My Take on Tisha B’Av

July 25, 2010 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · Comment 

This past week, some Jews observed the holiday of Tisha B’Av.  I didn’t.  On Tisha B’Av some Jews fast as they commemorate the destructions of the Temple in Jerusalem (it was actually destroyed twice, 586 BCE and 70 CE).  Over the years, other events in Jewish history have become associated with Tisha B’Av as well; if you’re interested, Wikipedia seems like as good a source as any for this information.

I recognize the destructions of the Temples in Jerusalem were terrible blows to the Jewish community.  I recognize that the Jewish community has suffered many times.  But, the destruction of the Temples, I have to admit, is a bit hard for me to relate to since it was so long ago and a reflection of such a different period.  And while I do not want to minimize the tragedy of the events, I will also say that I tend to see the destruction of the Temple as an opportunity.  I’m pretty thrilled that Judaism is not still a religion that practices sacrifice!  The destruction allowed the Jewish people to evolve, they moved from having a central base to being a more portable people, and they were able to create a new Judaism that was meaningful to them, through prayer rather than sacrifice.

The only other way that I personally connect to Tisha B’Av is to think about ways that our world is in need of repair today; for sad events are not only in the past but in the present as well.  While listening to a talk on leadership this week (it happened to fall on Tisha B’Av), I heard the following poem.  It affirmed for me that there is something more I want to do than mourn an event from 2,000 years ago.  Instead, I want to do something to help the world today so that generations after will not mourn what we could have prevented.  There are many children in need.

And thus I share this poem by Ina Hughes (1995, William Morrow Publishers):

We pray for children
who sneak popsicles before supper,
who erase holes in math workbooks,
who throw tantrums in grocery stores and pick at their food,
who like ghost stories,
who can never find their shoes.

And we pray for those
who stare at photographers behind barbed wire,
who can’t bound down the street in a pair of new sneakers,
who are born in places we wouldn’t be caught dead,
who never go to the circus
who live in an X-rated world.

We pray for children
who sleep with the dog and bury the goldfish
who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
who get visits from the tooth fairy,
who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.

And we pray for those
who never get dessert,
who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
who watch their parents watch them die,
who can’t find any bread to steal,
who don’t have any rooms to clean up,
whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser,
whose monsters are real.

We pray for children
who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
who shove dirty clothes under the bed,
and never rinse out the tub,
who don’t like to be kissed in front of the carpool,
who squirm in church or temple and scream in the phone,
whose tears we sometimes laugh at and
whose smiles can make us cry.

And we pray for those
whose nightmares come in the daytime,
who will eat anything,
who have never seen a dentist,
who aren’t spoiled by anybody,
who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
who live and move, but have no being.

We pray for children who want to be carried
and for those who must,
for those we never give up on and
for those who don’t get a second chance.
for those we smother…

and for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.

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Anat Hoffman Arrested for Carrying Torah

July 13, 2010 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · 1 Comment 

I recently blogged about a woman in Israel who was attacked by an Orthodox man for wearing tefillin (ritual object that Orthodox Judaism says is only for men).  Last November I blogged about a woman being arrested for wearing a tallit at the Western Wall (again, the Orthodox (and Israeli government) say women should not wear a prayer shawl there).  I am deeply saddened by the fact that I am once again blogging about traditional Judaism’s (and Israel’s) mistreatment of women and disregard for liberal Judaism.

Each month at the beginning of the month (Rosh Chodesh), a group called Women of the Wall meets to pray.  Their website explains their cause:   “Women of the Wall, a group of Israeli women joined by Jewish women from around the world, seeks the right for Jewish women from Israel and around the world to conduct prayer services, read from a Torah scroll while wearing prayer shawls, and sing out loud at the women’s section of the Western Wall– Judaism’s most sacred holy site and the principal symbol of Jewish people-hood and sovereignty.”

An Israeli Supreme Court ruling prohibits women from reading the Torah at the Western Wall.  Of course, I completely disagree with this exclusion of women.  I am a firm believer in total equality.  I also believe strongly in religious tolerance and do not understand why the Orthodox so often limit the ways the rest of us can express our religion.

While I disagree with the Supreme Court’s ruling, I understand it stands.  But, what I don’t understand is why Anat Hoffman was arrested.  She was not reading from the Torah at the Western Wall.  She was merely carrying it to an area where she is allowed to read it.  There is nothing wrong with that.

