*Be the Change You Want to See In the World

Slap in the Face: Part II

 

[click here for part one]

 

I walked away and reasoned that raising children is difficult and personal and I questioned if it was my place to get involved.

 

But, then I returned and.....

 

Me: “I don't know what lead to you slapping your daughter in the face, but I can't imagine any justification for it. I am not the child's parent, and....”

 

Father: “Correct, I am her father and it is my right to raise her as I see fit and as necessary.”

 

Mother: “Leave us alone and mind your own business.”

 

Grandmother (to her daughter): “Quiet and listen to what he said.”

 

Me: “It is your right, but it's a right with responsibilities. How will you feel when your daughter marries a man who hits her? After all, you are teaching her that a man who loves her shows his love by slapping her in the face.”

 

 

Slap in the Face: Part I

 

In December, my family and I were on vacation in Eilat (southern-most city in Israel on coast of The Red Sea).  While in the park with my children, I saw a family of 3 small kids, the 2 parents and a set of grandparents sitting having a picnic.  The 3 year old girl was crying next to her father and he slapped her face and told her to stop crying.

 

Witnessing the hit took my breath away and I was momentarily frozen trying to think if/what to do.

 

What could one possibly do or say to make any real impact?  

 

[click here for rest of story]

 

 

B'chukotai 5774

In light of the pain that struck the Jewish world this week via vandalism of our own doorstep...(see link below)

This shabbat we read the final portion of the Book of Leviticus, parshat B'chukotai. As is the practice for concluding each of the Five Books of Moses, the community will stand for the final verses of the book and say, “Chazak, Chazak v'nitChazek” (BeStrongandWewillbeStrengthened). For those present, it is a moment of great emotion and communal unity as we rise together, pronounce together, and bid farewell together to the book of the Torah that we have engaged with and which we will long for until we return to it next year. At that moment, there is a sense of standing again at Mt. Sinai; a band of folks from different houses, of various opinions, multiple styles and flavors who, by having a common ancestry and by sharing similar adversities at the hands of the non-Jewish world, forge a bond of brotherhood stronger than any pernicious force that others send our way. Indeed, as history has proven, the holiness of the Jewish People is predicated on us and no one else. Each and every community is a part of the connective interlocking tissue that serves to strengthen our People – no matter the malice of others or even our own, we will not waver in fulfilling the duty of our residence among the People Israel, in the Land of Israel, for the State of Israel.

To view news coverage of vandalism:  Click Here

Does Judaism support (require?) Vegan diet?

 

Kapparot -- Yom Kippur Ritual

 

Video-Vort Vayeishev

WE are the Mob....

 

Arab/Israeli Conflict: Legitimate Solution?

Below is the conclusion of a longer piece posted in May 2010 found here:  http://adamfrank.typepad.com/adam_frank/2010/05/a-tale-of-two-states.html

My 'solution' is to use these next 20-30 years to improve the lives of Israelis and Palestinians and to lay the foundation for a future peace agreement. 

 

- A priority would be to protect the safety, security, and dignity of the Palestinians.

 

- A priority would be to improve the standard of living for Palestinians and show the benefits of peaceful co-existence.

  

- A priority would be to create a tolerance whereby Israel can feel a Palestinian State is not a threat to the Jewish State's security.

  

- THE priority would be the security of Israel's citizens. It certainly is fair to prioritize the security of Israelis over the security of the Palestinians as the Palestinian leadership condones, supports, and engages in its stated goal of eliminating the State of Israel – there is no such reciprocal goal or acts of Israel toward the Palestinians. 

  

If the Obama Administration and international opinion supports the idea of imposing conditions onto the players in the Middle East in order to prepare the region for a resolving of the Arab/Israeli conflict, consider the following: 

 

Impose on the Palestinians of West Bank and Gaza:

1. An international investment in the infrastructure of Palestinian institutions including government services, the economy and the manufacturing of goods, hospitals, roadways, police force, and judicial systems and the like.

  

2. A reform of the educational system that eliminates the vilification of Israel; that teaches the history of loss of both sides; that recognizes a Jewish State of Israel; that fertilizes the dreams concomitant with peaceful coexistence.

  

3. A no-tolerance policy on clerical, religious, political, or media-driven breeding of hatred toward the State of Israel and/or the Jewish people.

  

4. An active no-tolerance policy toward hate groups of Israel, the Jewish people and Western culture, including the dismantling of all groups committed to the active or passive liberation of Palestine.

