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Times: Jesus and Talmudic Rabbis Set Examples for the Skinny Dipping Congressman Yoder

It's official. The Times will publish utterly silly stuff, like this op-ed by Dani Renan.

LOOSE ENDS

What Would Jesus Do? Skinny-Dip

By DANI RENAN

A look at the history of skinny-dipping in the Sea of Galilee.

KEVIN YODER, a congressman from Kansas, apologized last week for swimming nude in the Sea of Galilee last summer during a trip with his wife and other members of Congress, who apparently were clothed. Actually, he apologized for “any embarrassment I have caused for my colleagues and constituents.”

I don’t understand the apology at all. His colleagues were with him, and no one said anything for over a year. The only one who appeared upset was Representative Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, who had left early. But before defending the Republican from Kansas, I must admit that I, too, have skinny-dipped in the Sea of Galilee (and the Mediterranean, the Dead Sea and a number of pools).

The Sea of Galilee, also called Lake Kinneret, is the largest freshwater lake in Israel. This is where Jesus is said to have walked on water, and along its shores are many of the sites where Jesus and his disciples preached, worked and healed. But it is also a recreational area. Thousands of people camp on the shores and swim. Every September there is a national swim where thousands join in.

If we look back in history, when people would go down to the lake to bathe, they didn’t wear bathing suits (they hadn’t been invented yet). One of the stories from the Talmud tells of Shimon ben Lakish, a highwayman and former gladiator from the third-century A.D. who became a learned rabbi. One evening, while walking along the shore, he saw a beautiful woman bathing. Being very physical in all senses, he rushed into the water — only to face Rabbi Yochanan (known as a great scholar and to be rather effeminate).

To assuage Shimon’s disappointment and anger, the rabbi told him, “if you think of me as beautiful, you should see my sister.” Intrigued, Shimon followed him home, met his sister, and immediately fell for her, and she for him (bad boy syndrome goes way back). Rabbi Yochanan said “Whoa, we can’t have a criminal in the family, you have to study first.” And thus Shimon became his brother-in-law and one of the great rabbis and jurists of his time.

Jesus and his disciples also bathed in the lake in the nude. (And, yes, they also drank wine, which some lawmakers were reported to have done before taking their dips.) Some of the art of Jesus’ baptism shows him fully clothed (and John wearing a loincloth).

But if you are wearing the only clothes you have, you remove them, bathe, air dry, then put on the dry clothing.

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Was Beruryah raped?

Beruryah was a great independent, moral, outspoken Talmudic woman who met with a tragic end, according to a medieval story.

The story briefly reports that Beruryah was "seduced" in a plot by rabbis and rabbinical students in a scheme to discredit her. When her act of immorality became public she could not bear the humiliation and killed herself.

Was this seduction or was it rape? We have only the testimony of the men, not of the woman who was the target and the victim.

An example of Beruryah's morality: the Talmud attributes in one source a moral superiority to Beruryah (aka Beruriah),  the wife of Rabbi Meir, as we summed it up in an short article:

... the rabbinic traditions do portray Beruryah as a sensitive yet assertive figure. The Talmud recounts anecdotes illustrating Beruryah's piety, compassion and wit. In one source she admonishes her husband Meir not to be angry at his enemies and not to pray for their death. She suggests that instead he pray that their sins cease and that they repent (b. Berakhot 10a).

The great rabbi was dressed down by his wife for letting his emotions obscure his ethics.

We wonder if that is why Rashi, the medieval commentator had to discredit Beruryah with this story that has no antecendent in rabbinic literature that says she was unfaithful to her husband by having sex with his student and then in shame committed suicide.

Rashi's commentary to b. 'Avodah Zarah 18b, on the phrase, "And some say because of the Beruryah incident."

One time she [Beruryah] mocked what the sages said [cf. b. Qiddushin 80b], "Women are flighty." He [Meir] said to her, "By your life! You will eventually concede [the correctness of] their words." He instructed one of his disciples to tempt her to infidelity. He [the disciple] urged her for many days, until she consented.

When the matter became known to her, she strangled herself, while Rabbi Meir fled because of the disgrace.

But wait. Did she "consent" or did the student finally just rape her?

A side issue: It's legitimate to say that Rashi made up this story out of whole cloth since it appears nowhere else in rabbinic literature. But even if Rashi had found this anecdote in an authoritative midrash collection, we wonder, why did he choose to reproduce it? And why didn't he tell us where he found it? Rashi could have exercised a don't tell policy and left Beruryah's reputation intact. Why didn't he do that?

And another side issue, what's all this glorification of Rashi as one of the world's the greatest rabbis? He was primarily a commentator, an anthologizer and not awfully original.

Main issue: In no way do we accept that this event was "historical" or "biographical" given the strange nature of the tradition's first appearance in the eleventh century.

But in this 2012 political season we heard about this view and that view on the subject of rape and forcible rape. Perhaps we will hear soon about accidental rape. Who knows how idiotic the rhetoric will get?

Maybe some candidate will come up with the idea that all rape is just speedy and efficient seduction.

The Beruryah incident text describes a cunning premeditated seduction scheme hatched by a jealous and short-tempered husband and executed by his misuse of his authority over his students. All of the blame for this perverse plot of seduction rests on Meir.

And the more we think about this short tale, the more we conclude that no, this woman did not consent to sex, and that yes, Beruryah was raped by her husband's student who failed after all his attempts to seduce her.

You can review the whole corpus of the Talmud's traditions of the great woman, Beruryah, reproduced below after our article.

BERURYAH, Second Century C.E., Israel (Article by Tzvee Zahavy in the Encyclopedia of Religion)

Beruryah was one of the few famous women in rabbinic Judaism of late antiquity. She was the daughter of R. Hananyah ben Teradyon, wife of R. Meir.

