tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793739436457766642024-02-07T19:56:01.968-06:00The RadishA rabbinic students thoughts about culture, religion, politics and baseball, among other ramblings.David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.comBlogger142125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-70007981156342792082014-11-08T16:32:00.001-06:002014-11-08T16:32:09.871-06:00The Day After<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The morning after Yitzhak Rabin was killed, I woke up in my
bed in Tel Aviv, three blocks from the site of the assassination, looked at my
infant daughter and remembered that the world is still a place of hope and then
deliberated whether I wanted the newspaper to tell me that the assassin was
Jewish or Arab.<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If the assassin were Arab, it could be chalked up to an
anomaly in the otherwise peaceful trend that we were experiencing and celebrating
the night before. If it were a Jew, I would have to face the grim reality that,
as always, Jews have a tradition of zealotry that places La’shem Shamayim, for
the sake of heaven, over humanism and peace. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The tradition is that La’shem Shamayim is a good thing. In
the Mishna we read, “Every machloket that is for the sake of heaven is destined
to survive; every machloket that is not for the sake of heaven is not destined
to survive.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Mishna goes on to give examples. “What is a machloket
for the sake of heaven? Like the machloket of Hillel and Shammai. What is a
machloket not for the sake of heaven? Like the machloket of Korach and his
congregation. (5:17)”<o:p></o:p></div>
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The obvious questions after reading this are, what does it
mean to “survive” and what distinguishes between these two quarrels. About
Hillel and Shammai, the Talmud tells us through the Bat Kol, a divine voice,
“These and these are the words of the living God. ((Elu va-elu divrei Elohim
chayim, BT Eruvin 13b). Thus both sides of the disagreement are equals and
assumed good. In the Torah, it is understood that Moses is the good guy and
Korach bad. They are not equals and Korach is destroyed. What then is the
message in Pirkei Avot (5:17)? This depends on how you understand truth. <o:p></o:p></div>
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After R. Eliezer b. Hyrcanus is discredited and removed from
the Sanhendrin in the case of Achnai's Oven (bava metsia 59b), we also
encounter the idea of La’shem Shamayim. Here, the head of the Sanhedrin, R.
Gamliel, is on a boat, which is about to sink, an assumed heavenly punishment
for the treatment of Eliezer. Just as he is about to meet his fate, Gamliel
claims, “You should know that I didn't act for the sake of my own honor,
neither for the sake of the honor of my father's house, but for your honor, so
as not to proliferate disputes within the nation (shelo yirbu machlokot b'Yisrael).”
In other words, Gamliel says he acted on God’s behalf. The problem with this is
that Gamliel assumes he understands God’s truth, and the problem with the
tradition is that it is assumed that God favors people who act La’shem
Shamayim, on His behalf.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The assassin of my prime minister thinks he acted for a
higher purpose, La’Shem Shamayim, but he really should have looked at the
continuation of Eruvin 13b because, all things being equal, we follow Hillel’s
ways because he was humble. Having a higher purpose is not the answer. <o:p></o:p></div>
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To be humble does not mean to have no opinions. Hillel
examined both sides of an argument and was able to present the other side
before his own. He found a balance between, “These and these are the words of
the living God - Elu va-elu divrei Elohim chayim,” and having a position that
was his own. Presenting the other side is not what the assassin did on November
4<sup>th</sup>, 1995. He removed it in the most zealous and undemocratic way
possible. He spit in the eye of all of Israel, and his self righteousness and
lawlessness, in so many ways, is worse than Korach since Korach never claimed
the mantle of La’Shem Shamayim.<o:p></o:p></div>
David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-72309651141286708332014-10-06T08:16:00.003-05:002014-10-06T08:16:42.905-05:00Kvetching at Mediation: A Jewish View with Universal Application<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">One might ask, why do mediators allow participants to kvetch, Yiddish for
complain or vent, during mediation? What good is discussing the past during the
reconciliation process when it comes to shaping a resolution for present and
future? After all, according to Israel philosopher Avishai Margalit:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">[</span>T]here is no backward causality. We cannot affect the past; we
cannot undo the past, resurrect the past, or revivify the past. Only
descriptions of the past can be altered, improved, or animated. The past
itself, unlike its descriptions, cannot be brought back either in form or in
essence (Margalit, The Ethics of Memory, 2002, p.66)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So why accommodate into mediation,
an effort at peacemaking, something as unchangeable and subjective as the
kvetch? Why encourage parties to tell opposing versions of the past? The answer
has to do with the need for venting, since identifying needs is a major
function of the mediator’s job. Venting fulfills many needs:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the need to have a voice in the relationship,
the need to hear and be heard, and the need to release pent-up emotions. One
need that is not often explored, however, is the need to rebuke. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Rabbi Shimon, son of Lakish, a/k/a
Reish Lakish, was a bandit turned religious scholar who lived in the Galilee in
the third century of the common-era. In his exegeses of the biblical verse <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“And Abraham reproved Abimelech (Gen 21:25),” Reish
Lakish explained, “reproof leads to peace.” Then he made an even bolder
statement, “Peace unaccompanied by reproof is not peace (Midrash Genesis
Rabbah).”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To understand Reish Lakish, one would first have to understand what he
meant by peace. Reish Lakish lived in 3<sup>rd</sup> century Palestine under
Roman (Byzantine) occupation. In this context, peace could have meant <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pax</i>, the Latin etymological source for
the word, or it could have meant <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shalom</i>,
the Hebrew word for peace, which has a completely different etymology.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pax</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> is a cessation of
violence, a truce, whereas <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shalom</i> is
a return to wholeness or completeness. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pax</i>,
unaccompanied by reproof is still a truce, but shalom unaccompanied by reproof
is definitely not the peace and harmony of wholeness. This raises the
question:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when mediators facilitate
discourse between disputants do they seek a truce or shalom?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In my mediation training at the Center for Conflict Resolution in Chicago,
we were taught that the relationship is always an agenda item of the mediation,
but how the relationship of the disputants will look like after mediation is
none of our business. Our interest is the conversation. Mediators often feel
like they have to sit on their hands and bite their tongues to stop themselves
from making suggestions or directing the parties to the agreement they see as
right. “Right”, however, has little to do with mediation. In fact, the dispute,
in many cases, is caused by the subjectivity of righteousness and justice. Each
side has a narrative that highlights their own righteousness and the other
side’s injustice. When disputants choose litigation, they are seeking justice,
which is the determination of righteousness according to the law by an outside
party.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Many biblical
scholars believe that the Holiness Code – found in Leviticus chapter nineteen –
was written well before the text that surrounds it. If true, this is a
significant theory because it means it does not take its authority from God,
but rather is a human commentary on morality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If viewed as a religious doctrine, it is a form of justice prescribed by
a divine external authority. However, the Holiness Code includes a prescription
for peace that tries to preempt divine justice. “Do not hate your sibling in
your heart. You must certainly rebuke your neighbor (Lev. 19:17).”
Interestingly, the verse ends with what might be an addition to the original
text, “and not bear sin because of him.” Sin is a violation of divine law, but
it is quite possible that the Holiness Code aspired to achieve peace by rebuke
without divine justice.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wisely, we mediators are professionally instructed that this is not our
mediation: that the participants know their needs and will have to live with
their decisions. We don’t decide whether peace is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pax</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shalom</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The job of the mediator is humbling, and the mediator understands that real
peace is the construct of the disputing parties. The mediator allows venting
because people get stuck in their own stories and often can’t see beyond them.
When participants in mediation tell their stories, they are not trying to do
backward causality. They are sharing their understandings of the past. This kvetching
is their chance to be heard and to hear, to give voice and flesh out the
substance of the dispute. Most of all, kvetching and rebuke are essential to
peace making because “peace unaccompanied by reproof is not peace,” otherwise
it is just a truce.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-44351006119720542622014-01-22T09:42:00.001-06:002014-01-22T13:42:23.046-06:00Saving the Entire Universe, One Child at a Time<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Our bodies have painfully tasted
man’s indifference and inhumanity to his fellow man. We have witnessed in our
own flesh the moral evil present in human society. But this should not tempt us
to become morally arrogant. Our suffering should not lead us to self-righteous
postures, but to an increased sensitivity about all human suffering. (David
Hartman, 1982)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
In his
autobiography, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Once Upon a Country, A
Palestinian Life</i>, Al Quds University President, Sari Nusseibeh, tells a
story about a time when he asked his mother what her father would have done if
European Jews came and said that they want to return to the shared homeland to
avoid the imminent catastrophe awaiting them in Europe. Her <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
response was that her father would
welcome his Abrahamic cousins.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
“Welcoming”, however,
connotes an element of passivity that would have been insufficient in light of the
tragedy that European Jews were facing. In hindsight, we all like to think that
we would have done much more, but the episode of the St. Louis, the German
ocean liner that tried to bring 937 refugees to safety in Cuba in 1939,
suggests otherwise. These refugees were returned to Europe where over a quarter
of them met their death in concentration camps. Apparently, even when fully
aware of horrors being perpetrated against brothers (or cousins), we are unable
to leave our comfort zones and meet the challenges our morality demands of us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
I can’t speak to
other people’s morality; who am I to judge? but my own sense of decency is
beckoning me to take action and I need help. I must save two families that have
been deported from Israel to South Sudan. These are the families of my 13 year
old son’s school friends from the two years I was on a fellowship at the Shalom
Hartman Institute.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
I recognize that
the notion of deportation is highly charged; thus, allow me an opportunity to
explain why I feel that the country of immigrants and refugees that I love, which
I opted to become a citizen of during high school, has fallen short on its
moral and legal obligations. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Poogi and Deng, my
son’s friends from his public school in northern Tel Aviv, had their parents
visited by Israeli officials who said that, now that they have a state of their
own, Israel can help them return home. Sounds nice, but the officials didn’t
like Poogi’s mother, Theresa’s response. She said, I’m paraphrasing, “Thank
you, but we are saving money of our own and waiting to see if the country will
be safe for our return. We have six children and five of them are still in
school. My husband is a leader in our community church here. We can’t just take
our kids out of school and abandon our community.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimuB59V7yjA1SreW-ljw1Qjvu8t4b4DZ5YmHR2Mx3rW0QkDDJE21JJImxJfztYG_G-Q8FQN5r5wGgA27jKcYp82qJaGElTaxS3xN3P2SqBx-FfFy2LMHl_s59tbiDnkuMMc8RasinKHY0/s1600/poogi,+deng,+itamar.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimuB59V7yjA1SreW-ljw1Qjvu8t4b4DZ5YmHR2Mx3rW0QkDDJE21JJImxJfztYG_G-Q8FQN5r5wGgA27jKcYp82qJaGElTaxS3xN3P2SqBx-FfFy2LMHl_s59tbiDnkuMMc8RasinKHY0/s1600/poogi,+deng,+itamar.tif" height="267" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poogi, Deng and Itamar celebrating Purim</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
The official
didn’t like this and asked how she was saving money. Then he reminded her that
she has refugee status but not a work permit. In Israel, instead of allowing
refugees to work and give back to the country that is helping them, they import
indentured servants, under the guise of “foreign labor,” who must pay for their
right to work in Israel for a limited time and cease to be humans while they
live there. An example of this is having children. If a “foreign worker” has a
child and raises that child in Israel with Hebrew as their mother tongue with
all the risks and rewards of living in the promised land, then that child is at
risk of being separated from his or her parents and deported back to the
parents native land, alone, where they have never visited, don’t speak the
language and don’t know the culture.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
The Israeli
officials told Theresa, that they would forgive her violation of Israeli law
and give the family one thousand dollars per adult family member if they would
accept the offer and return to South Sudan. And, of course, sign a document
that says they are not being deported. Grace accepted and her family moved back
to the civil war raging in her native country after 6 years in our promised
land.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
I am not decided
about the existence of God, but I believe in angels because I learned that
Poogi and some of his siblings are now safe living in a boarding school in
Uganda, paid for by the parents of one of the children’s classmates in North
Tel Aviv. Wow! This is the Israel I love. In fact, I remember taking my son and
the boys, his Sudanese friends, to the beach in Tel Aviv and some other angels
approached the boys. One woman wanted to buy them ice cream. An older man
hugged Poogi and Deng and said, “Welcome to our country. We thank you for
giving us this opportunity to give back after having been refugees ourselves.” Oh,
for the love of angels.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3d8je1C94MupT8pdMuBTTEZRbkHFC79qbZJPDEaGFHDh6hjI_JeSYLKx_SaGco1SHWBwVFz5JWmpipCHWdbqF5HNrUmp46J3gKReI0dMwoEdDwrbc9WES0TjqLRBVSlkmZfyNKRnbC7E/s1600/poogy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3d8je1C94MupT8pdMuBTTEZRbkHFC79qbZJPDEaGFHDh6hjI_JeSYLKx_SaGco1SHWBwVFz5JWmpipCHWdbqF5HNrUmp46J3gKReI0dMwoEdDwrbc9WES0TjqLRBVSlkmZfyNKRnbC7E/s1600/poogy.jpg" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sudanese children raised in Israel now at the Trinity School in Kampala, Uganda</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
I found out about Poogi’s
and Deng’s current situation when I went to their apartments in South Tel Aviv
and discovered that they had left the country. A friend turned me on to Come
True, an Israeli NGO that helps get the Sudanese children to safety in Uganda
and raises the funds to pay their tuition. One of the volunteers put me in
touch with Theresa in South Sudan. She has nothing but puts her last penny into
a Zain cell phone so she can be in touch with her children in Uganada. In Juba,
the family’s home was broken into and completely looted. Not only did they lose
all of their possessions, but also the apartment is uninhabitable and unsafe. Theresa
used to work in a hotel before the fighting broke out. Now the only visitors
are oil industry magnates who come to drain this fledgling country of its only
natural resources. The slow flow of tourism led to Theresa’s dismissal from
work. No job, no home, just a homeland. The creation of her country, like the
birth of a child, was so full of hope. What has gone wrong? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Deng’s family,
maybe more pragmatic, thought they chose safety over hope. They fled South
Sudan for Cairo. Now they live in poverty and suffer extreme racial and
religious persecution. Both families are Christian.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
During the
catastrophe that occurred in Europe throughout the Second World War, few people
took action to prevent the atrocities. Those who did help were either vested in
the lives of the victims or simply humane. The Israeli philosopher Avishai
Margalit describes this as the distinction between morals and ethics. Margalit
says that ethics are supposed to guide thick relations, those we have with
people who are engaged in our lives, either as friend or foe. Ethics guide
these relations because we have stakes in them. The rules of war, for instance,
are ethical because they regulate the behavior of enemies who are deeply
engaged with one another. Ethics also guide our obligations to family, friends
and fellow citizens. Without ethics society would not flow fluidly. Morals, on
the other hand, are for perfect strangers. If we are not vested in the lives of
others, do we have any impetus to help them? Why should we act when the stakes
are low? What might compel us to feed the poor of distant lands if not a moral
imperative?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
For most people
reading this, South Sudan is a moral concern. We ought to care because we are
human, and fellow humans are suffering, but caring about the South Sudanese
will not change the quality of our lives. For me, this has always been an
ethical issue. I have been culpable since the beginning. My country, Israel,
sells arms to China, which end up in the hands of the Janjuweed. These Arab
marauders created killing fields in Darfur and other parts of Sudan, leading to
the steady flow of immigrants. Refugees made their exodus by foot through
Egypt, like my people before them, with hopes of a sanctuary in a promised land.
