DOCSLIB.ORG

The Insidious Threats of Hunger and Poverty to Israel's Future

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Insidious Threats of Hunger and Poverty to Israel's Future 33/601 May 2003 Iyar 5763 www.shma.com Although poverty and hunger have grown rampantly, the devastation has — until very recently — been virtually ignored by the North American Jewish community. Why? And what can we do to tame the staggering wealth gaps in Israel and the United States that have resulted in colossal poverty and the cycles of shame and exasperation that it produces? The Insidious Threats of Hunger and Poverty to Israel’s Future Peter Edelman ecurity is the overriding concern in Israel today. as it does is amazing, but there are cracks and fissures Even if the recent reduction in suicide bomb- — some gaping. Sings continues, the Second Intifada is far from Researchers argue about whether Israel has the over. People justifiably fear largest gap between rich and for the future, especially be- poor of any developed nation, or cause the Israeli economy is is only second or third, after the now in crisis too, in part due The kinds of disparities United States and maybe the to the violence. United Kingdom. Arab citizens Nonetheless, Israel’s fu- that exist in both Israel of Israel — more than a million ture is clouded in other, less and the U.S. ... call into people — have a per capita in- headline-grabbing ways. As come that is half the national av- my friend, the Israeli political question the claim of both erage. But they are not the only scientist Yitzhak Galnoor puts group on the margins. Recent it, “I’m confident there will be societies that equality is a immigrants are disproportion- a government of Israel. I’m fundamental principle. ately poor, and too many among just not confident this will be those who came from North Af- the same Israel that our par- rica and western Asia 50 years ents fought to create.” ago have never been fully inte- The Israel of chalutzim and kibbutzim that I learned grated economically, especially those living in the about in Talmud Torah and religious school has van- Negev. ished. Israel is now five “nations” coexisting uneas- Exacerbating both the group divisions and the eco- ily, and poorly sharing power and the economic pie. nomic gaps is the continuing domination by the Ashkenazim, Mizrahim, Russians, the ultra-Orthodox, Ashkenazim of the economic and cultural life of the and Israeli Arabs all come from different places — country. Partly in response, many among the figuratively for sure and literally in most instances. It marginalized vote in ways that seem contrary to their sometimes seems unrealistic to hope that these five interests. Rejecting the Ashkenazi-dominated parties distinct entities might successfully coalesce as a ma- of the left, they keep choosing people who, in office, ture society. That the country remains as democratic ignore them — proof yet again that the psychology of INSIDE Peter Edelman: Insidious Threats ................................... 1 Nachum Ido: Leaving Poverty Behind ............................ 10 Jenny Cohen-Khallas: Penury and Hunger in Israel ..... 2 Sari Revkin: Bringing Justice & Righteousness to Life .... 11 Danny Pins: Employment Not Poverty ......................... 4 Robert Karp: NiSh’ma ....................................................... 12 Eitan Michaeli and H’ir Aldin Elbaz: Not Invisible ...... 5 Tony Castleman: Global Hunger: Causes and Actions ... 13 Eliezer David Jaffe: Wealth, Poverty, and the Vision .... 7 Mark E. Talisman: Hunger is a Challenge ....................... 15 Daniel Gutwein: The Privatization Revolution ............. 9 Project Manna .................. www.SocialAction.com/manna Sh’ma • www.shma.com 1 To subscribe: (800) 237-0968 May 2003 • Iyar 5763 group identity can be a more powerful political mo- threaten the continuing capacity of the economy to tivator than economic self-interest. generate enough income to sustain a broad middle The combination of the Intifada, the conserva- class. Any hope of knitting together the five highly tive government it caused to be elected, the battered disparate groups that constitute today’s Israel de- economy, and the budget cuts that ensued have made pends at least in part on ensuring all an equal stake matters far worse. Unemployment is well over 10 in the country’s economy and social/civic structure percent. Benefits have been reduced rather than (and on progress toward a more open society, reli- improved. Child poverty has skyrocketed and is now giously, as well). more than 25 percent. Serious hunger — never a But the disparities faced by Arab Israelis raise fur- widely noted concern despite the poverty of some ther, even deeper questions, especially now. Fulfill- groups all along — is now visible and the subject of ing the promise of equality for all citizens should be public discussion. enough of a reason to end the discrimination and the Attitudes about minority groups — in particu- disparities. Now, however, there is an additional ur- lar, Arab citizens — are intertwined with the pov- gency. The grim joke among Arab Israelis is that the erty issues. Arab Israeli unemployment is 40 percent, Jewish democratic state is “democratic” for the Jews and the poverty rate is even higher. This poverty is and “Jewish” for the Arabs. Political equality — the entrenched from generation to generation because right to vote — means very little if one is consigned to of discrimination in multiple realms, especially dis- be a member of a permanent minority that not only crimination in spending on education, which leaves loses nearly every vote but also is the object of a con- Arab children with far less than half the spending tinuing pattern of governmental decisions that dis- per child than is available to Jewish children. criminate spectacularly again and again. Sooner or The reasons for taking action on poverty