Jewish Response to Anti-Semitism

Years ago, mandatory autopsies were an issue of contention between religious Jewry and the Israeli government. Israeli hospitals once performed autopsies at the discretion of the doctors, without any regard for the wishes of the family of the deceased. Thankfully, those days have passed. Due to overwhelming protest over the decades, autopsies are performed only with the family's consent (except for victims of crimes).

Yet last week, an investigative report by the Yedioth Aharonoth newspaper, followed up by an investigation by a board of religious Knesset members, found that the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv does not disclose everything it does to the families. Specifically, 8288 body parts are kept in storage there from past autopsies dating back to the year 2000.

Knesset member Uri Maklev said, "Our paramedics and rescue workers risk their lives to bring to Jewish burial every part of the bodies of people killed in accidents and attacks. It is unthinkable that from every human body examined at Abu Kabir, they take off pieces and keep them in jars of formaldehyde. What will the world think of us now when we talk about the honor of the dead?"

Such was the reaction of a religious Jew who serves in the Israeli Knesset. But Jews who are seasoned in the battle against Zionist violations of human rights and the Jewish religion are not surprised at all. This is the same country that, just a few decades ago, used to let doctors and medical students practice on the bodies of anyone who had the misfortune to die in its borders.

"American Jews must raise a storm of protest over this," said Rabbi Yoel Klein, spokesman for Jewish Response. "We must write to our government officials, as well as human rights organizations, and ask them to pressure the Israelis on this matter."

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Suggested text for letter:

Dear _______,

I am writing to you regarding the recent discovery that the official Israeli forensic medical institute known as Abu Kabir is keeping 8,288 human body parts in storage for years. Some of the relatives of these people may have signed forms agreeing to autopsies, as required by law. However, none of them were told that parts of the body were kept in such a disgraceful manner for years, for no reason at all. This should disgust every person who has any feeling at all for the dignity and sanctity of the human body.

Please use your influence to pressure the Israeli government to put a stop to this sickening practice and immediately return all human remains to the families of the deceased so that they can bury them together with the rest of the bodies.

Sincerely, _______

This entry was posted on January 15, 2012 at 7:29 PM and has received 99 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

The Religious Zionists, known as Mizrachi, can't have it both ways. They must either listen to the Song of Songs, or hear the singing of their partners in rebellion against G-d.

Recently, everyone is talking about the Israeli soldiers from the religious Zionist movement who walked out of an army event in order to avoid hearing female singers. (Jewish law prohibits a man from hearing the singing of any woman outside of his immediate family.)

It seems that the Israeli government fails to understand what a great service the religious Zionists provide them. The Israeli government badly needs Jewish identity, in order to claim based on the Bible that the Holy Land is theirs. They also need continuity – at a time when secular Israelis are increasing joining the peace movement or defecting from the country altogether. The religious Zionists – the Mizrachi movement – deserve the credit for building a bridge between the two irreconcilable opposites: Judaism and Zionism. They are increasingly making up the backbone of the IDF.

If the secular Israelis understood this better, they would do their best to accommodate the religious soldiers – instead of penalizing them for trying to observe what is left of their Judaism.

Alternatively, it could be that the secular government is playing a game with Mizrachi, arousing their zealous opposition to a woman singing so that they can appear more religious and give the army a more Jewish image.

For the Mizrachists, the bitter irony is that because they refuse to listen to the Oaths spoken by King Solomon in the Song of Songs, which forbid the Jewish people from ending exile early, they are now faced with another kind of song, the kind prohibited by Jewish law.

For us, the lesson here is that just as anti-Semitism has become more dangerous now that it is camouflaged as Zionism (since anti-Semitism and Zionism really have the same goal - to keep Jews from living peacefully together with non-Jews), Zionism has become more dangerous now that it is camouflaged as the Torah and religion.

This entry was posted on January 15, 2012 at 7:02 PM and has received 82 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

On the eve of the first Republican primaries, Jewish Response appeals to frontrunner Mitt Romney not to attempt to leverage the Jewish vote by expressing unconditional support of Israel. Such an approach may gain him a few extremist votes, but the majority of Jews, especially the traditional observant, feel that this would misrepresent them and even endanger them.

It is well known that the prime argument of anti-Semitic groups today is that Jews harbor dual loyalty and, in fact, use their powerful lobby to force America into supporting Israel, even when it isn't in America's best interest. When politicians speak constantly of their support for Israel during an election campaign, it simply plays into the hands of these anti-Semites.

