Rabbi Jason Miller

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Israel now recognizes non-Orthodox conversions to Judaism

Israel's supreme court has ended the Orthodox monopoly on conversion to Judaism, clearing the way for recognition of conversions performed by reform or conservative rabbis in Israel, army radio reported. The verdict, which was reached by 11 judges, could have far-reaching implications for Israel's conversion system. Until now, the country's Orthodox community has had sole responsibility for handing out the certificates of conversion which are recognized by the interior ministry. Under Israel's law of return, all Jewish immigrants are allowed to become Israeli citizens, but conversion to Judaism is a long process obliging candidates to learn the basics of the Jewish religion and how to apply that to their daily lives.

Friday, April 01, 2005

Go Green! Go White!

I know it's April Fool's day so I did consider a prank on my blog, but I think it's more important to just salute my alma mater, Michigan State University, whose Men's and Women's basketball teams are both playing in the NCAA Final Four. Go Spartans!

Could it be a coincidence that MSU (otherwise known as "Moo U" because of its agricultural program) is playing in the Final Four on Shabbat Parah? I think not!

Thursday, March 31, 2005

Why I don't have bumper stickers on my car

Secret Service probes claim three ousted from Bush meet

By Associated Press
March 29, 2005

DENVER - The U.S. Secret Service on Monday said it was investigating the claims of three people who said they were removed from President Bush's town hall meeting on Social Security last week after being singled out because of a bumper sticker on their car.

The three said they had obtained tickets through the office of U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez, R-Colo., had passed through security and were preparing to take their seats when they were approached by a man they thought was a Secret Service agent who asked them to leave.

One woman, Karen Bauer, 38, a marketing coordinator from Denver, said the agent put his hand on her elbow and steered her away from her seat and toward an exit.

"The Secret Service had nothing to do with that," said Lon Garner, special agent in charge of the Secret Service district office in Denver. "We are very sensitive to the First Amendment and general assembly rights as protected by the Constitution."

The three, along with their attorney, Dan Recht, met with Garner on Monday. Recht said he may file a lawsuit based on the alleged violation of his clients' First Amendment rights.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Jewish Women Watching sends out fake JTS press release

JEWISH WOMEN WATCHING HOAX STIRS UP JTS CELEBRATION OF WOMEN RABBIS
Conservative Movement Angrily Disavows Message of Equity and Non-Discrimination

New York, NY (March 30, 2005) - Jewish Women Watching (JWW), the anonymous collective of feminist rabble rousers, has claimed responsibility for infiltrating last night's Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) event celebrating twenty years of women as Conservative Jewish rabbis.

Unsuspecting attendees at a public panel discussion entitled "A Movement Transformed: Women's Ordination and Conservative Judaism" enthusiastically greeted a press advisory announcing JTS's plan to accomplish gender and sexual equity in the Conservative Movement by the year 2010. The press advisory was a fake created by Jewish Women Watching.

"JTS has been talking for so long about their intention to fully incorporate women in the rabbinate, we thought they might just need some creative thinkers to figure out a plan to make it happen," said JWW's Adah Menken. The three-step plan detailed in the press advisory committed the Conservative Movement to ending exclusion of gays and lesbians from the rabbinate, closing the $10,000+ pay gap between male and female rabbis, and dismissing non-egalitarian synagogues from its roster. "If JTS had wanted to claim the plan and commit to the actions outlined in it, JWW would have been happy to step back and let them take the credit," said Clara Lemlich, a JWW member.

In reality, the panel's moderator dissociated JTS from any proposal to comprehensively embrace egalitarianism and equity. "The Conservative Movement has a lot of chutzpah to celebrate 20 years of women's ordination when they continue blatantly sexist and homophobic practices in the rabbinate," said JWW's Sophie Tucker. "It's time for JTS to match action to their rhetoric."

View the fake press advisory and JWW's candid assessment of the Conservative Movement's rhetoric.

Great Headline: "Suckers Sought for Suha's Mullah"

From the Jerusalem Post

If Suha Arafat e-mails you begging to deposit $20 million in your bank account, just say no.

The widow of the former Palestinian Authority chairman and godfather of the Palestinian national cause, Yasser Arafat, has apparently had her name hijacked in an Internet scam.

Mrs. Arafat joins the esteemed ranks of Angolan Tao Savimbi, the son of UNITA guerrilla leader Jonas Savimbi; the family of former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha; and Mirian Sese Seko, the widow of the flamboyant Zairian tyrant Mobuto Seke Seko, all of whose names are used as bait to lure the Internet sucker. For those foolish enough to send over bank details, this trio alone has dangled the promise of hundreds of millions of dollars.

But the Suha Arafat e-mail weaves reality with fantasy almost seamlessly. The e-mail asks recipients to deposit $20 million of Mrs. Arafat's cash, currently being held "by a security firm," into their own private accounts.

The e-mail, which is now recirculating after a few months of dormancy, also makes creative use of a broadside at the new Palestinian government by the woman once known as "the first First Lady of Palestine."

She writes: "Since his [Yasser Arafat's] death [last November] and even prior to the announcement, I have been thrown into a state of antagonism, confusion, humiliation, frustration and hopelessness by the present leadership of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the new Prime Minister."

