No "Jewish connection" Classical BANJO?

 

The other day, poking through the CDs at my Local Lending Library, I chanced upon one featuring Bela Fleck titled Perpetual Motion on the Sony label.

The cover shows a youngish fellow sitting on a chair playing a banjo.

But I found this in the "classical" section.

Flipping the jewel case over, I read the "cuts" on the disk, cuts that included bits and pieces by the likes of Bach, Debussy, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Paganini, and Beethoven.

Not the type composers I think of when I think of banjo music. No "Carolina Breakdown" or "Orange Blossom Special" on Fleck's album. (Are CDs called "albums?")

Curious, I checked it out and when I got to the house, I stuck the CD into the notebook.

AMAZING

I shared a couple of cuts with a five-stinger friend and even he was impressed. Another acquaintenance reported hearing the picker live and he, too, was favorably impressed.

All this of course proves that some things - and people - have to be experienced to be appreciated.

I confess to having "catholic" tastes in music - I enjoyed Fleck's "pickin'," but I also enjoy Bluegrass - and both European and Arabic classical, Flamenco, and a host of other variations on a music theme.

Even Copeland.

My first encounter with Copeland was one of his early works. Discordant cacophony of dissonance - and yes, Virginia, I know that's redundant, but the cuts on the vinyl I bought - and gave away - still hurt my ears. But then I "discovered" Copeland's later works, including Fanfare for the Common Man, Appalachian Spring, and Rodeo - among others.

There was a time I eschewed organ music as "too heavy, too churchy." Then I was introduced to Jimmy Smith and The Cat album.

I'm no longer a teenager, but I'm still learning, broadening my mind. Maybe someday I'll learn to appreciate "dying swan" opera. Maybe.

I'm glad I chanced upon Bela Fleck.

It's not the five-string pickin' I'm accustomed to hearing, but it is one enjoyable CD.

!בוגד Traitor

 

The members of the congregation I attended for the last several years must think I am a traitor, a בוגד .

I "abandoned" the congregation several weeks ago for a number of reasons.

One simply was because the congregation was so large - despite shrinking membership - that it was six months between my last aliyah until I insisted on an aliyah.

Mind, I was there for all Shabat services (10 aliyot possibilities) and every Monday and Thursday (six opportunities) and roshi hodeshim as well. To be fair, the congregation is blessed to have two "always in the minyan" cohenim and several more who show up "frequently." Still, on more than one occasion the cohenim were asked to step out so Israelis could have all three aliyot on a weekday.

So I found a congregation where, because it is far smaller in membership, the only person who lacks a frequent (as in "at least once in 40 days") aliyah is the resident levi; the problem is that we lack a "permanent" cohen. Maybe we should advertise.

Cohen Wanted

Guaranteed aliyot

Experienced levi to assist

Given that the congregation I just abandoned is losing members faster than it is gaining, and especially in light of the fact that it is the "mother congregation" for at least three other Sefardi/Mizrahi minyans - including one at the main Ashkenazi shule in the area - it seems strange that no one bothered to call and ask "Why aren't you making minyan with us? Are you sick?" Even the fellow I used to give a ride home on motze Shabat ignores my absence.

In truth, I really did not expect anyone to care or call.

Early on in my time with this congregation I attended a board meeting. Someone brought up the point (even then) of dwindling membership and asked if anyone on the board had queried the deserters why they abandoned this congregation for another - another, incidentally, that charges twice the membership fee !

The board's opinion, loudly expressed by a couple of the "senior" members was "We don't care why they left; they left; we don't want them back."

Sad.

The people who the board was too haughty to ask their opinion have young children and are Jewish "yuppies" - that is, they are acquiring wealth that the congregation sorely needs, especially in these economic times.

There is another difference between the congregation I left and a couple of the off-shoot congregations, including the one where I now "slap leather."

In the Big Congregation, the board controls everything, including the rabbi and hazan.

In the two smaller, but growing, congregations the rabbi rules. Neither of the smaller congregations has a hazan, although one has an Ashkenazi rabbi who reads Torah. Lack of a hazan encourages member participation, and I favor that. It also means that services are for prayer, not show.

For me, the "semi" sad thing is that we relocated to the neighborhood specifically for the rabbi and the Big Congregation. I write "semi" since I am a little closer (roughly 2/10ths of a mile) to my "new" congregation so the Shabat walk is shorter and faster.

While there are Sefardi and Mizrahi congregations scattered all around the area, the two new small ones came into existence after we settled in. There also are neighborhood Shabat minyans. Fortunately for me, the house is between the "old" and the "new" congregations.

The bottom line: with a number of synagogue options within walking distance - OK, a couple are too far for a comfortable walk - it's almost like being back in Bet Shean; while there is not a synagogue on every corner, it sometimes seems like there is.

