The Evolving Jew

Many ae familiar with Martin Niemöller's famous poem about the passivity of the German intellectuals in the face of the Nazi's rise: First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me. There seems to be tremendous outrage this week at Rabbi Malkiel Kotler's alleged statement comparing Modern Orthodox Jews to Esav. But there was previously very little concern about such hate being preached by Charedim against Conservative & Reform. Harry Maryles writes : How in Heaven's name does any Jew, let alone a respected Rosh Yeshiva of the largest Yeshivos justify preaching hate? That is exactly what he and others like him do when they say things like this. What is it that makes modern Ortho

What I woke up to this morning Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Cross-posted on DovBear On Tuesday, voters in Maine struck down a law that had been passed by the legislature allowing gay marriage. In an off-year election such as this, the ones coming out to vote were the conservative "values voters" whose opposition to gay marriage drove them to the polls in modest, but large enough, numbers to overturn the gay marriage law. Voters have now voted to maintain the legal definition of marriage as between a man and a woman in over 30 states now. But these are undoubtedly only temporary setbacks for gay marriage rights activists. The youth of this country overwhelmingly support the right to same-sex marriage. They essentially feel "what's the big deal?" As older voters disappear from the voting pool and younger voters enter it, gay marriage will eventually become protected in all 50 states, either by court action and insufficient opposition to change that legislatively, or in the legislature, or through ballot initiatives in

I just did, yesterday. As far as I'm concerned, it's not an issue. I was going there to vote, not to worship. Plus, I don't think a contemporary Lutheran church is idolatrous. Not that I have any problem going into any sort of church for any reason other than my own worshiping. I went into Notre Dame in Paris. I went into a Catholic church for a friend's funeral. But what of those frummer souls who feel it's forbidden to enter a church? Do they feel they have to ask a Rav? What if this is their only valid opportunity to vote? Have any readers come across this problem? How did you resolve it? What did your posek say? Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

RV's don't usually conjure up images of frum Jews, but an enterprising business has found a way to make them a perfect fit! Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

I just spent Simchat Torah in one of the frummer neighborhoods of New York City. You know the type, every block a shtibel, an Agudah, and even the Young Israels are no longer modern. Black hats abound. There are plenty of centrist Orthodox, but they kind of blend in with the Yeshivish crowd. And in no shul do the women actually dance during hakafot on Simchat Torah. Instead, they watch the men. I actually grew up with that model. When hakafot came around, the mechitza would be opened up so the women could watch the men dance. When I was little, I used to dance & happily wave to my mother. But even in my late teens I started doing my own thing for Simchat Torah and went to more modern neighbrhoods and more modern shuls where the women always danced. This was the first time I'd been back to my old neighborhood for ST in something like 20 years. I didn't go to my parents' shul for hakafot - instead I went to a more modern minyan that always used to have women danci

I have emunah in God. And yet, he doesn’t exist. Let me clarify. What’s the common definition of existence? Something that has a tangible reality as defined by empiricism. God doesn't meet that criteria, at least not the contemporary idea of an incorporeal god. Through much of the early middle ages, Jews believed that God had a body. But now, we believe Him to be intangible and incorporeal. So he doesn't exist. That's why I think "belief" is such a poor translation of "emunah". I have emunah in Hashem. I feel that outside of the reality of our world there is a spiritual realm and it is in that spiritual realm that God is. I use "feel" because that's what it is. It's about an emotional connection, not an empirical one. That's why I feel that those who try to "prove" God are on the wrong track. You can never prove God's existence, because by all standards of measurement that we use in our physical plane, God does

Wasn't that supposed to be yesterday? I totally forgot. Seems to be a lot less discussion of it on the blogs I frequent than there was last year. Did anyone attend? (Either live or online) How was it? Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Talk about gimmicks! Couldn't they just use apples? Or how about being really radical and just using numbers?

