Vic Thrill and Curly Oxide

I just discovered this amazing story about a hipster glam-rocker from Williamsburg who meets a rebellious Satmar Hassid from down the street and they start a band together.

NPR's This American Life has a really interesting story about it from 2005 which is a hell of a listen. (It starts 6 minutes in) Apparently, Tina Fey heard this episode and it inspired her to write a script for a movie about it which will be coming out in 2009. Lorne Michaels is producing it (so we can expect to see some SNL cameos) and Sacha Baron Cohen is playing Curly Oxide, the hasid.

Here's a sample of what they sound like. It's pretty cool, and this movie is gonna be awesome:

Proposition 8 - The Musical!

What a cast!

After Win, Obama Supporters Find They Have No Other Reason to Live

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Fear of B.B.

B.B. ready to give a knockout to negotiations

I just read in the JTA today that Benjamin Netanyahu made a statement that if he were to be elected in Israel's upcoming election, he would "halt" negotiations with the Palestinians.
Personally, I was scared enough of B.B. already with his hawkish views and his not so great legacy as prime minister, but now I have proof that electing him will result in more of the same: warmongering, close-mindedness, and occupation.

When Tzipi Livni failed to build a coalition two weeks ago, Netanyahu was ahead in the polls, and I was worried that he had a good chance of taking office. Now it seems that the Livni is actually pushing ahead, although the race is still tight.

If we can see change actuallized in Washington, hopefully we can see it in Jerusalem as well.

CHANGE for next 4 years! Or 8 years! Or infinity!

WOOOOO! We did it! We won!
Any by a landslide. Not only did Obama win a large majority of the national vote, he won 78% of the Jewish vote, and 95% of the black vote! (Watch this great video of Cornel West's personal take on Obama's win)

And on another totally awesome level, today Obama announced that he is choosing Rahm Emanuel to be Chief of Staff. How cool is that?
He was senior adviser to Bill Clinton, he has a lot of experience in congress, he is very focused on having peace and stability in Israel and Palestine, holds a liberal arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College, he served in the IDF, he belongs to an Orthodox synagogue in Chicago, he was a gifted ballet dancer in his youth, his father was in the Irgun, and his brother is a talent agent in LA and inspiration for Jeremy Piven's character on Entourage.
Also, he's fucking crazy and I love it.
Some examples: He once mailed a rotting fish to a former coworker after the two "parted ways"; at the celebratory dinner after Clinton won the '96 election, he threatened all of Bill's enemies with a steak knife; when Clinton was dealing with the Lewinsky affair, Rahm apparently dropped an f-bomb on Tony Blair; ending a phone call to a candidate, he's quoted saying, "Don’t fuck it up or I’ll fuck you. I’ll kill you. All right, I love you. Bye."
Sounds like Ari Gold to me.
And he justifies it as well: “In my house, when you say ‘fuck you,’ it’s a sign of endearment.” “You guys are enamored by my language. That’s not all that I do.” He's also a proven Congressional leader and powerful political strategist.

This next term is gonna be sweet.

More Jewish Animation

On the topic of awesome Jewish flash videos, this one is a little less Torah study and a little more Torah satire, but its hilarious.
God & Co. is a monthly short animated film from Nextbook that pokes fun of stories from the Torah. They did one about the sacrifice of Isaac and another on the liberation from Egypt and the latest one is about Moses talking to G-d. It's got all the witty awkward comedy and simple animation of Dr. Katz Professional Psychiatrist or Home Movies but its about the Torah!
(I just found out that Jonathan Katz is the main guy in all three of those animated comedies. I should have just assumed there was some connection)

G-dcast Launches!

Get ready for an awesome year of animated Torah study (besides for the Kabbalah Toons)

G-dcast is the newest project to come out of Sarah Lefton, creator of the now defunct Jewish Fashion Conspiracy. I met her this summer at the Mission Minyan, and I've been pumped for Bereishit since then. These great animated parshas come out every week with a different storyteller and a different animator. It's really exciting, right?

I Love You J-Street

Of all of the J-Street endorsed candidates, my favorite is Rabbi Dr. Dennis Shulman. He's running for congress in New Jersey's 5th district (the northern border) and he's up against a tough conservative. He's an amazing fellow: blind since childhood, Reform rabbi, clinical psychologist, graduate of Brandeis, and originally from Worcester, MA (represent!). Could he get any cooler?
He also has amazing views on Israel as well as Iran that are about tough diplomacy and peace resolutions.
J-Street just did a fabulous interview with him and it got me really pumped up. Here it is:





Now he would be the right person to SCHLEP down to Florida and convince all the bubbes and zaydies to vote for the shvartze

מה אני נוהג?

For those of you Hebrew speakers, this is hilarious

Ahmadinejad on the Jews

Don't get me wrong, this guy is a very dangerous man and I worry for the lives of Israelis with him in power. But it seems like he isn't the lunatic everyone thinks he is. He's making some good points and while some of them I strongly disagree with, others make sense.

As Rabbi Lerner puts it beautifully in Healing Israel/Palestine, the creation of the State of Israel in response to the Holocaust was like Jews jumping out of a burning building and landing in another building that already had occupants. Of course the first reaction of both parties would be to play the "I'm the victim!" game (and we all know how good Jews are at that).

Ahmadinejad has the standard Arab view of Zionism: that it is incompatible with Arab countries, but that doesn't mean that he hates Jews. Unfortunately the two often go hand in hand, but it seems that Ahmadinejad can make that distinction and I respect him at least for that.

The Return of Yigal Amir

Or did he ever leave?

(I saw this poster in Netanya, Yigal Amir's hometown. It shows a picture of Marwan Barghouti on top and says, "If terrorist murderers can be freed, then why not Yigal and Hagai Amir?")

