I wonder if.....

How do you say Social Justice in Hebrew?

2012-01-06T05:41:00.007+11:00

In December 2011, I was privileged to attend one of the most amazing events in the Jewish world known as Limmud. Held at the University of Warwick in England, Limmud brings together over 2,300 Jews to learn continually for 5 days. Each hour there are over 25 sessions on offer from some of the greatest minds in the Jewish world. This year I attended a number of sessions about the J14 social protests, presented by Ruth Calderon, Eetta Prince-Gibson and two of the first tent dwellers, Daphni Leef and Barak Segal.

The seed for these protests began in June 2011 when Israeli film student Daphni Leef received a notice to vacate the apartment that she had rented in Tel Aviv for the previous three years. After several weeks of searching to no avail for a new apartment within reach of her financial situation, Leef discovered that the rental prices in the entire Tel Aviv metropolitan area had doubled in the previous five years. At the time, Daphni was working 14 hours a day on a reality TV show ironically named “Your house is worth more.” In realising that even a person like herself, from a 'good' family with an honest job could not afford to live in Gush Dan where rents had risen by 49% in the past 5 years (42% of Israelis live in the Gush Dan region), she started a Facebook group inviting anyone else in the same situation to join her in a tent on Habima Square on July 14. (see www.J14.org.il).

These protests gradually grew larger until they peaked on the night of September 3rd where 460,000 Israelis marched for Social Justice. An opinion poll released by Channel 10 television showed that 88% of respondents said they supported the movement.

Daphni spoke of the idea in this TED Talk as being particularly significant in shaping her political philosophy. “You know, in the middle ages, in England, when you met a very poor person, that person would be described as an “unfortunate.” Literally, somebody who had not been blessed by fortune, an unfortunate. Nowadays, particularly in the United States, if you meet someone at the bottom of society, they may, unkindly, be described as a “loser.” There is a real difference between an unfortunate and a loser. And that shows 400 years of evolution in society, and our belief in who is responsible for our lives. It’s no longer the gods, it’s us. We’re in the driving seat. That’s exhilarating if you’re doing well, and very crushing if you’re not.” – Alain de Botton.

The demands of the protests were initially for the government to do something about housing prices. As more people joined their movement, they articulated further demands that were formed out of many dialogue circles and round tables.The round tables during the tent protests were conducted in a manner that is unlike any discussions I have ever had with Israelis. Inspired by the 15M movement which brought over 7 million Spaniards out to the streets in May 2011, they adopted and invented a number of unique hand signals in order facilitate up to 200 people being part of one discussion.These emoticons have now spread throughout the world through the occupy movement.

One of the best sessions I attended at Limmud was run by Daphni Leef and Barak Segal, where they broke with the traditional lecture style format and arranged all the chairs in the room into circles around ten. They then taught us the speaking legend:

Waiving your hands upwards – Agreeing

Waiving your hands downwards – Not agreeing

Crossing your hands – Veto (I will not participate in this initiative)

Rolling hands – Get on with it, I’m not getting any younger.

Raising your hand – I want to speak (the table instructor will note and write down)

Firing with Fingers – I have a brief comment – Only allowed with the permission of the speaker

Time out sign – Technical intervention

We then participated in a Round Table discussion which gave all involved a powerful taste of what direct democracy feels like. Under the rules of Round Table facilitation, all present must speak, which in itself is a big step forward from the far too passive approach many citizens around the world have towards their stake in democracy. Next, each person spoke to the person on their right for 5 minutes, after which their partner introduced them to the group. After this, each person turned to their left and shared an economic problem they had experienced. Topics that came up included the source of the London Riots, rises in student fees and the nature of capitalism. These problems were then shared back with the main circle, after which we again split into smaller groups to start researching solutions to each of these problems.

In the tent protest, the suggestions of these teams went on to become part of a detailed report by a committee of 60 economists led by Yossi Yonah, professor of education at Ben-Gurion University, and Avia Spivak, professor of economics at Ben-Gurion University and former deputy governor of the Bank of Israel. As opposed to the Trachtenberg Committee established by the government, the recommendations of the Spivak-Yonah Committee were very much by the people, for the people.The use of round tables has now spread throughout Israel through organisations such as Arvut.org and the Israel 2021.

Another one of my favourite presenters at Limmud was Ruth Calderon from Alma, the Secular Yeshiva in Tel-Aviv, who spoke movingly about the place of humanistic Jewish ideals in the slogans of the tent protestors. To see her point, compare the slogans of the many social justice campaigns around the world.

“Give me Liberty or Give me Death” – Patrick Henry, American Revolutionary War, 1775

“Libertie Egalitie Fraternitie” – French Revolution 1789
“We are not goods in the hands of politicians and bankers” – M15 Protests in Spain

“Action for Australia” – GetUp (Australia)

“We Are the 99%” - Occupy Movement (Global)

Noting that the similarity between the concerns of these other social justice movements and the tent protestors, it was amazing to see the Israelis use decidedly Jewish language to make their point with slogans such as: “The nation demands social justice העם דורש צדק חברתי”, “We want justice, not charity רוצים צדק לא רוצים צדקה” and finally “ כל ישראל אוהלים זה לזהAll of Israel are tents for one another,” a play on words from the famous Talmudic quote, “All of Israel are responsible for one another.” (BT Shavuot 39a).

In addition to these highly prophetic slogans that would seem for more at home in the mouths of Amos, Jeremiah or Isaiah than the streets of secular Tel-Aviv, Calderon spoke proudly of the many Talmud study sessions facilitated by Alma in between the tents and the Kabbalat Shabbat services held each Friday night.

In reflecting on the remarkable events of Summer 2011 in Israel, many have decried the protesters as being naive idealists in calling for a welfare state that Israel can’t afford, whose protest will not achieve anything until they can form a political party and win big in an election. But Daphni doesn’t see it this way. She sees the goal of this protest as not changing the government, because she knows that this is not a right- left issue. What she is trying to do is to make sure that the concerns of the protesters are at the core of every decision made in the Knesset, no matter which side is in power. Acknowledging that the change she is advocating for will take a generation, the protest movement has recently created a new non-parliamentary movement תנועה called ב' זה אוהל that will continue the struggle over the cost of living and the values of Israeli culture and democracy. The movement will form a non-profit company in which the public will be able to buy shares and which will act as a lobbying group for social affairs.

Together with a number of the first tent protestors, the movement will be headed up by Major (res) Tomer Bohadana, a company commander in the reserves, who was seriously wounded in the Summer of 2006, fighting in the Second Lebanon War. He was evacuated to Rambam hospital in Haifa, and then rushed from the helicopter on a stretcher, with a doctor pressing his neck so he would not bleed to death. Before losing consciousness he saw a group of television crews and photographers, and signalled V for victory with his hand. This became the symbol of the war.

At the launch of the new movement, they read out the following statement, “The foundation of this movement is the understanding that being a citizen in a democracy is not a responsibility that ends with a ballot at election time. This movement will strive to bring about a public debate around the hot topics that were strengthened by Herzl’s response on the eve of the First Zionist Congress in Basel to those who criticised him by saying that “the Zionist movement is entirely a racket, no more!” Herzl replied angrily: “Yes of course! But all politics is bustle. The whole of world history is nothing but tumult: tumult of new ideas advancing. ”

Echoing the words of Herzl, I fervently hope that the new ideas that are being advanced by this movement will be the saviour of Zionism. By combining the best Jewish humanistic ideals epitomised in the direct democracy of the round tables, combined with the ancient vision of the prophets for a more just society, these young Israelis are showing the world how one should say Social Justice in Hebrew.

Behatzlacha!

Stuff White People Like – The Melbourne Edition

2011-08-06T07:43:00.017+10:00

Most of you have probably read the American Stuff White People Like blog by now and laughed about it at many dinner parties which have also been fundraisers for various causes. In writing this entry, please note that in describing the group of people below, ‘white’ is probably not the best choice of word in Melbourne and should probably be replaced with ‘inner city middle class.’ After you read through the list, give yourself a score out of 80 to determine how ‘white’ you really are.

1.Living in North Fitzroy (According to Christian Lander, this is the whitest suburb in Melbourne)
2. The TED Conference

3. Farmer’s Markets

4. Hating Andrew Bolt

5. Answering “Jedi” to the religion question on the census

6. Beanies

7. Having breakfast at Monk Bodhi Dharma, lunch at the Oasis Bakery and dinner at the Moroccan Soup bar

8. Political Prisoners

9. Facebook

10. Being Offended

11. ABC Radio National

12. Any event sponsored by The Wheeler Centre

13. New Balance Shoes

14. Music Piracy

15. Ceres

16. Dinner Parties

17. Having Gay Friends

18. Putumayo World Music Collection

19. Events put on by the local council

20. Bartering

21. Hating Corporations

22. The Greens (see here and here)

23. Op Shops

24. Breastfeeding

25. Multilingual Children

26. Sophie

27. Camping

28. Lentil as Anything

29. Cassette tapes

30. Coming to places on time

31. Muslims

32. Knowing What’s Best for Poor People

33. Leonard Cohen (I’m offering a prize for anyone who can spot a non-white person in the audience at his Hanging Rock concert)

34. Go the F*#k to Sleep

35. Bicycles (especially the fixed gear variety which are the most authentic)

36. Toyota Prius

37. Apologies (especially the one by Kevin Rudd)

38. Irony

39. Confest

40. Whole Foods and Grocery Co-ops

41. Self-deprecating humour

42. Arts Degrees (especially when they lead to writing PhD’s you can angst about at dinner parties)

43. The Age (with a special mention to the Good Weekend)

44. Indie Music

45. Couchsurfing

46. Advocating for Public Education whilst sending your own kids to Private Schools (especially one’s that enhance your child’s uniqueness like Preshil or Rudolph Steiner Schools.)

47. Collingwood Children’s Farm

48. Lucas’ Paw Paw Ointment

49. Masterchef (Especially the Eco Challenge/Dalai Lama episodes)

50. Apple Products

51. Zara

52. Bragging about unique furniture you found in a hard rubbish collection

53. The Chaser

54. Acknowledging the Wurundjeri

55. The Daily Show/Colbert Report

56. Marijuana

57. Vegan/Vegetarianism

58. Flash Mobs

59. St Kilda Night market

60. Kath and Kim (This entire show is made for the benefit of inner city people who wish to laugh at outer suburbs folk)

61. 80’s Nights

62. Asylum Seekers

63. Awareness

64. Walking over a Bridge for Reconciliation

65. Hating their Parents

66. Gifted Children

67. Astor Theatre Posters

68. John Safran

69. Having tweets appear on Q&A

70. Yoga

71. Barack Obama

72. Royal Weddings

73. The Dalai Lama

74. Slutwalk and F#ckwalk

75. Diversity

76. Religions your parents don’t belong to

77. SBS Documentaries that validate your own view of the world

78. Coffee

79. The UN

80. Giving themselves scores on lists (With thanks to Ben)

So, how white are you? My score was 65/80.

Samitha Mukhopadhyay writes that “SWPL is primarily a place for white people to chortle at the oddities of race and class and then congratulate themselves for having done so, thus neatly avoiding the need to delve any deeper. Or, conversely, they may like the blog because it allows them to disassociate themselves and laugh at those white yuppies. The core message is that it's OK to be rich and white, as long as you laugh about it. No further analysis required. It's a message that, unsurprisingly, rich, white people love to hear.” If that is true for you, stop reading here. But if you scored more than 60/80, the following statements may be true for you.

1. You are a confident person

The “right” kind of white people are supremely confident in their own superiority. Their self-esteem and sense of entitlement are rock solid. The right kind of white people believe that (1) all other human beings aspire to be just like them, and (2) they will always remain in power and able to secure and perpetuate their values.

2. You are a marketing agents dream

Due to their likes being so predictable, the right kind of white people are highly susceptible to greenwashing campaigns and purchasing anything that’s advertised in free indie music mags like X-Press to clothing advertised in the Good Weekend. Whites are also far more likely to support causes with accessories like expensive T-Shirts, wrist bracelets, and various coloured ribbons. Whites are also particularly susceptible to social cause marketing which sometime do far more damage than good.

3. You think poor people want what you have

Due to their colonial past, white people have enormous guilt towards people in the third world which they try to fix by assuming that if only the third world was whiter, they wouldn’t be in poverty. This leads to ridiculous Whites in Shining Armour aid projects like One million T-Shirts for Haiti or Socks for Japan. Good Intentions are not enough is an excellent blog which responds to these well-intentioned, yet stupid ideas. For example, the very trendy Tom’s Shoes company recently wrote the following in its advertising for the A Day without Shoes initiative (the video clip is one of the whitest pieces of marketing I have ever seen). “The great thing about an event like One Day Without Shoes is that it's so easy to participate. We've had some supporters go barefoot for 20 minutes and others have gone barefoot for months!” The clip made by good intentions in response to Tom’s Shoes is called “A Day without Dignity.”

4. You are possibly quite well off and have a great deal of spare time

One of the whitest functions on facebook is the “Like” button, in that it allows white people to demonstrate they are supporting the right kind of everything from humour to political positions. Bolstering your white credentials on facebook or in other places often takes a great deal of time, and may be quite expensive. And by the way, how many of you are reading this blog at work?

5. You are not unique

To quote Christian Lander “But a closer look reveals that from Austin to Australia, from L.A. to the U.K., indigenous white people are as different from one another as 1 percent rBGH-free milk is different from 2 percent.”

6. You are middle class

Christian Lander writes on the blog “It’s partially about race, but it’s fundamentally about class. It’s about a generation and class that values authenticity and credibility more than monetary wealth.”

7. You are the beneficiary of positive stereotypes

Though most ethnic stereotypes are negative, different racial groups also hold some positive stereotypes of white people. A 1972 study found that, in general, whites were stereotyped with positive traits and minority groups with negative traits. Positively, whites are stereotyped as intelligent, socially diverse, and generally non-dangerous and unlikely to commit crime. However, they are all considered racist, prejudiced, or biased and scared or uneasy around minorities.

8. Most Films and TV shows are often created with you in mind

Samitha Mukhopadhyay writes that “what makes Stuff White People Like special is that it describes relatively wealthy white Americans, and in doing so, recognizes that their particular culture has been mainstreamed and presented by Hollywood as the norm.”

Filmmakers know that due to white people having more spare time and disposable income, they are more likely to watch films. Below is just a small list of film themes that attract white people

*Car trips to wineries (Eg: Sideways, Road Trip)

* White boys trying to lose their virginity on campus (Eg: American Pie, The Social Network)

* Films about therapy (Analyse This, In treatment, Prime)

* Inspiring white people changing the world (Good Will Hunting, Erin Brockovich, Patch Adams, Dangerous Minds, The Power of One, Pay it Forward – Teachers LOVE these types of films)

* Films about white post-modern angst (When Harry Met Sally, Garden State, Juno, Rachel’s getting married, 500 days of summer, Up in the Air)

* Films about prejudice (Invictus, anything by Michael Moore)

9. You were raised to be middle class

From the moment you were born in a midwife led, doula assisted, drug free, home birth, it is quite likely that you were breastfeed, read to every night, and that your toys were made of organic materials and/or had the word “Baby Einstein” on them somewhere due to your inherent giftedness. If you get nothing else from this blog, next time you are having a discussion about what’s best for poor people, note that the reason you are not poor relates directly to the daily effects of white privilege.

10. You are the product of immense privilege

Matthew Miller writes, “Stuff White People Like is, to be blunt, something that very few people seem to get. It's not just an attack on hipsters, and it's certainly not racist, but rather, it's an attack on privilege. The 20 and 30-something upper-middle class kids Lander mocks benefit tremendously from their positions as children of the elite, and have created their own "culture" that reflects their pretensions by affirming their own uniqueness and artistic merit without requiring any real effort. It's also an attack on class, and repeatedly points out that in order to advance in a society controlled by the "right kind of white people," you have to parrot their views and affirm their (well-meaning, but sill patronizing) stereotypes, which is ironic considering how tolerant and open-minded they claim to be.”

Personal Note

I have spent several weeks trying to put together this blog post in manner that best articulates my thoughts on this complex issue of class in Australia. If you feel guilty or offended, that is not my intention. My purpose of posting it here is to add depth to the inevitable conversations I often have about SWPL on Sunday mornings in vegan cafes.

If this blog prompts discussions about

-how and why you donate money to various causes,

-why you buy the clothes you do,

-what motivates you to write certain things online, and

-what makes you happy

Then my purpose has been achieved.

Looking forward to the conversation.

A Jewish Balanda in Yolngu Country

2011-07-06T08:16:00.008+10:00

Spending five days on Elcho Island was an eye-opening experience that will stay with me for a long time. Learning about the Law and ceremony of the Yolngu people, seeing how they practice it despite all the pressures from the modern world that dismiss it, was remarkable. Indigenous Australian law is probably one of the world’s oldest continually practiced traditions still alive today. Every time we have a national event like the Olympics, Australians are very proud to display their aboriginal history through dances and performances in public settings.

That said, if more Australians saw the living conditions of the people on Elcho Island whose tradition we say we value so much, they would be very confronted. Due to an extreme housing shortage, about 30 people live in each house, there are almost no jobs on the island, and English literacy is very poor.

The Northern Territory National Emergency Response (usually referred to as ‘The Intervention’) which aimed to fix a number of the issues outlined above is a subject of great controversy amongst the people who live there, with some feeling it unjustly disempowers the local elders and discredits their traditional way of life. Others feel that it is necessary to prevent further deterioration in living, health and education standards across the NT.

The school we stayed at was called Shepherdson College. It was a well-resourced school whose staff are doing some pretty amazing things. This news story is a great example of what can happen when elders are empowered to make decisions for themselves.

Our Scopus students were accompanied much of the time by children aged roughly 5-13. They were very friendly with us, often holding our hands and even adopting us into their families due to their complicated kinship system which outlines permitted and forbidden contact with people in the community.

The Yonlgu students enjoyed the activities we put on such as Israeli dancing and mural painting. We also enjoyed visiting their sacred sites and learning about their ancient law.

One thing that struck me when listening to the elders describe their law, was that in order to keep it, they must live in their ancestral land near the sacred sites, as the law is intrinsically tied to these places. They spoke proudly about how their law had not changed at all since their tradition began (cave paintings found in the area indicate that their tradition may be up to 40,000 years old).

After I heard the elders explain their law, which is intrinsically tied to certain sacred places, seasons and ceremonies, I reflected on the fact that I was very fortunate to belong to a religion that one can practice authentically in any place in the world. It made me think that perhaps one of the reasons that the Jewish people have been so materially successful over time, is that our law (halacha) constantly evolves through rabbinic interpretation in a manner that makes our traditions intrinsically portable and fully compatible with western notions of employment, income and social interaction.

Clearly there are some similarities between us, with parallels between sacred sites and the existence of Israel today (a point actually noted by one of the elders), yet the challenges that exist for a Yolngu person who wants to keep their law whilst living in a balanda (white person) society are still far greater than for a Jew. For some Yolngu, being asked to move away from one’s land for employment is forcing one to choose between keeping their law and having a job.

Before the trip, Emanuel Holbein, who is an inspirational teacher on the Island, successfully applied for a $2000 grant from the NT government in order to provide meals for the students at the school for the first week of the school holidays whilst we were there. Emanuel was expecting about 10 students to be at each meal. What happened in reality was that up to 50-60 people (young and old) showed up to each meal. It very quickly occurred to me that many people on the island are not eating three meals a day. Our students immediately swung into action by helping to cook and serve food for all the hungry.

I felt grateful for our over-catering, that allowed us to leave a great amount of kosher food behind for the students in the coming week. The knowledge that some of the students at the school may be hungry until school resumes in three weeks was challenging for all of us, and gave the Scopus students much to be grateful for in their our own lives back here in Melbourne.

I am looking forward to working with the school community next term in highlighting some of the issues facing Indigenous Australians today and exploring ways in which we can make a difference.

Reflecting on the difference between our lives in Melbourne and those on Elcho can best be described in this story.

One day a rich Westerner who had made millions from speculating on the stock market was strolling along the beach and saw the fisherman pulling in his boat with his meagre catch.

The rich Westerner stopped and remarked “not much of a catch today”. The fisherman replied “yes not much” but explained that his small catch was enough for him and his family.

The rich Westerner asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

“I sleep late, play with my children and have an afternoon’s rest under a coconut tree. In the evenings, I go to the local pub to see my friends, play some music, and sing a few songs….. I have a full and happy life.” replied the fisherman.

The rich Westerner ventured, “I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you…… You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.

With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have a large fleet.
Instead of selling your fish to a middleman, you can negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to a city from where you can direct your huge enterprise.”

“And after that?” asked the fisherman.

“After that? That’s when it gets really interesting,” answered the rich Westerner, laughing, “When your business gets really big, you can start selling stock in your company and make millions!”

“Millions? Really? And after that?” pressed the fisherman.

“After that you’ll be able to retire, move out to a small village by the sea, sleep in late every day, spend time with your family, go fishing, take afternoon naps under a coconut tree, and spend relaxing evenings with friends…”

After reading that story, many might assume that the person whose society is most broken is that of the white fella who is working 70 hours a week and barely seeing his children for more a few minutes a day. On the other hand, the story does over romanticise the life of the fisherman, who whilst being happy with his life on the island, would also love to have the access to education, health services and emplroyment that are available in the white society.

