Ein beliebtes Angebot einiger Ulpanim: Hebrew in 10 days is possible! Dieses Ziel schien mir bereits bei der Auswahl der Ulpan so unwahrscheinlich, dass ich mich stattessen für die 120h Variante bis Level Bet entschied. Irgendwas sagte mir, dass alles ganz entspannt läuft, doch nach einem Monat und ca. 40h Sprachkurs sieht die Realität anders aus. Gestern lernte ich insgesamt sechs Stunden mit mäßigem Erfolg. Und es reicht bisher nichtmals dazu ein Profil bei Atraf ohne Google-Übersetzer auszufüllen.

Das Hebräische ist eine einizige Aneinanderreihung von nicht herleitbaren Rechtschreibungen und das alles in zwei Geschlechtern in je zwei Fällen- das beinhaltet noch nicht die Zeiten. Substantive, Verben, Pronomen, Adjektive und sogar die Zahlen(!) werden in zwei Geschlechtern konjugiert/ dekliniert. Das führt dazu dass die Uhrzeit mit dem Zusatz Minuten (“14 Uhr 20 Minuten”) in männlichen Zahlen angegeben wird (die Minuten sind hier männlich), wohingegen die vollen Zahlen weiblich benannt werden (“14 Uhr”). Auch schön sind die Singular-Pluralkonjugation von Substantiven mit Adjektiven, wenn das männliche Substantiv im Plural die weibliche Singularendung bekommt, das dazugehörende Adjektiv allerdings aufgrund des Geschlechts in die männliche Pluralform gebracht wird… Eine wundervolle Ausnahmen stellen die im aktiven Bewusstsein eher stiefkindlich behandelten Adverben dar, die hier der bisher einzige Satzteil sind, der einfach immer bleibt und nicht gebeugt wird. Die machen sich gut.

Auch wenn die Ulpan derzeit überfordert und frustriert bleibt der weitere Weg spannend. Am schönsten ist, dass sich der Kopf in anderen Bahnen bewegt und es möglich ist- trotz holpern- etwas zu lernen. Mit dem Bus fahre ich morgens durch drei (ultra-)orthodoxe Quartiere- dementsprechend schwarzbemantelt und schläfenbelockt sehen dann auch die Mitfahrer, berockt und haarverpackt die Mitfahrerrinnen aus (im hebräischen weiß ich noch nicht wohin mit dem Unterstrich.) Wenn die Kids zur Schule/ Jeshiwa fahren verstehe ich manchmal einige Teile des jiddischen. Auf jeden Fall die Zahlen. Die Männer tragen oft eine große Tora/ einen großen Talmud mit sich herum. Die Spannung zwischen dieser Konzentration auf die Religion und das gleichzeitige eingebettet sein in westlich-kapitalistische Produktionsverhältnisse finde ich jeden morgen noch sensationell, sobald der erste Haredi sein Handy oder einen mp3-Player auspackt. Weil es noch keine gute Möglichkeit der Verständigung gibt, fällt ein Dialog schwer- so bleibt unklar wie sich die Eindrücke einfangen lassen. Unser Vermieter ist ebenfalls ultraorthodox, Vater von elf Kindern und kommt nur “without promise”, auch wenn der Abfluss seit zwei Wochen verstopft ist. “Without promise” heißt übersetzt “nein”- würde er es versprechen muss er auch kommen. Inzwischen ist unser Abfluss wieder frei, allerdings traute ich mich nicht ihn zu treffen. Masha meinte nur “No problem, he’s just worrying that he does not rent flats to arabs.” Wie schnell ich allerdings doch zu dem verworfenen Teil seines Symbolischen gehöre, wollte ich dann nicht rausfinden, ebenso befürchte ich nach dieser Ansage nicht nur sprachliche sondern auch inhaltliche Verständigungsprobleme. Brille.

Beim Hebräisch lernen und dem damit verbundenen Aufwand, denke ich oft an die Energie die nötig war um diese Sprache wieder zu beleben, und die Kraft die jede_r einzelne braucht um sie zu lernen. Auch die moderne Infrastruktur des Landes, die eben nicht selbstverständlich existierte sondern zu großen Teilen von privaten Geldgeber_innen (mit-)finanziert wurde. Darüber hinaus ist vieles mit persönlichen Namen benannt. Inzwischen verwunderen nicht mehr die vielen Tafeln, wo die Trustees genannt werden, und es ist selbstverständlich ins Blanche & Romie Shapiro Department of Fine Arts zu gehen oder in die Frank Sinatra Caféteria oder generell in die Bezalel Academy. Es ist schon beeindruckend mit welcher Gewalt sich der jüdisch-zionistische Diskurs materialisiert(e), gleichzeitig das Vorhandende verdrängte und nun eine kohärente israelische Identität aufrecht zu erhalten versucht. Als Yona Yulie Cohen Gerstels Film in einer anderen Klasse zeigte wurde gegen sie eine Beschwerde von einem Studierenden eingereicht, weil ihre Lehre/ der Film eben dieser phantasmatischen Vorstellung entgegensteht. Es stehen hier zwei parallele Narrative von Geschichte gegenüber, eine Konstruktion mit der sich nicht agieren lässt.

A Roundup of Australian Jewish News

By Garry Fabian

ECAJ calls for compassion on asylum seekers

SYDNEY- While reconciling Australia’s obligations under international refugee laws with the need for proper screening might prove a difficult balancing act for the
federal Government, the Jewish community has called for asylum seekers to be processed “expeditiously” and “in a spirit of compassion.”

A statement on asylum seekers from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) last week also called on the Rudd Government to “to work
constructively with other governments and appropriate non-government organisations to ameliorate the plight of refugees around the world and in Australia”.

It called on the Government “to implement in good faith and with humanity, Australia’s important legal and moral obligations” on refugees.

The ECAJ statement drew on the recent history of world Jewry in highlighting that “especially prior to, but also during and immediately after World War II, many thousands of Jewish refugees attempting to flee persecution in Europe were
denied entry into other countries or [were] forced to engage ’smugglers’ to try to escape to freedom”.

The ECAJ stated that the International Convention on the Status of Refugees of 1951, to which Australia is a signatory, “came into existence in belated recognition by the international community of the great wrong that had been done by civilised nations in refusing to grant asylum to Jewish refugees fleeing from Europe prior to and during World War II.”

More broadly, ECAJ president Robert Goot called on Australians to discuss asylum seekers in a considered and respectful manner and avoid resorting to “pejorative generalisations”, which he said are unhelpful and can be misleading and unfair.

Wide selection at Jewish Film Festival

MELBOURNE and SYDNEY– The Festival of Jewish Cinema’s 2009 program kicks off on a decidedly light note with the quirky fish-out-of-water tale, A Matter of Size.

From co-directors Sharon Maymon and Erez Tadmor, the film follows four overweight friends and their quest to find their place in the world.

Resigned to an endless regime of diets and fitness groups, the friends stumble upon the one place that accepts them for who they are — the world of Israeli sumo wrestling.