In case you hadn't heard, anti-occupation professor Ze'ev Sternhell was targeted with a pipe bomb last week by right wing extremist settlers and sustained light injuries (B"H). It has been a while since right wing Israelis have targeted left wing Israelis and it seems to be the return of the Jewish terrorist. Right wing rabbis also also using the same rhetoric to demonize left wing leaders that was being used in '95 which eventually led to Yitzchak Rabin's assassination.
This is a very scary time to be a peacemonger in Israel. Yariv Oppenheimer, general secratary of Peace Now also was sent death threats and was assigned a whole security crew by the police since he might be next.
But something good may come out of it. Today, 150 left wing protesters appeared outside professor Sternhell's house to stand in solidarity against settler violence targeting other Jews. It was a rallying call for everyone who opposes this deterioration of morality and hopefully it was the beginning of a new movement to end settler violence.
Sternhell spoke to the crowd:

"Your presence here demonstrates clearly that we can do this, that we will not live in fear, that we will not be intimidated,"

Professor Naomi Chazin, former Meretz MK and president of the New Israel Fund also said some inspirational words:

"This is the beginning of a civilian uprising, of those who understand that if violence has become the norm – we have become lost. We must fight for the rules of the democratic game because if there is violence within us we can close up shop. This is what happened in other democracies in the past, which fell for this reason, and we must not allow it to happen here."

Also, the connection was made between the current events and the Jewish calender (which seems to be rare at leftist events). Today is the Fast of Gedalia, a date where we mourn for the righteous Jewish governor of Judea who was assassinated by other Jews because of infighting. We fast because this event culminated in the final exile of the rest of the Jews from the Land of Israel because of lack of Ahavat Yisrael. So as Rabbi Gilad Kariv pointed out, the connection between these two events is somewhat eerie.

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

My Father, My King

I put this video on Jewschool in response to someone posting Phish doing Avinu Malkeinu and I figured I would post it here as well. I think Mogwai does a much better job of expressing the feelings of the high holidays. And not one of them is Jewish!
Shana Tova Umetukah! Have a great sweet new year!

My Rebbe and My Inspiration

Some uplifting images for Elul

Obamamannerisms

Today Michelle Obama came and spoke at the University of Wisconsin so I was able to skip class and hear her speak.
She's a fabulous speaker, maybe even better than Barack himself (he says "um" a lot) and she really rallied me up. She loves to talk about how Barack is someone we can relate to, he understands the issues we face because he at one point has had to face them himself. They both come from a working middleclass background and they are living the American dream. That's not really something McCain or his wife (especially) can say. This is exemplified in every aspect of her speech, but I even noticed it in my favorite part of her oratory skills: That her grammar could use a little work.
I think that it's wonderful that she makes some grammatical mistakes (something only my father and I would pick up on, because we're anal like that) because it says a lot about her image. By speaking like a normal American with less-than-perfect English, she is showing us that she is a normal person like anyone else, taking care of her children and paying back her student loans, and that was indeed a talking point in her speech.
Americans are obsessed with having a perfect leader. Why is it that every time something minuscule shows up in a politician's past, it gets exploited by the media? We forget that leaders are people too who make mistakes and feel guilty about them. I remember when people were freaking out that Barack did cocaine. Would it really change your vote if you found out that your nominee experimented in college a little bit? Apparently for some people yes.
Actually, Obama defended it well on 60 Minutes when this whole balagan started. He didn't deny it, he just exclaimed, “It’s not something that I’m proud of, but that’s part of the journey that I’ve taken. I like to think that by letting people know the mistakes I’ve made that maybe young people behind me are looking and saying ‘You know what? This is a guy who made mistakes and he was able to write his life and get on track.’ And that’s I think an important message.”
So Michelle (whether conscious or unconscious of it) has the same message in her speech mannerisms. By choosing not to have a speech coach who encourages flawless grammar, she is in effect saying, "I am a human just as much as everyone else in this country. I am proud of who I am and I will not create a false image of myself."

I also just wanted to post this picture of Barack because he looks badass:

Israeli Mafia Takes Over Recycling Turf

This is kind of an old story but I just came across it and I think its fascinating and bizarre. Apparently the Israeli mafia has been working to take over the plastic bottle recycling monopoly and the police have been trying to stop them. And they're not doing it for ecological reasons! It's for profit.
This is ridiculous! Israeli has plastic bottle recycling? I've always had so much trouble finding recycling for anything in Israel. Last summer I used to take everything to the back of a supermarket, get yelled at by some sketchy men with beer bellies, get my bottles counted by the cashier after waiting in line for an hour, come back to the scary men and then wait for them to check over my bottles while blowing cigarette smoke in my face. I remember thinking that it was as if Israel wanted to make recycling as hard for me as possible so I would just forget about it and throw it in the trash (which I could never do for ethical reasons, throwing away recycling feels like breaking Shabbat for me).
But now the mafia is taking over? You know, it would be nice if the mafias did take over and made it into a blossoming business but most likely they will continue to launder money and spend it on drugs and firearms instead of recycling campaigns. Stupid mafia.
Hat tip to Green Prophet for the link.

Don't Forget Teshuva

Yesterday, Rabbi Avi Finegold wrote a very nice editorial in The Jew and the Carrot about Agriprocessors that I am starting to agree with.
I was very fiery about this issue after reading allegation after allegation on how terrible that place is. It was their corrupt slaughtering practices that led me to become a vegetarian. I am still very concerned about what is going on behind the doors at Agriprocessors (and all kosher slaughterhouses for that matter) and I am sad that I couldn't attend the interfaith protest there with Rabbi Morris Allan, but after speaking to my Chabad rabbi about the situation I have started to think about it in a different way.
He has a very close relationship with the Rubashkins because Madison is not so far away from Postville, so he drives down there occasionally to get meat and he has been squarely defending them the whole time. Now I think it is a little naive to think that they are completely free of blame, I think there is A LOT of blame to be said for their labor issues, but he reminded me that it is important to differentiate between allegations and convictions.
Until yesterday, the court hadn't ruled anything and all we had to believe was the word of the workers against the word of the management. Now when it comes to huge companies like this that have a history of snaking their way around the law, I think it makes more sense to take the workers complaints more seriously than the management's defense, but (as my rabbi reminded me) both the American legal system and the mishnaic legal system work on the assumption of innocent before proven guilty. At the same time, I could never put all my faith in the American legal system because I know how corrupt it can get - criminals go free and innocent people suffer.
Fortunately, yesterday the courts filed the first criminal charges against Agriprocessors, and I'm sure there are much more to come but, as Rabbi Avi Finegold suggests, especially in the month of Elul, we can't deny them the possibility of teshuva. Apparently, they have already begun.
In response to Governer Chet Culver's denunciation of the plant's labor practices, Agri released a statement explaining how they've helped out Postville and how they're improving the conditions at the plant. Additionally, immediately after the child labor charged were filed against Agri, the OU threatened to remove its hekhsher and almost immediately Agri has made statements about changing for fear of losing the OU. The Jewish Star reports that the OU is even trying to unionize Agri, which would be a big step in the right direction.
So, without trying to sound like an apostate of social justice, we should open our hearts to Agriprocessors. We should continue to criticize them, expect future criminal charges, and take their apologies with a grain of salt (since they didn't lead to much teshuva in the past), but we shouldn't turn a cold shoulder. Ahavat Yisrael even includes corrupt meat murderers and we have to hope that they will change for the better.

