Kesher Talk: 12/28/2003

Good Jewish News? Israeli-Palestinian Antarctica trip: An Israeli-Palestinian team has left the southern Chilean port city of Puerto Williams and begun a joint expedition to Antarctica. The four Israelis and four Palestinians, who include Israeli mountaineer Doron Erel, are scheduled to reach the South Pole Saturday. They are sailing in two boats. They plan to climb a 2,000-meter-high mountain, as an example of Israeli-Palestinian cooperation. On reaching the summit the group will collectively name the peak and conduct a short ceremony.

Jewish Philanthropy: Starting the year off with good Jewish news: The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra returned to Israel in late December after a three-week tour of Japan and the US that raised more than $1.5 million.

Most of the money was raised at Carnegie Hall in New York at a gala benefit concert for American Friends of the IPO. At the December 15 concert, Zubin Mehta conducted violinist Itzhak Perlman and the IPO in works by Stravinsky, Bruch and Mussorgsky. Later, Lily Safra, widow of billionaire banker Edmund Safra, introduced the orchestra and thanked the audience for supporting Israeli culture. (from The Jerusalem Post, Dec. 24, 2003)

The pivot of the secular global year. I'm too lazy to come up with predictions and lists of my own, but here's what some other folks think was important from last year, and what is going to happen this year:

10 best QTVR panoramic photos of 2003.
Top 10 astronomy images of 2003.
Jewish Week music critic George Robinson's 10 best Jewish recordings of 2003, including music from Ugandan Jews, the historic Spanish and Portugese Synagogue of New York, the Arab-Andalusian orchestra of Fez, a black/Jewish jazz fusion version of classic High Holiday cantorial arrangements, and maftirim, mystical Jewish-Sufi devotional music.
The annual honours list from 10 Downing Street.
Most over- and under-rated ideas of 2003.
Top 10 stupidities of last year's NY Times.
Honest Reporting's annual awards for dishonest reporting on Israel. (Reuter's won, natch.)
Michelle Malkin's Whiners of the year.
Speaking of which, AlterNet thinks it was a bad year:

2003 was a demoralizing year for those of us working for peace and justice. With George Bush in the White House, Arnold Schwarzenegger in the California State House, and Paul Bremer ruling Iraq, it was a chore just to get out of bed each morning.

Back to reality: Damian Penny has picked out a Despicable Dozen of 2003.
You can help Charles pick out a 2003 Idiotarian of the Year. (Hint: George Soros' political views and multi-billion dollar clout need more publicity.)
The The 10 worst dictators of the 20th century.
On a lighter note, 2003 Blogs of Distinction from Fraterslibertas.
Dan Drezner at Sullivan has some New year's resolutions, and a look backward and forward at the US economy.
Austin Bay on security challenges of 2004.
Tim Blair is soliciting predictions for 2004, and you can read a kajillion of them in his comments.
Mark Steyn's already making his.
More predictions from Matthew Stinson.
More predictions from Tacitus and his active, intelligent, knowledgeable, politically diverse commenters.
50 predictions from Vodkapundit.
Michelle predicts what some bloggers are going to do in 2004, and looks back at a year of The Command Post.
Venomous Kate is true to form: The Top 5 Things I'd Change About The People I Can't Stand and The Top 5 Mixed Drinks That Made Me Barf This Year.
Gut Rumbles predicts, and takes stock of his blog's performance in the past year.
A blogger's New Year's resolutions about blogging. I really relate to this one:

4. I resolve to hold myself to the One Link Limit. No more reading something on Buzzmachine and then clicking on the link to LT Smash, and then clicking through to Stratfor, and then drilling down and down and down until I’m reading a fascinating analysis of the growing political unrest in Uzbekistan and its implications for US policy and the sun is coming up and I haven’t been to bed yet and I will as soon as I’ve clicked on this one last link . . . Enough! One link. That’s it.

And finally, a humungous List of Lists.

Amygdala. Gary Farber, who consistently finds the most obscure interesting links in the news, needs some donations to keep from being evicted from his apartment. Complete story here.

