Jew World Order

Jewish, Muslim Practice Under Fire in San Francisco

2011-07-25T12:14:00.001-07:00

Finally, it’s religious people who are being oppressed by an angry, politically motivated mob, offering their freedoms up to a public vote. After decades of gays and lesbians suffering through second class citizenship and in some cases having their previously obtained rights stripped away, the gayest city in the country is now turning the tables and placing freedom of religion on the ballot. Unfortunately, it’s the wrong religion, ironically targeting the most pro-gay equality major faith in the world, as opposed to targetting the anti-gay conservative Evangelicals, Mormons, and Catholics who are the most destructive forces against gay rights. The proposed San Francisco legislation that would criminalize parents having their sons circumcised is just more anti-Semitic hatred, once again disguised as “human rights.”

If the only people affected by a proposed ban on circumcision were anti-gay religious extremists, the ban would still be immoral, but at least there would be a great irony in such a gay city finally getting back at religion. But most Jews are not Orthodox (the smallest and only anti-gay version of Judaism,) and are actually disproportionally involved in gay rights; plus Conservative and Reform Judaism are leaders in gay-straight equality among the Abrahamic faiths.

The man behind the anti-Jewish ban is Lloyd Schofield (you don’t get any points for guessing he'd be Jewish.) He compares the removal of the foreskin with other religions’ rituals of female circumcision, the barbarous mutilation of a woman’s clitoris that’s designed to remove her pleasure during sex, a brutal act with no male equivalent. Rabbis and imams have invited Schofield to debate circumcision, and he refuses because he knows his claims are ridiculous.

Circumcision is not mutilation of the penis; it’s the simple removal of the foreskin. Medical and science journals prove that circumcision is the second best protection against the transmission of HIV after condoms. The British Medical Journal reports that circumcised men are eight times less likely to contract HIV. It’s been proven that circumcision removes Langerhans cells in the foreskin and reduces the transmission of many other STDs including genital herpes and syphilis, not to mention genital warts. Circumcision reduces cervical cancer in women who have sex with cut men. Circumcised men have 100% immunity from penile cancer.

Beyond health and hygiene, though, circumcision is an ancient practice in both Judaism and Islam. For believing Jews, it’s the most sacred symbol of the covenant between God and Jewish men. And that’s the real reason liberals are trying to ban the practice. Jews in San Francisco could now face up to a year in prison and a fine of $1,000 just for practicing their religion.

Aside from Jews and Muslims who circumcise their sons for largely spiritual and cultural reasons, everyone else is affected too. The above mentioned benefits to circumcision have urged non-Jews and non-Muslims to circumcise their sons, and it's a common practice in the U.S. and increasingly in Europe as well.

A city so world renowned for tolerance should never punish anyone for her religious or cultural beliefs or tell citizens of any faith how to raise their kids. Especially when the practice is not only proven to be not harmful but actually beneficial. If you're against circumcision, practice your freedom of choice on your own sons.

Happy Purim!!! Check Out This Purim Video by Yeshiva Boys

2011-03-11T12:10:00.000-08:00

Everybody have a great Purim and check out this video by a group of Yeshiva University boys. It's really well done and uplifting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgJInVvJSZg

That's actually their second video; the first made a huge splash late last year. It's about Hanukkah. Check it out too!! It's actually even better than the Purim video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSJCSR4MuhU

Rapper Shyne Embraces Order and Discipline in Orthodox Judaism

2010-12-08T10:02:00.000-08:00

It's old news that Drake is Jewish, but this really surprised me. Godfather Buried Alive was among the first music albums I ever reviewed for my school paper. Shyne sounds extraordinarily committed to Hashem, and I'm thrilled that he has found order and discipline in Jewish practice.

November 10, 2010

Rapper Finds Order in Orthodox Judaism in IsraelBy DINA KRAFT
JERUSALEM — The tall man in the velvet fedora and knee-length black jacket with ritual fringes peeking out takes long, swift strides toward the Western Wall. It’s late in the day, and he does not want to miss afternoon prayers at Judaism’s holiest site.

“We have to get there before the sun goes down,” he says, his stare fixed behind a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses, the first clue that this is no ordinary Jerusalem man of God. It’s the rapper Shyne, the Sean Combs protégé who served almost nine years in New York prisons for opening fire in a nightclub in 1999 during an evening out with Mr. Combs and his girlfriend at the time, Jennifer Lopez.

“My entire life screams that I have a Jewish neshama,” he said, using the Hebrew word for soul.

Living as Moses Levi, an Orthodox Jew in Jerusalem (he legally changed his name from Jamaal Barrow), he shuttles between sessions of Talmud study with some of the most religiously stringent rabbis in the city and preparations for a musical comeback.

His transition from troubled adolescent in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, shot at the age of 15, to celebrity gangster rapper turned prisoner turned frequenter of yeshivas, is the latest chapter in a bizarre journey that began with his birth in Belize 32 years ago. He is the son of a lawyer who is now that country’s prime minister and a mother who brought him to the United States and cleaned houses for a living.

“The science of Judaism” as Mr. Levi refers to it, has become his system for living, a lifeline that connects him to God and becoming a better human being. He sees no conflict fusing the hip-hop world with the life of a Torah-observant Jew.

Mr. Levi speaks in the style of the urban streets but combines his slang with Yiddish-accented Hebrew words and references to the “Chumash” (the bound version of the Torah, pronounced khoo-MASH) and “Halacha” (Jewish law, pronounced ha-la-KHAH).

As in: “There’s nothing in the Chumash that says I can’t drive a Lamborghini,” and “nothing in the Halacha about driving the cars I like, about the lifestyle I live.” As a teenager he started reading the Bible, relating to the stories of King David and Moses that he had first heard from his grandmother. At 13 (bar mitzvah age, he notes) he began to identify himself as “an Israelite,” a sensibility reinforced after finding out his great-grandmother was Ethiopian; he likes to wonder aloud whether she might have been Jewish.

He was already praying daily and engaged in his own study of Judaism at the time of his arrest but only became a practicing Jew, celebrating the holidays, keeping kosher and observing the Sabbath under the tutelage of prison rabbis. In Israel, he said, he had undergone a type of pro forma conversion known as “giyur lechumra” (pronounced ghee-YUR le-kchoom-RAH).

On the December night in 1999 that Mr. Levi walked into a Times Square nightclub, he was a 21-year-old enjoying the fruits of his first record deal and the hip-hop high life. The details of what happened inside remain muddled, but after an argument broke out between Mr. Combs, then known as Puff Daddy, and a group in the club, shots were fired, and three people were hurt.

Mr. Combs was charged with gun possession but later cleared in a highly publicized trial. Mr. Levi was sentenced to 10 years in prison for assault, gun possession and reckless endangerment. The police said he fired into the crowd. He maintains he shot in the air to break up the dispute. He would not say whether he took a fall for his former mentor.

“That’s the past, I got so much going on,” he said. “We move on.”

What Mr. Levi has moved on to since being released from prison last year is a life in which he is often up at daybreak, wrapping his arms with the leather straps of tefillin, the ritual boxes containing Torah verses worn by observant Jews for morning prayers. Throughout the day he studies with various strictly Orthodox rabbis.

“What are the laws?” he said, explaining his decision to adhere to the Orthodox level of observance. “I want to know the laws. I don’t want to know the leniencies. I never look for the leniencies because of all of the terrible things I’ve done in my life, all of the mistakes I’ve made.”

On the sprawling stone plaza of the Western Wall, crowded with tourists and worshipers, he clutches a worn prayer book whose leather cover was torn off by prison officials for security reasons.

Here he encounters a group of young Ethiopians singing in Hebrew and Amharic about Jerusalem. For a moment he links arms with them, and together they spin, dancing in concentric circles at dizzying speed.

With him is his local sidekick, a burly and bearded 30-year-old named Eli Goldsmith who used to run nightclubs in London (his uncle is a prominent music promoter) before he too became religious.

Later, with Mr. Goldsmith in the rental car he uses to get around, Mr. Levi sampled tracks from two new albums, “Messiah” and “Gangland,” that are to be released in a joint venture with Def Jam Records. The deal suggests the clout he holds despite not having released an album since 2004. He put the volume on high as he drove through the traffic-clogged roads of an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood.

In songs like “Am I a Sinner?” he casts his spiritual quest as an escape from prison life and pain, with lyrics like, “Look in your soul and you will find vision that you can’t see through the eye.”

Three more albums are scheduled to follow. Touring in the United States remains uncertain; he was deported after his prison release as a felon who does not have citizenship, a ruling he is appealing.

Arriving at a small hummus restaurant, he recited the blessing for bread over a piece of warm pita. With him were two rabbis. Jeffrey Seidel, one of the rabbis, said he been moved by the depth of Mr. Levi’s intellectual curiosity and dedication to Judaism.

Their current focus of study together: Sabbath laws. For Mr. Levi they help explain his attraction to Judaism.

“What I do get is boundaries,” he said. “Definition and form. And that is what Shabbat is. You can’t just do whatever you want to do. You have to set limits for yourself.

“All these rules, rules, rules,” he said with his hand on an open page of the Talmud. “But you know what you have if you don’t have rules? You end up with a bunch of pills in your stomach. When you don’t know when to say when and no one tells you no, you go off the deep.”

-----The New York Times

Tracy Morgan, Susan Sarandon, Other Celebs in Video Supporting American Jewish World Service

2010-11-06T14:14:00.001-07:00

Judd Apatow produced this video endorsing the American Jewish World Service, which is an awesome Jewish charity that helps people in need all over the world. He enlisted some of entertainment's biggest stars (both Jewish and non-Jewish) to spread the message about this terrific non-profit. Watch it!! It's funny and it's for a great cause.

http://ajws.org/

Major Jewish Groups Pledge to Help End Anti-Gay Bullying

2010-10-09T09:49:00.001-07:00

http://www.jewishjournal.com/nation/article/major_jewish_groups_pledge_to_end_glbt_bullying_20101008/

Let's Send a Message to New Jersey's Anti-Gay Jewish Journal

2010-10-05T14:21:00.000-07:00

Avi Smolen and Justin Rosen submitted notice of their nuptials to New Jersey's Jewish Journal, which lists local simchas. This angered a couple of Orthodox rabbis, and--incredibly--the Jewish Journal backtracked like cowards. They apologized to anyone "hurt" by the mentioning of a same-sex wedding and vowed to never repeat this grave error.

The Journal claims to have made this apology after igniting a firestorm among Orthodox Jews; this is strange because, well. . . just take a look at the comments responding to the apology. So many Jews came out to support gay/straight equality and to bash the Jewish Journal for its bigotry that it makes one wonder just which group the JJ will end up giving the final apology to.

It reminds me of the early part of the last decade, when radio personality Laura Schlessinger converted to Orthodox Judaism upon marrying a Jew and immediately caught flack from Jewish people for her anti-gay views. She recieved so much hate mail and so much criticism from organzied Jewish life--including the Federation and an alliance of pro-gay rabbis--that she eventually abandoned Judaism, claiming that apparently Jews care more about gay people than about what the Torah says. (I would certainly hope so, Laura.) Jews successfully drove her out of the religion, and about a month ago she got fired for repeatedly using the "N" word with a black caller.

It's amazing what Jewish people can get accomplished as a community when they are really passionate about something, and gay civil rights seem to rival support for Israel as the issue most Jews can agree on.

This is not a small matter. The New Jersey Jewish Journal (not to be confused with any other Jewish Journal, all of whom are unconnected)is a non-denominational publication read by Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Jews, as well as ethnic Jews with no religion. Orthodox is the SMALLEST branch of Judaism, and it's also the only anti-gay branch. The New Jersey Jewish Journal does not follow Orthodoxy in any other area; they print ads for non-kosher restaurants, clothing stores that mix wool and linen, bar/bat mitzvahs for kids with non-Jewish mothers, and they print marriage notices for Jews with Christian, Muslim, and Hindu spouses. ALL of that is against Orthodox rules, so discrimination against a male couple is not only bigoted,--it's hypocritical. Please let the New Jersey Jewish Journal know how disgusting you find their support for bigots and religious extremists. Even if you're not Jewish, please add your voice. Repairing the world is for everyone.

Natalie Portman on Israel

2010-09-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

Israel is ...

Where I was born. Where I ate my first Popsicle and used a proper toilet for the first time. Where some of my 18-year-old friends spend their nights in bunkers sleeping with their helmets on. Where security guards are the only jobs in surplus. Where deserts bloom and pioneer stories are sentimentalized. Where a thorny, sweet cactus is the symbol of the ideal Israeli. Where immigrating to Israel is called “ascending” and emigrating from Israel is called “descending.” Where my grandparents were not born, but where they were saved.

Where the year passes with the season of olives, of almonds, of dates. Where the transgressive pig or shrimp dish speaks defiantly from a Jerusalem menu. Where, despite substantial exception, secularism is the rule. Where wine is religiously sweet. Where “Arabic homes” is a positive real estate term with no sense of irony. Where there is endless material for dark humor. Where there are countless words for “to bother,” but no single one yet for “to pleasure.” Where laughter is the currency; jokes the religion. Where political parties multiply more quickly than do people. Where to become religious is described as “returning to an answer” and becoming secular “returning to a question.”

Where six citizens have won Nobel prizes in 50 years. Where the first one earned an Olympic gold in 2004 for sailing (an Israeli also won the bronze for judo). Where there is snow two hours north and hamsin (desert wind) two hours south. Where Moses never was allowed to walk, but whose streets we litter. Where the language in which Abraham spoke to Isaac before he was to sacrifice him has been resuscitated to include the words for “sweatshirt” and “schadenfreude” and “chemical warfare” and “press conference.” Where the muezzin chants, and the church bells sound and the shofars cry freely at the Wall. Where the shopkeepers bargain. Where the politicians bargain. Where there will one day be peace but never quiet.

Where I was born; where my insides refuse to abandon.

Amnesty International Alert Regarding Troy Davis: Alert Your Local Media

2010-08-31T11:38:00.001-07:00

http://www.amnestyusa.org/death-penalty/troy-davis-finality-over-fairness/page.do?id=1011343

Muslim Groups Oppose SBC's Plans to Build Mega-Church Near Site of Massacre

2010-08-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

"Enraged," says Ali Hili when asked to describe his feelings in one word. "How can they do this to us? How much more dignity can they strip away from us?"

Hili is referring to the Southern Baptist Convention's plan to build a mega-church complex near the remains of a two-mile stretch of Iraqi land that once contained Iraqi-owned businesses, restaurants, and a day school. In the summer of 2005 when the war in Iraq was raging, this cosmopolitan, mostly secular area--which Iraqis had once proudly touted as the beginning of “a new Middle East”--was completely destroyed by a vigilante group of right-wing Christian U.S. soldiers who claimed to be “reclaiming the Middle East for God.”

These five men—in direct violation of their orders—took matters into their own hands and slaughtered non-combat civilians, including women and children. They entered restaurants and businesses and shot diners and workers in the face. They opened fire on civilians in the streets. Tragically, a bomber pilot calling himself “the 13th disciple” bombed most of the buildings before flying the plane into the Badr Day School, killing himself and hundreds of children and adults.

This savage act of vigilantism was condemned by the United Nations and several human rights groups, and was harshly criticized by President Bush, who said, “While I understand the anger these men felt, I do not endorse what they did. They are distorting the Christian message, which is a message of peace. Christianity is a religion of peace, in fact.”

“It was a massacre,” Hili says. “The streets filled with blood. Parents were searching through the rubble for their sons and daughters for days after [the violence.] That is why [the SBC’s plan for the mega-church] is so surreal.”

The SBC ignited a media firestorm last week when the conservative Christian organization made public its long-gestating plans for a sprawling, ten-million dollar complex near the grounds where the massacre took place—an area many Iraqis now see as a place of sacred sadness. The complex will include what will be the largest church ever built in Iraq, a Christian bookstore, and a McDonald’s, as well as a swimming pool, a gym, and a spa for church-goers to enjoy after sermons and all week long.

Many Iraqis consider the SBC’s plans to be overwhelmingly insulting and inflammatory since it was militant Christians who slaughtered their loved ones.
“It’s outrageous,” says Sadi Hussain. “They are taking sacred ground where thousands of Iraqis were slaughtered by Christian fanatics, and they are building themselves a worship and relaxation center for other Christians! How is this ethical? How is this Christian?”

But Richard Land of the SBC sees it differently. “It’s a way to promote understanding,” Land said in an interview with the New York Times. “Understanding and tolerance. Because, you know. . . we are building the church complex, a lot of Iraqis are upset about it, and they should, you know. . . just tolerate it. That’s what tolerance is all about. Seeing something you think is awful and just looking the other way.”

Land also says there is something more sinister afoot than a mere disagreement. He says critics of the church complex are actually bigots. “It’s pure, unadulterated Christianophobia,” Land told the Wall Street Journal. “The Iraqis who are saying ‘oh please don’t build a church where Christians murdered my sister’ are raving bigots who are driven by the same hatred that fueled Hitler. They are foaming-at-the-mouth lunatics, and I mean, they might as well turn their burquas into Klan hoods. There has been a dramatic increase in Christianophobia over the last few years, with South Park making fun of Jesus and churches being picketed after Proposition 8 passed."

When asked in a phone interview if the complex will only cater to Christians, Land assures us that is not the case. “This will be a place for all Iraqis. Christianity is a universal faith. It is not simply for one ethnicity; we welcome Arabs, Jews, everyone. The message that the Son of God died for our sins is for every ear to hear, and that includes ethnic people who were raised in the wrong faith. Anyone who wants to attend our church, work out with us, swim with us, eat non-hallal and non-kosher McDonald’s food with us is certainly welcome.”