My country flew them back to a civil war. Not only is this unethical, it is
also a violation of the Geneva Convention.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
I understand that
if Israel keeps its borders permeable, more refugees will come. Yes, we are geographically
small and dedicate a lot of our national budget to defense, but I love the
comment that the man on the beach gave to the boys. “We thank you for giving us
this opportunity to give back after having been refugees ourselves.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
In most conflicts,
the parties see the world as a zero sum game. One side must lose for the other
side to win. Everything is always limited by our lack of creativity and the
opacity of those forces that have something to loss. In a transparent Israel,
rational, good people would give jobs to refugees before importing foreign
laborers to do the same work. Opacity hides the money that goes to “man power”
companies and politicians who allow this system to continue without obvious
benefits.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
If Israel would
take a leading role in addressing the refugee crisis, she could find partners
in the global community. Instead, Israel exports the arms that are used
against these refugees. How many average Israelis understand the horrible
consequences of some of their countries leading oligarchs’ despicable business
practices?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Many people will
find it distasteful to read me question the country’s policies. They will say
it is washing dirty laundry in public. Some readers will feel terrible about
what this country, which holds so many promises and hopes for our people, is
doing. They may be pushed away or talk about it with disdain among friends.
What I am searching for is people who will take action and try to help save
these families or at least their sons.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Both Poogi’s and
Deng’s mothers have said to me that they would rather be separated from their
son’s and know that they are safe than to be together and in harm's way. I am
willing to take these boys into my house and raise them beside my own children, but
I need help. Both the Talmud and the Koran share the verse, “To save one life
is akin to saving the entire universe.” I want to save at least two. Please
think about how you can help; immigration lawyer friends, politician
associates, NGO’s and, of course, money. We can start by paying for the
families’ cell phones. We can pay for continued tuition for the children in
Uganda. We can send money for food and clothing. And we can make this a public
issue so that we don’t allow ourselves, via our country, to be shamed by these inhumane and unethical policies. <o:p></o:p></div>
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David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-13066713633141356132014-01-15T21:15:00.001-06:002014-01-15T21:20:23.847-06:00Poogi<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Poogi Galuak</b> is an eleven year old boy who became a refugee
in the first year of his life. His mother, Theresa, was also a refugee who left
her native Unity, now part of South Sudan, when she was eight to live in
Khartoum where she met her husband Galuak. Both Theresa and Galuak are from the
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinka_people" target="_blank">Dinka</a> tribe and are practicing Christians. Galuak is a minister in the church.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Poogi was one year old, his parents took him and three
older siblings to Cairo, Egypt to flee the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sudanese_Civil_War" target="_blank">Second Sudanese Civil War</a> (1983-2005). The family lived and worked in Cairo from 2003 to 2007 but fled to
Israel, by foot, after repeated attacks and other human rights violations. By
this time, they had added one more son to the family.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 2007, Galuak led his family into Israel. Upon arrival,
they were taken to South Tel Aviv by the military and left to rebuild their
lives. Poogi was five years old when he arrived in Israel, having already fled
his home twice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHPK70U11Xz10y7_kcOxfEcGBYBcFYgT1Vr1LYBKDqJ5o5RtUZWEDLKr5UotEyHg1fuJOu0I8PHNWYESuDcAfD8-xy143tiICd7MrOaAH0sie_eYrR6YRWDODDxSSLCeFRl_iAgB1KeoA/s1600/poogi,theresa.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHPK70U11Xz10y7_kcOxfEcGBYBcFYgT1Vr1LYBKDqJ5o5RtUZWEDLKr5UotEyHg1fuJOu0I8PHNWYESuDcAfD8-xy143tiICd7MrOaAH0sie_eYrR6YRWDODDxSSLCeFRl_iAgB1KeoA/s1600/poogi,theresa.tif" height="216" width="320" /></a></div>
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Tel Aviv, Poogi’s new hometown, had a progressive approach
to refugee absorption and tried a variety of ways to educate the children. Many
people are familiar with the Bialik-Rogozin School because the movie
about it, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.strangersnomoremovie.com/" target="_blank">Strangers No More</a></i>, won an
Oscar. At the Bialik-Rogozin School, children of foreign workers and refugees
study together in Hebrew with a student body from all over the world. Poogi’s
parents were not sure if this was the best idea for their children. They wanted
the loving environment and good education, but they were concerned with their
children’s acculturation into Israeli society. Instead of sending the children
to Bialik-Rogozin, they chose the other option Tel Aviv provided for them.
Inspired by the outcomes of the American Supreme Court decision in Brown vs.
Board of Education, the city tried bussing kids to good schools in the north.
Poogi and his two sisters ended up in the Aran School next to the Sde Dov
Airport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At Aran, Poogi contended with some racism, but ultimately
thrived. He was admitted into the Israel Baseball League and made many friends.
His family remained in Tel Aviv until 2012 when they were forced to return to
the fledgling country of South Sudan. This was the third time in his short life
that he was forced to leave his home. After a brief quiet and period of hope,
civil strife became civil war and Poogi was moved again. This time he was
placed in a boarding school, Trinity Primary School, in Kampala, Uganda. To his
good fortune, a family of one of his Israeli classmates is paying his tuition.
All of Poogi’s five siblings are now in the school, but the parents remain in
Juba, South Sudan. Recently, Theresa lost her job cleaning in a hotel and the
family apartment was broken into and looted. They lost everything including the
roof over their heads.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I just spoke to Theresa. She and her husband want to leave
South Sudan. In their best case, the united family would take up residence in
the United States, but Theresa has told me that she will be happy to save as
many of her children as possible. Poogi is my son’s friend from the Aran School
in Tel Aviv, and I hope we can start saving the Galuak family by saving him
first.<o:p></o:p></div>
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David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-78948267939878549182014-01-01T00:33:00.000-06:002014-01-01T00:33:33.293-06:00Being Rich<div class="MsoNormal">
Sometimes the clearest truths are hidden in plain sight, in
broad daylight, right in front of your face. It’s like not seeing the trees
because of the forest or not seeing the forest because of the trees; however
that saying goes.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_awhRZVqOchQZQyAZm-gt0j2muQpyKfzzsmIUs_fK9XwlXGPls2XnSkVcURaAPBR4bJWgKgqjBDNb_E4KXUvtvAYJW3SGSjHVKl5E9jS9u1IIUXKZTu2pbjGt3dT7IVK_bKI4PpqbNCk/s1600/with+Gil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_awhRZVqOchQZQyAZm-gt0j2muQpyKfzzsmIUs_fK9XwlXGPls2XnSkVcURaAPBR4bJWgKgqjBDNb_E4KXUvtvAYJW3SGSjHVKl5E9jS9u1IIUXKZTu2pbjGt3dT7IVK_bKI4PpqbNCk/s320/with+Gil.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I am sitting on the porch of my high school roommate Gilli’s
house in Kibbutz Mishmarot, just a few feet from the spot where my cabin was
when I lived here in the army. I have a cup of Turkish coffee next to me, my
wonderful partner getting dressed in the other room and a full day before me. I
am a very happy guy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbnm8xfLaQEDSTofWfPF3Pj45v3FolHOwlzW07_6t1mYOJrdi9RX0j-rQO40wkM9UKSPBVwsy1UboIBcioBqs8hKsTp8wO5Po42xmqd6f74D6jO3CrLjjz2dEwB55TZYUs4jOGPUTQTF4/s1600/3ofus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbnm8xfLaQEDSTofWfPF3Pj45v3FolHOwlzW07_6t1mYOJrdi9RX0j-rQO40wkM9UKSPBVwsy1UboIBcioBqs8hKsTp8wO5Po42xmqd6f74D6jO3CrLjjz2dEwB55TZYUs4jOGPUTQTF4/s320/3ofus.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Coming back to Israel has been the best homecoming ever. I
feel rich with love and joy and so many good things. I arrive in a city or
kibbutz, knock on a door and am greeted with love. My friendships make me so
rich, so content, so happy. I fill with pride every time I introduce Diane to
another of my friends. This trip has been proof that you are reflected in the
company you keep. My friends all share a great commitment to our country. Gilli
has always been committed to the security of the country. Snait cares about the
ethical behavior of the government. Yair wants Judaism to be defined broadly
and positively. He gave up on his orthodoxy, doesn’t believe and still shares
my commitment to our sacred texts and the values we derive from them. Today we
will have dinner with Sharon, Itamar’s friend Neveh’s mom, and the family. She
wants her contribution to come through cinema just as my high school buddy
Doron does. He has won 3 Israeli Oscars, hangs them in his washroom and thinks
of his film work as his tikkun olam. Tonight we will sleep at my teacher and
friend Lori’s house. Her contribution to my education can be summarized in one
word, “Scope.” She taught me to see the world with eyes wide open. This morning
we will, hopefully, see Marissa, Diane’s daughter. She is in the process of giving
this country a place in her heart as she travels with Birthright. She is a very
special girl and I am lucky that she is part of the package. And everywhere I
go, people ask about my children with great interest and love. “Is Itamar still
playing baseball?” “Is Sahar still as brilliant as she was when I knew her
here?” “Has Maya taken that beautiful face out of her books? She’s depriving
the world of her smile.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Life is wonderful. Israel is a rich and magnificent miracle,
but really not a miracle, the product of the hard work of my people. I feel
good.<o:p></o:p></div>
David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-80247771432917949672013-12-29T02:38:00.003-06:002013-12-29T02:38:25.546-06:00Moving on<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Normally, I force myself to take a deep breath and write my
thoughts as a way of getting full value from my experiences, but this trip has
been a frantic squeezing of every possibility into the mere 24 hours of a day
on Earth. I haven't had time to just think.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3yjpjGXytoZpGmi888Hx3h4rYuiSL5zC3B_WjeOBs-0s-Nb-BUrQRvTsoi1fqFLXI-G7oU3tmxjT_sVwLeyXtcDCkLrzWmPuy3YW31j4JFN71U28NPPxBjpfaQtSbAF7ThGcBCajniNI/s1600/image.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3yjpjGXytoZpGmi888Hx3h4rYuiSL5zC3B_WjeOBs-0s-Nb-BUrQRvTsoi1fqFLXI-G7oU3tmxjT_sVwLeyXtcDCkLrzWmPuy3YW31j4JFN71U28NPPxBjpfaQtSbAF7ThGcBCajniNI/s320/image.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">On the other hand, I have definitely accomplished my goal of
moving on with life and making sure that Israel is part of that equation. This
has meant introducing Diane to my two Israeli families, showing her my beloved
city – Tel Aviv, eating in all my favorite places, meeting many of my friends
(there is no chance for her to meet them all in 2 weeks) and, for me, feeling
at home in Israel without an Israeli partner. One week into the trip and I can
already proclaim, “Mission accomplished!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl2NfCefhxdJeUFCv1gcVNMBcFPwlw7lfSRY5pgLkEjj6WyJus6RBZcIo_PVAL7Yc8Xfx0BboVipPLOb5PqG6mQLgT1UsyR-lBMn5gkw7vT4_JgETgCTMryvjLapAaD6VngHMmOzzfO2o/s1600/IMG_4552.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl2NfCefhxdJeUFCv1gcVNMBcFPwlw7lfSRY5pgLkEjj6WyJus6RBZcIo_PVAL7Yc8Xfx0BboVipPLOb5PqG6mQLgT1UsyR-lBMn5gkw7vT4_JgETgCTMryvjLapAaD6VngHMmOzzfO2o/s320/IMG_4552.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Since we arrived, we have been to Caesaria with my buddy Snait,
visited my high school roommate Gilli, spend time in Akko and Rosh Hanikra,
walked King George and Shuk Hacarmel on Friday, saw many close friends and ate
enough to feed a whole brigade of IDF soldiers.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBiinsf2SfmrAgtsRUZ1xN8KjfIwwJATTRXiLhveXfQKivueup30T0V3vF1-rG2mLu7G-sdeW7lzXy899XRmzdO-1HB1UO5Z4rWgOJ1jTfohtoLrpLzY_HhhWv_r5S1RrgK-snEuCqzeg/s1600/IMG_5018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBiinsf2SfmrAgtsRUZ1xN8KjfIwwJATTRXiLhveXfQKivueup30T0V3vF1-rG2mLu7G-sdeW7lzXy899XRmzdO-1HB1UO5Z4rWgOJ1jTfohtoLrpLzY_HhhWv_r5S1RrgK-snEuCqzeg/s320/IMG_5018.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Tonight we have dinner in Ramallah with my friend Hania Bitar,
whom I have been told by many, could be the first Palestinian woman Prime
Minister. We will have breakfast tomorrow with my Talmud teacher from the
Hartman Institute, Yair Eldan, and we will finish the day in Tel Aviv with my
dear friends Effie and Sasha. Sasha was there when I became a father and has
been a close buddy ever since. Tuesday we will get a tour of the eastern Galil
and Golan Heights from my buddy Gilli, and Wednesday night we will sleep at my
high school teacher and friend, Lori’s, house. To top off a great trip,
Thursday night, my classmates from the Kfar Hayarok are having a reunion. And how
is this for good planning, on Saturday when we depart, instead of being sad, we
will fly to Amman and spend 22 hours with my old friend Khaldoun Dajani and his
family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Life is good and my waistline is growing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-2606328478319555562013-12-24T11:29:00.002-06:002013-12-24T11:29:23.913-06:00Blogging as a way of staying awake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Often one writes in a blog for an audience, but sometimes writing just helps you in the fight against jet lag. Right now it's the latter. It's seven PM and my eyelids are begging to close the store for the night. I need to make it to double digits.</div>
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Today was a great start to our trip. Snait's husband, Yaron, runs a farm on Kibbutz Givat Brenner and grows what might be the tastiest avocados ever. These together with jachnun, tachina and salad were a scrumptious and healthy (it's all relative) start to the day.</div>
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Ancient Caesarea was our first stop, and, true to form, I bumped into someone I know - my friend Mike Hollander, a tour guide who was leading a group of tourists. The next stop was the Electric Company's Hedera power station where my roommate from high school, Gilli, is in charge of security. Gilli has been my Moroccan brother since 1980 when we first milked cows together. Next week he will take us for a tour of northern Israel. The last time he did this for me, I was traveling with my friend Patrick, an Irish Catholic (secular), and Gilli took us to his friend's restaurant at Caperum, the place where JC was supposed to have walked on the water. With typical Israeli tact, to entertain us during lunch, they told jokes - Jesus jokes. If it wasn't so surreal, it would have been embarrassing, but Patrick took it well.</div>
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We also had coffee at Kibbutz Sdot Yam. Oh, to be a socialist living on the sea shore. And later we went to Shula's Fish and Seafood Restaurant. Wow! it was so good. Diane joined the clean plate club by finishing all her shrimp. I couldn't bring myself to eat trayf, but I will eat chicken or beef in non-kosher restaurants here. In America, I don't eat non-kosher meat as a kind of self discipline to remind myself of my identity.<br />
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This may not sound like a very dynamic day, but it was really great introducing some of my closest friends in Israel to Diane, and I'm sure this is helping her understand her boyfriend better. All good in the promised land.</div>
David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-18164126666139586902013-12-23T23:02:00.001-06:002013-12-23T23:02:13.713-06:00Waking up in the promised landJet lag is a terrible thing. I thought that if I stayed up to reminisce with my old friend Snait (Yes, her parents named her squirrel) until 1:30 in the AM, I would sleep late and get on the right sleep schedule. Apparently, the right schedule for me in Israel is contrary to Benjamin Franklin's pronouncement that "early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy and wealthy and dead." In Israel, I just don't sleep, and I'm no healthier or wealthier for it. And, of course, my writing is testimony to my being alive. You might conclude, ala Descarte, "I write therefore I am." In truth, I wouldn't mind some more sleep.<br />
During my first stint in Israel, starting in 1980 at the Kfar Hayarok, I was a dairy farmer and I woke up every morning at 3 AM to milk the cows. Rising early continued with the army.<br />
The second major stint in Israel was 1991 through '96 when I lived here with Irit and rose early to run on the beach every morning in Tel Aviv. I thought it would make me tired and help me sleep longer, but as the "best laid plans of mice and men," it didn't work out as predicted. I slept less and still continued to live with full vitality and vigor. I can't put my finger on it, but there is something about this place that makes me want to be awake and experience all that is here for me to experience. As Warren Zevon sang while dying of prostrate cancer, "I'll sleep when I'm dead."David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-15881706645541785302013-12-21T23:41:00.000-06:002013-12-21T23:41:04.085-06:00To Zion, againTomorrow I return to my adopted home, Israel, and my favorite city, Tel Aviv, for the first time since the restructuring of my family. I'll travel with my new partner, Diane, and make all the requisite introductions. She will meet my friends, see my country, eat in my favorite restaurants and walk my favorite streets. I am full of excitement and trepidation.<br />
