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God’s role in the peace process
Religious leaders can forge the way towards mutual respect for ...
Religious leaders can forge the way towards mutual respect for "the other."This week, I had the pleasure of accompanying Timothy Dolan, cardinal-designate and current Archbishop of New York, during his unofficial pilgrim to the Holy Land. 50 priests belonging to the Archdiocese of New York also accompanied Dolan on the trip. Other than having the opportunity to become better acquainted with his priests, the retreat afforded Dolan some “R & R” (reflection and regeneration) ahead of his appointment in Rome to become Cardinal later in the month.I’ve had the privilege of meeting many leaders—and many religious ones at that—but never have any been as kind—or as fun—as Archbishop Dolan. Despite the private nature of his pilgrimage, the Archbishop, who is sympathetic towards journalists since both his niece and his brother are in the profession, was only too glad to have me stalk him from holy site to holy site, snapping photos and persistently asking questions. I asked many important things, such his view on the Jewish-Christian dialogue, and many inane things, such as the difference between a red “yarmulke” and a purple one in clerical hierarchy. The Archbishop took no offence to any question I posed—in fact, he laughed heartily at my ignorance of Catholic terminology (the “yarmulke” is actually called a Zuchetto), and suggested that I join him for breakfast so that he might answer my questions in more depth. (Incidentally, breakfast at Jerusalem’s Notre Dame Center consists of bacon and cheese, so I sufficed with the cups of coffee the Archbishop poured me.) The Archbishop—now a big fan of Maccabi beer (mostly due to its biblical name)—was enthused as he spoke of his joy at being in Israel - “the place where it all started.” And for my part, I learned a whole lot about Christianity – a religion I had hitherto believed I was fairly well-versed in. But here’s the point of this whole account: With every new thing that I learnt about the Archbishop’s world, my mind expanded just the teensiest bit and as a result, my prejudices, reservations and—I’ll admit it—my cynicism, also diminished a smidgen. It seems obvious to most civilized people: Ignorance is the mother of conflict and educating ourselves about “the other” is key to building healthy societies et cetera et cetera. But if it’s so obvious, then why is it not a primary focus—if not the primary focus—of our leaders, both spiritual and political? Allow me to return to the Archbishop’s pilgrim for a moment: Last Monday the entourage visited Bethlehem, and after a visit to the Church of Nativity they took a tour of Bethlehem University – a Catholic institution that relies heavily on funds from the Church. 6 students, about half of whom were Muslims and the other half Christian, were selected to represent the university. The student body of Bethlehem university is about 70% Muslim and 30% Christian (I believe I was the only Jew on campus that day). In their address to us and in the Q & A session that followed, they delivered what I’ll term diplomatically as “their version of events” with poise and eloquence. After a handful of yawnsome queries, one priest finally posed the question that everyone else in the auditorium was thinking but didn’t have the nerve to ask: What do you feel towards Israelis? One student answered thus: “Hate is not the word but definitely not love. Dislike, perhaps. ” However, another student was quick to add that as Palestinians they have very limited interaction with Israelis. “They can’t come here and we can’t go there. We even need permission to go to the beach. So we don’t see them or talk to them.” Then another girl, the only one in the group to be wearing a hijab, piped up, “I see Israelis everyday at the border. I live in Jerusalem and it takes me 2-3 hours each way to get to school. They are rude and they humiliate us and they make us open our bags and show them all our personal belongings. I do not like them.” I believe her. Israelis can be very rude—especially border police soldiers—and I for one hate having my bag checked. But that’s not the point. And before you think it, neither is “well-who’s-fault-is-that?” the point. In this conflict, the only person who can ever answer the question of “who suffers more” is someone with the dual identity of being both a Palestinian who has grown up as part of a minority dominated by an occupying majority and a Jew who has escaped persecution, exile and war to return to his national homeland. I’ll let you know if I ever encounter such a person. In the meantime, all I can say with any qualification is that on both sides, the hapless victim always seems to be the moderate class. I posed the following question to everyone on the panel, but it was directed mainly at Sana Abu Judeh - the girl from Jerusalem: Do you think it’s possible to build bridges between Israelis and Palestinians on the basis of religion - to seek out common ground from a God-centric angle? Sana answered that she does not think of religion - or even Jews - when she thinks about Israelis. To her, the issue of religion is almost moot: “They believe that they have a claim to Haram ash-Sharif [the Temple Mount], and we don’t.” Fair enough. But she didn’t really answer my question. After the panel discussion, we went for lunch in the university’s on-campus hotel where we were joined by the Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury - who also happens to be on a visit to Israel. As luck would have it, I was seated next to Sana. You can imagine her surprise when she asked which country I’m from and I responded that I’m a fellow Jerusalemite. Chatting to Sana was a bittersweet experience. She is humble, soft-spoken and has an aura of warmth about her; I immediately took a liking to her. Yet at the same time, it was painfully obvious that she, like so many others on both sides of this conflict, was plagued by wrongful assumptions about the other. I told her that back in my student days at Hebrew University I had made many Muslim friends – many of whom had altered my own preconceived notions about Islam. One in particular, who has remained a good friend ever since, had disclosed to me that despite being born and bred in Jerusalem, prior to meeting me she had never actually gotten to know a Jew. All she knew about her neighbors in this land was the negative image drawn for her by her community. As Sana and I spoke, I think I saw her experience