Kiriat-Arba Which is Hevron

Kiriat-Arba Which is Hevron
By Rabbi Jacob Herber

I bought this land with water,

salty, briny and clinging

still to a trembling chin.

We haggled over its price

He made an offer, I a counter offer.

I can’t recall if our eyes ever met,

if he saw and knew my pain

but then again I knew only

my own pain,

my own sorrow.

We were adversaries of sorts

positioning, strategizing,

flanking and outflanking.

But in the end we succumbed

to a moment of

distilled rational agreement:

Four hundred shekels of silver.

But did we really know how high the price

would be paid for this spot?

Meet My Hartman RLI Cohort

We've now reached the midpoint of our RLI summer session.  Today 120 Rabbis who were participating in the Hartman Institute's annual Rabbinic Torah Seminar (RTS) departed for home. With the Machon all to our selves for the very first time my RLI colleagues and I decided to take a group photo. Many of you hear me talk about my teachers at The Shalom Hartman Institute and the unique Torah that I learn here. But aside from my friend and colleague, Rabbi David Cohen, you've never had an opportunity to see the other colleagues with whom and from whom I learn Torah.  The other Rabbis in my RlL cohort represent the best and brightest from the Conservative, Reconstructionist, Reform and Modern Orthodox streams of Judaism. Here they are . . .

Left to Right (Front Row: Rabbi Yossi Sapirman, Rabbi Yonaton Jaffe, Second Row: Rabbi David Weiss, Rabbi Steven Morgan, Rabbi Lionel Moses, Rabbi Susan Warshaw, Rabbi Amy Small, Rabbi Denis Eger, Rabbi Joshua Aronson, Rabbi David-Seth-Kirshner, Rabbi Shimon Brand, Second Row: Rabbi Michael Feshbach, Rabbi Stewart Vogel, Rabbi Debra Newman Kamin, Rabbi Ken Chazin, Rabbi Sid Helbraun, Rabbi Arnie Gluck, Rabbi Chava Koster, Back Row: Rabbi David Cohen, Rabbi Yonatan Cohen, Rabbi Uri Topolosky, Rabbi Eric Gurvis, Rabbi Laurie Phillips, Rabbi Micah Hyman, Rabbi Carnie Rose, Rosh Kehilla Dina Najman, Not Pictured: Rabbi William Gershon)

A Day of Hartman Torah and Jazz, Israeli Style

Today I spent an incredible day at the Hartman Institute studying Tanakh with Israel Knohl and Hasidut with Biti Roi. We brought the day to a close by attending a phenomenal concert with Jazz artist Daniel Zamir and famed Israeli singer Evyatar Banai, both are representative of an emerging group of Israeli singer/song writers who are fusing contemporary musical forms with Jewish religious themes. Daniel even threw in a d'var Torah between songs. only in Israel!

Eviatar Banai on Guitar and Daniel Zamir on Alto Sax

Alice Walker . . . Part II

My teacher, Rabbi, Dr. Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi, shared a compelling idea with me this morning. She pointed to the great irony that Alice Walker, a respected and admired advocate and champion of women's rights, chose to boycott a nation which has, objectively speaking, one of the best records when it comes to women's rights, especially among the other countries of the Middle East. On this score it seems that Alice is looking at the world through the looking glass.

Alice Walker Dishonors Her Own

Yesterday, as I sipped a cup of coffee at the Malha Mall in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Malha I thought about Alice Walker. 

What does enjoying one of my favorite beverages have in common with the author of The Color Purple you ask? Walker recently refused an Israeli publisher's request to translate her famous book into Hebrew because she claims that Israel is an apartheid state just like South Africa under its former Afrikaner regime, a racist country akin to America's once Jim Crow South. Her claims are of course outlandish and false. We can point to the current Israeli Arab who serves on Israel's Supreme Court and follows in the footsteps of previous Israeli Arabs, the Israeli Arab parties that serve in the Israeli Kenesset, the Israeli Arabs who have equal access to and attend Israel's colleges and universities just like their Israeli Jewish counterparts. These are just a few of the many realities that make Walker's claims, like those of her fellow BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) colleagues - among them Annie Lennox, Elvis Costello, John Waters, Emma Thompson - sound ludicrous. The Palestinian/Israeli Arab family that sat down next to me at the Aroma Cafe as I enjoyed my coffee was further evidence that defied her ugly slander, one that seeks to de-ligitimize Israel's right to exist.

