Rabbi Landsberg's Blog

Happy New Year

Ah...another year, another blog post!

I mentioned during the last Shabbat service of 2011 that I do not celebrate the start of the secular new year.   I think the fact that I was raised without it was more due to my parents' teetotaling ways rather than any religious strictures in this matter.  Nonetheless, I was pleased to recently come across this reminder of why Jews might find the hoopla of December 31st "a foreign affair" of sorts.

On Shabbat, I turned 2011's closing summation over to Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (via his beautiful commentary on the parasha Vayigash).  Now, I would like to turn 2012's opening remarks over to Gershom Gorenberg, the American born, Orthodox Israeli historian and journalist, via his Letter from Jerusalem: To a Progressive American Jewish Friend.  

We here at Emanu-El had the challenging pleasure of engaging in an evening of learning and conversation with Gershom in November.  Whether in person or through his two most recent excellent books - The Unmaking of Israel and The Accidental Empire  (excerpts can be read in Slate - The Mystery of 1948), I say there is no better starting point for getting the measure of the current challenges facing Jews and Israelis than with him.

Gershom will not accept pessimism or fatalism - - they are to him merely expressions of one's weakness.  And with 2012 already replete with news headlines about ultra-Orthodox radicalism in Israel, what resonated most deeply for me is Gershom's refutation that you:

...should feel tied to Israel only if it is already a progressive country. Think about that word: Progressives are people who work for progress....don’t give up. Get involved. 

I hope 2012 is a good one for you, those you love, and for the entire house of Israel.  

Last night with Elie remembering Israel's fallen

Elie and I attended Yom Hazikaron observances last night, the day set aside to remember Israel's fallen soldiers. As I listened to Israel's Consul General Amir Gissin and others speak, I struggled with finding the words to explain to Elie's 5 year old self what it all meant--the losses, the battles, the transcendent purpose for which the Toronto (mostly Israeli) Jewish community gathered.  

And then tonight I read this piece by Aluf Benn.  It did not help me in my ongoing conversation with my boy about his place in the Jewish world, but it did speak to me about the essential nature of the burden that all Israelis bear in the defence of Israel.  It is an account of how the then Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan came to write a eulogy that was so charged that Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion tried to censor it.    Here is the link to the full text of Dayan's eulogy for Roi Rutenberg, z'l.  

We will make our reckoning with ourselves today; we are a generation that settles the land and without the steel helmet and the canon's maw, we will not be able to plant a tree and build a home.

These are hard truths that all lovers of Zion must carry in their hearts.   

And now it is Yom Ha'atzma'ut.  May it be a joyous celebration. 

A strong mind, a strong stomach and a marked philosemitism

In brief, here is a lovely article in the Dublin Review of Books about the renowned poet Czesław Miłosz, recipient of the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature.   Miłosz ought to be best known amongst Jews, however, as a man whose worldview and philosophy were self-consciously refracted through his interactions with Jews.   Miłosz--born in Vilna and living much of the 1930s and '40s in Warsaw--declared that it is only through the "anti-natural" human acts of religious life, politics, ideology and culture that one overcomes the senseless necessity of nature.  "The Jews helped to form a complex in me," he wrote, "thanks to which, at an early age, I was already lost for the [Catholic, nationalist] Right." 

Aside from the insight I gained from the piece, I was much moved by it.  I both felt and thought that much of Miłosz's driving spirit is shared by the many Jews that I meet at morning minyan or at a shiva or at some other shared moment of tefillah.  They seem to know that through these acts they are investing this world with a meaning that--though it may not be easily articulated--spits in the eye of the cruel "natural" banalities of this world.   

Czesław Miłosz would be a 100 years old this year.  May his memory be a blessing.

Persian connections...

In the spring, a young man's fancy may lightly turn to thoughts of love; around Purim, my thoughts turn to my mother-in-law.  

I am married, on one side, into a  large family of Persian/Iranian Jews.  There is much to recommend in this which is beyond the purview of this blog.  What I can tell you is that Persian Jews are fiercely proud of their continuous history that begins in antiquity.  Each Purim, as Jewish people the world over riotously recall escape from massacre at the hands of the evil Haman, my husband never fails to remind me that by some reckonings Persian Jewish history predates Ashkenazi Jewish history a good 1500 years.  

So in honour of Esther, Mordechai and all other Persian Jews, let me share one Jewish fact you might not otherwise have considered:  The Baybalonian (Bavli) Talmud?  A misnomer!  Jews study, debate and live by the Persian Talmud.   Read here this piece  by Yehuda Mirsky: http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/content/module/2010/11/2/main-feature/1/the-persian-talmud.    

(BTW as this blog gets back into its rhythm I will return to other pieces by Dr Mirsky,  currently of the Van Leer Institute -  a scholar who balances erudition, fealty to Jewish tradition, and modern political wisdom.  His bio is here: http://www.vanleer.org.il/Eng/content.asp?Id=879)

Meeting the Ambassador

After the heated discussions of this morning’s seminar on Zionism, it was a stark contrast this afternoon to meet with the Canadian Ambassador to Israel, Jon Allen. Together with members of all the Canadian delegations, I listened to and exchanged views with Ambassador Allen for something over an hour.

The meeting kicked off with an outpouring of gratitude for the steadfast support of the Canadian government for the State of Israel. This didn’t prevent the Ambassador from being forthright articulating how he believes Israel must better ensure its own security and support from the international community. He reiterated Canada's belief in a two state solution that will address the challenges of borders, refugees, and settlements without minimizing the challenges this would entail.