“It’s obscene,” says Haider Faiek of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “My grandson was living in Iraq at the time; he was killed by one of the vigilantes when he was taking an algebra test at school. He just happened to be there when that maniac crashed his plane into [the building.]” Faiek tries to fight back tears, but soon they are streaming down his face. “I miss him so much,” he says, “ and I cannot believe these savages are putting a victory flag over his grave.”

When showed a video of an Iraqi woman begging the SBC to not build the church complex over the place where her twin daughters were murdered, Sarah Taylor of Christianity Today says, “I see her lips moving, but all I hear is ‘I am Hitler and I hate everyone who is not exactly like me.’”

Is Taylor not the least bit touched by the Iraqi woman’s plea? “Not one bit,” Taylor says. “She’s obviously a bigot. I’m not sure she can even be helped at this point. Everyone wants to beat up Mel Gibson for his comments, but they should look at this lady. It’s like she’s reciting Mein Kampf and crying about how beautiful it is.”

Not everyone is upset about the complex. Summer Peterson is a 17-year old girl from San Diego, California, whose family is planning to vacation at the complex next spring. “I can’t wait,” she says, smiling. She shrugs off the controversy. “Anyone who criticizes Christians is a racist. Saying we shouldn’t build this church here is exactly like saying black people should be slaves or Jews should be put in ovens again. The vigilantes are extremists; they were distorting true Christianity. I understand where they’re maybe coming from, but I don’t think it’s right to kill people. But also, what do Iraqis expect to happen when they have governments we don’t like and hold a position on Israel we don’t agree with? That just makes Christian terrorists angry and then they get worked up into too much religious, like, I don’t know. . . fervor?”

Is Peterson worried about the dangers of vacationing in Iraq? “Not at all,” she says quickly. “Think about it. The complex is the safest place there. It’s the one place in Iraq that Christian terrorists and Americans would never bomb.”

Copyright 2010, Eli Jeremiah

James Cameron Blasts Boycotting Israel

2010-07-24T09:27:00.000-07:00

This summer, a gay pride event in Spain disinvited a gay Israeli singer because she is Israeli. It was the Pride organizers' way of protesting Israel's deadly floatilla raid. Needless to say, this is sheer bigotry. It's exactly because of incidents like this that we in the U.S. have anti-discrimination laws based on nationality. Internationally, does that thinking only pertain to those from Arab and Muslim countries? Are we not told ad nauseum how wrong it is to discriminate against Muslims because of the actions of their leaders?

Anti-Israelis and anti-Semites who purport to support Palestinians are resorting to typically unethical means to support their ends. They are intimidating artists, singers, and filmmakers into cancelling tours, shows, and appearances in Israel, as well as pressuring other countries to discriminate against Israeli artists on the basis of their nationality.

Elvis Costello originally declined to cancel his Israeli shows this summer, remarking that it is wrong to punish citizens for government policies you might disagree with, but after harsh intimidation by the Palestinian Solidarity Movement, he changed his tune. The same thing happened with the Pixies. Others, such as Carlos Santana, were all too happy to discriminate and apparently did so without much pressure.

As if strong-arming celebrties were not enough, now the Jew-haters are outright lying. They got a petition to boycott Israeli artists going by forging the signatures of James Cameron and Jane Fonda.

Well, the Terminator/Avatar director is not easily intimidated. He could have taken Fonda's easy way out by simply having his publicist say the signature was a forgery (Fonda has a sordid history of bashing Israelis and then aplogizing for it,) but he did more than that. He blasted the petition's organizers for their deceit and made it clear how he feels about boycotting people because of their nationality. The Jew-haters have once again screwed themselves over by messing with the wrong guy.

http://www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/Entertainment/Article.aspx?id=168521

If they thought Cameron would automatically side with Hamas against Israelis because they see the aliens in Avatar as representing Palestinians, they were sadly mistaken. (And they have a short memory, seeing as how the bad guys in Cameron's True Lies were extremist Muslims.) The natives in Avatar are a peaceful, tolerant group of natives with a culture that honors women as equals, and they are 100% faultless when the U.S. government attacks them and destroys their land. By contrast, the Palestinians freely elected Hamas, an anti-Semitic, anti-gay, terrorist group that trains men, women, and children to engage in suicide bombing and organizes hatred and violence not only against Israelis but also Jews in the U.S. and Europe.

Aside from their own incredibly stupid mistake of electing Hamas, they are also badly mistreated by a reactionary Israeli government, but the Avatar comparisons being bandied about are so demonstrably false they make Palestinians look bad in the harsh light of reality. In the real world, Israel is a currently reactionary government oppressing another right-wing, imperialistic group that is absurdly called leftist. (White supremacists also oppose globalization and corporations, but we do not call them left-wing.) Those who are fair and unbiased see it this way and find fault on both sides. Everyone else--whether they only support Israrelis or only support Arabs--are bigots, plain and simple.

Anti-Israelis will read this and undoubtedly whine that Israeli-supporters try to stifle debate by calling critics anti-Semitic, even though they cry "bigotry" at every turn to stifle debate about Islamic extremism; for instance, it is Israeli-bashers who are smearing as racist anyone who thinks building a mosque near the grounds where Islamic terrorists slaughtered thousands of Americans is inflammatory. In truth, much criticism of Israel is valid; it is only when critics apply anti-Jewish double standards (where are the calls for boycotting China, Syria, and Iran? Or even the U.S.?) and racist abuse ("Zionists killed Michael Jackson") that most of us call them anti-Semitic. When did reasonable debate about Israel devolve into Berekely girls with facial hair screaming that Zionism is equal to Nazism?

Cameron joins a great group of artists in saying no to boycotting Israel, including Natalie Portman, Sacha Baron Cohen, and many others, both Jewish and non-Jewish.

And as for that gay-pride event in Spain disinviting that singer for being Israeli? As much I detest Iran's government, I would never, ever discriminate against an Iranian because of her nationality. That's the difference between me and others who claim to support "tolerance."

Magnolia and The Prince of Egypt: Nice Cinematic Companions to the Passover Hagaddah

2010-03-26T21:44:00.001-07:00

Paul Thomas Anderson is one of our greatest living filmmakers, and Magnolia (New Line Cinema, 1999) is among his finest contributions. Set in California's San Fernando Valley, his tragic, funny, ultimately inspiring epic explores a group of sad-sacks whose lives cross and connect in surprising ways. Tom Cruise plays an ego-maniacal motivational instructor who teaches other men to treat women like shit by manipulating them and using them only for sex. Jason Robards portrays his father, who is dying of cancer. Julianne Moore's character is a drug-addict who married the father for his money and is cheating on him with scores of men. Phillip Seymore Hoffman is the nurse who is going the extra mile to make sure the father's last days are meaningful.

A year before Magnolia graced cinema screens, DreamWorks SKG (then a scrappy upstart) competed against Walt Disney's cartoon empire with what was then the most ambitious non-Disney animated film ever made: The Prince of Egypt (DreamWorks 1998.) A beautiful, moving re-telling of the Passover story, this film caused an enthusiastic Michael Lerner to announce in his Tikkun that year that if DreamWorks never made another film, Prince of Egypt would be enough to justify the mini-studio's existence.

It's daringly dark and harsh, sacrificing the possibility of Happy Meal tie-ins for preserving the story's power. But while it keeps intact much of the Torah account's violence, it makes the liberation of the chosen people universal. In the story-telling hands of executive producers Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen, and Steven Spielberg, God frees the Hebrews not simply because He does not want the Hebrews to be enslaved, but because He does not want ANY people to be enslaved. It's truly a modern Midrash.

Many conservative Evangelicals were perplexed that DreamWorks ended the film's story with the Israelites reaching the promised land, instead of continuing the climax with God's dictation of the Ten Commandments, which would have made the film a remake of the Charlton Heston classic. But they don't realize that Jews celebrate receiving the law at Simchat Torah. Passover is not about law or commandments. It is about deliverance from slavery. Freedom.

In mere days, we will sit at our families' seders and ask why tonight is different from all other nights. It's different because it's the one night we make sure we remember our humble roots. We may be comfortable now, but our ancestors were shit on. Even secular Jews who consider the Passover story to be complete fiction can agree our ancestors were treated worse than animals.

Jews were treated so badly because people are flawed, bigoted, and easily swayed into evil acts. And Jews are among those bad people; no group in the human race is immune. We all fuck up. In the Passover story, people were fucking up. They were enslaving other humans. God got the oppressors' attention with plagues: among those plagues, it rained frogs.

In Magnolia, people are fucking up. They're mistreating each other. Some higher force gets these oppressors' attention by raining frogs down upon them. Just like in the Torah, frogs fall from the heavens onto the earth, causing destruction among the oppressors and sinners. Because of this supernatural event--with its implication that some moral force is working in the universe--, almost everyone in the film changes his or her life. A deeply insecure man who was trying to steal to impress a hot gay bartender turns himself in. The Christian police officer forgives him. The emotionally wounded, sexually abused woman the police officer is falling for finds the courage to confront her monstrous father.

If Judaism is--as I believe it to be--an evolving theology and culture, then both Magnolia and The Prince of Egypt serve as modern Midrash. While the latter retells Exodus with renewed emphasis on the story's humanity, the former takes a Passover motif and uses it as a grand, spiritually transcendent epiphany for the troubled souls we spent nearly three hours with. It's cleansing and healing, morally sound and liberating.

And unlike the Charlton Heston version, the characters in Prince of Egypt actually look Jewish (before intermarriage) and Egyptian, with dark skin color and Middle Eastern features. And the scene in which God rolls back the Red Sea to drown the army is depicted as a somber event, bringing to mind the midrash about God asking the Hebrews why they are celebrating when He has just had to kill His precious children. Not to mention the film ends with scriptures from the Torah, New Testament, and Qu'ran.

Enjoy the films, and Happy Pesach!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBgV0DK_FP4&feature=player_embedded

Passover: None of Us is Free Until All of Us Are Free

2010-03-17T16:28:00.000-07:00

My rabbi wrote this on our synagogue's Facebook page next to a picture of Manisheweitz matzoh meal: "This is not an endorsement of any particular brand of matzoh; it's simply a gentle reminder that the season of liberation is upon us. The most important issue is drilling down to the bedrock message of the Passover story: tyrany and oppression are offensive to God and must be forcefully opposed and overturned. None of us is free until all of us are free."

Pesach is my favorite Jewish holiday because it is both somber and joyous, and those two feelings come full circle at the seder. We remember with sadness the ancient Hebrews who toiled as slaves at the hands of a cruel government.

We celebrate their liberation. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel says that after G-d's deliverance of the Israelites, "an allusion to the need for every man's own quest for God was seen homiletically in the Song of the Red Sea:

"This is my G-d, and I will glorify Him;
The G-d of my father, and I will exalt Him."

For thousands of years since the Hebrew exodus, Jews have suffered the oppression of cruel leaders time and again, through ethnic/religious discrimination, forced emigration, and genocide. Today our position in the world is better than ever. We are seen as an influential, powerful ethnic group with a vibrant culture and have contributed mightily as architects of the world.

The most recent Out Magazine says, "Without the Jews, much of 20th century culture would look very different, and we'll never know what future geniuses were lost to us in the ovens of Auschwitz."

There is still a great deal of anti-Semitism in the world. But like I always say, we should balance that awful knowledge with the equally valid point that Jews are popular. For every racist loser tweeting about "the Jewish lobby" from his parent's basement, there are countless others who support us. Most of my friends are enthusiastically interested in my religion and heritage, especially Muslims and Christians.

Aside from the ever-present hatred of Jews in some quarters, we lead much more comfortable lives than our parents did. Today, gay is the new Jewish. Mexican is the new Jewish. "None of us is free until all of us are free." That means we will not truly be free until gays are granted equal rights, until state governments stop separating immigrants from their families, until becoming an American citizen is as easy as owning a lethal firearm, until countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Uganda stop murdering/imprisoning their own gay citizens, until Israel stops war-mongering in the name of self-defense, until Palestinians have their own state.

Somber, joyous; symbolic, practical. And that's just the seder. The first night of Passover really is different from all other nights.

Response to "Why Are Jews Liberals?"

2010-03-03T13:02:00.000-08:00

The old saying is that Jews earn like Episcopalians but vote like Puerto Ricans.

Or. . .

"Whatever the promptings of their economic interests," Jews have consistently supported "increased government spending, expanded benefits to the poor and lower classes, greater regulations on business, and the power of organized labor." So says economist Nathan Glazer when touching on a certain political phenomenon that apparently has no shelf life: Jewish liberalism.

Almost half a century after Martin Luther King, Jr. thanked Jewish Americans for their disproportionate numbers in the fight for black civil rights, U.S. Jews are still a noticeable presence in progressive political life, from the ranks of regular liberal Democrats to the likes of Chomsky and the late Howard Zinn. Even many of the harshest critics of Israel's occupation are Jewish. And it's not just irreligious, secular Jews. Reform and Conservative Judaism were among the first major religious sects to ordain female and gay clergy, and the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Theological Seminary support gay/straight equality, immigrants' rights, and labor unions.

Conservative Norman Podrohtz (along with the Jewish founders of neo-conservatism) hoped Jewish support for Democrats would end with the nomination of Barack Obama. A shady campaign was launched to convince Jews that Obama was a secret Muslim who wants to wipe out Israel. They desperately tried to scare Jews by constantly pointing out Obama's middle name. Conservatives were convinced Jews would vote Republican for the first time.

This wishful thinking caused MSNBC's Rachel Maddow to point out how ridiculous the idea of Jews voting for McCain in large numbers was, and that it obviously was not going to happen. Indeed, to Podrohtz's chagrin, 75% of Jewish voters supported Obama, more than any other religious group and more than any ethnic group other than black voters.

This frustrated Podrohtz and the few other Jewish conservatives (as well as others who are also perplexed by Jewish liberalism.) So he wrote "Why Are Jews Liberals?," an article for the Wall Street Journal, which became a book around the same time (Why Are Jews Liberals?, Doubleday, 2009.) The main thesis is this: Jews are liberals, Jews should not be liberals, and it is a mystery why Jews are liberals.

In the book and article, Podrohtz details the long, sordid history of Jewish liberalism, culminating in the presidency of Barack Hussein Obama, who--Podrohtz never bothers to point out--is actually out of step with most rabbis on health care reform and gay rights. And that's really the cruz of the problem with Podrohtz's thesis. Jewish liberalism cannot be described as mysterious or as blindly toeing the party line if most Jews prefer universal health care coverage to Obama's plan, or straight/gay equality to second-class citizenship. Maybe Jews are liberals because liberalism better suits their beliefs than conservatism.

Podrohtz distorts history by painting a rosy view of how Americans treated Jews who came to this country looking to make a better life. He claims that because of America's Christian heritage, the land of the free was a safe haven for Jews who share many of the same sacred scriptures and therefore the same values. Actually, Jews were treated with persecution in the U.S., and the discrimination they faced probably helped lead Jews to vote Democrat along with other minorities.

There were signs on restaurants saying "No Coloreds or Jews." Jewish people had a hard time finding work because so many help wanted ads read "Gentiles Only" or "Only Christians Need Apply." Universities kept Jewish students out with quotas. Normal ways of living were so difficult for Jewish Americans that many of them helped build the film industry (no surprise to racists) and became athletes (big surprise to racists.) Far from providing a safe haven, the U.S. ensured a Jewish future of nose-jobs and name changes.

Podrohtz echoes the sentiments of many white supremacists by saying liberal Jews are attempting to thwart old-fashioned values in the name of progress. But what old-fashioned values are Jews trying to thwart? Disowning daughters who get abortions? Sending gay kids to creepy Evangelical camps to make them "straight?"

Podrohtz says, "Most American Jews sincerely believe that their liberalism, together with their commitment to the Democratic Party as its main political vehicle, stems from the teachings of Judaism and reflects the heritage of "Jewish values." But if this theory were valid, the Orthodox would be the most liberal sector of the Jewish community. After all, it is they who are most familiar with the Jewish religious tradition and who shape their lives around its commandments." He then goes on to say Orthodox Jews mostly vote for Republican candidates.

Just because Orthodox Jews follow halakha to the letter does not mean they are more "familiar with the Jewish religious tradition." I am very well versed in halakha; I simply agree with Abraham Joshua Heschel that Judaism does not equal law. The Tanakh is important to my faith because of the beauty of the Psalms and the wisdom of many of the laws--not to mention an astonishing concern for the poor and oppressed that religious conservatives must be overlooking. But I am a smart, educated Jewish guy living in 2010, and if I choose to drive my car on Friday nights or to have sex with a boyfriend, it's not because I'm ignorant of the prohibitions to not do these things.

That's what Podrohtz does not understand. Religious Jews who didn't give a fuck that Obama's middle name is Hussein can point to Hashem's commandment to look out for the oppressed because we Jews were oppressed in Egypt. And secular Jews like Chomsky can point out the torrent of abuse Jews faced in the U.S. not very long ago.

Podrohtz can keep going to brunch with the famous conservative in this conversation.

PHIL DONAHUE: Let me just tell you. He accuses you, among other things, of being an anti-Semite.

ANN COULTER: Maybe that will help me with the Muslims.

DONAHUE: He says that you left New York because you wanted to get away from all these Jews. Did you say that?

COULTER: I find this very interesting, that I write a book saying liberals won't argue about things, instead what they do is call conservatives names. And I come on your show and all you're doing is calling me names.

Why are Jews liberals? It's a mystery.

