Category: Jewish

Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu

Post author By Rabbi Jason Miller
Post date November 20, 2007

The Jerusalem Post reported that the former Sephardi chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu explained in his book that “Reform and Conservative synagogues reek of hell and a Jew should not even come near their entrance.” I don’t think this rabbi will be invited to give a keynote address at any pluralism retreats any time soon.

Putting aside his deplorable comments, I found the story he recounts about having to enter a three-story building to attend a bris very comical. He describes the quandary he faced trying to get to an Orthodox synagogue on the third floor of a building in Israel where a Reform and Conservative synagogue occupy the first and second floor respectively. Hmmm… A three-story building with Reform, Conservative and Orthodox prayer services under one roof? Sounds like a campus Hillel building.

In response to his comments, the Masorti (Conservative) Movement in Israel said that it would sue Rabbi Eliyahu for slander.

Camp Jewish Ramah Social Media

Wear Your Ramah Shirt To School Day

Post author By Rabbi Jason Miller
Post date November 16, 2007

I just received an e-mail message from Rabbi Mitch Cohen, the director of the National Ramah Commission which oversees all of the Ramah summer camps. In his message, Mitch describes the Facebook project taken on by Ari Magen, an 11th grader who used to be a camper at Ramah Poconos. Ari created a Facebook group encouraging all his friends to wear their Ramah Poconos t-shirts to school on November 15. When he began this effort in September, he had no idea how powerful a tool he was creating for the entire Ramah camping movement. According to Ari, over 1000 Ramahniks saw his message and joined the effort.

As I was reading Mitch Cohen’s e-mail about “Wear Your Ramah Shirt To School Day,” I thought how funny it would be if I was wearing a Ramah t-shirt today by coincidence. I unbuttoned my flannel shirt and looked down to see that I was in fact wearing a Camp Ramah Yahad in Ukraine t-shirt (pictured). Without even trying I participated in this effort.

Here is Ari’s description of “Wear Your Ramah Shirt To School Day”:

I went on Facebook and created an event called “Wear Your Ramah Shirt to School Day.” When I created it, I was only thinking about the Poconos campers wearing their shirts. I didn’t even think about the other Ramah camps. I was very excited for all of Ramah in the Poconos to don our latest Ramah Shirt. On everyone’s profiles, groups, and events there is a feature called a “Wall”. The wall is a place where people can just write stuff and it can be seen by whomever visits the event site.. The next day, I logged on and started to see comments on the events wall. I expected to see a few comments from my friends, but I realized that these weren’t chanichim from Poconos, but from all of the other Ramah camps. Since I intended for the event to be just for the Poconos, I was very surprised to see other people joining in. But, when I went back and re-read the title of the event, I realized that Poconos wasn’t in the title. You know how every camper thinks their Ramah is just “camp.” Then, I thought “Wow, this was a great mistake that I made!!”

I began receiving questions such as, “I was in Israel this summer, can I still participate?” or “I work, can I wear my shirt anyway?”, or I wasn’t at camp this summer but I want to join in. Is that okay?” and my favorite question was, “I wear a uniform to school, what should I do?” Realizing that people were taking this so seriously, I changed the description of the event to, “Wear your latest Ramah shirt to show your Ramah pride!!! If you wear a uniform I’m very sorry you can’t wear it to school. This is open to all Ramah camps, from Poconos to Israel and everywhere in between!!!! If anyone has any questions or comments, please feel free to message me.”

Every couple of days I checked to see how many people were “Attending”. After the third day or so it had reached 100 people. After about 3 weeks, there were over 900! Then I put out a challenge to try and get to 1,000 people. By the time I went to bed last night (after choosing which of my many Ramah t-shirts to wear), there were 1058 people.

Make that 1059 Ari. Even if #1059 was by accident.

Jewish Sports

Jews and Sports

Post author By Rabbi Jason Miller
Post date November 14, 2007

I’ve written a lot of blog posts recently about Jews and sports. It is not easy to be a serious professional or collegiate (or even high school) athlete and an observant Jew. This topic was recently taken up by B’nai Brith Magazine, which dedicated its Spring 2007 issue to sports and the Jewish religion.