My favorite Woody Allen clip

I really like Adbusters.

This reporter is a total airhead.

She makes a couple valid points though like "come ooooonnnn!"

As one of the comments on the video says, "Listening to Kalle Lasn trying to explain the consequences of overconsumption to a 21st century CNN newswoman is like listening to a Harvard professor trying to explain Quantum Physics to a kindergartener."

Antisemitism in the Arab World

I found this picture in an article on the ADL website about antisemitism in the Arab World in regards to the presidential elections. This one on top was from Al Bayan, a newspaper from the United Arab Emirates.
I understand the criticism over Obama and McCain's relationship to the Jewish lobby: they both made trips to Israel and they are both targeting Jews for their campaigns. Considering the small size of the Jewish population in America, it is a bit striking how much attention we get (and how much pull we have). But to characterize the stereotypical Jew as a haredi shtetl Jew is not only extremely offensive and demeaning, it's also completely untrue, historically inaccurate, and shows the ignorance, hatred, and antisemitism behind the cartoons. The vast majority of Jews are not ultra-orthodox, or even outwardly religious at all, and only a couple of the cartoons in the article depicted Jews as normal looking Americans (possibly because the ones that did were not deemed antisemitic, if they even exist).
I don't understand the reasoning for using such an outdated and ignorant stereotype except for baseless hatred. When American political cartoonists represent the Chinese, for example, they definitely don't show them with buck teeth, wearing a coolie hat, doing dry cleaning, and building a railroad.
Here's another one from Bahrain:
They remind me of when I went to Egypt last summer and had a long conversation with my tour guide about world politics. He explained to me that he liked Americans but he didn't like American foreign policy because it was controlled by the Jews. I couldn't believe that those words actually came out of his mouth and for a second I tried to convince myself that I heard him wrong. I knew that ideas like that existed but I didn't realize they were so widespread that I would encounter them from the only Egyptian I would meet in my week in an Arab country. I told him that I couldn't believe that he believed that and he replied that he couldn't believe that I didn't believe it. I've tried to contact him a couple times through email to hear more about his perspective but he never responds. I think once he realized that I was going back to Tabah to cross the Israeli border he put two and two together and didn't feel like communicating with the enemy.
It's also interesting how this cartoon is of the exact same caliber but comes from a totally different source: American white supremacy.

Dan Le Sac - Thou Shalt Kill

J Street Poll Proves Orthodox Jews Are Mostly Idiots

J Street just came out with a really interesting and thorough poll of American Jewish voting patterns and their thoughts on the upcoming elections. Most of the survey was taken to show that Jews who support a peaceful solution in the Middle East and a two state solution in Israel and Palestine are in the majority, something that was brought up multiple times during the Brit Tzedek conference that I attended (you can see me in the video/conference report a bunch of times). This is a point that is very important to pro-Israel pro-peace groups like J Street and Brit Tzedek because by showing that they are the majority in Jewish political discourse, they have better leverage in trying to a build a movement among the national Jewish community.
Some interesting findings:

• 90% of American Jews are dissatisfied with the Bush administration as opposed to 76% nationally.
• 61% of American Jews believe Bush's Middle East policy has made Israel less secure.
• 81% trust that Israel would not agree to a peace deal that endangers its security and support any agreement Israel makers with its Arab neighbors.
• Compared with previous elections, the Jewish vote for Obama as the democratic nominee is the lowest it's been in a long time. According to the poll, 58% said they were definitely voting for Obama, in contrast to approximately 80% for Gore and Clinton and 76% for Kerry.
• 51% have a negative impression of Rev. John Hagee and CUFI while only 19% wouldn't mind burning in Christian hell while all the Evangelicals float up to heaven during the Rapture as long as they can build their settlements in the West Bank had a positive impression.
• And my favorite statistic - presidential vote by religious denomination: Reform is 70% Obama, Conservative is 56% Obama, Unaffiliated/other is 67% Obama, and Orthodox is 77% McCain.

GRRRR!! Why is Orthodoxy so overwhelmingly conservative?! Where does it say in the halacha that you have to be trigger happy and hate Arabs?
It is really difficult trying to be observant but always running into this polarization: You are either unorthodox and liberal or you are observant and right-wing, with few exceptions. I don't understand why it has to be this way. Tikkun and the NSP are supposed to be the exception, the "spiritual left". But that's exactly what they are - spiritual. There are no Orthodox Jews in the NSP (and I wouldn't blame them. It's tough to take your observance seriously when everyone else is singing Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu as a spiritual mantra, shaking a tambourine, and reading Kabbalah self-help books). I pray that one day I'll find a community to live in where I can be strengthened by both their faith in Torah (albeit a critical one) and activity in liberal politics.



By the way, I am thinking about changing the name of my blog to Bein Hashmashot. Jerusalén is just my nom de guerre in capoeira, it doesn't really have anything to do with my blog except for being the Portuguese pronunciation of Jerusalem (I got that name because, of cooas, I'm the token religious Jew in the class). If I do make the change, I'll explain the significance of bein hashmashot (twilight) when it happens.

