Over Shabbas, I spent a good amount of time with Women of the Talmud, by Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt. A full review is forthcoming, but if you haven't been following the serialization in The Jewish Press, you might want to check out the excerpts. Incidentally, my brother assures me that the author is a very very good ping-pong player.

Interesting Salon.com interview with an American Catholic priest who wants to make celibacy optional in order to head off a coming priest shortage. The argument he uses this: celibacy has only been around for the last 1000 years, and the Eucharist needs a priest to work, and there aren't enough to go around. Something has to give. Something to follow.

Looks like no senryu this week. Many apologies.

A Chareidi opinion piece on Sharon's off-again on-again program for mass aliyah as a solution to Israel's demographic issues:

But more fundamentally, the entire direction is wrong. According to our estimates, a solid majority of the hard core Jews in the world already live in Israel. The best and most cost-effective way to increase the Jews here is to encourage more Jewish births among all those who already live in Israel, rather than look to outside sources. Those who are born and raised here will be better citizens than those brought in from the outside, especially if the newcomers' ties to anything Jewish are very weak to begin with. Child support payments also come out quite a bit cheaper than aliyah benefits, and more children stay on here than olim.
Instead of cutting back child support payments, the government should increase them. Leaders should praise the contribution of those who have big families to the entire Jewish people. Everyone knows that imports are a second-best stopgap and the only sustainable, long-term solution is to rely on local production. The chareidi community is fully committed to this. The sooner everyone else realizes it, the better off we will all be.

EphShap finds the kosher shaver modification service, a place that removes the "lift" from your "lift and cut". But, lo, you needn't rely upon them to provide this free service for you -- you can just use their easy-to-follow instructions and do it yourself!

Reader Shaya notices some fun in the Google ads above. When he stopped by, the two were:

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"Meet the Metrodox," a story on the West Side Orthos by Benyamin Cohen of Jewsweek. I don't have much to say about what the piece actually says, but do about how it says it. Cohen has shown himself to be extremely capable at latching on to current trends and terminology in popular culture and Judaism and uniting them so that Jews who deal with and engage in popular culture can receive his communication. It's a particular kind of intelligence, and I think it's quite valuable. There's an iteration that goes on in this piece -- and always in theory, often in practice, for Jewsweek as a whole -- that tries to tell the story in a way that makes the phenomenon more lucid by combining an understanding of what goes on in Judaism and what goes on in popular culture. It's a real effort, and it's truly effective. It's this kinds of moment that makes Jewsweek the popular publication that it is, and why the rest of the Jewish media world should be taking notice (as if beating many of them in terms of readership weren't already reason enough).

From the same issue of the Commie as my last post:
Kaffeine Energizes Yeshiva Campus with Coffee and Couches:

Arik Lifshitz, Steve Martinek, and David Batalion's vision of a classy hang-out for student and community is slowly being realized. Students have remarked to both Lifshitz and Martinek that Kaffeine has given them a venue to go to and relax, not only between classes, but as a pure hangout. Many students claim that if it were not for Kaffeine they would be simply dwelling in their dorms, surfing the net, and awaiting the weekend.
'Late at night, sitting in my room used to be boring to no end,' remarked one student, 'however, now that I have a place other than the library to go to, being on campus is much easier.' With Kaffeine on-campus, an atmosphere is beginning to be created at the corner of West 184th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.

Yuter blogs about pluralism, which sort of fits this countdown to Lishmah mood that we all seem to be in here. He even referenced Dr. Lamm at a YU Dorm Talk:

Rabbi Lamm told attendees of the February 6th affair that one cannot believe that all other sects of Judaism are equally correct, regardless of their own rights to practice what they believe.
"This contradicts the Jewish vision of the world," he warned. "We cannot be simultaneously right and wrong, for we believe that we are correct yet must reserve the right to say 'Sir, I believe you are wrong.'" Rabbi Lamm introduced the term "halachic Pluralism" to describe the level of ideological acceptance Orthodox Jews must have for each other. Within the bounds of halacha, many things go, and one halachic sect has no grounds to denounce or deny the other.

Another solid week for the Jewish Press Letters Section. Pro and con letters about Mayor Bloomberg's visit to Israel. Pro and con letters about Lishmah. Rachel Weiss returns with what appears to be her final defense for not saying "Good Shabbas" to people on the way home from shul. Whereas previously her position was the result of her concern that some female would come to say "Good Shabbas" to her husband, causing irrevokable spiritual damage to everyone involved in the process, she seems to have shifted gears somewhat. Now, she claims that everyone is too busy rushing to perform Good Works to take the second or two to greet people along the way. Excepted from her lengthy treatise is this spectacular use of the English Language:

Ahavat Yisrael is indeed a lofty aspiration, Ms. Leogrande. The true essence of such is, baruch Hashem, rampant amongst our people.

