איכא דאמרי - And There Are Those Who Say...

Invocation for the M.I.C.A.H (Milwaukee Inner-city Congregations Allied for Hope) Annual Meeting at the Tabernacle Community Baptist Church

2015-12-20T18:40:00.000-06:00

Eloheynu V’Elohey Avoteinu v’imoteinu…

Our God and God of our Mothers and Fathers:

Our gathering today brings needed hope into our world:

· A world where violence is an ever-present threat;

· Where distance grows between those with the most and those with the least;

· Where undocumented immigrants are called “illegal” by those whose own grandparents came to these shores for the very same reason – to seek a better life;

· Where the justice system deals ever so gently with white collar criminals but seems calibrated to incarcerate those without money and clout;

And so, the task before us clear and the resolve within us burns brightly. And we are grateful:

We thank God for the leadership of Reverend Marilyn Miller and her officers as she assumes her new role;

We thank all who are here and so many others whose efforts make better the lives of many in Milwaukee;

We pray that our efforts bear fruit;

· In the safe surrender program;

· In the Holy Ground Youth and Young Adult Project;

· In our efforts to help create jobs and increase economic justice.

Eloheinu v’Elohey Avoteinu uvaneinu….

Our God, and God of our ancestors and God of our children;

May we come to be of one mind and one heart,

and through our holy partnership with You God

and with each other,

may we continue to work to heal Milwaukee.

Ken Y’hi Ratzon – may it be God’s will.

Ken Y’hi r’tzoneinu – may it be our will.

Amen.

October 29, 2015

Sometimes a Sculpture is Just a Sculpture: The Curious Case of Shorewood’s “Spillover II” by Plensa

2015-12-20T18:11:00.001-06:00

Like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, many of us think we know anti-Semitism when we see it. Whether someone’s offhand comment, or a stereotypical cartoon, our radar is finely tuned to identify the anti-Jewish sentiments of others.

Nevertheless, we occasionally can err. A case in point: Shorewood’s sculpture by noted Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa, entitled “Spillover II.” Composed of random letters made of polished steel, the sculpture is especially striking at night, when illumination and shadows create what seem to be even more than three dimensions. While not everyone’s cup of artisanal tea (see Mary Louise Schumacher’s review in the Journal-Sentinel), the sculpture represents an honest attempt to place striking art in civic locations.

The sculpture’s peaceful repose in Shorewood was shattered recently when a visiting east coast blogger noticed words that seemed to jump out of the jumble of random letters. They included the phrases “Cheap Jew” and “Fry Bad Jew.” Writing about the offensive language in his blog, he opined that the sculpture was “not art but a piece of scrap.”

The blog quickly went “viral” and soon Milwaukeeans were debating. Was this an intentional act? Or was the blogger seeing things that weren’t there? The blogger remained firm in his conviction that the words were placed intentionally and with the knowledge of the artist, himself.

I became curious and looked up the artist. Plensa is an artist whose humanitarian credentials are unimpeachable. He regularly tries to bring communities together through his work. He even submitted a design for the Illinois state Holocaust memorial. Not the act of your average anti-Semite.

I then wondered if perhaps if the offending phrases were the work of Plensa’s employees, since they were the one’s most likely responsible for the sculpture’s fabrication. Such creative additions happen more often than you’d think. Even in software code, spurious material can be found. Witness the Business Insider article entitled “Microsoft Programmers Hid A Bunch Of Profanity In Early Software Code.” Ahem.

Additional information convinced me that we were chasing shadows. First, I learned from experts that the likelihood of finding such words among thousands of random letters is much higher than I initially assumed.

Second, a close examination of the sculpture revealed that the blogger had taken liberties in piecing words together, ignoring letters, jumping lines, creating letters out of two different letters, etc.

Third, I saw a statement issued by Plensa’s representatives in Chicago, who said: “Plensa is deeply saddened that his sculpture has been so egregiously misinterpreted. Plensa’s works and beliefs are the antithesis of anti-Semitism.”

Fourth, and most convincing, was a subsequent blog from the east boast blogger, which utterly undermined his credibility. Entitled, “The Power of the Blog: Six Days from Submit to Pick-up Truck,” it bragged how, within six days, his blog post had led to television and press interviews, forcing the artist and the village of Shorewood to remove the sculpture. It then went on to offer a primer in how to get your blog post noticed, spelling out all the steps he used to sensationalize and spread his story, such as “Content is King,” and “Pick a Catchy Title.” By this point, I felt manipulated.

The good news in this story is that those at the center of the issue swiftly responded in an appropriately sensitive way. That includes the village of Shorewood, The Milwaukee Foundation, The Milwaukee Jewish Community Relations Council, and the artist himself, who had the piece taken down and brought back to his studio.

The future of the sculpture is not yet clear. Personally, I hope it is returned quickly to its former location. I’d even argue that the artist ought not to make a single revision to his work. Why? The reason is simple. The Plensa Sculpture affair shows how the power of social media can transform an innocuous matter into something explosive. In that regard it differs little from the rhetorical firestorm currently dominating American political discourse.

What’s more, there are still real anti-Semites in the world and their metastatic message is on the move. While we haven’t experienced the growing violence faced by Jewish communities in Europe, we still have seen a twofold increase in anti-Semitic incidents here in Wisconsin. We need to remain vigilant and ready to respond. To meet the challenge of real anti-Semitism, we have to act with deliberation and forethought, not with alarm and panic. This means when we encounter a case like the Plensa sculpture we should not assume the worst. A simple background check on the artist would have revealed the unlikelihood of ill will. The burden of proof rightly belongs on the accuser, in this case the out of town blogger. In sum, I’ve come to the conclusion that, in this case, a sculpture a just a sculpture.

TRUMP'S DAUGHTER MAY BE JEWISH BUT HE'S GOT A LOT TO LEARN ABOUT THE JEWISH VALUE OF DERECH ERETZ - COMMON DECENCY

2015-12-20T14:06:00.000-06:00

For me, the most amusing moment of the Debate this past week, didn’t happen during the debate but during the commercials. It began as many campaign commercials do, with a anthem like score. The voice over begins: “It’s a new day in America.” Cue sunrise. “Today more people will go to work,” film of tradesmen and women working, return home to their families,” cue slow motion returning soldier hugging his wife and kids, “and sleep more soundly than ever before.” (Cue an f-16 flyby fading into a rainbow coalition of children waving big American flags as they run across a field). “All because one man refuses to settle. (Cue the soaring Bald Eagle) Putting people before politics.” (Cue short clips of Americans of every race, ethnicity, color, etc.) “That man is Frank Underwood.” (Cut to actor “House of Cards” actor Kevin Spacey, seated at the desk in the oval office. He looks up, closes a binder, which as it slams shut, cuts short the music. With unmistakable gravitas, he says). “America. I’m only getting started.” Followed by a picture of Frank looking up to his right, against a waving American flag: “This is Frank Underwood and I approved of this message.”

