Archive for the 'religiousness' Category
August 8th, 2008 by elie
It’s been a long, meatless week. We are coming to the end of the ‘Nine Days’, the mournful count between Rosh Chodesh Av to the Ninth of Av, or as it is (affectionately?) known as Tisha B’Av. During the Nine Days, we refrain from meat, wine, fancy entertainment. You know the drill.
I’m tired of pasta. I’m tired of cheese. I’m tired of dreaming about steaks and wine. Even though Tisha B’Av is on Sunday, today is effectively the last day since tonight and tomorrow are Shabbat (a.k.a reprieve). What to snack on for my last forced dairy meal?
Hell, why not a blast from the past… now in Hebrew!
August 7th, 2008 by elie
For me, there aren’t daily Israeli-firsts anymore; it’s more like periods of firsts washing up on the shore. I pick them up and hold them to my ear and listen to the waves of meaning they try to offer.
At least, some of the time.
I participated as a support/witness for a friend undergoing conversion (of sorts). For the second time, I saw the insides of a Beit Din in Jerusalem; this was a specific Beit Din that specializes in conversion.
I’m glad that what I expected wasn’t exactly what happened; at least what I saw. I’m a harsh judge of bureaucratic Jewish process; so often it lacks heart and soul.
Anyway, it was an interesting, intimate and emotional experience that I feel pretty honored to have participated in. My friend has actually always been a practicing Jew, but since arrival in Israel, she’s been painfully aware that it is not according to the standards officially set out here.
I’m relieved that the rabbis didn’t let me down with any chilul Hashem action. I’m ecstatic that my friend can move on with her life. I’m also more appreciative of what I’ve had without ever trying…
Before it was our turn with the Beit Din, we saw a young couple and their baby walk out of the room. There was this aura of silent relief; but it was an exhausted relief, a relief that comes only after you’ve become red in the face trying to do what you know is true.
This man was just that, and he looked at us, wishing us luck. He said - really to God more than to anyone else - “two years“. Those words were so heavy; they carried so much. They carried his story. Two years.
I wished him mazal tov and when he said thank you, I could feel him meaning it. It felt good.
The rabbis had seemed to have already made up their mind by the time my friend’s adoptive family and me walked in to ‘testify’. They had a warm, yet serious demeanor. I thought that was exactly what this warranted: a cocktail of seriousness and warmth. I felt like I could trust these guys. The one who interviewed me had kind eyes; he reminded me of a Talmud teacher I had in high school.
Afterward, when we were all called in for the ‘verdict’, it hit me truly for the first time what I’ve always had. I’ve always had certainty, status. I’ve had the luxury of not being doubted. I’ve had a self-identity as solid as stone.
My friend was given the spiritual head-nod to ‘join’ Dat Yisroel by a panel of rabbis only after providing evidence of commitment. Commitment that had to be inspected, prodded and ultimately, judged. Commitment that - whether it mattered or not - had already been accepted on her behalf before she was born.
I’ve never had to affirm my belief or my Jewish commitment to another human; it never really much mattered to a panel of rabbinical judges. I’ve never had to say Shema Yisroel and accept this covenant in public. Before I was born - whether it mattered or not - it had already accepted me.
July 30th, 2008 by elie
Just found three headlines from the last couple days that I thought I’d share. Consider it a little taste of news in the womyn’s world.
Rabbi Metzger: Married women should give up maiden name
“Advice to women from the chief rabbi: Married women should give up their maiden name, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger told hundreds of women at a convention Monday dedicated to Jewish family values and religiosity. ‘We are currently in an era of permissiveness and there are many messages that create cracks in the Jewish home’s whole structure,’ the rabbi told the women in attendance.”
Pregnant, breastfeeding women must fast on Tisha B’Av
“The Halacha (Jewish law) holds no all-inclusive exemption for pregnant women or those breastfeeding. Each case must be assessed separately.
The rabbi explained that ‘the assumption that nowadays women are weaker than they were in the past is not necessary so, and the medical logic says that in light of the nutrition and medicine that we live with today, the situation is exactly the opposite.’
Thus, he disputes the lenient Halachic position stating that women in these situations must be exempt from fasting in all cases, a stance supported in the recent years by popular rabbis of the religious-Zionist persuasion.
This is the rule decided upon by the head of the Petach Tikva Hesder Yeshiva Rabbi Yuval Sherlow, right before Tisha B’Av.”