The fact of the matter is that 67% of Jews voted for President Obama in 2008, despite his relatively even-handed approach to Israel and the Palestinians. Furthermore, more than half of American Jews 35 years old and under feel uncomfortable with the very idea of a Jewish state. And among traditionally Orthodox Jews, a large percentage believe that the existence of a Jewish state in our time is a serious sin against Judaism.

Therefore, it is wholly inaccurate to portray Jews as being monolithically pro-Israel, as the media unfortunately does quite often. And we at Jewish Response fear that if Mr. Romney and others continue to run on a pro-Israel platform, it will reinforce that stereotype, adding fuel to the fire of anti-Semitism.

This entry was posted on January 1, 2012 at 7:37 PM and has received 234 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Last Saturday night, December 17 2011, Satmar Hasidim all over the world celebrated the 67th anniversary of the miraculous escape from Nazi Germany of their founding Grand Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, of blessed memory. This year's celebration boasted the participation of an estimated 45,000 people. The current, highly influential Grand Rabbis of Satmar, Rabbi Aaron and Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, both gave keynote addresses in which they noted the accomplishments of their great uncle, the founder, and pointed out the path to continuing his work.

As in previous years, the grand rabbis took the opportunity to address the issue of Zionism, and emphasized the teachings of their predecessors regarding the danger Zionism poses to worldwide Jewry, and particularly to the Jews in the Holy Land.

But this year, they also reacted to recent statements by certain Jewish "leaders" who unceasingly pressure politicians to pursue the pro-Israel agenda, especially during election campaigns, and the relentless, irresponsible condemnation of the Obama administration, which they deem not to be pro-Israel enough to their liking. Both grand rabbis declared in no uncertain terms that these practices must cease at once, as they go against the teachings of traditional Judaism.

Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum said, "We live in a country of kindness. We enjoy freedom of speech and freedom of religion. The prophet Jeremiah says, 'Seek out the welfare of the city where I have exiled you, and pray on its behalf to G-d.' This country in particular lets us live as we wish, and even gives us the right to vote. But recently, certain self-appointed Jewish leaders have gotten up and insulted the President in the worst way. Their words have been broadcast on the radio and television and all the media. And everyone knows that they say these things for the benefit of the defiled State [of Israel]. Why should Jews come out in public with these sort of statements? It is provoking the nations to hate us, and it brings danger upon Jews not only here but all over the globe. We mustn't forget that this is exile. Who knows what the effects of this irresponsible behavior could be?"

Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum said, "The Torah teaches, and history has shown, that when Jews treat the leaders of their countries with respect, those leaders are benevolent toward the Jews, but when Jews insult and degrade the leaders, it arouses anti-Semitism."

The grand rabbis concluded that it is our obligation to make known that religious Jewry is completely opposed to these self-appointed leaders. Religious Jews pray every day for our country and bless its leaders with success in all their efforts to bring peace to the world.

The anniversary of Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum's escape is celebrated every year by Satmar Hasidim all over the world. The sentiment of the day is one of thanks to the Almighty for the overwhelming mercy and compassion that He showed the Jewish people at that terrible time in history by preserving Rabbi Teitelbaum's life, and enabling him to rebuild and reestablish the Hasidic Jewish community here in the United States.

Rabbi Teitelbaum arrived in America in 1946, and found it to be a vast spiritual desert. He was confronted with the especially difficult task of transplanting the original way of Jewish life and belief from Europe to modern America.

He founded his community with only a handful of families, but today it has grown into a major empire with some 100,000 members. The community is centered in Brooklyn and in Kiryas Joel, New York, but it also has major branches in Great Britain, Belgium, Argentina, Canada, Australia and the Holy Land. Some thought it impossible for Hasidic Judaism to flourish in the modern world, and the Satmar community views its own success as a miracle, evidence of Divine providence.

Beyond the insular world of his followers, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum was famous in the general Jewish world for his relentless campaign in condemnation of Zionism and the so-called Jewish State of Israel. He saw Zionism as the greatest obstacle to Jews and Judaism, both spiritually and materialistically, and waged a life-long struggle to preserve the remnants of the Jewish nation from falling prey to its poison.

Over the years, the annual celebration has evolved into the largest assembly of Satmar Hasidim of any time of the year. It became customary on this day for the grand rabbi to give the central speech of the year, something like the annual State of the Union Address given by the president of the United States.

