Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

Well, here is an article that I think makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, when people talk about the Middle East, I hear very little in the way of common sense. The animus against Israel reveals a double-standard that no normal civilized country would ever accept–namely, the violations of its borders. Even Obama recently sent 1800 troops to help curtail the flow of illegal Mexican immigrants into this country. Without borders, you have no country.

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From scramble to pre-emptive diplomacy

By ISRAEL KASNETT
06/01/2010 23:21
Israel must pre-empt negative PR by informing foreign governments on the exact circumstances it faces and the course of action it will take.

After the 2006 Second Lebanon War and the 2008 operation in Gaza, the Israeli government was left having to explain its actions to leaders around the world. The Foreign Ministry had to move quickly to do damage control and while then-foreign minister Tzipi Livni did make efforts to launch a public relations campaign by sending ambassadors and diplomats to explain Israel’s actions, it was already too late. Israel’s lack of public relations foresight resulted in “scramble” diplomacy.

The recent events concerning the so-called Gaza aid flotilla turned unfortunate when some of the activists were killed during a confrontation with IDF Navy commandos. Yet, having dealt with similar aid convoys in the past, the Foreign Ministry should have been well aware of the negative PR Israel would receive regardless.

The State of Israel does not reveal the inner workings of its secret diplomacy and obviously there is a lot of diplomatic activity that takes place behind the scenes. However, the public must be able to see at least a portion of what can be called “pre-emptive” diplomacy, by which foreign governments are informed of Israel’s intentions and subsequent reasoning prior to taking action. This way, Israel has already explained the legal reasoning and logic behind its decision to use force without having to sprint to the phones during each crisis.

Israel must be able to pre-empt negative PR by preparing and educating foreign governments and populations on the exact circumstances faced by Israel and the course of action that will be taken based on unfolding events. Pre-emptive diplomacy would at least minimize the harsh reaction Israel often witnesses when events take a wrong turn.

This time, Prime Minister Netanyahu, his spokesman Nir Hefetz and Minister of Public Diplomacy Yuli Edelstein were all in Canada and Israel was left with Tzipi Livni as a spokesperson. Again, there was lack of coordination between the Foreign Ministry, the IDF Spokespersons Unit and the Prime Minister’s Office. While the foreign press announced “worldwide condemnation” for a “botched raid” creating a “diplomatic crisis” and “international outrage,” Israel yawned. As events unfolded and it was becoming clear that Israel needed to clarify the facts and present legal reasoning for its actions, Israel’s leaders rolled over and went back to sleep instead.

HAD ISRAEL used pre-emptive diplomacy at the same time the Navy was planning its raid on the ships, the government would have been preparing legal arguments for any potential scenario. For instance, Israel could have pointed to the San Remo Manual on International Law dealing with armed conflicts at Sea, which specifies in Article 47 that “vessels engaged in humanitarian missions are exempt from attack” only if they are recognized by Article 48 which demands that they are “innocently employed in their normal role.” Continue Reading

In Israel, I heard they are filming a new movie entitled, “Grumpy Old Rabbis.”

Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv sure looks like he could use a Kosher McDonald’s Happy Meal today. The HaAretz newspaper had a very interesting article how this centenarian continues to exert a powerful influence on the inner world of the Haredi community. His discordant halachic positions continue to send both the Israeli and Diaspora Jewish community reeling. Jews by Choice are among his favorite targets.

Most elderly Haredi scholars are known for their Responsa decisions pertaining to Jewish law. This elderly rabbi has never written a halachic work, and yet when he speaks, many of the leading Israeli Haredi rabbis are afraid to disagree with him. Is it because of his scholarship? Or is it because of his unique ability to commandeer Haredi politics? I suspect more the latter.

Remember one eternal halachic truth: A man may know the entire Talmud, Codes and commentaries and still be a boorish individual.

