Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on November 1, 2020

When I was born back in 1955, East Jerusalem was part of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. In June 1967, Israeli troops rolled into our city and occupied it. The same month, Israel unilaterally passed a law declaring its sovereignty over the entire city of Jerusalem, including the occupied part. No country in the world, including the US, has recognized this unilateral act.Now, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced a change in the long-standing State Department policy that avoided controversy over the place of birth of Jerusalemites by simply listing their birthplace as Jerusalem. Americans born in Jerusalem can now list their place of birth as either Israel or Jerusalem. Trying to win over a few pro-Israel American votes, the White House is dumping bipartisan US policy and, in the process, throwing non-Jews born in Jerusalem, like me, under the bus. This ill-advised new policy will allow countries, especially Israel, to discriminate between American Jews and American Arabs simply because of where they were born.The idea that passports will have more than one entry in the place of birth line will easily flag up who is Jewish and who is an Arab Jerusalemite, thus discriminating against Americans in particular when they arrive at Israeli passport control. This will increase discrimination against bona fide American citizens who are protected against such actions by the US Constitution. When it comes to discrimination against US citizens, instead of forcefully fighting against it, the State Department is actually enabling it.This issue is personal for me. In 1969 and without much hope of finding a good college education for me and my siblings, my parents decided to emigrate to the US. When I was old enough and after being naturalized, I was able to travel using an American passport. The entry for the place of birth on my newly acquired US travel document was listed as Jerusalem.The idea of Jerusalem, rather than Jordan, Israel or Palestine, being listed as the place of birth was more than a clever diplomatic move to avoid making a sensitive political decision. Ever since the 19th century, countries around the world have treated Jerusalem as a unique city. It is legally considered as a corpus separatum (Latin for separated body). American, British, French, Spanish, Italian, Turkish, Belgium, Norwegian, and Swedish diplomatic missions have set up in Jerusalem since then. They report directly to their own capitals and not through their respective missions in Tel Aviv, Amman or even Ramallah.The US has meddled with this sensitive city by making a symbolic move of its embassy to West Jerusalem (the US Embassy is still largely in Tel Aviv), while declaring that this move is not intended to prejudge the future state of Jerusalem, which is hotly contested by the Israelis and Palestinians.

Bipartisan support, international cooperation and the consent of the conflicting parties are necessary before making such a move.

Daoud Kuttab

Some American Jews born in Jerusalem have wanted to have their place of birth listed as Israel. But the US Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that the president has the exclusive power to recognize (or not) foreign nations. Now, however, the idea of tinkering with this issue has arisen once again. Officials have declared that they want to declare all those born in Jerusalem including people like me who were born before Israel came to Jerusalem to have been born in Israel.Jerusalem is the cradle of three monotheistic religions. Jews who trace their lineage to Abraham say it is the place where Abraham nearly sacrificed his son Isaac on a mount, where they believe the first and second temples stood. Christians believe that Jesus Christ was crucified and ascended to heaven from Jerusalem, while Al-Aqsa in Al-Haram Al Sharif is Islams third holiest mosque. UNESCO has declared the entire Old City of Jerusalem to be a world heritage site not to be tinkered with or changed.US law and the Supreme Court might have given the executive branch the right to recognize countries and therefore legally allow the listing of either Jerusalem or Israel. But such a change will certainly not be wise or conducive to peace and tranquility in the most complex conflict in the world. Bipartisan support, international cooperation and the consent of the conflicting parties are necessary before making such a move.Decisions that affect people around the world should not be electioneering fodder. Any move that is made in Washington regarding Jerusalem can have a direct impact on the Middle East and can easily enable countries to discriminate against full-fledged US citizens.For four years, the current administration has made repeated pro-Israeli acts while claiming that these moves are ultimately aimed at bringing about peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. However, these actions have done little to change the basic principles needed for peace.Palestinians want peace and they understand that the best way to accomplish this goal is to usher in the creation of a Palestinian state in the areas Israel occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem. This would provide Israel with the safety and security its people desire and would ensure that Palestinians, who have lived with decades of occupation and colonial settlement, will have freedom in their own independent and democratic state.If the US cannot accomplish these conditions for peace, it should at least avoid enabling discrimination against American citizens.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point-of-view

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The implications of US policy shift on Jerusalem - Arab News

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Posted By admin on November 1, 2020

Tara Kirk, pictured with her husband, found out she has a gene mutation that puts her at higher risk for several cancers.

Source: Tara Kirk

Tara Kirk was 6 years old when her mother died of lung cancer.

Almost three decades later, at the age of 34, Kirk found out she had a gene mutation that increases her risk of developing a number of diseases, most notably colon and endometrial cancers.

"I was in denial that I could have had it," said Kirk, now 36 and living in Houston with her husband and son.

When people think of gene mutations, the breast cancer (BRCA) genes often come to mind. Actress Angelina Jolie famously laid out her decision to have a preventive double mastectomy after her BRCA1 diagnosis back in 2013.

The lifetime risk of breast cancer is increased by 20% to 49% for women with moderate-risk gene mutations and 50% or higher with those who have high-risk mutations, according to Susan G. Koman.

Angelina Jolie had a preventive double mastectomy in 2013, after discovering she had a BRCA mutation.

Samir Hussein | WireImage | Getty Images

In fact, researchers have associated mutations in specific genes with about 50 hereditary cancer syndromes, according to the National Cancer Institute.