Rabbi Aaron and Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum hope that their words this year will have an effect, not only on their own community but on the larger Jewish world. They hope that this coming election will not degenerate into a contest over which politician can make the most militant pro-Israel statements - statements that do not reflect the feelings of a large portion of Orthodox Jewry at all, statements that are bound to arouse latent anti-Semitism.

This entry was posted on December 23, 2011 at 1:12 PM and has received 100 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Dear Jewish Response Staff,

Does Judaism discourage scientific inquiry into the distant past and the beginnings of the universe? The following sources indicate that it does.

The Talmud says, "Anyone who looks at four things would have been better off not being created: what is above the universe, what is below it, what was before creation and what will be afterwards. And anyone who does not care about the honor of his Creator would have been better off not being created." (Chagigah 11b)

The Talmud comments on this teaching: "We understand why one should not ask about what is above and below, and what will be afterwards. But why may one not ask what came before the universe? It happened already! Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Elazar both said: This may be compared to a human king who told his servants, Build me a large palace on top of the garbage dump, and they went and built it. The king does not want the garbage dump to be remembered or mentioned." (Chagigah 16b)

It sounds as though the Talmudic rabbis prohibited scientific investigation into these matters. What were they trying to hide? Were they afraid that we would discover something that contradicts the Torah?

And indeed it seems that the discoveries of modern science do contradict the Torah. Science says that the universe is billions of years old, not the 5771 year figure given by the Torah. Science has unearthed the remains of creatures that became extinct long before the Torah's time of creation.

Professor Herman Jacobs

Dear Professor Jacobs,

The rabbis are not saying that there is some secret we could discover but are prohibited from doing so. They are saying that we are incapable of knowing these matters. What human being could know what came before creation? Even if science claims to know what happened over the past 14 billion years since the "Big Bang," what happened before the Big Bang? Even if science claims that the size of the universe is 100 billion light years, what lies beyond that? (Of course, all these numbers are unproven and estimates are constantly changing, with no apologies for previous blunders. One has to wonder what this branch of science will be saying 10 years or 50 years from now.)

The Talmud is teaching us that we are limited beings. It is clear to us that there must be a Creator, but we cannot fathom His nature, nor can we understand how He accomplished creation. We are like the cow, who knows its owner exists, yet cannot understand the decisions that guide its owner's daily life.

This is why the Talmudic rabbis questioned the motivations of those who study the remote past. Look at the following Midrash:

"Let the lips that speak falsely be muted, those who speak of the hidden matters of the Righteous One, with arrogance and disrespect" (Psalms 31:19). This refers to those who speak about the matters that G-d hid from His creations; they are showing contempt for G-d's honor. Anyone who gets himself honor through the embarrassment of his friend has no share in the World to Come, all the more so one who gets himself honor through disregarding G-d's honor. That is why the next verse in Psalms speaks of the World to Come: "How great is Your goodness that You have hidden away for those who fear You" - and not for those who show contempt for Your fear. (Bereishis Rabbah 1:5)

The rabbis call these cosmologists "lips that speak falsely" because they claim to have all the answers, to reveal that which G-d concealed, when in fact their answers change nothing. Judaism teaches that the amazingly complex world that we see is the work of a great Designer. The cosmologists seek to avoid that inescapable conclusion by describing a world slowly developing over billions of years. But in the end they have solved nothing. They have only found that all matter expanded from one point - and before that?

Therefore, their words show nothing but a desire to boost their own glory by despising G-d. They show contempt for the fear of Him, and for those who fear Him. They wish to make the believers appear outdated and ignorant.

Of course, not all those who investigate the remote past are liars and despisers of G-d. There are those who don't know any better and innocently believe what they read. The Book of Jonah tells the story of how G-d had mercy on Nineveh and did not destroy it. Chapter 4, verse 11 reads: "And should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, which contains many more than 120,000 people who do not know the difference between their right and left hands, as well as many animals?" Rashi explains that the 120,000 people were the children, and the "animals" were the adults, who were like animals in that they did not know who created them. This seems puzzling: Why would G-d spare Nineveh in the merit of people who denied His existence?

The answer lies in the comparison to animals. Just as an animal cannot be blamed for not recognizing G-d's existence, because G-d is above its level of intelligence, so too these people. They didn't have enough intelligence to entertain the question of how the world came to be. Thus they were the only innocent ones, and Nineveh was saved for their sake. It was the more intelligent people, who did wonder about the origins of the world, and were therefore capable of recognizing G-d, yet refused to do so, who were considered sinners.

