Romney in Jerusalem: Culture and Providence Led to Israel's Economic Success (Not Socialism)

In a speech in Jerusalem to rich donors, Mitt Romney disrespected the Palestinians and distorted the history of the State of Israel, according to our reading of a report from the AP. He insinuates that Israeli culture is superior to Palestinian culture, and that God loves Israel more than the Palestinians.

And he altogether forgets to mention that Israel began as an entirely socialist state and still runs its economy and society on strong socialist principles mixed together with vibrant free enterprise and capitalism.

It looks like Mitt perhaps was confused about the Israeli economy and the Palestinian people and might explain when he returns that he, "just had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get" by the Israeli officials that he met with.

Here is the start of the story:

JERUSALEM (AP) — Having publicly pledged a "solemn duty and moral imperative" to protect Israel, Mitt Romney told Jewish donors Monday that their culture is part of what has allowed them to be more economically successful than the nearby Palestinians. 

"As you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000 dollars, and compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality," the Republican presidential candidate told about 40 wealthy donors who breakfasted around a U-shaped table at the luxurious King David Hotel. 

The economic disparity between the Israelis and the Palestinians is actually much greater. Israel had a per capita gross domestic product of about $31,000 in 2011, while the West Bank and Gaza had a per capita GDP of just over $1,500, according to the World Bank...

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Update: Mittness Protection Program Dropped in Jerusalem

Update - WSJ reports that some reporters will be allowed at the Romney Jerusalem fundraiser. WSJ also reminds us that, "President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign was quick to note that Mr. Obama did not hold fundraisers on his visit to Israel as a candidate in 2008."

Original post:
CNN Politics Political Ticker reports that Romney will bar reporters from his Jerusalem fund raiser at the King David Hotel. They further report:

In response to the news, Obama campaign senior adviser David Axelrod tweeted, "After London debacle, Romney team re-institutes Mittness Protection Program. Now media will be barred from his Jerusalem fundraiser."

In another tweet, he added, "Is it because Sheldon Adelson, the SuperPac King, will be among the guests?"

The Times Magazine noted the irony of Mitt taking money back from Israel. Matt Bai wrote in the "One Page Magazine" section: "IT'S ALL KOSHER. By Matt Bai. American Jews send millions of dollars to Israel every year, but Mitt Romney will soon reverse the equation." It's $60,000 a plate to attend.

Note that it looks like the same rabbi hosted both candidates at the Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich.

He is known officially as the Rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Sites of Israel.

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The Annals of the Epitome of Bad Taste: The Causes of the Holocaust, Tisha B'Av and a 30% off Sale on Talmud Books - Lowest Price Ever!

In a Tisha B'Av email from Artscroll we find "The Antidote to the Destruction" containing the following incredibly crude theological insights (original typos included):

...The Ya’aros Devash maintains that jews were indifferent to the spiritual poverty of “outsiders.” Instead of reaching out to the spiritually famished, most Jews tended to “mind their own business” and feel no responsibility to bring Torah and mitzvos to their brethren. That is not what we normally call hatred, but in the truest sense it was extreme hatred, because no nation – especially our nation – can long thrive if it is morally and “culturally” empty. To the Jewish people, “culture” means Torah, and when people ignore the communal responsibility to disseminate its study, they are starving their brethren of spiritual nourishment. It is like feeding an entire nation on a tasty diet on saturated fats, sodium, and sugar.

On Tishah B’Av, as we mourn the loss of the Beis Hamikdash and long for the coming of Mashiach, let us also resolve to bring the Torah and the beauty of Jewiish tradition to our brethren wherever they are. Thanks to the generosity of friends and supporters like you, the Mesorah Heritage Foundation is your agent in doing so...

We understand none of these insights, starting from the use of "quotes", then on to the idea that Jews who "mind their own business" caused the destruction of the Temple, continuing with the comparison between "when people ignore the communal responsibility to disseminate its [i.e. Torah] study" and a "diet of saturated fats, sodium, and sugar".

And - oy vavoy - for the Mesorah Heritage Foundation to then to pat themselves on the back, and claim credit as "The Antidote to the Destruction" and as a finale to announce and "Amazing Special on Schottenstein Talmud Bavli, 30% off, Lowest price ever!"

Yes, in concluding the email, signers Rabbi Nosson Scherman and Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz thank us, "...thanks to you, the scholars and editors of the Foundation are making powerful inroads. Many people speak of a Torah revolution. The revolution is yours."

In what we consider the epitome of bad taste, Worst Theology Ever!, the email proposes to know the "causes" of tragedy and then that the Artscroll "revolution" is the remedy to the destruction of the Temple and the Holocaust. Revolution, no. Revolting theology, yes.

But of course in our time and place, bad taste in advertising is not a sin.  [hat tip to bernice]

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Is Michael Phelps Jewish?

No. Michael Phelps is not a Jew.

Phelps is the all-time Olympic medal winner with 19. Newsday reported on 7/31/2012:

Phelps swam into history with a lot of help from his friends, taking down the last major record that wasn't his alone. He took the anchor leg for the United States in a gold medal-winning performance of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay Tuesday night, earning the 19th Olympic medal of his brilliant career, and the 15th gold.

By winning 8 gold medals at the Olympics in 2008, Phelps eclipsed the record of 7 Olympic gold medals in a single Olympics, set by Mark Spitz in 1972 in Munich. Mark Spitz is considered to be one of the greatest Jewish athletes of all time. Spitz spoke about Phelps in an interview with ESPN.

The efforts of Jason Lezak, a Jewish swimmer on the American team, helped insure that Phelps would indeed win 8 gold medals in the 2008 Olympic games.

Michael Phelps was back in the spotlight in February 2008 because of the publication in News of the World of a photograph of him smoking marijuana.

