Rebel Rabbi England’s Top Jew Of All Time

The UPI reports:

Jews in Britain have voted a controversial 85-year-old rabbi from Manchester as the greatest member of their community.

The winner in the poll by The Jewish Chronicle was Louis Jacobs, a ground-breaking Jewish thinker noted for his attempt to reconcile modern scholarship and Orthodox teachings, reports the Independent newspaper.

He won over other illustrious British Jews including Harold Pinter, Isaiah Berlin and Benjamin Disraeli. His victory was heralded as a "stinging rebuke to fundamentalism," which could upset some in the Orthodox establishment.

The polling was done to celebrate next year’s 350th anniversary of the readmission of Jews to England by Oliver Cromwell, the report said.

Jacobs said: "I feel both embarrassed and daft. I am overwhelmed and feel totally unworthy."

In the 1960s and 1970s, Jacobs’ attempt to combine traditional theology with biblical criticism led to his leaving the United Synagogue and in the rise of the more liberal Masorti Judaism in Britain.

Forward Reports Rabbi Who Resigned From RCA In Support Of Rabbi Mordechai Tendler Is Rabbi Tendler’s Wife’s Cousin – Did Not Disclose Relationship When Publicly Criticizing RCA

The Forward reports:

Last week the Brooklyn-based Jewish Press published an open letter from
Rabbi Moshe Faskowitz announcing his resignation from the RCA in
connection to the Tendler controversy. Faskowitz quit the RCA after a
Jerusalem regional rabbinical court characterized the organization as
being in violation of its rulings.

Tendler had filed a complaint with the Jerusalem court in July, claiming that the RCA had violated rabbinic law by expelling him without bringing the charges to an independent rabbinical court. The RCA has responded that according to rabbinic law, a summons is not to be sent from one city to another if both litigants live in one city, and that therefore the Jerusalem court has no jurisdiction in the matter.

[The RCA’s president Rabbi Dale] Polakoff said that his office had received no notice of an official resignation from Faskowitz or anybody else.

RCA sources say that Faskowitz is actually a cousin of Mordecai
Tendler’s wife, Michelle. Faskowitz could not be reached for comment.

If true, this lack of disclosure is another black eye for the wider Tendler-Feinstein family. The RCA should be happy to be rid of Rabbi Faskowitz.

UPDATE: Jason Maoz, editor of the Jewish Press, tells Steven I. Weiss that Rabbi Faskowitz did not inform the RCA of his resignation or discuss resigning with them before his "open letter" appeared in the Jewish Press. Rabbi Faskowitz used the Jewish Press to ambush the RCA and specifically forbade the Jewish Press from seeking comment from the RCA before his "open letter" ran. This type of conduct is reprehensible and unethical.

Is this another black eye for the Tendler-Feinstein family? You bet it is.

Rabbis Dance To Nirvana

Rabbis dance to Nirvana. Is that Rav Shteinman in the front row? Pretty hip for a guy who didn’t know how a credit card works.

Rabbi Moshe Tendler Backs Intelligent Design Quid-Pro-Quo Deal To Save Son Accused Of Abuse?

Mariah Blake of the Miami New Times reports :

On a recent Tuesday evening, Moshe Tendler, an influential Orthodox rabbi and Yeshiva University biology professor, ambled onto the stage at Kovens Conference Center in North Miami. A stately figure with a wispy white beard and heavy glasses, he surveyed the 300-strong crowd of scientists and intellectuals — most clad in yarmulkes and dark suits with tallith tassels dangling about their waists — and urged them to spread the word that Darwin was wrong. "It is our task to inform the world [about intelligent design]," he implored. "Or the child growing up will grow up with unintelligent design…. Unintelligent design is our ignorance, our stupidity."

This may seem an unlikely message from a prominent Jewish biologist. After all, intelligent design theory — which holds that life is too complex to be a fluke of evolution — has been crafted primarily by evangelical Christians and spurned by most scientists.

But some Jewish leaders, like Tendler, have begun to quietly embrace the theory. And several of them went public with their support during the Sixth Miami International Conference on Torah and Science, which ran from December 13 to 15 and was hosted by Florida International University’s religious studies department, the Shul of Bal Harbour, and B’Or Ha’Torah journal of science. In an area with the second highest concentration of Jews after New York — there are 113,000 in Miami-Dade alone — the event attracted about 1000 Jewish researchers, intellectuals, teachers, and students. There was also one prominent evangelical: Intelligent design luminary William Dembski was among the event’s featured speakers.

The conversation proved divisive. Tendler kicked off the conference by attacking the idea that complex life could flow from "random evolution." "That is irrational," he said.

As soon as Tendler finished speaking, biologist Sheldon Gottlieb rushed to one of two microphones perched in the aisles. "We all know evolution is not random," he grumbled. "It goes through the filter of natural selection…. You cannot use those arguments with this audience." Tendler and Gottlieb sparred for about five minutes. Meanwhile long lines began to form at the mikes. But the moderator cut the question-and-answer session short and sent the crowd home.

Dembski, a slender man in a tweed blazer and a forest green oxford shirt, spoke the following morning, and more than 400 people packed in to see him. Besides Jewish scientists and intellectuals, the crowd included students from the Hebrew Academy and the Lubavitch Educational Center, as well as a busload of girls from Orthodox Beis Chana School, who arrived with Pumas and Nikes tucked beneath their ankle-length skirts.

Much of Dembski’s talk concentrated on the evidence of design in nature. He offered the classic example of the tiny flagella that bacteria use to propel themselves through their environment. "They can spin at 100,000 rpm," Dembski marveled. "And then in a quarter-turn, they’re spinning the other direction. Imagine if a blender could do that…. Is it such a stretch to think a real engineer was involved?"

After about 45 minutes, Dembski wrapped up his talk, and dozens of attendees swarmed the microphones again, many of them eager to air their objections. "Our speaker has fuzzied the main issue," complained Nathan Aviezar, who teaches physics at Bar Ilan University in Israel. "The whole enterprise of science is to explain life without invoking supernatural explanations. Intelligent design is not science, it’s religion, and it shouldn’t be taught in science class."

The contentious Q&A lasted 25 minutes. When it was done, dozens of scientists rushed to the front to pelt Dembski with questions. The hubbub lasted so long that Sholom Lipskar of the Shul was pushed off the agenda.

Lipskar, a soft-spoken man with a thick charcoal beard and wire-rim spectacles, ranks among Miami’s most influential rabbis. And like Tendler, he believes Jews should back the intelligent design movement. "The fundamental question the theory answers is, accidental or intentional?" he explains. "If it’s accidental, then what’s the point? But if there’s design, we’re here for a reason." Lipskar also advocates bringing intelligent design into Jewish classrooms. "It should be taught together with chemistry and physics," he says.

In fact much of the debate at Torah and Science turned to whether intelligent design should be integrated into Jewish-school science classes; Miami’s Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education even signed on as a sponsor. The organization’s president, Chaim Botwinick, says the event is a harbinger. "Many Jewish schools are beginning to discuss making intelligent design an integral part of their curriculum," he explains. Among them, he adds, are a handful of schools in Miami, a city that has long been a stronghold of traditional Judaism.

What do the students think? Many of those who heard Dembski speak said they would like to study his ideas in class. "His words make sense," commented Annale Fleisher, a seventeen-year-old senior at Miami Beach’s Hebrew Academy. "Saying life comes from evolution is like saying a library was made by someone spilling a bottle of ink."

Nathan Katz, who heads the Center for the Study of Spirituality at FIU and was one of the conference organizers, says the enthusiasm some Torah devotees express for intelligent design reflects a growing alliance between traditional Jews and evangelical Christians. The two groups have found themselves on the same side of many culture war battles. And evangelicals have funneled tens of millions of dollars into Israel. "The monstrous evangelical support for that country has led some Orthodox Jews to be willing to listen to evangelicals on other issues," Katz explains.

For his part, Dembski hopes the conversation that began at the Torah and Science conference will continue, and that some Jewish scientists will eventually lend their talents to the intelligent design movement. "It would be huge in terms of PR because it would give lie to this idea that this is just a conservative Christian thing," he explains. "It would also expand our talent pool immensely."

But critics in the audience at the conference chafed at the prospect of Jewish scientists contributing to a movement that has stated as its goal the "overthrow" of "scientific materialism." "We would be helping to eliminate science as a discipline," said Aviezar. "And that would put us back in the Fifteenth Century. It would be a disaster."

The Rabbinical Council of America just issued a statement in support of evolution. Rabbi Tendler was a member of the RCA but has distanced himself from the group because of the RCA’s expulsion of Rabbi Tendler’s son after multipile sexual abuse allegations were made against him. Rabbi Tendler and his brother-in-law Rabbi Dovid Feinstein have worked to damage the RCA in any way possible. Could these two issues be linked? After all, Rabbi Feinstein was a leader of the ban (start from bottom of page and read upward) against Rabbi Slifkin and Rabbi Tendler did not speak up in Rabbi Slifkin’s behalf. Perhaps we have a kind of quid-pro-quo here.

Rabbi Tendler did not answer my earlier request for comment on Intelligent Design and his participation in this conference.

Israel Admits White Orthodox Rabbis Descriminate Against Ordained Ethiopian Orthodox Rabbis – Prime Minister Mandates Change

In a shocking article, Matthew Wagner of the Jerusalem Post documents official discrimination against Ethiopian Rabbis by Israel’s religious councils and city rabbis:

PMO orders equality for Ethiopian rabbis

Matthew Wagner, THE JERUSALEM POST

Dec. 27, 2005

The Prime Minister’s Office ordered religious councils Monday to stop
what it called "apparent discrimination" against Ethiopian rabbis and
kessim (traditional Ethiopian spiritual leaders).

Meir Spiegler, head of the National Authority for Religious Services in
the Prime Minister’s Office, wrote a letter Sunday evening to all
religious council chairmen acknowledging the problem and issuing
"unambiguous directives."

The Prime Minister’s Office transferred NIS 5.823 million in 2005 for
the 71 Ethiopian spiritual leaders’ salaries, which means the average
gross monthly salary was NIS 6,834, significantly lower than other
comparably trained rabbis. Not all of this money, however, is being
transferred from the religious councils to the rabbis themselves,
according to attorney Sharon Abraham-Weiss of the Association for Civil
Rights in Israel.

Spiegler’s letter therefore ordered the religious councils to make
certain all of the funds transferred by the Prime Minister’s Office
reach their intended recipients.

The letter was the first official government document to acknowledge
discrimination against the rabbis and kessim by the religious councils,
said Abraham-Weiss.

"Finance Ministry and Prime Minister’s Office representatives admitted
there is discrimination during a meeting of the Knesset Committee for
Immigration, Absorption and the Diaspora. It is recorded in the
minutes. But now we also have an official document that says so," he
said.