Gay Jewish Spiritual Retreat

2010-03-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

announcement from Justin Spiro's Facebook Gay Jews shabbat message. None of the following words are my own, but I hope everyone who wants to go gets a chance. Non-Jewish partners are welcome.

The First Annual Nehirim Men’s Retreat
March 5-7, 2010
Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center
Falls Village, CT

Registration for Nehirim’s Men’s Retreat 2010 is now open. www.nehirim.org

The First Annual Nehirim Men’s Retreat is a weekend of community and spirituality for queer Jewish men. We are the nice Jewish boys your mother warned you about. We are sexual and spiritual, proud to be queer and proud to be Jewish. Our retreat is open to all self-identified men, and features workshops, pluralistic services, outdoor activities, and indoor activities. Our presenters include playwright Dan Fishback, performance artist Amichai Lau-Lavie, Israeli writer Gideon Litchfield, adult film star Mike Dreyden, Rabbi Jacob Staub, Jay Michaelson, and more.

The Second Annual Nehirim Women’s Retreat
March 12-14, 2010
Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center
Falls Village, CT

Registration for Nehirim’s Women’s Retreat 2010 is now open!
Visit www.nehirim.org

Join us for a weekend of rejuvenation, community, and fun…

Explore and refresh your relationship to Judaism and Jewish community in a warm, pluralistic and respectful setting.

Connect with 100 lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer Jewish women: families and singles, students and seniors, frum and secular — there are people like you at Nehirim! (Children and non-Jewish partners welcome.)

Daven and learn with scholars like Rabbi Jill Hammer & Professor Joy Ladin.

Nourish your body with delicious organic, kosher food.

Move with Jewish yoga innovator Myriam Klotz, and open your heart with Nehirim teachers Chani Getter, Becky Emet & Shoshana Jedwab, or just …

The Jewish Non-Terrorist

2010-01-28T13:31:00.000-08:00

A Southern flight attendant assumed a passenger on a flight to Louisville, Kentucky was a terrorist because he was wearing a kippah and praying in Hebrew with tefillin.

The media is acting as though this is a non-issue; they say the boy was extremely cooperative, and once the pilot and crew realized the passenger was a Jewish boy praying and that tefillin are for prayer purposes and not bombs, everything was fine.

But it took police taking him into custody and questioning him to find this out. The FBI questioned nearly everyone on the plane, and some people had their flights cancelled. Seemingly, the passengers were not scared of the suspected "terrorist;" they were annoyed by the employees. None of the flight attendants asked him what he was doing or requested to look at the tefillin.

A passenger on the plane who sat next to the Jewish boy told the website Jewcy, "There was no problem with [the Jewish passenger] at all." He also said the flight attendant didn't understand the Jewish faith and reported the "suspicious activity" out of anti-Semitic bias.

So instead of just being worried about real terrorists, we can now also worry about being suspected of being terrorists ourselves, just for belonging to the people Osama bin Laden hates above all others.

Haiti Devastation: Israelis and Diasporan Jews Help Save Lives

2010-01-21T14:51:00.000-08:00

On January 12, massive earthquakes devasted Haiti, killing thousands of people.

Two friends from my synagogue, Ben Portman and Jacob Klein, actually flew to Haiti to help out with relief aid. I want to point out their mitzvah on this site. They're amazing guys.

My Sabra friend Isaac Cohen is helping with the IDF and a group of non-profit Israeli doctors, and their country is getting a ton of good notice. In fact, Israelis are being remarkably effective.

According to CNN, Israel, Argentina, Russia, Portugal, and Turkey are sending hospitals constantly. "6-year old Jessica Hartelin was pulled from the rubble by local residents and rushed to a field hospital set up by Israelis at a Port-au-Prince soccer field."

"I'm just amazed," one CNN reporter said. "This [Israeli] makeshift hospital is like another world compared to the other [makeshift] hospital. According to The Forward, the reporter asked how it could be that the United States did not set up a hospital in Haiti while "the Israelis came fromm the other side of the world."

It's always nice to see our own people doing good in the world (along with members of practically every other religion and nationality,) but that's not the only reason to point out Jewish and Israeli Good Samaritans. It's also important for Jews to know their hard-earned money is actually going towards something effective when they support Jewish and Israeli charities.

Here are some of the best Jewish groups doing relief aid work in Haiti at this moment.

http://www.wjr.org.uk/appeals/646-Haiti-Emergency-Earthquake-appeal

http://www.jdc.org/about-jdc/crisis-response.aspx?id=4028

Also check out this Israeli group with whom my friend Isaac is working.

http://www.afmda.org/

Finally, it's so easy to donate to the American Red Cross. Just text HAITI to 90999 and a ten dollar donation will be added to your phone bill (with most carriers.)

Yesterday at Work, Or Why I Fucking Hate Tyra Banks

2010-01-19T09:32:00.000-08:00

I had to walk through the break room at work yesterday, and there were quite a few people there. Tyra Banks' tacky, awful show was on, and everyone was paying close attention, because Tyra was hosting an episode-long debate about gay people. Not gay marriage. Gay people, in general.

Given the inappropriate format and Tyra's almost hilarious unprofessionalism, it would have been bad enough if she and her producers had booked homophobic bigots of the Bush/Palin/Obama variety--the kind that has nooooooo problem with gay people but think they should be second class citizens without equal rights. But apparently the folks at her Bankable Productions aren't even up to speed with the GOP.

Marriage was barely an issue. It was more like a Klan rally. The antagonists were foaming-at-the mouth religious extremists who call being gay "a disease" and "sick" and "immoral." They were screaming and snarling. Really hot gay guys were reduced to tears and couldn't even make their arguments through their sobs. And at the center of it all was the brainless moron of a host--completely unqualified to deal with the circus she had started.

And she ended the show by saying she "respects both sides" and wishes they could show each other "empathy." Both sides!! As if they were Israelis and Palistinians, as if they both had valid points, as if their story was complicated.

It was unsettling going back to work after sharing this weird spectacle with my co-workers, not all of whom can be described as "gay-friendly" or "accepting" or "normal." Thanks, Tyra.

Please Help Gay Rights in Uganda

2010-01-14T11:49:00.000-08:00

If this passes, it will be among the most vicious anti-gay legislation in the world. Please help.

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=13583&ICID=E1001A01&tr=y&auid=5801232

Response to Ami G

2010-01-05T09:53:00.000-08:00

Ami G. said...
I'm an orthodox jew and I don't follow Judaism blindly....

I think that the problem with the gay community is that they don't understand that just because they have homosexual attractions and tendencies does not mean that homosexuality is a way of life and should be legitimized by the rabbis/Judaism.

If I'm a kleptomaniac for instance, I can't control myself from stealing. Maybe the rabbis should find a way to make that permissible. I mean, times are changing! People are stealing all over! Especially in the Jewish community! Look how many Jews have been caught! Rabbis are money-laundering in so many synagogues and yeshivas! Bernie Maddof, Crazy Eddie (Eddie Antar), and many more!

So why can't the Orthodox community allow me to steal and accept me for who I am?January 4, 2010 8:47 AM

Ami G. said...
**PLEASE NOTE: What I've said in my previous comment was meant with utmost respect and compassion to you and the entire gay community. I am merely trying to make a point NOT in any way shape or form have I intended to poke fun at, degrade, brlittle, or criticise you or any gay person.
January 4, 2010 8:54 AM

capecodkwassa said...
Quote: "I think that the problem with the gay community is that they don't understand that just because they have homosexual attractions and tendencies does not mean that homosexuality is a way of life. . . "
Okay, so. . . just because you, Ami G, are attracted to girls doesn't mean your heterosexuality is a way of life. See how incorrect that is? Of course your sexual orientation is a way of life.

Sexual orientation is not a series of "attractions and tendencies;" you're either gay, straight, or in some cases bi.

Your comparison of sexual orientation with kelptomania is silly. You, Ami G, could change your name and live life as a gentile. Any bigot could compare your heritage with an inclination to steal. In fact, Messianic "Jews" and Jews For Jesus make a case for abandoning Judaism for J.C. that sounds eerily similar to what you're offering me.

Prejudiced Orthodox Jews like you are forcing fellow Orthodox Jews into a sad choice: to either abandon their reilgion altogether or to marry someone of the opposite sex, despite being gay.

You would be schocked at how many frum Jews (and other gay religious people) are in deceitful, sham marriages and seek out sex with others in the same position. Since it's 2010, these gay Jews (and Christians, Muslims, and Hindus) only have themselves to blame. They are adults who should be able to make the moral decision to live an honest life. But people like you ARE creating the hateful atmosphere that presents them with this choice to begin with.

Quote: "**PLEASE NOTE: What I've said in my previous comment was meant with utmost respect and compassion to you and the entire gay community. I am merely trying to make a point NOT in any way shape or form have I intended to poke fun at, degrade, brlittle, or criticise you or any gay person."
Softening your bigotry by pairing it with the pseudo-compassionate lingo of the religious doesn't work. Sorry.

Who is a Jew?: British Court Weighs in on Jewish Identity

2009-12-31T11:28:00.000-08:00

In a surprising victory for non-Orthodox Jews, a British court has weighed in on an ancient Jewish debate: who is a Jew?

A twelve year-old Jewish boy who obtains his heritage from his father (a kosher-keeping, observant Jew) applied to North London's Jews' Free School, an exclusive, attractive Orthodox school that denies many applicants. Unfortunately, the school uses the classist Orthodox criteria for deciding who is Jewish. In their view, a Jew is someone who has a Jewish mother or who converts to Orthodox Judaism. Anyone else is a non-Jew. In this view, a Jew with a last name like Cohen who has had a bar mitzvah, has made aliyah to Israel, who keeps kosher, goes to synagogue, who has been told all his life he "looks Jewish", would be considered goyim if his mother is not Jewish.

The London school took a look at the 12 year-old Jewish boy's identity and ignored the fact that he is ethnically Jewish and therefore should not have to convert. The school heads found out that his mother converted through a Progressive temple instead of through Orthodoxy and decided the boy is not Jewish.

His family sued the school, they lost the case, but a British Court of Appeal overturned the ruling this summer. They said the school was discriminating and that whether their rationale was "benign or malignant, theological or supremacist, makes it no less and no more unlawful" ("Who Is a Jew? Court Ruling in Britain Raises Question", Sarah Lyall.)

Much of the Catholic community is supporting the Orthodox Jews outraged by the court's decision, and now so are many Muslims and Protestants. They see this as a scary precedent in which religious institutions are not allowed to make their own rules. To them, this is a slippery slope that could lead to outlawing disrimination against gays and other infidels.

The media, of course, are getting this story all wrong, and in doing so are granting implicit support to these religious fundamentalists. Sarah Lyall of The New York Times echoes the incorrect statement made by many news sources as well as the court that the school was using ethnicity as a criteria, and that opposers of the school's policy are using observance.

That simplistic, reductive observation may make the debate smoother, but the truth is more complicated. The New York Times says, "the court ruled that it was an ethnic test because it concerned the status of M's [the boy's] mother rather than whether he considered himself Jewish and practiced Judaism."

That is incorrect. What sort of ethnicity is only inherited through the mother? Anyone can claim to be Jewish and even practice whatever she wants. That does not mean she is Jewish, and that certainly does not mean she should be granted access to an exclusvie Jewish school that actual Jews compete to get into. "Jewish" describes an ethnicity and a religion. If one is not born Jewish but wishes to be a member of the religion, she must go through a conversion. That is fine. The school parts with common sense when they say a boy with a Jewish father must convert as if he were a non-Jew. The school is discriminating because of a hateful religious rule that dishonors patrilineal descent; it has nothing to do with ethnocentricism.

The boy in this case is Jewish because he is. His father is Jewish. End of story. It should not matter what branch of Judaism his mother converted to. Orthodoxy's crtieria for deciding who is Jewish is not just heartless--it's stupid and factually incorrect. Jewish girls are reminded periodically by the media to get tested for breast cancer more often than other girls because Jewish women are more likely to get this disease. Should a girl who inherits her Jewishness from her father not bother with this extra precaution? That would be a bad idea, because nature disagrees with Orthodoxy on who is Jewish.

The school is wrong. And in a way, the court is wrong too. They made the right decision for the wrong reason. The school is not making ethnicity an issue; I am. I am the one saying ethnicity should play a role in this debate. Those of us Jews who oppose the school are saying it's time patrilineal descent is recognized by Orthodoxy. The school is on the same side of "the new antisemites," those who say Jewish identity is only religious and that Jews are not a people--not an ethnicity--and therefore have no claim to their ancestral homeland.

Once again, strange bedfellows.

Religious Preference Vs. Orientation/Ethnicity

2009-11-24T11:39:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year, President Obama invited anti-gay megachurch pastor Rick Warren to pray at the inaugural White House invocation, much to the chagrin of gay-rights supporters. Don't worry--I'm not debating a year-old subject. I want to share a piece by an Orthodox rabbi, Brad Hirschfield, written on Beliefnet shortly after Obama's announcement.

Here is the (not so good) rabbi:

The comments to yesterday's post supporting President-elect Obama's choice of Rev. Rick Warren to offer the inaugural invocation have been fascinating. Some go so far as to suggest that my position is a function of my being a Jew.

A commenter identified as Rob the Rev writes: "Gee Rabbi, would you be so happy about the choice of Warren if he had made anti-semetic remarks about Jewish people? Hmmmmmmmm.....?"

Aside from the smarmy tone which I could live without, and find a little, dare I say "un-Christian, from someone claiming to be a minister, it's an interesting question. The fact is, Rick Warren has the same stance on Jews that he has about gay people i.e. we are living in sin, falling short of God's will and cannot get into Heaven. Actually, Rev. Warren may not believe the later about Gays, but he certainly does about Jews. I was in the room with him when he said it!
So the short answer to your question Rob is, "yes". But what's more telling is that you equate hating Jews with disapproving of homosexuality. I accept that some Christians relate to my Jewishness as "missing the boat" on God's word, just as they think that gay people have. I don't agree with them, but I hardly think that they are motivated by the kind of enduring hatred which defines genuine anti-Semitism.

Like most people in our society, Rob confuses disagreement with hatred. They are simply not the same. And as wrong as I believe Rick Warren was in dealing with Proposition 8, assuming he was motivated by hatred is actually a hateful act - one, that no matter how much inclusivity it dresses itself up in, is as absolutist in its demands of the theological right as they are of the left.

Rabbi Hirschfield is proof that one can be an extremist moderate. Almost everything he writes is maddeningly middle-of-the-road and devoid of any real moral values. It's coldly calculated to appeal to as many people as possible. 'Hey, don't blame me,' the not-so-good rabbi says. 'I didn't vote for Prop 8. But I also don't think Rick Warren is anti-gay just because he uses his influence to keep gays second-class citizens.'

So it's pussy, moderate bullshit--the purest, most egrecious example of what it means to be P.C. But more importantly, it's just plain wrong. Take another look at this section, which could serve as Hirschfield's thesis.

Quote: "The fact is, Rick Warren has the same stance on Jews that he has about gay people i.e. we are living in sin, falling short of God's will and cannot get into Heaven. Actually, Rev. Warren may not believe the later about Gays, but he certainly does about Jews. I was in the room with him when he said it!/strong>

Rabbi Hirschfield is being deceitful. In order to make Warren's stance on gays the anti-Jewish equivalent, Warren would have to say Jews are going to hell for their ethnicity--something they have no choice in. But Warren does NOT say Jews are going to hell. He says Jews who believe in Judaism are going to hell. Warren--like most conservative evangelicals--believes Jesus is the only path to eternal life in heaven. Anyone who believes in Judaism, Islam, or Hinduism on their death bed will go to hell.

Personally, I think that's a terrible, primitive belief, and it's one of a thousand reasons I do not belong to Rick Warren's church or share his views. But it's not the same thing as racism or homophobia. Publicly saying someone will go to hell for her religious beliefs is uncivilized and rude, but it's not the same thing as saying someone will go to hell for something she has no choice in.

I am ethnically Jewish and nothing I do can ever change that. I could change my name, get a nose job, bleach my hair and I'll still be a Jewish guy. Saying I'm doomed to an eternity in hell for my ethnicity is horrible and racist. Likewise, I am gay and nothing I do can change that. I can make the same poor choices made by many gay people in Rick Warren's religion and in Rabbi Hirschfield's religion and marry a woman while telling the world God helped me become straight, but that would be a a lie and I would still be gay. Saying I am going to hell or should be a second-class citizen for being gay is no different from saying those things about my ethnicity.

But my faith is my choice. I'm not some pussy who's going to run to the ACLU because Rick Warren thinks I've missed the boat on the whole Jesus thing and that my synagogue membership is my ticket to Hades. On the contrary, that is empowering to me!! I'm proud to practice Judaism. I talk about it constantly, I wear a star of David, I deck out my apartment with menorahs and flags. I have my own view of God and it sure as hell doesn't include Jesus, and the fact that I'm in the minority doesn't make me the least bit insecure. If you think I'm going to hell for that, I couldn't care less.

But anyone can see I'm making the choice to practice Judaism, whereas I'm not making a choice to be ethnically Jewish or gay. I think even Rabbi Hirschfield realizes that difference. I think that if Rick Warren ever said all Jews are going to hell because of their ethnicity--regardless of what they believe about Jesus--Rabbi Hirshfield would reconsider Warren's place at Obama's inauguration.

And since Hirschfield is so proud to defend a minister who says religious Jews are going to hell, I will take this even further. I think Hirschfield would reconsider Warren's place at the inauguration if Warren felt that since marriage is a Christian institution Jews should be barred from marrying. I think he's purposefully muddying the waters to make a political point, which is what extremists do. Strange behavior for a so-called moderate.

