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| Photos Rabbi Dr. Zev Zahavy |
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New Yorker has been churning out amazing content in the past few issues. David Remnick continues that flow with his account of Philip Roth's eightieth birthday celebration in Newark....Roth is the author of thirty-one books. His favorite, he has said, the one in which he felt the most free as he wrote it, is “Sabbath’s Theater.” Laughing a little to himself, Roth said that the novel, which was published in 1995, could easily have been titled “Death and the Art of Dying.” Its epigraph is Prospero’s line in Act V, Scene 1 in “The Tempest”: “Every third thought shall be my grave.” And within is the line from Kafka: “The meaning of life is that it stops.”
“The book is death-haunted,” Roth said. Mickey Sabbath, the turbulent, profane, and libidinous hero, is a man who is beyond discretion and taste, whose outrageous adulterous behavior is, Roth said, “his response to a place where nothing keeps its promise and everything is perishable.” As a boy, Sabbath lost the person closest to him in the world—his older brother, Morty, whose plane was shot down, in 1944, over the Japanese-occupied Philippines.
With that introduction, Roth read pages three hundred and sixty-three to three hundred and seventy of “Sabbath’s Theater,” one of the most stunning passages in all his work. He was not about to let us forget what eighty means. In the novel, Sabbath has gone south (“Tunnel, turnpike, parkway—the shore!”) to visit the Jewish cemetery where his grandparents, parents, and brother are all buried. I will not ruin it for you. To get the feel of the night, you must read the passage in full—or, better, read the novel entire. And imagine that this passage—with its great elegy of gravestones, with its memories of life lived, of a life cut short, and all of it in particular—imagine that this is what Philip Roth chose, very deliberately, as his birthday message, his greeting, his farewell. These were not his last words—please, not that!—but they were what he chose. Death-haunted but assertive of life. The passage ends with his hero putting stones on the graves of the dead. Stones that honor the dead. Stones that are also meant to speak to the dead, to mark the presence of life, as well, if only for a while. The passage ends simply. It ends with the line, “Here I am.”
Lapid resigned from Channel 2 only a year ago, and is one of the most famous people in Israel—a television star with a “Mr. Israel” image. He is bluff, cocky, handsome, and had no problem when it came to name recognition. When he was hosting a show named for him, he would ask his guests a signature question: “What is Israel to you?”
As one Haaretz reporter, Asher Schechter, wrote sarcastically last month, Lapid is a prince of Tel Aviv privilege, a “notorious wannabe,” a cigar-smoking, product-wearing TV star. He has been mocked for his modest education, his uncertain grasp of the facts—but “it’s easy to make fun of Yair Lapid.”
Lapid is the son of Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, a famous and pugnacious journalist who went on to head the Shinui Party (a party devoted to secularism and the free market), and the playwright and author Shulamit Lapid. He had learning disabilities as a child and dropped out of high school. Nevertheless, he built a career in his parents’ mold, writing for the newspapers Maariv and Yediot Ahronoth. His subjects were generally light; when he wrote politically, he kept it simple. In the nineties, he starred in a romantic comedy called “The Singing of the Siren,” in which he played the cad, and then made a career on television. He wrote a TV series called “War Room.”
Above all, he was an on-air presence, a star in every living room. “During his eight-year tenure hosting the most-watched talk show in Israel, Lapid became more than just a media personality and more than just a columnist,” Schechter wrote. “On air, he transformed into an icon.… He wanted to be a symbol, and to that end he cultivated his boyish, all-Israeli image.” One of the rewards of television stardom was a web of connections, friendships with leading bankers and entrepreneurs. He may play a middle-class hero on television and in politics, but he is a man of the Tel Aviv bubble, the coastal secular élite.
Yair Lapid’s emphasis on the secular nature of Zionism and Israel itself is inherited from his father and clearly a reaction to the rise of the religious nationalists, like Bennett, who want to re-define Zionism in the mold of settler ideology. Lapid told the Associated Press, “I don’t want a country that is defined by religion. I don’t want a country that is defined by the separation of groups and sectors.” Read more.
New Yorker has a long rambling article ostensibly about Naftali Bennett, who is a Jew, and a right wing politician in Israel. The article is by David Remnick, editor of the magazine and also a Jew and politically a liberal. Remnick throws into the article his historical narrative about how Israeli politics has veered further and further to the right over the past decades....Bennett’s house is large, modern, filled with sunlight. He and his wife have four children, ranging in age from six months to seven years. There were toys and strollers scattered everywhere, and open packages of Huggies. The place didn’t have the ascetic feel of a settler outpost: there was a Viking stove, a Nespresso machine, laptops, flat-screen TVs. This was the style of the bourgeois pioneer.In effect this long combined profile and history lesson in New Yorker boosts Bennett's influence. So now we muse, Why would a left-leaning writer want to do that? Remnick seems to tell us why at the close of his essay:
Finally, Bennett came in. We made coffee and went out to the green back yard to talk. More toys, a barbecue. I’d heard people compare Ra’anana to Englewood, New Jersey—prosperous, good schools, close to the city—and it felt that way, but with better weather...
...And so this is the moment of Naftali Bennett. I’ve rarely seen a novice politician so confident, and with such reason. Each day, he is climbing in the polls, skimming off votes from the Likud and Netanyahu...You see the simple and overt Talmudic logic. Boost the more radical one to split the rightists and thereby to help the left.