Agriprocessors Labor Issues

While Agriprocessors is dealing with their legal troubles, they are ignoring the legal issues of their former employees. Not only did Agri put their workers in the position to be deported or to stay in jail for 6-8 months because of social security fraud (even though the workers don't even know what a social security number is) they are leaving the rest of their families to starve. I guess since their workers were illegal immigrants (who Agri imported from their native countries) they have no responsibility to help out their families who now have no one to support them.
As the New York Times editorial on the same subject argues:

No one is denying that the workers were on the wrong side of the law. But there is a profound difference between stealing people’s identities to rob them of money and property, and using false papers to merely get a job. It is a distinction that the Bush administration, goaded by immigration extremists, has willfully ignored. Deporting unauthorized workers is one thing; sending desperate breadwinners to prison, and their families deeper into poverty, is another.

Links For 7/9

True Torah Jews Against Zionism - A fascinating and fairly impressive Satmar website about the evils of Zionism from an ultra-orthodox perspective. I especially like the pictures from all their protests and the Torah trivia you have to answer in order to read the articles.

Kosher Keeping Vegans Go Undercover At Agriprocessors and interviewed by Shmarya Rosenberg.

What Kind of Interviewer Confuses Hamas and Hummus? - Bruno (AKA Sascha Baron Cohen) is out and about in Jerusalem and Arkansas.

Reel Bad Arabs on youtube. Definitely worth watching.

Official Barack Obama pins in Hebrew!

A really important list of the organizations who disenfranchise my love for Judaism (although there a couple there that I'm surprised to see). Thanks Kung Fu Jew!

Why I'm Voting Republican

Update: Thanks Jason J. Baker for visiting my site and for creating this hilarious video (which I just sent to my mom who doesn't believe in global warming). If anyone wants more information about the actual issues that they're talking about in the movie, visit this page from their website. Every segment is broken down and explained in order to make people realize that it's not just funny, its true.

Bishara Act: Racist or Precautious?

Ynet reports on the controversial bill that the Knesset passed yesterday:

The Knesset passed a bill on Monday determining that any Israeli citizen who visits enemy territory without a proper permit will not be able to serve in the Knesset for seven years.
The bill was initiated by MKs Zevulun Orlev (National Union-NRP) and Esterina Tartman (Yisrael Beiteinu), following the affair of MK Azmi Bishara (National Democratic Assembly). The bill was approved by a majority of 52 to 24 MKs. Among those opposed were Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz and Education Minister Yuli Tamir.

This was put into action after the situation with Azmi Bishara who was a Knesset member who frequently visited Syria and openly supported Hizbollah. After a police investigation, he was charged with high treason and forced to resign from the government. This gave the Arab Israeli party he represented, Balad, a bad name, and many people on the right started blacklisting them and saying that they couldn't be trusted.
I don't think that just because one man was trying to play both hands it means that the whole party is corrupt. The right is being reactionary, as they always are, and when it comes to making life harder for Israeli Arabs they jump on the ball.
So now we come to this very fishy bill. Why is it that the two MKs that initiated this bill about Israeli Arabs both come from the far right of Israeli politics? The NRP openly supports forced transfer of Palestinians into Jordan and Avigdor Lieberman, head of Yisrael Beitenu, was quoted advocating for the execution of any Arab MKs who meet with Hamas leaders. I have my doubts trusting the legitimacy of a bill affecting Israeli Arabs by right wingers who have extremely negative attitudes towards them. Yet I'm sure they used their scare tactics to convince the rest of the Knesset (who isn't that far from the views of the right) that without this bill the evil enemy will take over the Israeli government and push all the Jews to the sea. As Tartman exemplifies in the standard right wing language of us versus them:

The Bishara affair and the defiance carried out by many of the Arab MKs, such as their visits to Syria and their meetings with Hamas leaders, are not within the scope of freedom of speech, but rather a blatant encouragement of the armed struggle in Israel and the encouragement of terror against its civilians.
From now on the citizens of Israel can relax – enemies will no longer sit in the house of legislation.

If she considers "enemies" as "Arabs and peacemakers" then I'm sure she's right. I believe this bill is going to make it much harder for there to be negotiations with Hamas and other terrorist organizations (note that these right wingers consider any form of negotiations an act of treason) and if they get their way by making a couple more similar bills, it will rid the Knesset of anyone who shows dissent from their worldview. Luckily, the Arab Knesset members are protesting this bill and urging for reconsideration because of its infringement on minority rights and it's disregard for normal people who have family in the "enemy" countries. Let's hope that the right wing's scare tactics don't overrule the Arab parties' appeals as well.

Rabbi Gabe's New Book

I just picked this book up off the "To Be Reviewed" shelf at Tikkun and it made me really happy. This is the book that Gabe Greenberg, my old counselor and close friend, co-wrote when he was a senior at Wesleyan. Not only is this an amazing achievement for Gabe, but it's also a really important topic at the moment, and it's getting a good amount of press. It was reviewed in the most recent issue of New Voices with an awesome interview with Gabe, and the Amazon site is getting a lot of hits (although, one of the "suggested reading" on that page is The Israel Lobby).
I started reading it so that I can write the review for the next issue of Tikkun, and I'm really enjoying it so far. It's partly a historical analysis of the Western world's relation to Islam, and it's partly a book about how Arabs are conceived in the media, (similar to my last post) focusing on political cartoons and how they represent American society and its anxiety towards Islam.

I can't wait to talk to Gabe about this book, he's a really great guy. He worked at Adamah (which I hope to do someday), then he went to Israel and studied at Hamivtar for a little while, now he's at camp doing an organic farming elective for the kids, and soon he'll be going to rabbinical school.
Kol hakavod, Gabe! Hope that your book becomes standard reading material for classes in Arabs in the Media and Middle East Studies.

Why, Adam Sandler, Why?