No Peace For Israelis and Palestinians Until Netanyahu is Gone

2009-10-27T13:15:00.000-07:00
Israelis must overthrow Benjamin Netanyahu. Some on the right say he is Israel's first real hope for peace, but a quick look at his record and stated beliefs betray a virulent, ultra right-wing, colonialist worldview that makes him the Israeli equivalent to Hamas leaders. His supposed "call for peace" last summer was a thinly veiled justification for eternal domination over the Palestinian people.

Throughout his speech, Netanyahu acted as if Palestinians are unwelcome nuisances in the land they are just as entitled to as Jewish people. He then "offered" (there was no real offer) Palestinian statehood in which its citizens would have no actual sovereignty or independence.

Netanyahu said, "The territory in Palestinian hands must be demilitarised--in other words, without an army, without control of airspace and with effective security safeguards."

What Netanyahu is pretending to offer is not a state--it's a cage. Its not sovereignty--it's imprisonment. There is every reason for Israel to demand that a Palestinian state not terrorize Israelis, and for Palestine to demand that Israel not terrorize Palestine. But it is absurd and immoral to demand that Palestinians not have their own defense forces.

Since that speech, Netanyahu has announced he will not freeze settlements or expansionsim, which he calls "natural." He has broken promise after promise made to the United States that he will end colonialism. He is very much supported by the Israeli right, and he obviously has no intention of changing Israel's course.

But until change does occur, there will be no real peace for Israelis or Palestinians. Palestinians will continue to be oppressed by an illegal occupation, and Israelis in certain cities will continue to live in fear of murderous terrorists.

Diasporan Jews must let their voices and opinions be heard. I do not let Rosie O' Donnell speak for me as a liberal, and I will not allow AIPAC to speak for me as a Zionist. We should be as on-gurad in our criticism of Israel's current regime and of their occupation as we are when dealing with American antisemitism. Let's support dovish Zionist groups that are pro-Palestinian as well as pro-Israeli.

What's at stake is nothing less than Middle Eastern lives.

Tikkun Olam in the New Year

2009-09-19T12:19:00.000-07:00
Here's hoping everyone has a great new year, filled not only with happiness but with the necessary steps towards being better people--more generous, compassionate, and sweet-spirited.

As we celebrate the new year and prepare for Yom Kippur, our thoughts are on atonement. But atonement is empty without a renewed effort to do better. One of the ways we can do better is to focus on reparing this damaged world. There are many ways to perform tikkun olam, but I know I am going to spend the upcoming year being more proactive in helping my friends and family members.

The worst thing about American culture is the blind pursuit of individual wealth and material goods, especially when we are equally blind to the struggles of the friends we spend time with. We ALL are just a few set-backs from being in some sort of trouble--whether it be financial or health-related or spiritual. Capitalism forces people to focus on the self and pass judgement on others.

Living a Jewish life should help us overcome that tendancy.

Rabbi Milton Steinberg writes, "Are men brothers, owing one another fraternal solicitude? Then let a tithe be taken up for the indigent; the needy may lawfully claim for their own the corners of fields, the gleanings, and anything overlooked in the harvesting. Therefore, too, anyone who requires it may enter a field and eat, save that he may carry nothing away. Hence also the accepting of interest is prohibited, nor may a millstone or cloak be taken as security for a loan.

Are the world's goods a trust imparted by God to mankind? Then, loans shall be cancelled every seventh year so that no one may forever be sunk in debt; and bondsman may not, except at his explicit request, be indentured for more than six years; nor may the land be sold in perpetuity but shall be returned every fifty years to the descendants of its original owners so that the impoverished may have fresh access to the soil from which they have been dispossessed."

Rabbi Steinberg continues, "On the evidence of the past and of the modern rabbinate, Judaism stands these days:

For the fullest freedom, political, economic, and social, for every individual and group, which includes among other things, maximal civil liberties, trade unionism, the equality of all.
For the social use of wealth, though whether this involves social ownership and if so to what extent is disputed among contemporary interpreters of Judaism.
For a society based on cooperation as its root rule rather than competition.
For international peace guaranteed by a world government, the notion of the absolute sovereignty of the national state having always been an obscenity in they eyes of the [Jewish] Tradition."

Rabbi Steinberg was one of Judaism's greatest rabbis. Like I said, there are many ways to perform tikkun olam in the coming new year; let's allow the good rabbi's interpretation of the Jewish way of life to seep into our consciousness and help repair the world.

Shana Tova!!

(Basic Judaism, Rabbi Milton Steinberg. Harvest; San Diego, New York, London 1947.)

Gentiles For Yarmulkes

2009-09-08T15:24:00.000-07:00
(Some Jews belong to different, non-Jewish religions, including Christianity. Just as Irish people do not necessarily have to be Catholic and Arabs do not have to be Muslim, ethnic Jews are still Jews even if they're Christians. This essay has NOTHING to do with these people.)

Gentiles For Yarmulkes

I live in the midwest, so I'm accustomed to seeing Nordic or Anglo-Saxon looking people inexplicably wearing a kippah and filing into Whole Foods' deli to pick up some Middle Eastern dish they cannot pronounce. They cover their heads. They keep kosher. They pray the shema. And they're not Jewish.

Sometimes if I'm unsure whether I'm looking at a fake Jew or the real thing, there are a few questions that usually seperate the Chosen from the wannabe's. "I like your kippah" is a much better statement than "I like your yarmulke," since "yarmulke" is the word usually used in movies and TV shows and is thus more familiar to non-Jews. Next month, I will tell them to have a happy new year, and in January I'll say "happy secular New Year!" If they looked confused, they're probably Messianic "Jews."

I'm sure some of them are good people, and tolerance of their antics is a testament to religious pluaralism and freedom of religion, but--holy Moses--what a silly cult. In a weird affront to both Judaism and mainstream Christianity, Messianic "Judaism" is the most infamous and ambitious evangelical effort to convert Jews to Christianity. It blends traditional Jewish rituals with the Christian belief in Jesus' divinity and messiahship--completely missing the point of both religions: namely, those Jewish rituals are empty without real Jewish meaning. And Christian grace is supposed to have made those rituals null and void.

Judaism says people can only atone for their own sins. Evangelical Christianity claims vicarious atonement through Christ. Jews believe people are born morally neutral and can choose to do good or evil or somewhere in between. Evangelicals believe people are born with orininal sin--an evil inclination--and that they can only be saved through Christ. Jews who believe in a forthcoming messiah think he will be a political leader. Evangelicals say the messiah is divine, he is God in the flesh, and that he has already come.

That last part is the most important difference: Jesus. The idea that any person who ever walked the earth is God or part of a God-head or a holy trinity is as alien to Judaism as a belief in Xenu--and just as incompatible.

While most conservative Christians believe in converting non-believers, most of them focus on the whole "unsaved" world. Messianic "Jews", on the other hand, believe in taking the Gospel "to the Jew first" as their ads put it. They are obsessed with us. They travel to big cities or wealthy neighborhoods where they know there will be a lot of Jews and proselytize in the most deceitful way. The biggest lie is calling themselves Jews in the first place, when most of them are gentiles, something they only admit when pressed on the subject. They must think this will confuse young Jewish people. The deceit is really mind-boggling. They call their churches "synagogues". They call their pastors "rabbis". They call their cult a branch of Judaism.

Real Jews have won many legal battles, including the famous Google case, as well as getting the Yellow Pages to list Messianic "synagogues" under the 'Church' category instead of the 'Synagogue' category. And a few years ago, Jewish leaders stepped up their efforts to combat this deceitful missionizing.

But I have a sad prediction. Since most Messianic "Jews" support Israel, I fear the same Jewish leaders who were so bold not long ago will become more relaxed on this issue. We cannot allow that to happen. Support for Israel cannot outweigh serious theological differences. The problem is, not only are most Messianics Zionists, but somewhere between 6 to 15 thousand Messianics live in Israel, and the Supreme Court of Israel made the historic decision that Messianics who really are ethnically Jewish share the same right of return granted to Jews who belong to mainstream Christianity, something I happen to agree with. But acknowledging the obvious fact that ethnic Jews are Jewish, despite their religion--which I don't think is even controversial--does not change the fact that we should be educating our kids in their religion and to beware of cults and missionaries.

I realize it's possible these people pose no real threat to Judaism. Proportionately, more Christians convert to Judaism every year than the other way around, despite the facts that Jews do not proselytize and that converting to Judaism is difficult and time-consuming. That's actually amazing and empowering. But it's sad to see more and more leaders grow tolerant of this destructive cult simply because this cult is supportive of Israel.

Jesus is an important issue that should divide Christians and Jews along theological lines--not in a nasty, violent way, but in a firm, peaceful way. And I feel we're losing that passion, both out of some wrong-headed, lazy, pussy idea of "tolerance" and out of nationalistic zeal.

One year a group of Messianics stood outside our JCC holding signs saying "Behold Your God" above a picture of Jesus dying on a cross. As I made my way inside, a woman yelled at me, asking me if I am "a complete Jew." I told her I am a complete Jew because I love the REAL God; I don't give a fuck about Jesus. She looked shocked, and I said it's cool if he's your thing, but don't expect me to not defend my beliefs when you push yours' on me.

Imagine if Jews created a Jewish group called Christians For the Real God and traveled to churches, telling their underage children that they can reject Jesus, convert to Judaism, and still be called Christians. That's exactly what's going on here. And our leaders are ill equipped to deal with the onslaught because Judaism is slowly being replaced by both Judaica. I will have nothing to do with that. They can decorate their church with as many menorahs as they want; it's still a church. And while I support Israel, I would rather give Jerusalem to Scientologists so they can turn the Western Wall into a giant spaceship landing pad than ever, ever, ever call a lying, Evangelical cult Judaism.

Inglourious Basterds

2009-08-25T11:50:00.000-07:00
A non-Jewish filmmaker just made the most explicitly pro-Jewish movie ever made: a gory, blood-splattered, sprawling revisionist epic in which a group of Jewish men dole out vengeance to scum-bag Nazis. We already knew that going in, but Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece is even better--and even more of a slap in the face to antisemites--than we could ever have imagined.

Before he gets his (and our) cinematic revenge, Tarantino begins Inglourious Basterds by showing us the wrong he is righting. With one single representative scene, the writer/director pays his respects to the Shoah with a suspenseful, unbearably sad opening seqenence in which a Jewish-French family hiding beneath the kitchen floor of a dairy farmer is massacred, save one daughter--Shoshanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent.) The scene is mesmerizing in its menace, thanks to a horrifying performance by Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Land, a mannered, politely evil villian who is proud of the moniker, "the Jew-hunter."

Shoshanna escapes and changes her name; she passes as a gentile while running a movie theater in Paris. A German "war hero" becomes smitten by her and forces himself into her life despite her obvious initial disinterest and later repulsion. She is in love with a black Frenchman named Marcel, and when the Nazis decide to change the venue of her German suitor's premier of his new propaganda film Nation's Pride from the Ritz to her theater, she and Marcel plan a grand revenge.

Most Jews--especially testosterone-fueled Jewish males--will relate most to the story of the Basterds, especially the Jewish German badass Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger,) a human time bomb of pent-up aggression who joins the group late in the game. (Hugo is named after a Mexican horror actor.) Others will be most touched by Shoshanna's story, whose revenge is especially cathartic because she asks the Nazis "to look into the face of the Jew" who is going to kill them as the theater hosting the Third Reich goes up in flames.

What makes Basterds so glorious, though, is how it sets the record straight involving Jewish cinema. A staple of antisemitism is linking Jews with cinema. Well-meaning idiots like the ADL's Abe Foxman deal with this particular prejudice by denying the truth of its source. Tarantino is saying fuck that--cinema is Jewish peoples' jazz. While many, many non-Jews (like Tarantino) have made great films, there is no question that Jews were pioneers in cinema and a disproportionate number of us have helped advance it into a sublime art form.

Tarantino writes a spine-tingling scene where two men discuss German cinema. They agree that Jewish German directors (like Fritz Lang) were instrumental in making German cinema ahead of its time. They correctly point out that Joseph Geobbels' crude but popular propaganda films (as well as Leni Riefenstahl's well-made but no less repulsive propaganda films) were a response to "the Jewish German intellectual cinema of the 1920's."

Basterds gives us our props. The Jewish girl works at a cinema. She argues with a German soldier about Riefenstahl. She puts up the Jewish name "Pabst" over the title of a legitimate film but refuses to put a German propagandist's name over his filth. She sticks up for a Jewish director and earns the scorn of a Nazi by doing so ("Don't ever say that name to me!!" he shrieks.) By making Jewish-made cinema so integral to the film's plot and themes, Tarantino adds a symbolic revenge to the overt, visceral revenge that mainstream audiences are applauding.

Basterds is--to my mind--nearly perfect, creatively. Morally, I have only one caveat. At times Tarantino paints all Germans with the same stereotypical brush. A person ignorant of German culture would be forgiven for coming out of this film thinking all Germans eat nothing but sauerkraut sandwiches and strudels ("“Take your weinerschnitzel-lickin’ finger and point out on this map what we want to know" Brad Pitt says to a German officer,) and that the only Germans who supported Jews during WWII were Jewish Germans like Stiglitz.

Tarantino should be proud. He has created another exciting, passionate, immensely popular work of art. Americans love it; Germans love it.* And any Jew who knows a good friend when he sees one should love both the film and the man who made it.

*"Tarantino's Massacre of Nazis Brings Rave Reviews in Germany," Assaf Uni.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1109602.html

The Right to Hate

2009-08-18T16:01:00.000-07:00
Spring of 2000. My family had just recently moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma from New York, and I was slowly adjusting to a very different life. One day some racist thugs went to a Jewish cemetery called Rose Hill Memorial Park and desecrated the graves, knocking them over, damaging the grounds, and spray-painting antisemitic epithets, Nazi swastikas, and other vile filth.

http://www.ujc.org/page.aspx?id=45105

I felt sick just thinking about it and what must have been going through the minds of anyone whose family members were buried there. And not just them but my mother, who had no loved ones buried there at all, but who must have worried for the safety of her kids in an environment like that.

What makes it even worse are the usual gang of people who claim they are not racist, but who fail to see the difference between desecrating an ethnic group's cemetery and writing "Fuck Wal-Mart" on the back of grocery store. The latter is annoying. The former scares the shit out of minorities.

And with good reason. Recently in New York of all places, a couple of Jewish guys were beaten to a pulp for saying "happy Hanukkah" when they were told to have a merry Christmas. Two gay youths were murdered in Tel Aviv earlier this month. An Arab woman was murdered in Germany last month.

These murders, attacks, and crimes are not a result of cheating spouses or robberies or drive-by shootings. They are meant to terrorize minorities--to put us in our place.

Thankfully, ethnic groups and religions are protected under the laws of hate crime legislation. Not so lucky are gays, who are not protected in every state. As always, religious bigots are the main impediment to progress.

Conservative evangelical group Concerned Women for America (do you love how the feminist-sounding name is supposed to sucker us in?) says that when gays are given equal protection, Bible-believing Christians will no longer be able to preach the Bible or to proclaim that homosexuality is a sin.

"We live in a world where even the Bible is being deemed "hate" literature. Christians have already been jailed for upholding traditional morality in public places, and if hate crime laws proliferate, the freedom to speak one's mind will be limited to those who celebrate and promote homosexuality."

This is amusing for two reasons.

First, these morons are protected by the same laws they want denied to gay people, which makes little sense considering that religion is a choice. I have known I was gay since I was a kid; I only realized Conservative Judaism was a good fit for me in my 20's. If one of these "Concerned Women" wakes up tomorrow and realizes she believes in Catholicism, she can simply study and take a test. Of course, religious groups should be safe from persecution, but it's difficult to overlook the hypocrisy of religious idiots who constantly call being gay a choice while failing to realize gays would happy to get a fraction of the rights granted to Moonies and Scientologists.

The second reason is that ethnic groups who are granted protection are not free from totally legal racism. For a perfect example, let's move just a wee bit to the right of Concerned Women for America and take a look at Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church. According to the Internet flier they distributed, their church plans to pickett “three fag-infested groups of Jews in Washington, DC," including the Holocaust Museum.

Along with "God Hates Fags," the WBC also wants us to know that "God Hates Jews" and that "The Jews Killed Our Lord." They have been amping up their antisemitic tirades lately by picketing outside synagogues and JCC's. And guess what? It's legal.

The Jewish Week says, "Interestingly, Westboro’s unrestrained anti-gay and anti-Jewish rhetoric, prominently displayed in the most inappropriate settings, is not illegal – which undercuts one of the key arguments of Christian right groups that are opposing a new hate crimes law that extends coverage to victims of crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability. Jews are already covered under existing hate crimes laws dealing with crimes based on the religion of victims, and yet there’s no legal barrier to Westboro publicly arguing that the “Jews killed the Lord Jesus,” and picketing a local synagogue as well as the memorial to victims of the Holocaust. So it’s a little hard to swallow the common argument that pastors would risk arrest if the new law is passed merely by preaching against homosexuality."

So if it's okay for Fred Phelps and his church of hate to protest the existence of Jews--even when Jews are legally protected as an ethnic and religious minority--I'm sure it will always be more than okay to continue protesting gays.

I thought of that desecrated Jewish cemetery a few weeks ago when there was a bomb threat at our local JCC. All those sick, helpless feelings came rushing back, and no amount of tough words from my brother could comfort me. Fortunately, it was not an antisemite who made the threat, but just some idiot trying to get his boyfriend to leave work to talk to him because they were fighting. (Although, he probably will hate Jews by the time he's finished with his prison sentence.)

The sense of relief that every Jew in my city felt when we realized it was not a hate crime was palpable. If that doesn't clearly show the difference, what will?

(Note: Regarding the desecration of the Jewish cemetery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I should point out that the city took the incident very seriously. The thugs were found and sentenced, and leaders from the Baptist church, Methodist church, Catholic diocese, Islamic Society, and the Tulsa mayor all joined Rabbi Marc Fizterman of B'nai Emunah in a prayer vigil after the atrocious event.)

Awesome Jewish Role Model for Kids: Daniel Radcliffe

2009-08-13T17:05:00.001-07:00
After pro-baseball player Sandy Koufax publicly refused to play on Yom Kippur, he was overwhelmed by parents' requests to speak at bat and bar mitzvahs. It's not hard to see why. Here was a famous Jewish guy choosing to honor his heritage in a predominantly Christian country. Who are the Jewish role models our kids look up to today?

Zac Efron from High School Musical? Israeli-American supermodel Bar Refaeli? People known for their good genes and little else?

Every now and then I want to use Jew World Order to highlight awesome Jewish role models who either demonstrate tikkun olam or a public committment to Judaism (or both.) The only catch is that it has to be substantive. I couldn't care less that Scarlett Johansonn uses cloth shopping bags or that Norah Jones drives a Prius.

My very first entry for this continuing series is none other than Harry Potter, or at least the guy who plays him in the blockbuster Warner Bros films.

Daniel Radcliffe, now 20, recently made a generous donation to The Trevor Project, a support group for suicidal teens. Not only that, but he expressed public devotion to gay people in the media, calling homophobes "disgusting and stupid."

"He is setting a meaningful example for millions of young people around the world by embracing diversity and demonstrating that he cares deeply about the well-being of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning) youth," said the charity's chief executive Charles Robbins.

Radcliffe said, "It's extremely distressing to consider that in 2009 suicide is a top three killer of young people, and it's truly devastating to learn that LGBTQ youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers."

"It's vitally important that young people understand they are not alone and, perhaps even more important, that their young lives have real value," the actor added.

Just one question, Daniel: would you speak at my future daughter's bat mitzvah?

Gay Rights in Israel: Yarzheit for Nir Katz and Liz Trobishi

2009-08-08T10:18:00.000-07:00
We mourn the loss of the Kedoshim--Nir Katz and Liz Trobishi--who were murdered by savages in a shooting at a weekly support group for gay Jewish youth in Tel-Aviv late last Saturday. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this vicious attack, their families, friends and communities.

Today 70,000 Israelis came together in solidarity with the gay community.

President Shimon Peres said, "The bullets that hit the gay community at the beginning of the week struck us all as people, as Jews, as Israelis. All people were created in God's image," he added, "and all citizens have equal rights. All men are born equal, and every citizen has the right to be who he is -- to be free and proud."

Reform and Conservative leaders called on all Jews to take a moment last Sunday to dwell on those who have been murdered and wounded in this attack and to recite Tehillim on their behalf. We hope for some small comfort among the mourners of Israel and the entire world, as well as a speedy recovery, in body and in spirit, to all those injured in this attack. On Monday night at 8:30pm, Mt. Sinai Jewish Center recited Tehillim for those who were killed or hurt in the attack following Mincha/Ma'ariv services.

A small group of religious fanatics will never be able to convince Israel or its citizens that gays have no place in the Jewish state. I have visited Tel Aviv many times, and I am impressed by its gay-friendly atmosphere. Not only does the Israeli government not enforce savage religious laws against gay people the way Iran does, it is somewhat gay-friendly and on the verge of getting even better. Israel shows more humanity and enlightenment than America by allowing gays to openly serve in the military and by allowing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere to be recognized in the state.

This perceived acceptance of gays (I say perceived because any country that only allows straight marriage is homophobic) will always make anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews and extremist Muslims hate Israel with a passion, and it will always cause Zionist Orthodox Jews and Zionist Evangelicals to threaten to withdraw their support.

On the anti-semitic, anti-Zionist right, people like "God Hates Fags" preacher Fred Phelps see gay rights as being part of the "Zionist agenda" and routinely protest Israel for being relatively gay-friendly, and they protest Judaism for being genuinely gay-friendly. His "church" recently picketed a Kansas City synagogue with racist signs showing disgust with the "Fag-filled IDF" and "Fag-infested synagogues." And a gay synagogue in NYC was earlier this year greeted with picket signs saying "Jews Stole The Land" and "God Hates Fags."

http://www.kcjc.com/200906058517/news/phelps-clan-plans-synagogue-picket.html

This diparaging linking of gay rights with Israel finds suprising resonance among hateful right wing anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews (many of whom reject Israel even though they live there) and predictable agreement among extremist Muslims and the small anti-Israel Christian right. And many Zionist evangelicals and Zionist Orthodox Jews couple their enthusiasm for immoral Israeli military actions with disdain and disgust for moral Israeli policies like tolerance for gays. Just as Pat Robertson famously declared that God gave Ariel Sharon a stroke because he conceded some territory to Palestinans, many others like Robertson predict divine punishment for the Jewish state if its leaders fail to end the gay civil rights progress.

In the coming days and weeks and months, there will be an antisemitic backlash from the right because Peres made those pro-gay comments today. Some of that backlash will inevitably spring from those who claim to be Israel's friends.

But as Reform leader Eric Yoffie asked, what sort of friendship is conditional? You either support Israel for the right reasons or you do not. There is no reason to think things will get better. Many extremist Muslims use Israel's relative gay-friendliness--as well as sexy images of Tel Aviv residents having fun and enjoying the night life and beaches--as a wedge between the country and its anti-gay evangelical supporters. In fact, the annual gay Pride party in Jerusalem is a constant reminder that all the religions who find connection with the holy land have extremists who want to stop people from living life. A few years ago, a Muslim leader from the Knesset, Ibrahim Sarsur (United Arab List-Ta'al) "warned gays that 'if they dare to approach the Temple Mount during the World Pride 2006 parade in Jerusalem they will do so over our dead bodies' ("Gay Leader Not Daunted by Muslim Threat.")

Strange bedfellows indeed. People who hate Jews will always, always, always hold Israel to different standards and find some reason to detest/boycott the Jewish state. Fuck those people. But what about those Zionists who threaten to end their support if Israel does not start treating its gay population the way Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Palestine do? Well, we should not be intimidated by them. That's why it was so wrong for Benjamin Netanyahu to make his speech about tolerance of gays so low-key. It's not okay to appease bigots. And that's why it was so important for President Peres to make his speech clear throughout the world, as he did. All decent Zionists must stand strong and send a clear message that truly supporting Israel means supporting all its citizens, including gays and Arabs.

And speaking of Arabs, what about gay Palestinians seeking refuge from their savagely anti-gay environment? Kathleen Peratis writes in The Forward that, "the international movement for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people hardly exists inside the Muslim world" and that "if the sexuality of a gay man in Palestine is exposed, his family might torture or kill him and the police will turn a blind eye. . . The only country in the Middle East in which gay people may safely leave the closet is Israel."

But seeking asylum in the only remotely decent Middle Eastern country poses a problem because of Israel's policies regarding Palestinians. Israel ended its practice of granting asylum to Palestinian nationals because, "in 2002, Palestinians with Israeli identity cards issued under family reunification laws allegedly used that status to aid suicide bombers."

Sadly, the only hope for gay Palestinians seeking refuge from their awful existence in Palestine is to "make their desperate way to Israel" and "hope to disappear into the gay subculture of Tel Aviv or Haifa;" of course this simply means they are buying time until their lack of money and Hebrew gets them caught and subsequently arrested ("For Gay Palestinians, Tel Aviv is Mecca.")

Efforts to challenge this harsh anti-immigrant law must be stepped up. Palestinians who have just cause for fear of persecution in their former country should feel safe in Israel, if only in Israel. And conditions will improve only when Israeli politicians realize they earn no points for not being Iran. No one deserves a humanitarian award for not hanging gay people. No world leader should be lauded for not telling a student body that his country has no homosexuals. Not acting like animals should be expected, not praised. Enforce harsh laws against anti-social behavior from the ultra-religious. Spend money building Reform temples and Conservative (Masorti in Israel) synagogues; court those Jews who have felt alienated from their own anscestral homeland. Grant asylum to gay Palistinians who seek a better way of life in Israel.

As Tony Kushner says, "the world only spins forward." Look at those masses of good, moral Israelis marching in solidarity with their gay brothers and sisters. There is no stopping the gay civil rights progress in Israel. Already better than the U.S., the Jewish state will someday be an absolute haven for gays and lesbians. Any Israeli who has a problem with that should leave. And when Israeli leaders begin to embrace the values of mainstream Judiasm--the two branches of Judaism overwhelmingly chosen by the world's Jews--the Jewish state will actually become more Jewish.

Yes We Can, But No We Won't

2009-06-30T15:13:00.000-07:00
This video shows the hanging in Iran of two young boys, Ayaz Marhon and Mahmoud Asgari. Their only "crime" was being gay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gARvwzFWSr4

Pride Month is coming to an end, and those of us gay people who are fortunate enough to not live in a savage theocracy have a lot to be proud of. But for gay Americans, that pride is mixed with anxiety. Many European countries made the lack of marriage equality in the United States the subject of their Pride festivities. Why should they be surprised? Look at our fearless leader.

That brutal double-murder of Ayaz and Mahmoud is a routine occurence in Iran, and yet Presidnet Obama did not once pressure Iran (or any other Islamic country for that matter) to end its oppression of gays in his massive "apology" on behalf of the United States to "the Muslim world." Under the law of the Islamic Republic, the penalty for lesbian sex is one hundred lashes, with the death penalty enforced after the fourth offense. The death penalty is due on the first offense for male-on-male sex.

A young gay Iranian seeking refuge in Britain tells The New Internationalists,"It’s because of the Islamic revolution that people like me are here [in the U.K.]. . . The revolution is a really bad memory for gay and lesbian people. Before, they were free but now they can’t live in Iran and have to escape (Webster, Anna. "An Auspicious Anniversary.")

http://www.newint.org/features/special/2009/03/30/an-inauspicious-anniversary/

In the disastrous aftermath of the recent Iranian elections, in which scores of Iranians protested the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Obama decided not to put any U.S. pressure on the ayatollahs to listen to the will of the people.

Obama even remained silent (until it was much too little, far too late) as the brutal regime killed innocent protesters. This would have been the perfect time to speak out for not just gay Iranians, but all Iranians. Oddly, Obama has spent the first one hundred days of his presidency paying more respect to the religion of Islam than to human beings.

After more than one hundred days in office, Obama's record on gay rights is dismal, despite his campaign promises and his effort to energize the gay community into voting for him. He invited anti-gay Rick Warren to his inauguration. He has effectively pushed both marriage equality and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" into whenever "the sun sets on his administration." And that's if he gets re-elected. If the next president is a Republican, gay people might as well leave for Europe.

But the most shocking aspect of Obama's first hundred days is the blatant, vitriolic bigotry. Most of us have become used to Democrats paying lip service to gay rights but offering a winking, "Sorry, guys, I have to do this" approach to marriage equality. Not so with Obama. His Justice Department's defense of DOMA (which is anti-equality) is a sickening read: it equates gay sex with incest and same-sex couples with inbreeding rapists.

Joe Solomonese of the Human Rights Campaign says in a predictably tepid open letter to Obama, "As an American, a civil rights activist, and a human being, I hold this administration to a higher standard than this brief. . . I realize that although I and other LGBT rights leaders have introduced ourselves to you, clearly we have not been heard, and seen, as what we also are: human beings whose lives, loves, and families are equal to yours."

Insultingly, Obama responded to criticism that he has done little for gay rights by declaring June Pride Month, something he was expected to do anyway as a Democrat. Not to mention the fact that Bill Clinton had first done this in 1996; how depressing that Obama's one substantive stand on gay rights takes us no further than the 90's. Other than that, Jason Linkins of the Huffington Post points out that Obama's federal extension of gay rights benefits--part of his supposed turnaround on gay rights--is only partial; plus, it's a memorandum instead of an executive order. ("HRC's Joe Solomonese Tells Olbermann Obama Went 'Way Over the Line.' ")

Is there any reason to believe the author of The Audacity of Hope will improve? Will he change his priorities and start showing more concern for gay people than for Iranian ayatollahs? It's hard to say. Obama invited gay rights activists to the White House for a gala celeberating "LGBT pride" and commemorating Stonewall. Sadly, the White House barely advertised it until the media called out his administration on its hypocrisy.

And even if Obama's little gay party had been out and proud, how does that help the female couple who wants their union recognized as something more than shacking-up-with-medical benefits? How does it help gay kids like Ayaz and Mahmoud, who live under the brutal rule of a theocracy that's protected at all costs by political correctness?

For gay people in 2009, hope really is audacious.

CapeCodKwassa, Copyright 2009

Judaism Does Not Equal Legalism

2009-06-02T10:12:00.000-07:00
A common misconception regarding Judaism is that it is legalistic--that Judaism is a series of laws. This idea has been used by antisemites who try to paint "the Jewish God" as vengeful and demanding and their own God as loving and forgiving. But antisemites aside, the notion that Judaism equals legalism is also a staple of many Orthodox Jews, who are under the misguided impression that obeying halakha to a precise degree is Judaism in a nutshell.

This is wrong.

"Judaism is not another word for legalism," says Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. "The translators of the Septaugint committed a fatal and momentous error when, for lack of a Greek equivalent, they rendered Torah with nomos, which means "law", giving rise to a huge and chronic misconception of Judaism and supplying an effective weapon to those who sought to attack the teachings of Judaism. That the Jews considered Scripture as teaching is evidenced by the fact that in the Aramaic translations Torah is rendered with "oraita" which can only mean teaching, never law."

"The rules of observance are law in form and love in substance," Heschel says. "The Torah contains both law and love. Man created in the likeness of God is called upon to re-create the world in the likeness of the vision of God. Halacha is neither the ultimate nor the all-embracing term for Jewish learning and living."

Heschel goes on to talk about agada, a term meaning all non-halackic parts of rabbinic literature. He says, "The Torah is more than a system of laws; only a small portion of the Pentateuch deals with law. The prophets, the Psalms, agadic midrashim, are not a part of halacha. The Torah contains both halacha and agada. Like body and soul, they are mutually dependent, and each is a dimension of its own." The good rabbi says that according to a later decision by an authority, a Jewish person is expected to devote a third of her studies to the field of agada.

This means we are expected to follow halakha with our hearts and intellects fully engaged. We are not to blindly accept rigid, often heartless and immoral interpretations of those laws, and we are also not to make obeying the laws our main means of worshipping God and living a Jewish life. Those authorities and "experts" who shut their ears and eyes and steadfastly refuse to even consider more progressive interpretations of halakha--even when civil rights and decency are at stake--are guilty of worshiping halakha instead of worshipping God.

The most important decree in Judaism is this one: "There is nothing more important, according to the Torah, than to preserve human life. . . Even when there is the slightest possibility that a life may be at stake one may disregard every prohibition of the law." As Heschel says, this means "one must sacrifice mitzvot for the sake of man, rather than sacrifice man for the sake of mitzvot."

I hope everyone had a great Shavuot.

Biblical Illiteracy in a (Supposedly) Devout Society?

2009-04-23T11:18:00.000-07:00
I asked off at work for both my family's seder and also a more laid-back seder my boyfriend was hosting at his cool new house in a swanky neighborhood. I had so much fun at both of them; it was the best Passover of my young adult life. And those two seders amounted to two Pesach-related time-off requests at my job, which caused more of a stir than I ever would have dreamed.

My manager asked what a Passover seder is. My unintentionally funny, uber-redneck department lead asked me what a Passover seder is. My peer and co-worker asked me what a Passover seder is, and also what Passover itself is. Shockingly, a health-and-wealth evangelical co-worker who says Obama is the anti-Christ claimed to have never heard the word "Passover" in her life.

This upset me. Not as a Jew, mind you. I don't expect non-Jews to know anything about Judaism. I know very little about Hinduism or Buddhist monks, and I cannot for the life of me figure out the holy trinity. The only time I get angry about peoples' lack of knowledge regarding Judaism is when they are speaking with authority about something they know little about, like when some Christians claim the "Jewish G-d" is mean and judgmental.

So I usually do not care when people do not understand Passover or any Jewish custom. No, I was upset not as a Jewish person but as a gay person. I was upset because all those people I mentioned are Christians. My peer is not homophobic, but both my manager and my redneck lead are against gay peoples' right to marry because of what the Bible says about homosexuality and what the Bibile supposedly says about marriage.

So if the Bible is so important to you as to be the deciding factor in your anti-gay bigotry, how on earth do you not know what Passover means? The Passover story of G-d delivering the Jews from slavery to liberation is the second biggest event of the Christian Bible, second only to the Gospel account of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. It is a thematic parallel that supposedly binds the two books into one. G-d delivered the Hebrews from phsycical slavery in Part One; in Part Two G-d supposedly delivered Hebrew and gentile alike from spiritual slavery. First G-d delivered His law; then He delivered grace. Jesus' last meal was a PASSOVER SEDER. Even if that were not painfully obvious in the actual scripture, most Bibles helpfully explain those facts in the notes.

In my experience--and I have much experience with right wing Christians--, the only conservative evangelicals I know who are knowledgeable about Passover and the seder are those who are studying a Christian field at school or those whose churches host seders to show how Jesus is the Passover lamb and how Christianity supposedly supercedes Judaism as the true faith. (To their enormous credit, some more progressive churches like the Christ the King parish near my apartment host annual seders supervised by actual rabbis, and there is no offensive motive at all.)

