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October 30 Des habitants de l’ancienne capitale impériale chinoise font leur aliyahSept descendants de l’ancienne communauté juive de Kaifeng viennent en Israël pour étudier l’hébreu et se convertir au Judaïsme. Il serait probablement difficile de faire la différence entre les sept jeunes qui viennent d’arriver à l’aéroport de Tel-Aviv, mardi et les milliers d’ouvriers chinois du bâtiment qui vivent en Israël. Cependant, les jeunes chinois âgés de 19 à 23 ans sont les descendants de l’ancienne communauté juive de la ville chinoise de Kaifeng. Immédiatement les sept jeunes ont embrassé le sol de la terre d’Israël. Yaacov Wang, 23 ans déclare : « Mon rêve est d’achever le processus de conversion au Judaïsme et de devenir rabbin après quoi je retournerai dans ma communauté et servirai comme premier rabbin depuis la dissolution de la communauté, il ya environ 150 ans », et il ajoute « Je suis très heureux d’être sur la Terre Sainte, c’est un rêve qui devient réalité ». Leur première destination a été le mur occidental devant lequel, ils ont prié. « Je ne peux pas croire après tout ce temps que je me sois rendu au mur, j’en ai rêvé pendant des années et l’ai dessiné un grand nombre de fois » a dit Hang Shir, âgée de 24 ans. Ce voyage en Israël a été facilité par l’organisation Shavei Israel qui est en contact avec le gouvernement israélien depuis deux ans et vient de recevoir l’autorisation du ministère de l’Intérieur de délivrer aux sept jeunes chinois un visa d’un an grâce auquel ils pourront apprendre l’hébreu et accomplir le processus de conversion au Judaïsme. Michael Freund qui a fondé Shavei Israel avec ses propres deniers a déclaré jeudi : « C’est un projet expérimental, et s’il réussit nous ferons venir en Israël d’autres descendants de la communauté de Kaifeng, dont un peu moins de la moitié des membres souhaite faire son aliyah. » Cependant, selon la théorie qui prévaut parmi les scientifiques comme parmi les descendants de la communauté de Kaifeng, leurs ancêtres étaient des marchands en provenance de Perse qui se sont établis à Kaifeng, alors capitale de la Chine sous la dynastie Song, par la route de la soie du 10ème au 12 ème siècle. Bien que les juifs de Kaifeng ont été presque complètement assimilés, leurs descendants continuent d’observer certaines traditions comme ne pas manger de porc alors que c’est la viande principale en Chine, ils cuisent les matzots durant la Pâque, peignent la poutre haute des encadrements de portes en rouge en lieu de mezuzah et allument les lumières de Hannucah. Dernièrement trois jeunes Juifs de Kaifeng ont fait leur Aliyah avec l’aide de Shavei Israel, ils ont terminé leur processus de conversion et sont devenus des citoyens israéliens. Cette fois le groupe de sept vivra dans le kibboutz religieux Sde Eliyahu, dans lequel il étudiera l’hébreu durant 5 mois et achèvera sa conversion. October 29 le Rav Adin Steinsaltz, une personnalité inclassable
 Le Rav Adin Steinsaltz est connu à travers le monde pour son édition traduite du Talmud de Babylone. D'abord en hébreu (le Talmud étant majoritairement en araméen), puis en anglais, russe, espagnol et bien sûr français.Il était à Paris cette semaine à l'occasion de la sortie d'un nouveau volume traduit en français: le traité Makot. Dimanche 25 octobre, il a participé à un débat avec Jacques Attali modéré par le rabbin Josy Eisenberg.
L'idée étant de réflechir à l'avenir du peuple juif et de l'Etat d'Israël. Devant cette gigantesque question, on retrouve d'abord la touche d'humour malicieuse qu'on connaît chez Adin Steinsaltz: "Finalement, il n'y a que deux endroits où le peuple juif a des problèmes à résoudre: en Israël et en Diaspora !" Mais on reconnaît également son audace lorsqu'il ose parler de la disparition de l'Etat d'Israël: "Il y eut dans l'histoire de nombreux cas d'indépendance politique juive en terre d'Israël. Les royaumes de Juda et d'Israël, qui ont tous les deux disparus. Aujourd'hui l'Etat d'Israël est une nouvelle forme d'indépendance politique juive. Personne ne souhaite sa disparition. Mais si cela arrivait, l'important c'est de préserver l'avenir du peuple juif. C'est cela qui importe et de tous temps."Je qualifierais cette sortie de Leibowitzo-Habadnik. Proche de Leibowitz qui, s'il attachait une grande importance à l'existence de l'Etat d'Israël, n'en faisait pas une valeur sacrée qu'il faudrait idolâtrer sans recul critique ni analyse à froid. Et quand on veut sauvegarder quelque chose qui nous est cher, il devient fondamental d'imaginer que ce quelque chose peut disparaître un jour si nous ne créons pas les conditions requises à sa pérennité. Habadnik (du mouvement Habad, Loubavitch, duquel le Rav Steinsaltz est très proche), parce qu'il met l'accent avant tout sur l'existence du peuple juif et sur la conviction que chaque Juif compte, quel que soit son niveau de pratique religieuse ou de proximité avec la tradition. Sur les conversions, la sortie d'Attali a été moins remarquée que celle sur l'antisémitisme mais elle est peut-être plus cruciale: Attali pense que pour que le peuple juif s'en sorte, il faut atteindre une sorte de masse critique qu'il évalue à 200 millions de personnes. Une seule solution pour y arriver: la conversion massive.A cela, le Rav Steinsaltz répond de différentes façons. D'abord par une petite parabole: "Lorsque vous voyez un chat, vous reconnaissez un chat. Si vous lui coupez les oreilles, vous avez quand même toujours un chat devant vous. Si vous lui coupez les pattes, c'est encore et toujours un chat. Et ainsi de suite. En revanche, quand on vous demande de dessiner un chat, vous ne le dessinez pas sans pattes, sans oreilles et sans moustache. Pour un Juif c'est pareil. Vous ne pouvez pas demander à un quelqu'un qui veut devenir Juif de s'affranchir de toutes les caractéristiques qui s'appliquent à un Juif, quand bien même de nombreux "Juifs de naissance" s'en seraient affranchis"
 Lundi 26 octobre, le lendemain donc, le Rav Steinsaltz était à la synagogue de Boulogne pour le premier dîner organisé par la toute nouvelle Association des amis du Rav Steinsaltz. Soirée très sympathique, ponctuée par plusieurs interventions, dont celle du Rav à propos du nouveau traité traduit en français, le traité Makot. Il ne fallait pas se méprendre: malgré l'ouverture évidente du Rav Steinsaltz, son intérêt pour mille choses et sa propension à communiquer sur le judaïsme avec pédagogie, Adin Steinsaltz ne perd pas de vue le caractère subversif du Talmud et ça c'est une très bonne nouvelle.
Un petit exemple: le traité Makot parle notamment des punitions qu'un déclaré coupable est censé encaisser. Outres les amendes et compensations pécuniaires, le Talmud connaît la peine de mort (même si dans les faits, sa mise en pratique est quasiment exclue) et la flagellation.
En droit pénal, le Talmud ne connaît pas la prison. Et Adin Steinsaltz de justifier cela: "A quoi sert la prison ? A ce qu'une personne ne recommence pas son crime ? Mais si quelqu'un tue sa belle-mère, il n'aura aucune raison de recommencer ! A ce qu'il devienne une personne meilleure ? Pas gagné vu que les plus grands bandits ont fait leur principale formation en prison au contact d'autres détenus. Les coups de bâtons, c'est plus rapide et certainement plus efficace".
 Evidemment, tout cela dit de façon humoristique mais montrant bien que l'étude de Talmud ne supporte aucune évidence, même pas celle consistant à refuser les châtiments judiciaires corporels au nom d'une certaine "dignité" de l'homme. Et de se rappeler que plus de 30 ans après la parution de Surveiller et Punir de Michel Foucault qui a été fondateur en la matière, les lieux d'études du Talmud sont encore des endroits où on réflechit à ce que veut dire "punir". Ainsi qu'à la façon dont la prison et plus généralement la volonté de surveillance généralisée de nos sociétés modernes ont privé de liberté non seulement les prisonniers mais également chacun d'entre nous.Le Rav Adin Steinsaltz est inclassable mais après l'avoir écouté on se dit que deux choses le font véritablement "vivre": l'avenir du peuple juif et la capacité qu'a l'homme d'être libre.
Publié par Le Monde Juif Gunman wounds two in attack on L.A. synagogueA gunman shot and wounded two men in the parking garage of a San Fernando Valley synagogue early Thursday, shortly after which U.S. Jewish schools and temples were put on alert in case it was not an isolated attack.
Two men in their 40s were shot in the legs near the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic Orthodox synagogue in North Hollywood, Deputy Police Chief Michel Moore said.
The men, both members of the synagogue, had arrived in separate cars for the morning service shortly before 6:30 A.M. when the gunman approached one and, without speaking, shot him and the other man, Moore said. The men were hospitalized in good condition.
But the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles said the gunman had had an argument with the men in the parking lot before shooting them. Rabbis: Pricey kosher food facilitates assimilation in EuropeKashrut conference in Brussels discusses prohibitively high prices of kosher food in Europe, damaging implications for uniqueness of Europe's Jewish population. Rabbi: Failure to eat kosher erodes insulation from non-Jewish community
Ynetnews The third conference of kashrut organizations in Europe, organized by the Rabbinical Center of Europe (RCE) and sponsored by the Matanel Foundation, came to a close in Brussels on Monday. Over 100 rabbis and representatives of the world’s most prominent kashrut organizations participated, including many leading experts in this field. Besides the dozens of pertinent topics discussed, great emphasis was placed on the question of finding ways to lower the prices of kosher food in Europe. For example, the British company Tesco sells a whole chicken at 2 pounds sterling (about $3.25). A kosher chicken of similar weight costs five to six times more than that – between ten and twelve pounds (about $16.30 to $19.60). This is basically the situation throughout Europe, although the continent may be divided into two categories: those countries where it is not possible to obtain any kosher meat whatsoever and those where the prices of kosher meat are prohibitively high.
There is more to this than simply making food kosher – the situation has grave consequences for the uniqueness of the Jewish population among their non-Jewish neighbors. A significant facet of the halachic rules of kashrut is the principle of preventing Jews from associating socially with non-Jews, fulfilling the verse, “I have separated you from the nations.” Conference's participants (Photo: Meir Dahan) “The current prices of kosher food in Europe make it extremely difficult for tens of thousands of Jews to obtain kosher food,” said Rabbi Aryeh Goldberg, Director Deputy of the Rabbinical Center of Europe. “Their failure to eat kosher erodes their Jewish identity and their insulation from non-Jewish society.” At the conference, a special panel consisting of representatives of the Manchester Kashruth authority (MK), the Federation of Synagogues in London (KF) and others, examined the causes for the inflated prices. There are factors that affect the prices of kosher food in Europe that do not apply in other countries. For example, in many European communities there is a special tax imposed on the purchase of meat to help support the community’s educational institutions. The panel decided to lobby to lessen these taxes. The rabbis explained that the high food prices often place them at a disadvantage when they attempt to present Torah Judaism in a positive light. Many of the members of the Orthodox communities in Europe are not Torah-observant in their personal lives. When a rabbi attempts to persuade a member to begin purchasing the kosher meat made available by his kashrut organization, he is often confronted with the question, “Why should I pay five times as much for identical meat?” Rabbi Y. Reuven Rubin, rabbi of South Manchester and an excellent purveyor of authentic Judaism to the public, gave the participants a number of pointers to help deal with these challenges. The Rabbinical Center of Europe represents over 700 rabbis and Jewish communities throughout the continent. It works to improve religious functions and services, such as providing financial and professional assistance for the construction of mikvehs (ritual baths), offering halachic guidelines and advice. October 28 'A Serious Man' - The Coen brothers' most Jewish film to dateThey weren't as bored and uninterested as they were when they won the best picture Oscar for "No Country for Old Men," but Joel and Ethan Coen weren't exactly thrilled to be part of a roundtable interview about their latest movie, "A Serious Man."