When the Talmud says that we are not capable of knowing what came before and what will come after, what is in front or what is behind, it is describing the greatness of the human mind, which sets us apart from the animal kingdom: the ability to ask unanswerable questions. We humans have the unique ability to realize that we are limited and that our questions have no answers. It is this ability that makes it possible for us to realize that there is a Creator.

The Talmud (Chagigah 11b) says that the source for the notion that we cannot ask what happened before creation is the verse, "Ask of the earliest days in the past, from the day when G-d created man on earth, and from one end of the heavens to the other" (Deut. 4:32). Just after that, the Torah says, "You were shown to know that the L-rd is G-d, there is no other besides Him" (v. 35). The juxtaposition makes sense in light of what we said above: The fact that our knowledge is limited is what enables us to recognize G-d and feel that we are nothing compared to Him; there is no other besides Him.

This brings us to the question of how to explain the scientific evidence, such as fossilized bones, that indicate the world is older than the Torah says it is (if the evidence and dating methods are true and credible). The Torah measures time from the point at which G-d created "man" - in Hebrew, "adam". The word "adam" means a man intelligent enough to recognize his Creator. Before that, the Midrash tells us, G-d did create other worlds:

Rabbi Yehuda ben Simon said: It does not say "let there be evening" but rather "there was evening..." (Bereishis 1:5). This indicates that there was a series of times before this. Rabbi Avahu said: This teaches that He was creating worlds and destroying them, until He created these [creations]. He said, these are pleasing to Me; the others were not pleasing to Me. Rabbi Pinchas said: Rabbi Avahu's source was the verse, "And G-d saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good" (Bereishis 1:31) - these are pleasing to Me; the others were not pleasing to Me (Bereishis Rabbah 3:7).

There are three more Rabbinic sources for the concept that there existed something before this present world. The first is the end of Bereishis Rabbah 1:5 cited earlier. It says: In the way of the world, when a human king builds a palace on top of a sewer, or garbage, or a foul-smelling place, anyone who comes and says, "This palace is built on a sewer, or garbage or a foul-smelling place" - is he not insulting the king? So too, anyone who says, "This world was created out of tohu vavohu (astonishing emptiness) is he not insulting? Rav Huna said in the name of Bar Kapara, "If the thing had not been written, it would have been impossible to say it: "In the beginning G-d created heaven and earth" - from what? "And the earth was tohu vavohu..."

Of course, G-d was the creator of the tohu vavohu as well, as Bereishis Rabbah 1:9 points out: "A philosopher challenged Rabban Gamliel, "Your G-d is a great artist, but He found good paints to use: tohu vavohu, darkness, wind, water and the deeps." Rabban Gamliel replied, "All of these were created, as it says, He forms light and creates darkness, makes peace and creates evil (Yishaya 45:7)..."

The Rabbis are telling us that before creating this world, G-d created these raw materials. From them He formed other worlds, and eventually our present world.

The other Rabbinic source is the Talmud in Chagigah you yourself mentioned: "We understand why one should not ask about what is above and below, and what will be afterwards. But why may one not ask what came before the universe? It happened already!" In other words, the Talmud understands well why one may not ask about what is above and below, because that is beyond human comprehension. But the distant past is not beyond our comprehension; it is simply events that took place. Why shouldn't we investigate them? The answer is, again, that "the king does not want the garbage dump to be remembered or mentioned."

The bones we find are from those previous worlds; the same applies to all other scientific evidence of a universe more than 5770 years old.

The third source is a Midrash Rabbi Nechuniah Ben Hakanah quoted by the Ramban in his commentary on Bereishis 1:1, which says, "And the earth was tohu - this implies that already before creation, it was once tohu, but now it is bohu."

Rabbi Saadia Gaon finds another source to prove that there were worlds before the current world: "If there is anything people claim is new, it has existed before in the worlds that were before us." (Koheles 1:10)

We see here that there are two types of people who investigate the past. There are the "lips that speak falsely" who claim to have all the answers and claim they can explain the universe without G-d. And there are others who do not speak falsely, but rather insult G-d by revealing what He does not want revealed: that He built His world on the ruins of previous worlds He created. We are only permitted to publicize and reveal what the Torah and the Rabbis themselves revealed.

