A collections of my thoughts on Israel, Judaism, Politics and other stuff
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Meanwhile, Back at the West Bank
While the attention of the Middle East press has been on Washington and Jerusalem, the real action continues to be in the West Bank. Israel continues to build - while pretending to dismantle, continues to drive Palestinians off more and more of their farmland, and continues to make life miserable for the Palestinians, in the hopes that their best and the brightest will just up and leave.
Today I added, to the list of links at the right, two new blogs - Ibn Ezra and Across the Borderline - that report on the West Bank from the perspective of Israeli peace activists of the mixed Jewish-Arab group Tayush. If you are interested in following the day to day happenings on the West Bank you should follow these two blogs.
In their latest stories: Ibn Ezra, reports on how the settlers are rebuilding illegal outposts within days (hours in some cases) of the army's dismantling them - and all this with a nudge nudge wink wink from the authorities; while Across the Borderlinereports on settler harassment of Palestinian farmers and their supporters from Tayush as well as the army and police complicity in this harassment.
Depressing stuff - but important. We need to keep our eyes in the reality on the ground to better understand the stakes behind the plays being put on in Washington and Jerusalem.
... I would add to the interesting idea you raise, that perhaps longing for something is more conducive to creativity than actually having it. This ties in with a recent post by Philip Weiss, entitled "have you stopped dreaming of a Jewish state in Palestine?" But maybe it's not just Palestine. Maybe Judaism has stopped dreaming altogether.
Yes perhaps. But with longing also comes pain. Sometimes that pain is a creative engine, sometimes a depressant - often an unbearable one. And sometimes it is both.
In any case I am struck by a thread of disappointment and longing that runs throughout Zionist history (maybe through all of Jewish history) - or at least through the parts of Zionism that I find admirable - despite all the mistakes and blindness.
I bring four examples. They differ in time as well as in outlook: are they longing for what was; for what might have been; or for a dream that never was?
First we have Arik Einstein singing Yachol Lihiyot Shezeh Nigmar? - Could It Be That Its All Over? , from 1973.
They say it was happy here before I was born; And everything was simply wonderful until I arrived: "Hebrew Guard" on white horse in darkest night; On the shores of the Kinneret, Trumpeldor - a hero;
Little Tel-Aviv, Red sands, One Bialik, Two sycamores, Beautiful people Full of dreams.
We came to the Land To build and to be built, Because for us, for us, for us, is this land.
Here where you see the grass, There was once only swamps and bugs.
They say that once there was a beautiful dream here, But when I came to look, I couldn't find a thing.
Could it be that it's all over? Could it be that it's finished?
They say it was happy here before I was born; And everything was simply wonderful until I arrived: Commandos, campfire, black coffee and stars, English, the Underground and a smuggling pack, Walrus mustache, kafiyah on shoulders, Yaron Zahavi, Alterman, Tamar, beautiful girls and short pants,
Because for us, for us, for us, is this land.
Here where you see the grass, There was once only swamps and bugs.
They say that once there was a beautiful dream here, But when I came to look, I couldn't find a thing.
Could it be that it's all over? Could it be that it's finished?
I heard that song for the first time about two month after I made aliya in January 1974. I identified with it almost immediately. But it took about 15 years for its full impact to sink in, and for me to "reach conclusions", as the Israelis like to say.
* * *
The second example is from Amos Oz's memoir, "A Tale of Love and Darkness", telling of the lives of his parents and their friends and relations in the 1930s, 40s, and early 50s in Palestine / Israel. These people moved to "The Land" as ardent Zionists, in the 1930s or earlier, and lived through the "heroic" pre-state period, and finally through the realization of their dream, the establishment of a Jewish State. Three years after that glorious event, Oz's mother commits suicide. The book (maybe all Oz's work) is, in large part, an attempt to understand that act.
Oz spends a section of the book interviewing his aged aunt - his mothers younger sister. She recalls how they grew up, somewhat pampered in a well to do family in Poland, and were educated in the liberal secular Zionist school system in their Polish city. They learned Hebrew poetry and literature, Bible, Jewish history, and geography of the Land. They followed every nuance of news from the naissant Jewish yishuv in Palestine. They joined the socialist Zionist youth movement and dreamed of the perfect egalitarian society, women's rights, an end to all oppressions, a freeing the soul and body, of free love. One of their friends even says, "After we have a Jewish State, everything will be different. Even love will be different!" This, while all around them, the world is in turmoil - Bolshevism to the east and Nazism to the west, and rising antisemitism all round. Oz's mother is even sent to study history and philosophy in the Bohemian capital, Prague, before she makes aliya in 1933.
Yet 50 years after coming to Israel, when the aunt is asked why she has never gone back to her home town, even for a visit, says:
Of the whole of Jewish Rovno there is barely a soul left alive - only those who came to the Land while there was time, and a few who fled to America escaped the Bolshevik regime. All the rest were butchered by the Germans, apart from those who where butchered by Stalin. No, I have no desire to go back for a visit: for what? To start longing gain from there for a Land of Israel that no longer exists and may have never existed outside our youthful dreams. Too grieve? If I want to grieve, I don't need to leave Wessely Street: to set foot outside my apartment. I sit here in my armchair look out the window and grieve several hours a day. Not for what was and is no more. Not for Tarlo [a former boyfriend], it was nearly seventy years ago, he wouldn't be alive now anyway: if Stalin hadn't killed him, he be dead from this place, from war or a terrorist bomb, or else from diabetes or cancer. I grieve only for what never was. Only for the pretty pictures we made for ourselves, and now they have all faded.
Whew !
What's most beautiful about her early life, is her (and her comrades) longing for Israel. And what's the most painful about her current life is that those dreams came to not.
But is this is just a product of her old age?
Oz is convinces his mother died, in 1950, at age 37, from an excess of longing. Longing for the life she had dreamed of and never found in the land of her dreams.
* * *
The third example is the famous Israeli song "Kinneret Sheli", based on a poem by the early Israeli poet Rachel Blaustein. It was written in 1923, while Rachel was living a lonely life in a small one room apartment in Tel-Aviv. She was dying of Tuberculous, and the poem recalls her heady youthful days at Kibbutz Degania on shores of Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) from 1909 to 1913.
וְאוּלַי
מֵעוֹלָם לֹא הִשְׁכַּמְתִּי עִם שַׁחַר לַגָּן
לְעָבְדוֹ בְּזֵעַת אַפָּי
מֵעוֹלָם בְּיָמִים אֲרֻכִּים וְיוֹקְדִים
שֶׁל קָצִיר
בִּמְרוֹמֵי עֲגָלָה עֲמוּסַת אֲלֻמוֹת
לֹא נָתַתִי קוֹלִי בְּשִׁיר
מֵעוֹלָם לֹא טָהַרְתִּי בַּתְכֵלֶת שׁוֹקְטָה
וּבְתֹם
שֶׁל כִּנֶרֶת שֶׁלִי...הוֹ כִּנֶרֶת שֶׁלִי
הֶהָיִיתְ אוֹ חָלַמְתִי חֲלוֹם
And perhaps - these things never happened at all And perhaps - I never rose at dawn to the field To work her with the sweat of my brow ...
And never - on the long lingering days of harvest
On the heights of a wagon Loaded with sheaves Did I give my voice to song.
Never did I purify myself in your azure waters And with innocence
Of my Kinneret, Oh my Kinneret. Did you exist? Or did I dream a dream.
I, and thousands of others - maybe even Oz's mother - was brought up on this song. Did we not fully understand the lyric?
Israel / Palestine, the land of broken dreams.
* * *
If there is any hope for Israel and the Jews it is through an attempt to actualize our longings - even if we know that they cannot be fully realized - rather then to drown in nostalgic laments, or worse, to deny that we ever had longings at all.
As Yeats said: "In dreams begins responsibility."
* * *
Finally, here is one of my favorite Israeli songs: Chofim "Shores" by Chava Alberstein.