In rabbinic sources Beruryah appears several times together with the rabbis of the generation of scholars centered around the Galilean town of Usha. She is mentioned twice in Tosefta (in T. Kelim B.M. 1:6 by name and referred to in T. Kelim B.Q. 4:17 as the daughter of R. Hananyah ben Teradyon) and seven times in the Babylonian Talmud.

Beruryah's contemporary importance lies in her prominence as a rare woman-scholar in the male-dominated rabbinic culture. Goodblatt believes that Beruryah exemplifies the possibility, though quite uncommon, of a woman receiving formal education within rabbinic society. Goodblatt argues however that the traditions which ascribe rabbinic learning to Beruryah appear to be late, not telling us about Roman Palestine, the setting which they depict, but informing us better concerning the situation of Sassanian Babylonia, the place where they were formulated in the process of Talmudic compilation.

Whether historical or not, the rabbinic traditions do portray Beruryah as a sensitive yet assertive figure. The Talmud recounts anecdotes illustrating Beruryah's piety, compassion and wit. In one source she admonishes her husband Meir not to be angry at his enemies and not to pray for their death. She suggests that instead he pray that their sins cease and that they repent (b. Berakhot 10a).

When two of her sons died one Sabbath day, a story in the Midrash reports that she delayed telling her husband until Saturday night when he had finished observing the Sabbath day in peace (Midrash to Proverbs 31:10).

The Talmud also recounts anecdotes of Beruryah's sharp wit. When Yose the Galilean asks her for directions on the road, one story tells us, she derides him for speaking to much with a woman (b. `Eruvin 53b).

The folklore surrounding Beruryah is extensive and poignant. Accounts which weave together the rabbinic sources retell the tragic events of Beruryah's life and the life of her family. According to tradition, Beruryah's father was martyred in the Bar Kokhba rebellion. Two of her sons died suddenly one Sabbath day. Her sister was taken captive to Rome. Her brother became a brigand, possibly an anti-Roman terrorist, and was murdered.

The drama of her life climaxes in the so-called Beruryah Incident. She is said in an eleventh century tradition preserved by the French rabbi Solomon ben Isaac (Rashi commentary to Talmud Babli Avodah Zarah 18b) to have mocked a mysogynistic rabbinic tradition which labelled women as flighty. Meir is said to have sent a student to tempt her to prove her actions were wrong. Tragically, she is thought to have committed suicide after submitting to the advances of her husband's disciple.

One study (Goodblatt) takes a skeptical view of the identification of Beruryah as the wife of Meir and the daughter of Hananyah ben Teradyon. It is thought that these associations are late Babylonian inventions.

The Beruryah Texts

David Goodblatt, "The Beruryah Traditions," in Persons and Institutions in Early Rabbinic Judaism, ed. W. Green (Missoula, 1977), pp. 207-229 translates and analyzes all of the materials relating to Beruryah in rabbinic literature. The texts below are based on his article.

1. Babylonian Talmud, tractate Berakhot 10a

Certain brigands who were in the neighborhood of Rabbi Meir used to trouble him greatly. He prayed [lit.: sought mercy] that they die. Beruryah his wife (devethu) said to him, "What is your opinion [i.e., on what do you base your prayer?] Because it is written [Psalms 104:35], 'Let sins cease...?' Is 'sinners' written? [Rather] 'sins' is written. Furthermore, cast your eyes to the end of the verse, 'And they are wicked no more.' Since sins will cease, they will be wicked no more. So pray that they repent and be wicked no more. He prayed for them, and they repented.

2. Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 10a

A certain Sadducee said to Beruryah, "It is written [Is. 54:1], 'Sing, O barren one, who did not bear.' Because she did not bear [should she] sing?" She said to him, "Fool. Cast your eyes to the end of the verse where is written, 'For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her that married, says the lord.' What then does, 'Barren one who did not bear' mean? [It implies that you] rejoice, sons of the assembly of Israel, who resemble a barren woman who did not bear sons of gehenna like you."

3. Babylonian Talmud 'Eruvin 53b

Rabbi Yosi the Galilean was going along the road. He met Beruryah. He said to her, "By which road shall we go to Lod?" She said to him, "Galilean fool! Did not the sages say, 'Do not talk too much with a woman' [Mishnah Avot 1:5, b. Nedarim 20a]? You should have said, 'By which to Lod?'"

4. Babylonian Talmud 'Eruvin 53b-54a

Beruryah found a certain disciple who was reciting his lesson in a whisper. She [kicked] derided him and said to him, "Is it not written [2 Samuel 23:5], 'Ordered in all and secure?' [That is,] if it is ordered by means of [all] your 248 limbs, it will be preserved. But if not, it will not be preserved.

5. Babylonian Talmud Pesahim 62b

Rabbi Simlai came before Rabbi Yohanan and said to him, "Let the master teach me the Book of Genealogies (sefer yuhasin)." He said to him, "Where are you from? He answered, "From Lod." "And where is your residence?" In Nehardea." He said to him, "One engages in discussion neither with Lodites nor with Nehardeans. How much more so with you who are from Lod and whose residence is in Nehardea." He pressed him, and he consented. He [Simlai] said to him, "Let the master teach me [the material] in three months." He [Yohanan] picked up a clod, threw it at him, and said to him, "If Beruryah, the wife (devethu) of Rabbi Meir, the daughter of Rabbi Hananyah ben Teradyon, learned 300 traditions in a day from 300 masters, and even so did not fulfill her obligations in three years--how can you say in three months? As he [Simlai] was getting up to go he said to him, "Master, what is [the difference] between 'for its own sake' and 'not for its own sake,' [between] 'for those who eat it' and 'not for those who eat it' [referring to Mishnah Pesahim 5:2-3]?" He said to him, Since you are a disciple of the masters (surba merabbanan), come and I will tell you..."