Abraham-Weiss represents 13 Ethiopians ordained by the Israeli
Rabbinate who are employed by religious councils and 58 kessim who have
no Orthodox rabbinic training, but were spiritual leaders in Ethiopia.

"All 13 rabbis receive significantly lower salaries than the comparable
non-Ethiopian rabbis, even though they have the same training," said
Abraham-Weiss.

He cited as an example Rabbi Shai Ma’arad, an ordained rabbi who works
in Arad’s religious council, who receives NIS 4,522 a month, instead of
the NIS 7,074 received by his fellow workers. "Ma’arad’s situation is
representative of all the rabbis," said Abraham-Weiss.

"The status of the kessim is more complicated from a legal standpoint
because there is no comparable position for non-Ethiopians in religious
councils," he added.

Rabbi Moshe Rauchverger, Chairman of the Union of Neighborhood Rabbis, denied there was any discrimination.

"Kessim are not rabbis any more than reform rabbis or Christian priests
are rabbis," said Rauchverger, who claimed kessim had no real knowledge
of Orthodox Judaism and had strong Christian and pagan influences.

"If we were to recognize kessim, we would have recognize reform rabbis or Christian priests," he added.

Regarding the 13 ordained Ethiopian rabbis, Rauchverger said it was the
Prime Minister’s Office’s responsibility to make sure they got paid,
not the religious council’s.

Both kessim and ordained Ethiopian rabbis have an ambiguous legal
status. The rabbis and kessim were first hired by the state in 2002
based on a 1995 cabinet decision that created official spiritual
leadership functions for the Ethiopian community. Unlike other rabbis,
who receive 60 percent of their salary from religious councils and 40%
from the Prime Minister’s Office, Ethiopian rabbis receive 100% of
their salary from the Prime Minister’s office.

On Monday the Ethiopian spiritual leaders had planned a large
demonstration outside the Prime Minister’s Office to protest their
receiving less pay than their non-Ethiopian counterparts. They had also
planned to demonstrate against the rabbinic establishment’s ambiguous
stance on the Ethiopians’ halachic definition as Jews.

The demonstration was later called off due to bad weather, but not before Spiegler issued the letter.

Spiegler’s letter also called on religious councils to adhere to a
Supreme Court ruling issued in July 2004 ordering all marriage
registrars to treat Ethiopians like any other Israeli citizen.

"Most religious council registrars refuse to serve Ethiopians," said
Jasmine Keshet of Tebeka, a pro bono legal advocacy organization for
the Ethiopian community.

"Every Ethiopian couple that applies for a marriage certificate is
referred to Rabbi Yosef Hadana, who has an office in Tel Aviv. Couples
and their witnesses are forced to travel long distances from Haifa,
Ashdod, Arad, Safed and other cities to register," she said. Although
certain rabbinic councils in places such as Netanya marry Ethiopian
couples without a conversion, these councils only have authority over
couples that live in their area; all others must go to Hadana’s office
in Tel Aviv.

Rabbi Reuven Yasu, an Ethiopian rabbi who helps Ethiopian couples
register for marriage in Beit Shemesh and Gedera by proving they are
Jewish according to halachic standards, said that the rabbinic
establishment refuses to take a stand on Ethiopian Jewry’s halachic
status. This causes hardship for hundreds of Ethiopian couples wishing
to be married by the rabbinate, he said.

"The chief rabbis of some towns and cities accept the halachic decision
issued by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Rabbi Shlomo Goren that Beta Israel
Ethiopians, as opposed to Falash Muras, are full-fledged Jews and are
not obligated to immerse themselves in a mikve [ritual bath]," he said.
"In these towns there is no problem for Ethiopian couples who prove
they are from Beta Israel to get married."

Most towns and cities, however, follow the Chief Rabbinic Council’s
directive in 1985 that demanded all Beta Israel Ethiopians immerse in a
mikve before they are registered for marriage, he said.

No Ethiopians agree to undergoing conversions prior to marriage
nowadays, Yasu said, "so everybody is sent to Rabbi Hadana, who accepts
Beta Israel Ethiopians without immersion in a mikve. That means many
are forced to travel a long distance to get to Rabbi Hadana."

"The rabbinate has to decide once and for all whether Ethiopians are
Jews or not. I’m not trying to tell them what to do. If they say
Ethiopians have to be immersed in a mikve that’s fine, but they should
come out and say it clearly."

Here are the pay rates in US dollars:

White Orthodox rabbi – $1,540
Black Orthodox rabbi –  $  985

While not all rabbis are racist, most certainly are. Ethiopian rabbis have been complaining about this discrimination for years. Outside of one or two Sefardi rabbis, no one stood up for them – and this includes the rabbis of the settler movement and modern orthodoxy, along with the ‘gedolim’ of the haredi world. Shame on them all.

More Deceptive Advertising From Oorah & Kars4Kids

[Please click on image to enlarge.]

Oorah sent the above e-mail to its list today. Note what it says:

Proceeds benefit Joy for Our Youth. J.O.Y. is an international organization providing for the physical, emotional,  and spiritual needs of distressed and at-risk youth.

Again, J.O.Y. gifts all of its money to Oorah. Oorah is a sectarian missionary organization whose sole declared purpose according to it’s IRS filings is "kiruv," Jewish religious outreach, and related educational scholarships to Orthodox Jewish Schools. And Oorah gives less than 38% of its income to those causes and shows extremely high expenses.

