These people should be banned from synagogues - Not Judge Goldstone

Neturei Karta join in the anti-Israel demonstrations last week

A member of Neturei Karta, a fringe of ultra-Orthodox movement within the anti-Zionist bloc in Israel, talks with a masked Palestinian youth during clashes with Israeli police in the Arab east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan on April 25, 2010. Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli police as dozens of ultra-nationalist Jews carried Israeli flags through Silwan to assert Jewish sovereignty of all of Jerusalem, according to the organisers of the march.

The Judge Goldstone Saga: Let the beheadings begin

The local and international press is running with the Judge Goldtsone 'Barmitzvah Barring' story. The South African Jewish community has been outraged, following the release of the 'Goldstone Report' and there are reports that the outrage, and attacks, are now 'personal'

The Times has reported that the SA Jewish board of deputies has denied that any barring has taken place. YNet News reported that the 'banning' is indeed in place. According to the Business Day, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies called the reports of banning "completely untrue".

I think the Goldtsone report is a travesty of justice.

Judge Golstone led the UN fact finding mission on Gaza. The mission kicked off in April 2009 and the report was published in September 2009.

The "Judge Goldstone event of 2009" irrevocably damaged Israel's reputation. It 'exposed' Israel as being a war-hungry, blood-thirsty colonialist state. It 'presented' the inhumane tactics used by Israel's war machine and blatant disregard the Israeli military, and government, has for Palestinian life and Palestinian territory.

(An often ignored and overlooked "by-the-way": The report accused both the Israeli Defense Force AND Palestinian militants of war crimes and, alleged, crimes against humanity)

But, should the outcome and recommendations of that report be of any surprise to Israel and the international Jewish community?

Has the UN and any of it's agencies been 'friends of Israel' over the past decade, two decades, four decades?

The feeling among the general Jewish community, and supporters of Israel, is that Goldstone has undermined the Jewish state, and fueled the flames of anti-Jewish, anti-semitic and anti-Israel sentiment

While the Jewish Board denies reports of the 'barring' of Judge Goldstone from attending his grandson's barmitzvah, there are many members of the Jewish community (and leaders too) who would (and do) support such a barring

Should he have declined the opportunity to lead the fact-finding mission?

Yes

But the findings would have been the same. In fact, Israel probably could have expected an even worse, more damaging report from the 'we-haven't-supported-Israel-since-1947' UN

"Anti-semitism", "anti-Torah", "anti-Jewish lifestyle", "anti-Jewish homeland" movements (and wide support for those movements) have always existed. There is nothing new about these movements, sentiments, lunatics.

Judge Goldstone did not invent anti-semitism, anti-Torahism and anti-Jewish Homelandism

And he hardly fuels it

Judge Goldstone sits way down on the list of issues and people who undermine the Jewish community, our beliefs, our Torah values. Judge Goldstone is small fry when it comes to fueling anti-semetism, anti-Jewish lifestyle, anti-Torah views and anti-Israel sentiment

Judge Goldstone should NEVER be banned from any shul, or Jewish institutions. There should be NO debate about such bannings, barrings or Taliban style community dealings

But that does not mean barrings, bannings, and possible beheadings should be entirely ruled out. The target of these efforts needs to be the people and activities that threaten the Jewish community, what it stands for, and what it believes in.

Judge Goldtsone does not feature on that list

Who is undermining the Jewish community's credibility? Who is bringing disrepute to the Jewish way of life and our Torah values? What type of people are weakening the standing of Israel within the community of nations? What activities are sabotaging our efforts to be a 'light unto the nations'

So, who should we be banning from our shuls and communities?

• Jewish businessman and religious leaders convicted of fraud, employment and abuse of illegal worker, and cruelty to animals
• Israeli mayors who take bribes
• Rabbis who molest children
• Jews who don't respect other human beings

These kinds of people and activities cause harm to us as a Jewish community, our beloved Torah and our precious State of Israel

There's has been a lot of talk about Judge Goldtsone

Maybe, maybe too much talk

Does being religious enhance literary skills?

Here is an interesting article that appeared in the Jerusalem Post

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‘Jewish heritage, tradition essential to our culture'

By JONAH MANDEL

07/04/2010

Does being religious enhance literary skills?

The Education Ministry on Tuesday released the breakdown of the latest results of matriculation exams (bagrut) in literature, for the school year 2007/2008, and seven of the 10 high schools with the best averages, including the top five, were religious institutions.

Bar-Ilan University Prof. Ephraim Hazan, who also served as a supervisor over literature studies in the religious education system, was cited by Israel Radio on Tuesday as explaining that “the religious youth is more connected to the [Jewish] sources and the Hebrew language of the sources, while the secular youth is unfortunately disconnecting from it, in certain aspects.”

Ariela Zim agrees with Hazan’s thesis, but says that there is more to it. She would know, as it was her pupils in the Neveh Shmuel yeshiva high school, located in Efrat, who had the highest average score in the 2008 literature exams.

“When our students read Agnon, it really comes to life for them,” the jubilant teacher told The Jerusalem Post, referring to the Nobel laureate whose corpus is rich with references and allusions to the Jewish tradition and sources. “But you need to utilize the preliminary connection, to inspire the students, to impassion them.
“An important aspect is the method of teaching, which in our case, is a round table with all the implications – a group of us sitting together, debating, discussing, listening to one another – much like traditional Jewish scholarship,” Zim continued, contrasting that method to one in which a single authority puts forth a thesis.

“Our approach promotes the capacity to analyze and scrutinize texts, but more importantly, genuinely connects the students to the material. The students learn to ask questions, and to love the subject matter. It becomes part of their soul.”

Zim also noted that since the students’ abilities are ultimately evaluated by a written test, she takes care to develop oral and written expression skills.

When asked by the Post if her pedagogic success could not be attributed primarily to good teaching methods in general, Zim had no doubts as to the central role Jewish heritage has in contemporary Israeli culture.

“Any attempt to sever oneself from the Jewish heritage and tradition, while suggesting an alternative secular culture or identity, is doomed to fail,” she said. “Without tradition constituting a significant facet [in our culture], we won’t be able to make achievements in fields considered secular, and not only literature.”