Hoops Finale: Microcosm of Israeli Society

There was Julius "Dr. J" Erving, the former ABA and NBA star sitting courtside Thursday evening flaunting his yellow Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball cap, as the elite team of Israel's professional league met Hapoel Holon in the championship game before 11,000 screaming fans in Nokia Arena. It was very "PC" of Erving to wear that cap, as Maccabi Tel Aviv is considered to be the "Yankees" of roundball, having won local and EuroLeague championships over a period of decades.

However, in recent years, Maccabi has also become a microcosm of Israeli society. The rich owners of Maccabi have tended to flaunt the teams' "can't touch me" status, spending far more than anyone in the local league, smashing opponents at will before crowds that usually include the creme de la creme of Israeli society. At Maccabi Tel Aviv games, the league actually allows one of the team's senior owners to sit on the bench, pace the sidelines and scream at officials at will. If the team played in the NBA, Commissioner Stern would ban the owner and fine the team heavily. But not in Israel, as Maccabi Tel Aviv basically controls the league's agenda.

Last year, a strong Hapoel Jerusalem team came within seconds of beating Maccabi Tel Aviv in the finals, only to lose on a last second miracle basket. The owners of Maccabi Tel Aviv refused to understand that the league was changing, as better players were being brought in from abroad.

Last year, Hapoel Holon, a blue collar team from a lower middle class city adjacent to Tel Aviv found a way to graduate from the country's minor leagues to the premier league, where the big boys like Maccabi Tel Aviv played. Holon played in a bandbox arena in front of maybe 2,000 rabid fans. The owner and coach, Micky Dorsman found investors who pumped enough money into the team in order to pay for some ex-NCAA college stars who weren't good enough for the
NBA. The payroll was less than half of Maccabi Tel Aviv, yet Holon kept on beating Tel Aviv and almost everyone else during the course of its 1st season in the big leagues.

Maccabi Tel Aviv, which somehow made it to the EuroLeague championship game in Spain was outclassed by a well-coached team of ex-NBAers and European stars who wore the colors of Moscow's CKSA squad. Maccabi's owners still thought that their high-priced squad would still smash opponents within Israel and walk away with the local championship once more. The coach, management and players refused to understand that the "lunch pail" squads such as Hapoel Holon were motivated by Maccabi's snobbism. It was time for the well-coached blue-collar squads (the "people's team") to teach the rich boys a lesson.

On Thursday evening, Hapoel Holon stayed with Maccabi Tel Aviv during the length of the entire game. No matter what Maccabi Tel Aviv tried, Hapoel Holon was able to adjust and respond. Two tiny Israeli backcourt players meshed with three African-American players to
create havoc for Tel Aviv. And then, with 6 seconds remaining on the clock a Hapoel Holon player found himself wide open on his way to the basket. Maccabi Tel Aviv's dominance had succumbed to an heretofore unknown team that displayed more class, more motivation, more
"chutzpah", than anything Maccabi could muster. For once, the snobs had to bow to their blue-collar neighbors in Holon.

Maccabi Tel Aviv is considered a NATIONAL team, and as such is considered a "light unto other nations," especially when it plays in Europe and New York. It needs to return to the days of Tal Brody, the American star who "pioneered" the fighting spirit of Maccabi Tel Aviv, before it became a toy for the business establishment and a microcosm of what Israeli society has become.