Yeshiva University professor Jeffrey S. Gurock, the author of Judaism’s Encounter with American Sports, wrote a very interesting article in this issue. In “Cultural Challenge: Are Sports a Challenge to Jewish Identity?” Professor Gurock examines how sports have become more welcoming to athletes who want to maintain their Jewish observance. He writes:

Of all the identity challenges America posed to immigrant Jews and their children, none was more daunting than pride in sports achievements. In the initial decades of migration from Europe, it was counter-intuitive to most Jews that sports could be a way to score in life, especially given the inherent conflict between observing the Sabbath and honoring the average sports schedule, with its demand for Friday and Saturday involvement.

Today, though, that has changed.

America has come a long way since 1934, when Hank Greenberg was pressured to play baseball on Rosh Hashana, and even from 1965, when Sandy Koufax stood tall and made it known that he would not pitch on Yom Kippur. Today, sports people respect Jewish tradition more often than not, even when those traditions conflict with sports events.

Just this winter, in 2007, the Quebec Remparts, a Quebec, Canada, major junior professional hockey team (that country’s highest pre-National Hockey League development league), is permitting Ben Rubin, its Sabbath-observant player, to miss games and practices on Saturday.

It is a first that, in such rarefied ranks, a truly gifted athlete is being allowed to balance, on a weekly basis, his sports and Jewish identities.

Baseball Jewish Sports

A Good Year for Jews in Baseball

Post author By Rabbi Jason Miller
Post date November 13, 2007

Mazel Tov to Ryan Braun, the 2007 National League Rookie of the Year.

And… Mazel Tov to Kevin Youkilis of the World Champion Boston Red Sox on winning a Gold Glove.

It was a good year for Jews in Major League Baseball!

Celebrities Jewish Politics

Examining the Forward 50

Post author By Rabbi Jason Miller
Post date November 13, 2007

Each year the Forward newspaper compiles its Forward 50 list of Jewish people who are “doing and saying things that are making a difference in the way American Jews, for better or worse, view the world and themselves.” And each year the critics come out to denounce the Forward for its choices. The Orthodox think there should be more Orthodox rabbis on the list. The liberals think there should be more liberals on the list. And so on.

You can read the criticism of the Forward 50 on the comments page at the Forward or at the JTA Blog. I actually think it’s a pretty good list this year with some interesting choices. I am, however, in agreement with most of the critics in my surprise that Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow (“Superbad”) were chosen as Top Picks. They’ve made some funny movies together and are both Jewish, but have they really fulfilled the Forward’s criteria?

It makes sense that Sheldon Adelson was one of the top picks. He’s given away a lot of money this year. I was very impressed with the additions at Yad Vashem I saw this summer that are a result of his mega-philanthropy, and Birthright Israel will be able to get thousands of young people off the wait list because of his generosity. I would have also liked to see Bill Davidson make the list after his $75 million gift to Hadassah Hospital this year, in addition to his financial commitment to the field of Jewish education. Philanthropists Michael Steinhardt and Lynn Schusterman both made the list, and deservedly so. I heard Lynn speak last week in Phoenix along with Sandy Cardin, the president of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. With her strategic philanthropy, Lynn Schusterman really is making an impact on the Jewish community.

I also feel that Bob Aronson, Detroit’s Federation chief and the new interim head of the Steinhardt Foundation, is deserving of his inclusion in the Forward 50. His praises were spelled out very well in the paragraph about his accomplishments in the Detroit Jewish community and beyond.

Many of the Jewish leaders who made the list come as no surprise — Abe Foxman, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, Ruth Messinger, Ron Lauder, Rabbi David Saperstein, and Rabbi Steve Gutow. After attending this year’s AIPAC Policy Conference, it comes as no surprise to me that Howard Kohr made the list. AIPAC has been very successful under Kohr’s leadership. Not to mention that he came in sixth (ahead of both Hillary Clinton and Condi Rice) in GQ’s prestigious list of the 50 most influential individuals in Washington, so how could he not make the Forward’s list.

