rabbijaffe

I’ve often said that television will most certainly have an impact on what people do and think, sometimes very obviously, and sometimes deep, deep in the inner psyche of the viewer.

For example, I believe the television show 24 simultaneously (and perhaps paradoxically) prepared the American public for the concept of an African-American president, as well as convinced many that torture is an extremely effective tool to gain essential and accurate information from people in custody. I would take this to such an extreme level as to say that this show (and others like it) made it that when Americans elected Barack Obama it was just a given that such an accomplishment could happen, and not the historically shockingly incredible event that it truly should have been.

If the show didn’t exist, I’m willing to bet the world would be a very different place right now.

But I digress…

Knowing how intrinsically connected television shows are to public perception makes me a bit on the edgey side when it comes to the character of Ziva David on CBS’s NCIS.

Whereas I love the fact that a Chilean Catholic actress (Cote de Pablo) is portraying an Israeli (very successfully I might add), I am somewhat unnerved by the show’s vilification of Mossad.

Perhaps I’m a little too connected to Israel and the Israeli army to look at the whole picture objectively, but I can’t ignore how much their portrayal reminds me of Ayn Rand’s philosophy which I encountered in my teenage years.

As I remember it, the philosophy places YOU at the center of everything, and you must do everything in your power to accomplish your own goals. So much so that it was entirely fine to stomp on others, even the people closest to you, to accomplish those goals.

In NCIS the director of Mossad is more than willing to incriminate or even murder his own relatives so long as it serves his own needs.

Israel is a country where it is forbidden to put a soldier on the front line without express written permission of both parents if he is either an only child or had a sibling die while serving in the army. Israel is a country that is willing to trade scores of imprisoned terrorists in exchange for one captured Israeli, just so he can once again be in his mother’s embrace.

Not very Ayn Randish.

I’m not saying Israel or its military is perfect, but NCIS’s portrayal is not even bordering on truthful.

Nevertheless, de Pablo is a great actress and should keep up the good work. The show in general… well, every plot they do has been done before, and every character is heavily contrived and overdone, but the show more or less remains entertaining regardless.

I just hope they don’t shape the world’s opinion for the worse…

Fact #1:In the year 2000 the city of Shechem (Nablus), the city in which the famous Biblical figure Yosef HaTzadik (Joseph) is buried, was given over to control of the Palestinian Authority, and Jews were no longer praying there on a regular basis.

Fact #2: In this week’s Torah portion we are told these beautiful and memorable words:

“Remember the days of old, understand the meaning of each generation. Ask your father and he shall instruct you, your elders and they shall tell you…” -Devarim/Deuteronomy 32:7

Many, including myself, believe these words speak of a Jewish obligation to be familiar with our history, and to learn all the lessons that should hopefully accompany such study.

Fact #3: They’re coming to the table again.  For what will likely be another fruitless barrage of President Obama telling Netanyahu to not allow for settlement expansion, the politicians are at it once again.

* * *

So what?

What do all these facts have to do with each other?

The answer: EVERYTHING.

You see, I remember it like it was yesterday. Shabbat Parshat Haazinu, nine years ago (!), we were told the awful news. We were told that in yet another attempt to appease the seemingly unappeasable, the Israeli government had relinquished all control over the Nablus region, and handed the keys, so to speak, over to the Palestinian Authority. 

Did these measures achieve peace? Did they even set us a step closer? Have we gained in the slightest by the actions of our former (sort of) government officials?

No! Quite the opposite, in fact. The attacks persisted. Insecurity reigned. The Jews lost the tomb of Joseph!!! Not only did we lose a site oozing with kedusha (holiness), but the Palestinians immediately proceeded to wreck and desecrate the grave site.

During Parshat Haazinu we learn to listen to our past and learn from previous errors. On the Shabbat of Parshat Haazinu we created new history when we sacrificed for a noble but unlikely cause. Now the opportunity is here again. Netanyahu has let us down before, and paid the price for it. May he be blessed to carefully delve into our past and understand that not all endeavours are worth taking, not all advice worth listening to, and not everything others wants for Israel is right for Israel. 