It isn't just Passover. It seems Bible-believing America is not quite the same as Bible-reading America. According to USA Today, 60% of Americans can't name five of the Ten Commandments. 50% of high school seniors say Sodom and Gomorrah were married ("Americans Get an 'F' in Religion", Cathy Lynn Grossman.)

It really is infuriating. The Bible is the main excuse for anti-gay bigotry (just as it was the main excuse for slavery and anti-Semitism) and yet most of those bigots do not even read it. If you're against straight/gay equality because of the Bible, you should curl up the "Good Book" every night. You should know what it says like the back of your hand. Because if you do do not, you're hypocritical in addition to prejudiced.

In my thinking, that's two sins for the price of one.

Hateful New Oklahoma Bill Targets Muslim Americans

2009-03-17T15:11:00.000-07:00
First gays. Then Hispanic immigrants. Now Muslims. Oklahoma lawmakers are at it again.

Oklahoma House members just approved HB 1645, a new bill making it mandatory for religious people to remove their traditional head coverings both while taking driver's license photos and also whenever a law enforcement officer demands it for identification purposes. While it's true that a few people from other religions will be slightly affected, there is no question that Muslims and Sikhs are the true targets of this bill.

The creator of the bill all but admits it. Republican Rep. Rex Duncan says he wrote the legislation after reading about how a Muslim woman from Norman, Oklahoma--Monique Barrett--recieved an apology from the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety when she complained that she was asked to removed her hijab (traditional Islamic head scarf) for her new driver's license photo.

Many Muslim women only reveal their hair to their husbands and male family members, and it is against Barrett's particular brand of Islamic faith to not wear her head scarf in public.

Barrett was issued an apology, and she was allowed to take a new photo with her hijab. The ODPS said it was happy to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and that the organization would educate its employees on religious issues related to dress and photos. As of last year, the employee telling Barrett she had to remove the hijab was in violation of anti-discrimination laws.

How quickly the world takes a turn for the worse. House members approved the legislation 88-8. Duncan tells Micheal McNutt of The Daily Oklahoman, "If we're going to allow people to cover their hair and parts of their face, then it's going to be difficult for the law enforcement folks to confirm who they're actually looking at" ("Groups Oppose Oklahoma Driver's License Photo Bill.")

But that is not true. Barrett--like most Muslim women--was not covering her face, not even part of it. And anyone of any background can change her hair color or wear a wig, so how does showing one's hair help police identify people? Aside from that, there is clearly no widespread problem being addressed here anyway. It is simply a hateful piece of legislation targeting a religious minority.

So how does an anti-Muslim law relate to Jews?

Rajdeep Singh Jolly, legal director for the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, says, "'We also call upon all religious communities, civil rights organizations, and concerned citizens throughout the nation to demand that the government of Oklahoma clarifies its commitment to protecting civil rights in the 21st century."

We as Jews know what discrimination feels like, and our most sacred text reminds us to be kind to the stranger because we were once strangers. Everyone should speak out, but our voice should be the loudest.

Nick and Norah and Jewish/Gay Identity

2009-02-18T20:52:00.000-08:00
Last night I rewatched Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (Sony Pictures/2008). It's not There Will Be Blood, but it's a light-hearted, well-acted tribute to those nights in every young person's life that seem to last forever--those nights where it actually seems possible that similar musical taste can bond two people for life.

Nick (Michael Cera) is sensitive, smart, and funny, and the love of his life does not appreciate him or the mix tape CD's he puts together for her. Nora (Kat Dunning) is his "musical soul mate" and desperately wants to meet the stranger who makes all the amazing CDs his ex-girlfriend throws in the trash at school. When Nora finally meets Nick, it's at a club where Nick is performing with his band as the lone straight guy in a "Queercore" band called The Jerkoffs. It takes a while for the two to warm up to each other, but they eventually bond over music and--of course--a great big adventure in NYC.

While not as funny as it should be, it is engaging and good-hearted, and it shows an interesting evolution of pop culture depictions of Jews and gays, who--despite heavy repesentation of both groups in the entertainment industry--are often marginalized and stereotyped in movies and TV shows.

In some ways, Nora's character fits popular Gossip Girl stereotypes. She is the rich daughter of a famous music mogul, and because of this fact, the red carpet is rolled out for her. But to her credit she constantly downplays her status because she says her dad's position in society has nothing to do with who she is. She wants people to see her true self. That's why it's hurtful when Nick angrily calls Nora a spoiled "JAP" (Jewish-American princess); it simply does not ring true.

Even more impressively, the film is not content with establishing Nora as a Jew in a typical shallow movie way, with a handful of references to Hanukkah or JAPs. Nora is--to borrow from another minority's lingo--out. She is actually proud to be Jewish, and she even shares with Nick one of her "favorite things about Judaism," the concept of tikkun olam. She explains it as the world being broken and humans having the task of putting the pieces back together. "Maybe we're the pieces," Nick offers.

Just as Nora resembles Jewish girls we know in real life more than most other movie Jews, the same can be said for the gay characters. Nick's gay friends/bandmates are not limp-wristed, lisping stereotypes. They're certainly not murderers (like Hollywood used to make them) and they're not martyrs (like Hollywood currently makes them.) Thankfully, they are NOT in love with Nick or with any other straight guy. In fact, they do everything they can to ensure that Nick and Nora get together.

The best thing about the young gay men in this film is that they are not sanitized, neutered, asexual versions of themselves. They are comfortable in their own skins, and their presence here is by no means meant to make homophobic (or homonervous) audiences feel less threatened.

And that's one of the things I like about Nick and Norah's. Nora, Nick, and their gay friends are not used as "propaganda" for positive media images. They are all imperfect people, just as characters in any movie should be, and they have all the potential in the world to be stereotypes--they just fight against it. Nora is privelaged and well-off, but she would rather be seen as a spiritually grounded Jewish girl than as a rich JAP. Nick's friends are sexy, hot, and very sexual, but they're also really nice guys more concerned with helping their friends than getting off.

It almost makes up for the fact that we're supposed to believe these charcters can instantly find parking places at every NYC club and business they attend. Almost.

The Best Films of 2008

2009-01-23T23:13:00.000-08:00
Best Films:

1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. Let the Right One In
3. The Dark Knight
4. Wall-E
5. The Wrestler
6. Milk
7. Revolutionary Road
8. Persepolis
9. Vicky Christina Barcelona
10. The Band's Visit

Best Director: Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
Screenwriter--Original script: Andrew Stanton (Wall-E)
Screenwriter--Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire)
Actor: Micky Rourke (The Wrestler)
Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
Actress: Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married)
Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz (Vicky Christina Barcelona)
Animated Film: Wall-E
Foreign Film: Let the Right One In
Sound/Sound Editing: The Dark Knight
Special Effects: The Dark Knight
Make-up: The Dark Knight
Cinematography: Revolutionary Road
Editing: Slumdog Millionaire

Hanukkah For Beginners

2008-12-24T10:12:00.001-08:00
Although Hanukkah (or Chanukah) is considered a minor holiday compared to Yom Kippur and Passover, this celebration of Jewish peoples' victory over their oppressors is actually a rabbinic command and a mitzvah. And its importance is increasing every year, as more and more rabbis reinterpret Hanukkah as a celebration of religious freedom. While most other Jewish holidays are either introspective or limited to family members and temple congregants, the Festival of Lights--with its menorahs glowing in the windows of Jewish homes--is the one celebration on the Jewish calendar in which we announce to the world that we're practicing Jews. For Jewish believers in G-d, it is an advertisement that miracles can exist, especially if we humans take the initiative to become partners with Him in repairing the world. For more agnostic or atheistic Jews, it is a time for family and friends to celebrate our rich heritage and our triumph over our oppressors. Either way, we Jews are lucky that most of us live in countries that allow religious pluaralism and diversity.

So if you're a non-practicing Jew who has been considering taking up some level of observance, why not start with Hanukkah? Or if you're a non-Jew who is either on the cusp of going through a conversion or who wishes to dip her toes in the waters of Jewish observance, you really cannot go wrong with the Festival of Lights as a starting point. It's moving and fun and not nearly as difficult to perfect as the rules of Pesach. Some Jews who grew up secular are afraid to try Jewish rituals that seem hard, and others feel guilty about lighting Hanukkah candles when they do not observe shabbos.

But Judaism is not an all-or-nothing faith. Every mitzvah you perform is a step on a journey. I struggle with keeping kosher, but I do not allow that struggle to guilt me into throwing out the rest of my faith. Maybe you will obtain the kind of spiritual nourishment from observing Hanukkah that will make you want to start taking on more Jewish spiritual practices.

In order to properly celebrate Hanukkah you will need a hanukkiah (Hanukkah menorah) with plenty of candles for all eight nights. It's best to use cotton wicks in olive oil or beeswax. Electric menorahs are fine for decorations, but not for properly observing the mitzvah. (If safety is a concern, such as in a dormitory or apartment building, consult a rabbi about alternative ways of fullfilling the mitzvah.) The shamash is the extra candle used to light the other eight candles. On the first night, you kindle one light on the right side and on the following night you add a second light to the left of the first. Go from the left to the right. The candle needs to burn at least thirty minutes after sundown.

Friday night is shabbos, so it's important to light the Hanukkah candles shortly before you light the regular Friday night shabbbat candles (which are supposed to be lit about 18 minutes before dusk.) On Saturday, light the candles after shabbos. You treat Friday and Saturday differently from the other nights in order to keep the sabbath.

Here is a video example of how you light the candles:

http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Judaism/2007/11The-Beliefnet-Guide-to-Hanukkah.aspx

If you don't know Hebrew, here are the Hanukkah blessings (phonetically spelled out) courtesy of chabad.org. You recite them after lighting the candles.

1. Blessed are You, L-rd our G-d, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us to kindle the Chanukah light.
1. Ba-ruch A-tah Ado-nai E-lo-he-nu Me-lech Ha-olam A-sher Ki-de-sha-nu Be-mitz-vo-tav Ve-tzi-va-nu Le-had-lik Ner Cha-nu-kah.
2. Blessed are You, L-rd our G-d, King of the universe, who performed miracles for our forefathers in those days, at this time.
2. Ba-ruch A-tah Ado-nai E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ha-olam She-a-sa Ni-sim La-avo-te-nu Ba-ya-mim Ha-hem Bi-z'man Ha-zeh.
3. Blessed are You, L-rd our G-d, King of the universe, who has granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this occasion.
3. Ba-ruch A-tah Ado-nai E-lo-he-nu Me-lech Ha-olam She-heche-ya-nu Ve-ki-yi-ma-nu Ve-higi-a-nu Liz-man Ha-zeh.
Since Judaism is a social/familial religion, how can a Jew from a non-observant family or someone considering becoming a Jew-by-choice get the full effect of Hanukkah? This question is even more pronounced if you do not live in big metropolitan cities like Chicago or New York. The good news is that even in less diverse states, many cities have synagogues, temples, and a Jewish Community Center. Most temples offer Hanukkah celebrations with parties, movie screenings, and dinners; just make sure you call and make dinner reservations.
If you are a college student, check to see if your university offers a Hillel (a college Jewish group.) Most do if there is a demand for it. If possible, it is important to celebrate with other Jews!! To get the full experience, go to both temple services and college parties. If you're thinking about becoming Jewish, you may be surprised by how mellow and fun most young Jews are compared to such a seemingly demanding faith.
If you are the head of a household, and this will be your family's first year celebrating, make sure there is as much or more emphasis on spirituality and/or culture as on gifts. Look up recipes for latkes and other Hanukkah desserts. Play games. But make sure your kids have their own menorahs so they can learn the proper way to celebrate. They should also know the words they are saying when they recite the blessings.
But like all things Jewish, the important thing is to just do it. Do not allow guilt over not obesrving other mitzvoh stop you from enjoying one of the best holidays on our calendar. Being Jewish is no longer a crime. Converting to Judaism is no longer punishable by death. We are now free to practice our faith without fearful consequences. There's nothing minor about that.
Happy Hanukkah!!

Jews Overwhelmingly Opposed Prop 8. That Begs Three Big Questions.

2008-11-25T13:00:00.000-08:00
If I got back together with my ex-boyfriend, Trevor, and we decided to get married or have a committment ceremony, my rabbi would not officiate the service. My synagogue would send us elsewhere. That might come as a shock to those who know how unwaveringly proud I am to be gay. How could I belong to a homophobic shul or religion? How could I have an anti-gay rabbi?

The answer is I do not. The problem with Trevor and I getting married is not that we're both guys. The "problem" is that Trevor is a Christian. Conservative rabbis (as a rule) do not officiate the wedding ceremonies of interfaith couples. The idea is that Jewish families are strongest when both parents are committed to the faith; therefore intermarriage is discouraged. (Most Conservative rabbis will give the names of more liberal Reform rabbis willing to marry them, and the couples' membership in the Conservative synagogue will remain in good standing.)

Now personally, I think as long as the couple plans to raise their children in the Jewish faith, they should be allowed to have a Conservative wedding in their own synagogue. (On the other hand, if you plan on raising your kids Christian, I'm not sure why you even care about having a Jewish wedding anyway.) There are many reports out there which show that Christian moms or Hindu dads can do an outstanding job of making sure their kids get a quality Jewish education. But that's a subject for another day.

More interesting to me is this: although Conservative Jews oppose interfaith marriage, they are not trying to get that religious belief enshrined in the law. Even though there are probably a few scriptural verses they could point to as biblical evidence they are correct, they are not trying to legislate their religious beliefs on this subject. The same can be said of Orthodox Jews. On the subject of Jew/gentile marriage, Orthodox Jews make Conservative Jews look like. . . Unitarians. You sometimes get the feeling the ban on interfaith marriage is the most important aspect of halakha. They get really worked up about this. But Orthodox Jews are NOT out there trying to force this religious belief down everyone else's throat. They are, however, joining the right wings of every other religion to force anti-gay legislation on everyone. Proposition 8 was pushed by fundamentalists in many religions.

Of course, in Judaism, fundamentalists are in the minority. The dominant expression of Judaism is the theology espoused by the Reform and Conservative movements. That helps explain why a disproportionate number of Jewish people in California opposed Proposition 8.

Regarding marriage equality, "Los Angeles Jews were more opposed to Prop 8 than any other religious group or ethnic group." --Wikipedia

That brings up some big questions. Number 1: Why is the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America so out of touch with the rest of Jewrey? Why is it aligning itself with the Roman Catholic Church, The Knights of Colombus, the Church of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), the American Family Association, Focus on the Family, and countless charismatic, health-and-wealth churches on the subject of marriage equality? Why did Orthodox Jewish organizations feel the need to cast their votes against a fellow minority by supporting Proposition 8?

Number 2: Why does the media act like fundamentalist voices are the only ones that matter in religions? That's cruel enough in religions like Christianity, where we rarely hear the viewpoints of progressive Episcopals or United Methodists. But in Judaism, the media's disregard for progressive Jewish viewpoints is outrageous. Orthodox Judaism makes up the SMALLEST part of Judaism.

Not only were individual Jews on the frontlines of Prop 8 protests, but Jewish organizations also lined up to oppose Prop 8. Jewish Mosaic, the American Jewish Committee, Progressive Jewish Alliance, the National Council of Jewish Women, and thousands of rabbis from all denominations (including Orthodox) opposed this hateful legislation, along with progressive members of other religions ("L.A. Jews Overwhelmingly Opposed Prop 8, Exit Poll Finds." LA Times.)
The Board of Rabbis of Southern California came out in favor of equality. "For many rabbis, it speaks on a personal level in terms of people they deal with whose lives have been impacted over the issue,” said Rabbi Stewart Vogel of Temple Aliyah in Woodland Hills and the board’s president of approximately 290 members.
Most religious Jews support marriage equality. Even Conservative ones. And marriage and families are an important part of Judaism. That brings us to the biggest question of all.
Number 3: Since Judaism allows same-sex marriage, why are gay Jews being kept from fully practicing their faith? Jews are encouraged by their faith to get married and raise Jewish kids. America's bigoted stance on marriage equality (and in some states, adoption) is prohibiting this for Jews who happen to be gay. Also, think about all the gay Christians who belong to chuches that would gladly celebrate their marriages.
Orthodox and Conservative Jews do not try to legislate bans on interfaith marriage. Evangelicals and Mormons do not try to outlaw adultery. Roman Catholics do not attempt to criminalize birth control or condoms. They simply preach their beliefs from the pulpits and leave those with differing opinions subject to secular law. Contrary to the lies the religious right was spreading before Prop 8, marriage equality does NOT criminalize the clergy who wish to spread hate and bigotry to their congregants. Look at the two U.S. states where gays have equal rights (and most of Europe.) Those places still allow religious nuts to be as backwards and ignorant as they want.
Places of worship will always be allowed to discriminate against gay people, and any clergyperson who does not want to marry a gay couple will never have to, just as my rabbi will never have to marry me and a Christian. But subjecting a group's civil rights to the votes of an angry mob of religious maniacs should not be Constitutional. If you care about "the sanctity of marriage," then ban straight divorce!! Let's throw adulterers in jail. If you support a ban on my right to marry, you're not pro-marriage--you're just anti-gay.
MY religion is okay with my being gay. I couldn't care less about yours'.