In the 25 years since their startling film noirish debut with "Blood Simple" in 1984, they may have gotten a little more serious, but not much - especially on a late Sunday morning when the Coens, who seem tired, submitted to questions from journalists about their 14th movie, which just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The dark comedy revolves around one Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a nebbishy professor in Minnesota, circa 1967, whose life is starting to fall apart. His wife, Judith (Sari Lennick), wants to leave him; his bid for tenure is being endangered by poison pen letters, and he's being driven crazy by his family, including his eccentric brother, Arthur (Richard Kind), who has nowhere to live and is sleeping on his couch, and his argumentative kids, Danny (Aaron Wolff) and Sarah (Jessica McManus). Undeserving of his bad luck, the Job-like Larry searches for answers by seeking advice from three respected rabbis, who are not exactly, this being a Coen brothers film, founts of Talmudic wisdom.
Though the film's press kit only cagily locates the movie in an unidentified Midwestern city, the St. Cloud calendar and other clues place "A Serious Man" firmly in Minnesota, the Coens' birthplace. This is Coen country around the time Joel would have been the same age as Danny, who, as the film begins, is nervously preparing for his bar mitzvah. So how much of the movie is autobiographical? Not much, Joel insisted:
"It's semiautobiographical, I guess, you could say, in the sense that the context for the story is that it takes place in a community very much like the one we grew up in...and also there are a couple of very superficial similarities to our family, but actually, really, the only one is that the father is an academic and our father was a university professor, but beyond that, he wasn't really anything like the character in the movie and the story...didn't have anything to do with anything that happened in our family." "A Serious Man," though, is clearly the brothers' most Jewish film so far. Judaism has been something that only occasionally pops up in their oeuvre - and then, usually not in a flattering light. The Hollywood Jewish caricatures in "Barton Fink" and the whining, cringing Jew played by John Turturro in "Miller's Crossing" are the Coen brothers' norm in such matters. "A Serious Man," however, dials down the Jewish self-loathing. Or, rather, even though the rabbis are portrayed as fools, the filmmakers' contempt for their characters (one of their frequent failings as filmmakers) doesn't relate to those characters being specifically Jewish. They even open their film with a shtetl fable, told in Yiddish, no less. The point of the fable is deliberately obscure, but to the Coens, the snowy plains of the Pale are a direct link to the prairie Jewish community at the center of "A Serious Man." Ethan noted that the film depicts "the whole incongruity of Jews in the Midwest...a subculture, and a feeling, that is different from Jewish communities in New York or Los Angeles. Joel said: "What seems incongruous to us about it is the nature of the landscape, with Jews on it; it's funny. The whole shtetl thing, maybe this is part of why we put the little beginning story in there, to kind of frame it. The whole shtetl thing, you go, right, Jews in a shtetl, and then you look at the prairie, in Minnesota, and...we kind of think, with some perspective, having moved out, what were we doing there? It just seems odd." The brothers were asked if those feelings of being like strangers in a strange land affected how they approach their storytelling. That, Joel said, is "an interesting but very difficult question to answer. I guess everything having to do with your background has some influence on how you tell stories, but it's hard to parse, I think, how growing up in a Jewish community in Minnesota really affected it. There were other things which were probably much more culturally influential on us than that in particular, things like television, pop culture that other kids are exposed to at the time, if you want to sort of look at things that were probably most...formative, but I really don't know." The Coens, while pointing out that they believe "A Serious Man" has commercial appeal beyond Jewish audiences, admit to having wondered how their community would react. "We were probably curious about whether there would be hostility [toward it], but Jews who've seen it, religious Jews who've seen it so far, have been surprisingly open to it," Ethan said. "A lot of Jews see things through the prism. Is this good for the Jews? I must say we haven't encountered any negative pushback [to the film]. In fact, it has been just the opposite, which is very gratifying because, obviously, the sprit in which it was made was as an affectionate representation of something we were very familiar with. We'll see, because it hasn't really been out there." And though Larry fears his redneck neighbor in the movie, the Coens insist they never personally experienced antisemitism growing up in Minnesota. Ethan said, including himself in the answer to whether this character truly related to the Coens': "I assume all Jews are fascinated by antisemitism. I don't know why." Considering how culturally specific "A Serious Man" is in its Jewish and Minnesotan milieus, was it harder to create than their other movies, which, with the exception of "Fargo," don't relate to their lives or origins at all? "Maybe even a little easier," Joel said, "because we sort of had so much personal knowledge of the details, we were familiar with it, we wanted to put in, it might have been the opposite." "A Serious Man" is emphatically not a primer for the Coens' adaptation of "The Yiddish Policemen's Union," Michael Chabon's alternate history story of a Jewish state in Alaska. No, Joel said, "we actually had written this and finished the script and actually had a deal to make it before we were even offered 'The Yiddish Policemen's Union.' He doesn't yet know if that film actually will be in Yiddish, as some have suggested it should be, to be faithful to its source material, or even whether it will end up being a Coen brothers directed film. "We're writing the script. We always approach these things incrementally when we're given things to adapt," he said. "We write the scripts, and then sometimes we do the movies and sometimes we don't. We'll see; it's a complicated process. By Shlomo Schwartzberg, The Forward October 26 Traces d'un départ de feu relevées sur le mur de la synagogue de Perpignan
