Reflection

Psalm 130

Shir hamaalot mima amakim keraticha Adonai

Adonai shima bekoli tihyena oznecha kashubot le'kol tanhanuai

Im avonot tishmor Yah Adonai mi ya'amod

Ki imcha haslicha lemaan tivare

kiviti adonai kivta nafshi velidvaro hochalti

Nafshi ladonai mishomrim laboker shomrim laboker

Yachel yisrael el adonai ki im adonai hachesed veharbeh imo fedut

Vehu yifdeh et yisrael mikol avonotav.

From the depths I have cried out to you, O L-rd;

L-rd, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive

to the voice of my supplication.

If you, L-rd, were to mark iniquities, who, O L-rd, shall stand?

But with you is forgiveness, that you may be revered. 

I trust in the L-rd;

My soul trusts in his word.

My soul waits for the L-rd,

more than watchmen wait for the dawn.

More than watchmen wait for the dawn, let Israel hope in the L-rd.

For with the L-rd there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.

And he will redeem Israel from all her  iniquities

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Today is the international day for the elimination of violence against women. The UN gives us the following harrowing statistics:

• 35% of women and girls globally experience some form of physical and or sexual violence in their lifetime with up to seven in ten women facing this abuse in some countries. 

• It is estimated that up to 30 million girls under the age of 15 remain at risk from FGM/C, and more than 130 million girls and women have undergone the procedure worldwide. 

• Worldwide, more than 700 million women alive today were married as children, 250 million of whom were married before the age of 15. Girls who marry before the age of 18 are less likely to complete their education and more likely to experience domestic violence and complications in childbirth.

In Britain the charity shelter notes the following( NOTE: domestic abuse against men also occurs and this is equally unacceptable) :

• Metropolitan Police statistics show that male violence against women made up 85% of reported domestic violence incidents

• A 2009 study based on police reports, which accounted for the dynamics of domestic violence, found that only 5% of domestic violence incidents were perpetrated by women in heterosexual relationships

• Domestic violence is patterned, repeated behaviour intended to assert power and control over the victim. Of those who experience 4 or more incidents of domestic violence, 89% are women

• Four times as many women as men are killed by a current or former partner.

• Two women a week are killed as a result of domestic violence in England and Wales

So I think it's perfectly laudable that there is a day to raise awareness of these issues within our society,including our particular Jewish community. Yes it is true that Jewish women also suffer from domestic abuse and this is in NO WAY condoned in our religion. Jewish law expressly forbids personal violence and requires commitment to shalom bayit, a happy and peaceful family life. Jewish men who commit domestic violence, are destroying shalom bayit and breaking Jewish law.

Here are some Jewish sources in relation to this : 

• 'Do not stand idly by and see your neighbour’s blood spilled' – Leviticus 19:16

• 'A husband should love his wife as much as he does himself and should respect her even more than he respects himself' – Gemara Yevamot 62b

• 'Maintaining the dignity of a person is so great that it may override halacha' – Gemara Brachot 19b

• 'A man who strikes his wife commits a sin, just as if he were to strike anyone else' - Rama, Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 154:3

We need to be unequivocally supportive of those who've and those who are suffering from these abuses & not to treat them as taboos. Here's a link to the charity I've just mentioned so people can  familiarise themselves with the issues and become more aware of how to help or if you need help to go to a website like the ones below (Please!) :

Jewish women's aid

Refuge

Student politics-scoff contemptuously or cry?

Student politics was always something outlandish and bizzare to me, but when I read, courtesy of the Jewish news, that the NUS refused to pass a resolution condemning IS because this could be seen as islamophobic, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. 

Let's put aside the fact the argument that said boycotting Israel could be seen as antisemitism, didn't stop the same body from deciding to pass a boycott resolution or the fact that if one won't condemned IS because it is ialamophobic to do so, you are de facto admitting that IS is a legitimate expression of Islam (something which politicians have gone out of their way to deny).

Instead, let's note instead that the greatest victims, aside from Christians and  Yazidis are in fact fellow Muslims. IS are quite racist with an utter contempt for Kurds ( Jews share an affinity with the Kurdish people, in many ways, who are by and large very moderate and modern: as in Israel, men and women are defending their homes  together, during the recent is onslaught). 

I do wonder therefore why anyone wouldn't want to condemn IS and support Kurds, Christians, Yazidis and others in defeating this wicked menace.

comparison of denominations

An ecumenical post.

Here is how I think Christian and Jewish denominations compare:

Anglican: Conservative Judaism

Charismatic: Hasidic Judaism

Evangelical/ protestant: Haredi Judaism

Liberal mainline protestant Christianity: Reform Judaism

Roman Catholicism: Orthodox Judaism/Sephardic Judaism

Orthodox Christianity: Sephardic Judaism

Are these approximate comparisons valid? If so why, if no why? Does anyone else have an alternative set of comparisons?

Thought for today

And do you agree with it or not ?

