Bein Hashmashot

The farce of prohibiting music on the omer

2011-04-22T09:17:00.003-05:00

The omer is a tough time for me because music is so important to me. To go 40 days without music and then not long after another 3 weeks is difficult, especially during the spring and summer when there are so many more opportunities to hear live music.

I also never understood how a capella music is acceptable. If the omer is a mourning period, how does a capella music change anything? Musical instruments don't inherently promote joy and a capella music is in fact often joyous (and terribly kitschy in the modern Ashkenazi world).

I looked up the source of this minhag and was surprised at the result. The ban against music is not found anywhere in the Mishnah, Gemara, or even the Shulchan Aruch. The earliest source is found in a 17th century commentary on the Shulchan Aruch known as the Magen Avraham who argues that celebrational dancing is forbidden. In order to prevent people from dancing in a celebratory way, such as at a wedding or a bar mitzvah, he included that any type of music that brings people to get up and dance is also impermissible. But the logic would follow that music that doesn't encourage shaking your booty, but rather is downtempo, reflective, and most importantly spiritually exalting, is permitted (and maybe even encouraged since it evokes an atmosphere of mourning). Thus, the custom of not listening to music at all is only a chumra (an extra stringency) and the custom of only listening to a capella music is simply misguided.

This leads me to argue that the later rabbis who invented this chumra of only listening to a capella music didn't understand music at all and probably didn't really listen to it themselves. While a capella music can certainly be spiritually exalting (just ask a Catholic - in fact the term itself is Italian for "in the style of the church) it isn't necessarily, and if you have ever heard some of the "omer friendly" music they are trying to sell in music stores here in Jerusalem, you might just lean over and wretch - an act that I would consider not spiritually exalting. They aren't just bad, they also are upbeat and dancy - just because there are no instruments doesn't mean a song with a good rhythm won't encourage you to get up and dance.

It means that unfortunately, I will not be listening to any funk, disco, or electro for the next 40 days, but uplifting genres like classical, post-rock, ambient, maybe some Bon Iver, these are genres I feel comfortable listening to. I'm still deciding which category jazz falls into - I would love to hear some opinions on the matter.

Thanks so much to Rabbi Chaim Brovender at the WebYeshiva for bringing these sources to my attention: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKjYVdH-kAM

Why the western media doesn't seem to care

2011-04-12T04:35:00.004-05:00

These past two weeks have been somewhat difficult for me as I have been watching the political situation escalate between the IDF and Hamas.

Recently there was a terrorist bombing near the central bus station in Jerusalem, at a specific bus stop that I am at more than anyone else I know. Thank G!d I wasn't there but I heard the explosion from my house because it is only a 20 minute walk from my front door.

Then on Thursday a Hamas splinter group fired an anti-tank missile at a school bus, seriously injuring a 16 year old boy. That one bothered me all weekend long as it was hard for me to process such intentional evil. Shooting a katyusha, as terrible as it is, can't be aimed directly at anyone in particular. It shoots in a general direction and they hope it lands somewhere where it causes damage. But firing a short range missile directly at a school bus is a level of immorality that I can't possibly comprehend. Similar to the Fogel murders - I can't imagine someone making the moral calculation to take out a weapon and kill a child.

As I was trying to wrap my head around that kind of evil, I spent Shabbos with my girlfriend's brother in Beer Sheva and I had my first experience with a Red Alert. At around 11:00 a siren went off and we had to run into the bomb shelter because a rocket was being fired towards Beer Sheva. Thank G!d the Iron Dome is online - it shot the rocket down while it was en route, but we heard the explosion. What an awful and unique sound it is to hear an explosion from a weapon that was violently directed towards you. I heard two this month.

In order to help me absorb these questions I have been having as of late, I spent some time perusing different news websites to see who posted about the rocket fired at the school bus last week and to see how it was interpreted by the western media. I found that some had no mention of it whatsoever (the Guardian) and others mentioned it only in the context of Hamas responding to it by calling a ceasefire (the BBC, the New York Times), where the actual event of shooting the school bus was a minor part of the article. This made me pretty upset because in contrast, whenever the IDF strikes a target in Gaza or when the Israeli government permits more housing units to be built in the West Bank, it is heard all over the world. (Disclosure: I am also against building in the West Bank, but I think it should be clear to anyone with rational facilities that firing an anti-tank missile at a school bus is far more morally reprehensible than unilaterally building on contested land).

My difficulty with the one-sidedness of western media led me to a conclusion about why they choose to report only one side of the conflict: it is a way of trying to reconcile their own regrettable history by projecting their guilt into blame on another western nation.

All of the news stations that the western world relies on comes from countries with colonial pasts - USA, England, France, etc. Now that we live in the seemingly post-colonial age, the progressives of those countries do their best to fight what they see as colonial paradigms around the world (a powerful western nation beating on a developing non-western nation) - the best example of which is Israel and Palestine. In their eyes, Western nations are held responsible for their actions because they are enlightened nations that represent democracy, human rights, free speech, etc. but an Arab nation cannot really be held accountable as they are not western and don't hold by the same values as us. Thus when a Palestinian does an act of terror that is deemed immoral by western values, it can be brushed off as not news since we cannot assume that Arabs hold humanistic ethics similar to us and therefore it is not important to cry out to the world about that act. But if a democratic, educated, western nation does an act that even slightly goes against the morals of western society, they can be blamed for it as we hold them to the same standard as every other western nation. So when the IDF kills Palestinian civilians as collateral damage who are being used as human shields to defend terrorist targets, the western world can supposedly rightfully blame Israel for not holding the highest standards of human rights and doing everything they possibly could to avoid those casualties as a technologically advanced western nation who is morally accountable for their actions.

But in fact what is actually going on in the minds of these western nations is aderaba. The reality as I see it is that this mentality of western nations claiming to be post-colonial are in fact guilty of the exact colonialist mindset that they are claiming to be fighting.

A true postmodern political scientist would claim that value for human life can be found in all nations and does not necessarily come from western intellectualism. In fact it can even be argued that there are some situations where the west was ethically less concerned with human rights than other non-western nations. By claiming that one nation is a beacon of intellectual ethics and the other is uncivilized is a textbook definition of colonialism.

So when the western media does not report on a moral attrocity caused by an Arab, they are basically saying: "These animals can't be expected to understand our moral and intellectual tradition, they are just barbarians who can't be blamed for their amoral tribalist ways." If we were living in a different era, the next step would be to baptize them or to occupy them in order to force democracy on them. I guess nowadays we support them by assuming their "barbaric nature" and by condemning militaristic responses to it.

Therefore, when the western media covers immoral actions by Israel and ignores even worse actions by the other side, they are projecting their own guilt at failing to be post-colonialist onto another western nation. Why deal with your own problems when you can place them on someone else? They claim to be post-colonialist because they are supporting the underdog, but the rationale for their support is grounded in colonialist rhetoric. If they held both sides equally accountable for human rights abuses and breaking international laws of war, then they would be acting philosophically consistent with the political ideology that they claim to uphold. But unfortunately, it seems that colonialism has shifted from trying to save the barbaric nations to assuming their barbarism and only holding other western nations accountable.

The Scientific Dilemma of Modeh Ani

2011-01-30T11:39:00.005-06:00

Lately I've been reading a lot of Rabbi Nosson Slifkin's blog: Rationalist Judaism. He's the Zoo Rabbi who got put in cherem by the Lithuanian Haredi community for saying such controversial things as "the world is older than 6000 years" and "science has disproven spontaneous generation." But he writes a great blog where he discusses the scientific opinions of Chazal and whether or we should take a literal approach to those views when they contradict modern scientific findings, and he also writes really intelligent critiques of anti-rationalist rabbis.

Here's an email I wrote to him with a rationalistic halachic problem that started to bounce around in my head after reading his blog, along with my not so rationalistic solution:

"Dear Rabbi Slifkin,

I've been subscribing to your blog for a couple weeks now, and hearing your opinion about how Chazal was wrong in their understanding of certain aspects of biology and astronomy raised a question in my head about the halachot related to waking up in the morning.

I was taught that the reason we wash our hands in the morning and say a bracha on awakening and having our souls returned to us was because sleep is so closely related to death that just as you are teuma when you go near a corpse, you are also teuma when you go to sleep. Thus we wash our hands when we wake up just like we wash our hands when we leave a cemetery.

But scientifically, as I understand it, sleep is not at all related to death. No one simply passes away in their sleep. An old person dies in their sleep because of medical complications or organ failure, they don't simply pass away for no reason or because their souls did not return to them. Similarly, when I go to sleep at night, I don't actually believe that I won't wake up the next morning. Of course external forces could cause me to die in my sleep (an intruder, a natural disaster), but nothing in the way I think Chazal traditionally understood it.

Therefore, can the argument be made that Chazal held the worldview similar to other nations that sleep actually was a form of death, and that they were mistaken in that claim? If so, would that have any ramifications for the halachot of awakening such as washing hands or saying birkot hashachar?

Additionally, what would your opinion be on using Hume's Problem of Induction as a solution to this problem? The Problem of Induction states that causality is not explained through reason but actually induction, and that the effect of a cause can only be explained by referring to other occurrences of that effect, which never justify each individual effect. For example: When you drop an egg at a high altitude, you know that that egg will break not because of the elasticity of the shell reacting to gravity and the hardness of the ground, rather you believe it will break because you have seen other eggs break in the past in a similar way. Therefore you cannot actually know that an egg will break before you drop it; it is only after the egg has already broken that you can claim that it broke because of scientific properties - science can only explain the broken egg a posteriori, whereas Hume argues that a priori, reason has no weight on the fragility of that egg.

Applied to waking up in the morning, this modern philosophical problem can give a possible solution to the issue of dying in your sleep. Though modern science would claim that there is no reason you should not wake up the next morning, the Problem of Induction states that just because I woke up the previous day and all days before that does not necessitate that the next day I will wake up. So the brachot still stand because every day I can still thank G-d for waking up in the morning, as one can never empirically know that he will wake up the next day.

What is your opinion on applying the Problem of Induction to Chazal if they were mistaken about the nature of sleep while still subscribing to the halachot that they required? Do you think it's a practical solution or is it misguided? As a self-described rationalist, you probably disagree with the Empiricist school of thought, of which Hume was a proponent, but I am interested in hearing your response since I respect your opinion a lot and I really enjoy reading your thoughts.

Thanks so much,

Eric Salitsky"

UPDATE:

Rabbi Slifkin responded to me with this link (and as I imagined, he was not into the inference solution):

Netilat Yadayim: Ritual of Crisis or Dedication? (PDF)

My Anticlimactic Arrival

2010-12-27T20:14:00.002-06:00

I wanted for a while to sit down and write out the story of my arrival in Israel as an oleh chadash because I think it comically embodies the philosophy and motivations behind my aliyah as opposed to the standard narrative.

The standard narrative would have been taking one of those Nefesh B’Nefesh charter flights, which I chose not to do. The pshat of the matter is that the flight was two weeks before my ulpan program started and they weren’t allowing me to move into the absorption center early. I didn’t have anyone close enough that I would feel comfortable asking them to crash on their couch for two weeks and I was not interested in living out of a hostel with my entire life packed into three enormous suitcases.

But the deeper reason that I didn’t want to participate on the charter flight is because I’m not really so into the whole flag-waving, ground-kissing, soldier-hugging, two-thousand-years-yearning, “this was the most important decision of your life” crying-while-singing-hatikvah thing. No disrespect for it – I mean it sounds like it was an amazing experience for those that subscribe to it (and full disclosure: I have choked up once during hatikvah), I just couldn’t see myself running down the steps of the airplane with an Israeli flag/cape waving behind me to get a bracha from the Sharansky rebbe.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Israel. I made aliyah for gosh darn sake, and not just for the benefits (although the free flight, money, and grad school don’t hurt), I’m just not a very openly patriotic guy. I’ll put it this way – I don’t own anything with a Wisconsin emblem on it, I never went to a Badgers game, and my high school American history class was supplemented with a sprinkling of Howard Zinn. But I still love my alma mater and the country I grew up in.

I made aliyah because I love what Israel is and I love the potential that it has, but I try not to have any outdated romanticized ideas about it. I didn’t come here to live on a kibbutz, pick oranges, and dance around an olive grove while singing Hafinjan. I came to participate in modern Israeli society – to eat at kosher vegan restaurants, to fight for minority rights, to celebrate Hanukkah at my Capoeira class, to go crazy in Goa after my army service (okay that last one is tentative considering I’m only doing six months and not combat). All in all – I’m not a post-Zionist but I’m definitely not a traditional Zionist. Which is why I feel that my anticlimactic arrival in Ben Gurion airport is much more representative of modern day Israel that the ra-ra-ra arrival of almost everyone else.

I didn’t know anyone on my flight. I was supposed to fly with Tammy a day earlier but my connecting flight was cancelled and there is only one United flight a day from JFK. And because I was rebooked, I didn’t get the revered window seat so I didn’t get a nice view of Tel Aviv.
When the plane landed, I walked through the normal flight gate to get to the terminal since in modern day airports people don’t get let off onto the tarmac. But oh did I strut through that plastic tunnel. No one else knew but me but I was about to be crowned an Israeli citizen, with a temporary Israeli passport as my scepter and 800 shekels in cash as my royal treasury.
When I arrived at customs, I stood there for a bit, a little confused. I couldn’t go in the foreign passport aisle because I was expecting to get an Israeli passport, but I couldn’t go into the Israeli passport aisle because I hadn’t received it yet. I was expecting that at least somebody would be there to greet me, shake my hand, congratulate me, and help me through the process, but I looked around and no one was there (probably related to missing my original flight). I finally found a dusty old phone on a wall near the bathrooms with a sign above it that read “Direct to Misrad Hapnim” and a woman with a thick Russian accent picked up.

“Chello?”

“Um… My name is Eric… I just made aliyah?”

