"I won’t sit at the back of the bus" - Ynetnews

18:17 , 12.18.11

Print Religious War Tanya RosenblitPhoto: Tzvika Tishler  click here to enlarge text				I won't sit at the back of the bus http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4163399,00.html  Ynet special: Tanya Rosenblit recounts clash of civilizations she experienced on Israeli bus; 'until yesterday, I was sure that I live in a free country,' she says Tanya Rosenblit Until yesterday, I was sure that I live in a free country. I was certain that a person's dignity and freedom are supreme values in our diverse society. Indeed, there are calls against one group or another, but people, whoever they are, regardless of religion, creed or gender, will be respected, because this is the kind of society I grew up in. These are the values I learned.   However, a short while after I boarded Egged's Route 451 bus from Ashdod to Jerusalem, I was proven wrong. As it turned out, not everyone adheres to the dictum: Derech Eretz Kadma LaTorah (proper behavior comes before the Torah.) Sex Segregation Chief rabbi: Israel isn't haredi land / Ynet Rabbi Metzger speaks out against sex segregation on buses, says ultra-Orthodox public cannot impose its opinion on rest of population Full Story   The bus I boarded passed through haredineighborhoods. I took it because it stops five minutes from my destination, in Jerusalem. Only after the driver was surprised by my presence did I understand where I was. I sat behind him so he can tell me exactly where to disembark, yet apparently not everyone thought I'm permitted to sit there.   It's still hard for me to believe that in the year 2011 there are men who believe they must not sit behind a woman.   One of the passangers was unwilling to sit down and stayed on the stairs next to the driver the whole trip, yet another passenger decided to create a commotion. He prevented the driver from shutting the door and called his friends, who arrived at the site and gathered around the bus. There were about 20 of them, they spoke in Yiddish, and it appeared as though a small rally was organized to charge that this bus is theirs, via a deal with the Egged company, and that whoever boards it must adhere to the community's demands.   They repeated this claim in Hebrew too, even though the driver attempted to explain to them that this is a regular Egged bus route and is not characterized a "kosher" one.   Policeman asked me to move I must admit I was a little scared at that point. Nobody bothered to turn to me and ask me to do what seemed so logical to them – for me to move to the back. They made do with pointing at me, calling me names, and expressing outrage over Egged's failure to safeguard their rights. I must admit I still don't understand what these rights are.   The driver, who saw he cannot continue, called the police. When the police officer arrived, he traded a few words with the driver, spoke at length with the organizer of the spontaneous protest, and then boarded the bus in order to ask me whether I am willing to respect them and move to the back of the bus. He repeated the question twice. He was also the first to turn to me and speak to me all that time.   I replied that I showed enough respect for them with my modest dress and that I cannot humiliate myself in order to respect someone else. They must ask themselves how it could be that humiliating a woman shows respect to them. How could it be that a man in this day and age feels that a woman is not worthy of sitting before him? How would he feel if his mother, sister or daughter encountered such contempt?   Ultimately, the police officer accepted my refusal, for lack of other choice. The man who organized the protest remained in Ashdod, while the other passengers, including new ones who boarded the bus later, passed me and sat behind me without an incident.   Yet I was left with a few questions following this incident: Why is limiting the rights and freedom of someone else considered fair when it comes in the form of adhering to Jewish law demands? Since when does the Torah come before basic manners? How could religion be used so cynically and how come nobody realized until now that this is a social problem, and that its connection to religion is slim to non-existent? How could it be that an entire community chooses to humiliate its daughters, wives and sisters and nobody raises a hue and cry? Who believes that one could really choose to live a life of humiliation and exclusion?   I'm not anti-religious It's important for me to emphasize that I'm not coming out against the haredim or religious. I'm also not speaking out against religion. What bothers me is the State's attitude to these phenomena throughout its existence. The renunciation of the basic rights of so many citizens for the sake of the minority's dignity and welfare, and the indifference shown by the State towards these phenomena, which is even encouraged at times.   The State of Israel is a country of minorities, and everyone must show consideration to others. It's important to fight radicalism, wherever it is. Every opinion and every worldview are acceptable, until they are taken to the extreme. There they become dangerous. It can be a hurtful religious edict or anti-haredi calls. It can be a missile fired at Ashdod or "Death to the Arabs" chants.   In Israel of 2011, the war is for individual freedom! War between groups leads to nothing with the exception of a long conflict filled with empty slogans: Arabs against Jews, and haredim against seculars. After all, we all wish to live our life in line with our beliefs, abilities and understanding and to be the best and most successful we choose to be; with an emphasis on the word choice.   We must not allow one pressure group or another to overrun the unique voice of any one of us. Freedom is not a curse word; everyone aspires for it in every society and in any situation. If we give up the stigmas and approach the person who hides behind the words "haredim" or "seculars" we can produce genuine dialogue and possibly minimize the gap between us.   Tanya Rosenblit is a writer and translator. She studies at the Camera Obscura school of arts   Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter    Back