Two of my colleagues have written powerful first-hand out accounts of the events.  One is by Rabbi Leah Berkowitz and the other is by Rabbi Denise Eger.

I have watched videos of the events multiple times.  The first one below was shot professionally; the second by Rabbi Berkowitz.  The first shows that Anat refused to put the Torah down, even when she got in the police car.  The second shows a horrific moment when one of the women (Nofrat Frankel, the medical student arrested in November for wearing a tallit) is pushed down the stairs, I believe by a police officer.  I have watched each video multiple times, and my feelings of complete anger and sadness only deepen each time I watch.

One of my Twitter followers wrote my yesterday to say she took her 7 year old daughter to the Kotel (Western Wall) last week and her daughter asked why the women’s side was smaller.  I tweeted her back, “I hope your daughter’s daughter won’t have to ask that question.”


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The Cost of Being Jewish & Jewish Institutional Survival

July 12, 2010 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · Comment 

Lisa Miller wrote a column last week for Newsweek entitled “The Cost of Being Jewish: How the Recession Affects Religion.” She writes that many Jewish leaders take seriously the question “Why does it cost so much to be Jewish?” and she quotes Jack Wertheimer who wrote that “Sheer institutional survival now preoccupies the heads of Jewish institutions.”

How sad that is.  If heads of Jewish institutions are focusing on institutional survival at the expense of other areas, then my guess is they are not spending enough time thinking about innovation, strong leadership, evolving to meet the changing needs of the Jewish community, and other worthy topics.  In my experience, when Jewish organizations go into survival mode, they merely try to cut costs in certain areas but still try to do everything else the same old way.  And, as we’ve seen many times, if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll likely get the same results you’ve always gotten.

In the case of American Judaism, that means that more than 50% of Jews will choose not to affiliate.  It means that many interfaith families, gays and lesbians, people with physical limitations, Jews of color, and multiracial Jews will feel on the periphery and not fully welcomed into Jewish communities.  It means that many people will struggle to find a Jewish voice and community that makes sense to them in the 21st century.  It also means that many people will not struggle because they won’t bother; instead they’ll seek fulfillment in other areas of their lives.  And that’s why I think Lisa Miller’s conclusion makes sense.  She writes “Wouldn’t the central challenge of American Jewry be to encourage the broadest range of people… to identity as Jews and to raise Jewish kids?  Costly barriers to entry need to be taken away, or, at least, reimagined.”  Right on!  Too often Jewish institutions and leaders like to tell people “they are not Jewish enough” instead of embracing them and welcoming them on a Jewish journey.

There are many Jews who do not walk into synagogues for various reasons including feeling that traditional Judaism doesn’t have a whole lot of meaning to them.  Thus, we need new synagogue and non-synagogue models that will reach Jews where they are.  We need to recognize that a traditional Jewish experience of showing up at a building a few times each year and reciting a bunch of words that one does not understand and/or agree with is a problem for many.  Judaism needs to offer and engage people so that we all become part of its ongoing evolution.  Then we won’t need institutional heads worrying about the cost of maintaining a building – instead we’ll all be involved in a conversation about why we want to proactively grow our Jewish experience.

Synagogue membership remains a sticky issue.  Synagogues need money to survive.  But the dues model is flawed.  As Lisa Miller so accurately points out synagogue membership “is troubling, both outdated as a business model and onerous to families…”  Synagogue membership, according to a 2005 study, cost an average of $1,100 per year, although in many cities it’s two or three times as much.    I am especially concerned that in interfaith families it’s really hard for the non-Jewish partner to understand why we need such high dues, especially when churches operate on an entirely different model.  There’s no easy solution but I do think we need to create alternatives – both to the dues structure and on a broader scale, to synagogue structure.

Lisa Miller’s column ends with a quote from Arnie Eisen, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, who said “Jews have been around for a long time” and added “We’ll adjust.”  I certainly hope Dr. Eisen is right, but I have my doubts.  And if Jews manage to adjust, my next question is: at what expense?  Not too much, I hope.

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What we can learn from Religion, iPhone Apps, and Websites

July 8, 2010 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · Comment 

I tend to read the New York Times online, either on my computer or Blackberry.  This weekend I saw that one of the most blogged articles was “You Say God is Dead?  There’s an App for That.” I was, of course, intrigued for many reasons as the article hit on many of the things I think about every day: technology, religion, discourse, belief and non-belief, and the God debate.