When it dawned on me that this was not a real commercial I was struck by another thought: Why does a fictional president, albeit it one with more than a few character flaws, as the show “House of Cards” reveals, come off so much more appealing than the current crop of presidential contenders? This isn’t unprecedented. If you watched “West Wing” you know that Martin Sheen as President Bartlett was a paragon of virtue and moral rectitude. And with lines written by Aaron Sorkin, he was devastatingly witty as well.

In the real world, we are living in times when those who aspire to high office most often fail to inspire. Partisan politics aside, as they should be on Shabbat, Donald Trump’s candidacy is part farce and part the face of the frustrated. Trump has successfully tapped into the hurt and the fears of those whose jobs have moved on, who are economically, at best, on a stagnant footing. He is ringing their bell, so to speak. And they are responding. And far more scary than he, is the reaction of millions of his followers, a rage expressed as thunderous applause and the desire to, “take our country back again.”

Lest you ever think that the harsh words of a Donald Trump don’t have an effect, witness the poor 12 year old Sikh boy in Arlington, Texas who last week had the class bully tell the teacher he had a bomb in his backpack. The teacher told the principal, who called the police, who came and snatched the 12 year old and held him in communicado for three days before anyone contacted his parents. Oh, and by the way he has a life threatening heart condition. The boy was expelled, is under house arrest wearing an ankle collar, and waiting to find out if he is going to be charged as a minor or an adult. For what? I can’t tell you.

Trump’s overheated, self centered and self-righteous words are an assault on what we call in Judaism the value of Derech Eretz. The phrase “derech eretz” literally means the “way of the land” or “the way of the world” but, in a Jewish context” it comes to mean “common decency.” “Derech Eretz in a standard of behavior for fulfilling our basic responsibility as human beings, to be a mentsch.

What is derech eretz? To speak kindly, give praise, respect others opinions, respect their time and space, be considerate, watch your mouth, think the best, listen and pay attention, no road rage. Instead of raising your hand or your voice, derech eretz insists you raise your own dignity and the dignity of others. Behave as though the world depends on your humanity and decency. Conduct yourself as if every interaction with others is an opportunity to bring holiness into the world.

The duty of derech eretz is so important that our ancestors imagined it coming into existence twenty-six generations before the giving of the Torah, at the moment when the first human beings were expelled from the Garden of Eden. They said: derech eretz kadma l”torah, which means derech eretz is before the Torah, but, in fact can mean Derech Eretz is more important than the Torah. In a way, they saw derech eretz, a system of highly principled, decent behavior, as a necessary precondition in creating the path that bring us to the Torah. In other words, unless we have derech eretz as a regulator on our behavior from within, until we feel obligated to act decently on our own, we won’t be open to feeling commanded by the mandates of wider moral behavior.

At the root of derech eretz it the Torah’s assertion that every person is created in the divine image, and as such, is deserving of our best behavior. You don't hit your spouse. You stand before your elders. You don't curse. You turn off your cell phone when appropriate. You don’t text when someone is speaking to you. You don’t “bully” a classmate. You say “please” and “thank you” and “excuse me” and “I'm sorry.” You don't litter. You don't cheat and lie and steal. You don’t gossip.

On Israeli buses and trains there is a sign directing you to give your seat to someone older than you. But it says all that in three words: “Mipnei seivah takum” – “Rise Before the Elderly” – and everyone knows those words because they come from the Torah. There is a right and wrong manner of behavior rooted in our tradition and heritage, rooted in our being created in the image of the Divine.

There is nothing more spiritual than this realization and, in a very real sense, there is nothing Judaism tries more to teach. Donald Trump may well be the current poster child for what derech eretz isn’t, but the challenge of derech eretz applies to us, within the Jewish community. Consider what happened last summer over the Iran Nuclear deal. Jews who opposed the deal, such as Senator Chuck Schumer were accused of advocating for Israel to the detriment of the United States. Jewish proponents, including many who work for the Obama administration, have been accused of being “court Jews” selling out their brethren to curry favor with the administration, rather than being acknowledged as supporting the deal as the best solution to a problem that has vexed successive presidents from both parties. Derech Eretz was completely absent. U.S. ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, was subjected to death threats and compared to Jewish concentration camp guards for his championing the deal. Congressman Jerry Nadler was called a kapo: a Jew who collaborated with Nazis in the World War II death camps, who, as one writer said, has “blood on his hands.” Another said he had “facilitated Obama’s holocaust.”

The firestorm of words between the two camps became a fight over who is welcome under the American Jewish tent. It not only threatened to destroy the American Jewish community from the inside; it also played into the hands of those who doubt Jewish loyalty towards the US. Furthermore, the war of words between Jews created the perception that the Iran issue revolves around Israel, obscuring the fundamental fact that Iran’s nuclear ambitions present a problem for everyone.

During those weeks of excruciating conversations and arguments, I recalled the words of Israeli Poet, Yehuda Amichai, who wrote:
From the place where we are right
Flowers will never grow In the spring.
The place where we are right
Is hard and trampled Like a yard.
But doubts and loves Dig up the world Like a mole, a plow.
And a whisper will be heard in the place
Where the ruined House once stood.

Yes, sometimes being right is a pyrrhic victory. So what are we to do? How can we restore a sense of derech eretz to our relationships with each other? Rabbi Shammai, the venerated teacher who taught with Rabbi Hillel, though rarely agreed with him, taught the following: (1:15): V’heh-vay m’kabayl et kol HaAdam b’sever Panim Yafot receive every person with “sever panim yafot,” a pleasant countenance. Sever panim yafot means more than a sheyne punim, a pretty face. "B'sever," from the word savar, meaning "to turn one's body toward the person you are greeting, by way of showing more interest); show them your "panim" - show them your face (don't look around); and makes sure it is "yafot" - present that face beautifully. Or, as Avot of Rabbi Natan teaches, “Always greet every person with a smiling face.

Beyond smiling, listen to others with a listening heart. This is at the core of Judaism as we say the Shema. The Shema teaches that while intelligent people know how to talk; wise people know the importance of listening. A community where people listen is a community where people will open their hearts to one another. That is why, I think, the Shema is followed by the prayer V'ahavta (And you Shall Love). Listening is a prerequisite for love.