“What you do?”

“Oleh Chadash?”

“OK I come down.”

I waited a couple minutes and then a big fat barely Jewish looking lady waddled over to me from the elevator down the hall. She was wearing a blue uniform and nametag and an expression of irritability and ennui.

“You make aliyah?”

“Yes that’s me.”

“You come with me.”

We walked back over to the elevator that she came from and she hit the button for two floors up. I remember that elevator ride taking forever as I awkwardly stood there listening to this chubby bureaucrat’s heavy breathing. When we finally reached the office she gave me no more instructions other than to sit down in the waiting room as she disappeared into her tiny office to push more papers.

I sat in an uncomfortable couch facing a coffee table with no “Welcome to Israel” pamphlets or “Aerial Views of Israel” coffee table books on it. Beside me was a similar couch with another Russian woman sitting in it watching Russian television on the flatscreen across from me. I don’t think she was actually in that office for any other reason than to watch her teledramas about Svatya Shtolkyasmolenskysomething’s turbulent ballet career and immanent drug problem, because I didn’t see her move from that spot the whole time I was there, and I was there for a long time. And then there were some fake plastic houseplants and a little Nescafe station in the corner.

After waiting about an hour and watching a cute old Venezuelan couple get greeted by their orthodox daughter and her husband, a portly Sephardi man came out of door number two and sat me down at his desk. We worked through some paperwork and finally there were some moments where I got the Herzl butterflies in my belly. I got to choose the Hebrew spelling of my name, he took my pictures and handed me my official aliyah documentation, and I was escorted to get my free ride to Jerusalem which I shared with other members from my ulpan.

I can’t say it was a bad experience because while there were moments of boredom and confusion, I was ultimately amused by the whole situation. Dealing with Israeli bureaucracy has become somewhat of a staple of my aliyah experience, and furthermore, I got what I asked for by choosing not to take the charter flight. It didn’t have all the hype and excitement that it could have had, but at least I can say that it was genuine.

Post-Modern Orthodoxy: Who's With Me!?

2010-02-03T00:35:00.005-06:00

I haven't been writing so much in this blog because I'm starting to see personal blogging as narcissistic and masturbatory. Who really cares what my opinion is on Israeli politics or the state of Judaism? Lately I found good use for this blog: it worked somewhat as a travel blog to record my experiences, though I had rare occasions with the internet, and it's also a good place to post my philosophical cartoons (more to come!). But I figure, I can also use this space to ramble about my thoughts and dreams so that I can have it written out and refer to it later. If someone finds it and is interested, great for them, but as of now it is mostly for me.

That being said, whoever is reading this is about to partake on a journey into my utopian vision of Judaism, a new sect which I am creating known as Post-Modern Orthodoxy!
In its most basic pshat, its just a silly play on words which means that all laws are subjective depending on who is reading into them, just as post-modern art is based in the personal interpretation of the viewer rather than the message that the artist is trying to convey.

But on a deeper level, I have many issues with the hierarchical and sectarian nature of modern Judaism which I have been trying to grapple with. I used to call myself Orthodox because of the standards that I tried to uphold, but once I started reading too many existentialist thinkers, I had problems seeing everything as objectively as an Orthodox Jew is meant to. During my encounters with progressive pluralist synagogues that challenged the standard norms of where and how each sect is supposed to pray such as Shira Hadasha, the Mission Minyan, and the Open Orthodoxy Movement, I started to think about what "Orthodoxy" meant. I decided that there are many assumptions and associations that people make about Orthodox people that I did not fit into, and I didn't like how people were categorized based on their system of belief. These progressive minyanim challenge the boundaries between sects and break down the differences between them. Why does it matter to conform to the ideology of a specific group-thinking that is mostly outdated anyways? No Conservative Jew actually believes in the power of the Rabbinic Assembly to contemporize Halachah, they do it themselves, and no Reform Jew studies enough text to actually be able to actually decide what is relevant and what is not. Even Orthodox Jews are no long reacting to liberal Judaism (at least those who are self-confident about their lifestyle or who aren't campaigning against the "Holocaust of Intermarriage").

More important than segmented affiliationism, in this day and age, is finding a spirituality that is right for you. Rather than looking to the past to figure out where one nicely fits into the puzzle, one must look to their peers in the present and decide how their community should work for them. If there are women who want to be counted in the minyan, the community should figure out how to include them. And if there are men who feel uncomfortable hearing women sing, they should also be accounted for. There are no unsurmountable Halachic standards in Post-Modern Orthodoxy, because people should not be forced to conform to a system they don't believe in. On the other hand, PMO does not throw out tradition like other denominations do. Rather than working with nothing and adding on what they feel comfortable with, as Reform Jews do, PMO Jews begin with everything and work as a community to decide what and how they should alter. That is the "Orthodox" part of PMO. This involves a lot of study with the help of every member of the community, in the same way that an Orthodox community spends a lot of time in the Beit Midrash, thus making intensive study an important part of Jewish life as it has for thousands of years. Ideally, this will result in a range of religious practice that includes an egalitarian halachic community such as Shira Hadasha as well as a more liberal pluralistic community that caters to its halachic members such as the Mission Minyan. These communities will be pluralistic, all-inclusive, and non-judgemental.

Sure, they will involve a lot of internal debate, but isn't that what Judaism is all about?

Religious Dialogue as a Method for Peace in the Middle East

2009-10-28T16:14:00.005-05:00

cross-posted here from a live-blogging session at the J Street Conference on jewcy.com

Along with plenty of student bloggers at the J Street conference, I've been blown away by the excitement and the empowerment that has come out of it.

I stopped by the Jewcy booth on my way out of a breakout session on religious dialogue and was roped into sitting down and posting (although it didn't take much effort to convince me).

The panel had a prominent representative from each Abrahamic faith, all talking about how although the Israel-Palestine conflict is not inherently a religious conflict (its based in territorial and ethnic differences), religion plays a huge part in furthering differences, but it can be used to work towards peace.

One of the things that stuck with me is some of the comments that Salam Al-Marayati, the executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said. Earlier in the day, a friend of mine had said that she was concerned that while many people had been talking about Israel's faults and mistakes, no one had been rebuking the Palestinians for the rocket-fire into Sderot and for extremist rhetoric coming from Hamas. This can easily lead to a criticism of the conference for being blindly left-leaning and ignoring some of the important issues that Israelis deal with.

But what resonated with me about this panel was that Al-Murayati, the only Muslim speaker at the conference that I know of, was the most vocal in criticizing members of his own faith for their immoral actions.

This creates a critical message that I believe this conference is bringing to the Israel-Palestine debate. I fear imperialism and I fear people who impose their views on other cultures and ethnicities. One of my main criticisms of the established right-leaning pro-Israel lobby is that they rebuke Palestinians for everything they do, but see Israel as flawless and with a clean slate. But to hear Jews criticizing Jews and Muslims criticizing Muslims is to me an essential part of our individual faiths. Just as in Isaiah we have the quote, "Justice, justice you shall pursue," Al-Murayati also quoted the Koran saying (and I apologize if I vehemently misquote and paraphrase) "Oh you believers, you must promote justice even if it is against your own people and communities" and "One human life is more important than the entire Kabbah."

This is a voice that needs to be heard and publicized, especially throughout the political right, who seem to ignore it. We have an ethical responsibility to criticize ourselves and to allow space for other groups to make their own personal criticisms.

This conference is the beginning of a new movement in leftwing pro israel, pro peace, politics and to see a religious element that supports it is really awesome to see, considering my own religious background.

Plato comic

2009-10-20T22:35:00.004-05:00

Heres my new comic, thanks to Hadas DeGroot for the inspiration!

My Comix!

2009-09-15T20:55:00.005-05:00

Here are two comics that I made satirizing dead philosophers. I came up with them in my philosophy class and then it quickly turned into a project. Enjoy!

Jew-dapest

2009-05-03T10:52:00.003-05:00

Just got back from Budapest and I have to admit - I was really impressed especially with the modern Jewish culture that surprised me with its existence. I never really had a desire to go to Budapest, it just happens to be a large city in proximity to Prague that is perfect for a cheap weekend trip, but after coming back I am definitely glad I went.

Before I arrived, I had learned a little bit about the history of the Jews in Hungary. Because of its relative distance from Germany and the status of many of the Jews in public affairs, they didn't receive as hard of a blow from the Nazis as other countries (e.g. the sheer amount of Satmar Hassidim who survived), although many were sent to concentration camps by the Arrow Cross Party, the Hungarian equivalent to the Nazi party. Currently, there are around 80,000 Jews in Budapest, the largest Jewish community in Eastern Europe. That huge number is due mostly to the Nazis late arrival in Hungary and the Hungarian government's policy during WWII where they preferred to ship off Jews from the countryside when the Nazis demanded them rather than city Jews who were valuable to the Hungarian economy.

While walking around the city, the Jewish culture was not so apparent except for the tourist attractions, something I have gotten used to in Prague (The Dohany Synagogue, pictured above, is the largest synagogue in Europe, 2nd largest in the world, and Neolog in its philosophy - an early European version of Conservative). It was nice to see a couple kosher restaurants, but I figured that the situation with the Jewish community was similar to that of communities in other post-Communist countries: Spiritually decimated by Stalinism, constant fear of antisemitism, and unwelcoming to others (even Jews) based in their difficult history. I soon found out that this is not necessarily the case.

While walking around the hip, young area of Budapest, formerly the Jewish ghetto, looking for hipster bars, we happened across a chill Bohemian art bar called Siraly that we had noticed earlier. We bought some beers, climbed up the spiral staircase, and sat on some couches in somewhat of a film library with a projector screen. Looking around the room, we noticed that there were framed blown-up photographs of Jewish interest: Yiddish culture, bearded rabbis, etc. Intrigued, I wandered around to see what else I could discover. I soon found canvasses with embroidered Hebrew on them, flyers for a Jewish film festival that was currently happening, and a pamphlet for a 4 day Jewish music festival that happens every summer. Then, to make things even better, I went into the basement to find the bathroom and happened across this unbelievable free-jazz show (free like improv not free like money, although it was free) with this amazing saxophonist and an out of control xylophonist and watched that for a while.

It just keeps getting better and better right? So as we're on our way out, I stop and ask the bartender, "so what's the deal? is this the hipster Jewish hangout?" and in response, two young guys come over from behind the bar and start speaking to me in Hebrew. I guess that was a yes. They start telling me how, while its true that there are a lot of uninvolved Jews, and that there is still visible antisemitism in Budapest, there is a thriving modern areligious community (complete with a secular Jewish high school, one of three) similar to what you would find in Brooklyn or San Franicisco. Turns out one of them is the guitarist for a funky Hebrew hiphop band called Hagesher and they told me that they could show us the hip Jewish sights. Unfortunately, we had to leave early the next morning but it is definitely a place I will have to come back to. He told me to check out the two main Jewish-hipsters-in-Budapest sights, Judapest (who calls Siraly the "non-official Jewish urban place") and Marom. After experiencing that unparalleled level of hasgacha pratit, I decided that this is definitely not my last time in Budapest.

pictures!

2009-04-08T03:28:00.003-05:00

Sorry I haven't been posting but I DON'T HAVE INTERNET and I probably never will.

Anyways, I figured out that Picasa is much better than Flickr because I have a whole gig to fill up and they upload real fast. Thanks G-d for google/gmail.

So here is the new link - http://picasaweb.google.com/Eric.Salitsky

All my pictures from this trip so far are uploaded, so enjoy!
I also made a new link at the top so you can use that to quickly check to see when i post more photos. Hopefully there will be some good ones after the weekend when I get back from BERLIN.

I'll post a real post again soon, I promise!

This is too good to be true

2009-02-19T10:32:00.005-06:00

Somehow, the Miami Boys Choir, along with the legendary Jewish summer camp "Israeli" dance choreography, made it to China. This is just too much.

I know this dance well enough to vouch that they are doing it perfectly. One of them must have been on rikud staff at Camp Ramah.

Weekend to Karlovy Vary

2009-02-16T08:56:00.004-06:00

Thought I would update on what's been going on lately.

Classes started officially last week and they're all very interesting albeit a very different teaching style. Besides for Czech, I'm taking Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought, taught by a former Jesuit Priest; History of the Jews in Bohemia, taught by Rabbi Ron Hoffberg, the only non-Orthodox rabbi in the Czech Republic and leader of the Prague Conservative community; Circulating with the Modern Cinematic Image, basically an intro to European film studies - it's being taught at FAMU, a very prestigious film school in Prague; and Contemporary Culture and Alternative Lifestyles in the Czech Republic, taught by Pavla Johannson, a scholar in sociology and former member of a very popular Czech new wave band in the 80's.

Last weekend I went with Leili, Mich, and Brendon to the small city of Karlovy Vary AKA Carlsbad. It's kind of a touristy spa town known for its hot springs and it's also the birthplace of the famous Czech drink that tastes like Christmas, Becherovka. Throughout the town there are all these water spouts that pump out steamy metallic water that is apparently very good for you. Everyone carries around these strange looking cups and sips on the water all day. We called it our "old person weekend" because we spent the whole time eating, drinking wine, hanging out in the sauna, getting a tour of the Becherovka factory in Czech surrounded by the elderly, relaxing, and getting very cheap massages.

Saturday night I got to see Islands in Prague. That was cool. It's not too often you get to see some indie shows in Europe and that is a band I would have definitely saw even if I was in America. It was a great show.

Yesterday I went with Brandon and Lauren to the last movie of the Shockproof Movie Festival. It was basically a slasher festival but they had some cool exceptions like Visitor Q by Takashi Miike (which I had already seen). We saw this ridiculous 70s exploitation film from Sweden called Thriller - They Call Her One Eye which was unbelievable. The plot didn't matter, the special effects were ridiculous, EVERY death was in slowmotion, all the sex was pornographic, and the main character saws off her own shotgun to go out and kill everyone that ruined her life. It was awesome. Apparently it was one of Quentin Tarantino's influences for Kill Bill.