6. Tosefta Kelim Bava Mesi'a' 1:6

A claustra--Rabbi Tarfon declares unclean, but the sages declare clean. And Beruryah says, "One removes it from this door and hangs it on another, on the Sabbath."

These things were said to Rabbi Joshua. He said, "Beruryah said well."

7. Midrash Sifré Deuteronomy, S307, ed. Finkelstein, p. 346

Another matter: "The Rock, his work is perfect" (Deut. 32:4a),--when they arrested Rabbi Hananyah ben Teradyon, he was sentenced to be burned together with his book. They said to him, "You have been sentenced to be burned with your book." He recited this verse, "The Rock, his work is perfect [for all his ways are justice]."

They said to his wife, "Your husband has been sentenced to be burned, and you [have been sentenced] to be killed." She recited this verse, "A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, [just and right is he] (Deut. 32:4b)."

They said to his daughter [Beruryah], "Your father has been sentenced to be burned, your mother to be killed, and you [have been sentenced] to do work'" She recited this verse (Jer. 32:19), "Great in counsel and mighty in deed; whose eyes are open to all the ways of men, rewarding every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings."

Rabbi [Yehudah the Patriarch] said, "How great are these three righteous people! In the hour of their distress they summoned three verses vindicating [God's] judgment--which is unprecedented in all of Scripture. The three of them directed their hearts and vindicated the judgment for themselves."

8. Minor Tractates, Semahot, Chapter 12, end

It happened that the son of Rabbi Hanina ben Tardion [sic] fell into evil ways. Brigands seized him and slew him. His mutilated body was found after three days. They wrapped it in a net and placed it on a bier. They then brought him into the city and acclaimed him by praising his father.

His father cited this verse for him: And thou moan, when thine end cometh, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, and say 'How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof, neither have I hearkened to the voice of my teacher, nor inclined my ear to them that instructed me I was nigh in all evil' (Prov. 5:14). Having finished, he went back to the beginning of the verse.

His mother cited this verse for him: A foolish son is a vexation to his father, and bitterness to her that bore him (ibid., 17:28)

His sister [Beruryah] cited this verse for him: Bread of falsehood is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall He filled with gravel (ibid. 20:17).

9. Babylonian Talmud Avodah Zarah 18a

Our masters taught (teno rabbanan): When Rabbi Yosi ben Qisma took sick, Rabbi Hananyah ben Teradyon came to visit him....They [the Roman authorities] found Rabbi Hananyah ben Teradyon sitting and engaging in Torah, convening public assemblies, and a Torah scroll was in his breast pocket. They brought him, wound the Torah scroll around him, surrounded him with bundles of twigs, and set them on fire. They brought wool sponges, soaked them in water, and laid them on his breast so that he would not die quickly. His daughter [Beruryah] said to him, "Father, how can I see you thus!" He said to her, "If I were being burned alone, the matter would be hard for me. But now that I am burned. together with the Torah scroll--he who seeks [to avenge] the humiliation of the Torah scroll will seek to avenge my humiliation."

10. Midrash Mishle [Proverbs], ad 3l:10

Another matter [to explain the verse], "A good wife who can find (Prov. 31:10)?" It once happened that Rabbi Meir was sitting and lecturing in the house of study on Sabbath after-noon, and his two sons died What did their mother [Beruryah] do? She laid the two of them on the bed and spread a sheet over them.

After the departure of the Sabbath, Rabbi Meir came home from the house of study. He said to her where are my two sons?" She said, "They went to the house of study.'' He said, "I was watching the house of study, and I did not see them."

She gave him a cup for havdalah, and he recited the havdalah prayer. He again said, ''Where are my two sons?" She said to him, "They went to another place and will soon come."

She set food before him, and he ate and blessed. After he blessed, she said, "Master, I have a question to ask you." He said to her, "Ask your question." She said to him, "Master, some time ago a man came and gave me something to keep for him. Now he comes and seeks to take it. Shall we return it to him or not?" He said to her, "Daughter, whoever has an object in trust must return it to its owner." She said to him, "Master, I would not have given it to him without your knowledge."

What did she do? She took him by the hand and led him up to the room. She led him to the bed and removed the sheet that was on them. When he saw the two of them lying dead on the bed, he began to cry and say, "My sons, my sons..."

At that time she said to Rabbi Meir, "Master, did you not say to me that I must return the trust to its master? He said, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21).

R. Hanina said, "In this way she comforted him, and his mind was set at ease. Regarding such an instance does it say, "A good wife who can find?"

11. Babylonian Talmud Avodah Zarah 18b

Beruryah the wife (devethu) of Rabbi Meir was the daughter of Rabbi Hananyah ben Teradyon. She said to him [Meir], "It is a disgrace for me that my sister sits in a house of prostitution. He took three qabs of denarii and went [to Rome] He said, "If no forbidden thing has been done to her, a miracle will occur. If she has done what is forbidden, no miracle will occur for her."

He went and presented himself [to the sister] as cavalryman [or: member of the equestrian class]. He said to her, "Submit to me." She said, "I am menstruating." He said to her, "I am very aroused [and do not care]." She said to him, "There are many more beautiful than I." He said, "One may infer that she has not done what is forbidden. She says this to whoever comes."

He went to her keeper and said, "Give her over." He said, "I fear the government." He said to him, "Take the three qabs of denarii. Use half for bribes and keep half." He said, "When the half [for bribing] is gone, what shall I do?" He said to him, "Say 'God of Meir, answer me,' and you will be saved." He said to him, "Who says that it is so?" Some man-eating dogs were there. He [Meir] picked up a clod and threw it at them. They came to eat him, and he said, "God of Meir, answer me," and they left him alone. So he [the keeper] gave her to him.

Eventually the matter became known to the palace. They brought him, [the keeper] and crucified him. He said, "God of Meir, answer me," and he brought him down. They said to him, "What is this?" He told them what happened. They carved the likeness of Rabbi Meir on the gates of Rome and said that whoever sees this face should bring him [to the authorities]. One day they saw him and ran after him. He ran away from them and entered a house of prostitution. Some say he saw gentile food, dipped one finger in it, and licked another [giving the impression that he ate food unfit for Jews]. Others say that Elijah appeared in the form of a prostitute and embraced him. They said, "If that were Rabbi Meir, he would never have done that."

He arose and fled to Babylonia. Some say because of this matter, while others say because of the Beruryah incident.

12. Rashi's commentary to b. 'Avodah Zarah 18b, on the phrase, "And some say because of the Beruryah incident."

One time she [Beruryah] mocked what the sages said [cf. b. Qiddushin 80b], "Women are flighty." He [Meir] said to her, "By your life! You will eventually concede [the correctness of] their words." He instructed one of his disciples to tempt her to infidelity. He [the disciple] urged her for many days, until she consented.

When the matter became known to her, she strangled herself, while Rabbi Meir fled because of the disgrace.

Beruryah Articles
Adler, R. "The Virgin in the Brothel and Other Anomalies: Character and Context in the Legend of Beruryah." Tikkun 3/6 (1988) 28-32, 102-105.
Boyarin, D. "Reading Androcentrism against the Grain: Women, Sex, and Torah-Study." Poetics 12 (199 ), 29-53.
Goodblatt, D. "The Beruryah Traditions." JJS 26 (1975) 68-85.
Ilan, T. Jewish Women in Greco-Roman Palestine. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1995. (Beruryah, 197-200)
_____. "The Quest for the Historical Beruryah, Rachel, and Imma Shalom." AJSReview 22 (1997) 1-17.
Wegner, J.R. "The Image and Status of Women in Classical Rabbinic Judaism." In Jewish Women in Historical Perspective, ed. by J. Baskin, 68-93. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1991.

-modified from our post of 6/27/06

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At the Barclay's Golf Tournament at the Bethpage Black Course

We especially liked watching Tiger and Rory and Zach come around the course together.

The GE booth made us a neat video of our swing, which you can compare side-by-side to the swing of Jim Furyk or Webb Simpson. Neat.

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Is Dîner en Blanc New York Like Ancient Passover?

After watching the reports we asked ourselves, is Dîner en Blanc New York like Ancient Passover?



In a loose sense, as a large outdoor formal festive meal, yes it is.

This year (2012) they just had the event at Lincoln Center.

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The Adelsons back Rabbi Boteach

The WSJ reports that, "Billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, among the top donors to the Republican machine this election, is also now the top giver – along with his wife – to the New Jersey congressional race of the reality-TV rabbi, Shmuley Boteach.":

Mr. Adelson, who runs the Las Vegas Sands international gaming empire, and his wife, Dr. Miriam Adelson, who runs the Adelson drug clinic, have each given $250,000, or $500,000 total, to a new independent super PAC called the Patriot Prosperity PAC, according to people close to the Adelsons and the PAC. (Hat tip to David E. Y. S.)

Gambling profits money? No problem at all for Rabbi Shmuley.

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On Piyyutim and Pesukim - two new Stellar Free Halakhah.com Publications

On Piyyutim and Pesukim - two new stellar Halakhah.com publications by Reuven Brauner are now available for free download.

1. "Synopsis of the Elul and Tishrei Piyyutim" summarizes each of the many Piyyutim we say in shul from just before Rosh Hashanah until Erev Yom Kippur. Most people read through them with virtually no comprehension of their content or meaning. Most proper Selichos books with translation and commentary are too cumbersome for use during the actual time of Selicha recitation and, therefore, Brauner felt it useful to have a terse, quick and easy summary with some interesting notes that can be used as an on-the-spot refresher to be perused in real-time during the communal Selichos recitation.

2. "Shimush Pesukim – A Comprehensive Index of the Liturgical and Ceremonial Uses of Biblical Verses and Passages" catalogues hundreds of verses from Tanach, from Bereishis through Divrei Hayomim, inclusively, and where they are used anywhere in our Tefillah or in our various rituals. The inspiration of this came from the simple observation that we often see in our better Siddurim, Talmuds, Midrashim footnotes and references to their sources in Tanach, but no reference that points from a Tanach to the Siddur. A reference to a verse, shows where it is used somewhere in our Prayers. Once you know the Scriptural source (chapter and verse), you can look the verse up in Shimush Pesukim and you will then find the location of its use or usages. For some, this may be a fun curios, but for budding scholars and students, this can be a very helpful aid in their studies.

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Augusta National Golf Club Admits its First Two Women Members: Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore

ABC reports that Augusta National golf course, home of the Masters, has admitted its first two women members, Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore.

Sigh. 2012 and yet this is news. We are not impressed.

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Is J. J. Goldberg an Am-Haaretz?

Sam Norich has put up obnoxious nag screens with his picture on his site because he wants us to give him $120 to become a member of the Forward. We thought the paper was profitable and did not need to beg for donations. Guess we was wrong.

J. J. Goldberg has a column up on the Forward (Taking Ownership of Our Talmud) discussing the Daf Yomi Talmud program. It's rife with errors. To begin with he says, "...strangely, the commandment to study Torah appears nowhere in the Torah." Huh? He cites the first part of a verse in the Shema and discusses it.

It actually originates in the Talmud. The sages inferred it from the biblical commandment to “teach it (the Torah) diligently to thy children” (Deuteronomy 6:7). They figured you can’t teach it if you haven’t learned it yourself.

He somehow manages to skip over the second clear and distinct part which states the value of Torah study in unequivocal terms. "Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." We who pray daily say this twice a day with great and serious intention and concentration.

