Rabbi Landsberg's Blog

Addendum: Stopover in Asia

Simply forgot to post this piece with the rest.  I'm not even sure I would have been as moved by it before MariVic and Gemma entered our lives [both from the Philippines, MariVic having worked in Israel before coming here], but nonetheless:  Between Manila and Rishon Letzion.  The link is to a series of pieces; scroll down to the last one to read about the way in which the Philippines rescued Jews during the Shoah and how it is being commemorated today.  BTW, the first two pieces in the link are also of great interest; don't overlook them if you have an extra moment.

From Ontario to Tehran with a Stop in Budapest in Between

Not quite around the Jewish world in 80 days, but a few unrelated items of interest from my recent reading:

Firstly, a new piece by Noah Feldman looking at the issue of state funding for culturally specific schools in the U.S., in particular, a Brooklyn school devoted to Arabic language and culture and a Florida school dedicated to Hebrew language and culture.  Although the issues are not quite the same as those on hand here in Ontario, it is worth seeing how it plays out south of the border.  You need to subscribe to the New York Times to access the article, but the subscription is free.  Log in here.  You also may wish to listen to the KCRW To The Point podcast that addressed this issue, which included a debate between Feldman and others about the constitutionality of such schools.  Listen to it here.

Next, a new Jewish icon...Bratz!  Who knew that this somewhat disturbing line of dolls has a Jewish connection?  Brought to you by an Persian Jew in L.A. and starring a Hispanic Jewish teen replete with a loving bubbe in the new movie version, does that make it an appropriate Chanukah gift?  Not necessarily, but it does make it noteworthy for anyone interested in diaspora Jewish culture.  Check out the Forward piece here.

BTW, there is another piece in the NY Times magazine about a different kind of Persian Jewish woman--the author Dalia Sofer.  You can read a short interview with her here.

And lastly, to Budapest.  With the publication of the ADL's report on Anti-Semitism in Europe noting especially high rates in Hungary, The Economist presents an alternative perspective.  Read it here.

Yes, I've got a French Thing...

Most of us noted with great interest the funeral rites for the born Jew, Archbishop and Cardinal Aaron Jean-Marie Lustiger, who passed away on the 5th of August.  Though a controversial figure for some Jews, his deep connectedness with the people of his birth was evident and heartfelt, if frustrating. 

L'havdil: France lost another famous son recently, the former Prime Minister Raymond Barre, over whom no one is reciting kaddish.  Read his obituary in Jewcy entitled "Good Riddance."

For Gilad Shalit on His 21st Birthday

From my colleague Kenneth Stern in New York:

BIRTHDAY CARDS FOR GILAD SHALIT

Gilad Shalit will turn 21 August 28th. This will be his second
birthday spent in captivity (unless there is a sudden change in
circumstances).

Gilad's plight and the despair and anguish of his family move me
deeply. I keep putting myself in their shoes, and I weep (my son is
less than 2 years older than Gilad). Last January, I spent one night
in the Shalits' "tzimmer and I have remained in touch with the family.

Recently I broached the idea of trying to send birthday cards to Gilad
to his father Noam, and Noam has approved of the idea.

So, now I ask all of you to enlist your friends and acquaintances in
trying to send greetings to Gilad for his upcoming birthday.

They may be sent to Gilad in care of:

Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations
United Nations
1st Avenue & 42nd Street
New York, NY 10017

Or

International Federation of the Red Cross
800 Second Avenue
New York NY 10017

Or

Gilad Shalit
Gaza Strip
via Israel


Many thanks for your efforts. U'ma'asei yadeinu ko'n'neihu...

New Shul Marketing Campaign?

1. Read Evidence Suggests.

2. See you tomorrow at minyan. 

Fear and Loathing amongst Reform Teens: A Tribute to DMA

I had read an article recently in The Jewish Week about a mini-rebellion at one of the Reform movement's summer camps, by teens who wanted observances outside of the scope of typical Reform practice to the dismay of Reform leadership.  Fascinating, frustrating reading (here).  Happily, given my procrastination about writing an extended commentary, Emanu-El's own Founding Director of The Centre for Jewish Living and Learning (Dan Mendelsohn Aviv) forwarded me a post from Mah Rabu, a finalist for the Jewish & Israeli Blog Award, whose analysis is acute and a necessary corrective to the simplistic caricatures that define and divide us (here).  Dan simply commented:  hee, hee, hee.  I could not agree more.  Merci beaucoup!

Hello!

So it's been just over a month since I've posted:  three weeks intensive study at the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem with 25 Orthodox, Reform and Conservative colleagues, traveling to Hevron, the Galil and South Tel Aviv and spending as much time as possible talking with Israeli family and friends have certainly given me much to reflect upon.  Yet, in this first pre-Shabbat post, I wanted to catch up on the conversations that have been taking place on this side of the Jewish planet. 

I returned home to relax with a copy of the Sunday New York Times--alas, it was the edition with Noah Feldman's lament (tirade maybe) against his Modern Orthodox high school alma mater's refusal to acknowledge or celebrate his marriage to a non-Jew.  Whether you choose the path of intermarriage or not, we can agree that a rooted personality will not feel the need to defame a community in its entirety.  Feldman makes the preposterous accusation that observant Jewish doctors, for example, only begrudgingly aid non-Jewish patients because of halakha.  He also implies that the Jewish murderers Yigal Amir and Baruch Goldstein are a natural outgrowth of the observant ideology.  It is precisely because Jewish radicalism fueled by a near term messianic theology is such a risk to the Jewish universe that crude slander, like Feldman's, only makes tackling these issues all the more difficult.  Read it for yourself if you have not yet done so (here).  What else to say?  Well, let's see:

Allan Nadler, formerly of Montreal’s Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, cogently reflects on Feldman's unwillingness to acknoweldge a community's right to self definition, in his article "The Death of Genuine Dissent."   Rabbi Norman Lamm, the chancellor and former president of Yeshiva University, berates Feldman for his ungenerous presentation of Jewish law in his letter published in The Forward.  Even Phoebe Maltz who in her blog subtitled "The Best Francophilic Zionism in the Blogosphere" advocates an end to what she calls "the war on intermarriage" critiques Feldman (here).  The conversation is ongoing because the issues it raises are both real and urgent. 

Have fun with your summer reading and Shabbat shalom and it is good to be home.