Tuesday, October 25, 2011

"Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson: The Morality of Redeeming Captives: Gilad Shalit and the Talmud"

Huffpost: "Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson: The Morality of Redeeming Captives: Gilad Shalit and the Talmud"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-bradley-shavit-artson/talmud-and-gilad-shalit-redeeming-captives_b_1027552.html

On Oct. 11, Israel's government made international headlines when it agreed to release more than 1,000 violent prisoners to obtain the release of Sergeant Gilad Shalit, who had been kidnapped and held hostage by Hamas for more than 5 years (without any of the rights granted under the Geneva Convention for a captured soldier). His release was a cause for relief and joy throughout Israel, Jewish communities around the world, and for those moved by the humanitarian concerns of his family and friends.

But simple joy at a young soldier's release is not the only emotion friends of democracy in the Middle East feel today. Along with pent-up relief comes a sense of foreboding -- that such a disproportionate exchange may be seen as a reward to Hamas violence, encouraging the terrorists within Hamas to yet another spasm of kidnapping and murder. Indeed, the Hamas leadership wasted no time in noting that the exchange was a victory for violent obstruction, the head of the military wing of Hamas, Ahmed Jabari, promised more kidnappings, and crowds in Gaza chanted, "The people want a new Gilad!" encouraging Hamas to seize more Israeli soldiers.

In the American press -- general and Jewish -- journalists have noted that the noble impulse to redeem Gilad Shalit was in part an expression of the ancient Jewish virtue of pidyon shivuyim, redeeming the captive. This mitzvah is regarded as among the greatest of the commandments, whose timely implementation remains a supreme religious obligation. With an abundant display of pithy quotations, scholars, rabbis and bloggers have rushed to treat this redemption as the simple fulfillment of an unambiguous religious imperative.

Beware those who assume that religion can obviate reason and make obvious the complicated. There are good reasons why statescraft requires training, courage and extensive input from diverse areas of expertise. Knowledge of religious traditions or spiritual wisdom has a valuable role to play in reminding participants of the ethical concerns and parameters for such interactions. But religion cannot erase real complexity, nor substitute for reasoned, nuanced, informed reflection.

So, let's rejoice that Gilad is home with his family. That is a real human triumph and one that all decent people should celebrate.

But there is good reason to fear that the extravagant numbers of bloodstained hands released to gain his freedom will encourage yet more rounds of attack and slaughter against innocent Israeli civilians.

Without treading where statesmen and security experts ought properly to decide, this rabbi wants to speak out in favor of recognizing life's irreducible intricacy and to the proper role of religion to help us live with that complexity. I turn to a multilayered Torah to navigate situations that won't distill to simple, self-evident (and false) policy decisions.

Take this redeeming captives, for instance. The Mishnah (ancient anthology of rabbinic sayings, laws and interpretations, around the year 250 C.E.) legislates that captives should not be redeemed for more than their value, to prevent abuses. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says, "to prevent the abuse of other captives."

The law, as articulated in rabbinic Judaism's founding document, is unambivalent: one does not negotiate with kidnappers. Paying more than the market value for redeeming human captives is forbidden because it leads to even greater abuse.

But the sage discussion doesn't stop with a simple rule. The Gemara (later rabbinic comments on the Mishnah) seeks the reason for the prohibition: The question was raised: Does this prevention of abuses relate to the burden which may be imposed on the community, or does it relate to the possibility that kidnappers may be motivated to act in the future?

What, in other words, is the abuse that we seek to contain? Are we concerned that paying extravagantly to redeem captives will impoverish and bankrupt entire communities? Or is our concern that pirates and terrorists will be encouraged to kidnap even larger numbers of innocent people because of the remuneration?

Come and hear: Levi ben Darga ransomed his daughter for 13,000 gold dinarii. Said Abbaye: Are you sure he acted with the consent of the Sages? Perhaps he acted against the will of the sages!

The conclusion of the talmudic tale (Gittin 45a) is where my interest lies. We know the rule: no extravagant payments to redeem captives, perhaps because it simply costs too much, perhaps because it will encourage more kidnapping. But the rule and its reasons can't be the whole story. The Talmud still needs to tell us of a father who broke the rule and spent a fortune to redeem his daughter. Perhaps there is more to consider than just the principle.

Yet even that complication isn't enough: We don't even know if Levi ben Darga broke the rule with the consent of the authorities or despite their prohibition. The Talmud doesn't resolve our uncertainty. Sometimes a father's heart can't be constrained by a law. Sometimes a people must extend themselves despite established policy.

In the end, the Talmud gives us a rule and its violation. Society requires principles, and sometimes the heart requires us to go beyond established guidelines. The wisdom of the tradition doesn't specify whether or not Gilad should be redeemed at a particular price, but it does indicate that caring human beings have wrestled with this dilemma for millennia, and that the complexities of human life reverberate through the ages.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

[Shefa] Young Adult Outreach Micro Grants from USCJ

 

 

 

New Initiative! USCJ is offering micro grants to groups that want to create or enhance initiatives for young adults.