My friend Howard Goldenberg who has spent decades working with remote communities across Australia has said that the main desire of the many Aboriginals he has worked with has been להיות עם חפשי בארצנו, “To be a FREE people in OUR OWN land".

Or in the words of Elcho Island elder Daisy Gondarra "The changes that have happened at Shepherdson College give students the message that there's a pathway for them, a purpose in life, to be able to get a real job. We want something better for students to achieve in the long run, a career pathway for them, not just a job for today but a job for the future. Our children have to learn to live in both worlds; that's the way forward. It's two types, Yolngu and balanda (white people), working together as equals."

B’tselem Elohim - בצלם אלוהים

2011-06-24T11:10:00.009+10:00

The Midrash teaches: One person (Adam) was created as the common ancestor of all people, for the sake of the peace of the human race, so that one should not be able to say to a neighbour, "My ancestor was better than yours.” I was reminded of this midrash constantly as I watched the powerful reality show “Go back to where you came from” on SBS for the past three nights.

The show took six ordinary Australians who agreed to challenge their preconceived notions about refugees and asylum seekers by embarking on a confronting 25-day journey. Tracing in reverse the journeys that refugees have taken to reach Australia, they travelled to some of the most dangerous and desperate corners of the world, with no idea what is in store for them along the way.

Deprived of their wallets, phones and passports, they board a leaky refugee boat, are rescued mid-ocean, experience immigration raids in Malaysia, live in a Kenyan refugee camp and visit slums in Jordan before ultimately making it to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq, protected by UN Peacekeepers and the US military. For some of them it’s their first time abroad. For all of them, it’s an epic journey and the most challenging experience of their lives.
With the all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, the show is one of the post powerful rebuttals to the dehumanising language used about asylum seekers all too often in this country.

Australia’s policy towards asylum seekers is largely decided by the opinions of participants in focus groups around marginal seats in Western Sydney. After watching Go Back To Where You Came From for the past three nights, I believe that if our government truly wanted to lead rather than follow the Australian people on this issue, they could easily educate many of us to find the best within ourselves by humanising, rather than demonising refugees who come here by boat.

Irwin Cotler, the former Justice Minister of Canada said in a speech at the Oxford Chabad Society, "The greatness of a society can be measured by its treatment and care of the most vulnerable and powerless." The most powerless people in the world today are the millions of refugees waiting in camps around the world. As a wealthy country, Australia can do far more to alleviate the plight of these people. Three good places to start would be to increase our level of foreign aid to 0.7% of GNI, support the implementation of the millennium development goals, and increase the number of asylum seekers given visas to this country each year.
On a broader level as a Jewish community, I also think that we would greatly benefit by remembering that all people, whether they be Greenies, Settlers, Palestinians, Chabadniks, Homosexuals, Reformers, Peaceniks, Zionists or Bundists, are created in the Image of God.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, in his book To Heal a Fractured World, suggests that Judaism is a religion of sacred discontent. He sees Abraham, Moses, Amos and Isaiah as messengers of sacred discontent, of dissatisfaction with the status quo. He writes, "In Judaism, faith is not acceptance but protest, against the world that is, in the name of the world that is not yet but ought to be...There are cultures that relieve humankind of responsibility, lifting us beyond the world of pain to bliss...they teach us to accept the world as it is and us as we are. They bring peace of mind and that is no small thing. Judaism is not peace of mind...I remain in awe at the challenge God has set us: ...to build, to change, to 'mend' the world until it becomes a place worthy of the divine presence because we have learned to honour the image of God that is humankind."

The final part of this documentary will be screened on Tuesday 28th June at 8:30 on SBS.

A better way than BDS

2010-12-13T22:32:00.006+11:00

I have proudly voted Green in the past three elections because of the party’s courage in standing up for refugees, the environment and more marginalised people in Australian Society. I have also promoted the values of the Greens to many of my friends in the Jewish Community through articles such as this, and by assisting candidates in the seats of Melbourne Ports and Caulfield at recent Federal and Victorian elections.

The recent endorsement of the BDS by NSW Greens is making me reconsider my support for the Greens. While I commend the concern that you and all the members of our party have for the people of Palestine, I am convinced that BDS is not the way to improve the lives of the people who live there.

My conviction comes from the fact that I have spent a number of years living in and writing about Israel, and have volunteered with several NGOs that promote a two-state solution. In my assessment, one of the major obstacles to a two state solution is the lack of trust and sometimes hatred that exists between Israelis and Palestinians. Politicians feed off this hatred to promote policies such as loyalty oaths and exclusively Jewish neighbourhoods on the Israeli side, and terrorism or Judeophobia on the Palestinian side

There are more constructive and less divisive approaches that encourage Israelis and Palestinians to put their weapons down and start listening to each other's narratives. These may include support for one of the following organisations, with whom I have volunteered or supported in the past:

Combatants for Peace

The “Combatants for Peace” movement was started jointly by Palestinians and Israelis, who had previously taken an active part in the cycle of violence; Israelis as soldiers in the Israeli army (IDF) and Palestinians as part of the violent struggle for Palestinian freedom. The group is committed to acting only by non-violent means so that each side will come to understand the national aspirations of the other side. It sees dialogue and reconciliation as the only ways to terminate the Israeli occupation, to halt the settlement project and to establish a Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem, alongside the State of Israel.

The Parents Circle

Parents Circle - Families Forum (PCFF) is a grassroots organisation of bereaved Palestinians and Israelis. The PCFF promotes reconciliation as an alternative to hatred and revenge.

Hand in Hand Schools

The vast majority of families in Israel - Jewish and Arab - send their children to segregated schools. This segregation tends to promote rival viewpoints and attitudes that become ripe for exploitation by proponents of violence. Hand in Hand runs Israel's first and only network of integrated, bilingual schools where Jews and Arabs study together in both Hebrew and Arabic and learn each other’s historical narratives.

Sulhita Training Peace Leadership

The Sulha Peace Project, a grassroots organisation, inspired by the indigenous process of mediation (“Sulha”), aims to rebuild trust, restore dignity and move beyond the political agenda. The Sulhita program includes monthly gatherings for 24 Israeli Arab and Jewish adolescents (15-17 years old), chosen from a partnership of several Jewish and Arab schools around the country, to introduce the concept of reconciliation and train participants for future peace leadership.

These four organisations are only a few of many hundreds of others, actively working towards an end to the conflict through constructive and non-violent means. Participants in these organisations are often branded as naïve, utopian or even traitorous by the majority of their respective societies. I believe that if they had the financial and political support of the international community to promote their agenda that would be far better for the people who live there than the current situation where the bulk of funding goes towards partisan Israeli and Palestinian groups whose sole aim is to delegitimise the other.

What these grass root organisations now need is not disinvestment and discouragement but active support from the international community. People genuinely interested in peace and justice for all the people who live in Israel and Palestine need to stop being pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian and start being pro-Peace. This means openly criticising acts of violence whether committed by the Israeli military or the Palestinian organisations as the Greens have done in the past. It also means providing positive and constructive support for the people working against violence, segregation and occupation.

Finally the specific resolution makes a number of comparisons between Israel and the former Apartheid regime in South Africa. Uri Avnery, a leader of Israel’s peace movement for the past 20 years has noted that while there were many similarities there were many differences between the two countries. Avnery argues that it is important to understand the differences, not as a matter of propaganda but to understand that unlike the situation in SA, a BDS strategy will not encourage Israelis to vote for and otherwise support future leaders who would seek a just solution. If anything, it is likely to embolden the Right to act as it wishes, building more settlements, walls and confiscating more land using the argument that “if the whole world is against us anyway, we may as well do whatever we want.” What is really bizarre in this NSW resolution is that it would boycott people of the stature of Uri Avnery or Daniel Barenboim – in fact taken to its logical conclusion it would boycott the Palestinian Authority and al Fatah because they only call for limited boycotts in West Bank settlements.

May also the people who genuinely care about the welfare of Israelis and Palestinians find a better way to bring the long awaited peace, security and justice for which these two peoples have so long hoped and prayed.

Rosh Hashana and Eid al Fitr

2010-09-07T17:34:00.001+10:00

To all my Muslim and Jewish friends,

Over the past month, both our peoples have been marking Elul and Ramadan with increased acts of kindness, prayer and introspection. The purpose of these months in both traditions is to assess the things we need to give up or change in order to be better servants of God and each other.

Netanyahu and Abbas embodied the spirit of Elul/Ramadan last week when they met for the first time in almost two years. Netanyahu said to Abbas, "The Jewish people are not strangers in our homeland, the land of our forefathers. But we recognize that another people share this land with us. And I came here to find an historic compromise that will enable both peoples to live in peace, security and dignity. President Abbas, you are my partner in peace. It is up to us to live next to one another and with one another.”

Abbas said to Netanyahu, “We consider security as essential and vital both for us and for you and we will not accept that anyone commits any act that would harm your security or ours."

Netanyahu and Abbas said these words in spite of the considerable advocacy efforts of both sides in delegitimizing the other and convincing their populations that there is no partner for dialogue.

If a year from now, Abbas and Netanyahu were to announce that they have come to an agreement that will share Jerusalem along the Clinton parameters and divide the land more or less as prescribed by UN Resolution 242, I suspect that the inboxes of supporters of Israel and Palestine will be deluged with facts, stats and videos about why such a deal is going to lead to the destruction of the other or is against God’s will.

With this in mind, I appeal to Jews and Muslims to use the festival we both celebrate this week, Rosh Hashana and Eid el Fitr to pray for the coming year to become a time where our encounters with each other highlight the best in the others tradition, rather than the worst.

I sincerely hope that the Rabbis and Imams around the world will use their drashot and khutbah to encourage all their followers to end any past animosities they may have.

After the prayers, as both peoples gather with their families to eat festive meals filled with apple and honey, sweet dates and copious amounts of food, we will greet our fellows with the words ‘Shana Tova’ and ‘Salaam Aleikum.’ Should these manifest as more than meaningless slogans and become statements of our intention, then our coming year will truly be peaceful, sweet and good.

With this in mind, I encourage you all to watch this Rosh Hashana greeting from the Palestinian leadership to the people of Israel. I will know that people have heeded the message of using words and emails to promote optimism and peace rather than intolerance and fear when this video has 1,000,000 hits rather than the 663 it currently does.

To my Jewish friends I wish a Shana Tova Umetukah (May you have a Happy and Sweet New Year)

To my Muslims friends I wish Kul 'am wa enta bi-khair! (May every year find you in good health!)

To both I wish you a future where your peaceful actions speak louder than your peaceful words.

Chag Sameach and Eid Mubarak!

Love Ittay

Letter to Julia Gillard

2010-06-24T16:38:00.005+10:00

Dear Julia Gillard,

Congratulations on being elected Prime Minister of Australia. I am very excited for you, and look forward to seeing how you make the most of this most wonderful opportunity that the Labor party has granted you.

In your first speech to parliament in 1998 you said, “So-called `wedge politics' sells the big lie that the answer to insecurity is to tread on the weakest amongst us. This shabby opportunism has hurt many and helped none. For far too long public debate in Australia has failed to nourish or inspire us.”

I encourage you to heed these words when you formulate Labor’s policy towards asylum seekers before the coming election. The Labor party shamefully decided to suspend asylum applications from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka in April, despite evidence that these are still very safe countries for Hazara afghans and Sri Lankan Tamils, who constitute the majority of the people who seek asylum in this great country. This policy will not reduce the number of boats in the long run. Furthermore, turning away people in their hour of need should not be one of the goals of our society.

If we, with our wealth and belief in a fair go, cannot treat with respect, dignity, and compassion the small number who seek asylum here each year then it is a depressingly sad statement about our ability to deal with major global challenges confronting us.

In your maiden speech you also made a reference to Pauline Hanson saying “What the last red-headed woman who made a first speech in this place will never understand is that the vast majority of migrants come here determined to make a better life for themselves and their kids, and they are prepared to work unbelievably hard to achieve that dream.”

I sincerely hope that you will be the kind of Prime Minister that will allow all asylum seekers who arrive on our shores to fulfil their dreams of being accepted in a society that is moral, young and free.

Yours Sincerely

Ittay Flescher

What’s in a Name?

2009-08-12T21:27:00.002+10:00

A new book is soon to be published called A Lexicon on Terror. It was conceived by Victoria Police together with Australian Multicultural Foundation with the aim of reducing alienation and violence within the Muslim community. This made me think about our own various Zionist lexicons, which I have compiled below. I'm sure many of you have heard these words before, an am interested to know what association each one brings up for you? How can the choice of one word over another harm or benefit our community?

Names for the Conflict

Israeli Palestinian Conflict

Jewish Arab Conflict

War on Terrorism

Good Vs Evil

Clash of Civilizations

Matzav

Intifada

Jihad (as understood by most Muslims)

Jihad (as understood by most in the West)
Caliphate

Crusade

Barrier

Wall

Fence

Separation Fence

Israeli West Bank Barrier

Israeli Administered Territories

West Bank - Judea and Samaria (Yesha)

Gaza Strip – Gush Katif

Golan Heights

Occupied Territories

Disputed Territories

Arab Territories

Green Line

June 1967 Borders

1949 Armistice Line

Places of residence in the Administered Territories

Cities

Settlements

Villages

Communities

Outposts

People who live in the Administered Territories

Settlers

Residents

Occupiers

Hilltop Youth

Colonialists

Jews / Israelis

Palestinians

Arabs (Blue ID, Orange ID)

Jerusalem Arabs

Zionists

Which word/words do you prefer when discussing each topic? Why?

If you are trying to convince someone in conservation what will be more useful to you, having a better argument, or expressing it in the right words?

Manhigut Le'Oz

2009-05-16T12:33:00.007+10:00

In response to a question posted by Yoram on the Sensible Jew blog about what would give a person or organisation legitimacy to speak on behalf of the Melbourne Jewish community, I offer these thoughts. The ideal person or organisation would:

· Speak about all issues of community concern in a pluralistic Jewish terms rather than the language of an obfuscating diplomat.

· Would Hug and wrestle with Israel both personally and in public

· Usually begin with the assumption that more can be gained by engaging with those with whom we disagree then boycotting or protesting.

· Encourage community organisations and schools to share resources rather than compete.

· Not use the words like “pro or anti Israel” when talking about the conflict, but rather:

Zionist: Pro-Two State Solution, Anti-Two State solution

· Not use the words Amalek, Holocaust, Nazi or Hitler to describe those who seek to harm our community.

· Should be knowledge of Jewish History as well as Jewish Memory. This means wearing the glasses of Memory at the seder table, to be replaced with the glasses of History and reality when reading The Age. Both texts will make a lot more sense that way, and less offence will be caused to all involved.

Seeing Israel through the Internet

2009-01-04T22:36:00.004+11:00

Over the past weeks I have read numerous blogs, opinion articles and Israeli news sites representing viewpoints of both the left and right. I have written several comments on people’s Facebook walls expressing my opinions whilst simultaneously watching countless hours of Youtube videos and live Arutz 2 news reports about the conflict in Gaza and southern Israel. Throughout this process, I have noticed the same familiar expressions appearing in almost every discussion. “Israel has a right to defend herself,” “Israel has caused a humanitarian crisis in Gaza” “Israel’s use of force is disproportional,” “The Arab world will be glad when Israel defeats Hamas,” “It’s time to end this cycle of violence” and “Ceasefire now.” I have also read enough comparisons with the Holocaust to make me believe that Avraham Burg's assertions have more legitimacy than his detractors claim.

Inevitably, every one of these talkback pages ends with the opinionated author being accused of such deep anti or pro-Israel bias, with comments that usually attack the person more than deal with the complexity of their argument. The people who write these comments usually fall in to two groups.

There are the leftists who believe that, based on the lessons of both the 1982 and 2006 Lebanon wars against Hezbollah, it is not possible to “teach Hamas a lesson” through force and that this conflict will only end around a negotiating table. They argue that terrorism does not emanate from a person or organisation that can be eliminated with a bomb. They believe that terrorism is an idea that can only be defeated by a more compelling idea, which in this case should be the value of dialogue and compromise.

The rightists argue that the path of the left has been tried and failed because there is no one to talk with in Gaza that can stop the rockets on Southern Israel. Therefore, in order for Israel to defend its citizens from daily rocket fire, the only solution to this conflict is a military one.

In between all these arguments, which are often expressed with colourful and emotive candour, I have come to notice one thing: Very rarely do our co-religionists switch from the right or the left during these debates. If anything, these debates serve only to harden their positions.

In two rallies held in Melbourne last week, a pro-Israel rally was attended by 600 Jews, whilst a pro-Palestinian rally was attended by 3000, with a few Jews there as well. Did either of these rallies convince anyone to change their positions? If all these “hasbara” efforts do little to change other people’s views, why do we bother?

In my observation the real reason we argue with one another so passionately is because we are desperately trying to convince ourselves that the very strong views we hold are legitimate.

Some say, “It’s right to bomb a school in Gaza to kill a gang of terrorists who use children as human shields.” “It’s right to negotiate with terrorists who don’t even recognise our existence because of the wrongs we have done to them in the past.” “If Arab mothers loved their children more than they hate us, there would be peace.” “It is Israel, the illegal occupier, who is the real threat to peace in the region.” These categorical statements make me shudder. Their shallowness and crassness only ever lead to screaming matches. By engaging in this kind of “information war,” be it from the left or the right, we are doing mental gymnastics to justify a logic that for many others is simply unjustifiable. Perhaps it is our way of saying “even though Israel’s choices seem unfathomable to you, I am trying to have them make sense for me.” However, the result of blaring our positions at each other through megaphones has resulted in us gradually becoming deaf to the subtlety and nuance required for reasoned debate and reflective understanding on the issues.

When we see every argument as a point scoring opportunity, then perhaps we are not really engaging with Israel or the main issues at all. Perhaps the purpose of these “hasbara” efforts is, depending on your point of view, to make us feel less guilty about Palestinian civilian causalities of this conflict, or to make us have less awareness of the incompatibility of Hamas with responsible leadership. Either way, I think it’s time to move beyond the confident proclamations of “the truth.” We should begin searching for the shades of grey and the humanity that this terrible war is sapping away from both sides every minute it continues.

Avraham Avinu and Obama Malkeinu

2008-11-15T19:36:00.003+11:00

One of the most moving things about Barack Obama’s historic win in the US elections was his incredibly powerful victory speechdelivered to thousands in Grant Park, Chicago. It happened on the week of Parashat Lech Lecha, where the great forefather of monotheism, Avraham Avinu, set out on another very different journey of his own, which was, like Obama’s, full of promise. I wondered what a discussion between Avraham and Sarah would sound like, if he decided to take a leaf out of the President Elect’s speech writing school. Here is Bibliodrama I came up with:

Avram: Sarah, I believe our lives can be better. I believe that change is possible.

Sarai: How?

Avram: I think about all that I have seen in the last 99 years of my life– the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that Hebrew creed: Yes we can.

At a time when people were swept up in the idolatry of Ur Casdim, where Faith in one God was scorned, I left the affluenza of Haran, and travelled to the new land. When there was despair and famine in Canaan, you God saved us from the wrath of pharaoh and set us free to be man and wife yet again. Yes we can.

Then we returned to the land, and had to divide it up with my nephew lot, who got himself into many a troubling situation both in Sodom and with the four kings. It took great diplomacy, and God by my side to keep the peace. Yes We Can.

And Hagar became my wife, and brought unhappiness between myself and you, and I had to choose whether to throw them out where they would surely perish. You told me to abandon my first born son, and my handmaiden wife. I listened to you Sarah, and your words were proved right. Yes we can.

Then God made with me a covenant, saying that our offspring will be strangers in a strange land, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed 400 years, but He, God, will execute judgement, and in the end they shall go free with great wealth. Yes we can.

I look up to the stars and God said to me “count the stars, if you can count them, so shall be your seed” . My child-less wife found this funny, but I told her “Yes We Can”

I finally got my coveted heir, my beloved Yitzchak, and as my wife lay in labour for hours at age ninety, she screamed “ Yes Yes Yes Yes We Can”

We have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So this morning, let us ask ourselves – if our children Issac and Ishmael should live to see the next century; if they can put their hatreds which they’ve inherited from us aside and be so lucky to live as long as we have, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time – to rise up, walk about the land through its length and its breadth, for god has given it to us. To reclaim the Hebrew Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of one, we will be many, like the stars of the sky and the dust of the earth. That while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless Am Yisrael. And let us say Amen.