Last night I was intending to see this really cool documentary at the Pacific Film Archive called The Decline of Western Civilization (with the director present) about Punk in the early 80's, but it was sold out. So after some discussion, we headed over to pay 10 bucks for Adam Sandler's new movie about an Israeli hair dresser.
I'll admit, it was exactly what I expected it to be. It was incredibly stupid with some funny slapstick and we were the only ones in the theater laughing at the Israeli jokes. But one thing that I didn't expect to see (although I guess I should have) was all the horrendous stereotyping that went on throughout the film. I didn't like constant use of the word feygele to make fun of hair dressers (yet a fair criticism of the macho attitude of Israeli society), and the terrible way that Palestinians were portrayed. Jack Shaheen is having a field day with this movie.
At the beginning there was a funny bit of dialogue that showed that the makers of the movie weren't total Islamophobic idiots. As Zohan, the superhuman Israeli counter-terrorism commando, has a fight scene with Hamas terrorists, in between punches in kicks they begin to argue about the conflict saying, "you know, its not so cut and dry, we've been here for a long time" "Right, and there were never any Jews in the Middle East." After hearing that exchange I had false hopes that the movie would continue with witty, intelligent humor instead of Sandler's usual poo poo jokes, but I was wrong. I should have remembered that movies like this are funny for the first ten minutes in order to hook you, and then they just get stupid.
They started blurring the lines between Arab and Palestinian, at some points given them Saudi head coverings, confusing the Lebanese flag with the Palestinian flag, and persisting the Arab stereotypes that have been going on since the beginning of Hollywood. The writers must have done their homework. I can just see them watching Lawrence of Arabia, taking notes, and saying, "Yeah, thats offensive and inaccurate, let's add that to the storyboard." Having the evil Palestinian leader surrounded by a harem of belly dancers and making the Arabs so incompetent that they couldn't figure out how to make a bomb, forcing them to call the Hizbollah hotline, must have been taken straight out of Arabs in American Media 101.
I understand that stereotypes are funny and that they are an easy way to introduce a character in a short period of time, but we shouldn't be trying to persist those stereotypes. It is movies like these that lead to the experience that I had in the airport in Detroit. Producers should start focusing less on "how can we make the most money with the least amount of thought" and more on "how can we make a great movie that will be funny for a mainstream audience."
Even comedic movies that focus on stereotypes can be made intelligent. Take Borat, for example. It was a smart film because they used stereotypes to poke fun at the kind of people who use and believe these stereotypes. So although there were parts of the movie that seemed anti-semitic, in reality they were making fun of anti-semites and may have even opened peoples consciousness to antisemitism. We need more Sacha Baron Cohen films.

Some PR for graphics art and the NSP

By the way, I made the last two images for Rabbi Lerner as postcards/buttons to that promote the Network of Spiritual Progressives.

JetBlue Cargo Cults

Coming back from the Brit Tzedek V'Shalom conference yesterday, I made a stop at the airport chapel at Dulles International to daven mincha.
I've always found those things intriguing because it's a space for everyone of any faith to pray; in fact it's a beautiful symbol of interfaith acceptance. It's true that not everyone would pray in an interfaith chapel (most notably, ultra-orthodox Jews because you can't daven in a place of avodah zara, and they consider Christianity idolatry), but for the majority of people who would want a space for prayer at an airport, they are placed into a room where all faiths interact, whether they want to or not.
I had prayed in an airport chapel before, but this time I truly had a soulgasm of religious pluralism. I never pray mincha, but I decided to do it that day, so I followed the qiblah arrow in order to find East (I always jitter with interfath excitement when I do that) and I prayed with unbelievable kavana (which happens next to never outside of kabbalat shabbat). When I finished and turned around, there were three other people in the room: a muslim TSA employee doing salah, a Catholic woman kneeling, and a man meditating. It was truly a beautiful sight.
It makes me wonder, what is unique about an airport that such a space can exist? I mean really, an airport? When I think interfaith activity and multiculturalism, certainly that is not the first thing that comes to my head. But it makes sense - everyone has to fly somewhere, sometime. You always see people of all different backgrounds in airports wearing a hijab, or a kippah, or a sari, or a Buddhist robe, so everyone needs to pray too, isn't that why the interfaith chapel exists?
I wouldn't want my davening experience to always be in an interfaith setting because I usually love the exclusivity of my own community synagogue (although there is probably some significance to the fact that I had amazing kavana at that chapel, which is so rare. But then again, maybe it was superficial kavana because I subconsciously wanted to give religious Judaism a good name by giving my audience a show of religious devotion), but it's a great opportunity to experience that, especially in such a random location.

A Utopian Rant. Thanks for that Rabbi Lerner!

Sometimes I feel like the Rabbis kinda hijacked Torah.
Every mitzvah was commanded in order to be suitable for the times. The sacrafices were only done because that was the way people connected to G-d at that time, now we connect through prayer because we have progressed with time. Similarly, we were given loads of laws on kashrut because that's how people ate back then, but now we can be progessive about dietary laws by keeping vegetarian (with a hechsher tzedek of course). So too, we were polygamous at a time and now we stay devoted to one person. It's too bad there is no sanhedrin to be able to further progress in halacha. Hehe, I guess the further West I go, the more liberal I get, and the more I reconnect with my Conservative roots.
But as we can see with the recent ridiculousness of the High Rabbinical Court in Israel, a sanhedrin wouldn't be the best idea at the moment.
The only way that we can progress in halacha is if all Jews can agree on certain changes. And that can only happen if all Jews unilaterally support something (which, at the moment, seems impossible). That's why when every Jew in the world will get together and support something (or at least keep two shabbases) the moshiach will arrive. Only then can we move foreward in halacha towards a place that is objectively progessive towards a utopian society.
Now I understand better why groups like Chabad and Aish are trying to get all Jews to become more religious. I disagree with their method though, I think it is something that can only happen organically and I sure hope that in the times of moshiach everyone will not be either Chabad or Aish. I think pluralism is a more feasible option.
It definitely works, and the more I travel, the more I see it working successfully. I saw it at the Mission Minyan and I saw it on Shavuot. On Shavuot, the entire Jewish community of Berkeley got together and had a unified Tikkun Leil Shavuot where rabbis and scholars of every denomination were giving lectures or programs throughout the night. It was a beautiful thing and someone said it's the only place in the world where that happens. Obviously, not everyone in that room would agree on a utopian vision of society, but I think that working together and having dialogue with each other is better than trying to convince everyone else that your way is right. I don't think that there's one type of Judaism that right. I don't even think my way is right (whatever that way is). Just as Judaism was meant to grow with the times, so will we continue to do so in the future, and the eventual Zion will consist of a society that is greater than any that exist today.
Amen Selah!