Shores are sometimes longings for a steam. I once saw a shore Whose stream had abandoned it With a broken heart of sand and stone And man, and man Can sometimes also end up Abandoned and without strength, just like a shore.
Also shells, Just like shores and the wind Also shells are sometimes longings For the home we have always loved As it was, and only the sea Sings there by itself its songs Thus, between the shells of man's heart his youth sings to him.
Give me the strength to open my heart again to accept not to run away not to fear and never to forget the way believe, not approximately and to march on the way again like a king and always be near to the hope like wind, walking so confidently I will not be able to forget or run away and to go on like everyone
Shores are sometimes...
* * *
Once I had a dream of living the idyllic - and idealistic - life on a kibbutz. The picture at the top of this post is of the house where I lived on Kibbutz Gezer in 1974.
It is customary during the counting of the Omer, the period between Passover and Shavuot, to study one chapter of Perkei Avot each week.
So, ...
Logically, Pirke Avot functions as a sort of prologue to the Mishna as a whole. It provides a justification for the whole Rabbinic project (thus chapter one's faux lineage of authority from Moses to Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi and his son Gamliel III, as well as those easily remembered bon-mots from the Mishna's main contributors.) As such it deals not so much with Halacha - Jewish Law - but with aphorisms designed to build character or vignettes designed to glorify Jewish life as it should be in the eyes of the Rabbis.
This weeks chapter - six - is in fact an addendum to the prologue that is Pirke Avot. (It starts out by telling us so - that it is a collections of later Tannaitic writings (Beraitot) added on after the rest of the Mishna had been "closed.") So before we dive into Chapter Six, lets go back and look at the closing lines of Chapter Five - the last lines of the main body of Pirke Avot. The closing lines of a prologue are usually quite significant.
MISHNAH 22: BEN BAG BAG SAID: TURN IT OVER, AND [AGAIN] TURN IT OVER, FOR ALL IS THEREIN. AND LOOK INTO IT; AND BECOME GREY AND OLD THEREIN;157 NEITHER MOVE THOU AWAY THEREFROM, FOR THAN IT THOU HAST NO BETTER STANDARD OF CONDUCT.
MISHNAH 23: BEN HEHE SAID: ACCORDING TO THE LABOUR IS THE REWARD.
The "it" in mishna 22 is, of course, Torah: not in the narrow sense of the five books of Moses, but in the largest sense - of all the Tanach (Hebrew Bible) as well as the Oral Teachings, or maybe we could say of all true learning. And the "labour" referred to in Mishna 23 is study.
And this is the whole point of Avot. To glorify the life of study. The Rabbis of the Mishna had raised study to the pinnacle of Jewish religious practice. Studying about Temple worship replaced Temple worship itself. Study became a religious obligation and pratcise in and of itself - not primarily or necessarily in order to do better - but for its own sake: LiShmah. Out of this rabbinc fram of mind flows the whole Yeshiva Culture that dominated Judaism for so many centuries, as well as the love of learning and the respect for education that is still charachteristic of even secular Jews.
The Jew as effete intellectual is an ideal that the Mishna Rabbis wouldn't have shied away from (Resh Lakhish not withstanding.) When confronted with the choice of "Studying" or "Doing" (a choice modern Western society would clearly and easily make in favour of "Doing") they vacillate and equivocate and struggle with the answer, but ultimately come done on the side of "Study." Two famous Talmudic quotes make the point.
THE FOLLOWING ARE THE THINGS FOR WHICH A MAN ENJOYS THE FRUITS IN THIS WORLD WHILE THE PRINCIPAL REMAINS FOR HIM IN THE WORLD TO COME: THE HONOURING OF FATHER AND MOTHER, THE PRACTICE OF CHARITY, AND THE MAKING OF PEACE BETWEEN A MAN AND HIS FRIEND; BUT STUDY IS EQUAL TO THEM ALL. (Peah Cap 1)
and
R. Tarfon and the Elders were once reclining in the upper storey of Nithza's house, in Lydda, when this question was raised before them: Is study greater, or practice? R. Tarfon answered, saying: Practice is greater. R. Akiba answered, saying: Study is greater, for it leads to practice. Then they all answered and said: Study is greater, for it leads to action. (Kudushin 40b)
So strong was the Rabbis obsession with study, that there are several cautionary tales of the bad things that happened to scholars who neglect their "marital duties" because they can't bear to interrupt their study.
So it should come as no surprise that the addendum that is Chapter Six is a collections of aphorism about the virtue and glory that is study and learning.
R. MEIR SAID: WHOEVER OCCUPIES HIMSELF WITH THE TORAH FOR ITS OWN SAKE, ACQUIRES BY MERIT MANY THINGS AND THE WHOLE OF THE WORLD IS WORTH WHILE FOR HIS SAKE.
HE IS CALLED: A FRIEND, A BELOVED, ONE THAT LOVES THE ALL-PRESENT, ONE THAT LOVES HIS FELLOW CREATURES. ONE THAT GLADDENS GOD, ONE THAT GLADDENS MAN;
AND HIS LEARNING CLOTHES HIM WITH HUMILITY AN PIETY,
AND FITS HIM TO BE RIGHTEOUS, PIOUS, UPRIGHT AND FAITHFUL;
AND IT ALSO KEEPS HIM FAR FROM SIN, AND BRINGS HIM NEAR TO RIGHT CONDUCT;
AND MEN BENEFIT FROM HIM BY WAY OF HIS WISE COUNSEL, SOUND KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING AND STRENGTH, AS IT IS SAID, COUNSEL IS MINE AND SOUND WISDOM; I AM THE UNDERSTANDING, POWER IS MINE;
AND IT GIVES HIM SOVEREIGNTY AND DOMINION AND [THE FACULTY TO BE] SEARCHING IN JUDGMENT;
AND LEARNING REVEALS TO HIM THE SECRET MEANINGS, AND HE IS MADE AS A WELL THAT EVER GATHERS FORCE, AND LIKE A STREAM THAT NEVER CEASES;
AND HE BECOMES MODEST, LONG-SUFFERING AND FORGIVING OF INSULT TOWARDS HIMSELF;
AND IT MAKES HIM GREAT, AND EXALTS HIM ABOVE ALL THE WORKS OF GOD.
That's a lot of rewards, for something that is to be done for its own sake, and not rewards! (But to be fair, these are all non-material rewards, though promising someone honour - all the good things he will be called - while at the same time promising humility does seems to be appealing to two contradictory impulses.)
And the chapter continues with these lines:
HE WHO LEARNS FROM HIS FELLOW ONE SINGLE SECTION, OR ONE SINGLE RULE, OR ONE SINGLE VERSE, OR ONE SINGLE EXPRESSION, OR EVEN ONE SINGLE LETTER, IS UNDER OBLIGATION TO TREAT HIM WITH HONOUR; ...
SUCH IS THE WAY OF LIFE CONDUCIVE TO THE STUDY OF THE TORAH: A MORSEL OF BREAD WITH SALT THOU SHALT EAT, AND WATER BY MEASURE THOU SHALT DRINK, AND UPON THE GROUND THOU SHALT SLEEP, AND A LIFE OF PRIVATION THOU SHALT LIVE, AND IN THE TORAH SHALT THOU LABOUR. IF THOU DOEST THUS, HAPPY SHALT THOU BE, AND IT SHALL BE WELL WITH THEE ...
SEEK NOT GREATNESS FOR THYSELF, AND COVET NOT HONOUR MORE THAN THY LEARNING; NEITHER CRAVE THOU FOR THE TABLE OF KINGS, FOR THY TABLE IS GREATER THAN THEIR TABLE, AND THY CROWN IS GREATER THAN THEIR CROWN ...
GREATER IS THE STUDY OF TORAH THAN THE PRIESTHOOD AND THAN THE KINGSHIP ...