This Week @ www.jewishpress.com

“Although Abraham Joseph Ash served intermittently as its rabbi from 1860 on, there was dissatisfaction with him on the part of many of those who davened at the shul. Several reasons were given – he alternated between business and the rabbinate, he was inclined toward chassidism; etc. – and many of the more learned congregants, especially the shochtim and butchers, did not recognize his authority because they believed his scholarship was lacking.” – Our front page essay on New York’s only Chief Rabbi
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“The law says that if a non-Jew is not ready to accept upon himself all of the commandments, it is forbidden to convert him. How, then, did Hillel convert the non-Jew who only agreed to fulfill the written Torah? And how did Hillel accept the person who wished to convert on the condition that he be allowed to wear the clothes of the High Priest? After all, is it not forbidden for any non-Kohen, including a convert, to wear the clothes of the High Priest?” – Rabbi Eliezer Melamed reminds us to Love the Convert
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“In truth, we have been troubled by a foreign policy premise that looks at America as being at fault rather than those who would do us harm and its corollary that there are no predatory designs, such that most anything could be resolved if we would only reason together. Recent events in Lebanon put this issue into very sharp focus.” – Our editorial on the Lessons of Doha.
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“As if this statement weren’t shocking enough, he then ruminated concerning Eduard to another friend about employing “the Spartan method” – leaving sickly children out on a mountain to die. One cowers in disbelief to witness a once-in-a-millennium intellect deliberating whether to discard his own child and allow him to be slowly devoured by the elements”. – Rabbi Shmuley Boteach on the values of Albert Einstein
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“Zionism’s revolutionary message to Jewry was that after 2,000 years of powerlessness, Jews would again become actors on the global stage. But Zionism has many movements and not all of them are equally revolutionary. The two most significant Zionist movements today are Labor Zionism and Religious Zionism.” – Caroline Glick’s Jerusalem Vantage Point
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“My brothers and I went to public school, but sometimes we had lessons from a Jewish teacher who lived in our building. When my mother lit the Sabbath candles each Friday night, she would cover her eyes and weep. I always thought she was crying because my father wasn’t home with us for the Sabbath.” – An never-before published story by Rabbi Hanoch Teller
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Plus City of Unity, Diamonds in the Sand and The Shidduch Sky

Finally, exclusively in our print edition (available at newsstands, calling 800-992-1600 ext. 344 or by clicking here): Vaye’chulu Hashamayim, Israel at Sixty supplement, and The Road Test.

Happy Reading!

Goldmann's Questionable Quote

(Pictured: Nahum Goldmann)

Shakespeare had it right: the evil that men do indeed lives after them. Case in point: Nahum Goldmann, who served in a variety of Jewish and Zionist organizational leadership posts from the 1920’s through the 1970’s (he died in 1982).

Despite the decades he spent in the arena fighting for Jewish causes, Goldmann was a notorious wild card who mistook his own often idiosyncratic views for the Wisdom of the Ages and who had a penchant for criticizing Israel vociferously and publicly (in fact, the more public his forum, the more vociferous his criticism).

In his 1978 book The Jewish Paradox – a manifesto of wrong-headed thinking about Jews, Israel and the Middle East – Goldmann unloaded a bushel of shockingly obtuse and naïve statements, a number of which are given loving prominence in articles on pro-Arab and neo-Nazi websites. By far the most notorious is the following eyebrow-raising statement Goldmann claims was made to him by David Ben-Gurion in 1955:

"…. Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does it matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, it’s true, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: We have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that?"

Now, it could be that Ben-Gurion said, word for word, exactly what Goldmann attributed to him. But all sorts of red flags should pop up since (a) there is no independent verification of the quote; (b) the statement jibes perfectly, in tone and sentiment, with Goldmann’s own oft-expressed views; (c) Goldmann waited some 23 years to make it public; and (d) Ben-Gurion, conveniently dead for five years at the time of the book’s publication, was in no position to acknowledge or deny Goldmann’s veracity.

But none of the above prevented the historian Benny Morris from mentioning the quote in his new book 1948: The First Arab-Israeli War or David Margolick from citing it in his New York Times review of Morris’s book.

How Machiavellian and self-centered an individual was Nahum Goldmann? In a 1978 article in New York magazine, Sol Stern reported that Goldmann had traveled to Washington to urge Carter administration officials to “break the back” of the Israel lobby, “plead[ing] with the administration to stand firm and not back off from confrontations with the organized Jewish community as other administrations had done.”

In his 1987 book The Lobby, a decidedly unfavorable look at how the organized Jewish community influences U.S. Middle East policy, Edward Tivnan elaborated:

"[Carter] and his men could not quite believe their ears. Goldmann had devoted his long life to Zionism, had been a major player in the 'Jewish lobby' since the Truman Administration, had, in fact, invented one of the lobby’s most effective players, the Presidents’ Conference, and here he was actually arguing that his own brainchild, the Presidents’ Conference, had become a 'destructive force' and a 'major obstacle' to peace in the Middle East. Goldmann contended that despite the flak the White House would get in the beginning, eventually, if the Israelis compromised and a peace settlement were reached, Carter would emerge as 'the hero of the Jews.'