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Our Comprehensive Book on the Origins of Jewish Prayers and Blessings

"God Bless You: The Origins of Jewish Prayers and Blessings" is our comprehensive Kindle book on the topic:

The origins of Jewish prayer in the first five centuries of the Common Era, known also as the epoch of early rabbinic Judaism, the time of the Mishnah and the Talmud, the era of the Tannaim and Amoraim, and the time of Jesus and early Christianity.

A detailed analysis of the textual evidence on the subject mainly from the books of the rabbis, the Mishnah, the Tosefta and the Talmud, that finds the seams of timelessness and recovers the outlines of the origins of the great prayers of the Jewish people.

Purchase your copy on Amazon today.

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Is Tisha B'Av Relevant?

Is Tisha B'Av relevant? No we do not think that the fast of Tisha B'Av is relevant anymore. We need a holiday from Tisha B'Av.

That day was for a long time a commemoration through fasting and prayer over the destroyed city of Jerusalem and the Temple. We've last visited Jerusalem in May of 2011 and can attest that the city is not desolate. It is without reservations, glorious.

Who then wants the bleak story to be told? Archetypally the "celebrity" archetype wants to keep recalling defeat, destruction and desolation, to spur team Jews on to fight the foes and to triumph at the end of time. That scheme may work for that archetype as long as the facts of reality do not fly smack in the face of the narrative. And when they do, what then? The narrative loses all of its force. We cannot imagine Jerusalem in ruins. Period. And indeed, why should we perpetuate an incendiary story of gloom and doom into a diametrically opposite positive world of building and creativity? The era of desolation has ended.

For at least twenty-five years, we've been lamenting the irony of lamenting over a city that is rebuilt. It's more rebuilt now -- way more -- than it was twenty five years ago. What do we do then about Tisha B'Av, the Jewish fast day of lament and mourning? Here is what we said those many years ago.

We wrote this op-ed for the Jerusalem Post in 1986 where we summed up many of our thoughts about Israel in our day, and of Jerusalem in particular. The article appeared in the Post on the day before Tisha B'Av:

I shall be fasting this week from sundown Wednesday until sundown Thursday. But this year, more than ever before, I feel silly mourning over the destruction of Jerusalem. I really do not know what to do when it comes time to listen to and to recite for myself the classical laments for the fast of Tisha B'Av.

Much of what we say about Jerusalem in the synagogue is just not true any more.

It is obvious to anyone and everyone that Jerusalem does not lay in ruins. On the contrary, this is my fourth extended visit to Jerusalem in the last seven years. [They say: your not in galut if you commute.] Over the last seven years I have watched as buildings spread out from the center of town to the new neighborhoods. Now Jerusalem sprawls across the hills of Judea, south and north from Gilo to Ramot and beyond.

On the ninth day of Av this year the observant Jews of Jerusalem will congregate in synagogues throughout the city to mourn and lament. What they say inside these halls will not reflect the reality immediately outside them.

And so this year I have resolved to add some few paragraphs for myself, silently, to my prayers. Then when I leave the synagogue and step out into the rebuilt city of our people, I will feel that I have been candid in my meditations and forthright in my worship. I shall say something like this:

"Jerusalem is not desolate. It stands glorious above our Land. Our capital looks down on the miracle of the modern state of our people, rebuilt by the sweat and labor of our brethren and sisters. A thousand settlements testify to our return and we our homeless no more.

"The inhabitants of Jerusalem are not homeless. Beautiful buildings abound. Apartments, condominiums, villas, large and small. Hotels and hostels, old and new. Whosoever wishes may come and live here. Whosoever is hungry shall find sustenance here.

"Enemies do not govern our land. The Kenesset building, the site of our self-government, stands at the center of our new metropolis, a vibrant testimony to our freedom. Independent and sovereign we struggle with each other, and with the states of the world, and somehow we manage to live in harmony among ourselves, and to survive in the swirling community of nations.

"Yes, the Temple was destroyed. But we have built other edifices in its stead. Long ago, in another age, our national center was taken from us by forces we could not resist. But now we have built new structures where we symbolize and express our spirit, our minds and our creative energies, and most of all, our freedom.

"A great synagogue and many more stand in our capital. They serve as the many beating hearts of our spiritual organs. In dozens of Yeshivot teachers build the religious minds of our youth. Schools abound. When school is in session, wherever you turn their are children on their way to classes from kindergartens to high schools, soaking up the knowledge of our world.

"A great Hebrew University answers to the essence of our wider educational appetites, right here in the capital of our nation. In its laboratories, classrooms and libraries, students try to unravel the mysteries of nature and society and strive to construct a new and better order.

"The Israel Museum, the Bezalel School, the Jerusalem Theater and other institutions small and large, cater to our cultural needs. In Jerusalem today we display our past and our present. We sing and dance and we mourn no more. We paint and draw and sculpt and adorn the urban hub of our people, the crown of our Land.

"As we watch, day-by-day, luxury hotels go up and up. Lush green gardens bloom before us. We repose in parks and swimming pools. We find our needs in supermarkets, bakeries, and department stores. And we indulge our extravagances in shops and markets, elegant restaurants and offbeat cafes.

"The city of Jerusalem has been rebuilt. Still, the work is never done. And the struggle will not end. But our city is not desolate. How can we mourn? We must, yes, we are obliged, indeed, it is the highest duty, for us to celebrate. For with God's help, but in accord with our own will and with our own hands we have raised Jerusalem beyond its highest heights. Never before in all of our history has this city attained such glory.

And so that is what I shall add as I conclude my lamentations on Tisha B'Av this year. I shall be cheerful this year, and I will not mourn. But I shall do so silently because this is my own private devotion. Will others join me?