Some Amygdala highlights and finds:
Gertrude Bell, the "creator" of Iraq.
Incredible story of how a Masai woman convinced her elders to allow her to accept a scholarship from an American college, becoming the first woman from her village to attain higher education.
A treasure-trove of QTVR panoramic photos.
Appreciations of cult authors.
Scale drawings of fictional starships.
Cool stuff you have to dig for because the permalinks are hosed.
Gary fisks Rush Limbaugh.
Gary fisks kevin Drum.
Some essays by Kanan Makiya.
High school elects nerd as valedictorian as joke, read what happened then.
A history of anti-Americanism.
Osama's neice trying to launch a singing career.
Starting a cross-blog discussion on political labels.

I think I link to Gary more often than any other blog, with the possible exception of LGF. Help him out.

Jewish Philanthropy: New Links to Your Left: So we've finally added a link section dedicated to Jewish charities.

Use "Just Tzedakah" to evaluate possibilities for your giving -- so you can funnel money to the right people rather than the wrong people.

Magen David Adom allows you to support the Jewish emergency response services in Israel -- unrecognized and unfunded by the Red Cross/Red Crescent organization.

Give to the Jewish National Fund to plant a tree in Israel.

And so forth.

Dear readers, please send your suggestions for Jewish charities to us for future additions to this list.

Happy (Goyish) New Year

Welcome to 2004.

PS Different New Year customs around the world.

Look up. If the sky is clear and you don't like drunken parties, tonight is a fine time to find a telescope and check out Saturn's rings. Saturn and Earth are at their closest in 30 years tonight.

UPDATE: We missed both the sky show and the Times Square scene last night - we went to a pleasant low-key party in Williamsburg, thanks to Adina's friend Ruthie.

The year in blogs. I should probably write a "looking back on 2003" post. Maybe I will, on Thursday when everyone in Manhattan is sleeping off their binges, my friend has departed for the airport, and I realize that my apartment building 10 blocks from Times Square is not a radioactive wreck. In the meantime, as a very small contributor this spring to The Command Post's coverage of the Iraq War, I can do no better than turn you over to Michelle.

Jews in odd places: the California Gold Rush: Among the waves of risk-takers flooding the Sierra foothills in the late 1840s and early '50s were masses of Jews from Germany willing to brave a rough-hewn life in order to stake their claim, pan for gold and hit the big time.

"Much of (this California history) is omitted from most of what you'd call general history books of Jewish history, which really means New York Jews, " says Marc Dollinger, who holds the Richard and Rhoda Goldman endowed chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility at San Francisco State University. Dollinger and Ava F. Khan, a historian of western Jewish life who has served as a visiting professor of history at UC Berkeley and UC Davis, have edited a large-format book, California Jews (Brandeis University Press; $34. 95), which spotlights some of this hidden history.

The book's 15 essays highlight other lesser-known aspects of Jewish history as well: the influence of women; the lives of ordinary people; the efforts to help the Japanese interned during World War II; and the denial by Jews of the Israel expatriates who settled in Southern California.

More new Jewish blog links: We missed Mystical Politics, which delves into "discussions of Jewish mysticism, especially from the ancient world (biblical, Qumran, Hekhalot, rabbinic, etc.) and of contemporary politics -- and of the occasional interactions between them."

We also missed the Blue Octavo Notebooks blog in our last sweep. [TBON is noteworthy for blogging from the ISM conference held at Ohio State U this fall, and the editor is still following their activities. So bookmark this one for a continuing critical eye on ISM. - Judith ]

As for Richard Silverstein, I'm sorry if you feel "peacenik" is a derogatory way to describe your politics. I have many friends who wear the term as a badge of honor. But regardless, I meant no disrespect.

Don't Mess With Texas. If you are a terrorist planning to infiltrate George Bush Houston Intercontinental Airport (the nation's eight largest passenger airport and 11th largest in the world) by sneaking through the acres of scrub surrounding the facilities, think again.

Sitting on horseback and surrounded by other riders Rick M. Vacar, director of the Houston Airport System (HAS) today announced the creation of a mounted security patrol to ride the perimeter of the 11,000 acre Intercontinental Airport. “With a great amount of undeveloped and secluded acreage at the airport and a need to monitor activities in those areas so we decided to go to the local equestrian community and ask for their assistance,” said Vacar. “This is a win-win situation. Local horsemen and women have a pristine location to ride and the airport has extra eyes and ears in areas that most security patrols can not easily access,” added Vacar. The new mounted patrols will be called Airport Rangers.