The first time I traveled to Israel was 1967, right after the Six Day War. I might as well have been my parents' baggage because I was two at the time and have no recollection of the trip. I returned when I was ten, the summer after my parents divorce. I didn't like Israel because it meant being away from my father, but I do remember having a lot of fun. That summer, we lived with my mom's first boyfriend, Danny, and his wife and two kids, in a 2 bedroom apartment in Givataim. We spent our days at the beach and the nights eating falafel and hanging out with friends. Israel was still a product of its socialist roots, and it seemed like everyone had just about the same amount of stuff. There was only one TV channel and everyone listened to The Voice of Peace. This was the Israel that I fell in love with, despite the absence of my dad.<br />
Five years later, after being influenced by my Labor Zionist youth movement, Habonim, I decided to try a year of high school in the Kfar Hayarok, an Israeli agricultural boarding school on the northern border of Tel Aviv. My fate was sealed.<br />
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After what became three years of high school, delivering hundreds of baby calves, falling in love for the first time, traveling all over the country and being adopted by all my classmates families, I decided to become Israeli. This wasn't an ideological move. I couldn't imagine myself living anywhere else. I didn't think about the ugly war the country was fighting in Lebanon or the occupation of our Palestinian neighbors in the West Bank and Gaza. I thought about milking cows and being close to friends.<br />
OK maybe it was ideological. I carried a copy of the <a href="http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Peace/Guide/Pages/Declaration%20of%20Establishment%20of%20State%20of%20Israel.aspx" target="_blank">Israeli Declaration of Independence </a>in my wallet, dreamed of being a hero like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Trumpeldor" target="_blank">Trumpeldor</a>, and building a new kibbutz that would double as an artist colony.<br />
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After the army, I went to school at UCLA. The Intifada helped me feel good about the fact that I wasn't in Israel. I studied art and film and gave up my dreams of living on a kibbutz with my girlfriend Estee. However, A few girlfriends later, I was back on my way to Tel Aviv for another stint in the land I call home. This time with Irit, I was a television editor and multimedia producer. I made new friends and strengthened old friendships. We started our family and I felt at home, at least until my dying grandfather asked me to come back to America and help him with his business.<br />
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Thirteen years later, I returned again, the father of three and a doctor of education. I studied to become a rabbi, but my school closed unexpectedly and I left after two years, this time with a family and lots of responsibilities. I didn't want to leave, but my kids were not thrilled with my chosen homeland and making ends meet was a challenge. Israel had changed. By 2011, we had exceeded 40 years of occupation, both blurred the green line and built a wall on or close to it, and the country had become ultra capitalist. As much as I hated to go, it was the right thing to do. Little did I know that within a year of my return to America, my marriage would start to crumble and the earth below me would start to shake. Everything came apart and I hit bottom. Then I met my traveling companion and life partner, and now here I go again, back across lakes and seas and oceans to my tiny little country with my wonderful group of friends and my huge bundle of memories. Excited and nervous, I can't wait to get back home.David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-5172271060046349742012-09-25T10:52:00.003-05:002012-09-28T09:29:40.776-05:00Yom Kippur and fat men in red suits<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In my search for profundity this eve of Yom Kippur, I came
across the perfect lyric for my sentiment about this day. “He sees you when
you're sleeping, He knows when you're awake, He knows if you've been bad or
good, so be good for goodness sake.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Yes, there is an implication that Santa will only shmutz up
his red suit in your chimney if you behave yourself, but the words are quite explicit,
“be good for goodness sake.” The worldview of this song is not B.F.Skinner’s
world of behaviorism. Good is not rewarded and evil is not punished. Be good
for the sake of goodness; not God, not a judge, not to get good seats in
heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This idea is explored in Judaism. It seems rational to favor
good for goodness sake than brownie points with the big guy, and the Jewish tradition
knows that it needs to address this, but Jewish tradition is not monolithic. It
is a trajectory with many branches. Metaphorically, it is a tree of life, just
like Torah. The problem and beauty of this is that we can point to any branch
we choose and call it Judaism. I would like to point to two of these branches.
One is from our sages, the other from a modern sage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“He [Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah]
used to say: One whose wisdom exceeds his deeds is like a tree whose branches
are many but whose roots are few [and weak]. The wind comes and uproots it and
overturns it upon its top. But one whose deeds are greater than his wisdom is
like a tree whose roots are many [and deep] but whose branches are few. Even if
all the winds of the world come and blow upon it, they cannot even move it from
its place. ” (Avot, chapter 3, mishnah 22).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This is Mishnaic Judaism supporting goodness for goodness
sake. It doesn’t address the problem of determining the source of goodness or
“deeds” which is a reference to the mitzvot (the 613 positive and negative
commandments identified in Torah), but it also doesn’t say to do them in order
to get rewarded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Yizhar">Yizhar
Smilansky</a>, an early Zionist writer and professor of education, added to the
Jewish canon a different approach to motivation for doing good, or just being,
when he wrote, in <i>The Courage to be Secular,</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">One may be non religious out of ignorance, laziness
or for no reason at all, but to be secular, one must make a conscious choice…To
be secular it is not enough to be non-religious. The distinction lies between
finding something and losing something…What makes someone secular? First and foremost,
a sense of responsibility; a sense of responsibility with no external
source…The secular have chosen to face the world on their own terms. To be
secular means to claim sovereignty over one's own life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This Yom Kippur, as I deprive myself of food and blame
myself for the collective sins of my people, I will be hoping and praying that
more of us opt for this branch of Jewish thought that takes responsibility
seriously and chooses good for its own sake. Gmar Chatima Tova, whatever that
means to you.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-39575164701450395622012-05-25T13:55:00.001-05:002012-05-25T13:55:33.666-05:00Alternative BaMidbar Drasha<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Parashat BaMidbar 5772</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> <b>Ford Pinto</b> was a subcompact car produced by the
Ford Motor Company for the model years 1971–1980, during which time 2 million
cars were manufactured. The Pinto was the brainchild of then Ford CEO, Lee
Iacocca, who wanted this car to weigh less than 2000 pounds and cost less than
$2000 to manufacture. In 1978, the Pinto was recalled over issues pertaining to
the gas tank design. Apparently, if the Pinto were hit from behind, the car
would explode upon impact. Originally, it is rumored, that when Iacocca heard
of this flaw and discovered that its correction would raise the cost over $2000
and raise the car’s weight over 2000 pounds, he decided to calculate the
difference between the cost of settling lawsuits and fixing the flaw. When it
was discovered that the largest demographic of Pinto buyers was over 60,
African American women, and that these women were not highly valued by courts
and insurance companies, Iacocca decided not to fix the Pinto.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When I first
heard this story, I was appalled. As an American, I always took seriously our
Declaration of Independence when it states, quite emphatically, “We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As a Jew, I
don’t have to read far into the Torah to understand that, “God created man in
his image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created
them.” It’s right there in Genesis one, verse twenty seven.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But last
week, in Parshat B’Chokotai, Leviticus twenty seven, I read something very
different. The text tells me that, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">[T]he
Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, and say to them,
‘If a man shall make a special vow to give to the Lord the estimated value of
persons, Then the estimation shall be: for a male from twenty years old to
sixty years old, fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the
sanctuary. And if a female, then the estimation shall be thirty shekels.’”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Appalling?
I’m not sure. It doesn’t exactly match my 21<sup>st</sup> century
sensibilities, but, in context, the Torah can be seen as a progressive
document. Just think about the daughters of Zelophchad, who we will also read
about in BaMidbar, the book of the Torah we just started to read from. In this
story, Moses petitions God for the right of these five women to inherit their
father’s land despite their gender, and God agrees.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In Parshat
BaMidbar, we get another sense of how the Torah counts humans. When God
instructs Moses to take a census, he says, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Take
a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by families, by the
house of their fathers, according to the number of names, every male by their
polls; From twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go forth to war in
Israel; you and Aaron shall count them. (Bamidbar 1:2-3)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When I think
about the entirety of examples of human value, whether they come from the Torah
or from our modern society, I can make one clear conclusion; being counted is a
function of purpose. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
Torah tells us that every human is made in God’s image because the text aspires
to sanctify human life. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When
God elevates Zelophchad’s daughters as worthy of inheriting their father’s
land, He is trying to make justice. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And
when God instructs Moses to count the men over twenty, he is trying to build a
strong army to protect his people. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In other
words, we cannot generalize about the value of human beings from our texts
because context is everything, and each example has a specific purpose.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So now let’s
take this forward about three thousand years. Today we are writing new Jewish
texts. We write them with our pens and we write them on our iPads. Most
importantly, we write them with our deeds. So let’s examine some modern ways in
which we count our people. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One area of
progress is the Minyan. Today it is almost ubiquitous among liberal Jews to
count women in a prayer quorum. In this dramatic change, we modern Jews have
created justice just like God did for the daughters of Zelophchad. Likewise, we
can say that the institution of Bat Mitzvah is a big step in equalizing the
value of men and women in Jewish society. Unfortunately, however, the entire enterprise
of bar and bat mitzvah and counting thirteen year olds as “adult Jews” has
backfired. Instead of creating a stronger sense of Jewish commitment in
adolescence, we have created a population that consider a seventh grade
education adequate for adult Jewish living. I’m sure none of us would be
amenable to this limited training if the subject were law or medicine, so you
can understand why I am astonished by the acceptance of such an early terminal
point in Jewish education.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In modern
times, another area of counting is related to citizenship. Just like Parshat
BaMidbar asks us to take a census, the American Constitution makes the same
demand - every ten years. Now if we examine patterns of modern counting with
the same lens as we did for the Bible, then we can assume the same conclusion;
counting people is purposeful. Counting slaves in early America was for
purposes of representation in Congress and for the distribution of taxes, thus,
our foundational document is stained with the loathsome words of the
Three-Fifths Compromise.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In the modern
Israeli context, we haven’t even been able to achieve “loathsome” compromises. This
is hard to say in a crowd of people who care deeply about Israel and have made
great efforts to assure her existence as a democratic, Jewish country and a
light onto the nations. Honestly, we can stand with Israel, right or wrong, or
we can help her become the country we all hope that she can be. A country that
reflects our particular values alongside our universal concerns for the world. The
Israeli Declaration of Independence promises a constitution, “which shall be
adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October
1948.” Sixty Four years later, we still run our Jewish state without agreed
upon guidelines. Some of you may know that Israel has a constitutional
framework in its collection of “basic laws.” What you might not know is that a
basic law is legislated in the same exact way as a law of the Knesset, by the
same exact legislators. In practical terms, this means that there is no
constitution for Israel because a governing coalition that doesn’t like a basic
law can change that law with a simple majority. This is far from the checks and
balances of American democracy. Israel may be the only democracy in the Middle
East, but it is far from perfect, and it started with such promise.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Israeli
Declaration of Independence, a document that traveled with me in my wallet as I
graduated agricultural high school near Tel Aviv and as I was drafted to the
Israel Defense Forces during the first Lebanon War, was full of promise for a
great society. Here is part of what the fledgling democracy promised to do.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">it
will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its
inhabitants; </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">it
will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of
Israel; </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">it
will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its
inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">it
will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and
culture; </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">it
will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">it
will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Regarding
non-Jewish citizens of the state, the Declaration has the following message.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">WE
APPEAL - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months
- to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and
participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal
citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent
institutions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Israel hoped
to be a country that fulfills the values expressed in the Bible. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="crossverse"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Exodus 22:21</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, “Do not mistreat an alien or oppress
him, for you were aliens in Egypt.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="crossverse"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Leviticus 19:34, “</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The alien living with you must be
treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens
in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="crossverse"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Deuteronomy 23:7, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>”</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
Do not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not abhor an Egyptian,
because you lived as an alien in his country.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="crossverse"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Ezekiel 47:23, “</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In whatever tribe the alien settles,
there you are to give him his inheritance," declares the Sovereign LORD.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Unfortunately,
it hasn’t lived up to the Biblical commandments or its own founding document. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">According
to <i>The Guardian,</i> in 2006 just 5% of civil servants in Israel were Arabs
despite the fact that Arab citizens of Israel comprise over 20% of the
population. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
New York Times</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> reported,
in February 2007, that 53 % of the impoverished families in Israel were Arabs.