There are numerous other small and large errors in the piece, E. g., twice he speaks about starting study on page one of a tractate. One of the best known idiosyncrasies of the standard published Talmuds is that they start a tractate on page 2.

Poor editing at the Forward detracts from the column. Too bad, because Goldberg tries to raise some substantive points about the value of Daf Yomi. He laments that the Daf Yomi celebrations did not contain much information about the contents of the Talmud. True enough. But as he argues that it should have and could have he says things that are wrong at the core, that show that he is a major am-haaretz (ignoramous) when it comes to competence in Talmud knowledge.

He says, "But why not be creative? The Talmud is essentially a collection of lecture notes, grouped in rough categories. You could start almost anywhere." We've never read a wronger and more misleading negative characterization of the Talmud.

So, yes, Goldberg is an am-haaretz. Now we hasten to add, when you label someone an am-haaretz, that is not name-calling. That is the equivalent of a professor giving a failing grade to a student. It is an evaluative and substantive conclusion about the expertise of a person in a subject matter.

To be fair, Goldberg nowhere claims to be a Talmid Chacham - an expert in Talmud. So we are quite sure that he will take no umbrage that we pass on to our readers our evaluation of his competence in the field.

And of course, Daf Yomi does not purport to create competence in Talmud knowledge. It creates the illusion of competence since its participants turn the pages and never have to be tested on their cognition.

Daf Yomi is in many cases an extension of daily davening, i.e. the rapid recitation of daily prayers, with the expectation of reflection, appreciation and understanding secondary to the reading of the words.

Finally, reading the right words at the right time in the right order is indeed a valid religious ritual, one that rabbinic Jews practice diligently.

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Amazing Shanghai glass bottom swimming pool in the sky

Rooftop pools are nothing new. But now CNN reports on a 24th floor pool that juts out and has a glass bottom. Quite awesome and breathtaking. Makes us want to take another trip to Shanghai.

CNN also reports on the worlds 15 most spectacular swimming pools.

Now that the weather has moderated, we continue on our incredible summertime 100-laps-a-day-program.

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Was Ayn Rand Jewish?

Yes, the potential Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan's hero Ayn Rand was a Jew.

We bring this back up because the Times reports on 8/14/12:

EARLY in his Congressional career, Paul D. Ryan, the Wisconsin representative and presumptive Republican vice-presidential nominee, would give out copies of Ayn Rand’s book “Atlas Shrugged” as Christmas presents. He described the novelist of heroic capitalism as “the reason I got into public service.”...

According to Wikipedia, "Rand was born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum (Russian: Алиса Зиновьевна Розенбаум) in 1905, into a middle-class family living in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the eldest of three daughters (Alisa, Natasha, and Nora)."

Her parents were, "Zinovy Zacharovich Rosenbaum and Anna Borisovna Rosenbaum, agnostic and largely non-observant Jews. Her father was a chemist and a successful pharmaceutical entrepreneur who earned the privilege of living outside the Jewish Pale of Settlement."

And why did I first bring up this question on 1/15/09?

Because the Wall Street Journal published a strange essay by Stephen Moore, "'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years."

In the essay Moore argues inexplicably that recent economic upheavals prove the underlying theories of Rand's objectivism are correct, starting off by saying,

Some years ago when I worked at the libertarian Cato Institute, we used to label any new hire who had not yet read "Atlas Shrugged" a "virgin." Being conversant in Ayn Rand's classic novel about the economic carnage caused by big government run amok was practically a job requirement. If only "Atlas" were required reading for every member of Congress and political appointee in the Obama administration. I'm confident that we'd get out of the current financial mess a lot faster.

It's an interesting essay to read. But I kept waiting for the author to expand his argument in light of the well-known fact that former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, whose policies many blame for getting us into the "current financial mess," was a member of Rand's inner circle and a fervent follower and practitioner of her philosophies.

We expect that letters to the editor of the WSJ will point out this tiny little omission by Mr. Moore. And based on that reality of history, I too would recommend highly that congress and the Obama administration read the book, but to help them understand the Greenspan-Rand economics that brought us to the brink of depression.

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Thoughts on the publication of Alan F. Segal, "Sinning in the Hebrew Bible"

In an act of intentional irony we read in synagogue this morning during the reading of the Torah part of Alan Segal's book "Sinning in the Hebrew Bible: How The Worst Stories Speak for Its Truth".

We find Alan's book to be filled with erudition and common sense. That is why we admired Segal's past works and why we valued him as a friend. Segal believed in things that were mainly scholarly and he articulated them with clarity and enthusiasm.

The publisher's blurb for this book summarizes the many essences of the study:

Stories of rape, murder, adultery, and conquest raise crucial issues in the Hebrew Bible, and their interpretation helps societies form their religious and moral beliefs. From the sacrifice of Isaac to the adultery of David, narratives of sin engender vivid analysis and debate, powering the myths that form the basis of the religious covenant, or the relationship between a people and their God.

Rereading these stories in their different forms and varying contexts, Alan F. Segal demonstrates the significance of sinning throughout history and today. Drawing on literary and historical theory, as well as research in the social sciences, he explores the motivation for creating sin stories, their prevalence in the Hebrew Bible, and their possible meaning to Israelite readers and listeners. After introducing the basics of his approach and outlining several hermeneutical concepts, Segal conducts seven linked studies of specific narratives, using character and text to clarify problematic terms such as "myth," "typology," and "orality." Following the reappearance and reinterpretation of these narratives in later compositions, he proves their lasting power in the mythology of Israel and the encapsulation of universal, perennially relevant themes. Segal ultimately positions the Hebrew Bible as a foundational moral text and a history book, offering uncommon insights into the dating of biblical events and the intentions of biblical authors.

We has no idea that we would find it emotional to read a book by a dear friend who passed away in 2011. But we did feel the void of his loss even more while listening to the voice of his search for meaning and history in the texts of the Bible.