In a public lecture in Minneapolis in October 1986 I read this editorial and expanded upon it:

The personal response I received to this article was enormous. More people read this than any other piece I have written and almost all agreed with its sentiments. Only a few Orthodox friends hesitated in their praise because they interpreted my words as a call to abolish Tisha B'Av. Not at all, I told them. And they had better be more careful in what they read lest they make a mistake in interpretation when they consult the shulchan aruch. More than a month later I am still hearing good words about my reflections on the rebuilding of our holy city.

I could say much more, though the Jerusalem Post is not the only forum for criticism and discussion of the impact of modern Israel on the future of Judaism.

I felt strongly and for the first time without equivocation that we in the galut do not adequately appreciate the achievements of those who built the modern state. Never, even in the greatest ages of our people's history, in the kingdoms of David and Solomon, after the rebuilding of the Temple by Ezra and Nehemiah, or in the era of Herod the Great, never did our people achieve so much in the building of our land. Israel today is a true marvel. Its streets and infrastructures in all of its settlements, its political system, and of course, its military might, make it one of the great countries in the world.

And this accomplishment is even greater in light of the destruction and devastation which preceded it in Jewish history. Yet does the average American Jew understand or appreciate the modern state? I often doubt it.

[edit and repost from 2007]

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Is Marissa Mayer Jewish?

Yes, the new CEO of Yahoo!, Marissa Mayer is a Jew.

Hat tip to our friend David who points out, "I find it interesting that Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and as of Monday, Yahoo!, are all run by Jews."

Bloomberg reported:

Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) said Marissa Mayer will become chief executive officer, appointing a vice president from competitor Google Inc. (GOOG) to stem user defections and market-share losses that have fueled three straight years of revenue declines at the biggest U.S. Web portal.

See a video interview of Marissa at the 92nd Street Y in NYC: Marissa Mayer on growing up in Wisconsin, getting hired at Google, and the origins of Adsense

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Times Op-Ed: Compassion is Good

We applaud the study of compassion, whether as part of theology, general religious studies or now as a subject of study in the social sciences.

In "Compassion Made Easy" DAVID DeSTENO wonders, "As a social psychologist interested in the emotions, I long wondered whether this spiritual understanding of compassion was also scientifically accurate."

His reflections begin,

ALL the major religions place great importance on compassion. Whether it’s the parable of the good Samaritan in Christianity, Judaism’s “13 attributes of compassion” or the Buddha’s statement that “loving kindness and compassion is all of our practice,” empathy with the suffering of others is seen as a special virtue that has the power to change the world. This idea is often articulated by the Dalai Lama, who argues that individual experiences of compassion radiate outward and increase harmony for all...

Some people are naturally predisposed towards compassion and some will never attain it. The middle group needs to work on compassion to change their lives.

Prayers are the main vehicles for this work. When recited with understanding and sensitivity the liturgies can elevate compassion within individuals for their own selves and within communities for the betterment of society.

In Judaism we do compassion-work every day and we escalate our compassion-prayers in certain seasons, festivals and fasts. Compassion is the core goal of our every major meditation.

The daily morning Tachanun prayers beseech God to bestow mercy on us (this translation taken from The Standard Prayer Book, tr. by Simeon Singer, [1915], at sacred-texts.com):

And he, being merciful, forgiveth iniquity and destroyeth not: yea, many a time he turneth his anger away and cloth not stir up all his wrath. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from us, O Lord: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve us. Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from amongst the nations, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. If thou shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. Not according to our sins wilt thou deal with us, nor requite us according to our iniquities. If our iniquities testify against us, work thou, O Lord, for thy name's sake. Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old. May the Lord answer us in the day of trouble, the name of the God of Jacob set us up on high. Save, Lord: may the King answer us on the day when we call. Our Father, our King, be gracious unto us and answer us, for we have no good works of our own; deal with us in charity for thy name's sake. Our Lord, our God, hearken to the voice of our supplications, and remember unto us the covenant of our fathers, and save us for thy name's sake. And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast made thee a name as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to all thy righteous acts, let thine anger and thy fury, I pray thee, be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain; because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are round about us. Now therefore, hearken, O our God, unto the prayer of thy servant and to his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.

Incline thine ear, O my God, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not lay our supplications before thee because of our righteous acts, but because of thine abundant mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not; for thine own sake, O my God, because thy city and thy people are called by thy name. O our Father, merciful Father, show us a sign for good, and gather our scattered ones from the four corners of the earth. Let all the nations perceive and know that thou art the Lord our God. And now, O Lord, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou art our potter, yea, we are all the work of thy hand. Save us for thy name's sake, our Rock, our King, and our Redeemer. Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine inheritance over to reproach, that the nations should make a by-word of them. Wherefore should they say among the peoples, Where is their God? We know that we have sinned, and there is none to stand up in our behalf; let thy great name stand for our defence in time of trouble. We know that we have no good works of our own; deal with us in charity for thy name's sake. As a father hath mercy upon his children, so, O Lord, have mercy upon us, and save us for thy name's sake. Have pity upon thy people; have mercy upon thine inheritance; spare, we pray thee, according to the abundance of thy tender mercies; be gracious unto us and answer us, for charity is thine, O Lord; thou doest wondrous things at all times.

Look, we beseech thee, and speedily have mercy upon thy people for thy name's sake in thine abundant mercies. O Lord our God, spare and be merciful; save the sheep of thy pasture; let not wrath rule over us, for our eyes are bent upon thee; save us for thy name's sake. Have mercy upon us for the sake of thy covenant; look, and answer us in time of trouble, for salvation is thine, O Lord. Our hope is in thee, O God of forgiveness. We beseech thee, forgive, O good and forgiving God, for thou art a gracious and merciful God and King.