Protest Prop 8

2008-11-13T10:46:00.001-08:00
An ecumenical effort driven mostly by Mormons and far-right evangelicals managed to get the hateful, discriminatory Proposition 8 passed last week, taking away the rights of California's gay and lesbian tax-paying citizens to marry the person they love. ("California's Proposition 8 Pushed by Religious Groups, Especially Mormons")

http://religionclause.blogspot.com/2008/10/californias-proposition-8-pushed-by.html

(Why is it these religious groups only seem to get along when they are united against gay people?)

Here is a list of organized protests. If you live in any of these areas, please consider joining this movement and making your voice heard. And if you belong to a religion, maybe it would be nice to show it!! Let everybody see clear evidence that the people who voted to discriminate against gays and lesbians do NOT represent the only voice in that religion. If you're a Christian, wear a Jesus Loves Me shirt or a cross around your neck. If you're a Muslim or a sikh, dress traditionally. If you're Jewish, wear a kippah. Just a suggestion.

Thursday, Nov. 13

No On Prop 8 Protest - Irvine, Thursday 11/13 4:30pm Corner of Campus & Culver Drive, Irvine Marching to Culver & Alton.

Beverly Hills, CATime: 5:30pm - 7:30pm Location: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Street: 8949 Wilshire Blvd (Only candles, signs of love, nothing controversial) Organizer Contact: keegankillian@yahoo.com or 310-710-0678

State, College, PA 5:30pm - 7:30pm Allen Street Gates Corner of College and Allen Streets 8143605717, hvstonewall@gmail.com

Los Angeles, CAEl Coyote Cafe @ 7:00PM7312 Beverly Blvd, 90036

Long Beach, CA7 p.m. Hamburger Mary's

Palm Springs, CA7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Alejo & Palm CanyonMarch to Arenas then back to Francise Stevens ParkHosted by Concerned Citizens of Palm SpringsContact: deankrumme@mac.com

Friday, Nov. 14

2008UC San Diego, La Jolla 11:30pm - 3:00pm 9450 Gilman DriveLa Jolla, California

Vanguard College12:00pm - 2:00pm Lawn in front of Heath @ Vanguard 5623107470, Ebonee.Batiste@vanguard.edu

Hermosa Beach, CA 5:00pm - 7:00pm The Intersection of Pier and Hermosa Ave.Hermosa Beach Pier

Tucson, AZ5:00: Assemble at El Presidio Park (155 N Church St)5:30: March to La PLacita Village5:45 - 7:00 Rally

San Francisco TIME: 6:00pmPLACE: San Francisco Chronicle, 901 Mission St.

Los Angeles, CAUCLA7:00pm - 9:00pm Bruin Plaza / Campus

Saturday Nov. 15th

Join The Impact! Nationwide. On the steps of your City Hall on November 15th at 10:30am PST / 1:30pm EST, our community WILL take to the streets and speak out against Proposition 8.

San Francisco 10:30 A.M. at City Hall.1 Dr Carton B Goodlett Pl San Francisco, CA 94102http://protest8sf.wordpress.com/

Orange County, CA 12:00pm - 5:00pm South Coast Plaza Bear Street (Where the mall, Crystal Court, and Metro Pt. meet) Costa Mesa, CA

Anti-prop 8 New York Protest 1:30pm - 4:30pm City Hall260 BroadwayNew York, NY

Las Vegas, NV2-4PMThe LGBT Center, 953 E. Sahara Ave., Ste. B-31 standoutforequality@thecenterlv.com, 702-733-9800

Valencia Santa Clarita / Stevenson Ranch – 4PM Corner of Valencia Blvd & McBean Pkwy, Santa Clarita http://www.myspace.com/noonH8

Victorville, CA Corner of Bear Valley rd and Hesperia Rd. (NorthWest corner by Bank of America) in Victorville. 6:00PM

Sunday, Nov. 16th

Lake Forest, CA Saddle Back Church 10:00AM1 Saddleback Pkwy, Lake Forest, CA 92630

Long Beach, CAJesus Christ Church of Latter-Day Saints [Silent Protest]10:30 AM, 1140 Ximeno 7148819427, csibri@mac.com

Los Altos, CA11:00am - 2:00pm 1300 Grant RdBrandonRN2004@aol.com

Oakland, CA 11:30am - 2:00pm Foothill Missionary Baptist Church 1530 Foothill BLVD

Philadelphia, PA2:00pm - 3:00pm Independence Hall 143 South 3rd Street

Long Beach, CA3 p.m. Intersection of PCH/7th/BellflowerContact: Brittney at felisperdita@verizon.net

San Clemente, CA3 p.m. 242 Avenida Del Mar Contact: Edson McClellan at 949.584.6084 or emcclellan7@gmail.com.

Friday, Nov. 21st

Front Steps of Burlingame High School Street: 1 Mangini WayCity/Town: Burlingame, CA http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=93382880491

Sunday, Nov. 23rd

Cambridge, Massachusetts 2pm Cambridge City Hall 795 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA. 02139

Saturday, Nov. 29th

No On Prop 8 Peaceful Protest & Candlelight Vigil - Long Beach, Saturday 11/29 7pmLong Beach Performing Arts Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach

----thanks to Queers United for compiling this list----

Jewish Popularity: Everybody Really Does Love a Nice Jewish Girl (or Boy)

2008-11-06T12:41:00.000-08:00
A racist, who goes by the initials A.J., recently wrote a delightful article for a hate site about how President-elect Barack Obama is a Jewish creation designed to subvert morality and push "Jewish" legislation about abortion, universal health care, gay-straight equality, the death penalty, etc. (Yawn.)

http://tworca.org/barack_obama.html

"It is purely Jewish money from billiionaire currency con-artist George Soros, Jew money-bags Lew Susman, Jew movie moguls Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, and a thousand Katz's, Cohen's, Weinstein's, and Einstein's and Bernstein's in New York and Hollywood that are breathing life into this man-made mongrel mud-man [sic]." A.J. also points out that David Axelrod, Obama's "chief political strategist" is one of the Chosen People.

I point out this anti-Semitism only to say some people still hate us and see us as the movers and shakers behind every single major development in the world. These people are the ones who seek out the last names of the founders/owners of Facebook, Starbucks, and Google and write silly blogs about how every new popular company is run by a Jew. Obama's victory is just the latest event we supposedly masterminded (although I guess my Jewish friend Cody--an NRA member who voted for McCain--didn't get the memo.)

The neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and klansmen are not going anywhere; they're here to stay. And Obama's historic win--supported by 77% of Jewish voters--is only going to energize them. Obama has already been the vicitm of stated, planned assassination attempts.

But as much as we should be aware of this hatred, it's important to keep things in perspective. And that perspective is fairly sunny!! Jews have triumphed in this society--individually, culturally, and spiritually--and are among the most popular groups of people in the western world. Far from hating us, and even pretty far from being indifferent to us, (almost) everybody loves us. A rabbi once famously said about the threat of intermarriage: "The greatest threat to Judaism is no longer that gentiles want to kill us. It's that gentiles want to marry us."

So instead of drilling into the heads of Jewish kids and Hebrew school students that everybody despises Jews and that Jews must be careful because we're always one step away from another Shoah, what if we balanced that by also showing them how so many Jews have succeeded in this country without hiding his or her Jewishness? What if we showed them how Judaism is a major religion that attracts many people who were not born Jewish? How Jewish theology is currently an attractive option in the market place of spiritual ideals?

The first reason we should share this positive balance with our kids and students is that it will surely make them more emotionally healthy people. I have no research to back this up, but my own intuition tells me it isn't good for kids to constantly, obsessively read/hear/learn about our history of pogroms and gas chambers. That sad aspect of our history is definitely important, but it's better to balance that with stories of other ethnic groups' oppression and stories about Jewish achievement in the U.S. and Europe.

The other reason to share this positivity with kids is that IT IS THE TRUTH!!

In proportion, more Christians convert to Judaism every year than vice versa. Nearly every synagogue has active conversion classes. A woman from the Reform temple I do not attend converted for her ex-husband in 1999, and she has remained Jewish even after the 2002 divorce. Even though her initial reasons for conversion were more about her relationship than her spirituality, she has become a Jew in heart and soul.

There have also been recent reports that Judaism is attracting large numbers of black people. In fact, a black Christian church in the south suddenly saw a mass conversion. After exploring the faith as a group, every single member came to the conclusion that Judaism was a bitter fit with their personal beliefs than was Christianity. Everyone studied with a rabbi and they converted en masse. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, this is happening more and more (although not in the same dramatic fashion as the mass conversion.)

"For a black male to put on a kippah and go wandering around in a predominantly black community, you get the strangest looks," said Pamela Harris, who converted along with her kippah-sporting husband Jim ("Judaism Drawing More Black Americans.")

Another black woman, Latesha Jones, was introduced to the faith by befriending some Jews. Because Jews don't proseletize, Ms. Jones studied her friends' faith on her own, and she asked questions and went to shabbos service. Soon after she went through the conversion. "I felt welcome," she said. "I felt like this is my place."

Even though I've experienced my share of prejudice, those instances are far outweighed by the genuine interest and respect my friends show my faith and heritage. Even friends who are Christians or Muslims or atheists are able to carry on conversations with me about the Talmud and bar mitzvahs and Hanukkah without being judgmental or hateful. And I have so many straight non-Jewish male friends who ask me to set them up with Jewish girls, which is apparently a common occurence in the U.S., given the near-constant warnings about inter-marraige from right-leaning rabbis.

Face it. We are popular. Yes, some hate us, just as they hate people who are black, Latino, gay, or Asian. But most people admire Jewish singers, artists, writers, and entertainers without seeing the disproportionate number of successful Jews as being evidence of group control or world domination. Some people are even interested in joining the tribe.

Cute teen-idol pop star Jesse McCartney (not Jewish) recently told the media he uses the Jewish dating site JDate to meet girls. He said, "One of my best buddies is a Conservative Jew, and he told me about JDate and I set up an account to meet cute girls."

Well, good luck, Jesse. I hope you find a nice girl. Even if you don't convert.

Why Obama Will Make a Better President

2008-10-23T11:26:00.001-07:00
Approximately eighty percent of the Jewish-American community votes Democratic in presidential elections. Despite this fact, both Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain are courting Jewish voters. The Democrats are not taking us for granted, and the Republicans are not writing us off. Both parties are taking the usual steps of pledging support for Israel, but there is so much more to Jews and Judaism than that. What about compassion and health care for the poor, and equality for all citizens, regardless of race, orientation, or belief?

Those of us who take our heritage seriously and who feel Jewish morality is best explained by those great Conservative rabbis Milton Steinberg and Abraham Joshua Heschel can easily see why Obama will make the better U.S. president.

ECONOMY: John McCain is a hypocrite. He describes Obama as a "socialist." He says Obama's plans for the economy amount to socialism and his running mate Sarah Palin says continuously that, "this is not the time to experiment with socialism." And yet McCain supports nationalizing business, as evidenced by his support of the recent government bailouts. He also supports tax cuts for the ultra-rich, and his official site offers very little substance in the way of getting the U.S. economy back on track. His plan of action to help the middle class amounts to little more than bizzare soundbites about Joe the Plumber and Wendy the Waitress.

Obama is not a socialist, and--sadly--he would be an even more stellar candidate if his policies veered more in that direction. But in terms of capitalism, he has devised innovative plans to truly help the poor and improve our ailing economy, including creating jobs in fields related to modern energy sources. He wants to lessen the burden of higher education costs for students who make decent grades. His other sophisticated ideas inlcude, "investments in infrastructure, energy independence, education, and research and development." He wants to, "modernize and simplify our tax code so it provides greater opportunity and relief to more Americans."

WAR IN IRAQ: McCain says, "when Iraqi forces can safeguard their own country, American troops can return home." Unfortunately, that translates to many more years of occupation. This war will last indefinately under a McCain presidencey. The war is actually McCain's defining issue, and "winning" the war and displaying America's strength to "countries that don't like us much" are of the utmost importance to him. Obama supports a timeline for withdrawal and says the way Bush handled the war (unilateral engagement, preemptive strike) is wrong.

DEFENSE OF U.S. (AND ISRAEL): Obama states, "We have inherited a national security structure that was developed and organized in the late 1940's to win the Cold War." He wants to meet unconditionally with hostile world leaders (while still condemning those leaders' views and actions) in an effort to negotiate peace. He also wants to end Bush's stop-loss policies, develop a better weapons program, and provide more benefits for soldiers and veterans. Clearly, other countries' view of the U.S. will improve when Obama is President.

Both candidates support Israel as a U.S. friend and ally. But both men have a different definition of "support." McCain and Palin both fall into the right-wing trap of pledging undying, unconditional support for every expansionist Israeli policy, even those denounced by most Israeli citizens. McCain's and especially Palin's positions on social issues show they are not in synch with Jewish voters. And McCain's connection to Pastor John Hagee--a right-wing Zionist preacher who claimed the Shoah is G-d's punishment to Jews for not accepting Jesus--is at least as real as Obama's connection to Reverend Jeremiah Wright, but very few people other than Jews made an issue out of it.

Obama supports Israel's right to exist, as well as the safety of its citizens. He has davened at the Western Wall while wearing a kippah. But he has also expressed sympathy for both Palestinians and Israelis who live in fear and who have lost loved ones in this tragic conflict. He is mostly untested on this issue, but his administration will hopefully be more balanced than Bush's was or McCain's would be.

CIVIL RIGHTS: Obama says he will pass the Matthew Shepard Act and expand hate crime legislation to include sexual orientation on a national level. He also wants to ban racial profiling, end Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy banning open gays, and "reinvigorate the Department of Justice's criminal section." He also describes a proposed Constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman as "hateful."

McCain, on the other hand, says one thing and does another. He speaks for the most part in sane, civil language to appeal to undecided moderate voters, but his campaign is busy working its more fanatical base into a frenzy. His supporters have led a fear-mongering campaign based on anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiments. From the beginning, McCain supporters have tried to convince people (mostly evangelical Christians, Jewish senior citizens, and unaffilliated white people) that Obama is a Muslim. As Jon Stewart and Colin Powell both pointed out, this is offensive not only for being inaccurate but also for being unimportant. Why should a Muslim not run for office? Now there are rumblings among McCain's supporters that the New Testament claims the anti-Christ will be "of Muslim descent." Amazingly, the McCain campaign even silenced a Muslim Republican McCain supporter who was trying to defend McCain.

Moving from anti-Islam prejudice to outright racism, Obama's middle name Hussein has been used by McCain's campaign to suggest he is Arab. And while his supporters were quick to point out that McCain told an insane woman at his rally that Obama is not an Arab, his evidence to her was that he is a "decent family man." That was probably just a gaffe, but it's still the kind of gaffe that comes from not caring too deeply about racism in the first place. He is clearly out of his element when it comes to civil rights.

Just like he does with Arabs and Muslims, McCain also has other people do his dirty work when it comes to gays. In a transparent effort to court anti-gay religious bigots, his running mate Sarah Palin recently said she supports a Constitutional amendment banning gays from getting married.

HEALTH CARE: Obama says, "I . . . believe that every American has the right to affordable health care." McCain and Palin would say this is yet more evidence that Obama is a socialist, but if he were a socialist he would have said "free" in place of "affordable." Instead, Obama supports allowing qualified citizens who are not insured through their workplaces to tap into government health care. Anyone who takes ethics seriously can tell you the child of poor parents deserves the same health care given to the child of rich parents, but Jewish ethics would go further and say those poor parents also deserve the same health care as those rich parents. It would be nice if Obama supported socialized health care, but the capitalist program he does espouse is still infinitely better than McCain's. Obama says, "It's time to let the drug and insurance companies know that while they'll get a seat at the table, they don't get to buy every chair."

If all being Jewish means to you is that you watch Curb Your Enthusiasm, buy Manishewietz, and work hard to get your spoiled kids into Harvard, then there's no telling who you should or will vote for. But if you live to practice Jewish ethics--if the moral codes of Rashi, Steinberg, and Heschel are embedded in your heart and soul--it is clear Barack Obama is the better choice for U.S. President.

Correction: I can find no evidence that Sarah Palin was ever business partners with the member of Jews For Jesus who visited her church, as I originally wrote. I apologize for the mistake.

Why Jews Dislike Palin

2008-09-30T23:57:00.000-07:00
Here we go again. Every few years, some big media-saturated event lights up the internet with right-wing anti-Semitism, and the always-fragile level of tolerance the right grants Jewish people due to Israel and Jewish-American wealth and success begins to fade. Because no matter how much money Jews make, at the end of the day they still refuse to completely assimilate (read: vote Republican)

It's always strange to see the disparity between the right's support of the right wing of Israeli politics and their hatred and contempt for actual Jewish people. Evangelist Billy Graham is a right-wing Zionist, but he counseled Nixon about Hollywood Jews who subvert morality and promote liberalism. The Catholic League's Bill Donahue supports the Israeli right, and he also thinks "Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who only care about anal sex." Ann Coulter can fellate the Likud party all she wants, but she revealed her true feelings about Jews to Danny Deutche last year, saying they need to be "perfected" like her. (I guess that means become crazy bigots with horse-faces.) It's easy to see why she and her buddies are mad at us. The old saying that Jews earn like Episcopalians but vote like Puerto Ricans is true and must be baffling to anyone who wonders why someone wouldn't vote with her pocketbook. Usually these Jew-baiting events involve Mel Gibson, but this time it comes from a surprising source: John McCain's camp.

McCain has made a Herculean effort to court Jewish voters. Whereas most Republicans in the past have written off Jews because they vote mostly Democratic, McCain has directly appealed to them. And some of his supporters have tried to capitalize on the anti-Muslim sentiments of some (especially older) Jewish people with aggressive, false propaganda about how Senator Barack Obama is secretly a militant Muslim.