"The proposal was riddled with an irony that was probably beyond the people in the room. Goldmann had created the Presidents’ Conference to prevent the kind of dissent among American Jewish leaders that he himself was now demonstrating. The raison d’etre of the group was to present a united front to the White House on Middle East matters. But, of course, that was back when Goldmann’s friends were running Israel.

"Now that [Menachem] Begin was running the Jewish state, Goldmann was willing to do anything to undermine his policies – including destroying his own pressure group…."

In The Jewish Paradox Goldmann wrote: “The Israelis have the great weakness of thinking that the whole world revolves around them” – a monumental act of projection and a far more fitting epitaph for Goldmann himself, a man who time and again showed himself to care considerably less about Israel than about his own standing and reputation, and whose grotesque ego made him willing, even eager, to undermine Israel whenever the nation or its leaders failed to conform to his expectations and preferences.

Another Anti-Israel Nut gets an Olmert Prize

As you know, the Olmertocracy has an obsession about giving away national prizes to haters of Israel and anti-Zionist extremists. Here is its latest boondoggle - handing a math science prize to a pro-Palestinian moonbat professor who then sent the money to Bir Zeit "university" and to one of the extremist Israeli leftist seditious groups:

The American mathematician David Mumford, co-winner of the 2008 Wolf Foundation Prize in Mathematics, announced upon receiving the award yesterday that he will donate the money to Bir Zeit University, near Ramallah, and to Gisha, an Israeli organization that advocates for Palestinian freedom of movement.

Bir Zeit of course is that West Bank Palestinian "university" in which students can major in suicide bombing and preparion of explosives. Gisha is a group of leftist Israelis trying to make it easier for Palestinians to blow up Israeli buses. Mumford did not offer his prize to the embattled denizens of Sderot. Someone should teach him enough addition to count how many rockets have fallen on THEM!

Meanwhile, how about if we send the entire annual allotment to Ben Gurion University (BGU) to Bir Zeit, instead - you know, for peace of course!! BGU lacks the academic integrity of DePaul university, which fired Norman Finkelstein, in contrast with BGU's campaign to fill its faculty with anti-Semitic pseudo-academics. And after all, BGU is on occupied Palestinian land!

Positive Backlash

The repercussions from the Talansky-Olmert scandal will in the long-term actually have a positive effect on both the Israeli political system and American Jewish organizational structure.

As mentioned in my recent "Informed Sources"(The Jewish Press, May 23rd 2008) column, Talansky's various political and organizational fundraising ties are on the verge of being examined by the Israeli Police, IRS and according to the New York Times, even the FBI. This in turn will create a domino effect. Many American Jewish organizational leaders will come under increasing scrutiny by both the American authorities and their constituencies. While buying and peddling influence is nothing new on Capitol Hill and other democratic and non-democratic countries, it seems that the Jewish State, the light unto other nations has been slowly bought off by a growing list of American machers with personal agendas.

When influence peddling spurs a police investigation against the Prime Minister of Israel and the Prime Minister decides to deflect attention away from an impending indictment by running to cede territory to implacable enemies in the name of "peace" and personal survival, influence peddling becomes a true chilul Hashem. It happened with Ariel Sharon and the shocking Gaza- N. Samaria withdrawal which brought Qassams & Hamas-stan; now it's happening again with Ehud Olmert, the Palestinians and Syria.

The Talansky-Olmert affair will also force the UJC-Federation to push the Israeli government into being directly accountable for the monies it funnels into the Jewish State. The UJC-Fed is still reeling from the alleged lack of transparency on the part of PM Olmert's government and several local authorities who have yet to account for the tens of millions of dollars that were sent ahead as part of a Federation Emergency campaign to assist Northern Israeli towns who were hard hit by Hizbollah attacks during the Second Lebanon War two years ago.

In my humble opinion, the Israeli government should no longer be given a dime by American charities until the government starts to provide a logical social welfare budget for citizens in need. Israel has funds to eradicate poverty and address other growing social problems. It's time for American Jews to stop falling for the schnorrer mentality that Israeli politicians love to perpetuate on their visits to the USA.

Individual Jewish donors should ask for transparency from their organizational leaders and threaten them with termination (pulling the red carpet out from under their feet) if they don't receive logical answers. In turn, Jewish organizational leaders should NOT stop funding vital Israeli programs. Rather, they should work DIRECTLY with the non-profit organizations in order to see how their monies are being spent.