L'histoire du Krav-MagaLe Krav Maga est une discipline de self-défense créée dans les années 40 par Maître Imrich Lichtenfeld, dit Imi, un Juif tchécoslovaque né à Bratislava. Fils d’un inspecteur de police spécialiste en techniques de soumission, Imi pratiqua très tôt différents sports, avec une prédilection pour la gymnastique, la boxe et la lutte, disciplines dans lesquelles il se distingua au niveau national et international. Lorsque le fascisme commença à gangrener la Tchécoslovaquie au cours des années 30, Imi constitua un groupe de jeunes athlètes chargés de défendre la communauté juive. Il participa alors à de nombreuses bagarres qui aiguisèrent sa prise de conscience sur les différences essentielles entre les compétitions sportives qui lui étaient familières et le combat de rue. C'est à ce moment que les principes essentiels du Krav Maga commencèrent à se cristalliser. La situation devenant intenable en Tchécoslovaquie, Imi quitta Bratislava en 1940 pour le Moyen Orient. Après avoir servi dans la Légion tchèque aux côtés des Anglais, il rejoignit la Palestine et intégra la Haganah, organisation paramilitaire juive, où, en 1944 on lui demanda d'enseigner sa méthode de self-défense. Après la création de l'état d’Israël, Imi poursuivit son activité au sein des forces de défense israéliennes (IDF). Le Krav Maga devint alors, le système officiel de combat à mains nues de l'armée, de la police et des services de sécurité israéliens. Imi est nommé Instructeur-chef de l’école militaire de culture physique et de Krav Maga. Pendant vingt ans, tout en développant et améliorant son système en fonction des résultats sur le terrain, Imi forma personnellement les meilleurs éléments des unités spéciales et les instructeurs de Krav Maga. En 1964, le Krav Maga a été déclassifié "secret défense". Maître Lichtenfeld s'est alors consacré à adapter son système aux besoins des civils. Le Krav Maga s'est répandu dans toutes les couches de la population avant de franchir les frontières nationales. Dans les années 80, il a commencé à être enseigné aux Etats-Unis, puis en Europe grâce à Richard Douieb, directeur technique de la Fédération européenne à laquelle nous sommes affiliés. Maître Imrich Lichtenfeld, père du Krav Maga, s’est éteint en 1998, à l'âge de 87 ans. October 25 Des excavations de grande envergure sous l’esplanade du Kotel
Jeudi, des responsables israéliens ont annoncé que le pays prévoyait de lancer des fouilles archéologiques de grande envergure sous l’esplanade du Mur occidental face au Mont du Temple. Ces excavations mèneront alors à la création d’un parc archéologique directement sous l’endroit où les fidèles prient actuellement devant le Kotel. L’esplanade où se recueillent les fidèles restera ouverte, soutenue par des piliers, tandis que le nouveau parc sera ajouté au sous-sol, au niveau où se tenaient les Juifs à l’époque du Temple. Les fouilles risquent fort de provoquer de violentes réactions auprès des Musulmans et des leaders arabes israéliens et de l’AP. Ces derniers ont déjà accusé Israël d’essayer d’abîmer la mosquée Al-Aksa sur le Mont du Temple. Récemment, des émeutes arabes ont eu lieu dans la Vieille Ville de Jérusalem, les Arabes souhaitant empêcher les Juifs de prier sur le Mont du Temple. Les Musulmans étaient prêts à s’en prendre à tout ce qui bougeait, au point de jeter des pierres sur des touristes chrétiens français, qui ne ressemblaient pourtant pas trop aux « fidèles du Mont du Temple ». En attendant, le Bureau de presse du gouvernement a présenté le secteur où auront lieu les excavations à des journalistes étrangers. La visite, une parfaite occasion pour admirer des découvertes archéologiques d’une valeur historique indéniable, avait apparemment aussi pour but de contrecarrer les critiques des Musulmans contre les excavations. Le rabbin du Kotel Rabbi Shmouel Rabinovitch s’est entretenu avec les journalistes et a critiqué les leaders religieux qui font des excavations au Kotel un prétexte pour s’adonner à la violence. Interrogé, le rabbin a déclaré qu’il faisait allusion, entre autres, au Sheikh Raed Salah. Ce dernier, leader du Mouvement islamiste, est impliqué dans de nombreuses émeutes contre Israël autour du Mont du Temple. Rabbi Rabinovitch a informé les journalistes que la loi juive interdisait la tenue de fouilles directement sous le Mont du Temple, là où se trouve en fait la mosquée d’Al-Aqsa. Il a souligné que toutes les excavations avaient toujours lieu autour du Mont et jamais sous ce dernier. Les reporters ont également rencontré des ingénieurs et autres experts participant aux fouilles archéologiques. Ces derniers leur ont expliqué qu’en dépit des accusations des Arabes, les excavations menées par Israël n’avaient en aucun cas porté préjudice aux structures situées dans le secteur. En fait, ont-ils précisé, les travaux ont au contraire amélioré la stabilité du Mont du Temple, car ils ont permis de découvrir et de renforcer plusieurs endroits qui étaient sur le point de s’écrouler. To be Jewish, even without GodOn ne pourra pas dire que je ne suis pas tolérant ;-)) Why does Leonard Cohen know Balaam's blessing and masses in Ramat Gan stadium do not ? How do we return to ways of Jabotinsky and Brenner? In a paper drawn up for Presidential Conference, Prof. Ruth Gavison urges us to develop Judaism's cultural side and ignore the divine element. Is there such a thing as a Jewish identity?