A powerful story about the power of striving to behave towards all with derech eretz. Near the city of Danzig there lived a well-to-do Hasidic rabbi. Dressed in a tailored black suit, wearing a top hat and carrying a silver walking cane, the rabbi would take his daily morning stroll. During his morning walk, it was the rabbi’s custom to greet every man, woman and child who he met on his way with a warm smile and a cordial “Good Morning.” Over the years the rabbi became acquainted with many of his fellow townspeople and would always greet them by their proper title and name, even the rather boorish farmer who lived near the outskirts of town. “Good morning, Herr Muller!” the rabbi would hasten to greet the man. “Good morning, Herr Rabbiner,” would come the response with a good natured smile. Then the war began. The rabbi’s strolls stopped abruptly. The fate of the rabbi was like that of much of the rest of Polish Jewry: he lost his family in the death camp of Treblinka and, after great suffering, he was deported to Auschwitz. One day, during a selection at Auschwitz, the rabbi stood in line with hundreds of other Jews awaiting the moment when their fates would be decided … life or death. Dressed in a striped camp uniform, head and beard shaven and eyes feverish from starvation and disease, the rabbi looked like a walking skeleton. “Right! Left, left, left!” the voice in the distance drew nearer. Suddenly, the rabbi had a great urge to see the face of the man with the snow-white gloves, small baton and steely voice who played God and decided who should live and who should die. He lifted his eyes and heard his own voice speaking: “Good morning, Herr Muller!” “Good morning, Herr Rabbiner!” responded a human voice beneath the S.S. cap adorned with skull and bones, “What are you doing here?” A faint smile appeared on the rabbi’s lips. The baton moved to the right – to life. The following day, the rabbi was transferred to a safer camp. In his later years, The rabbi told one and all in his gentle voice, “This is the power of a “good morning” greeting. We must always greet each other, with derech eretz.”

In truth, here is nothing more important than keeping ourselves continually predisposed to being benevolent, to being decent, to being kind, to not doing to someone else anything that would be hateful to ourselves. We should give derech eretz the highest priority in our community values, placing it twenty-six generations before everything, even before the study of Torah, even before calling ourselves a Jewish community. Judaism itself demands that in order to be a Jewish community we must first be a humane community.

Scientists tell us that we are utterly interdependent with all of creation. The science is clear and irrefutable; we’re all really one organism, everything alive and everything inanimate. When scientists get down to studying the world on the level of sub-atomic particles, there are no separate entities. It’s not even that we are all connected. We are each other in the largest sense possible. As the inestimable John Lennon put it, “I am he as you are she and you are me and we are all together.” How do we express derech eretz with one another?

We need to remember that deep inside of us, deep in our hearts and in the marrow of our bones, generations before we were globally conscious, even more generations before we were nationalities, even more generations before we were Jewish, twenty-six generations before the torah, back to our basic selves – we were human, striving to be humane, inextricably linked to everything and everyone around us. We must live and act with derech eretz, with benevolence, kindness and decency. Life is too short to live otherwise.

2012-06-20T11:50:00.001-05:00

Korach JCC Video shortened from David Cohen on Vimeo.

This is a video I created for a series at the JCC in Milwaukee called Moment of Torah. As you'll see, I took an unorthodox approach.

Invocation Delivered at Cathedral Square 9/11 Tenth Anniversary Commemoration, Milwaukee

2011-09-12T13:45:00.000-05:00

Eternal God, Source of Life and Blessing for all Creation:

Ten years ago we called to you from out of the depths;

Today we turn to you for courage, strength and wisdom.

• Shelter in peace those souls lost on September eleventh and give comfort to those whose hearts still ache; the parents, spouses, siblings, children and friends who keep their loved ones’ memories alive as a precious legacy.

• Honor and protect the public servants who responded on September 11th and the days and weeks and months that followed, and who continue to risk their safety for the common good. And bring healing to those first, second, and third responders whose service at ground zero continues to take a physical, emotional and spiritual toll.

• Grant us a heart of wisdom, that we may recognize the divine image in every human being. May that wisdom lead us to act toward one another not with anger or prejudice, but with compassion and care.

• Strengthen the hands of those who defend our country and inspire our governmental leaders to be pursuers of peace. In turn, we offer our prayers for our country and its government, our soldiers and citizens, for all who faithfully serve our nation.

• May the melodies and words we offer today come to be a prayer for peace, that we might live to see the day when swords will be made into ploughshares and nations will not learn war anymore. And together we say: Amen.

Rabbi David B. Cohen

Congregation Sinai

Fox Point, Wisconsin

September 11, 2011

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-ISRAEL-from-Rabbi-Cohen---6-.html?soid=1102207047565&aid=VQKfNYvsqjI

2011-09-03T09:55:00.000-05:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-ISRAEL-from-Rabbi-Cohen---6-.html?soid=1102207047565&aid=VQKfNYvsqjI

for those who missed, this was the sixth and final blogpost from Israel in July

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-ISRAEL-from-Rabbi-Cohen---5-.html?soid=1102207047565&aid=VHq3LfADuTg

2011-09-03T09:54:00.000-05:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-ISRAEL-from-Rabbi-Cohen---5-.html?soid=1102207047565&aid=VHq3LfADuTg

for those who missed them, this was my fifth blog post from Israel this summer.

Arab Spring Gives Way to Middle Eastern Summer: An Analysis of the Past Week's Developments in Israel

2011-08-20T16:35:00.000-05:00

For many, the developments in Egypt and Syria this past year were eventually going to lead to the situation Israel faces at this moment: a destabilizing southern border, an Egyptian government unwilling and/or unable to police it, and the Syrians encouraging Hamas to attack Israel from the Gaza strip.

This week, Israel suffered what may in fact be it's first Al Qaeda styled multi-phased attack, on its border with Egypt just north of Eilat. This border with Egypt has been quiet since the signing of the peace agreement in 1979 and the return to Egypt of the Sinai peninsula. Egypt made sure that criminal activity as well as terrorist activity was kept out of Sinai, with very few exceptions. While the peace with Egypt was deficient in many other respects, e.g. Egyptian professional societies would expel their members if they developed any ties with their Israeli counterparts, at least the border was quiet.

That came to an end this week as multiple teams of terrorists (do we really need to continue to call them 'militants' as the world press does?), investigators believe as many as 20, opened fire with AK-47's, anti-tank missiles, rocket propelled grenades and mortars, as well as improvised explosive devices on civilian cars and and buses traveling on an Israeli highway that parallels the border. One of the buses held a number of soldiers returning to their base and they returned fire until army units arrived. Throughout the day, new attacks occurred as new teams of infiltrators were discovered. One such outbreak of shots rang out as Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the Army Chief of Staff Gantz were giving a press conference, just meters away. In that exchange, one of the police's tactical (SWAT) unit's most decorated officer's was killed. For more details about the initial attacks in which eight Israelis were killed, go here.