הריני מקבל עלי מצוה עשה של ואהבת לרעך כמוך, והריני אוהב כל אחד מבני ישראל כנפשי ומאודי

Not like "goyim"

 

Friday morning the rabbi's brief admonishment was from the Ben Ish Hai.

He read that a Jew is not to dress as the "goyim" dress.

I have a serious problem with the term "goy" applied as a pejorative to non-Jews - nokreem. HaShem told Abraham that he would be the father of a "goy gadol," and if that is us - as we know it is - that we, too, are "goyim." Each time "goy" appears in the Torah - the final arbitrator of Hebrew - it means one thing - nation.* Not foreigner. Not stranger. Not someone to be denigrated. Nation. Period.

But to the point of this entry.

We are told not to dress as non-Jews.

I think the Ben Ish Hai's point is that we should wear modest clothing. That doesn't mean women wearing a blouse and mini-skirt combo that has the width of a belt, or for men to run around in a Speedo briefs and muscle shirts.

But it got me thinking.

Should Jews in the West dress as 18th Century Polish pans or as both Arabs and Jews dressed in the Moslem countries in the same century? I would suggest that brings ridicule upon us.

Should we all dress as "modern Orthodox" Ashkenazi rabbis, with white shirts, black suits, and fedoras? Even the Mizrachi Shas of Hakham Ovadia Yosef are Ashkenazi dress-alikes; fortunately Rav Ovadia and the current Rishon l'Zion dress in "traditional" garb, albeit very expensive outfits.

It seems to me that the "goyim" generally dress conservatively in this day and age. Looking around the morning minyan I see men dressed in suits, in long sleeve shirts sans jacket, and short sleeve shirts. All have two things in common: tallit and tefillin. THAT is the way a Jewish male should dress in the morning on a weekday.

Women who come for Shabat dress conservatively, even in Florida's summer heat. In their homes both men and women dress casually.

The bottom line is that, within the constraints of modesty, Western Jews dress and look very much like their non-Jewish neighbors.

The Ben Ish Hai's ruling seems out of synch with modern Jewish life.

How would the Ben Ish Hai have us dress?

Even in his generation, Jews dressed similarly with their neighbors.

* In last week's portion, Tolidot, we read (Breshit/Genesis 25:23, with HaShem addressing Rivkah) "יומר '' לה שני גיים בבטנך ."

הריני מקבל עלי מצוה עשה של ואהבת לרעך כמוך, והריני אוהב כל אחד מבני ישראל כנפשי ומאודי

Attack Iran?

Some thoughts

Israel apparently is seriously considering an attack on Iran.

No one doubts it would be justified; indeed, Jewish law demands it (If someone comes to kill you, kill him first.) Common sense demands it.

There are those who contend that Israel's neighbors would welcome an Israeli attack on Iran.

They fear that unless they accept Iran's brand of Islamic fanaticism they, too, will be attacked.

The fears probably are justified.

The question that must be asked is: If Israel protects itself and its neighbors by eliminating Iran's ability to wage nuclear war, will Israel's neighbors keep their armies at home or will they consider it a prime opportunity to once again converge on Isabel to drive the Jews into the sea, a threat they have been unable to fulfill since before 1948.

Granted, the Iranians are not Arabs - they make it very clear that Persians (Iranians) are "better" then their fellow Muslims in the Arab states - but because they are Muslims, the Arab states will feel an obligation to defend, if not Arab, then Moslem "honor" by attacking any country that attacks Iran.

Case in point, Saudia.

The kingdom's rulers admit fear of Iran's nuclear capability, but it never even suggests taking military action against the threat. Why not? Saudia has (U.S. provided) weapons and (U.S.) trained military personnel.

The United States remains a "paper tiger," especially with an Arab sympathizer (if not a closet Moslem) in the White House; it lacks the intestinal fortitude to attack Iran and then defend itself against the anticipated "Islamic outrage."

I have two fears.

One, if Israel eliminates Iran's ability to instigate nuclear war, the country still will be in the control of the ayatollahs and the Republican Guard. While Iran's military is hardly "world class," it can be more than just a nuisance; it has surface ships and submarines; it has fairly long-range aircraft, and it has missiles.

It also has a close allies in Lebanon and Gaza; Syria is an unknown.

Two, the area's Moslem states will put aside their delight that Iran no longer poses a nuclear threat against them to join together to punish the tiny nation that eliminated a threat to their well-being. It will be 1948 all over again.

On top of all that, any attack on Iran, if it is to be "surgical," - and I see no reason why it should be - would require more resources than (I think) Israel can justifiably risk.

In addition to the nuclear-related targets, Israel would have to remove the threat of the Iranian military - land, sea, and air - and its ability to retaliate with missiles.