The festival opens in Sydney on November 11 at Bondi Junction and in Melbourne on November 12 at ACMI Cinemas, Federation Square and the Classic Cinema, Elsternwick.

A Touch Away is one of Israel’s best-kept secrets. A riveting drama series produced for the small screen, the series follows two families in a religious suburb of Tel Aviv. One is ultra Orthodox and the other is a newly arrived secular Russian family.

The powerful, confronting eight-part series broke ratings records in Israel and will be screened in two parts as an encore presentation.

Acne is an offbeat coming-of-age tale about a bar mitzvah-age boy who is beginning to awaken sexually. Set in Montevideo, Uruguay, Rafa has
lost his virginity, but has never kissed a girl.

His efforts to do so are thwarted by bad skin, an interfering Jewish community and his parents’ messy divorce. A charming outsider tale, Acne’s
sexually charged plot will likely divide audiences, but it’s a romp not to be missed.

One of the picks of the festival is Adam Resurrected, starring stalwart Jeff Goldblum and based on the novel of the same name.

Goldblum plays Adam Stein, a former Berlin magician, who used his talents to survive the horrors of the Holocaust.

Forbidden love in the Orthodox community is examined in the contoversial feature Eyes Wide Open. The film focuses on the gay realtionship between a father of four and his younger shop assistant, and is sure to divide audiences.

French film Hello Goodbye stars two of the country’s iconic figures: Gerard Depardieu and Fanny Ardant. A middle-upper-class French couple
uproots and makes aliyah in the hope of re-discovering their Jewish identity.

The mid-life sea change swings into action after their son’s decision to marry out in this romantic comedy.

Other films to look out for include From My Father, a love story about the relationship between a Palestinian and an Israeli; Cycles, which looks at four different generations of a French Jewish family; and Slovakian Holocaust drama Broken Promise.

Being Jewish in France is a documentary about Jewish lie in the European country from the Dreyfus Affair to the rise of anti-Semitism in modern France.

Other documentaries in the program include Inside Hana’s Suitcase, about a group of present-day Japanese students that unravel the mystery of a
young Auschwitz inmate; Killing Kasztner, which looks at the controversial figure Israel Kasztnerwho saved nearly 2000 Hungarian Jews
during the Holocaust; and Operation Moses, which tlls the story of the emergency evacuation of Ehiopian Jews to Israel during the 1970s and ’80s.

Australian filmmakers are also well represented inthe documentary section of the festival. Leave the Stone’s Throw is a documentary by journalist
Julie Szego, who details her struggle to accept the legacy of the Holocaust in her family, while Israeli documentaries A History of Israeli Cinema, Z32 and the Tunisia/France co-production The Wedding Song are also featured.

In the 20th anniversary retrospective section is From Hell to Hell, a film about the events leading up to the Kielce Pogrom in Poland in 1946,
German political thriller The Giraffe Mechugge) — from the producers of Run Lola Run, Khroustaliov and My Car – about Stalin’s
infamous Doctor’s Plot to get rid of Jewish doctors,Dutch film Left Luggage about a secular Jewish girl in Antwerp who takes a job with an Orthodox
family and the brilliant Phyllis and Harold, a film about the family of artist Cindy Kleine, are also in the retrospective.

Pilger continues diatribe on Israel

SYDNEY– Peace Prize winner John Pilger launched a scathing attack on the
media’s coverage of Israel during a lecture at the Sydney Opera House on Thursday night.

Speaking before a capacity audience in the concert hall, Pilger, a journalist, author and filmmaker, criticised the Australian media for its “modern propaganda”, particularly when it came to coverage of the Gaza war.

“In no other democratic country is the discussion of the brutal occupation of Palestine as limited as it is in Australia,” he said to applause. “Are we aware of the sheer scale of the crime against humanity in Gaza? Twenty nine members of one
family – babies, grannies – are gunned down, blown up, buried alive, their home bulldozed.”

He urged the audience to read the Goldstone Commission Report, stressing the point that it was written by “Jewish judge” Richard Goldstone.

“Those who speak from the article of freedom are working hard to bury the United Nations report. For only one nation, Israel, has the right to exist in the Middle East, only one nation has the right to attack others, only one nation has the
impunity to run a racist apartheid regime with the approval of the western world, and with the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Australia fawning over its leaders.”

Pilger also criticised United States President Barack Obama for “stepping up [George W Bush's] wars and starting his own war in Pakistan”.

“Like Bush, [Obama] is threatening Iran, a country Hillary Clinton said she was ‘prepared to annihilate’. Iran’s crime is its independence . Iran is the only resource-rich Muslim country beyond American control. It doesn’t occupy anyone
else’s land and it hasn’t attacked any country, unlike Israel, which is nuclear-armed and dominates and provides for the Middle East on America’s behalf.”

The Sydney Peace Prize is the only international peace prize awarded in Australia.

The citation for the Sydney Peace Prize refers to significant contributions to “peace with justice”, awarded to an organisation or individual “who has made significant contributions to global peace”.

Past recipients of the prize have included Professor Muhammad Yanus, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson.

*
American professor to bring Talmudic guidance down under

MELBOURNE–What guidance does the Talmud have for ethical decisions on space travel or human cloning? Plenty, according to Professor Laurie Zoloth.

Prof Zoloth is professor of religion and Jewish studies at Chicago’s Northwestern University and is also the director of the university’s Centre for Bioethics, Science and Society.

She will be in Australia next week to take part in Hadassah Australia’s stem-cell awareness week of activities, together with her colleagues in science, Professor Alan Trounson and Professor Ben Reubinoff.

A secular ethicist, Prof Zoloth served for two-and-a-half terms as the sole philosopher on NASA’s National Advisory Council, one of the highest positions a civilian can hold.

Today she chairs the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Bioethics Advisory Board, and serves on NASA’s planetary protection advisory committee and the International Society for Stem Cell Research.

Like a lawyer, Prof Zoloth draws precedents from classical texts, including Jewish ones.

“It is one of many traditions that I use. If there’s a really good argument that emerges from the Orthodox or halachic texts, I bring it in,” she said.

Indeed, much of talmudic teaching is highly resonant with the aspirations of science. “The rabbinical position is that much is permitted in order to learn,” she explained.

Prof Zoloth is renowned by her peers for her rigorous intellect.

“She is very demanding and articulate,” said Prof Trounson, the Australian scientist who since 2008 has been president of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), and a guest speaker at Hadassah Australia’s dinner next week.

“If you say something that requires a better philosophical or scientific underpinning, she’ll challenge you,” he said. “I don’t always agree with her, but it’s always intellectually satisfying,” Prof Trounson added.

Prof Zoloth’s visit is timely, with a review of Australia’s human embryos and cloning legislation imminent.

Her visit also coincides with a major shift in the scientific and ethical landscape of stem-cell research.

Since 2007, researchers have learnt how to avoid the use of embryos altogether in the making of embryonic stem cells. Skin cells can be turned directly into embryonic stem cells – cells that could provide a patient with a limitless supply
of matched tissue to treat diabetes, blindness, bone-marrow disease, skin diseases and neurodegenerative disease.