For Kirk, it is the gene known as MSH6, one of several mutations that are classified as Lynch Syndrome.

While there was family history of cancer, she only got tested after her aunt was diagnosed with endometrial cancer. Kirk now believes her mother's cancer may have started elsewhere before traveling to the lungs.

Since her diagnosis, Kirk goes for annual screenings, including a colonoscopy, endometrial biopsy, ultrasound, and full body skin exam. She gets an upper endoscopy every other year and was told when she reaches 40, she should have her uterus and ovaries removed.

Fortunately, Kirk has insurance. About $3,500 a year comes out of her paycheck to pay for her employer-sponsored insurance and she spends an additional $2,000 a year out-of-pocket for her surveillance. It's a small price to pay for the chance to catch cancer early, she said.

"My very first colonoscopy they found a precancerous polyp, so knowledge saved my life," Kirk said.

Not everyone is a candidate for genetic testing. In fact, only about 5% to 10% of all cancers are considered hereditary, although it varies by the specific cancer.

About one in 400 women have a BRAC1 or BRAC2 mutation, although those of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage have a higher risk: one in 40. Lynch syndrome affects approximately one in 270 people and causes about 3% to 5% of colon cancers and 2% to 3% of uterine cancers.

Tara Kirk and her mom in December 1988.

Source: Tara Kirk

To determine if you have a gene mutation, first gather your family history and see your doctor, said Susan Brown, senior director of education and support at Susan G. Komen.

If your health-care provider thinks you might have a hereditary mutation, you'll be referred to a genetic counselor, who may order a blood or saliva test.

"It's an easy test," Brown said. "The ramifications of the results can be a little more complicated.

"If you have a positive mutation, then you have to think about what you are going to do with that information."

Testing costs anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to several thousand dollars and may be covered by insurance. The multigene panel is pricey, since it surveys a number of genes.

If someone in your family has already been diagnosed with a specific mutation, you can be tested for that mutation alone, which is a lot cheaper. For those who don't have health insurance, many of the gene-testing companies have programs that bring the cost down to $250 to $300.

My very first colonoscopy they found a precancerous polyp, so knowledge saved my life.

Tara Kirk

Lynch Syndrome patient

Coverage of BRCA testing for women is required under the Affordable Care Act, although the fate of the law is uncertain. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on whether the ACA is constitutional after the election in November.

Coverage for other gene mutations is optional, but has grown in recent years, according to Lisa Schlager, vice president of public policy at the hereditary cancer advocacy organization Force, which stands for Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered.

"They do [cover testing] for the most part, but it can incur or involve out-of-pocket costs," she said.

Then there are direct-to-consumer companies like 23andMe and Ancestry. Generally, direct-to-consumer tests are not part of recommended clinical practice, according to the National Cancer Institute.

"If they are not done through a doctor in an approved lab, there is potential for errors," Komen's Brown explained.

Some tests may only check for a few mutations.

"You may make a decision and have an understanding of your risk based on incomplete information," she said.

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For $179, AncestryHealth offers testing for genetic risks and says it can detect 80% or more of known DNA differences linked to certain cancers.

"AncestryHealth includes laboratory tests developed and performed by an independent CLIA-certified laboratory partner, and with oversight from an independent clinician network of board-certified physicians and genetic counselors," its website states.

Meanwhile, 23andMe's Health + Ancestry service includes testing for selected variants of BRCA1 and BRCA2.

"23andMe standards for accuracy are incredibly high," the company said in a statement. "Detailed analytical testing through the FDA review process showed that our Genetic Health Risk and Carrier Status reports meet accuracy thresholds of 99 percent or higher."

If you are found to have a so-called "cancer-gene," you generally will start undergoing annual cancer screenings. You may also opt for preventive, or prophylactic, surgery typically a mastectomy or hysterectomy.

The costs and amount of insurance coverage if you have any vary widely.

Heather Horton, 35, and her mother, 63-year-old Sue Williams, have had two vastly different experiences.

Heather Horton, L, and her mother, Sue Williams both have a gene mutation that is associated with a higher risk of several cancers, including colon.

Source: Sue Williams

The pair, who live in Portland, Oregon, both have the MLH1 mutation, another gene that falls under Lynch Syndrome.

Williams found out at the age of 54, after her brother was diagnosed with colon cancer in his 40s. She's had no issue with her coverage. She had a preventative hysterectomy and now undergoes regular colonoscopies and endoscopies, which cost her $20 after insurance. She pays $812 a month for her policy.

Horton, on the other hand, has become an expert at reading medical bills and understanding coding after spending a lot of time challenging charges.

Diagnosed at 28 years old, Horton gets the same screenings as her mom, plus ultrasounds, a blood test and an endometrial biopsy to monitor her uterus and ovaries. Over the years, her annual screening costs have run from about $800 to $2,500, with around $1,500 being the norm. Her monthly premium is about $520 for a family plan.

"One of the biggest challenges is [that] it's hard to really track or budget for, because I can't ever really estimate what the expenses are going to be," Horton said.

Health insurers aren't required to cover cancer screenings, beyond what is mandated by the ACA, which is focused on the "average risk" population. That leads many to struggle to get coverage for earlier, more intensive screenings and risk-reducing surgeries, according to Force.