Anyways, life is great here. It's been snowing pretty hardcore the past week. Tonight I'm going to see what Capoeira is like here so hopefully I won't get my ass kicked for not speaking Czech and for belonging to a different group. Wish me luck.

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah

2009-02-11T17:17:00.001-06:00

Kutna Hora + Bone Church picture post

2009-02-08T18:47:00.001-06:00

Here are pictures from my excursion last week to the medieval silvermining town of Kutna Hora, along with a church made out of human bones. This country is so metalcore.

One Quick Blog About Israel

2009-02-08T18:16:00.007-06:00

I know this is supposed to be a travel blog now, but I can't resist talking about Israeli politics a little bit.

Here are two really interesting articles about Arab Israelis protesting against anti-Arab politics in the Knesset (specifically Avigdor Lieberman, leader of Yisrael Beitenu). The first is here on Ynet and the other is a video from the Guardian.

It is disturbing for me when I see people who hold racist policies in high regard in Israeli politics (or any politics for that matter). Lieberman has shamelessly said on many occasions that he wants to forcefully transfer all Arabs outside of Israel. He is also trying to get all Arab political parties banned from running in the upcoming elections on accounts that they are racist. This is pure Kahanism at its best, and that scares me. It's that type of anger that fuels violence and close-mindedness.

If Baruch Goldstein were still alive, he would vote for Yisrael Beitenu, and wherever Baruch Goldstein's politics lie, I stay far far away. How about instead of ousting an entire ethnicity from your country, warmongering in the process, why don't you actually address the issues and figure out how to improve your current situation? How about working with Israeli Arabs instead of ostracizing them? Seeing how much media attention Lieberman's been getting, I'm a bit nervous about the upcoming Israeli elections.

But I am excited to see how the Holocaust Survivors & Grown Up Green Leaf Party does. Yeah, that's right, its the name of a coalition formed by two parties that could not be any more different from each other. If they get even one seat, I will be the happiest man alive. Their platform is so random that I first thought it was a joke. Why don't all parties start combining in order to get more seats? How about the Communist party and the National Religious party? Or Shas and the environmentalist Party?

UPDATE: I spoke too soon... click here.

Music and Communism

2009-02-04T11:05:00.005-06:00

Unlike the picture from my first post, this one I actually took

There are a lot of peculiar things that go on in the Czech Republic that don't make any sense to me. Like the type of music that is popular over here. My brain does not comprehend.

Of course there is the standard European obsession over shitty techno and self-destructive divas, but the vast majority of the radiowaves seem to be playing one huge bar mitzvah mixtape circa late 90s. No joke, multiple people have commented on it and we've been trying to figure out why it's like that.

Obviously there are no fifteen minute horas or Debbie Friedmans on the radio, but I can't tell you how many times I've heard the Macarena, the Locomotion, and yes, it's true, the Cotton Eyed Joe. How did the Cotton Eyed Joe travel all the way to the Czech Republic and how is it still popular?!

This phenomenon doesn't only concern songs with cheesy choreographed dances either. Last week I was at the fabled four story club, and I heard DMX not once, but twice in the same night. You know which song I'm talking about: "Ya'll gonna make me lose my mind, up in here, up in here." It was shocking enough the first time it came on, but the second time was too much.

As with all Czech peculiarities, I'm going to blame this on Communism. The Soviets only left in '89 so the Czechs have been quickly adapting to a proper democracy and globalization. That abrupt change has led to some awkward adjustments and the Communist undertones and still very apparent.

Considering that music was very censored during forty years of Soviet occupation, Czechs didn't have access to shitty music, unless it was given special permission from Stalin. So my theory is that they have been slowly catching up to the rest of the world in terms of pop culture, and that seems apparent to me when I hear "Barbie Girl" in the supermarket, Eiffel 65 on the subway, and Sixpence None the Richer at the club.

Picture Post

2009-01-31T11:27:00.005-06:00

By request, I'm putting up my first picture post. It consists of 2 different sets of pictures -
The first is from my trip to the Torture Museum, an obvious tourist trap that got me all excited. It wasn't as extravagant as I had expected, but what they lacked in quality they made up for in brutality and one terrible translator with a dry sense of humor.

The next set is pictures from around Prague, including Vysehrad, one of the oldest parts of Prague and also the location of the CIEE study center and most of my classes.

Shabbat Praha

2009-01-27T14:40:00.002-06:00

On Shabbas I checked out the Jewish community. At around 3 on Sayurday I headed over to the Jewish quarter and just wandered around, looking at all the beautiful synagogues. It’s crazy to think that the only reason these synagogues are so well preserved is because Hitler was saving them for his Jewish museum after he finished the job. I found the famous one with the golem in it and figured there would probably be mincha so I talked to the guard at the entrance. He was very unfriendly and spoke no English but it seemed apparent that his job was to keep tourists out on Shabbat. So I had a little argument with him, trying to prove to him that I just wanted to go pray, and this British guy told me that he wasn’t going to let people in for a couple minutes. So he showed me around the Jewish quarter, he showed me where the Chabad is and where the kosher restaurant is. He’s one of those Aish miracles who goes to Israel for a week, flips out, and stays in yeshiva for 2 years. He works at the British version of the Discovery channel and he’s in Prague filming for a little while. After services we went to the Jewish community center for Seudah Shlishit which was around the corner and I had a really nice time. There were a bunch of Israelis and Americans, the rabbi was cool and lives on my street, and the Czech ladies were hot.

I’m pumped to spend more time with this community. Shabbas morning services are at the Jerusalem synagogue, the most beautiful synagogue I’ve ever seen and it’s a block from my house. I also hope that I get a volunteer placement working in the Jewish community. There’s a Jewish school that I would love to work at. I added it in on my volunteering application and Jana, the lady in charge of that, told me they were going to work on it. One of the main reasons I’m here in Prague is to get to know what modern European Judaism is like. Is it growing or dying? How much of the Jewish culture is based in thousands of years of history and how much of it is just imported from America or Israel? I wanna set up a Shabbas meal for Mich and Leili and me with the rabbi. He lives like two doors down. Maybe I’ll wait until a know a little more Czech though. Tomorrow I finally start my intensive Czech classes which go on for two weeks before we start real classes. I’ll finally be able to say more than thank you, hello, and two beers please.

Bein Hashmashot becomes a travel blog (for now)

2009-01-23T07:53:00.003-06:00

Since I am now living Prague for the semester, I think that I will be using this blog as a travel journal so that people can check up on me if they are interested. I will try to stay up to date with Israeli politics on whatever else I’ve been writing about but I haven’t posted in a while anyways so I figured this would be a good way to keep in touch without sending out those annoying 5 page emails to everyone I know.

Yesterday I was sitting near the front of the tram with my roommate Dan, and seated in front of us was a blind, frail man in poor health probably in his late seventies. He had bandages over his eyes and sunglasses in front of those, he had a seeing-eye dog, and used metal crutches as it looked like he had some issues walking as well. He wore a bright yellow parka and a violin slung behind his back, possibly for street performing. He sat there peacefully moving his head around, humming softly to himself, and occasionally twitching mildly. As I watched this man, I kept looking back and forth from this man to the corporate chains that we were passing. As I noticed the Sony, the KFC, and the McDonald’s I began to think about how much Prague has changed during his lifetime and how he may be completely oblivious to it. He lived through Hitler’s occupation of the Czech Republic, he felt the communist control after that for 40 years, he was there for the Velvet Revolution in the late 80s, and he is surrounded by the modern capitalist mentality that has boosted the country’s economy yet permanently altered the culture. He probably has his route that he has taken every day for many years and the sudden changing aesthetic of the city may be beyond him. I felt bad thinking about that, and I started to think about how this new zeitgeist for the city is somewhat my fault as an American. Who knows if he prefers capitalism to communism, it may not make any difference at all to him as a sickly street musician, but I felt like I owed him some sort of obligation.

As he arrived towards his stop he began to stand up with the help of his crutches and he called out behind him in Czech. I don’t speak a word of Czech so it meant nothing to me, but in my head, I translated what he said as, “Youth! Can someone please give me a hand?” I looked over at Dan and saw that he was thinking that same thing as me, but none of the Czech people behind me were doing anything. The bus began to get a little bumpy as it took a sharp turn and I saw the man struggle to stay up on his crutches while he called out again behind him. I looked back at the Czechs again and saw that they were looking at me. They may have been staring at me as everyone has for just being American but I interpreted that look as, “It’s your move.” I then stood up and put my hand on his arm to let him know that I was there if he wanted my help. He said something to me in Czech which was either telling me to help him down the stairs or yelling at me to get off him. Since I had no idea what he said, I held him tighter and thought to myself, “This is my task, I have to finish it.”

When the tram came to a stop, I carefully supported his arm as he slowly made his way down. As he finished stepping off the tram he repeated “děkuji” (thank you – the only word I know) multiple times but as he overcame the last stair he turned around to look at me and said it louder. I don’t know if he wanted to emphasize his gratefulness or if I had irritated him by taking pity on him, but either way, getting looked in the face by a blind man is somewhat of a haunting feeling. As I sat back down, the entire tram was quiet and I wondered if what I did was right, and if the Czech people behind me thought I was an idiot or a good man. It didn’t seem to matter at that point because the deed was done, but the image of man’s face was implanted in my mind along with the added layer of my uncertainty at his motives for “looking” at me like that. I can see his scraggly white beard, impenetrable sunglasses, and furrowed brow very clearly in my mind and will continue to think about it until it gets overlaid with even more fascinating experiences.

Some of those include Leili forcing me to run through a street mall in order to get to a Beatles cover band show because it was too good to miss even a second of it. She was right.

Or tonight when Michael, my Czech roommate, brought us to a teahouse with floor pillows, hookah, tapestry-laiden cave alcoves and New-Agey medieval music. It felt like we were all hobbits being beckoned to return to the Shire.

On another note, tomorrow is going to be my first Shabbat in Prague. My program set up all the really Jewey kids in the center of town, a block away from the Jerusalem Synagogue, the most beautiful synagogue I’ve ever seen in my life. So that’s a plus. I will definitely go check that out. But I’m trying to decide if I’m going to start breaking Shabbat this semester. I don’t see how I can’t. What would I do, sit at home by myself all day. Even parts of the program are on Shabbat. If I want to have the best experience, I have to leave my safety zone, and unfortunately, that means I might have to leave my jewish zone at some points as well. I will at least make certain rules for myself like – I won’t do actual work or I won’t use my phone or computer. We’ll see how G-d feels about this in the afterlife but for now this decision is for myself and I think it’s the best one.

Vic Thrill and Curly Oxide

2008-12-15T02:04:00.005-06:00

I just discovered this amazing story about a hipster glam-rocker from Williamsburg who meets a rebellious Satmar Hassid from down the street and they start a band together.

NPR's This American Life has a really interesting story about it from 2005 which is a hell of a listen. (It starts 6 minutes in) Apparently, Tina Fey heard this episode and it inspired her to write a script for a movie about it which will be coming out in 2009. Lorne Michaels is producing it (so we can expect to see some SNL cameos) and Sacha Baron Cohen is playing Curly Oxide, the hasid.

Here's a sample of what they sound like. It's pretty cool, and this movie is gonna be awesome:

Proposition 8 - The Musical!

2008-12-03T13:40:00.000-06:00

What a cast!

After Win, Obama Supporters Find They Have No Other Reason to Live

2008-11-14T12:09:00.000-06:00

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Fear of B.B.

2008-11-11T14:46:00.004-06:00

B.B. ready to give a knockout to negotiations

I just read in the JTA today that Benjamin Netanyahu made a statement that if he were to be elected in Israel's upcoming election, he would "halt" negotiations with the Palestinians.
Personally, I was scared enough of B.B. already with his hawkish views and his not so great legacy as prime minister, but now I have proof that electing him will result in more of the same: warmongering, close-mindedness, and occupation.

When Tzipi Livni failed to build a coalition two weeks ago, Netanyahu was ahead in the polls, and I was worried that he had a good chance of taking office. Now it seems that the Livni is actually pushing ahead, although the race is still tight.

If we can see change actuallized in Washington, hopefully we can see it in Jerusalem as well.

CHANGE for next 4 years! Or 8 years! Or infinity!

2008-11-05T23:07:00.002-06:00

WOOOOO! We did it! We won!
Any by a landslide. Not only did Obama win a large majority of the national vote, he won 78% of the Jewish vote, and 95% of the black vote! (Watch this great video of Cornel West's personal take on Obama's win)

And on another totally awesome level, today Obama announced that he is choosing Rahm Emanuel to be Chief of Staff. How cool is that?
He was senior adviser to Bill Clinton, he has a lot of experience in congress, he is very focused on having peace and stability in Israel and Palestine, holds a liberal arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College, he served in the IDF, he belongs to an Orthodox synagogue in Chicago, he was a gifted ballet dancer in his youth, his father was in the Irgun, and his brother is a talent agent in LA and inspiration for Jeremy Piven's character on Entourage.
Also, he's fucking crazy and I love it.
Some examples: He once mailed a rotting fish to a former coworker after the two "parted ways"; at the celebratory dinner after Clinton won the '96 election, he threatened all of Bill's enemies with a steak knife; when Clinton was dealing with the Lewinsky affair, Rahm apparently dropped an f-bomb on Tony Blair; ending a phone call to a candidate, he's quoted saying, "Don’t fuck it up or I’ll fuck you. I’ll kill you. All right, I love you. Bye."
Sounds like Ari Gold to me.
And he justifies it as well: “In my house, when you say ‘fuck you,’ it’s a sign of endearment.” “You guys are enamored by my language. That’s not all that I do.” He's also a proven Congressional leader and powerful political strategist.