Undoubtedly, there will be investigation into how these terrorist attacks occurred. Evidently, The Intelligence services told the army that there were rumors that such an attack was in the offing, and the road was closed at night, but reopened in the day. The area where the attack occurred is slated to receive a more substantial security fence - there's barely anything there right now - and the money has been allocated but work hasn't yet commenced. Given the events of the past days, one can be sure that work will start immediately.

Further complicating matters is that, in addition to the terrorists who were sent from Gaza and entered through Egypt, there have been a series of Graad missiles shot into Israel. These are Russian missiles that are more accurate and with greater range than have been used before. One today hit a home in Beersheva, a considerable distance away. For more information about that missile strike, go here. For information about the other missile salvos that have targeted southern Israel, go here.

In particularly disappointing, but not at all surprising, news, Lebanon, which currently sits on the UN security council, prevented the UN from condemning the terrorist attack that left 8 Israelis dead. In somewhat better news, after 24 hours of intense efforts on both sides, Egypt has reversed plans to withdraw its ambassador from Israel. An announcement earlier today said that their ambassador would be leaving Tel Aviv to protest the death of several Egyptian policemen who died in the exchange of fire between Israeli soldiers and the terrorists who had attacked the two buses and cars, a group of whom had taken refuge in an Egyptian army outpost. Egypt and Israeli will conduct a joint investigation into what happened.

There's no doubt that the approaching date in September of Palestine's self-declaration will increase the pressure on the militants to increase their terrorist activities, even as it leads more moderate elements to engage in non-violent demonstrations. Ironically, the extremists only want to win if it comes through battle - winning through compromise or diplomacy is unsatisfying. I fear they will try anything to derail peaceful efforts to resolve the outstanding issues. Unfortunately, there is very little to indicate that anyone else in their society has the ability to control the agenda.

Stay tuned, and continue, as always, to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi David B. Cohen

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-ISRAEL-from-Rabbi-Cohen---4-.html?soid=1102207047565&aid=maPSR5vTlz0

2011-07-13T14:29:00.001-05:00

Here is my fourth installment of the Blog from Jerusalem

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-ISRAEL-from-Rabbi-Cohen---4-.html?soid=1102207047565&aid=maPSR5vTlz0

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-ISRAEL-from-Rabbi-Cohen---3-.html?soid=1102207047565&aid=Hw-aM0u0BM4

2011-07-13T14:28:00.000-05:00

Here is my third installment of the Blog from Jerusalem

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-ISRAEL-from-Rabbi-Cohen---3-.html?soid=1102207047565&aid=Hw-aM0u0BM4

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-ISRAEL-from-Rabbi-Cohen---2-.html?soid=1102207047565&aid=5mApojJ8d0s

2011-07-13T14:26:00.000-05:00

Here is my second installment of the Blog from Jerusalem

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-ISRAEL-from-Rabbi-Cohen---2-.html?soid=1102207047565&aid=5mApojJ8d0s

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-ISRAEL-from-Rabbi-Cohen.html?soid=1102207047565&aid=nCp1HxCGbX0

2011-07-13T14:21:00.000-05:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-ISRAEL-from-Rabbi-Cohen.html?soid=1102207047565&aid=nCp1HxCGbX0

Why History Matters: The 1967 Six-Day Wa

2011-06-09T23:15:00.000-05:00

If you only read one thing about the Middle East this week, read this. David Harris, Executive Director, AJC and Senior Associate at St. Antony's College, Oxford University, reflects on the actual history of the war and its aftermath, as well as attempts to rewrite that history. [Originally published in Huffington Post - hat tip to Rabbi Paul Kipnis]

Mention the word "history" and it can trigger a roll of the eyes.
Add "Middle East" to the equation and folks might start running for the hills, unwilling to get caught up in the seemingly bottomless pit of details and disputes.
But without an understanding of what happened, it's impossible to grasp where we are -- and where we are has profound relevance for the region and the world.
Forty-four years ago this week, the Six-Day War broke out.
While some wars fade into obscurity, this one remains as relevant today as in 1967. Many of its core issues remain unresolved and in the news.
Politicians, diplomats, and journalists continue to grapple with the consequences of that war, but rarely provide context. Yet without context, some critically important things may not make sense.
First, in June 1967, there was no state of Palestine. It didn't exist and never had. Its creation, proposed by the UN in 1947, was rejected by the Arab world because it also meant the establishment of a Jewish state alongside.
Second, the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem were in Jordanian hands. Violating solemn agreements, Jordan denied Jews access to their holiest places in eastern Jerusalem. To make matters still worse, they destroyed many of those sites.
Meanwhile, the Gaza Strip was under Egyptian control, with harsh military rule imposed on local residents.
And the Golan Heights, which were regularly used to shell Israeli communities far below, belonged to Syria.
Third, the Arab world could have created a Palestinian state in the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip any day of the week. They didn't. There wasn't even discussion about it. And Arab leaders, who today profess such attachment to eastern Jerusalem, rarely, if ever, visited. It was viewed as an Arab backwater.
Fourth, the 1967 boundary at the time of the war, so much in the news these days, was nothing more than an armistice line dating back to 1949 -- familiarly known as the Green Line. That's after five Arab armies attacked Israel in 1948 with the aim of destroying the embryonic Jewish state. They failed. Armistice lines were drawn, but they weren't formal borders. They couldn't be. The Arab world, even in defeat, refused to recognize Israel's very right to exist.
Fifth, the PLO, which supported the war effort, was established in 1964, three years before the conflict erupted. That's important because it was created with the goal of obliterating Israel. Remember that in 1964 the only "settlements" were Israel itself.
Sixth, in the weeks leading up to the Six-Day War, Egyptian and Syrian leaders repeatedly declared that war was coming and their objective was to wipe Israel off the map. There was no ambiguity. Twenty-two years after the Holocaust, another enemy spoke about the extermination of Jews. The record is well-documented.
The record is equally well-documented that Israel, in the days leading up to the war, passed word to Jordan, via the UN and United States, urging Amman to stay out of any pending conflict. Jordan's King Hussein ignored the Israeli plea and tied his fate to Egypt and Syria. His forces were defeated by Israel, and he lost control of the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem.
Seventh, Egypt's President Gamal Abdel Nasser demanded that UN peacekeeping forces in the area, in place for the previous decade to prevent conflict, be removed. Shamefully, the UN complied. That left no buffer between Arab armies being mobilized and deployed and Israeli forces in a country one-fiftieth the size of Egypt -- and just nine miles wide at its narrowest point.
Eighth, Egypt blocked Israeli shipping lanes in the Red Sea, Israel's only maritime access to trading routes with Asia and Africa. This step was regarded as an act of war by Jerusalem. The United States spoke about joining with other countries to break the blockade, but did not act.
Ninth, France, which had been Israel's principal arms supplier, announced a ban on the sale of weapons on the eve of the June war. That left Israel in potentially grave danger if a war were to drag on and require the resupply of arms. It was not until the next year that the U.S. stepped into the breach and sold vital weapons systems to Israel.
And finally, after winning the war of self-defense, Israel hoped that its newly-acquired territories, seized from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, would be the basis of a land-for-peace accord. Feelers were sent out. The formal response came on September 1, 1967, when the Arab Summit Conference famously declared in Khartoum "No peace, no recognition, no negotiations" with Israel.
Today, there are those who wish to rewrite history.
They want the world to believe there was once a Palestinian state. There was not.
They want the world to believe there were fixed borders between that state and Israel. There was only an armistice line between Israel and the Jordanian-controlled West Bank and eastern Jerusalem.
They want the world to believe the 1967 war was a bellicose act by Israel. It was an act of self-defense in the face of blood-curdling threats to vanquish the Jewish state, not to mention the maritime blockade of the Straits of Tiran, the abrupt withdrawal of UN peacekeeping forces, and the redeployment of Egyptian and Syrian troops. All wars have consequences; this one was no exception. But the Arab aggressors have failed to take responsibility for the actions they instigated.
They want the world to believe post-1967 Israeli settlement-building is the key to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Six-Day War is proof positive that the core issue is, and always has been, whether the Arab world accepts the Jewish people's right to a state of their own. If so, all other contentious issues, however difficult, have possible solutions.
And they want the world to believe the Arab world had nothing against Jews per se, only Israel, yet trampled with abandon on sites of sacred meaning to the Jewish people.
In other words, when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict, dismissing the past as if it were a minor irritant at best, irrelevant at worst, won't work.
Can history move forward? Absolutely. Israel's peace treaties with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994 prove the point. At the same time, though, the lessons of the Six-Day War illustrate just how tough and tortuous the path can be.