Senior Educators Program - Final Update

2008-06-25T18:45:00.005+10:00

,וְהָיוּ הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם--עַל-לְבָבֶךָ. וְשִׁנַּנְתָּם לְבָנֶיךָ, וְדִבַּרְתָּ בָּם,

בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ בְּבֵיתֶךָ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ בַדֶּרֶךְ, וּבְשָׁכְבְּךָ וּבְקוּמֶךָ

Deuteronomy 6:6

I have been working in the field of informal and formal Jewish education for over ten years. Of all the subjects I teach, I have the greatest passion and interest for the teaching of Tanach. It is a book that never ceases to enthrall me in its characterization of the human condition, its sparse narrative, the special obligation it outlines for the Jewish people and the real and imagined history it tells of my nation. In addition to a book of religious instruction, I also read the Tanach as the central text of Jewish collective memory. After touch, taste, hearing, sight and smell, Tanach opens me to my sixth sense, memory. Jonathan Safran Foer elaborates on this idea in his book Everything is Illuminated:

The Jew is pricked by a pin and remembers other pins. It is only by tracing the pinprick back to other pinpricks – when his mother tried to fix his sleeve while his arm was still in it, when his grandfather's fingers fell asleep while stroking his great-grandfather's damp forehead, when Abraham tested the knife point to be sure Isaac would feel no pain – that the Jew is able to know why it hurts.When a Jew encounters a pin, he asks: What does it remember like?"

Over the past year I have had a first class tutorial in Jewish memory through living and studying in Jerusalem as a fellow on the Melton Centre's Senior Educators Program. Each day I woke up, ate, read, traveled, socialized, studied, questioned, rested, prayed, wrestled and hugged. The fact that I was doing all of this in the State of Israel provided a constant commentary to each of my activities. I encountered people from across the globe who love this land because of, and in spite of, what it is. I encountered a contemporary spoken language revived from the bible, sounds and songs of deep longing, food flavored with a rainbow of spices and a culture of deep searching for meaning, ritual, money and peace. Being in this most dynamic of societies, everything I learnt this year entered my mind through one of its many filters. After absorbing hundreds of lectures, websites, books, religious and secular shiurim, films,
concerts and tiyulim, I strove to find a medium for professional expression from these encounters.

From Tree of Knowledge to Tree of life, the project I worked on for the past year, is one product of this encounter. For the rest of what I have learnt this year, I invite you to join me at a Shabbat table, class, living room, or lecture theatre in the future.

Thank you very much to The King David School, Melton Mini-School, VUPJ, UPJ and the Jewish Agency for Israel who made this experience possible.

The Meaning of Israel: יום העצמאות ה60‎ ערב

2008-05-07T14:59:00.005+10:00

“What is the meaning of the state of Israel? No single answer can exhaust its meaning. One fact is clear. In no other community do we witness such an intense, ongoing search, such an effort to understand itself in terms of a higher vision as in Israel.
–A. J Heschel, Israel: An Echo of Eternity

From the time I was born here, and through my education in Australian Zionist schools and youth movements, I remember repeatedly hearing two contradictory answers to the question of what the purpose of the Israel should be, The first is that we should aspire to be a nation like all other nations. We will know that this purpose has been fulfilled "when Jewish thieves and Jewish prostitutes conduct their business in Hebrew." The second is that we have been selected by God to be different from other nations, and with this chosen status came a special responsibility. “To be a light unto the nations.” Both statements were always attributed to David Ben Gurion.

On the eve of our sixtieth birthday, we are both. Like most other western nations we value money and materialism too much, our inept political leadership generates more apathy than hope, and we struggle to treat our minorities with the same dignity afforded to our majorities. More specifically the way we have dealt with the question of Palestinian nationalism has tarnished our image in the world more than any other event.

Avashai Margalit suggest’s there perhaps is a third, more realistic option between these two ideals. Margalit’s ideal is a society whose institutions do not humiliate the people under their authority, and whose citizens do not humiliate one another. He calls this a “decent society.”

This coming week is not one for these questions. It is a time for honoring and celebrating the great people and achievements of the only Jewish State. But once the smoke from the fireworks has cleared way, and the flags have come down, it would be nice to know where we are headed.

עד 120 יום הולדת שמח יִשְרָאֵל!

Ma Nishtana? Pesach 1960 and 2008

2008-04-18T05:01:00.002+10:00

I'd like to share my thoughts in this, the moment before the full moon of Nisan that marks our exodus from Egypt.
In 1960, David Ben-Gurion caused a storm in the Knesset suggesting that only 600 people actually left Egypt in the famous Exodus which we will all celebrate tomorrow night (it's an amazing story).

This year, a controversy has again been caused in the Knesset after Jerusalem Magistrate's Court Judge Tamar Bar-Asher Zaban ruled that it is permitted to display chametz during Pesach inside business establishments, despite the arguments of the religious establishment that this violates the "Festival of Matzot Law, 5746-1986", better known by the paradoxical name 'the Chametz Law'. She concluded that the interior of a business is not considered a public place according to the legal code, and therefore displaying chametz inside does not violate the law, whose intent is not to offend the sensibilities of observers of Torah and Mitzvot.

And what was the response of the religious establishment?
Shas warned that their party would consider leaving the coalition if the cabinet did not intercede immediately to overturn the ruling. Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yonah Metzger voiced sharp criticism in a Saturday sermon when he linked the decline in motivation for service in the IDF to a decline in the State's Jewish values.
"If the court, with its own hands, crushes a sacred Jewish value like the prohibition of chametz on Pesach, it is crushing the Jewish symbol of freedom and we are to blame for the results," Metzger told the congregation.

And the secular?
Here's one opinionated stance

Why do I share this with you? Whether one is for or against the ruling is interesting, but not of great relevance to me. What is important is the question. And the fact that both in 1960, and again this year, significant time is devoted in the Knesset to these types of questions that only a chag like pesach could raise, is for me one of the best reasons to have a Jewish State. Because not only does it provide me with a forum to answer these questions, but more importantly, it forces me to ask them.

Happy Questioning.

Sorry

2008-02-13T21:03:00.003+11:00

Today the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, on behalf of the Australian government and people, delivered an apology to the Indigenous people of Australia. Watching it online from my temporary home in Jerusalem, I could not help but have mixed feelings. Pride and shame.

In a government motion passed unanimously, Kevin Rudd said, "We apologise for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians. For the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry."

Hearing this, I felt proud. Acknowledging the cultural genocide that we now know as the Stolen Generations is an incredibly important symbol. In his Laws of Teshuva, Rambam states that the first step to complete reconciliation must be acknowledging that you have done something wrong. Aboriginal children were removed from their parents from 1869-1969. For finally taking this first step in admitting the consequences of this policy, I feel proud of the Australian government.
But I also feel shame. That Aboriginal life expectancy is 17 years shorter than that of the of the average Australian; that indigenous unemployment is three times the rate of the country as a whole; that crime and alcoholism are more prevalent in indigenous communities.

This leads me to reflect on the country where I am living now. What would reconciliation look like in Israel? To whom would the government apologize?
To the Yemenite children whose children were removed from their parents when they arrived in the 1950's? To the Palestinians who lost their homes and homeland in 1948 and 1967? To the many Israelis who have not yet known a year without violence? To the young IDF soldiers who spend the best years of their youth at isolated checkpoints? To the families of Gush Katif who lost their homes and livelihoods for no apparent gain? To the Bedouins whose villages are still not recognized? To the many Holocaust survivors who live below the poverty line? To the parents who lost their sons in the last Lebanon war? To the people of the southern Negev who have been living between their homes and bomb shelters for the past seven years? To the people of Gaza who are bearing the brunt of a cruel collective punishment? Or to today's Ethiopian immigrants who are suffering from same absorption mistakes of the past in terms of social discrimination and peripheralisation?
How would a reconciled Israel look? How would the process begin? The Australian opposition leader Brendon Nelson responded to today's motion with this,

But in saying we are sorry - and deeply so - we remind ourselves that each generation lives in ignorance of the long term consequences of its decisions and actions. Even when motivated by inherent humanity and decency to reach out to the dispossessed in extreme adversity, our actions can have unintended outcomes.

The very short but incredibly tumultuous history of the State of Israel is filled with so many decisions that were motivated by inherent humanity, but have ended in suffering. When I look at this country's history, I feel both pride and shame. Perhaps, on this historic day, the Jewish State can take a eucalyptus leaf out Australia's book and begin the process of reconciling its past because maybe that is the best thing she can do for her future. I can't think of a better gift that Israel could give herself on this, her 60th birthday year.

Mechanchim Bechirim Update

2008-02-07T01:02:00.000+11:00

Shalom from Jerusalem,
The flags from Bush’s visit are back in storage, Annapolis is only a city in Maryland, the snow has passed, professors are no longer striking and Winograd is just the name of a retired judge again. Life in Israel has gone back to normal, i guess?

From a personal perspective I really enjoyed visiting Jordan with a few close friends and telling them “on a clear day, you can see Israel from here.” It’s important to visit the neighbors once in a while. From my impression, the folks in Jordan don’t need sugar or eggs, but would love some water and an end to siege on Gaza. They were quite unhappy about us not providing that last item. I guess that’s why we don’t visit each other so often.

In terms of my academic studies, I have been exploring Shwab's common places of curriculum construction, reflecting on Alick Issac's antidote to war called 'Weak Theology,' thinking about how to apply 'blue ocean strategy' to a new field called Educational Entrepreneurship and been challenged by Michael Rosenak's tensions between Authenticity and Relevance(more on Rosenak's theory in the next post).

With reagrd to the major project that I will be completing by May, in conjunction with my stutor Roni Magidov, I have decided to focus on the relationship between human stories and biblical stories, and how they can complement one another within the Jewish Studies classroom. The specifc text I will be focusing on for this task will be Chapters 14-16 of the Book of Samuel (see attachment for more detailed project outline). May the new school/academic semester that begins in Australia this week be filled with an education that not only teaches students how to make a living, but also how to live. (John Adams)

Keep smiling

:)

The real struggle is not between East and West, or capitalism and communism, but between education and propaganda. ~ Martin Buber

Surely God is in the place but I, I did not know it – Jacob the Dreamer 28:16

2007-11-14T18:30:00.000+11:00

This blog is best read listening to this.

I went to the desert to learn about the desert people, the ancient Hebrews, who spoke to God from the empty space. It was 5am. I was in Mitzpe Ramon. There was no wind, no birds, no leaves rustling, no other people to be heard. Only silence. The instruction was to sit and think for an hour, and then when the sun rose, return to the bus. Fine.

For the first 10 minutes. Still Fine. But then I started getting bored. I stood up, looked around and sawmy friend Baruch praying on the next hilltop. He was wearing his tallit and tfillin. He was speaking to God, maybe God was listening? I have always found tfilla difficult. I go to shule and there is always something that bothers me. I don’t like the shule’s rabbi, its politics, the location of its mechitza, the length of the service, the tunes and so on. I have many excuses as to why I don’t pray at shule so much. That doesn’t mean I don’t go. I go every week, some would say religiously.

Yet I feel further away from God in Israel than I do in Australia. I thought, maybe in the holy city of Hevron, at Maarat HaMachpela where my heroes lie, there I will find my kavana. But Hebron, unfortunately, is one of the most unharmonious sites of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict where many people have their lives curtailed every day in the name the sanctity of this cave. Praying at the tombs of my ancestors from behind iron bars, due to the conflict over their bones, was not a place where I could find God.

But now I was in the desert. Here there is no conflict. No blood is spilt for this soil. Who wants to live in this place? This is neutral ground. And, what did God do for Hagar in the location where I was sitting?

“And she wandered about the wilderness of BeerSheva.. and she thought “let me not look on as the child (Ishmael) dies.” And sitting thus, she burst into tears.

God heard the cry of the boy and an angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “what troubles you Hagar? Fear not, for God has heeded the cry of the boy where he is. Come, lift up the boy and hold him by the hand and I will make a great nation of him” Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.” Gen 21:14-19

I had no excuses not to pray here. There was no politics to bother me in the desert. Davka the opposite. The desert is where my ancestors have prayed, Hagar, Eliyahu, Hannah, and God has listened.

So I tried to pray. I said the Shma, I tried Amida. But nothing. No voice from heaven spoke to me, there was no thunder and lighting, not even a still small voice. I heard only the deafening silence of the desert. I wanted to tell God “Hineni!” But instead I asked Him “Ayeca?”

A week later, I shared this story with my friend Sarah (not her real name) and asked if she has heard God before. She was sure she had. I was very excited. She told me that she once really wanted something in her life, so she went to a rabbi and was told that if she prayed shacharit for 40 days straight at the kotel, her desire would be granted by God. She prayed for 10, 20, 30, 40 days. Nothing happened. On then on the 42nd day, her desire was granted. She was convinced that it was a reward for her tfilla. I asked her, why didn't God grant her desire on day 1? She said, "because God wanted me to earn it, to show I had emunah". “Yafe” I said. "But what if God had not granted your desire? Would you have stopped believing?" Sarah replied “of course not.” I would have understood that I was asking the wrong desire from God. I said “that’s a nice logic there, God wins both ways.” My question was not answered.

So I went to Aviva Zornberg’s Parasha Shiur on Parshat Vyetze. After the class I chatted with a girl named Rina (not her real name) and asked what she did when she had trouble praying. She told that her Rabbi from Kehilat Hadar told her on Yom Kippur, whatever your thoughts about God are right now, tell him. Have a conversation. Whatever you feel, say it. I have tried this too. But how long can you say how you feel, when the audience is an ancient wall whose enormous stones bare only silence despite the overflowing paper requests within her? If the conversation is a monologue, then maybe “God is not in this place?”

But earlier on Aviva had drawn my attention to Yaakov. Yaakov, the ish tam who dwelt in tents, Yaakov, who lied to his father and stole the birthright, Yaakov, who was on the run from Esav. Yaakov, who had a dream, and when he awoke said “God was in this place and I, I did not know it.” What was this place? The Torah tells us it was Beit El, which had previously been the city of Luz. Rashi disagrees. He says that place was in fact Har HaMoriah. The place where father Abraham had prayed, and Yitzchak too. But Yitzchak almost died there. So Yaakov was terrified of this place, where had the akeida been fulfilled, he would not have been born. So Rashi says that at this point “Mount Moriah was forcibly removed from its locality and came hither to Luz.” Why did God have to uproot the mountain and drag it to Luz? Yaakov was running way, and avoiding confronting his past. Like a second generation survivor perhaps?

What did Yaakov mean when he said “God is in this place but I, I did not know it.” It was a revelation he had after his famous dream where Bob Dylan says Yaakov “built a ladder to the stars and climbed on every rung.” Chazal say this was the first time in 14 years that Yaakov had slept, having occupied his nights as well as his days studying Torah in the yeshiva of Shem and Eber until this point. But how could Yaakov, who has been in yeshiva for 14 years, not know God yet? Aviva suggested that perhaps he only learnt Sod HaTorah during this time, not Sod HaTfilla.

Sod Hatorah is going directly to what one wants. It is rolling the giant stone of the well and kissing Rachel. It is working to get what one wants. It is control, unity and harmony.

Sod HaTfilla is spending the whole night calling out the name Rachel and waking up to realize that “Behold, It was Leah.” Leah was not what Yaakov desired. But in order to obtain the bechora he had to find his dark side, saying to his father, “Anochi Esav, your first born.” The Sfat Emet says that Yaakov was speaking the truth at this point. Yaakov wants to amplify his identity beyond that of the ish tam yeshiva student. Yaakov needed to become Esav, the one who was destined to marry Leah, despite her crying her eyelashes out in protest. After Yaakov married Leah he hated her.

After Leah bared three children as the unloved wife, Yehuda was born. She said “This time I will praise the Lord.” How did Leah and Yaakov find their peace and reconcile their animosity for each other?

Because Yaakov stopped being Anochi Esav, and became Anochi Yaakov. How did he find his Anochi Yaakov? Like Hagar it the desert, God opened his eyes. And then Yaakov stumbled over it.

So maybe in order to have a meaningful tfilla experience, I will need to find my “Anochi” this year. That is the Sod Hatfilla. Hineni ki karata li.

From trees and bees

2007-09-15T14:24:00.000+10:00

Shalom from Jerusalem. I have been living here for six weeks now. It's giving me a lot of sympathy for God. Being Ellul now, every morning, the Moroccan shule 50 meters from my apartment in Abu Tor begins slichot/shacharit at 4am. Shortly after, the muezzin from the nearby village of Silwan calls the residents there to prayer. Then the church bells from the Old City to the St Andrews Church of Scotland toll. Everyone here is crying and screaming to God. She must be a very good listener. I have visited the Kotel a few times. Cynics sometimes say that praying to God is Israel is like speaking to a wall.
I understand what they may mean. But it is Ellul, with Rosh Hashana fast approaching and I need to find a language in which to communicate. The king is in the field. Now is my opportunity. But for what shall I ask?

Every year I ask for peace, for the wellbeing of my community, friends and family. Doesn't everyone? But "Next year in Jerusalem" is now.
Rosh Hashana in Israel is like Grand Final day in Melbourne. For those who follow the event, the lead up takes a whole year.

The popular radio station galgalatz(think Fox FM) is asking for votes in the lead up to its annual top 40 countdown on erev rosh hashana, the supermarkets are already advertising their specials for the chaggim, Shules are sending out emails reminding the faithful to book seats for the main events.
There is talk that someone may top last years bid of 10,000 shekels to open the ark at one shule. I feel that this year, I should pray for something more specific.
Our tradition says that God's house once stood on the mountain next to the one where I live. Perhaps this year, with front row seats at the Kings former palace, my prayers may be answered.

This is not my first time in Israel. Something I have noticed on this visit compared to previous sojourns in this land is that the gaps within the Jewish community are widening. The antipathy between those on opposite sides of the political/religious spectrum is palpable. The differences in opinion are so wide, that the bridge to reconciliation seems filled with enough troubled water to end Australia's drought.

What do about the Kassams coming from Gaza with increasing frequency? The Syrian/Iranian threat? The construction and route of the security barrier? The challenge to the authority of the High Court from the Knesset? The widening gap between Jewish and Arab Israelis? The neo nazis in Petach Tikva? Returning Gilad Shalit home? The people in Tzahal who won't obey orders from their commanders? The people who now refuse to serve in the army at all?
The same people are offering the same options. Few inspire hope. Few seem to be bringing any of these issues closer to resolution.
So this year. I'll be praying for the following:

I pray that we will find a place in our hearts
A place that is hidden deep down
A place that is optimistic That is sweet and innocent
That has tasted no bitterness and war
I call this place Eden.

It's just north of Caulfield or Emek Refaim
There, one loves his neighbor more than he hates him
There, one honours the difference in the other
There, fear does not rule
There, one is wise, because he learns from all
There, one has time, because nothing is more important than the person looking into his eyes

There "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
They shall never again know war;
But every person shall sit Under their grapevine or fig tree
With no one to disturb them" (Micah 4:3-4)

The trees and bees have been working hard this year. On Wednesday night we will be enjoying their apples and honey.

May their sweetness be the beginning of a journey to a teshuva shleima that allows us to love the world anew, or in the words of Hannah Arendt:

"Education is the point at which we decide whether we love the world enough to assume responsibility for it and by the same token save it from that ruin which., except for renewal, except for the coming of the new and the young, would be inevitable. And education too, is where we decide whether we love our children enough not to expel them from our world and leave them to their own devices, nor to strike from their hands their chance of undertaking something new, something unforeseen by us, but to prepare them in advance for the task of renewing a common world."

I'm here to learn how to educate children. Sometimes, it's tough being an optimist in Israel. I pray that I will keep being one.
Shana Tova U Metuka
Love Ittay

2007-08-19T06:23:00.000+10:00

I have just returned from a three day coexistence gathering with over 1200 Israelis and Palestinians held in the Olive Groves of the Latrun Monastery. Sponsored the grassroots organization Sulha Peace Project, the encounter aimed to use the indigenous process of mediation (Sulha), to rebuild trust and restore dignity between the two historic nations of this land.

It was inspiring and hopeful as it was sad and confronting. On presentation that particularly grabbed my attentionsentation of a movie from the Bereaved Families Forum called Encounter Point
After the film, there was a discussion facilitated by the two brave protagonists.

Ali Abu Awwad was shot by an Israeli settler in 2001. Whilst in Saudi Arabia for medical treatment his brother, Yusef was killed by an Israeli soldier. Ali had spent years in Israeli prisons for actions like demonstrating against the occupation, throwing stones, and being a member of a political party. When Yusef was killed, Ali joined the Bereaved Families Forum to work with Palestinians and Israelis who together advocate nonviolence and reconciliation.
Robi Damelin is an Israeli mother whose son David was shot dead in 2002 by a Palestinian sniper whilst he was manning a checkpoint. Robi is haunted by the loss of her son, and the knowledge that he was posted to defend an Israeli settlement in occupied Palestinian territory to which he was politically opposed. After David was killed, Robi also joined the Bereaved Families Forum.

They stood together after the film and had a very clear message. For many years both Israeli’s and Palestinians have been fed two myths by their respective media.

On the Palestinian side, there is a perceptions that all Israelis don’t want peace. They all serve in the army which inflicts a brutal occupation on the Palestinians. They have never offered to completely withdraw from the occupied territories.