This next term is gonna be sweet.

More Jewish Animation

2008-10-26T03:38:00.005-05:00

On the topic of awesome Jewish flash videos, this one is a little less Torah study and a little more Torah satire, but its hilarious.
God & Co. is a monthly short animated film from Nextbook that pokes fun of stories from the Torah. They did one about the sacrifice of Isaac and another on the liberation from Egypt and the latest one is about Moses talking to G-d. It's got all the witty awkward comedy and simple animation of Dr. Katz Professional Psychiatrist or Home Movies but its about the Torah!
(I just found out that Jonathan Katz is the main guy in all three of those animated comedies. I should have just assumed there was some connection)

G-dcast Launches!

2008-10-22T22:28:00.003-05:00

Get ready for an awesome year of animated Torah study (besides for the Kabbalah Toons)

G-dcast is the newest project to come out of Sarah Lefton, creator of the now defunct Jewish Fashion Conspiracy. I met her this summer at the Mission Minyan, and I've been pumped for Bereishit since then. These great animated parshas come out every week with a different storyteller and a different animator. It's really exciting, right?

I Love You J-Street

2008-10-10T03:41:00.004-05:00

Of all of the J-Street endorsed candidates, my favorite is Rabbi Dr. Dennis Shulman. He's running for congress in New Jersey's 5th district (the northern border) and he's up against a tough conservative. He's an amazing fellow: blind since childhood, Reform rabbi, clinical psychologist, graduate of Brandeis, and originally from Worcester, MA (represent!). Could he get any cooler?
He also has amazing views on Israel as well as Iran that are about tough diplomacy and peace resolutions.
J-Street just did a fabulous interview with him and it got me really pumped up. Here it is:

Now he would be the right person to SCHLEP down to Florida and convince all the bubbes and zaydies to vote for the shvartze

מה אני נוהג?

2008-10-06T00:15:00.001-05:00

For those of you Hebrew speakers, this is hilarious

Ahmadinejad on the Jews

2008-10-02T16:38:00.004-05:00

Don't get me wrong, this guy is a very dangerous man and I worry for the lives of Israelis with him in power. But it seems like he isn't the lunatic everyone thinks he is. He's making some good points and while some of them I strongly disagree with, others make sense.

As Rabbi Lerner puts it beautifully in Healing Israel/Palestine, the creation of the State of Israel in response to the Holocaust was like Jews jumping out of a burning building and landing in another building that already had occupants. Of course the first reaction of both parties would be to play the "I'm the victim!" game (and we all know how good Jews are at that).

Ahmadinejad has the standard Arab view of Zionism: that it is incompatible with Arab countries, but that doesn't mean that he hates Jews. Unfortunately the two often go hand in hand, but it seems that Ahmadinejad can make that distinction and I respect him at least for that.

The Return of Yigal Amir

2008-10-02T14:42:00.004-05:00

Or did he ever leave?

(I saw this poster in Netanya, Yigal Amir's hometown. It shows a picture of Marwan Barghouti on top and says, "If terrorist murderers can be freed, then why not Yigal and Hagai Amir?")

In case you hadn't heard, anti-occupation professor Ze'ev Sternhell was targeted with a pipe bomb last week by right wing extremist settlers and sustained light injuries (B"H). It has been a while since right wing Israelis have targeted left wing Israelis and it seems to be the return of the Jewish terrorist. Right wing rabbis also also using the same rhetoric to demonize left wing leaders that was being used in '95 which eventually led to Yitzchak Rabin's assassination.
This is a very scary time to be a peacemonger in Israel. Yariv Oppenheimer, general secratary of Peace Now also was sent death threats and was assigned a whole security crew by the police since he might be next.
But something good may come out of it. Today, 150 left wing protesters appeared outside professor Sternhell's house to stand in solidarity against settler violence targeting other Jews. It was a rallying call for everyone who opposes this deterioration of morality and hopefully it was the beginning of a new movement to end settler violence.
Sternhell spoke to the crowd:

"Your presence here demonstrates clearly that we can do this, that we will not live in fear, that we will not be intimidated,"

Professor Naomi Chazin, former Meretz MK and president of the New Israel Fund also said some inspirational words:

"This is the beginning of a civilian uprising, of those who understand that if violence has become the norm – we have become lost. We must fight for the rules of the democratic game because if there is violence within us we can close up shop. This is what happened in other democracies in the past, which fell for this reason, and we must not allow it to happen here."

Also, the connection was made between the current events and the Jewish calender (which seems to be rare at leftist events). Today is the Fast of Gedalia, a date where we mourn for the righteous Jewish governor of Judea who was assassinated by other Jews because of infighting. We fast because this event culminated in the final exile of the rest of the Jews from the Land of Israel because of lack of Ahavat Yisrael. So as Rabbi Gilad Kariv pointed out, the connection between these two events is somewhat eerie.

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

My Father, My King

2008-09-29T15:09:00.003-05:00

I put this video on Jewschool in response to someone posting Phish doing Avinu Malkeinu and I figured I would post it here as well. I think Mogwai does a much better job of expressing the feelings of the high holidays. And not one of them is Jewish!
Shana Tova Umetukah! Have a great sweet new year!

My Rebbe and My Inspiration

2008-09-23T23:19:00.002-05:00

Some uplifting images for Elul

Obamamannerisms

2008-09-22T22:34:00.005-05:00

Today Michelle Obama came and spoke at the University of Wisconsin so I was able to skip class and hear her speak.
She's a fabulous speaker, maybe even better than Barack himself (he says "um" a lot) and she really rallied me up. She loves to talk about how Barack is someone we can relate to, he understands the issues we face because he at one point has had to face them himself. They both come from a working middleclass background and they are living the American dream. That's not really something McCain or his wife (especially) can say. This is exemplified in every aspect of her speech, but I even noticed it in my favorite part of her oratory skills: That her grammar could use a little work.
I think that it's wonderful that she makes some grammatical mistakes (something only my father and I would pick up on, because we're anal like that) because it says a lot about her image. By speaking like a normal American with less-than-perfect English, she is showing us that she is a normal person like anyone else, taking care of her children and paying back her student loans, and that was indeed a talking point in her speech.
Americans are obsessed with having a perfect leader. Why is it that every time something minuscule shows up in a politician's past, it gets exploited by the media? We forget that leaders are people too who make mistakes and feel guilty about them. I remember when people were freaking out that Barack did cocaine. Would it really change your vote if you found out that your nominee experimented in college a little bit? Apparently for some people yes.
Actually, Obama defended it well on 60 Minutes when this whole balagan started. He didn't deny it, he just exclaimed, “It’s not something that I’m proud of, but that’s part of the journey that I’ve taken. I like to think that by letting people know the mistakes I’ve made that maybe young people behind me are looking and saying ‘You know what? This is a guy who made mistakes and he was able to write his life and get on track.’ And that’s I think an important message.”
So Michelle (whether conscious or unconscious of it) has the same message in her speech mannerisms. By choosing not to have a speech coach who encourages flawless grammar, she is in effect saying, "I am a human just as much as everyone else in this country. I am proud of who I am and I will not create a false image of myself."

I also just wanted to post this picture of Barack because he looks badass:

Israeli Mafia Takes Over Recycling Turf

2008-09-14T18:30:00.003-05:00

This is kind of an old story but I just came across it and I think its fascinating and bizarre. Apparently the Israeli mafia has been working to take over the plastic bottle recycling monopoly and the police have been trying to stop them. And they're not doing it for ecological reasons! It's for profit.
This is ridiculous! Israeli has plastic bottle recycling? I've always had so much trouble finding recycling for anything in Israel. Last summer I used to take everything to the back of a supermarket, get yelled at by some sketchy men with beer bellies, get my bottles counted by the cashier after waiting in line for an hour, come back to the scary men and then wait for them to check over my bottles while blowing cigarette smoke in my face. I remember thinking that it was as if Israel wanted to make recycling as hard for me as possible so I would just forget about it and throw it in the trash (which I could never do for ethical reasons, throwing away recycling feels like breaking Shabbat for me).
But now the mafia is taking over? You know, it would be nice if the mafias did take over and made it into a blossoming business but most likely they will continue to launder money and spend it on drugs and firearms instead of recycling campaigns. Stupid mafia.
Hat tip to Green Prophet for the link.

Don't Forget Teshuva

2008-09-10T15:54:00.005-05:00

Yesterday, Rabbi Avi Finegold wrote a very nice editorial in The Jew and the Carrot about Agriprocessors that I am starting to agree with.
I was very fiery about this issue after reading allegation after allegation on how terrible that place is. It was their corrupt slaughtering practices that led me to become a vegetarian. I am still very concerned about what is going on behind the doors at Agriprocessors (and all kosher slaughterhouses for that matter) and I am sad that I couldn't attend the interfaith protest there with Rabbi Morris Allan, but after speaking to my Chabad rabbi about the situation I have started to think about it in a different way.
He has a very close relationship with the Rubashkins because Madison is not so far away from Postville, so he drives down there occasionally to get meat and he has been squarely defending them the whole time. Now I think it is a little naive to think that they are completely free of blame, I think there is A LOT of blame to be said for their labor issues, but he reminded me that it is important to differentiate between allegations and convictions.
Until yesterday, the court hadn't ruled anything and all we had to believe was the word of the workers against the word of the management. Now when it comes to huge companies like this that have a history of snaking their way around the law, I think it makes more sense to take the workers complaints more seriously than the management's defense, but (as my rabbi reminded me) both the American legal system and the mishnaic legal system work on the assumption of innocent before proven guilty. At the same time, I could never put all my faith in the American legal system because I know how corrupt it can get - criminals go free and innocent people suffer.
Fortunately, yesterday the courts filed the first criminal charges against Agriprocessors, and I'm sure there are much more to come but, as Rabbi Avi Finegold suggests, especially in the month of Elul, we can't deny them the possibility of teshuva. Apparently, they have already begun.
In response to Governer Chet Culver's denunciation of the plant's labor practices, Agri released a statement explaining how they've helped out Postville and how they're improving the conditions at the plant. Additionally, immediately after the child labor charged were filed against Agri, the OU threatened to remove its hekhsher and almost immediately Agri has made statements about changing for fear of losing the OU. The Jewish Star reports that the OU is even trying to unionize Agri, which would be a big step in the right direction.
So, without trying to sound like an apostate of social justice, we should open our hearts to Agriprocessors. We should continue to criticize them, expect future criminal charges, and take their apologies with a grain of salt (since they didn't lead to much teshuva in the past), but we shouldn't turn a cold shoulder. Ahavat Yisrael even includes corrupt meat murderers and we have to hope that they will change for the better.

My favorite Woody Allen clip

2008-09-07T21:32:00.001-05:00

I really like Adbusters.

2008-08-20T18:04:00.003-05:00

This reporter is a total airhead.

She makes a couple valid points though like "come ooooonnnn!"

As one of the comments on the video says, "Listening to Kalle Lasn trying to explain the consequences of overconsumption to a 21st century CNN newswoman is like listening to a Harvard professor trying to explain Quantum Physics to a kindergartener."

Antisemitism in the Arab World

2008-08-20T13:18:00.003-05:00

I found this picture in an article on the ADL website about antisemitism in the Arab World in regards to the presidential elections. This one on top was from Al Bayan, a newspaper from the United Arab Emirates.
I understand the criticism over Obama and McCain's relationship to the Jewish lobby: they both made trips to Israel and they are both targeting Jews for their campaigns. Considering the small size of the Jewish population in America, it is a bit striking how much attention we get (and how much pull we have). But to characterize the stereotypical Jew as a haredi shtetl Jew is not only extremely offensive and demeaning, it's also completely untrue, historically inaccurate, and shows the ignorance, hatred, and antisemitism behind the cartoons. The vast majority of Jews are not ultra-orthodox, or even outwardly religious at all, and only a couple of the cartoons in the article depicted Jews as normal looking Americans (possibly because the ones that did were not deemed antisemitic, if they even exist).
I don't understand the reasoning for using such an outdated and ignorant stereotype except for baseless hatred. When American political cartoonists represent the Chinese, for example, they definitely don't show them with buck teeth, wearing a coolie hat, doing dry cleaning, and building a railroad.
Here's another one from Bahrain:
They remind me of when I went to Egypt last summer and had a long conversation with my tour guide about world politics. He explained to me that he liked Americans but he didn't like American foreign policy because it was controlled by the Jews. I couldn't believe that those words actually came out of his mouth and for a second I tried to convince myself that I heard him wrong. I knew that ideas like that existed but I didn't realize they were so widespread that I would encounter them from the only Egyptian I would meet in my week in an Arab country. I told him that I couldn't believe that he believed that and he replied that he couldn't believe that I didn't believe it. I've tried to contact him a couple times through email to hear more about his perspective but he never responds. I think once he realized that I was going back to Tabah to cross the Israeli border he put two and two together and didn't feel like communicating with the enemy.
It's also interesting how this cartoon is of the exact same caliber but comes from a totally different source: American white supremacy.