While insurance typically covers the surveillance, those who have high-deductible plans may still wind up with a hefty bill, said Force's Schlager.

"We are testing people but not empowering them with easy access, necessarily, to the follow-up care," she said.

Medicare doesn't cover preventive care, unless authorized by Congress. Right now, those over 50 years old can get screening colonoscopies covered and those over 40 can get screening mammograms as well as a baseline between the ages of 35-39. However, anyone younger on Medicare, such as those with disabilities, won't be covered.

Medicare also doesn't cover breast MRIs, which doctors recommend for those with a high breast cancer risk, as well as preventive surgeries, Schlager said.

Our whole health system is focused on treatment. If we were to flip that and focus on prevention, we would probably save the system a lot of money long-term.

Lisa Schlager

vice president of public policy at Force

She's currently working on legislation with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida, to amend the Medicare statute to broaden the preventive cancer screenings.

Medicaid coverage for screenings is more difficult to track, since it varies by state. All but three state programs cover BRCA testing and most cover testing for Lynch Syndrome. Less than a handful cover multigene panel testing, Schlager said. She recommends checking with your state's Medicaid office to find out what's available.

"Our whole health system is focused on treatment," Schlager said.

"If we were to flip that and focus on prevention, we would probably save the system a lot of money long-term. But we are just not there yet."

While there may be costs with cancer screenings, it is better than the alternative: not catching cancer early and paying for costly treatments.

"It is really managing your destiny as far as your health," said Susan Dallas, executive director of Lynch Syndrome International.

Her father passed away from pancreatic cancer when she was four years old. At 43, Dallas was diagnosed with colon cancer, and subsequently, Lynch Syndrome, which includes genes MLHL, MSH2, MSH6, PMS2, and EPCAM.

"If you don't know what you are dealing with, you can't possibly know what your potential cost could be down the road," Dallas said.

"It could save you thousands and thousands of dollars, not to mention the heartache, stress and loss of income because you end up with cancer."

In fact, a new report from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network titled "The Costs of Cancer" found that U.S. cancer patients spent $5.6 billion in out-of-pocket costs for cancer treatment in 2018. Those with ACA-compliant coverage paid between $5,000 out-of-pocket in a large employer plan to over $12,000 in an individual marketplace plan. Short-term limited duration plan patients paid $52,000.

Despite the frustrations she has encountered, Horton doesn't regret getting tested.

"Knowledge is power. We do have some of this within our control to stay on top of it," she said.

"There is some comfort in that, than just kind of waiting for some symptom to appear."

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Posted By admin on November 1, 2020

Chris McKenna,Jon Campbell|Times Herald-Record

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced modified rules for coronavirus hot spots on Friday that will allow schools serving nearly 15,000 children in the Kiryas Joel area to reopen after all students and staff members have been tested for the virus.

The new rules applied to schools in areas designated as either red or orange zones because of spikes in COVID-19 cases. Kiryas Joel, identified as a red zone on Oct. 6, was downgraded to an orange zone this week after COVID-19 cases subsided, which increased the number of people allowed insidesynagogues but still required that schools be closed.

Most children in the Hasidic community attend religious schools, some of which defied state and county orders to close or declared themselves day care centers in order to stay open. But the orders did force Kiryas Joel's only public school to shut for three weeks, cutting off in-person classes and therapy for its special-needs students, some with severe disabilities.

Isaac Weinberger, whose 10-year-old son has Down Syndrome and attends Kiryas Joel's public school, said Friday that his son has been regressing without the seven hours of daily instruction and therapy that are helping him speak, grasp utensils and do a host of other tasks that don't come easily to him.

The school's staff has managed to provide remote instruction for some students during the closure, but Naftuli needs in-person therapy and has had no schooling at all for three weeks. His father argued the state should adjust its restrictions to accommodate special education or require frequent virus testing if that would enable Naftuli's school to reopen.

"All of us would be happy to get tested every day," Weinberger said.

Cuomo announced that very policy move to reporters an hour later in a conference call.

He said that after discussions with school officials in red and orange zones, his administration is allowing school to reopen but will require every student and employee to test negative for COVID-19 before they return. Once schools reopen, they must test 25 percent of their students and staff each week to monitor for new infections.

"We've been working with them to find ways to keep people safe but allow children to go to school," Cuomo said. "We have an agreement with them on a protocol that I think keeps people safe and allows children to be educated."

As of Friday, the state had carved out red or orange zones in parts of Orange, Rockland, Steuben and Chemung counties and Brooklyn. It also had designated yellow zones with lighter restrictions in those counties too, plus Broome and Steuben counties and Queens.

The yellow zone drawn around Kiryas Joel has led theMonroe-Woodbury School District to close its North Main Elementary School, which would otherwise have had to test 20 percent of its students and staff every week.

Cuomo said he believes the new testing plan in red and orange zones strikes the right balance between safety and ensuring children can attend school, which has major child-care implications.

The added benefit is getting a greater sense of COVID-19's spread through a community by being able to track cases back to a particular student's household and who they had contact with.

"It will also give us an idea about homes and households in that area," Cuomo said."If a child tests positive, then we can contact trace back to the family."