Every world G-d created was an upgrade of the previous one. Now, for the first time, we are in a world that includes "adam" - humans with enough intelligence to recognize G-d. But there will be another stage after this, say our Rabbis. The Talmud says that this world lasts 6000 years, and after that G-d will renew His world (Sanhedrin 92b). Everything will be again upgraded: the righteous humans will become like angels, as it says, "Your eyes will see your master" (Yishaya 30:20). The animals will reach the intelligence level previously held by humans, as it says, "The wolf with live with the lamb... and the child will play on the snake's hole... They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain, for the world will be full of knowledge of G-d" (Yishaya 11:6-9). The plants, and even the inanimate rocks, will reach the intelligence of animals, as it says, "The mountains and the hills will burst out in song, and all the trees will clap their hands" (Yishaya 55:12). But of course, those humans who had the intelligence of animals in this world, not recognizing the Creator, will not be upgraded to angels.

This is why the Rabbis compare the world to a palace built atop a garbage dump. The "garbage dump" is the remains of those previous worlds created by G-d. G-d does not want those remains remembered or mentioned, because it is likely that they will be used to mock believers in the Torah, or to claim that G-d erred in His earlier creations. As the Talmud (Chagigah 13a) quotes from the Book of Ben Sira, "Do not search into what is too far above you; do not investigate into what is hidden from you." And as the Midrash quoted above says, these are "matters that G-d hid from His creations."

In view of this, it is not a coincidence that the next verse in Psalms refers to the World to Come as "goodness that You have hidden away for those who fear You". It is not just the reward that is hidden away; there is a hint here that the reason the reward is so great is because the great truths of the world are hidden from us in this life. If everything were open and revealed to all, there would be no reward for those who recognize G-d. We would be like the angels, who see things so clearly that they have no other choice.

Therefore, G-d wanted us to be limited, although this causes an unavoidable disgrace to Him, as we say in the Rosh Hashanah prayers, "It is fitting for the Holy One to receive praise from holy ones." The greater the servants of a king are, the greater the honor to the king. Yet G-d chose us to be His servants, despite the fact that we lack understanding and are so limited. He gave up His own honor so that we should receive reward.

Let mankind be grateful for His kindness, and let His holy name be blessed forever and ever.

Jewish Response

This entry was posted on December 5, 2011 at 11:44 AM and has received 139 views. There are currently 3 comments. Print this entry.

"Anti-Semitism is in decline both in North America and Europe –despite shrill accusations to the contrary," stated Rabbi Yoel Klein, a spokesman for Jewish Response. The statement comes on the heels of the recent car torching (on Friday, Nov. 11) in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Midwood in Brooklyn. Swastikas were found painted on benches nearby.

"Unfortunately, incidents like this still occur, but with less frequency," Rabbi Klein continued. "By and large, anti-Semitism is a thing of the past. Jews here in Brooklyn live in peace with their gentile neighbors.

"Furthermore, most of the anti-Semitic acts that do take place here, as well as in Europe, are due to confusion in the minds of the perpetrators between Jews and Israelis. Those who object to the policies of the State of Israel often assume that all Jews support those policies and thus feel justified in taking out their anger on Jews in general.

"In light of this, we have to thank those Jewish organizations that are active in disseminating literature and information demonstrating that actually, a large percentage of Jews, especially Orthodox Jews, objects to the very existence of the State of Israel as a sovereign state. Certainly these Jews cannot be held accountable for whatever the State of Israel does. As this message reaches an ever-widening audience, anti-Semitism declines and loses credence as an ideology.

"It may not be a coincidence that this latest hate crime took place in Midwood, parts of which are in the Ninth Congressional District. Despite the fact that it is a heavily Democratic district, two months ago Republican Bob Turner beat Democrat David Weprin in a dramatic upset election. Many pro-Israeli Jews portrayed the election results as 'a message from Jews to President Obama' that he is not sufficiently supportive of the Zionist state. The truth is that most of the traditional Jews in the district voted for Turner because they objected to Weprin's views on the gay marriage issue. But because many in the media followed the Zionist lead and made Zionism the issue of the election, anti-Israel groups were given the pretext they needed to claim that Jews in general are disloyal to America and seek to manipulate America to serve Zionist interests.

"Ironically, Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who is now so vocal in decrying this hate crime, was one of those who spread the myth about the election. In late September, he even went so far as to give NY9 voters credit for Obama's staunch pro-Israel speech in the United Nations. In the immediately aftermath of the election, however, Hikind himself stated that the marriage issue was the main driving force behind Jewish votes for Turner.

"This incident serves to drive home the lesson that we must be careful what we say. Clarifying Jewish opposition to Zionism and Jewish loyalty to our country is the best way to reduce anti-Semitism," Rabbi Klein concluded.

This entry was posted on November 15, 2011 at 12:53 PM and has received 69 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.