I do not see Iran's Arab neighbors sitting quietly and allowing an opportunity to attack an Israel busy with Iran.

Where is the UN to aidArabs' victims?

 

A letter from an Israeli soldier serving at the border of Israel and Egypt

 

The Jewish people know a little bit about fleeing slavery in Africa, across Sinai, to freedom in Israel. As a 25 year old American born Israeli, this is etched deeply into my psyche, and a recent experience gave me a new lens through which to look at our past, and to live in the present.

Though very busy, I don’t view my life as unusual. Most of the time, I am just another Israeli citizen. During the day I work as a paramedic in Magen David Adom, Israel’s national EMS and blood service. At night, I’m in my first year of law school. I got married this October and am starting a new chapter of life together with my wonderful wife Shulamit.

15-20 days out of every year, I'm called up to the Israeli army to do my reserve duty. I serve as a paramedic in an IDF paratrooper unit. My squad is made up of others like me; people living a normal life who step up to serve whenever responsibility calls. The oldest in my squad is 58, a father of four girls and grandfather of two; there are two bankers, one engineer, a holistic healer and my 24 year old commander who is still trying to figure out what to do with his life. Most of the year we are just normal people living our lives, but for 15-20 days each year we are soldiers on the front lines preparing for a war that we hope we never have to fight.

This year, our reserve unit was stationed on the border between Israel, Egypt and the Gaza Strip in an area called “Kerem Shalom.” Above and beyond the “typical” things for which we train – war, terrorism, border infiltration, drug smuggling, etc., this year we have been confronted by a new challenge. Several years ago, a trend started of African refugees crossing the Egyptian border from Sinai into Israel to seek asylum from the atrocities in Darfur. What started out as a small number of men, women and children fleeing from the machetes of the Janjaweed and violent fundamentalists to seek a better life elsewhere, turned into an organized industry of human trafficking. In return for huge sums of money, sometimes entire life savings paid to Bedouin “guides,” these refugees are promised to be transported from Sudan, Eritrea, and other African countries through Egypt and the Sinai desert, into the safe haven of Israel.

We increasingly hear horror stories of the atrocities these refugees suffer. They are subject to, and victims of extortion, rape, murder, and even organ theft, their bodies left to rot in the desert. Then, after surviving this gruesome reality show whose prize is freedom, when only a barbed wire fence separates them from Israel and their goal, they must go through the final death run and try to evade the bullets of the Egyptian soldiers stationed along the border. Egypt’s soldiers are ordered to shoot to kill anyone trying to cross the border OUT of Egypt and into Israel. It’s an almost nightly event.

For those who finally get across the border, the first people they encounter are Israeli soldiers, people like me and those in my unit, who are tasked with a primary mission of defending the lives of the Israeli people. On one side of the border soldiers shoot to kill. On the other side, they know they will be treated with more respect than in any of the countries they crossed to get to this point.

The region where it all happens is highly sensitive and risky from a security point of view, an area stricken with terrorists at every turn. It’s just a few miles south of the place where Gilad Shalit was kidnapped. And yet the Israeli soldiers who greet these refugees do it not with a rifle trained at the refugees, but with a helping hand and a warm smile. The refugees are taken to a nearby IDF base, given clean clothes, a hot drink, food and medical attention. They are finally safe.

Even though I live Israel and am aware through media reports of the events that take place on the Egyptian border, I never understood the intensity and complexity of the scenario until I experienced it myself.

In the course of the past few nights, I have witnessed much. At 9:00 PM last night, the first reports came in of gunfire heard from the Egyptian border. Minutes later, IDF scouts spotted small groups of people trying to get across the fence. In the period of about one hour, we picked up 13 men - cold, barefoot, dehydrated - some wearing nothing except underpants. Their bodies were covered with lacerations and other wounds. We gathered them in a room, gave them blankets, tea and treated their wounds. I don’t speak a word of their language, Tugrik, but the look on their faces said it all and reminded me once again why I am so proud to be a Jew and an Israeli. Sadly, it was later determined that the gunshots we heard were deadly, killing three others fleeing for their lives.

The refugees flooding into Israel are a heavy burden on our small country. More than 100,000 refugees have fled this way, and hundreds more cross the border every month. The social, economic, and humanitarian issues created by this influx of refugees are immense. There are security consequences for Israel as well. This influx of African refugees poses a crisis for Israel. Israel has yet to come up with the solutions required to deal with this crisis effectively, balancing its sensitive social, economic, and security issues, at the same time striving to care for the refugees.

I don’t have the answers to these complex problems. I’m not writing these words with the intention of taking a political position or a tactical stand on the issue.