No wonder the cult of learning is so strong among the Jews! And I have to admit, that I myself spend a lot of time reading and studying to an end that I can only describe as transcendent. I probably should get out and work in my garden more often - but I get obsessed with this or that philosophical or political or religious article / book, and I can't let go. Last year when we went on vacation to St Lucia, I am sure I was the only one on the beach reading French philosophy
Maybe I should have been an academic ...
If so, the chapter continues with instructions for academics - scholar and student alike:
THE PROPER SCHOLAR IS ONE WHO:
RECOGNIZES HIS PLACE,
REJOICES IN HIS PORTION,
IS CAREFUL WITH HIS WORDS,
CLAIMS NO CREDIT FOR HIMSELF,
IS LOVED AND LOVES,
WELCOMES CORRECTION OF HIMSELF,
LOVES UPRIGHTNESS,
KEEPS HIMSELF FAR FROM HONOUR[S],
LETS NOT HIS HEART BECOME SWELLED ON ACCOUNT OF HIS LEARNING,
DELIGHTS NOT IN GIVING LEGAL DECISIONS,
SHARES IN THE BEARING LEGAL DECISIONS WITH HIS COLLEAGUE,
PLACES HIS COLLEAGUE UPON A GROUNDWORK OF TRUTH,
PLACES HIM UPON A GROUNDWORK OF PEACE,
COMPOSES HIMSELF AT HIS STUDY,
ASKS AND ANSWERS QUESTIONS,
LISTENS TO OTHERS AND THEN ADDS,
LEARNS IN ORDER TO TEACH,
ALSO LEARNS IN ORDER TO PRACTISE,
MAKES HIS TEACHERS WISER,
QUOTES WITH PRECISION THAT WHICH HE HAS HEARD,
AND SAYS A THING IN THE NAME OF HIM WHO SAID IT. LO, THOU HAST LEARNT: EVERYONE THAT SAYS A THING IN THE NAME OF HIM WHO SAID IT, BRINGS DELIVERANCE INTO THE WORLD, AS IT IS SAID: AND ESTHER TOLD THE KING THEREOF IN MORDECAI'S NAME.
I am not sure that modern academia has taken any of this to heart - except the last two points: do accurate footnotes; upon this depends salvation !
Finally the chapter re-iterate that a life of learning is its own reward and worth more than material success.
R. JOSE B. KISMA SAID:
ONCE I WAS WALKING BY THE WAY WHEN A MAN MET ME, AND SAID TO ME ‘PEACE’,AND I RESPONDED 'PEACE’.
SAID HE TO ME, 'RABBI, FROM WHAT PLACE ART THOU?’'
SAID I TO HIM, ‘FROM A GREAT CITY OF SAGES AND SCRIBES AM I.’
SAID HE TO ME, ‘RABBI, SHOULD IT BE THY PLEASURE THAT THOU DWELL WITH US IN OUR PLACE, {AND TEACH US] I WILL GIVE THEE A THOUSAND THOUSAND DENARII OF GOLD,AND PRECIOUS STONES AND PEARLS.’
SAID I TO HIM: ‘IF THOU SHOULDST GIVE ME ALL THE SILVER AND GOLD, PRECIOUS STONES AND PEARLS THAT ARE IN THE WORLD, I WOULD NOT DWELL ANYWHERE EXCEPTING IN A PLACE OF MUCH TORAH LEARNING; FOR IN THE HOUR OF THE DEPARTURE OF A MAN FROM THE WORLD, THERE ACCOMPANY HIM NEITHER GOLD NOR SILVER, NOR PRECIOUS STONES NOR PEARLS, BUT TORAH AND GOOD DEEDS ALONE, AS IT IS SAID, WHEN THOU WALKEST, IT SHALL LEAD THEE, WHEN THOU LIEST DOWN, IT SHALL WATCH OVER THEE; AND WHEN THOU WAKEST, IT SHALL TALK WITH THEE.
Is it really only the life of the mind that gives our lives meaning? I find this attitude tempting. Too tempting perhaps. Time to slap myself on the face and get up and DO something!
Today's Globe and Mail had an article about the new demand by the Israeli government to have Israel officially recognized as the "Jewish State" by the Palestinian Authority. That is the formula used by Prime Minister Netanyahu. This is as opposed to the usual position of the Israeli left that Israel be " a state for all its citizens."
Now, in an effort to make a "Jewishly sensitive" legal definition more palatable - something the PA might be able to sign - Gershon Baskin, of the Israel / Palestine Research Centre, suggests that Israel declare itself "the State of the Jewish People and all its Citizens." Aside from the tortured nature of the phrase - it hardly rolls off the tongue - this just shows that fixed and arbitrary legal definitions of the ethnic nature of a country are just plain dumb. In the end a country will be what it will be. Lebanon's former formal legal definition as a as a state for Maronite Christians exacerbated it's ethic conflicts, rather than solved them.
In the end, a call by Israeli leaders to formally and legally define Israel as the "Jewish State" or the "State of the Jewish People" is not only discriminatory against the 24% of Israel's citizens that are not Jewish, but insulting (and dangerous) to the 60% of the worlds Jews who choose to live outside of the State of Israel. What would the world think if Britain chose to legally define itself as the "State of the Anglo Saxon People" - thus excluding millions of its non Anglo Saxon citizens; and including people of Anglo decent living in Canada, the U.S., Australia and elsewhere. How would French Canadians feel if France claimed to speak on their behalf, and how would France's millions of immigrants - including nearly half a million Jews - feel if told that French State was not really focused on their interests or well being, but only on that of people of pure French ancestry.
Israel's Jewish leaders should be content to have Israel be a state with a lot of Jews and a strong Jewish culture, instead of trying to impose, through law, grandiose race based nationalist frameworks, more suitable to the 19th century than the globalized multicultural reality of the 21st century.
The Netanyahu Government has been telling anyone who will listen that Iran's obtaining a nuclear weapon poses and "existential threat" to Israel. That means Iran will more than likely nuke Israel off the map killing millions of its citizens! The Israeli government has the Official Jewish Community parroting this line as well. They are all pressuring the U.S. to bomb Iran, and threatening that if it doesn't Israel will take matters into its own hands.
But how seriously do Israel's leaders really take this threat? Israel's own think tanks don't seem to take it too seriously. Prof. David Menashri, the head of the Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University is quoted as saying: “Iran’s leadership is religiously extremist but calculated and it understands an unconventional attack on Israel is an act of madness that will destroy Iran." And his views of echoed by numerous other Israeli (and foreign) academics.
Does the government believe its own rhetoric? Or is this perhaps just good politics for internal consumption (hawks, after all, always need a scary enemy to rail against), or a "bargaining chip" designed to get more American aid and sympathy, or perhaps a ploy to delay dealing with the Palestinian issue?
While one can never know what someone really thinks, one can judge their actions. In a budget cutting move, the Israeli Defense Department announced yesterday that it was shutting down an intelligence unit charged with maintain links with the Iranian community and political organizations, and following the media in Iran. The unit also runs a two-hour program in Farsi on Israel Radio. This was all done over the vocal objection of the Meir Dagan, head of Israel's foreign intelligence service, the Mossad. (See the Haaretz story here.)
But the governments hysterionics have had one - likely unintended - effect in any case. According to a recent poll (see story in the Forward) one in four Israelis would consider emigrating if Iran did obtain a nuclear weapon! And about 80% live in "serious fear" of such an eventuality.
The good news is that the Israeli Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, last week ordered the Israeli government to allocate funds to institutions affiliated with non-Orthodox streams of Judaism who perform conversions
The court heard a petition which was filed by the Movement for Progressive Judaism, which specializes Reform conversions. The MPJ argued that the Absorption Ministry has discriminated against it in its stringent criteria that it uses to determine who is entitled to monetary grants. The state's grant policy is more lax when dealing with private bodies that perform Orthodox conversions, the movement told the Court.