Since the majority of Arabs in Israel do not serve in the army, they are
ineligible for many financial benefits such as scholarships and housing loans.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Of
the 40 towns in Israel with the highest unemployment rates, 36 are Arab towns. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">According
to the Central Bank of Israel statistics for 2003, salary averages for Arab
workers are 29% lower than for Jewish workers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Hebrew
University's School of Education, in an August 2009 study, claimed that
Israel's Education Ministry discriminated against Arabs in its allocations of
special assistance for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">On a more
human level;</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Dr.
Ahmed Tibi, an Arab member of Knesset, has been physically attacked and had
water thrown on him on the Knesset floor, but when he responded with a
whimsical poem, members of the governing coalition called for his censure. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My
close friend Muchamad Darawshe, a senior executive at the Abraham Foundation,
told me the horrors of experiencing the Second Lebanon War, in the Yezreel
Valley below Nazareth, when the closest warnings of incoming missiles could
only be heard from the neighboring Jewish villages and kibbutzim.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">These are
just some of the ways in which Israel does not count its Arab population as
full citizens. But maybe the most appalling is the unstated, unofficial, yet
consistent boycott of Arab parties from participation in a coalition
government. Yes, we have an Arab on the Supreme Court, we have Arab deputy
ministers and ambassadors and we have Arabs in Israeli Jewish parties, but even
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who made some of the grandest gestures toward the
Arab citizenry of Israel, was unable to extend coalition agreements to Arab political
parties, despite the fact that they stood by him as he made peace with Jordan
and initiated the Oslo Peace Accords. This is a stain on Israeli democracy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So today, as
we start reading Bamidbar and read about the census, and tonight when we stay
up to study and recall the giving of the Torah, we could respond to these
problems in Israel by saying that ours is the only democracy in the Middle
East, which it is, but what purpose does that serve? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Speaking as
an Israeli and as a Jew, I want my country to hold itself to higher standards.
Democracy is clearly not a panacea. Churchill has said that it “is the worst
form of government except for all the others that have been tried.” But I want
to believe that when God says, “You shall not follow a multitude to do evil,
(ex.23:2)” His intention is to protect the interest of minorities and to serve
justice. This is what I want for Israel, and as good as Israel may already be,
I always strive to be better.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Shabbat
Shalom</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-77166028475520714162012-05-25T13:53:00.002-05:002012-05-25T13:54:18.103-05:00BaMidbar 5772 בְּמִדְבַּרBaMidbar 5772 <br />
<br />
This week, as we open the fourth book of Torah and read from Parashat BaMidbar, I would like us to put on a pair of spectacles that allow us to look at the text through the Foucaultian understanding of power. The French post structuralist philosopher Michel Foucault believed that the way to understand most texts was through the organizational structures of power and authority.<br />
<br />
The parasha begins with these words. <br />
<br />
א וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה בְּמִדְבַּר סִינַי, בְּאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד: בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי בַּשָּׁנָה הַשֵּׁנִית, לְצֵאתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם--לֵאמֹר. 1 <br />
<br />
And the LORD spoke unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt,<br />
<br />
I would like to parse this out a bit through the Foucaultian lens. Even the pshat of this verse is complicated. God is the speaker. The speaking takes place in the Sinai wilderness, but who is in the Tent of Meeting. It seems like Moses is clearly there. He is a human with a physical presence. But what about God? Professor Azzan Yadin of Rutgers University, author of Scripture as Logos: Rabbi Ishmael and the Origins of Midrash, would tell us that Rabbi Ishmael would assert that God is transcendent and is not entering the world to speak.Rabbi Akiva, his academic nemisis would probably claim the contrary; God is eminent, thus everywhere, including the Tent of Meeting. In this debate, like our teacher Moses Maimonides, the Rambam, I would likely side with Rabbi Ishmael. This, in itself is a great statement about power. A transcendent God does not exert power in our world. This responsibility is left to us.<br />
The second message of this verse has to do with historicity. Why does the text insist on telling us the exact date? Is this a historcal claim or is it a matter of teaching us that time must pass from receiving Torah until we organize the elements of our society. Since the next verse commands Moses and Aaron to take a census of the men over twenty who are capable of defending the Israelites during their journey, I believe that the purpose of telling us the date of this conversation is more about teaching us something about nation building than it is about history. <br />
One of the biggest critiques that atheists have with religion is literality. They question the scientific truths of the Bible. This has always puzzled me because I am not sure why they believe that God gave us a history book and not a book of legends that is meant to teach us about behaviors that He considers righteous or immoral. Could it not be that God gave us a book of stories to illustrate the behaviors he appreciates or disdains simply because he respects our ability to make meaning on our own?<br />
There is one more issue that needs to be understood in this verse and it requires a bit of contextual knowledge. In Exodus 33:7, we learn about the Tent of Meeting.<br />
<br />
ל'ג:ז וּמֹשֶׁה יִקַּח אֶת-הָאֹהֶל וְנָטָה-לוֹ מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה, הַרְחֵק מִן-הַמַּחֲנֶה, וְקָרָא לוֹ, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד; וְהָיָה, כָּל-מְבַקֵּשׁ יְהוָה, יֵצֵא אֶל-אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, אֲשֶׁר מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה. <br />
<br />
Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it outside the camp, afar off from the camp; and he called it the tent of meeting. And it came to pass, that every one that sought the LORD went out unto the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. <br />
<br />
The Tent of Meeting in Exodus is a very democratic place where anyone can come to speak with God. This changes in BaMidbar. It also goes by the name Mishkan.<br />
<br />
וּבִנְסֹעַ הַמִּשְׁכָּן, יוֹרִידוּ אֹתוֹ הַלְוִיִּם, וּבַחֲנֹת הַמִּשְׁכָּן, יָקִימוּ אֹתוֹ הַלְוִיִּם; וְהַזָּר הַקָּרֵב, יוּמָת. <br />
<br />
And when the tabernacle set forward, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up; and the common man that draws near shall be put to death. <br />
<br />
If the Mishkan in BaMidbar is not the Tent of Meeting of Exodus, that my thesis that there is a new power dynamic 13 months after our remption form Egypt needs to rely on different prooftexts. But I think they are synonyms. Here is my reason. In BaMidbar 7:89, it says;<br />
<br />
פט וּבְבֹא מֹשֶׁה אֶל-אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, לְדַבֵּר אִתּוֹ, וַיִּשְׁמַע אֶת-הַקּוֹל מִדַּבֵּר אֵלָיו מֵעַל הַכַּפֹּרֶת אֲשֶׁר עַל-אֲרֹן הָעֵדֻת, מִבֵּין שְׁנֵי הַכְּרֻבִים; וַיְדַבֵּר, אֵלָיו. {פ} <br />
<br />
And when Moses went into the tent of meeting that He might speak with him, then he heard the Voice speaking unto him from above the ark-cover that was upon the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and He spoke unto him.<br />
<br />
Why does this work to show that the text uses Tent of Meeting and and Mishkan synonymously? Because the Tent of Meeting in chapter 7 houses the ark, which is the very purpose of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. Of course, we could use source theory and discuss the possibility of various authors of the text, but that is not my goal.<br />
<br />
What I am trying to illustrate is simply that our Torah is trying to speak to us about the changing dynamics of power. As a newly redeemed people leaving the oppression of Egypt, we were eager to discuss our reality in a publicly accessible space. The Tent of Meeting of Exodus is akin to Hyde Park in London, and the Mishkan/Tent of Meeting in BaMidbar is more like a closed session of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee or, better yet, a private meeting in Stalin’s Politboro. With one wrong move, you could find find yourself fertalizing cactuses in the desert.<br />
And why is this teaching of Torah relevant today? Because Jewish power has changed dramatically with the establishment of the State of Israel and the conquest Arab lands in the Six Day War. For 64 years, the Jewish people have had a national army. We have a Knesset and we are a significant player on the world stage. Unfortunately, with power, Israel has gone from nearly universal suffrage, with nearly 87% of the population voting in the first election, to the most recent elections with 63% participation and a predicted drop in the next. Today in Israel, if you have money, you have power. The mouthpiece of the present government is a free daily newspaper called Yisrael Hayom, and it is funded by the gambling empire of Mr. Sheldon Adelson of Nevada. This same Mr. Adelson is a major supporter of impressive programs like Birthright, but much of his financial success comes from the lucrative business of casinos and building settlements in the West Bank. If you are a Liberal Jew in Israel today, your power is limited by the hegemony of the ultra orthodox. I was personally affected by this when I had to come to the United States to get married because my Israeli Reform rabbi was not accepted in the Jewish homeland. If you are a woman and want to pray at the Kotel, the Western Wall, you better not wear a tallit because you will get arrested. And if you are an Arab citizen of Israel, you really have no power. Your political parties will never be invited into a coalition government, your schools will not receive the same funding from the Ministry of education as Jewish schools and you are a lot less likely to get a job than a Jewish Israeli. The peak of disempowerment, however, was established this week in Tel Aviv when a throng of protesting Jews, led by Form Kahane disciple, MK Michael Ben-Ari, stormed through South Tel Aviv breaking shop windows, lighting fires and shouting racist epithets at immigrants and refugees from Eritrea, Sudan and the Congo, among others.<br />
Jewish power, it seems, has run amok, and I would like to suggest that this has to do with our lack of respect for the message our rabbis sent us when they changed Shavuot from a biblical harvest holiday to a celebration of the Jewish constitutional congress at Sinai. The rabbis made Shavuot a holiday about the giving of Torah, a constitution for the people of Israel. One remedy for today’s malady might be a constitution for the State of Israel. <br />
With a constitution, maybe we could define the equality of all citizens of the state, we could separate religion from government and we could define the jursdiction of our law so that all people living under Jewish soveriegnty will be treated equally. This year, as we start reading BaMidbar and anticipate the celebration of Shavuot, this is the lesson I receive with the giving of Torah.<br />
<br />
David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-28920744977938655652012-04-23T22:56:00.000-05:002012-04-23T22:56:03.458-05:00I am a Zionist<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitUx8slXqdYY8Pg4HAnY3ZpI0McfZkylSFhZGZrZwPACsGjdCmQLhr5vK1vBTP3PNAvQ8febO3ZTFry9CWuLVl1W6r1_ISWGVCIHcrqNzKXIUBkUwrO0xlIEYfeWFUzspwULhuy6BG5DY/s1600/Zionist.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitUx8slXqdYY8Pg4HAnY3ZpI0McfZkylSFhZGZrZwPACsGjdCmQLhr5vK1vBTP3PNAvQ8febO3ZTFry9CWuLVl1W6r1_ISWGVCIHcrqNzKXIUBkUwrO0xlIEYfeWFUzspwULhuy6BG5DY/s320/Zionist.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I am a Zionist, a liberal Zionist, a “beautiful soul” as my detractors would have it, and “I will not die but live” (</span></span><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Psalm 118:17) because my mission is too important. I am an heir to that divine command, “Walk in my ways and be innocent (Genesis 17:1).” And I take my inheritance seriously.</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br />
</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My identity was ascribed in Egypt and assumed at Sinai. Not only did I chose to be a Jew, I was also labeled one, but I will not allow labels to tell me who I am; not by Pharaoh, not by the Romans, not by the Spanish, or even the Nazis. I will continue to “choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19),” as my earliest teachers prescribed, and I will do so from a position of independence, not fear. I am a Jew.</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br />
</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I will not make idols out of land, nor put ideals before human lives. I am a Jew.</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br />
</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I</span></span><span lang="en-us"></span><span lang="en-us"> <span style="font-family: Calibri;">will</span></span><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> not censor, nor deal falsely, nor lie to cover my shame. I am a Jew.</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br />
</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I will rebuke my fellow and try not to transgress in the process because I am bound to all of Israel. I am a Jew.</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br />
</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I shall not defraud my neighbor, nor rob him of his land or his human rights. I am a Jew.</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br />
</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The wages of my foreign laborers will not remain with me all night until the morning, nor shall I exile his children from the land of their birth. I am a Jew.</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br />
</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, because I seek honest discourse with just outcomes. I am a Jew.</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br />
</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I will not stand idly by as the blood of my neighbors is shed by my own countrymen. I am a Jew.</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br />
</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I will not hate my brother in my heart; and will reason with my neighbor, and not allow sin on either account. I am a Jew</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br />
</span></span></div><div dir="LTR" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span lang="en-us"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I will not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of my people but shall continue to love my neighbor as myself. I am a Jew</span></span></div>David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-20970472181041240192012-04-16T11:59:00.001-05:002012-04-16T12:04:17.982-05:00Bully movie embraced by BBYO, Kudos! What about the rest of us?I <a href="http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/04/09/3092609/bbyo-embraces-anti-bullying-documentary-taking-its-message-to-jewish-teens">read</a> this morning about the adoption, by <a href="http://bbyo.org/">BBYO</a>, of the noble goal to have loads of Jewish teens see the <a href="http://www.thebullyproject.com/">Bully</a> movie, and I think that is wonderful. It did, however, make me think about the rest of us. I'm thinking specifically about Peter Beinart's recent book, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/books/review/the-crisis-of-zionism-by-peter-beinart.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all">The Crisis of Zionism</a>, which has made us all come to the table and discuss the issues surrounding our embrace of Israel. Unfortunately, it seems that everytime we have a difference of opinion these days we end up calling those we differ from either <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4169332,00.html">Nazis</a> or <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/11515">self-hating Jews</a>.<br />