are the later, people are going to refuse to take it any more. same everywhere — it is a moral question as well as, That day will not be a good day for Israel. more instrumentally, a question about social stabil- If Israel wants to remain a democracy, it must act. ity and the future of the democracy. The kinds of The current position is untenable. Either social, politi- disparities that exist in both Israel and the United cal, and economic conditions will be made better, or States (where, for example, African-Americans and they will deteriorate. That is the current reality. Latinos are poor at three times the rate for whites, and Native American poverty is even higher) call into Peter Edelman, a Professor of Law at Georgetown question the claim of both societies that equality is a University Law Center, is President of the New Israel fundamental principle and, if they persist, can Fund. Penury and Hunger in Israel Jenny Cohen-Khallas ere is an example of the new Israeli pov- worked as a room cleaner in a newly opened five- erty. When Israelis see people like this, they star hotel. H say: “There but for the grace of God, go I.” In 2000 they were all fired because their re- Marina and Yvgeny came to Israel from Riga, Latvia, spective employment situations went bankrupt or in about 1994 with two adolescent children, as did were closed at a huge loss. They have mortgages Ethiopian Abonash, with her three children. or rent to pay and loans to repay for their Abonash’s husband died of dysentery on the long children’s upkeep and higher education fees. For march to the Jewish Agency camp in Addis Ababa, six months, their severance pay and unemploy- Ethiopia. I also want to introduce to you Masha, a ment benefits supported them. But, now at age doctor who couldn’t retrain in Israel, so she became 50, they are unemployable. Some sold their cars, an attendant paramedic in a tour company. Yvgeny CD players, televisions. Then they took a bridge retrained and became a computer Webmaster, join- loan. Then the children started working full time ing a successful software start-up company. Abonash to stay in university. Then they tried to sell the Sh’ma • www.shma.com 2 To subscribe: (800) 237-0968 May 2003 • Iyar 5763 house, but there’s a slump in the market and its size, demonstrating the public’s desire to fund nothing is selling. Then they stopped buying civil needs such as welfare, employment, and edu- meat during the week. Their credit is stopped, cation, instead of settlements and ultra-religious interest payments swell; suddenly there’s no ventures. food on the table and no money for medicine. Soup kitchens have mushroomed as the situa- And yet the open use of the words “poverty” tion in Israel gets worse. While some blame the and “hunger” arouses waves of discomfort and Intifada for the poverty, the underlying causes may sometimes indignation in Israel. Some Israelis are be more complicated. Israel was a world leader in shamed by it. Some say that we must lobby the the high-tech bubble. For 10 years a large percent- government to change its priorities. Some say that age of the Israeli work scene was devoted to train- poverty and hunger don’t exist — that it’s just the ing, offering employment in, and proliferating high- exploitation of long-term welfare dependents and tech services and environments. The bubble burst, the unemployed. But some say that it not only ex- and thousands became unemployed. Older work- ists but also threatens to overwhelm us. They note ers could not find alternative employment. that the government is over- In addition, the wave of burdened with defense ex- immigration that boosted penses and we, the citizens Israel’s population by over 20 of Israel, cannot stand by and The tremendous growth of percent in the early 1990s blame everybody else. (welfare) organizations... brought an abnormal, nega- Israel is no longer the tive socioeconomic balance, single-faceted ideological indicates the enormous the impact of which the gov- society it was in the 1950s increase of families where ernment had not foreseen.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Arguing with God: a Rhetorical Analysis of 'The God Debates'
    MPC MAJOR RESEARCH PAPER Arguing with God: A Rhetorical Analysis of ‘The God Debates’ VIN HENEY 500467928 Supervisor: Dr. Jean Mason The Major Research Paper is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Professional Communication Ryerson University Toronto, Ontario, Canada July 18, 2012 ARGUING WITH GOD ii ARGUING WITH GOD AUTHOR'S DECLARATION FOR ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF A MAJOR RESEARCH PAPER I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this Major Research Paper and the accompanying Research Poster. This is a true copy of the MRP and the research poster, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I authorize Ryerson University to lend this major research paper and/or poster to other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I further authorize Ryerson University to reproduce this MRP and/or poster by photocopying or by other means, in total or in part, at the request of other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I understand that my MRP and/or my MRP research poster may be made electronically available to the public. iii ARGUING WITH GOD ABSTRACT Recently published pro-atheist Books By Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens have reignited the age-old debate aBout the existence of God. Many pro-faith Books have Been written in response. The deliberations Between theists and atheists have moved Beyond the written word and onto the PuBlic deBate Platform. The Present PaPer oBserves three such ‘God deBates’ through the theoretical lens of rhetoric. Using a modified grounded theory approach, and Borrowing from literature concerning PuBlic deBates and religious rhetoric, a number of rhetorical strategies are identified.
