Tag Archives: nationality / nationhood

Face to Face at Sinai

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From my blog:
Moses Shows the Tablets of the Law, by Marc Chagall

Moses Shows the Tablets of the Law, by Marc Chagall

Two brief teachings by R. Kalonymus Kalman HaLevi Epstein on Shavuot, excerpted from Maor vaShamesh

ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר And Israel camped there under the mountain. Exodus 19:2

Rashi points out that ‘camped’ is in the singular, and explains they camped there ‘as one person with one heart.’

To receive the Torah, the essential thing, on which everything else depends, is that there be love and brotherhood among the children of Israel, as our sages said, ‘The entire Torah depends on the mitzvah of ‘love your fellow as yourself.’ For when there is peace among us, the divine Presence rests among us, since the totality of our souls equals 60,000, the number of letters in the Torah, for we each have our soul’s root in one of the letters of the Torah — and this is hinted at by the very word ישראל ‘Israel,’ which stands for Continue reading →

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[Student Profile] Emly Oren

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Emly Oren left Israel with her family at the age of four, but in many ways Israel never left her family. At school in Orange County, Emly was the only Israeli student; but her family continued to speak Hebrew at home, and they only watched Israeli television programs. The Orens would travel to Israel every summer to visit all of their relatives, and they would sometimes stop by other locations en route to their main destination.

As a child, Emly drew no distinction between being Jewish and being Israeli. Her traditional, secular family would remain at home together on Friday evenings for Kiddush and Shabbat dinner; and every year they would attend services at Chabad for the High Holy Days, but Emly felt no connection to that environment because it didn’t reflect the rhythm or culture of her family life. When Emly somehow decided to have a bat mitzvah, she chose to hold services at a local public library… and of course, her bat mitzvah party theme was ‘Israel’.

This was a pivotal point in Emly’s childhood, as she soon joined USY, and was exposed to other young Jews for the first time. She came to realize that Continue reading →

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Granted

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I often find myself reflecting upon something that my father shared with me about his early impressions of Israel after he made Aliyah from Moscow in ’74. He told me about his being a security guard on Mt. Scopus before the Hebrew U. campus had been fully constructed, and gazing from his post across the hilltops of Jerusalem (the view today is obstructed). He said he felt then as though he could see his ancestors walking along those very hills… and felt deeply that he was living in the Land of his People Israel.

Even now I’m touched by this, but it is not my own, despite my deep connection to this Land – the Land of my birth – the Land that changed the course of my family’s history forever – the Land that I frequented during my childhood on visits to grandparents and cousins. My own connection feels less dramatic to me – no moment of epiphany.

While my parents’ lives were changed forever with Aliyah from the Former Soviet Union (FSU), my life literally began with Israel. Continue reading →

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[PCJE Dvar Torah] Shabbat Zachor by Aliza Geller

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This weekend, Parashat Tetzaveh, Shabbat Zachor is my Bat Mitzvah portion. When I was 12 years old, I wrote a dvar Torah about the maftir and haftarah. The reason this made sense, is that Shabbat Zachor is one of four Shabbatot where the maftir aliyah is from a different place in the Torah. In this case, three psukim about Amalek. Amalek is the people who attacked the Israelites from behind (meaning where the weakest people were), when they were leaving Egypt. We are simultaneously commanded to blot out Amalek from memory and remember what they have done to us.

Amalekites attacking the Israelites

Amalekites attacking the Israelites

This transitions into the Haftaorah, where Shaul is commanded by G-d (through Shmuel the Prophet) to inflict a punishment on Amalek and their king Agag. Shaul is told to spare nothing. Yet, he spares Agag and the choicest of animals. That night, Shmuel receives a message from G-d, that Shaul did not carry out the punishment the way it was supposed to happen. He goes and yells at Shaul and ends up inflicting the punishment himself. And no one ever heard of Amalek again….. Continue reading →

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Some Initial Thoughts on Halakha

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One Aspect of Halakha that is Particularly Meaningful to Me

“Anyone who identifies as Jewish today only need go back three or four generations to find observant Jews in their family. And from there an unbroken chain of Jewish living that goes back more than three thousand years. Not that everyone has always been observant. There were plenty of unobservant Jews. But we don’t know their grandchildren. They have been lost to the Jewish community.”

I came across this quote on the Chabad website, and it speaks to a deeply-held belief of mine. Of course, this quote applies specifically to those of us who are of Jewish descent, and maybe it would be more accurate to claim that we “only need go back” four or five generations… but I agree with the spirit of R. Moss’ idea.