Readers may recall how Rabbi Elyashiv recently (about six months ago) banned the use of Shabbat elevators, which are essential for many high-rise senior centers and hotels that cater to an Orthodox elderly clientele. This rabbi did not seem to care what kind of hardship his legal decision would cause frail elderly people who can barely walk down the corridor  in the event a Shabbat elevator became “forbidden.” Fortunately, the people asserted their voice and Rabbi Elyashiv backed down on this issue.

HaAretz reported, “We saw proof of that two weeks ago, when two words from him, ‘Don’t compromise,’ caused his two representatives in the Knesset to attack the conversion bill initiated by MK David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu), which was designed to make the process of conversion in Israel much easier . . .” The ghost of Shammai must be gloating over Hillel, who always sought to welcome perspective converts. Shammai is reborn in the persona of Rabbi Elyashiv.

Unfortunately, like Rabbi Eliezer Shach (whose sour disposition lasted till he was 103 years old), Rabbi Elyashiv sees the Haredi community at war with the rest of the secular and Jewish world. For him, there is no such thing as “compromise.” Unlike the great Haredi rabbis of the past generations, e.g., R. Moshe Feinstein, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg, and Rabbi Shlomo Auerbach, Rabbi Elyashiv tends to focus on the issues that politically divide Jews; he is not someone who strives for harmonization. Under his influence, we are witnessing what has been dubbed as the “Haredi Intifada,” where rioting has been a weekly activity for young Haredi kids that prefer rioting to football on Shabbat. Rabbi Elyashiv has yet to publicly condemn such unlawful behavior.

When we consider the daily scandals coming out in the news from Israel regarding its Haredi members’ behavior, we are reminded of the words of the great Greek cynic, Diogenes, who was  famous for walking through the streets of Athens in broad daylight waving a lantern and announcing that he was looking for a “honest man”  (It’s a little bit like trying to find an honest politician in Washington). According to another legend, Diogenes lit a lamp in broad daylight and said, as he went about, “I am looking for a man.” It is a pity we do not have a rabbinic Diogenes wandering the streets of Mea She’arim and B’nai Brak with a lantern in broad daylight, exclaiming the same ethical proclamation,“I am looking for a mentsch …” We need moral and articulate teachers today more than we need Talmud scholars who lack the ability to correct a wayward generation with a soothing but compelling ethical voice.

Continue Reading

The 20th century Sufi mystic Hazrat Inayat Khan writes, “Morality is a flower which springs out of the plant of individuality.”

Although the Muslim world  has been reticent to embrace change (much like the Haredi parties in Israel), there are signs of an ideological thaw taking place as we speak. How appropriate! Spring is the time of transformation. It is a pity the Western media acts as if social change in the patriarchal world of Islam is an impossibility. Maintaining the status quo will never solve the great problems we all face, but like a seed breaking forth in the earth, perhaps more people will begin to embrace the kind of attitude that is now surfacing on Arab media for the very first time in its history.

Recently, an American professor has become the first Jew to win the King Faisal International Prize in Medicine, popularly  known as the “Arab Nobel Prize.” Stanford professor Ronald Levy,  who heads of the university’s Oncology department, told Haaretz that as  an American Jew married to an Israeli it never crossed his mind  that he might win the Saudi-financed competition.The  prize, which included $200,000, a medal, and a certificate in English  and Arabic, also came with a dinner with Saudi King  Abdullah. Levy’s victory is the  first time in the award’s 30 years that a Jew has won, which Levy says  he took as a sign that Saudi Arabia is becoming more open. Levy  won the prize for his part in the development of a drug used in the  treatment of many types of cancer that is being widely viewed  as revolutionary.

Even more recently . . . .

February 26, 2010 — Clip No. 2414 — memri.org

Former Saudi Shura Council Member Ibrahim Al-Buleihi: The Arab Is Incapable of Individual Thinking

The following excerpts are from an interview with former Saudi Shura Council Member Ibrahim Al-Buleihi, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on February 26, 2010.