Now is the perfect time to start. Not just because of the Talansky-Olmert scandal. But because the current financial crunch in the USA will force donors and organizations to trim their donations and demand transparency. It's never too late to clean-up a mess. Remember, the donors have ALL of the power. Without donors, organizational leaders become unemployed.

Tehillim for Ted Kennedy?

The OU wants Orthodox Jews to make a “Misheberach” for Ted Kennedy. This from a posting on its Institute for Public Affairs’ Blog. The posting, like all the others on the blog, is unsigned. But it apparently represents the official views of the OU, based on the language the OU uses to describe the IPA Blog: “The nation’s largest representative Orthodox Jewish organization brings its unique perspective to politics, public policy, Jewish communal affairs and religion in the public square.”

Just as not everyone who dies was a tzaddik, despite what you hear at the funeral, not everyone who gets a terrible disease is a saint, despite what you hear in the media. Ted Kennedy has certainly been an effective politician. But the long-serving “liberal lion” of the Senate is no saint. His past, his family associations, his character, his left-wing causes—to say he is not an exemplary human being is an understatement.

Is the OU’s stance political posturing? It’s one thing to appreciate ways a politician may have helped our community; it’s another to make him the object of our tefillot.

I don’t wish suffering on Sen. Kennedy and I’m sorry that he has inoperable brain cancer. But I am not shedding tears for him, and I won’t be singling him out in my prayers when I light the Shabbos candles tonight.

This Week @ www.jewishpress.com

“The other problem with Oz’s silly characterization of moral clarity vs. ambiguity is that the Arab-Israeli conflict is actually as morally unambiguous as was World War II. Yes, Allied troops sometimes conducted acts of injustice and, yes, German and Japanese civilians were often killed as the war was fought out, but that changes nothing about the moral unambiguousness of that conflict.” – Steven Plaut and the Amos Oz peace tour
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“At a time when anger was boiling over in the Jewish community at the striking difference in the reactions of public officials to charges leveled against Jews for allegedly attacking blacks and blacks for allegedly attacking Jews, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes’s hospital visit to one of the Jewish victims and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly’s meeting with leaders of the Crown Heights Jewish community were welcome developments.” – Our editorial on the recent developments in Crown Heights.

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“Israel has sacrificed enough in the name of friendship. Asking Israel to totally abandon borders that keep Israeli citizens safe; asking Israel to take down roadblocks that prevent terrorists and tools of terror from entering their country; asking Israel to stop arresting terrorists – all this is asking too much.” – Micah Halpern reflects on President Bush’s visit to Israel.

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“Rebbi taught us to laugh. He would often say that the two essential components of coping with and surmounting the vicissitudes and challenges of life are faith in Hashem and a good sense of humor. Being able to joke helps take the edge off problems and helps us to not take ourselves too seriously.” – Rabbi Aryeh Rodin remembers HaRav Leibowitz, z”tl
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“Some children were taken out in gunnysacks or body bags. Some were buried inside loads of goods. A mechanic took a baby out in his toolbox. Some kids were carried out in potato sacks and others were placed in coffins. The children were then given false identities and placed in homes, orphanages and convents.” – The courage of Irene Sendler
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And Orthodoxy or Orthopraxy, Blood Brothers and Is It Creepy To Remember Someone Else's Tragedy

Finally, exclusively in our print edition (available at newsstands, calling 800-992-1600 ext. 344 or by clicking here): Points for Education, A Hollywood Star, and The Cheesecake Alternative.

Happy Reading!

What Offends Us?

The following question was submitted to the about.com forum on Judaism:

"Dear Rabbi, We are not religious but our son was raised as a Jew and had both a (reformed) rabbi and priest perform his wedding ceremony. He has never converted but his wife has asked him to wear a cross and we find this very offensive. What can we say to him to explain the reason we are so hurt by his seemingly insensitive action?"

My first thought was - the cross offends you? You weren't offended or hurt when he came home with the non-Jewish girlfriend? You weren't hurt or offended by the priest presiding at their wedding? (Whom by the way I assume was also wearing a cross). Why are you offended now?