Efrat Shapira-Rosenberg Several weeks ago, just between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, I too sat with the multitude of Israel in Leonard Cohen's unforgettable concert. Much has been written about him and his performance and who am I to add upon it. Nevertheless, I would like to explore the Jewish angle, if you will.
Immediately after the first song he looked at the thousands sitting before him and said the most appropriate Jewish phrase for the moment: "How goodly are your tents, oh Jacob; your dwelling places, oh Israel." The masses clapped in excitement but it was obvious to me that the excitement mostly stemmed from the revered figure mumbling some words in the local language making us feel proud, similar to Clinton's stammered "Shalom, haver." But Cohen didn't learn to memorize a random Jewish text written in Latin letters to impress the Israelis (and I do beg Clinton's forgiveness). No, he knew and understood exactly what he was saying and why. He knew that when Balaam stood on top of the mountain with the intention of cursing Israel by the order of the reigning tyrant Balak, the king of Moab, he was so overwhelmed by the people of Israel's massive presence that he broke into song and coined this monumental phrase for generations to come. Cohen also knew, at the end of the concert, to bless the audience with the traditional Priestly Blessing, being a cohen himself, and not conclude with a random meaningless quote.
But I doubt, and pardon the generalization, if most members of the audience, which was mainly comprised of Ashkenazi seculars, comprehended the context beyond the actual words. And why is that? Why should he – a secular Canadian Jew who spent five years in a Buddhist monastery know it, and they shouldn't? The answer is painfully simple – because he has a rich profound Jewish identity, despite being secular.
Jewish identity, Gavison's versionThis issue, the question of the existence of a Jewish secular identity is one of the most important and painful issue the Israeli society faces today, in my opinion. Not just me, it appears that other more important people than I feel the same way and are hardly religious, such as President Shimon Peres and Professor Ruth Gavison. On Tuesday the second Israeli Presidential Conference organized by President Peres will begin, one of the topics on the agenda being Jewish identity. I spoke to Prof. Gavison, who was asked to write a position paper ahead of the conference, on the subject. In the paper, Gavison discusses the question of Jewish identity, the nature of Judaism in the present day and the extent of its importance for the existence of the Jewish people, while debating fundamental dilemmas which define the Jewish identity, including the role of religion in shaping Jewish identity, the State's role and even the role of the Holocaust.
Aside from being a legalist of the highest order and one of the leading Israeli public figures on matters of law ethics, the court's role and more (and also my teacher in the Hebrew University's Faculty of Law over a decade ago..), in recent years Gavison has been addressing the issue of the line between state and religion, among others, in the framework of the Gavison-Medan covenant, the editing of Haim Cohen's book on who is a Jew, and more.
I asked her whether she thinks there is such a thing as a Jewish secular identity. She replied an unequivocal yes, but added that it is not a coherent or stable identity and more importantly isn't passed on to future generations in an orderly way. She believes that the secular society needs to put in great effort into dealing with these questions – how does one form this identity? How does one impart it to future generations? How does one make it dynamic, evolving and relevant ? There is no solution, she says, but to acknowledge the fact that Judaism is a religion + culture + civilization and that, for the sake of the argument, we need to neutralize the element of God from it and in fact develop the cultural aspect - yes, it is possible to disregard the Godly aspect in the bible on the sublime-religious context and remain with the literary, moral, principled, legal, level. This also applies to the Talmud, the answers and questions literature and the entire Jewish religious world. Obviously the term "to neutralize the God element" bothers me as a religious person, but neither I nor the likes of me are at the center of the issue, and in this context it is also obvious to me that she is right. Didn't the founding fathers of Zionism and the new "Israeliness" do just that – Jabotinsky, Ben Gurion, Brenner and others? Where have they failed? In imparting it onwards. Today, those figures' third generation has no knowledge and awareness but it does know, as Prof. Gavison said, that "they threw the baby out with the bathwater." When they wanted to eliminate God, pardon me, they eliminated everything and were left without an alternative in the Jewish context. Therefore, in order to sustain the Jewish-particular identity, alongside a cosmopolitan, democratic and humanist identity, it takes thorough and profound work common to seculars and religious alike who need to understand that our togetherness here cannot be dictated by one side or one opinion. The conversation with Prof. Gavison dealt with much more that what has been described, it was rich and fascinating and left me with many open questions. I am glad to be part of a community which deals with these questions so intensely and holds deep, piercing and times painful and extremely controversial discussions on it. But as we in our community - on the "micro" level, like Prof. Gavison and the organizers of the Presidential conference - on the "macro" level, believe: We don't have, nor does the Israeli society as a whole has, the privilege of not discussing it, because it concerns us directly.
_wh.jpg) Cohen. Has profound identity Photo: Yaron Brener October 23 Yishai: Reform Jews to blame for assimilationInterior minister booed by audience of American Jews after telling Israeli Presidential Conference, 'We are losing the Jewish people in the United States', pointing finger at Reform Judaism
Ronen Medzini Interior Minister Eli Yishai referred Thursday evening blamed Reform Judaism for the assimilation among Jews.
"Look what is happening with the Reform Jews because of the assimilation. They are disappearing," Yishai told the Israeli Presidential Conference. He was booed by the audience, which was mostly comprised of American Jews.
After hearing the audience's response, Yishai said, "These are figures I've received. I am not making it up. There is a lot of serious assimilation. We are losing the Jewish people in the United States.
The Shas minister called on the Jews of the US and the Diaspora to immigrate to Israel immediately in order to prevent further assimilation. He made the remarks after the moderator, Attila Somfalvi, asked the panel whether Reform and Conservative Judaism should receive equal rights.