I am writing to tell you and the entire world what’s really happening down here on the Egyptian/Israeli border. And to tell you that despite all the serious problems created by this national crisis, these refugees have no reason to fear us. Because they know, as the entire world needs to know, that Israel will never shut its eyes to their suffering and pain. We will never look the other way. Israel will always put politics aside to take the ethical and humane path as it has so often done before, in every instance of human suffering and natural disasters around the globe. We Jews know only too well about suffering and pain. The Jewish people have been there. We have been the refugees and the persecuted so many times, over thousands of years, all over the world.

Today, when African refugees flood our borders in search of better lives, and some for fear of their lives, it is a particular affront when some call Israel an apartheid country. The apartheid I know repressed black Africans in their own country, whereas Israel embraces hundreds of African refugees each week, even without an answer and despite the strain it puts on our country. Apartheid? Not in Israel. Ask the refugees who seek Israel out as a place in which to be free.

Our young and thriving Jewish people and country, built from the ashes of the Holocaust, have never, nor will ever, turn their backs on those in need. Though I already knew that, this week I experienced it firsthand. I am overwhelmed with emotion and immensely proud to be a member of this nation.

With love of Israel,
Aron Adler writing from the Israel/Gaza/Egyptian border.

Thanksgiving - הודו

  The American holiday of Thanksgiving is nigh.

With it is the annual debate among some "orthodox" Jews - what to do on that day.

  

Celebrate

  

Acknowledge

  

Ignore the "non-Jewish" holiday

Why celebrate the day?

Thanksgiving in the U.S. - Canada celebrates a similar day on the second Monday in October - is one of several NATIONAL holidays that are free of religious images. The others include Fourth of July, Flag day, Memorial and Labor days, and Presidents' Day.

Thanksgiving is a time Americans, as a nation, give thanks for their freedoms.

There is no other nation in the world that has been as good to the Jews. None. This is not to denigrate the likes of Australia, Canada, China, and Japan, the last for providing a resting place for Jews fleeing the nazis, nor is it to overlook the insults and injuries Jews have suffered here from time to time, nor does it ignore the latent and blatent anti-semitism lingering in some people.

But today, to its credit, in the United States a Jew is "just another citizen." To me, that is about as good as it gets.

I am a hyphenated citizen, American-Israeli, born and raised in the United States.My parents were born here. My wife likewise is a hyphenated citizen, Israeli-American.

We appreciate the freedoms the U.S. offers. We appreciate the relative safety - while the crime rate in our area is far too high, we don't have to run to shelters when our nbeighbors in Cuba, Mexico, or Canada fire missiles at us. Here we can, and do, vote for specific individuals for public office - and turn them out, peacefully, if they fail us.

When our children were living at home we celebrated a kosher Thanksgiving with the "traditional" turkey dinner (and we kept on celebrating until all the leftovers disappeared some days later).

It was a day we could invite non-Jewish friends to dine with us in a more or less "formal" setting, friends we could not invite for a Passover seders*, our other "major formal meal" of the year. (By comparison, Fourth of July usually was an informal bar-be-que.)

*שמות כ"א מ"ג: זות החקת הפסח כל-בן-נכר לא יוכל בו

For a Jew, we offer "thanksgiving" every day when we read/recite Hodu (actually two or three times - the third in the Moroccan tradition) in the prayer that officially starts the morning service.

הודו ל'' קראו בשמו . . .

הודו ל'' כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו במורוקו: הודו ל'' כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו - ב" פעמים

"Orthodox" Jews who want to celebrate Thanksgiving with turkey and all the trimmings have two "godolim b'dor" to cite to back them up in their desire.

According to Rabbi Moshe Feinstein in four published responsa [rabbinic rulings] on the issues related to celebrating Thanksgiving, all conclude that Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday but a secular one.

Rabbi Feinstein reinforces his understanding that Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday in a responsum published in 1980. He states: "On the issue of joining with those who think that Thanksgiving is like a holiday to eat a meal: Since it is clear that according to their religious law books this day is not mentioned as a religious holiday and that one is not obligated in a meal [according to Gentile religious law] and since this is a day of remembrance to citizens of this country, when they came to reside here either now or earlier, halakhah [Jewish law] sees no prohibition in celebrating with a meal or with the eating of turkey. One sees similar to this in Kiddushin 66 that Yanai the king made a party after the conquest of kochlet in the desert and they ate vegetables as a remembrance.

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik also agreed that Thanksgiving was not a Gentile holiday, and ruled that it was permissible to eat turkey on Thanksgiving. Rabbi Hershel Schachter, in his intellectual biography of Rabbi Soloveitchik, Nefesh HaRav, writes:

"It was the opinion of Rabbi Soloveitchik that it was permissible to eat turkey at the end of November, on the day of Thanksgiving. We understood that, in his opinion, there was no question that turkey did not lack a tradition of kashrut and that eating it on Thanksgiving was not a problem of imitating gentile customs. We also heard that this was the opinion of his father, Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik."

