First Responders: Orthodox Jews

View of damage at Zaventem Airport in Brussels following a terrorist attack 

Another Kiddush HaShem. Sad, though, that it came through a horrific terrorist attack where 32 people died. From JTA:

(JTA) – Four haredi Orthodox paramedics from Antwerp who rushed to the main airport in Brussels following a terrorist attack there reportedly were among the first medical professionals on the scene.

The paramedics, who use motorcycles, are part of the Hatzolah emergency service that primarily serves the 12,000 haredi Jews living in the Jewish Quarter of Antwerp, the Gazet van Antwerpen daily reported Wednesday.

Certified ambulance service providers under Belgian law, the paramedics were able to reach the scene of the March 22 terrorist bombings at Zaventem Airport soon after the attack. The bombings there and at subway station in central Brussels about an hour later killed 32 people and wounded 300.

Hatzolah Chairman Samuel Markowitz told the daily he was the only Hatzolah volunteer who arrived at the scene in a car, with his treatment kit in the trunk. The other paramedics sped there on motorcycles and began treating the wounded immediately.

“The images I saw there, I will never forget,” Markowitz said, adding that the response was part of Hatzolah’s commitment to serving all Belgians, not just Jews.

“We didn’t know whether there were Jewish victims, we only knew they could use our help there,” he said.

While identification of all the dead may take weeks and require DNA testing, it is already known that at least three Jewish people were wounded in the attack.

Walter Benjamin, who was en route to be with his daughter in Israel, lost a leg in the attack. In addition, two seminary students from Antwerp were wounded. One is in a coma, according to the daily.

BDS? Really? Well... Boycott This!

Is this a country that should be boycotted? ...or divested from? ...or sanctioned?

 

Kiddush HaShem by a New Square Chasid

New Square Chasid, Heshy Gottdiener

I love featuring stories like this one from North Jersey:

Heshy Gottdiener had been on the Hudson River for about four hours Tuesday, just about a half-mile south of the George Washington Bridge, when he saw something drop from the span a little before 5 p.m.

It was an unseasonably warm and clear afternoon, but Gott­dien­er still couldn’t tell if the object that plunged into the frigid water was debris or something more horrific.

It was only when he saw the splashing, that Gottdiener realized a person had jumped — and survived. Screaming, he thrust a pair of binoculars into the hands of a companion while another person, Joseph Margaretten, dialed 911.

In a bizarre twist of fate, Gott­dien­er, a 36-year-old father of seven, was helping volunteers from the tightknit, ultra-Orthodox enclave of New Square, N.Y., search for the body of another jumper, David Ahronowitz, who leapt from the bridge on Jan. 22. Ahronowitz, 46, was the second person to jump from the span this year.

Gottdiener had just witnessed the third.

Gottdiener explained that the New Square community had hired two boats and a pair of divers to search for Ahronowitz’s body. “We know a person has to be buried in order that the soul should rest in peace,” he said.

Fortunately for the latest person to jump from the bridge, this group of Orthodox Jews and their helpers were about to perform a rare rescue.

Immediately, Scott Koen, the boat’s captain, shouted for the volunteers to haul the divers and their gear out of the water. Seconds later Koen waved off an NYPD helicopter, which had swooped down over the boat following the 911 call and had mistaken the divers for a rescue effort. Following Koen’s arm signals, the helicopter flew under the George Washington Bridge and hovered about 40 feet over the spot where Gott­dien­er had seen the splash, flashing its lights for the boat to hurry over.

Koen, 58, a volunteer firefighter from Rutherford, rushed to the bow of his boat and cut the anchor rope. As he sped toward the bridge he was sure this would be a recovery. Since 2009, only one person had survived the 200-foot plunge from the bridge; 95 people died. But as Koen got closer, “I could see there was an eighth of a face above water.” It was a woman lying on her back, kicking gently with her legs.

Miracle on the Hudson

Koen has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. During 30 years as a “river rat,” he said, he has been involved in 11 rescues. Koen just happened to be on the river in January 2009 when US Airways Flight 1549 landed on the Hudson. That time, he helped passengers off the plane using the dive ladder on the back of his boat, a 46-foot buoy tender called the Michael P. Murphy.

This time, Koen circled around the woman so that she could climb up the ladder and divers threw her a rope. Gottdiener said her eyes were wide open and she was screaming for help. The woman said that she couldn’t climb the ladder because her legs were broken. “She started to sink,” Koen said. “I just jumped in the water and supported her while I got a line under her arms.”

The divers and Orthodox volunteers pulled the woman onto the boat. Her left leg was badly broken just above the foot. They covered her with coats and blankets while a medic from New Square’s volunteer emergency medical service, Hatzolah, administered first aid.

The 25-year-old woman from Somerset County gave her name and date of birth. She told the men that she had left some clothes and belongings on the bridge. A Port Authority spokesman said later that her car was found on Fort Washington Avenue in Manhattan.

Koen knew that the closest dock was more than a mile away in Edgewater. After speaking with fire department officials from New York, he turned his boat toward a large rock on the Manhattan shoreline under the George Washington Bridge. Koen nosed his boat up against the rock and a fireboat pulled alongside. Firefighters boarded, strapped the woman to a body board and carried her over the rock to shore where police cars and ambulances were waiting to ferry her to Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital. A Port Authority spokesman said that the woman was suffering from trauma, but that she was conscious when she reached the hospital.

Suicide-proof walks

Suicides have become an increasing problem for the Port Authority, which runs the George Washington Bridge. A Port Authority spokesman said the agency is working to deter jumpers. It has put up signs every 250 feet along the bridge’s walkway encouraging people to call a suicide prevention line, and the Port Authority Police Department has stepped up foot patrols.