The Israeli state currently allocates lots of money to conversion institutes. Among the large number of new immigrants who arrived in the country during the 1990s, mostly from the former Soviet Union, many had disputed Jewish status . And despite holding Israeli citizenship, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of these immigrants are not considered Jewish by religious law.
The court has now ordered that the state cannot shut out non-Orthodox groups from the pool of money that it allocates for conversion.
This is good because it promotes religious pluralism in Israel, and dents (slightly to be sure) the coercive power of the Israeli Orthodox.
So whats the bad news?
In its reasoning the court wrote:
"All streams of conversion have the same purpose - the cultural and spiritual incorporation of Israeli citizens and residents into the society and community in Israel,"
Huh !!?? The purpose of conversion is the incorporation of citizens !! I thought it was the incorporation of people into the Jewish People, regardless of where they choose to live. And does this imply that you have to be Jewish to be fully an Israeli citizen? (Well it obviously does, so that is a rhetorical question.)
This is the danger of declaring that Israel is officially and legally a Jewish State. Jewishness becomes conflated with Israeliness and Israeliness with Jewishness.
So is it any wonder that Israel's Arab citizens - 20% of the population and growing - are becoming increasingly alienated from the state (rather then increasingly integrate, which had been the earlier trend.) And is it any wonder that anti-Zionism often slips over into anti-Semitism, when the Israeli Supreme court itself declares there is no difference between Jewishness and Israeliness.
The first African-American female rabbi will take up a new pulpit in North Carolina in August.
Alysa Stanton, who will be ordained June 6 at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, has been hired as the spiritual leader of Congregation Bayt Shalom in Greenville. Bayt Shalom is a small Conservative congregation that two years ago also affiliated with the Reform movement.
Stanton, a convert and mother to an adopted 14-year-old daughter, is a trained psychotherapist who specializes in trauma and grief.
She will be the first African-American rabbi to lead a majority white congregation, despite the fact that about 20 percent of the American Jewish community is ethnically and racially diverse, according to the San Francisco-based Institute for Jewish and Community Research.
Stanton’s ordination will provide young black Jewish Americans “with an important role model,” says Diane Tobin, associate director of the institute. “Hopefully over time they will see themselves reflected in the community.”
Neoconservatives, the guys who brought you the Iraq war and deregulation of the finance sector under George Bush, are in deep retreat in America. And in Canada, if polls are correct, the Conservatives will lose the next election despite having already retreated from many of there most egregious excesses. But in Israel the neocons are going from strength to strength.
[Two years ago] economist Omer Moav, a senior fellow at the center's Institute for Economic and Social Policy, was still busy writing an article for the Shalem journal, Azure, called "Who Needs Employment Security," which argues that worker protections sometimes hurt weaker segments of society. Now he heads the Finance Ministry's Council of Economic Advisers. Another senior fellow, historian Michael Oren, [picture above] was busy critiquing "You Don't Mess with the Zohan," an Adam Sandler movie about an Israeli soldier who fakes his death and becomes a hair stylist in New York, which Oren, the author of "The Making of the Modern Middle East," described as a complete renunciation of the Zionist idea. He has been selected as Israel's ambassador to Washington. And Shalem distinguished fellow Moshe Ya'alon, a former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff who wrote a recent Azure article whose Hebrew title was "The diplomatic process can wait," is now the minister for strategic affairs. Natan Sharansky, another distinguished fellow and the chairman of the Shalem Center's Institute for Strategic Studies, is awaiting his appointment as chairman of the Jewish Agency. His 2004 book "The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror," which was published through the center, hit the headlines when George W. Bush publicly recommended it. The book was co-written with Ron Dermer, who now heads the information directorate in the Prime Minister's Office.
And Netanyahu himself is a neocon of the first order: long obsessed with global terrorism and the need for the democracies to band together to fight the scourge of intolerant Islam (where "intolerant" is a descriptor of Islam in general, not a delimiter indicating a sub-set.)
Is it a wonder then that the Israeli government is so obsessed with the Iranian threat and its weapons of mass destruction soon to be in the hands of "cruel madmen." Or that it is is telling anyone who will listen that peace between Israel and Palestinians (not Palestine, god forbid) is only possible if we firststop Iran's support of radicals in Lebanon and Gaza. Its an almost exact match for the justifications of the war in Iraq.
The difference is that an attack on Iran could have even worse consequences, for Israel and the West, than the war in Iraq. Iran has thousands of short and medium range missiles, and hundreds maybe thousands of long range ones. If Israel bombed Iraqs nuclear facilities, it is virtually certain that Iran would unleash missiles on Israel - most probably on Israel's nuclear reactor in Dimona (and who knows who much damage the fallout from that would cause) and probably on its big cities too. It has the ability also has the ability to destroy virtually every oil port on the Persian Gulf, and might be tempted to do that too if it felt that Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States had been complicit.
How did we get so lucky as to get these guys in power, just when they are in total disrepute in the rest of the world?
The McCarthyism in the Toronto Jewish community is going from bad to worse.
Last week I (and three of Toronto's four daily newspapers) reported on the blacklisting of Toronto artists Reena Katz by the Koffler Centre for the Arts, because of her strongly anti-racists views on Israel/Palestine. (See my blog entry here.)
At the Koffler Centre we completely understand that like any healthy and vibrant community, ours is one with many diverse opinions where ideas are explored and examined. Our commitment is to ensure that as a cultural centre, we are part of that examination and certainly have no intention of stopping anyone for being critical of Israel's policies.
However, our centre, like our community, is committed to Israel's well-being and existence as a Jewish state. No organization could partner with any individual who works against one of their core values. Just as every individual has a right to freedom of expression, any organization is free to choose with whom it partners.
Our decision was not based on Reena Katz's beliefs, but rather her role in undermining Israel's existence as a Jewish state.
The question of whether the exhibition will continue is up to the artist. We have simply adhered to our principles by disassociating with both the artist and the project, as we should have.
What smarmy nonsense. Here is a letter that I wrote the Star in reply (so far they haven't published it.)
Re “Decisions not base on belief” Saturday May 16, 2009
Lori Starr’s attempted justification of the Koffler Centre (letters May 16th), is a load of rubbish.
First she claims that her center one where “many diverse opinions and ideas are explored and examined.” We would never blacklist anyone for his or her opinions, she says. But in the next sentence she supports the blacklisting of Reena Katz for publicly advocating for her opinions re Israel/Palestine. So, it seems that the Koffler center supports diverse opinions only as long as you don’t express them!
Second Ms Starr claims that “our centre, like our community, is committed to Israel's … existence as a Jewish state.” Which community? Certainly not the Jewish Community. No one has ever polled the Jews of Toronto on this issue, and it is well know that many Jews, some prominent, think that Israel as a de-jure Jewish State (as opposed to a state with a lot of Jews in it) is a bad idea. Some of these Jews come to this position from conservative theological reasons (including the world’s largest Hassidic sect) and some from progressive humanist ones. Among religious Jews, some synagogues celebrate Israeli Independence Day, some are theologically indifferent, and some view the creation of the Jewish State as a sin. Many progressive Jews think Israel should be a “state for all its citizens” Jews and non-Jews. These debates go on all the time in the Jewish community.
Who exactly is Lori Starr and the Koffler Centre to be telling us what the Jewish communities core values are? Who are they to say whom the community can and cannot support?
What I could of added is that Ms Katz denies the facts of the case. She denied every having undermined Israels existence as a Jewish State. She claims only to be against Israels racist policies. But of course was never asked to explain herself before the decsion makers at the Koffler. And the Koffler Centre's claim that the decsion to continue the show or not is solely up to the artist is disengenous too. The Koffler Centre is just the most visible hammer of the Official Jewish Community in Toronto. The word has gone out that Reena Katz is treif - so now the Baycrest Centre, the major Jewish old folks home, which was integral to some of the performance art in Katz's performance pieces, has also pulled out. Today Katz, and exhibit curator Kim Simon (also Jewish) issued this statement.
Dear friends, supporters and colleagues,
As our situation with Koffler Centre of the Arts continues unresolved, we offer this brief update on the status of the Reena Katz exhibition each hand as they are called:
While we have made every attempt to present the exhibition as originally intended, with numerous logistic delays and the fact that Baycrest Centre Geriatric Care – an essential and valued collaborator in the project - has withdrawn their participation, we are prevented from moving forward at this time. Our request to meet with the Koffler board of directors has been rejected and the question of silencing discussion and diverse voices within our communities remains.
While it is with great sadness that we announce the exhibition will not be opening to the public on Wednesday, May 20th as originally scheduled, we continue to work towards the presentation of each hand as they are called.
The incredible support that we have received from cultural workers, administrators, organizers, academics, and the media has been the inspiration for our desire to continue moving forward. Your writing, calls, and critical discussions are greatly appreciated and act as a place marker for the original spirit of the project.
We will continue to share updates as they happen, and please visit our website for any information: www.eachhand.org
Sincerely, Reena Katz, artist Kim Simon, curator
So, not only has the chill of an intolerant and fearful Zionist hegemony (that not a word I use easily) fallen over the Official Toronto Jewish Community, but a public art exhibit designed to celebrate the rich and vibrant Jewish history of Toronto has been nixed. We are all the poorer for this.
Fortunately, we live in a city where the Official Toronto Jewish Community is not as completely powerful as it would like to be. There are Jews who are able to express other voices. One is Rick Salutin, who writes in today's Globe and Mail about another issue that has got the Official Jewish Community in a lather, and trying to censor - Seven Jewish Children. And he mentions the Katz affair to give that controversy some context. (You can read my own take on Seven Jewish Children here.)
It seems to me that this affair is not just unfortunate and annoying. The Official Jewish Community" has thrown down the gantlet. It has decided that it will read out of "our community" anyone who does not support Israel as a Jewish State or even anyone who may be "undermining" that position by publicly confronting Israel's discriminatory policies towards Arabs. They have drawn a line in the sand that defines if you are in or out. I think any such line is a bad thing. But if I must stand on one side or the other, it is not with Lori Starr, the Koffler Centre, and the rest of the Official Jewish Community. It is on the side of open debate and the core Jewish values of honesty, justice, and mercy.
It is customary during the counting of the Omer, the period between Passover and Shavuot, to study one chapter of Perkei Avot each week.
So, ...
This week I reviewed Chapter 5, and honestly I did not find it the most edifying material. Much of it is filled with folk tales revolving around the number 10. Like this Mishna.
TEN MIRACLES WERE WROUGHT FOR OUR ANCESTORS IN THE TEMPLE: (1) NO WOMAN MISCARRIED FROM THE ODOUR OF THE HOLY MEAT; (2) THE HOLY MEAT NEVER STANK; (3) NO FLY WAS SEEN IN THE [TEMPLE] SLAUGHTERHOUSE; (4) THE HIGH PRIEST NEVER HAD A WET DREAM ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT; (5) THE RAINS NEVER EXTINGUISHED THE FIRE ON THE WOOD PILE; (6) THE WIND NEVER VANQUISHED PILLAR OF SMOKE; (7) NO IMPURITY WAS EVER FOUND IN THE OMER, OR IN THE TWO LOAVES, OR IN THE SHOW-BREAD; (8) [THE CROWDS] STOOD PACKED ,YET PROSTRATED THEMSELVES [WITH] WIDE SPACES ; (9) NEVER EVER DID A SERPENT OR A SCORPION CAUSE HARM IN JERUSALEM; (10) AND NO MAN EVER SAID TO HIS FELLOW: IT IS TOO TIGHT FOR ME TO LODGE OVERNIGHT HERE IN JERUSALEM.
Given that tens of thousands packed the Temple during the pilgrimage holidays, and given that each family brought an animal to be sacrificed, it would seem highly likely that every one of the things listed did happen - the cited miracles notwithstanding. None except, perhaps, item 4. We learned in another part of the Talmud (Yoma 19b) that attendants would accompany the High Priest all of Yom Kippur night and keep him awake, lest he fall asleep and defile himself with unworthy dreams! But one must assume that such a bizarre practice would not have come to be, had there not been a previous unfortunate incident. Such, then, is the power of historical memory written down 2 or 3 generations after the fact. Thus are myths created. And how much of what we think we know of history from 1880 through 1950 - a history still poured over to teach lessons for today - how much is myth and how much fact?
Mishna 7, gives us some good advice for being wise:
THERE ARE SEVEN CHARACTERISTICS ... IN A WISE MAN: (1) A WISE MAN DOES NOT SPEAK BEFORE ONE WHO IS WISER THAN HIM SPEAKS; (2) AND DOES NOT INTERRUPT THE WORDS OF HIS FELLOW; (3) AND IS NOT HASTY TO ANSWER; (4) HE ASKS RELEVANT QUESTION ONLY; (5) AND [WHEN RESPONDING] HE ADDRESSES THE FIRST POINT FIRST, AND OF THE LAST POINT LAST; (6) AND CONCERNING THAT WHICH DOES NOT KNOW, HE SAYS: I DO NOT KNOW; (7) AND HE ACKNOWLEDGES THE TRUTH [EVEN WHEN IT IS MADE BY HIS OPPONENT IN A DEBATE.]
And though the advise above seems to be addressed to up and coming students in the Beit Midrash, it is pretty good advice for anyone. (And if you are not really that wise, you can at least appear to be, by following these guidelines.)
Finally I found this fragment insightful:
THE SWORD COMES TO THE WORLD BECAUSE OF TORTURED JUSTICE, AND BECAUSE OF PERVERTED OF JUSTICE
Once again, I find myself wishing Israeli leaders would take our tradition more seriously.
Stiffling "Unpatriotic Views" in the Mid Easts Only Democracy
Its only been a few weeks since the party of "loyalty oaths" (Avigdor Leiberman's Yisrael Beytenu) took over running the Ministry of Internal Security (in charge of the Israeli police) and got a veto over the appointment of the Minister of Justice (in charge of the state prosecutors).
Since then left wing activists of all sorts have faced increased persecution. Earlier this week, noted Israeli human rights activist Ezra Nawi was arreseted while helping Bedouin in the South Hebron Hills area resists demolition of their home. Based on the video of the incident, the chareg of assaulting a police officer has no basis. Nevertheless Nawi is facing jail time. Last week the Israeli pacifist group "New Profile" had its offices raided, computers seized, and 8 of its leaders held for questioning. Now some are being charged with encouraging Israelis to avoid military service.
And today, Amira Haas (picture above), the only Israeli journalist reporting from Gaza, was arrested while crossing back into Israel at the Erez Checkpoint. Hass was arrested and taken in for questioning immediately after crossing the border, for violating a law which forbids residence in an enemy state. She was released on bail after promising not to enter the Gaza Strip over the next 30 days.
Is this the beginning of a new pattern? Time will tell.
Israel is determined to keep large areas of the West Bank.
It keep building more housing, more roads, more water pipes and more electric lines; all for the exclusive use of Jewish settlers of course. And it is encouraging more Jews to move there: both existing Israelis and new immigrants.
Most of this is well known. But what I recently found out is just how much the West Bank is being promoted to new immigrants. Turns out that a new "oleh" who moves to Tel-Aviv is offered $4000 as an immigration incentive package, while the same oleh, if he chooses to live in the West Bank is offered $30,000! I learned this on a very interesting blog: Ibn Ezra
And by the way, this money comes not directly from the Israeli government, but from diaspora base charities. Think of that next time you are asked to donate to "help settle immigrants" in Israel. The money is not (mostly) going to the Ethiopian child you see on the cover of the brochure, but to help hold on to the occupied territories and prevent a two state solution.