Yee-haw! (Laurence, can you ride? You might want to sign up for this . . . )

In New York, homeless Jews celebrate Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. This took place at one of the shuls I attend in NYC (in fact, the only mainstream synagogue I attend regularly - the others are all layled minyans of various shades of scruffiness). Creating an adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah for homeless Jews is exactly the kind of T&V would do. They host free High Holy Days services every year. They have a great rabbi, cantor, actively participating congregants with a high degree of Jewish learning, a relaxed informal atmosphere, and they know tons of Hallel melodies. The only reasons I am not there every week is they start earlier than my other minyans and I am not a morning person, and the others - being layled - offer more leadership opportunities. (I'm not sure there's a correlation, but T&V is also associated with several bloggers: Myself, Zackary Sholem Berger, and David Adesnik's parents are all members.)

UPDATE: Another story about the project.

Sort of cool stuff. The International Jewish Conspiracy. No, I mean the real International Jewish Conspiracy!

This is bathroom humor but it's pretty funny.

Suggestions for discouraging door-to-door evangelists.

The Po-Mo English Title Generator, for all your last-minute dissertation needs.

This one is totally cool: Lord of the Rings as directed by Howard Hawks. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Marlene Deitrich. Check it out.

Of Iranian earthquakes, tzedakah, and interethnic communication. I started to write this in Michelle's comments, but I decided it was important enough to post here. I have the utmost regard for Meryl Yourish and Lawrence Simon and we are in agreement about 95% of everything, but not this one.

Much of the debate is about this post of Meryl's, and there's more here, links to responses here, and the most recent post here.

I think it's a bad idea to wrap yourself in outrage to the point where you can only say "It's a Jewish thing - you wouldn't understand." I don't have any patience for that level of oppressed group self-pity when I hear it from blacks, gays, women, wheelchair users, or whatever, and Jews shouldn't use it either. It's just dumb. It leads to the absurdities of believing men can't write novels with believable women characters, or that Jewish reporters can't write about Catholic politics, or that white professors can't teach African literature.

Now, some people refuse to understand, to try to get inside the heads of a particular culture, and it does get tedious to keep explaining oneself, especially when one suspects that the dense recipient of the explanation has no intention of trying to understand. There are people like that and that does happen. And sometimes we (blacks, gays, Southerners, etc.) don't want to keep explaining ourselves even to well-intentioned, eager to understand potential allies. And if you aren't from a particular culture you need to beware of making assumptions based on your own (sometimes taken-for-granted) preconceptions.

So intercultural understanding is often difficult. But to say not only "you just don't get it" but "you just can't get it" stops the conversation. It's saying "I'm going to take my toys and go home." It's self-righteous and self-pitying. And all well-intentioned allies of oppressed groups should call them on this when they do it.

My view: Once again, the US and Israel are behaving with much more class than the leaders whose people need the help. And that's the best revenge there is.

Jews in odd places: India: The Forward profiles Judah Hyam, the only Jewish synagogue in the Indian capital of New Delhi:

Though only 12 to 15 families regularly attend services, Judah Hyam is a living synagogue where congregants celebrate the milestones of life and at times feud among themselves. The services had a familial feel: Song requests were taken; "bravo"s followed a young girl's reading of Psalm 23. Just about everyone in this sprawling metropolis must drive to services, yet there is lively squabbling over what should be permitted on the Sabbath.

Judah Hyam secretary Ezekiel Malekar is a prominent lawyer and activist who for 23 years has been solely responsible for the synagogue's survival. "I'm the rabbi. I'm the cantor. I'm the caretaker. I'm the chazan," he said. He lives with his extended family on the synagogue grounds.

Malekar represents Judaism at national ceremonies such as the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's birth and death. But he said he had no official role during Prime Minister Sharon's recent state visit, the first by a standing Israeli premier, which helped solidify ties between the two countries.

Since Israeli independence in 1948, the vast majority of India's Jews have emigrated to the Jewish state. That year also saw the first flares of tension between India and Pakistan, following their 1947 partition.

Those Jews who remain in India straddle two cultures. Malekar is not shy about his priorities. "We are Indian first, Jewish second," he said. "This is a land of duty; Israel is a land of faith."

