Sexual Identity - Transgender Professor at YU

Recipients and Publicity forwarded from New York Post:

Yeshiva University torn by transgender challenge.

A Yeshiva University professor left two years ago as a man - and returned last week as a woman.

Literature Professor Joy Ladin, formerly known as Jay Ladin, 47, showed up for her first day of school sporting pink lipstick, a tight purple shirt and a flirty black skirt. She cheerfully strutted through the doors of the Midtown campus' main building, where she oversees the writing center.

Many at the Jewish university are horrified by the presence of the transgender professor. