exclusive in-crowd, even if their daily lives bore little resemblance to the luxury-lifestyle experience offered. In the case of the anti-Israel cause, often well-meaning but naive young people are attracted by a similar longing — to be a part of a movement they don’t understand and have not looked into, but that offers to give them a sense of purpose and belonging. Unfortunately, the reality in both cases is not even remotely close to the “goods” they have been sold.

I oppose discrimination against Israelis and Palestinians, based on my morality as a progressive Israeli. It is disturbing and bizarre that some Western activists on the far left, completely disconnected from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, are so fervently dedicated to tearing down my people. This almost obsessive passion and fetishization stems from the poorly conceived notion that this cause represents their values. On the one hand, they feel very bad for oppressed people, support the LGBTQ community, fight for gender equality, and advocate for racial and economic justice. On the other hand, they ignore the fact that if you actually go to the Palestinian territories, you will find the values there are not the same. The promise of a left-wing utopia in Palestine, for the time being, is just as false as the Fyre Festival’s promises.

At the international level, the European Union, the United Nations and many countries pour billions of dollars into the Palestinian leadership, all stemming from the belief in a false reality that the money will lead to a peaceful and more progressive Middle East. As a matter of fact, the Palestinian Territories receive more aid per capita than any country in the world, yet the reality for Palestinians is far from peaceful, even at the hands of their own leaders. Similarly, at the grass-roots level, if you support Palestine, if you fight against Israel, if you support the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, you are promised to be a part of something greater, even if no one knows what that actually means (hint: it’s not peace). 

As a digital-marketing professional, I know full well that marketing these ideas in the age of digital media isn’t difficult. It doesn’t even matter how bad your product is in a world of digital and social media influencers, because any nobody can be a somebody with the right retweets and likes. Any post has the potential to go viral and reach millions. Any tweet could make you a celebrity. To many, it doesn’t matter what the truth is, they’re buying the feeling that the marketing gives them, and oftentimes even the marketers themselves aren’t aware of what they’re selling.

“At the grass-roots level, if you support Palestine, if you fight against Israel, if you support the [BDS] movement, you are promised to be a part of something greater, even if no one knows what that actually means.”

Fyre Festival’s marketing team had almost no idea what was going on throughout the planning of the festival. Their focus was on marketing a concept, which they did remarkably well, using influencers like Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid to promote the festival. The influencers, too, had no idea what was actually going on with the product they were promoting, but they were paid handsomely to do so — much like the countries who provide financing to Palestinian leaders with little to no knowledge of where their money actually ends up — or if it’s being used to pay terrorists.

Similarly, the naive supporters of the BDS movement who present Palestine as a cause that LGBTQ people should get behind, almost never know that 93 percent of Palestinians hold homophobic views (according to Pew research). The activists who say Palestine is a cause for the black community to support often do not know that the term “black person” in Palestinian Arabic literally translates to “slave.” The ones who say Palestine is a cause for feminists do not know that Hassan al-Laham, “the mufti of Gaza” who is a top spiritual adviser appointed by the Palestinian Authority, encourages domestic violence. Al-Laham stated in a TV interview that a husband is allowed to hit his wife, but “not hitting that will bring the police, and break her hand and cause bleeding, or hitting that makes the face ugly,” he said. The hitting should “be like a joke,” he added, “ … a kind of reminder that the love and friendship that Allah commanded is still found between [the couple].”

While there certainly are Palestinian voices on the ground fighting these problems, the fact remains that Palestine is a far cry from the progressive utopia that some activists believe it will become, if only they pressure Israel enough. Similarly, what the BDS movement is marketing will not bring justice to the Palestinian people.
The devastating reality for us as progressives is that those values we hold dear are not represented in Palestine today, and we cannot have genuine change unless we are willing to acknowledge that reality as our starting point.

The Fyre Festival was a concept of an experience, not an actual experience. Palestine as it’s presented in the far left is also a concept of a cause, but the reality is far from the expectations of this subgroup of activists.

Victoria’s Secret model Shanina Shaik, one of the celebrities paid to promote the Fyre Festival, said: “It is really horrific what happened. The girls and I were just kind of dragged into it. We would never want to promote something like that.”

If they only knew.

So, too, we must do our own due diligence and be honest about the reality in the Palestinian Territories.

Palestinian statehood is a worthy and just cause, and I hope it can also lead to progress within Palestinian society over time. But advocating for Palestinian rule over Israelis, as the anti-Israel movement does, means supporting a Middle East that is less free for all people who live here.

Hen Mazzig is a digital-media and strategic communications consultant and a writer from Tel Aviv.

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The Least Jewish TV Show I’ve Ever Loved

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“You know what I just realized? ‘Oy’ is the funniest word in the entire world.”

Thus spake Lorelai Gilmore, the older of the two eponymous “Gilmore Girls,” moments before she realized that “poodle,” is also a funny word.

“In fact, if you put ‘oy’ and ‘poodle’ together in the same sentence, you’d have a great new catch phrase. You know, like, ‘Oy with the poodles, already.’ ”

The world of “Gilmore Girls” isn’t especially concerned with Jewishness. At least, not beyond a few “bits” like these. But these bits stick out in the world of the Gilmores. The word “oy” is discordant in Stars Hollow, the Connecticut suburb in which the show is set. Perhaps this is because “Gilmore Girls” is the least Jewish TV show I have ever seen. 

It is most certainly the least Jewish TV show I have ever loved.

The shows I love are shows that I have loved for 20 years or more and watched countless times. Top in my rotation are “Seinfeld,” “Sex and the City,” “Frasier” and, yes, “Gilmore Girls.” 

These shows are not all about Jews. But the world of American television, even when not dealing explicitly with Jews, is touched by Jewish culture, Jewish humor and often created by Jewish writers and producers. In this Jewish media landscape, the un-Jewishness of “Gilmore Girls” is stark. 

To understand why, we need to look at what makes other shows feel Jewish, or at least what makes them feel Jew-ish.

The Jewishness of the “Seinfeld” universe is obvious. The characters are Jews and references to matzo ball soup abound. But “Seinfeld’s” Jewishness is deeper than this. 

When Jerry asks George if he’s in love with his girlfriend, George shrugs. Jerry asks him if he feels anything for her. 

“Feel? What’s that?”

“All right, let me ask you this,” Jerry says. “When she comes over, you’re cleaning up a lot?”

George nods.

“You’re just straightening up or you’re cleaning?”

“Cleaning.”

“You do the tub?”

George says yes.

“OK, I think you’re in love!” Jerry exclaims. “Tub is love.” 

Anyone who has ever read a page of Gemara will recognize the talmudic fastidiousness, the rabbinic propensity to take the spiritual and make it quantifiable and to take the quantifiable and make it spiritual.

But a show doesn’t need to be about Jews to have this kind of Jewish sensibility. Devorah Baum, in her book “The Jewish Joke,” identifies two sources of what we call “Jewish humor.” 

The first is that Jews have been “the greatest Schlemiels” of history. The second has to do with being both an “outsider” and “at odds with oneself.” 

How do these qualities translate into humor? They do so in the form of characters who are their own worst enemies (like George Costanza, like Carrie Bradshaw, like Frasier Crane), but certainly not in the form of characters whose quirky je ne sais quoi will always win the day (like those perky, coffee-loving “Gilmore Girls”).

It should be noted that “Gilmore Girls” originally aired on the WB. The now-defunct WB was also home to “Seventh Heaven,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Dawson’s Creek,” “Charmed,” “One Tree Hill,” etc.

This was a network focused on schmaltzy, 45-minute comedic dramas, supernatural soaps and teen shows. Not sitcoms, which tend more toward the cynical and the sarcastic, nor HBO-style prestige shows, which prefer the gritty and the realistic to the harmonious and the comforting.   

The world of “Gilmore Girls” is fittingly saccharine. Being a drama, it is full of family spats, tearful confrontations and crises large and small. But because this is the WB, the viewer can take comfort in the knowledge that a happy ending is assured in the series finale. 

In the world of “Gilmore Girls,” fate can be trusted. Stumbling blocks are put in characters’ paths to teach them a lesson and get them where they need to be. The central crisis of the show is the fact that Lorelai got pregnant as a teenager and ran away from home to raise her infant on her own.

Regardless of how such stories turn out in the real world, Lorelai and baby Rory somehow managed to find their way in a quaint Connecticut suburb. Sixteen years later, Lorelai and her daughter live comfortably in a two-story home and are beloved by all the quirky townsfolk. Throughout the seven seasons of the show, viewers see many more unwanted and unplanned pregnancies played out as plot devices. But it all works out. As one Vox writer wrote, in Stars Hollow, “pregnancy is destiny.” And destiny is kind.

Shows with a Jewish sensibility tend to display more skepticism toward the kindness of destiny. Perhaps this has something to do with being history’s “greatest Schlemiels.”

But it’s precisely this kind of darkness, which has proven to be such fertile ground for comedy, that “Gilmore Girls” creator Amy Sherman-Palladino seems intent on avoiding, despite having now created what is arguably the most Jewish show of the decade, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

“Mrs. Maisel” is different from “Gilmore Girls” in a few ways.

It’s an Amazon show. Sherman-Palladino is free to use F-bombs and talk about sex. 

It is also a Jewish show. We’ve moved from the small town to the city, where we’re surrounded by Yiddishkayt, Jewish families, Lenny Bruce, brisket and kosher dills. 

But is this world any more Jewish than that of “Gilmore Girls”?

Like Stars Hollow, the world of “Maisel” is cute and safe. Destiny is still a thing to be trusted.

No matter where she goes, Midge Maisel is able to charm her way out of any problem. She’s a winner, and the joy of the show comes from watching her win.

Since the days of “Oy with the poodles, already,” Sherman-Palladino has added quite a few more Yiddishisms to her word bank. The show seems intent on reminding viewers of its Jewishness at every turn. Perhaps this is because, at its heart, it lacks a Jewish bite and a Jewish eye.