    [Show full text]
  • A Very Narrow Bridge
    Rabbi Jay TelRav Yom Kippur Sermon 5780 A Very Narrow Bridge Earlier this year, my wife and I took our very first vacation without our children. Our son is coming up on his 9th birthday which gives you an idea how much we were looking forward to this. We planned the trip months ahead and decided on Barcelona. A city full of the things we craved like architecture and museums. We visited the masterpieces of the architect, Antoni Gaudi, and we went to the Picasso museum. We ate leisurely at a late hour and woke up calmly to sit in a cafe reading while drinking our espressos. It was the perfect escape from children! While we were taking our time in the Picasso museum, Julie decided to try to help me understand the work of the artist. We spent time on a series of works based on a masterpiece by Diego Velasquez called “Las Meninas”.1 While the original was classical renaissance style – very realistic, Picasso developed the characters and the setting using his own modernist style. He created hundreds of studies and developed each individual subject over and over again until he captured just what he was searching for. Each person in the original was still in the same location and the composition was the same but, beyond that, it was almost unrecognizable as a recreation of Las Meninas. Then, while we were talking about it, Julie said something that stuck with me. She said “Picasso is painting what he sees. He is not lying.” What an interesting way to think about the work of an artist.
    [Show full text]
  • Is Every Seder Kosher for Passover? A
    document, called “God’s Mercy Endures Forever: over should be to acknowledge cornmon roots in the Guidelines on the Presentation of Jews and Judaism in history of salvation. Any sense of ’restaging’ the Last Catholic Preaching.” Intended to implement locally the Supper of the Lord Jesus should be avoided. The rites implication of the 1985 Vatican Notes, the U.S. docu- of the Triduum (Holy Week) are the Church’s annual ment deals largely with problems presented for Catho- memorial of the events of Jesus’ dying and rising. chers by difficult passages in the New Testament. Seders arranged at or in cooperation with local syna- It does, however, offer two ”pastoralactivities” of note. gogues are encouraged (No.28). The first was that the victims of the Shah should be We live in a unique time in the long history of remembered in prayer and penitence “on the Sun Jewish-Christian relations, a time of renewed hope closest to YmhaShoah” each year, giving sample inter- and understanding. Christian liturgical tradition cessions for use in Sunday Mass. The second related to began as an offshoot of Jewish worship. Indeed, the Passover. It is short enough to repeat here in full: earliest Christians, who were primarily Jews, looked ”It is becoming familiar in many parishes and to their own Jewish liturgical traditions to celebrate Catholic homes to participate in a Passover Seder dur- what they believed happened in Jesus’ life, death ing Holy Week. This practice can have educational and resurrection. Christians acknowledge this (long and spiritual value. It is wrong, however, to ”bap- suppressed) Jewish heritage of their faith when they tize” the seder by ending it with New Testament read- participate in a Passover seder with faith and re- ings about the Last Supper or, worse, turn it into a spect for God’s People, the Jews, and turn toward prologue to the Eucharist.