a little of same phenomenon that had occurred to me during my conversations with the Archbishop. The picture she had had in her head about who or what I was became ever-so-slightly blurred around the edges. After lunch she walked me back to the university’s parking lot, and just before I got into my car to leave Bethlehem we embraced for a short moment. A short moment that was pregnant with promise. According to Menahem Froman, the rabbi of Tekoa, (a religious/secular settlement in the Gush Etzion bloc) one of his jobs as a religious leader is to try and connect with Muslim leaders on the one thing they have in common: Belief in God. While I’m not sure I condone all of Rabbi Froman’s practices (meeting with Hamas leaders being one of them), I certainly support his notion that Israel’s current diplomatic policies are clearly not working. He believes that a government that is secularly-oriented can never hope to achieve peace, simply because they’ll never truly understand the religious sensibilities of our neighbors. Regardless of whether or not his attitude is correct, what is certain is that there is no chance of reconciliation unless we surrender our existing platitudes and actually get to know each other a little better – simply as fellow human beings to begin with. We need more spiritual leaders like Archbishop Dolan and Rabbi Froman to help us communicate effectively. Inspirational people who are open-minded enough to imagine a world—and indeed, a Holy Land—that can accommodate different points of view and that can not only tolerate the existence of the other, but can also accept, understand, and perhaps above all, trust the other. Yet how can we understand the other if we can’t understand our own? The haredi-secular divide, which only seems to be deepening, causes me to despair at the prospect of ever making amends with our Muslim or Christian brothers. But of course, that’s a topic for another column.Click here to play
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The US’s erroneous assumptions about the Middle East
Time to unravel some key tenets in US foreign policy ...
Time to unravel some key tenets in US foreign policy and expose them as falsehoods.When it comes to the Middle East, the US administration has been conducting policy based on erroneous assumptions. Proper conjectures are key to successful outcomes, yet frustration and missteps have been the factors topping the list of US foreign policy roster in the Middle East.Below is a list of 6 key assumptions guiding US policies and the administration’s thought process. All of them are wrong and require an urgent reality check. So let’s get started.Assumption: Economic sanctions will convince the Iranian government to end their quest for nuclear weapons.Reality: The Iranian government believes that economic sanctions will hurt, but not as much as caving in to American demands. In a culture where false honor precedes anything that moves under the sun, where life without “honor” is far worse than death, where honor killing is a religious diktat, caving in to economic sanctions is equivalent to an unconditional surrender. And surrendering to the “Great Satan” merely because life is a little tough is inexcusable, dishonorable behavior; it is treason that merits the death sentence. Assumption: If the only option left to stop Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons is military action, the US will be forced to bomb the Islamic Republic’s nuclear project sites.Reality: Restricting a military option to bombing the nuclear project sites will leave Iran free to retaliate and generate havoc in the world economy and to Iran’s neighbors, including Israel. The proper way of handling Iran’s nuclear aspirations is to go after their military, disable their navy, air force and rockets, and only then target the regime and try to facilitate an internal uprising by the Iranian people. The nuclear project can be taken care of once the other objectives have been accomplished.Assumption: The Arab Spring promotes democracy.Reality: Islam and democracy are like oil and water - they simply do not mix. Islamists elected to power through democratic means respect the rules of democracy - just until the moment they feel powerful enough to inject their religious rulings and Sharia law into the courts and into the daily life of their citizens. Militant Islam may be delayed a little bit longer, but never for the long-term. True democracy will continue to slowly be eroded until full-fledged, Iranian-style dictatorial autocracy replaces democracy throughout the region. Still, autocratic rulers will continue to refer to their respective regimes as democratic. Assumption: The Iraqi war was not a total waste. Iraq is the first democracy in the Middle East. It serves as a model for the rest of the Arab countries. It may even have been the inspiration behind the Arab Spring.Reality: Americans make the mistake of assuming that once a country conducts free elections it automatically becomes a democracy. This is an incredibly naïve attitude. Although free elections constitute one of the most rudimentary conditions for a democracy’s emergence, it is merely one prerequisite of many. True democracy requires a storehouse of democratic institutions: a civil legal system rather than a religious one, civil rights that include the rights of minorities, free press and the freedom of speech, separation of powers including a system of checks and balances that ensure that no single entity may assume absolute powers. But most of all, true democracy requires a country’s citizens to accept, participate and cooperate in the system, so that new-found freedom does not evolve into anarchy.The Iraqi democracy is far from functional. Apart from free elections, its democratic institutions are severely lacking; its legal system is faulty; there is no true separation of powers; a sizable portion of the Iraqi people does not accept the system and minority rights are questionable at best.Assumption: Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians will bring about peace.Reality: There are clear red lines that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians will ever accept. Israel will never be able to accept a Palestinian right of return because it is aware that once Palestinians are given the freedom to flock to Israel in their millions, the demise of the Jewish State will not be far behind. And for their part, the Palestinians are unwilling to accept any deal that does not include their right of return.Israel wants to live in peace within