Ibrahim Al-Buleihi: When we want to study a religious issue, we go back to our heritage. But when we want to study an earthy matter, such as why we are backward, while others are prosperous, we must search for the answer elsewhere, not in our heritage.

Interviewer: Where is “elsewhere”?

Ibrahim Al-Buleihi: In the West. Without a doubt.

Interviewer: In the West, not the East?

Ibrahim Al-Buleihi: The East only emulates [the West]. Take Japan, for example – if not for its openness to Western culture, it too would have remained backward.

[...]

The individualism of the Arab has been erased in this society…

Interviewer: What do you mean by erased individualism?

Ibrahim Al-Buleihi: He is incapable of independent thinking, and therefore, he always rejects what is rejected by society, and accepts what is accepted by society. Continue Reading

The Middle East has often been synonymous with the metaphors of despair and angst. This story began about six years ago, when a young Israeli Arab law student and musician named George Khoury, was accidentally killed by a drive-by Palestinian terrorist, while jogging in East Jerusalem’s French Hill neighborhood. The terrorists exclaimed afterward, “Oops, we thought your son was Jewish. Sorry . . .”

To most people, a victim of terrorism is just a statistic–unless you happen to personally know who the victim was. George was an  Israeli who lived among Palestinians, in a Palestinian neighborhood of Jerusalem. While he was a high school student, he participated in interfaith projects with fellow Christians, Muslims and Jews. His death was so tragic because it was so unnecessary.

George’s father, Elias, is a respectable attorney in Jerusalem, has fought for Palestinians clients that had their lands confiscated by the Israeli government. Elias Khoury believes violence is a poison that is harming the Palestinian people. In memory of his beloved son, he made an unusual decision that has stirred controversy among his fellow Palestinians and Arabs–both within Israel–and well beyond Israel’s borders.

Elias decided to pay for an Arabic translation of Israeli writer Amos Oz’s autobiography, “A Tale of Love and Darkness.”Amos Oz is beloved as a moderate and a dove, and Elias wanted the Palestinian community to learn about a different kind of Israeli, whose vision might help co-create  a new and more tolerant peaceful co-existence for Israel and the Palestinian people. Perhaps this new literary project would also give redemptive meaning to his son’s tragic death so that other young people might be spared from the endless cycle of violence.

The Arabic version of the book, “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” went on sale late last month in Beirut, Lebanon. So far it has received pretty favorable reviews–especially by Abdo Wazen, cultural editor of the pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat. As to be expected, some have reacted critically toward the book’s publication as well. The book is due to be distributed more widely in the region in the coming weeks. The book will soon be released in Egypt and Jordan.

Perhaps the pen is mightier than the sword.

You can be sure this literary work will send shock-waves throughout the Muslim world–from Algeria to Tehran.

Elias writes in his preface to the Arabic translation, “This book tells the history of the rebirth of the Jewish people,” he said as he sat in his law office. “We can learn from it how a people like the Jewish people emerged from the tragedy of the Holocaust and were able to reorganize themselves and build their country and become an independent people. If we can’t learn from that, we will not be able to do anything for our independence.” [1] Continue Reading

Understanding the “Real” War Against the Internet

Strangely, Rosenblum neglects to mention the most important aspect about the  Haredi war against the Internet–they fear its self critiquing and self-examination much more than the erotic websites.  Banning the Internet promotes the conspiracy of silence it desires.  Ynet news uncovered a document where the rabbis denounce the websites – the majority of which are daily news publications unsanctioned by the ultra-Orthodox establishment – on grounds that they “pursue all manners of news and gossip that defame our public” and “spread slander, lies and impurities to thousands.”

Haredi rabbis want to create a hermetic seal that will prevent their people from critically examining its community’s leaders, many of whom have been exploiting their flock in almost every conceivable way for decades.