The characters, like those on “Gilmore Girls,” are quirky more than they are neurotic. The difference is that quirks are endearing. Neuroses, like those George Costanza has, are heartbreaking.

In “Gilmore Girls,” one of Lorelai’s most beloved quirks was her unpretentious take on interior décor. She loved campy tchotchkes, much to the chagrin of her conservative mother. One of her favorites was a dancing rabbi that sings “Havah Nagilah” when you press the button on its back.

The doll, dressed in Chasidic garb, may not actually be a rabbi. It may be just a Chasidic Jew, but it’s referred to as a rabbi, and really, who cares?

It’s camp. It’s kitsch. It’s quirky. It’s decorative. And its main function is to show us how special and cute Lorelai is.

I’m not sure that the vastness of Jewish culture on “Mrs. Maisel” serves a function much broader than this.

Matthew Schultz is a writer living and working in Tel Aviv.

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Why Downplay Hate Crimes Against Jews?

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Last week, the media fell hard for the story of Jussie Smollett. Smollett, a gay, black actor on the TV show “Empire,” falsely claimed that he was attacked by two Donald Trump-loving rednecks on the mean streets of Chicago. Smollett said that he was out in the middle of the night in Chicago, purchasing a Subway sandwich, when two men who recognized him from “Empire” began to call him a “f—–” and a “n—–.” They then looped a rope around his neck and poured bleach on him while shouting, “This is MAGA country!”

There were a few problems with this story. First, Trump fans are not exactly the chief demographic for “Empire” (Nielsen estimates the show’s audience is 61 percent black). Second, Chicago is not exactly MAGA (Make America Great Again) country — only 12.5 percent of votes cast for president in 2016 went to Trump. Third, Smollett never lost control of his sandwich. Fourth, Smollett then waited 40 minutes to report the attack. Fifth, when the police asked for his phone to verify his claim that his manager had heard the attack, he refused. 

Nonetheless, the Smollett attack dominated media coverage for weeks, with Smollett appearing on ABC’s “Good Morning America” to castigate his doubters as racists. Actress Ellen Page told Stephen Colbert’s late-night talk-show audience that the attack was Mike Pence’s fault. CNN’s Brooke Baldwin lamented, “This is America in 2019.”

Except it wasn’t. Smollett, it turned out, allegedly paid two of his friends to stage the attack. Smollett’s story, then, was false. The media allowed it to flower — and propped up Smollett’s claims that doubters were bigots — because it fit their narrative of America as deeply racist and homophobic in the era of Donald Trump. Even after the story fell apart, commentator Liz Plank of Vox appeared on CNN to explain, “There has been an increase in hate crimes against the LGBTQ community, against Muslims, against black people.”

Plank did not mention the group most bedeviled by an increase in reported hate crimes: Jews. Reported hate crime incidents and offenses against blacks rose between 2016 and 2017 approximately 13 percent; against LGBTQ people, 4 percent; against Muslims, 17 percent; against Jews, 26 percent. On a per capita basis, Jews are by far the most targeted group in the United States, about four times as likely to be targeted as black Americans, and twice as likely as LGBTQ Americans and Muslim Americans.

“The media care more about hate crimes that fit their narrative.”

Last weekend, the front window of the Chabad of Bushwick (N.Y.) was smashed, even as the rabbi and his wife and children slept there for Shabbat. This is hardly the only recent attack in Gotham. According to The New York Times, “there have been four times as many crimes motivated by bias against Jews — 142 in all — as there have against blacks. Hate crimes against Jews have outnumbered hate crimes targeted at transgender people by a factor of 20.” 

Why, then, has this spike in anti-Semitic hate crimes received so little coverage? The New York Times admitted: “it is to some extent because it refuses to conform to an easy narrative with a single ideological enemy. During the past 22 months, not one person caught or identified as the aggressor in an anti-Semitic hate crime [in New York City] has been associated with a far right-wing group.”

In other words, the media care more about hate crimes when the perpetrators are white and when the victims aren’t. They care more about hate crimes that fit their narrative. And hate crimes against Jews don’t count as much, particularly when those hate crimes aren’t driven by white supremacy. 

Why not? Why wouldn’t the left-wing media be interested in a narrative about an increasingly anti-Semitic America in the same way they’re fascinated by narratives about an increasingly racist, Islamophobic and homophobic America? Because Jews in America are successful financially and educationally; because, generally speaking, the notion that America is anti-Semitic is absurd. Everyone understands that America is ridiculously philo-Semitic. So if the Jews aren’t generally hate crime victims, what are we to make of the fact that every other group is targeted less often than Jews? Better to ignore anti-Semitism than to admit that perhaps America is incredibly tolerant and diverse.

Better for the narrative to prevail than the truth: that despite the presence of evil bigots in our midst, America is a pretty fantastic place.

Ben Shapiro is editor-in-chief at The Daily Wire.

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