Oorah, J.O.Y. and Kars4Kids are all run by Rabbis Chaim and Eliyohu Mintz. Kars4Kids and J.O.Y. serve as front-organizations for Oorah, allowing Oorah to raise money from non-Jews and from Jews who would not support Oorah’s programs. Kars4Kids and J.O.Y. gets those people to give money to what appears to be a non-sectarian charity that aids children who are really in distress – homeless, abused, abondoned, etc. – but in reality all the money is gifted to Oorah for Orthodox Jewish missionary activity. Kars4kids is also using a Kirbycard e-mail address. Kirby Card is owned by Cucumber Communications which is a totally owned subsidiary of Oorah. Cucumber claims:

Cucumber Communications is one long distance provider that makes it easy for busy people to support causes they care about.                                          

Cucumber Communications is a division of Oorah inc.

ALL our profits [this appears to be false – see here] are directed to non-profit groups working for human rights and children’s education. Through our long distance services, customers can generate progressive donations for non-profit groups just by doing what they do every day – best of all, it costs you the customer not a penny more.

With Cucumber, every call you make builds a better world.

Oorah is endorsed by almost every leading rabbi in the Orthodox world.

In most states, this is criminal fraud, and it certainly violates IRS rules.

Will Oorah lose its IRS 501 (c) (3) status? Will Oorah’s board be prosecuted? Only time will tell.

The Little Menorah That Didn’t, #2

Rabbi Zvi Sobolofsky, a Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University’s rabbinical school questions why we say the full Hallel prayer every day of Hanukka:

There are two distinct mitzvos that we perform on Chanukah, the mitzvah of hadlakas neiros and the mitzvah of krias Hallel. It is not surprising that Chazal instituted two different mitzvos to commemorate the events of Chanukah, since two miracles occurred that we are celebrating. The miracle of the oil is commemorated by lighting Chanukah candles, whereas the victory of the battle against the Yeavnim is marked by reciting Hallel. Chazal tell us (Megillah 14a) that we recite Hallel when we are saved through a miracle. As great as the miraculous events of the menorah in the Beis Hamikdash were, these events would not cause us to recite Hallel. Only the events of the battlefield preceding the restoration of the Beis Hamikdash should warrant the recitation of Hallel.

Each day of Succos we complete the Hallel, whereas on Pesach we recite an abridged form on Chol Hamoed and the concluding days. Chazal (Taanis 28b) explain that this difference reflects a basic distinction between Succos and Pesach. Each day of Succos is a separate yom tov since the korbanos that are offered each day differ from the previous day. On Pesach the identical korbanos are offered each day, therefore the entire week of Pesach is viewed as one yom tov. Therefore, once a complete Hallel is recited on the first day there is no need to repeat it on subsequent days. Tosafos raises the problem that according to this criterion we should only complete the Hallel on the first day of Chanukah. Why do we view each day of Chanukah as a separate entity? Tosafos concludes that the miracle of the oil was renewed each day. Since each day the oil lasted was a new miracle, we commemorate each miracle with a daily completion of Hallel. The solution of Tosafos seems difficult – since the recitation of Hallel relates to the victory on the battlefield, why is the daily nature of the miracle of the oil relevant? It would seem that the complete Hallel should only be recited once, since we were only saved once.

Those of you who have read my previous post on this issue already know the factual answer to this question. However, Rabbi Sobolofsky chooses to answer the question with a new myth:

When the war ended, it was obvious that the Chashmonaim were victorious on the battlefield. However, it was not apparent who had won the spiritual conflict. Perhaps the Chashmonaim had defeated their enemies with their swords, but it still had to be determined who would emerge victorious in the battle between Torah and Yavan. Hashem performed a second miracle that would prove that the spiritual battle had also been won. Chazal associate the light of the menorah with the light of Torah. If pure oil could burn for eight days despite the defilement of the Beis Hamikdash by the Yevanim, the pure light of Torah had emerged victorious from the darkness of Yavan. The miracle of the oil was not distinct from the miracle on the battlefield, but rather it was the completion of the physical struggle that occurred. The Chashmonaim emerged victorious on the physical and spiritual battlefields. Lighting the menorah in the Beis Hamikdash was not just a mitzvah, but rather the victory in the spiritual war. Being saved from spiritual annihilation warrants reciting Hallel just as a physical deliverance does.

Tosofot did not have the resources we have. They had no history books, no archaeological digs, no Josephus, no 1 and 2 Maccabees, no Philo, etc. Their mistake is understandable.

But we must be clear – there is no record of a "miracle of oil" in any ancient source. The first mention of it is in the Talmud, written at least 600 years after the events took place. In contrast, 1 and 2 Maccabees were written by Jews within a few years of the events of Hanukka, and only the military victory is mentioned – no "miracle of oil." Josephus, written just over 200 years after Hanukka has no mention of the "miracle of oil." I repeat, nowhere in any ancient source, rabbinic or otherwise, is a "miracle of oil" mentioned.

Full Hallel is said each day of Hanukka because Hanukka was both a rededication of the Temple/victory celebration and a replacement for the recent Succot festival the Jews had missed because of the Greeks. That is exactly what Judah Maccabee said when he instituted Hanukka. It answers Tosofot’s question without tortured logic and sleight of hand. And it is the truth.

