The Evolving Jew

When I was a kid, I had a “gedolim album”. I cut out pictures of Rabbis with long beards from magazines and proudly pasted them into my album. But who are these rabbis? I’m often told, by those who are more to the “right” religiously than I am, that as an Orthodox Jew, I must listen to the “gedolim”. Basically, there are a set of individuals who are culturally agreed upon as the leaders of Jewry of this generation and that their word is law. “Da’as Torah” deems that I have no right to question their decisions since they are naturally on a much higher spiritual plane than I am. The absurdity of this should be self-evident, but I’ll lay it out nonetheless. This is a group of men with whom I have very little in common other than the fact that they and I both keep roughly the same set of daily requirements to be an observant Jew (though we don’t even agree on many details of those requirements.) I know virtually nothing about these individuals on a personal level. I’ve heard a couple of s

I’ve always been terrible at counting crowds. I have some innate senses that are very finely honed, like my extremely keen sense of direction. But estimating crowds? I’ve always been terrible at it and I don’t even try anymore. If someone asks me how many people were at my shul on a given Shabbat, I just shrug. I haven’t the faintest clue. Well, it’s nice to know I’m not alone. There’s an article in the NY Times today that debunks those massive crowd estimates for concerts in Central Park over the last few decades ( HT:DB ). James Taylor drew 250,000 people in 1979 in the Sheep Meadow? Elton John attracted 300,000 fans on the Great Lawn in 1980? In 1981, Simon & Garfunkel banished any sound of silence with 400,000 people? A whopping 750,000 devotees of Garth Brooks packed the North Meadow in 1997? All fantasy, it turns out. On July 12, Bon Jovi played a free concert on the Great Lawn. And this time, the lawn was cordoned off, and though the concert was free, they actually individu

I've heard many charedim decrying feminism, expressing the notion that it's a secular value, that men and women were given different roles, and that the woman's primary purpose is to raise Jewish children and show quiet strength and wisdom in that private, rather than public, role. It occurs to me that one of the main contrinutions of the feminism of the late 20th century was enabling women's entry into the workplace in massive numbers and in roles and salaries previously denied them. The irony is that it is this very success that allows wives of kollel members to work while their husbands learn. Sure, there were a few women in the workplace before feminism, but there weren't enough jobs available to women to support an entire generation of charedi men while they learned. Feminism gave all those women jobs and relatively decent salaries to support their typically large families. So kollel guys, the next time you're tempted to bash feminism, th

Is it just me, or is the imagery in the 4th panel of this recent Dry Bones cartoon kind of racist? It seems like a throwback to the way Asians were portrayed in the media for a good part of the 20th century. It's even more disturbing in the full-color version portrayed here. When I saw it in the paper, it was in black & white and you couldn't see the yellowish cast the author gave to the Chinese faces. I'll give Yaakov Kirschen the benefit of the doubt in assuming he didn't intend this to be racist, and it's just the best way he could think of to draw Chinese people. He seems somewhat old-school, has been writing his comic strip for some 35 years, and lives in Israel, where he probably interacts with few Asians. He's probably not aware that the image could be interpreted as an insulting stereotype. But why would the NY Jewish Week print it in their July 11 issue? Surely they have someone on staff over there who vets these things? This was a poor cho

The Israeli prisoner swap with Hizballah - was it the right thing to do? This isn't the first time Israel has made such prisoner swaps. The terms in this case were much better than in some of the past ones. That being said, it's still very problematic. I honestly don't know what the correct decision was. Not doing the deal and letting the fate of the 2 soldiers be uncertain for many years would have been the wrong thing to do. But making this deal and emboldening Hizballah was also the wrong thing to do. So the choice was between 2 wrong decisions, not between a wrong and a right one. Which was less wrong? I don't know.

I was reading a blog this afternoon by a young woman who I think is in her 20’s (not sure of her exact age) and who is frustrated by her unmarried status. She seems to be in the yeshivish community and her dating habits are by the standards of that community. More than anything else, she seems to be waiting, and not pursuing any larger things in life other than waiting to be married. Here’s what I wrote in a comment on her blog: --------------------------------------------- I got married at 33. Yes, I'm male and I was (and am) modern Orthodox, so it was easier for me, but I think the following might still be helpful. I never felt those years before I got married were wasted. I matured, figured out who I really was, and gained many, many friends, from many walks of life. I gained perspective on the world and learned to appreciate others. I built a career, traveled to Europe, went hiking and camping in national parks, read & learned. I learned new skills, sang in a choir,