Mail.Liberal-Judaism

• karen@hal.com (Karen Muldrow)
• david@porsche.visix.com (David Charlap)
• Alex Herrera <aherrera{TCNET/ENG/Aherrera}@klaven.tci.com>

• Murry Spector <murryj@u.washington.edu>

• Arthur Waskow <Awaskow@aol.com>

• hrubin@stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin)
• david@porsche.visix.com (David Charlap)

• Robert A. Book <prbook@gsbphd.uchicago.edu>

• Murry Spector <murryj@u.washington.edu>

• david@porsche.visix.com (David Charlap)

Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 06:59:06 -0800
From: karen@hal.com (Karen Muldrow)
Subject: Re: Dealing with anti-Semitism

Erica Klein wrote: 

> At a recent [neighborhood association] board meeting...the president made
> [an anti-semitic] remark ...

> Patrick was shocked and sickened [and is] considering writing a letter
> expressing his feelings and resigning from the board.

> What can we hope to accomplish?  We plan to leave this area within a year,
> and we would like to leave it a better place than we found it.

I can imagine that Patrick's instinct is to reject any association with a
group whose members might have an anti-semitic bias...but if you *really* do
want to make a difference and leave the community a better place than when you
found it, the neighborhood board provides an excellent forum for getting the
message across in a positive way.  Part of getting the message across means
continuing to participate on the board and to work to change it.

As difficult as it might be, it might be appropriate for Patrick to include
his concerns as an official topic at the next meeting. He could draft a
reasoned and intelligent letter that is peaceful in tone.  In retelling the
incidents that have occurred, try not to mention names - express the opinion
that the people that made the statements most probably did not intend to hurt
anyone, but that it reflects poorly on the goals of the community for those
types of remarks to come up, especially in a neighborhood board meeting. If
you have "minutes" or guidelines by which you conduct business, propose an
official code of conduct that prohibits racist, sexist, or anti-semitic
remarks during meetings. You might word the official language something to the
effect that "...to encourage cooperation and participation from all parts of
the community, the board....."

I am in the process of converting to Judaism...and I grew up in a small
midwestern town (where the only Jew was a Catholic religious education teacher
that converted to Christianity when she got married.  Based on this limited
experience - I would say that you will probably not be poorly received in
taking a position on this issue.  Small-town communities may not be
particularly "exposed" - but they are often eager (or at least willing!) to
learn and grow.

Best wishes,

Karen

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Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 09:12:36 -0800
From: david@porsche.visix.com (David Charlap)
Subject: Dealing with anti-Semitism 

Erica Klein <Naughyde@aol.com> writes:

[See previous post in this digest -- Yr. Mod.]

I would first organize the members of the community and have them demand the
president resign.  Why are you going to abdicate whatever power you have and
give up your only possibility to speak up against this behavior?

Tell me, through all of these comments, has Patrick once spoken up against it?
These people might just be making comments without thinking about them.

If the community as a whole is anti-semetic, you can either fight it (and take
whatever retribution may come your way) or move somewhere else.  To simply
resign from the board without saying or doing anything will have absolutely no
change on anything, and you'll lose the voice you now have.

>We plan to leave this area within a year, and we would like to leave it a
>better place than we found it.

If you already plan on leaving, and you're the only Jew in town, do you really
care what happens?

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Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 09:36:00 -0800
From: Alex Herrera <aherrera{TCNET/ENG/Aherrera}@klaven.tci.com>
Subject: Re: Dealing with anti-Semitism

Erica Klein writes that her husband attended a neighborhood board meeting 
when the subject of shoveling snow from the sidewalks came up.

>... the president made a remark in reference to shoveling snow off sidewalks
>to the effect of - when he lived in New York City, you knew you had better
>shovel off your sidewalk or else some 'Jewboy and his lawyer would be all
>over you'.

Later in her posting she remarked that the people in her town often showed
curiosity rather than animosity toward her Judaism. She then asks how others
have handled such blatent anti-semetism.

I'd say that you still don't know if you experienced anti-semetism. You may
have only experienced ignorance and stupidity. The only response to that is
patience and education.