On Her Own writes about a young woman she knows who seems unhappily trapped in the yeshivish lifestyle: "(she) cried to me for half an hour about how she hated wearing her sheitel (she said it pulled her hair out), how she felt like she'd thrown away her life, etc., etc... ...stood before me in her snood, shlumpy clothing covering a slouching and unhealthy looking figure, telling me in a monotone voice about her kids and the yeshiva in which her husband is learning" Here's my comment to her post: I feel for that girl, and unfortunately know so many people just like her, both men & women. I think that the treadmill of seminary-marriage-kollel is a bit of a game. The people on this treadmill don't really think about the permanent ramifications of the treadmill until it's too late, until they're stuck in that life. The turning point is children and that usually happens pretty fast. Once kids are involved, there's rarely any turning back.

Ahhh, it's nice to be taking a nice lunchtime hike :-) The woods clear my brain. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The left hates it - they see it as a land grab. The right hates it - they don't want any future border defined. I wholeheartedly approve of it. I regret that it makes Palestinians' daily lives more difficult, but not having daily attacks on Israelis makes their daily lives easier, and that's my primary concern. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Sitting in the Nesher sherut to Jerusalem, I have come to the following conclusion about the purpose of speedbumps in Israel vs. In the US. US: Drive slower. Israel: Between each set of speedbumps, even if they're only separated by 10 feet, test the car's ability to accelerate to 80mph and test the brakes' ability to come to a screeching halt. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Just arrived in Israel for a family wedding. I'm not usually prone to "only in Israel" stories, but I have to relate a couple of small things. 1) The young female ElAl employee at JFK who asked me the usual "who packed your bags?", "did anyone give you a package?" questions also, after examining my Israeli passport, demanded to know why, if I had made aliyah, was I living in America. She then proceeded to strongly urge me to uproot my family immediately and return to Israel to live. 2) I caught a nasty cold on the plane. Hundreds of people in an enclosed space for 9 hours... At Ben Gurion Airport, I approached the passport control desk. The woman at the desk, seeing me sniffling, immediately pulled out a roll of toilet paper (I guess she had no tissues) and sympathetically placed it in front of me. It's nice to be home. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

H was a steadfast friend of Israel, and champion for Soviet Jewry. I hope that the more conservative domestic politics of much of the American Orthodox Jewish community won't get in the way of remembering that.

I just mowed the lawn. And probably massacred a whole bunch of bees. There were little yellow weed flowers all over the grass. And the bees were happily doing their pollen thing on quite a few of them. But I had to mow the lawn. You'd think that the bees would fly away when a loud lawn mower engine is less than a foot from them, but no. I hope I scared away as many as possible. I don't think bees have ears, but you'd think they could feel the vibrations ! I hate to kill bees, especially after the bee die off of the last few years. My wife & have talked about how we'd love to plant native flora instead of a lawn. Or perhaps use moss instead of grass . Unfortunately, we're renters, and our lease requires us to maintain the grass lawn and mow it. But maybe in the future. Maybe I'll become a beekeeper as well. And then maybe bee society won't remember me as the perpetrator of the great bee massacre of August 2009.

Ok, this is going to sound shallow, but I'm writing this with tongue slightly in cheek. Whenever I go to frum weddings, I like to spend as much time at the smogasboard as possible. But at weddings when I'm good friends with the groom, I feel like I have to hang out at the chatan's tish. With the food that's been transported from a 1970's kiddush. Stale sponge cake and shnapps. So I don't have food before the chuppah. And at the meal, I, a strict vegetarian, watch unhappily as my wife and friends chow down on dead animals. Even when there's a veggie option, it's a pretty bad imitation of meat instead of good vegetarian food. Which is why, for the wedding I'm going to tomorrow, I'm happy to be an old friend of the bride. I only met the groom once, at the engagement party. Seems like a great guy and they seem like a great couple. Still, since I don't know him very well, I only have to make a short appearance at the tish. The rest of the ho

I don't know why, but I was thinking about this today: On the afternoon of 9/11/2001, I remember walking in Brooklyn on the way to a cafe with a few friends. We were getting together to try to make sense of what happened, and keep each other company in our shock. While we were walking, a great cloud of paper came over the neighborhood, fluttering down to the street. I think it was from 7 WTC, which collapsed in the afternoon. I picked up a few pages and saw that it was financial balance sheets from some company. Some of the pages were slightly singed. I kept them, and thought that I would return them to the company whose name was printed on the bottom. In the end I never got around to it and I'm not sure where they went - probably in the garbage. I'm sure that it wouldn't have made a big difference to the company after losing their entire office, but I've always regretted it nontheless. It would have been symbolic, perhaps, but symbolism counts.