 

Impose on Israel:

1. The immediate construction of comfortable modern 'passage centers' whereby residents of the West Bank and Gaza can respectfully and efficiently be recognized by Israeli authorities as non-dangerous for entry into Israel for the purposes of work and family visits.

 

2. The removal of all roadblocks between roads connecting Palestinian West Bank cities.

 

3. The release of Palestinians held without charges in detention jails.

 

4. The necessary utilities support to help the Palestinian infrastructure and economy advance and develop.

 

5. A no-tolerance policy toward anti-Palestinian activity.

 

6. A halt in construction of new site settlements and permission to expand currently settled areas of that have populations of 20,000+.

 

7. The dismantling of small, illegal settlements with an eye toward dismantling other settlements whose location purposes are no more than to frustrate a future land designation for a Palestinian state.

 

The separation wall stays up and is completed. Any breach of the wall is considered an act of terror.

 

International monitors who have been agreed to on by both sides will oversee and report to the P.A., Israel and the Quartet on the implementation.
 
At 5, 10, 15, and 20 years there will be incremental and appropriate steps toward an independent Palestinian State in 2035. Time is necessary to build trust -- trust cannot be imposed.

From Jerusalem,

Adam

Video-Vort Korach 5772

There is a 'Jewish' way to argue.....

 

Only in Israel: of Child and of Parent

My son attends public school in Israel. He is in second grade (7 and 8 year olds). This photo is a of a page of one of his school workbooks – see translation below. [At end you are requested to respond]

Entitled: A Bomb at the Bus Stop

 

Yossi wanted to ride the bus and stood at the bus stop.

Suddenly, he saw a black bag under the bench.

"Whose bag is this?,” Yossi asked to the people at the bus stop.

No one answered.

"Does anyone recognize this bag?,” Yossi asked again.

Again, no one answered.

Yossi ran to the public phone and called the police.

Immediately, a mobile police unit arrived with officers and a bomb disposal expert.

The bomp sapper checked the bag and found a ticking bomb inside of it.

The officers moved everyone away and the bomb sapper detonated the bomb.

Yossi was invited to the police station and the station's captain said to him:

"You did something important; you saved all of the people in the area.”

The captain gave Yossi a certificate of appreciation and a badge of the Israeli Police.

PLEASE WRITE A COMMENT WITH YOUR REACTIONS/THOUGHTS ~ Adam

To Light Yahrzeit Candle for a beloved pet?

 

The website Jewish Values Online asked me to answer the following question:

Is it wrong to light a yahrzeit candle or want a memorial service for a beloved dog?

It is healthy to desire to memorialize and respectfully remember a beloved companion animal, and it may be attractive to employ elements of the Jewish mourning customs to grieve the loss of a pet.

The mourning practices of Judaism are powerful, effective and wise, and they express utmost respect and recognition that those who die are vessels of a sacred soul for whom we shared a unique familial bond; they also address the unique pain and sorrow that accompanies the mourner over such a loss of life. For these reasons, using the tools of Jewish mourning is inappropriate for the death of an animal.

The idea to memorialize in a specifically Jewish way via a yahrtzeit candle and/or a similar memorial service is to conflate three matters:

1. the Jewish identity of the one who is grieving;

2. the Jewish customs associated with mourning the loss of a famiy member; and

3. the death of a non-human

 

Jewish mourning rituals are reserved for a Jew who loses a close family member (parent, spouse, sibling or child). In the same way it would be inappropriate for non-Jewish mourners to adopt Jewish mourning practices – because it is a misapplication of our sacred religious ritual that is specifically defined to exclusive circumstances – so, too, it is inappropriate to apply Jewish mourning practices to the death of a non-human life.

 

A core value of Judaism is the recognition of the intrinsic value of each human life because we believe that humans share qualities with Gd that are exclusive to these two beings. While the desired effect may be to elevate the worth of an animal's life by mourning it in a human way, in fact and in practice it denigrates the worth of human life. The death of a human family member and that of a companion animal are meant to be, and are, incomparable. To be clear – Jewish mourning is not about the level of love felt toward the object that is lost but is the recognition of the departure of a soul from our world – a soul that possessed unique, Gd-like qualities to transform the world whether or not those qualities were ever actualized.

 

To light a yahrtzeit candle on the anniversary of both the death of a parent and a pet is to place their cosmic worth on similar planes – though one who is Jewish may choose to do so the act is counter to Judaism.