---

Rabbi Menachem Creditor

Congregation Netivot Shalom  || Bay Area Masorti ||  ShefaNetwork 

Rabbis for Women of the Wall  ||  menachemcreditor.org 

To join Rabbi Creditor's email list, send a blank email to thetisch-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Check out my new album, "Within!" - on sale at: ekspublishing, itunes & amazon.com!

Ha'aretz: "Retooling halakhic conversion: Re-imagining halakhic conversion matters is necessary both for the health of Jewish identity in Israel and for the attainment of untapped potential of Jewish possibilities in the Jewish state."

Ha'aretz: "Retooling halakhic conversion: Re-imagining halakhic conversion matters is necessary both for the health of Jewish identity in Israel and for the attainment of untapped potential of Jewish possibilities in the Jewish state."

By Rabbi Adam Frank
http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/retooling-halakhic-conversion-1.401758?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.212%2C2.215%2C

Historically, radical change has been an essential element in the survival of Jews and Judaism. This has been true not only with offshoots from, or "reformers" of the Jewish establishment, but also with that establishment itself, when it has recognized the need to adapt.

After the destruction of the Second Temple, in 70 C.E., for example, the sages changed the focus of Jewish worship from sacrifices to prayer and study. Not long thereafter, Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi broke with normative Jewish law and compiled a heretofore prohibited written record of the Oral Law - the Mishnah - and in the 13th century Rabbi Menachem Hameiri unilaterally declared Christianity as non-idolatrous, thus allowing Jews to conduct business with a population previously prohibited to them.

The definition of Jewish identity has also undergone radical change over the past 2,000 years. During the times of our forefathers and foremothers, patrilineal descent was the key to being Jewish. Thus, Jacob's Jewish identity was passed on to all 12 of his sons, who then became the heads of the 12 Tribes of Israel, and further in Leviticus 24, a man born to an Egyptian father and a Jewish mother is not given the status of an Israelite.

Culturally, patrilineal descent made sense in the ancient world, as it was the most reliable way to insure continuation of the Jewish people, for whomever a man married became part of his clan.

Critical to this conversation is the fact that prior to the Temple's destruction, a person was considered to have converted to Judaism if he or she lived among Jews (as Ruth says to Naomi, in Ruth 1:16, "For whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy People shall be my People, and thy God shall be my God"), and underwent ritual immersion, and, if a male, ritual circumcision.

The earliest mention of the move to matrilineal descent is found in the Mishnah (Kiddushin 3:12/13). Most believe it was a response to wars waged against the Jews of Palestine by the Greek-Assyrians and Romans, which threw into question the paternity of babies born to Jewish women.