I'll tell you my story. I am a convert to Judaism, but when I was a young man,
I was only vaguely aware of Judaism. I had heard of Jews in church.  They were
the guys that came before us Christians in the Bible. I had even met one in my
Boy Scout troop and the boy's father was an integral part of the troop. I
remember at one troop meeting singing a Christmas song and substituting the
word Hannukah. I sang it loud enough so that the Jewish boy and his father
could hear me clearly. Was I an antisemite? Another boy nudged me and told me
to shut up. "They're Jewish!", he exclaimed.  I replied, "So?" I felt no
animosity in my heart.

When I was in my twenties I was doing some business for my boss. To the woman
behind the counter I said something like, "I got to get a receipt for this. My
boss is real tight with the money. He's practically Jewish." The woman behind
the counter gave me a sneer and reached for her necklace. A Star of David hung
there on the chain. I stared stupidly at the symbol as she told me that she
was Jewish. I shrugged my shoulders, collected my receipt, and went on my
way. I couldn't figure out what the problem was. I felt no anomosity in my
heart.

I married a Jew, but I had no thought of converting to Judaism.

While at work, a man struck up a conversation with me. He explained to me that
the Jews were trying to take over the world and make us their slaves. I looked
at him, "Really? I can't think of a nicer people to do it." He was struck
dumb. I think it must have struck him shortly before he started talking to
me. :-)

I converted to Judasim a couple of years after I was married. I fell in love 
with Judaism.

Our friends of several years were also our business partners. In one instance
my friend was talking about a business transaction he was in and explained
that he was able to "Jew the guy down." I explained to him that the particular
phrase he used was inappropriate. I am a Jew and my wife is a Jew. He knew
that. I then saw in his eyes the same stupid stare that must have been in my
eyes those many years before when I talked to that woman behind the
counter. He just didn't get it. I was to explain this to him again several
times and he still didn't get it. He couldn't figure out why we would
object. He is a sweet man but he is a bonehead in this area.

I am now proud to call myself a Jew. But what was I before? Was I an
antisemite? I don't think so. I was ignorant and stupid.

There are antisemites in this world, but one should not assume that just
because people use stereotypes that they are the same as Nazi murderers or
Arab terrorists. For the most part they are just ignorant and stupid.

Let's give them a break and try to educate them rather than act in fear or
anger. Be nice to them. You may see them on the board of directors of your
synagogue in a couple of years trying to raise your dues to get the snow
cleared from the synagogue sidewalks. :-)

Alex Herrera
The Jew and former member of the board-of-directors of our synagogue.

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Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 07:38:10 -0800
From: Murry Spector <murryj@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Hebrew Word Processing Software

Can anyone recommend any Hebrew word processing software that would work with
Wordperfect 5.1?  I don't need to write long documents in Hebrew, but would
like to be able to insert Hebrew sentences in English documents, and do so in
a variety of fonts.

Thanks much.

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Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 05:21:24 -0800
From: Arthur Waskow <Awaskow@aol.com>
Subject: Martin Luther King Day/Tu B'Shvat confluence

With Tu B'Shvat upon us, I want to report in the name of my friend and teacher
*Shefa Gold* this thought about the confluence of the day with Martin Luther
King Day (alav hashalom):

On the Full Moon of Shvat, we understand, the juicy sap begins to rise again
in the trees, and in the Tree of Life. Through the winter and as it begins to
rise again, this sap is the dreaming of the tree. While the tree seems to
sleep through winter, the secret juice keeps it alive. This energy is not
publicly manifest but is the quiet, secret life, energy for the next spiral of
the tree's growth.

Just so, King the Dreamer ("I have a dream...") and not only himself but more
deeply his dream of justice, peace, and nonviolent courage to change the world
were and are for America and the world the new juice rising for the next
life-cycle.

So on a Tu B'Shvat that is also Martin Luther King Day, let us praise the
Creator of time Who brings us such confluences, and bless the Tree of trees,
the Dreamer of all dreams Who dreams us into being, that even in a time of
winter You rouse the dream in all of us to rise again, giving in its very
quiet new life to us, to justice, to peace and peacefulness, and to the flow
of life throughout the planet.