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State will let Kiryas Joel schools reopen if all students and staff are tested for virus - Times Herald-Record

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Posted By admin on October 30, 2020

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid appointed former MK and Talmud scholar Dr. Ruth Calderon to be World Zionist Organization president on Thursday.Calderon, whose appointment must be approved by the WZO, will be the first president of the organization in decades, and the first woman to hold any president or chair post in any Zionist institution. The post comes with an automatic grave in Mount Herzls section of leaders.Calderon is an educator and Talmud scholar working to promote Hebrew, Israeli, and Jewish culture, to cultivate the study of Torah in the secular world, and to create a liberal, humanistic public space that is rich in culture.She served in the 19th Knesset as an MK for the Yesh Atid party and as deputy speaker of the Knesset.Calderon founded Beit Midrash Elul in Jerusalem and Alma Home for Hebrew Culture in Tel Aviv. She also served as the head of the culture and education department of the National Library of Israel.In recognition of her work, Ruth was awarded the AVI CHAI Prize for Jewish Education, the Samuel Rothberg Prize for Jewish Education, and honorary doctorates from Brandeis University, the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and Hebrew College in Boston.Calderon holds a masters degree and doctorate in Talmud from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is a graduate of Cohort 1 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership.

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Posted By admin on October 30, 2020

Since time immemorial, the Jewish people have been known as the people of the Book. While historically the term originates from Islam, which categorized the Jews as people of the book meaning those who possessed an earlier revelation from God that was written down the term most often refers to the intimate connection between the Jews and the Torah the Hebrew Bible (Tanach), and the many books associated with it, such as the Talmud, commentaries, and codes of Jewish law. Judaism reveres the written word from the Torah scroll that is painstakingly written on parchment to the printed Talmud that contains the rabbinic explanations of the Bible. Jews were among the first to take advantage of the printing press when it was invented in the mid-1500s, and the Bible, Talmud, and prayer book (siddur) quickly became standard Hebrew printed works.

Jews have always had a special reverence and appreciation for books. Harry Wolfson, the early 20th century Harvard scholar and historian and the first chairman of aJudaic StudiesCenter in theUnited States, was once confronted by a colleague who said, Why do you Jews think you are so special? Wolfson is reputed to have responded: As far as I know, we are the only people who, when we drop a book on the floor, we pick it up and kiss it."

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Why are the Jews called the people of the Book? - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on October 30, 2020

(JTA) Like many progressives in America, as soon as Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court Monday night, my social media feeds erupted with anger over the process and fear that her appointment could presage a rollback of marriage equality.

I am a rabbi, so my feeds were also full of fellow Jewish clergy promising, come what may, to perform queer peoples weddings.

Thats an important impulse. But in this perilous moment, its not enough. Queer folks need and deserve so much more than ceremonies from their straight clergy.

Five years after marriage quality became the law of the land, it would be easy for Jewish communities to be complacent regarding LGBTQ issues. All progressive rabbinical schools ordain LGBTQ students, and dozens of my queer colleagues lead shuls all over the country. I know spouses of colleagues who have come out as transgender with support of their communities. Interfaith marriage is a more divisive issue than same-sex marriage.

And yet complacency would be a mistake, as much more than marriage equality is up for review by the Supreme Court. As the Jewish LGBTQ organization Keshet noted in a statement, the right of healthcare for transgender people and the ability of LGBTQ people to adopt children will be soon be scrutinized. Next week that is, just days from now the court will hear a case that could allow private agencies that receive taxpayer-funding (e.g., food banks, homeless shelters and foster care providers) to deny services to LGBTQ people. The human dignity of my beloved friends and colleagues is being threatened. The stakes couldnt be higher.

In rabbinical school I interned at a community organization that helped local synagogues address areas of inclusion. One community leader pushed back on a suggestion to include a statement on the synagogues About page that it was a welcoming place for queer people. Were a liberal synagogue, she said. Isnt it obvious that we include LGBTQ families?

No, its not obvious. It is incumbent upon us as rabbis and cantors to keep saying and doing it.

This fall I am thrilled to be able to participate in a weekly online shiur through SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva. SVARAs Talmud instruction recognizes as crucial the insights of transgender, intersex, queer, lesbian, bisexual and gay Jews. In partnership with my chevruta, a gay male rabbi, I have been privileged to learn Gemara in SVARAs signature queer-normative community. In the opening breakout room during the first session last week, one of my fellow participants shared what previous SVARA programs have meant to him. He had long struggled to reconcile his Jewish identity with his queer identity, he said, and SVARA had transformed his ability to do so. It was hard to overstate how important the community was to him, and he was so excited to continue learning Talmud. Witnessing one more queer person be able to believe that he has a part in and a stake in our textual tradition, I was brought to tears.

Here are just some of the promises I want my fellow straight rabbis and cantors to make to the queer folks in our communities: We will never stop fighting for your rights, from healthcare to adoption to legal gender affirmation to partner recognition. We will also promote your leadership in our rabbinical and cantorial schools. We will invest resources in your kids access to Jewish educational experiences. We will step back for you to have ownership over Jewish communal spaces. We will support specifically queer Jewish institutions. We will speak up when you are mispronouned in our synagogues. We will celebrate Coming Out Day as a Jewish holiday. We will condemn from the bimah the fact that trans folks are targets of state violence. We will act on the eternal truth that queer people are created btzelem Elohim, in the image of God.