On the Israeli side, the mantra being heard all too often is that the Palestinians don’t want peace and are only interested in driving us into the sea. Even this week, whilst Olmert is trying to restart negotiations, the leader of the Labour Party(which calls itself a leftist party) Ehud Barak repeated this mantra. Why? Meron Benvenisti writes in yesterdays Haaretz:

With the Camp David failure and the outbreak of the second intifada, the Israeli public needed a narrative that would unite its parts, justify its deeds and allow it to deal with a difficult situation while describing the situation as a war for survival. The narrative presented by Barak, in which he offered the late PA chairman Yasser Arafat the moon and Arafat chose violence instead, has become resistant to any contradicting argument, fact or evidence. Barak and his disciples have succeeded in convincing the Israelis that the Palestinian rejection of the generous and unprecedented offers led to the wave of violence, and that the Palestinians are not ready to end the conflict, which is not territorial but stems from their refusal to accept Israel's very existence.

The "there is no partner" formula is what led to the peace camp's destruction. Anyone who dared present a more complex picture was accused of supporting the enemy.
But the pundits' decree is unequivocal: Barak's motives are personal; he is undermining the process out of fear that someone will succeed where he failed.

Hearing Robi and Ali speak about how they have chosen the path of nonviolence was truly inspirational. They travel around the country visiting both Palestinians and Israeli schools sharing their stories and those of the others in the Bereaved Families Forum. Their message of non violence includes an admonition of Palestinian terrorist activities parallel to an equal condemnation of the Israeli occupation and soldiers who, when obliged to do serve in the IDF, act in a way for more brutal than is necessary.

For the path of non violence to work, we need to let go of a number of dreams.
1. That military force alone will eradicate the threat from the other side
2. That the occupation, in any form, can continue indefinitely
3. That Jerusalem can remain undivided

I know many Israelis and Palestinians who will never let go of these dreams. They say the dream of the left is a fantasy. Hamas and Islamic Jihad will always want to kill innocent Israelis. The Israeli government will never dismantle all the settlements. But what’s the alternative? Perpetual war? Continued UN resolutions and Quartet mediated peace conferences were neither side budges from their “red lines?” Unending occupation corrupts Israeli society as much as it harms Palestinian dignity.

Each morning of the sulha, there were sharing circles where we listed to each other’s stories. The pain and anguish was evident. In the evenings both Jewish and Arab musicians including David Broza, Yair Dalal and a Palestinian dance troupe performed and I witnessed something I had never seen before. Israelis and Palestinians dancing wildly together until 2 in the morning. It was like a wedding.

During the closing ceremony, many Palestinians, especially the teenagers, cried. Knowing that this island of peace and mutual respect was going to end the moment they stepped of their busses in Hebron, Ramallah and Jenin behind the wall and humiliating checkpoints.

I left feeling hopeful that such a gathering actually exists. Many of the Israelis present would be considered members of the extreme left , the Palestinians present would be considered traitors. As I mentioned at the start of this blog, Sulha is a grassroots movement. Most people present left convinced that the method I have just described is the best way to achieve peace between our two nations. We are but small minorities, the majority in both countries remain unconvinced.

From little things, big things grow…..

Yamim Kashim Ve Yamim Raim

2007-08-14T01:09:00.000+10:00

I was privileged to hear the renowned Israeli Poet and author Haim Gouri today at the Hebrew University Ulpan.

Gouri is most famous for his song Hareut which he wrote in 1949. Two days before Yitzchak Rabin was assassinated he asked for it to be played for him during a radio interview.

It's beautiful words evoke a bygone era when unity and friendship were the raison d'etre of this state. The song is a memorial to the brave soldiers who fell in the War of Independence.

על הנגב יורד ליל הסתיו
ומצית כוכבים חרש חרש
עת הרוח עובר על הסף
עננים מהלכים על הדרך.

כבר שנה לא הרגשנו כמעט
איך עברו הזמנים בשדותינו
כבר שנה ונותרנו מעט
מה רבים שאינם כבר בינינו.
אך נזכור את כולם

את יפי הבלורית והתואר
כי רעות שכזאת לעולם
לא תיתן את לבנו לשכוח
אהבה מקודשת בדם
את תשובי בינינו לפרוח

They are gone from our midst,
All their laughter, their youth and their splendor.
But we know that a friendship like that,
We are bound all our lives to remember,
For a love that in battle is forged,
Will endure while we live, fierce and tender
After Rabin's assassination the song Hare'ut resounded frequently on Israeli radio. The line in the chorus: "Et Yafim hablorit vehato'ar" was strongly associated with a picture of the young Yitzhak Rabin of those days as the icon of the Palmach generation.

Towards the end of his talk I asked Gouri if when he wandered the streets of Jerusalem as he likes to do often, he felt despair for what this nation has become or hope. His answer was fascinating.

He explained that there are two types of periods in the history of Israel.
Hard days and Wicked days – ימים קשים וימים רעים

The Yamim Kashim were the days gone by when the nation of 600,000 in 1948, doubled its population in six years. There was a dire lack of resources, a siege on Jerusalem, and times were tough in the maabarot (refuge camps filled by mostly mizrachi olim).

יותר רעים מאשר קשים
Today's Israel is more reflective of Yamim Raim than Yamim Kashim. Why? Due to the lack of unity and hatred in this country. Jews have always had their differences, but the sharpness of the conflicts between am yisrael have never been as fierce as they are today. Datyim V Chilonim, Ashkenazim V Sephardim, Orthodox V Non Halachic Judaism.

Gouri continued to explain that the animosity is most intense when it comes to our conflict with the Palestinians. The inhumanity of this conflict is palpable. Only pure wickedness could conjure a political device so malevolent as the suicide bomber. An occupation that lasts 40 years is celebrated with fireworks. Collective punishment, the security fence, ID cards, Separation.

After reading this analysis, despair is a feeling that seems more apt than hope. But not for Gouri. For he sees this as merely a phase in an historic struggle. The Rhine was once red with blood, today there is a European Union were one can travel from Siberia to France without showing a passport. The Catholics and Protestants in Ireland murdered each other for centuries, and this wicked chapter is too now coming to a close. The Middle East will also one day merit its arrival of peace. How? Gouri says only when both sides realize that this conflict will not end by force alone.

סבלנות נרגילית

Patience is a rare virtue in Israeli politics. Sitting by a nargilla as the hours go by in the Old city has taught Gouri something he calls the "patience of the nargilla. "

Talking is the solution. But talking means making hard compromises that none of us want to do.

Tomorrow I'm heading of the Sulha in the Olive Groves by the Laturun monastery. To everything there is a season. I'm ready for the season of listening and patience.

Jerusalem Stories

2007-08-05T08:09:00.000+10:00

This evening Carm and I went to see a play in Hebrew called Jerusalem Stories. Directed by Carol Grossman after four years of interviewing and researching, this play put on stage some of the many confronting and challenging life experiences that are common to the citizens of Jersualem. The two actors portrayed six characters, three Israeli and three Palestinian. There was a bus driver who was injured in a suicide bombing, a Jewish woman who joins a tehillim group that gives her strength, a Palestinian older lady who has to cross several border crossings in order to sell her fruits in Jerusalem, an uncle of a young boy killed in the Al Aqsa mosque riots of the second intifada, a displaced Palestinian who reminisces on his childhood playing downball against the Western wall, and perhaps most touchingly, a mother of a 15 year old boy who was killed in a suicide attack in Ben Yehuda St. All the stories are based on real interviews conducted in the years prior. When the actress portraying Miri, (the mother of Assaf who was killed on Ben Yehuda) spoke, the room became chillingly quiet. There was enormous sadness in her monologue, in particular as she described reading in the newspaper that the mother of her sons’ killer was proud of her son, and would gladly sacrifice her other children for a similar cause.

The play is also being performed in Arabic in East Jerusalem. After the show we sat in a circle on the stage and were invited to share our reactions to the play. In a very heated hour of conversation, we talked of how it feels to have the others’ side of the story told so sympathetically, what it is like to live in fear, what we have done to create this enormous hatred from Palestinians, and what some solutions may be. During the course of the discussion, we realized that one of the participants was the real ‘Miri’, the mother of Asaf Avitan
who was murdered along with 10 other youths one Saturday Night on Rehov Ben Yehuda in December 2001.

When Miri spoke and explained who she was, the group fell silent. Her grief was palpable, and even though several years have passed, it is clearly a very raw pain for her. Her contribution to the discussion was in a sense quite aggressive towards the other participants who were mostly sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. She hated the way leftist ranted on about the checkpoints and the occupation, as if this somehow justified the motivation of the murders who killed her son. She said, “If I had to live with a giant wall and checkpoints and was greatly inconvenienced each day on my way to work, but all this meant that I could see my son again, I could live with this.” She continued, “So many of you here criticize the wall for the hardship it causes to ordinary Palestinians, but I tell you, had that wall been built around Abu Dis(a Palestinian suburb east of Jerusalem) in 2001, the those two Hamas bombers would have never been able to reach my son and the hundreds of others victims that evening.”
Some tried to respond to this by saying that the harm we cause to the Palestinian is greater than what they inflict on us. She responded by saying “This is not Switzerland or Holland. We can’t have dialogue groups and hold hands and think it will make things peaceful. It’s the Middle East. We are playing with fire here. After 59 years, this state needs firm and clear borders. Only that will make us safe.”

Tisha BeAv in Jerusalem

2007-07-26T16:19:00.000+10:00

For those reading this from abroad, just letting you now that Israel is always very warm during this time of year, so this blog will be experienced best in the room of your house that makes you most sweaty.

The day before Tisha B’Av I visited an Israeli youth movement camp to see how Zionism and Judaism are taught to Israelis. When they do their “issues in Israel” peulot (very similar format to how youth movements run in Australia in terms of trigger, circle, discussion , sikkum) it was interesting to hear how the Israeli kids responded to the many issues facing their country including areas such as the environment, treatment of women (agunot), disabled people and foreign workers by both government policy and/or social discrimination.

In the leadup to Tisha B’Av the students each wrote about their own personal churban (destruction). Many spoke about the war last summer. The mudrichim emphasized the national dimension of Tisha B’Av as well.

I heard Megillat Eicha in a very warm room sitting on the floor with some 240 campers. In between each chapter, the mudrichim took on roles to create dramatic interludes. After perek one, a very passionate text sounding like it could have been written by Jeremiah, extolled the Jews to look at themselves and see what their sinat chinam has caused. A second act involved single, powerful words being read out around the room. A third and most powerful act included no words, just an old woman standing in the middle of the room and holding a baby and weeping.

On the day of Tisha B’Av I spent the afternoon at Beit Avi chai(www.avi-chai.org). It is a cultural center situated in the center of the city, “in the heart of the thought process, mindset and creation of Jewish and Israeli society.”

This cultural center believes in gathering the voices heard in the Jewish-Israeli dialogue, to give them a facility to allow them to be heard and have an effect on Israeli society and culture.

The architecture of the building is extraordinary in its size, décor and facilities perfect for any cultural event in the city. The building is situated in the center of Jerusalem, with a convenient location, in between the Jewish Agency building and the Great Synagogue, near the Prime Minister`s house and other important landmarks in the city.

To mark Tisha B’Av, they screened a number of films on the topic of ‘baseless hatred’ and love(bac.org.il). The auditorium was packed, so they filled the upstairs classrooms as well. I assume there were many hundreds of people there, from their attire, most seemed to be modern-orthodox.
The first film screened was called Neila (Sam Speigel film school) and depicted a struggle between two shules. It’s a story familiar to Jews the world over.

The next film was Eicha (Maale film school). It depicted a national religious family who had four children named Sinai, Yerushalayim, Hevron and Eicha. The parody of the fundamentalism of the Dati Leumi community interposed by the ignorance and lack of sensitivity of the secular community made many people laugh. A few thought, is it right to watch a comedy on such a day? I think so. Perhaps laughing at ourselves is the first step at realising how ridiculous many of the stereotypes we create for each other are. This in turn may lead to ahavat chinam, instead of sinat chinam, which lead to the destruction of the temple in the first place.

The next screening was one episode from an Israeli miniseries named “Merchak Negia” which dealt honestly with issues of Russian aliya (doctor becomes parking attendant), violence in Haredi communities (husband beating wife is hushed up), love between religious and secular Jews (you can guess how it ends) and the way that honors are doled out in Haredi communities (who gets to write the final letter at a siyum sefer torah). All in 40 minutes. Amazing. Only in Israel could such a documentary be made where one can’t help but identify so closely with each character. It was an amazing example of how a piece of art can change years of perceptions and stereotypes that are crafted so consistently negatively here by the media.

The final movie I saw was "Ruach Kadim". Around the time of Israel’s 50th birthday, there were many films made that tell the story of the history of the Nation since the birth of Zionism. Ruach Kadim was made as a response to those other films. The director, Haim ben Sheetrit, felt that these other films, such as ‘Tkuma’, only told of the establishment of Ashkenazi narrative. So he decided to create a film with only Mizrachi voices about the early years of the State. Ruach kadim focuses mainly on the Moroccon aliya after 1948, concentrating on the experiences of former MKs Aryeh Deri (jailed Shas member) and Shlomo Ben Ami (former foreign minister).

It featured many difficult truths about the lies used by the Sochnut (Jewish Agency) to entice the Moroccan Jews to make Aliyah, the selection process which took place (Jews who were not fit to work were not invited to Israel) and the horribly paternalistic manner in which they were treated when they arrived. Never were they told where they were going - many ended up in peripheral border towns in the middle of no-where, when they believed they would live in Jerusalem or Haifa). The children’s heads were shaved and they were sprayed with DDT as if they were infected. The pride and rich heritage of these Jews were stripped from them.
As you can imagine, the discussion after the film was extremely heated. Many disputed the filmmakers one sided approach, whilst others applauded this rare telling of a Mizrachi rather than Ashkenazi narrative of recent Zionist history. In response to one of the comments, Moshe ben Sheetrit said “kulanu Bachyanim.” We are all criers. Each segment of Israeli society has its own discrimination story. Each segment claims that its suffering was the worst. Each group is crying for the sympathy of the others. Sheetrit said the fact that so many were offended by his film shows how much we still have to learn as an Israeli society. Why is it that one can’t listen to one person’s narrative of history, and empathise with their pain and their hurt, without judging them and dismissing their feelings?

For my part, the most insightful moment of the day occurred during a break between films when I had a chat with two lovely Yemenite girls. Both in their twenties, their families had similar stories to those depicted in the films. One pointed out that for all the poor treatment suffered by both the Mizrachi Jews and the many other migrant groups, we as a society learned nothing. And what evidence did she have to support this assertion? Look at the status of Ethiopian Olim in Israel today. Many are poorly integrated into Israeli society and have become the new underclass.

Tisha B’Av is more than a day to mourn an ancient temple. It is a day of reflecting on the national calamities we have suffered and inflicted. I can’t think of a better place to explore this than the in the heart of the capital of the Jewish state. Welcome to Israel!

Altneuland (Old-New Land)

2007-07-22T21:58:00.000+10:00

I am writing this entry on a train ride from Milan heading towards the political and spiritual capital of the empire that has had more influence over Judaism than any other. ROME!

For many years, I have been amazed at Israel’s balance and blend of the ancient and the new. I used to think that ancient ruins next to mobile phone towers was unique to the Jewish state. Bat alas, today in Italy I find an equally stark contrast where see that people are more enraptured with contemporary materialism (the latest mobile phone and Fendi bag) than the rich history, archaeology and flavor of ancient Rome.

But why am I writing about Israel in Italy? Because like Israel, the beautiful country of Italy, and especially Milan where I have spent the past few days, is a contradiction of ancient and modern. Wandering down past medieval canals constructed by Leonardo Da Vinci, through cobbled streets filled with romantic terraced apartments decorated with renaissance art, one will be enthralled by more than just the magnificent gelati ice creams and pizzas. The architecture here devoted to the glorification of Christianity is breathtaking, none more so than the finely sculpted cathedral, the Vernada Fabbrica Del Duomo.

I have never seen a more awesome physical structure for the glory of God, or perhaps for the power of the church. Many visitors tour the great expanse of this magnificent place of worship. Some pray, some take pictures, some take a moment to be inspired by the architectural greatness of Italy’s Renaissance engineers and artists whose work so finely adorns this structure.

Whilst some revere this place as holy through prayer, others see it as another place to tick off on the standard European backpacker itinerary, as having “done it”. There are lovers who cavort intimately on the roof, youngsters who joke around and complain about the stairs, whilst meters away, thousands gather to shop for some of the most exclusive handbags and shoes in Europe with labels such as Luis Vuitton and Prada. I had previously thought that such a blend of the sacred and the profane was something only apparent in Israel.

Milan’s’ Golden Quadrangle’ is the hedonistic end point of limitless consumer culture manufacturers for clothing and accessories. In this street block, finely dressed shoppers from across the world gaze at the immaculately presented windows of Dolce & Gabbana and Versace to name a few. I guess because those that shop in this area would be reluctant to tempt the gods of fashion with poorly dressed staff, there is even a shop devoted entirely to the stylish dressing of maids and servants.

Old and new are like mozzarella is to pizza here in Italy. The same was true in England, where I saw similar images around St Paul’s cathedral in London.
This train ride is about to terminate at Rome’s central station. As we enter this historic city, I am reminded of the contrast, namely, that our ancestors arrived here in chains, whilst we arrive here with backpacks. I conclude by hoping that as I enter Ben Gurion airport this Friday, the old and new of Israel are less palpable, and perhaps more palatable!

Senior Educators Program

2007-06-25T21:00:00.000+10:00

In three weeks I will be leaving Melbourne for a year of study in Israel as a member of the Senior Educators Program, which as based at the Melton Centre for Jewish Education of the Hebrew University.

The Senior Educators Program offers Jewish educators from all over the world a unique opportunity for professional development and personal enrichment. Participants from assorted countries and cultures, representing every stream of contemporary Jewish life, bring their varied professional backgrounds and diverse areas of expertise to the Program. Senior Educators explore innovative approaches to Jewish education, probe critical issues in Jewish thought and develop new skills to bring home to their communities. Over 300 Jewish educators have graduated from the program.

So why is Ittay swapping Caulfield for Katamon? Well, in the past five years I have been working as a professional Jewish educator, I have come to a number of conclusions.

1. Love – I love what I do. I love the students, the staff, the ability to positively influence the Jewish identity of those around me and the opportunity to entertain and make people happy.
2. Israel – This is the place to be to learn about what I do. Because Israel, is the best textbook I have found yet to learn about being Jewish. It is one giant laboratory, filled with 5,393,600 Jews and 1,413,500 Arabs. Herzl outlined his vision for this experiment in Altneuland. To put it mildly, it hasn’t turned out as he expected. (The book repeatedly makes the point that Arabs in Herzl's utopian state have equal rights, and one of them, Rashid Bey, is deputy prime minister. The villain of Altneuland is not an Arab but a Jew - a rabbi who runs for office on a platform of depriving non-Jews of citizenship.) I want to find out why modern Israel hasn’t turned like any of the Zionist thinkers envisioned. I think this guy has good idea about what went wrong and how to fix it. Expect more on this topic went I begin blogging from Jerusalem.
3. Judaism – It's an extraordinary belief system that dictates a way of living and describes a God that never ceases to fascinate me. Educating about Judaism can become an incredibly rewarding and life-changing profession after a while. It has for me. The nature of the content I teach constantly forces me to reflect upon my own Jewish identity and practice, as much as I ask my students to do the same.

So there you have it, that’s my preamble. I’m looking forward to writing the story of one Australians take on Jewishness in a Jewish state over the period of a year. I invite you to visit this blog once a month and join me for the ride.

Sex Education – One Jewish Perspective

2007-04-15T22:10:00.000+10:00

As part of my work, I read many divrei torah on everything from Zionism, environmentalism, consumerism and most often, the weekly parasha. Usually the parasha shiurim, no matter what the week, retell the narrative of the sidra, and conclude with a moral lesson that one should attempt to implement in the following week. Cute… but not always gripping stuff.

It is for this reason, that I was pleasantly surprised to read a very main stream rabbi, Shlomo Riskin, writing on a very mainstream website, Jerusalem Post, about what some may consider a taboo area in terms of topics for divrei torah.

For those of you who are fans of the weekly parasha like me, you will have found the past months quite difficult. You see, the torah starts with some great narratives and heroes, Abraham and Sarah, Tamar and Yehuda, Joseph and the decent to Egypt, Moses, the great Exodus… and after this gripping formative narrative, …. well on the face of it… a whole lot of boring details about an ancient temple which was essentially a massive slaughterhouse of animals with literally a river of blood flowing through it.

From Parashat Terumah onwards great detail is given about the construction of the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary that was the centre of the Israelites' religious life during the years they wandered in the wilderness. The Book of Leviticus (named thematically so due to it’s laws concerning the Levites and the sacrificial cult) deals almost exclusively with this topic. For a non temple fan like myself, what can I learn from the parshiot at this time?

Rabbi Riskin piqued my interested again in parsha with his commentary on the parsaha last month entitled Parshot Vayakhel-Pekudei: Sacred Sex.

Referencing the pasuk "The cherubs were with wings spread upwards, sheltering the Ark cover... with their faces toward one another" - (Exodus 37:9) he explained the symbolism of these two lovely headpieces of the Ark by quoting the following from the Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 54a.

"Rabbi Katina said, 'When the Israelites would ascend [to the Holy Temple] on the festival, [the priest/kohen] would roll up the curtain for them, and display for them the cherubs, who were joined together [in an embrace].' The priest/kohen would then tell them, 'Behold the beloved feelings for you on the part of the Omnipresent are like the beloved feelings of a male for a female' "

Rabba bar Rav Shila explains that "[The cherubs appeared in the engravings] as a man joined in an embrace with his female companion"

Hold on! Hold on! So the cherubs were embraced in a sexual manner on top of the ark. Many would think that this would be the last place for such an image to appear. But no! In fact Rabbi Akiva who taught that if each of the 24 books of the Bible is holy, the Song of Songs(which deals exclusively with an erotic relationship between young lovers) is the Holy of Holies.

And Rabbi Akiva did not merely mean to say that the lover in the Song of Songs is the Almighty and the beloved is the nation Israel; after all, the sages have already taught us that no verse is to be completely detached from its literal meaning. Therefore what R. Akiva is teaching is a lofty truth: every proper and passionate love relationship between man and woman resembles the cosmic love between God and Israel. Love is a sacred feeling, marriage is a sacred union.

So what’s the message young Ittay learns from this? Well, young kids are always going to be interested in learning about sex, and frankly, I think the Torah is generally going to be the last place they look for such information. But no, perhaps the torah, if more divrei torah were explored in such a manner, should be the first place to learn about sex. Rabbi Riskin concludes:

So it is tragic when our young receive their sex education from the street or from impure movies and Internet porn. Our educators must be trained to teach about sexual relationships from our Bible, just as these teachings once emerged from the engravings of the cherubs. Parents must explain to their children not only the evils of immorality, and not only the legitimate joys of marital sex, but also the sanctity of the sexual union from the perspective of Judaism. Sex must once again be joined to love and marriage, and be seen as one of the great wonders of a fulfilled family life. And such education has to begin no later than the sixth grade!

What will bring the Israeli’s and Palestinians closer towards Peace?

2007-01-23T23:29:00.000+11:00

You will have to believe me when I tell you that I read an excessive amount of news and opinion regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I am writing what is now my 50th entry on this blog which is devoted mostly to this issue. Absorbing the news is for me, as it is for you given that you read this blog, an endless outlet for introspection on what in means to be a Jew and a Zionist in the 20th century. Most articles you and I read about our beloved state, criticize excessively the decisions of the Ehud Olmert, or praise excessively the noble and moral IDF. Either way, both perspectives always find some way of mentioning the Holocaust, Aparthied, and general stereotypes of all Arabs as fanatical Islamists, and all Jews as the extension of the colonial arm of the great Satan, USA.

It is with this in mind, that I was pleasantly surprised to read this thoroughly sobering and pragmatic response to Jimmy Carter’s latest attack on Israel. It is penned by Bradley Burston of Haaretz.

The occupation is horrid, but it is not apartheid.

The occupation must be opposed not because it resembles apartheid, but because it is overtly destructive to both Palestinians and Israelis.

The use of the term apartheid actually contributes to one of the primary reasons why the occupation continues. It is the "Oom Shmoom" syndrome - the Israeli mindset that says "The whole world curses and mislabels us for anything we do or don't do, so we might as well go on doing what we're doing."

As it is, it is too easy for Israelis to maintain a state of denial over the occupation and its evils. It is too easy for Israelis to dismiss hyperbole, to wave away comparisons to the Nazis and other genocidal regimes.

What is needed is honest criticism of the occupation as it is. What is needed is exposure of the specific ways in which Israel's policies cause harm to the harmless, and, in the process, are bad for Israel as well.

The occupation will not end because of a thousand rockets, or ten thousand. It will not end through boycotts by publicity starved academics.

It will end by means of Israelis being exposed to and coming to terms with wrongheaded and often immoral acts committed in the name of security, acts which often harm only non-combatants. It will come through the actions of Israeli courts, of a U.S. administration actively seeking solutions, and, eventually, though the actions of courageous Israeli politicians.

It will come through diplomacy, international involvement, and a process in which mutual demonization gives way to compromise.

What is needed is an attempt to approach Israelis as human beings trying, if often failing, to deal with an impossible array of complex variables.

Human beings, not evil, bloodthirsty colonialist Zionist thugs. Human beings, not a collection of facile, mean-spirited labels.

Zionists and Israel hater’s alike, I hope you are both listening!

Foriegn Workers in Israel

2007-01-09T14:48:00.000+11:00

Today’s Haaretz editorial has commented on yet another example of our beloved state failing to live up to it’s mantle of “or lagoyim.”

The government approved a scandalous bill yesterday - submitted by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon -to import 3,000 foreign laborers to work in agriculture. They would join the 26,000 foreign workers already employed by the Israeli agriculture industry. The bill runs contrary to previous government decisions to gradually reduce the annual quotas for foreign workers in agriculture, construction and industry.

It seems as though the real ‘or lagoyim’ is Australia (for a change).

The deputy governor of the Bank of Israel, Prof. Zvi Eckstein, is in the process of formulating a comprehensive plan to drastically reduce the number of foreign workers in Israel. Eckstein, an economist and expert in labor market policy, relies on a model adopted by Australia and intended to curb the entry of millions of foreign workers from other countries in the region. Instead of bringing in a foreign and cheap labor force, Australia introduced agricultural mechanization. Eckstein thinks there is no reason for the Israeli government not to adopt a similar policy and subsidize farmers who bring mechanization into their fields and hothouses. Given the small number of landowners who make a living from agriculture, this is not an impossible task.

Yet the Israelis prefer to hire the foreign workers. Why? What happened to A.D Gordon’s vision? Already in 1920 he wrote “The Jewish people has been completely cut off from nature and imprisoned within city walls for two thousand years. We have been accustomed to every form of life, except a life of labor- of labor done at our behalf and for its own sake. It will require the greatest effort of will for such a people to become normal again. We lack the principal ingredient for national life. We lack the habit of labor… for it is labor which binds a people to its soil and to its national culture, which in its turn is an outgrowth of the people's toil and the people's labor. ...

I find this quote so poignant. By not labouring on our land, we are weakening the connection (and perhaps our rights of ownership) to Eretz Yisrael.

Jonathan Sacks – To heal a fractured world

2006-10-19T08:17:00.000+10:00

Hashem OZ le’amo yiten. Tonight, OZ (well specifically us Melbourne yids) was hosting the Chief Rabbi. He began by sharing a teaching from the Rambam who suggested that the world is finely balanced between good and evil, so much so, that just one act either way has the potential to change the world in its entirety. Below are four holy people who put this principle into action. (Warning: If you don’t like shmultzy feel good “I can change the world” stories then stop reading here)

There was once a woman who travelled the world collecting all the starfish that were washed up on beaches. After she would pick up each starfish, she would throw it back into the sea, in order that it may have another chance at life. An adversary asked her, surely you don’t believe you can save all the starfish in the world. There must be hundreds of thousands of beaches in this world full of starfish, and then, millions of washed up starfish. As this woman threw another starfish into the sea she said, perhaps I cannot help all the starfish in the world, but I surely just made a difference to this one.

Professor David Baum who was Britain’s leading Paediatrician and President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health from 1997-99 played a huge role in lowering infant mortality around the world through his advances in medical research. He travelled the world over, from Thailand to Moscow, establishing best practice child health care. He was also a proud religious Zionist. David Baum’s final endeavour was assisting in the establishment of a world-class paediatric facility for Palestinian children in Gaza City. The Chief Rabbi explained how David was a shinning example of how to heal a fractured world, which involves reaching out to our adversaries as much as our friends.

Sue Burns suffered from a debilitating disease named osteosclerosis which hospitalised her for her entire life. She was not even able to sit up straight in a chair. From her hospital bed, she acquired two computers and a telephone and established what is now known as the Tikva Helpline. This phone counselling service offers assistance to thousands of people with disabilities. She is the only ever recipient of an MBE from the Queen lying down. When the Chief rabbi came to see her in her final days, she ended up comforting him more than he did her. She said, perhaps Hashem needs me somewhere else now.

In the Genesis narrative of the great conspiracy by the sons of Yaacov to dispose of their brother Joseph, the Torah states what must be a false hood. Vayishma Reuven Veyatizleyhu miyadam – And Reuven heard (his brother's rage against Joseph) and he saved him from their hands; he said, 'let us not destroy a life.' (Genesis 37:21)

This must be false, because we know that the brothers did eventually sell Joseph as a slave. Rabbi Sacks explained that this is one instance where the Torah credits a person, for a good thought, even though the deed was never carried through. The midrash goes onto to add that had Reuven known that this pasuk would be written about him in the Torah, he would have saved Joseph.

Now if Reuven had saved Joseph, there would have been no exile in mitzrayim, and no redemption. But Reuven didn’t know what would be written in the Torah about him after his passing. Like Reuven (which is also my father’s name, alav hashalom) We don’t know what will be written about us in years to come. We don’t know how one act can make a difference.

Dear readers, I invite you to leave any thoughts in the comments section about an act of chessed you have performed. Who knows it may encourage others. If not, then just do it simply because you deserve to be congratulated. As the Chief Rabbi said continually, healing a fractured world is like a butterfly effect. It only takes one small act to transform our existence for the better.

Kol Yisrael Arevim

2006-08-29T16:15:00.000+10:00

In today’s Haaretz I was pleased to read a poll that reported one out of every two households in central and southern Israel gave money or goods to residents of the North during the war.

The poll, conducted by Dr. Haggai Katz of the Israel Center for Third Sector Research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, also found that one out of four households had hosted residents from the North, primarily relatives or friends. Five percent of the households hosted strangers.

The survey also found that contributions and volunteering by the Orthodox were only slightly higher than among the secular; during peace time, the gap between the two groups is much greater.

I know on this blog I tend to sometimes focus on the flaws of Israel, but reading news like this makes me feel so proud of our little country, her citizens, and the way they behave to each other. A real or lagoyim.

May this Ellul be one filled with teshuva and accounting of our actions.

(Picture - A family in the North removed strategic roof tiles so that the light from their attic spells out "BiHatzalacha" (Good Luck) -- its clearly visible to all IAF planes and helicopters flying into Lebanon from Israel –from the muqata)

There is no military solution

2006-08-15T08:03:00.000+10:00

Last week Former MK Naomi Chazan and Arnold Roth, whose daughter was murdered in the Sbarro bombing were interviewed on Late Night Live hosted by Philip Adams. They had divergent opinions about the current war against Lebanon, but both treated each other with respect. They repeated the views of the other before they spoke, they addressed each other with their proper titles and they didn’t raise their voices.

A dialogue of this manner and maturity is what I was thirsting for, but thoroughly lacked during a number of experiences I had this weekend.

Professor Naomi Chazan repeated several times during the interview, as if it were a mantra handed down by a yogi master, “there is no military solution to this conflict.” It sounded so simple.

Discussing the conflict with my colleagues in Zionist education last Sunday, I felt that opining anything other than a military solution to Israel’s woes was heresy. One said: “It is wrong when Lebanese civilians die, but I don’t feel sad for them.” Another said: “There are no ‘two sides’ to this conflict. There is only one side. Ours! This is a war for our survival, for our right to exist” It could have been Anilewicz speaking in the Warsaw Ghetto. It wasn’t. I was in Melbourne.

Gideon Levy wrote in Haaretz today that our favorite phrase "an existential war" is nothing more than a ridiculous slogan, as it was actually a “war of choice” from the beginning.

Another of my acquaintances said that those who feel guilty for what Israel is doing in Lebanon are not real Jews. They have no pride in their tradition.

Moving on to Monday night, I went to hear Labour-Meimad MK Rabbi Michael Melchior speak at the house of Mark Baker, the President of my Kehilla, Shira Hadasha. He said about Qana “if you see crushed children and it doesn’t move you, something is blocked in your heart.” Hearing Rabbi Melchior, I was reminded of the midrash in Talmud Sanhedrin 39 about the angels who wanted to sing to Hashem as the Egyptians were drowning in the sea. God says to them, "My creations are drowning and you are singing before me?'"

Rabbi Melchior is often invited to speak on panels in Israel where he is thoroughly outnumbered by those who disagree with him. They say that the Geula (redemption) depends on how much land can be accumulated. He asks them to show where this is written in the shulchan aruch. They can’t. I think that the ideology of those religiously opposed to ceding land is much more potent than Torah.

On one page of the Talmud, there is a debate about when the world was created. The debate is not regarding the year in which the world was created, although this sparks great debate in the secular world. Instead, the debate focuses on which DAY the world was created. Two dates are offered. The 1st of Nissan, the month of our Exodus from Egypt, and the 1st of Tishrei, the creation of Adam and Chava.

Tishrei is a universal date for all mankind, Nissan is a particular date to the Jews. The rabbis say both dates are correct. Why? Because the tension between the two aspects is what keeps Judaism in balance. To only focus on our problems is as wrong as focussing only on the problems of everyone else.

Jews are perfectly placed to be the leaders of this new dialogue. We have one foot in the western liberal camp, and another steeped in dialogue with the Holy writings. Our home is not somewhere between Canada and Mexico, but in the Middle East surrounded by Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon. Is there a better place in the world to start talking peace?

We must realise that as long as there is no peace for the Palestinians, there will be no peace for the Jews. The silly labels of pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian are infantile. One can only be pro-peace or pro-war.

Many criticize the anti-war camp by asking what other option did Israel have on the 12th of July when Hezbolla kidnapped our soldiers? How else could have Israel have responded? Melchior did not say whether we did the right thing or not in launching operation “Change of Direction” but what he did say is that now is the time to prevent the next war. What I understood him to mean is that once an incident has happened between us and our enemies, it is too late to start negotiating and building bridges at that point. Rabbi Melchior is not a pacifist and acknowledged the need for a military option. But it is not the only option. What we must do now is start creating the situation where it is preferable to choose the path of peace and compromise rather than war. I don’t want to be writing this again in 6 years after the next Lebanon war, God forbid. I don’t want our grandchildren to say to us, why didn’t you guys speak to each other earlier?

And what about the threat posed from Iran? Again Melchior said the best thing we could do to isolate Ahmadnijad is make peace with the Palestinians. He explained how when Rabin signed an agreement with the Palestinians in 1993, it was not because he was a great humanitarian. It was because he wanted to isolate the Shiite extremists. He could see the threat from back then. How much more can we see it now? How much more should this impel us to act in a way that leads us to a two state solution immediately? Repeated polls show that approximately 75% of both Palestinians and Israelis support a two state solution based on the 1967 borders if this would guarantee an end to all hostilities. The will is there. It is up to the people to make it happen.

The reason we should leave Judea and Samaria is not because of the demographic argument. The reason we should leave is because it is wrong to occupy the Palestinians in the way that we do. It is wrong for us to use the sort of force we use against them.

I agree with Rabbi Melchior in saying that if one believes in the sanity of us Jews and in the future of humankind, then the path of dialogue and tolerance must be tried. After Rabbi Melchior signed the Alexandria interfaith agreement, a Yediot Achronot reporter ridiculed him because the next day there was a terrorist attack in Rechov Yafo, Jerusalem. The reporter said, “See, your dialogue can not bring peace.” What this reporter, and many of my dear friends who have a deep love for Israel don’t realise is that making peace is a process that takes many generations, and must involve the citizen on the street more than the politician. It will take many years, but there is will on both sides to make it happen. Let the healing begin, and may we all learn how to be Menchen from this great leader of our time, Rabbi Michael Melchior.

To all those who have lost loved ones in this past month, may these lives not be lost in vain and may we merit to see this path of healing begin whilst this narrow door of opportunity is still open.

In King Solomon’s famous writing Shir HaShirim, we have a love story between a man and woman set in the hills of Jerusalem. The man is lusting after the dark skinned woman for many chapters until he finally finds her. He knocks on her door, and she decides to keep him waiting for a while, She washes her feet and makes herself look pretty. The man gives up waiting and leaves. The moment for the union is lost. Rabbi Melchior quotes this to our struggle for peace. Now is the time to knock on the door, and hope there is an answer. What alternative do we have?

Na Nach Nachma Nachman Me'uman

2006-07-27T12:53:00.000+10:00

I recently saw this picture on Mentalblog.com of one of our soldiers in Lebanon putting this famous nachman picture and slogan in his pocket in order to protect him.

When I was In Israel, I was astounded to see how popular this slogan has become. There is scarcely a billboard, fruit shop, or motorbike where this sticker or graffiti does not appear. I asked a secular man who has one of these pictures in his real estate agency why he chose to put it up? He said some Breslovers came and told him it would be good for business, and with business going the way it is at the moment in Israel, every little bit helps.

Acoording to this source The Na Nach Nachma phrase was revealed and taught by Rabbi Yisroel Ber Odesser, a controversial Breslov figure born in 1905 in Tveria. He was among the first Breslover Hasidim in Israel. When he was only 17 years old, Odesser was overcome with weakness and hunger on the Fast of Tammuz. He decided to eat. But immediately after eating, he felt great sorrow at having succumbed to his own physical temptations. Then a powerful thought came to him: "Go into your room!" He obeyed the inner voice, went to the bookcase, and randomly opened a book. In the book was a piece of paper that would later be known as "The Letter from Heaven." This paper contained a greeting, some text that referred to the Fast of Tammuz, and the Na Nach Nachma mantra.

It read as follows:
It was very hard for me to descend to you, my precious student, to tell you that I benefited greatly from your service. And to you I say, my fire will burn until the coming of the Messiah -- be strong and courageous in your service -- Na Nach Nachma Nachman Me'Uman. And with this I shall tell you a secret: Full and heaped up from line to line, and with strong devotional service you will understand it. And the sign is: They will say you are not fasting on the 17th of Tammuz.Odesser believed the letter to be a message of consolation, directly from Rebbe Nachman's spirit to himself here on earth.

The popularity of this phenomenon is not without controversy. Rabbi Zev Reichmann (head of the Yeshiva University Mechina Program, student of Rav Aaron Soloveitchik, and son of Rav Herschel Reichmann) notes that many within common Orthodox society hold the view that people who wear "Na Nach Nachma" yarmulkes (see below) are not considered to be real Breslovers.

So what’s your view? Have you ever used this phrase or photo to bring you good luck?

"To Nasrallah with love from Israel and Daniele"

2006-07-21T12:27:00.000+10:00

This photo appeared in all the Australian newspapers on Wednesday. I was perplexed. Was it a set up? Who are these girls? What are they writing? Why?

Thanks you to Lisa from “on the face” , I now know what was going on.
The photo was taken by Sebastian Scheiner an Israeli photojournalist who took the photo for Associated Press (AP).

The little girls shown drawing with felt markers on the tank missiles are residents of Kiryat Shmona, which is right on the border with Lebanon. On the day that photo was taken, the girls had emerged from the underground bomb shelters for the first time in five days. A new army unit had just arrived in the town and was preparing to shell the area across the border. The unit attracted the attention of twelve photojournalists - Israeli and foreign. The girls and their families gathered around to check out the big attraction in the small town - foreigners. They were relieved and probably a little giddy at being outside in the fresh air for the first time in days. They were probably happy to talk to people. And they enjoyed the attention of the photographers.

Apparently one or some of the parents wrote messages in Hebrew and English on the tank shells to Nasrallah. "To Nasrallah with love," they wrote to the man whose name was for them a devilish image on television - the man who mockingly told Israelis, via speeches that were broadcast on Al Manar and Israeli television, that Hezbollah was preparing to launch even more missiles at them.

The photograpers gathered around. Twelve of them. Do you know how many that is? It's a lot. And they were all simultaneously leaning in with their long camera lenses, clicking the shutter over and over. The parents handed the markers to the kids and they drew little Israeli flags on the shells. Photographers look for striking images, and what is more striking than pretty, innocent little girls contrasted with the ugliness of war? The camera shutters clicked away, and I guess those kids must have felt like stars, especially since the diversion came after they'd been alternately bored and terrified as they waited out the shelling in their bomb shelters.

Personally, I understand that pacifism never really took off in the middle east and probably never will, but this is ridiculous. Is this one of those "only in Israel" moments that I am proud of? not really. It's bizarre and sad. I said tehillim today with 300 people. Maybe that will help…. Shabbat shalom

Teaching Israel

2006-07-16T22:22:00.000+10:00

Shalom webfreinds,
I’ve recently returned from an invigorating educational sojourn in the Holy land, where I attended a conference with the a keen group of smiling academics and school teachers.

Below are three models we discussed for teaching Israel.

Option Aleph) The Classical Zionist Approach
The ‘evil goyim’ tried to kill us throughout our history, from Shushan to Chmielnitski and Kishinev (they were cities before they were pogroms). They killed us in the present generation, Shoah, because the diaspora is doomed (France, Argentina), therefore Aliyah for all is the only answer. Our role models should be those who die for the homeland like Trumpeldor, Eli Cohen, Yoni Netanyahu.
Proponents: Theodore Herzl, Tuvia Book, The Palmach Museum

Option Beit) The Religious Zionist Approach
The first Olim were not the Hovevi Tziyon in 1882, but Avraham Avinu who was on the first nefesh be nefesh trip from Ur Kasdim to Cannan in 1700BCE. Since then, all Jews have wanted to return, but didn’t ’cause they were waiting for mashiach. These folks decided its time to stop waiting. Israel is “reshit tzmichat geualteinu,” If only we can occupy the entire biblical moledet.