Recently the Jewish Agency was “forced” to pull an ad because it offended some people. (Read about it on the Haaretz website.)

I want to show the ad and discuss it, because I’m rather disturbed by the final outcome.

 Rough translation of the Hebrew parts:

“More than fifty percent of the Jewish youth living outside of Israel are assimilating, and are going to be lost to us.

Do you know a young Jew living outside of Israel?

Call such-and-such organization and together we will strengthen their connection to the land of Israel, so they will not be lost to us.”

I first started reading an article about a s0-called controversial ad, thinking to myself, “Oh no, what could they possibly have said now?”

I watched the 35 second ad.

Blinked.

And said out loud, “Are you freaking kidding me!?”

I am embarrassed. But not because of the ad.

The ad is fine.

Great?

Not phenomenal.

But most certainly fine.

I am embarrassed that people complained. And I am even more embarrassed that the Jewish Agency pulled the ad because of those complaints.

First of all, my wonderful Jewish brethren, you need to stop whining about every little thing.

This is the second time I’m writing a post angry because some Jews complained about something stupid. (See the first time.)

Someone puts a swastika on your school, OK, get upset. I myself am not particularly fond of allusions to the people who slaughtered six-million Jewish men, women, and children. Being upset is a legitimate response.

But you want to complain because someone has offended you for assimilating? Give me a break. You made your bed, now sleep in it. If you want to be truly assimilated, why would you even care in the first place what someone else feels about it? After all, they’re not really your people, are they?

But you feel how you feel, and everyone has a right to his or her opinion… even if it’s a lousy opinion.

But as for the cowardly response of the Jewish Agency, for this I am truly disturbed.

An organization that wishes to represent the Jewish people, yet feels a sense of shame to publicly declare a dislike for intermarriage or assimilation, should be embarrassed.

I’ll say it, and I’ll say it loudly and proudly:

Intermarriage and assimilation are destroying my precious people. The Jewish nation has endured unimaginable pain and suffering, and have not only survived, but they’ve bounced back after every tragedy to be an overwhelming success.

This is not an accident. There IS something special about us. I’m not embarrassed to say it.

When your enemy hurts or kills you, there’s usually very little blame that can reasonably be placed on the victim. When one intermarries or assimilates, thus joining the mass of Jews who are currently eating away at our people, he is 100% responsible for his or her own actions. 

To fear these phenomena and to speak out against them is praiseworthy.

To fear these phenomena and ignore them is irresponsible.

To immediately capitulate in the face of conflict with intermarriage or assimilation is deplorable, and a sign of weakness that says you should not represent the Jewish people.

I’m not embarrassed to say that either.

I remember during my basic training in the Israeli Army when I made a very important discovery about the system.

Basically, it goes like this.

There are only two types of soldiers:

#1: The motivated

#2: The unmotivated

The motivated want to fight for their country. They can have a torn ACL, asthma, reflux, and severe IBS, but when they interview with the military, none of this will get mentioned at all. As far as they’re concerned, there is nothing that can stop them from defending the Holy Land.

The unmotivated will go to the end of the earth to attain medical documentation that proves that they are physically incapable of performing even the most mundane of tasks. The army won’t fight these claims. After all, who wants to be defended by someone who doesn’t have his heart in it, whose sole goal is to run from his civic duty?

When did I make this discovery?

For several regrettable reasons I was in a non-combat unit, and for weeks I watched as soldier after soldier held up a little note called a “patur” (exemption) at every available moment. This one couldn’t run. This one can’t stand for long periods of time. Another one was not allowed to wear army boots, so he wandered around in sneakers the whole time.

If it wasn’t so sad, I would say it was actually rather comical.

“Soldier, you did that wrong. Run around the base once!”

“I’m sorry sir, I have a patur from running.”

“Oh. Well then stand at attention until I return!!”

“I’m sorry sir, I have a patur from standing.”

“Oh. Well, just sit there until I get back…”

“Yes sir!!”

And the game continued on and on…

That is until the big announcement.

“Soldiers! Today’s fitness activity will be… basketball.”