Every Jew who reads this letter has the power to unite Jews everywhere to give tremendous help to Israel. Please send copies of this letter to rabbis of every synagogue in your community asking them to announce on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur a world-wide campaign for every Jew to:
1) Send as much tzedakah as possible to Israel; and
2) Pray every day for peace in Israel.
Israel is greatly in need of our help — both spiritually and financially — at this time. It is fighting for its existence with very little support from the world. In addition to the costs of defending itself against terrorism, the economy is down because of a decrease in tourism. Our rabbis can announce the names of worthy organizations collecting funds for Israel at this time.
G-d tells us in the Torah that if we give 10 percent of our income to tzedakah, we will be rewarded with riches.
Please also send this letter ASAP via mail, fax, or e-mail to as many Jews as you can so that this campaign will reach every corner of the world.
May G-d grant us all great success and peace in Israel.

In case you're bored with cellphone minutes to burn, try 1-732-600-9913 and listen to the recording. Reverse lookups don't work, so it might be a cell number, and the area code is that of Lakewood, NJ (among other places). Thanks, Meredith!

Rabbis' Confab to Bridge Denominations, my article on Lishmah for the Forward.

Two interesting points:

1) I screwed up. In this post, I refer to "the delightful Bal Thackeray (not to be confused with William Makepeace Thackeray, who wrote poetry, and didn't break kneecaps)."

Astute reader Duvi points out that "WM Thackeray is known for his prose--novels, sketches, journalism."

I appreciate the correction.


2) Reader Josh sent me to a good story in AP. Apparently - in Saudi Arabia, at least - Barbie (of the doll fame) is Jewish.

All I can say is halevay....

In the getting asswhiped by Al Sharpton Dept:


WaPo reports on a Democratic candidate debate, where:


"The debate was repeatedly interrupted by demonstrators who were followers of perennial candidate Lyndon Larouche, and Sharpton implored and scolded them at every turn, claiming they were deliberately attempting to disrupt the first Democratic debate focused on issues of importance to the black community. "You're going to respect us on this stage because we've got something to say," he said after one interruption.

"Amen," Lieberman said.

"I take that as an endorsement," Sharpton said to laughter."


OUCH! Fold, Joe, fold.

Once again suggesting that the only candidate who's not running a formulaic and pandering campaign is Big Bad Al. Whoda thunk it?

Hi all -- my laptop broke yesterday and is now in the shop. I'm borrowing Reader Josh's spare laptop now and will get back to blogging a lot more after the polls close in today's Democratic primary. Run, Ydanis, run.

Return of the Missing (formerly) Hassidic Girls

Reader David writes “dying to be put on protocols:”

And indeed, after taking a quick read you too will find that David is correct. A special kudos goes out to old friend Dov Hikind for making this story even more entertaining than it would have been without him.

New Blog Alert: Reader David is now Blogger David, and it seems that yucs blogging is starting to take off.

Just in case you thought that Christian fundamentalism was BibleBelt-only issue, there's a 'Creationism' school opening in England right about now. One wonders if they'll teach about the dinosaurs living in Africa...

Rabbi Yuter, I presume?

Just in case you were wondering where Modern Orthodox Jewish Day School Education is holding, here's an eye-opener. This from the lookjed listserv for Jewish educators. A Neil Fleischmann asks:

G-d willing, I will be teaching Kidushin this year. Does anyone have suggestions regarding explaining the phraseology of "HaIsha Nikneit" - that a woman is "acquired" by a man?
(I will be teaching 2 co-ed modern-Orthodox high school classes - the lowest track ninth grade class, and a middle level eleventh grade class, in case you feel that helps address my question.)

With regard to the specific language issue raised by Rabbi Fleischmann, it is important to connect the Rabbis' use of language in the Mishna with the text source upon which the statement is based. The Gemara connects the marriage acquisition with Abraham's purchase of Me'arat HaMachpela (Kicha Kicha Misde Efron). Although the purchase of land in Israel is, on one level, a business transaction (as is evident from the lengthy negotiation that takes place, as described in the Biblical text) it is much, much more than that as well. Raising this point is an opportunity for teachers to discuss the Jewish people's myriad connections to the Land, a relationship no less complicated and convoluted than a husband-wife relationship.

In the " funny, Mr. President, you don't look Jewish" department


I'm not sure what to make of this stunning public realization by Moshe Katsav. Did he just think of it, or was he saving it up for a particularly good time? My theory is that he submitted it a year ago, and the Jpost told him they'd publish it eventually (after all, he IS president), and they finally had the op-ed space.

In the Sharon would look funny in a loincloth dept:

Yeah, so Arik's in India, forging a new "we're both the targets of terrorist Muslim groups so let's be friends" defense and economic alliance. Heartwarming, really, two alleged democracies adrift in a sea of oligarchies and and dictatorships. A natural alliance, or so it seems.

Two thoughts:

1) the article notes that:

"Sharon's huge entourage can also expect street
protests by left-wing and Muslim groups that
note India has been a longtime supporter of the
Palestinian struggle for self-rule and claim
Sharon has no place in the land of Mahatma
Gandhi. "

I see. In Kashmir, on the other hand....