secure borders and under the assurance that the Palestinians will not transform the West Bank into a terror base once a peace deal has been signed between the two peoples. The Palestinians seek an independent state, including the resources to build a strong military with imported arms, sans Israeli supervision.There is, of course, the small issue of trust: Israel does not trust the Palestinians since the Palestinians offer daily evidence of their true intentions: demonizing Israelis, defining the conflict as a religious war, educating their young to hate Jews and employing Nazi style anti-Semitism, glorifying terror and child-killer terrorists, refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish State, rewriting history and denying Jewish rights to their ancestral homeland, and keeping an ongoing claim to the territory known as Israel proper.The Palestinians do not intend to give up any of their demands, attitudes and demeanors. The Palestinian public has been brainwashed with hate and demonization of Jews for too long. It is now impossible for Palestinian leaders to talk this Palestinian generation into embracing peace with “subhuman” Jews.Assumption: The only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a two-state arrangement, with both peoples living peacefully side by side.Reality: Whenever people talk about a two-state solution, they ignore the fact that the Palestinian territories are divided between a Hamas-controlled Gaza and a Fatah-controlled West Bank. If one counts Israel as one of the states in the solution (as is the protocol), then there is a minimum total of three states and not two. The third state, Hamas-controlled Gaza, has the in-built goal of destroying the Jewish State. It’s also the main rationale justifying Hamas’ existence. It cannot be removed from the charter unless Hamas itself is removed from the political scene. The Palestinian Authority considers Gaza an integral part of a Palestinian state. A two-state solution between Israel and the PA that excludes Gaza is not acceptable to Palestinians in the West Bank. Consequently, present conditions being what they are, a two-state solution—like the rest of the assumptions on this list—is simply infeasible.The writer is currently a talk show host at Paltalk News Network (PNN). He served as an intelligence expert for the Israeli government and was a professor at Northwestern University. He is the author of Fundamentals of Voice Quality Engineering in Wireless Networks, and more recently, 72 Virgins. For more information, please visit www.aviperry.org.Click here to play
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For the love of steak
A return visit to Porterhouse proved what we already knew ...
A return visit to Porterhouse proved what we already knew – that it still serves the best New York-style steaks in the country.Porterhouse is celebrating its fifth anniversary, so it was a good excuse for us to ask Granny to babysit, while we drove there again and see what was new on chef Yossi Ashraf’s grill. The special anniversary menu offers a dinner for two, which includes a main dish for two and two wine glasses for NIS 280. This dinner is served Sunday to Wednesday from 6 p.m.We got there in the afternoon and were very hungry, since we skipped lunch. A plate with garlic confit (cloves baked in oil), liver spread and olives was served with freshly baked bread before we ordered. We had to remind ourselves not to get too full.At most steak restaurants, one is plied with an array of salads and appetizers before getting to the main attraction, and it’s no different here. For chef and owner Ashraf, this doesn’t seem to be a problem.He trained at the Cordon Bleu, was a private chef in Paris and later worked in a few of Tel Aviv’s best restaurants that specialize in French cooking before settling down with his current carnivorous passion.For the anniversary, he has created a few new good starters, from which we chose the baked asparagus with herbs and an egg and a salad. There is also a new dish of foie gras with Amarone cherries and balsamic vinegar, but we had vowed never to eat goose liver again, so we passed on that Most steak houses in Israel serve veal. There are many reasons for that, but the taste is notably different. If what you’re longing for is the taste you may remember from the best steak houses in New York, such as Peter Luger or Palms, this is as close to it as you will get in Israel.Despite the fact that Ashraf knows everything you might (or might not) want to know about meat raising, purchasing and preparing, there are no notations on the menu denoting what the cow was fed. But the enthusiastic waiters will insist that you understand exactly what cut you are ordering and what is the best way to prepare it.The restaurant’s one gimmick is the profusion of American-style cuts on the menu, and it actually sort of works. But the new meat dishes draw inspiration from other cuisines, says the chef. For instance, there is the 12th rib with blue cheese, thyme and panko crumbs, and the Onglet steak – a butcher’s cut cooked in the French style with red wine sauce. But we just had to have the one dish we had been craving for weeks – the signature beef Tbone Porterhouse steak for two, which was as good as we remembered. There are other main dishes served for two – such as the rib eye and prime rib – all made to perfection. The meat was deliciously charred and rich with fatty flavor. As we chewed our meal, even my lovely, gentle. animal-loving wife had to admit it is delicious.The dessert menu is not huge, but those with a sweet tooth will find what they’re looking for. And again, the portions are very generous.For Valentine’s Day, Porterhouse offers a special Lovers Meal, which includes an appetizer, two starters and a dish for two or two single main dishes, a dessert for two, a glass of pink bubbly or red wine per person and a hot drink for NIS 399 for two. The special dishes include stuffed zucchini flowers, soup, tuna carpaccio and more. Among the main dishes are a Porterhouse for two shaped as a heart and the other meat favorites. The dessert menu includes chocolate cream, fresh strawberries with ice cream and a few other chocolate dishes. The Valentine menu will be served only on February 14 from 6:30 p.m.The writer was a guest of the restaurant.Porterhouse Not kosher 8 Derech Bnei Dror Industrial Park, Tel Mond (09) 796-9666Click here to play
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‘Bill’ is back
In Sharon Eyal’s evening-length piece, performed by the Batsheva Dance ...
