Kesher Talk

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posted by Judith @ 7/08/2005 03:10:00 PM

Let us now praise righteous gentiles. Some gentile Canadian businessmen have decided that antisemitism is bad for business and they are going to do something about it.

TORONTO (CP) - Reports of anti-Semitism hit an all-time high in Canada last year, a shameful "crisis" that must be resolved by non-Jews, BMO Financial Group's chief executive said Thursday. . . . "That is why we founded FAST [Fighting Anti-Semitism Together] ... as one way of crying: Enough! And why we recruited an all-star cast of non-Jewish Canadian business leaders," Comper said, citing what he called a record 857 reported incidents of anti-Semitism in Canada in 2004. The seminal incident for Comper was news coverage of anti-Semitic attacks in Toronto, saying he was struck by the "tepid" community response that followed.

All hail the private sector.

RELATED: I wrote several posts about the severely underattended Muslims Against Terrorism rally in Washington DC last month. Joel Mowbray highlighted the march in a nationally syndicated column:

For participation in the rally, Nawash set a very low threshold: opposing terrorism. (Almost every speaker, though, was careful to condemn Islamic terrorism, and not just terrorism in the abstract.) By his own account, and by that of others, Nawash actively tried to enlist the support of other Muslim groups—but to no avail. Nawash most likely realized that no matter how low he set the bar, none of his counter-parts would endorse an event sponsored by a Muslim who unequivocally denounces Islamic terrorism and just as enthusiastically supports free societies for Muslims everywhere.

. . . Nawash has clearly taken his lumps from the supposed moderate Muslim leaders, but that’s not to say he’s without a following. But think in the mode of the “silent majority,” although in Nawash’s case, sadly, it’s almost certainly the “silent plurality”—for now.

Common are e-mails and phone calls to Nawash where Muslims tell him how important his message is, and how glad they are to finally have a Muslim leader delivering it. But most still won’t side with Nawash publicly, which partly helps explain the rally’s modest turnout of roughly 150-200. Yet the rally was attended by several respected Muslim leaders, who gained a much wider audience with the rally’s repeated airings on C-SPAN.

Read the whole thing for more on the Muslim groups which boycotted the rally and badmouth the Free Muslims organization.

posted by Judith @ 6/28/2005 12:16:00 AM 13 comments links to this post

Deciding to stand at Sinai. Previous Shavuot post here.

Because we read the Book of Ruth on Shavuot, one of the themes of the holiday is conversion: those who decide that wherever the Jewish people go, they will go.

For some, the desire to join the Jewish people is as compelling as it is for Ruth.

I had dinner last Shabbat with a friend who recently completed conversion, and like most Jewish converts she had been in the process for years. I was honored to be invited to her mikvah ritual, then a short ceremony at the shul where she converted, and a breakfast afterwards. Unmarried, attracted to Judaism for emotional and intellectual reasons, she is part of a trend:

What statistics there are — and they’re too decentralized to be conclusive — do not show a rise in conversion, but Levithan’s own experience as an instructor at Derech Torah at the 92nd Street Y indicates “a change in the profile of the convert: More people are coming to Judaism on their own, and there’s much greater diversity.”

A secular Upper West Side Jew who met her previously is curious about my friend's story, and I explain. (My friend is open about her process, so I feel comfortable doing this.) Learning that my friend didn't convert for a relationship, the woman's face contorts. "Why would anyone want to become Jewish if they didn't have to?" I am taken aback. I try to figure out a polite response. "Well, I like it just fine," I mutter. Later, the woman apologises and tries to walk back her statement. Okay. Maybe my friend's delight in her chosen path will inadvertently stimulate a bit of self-reflection in someone she barely knows. I tell my friend this story without identifying the person. She smiles wryly. "Imagine trying to explain it to your gentile friends and family. If they're secular, they can't even grasp why you want any religion at all."