As a rabbi at Congregation Beth Adam, a synagogue that views Judaism from a humanistic perspective, we don’t need an iPhone app to debate whether God exists or not , and we also know that such a debate can become silly.  It’s a particularly useless conversation when one debater means one thing by the word “God” and another means something entirely different by the word “God.”

To quote from Beth Adam’s God concept: “The concept of God has undergone constant modification in Judaism. The God of the Prophets is different from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; certainly the God of Maimonides is different from them both. It is impossible to examine here the myriad concepts for the term God, for that would take volumes. Every Jewish thinker has suggested an understanding of the term, redefining how God interacts and participates in the affairs of this world. Many feminist theologians are trying to reconcile traditional male interpretations of God and modern feminist thought. There has always been and continues to be great diversity in the Jewish understanding of God.”

And thus the conclusion in our community is: “To be a Jew has never meant that one must accept some predefined concept of God. Each Jew has always had the right to understand the term as he/she determines.”  That works for me and pretty much eliminates the need for an iPhone app with comebacks and rhetorical strategy for the God debate.

The New York Times article does raise another interesting area of focus.  Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY says that students have asked him how to deal with non-believers on campus.  It is certainly true that college campuses, which tend to bring together individuals with diverse backgrounds, are often (hopefully!) a place where serious conversations happen and students find themselves both exposed to new ideas and defending (or perhaps changing) their old ideas.

That’s why as a rabbi who oversees youth education, I concern myself with how we arm our students to enter college campuses.  How will they respond to people who are antisemitic?  What will they say when a Jew for Jesus claims to be Jewish?  How will they respond to Christian missionaries who want to convert them to Christianity?  What will they say to an Orthodox Jews who tells them women cannot read from the Torah scroll at services?

These are all areas that we focus on in our Religious School.  For knowing one’s religion and something about other people’s religions and beliefs allows one to enter into a dialog with respect and intellectual honesty – and also allows one to know when it is best to agree to disagree and walk away from the conversation.

Religion changes quickly.

I mentioned earlier that I usually read the news online.  But as I was glancing at Saturday’s hard-copy of the Times, I saw that the article just under the one about religion and iPhone apps was about the religious website, Beliefnet.  (I later realized the article was written by Mark Oppenheimer, who taught my Saturday morning debate class when I was in high school and he was at Yale.  Small world!).  Beliefnet.com has “survived since 1999 by nurturing every aspect of our conflicted spirituality” and was recently purchased by a company run by evangelical Christians.  While the website was originally focused on journalism and theological conversations it has turned into a community where many were not even seeking religion.  Oppenheimer writes “they wanted spiritual diet advice, depression curatives, tips on the best organic cleaning products.”  In fact, the site has kept separate overtly religious content from other parts of the site to appease advertisers.

Seeing these two articles together further confirmed what I already knew.

Religion is diverse.  Some people feel so strongly about defending their side that they need an iPhone app to help them.  While I certainly value resources including technological tools, I also hope we educate a generation of young people to think for themselves.  I would imagine that fundamentalists can benefit from iPhone apps that arm them with the proper response in a debate – since for them there is no gray, but rather only black and white.  But for those of us who take a liberal perspective on our religion, there is much more nuance and need for understanding.

Religion moves quickly.  Everyone has different needs (spiritual diet advice, online prayer circles, and intellectually honest theological conversations, to name just a few) – and hopefully we can each find our own place.

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Fourth of July, Social Media Day, and Gay Pride

July 3, 2010 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · Comment 

Happy Fourth of July weekend (to our readers in the US)!  I hope you all have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend.  In our streaming Shabbat service this week, Rabbi Barr and I talked about the Fourth of July and more broadly about religion in America.  You can watch the archive which is looping all week, or click “more videos” on that page to pull up the 7/2/10 Shabbat service.

It actually feels like a week of celebrating.  June 30 was the first Social Media Day, organized by Mashable.  We at OurJewishCommunity.org think social media is a wonderful thing to celebrate since we’re using social media to create a whole new Jewish experience.  Did any of you celebrate?  Perhaps we should consider writing some new liturgy for it next year!

Last weekend we also celebrated Gay Pride.  I led Shabbat services at Beth Adam and the topic of discussion was Judaism and sexuality.   It was pretty amazing to review how parts of the Jewish community have come a long way with regard to accepting gays, but there is still much progress to be made.  The Reform movement has made public statements toward inclusion several times, but as HUC rabbinic student Molly Kane noted in a powerful recent sermon, complete acceptance, welcoming, and “liberation” are still a dream.