Thank G-d it's only Dershowitz we're up against

I just started started working at Tikkun magazine today. Woo!
I had a nice day talking to Rabbi Lerner and meeting the staff. My job for the day was to read his book, Healing Israel/Palestine, all day. It was awesome. It would be even awesomer if I was getting paid to read, but hey, I'm happy where I am.
To be honest, I'm kinda star-struck around Rabbi Lerner. Just look at the size of his wikipedia article!
Anyways, Jen sent me an interesting debate between him and Alan Dershowitz about whether or not people who are critical of Israel are labeled as antisemitic. Dershowitz is a veteran debater and an asshole. He doesn't let Rabbi Lerner speak! And he says, "Find me one leader who labels criticizers of Israel as antisemitic and I will give them a reward." Ok, I agree with you that it would be hard to find a Jewish leader who is so outspoken about being an asshole (although I'm sure we could pin Abe Foxman for something) but its not the leaders who inhibit the possibility of a safe-space for critique, its the communities, the synagogues, the schools, etc. It is not one entity, it is a culture of repression.

But after I watched this debate, I happened upon another debate involving Alan Dershowitz that led me to see him in somewhat of a different light. It is a debate the happened in 1985 between Dershowitz and Rabbi Meir Kahana at Boston University.

It's suprising to see Dershowitz as the lefty. This is definitely a rare sight. It's possible that Dershowitz's views have changed in the past 23 years and that is why he seems like such a good guy, but its also possible that anyone would seem liberal standing next to such a scary figure. Dershowitz himself compares him (to his face) to Louis Farrakhan for the African-Americans or Yasser Arafat for the Palestinians. If I didn't know his stance on terrorism and his staunch support for AIPAC, I would think that Dershowitz is a hero. Certainly in this debate he was.
I feel privileged to have Dershowitz on the Jewish far right, and not a maniac like Kahane. Although I disagree with his views, Dershowitz doesn't scare me. I get angry when I even see pictures of Kahana let alone hear him speak about forced transfer of Palestinians.
Unfortunately, there are still guys who talk like him, but luckily they don't have the charisma or the public support to pose as much of a threat as Kahana did.

Add One to the List!

At some point I'm going to actually compile a list of my favorite rabbis that, in my opinion, are bringing Judaism into the new millennium in a progressive way that is in line with halachic Judaism.
Today's new addition is Rabbi Steven Greenberg AKA the first gay Orthodox rabbi.
When I came home from school, I found his book, Wrestling With G-d and Men, on my kitchen countertop. My sister had been writing a paper for school on homosexuality in the Jewish tradition. She got it from the Gann Academy library, her high school and my alma mater, which is the type of library that would likely carry that book. It's a pluralistic, liberal Jewish high school, that tries to teach the students every aspect of Judaism so that they can decide for themselves how they want to practice. It's partially responsible for my apostasy from Conservative Judaism into whatever I am now (Orthodox?). I'm not really sure what I consider myself. Labels are for jars.
In the first 15 pages of the book he's mentioned almost every organization that I love and that are on my "links" tab (on the left). He started off by talking about how he became Orthodox (which sounded somewhat similar to my experiences) and how he became interested in the liberal, more modern aspects of it which include egalitarianism (which literally means equal leadership), ahavat olam and ahavat yisrael: respect and dignity for all people no matter what they do, and what it means to change halacha. I recommend this book to anyone reading this blog, because if you find me interesting, you'll find him interesting.

links 5/11

Medinat Weimar - The movement for a Jewish state in Thuringia, Deutschland

Think Tank Aims To Infuse Jewish Mainstream With Dashes of Color - Be’Chol Lashon Conference in San Francisco

Boogie Down: Movement and Music in the Middle of Jerusalem - My favorite pluralistic/post-denominational dance party

Large Knit Kippas and Flowy Skirts Not Required: Neo-Soul Hippie Culture in Israel - Me in a nutshell. I'm facebook friends with multiple people interviewed in this article

Anarchists and Jewish Nationalists - I'm not done reading this yet but it's fascinating so far

Smoking Is Bad (with the exception of hookah, cloves, and pot)

Smoking is Bad

A Fascist Against Islamo-Fascism

Earlier this week this cartoon appeared in the student newspaper at the University of Madison - Milwaukee. It is a depiction of David Horowitz, a Jewish neocon who associates with that constituency for Jews who support Islamophobia. He's been traveling around the US, going to different universities and doing this Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week which is all about scaring people about the evils of political Islam and how it threatens the US. He's the kind of guy who would show Obsession every hour on the hour on Tisha B'Av (An Aish tactic) and call upon moderate Muslims to save their religion.
When David Horowitz came here, he caused a bit of a commotion (as was his plan, I'm sure). His donors paid for a page add in the Badger Herald calling out the MSA of being a Jihadist organization and coercing them to support him or else he would have them blacklisted. Of course, the MSA didn't support him and, in fact, they went to his talk and wore all green in solidarity. They didn't speak out in order to protest the event like the ISO did which I'm glad because I think disruption of free speech is a cowardly tactic. But anyways, Horowitz is exactly the kind of AIPAC-loving Jew that is screwing things up for American Judaism as well as Israel's image in America.
So he decided to come over to UW-M to have an Islamo-Fascism Week There, and this cartoon was distributed by the MSA. Apparently, the person who drew it is not part of the MSA, they just distributed it. But I think the cartoon is great, it's a great representation of David Horowitz. He loves to call out organizations as being fascist but his methods are so medieval: He blacklists, he promotes hate, and he's just an overall unpleasant guy. So when I saw this cartoon in the Badger Herald I thought it was so funny and I was in immediate support.
And, to make things even better, Horowitz's reaction to the cartoon perfectly exemplified his character. He flipped out and called it antisemitic, arguing that they gave him a hooknose so its obviously slander and wildly inappropriate. Couldn't have been more spot on, right? Of course he pulls the antisemitism card, making him the victim and the MSA the badguys. It's perfect. And his arguments are so funny too:

“Sure, it’s free speech. It’s just inappropriate for a campus. I don’t think the university should have banned it from being posted, but had that been a cartoon on blacks or gays, there would have been hell to pay — there should be one standard rule.”