Fight for agunot isn’t over
“Jerusalem Family Court announces unprecedented ruling, orders man who refused to divorce his wife for nearly a decade to pay her $158,000 in damages. Rivkah Lubitch celebrates, but explains why the happy ending is still far off.”
Discuss.
June 4th, 2008 by elie
It’s amazing what can be taken for granted.
Most of the year has passed me by and I haven’t once written about it being a שמיטה (shmittah) year. Living in the greater Jerusalem area, not owning a garden or any trees, and mainly associating with kosher people, I’ve just not had to worry about it much.
Isn’t that just the Jewish life in Israel though? What it ought to be? Living the traditions we’ve been passing down for thousands of years like they’re just… normal?
And isn’t it funny that I started writing this post yesterday and today we walked past a tree with baby plums hanging over a fence… And we plucked one off and it was the first time I’ve ever ’stolen’ fruit in a shmittah year… I am sure there are all kinds of halachot making that experience unkosher, but at least it tasted nice.
If you are looking for something to study over Shavuot next week, or were considering planting a garden… here’s a little Shmittah Gardening Guide, before it’s too late.
April 17th, 2008 by elie
What makes this Passover different from all other Passovers? It’s the first one where I’m making my own seder while combining the traditions I grew up experiencing with someone else and his own traditions.
I feel like this is the type of thing we all think about and wonder as kids (ok maybe just those of us who grew up with the Orthodox upbringing): when we get married, what traditions will our husbands have? Will we stand united, stay separate but equal or be dissolved into one another?
My husband and I have a fun mix of Ashekenazi and Spehardi between us; it’s cause for all kinds of different foods and we like to be multicultural about it. Now that it’s Pessach, we’re learning new customs, foods and Ma Nishtana languages from each other.
For example, one of the staples of the seder is the haroset; the ugly but yummy dip we use to remember the bricks our forefathers built in Egypt. Ashkenazi haroset is usually constructed from apples, walnuts, sugar, honey, cinnamon, sweet red wine. Sephardi charoset is more focused on dates, raisins, apples, and some kind of nut. That is why we will have two different charosets at our seder table this year.
Can you guess which is which?
I have never been a fan of Ashkenazi charoset. It’s kind of awkward to me and looks like chopped liver, another Ashkenazi food I try to avoid. In my house growing up, we all fought over the amazing, sweet pasty charoset my Sephardi grandmother prepared for us. Every year the amount she made grew, and every year, it seemed more like there was not enough.
Well, I replicated it this year and I can proudly say that my Polish husband fell in love with it instantly… although, to be fair, he has decided to have his mum’s version at the seder because it wouldn’t be the same for him without it.
Pessach is definitely my favorite food holiday and it’s probably in the number one spot for all-time favorite holiday. I feel honored to be cooking the dishes my grandmother spent years serving us, carrying on traditions… and even picking up new ones.
April 16th, 2008 by elie
There is a lot going on in these days before Passover. Cleaning our houses, shopping for food, cooking that food… and then of course, eating that food as we tell the story of our freedom from the slavery of Egypt. We are catching up on halachot (laws) of keeping kosher during the Pessach holiday. Some of us are giving charity to the people who need help making their own seder night come true.
In short, we are getting ready for one of the biggest mitzva-observing weeks of the Jewish year.
Unfortunately, I can’t help but realize there is one mitzva (commandment) that many Jews do not keep at this time of year - or any time of year, in fact. That is the laws dealing with converts to Judaism. It’s interesting, because it is very much related to the fact that we Jews were strangers in Egypt, and from that experience God commanded us not to make converts to Judaism feel like awkward strangers once they have accepted Judaism and been accepted to Judaism. The Hebrew/Jewish word for convert from the Talmud is “ger tzedek”, a righteous stranger; it was meant to be a term of endearment and respect.
Why does this get ignored? Why do people insist on taunting converts about their status, about being a ‘real’ Jew or not, after they have gone through the processes? Why does the State of Israel, of all institutions, do this to fellow Jews? What happened to a person going through the intense trial to becoming a Jew and then being able to live as though they were always Jewish in the eyes of their peers? What happened to “דן לכף זכות”, benefit of the doubt, and also not making assumptions? More importantly: What happened to the Jewish tenet that embarrassing your fellow man being equal to murder in the eyes of God?
That is how I learned it growing up in yeshiva - that was the happy clappy theory. In reality, it is completely different. In practice, ‘religious’ Jews couldn’t give a crap about this issue in Judaism. And that infuriates me. This is not like the gay issue; this one is spelled out: be kind to the ger tzedek once s/he has stepped out of the mikva, and don’t taunt him with his/her past.