Maybe because they were confronted for the first time with the consequences of their action - bringing their son up to think there is no difference in whom he marries as along as he loves her, she is nice and good person, etc.

My son says, at least they are offended by something. I wonder how they will feel when their non-Jewish grandchildren are baptized in church?

Tomorrow Is Today In Jerusalem

It was perhaps the most historic week in Israel's contemporary history....World leaders, business moguls, former heads of state, Hollywood celebrities and of course, George W. Bush on his farewell tour and "get well" shmooze with PM Ehud Olmert. From a media point-of-view, it was impossible to be everywhere at once or ask the questions that needed to be asked, so here are the items you most probably didn't hear, read or see...

*Watching the First Lady, Laura Bush deal with PM Olmert's ," Oh, I'm so VERY friendly" behavior was almost too much. She conveyed a, "Gee, I'd like to really stay far away from this man."

*Laura Bush was impressed with Israel's female Speaker of the Knesset, Dalia Itzik. After she delivered a rather long-winded but fascinating speech about Israel and America, the cameras caught Laura Bush turning to Sec'y of State Rice whispering, "That was really nice."

*President Bush, appeared more relaxed during this trip to Israel than in January. His speech, delivered in true "presidential style" was perhaps his best speech in years and most certainly the most pro-Israel speech ever uttered by an American President.

*The Bush's were greeted with such love and respect by the people of Israel, one has no doubt that they will remember this trip for the rest of their lives. The President's speech alone received multiple standing ovations in the Knesset. As he peered around the Knesset, you could tell that George W. was not only impressed, he was "enjoying the moment", as if he felt the tides of history being made.

*It has been claimed that George W. was also moved to tears during his attendance at the President's Conference in the Jerusalem Convention Center, as a fascinating and professionally produced English language movie reel documented America's bonds to Israel.

*No one in the Israeli media would dare ask how much of the taxpayer's monies were being spent on President Peres' "Tomorrow Conference" which broke records for attendance and most certainly broke the President's annual budget for events several times over.

*There was so much global brainpower (founders of Yahoo, Google, Fox News, Las Vegas' largest casino etc.) concentrated in one place--the Jerusalem Convention Center-that if G-d forbid something horrible had happened, the world's stock markets would have crashed overnight.

*Only Academy Award winning actor Jon Voight (Angelina Jolie's dad) made a very public visit
to Sderot with Chabad representatives and openly wept during a media interview, when describing the struggle of the Jewish people against implacable enemies in Israel. More on this in my DEFINING MOMENTS article next week.

*Virtually no publicity about Laura Bush's visit to the Western Wall Tunnels with Mrs. Olmert of all people.

*Just as President Bush boarded Air Force One for his weekend trip to Saudi Arabia and Egypt,
Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi "arrived" in Israel with a Congressional delegation.

Partial Holocaust Denial on University of Haifa Chat List

To Right - participants in University of Haifa chat list?

A few days ago I posted on my personal blog some 'dialogue' that was being disseminated via the anti-Semitic 'ALEF' chat list that operates under the auspices of the University of Haifa, attempting partially to deny the Holocaust. The material can be read here.

The ALEF list is a list for outright anti-Semites, cheerleaders for terrorism, and Neo-Nazis, operating through the University of Haifa computer and under its auspices as a university chat list. The 'dialogue' concerning the Holocaust began when one Shraga Elam, an ex-Israel best known for his lavish praise for David Irving, claimed that 'at most' 5.1 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis during World War II. This was supposed to be based on an estimate of the world Jewish population posted on a Hebrew University web site by HU's demographer Prof. Sergio DellaPergola here.

There it says that there were 11 million Jews world wide (elsewhere it says 11.4) after World War II and 16.5 before the war in the entire world.

Elam and his ilk then claim that 'at most' 5.1 million Jews were murdered, and the 'Six Million' number is Zionist propaganda. Elam was then joined on the ALEF list by Stalinist British anti-Semite Tony Greenstein and others (including a professor of psychology from Haifa University), who agreed.

This is all familiar stuff taken from Neo-Nazi and Holocaust Denial web sites, who make similar 'statistical arguments.'

What is one to make of all this?

First of all, the 11 and the 16.5 numbers on the Hebrew University web site are hardly firm authoritative data points and are little more than wild guesses.