What? I don't know if Horowitz has a hooknose or not, and in fact, I don't think it really matters. I just don't see how a critique over his political views has anything to do with being black or gay. No one said anything about his Judaism, and if we accept his argument by imagining the same cartoon where he is black or wearing a pink scarf, would that change anything about his caveman attitude?
Mohamad Elsayed, president of the MSA of UW-M summarizes Horowitz's whole demeanor very eloquently:

“In typical demagogic form, Horowitz tries to characterize the very legitimate and very justifiable attack against him as an attack on all Jews. How ludicrous.”

The Jewish community in Milwaukee really freaked out too and is in full support behind Horowitz, speaking out against antisemitism. I hate how the conservative Jewish communities go along with this propaganda, it's a chillul Hashem. Hopefully, my generation of progressive Jews and Muslims can work to get rid of this nonsense. Enshallah.

Bittersweetness - Is That Even A Word?

Happy Birthday Israel!

In the words of UPZ's official educational campaign, this day is bittersweet for me. For many reasons.
First of all, I'm sitting in College Library, procrastinating on my research paper on how Shabtai Tzvi's main theologians like Nathan of Gaza reinterpreted Lurianic Kabbalah in order to justify his conversion to Islam. It's a really fascinating topic and I thoroughly enjoyed doing the research for it, but writing it is getting fairly tedious and I plan on pulling an all-nighter which is not so money.
I'm also a little nervous for Hillel's Israel@60 celebration at Library Mall tomorrow. Originally, Kavanah: A Progressive Jewish Voice, my rockin' political student group, was planning on setting up a table to promote the "bittersweetness" of the day by handing out pamphlets on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the problem with settlements, information on peace organizations and the peace process in Israel, and bittersweet chocolates. That's all still happening, but now there's an added complication. Madison-Rafah, my favorite anti-Israel buddies, who I've blogged about before, are going to be protesting the event and it's really pissing me off. They just have such chutzpah, they're so inconsistent in their views, and they're just trying to be confrontational. Although they say on their site that it's going to be "educational rather than confrontational," I don't see how it could be anything other. They're going to a student event (by the way they are all adults) so that they can picket, chant, and disrupt the celebration. What are they trying to accomplish? If they were protesting Israel's policies or its right to exist, then they could go somewhere where they would actually be productive, like the Israeli consulate. If they didn't want any pro-Israel celebrations, then they would have protested the Jewish community's Israel@60 celebration the other day. Maybe they're just lazy.
Either way, they're coming and they are handing out flyers that are just ridiculous. One of them asks if a normal person would celebrate racial segregation in the U.S., South African apartheid, or the decimation and conquest of Native Americans, and the other is a list of all the Palestinian villages that were destroyed in Al-Nakba. Whatever. They can back any statistics they want even if they are skewed and deceptive, in fact, I think the plight of the Palestinians should absolutely be recognized on Yom Ha'atzmaut, I just don't see why they have to be such bullies about it. Have your own event. At least get students to protest this event. I think they just need their mommies.
This constituency in Madison really upsets me. They have a voice but they have no feet. They'll protest anything and march anywhere but when it comes to education and political advocacy, they do nothing. And knowing Hillel and the "I love Israel" crowd, it's going to be ugly. Only Kavanah can save this celebration and I hate this burden. Without Kavanah there would just be yelling. But the fact that we have a table and we're passing out critical information totally undermines Madison-Rafah's stance. They're coming in thinking that Hillel is blind to Israel's problems, but our presence proves them wrong. Therefore, since they can't argue that Hillel is painting a biased picture of Israel, their only argument that would differ from us is that Israel has no right to exist or that all Palestinians should have the right to return to Israel, and I think that most normal people see that as outrageous and uncompromisingly extremist.

On a different note, earlier tonight I went to an amazing lecture by Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, an Orthodox rabbi, president of CLAL, the National Jewish Center For Learning and Leadership, and a leading figure in interfaith dialogue who is promoting his book, You Don't Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right, about avoiding fanaticism. He's a great speaker with a ton of charisma, and he also has a really interesting story. When he became religious he did it through a yeshiva that promoted right wing politics as part of its theology. He didn't specify which one but I can assume it was Aish or Ohr Sameach. So he decided to move to Hebron to help support the fanatic settlers there - the worst of the worst. But after people from his community murdered two Palestinian students at the Islamic University of Hebron (in retaliation to people who had been killed in his own community) he began to question his choices and it eventually led him to move back to America and work in religious dialogue. It was a very powerful lecture and part of the LISAR conference. Unfortunately I was one of three students there. It's a shame that they scheduled this conference for the worst week of the semester. I shouldn't have even been there. I shouldn't even be writing this post right now, I still have nine pages left on this paper. Damn you, procrastination/distraction.

Schools of the Abayudaya

Smithsonian also released an awesome CD of Abayudaya music that won a Grammy apparently, and you can listen to it online.

I know, I keep somewhat cross-posting from Jewschool, but their articles are so good and I want to keep that dream alive. By the way, I got that internship at Tikkun magazine for the summer. Money! Actually, it's technically not money because I just found out that I'm not getting paid, but as long as I keep telling myself that it's an "investment for my future career," I feel better about myself.

Water - The Stuff of Life

"They call it 'Enhanced Interrogation.' We call it torture." -Amnesty International

I just had a beer and a cookie and I'm feeling great

מימונה שמחה
Happy Mimuna

A big religious-zionist rabbi in Israel is hoping to get rid of "gentiles striving to undermine the country" by coming out with a bill that will revoke non-Jews of their citizenship. They are also trying to give citizenship to Jews who are not even living in Israel.
The ultra-orthodox religious-zionist agenda has become to clear to me now. Just as Mea-She'arim is a community that tries to close itself off from the rest of the world, so too do the leaders want to close off Israel from the rest of the world, making it a national shtetl. What nudnikim.