Alice Walker's latest stand has confirmed her bona fides as an Anti-Semite and a person who hates the State of Israel (Remember, Hebrew is the language of the Jewish People, not just of Israelis, and Walker who has championed the national liberation of just about every other ethnic/racial group in the world actively opposes Zionism, the Jewish People's own national liberation movement). The divide between Israelis and the Palestinians and its Arab citizens isn't racially based, it's political in nature; the consequence of war and the failure of two peoples to reach a political resolution of their conflict. Like other democracies around the world, Israel has failed when it comes to ensuring complete equality for its minority citizens and, like its sister democracies, it strives to do better. As a values nation it must do better. So one would think that Walker would also refuse to have her works translated into english, French, German, Swiss, Arabic and Turkish. 

But Walker hasn't just maligned us, she's done great harm and damage to the victims and survivors of South Africa's apartheid system and our own country's horrendous system of Jim Crow. To make the claim that Israel is like Apartheid South Africa and the Jim Crow South belittles the experience of and   the memory of the real victims of Apartheid and the state sponsored racial discrimination that once existed in America. Alice Walker has dishonored her own.

I wonder what she would think if she joined me for a cup of coffee at Malha or Mamilla Mall and watched Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs and Palestinians intermingling in the shops and cafes, and using the same water fountains and restrooms. I'll never know, because she's already closed her mind to anything other that contradicts her own prejudice.

There are Always Two Sides to a Story

The Washington Post's Dana Milbank leaves out some important details in his column entitled, "AIPAC Beats the Drums of War." (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/aipac-beats-the-drums-of-war/2012/03/05/gIQASVMZtR_story.html)

He cites the fact that AIPAC delegates like me "admired an armored personnel carrier, a surface-to-air missile and a model of an Israeli drone." These items showcased in the AIPAC Village - a central meeting area at the Policy Conference - all reflected the warlike atmosphere Milbank claims AIPAC was seeking to create.  According to him, these props were all understandable within the context of the speeches delivered by Senators Joe Lieberman, Mitch MCconnel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.


Here's what Milbank doesn't tell his readers.  The very measured speech delivered immediately after Mitch McConnel and before Prime Minister Netanyahu by Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also brought led all of to leap to our feet.  Here's what Milbank conviently ommits from his column:  that the armoured personnel carrier we all "admired" (http://www.military-today.com/apc/maxxpro_mrap.htm) was developed by the U.S. Manufacturer, Navistar International, and an Israeli company called Plasan.  It's purpose is to protect troops, like the U. S. troops currently serving our country in Afganistan from being killed and maimed by IEDs.  That model drone we oood and ahhd is just like the hundreds of drones that President Obama has ordered be used against terrorists operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  For some reason, Milbank forgets to mention the new bandage technology that was on display highlighting the kind of cutting edge Israeli technology that saves lives.  That same technology was what saved former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords when she was shot in Arizona.  Had that bandage technology not been available she would have bled out and died on the spot.  


Milbank's broadside against AIPAC and pro-Israel advocates (Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Jews and non-Jews) like me who believe in a strong relationship between the U.S. and Israel and in protecting the security of both nations reminds me of the wise adage: "There are always two sides to a story."  In the interest of fairness, I thought I'd give you the other side of a very one sided account.