The image above used to be found at the web site of Toronto's Koffler Center for the Arts, promoting an exhibit called "Each hand as they are called" by Toronto artist Reena Katz. (The show, celebrateing the Jewish roots of Toronto's Kennsington Market will still go on, as it was being co-sponsored by the Luminato Festival.)
No more. Instead there is a press release explaining that the Koffler Centre - an agency of the Jewish Community with major funding from the UJA - was withdrawing its association with the exhibit, because "As a Jewish cultural institution, an agency of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, the Koffler Centre of the Arts will not associate with an artist who publicly advocates the extinction of Israel as a Jewish state. "
The exhibit itself has nothing to do with Israel or Palestine.
What was Ms Katz sin? According to the Koffler's press release: "Recently the Koffler Centre of the Arts learned of Reena Katz’s public support for and association with Israel Apartheid Week, which rejects the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state and promotes historically inaccurate comparisons between contemporary Israel and apartheid South Africa, in order to delegitimize Israel."
Ms Katz, for her part, denies ever having advocated against the existence State of Israel or attempting to delegitimize it. She does admit to being severely critical Israe'ls policies, and of comparing Israel's treatment of Arabs to apartheid.
Below is a copy of a letter I wrote to the Executive Director of the Koffler Centre. (And if you feel so inclined you can write her too at lstarr@kofflerarts.org.)
Ms Starr
I was very disappointed to hear that the Koffler Centre has withdrawn its sponsorship of the art exhibit "each hand as they are called" because you disagree with the political views of the artist Rena Katz. This smacks of a new McCarthyism within the Jewish Community.
I was under the impression that the Kofler Centre was an apolitical arts centre, representative of and serving the entire Jewish Community. While Ms Katz'z views may not be those of the majority of Jews in Toronto (and to be sure no one really knows what the majority of the 160,000 Jews in the GTA think of the Israel Palestine conflict) her views are not unique. Many leaders of anti-occupation groups and even of the Israel Apartheid Week are Jewish.
Neither should objecting to Israel as a de-jure Jewish State (as opposed to a state with a lot of Jews) be grounds for a "herem" by a community organization. Are you, before co-sponsoing events, going to check the bona-fides of every agudah or Satmar affiliated synagogue member to see that they believe that Israel is the official state of the Jewish people? Are you going to check the politics of every musician who plays at Ashkenaz - some of whom have been very outspoken in opposition to the Israeli occupation and its treatment of Arabs. Many members of both Toronto's ultra-orthodox and liberal congregation have doubts about the wisdom of the formula of a de-jure Jewish State. And this is to say nothing of the majority of Toronto's Jews who remain unaffiliated with any synagogue or Jewish organization and who for the most part seem to support a multi-national muti-cultural state in Canada.
Moreover the "sin" for which you have decided to boycott Ms Katz for - that she "rejects the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state and promotes historically inaccurate comparisons between contemporary Israel and apartheid South Africa" - are positions that various Israeli Jews and Jewish politicians have taken. The idea that Israel should be a State For All Its Citizens rather that a Jewish State is one that is legitimately debated in Israel. And even former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has admitted that he wished to reach a two state solution with the Palestinians to end the defacto apartheid conditions in the occupied territories.
I myself have lived in Israel for many years, served in the Israeli army, have served on a synagogue board for 7 years, have raised several hundreds of thousands of dollars for Jewish causes, and also think that the idea of Israel as a de-jure Jewish State is not such a good one, and that comparisons between contemporary Israel and apartheid South Africa are not wholly inappropriate. Will you boycott me as well? Will you attempt to read people like me out of the Jewish Community.
Don't you have a mandate and and obligation to represent and reflect the entire Jewish community? To bring us together through art; not to serve as the gatekeepers of political litmus tests.
It is customary during the counting of the Omer, the period between Passover and Shavuot, to study one chapter of Perkei Avot each week. Last week saw my son's birthday and Mother's Day, and it seems I am late to put my thoughts to (virtual) paper.
Nevertheless ...
Chapter four opens with some of the most memorable, and truthful, lines of the Talmud.
BEN ZOMA SAID: WHO IS WISE? HE WHO LEARNS FROM EVERY MAN,... WHO IS MIGHTY? HE WHO SUBDUES HIS INCLINATIONS (Nature),... WHO IS RICH? HE WHO IS HAPPY WITH HIS LOT,... WHO IS HONOURED? HE WHO HONOURS HIS FELLOW-MEN, ...
Who said the Zen has a lock on Koan's? Or that only Buddhists emphasize that attitude is the key to fulfillment ? These seemingly trite and self contradictory statements hold great wisdom. Centuries later they, and similar quotes about personal attitudes, would become the foundations of the Musar movement, which emphasized spiritual practice as a way of improving ones character traits and become a more perfected "Jewish soul" - by which I understand: to become a better human being using Jewish techniques. If you don't have the time or inclination to study Musar, you could still accomplish much by contemplating and taking to heart Ben Zoma's four (seemingly) simple axioms.
The second Mishna of this weeks chapter is also a zinger:
BEN AZZAI SAID: RUN TO PERFORM THE EASY MITZVAH, JUST AS FOR THE DIFFICULT ONE, AND ALWAYS FLEE FROM TRANSGRESSION; FOR A MITZVAH DRAGS IN ITS WAKE ANOTHER MITZVAH, AND A SIN DRAGS IN ITS WAKE ANOTHER SIN; AND THE REWARD FOR A MITZVAH IS A MITZVAH, AND THE PUNISHMENT FOR A SIN IS A SIN.
True observations and useful advice in personal life; and even more so in geopolitics. Certainly the Israel/Palestine conflict is the perfect example of the vicious cycle described at the end of the Mishna, while, in my opinion, only by beginning a virtuous cycle, as describe in the top of the verse, is there any hope for peace and reconciliation between Jews and Palestinians. Salvation will come not from grand diplomatic formula - though those will be needed at the end - but from good will, trust, and leaps of faith, based on the desire to see justice done and peace prevail. Small acts of justice will bring greater acts of justice. Good deeds by one side will bring similar reciprocation from the other side, and only then, and only thus, can we move towards the grand end to the conflict.
Finally, later in the chapter we have this truly surprising Mishna:
R. NEHORAI SAID: GO AS A VOLUNTARY EXILE TO A PLACE OF TORAH.
Rabbi Nehorah lived at the end of the 2nd Century AD - as the centre of Jewish life was beginning to leave the Land of Israel and move to Babylon. At a time when most of his Mishnaic Rabbi contemporaries where still fighting hard for the primacy of the Land of Israel in Jewish life, he seems to be recommending a different course. What is no less surprising is this gloss on his quote that I found - unattributed - in my Soncino Talmud.
Some say only if there are no scholars in your own place. Other say even if there are scholars in your own locality; the very experience of ‘exile’ — the strange surroundings, the privations it entails ... is conducive to the better study of the Torah.
So, according to the second opinion, is having our own State - being too high and mighty, too secure - bad for learning Torah: for the proper understanding of what the a good Jewish life should be? Is the Diasporic experience essential for the proper understanding of Judaism?
Jews have always prided themselves with valuing education.
Well, here's another sphere where Israel has succeeded in making us "a nation like all other nations." In fact, in the area of education, Israel has achieved the dream of some, and truly integrated into the Middle East.
In a debate about proposed massive cuts to the state's education budget(what else did you expect with Netanyahu in charge, a man who claims Margret Thacher as one of his role models) Gideon Saar, the new Minister of Education no less, told the Knesset that in 2007, Israeli pupils performed worse than Jordanian pupils and only slightly better than Iranian and Syrian students, in the sciences.
When you consider that 20% of the population (those that feed Israel's still booming high tech sector) get an excellent math and science education, and then consider how low the national averages are, you get a sense of:
a) how bad education is for the other 80% b) how stratified Israeli society has become.