RCA: Evolution Compatible With Judaism

The Rabbinical Council of America, the largest Orthodox rabbinic organization in America, has issued a statement saying that Judaism and evolution are compatible:

Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design:
The View of the Rabbinical Council of America

December 22nd 2005
21 Kislev 5766

In light of the ongoing public controversy about Evolution, Creationism and Intelligent Design, the RCA notes that significant Jewish authorities have maintained that evolutionary theory, properly understood, is not incompatible with belief in a Divine Creator, nor with the first 2 chapters of Genesis.

There are authentic, respected voices in the Jewish community that take a literalist position with regard to these issues; at the same time, Judaism has a history of diverse approaches to the understanding of the biblical account of creation. As Rabbi Joseph Hertz wrote, "While the fact of creation has to this day remained the first of the articles of the Jewish creed, there is no uniform and binding belief as to the manner of creation, i.e. as to the process whereby the universe came into existence. The manner of the Divine creative activity is presented in varying forms and under differing metaphors by Prophet, Psalmist and Sage; by the Rabbis in Talmudic times, as well as by our medieval Jewish thinkers." Some refer to the Midrash (Koheleth Rabbah 3:13) which speaks of God "developing and destroying many worlds" before our current epoch. Others explain that the word "yom" in Biblical Hebrew, usually translated as "day," can also refer to an undefined period of time, as in Isaiah 11:10-11. Maimonides stated that "what the Torah writes about the Account of Creation is not all to be taken literally, as believed by the masses" (Guide to the Perplexed II:29), and recent Rabbinic leaders who have discussed the topic of creation, such as Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, saw no difficulty in explaining Genesis as a theological text rather than a scientific account.

Judaism affirms the idea that God is the Creator of the Universe and the Being responsible for the presence of human beings in this world.
Nonetheless, there have long been different schools of thought within Judaism regarding the extent of divine intervention in natural processes. One respected view was expressed by Maimonides who wrote that "we should endeavor to integrate the Torah with rational thought, affirming that events take place in accordance with the natural order wherever possible.” (Letter to the Jews of Yemen) All schools concur that God is the ultimate cause and that humanity was an intended end result of Creation.

For us, these fundamental beliefs do not rest on the purported weaknesses of Evolutionary Theory, and cannot be undermined by the elimination of gaps in scientific knowledge.

Judaism has always preferred to see science and Torah as two aspects of the "Mind of God" (to borrow Stephen Hawking’s phrase) that are ultimately unitary in the reality given to us by the Creator. As the Zohar says (Genesis 134a): "istakel be-‘oraita u-vara ‘alma," God looked into the Torah and used it as His blueprint for creating the Universe.

___________
For articles and sources on this subject, see Aryeh Carmel and Cyril Domb eds., "Challenge: Torah Views on Science and its Problems," Feldheim, N. Y. 1976; and Rabbi J. H. Hertz, The Pentateuch and Haftorahs (Soncino Press 1960), Additional Notes to Genesis.

The statement also supports a world far older than 6000 years. These were key points found to be heretical by the haredi ‘gedolim’ who banned Rabbi Nosson Slifkin and his works. Will these ‘gedolim’ ban the RCA as well, perhaps using the Tendler case as a starting point?

If the ‘gedolim’ do not do so, their silence will be further proof of their duplicity. If they do act, it will force many in the right wing Modern Orthodox and left wing haredi worlds to take sides. Neither of these outcomes bodes well for the haredi world and for those small men who lead it.

The Rebbe And The Menorah, #2

 

The Lubavitch News Service propagandizes:

Millions are by now accustomed to the menorah display in their
respective town squares, and, Jewish or not, they welcome the light,
often joining in the festivities celebrating the message of Chanukah.
After all, the menorah’s message is universal, which explains why
governors and mayors and councilmen nationwide are eager for the chance
to get into those ubiquitous cherry pickers and put flame to wick.

No. Not really. In fact, not at all.

First of all the mesage of Hanukka is not universal. Judaism does not endorse the freedom of polytheists to practice their religions. When the Maccabees took control of Judea, they did not allow (in the first years) polytheism to continue in the areas they controlled. No Temple of Zeus was endorsed by Judah Maccabee and he did visit any such shrine in a fit of "religious tolerance." Further, the later Maccabees became hellenized and were heavily criticized by the rabbis as a result.

Second, politicians light the menorah because it is a photo op and free publicity, two things politicians thrive on. But Chabad prattles on:

More than any other symbol, the menorah is representative of
Chabad-Lubavitch and its efforts to displace darkness with light. When
Chanukah was an unknown among the general American public, Chabad
introduced the holiday. At the time, it didn’t seem to have much hope
of ever competing with the pervasive and highly popular sights and
sounds of the December holiday season.

Funny. I remember 40 years ago, well before Chabad’s public menorah lighting campaigns, my local television stations reporting on Hanukka and broadcasting a menorah with the proper number of burning candles at the beginning and end of each commercial break. Our newspapers had front page coverage. Radio stations played a few Hanukka songs. Public schools mentioned the holiday. And I live in a metropolitan area with few Jews. And friends from around the country had similar experiences.

Yet Chabad writes: "When
Chanukah was an unknown among the general American public, Chabad
introduced the holiday."

What was unknown among the "general American public" and among Jews anywhere was the new Chabad menorah, which has become the trademark of Chabad-Lubavitch. For more on Chabad’s misrepresentation of that menorah, see The Rebbe And The Menorah. For historical details on the story of Hanukka, read The Little Menorah That Didn’t.