The religious Zionists (orange camp) were very upset with Gaza disengagement last year. We watched a video that made us cry. It showed the pain of the 0.5% of Jews who had to leave their villas and featured not a single one of the 99.5% of the Palestinians who suffered under this occupation for 39 years.
Proponents: No hard-core representatives of this group addressed us.

Option Gimmel) The Peoplehood (yes, it is a real word despite my spellchecker thinking otherwise) Approach
Jews live all over the world and we each have amazing stories to tell that we can learn from. Students should feel they are Jewish citizens of earth, rather than exiled spectators to the main event, which is Israel. The centre of the Jewish world has moved from Cannan, to Babylon, Cordoba, Mainz, Kairwan(Tunis) and now to Israel. It will keep moving as Jews keep moving. Our role as educators is to have students “connecting with community.”
Proponents: Steve Israel, Dena Thaller
Some say that the Centre for Teaching of Jewish Peoplehood at TA University, may be the Yad Vashem of the next generation.

My thoughts
Each model has it’s own strengths and weaknesses. But as was said many times, “the medium is the message,” which means HOW you teach Israel is just as important as WHAT you teach.

Finally, there are so many sweet tidbits of goodness going on in Israel that few people are aware of, like the Sapir Academic College in Sderot that provides an education and a better future to the olim from places like Chechniya. Like Rabbi Motti-Bar Or, whose amazing organization Kolot changes the perception of Limmud Torah being only for the datiyim, and returns, as God did at Mt Sinai, the ownership of our scared texts to the entire Jewish people (females and secular included). Like the thousands who watched the World Cup final on a warm Tel-Aviv Beach and cheered for Italy because they are LESS anti-Semitic.
Like the Ma'ale School of Television, Film and the Arts, which is providing an avenue for the young religious to raise questions that have been condemned by an earlier generation.
Like Dr Tova Hartman, who is challenging the models of negative identity by which we have so long perceived ourselves, like Rav Binyamin Lau, who has moved from Hitnatkut (Disengagement) to Hitchabrut (Connection) in reaching out to the Jews of greater Judea and Samaria. And finally, like Robbie Gringlas, who "shlectures” about us having a mature relationship with 58 year old Israel, warts and all, that can be filled with anger, tears, laughter and song. Shkoyach to you all!

Olmert needs some PR advice

2006-05-29T11:40:00.000+10:00

Shmuel Rosners’s blog on Haaretz discusses Olmert’s use of language on his recent US trip.

Olmert chose the term "realignment" as the official translation to the name of his plan. "I think it means 'hitkansut' (the Hebrew word for the plan)," he told us during the visit when asked about the choice of words. "Sometimes," Olmert said, "the same word in Hebrew has several meanings in English, and I heard of a few, and of them the term that seemed to me most representative is 'realignment,' to the best of my knowledge of English."

After discussing the matter with many knowledgeable Americans, we concluded in our article it was a foolish choice. "Realignment," said a senior American reporter, "is something that you do to your car tires" rather than a catchy name of a daring political plan.

There was consensus among Olmert's American listeners with which we met: "Consolidation" is a much more appropriate word for those who are afraid to use the clear term: "withdrawal". But some other suggestions were made, and we figured time for action is now (as Olmert told Bush about Iran).

So, I ask you dear readers of “I wonder If,” put your marketing degrees to use, think like the spin makers and PR consultants, and share how you think Ehud Olmert should be labeling his plan to remove what may be up to 70 000 Jews from their homes in Judea and Samaria in order to create a Palestinian state more or less along the lines of what Barak offered at Camp David(See map, whereby no Jews would be living in grey shaded areas by 2008).

I have included a few suggestions from Rosner below:
* Realignment
* Withdrawal
* Consolidation
* Convergence
* Disengagement 2
* Reversion("act of turning something the opposite way; act of returning to a previous condition; return of property to its owner after the occurrence of a particular event")
* Olmert`s Folly
* Second Stage of Israel`s Suicide
* Honey I Shrunk Israel Plan
* We will not give in to Terror Plan
* Intifada,Outerfada?
* Hexodus
* Redeployment and fortification
* Project return
- Surrender-to-Arab-Terrorism Plan
- National Retreat Plan
- National Defeat Plan
* Detachment
* Contraction (although it makes me think of being in labour -not the Amir Peretz kind)
* Resettlement
* Strategic unilateral retreat
* Operation justice prevails
* Victory of Hamas
* Yasser’s Revenge
* Green light to the green line

A light unto the nations?

2006-05-22T11:06:00.000+10:00

The Jewish State was built on the back of Yishayahu’s prophetic notion that we should be a "a light unto the nations"(Isaiah 42:6; 49:6).

So then what does our state do when people arrive in need? The government of Israel, the worlds only Jewish government, puts them in prison because they don’t have valid visas. Of all the wonderful examples Israel could learn from Australia, our successful migration intake, our welfare and education systems, why did Israel choose to copy our system of mandatory detention? This story from Haaretz today: Yad Vashem chairman urges PM to let Darfur refugees stay in Israel

The chairman of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, Avner Shalev, called Sunday on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to allow refugees from the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan to remain Israel.
In a letter to Olmert, Shalev wrote that, "as members of the Jewish people, for whom the memory of the Holocaust burns, we cannot stand by as the refugees from the genocide in Darfur hammer on our doors. The memories of the past and Jewish values compel us to show solidarity with the persecuted."

Shalev pointed out that during the Holocaust, countries such as Australia, Canada and Britain cited security reasons when they sent Jews escaping the Nazis to detention camps.

In early May, Holocaust researcher Professor Yehuda Bauer, an academic advisor to Yad Vashem, added his name to a High Court petition brought by the Hotline for Migrant Workers against the Israel Defense Forces Head of Operations Directorate, Brigadier General Gadi Eisencott, who signed an order to expel 31 Sudanese refugees from the Darfur region without giving them the right to make their case. See here also.

This is an embarrassment. We can surely do better than this!

How humane is shechita of cows?

2006-05-08T12:09:00.000+10:00

The Torah requires that meat and poultry be slaughtered in a prescribed manner known as shechita. The trachea and esophagus of the animal are severed with a special razor-sharp, perfectly smooth blade, causing instantaneous death with no pain to the animal.” (oukosher.org)

But is this always the case? In the course of the probe of AgriProcessors Inc. of Postville, Iowa, by the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in late 2004 it was found that employees of one of the nation's major kosher slaughterhouses "had engaged in acts of inhumane slaughter," [and] that federal inspectors did nothing to stop it and instead accepted gifts of meat from plant employees. The plant is the America's largest producer of meat certified as glatt kosher.

To see a video of this slaughter click here

For those that don’t have the stomach to watch this video, it shows "electric prods used to shock the faces of cows in order to guide them into the slaughter pen. The pictures also showed an uncommon practice of speeding post-shehita blood flow by using large hooks to rip out the animals' trachea (windpipe) and esophagus (food pipe) while the animals are still conscious. Immediately after the procedure cows are seen standing and attempting to bellow and leave the killing-floor area.

It is important to note that the ideal kosher cut would sever the trachea, esophagus and carotid artery, thus immediately eliminating blood flow to the brain and rendering an animal unconscious in as quickly as 10 seconds. Contrary to widespread perceptions, however, a valid kosher slaughter requires only the cut of the trachea and esophagus. The post-cut scenes on the videos of staggering, mutilated animals seem to be cases in which the carotid arteries were not severed, thus leaving the animal conscious and able to suffer pain. Source:jpost

Reacting to these published findings, the head of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate's international ritual slaughter division, Rabbi Ezra Raful, said that he would permit the import of meat to Israel from the slaughterhouse in question, saying that "in the case of AgriProcessors, there is no halachic problem."

Thankfully, many poskim, including Maimonides, believe that the prohibition against cruelty to animals informs our interactions with animals far beyond sadism.

Rabbi Ezra Raful also said Jewish law permitted a non-Jew to use a hook to sever an animal's carotid arteries, as long as most of the trachea and esophagus were severed by the shochet [ritual slaughterer].

He said that if a Jew used the hook, the slaughter was not kosher because of the halachic principle of marit ayin - the mistaken impression that the ripping of the arteries with a hook was part of the Jewish slaughtering process. This issue would not arise if a non-Jew ripped out the artery, since a non-Jew is disqualified from performing shehita (ritual slaughter).

Raful said he had been informed by sources in AgriProcessors that only non-Jews performed the ripping. Raful said it was unfair to apply subjective criteria of cruelty to shehita.

"For me it is terribly cruel to boil a lobster live or to fry a live shrimp or freeze a fish live. It depends on what you are used to. It's all very subjective. "But the Torah is not subjective and the same Torah that prohibits cruelty to animals allows shehita," he said.… (Click here for full article)

So, what are our options now? As a meat eater, I believe one should do the following.

1. Watch the video of the shechita, If you are OK with what happens there, keeping eating meat with no worries.
2. If the video bothers you. Stop eating beef and write letters to the kashrut authorities demanding that the laws of the shechita be followed not just to the letter of the law, but also in the spirit of the law as Rambam prescribes.
3. Stop eating meat altogether

From a reliable source I have found out that in Australia animals are not slaughtered in the same manner as the Iowa plant and thus actually may suffer less than non-kosher animal slaughter. In Australia, the shackle and hoist method(used in Israel) where the cow is strung up by its legs before shechita is not used. Also, the animal is shot with a blot immediately post shechita.

Does any of this effect what you will be eating for dinner tonight?

Israeli youth show respect for elders

2006-03-29T09:31:00.000+11:00

For those of you cruising blogland as we speak, you will find pages of analysis regarding the lower voter turnout, Labour and Israel Beitenu’s surprisingly good result, and Likud and Kadima’s lower than expected vote. In my humble opinion, the winning party of this election is Gil, the pensioners party, winning 8 seats according to exit polls. To the right is a photo of Gil pensioners' party leaders Yitzhak Ziv, Yaacov Ben-Izri, Rafi Eitan and Moshe Sharon, sitting on bench in Tel Aviv on Monday.

Jpost reports:

Tel Aviv buzzed with rumors on Tuesday that the Gil pensioners' party passed the vote threshold needed to enter the 17th Knesset. In the stage built by Channel 10 in the center of Rabin Square in the city's center, hundreds gathered to look at the parties' stalls. The general consensus seemed to be that "Tel Aviv was voting for the pensioners."
In front of one Tel Aviv polling booth, four well-dressed trendy-looking 20-somethings tried to convince passers-by to vote for the pensioners' party. Though the activists seemed uncertain of where the party stood on issues such as defense and the economy, they said that as young, well-off Tel Aviv residents, they wanted to do something to help the "poor old people." They also acknowledge that it was a trend among youth in Tel Aviv to vote for the Gil party.
One Gil supporter, Sonya Blikin, saying she was "voting for the pensioners because they're the only party with a platform I can support. Actually, I'm not sure what the platform is," she admitted, "but I know that old people and poor people are sitting in the streets, and I feel bad and I want to do something to help them."

And how about these kids at Rabin Square who instead of voting for the green leaf party, voted to help sabba and savta:

Back at Rabin Square, a crowd of teenage girls chanted "Save our grandfathers" on Tuesday afternoon. They said they had no official affiliation with any party, but had decided to come to the square at the last moment because "the old people need all the help they can get."

The election of Gil shows once again that Israeli youth are an or lagoyim. See also Haaretz for more on Gil’s very vauge security platform.

Too much of a good thing?

2006-03-25T11:48:00.000+11:00

Is it possible that us diaspora fans of Zion are loving Israel too much. Daniel Levy writes in Haaretz about the new John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt study of "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy." He says:

It should serve as a wake-up call, on both sides of the ocean. The bottom line might read as follows: that defending the occupation has done to the American pro-Israel community what living as an occupier has done to Israel - muddied both its moral compass and its rational self-interest compass.

Interesting food for thought. Has our love of Israel blinded us to Isiah’s vision expressed in the Jerusalem program of building a nation based on the prophetic vision of righteousness and peace(justice).

Aviezer Ravitsky in Melbourne

2006-02-24T08:03:00.000+11:00

Over the past week, I have had the pleasure of hearing Professor Aviezer Ravitsky speak in Melbourne on a number of occasions. He was the winner of the 2001 Israel Prize, and I found many of his statements on matters religious and political to be similar to my thinking. I believe Ravitsky is unique in that he is able to transverse the worlds of academia and halacha so seamlessly, in a matter that belittles neither. He is also a religious Zionist that doesn’t wear orange.

One the issues he spoke about was his recent paper “Is a Halakhic State Possible? The paradox of Jewish Theocracy” (Published by the Israel Democracy Institute).

To many Religious Zionists (henceforth RZ’s) namely of those from the Mercaz Harav-Kook Yeshiva, their justification for supporting the Zionist enterprise rests solely on the idea that Israel is the birth pang of mashiach – reshit tzemichat geulatenu. RZ ideal Israel is one run by halacha, were Jewish law governs the social, religious and political spheres.

Avi sees things differently. I quote from Haaretz Temple and Knesset

Ravitsky believes (to a great extent following in the footsteps of Rabbi Yitzhak Abarbanel, 1437-1508) that Judaism contains no absolute religious commandment that determines the nature of the regime required by the Jewish state. The state's authority is needed to protect citizens' lives and to maintain the social order, and precisely in order to serve those goals, there must be broad social agreement - the essential idea being that the preservation of human life takes precedence over nearly all the Torah's commandments.

Ravitzky quotes the late Rabbi Shlomo Goren: "Human society, including the Jewish people, requires a political regime representing and applying relative justice, namely, temporary political justice, which enables the regime to maintain public order and security among mortals. One cannot rely only on the Torah's law of punishment, which represent the absolute justice, not influenced by the constraints of time, place and the level of human society.

Some examples Ravitsky gave regarding the quirks of halacha were fascinating. What would you do if you saw a man chase a woman into a cave with a sword, and then heard screaming, only to find the woman killed. Well, in a halachic state, the man could not be charged, for unless two shabbat and kashrut keeping witnesses saw the murder take place, and forewarned the culprit, he escapes punishment.

Also, the laws regarding theft are not nearly serious enough to deter the crime in today's world whilst the halachic tax system of the Government returning double of it receives would lead to a tax free world for 1 in 3 people. (I can see Kerry Packer, our most renowned tax dodger, lamenting his lack of support for a halachic state now.)

In regards to the possibility of harmony between Religious and Secular Israelis, Ravitsky spoke at length about the contention between these groups at a public lecture sponsored by the Australian Centre for the Study of Jewish Civilisation at Monash University.

He spoke about the infamous “Status quo” which was written in a letter from David Ben Gurion, in his capacity as Chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive, to Rabbi J. L. Maimon, leader of the Agudat Israel in 1947. The letter stated

· Shabbat: It is clear that the official day of rest of the Jewish State will be on Shabbat; naturally the Christians and other religions will be granted the Shabbat on their days.
· Kashrut: All necessary steps will be taken to guarantee that any State kitchen for Jews will be kosher.
· Personal Status Law: The members of the Executive understand the importance of the question and the problems involved. All the bodies which are represented on the Executive will do all to satisfy the religious needs of the Orthodox, to prevent the division of the people.
· Education: The autonomy to the different educational systems (as now exists) will be guaranteed. No coercion from the authorities in matters of religion, and religious conscience will be applied. Naturally, the State will determine minimum studies in Hebrew, mathematics, history, etc., and will supervise them, but they will have the freedom to run the educational system according to their belief.

Ravistky discussed why both the Haredim and Socialist Zionists agreered to this document. In 1947, the Secular Zionists didn’t think there would be Haredim in 50 years, let alone ones who would want to study in yeshiva. Therefore, it was of little concern to Ben Gurion that a few hundred Haredim didn’t serve in the Army. The Haredim on the other hand, didn’t mind a few cars driving on Shabbat, as long as no public transport was running(still the case now in Israel except Haifa). What the Haredim didn’t anticipate, was that one-day cars would become very popular.

Both assumed the other would disappear, and both made their assumptions on false premises. So what hope is there for future harmony between these groups. Well, having already, argued that a halachic state is not feasible, one could say, what about a secular state? Ravitsky also rejects this idea arguing

Not only it is impossible, from the standpoint of Judaism, to contemplate a modern Jewish life unconnected with tradition, from the standpoint of the State of Israel itself, the desire to return to the Jewish-national past - at all strata and levels - can have no validity if this return is characterized by severing ties with the religious infrastructure, which is the basis of all the national and historical aspects of Jewish existence.

So perhaps our future is to continue on the path we are on. Namely, where the Godfearing and Godless stay at each others throats. This “tension” afterall is what keeps Ravitsky in his job. He loves it. The “tension” is also what keeps this blog going. Forever searching for answers to seemingly unsolvable questions.

Amona violence: The result of occupation on Israel

2006-02-11T00:24:00.000+11:00

In the past week, hundreds of protesters were injured by police during a protest at the Amona setllement were 9 homes were evacuated. The resulting violence is now the subject of a Knesset inquiry. Rabbi Micahel Melchior of the Meimad Party had this
to say of the incident in Haaretz.

The stones that were thrown by skullcap-wearing youths from the rooftops of Amona, and the rolling of eyes heavenward ?(and also at the Israeli public?) that followed, injured not only the head of the policeman who was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, but also, to the same extent, the heart of Judaism, the Torah itself.

The police's special patrol unit is the same special patrol unit; the minions, the hilltop youth, are the same minions. Only religious Zionism is not what it once was. From a glorious movement, a symbol and model of Jewish renewal in our times, it has become an extremist movement, irrelevant to the Judaism of the majority of Israeli society. The knitted skullcap has given way to ski masks, and the hoe and the tablets of the Ten Commandments − the symbol of the Bnei Akiva youth movement − to cinder blocks and stones.

It used to be different. From the days of rabbis Isaac Jacob Reines and Judah Leib Maimon to the government ministers Haim-Moshe Shapira and Zerach Wahrhaftig, religious Zionism presented an entirely different face. Its teachers and leaders preached compromise, peace, finding a common denominator. Out of a deeply rooted and burning Torah belief, they clung to the value of sensitivity to the suffering of the "other."

Like tens of thousands of other people, I grew up in the lap of religious Zionism. Because of it, I immigrated to Israel and I educated my children in accordance with its philosophy. In the Bnei Akiva movement they educated us to love of the land, to commitment to and solidarity with the Jewish people, and to adherence to the values of the Torah. This was an equilateral triangle, the power of which was in the combination of all of its elements, and especially the maintenance of the balance among them.

In the mid-1970s the process of sliding down the slippery slope began. Fanaticism, extremism and insensitivity to the "other" replaced the old values. The delicate fabric of religious Zionism unraveled. The Jewish people and the Torah were sidelined and their place was taken by the land of Israel. Not the land "of milk and honey" of the prophets? vision, full of justice and equality, but rather a fundamentalist, xenophobic land of Israel. A land of bullying and violence, of injured policemen and uprooted olive trees.

The violent event at Amona hammered another nail into the coffin of religious Zionism and made the Torah a synonym for bullying, extremism and hatred of the "other." In the minds of the settlers there are the rights of humans, and then there are the rights of "our people." The events at Amona have taught us that uncompromising violence and the flying batons of the police know no bounds and do not discriminate between Jew and Arab. All are the same, and smashing the head of an Arab leads easily to smashing the head of a Jew.

These words remind me of the late Yeshayahu Leibowitz, a philospher and professor of biochemistry at Hebrew University who famously predicted in early 1968 that Israel's occupation of Arab lands seized in the Six-Day War would be a curse on the country. The effect of occuption on the isreali psyche is one that allows and even perpetuates the use of violence to achive an ends. So why the surprise when that violence is direteed against our own? Melchior continues

Similarly, there is no such thing as halfway democracy. An entire generation of religious Zionism has been raised on the idea that if between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean there are 4.7 million Palestinians, it isn't terrible if they remain without rights, and if their 6- and 7-year-old children have to be accompanied by Israel Defense Forces soldiers on their way to school for fear of the wrath of masked Jews. Then so be it. They should say thank you and shut up. It is no wonder, then, that when democracy was exalted by the settlers during the period of the disengagement, nobody believed them.

Vox populi vox dei. Between the special patrol battalions and the battalions of the minions this week, the Torah and the philosophy of religious Zionism stood off in a corner, grieving and in disgrace, scorned, mortified and ashamed. In a single day, they had become identified with people in masks hurling rotten eggs at IDF soldiers and large stones, lobbed at the police of the state "of the beginning of our redemption."

No less appalling is the terrible silence of the leaders and teachers. As the years go by, in the name of Torah, fundamentalist voices that our fathers never imagined are being disseminated. Indeed, the wrath of the minions has fallen upon the leaders of the flock, who disappeared, their voices stilled. The redemptive genie has been released from its bottle and has started to destroy everything good in religious Zionism.

As a result of these distortions, most of the people living in Israel are no longer aware of the wonderful, gracious deeds of religious Zionist society here and now, the pioneering spirit that continues to throb within it, its rallying to absorb immigration or the splendid educational institutions it has established.

The difficult scenes at Amona have caused unimaginable damage both to religious Zionism and to the State of Israel. Their effects are influencing the solidarity of Israeli society, the country's image in the eyes of the world and the eyes of world Judaism, and its ability to stand strong in the face of the challenges that still await it.

