Back in January I had reported that Jewish Bible Quarterly had published an article of mine. Initially, the article was only available to paid subscribers or perusers of the printed journal. Meanwhile, it became available for free download here.
The study of said psalm was prompted by the Japanese Tsunami, as I blogged previously.
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Posted by Arie Folger
Asher Izrael claims that bombing the train tracks during WWII would not have prevented or significantly reduced the number of Jews murdered in extermination camps.
I am not convinced. It is a standard military tactic to disrupt the enemy’s supply lines, and even if the enemy is efficient and quickly repairs the damage, it is relatively low hanging fruit that does disrupt the enemy army. Even short term disruptions are valuable, otherwise, why bother bombing those tracks that would have carried German soldiers to Normandy, which he mentions in his article? And bomb the same tracks often enough, and they won’t be repaired anymore.
Relevant citation:
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Posted by Arie Folger
Earlier this week, the Standing Committee of the Conference of European Rabbis met in Belgrade, Serbia. As part of our conference, we met with the president of Serbia, Tomislav Nikolić. Minority rights (both for Jews and Orthodox Christians), defence of Shechitá in Europe and of Israel in the community of nations, particularly at the various UN bodies were some of the pressing issues raised with the president. Below are some pictures from the trip.
Hebrew language news outlets reported more extensively on the meeting, such as here (Ynet), here (JDN) and here (Ladaat), as well as in print articles (see gallery below, click on images to read an article).
Jewish Bible Quarterly’s most recent issue includes an article of mine on Psalm 46. The study of said psalm was prompted by the Japanese Tsunami, as I blogged previously.
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Posted by Arie Folger
PRESS RELEASE — August 24, 2012
The Rabbinical Council of America, representing more than 1,000 rabbis worldwide, calls upon German Bundestag to expedite the passage of legislation that assures the right of Jews to practice ritual circumcision. Furthermore, we call upon the courts of Bavaria to immediately drop all criminal charges filed against Rabbi David Goldberg, the Chief Rabbi of the Bavarian city of Hof, for performing a circumcision.
We applaud the strong support voiced by Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle for such legislation. However, we note that until legislative action occurs, a single maverick German citizen can use a decision by the Cologne court to press charges against those who follow Jewish tradition. Such actions have fanned the the flames for contempt of Judaism and of religious freedom. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Arie Folger
One of the texts many, many thousands upon thousands of Jews studied recently, upon the beginning of a new cycle of Daf haYomi is the exegesis on the name of one of King David’s sons:
וא”ר יוחנן לא כלאב שמו אלא דניאל שמו ולמה נקרא שמו כלאב שהיה מכלים פני מפיבשת בהלכה
R. Jochanan said: His name [of King David’s second son] was not Kileav but Daniel. Why then was he called Kileav? Because he humiliated [maklim] Mephibosheth [David’s nemesis, presented here as David’s mentor, “av”] in the Halachah.
Ostensibly, all Rabbi Jochanan does, is to make sense out of a seeming contradiction in Scripture. In II Samuel 3:3, David’s second son is called Kileav, while in the parallel accound in I Chronicles 3:1, he is called Daniel. So one name – Daniel – is his real name, while the other – Kileav – is his biblical nickname, indicating, through midrashic exegesis some essential character trait (someone who defended David against his nemesis’ and erstwhile mentor’s accusations). However, I have long found this understanding too feeble. Is that all Rabbi Jochanan bases himself on? Is that all he wants to say? Is this midrashic exegesis totally independent from the plain understanding of the Scripture? Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Arie Folger
Adam Kirsch, writing in Tablet Magazine, mentions his astonishment, as he took up the daily regiment of Daf haYomi (a folio from the Babylonian Talmud every day), upon discovering some of the stranger Aggadot (rabbinic exploration of a non-legal nature, particularly legends, metaphors and exegisis). Thus, astounded at the Talmud teaching that G”d, too, has tefillin, he writes:
… the question nags: How exactly can God wear tefillin? Can we imagine God with an arm and a forehead? The rabbis apparently could, quite literally…
While noting that later commentaries dealt with his questions, Kirsch is still convinced that the Talmud tolerated or even championed views that are nowadays theologically problematic.
While Kirsch brushes upon a separate issue, on which a lot has been written, namely, whether there could exist a view in the Talmud which becomes halakhically obsolete (for example, Rabbi Hillel’s view that the Messiah had already come in the days of Kind Hezekiah), he mostly stumbles upon the nature of the entire genre of Aggaddah/Aggaddeta. So let’s ask his question the other way around. Did the Talmud really suggest that G”d puts on tefillin, and that He consequently has an arm and a head to wrap those around? Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Arie Folger
A couple of weeks ago I posted these two posts (in English and in German) about thoughts I shared at an interfaith meeting at the European Commission. Well, here are the official photos:
Jose Manuel Barroso, Van Rompuy, Surján and me
Guri Weinberg, the son of Moshe Weinberg, one of the athletes murdered in the 1972 Munich Olympics, reports on Fox News of an interchange he had had at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics:
In 1996, I, along with other Munich orphans and three of the widows, were invited for the first time to the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Before the Opening Ceremony, we met with Alex Gilady. Gilady has been a member of the IOC’s Radio and Television Commission since 1984 and has been the senior vice president of NBC Sports since 1996.
I have known Mr. Gilady since I was a kid; in fact, I grew up with his daughter. He had been supportive in the past regarding our plea for a moment of silence during the Opening Ceremonies, so we arrived with high hopes. Gilady informed us that a moment of silence was not possible because if the IOC had a moment of silence for the Israeli athletes, they would also have to do the same for the Palestinians who died at the Olympics in 1972.
My mother said, “But no Palestinian athletes died.”
Gilady responded, “Well, there were Palestinians who died at the 1972 Olympics.” Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Arie Folger
The crown has fallen off our heads, woe to us. Two days ago, one of the greatest poskim (halakhic decisors) and lammedanim (expert talmudists), Rav Shalom Yossef Elyashiv of Jerusalem, passed away, leaving the Jewish world bereft of his presence, counsel and expertise.
Regardless of where one stands philosophically within tradition Orthodox Judaism, this is a great loss.
The New York Times ran a very well written obituary about R’ Elyashiv here.
Some choice quotes:
Rabbi Elyashiv’s decisions were honored, if not always obeyed, beyond his own ultra-Orthodox, non-Hasidic world known as Lithuanian or yeshivish Jews. His word also influenced Hasidim, Orthodox Sephardim from Muslim countries and many modern Orthodox Jews.
…
Rabbi Elyashiv’s opinions — for years he was a member of Israel’s highest rabbinical court — were crucial to controversies within the country about who is a Jew and when is a marriage truly dissolved and when is a conversion legitimate.
…
He also cast decisions in the most private of cases. Hundreds of Jews would stream to his home — a modest one-bedroom apartment in an alleyway in the ultra-Orthodox quarter of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem — to seek his opinions on their personal quandaries, or simply his blessings. They also came to his nightly tutorials on Talmud, much of which he knew by heart.
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Posted by Arie Folger
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Mikolot Mayim Rabbim 