Alan was a religious man and a serious academic. Both of those traits of character and personality come through with ringing clarity in the pages of the superlative book.

We wrote this  appreciation of our friend Alan for the Jewish Standard in February 2011:

When my dear friend Alan F. Segal died at age 65 on Sunday, February 13, this earthly world lost a diligent, productive scholar of religions and a sparkling lecturer and teacher. And more than that, a great force of positive energy departed from our midst.

I knew Alan for over thirty years. During that time he served as a professor of religion at Barnard College in New York City and lived in nearby Ho-Ho-Kus. We met at first in professional circumstances as young professors of religion at conferences at Brown University and at the annual meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion. Both of us were enthusiastically discovering new facts and making original insights in areas of ancient religions. I concentrated more on explicating problems within the Talmud and Jewish liturgy.

Alan’s interests and energies ranged more broadly. He wrote at first about various topics such as mysticism and sectarianism in ancient Judaism that were published in his books "Two Powers in Heaven" and "The Other Judaisms of Late Antiquity." He branched out in a major work, "Rebecca's Children: Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World," to explain how Judaism and Christianity took shape as sibling religions in late antiquity. And next he tackled the images of the apostle Paul, the founder of Christianity in "Paul the Convert: The Apostasy and Apostolate of Saul of Tarsus." Some scholars have called that publication the most important recent book on the subject of Paul.

Subsequently, Alan spent a decade investigating death and the afterlife in the world’s religions and published the results in "Life After Death: The Afterlife in Western Religions." His final book, which turns to subjects of ancient Israel, is complete and at the press awaiting publication. It surely will be influential in its own right. All of his books are widely cited in the scholarly literature.

Years ago, we discovered that we also shared a passion for new technologies. We continually probed how the newest software and hardware inventions could help us investigate some of the oldest and most puzzling problems of how humankind had searched in the past for God. At our professional conferences we talked together in equal measures about the theories and texts of scholars and about the releases and versions of advanced word processors and computers.

As a human being, Alan’s consistency was sublime. His written work in the history of religions was impeccable in its thought and accuracy. He maintained his cherished relationships with students, colleagues and friends with equal care and attention. And he continued always to be surprised and delighted by the advent of new technology.

Over the past year I spent time on many Mondays with Alan. When he was well enough, he would drive down to Teaneck to join me for a falafel lunch. And if he was not able to make it to town, I would bring him up a hot falafel or a fresh bagel to Ho-Ho-Kus. We would sit and eat and talk. Alan was concerned with his people, with Israel both in the community of nations and in the community of his campus. He was concerned about his friends. And when he could, he did wonderful and substantial things to help them.

Let me share one anecdote about Alan’s enthusiasm. One day just a few months ago I came to visit him to share a falafel lunch and I found that he needed my help. At my recommendation, Alan had ordered a new little Apple TV box and wanted to hook it up to his quite complicated home A/V system. We looked together analytically at this object as if it was a newly discovered archaeological find. And soon we realized that Alan was missing a component, an HDMI cable. I assured him we could get one at Staples at a later time. No, let’s go get one now, he replied. And though he was by that time weakened by his illness, he headed for the door. I had to hurry to catch up with him. I drove Alan a little way down Route 17 to buy the cable and returned back home with him. He would not let me leave until I had reached way back behind his TV, plugged in the new device and until we made sure that indeed it did work as promised.

In all ways, both profound and simple, I never met a person whose demeanor was more proper, whose mind was clearer and whose capacity to be a friend was more constructive. I feel privileged to have been one of Alan’s many friends. And although I am deeply sad that he and his wonderful energy are now gone from our presence, I am grateful that Alan F. Segal has left us all with his rich legacy of learning and with his exemplary affirmative lessons for our lives.

Rabbi Dr. Tzvee Zahavy is the author of many books and articles on the history of Judaism including, How the Halakhah Unfolds: Hullin, Part One and Part Two (2010), co-authored with Jacob Neusner. He lives in Teaneck and teaches Jewish liturgy at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City.

Published in the Jewish Standard (Teaneck, NJ) February 25, 2011.

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Yahoo: Romney Attends Orthodox Jewish Wedding in Lakewood

Yahoo News reports that Mitt Romney dropped in on an Orthodox Jewish wedding in Lakewood NJ.

On Wednesday, the Republican presidential candidate caused a media stir when his motorcade sped into the parking lot of Lake Terrace, a banquet hall in Lakewood, N.J., and appeared to disrupt an Orthodox Jewish wedding party posing for pictures outside the venue.

Reporters traveling with Romney, including this one, witnessed people standing near the bride and groom suddenly run away from the wedding party and chase Romney's motorcade hoping to catch a glimpse of the candidate.

But Lisa Ben-Haim, the mother of the groom, tells Yahoo News the family had been aware that Romney would be holding a fundraiser ahead of the wedding and said the people reporters saw chasing the candidate weren't affiliated with the actual wedding.

Ben-Haim, who described her family as "staunch supporters" of Romney, said she had been alerted "a week or so ago" that the GOP candidate would be at Lake Terrace at the same time as the wedding.

She confirmed that Romney popped into the wedding and posed for pictures with the bride and groom after he spoke at a fundraiser. She said the campaign had told the family Romney would be able to pose for just two photos, but the Republican presidential hopeful ended up lingering for longer than expected.

"We ended up taking many more, and we took videos," Ben-Haim said. "He was very gracious. And we were all telling him we were happy that he came to our wedding because we are all very strong, staunch supporters of his."

Ben-Haim said Romney's fundraiser did not cause any problems for the wedding.

"It was really wonderful," she said "It just topped off our wedding. … It was a nice surprise and something that we will remember forever. Everyone remembers their wedding but this was just even more special."

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ABC: Romney's Dirty Religion Ad

Mitt Romney, who has served as an official of the Mormon church, which pothumously baptizes Jews, knows a thing or two about waging war using religion.