He and other congregants proudly say that India is the only country where there has never been antisemitism. Malekar declined to speak about India's growing strategic alliance with Israel, despite admitting to being a liaison between India's Jewish community and its government.

"I keep Judaism aloof from politics," he said. "I only talk about religion."

Creepy academic antisemites, continued. Remember Tony Judt? He's still around, and he doesn't understand why people got so upset at his article, and he says he's a "proud Jew."

(Best Judt fisking here. Which isn't refuted by anything said here.)

Meanwhile, check out this piece of work, who has an op-ed in the LA Times.

UPDATE: The Judt fisking link is fixed. If you can access TNR Online you can read the whole thing.

Hanukkah - post kandelikas. Only Naomi Chana of the vastly amusing, scholarly, eclectic, and literate blog Bairaita could have written this.

You know how every synagogue newsletter in the country has a little column entitled "The December Dilemma"? I am always saddened to discover that they involve "how do I tell my children that they don't get a tree?" instead of some of the obvious halachic questions which our combined holiday season ought to raise. Frankly, my personal "December Dilemma" is the realization that I am probably never going to find a nice Jewish boy who knows as many Christmas carols as I do. But at least I have plenty to laugh about. So, in the spirit of whatever you happen to be celebrating, let me offer a list of December Dilemmas My Family Has Actually Experienced In The Past Week. . . .

Beverage All Over the Monitor Warning on this one.

Recently added Jewish Blogs: The 17 latest additions to our link list of Jewish blogs:

Rabbi Josh Yuter, an Orthodox rabbi. He briefly describes himself as "ashkenazi guf, non-kabbalistic sepharadi neshama." His blog is called YUTOPIA. Go check him out. [And read his excellent fisking of Doug Rushkoff! - Judith]

Zackary Sholem Berger writes ocaisionally for the Forward and seems to have a gift for poetry. [And he translated "The Cat in the Hat" into Yiddish! - Judith]

Aidel Maidel has PCOS, like my wife, and she has struggled with infertility as a result. Now she is blogging on how she is beating the odds -- she recently got pregnant. Mazel Tov!

Dave, an Australian, blogs from Israel on Israellycool

Thoughtful Tamara blogs on The Fourth Rabbi

The Jew View is run by a Reform Jew from Pittsburgh with an attitude

Stephen Silver is a New York City journalist. Don't miss his posting on the rabbi who stupidly messed with Brett Farvre

Catch the bloggings of a kid finishing his basic training in the Israeli Defence Forces at Only in Israel

Richard Silverstein is a peacenik Jew, with a penchant for blogging about the outdoors. I was personally drawn to his hunt for moderates in the Arab world.

Join Sim Shalom for lengthy discourse on Torah portions, Q&A sessions on Judaic theology, and a smattering of cheesy jokes.

You'll find lots of educational links on Leah's Thoughts from a Rabbi.

Femminist Jew Rachel Barenblat blogs on Velveteen Rabbi, though she is not a rabbi.

Small-town Jew.S.A. is blogged by an Israeli studying at Penn State, who likes to share the travails of keeping kosher in central Pennsylvania and just generally being Jewish in a non-Jewish area. For instance, this pre-Xmas posting: "I have totally psyched myself up to be happy and pleasant and make small talk and get through it with good cheer. Just close my eyes and think of Hannukah. Mi yimalel gvurot yisrael . . . Ahh, much better."

Jared Goldberg is a Jewish student at the University of Michigan who blogs a Jared Manifesto.

Jonathan maintains his Tanakh blog to track his Torah education and investigations.

Looking for the ramblings of a "thirtysomething Orthodox Rabbi in Montreal" ? Try Chaim Steinmetz's blog. For instance, there is this extract from an article he wrote for a Montreal magazine explaining the meaning of Hannuka: "What Hanukkah is really about is Jews being proud of their Jewish identity. It’s about every Jew who’s stood up publicly and said “I am a Jew” despite enormous pressure to hide their heritage. Hanukkah celebrates the heros of Jewish identity, whether it be in the Seleucid empire, the former Soviet Union, or on the Concordia campus."

Have you been missing out on the weekly Torah portion (known as a "parsha")? Read the Torah Spot for Ephraim Lowy's weekly interpretations.

Kesher Talk

Friday, January 02, 2004

Thursday, January 01, 2004

Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Monday, December 29, 2003

Sunday, December 28, 2003

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