There is fierce controversy about whether to insist that non-Jewish partners convert. There is evidence that

. . . proximity to Jewish life breeds love for it, not contempt. Rabbis in the field report that non-Jews in their congregations begin by attending services, then they enroll their children in Hebrew School, and by the time the kids reach bat or bar mitzvah age, the non-Jewish spouse is often ready to convert. "We're seeing a great increase in people who are converting later in life," [Reform movement's national outreach director Dru Greenwood] says. "Through the act of raising a Jewish family they find that their sense of self and Jewish identity has shifted."

I am close to a family which fits this description.

One of the classes I took at the retreat was about a genre of Talmudic stories of imagined sexual encounters between rabbis and Roman matrons. The context is the Hebreophilic upper class Roman society of the 1st Century, arguably the peak of Jewish influence prior to present-day America:

Jewish proselytizing was so successful, it's estimated that by the first century C.E. fully 10 percent of the Roman Empire was Jewish, close to 8 million people. . . . Jews only stopped open proselytism because of pressure from Christian and then Muslim rulers, beginning in 407 C.E. when the Roman Empire outlawed conversion to Judaism under penalty of death.

Some Jewish leaders think we should again be confident about proselytizing, as our ancestors were before they were traumatized by the loss of our nation and systematic state persecution.

Miriam notes some counter-productive behavior. Even more from Francine Klagsbrun.

UPDATE: Zachary Sholem Berger - who initially introduced me to the ideas in this post - is writing again about reinterpreting the role of the ger toshav.

posted by Judith @ 6/15/2005 10:59:00 PM 17 comments links to this post

Standing again at Sinai. I'm not going to be here for Shavuot, because I signed up for this for the third year in a row. Great davening, great study, great scenery (and maybe this year not freezing every night with intermittant hot water, for a change), great singing (I always come back with several wonderful new melodies for zmirot and liturgy), mediocre socializing. So I pack some reading material and leave the 20-somethings to their "Did I meet you two years ago at Pardes/Harvard/Schechter/JTS?" (Last year the organizers put all us old fogies in the same bunk, which was sweet.)

But seeing what gala events are planned for Manhattan, I kind of regret leaving town. If you're in NYC and want to get together with a lot of Jews doing that critical intelligence thing we are so famous for, check it out.

I have been very slack in the Jewish holiday blogging this year, and in past years I didn't write much about Shavuot at all. So I am going to make it all up to you now. While I am at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, I leave you with enough study material to last you all night, if you have no Tikkun Leil Shavuot in your area.

Aish Shavuot mega-site.
Torah.org Shavuot mega-site.
My Jewish Learning Shavuot mega-site.
Meaningful Life Shavuot mega-site.

Some sermons on Shavuot.
Merle Feld at Sinai, and more links.
Talmudic passages on Shavuot.
Festival of cheese.
Torah and Mishnah on The Bikkurim Ceremony

The only female soferet finishes her first Torah for a congregation.
A Shavuot-inspired meditation on the divine revelation of parenting.
Rachel's Shavuot tikkun last year.

posted by Judith @ 6/11/2005 10:32:00 PM 11 comments links to this post

Genetics. A recent study purports to find a genetic basis for Ashkenazi smarts. This is not a new supposition, but the researchers claim to have verifiable evidence, which I am not qualified to judge. But there is so much evidence that intelligence is malleable that I tend to favor nurture over nature arguments. I put forth a few of these in one comment thread:

Jews prize scholarship, but this goes beyond just subsidizing the studies and genes of the smartest young men.

For centuries all male and some female children were taught to read, in places where the vast majority of the population was illiterate. All males were expected to study Torah and Talmud at least a bit. Talmud study is very intellectually demanding; it's like tort law, history, folk tales, homilies, and spiritual riddles all rolled into one. Often women would run small businesses so their husbands could study, so women had to know basic math and be able to read, even if they didn't go to yeshiva like the men. Also they would be very assertive (which gets stereotyped into "domineering" and "pushy.")

Children are encouraged to ask questions. Torah and Talmud study is traditionally done in "chevruta": pairs of students reading and discussing the text together. Any pedagogue will tell you this is an excellent method to get students to really engage with the material. Until recently almost all Jews spoke at least two and often more languages.

Also, a persecuted minority which wants to survive as a culture REALLY values its children. They are treated with great affection and concern. At an extreme, this is smothering, but in general it enhances the kid's self confidence and intelligence.