Like so much else in Orthodox Judaism, halachas and mitzvot and laws have been bastardized and fenced in by ridiculous cautions that make spiritual experiences become painful unnecessarily.
Not that this is a direct correlation, but this rant makes me realize that I haven’t called or considered myself Modern Orthodox in a really long time. And I don’t think I ever will again.
April 15th, 2008 by elie
Had to share this email I got at work today. Bear with me, I work in the hi tech realm; therefore, I thought this was funny:
The Computer Engineer’s Haggadah
Release ISRAEL
ISRAEL running in slave mode, cannot release
Set ISRAEL;mode=master
Pharaoh already running in master mode, cannot change ISRAEL
Set Pharaoh;mode=slave
Command ignored
Load Moshe
Done
Deactivate Pharaoh
Pharaoh account hard locked;cannot be deactivated
For i=1 to 10 do plagues
Are you sure? Y
Done
Release ISRAEL
error: ISRAEL uninitialized
Set ISRAEL = 600,000
Done
Release ISRAEL
ISRAEL released
Declare Matza;array(width=20,length=20,height=0)
Done
Move ISRAEL to Sinai
OPERATOR WARNING! SYSTEM ABOUT TO CRASH! PHARAOH AND RED SEA
HAVE LIMITED YOUR MEMORY SPACE! SAVE YOUR WORK!
Save ISRAEL
Specify save device
Save ISRAEL with miracle
Done
Move ISRAEL to Sinai
Done
For I=1 to 10 do commandments
Allocation conflict: Commandments cannot be operated with active golden
calf routine. COMMANDMENTS CRASHED!
Destroy calf
Done
For I=1 to 10 do commandments
Done; commandments stored on hard rock device
Move ISRAEL to desert
Warning! Command could lead to infinite loop
Move ISRAEL to desert;limit=40 years
Done
Build Mishkan
Syntax error
Build Mishkan;owner=Betzalel
Done
Move ISRAEL to ISRAEL
Warning: operand terms must be unique
Move ISRAEL to CANAAN
Overload: cannot move all of ISRAEL to CANAAN
set ISRAEL = ISRAEL - (SPIES * 10)
Done
Move ISRAEL to CANAAN
Done
April 15th, 2008 by elie
Had to share this email I got at work today. Bear with me, I work in the hi tech realm; therefore, I thought this was funny:
The Computer Engineer’s Haggadah
Release ISRAEL
ISRAEL running in slave mode, cannot release
Set ISRAEL;mode=master
Pharaoh already running in master mode, cannot change ISRAEL
Set Pharaoh;mode=slave
Command ignored
Load Moshe
Done
Deactivate Pharaoh
Pharaoh account hard locked;cannot be deactivated
For i=1 to 10 do plagues
Are you sure? Y
Done
Release ISRAEL
error: ISRAEL uninitialized
Set ISRAEL = 600,000
Done
Release ISRAEL
ISRAEL released
Declare Matza;array(width=20,length=20,height=0)
Done
Move ISRAEL to Sinai
OPERATOR WARNING! SYSTEM ABOUT TO CRASH! PHARAOH AND RED SEA
HAVE LIMITED YOUR MEMORY SPACE! SAVE YOUR WORK!
Save ISRAEL
Specify save device
Save ISRAEL with miracle
Done
Move ISRAEL to Sinai
Done
For I=1 to 10 do commandments
Allocation conflict: Commandments cannot be operated with active golden
calf routine. COMMANDMENTS CRASHED!
Destroy calf
Done
For I=1 to 10 do commandments
Done; commandments stored on hard rock device
Move ISRAEL to desert
Warning! Command could lead to infinite loop
Move ISRAEL to desert;limit=40 years
Done
Build Mishkan
Syntax error
Build Mishkan;owner=Betzalel
Done
Move ISRAEL to ISRAEL
Warning: operand terms must be unique
Move ISRAEL to CANAAN
Overload: cannot move all of ISRAEL to CANAAN
set ISRAEL = ISRAEL - (SPIES * 10)
Done
Move ISRAEL to CANAAN
Done
April 15th, 2008 by elie
Had to share this email I got at work today. Bear with me, I work in the hi tech realm; therefore, I thought this was funny:
The Computer Engineer’s Haggadah
Release ISRAEL
ISRAEL running in slave mode, cannot release
Set ISRAEL;mode=master
Pharaoh already running in master mode, cannot change ISRAEL
Set Pharaoh;mode=slave
Command ignored
Load Moshe
Done
Deactivate Pharaoh
Pharaoh account hard locked;cannot be deactivated
For i=1 to 10 do plagues
Are you sure? Y
Done
Release ISRAEL
error: ISRAEL uninitialized
Set ISRAEL = 600,000
Done
Release ISRAEL
ISRAEL released
Declare Matza;array(width=20,length=20,height=0)
Done
Move ISRAEL to Sinai
OPERATOR WARNING! SYSTEM ABOUT TO CRASH! PHARAOH AND RED SEA
HAVE LIMITED YOUR MEMORY SPACE! SAVE YOUR WORK!