Jewish marriage ceremonies often end with a smashing of glass, a reminder of the brokenness of the world even amidst joy. When performing the weddings of queer people, I want for my colleagues to understand that moment as a call to further and deeper action, to build a Jewish community in which all queer people are able to thrive in a world that affirms and celebrates their infinite worth as human beings.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

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Posted By admin on October 30, 2020

Elijah is a biblical prophet and a central figure in Jewish folklore, which is riddled with stories of his roaming the earth, performing miracles, and providing spiritual and physical healing. The Talmud features many tales of ancient rabbis encountering Elijah, who weighs in on their legal conversations, answers questions, gives advice, and reports what is going on in heaven.

In Jewish tradition, Elijah is the one who will announce the coming of the messiah and the redemption of Israel, a fact celebrated in a song traditionally sung during the Havdalah service at the close of Shabbat, which prays for Elijahs return speedily in our time. Some also sing this song during the Passover Seder, as they invite Elijah into their homes to drink from a cup of wine poured just for him, and during ritual circumcisions, as a newborn male is brought into the covenant between God and the Jewish people.

Although his story spans only a handful of chapters of the Bible and there is no biblical book that bears his name, Elijahs legacy surpasses that of virtually all his colleagues. But who was Elijah and how did he come to earn such a prominent place in Jewish tradition?

Elijahs Hebrew name literally means my God is Yahu, a form of the biblical name of God, symbolizing perhaps his zealousness for God and his efforts to keep the Israelites from straying from Gods path. He hailed from Tishbeh, a town in Gilead, east of the Jordan River in present day Jordan, which makes him an outsider of sorts in the kings court in northern Israel, where he was sent to deliver Gods message.

Elijahs time as a prophet coincided with a period in which the Israelite people have been led astray, induced to worship the foreign deity Baal, who they believed was a bringer of rain. A defining moment comes when Elijah summons the people to Mount Carmel and challenges the prophets of Baal to offer a sacrifice without the use of fire. The prophets call out to Baal repeatedly, but to no avail their sacrifice remains unconsumed.

In response, Elijah places a sacrifice upon the altar and douses it with water. He calls out to God and summons a fire from the heavens which consumes not only the sacrifice, but the stone altar and surrounding earth as well. Transformed for the moment, the people proclaim that God alone is the true God a peak moment for Elijah.

But it turns out to be short-lived. The peoples faith wavers and the kings wife Jezebel seeks to have Elijah killed. Fearing for his life, Elijah flees to the desert, where, in a moment that echoes the revelation at Sinai, God sends a shattering wind, an earthquake, and then a fire. Elijah does not encounter God in any of these powerful phenomena, but in the calm that follows, when he hears a still, small voice and within it, he finds God. For theologians, this moment is an archetypal one, underscoring that Spielbergian special effects are not a prerequisite for a revelatory encounter with the Divine.

Elijahs powerful moment of intimacy with God in the desert does not restore him and he is unable to continue serving as prophet. He seeks out Elisha, who assumes his role as Gods spokesperson to the kings of Israel.

On the face of it, Elijahs story is not unique for a biblical prophet others also perform miracles, chastise the people, face resistance and retribution and have personal experiences of revelation that bring them closer to God. Yet, Elijahs story sets him apart from his peers and helps explain the unusually prominent place he has come to occupy in the Jewish imagination.

The chapters in which he appears are among the most dramatic in all of the Bible. Elijahs zealousness for God, his prophetic angst, and his existential loneliness have an intensity that is unmatched by other prophets. The Torah declares that never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom God encountered face to face. But Elijahs encounter with God makes him a close second except for the one way in which Elijahs intimacy with God surpasses even that of Moses.

When his time on Earth comes to a close, Elijah does not die; rather, the Bible reports that God transports him to the heavens on a fiery chariot. While God honored Moses by attending to him at the moment of his death, it is Elijah who is invited into the divine realm.

While the Book of Kings provides little explanation about this curious feature of Elijahs story, his journey to the heavens has captured the imagination of many early interpreters of the Bible, who began to develop visions of Elijahs unique afterlife. Already in the Second Temple period, his role as the harbinger of divine redemption was noted by the biblical prophet Malachi.

The rabbis of the Talmud imagined Elijah sitting intimately with God in the heavenly court and traveling back and forth between the divine and human realms. These stories, and those that followed, depict an Elijah who continues to take interest in the world he left behind, offering assistance to those in need and seeking out the one who will usher in the messianic era.

Elijah became a part of not only the Jewish past, but the Jewish present and our hopes for the Jewish future. Chance meetings with a stranger that led to a fortuitous reversal of fortune were spun into tales of personal encounters with Elijah. Over the centuries, Jews came to look out for Elijah at times of difficulty in the hope of personal or communal redemption.

And so, Elijah became part of our ritual life. We sing of him as Shabbat comes to an end in the hope that in the new week he will announce that redemption is at hand. We welcome him into our homes during Passover, the holiday that celebrates our redemption. We look for him as we bring a newborn into the covenant, in the hopes that the newborn child might be the messiah who will usher in the era of our redemption. And those of us who have been fortunate enough to encounter him along the way tell the tales of how he assisted us at a time of need.

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Posted By admin on October 30, 2020

In recent decades many Christians have begun to appreciate the integrity and genius of Judaism on its own terms rather than as the negative foil for Christianity. Old characterizations of Judaism as a religion of law not grace, or of legalism not love, have been recognized as caricaturesimpediments to understanding Jews of the first century or of today.