When the panel members were asked whether there was room to appoint a Reform or Conservative chief rabbi in Israel, Yishai responded, "What I am hearing here is incitement. To the case in question, as part of the Halacha (Jewish Law) there is a long list of alleviations, there is no objection to alleviations, but we must not break the rules and values which have been here for years, crush them and set up new ones which will lead to assimilation. This will only double the assimilation."
Defense Minister Ehud Barak addressed the hardship of 300,000 non-Jews who have immigrated to Israel. "A person willing to sacrifice his life and defend the State of Israel is worthy of being Jewish, even if his grandmother wasn't exactly on our chain."
Rabbi Gilad Kariv, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said in response to the Yishai's remarks that "the boos the minister received are an appropriate response to his groundless statements. Reform Judaism in the Diaspora has been at the forefront of the battle over the people's continuity for 200 years, and without the thousands of its communities the extent of assimilation would much higher.
"Instead of dealing with US Judaism's affairs, Minister Yishai should deal with the huge damage his party is causing to the image of Judaism in Israel and to its incorruptibility, and to the desire of millions of Israelis to become familiar with their culture and tradition. We are calling on the president, who is hosting Minister Yishai at his conference, to firmly voice his objection to these remarks."
Kobi Nahshoni contributed to this report October 22 Les champions juifs dans l’histoire - des sportifs face à l’antisémitisme, par Philippe Assoulen (*)
October 20 Israël face à l’Iran : quelles alternatives ?
Téhéran accuse les USA, Israël, la Grande- Bretagne, le Pakistan…
October 15 Fabriquer des glaçons pendant ShabbatQUESTION Est-il permis pendant Shabbat de mettre de l’eau dans le bac à glaçons, et de l’introduire dans le réfrigérateur pour faire des glaçons ? DECISION DE LA HALA’HA Il est permis selon la Hala’ha de fabriquer des glaçons pendant Shabbat, en remplissant le bac à glaçons d’eau (ou d’une autre boisson) et en l’introduisant au réfrigérateur. Cependant, cette autorisation n’est valable qu’à la condition où l’on fabrique ces glaçons dans l’intention de s’en servir pendant Shabbat. Par contre, il est interdit de fabriquer des glaçons pendant Shabbat, afin de s’en servir après la sortie de Shabbat, car une telle action représente une préparation pendant Shabbat en vue de servir pour la semaine, ce qui est formellement interdit. SOURCES ET DEVELOPPEMENT Il est enseigné dans la Guémara Shabbat (95a) : Celui qui fait du fromage pendant Shabbat, est condamnable à titre de l’interdiction de « Boné » (construire). C'est-à-dire, une personne qui assemble des flocons de lait pour en faire du fromage pendant Shabbat, est condamnable par la Torah, puisqu’il y a là un interdit à titre de « Boné ». Certains Poskim (décisionnaires) déduisent de là qu’il est interdit de fabriquer de la glace pendant Shabbat, puisqu’on transforme de l’eau en corps solide, ce qui correspond à l’interdit de « Boné » (construire). Parmi ces Poskim : Le Gaon Rabbi ‘Haïm PALLAG’I z.ts.l dans son livre Shou’t Lev ‘Haïm (tome 2 fin du chap.192) ; le Gaon Rabbi ‘HaIm PONTRIMOLI z.ts.l dans son livre Peta’h Hadevir (tome 3 chap.325 note 1) ; le Gaon de TSHEBIN z.ts.l dans son livre Shou’t Dover Mesharim (tome 1 chap.55). L’auteur du Shemirat Shabbat kehil’hata suit également la position rigoureuse de ces Poskim, et interdit lui aussi la fabrication de glaçons pendant Shabbat. Mais notre maître le Rav Ovadia YOSSEF shalita écrit qu’il n’y a aucune preuve de cette Guémara, puisque celui qui fait du fromage, assemble - de ses propres mains - diverses parties et les transforme en un seul corps en les plaçant dans un objet rond ou carré selon son désire. Ceci s’apparente réellement à l’interdit de « Boné » (construire) où l’on assemble de la terre et des pierres pour en faire une seule et même entité, comme l’explique le RAMBAM (chap.7 des Hala’hot Shabbat, Hala’ha 6) : « Celui qui assemble une partie à une autre partie en les collant pour en faire un seul corps, une telle action est apparentée à une construction. » Mais lorsqu’une personne place de l’eau ou un jus dans un endroit très froid, et que de ce fait, le liquide se congèle de lui-même, ceci n’est absolument pas comparable à l’interdit de « Boné » (construire), car la personne ne fait strictement rien de ses propres mains. Notre maître ajoute un autre argument pour permettre la fabrication de glaçons pendent Shabbat. En effet, la fabrication de glaçons ne représente pas une construction qui pérennise, puisqu’ils commencent à fondre dés l’instant où ils ne sont plus au réfrigérateur, ce qui n’est pas le cas du fromage qui est beaucoup plus résistant, et au contraire, le fromage a plutôt tendance à durcir avec le temps, au point de devenir aussi dur qu’une pierre, ce qui l’apparente plus facilement à une construction qui reste longtemps sur ses fondations. C’est pourquoi – du point de vue de la Hala’ha – il est permis de mettre pendant Shabbat, de l’eau ou tout autre boisson au réfrigérateur, pour en faire de la glace, en particulier en été où les journées sont chaudes, et qu’une telle chose peut procurer du ‘Oneg Shabbat (délice de Shabbat). C’est ainsi que tranche également le Gaon Rabbi Eli’ezer Yehouda WALDINBERG z.ts.l dans son livre Shou’t Tsits Eli’ezer (tome 6 chap.34), ainsi que le Gaon Rabbi Shemouel WOZNER (HA-LEVI) shalita dans son livre Shou’t Shevet Halevi (tome 1 chap.119), ainsi que d’autres Poskim… October 14 Elle, elle a sauvé les autres…, par David Barré et Agata Mozolewska (*)