When the Jews were dispersed, the sovereignty of Jewish society was lost. For the next 2,000 years, Jews were hosted by, and lived among, strictly gentile societies. It can be argued that one consequence of that dispersion was yet another radical change in the definition of a Jew - this time with respect to conversion requirements, which evolved to include a commitment to observance of Jewish law. Proof of such an unprecedented requirement is found in the commentary of the Tosafot - the post-Talmudic, early-Medieval rabbinic voices who demanded halakhic observance to accompanyconversion. Since then, standards of observance have continued to be requisite for conversion in the halakhic Ashkenazi world.

Fast forward to modern times. Though the Jews' proportion of the world's population decreases yearly and the number of people opting out of Jewish identification is rapidly growing, halakhic observance requirements for conversion to Judaism remain in place. And in the Diaspora, these requirements maintain their historic relevance, as they ensure the commitment to Judaism and public expressions of Jewish identity for a Jew-by-choice.

However, for those people who move to Israel under the Law of Return but do not have halakhic status as Jews; who have left the birthplaces to come to the world's only Hebrew-speaking society; who are prepared to serve or have their children serve in the Israel Defense Forces; who take upon themselves the challenges of living in an Israel that is under constant threat specifically because it is a Jewish state - a return to the Jewish societal milieu model for those who are prepared to undergo circumcision and ritual immersion should be sufficient for a halakhic conversion.

It is a well-known halakhic tool - the very same tool employed by Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi to circumvent the prohibition on writing down the Oral Law: to permit an action that has heretofore been prohibited when doing so will result in benefit to the Jewish people, God and the Torah.

Retooling halakhic conversion in Israel will increase the number of Jews living here; increase the number of Jews engaging in Torah study; increase the importance and relevance of Jewish identity for citizens of Israel; and decrease the number of halakhically prohibited marriages.

Most non-halakhic beneficiaries of the Law of Return come here with a desire to be recognized as Jewish, and many seem willing to undergo formal conversion. But the strictures imposed by the Israeli rabbinate are so great that only a small fraction of those wanting to convert are allowed to do so. Consequently, as time passes, their interest, motivation and urgency to be recognized as Jewish among all wane. For both this immigrant population and for those secular Israelis who see prohibitive halakhic definitions of status as prejudicial and anachronistic - efforts to rethink halakhic conversion may stem the weakening relevance of Jewish identity among Israelis, and give our Education Ministry a chance to correct the error of not teaching Judaism in the secular schools.

Recognition of the radical difference in Jewish life afforded by the State of Israel - a phenomenon unknown in the world for 2,000 years - certainly qualifies as justification for a re-imagining of halakhic conversion matters. Such a change is necessary both for the health of Jewish identity in Israel and for the attainment of untapped potential of Jewish possibilities in the Jewish state.

Adam Frank is rabbi of the Masorti Movement's Congregation Moreshet Yisrael in Jerusalem.

---

Rabbi Menachem Creditor

Congregation Netivot Shalom  || Bay Area Masorti ||  ShefaNetwork 

Rabbis for Women of the Wall  ||  menachemcreditor.org 

To join Rabbi Creditor's email list, send a blank email to thetisch-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Check out my new album, "Within!" - on sale here: ekspublishing.com

Rabbi Reuven Hammer: "Hanukkah: We Kindle These Lights"

We Kindle These Lights

Rabbi Reuven Hammer

Hanukkah is a holiday that is both simple and profound. It is simple is that very little is required in order to observe it according to all the requirements of Jewish practice. According to the Talmud, all that is required is the lighting of one light each night.

The lighting of more than one candle, which is standard practice today, was an addition to the requirement of one light per household performed by those who are "particularly zealous" in their observance. We, who follow the ruling of the school of Hillel, add one more light each night (Shabbat 21b).

The original reason for kindling lights each night is uncertain. The well-known story of the miraculous can of oil does not appear in the books of Maccabees or in the Mishna, but only in the Talmud. It may be connected to the fact related in First Maccabees 4:50 that "They burned incense on the altar and lighted the lamps on the menorah and they lighted the Temple." Certainly the rekindling of the Menorah, the most important symbol of God's presence in the Temple and eventually the most important visual symbol of Judaism, was a central feature of the Temple rededication and one that could be easily replicated in each home by the kindling of a light. The tale of the oil only added greater significance to that action.