In Sharon Eyal’s evening-length piece, performed by the Batsheva Dance Company, the dancers show their true colors.The last thing you want to do when you go to the theater is think about everything other than what is transpiring on stage. Too often, however, the audience sitting in their cushy seats are not participating in the event, only tolerating it. What a crowd wants and what the performing artists aspire to is a unified front, a group journey that includes both active and passive members.Having recently celebrated another tour de force premiere, choreographer Sharon Eyal can rest assured that her pieces produce that kind of atmosphere. House, which shared an evening with The Toxic Exotic Disappearing Act by Yasmeen Godder, wowed audiences with its enigmatic appeal. Next week, just moments after unveiling her new masterpiece, the Batsheva Dance Company will present a run of Eyal’s evening-length work Bill at the Suzanne Dellal Center.There is a clear through-line between these two pieces. For one, Eyal’s razorsharp aesthetic is in place in both pieces. Over the past several years, with the rise of her popularity as house choreographer for Batsheva and freelance dance maker, Eyal has honed her tastes in a way few of her contemporaries have. Her pieces are distinguishably hers from the moment the curtain rises.A sort of purist, Eyal’s costume choices always accentuate the body. Be it the clean white trunks and T-shirts of Marakova Kabisa or the evocative threads of Bertolina, Eyal provides a clear picture of her dancers’ bodies. In both Bill and House, Eyal opted to go simple. Her dancers wear tan body suits, creating a sense of nudity on the scene.Though in House, upon close inspection, each dancer’s attire was outfitted with certain accessories; the overall visual was that of sameness.In Bill, she took this concept to the extreme.Beyond their identical costumes, the dancers also wear ice blue contact lenses. Their hair is slicked back and matted in tan paint, evoking a Harrison Bergeron (Kurt Vonnegut) vision of group unity. And though all their physical differences are blurred by their uniformity, each dancer’s nature emerges through the nuances of their movement. In this way, Eyal explains, her performers can show their true selves. By uniting them visually, she engineers both the sense of commonality and the individual rebelling against it.Also connecting all Eyal’s pieces is the boom, boom boom soundtrack. In all her works, from start to finish, the high-volume music plays in an ongoing rhythm. Eyal’s longtime collaborator Ori Lichtik’s dizzying blends of electro beats and soothing melodies make for trance-inducing experiences.Lichtik’s score also links one section to the next seamlessly.For Bill, which premiered in 2010, Eyal uses all 21 dancers of the Batsheva Company. At times, the audience is offered an intimate glimpse of one or two dancers. Seconds later, the group overtakes the stage in undulating flight patterns. Lighting by Avi Yona Bueno accentuates these dynamic changes perfectly.Eyal was also certain to include more than a pinch of humor in Bill. The dancers scream, laugh and smile at their spectators. Combined with the ultra-blue lighting, these moments are as spooky as they are humorous. The atmosphere is at once light and tense, sexual and pedestrian and thoroughly unusual.The glue holding all these stylized elements together is the deft movement language created by Eyal. Having danced for the company for many years, she is familiar with the strengths of her troupe and is nearly unmatched (perhaps only by artistic director Ohad Naharin) in her ability to show off what her dancers are capable of.With its genuinely innovative look and feel, Bill is a not-to-be-missed dance experience.Bill will run at the Suzanne Dellal Center on February 8, 9, 10 and 11. For tickets, visit www.batsheva.co.il or call (03) 517-1471.Click here to play
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Pouring his soul out
Renowned violinist Julian Rachlin performs Brahms with the IPO in ...