Last year’s Forward 50 had many Conservative rabbis on the list including Elliot Dorff, Sharon Brous, Jill Jacobs, and Irwin Kula. This year, there were not as many Conservative rabbis, but I was happy to see that Rabbi Morris Allen made the list. Rabbi Allen is at the forefront of the Hechsher Zedek Commission, looking into the ethical and environmental implications of kosher food. I think Irwin Kula should have made the list again this year as the response to his book Yearnings: Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life has been tremendous. The new dean of the JTS rabbinical school, Rabbi Danny Nevins, also should have made the list as he was the main author of the teshuva that paved the way this year for gay and lesbian rabbis in the Conservative Movement.

Compiling a list of only fifty Jewish leaders and visionaries is no simple task. Everyone will have their choices for who was not included but should have been. I would have liked to see Larry David (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Jon Stewart, and Red Sox Gold Glove winner Kevin Youkilis make the list. I also think that with his autobiography being published, Alan Greenspan should have made the list this year. Also missing were Noah Feldman (NY Times Magazine article criticized Orthodoxy and sparked debate), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook founder), Jay Michaelson (Zeek creator who criticized Michael Steinhardt in a public memo published in the Forward), and Josh Bolton (White House Chief of Staff).

Many have called Jewish Theological Seminary Chancellor Arnie Eisen’s inclusion a speculative choice. I think that Chancellor Eisen was a good choice in the religion category as he is truly leading a renaissance in the Conservative Movement. He may still be getting used to his new office in Manhattan, but he has already proven himself over the course of the past year as Chancellor-elect. However, a speculative choice in my opinion was the first individual listed in this year’s Forward 50. Michael Mukasey, who has been US Attorney General for all of two days, really hasn’t had the chance to prove himself yet. But it will be interesting to see what they write about him next year.

I am certainly looking Forward to next year’s top fifty.

Christianity Conservative Judaism Interfaith Jewish Politics

Ann Coulter and Alan Colmes Square Off

Post author By Rabbi Jason Miller
Post date November 2, 2007

I had to laugh today when an article on the Media Matters website was sent to me by way of my Google Alert for the term “Conservative Rabbi.” This has been an effective Google Alert that sends me any articles or websites that mention a rabbinic colleague of mine from the Conservative Movement. However, the reason the Media Matters article was included in the Google Alert today was the mention of the Orthodox rabbi and TV personality Shmuley Boteach. The Media Matters article contains the transcripts of the October 30 edition of Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes, when co-host Alan Colmes interviewed Ann Coulter. Colmes quotes his “good friend, the conservative rabbi Shmuley Boteach.”

Yes, Shmuley Boteach is conservative (with a lower-case “c”) and also a rabbi, but he is most certainly not a Conservative Rabbi!

I thought Colmes did a good job of questioning Ann Coulter about her controversial comments about Jews and Christians from her “Danny Deutsch Show” interview last month. Never one to miss an opportunity to say something outlandish, Coulter explained that she wears the criticism from Jewish groups like the ADL and the American Jewish Congress “as a badge of honor.”

Rabbi Yehuda Levin, a spokesman for the Rabbinical Alliance for America and the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, came to Coulter’s defense explaining that “She said nothing that in any way indicates anti-Semitism.” Rabbi Levin’s defense of Coulter was enough for her to claim the support of 1000 orthodox rabbis. Rabbi Yehuda Levin is the ultra-Orthodox rabbi who tried to ban the Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem. Rabbi Levin also has a website, Jews for Morality, that includes essays claiming that hurricane Katrina was God’s Judgment on a sin-loving America.

Perhaps the only thing funnier that the phrase “conservative rabbi Shmuley Boteach” is the final exchange in the Coulter-Colmes interview. Even after watching the video of the interview (see below) it makes no sense. Just more ridiculousness from Ann Coulter. Oy!

ANN COULTER: How about eating soup? Is that a classic food of anti-Semites?

ALAN COLMES: Yeah, that’s lovely, Ann. I’m going to move on in spite of yourself, and maybe save you from saying something else that’s ridiculous.