Of course it should not be forgotten that the lighting of lights at the season of the winter solstice, the time when the hours of daylight are the shortest, was an ancient practice of many religions. The Talmud records a legend that as the days became progressively shorter, Adam was frightened, thinking that eventually there would be no light at all. "Perhaps because I have sinned," he said, "the world is becoming dark and returning to the state of chaos and confusion. This is the 'death' to which I have been sentenced by Heaven!"  He then fasted for eight days, but as the days began to become longer again he realized that this was simply the natural way of the world and then kept a festival for eight days. He observed this festival every year in thankfulness to God, but idolaters later observed it in honor of their gods (Avodah Zarah 8a). This was the Sages' explanation of the origin of the Roman festival of Kalenda at that time of year.

The eight days of Hanukkah is actually based on the fact recorded in Second Maccabees 10:6 that they celebrated the rededication of the Temple for eight days "like Sukkot, recalling that on Sukkot they had been wandering in the mountains and caverns like wild animals." That also explains why we recite Hallel on Hanukkah each day, since Hallel is recited each day of Sukkot.

Although the historical events leading to the Maccabean revolt are quite complicated and include an inner conflict among various Jewish groups as well as the struggle between Jews and the Syrian Greeks who ruled the land, the holiday has come to represent the triumph of religious freedom over the attempt to force an alien culture upon the Jewish people. As such it is a time to celebrate the right of a people to determine its own destiny and to worship God according to its own beliefs.

The lights that we light, then, do not simply represent the renewal of the physical light that has diminished at the turn of the year and will then increase each passing day, but the light of the spirit, the light of religious freedom, the light of the Divine presence in our lives. Thus the simplicity of the holiday and the ease of its observance is balanced by the weight of the importance of that which it celebrates: religious freedom for all.

From an Israeli former Mishlei Student at Schechter

Dear Chevreh,

Reactions to the open letter from Bay Area Masorti regarding the resignation of Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum from Machon Schechter have ranged from rejection (mostly from American-born Conservative rabbis and American rabbinical students) to appreciation (mostly from Israeli-born Masorti Rabbis and Jews). 

This email (below) was just sent to the ShefaNetwork by Noa Raz (also available online here: http://shefanetwork.blogspot.com/2011/12/from-noa-raz-regarding-machon-schechter.html). For those who might remember Noa's name, she was the Israeli woman assaulted one year ago at a bus station by a Charedi man for having evidence of having put on tefillin on her arms. Her experience, reflected below, is important to consider, in that light and on its own.  This isn't about gay inclusion. It's about Israeli Masorti leaders aching to be trained, embraced, and empowered by a resonant Israeli institution whose mission is the support of the  Masorti Movement.

Again, it is natural and expected that any institution would protect itself. But the experience of students, Israei-born Masorti-raised students who would be the next rabbinic leaders of the Israei Masorti Movement, is not reflected in Rabbi Hanan Alexander's eloquent statement in defense of Machon Schechter. 

It is important to realize, as many do not, that the Jewish Agency's funding of Masorti is divided approximately in half - split between Machon Schechter and the Masorti Movement. Realize that Masorti communities are severely underfunded, and our heroes, the Masorti rabbis who are the next wave of Chalutzim, pioneers in a spiritual war to reclaim the fundamental pluralistic vision of Judaism from a fundamentalist Rabbinate. They can't make a living, and half of the funding that would secure their work (and lives) is being allocated to a school where only the rabbinical school purports to be connected to the Masorti Movement, and which claims a small handful of students. Many Masorti rabbis have lost their jobs, and many communities struggle to organize themselves without rabbis, which is certainly possible but far from ideal.