Renowned violinist Julian Rachlin performs Brahms with the IPO in Tel Aviv and Haifa.‘That was the highlight of my festival,” says violinist Julian Rachlin with a somewhat mischievous smile as he takes a rest in the lobby of Tel Aviv’s Hilton Hotel. Here (again) to perform the Brahms violin concerto with the Israel Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda, Rachlin is referring to his Julian Rachlin and Friends annual festival in Dubrovnik, particularly The Music Critic show.“The idea belongs to my friend violinist Aleksey Igudesman, but I have contributed to it, too. John Malkovich, with his ‘evil incarnate’ looks, read the most scathing reviews written about what later turned out to be great music, and then excerpts of it were performed.Luckily, at the last minute we found a terrible review about Malkovich himself in a Turkish newspaper, and Igudesman composed an Oriental style piece of music, and that was a hit!” Getting serious, he adds: “But it was not about making fun of critics but rather to show that we all are able to serve music in our own way.And if we do it well, we may be remembered.”Rachlin admits that although inside he feels the same as in his youth, he is not a boy anymore.“Look, I’m 37 with 24 years on the professional concert stage behind me, and this is a great age. Because when you’re young, you’re nothing’ You have to work hard to prove that you’re worth something. And now you don’t need to prove anything.You can just perform a Brahms or Beethoven concerto in the evening, exercise a bit to keep yourself in good shape, and enjoy your life the rest of the time. But that is not for me!” he laughs.“I conduct orchestras – but not too many. I think I should limit myself so I don’t lose the quality of the music making, adding only two new pieces every year to my repertoire. And I collaborate with composers, such as Israeli Avner Dorman or American Lera Auerbach. I am so happy and proud that composers always send me their music, and Penderecky has dedicated his new double concerto to me, which I am about to premiere in Vienna. I make it a point to commission music to composers, and I have found financial support for these projects. So I hope that under these conditions, there is a good chance that great concerti and chamber pieces can be born.Cooperation with composers is very engaging, but we need to suit one another; the music has to be the kind that allows me to pour my soul out.For me, the pyramid is quite obvious, with the composer at the top. But composers often say, ‘No, our music is dead without you. We would love you to share your ideas and suggestions with us,’” he says.“Above all, there is a lot of meticulous work behind the preparation of new pieces before you start breathing the composer’s language and style. But again, when you return to the traditional repertoire after performing contemporary music, you reveal new aspects of it.”He sums up: “This is all a question of philosophy – how much of your life you are prepared to dedicate to music. Look, should I brag that I played with the Cleveland Symphony for the first time? This is a fantastic orchestra, but for me what really matters are the new things that I do.”Rachlin stresses that he dedicates part of his time trying “to give a chance for a better life to the kids throughout the planet who, unlike us, were not born on the sunny side of the world,” as he defines his position as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador – an occupation that really suits this attentive, warmhearted man.Then the conversation returns to the essence of his life, which is music.So what maturity is about for Rachlin? “Many things. When somebody tells me that I am a wonderful violinist, this compliment, considering my age, does not make any sense for me.What is important is to become a better musician, which includes many things and not especially what particular instrument I am playing because as a child I wanted to play the cello. It is about serving the music in the best possible way, about a better understanding of music, about passing your accumulated knowledge on to the younger generation (I often take my students on tour with me to show them the real life of a soloist) and my voluntary work. With so many interests in your life, you have to constantly redefine your limitations to not make yourself ridiculous!” Julian Rachlin performs the Brahms concerto with the IPO under Gianandrea Noseda on February 3 and 4 in Tel Aviv and February 5 in Haifa. He will return for an extensive chamber music program at The Buchmann Mehta School of Music in March.Click here to play
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Ascetic Hassidism
Hassidic masters were not cut of one cloth; some masters ...
Hassidic masters were not cut of one cloth; some masters adopted ascetic practices.The Hassidism of Rabbi Yisrael Ba’al Shem Tov (known as the Besht) and his disciples is rightly associated with a rejection of an ascetic lifestyle as the primary spiritual avenue. Nevertheless, hassidic masters were not cut of one cloth and, over the 250 years of Hassidism’s history, some masters adopted ascetic practices. It would therefore be inaccurate to ignore this fact when describing Hassidism.One such master was Rabbi Meir Yehiel Halevi Halstock of Ostrowiec (1852-1928). Meir Yehiel was brought up in hassidic home and from an early age he visited the hassidic masters of Congress Poland.When he was 10 years old, Rabbi Elimelech Shapira (1824-1892), hassidic master in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, saw the potential in Meir Yehiel and suggested that he stay in Grodzisk for his education. Meir Yehiel’s care was entrusted to one of the most learned hassidim, Rabbi Berel the illuy (genius), with the express instruction: “Make the boy into a great and famous scholar.”When he was 17, Meir Yehiel married and moved to his in-laws’ home in Warka. There he became renowned as the Warka Illuy. For 10 years he remained in Warka, plumbing the depths of the revealed and hidden traditions, until he was appointed the rabbi of Skierniewice at the age of 28.Nine years later he moved to the rabbinate of the larger town Ostrowiec, where he served for 39 years until his death.But it was only when his teacher, Rabbi Elimelech of Grodzisk, died in 1892 that Rabbi Meir Yehiel began to serve as a hassidic master in addition to fulfilling his rabbinic duties. Despite famously serving in both roles, Rabbi Yehiel Meir barely left a written legacy in either sphere. He was often asked to write approbations for other people’s books, and in these letters he seized the opportunity to share detailed talmudic insights.Two of Rabbi Meir Yehiel’s students each independently attempted to collect their teacher’s words. The first effort, Torah Or (Piotrkow, 1920), covered Rabbi Meir Yehiel’s Torah insights on the Book of Genesis.Reportedly, Rabbi Meir Yehiel – who was still alive when the book was published – reproached his student, though it is unclear what upset him.At any rate, no further volumes appeared.After the Destruction of European