In the same Ynet issue, Jerusalem “modesty squads” says computers containing “abominations” found in apartments rented by yeshiva students, calls on capital’s residents to “stand guard” and have forbidden the ownership of computers in the yeshivas.

The real animus against the Internet is not so much toward the erotic sites, it is toward the news services that openly criticize Haredi power and undermine their authority. Micromanaging or lobotomizing its Haredi community cannot solve the problem here.

What the rabbis are really trying to prevent is the emergence of self-reflective Haredim who are willing to take a hard and serious look at the level of dysfunction within its community. There was a time when child-molesters in the Haredi community could hide and get away with a cloak of unanimity. The Internet has made it virtually impossible for pedophiles to hide. Nor will the Internet hide the financial shenanigans we see among many of the most prestigious leaders of the Haredi community–they too, are now accountable. Continue Reading

Why Are Jews Liberals?

By Norman Podhoretz

Doubleday, 337 pages, $27

Some of you may be surprised to know that shortly before Rosh Hashanah, President Obama made a conference call with more than 1000 rabbis, encouraging them to speak about the health-care reform in their sermons this year. Because of my belief in the separation of Church and State issues, I will respectfully decline. I enjoy writing my own sermons and do not require political assistance from Washington to help craft my holiday message.

The social critic and essayist Norman Podhoretz believes that the appeal to the rabbinic community may be due to the Jewish people’s penchant toward liberal causes, or what he refers to as, “the Torah of liberalism.”

In his most recent and thought provoking book, “Why Are Jews Liberal?”, Podhoretz examines why Jews have been in love with the political left. Podhoretz, you see, was originally a leftist before he moved more toward the right.

The Jewish love affair with the left can be seen in most American elections. With the exception of Jimmy Carter (which was no great surprise given his anti-Jewish and Israel attitude), the Democratic Party has received an amazing 75% of the Jewish vote. Obviously, one reason why the Jews lean toward the left has a lot to do with the fact that Jews have traditionally seen themselves as underdogs in American culture. Our memories of the past still linger with us . . .

Some of our members will certainly remember when Jews were excluded from many of the country’s finest academic schools, or were limited in terms how they could climb up the corporate ladder.  The experience of being socially marginalized has obviously contributed toward the mindset that liberal politics best serves the needs of all of Americans who feel socially or economically earthbound.

There is sadly, a dark side to this kind of devotion. For example, the commitment to the liberal establishment has often supplanted the commitment to Jewish causes and the synagogue. Jews seem to be opting for what  the  sociologist Robert Bellah describes, as an “American social religion.” Statistics seem to support Podhoretz’s premise as well. In the United States, Jews are the least religious group in America—just 16% of Jews attend services at least monthly, and 42% of Jews attend once or not at all. Continue Reading

Many Jews have prayed for the return to our biblical homeland. “And let our eyes behold thy return in mercy to Zion. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who restorest thy divine presence unto Zion.”

Today, we are witnessing one of the greatest miracles of human history–the return of the Jewish people to her ancestral homeland. We are living in an age of miracles; a fulfillment of the biblical ingathering of the exiles spoken in Isaiah. Israel is, as Abraham Joshua Heschel once said, “God’s echo throughout eternity.”

From the ashes of the Holocaust, we have been privileged to see the rebirth of Israel in our day. The survival of the lamb among a billion wolves demonstrates that God continues to work His miracles in the world today—just like he did in the days of Isaiah and Cyrus of Persia.

Know that each of us plays a vital role in keeping Israel strong. As Bibi Natanyahu said, “W are not strangers to this land; this land knows and recognizes its children.” Our right to the Holy Land does not emanate from the United Nations, nor does it come from the Balfour Declaration itself but from God Himself, which He promised to give to the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In every generation since the Roman destruction of Judea, Jews have lived in Israel and will continue to do so until the end of time. Everyone of us, here this evening, is a part of a great majestic chain stretching back to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Continue Reading