If only my problems would just dissapear...

HaRav Ovadia Yosef is no stranger to saying thing that cause many of us to cringe.  The latest:

"Abu Mazen and all these evil people should perish from this world," Rabbi Ovadia was quoted as saying during his weekly sermon at a synagogue near his Jerusalem home. "God should strike them with a plague, them and these Palestinians." 

I read these words and feel for this man.  A man who's brain is like a computer program.  He has memorized pretty much every important Jewish text of the last 2500 years.  And believe it or not, on many issues where other Haredi Rabbis like him have ruled in confusingly harsh ways, he has proven moderate (again, in a certain context).  And yet, he speaks about an entire people and wishes for their wholesale destruction.  He wishes upon them what many for thousands of years have wished upon our people.  He wishes upon them what the Nazis almost succeeded in doing. 

But I want to dig a little deeper here.  Because it seems to me his words are an example of a universal human truth.  We all look at our lives, look at our problems, at those people, places, ideas, etc. that are causing us anguish - and wish that they would just dissapear.  We allow ourselves to become stuck in one place spinning our wheels, because the cause of all our problems is one thing.  

If I only had a million dollars, I would be happy.

If only my daughter would sleep through the night, I would be kinder and more productive.

My neighbor keeps playing his music too loud, if only he would move all would be well.

Rav Yosef believes that if there were no Palestinians around, all his problems would be gone.  His people could settle the entire Biblical land of Israel and no one would care.  There would be no war, nothing to preoccupy us from creating a wonderful Haredi state in the land of Israel.

Yet here is the thing.  Hes wrong.  What we think is the end all be all of our problems rarely is.  We are much too complicated, much too interconnected to work this way.  And God did not create such a world.  Even though God keeps promising the Children of Israel that their enemies will be destroyed and they will live happily ever after, that never happens.  Its as if God wants us to strive for perfection, but places obstacles in our way to remind us that there is always work to do. 

I don't know for sure, but I doubt given the chance Rav Yosef would slaughter millions of Palestinians.  I think he just wishes his problems were gone, because he is too weak or too scared to actually confront them.  He even says as much, "God should strike them with a plague, them and these Palestinians." Not, "we should just nuke the bastards."  He wants his problems gone, and for them just to disappear.  He wont take any action to get them to go away.  And therein lies the rub.  Because action would get them to go away.  Were he to decide to work for peace, he is one of the few who could actually speak with the leaders of Hamas - because under it all these are similar people.  People who practice their faith in similar ways, who speak the same language, and who call on God to do away with their problems without appreciating that it is God who put them there in the first place.  

Rav Yosef is all of us.  No matter how much we denounce him, we should all keep in mind that we all go where he has gone...

Shanah Tovah

A stay of execution

A stay of execution is no victory. It is up to all of us to keep the pressure on. This bill must die. And if you are curious why:

"The bill's controversial third clause states that anyone who “entered” Israel as a non-Jew (and did not have a father, grandparents or spouse who was Jewish and therefore was not eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return) and converted to Judaism at some later date, whether in Israel or abroad, would not be eligible for automatic citizenship."

So if someone went to Israel, fell in love with Judaism and decided to convert, but happens to believe that Halacha dictates an equality of the sexes in Synagogues and so converts Conservative - they are going to be DENIED Israeli citizenship.

And if any Orthodox people think this is not their argument, the same is true for their converts as well. Any convert will be scrutinized, and I can assure you that Modern Orthodox conversions will be declared null as well.

Hell, the chief rabbinate could just decide not to recognize the conversion of anyone outside of Israel who had had the poor judgment to visit Israel as a Gentile.

Folks this bill speaks to a deeper flaw in modern Israel. The power of the chief rabbinate must be abolished altogether. Judaism of all types should be recognized without state coercion. Power has corrupted the Haredi/Dati Israeli rabbinate - it needs to end. Separate our beautiful faith from the trappings of the state...and watch it flourish.

Flotilla Thoughts...

I am troubled by the proliferation of (facebook) postings of Fox News clips from people I know consider Fox News to be something short of journalism. My friends we must ask ourselves some tough questions. Fox comes at every issue from the same point, they don't change. We have to ask ourselves, why do we only agree with Fox when it comes to Israel? How could it be that they get everything else wrong, but get this one right. Or maybe we are not viewing Israel with the same eyes we use to see the rest of the world...

Do we hold our own to a different standard than we hold the rest of the world? I mean, if Fox is right about Israel maybe they are right about America? Right about Iraq? This is the network of Hannity and Beck people, don't forget that. And if you, as I, find yourselves nodding in agreement with either of those two...get up and walk to the closest mirror and look deeply into your own eyes, into your own soul. Are you still being true to yourself? To your beliefs? To your people?

Sending love and prayers to all those around the world who are feeling such pain over this incident. May this be a restful and healing Shabbat.

Don't be fooled...

In case you have been swayed by the recent "Sholom Rubashkin" did no wrong movement...

"A former underage worker cried Monday while testifying she was exposed to harsh chemicals at an Iowa slaughterhouse where she and other teens worked 12 hours a day, six days a week. Yesenia Cordero Mendoza, now 18, was one of two former underage workers to testify against former manager Sholom Rubashkin, who faces 83 child labor violation charges stemming from a May 2008 raid at the plant in which 389 illegal immigrants, including 31 children, were detained."

How can you be outraged at his sentence but not at his actions? How can you try to act like what went on in Iowa was not wrong? This is not a case of people out to get us, this is a case of us forgetting ourselves. When I ate meat I mindlessly ate Rubashkins meat. I feel ill now because I am convinced that the meat I ate then was not Kosher. I didn't know, but I supported this.

We must be more mindful. We must infuse all aspects of our lives with Torah if we are going to avoid this ever happening again. This was Jewish industry that sold to Jewish people, and it had 16 year olds working 12 hour days for pennies. This plant was not Torah True.

First post of the year...

Sorry its been so long, but this was bigger than just a facebook post:

So now I am "non-Orthodox?" The majority of the worlds Jews are to be defined by what we are NOT? I refuse to accept that. How can we be such a weak majority? Time to rise up people, we have the numbers so we have the power here. Word, how bout all us non-Orthodox just start calling ourselves Orthodox? Then all those who define themselves by being not-us (yeah I'm calling you out Hershel Schachter, tell me what you stand for without it being a response to other Jews; wanna know what I stand for? Check the words of one of MY Ravs), can find a new name or just take over the title of non-Orthodox.

On the more real tip, this piece presents the problem as being the conveying of some "responsibility" over conversions (I'm assuming those performed in Israel) to the Haredi Chief Rabbinate. Ok, fine. I dont like it but it does not affect Diaspora Jews too much, its more about the half a million Israeli-Russians who are not halachically Jewish). However: "The bill contains a provision that would bar converts to Judaism from gaining automatic Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return if they had entered the country before their conversion."

Seems to me that "if they had entered the country before their conversion" could have been any time, and could be applied to people who do not convert in Israel. So if you went on a visit to Israel as a Christian, then returned home to the US a changed person and converted to Judaism with me as your Rabbi - you are not covered under the law of return. THAT IS A PROBLEM.