But suppose for the sake of argument that they are correct. Would this give credence to the claims of the anti-Semites and Neo-Nazis that the Six Million number is a fabrication? An invention of Zionists? Where is the 'missing million' if we take those numbers at face value?

The answer is that the claim reveals far more about the demographic illiteracy of the anti-Semites than about the actual scope of the Holocaust. The 'claim' of the anti-Semites that the numbers show that fewer than Six Million were murdered in the Holocaust ignores natural growth of Jewish populations in other, non-European parts of the world, that is, the excess of births over deaths there. (These included all high-birth Jewish populations in North Africa and Asia.) It assumes a static world Jewish population between 1939 and 1946, other than the effect of the Holocaust.

If the Jewish populations outside Europe in 1939 were about ten million, and if these Jewish populations were growing naturally at 2% per year during the years of World War II, which is probably close to or less than they were actually growing, then do the math and that more than 'explains' the supposedly 'missing million' in the 'data' of the anti-Semites.

In fact, the number of Jewish deaths during the Holocaust may have been closer to 7 million than six million.

The anti-Semites, including the Jewish anti-Semites, are misusing demographic data about the Holocaust so that they can engineer a second Holocaust of Jews.

Contact information for University of Haifa officials can be found here.

This Week @ www.jewishpress.com

L’havdil, a similar concept applies to Judaism. Anyone who has experienced our religion knows that it is the totality, more so than the individual components, that makes it so special. Yes, there might be some particular highlights that serve as its hallmarks. But we know that Judaism presents its adherents with a complete religious experience, one that needs to be fully lived in order to be appreciated. – What Rabbi Naftali Hoff learned in Disney World.
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To better understand the country, one needs to remember that around the time of the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, Spain was the most extensive empire on earth. It ruled territories on all continents except Australia, and it wasn’t until 1898 that it lost its last foothold on the American continent in the ill-fated Spanish-American War. – Dr. Ervin Birnbaum fascinating account of Jews who fought in the Spanish Civil War.
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There was a lot of sound and fury over the decision, with some of those opposed to it arguing that the ruling was in error on factual and halachic grounds. Others argued that the ruling was reflective of a haredi/Modern Orthodox divide. Still others argued that all rabbis – including the head of the Conversion Authority – are empowered to define the rules of conversion and are therefore not properly subject to oversight. – This week’s editorial on the continuing conversion crisis.
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But no marriage can be taken for granted. Not even after 3,500 years. When a bridegroom offers his new wife a ring as a sign of commitment, he knows that this is only the first installment of an ongoing pledge. No marriage can endure if both partners do not constantly reinvest in their relationship. And only a mission – a common dream – can sustain a marriage; only something greater than itself will allow it to succeed. Marriage is a single soul dwelling in two bodies, but a soul that has lost its purpose loses itself. – Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo discusses an eternal marriage
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In 1974, the late Syrian President, Hafez al-Assad, declared, “It would be fitting for us to mention to the responsible Israeli authorities that we view Palestine not just as an inseparable part of the Arab nation, but also as a part of southern Syria.” In 1987 he reiterated this at a conference in Amman by saying, “A country named ‘Palestine’ has never existed.” Jordan’s King Hussein responded, “The appearance of the national Palestinian persona serves as a response to Israel’s claim that Palestine is Jewish.” – Tsafriri Ronen with the truth from the Land of Israel.
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And so Chaya Hammer’s project − the “Chicken Fund” − began by helping that one family, and then another, until her “customers” grew to hundreds. Today, 250 families benefit from the “Chicken Fund” − not only chickens, but medical assistance and help with many other basic necessities. – A Remarkable Woman
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Plus Tefillin Found, Yad Vashem and The Pain of Loneliness

Finally, exclusively in our print edition (available at newsstands, calling 800-992-1600 ext. 344 or by clicking here): Israel’s Trouble Continues, an amazing amount of Torah columns and Health and Living – A Jewish Press Supplement.

Happy Reading!

A "Tzadekes" Reigns Supreme Over Israel Bible Contest

Tzurit Berenson, a 15-year-old Tanach genius from Nahariya in Northern Israel, taught the Israeli political and religious establishments a Solomonic lesson about 'faith & truth' on Yom Ha'atzmaut, during a nationwide telecast of the annual "Israel Bible Quiz" contest.