Kobi Oz, Beit Shemesh and Rabbi Pappenheim (The Sequel)

In my last post I ("Kobi Oz, Beit Shemesh and Rav Amsalem") I wrote about Rav Amsalem - a bright light in the Haredi world - who represents a potential, constructive force for positive change in Israel vis-a-vis the divide between the Haredim and the rest of Israeli society.  I also mentioned Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim, (a scion of the Edah Haredit (Israel’s largest Haredi community which is also anti-Zionist) who began a dialogue with the Da’at Leumi (Modern Orthodox, Zionist) community of Beit Shemesh in the wake of the conflict that has racked the city).  Like Rav Amsalem, Rabbi Pappenheim is a significant player in the Haredi world who is at the forefront of an almost singular effort within that community to build a bridge of understanding between Israel's Modern Orthodox and Haredim communities.

The Entrance to Beit Shemesh (Photo Credit: Rabbi Jacob Herber)

Just this morning I, along with other members of my Hartman RLI cohort received troubling and tragic news about Rabbi Pappenheim from my colleague and friend, Rabbi David Seth Kirshner.  Rabbi Kirshner, a member of our RLI class was with us when we all visited Beit Shemesh earlier this month, including our meeting with Rabbi Pappenheim.  Here is Rabbi Kirshner's email:

Hevreh,

I pen this note from inside the girls school in bet shemesh we visited a few weeks ago. I'm on a (fantastic and inspiring) jfna rabbinic mission to Budapest and Israel.

I learned on this trip that rabbi Pappenheim, the member of Toldot Aharon that courageously met with our group an offered some moderate conversation, was recently attacked and severely beaten by other members of Toldot Aharon. He was spat on and kicked and called a shaygetz. Hence, he is not meeting with this group. This is bothersome and a "big deal" on a few levels, namely that the Pappenheim name is one of royalty in the Toldot Aharon world and this sanctioned attack is frightening to the notion of the possibility of moderate conversation in the future.

Clearly the "mafia" style behavior continues here.

Regards to all from Israel.

Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner

Sent from my iPhone us

Rabbi Pappenheim Speaks To Hartman RLI Cohort in Beit Shemesh (Photo Credit: Rabbi Jacob Herber)

Rabbi Kirshner's conclusion is sadly too true.  I am desperately waiting for the fulfillment of Kobi Oz's vision:

“Tolerance is bubbling beneath the surface.  Look how people are bit by bit leaving behind the tension and in the end just want to be united in this great synagogue called the Land of Israel.”

It will only come to fruition when the vast majority of Haredim join with true leaders and visionaries like Rav Amsalem and Rabbi Pappenheim and when they stand up these thugs and the rabbis who indoctrinate them and send them on their missions of hate and destruction

Kobi Oz, Beit Shemesh, and Rav Amsalem

Last Shabbat (Shabbat Yitro) I taught and led a discussion about Kobi Oz's beatiful song entitled, "Elohay."  (You can hear the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUFWuEcykSg).  After my visit earlier this month to Beit Shemesh where I and other members of my Hartman RLI cohort met with some of the parents of the girls who attend the Modern Orthodox Bnot Orot elementary school (including Hadassah Margolis, the mother of Na'ama, the eight year-old girl who was spat upon by a Haredi man as she walked to school) and later with Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim, (a scion of the Edah Haredit (Israel’s largest Haredi community which is also anti-Zionist) who began a dialogue with the Da’at Leumi (Modern Orthodox, Zionist) community of Beit Shemesh in the wake of the conflict that has racked the city), I questioned whether Kobi is correct to claim that:

“Tolerance is bubbling beneath the surface.  Look how people are bit by bit leaving behind the tension and in the end just want to be united in this great synagogue called the Land of Israel.”

Kobi’s perspective is that there is a movement afoot in Israeli society for national unity between Jews of all denominations: secular, Reform, Masorti (Conservative), Da'at Leumi (Modern Orthodox), traditional and Haredi. 

The following video demonstrates the grave and great challenge that Israeli society faces vis-à-vis the Haredim.  My hope and prayer is that Rav Amsalem, a Haredi rabbi for whom I have the greatest admiration and respect, will lead a revolution that will restore some sense of moderation among the Haredim.  Alas, given the response from his former political party, Shas, I won’t be holding my breath.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TmbnDls3C8&feature=youtu.be