For more information, visit ajc.org.

Are Unions Holy?

2011-02-23T20:47:00.002-06:00

posted by colleague, friend, and study partner, Rabbi J. Herber: "Within the workers' organization, which is formed for the purpose of guarding and protecting the work condition, there is an aspect of righteousness and uprightness and tikkun olam... Unorganized labor brings damage and loss of money to workers. For the unorganized worker works under worse conditions — both in regard to wages and in regard to working hours, etc. And this is likely to make working conditions worse in general."
- Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, first Chief Rabbi of Israel

A Quick Thought on the Situation in Egypt and the Oceans of Ink Spilled in a Multitude of Blogs on the Subject...

2011-02-12T11:17:00.000-06:00

I hate to rain on anyone's pro-democracy parade, but, as much as stuff like this ruins Al-Qaeda's weekend, we've got a long long way to go to anything resembling a representative democracy in Egypt. Mubarek himself was a highly decorated army officer before he became president - what we're watching isn't a revolution as much as a changing of the guard... the real story begins now, as we wait to see if anything is going to change. Stay tuned.

A Public Service Announcement not approved by AJWS

2010-10-29T20:57:00.000-05:00

On Halloween, the Torah teaches some tricky tales | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California

2010-10-25T20:32:00.000-05:00

Who knew there were witches in the Bible? (Truth is, there are even more in the Talmud!)

On Halloween, the Torah teaches some tricky tales | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California

Cantor Rebecca Robins and Zerek Schwartz Tie the Knot!

2010-10-11T10:52:00.000-05:00

Rebecca and Zerek at the rehearsal dinner, held at the "The Post Office" in Babylon, NY. Zerek's father, buddy, assembled a video presentation featuring pictures from the bride and groom's childhood.

Just a few minutes before the ceremony, the radiant bride prepares.

The Hora was danced, and danced, and danced. It was followed by more dancing. And did I mentioned the dancing? And there was food, notable for both its quality and quantity. But no one gained a pound.... because of all that dancing.

Along with the bride, is Rabbi Amy Schwartzman, who co-officiated the wedding with me.

Now that is a happy couple!

Leonard Cohen and Sonny Rollins - Who by Fire (Some post Yom Kippur culture)

2010-09-23T10:26:00.000-05:00

And Who by Fire Jazz Live Ensemble

HIgh Holy Day Sermons 5771 - 2010

2010-09-22T20:40:00.000-05:00

A number of people have asked for links to the sermons from these past High Holy Days:

Broken Hearts, Broken Tablets and Us

The Perils of Being Perpetually Connected

Guard the Stranger for You Were Strangers in the Land of Egypt

I hope that 5771 is a year of health and fulfillment for you and yours.

Rabbi David B. Cohen

Laqncet Medical Journal Proves to be Anti-Israel

2010-08-26T11:58:00.000-05:00

Lancet Editor "Responds" to HR Critique The medical journal fails to address HR's legitimate concerns, instead proving them outright in a one-sided letter to The Guardian.

In July, HonestReporting took apart The Lancet medical journal's collection of articles supposedly examining the state of the Palestinian healthcare system. Our research into the background of a number of contributors to The Lancet's articles revealed some disturbing information and called into question the credibility of the content, particularly as most of those authors identified were active supporters of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

We demonstrated a politicized anti-Israel agenda in The Lancet. Yet, instead of addressing our very legitimate criticism, the journal's editor Richard Horton responded in The Lancet's July 31 edition (available on The Lancet's Facebook page):

The Lancet is grateful to our colleagues at HonestReporting for providing further international coverage of the research we published recently online, which drew attention to the health predicaments of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation and internal political fracture. With the help of HonestReporting, we have been able to reach a large, new, and largely unaware audience.

We believe that the "large, new, and largely unaware audience" are more likely to be readers who have now been made aware of The Lancet's anti-Israel bias and abandonment of scientific and medical norms. We also received many communications from medical professionals who expressed their deep concern at The Lancet's agenda.

But we shouldn't be surprised. Richard Horton only this week exposed his personal animosity towards Israel in a letter to The Guardian on 24 August in response to an op-ed by Israel's Ambassador to the UK, Ron Prosor. Some selected excerpts (emphasis added):

Gaza is not a terrorist enclave. It is a vigorous community of 1.4 million people struggling to exist under what the UN still considers to be occupation by Israel. Operation Cast Lead did not target "terrorist infrastructure". On a visit to Gaza that I made in March this year, with colleagues from the UK, I witnessed the results of indiscriminate bombing of residential communities across the Strip, as well as the results of civilian casualties. ...
Gaza is not "a golden opportunity tragically missed". The people of Gaza are experiencing continued declines in child health, unchecked burdens of chronic disease, shortages of life-saving medical supplies and equipment, and the dramatic erosion of mental health. These unprecedented hardships are a direct consequence of Israel's disregard for the health and security of people who they, as occupiers, have a legal duty to protect. ...