We beseech thee, O gracious and merciful King, remember and give heed to the Covenant between the Pieces (with Abraham), and let the binding (upon the altar) of (Isaac) an only son appear before thee, to the welfare of Israel. Our Father, our King, be gracious unto us and answer us, for we are called by thy great name. Thou who doest wondrous things at all times, deal with us according to thy lovingkindness. O gracious and merciful Being, look, and answer us in time of trouble, for salvation is thine, O Lord. Our Father, our King, our Refuge, deal not with us according to the evil of our doings; remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; save us according to thy abundant goodness, and have pity upon us, we beseech thee, for we have no other God beside thee, our Rock. Forsake us not, O Lord bur God, be not far from us; for our soul is shrunken by reason of the sword and captivity and pestilence and plague, and of every trouble and sorrow. Deliver us, for we hope in thee; put us not to shame, O Lord our God; make thy countenance to shine upon us; remember unto us the covenant of our fathers, and save us for thy name's sake. Look upon our troubles, and hear the voice of our prayer, for thou hearest the prayer of every mouth.

Merciful and gracious God! Have mercy upon us and upon all thy works, for there is none like unto thee, O Lord our God. We beseech thee, forgive our transgressions, O our Father, our King, our Rock and our Redeemer, O living and everlasting God, mighty in strength, loving and good to all thy works; for thou art the Lord our God. O God, who art slow to anger and full of mercy, deal with us according to the abundance of thy tender mercies, and save us for thy name's sake. Hear our prayer, O our King, and deliver us from the hand of our enemies; hear our prayer, O our King, and deliver us from all trouble and sorrow. Thou art our Father, our King, and we are called by thy name; desert us not. Forsake us not, our Father, and cast us not off, O our Creator, and forget us not, O our Maker, for thou art a gracious and merciful God and King.

There is none gracious and merciful like thee, O Lord our God; there is none like thee, O God, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth. Save us in thine abundant mercies; from fierceness and rage deliver us. Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; look not unto our stubbornness and our wickedness and our sin. Turn from thy fierce anger, and repent of the evil against thy people. Remove from us the stroke of death, for thou art merciful, for such is thy way--showing lovingkindness freely throughout all generations. Spare thy people, O Lord, and deliver us from thy wrath, and remove from us the stroke of the plague, and harsh decrees, for thou art the Guardian of Israel. Unto thee, O Lord, belongeth righteousness, but unto us confusion of face. How may we complain? What can we say, what can we speak, or how can we justify ourselves? We will search our ways and try them, and turn again to thee; for thy right hand is stretched out to receive the penitent. Save, we beseech thee, O Lord; we beseech thee, O Lord, send prosperity. We beseech thee, O Lord, answer us on the day when we call. For thee, O Lord, we wait; for thee, O Lord, we hope; in thee, O Lord, we trust; be not silent, nor let us be oppressed; for the nations say, Their hope is lost. Let every knee and all that is lofty bow down to thee alone.

O thou, who openest thy hand to repentance, to receive transgressors and sinners--our soul is sore vexed through the greatness of our grief; forget us not for ever; arise and save us, for we trust in thee. Our Father, our King, though we be without righteousness and good deeds, remember unto us the covenant of our fathers, and the testimony we bear every day that the Lord is One. Look upon our affliction, for many are our griefs and the sorrows of our heart. Have pity upon us, O Lord, in the land of our captivity, and pour not out thy wrath upon us, for we are thy people, the children of thy covenant. O God, look upon our sunken glory among the nations, and the abomination in which we are held as of utter defilement. How long shall thy strength remain in captivity, and thy glory in the hand of the foe? Arouse thy might and thy zeal against thine enemies, that they may be put to shame and broken down in their might. O let not our travail seem little in thy sight. Let thy tender mercies speedily come to meet us in the day of our trouble; and if not for our sake, do it for thine own sake, and destroy not the remembrance of our remnant; but be gracious unto a people, who in constant love proclaim the unity of thy name twice every day, saying, Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One.

And David said unto Gad, I am troubled exceedingly; let us fall, I pray thee, into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are many; but let me not fall into the hand of man.

O thou who art merciful and gracious, I have sinned before thee. O Lord, full of mercy, have mercy upon me and receive my supplications.

Psalm vi.

O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. Be gracious unto me, O Lord; for I am withered away: O Lord, heal me; for my bones are troubled. My soul also is sore troubled: and thou, O Lord, how long? Return, O Lord, deliver my soul: save me for thy lovingkindness' sake. For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks? I am weary with my groaning; every night I make my bed to swim; I melt away my couch with my tears. Mine eye wasteth away because of grief it waxeth old because of all mine adversaries. Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer. All mine enemies shall be ashamed and sore troubled: they shall turn back, they shall be ashamed suddenly.

On Monday and Thursday Mornings the following is added. On other Weekdays, and in the Afternoon Service, continue "O Guardian of Israel,"

Reader and Cong.--O Lord God of Israel, turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of the evil against thy people.

Cong.--Look from heaven and see how we have become a scorn and a derision among the nations; we are accounted as sheep brought to the slaughter, to be slain and destroyed, or to be smitten and reproached.

Cong. and Reader.--Yet, despite all this, we have not forgotten thy name: we beseech thee, forget us not.

Cong.--Strangers say, There is no hope or expectancy for you. Be gracious unto a people that trust in thy name. O thou who art most pure, bring our salvation near. We are weary, and no rest is granted us. Let thy tender mercies subdue thine anger from us.

Cong. and Reader.--We beseech thee, turn from thy wrath, and have mercy upon the treasured people whom thou hast chosen.

Cong.--O Lord, spare us in thy tender mercies, and give us not into the hands of the cruel. Wherefore should the nations say, Where now is their God? For thine own sake deal kindly with us, and delay not.

Cong. and Reader.--We beseech thee, turn from thy wrath, and have mercy upon the treasured people whom thou hast chosen.

Cong.--Hear our voice, and be gracious, and forsake us not in the hand of our enemies to blot out our name; remember what thou hast sworn to our fathers, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven:--and now we are left a few out of many.