According to Prof Trounson, CIRM is now funding translational studies in these areas ­ meaning in the next four years stem cells will be making their way out of the lab and into the clinic.

Another guest speaker at the dinner, Hadassah University Hospital’s Prof Reubinoff, is one of the pioneers of that journey.

Working together with neurologist Tamir Ben Hur at Jerusalem’s Hadassah, Prof Reubinoff ­ who worked with Prof Trounson at Monash University ­ is using embryonic stem cells to treat macular degeneration and multiple sclerosis.

###

This town is exhausting.
Everybody is fighting over something, all the time. And now the Haredim found a new battle(play)ground.
Now they’re taking on Intel.
Whenever i’m attending a mass Haredi protest, i can’t help but wonder if they really all care so deeply, or if it’s a mob thing, and their minds are clouded by the fact that the rabbi ordered them to take to the streets, and the enormous satisfaction and strength they must feel showing up in such numbers.
I mean, they seem so agitated and motivated, and entranced at times, that they almost make you believe. But…I don’t know…it looks a little fake. The fact that they are such a tight group where everybody knows everybody and what everybody else does, i guess there must be times when they find themselves pretending to care.
Yesterday, for example, the photographers all stayed back at a (what turned out to be not enough) safe distance from the demo, because they were just too scary. At some point there was some commotion, and a rumor spread that the deputy mayor (Haredi) arrived and was being beaten up by the mob. A few minutes later a Haredi man approached us, and asked if there were non-Jews among us, that could call the police, to come save the deputy mayor. And another Haredi man who happened to be nearby, heard part of the conversation and started yelling at the first man that he is desecrating the Sabbath and soliciting other Jews to use the phone, and that he will tell everybody. And he started running toward the mob yelling to them about what he saw…

I thought it was amazing.

Was Alltag abseites des Bekannten bedeutet und wie sehr sich das Bekannte in das Verhalten und somit auch den Körper einschreibt, wird an den bekannt einfachen Dingen sichtbar und diese zur Herausforderung. Heute (wie auch schon die letzten 1,5 Wochen): Postkarten abschicken. An und für sich nicht so schwer, doch da wir sie schon am 2. Tag schrieben und sie noch immer nicht den Weg zu den Adressierten antraten vielleicht exemplarisch. Die Post hat im Gegensatz zu bsp. den Lebensmittelgeschäften häufig nur bis 14 oder 15h geöffnet.  Was in Anbetracht des Klimas schwieriger ist als Gedacht bzw. mit sehr frühem aufstehen verbunden ist um nicht in die totale Mittagssonne zu geraten, die es mir schwer macht längere Zeit draußen zu sein. Zudem gibt es einen großen Andrang, welcher durch die Aussicht eine Wartenummer zu ziehen und geschätzt zwanzig Minuten zu warten auch nicht gerade einläd. Nach vergangenen Versuchen rappelten wir uns heute gegen 13.h auf das Haus zu verlassen um endgültig die Karten abzusenden, was zum einen mit 30° voller Sonne und einer verschlossenen Tür des Postoffice belohnt wurde. Denn der Freitagnachmittag in unseren Köpfen ist gleichzeitig der Endspurt vor dem Shabbat, was konkret bedeutet, die Geschäfte schließen ohnehin schon früher allerdings gerne auch nochmal früher als angegeben. So standen wir auch um 13:45 vor verschlossenen Türen des Museum On the Seam und kauften zum Abschluss nach dem Fußmarsch durch die Sadt noch etwas zu essen… Es gibt unglaubliche Süßigkeiten, die besonders gerne zu Shabbat gegessen werden, allerdings ist es schwer nicht alle dieser kleinen Monster schon vorher aufzuessen.

Sukkot, das große jüdische Freudenfest beginnt gerade. Ich ziehe es vor zu Hause zu bleiben, weil mir noch unbehaglich ist mit meinem touristischen Blick/ Verhalten an den Traditionen teilzunehmen ohne situiertes Wissen. Die Stadt ist voller Sukkot, deren äußerlicher Charme den Installationen Thomas Hirschhorns gleichen und deren Innenräume dekoriert sind mit Dingen, die mich unweigerlich an die pompösen Eisbecherdekorationen meiner Kindheit denken lassen. Dies sind sozusagen die meisten Modelle, allerdings gerade in der Nähe von Bars und Hotels, gibt es auch mit weißem Stoff umspannte und Palmenlaub bedeckte Metallgestelle deren inneres eher meine Erwartungen an eine Raffaello-Party weckt. Ich habe keinen weißen Leinenanzug dabei.

Ein weißer Leinenanzug ist außerdem ein gutes Kleidungsstück um das Innere der Knesset zu betreten. Der Dresscode nach eigenen Angaben: “One is not permitted to enter the Knesset wearing tank-tops, shorts, or jeans. “Crocs” shoes are not permitted unless they are black or navy. Men may not enter wearing sandals, and women are not permitted to enter wearing belly-shirts.” Welche Verschwörung es mit den Crocs auf sich hat, werde ich noch ergründen…  Allerdings waren sowohl Menschen mit Jeans, als auch mit Shorts anwesend, sodass es mich noch mehr verstörte, wieso ich, wie Ulla schon berichtete, meine schöne pinke Kette ausziehen musste, wenngleich ich doch von einem der ersten Wachmänner des Knessetgeländes ein Kompliment dafür bekam (was allenfalls durch sein Maschinengewehr getrübt wurde). Es ist merkwürdig welch hoher Stellenwert “korrekte” Kleidung hier beigemessen wird… Dazu unten mehr. Wer mit dem Ziel die Knesset besucht etwas über die interessante Architektur oder das System der politischen Repräsentation zu erfahren kann sich getrost diese Erfahrung sparen: nach dem passieren von drei Wachmenschen, die den Pass kontrollieren, einen Visitor-Sticker auf die Kleidung kleben und sämtliches Gepäck in einen schwarzen Beutel verstauen, wird dieser zeitgleich geröngt während des Passieren des Metalldetektors mit anschließender Abtastung, woraufhin mensch – eine der wenigen Sachen die mensch noch selbst machen darf- den Gepäckbeutel eigenhändig zu Verwahrung aus dem Durchleuchter nehmen und der Verwahrung übergeben darf. Nur mit Kleidung und dem Sticker bewaffnet geht es dann zum eigentlichen Gebäude, wo eine vierzigminütige Führung beginnt. Eingeleitet von einem emotionalisierten und überideologischen Film über die Bedeutsamkeit des Ortes, werden ausschließlich die schöne Aussicht, indifferente Details der Geschichte und Gossip vermittelt ohne auch nur im Ansatz in einen lebendigen und aktiv nutzbaren Zusammenhang gestellt zu sein. Die nach jeder Station obligatorische und selbstbeantwortende Frage “Any questions so far? No? Okay, lets go!” macht wohl am besten entweder die durch die Führung vermittelte Debilität oder die Ohnmacht gegenüber einem System der repräsentativen Demokratie deutlich, welches uns willkommen heißt und gleichzeitig die Teilhabe so sehr verweigert, dass es nicht möglich ist einmal in Gänze um den 1960er Jahre Bau herumzugehen um die Aussicht auf Jerusalem zu genießen. “I hope you feel very welcome in the Knesset, the israelian parliament.”