And I watched as the heads of dozens of sneaker wearing, sitting young boys slowly turned their beads toward their commanding officers, and with big, sad puppy-dog eyes, they gently murmured the words:

“I, I… I think that perhaps… perhaps maybe I can play…”

And everything I had seen up to that point flashed through my mind. And I understood that the system was not invented to place the most physically fit in the most challenging positions, but to weed out those too unmotivated to be worthy of defending our homeland.

But the government of Israel seeks inclusivity, thus tens of thousands of citizens serve relatively useless non-combat roles.

Interestingly enough, this is quite similar to the original draft of the Jewish people as mentioned in Parshat Shoftim, this week’s Torah portion. One of the details is as follows:

“Who is the man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, and let him not melt the heart of his fellows, like his heart.” (Devarim/Deuteronomy 20:8)

The Israeli army says: If you’re not man enough to defend your people, we’ll make you a cook or a parachute stuffer.

The Torah says: If you’re not man enough to defend your people, go home.

May we all have what it takes when the time comes to fearlessly stand in the face of any and all dangers and proudly defend our holy and blessed nation.

Another subject that comes up in this week’s Torah Portion (Parshat Ekev) is the mitzvah (commandment) of putting on tefillin (read here for more info about tefillin, or buy Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan’s great book on the subject).

Therefore I’ve dedicated the next few posts to tell a few of my favorite tefillin stories.

So, I was in Tel Aviv with a group of Chabad Hasidim one typical Friday afternoon. Chabad have a Friday tradition of setting up booths and attempting to get every passing Jew to put on a pair of tefillin.

We were outside doing this for several hours. Most of the time was pretty uneventful. The avergage passerby was either a Romanian non-Jew, or a quite non-coversational Israeli who would wonder over to our booth, throw on and off a pair of tefillin in under six seconds, and then run off.

Now the whole time we were there we were right across from a CD store, with Israeli tunes blasting away. In front of the store was a very flamboyant typical Israeli male. He might have looked something like this guy:

Although our typical Israeli male in question had floppy hair, a lot of belly showing, and was probably doing the disco dancing for which Adam Sandler modeled “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan”.

We managed to successfully ignore each other for several hours; he didn’t bother us, we didn’t bother him. We co-existed perfectly.

But when we were packing up and getting ready to go, I thought, “What the heck. Why not?”

So I approached this young gentleman and asked him if he would like to put on a pair of tefillin.

He looked at me.

Paused.

He said, “Bo (come).”

I nervously followed him, slowly, into his little CD store. “Bo, bo,” he repeated.

Finally he motioned that I should come with him behind the counter. Reluctantly and curiously, I did.

He then proceeded to open up a drawer under his cash register. Sitting in the drawer was a pair of tefillin.

He looked at me and said:

“Kol yom, chaver. Kol yom.” - “Every day, my friend. Every day.”

…

Only in Israel! 

Brief disclaimer: I am by no means an expert in health care, either in America or Israel. But with citizenship to both countries, several years of living in both places, and a child born in each country, I’m at least qualified to share my opinion (and stories) about the whole health care blah-blah going on in America right now.

I must say, I’m torn to pieces.

Here’s my story, and a whole lot of commentary:

Growing up in America I absolutely despised doctors. I felt they wasted mass amounts of my time, and were rather immoral and/or dishonest. I have horror stories from my childhood of doctors promising me a procedure won’t hurt, followed by the most excruciating pain imaginable. My strongest memory of doctors was waiting 45 minutes in the waiting room, followed by the nurse checking me, waiting yet another half hour, and then the doctor coming, grabbing me in all sorts of weird ways, and telling me I have a cough. I’m sure there’s no limit on how much you can charge for tons of wasted time and such a brilliant diagnosis.

And of course I remember years of asking the doctor why I was having severe chest pains. The answers I received were useless and varied, so much so I eventually gave up trying to ask.

So, doctors became a miniscule part of my youth.

Later on I moved to Israel, home of socialized health care.

My impressions:

It’s very nice and comforting to know that you are taken care of regardless of any prior conditions, indiscriminately, with a rather high level of quality… often.