(More on the subject at http://yohanon.blogspot.com/2009/11/thanksgiving.html)

Acknowledge

There are those who "acknowledge" the day by eating "mac-n-cheese" or otherwise abstaining from meat.

In a sense that, too, is a "celebration," albeit one that tells everyone who is aware of Jewish customs that the celebration isn't rally one of happiness. Jews, unless they normally abstain from meat, consider a meal sans meat and wine a non-celebatory meal.

The "acknowledgement" is that Thanksgiving is a national holiday, but that by foregoing the "traditional" meal they separate themselves from the rest of the American community.

Ignore the "non-Jewish" holiday

Those who ignore the holiday tell their neighbors their loyalties are elsewere; they are not, nor do they really want to be, "Americans."

They make an effort to ignore the fact that they are protected by Americans, that they have freedoms not found in Europe or South America or most of the Middle East; essentially I feel they "thumb their noses" at the country that provides them sanctuary.

"If it's not a Jewish holiday then we won't celebrate it."

Some of these people also ignore Israeli holidays, but then they are in the U.S., not Israel.

Unfortunately, these people cause non-Jewish Americans to question the majority of Jews' loyalty to the country in which they live. They do us no favors.

As for me

As for my wife and me, we will honor the holiday, but this year not with a big bird - there will be, this Thanksgiving, only two at the table. I don't know what we will do that will be "special," but I'm certain we'll come up with something.

הריני מקבל עלי מצוה עשה של ואהבת לרעך כמוך, והריני אוהב כל אחד מבני ישראל כנפשי ומאודי

Surplus housing For Haiti, Turkey, elsewhere

 

Q1:   What is piled high in sea ports and rail heads around the world?

Q2:  What is one of the biggest problems in developing countries?

A1:  Containers. 20-foot containers. 40-foot containers.

A2:  Housing; low cost, functional housing for people, schools, hospitals, manufacturing, and more.

What's the connection?

Simple - move the containers stacked in ports around the world - including every major port in the U.S. - to places in need of facilities of all types.

HAITI - Devastated by an earthquake more than a year ago, thousands of Haitians remain homeless. Schools and hospitals are rubble.

This country is pathetically poor; according to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID, the annual per capita income of less than $400. "Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere," according to USAID (http://www.usaid.gov/policy/budget/cbj2004/latin_america_caribbean/haiti.pdf).

Of course Haiti is not the only country that could put containers to good use.

Refugees in the Sudan - Darfur - could be housed, educated, and provided medical care in modified containers. There are a number of companies in the U.S. that convert containers to housing - that's housing in generic terms; housing for people, for students, for patients, for offices and factories, perhaps even jails. For a small, albeit impressive, sample of container use, go to http://tinyurl.com/lk8w9w.

The "campus," below, was built of containers by Mobile Modular Management Corporation (http://www.mobilemodularrents.com/).

 

 

According to its Web site, Mobile Modular "currently serves Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington D.C."

Imagine clearing out empty containers taking up space at Gulf ports and at the same time generating a great deal of good will for the United States. If anyone wants to be assured that the folks who will use the converted units know they are a gift of the people of the United States, paint the units in red, white, and blue motifs.

Most countries have a sea port that can handle container ships. Those that don't, such as Darfur, and those that need containers inland, usually have rail lines; worst case, containers can be trucked overland. Darfur's situation is almost unique in that it is landlocked and surrounded by people not particularly friendly to the area.

We're not talking about making people live in 10 foot by 20 foot or 40 foot boxes.

Units are adapted to provide large, multi-floor facilities to meet a variety of needs.

The photo below shows a three-story facility being assembled by Germany's Container Lion (http://www.container-lion.com/en/container-raumcontainer-buerocontainer.php).

 

 

When I worked for Zim, a shipping company that carts containers around the world, I was told that it wasn't worth returning empty containers to their ports of origin. Because of economics, many ports, certainly the major U.S. ports, have containers stacked up 4, 5, or more levels high. If they are used at all, it is by local homeless who manage to sneak by security.

(Yes, Virginia, the U.S., too, could benefit by converting unused containers to dwellings, even if only as barracks and shelters.)

How much does it cost to convert containers into a different function? I imagine it depends on the function and the volume of containers to be converted; there usually are "advantages of scale."

It seems it would be a win-win situation.

The surplus containers would be reduced at the ports; companies would have work converting the units, shipping companies - are there any American flag carriers? - could carry the converted containers to their destinations, and people in need of the facilities would have a rood over their head. Locally, we could create "container towns" where people could receive the services they need to become taxpaying citizens again.