Noch eine kurzes Stück zur Kleidung. Wie sehr Kleidung codiert ist, trat uns das erste mal aktiv ins Bewusstsein bei der Erfahrung mit Ulla in dem ultraorthodoxen Viertel auf unserem Streifzug wo wir auch das Museum On the Seam entdeckten. Das zweite mal bei dem Dresscode in der Knesset. Hier werden explizit andere Dinge verworfen und andere Körper sind gewichtig, anderes materialisiert und die Kleidung ist Ausdruck der Subjekte die sie erschafft und von denen sie erschaffen wird. Geht man durch ein Haredim Viertel gibt es nur schwarze und weiße Stoffe. Haut außer Hände und Gesicht ist nicht sichtbar. Wie grotesk dieses an sich faszinierende Verweigern der weltlichen Mode ist zeigt sich bei einigen Ashkenasim, die ihre Kleidung scheinbar seit der Vertreibung aus Osteuropa nicht mehr aktualisierten und mit Hose, Hemd, Mantel, (Crocs) und Fellmütze durch Jerusalem ziehen. Wie groß da das Verworfene ist passt noch nicht in meinen Kopf.

Draußen sind freudige Gesänge zu hören. Und Galit rief mich eben an und lud mich ein zu einer Sukka. Für ein Essen auf dem Dach braucht es keinen Leinenanzug.

Rabbi Shalom Yosef Elyashiv has advised many that wearing crocs, the only Yom Kippur/Tisha B Av alternative for leather shoes which are forbidden on both days, is too comfortable for the day of “afflicting our souls”. While he didn’t outright prohibit wearing them, but only “advised” against it. To many Haredi devotees, an advisory from a top Ashkenazic Rabbi enacts the power of a law. But this is mainly those who follow his advisories and rulings. A majority of Orthodox Rabbis, even the one in my city(i personally don’t identify as Orthodox but i called to ask his opinion on this), has stated that wearing any other shoe but a leather one is allowed on Yom Kippur as well as Tisha B Av. So is this just another crazy Haredi Rabbi or does he actually have a point with this, who knows?

Mea Shearim, a well known Haredi neighborhood in Jerusalem, follows a strict code of Halacha, Jewish Law. Because of this, the neighborhood puts this observance on residents as well as visitors. But with a growing number of incidents where the religious police there has started, out of all things, putting syrup on the park benches in the neighborhood because they believe it will prevent immodest activity between opposite sexes. This is done primarily in a area frequent with Haredi youth before Shabbat settles in. But many have felt that this won’t prevent anything and will just make a mess. Including how other citizens not knowing of this may sit and just have sticky pants and really it will just make the activity move underground or even make teens rebel and eventually just leave the neighborhood. The thought of syrup on benches may seen comical but if this processes though your mind after a while, you’ll start to feel for the teen age residents who really won’t have time to just hang out with friends and peers of their own age. With the religious police, use of sneaky techniques and such, many have compared this to mainly a more settled version of Sharia in Iran and other countries. The restrictions of clothing, guests of the neighborhood as well as those who interact in the neighborhood. Tell us your thoughts!

Anne Barker, an ABC correspondent, was covering the Haredi protest over the opening of the parking lot over Shabbat just like all of the other reporters. But she soon was attacked by a group of what i am calling the Haredi thugs who spat on her and attacked and verbally abused her. She felt humiliated to be attacked by so many men. So in this situation you would think the reporter would be calling foul. No, the Haredi men stated that they were the ones offended or “threatened” by her reporting in the community. Spitting, even if feeling “threatened”, it uncalled for and Orthodox Judaism speaks proudly of how women are treated higher than men. But this incident that happened about three weeks ago doesn’t represent that at all.

Ultra-Orthodox – Haredi –  Jews, from Mea Shearim scare me. Their sense of moral superiority and clan mentality translate into a force which, when facing an outsider, is truly overwhelming, both physically and ideologically. After being nearly lynched by an angry mob for taking pictures of  food distribution to the needy, I became increasingly weary of them.

 The guy in the picture is a modern Ultra-Orthodox Jew, who witnessed a lynching of an Arab cab driver by a mob of Haredis. He managed to keep his composure and recorded some of the action on his cell phone.  This is a picture of him in his car at the heart of the Haredi “Mea Shearim” neighbourhood. Needless to say, he declined when i asked to take a picture outside of the vehicle.

A few hours after this picture was taken, he received threats on his life, and the article(and picture) were never published.

Much of the West’s laws are based on Christian, and therefore Jewish, laws and moral code.

Unfortunately, at times it seems as though in Israel, the law has been loosened in regards to minorities.

The push for this to happen is not unique to Israel, of course. I’ve seen it often in America, usually in the form of a minority member calling a police officer “racist” because the officer’s arresting him for murder/theft/carjacking/any other crime. What is unique to Israel, unfortunately, is that this has in fact, happened.

Take the Haredi riots in Jerusalem, where several officers and secular counter-protesters have been showered with rocks and pebbles as well as insults.

In the States, even the insults would’ve been enough for an arrest. The stoning, however, would’ve been charged as an attempted murder.

Once, when I was riding the activity bus (which picked up students who had stayed after for remedial, clubs, or detention) from school back in New Jersey, a boy yelled an insult at the officer guarding the area because the bus had been late and the officer was trying to control the pushing kids after he boarded the bus.

The officer tailed the bus until it was off school property (I guess to avoid getting us in trouble with the administration, since, at the time, he had no intention of taking anyone in), turned his lights to get the driver to pull over, boarded it, and said he would tail the bus for another several miles. If such an insult was repeated, he would take every passenger in.

For us, that was enough. The ride was, if anything, the most peaceful I’ve ever had on the activity bus (since I was in the drama club, I rode that bus quite often, sometimes even the extra-late bus reserved for those in the athletic clubs and those clubs with special permission from the coaches – which was normally the drama club, the band, and sometimes the choir).

Yet here in Israel, those who commit crimes often seem to get a free ride if they’re in a minority such as Haredi or Arab.

Officer Sentenced for Killing Criminal

Take yesterday’s sentencing of Shachar Mizrachi (Click here to read the article). He was convicted of manslaughter for shooting a carjacker in the head – when the carjacker had attempted to run him over. It was held that the officer should have shot to disable or let the man escape – but why?

The judge said the following:

“There was no justification for immediately firing at Ganaim’s head at short range.” (Quote taken from the above article)

Yet the officer has stated that he did feel as though the carjacker was a legitimate threat to himself – as well as to others, both in the force and amongst the general public.