Cong. and Reader.--Yet, despite all this, we have not forgotten thy name: we beseech thee, forget us not.

Cong.--Help us, O God of our salvation, for the sake of the glory of thy name; and deliver us, and pardon our sins for thy name's sake.

Cong. and Reader.--O Lord God of Israel, turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of the evil against thy people.

O Guardian of Israel, guard the remnant of Israel, and suffer not Israel to perish, who say, Hear O Israel.

O Guardian of an only nation, guard the remnant of an only nation, and suffer not an only nation to perish, who proclaim the unity of thy name, saying, The Lord our God, the Lord is One.

O Guardian of a holy nation, guard the remnant of a holy nation, and suffer not a holy nation to perish, who thrice repeat the three-fold sanctification unto the Holy One.

O Thou who art propitiated by prayers for mercy, and art conciliated by supplications, be thou propitious and reconciled to an afflicted generation; for there is none that helpeth.

Our Father, our King, be gracious unto us, and answer us, for we have no good works of our own; deal with us in charity and lovingkindness, and save us.

As for us, we know not what to do; but our eyes are upon thee. Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old. Let thy lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us, according as we have waited for thee. Remember not against us the iniquities of our ancestors: let thy tender mercies speedily come to meet us; for we are brought very low. Be gracious unto us, O Lord, be gracious unto us; for we are sated to the full with contempt. In wrath remember to be merciful. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the sake of the glory of thy name; and deliver us, and pardon our sins, for thy name's sake.

You should note that the prayers above are said towards the end of the complex and composite morning service. The participant in the service turns at its conclusion to recite the Alenu prayer. That calls for a declaration of the triumph of God over idolatry. It speaks in a mode distinct from that voice which engenders compassion in the previous prayers such as the Tachanun.

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Free Sunday July 15 - Eleazar by Tzvee Zahavy

Free Sunday July 15. Eleazar: Rabbi, Priest, Patriarch. Amazon Kindle e-book edition.

Description: For anyone concerned with the formative period of rabbinic Judaism, the study of Rabbi Eleazar b. Azariah and his traditions is naturally important. He was prominent as a rabbi, a priest and a politician. According to rabbinic texts, Eleazar was a major figure among the rabbis at Yavneh in Israel in the second century C.E. Rabbinic literature speaks of Eleazar in more than two hundred places. One narrative describes that he was an important political figure at Yavneh and reports that he played a role in the events surrounding the deposition of Gamaliel II from the patriarchate. Many other traditions juxtapose his teachings with those of Aqiva, Eliezer, Joshua, and other major rabbis of the early era.

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Two Masterpieces

Moroni’s “Portrait of a Little Girl of the Redetti Family,” from around 1570
(Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Tzvee’s “Portrait of a Little Girl of the Zahavy Family,” from 2008

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Is Katie Homes Jewish?

No actress Katie Holmes is not a Jew. She was a Catholic, then a Scientologist and now, again, a Catholic, as the Examiner reports: Katie Holmes ditches Scientology, Tom Cruse; rejoins Catholic Church.

Wikipedia reports that she is quite Catholic, "Holmes was baptized a Roman Catholic and attended Christ the King Church in Toledo. She graduated from the all-female Notre Dame Academy (also her mother's alma mater), where Katie was a 4.0 student. At St. John's Jesuit, a nearby all-male high school, Holmes appeared in school musicals, playing a waitress in Hello, Dolly! and Lola in Damn Yankees."

She inches just a tad towards Jewish with these accomplishments, "She scored 1310 out of 1600 on her SAT and was accepted to Columbia University (and attended for a summer session); her father wanted her to be a doctor."

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More of Merkin’s Madoff Murky Money Matters

Businessweek reports news of Merkin’s Madoff money matters:

J. Ezra Merkin’s so-called feeder funds for Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme will pay investors $110 million, bringing total recoveries to more than $500 million.

The third cash payment by Merkin’s Ariel and Gabriel funds, which has been approved by a New York Supreme Court judge in Manhattan, will be delivered within about 10 business days, liquidator Bart M. Schwartz said in a statement dated today that was e-mailed to Bloomberg News. The payments are separate from the money recovered for Merkin’s former investors by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in a $410 million settlement of a state lawsuit against the investment adviser, Schwartz said.

The $500 million payback from the two Merkin funds may be the largest so far in the Madoff case, Schwartz has said. Irving Picard, who is liquidating the Madoff brokerage, has paid customers about $333 million since the fraud collapsed in December 2008.

More distributions to Ariel and Gabriel investors are coming, Schwartz said in the statement. While Madoff bought no securities, Ariel and Gabriel invested in other funds, including Cerberus Capital Management LP, with assets that Schwartz could sell to raise money for the payouts, according to court papers.

Merkin was originally sued by Andrew Cuomo, then New York’s attorney general, for allegedly steering $2.4 billion to Madoff in exchange for almost $500 million in fees. As a result of Madoff’s scheme, investors in four funds controlled by Merkin lost more than $1.2 billion, the attorney general’s office has said.

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DVD of the Talmudic Film "Footnote" by Joseph Cedar

Joseph Cedar's film Footnote explores the main definitions and contradictions of "Talmudic" living: the tensions between rivals, the relationships of humans to texts, the unquenchable thirst for the recognition of one's peers, and especially the unresolvable struggle of humor v. humorlessness.

The DVD is scheduled for release July 24, 2012.

The Times had a superb review for the film when it opened in New York. They have a nice short video interview at their site too.

Ego and Envy, So It Is Written
By KRISTIN HOHENADEL

THE world is full of unsung academics who toil all their lives in an obsessive quest for knowledge — and a reputation-making breakthrough in their chosen field — only to end up a footnote in someone else’s brilliant career.