Yet such caricatures retain power in parts of the church and continue to seep into Christian sermons. Even for those who want to resist the caricatures, the spiritual proximity of Jews and Christiansthe fact that we share sacred texts and historiesin some ways makes the task of understanding more difficult. What look like obvious differences can turn out upon investigation to mask important agreements, and what have seemed important commonalities can turn out to contain significant differences. It takes a sustained, patient conversation with the other tradition to begin to understand its inner logic.

John E. Phelan Jr. has undertaken that patient conversation with Jewish colleagues and Jewish texts. A pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church and former president of North Park Theological Seminary, Phelan has absorbed the recent work of Christian scholars on Judaism and immersed himself in Jewish writings.

The result is a book that does two things remarkably well: it sympathetically explains aspects of Judaism about which Christians are apt to be ignorant or misinformed, and it offers a Christian portrait of Judaism in which Jews are likely to recognize themselves. I cant think of any book that treats this topic for a Christian audience with such breadth, depth, and theological accessibility. As Phelan shows, the effort to understand Jews and Judaism requires Christians both to unlearn things we thought we knew and to learn things we didnt know we didnt know.

The work of unlearning includes revising the harshly negative portrait of the Pharisees given by the New Testament. Viewed in historical and religious context, the Pharisees were not the rigid legalists presented in the Gospels. Rather, they were engaged in the same task Jesus was: bringing holiness to everyday life. (If Gods command is to keep the sabbath holy, the Pharisees question was: How exactly does one do that?)

Jesus was not so much arguing against the Pharisees as joining the discussion already going on among the Pharisees about how to observe the commandments. The disputes were part of an intra-Jewish quarrel, and as Phelan says, family feuds are often the worst: the closer you are, the more bitter the conflict.

It was by building on the work of the Pharisees that the rabbis of the first centuries after Jesus life reinvented Judaism in a form that could be sustained outside Jerusalem and in the absence of a temple. (Which is why a rabbi friend could proudly tell Phelan, I am a Pharisee.) The rabbis produced the Mishnah, or oral law, a collection of legal interpretations and commentaries on the first five books of the Bible, which in turn became the basis for further commentaries known as the Gemara, codified in the sixth century. Together these two works constitute the Talmud, the canonical text of rabbinic Judaism.

Talmudic writings are almost completely unknown to the average Christian, including the average minister. Yet it is this set of writings that has defined the religious practice and intellectual style of mainstream Jews for the past 1,500 years. These are the writings that have shaped how Jews read what Christians call the Old Testament. As Phelan notes, citing a Jewish scholar, it is impossible to approach Jewish exegesis . . . without knowledge of the Talmud. Phelan is richly informative on these matters as he chronicles the main chapters of rabbinic Judaism from ancient times to the modern era.

But the heart of the book is Phelans dialogical way of engaging classic points of contention between the two faiths, including the place of the law and the commandments, the nature of righteousness, and the theology of Paul. For each topic, he takes a deep dive into the Jewish perspectives and intersperses his own Christian reflections, looking for areas of theological alignment as well as tension.

Consider the issue of righteousnesshow humans are made right before God. A typical way of contrasting the two faiths might go like this: Jews believe they are made righteous by observing the commandments, whereas Christians believe they are made righteous by Gods grace, shown in the reconciling work of Jesus on the cross.

That formula captures something real. Yet Phelan notes that obedience to the law is by no means discarded in Christianity; injunctions to obey the law of God are strewn throughout the New Testament, including in the writings of Paul, the presumed advocate of salvation by grace through faith. For Christians, no less than Jews, righteousness entails obedience.

On the Jewish side, the belief that God is always eager to receive the penitent sinner is, Phelan suggests, a kind of functional equivalent of the Christian concept of Gods grace. He cites a parable from Talmudic literature that closely parallels Jesus parable of the Prodigal Son. God in the rabbinic story is just as much a loving father as the one in Jesus parable, who runs to embrace the lost son. In both Christian and Jewish stories, Gods embrace of the sinner depends not on correct performance of the law but on the sinners act of repentance.

Of course, Jesus still marks a dividing line. For Christians, it is Jesus righteousness that is the basis of human righteousness, and it is through Jesus that reconciliation and atonement with God are achieved. Rather than simply press this difference, however, Phelan further complicates the issue by considering what this difference looks like through Jewish eyes. He engages the analysis of Reform rabbi Eugene Borowitz, who made his own comparative study of the two faiths.

Borowitz argues that the God invoked by Jews is actually more approachable for sinners than the God invoked by Christians. The God of Judaism is always close at hand for Jews, ever ready to accept the penitent sinner, whereas in Christianity, humans and God are profoundly estranged, reconciled only through the death of Jesus in a dramatic act of divine sacrifice.

As Phelan points out, Borowitzs reading of Christianity reverses the widespread Christian assumption that the God of the Old Testament is a far-off, fierce God, who demands adherence to the commandments, while the God of the New Testament, on the other hand, is a gracious and forgiving God, intimately engaged with humanity. For Borowitz, its the opposite: the God of Judaism is a loving Father, eager to forgive his children, while the God of Christianity is so holy and pure that the human being cannot stand in intimate relationship with the divine. This discussion neatly shows how Jewish-Christian dialogue can upend simple oppositions and reshuffle theological categories.