In other words, the Masorti Movement would be strengthened enormously by a correction to the Jewish Agency's policy, which is enormously influenced by American Conservative Rabbis whose understanding of Schechter is vastly different from the Israeli Masorti's. This isn't about JTS students studying abroad. This is about the Israeli Masorti Movement's welfare. Just think about what the Israeli Masorti Movement could accomplish with double its allocation.

In addition to Noa's email (pasted below) please also see this official statement from the Masorti Movement's chair, Emily Levi Shochat, online here: http://bamasorti.blogspot.com/2011/12/this-topic-will-continue-to-generate.html.

The original Jpost article has been taken down yet again. But it is archived here: http://bamasorti.blogspot.com/2011/12/jpost-rabbi-quits-machon-schechter-over.html.

Shavuah Tov,

Menachem

Re: [Shefa] "We Have a Problem" - An Open Letter from Bay Area Masorti

Boker Tov and Shavua Tov from Israel :-) i would like to drop my 2 cents to this discourse. I'm sorry for the lame English, i'm writing out of great frasturation. I'll followo Jonah's steps...

I was the onlyout LGBT student in Shechter. It was last year, when I atended Mishley, headed by Rabbi Tamar. At the end of the year I was expelled, I will collaborate more on that later. It wasn't homophobia, i think, but it surely was very disturbing behavior of Shechter's leadership.

1. I think Jonah is up to something. Raba Tamar did requested not to discuss the issue of her resignation. Even though i'll be the happiest person on earth to learn that this was indeed the reason, i still think we should respect her request.

2. The fact that Shechter didn't respond is just another layer in Shechter's dissability to lead something, let alone the most important institution is shoulb be.

3. As for Mishlei, last year. when my class enrolled, we were promised that this is a Masorati leadership progrem that will lead evantually to 2 extra years for Rabbinical ordination. About 50% of my class enreolled just for that. we want to be Masorati rabbis, and this was the way to do that. Sadly enough, at the end of the year everything changed. Mishlei now is nothing but a MA program for people that want to do it in the easy way, 2 days a week in Beit Midrash. It has nothing to do with Rabbinical aspirations or leadership, and my classmates who stayed are highly frasturated. The reason I was expelled together with two other students is that we don't have a BA yet (something that Shechter knew all the way and still enrolled us). I'm about to finish mine, but the other two are far from that and Shaechter knew it. It was perfectly fine for leadership-rabbinical program (dependong of coursr on us completing the academic demands), but it's not okay for MA program of Machon Shechter, so we're out. They told us that during summer vacation, without really letting us deal with it, discuss it, or ask our classmates how will they feel without a half of the class, three of its best students, all of them want to go on for ordination. As for now i'm working on my MA in the Talmud department in Bar Ilan University, studying torah from Rabbi Prof. Shama Friedman and Dr. Aaron Amit, i guess Bar Ilan now is more Conservative than shechter :-)

4. I'm glad to hear that. But please ask your Isreali classmates about THEIR experience as for now. You'll get a different picture. 

5. Gee, thanks Shechter for letting us use Ani Tfilati. Jonah just forgot to mention that students in shechter are not allowed to mention the Imahot in Amida, so in fact there's no reason to use Ani Tfilati, since the verses are orthodox. 

It's time for Shechter to ordain gays, but even before that, it's time for Shechter to be part of the Masorati movement in Israel, and to train its leadership. Without doing that, as it is now, it's time for the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel to initiate a real Conservative seminary in here, and let Golinkin's Shechter to be the modern-orthodox seminary it is. Without our students, and yes, without our money.

Shavua Tov U'Mvorah

Noa

---
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom  || Bay Area Masorti ||  ShefaNetwork 

Rabbis for Women of the Wall  ||  menachemcreditor.org 

To join Rabbi Creditor's email list, send a blank email to thetisch-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

from Noa Raz, regarding Machon Schechter: [Shefa] "We Have a Problem" - An Open Letter from Bay Area Masorti

Boker Tov and Shavua Tov from Israel :-) i would like to drop my 2 cents to this discourse. I'm sorry for the lame English, i'm writing out of great frasturation. I'll followo Jonah's steps...