 

One of the United Synagogue's new functions is to nurture new kehillot and to engage the next generation of their leaders. In keeping with that mandate, which is vitally important not only for Conservative Judaism but for the larger Jewish world, we are offering micro grants to kehillot to help them provide resources and opportunities to young adults.  Young Adult Outreach Micro Grant Applications can be found at: http://uscj.org/YouthYoungAdults/BuildingCommunity/MicroGrantApplication.aspx

 

 

_________________________________

Lisa Alter Krule

Director of Young Adult Outreach

United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

krule@uscj.org

(847) 714.9130

(847) 714.9133 fax

 

 

 

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[Shefa] Our Son's Smile

 

Our Son's Smile
(c) Rabbi Menachem Creditor

Gilad_Schalit_h_1331634cl-3.jpg

So many of us spent all night watching live newsfeed broadcast from Israel. 14 hours later my heart is still breaking, and I wonder: What does 1,941 days in the dark feel like?  How is it possible that Gilad Shalit emerged from 5 and a half years of extreme isolation with the ability to stand, to smile? And during the very holiday on which we shake a leafy surrogate for our very beings in a vulnerable exposed home? That smile... my heart won't stop trembling.

This morning, driving my child to school, I said to her, "This is a good day for Am Yisrael (the Jewish People)."  Without missing a beat, my child said, "Abbah, I don't want to sing that son right now." And I laughed. And she laughed.  That's what a child and parent are meant to experience together. Laughter. (And song.) And today is a good day for Am Yisrael. We have our boy back. 

There is scarcely a chance we'll be able to express with words what our People's collective aching and relieved heart is feeling. Upon seeing these images, these videos, reading these stories, how many remembered images from Jewish history resurface, forcing themselves into our mind's eye despite overwhelming gratitude? How can a Jew express to anyone else what seeing our emaciated 25-year old son embraced by his father means to our People's scarred and resilient soul? 

What a day, 
what a beautiful, complicated, flowing day. 
What a precious smile. 
What a holy embrace 
from a father and mother.
What a miracle, 
to have our son back.
We missed him so terribly.
And now we have him home.
Safe.

How can we possibly express the primal ache of this moment for the Jewish People?  Many recited, upon Gilad Shalit's release, a specially composed prayer by the Masorti Movement, one of whose communities in Israel is the Shalit Family's shul.  We davened these words:

...on this great and holy day, the season of our rejoicing, we raise our hearts to God in heaven in joy, happiness, trembling and thanksgiving for the great kindness that You have shown Gilad the son of Aviva and Noam Shalit that You have restored him safely from his place of capture to his family, his country and his people.

On this day, this incredible, trembling and joyous day, it's sinking in. Our son is home. Our People is unified, if but for an instant. We are a family. Some might disagree about the cost, but not about the miracle of our son's smile. 

---
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom  || Bay Area Masorti ||  ShefaNetwork 
Rabbis for Women of the Wall  ||  menachemcreditor.org 
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[Shefa] from the BJE in SF: Teaching and Talking About Gilad Shalit: Educational Resources

 


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 October 2011

Tishrei 5772

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

 

After five years of captivity, Gilad Shalit is being prepared to leave Gaza, first to meet with a representative of the government of Israel at an undisclosed location, and tomorrow, to be returned to his family and his life. 

 

This story touches many issues related to Israel, its relationships with its neighbors, and our own relationships with Israel and with its people.  Many are rejoicing over Gilad's imminent walk to freedom.  Many others are angered over the high cost involved in the prisoner swap.

 

This historic moment represents a learning opportunity for our students.

 

We are distributing some resources that may be helpful as you explore the Shalit case with your students.  

 

  • Our Gilad Shalit curriculum

BJE prepared a curriculum about Gilad Shalit.  This includes background about Gilad, about his abduction, the children's story he wrote when he was a child (When the Shark and the Fish First Met), and lesson plans related to the Shalit case, to co-existence, and to the concept of pidyon shvuyim (redemption of the captives).  Some of the difficult issues related to prisoner swaps (currently being debated in Israel) are addressed in the lesson plans.

  • A set of links to articles about the Shalit case now that may be useful for class discussion:
  • We are pleased to report that the Consulate of Israel has expressed willingness to visit your school to provide more information about the Shalit case that may be helpful and educational for your students.

If you would like to host the Consul General or another representative of the Consulate for this educational purpose, please contact Stacy Schwartz at BJE:  415-751-6983, ext.  124. 

 

Tomorrow morning, we will consolidate our educational materials related to Gilad Shalit on the web which will be available here at our website:  http://www.bjesf.org/giladshalit.

 

Of course, as events continue to unfold in Israel, feel free to contact our Israel education team at BJE, including:

 

Ilan Vitemberg, Israel Education Director 

Michal Morris Kamil, BASIS Director 

 

Moadim l'simchah,

 

   

David Waksberg 

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[Shefa] Check out Occupy Wall Street Isn't Anti-Semitic, But It's Too Leaderless, by

 
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[Shefa] Gilad Hugs His Father!

 
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[Shefa] Gilad is Home!

 

a note from Rabbi Creditor
Gilad is Home!
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20 Tishrei, 5772
Oct. 18, 2011
Dear Chevreh,

 

It is with many tears and a pounding heart that i write you these words.  Our son, Gilad Shalit, is home.  He is with his parents, with his family, with his People.  He is home in Israel. 
 
I invite you to recite the prayer written by the Masorti Movement just last week for this moment.  Here is a link to the prayer (click here).  
 





This email was sent to rabbicreditor@gmail.com by info@netivotshalom.org |  
Congregation Netivot Shalom | 1316 University Avenue | Berkeley | CA | 94702

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Monday, October 17, 2011

[Shefa] Check out Welcome Gilad Home

 
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