No clue what this silly stuff is all about. Hat tip to Yitz.
Showing posts with label brooklyn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brooklyn. Show all posts
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Saturday, 30 March 2013
Friday, 8 March 2013
First off, is David Brooks Jewish? Yes, David Brooks is a Jew.Okay then. Midday today there were over 400 comments on David Brooks' Times op-ed praising Orthodox Judaism. Many of those comments on the Times' web site were not quite as laudatory of the kosher lifestyle.
Brooks toured a Kosher supermarket in Brooklyn with a modern Orthodox rabbi and then waxed quite eloquent about the virtues of Orthodox life.
For the people who shop at Pomegranate, the collective covenant with God is the primary reality and obedience to the laws is the primary obligation. They go shopping like the rest of us, but their shopping is minutely governed by an external moral order.Is David Brooks Orthodox? No, Brooks identifies as a Conservative Jew, "in the political and religious sense,” according to a report in 2011 in the Jewish Week:
The laws, in this view, make for a decent society. They give structure to everyday life. They infuse everyday acts with spiritual significance. They build community. They regulate desires. They moderate religious zeal, making religion an everyday practical reality.
The laws are gradually internalized through a system of lifelong study, argument and practice. The external laws may seem, at first, like an imposition, but then they become welcome and finally seem like a person’s natural way of being....
...While a student, he met Jane Hughes, who would become his wife, and three years after their marriage, she decided to convert to Judaism (and has since changed her name to Sarah Brooks). They had moved to New York by then, and she studied with Rabbi Harlan Wechsler, who became their rabbi. When Brooks was asked at the time by another rabbi about what being Jewish meant to him, he mentioned “Saul Bellow, Woody Allen, cultural things.”Postscript: Is it surprising that Brooks does not inform his readers that he is an apologist for the religion that he practices? Yes, it is. Stakeholder disclosure is part of the professional responsibility of journalism. Brooks makes it seem like he just discovered that kosher foods exist. That's a mockery of honest writing.
But, as he explains, at his wife’s urgings, “I got pulled back in.” She became more deeply involved in Jewish life, becoming the “mikveh lady” at their shul when they moved to Washington. “She wanted to keep kosher, which we do. She wanted to send our kids to religious school, which we do.” Their three children — who have biblical names — have attended local Jewish day schools.
“It’s now quite a Jewish life,” says Brooks, who recently turned 50. “I’m still not as observant as my wife. I have a deeply ambivalent relationship to a lot of Jewish things.” He says that their social lives are less involved with Washington’s power brokers and journalists, but rather built around weekly Shabbat dinners with friends from their shul and their kids’ schools.
The family belongs to Washington’s large Conservative synagogue, Adas Israel Congregation. Rabbi Gil Steinlauf, senior rabbi, says, “There are people who live worldly and otherwise secular lives who — when hearing my messages of Jewish heritage and connection and meaning — either don’t relate or don’t resonate with it. But that’s never the case with David. He totally gets it, and he lives his life in a way that shows that he values the deepest messages of Judaism.” He says that he often uses Brooks’ columns as “jumping-off points for sermons and teachings because his conclusions so often jive so well with the ultimate conclusions of Judaism.”
Brooks participates in a Jewish study group with Erica Brown, scholar-in-residence for the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, along with other Jewish journalists. Last year, he wrote a column about her and Jewish study, “The Arduous Community,” admiring her conviction, confidence and combination of “extreme empathy and extreme tough-mindedness.” He finds her “endlessly impressive.”
The columnist sees Judaism as a very rational tradition, and he sometimes feels frustrated that “rational dissections, like parsing the minute meanings of textual passages,” are emphasized far more than spiritual experiences. The Ne’eila, or concluding service, of Yom Kippur includes moments he finds profoundly spiritual.
Calling on his interest in the workings of the mind and the unconscious, he muses that Judaism’s powerful laws, customs and rituals — the understructure of life — get embedded in the mind, which explains his own particular journey. “Even though my Jewish life was not consciously willed, I could so easily fall into it.”
“I identify as a Conservative Jew, in the political and religious sense,” he says.