Nearly as interesting as the remarks of the Ambassador were the responses of the assembled Canadian groups that seemed to span from a polite hearing to scepticism to outright dismay. The responses were not simply academic or solely matters of ideology. Many of those present are parents or grandparents (or even one great-grandfather) of citizens of the state of Israel. Even the most diplomatic discussion of the threats and challenges that Israel is facing could not disguise the personal fears and hopes that underlay the reactions.

It was delightful meeting Ambassador John Allen. He is clearly a committed Canadian public servant of the first rank and does his country and Israel a great service.

Jews come in all shapes and sizes....

Here at the World Zionist Congress you meet every type of Jew which--as much as what is said--is a statement itself about Jews as they are: in all their diversity and differing visions of how to remake the Jewish world. In every meeting there are Shomer Hatzair blue shirted youth proudly holding up the flag of Socialist Zionism, observant ladies in their hats from the world Mizrachi organization, together with representatives from every other shade of Jewish Zionist life including ourselves of course.

The difference between a meeting here and many I have attended elsewhere in the Jewish world is the fiercely clear fact that what divides the strands of Jewishness are real and passionate. For example, this morning during a talk on Zionism/Post-Zionism/Renewed Zionism by Dr Micha Goodman (of the Hebrew University and one of Debra’s teachers at the Hartman Institute), one of the moderators stood up and said that perhaps the real issue is that Reform and other liberal Jews are supporters of the Palestinian cause and not of Israel! With this as but one example of the accusations that are flying in all directions (remember that Shas is now for the first time represented here at the Congress), you can imagine that a number of the meetings are already quite heated.

I think that the interactions that happen at the WZC are of primary importance. The reality of the diverse Jewish world--the many accents, languages, and viewpoints--and the reality of Israel as the meeting place for all is palpable. As well, one point of great pride: the Canadian delegation (Mizrachi, ARZA and Mercaz) interact with great respect and friendship.

　

　

　

At the Caucus...

The Zionist Congress begins tomorrow, but nonetheless today was our first day of all day meetings.  The pre-Congress caucus met at the Hebrew Union College campus.  There is a lot to say already but is is late Jerusalem time (and even later for my jet-lagged brain), so let me just share some headlines now, which maybe I will have time to chew on later.

ARZA-Canada is part of the larger movement, ARZENU (International Federation of Reform and Progressive Religious Zionists).  We heard reports from the state of Reform Zionism around the world (struggling in Switzerland, blossoming in Australia and so forth).

Of great interest is the fact that ARZENU is now in alliance with both Israel's Labour party and Meretz (which together are the two most progressive Zionist parties in Israeli politics).  Collectively, they form the largest caucus at this World Zionist Congress.  Rabbi Gilad Kariv, the leader of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, was clear that the alliance of these three progressive Zionist forces will be a powerful combination to renew the flame of a progressive Zionism that promotes democracy,  Zionism and a state of Israel as a vital force for Jewish renewal. 

 More tomorrow....

Off to the World Zionist Congress..

Together with my wife - Rabbi Landsberg - we have arrived in israel for the World Zionist Congress. During the Congress I shall be posting reports to give a flavour of the events and convey what it means to this Canadian ARZA delegate.

A little Jargon busting: ARZA Canada is the Zionist movement of Canadian Reform Judaism. Together with its sister movements throughout the world, Reform Zionists are part of ARZEINU which is the global Zionist movement of Reform Judaism.

Thanks to Rabbi Landsberg for letting me use her blog during the Congress.

Thinking in Greenwich Mean Time

Yesterday, the New York Times ran an article on the opening of the Jewish Museum London ("The History of the Jewish Star in the Realm of the Union Jack")--Oy!  I now have yet another site to include in my imagined Europe-with-Adam-and-without-the-children travels.  But back to my point:  

A few weeks ago, I listened to a BBC podcast (one I regularly enjoy) called Start the Week with Andrew Marr, which--among other matters--also dealt with the history of Jews in England.  It is absolutely worth a listen.  One of Marr's four guests was famed lawyer Anthony Julius who spoke on his newly published work, "Trials of the Diaspora"--a history of English anti-Semitism.  What was most striking to me was Marr's apparent deep surprise (almost shock) at the fears and concerns of today's Jewish community in England.  Also of great interest was the conversation between Julius and the two other Jewish guests on the show, author Jonathan Safran Foer and economist Graciela Chichilnisky.

NB I've linked to the BBC webpage to access the program.  You can equally tune in on iTunes.  Cheers!

Evolving and Devolving and The New York Review of Books

Cutting religion down to size seems to be in vogue these days.  Robert Wright (The Evolution of God) is no Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins whose anti-religion diatribes seem decidedly venomous.  Instead, Wright explains Judaism--and, for that matter, the other great faiths--as the evolution of humanity's moral impulses. 

I just sung Adon Olam to my children as they went to sleep.  Why?  I want them to know in their soul that God is near and great.  From a surprising quarter (The New York Review of Books) I was happy to read a thoughtful take-down of Wright's thesis.  Professor of Biology H. Allen Orr's article, "Can Science Explain Religion?" can be read here. 

You will be unsurprised to hear that my answer is no.  Lots of cheap arguments are made in defence of religion usually along the lines of  "there are no atheists in the foxhole".  I am not in that camp.  I grant respect to persons of all faiths and of no faith and have always scorned the the atheist-foxhole idea as cheap to both those of faith and those of no faith. What I will not accept is the mystery of the Jews, Israel and their God reduced to moral determinism.  Thank you Professor Orr!

(But you can blame NYRB for this being such a late night post--same edition also includes Tom Segev's review of Avi Shlaim's new work, Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions, Refutations.  Segev, not really known as a representative of Israel's political right, offers a full and piercing critique.)