Jewry, one of Rabbi Meir Yehiel’s students collated hassidic, talmudic and halachic material and published it in two thick volumes entitled Meir Einei Hachamim (New York, 1950).Hassidic lore remembers Rabbi Meir Yehiel for his ascetic practices. He spent much time in prayer. Hassidim would say that he left a puddle of tears wherever he prayed. Though he loved music, he chose not to listen to it so as to deny himself the joy it brought with it. On weekdays he did not change his clothes. Fasting was part of his daily regimen, and he would eat only a small amount each evening. His frequent fasting weakened his body and he was often found wrapped in a blanket, trying to stay warm. Rabbi Meir Yehiel would also avoid speaking, dedicating entire days as a ta’anit dibbur, a fast from talking.Rabbi Meir Yehiel was once visited by the Gerrer Rebbe, Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter (Imrei Emet, 1866-1948). As was the custom, fruit and beverages were brought for the guest. When the refreshments were served, the Imrei Emet did not touch the food. Rabbi Meir Yehiel was surprised. “Why won't you taste anything?” he inquired.The Imrei Emet explained that everything really belongs to the Almighty: The Earth and all that is in it belongs to God (Psalms 24:1).Only after making a blessing and acknowledging God’s dominion are we permitted to partake of the food: The heavens are the heavens of God, but the land He gave to humans (Psalms 115:16). Thus,” explained the Imrei Emet, “you are offering me food that is not yours, for you are yet to taste it! Only after you recite the blessing do the rights to the food transfer to you and then you can honor me as your guest.”Without hesitating, Rabbi Meir Yehiel picked up a fruit, made a blessing and ate. This was no trifle, for Rabbi Meir Yehiel had been fasting, as was his wont. Once Rabbi Meir Yehiel had recited the blessing and tasted the fruit, the Imrei Emet also ate from the food that had been placed before them.Thus, a hassidic master known for extreme ascetic practices was able to strike some form of balance, tempering his own preference for abstinence for the sake of making a younger colleague feel comfortable.The writer is on the faculty of Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and is a rabbi in Tzur Hadassah.Click here to play
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My home: Mielec, Poland
The survivors of Mielec are few and far between, but ...
The survivors of Mielec are few and far between, but one has very vivid memories of the place she called home.Lately the small Polish community of Mielec has received attention in the press and the publishing world. The survivors of this community today are few and far between, but one, living in Jerusalem, has very vivid memories of the place she called home.The Geminder family had an established presence in this shtetl in the 19th century. Great-grandmother Blime’s son, Haim, had a horse and wagon with which he traveled to the neighboring villages, collecting and filling orders from the peasants. This proved to be profitable, for eventually he amassed enough money to build a two-story stone house.His wife, Mindel, ran a thriving general store located on the first floor while the family lived in an apartment on the second floor.Haim and Mindel had three children, Feige, Sheindl and Yedidya; Feige ran the store with her mother. With the approach of World War I, Mindel was anxious to keep her only son from being drafted, and so sent him to Holland. While there, Yedidya agreed to a match with Helene, one of eight orphaned sisters whose family fled to Germany from Russia.The couple settled in Halle (Germany) and had two girls, Lore and Irene.However, their ties to Mielec had not been severed. Once or twice each year they went “home” and visited the Mielec relatives.In 1938, the family was deported to Poland, returning home to Mielec.What was there to be found in this shtetl? Mielec was by no means cut off from the outside world because it was on a train route to and from Cracow. As a result, newspapers, in particular Yiddish newspapers, were available. The “periodical library” was the beit midrash, where the men vied to read the latest news. There was also a very gifted amateur theater in the community along with a flourishing Yiddish culture and activities of Zionist organizations.A week after the war began (September 1, 1939), on the eve of Rosh Hashana, the Germans arrived. They burned down the mikve (ritual bath) and the butcher’s premises, both filled with Jews, and promptly left. The Geminders heard the screams and shooting from their home. In the morning after the pogrom, they saw the burial society carrying the murdered victims to be buried in a mass grave.The Gestapo arrived a few months later, rounding up men for labor camps. This community of 4,000 to 5,000 Jews doubled in size as refugees from Cracow and elsewhere arrived. By this time, Jewish schools were outlawed although clandestine home classes were held by a student expelled from the university in Cracow.Aunt Feige’s husband, Reuven, was a member of the Judenrat; he was convinced that deportation could be prevented by bribery. Helene had a typewriter (and knew German) which enabled her to earn money preparing petitions for travel permits. As soon as her typewriter was confiscated, she correctly predicted the deportations on the following day.On March 9, 1942, the Jews were driven out of their homes and rounded up in the marketplace; the old and feeble were shot on the equivalent of a death march. The survivors waited in a hangar in the aircraft factory without food or water and were herded into cattle cars a few days later.Some were then marched to Sosnowice, waiting for the Sobibor death camp to be ready. Meanwhile, Helene contacted a Polish woman who ferried the family to Feige and Reuven, who were in Radomisl Wielki. All of them were deported again in the summer, and marched to Debica until the final deportation and the establishment of a labor camp.This family successfully hid behind a false wall in an attic; when they emerged, Helene discovered that because of her typing skills, her name appeared on a special list. She would become one of Oskar Schindler’s typists, managing to get Lore’s name onto “the” list as well.Irene fled, digging a hole under a fence, returning to Mielec. No one there would hide her, but she miraculously located a Polish family that, after fleeing the Germans, had been their neighbors in Mielec (but had since moved). These temporary residents of her home town saved Irene by hiding her on top of their chicken coop until the end of the war.Hence her story can be told. (See Irene Eber, The Choice: Poland 1939- 1945. Schocken, 2004) The writer is a professor of Jewish history and dean at the Schechter Institute as well as academic editor of the journal Nashim. She has published books and articles on Sephardi and Oriental Jewry and on Jewish women.Click here to play
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Songs and voices
‘Miriam led [the women] in song, “Sing to God for ...