I was the onlyout LGBT student in Shechter. It was last year, when I atended Mishley, headed by Rabbi Tamar. At the end of the year I was expelled, I will collaborate more on that later. It wasn't homophobia, i think, but it surely was very disturbing behavior of Shechter's leadership.

1. I think Jonah is up to something. Raba Tamar did requested not to discuss the issue of her resignation. Even though i'll be the happiest person on earth to learn that this was indeed the reason, i still think we should respect her request.

2. The fact that Shechter didn't respond is just another layer in Shechter's dissability to lead something, let alone the most important institution is shoulb be.

3. As for Mishlei, last year. when my class enrolled, we were promised that this is a Masorati leadership progrem that will lead evantually to 2 extra years for Rabbinical ordination. About 50% of my class enreolled just for that. we want to be Masorati rabbis, and this was the way to do that. Sadly enough, at the end of the year everything changed. Mishlei now is nothing but a MA program for people that want to do it in the easy way, 2 days a week in Beit Midrash. It has nothing to do with Rabbinical aspirations or leadership, and my classmates who stayed are highly frasturated. The reason I was expelled together with two other students is that we don't have a BA yet (something that Shechter knew all the way and still enrolled us). I'm about to finish mine, but the other two are far from that and Shaechter knew it. It was perfectly fine for leadership-rabbinical program (dependong of coursr on us completing the academic demands), but it's not okay for MA program of Machon Shechter, so we're out. They told us that during summer vacation, without really letting us deal with it, discuss it, or ask our classmates how will they feel without a half of the class, three of its best students, all of them want to go on for ordination. As for now i'm working on my MA in the Talmud department in Bar Ilan University, studying torah from Rabbi Prof. Shama Friedman and Dr. Aaron Amit, i guess Bar Ilan now is more Conservative than shechter :-)

4. I'm glad to hear that. But please ask your Isreali classmates about THEIR experience as for now. You'll get a different picture. 

5. Gee, thanks Shechter for letting us use Ani Tfilati. Jonah just forgot to mention that students in shechter are not allowed to mention the Imahot in Amida, so in fact there's no reason to use Ani Tfilati, since the verses are orthodox. 

It's time for Shechter to ordain gays, but even before that, it's time for Shechter to be part of the Masorati movement in Israel, and to train its leadership. Without doing that, as it is now, it's time for the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel to initiate a real Conservative seminary in here, and let Golinkin's Shechter to be the modern-orthodox seminary it is. Without our students, and yes, without our money.

Shavua Tov U'Mvorah

Noa

Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic

Messages in this topic (2)

Recent Activity:

• New Members 1

Visit Your Group

Visit our home page at http://shefanetwork.blogspot.com/

*****************************************

"Shefa: The Conservative Movement Dreaming from Within" is a forum for
passionate Conservative Jews to reflect together as they increase creative
energy within within the culture and environment of the Conservative
Movement in an effort to bring a renewed and revitalized perspective to
Conservative Jews.

We belong to the Conservative Movement and commit ourselves to working
towards its revitalization. Be a part of this community of visionary
thinkers and builders. To join the conversation, email
shefa-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Visit our home page at http://shefanetwork.blogspot.com/
*****************************************

MARKETPLACE

Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - Get the Yahoo! Toolbar now.

Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use

.

__._,_.___

Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic

Messages in this topic (3)

Recent Activity:

• New Members 1

Visit Your Group

Visit our home page at http://shefanetwork.blogspot.com/

*****************************************

"Shefa: The Conservative Movement Dreaming from Within" is a forum for
passionate Conservative Jews to reflect together as they increase creative
energy within within the culture and environment of the Conservative
Movement in an effort to bring a renewed and revitalized perspective to
Conservative Jews.