Miss Berenson inadvertently found herself in the midst of a burgeoning national scandal, as she competed against both her secular and religious male counterparts and 17 year old self-proclaimed "Messianic Jew" (i.e. Jews for Jesus) Bat-El Levy, who beat out dozens of other contestants in a regional Jerusalem competition for "secular" high school children.

The fact that the Education Ministry, led by avowed secularist Minister Yuli Tamir, allowed Miss Levy to compete, even after a previous High Court ruling maintained that a self-professed
Christian cannot be recognized as a Jew under the "Law of Return", was scandalous enough. However, the fact that organizers of the International Bible Contest (yes, there have been Jewish participants and winners from North America yeshivot/day schools), let Miss Levy compete against true secular and religious Jews was even more disturbing. Ms. Tamir's spokesperson claimed that Miss Levy was registered in the population registry as "Jewish."

The Messianic Jewish phenomenon is becoming a nationwide problem in Israel, with many Russian immigrants (with chequered Jewish roots) falling victim to this cult, which is being run by and funded with money from the USA.

However, no one, from Ms. Tamir to the Bible Contest organizers considered the worldwide ramifications of what would have happened if Miss Levy had actually won the contest and professed her love for Jesus in front of the international mass media. Perhaps rightly so, a large number of Religious Zionist & Haredi rabbinical leaders publicly called for a boycott of the event.

Yet, what about those secular and religious teenagers who worked for months on end to
display their knowledge in a "Jeopardy" like setting? Should they have been punished because the Education Minister is a microcosm of the godless government that temporarily rules Israel?

Miss Berenson told Ch. 2 anchorwoman, Sivan Rahav Meir (Israel's only "frum" anchorwoman) that she was aware of the drama and rabbinical pressure to walk away from the contest. However, after she consulted with her parents, schoolmates and other participants she decided to move forward and defeat Miss Levy in front of everyone.

Miss Berenson, who professed a true love for Jewish history and the Tanach in particular
systematically defeated Miss Levy and all of the other participants to win the coveted prize, which has both a monetary and spiritual value. Defeating the Messianic Jew was child's play for Miss Berenson. As she strode to the podium to accept her award and a yasher koach from
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (yes, the kippa clad Israeli leader hands out the prize every year), she handed Olmert a note. Startled for a split second by Miss Berenson's boldness, PM Olmert smiled and placed the note in his jacket pocket. Miss Berenson explained that the note contained a plea to PM Olmert to work for Jonathan Pollard's release from an American jail, as a matter of pidyon shevuiim (the halachic imperative to free Jewish prisoners wherever they might be).

In the span of only a few hours, a 15 year old Tzadekes from a small city in the North, taught the whole country a lesson in what it means to be a true Jew in Eretz HaKodesh on Yom Ha'atzmaut.

Happy 60th Israel!

Today is Yom HaAtzma’ut (as observed this year because Israel’s actual birthday, the 5th of Iyar, falls on Shabbos) and while I didn’t attend any festivities, I am celebrating. This is so even while I decry the self-destructive actions of Israel’s contemporary political leaders and mourn the very real troubles the country is facing from both within and without. So what am I celebrating?

The Jewish people’s return to our beloved homeland was as close to a “nes galui” (an open miracle) as we came to in the last century, a modern-day triumph of the few over the many, the forces of light over those of darkness. We celebrate Chanukah even though the Maccabees’ victory heralded only a short-term respite, and Purim even though the enemy we vanquished then has resurfaced many times since. So, too, the incredible events of 1948 culminating in Israel’s founding should be forever etched in the Jewish calendar as a day of thanksgiving.

But it goes beyond that. The Dream that is Israel is larger than any person. It is about being able to live in the Holy Land as a sovereign people, coming together from all corners of the earth to unite as Jews in the Jewish homeland. And while the Dream is under attack, we haven’t lost the ranch yet. With G-d’s help and our own mesiras nefesh (selfless commitment) we never will.