‘Miriam led [the women] in song, “Sing to God for He is exalted above the arrogant horse and rider He cast into the sea”’ (Exodus 15:21)The splitting of the Red (Reed) Sea was the remarkable miracle that climaxed the Ten Plagues and indisputably confirmed the Hebrews as free people. The Egyptians had chased them into the desert, hoping to force their former slaves to return; Moses extended his hand over the sea, God drove back the waters with a powerful easterly wind and the Israelites entered the sea bed on dry land.The Egyptians pursued the Hebrews, Moses extended his hand a second time, and the waters returned with a vengeance, completely overwhelming the Egyptian cavalry and chariots. Now, the Israelites found themselves in the midst of the sea on dry land, with all of the drowned Egyptians dead on the seashore.“Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to God, expressing, ‘I will sing to God for His great victory, horse and rider He cast into the sea...’” (Exodus 15:19). With the conclusion of this male paean of praise to the Almighty for His wonders, the Bible records the activity of the women at the scene: “Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a drum in her hand and all the women followed with drums and with dancing. And Miriam led them in song, ‘Sing to God for His great victory, horse and rider He cast into the sea.’” (ibid. 20, 21).Apparently, Moses and Miriam sang the same lengthy song, although the Bible only repeats the first verse in its description of the women’s celebration. The great Hellenistic philosopher Philo Judaeus (20 BCE- 50 CE) suggests that the men and women sang together. Rashi (ad loc.), citing the Mechilta, interprets that “Moses sang the song to the men, he sang the song and they responded after him, and Miriam sang the song to the women (and they responded after her, as it is written ‘Sing’ [Shiru]).” The Malbim (Rabbi Meir Leibush Weiser, 1809-1879) adds that “the women claimed that all of this (the redemption from Egypt) occurred in their merit (Miriam and Princess Batya saved Moses, Shiphrah and Puah defied Pharaoh).Therefore they insisted on singing separately, since they had (such) a (large) share in the miracles” (ad loc.). And Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch has them singing in tandem, with the men initiating the song and women responding by repeating it. He emphasizes that the women’s singing was of equal importance to the men’s.What is most remarkable about the description of this biblical scene and its various commentaries is that no one seems concerned about “Kol Isha,” the prohibition against hearing a woman sing since “a woman’s voice is a sexual stimulus” (B.T.Brachot 24a). Indeed, the Israeli news has recently been filled with debates about religious soldiers who walked out of a military ceremony when a group of women began to sing. One head of a hesder yeshiva (under whose auspices soldiers combine studies with military service) declared that one is forbidden from hearing a woman sing even under pain of death, although he later admitted that he had been exaggerating to make his point.When we study the actual sources of Kol Isha and the commentaries of rabbinic decisors, the incident at the Reed Sea appears much more normative than the attitude of the yeshiva head. Most importantly, the Talmudic passage stating that “a woman’s voice is a sexual stimulus” is written in the context of retaining concentration when reciting the Shema prayer.Rav Hai Gaon (cited in the Otzar Hagaonim, Interpretations to Brachot 24 and in the Mordechai to Brachot siman 80), Rabbenu Hannanel (Brachot ibid.) and the Raviyah (Rabbi Eliezer ben Yoel Halevi) all limit the prohibition of a man hearing a woman sing to someone who is reciting the Shema.Rav Yosef Karo’s Code of Jewish Law (Shulhan Aruch Orah Haim 75:3) rules that “There is reason to be careful lest one hear the voice of a woman vocalist when one is reciting the Shema.” Rabbi Moshe Isserlis (Krakow, 1520-1572) adds “Even if the vocalist is one’s wife, but a voice to which one is accustomed is not considered to be a sexual stimulus.”To be sure, the Hatam Sofer forbids hearing a woman sing, or even speak, regardless of any connection to the recitation of the Shema and there are certainly latter-day decisors who rule likewise. I do not know of any posek who would permit listening to women who are singing sexually suggestive songs; I would even forbid listening to a man singing such songs (Kol Ish). But more contemporary rulings are those of Rabbi Yehiel Weinberg (Montreux, 1884- 1966) in his Sridei Aish (Part 2 Siman 8) who permits young men and women singing together in the context of a religious youth group, the Sdei Hemed (Rav Hizkiyahu Medini, 1833-1905) who permits men to listen to a woman singing songs of sanctity even if she is a soloist, and Rabbi Shmuel Ehrenfeld, the son-in-law of the Hatam Sofer, known as the Hatan Sofer, who rules that several voices together in a kind of choir situation is always permitted, since “two voices singing together makes each individual voice unrecognizable and indistinguishable.”Hence the women singing at the sea was perfectly permissible as it was a song of sanctity sung by many voices at the same time.The writer is the founder and chancellor of Ohr Torah Stone Colleges and Graduate Programs and chief rabbi of Efrat.Click here to play
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'No. 1 killer of women is preventable'
While many women think cancer is main cause of death, ...