As this is the time of the counting of the Omer, and we are mourning the loss of the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva who died in a plague which is reported to be the result of in-fighting (Yevamot 62b), I would like to take this space to wish for my people the following prayer from <a href="http://www.rhr-na.org/">Rabbis for Human Rights</a>.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">May I recognize my failure to understand those who oppose me. May I be able to look at the face of my enemy and see the face of God. May we all be instruments of peace. </blockquote>David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-79698471408069084342012-04-10T14:13:00.002-05:002012-04-10T15:10:17.489-05:00If I was Ozzie Guillen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqC-1PN5PAZj-hlohWC6ZspMxuU0BWO8RdKNwo_FWfqc304Q82hawTSwQvAeHNvEXkhnOHEhEA9Di2AGGqjpU5M2TNaycxmYtAO8kQ_vBUqGtsI2sCjBEcTmVvcE_DeuZWf7ZQQX_iThI/s1600/guillen50.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqC-1PN5PAZj-hlohWC6ZspMxuU0BWO8RdKNwo_FWfqc304Q82hawTSwQvAeHNvEXkhnOHEhEA9Di2AGGqjpU5M2TNaycxmYtAO8kQ_vBUqGtsI2sCjBEcTmVvcE_DeuZWf7ZQQX_iThI/s200/guillen50.gif" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Ryqi4G500fwZ0Jffqrj4k6Bd1I_h1pg3hTcngTooLQwpYsuy9gxA8pAv1JhAxYGKnz5QQU_58HwAWh7jEWpZCntxgzLnRhh4p9yp97eO22eEQcS_tNLqTCXAhyphenhyphenQpoWRZQ9EqLV0HxeQ/s1600/guillen49.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Ryqi4G500fwZ0Jffqrj4k6Bd1I_h1pg3hTcngTooLQwpYsuy9gxA8pAv1JhAxYGKnz5QQU_58HwAWh7jEWpZCntxgzLnRhh4p9yp97eO22eEQcS_tNLqTCXAhyphenhyphenQpoWRZQ9EqLV0HxeQ/s200/guillen49.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The big irony of the Ozzie Guillen-Fidel Castro episode is that it happened over easter weekend. Please don't take this in the wrong way, but it sounds like Jesus got his and now Ozzie is the new sacrifice. Of course, Jesus wasn't sacrificed. He was censored in the strongest sense of the word, and now it is Ozzie's turn. Unfortunately for him, the anti-Castro Cuban community is almost as strong as the 1st century Roman empire.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One major difference between these two examples is that Jesus had a soft and gentle message for people living under Roman oppression, while Ozzie was insensitive to a bunch of angry and powerful emigres who occupy the city where he manages a baseball franchise. But what was so bad about Ozzie's message? If I were Ozzie Guillen, I would have responded much differently.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>Members of the press, Marlins fans and people of the western hemisphere, I want to take this opportunity to apologize for my hurtful comments. Sometimes I say things that I haven't thought through well enough, and clearly I have hurt some feelings, which I never intended to do. I didn't come here to Miami to hurt feelings. I came to bring pride to a city with millions of Latin Americans, like me. I am a baseball manager, not a politician or historian. I don't know enough about Fidel Castro to have made comprehensive comments about the man's life. That said, my comments were about his longevity. He has managed to stay in power, under extreme odds, for over half a century. I couldn't even stay with the White Sox for a decade, and I brought them to the World Series.</i></blockquote>If I were really bold and had brought Miami to a World Series before facing this firing squad, I might add...<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>Since I now have to take responsibility for my comments, I would like to take this opportunity to teach something about this man that you have vilified. Fidel Castro came to the United Nations, upon his ascension to power, and promised full literacy for his people within a year. Before he came to power, just over half of all Cubans could read and write, but within one year of his promise, 99 percent of Cubans were literate. Also, despite the fact that wealth was redistributed by force, Castro created, universal health care for Cubans, something tens of millions of Americans don't have. Today, in Cuba, all children go to high quality public schools. All citizens have housing, employment and food. They may not enjoy the freedom to amass great wealth, but they all have the freedom to go to bed with food in their stomachs. So while I can understand the pain of those who left their country and their wealth because they were not willing to share it with their fellow country men and women, I completely resent this effort to stifle my freedom of expression, the constitutionally guaranteed right that makes this country great. I didn't exercise my freedom with the intention to hurt, and I am sorry for any pain I have caused, but if you don't want to watch the baseball team under my management because you want to make a political statement, that's fine, just don't be so selfish as to try to determine the future of Miami baseball based on your political baggage. That behavior has no place in any country, especially this one.</i></blockquote>David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-73685040527248375852012-01-15T00:55:00.001-06:002012-01-15T01:03:37.831-06:00Some thoughts about 'Why should Jews care about the rights of Israeli Arabs?'<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">In his book about the life of Mahatma Gandhi, Louis Fisher (1950) writes,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">"Hitler," Gandhi said, "killed five million Jews. It is the greatest crime of our time. But the Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs... It would have aroused the world and the people of Germany... As it is they succumbed anyway in their millions."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">This is a very difficult quote to read, and it needs parsing out. I am guilty of previously not doing the work necessary to reach Gandhi’s intention and have taught this as a call for Jews to go, “as sheep to slaughter.” I think I have done my students a disservice.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Today I am reading this quote in the context of an article I read by Rabbi Sid Schwartz (JTA, 1/12/2012) titled<a href="http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/01/13/3091181/op-ed-why-jews-should-care-about-the-rights-of-israeli-arabs"> Why should Jews care about the rights of Israeli Arabs?</a> I can already imagine some of my readers jumping from their seats in anger and accusing me of equating between the Shoah and the treatment of Israeli Arabs. This knee-jerk reaction is one of the greatest threats to the Jewish people. Human and civil rights are core Jewish values, and the Shoah may have been one of the greatest violations of these rights, but we need to discuss all violations of these moral and ethical imperatives on the same spectrum. It does no good to stigmatize every comparison to the Shoah, just as it does harm to hyperbolize the comparisons, as was recently the case in ultra-orthodox demonstrations in Israel where demonstrators dressed their children as concentration camp prisoners.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">One small tangent; my teacher Rabbi David Wolpe has suggested, quite overtly, that the Cambodian genocide was the worst of the twentieth century because the world new it was humanly possible and did nothing to prevent it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Rabbi Schwartz suggests two basic reasons for Jewish care for Arab rights in Israel, their humanity and Israeli democracy. As Humans, Israeli Arabs, just like the Sudanese refugees or Taiwanese foreign workers in Israel are made in the image of God, according to Jewish tradition. For this reason alone, their basic rights and dignity should be upheld. But dignity is a broad term that is rarely unpacked in any semblance of a serious definition. Rabbi Schwartz speaks of the injustice of the fact that 20 percent of Israel’s population accounts for 1 percent of its gross domestic product. He also speaks of inequality in municipal and educational services and in employment opportunities. I know some of my readers will stop here and say that the Israeli Arabs don’t serve in the military, thus they don’t share in the burden of the state’s maintenance. In fact, more Arabs now serve in the IDF than ever. More importantly, ultra-orthodox and secular Jews who avoid the draft are not punished with the same lack of services found in the Arab sector.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">When Rabbi Schwartz addresses the issue of democracy, he also provides several examples. He states that our independence, as written in Ben Gurion’s Proclamation, calls for equal rights of all residents. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">[I]t will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Ironically, this declaration of independence does not call for a democratic state, and I wonder if this has anything to do with the possible oxymoron of calling Israel a Jewish democracy. Interestingly, one of the greatest assertions of democracy of all times, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, which includes the famous, “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” also does not mention democracy.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now to Gandhi’s quote, in my very round about way. Avishai Margolit, the Israeli philosopher, in explaining the difference between morals and ethics, says that ethics guide thick relations between human’s whose lives are interconnected, even Palestinians and Israelis. This is why we have an ethics of war. But Morals guide our behavior when the stakes are significantly lower. Morals, according to Margolit, guide our behavior, specifically, because the stakes are low or non-existent. We are morally compelled because without morals, we would not help strangers.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Why does Gandhi say, “<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs... It would have aroused the world and the people of Germany.” because Gandhi believes in the power of morals to arouse the ire of regular human beings to pursue justice and dignity for one another, even when the stakes are low. Gandhi’s appeal is moral in the same way as Dr. Martin Luther King’s claim, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” We have morals because ignoring injustice is corrupting. Gandhi doesn’t want Jews to die. He wants their death to be meaningful. He believes that since they will be dying anyway, they might as well make it a sign for generations to come.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">This understanding of Gandhi reminds me of the dispute between Ben Padat and Rabbi Akiva regarding a flask of water that can save one of two people’s lives. Rabbi Akiva believes that one should surely drink the water to save his own life because a life has no value if it ends. Ben Padat believes differently. He is concerned with what his life will mean if he chooses his own life over his friend’s. Ben Padat is concerned with the kind of person he will be if he gets to live at the expense of his friend. In a sense, Gandhi is like Ben Padat. His argument is that if you have to die anyways, you might as well make your life a sign of how terrible humans can treat one another. He doesn’t suggest that Jews fight their oppressors because he doesn’t believe in becoming like them. This is a difficult decision for any human. In my worst nightmares, I am forced to live with myself after having to be unfaithful to my ideals. It would be nice if I could live this standard in real life, but it is very difficult. Life is about compromise, but Ben Padat and Gandhi believe that death doesn’t have to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">In Israel, treating Arab Israelis with the dignity they deserve as fellow citizens is not nearly as difficult as people make it out to be. The mistreatment is about racism and misrepresented as self defense or “me first.” Many Israeli Jews try to apply the teaching of Hillel, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me.” But this approach is dishonest. The best way for Jews in Israel to be for themselves is to be for their weakest minorities. The absence of this form of democratic vigilance is what has led to the huge decay in Israeli democracy from the misogynistic behavior of the ultra-orthodox to the anti-immigrant and refugee fervor that has swept much of the nation. In the words of the great German pastor, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Niem%C3%B6ller"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">Martin Niemöller</span></a>, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">First they came for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">communists</span></a>, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Then they came for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_unionist"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">trade unionists</span></a>, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Then they came for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">Jews</span></a>, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Then they came for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholics"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">Catholics</span></a>, and I didn't speak out because I was Protestant.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">If we Israelis and Jews don’t start understanding King’s decree that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” And that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, [must] not perish from the earth” we will simply lose our value as a unique nation with the mission of being a vehicle for God’s blessing. This would be worse than any existential threat that would force us to steal the flask and drink the water without concern for what we might become.<o:p></o:p></span></div>David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-26966305425287195732012-01-13T14:47:00.001-06:002012-01-13T15:10:35.363-06:00Ruminations on BDS, despite the risk of marginalization by my people.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Even the mention of BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) can get a guy in trouble in my community. Cecilie Surasky, a leader in the group Jewish Voice for Peace was bumped from a national Jewish Heroes competition for her belief that this was the best way to get Israel to reach a final status agreement with the Palestinians. Cecilie was polling very strong at the time she was censured. Clearly someone with power didn’t appreciate the heroisms of Cecillie’s work. I wonder if the same would have happened if she were a very righteous Jews for Jesus or a</span><i><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"> </span></i><i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">halacha</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> abiding haredi who makes his wife sit in the back of the public bus and spits on what he deems immodestly dressed young girls.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My teacher, Donniel Hartman, wrote an interesting dissertation that was turned into the book</span><i><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"> </span></i><i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Boundaries of Judaism,</span></i><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">in which he explores the making of borders in</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Jewish society. The meta point of the book is that Jews have always negotiated these borders and even tolerated many deviant behaviors within their realm. The rabbi where I work, Harold Schulweis, even suggested that these boundaries include Jews who believe in Jesus. I suppose that I am less generous that some. I would certainly protect a Jew for Jesus if he were attacked by neo-Nazis for being a Jew, but I don’t know that I would love to bring him into my religious community. The same applies even stronger to settlers who attack Israeli soldiers or members of the Israeli Knesset that give away state secrets to assist settlers in their vigilantism. I suppose I would defend them from anti-Semites, but I certainly do not want to build a society with them.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have some friends in Israel who will not do their reserve duty in the occupied territories because they do not want to defend the settlers or support the occupation. In general, I have more respect for those among them who spend their time in military prison, because they want to uphold the system but not participate personally, than those who find a way out of the service to strictly meet their personal needs. Faced with the possibility that my son will have to defend settlers, I am not so sure I want him drafted into the IDF, which is a possibility.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the other hand, I firmly believe in democracy. As Churchill said so bluntly, “It is the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried.” So what does it mean to be a democratic Jew and an Israeli? And how does this tie to BDS?