Nevertheless, the story must be told.

When I approached an Israeli doctor about my chest pains (which I still had over ten years later), he sent me to get an endoscopy based on a theory.

 The day at the hospital arrived, and I wasn’t even slightly worried. Why? Friends from America told me about their endoscopies. They were put to sleep, and woke up to joyfully look at their results, as if the procedure never happened.

So what happened with me? I laid down and had a tube shoved down my throat. I felt every last drop. I basically gagged for ten minutes straight.

And then they led me to another room… and I fell asleep in a chair.

I had a sore throat for a week.

My cousin, who was in medical school at the time, looked over my file. Her mouth dropped when she saw how much they messed up on the amount of anesthesia they gave me (it was clearly poorly timed, as well).

But what could I do?

My wife had an experience with a socialized dentist which, to make a long story short, culminated in a dentist yanking an incorrectly cemented cap out of her mouth with zero anesthesia, nor warning.

In either of these instances we would have filed lawsuits in the States, and we would still be collecting money to this day.

But not under the socialized Israeli health care system. There was no one to complain to. Nowhere to go. If you were disappointed with the care, you could always move back to your country of origin.

(By the way, that doctor’s theory turned out to be correct, and under his care I started to have far fewer systems from my newly diagnosed acid reflux.)

So which system is better?

In Israel you have little control over when and with whom you will be treated. If you are disatisfied with the treatment, you have nowhere to turn. The system is definitely inexpensive and inclusive, but then again Israeli taxes are through the roof.

On the flip side, things here aren’t so hot.

To have a baby costs a fortune. Emergency rooms here are far less efficient than those in Israel. We recently brought my son to the ER worried that maybe he broke his nose. My wife waited for four hours in the ER with a five year old. It turned out he was fine… and despite our insurance it cost us nearly one thousand dollars!

We’ve also encountered problems with pre-existing conditions, as well as companies dictating when we could be covered with childbirth. 

I know plenty of people satisfied on both sides of the Atlantic, and plenty who are disatisfied. I know people who use the Israel medicine for small things, but for anything serious they come to America. In America it costs a small fortune to have a baby, in Israel not only is it free, but they hand you a modest check when you leave the hospital. 

So in the end what do we have? Two very imperfect systems.

Americans have every right in the world to be frustrated with the state of health care in the US right now. But they should think long and hard about what direction the country should be taking to solve its problems.

If you have a story about health care, socialized or not, positive or negative, please do share.

Israel ignores American warning? Unfortunately it’s the article title I always hope to see, but I’m rarely lucky enough to experience.

These are excerpts from two articles I read on the Haaretz website just this evening:

#1: “[The Obama administration] is demanding a moratorium on Jewish building in East Jerusalem until an agreement is reached on the city’s legal status, arguing that the cumulative effect of even small-scale projects would destroy any chance of a peace agreement and arouse fierce opposition in the Arab world, especially among East Jerusalem Arabs.” 

#2: Eric Yoffie, president of the Union of Reform Judaism said: “Settlement activity at the West Bank is not popular [in the United States]. It never has been. It’s absolutely the last thing in the world you want to be involved in a public dispute over. Because not only you won’t have the support of this government - you won’t have the support of the American people either.”

Just a few words about these two statements:

I don’t care what the Obama administration says Israel should or should not do.

I couldn’t care less about Eric Yoffie’s opinion of Israel’s decisions.

And frankly, if Israel makes decisions that are at variance with every Jew throughout the entire United States of America, all I can say is: Go ahead!

Unless you’ve given your blood, sweat, and tears for the State of Israel, keep your mouth closed when discussing the possibility of a divided Jerusalem.

I’m not his biggest fan, but I am terribly glad that Prime Minister Netanyahu can at times be a voice of reason in this seemingly senseless world:

“A sovereign government must build in its eternal capital… United Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Our sovereignty in it is not subject to appeal, and among other things, this means that Jerusalem residents can buy apartments anywhere in the city. We cannot accept the idea that Jews should not have the right to live and buy anywhere in Jerusalem.”

Right now I’m giving my own private standing ovation.