Karin Arad writes a "relationship" column for the Israeli "Men's Magazine" Blazer, a supplement of the large Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot. She is also (though obviously it is not well known to all her readers) of mixed parentage. Her mother is Arab.
The following appeared in her column on April 29. The translation is mine.
Q: My girlfriend has a very rich sexual past. I am great with this. Bur recently I discovered that she has slept with an Arab; that is she went out with him for a while and they had sex. This a disturbs me. I am not at all a racist, but is it normal that this disturbs me a little?
- Mica
A: Dear Mica,
"Normal" "racist", what nonsense.
Racism is a human tendency. Its okay that you encountered it in yourself, but try to rise above it. Why? Because its neanderthal and disgusting! What, after all, is a racist? Leiberman? Someone that doesn't have a problem killing people that are not the like them? Or generalized xenophobia? Believe me, all of these types are racist and all of these are not normal.
I don't know of any guy in the universe, as tolerant as he might be, who, having learned that his girlfriend has a sexual history in three figures, remains calm; and rightfully so. In a situation like this there is a strong possibility that he will not come out so well by comparison.
And in your specific case the problem is particularly severe. Because rumour has it that Arabs have cocks much bigger than Jews. And if we are already talking frankly, there is a possibility that your girlfriend went out with a member of the Bachri clan, known as "little jack hammers" by the Jewish girls. If so, you are really screwed. Because in addition to their very impressive equipment, they also have been educated at English private schools, have impeccable manners, intelligence, and overpowering good looks: gentlemanly traits not often found around here.
As far as your uncomfortable feelings, relax: You are not alone. Arabs are fashionable, and I would go as far as saying that the Arab is the new Black. Everybody fucks today based on ethnic criteria: in search of the exotic. It is totally acceptable. In fact, most of my good friends have slept with Arabs. I don’t know if it bothered them – or their Polish mothers – because I am the last person they will admit this to. You see, Mica, most of my friends are guys that I have slept with. And the Arabs they have slept with ... well in total, it is more or less ... me. Now, since they are not complete morons, they hide their racism from me. They don’t shout “Ahalan wa-Sahalan” when they see me and ask for Baklawa, they don’t hide tiny Palestine flags in my purse next to my orange ID card, and they don’t joke about Molotov cocktails when we are in bed. They are being very sensitive.
Something that can't be said about you Mica.
Look, I understand that you are really troubled by this; that your friends in Israel Beitenu [Avigdor Lieberman's anti-Arab party. sn] don't answer your phone calls anymore. But shit, where did you get the idea to ask a question like that to the only girl you know whose mother's maiden name is Suliman? [A clearly Arab sounding name. sn] Your stupidity simply cannot be described.
In summary, I hope that this whore that you are sleeping with with gives you gonorrhea.
My father, who grew up in Poland, and spent his formative years as a young man serving in the Russian Army during the WW II, often told me that when eastern Europeans under communist rule were caught red handed in something they would rather not be caught at, the best tactic was to just lie bold faced that you didn't do it, and stick tenaciously to your story of innocence. And this tactic often works. Show any weakness, any sign that your accuser might have even the sliver of a point, and you are lost. Stick to your guns, and the KGB interrogators may begin to doubt their sources, and give you a break. After all half the time they were just on a paranoid fishing expedition, and they understood that their "informants" where not always that reliable. This tactic, works whether or not you are guilty as suspected. But the key is consistent protestation of innocence.
Israeli President, Shimon Peres, himself born in pre-war Poland, seems to have absorbed this lesson well. Once considered a dove, he is now apologist in chief for the Israel's expansionism and military excesses.
President Shimon Peres said on Wednesday that Israel would never apologize for its military offensive on the Gaza Strip earlier this year, calling a damning United Nations report on its conduct there "unfair and one-sided."
The UN-commissioned investigation found the Israel Defense Forces were responsible for civilian deaths and damage to UN compounds in Gaza Strip.
"We will never accept it," Peres, after meeting with UN Secretary Genera Ban Ki-Moon in New York. "It's outrageous."
So who exactly did kill the 500+ civilians in the Gaza War? Who exactly did bomb the U.N. facilities?
If anything the U.N. report was kind to Israel, calling it "reckless", as if all the excess damage and death was just the result of some exuberant teenage boys. Still after what appears to be a thorough investigation, the UN concluded that Israel had indeed been responsible for bombing 7 of the 9 U.N facilities that where damaged during the war. You can read a more dispassionate report on the report in the Globe and Mail.
Peres despite his firm denials, did admit that Israel might have made some "mistakes" in the Gaza War. (Oops he might be slipping here.) But he refused to take responsibility for them. When challenged by the U.N. commission to admit that Israel had filed "untrue" statements about attacks against the UN's Jabalia school and another UN compound, and to express regret, he responded that Israel would not retract its statements because some of the accusations against Israel were also "untrue."
( ALSO !! I guess the octogenarian Peres is as sharp as he used to be. )
The same day Peres appeared before the AIPAC convention in Washington DC. He assured the delegate that Israel's "arms are open in peace." He assured the audience that - despite signs to the contrary including his own statements - Prime Minister Netanyahu wants peace, will move towards peace, and when the time is ripe will make concessions needed for peace.
A few days prior Peres met with Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country currently holds the European Union presidency. He reiterated Israel's previous promise (made at Annapolis and hardly kept well by the previous Israeli government) that there would be no new construction in West Bank settlements. Topolanek, in turn, promised to work to improve Israeli-European relations.
Settlement expansion seeing biggest boost since 2003 ... A new outpost, new roads, and other building projects have raced ahead in and around the settlements, often without legal permits ...
Examples cited include: construction projects in a new illegal outpost Between Talmon and Nahliel, and another west of Ramallah; illegal construction has been carried out on private Palestinian land at the existing outposts Mitzpeh Ahiya and Adei-Ad, north of Ramallah; another mobile home has been set in an existing but illegal outpost near Susia south of Hebron; an illegal outpost that was vacated near Hebron has been reinstated. New houses have been built in the Eli settlement, Rechelim, Ma'aleh Michmash and Kochav Hashahar (north and east of Ramallah). In addition, a new neighborhood has been built in Na'ale, and there are at least 10 houses in Halamish and new houses in Talmon (all west of Ramallah). Land has been prepared for building a new neighborhood in the Kedar settlement, and 30 houses have been built in Ma'aleh Shomron. There is also a new neighborhood in both the Elkana and Zofim settlements; Road construction on Palestinean farmland: This has gone on near the Bracha settlement south of Nablus, near Tapuach, in the Eli and Shiloh area and in the Amona and Elazar settlements.
... this week, a Jerusalem daily promised that any Israeli factory willing to move to the settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim would benefit in three ways. First is the community's "Ideal location," ten minutes from Jerusalem. The map featured in the ad shows only Israeli communities as recommended sites for factory owners to build in - no Palestinian communities, even those next door to the settlements.
The second advantage is accessibility. ... the significance of this is that Israel has built roads for Israelis alone to use, so they can live and work in the occupied territories without having to come across Palestinians. Route 443 was paved for the sake of accessibility to Ma'aleh Adumim. The state assured the High Court of Justice that the road - built on lands expropriated from Palestinians - was intended for the benefit of the "local population." But in stark contrast to that pledge, the road is open to Israelis only.
Third, the advertisement promises the same tax deductions as in "National Priority Area A," adding: "Ma'aleh Adumim's industrial park has the largest land reserves in the Jerusalem area.
The plots are available for allocation at attractive prices." This is the same area that Israel had promised not to develop, in order to someday allow Palestinians to travel freely between the northern and southern West Bank.
... enormous notices in the Jerusalem papers testify to new construction in all the occupied territories around Jerusalem. There is, for example, a "golden opportunity" in Har Homa, but no mention is made of the Palestinians on whose land the houses are being built. Nor is there mention of the neighboring village of Nuaman, whose lands were [recently] annexed to Jerusalem but whose residents hold Palestinian identity cards, and are therefore classified as illegal residents in their own homes.