Since the Enlightenment Jews encouraged their children to attend university, Jewish immigrants in Western countries have been similar to Asian immigrants in pressuring all the children to get good grades and advanced degrees, and sacrificing to support their children's academic and professional careers.

With this kind of culture you don't need genetics to explain intellectual achievement. In fact, somebody wrote a book about 10 yrs ago on "how to raise your kids the Jewish way." He went through all these cultural practices, which are not universal in Jewish families, but ARE pretty common. They are stereotypes which are for the most part true. His thesis wasa that "these child-rearing methods will produce self-confident smart kids and you don't have to be Jewish to use them." Talk about philo-semitic!

I browsed that book at a used book store in Austin about eight years ago; I regret that I didn't buy it, because I have not been able to track it down since.

More discussion here.

Thomas Sowell and Amy Chua have also written on how the values of an ethnic culture influence choices of profession, achievement, and wealth. What is striking in the numerous examples they cite is just how pervasive and persistent cultural values are, and how inadequate intelligence tests are at measuring anything innate.

UPDATE: Intelligence is not the only malleable cultural characteristic:

I did a research project in junior high school that required me to go through old periodicals such as Newsweek and Time. I found an article from the 20s or 30s (I think but am not sure it was one or the other) that tried to explain why Jews were better than Gentiles at - you guessed it: Basketball!!!

More on cultural factors from Corner readers:

I do believe it was in their most recent book that Stephen and Abigail Thernstrom did some research that would shed light on your current Corner topic. Though I didn't read the book, I do know that they discussed how many different geographic (and, I'd imagine, also genetically distinct) groups of Jews throughout history have all maintained a strong cultural affinity for learning. Apparently the first Jews to start establishing themselves in Russia showed up as somewhat of a footnote in the first Czarist census, remarking that even amongst the poorer classes, Jews had far more books in their homes and were far more literate than anyone else.

The real money line that I recall from the book was in an interview (I think on CSPAN) when Abigail was asked why Jews do so well on standardized tests: "Because they've been studying for them for 8,000 years."

Heh.

Also, the various discussions note how scholars have long been the most prized matrimonial matches in traditional Jewish life. (This is still true in Orthodox communities, and even in liberal, more secular Jewish circles, highly educated men are considered most desirable.) However, no one has mentioned that the daughters of rabbis - especially famously learned rabbis - were considered the most desirable brides. Rabbinic dynasties for the most part married each other, and this is still true in the frum world.

UPDATE: According to this article the genetic sciences establishment is pretty skeptical.

UPDATE: More here.

posted by Judith @ 6/06/2005 12:13:00 PM 35 comments links to this post

More good news for Jews. Previous good news entry here. Previous Antisemitism Watch entry here.

Solomonia posts emails from people who attended a talk by veteran Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi, at Yale. The good news is that Ashrawi is getting so mellow in her old age that some more militant Palestinian supporters walked out in mid-speech. Read the whole thing - for those of us who remember Ashrawi steamrollering over every opposing debater for years on countless news programs, it is quite delicious.

He also reports that the American branch of the YWCA rejects a statement by one of its senior officials comparing Jews to Nazis. (Wanna bet the official is a Presbyterian?)

I have a large JPEG of the famous mosaic floor of the Byzantine-era Shalom al Yisrael synagogue in Jericho, which I used as a computer background picture for years. Like the Temple Mount, this ancient religious and historical heritage site has been repeatedly vandalized by Palestinians, and Jewish access has been intermittent, although it was supposed to be guaranteed under the Oslo Accords. Last week a group of Jews under IDF guard visited the site and davened there, finding the mosaic floor and the Torah scroll in relatively good condition.

. . . the IDF sees importance in restoring the status quo regarding Jewish rights to holy sites in Jericho, as mandated under the Oslo Accords.

According to [nearby resident Gershon] Goldshlik, the army says it intends to organize weekly prayers at the synagogue. There does not seem to be PA opposition to such an arrangement at this point. "The Arab mayor of Jericho was on hand during Tuesday’s visit and did not seem to have a problem with Jewish prayer at the site," Goldshlik said, but added, “I suspect they are interested in ensuring that the opening of the site goes smoothly so that the Jericho casino can be opened to Israelis as well."