Because the police had responded to the situation, they were obligated to apprehend the criminal (because that’s what carjacking and attempting to commit vehicular manslaughter on a police officer are – a crime), even after the crime. Now, I suppose that the officer could have let Ganaim go free and work with the force later. But he didn’t know the carjacker’s motive. He didn’t know if that carjacker was just a crook looking for a joyride or something much, much worse.

And the carjacker would probably have gone free. Perhaps, while he doesn’t realize that the police aren’t giving chase – since a Hollywood-style car chase would only have resulted in even more casualties than the carjacker and the officer – he runs someone else over.

Now, the officer is going to jail for being willing to take a life in order to “protect and serve” the people of Israel.

Haredim Riots

And let’s not forget the riots in Jerusalem, during which officers are constantly stoned and verbally abused – for doing their job. While I understand why the Haredim felt upset over the opening of the parking lot in Karta and Safra on Shabbat (though I don’t agree with it), the fact remains that, since many tourists visit that area (which, by the way, does not appear to be closed to cars on Shabbat as Orthodox neighborhoods in Israel and wont to do), parking is essential and, lacking a place to do so, often double-park or even triple-park.

But the protests over the starving case and the autopsy? The mother accused of starving her children would have been treated the same (hopefully) even if she was secular or Arab, and autopsies are commonplace in suspected murder cases due to the possibility of evidence left on the body as well as determining a cause of death. It also helps to determine the murder weapon (since, for example, a serrated blade would leave different cuts than a kitchen knife) which could be used to create a list of suspects.

Furthermore, it seems as though the Haredim are using these protests in order to attack Israel itself.

“(Yirmiyahu) Cohen admitted that the affair served as an excuse for his group to protest against the State of Israel. ‘We are not against the Israeli people; we oppose the Israeli government and the fact that it is running the country instead of living in the Diaspora. According to the Torah, Jews must remain in the Diaspora until the coming of the messiah,’ he said.” (Quote from: here)

While Cohen is in New York, not Israel, his mindset towards Medinat Yisrael does match that of Eda Haredit and other Haredi groups.

Yet, in Israel, those who are against the State and violate the law in expressing their views (dissenting views are not forbidden by Israeli law, much like in the US) often seem to get carte blanche to continue their violent acts.

It’s strange for this to be the case in a country made as a homeland for the Nation who once created the basis for Western morality.

There was an article i read a few weeks ago on how many Haredi communities were giving guidlines on the weddings of their comunity residents. This included how much the wedding should cost, how many guest and right down to having a cubic zarconia rather than a real dimond ring in some communities. But now some are giving women over one-thousand new shekels for women in study seminaries who agree not to wear makeup on their wedding days, many Haredi women often marry after completing formal studies. For those not familiar with the current currency rates, that is just around $270 so thats not a mind blowing deal for many. But this regulation came after there was a “more lenient” regulation on just allowing it for the wedding day but not prior.  But now this new regulation doesn’t allow makeup at all, wedding day or not.

Names in my opinion are just that. They don’t always describe the person or thing fully and i think the same goes for the movements in Judaism. I was reading an article this morning about how Conservative Judaism should consider a name change. I think that may be worth while for many reasons:

• “Conservative” in modern political usage is actually way different from how its usage is in Judaism. Conservative in political usage is having quite a traditional view of the outlook of America and many of their views are always different as oppose to Liberal views. Conservative Judaism is traditional but while still encorperating change and many people not Jewish will feel that Conservative Judaism is the most traditional of the movements or affiliated with the Orthodox and many times i have seen Orthodox Judaism being described as the most conservative of the movements. Conservative is always seen as a synonym of traditional.
• Similar with my first bullet, some may think Conservative Judaism is affiliated with the Conservative Republican political movement of the states and thats something not true, with many American Jews voting independent or democratic.
• Combining the first two bullets, the term Conservative Judaism makes it seen that all of its adherents are similar in their outlook of Judaism. In the conservative political views, a majority of those are similar and identical on their views of American politics. Conservative Judaism is nothing like that. There are many Conservative Jews i know who only go to shul twice a year, keep a level of kashrut(if observed at all) and many go shopping on Shabbat (after going to services of course if they do go on Shabbat). Then there are the others who are similar to Mayim Bialik types.

So should Conservative Judaism change their name? In my opinion yes. IMHO i think they should adopt the Masorti name thats used outside of the US to describe Conservative Judaism. Masorti which does mean “traditional” is way different from the “Conservative” thats normally associated with politics. Traditional in the Masorti sense is more like being observant but having room for change, which is the main basis of “Conservative” Judaism currently. Leave a comment for what name they should adopt.

The bus itself is not news to anyone who’s lived in Jerusalem for more than a week. This is not news, but it ALWAYS gets my blood boiling.

You see, I used to work nights at a call center in Jerusalem. I would come in at 11pm every night, and leave around 7am every morning. On the way back to Nachlaot from Har Hotzvim, I would take an Egged bus that would drive through the Hassidic neighborhoods of Jerusalem. These buses were always split down the middle. Men sat in the front, and women in the back.

The concept of a split bus is strange enough as it is. And as a Jerusalemite – you sort of get used to the fact that the buses are going to be segregated. However, the ride home from work every day at 7:30 am really amplified the absurdity of it. And this is why:

In the afternoon, Hassidic men are in synagogue or at work. They are not on buses, on the streets, or in cars. The women have already sent their kinderlach to school, and so they go shopping for fruit, vegetable, groggers, and other things that can be found in a Hassidic household.

The resulting phenomenon is a bus that looks exactly like the one the above picture.

However, in the morning, which is when I got on the bus – the opposite happened! The women are dressing Yoily and Shmoily for school, and feeding them cholent for breakfast, and the men are out getting to synagogue.

The resulting effect was ridiculous! I had to step onto the bus into a whiff of the putrid sweaty armpit of a man who was holding on to the railing. Squeezing past him – I managed to get to the bus driver and pay my fare. But when I looked up, the impossible occurred to me! The entire front of the bus was packed with Hassidic men. They were squeezing and battling for a place to put their two feet.

In the back sat one woman. One. This is not any better, or less insulting than the first scenario.

If Hassidim are to pretend that they are keeping themselves pure and holy by not mixing with women on buses, wouldn’t you think that they would take the women’s feelings into consideration? Wouldn’t they want to perhaps give them the respect the women deserve? Because it’s not Yoily and Shmoily they’re dressing in the morning. It’s Yoily, Shmoily, Shmeltza, Malka Dina, Brucha Gittel, Meir Mendel, Shmuel Shneur, and of course, little Chava Beila.

And that’s a small family.

The poor woman in the back is dressing, feeding, teaching, playing with, and changing the diapers of eight to twelve children. And yet the men wouldn’t dare go near her in order to sit 4 seats in front of her. There’s nothing sexual about sitting five feet away from person – not facing them. There isn’t even a sexual tension that can arise from that. And if there is – see a therapist. Oh, wait – they like to keep things “inside the community”.