</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have zigzagged between Israel and America my whole life. My birthday is February second, which is ideal for a person who lives in my two worlds. In American, where the month comes before the day, I write 02/02, and in Israel, where the date starts with the specific day, I also write 02/02. In this I am fortunate. I am also fortunate to have an alternative when I am not comfortable participating in my country’s decisions. Being American is easier for me than being Israeli because I didn’t choose it. My parents brought me into the world here. If this country enters an unjust war or elects a president I disagree with, it doesn’t feel like a reflection on me. When Israel makes choices I have great difficulty with, I feel uncomfortable with my decision to become a citizen. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Regarding BDS, Boycott, Divest and Sanctions, this is an outsider movement. Even if Jews support it, the effort is to use external power against Israel to force it to end the occupation. The good thing is that this is a non-violent effort, although it is not completely resistant to scrutiny. Attacking companies that benefit from the occupation, like the contractors that build in the West Bank or the financial institutions that bankroll them is one thing. What about companies that grow food in this disputed land and hire Palestinian labor. Isn’t there some violence in attacking a person’s source of income. I am not a pacifist. Sometimes violence is an appropriate response. I disagree with Ghandi, who said Jews should have quietly submitted to Nazi genocide. I also don’t think that BDS is a smart tactic.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">BDS supporters generalize about their target. Ben Gurion University is run by a sympathizer for BDS, yet his institution is the target of the boycott. Bar Ilan University is generally not a friend to leftist causes. Its most famous student was the assassin who killed our prime minister at a peace rally in Tel Aviv, which was followed by the university putting his face on the cover of their annual report. The difference between me and those who believe in BDS is that I believe in my cause and my ability to change things for the better without resulting to force. I believe in honest, open intelligent discourse and the capacity of my fellow human beings to pursue the just and merciful path.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My friend Ed asked me to come hear a Palestinian author speak about his book on BDS. I was a bit nervous about the stigma that the community would try to put on me for going, but, instructed by my Jewish values, I went. The Talmud tells us why we normally follow in Hillel’s ways when Shammai’s were also “the words of a living God.” The Bat Kol, the heavenly voice said that we follow Hillel because of his modesty and because he represents the other sides argument before his own. I needed to hear the BDS argument from the Palestinian writer and from Cecilie Surasky of Jewish Voice for Peace before I could continue to contend that BDS is ultimately not a good method for achieving a lasting peace. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The day before the lunch, I reflected on my participation in the divestment movement in South Africa. Clearly, black South Africans were calling for support of the boycott. The main difference was that my support had no ethical stakes in the matter. The Israeli philosopher, Avishai Margalit, defines the difference between ethics and morals by the type of engagement. He says that ethics are guided by thick relations while morals are guided by thin relations. Whatever happened in South Africa was going to stay in South Africa. My relationship to Apartheid was thin, which made it a moral issue for me. This is like Martin Luther King’s claim in the Letter for the Alabama Jail that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” But my relationship to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is thick. We need ethics to guide the interaction between our two nations. Ethics is an internal discussion between the parties to the conflict and within the individual parties. BDS is an appeal to go outside to accomplish change. Sometimes it is necessary, but not until all efforts to come to internal agreement have been exhausted. This is why I remain in Peace Now, a movement that aggressively tries to facilitate internal Israeli and Jewish discussion by researching and exposing violations of standards we set for ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The new candidate/party for the Israeli Knesset, Yair Lapid, writes about two Israel’s. In my Israel and his, we strive for a country that tries to manifest the goals articulates in Israel’s most beautiful political proclamation, its Declaration of Independence. “It will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel…”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The most troubling thing I heard at the luncheon, however, was not from the Palestinian author. It was from Cecilie Surasky, who told me about the terrible violence in the territories and Israel against Palestinians. Mind you, there should be no place for institutionalized, cultural or personal violence against any human being, but the way Ms. Surasky reported it to me, she was being relativistic. Israeli violence, in her mind, is unbearable and the top priority for Jews to say no. I agree that violence perpetrated by my people is what I need to stop first. It is also the violence I have most control over. But there was something very unsettling about a Jew being more critical of Israeli Jewish violence which is relatively less than the violence perpetrated in Syria by a leader against his own people or the violence in Sudan. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I think it is great that Cecilie Surasky and Jewish Voice for Peace stands up to the occupation. I think it is very sad that they and their Palestinian counterparts in BDS have given up on discourse, and I am very worried about the introduction of relativism into the argument. I could have (and now I am) explained that the Palestinian speaker got his MA at my alma mater, Tel Aviv University, which is a very enlightened institution. And that there are many of these points of Light in Israel and they need to be nourished, not starved through academic boycotts. I didn’t want to go there, but Cecilie Surasky’s relativism opens this ugly pandora’s box.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">During the writing of my dissertation, I went to Ramallah many times; an illegal act for Israeli Jews. When I would come back, my friends would ask me why my Palestinian friends don’t speak up against Hamas or speak out against attacks on civilians. I have never had a good answer for this. Both Cecilie and the Palestinian author said that I was blaming the victim. I am not so sure. If Jewish Voice for Peace is so ready to take responsibility to end Jewish and Israeli behavior in the territories why not expect that of everyone. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m glad I went to lunch and didn’t fear the wrath of my community for legitimizing fringe forms of Jewish dissent, but after listening and acquiring the knowledge to present the other side, I am still not sold. BDS is not a good Jewish response to the occupation. It may be valid, and I would never censure Jewish Voice for Peace, but this is not a strategy that believes in the good of humans or the power of reason to overcome injustice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-22623840922598305632011-12-23T12:36:00.000-06:002011-12-23T12:36:16.149-06:00Hanukkah: A Time we made for Optimism<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgar_U-UPpj0RGK_iVN3EfsqXpgmddqyJYJjGdRhb8Ujn3b1pFv0muhX6JDyoKuslJH5x2uPiv1FVu_TCRlDFeQ6UvUAK_bpzQGU5FVIGVsjwCSgRPCaQC-TvhXSDhVErZm9aklXCXC35A/s1600/hanukkah_1951_1229_benjamin_gorelik.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgar_U-UPpj0RGK_iVN3EfsqXpgmddqyJYJjGdRhb8Ujn3b1pFv0muhX6JDyoKuslJH5x2uPiv1FVu_TCRlDFeQ6UvUAK_bpzQGU5FVIGVsjwCSgRPCaQC-TvhXSDhVErZm9aklXCXC35A/s320/hanukkah_1951_1229_benjamin_gorelik.jpg" width="268" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Truth be told, Hanukkah is a strange holiday. It is framed as the commemoration of the victory of the Macabees over the Seleucid King Antiochus Epiphanes and his forces, but it is really about a zealous family that won a Jewish civil war and then became so delusional by its own power that it self destructed and fell to the Romans. It is also framed as the holiday of the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days at the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem. And, during the time of the Winter Solstice, people all over the northern hemisphere celebrate light, which is why Hanukkah is the festival of Lights, thus the rabbinic greeting Chag Urim Sameach – Happy Lights Holiday.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">While each of these stories warms our hearts, spinning the nice parts of our history, believing that God intervenes in history and celebrating light in its absence, there is something wildly absurd and beautiful about it. The question I’d like to raise is whether this is an inherently good thing. Is it good to delude ourselves about our historical narrative? Is it beneficial for us to believe that there is someone in heaven looking out for our interests? Should we really celebrate that thing we long for so badly when we are at our furthest moment in time from its presence in our lives?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The rabbis seem to have created the miracle of the oil with good insight into human psychology. Here they were defeated in the promised land with the potential of exile hanging over their heads, and they offer a story that fits our psyche perfectly; someone up there is looking after you and can intervene to your benefit. I can’t think of a better suited epistemology for a battered people who have lost all semblance of power and control over their lives. Kudos to our sages.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Ben Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, however, was also prophetic in his resurrection of the Macabee story. In those days, in this time, there were tough Jews who lived in this (that) land, and “We can be like them.” Ben Gurion left the continuation of the narrative on the cutting room floor. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure that this was as clever as the rabbis. Ignoring the addiction to power and its negative impact on Jewish society has not been, “good for the Jews.” Instead of learning from the zealotry of Mattathias and the Hasmoneans, we should take a lesson from Hillel about humility and presenting the argument of our adversaries before our own. What Israel can use now is a lesson about light, which the last message of our holiday.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Light has this incredible presence. You don’t actually see it, but it illuminates what is present in your path, thus it removes obstacles. The early pioneers of Israel were brilliant about removing those stumbling blocks that prevented our people from achieving our collective goals for humanity; justice and peace. The founders of Israel sought to create a great society that would shed a light onto the nations. Somehow, along the way we decided to become a “normal” country. Normal countries don’t share light, nor do they seek peace and justice. They do what President Richard Nixon was, at least, honest enough to admit, “We’re in it for national self-interest.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">National self interest is not the Jewish way. Our aspirations are for the world God created, not merely ourselves. Again, returning to Hillel, “If [we] are not for ourselves, who will be for us? If [we] are only for ourselves, what are we? And if not now, when?” Hanukkah is a time we created for optimism, and I am full of hope that we can take inspiration from this holiday to return to our Jewish dream; peace, justice and our role as a light for the nations.</div><!--EndFragment-->David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-32609004520276077812011-09-29T20:47:00.000-05:002011-09-29T20:47:20.784-05:00Thoughts for the 2nd day of Rosh Hashana<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">There is a great Jewish legend about a shoe maker who comes to the rabbi and asked if he can learn Talmud. The rabbi says to the shoe maker, “To study Talmud, you must think like a scholar.” He then proceeds to share a story.</div><div class="MsoNormal">“Two criminals break into a house through the chimney. When they climb out of the fireplace, one of them has shmutz all over his face.” The rabbi then asks the shoe maker, “Which one washes his face?”</div><div class="MsoNormal">To this, the shoe maker quickly replies, “The one with the shmutz.”</div><div class="MsoNormal">“You see,” says the rabbi, “you are not thinking like a Talmud scholar.”</div><div class="MsoNormal">At that moment, a light bulb goes off in the shoe makers head and he replies smugly, “I get it! The one with the shmutz sees the one with the clean face and can’t imagine himself being dirty, but the one who sees his partner with the dirty face must imagine the same about himself, so he washes his face.”</div><div class="MsoNormal">“Oy!” Says the rabbi. “Did you really believe that a man can slide down a chimney and not get shmutz on his face?”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I love this story because it helps illustrate the most important things about being Jewish; one was the title of an Apple computer advertising campaign several years ago, the other the profound message of my hero Lenny Bruce. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Years before the iPad and iPhone, when Apple wasn’t the wealthiest company in the world, and their market share was not what it is today, they tried appealing to the fringes by asking us to “Think different.” Judaism has had a monopoly on this simple command as far back as Abraham. In a world of pagans, in a world where people are willing to trust their morality to statues and a plethora of Gods, Jews said, “Think different!” and brought us Elohim, one God, to help avoid the possibility of dissonant sources of morality.</div><div class="MsoNormal">When you think about it, “Think different!” is an amazing request. It asks us to not settle for the status quo, to not be happy with the easy answers, to not get stuck in our old routines. “Think different!” is our way of saying, we are a people of hope, a people of possibility, a people who can repair the world; all we have to do is put our minds to it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Technology/Pix/pictures/2009/5/20/1242822406798/Lenny-Bruce-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Technology/Pix/pictures/2009/5/20/1242822406798/Lenny-Bruce-001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The message of Lenny Bruce is truly more profound. It says, be irreverent. Don’t respect holy cows. Fight the power! Don’t believe everything you hear.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Lenny lived his Torah. When the police started arresting him for “obscenity” in his performances, He didn’t censor himself. He turned to his friend, the great comedian Steve Allen, and asked for a meeting with his father in-law, a missionary reverend. He wanted to understand why talking about “the first commandment God gives in the Bible, ‘be fruitful and multiply,’ is obscene.” He couldn’t understand the hypocrisy of his puritanical accusers. The same is true of our rabbis. When they were confronted by the Bat Kol, the voice of God, who told them that they were wrong and the lone Rabbi Eliezer was right, in a matter about the kashrut, the kosherness, of an oven, the rabbis refused to capitulate. They declared, “[The Torah is] not in heaven.” It isn’t God’s anymore. It’s theirs. Ours. And we must determine how we understand it. This is also the irreverence of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai who, when asked what to do if the Mashiach comes while people are planting trees, said, “finish planting the trees and then go greet the Messiah.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Every second day of Rosh Hashana, I miss the irreverence of Abraham who had the chutzpah to ask, “Shouldn’t the judge of the world act justly?” Why did you lose your irreverence and obey when you thought God asked you to sacrifice your son? Why didn’t you “Think different!”</div><div class="MsoNormal">This Rosh Hashana, it is my hope that we find it in ourselves to act Jewishly and be people who can study Talmud. We need critically literate Jews if we are going to make the world a better place, and we need the chutzpah and irreverence of our forebears to go beyond the status quo. This is what the judge of the world expects of us, and we cannot afford to dissatisfy Her.</div><!--EndFragment-->David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-1639593210542259112011-07-31T04:02:00.000-05:002011-07-31T04:02:42.560-05:00Of Tents and Tea Parties<!--StartFragment--> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghBjRA9Wja4xYRhwlotgDgJ7ZqjMa_t8Z1tgIPx-ZL2g_Krpr9Z7vCQQe-6ybOsj5kC_Uot4tab5JORKMWlhY-WvnJ-A-ycEfFFcrY1pqYVI931lvVIvfJGnzORrpT-2d0NPk4A6Fl5ns/s1600/tentrev.