Lawsuit Against Rabbi Tendler Made Public

The New York Post has a report on a lawsuit filed against Rabbi Mordechai Tendler. Rabbi Tendler is the son of Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Moshe Tendler, the grandson of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and the nephew of Rabbi Dovid Feinstein. Rabbi Tendler was removed from the Rabbinical Council of America because of a related issue. His father and uncle have continued to stand behind Rabbi Tendler, and arranged for an Israeli haredi Beit Din to hear the case and find against the RCA. That is slowly bringing pressure on the OU, whose rabbis are RCA members. This is a very sad situation all around. What else can one say?

UPDATE: The court filing against Rabbi Tendler has been posted online.

The Little Menorah That Didn’t

Here we are, soon to light the second candle on this 2169th Hanukka. For 2169 years, our ancestors have lit candles, most often in menorah‘s, to celebrate the "miracle of the oil." Or have they?

We all know the story. The Maccabee’s capture Jerusalem, free the Temple and find it defiled. Worse yet, there is only one sealed, undefiled cruse of oil left in the Temple – enough to keep the menorah burning for only one day. It will take days – eight days, to be exact – to send for more pure oil.

The Maccabees, God-fearing priests that they were, lit the menorah with that one cruse of oil and, lo and behold, the menorah burned for eight days. New oil arrived as the menorah was still burning on day eight, and thus the miracle of Hanukka is sealed in the memory of our nation forever – maybe.

Why maybe? Because it did not happen that way. Let’s see why:

1. The oldest telling of the story of Hanukka is found in 2 Maccabees. It does not mention the "miracle of oil."

2. The text of the Al HaNisim prayer inserted in the Amida prayer for Hanukka does not mention the "miracle of oil."

3. Josephus, who was a priest and served in the Temple, recounts the battles that led to the liberation of Jerusalem and the Temple but does not mention the "miracle of oil." This is even more significant because Josephus was a member of the Perushim (Pharisees).

4. No other ancient records mention the "miracle of oil."

Why would this be? Let’s try to answer that question by exploring the first known mention of the "miracle of oil," found in the Talmud, which began to be codified in about 400 C.E. – almost 600 years after the Maccabees triumph – and was not completed for many years after that.

The Talmud’s version of the Story of Hanukka can be found in Shabbat 21b:

What is Hanukkah? Our Rabbis taught: On the twenty-fifth of Kislev [begin] the days of Hanukkah, which are eight, and on which mourning and fasting are forbidden.  For when the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oils therein, and when the Hasmoneans [Maccabees] defeated them, they searched and found only one cruse of oil with the seal of the High Priest,  but which contained enough [oil] for one day’s lighting only; yet a miracle happened and they lit [the menorah from that single cruse of oil and it lasted for] for eight days. The following year these [days] were made a Festival including [the saying of] Hallel and thanksgiving.

So, 600 years after the event, the Talmud claims the miracle of Hanukka was the "miracle of oil" and the holiday of Hanukka was established for the following year, in part because of it.

Here is the story of Hanukka as told in 2 Maccabees, written by a Jew within a few years of the actual events:

10:1 Now Maccabeus and his company, the Lord guiding them, recovered the temple and the city:

10:2 But the altars which the heathen had built in the open street, and also the chapels, they pulled down.

10:3 And having cleansed the temple they made another altar, and striking stones they took fire out of them, and offered a sacrifice after two years, and set forth incense, and lights, and shewbread.

10:4 When that was done, they fell flat down, and besought the Lord that they might come no more into such troubles; but if they sinned any more against him, that he himself would chasten them with mercy, and that they might not be delivered unto the blasphemous and barbarous nations.

10:5 Now upon the same day that the strangers profaned the temple, on the very same day it was cleansed again, even the five and twentieth day of the same month, which is Casleu [Kislev].

10:6 And they kept the eight days with gladness, as in the feast of the tabernacles, remembering that not long afore they had held the feast of the tabernacles, when as they wandered in the mountains and dens like beasts.

10:7 Therefore they bare branches, and fair boughs, and palms also, and sang psalms unto him that had given them good success in cleansing his place.

10:8 They ordained also by a common statute and decree, That every year those days should be kept of the whole nation of the Jews.

10:9 And this was the end of Antiochus, called Epiphanes.

No "miracle of oil."  Eight days because of the Succot sacrifices (that went on for eight days) that were not able to be offered due to the Greeks.

Now, Josephus:

[36] Accordingly Matthias, the son of Asamoneus, one of the priests who lived in a village called Modin, armed himself, together with his own family, which had five sons of his in it, and slew Bacchides with daggers; and thereupon, out of the fear of the many garrisons [of the enemy], he fled to the mountains; and so many of the people followed him, that he was encouraged to come down from the mountains, and to give battle to Antiochus’s generals, when he beat them, and drove them out of Judea. So he came to the government by this his success, and became the prince of his own people by their own free consent, and then died, leaving the government to Judas, his eldest son.

[38] Now Judas, supposing that Antiochus would not lie still, gathered an army out of his own countrymen, and was the first that made a league of friendship with the Romans, and drove Epiphanes out of the country when he had made a second expedition into it, and this by giving him a great defeat there; and when he was warmed by this great success, he made an assault upon the garrison that was in the city, for it had not been cut off hitherto; so he ejected them out of the upper city, and drove the soldiers into the lower, which part of the city was called the Citadel. He then got the temple under his power, and cleansed the whole place, and walled it round about, and made new vessels for sacred ministrations, and brought them into the temple, because the former vessels had been profaned. He also built another altar, and began to offer the sacrifices; and when the city had already received its sacred constitution again, Antiochus died; whose son Antiochus succeeded him in the kingdom, and in his hatred to the Jews also.…

No "miracle of oil."  Again, eight days because of the Succot sacrifices (that went on for eight days) that were not able to be offered due to the Greeks.