Thursday, 28 February 2013
Israel-born American violinist Itzhak Perlman, performed tonight with Manhattan’s Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. It was the new arena’s first Jewish event.In November, 2006 we interviewed Helfgot for the Jewish Standard prior to his concert at the Metropolitan Opera House...
Internationally renowned Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot will perform “Helfgot Sings Cantorial Classics,” the first solo cantorial concert at the New York Metropolitan Opera on Sunday, December 3. At press time the event has nearly sold out the 4400 seating capacity of the Opera House. Dr. Mordechai Sobol arranged the music for the orchestra and choir. The orchestra will include members of the New York Philharmonic conducted by Matthew Lazar with Cantor Daniel Gildar on the piano. The choir will be coordinated by Cantor Azi Schwartz. The invocation prior to the concert will be offered by the chief rabbi of Israel , Yisrael Meir Lau.
Cantor Helfgot is 37 years old, married and the father of six children, ages 3-16. He is a Chasidic Jew born in Tel Aviv and from the Gur or Ger Hasidic community, one of the largest Hasidic groups in the world. Gerrer Hasidim are active in Israeli politics and supportive of the State.
The Jewish Standard interviewed Cantor Helfgot at Lincoln Center Australia . Helfgot was dressed in a dark suit with his pants tucked into the trademark-tall-socks that Hasidim of Ger call "hoyzn-zokn". He has a thin beard and prefers to speak in Hebrew or Yiddish over English. Most of this interview was conducted in Hebrew.
JS: Is this the first time a cantor will perform at the Met?
Not exactly. The cantors Richard Tucker and Jan Pierce performed many times at the Met. But they sang opera. So this is the first time that a cantor will perform cantorial music at the Met. We are fortunate that the Met has permitted us to use this great opera house for this concert.
JS: Will you be using a microphone for the concert?
Good question. We have not yet decided. The Met has wonderful acoustics so it is not essential that we amplify the music. On the other hand our audience is accustomed to the use of microphones and amplifiers. So we have a dilemma and have not yet decided.
JS: Why has cantorial singing fallen out of favor in many shuls?
In Europe every shtetl has a chazzan. Sometimes he also served multiple professional roles as a shochet and a mohel too. In America this type of community does not exist.
People think a cantor’s singing makes the service longer. That does not have to be the case.
JS: What can we do to help bring back the cantor?
People need to accept the cantor as an essential part of the synagogue. He is the shaliach tzibbur -- the appointed representative of the community for leading the service. The cantor has to work together with his congregation to make certain that he makes the singing in the service last as long as the congregation wants. He needs to know when they want to finish Musaf on Shabbat -- 12:00, 12:30? The congregation needs to know that the cantor represents their needs. Those steps will help bring the cantor back into a greater role in the synagogue.
JS: Do you think there is any competition between rabbis and cantors? Do yeshivas tend to frown upon cantors?
I have always had good relations with the rabbis in the synagogues that I have served. We understand each others’ roles and have mutual respect. It is true that there is such a thing as a yeshivishe davenin which does not feature cantorial singing. But there is no essential conflict between the cantor and the yeshiva.
JS: Tell us about an inspirational part of your work?
Sometimes, actually frequently, secular Jews come up to me after I sing and tell me that they were alienated from Judaism but that chazanut has inspired them to return. They say they now plan to attend synagogue and get more involved. That inspires me and fulfills me.
JS: What is your view of women cantors?
I am a Hasidic Jew so I have never heard a chazanit lead the service. I have no problem with women cantors. I can see that people would appreciate the drama and emotion of a soprano chazanit and that it could be inspiring and contribute to the aesthetic of a service.
JS: Have you ever wanted to sing opera?
I have listened at times to opera to hear the voices and the melodies. But I have never aspired to sing opera.
JS: Do non-Jews attend your concerts? Do you think they could appreciate your music?
I don’t know how many non-Jews attend. I expect that anyone could be moved emotionally by our music whether or not it was sacred to them – whether or not they understood the words.
JS: Will you be using the Met’s facility for electronic titles to provide the translation for this concert?
No, the Met is protective of their systems. We will provide texts and translations in the printed programs. We wish to build up our relationship with the Met, to show them the stature of our music and of our audience. That way, in the future, we hope to establish this wonderful hall as a regular venue for cantorial concerts of Jewish music.