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.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.In a public lecture in Minneapolis in October 1986 I read this editorial and expanded upon it:
"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?
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.[edit and repost from 2007]
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.
Just How Far Did They Go, Those Words Against Israel? - New York Times:They had to put in that dig at the end. Anyway, seems clear that Walmart and Iran agree on this issue. [Repost from 2006.]
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.
?SEMINAR 1 The Periods of Judaism and Jewish HistoryThe wonderful little book is free to all on Sunday June 3.
SEMINAR 2 The Biblical Heritage of Judaism (1400 to 586 B.C.E.)
SEMINAR 3 The Hellenistic Age (586 to 135 B.C.E.)
SEMINAR 4 The Rabbinic Tradition (1 to 1000 C.E.)
SEMINAR 5 The Jews and Judaism in Europe (1000 to 1600 C.E.)
SEMINAR 6 The Search for Deliverance (1492 to 1789)
SEMINAR 7 The New Judaisms (1789 to 1917)
SEMINAR 8 Judaism in America (1654 to the present)
SEMINAR 9 The Mass Murder of European Jewry (1932 to 1948)
SEMINAR 10 Understanding Contemporary Judaism (1948 to the present)
Today is Yom Yerushalayim. It is a Yom Tov. I recited Hallel in shul - with a berakhah.The Artscroll Siddur has personal prayers for livelihood and for forgiveness that "during the silent Shemoneh Esrei one may insert" into the paragraph of shema koleinu (p. 108 in shacharit in some editions).If you use that siddur, or any prayerbook, and if you do wish to follow the advice therein, our recommendation is that you upgrade your prayerbook as follows.
Our Father Who are in Heaven, Protector and Redeemer of Israel, bless Thou the State of Israel which marks the dawn of our deliverance. Shield it beneath the wings of Thy love; Spread over it Thy canopy of peace; send Thy light and Thy truth to its leaders, officers, and counselors, and direct them with Thy good counsel.
O G-d, strengthen the defenders of our Holy Land; grant them salvation and crown them with victory. Establish peace in the land, and everlasting joy for its inhabitants. Remember our brethren, the whole house of Israel, in all the lands of their dispersion. Speedily let them walk upright to Zion, the city, to Jerusalem Thy dwelling-place, as it is written in the Torah of Thy servant Moses: "Even if you are dispersed in the uttermost parts of the world, from there the L-rd your G-d will gather and fetch you. The L-rd your G-d will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it."
Unite our heart to love and revere Thy Name, and to observe all the precepts of Thy Torah. Shine forth in Thy glorious majesty over all the inhabitants of Thy world. Let everything that breathes proclaim: The L-rd G-d of Israel is King; His majesty rules over all. Amen.
No Mitt Romney is not a Jew. He is a Mormon.What made Romney's big speech so Mormon
His tent vision fits his church's bid to enter the religious mainstream.
By Jan Shipps
Bloomington, Ind. - When Mitt Romney gave his "Faith in America" address last Thursday, observers wondered how "Mormon" it would be. "Not very," is the understandable consensus. Mormonism 101 it was not, and he said very little about his personal religious beliefs, sticking to his announced topic.
Still, in the way he talked about religious diversity, the nation's symphony of faiths, the way religious liberty stands at the heart of the American constitutional system, and how religion belongs in the public square, this was a consummate Mormon speech. Moreover, despite its political agenda, it is possible to read what Mr. Romney said as being in harmony with a major effort his church has been making since the 1970s: to be included in the American religious mainstream.
An intriguing element running through Mormon history is its tension with American culture. The faith's founding prophet, Joseph Smith Jr., emphasized the unique character of Mormon teachings. He produced a new sacred text, the Book of Mormon, and his revelations inaugurated a new dispensation in which the ancient priesthoods and the authentic New Testament Church of Christ were restored to earth. Such claims implied that all other churches were in error.
The first reaction was ridicule and charges that Mormonism is heresy, with hostility and frightful persecution following thereafter. Smith's revelations led to the added claims that Mormonism was the restoration of Israel in the new world and that the restoration of the ancient order of things had commenced. Among much else, this meant the inauguration of plural marriage (polygamy).
After 50 years, the resulting conflict between Mormonism and the nation's churches and federal government reached such an impasse that the Mormons were compelled to suspend polygamous practice.
What happened next is a genuine paradox. Instead of reacting negatively to this government pressure, the Mormons began to venerate the nation. A half century later, they were archetypal Americans. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir became "America's choir," and during the 1960s, the contrast between straight-arrow, neatly dressed, and well-behaved Saints (Mormons) and hippie culture heightened the perception that Mormons are as American as motherhood and apple pie.
In the 1980s, however, superconservative Evangelicals turned their attention to Mormon theology. Along with some articulate ex-Mormons, they tried to convince the world that Mormonism is a cult whose members are not Christian.
In response, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) added "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" as a subtitle to the Book of Mormon. And the church changed its logo to place more emphasis on the Jesus Christ part of its name. Additionally, Christendom's founding stories became standard fare in virtually all materials published by the church.
For well over a half century, common cause in Christ has been the leitmotif in the Mormon song to Protestant and Roman Catholic America. It was heard again in Romney's speech. "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind," he declared. Going further, the candidate moved beyond his own faith tradition to envision a capacious religious tent....more
Originally posted 10/30/05...
We have another new book out.
