Thursday, January 28, 2016

Thank You, Mr. President

President Barack Obama at Yad Vashem
This is why I believe that the President is a friend of the Jewish people. Cynics might say that he is not sincere. That he has gone to the Israeli Embassy in Washington (the first American President to do so) to speak on Holocaust Remembrance Day as a PR stunt. to try to ingratiate himself to Jewish citizens after his controversial nuclear agreement with Iran. An agreement that I opposed. And that Israeli Prime Minister lobbied so hard to defeat. 

But I disagree. I believe he in sincere in his friendship. I am not going to get into all the indicators that lead me in that direction. But I will publish in full a Forward article about his remarks that evening at the embassy. I believe it more than demonstrates his friendship to us. It follows.

Anti-Semitism is on the rise worldwide, and the United States must lead the fight against it, President Barack Obama said in remarks at the Israeli embassy.

“Here, tonight, we must confront the reality that around the world, anti-Semitism is on the rise,” Obama said Wednesday at a ceremony marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“We cannot deny it,” he said. “When we see some Jews leaving major European cities — where their families have lived for generations — because they no longer feel safe; when Jewish centers are targeted from Mumbai to Overland Park, Kansas; when swastikas appear on college campuses — when we see all that and more, we must not be silent.”

Obama said that he has made fighting global anti-Semitism a priority, and cited Hungary as a case where the United States made it clear that the failure to address anti-Jewish bias would impede strong bilateral relations.

“It’s why, when a statue of an anti-Semitic leader from World War II was planned in Hungary, we led the charge to convince their government to reverse course,” he said. “This was not a side note to our relations with Hungary, this was central to maintaining a good relationship with the United States, and we let them know.”

Obama also addressed criticism of Israel that veers into anti-Semitism. “It’s why, when voices around the world veer from criticism of a particular Israeli policy to an unjust denial of Israel’s right to exist, when Israel faces terrorism, we stand up forcefully and proudly in defense of our ally, in defense of our friend, in defense of the Jewish State of Israel,” he said.

The president cast anti-Semitism as a manifestation of intolerance that afflict other minorities, and praised Israeli President Reuven Rivlin for combating anti-Arab bias in Israel – notably, because Rivlin has chided Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not doing enough in that arena.

Learning from the past “means cultivating a habit of empathy, and recognizing ourselves in one another; to make common cause with the outsider, the minority, whether that minority is Christian or Jew, whether it is Hindu or Muslim, or a nonbeliever; whether that minority is native born or immigrant; whether they’re Israeli or Palestinian,” Obama said.

He appeared at one point to allude to the candidacy of real estate magnate Donald Trump, leading in the polls among Republicans, and who has called for sweeping actions against undocumented migrants and against Muslims.

“It means taking a stand against bigotry in all its forms, and rejecting our darkest impulses and guarding against tribalism as the only value in our communities and in our politics,” he said.

Obama’s appearance was unprecedented; no president has ever given a speech at the embassy, something Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer noted in his remarks. Both governments have endeavored in recent months to overcome bad blood created by last years’ Iran nuclear deal, which Israel opposed, and the failure of the Obama administration’s efforts to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Netanyahu delivered brief remarks via a video recording, thanking Obama for speaking at the embassy, and for advancing talks on extending and expanding U.S. defense assistance to Israel.
The event, co-hosted by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, included the formal recognition of four people as righteous among the nations for the rescue of Jews during the Holocaust.

They were Roddie Edmonds, a U.S. army sergeant who while being held captive in a German prisoner of war camp, refused orders from a German commander to identify Jewish POWs under his command; Lois Gunden, an American teacher in France who made the children’s home she ran a safe haven for Jewish children, and Walery and Maryla Zbijewski, a Polish couple who cared for a Jewish girl who had managed to flee with her mother from the Warsaw Ghetto.

Families of the rescuers and survivors they saved, and their descendants, attended. Obama in his speech picked up particularly on Edmonds declaration to the German commander, who was furious with Edmonds for not identifying the Jewish soldiers in his ranks: “We are all Jews,” Edmonds said.

Obama, alluding to Edmonds’ devout faith, said: “I cannot imagine a greater expression of Christianity than to say, I, too, am a Jew. Obama’s appearance was unprecedented; no president has ever given a speech at the embassy, something Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer noted in his remarks.

Both governments have endeavored in recent months to overcome bad blood created by last years’ Iran nuclear deal, which Israel opposed, and the failure of the Obama administration’s efforts to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Netanyahu delivered brief remarks via a video recording, thanking Obama for speaking at the embassy, and for advancing talks on extending and expanding U.S. defense assistance to Israel.

The event, co-hosted by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, included the formal recognition of four people as righteous among the nations for the rescue of Jews during the Holocaust.

They were Roddie Edmonds, a U.S. army sergeant who while being held captive in a German prisoner of war camp, refused orders from a German commander to identify Jewish POWs under his command; Lois Gunden, an American teacher in France who made the children’s home she ran a safe haven for Jewish children, and Walery and Maryla Zbijewski, a Polish couple who cared for a Jewish girl who had managed to flee with her mother from the Warsaw Ghetto.

Families of the rescuers and survivors they saved, and their descendants, attended. Obama in his speech picked up particularly on Edmonds declaration to the German commander, who was furious with Edmonds for not identifying the Jewish soldiers in his ranks: “We are all Jews,” Edmonds said. Obama, alluding to Edmonds’ devout faith, said: “I cannot imagine a greater expression of Christianity than to say, I, too, am a Jew.”

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

If I had $1,400,000,000...

.No I did not buy a lottery ticket. I spent the $2.00 on a delicious doughnut at Tel Aviv Bakery on Devon in West Rogers Park. And I have money left over. I think I'll put it in the Pushka. However if I find a ticket in the street... well, you never know. I will check the numbers to see if I won. Whats that? You don't think it's very likely to find a lottery ticket on the street? You're kidding - Right? Likely??? Well... it may not be likely. But it's possible. People lose things all the time.

Update
Did  not find a lottery ticket. So I didn't win anything. On the bright side, it didn't cost me anything either.

 

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Public Rebuke of Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn

The controversy over the release of a woman from her status as an Agunah has been the subject of the Daas Torah blog run by Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn for quite some time now. In virtually all of his posts on the subject he wasted no time besmirching the reputation of 2 respected Rabbis - elders in their 90s - for permitting that woman to re-marry. 

He and many other rabbis rejected outright the Heter (Halachic permission)  they used for her to remarry. Since she has remarried based on that Heter, Rabbi Eidensohn and the rabbis who rejected it characterize this couple as adulterers in the Halachic sense.

I am not here to dispute or support that Heter. But even assuming Rabbi Eidensohn is correct, the way he is handling this is beyond disgusting. His latest post has actually asserted that he will no longer publish any comments critical of him. Thus it will be Rabbi Eidensohn that has the last word. 

I responded nonetheless with the following:
You won't be publishing this, but I'm going to tell you anyway since you will in fact be reading it before you delete it.  
It is not your view about the halachic issues involved here that is in question. You may in fact be right. Indeed the consequences of those actions are serious. It is the way you handled it by besmirching the Chashuva Rabbonim whose views and actions you criticized. In doing this in such a public manner, you have lost your Chezkas Kashrus among so many of your former supporters - of which I counted myself as one. 
How sad it is for someone with your talent - and all the contributions you have made to Klal Yisroel in other areas - to have fallen so low. I cannot tell you how disappointed I am in you - someone I used to admire so much.  I'm actually thinking about publishing this comment on my blog so that my views will be known by more people than you. Because you deserve a public rebuke.