Meaningful and comfortable fast to all. May we mourn whatever aspect of galut we find meaningful to mourn, but do it together . That's the most important thing.

This morning, while looking for the weather channel, I came across a segment about the Israeli medical system. It turned out to be a segment of The 700 Club, with Pat Robertson. They were praising how good a system of medical care Israel has. Then Pat mentioned how wonderful it is that when you look at the US medical system, the top ranks are heavily populated with Jews. Wait a second, isn't that major stereotyping? Well, if so, I'm happier with that stereotype than the old one, where we're all greedy moneylenders. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

I used to blog under the name "Yehudi Hilchati " on a blog of the same name. Around a year ago, I wrote there: . Should I blog under my own name? . I've always been a little uncomfortable with anonymous blogging. But I do it anyway, for the reasons outlined below. I've written stuff here that I probably wouldn't want my family or some members of my community to know of. Though I'm not a full-blown skeptic, I've expressed enough opinions on the documentary hypothesis and the origins of Judaism to earn the title of " apikores " by strictly traditional standards. I've also written some left-of-center opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian issue that while relatively moderate, would provoke massive arguments with my right wing (on that issue) family if they knew about it. So all in all, blogging anonymously allows me to express my opinions without fear of repercussions . On the other hand, blogging anonymously keeps me from e

Cross-posted on DovBear Gil Student, over at Hirhurim , recently posted “a loose translation of notes from lectures by R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik” examining the issue of whether women can be slaughterers (shochatot). Gil, in his introduction, links it to the issue of women Rabbis and concludes that if shochatot are not allowed, neither are female Rabbis. The Rav brings a number of sources that essentially prohibit women slaughterers based on the fact that a shochet is a communal position and women cannot hold communal positions. But the Shulchan Aruch writes that women can be shochatot. The Rama, however, says that they may not serve in that capacity because the custom is that they haven't been doing so. That seems like an extremely poor and circular argument. We don't allow it because we haven't been allowing it. So all the arguments against women slaughterers seem to be based only on social considerations, not solid halacha. And many do allow women to slaughter for thems

Who says the Arab world has no democracies? "Since 1987, Tunisia has gradually reformed its political system, it has abolished life presidency and opened up parliament to opposition parties." And despite the fact that they hosted the PLO for so many years, it seems like they have a history of friendliness towards Israel: "President Bourguiba was the first Arab leader to call for the recognition of Israel in a speech in Jericho in 1965. " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunisia#Present-day_politics In the 90's they even had good ties towards Israel, but that's deteriorated since 2000. Maybe it'll improve again, as their democratic values would seem a natural way to provide motive for rapprochement.

A few weeks before Pesach, I moved to a new desk at work. The previous occupant had left a lot of junk in the desk. I didn't realize one of the drawers had food in it under the files and didn't get around to cleaning it till this week. I found a whole bunch of ketchup and mayo packets inside, the kind that you get from fast food places. Not that I have a great need to consume these condiments, but it made me wonder - are they kosher or are they chametz she'avar alav achar hapesach (CSAAAHP)? They are Heinz, and have an O-U on them. But they were in my desk over Pesach and weren't sold with my other chametz. On the other hand, I wasn't aware of their existence till this week. Plus, the desk doesn't belong to me, it belongs to my employer. So were the packets halachically considered to be in my possession over Pesach? So what's the halacha? A second question: if they are CSAAAHP, do I need to throw them out (rather than leave them in the office kitchen

At the ATM this morning, there was a moth under the glass. Very surreal... Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

At least according to the protesters outside my office. Apparently my employer, a huge financial services firm, is using a company for its moving and storage needs that is unfair to workers. For argument's sake, let's say this is true. Obviously I'm not quitting my job over it. But it raises food for thought: what threshold would a company have to cross to cause you to quit? A division that produces porn? Toxic dumping? Sweat shops in Guatemala? It's not an easy decision, especially when jobs are as scarce as they are now. What do you think? Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