In the meantime, all that’s left is to riot, I guess. Ain’t that right, Bochurim?

here’s a real winner:

This guy thinks it wise to advise that the religious communities keep their laws within themselves and not go to municipal court.

In a brilliant move – Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn of Daas Torah Blog has made it his life’s mission to make sure ‘Jewish Identity’, as he calls it. However, the Jewish Identity he speaks of does not consist of keeping Shabbat or Kosher. The Jewish Identity Rabbi Eidensohn advocates is the ‘let’s keep it to ourselves’ policy.

Remember just about … oh, I think it was 2 weeks ago – so it would be in our distant memories. But think back to a time when riots in Me’ah She’arim were making headlines. A woman starved her child. She was taken to court. This is all standard procedure. However, instead of cowering in shame, the haredi community broke out in outrage over the municipal court taking ‘one of theirs’ to trial. This is what happens when you ‘keep it within your own community’. You end up setting your own garbage cans on fire, rioting without reason, and starving little children.

So, Rabbi Eidensohn, the next time you utter the term ‘Jewish Identity’ in terms of keeping dirty secrets within the community (lest they leak), remember that YOUR definition of ‘Jewish Identity’ includes the starving child feeling like they deserve it. The bottom line is – these thigns need to be brought to justice. Because G-d knows the Me’ah She’arim court might actually consider discussing whether or not the child deserved it!

Disgusting.

Rabbi Eidensohn - "Don't ask, don't tell" advocate.

Israel Defense Forces Chief Rabbi brigadgeneral Avihai Ronski har slammed arméns veckotidningen Bamahane för att publicera en rad funktioner på temat homosexuella officerare.

Ronski skrev arméns personal avdelning och utbildning kåren att uttrycka att han inte tycker homosexualitet vara ett lämpligt ämne för en publikation som återspeglar IDF: s sätt att leva.

Den rabbin tog särskilt illa för en viss intervju med Major Yehoshua Gortler, en öppet homosexuell religiös tjänsteman. I intervjun, Gortler beskrev sitt liv som både en religiös Judisk och en homosexuell man.
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Ronski fått något svar på sitt klagomål och uppgav att tidningen speglar levnadssätt alla IDF soldater, inklusive homosexuella sådana.

IDF talesman enhet utfärdade också ett svar på Ronski klagomål och hävdade att “IDF tilldelar soldater till tjänster som bygger på militära behov och soldaterna personliga förmåga, inte på grundval av deras sexuella läggning eller sitt kön. Varje meddelande om motsatsen utgör personliga åsikt och inte officiell IDF politik. “

Detta var inte första gången som tidningen Bamahane var i centrum för kontroversen täckning av homosexuella IDF officerare. Under 2001 IDF personal avdelning stängade tidningen för två veckor efter det att det finns en artikel om en homosexuell person som kom ut ur garderoben.

Ronski brev kommer drygt en vecka efter det chockerande mord på ett supportcenter för gay och lesbisk gemenskap i Tel Aviv. Nir Katz, 26 och Liz Trobishi, 17, dödades när en maskerad BANDIT angett supportcenter och öppnade eld. Tolv människor skadades i olyckan. Den BANDIT har inte gripits.

MK Ophir Pines-Paz uppmanade IDF Stabschef Gabi Ashkenazi att kalla Ronski för ett samråd, att säga att “Det verkar som om chefen rabbin inte internaliseras meddelandet om mord.”

“Vi har inte hört chefen rabbi fördömer morden, och i stället får vi höra honom säga detta. Hans personliga åsikter, så primitiv som de får, inte visar sig i sin yrkesutövning” Pines-Paz utropade.

Adir Steiner, en ledande aktivist i Israel’s gay community, berättade Israel Radio att samfundet har krävt att Ronski fullgöras. “Denna händelse är mycket svår, särskilt i ljuset av de senaste morden, säger Steiner. “Vilken typ av budskap är han skicka till homosexuella människor att gå med i armén?” frågade han.

Steiner, den första homosexuella att bli erkända av staten som en IDF änkling, tillade att “Jag ställde IDF stabschef att låta chefen rabbin gå. Om han vill SPY homofobiska kommentarer? Ansvarsfrihet honom och låta honom säga vad han vill “.

Polis bredda sond på Haredi soldat som hotade homofile

I Jerusalem Magistrates’ Court söndag kvarhållits Shmuel Primarik, som arresterades misstänkt för utstationering hot om en lesbisk, gay, bisexuella och transpersoner Internet forum, för tre dagar.

Polis säger att Primarik, en soldat i det ultra-ortodoxa naħal Haredi enhet, erkände författar inlägg som säger “mer allvarliga angrepp väntas mot homofile, inte säga att du inte visste om det.” Budskapen var postat på lördag natt, strax före en Tel Aviv-Jaffa rally av offren för den föregående veckan skytte attack mot en HBT-supportcenter. Primarik greps i Jerusalem senare samma natt.

Även hans personliga vapen och ammunition har beslagtagits, polisen betonade söndag att han inte är misstänkt för utstationering uttryckligen mord hot. De sa också att han har samarbetat med hans utredare.

Men polisen källor sade Primarik greps var “mycket viktigt”, och de är nu i om han var inblandad i en lång rad andra homofobiska attacker, inklusive flera bomber kvitta att protestera Jerusalem Gay Pride-parader under tidigare år. De är också att undersöka om han var inblandad i andra attacker som de misstänker har begåtts av högern religiösa extremister, sådana handlingar som professor Zeev Sternhell, som var lätt skadas av en bomb placerad vid hans dörr nästan ett år sedan. Men ingen anslutning till Primarik har ännu inte påträffats.

Polis källor också sagt att de håller på att undersöka möjliga kopplingar mellan dessa fall och förra veckans attack mot HBT-center.

Men de vägrade att förklara varför Primarik greps för utstationering online hot satte en sådan omfattande undersökning.

Förutom att utvidga Primarik’s kvarhålls, domare Arnon Darel förnekade hans begäran om ett skämt ordning på sin identitet. “Det allmänna intresset i att publicera hans identitet är uppenbar, med tanke på den senaste tidens mord i Tel Aviv, liksom behoven av undersökningen” Darel skrev.

Det HBT-center skytte föregicks av många mindre allvarliga homofobiska attacker. Även om den traditionella utlösa våld, i Jerusalem Gay Pride-parad, passerade i år utan incidenter, flera attacker har rapporterats under de senaste månaderna, med transgenders är riktad mest.

Ref: Haaretz

Any belief system that says God wants you to dress like a 18th-century Polish peasant, make women sit at the back of the bus, and drench a reporter in spit for using a tape recorder on Saturday is complete and utter bullshit…they’re worse than fundamentalist Mormons…at least Mormons eat pork and use light switches 7 days a week

(disclaimer…not intended as criticism of non-ultra-Orthodox Jews, nor the state of Israel…believe it or not,  I am somewhat of a Judeophile…just not a fan of fundamentalism)

Originally published in the Jerusalem Post as:

Radicals Aren’t Necessarily More Authentic

By Gil Troy, Jerusalem Post, 6-28-09

Once again haredim held massive, violent demonstrations over the opening of a parking lot on Shabbat near the Old City. Somehow, some bizarre rabbinic dispensation allows haredi radicals to launch their own unholy war on Shabbat, desecrating it by rioting. Other controversies regarding conversion and appointing Zionist chief rabbis for Jerusalem feed perceptions of a “religious-secular” divide.