Aux heures sombres de la Shoah et du déferlement nazi sur l’Europe, il s’est trouvé, dans de nombreux pays, en France, en Italie, en Lituanie, en Pologne, à Rhodes, en Bosnie, en Hollande, au Danemark, en Tunisie et même en Allemagne, des hommes et des femmes qui, au péril de leur vie, ont sauvé des Juifs de la mort. Certains ont agi pour des motifs religieux, d’autres par charité humaine. On les appelle des Justes. À Jérusalem, l’Institut Yad Vachem, après un examen minutieux des dossiers qui lui sont soumis, décerne régulièrement des « Médailles des Justes parmi les Nations », souvent, hélas, à titre posthume. La Pologne, on le sait, est un pays où a sévi pendant des siècles un antisémitisme virulent. Une Juive polonaise de Paris, Margaret Asher, sauvée elle-même par sœur Ludovica au couvent de Plody, résumait par cette boutade le sentiment général sur les Polonais à l’époque : « Il fallait mille Polonais pour sauver un Juif. Mais il suffisait d’un Polonais pour dénoncer mille Juifs ». C’est pourquoi l’action des Justes polonais est d’autant plus exemplaire. On ne le dit pas assez, les Justes polonais furent nombreux. Qu’on pense à sœur Ludovica du couvent de Plody, à Zofia Doboszynka, à Zofia Sterner, à Alicia Szczepaniak (1). Qu’on pense surtout à cette femme exceptionnelle que fut Irena Sendler (2). On sera reconnaissant à David Barré et Agata Mozolewska d’avoir consacré un livre à l’histoire édifiante de cette femme hors du commun qui aimait dire que « tendre la main à quelqu’un qui a besoin d’aide, mais c’est normal » et qui a disparu en 2008. Irena Sendler a reçu en 1965 le titre de « Juste parmi les Nations » décerné par l’Institut Yad Vachem. Le 14 mars 2007, par ailleurs, lors d’une session du sénat polonais, le président Lech Kaczynski a fait l’éloge d’Irena Sendler la considérant comme une héroïne méritant le prix Nobel de la paix. Irena Sendler est née en 1910 à Otwock, une banlieue ouvrière de Varsovie. Son père, Stanislaw Krzyzanowski, était un médecin connu pour sa générosité et son désintéressement. Il était particulièrement apprécié par la communauté juive locale. Très jeune, Irena se lia avec un petit juif, Isaac et les dédales de la synagogue n’avaient aucun secret pour elle. Souvent, il lui arrivait de partager le repas de familles juives. Lors de ses études à l’université de Varsovie, elle découvre avec horreur que les étudiants sont séparés entre Juifs et Aryens et choisit, ostensiblement, de s’asseoir du côté gauche, c’est-à-dire avec les Juifs. Cela ne lui vaudra pas que des amis. Lorsque la Pologne est envahie par les nazis et que Varsovie tombe sous la coupe de la Wehrmacht le 30 septembre 1939, mettant des millions de Juifs en danger de mort, Irene Sendler décide de passer à l’action. Elle rejoint l’association Zegota, constituée de membres du parti socialiste, du parti démocratique, d’une organisation catholique, de divers organismes ainsi que des représentants du Comité Juif National et du Bund. Zegota se donne pour mission l’aide à la population juive en détresse. Très vite, Irena Sendler va devenir une cheville ouvrière de Zegota dont elle dirigera la section « Enfants ». Grâce à elle 2500 enfants juifs échapperont aux griffes des nazis. Parmi eux, un cinquième a été placé dans des couvents, 200 ont été cachés dans la maison du père Baudoin et 500 dans des orphelinats et autres institutions. Enfin 1300 petits trouvèrent un abri chez de simples particuliers. Quant aux adolescents, ils rejoignirent, par dizaines, l’Armée du peuple. Une très belle histoire. Une grande leçon de courage. Un témoignage irremplaçable.
Jean-Pierre Allali
(*) Éditions du Cosmogone. Mars 2009. 180 pages. 18,50 euros (1) L’histoire de ces Justes polonaises est racontée dans le livre de Marek Halter, La force du Bien. Éditions Robert Laffont. 1995. (2) Irena Sendler est l’une des héroïnes émouvantes du film du même Marek Halter, Tzedek. Les Justes. 1994
Rabbi Rabinovitch: Western Wall not becoming harediWall's rabbi rejects reports that he has banned reception ceremonies for new immigrants at holy site for religious reasons. 'I would also forbid a haredi event with full separation. This is not a banquet hall,' he says
Kobi Nahshoni Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch rejects claims that he forbade the Jewish Agency to hold a reception ceremony for new immigrants at the holy Jerusalem site for religious reasons.
Talking to Ynet on Monday, the rabbi clarified that "the policy in the past few years allows holding only prayer services and military ceremonies at the plaza, and any other event is not allowed even if it is held by haredim in full separation (between men and women)."
According to Rabinovitch, the holy site "is not a banquet hall", and therefore "clear rules" were set several years ago stating that only prayer events would be held at the site.
He said he "rejects two or three such requests a day," but stressed that he would agree to host military events like soldiers' swearing in ceremonies or memorial, as this has been a tradition for many years.
The rabbi said that about a year ago he approved reception ceremonies for new immigrants at the Western Wall after the Jewish Agency said they were all religious and that the event included a prayer. Since then, the JA has filed several similar requests, and in the latest incident, when he found out it was no longer a prayer event, the request was denied.