Who would pay for all this?

The taxpayer.

But consider, the taxpayer already is paying for refugee facilities and getting nothing in return. If American companies modify the containers, taxes will be paid by the companies and the companies' employees; shippers will be paid to move the containers and again, taxes will be paid. At least this way, the taxpayer is getting SOME return on his or her tax dollar and the folks who will use the modified containers will have a constant reminder of this nation's help.

COULD THIS WORK IN ISRAEL?

  Why not?

Are there containers sitting in Ashdod and Haifa?

  Very likely.

Does Israel need "instant" refugee housing?

  Yes; just ask the Sudanese who have managed to escape into Israel.

Are there companies in Israel that can convert the containers to housing units?

  Good question, but I'm certain if Israel lacks the skills today, it can buy expertise to get started.

Clear the ports.

Generate some taxes.

Create housing, schools, medical clinics for minimal expense.

As in the U.S., it could be a win-win situation for Israel and its temporary residents.

הריני מקבל עלי מצוה עשה של ואהבת לרעך כמוך, והריני אוהב כל אחד מבני ישראל כנפשי ומאודי

Blame the rabbi Or, how a board ducks an issue

 

The other evening there was a synagogue board special meeting. I have it in "mp3" format as a reminder of how not to manage a meeting.

The meeting was called to explain why the board's vice president - currently, but temporarily, resigned - put the congregation possibly in a very embarrassing situation.

I write "temporarily" because there already is a strong effort by the VP's pals on the board to convince him to return to his position - and become the next president ! !; as one board member stated," if we decide there will be dancing in the street, there will be dancing in the street." Pity the blog cannot accommodate an mp3 file.

ANYWAY, during the discussion, in which the president said he only knew what the VP told him, it was ascertained that the evidence of the VP's arrogance - making arrangements with a film company to film outside and inside the synagogue sans board review - was visible to all who made the morning minyan.

Outside sat a truck with the film company's name and business boldly on the side and several people lazing about imbibing morning coffee while, one assumes, they waited for the movie's stars to make an appearance.

I saw the trunk and crew as I made my way across the parking lot to the minyan. But I am not a board member.

The loudest member of the board, in attempting to shift the onus from the temporarily absent VP, pointed - literally - at the rabbi and said it was the rabbi's responsibility to stop the activity. Not the board's job, said the Loud One.

The rabbi pled ignorance of the whole thing.

But there were at least four board members at the minyan, including the Loud One, so why point a finger - again, literally - at the rabbi?

Especially understanding that the rabbi, who has been incumbent for more than 20 years and, with apologies to the gentleman, "knows his place" vis-a-vis the board.

True, the rabbi should have seen the truck and people milling about, and true, he was holding a Talmud class with one board member, but perhaps he thought the truck belonged to a construction crew and, in any event, the board member apparently was not privy to the VP's and president's secret.

The Loud One, the president, and one or two others all volunteered that the VP-on-hiatus had done a lot for the congregation - he is, I gather, the debt collector - and anyway "he shows up for services two or three times a week."

Do the math!

There are 14 times a week when minyans are called: Every Shabat and weekday morning and evening (minhah and aravet are combined). The fellow shows up on Shabat during which he acts as gabbai. 3/14ths . . . if my math is correct, that's zero - point - 214  % of the time.

Just for the record

I asked the president if anyone read the script?

• No.

Was anyone present during the shooting?

• No.

How much money did the VP require from the film maker?

• Don't know.

Was there a contract between the VP and film company?

• No.

According to the board, the only - repeat, only mistake the VP made was not bringing the matter to the board.

• Would the board have reviewed the script?

• Would the board have assigned a member to be present at the filming, or asked the rabbi to be present?

• Would the board have insisted on a contract?

Anyone's guess.

One thing is certain: the finger should not have been pointed only at the rabbi. The board must shoulder most of the blame - after all, the "resigned" VP and the president have been on the board for a number of years; they can hardly plead ignorance of the responsibilities of board membership or knowledge of board vanities.

I wonder if the board has B&D insurance.

Sometimes it is difficulet, but

הריני מקבל עלי מצוה עשה של ואהבת לרעך כמוך, והריני אוהב כל אחד מבני ישראל כנפשי ומאודי

Dishonoring veterans

 

Today, 11/11/2011 is Veterans' Day in the U.S.

It used to be Armistice Day in remembrance of the end of World war I, but it had a name change to include all veterans of all wars in which the U.S. sent troops.

Public schools are closed. Jewish schools, - some, many, most - are open, "business as usual."

That bothers me on several levels.

Whether we are American Jews or Jewish Americans - and there is, I suppose, a succinct difference - we live in, and enjoy the freedoms of, the U.S.; freedoms won and guaranteed by the military - the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, and Navy and the Guard and Reserves of these organizations..