Israel’s contender for this year’s foreign-language Academy Award was Joseph Cedar’s “Footnote,” a tragicomic tale of rival father-and-son Jewish scholars in the Talmud department of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. A universal story with an esoteric setting, the film was a box-office hit in Israel, winning that country’s version of an Oscar for best picture, and best screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie, which was an Oscar finalist, opens in New York on Friday.

“Israeli films have always struggled to find their connection to the larger Israel,” said the soft-spoken, serious-minded Mr. Cedar, the film’s writer and director, during a New York visit. “I come from a yeshiva background, so I studied the Talmud from a religious angle most of my life. No other culture has created a document so vast and so detailed that continues to be relevant. The text is the source of our culture. This film touches something that has to do with our identity.”

Born in Manhattan, Mr. Cedar moved to Israel with his family in 1973, when he was 5, but held onto his pitch-perfect English. He studied philosophy and the history of theater at Hebrew University, and filmmaking at New York University. “Footnote” is his fourth film. His previous movie, “Beaufort,” about Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon, was also an Oscar finalist.

“I’m used to speaking to journalists as an Israeli, and it always has a political side to it,” Mr. Cedar said. “This film got me off the hook a little bit in the sense that I’m not finding myself too much in the service of the Israeli foreign ministry.”

The idea for “Footnote” struck when Mr. Cedar received a call announcing that he had won an award that he mistakenly believed was meant for his father, Howard Cedar, a biochemist who teaches at Hebrew University and is a winner of the Israel Prize, his country’s highest honor. In the film a misunderstanding over which member of the family has been awarded the Israel Prize pits father against son, and ultimately each man against himself.

“Awards motivate, and they raise the bar,” Mr. Cedar said. “I can say with 100 percent certainty that without the Oscars American cinema wouldn’t be as good. But any kind of national prize causes its recipients to compromise something in their integrity. There’s no question that there’s a tax you pay when you’re willing to be embraced by the establishment. There’s an inherent contradiction. You’re proud of your achievement; you’re ashamed that you needed it. And I think it’s true for anyone standing on that podium. This has become a pretty big issue in my life. I’m investigating it.”

Mr. Cedar said he didn’t know much about the inner workings of his alma mater’s Talmud department, renowned for its uncompromising standards and eccentric characters, before he began looking for an academic field in which to set the story. But he became fascinated by the academics who devote their lives to studying the intricacies of the Talmud, a foundation of Jewish law and culture.

“A lot of these scholars start out with a lot of ambition, and over the years that ambition is chipped and chipped,” Mr. Cedar said. “Some of them have never published anything because they’re so terrified of making a mistake. It turns some of them into people who are very, very hard to live with, harsher than you see in the film. There are real people that live in this tension that is unbearable, and it has to do with their area of study, but it’s also a competitiveness that never gives them any satisfaction or fulfillment.”

Eliezer Shkolnik (played by Shlomo Bar Aba) is a taciturn and long-frustrated philologist who analyzes Talmudic manuscripts in exacting detail, laser focused on the paralyzing task of recreating an authentic master version of that ancient collection of recorded oral texts before attempting to decipher what it all means.

A rising star with a gift for schmooze, his son, Uriel (Lior Ashkenazi), writes bold, popular theoretical books, eclipsing Eliezer in honors and accolades, becoming a nemesis who represents a new world order that Eliezer reviles and loathes.

“The tradition of fierce argument over words, the tension of generations, the tension between what is oral and what is written, these are all very basic things that drive the Talmud,” Mr. Cedar said. “That’s what this film is about.”

Mr. Bar Aba, a household name in Israel who nonetheless hadn’t been in a film in 24 years, said by phone from Israel that he was hardly an obvious choice for the role of Eliezer, having skipped his Talmud classes in high school. Best known for his antic performance style — one of his signature characters is a wild horse — he said he is often described as an Israeli Robin Williams.

“When I invited my psychologist to see me onstage, she said I acted like a Jew with Germans aiming a gun at my head, telling me the second I stopped being funny, they would shoot,” Mr. Bar Aba said through a translator. “I was very surprised Joseph would approach me for such a quiet and introverted role.”

Mr. Cedar said he told Mr. Bar Aba that “this character is full of a murderous rage that can never come out,” adding, “It was his job as an actor to hold in that rage for the entire film.”

Meanwhile Mr. Ashkenazi didn’t seem to break a sweat. “Lior is a real leading man, he’s Cary Grant,” Mr. Cedar said. “Things come easily to him, so he doesn’t really have to prepare.”

Mr. Bar Aba said of his co-star: “He drove me crazy! One take and he went for a drink!”

Nevertheless Mr. Ashkenazi did have some guidance in preparing for his role from Moshe Halbertal, a professor of Jewish thought and philosophy at Hebrew University who also teaches at the New York University law school, and whose career trajectory bears a passing resemblance to Uriel’s (though he denies any resemblance to the character).

Did he ever imagine that anyone would want to make a movie about the Talmud department?

“No, no, I did not,” Mr. Halbertal said by phone from Jerusalem with a chuckle. “You need someone who can understand the larger potential of such particular drama. And the ongoing touch of irony in the movie gave it a genuine sense of proportion. I think part of the power of the movie is that it can speak simultaneously to insiders and observers.”

Mr. Halbertal said that he sensed among his peers, many of whom watched the film in a special screening for Hebrew University faculty, “a feeling that the film represented something deep about that world, that it brought to life serious issues and struggles, that having a life’s quest doesn’t isolate you from human vulnerabilities.”

After the screening a philologist from the Talmud department presented Mr. Cedar with a challenge: “He said, ‘I noticed I’m No. 4 in the credits, and it’s not alphabetical, so it must be by importance, and I just want to know, why is this guy more important than I am?’ ” Mr. Cedar recalled. “So I said, ‘You know there’s a third option: It can just be random.’ And his answer was, ‘Nothing is random.’ That’s how these people feel. It somehow made its way to the screen. It means something. It’s not random, and it’s our job to figure out why.”