USA Today reported in March 2012 that in the past Romney was, "a Mormon bishop (equivalent to a pastor) and a stake president (presiding over several area congregations) in suburban Belmont, Mass."

In February 2012 Allison Yarrow wrote, "Mormons Still Baptizing Dead Jews Despite Agreements to End Practice":

The Church of Latter-day Saints apologized Tuesday for posthumously baptizing Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal’s parents amidst much Jewish vitriol. But despite more than two decades of negotiations and agreements between the two groups to prevent such baptisms of dead Jews, the practice persists.

The charge that Romney's ad makes against Obama is false and inflammatory, as the ABC report describes. In America, those who use religion as a political weapon, often find that it blows up in their face. We think this ad will backfire and leave Romney's campaign damaged.

Romney ad accuses Obama of waging a ‘war on religion'

Mitt Romney is out with a new television ad that accuses President Barack Obama of declaring a war on religion.

The 30-second spot renews a fight Romney launched against Obama at the height of the GOP primary, when he trashed a provision under the Obama health care law that required religious institutions including schools and hospitals to offer its employees free access to contraception and the morning after pill even if its against their beliefs.

In February, Obama responded to the uproar by signing off on an "accommodation" that exempted religious institutions from the rule by allowing women to get free birth control directly from their insurance provider. But that's not mentioned in the Romney ad, which begins with a narrator asking, "Who shares your values?"

"President Obama used his healthcare plan to declare war on religion, forcing religious institutions to go against their faith," the ad says. "Mitt Romney believes that's wrong."

The spot, jointly paid for by the Romney campaign and the Republican National Committee, is clearly aimed at Catholic voters. It features footage of Romney's recent trip to Poland, including his meeting with former Polish President Lech Walesa—whom, as the ad touts, endorsed Romney's bid for president.

It also features snippets of a speech Romney delivered in Warsaw, in which he touted a historic 1979 mass delivered in the city by Pope John Paul II.

"When religious freedom is threatened, who do you want to stand with?" the ad asks.

The Romney campaign did not say how much it is spending on the ad or where it is airing.

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Times: Is Einstein's Physics of Relativity Jewish?

In George Johnson's review of a new book by Steven Gimbel, the Times considers the issue of the connection between Albert Einstein's science and the Talmud. We're glad to see that the Talmud is given credit for such great scientific advances. Still, we need to reserve judgement on the assertions at least until we read the book.

The book blurb announces that, "There are some senses, Gimbel claims, in which Jews can find a special connection to E = mc2, and this claim leads to the engaging, spirited debate at the heart of this book."

Here is the Talmudic crux of the review:

...“Jewish physics.” With Einstein’s theories now at the bedrock of modern science, the Nazi’s words have been justly forgotten. It seems almost perverse that Steven Gimbel, the chairman of the philosophy department at Gettysburg College, would want to bring back the old epithet and give it another spin. In his original new book, “Einstein’s Jewish Science: Physics at the Intersection of Politics and Religion,” he considers the possibility that the Nazis were on to something. If you can look past the anti-Semitism, he proposes, “maybe relativity is ‘Jewish science’ after all.” What he means is that there might have been elements of Jewish thinking that gave rise to what is now recognized as one of the deepest insights of all time.

...What gives Einstein’s work a Jewish flavor, Gimbel believes, is an approach to the universe that reminds him of the way a Talmudic scholar seeks to understand God’s truth. It comes only in glimpses. “Thou shalt not steal” may seem clear enough. But is it stealing to keep a $100 bill you find on the ground? It depends. Did you see the person who might have dropped it? Was it found on a busy street or in a friend’s backyard? In a hotel lobby with a lost and found? Without the luxury of a God’s-eye view, we must reckon from different vantage points.

“The heart of the Talmudic view is that there is an absolute truth, but this truth is not directly and completely available to us,” Gimbel writes. “It turns out that exactly the same style of thinking occurs in the relativity theory and in some of Einstein’s other research.”

From our blinkered perspective we see qualities called space and time. But in relativity theory, the two can be combined mathematically into something more fundamental: a four-dimensional abstraction called the space-time interval. Time and space vary according to the motion of the observer. But from any vantage point, an object’s space-time interval would be the same — the higher truth that can be approached only from different angles. The same kind of thinking, Gimbel says, also led to Einstein’s thought experiments with the elevator showing that when we feel the pull of gravity from the Earth or the push of acceleration from the takeoff of a jet, we are experiencing the same under­lying phenomenon.

Gimbel isn’t saying that only a Jew could have discovered these things but that being Jewish just might have given Einstein an edge...

And by the way, our dad wrote about relativity in several places in his book, Whence and Wherefore, as for instance this observation:

Consider the excitement generated by Einstein’s theory of relativity in the early years of the twentieth century. Its implications shook the very pillars of scientific determinism. At the outset, there was no way to test its validity. The scientists who accepted its credibility, could do so only as an act of faith. On the other hand, its recognition would indicate a challenge to the undisputed principle of scientific determinism. Courageous scientists, in those early inconclusive days, boldly took that leap of faith, and by doing so, they incautiously placed their scientific reputations on the line. The rest of the tale is now common knowledge. Einstein was vindicated and proved correct. A revolution ensued in the world of physics and related sciences. The behavior of the light of stars acted in accordance with the remarkable conclusions of an ingenious intellect, and those who indulged in the early leap of faith were rewarded by the ultimate triumph of their convictions.

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The World's Most Expensive Bible at $130,000 a copy from St. John's in Minnesota

Partly it's because it's handiwork by calligraphers and artists, and partly because it is a fantastic fund raising device, St. John's University is offering copies of their Bible at the discount price of $115,000. But you have to hurry. The Star Tribune reported in 2006:

Some colleges woo supporters with tailgate parties, others with exotic trips. St. John's Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minn., is offering alumni and friends the chance to buy a really big Bible for $115,000. That's the price for orders placed before July 1, 2007. After that the tab jumps to $130,000.