It is a debate about which direction we are heading, but we must not compromise for a single moment about the methods we use to get there.

For a generation now we have been fighting for the justice of our existence. Facing us are belligerent neighbors who wish to destroy us and fundamentalist states that possess weapons of mass destruction. In this state of affairs Israel must choose another way. One way. Not the way of apartheid, but rather the way of the Jewish and democratic state.
Indeed, this way necessitates painful compromise. Compromise that does not concede the idea of the land of Israel or the idea of redemption. Not disgust, heaven forbid, with respect to the beloved land, but rather the opposite − adherence to it, inside borders dividing us and the Palestinian state, without which we will not be a Jewish state, from a desire to have in it a society that will be a light unto the nations. A society of justice and peace, for every human because he is human.

We need more rabbis that speak like this. We need more people to use Torah for peaceful purposes… Letakken Olam BaMalchut Shaddai.

An oustretched hand at the Herzliya confrence

2006-01-25T09:39:00.000+11:00

The Herzliya conference of 2004 was famously the first time Ariel Sharon announced the Disengagement from Gaza which was a major backflip on his stated election policy to hold on to the settlements. If what a leader says at Herzliya, is the opposite of what he will actually do, than the people of YESHA need not worry, and taxes are going up.

At the cofrnece, Ehud Olmert, the leader of Kadima said

The choice between allowing Jews to live in all parts of the land of Israel and living in a state with a Jewish majority mandates giving up parts of the Land of Israel," he said. "We cannot continue to control parts of the territories where most of the Palestinians live.

Israel will keep security zones, main settlement blocs, and places important to the Jewish people, first of all, Jerusalem, united under Israeli control. There can be no Jewish state without Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty

Israel supports the establishment of a democratic and "modern Palestinian state" but Olmert also emphasized the Palestinians would receive independence only if they bring a complete halt to attacks on Israel.

The brand new moustache wearing Mark Latham of isreali politics said this

Every citizen who wants to leave his home in Judea and Samaria will be fairly compensated in a way that will allow him and his family to open a new chapter in their lives. Those who want to build a new home will find an outstretched and supportive hand

Peretz also vowed to increase the minimum wage without imposing any new taxes.

If you believe that it's possible to exist on NIS 3,300 a month, vote for [Acting Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert," Peretz said. "Whoever thinks otherwise, vote for Labor."

I’m still waiting for anyone to explain to me the difference between these two parties, apart from spin. They have the same message and will surely end up forming a coalition.

Sharon carries an Organ Donor card

2006-01-09T10:28:00.000+11:00

An interesting point about the Sharon illness that has been overlooked by much of the blogging community is Sharon’s recent registration as an organ donor.
Haaretz reports:

“Prime Minister Ariel Sharon carries an organ donor card supplied by the Israel Transplant Center and the Adi Association, and volunteered to have his organs donated after his death.

Sharon signed the organ donor card last May, during a project in the Knesset intended to encourage MKs to donate their organs. The plan was to have politicians serve as role models in the hope that their lead would sway the Israeli public, only a small percentage of whom carry donor cards. Out of the 120 MKs, 90 agreed to donate their organs.”

Whether or not you agree with his politics, I think Sharon and these other 90 members of the Israeli parliament, should serve as an example to us in reminding us of the value of pikuach nefesh.

Rabbi Shraga Simmons of aish.com writes that “Organ donation is permitted in the case when an organ is needed for a specific, immediate transplant. In such a case, it is a great mitzvah for a Jew to donate organs to save another person's life.”

The article continues to discuss Sharon’s motives for being registered

"Sharon did the whole thing with a smile, not with a lot of ideology," recalled one MK. "He said, `I don't know if they'll still want my organs at my age.'"

Indeed, Sharon had a point: There is a slim chance that any of the 78-year-old's organs will be in a good enough state to transplant. Sharon's heart and corneas will certainly not be taken. The only possibility is that doctors will consider harvesting Sharon's kidneys.

Does this inspire you to become an organ donor?

What makes a first world country?

2006-01-04T16:18:00.000+11:00

I have often wondered what the difference is between first world countries and third world countries. Should the countries be measured against each other by their health care systems, social welfare programs, education budgets or infrastructure spending? In a more comical news story, Israel has provided us the answer. If you can afford to have time for competitions such as this you truly are a first world country.

Winner Gets Dog Food For Year
TEL AVIV, Israel -- While other competitions may judge the beauty of humans or animals, one contest held in Israel this week judged which owners most closely resembled their dogs.
Judges at the dog owner look-alike competition held at a Tel Aviv mall examined the style and appearance of 10 entries, from wrinkled bulldogs with wrinkled owners to long-faced dogs and long-faced owners.
Most of the pairs walked along the catwalk with similar outfits and hair.
They posed for the judges and crowd, and demonstrated how well they get along with their canine pals.
The winning pair received dog food for a year.
Several studies have suggested that humans tend to want a creature that resembles them as a pet, NBC News reported.

Kadima or Backwards?

2005-12-01T17:22:00.000+11:00

Upset with Likud being grumpy at him and not letting him run the country as he fits, Ariel Sharon has formed his own party.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new Kadima party yesterday released the main points of its national agenda - preserving a Jewish majority in exchange for territorial concessions, keeping Jerusalem and large settlement blocs, and establishing a demilitarized Palestinian state devoid of terror.

This has been the formula of Oslo all along, although, one can’t call it Oslo, because Oslo is now a dirty word in Isreal. New Labour leader Amir Peretz, still uses it, and now he has been termed an extremist leftist socialist by the Israeli Press. Even Shimon Peres had to leave labour.

There has been much musical chairs, with politicians abandoning their respective loyalties to their parties, and switching to the party that they think will get the most votes. Shas Chairman MK Eli Yishai said in response to the all the moves,

"Another day of political showtunes has passed. I wonder when some parties will turn to the Yellow Pages to attract new members. It appears as if some of the parties will have to attach a photograph of their candidates to their ballots so that the Israeli people will remember who found political refuge where. I'm sure that if Begin and Ben Gurion were with us even they would be confused as to who their parties were."

I agree. Likud, Shinui, Labour and Kadima are now all arguing the same thing. A two state solution, United Jerusalem, and no right of return for the Palestinians. They vary as to which groups they target as the scapegoats for all the ills of modern Israel(Varying from Haredim, the Unemployed, The Rich to the Arabs), so I guess it’s only their prejudices that separate them. How simple it would be if Israel had a two party system like Australia. All these new political parties in Israel’s hyper-democratic system seem like they will only lead to yet another PM who will not finish his term because maintaining a coalition In Isreal will be harder than scratching an Israeli diamond (which are apparently harder than bullets)

No more sex for Reform youth

2005-11-21T11:39:00.000+11:00

Shmuel Rosner, Chief U.S. Correspondent for Haaretz has again provided another fascinating story. In the midst of election fever gripping Israel with the announcement that Sharon is starting a new political party(as if Israel didn’t have enough), we have this story from left field. The headline really caught my attention. “No more sex for Reform youth says the rabbi!” Read on before I share my thoughts:

Thursday afternoon, I was still in Houston, so I got to sit with Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, and discuss the speech he was preparing to give today at the biennial of his movement. "It's about sex," he smiles: "High school students should not be having sexual relations." This is the message he starts with this year. It is very urgent, he thinks.

But first things first - the most revealing sentence I find in the speech is a more general statement one can read as a key to the Yoffie state of mind these days: "The problem for our synagogues may be," says Yoffie, "that we are not very good at saying 'no' in Reform Judaism... In the realm of personal behavior, we are reluctant to ever use the word 'forbidden'." This, he believes, should be changed somewhat. A more restrictive movement, more demanding, more - should I dare say - conservative movement, is the one Rabbi Yoffie envisions. If you were a politician, I tell him, one would apply to you the overly employed phrase "mugged by reality." The do-whatever-you-want approach just doesn't work for a movement that needs members to be committed. So you basically ask the congregation to do more: study more, go to Israel more, practice more. Yoffie smiles again. He has a nice, gentle, smile. But listen to what he has to say to the youngsters of the movement, and listen seriously:

"A growing number of middle school students are sexually active, and oral sex is both prevalent and widely accepted. Most striking of all is a social ethic known as 'hooking up' that severs sex from any pretense of a relationship. 'Hooking up' can refer to different kinds of physical contact, but it always means a casual, no-strings-attached sexual encounter. It means getting physical without getting emotional... the Union has created a six-session course for bar and bat mitzvah-age students in our religious schools... we do not tell our kids that sex before marriage is forbidden. Since many of them will not marry for fifteen years after the onset of puberty, it is unreasonable to suggest that this traditional standard should be maintained for young people who are adults? On the other hand, we say in the clearest possible way that high school students should not be having sexual relations. Our teens are not adults. They are beset by tension with parents, pressure from friends, a desire for approval, and an uncertain sense of self. This means that students in high school are not yet ready for the loving, mutual relationships that make sex an experience of holiness."

Unrestricted-hippie-liberal-permissiveness? Maybe it's the wrong movement for you. Being reform doesn't mean one needs no rules, so Yoffie says.

I’m really happy Rabbi Yoffie has finally addressed the issue of teen sexuality. It is an issue that is not often discussed in public forums. It is interesting to note that the Rabbi does not prohibit, sex before marriage, just sex at school age. It is also interesting to notice his awareness that it is time for the Reform movement to say “no” more often.

From an orthodox perspective, I think this issue is just as relevant in frum communities. Teenage kids who wear kippot and long skirts are not necessarily
shomer negia. There has been a suggestion of allowing orthodox people before marriage to visit the mikva after sexual relationships. The question is, would you prefer someone violate the non-biblical prohibition of sex before marriage, or the biblical prohibition of not visiting the mikva. Tough question.

Miracles

2005-11-17T10:27:00.000+11:00

After many years of praying and wondering whether miracles really do happen, I was privileged to witness one last night. That being Australia qualifying for the World Cup after 32 years in the soccer wilderness (I guess that’s better than 40 years in the midbar). If Australia wins the world Cup, then Mashiach is surely on our doorstep.
The Age reports:

Australia, which has found so many heartbreaking ways to lose World Cup qualifiers, last night found a new way to triumph when it won its way to the World Cup in a penalty shootout thanks to the steely nerves of John Aloisi and the heroics of Mark Schwarzer.

What is the most important Jewish Word?

2005-11-15T17:26:00.000+11:00

Shmuel Rosner, Chief U.S. Correspondent for Haaretz writes from the General Assembly of United Jewish Communities about a discussion of "Top 10 Jewish vocabulary words every Jewish leader should know." The rabbi’s at the conference made one list, while the rest of the group made another. Here’s what they came up with:

Rabbis: Mitzva V'Halachah (commandment and law), Hesed V'Rachamim (kindness and compassion), Tzedaka, Tikkun Olam, Bracha, Kashrut (dietary laws), Hachnasat Orchim (hospitality), Bikkur Holim, Shivah, Aliyah (immigrating to Israel).

Group: Tzedaka, Tikun Olam, Chesed, Chevra, Simcha (joy), Ahava (love), Shalom (peace), Tikva (hope), Achdut (unity), Klal Israel (all of Israel).

What are your top 10 Jewish words/concepts? Mine are: V’ahavta Lereicha Kamocha, Shalom, Achva(Friendship), Shira(song), Tfilla, Hashem, Sababa(cool), Keif(Fun, yes I know its an arabic word), Mastik (Gum – I like how the word sounds) and Yisrael.

Is Rabin a Rodef?

2005-11-14T11:08:00.000+11:00

Since Yitzchak Rabin initiated the Oslo process with the Palestinians in 1993, there had much resistance to his formula of LAND FOR PEACE where Israel would give the Palestinians a State in Gaza and the West Bank in exchange for an end to incitement and terrorism against Israel.

Jewish extremists were against this policy because they claimed that the land of Israel is holy and can never be traded. Their method of dealing with Palestinian attacks against Israel was to use more force.

Palestinian extremists (Hamas) were against the Oslo process because it’s ultimate aim was a two state solution. These Islamic extremists believe that the entire land belongs to Muslims only, and all Jews should leave or be killed. Therefore, Hamas would send suicide bombers onto buses whenever Rabin and Arafat were to have a meeting, in the hope that this would derail the peace process.

Before you continue reading, please say:
Hareini lomed/lomedet Mishnah le'ilu'i nishmato shel Yitzĥak ben Rosa u-Neĥemya RabinI am studying Mishnah in the memory of Yitzĥak Rabin, son of Rosa and Neĥemya

TRACTATE SANHEDRIN, CHAPTER EIGHT, MISHNAH SEVEN:
וְאֵלּוּ הֵן שֶׁמַּצִּילִין אוֹתָן בְּנַפְשָׁן: הָרוֹדֵף אַחַר חֲבֵרוֹ לְהָרְגוֹ, אַחַר הַזְּכוּר וְאַחַר הַנַּעֲרָה הַמְאֹרָסָה. אֲבָל הָרוֹדֵף אַחַר הַבְּהֵמָה, וְהַמְחַלֵּל אֶת הַשַּׁבָּת, וְהָעוֹבֵד עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה, אֵין מַצִּילִין אוֹתָן בְּנַפְשָׁן:

In the following cases a human life is saved at the cost of a human life: when one person threatens the life of another, when a male is sexually threatening another male, or married woman. But when someone is intending a sexual union with an animal, or to desecrate Shabbat or to practice idolatry - no human life is forfeit in order to prevent this.

“Lies, Bad Law, and Human Life"
by Rabbi Yitzchak Adlerstein – November 1995

Jewish law has an enviable past, particularly in promoting the sanctity of human life. It was Jewish law, after all, that first crowned each human life with absolute value. While their neighbors drenched their altars with the blood of small children to propitiate their gods, the prophets of ancient Israel thundered their formula for pleasing the Almighty. "Let the oppressed go free...Divide your bread with the hungry...When you see the naked, cover him." For Isaiah and his colleagues, G-d was best served by enhancing the quality of the lives of others.

The earliest rabbinic writings continued the tradition. "Whoever saves the life of a single person is considered as saving the entire world," claimed the Mishna. Jewish law regarded life as so sacred, that all precepts of the Torah could be suspended to save it, excepting three cardinal transgressions. And one of those three was murder.
Jewish law was so loath to take a human life, that criminal procedure was hopelessly stacked in favor of the defendant. If the twenty-three judges managed to reach a guilty verdict in a capital case, they were required to fast the entire day. And if they found for guilt unanimously, charges were dismissed. A court which could not produce someone to back the defendant obviously was not doing its job well.

The Talmud sums up its internal audit of procedure in capital cases appropriately enough. "A court that takes a life once in seventy years is a killer court." This is the lenient view. Others suggest an even longer interval.

The Devil, however, can cite Scripture; his disciples turn to case law and statute. Somehow, Yigal Amir thought that he found justification from the law itself. Amir decided that Mr. Rabin's negotiations with the Palestinians posed an immediate threat to the lives of tens of thousands of Israelis. Jewish law (as well as many other codes!) allows (actually demands) anyone to take the life of a murderous pursuer - or rodef - of his innocent victim. Amir thus claimed that Mr. Rabin was a rodef, and that it was a mitzvah to kill him.

The argument is inaccurate, and was denounced as such by virtually every major and minor Jewish legal thinker. To be a rodef, the pursuer must perform some act that is objectively life-threatening. The models in the literature make it clear that one cannot be a rodef to some, and a savior to others. Arguably, there are as many Israelis who believe that the peace process will save lives, as those who believe that the consequences will be insufferable. Besides, one argument alone justifies taking the life of the rodef: the certainty that the pursued will be saved. No sane person could have guaranteed that killing Rabin would stop the peace process in its tracks. If anything, killing Rabin has had the opposite effect, dramatically increasing popular support for the Labor position.

Despite his posturing, Amir's actions had nothing to do with Halacha. And before people criticize Jewish law, they should stop and remember that much of their distaste for his cowardly and despicable act owes historically to that very same tradition.

Remembering Rabin

2005-11-07T15:15:00.000+11:00

As the ten year Yartzeit of the assassination of Yitzchak Rabin approaches, there is much debate about how to commemorate this shaping event in Israel’s history. The left seeks to commemorate the assassination with a homage to the Oslo peace process, arguing for further territorial concessions in exchange for peace. The centre/religious Zionist camp want to commemorate the event by emphasizing “ahavat Yisrael” and Jewish unity, beyond politics. Some on the right would prefer not to commemorate the assassination at all.(Numbered people are 1-Yitzchak Rabin, 2- Yigal Amir, 3-Student Mordi Israel, 4-Driver Menachem Damti, 5-Agent S.N. (Possibly S.G.), 6-Bodyguard Yoram Rubin)

These were the of Rabin’s final speech delivered on November 4th, 1995:

"Permit me to say that I am deeply moved. I wish to thank each and every one of you, who have come here today to take a stand against violence and for peace. This government, which I am privileged to head, together with my friend Shimon Peres, decided to give peace a chance -- a peace that will solve most of Israel's problems.

There are enemies of peace who are trying to hurt us, in order to torpedo the peace process. I want to say bluntly, that we have found a partner for peace among the Palestinians as well: the PLO, which was an enemy, and has ceased to engage in terrorism. Without partners for peace, there can be no peace. We will demand that they do their part for peace, just as we will do our part for peace, in order to solve the most complicated, prolonged, and emotionally charged aspect of the Israeli-Arab conflict: the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

This is a course which is fraught with difficulties and pain. For Israel, there is no path that is without pain. But the path of peace is preferable to the path of war. I say this to you as one who was a military man, someone who is today Minister of Defense and sees the pain of the families of the IDF soldiers. For them, for our children, in my case for our grandchildren, I want this Government to exhaust every opening, every possibility, to promote and achieve a comprehensive peace. Even with Syria, is will be possible to make peace.
This rally must send a message to the Israeli people, to the Jewish people around the world, to the many people in the Arab world, and indeed to the entire world, that the Israeli people want peace, support peace. For this, I thank you."

10 years on, many Israelis argue that Rabin was wrong in saying “we have found a partner for peace among the Palestinians.” The leadership of both Arafat and Abbas has shown this to be false. Neither have maintained a cessation of violence against Isreali civilians. Many Israelis also argue that Rabin was right in saying “there is no path that is without pain. But the path of peace is preferable to the path of war.” That is why the majority (along with this blogger) supported the disengage , albeit with a heavy heart and much sadness.

What do you make of Rabin's political legacy, and how do you think we should remember his life?

Yom Kippur in Israel

2005-10-18T11:36:00.000+10:00

Having just returned from a three-week visit to Israel, I have many thoughts about our amazing state, her people and their ideologies. On my journey I interviewed people from the left and right, religious and secular. On the spiritual journey, I went to Sephardi and Ashkenzi shuls in Ramat Gan, Shira Hadasha and Kedem in Jerusalem, and finally Moshav Meor Modiin that was by far the most enthusiastic and genuine davening I have ever experienced.

What struck me most on the visit was the way secular Israelis celebrate Yom Kippur. Not a Fish writes:

Imagine, if you will, the busiest, noisiest, most congested street you know; always jammed with cars, buses, trucks whizzing past, horns peeping, hundreds of people filling the sidewalks, rushing this way and that.

And now try to mentally visualize that same street, completely empty, eerily silent. No vehicles moving on it, not even one, sidewalks empty of passersby, besides maybe the occasional family, walking slowly and reverently towards their synagogue.

And then you hear it, a low clicking, whirling sound. Soon there is a sight to go with the sound, a solitary guy on a bike, riding boldly, right in the middle of the wrong side of the road. He’s soon followed by a group of kids in their early teens, about six of them, racing their bikes, shouting out to each other. Next to go passed - a couple on roller blades, holding hands; and then more bikers, mainly children of various ages, many in packs, but quite a few serious adult bikers too, with all the fancy gear.

This is Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur, the best place to be in the world if you are a secular kid and you possess a bicycle. There is nowhere you can’t go, complete and utter freedom, unheard of, unthinkable. The next day the gangs of kids tell stories of how they reached as far as Herzliya and Rishpon in the north. An all time favourite is the Ayalon Freeway, which cuts through the east of Tel Aviv all along. For secular Tel Aviv kids, used to the restrictions of living in the middle of a busy city with all its dangers, Yom Kippur is a day of breaking free, a day of personal independence.

Spending the Chag in Ramat Gan, I was amazed by the 100’s of kids on bikes I saw that day. Another thing that amazed me was that 1000’s of people also went to shule. However, shule in Ramat Gan is very different from Melbourne. The shuls I visited were filled with mostly once a year Jews(nothing unexpected here), but the interesting part of the story, is what went on outside the shule.

For every person in the shule, there was a person and a half in the street. They all bring chairs, gather round, talk, catch up on gossip, and enjoy the balmy autumn weather.

Is this a sign for hope or despair?

Despair: There is a baal shem tov story that retells how the Rabbi used to have a special place, where he lit a special fire, and say a special prayer when the Jewish people were in trouble. Later generations would forget the place, forget how to light the fire, and forget the prayer, and so, the story would suffice.