2) The meeting's in Mumbai (I thought it was called Bombay??), home of the Shiv Sena street thug/nationalist social organization and its ideological rebbe, the delightful Bal Thackeray (not to be confused with William Makepeace Thackeray, who wrote poetry, and didn't break kneecaps), who once said in an interview that if Indian Muslims "behaved like the Jews in Nazi Germany, there was nothing wrong if they were treated like [the] Jews there." PM Vajpayee's own right wing BJP party has been getting deeper and deeper into bed with the Shiv Sena folks (he appointed a Shiv Sena protege as his Deputy PM last year), which makes me wonder exactly how strange the bedfellows politics makes are. I guess the Mafdal and Agudahniks would go on the record as saying equally insulting things about Indians. But are we so sure that we want the BJP people (not to mention the Shiv Sena boys) as our "friends"?

On the bright side, maybe if Sharon gets indicted, he can become a Bollywood star. I think he'd make a GREAT ganesh!

Charlie Rose is starting up on PBS right now, promising an interview in the second half of the show with Bernard Henri-Levy, author of Who Killed Daniel Pearl? and philosophy superstar. In July, we linked to a translation of an interview with him. I'll update when the interview gets going.

12:30 p.m. -- Ten rabbis from across Jewish denominations blast the shofar, a traditional instrument, symbolizing union of all Jews; TKTS island, Broadway between 46th and 47th streets.
--Contact: Shmuel Herzfeld.

Two very interesting articles in BAR this month. First, Manfred Bietak writes about his find of "Reed huts more than 3,000 years old belonging to workers—perhaps slaves—and with the same floor plan as ancient Israelite four-room houses" in Egypt of all places. Then, to top it off, Baruch Halpern discusses dating of Biblical texts. He writes:

To start with the answer, we can date Biblical texts. And the oldest text attesting the Exodus dates to sometime between 1125 and 1000 B.C.E.
The Exodus occurred, according to the previous article in this issue by the distinguished archaeologist of Egypt, Manfred Bietak, in about 1150 B.C.E. Most scholars have followed the lead of the Bible in placing the Exodus itself in the late 13th century B.C.E. Bietak’s date is somewhat arbitrary, but the formation of an “Exodus tradition” (as he designates it) probably does roughly belong to the 12th century B.C.E. So, unlike much other Biblical material, the earliest attestation of the Exodus in the Bible is almost contemporaneous with the very origin of the tradition! This means that when the Exodus texts were composed, some people were probably still alive who participated in the event or remembered it—whatever it may have been(!)

The first three days of the Shir HaShirim Challenge:

Day 3: This afternoon was a bit rushed. To save time, I read the sefer in English instead of Hebrew. Hopefully it won't hold me back. (Yud Elul)
Day 2: It seems to be taking me about 30 minutes to whip through the sefer, which isn't too shabby. I got a few kisses on my right paw this afternoon . . . all delivered by a seven year old girl. Well, at least someone loves me. She asked if she can be flower-girl at my wedding. I'm going to take that as navuah on her part. (Tes Elul)
Day 1: Recited the eight perakim with little difficulty. Ate the evening seuda by a lovely couple who also hosted three (eligible) male guests. None proposed. Perhaps my lipstick was smudged? A sizable posse of men attempted flirting with me as I walked home. I guess the lipstick wasn't holding me back that much after all. (Ches Elul)

NYPost on the Williamburg eruv.

Jarvis:

Another memorial in New York
: Kunstspaziergänge, a wonderful site that shows public art from Berlin, reports that a Holocaust memorial will be coming to New York (scroll down until you see English):

...the project in Berlin consists of 80 signs that hang from neighborhood lampposts. One side of each sign displays a Nazi ordinance passed between 1933 and 1945 that placed restrictions on Jews. The other side shows a simple colored pictogram created by the artists to illustrate the edict. The signs reveal how German Jews were systematically stripped of basic rights and forced out of daily life.

When it went up in Berlin in 1993...

...the police in the Schöneberg district of Berlin received a number of telephone calls from irate individuals claiming that anti-Semitic signs bearing such provocative inscriptions as "Ban on Jewish musicians. 31.3.1935" and "Jews may no longer keep pets. 15.2.1942" were being bolted to lamp posts around the Bayerischer Platz. The police rushed to investigate; what they found, however, was not a group of neo-Nazis but the artist Renata Stih and the art historian Frieder Schnock in the process of mounting eighty plaques that together were to form a memorial network to the deported Jews of Berlin. "Art or no art," State Secretary Armin Jäger decided, "the limits of good taste have been overstepped." Despite the artists' protest, the police dismantled and confiscated the seventeen signs which had already been put in place.
According to the press, this misunderstanding occurred because the artists had begun to put up the signs a week before the memorial was to be presented to the public in an official ceremony at the Rathaus Schöneberg.

Explanations were added to the signs and all was well. Hope they have the good sense to do the same in New York, or one can imagine the reaction.

Israeli Guy has moved.