In the classrooms I visited, there was no incitement against Israel. Instead, there was pride in being Palestinian, a plea for the facts of their lives to be told against the propaganda that Prosor repeats.
On one issue, Mr Prosor and I agree. Many Israelis are sceptical and do fear for their futures. But this is largely because it suits politicians to manufacture the scepticism and fear that destroy hopes for peace and justice. If the full truth about the health of people living in the occupied Palestinian territory was more widely known, the international community would no longer tolerate Israel's apparent indifference.

Much like his journal, Horton

Ignores Hamas terrorism and violence against its own people as well as Israelis, preferring to believe that the legitimate fear of missiles and mortars from Gaza is the manufactured product of politicians dealing in fear.
Claims Israel still occupies Gaza despite leaving the territory in 2005.
Blames the situation in Gaza solely on Israel, placing no responsibility whatsoever on Palestinian actions.

Richard Horton has clinically demonstrated and confirmed that The Lancet is not publishing anti-Israel articles out of naivety but is being guided in a politicized direction from the very top.

We'd also like to thank Richard Horton for bringing HonestReporting's work to the attention of the medical community - a large, new, and largely unaware audience who will hopefully now see through The Lancet's insidious agenda.

HonestReporting. com

It’s time to stop demonizing Israel

2010-06-08T11:46:00.000-05:00

The flood of hypocrisy and bad faith that seems to have just been waiting across the media worldwide for the Mavi Marmara is by no means acceptable. By Bernard-Henri Lévy

Of course, my position hasn’t changed. As I said the day it happened, during a fierce debate in Tel Aviv with one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s ministers, I continue to find the manner in which the assault against the Mavi Marmara and its flotilla was effected off the Gaza coast to be “stupid.”
Bernard Henri-Levy

French philosopher Bernard Henri-Levy

If I’d had any remaining doubt, the inspection of the seventh boat − carried out without a trace of violence Saturday morning − would have convinced me there were other ways Israel could have operated to have kept the tactical and PR trap set by the provocateurs of Free Gaza from snapping shut, and with blood spilled.

That said and repeated, the flood of hypocrisy, bad faith and, ultimately, disinformation that seems to have just been waiting for this pretext to flow into the breach and sweep across the media worldwide − as is the case every time the Jewish state slips up and commits an error − is by no means acceptable.

The catchphrase being trotted out ad nauseum refers to the blockade imposed “by Israel.” The most elementary honesty, however, requires one to make clear that this blockade has been undertaken by both Israel and Egypt, conjointly, along the borders of the two countries that share frontiers with Gaza, and with the thinly disguised blessing of all the moderate Arab regimes. Saying the blockade has been imposed by Israel alone can only be described as disinformation. The moderate Arab regimes, of course, are only too happy to have someone else contain the influence of this armed extension, this advanced base and, perhaps one day, this aircraft-carrier of Iran in the region.

The very idea of a “total and merciless” blockade ‏(Laurent Joffrin’s June 5 editorial in the French daily Liberation‏) “taking hostage the humanity [of Gaza]” ‏(former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin in Le Monde on the same date‏) also constitutes disinformation. We mustn’t tire of reminding others: the blockade concerns only arms and the material needed to manufacture them. It does not prevent the daily arrival, via Israel, of between 100 and 120 trucks laden with foodstuffs, medical supplies and humanitarian goods of every kind. Humanity is not “in danger” in Gaza, and it is a lie to state that people are “dying of hunger” in the streets of Gaza City.

It is debatable whether or not a military blockade is the right course of action to weaken and, one day, bring down the fascislamist government of Ismail Haniyeh. But it is an indisputable fact that the Israelis who man the checkpoints between the territories night and day are the first to make the elementary but essential distinction between the regime ‏(that they seek to isolate‏) and the population ‏(which they are careful not to confuse with the regime, and in particular not to penalize as, once again, aid has never stopped passing into Gaza‏).

Disinformation: the utter silence, throughout the world, about Hamas’ incredible attitude now that the flotilla has carried out its symbolic duty − to trap the Jewish state and relaunch, as never before, the process of demonization. In other words, now that the Israelis have carried out their inspection and brought the aid cargo to those for whom it was supposedly intended, Hamas’ attitude in blocking that aid at Kerem Shalom checkpoint, allowing it to slowly rot, is met with silence.

To hell with any merchandise that has passed through the hands of Jewish customs! Chuck out the “toys” that brought tears to the eyes of good European souls, but became impure after spending too many long hours in the Israeli port of Ashdod! Gaza’s children have been used as nothing more than a human shield for the Islamist gang who took power by force three years ago, or cannon fodder or media vignettes. The children’s games or their wishes are the last thing anyone in the Strip worries about, but who says so? Who shows the slightest indignation?

Liberation recently ran an awful headline − “Israel, Pirate State” − which, if words still mean anything, can only contribute to the delegitimization of the Jewish state. Who will dare explain that, if there is a hostage-taker in Gaza, one who coldly and unscrupulously takes advantage of people’s suffering and, in particular, that of the children − in sum, a pirate − it is not Israel but Hamas?

Laughable, but given the strategic context, catastrophic disinformation was clearly seen in the speech given in Konya, in central Turkey, by a prime minister who throws in prison anyone who dares to evoke the genocide of the Armenians in public, but who has the nerve, there, before thousands of fired-up demonstrators yelling anti-Semitic slogans, to denounce Israeli “state terrorism.” Still more disinformation: the lament of the useful idiots who, before Israel did, fell into the clutches of these strange “humanitarians” who, in the case of the Turkish IHH, are Jihad enthusiasts, anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish apocalyptical fanatics, both men and women − some of whom, just days before the incident, expressed their wish to “die as martyrs.” ‏(The Guardian, June 3; Al Aqsa TV, May 30‏).

How can a writer of the calibre of Sweden’s Henning Mankell allow himself to be taken advantage of this way? When he tells us he is thinking of forbidding the translation of his books into Hebrew, how can he really forget the sacrosanct distinction between a stupid or wrong-headed government and the masses of those who do not identify with it? How can a chain of cinemas ‏(Utopia‏) in France decide to cancel the release of a film, “A Cinq heures de Paris,” in the same way, simply because its writer, Leonid Prudovsky, is an Israeli citizen?

Finally, the battalions of Tartuffes who regret that Israel is declining the demand for an international inquiry are disinformers as well. The truth is, once again, much simpler and more logical: What Israel is refusing is an inquiry requested by the UN Human Rights Council, where those great democrats − the Cubans, Pakistanis and Iranians − reign. What Israel does not want is a procedure of the kind that resulted in the famous Goldstone report, commissioned after Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. The five judges on that sympathetic commission − four of whom had never made a secret of their militant anti-Zionism − wrapped up 575 pages of interviews of Palestinian fighters and civilians, conducted under the watchful eye of Hamas political commissioners ‏(an absolute and unprecedented heresy in this kind of work‏), in a matter of mere days.