    [Show full text]
  • Abraham Joshua Heschel and Theology After the Holocaust Matthew Ae Net Denison University
    Denison Journal of Religion Volume 1 Article 2 2001 Abraham Joshua Heschel and Theology after the Holocaust Matthew aE net Denison University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.denison.edu/religion Part of the Ethics in Religion Commons, and the Sociology of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Eanet, Matthew (2001) "Abraham Joshua Heschel and Theology after the Holocaust," Denison Journal of Religion: Vol. 1 , Article 2. Available at: http://digitalcommons.denison.edu/religion/vol1/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Denison Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Denison Journal of Religion by an authorized editor of Denison Digital Commons. THE DENISON JOURNAL OF RELIGION Eanet: Abraham Joshua Heschel and ITheology after the Holocaust Abraham Joshua Heschel and Theology after the Holocaust Matthew Eanet "Life in our time has been a nightmare for many of us, tranquility an interlude, happiness a fake. Who could breathe at a time when man was engaged in murdering the holy witness to God six million times?"1 hen Abraham Joshua Heschel entered the national spotlight as a pro- found religious thinker and strident social activist, he bore the garb W and look of an Eastern European Jew. A man of short stature, Rabbi Heschel looked the way religious Eastern European Jews have for hundreds of years: the traditional dark-colored suit with the white fringes of his prayer shawl hanging out beneath his sport coat, a skullcap hidden beneath a black full- brimmed hat, and a long, thick gray beard. An American leader, Heschel was, in every sense, a European Jew, steeped in the traditional Jewish communities of both Warsaw and Vilna.
    [Show full text]
  • From Israel's Perspective, Joe Biden Is As Good As It Gets—For A
    Selected articles concerning Israel, published weekly by Suburban Orthodox Toras Chaim’s (Baltimore) Israel Action Committee Edited by Jerry Appelbaum ( [email protected] ) | Founding editor: Sheldon J. Berman Z”L Issue 8 5 2 Volume 20 , Number 3 1 Parshias Re'eh | Shabbos Mevarchim August 15 , 20 20 From Israel’s Perspective, Joe Biden Is as Good as It Gets — for a Democrat By Shmuel Rosner nytimes.com August 9, 2020 And any vice - presidential pick is better than Susan election because we fear losing President Trump. For Rice. many reasons, he is seen by Israelis as one of the In the pile of old notebooks I saved from when I was friendliest leaders in the history of the United States - Israel covering American politics for an Israeli newspaper (and alliance. Israel is one of few countries in the world in when reporters still used a pad and pen), I found five which the pr esident is highly popular: A whopping 56 mentions of Joe Biden’s Israel story. percent of Israelis prefer Mr. Trump in the upcoming Most of them are from 2008 — first during the election, compared to 16 percent who support Mr. Biden. Democratic primary, when Mr. Biden was running against As far as Israelis are concerned, Mr. Biden has two Barack Obama, and then the general election, when Mr. disadvantages. He is not Mr. Trump, and he is a Biden was running alongside Mr. Obama. I was cover ing Democr at. In other words, he is not the candidate they that election for the Tel Aviv - based Haaretz, and every support and he comes from the party many of them mention of Israel was of interest to me.
    [Show full text]
  • Pharoah Said No. You Won't Believe What God Did Next. | Huffpost
    Pharoah Said No. You Won't Believe What God Did Next. | HuffPost US EDITION THE BLOG 04/02/2015 05:49 pm ET | Updated Jun 02, 2015 Pharoah Said No. You Won’t Believe What God Did Next. By Marty Kaplan Once, at our Seder, our friend Ira gave a running commentary on the Haggadah, offering a scientific explanation for every miracle and wonder in the Exodus story. The parting of the Reed Sea was a meteorological event. The burning bush was a glowing carbonized acacia bramble above a volcanic vent. The ten plagues? Blood (1) was a red tide of toxic algae in the Nile, which forced millions of frogs (2) to move onto the land, but then they all died, and that brought the biting gnats (3) and flies (4), which spread a livestock epidemic (5), and a disease that made people’s skin erupt in boils (6).... Debunking is too harsh a word for what Ira was doing. He was a reconciler. He wasn’t anti-miracle; he was pro-reason. He wanted to make it more comfortable for secular Jews to be present at the Seder table, to explain how belief in the Divine wasn’t a requirement, how the story was really about human freedom, not God’s plan. To Ira, Passover was based on a true story made truer by obviating the need for supernatural intervention. Over brisket, we debated the historic accuracy of the Biblical account. If two million Jews wandered Sinai for 40 years, why hasn’t anyone ever dug up evidence of that? Why hasn’t a single hieroglyphic about the Exodus ever been found — wasn’t this as big a deal for the Egyptians as it was for the Israelites? This was a couple of years before Rabbi David Wolpe would set off a furor in Jewry, not just in Westwood, when he told 2,000 congregants in his Passover sermon that “the truth is that virtually every modern archeologist who has investigated the story of the Exodus, with very few exceptions, agrees that the way the Bible describes the Exodus is not the way it happened, if it happened at all.” But this shouldn’t matter, he said.