This Week @ www.jewishpress.com

“In one stunning episode in March, Truman had guaranteed Chaim Weizmann that the United States would support statehood, only to learn on the very next day that the American delegation to the United Nations had voted – upon instructions from the State Department and in defiance of Truman – for a UN resolution supporting a continued trusteeship in the land of Israel and suspending the implementation of partition.
Truman recorded in his diary that he was made to feel for the first time in his life ‘like a liar and a double crosser…. There are people…in the State Department who always wanted to cut my throat. They are succeeding in doing it.’” – Rabbi Steven Pruzansky reminds us of the days that transformed Jewish history
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“Not only are active Israeli anti-terror measures or military operations against terror concentrations condemned, so are passive measures like checkpoints and the famous separation fence. Western officials, journalists, and activists who hector Israel over its anti-terror measures do not ask themselves what they would think if their own countries were subject to incessant, daily danger and attacks and instead subject Israel to a special, sanctimonious rigor.” – P. David Hornik on how the lone Jew among nations is treated.
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“They even tried tracking down the ten lost tribes, which, according to some traditions, had maintained the chain of ordination (semichah) that traces back to Moses and the reinstitution of which, again according to some traditions, is a necessary prerequisite for the messiah’s appearance. They rejected the idea that any midrashic oaths prohibited their settling the land. They based their rejection on a number of theories, including a tradition from the Vilna Gaon that these oaths proscribed only the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. These proto-Zionists established colonies in Israel and successfully injected new life into the Jewish settlement there.” – Rabbi Gil Student reviews the slow pace of history and its relation to the rebirth of Israel.
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“She told him when he was getting boring or overly self-absorbed, when it would be a good idea to ask his date her ideas or opinions, and the best ways to pay attention and show interest when his date was talking. She also suggested pointers that Jerry never realized might be helpful – like noticing his date’s facial expressions (bored, interested, tired) and reacting to them accordingly (changing the subject, or asking her what she thinks), and noticing the surroundings (background music, flowers) and talking about them.” – Focusing in the basics of making conversation.
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And Truth from the Land of Israel, Inquiring Photographer and Baseball Insider

Finally, exclusively in our print edition (available at newsstands, calling 800-992-1600 ext. 344 or by clicking here): Test Tube Judaism, Queens and Long Island section, and Living Flowers

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No "Miracle" For Israel Baseball League

For all intents and purposes, one can start saying "kaddish" for the Israel Baseball League, which has suspended operations after surviving a single season in the Holy Land. The IBL didn't die because there wasn't enough interest in the American sport. The Holy Land boasts a growing and talented Little League, as well as a senior circuit under the tutelage of the Israel Association of Baseball (IAB).

The Israel Baseball League was a terrific endeavor that was left in the hands of an alleged
charlatan who appeared to have fooled a large number of prominent minor and major league baseball investors and promoters by promising A,B, C - and in the end left a trail of unpaid bills and acrimony. Efforts to oust the "charlatan" who allegedly created the IBL from scratch, by the IBL's Board of Directors (including people close to the Yankees), failed miserably. A last minute attempt to create a new 4 team league this summer, in order to keep the momentum established last season, also failed because the new "owners" could not come up with a cogent business plan.

Whether or not "professional baseball" appears on the Israeli scene in 2009 is anyone's guess at this point. At least two terrific playing fields-in Petach Tikva and Kibbutz Gezer (Modiin)-that are used by the IAB Little League & Senior League-could have been used for a 4 team professional loop.

As I'm writing this blog, I cannot help but stare at the picture of yours truly enjoying a cola with Ron Blomberg (ex-manager of the champion Beit Shemesh Blue Sox) and Art Shamsky (ex-manager of the runner-up Modiin Miracle) just before a game at Gezer Field last summer, which is featured prominently on my desk. My journalistic instincts prompted me to set up this photo-op last summer, realizing that this was my "Field of Dreams", perhaps never to be experienced again...at least in the Holy Land.

I could write a megilla about what went wrong with the IBL and why, but I'll leave that to another Israeli-based American journalist who seems to revel in his cynical print and on-line IBL exposes about the life and death of the IBL. The only remaining personal "hana'a" (pleasure) I have from the IBL is watching two ex-members from "my" team-the Modiin Miracle succeed in their professional baseball careers. Catcher Eladio Rodriguez, who hit .461 with 14 home runs in the short-season IBL, recently signed a contract to play for the Yankees AAA team in Scranton, PA. And, flame-throwing pitcher Maximo Nelson, who led Modiin to the finals with his 95mph fastball is playing in the Japanese Major Leagues via the Chunichi Dragons. Banzai!