Conservative Judaism has really struggled with homosexuality in the past, and in 2006 the Conservative movement accepted responsa that say opposite things, with the idea being that individual congregations can choose.  So, in Conservative Judaism it is completely okay to permit commitment ceremonies for gays and lesbians and to have gay and lesbian rabbis and it’s also perfectly okay not to.  I, of course, really struggle with this discrimination and lack of acceptance towards gays and lesbians, but I guess that is just one of the reasons that Conservative Judaism doesn’t work for me.  I was also very disappointed to learn that among the three responsa that got a majority vote in 2006 was one that accepts “reparative therapy” i.e. basically trying to cure people of their homosexually.  This I cannot comprehend.

The Orthodox movement naturally shows the most resistance to gays and lesbians – often completely excluding them from the Jewish community.  Jews that rely on text assert that homosexuality is not okay because in the Bible it says “do not lie with a male as one does with a woman; it is an abhorrence” (Lev. 18:22) and in Leviticus 20:13 it says the death penalty should be the punishment for a man who lies with a man.  I always find it ironic that in Leviticus 19, between the verses I just mentioned, it says you should love your neighbor as yourself.  Excluding gays and punishing them with death doesn’t seem to be loving your neighbor!

I hope the Jewish community only becomes more welcoming toward the LGBT community.  Happy Fourth of July!


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Oy! Conservative Judaism wants to Separate Non-Jews from Jews in Cemeteries

June 15, 2010 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · 3 Comments 

Sometimes a decision by part of the organized Jewish community really upsets me.  Really, really upsets me.

I just read an article in the Forward called “Cemeteries are becoming new Challenges for Interfaith Families.” Oy, I thought to myself.  Has the Jewish community, which has often made non-Jewish partners in interfaith families feel excluded, made a decision to further exclude non-Jewish family members, even after death?!  It couldn’t be.  But, oh yes, it is.

Conservative Judaism’s rabbinical association has made a decision that there need to be four amot between plots of Jews and plots of non-Jews.  What the heck are amot?! you ask.  Indeed, it’s a good question.  It’s a biblical measurement that relates to the length of a man’s arm.  Even the system of measurement for the law is outdated.  And so is the law.

We live in the 21st century.  Jews marry non-Jews.  It’s a reality.  Why anyone would choose to make blanket exclusions of non-Jewish partners is beyond my imagination.  Many non-Jewish family members are active participants in their family’s Jewish experience.  Many times I have seen non-Jewish parents schlep their kids to Religious School and Bar and Bat Mitzvah lessons with enthusiasm and interest, sometimes even more than the Jewish parent.

The article in the Forward has a lot of quotes.  Some of which I agree with, and some of which make me cringe.

Rabbi Andy Bachman said that the decision “ended up creating a very similar feeling of segregation that interfaith families often feel inside communities when they’re living.”  Bingo!

According to the article, the ban on mixed burial is based on the 11th century sage Rashi’s interpretation of a phrase in the Talmud (Jewish text codified around 500 CE).  Okay, so even if Rashi thought there should be a ban, that doesn’t suggest to me that we should have one today – considering we live in a completely different world, 10 centuries later.  Also, the article says that later scholars said Rashi’s insistence on separate graves was an extrapolation of something in the Talmud banning burial of the “wicked” beside the “righteous.”  In this scheme, the non-Jews were the “wicked.”  That’s a pretty upsetting concept and not something I would want to perpetuate.

The article goes on to quote Rabbi Moshe Tendler, a Modern Orthodox rabbi who says “We don’t bury Jews with non-Jews because we don’t have a social relationship with them.”  We don’t?!?  My goodness, that would be a limited world to only interact with other Jews.  Many Jews interact with non-Jews.  Those are the facts, Rabbi.

Not only quoting rabbis, the article also quotes the president of a 100 year old cemetery who says he is hesitant to change rules for fear he may have to change them again.  Laziness?  Also, while he understands arguments for mixed burial he says “but we have an institution.”

To the extent that the organized Jewish world is intent on inflexibly preserving “institutions” as they are, on keeping Jews living their lives separately from non-Jews, and on following laws that were established centuries ago without considering adaptation to today, I am very very concerned about the future of Judaism.

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Shavuot and Conversion to Judaism

June 9, 2010 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · 1 Comment 

Shavuot, Ruth, and Conversion to Judaism

A few weeks ago the Jewish calendar brought us to the holiday of Shavuot.  Shavuot is one of the three pilgrimage festivals (Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot), though it is certainly not as widely celebrated as Passover.  Often, for those who celebrate Shavuot it elicits connection to confirmation services, eating dairy, and talking about conversion.  Why conversion?  On Shavuot, the biblical reading assigned for the holiday is from the book of Ruth.