As with all cultures, there exists Jewish art, music, theater, literature, etc., but it is our halakhic system that has sustained our People since our exile from our Land. Continue reading →

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[Alumni Guest Post] Alissa Thomas: ‘It’s More Than a Feeling’: A Reflection on Zionism

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Zionism has become a touchy subject for many people in today’s post-modern culture, but here’s a beautiful, articulate piece that describes Pardes alum Alissa Thomas’ (Spring ’11) personal relationship to the concept of Zionism and the modern state of Israel:

From alum Alissa Thomas'
Sh'ma Blog:

As expected, everyone is thinking, talking, and praying about Israel right now.

Perhaps we feel as though there is a tether tied around our own hearts and identities, and its opposite end is bound up in Israel’s future.

Or maybe as North American Jews, we are frightened for our loved ones who live there and of the implications of what uncertainty in Israel means here.

Maybe we even feel guilty for being Jews who benefit from the existence of the State of Israel but who are currently far from it.

Or better yet, perhaps we are not really sure why our stomachs sink upon reading the news, but nevertheless we just can’t shake the feeling.

Is this what Zionism feels like? Continue reading →

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Lot

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Originally posted on my blog:
Years ago I heard comedian Yisrael Campbell give his shpiel about converting to Judaism. It is hilariously funny in the way that can only come from truths. In one part, the rabbis ask him, “Do you put your lot in with the Jewish people.” “Sure,” he shrugs, realizing that is easy-peasy when you live in LA. And then he comes to Israel. Ok, a little bit harder. And then he experiences an intifada. Much harder. And then two of his closest friends are killed in the Hebrew University bombing. And now, whether he likes it or not, his lot is bound with the Jewish people.
My lot has never been anywhere but with the Jewish people. Israel much less so. It is easy for me to pledge my allegiance from America where Israel is all about a birthright where even the garbagemen wear kippot and Memorial Day is a poignant moment of silence. But that silence is surreal. You cannot know the reality of Memorial Day in Israel. That is, of course, until you have someone to memorialize. When you go from sympathy to empathy you start to bind your lot. Continue reading →
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Are you a Lonely Man or a Social Man?

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As most of my fellow Pardesnicks have probably gathered at this late date in the semester, I’m what one might call “quiet.” It’s not that I don’t speak up in class or won’t engage in conversation (if you strike one up first, of course). Rather, my quietness is an overall demeanor. I’m not a smiley person, and my facial expressions are what I like to call “subtle.” Crowded social gatherings make me stiff and awkward, because they require me to be, well, social. This is doable for me in small groups. However, the larger the group gets, the quieter I get. It’s not intended as an act of disengagement and it’s not because I don’t like people. It also certainly is not because I think that I’m too cool to let loose and be boisterous once in a while. It’s really a leftover trait of childhood bashfulness that morphed into nearly debilitating social anxiety at the onset of puberty, which lasted well into adulthood. It’s only been for the last couple of years that I’ve been able to train and force myself just to be this outgoing. I know, I know; I’m not exactly Little Miss Sunshine. I’m more of a Little Miss Moon…beam, or something.

In the last Relationships class with Tovah Leah, we discussed the role of the individual and the community, and the tension between the two, and the sacrifices we must make to obtain some sort of balance Continue reading →

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Bipartisanship

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“Too often bipartisanship is equated with centrism or deal cutting. Bipartisanship is not the opposite of principle. One can be very conservative or very liberal and still have a bipartisan mindset. Such a mindset acknowledges that the other party is also patriotic and may have some good ideas. It acknowledges that national unity is important, and that aggressive partisanship deepens cynicism, sharpens political vendettas, and depletes the national reserve of good will that is critical to our survival in hard times.“

-Richard Lugar, U.S. Senator (R, IN)

Following the trend of the U.S. Senate (and all of Congress, for that matter), Senator Richard Lugar was voted out by his own party last week – after serving in the U.S. Senate for 36 years. The quote above is from Senator Lugar’s exit letter, dated May 8th (one week ago today).

This letter resonated deeply with me, and as I read it my thoughts turned to the Jewish nation – if there’s one overarching lesson that I’ve derived from my studies at Pardes, it’s surely the lesson of Ahavat Yisrael… the lesson that we Jews should strive to “have a bipartisan mindset… (and) acknowledge… that (others are) also patriotic and may have some good ideas… (that) national unity is important.”

Insert the word ‘pluralistic’ for ‘bipartisan’, and I find that Senator Lugar’s approach to politics suggests a healthy and productive framework for the Jewish nation to chart a unified course through the divisive currents of change and uncertainty.

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