Dan Le Sac - Thou Shalt Kill

2008-08-17T21:00:00.000-05:00

J Street Poll Proves Orthodox Jews Are Mostly Idiots

2008-07-18T14:16:00.010-05:00

J Street just came out with a really interesting and thorough poll of American Jewish voting patterns and their thoughts on the upcoming elections. Most of the survey was taken to show that Jews who support a peaceful solution in the Middle East and a two state solution in Israel and Palestine are in the majority, something that was brought up multiple times during the Brit Tzedek conference that I attended (you can see me in the video/conference report a bunch of times). This is a point that is very important to pro-Israel pro-peace groups like J Street and Brit Tzedek because by showing that they are the majority in Jewish political discourse, they have better leverage in trying to a build a movement among the national Jewish community.
Some interesting findings:

90% of American Jews are dissatisfied with the Bush administration as opposed to 76% nationally.
61% of American Jews believe Bush's Middle East policy has made Israel less secure.
81% trust that Israel would not agree to a peace deal that endangers its security and support any agreement Israel makers with its Arab neighbors.
Compared with previous elections, the Jewish vote for Obama as the democratic nominee is the lowest it's been in a long time. According to the poll, 58% said they were definitely voting for Obama, in contrast to approximately 80% for Gore and Clinton and 76% for Kerry.
51% have a negative impression of Rev. John Hagee and CUFI while only 19% ~~wouldn't mind burning in Christian hell while all the Evangelicals float up to heaven during the Rapture as long as they can build their settlements in the West Bank~~ had a positive impression.
And my favorite statistic - presidential vote by religious denomination: Reform is 70% Obama, Conservative is 56% Obama, Unaffiliated/other is 67% Obama, and Orthodox is 77% McCain.

GRRRR!! Why is Orthodoxy so overwhelmingly conservative?! Where does it say in the halacha that you have to be trigger happy and hate Arabs?
It is really difficult trying to be observant but always running into this polarization: You are either unorthodox and liberal or you are observant and right-wing, with few exceptions. I don't understand why it has to be this way. Tikkun and the NSP are supposed to be the exception, the "spiritual left". But that's exactly what they are - spiritual. There are no Orthodox Jews in the NSP (and I wouldn't blame them. It's tough to take your observance seriously when everyone else is singing Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu as a spiritual mantra, shaking a tambourine, and reading Kabbalah self-help books). I pray that one day I'll find a community to live in where I can be strengthened by both their faith in Torah (albeit a critical one) and activity in liberal politics.

By the way, I am thinking about changing the name of my blog to Bein Hashmashot. Jerusalén is just my nom de guerre in capoeira, it doesn't really have anything to do with my blog except for being the Portuguese pronunciation of Jerusalem (I got that name because, of cooas, I'm the token religious Jew in the class). If I do make the change, I'll explain the significance of bein hashmashot (twilight) when it happens.

Agriprocessors Labor Issues

2008-07-15T14:08:00.004-05:00

While Agriprocessors is dealing with their legal troubles, they are ignoring the legal issues of their former employees. Not only did Agri put their workers in the position to be deported or to stay in jail for 6-8 months because of social security fraud (even though the workers don't even know what a social security number is) they are leaving the rest of their families to starve. I guess since their workers were illegal immigrants (who Agri imported from their native countries) they have no responsibility to help out their families who now have no one to support them.
As the New York Times editorial on the same subject argues:

No one is denying that the workers were on the wrong side of the law. But there is a profound difference between stealing people’s identities to rob them of money and property, and using false papers to merely get a job. It is a distinction that the Bush administration, goaded by immigration extremists, has willfully ignored. Deporting unauthorized workers is one thing; sending desperate breadwinners to prison, and their families deeper into poverty, is another.

Links For 7/9

2008-07-09T15:56:00.005-05:00

True Torah Jews Against Zionism - A fascinating and fairly impressive Satmar website about the evils of Zionism from an ultra-orthodox perspective. I especially like the pictures from all their protests and the Torah trivia you have to answer in order to read the articles.

Kosher Keeping Vegans Go Undercover At Agriprocessors and interviewed by Shmarya Rosenberg.

What Kind of Interviewer Confuses Hamas and Hummus? - Bruno (AKA Sascha Baron Cohen) is out and about in Jerusalem and Arkansas.

Reel Bad Arabs on youtube. Definitely worth watching.

Official Barack Obama pins in Hebrew!

A really important list of the organizations who disenfranchise my love for Judaism (although there a couple there that I'm surprised to see). Thanks Kung Fu Jew!

Why I'm Voting Republican

2008-07-07T15:36:00.003-05:00

Update: Thanks Jason J. Baker for visiting my site and for creating this hilarious video (which I just sent to my mom who doesn't believe in global warming). If anyone wants more information about the actual issues that they're talking about in the movie, visit this page from their website. Every segment is broken down and explained in order to make people realize that it's not just funny, its true.

Bishara Act: Racist or Precautious?

2008-07-01T13:30:00.006-05:00

Ynet reports on the controversial bill that the Knesset passed yesterday:

The Knesset passed a bill on Monday determining that any Israeli citizen who visits enemy territory without a proper permit will not be able to serve in the Knesset for seven years.
The bill was initiated by MKs Zevulun Orlev (National Union-NRP) and Esterina Tartman (Yisrael Beiteinu), following the affair of MK Azmi Bishara (National Democratic Assembly). The bill was approved by a majority of 52 to 24 MKs. Among those opposed were Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz and Education Minister Yuli Tamir.

This was put into action after the situation with Azmi Bishara who was a Knesset member who frequently visited Syria and openly supported Hizbollah. After a police investigation, he was charged with high treason and forced to resign from the government. This gave the Arab Israeli party he represented, Balad, a bad name, and many people on the right started blacklisting them and saying that they couldn't be trusted.
I don't think that just because one man was trying to play both hands it means that the whole party is corrupt. The right is being reactionary, as they always are, and when it comes to making life harder for Israeli Arabs they jump on the ball.
So now we come to this very fishy bill. Why is it that the two MKs that initiated this bill about Israeli Arabs both come from the far right of Israeli politics? The NRP openly supports forced transfer of Palestinians into Jordan and Avigdor Lieberman, head of Yisrael Beitenu, was quoted advocating for the execution of any Arab MKs who meet with Hamas leaders. I have my doubts trusting the legitimacy of a bill affecting Israeli Arabs by right wingers who have extremely negative attitudes towards them. Yet I'm sure they used their scare tactics to convince the rest of the Knesset (who isn't that far from the views of the right) that without this bill the evil enemy will take over the Israeli government and push all the Jews to the sea. As Tartman exemplifies in the standard right wing language of us versus them:

The Bishara affair and the defiance carried out by many of the Arab MKs, such as their visits to Syria and their meetings with Hamas leaders, are not within the scope of freedom of speech, but rather a blatant encouragement of the armed struggle in Israel and the encouragement of terror against its civilians.
From now on the citizens of Israel can relax – enemies will no longer sit in the house of legislation.

If she considers "enemies" as "Arabs and peacemakers" then I'm sure she's right. I believe this bill is going to make it much harder for there to be negotiations with Hamas and other terrorist organizations (note that these right wingers consider any form of negotiations an act of treason) and if they get their way by making a couple more similar bills, it will rid the Knesset of anyone who shows dissent from their worldview. Luckily, the Arab Knesset members are protesting this bill and urging for reconsideration because of its infringement on minority rights and it's disregard for normal people who have family in the "enemy" countries. Let's hope that the right wing's scare tactics don't overrule the Arab parties' appeals as well.

Rabbi Gabe's New Book

2008-06-30T17:29:00.007-05:00

I just picked this book up off the "To Be Reviewed" shelf at Tikkun and it made me really happy. This is the book that Gabe Greenberg, my old counselor and close friend, co-wrote when he was a senior at Wesleyan. Not only is this an amazing achievement for Gabe, but it's also a really important topic at the moment, and it's getting a good amount of press. It was reviewed in the most recent issue of New Voices with an awesome interview with Gabe, and the Amazon site is getting a lot of hits (although, one of the "suggested reading" on that page is The Israel Lobby).
I started reading it so that I can write the review for the next issue of Tikkun, and I'm really enjoying it so far. It's partly a historical analysis of the Western world's relation to Islam, and it's partly a book about how Arabs are conceived in the media, (similar to my last post) focusing on political cartoons and how they represent American society and its anxiety towards Islam.

I can't wait to talk to Gabe about this book, he's a really great guy. He worked at Adamah (which I hope to do someday), then he went to Israel and studied at Hamivtar for a little while, now he's at camp doing an organic farming elective for the kids, and soon he'll be going to rabbinical school.
Kol hakavod, Gabe! Hope that your book becomes standard reading material for classes in Arabs in the Media and Middle East Studies.

Why, Adam Sandler, Why?

2008-06-27T15:18:00.007-05:00

Last night I was intending to see this really cool documentary at the Pacific Film Archive called The Decline of Western Civilization (with the director present) about Punk in the early 80's, but it was sold out. So after some discussion, we headed over to pay 10 bucks for Adam Sandler's new movie about an Israeli hair dresser.
I'll admit, it was exactly what I expected it to be. It was incredibly stupid with some funny slapstick and we were the only ones in the theater laughing at the Israeli jokes. But one thing that I didn't expect to see (although I guess I should have) was all the horrendous stereotyping that went on throughout the film. I didn't like constant use of the word feygele to make fun of hair dressers (yet a fair criticism of the macho attitude of Israeli society), and the terrible way that Palestinians were portrayed. Jack Shaheen is having a field day with this movie.
At the beginning there was a funny bit of dialogue that showed that the makers of the movie weren't total Islamophobic idiots. As Zohan, the superhuman Israeli counter-terrorism commando, has a fight scene with Hamas terrorists, in between punches in kicks they begin to argue about the conflict saying, "you know, its not so cut and dry, we've been here for a long time" "Right, and there were never any Jews in the Middle East." After hearing that exchange I had false hopes that the movie would continue with witty, intelligent humor instead of Sandler's usual poo poo jokes, but I was wrong. I should have remembered that movies like this are funny for the first ten minutes in order to hook you, and then they just get stupid.
They started blurring the lines between Arab and Palestinian, at some points given them Saudi head coverings, confusing the Lebanese flag with the Palestinian flag, and persisting the Arab stereotypes that have been going on since the beginning of Hollywood. The writers must have done their homework. I can just see them watching Lawrence of Arabia, taking notes, and saying, "Yeah, thats offensive and inaccurate, let's add that to the storyboard." Having the evil Palestinian leader surrounded by a harem of belly dancers and making the Arabs so incompetent that they couldn't figure out how to make a bomb, forcing them to call the Hizbollah hotline, must have been taken straight out of Arabs in American Media 101.
I understand that stereotypes are funny and that they are an easy way to introduce a character in a short period of time, but we shouldn't be trying to persist those stereotypes. It is movies like these that lead to the experience that I had in the airport in Detroit. Producers should start focusing less on "how can we make the most money with the least amount of thought" and more on "how can we make a great movie that will be funny for a mainstream audience."
Even comedic movies that focus on stereotypes can be made intelligent. Take Borat, for example. It was a smart film because they used stereotypes to poke fun at the kind of people who use and believe these stereotypes. So although there were parts of the movie that seemed anti-semitic, in reality they were making fun of anti-semites and may have even opened peoples consciousness to antisemitism. We need more Sacha Baron Cohen films.

Some PR for graphics art and the NSP

2008-06-25T18:32:00.003-05:00

By the way, I made the last two images for Rabbi Lerner as postcards/buttons to that promote the Network of Spiritual Progressives.

JetBlue Cargo Cults

2008-06-25T14:43:00.006-05:00

Coming back from the Brit Tzedek V'Shalom conference yesterday, I made a stop at the airport chapel at Dulles International to daven mincha.
I've always found those things intriguing because it's a space for everyone of any faith to pray; in fact it's a beautiful symbol of interfaith acceptance. It's true that not everyone would pray in an interfaith chapel (most notably, ultra-orthodox Jews because you can't daven in a place of avodah zara, and they consider Christianity idolatry), but for the majority of people who would want a space for prayer at an airport, they are placed into a room where all faiths interact, whether they want to or not.
I had prayed in an airport chapel before, but this time I truly had a soulgasm of religious pluralism. I never pray mincha, but I decided to do it that day, so I followed the qiblah arrow in order to find East (I always jitter with interfath excitement when I do that) and I prayed with unbelievable kavana (which happens next to never outside of kabbalat shabbat). When I finished and turned around, there were three other people in the room: a muslim TSA employee doing salah, a Catholic woman kneeling, and a man meditating. It was truly a beautiful sight.
It makes me wonder, what is unique about an airport that such a space can exist? I mean really, an airport? When I think interfaith activity and multiculturalism, certainly that is not the first thing that comes to my head. But it makes sense - everyone has to fly somewhere, sometime. You always see people of all different backgrounds in airports wearing a hijab, or a kippah, or a sari, or a Buddhist robe, so everyone needs to pray too, isn't that why the interfaith chapel exists?
I wouldn't want my davening experience to always be in an interfaith setting because I usually love the exclusivity of my own community synagogue (although there is probably some significance to the fact that I had amazing kavana at that chapel, which is so rare. But then again, maybe it was superficial kavana because I subconsciously wanted to give religious Judaism a good name by giving my audience a show of religious devotion), but it's a great opportunity to experience that, especially in such a random location.

A Utopian Rant. Thanks for that Rabbi Lerner!

2008-06-18T19:41:00.008-05:00

Sometimes I feel like the Rabbis kinda hijacked Torah.
Every mitzvah was commanded in order to be suitable for the times. The sacrafices were only done because that was the way people connected to G-d at that time, now we connect through prayer because we have progressed with time. Similarly, we were given loads of laws on kashrut because that's how people ate back then, but now we can be progessive about dietary laws by keeping vegetarian (with a hechsher tzedek of course). So too, we were polygamous at a time and now we stay devoted to one person. It's too bad there is no sanhedrin to be able to further progress in halacha. Hehe, I guess the further West I go, the more liberal I get, and the more I reconnect with my Conservative roots.
But as we can see with the recent ridiculousness of the High Rabbinical Court in Israel, a sanhedrin wouldn't be the best idea at the moment.
The only way that we can progress in halacha is if all Jews can agree on certain changes. And that can only happen if all Jews unilaterally support something (which, at the moment, seems impossible). That's why when every Jew in the world will get together and support something (or at least keep two shabbases) the moshiach will arrive. Only then can we move foreward in halacha towards a place that is objectively progessive towards a utopian society.
Now I understand better why groups like Chabad and Aish are trying to get all Jews to become more religious. I disagree with their method though, I think it is something that can only happen organically and I sure hope that in the times of moshiach everyone will not be either Chabad or Aish. I think pluralism is a more feasible option.
It definitely works, and the more I travel, the more I see it working successfully. I saw it at the Mission Minyan and I saw it on Shavuot. On Shavuot, the entire Jewish community of Berkeley got together and had a unified Tikkun Leil Shavuot where rabbis and scholars of every denomination were giving lectures or programs throughout the night. It was a beautiful thing and someone said it's the only place in the world where that happens. Obviously, not everyone in that room would agree on a utopian vision of society, but I think that working together and having dialogue with each other is better than trying to convince everyone else that your way is right. I don't think that there's one type of Judaism that right. I don't even think my way is right (whatever that way is). Just as Judaism was meant to grow with the times, so will we continue to do so in the future, and the eventual Zion will consist of a society that is greater than any that exist today.
Amen Selah!

Thank G-d it's only Dershowitz we're up against

2008-05-27T22:47:00.005-05:00

I just started started working at Tikkun magazine today. Woo!
I had a nice day talking to Rabbi Lerner and meeting the staff. My job for the day was to read his book, Healing Israel/Palestine, all day. It was awesome. It would be even awesomer if I was getting paid to read, but hey, I'm happy where I am.
To be honest, I'm kinda star-struck around Rabbi Lerner. Just look at the size of his wikipedia article!
Anyways, Jen sent me an interesting debate between him and Alan Dershowitz about whether or not people who are critical of Israel are labeled as antisemitic. Dershowitz is a veteran debater and an asshole. He doesn't let Rabbi Lerner speak! And he says, "Find me one leader who labels criticizers of Israel as antisemitic and I will give them a reward." Ok, I agree with you that it would be hard to find a Jewish leader who is so outspoken about being an asshole (although I'm sure we could pin Abe Foxman for something) but its not the leaders who inhibit the possibility of a safe-space for critique, its the communities, the synagogues, the schools, etc. It is not one entity, it is a culture of repression.

But after I watched this debate, I happened upon another debate involving Alan Dershowitz that led me to see him in somewhat of a different light. It is a debate the happened in 1985 between Dershowitz and Rabbi Meir Kahana at Boston University.

It's suprising to see Dershowitz as the lefty. This is definitely a rare sight. It's possible that Dershowitz's views have changed in the past 23 years and that is why he seems like such a good guy, but its also possible that anyone would seem liberal standing next to such a scary figure. Dershowitz himself compares him (to his face) to Louis Farrakhan for the African-Americans or Yasser Arafat for the Palestinians. If I didn't know his stance on terrorism and his staunch support for AIPAC, I would think that Dershowitz is a hero. Certainly in this debate he was.
I feel privileged to have Dershowitz on the Jewish far right, and not a maniac like Kahane. Although I disagree with his views, Dershowitz doesn't scare me. I get angry when I even see pictures of Kahana let alone hear him speak about forced transfer of Palestinians.
Unfortunately, there are still guys who talk like him, but luckily they don't have the charisma or the public support to pose as much of a threat as Kahana did.

Add One to the List!

2008-05-18T10:57:00.003-05:00

At some point I'm going to actually compile a list of my favorite rabbis that, in my opinion, are bringing Judaism into the new millennium in a progressive way that is in line with halachic Judaism.
Today's new addition is Rabbi Steven Greenberg AKA the first gay Orthodox rabbi.
When I came home from school, I found his book, Wrestling With G-d and Men, on my kitchen countertop. My sister had been writing a paper for school on homosexuality in the Jewish tradition. She got it from the Gann Academy library, her high school and my alma mater, which is the type of library that would likely carry that book. It's a pluralistic, liberal Jewish high school, that tries to teach the students every aspect of Judaism so that they can decide for themselves how they want to practice. It's partially responsible for my apostasy from Conservative Judaism into whatever I am now (Orthodox?). I'm not really sure what I consider myself. Labels are for jars.
In the first 15 pages of the book he's mentioned almost every organization that I love and that are on my "links" tab (on the left). He started off by talking about how he became Orthodox (which sounded somewhat similar to my experiences) and how he became interested in the liberal, more modern aspects of it which include egalitarianism (which literally means equal leadership), ahavat olam and ahavat yisrael: respect and dignity for all people no matter what they do, and what it means to change halacha. I recommend this book to anyone reading this blog, because if you find me interesting, you'll find him interesting.

links 5/11

2008-05-11T03:46:00.003-05:00

Medinat Weimar - The movement for a Jewish state in Thuringia, Deutschland

Think Tank Aims To Infuse Jewish Mainstream With Dashes of Color - Be’Chol Lashon Conference in San Francisco

Boogie Down: Movement and Music in the Middle of Jerusalem - My favorite pluralistic/post-denominational dance party

Large Knit Kippas and Flowy Skirts Not Required: Neo-Soul Hippie Culture in Israel - Me in a nutshell. I'm facebook friends with multiple people interviewed in this article

Anarchists and Jewish Nationalists - I'm not done reading this yet but it's fascinating so far

Smoking Is Bad (with the exception of hookah, cloves, and pot)

2008-05-09T16:00:00.002-05:00

Smoking is Bad

A Fascist Against Islamo-Fascism

2008-05-08T23:21:00.009-05:00

Earlier this week this cartoon appeared in the student newspaper at the University of Madison - Milwaukee. It is a depiction of David Horowitz, a Jewish neocon who associates with that constituency for Jews who support Islamophobia. He's been traveling around the US, going to different universities and doing this Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week which is all about scaring people about the evils of political Islam and how it threatens the US. He's the kind of guy who would show Obsession every hour on the hour on Tisha B'Av (An Aish tactic) and call upon moderate Muslims to save their religion.
When David Horowitz came here, he caused a bit of a commotion (as was his plan, I'm sure). His donors paid for a page add in the Badger Herald calling out the MSA of being a Jihadist organization and coercing them to support him or else he would have them blacklisted. Of course, the MSA didn't support him and, in fact, they went to his talk and wore all green in solidarity. They didn't speak out in order to protest the event like the ISO did which I'm glad because I think disruption of free speech is a cowardly tactic. But anyways, Horowitz is exactly the kind of AIPAC-loving Jew that is screwing things up for American Judaism as well as Israel's image in America.
So he decided to come over to UW-M to have an Islamo-Fascism Week There, and this cartoon was distributed by the MSA. Apparently, the person who drew it is not part of the MSA, they just distributed it. But I think the cartoon is great, it's a great representation of David Horowitz. He loves to call out organizations as being fascist but his methods are so medieval: He blacklists, he promotes hate, and he's just an overall unpleasant guy. So when I saw this cartoon in the Badger Herald I thought it was so funny and I was in immediate support.
And, to make things even better, Horowitz's reaction to the cartoon perfectly exemplified his character. He flipped out and called it antisemitic, arguing that they gave him a hooknose so its obviously slander and wildly inappropriate. Couldn't have been more spot on, right? Of course he pulls the antisemitism card, making him the victim and the MSA the badguys. It's perfect. And his arguments are so funny too:

“Sure, it’s free speech. It’s just inappropriate for a campus. I don’t think the university should have banned it from being posted, but had that been a cartoon on blacks or gays, there would have been hell to pay — there should be one standard rule.”

What? I don't know if Horowitz has a hooknose or not, and in fact, I don't think it really matters. I just don't see how a critique over his political views has anything to do with being black or gay. No one said anything about his Judaism, and if we accept his argument by imagining the same cartoon where he is black or wearing a pink scarf, would that change anything about his caveman attitude?
Mohamad Elsayed, president of the MSA of UW-M summarizes Horowitz's whole demeanor very eloquently:

“In typical demagogic form, Horowitz tries to characterize the very legitimate and very justifiable attack against him as an attack on all Jews. How ludicrous.”

The Jewish community in Milwaukee really freaked out too and is in full support behind Horowitz, speaking out against antisemitism. I hate how the conservative Jewish communities go along with this propaganda, it's a chillul Hashem. Hopefully, my generation of progressive Jews and Muslims can work to get rid of this nonsense. Enshallah.

Bittersweetness - Is That Even A Word?

2008-05-08T01:13:00.006-05:00

Happy Birthday Israel!

In the words of UPZ's official educational campaign, this day is bittersweet for me. For many reasons.
First of all, I'm sitting in College Library, procrastinating on my research paper on how Shabtai Tzvi's main theologians like Nathan of Gaza reinterpreted Lurianic Kabbalah in order to justify his conversion to Islam. It's a really fascinating topic and I thoroughly enjoyed doing the research for it, but writing it is getting fairly tedious and I plan on pulling an all-nighter which is not so money.
I'm also a little nervous for Hillel's Israel@60 celebration at Library Mall tomorrow. Originally, Kavanah: A Progressive Jewish Voice, my rockin' political student group, was planning on setting up a table to promote the "bittersweetness" of the day by handing out pamphlets on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the problem with settlements, information on peace organizations and the peace process in Israel, and bittersweet chocolates. That's all still happening, but now there's an added complication. Madison-Rafah, my favorite anti-Israel buddies, who I've blogged about before, are going to be protesting the event and it's really pissing me off. They just have such chutzpah, they're so inconsistent in their views, and they're just trying to be confrontational. Although they say on their site that it's going to be "educational rather than confrontational," I don't see how it could be anything other. They're going to a student event (by the way they are all adults) so that they can picket, chant, and disrupt the celebration. What are they trying to accomplish? If they were protesting Israel's policies or its right to exist, then they could go somewhere where they would actually be productive, like the Israeli consulate. If they didn't want any pro-Israel celebrations, then they would have protested the Jewish community's Israel@60 celebration the other day. Maybe they're just lazy.
Either way, they're coming and they are handing out flyers that are just ridiculous. One of them asks if a normal person would celebrate racial segregation in the U.S., South African apartheid, or the decimation and conquest of Native Americans, and the other is a list of all the Palestinian villages that were destroyed in Al-Nakba. Whatever. They can back any statistics they want even if they are skewed and deceptive, in fact, I think the plight of the Palestinians should absolutely be recognized on Yom Ha'atzmaut, I just don't see why they have to be such bullies about it. Have your own event. At least get students to protest this event. I think they just need their mommies.
This constituency in Madison really upsets me. They have a voice but they have no feet. They'll protest anything and march anywhere but when it comes to education and political advocacy, they do nothing. And knowing Hillel and the "I love Israel" crowd, it's going to be ugly. Only Kavanah can save this celebration and I hate this burden. Without Kavanah there would just be yelling. But the fact that we have a table and we're passing out critical information totally undermines Madison-Rafah's stance. They're coming in thinking that Hillel is blind to Israel's problems, but our presence proves them wrong. Therefore, since they can't argue that Hillel is painting a biased picture of Israel, their only argument that would differ from us is that Israel has no right to exist or that all Palestinians should have the right to return to Israel, and I think that most normal people see that as outrageous and uncompromisingly extremist.

On a different note, earlier tonight I went to an amazing lecture by Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, an Orthodox rabbi, president of CLAL, the National Jewish Center For Learning and Leadership, and a leading figure in interfaith dialogue who is promoting his book, You Don't Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right, about avoiding fanaticism. He's a great speaker with a ton of charisma, and he also has a really interesting story. When he became religious he did it through a yeshiva that promoted right wing politics as part of its theology. He didn't specify which one but I can assume it was Aish or Ohr Sameach. So he decided to move to Hebron to help support the fanatic settlers there - the worst of the worst. But after people from his community murdered two Palestinian students at the Islamic University of Hebron (in retaliation to people who had been killed in his own community) he began to question his choices and it eventually led him to move back to America and work in religious dialogue. It was a very powerful lecture and part of the LISAR conference. Unfortunately I was one of three students there. It's a shame that they scheduled this conference for the worst week of the semester. I shouldn't have even been there. I shouldn't even be writing this post right now, I still have nine pages left on this paper. Damn you, procrastination/distraction.

Schools of the Abayudaya

2008-05-04T22:35:00.003-05:00

Smithsonian also released an awesome CD of Abayudaya music that won a Grammy apparently, and you can listen to it online.

I know, I keep somewhat cross-posting from Jewschool, but their articles are so good and I want to keep that dream alive. By the way, I got that internship at Tikkun magazine for the summer. Money! Actually, it's technically not money because I just found out that I'm not getting paid, but as long as I keep telling myself that it's an "investment for my future career," I feel better about myself.

Water - The Stuff of Life

2008-05-01T09:02:00.003-05:00

"They call it 'Enhanced Interrogation.' We call it torture." -Amnesty International

I just had a beer and a cookie and I'm feeling great

2008-04-28T02:58:00.011-05:00

מימונה שמחה
Happy Mimuna

A big religious-zionist rabbi in Israel is hoping to get rid of "gentiles striving to undermine the country" by coming out with a bill that will revoke non-Jews of their citizenship. They are also trying to give citizenship to Jews who are not even living in Israel.
The ultra-orthodox religious-zionist agenda has become to clear to me now. Just as Mea-She'arim is a community that tries to close itself off from the rest of the world, so too do the leaders want to close off Israel from the rest of the world, making it a national shtetl. What nudnikim.

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg (AKA Professor X) being interviewed by beliefnet about his book on Jewish-Christian relations. I love pluralism and I love Yitzy for loving pluralism too, especially when it involves meeting the Dali Lhama. He's one of my favorite (living) Orthodox rabbis. I should make a list of them one day.
Ok, fine... I'll start now:
Yitz Greenberg
Avi Weiss
Shaul Judelman
Aryeh Trugman
I'll add more later.