    [Show full text]
  • JPS B'nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary
    The Many Faces of JPS Top row: Gittel Hilibrand, Esq., board president; David Smith, Esq., board chair; Carol Hupping, former managing editor; and David Lerman, board past president Middle row: Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz, director; Dr. Ruth Calderon, author; and Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson, Temple Emanu-El of New York | Dr. Lawrence H. Schiffman, co-editor Bottom row: Rabbi Arthur Green and Rabbi David Ellenson, authors | Joy Weinberg, managing editor; Dr. Malka Simkovich, author To make a tax-deductible donation to JPS or to inquire about supporting a program or a book publication, please contact director Rabbi Barry Schwartz at 215-832-0607 or [email protected] or visit jps.org. Are you building a Jewish home library? Look for the yad symbol for JPS recommendations New JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary RABBI JEFFREY K. SALKIN A pivotal book for teens For too many Jewish young people, bar/bat mitz- vah has been the beginning of the end of their Jewish journeys. When students perceive the Torah as incomprehensible or irrelevant, many form the false impression that Judaism has noth- ing to say to them. Enter the game-changer: The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary shows teens in their own language how Torah addresses the issues in their world. The conversational tone is inviting and dignified, concise and substantial, direct and informative. The narrative summaries, “big” ideas, model divrei Torah, haftarot commentaries, and discussion questions will engage teens in studying the Torah and haftarot, in writing divrei Torah, and continuing to learn Torah throughout their lives—making it the book every rabbi, can- tor, parent, and tutor will also want to have.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Parshat Shemot: a Rabbi and an Atheist Walk Into a Synagogue…
    Parshat Shemot: A rabbi and an atheist walk into a synagogue… – Faith in God vs. knowledge of God While perusing the internet for a funny "a rabbi, an atheist, and a priest walk into a bar" joke with which to open this sermon, I came across a few atheist jokes—some better than others. One touches on the denial of God's existence: "Why can’t atheists solve exponential equations? Because they don’t believe in Higher Powers." Ouch. This one was a bit funnier. It deals with the need for empirical proof. "Why did the atheist cross the road? He thought there might be another side. But he wouldn’t believe it until he tested his hypothesis." Okay, I admit, not the best. I never did find that super-funny rabbi/atheist/priest joke I was looking for. But I think the two jokes—however painful they were to hear—do offer a nice segue into our topic this Shabbat: faith in God versus knowledge of God. 1. A modern debate And I will open with a real-life "a rabbi and an atheist walk into…" a synagogue episode—which took place on a cold November night back in 2007. Rabbi David Wolpe, the charismatic rabbi of the Conservative synagogue, Sinai Temple in LA, and Dr. Sam Harris, the acclaimed author of the atheist best-seller The End of Faith, engaged in a riveting back-and-forth on a topic for the ages: Does God exist? Everyone in the crowd could anticipate the speakers' bottom-line answer to this question already at the get-go.
    [Show full text]
  • Why Faith Matters
    A Supplement to The National Jewish Post & Opinion June 20, 2012 Focus on Healing 1 A FOCUS ON H EALING behind her eyelids – each time realizing Jewish that this is what death looks like. I didn’t Why Faith realize then what I know now – that I Educator was lucky to be able to view her death as a Matters natural process. Like waves in an outgoing tide, her life force was drawn away from us BY AMY HIRSHBERG LEDERMAN as her body relinquished resistance and BY RABBI DAVID WOLPE her soul found its way home. Witnessing death: Towards the end, I would get annoyed The act of caring when visitors came and acted like they A lesson in living knew what to do. “Turn up the music,” a My father’s father died when my father friend would counsel. “Try to make her was 11. His mother was a widow at 34, I sat beside her bed, watching her eat,” another would coach. Each person and he – an only child – bore much of his breathe. She looked so tiny, wrapped in meant well, but only those of us who grief alone. In accordance with traditional mounds of bedcovers, her head softly surrounded her daily could see that she practice of saying Kaddish for one year, he resting on an oversized pillow. She no no longer wanted to be drawn into the began to walk very early to synagogue longer recognized me, or so I was told by chaos of life. She had transitioned into a each morning to say prayers in his her caregivers, but that didn’t stop me place of existence that no longer beckoned father’s memory.