Save ISRAEL
Specify save device
Save ISRAEL with miracle
Done
Move ISRAEL to Sinai
Done
For I=1 to 10 do commandments
Allocation conflict: Commandments cannot be operated with active golden
calf routine. COMMANDMENTS CRASHED!
Destroy calf
Done
For I=1 to 10 do commandments
Done; commandments stored on hard rock device
Move ISRAEL to desert
Warning! Command could lead to infinite loop
Move ISRAEL to desert;limit=40 years
Done
Build Mishkan
Syntax error
Build Mishkan;owner=Betzalel
Done
Move ISRAEL to ISRAEL
Warning: operand terms must be unique
Move ISRAEL to CANAAN
Overload: cannot move all of ISRAEL to CANAAN
set ISRAEL = ISRAEL - (SPIES * 10)
Done
Move ISRAEL to CANAAN
Done
April 8th, 2008 by elie
Remember the nationwide drill I wrote about? The emergency sirens went off today at 10 am all over the country, wherever you happened to be standing.
And me? I was standing in Ma’asiyahu prison in Ramle. And let me tell you, it’s a little surreal to hear a siren go off in a prison.
I attended a class field trip today (class: Psychological approaches to family mediation) which took place in the Ramle complex of prisons. The professor’s goal was surely to get a different view of people who are likely involved in family conflict, although we didn’t get much of that. It was very interesting nonetheless, and as always, jives with my general philosophy that contact theory works.
Ma’asiyahu prison is a “light” prison for people at the end of long sentences or smaller crimes. The prisoners are encouraged to work and/or study to be prepared for their release (although some of them never get released). For the most part, they are free to work and walk around within the prison gates and interact with the guards.
A few noteworthy items about the experience:
#1
I got to the jail a half an hour early. For thirty minutes - I exaggerate not - I wandered aimlessly around the grounds trying to find the meeting place for my class. I asked a couple guards for directions (they had no idea) but get this: not one prison guard or army soldier (or prisoner for that matter) asked me what I was doing or why I was there. No one stopped me. Me, looking like a little girl with my backpack on; I could have been Dora the Explorer ready to help her convicted lover escape for god knows what.
#2
It turns out that this is the same prison where Omri Sharon is filling his sentence. I was actually standing in his block. I have to assume he is losing some weight, those beds are not very big. But kol hakavod to the Israeli prison system; he isn’t getting any better treatment than any one else based in the four-prisoners-a-room spacing.
#3
There is a religious section of the prison, where datiim live together and attended classes in a midrasha, keep shabbat and kashrut and so on. At first it hit me weirdly to see this men in tzizit walking around the prison yard; I come from a religious upbringing for the most part and back in New York, except for very few charedi-business theft cases, I never gave religious prisoners much of a thought.
It also hit me weirdly that there were a lot of kippah-wearing guards. Religious Jews are the prison guards for religious Jews… It’s like I live in a Jewish state or something.
I also thought it was nice that the whole prison will be doing a Pessach Seder together.
#4
Here’s something that pissed me off: The tour was given to my graduate class but also some other class/acquaintances of my professor. The latter were older and more… obnoxious. When one of the prisoners volunteered to chat with us about his experience, quite a few of my older companions went down a rude road, asking him directly why he doesn’t regret what he did (which was computerized theft) and why he doesn’t donate money to charity now to repent. In addition, they laughed in his face when he mentioned that the work he does for the jail is not in computers (as part of his punishment).
Do not the courts judge right and wrong, reward and punishment? Isn’t that the kind of democratic society we choose to live in? Who are we to judge our peers outside the court room, when they are paying back society for their crimes? I don’t think we have any right to come face to face with this man, who volunteered to be a bridge for us to view a different world, and laugh at him while he pays his debt.
Then again, I might feel differently if he were a rapist or murderer. What do I know, anyway.