Parking lot riots. Taliban Judaism does not work in the

modern world. PHOTO: Ariel Jerozolimski

Actually, the push for a Zionist chief rabbi proves this is not a religious-secular issue but a clash pitting violent haredi radicals against patriotic Zionists. In this struggle, Orthodox Jews from around the world and Religious Zionists in Israel must stand strong. Those two (overlapping) communities must send a clear message to the haredi radicals, saying “back off.” The message must be reinforced by religious Zionists fighting for quality of life in the State of Israel as ardently as many fight for every inch of the Land of Israel and by Orthodox Jews threatening to cut off donations to all haredi institutions if haredi violence persists.

It is difficult to quantify how much money flows from Orthodox Jews abroad to haredi institutions here, but anecdotal evidence suggests it is considerable. Imagine if those legendary Orthodox Jewish visitors who love to visit yeshivot in Mea She’arim and ask how much it costs to feed the kids lunch, then donate a week of lunches, changed their tunes. What if they said, “We would love to donate, but first reassure us that your community had nothing to do with the recent violence.”

What if others specifically targeted those rabbis and yeshivot who have been acting like hooligans and cut off the money spigot from Brooklyn and the Five Towns, from Paris and London, from Melbourne and Cape Town? This money message should accompany a moral message from rabbis and leading authorities throughout the Diaspora and Israel. Rabbinic authorities with impeccable religious pedigrees must denounce haredi extremists.

LEAVING THE FIGHT to so-called “secular” Israelis exacerbates tensions. Alternatively, if religious and non-religious Jews stood together in this struggle, even while agreeing to disagree on other issues, it would reduce Israel’s growing polarization, wherein a Right-Left divide on security increasingly parallels a religious-secular divide regarding lifestyle, philosophy, pluralism and tolerance.

Orthodox and religious Zionist rabbis who are so pure of heart they dismiss all this as “politics” and beneath them ignore the conflict’s religious dimensions. Anyone who prays for the State of Israel, says Hallel, the prayer of thanksgiving, on its birthday, or speaks about it as a “redemption” or “salvation” cannot stand idly by while hooligans threaten “to set the whole country… on fire.”

Moreover, for decades now religious Zionists and Orthodox Jews have been in denial about how much harm religious extremists do to those of us laboring to bring the masses of alienated Jews back to Judaism.

Taliban Judaism does not work in the modern world. The all-or-nothing, command-and-control approach of the haredim and (I am sorry to say) of much of the Israeli rabbinate alienates millions. Awash in freedom, most Jews today have to embrace Judaism voluntarily. This is not an argument for watering down Judaism. Rather, it is an argument for focusing on its essential positive messages, as the Lubavitcher Rebbe taught, and avoiding desecrations through violence or political coercion.

UNFORTUNATELY, TOO many Orthodox Jews and religious Zionists are not just bystanders to haredi and rabbinic extremism but enablers. Too many fear the extremists. This cowardice comes from a brand of religious one-upsmanship extremists the world over have mastered. People from the center, no matter how passionate or pure, end up having their credentials questioned by the ayatollahs in religion and the commissars in politics. Too many modern Orthodox Jews and religious Zionists act insecure when amid their more radical brethren.

Radicals are more radical, not necessarily more authentic. Nevertheless, modern Orthodox families in North America send their kids (as well as their cash) to “learn” in yeshivot that are far to their Right. We also see Diaspora communities held hostage on matters of kashrut certification by the most extreme forces. In Israel, the mainstream religious voices refuse to take on the violent haredim.

Fortunately, some heroes have emerged. In Jerusalem, Rachel Azaria of Hitorerut-Yerushalmim (the Wake-up Jerusalemites party) has been an important force for change. A religious Zionist activist, Azaria led an insurgent grassroots campaign and ended up on the city council. She and her party have organized demonstrations demanding a Zionist chief rabbi for Jerusalem. They support Mayor Nir Barkat’s attempts to find a compromise on the Shabbat parking lot issue that will serve non-religious Jews seeking to visit the capital on Israel’s one full weekly day off.

Others, like the Tzohar rabbis, have sought to be, as their slogan celebrates, a bridge between the two worlds, giving non-religious Israelis more user-friendly rabbis when marrying, divorcing and celebrating a circumcision or bar mitzva. In North America, Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future has run programs training Israeli rabbis in the kind of pastoral duties too many neglect because they are deployed by the Chief Rabbinate and not beholden to congregants.

Still, in the face of haredi violence, the religious story has been much more one of the “silence of the (kosher) lambs.” Orthodox and religious Zionist cowardice does tremendous harm. We need mainstream religious rabbinic authorities in Israel and the Diaspora to confront the haredi bullies and repudiate violence, especially on Shabbat, with words and deeds.

The writer is professor of history at McGill University. He is the author of Why I Am a Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity and the Challenges of Today and Leading from the Center: Why Moderates Make the Best Presidents. He splits his time between Jerusalem and Montreal.

I reckon we should let G-d worry more about the spiritual purity and integrity of the Jewish people. I might have said this before, but you are playing with a clear d’oraita (Torah-based) law (insulting/paining the convert) for the sake of rabbinic laws of conversion for the dubious aim of maintaining a nebulous but more often than not haredi standard of keeping Judaism (and thus ’spiritual purity’). I have read (only read, to be fair) of conversions being annulled because the woman was found out in pants and with hair uncovered. As far as I’m aware, taking different minhagim and following other opinions is not enough to substantiate considering such action, nor does it necessarily prove, even if the woman was seen to break Shabbat, that in her mind at the time of conversion she was not sincere about keeping the mitzvot. 

A friend of mine recently worked through the possibility of a person not actually being a convert if in their mind they never intended to keep the commandments. I would like him to restate it briefly here if he wouldn’t mind. Still I maintained that since we can’t read minds, if the beth din that converts the gentile is convinced that the person is genuine, then the person is converted. The reason why we turn potential converts away is not because of ’spiritual purity’ but out of concern for the individual. Whereas prior to conversion, the gentile is answerable for the 7 categories of law (7 mitzvot Bnei Noah), after conversion, when they pass onto the next world, their actions will be reconciled against the full 613 categories of law. That is the burden. And you know what? If they choose to convert, it’s ultimately up to them. If they take it upon themselves, then they bear the yoke and will have to face the consequences. Revoking conversions creates mamzerim and havoc and schism within the Jewish world; don’t worry about spiritual purity – worry about destroying Jewish life. Placing geirim under the threat of revoking their conversions is 100% without question causing unimaginable psychological pain stress and trauma to the geirim, their children, their children’s children and forever.