We belong to the Conservative Movement and commit ourselves to working
towards its revitalization. Be a part of this community of visionary
thinkers and builders. To join the conversation, email
shefa-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Visit our home page at http://shefanetwork.blogspot.com/
*****************************************

MARKETPLACE

Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - Get the Yahoo! Toolbar now.

Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use

.

__,_._,___

jpost: "Rabbi quits Machon Schechter over exclusion of gays"

Photo by: YouTube JPost.com: "Rabbi quits seminary over exclusion of gays" By GIL SHEFLER 09/12/2011 "Masorti seminary rejected gay applicants, wanted to expel gay students." http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=248788

A Masorti (Conservative) rabbi has quit the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem in acrimony over the exclusion of openly gay students from its rabbinical studies program, The Jerusalem Post learned on Thursday. Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum, former associate dean at the seminary, resigned this week because it allegedly reneged on a promise to ordain homosexual students, a source said. "She was promised two years ago when she entered the position that they will ordain LGBT students," the source said. "She learned this was not going to be the case two weeks ago and quit." Elad-Appelbaum did not answer her phone on Thursday but several sources verified the story. The Schechter Institute issued a response expressing regret over the rabbi's decision to leave, without elaborating on the circumstances of her departure. "The Schechter Rabbinical Seminary received Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum's resignation with great regret," said Rabbi Prof. Hanan Alexander, chairman of seminary's board of trustees. "Rabbi Elad-Appelbaum contributed enormously to the seminary during her tenure and we wish her every success in her future endeavors." The row between the seminary and the rabbi is part of a larger debate taking place within the Conservative Movement over its policy toward homosexuality. During the 1990s some of its rabbis embraced the gay community and welcomed its members into its ranks while others adhered to the traditional halachic ban against same-sex relations. In recent years two of its most important religious schools, the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles and the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, have opened their doors to LGBT students. But the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem under the presidency of Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin has refused to ordain openly gay students. Sources said Elad-Appelbaum decided to step down after Golinkin "rejected openly gay students who applied for admission next year and wanted to investigate the sexual identities of those already enrolled at the seminary." Amichai Lau-Lavie, an openly gay student at JTS and the scion of a renowned rabbinical family, sent an e-mail calling Elad-Appelbaum a "courageous and inspiring leader whose commitment to human dignity, tikkun olam and halachic progress is of international renown." Lau-Lavie said her departure presents a "painful reality check" but that he was optimistic it would eventually bring change to the Conservative Movement's policy toward gays in Israel and in general. The rabbinical student said he considered applying for admission to Schechter in 1997 but was advised against it "because of my sexual orientation." Other members of the movement on Thursday said the expected backlash over the resignation of Elad- Appelbaum – who they said was the third senior official to leave Schechter in as many years – may undermine Golinkin's position at the helm of the Masorti seminary in Jerusalem. "The news may hurt the institute's image and its appeal in the eyes of students, who may not want to go there, as well as donors," a source said on condition of anonymity. "Golinkin will either give in or have to leave." Golinkin on Thursday chose not to comment on Elad-Appelbaum's departure, saying "I have no response."

---
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom  || Bay Area Masorti ||  ShefaNetwork 

Rabbis for Women of the Wall  ||  menachemcreditor.org 

To join Rabbi Creditor's email list, send a blank email to thetisch-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Tradition Today: The stranger in your midst 12/02/2011 16:50 By REUVEN HAMMER

Tradition Today: The stranger in your midst
12/02/2011 16:50   By REUVEN HAMMER
Is it even legal to discriminate against any group in employment on the basis of race or religion?

Many organizations have been getting into the business of giving so-called "kashrut certificates" that deal not with the ritual aspects of kashrut but with ethical concerns. The Rabbinical Assembly in America now has a Magen Tzedek certificate it issues to indicate that the kosher food is produced in ways that meet the standards of business ethics of Judaism, so that the food is ethically pure as well as ritually pure. Other rabbinical associations have followed suit.

Here, there is a group that issues certificates to firms indicating that they follow ethical business practices. All of this only emphasizes that Judaism is more than a set of rituals, it is also an ethical way of living.