In the end, Phelan concludes that in both traditions God displays elements of holiness and intimacy, judgment and forgiveness. While they disagree about the significance of Jesus, both Jews and Christians worship a God who longs for us to be righteous, individually and corporately; a God eager to respond to our repentance, eager to forgive, eager to love, eager to save.

Interestingly, Phelan adds yet another twist to the discussion by pushing back, on Christian grounds, against Borowitzs description. He thinks the rabbi overstates the contrast between the two faiths by mistaking Augustines doctrine of sin and Anselms doctrine of atonement for the whole of Christian thinking on the subject. The combined legacies of Augustine and Anselm have stressed the idea that humans are so infected by inherent sin that they cannot be reconciled to God on their own, and only through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is God in a position to cancel the debt of sin. Phelan insists that not all Christians subscribe to Augustines doctrine of original sin and that the New Testament offers ways of understanding Jesus death that are different from Anselms penal substitutionary theory, in which Jesus death is what makes Gods forgiveness possible. Once again, contrasts formulated at a distance from actual believers are bound to miss some important nuances of the faith, especially when each tradition contains a variety of emphases within it.

Phelan does a good job giving a flavor of some of this variety within Judaism as well as Christianity. As for his own perspective, the label evangelical in the subtitle is a bit misleading. Phelan speaks to a broad Protestant audience, and he only occasionally has a conservative evangelical audience specifically in mind. He himself is by no means intent on defending a classic evangelical perspectivewitness his resistance to the penal substitutionary theory of atonement, the traditional evangelical position on the subject.

Regarding the other terms in the subtitle, Jews and Judaism, the book is more about Judaism than about Jewsthat is, more about Judaism as a system of religious belief and practice than about Jews as an ethnicity and a nationality. One of the profound differences between Judaism and Christianity is that being Jewish is about being part of a people and a nation before it is about being religious. Your people will be my people, your God, my God, says Ruth, the Moabite, to her mother-in-law Naomi in the book of Ruth. Peoplehood comes first.

One can be ardently Jewish while being largely indifferent to religious claimsa situation that doesnt quite compute in the Christian universe. Questions about Jewish peoplehoodWho defines it? What does loyalty to it entail?shape much of the public debate among contemporary Jews in both Israel and the United States, especially in arguments about the state of Israel.

Phelan is perfectly aware of this dimension of Judaism, and he takes note of it at appropriate places throughout his survey. But his primary interest lies elsewhere. He wants believing Christians to stand alongside believing Jews and see themselves as siblings in faith. Shorn of the old disabling sibling rivalry, they can respect and understand their differences and appreciate the distinct ways they both worship and serve the God of Israel. This book is a major step toward that end.

A version of this article appears in the print edition under the title Understanding Judaism.

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Christians have struggled to understand Judaism on its own terms - The Christian Century

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Posted By admin on October 30, 2020

As the pandemic rages, some in the ultra-Orthodox community continue to cram into yeshivas to study, flouting the warnings of health officials, and to hold mass events. The ultra-Orthodox community knows all too well the dangers of COVID-19. Why then would they put themselves and others at risk?

Of course, as with any decision made by a multitude of people, there is not one single answer. Still, broadly speaking, we may say that there are two main concepts underlying this conduct: though studying Torah may lead to death in a time of a pandemic, its importance is so great that the price is worth it; and the faith that while congregating may be dangerous to some, this is not the case for those studying in yeshivas for they are protected from danger, including deadly viruses, by virtue of their Torah study.

In fact, these two justifications were those cited by the nonagenarian Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, the most senior of the Lithuanian (non-Hasidic) rabbis in Israel, who uphold the standards of ultra-Orthodox ideology and piety, when ruling that yeshivas should remain open back in March, despite government efforts to contain the disease. (After contracting the coronavirus himself, in early October he advised worshipers to adhere to safety rules; a few days later he ordered the rabbis of Bnei Brak to stop the minyans, prayer quorums of at least 10 men, throughout the city entirely and to pray individually to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Of the two, the first is perhaps easiest to grasp. We can all empathize with the notion, or at least understand, that there are things worth dying for. While we may not agree that the study of an anonymously codified collection of the musings by second to fifth century sages in what is today Israel and Iraq the Babylonian Talmud meets this criteria, we can appreciate their dedication and resolve in the face of danger.

The basis for this belief is found where else in the Babylonian Talmud itself, which lauds the importance of Torah study repeatedly, in no uncertain terms. For example, the late third-early fourth century Babylonian sage, Rav Yosef bar Hiyya, is quoted by the Talmud as saying, Studying Torah is greater than saving lives (Megillah 16b). The second century Palestinian sage Rabbi Meir is quoted in Ethics of the Fathers (6:1) as saying Whoever studies Torah for Torahs sake alone, merits many things; not only that, but the creation of the entire world is worthwhile for him alone. He is called friend, beloved, lover of God, lover of humanity, rejoicer of God, rejoicer of humanity.

According to the late second, early third century Babylonian sage Abba Arikha, God himself spends the first three hours of the day studying Torah: During the first three, the Holy One, Blessed be He, sits and engages in Torah study (Avodah Zarah 3b). Indeed, if you believe that something is that important, you may be willing to risk your life or perhaps even the lives of others, for it.