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghBjRA9Wja4xYRhwlotgDgJ7ZqjMa_t8Z1tgIPx-ZL2g_Krpr9Z7vCQQe-6ybOsj5kC_Uot4tab5JORKMWlhY-WvnJ-A-ycEfFFcrY1pqYVI931lvVIvfJGnzORrpT-2d0NPk4A6Fl5ns/s1600/tentrev.jpeg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="margin-top: .1pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Today I’m feeling like I decided to remain with the tribes of Reuven, Gad and half of Menasheh on the other side of the Jordan. It’s hard to live in the Diaspora, especially in a time of great pride for all Israelis, really all Jews. More than 150,000 people took to the streets in Israel (the greatest number since the demonstrations surrounding the Sabra and Shatilla massacres in the first Lebanon War) to demand of their government the kind of society they want; I want. They were shouting, "the people demand social justice" and "we want justice, not charity." I wanted to take out my Israeli identity card and wear it on my chest. I feel like wrapping myself in the flag.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" style="margin-top: .1pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Living with a dual identity, American and Israeli, I naturally compare the two countries. In Israel, a tent revolution, how natural for a people who lived in sukkot as they traveled from slavery to freedom. In America, a tea revolution, also natural given the historical source of the name, but unfortunate in that it is far from the idealism that inspired the break from the British monarchy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" style="margin-top: .1pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The Arab spring has reached Israel’s impermanent borders. It has penetrated the violence of the occupied territories and the injustices of the blockade of Gaza and reached the citizens in Beer Sheva, Jerusalem, Ashdod, Nazareth and especially Tel Aviv. But this is not a reaction to tyranny. Our tent revolution is a tikkun in the trajectory of the self correcting vector of Jewish existence. Judaism has always sought to better itself, and it has always been the work of mindful Jews who insist on staying loyal to our people’s pursuit of justice and human dignity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" style="margin-top: .1pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In light of Israel’s tent revolution, the Tea Party in America looks particularly shallow and selfish. Just like many things in this “land of power and glory,” as Phil Ochs so proudly referred to it, we Americans have come to resemble the brands of our existence and not the substance within. The Tea Party is not a revolt against injustice and tyranny. It is a bastardization of a great collective memory we Americans share of a moment in time when we said no to taxation without representation, not to taxation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" style="margin-top: .1pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In reflecting on the difference between the tent revolution in Israel and the Tea Party in America, I have come to the conclusion that language really matters and that the Hebrew word for taxation, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">maas</i>, is so much more representative of what we citizens should feel as we contribute to our own societies. Maas could be translated as taxes, but it also means “dues,” and dues are part of what we owe to each other. In this sense, Jews who traditionally contributed two taxes, the universal half shekel and the tithe, understood that citizenship is a reciprocal relationship. As we learn in the Talmud (Talmud, Shevuot 39a), “All of Israel are guarantors of each other.” But in America, taxes, those dollars that go to the salaries of our armed forces, our police, our teachers, the men and women who pave our streets, the people who collect our garbage and many more, these taxes are branded as evil. When President Bush spoke his now infamous words, “read my lips, no new taxes,” he knew what he was saying. Even though he couldn’t keep his promise, he knew that he would get further appealing to the based greed of humanity rather than the civilized dignity of those who know that we are nothing without each other. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" style="margin-top: .1pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">This is why I am proud today to be both Israeli and Jewish. My people, once again, are showing their collective will to create justice in the face of power. As we learn in the Sayings of the Fathers, “Who is a hero? One who conquers his instincts.” As Jews, we have defined heroism as the ability to transcend the base instincts of our nature, to be civilized, and to reciprocate with our fellow citizens. Now all I can hope for is that we can shed the light the prophet Isaiah demands of us onto the nations, so that all social movements can be tent revolutions and not loosely branded tea parties.<o:p></o:p></span></div><!--EndFragment-->David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-89149096007172186972011-07-16T07:15:00.000-05:002011-07-16T07:15:27.279-05:001st Shabbat outside of the Land<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBz_N8RLdrqaU7QwM-fL4IJylR81FelZ4wk2OWLj00osIvKARblaiXFYAJ6tETZyBqoG6ZUr3DX4TeLWDc4WcxG_IHtzPQ2PYu8PDP0-HTSR5nR0MRBmCT5VGA785IGHUgo_WhATXWTmA/s1600/Kabbalat20Shabbat20lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBz_N8RLdrqaU7QwM-fL4IJylR81FelZ4wk2OWLj00osIvKARblaiXFYAJ6tETZyBqoG6ZUr3DX4TeLWDc4WcxG_IHtzPQ2PYu8PDP0-HTSR5nR0MRBmCT5VGA785IGHUgo_WhATXWTmA/s320/Kabbalat20Shabbat20lg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This is my first Shabbat as a non-resident Israeli. I’m in Los Angeles, and the Shabbat is definitely keeping the Jew. Living outside of the Land, it takes a lot of work to be Jewish, but this is work that I like. There is a debate in the midrash about whether the sukkah of clouds that escorted the Jews as they made there way to freedom from Egypt to the promised land was real or metaphorical. The Shabbat and Jewish ritual seem like that sukkah. It’s as real as we make it and a metaphor we can live with. As a secular Jew who is deeply committed to his people and tradition, I am happy to be able to celebrate this first Shabbat in the metaphorical sukkah of my Judaism. I wish it were closer to the promised land, but I’m delighted to have this place outside of time that doesn’t rely on geography. Shabbat Shalom.</div><!--EndFragment-->David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-50937434046274062412011-07-02T23:57:00.000-05:002011-07-02T23:57:54.215-05:00Shabbat farming with my Palestinian neighbors in the West Bank<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDLI-gEwDWldKBf5Rwjo4HzPkNUSD59ethgkaYmpVl1CjyynHbZG5Lkcv8dM3GskNI_D590f5OaxU-k8Uw-PaNNwueVCPYGgun3Xjyrf6y_uVFwAw84qJV3otnWz7TEHYtKUhrpO8BlIE/s1600/plantingtree.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDLI-gEwDWldKBf5Rwjo4HzPkNUSD59ethgkaYmpVl1CjyynHbZG5Lkcv8dM3GskNI_D590f5OaxU-k8Uw-PaNNwueVCPYGgun3Xjyrf6y_uVFwAw84qJV3otnWz7TEHYtKUhrpO8BlIE/s320/plantingtree.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">This past Memorial Day eve, I tried <a href="http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=219809">something different</a>. I went to a service organized by the bi-national group Combatants for Peace, and we used the Israeli holiday to remember the victims of our wars from both sides of the battlefield. Remembering only our fallen soldiers, I have observed, has not successfully contributed to our will to end the conflict with our neighbors. In some ways I think it embitters us toward them. Maybe my expectations of the day are mistaken. <a href="http://www.vanleer.org.il/eng/content.asp?Id=906">Professor Avishai Margalit</a> wrote a book about <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ethics-Memory-Avishai-Margalit/dp/067400941X">The Ethics of Memory</a></i> which was triggered by a news article about an officer who didn’t remember the names of his fallen soldiers, even though he remembered the soldiers lives in detail. He starts with the question, what are our ethical obligations to remember. I am not sure what the purposes of Memorial Day are, but certainly a healthy society doesn’t want to add to the list of those it mourns for. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw11Sb17XQe1c99DPgOswagabNNvjW628vGDwcmf5XwbBlwXVxaFvqcy9CtKPcPQKEgai-H3mXQZPCeGRHcS4YjKGsm5CnasmUwPmu8c_qfAWp6IRtR18hkZGw9R64o-FXnA_FgLjTdfM/s1600/whitedove.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw11Sb17XQe1c99DPgOswagabNNvjW628vGDwcmf5XwbBlwXVxaFvqcy9CtKPcPQKEgai-H3mXQZPCeGRHcS4YjKGsm5CnasmUwPmu8c_qfAWp6IRtR18hkZGw9R64o-FXnA_FgLjTdfM/s320/whitedove.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Yesterday, I went with the <a href="http://cfpeace.org/">Combatants for Peace</a> to Kfar Yanoun, a village of 300 that has dwindled down to 36 residents as a result of attacks by settlers who have built illegal outposts on every side of the village and who insist on making the villagers lives miserable. When I say miserable, I need to explain because some of the things these “idealistic,” “pioneering” settlers have done are beyond my active imagination. In Kfar Yanoun, for instance, they found a murdered dog thrown into their drinking water tanks. Snipers have randomly shot taxi drivers bringing villagers to and from town, and the army is often called in to stop them from farming. Currently, they claim, they subsist from working only 3% of their registered agricultural fields.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Combatants for Peace is an organization that refuses to engage in the familiar paradox, fighting for peace. They are made up of equal numbers of Jews and Palestinians in each area that they work. They insist on being a collaboration of former enemies. For this reason, they brought a bus load of “beautiful souls” from Tel Aviv to work together on agricultural projects in the village. The term “beautiful souls” is pejorative in Israel. It tries to mock the good intentions of Israelis who are trying to creatively seek out a better mode of coexistence than the current, failed model. It tries to serve as a substitute for more literal terms like foolishly naïve.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQP-CYqTxfEv1SDt7-DgZ67DsSt6l6kW-iTPAEO48XaTmq2ltYmIGuv9l9MXjvJ6tbGVzKd-78_vEbwfyPqNwg1IqPYwoJ_yJSjQC_5DzoVqarI8vaUjdT7o-xWWnD_J-VK0f0t5snEEw/s1600/moving+rocks.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQP-CYqTxfEv1SDt7-DgZ67DsSt6l6kW-iTPAEO48XaTmq2ltYmIGuv9l9MXjvJ6tbGVzKd-78_vEbwfyPqNwg1IqPYwoJ_yJSjQC_5DzoVqarI8vaUjdT7o-xWWnD_J-VK0f0t5snEEw/s320/moving+rocks.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In Kfar Yanoun, we planted trees and moved boulders to create a path through the village to the water towers. It was symbolic work. We weren’t needed to get the job done. We were very needed to send the message that there still exists a segment of Israeli society that recognizes the humanity of the other. </div><div class="MsoNormal">After lots of thought on the bus ride back to Tel Aviv, which included a humiliating stop by our own border patrol at the check post, I decided that my work on Shabbat was not a desecration but, rather, a sanctification of God’s name, to borrow from the religious Jewish lexicon. By going to Kfar Yanoun and helping with agricultural projects on my day of rest, I was upholding two of the most basic Jewish values. I was <a href="http://www.ujcnj.org/page.aspx?id=81170">loving my neighbor as myself</a> and I reaffirmed my conviction that <a href="http://justaction.org/torahstudy/btzelem-elohim.htm">all humans are created in the divine image.</a></div><!--EndFragment-->David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-66151920811290851572011-06-22T05:08:00.000-05:002011-06-22T05:08:13.634-05:00For the love of Israel<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;">The most pressing issue facing Israel today is not a nuclear Iran. It is not the corruption in government. It’s not even the threat of a September request by the Palestinians for independence at the United Nations. The biggest threat facing Israel is the elimination of constructive public discourse amongst Israelis and Jews everywhere about the nature of the huge and wonderful Jewish enterprise known as the State of Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;">We Jews believe in censure. Some of us feel commanded to give reproach. In the very middle of our Torah we read, “You shall surely rebuke! (Lev. 19:17)” And yet, the current Israeli government and many in the worldwide Zionist establishment are trying to change the rules of the game. This is unacceptable and does not appear to conform to a Jewish way of thinking. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;">The rabbi’s argued about this very issue. “</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Rabbi Tarfon said, ‘I would be very surprised if there is anyone in this generation that can accept criticism.’ Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria responded, ‘I doubt if there is anyone in this generation that knows how to give criticism.’ (TB Arachin 16b).” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sometimes we forget that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tochecha</i>, our command to rebuke, is surrounded by two other important commandments. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;">“Do not hate your brother in your heart,” and “incur no sin because of this.” Context is everything.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;">Much of the discourse about Israel is framed in the language of love. What love means and how it is demonstrated are both very unclear. When I say that Israel is among the only places in the world where a Jew cannot exercise freedom of religion, I am referring to my personal experience of being forced to marry outside of my homeland because my Reform rabbi was not authentic Judaism for the Jewish state. I don’t want a theocratic, intolerant state for my people. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;">When I critique the Israeli educational system, as an insider with a doctorate in education, it is because I want the system to serve my children and my neighbors well. We take 13 years out of our kids lives and spend a good portion of our tax revenues on this project because we care about the future citizenry of the nation. When I oppose the occupation of the Palestinian Territories and advocate for human rights in all of the Land of Israel, I do this, first and foremost, as a Jew who cares about the behavior of his people. How I go about this is a different story. It is essential that I make every effort to incur no sin along the way, but there are no clear borders to what this means.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;">The rabbis of the Talmud worked in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chevruta</i>, learning dyads, to argue out the fine points of the civilization they wanted to leave for us. Sometimes the arguments went too far. Rebbe Yochanan’s obstinacy caused the death of Reish Lakish. Grief and having a “yes man” to replace him led to Yochanan’s demise. Jews don’t benefit from rubber stamps. We need challenges. They make us better as individuals and as a collective. They force us to reflect on our behavior and make choices that advance our purpose of being a holy nation. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;">We believe that we are commanded not to destroy our beautiful, promised land. “</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;">” How can we prevent the defilement of the land without serious, constructive dialog? It is completely legitimate to argue tactics. It crosses a line when we try to define our fellow’s tactics as traitorous, disloyal or hateful just because we don’t agree with them. Nobody has a monopoly on the love of Israel, but we should reflect on the models of the expression of this love. It would be too simple to say that there are only two models, but for the sake of brevity, I will generalize. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;">There are those who say that loving Israel means letting her decide what is best for the country and then helping that decision find fruition. The other model says that to love means a different type of support. In this model, loving Israel requires acknowledging the whole and helping to correct the bad while continuing to promote and strengthen the good.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;">The first model proposes unconditional love. When I was a kid in America, the way we were expected to support Israel was by writing blank checks and letting the decisions happen in Israel. Part of the argument was that the Israeli Jews serve in the army and fight the wars; they suffer the recourse of their decisions. But bombs in Jewish buildings in Argentina, synagogues in Morocco and attacks in community centers in California show the faults of this approach. The world sees Israel as a Jewish project and the targets have no national borders. The unconditional love model has another serious problem. It doesn’t work.