You can work more with secular Jews that converted. Unfortunately there’s not very much you can do for mamzerim.

Rabbinate demands haredi control over conversion

Jun. 23, 2009
Matthew Wagner , THE JERUSALEM POST
Since conversion to Judaism can have a negative impact on the spiritual purity of the Jewish people, only the greatest halachic authorities of the haredi rabbinical establishment can decide on this, the Chief Rabbinate’s High Rabbinical Court ruled recently.

“Any decisions by Rabbinical Conversion Courts or rabbinic marriage registrars that are not in accordance with the opinion of the greatest halachic authorities of the generation hurt the purity of Jewish people,” wrote Rabbi Avraham Sherman, head of the High Rabbinical Court.

“There is a real danger that gentiles will be allowed to enter the Jewish community. Anyone who did not embrace an Orthodox lifestyle at the time of conversion is a gentile and if this person is female all of her children are gentiles as well,” Sherman continued.

The High Court also ruled that the high proportion of potential converts to Judaism who are not sincere about embracing Orthodoxy was an insurmountable challenge that made it impossible to rely on any rabbinical conversion court – haredi or modern Orthodox – to perform a kosher conversion.

Sherman stated explicitly that a conversion has no validity unless the convert proves he or she has embraced an Orthodox lifestyle. Anything less is unacceptable.

According to the decision, the Jewishness of converts can in theory be revoked at any time, no matter how long ago the conversion took place and no matter which Rabbinical Conversion Court performed the conversion.

Conversions can and must be revoked if, for instance, after the conversion process the convert admits that he or she did not adhere to the Orthodox halachic restrictions governing Shabbat, kashrut or other Jewish laws.

To preserve the purity of the Jewish people, every convert must be scrutinized on an individual basis by rabbinic marriage registrars and rabbinic courts before he or she is permitted to marry or divorce, Sherman wrote in a 34-page rabbinical opinion handed down within the framework of an appeal case on May 10.

Rabbi David Stav, a senior member of Tzohar Rabbis, an organization of moderate Orthodox Zionist rabbis, called Sherman’s comments scandalous.

“Sherman is committing the biblical sin of insulting the convert,” Stav, who is chief rabbi of Shoham, said on Tuesday. “A group of haredi functionaries are willing to place under suspicion thousands of converts just because they want to wage a political power struggle.

“When [former Chief Ashkenazi] Rabbi Shlomo Goren wanted to annul a conversion the haredi community attacked him, claiming it was impossible. Now they have changed their minds according to political interests.”

Stav was referring to the Langer case in which Goren annulled the conversion of a woman’s husband to prevent her children from being considered mamzerim (the result of an illicit sexual act which bars them from marrying a Jew).

Stav said haredi activists were using the conversion issue to shore up their rabbinical clout vis-à-vis the Orthodox Zionist establishment.

Stav, who serves as the Chief Rabbinate’s marriage registrar in his town, said he accepts all converts converted by a legitimate Rabbinical Conversion Court.

“I do so whether the conversion was performed by the Chief Rabbinate or by a haredi conversion court, although I must say that converts who come out of haredi conversion courts are usually less serious than those converted by the Chief Rabbinate,” he said.

A three-man panel of rabbinical judges made up of Sherman, Rabbi Hagai Izerer and Rabbi Zion Algrabli rejected the halachic principle that a rabbinic court decision, once handed down, was irreversible.

Sherman was responding to a Tel Aviv Rabbinical Court ruling in a divorce case that involved a woman who had converted to Judaism.

The Tel Aviv Rabbinical Court refused to accept claims by the husband that his wife’s conversion was invalid, because, he claimed, the wife had paid a NIS 10,000 bribe to the court that performed her conversion.

The Tel Aviv court ruled instead that it did not have the power to overturn a decision – in this case a conversion – by another court since the underlying assumption is that rabbinical courts know what they are doing.

However, Sherman rejected the Tel Aviv court’s argument despite the fact that it was based on an accepted halachic principle. He ruled that the Jewish status of the woman and her children must be lifted until the Tel Aviv court could ascertain whether the claims against the validity of her conversion could be refuted.

Sherman said in a telephone interview with The Jerusalem Post that there was nothing new in his decision and that he was basing himself on the opinions of this generation’s greatest halachic scholars, both living and deceased.

Sherman quoted from declarations published in recent decades by leading haredi halachic authorities such as Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, considered to be the single most important living halachic decisor for haredi Ashkenazi Jewry. Sherman also quoted deceased authorities such as Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ohrbach, Rabbi Ya’acov Yisrael Kanyevsky and Rabbi Elazar Menachem Man Shach.

In one declaration, signed by Shach, Kanyevsky, Ohrbach and Elyashiv and dating from the summer of 1984, the rabbis warned that “since there has been a rise in the number of converts who have been accepted as Jews and that it has become known that a large percentage of them had no intention of accepting upon themselves the burden of the commandments at the time of conversion… We are warning that there is a prohibition to accept converts without first being sure that they are interested in accepting upon themselves all the commandments.”

Sherman and the other rabbinical judges in May concluded from this declaration and others that every conversion must be considered suspect, “whether it was performed by the Edah Haredit or some other rabbinic court that is recognized more or recognized less, when a person presents a conversion certificate issued by a rabbinic court and that person’s appearance is far from the appearance of an observant Jew or that person comes from a place that has no observant community.”

Sherman said this was especially true in the case that came before the Tel Aviv Rabbinic Court, which dealt with the Jewishness of the wife and her children.

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1245184911342&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

27-June-2009, Jerusalem – Less than 24 hours and riots against the Shabbath opening of the Karta parking lot erupted once again, disrupting the serenity of Jerusalem on Saturday afternoon. Hundreds of ultra-orthodox Haredim clashed with police in the Mea She’arim neighborhood, at the corner of Hanevi’im and Shivtei Israel streets. Police prevented the rioters from making their way toward Municipal Safra Square, where hundreds of secular residents of the city held a colorful counter demonstration in support of freedom of choice in Jerusalem and against religious coercion.

26-June-2009, Jerusalem – Just two weeks after a violent demonstration in the Safra Municipal Square in Jerusalem (6-June-2009), thousands of ultra-orthodox Jews have taken to the streets of Jerusalem once again. Bar-Ilan Street is depicted in mass public prayer on Friday afternoon, just as sunset declared the beginning of the Sabbath.

The issue of opening a parking lot on the Sabbath continues to be a source of conflict between secular Mayor Nir Barkat and the religious Haredi community in the city. During the past two weeks negotiations took place in an attempt to find a compromise that would satisfy all parties and provide a solution for Jerusalem’s extreme Sabbath parking problems. When the desired compromise was not achieved, Barkat announced the Karta parking lot would open this Saturday. Ultra-orthodox leader, Rabbi Itzchak Tuvia Weiss called on the Haredi community, using written pamphlets scattered in the streets, to assemble Friday afternoon in mass public prayers and to welcome the Sabbath in a show of force and opposition of municipal resolutions.

Episode III this Saturday afternoon …?