This is my first post from my cellphone. Hope this works! I moved to eastern Pennsylvania a few months ago and have been commuting to NY on a semi-regular basis. It's a brutal commute. If I didn't have to cross the Hudson, I could do it in half the time. But as it is, ot usually takes me at least 3 hours. It normally involves some combination of driving, NJ Transit trains, and PATH. Today, I tried something new: the Staten Island Ferry. It didn't make the commute any shorter, but it was immensly more relaxing. The open water and air was far better than a cup of coffee ever could be! I'm looking forward to the evening commute, coming up soon! I took a video from the ferry. As I said above, this is my first mobile post. Hope the video posts... This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless! To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture . Note: To play

Disclaimer first: As I maintained he would in a number of posts during the campaign, I still think Obama’s turning out to be a darn good president in general. And I still think he’ll be a great friend to Israel. But as I indicated in this post , he’s not above criticism. However, the below criticism is in the same vein as those right-wingers who thought GW Bush was Israel’s best friend but criticized him during his second term for publicly supporting a two-state solution. Obama’s still my man. Now on to the criticism. Obama left today for a trip to the Middle East. He’s trying to repair ties with the Arab world, and the greater Muslim world, which Bush shredded during his two terms. He’s going to speak from Cairo, a symbolic move to indicate that the Arab & Muslim states do not need to have an antagonistic relationship with the US and the US is willing to listen to what they have to say. Fine, I support that. Even seen from a Israel-centric standpoint, Bush’s “us” and “them” c

What is morality? And what are ethics? Or values? In my discussions with Charedim, (and some Centrist Orthodox and even Modern Orthodox) both online & offline, we often come to an impasse when I realize that one of the basic assumptions they’ve made is that I, as a kipa wearing Jew, take all my cues for morality, ethics, and values from the Torah, and that there can be no other standard. Even if one accepts that premise, there are far reaching disagreements on what the Torah has to say when it comes to value judgments. But leaving that aside, in any case I reject the basic premise. I see no reason that the Torah should be the only arbiter of my moral being. I may be a Jew, but that’s not the only thing I am. I’m also a human being. When the Charedi I’m talking to realizes that I’m not on the same wavelength when it comes to this issue, he will often engage in circular arguments: “How can you not see the Torah as the final word on every issue? The Torah says you’re supposed to

This week, they found the missing link. The missing link has long been a major problem with the theory of evolution. Darwin himself acknowledged that fossil evidence of transitional forms between species had not been found, but assumed they would be, in time. However, while many have been found, many others have not. Biologists have proposed a number of solutions, one of the most promising being “ punctuated equilibrium ”, in which a species stays rather static for a long time and then undergoes rapid evolution in a relatively brief time in response to dramatic environmental changes. Religious fundamentalists have long pointed to these gaps as evidence that evolution is untrue. But science & Torah reconciliators (or their corresponding thinkers in other religions) have been more than happy to see God in the missing places. This is sometimes referred to as the “ God of the gaps ” concept. Where science can’t explain something, that is evidence for God. I’ve never been ha

I am firmly left-wing Modern Orthodox, with Conservative tendencies. And since I left NY a few years ago, I haven't really been to any Charedi events at all. But tonight I found myself in NY on business, staying in Brooklyn. And there was a big Lag Ba-Omer celebration going on outside on the next block, cordoned off by the police. So I decided to go. I think there's been enough time and distance that I didn't feel the need to mentally criticize the Charedi community for things I don't agree with at such a benign event. So I just decided to go in Anthropologist's mode and enjoy. And I did. I think I was the only kipa sruga in a sea of black. It was a little startling to me to hear them announce, in the middle of the singing and dancing: "We respectfully request that all women get onto the sidewalk so the men can continue dancing around the fire" Yes, it's not my style, and I have objections in principle to the marginalization of wo

OK, this review is full of spoilers. This was a great movie. Excitement, special effects, great dialogue, great characters, some good humor. Great, that is, if you’ve never heard of Star Trek before. But if you’re a long time fan, as I am, it’s hard to separate the Star Trek universe from the bright & shiny new movie. ALERT: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! Since I’m assuming that the only people reading past the spoiler alert are people who have already seen the movie, I’m not going to spend a lot of time explaining the setup. This is just my reaction to the movie we’ve both seen already. Casting: Supporting characters: excellent! Each of them brought a newness to the role, and didn’t copy the original actors, but still channeled the essence of the characters we’ve come to love. Special mention goes to Karl Urban as McCoy and Simon Pegg as Scotty. Both were pitch perfect in their roles from the moment of their first appearance onscreen. Anton Yelchin as Chekov was o