For your own safety

The second form of justification is a bit harder to wrap ones head around, and in some ways even negates the first. According to this justification, it is not studying Torah in Yeshivas that puts peoples lives at risk: it is not doing so that endangers them. This view is often given in a short-form maxim, as the abovementioned Rabbi Kanievsky indeed did: Torah maginah umtzilah, literally Torah protects and saves.

This well-known maxim is based on a Talmud discussion in Tractate Sotah 21a. There a relatively minor early third-century Palestinian sage Rabbi Menaem bar Yosei presents a homily, creatively interpreting the verse For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light (Proverbs 6:23) as meaning that while performing a commandment (a mitzvah) protects you only during the duration of the mitzvah, studying Torah provides lasting protection from misfortune. (Sotah 21a)

This homily is picked up by the abovementioned Rav Yosef, who is quoted as saying With regard to Torah study, both at the time when one is engaged in it and at the time when one is not engaged in it, it protects one from misfortune and saves one from the evil inclination. His contemporary Babylonian sage Abba ben Joseph bar ama, known as Rava, based on the stories of Doeg the Edomite and Ahitophel in the Book of Samuel, amended this, claiming that With regard to Torah study, at the time when one is engaged in it, it protects and saves; at the time when one is not engaged in it, it protects one from misfortune but it does not save one from the evil inclination.

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Either way, according to this Talmudic discussion, studying Torah provides protection from misfortune. This surely is meant to include illness, as is made explicit by the great late second, early third century sage Samuel of Nehardea, who is quoted in the Talmud (Eruvin 54a), as reading the verse For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh (Proverbs 4:22), homilitically to mean Keen scholar, open your mouth and read from the Torah, open your mouth and study the Oral Law, in order that your studies should endure in you and that you should live a long life.

Thus we are told that studying Torah protects you from disease and extends your life. If this is to be taken seriously, and orthodox Jews usually do, it is foolish to stop going to yeshiva at the time of a pandemic, a time in which the protection given by Torah study is most needed: People should be going to yeshivas, for their own safety!

But heres the rub. We all know that at times misfortune befalls even the most assiduous Torah scholar, while those who havent studied a page of Gemara in their life often sail through life unscathed. This well-known conundrum is called by philosophers the Problem of Theodicy, but in Jewish circles, following the Talmud (Brachot 7a), is usually stated: Why is it that the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper?

Jews have been grappling with this problem since biblical times. The Book of Job is essentially a treatise on this problem, and Ecclesiastes muses All things come alike to all: One event happens to the righteous and the wicked; To the good, the clean, and the unclean; To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath (9:2).

If we are to restate this problem in terms of Torah study in the time of COVID, we may ask why do yeshiva students perish, while others are fine? Where is this protective power of Torah study ostensibly promised by the Talmud? Judaism does not have one solution for this problem, but many contradicting ideas. One solution, stated frequently in the Talmud (e.g. Brachot 7a) is that those righteous persons who are punished seemingly unfairly, were actually being done a favor. By suffering for their minor infractions in this world, they are assured a reward in the World to Come. By this logic, the death of a Torah scholar in the prime of his life from a deadly virus is relatively insignificant compared with his just rewards in the hereafter.

A later variation on this idea, which appeared in Jewish thought in the Middle Ages with the adoption of the belief in reincarnation or gilgul among some Jews, is the idea that suffering in this life may be punishment for transgressions in a former life. According to this belief, a virtuous sage dying may be cleansing his soul, receiving his reward in a later life.

Of course there are those, even among the sages of the Talmud, who reject the idea that Torah study or indeed any virtuous action has any effect whatsoever on when one dies. This seems to be what Rava, who we have seen above claimed that Torah study protects, meant when saying Length of life, children, and sustenance do not depend on ones merit, but rather they depend upon the constellations (Moed Katan 28a). Rava, based on the extremely precarious scientific theory of astrology current in his day, seems to be saying that ones death is caused by mechanistic processes, not divine retribution. Perhaps if he had known what we know about viruses today, he would have advised yeshiva students to stay at home and pursue their studies through Zoom rather than risk their own and their loved ones lives.

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Why Orthodox Jews believe studying Torah protects from COVID-19 - Haaretz.com

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Posted By admin on October 30, 2020

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The 20th century was an era of mass ethnic cleansing, and the last few decades have witnessed an unrelenting flight of minorities from the Middle East and North Africa. How far is the persecution of religious minorities the result of the clash of irreconcilable value systems? Harif and Bnai Brith UK are joining forces to bring together representatives of Middle Eastern religious minorities who will discuss their experiences and share their views.

HARIF is a UK charity representing Jews from North Africa and the Middle East (UK no.1186454), and dedicated to promoting their history, culture and heritage. Few know that ancient Jewish communities, predating Islam by a millennium, produced the Babylonian Talmud, great rabbis, doctors, thinkers and poets. In modern times, Jews made important economic and cultural contributions to their home countries. Few in the West are aware that Jews were an integral part of the Middle East and North Africa before they were driven out of their homes in the second half of the 20th century.

Over 2,000 years of history in the Middle East and North Africa came to an abrupt and tragic end just 50 years ago. Jews departed for Israel and the West, leaving an enormous cultural and economic void behind. In another 20 years, few Jews who were born in these countries will still be alive. A vital chapter of Jewish identity, history and culture an entire civilisation will be lost. HARIF is here to make sure it is not forgotten.

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The Plight of MENA Religious Minorities: A War for Civilization? - The Media Line

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