What happened? Why was a "miracle of oil" added to Hanukka?

The Pharisees fought with and suffered suffered from the Hasmonean kings, as the Hasmonean dynasty over time became Hellenized and the Sadducees, opponents of the rabbis, allied with the Hasmoneans.

The rabbinic dislike for the Maccabees can be summed up with the following question: How could a miracle have come through a family that would later become so evil?

Within 150 years two disasters would rock the Jewish world. The first, the Destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. after a war initially backed by many of the rabbis. The second took place 65 years after the Destruction when the Bar Kokhba revolt failed and with its defat came the deaths of tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, of Jews. The chief backer of the revolt was Rabbi Akiva, the leader of Rabbinic Judaism who believed Bar Kokhba to me the messiah. This revolt failed, but the Maccabees, without rabbinic leadership, won their war and liberated the country.

Here we have rabbinic sanction for war and no miracle happens. Why? Were the rabbis less deserving of God’s miracles than the Maccabees and their Sadducee allies?

Worse yet, the prayers for Hanukka, established long before Bar Kokhba, glorify the Maccabee’s war and do not mention the oil, and the rabbis cannot simply remove or edit a text which was widely known throughout the Jewish world.

I believe the rabbinic response to this problem was to gradually push aside the victory of the Maccabees, which was the true miracle of Hanukka, and replace it with  the "miracle of the oil." By the time the Talmud was codified, the "miracle of oil" had become the "normative" understanding of Hanukka.

Today the "miracle of oil" is well known, but the details of the Maccabees’ fight against the Greeks is not.

Hanukka Samayakh.

Haredim: Metzitza B’Peh Equal To Shabbat, Not Enough Risk To Stop

Agudath Israel of America’s Rabbi David Zwiebel explains Agudath Israel’s view on MBP’s risk to Steven I. Weiss:

We neither accept nor reject that metzitzah b’peh is a health risk – we haven’t been privy to the evidence on which the Health Department bases its claim. What we do know is what we hear (and what the Health Department has heard) from pediatricians who serve the communities where the practice is routinely performed: that any incidence of neonatal herpes after metzitzah b’peh is extremely rare, and that any incidence of serious harm is rarer still.…Given that testimony, and given the fact that we’re talking about an essential religious practice, we feel it was inappropriate for the Health Department to issue this type of public warning.

What level of demonstrated risk would justify such a public warning or a ban? Dunno, but I’d imagine that if that level of risk existed, the religious leaders of the community would beat the Health Department to the punch.

Weiss then interviews Rabbi David Niederman of the Satmar-controlled Central Rabbinical Congress, whose beit din (religious court) was charged by the city with investigating MBP, but missed it’s deadline to rule. Rabbi Niederman explains "that level of risk":

So what level of risk would the CRC consider necessary to trigger a ban or limitation of the practice? "The same level of risk…the metzitzah b’peh is the same mitzvah as other mitzvos of the Torah, nothing less than shmiras Shabbos…for this mesorah, we are ready with mesiras nefesh." The standard would be "the same pikuach nefesh for a doctor on Shabbos."

Of course, following that ‘logic,’ dozens of babies will have to die or be maimed before the CRC will act. And that’s just fine with Rabbi Niederman who, when asked about potential AIDS transmission (to the mohel) from MBP, had this to say:

"[H]ow do you compare AIDS that is a killer…AIDS that is overwhelming evidence that certain behavior contributes to that," to the case of neo-natal herpes and metzitzah b’feh, about which he claims there’s no such evidence.

Neonatal herpes is fatal in almost 30% of cases. But why let fact interfere with Rabbi Niederman’s ‘logic’?

Weiss then asks about the December 1 deadline the CRC missed:

"[I]t’s basically we said that we feel that we will have our investigation of Fischer done by that time…we have since indicated that we will not be done by that deadline" as they’re being careful "because pikuach nefesh is so important to us."

"We take this very seriously…if there’s any safek of pikuach nefesh, we’ll be the first to say no…the Torah says…even the slightest, we take this issue very seriously," he said, adding "the commissioner himself said take this very carefully…so we’re taking the time to make sure that no stone is unturned." Meanwhile, "Fischer [the mohel who apparently infected several babies with herpes, one of whom died] has done brisin all over the globe, so we have to go all over these places and do the investigation in addition to the medical investigation."

NYC should ban MBP outright and impose criminal penalties on those who perform it. Will haredim do MBP underground? Yes they will. Will babies still die? Yes they will. But some mohels will be caught and others will be too frightened to do MBP. More babies lives will be saved this way than by ‘working’ with recalcitrant haredi communities.

Oorah Gives Less Than 38% Of Income To Charity

Oorah, the Lakewood-based haredi missionary organization whose deceptive advertising practices were exposed by the Saint Louis Post Dispatch, distributes less than 38%*** of its income to the childrens programs it champions. According to the most recent IRS 990 filing available (Download oorah_2003_irs_990.pdf)
, Oorah had gross revenues of almost $2,000,000 yet used only $741,639 of that revenue for outreach and for underwriting Jewish education. Almost $741,000 went to cover expenses and another $482,000 was held as "assests" and not disbursed.

Oorah’s for-profit subsidiary, Cucumber Communications, is shown with a total income of $208,609. Even though Oorah claims that "every penny of profit" is given to Oorah, Ooorah’s IRS filing shows that Cucumber transferred only $144,391 to Oorah. Cucumber also shows assets of $367,301.