If all of the Bibles sell at the introductory price, they would bring in $41.4 million, minus expenses.

At next year's rate, the school would realize $46.8 million before costs.

While some book experts think the price is steep, St. John's officials are confident that their seven-volume, leather-bound Bible will prove popular.

"We're charting unknown territory to a certain extent, because this is an extremely large set of books, but the response has been wonderful," said Craig Bruner, director of the Heritage Edition, as the college is calling its special book.

The first volume won't be available until 2008, Bruner said, but since August, when the Bible went on sale, 13 sets have been reserved.

St. John's plans to publish just 360 Heritage Bibles, all facsimiles of its original St. John's Bible, a monumental tome that a team of calligraphers is hand-lettering and illustrating. The St. John's Bible is a $4.5 million project the school began in 1998 under the direction of British calligrapher Donald Jackson. He and his 14-member team are producing just one copy of the Bible, which will be housed at St. John's, about 75 miles northwest of Minneapolis.

The Heritage edition will attempt to replicate the 1,150-page, 2-foot-tall original as closely as possible but without the handwork, gold leaf, jeweled inks and rare materials that make the original so costly.

The quite attractive web site for the bible project is here.

Sadly, the man who commissioned the bible and who served as president of St. John's, Brother Dietrich Reinhart, passed away on Monday (12-29-08) after a bout with cancer.

[Reposted and updated from 2006]

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Talmud will be an Olympic Medal Sport in 2016

In a dramatic reversal after refusing to conduct a minute of silence in memory of the slain Israelis at the 1972 Olympics, the IOC announced that Talmud will be a recognized Olympic medal sport at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

The recent Talmud event at the MetLife sports stadium in New Jersey impressed on the IOC that Talmud is indeed an international sport practiced daily by millions of competitors.

NPR reported on the event in their story, "Jewish 'Super Bowl' Praises Years Of Talmudic Study," saying:

Finishing the text, of course, called for a celebration, and in New Jersey on Wednesday, thousands flocked to the MetLife Stadium — which usually hosts the Jets and the Giants. 

"It's the Super Bowl," Y.M. Siff said. In fact, with nearly 90,000 in the audience, the celebration actually topped the attendance of the last Super Bowl. The majority of people there were men dressed in the black robes and hats worn by the most traditional Orthodox Jews. They filled the stands and the field, and, when the opening prayers began, their voices filled the air...

Training for the coming Olympic competitions has begun in earnest at Yeshivas, synagogues and other venues around the world.

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Talmud: Try to swim 100 laps every day

The Tosefta quotes Rabbi Meir saying that everyone should strive to recite 100 blessings each day. It then goes on to explain how one can do this.

Blessings are berakhot ברכות in Hebrew. In modern Hebrew the laps that one swims in a pool are called berechot בריכות.

I playfully read the Talmud such: Don't say berakhot, say berechot.

And so I have my Talmudic encouragement to swim 100 laps a day. On occasion I get to to that goal.

Here are a few of my reflections of the past on swimming...

Some time ago, JTA reported that "Liberal men take the plunge into ritual immersion, slowly" -- Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist Jewish men were going to mikvah and finding it meaningful. Sue Fishkoff wondered why and so did I.

She ended her article with a quote from mikvah user and attorney Merrill Hassenfeld, “We’re always doing things for others, why don’t we set aside time to go to the mikvah?” he asked. “It prepares us to go out into the world and start yelling and screaming again.” (A greater non-sequiteur has never been uttered.)

Now, my confession. I am a pool addict. I am a serious lap swimmer. Since 1982 my aim has been to try to swim a mile of laps every day. Finding the time. Finding a pool. Finding the energy. Not easy.

When I come out of my pool, I find that I feel healthier, more centered and completely relaxed. Swimming a mile in around 30 minutes is hard, aerobic work. That is what I have to invest to get results from my "mikvah" experience. I'm happy to hear that others can achieve their own "incredible" positive benefits from splashing around in a state of heightened imagination.

I have sought out pools to swim my laps all over the world. My most favorite pool was the old Gordon Pool on Tel Aviv beach near the Sheraton, pictured from a few years ago.

It was one of the wonders of the world. Each night they emptied the entire 50 meter pool, cleaned it and refilled it from underground saltwater wells 120 meters below. The pool opened at 5 AM at 24 degrees, which was just fine for us serious lap swimmers.

Unfortunately, the Gordon pool was leveled in 2008 without warning by the city of Tel Aviv. They rebuilt and reopened it as a more modern facility. I swam there in 2011.

[repost in part from 5/20/09]

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Post: Trustee Irving Picard wants to undo Ezra Merkin's settlement with NY State

Trustee Irving Picard wants to undo Ezra Merkin's settlement with NY State.

The trustee tasked with unwinding Bernie Madoff’s fraud is trying to block the state from paying $410 million to investors with fallen money manager Ezra Merkin. 

Irving Picard, the court-appointed lawyer responsible for clawing back money for Madoff victims, wants a bankruptcy judge to block a settlement between New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Merkin, who has been accused of secretly steering client money to Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme. 

In a sharply worded motion filed with the US bankruptcy court in Manhattan, Picard said Schneiderman’s settlement will “wreak havoc” on his efforts to recover funds for Madoff victims.

“Every victim should be treated equally,” Picard said. “That fundamental principle cannot be abrogated by the state of New York.”

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Israeli swimmer Yakov Toumarkin finished seventh in the final in the 200 meter backstroke

Israeli swimmer Yakov Toumarkin advanced to the final in the 200 meter backstroke in the London Olympics.

He finished seventh. We are proud of this achievement.

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