The fight back begins

I've been on a bit of a blog break during August,for obvious reasons, namely because of having to look after my children, alongside the usual stuff that I do, whilst they were not at school due the summer holidays. Now that they are back at school, I have more time to write out blog posts.

The summer months have been difficult for Jews in Europe, as they always are whenever the middle east Arab- Israeli conflict spills over into open conflict. We have the sights of mass rallies directed not just against Israel, but seemingly against Jews as well(or at least that is how it feels) . In France there was more or less several pogroms and in Britain we even had kosher food being removed from a supermarket shelf because of the fear the store would be trashed otherwise. This may sound minor, except this is liberal, tolerant, multicultural Britain we are talking about, a country which has always been tolerant towards Jews, at least since the 17th century when we returned to this country( it was the Sephardi who first settled here). 

Then there have been the increasing antisemitism, the verbal and physical abuse, the intellectual attacks on Israel, the lack of appreciation as to what and why Israel has to fight. There was also a feeling that our community leaders were not speaking out more and when they did, they messed up(as in the recent furore over the board of deputies / Muslims council joint statement).

I was therefore relived to hear that there was going to be a demo against antisemitism in London last Sunday. Representatives of the whole British Jewish community attended the rally, which about 5,000 attended, Jews of various stripes, differences temporarily forgotten, as well as Christians & non Jews. I am glad we are starting to fight back against this antisemitism, which is simply not acceptable. I'm saddened that we even have to do this nowadays.

I have put a video of the rally which includes highlights of the speeches given, including  the Azshkenazi chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis,Senior Reform Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner & most passionately,the new Senior Sephardi Rabbi Joseph Dweck .

Kol hakavod

Oy, Oy, My Boy Is Goy

Via the Times of Israel, the fashion designer, Risk, has made a range of Jewish-themed clothes, including a  t-shirt: 'Oy, Oy, My Boy Is Goy'…- I needed that with some of the boyfriends I had in days gone by- but the aim is to make Jewish clothing 'more sexy'. 

Hmmm this will  go down well with the Haredi. 

Too sexy for a Jew?

Oooooh, 

Quite literally ! Today is apparently 'National Orgasm Day'.  Apparently Ann Summers (the sex shop) has seen a surge in sales. Yeah, you got that right, the prudish Brits do have a day which celebrates sex. It seems rather odd and perhaps an indication of our strange cultural times, that on the one hand we don't normally talk about sexual intercourse, but on the other there is a huge growth of the porn industry and what I take to be the over sexualisation of society, especially young teenage girls. It is true that when I was a teenager I always wanted to look 'sexy' and older than I actually was. But to be honest, I never really pushed the boundaries that some girls seem to do today (my skirts were never and still are knee length). 

The strange thing is that as a far as Judaism is concerned, sex within the context of heterosexual married life is a good thing ( I believe that my sister has explained our family's approach to homosexual activity before, in her post here, so I don't want this to turn into another rant against the gay). We are actively encouraged to -put it crudely - shag on the Shabbat. We are also to have at least 2 children, if we can, but sex isn't just about pro-creation, but an enjoyment in its own right. Indeed I'm supposed to have sex even after I've lost the ability to have children. Sex in Judaism is also controlled by the woman and not the man. So sex in itself isn't a bad thing; it is in fact a wonderful thing. I enjoy sex. I really do. But the downside is that outside of its proper place and context sex can be a dangerous thing. Which is sad because that is not they way it is supposed to be. 

Is Rabbi Sacks right about cyber space?

There is an interesting news item at the Jewish news, regarding Rabbi Lord Sack's recent intervention on social media/the Internet that threatens to return humanity “back to the dark ages”, the article continues :

Citing attacks against the Jewish community in France and Germany, he added: “Forgive me if I say that I did not expect, 120 years after the Dreyfus case and 70 years after the Holocaust, that the cry of ‘Death to the Jews’ would be heard again in the streets of France and Germany.”Lord Sacks added that while the recent violence carried echoes of the past, it is being spread faster by modern social media sites such as Twitter.

I agree with Lord Sacks that modern social media has made us more globally aware and that communications are such that anyone can have a voice; I also agree that the surge in anti-semitism is alarming and that some reports seem to want to explain that when Germans are pro-Israel it is because of holocaust guilt, rather than genuine support (see this BBC article). 

This democratisation of the political process is positive, in so much as the ordinary people have a forum for their opinions. The negative side is that social media can and does attract the cyber fanatics who are like a baying mob, especially toward Jews and Israel at present. The one thing that we must remember is that we Jews have often had to defend ourselves and our religion, when we had no Israel and no IDF. We did so on the back of our wits, belief & sheer courage : does anyone remember the disputation of Barcelona? 

So today there is an Internet and yes it can be full of disturbing messages and arguments. We must regain that voice quickly and win the argument .It is not social media that is the problem, rather we must remind ourselves that we are Jews and we have never been afraid of defending our faith when necessary, often with the most powerful weapon of all: words, writing and debate. So today we must remember that whilst opponents have a voice so do we. Let us make them hear us. Let us win the argument once more.