				  *********

Two other thoughts:

>From Louis Berman, author of a Haggadah for 15Shvat that focuses on
vegetarianiam: The Tu B'Shvat Seder is the one Jewish sacred meal that in
principle is not only vegetarian, not only vegan, but fruitarian: eating only
nuts and fruits that fall from the tree, thus not requiring the destruction of
any life at all. This is the food of Gan Eden. Not surprising that we eat the
food of Eden to celebrate the New Year of the Tree of Life.

And an insight of Phyllis Berman of ALEPH and Elat Chayyim: We say "Tu"
B'Shvat for the 15th, using the letters Tav and Vav (9+6) , lest we use the
letters we would usually use to count with : Yod and Hey (10+5), because that
combination makes one of the Divine Names. So let us keep in mind at every
full moon, but especially this one which calls our attention to the numerals,
that at every full moon the God Who is the Breath of Life is fully present.

Don't forget the bokser!  (carob, St John's bread: in Philadelphia, from the
Italian Market)

Arthur

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Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 04:52:23 -0800
From: hrubin@stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin)
Subject: Re: Nazi TV Filth

lbl@corpus.dnet.hcc.com (Leon B. Levy) writes:

>I am sure our community is not the first to be sullied with this Nazi filth.
>I would like to hear from anyone whose community has dealt creatively with
>this sort of situation.

I must agree with those who support the cable company and the FCC.  If
censorship is introduced, WE are as likely to be consored as any.  The ONLY
meaning for free speech is the right of those you do not wish to speak to do
so.  The only limitations are libel and direct incitement to cause damage to
others, such as the " `fire' in a crowded theater."  Freedom of speech has not
been around for that long in history; the Talmud even makes that clear.

Far more damaging antisemitic material can be found in parts of the latter
part of the Christian Bible.  It would be essentially impossible to oppose
this.

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Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 09:25:47 -0800
From: david@porsche.visix.com (David Charlap)
Subject: Re: Nazi TV Filth

lbl@corpus.dnet.hcc.com (Leon B. Levy) writes:

>... During the last week in December the local cable TV company (TCI) started
>airing a disgustingly antisemitic Nazi hate program ...  The local Jewish
>population has inundated the cable company with expressions of their outrage,
>but that company says they are just following the FCC rules (per the First
>Amendment) which do not give them any choice but to air any program unless it
>is obscene or is a commercial message.

While I don't know what FCC rule they're referring to, the First Ammendment
does not require them to broadcast anything they're given.  The first
ammendment prevents the government from censoring any media.  But it does not
prevent the media from censoring itself.

Now, the FCC may have its own regulation regarding community-access TV
channels.  I don't know about this.

That aside, you can easily argue that such programming is obscene.  Obscenity
isn't restricted to sexually-explicit programming.

Furthermore, a good lawyer might be able to sue the organization producing the
program, charging them with attempt to incite a riot.

There are many grounds on which this can be fought.  Obviously, your cable
network either supports the Nazis or doesn't care.  So you can take other
action.  For instance:

- Organize a campaign for the Jewish community to cancel their cable
  subscriptions en masse.  IF you can get them to do this, it'll hit your
  cable company in the pocketbook, where they'll notice.
- Complain about it in the newspapers.  Especially the nationwide papers, like
  the New York Times.
- Talk to the network news agencies.  All four major networks (CBS, NBC, ABC
  and FOX) have news programs that love exposing this kind of stuff.  A bit of
  pressure from people all around the world may help quite a bit.
- Organize your own anti-Nazi programs to go on TV alongside theirs.

Unless you're in a place where everybody is a Nazi, the best way to fight this
kind of racism is to be as vocal as possible.

>Some members of the Jewish community feel that trying to answer this
>hate-filled garbage would endow it with more respectability than it deserves.

These people are fools.  They've learned nothing from the Holocaust.  If
anything, they should've learned that ignoring organized hatred will not make
it go away.  It'll just get bigger and bigger until it takes over.

You must organize against it.

If you don't know exactly what action to take, I suggest you contact the B'nei
Brith Anti-Defamation League.  Also the Simon Wiesenthall center.  These
organizations exist for the purpose of fighting these kinds of anti-Jewish
hate crimes.

