The Evolving Jew

Now that Obama's term is almost over, can we finally put to bed the preposterous notion, advanced by many of my more right-wing co-religionists, that "Obama is the worst president for Israel ever"? Obama's actually been a pretty good friend to Israel, having her back at the UN, increasing military aid, and never, ever pressuring Israel financially like Reagan and George HW Bush did. His relationship with Netanyahu has been frosty, but the blame for that lies more with Netanyahu than with Obama. So what was Obama's crime? Apparently it was criticizing settlement expansion and pressuring Israel to negotiate with the Palestinians. At best, Obama has been accused, in the words of one recent critic I exchanged comments with as "[approaching] the peace process with complete naivete, and many assumptions that are simply not true". Obama approached the peace process exactly like his two predecessors did. Perhaps that that doesn't work anymore, but Bill

A common criticism (which I have repeated myself many times over the years) is that the Orthodox community has trended towards ever more stringent chumrot because the shul rabbi, who understands the needs of the laity, has been replaced as as posek by roshei yeshiva, who are in the ivory tower, so to speak, and don't understand those needs, thus are less likely to look for compassionate kulot. I still believe there's truth to that, but as I was reading this piece by Aryeh Klapper on gedolim , one sentence really struck me: "The eclipse of shul rabbis occurred because they were less capable than the roshei yeshiva of serving a more educated and more observant generation of Orthodox men and women". I never thought of it that way before, but he does have a point. The Orthodox laity is far more halachically literate than at most times in Jewish history, fantasies about shtetl life aside. People kept halacha culturally, and asked the community rabbi their she'el

I'm not big on personal reminisces online, nor do I usually feel the need to recount the obligatory "where were you when". But it's hard to believe that it's been 15 years. For better or worse, it feels like yesterday, and I'm in a reflective mood. The evening before, on September 10th, I was in Manhattan having dinner with a friend, so I got home to Brooklyn very late. My job in Long Island was officially a consulting job at the time, and my arrival time wasn't strict, so I knew I could sleep in a little. I had my clock radio tuned to WNYC and it woke me up around 8am, but I kept hitting snooze for at least 45 minutes. I was the only one home, my parents both having left for work earlier. Finally, closer to 9am and half-asleep, it percolated to me what the voice on the radio had been saying for the last few minutes. I was immediately awake, though I assumed (as did most for almost 20 minutes) that the first plane was an accident. I stayed at home lis

Jay Michaelson makes some good points in his article If Israel’s Occupation Is Permanent, Why Isn’t It the Same as Apartheid? Some thoughts: The time to separate into 2 states would have been 20 years ago, when support was still high. Now it's hard to imagine how it'll happen. The Palestinians missed chances and then their violent responses hardened Israeli public position. I don't know what the answer is. I agree with the article, but I don't see a two-state solution happening anytime soon. Israel is stuck in a morass of it's own making and the making of the Palestinians. One other point - many on the right will take exception to Michelson's 2nd to last paragraph, that the long-term demographics aren't on Israel's side. Caroline Glick, for instance, asserts that the Jewish birthrate is rising and the Palestinian birthrate is dropping. Is that true? It's hard to know. It may just be selective reading of the data by a right wanting to believe

I tend to be a rationalist religious Jew, and try to contextualize the mitzvot and make them meaningful to my modern, western self. But there's one mitzvah that defies contextualization or reinterpretation. Standing alongside the mohel at my son's brit recently. I realized that there's no way I would be doing this were I not living the life of a religious Jew. It's an ancient ceremony that may or may not have medical benefit. But a roomful of people sitting there celebrating as a helpless baby's genitals are cut? It really does seem barbaric and bizarre. I've adjusted my Judaism to my doubts about most of the ikkarim and made it work for me. But with brit milah, I just had to let go of my modern mind and accept that some things in Judaism cannot be rationalized. It's an ancient mitzvah that smacks us in the face and says to us that choosing to live as a Jew means accepting that not all of Judaism is rational. Rather, we do it as part of avodat Hashem,

I've tried not to post on presidential politics the last few days on Facebook, other than wink-wink posts that surreptitiously refer to 19th century elections. But I got involved in a thread where someone judged Hillary's Israel views by her vice presidential pick, declaring that Kaine is "anti-Israel". So I'm jumping back in the fray. It's really sad that the right-wing pro-Israel crowd has become so idological that they can't recognize friends of Israel. Let's get real. There are plenty of politicians who are truly anti-Israel, like Jill Stein, the candidate for the green party, former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, and others. These are people who challenge Israel's right to exist and challenge her right to defend herself. What are Kaine's crimes against the Jewish state? Boycotting Bibi's partisan concocted speech to Congress, supporting the Iran deal, and showing some friendship to J-Street. He probably shouldn't have skippe

Given Hillary Clinton's unpopularity, I think we have to start seriously considering that a Trump presidency is a possibility, and how we will live with a minimum of 4 years of it. I'm not going to flee to Canada (thought aliyah's not out of the question). This country won't fall apart. Congress will still be deadlocked. Despite the rhetoric, I don't think he'll be able to deport all illegals, nor will he be able to build that wall. He won't be able to keep all Muslims from entering the US. These are things that the president simply doesn't have the power to do himself. And the Federal government doesn't control our daily lives to the degree people  think. But he could still do an awful lot of damage. He might succeed in getting a repeal of Obamacare through congress. And his SCOTUS picks would be with us for decades. Not to mention trade wars, growing isolationism, and despite the delusions of much of the right, Trump wouldn't be very good f

Donald Trump is bad news for this country. He's a buffoon and a clown, and is utterly unqualified to lead us. He's also unquestionably a misogynist. But if you look back at his history and connections, it doesn't seem like Trump is a major racist, but rather a mild bigot (if there's such a thing). What scares me far more than Trump himself is the ugliness that his campaign has unleashed. The vile racism, antisemitism, and white supremacy that is normally hidden beneath America has risen up and decided to make itself known. We all knew this stuff existed, but I don't think we realized how prevalent it still was. And they've attached themselves to the rising star of an idiot, and are no longer afraid to say what they really think. We thought America was so enlightened, here in 2016. Trump's campaign has shown us that there's a really scary side to this country, and we ignore it at our peril, especially now as that scary side feels empowered.

I haven't posted on this blog in almost 4 months. I don't discuss my personal life on here much, but wanted to let those few of you who still read blogs but aren't connected to me in real life or on Facebook that I'm still around and am OK. The last time I posted was before chaos took over, involving a move where everything went wrong, a flood in our new place, a hospital stay for a family member (the Kosher L'Pesach meals at the hospital were just awful), and finally, the early arrival of my twin children. Thank God, everything is getting back to normal, and I am settling in to new fatherhood. In between diaper changes, I still hope to blog occasionally, so check back here once in a while!

Seth Frantzman is a little pessimistic about life in Israel for olim . Despite having spent around 3 1/2 years in Israel in total, including aliyah, I don't live there now. Still, here are some initial thoughts. Much of this is technically true. But the racism and intolerance pervades Orthodox life in CHU"L as well. My wife & I chose a particular Orthodox community in the US that is more open and liberal. There are such communities in Israel as well. Ultimately, you live most of your social life in your community, not in the larger society. I suspect the bigger culture shock for olim is for those coming from non-Orthodox communities. For those happy with the racism, intolerance, and black/white thinking of many Orthodox communities in the US, Israel won't be so different. For those of us on the more liberal side of Orthodoxy, we're used to that nonsense, and we find a sub-community that fits us better. Same in Israel. We're also used to more expensive hou