Such a botched inquiry would amount to a masquerade of international justice, something Israel simply cannot stand for. Its conclusions would be known in advance and would only serve to haul, as usual and perfectly unilaterally, the region’s sole and unique democracy into the defendants’ dock.

One last word. For a man like me, someone who takes pride in having helped to conceive, with others, this kind of symbolic action ‏(the boat for Vietnam; the march for the survival of Cambodia in 1979; various and sundry anti-totalitarian boycotts and, more recently, the deliberate violation of the Sudan border to break the blockade hiding the perpetration of massacres in Darfur‏) − in other words, for a militant of humanitarian interference and all the media fuss that goes with it, this pathetic saga has something of a caricature to it, a gloomy grimace of destiny.

But this is all the more reason not to give in. All the more reason to reject this confusing of genres, this inversion of values. All the more reason to resist this hijacking of meaning, that places the very spirit of a policy conceived to counter the intent of barbarians at their service.

Destitution of the anti-totalitarian dialectic, its imitations and its reversals. Confusion of an era when we combat democracies as if they were dictatorships or fascist states. This maelstrom of hatred and madness is about Israel. But it also concerns, as we should be well aware, some of the most precious things established in the movement of ideas in the last 30 years, especially on the left, and these are thus imperiled. A word to the wise is sufficient.

Translated from the French by Janet Lizop.

Loving Israel is in the Details

2010-04-15T16:52:00.000-05:00

A friend, Rabbi Paul Kipnes, sent this along.
by Joel Chasnoff

NEW YORK (JTA) -- In honor of Israel’s 62nd birthday, I’ll forgo the expected Op-Ed about Israeli government corruption, the Bibi-Obama drama, or the Israeli Rabbinate’s stranglehold on marriage and divorce.

Instead, I offer this love letter to Israel: "Top 10 tiny details about Israel that make it the most wonderful country on earth."

10. Egged Bus #394: The midnight ride from Tel Aviv to Eilat. The trip begins in the gray-stucco slums of south Tel Aviv. Two hours later, you’re rolling through the desert beneath a blanket of stars. You crack open the window. The desert smells dry and ancient, like an attic. At dawn, you pull into Eilat as the city comes to life.

9. The way Israelis refuse to cross the street on a red light. Drivers blare their horns the instant the light turns green. Yet pedestrians refuse to cross the street until the sign turns green. I’ve witnessed this phenomenon at 3:00 a.m., the streets bare and not a car in sight.

8. The Jewish soul of even the most secular Israelis. I served in the Israeli Army with kibbutz kids who were so anti-religious that they never even had a bar-mitzvah. But on Friday nights, as the brigade sung the Sabbath Kiddush en masse, I could see my secular comrades mouthing the words.

7. Flush handles on Israeli toilets. Almost all Israeli toilets, both public and in homes, have two flush handles -- one for “light” loads, and one for heavy ones. This saves Israel’s most precious natural resource: water. And it’s genius.

6. Drop-dead gorgeous Israeli soldiers. The men are hunky, the women beautiful. Try not to drool as you watch them strut down Ben Yehudah Street in their olive-green uniforms, M-16s slung across their backs. It’s not so much their physical beauty that charms us as what they embody: Jewish power.

5. Shuk Ha-Carmel on Friday afternoons. So many things about Israel drive me mad. The bureaucracy is crippling. Government offices operate when they want, for as long (or short) as they want, usually something like 8 a.m. until noon Mondays, Wednesdays and every other Thursday. Each week, another group goes on strike -- schoolteachers, garbage men, postal workers, phone operators, cable guys, bus drivers, doctors, nurses, paramedics, airport baggage guys, and the old men in blue jumpsuits who walk the streets of Tel Aviv stabbing pieces of trash with meter-long spears have all struck in the past year -- so the country never runs at full power.

The Knesset, Israel’s 15-party parliament, is trapped in a state of perpetual gridlock. And yet, when I step into the Carmel Market and hear the shopkeepers barking their wares, smell the mixture of frying lamb, goat cheese, and human sweat, and watch the people line up to buy flowers for Shabbat, I remember why I love Israel so much. It’s the excitement of the place, but also the Middle Easterness of it -- the barking, the bargaining, the haggling that’s at once friendly and brutal. At pushcarts and stalls, middle-aged men with gold chains and raspy cigarette voices sell mangoes, lemons, whole and quarter chickens, cow lungs, cow tongues, cow testicles, sheep brains, 50-plus varieties of fish, calculators, knockoff Nikes, carnations, sponges, girdles, batteries, and men’s and ladies’ underwear.

Friday afternoons, with only a couple of hours until sundown, the peddlers shout their last-minute pre-Sabbath bargains: “Tangerines, 1 shekel, 1 shekel!” “Pita, hummus, chickpeas-- yallah! Shabbat, Shabbat!” Whenever I walk through the souk, I think about all those American diplomats who call Israel the America of the Middle East. If those diplomats really want to understand Israel, they should leave their fancy Jerusalem hotels and take a stroll through the Carmel Market.

4. Chocolate milk in a sack. Half a liter of Kibbutz Yotvateh chocolate milk sealed in a palm-sized plastic bag that you rip open with your teeth and then squeeze, causing the milk to shoot into your mouth in a way that makes you feel like you’re drinking straight from the udder of a chocolate cow. Need I say more?

3. The incredible bond between Israelis. Maybe it’s a remnant of shtetl life in Europe, or perhaps it has something to do with living so close to your enemy. Whatever the reason, Israelis act as if everyone is everyone else’s next-door neighbor. The first time I experienced this unique bond was the week I arrived in Israel to begin my army service. I was driving to Tel Aviv in a rental car when a guy pulled up next to me at a stoplight and beeped his horn. “Hey, achi!” he called. “My girlfriend’s thirsty. You got water?” Beside me, on the passenger seat, was a bottle of water. But it was half empty.

I held up the bottle. “It’s already open,” I said.

“No problem,” he replied, and stuck out his hand.

A week later, I was at my girlfriend, Dorit’s, family’s apartment with her parents. It was dinnertime and we had ordered pizza. Finally, after two hours, the pizza guy showed up on his motor scooter. He was disheveled and sopped with sweat. “I got lost,” he whimpered.

“So come inside! Sit!” said Dorit’s mother, Tzionah. “Coffee or tea?”

“Coffee,” said the pizza guy. “Milk and two sugars.”

While Tzionah made the coffee, Dorit’s father, Menashe, opened the pizza box. “Please take.” He offered a slice. The pizza guy waved him off. “Nu! You’re offending me!” said Menashe. “What’s your name?"