There are many explanations for why Ruth is read on Shavuot.  It may be because the legend says Ruth was an ancestor of King David and according to tradition, David died on Shavuot.  Or it may be that the story of Ruth is set during the harvest season, which Shavuot celebrates.

Regardless, the reading of Ruth it is.  And Ruth is celebrated as a convert to Judaism.  Though Ruth was Moabite, after her husband died she decided to follow the religion of her mother-in-law and said “Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried.”

Thus, the connection between Shavuot and conversion.  Here at our online synagogue (OurJewishCommunity.org) and our bricks-and-mortar synagogue (Congregation Beth Adam), Rabbi Barr and I actually prefer the term “adoption” of Judaism rather than “conversion” to Judaism.  We think about the decision to become Jewish as the person adopting Judaism and the Jewish community adopting them.

One of the privileges of being a rabbi is that I get to work with lots of different people, including people who choose Judaism.  In 2008, I first heard from Bob Van Sickel who was interesting in converting to Judaism.  Over several months, Bob and I had several conversations on the phone and online.  He had studied quite a bit of Judaism, participated in the Jewish calendar, and knew a lot of Jews.  While Bob had thought about converting for some time, it was when he found our online synagogue that he really decided to move forward.

When we built our online synagogue, we wanted it to offer everything a brick-and-mortar synagogue would.  We didn’t know exactly how that would work, but we knew we could make it work.  And sure enough, Bob’s first emails to me raised the question of how we would and could interact with those who wanted to adopt Judaism.

The first step was for me and Bob to have some conversations to find out if we were a good match for each other.  Once we did that, Bob and I developed a plan that would help him meet his goals and in which I would feel comfortable with his exposure to Judaism.  We worked closely together for several months, and eventually culminated with his formal adoption of Judaism.

I will likely write more about this experience in the coming weeks, but for now, please read Bob’s fabulous essay “Why I am a Jew.”

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Jewish Memorial Archives

June 8, 2010 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · 1 Comment 

Creating a Memorial for your Loved One Online

This is a guest blog from Rabbi Robert B. Barr:

When my father died several years ago, my family, like families everywhere gathered together to mourn and remember him.   As is typical, we shared memories, looked at old photographs, and listened to my father’s old friends tell stories that we had never heard.  In the process, I saw photos I had never seen before, heard stories that I did not know, and read documents and old letters that were “stored” in boxes for years.  This process of discovery added depth and texture to what I knew about my Dad.

Of particular interest to me were the years my father served as a dentist during World War II.  Though as a child I remember wearing my father’s old Navy issue shirts, it is a time in his life he didn’t speak about frequently.  Fortunately through my brother’s research he discovered various websites and a cache of material about the ship on which my father served – the LST 464, an unmarked first-aid ship that served with distinction in the Philippines and Leyte Gulf.

Now, years later, the stories, photos, and documents are either part of our memories or stored once again in boxes in my brother’s basement.  It occurred to me that with the advent of technology there should be a better way to store this information so it doesn’t get lost or forgotten over the years.  There is, and Congregation Beth Adam and OurJewishCommunity.org are working with a company based in Cincinnati, Making Everlasting Memories (MeM), which specializes in exactly this – creating a site that allows families to interact and store such information in one place.   Some of the materials can be made available to all, while other materials can be hidden from public view and password protected.

Working with my family, we have begun creating such a site for my father, Julius S. Barr.  You can see my father’s memorial page on OurJewishCommunity.org located in the Memorial Archives.  My goal is that we will continue to add materials to the site, both public and private, so that my children and their children will continue to have access to these materials and the memories associated with them.   Also, I realize that as years pass the stories about other family members will be added as well.

I believe offering this opportunity to  those associated with OurJewishCommunity.org is a powerful vehicle for remembering and sharing within a community.  If you are interested in creating such a site for your relatives you can learn more about it here.  There you will learn about how the site is maintained, its capabilities, and the costs associated with it.  We’ve established the Memorial Archives on OurJewishCommunity.org recognizing that many families are scattered throughout the world and look for ways in which to connect.