That's why the turnaround is so shocking. Here's what happened: First, McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. She is a nut-job who believes dinosaurs and humans once coexisted. She can't be bothered to read newspapers. She is against gay rights. She is against reproductive choice. We get it. Loves guns, hates gays. Really into hunting, but not so much into reading, learning, or science. So we (Jews) don't like her, naturally. That's the second stage of the turnaround. We reject this weirdo and make fun of her mercilessly in our fancy, city-folk jobs as reporters and Daily Show writers. That is all really predictable. If McCain thought Jews would warm up to a crazy Alaskan governor who hangs out with Jews For Jesus leaders, he must be as insane as she is.

But now the internet is awash with racists claiming Jews hate Palin because she is a Christian, and that this is further proof that Jews are anti-Christian bigots. Some are saying Jews are repeating the racism that was dealt to them by Christians in the past. This Jew-baiting claim is even making its way (in a nicer tone, of course) to mainstream sites like Beliefnet. Let's get three things clear:

1. Christianity is not a race, so it's impossible to be racist against Christians. Christianity is a CHOICE, like Scientology or Reform Judaism. Because we live in a civilized society, we should be civil towards each other and refrain from ridiculing someone's religion for no reason, but criticizing a religion is not racism. Anti-Semitism is racism because it is hatred against someone because of her ethnicity. Hating someone because her last name is Cohen is racism. However, criticizing Conservative Judaism is not racist because that's a religion. Therefore, criticizing Christianity is not racism.

2. Uh, we don't hate Christians. Most of us don't, anyway. According to Ha'aretz, Jewish voters favor Obama, and he is a Christian. Jews voted overwhelmingly for Bill Clinton and John Kerry, and they are both Christians. I'm pretty sure most Jews think Oskar Schindler was a good guy, and he was a Christian. We dislike Palin because she is crazy!!

3. If you want to strike a chord with Jewish voters, support legislation we can get behind. Most Jews want gay-straight equality, reproductive rights, socialized health care, and support for education and the arts. And a balanced approach to the Israeli-Palistinian conflict that respects the humanity of both peoples will make Israel more secure than just giving its right wing unchecked support.

Well, I hope that clears things up for you anti-Semites. I've got to get back to the cabal now. We've got some world-domination plans to draw up.

Best and Most Disappointing Summer Movies, 2008

2008-09-25T12:50:00.001-07:00
Now that the (Jewish) year is coming to an end, and autumn has officially begun, what better time to reflect on this year's summer movies and make an arbitrary, completely pointless list of the best and worst?

BEST

1. vicky christina barcelona Is anyone else sick of critics calling every amazing Woody Allen film his comeback? First, I thought they would stop saying that after the funny/sad/experimental Melinda/Melinda. I was wrong. When Match Point opened to glowing reviews, critics called it his comeback, as if Melinda/Melinda didn't count. Then when Vicky Christina Barcelona was seen to be another classic film from the Woodster, they called it a return to form, forgetting all about Match Point!! Anyway, see Vicky. It's another of Woody Allen's bright, funny clashes of society's bourgeois sensibilities and Allen's desire to do his own thing. Scarlet Johannson atones for her Tom Waits cover album (just in time for Yom Kippur!!) and Penelope Cruz turns in her best work since Volver. The real draw, though, is Javiar Bardem, speaking Allen's witty dialogue and probable views on relationships. If Johannson is Allen's muse, Bardem is the writer-director's sexy avatar.

2. the dark knight Christopher Nolan's sequel to his own Batman Begins isn't just an improvement. It's a spectacular improvement. More emotionally and thematically complex, this box office champion sees Nolan eschewing the German Expressionism-lite of Tim Burton's versions and instead summoning his inner Scorsese to create a visceral crime saga with as much psychological impact as summer thrills. And Heath Ledger's Joker is the most terrifyingly unpredictable villian since Ralph Fienne's Amon Goethe in Schindler's List.

3. standard operating procedure This dispassionate but no less scathing look the Abu Ghraib scandal is not the classic that is his Fog of War, but it's still enthralling with its examination of the soldiers who committed these heinous acts as well as the politicians who allowed them.

4. paranoid park Experimenting once again with focus in/focus out shots, slow-motion, and Dogme 95, queer director Gus Van Sant pricks his characters until they bleed. A disaffected young boy who is involved in a security guard's accidental death is at the center of this emotionally exhausting film, the helmer's best since Elephant. All his usual elements are here: the plot is thin, the texture is rich, the boys are gorgeously photogrpahed (by cinematographer Christopher Doyle,) and relatable characters, the girls (like the cheerleader girlfriend) are not.

5. tropic thunder Big-money studios usually don't release inflammatory, wildly offensive movies. That's why it came us such a happy suprise that this DreamWorks release even got made.* Ben Stiller should write, direct, and star in more dark, edgy films like this than glossy corporate trash like Night at the Museum. From the hilarious fake trailers for the characters' other movies (the gay monk drama Satan's Alley winning MTV Movie Award's Best Kiss is the highlight) to the action-and-big-laughs climax, Tropic Thunder is one of the best mainstream comedies in a very long time.

MOST DISAPPOINTING

indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull The thing about Indiana Jones films is that they are entertaining AND well-made. Lots of trashy movies are entertaining and provide escapist entertainment, but they suck. And lots of movies (like Remains of the Day or Ghandi) are well-made but incredibly boring. But Steven Spielberg poured craftsmanship into Raiders of the Lost Ark, creating an action-movie masterpiece of well-paced plotting, swift-but-great characterizations, eye-popping camera-work, and lavish mise-en-scene. And those action scenes!! They were so intricately choreographed they actually involved physics and mathemtical problem-solving. (That's not an exaggeration.)

Indy IV looks, sounds, and feels like it was made by people who know or care nothing about filmmaking. I expect that from George Lucas, who hasn't been involved with a good film since the first Bush was president (and that was Indy III, directed by Spielberg.) But for Spielberg to have been the captain of this sinking ship is just depressing. It's time to cut ties with his first mate.

*Not that any minority is actually ridiculed or even slightly made fun of in this film. The fact that Special Olympics chairman Timothy Shriver doesn't understand that Tropic Thunder is satirizing arrogant, incredibly stupid actors who are so hypocritical they would use the "r" work after winning Oscars for their "sensitive" portrayals of developmentally delayed people is a deperssing statement on the fact that so many people don't understand satire. It reminds me of those older Jewish people in my synagogue (and even young Jews on Facebook) who actually think Borat is anti-Semitic.

When Kosher Isn't Kosher

2008-08-19T10:15:00.000-07:00
When Kosher Isn’t Kosher
By Eli Jeremiah

Kosher is the best thing about Judaism. Symbolic and practical at the same time, kashrut laws—when applied thoughtfully—stand out among Judaism’s beautiful concepts as the most defining and meaningful way to practice the Jewish faith, to live a Jewish life.

The practicality of the kosher moral code manifests itself in several ways. Kosher slaughterhouses are supposed to be more humane than non-kosher ones. They are supposed to minimize the suffering of the animals killed, and the animals are to be cared for as dignified creatures while alive. There is a feeling of solemnity to a kosher slaughterhouse, because the animals are treated this way and not as meat, and most kosher slaughterhouses embrace complete transparency, with its facilities open to public and rabbinical inspection at any time.

The symbolism comes from the spiritual significance of kosher. We don’t mix meat and dairy to symbolize that meat comes from violence and dairy comes from life. Rabbi Feinstein says in Tough Questions Jews Ask, “Saying no to a cheeseburger is a symbolic way of saying to no to a world that mixes violence and life all the time.” And the reason some animals (like pigs) are prohibited is to limit what we are allowed to kill. There’s a story rabbis often tell that says G-d actually wants us to be vegetarians, that not killing any animals is the most ethical way to live. But He understands He gave us cravings for meat that many of us cannot overcome. Therefore He listed several animals Jews are prohibited from eating in order to make the consumption of meat more inconvenient.

For many Jews, keeping kosher is a way of turning our kitchen into an altar to G-d. Keeping kosher forces us to think about what food we put in our bodies. It disciplines us and makes us respect the animals we kill.

That’s why the AgriProcessors scandal is so tragic. In the hands of some Orthodox Hasids, a supposedly kosher business was not kosher at all.

For those who don’t know, AgriProcessors is a Hasidic-owned kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa. For years, this business—which caters mostly to the Orthodox community—has violated U.S. law as well as halakha, Jewish law. PETA exposed its shocking abuse of animals, and a May 12 immigration raid spotlighted its completed disregard for human beings. The company had hired a staff of illegal immigrants and mistreated them, paid them terrible wages, and gave them so little food they were forced to accept charity handouts.

To Conservative Judaism’s everlasting credit, the movement—led by the Jewish Theological Seminary—worked tirelessly to expose these criminals to the media and to bring about justice. The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the Conservative Rabbinical Association also called for an immediate boycott of AgriProcessors, urging Jews to not patronize any of its subdivisions, either. (“Conservative Socialism: AgriProcessors and Hekhsher”)
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, head of the Union of Reform Judaism, said it was “absolutely time for the Jewish community to demand similar investigations into all kosher slaughterhouses.”

Not surprisingly, AgriProcessors has many sympathetic Orthodox supporters who claim the controversy was caused by liberal Jews and unions. (The Orthodox Union says it is awaiting the outcome of the legal proceedings against AgriProcessors and will withdraw its kosher certification if the company is found guilty. As if there isn’t enough evidence of wrongdoing without the trial.) While U.S. law is one thing, many Orthodox Jews fail to see how mistreating humans and animals violates halakha. Well, they could start by reading the Torah.

“You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow countryman or a stranger in one of the communities in your land. You must give him his wages on the very same day [he works], before the sun sets, because he is needy and he urgently depends on it—otherwise he will cry out to G-d against you and you will be guilty.”
--Deuteronomy 24:14-15

Noting the activism and pursuit of justice by the Conservative (which requires keeping kosher) and Reform (which does not) movements, Shmarya Rosenberg said this about Orthodox Jews who still defend AgriProcessors: “Orthodox outreach groups are fond of asking potential [Orthodox] recruits a question: Will your grandchildren be Jewish? The idea being that if the non-Orthodox person doesn’t take proactive steps now, his children or grandchildren will marry non-Jews. Those proactive steps? Adopting Orthodoxy, of course. The thing is, they’re asking the wrong question. Their question focuses on genetic group identity rather than behavior. The question should be, “Will your children and grandchildren be kind, moral, and ethical people?” Asked that way, the answer is clear. Orthodoxy as currently practiced is no guarantee of ethical behavior—in fact, it’s probably contraindicated. AgriProcessors has proved that.” (“Exploiting Undocumented Workers Exploits Judaism.”)

What many Orthodox Jews fail to understand is that they are not actually keeping kosher at all. Not the way the majority of Jews understand the concept. They are blindly following a legalistic set of guidelines with absolutely no concern or thought for Jewish ethics. Most Orthodox Jews would say everything this article says about the reasons we keep kosher is silly. Jews keep kosher simply because G-d say to. To them, there is no rhyme or reason to the laws.

But that’s not real Judaism. Judaism is a life-changing, soul-shaking faith where we wrestle with ethics at all times. Every single thing we do—and yes, every single thing we eat—requires adhering to the highest possible standard. That’s what kosher means: the highest possible standard—even non-Jews use the term that way colloquially. That’s why progressive organizations like Kosher Conscience and Hazon—which seek to blend kashrut laws with the values of the eco-friendly/ fair wage/ organic movements—are in keeping with Jewish values much more than just not eating certain foods because G-d said so.

By standing up to AgriProcessors and bringing its leaders to justice, the Conservative and Reform movements (as well as those secular Jews, non-Jews, and against-the-grain Orthodox Jews) have made kosher more kosher.

Copyright 2008, Eli Jeremiah

Choosing My Religion

2008-07-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

I hate weddings. Not only are they boring and stuffy, but my cynical nature never allows me to reconcile the piety and pageantry of the ceremony with the fact that most marriages end in divorce. When I couldn’t make it to my cousin’s nuptials last year, I was tempted to say, “I’ll just catch your next wedding.” However, I must admit I recently felt a pang of tribal curiosity when I was invited to my first same-sex wedding ceremony.

My friends Ben and Josh—who have lived with each other for 3 years in Portland, Oregon—plan to move to California this September and make it official. They have already booked a synagogue in San Francisco, the much-sought-after Beth Shalom. As much as I hate weddings, I am actually looking forward to this one, if only to see who stomps his foot on the wine glass.

And for those hipper-than-thou gay naysayers, who roll their eyes at the thought of two cool Jewish dudes like Ben and Josh conforming to “straight” society by getting hitched, I say stop your kvetching. Even if marriage is silly (that’s debatable,) that doesn’t mean certain minorities should be content to be banned from the institution by bigoted lawmakers and religious oppressors. Nobody should eat unhealthy fast food, but if McDonald’s were to suddenly stop serving gays and lesbians, civil rights activists should be outraged. Marriage is important to many of us, and not just because of benefits. If you don’t believe in marriage, don’t get one; but the only real way for Ben and Josh to conform to “straight” society is to marry women.

So mazel tov, Ben and Josh. I will be there. I feel kinship with these two guys in more ways than one. Not only are we all gay men in our 20’s, we are also gay Jews. We lived in Israel as infants. Our parents are divorced. We are Russian and German in terms of ancestry. (Josh and I are Russian on our mother’s side, while Ben’s mother is German.) And we are all Conservative Jews.

Judaism contains three major branches—Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. Aside from Humanistic and Reconstructionist Judaism, Reform is the most lenient, and aside from the ultra-Orthodox haredim, Orthodox is the most stringent. Like Ben and Josh, I practice the comfortable middle ground of Conservative. This movement combines the social justice activism found in Reform with the respect for halakah (Jewish law) found in Orthodoxy. Conservative synagogues require males to cover their heads in the sanctuary, and they only serve kosher food at shabbos dinner.

Conservative is a perfect fit for me. I dislike the way many Orthodox Jews blindly adhere to Orthodox rabbi’s interpretations, even when those interpretations are nonsensical (ancient purity laws about menstruation being followed in 2008) or immoral (homophobic interpretation of Leviticus 18:22) I also dislike many Reform Jews’ complete disregard for halakha and their sometimes lack of discipline, as well as the movement’s early history of conducting services in German, and forbidding members to wear kippahs or keep kosher.

I am in no way an extremist. I think the frum (observant) lifestyle is noble, and when the movement someday does away with its misogyny and homophobia I will admire it greatly. I also think Reform Judaism is completely legitimate, and that any gentile who becomes a Jew-by-Choice by converting through Reform will be just as Jewish as I. I definitely don’t think these two (or any) branches of Judaism are treif (non-kosher;) I simply am choosing my religion. I thought about this when I was talking to another friend.

Makailah is another gay Jew in my life. She is Orthodox and lives in New York City. Last spring break, I stayed with her for a few days and met her friends from a group called Orthodykes. One day, over a bland meal at a kosher Subway in Brooklyn, I brought up the fact that Conservative Judaism now allows same-sex marriage. I told her she and her partner should go off and get married, (if only because I wanted to see who gets to stomp on the wine glass.)
She shook her head no and said there was no way in hell she would have a simcha (Jewish religious ceremony) at a Conservative synagogue. When she gets married, it will be in an Orthodox shul.

I could have been annoyed, and I could have angrily pointed out the Orthodox movement’s homophobia. But I didn’t, because I see her point. She doesn’t participate in any religious activities that aren’t Orthodox, and why should she? It isn’t fair that just because she’s gay she has to have the most important relationship of her adult life sanctioned by a rabbi from a different movement.

Makailah believes the Orthodox movement can change its ways and follow the paths of Reform and Conservative (smaller branches like Humanistic have always embraced gay-straight equality.) I agree with her. After all, a couple decades ago, who would have believed two males would be getting married in a Conservative synagogue in California? As long as we remain vigilant—as long as activists remain active—we can bring about change. Actually, it was sages whose views would make them Orthodox in modern times who made the famous rabbinic decree that whatever the Torah means by “rebellious teenagers,” it does not mean what we mean today by “rebellious teenagers,” thus making that aspect of halakha void. It didn’t require a God talking to these sages through a burning bush for this reinterpretation to take place. It took rabbis who used common sense and compassion when interpreting ancient scripture.

Orthodox Jews should follow the example of Orthodox rabbi Steven Greenberg, who interprets the prohibition against male sodomy as a prohibition against the kind of domination and humiliation by one man to another seen today by thugs and prison inmates. Not a prohibition against modern gay couples acting on their natural feelings.

Judaism is a living tradition, and our commitment to tikkun olam must begin with ourselves. How can we Jews believe in repairing the world if we consider Orthodox Judaism beyond repair? What disaster are we inviting when we leave our religions instead of stay and fight? We should lovingly but firmly remind Orthodox Jews over and over that halakha and equality are not mutually exclusive, and that anyone who refuses to even consider reinterpreting the questionable verses is guilty of worshiping the Torah instead of G-d.

I said all of this to Josh—of Ben and Josh—a few nights ago when he called me. I told him how proud I was of Makailah for not settling for a Conservative wedding and how proud I was of him and Ben for not settling for a Reform one. I told him how we should demand justice from our religious traditions instead of bailing on them. But Josh had nothing to say about any of that; he just wanted to talk about his wedding. And so he did. For hours. He went on and on about how he has dreamt of his wedding day ever since he was a young boy and how he wants everything to be perfect.

Something tells me Ben is the one who will be stomping the wine glass at the wedding.

Copyright 2008, Eli Jeremiah