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;">The most unconditional love we humans know is for a new baby. Human babies are the only creatures that are born completely dependent on others. They cannot even turn over by themselves for several months, and it takes about a year before they start to crawl. Still, not all babies are loved by their parents.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;">As someone who trained and worked as a dairy farmer in Israel, I know that baby calves can walk and find their mothers to suckle immediately after their births. This is the same with every species except humans. Our babies need us for everything and the love we give them is unconditional because they are completely dependent and because they are our progeny. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;">As our children grow, we set borders and expectations. Rarely does the violation of those borders result in a termination of love. When I was an undergrad, my friend, the comedian Steve Allen shared a story about his son who had joined a cult, and he eventually made him choose between the cult and the family. This was an exception to the rule and would be a painful experience for any parent. Unconditional love doesn’t keep us straight and narrow. It doesn’t raise a mirror to our eyes and let us reflect on our behavior. With unconditional love, things go bad and we turn the other cheek. It is no small wonder that this form of love of Israel finds a comfortable bed partner in Christian Zionism.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;">The model of love of Israel that I subscribe to is holistic. I love so many things about our country. I also desperately want to right the wrongs. I love the dialog and hope to have the humility to assume that my vision for the country is not always right. I celebrate the diversity of citizens and I believe, as Churchill so gracefully put it, that “Democracy is the worst form of government, accept for all the others that have been tried.” I don’t like the tyranny of majorities, but I don’t mind getting dirty and arguing over the direction of my homeland. I am, however, getting pretty fed up with the attack that says that I don’t love Israel because I want to make her the best that she can be. That is simply untrue and hurts the cause. Just as the Torah has seventy faces, there are many ways to love one’s country. Mine is just as valid and may be more helpful.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div>David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-23430744784044167732011-06-02T12:37:00.002-05:002011-06-02T13:42:42.822-05:00Do not keep it for yourself: A research plan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguzEhfHuYpZBOiO0sEfOHJEoFS7nKuGzPpdMjUoHpIgC9k-mKjE9UUOdKYiCkXjxnCczLwzx5bbI3LsLECrMuCOO5KAMCRpgARS963kNZ2w3G0ZKDPSWmt6qlQlbXAPGrWg9kIU93Uf_g/s1600/research.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguzEhfHuYpZBOiO0sEfOHJEoFS7nKuGzPpdMjUoHpIgC9k-mKjE9UUOdKYiCkXjxnCczLwzx5bbI3LsLECrMuCOO5KAMCRpgARS963kNZ2w3G0ZKDPSWmt6qlQlbXAPGrWg9kIU93Uf_g/s400/research.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><i>If you see your brother's ox or his sheep wandering, do not go by without helping, but take them back to your brother. If their owner is not near, or if you are not certain who he is, then take the beast to your house and keep it till its owner comes in search of it, and then you are to give it back to him. Do the same with his ass or his robe or anything which has gone from your brother's keeping and which you have come across: do not keep it to yourself. (Deut.22:1-3)</i><br />
<blockquote></blockquote>לא תראה את שור אחיך או את שיו נדחים והתעלמת מהם השב תשיבם לאחיך׃ <br />
ואם לא קרוב אחיך אליך ולא ידעתו ואספתו אל תוך ביתך והיה עמך עד דרש אחיך אתו והשבתו לו׃ וכן תעשה לחמרו וכן תעשה לשמלתו וכן תעשה לכל אבדת אחיך אשר תאבד ממנו ומצאתה לא תוכל להתעלם׃ <br />
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I have a research project that I cannot afford to implement, but I’d like to explain it and build my hypothesis. My question is simple and complicated at the same time. Does religion make people better human beings?<br />
Of course this is a relative question because the baseline is illusive. What is a normal human being without religion? This is the first question I ask. Next, I want to know what religion is in the context of my question. But let’s leave the critique for a moment. How can I test this question?<br />
My study would take a fixed number of wallets and disperse them in the public realm in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Whether I should do more cities is a detail for conjecture. In each wallet, I would put personal identification and five, twenty shekel bills.<br />
If you want to really be scientific, you could say that the amount of money has to be greater to make the stakes worthwhile and the ID has to be varied. After all, people might return money to a woman before a man or an elder before a student. Also there is the question of the transgression threshold. When is the transgression worthwhile? Do you keep the money at one hundred shekels or do you wait for one thousand before you mess with the Big Guy?<br />
There are lots of details with my study that will always be refuted, but leave that and join me in forming the hypothesis. What do we think we will learn about our subject? This is an essential question for designing the survey. What information will we gather from people who try to return the wallets? Here are some of my questions. Some answers are quantitative. They will give me statistics like X% of people who returned wallets consider themselves secular. Some questions will have to be qualitative because we need to understand what secular means to someone who defines herself that way. The better the qualitative questions and answers, the more useful the statistics.<br />
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a. Do you define yourself as religious?<br />
b. Do you believe in a deity?<br />
c. Are you Jewish?<br />
d. Christian?<br />
e. Moslem?<br />
f. Do you believe in the afterlife?<br />
g. Do you believe in a deity that is involved with the world and human life?<br />
h. Do you believe that you will be judged by your god?<br />
i. Do you believe that there is a concrete instruction manual from which you can understand what your god expects of you?<br />
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I try to write my qualitative questions in a way which will leave the answerer feeling comfortable to answer in the way that best represents her opinions and provides the most qualified information.<br />
<br />
a. How do you define religious?<br />
b. What do you think happens to human beings after they die?<br />
c. If you believe that your deity is involved with the world, how does that effect the free will of human beings?<br />
<br />
I could go on, but I think my point is clear. No research is free of the inherent biases of human language, in general, and of researchers, specifically. When we read research, we are not reading truth. There is no world to be discovered. It is framed. Our research defines the answers we get and the world we discover. <br />
The common term for putting too much credibility in scientific methodology and conclusions is called scientism. I would claim that for much of the western world, scientism has replaced or joined religion as the answer to questions which might be better served by addressing them with doubt. For example, my wife is an acupuncturist. Her profession is built on thousands of years of practice. Some people swear by it. Others wouldn’t take a needle if their life depended on it. Western medical science, as we know it, is a baby in comparison to Chinese medicine. It has only been around for about two hundred years, and it constantly changes and contradicts itself. When I was an infant, my mother was told to bottle feed me because science knows exactly what nutrition I need better than my creator’s body. My mom put her faith in science (which may explain my many deficiencies.) Which medicine do you turn to? Why?<br />
<br />
I have some hypotheses about my research and some prior assumptions. Almost everyone reading this assumes that Jerusalem has more religious people. We could turn to statistics to answer this question, but what good would it be without qualitative research? Religious people don’t all define themselves the same way. Having a Commander in chief is a form of religiosity, but some commanded people believe they will be judged in this world and others in a world to come. What does it mean to say that 60% of the wallets returned to their owner came from self-defined religious people? Would it mean something different if we learned that half of those wallets came with some or all of the money missing?<br />
<br />
Living in Tel Aviv, as I do, I cheer for the home team. I want my city on Spring Hill to be the home of good human beings because I am one of them. I have a logic I have built to support it. Jerusalem is on top of a mountain. It has its head in the clouds. It is disconnected. Tel Aviv is fresh. It is renewed with every wave that hits our beautiful shoreline. Even our religious in Tel Aviv are better than in Jerusalem. They live pluralistic lives among the secular masses. Just walk down Rothschild Boulevard on a Shabbat morning and you will see what I mean.<br />
In the Talmud, when Rabbi Eliezer tries to convince the rest of the rabbis of his righteousness, he brings the Bat Kol to speak for God. It speaks and proclaims his righteousness, but the rabbis will have nothing to do with it. They make two claims; the Torah is no longer in heaven and it (the Torah) instructs us to lean toward the majority. How can we listen to God when He has created the circumstances by which we are to be in charge of our own destiny?<br />
I’m sorry that I don’t have the money to do my research study. Research is a fun and interesting job. It helps me pay the bills with dignity. But maybe I’m better off not participating in a system that has all but replaced faith for so many people. Six of one, half a dozen of another is such a brilliant algorithm because it explains exactly what I mean. At the end of the day, it is not science or religion that proves anything. Both are systems that demystify the mysterious, and both are matters of faith. At the end of the day, we have to make choices, and the important thing is that we are willing to be critical of ourselves and the systems within which we make them. This is my Torah and if you give me enough money, I’ll give you a study that proves that I’m right.David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779373943645776664.post-44009473840847987182011-05-30T14:46:00.001-05:002011-05-31T00:30:58.277-05:00Education Israel style<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHlItUlGmuaEBHf62E5fcT-ztYd_ut6tTFjjdCxBxMMclc5kGjWL5MVIlGrKT6U7cjEt1odDLzwWZx9JwOGmraIInJrzoF74Wc_UD7lN1ONmesyOm8tPqKVQXLBXF6e2qsT2Wj1z7XldA/s1600/education_ukp06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="257" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHlItUlGmuaEBHf62E5fcT-ztYd_ut6tTFjjdCxBxMMclc5kGjWL5MVIlGrKT6U7cjEt1odDLzwWZx9JwOGmraIInJrzoF74Wc_UD7lN1ONmesyOm8tPqKVQXLBXF6e2qsT2Wj1z7XldA/s400/education_ukp06.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
The headlines made it nearly impossible for me to pass the opportunity to address my feelings about the school system in Israel. “Netanyahu, officials launch highly anticipated education system reform.” Wow! You’d think they adopted New Math, but whatever you might have thought, you would probably be mistaken. Here’s the tag line; “New program, coming after years of deliberations, would see teachers' pay increase by 51% in exchange for additional working hours.” And the worst part, it’s a bad deal for teachers. They increase their work hours from 24 to 40 per week, 16 hours or 66%, and they only get compensated for 51%. The net effect is a lower hourly wage. But this change doesn’t even get close to deserving the word reform.<br />
<br />
There is a lot to fear when reform is used in education in general, and in Israel specifically. I’m not referring to the difference between revolution and reform, between which Israel needs the former. I am talking about the long history of educational reforms that Israel suffers from because of the unfortunate tie of the ministry of education to the political system. These reforms make our kids schizophrenic. For example, under Yuli Tamir, the students learned about the Green Line and Naqba Day. Now, under the Likud’s Gidon Saar, the state of Israel and the land of Israel are virtually synonyms, saying Naqba is punishable by law and schools will be doing field trips to Hebron. But this is not the subject of this tome.<br />
<br />
The revolution I call for is directed at high schools and matriculations. I firmly believe that the existing system of training kids in grades 10-12, to remember materials and take tests, is at the core of many of Israel’s problems. We cannot have a dynamic society of individuals who know how to creatively solve problems and imagine the kind of country they want to live in if we feed them answers and ask them to regurgitate them in tests. Maybe this is what the country needed 63 years ago when we had to draft as many resources as possible to the cause of defending the homeland, but today the challenges are different and the anachronistic approaches are doing much more harm than good.<br />
<br />
I believe that personal anecdotes help vivify important social questions. Here are a few. I taught Israeli high school civics and Bible. I did things like ask my students to try to understand the Israeli Declaration of Independence via comparison to the American Declaration. I thought it would be helpful for them to see that Israel leaves out God and democracy while America includes both. In Bible, my class of all immigrant students wrote about their immigration in comparison to Abraham’s calling to “Leave your country, and your homeland, and your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you.” My principal responded by telling me that I was too philosophical and creative. She handed me the matriculation tests and the answers and told me that, “this is all that matters.”<br />
<br />
My daughter Maya recently saw her Solomon Schechter eighth grade teachers who were here on a day school trip with their students from Chicago. Her English teacher asked if she was still doing the great writing she had done in middle school. Maya told me that the question made her upset because it reminded her that she is never asked to be creative. “They ask me to write answers to questions in a very narrow way that gives their understandings. They don’t care what I think, only what I know.”<br />
<br />
The irony of the situation is that the Jewish state has primary Jewish sources that complicate the idea of what education should look like, and we don’t look to them. In Pirkei Avot, Moses receives the Torah and passes it to the elders who pass it forward as if education is concrete and reified. This is the Education ministry model. But we also have the story of Moses sitting in Rabbi Akiva’s classroom dumbfounded because he doesn’t understand his own Torah. In this model, knowledge is made by the individual through engagement with ideas. It is not something that can be remembered and repeated for standardized tests. Moses doesn’t recognize his Torah because it is not the a solid, unchanging thing. Knowledge making is a skill of the individual and it is fluid. In our Talmud, both of these ideas exist side by side, but in the Israeli education system, we only want to pass a tangible, specific Torah, and it changes with every government.<br />
<br />
The other Jewish example is also found in Pirkei Avot. We read of Yochanan ben Zakai’s five students. I will recount two. “Rabbi Eliezer the son of Hurkenus is a cemented cistern that loses not a drop; Rabbi Elazar ben Arach is as an ever-increasing wellspring. [Rabbi Yochanan] used to say: If all the sages of Israel were to be in one cup of a balance-scale, and Eliezer the son of Hurkenus were in the other, he would outweigh them all. Abba Shaul said in his name: If all the sages of Israel were to be in one cup of a balance-scale, Eliezer the son of Hurkenus included, and Elazar the son of Arach were in the other, he would outweigh them all.” The Talmud never decides for us what is better to be a vessel of knowledge or to produce a vital necessity. It leaves us with two models that contradict each other. Both have their time and place. Why in Israel do we have to stick with just one?<br />
****<br />
My daughter is in the middle of her high school experience and I feel like I am doing her wrong by not choosing the best education system I can find for her. Nothing is perfect, but I think America is better, at least my America. I hate having to face this choice, but those are my cards. Now the question is whether to stay and fight to improve things while my daughter finishes school here or move to where I can do the best for my kids. It seems like a simple choice, but not when you live in a wonderful city like Tel Aviv. Right now I’m feeling the old Yiddish saying, it’s hard to be a Jew, but I’m feeling it about Israel.David J. Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03062156101661938909noreply@blogger.com2