Jews have served in the military and militias since pre-Independence. Jews played roles, some prominent, in all of America's battles. Jews are buried alongside non-Jews at Arlington, General Lee's estate in Northern Virginia.

Most Jews went into the military and at the end of their "hitch," they returned to civilian life. Still, there were, and are, Jewish "lifers," people who make the military their career.

So it seems to me - I did my time with the Air Force - that Jewish school children should be aware of, and celebrate, Jews' roles in guaranteeing this county's freedoms.

Likewise, there should be recognition in America's synagogues. There is in some.

Today in my congregation was "just another Yom Shishi." Granted, 99 percent of the congregation are immigrants - from Israel or Latin America. I assume the Israelis did their "time" with the IDF. I know of only one other veteran - a 90-year-old gentleman who served in the Army during World War Two.

On Shabatot we - as most congregations in America - include a prayer for Israel's soldiers, but we ignore America's military, those protecting our rights to offer a prayer for the IDF.

I understand why Jewish (day) schools don't take the day off to honor veterans - there simply are, I'm told, too many days off already thanks to our holidays. But is it really necessary to take off all the days of Hanukah? Is it necessary to shut down for "winter vacation" at the same time public schools close to celebrate another belief's holiday? Couldn't we extend the Jewish school's year by one day?

I hope that at least Jewish school teachers will take some time to teach their students a little about Jews in America's military. Not all Jews ran off to Canada or otherwise dodged the draft. (Some Jews did run off to Canada in the late 1930s to join Canadian forces fighting the nazis.)

Jews in the American military have a proud history and they are maintaining that pride serving in today's U.S. armed forces.

We served with honor; our children should know that. It's a shame that many will not.

הריני מקבל עלי מצוה עשה של ואהבת לרעך כמוך, והריני אוהב כל אחד מבני ישראל כנפשי ומאודי

Shoes

 

I consider myself a fairly observant Jew.

Shomer Shabat.

Shomer kashrut.

Tallit and tefillin every morning (excluding Shabat, haggim, and hol hamoed of course).

I am not a yeshiva student and while I do get a dose of ba'al pei every weekday morning, I can't say I am a full participant in the study group.

But sometimes I wonder what the rabbis are thinking.

The other day I was informed that an observant Jew cannot take medicines for health on Shabat.

Birth control pills and, I suppose, ED medications, these are OK to take on Shabat.

But my blood pressure pills - forbidden, אשור.

The reason is because the rabbis decided that I might compound my medications on Shabat. Never mind that almost no one compounds their own medications these days, certainly not in industrial countries. And even if we did why would I wait until Shabat to fix the medicine?

Didn't HaShem give us man for two days?

Don't we fix Shabat meals before Shabat?

I "fix" the refrigerator, stove, and necessary lights before Shabat.

Why, given all that, would I compound medicines on Shabat? It simply lacks credibility.

So now I read that the rabbis have decided that I must put on my shoes their way.

What is the rabbinical way to don - and doff - shoes? According to Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe of the Midrash Ben Ish Hai, I am to put on the right shoe first, but if there are shoe laces, I am to tie the left shoe first. When removing the shoes, the left is removed first; the rabbi fails to tell me which shoe to untie first.

According to the rabbi, "The right (side) is considered more important in all matters and, as such, we give precedence to the right over the left. As far as tying the laces is concerned, priority is given to the left in matters of tying as in the case of Tefillin which are bound on the left hand."

In a follow-up email, the rabbi tells us we are forbidden to go bare foot.

Rabbi Menashe, to his credit, always cites his source; in this case, the Shulhan Aruk with Mappa (Rema's Ashkenazi "take" on the work). He notes that Ari z'l also offered an opinion in line with Rema's.)

I ask myself: How does putting my right shoe on before my left help me be a better Jew? Certainly it requires discipline, but so does getting up at 5 a.m. every morning to "slap leather" with a minyan.

Likewise walking 4 miles over the course of Shabat to and from synagogue, even in Florida's summer heat and humidity. (I've also made Shabat trips in northern cold, snow, and ice; I prefer the heat and humidity.)

Does it make me a better Jew if I forego my medications for a day? It might make me a less healthy Jew, but it certainly does nothing for my practice.

There ARE laws, even rabbinical ones, that we need to observe. But there are many others that need to be reviewed and maybe - if we have a gadol b'dor - mitigated out of existence.

Rabbinical decisions such as those above hold Judaism up to ridicule as much as some hasidim who dress today like Polish pans of the 1800s.

Telling me which shoe to put on or take off first ranks down there with the Moroccan superstitions of making sure shoes are upright and facing the same direction when waiting to be worn, or making certain to go out the same door through which you entered.