Another ad for "a project born with a silver spoon" features a model apartment, but makes no mention of nearby Sur Baher, Umm Tuba, Abu Dis and Beit Sahour. These Palestinian neighborhoods and villages,... have vanished not only from the map printed in the newspaper, but from the consciousness of the Israeli government, which has not seen fit to offer the Palestinians a zoning plan that would allow them to build, pave roads and erect schools.
So while Israeli's continue to gobble up more and more of the West Bank, extending ethnic based Jewish only development, and making any hope of peace or justice an ever more distant dreams, Shimon Peres, Nobel Peace Prize winner, has transformed himself into the Salesman-In-Chief for Netanyahu, Leiberman, and the whole Israeli occupation machine.
And like any good used car salesman, he tells us mostly lies. Like any smart prisoner in a Soviet jail, he strenuously and continuously denies any hint of guilt or bad behaviour.
It is customary during the counting of the Omer, the period between Passover and Shavuot, to study one chapter of Perkei Avot each week.
So ...
Last week (in Chapter Two) we had Rabban Gamliel ben Yehuda telling us not to trust the government, as it is corrupt and self serving. Good advice! And Gamliel probably knew of what he spoke, since his father Rabbi Yehuda "the Prince" (Yehuda HaNasi) was the chief Jewish representative to the Romans. This was circa 200 AD, after the Jews where twice defeated in revolts by the Romans, and definitively and completely under their thumb.
This week we have another opinion:
R. HANINA, THE VICE-HIGH PRIEST, SAID: PRAY FOR THE WELFARE OF THE GOVERNMENT, FOR WERE IT NOT FOR THE FEAR THEREOF, ONE MAN WOULD SWALLOW UP ALIVE HIS FELLOW-MAN.
Well, that's what's wonderful about the Talmud! It is not a well edited book of Law. It is the record of discussions of the Rabbis about how to lead a proper Jewish life. Often that has to do with "law", and sometimes there is a conclusion. But often there is none. Contradictory opinions are allowed to stand.
But, nevertheless, what might prompt Hannina to have such a "pro government" point of view? Well firstly, he lived about 200 years before Gamliel when Roman rule was not so absolute. Jews still had a large degree of autonomy, as long as they paid taxes and obeyed a thin layer of Roman law, mostly in their dealings with non-Jews. So, is Hannina pro-government because the government is not so bad in his day?
We know from many sources, that the Jewish - Roman appointed - "Kings" and other officials of Hannina's time where pretty corrupt, and certainly where not held in much esteem by the naissant Rabbis. So is Hannina pro-government simply because it is still nominally Jewish?
Or maybe its personal? Hannina is the "Vice High Priest." He is "one heartbeat away" from being High Priest himself. (He never made it we are told by other sources.) So he is part of the ruling class. A ruling class that is despised by many of his Rabbinic colleagues. So, maybe this dictum is his way of justifying the privileged position for himself and his class?
Or maybe Hannina is really a Hobbesean? (Can you be a Hobbesean 1600 years before Hobbes?) Thomas Hobbes, of course, postulated that the natural state of man is a "war of all against all," and without imposed order we are doomed to live lives that are "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
I think this latter explanation of Hannina's position is closer to the mark, or at least (for who knows what really motivated Hannina to say what he said?) accords with how it was understood by the editor of this chapter of Pirkei Avot.
The chapter seems mostly concerned with answering the question of why and how to be good. The first mishna contains this depressing gem:
AKABIAH B. MAHALALEEL SAID: APPLY THY MIND TO THREE THINGS AND THOU WILT NOT COME INTO THE POWER OF SIN: KNOW WHENCE THOU CAMEST, AND WHITHER THOU ART GOING, AND BEFORE WHOM THOU ART DESTINED TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT AND RECKONING. WHENCE CAMEST THOU? — FROM A FETID DROP. WHITHER ART THOU GOING? — TO A PLACE OF DUST, OF WORM AND OF MAGGOT. BEFORE WHOM ART THOU DESTINED TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT AND RECKONING? — BEFORE THE KING OF THE KINGS OF KINGS, THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE.
Aside from showing an almost gnostic disgust with sex or anything corporal and this-worldly, Akibiah's point seems to be that only by contemplating the insignificance of our lives and our eventual and certain bodily death and decay; only by fearing punishment (or hoping for reward) in the afterlife can we be motivated to be good.
Hannina's mishna re government (that we quoted above) immediately follows Akibah's mishna. In this context, it seems to be contradicting Akibiah's view of how to make people behave properly. Hannina is saying we need strong governments with the ability to enforce rewards and punishments in the hear and now, in order to convince (force?) people to behave properly and be good.
(Note that neither Akibiah nor Hannina has much trust in "human nature" by itself.)
But the author of Pirkei Avot has an agenda here - or so it seems to me. He sets this up as an argument between two "straw men" and then introduces the "correct" answer as a third alternative. Thus after a few lines that talk about the importance of studying Torah at almost every opportunity, we reach mishna 5:
R. NEHUNIA B. HAKKANAH SAID: WHOEVER TAKES UPON HIMSELF THE YOKE OF THE TORAH, THEY REMOVE FROM HIM THE YOKE OF GOVERNMENT AND THE YOKE OF WORLDLY CONCERNS, AND WHOEVER BREAKS OFF FROM HIMSELF THE YOKE OF THE TORAH, THEY PLACE UPON HIM THE YOKE OF GOVERNMENT AND THE YOKE OF WORLDLY CONCERNS.
Aha! Torah is the answer!
By studying Torah (studying/pondering/discussing ethics, in this context) we can be made to (rationally?) see that we SHOULD be good. If we study in this way, and submit totally to the conclusions of our study, we need neither the fear of death ("the yoke of worldly concerns") nor the fear of State punishment ("the yoke of government") in order to motivate us to do good.
The play Seven Jewish Children is coming to Canada. It will play in Toronto's Theatre Passe Muraille, from May 15-17.
The play, written during the Gaza war by British playwright Caryl Churchill is only 10 minutes long, but has created a storm of controversy. Mainstream Jewish groups, the Canada Israel Committee for one, have labeled it antisemitic. Sara Saber-Freedman, executive vice-president of the CIC, said the play is an example of anti-Israel sentiment merging seamlessly into anti-Semitism. "If that's not a resuscitation of the blood libel, I don't know what is," she said, apparently referring to the plays final monologue. (See this story in the National Post.)
I don't know if she saw the play, read the script, or had some lines quoted to her out of context. But "Blood Libel?" Hardly!
When I watched the play, I thought it was moving, thought provoking, and disturbing. It is not without fault. But it is not antisemitic. That's for sure. I am not even sure that it is anti-Zionist, as it provides plenty of reasons to explain why Jews feel they need a State of their own. It is a nuanced look at the conflicted Jewish-Israeli psyche. Is it representative of all Jews or even all Israeli Jews? Certainly not. But it does represent a composite of a lot of mainstream Jewish and Jewish-Israeli opinion. There is not a word that the characters speak that I haven't personally heard out of some Jewish persons mouth at one time or another.
By the way, the original play was meant to be have different actors doing each of the main monologues and with suggestions for what to tell or not tell the Jewish child coming from various characters. This version has one actor reading all the parts. I rather like it that way, as the historical narratives blends seamlessly into the present day narrative. The different suggestions of what to say/not say are all coming from the same person, focusing the conflicts within one person's brain. Its all a bit of a jumble. Just like in the heads of most Jews in know.
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Update: According to a CBC web page, a tape of the May 2nd Montreal performance of Seven Jewish Children will broadcast on CBC Radio One on Sunday May 3rd on "Sunday Morning" between 9:10 and 10:00 AM. This will be followed by a "debate."
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Update: To hear a podcast of the CBC's Sunday Morning broadcast of the play, followed by discussion of it, click here and look for the May 3rd broadcast.