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Walmart and Iran: Wipe Israel Off the Map

In 2003 we ordered a Genuine Gemstone Desk Globe from Walmart. It looked nice on the web site - just what we wanted for our office. When it came we found "Palestine" where "Israel" was supposed to be. We sent it back with a note, "I ordered a simple globe and got an insult. The globe has big letters for a non-existent country 'Palestine'. It has big letters for Jordan. It has no reference to Israel. It is disgraceful that Walmart would sell such an item."

In 2006, as we all know, the president of Iran said that Israel should be wiped off the map. At least that is what we thought. The Times ran a story which made us think, "Uh, oh. Here we go. Maybe he never said that." Well after much hemming and hawing and philology, the Times admitted. He said it.

Just How Far Did They Go, Those Words Against Israel? - New York Times:

By ETHAN BRONNER Published: June 11, 2006

EVER since he spoke at an anti-Zionism conference in Tehran last October, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has been known for one statement above all. As translated by news agencies at the time, it was that Israel 'should be wiped off the map.' Iran's nuclear program and sponsorship of militant Muslim groups are rarely mentioned without reference to the infamous map remark....

So did Iran's president call for Israel to be wiped off the map? It certainly seems so. Did that amount to a call for war? That remains an open question.

They had to put in that dig at the end. Anyway, seems clear that Walmart and Iran agree on this issue. [Repost from 2006.]

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VIDEO: Waves sweep Tyler Madoff out to sea in Hawaii

A tragic act of nature swept a New York boy out to sea. A high unexpected "freak set" of waves caught a group of young hikers off guard near the Captain Cook monument on the Big Island of Hawaii.

We visited there last year and spent two hours snorkeling in the cove near the monument. The seas were calm that day but they can get big and rough on other days. (And as far as we can tell, the victim of this terrible act of nature is not related to Bernie Madoff.)

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Times: Is Starbucks Kosher?

Yes, many items at Starbucks are kosher according to sources cited in the Times, "Blending a Strong Interest in Kosher Ingredients With a Taste for Starbucks Coffee" by Mark Oppenheimer.

The Times profiles Uri Ort who runs a web site on the topic at www.kosherstarbucks.com

...Mr. Ort helpfully marks all Starbucks products with either a green light or a red light. The Frappuccinos all get red lights. The Tazo teas, green lights. Hot chocolate, green light — but white hot chocolate, red light. The Vivanno smoothie? It depends on the flavor. Mocha drizzle on top — yes! Caramel drizzle, no.
Yes to whipped cream.

Mr. Ort is not the only macher in this game. Rabbi Sholem Fishbane, the kosher supervisor for the Chicago Rabbinical Council, spent more than two years stopping into Starbucks stores all over the world, researching his definitive 2011 document, “Guide to Starbucks Beverages.” “I’d say I visited 50-plus Starbucks,” Rabbi Fishbane said, calling from his vacation house in the Catskills. “It’s safe to say I’ve been to three-quarters of the states. I’ve been to Japan.”

Rabbi Fishbane’s paper is a thorough, painstaking document. For example, he discusses at length the Starbucks dishwasher, which uses 180-degree water — a reassuringly sanitary temperature, but bad for Starbucks’s kosher status, because it is considered hot enough to absorb nonkosher flavors into a pot.

And he gives permissible ratios for nonkosher ingredients in a kosher food: “Even though it is possible that a tiny bit of nonkosher grease might be on the rag used to wipe the steamer wands and that grease might end up in my steamed milk, the milk remains kosher because the volume of the milk is more than 60 times the volume of the grease.”

Rabbi Fishbane is a full-time kosher supervisor, and his Starbucks visits were just side trips on his travels. Mr. Ort, by contrast, is part of the Starbucks community — and, he says, a more reliable guide than even some of the professionals.

“The large certifying agencies, such as the Star-K and the Chicago Rabbinical Council, are far too quick to simply say beverages in Starbucks are not kosher,” Mr. Ort said. They are thus “keeping themselves safe while inconveniencing thousands of people, when in fact, according to Jewish law, many beverages are completely kosher.”...

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Free Sunday July 8: The Kindle Edition of "Whence and Wherefore: The Cosmological Destiny of Man Scientifically and Philosophically Considered" by Zev Zahavy

At Amazon.com -- Free this Sunday July 8 from Talmudic Books the Kindle Edition published June 1 in honor of Zev Zahavy's sheloshim, thirty days after his passing. This book was originally published by my dad in 1978.

Whence and Wherefore
The Cosmological Destiny of Man Scientifically and Philosophically Considered 
An Analysis Relating to "In the Centre of Immensities" by Sir Bernard Lovell

BY ZEV ZAHAVY

This important book explores the possibility that science and theology may harness their energies in a unified endeavor, and thereby assume a creative role of leadership in formulating a meaningful outlook for a bewildered, aimless society. A new power structure of science and theistic existentialism can serve to direct man along sensible paths of behavior, particularly since civilization now stands at a crossroads wherein the whole cosmological destiny of the human species appears to be at stake.

The analysis of the cosmic drama is offered in two sections. First, through a studious essay by the world-renowned astronomer Professor Sir Bernard Lovell, who directed the famous Jodrell Bank Astronomy Laboratories in Cheshire, England, there is presented an explicit elucidation of the cosmological problem. This comprehensive survey is then subjected to a thought-provoking transitional examination by Professor Zahavy, adding thereto an original, theistic existentialist exposition.

In the first section, titled "Whence," Professor Lovell's essay "In the Centre of Immensities" calls to mind the sterling idealism of Thomas Carlyle, and it is used as a springboard to consider such intriguing topics as: man's eternal quest; the birth of a star; the human menace to mankind; the origin and expanse of the known universe; mysterious quasars; zero radius at the beginning of time; and man's total involvement with the universe.