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg (AKA Professor X) being interviewed by beliefnet about his book on Jewish-Christian relations. I love pluralism and I love Yitzy for loving pluralism too, especially when it involves meeting the Dali Lhama. He's one of my favorite (living) Orthodox rabbis. I should make a list of them one day.
Ok, fine... I'll start now:
Yitz Greenberg
Avi Weiss
Shaul Judelman
Aryeh Trugman
I'll add more later.

About two years ago, a Jewish 23 year old boy from France was captured, tortured, and held ransom by a group of anti-semetic animals, most of whom were Muslim. Now this is obviously a terrible act, and it should be known that I'm not posting this to be a right wing conservative, Kahanist, Honest Reporting, Islamophobic asshole, but because I stumbled upon a blog written by "an unapologetic liberal and a proud American Muslim" named Akram's Razor who covered this story and does a great job. It's really interesting to read this post from an eloquent, liberal, Western Muslim's point of view. He touches on the issue of anti-semetism in the Muslim world and I think its a topic that isn't dealt with enough from the inside. I get annoyed by Jews who call on "moderate Muslims" to take back the true message of Islam blah blah blah, but its reassuring to see it actually happening without some asshole like David Horowitz telling them what to do.

I also wanted to post this great article by the Forward about how progressives who are into social justice love Passover, even if they do go a little overboard with the seder plate sometimes.

Happy Passover!

!חג שמח

Happy Passover everyone!

link for 4/15

Moral Reprobates or Superstitious Lemmings?
For better or worse, I didn't have this kind of experience when I went to Mayanot, but I can definitely relate to where he's coming from.

Agnostic Bar Mitzvah

I found this on College Humor so it is obviously supposed to be funny, but I actually think it's really depressing. I think it is a serious critique of what has become of the more liberal sides of Judaism. I assume this is a Reform synagogue but I think that the same critique applies to Conservative as well.
There are two issues that I have with this dvar torah. The first issue that I have is the lack of knowledge that this young man has about what Judaism believes and that this ignorance has led him to come to these conclusions (or lack of conclusions) about G-d. I am not saying that there is no place for agnosticism in Judaism, in fact I believe that aspects of agnosticism, questioning, and skepticism are healthy and that they lead to progress within Jewish theology and philosophy. My critique is of the whole process of Bar and Bat Mitzvah within Unorthodoxy in America. This boy speaks very eloquently about his lack of faith in G-d and I think it is a very standard view among young American Jews, in fact I think he is very brave to say these things on the day of his Bar Mitzvah since most agnostic thirteen-year-olds just regurgitate what they think the congregation wants to hear. I know I did.
What makes me sad watching this video is that no one encouraged him to have faith and that there was no positive role-model of faith to guide him. His Bar Mitzvah was forced and he just went through the motions like most Bnai Mitzvah. It is true that I don't know the back story of this video and it is possible that he did have positive role models, maybe he is just an ardent atheist who is very grounded in his views about G-d. If this is true then my only critique is that he shouldn't be having a Bar Mitzvah at all because it is unfair to him. Rather, I can say with some certainty that his parents probably did not encourage him because they are most likely skeptics too, and his rabbi didn't encourage him because they probably barely know each other. I know this because this is the society that I grew up in and I know that it was true for me.
This leads me to my second issue with this video - that no one objected to this dvar (in fact it seems to have been encouraged) and that everyone in the congregation accepts it as a legitimate sermon; they are all laughing and enjoying it and in the end the rabbi even makes a joke about it. Of course, as much as I believe that this type of discourse should not be allowed in a synagogue setting, again, I am not saying that this is wrong. I am against censorship, I support this boy's agnosticism, and I am not trying to sound like the rigid Orthodox rabbi who only says, "no." Rather, I'm trying to point out that the problem is that this is not shocking to anyone, because there are very few people in the congregation who would disagree with him, it is only funny because no one every brings it up on the bimah of a synagogue.
This, to me, is the reality of Unorthodoxy. It seems so counter-intuitive that there would be a synagogue, a place of worship, filled with skeptics, agnostics, and potentially even atheists. Why go through the rituals if they are meaningless? If no one cares about the object of the tradition, why is there any need for the tradition at all? And what is the rabbi's role in this situation? I assume he is a man of faith because if he isn't that would just be silly. (Are there such things as agnostic rabbis?) His job should be to impart some type of love for G-d or appreciation of the teachings to a boy who is getting Bar Mitzvah'd. So did he fail with this one? If it can be considered a failure then I would say that almost all rabbis outside of Orthodoxy fail at this. I am sure that the lack of rapport between the boy and rabbi has to do with the size of the congregation, and that the boy probably never comes to synagogue. So then it leads into the issues of synagogue membership. Why do people pay dues when they only come out of guilt or adherence to tradition? Why do people care? Why do they lie to themselves?
I really feel so bad for this boy and I think that the majority of boys and girls in his position feel exactly the same way. It really shouldn't be this way. Halachicly, a Bar Mitzvah is a time where the boy or girl is now old enough so that the mitzvot that are incumbent on them become their responsibility and not their parents. So, halachicly, if a boy or girl doesn't want to do the mitzvot because they don't believe in them, they shouldn't become a Bar or Bat Mitzvah because it defeats the whole purpose. I guess I just don't understand the concept of a Bar Mitzvah within Reform Judaism (and Conservative now that they don't care about mitzvot anymore). If someone knows why, theologically, Reform Judaism (and soon to be Conservative Judaism also) continues to have Bnai Mitzvah if it is not about mitzvot anymore, please tell me. It is obviously not a coming-of-age ceremony because the kids are only thirteen. So what is the point?

Links for 4/9

Hipster Antisemitism @ Zeek

Why Social Justice Needs Religion

Obama Menace Dress-Up Doll

Why I Should Actually Be Asleep Right Now

Yeah, this is highly inappropriate, but I can't help but post it. David Wain is absolutely hilarious.




But Kristin Schaal is the winner of the night. She plays Mel in Flight of the Conchords, and she writes/stars in this show called Penelope: Princess of Pets where when she "becomes a woman" she learns how to talk to animals and has to save the world. It's genius.



Ok ok ok I'm going to sleep. Just one more though.