Arafat, who lives in Paris, could not be reached for comment. Neither could her Ramallah-based mother, Raymonda Tawil, who is currently in Washington, an aide said.

The e-mail goes on to accuse the PA of mass corruption, then notes that Arafat left about $4 billion in secret accounts to his wife.

Mrs. Arafat relocated to Paris with the couple's daughter, Zahwa, shortly after the start of the current Palestinian uprising in 2001.

Here's the bottom line: "If you are willing to assist for our mutual benefits [sic], we will have to negotiate on your Percentage share of the $20,000,000 that will be kept in your position for a while and invested."

While the Suha Arafat in this e-mail is purportedly on the verge of destitution, or at least despair, the real Suha Arafat was well provided for after the passing of her husband. Bargaining during Arafat's death throes, including a tantrum in which she skewered the Palestinian leadership for trying to bury her husband prematurely, earned Suha a reported one-time payoff of $20 million and a $35,000-a-month stipend. As a goodwill measure, French authorities also decided to drop a case against her over an alleged embezzlement of some $13 million.

Hackers use programs that scour the Web for e-mail addresses to find the "one-in-a-million sucker who will forward their bank details," said Internet analyst David Shamah. Often these hackers come from countries with little or no control over Internet content.

"Sometimes the results and content of these e-mails are very funny, provided you're not the victim. And there are victims, because this scam appears to continue to make money," he said.

Sabri Zaidan, chairman of the Palestinian Internet Society, was unfazed by the e-mail. "This is the typical spam e-mail to get your bank details," he said. "Palestinians are not really affected by this, nor will they be fooled by it if they receive it as an e-mail."

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Natalie Portman Makes Huge Gift to Hadassah!

Jewish Actress Helps Expand Trauma Unit For Jerusalem Hospital

Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital received a $50 million donation last week from one of the people born there – famed Jewish actress Natalie Portman.

Portman’s donation is earmarked for an improved and expanded emergency trauma center being funded by the Hadassah Women's Zionist movement. The expansion will enable three times as many victims to be treated at once.

At a ceremony Thursday evening at the Jerusalem Theater, Dr. Kobi Assaf, Hadassah Hospitals’ director of surgery and shock trauma said the expansion of the trauma center will save many lives. "One of the most crucial things we can do for trauma patients is treat them quickly," he said. "The new unit is arranged specifically to do that - everything we need to treat them is right here."

The old center could handle 23,000 admissions a year, but demand rose to 73,000 due to Arab terrorism as well as an increase in car accidents.

23-year-old Portman, whose family name is Hershlag, was born in Israel, and her father worked as a doctor in Jerusalem. She spent last summer studying Jewish History at the Hebrew University.

While studying at Harvard University, Portman wrote an open letter defending Israeli security policies after a pro-PLO student attacked Israel in the campus newpaper. She also frequently paid visits to Israeli victims of terrorism in hospitals during the course of the Oslo War.

Monday, March 28, 2005

Say What?!?

From the NY Times
March 28, 2005

AMSTERDAM JOURNAL
A Dutch Soccer Riddle: Jewish Regalia Without Jews
By CRAIG S. SMITH

AMSTERDAM - Just minutes before a high-stakes soccer game not long ago between this city's home team, Ajax, and their rivals from the southern city of Eindhoven, a chant built to a roar in the hall packed with supporters where they were serving plastic pint cups of Dutch beer.

"Jews, Jews, Jews!" thousands of voices cried.

Outside, souvenir stalls sold Israeli flags or flags with the Ajax logo, the head of the fabled Greek warrior, emblazoned inside the star of David. Fans arrived with hats, jackets and scarves embroidered with Hebrew writing. Until recently, the team's official Web site even featured the ringing tones of Hava Nagila and other Jewish songs that could be downloaded into fans' mobile phones.

Few, if any, of these people are Jewish.

"About thirty years ago, the other teams' supporters started calling us Jews because there was a history of Jews in Ajax," explained Fred Harris, a stocky man with brush-cut hair and a thick gold chain around his neck, "so we took it up as a point of pride and now it has become our identity."

For years, the team's management supported that unique identity. But over time what seemed to many people like a harmless - if peculiar - custom has taken on a more sinister tone. Fans of Ajax's biggest rivals began giving the Nazis' signature straight-arm salute or chanting "Hamas, Hamas!" to provoke Ajax supporters. Ajax games have been marred by shouts of "Jews to the gas!" or simply hissing to simulate the sound of gas escaping.

The most disturbing displays have come during games against teams from The Hague or Amsterdam's greatest rival, Rotterdam. But even Eindhoven fans get into the act: not long after the game started, a chant arose from the corner section of the city's stadium reserved for fans of the opposing team.

"Everyone who's not jumping is a Jew!" the crowd cried over and over again as thousands of people in the section jumped up and down.

Ajax games have become so charged with such anti-Semitic displays that many of the team's Jewish fans now avoid the games altogether. The offensive behavior is not one-sided: during a game against a German team late last year, a group of Ajax supporters displayed a banner that read "Jews take revenge for '40-'45," a reference to the Holocaust. [more...]