    [Show full text]
  • Torah Portion: Bo (Book of Exodus) “Darkness Unsettles Us. As Children
    Torah Portion: Bo (Book of Exodus) “Darkness unsettles us. As children we went to sleep with a small light on; as adults we prefer to come home to a dwelling not totally dark. We fear what we cannot see.” These words, penned by Professor Ismar Schorsch, give voice to the great human psychological mystery known as “night.” Rabbi David Wolpe points out, “In the Jewish tradition, the world began with night. Creation, conceived in darkness, moved on to light. Night is the original state out of which the cosmos in widening circles was born.” The ancient prophets encountered their godly visions in the night. God reveals to Abraham the future of the Jewish people in the night. The final three biblical plagues brought upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians - locusts, darkness, and the death of the firstborn - occur at night. It is not a far stretch to conclude faith in God is discovered in the night. Wolpe continues, “Human beings perceive God differently alone, at night. Night offers inwardness, aloneness. It is when the spirit, unable to forget itself by being lost in the day or distracted, must sleep or seek. It is the time to look for the God who waits within.” The liberation of the ancient Israelites from Egypt is dependent upon darkness and night. Night and darkness become a metaphor for the Israelites’ oppressive slavery. God is their light of salvation. Abraham Joshua Heschel so poignantly observed, “ God is not a hypothesis derived from logical assumptions, but an immediate insight, self-evident as light. God is not something to be sought in the darkness with the light of reason.
    [Show full text]
  • Tikkun Olam: Be Careful What You Ask For
    Tikkun Olam: Be Careful What You Ask For Mannie Gross (June, 2019) Background Some 15 years ago I began to hear the term tikkun olam used in Progressive Jewish statements. I was puzzled because I had no idea where this term originated, why was it considered “Jewish” or why especially Progressive Jews seemed to have adopted it. Worse for me was that it seemed to be used as a catch-all justification for anything Progressive Jews wanted to support. Why do you want to support protecting some endangered species? Ans – tikkun olam. Why do you oppose coal mining or wish to ban plastic straws or support so called illegal immigrants? Ans - tikkun olam. There was absolutely no fashionable cause that could not be justified by just saying “tikkun olam”. How convenient. But what do we recite every morning service? These are the obligations without measure, Which enhance our world … honouring one’s father and mother, engaging in deeds of compassion, arriving early for study, morning and evening, dealing graciously with guests, visiting the sick, providing for the wedding couple, accompanying the dead for burial, being devoted in prayer, making peace among people - and the study of Torah encompasses them all. Well it seems we need none of that anymore because tikkun olam supersedes the Torah. After all, if I can justify any action or cause by invoking tikkun olam, what need do I have for the Torah or for that matter all the rest of rabbinic law? It seems to me that the history of Jewish religious law, which has always changed to adapt to changing circumstances, describes a continuous struggle to derive those changed laws from the Torah.
    [Show full text]
  • Over the Summer, Rabbi David Wolpe, a Conservative Rabbi in Los
    Rabbi Andrea London Beth Emet The Free Synagogue Yom Kippur morning 2017/5778 Politics in the Pulpit Over the summer, Rabbi David Wolpe, a Conservative rabbi in Los Angeles, and Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, debated the merits of politics on the pulpit. Growing up as a Reform Jew, I took it for granted that political activity and Judaism go hand in hand. The Reform Movement has a political advocacy group in Washington D.C., the Religious Action Center, that educates Reform Jews on political issues and pending legislation, and mobilizes members of our movement to contact our legislators and make our opinions known. And my childhood rabbis—Rabbis Robert Marx and Arnold Jacob Wolf—embodied this social justice ethic. Robert Marx was one of the founders and visionaries of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs. For over 50 years, JCUA has been building coalitions with groups throughout the city of Chicago to fight injustice in many areas, including the workplace, housing, education, and policing. And Arnold Jacob Wolf was a well-known critic of the Vietnam war among many issues he championed. Rabbi Jacobs argues in his column: “Sermons that “speak up” on the great moral issues of our world and our lives may address politics and policy as a means of addressing such moral issues but they are not about politics. On the contrary, they are about our Jewish values; the values we teach and the values we pass on to our children; the values that have kept us together as a people for centuries.” (“Why my friend David Wolpe is wrong: A ‘politics free’ pulpit is an empty pulpit,” June 13, 2017, Jewish Journal) But Rabbi Wolpe challenged this Reform Movement dogma in his column when he asks: “What policies do you support on major questions that differ with what you would believe if you were not a religious Jew?” (“A response to my critics,” June 13, 2017, Jewish Journal) He challenges us to think how we might be using Torah to support political positions we already hold instead of allowing Torah to influence our views.
    [Show full text]