Yet suicides from the bridge are rising. Between 2005 and 2009, an average of five people jumped from the bridge each year. Over the past five years, an average of 15 people have died annually jumping from the bridge. Attempted suicides are rising too, from single digits 10 years ago, to dozens of people in each of the past few years.  Port Authority police said they intervened in 86 suicide attempts last year.

The Port Authority has spoken for at least a couple of years about installing a fence along both sides of the bridge to stop people from jumping. But the project, which is expected to cost between $35 million and $50 million, has not yet begun. The first suicide-proof sidewalk is scheduled to open in 2020.

Gottdiener said he is convinced that the woman would not have survived if he and his fellow volunteers hadn’t been searching for Ahronowitz’s body. “There were no other boats in the water at that time,” he said. “I never knew I am going to be in such a situation, literally helping to save someone’s life.”

Gottdiener will be back out on the water today and, if necessary, for days to come, looking for Ahronowitz’s body. Gottdiener said that the community won’t stop searching “until we find him.”

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.”

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.

 

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.

Open Letter to Open Orthodoxy

By Rabbi Francis Nataf 

Rabbis Eichenstein and Lopatin what once was  - could once again be

The following article by Rabbi Francis Nataf appeared in the Times of Israel. It makes eminent sense to me. Despite my strong criticism of the movement, I never wanted them to be ousted from Orthodoxy. To the contrary, I practically begged them to stay. Unfortunately they have done nothing to allay my concerns – concerns which many of us in the ‘center’ have expressed many times. If they make these corrections they will be welcomed back with very open arms.  At least as far as I am concerned. And I think many others who share my concerns. His words follow.

While I have decided to maintain the public nature of this letter, I am pleased to report that it has already elicited a positive response by at least one of the main leaders to whom it is addressed. My hope is that its publication will help and not hurt the maintenance of unity in the Orthodox camp.

While I have decided to maintain the public nature of this letter, I am pleased to report that it has already elicited a positive response by at least one of the main leaders to whom it is addressed. My hope is that its publication will help and not hurt the maintenance of unity in the Orthodox camp.

In a recent essay, I wrote about what I admire in Open Orthodoxy (I have since learned that is a label that some of its leaders would prefer to no longer use). No matter what happens in the future, I will continue to admire these points and many others.

It is precisely because of my admiration for — and sometimes even identification with — Open Orthodoxy that I write this letter. I think you should already know that when the critique is coming from people like Rabbi Shmuel Goldin and Prof. David Berger, it may be time to listen. Besides long being identified with the liberal wing of Modern Orthodoxy, both men have been known for their thoughtfulness, intellect and sensitivity. At the risk of redundancy, I will add my name to those who feel it is time for Open Orthodoxy to take stock of where it is, not just as a favor to us, but — more importantly — as a favor to itself.

Much of what passes for critique these days is just self-serving harangue and rabble-rousing. No doubt, Open Orthodoxy is tired of having to deal with so much of that since its inception. And it could be that after getting so much unfair criticism, it has become immune to all criticism, even when it is in place. Yet our tradition tells us quite clearly that the wise man loves critique. Difficult though it may be, I call upon you to realize that there are some very important questions now being raised by those who think of themselves as your friends.

Indeed, accepting the critique of others is what kept many of Judaism’s most important movements within the pale, to the benefit of those offering the critique, as well as those accepting it. It is what kept the followers of Rambam from reducing all of Judaism to a metaphor for Greek philosophy. It is also what kept the early Kabbalists from turning into polytheists, substituting the sefirot for God Himself. More recently, it is what kept Hassidut from antinomianism and its turning away from the centrality of Torah study and observance. I need not point out that movements that rebuffed legitimate critique fared less well.

Rabbi Goldin raised the issue of method, Prof Berger of substance. To address the first, there are many — even within Open Orthodoxy — who have misgivings about the confrontational style adopted by several of its most prominent exponents. Personally speaking, I believe that much more is accomplished by those that seek a broader consensus for moderate change than those working for radical change within more narrow confines. 

But more immediately relevant is that if Open Orthodoxy cannot control its firebrands from burning bridges to the mainstream, it should not be surprised to wake up to a situation where these bridges no longer exist. In such a situation, it will have defined itself out of Orthodoxy on sociological grounds, if not necessarily on substantive ones.

Unfortunately, however, there are true substantive issues that threaten to pull us apart as well. Prof. Berger focuses on the authorship of the Torah and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah’s inability — or lack of desire — to provide clear red lines on what is probably (along with the nature of Halacha) Orthodox Judaism’s most important issue. 

To be fair, YCT President Rabbi Asher Lopatin endorsed the traditional understanding of revelation at Sinai. But, by the same token, he has — so far — refrained from placing any alternative as outside of Orthodoxy’s boundaries. This is not the place to go into the intricacies of this issue, which I and others have discussed in other forums. Suffice it to say that while Judaism’s red lines are intentionally fuzzy, there is no question that they exist. And one of the major items defining Orthodoxy as a movement has been its willingness to unapologetically proclaim and defend those boundaries.

There are other issues, but my point is not to create a laundry list of complaints. It is to simply say that it is time to listen.

I appreciate the desire to hold on to people on the religious and intellectual left. There has always been a tacit understanding that an individual need not follow every belief or law to have a place within the Orthodox community. Hence, all sectors of Orthodoxy would do well to continue to make room for those Jews who disagree with us and to do everything we can to make them feel welcome.

But there are limits. One of them is that the leadership, both in the yeshivot and in the synagogues, has always supported a series of public red lines that define the community’s contours. It is really not about defining others, it is about defining ourselves.

The point is that for Open Orthodoxy to be Orthodox, it cannot be open to everything. And though it may hurt some people by saying so, it will ultimately hurt many more if it does not.