So too, the secular Israelis of Ramat Gan, have forgotten the prayers(no one had siddurim), forgotten the meaning of the chag(few could tell me any more about Yom kippur other than it being a day “when God forgiveness us”) and forgotten the rituals. What did they remember was that their grandparents went to shule on Yom Kippur, so they to must also go to shule, but only to sit outside, for the interior is a foreign land.

Hope: Perhaps the Israelis are reinventing the chag. No one does anything on the chag. Have you ever wondered what the world would like if everyone kept shabbes? This is what YK feels like in Israel. There are no cars, No TV shows(although the DVD shops do a roaring trade the day before the chag) no radio programs, no busses and trains, and even the intl airport shuts for the day. People talk to one another, the cell phones are off, and in the streets one feels a party atmosphere, similar to Chanuka in the Park or In One Voice.

I’m not sure what to make of the secular Yom Kippur. Experiencing the chag out of the beit knesset is an experience in itself. I wonder how the next generation will remember the chag?

Read also: Spending YK on a bicycle seems like a terrible waste

Is the secular Yom kippur a viable alternative? What does it say about the way we experience our religion in a Jewish homeland?

Shana Tova Chevre

2005-10-02T06:32:00.000+10:00

Shalom Chaverim. I’m currently writing this entry from Moshav Me’or Modiin in Israel. I have just had a beautiful Shabbat full of song and many wonderful yidden from around the world. I wish all of you a sweet year with much health and happiness. Keep smiling.

An outsiders view of Melbourne

2005-09-21T06:55:00.000+10:00

How does an outsider view our haimish community down under? Read on if you’d like to find out. The article appeared in last Fridays London Jewish News. It is written by Clive Lawton, executive director of Limmud, chair of development charity Tzedek and a former head teacher of King David high school in Liverpool. The 53-year-old is also a regular contributor to the Jewish News.

The Limits Of Charity
Thursday 15th of September 2005

If Sydney and its Jewish community is a bit Los Angeles, then Melbourne Jewry is the closest thing we have to pre-war Warsaw.
Some 40,000 Melbourne Jews manifest every passionate Jewish position between them. The Adass has a strong presence, but then so does Habonim. The Bundist school, Bialik, teaches Yiddish, and the Lubavitch have an iron grip on orthodox life. (Several shuls have been forced to adopt Lubavitch liturgy when they’ve appointed Lubavitch rabbis, for example, and a unit in the Jewish Studies A Level equivalent is “a study of Chabad”.)

Some renegade orthodox have established a Shira Hadasha shul imitating the radical feminist/egalitarian orthodox prototype Shira Hadasha in Jerusalem.
A huge proportion of young Jews attend Jewish day schools. The 2,000-strong Mount Scopus is a bit JFS-like, while Yeshiva High is more Hasmo. London doesn’t yet have an equivalent to King David, Melbourne’s Progressive Jewish school (about 850 pupils), nor anything quite like the 1,000 strong Bialik. Beis Rivka is the Lubavitch girls’ school which, together with its counterpart boys’ school, accommodates nearly 1,000 children from across the orthodox range. And so on.

They have only one kashrut authority, but every shul is independent and does its own thing. Melbourne’s LimmudOz last year attracted 850 people to its first ever two-day fest of learning Limmud-style and they figure it can only grow. One of the commercial cinemas is to run regular films of Jewish and Israeli interest all through the year because they reckon there’s a viable market. There’s even an eruv which everyone seems to use.

On my visit there last weekend, I was invited, amongst other speaking engagements, to deliver a d’var Torah to the Shabbat afternoon gathering of the Mizrachi shul, a right-of-centre-but-Zionist community whose members take their Judaism sufficiently seriously that the Shabbat afternoon congregation numbered at least 100. I addressed the Jewish principles underpinning Tzedek, the Third World development charity I chair.

When I’d finished, several people thanked me for this “breath of fresh air” or “challenge to our parochialism”. Some said it was helpful to be forced to think about our place in the wider world. And then an astonishing thing happened. When we went back into shul for ma’ariv, the rabbi went into the pulpit and proceeded to try to dismantle all I’d said – very politely but very firmly. He must have spoken for 15 minutes, stressing, for example, that the need to follow justice referred only to justice between Jews. He concluded by accepting that Jews should be an example, but that that was best done by looking after “our own” in an exemplary manner. Others then would be impressed and would look after “‘their own” too. If this were to happen, then there’d be no need for Jews to give to such charities as I had described.

Several people told me afterwards how strongly they disagreed with him, but clearly what he’d said was music to the ears of others.

But I have three questions. How can a learned Jew, especially just before Yom Kippur, when we read about Jonah being forced to prophesy to Nineveh, talk such claptrap about Jews only looking after their own? And, in the wake of, for example, the London bombings, how do we know who is “our own” and who is excluded? And, finally, when all of his congregation buy cheap clothes from the Far East, coffee from Latin America and chocolate from Africa, how does he decide that he’s not inextricably linked with the global community?

But don’t get me wrong. This could have been London as easily as Melbourne. You don’t have to live in a small community to have a small mind, nor live miles away to be far distant from thoughtful understanding.

The photo is not from his talk in Melbourne. I think what Clive has said about Melbourne is spot on. Living in such a tolerant and Jewish-friendly society as we do, I has always bothered me that support for non Jewish causes, particularly the terrible genocide occurring in Darfur, is not given enough attention.

Sharon makes his farewell speech to the Likud

2005-09-16T15:34:00.000+10:00

The left was correct. We cannot rule the Palestinians forever. The right was correct, there is no partner on the Palestinians side. Sharon has realized this. In his “farewell to the Likud speech” he said at the yesterday,

"The right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel does not mean disregarding the rights of others in the land. The Palestinians will always be our neighbors. We respect them, and have no aspirations to rule over them. They are also entitled to freedom and to a national, sovereign existence in a state of their own."

Haaretz described the PM like so. "Sharon was excited, here and there he breathed heavily, and it was clear that he had prepared for the address carefully. For a moment it seemed that it was Yitzhak Rabin, his former commander, standing on the stage, reading one of the peace speeches that Eitan Habber had written for him. The same references to Jerusalem, the Jewish nation's eternal capital. The same apology for choosing the army and war as a way of life, which was forced on him instead of the farmwork he loved. The same call to the Palestinians to work together for peace "for our children and grandchildren."

We read in Isaiah 11:6 that when mashiach comes "The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them." If Sharon is being described as Rabin, Mashiach must be just around the corner.

Final disengagement post

2005-09-12T10:58:00.000+10:00

How do you know when a people are truly one? Try to tear them apart. For a beautiful photos essay on this theme go here.

This is my final blog on the disengagement. Thank you for all of your comments, and thank you for being so respectful to one another here in cyberspace. From here on, I will be looking at new items of global interest from a Jewish perspective. Any suggestions of topics that interest you can be left in the comments section.

Israel 2010

2005-09-05T14:29:00.000+10:00

In Israel 2010, which scenario is most likely?

1) Israel gives Gaza and 95% of the West Bank to the Palestinians in exchange for their dropping the “right of return” for Palestinians who left in 1948 and their families. The Palestinians live prosperously in their secular democratic state with equal rights for all minorities.

2) Gaza becomes “Hamastan.” The terrorist group launches daily rockets attacks into Israel and the PA does nothing to prevent this. There is a thriving arms/drug trade between Egypt and Gaza. The Netanyahu government decides to reoccupy Gaza and rebuild Gush Katif.

3) Gaza is part of a Palestinian sate. The West Bank is annexed to Israel in its entirety where Israel continues to rule over 2.4 million Palestinians. America does not pressure Israel to make further territorial concessions until Palestinian terror attacks on Israel cease.

How Sharon can stay as PM

2005-08-29T09:31:00.000+10:00

This is how the Israelis voted at the last election. There are currently more than the required 61 Knesset members who support Sharon. Yet he is likely to be out of a job in a couple of months. How is that when Israel finally has a very popular PM, his party will most likley get rid of him in favour of Bibi? Gideon Levy has a great idea of how he could stay PM.

A party without a leader seeks a leader without a party. This is the current political reality, and there is only one correct answer: Labor, a party without a leader, will merge with Sharon, a leader without a party. This is the best proposal in the depressing political reality.

According to a survey published in Maariv on Thursday, this is also the most advantageous. No less that 54 percent of those surveyed preferred a new party that would unite Labor, Sharon and Shinui. This party would not ensure a truly new future, but it is the best of the current possibilities.

Labor today is nothing less than a skeletal structure: a system of rotten branches, remnants of renown from the distant past, and a feeble and defeated leadership. Sharon is today a leader with one proven success. Shinui would bring additional voters. It's so simple. In the business world, this would happen rapidly: the takeover of a skeletal corporation by a talented man, transforming it into a profitable company.

So, if it can happen in the business world, why not the political realm. I applaud this creative idea.

The remaining 99.5 percent

2005-08-28T13:33:00.000+10:00

Amira Hass has written a scathing article entitled "The remaining 99.5 percent" about the treatment of the majority of Gaza residents. It is highly critical of the Israeli policy of the past 35 years, which has placed Jewish settlers in the heart of large Palestinian populations. I thought this paragraph was especially harsh on Israel.

What talent it takes to live for 35 years in a flourishing park and splendid villas just 20 meters from overcrowded, suffocated refugee camps. What talent it takes to turn on the sprinklers on the lawns, while just across the way, 20,000 other people are dependent on the distribution of drinking water in tankers; to know that you deserve it, that your government will pave magnificent roads for you and neglect (prior to Oslo, before 1994) to the point of destruction the Palestinian infrastructure. What skill it takes to step out of your well-cared-for greenhouse and walk unmoved past 60-year-old fruit-bearing date trees that are uprooted for you, roads that are blocked for you, homes that are demolished for you, the children who are shelled from helicopters and tanks and buried alongside you, for the sake of the safety of your children and the preservation of your super-rights.

Here is a response to the article from Zev:

Amira Hass will not be let the facts change her love of the Palestinians and her hate for the Israelis.
Yes the Palestinians have lived in tragedy. But this tragedy has been forced on them by their own leaders. That does not make it any less of a tragedy but to put the entire blame on Israel is what I expect from the propaganda of Amira Hass and Haaretz.
Who kept them in the conditions they live in? Where have the billions of dollars gone that were supposed to relieve their situation? Were they in better conditions before the settlements were established on empty sand dunes or did they get better? Why did they remain in those conditions? When did they get electricity and running water? Did their condition get better or worse after Arafat came and the Oslo war started. Will their condition get better now? (I hope so) Did anyone ask them what they really want and were they able to answer without being afraid of being shot? According to the statistics brought in the article, how many Palestinians were killed by other Palestinians.
These are just a few of the questions that I would never expect an honest answer from the likes of Amira Hass.

My view is that Amira has a point, in that many Jews do not feel the pain of the Palestinians in Gaza as they have felt the pain of the 8000 Israelis forced to leave their homes last week. I think that for the peace process to proceed, the Palestinians leadership must take more responsibility for ensuring the best distribution of funds, especially in the coming months as the PA takes control of the entire strip. The Israeli occupation of Gaza is over. The monies received by the PA from the international community must be used to increase the living standard for all Palestinians. Lets all hope they are up to the task. Thank you Amira, for providing food for thought that is difficult to swallow.
Palestinian workers who were not allowed to enter Israel, crowd the barred barrier in the Palestinian area at the Erez Crossing, northern Gaza Strip, Jan. 18, 2004(camera.org)

Disengagement Dilemmas

2005-08-24T17:25:00.000+10:00

There is a Gemara in Pesachim which says "Bechol dor vador, chayav adam..., "In every generation, a person is required to view himself as if he went out of Egypt."

The past week has raised many dilemmas for the average Israeli. Below is a list of some of the many extraordinary situations our fellow Jews have been in. How would you have dealt with these scenarios?

If I were a settler asked to leave my home last week, I would have…

If I were and IDF soldier or policeman, faced with the task of removing settlers from their homes, I would have approached the task by….

If I were a Rabbi over a hesder Yeshiva and had to give instructions to soldiers who disagreed with disengament, I would tell them that….

Being passionatly against the disengament, I would have protested by………

If I were Ariel Sharon, I would have ensured the disengament proceeded smoothly by saying that…..

If I were a holocaust survivor, I would have viewed the use of Nazi parallels by some settlers as….

If I were a Christian Zionist in Australia/USA, watching the disenagment would have made me feel…..

If I were Shimon Peres(Labour) during the disengagement I would have held a rally calling for…….

If I were a Christian Zionist in Australia/USA, watching the disenagment would have made me feel…..

If I was an enviromentalist, hearing that some of the settlers would make the sandunes of Nitzan their new homes would make me feel…

Both Bibi Netanyahu and Natan Sharansky(Likud) were against disengagement. Natan resigned his post six months ago, Bibi resigned two weeks ago. If I were a member of the Likud party, I would have….

Bumper Stickers

2005-08-22T17:45:00.000+10:00

Something that struck me whilst watching the removal of hundreds of settlers from the synagogue at Shirat Hayam last week, was their chant. “Yehudi lo megaresh yehudi” Very moving, yet sad.

Here is a slogan made in response.

And, from the land of bumper stickers, two that echo my sentiments.

"Not all Kippot are orange. We are withdrawing from Gaza and thus securing our home."

"...And thy children shall return to their own border. (Jeremiah, 31, xvii).
We are withdrawing from Gaza and thus securing our home."

To view all stickers, go here. Which do you agree with?

The Dispossessed

2005-08-21T12:36:00.000+10:00

Disengement from Gaza is almost over. Sa Nur and Homesh are up for evacuation next week.

After a long standoff with young settlers in the synagogue of Gush Katif on August 18, Israeli soldiers kissed the ark where the torah is kept.

Elie Wiesel, a professor of humanities at Boston University who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 asks us to imagine:

Let's imagine it, if you will. Let's imagine that, faced with the tears and suffering of the evacuees, the Palestinians had chosen to silence their joy and their pride, rather than to organize military parades with masked fighters, machine guns in hand, shooting in the air as though celebrating a great battlefield victory. Yes, imagine that President Mahmoud Abbas and his colleagues, in advising their followers, extolled moderation, restraint, respect and a little understanding for the Jews who felt themselves struck by an unhappy fate. They would have won general admiration.

I will perhaps be told that when the Palestinians cried at the loss of their homes, few Israelis were moved. That's possible. But how many Israelis rejoiced?

And now, where are we? A lull is imperative. The tears must be allowed to dry and the wounds to heal. Haste, in this delicate moment, is dangerous.

There it is. There it is. Weisel is saying that it is how we emotionally respond to the disengagement that will determine whether it is successful in leading to peace. How did you respond watching the news this week? Do we need a national week of shiva? Ari Shavit:

Gush Katif was a world of its own - a world of work and faith, of patriotic innocence and communal warmth; a world that touches the heart, that was established in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now, as this world is being buried in the sand, Israel must sit shiva for it. For if the entire public does not know how to mourn the death of Gush Katif, its death will poison our lives.

Finally, well done to all the Policeman and Soldiers , particularly IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi, who carried out the disengagement with such restraint and derech eretz.

Reasons for Disengagement according to Ariel

2005-08-17T11:33:00.000+10:00

At this most difficult juncture in the disengament, I think it is important to be reminded of why Isreal is doing this. Below are the reasons for Disengament according to Isreali PM Ariel Sharon. The bold is my words, the quotes are from a Television address to the nation on Monday night 15/8/05.

1) It will reduce daily friction between Palestinainas and Israelis
"We are reducing the daily friction between the victims of both sides"

2)It Will allow Israel to fight terrorism with full force
"The IDF will redeploy in defense lines behind the security fence. Those who continue to fight us will be met by the IDF and the security forces in their full force."

3) It may lead to peace
"The world is waiting for the Palestinian response -- a hand stretched out to peace or the fire of terror." "To an outstretched hand we will respond with an olive branch."

4) It was a mistake to place Jewish settlers in Gaza after the 6-Day-war.
“It is no secret that I, like many others, believed and hoped that we could forever hold on to Netzarim and Kfar Darom. However, the changing reality in this country, in this region, and in the world, required another reassessment and changing of positions.”

5)A Jewish presence in Gaza in unjust to the Palestinains
Gaza cannot be held onto forever. Over one million Palestinians live there, and they double their numbers with every generation. They live in incredibly cramped refugee camps, in poverty and squalor, in hotbeds of ever-increasing hatred, with no hope whatsoever on the horizon.

6)Leaving Gaza unilaterally strengthens Israel
It is out of strength and not weakness that we are taking this step. We tried to reach agreements with the Palestinians which would move the two peoples towards the path of peace. These were crushed against a wall of hatred and fanaticism. The unilateral Disengagement Plan, which I announced approximately two years ago, is the Israeli answer to this reality. This Plan is good for Israel in any future scenario. We are reducing the day-to-day friction and its victims on both sides.

7)It allows Israel to divert its resources and money to more pressing needs
The Disengagement will allow us to look inward. Our national agenda will change. In our economic policy we will be free to turn to closing the social gaps and engaging in a genuine struggle against poverty. We will advance education and increase the personal security of every citizen in the country.

“This act is essential for Israel.
Believe me, the pain I feel with this act
is the full realisation that we must do it"

If I were a soldier...

2005-08-17T11:29:00.000+10:00

If I were an IDF soldier, I would be like this one who played guitar with a protester at the Kissufim crossing this week.
When faced with having to remove a settler from their house, I would sing a sad song with them, reminisce about the times they have spent in the house, and gently escort them to their new homes in Israel.

Evacuation from the Heart

2005-08-17T11:20:00.000+10:00

These IDF soldiers carrying out the disengagement deserve medals. They have shown such compassion, under immense emotional pressure from the settlers to disobey orders. This account from the ABC was indicitave of their high level of morality and love towards the settlers.

MARK WILLACY: Yes, we did actually see a couple of soldiers yesterday who were in tears, they did find it very stressful and very difficult to even talk to the settlers about removing them from their homes.

So there definitely are soldiers within the Israeli army who are very uncomfortable with what they're being told to do.

And I suppose we also saw that the soldiers have taken a very softly-softly approach to the settlers in this settlement of Morag in particular.

When the soldiers were finally allowed to walk through the barricades at the front of the settlement, they walked up to the first house, they knocked on the door, they moved in, they were invited in for tea and coffee and some food, and it took over two hours for these soldiers to issue their first eviction order, because they had to talk to the first resident here; there was a lot of discussion.

So that's how long it took inside the first house, and they're still going here today, and it's not a very big settlement. So it is a process that will take time, and the soldiers are treading very softly indeed.

Amazing. I wish there were more stories describing Tzahal this way. Here is another from the IDF site.

For many years, 'Or' evacuating battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Roni Sari, met with Yaakov Lev every morning. As the commander of the building centre at the Tel Nof IAF base, he never dreamed that one day he would be in charge of evacuating Lev, a citizen who still works for the IDF as a commander in the central economic branch, from his house in Eley Sinai. This week Sari insisted on delivering the evacuation notice personally.

"I will remain here until your good people come to take me out of here" said Lev from his living room in Eley Sinai, to Sari and Major Chai, the Commander of Company 'Gimmel' of the Battalion. "We are here to help you," explained the Company Commander. "I love you," responded Lev with tears. "We came to Eley Sinai with nothing, and it looks like we will be leaving here with nothing." Sari recounted to Lev that: "When they told me I was going to have to evacuate Eley Sinai, I saw your family in my eyes."

Am Yisreal Chai

Colonel Erez Tzukerman

2005-08-16T15:17:00.000+10:00

In the last post you may have noticed an orange and blue ribbon, tied together, reading “we must maintain the connection” in Hebrew.Here is an example of this from the Jerusalem Post:

In an emotional standoff, Colonel Erez Tzukerman, head of the Golani Brigade, hugged and cried together with the settlers of Morag Monday morning in an effort to persuade them to evacuate voluntarily before Wednesday, when the forced evacuation was slated to begin.

“We didn’t come here to clash with you, but to offer assistance and to help you, the people we once protected and worked hand in hand with,” a teary-eyed Tzukerman called out to a crowd of several hundred anti-disengagement activists gathered at the entrance to the southern settlement.

A young man suddenly emerged from the crowd with tears streaming down his face and called out to the senior officer, “I was an officer under your command, you taught me what it was to be an officer and protect the Israeli people. We are not your enemy but you have turned us into your enemy. Just six months ago, I was wearing an army uniform and serving side by side with you.”

Tzukerman then wrapped his arms, in a tight bear hug, around the former subordinate, evoking cries of anguish and sadness from the crowd.

Tzukerman told the crowd that he loved them and that he felt that the settlers of Morag were a part of this nation and always would be. “All of the officers are here and we are together on this day in a display of our love and affection to offer you help and assist you during this difficult time.”

The crowd then broke out singing Hatikva and together with the soldiers sang the national anthem.

I hope the disengagement happens in a way that the whole world can see the strengths of Israel, rather than its weaknesses. To quote Jewlicious
"Let tears be the ultimate protest here."

Lets not disengage

2005-08-16T11:10:00.000+10:00

Lets’s not disengage from one another. Whether you are for or against disengagement, invite someone from the other side for shabbos this week, and share your pain.

If they can unite in Israel, why not in Melbourne. Watch this video. It may just be more effective that tying colored ribbons to your car.