Camp Jewish Sports

Goo Goo for Ga-Ga

Post author By Rabbi Jason Miller
Post date October 30, 2007

It’s amazing what you find on the Web. Somehow I stumbled upon a number of YouTube videos of people playing Ga-Ga, the Israeli dodgeball game that is played in a pit and mostly at Jewish summer camps. So I decided to do a Wikipedia search for “Ga-Ga” and discovered the following:

The comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, despite his lanky frame, was noted for being a champion ga-ga player in his Habonim days. According to his official online biography, Cohen won the Habonim UK ga-ga championship on multiple occasions and in 1992 led his country to a silver medal in the world ga-ga ball championships eventually coming in second to the undefeated Australian Habonim team.

(Source: Wikipedia entry for “Ga-Ga”)

So Borat plays Ga-Ga. Who knew?

Here’s a video clip of a Ga-Ga game, titled “Jew Ball?”

Antisemitism Celebrities Interfaith Jewish Politics Television

If Ann Coulter’s Going to Be in Heaven, Then I Don’t Want to Be There!

Post author By Rabbi Jason Miller
Post date October 12, 2007

Like every sensible person I was outraged by Ann Coulter‘s anti-Semitic comments on CNBC’s “The Big Idea” with host Donny Deutsch. Coulter began answering Deutsch’s question about what her ideal United States would look like by stating it would be like it was during the Republican National Convention in New York City. She then went on to say that the Democratic Party would look like Joe Lieberman, presumably because he is the iconic Jewish politician to Coulter. When Deutsch (Jewish) asks if she thinks we (Americans) should all be Christian, she responds in the affirmative and invites Deutsch to church with her. The woman is the textbook definition of chutzpah if not outright Antisemitism.

This is where Coulter really stepped out of bounds:

DEUTSCH: […] We should just throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians, then, or –

COULTER: Yeah.

DEUTSCH: Why don’t I put you with the head of Iran? I mean, come on. You can’t believe that. “Let’s wipe Israel off the earth.” I mean, what, no Jews?

COULTER: No, we think – we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say.

DEUTSCH: So you don’t think that was offensive?

COULTER: No.

Oy Vey! What are we to make of this? Clearly, Ann Coulter will say anything to get headlines. Last Spring she referred to John Edwards using an anti-gay slur. I found Shmuel Rosner‘s column about Coulter’s anti-Jewish comments to be most helpful. Rosner (right) is the Chief U.S. Correspondent for Ha’aretz.

Rosner listed the potential reactions people will have to Coulter’s comments. I’ve posted them below:

The shock and amazement reaction

Did you hear what she said? She wants Jews to be perfected? This is anti-Semitism; pure and simple (should be conveyed in an angry tone).

The retaliatory reaction

This is a continuation of the shock and amazement reaction, but is mostly reserved for Jewish organizations calling for Coulter to be punished (purgatory? hell?). Actually, the National Jewish Democratic Council has already done that: “While Ann Coulter has freedom of speech, news outlets should exercise their freedom to use better judgment,” said NJDC Executive Director Ira N. Forman. “Just as media outlets don’t invite those who believe that Martians walk the earth to frequently comment on science stories. It’s time they stop inviting Ann Coulter to comment on politics.”

Another retaliatory reaction

So now I’m going to say that it’s better for all Americans to be perfected and become Jewish, Coulter included (a scary thought, eh?)

The self-hating reaction

I also think Jews should be perfected.

The dismissive reaction

I don’t read her books and don’t care what Ann Coulter thinks, neither about politics nor about Jews nor about anything else.

The forgiving reaction

(Should we call it The Christian reaction?) This is also a kind of dismissive reaction: She just wanted to say something nice for a change and it didn’t turn out so well. She really isn’t anti-Semitic. Her tongue runs so fast that she sometimes doesn’t even know what she’s talking about.

The knowledgeable reaction

Also known as the paranoid reaction: she only said what all Christians think in their heart of hearts but don’t have the guts to say publicly. It?s just like John McCain saying America is a Christian Nation.

The expert reaction

Ann Coulter needs therapy!

The explanatory reaction

She only said that for a Christian it is okay to hope for everybody else to be a Christian. What’s wrong with that? We all want other people to be just like us.

The amused reaction

She was kind of funny wasn’t it?

The feigned ignorance reaction

Also known as the cool reaction: Ann Coulter? Who’s Ann Coulter?