A few months ago, I wrote about my disgust when another blogger of college age expressed the notion that there was nothing wrong with cheating in school. Her rationale was a whole host of mitigating circumstances. Recently, I was speaking to some others of a similar age to the aforementioned blogger and they expressed similar sentiments. While I haven't changed my mind, one scenario that came up in the conversation provided food for thought: What if a test was stolen before the final exam and the entire class got hold of it. Let's say you are offered the exam as well. Normally, you would refuse, but in this case the professor grades on a steep curve, and if you get less than an A in the course you will lose your hefty scholarship and that scholarship is the only way you can afford college. Let's say further that you cannot inform the administration anonymously of the theft. If you tell, your role will become public knowlege. Do you: A) Rat out everyone else, and

DovBear points out, here and here , that Birchat Hachama, the blessing over the sun, recited once every 28 years, and which falls on this Wednesday, isn't accurate in its claim that it happens when the sun is in the same place in the sky at the time of the creation of the world, 5,769 years ago. But does that matter? Even before reading his first post on the topic, and before looking into the background, I assumed that the stated reason for Birkat Hachama was not literally true. It can only be true if one believes in a literal sheshet yimei bereishit (6 days of creation). But like many other practices in traditional Judaism whose origins may not be "true" in a literal sense, I will still say the bracha without any discomfort or loss of emotional significance. Judaism is an evolving religion - it always has been. Therefore, every evolving tradition is meaningful in the history of its very practice, not just in its origins. And a tradition going back

I've just moved to Eastern Pennsylvania. More on that in another post. But I had a question that I was hoping some of my blog visitors had some insight into. I left some chametz in a storage unit in Ohio. I did leave a key to the unit with someone local to it so it's theoretically accessible by the purchasing non-Jew during Pesach. I also have chametz in my new house, in PA. Should I use one Rav to sell the chametz or two, one in each locale? More importantly, can I use the Chabad website to sell my chametz online? How halachically valid is that? And even if it's fully halachically valid, what about with my situation? Can an online contract handle the complexity of my multistate chametz locations in a halachically valid manner?

On Monday, when signing the order to reverse Bush's policy and allow federal funding of stem cell research, Obama said : This Order is an important step in advancing the cause of science in America. But let's be clear: promoting science isn't just about providing resources -- it is also about protecting free and open inquiry. It is about letting scientists like those here today do their jobs, free from manipulation or coercion, and listening to what they tell us, even when it's inconvenient -- especially when it's inconvenient. It is about ensuring that scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda -- and that we make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology. By doing this, we will ensure America's continued global leadership in scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs. That is essential not only for our economic prosperity, but for the progress of all humanity. And that's why today, I am also signi

About 5 years ago, when my wife & I were first considering moving away from the NYC area to some "out of town" location, I started & moderated a Yahoo Group list (remember those?) called “ Moving On Out ” to search for and encourage more LWMO communities in "out of town" areas. Specifically, I was looking for "open orthodox" type shuls, but in places way out of the usual cities they'd be found in. This was in the days of fresh excitement about Edah, YCT, etc. The list ended up focusing on any shul of this type, irrespective of location, and had some lively discussions for about a year or so. After that, the blogosphere really came into its own and those Yahoo Groups saw much less traffic. The list still exists and is still officially active, but it gets a post only once every few weeks. I just looked back through some of those old posts and there’s some good stuff. What I wanted to post here today was what I wrote about what I considered the

Famed computer industry analyst and commenter John C Dvorak on the new Apple Macintosh computer , 25 years ago, in 1984: The nature of the personal computer is simply not fully understood by companies like Apple (or anyone else for that matter). Apple makes the arrogant assumption of thinking that it knows what you want and need. It, unfortunately, leaves the “why” out of the equation — as in “why would I want this?” The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a ‘mouse’. There is no evidence that people want to use these things. I dont want one of these new fangled devices.