On the Haaretz website I found this article, which included the following video from a television commercial in Israel:

Apparently many people were disturbed by this video, and called it racist. I myself was disturbed. Not because of the video, but at the terrible misinterpretation of the video. This video is not racist! (unlike, perhaps, my picture at the top of the post) It’s quite the opposite, in fact.

Let me explain:

I had an interesting awakening one time in Israel. I was walking around the wall of the Old City in Jerusalem with a friend of mine who happened to be an Arab who converted to Judaism. I noticed some graffiti on the wall in Arabic and out of blatant curiosity asked him to translate.

His answer was, “Nah, nah. Just some nonsense.”

But I pushed for a real translation. Why? I assumed if an Arab was going out of his way to write graffiti on this wall, it must be some anti-Jewish propoganda.

What did it say?

“So-and-so loves so-and-so.”

Just some teenage nonsense like any other teen, with zero racism and no political agenda. 

And my off the wall epiphany:

These folk have so much in common with me and all other Jews, and if circumstances were different they could be our best of friends.

And that’s why I absolutely love this video.

With all the negativity that can easily be spewn they choose to dwell on something Israelis and Palestinians have in common:

The both love soccer!

I think it would be an absolute tragedy if this celebration of our similarities were removed.

This post is response to a comment on my previous post.

I would like to make two essential points before I answer the main question at hand:

#1: The comment said that I implied that it was the Muslims who started the Crusades. This, of course, is not true.

However, I look at history in perhaps a different way than many others. You see, the historical event we refer to as “The Crusades” was most certainly instigated by Catholics. Later Crusades were instigated by Muslims, in response to the original one.

But why did the First Crusade occur?

Land, holy land, that was originally in the hands of Christians, had fallen by the sword to Islam. They wanted it back.

The Crusades will be forever a blemish on Catholic history. But this will not be because of the philosophy of the Crusades, but because of the atrocious behaviors of the Crusaders themselves. Their deplorable actions including rampaging through innocent Jewish villages on their way to Israel, as well as killing and eating (look it up!) their fellow Christians when severe hunger settled in.

Could it not be argued that the First Crusade was in response to the original Muslim conquering of Christian land?

If you say it was too many years beforehand, well, when really is the statute of limitations? If you say after one generation we need to forgive and forget and let the conquerers have what they took, then the Muslims had no justification for their later reconquering the land.

And if you say there is no statute of limitations, well, you have opened up an ENORMOUS can of worms (think Native Americans).

Anyhow, as far as I’m concerned the Crusades began well before the actual event we call “The Crusades”, and in my eyes never really ended. And the Muslim world has heavily (and very violently) been involved in all phases.

#2: My next point is in resonse to this statement made by the gentleman who commented on my post:

“Some of the most tolerant regimes to Jews have been Muslim empires.”

 Now, I must admit with great humility that his statement is historically flawless.

That being said, it must be understood in the context of world history. Your statement could be rephrased:

Jew lived RELATIVELY decent lives under Muslim empires throughout much of Islam’s existence.

This is relative to life under the Catholics, infamous for such things as the Inquisition or the expulsion from Spain. Or relative to Jewish life under the Greeks, the Romans, or even the Nazis.

I can guarantee you that if the lives of Jews throughout most of their history were more comparable to that of the lives of Jews in modern day America, we would talk about our tragic existence under Muslim rule. Being a second-class citizen in any society is hardly positive, and that is the best we ever achieved in any Muslim society. And Jewish life in Muslim nations in the last century resembles much of the situations of Jews during their most trying times in history.

So, in short, it is true that the Muslims did not technically start the Crusades, and it is true that Jews had a better time in Muslim countries than many others, but the history of violence in the region cannot be denied. It has always been there, it is currently rampant, and it will likely be there forever.

* * *

My main point today is in response to this very reasonable request:

“I wish you could explain for me what a settlement is, because I surely do not understand why Israel needs them. Why is this occupation so crucial?”

In short, what you call a settlement, I call a small Jewish village. These are lovely little communities scattered throughout the West Bank of Israel.