"This has nothing to do with religion or a world view," he insisted. "No one wants to pray with a speech by a minister, rabbi or public figure in the background. This disrupts the activity at the Wall."
Following the recent publications on the matter, Rabbi Rabinovitch accused elements in the JA of "misusing the Wall for political needs with all kinds of false claims."
He added, "I see no difference between them and the radical Muslims who claimed that Israel was burying under it and launched riots. Those are setting fire to the Temple Mount and these are setting fire to our internal home."
'Everyone feels connected to site'The local rabbi stressed that the status-quo at the Western Wall was being maintained, and that in accordance with a High Court ruling, a joint prayer for men and women would be allowed at the nearby Robinson Arch.
He said that the hundreds of thousands of people who visited the Wall during the High Holidays show that everyone feels connected to the site. "It is run with gentle arrangements and great sensitivity to any worldview." Despite his claims against elements in the Jewish Agency, Rabinovitch noted that he has been discussing the matter JA Chairman Natan Sharansky. He said he believed the sides would reach an agreement that the part related to prayer in each ceremony would be held at the Wall and the other parts would be held in a nearby place. A JA source confirmed to Ynet that talks were being held with the Western Wall rabbi in order to find an alternative place for the ceremonies, after learning that "at the plaza itself it was quite uncomfortable." The JA told Ynet in response, "The Agency has been holding reception ceremonies for new immigrants at the Western Wall for about a year now, in order to connect the experience of immigrating to Israel with the experience of visiting the most holy site to the Jewish people.
"The Jewish Agency plans to continue holding the ceremony near the Western Wall, with all members of the immigrants' families – women, men and children – experiencing the moving event together." October 09 Contes Yiddish en bande dessinée
La cuisine juive pour promouvoir le dialogue intercommunautaire
Lorsque qu’une tentative de vol viré à l’agression antisémite !!! Un récit pour témoigner
Created in God's image, women wait on religious rightsWomen insisting on their right to be part of public religious life and worship still have long road ahead, but waiting for long-harbored hope to be realized not something foreign to Judaism
Ariana Melamed The day will come, perhaps not quickly in our days and perhaps not in our days at all, in which women's prayer in public spaces will be something obvious, clear, and taken for granted just as men's prayer is. The day will come when the prayers of the two sexes will be what they once were, before the Orthodox hierarchy separated them – joint worship without prohibitions and without the exclusion that is entirely intended to keep women out of institutionalized ritual. On our way to this day, we are witness to the budding struggle as well as the shock, criticism, and mockery it arouses. How is it possible that women want this and how is it possible that women are demanding equal rights of worship for themselves? It cannot be that they are doing this out of religious considerations. They want to defy; they want to be such feminists at all costs. And this, say they people who want to keep women in their "proper" place, will never happen.
In order to understand why women are insisting on equal rights of worship, it is worthwhile to broaden out perspective a bit and to understand that this phenomenon does not have any single pronouncedly Jewish characteristic. Unfortunately, the exclusion of women from worship is common to all the monotheistic religions at various stages of their development, just as the exclusion of women from public life and the revocation of their basic human rights was characteristic of all the societies out of which these religions grew.
For a religious person – Jewish, Christian, or Muslim – at the beginning of the 20th century, the thought that women deserved the right to vote because they are human beings was horrifying, ludicrous, and repugnant. One hundred years prior to this, one could be shaken up just from the thought that women were entitled to an inheritance, with or without mentioning the daughter of Tslofhad who were forced to marry within the tribe in order to protect its assets.
Economically and politically, civilly and religiously, the place of women was obvious, known, and resolved: not to be in the public arena, not to be in the workforce, not to be in school, not to be in the church choir, not to be in the halachic hierarchy, not to be imams at the mosque. No one thought the day would come when women in different countries and religions would rise up and demand change.
Going the distanceAs Jewish women still have not dared to dream of change, Episcopalians have beat them to the punch and have demanded the right to serve in the church as priests. Forty years ago, there was no such thing. Today, there are more than 2,000. Wonder of all wonders, there are also women bishops. The Anglican Church opened its doors to worship led by women. Many other Protestant denominations followed their precedent, leaving Catholicism holed up with its view that only men can. The demonstrations of women in front of the Vatican did not affect change in the Church's worldview, but the demonstrations themselves were inconceivable 50 years ago.
Women worship leaders can be found in Buddhism, Shinto, and even in Sunni Muslim theology. For Muslims, it is clear that this is meant for women's worship exclusively, but in our small backyard, this is not even clear to the wise men of Jewish Orthodoxy. Reform and Conservative female rabbis, joint community prayers in a growing number of synagogues have not helped in the meantime to pull the rabbinical institution from its entrenched position, but no one is perfect. If there is any sort of genuine revolution of fundamental change in worldview within Judaism, it is the quiet, slow, and well-mannered revolution women are waging against their marginalized position in public worship. They are not doing it because they urgently want to wrap themselves in a tallit (Jewish prayer shawl) when there are much prettier accessories on the market, and they are not doing it to be confrontational, but rather in order to say that their right of worship is not derived from a long history of oppression, but from the very fact that they are believing women. Just as was said before them by women in other relgions: We, too, each and every one of us, were created in God's image. From here and nowhere else stems our right to public worship like every other person. Women who insist on their equal status in Jewish worship are slated for many more long years of misunderstanding from communities outside those that already accept their stance. In the foreseeable future, the Orthodox institution is expected to stand on its hind legs and wage an all-out war against women's attempts to take the monopoly over public worship out of men's hands. That's not so bad. Judaism is a religion that excels in long-term hope.
Whoever can wait patiently for the coming of the Messiah can also wait for joint public worship. Perhaps, in the end, the Messiah will be a woman. |
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