In the second section of the book, Professor Zahavy proceeds to probe Professor Lovell's masterful essay, and he endeavors an inquiry beyond its scope of content. The second section, "Wherefore," engages in a consideration of some aspects of science and theology; the paradox of modern science; the plight of the particular; the limitations of man and science; and the eight levels of human existence that offer an existentialist delineation of the human problem.

About the Author

Professor Zev Zahavy, Ph.D., wrote extensively on philosophical topics, and he engaged in considerable research in the area of cosmology. He studied on the graduate level with leading American and British figures in the field of philosophy and religion. His variegated courses in the City University of New York ranged from a presentation of classical intellectual literature to an analysis of modern existentialism.

COVER PHOTO (Courtesy of NASA): A profoundly remarkable view of the Earth's sphere, photographed from the Apollo 17 spacecraft, depicts the geographic area from the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Peninsula down the entire coast· line of Africa to the Antarctica south polar ice cap. The Asian mainland is visible on the horizon toward the northeast. A heavy cloud cover extends along the Southern Hemisphere.

Talmudic Books for Kindle on the Talmud, Bible, Kabbalah and Prayer
The Kindle Edition of the Classic Soncino Talmud in English

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The Talmud of Swimming

In a Talmud-like fashion, the Times discusses which of the two main styles of swimming the freestyle is superior, more effective, or as we would like to say, more kosher.

"Delineating the Perfect Swim Stroke," by GRETCHEN REYNOLDS, describes the dispute over whether the best stroke is the drag or is the scull.

Here is how the article explains the dispute between the "ancient saints" of swimming and the "House of Counsilman." (It helps if you chant this out loud in a sing-song Talmudic fashion.)

...until Doc Counsilman weighed in, it was widely believed that swimming, for humans, involved primarily drag forces. You pulled against the water, like someone paddling a canoe, your arm remaining straight, palm perpendicular to the body. This stroke technique is often called a “deep catch” style of swimming, since you pull long and deep against the water.

Coach Counsilman was convinced, however, that lift could and should provide a majority of the propulsion for human swimmers, and that the way to generate lift was to scull, or move the stroking arm through an S-curve underwater...

We've always decided the Halakhah of the stroke in favor of the House of Counsilman, mainly for the reasons that the article describes.

44 New Talmudic Books for Kindle | The Amazing 36 Volume Kindle Talmud in English | Whence and Wherefore | God's Favorite Prayers

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Is philosopher Saul Kripke Jewish?

Yes, the famous philosopher Saul Kripke is an observant Jew. His father, Rabbi Myer Kripke, played bridge with, and later invested with Warren Buffet in Omaha Nebraska. His father became wealthy as a result and later donated to the Jewish Theological Seminary, his alma mater. There is a wing of the Seminary named for him.

The Times has a story today by Jim Holt ("Is Philosophy Literature") about philosophy, which concludes by describing the contribution of Saul to the field:

Literary pleasures can turn up even in the most seemingly abstruse reaches of analytic philosophy. Take the case of Saul Kripke — widely (though not unanimously) considered the one true genius in the profession today. Kripke’s work can be dauntingly technical. The first volume of his collected papers, recently published by Oxford University Press under the arresting title “Philosophical Troubles,” will be a treasure trove to his fellow philosophers of logic and language, but it is not for the casual reader. However, an earlier work of his, the revolutionary “Naming and Necessity,” is so lucidly, inventively and even playfully argued that even a newcomer to analytic philosophy will find it hard to put down. The book is actually a transcription of three lectures Kripke gave, extemporaneously and without notes, at Princeton in January 1970 — hence its lovely conversational tone.

Ranging over deep matters like metaphysical necessity, the a priori and the mind-body problem, Kripke proceeds by way of a dazzling series of examples involving Salvador Dalí and Sir Walter Scott, the standard meter stick in Paris, Richard Nixon (plus David Fry’s impersonation of him), and an identity-like logical relation Kripke calls “schmidentity.” There is not a dogmatic or pompous word in the lectures — and not a dull one either. Kripke the analytic philosopher reveals himself to be a literary stylist of the first water (just as, say, Richard Feynman the physicist did). The reader more than forgives Kripke when he remarks at one point, apropos of his unwillingness to give a thoroughly worked-out theory of reference, “I’m sort of too lazy at the moment.”

I hope I have clinched my case for analytic philosophy as belles lettres. But perhaps I should give the last word to a real literary man, John Milton, who prophetically wrote of Kripke, Russell and their kind:

How charming is divine philosophy!
Not harsh and crabbèd as dull fools suppose,
But musical as is Apollo’s lute
And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets…

Next question: Is Talmud literature? (PS: Reality check. No and no.)

44 New Talmudic Books for Kindle | The Amazing 36 Volume Kindle Talmud in English | Whence and Wherefore | God's Favorite Prayers

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The Star Spangled Banner... in Yiddish (1943)

It's the 4th of July this week and time for us to sing again the Star Spangled Banner in Yiddish courtesy of Jack Balkin.

1943 translation of the Star Spangled Banner into Yiddish by Dr. Abraham Asen, described as "the foremost Yiddish adapter of English poetry," and proudly presented in commemoration of the anniversary of the death of Francis Scott Key.

O'zog, kenstu sehn, wen bagin licht dervacht,
Vos mir hoben bagrist in farnachtigen glihen?
Die shtreifen un shtern, durch shreklicher nacht,
Oif festung zich hoiben galant un zich tsein?
Yeder blitz fun rocket, yeder knal fun kanon,
Hot bawizen durch nacht: az mir halten die Fohn!
O, zog, tzi der "Star Spangled Banner" flatert in roim,
Ueber land fun die freie, fun brave die heim!

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