A drip of history:

In 1948 there was a grand opportunity for the Middle East. The UN was to give both the Jews and the so-called Palestinians homes in Israel.

The Jews accepted.

The Arabs didn’t.

And they attacked Israel… and lost.

In order to facilitate what they thought was a certain victory, the Muslim nations wished the Palestinians to flee the land (temporarily) so they could destroy the Jews with greater ease.

They complied.

Now there’s a refugee problem.

Israel’s fault? Are you kidding me!?

Then, in 1967, Israel beat the pants off of four attacking nations in six days. During these battles the Jews occupied three areas which are still under great dispute (and two others no longer under much dispute): The Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank.

Our discussion is mainly focused on the West Bank. There are several reasons why Jews choose to live in these communities (I have lived in three different West Bank settlements, by the way):

1. They are cheaper (and better) alternatives to the cities. The main cities in Israel are loud, crowded, and very expensive. You can live in a settlement for a fraction of the price, with a far greater lifestyle (bigger home and small, unified communities).

2.  We believe every inch of Israel is sacred and belongs to the Jews.  

3. Everyone knows that politics is just fancy, organized blah-blah. The real victor in any Middle East conflict is who’s on top when all the smoke clears. There is no point in having on-paper control of a territory, with no actual control. The Palestinians know this idea well. They try like crazy to control the West Bank through occupation. Anyone who has been out in those areas knows the Arab villages have no boundaries, and they are constantly building new houses to fill the area. These house are often unoccupied. Their sole purpose is to fill up land, and give the image that the land is Palestinian dominated. Like I said: The true victory.

In conclusion, this so-called occupation, this settling of land that was barely occupied before we arrived, and practically desolate before we made something of it, this land which we gained from people who left us for dead in defensive wars against nations who couldn’t fathom the idea of a Jewish state in their turf, is our right. We settle it because we want to. And because we can. Because it is the Land of Israel, and a fundamental and beautiful part of the Jewish homeland.

Israel should be forever blessed!

The last few weeks have been very frustrating for me.

I’ve sat by and watched very important people make very fancy speeches…

And I’ve watched the world think something is different now.

Barack Obama dazzled the world with his beautiful speech in Cairo, Egypt. Beautiful, but laden with inaccuracies, exaggerations, and misunderstandings.

People clapped. A lot. And now there are some who think millenia of angst, religious dogma, and ignorance have started the process of dissipating away.

I think our fearless leader, President Obama, and the world at large, need to get real and peer a little more intensely at the history of the world. The Muslim world, since it came into existence over a millenium ago, has violently and aggressively controlled its region. This is certainly not the first time there have been battles over the land of Israel. The Crusades alone lasted for hundreds of years! 

Radical Islam will not go away. There are literally millions (perhaps billions) of people in this world who believe that God Himself has dictated to them that the Jews and the West are the enemy. No speech or conversation will ever change this.

War happens. War will always happen. It will happen because of large things and small things, it will happen offensively, defensively, and preventatively. We will never rise to a stage in history where all countries will be able to talk through their differences.

It sounds nice. But it’s not reality.

Barack Obama stood in front of the world. He shook a finger in kindergarten teacher fashion at anyone who has acted in a way for which he disapproves.

Binyamin Netanyahu responded. He accepted the concept of a Palestinian State.

The world cheered. 

His acceptance was accompanied with demands that anyone who has been a careful watcher of the Middle East KNOWS will never be accepted by the Arab states.

I don’t blame him.

I thought he successfully appeased America while making commitments he will unlikely be held to.

Netanyahu was responding to unreasonable demands. No more settlement expansion is as reasonable as the White Paper’s restriction of Jewish immigration to Israel after World War II. Barack Obama does not know what a settlement is or what it means to be a settler. He likely never will.

And equating the status of the Jews during the Holocaust with the status of the Palestinians vis-a-vis Israel is thoroughly inaccurate, and hurtful at best. Every time I hear such comparisons they make me ill. They are based on ignorance and lies.

What I’m trying to say is:

Peace in the Middle East would be a very nice thing.

But the world should brace itself for disappointment.