Oorah is run by Rabbi Eliyohu Mintz.

*** By way of contrast, in 1998, the last of the five probationary years preceding the IRS decision on whether or not to grant permanent tax exempt status, Oorah raised $262, 657 and gave away $238,207, just over 90% of what it raised. Download oorah_1998_irs_990.pdf

[Previous report here.]

Haredim Attack City Over Circumcision

The Jewish Week reports that two pediatricians with practices overwhelmingly made up of haredim have attacked the city and its health commissioner for warnings he issued about the dangers of metzitza b’peh, oral-to-genital-contact during circumcision. Both doctors are medical advisors to the new haredi "circumcision board."

The pediatricians have raised the following objections:

Drs. Robert Adler and Steven Styler said Frieden has not proven a link
between metzitzah b’peh, in which the mohel sucks the blood orally
during circumcision, and life-threatening herpes in newborns.…

“I’m aware of a couple of isolated cases, but am not aware that there
have been sufficient cases for me to agree with [Frieden],” said
Styler, whose office is in Borough Park, Brooklyn. “It’s too bad that
the documented number of cases cannot be more firmly established. The
question is whether it’s common enough to pose a real risk. The number
that would be? I’m not prepared to offer an opinion.”…

Adler, who has offices in Borough Park and Williamsburg, was asked by
the family of one of the boys who contracted herpes this year whose
case has been cited by the Health Department to examine the baby at
Maimonides Medical Center about a month ago, “even though the
infectious disease person there didn’t think that his lesions were
consistent with herpes,” the doctor said.

If it was herpes, Adler said, it may have been caused by a member of
the baby’s family who had a cold sore and unwittingly transmitted it to
him while changing his diaper, if the adult had touched his or her
mouth with their fingers and then touched the baby’s genital area.

Tucker said that in this and the other cases cited by the Health
Department, “the medical circumstances are inconsistent with infection
acquired at delivery, in the newborn nursery or from caretakers.”

These herpes cases, he said, “are consistent with acquisition at
circumcision” because of their timing and the location of the herpes
sores, among other things.

Right. If this were a method of transmission with any chance of success, there would be thousands of cases of Herpes each year. Why? Because any baby circumcised by any doctor or mohel, in or out of the hospital, would be at equal risk. But this is clearly not happening. Why? Listen to the NYC Health Department’s Andrew Tucker for an answer:

Health Department spokesman Andrew Tucker said this week that the
number of cases, along with the timing of the first symptoms of
blisters in the genital area within days of the boys’ brises, proves a
link to metzitzah b’peh.

“Statistically, with an estimated 30 cases of neonatal herpes in New
York City per year, even a single case resulting from metzitzah b’peh
contributes significantly,” Tucker said. “Since approximately 10
percent of all neonatal herpes cases occur after delivery, in New York
City this would be three cases per year. A single case due to metzitzah
b’peh would be even more statistically significant.” …

The Health Department, in an advisory to physicians last week, warned
that as many as 20 percent of babies who contract herpes may not
develop skin lesions, “so providers must maintain a high index of
suspicion for herpes infection following circumcision which includes
metzitzah b’peh.”

This is echoed by a Sefardi doctor who is also part of the new haredi "circumcision board":

Another doctor on the medical advisory committee of the American Board
of Ritual Circumcision said he takes the health commissioner’s warning
against metzitzah b’peh very seriously.

“It’s not a healthy practice because of transmission of herpes,” said
Dr. Edward Gindi, who serves a largely Sephardic clientele in the
Midwood section of Brooklyn. When mothers come in with their baby boys
for the first visit after giving birth, “I advise them to avoid it,” he
said.

Sefardim generally hold much more like the Modern Orthodox on matters
like this, and their opinions are disregarded by the haredi community.
What is more telling is the complete lack of credible Modern Orthodox
participation in the "circumcision board," whose founding chairman now weighs in:

Mohels who maintain the practice believe metzitzah b’peh has been mandated by God and used safely since the time of Moses.

They also believe that the city has not proven its case, said Romi
Cohen, chairman of the American Board of Ritual Circumcision, which has
certified three dozen mohels, most of whom employ the practice.

Cohen formed the organization about a year ago [i.e., right after the Fischer case was made public and the city took the first steps toward regulating or banning MBP], he said in an
interview, out of concern for the professional standards and skill
among mohels. His members are required to submit blood tests twice a
year proving that they have not contracted herpes, HIV or hepatitis B,
he said.

Testing twice per year is next to worthless, and does not address the way these diseases are transmitted or how they are carried in the body.

But we have more. Agudath Israel of America chimes in:

David Zwiebel, executive vice president of Agudath Israel, an
organization that represents the interests of the fervently Orthodox
community, estimates that metzitzah b’peh is performed more than 2,000
times a year in New York City.

The group issued a statement this week criticizing the Health
Department for “a highly objectionable use of Departmental authority”
when it issued last week’s statement, an “unprecedented and highly
selective use of its bully pulpit authority to publicly attack a
millennia-old practice.”

About a year ago the city started investigating Rabbi Fischer. In
another unprecedented move, earlier this year the Health Department
turned that case over to a religious court in Williamsburg to
adjudicate.

When the bet din did not issue a ruling by an agreed-upon deadline of Dec. 1, the Health Department issued its statement.

As is the norm of late, Rabbis are behaving very badly.