Ah, a casino! If doing business always trumped political fervor, the world would be at peace. (And I bet it says that in the Talmud somewhere.)

And a leading Israeli rabbi has ruled that that Viagra is kosher for Passover, reversing a previous ban. There's a different gelatin coating for the pills available now.

posted by Judith @ 4/17/2005 09:48:00 AM 5 comments links to this post

And now for something completely different: Good news. After many doom and gloom posts about antisemitism around the globe, it's time for some cheer.

Senator Rudy Boschwitz, head of the U.S. delegation to the UN Commission on Human Rights, notes a small good sign:

For many years now a totally disproportionate amount of time at the UN has been spent bashing Israel. In an early speech I made here in Geneva, I asked delegations to recognize and support the changes taking place in the Mideast by moderating their remarks. For whatever reason that's what happened. Last year, speeches bashing Israel took 2 days. This year they totaled 30 minutes!

The Palestinian delegate gave a stunning "speech," the best and shortest of the many at this session of the CHR to date. His speech in its entirety was: "We extend our hand to our Israeli neighbors to live in peace." I went over and congratulated him.

On the occasion of a Kurd being appointed as interim president of Iraq, Neo-neocon notes that the Kurds have for the most part taken exception to Arab Jew-bashing, and in fact may be our closest genetic relatives. There's lots more; read the whole thing.

From a veteran Jewish journalist to an up and coming one:

Student politics at Wellington's Victoria University has changed beyond recognition since me, Kiwi Bob and David Bisman were part of the only actually successful Zionist conspiracy ever attempted, the move to smash the hard Left on New Zealand campuses, starting with Victoria. Actually the idea was simply to fight anti-semitism on that one campus, and we didn't expect to even win that one, but as it turned out the revolution was wildly popular, and suitable for export, and before we knew it, NZUSA had been eviscerated and a majority of student associations had non-Left executives. . . . But I visit the old student newspaper's site this week, and what do I see? The editor is a Jew?

The Jewish editor Emily Braunstein is the target of a campaign to dump her for presenting more than one side of an issue and refusing to print letters which call her derogatory names, but she says that "on campus these days, classical liberalism is "the new black," being wildly popular among students." Who woulda thunk it?

UPDATE: And anything that makes Saddam unhappy is a good thing.

posted by Judith @ 4/07/2005 02:50:00 PM 0 comments links to this post

Antisemitism watch, one more time. Previous entry in this series here.

The systematic anti-Israel propaganda of Human Rights Watch.

David Bernstein deconstructs the irresponsible use of the term "Likudnik." (It's kinda like "Straussian" and "neoconservative.")

The latest on the SOAS saga.

Some French Jewish students exchange notes with some Jewish students at Hunter College.

Professors in France are given standardized materials, according to the students I spoke with, so they have no room for editorializing in the classroom. Students, however, have gained a lot of power since 1968, so while professors teach lessons controlled by a national program put together by the government, the students speak out loudly.

“But the student political world,” I was told, “is very left--very communist and anarchist.” Much like my own campus, I was surprised to learn. The students I spoke with described posters at their schools with messages such as, “Freedom for Palestine,” “Freedom for Iraq,” “Sharon and Bush are Killers.” Of course, that is nothing different than the posters I’m greeted with everyday in the halls of Hunter.

What came as a shock to me, though, was how very different our societies are. In a country where “secularism is the law,” my table explained to me that there is no sense of personal identity amongst the people. Before everything else, whether you’re Jewish, Gay, Muslim, or Black, you are considered French and must think of yourself in that manner. “You’re first a French citizen,” David Rak told me. “We all belong and each time religious issues arise, it’s seen as a weakness.” In America, diversity is something that strengthens the country, while in France it’s seen as something that holds back national unity.

An example of a poster at Hunter College, right here in Manhattan.

posted by Judith @ 4/07/2005 02:39:00 PM 2 comments links to this post