While many women think cancer is main cause of death, experts say more women die of heart disease than all forms of cancer.If you ask women to name the number one cause of death, most will say cancer. But University of Alabama at Birmingham experts say more women die from heart disease than all forms of cancer combined, and many of these deaths are preventable.“One of every three women will die of heart disease,” says Donna Arnett, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Epidemiology in the UAB School of Public Health. Arnett, who is president-elect of the American Heart Association, says one in eight women get breast cancer and as many as 94 percent survive, yet women are more afraid of cancer than heart disease.“I think with all the media coverage of breast cancer, women are unaware that heart disease actually kills more women, young and old,” Arnett says.“For some reason women still don’t perceive themselves to be at risk for heart disease,” says Vera Bittner, M.D., professor of medicine in UAB’s Division of Cardiovascular Disease and section head of Preventive Cardiology.“Women see it as a men’s disease, and they are more likely to interpret chest discomfort as coming from indigestion instead of a heart attack,” says Bittner.Symptoms of a heart attack in woman also may differ from those in men. “Many women may not have the classic chest pain or jaw discomfort. Women may often have more nausea and vomiting or back pain than men,” Arnett says.To combat the onset of the disease, Arnett points to the Life’s Simple 7 plan, which focuses on managing blood pressure, reducing blood sugar, quitting smoking, losing weight, getting active, controlling cholesterol and eating better.“Women need to take as much care of themselves as they do for their families. You cannot put yourself last, but women tend to do that,” Arnett says.But during American Heart Month, Arnett and Bittner want to draw attention to the good news about this disease — it’s preventable.“A lot of people think if they are genetically predisposed, that is a fate they cannot alter, and that is not true,” Bittner says. “The patient has a lot of control.”The heart-healthy focus needs to start as young as childhood, Bittner says. Any risk factors you have as a kid can become exaggerated as an adult, she says.“We like to do primordial prevention, which is prevention of risk factors themselves. In the younger age groups the focus needs to be on lifestyle — getting regular exercise, having a heart healthy diet, maintaining normal weight and staying away from smoking,” Bittner says.“If you make it to age 50 with normal cholesterol levels, are non-diabetic, not hypertensive or overweight, have a healthy diet, get physical activity and have never smoked, then your chances of developing heart disease are close to zero,” Arnett says.But if you don’t get to that magic number without some bumps in the road, both doctors advise you not to despair — it’s almost never too late to start focusing on heart health.This article was first published at www.newswise.comClick here to play
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Omega-3 acids tied to lower heart problem risk
Study finds that adults with high blood levels of omega-3 ...
Study finds that adults with high blood levels of omega-3 less likely to develop irregular heartbeat.Older adults who had the highest blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids, most commonly found in fish, were 30 percent less likely to later develop an irregular heartbeat than peers with the lowest blood levels of omega-3s, according to a US study.Up to nine percent of US residents will develop atrial fibrillation by the time they reach their 80s, according to some estimates. The heart rhythm abnormality can lead to stroke and heart failure.There are few treatments for the condition and they largely center on preventing strokes with blood-thinning drugs."A 30 percent lower risk of the most common chronic arrhythmia in the United States population is a pretty big effect," said Dariush Mozaffarian, senior author of the study and a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.Some previous studies have suggested that people who eat a lot of fish have a lower risk of developing atrial fibrillation to begin with, but others haven't found the same link.The omega-3 fatty acids measured in the new study, which was published in the journal Circulation, were eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). They are found in oily fish and some enriched foods, such as eggs, as well as in fish oil supplements.The earlier studies relied on questionnaires about how much fish people ate, which can only estimate the amount of omega-3s they ingested, Mozaffarian noted."Any given fish species can vary in its omega-3s by ten-fold," he told Reuters health.To get a more accurate measurement of how much fish oil people in the study actually ingested, the researchers sampled blood from more than 3,300 adults over age 65.Over the next 14 years, they tracked the participants' health and found that 789 developed atrial fibrillation.Those with the top 25 percent omega-3 levels in their bloodstreams at the beginning of the study were about 30 percent less likely to end up with the arrhythmia compared to those with the bottom 25 percent blood levels."These are meaningful reductions in risk," said Alvaro Alonso, a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study.A 30 percent reduction in risk would mean that instead of 25 out of every 100 people developing a condition, only about 17 of every 100 would.Of the three omega-3 fatty acids, high DHA levels were linked to a 23 percent lower risk for atrial fibrillation, while EPA and DPA were not tied to any reduced risk.Alonso cautioned that the study doesn't prove eating fish is responsible for the lower rate of atrial fibrillation, but said there is some idea that the fatty acids found in fish could work by stabilizing the excitability of heart muscle cells.He added that the results seem promising enough to warrant further studies that experiment with how fish oil might be used as a potential preventive measure against the arrhythmia.Click here to play