About two years ago, a Jewish 23 year old boy from France was captured, tortured, and held ransom by a group of anti-semetic animals, most of whom were Muslim. Now this is obviously a terrible act, and it should be known that I'm not posting this to be a right wing conservative, Kahanist, Honest Reporting, Islamophobic asshole, but because I stumbled upon a blog written by "an unapologetic liberal and a proud American Muslim" named Akram's Razor who covered this story and does a great job. It's really interesting to read this post from an eloquent, liberal, Western Muslim's point of view. He touches on the issue of anti-semetism in the Muslim world and I think its a topic that isn't dealt with enough from the inside. I get annoyed by Jews who call on "moderate Muslims" to take back the true message of Islam blah blah blah, but its reassuring to see it actually happening without some asshole like David Horowitz telling them what to do.

I also wanted to post this great article by the Forward about how progressives who are into social justice love Passover, even if they do go a little overboard with the seder plate sometimes.

Happy Passover!

2008-04-18T17:11:00.004-05:00

!חג שמח

Happy Passover everyone!

link for 4/15

2008-04-15T04:42:00.002-05:00

Moral Reprobates or Superstitious Lemmings?
For better or worse, I didn't have this kind of experience when I went to Mayanot, but I can definitely relate to where he's coming from.

Agnostic Bar Mitzvah

2008-04-13T18:33:00.004-05:00

I found this on College Humor so it is obviously supposed to be funny, but I actually think it's really depressing. I think it is a serious critique of what has become of the more liberal sides of Judaism. I assume this is a Reform synagogue but I think that the same critique applies to Conservative as well.
There are two issues that I have with this dvar torah. The first issue that I have is the lack of knowledge that this young man has about what Judaism believes and that this ignorance has led him to come to these conclusions (or lack of conclusions) about G-d. I am not saying that there is no place for agnosticism in Judaism, in fact I believe that aspects of agnosticism, questioning, and skepticism are healthy and that they lead to progress within Jewish theology and philosophy. My critique is of the whole process of Bar and Bat Mitzvah within Unorthodoxy in America. This boy speaks very eloquently about his lack of faith in G-d and I think it is a very standard view among young American Jews, in fact I think he is very brave to say these things on the day of his Bar Mitzvah since most agnostic thirteen-year-olds just regurgitate what they think the congregation wants to hear. I know I did.
What makes me sad watching this video is that no one encouraged him to have faith and that there was no positive role-model of faith to guide him. His Bar Mitzvah was forced and he just went through the motions like most Bnai Mitzvah. It is true that I don't know the back story of this video and it is possible that he did have positive role models, maybe he is just an ardent atheist who is very grounded in his views about G-d. If this is true then my only critique is that he shouldn't be having a Bar Mitzvah at all because it is unfair to him. Rather, I can say with some certainty that his parents probably did not encourage him because they are most likely skeptics too, and his rabbi didn't encourage him because they probably barely know each other. I know this because this is the society that I grew up in and I know that it was true for me.
This leads me to my second issue with this video - that no one objected to this dvar (in fact it seems to have been encouraged) and that everyone in the congregation accepts it as a legitimate sermon; they are all laughing and enjoying it and in the end the rabbi even makes a joke about it. Of course, as much as I believe that this type of discourse should not be allowed in a synagogue setting, again, I am not saying that this is wrong. I am against censorship, I support this boy's agnosticism, and I am not trying to sound like the rigid Orthodox rabbi who only says, "no." Rather, I'm trying to point out that the problem is that this is not shocking to anyone, because there are very few people in the congregation who would disagree with him, it is only funny because no one every brings it up on the bimah of a synagogue.
This, to me, is the reality of Unorthodoxy. It seems so counter-intuitive that there would be a synagogue, a place of worship, filled with skeptics, agnostics, and potentially even atheists. Why go through the rituals if they are meaningless? If no one cares about the object of the tradition, why is there any need for the tradition at all? And what is the rabbi's role in this situation? I assume he is a man of faith because if he isn't that would just be silly. (Are there such things as agnostic rabbis?) His job should be to impart some type of love for G-d or appreciation of the teachings to a boy who is getting Bar Mitzvah'd. So did he fail with this one? If it can be considered a failure then I would say that almost all rabbis outside of Orthodoxy fail at this. I am sure that the lack of rapport between the boy and rabbi has to do with the size of the congregation, and that the boy probably never comes to synagogue. So then it leads into the issues of synagogue membership. Why do people pay dues when they only come out of guilt or adherence to tradition? Why do people care? Why do they lie to themselves?
I really feel so bad for this boy and I think that the majority of boys and girls in his position feel exactly the same way. It really shouldn't be this way. Halachicly, a Bar Mitzvah is a time where the boy or girl is now old enough so that the mitzvot that are incumbent on them become their responsibility and not their parents. So, halachicly, if a boy or girl doesn't want to do the mitzvot because they don't believe in them, they shouldn't become a Bar or Bat Mitzvah because it defeats the whole purpose. I guess I just don't understand the concept of a Bar Mitzvah within Reform Judaism (and Conservative now that they don't care about mitzvot anymore). If someone knows why, theologically, Reform Judaism (and soon to be Conservative Judaism also) continues to have Bnai Mitzvah if it is not about mitzvot anymore, please tell me. It is obviously not a coming-of-age ceremony because the kids are only thirteen. So what is the point?

Links for 4/9

2008-04-09T22:05:00.002-05:00

Hipster Antisemitism @ Zeek

Why Social Justice Needs Religion

Obama Menace Dress-Up Doll

Why I Should Actually Be Asleep Right Now

2008-04-09T00:41:00.006-05:00

Yeah, this is highly inappropriate, but I can't help but post it. David Wain is absolutely hilarious.

But Kristin Schaal is the winner of the night. She plays Mel in Flight of the Conchords, and she writes/stars in this show called Penelope: Princess of Pets where when she "becomes a woman" she learns how to talk to animals and has to save the world. It's genius.

Ok ok ok I'm going to sleep. Just one more though.

Links for 4/8

2008-04-08T08:36:00.007-05:00

“Frumka” Group Leader Arrested on Charges of Child Abuse: Reactions

That crazy burka-wearing rebbitzen in Ramat Beit Shemesh gets busted.

Of Golda and Dildos: Thoughts on Israel’s First Sex Festival

The new form of Zionism? Erotic Zionism

The FFB and the Status Quo

2008-03-30T15:16:00.004-05:00

I've learned that I don't usually get along that well with FFBs (Frum From Birth).
When I was at Yeshiva University for Purim, I began to realize, as I have in other Modern Orthodox circles, that many people who grow up in that lifestyle take Judaism for granted. They consider themselves the same as any other doctor or lawyer, they just happen to wear a kippah and pray three times a day. For me, and for other Ba'alei Teshuva, I don't want to live the same life as I did before, just this time I keep Shabbas, I want to have my entire life encompassed by Judaism. But then again, I don't reject the culture that I grew up in. In fact, I think there's a lot I can learn from it.
It just seems to me that theres a status quo when it comes to Modern Orthodoxy that many young Jews feel that they have to live by. Like gender roles, for instance. I understand that there are certain defined gender roles in Orthodox Judaism, and I recognize them- I think they are true, but I think it should be taken at a very minimal level. Yes, the woman is the master of the home, she is caring and nurturing, while the man supports the family and community, teaches, and works. But does that mean that a woman can't be a community leader? Or that a man can't take time off work to raise his kids? I feel like there's this assumption that boys have to be boyish - immature, loud, and only friends with other boys, while girls have to be girly - constantly talking about who's engaged, worrying about their appearance, rebuking boys for being immature, etc. A couple times that weekend, I heard these ridiculous generalizations coming from young men (engaged nonetheless) like, "Girls aren't funny" or "I don't like hanging out with girls" and the like. But, as terribly sexist as that sounds, I think it's almost justified because the girls really aren't fun to hang out with because having a personality is shunned in that society.
Ok I'm also making generalizations and I'm judging, which I shouldn't, but when I became more religious, I didn't feel like I had to accept the status quo. In fact, I still want to change it, and I think that a lot of Ba'alei Teshuva have that mentality. We have the advantage that we have seen this world from both the outside and the inside (although some try to ignore that), and we need to use that advantage to make this world better. It's not enough to be a ben-Torah or an Eishit Chayil, you can't just follow the mitzvot and say that that's enough, you have to do Tikkun Olam in a tangible sense, whether it's by helping to make peace in the world or by bringing the coming of moshiach sooner (which SHOULD BE the same thing). It's sad that many FFBs (and many Ba'alei Teshuva who wish that they were born frum)

Letter to Rabbi Michael Lerner

2008-03-24T00:58:00.004-05:00

I just applied for an internship at Tikkun magazine for this summer (cuz I'm gonna be in Berkeley!) and it was a really fun process. Instead of a résumé, they asked for a "self-revealing letter," so I had a lot of fun writing it and I thought I would post it because it says a lot about me.

Dear Rabbi Lerner and all the writers, thinkers, and artists at Tikkun magazine/NSP,

I am writing in response to the ad I saw for the Editorial and Organizational Internships at Tikkun magazine.

The fact that I am writing this letter is already a great example of why working at Tikkun will not only be a great occupational experience, but also a growing and enriching opportunity. Considering that the word “résumé” was strategically replaced with “self-revealing letter” in the ad, I intend on writing this more as a personal reflection rather than a professional correspondence (although I am not neglecting that aspect).

I am a twenty-one year old sophomore at the University of Wisconsin – Madison studying philosophy, religious studies, and Jewish studies, and this summer, I will, G-d-willing, be living in a co-op on the Berkeley campus. I am originally from Worcester, Massachusetts, where I went to Solomon Schechter Day school until eighth grade. For high school I went to the pluralistic New Jewish High School (now called Gann Academy) and then I spent a year volunteering and studying in Israel before college on Young Judaea Year Course.

The main reason why I decided to live in Berkeley this summer is because I am intrigued by the unique form of Judaism that seems to foster there, and I hope to grow in my own spirituality by participating in the various resources I have there including, but not limited to, the Open Orthodoxy of Temple Beth Israel, the independent DIY havurah of the Mission Minyan in San Francisco, and the neo-Hassidut of Beyt Tikkun. Although I love Madison, there is somewhat of a lack of deep spirituality that I have trouble feeling outside of Israel, and I plan on extracting as much of the concentrated kavanah as I can while I’m in the Bay Area.

Since I became more religious, Judaism has become a very important aspect of my life, especially when it comes to my college experience. Even though being religious in a non-religious atmosphere can often be difficult, it has also been the source of many blessings. This unique role that I play has led me to involve myself in organizations where my voice has an added layering that opens more venues for thought and discussion. I have been on the forum for the Lubar Institute for the Study of Abrahamic Religions, a religious dialogue program, for the past two years, and this year I am an undergraduate fellow. This has been an opportunity for me to participate in a frontier where, unfortunately, few Orthodox Jews venture (although I am usually reluctant to refer to myself as Orthodox because of the connotations that it can imply that don’t apply to me).

I am also the co-chair of Kavanah: A Progressive Jewish Voice. We are a political organization on campus that believes that one cannot be fully supportive of Israel unless one is equally critical of her. By educating people about the issues Palestinians face and participating in demonstrations, we hope to open the eyes of the Jewish community to be as much pro-peace as they are pro-Israel. This is another setting where being a religious voice has an added level of importance, because there are very few Orthodox Jews who connect to the left side of Israeli politics. I feel that the values of Judaism are more prevalent in supporting a peaceful solution and not only can the religious left help build bridges between Palestinians and Israelis, but I believe it can also help build bridges between the religious and the secular.

I believe that Tikkun is a breeding ground for these values. I often feel torn between religion and activism, and that should not be the case. One of the basic tenants for the Network of Spiritual Progressives could not have been said more clearly: To “challenge the misuse of G-d and religion by the Religious Right and religio-phobia on the Left.” I often find myself in situations where I become uncomfortable because either I feel like the only liberal in a crowd of religiously observant people, or I feel like the only person of faith in a crowd of activists. Why do peace activists have to be militant atheists and why does the Religious Right have to be close-minded dogmatists? It seems so contradictory to the values of both parties.

The one criticism I have for Tikkun and the one reluctance I myself feel within the path of religious and political dialogue is the tendency to lose sight of the original idea. In Kavanah, we are constantly asking ourselves who we are trying to represent and who we are trying to address. Should we be a critical voice for Jews, or an Arab voice among Jews, or a supportive voice in opposition to the anti-Israel voices on campus? We don’t want to be too exclusive but we also want to retain our original mission. I feel that Tikkun is dealing with a similar issue. It seems to be slowly becoming less Jewish and more universalist and New Age. I felt the same way about the Renewal community in Madison. After reading the Jew and the Lotus, I was inspired and I really wanted to get involved, so I applied to be a Hebrew school teacher there, but as the weeks went by, I began to feel that the core values of the movement had been neglected in order to address the lack of spiritual commitment in the community, just as the Reform and Conservative movements did.

I am a good writer and editor, as is necessitated in my academic majors, and I very strongly support the ideals of Tikkun and NSP. I hope to one day work in a religious dialogue program in Israel that gets religious and spiritual people from both Israel and Palestine to work together to make peace. I would love to work with Jerusalem Peacemakers, Encounter, Bustan, or Rabbis for Human Rights because they are all doing what I dream of one day doing.

I want to work with Tikkun because I believe that it holds the same ideals as I do, and I want to meet likeminded people, as it can get lonely out in the Midwest with few who strive towards the same ends as I do. I am a student, and I am trying to save up money for when I eventually make aliyah, so I would need to get a compensation or a grant in order to intern at Tikkun, and I would love to work with the magazine itself, Limmud Interns, Healing Israel/Palestine, or the NSP. I can start working on May 26^th.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely,

Eric Salitsky

Cool links for the day

2008-03-12T00:43:00.004-05:00

Spitzer Has Sinned, But It's Our Sex Obsession That's Criminal by Alan Dershowitz

Rilo A Yid!!!

Does a Mikvah Dunk Make Pre-Marital Sex Kosher?