“Oren,” said the delivery guy.

“Oren. I insist. Eat.”

And I’ll be damned if Oren the pizza guy didn’t sit down at the kitchen table and eat the pizza he’d just delivered. As we ate, I thought about all those porno movies where the lonely housewife invites the pizza boy inside and seduces him on the kitchen table. In the Israeli version of the story, the pizza boy doesn’t make love to the housewife. Instead, he sits down with the family and eats pizza.

2. Dropping off a passenger at Ben-Gurion Airport. You pull up to the Departure door, hug your loved ones goodbye, and watch them walk into the terminal. Then you inhale a breath of sweet Israeli air, look up at the cloudless Tel Aviv sky, and think, “They have to leave...but I get to stay in Israel.”

1. ____________________________________________ . I leave this one up to you. What do you love most about Israel? E-mail me joel@joelchasnoff.com and I’ll post your responses on the blog page of my Web site.

(Joel Chasnoff is a stand-up comedian and the author of "The 188th Crybaby Brigade: A Skinny Kid From Chicago Fights Hezbollah," about his year as a combat soldier in the Israeli army. View photographs from his army service and meet the characters from Joel’s book at www.joelchasnoff.com.)

Words from the Rabbi of Beit Warszaw

2010-04-14T13:30:00.000-05:00

I just received this post from Rabbi Denise Eger, a rabbinical school classmate - well worth a read.

On Monday I wrote about the death of the Polish President and many Polish government leaders in the tragic plane crash over last weekend.
On Tuesday I visited the Polish Consul General here in Los Angeles with several other rabbis to bring condolences on behalf of the Jewish Community and The Southern California Board of Rabbis. They were extremely touched. The Consul Genral is Ambassador Joanna Kozińska – Frybes. You could see on her face the visible toll that this has taken. She has been in the foreign service of Poland for many years and was an Ambassador to Mexico for the Polish government and lost many friends on that plane. She personally knew more than half of those who perished. We visited for 30 minutes talking about the impact this will have on the country. We spoke about the revival of Jewish life in Poland. More than 2/3 of American Jews have some tie to Poland in their ancestry. We spoke together of the changed nature of Poland in the last 20 years and the strong ties between Poland and Israel.
She was grateful for our visit. And we signed the condolence book in the special room they have set up to pay tribute to those who perished.
On Monday I also wrote about the rebirth of Jewish life including the Reform synagogue in Warsaw-Beit Warszaw. Here is a message from the rabbi, Burt Schuman about the tragedy. So you can understand first hand the impact on the nation and the Jewish community.

RABBI BURT E. SCHUMAN
April 11, 2020 27
Nisan 5770
Dear Friends,
I have been deeply moved by the expressions of concern and support I have received for the people of Poland at this time of cataclysmic national tragedy. Not only did we lose President Kaczynski and his wife on that fateful plane crash yesterday over Smolensk yesterday morning, but much of Poland’s political, economic, military, and diplomatic and religious leadership, including the chiefs of all branches of the military, the presidential chaplain and army chaplain, the deputy foreign minister and other foreign ministry staff, the president of the National Bank, the head of the National Security office, leaders of the Institute for National Memory, the head of the Olympic Committee, the civil rights commissioner, officials of the Ministry of Culture, the Deputy Speaker of the parliament, several presidential aides and former three members of parliament. In addition, the leaders of veterans’ groups, the last President of the Polish Government in Exile and several heroes of the Polish resistance also perished in that flight. Many of these individuals were people that I either I had met and conversed with or had seen at official functions, adding to my own personal sense of shock and grief. The context and timing of their deaths has added to our collective pain. First, these leaders were en route to the Katyn forest at the invitation of the Russian government to observe the 70th anniversary of the hideous massacre of tens of thousands of Polish officers, among them approximately 900 Jewish officers and military chaplains by Stalin’s secret police. Second this comes at a time when Jews in Poland and around the world are about to observe Yom Ha Shoah, and thousands of people are preparing to go on the March of the Living. As Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has eloquently stated this is the greatest tragedy t o befall post-war Poland. Historians might agree or disagree, but one can state unequivocally that is the greatest tragedy to befall this nation since the restoration of democracy 20 years ago. Many in our community lost close personal friends. Moreover, the Jews of Poland have lost a great friend and advocate in President Kaczynski’s who not only spoke often and eloquently about the Jewish contribution to Polish history, on many occasions, including commemorations at the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial and this past summer at the 65thanniversary of the liquidation of the Lodz Ghetto this past summer, but also hosted regular events at the Presidential Palace such as his famous dialogue with Israeli President Shimon Peres, and his annual Chanukah lighting ceremony. Moreover, he demonstrated that support in deeds as well as words as in his financial support for the Museum of the History of Polish Jews and his visit to Israel on the heels of the Second Lebanon War. We in Poland’s Progressive Jewish Community join our sisters and brothers throughout the world not only our fellow-Jews but people of every religion, nationality and culture in praying for and with the people of Poland in this time of national tragedy.
L’Shalom,
RABBI BURT E. SCHUMAN

Take Me Out To The Ballgame...

2010-04-13T17:22:00.002-05:00

Monday afternoon was everything baseball's opening day should be: sunny, almost seventy degrees; throngs filling Miller Park to capacity; the hometown Brewers in crisp white uniforms, heroic, lithe and testosterone laden.

The world of the fan is a swirl of pungent aromas. It begins with forty five thousand eight hundred and eight people in close proximity, many sweating beer. Add to that a variety of high notes: popcorn over here, pizza over there, bratwurst all around, and beer, beer and more beer. The sweet and sour mix signals spring's arrival.

While one can anticipate the stadium's "surround-smell environment," a winning game is less predictable. Alas, the boys of spring were inconsistent, leaving multiple runners on base at innings' end. As Abba Eban once quipped (not about the Brewers) "they never miss(ed) an opportunity to miss an opportunity."

Yet, the magic of opening day trumps the final score. Who cares who won? The season has just begun; there will be another one hundred and sixty one opportunities to win. What's more, baseball infuses the coming months with the possibility of existential redemption. As Roger Angell wrote in Once More Around the Park:

"Baseball is the writer's game, and its train of thought, we come to sense, is a shuttle, carrying us constantly forward to the next pitch or inning, or the sudden double into the left-field corner, but we keep hold of the other half of our [train] ticket, for the return trip on the same line. We anticipate happily, and, coming home, reenter an old landscape brightened with fresh colors. Baseball games and plays and mannerisms-the angle of a cap-fade stubbornly and come to mind unbidden, putting us back in some particular park on that special October afternoon or June evening. The players are as young as ever, and we, perhaps not entirely old."

-Rabbi David Cohen