An aside. I know it's getting cold "up north." We are starting to see more and more professional schnorers coming to our door.

Some join our minyan; others, like the one who came the other day, turn their backs on us and do their own "thing" - which I suppose is better than not doing any "thing" at all.

Most of the visitors came from Israel and I am left wondering: How much

* did the round trip airfare cost
* does the rental car cost, plus gasoline now hovering around $3.50/gallon
* does the overnight stay at the motel cost
* does it cost in kosher groceries

and how much is left for whatever institute or datee daughter's dowry or yeshiva boy's wedding?

Sometimes it's hard, but

הריני מקבל עלי מצוה עשה של ואהבת לרעך כמוך, והריני אוהב כל אחד מבני ישראל כנפשי ומאודי

Bring Orthodoxy into 21st Century - Please Shabat oneg?

 

I received two emails today that gave me pause.

One was from R. Eli J. Mansour's "R. Jacob S. Kassin Memorial Halacha Series."

The other was from R. Ya'aqob Menashe's "A Torah Minute."

The Torah Minute was headlined "Using a Hot Water Bottle on Shabbat."

While to bottom line was it is permitted providing . . . , the decision's logic left me "cold."

The initial logic is valid. "The Shulhan 'Arukh rules that one may not place a vessel containing hot water on one's stomach on Shabbath, or even on weekdays, because of the danger to one's person if the water is scalding hot. " (Coffee and McDonalds come to mind.)

According to R. Menashe, "This refers to a vessel that was open. It would appear, therefore, that according to this rationale , there is no problem with placing a hot water bottle on one's stomach on Shabbath since it is closed."

The problem is that the ”Tosafoth, however, are of the opinion that this would still be forbidden because of Refuah (healing) on Shabbath and, accordingly, one could not use a hot water bottle on Shabbath." It IS OK, according to R. Menashe's email, to warm clothing on Shabbath and place it on one's stomach. And the difference is?

Excuse me - refuat ha'guf is forbidden on Shabat.? That flies in the face of both Torah and logic.

But this reasoning is supported in R. Mansour's email that tells us it is forbidden to take medicines on Shabat.

The early rabbis who prohibited taking medicines on Shabat had some logic - if not common sense and refuat ha'guf in mind - when they feared that if someone took medicine on Shabat the person - or someone on that person's behalf - might have to grind and compound the medicine. Grinding is forbidden by the rabbis as similar to work forbidden by Torah on Shabat.

HaShem gave us double portions on Friday so we could eat on Shabat, but apparently the rabbis in their "wisdom" overlooked the option of preparing medicines - like preparing Shabat meals - before Shabat. I take a handful of pills morning and night and, trust me, I grind and compound none of them.

The really upsetting part of R. Mansour's email is that ”it is permissible on Shabbat to take medications that have no healing effect, but serve to regulate certain functions of the body. Common examples are pills taken by women to increase fertility, and contraceptive bills." I can take a vitamin as "enhancements to my health" but I am forbidden to take my prescription meds that ARE critical for my health.

That makes even less sense than the contents of R. Menashe's email.

There are many, many things that today's "Orthodox" rabbis need to revisit in light of the times. The problem is, no one feels they have the stature to even suggest that rabbinical decisions from the distant past should be reexamined. Perhaps they are right. Who today has the stature of a Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, Moshe Feinstein, Menachem Mendel Schneerson among the Ashkenazim, or Sholom Messas, Yaakov Abuhatzeira, Baba Sali, Raphael Berdugo, or Raphael Baruch Toledano among the Sefardim/Mizrahim. I would suggest that R. Yisrael Meir Lau and Hakham Ovadia Yosef could raise the issues as the leaders of this generation. To some extent they seem to be trying to gradually bring "orthodoxy" into - if not the 21st century - at least the 20th century.

Still, decisions such as prohibiting the taking of medicines on Shabat and the use of a hot water bottle on Shabat make "orthodoxy" a laughing stock and either drive otherwise observant Jews to ignore the rulings or lessen their overall observance. Jews in the Conservative, Reform, and similar camps hold such rulings- and the people who follow them - up to ridicule.

There are many rabbinical decisions that need to be revisited.

Leading rabbis, rabbis with acknowledged authority - such as R. Lau and Hakham Ovadia - can follow in the traditions of the rabbis before them an make changes based on strict halacha.

If "orthodoxy" is to survive, it must be brought into the 21st century.

It's time the rabbis of note went back to the source - Torah biktav - to interpret G-d's laws as they apply in our time. After all, even G-d admits the Torah belongs to us; it is no longer in heaven.

הריני מקבל עלי מצוה עשה של ואהבת לרעך כמוך, והריני אוהב כל אחד מבני ישראל כנפשי ומאודי