So I was shocked to see a recent newspaper report that there is a Jewish organization planning to give "kashrut certificates" to stores and companies that can prove that they do not employ "enemies of Israel," which the head of the group explained means Arabs.

Any business displaying such a sign would be one I would absolutely refuse to patronize. The most disturbing part of the report was that this certificate was being sought after by many places in the ultra-religious areas of Jerusalem. What evil spirit is getting into such groups that they would offer such a thing? And that anyone would want to display it? This is yet another discriminatory measure together with calls not to rent to Arabs and demands for loyalty oaths. I hope that common sense will prevail and that this "kashrut certificate" – which should more properly be called a certificate of shame – will disappear as if it had never existed.

Is it even legal to discriminate against any group in employment on the basis of race or religion? After all, Arab citizens are guaranteed freedom and equality by our Declaration of Independence. It states quite clearly, "The State of Israel will uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens, without distinction of race, creed or sex; will guarantee full freedom of conscience, worship, education and culture."

It would be well for us to remember both our history, in which for centuries Jews were denied employment in so many fields, and our tradition which forbids us to discriminate against non-Jews. For centuries in pre-emancipation times Jews suffered under restrictions that were placed on them in regard to ways that they could make a living.

They were prohibited from engaging in many trades and forced into such enterprises as money lending out of necessity. And in the Nazi era, among the first anti- Jewish laws that were passed in Germany and Italy were those forbidding the employment of Jews.

They were forced out of universities, out of schools, out of orchestras, and their stores and businesses were boycotted. Then there was the informal discrimination against Jews that existed even in England and the US, where it was difficult for Jews to be employed in banking and in certain law firms, as well as quota systems that kept Jews out of prestigious universities and medical schools. Do we now want to imitate that by encouraging businesses not to employ Arabs? That religious Jews should do that is particularly disturbing because the Torah goes out of its way to prohibit discrimination against and persecution of "the stranger."

The Torah takes it for granted that when Israel inhabits its own land there will be non-Israelites who will dwell there with them and makes provision to protect them.

The Torah is emphatic in emphasizing that these strangers must be treated well and fairly. In the very first of the Torah's legal codes it is stated: "You shall not wrong a stranger [ger] or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Exodus 22:20). This is repeated again even more explicitly in the very next chapter: "You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt" (Ex. 23:9).

The holiness code in Leviticus reiterates this and equates the stranger to the native, i.e. the Israelite: "When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I the Lord am your God" (Leviticus 19:33-34).

When the theme of the stranger is taken up by Deuteronomy it requires the judicial system to protect the rights of the stranger: "...decide justly between any man and a fellow Israelite or a stranger" (1:16). "For the Lord your God... upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing him with food and clothing. You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (10:17-19).


They were easy victims of economic exploitation, the deprivation of property, or denial of legal rights. Therefore the Torah provides for their protection and it is God who upholds their cause! Yes, we were "strangers" not only in Egypt, but in so many other places. We know and understand what that means and therefore should be ultra-sensitive to how we treat others. Israel has sufficient laws to protect us against traitors and enemies, internal as well as external. It does not need vigilante groups to work outside the law to keep us safe and untainted by the "strangers" in our midst.

The writer, former president of the International Rabbinical Assembly, was the founding director of the Schechter Rabbinical School. His latest book is Entering Torah.

------------------------------------

Visit our home page at http://www.shefanetwork.org

*****************************************

"Shefa: The Conservative Movement Dreaming from Within" is a forum for
passionate Conservative Jews to reflect together as they increase creative
energy within within the culture and environment of the Conservative
Movement in an effort to bring a renewed and revitalized perspective to
Conservative Jews.

We belong to the Conservative Movement and commit ourselves to working
towards its revitalization. Be a part of this community of visionary
thinkers and builders. To join the conversation, email
shefa-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Visit our home page at http://www.shefanetwork.org