JS: Why choose the Met? How did you manage to get the Met?
I am not originally and American so I did not fully appreciate the importance of this location. Our organizers want to have this concert here to make a statement. This is the best place and our music and heritage is good enough. We can perform it in the greatest of opera houses. This will make people proud and will be a great Kiddush Hashem – a sanctification.
As to how our sponsors managed to obtain the right to have this concert there -- that is nothing short of a miracle.
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Tuesday, 26 February 2013
We don't see anything wrong with wearing an afro wig on Purim. In fact we did it this year (with a kippah clipped to it) and walked around giving generous "peace" signs and got no criticism.
Hardly any mention of an afro wig in the New Yorker or in the other media that is critical of Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind.
Mostly it's the blackface part of his Purim costume that raised people's hackles.
...The revelation that Dov Hikind, a state assemblyman from Brooklyn, had hosted a Purim party while wearing a costume intended to represent an African-American basketball player was first made by the New York Observer, which published a photograph of Hikind wearing an orange jersey, a nimbus of black wig, and sunglasses, with his face darkened with cosmetics. The image first appeared on the Facebook page of Hikind’s son, Yoni...Read more.Hey Dov, give us a call. We'll explain all this to you. What you aren't calling? OK here is what you need to say, "I get it; I am sorry; I did a stupid insensitive thing; I won't do it again."
Sunday, 24 February 2013
Wednesday, 30 January 2013
From The New York Times we found a Purim article published just a bit early:
Modesty in Ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn Is Enforced by Secret Squads: "Shadowy committees have threatened shop owners over mannequins they don't like, and reportedly have invaded homes to seize computer equipment."
The Brooklyn shopkeeper was already home for the night when her phone rang: a man who said he was from a neighborhood “modesty committee” was concerned that the mannequins in her store’s window, used to display women’s clothing, might inadvertently arouse passing men and boys.Some men are sexually aroused by mannequins! Definitely not kosher!
Ha ha ha, how funny is this!?
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
They tell us who they are, "DNAinfo.com is New York's leading hyper-local news source, covering New York City's neighborhoods. We deliver up-to-the-minute reports on entertainment, education, politics, crime, sports, and dining. Our award-winning journalists find the stories — big or small — that matter most to New Yorkers."
And in a series of reports by Sonja Sharp they expose the biggest scandal of all at Brooklyn's Yeshivas:
Sonja quotes our friend Zalman Alpert,
In Orthodox Judaism, men are religiously required to study the Torah, and only they are believed to have the intellectual and spiritual capacity to parse the Talmud. Put simply, Jewish boys are too important to be bothered with frivolous concepts like geometry and grammar, experts on the communities said.
“For a young Jewish teenager, it’s a waste of time because he’s supposed to be studying Talmud, Bible, Jewish codes,” said Zalman Alpert, a librarian at Yeshiva University and an expert on Brooklyn's Orthodox communities.
“No matter which Orthodox community you’re talking about, the girls end up getting a better education in secular studies.”
Friday, 28 December 2012
New Yorker sometimes is our favorite Jewish magazine. The editors unintentionally juxtapose two articles of interest in the 2012 holiday issue:
A JEWISH GEFILTE CHRISTMAS Posted by Anna Altman
...This year, I appended the Jewish holiday rites with a visit to the kitchen of the Gefilteria, a recently launched food company specializing in old-world Jewish foods. Started by three twenty-somethings living in Brooklyn, the Gefilteria sells gefilte fish with a pink layer of salmon gefilte topping each dun-colored loaf; jars of two types of horseradish, spicy-carrot and sweet-beet; and glass bottles of beet kvass, a probiotic fermented beverage. An Ashkenazi Jew, I was familiar with the idea of these items, but only in degraded factory form...
“A PROGRAM LIKE THEY HAVE IN ISRAEL” Posted by Hendrik Hertzberg, which we find worth reproducing:
According to Wayne LaPierre, the National Rifle Association is demanding “a program like they have in Israel.” On “Meet the Press,” LaPierre, the C.E.O. of the N.R.A., said, “Israel had a whole lot of school shootings until they did one thing: They said, ‘We’re going to stop it,’ and they put armed security in every school and they have not had a problem since then.”