Memory has always been an important part of Judaism. I believe that our Memorial Archive is a wonderful blend of tradition and technology.  This allows us to share memories (whether captured in words, pictures, or archival documents) with those near and far and even across the generations.   Providing such a service at our online synagogue  is one more way we are creating a Jewish experience for the 21st century.

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Helen Thomas Retirement

June 7, 2010 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · 7 Comments 

Helen Thomas, Dean of the White House Press Corps, has announced her retirement today.  Unfortunately, it is around very sad circumstances.

A few days ago, Helen Thomas stated on video that Israelis should “get the hell out of Palestine” and “go home” to places like Poland, Germany, and America.

A nice open letter in the Jerusalem Post seeks to remind Helen Thomas that 6 million Jews died “at home” during the Holocaust.

Before Helen Thomas stepped down, Ari Fleischer (former press secretary under George W. Bush) said “She is advocating religious cleansing. How can Hearst stand by her? If a journalist, or a columnist, said the same thing about blacks or Hispanics, they would already have lost their jobs.”  I have to agree with him.

I don’t know how Hearst (where Helen was a newspaper columnist) responded but I do know that the board of correspondents association had met to discuss her contentious remarks and declared them “indefensible.”

Regardless, before anyone could fire or punish Helen, she stepped down and “retired.”  I’m glad she did.  I can’t imagine how she could possibly cover White House news without bias.  I know that Ms. Thomas has issued an apology.  Perhaps she’ll shrink into the distance and hope this episode is soon forgotten. Or perhaps, somehow, some good will come of this and people will recognize not only the need for peace in the Middle East but our responsibility to be educated and unbiased before reaching conclusions about what should happen in Israel.

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Orthodox Man Attacks Young Woman for Wearing Tefillin

May 17, 2010 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · 5 Comments 

A few days ago, a horrible event occurred in Israel.  Noa Raz, an Israeli young woman who is a Conservative Jew, was attacked by an ultra-Orthodox man at a bus stop.  Noa had donned tefillin in the morning (i.e. phylacteries; small boxes containing verses of Torah – that traditional Jews wrap with leather straps on their arm and forehead during prayer).  Traditionally, only men wore tefillin.  But, today more and more women are wearing tefillin, especially in the Conservative movement.

The man at the bus stop noticed marks from the tefillin having been on Noa’s arm and asked her if they were tefillin.  She tried to avoid him but eventually answered his question.  Once she admitted she had worn tefillin that morning, the man physically attacked her- kicking and screaming words like “women are an abomination” and “desecration.”

Fortunately, Noa was able to free herself and did not suffer any long-term physical damage.  However, that seems to be the only good news.  This event was terrible.  It shows a set of Orthodox Jews who believe they are the only “legitimate” Jews.  If flies in the face of pluralism and egalitarianism.  It is disgraceful.

Noa wrote an article after the attack.  In her words:  “This is not a story about a man attacking someone at a bus station. Itʼs not even a story about violence against women. Itʼs a story about religious violence….  The problem does not only lie with that man, the attacker. It lies with those who educated him, with his leaders who shamelessly and violently talk out against any religious practice that is not Haredi. It lies with those who brought him up and nurtured him in an atmosphere in which it is permissible to say, without blinking an eyelid, that Conservative Jews are not religious, thatsomeone from a different ethnic group is a cockroach (some Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox parents recently referred so to Sepharadi girls who they did not want their daughters to study with), that there is only one sector (extremely austere) that decides who is a Jew.
We live in a country where the strong dominate and where women are humiliated….”

Noa is right.  The problems run deep.  Some religious groups (like ultra-Orthodox Jews) encourage a belief system in which their religion is superior to all others and where women do not count.  They allow people to physically attack others.

Unfortunately, Israel has allowed the Orthodox to have the loudest voice and to take actions that should not be acceptable.   Last November Israeli police officers arrested a woman for wearing a tallit (i.e. prayer shawl) at the Western Wall.   In general, Israeli police are hesitant to arrest ultra-Orthodox offenders despite the fact that according to an article in Ha’Aretz “Hardly a week goes by in Mea She’arim [an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood]  without a stone-throwing incident, the torching of garbage containers or the blocking of streets.”

It is time for the Orthodox to not be the ones with the loudest voice.  It is time that acceptance, egalitarianism, and plurality must prevail.  There simply is no excuse for treating women as if they are not equal and for treating non-Orthodox Jews as inferior.  The ultra-Orthodox must learn to treat others with respect, and the Israeli government and police must protect all citizens and hold accountable those who do not behave appropriately.  If not now, when?

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