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Israel

Stuff White People Like

Activists = Atheists... why?

2008-03-11T08:40:00.006-05:00

Today I received the bi-weekly update for the Madison Activists Calender in my email. I usually enjoy getting this because it gives me the opportunity to see what kind of political and activist events are going on in Madison that I wouldn't normally know about. It's also cool to hear what the Madison-Rafah group is doing (the controversial group that is trying to make Rafah, the one with the Qassams, Madison's sister city) and what kind of anti-Israel stuff they are promoting. This week they are sponsoring the Madison leg of the play My Name is Rachel Corrie.
But today the calender really offended me. On the list of activist events on campus for the week was Richard Dawkins' lecture on his book The G-d Delusion. Now, don't get me wrong, I have a ticket for the lecture and I plan on going because I really enjoy getting pissed off, but what does a lecture supporting atheism have anything to do with activism?
I quickly sent the editor of the calender an email back with an ad absurdum argument, trying to "understand where he was coming from" in a slightly sarcastic way.

What does [a pro-atheism lecture] have to do with activism? Are you implying that a religiously observant activist is an oxymoron? I should hope not because that would be a very close-minded approach to society at large.
And if that is not what you were implying, then why would you put an event that has to do with religion (or lack thereof) on your calender? How is that any different then posting a lecture about the positive aspects of religion or even a scholarly or critical lecture on religion given at the university? Obviously, events like that are not the type of events you are trying to promote by sending out the calender.
And if you mentioned Richard Dawkins' lecture because you thought that many people who are activists would also be interested in the lecture (which is true and I plan on attending that lecture) then it is not an activist calender anymore - it is an events calender for things that are going on in Madison with an emphasis on activism. And that doesn't seem right to me. Stick with what you know.

Yeah the last sentence was a little harsh but it was only because I didn't have a great argument for why his calender should stay an activist-events-only calender. That's really his decision.
But it just seems like such a double standard to me. When it comes to secular liberalism, you can be gay, you can (or should) be vegan, you can be a feminist, you can be any race or ethnicity, but you can't be religious because all religious people are uneducated and blind and addicted to the opiate of the masses. But it is really them who are blind to their own contradictions and hypocrisies. It's for the same reason (I believe) that the Emma Goldman Co-op didn't accept me. Their three pillars were anarchism, feminism, and anti-racism, which I hold very closely (well, maybe not so much the anarchism part), but when I asked the coordinator why I wasn't accepted, she said, "You seem like a great individual, but Emma Goldman has a certain image that it needs to uphold." Read - we don't want anyone religious here because it might make us look less liberal. That's bullshit. Liberalism is all about changing the status quo to make a more ideal society, but when they refuse to include religious people in their fights for social justice and peace, they neglect their own values.
This is why organizations like Uri Li'Tzedek and Rabbis for Human Rights are so important right now. It is true that for some reason the religious tend to ignore the social justice aspects of their communities and I really have no idea why that is, but it gives a bad name for us. Organizations like that not only help the communities around them, but they help repair the image of religious people being apathetic to the world around them in ways that are not directly tied to religiosity.
The problem is that even though it is true that the Orthodox need to work harder on the words of G-d Himself, "צדק, צדק תרדף - Justice, justice you shall pursue," it is not something that should be accepted by the secular liberals. Racism still exists, but they fight that. Chauvinism still exists, and that is being fought too. But religionism (I just made that word up) is not only not being fought, it is being propagated, and that is wrong.

Update: Turns out I overreacted. Here's the email John sent back to me:

Hello Eric,
I'm sorry you found the calendar listing of Prof. Dawkins lecture "offensive." I must admit, that when I first opened your email I thought it was another pro-Israeli person calling me "anti-semitic" for including Palestinian solidarity events! As you can imagine, I get lots of those, along with other assorted unpleasantries.

Actually, I try to include most every UW Distinguished Lectures in the calendar precisely because they are often controversial speakers. Personally, I've found other UW Distinguished lectures much more "offensive", such as David Horowitz, but I've included them nonetheless since it is good for folks to hear another side if they wish.

Obviously, I do not endorse the politics of everything I include in the calendar. The listing is for informational purposes only.

Best - John

I sent him an email back apologizing for becoming emotional. So I was wrong this time, but I still believe in what I wrote, even though John might be an exception. Let's hope that in fact more people are like John who do not hold a double standard.

Reflections on yesterday's events

2008-03-07T14:53:00.010-06:00

Yesterday, an Israeli-Arab walked into the Merkaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem armed with a Kalashnikov and open fired in the dining hall where around 80 people were eating lunch. 8 students, most under the age of 20, were killed and many more were injured. Once the news got out, there was a huge victory celebration in Gaza. And the twist? The terrorist was an Israeli citizen, most likely from East Jerusalem.
I'm not sure how to feel. Obviously, I'm horrified considering that this is the second attack of the year whereas last year there were no piguim. I'm a little concerned that this could be the start of the third intifada, and I've been praying that it's not and that things will get better.
I do feel a little... selfish? Spoiled? I'm not sure how to phrase it. This event has really bothered me and I've been thinking about it a lot, and it's made me really confused. But I can't say that I feel the same way about the IDF operations in Gaza last weekend. Around 70 Palestinians were killed and hundreds were injured in "the highest number of casualties recorded over such a short period of time since Operation Defensive Shield in 2002." Many of the people killed and injured were civilians, unaffiliated with the rockets being fired on Sderot and now Ashkelon.
My response to the reports in Gaza was not sadness, fear, or discouragement as it was for Jerusalem, rather I felt anger.
I think this is a significant, if not favoritist, reaction, and it bothers me. Of course, there are major differences between both attacks. The attacks in Gaza were not targeting civilians, and the yeshiva students in Jerusalem were my brothers; I have an inherent, unexplainable connection to them because of our shared ethnicity so it is understandable for me to feel a bias towards them. But I think that having that connection is troublesome. Every life is holy and valuable, whether it be Jewish or other, and my uncontrollable tendency to take sides makes me feel like an asshole. How can I feel sorry for these Israelis when less than 100 miles away Palestinians are in a constant state of fear as they try to live in conditions that are a constant violation of their human rights and dignity?
I read an article on BBC news where two women, an Israeli from Sderot and a Palestinian from Gaza City, are exchanging letters and allowing the BBC to post them on their website. Anav, the Israeli, starts by writing about how she feels like she's living in a war-zone. She talks about the terrible conditions in Sderot as she is constantly afraid of getting hit by a Kassam rocket. Mona, the Palestinian, writes back in a very stern tone, seemingly offended by Anav's words.

Is life in Sderot a war-zone?! Then what words should I use to describe Gaza?
Life in Gaza is like Hell.

Can an Israeli in Sderot really say that he or she is living in worse conditions than a Palestinian in Gaza? Obviously not. So then why do I feel compassion for the families of the 8 Israelis killed in Jerusalem, yet I have trouble mourning for the families of Gazans?

Obama City

2008-03-06T02:18:00.004-06:00

Obama City, Japan
This is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. I especially love the borderline racist Asian stereotypes that these people are flaunting.

Toshi Maeda reports. He also apparently does not speak English. He's my favorite person in the video.

Me + Morality

2008-03-04T14:37:00.012-06:00

I feel like my entire life is one big moral dilemma.
Ten minutes don't go by without me debating over whether or not some superfluous action is acceptable for me to commit. I constantly put myself in situations where I have to stop and think, "Is good ol' KBH behind me on this?"
Friday night was a great example of this self-imposed ethical pickle. I went to see the Black Lips for free after I left Hillel (which is a questionable move already). It was a great show, I talked to the guitarist with the dental grill about his experiences touring Israel and Palestine, and I was gonna go with Nev to her friend's place to chill afterwards. When we left the Union, the free bus was sitting on the curb and everyone ran to catch it, so I cussed and headed over there, trying to figure out what my next move would be. I couldn't just let the bus leave because then they would think, "Did we lose Eric?" but then again, I couldn't really get on the bus, the whole thing has gotta be muktzah. So I jumped on, asked the bus driver how long he was sticking around for (less than a minute) and ran to the back to give the briefest explanation of anti-busness on Shabbat ever which included the classic John Goodman à la Big Lebowski quote. But as I was finishing my 15 second speech, the bus started to pull away, which was definitely against Shabbas, so I ran to the front of the bus yelling, "STOP THE BUS!" as if I was saving an old lady who just had a heart attack. Immediately the bus driver stopped and I jumped off, giggling over the complete ridiculousness of the situation. I treated getting off that bus as if it was a life-or-death situation, like it was the most important thing I would ever do. It's funny because who else worries about these sorts of things? And the best part is, circumstances like that happen to me all the time.
In some senses, these dilemmas are crazy and unexplainable. Why should I worry so much about not mixing wool and linen? It doesn't make any sense to me and a normal person would think that I'm just being ridiculous. But in other senses, it's somewhat heartening to have a strict moral code to follow; it keeps me in check. It makes me a better person to constantly be thinking to myself, "Am I doing the right thing?" It gives my life meaning. How often does a normal American think about morality? Certainly most people don't think twice about breaking the speed limit, and very few have ethical debates over theft or murder. So when I made the decision not to eat the donut holes in my Messianism class today because they didn't have a hechsher, it made me feel good. I did something that G-d wanted, and I'm proud of that.
In A Year of Living Biblically (which I just finished), A. J. Jacobs discusses the same issues that I'm having:

I shouldn't look at the Bible as a collection of pesky tasks on my to-do list. I have to look forward to the commandments. I have to love them.
And in a few cases - just a handful, really - I'm starting to. Like, with the Sabbath. I used to orient my week around Monday, the start of the secular workweek. Now it's the Sabbath. Everything leads up to the Sabbath. On Friday morning I start prepping for it like I'm going on a big date. I make a huge pot of coffee so that I don't have to do anything resembling cooking on the Sabbath. I pile my research books in a corner.
And when the sun sets, I flip off my computer and get to work not working. Because resting is, paradoxically, difficult. The writer Judith Shulevitz talks about how avoiding business requires much effort. She's right. You can't talk about work, you can't even think about work. A notion about Esquire will creep into my brain - I have to write that article on weddings for Thursday - and I'll squash it down. Another will pop up. It's like a mental Whac-a-Mole. By the end of Saturday, as the sun finally sets, I feel as if I've done something strenuous but healthy, like I've taken a run through Central Park. I feel good, like I deserved the endorphin rush the Sabbath gave me. And then I start to look forward to next week's Sabbath.

I can really relate to him. He went though the same transformation that I did, albeit his was an experiment and mine was... uh, real I guess. But reading through it, I couldn't help but nod my head at the issues he was dealing with, such as- the problems with following laws that don't make sense, getting into awkward social situations because of certain laws, trying to weed out laws that are way too extreme to follow at this point in my life, and trying to connect with G-d but feeling a gap. I ask myself the same questions he asked all the time, but for him the experiment is over, whereas for me, it will keep on going until the day I die (bi'ezrat Hashem).
In fact, I believe this is a good thing. Anyone who believes that they fully understand their religion and know exactly what to do, obviously has no idea what their religion teaches. It is that kind of mentality that leads to fanaticism. The search for answers is the Jewish way, it is what we have been doing for 3000 years, and it is what we will continue to do for however long it takes. Yes, I believe that there is an answer out there, but we are not ready for it yet. Right now, searching and winnowing is how we are going to progress, and only through wandering will we eventually find our way.

I am officially a terrorist

2008-03-01T21:28:00.004-06:00

Last week I visited Tammy in SyraJews. Getting there was a huge balagan because of the ice storm that swept through the Midwest, but my favorite part of the voyage was my encounter with the police.
I had a layover in Detroit, and I was talking to Tammy on the phone while I was at the gate waiting for the flight. I was telling her how I hadn't davened yet, and how davening in front of everyone in the Detroit airport was sketchy, but definitely not as sketchy as when I davened in the lobby of a hotel in Egypt when I was there with her last summer. I said sarcastically that there is probably less of a Taliban presence in this airport than there was in that hotel. And then, I went on to tell her how I learned some new words in Arabic. And then I did this crazy prayer ritual. Normal activity in the life of Eric, right?
But when we started boarding, the lady at the desk pulled me aside because she wanted to "have a word with me." Apparently, I had made some other passengers "feel uncomfortable" by using the word "Taliban" in public. And the procedure for dealing with possible terrorists is to immediately inform the captain, who ordered that I was not allowed to get on the plane until the airport police had come and interrogated me, and that if it took long enough they would fly away without me. So I watched everyone else board the plane as I was questioned by three police officers who proceeded to ask me stupid questions and check my criminal record. The whole time I had to stop myself from flipping out at the ridiculousness of the situation, but I knew that if I did that, there was no way I was getting to SyraJews before Shabbas. I eventually got on the plane and made it there, although I did get some really nice looks as I boarded the plane at the last minute. I stared back at my "fellow passengers" with my beady Jihad-eyes hoping to freak them out, but trying to avoid making any sudden movements so as not to get shot by a sky marshal.

My reaction to the whole situation can be summed up in one phrase, "What the fuck!?" It's not like the new Arabic words I had learned were "lets kill Americans" or "I can't wait to blow myself up on this flight." Of course, no one should be profiled for looking or acting like a terrorist, but... I don't even look Arab! I look as white as any other stupid hillbilly on that flight. They hear the word "Taliban" in an airport and they freak out? What kind of people have Americans evolved into since 9/11? And that they can't even tell the difference between a Muslim prayer and a Jewish prayer? These people must have been so ignorant, sucking in every anti-Arab anti-Muslim slogan they hear, soaking up all of Bush's anti-terrorist propaganda for the past seven years. I really think its sad. I can't imagine what its like for arabic-speakers or people with hijabs or even dark skin. I got a little taste of what they must experience all the time.
It's a good thing I cut off my beard a week ago though, it was huge. I definitely would not have gotten on the flight with that baby.