Oh, really?
A piece in Ynetnews.com, the English-language Web site of Yedioth Ahronoth (“Daily News”), Israel’s largest-selling newspaper, explains why Israeli officials were upset by LaPierre’s comments:
The statements were quickly proven to be false. Israeli guards were not placed in schools to tackle mass shootings. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told the Daily News that the situation in Israel was “fundamentally different” from that in the United States.“We didn’t have a series of school shootings, and they had nothing to do with the issue at hand in the United States. We had to deal with terrorism,” said Palmor.“There is no comparison between maniacs with psychological problems opening fire at random to kill innocent people and trained terrorists trying to murder Israeli children,” said Reuven Berko, a retired Israeli Army colonel and senior police officer.He further remarked that restrictions on gun ownership in Israel have been tightened in recent years, not relaxed.“Israeli citizens are not allowed to carry guns unless they are serving in the army or working in security-related jobs that require them to use a weapon,” he said.
Tightening restrictions on gun ownership. Not letting people run around carrying guns unless it is in the public interest to have them do so. Now there’s “a program like they have in Israel.”
Monday, 23 April 2012
Originally posted 10/30/05...There was a shouting match this past Shabbat morning at the 8:30 minyan at the Bnai Yeshurun synagogue in Teaneck. The Gabbai added the single word sheteheh to the Prayer for the State of Israel. That meant he said that we prayed that the Lord protect Israel and that the State will be the first flowering of our redemption -- instead of praying that the Lord protect it because it is the beginning of our redemption.
The policy at CBY officially is to add that will be qualifier. The 9:00 minyan always does. The 8:30 has not -- based on a "don't ask, don't tell" understanding. But then recently the Rabbi got wind of this unfortunate laxity. He scolded the Gabbai and insisted that the policy of qualifying the prayer be rigidly enforced. The resultant shouting match followed.
By Shabbat afternoon the rabbi felt compelled to make a speech between Minhah and Maariv about the matter. He chastised everyone ... for violating the charter of the synagogue, for being negative and just plain reminded folks that if they did not like his leadership they could choose to form another shul or release him in five years at the conclusion of his contract.
No matter. The issue here is not about a rabbi, but about why anyone cares about what words are said in this "prayer" for the State of Israel.
Common sense should tell everyone in the synagogue that this whole prayer is unimportant, peripheral, second rate, and really not a part of the davening.
First off, the "prayer" is recited by the gabbai, not the hazzan. Second, the "prayer" usually is recited in a monotone, not chanted, and from the side of the bimah, not from the front and center of the synagogue. Third, the "prayer" is recited after the Torah reading and before the Musaf service -- in between the "real" parts of the davening. It seems to me to be placed in a tertiary context that makes it even less official than the personal mesheberach blessings recited for individuals who receive aliyot to the Torah.
You don't have to be an expert in Jewish liturgy to conclude that this relatively recent "prayer" is treated like an afterthought, recited quickly, that has been pasted in to our davening. In fact in some synagogues, the text is actually pasted into the back cover of the siddur.
So really, why would anyone argue, shout or pout about what word is or is not said in this "prayer".
What people should be concerned with is real prayer-book reform. We should be integrating a real prayer for the modern state of Israel into the middle of the actual prayer services of our tradition. We should have the chazzan chant it properly from the bimah. We should have the congregation join in responsively or together with the chazzan in singing the prayer with joy.
Naturally, we should not hem and haw liturgically about the importance and centrality of the State of Israel. It is real. Most of our shul members have been there. Most of our shul members have been inspired by the State and its history. The State of Israel is a factual, powerful, pervasive, long-lasting creator of religious moods and motivations.
Honestly, I have never heard a shul member discuss, express interest in, or argue about the reinstitution of the cultic sacrifice in the Temple. Yet that topic has much more of a central place in our synagogue liturgy.
Those who shout at each other about this or that word in a second or third rate "prayer" -- one that is mumbled by the gabbai from the side of the bimah in between shacharit and musaf -- ought to reconsider.
Yes it is time to shout and argue about promoting the thanksgiving, praise and petition concerning the modern State of Israel as a real and central theme of all of our synagogue prayers.
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