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Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 10:13:55 -0800
From: Robert A. Book <prbook@gsbphd.uchicago.edu>
Subject: Public-School Prayer, and Ignorance about Judaism

Regarding the issue of public-school prayer, our dominant concern as Jews
seems to be that in a Christian-majority country, a minority religion such as
Judaism will "get lost in the shuffle" so to speak, leaving many Jewish
students left out, marginalized, etc.

You might find interesting an article in the current issue of _Policy_Review_
and article entitled "The Christian Case Against School Prayer."  It
essentially argues that in efforts to satisfy different denominations of
Christians, and simulataneously not offend Jews and other religious
minorities, the prayer involved will be so watered-down as to be meaningless,
and its existence will make religion in general appear meaningless as well.  I
would be happy to mail a copy of this article to anyone who'd like it; send me
e-mail if you're interested (rbook@uchicago.edu).

Jack Dolcourt <JDOLCOURT@ped.med.utah.edu> writes:

> There is already intense social pressure on non-Mormon children here to
> conform and become a member of Utah's dominant religion.  Neighborhood
> social activities and even Boy Scout troops are organized around the Mormon
> ward system. Imagine what it would be like to the lone Jewish child in a
> public elementary school here who is separated out daily while all of other
> Mormon students do their prayers. The child would probably respond in one of
> two ways by either becomming school-phobic or capitulating.

Interesting that you use Utah is an example.  About 10 years ago, when a
school-prayer amendment was last before Congress, Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah
(who is Mormon) opposed it on precisely these grounds.  I suspect he may have
been made aware of the problem when considering the circumstances of Mormons
students in other areas of the country, where they are a small and
often-ridiculed minority (like us!).

Alex Herrera <aherrera{TCNET/ENG/Aherrera}@klaven.tci.com> writes:

> My son has no problem with this and actually feels special since he is the
> only Jew in his class. He gets to be the center of attention as he sings
> Hannukah songs for the other kids and explains the holiday. I believe that
> the class and the school gave the subject more than adequate coverage --
> even to the point of having Hannukah projects for the whole class.

This is more like my experience as a child.

> A man got on the line and identified himself as a Reform Jew. He sounded
> sincere. He explained that he celebrated Christmas and he said this was
> allowed to do this under Reform Judaism.

Ugh!

And people wonder why *Christians* are ignorant about Judaism?  Why
*Christians* don't know Jews don't celebrate Christmas?  First, with people
saying things like that on the radio, they are getting so much misinformation
it's amazing they aren't more ignorant.

Second, and more important: We ought to stop worrying about how ignorant
Christians are about Judaism, and start doing something about JEWS who are
ignorant about Judaism.

Robert Book    rbook@uchicago.edu
University of Chicago

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Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 07:38:10 -0800
From: Murry Spector <murryj@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Songs of Praise

A few years ago, a friend gave me a tape of haunting Shabbat melodies called
"Songs of Praise" by a duo called Nathan and Joseph.  The tape was a copy of a
copy of a copy.  Has anyone heard of this duo or of their recordings?  My
friend did not know who had the original recording, but thought it came from
the Los Angeles area.  The copy I have is wearing out, and my Shabbat would be
a little less full without it.

Thanks much.

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Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 09:38:17 -0800
From: david@porsche.visix.com (David Charlap)
Subject: Re: Tarahat Ha Mishpachot

Robert_Rubinoff@spino.soar.cs.cmu.edu (Robert Rubinoff) writes:

>More fundamentally, I'm skeptical because I've *never* heard of a
>description of a community that had all of the (married) women in
>niddah at the same time. ...

I've heard of it, but it didn't happen through natural means.  It was during
some early attempts to teach birth control to the native populations of
Africa.  The researchers found that most of the women couldn't count to 30, so
they would end up taking their birth-control pills in the wrong order (causing
all kinds of problems).  So the people organizing this effort told the women
to synchronize their pill-taking to the phases of the moon.  This had the
effect (among other things) of synchronizing everyone's cycles to each other
and to the phases of the moon.

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"It is not our task as liberal Jews to complain about the Orthodox attitude or to be bullied by it, but rather to choose our legitimate path according to the inner logic and development of liberal Judaism" (Rabbi Walter Jacob)

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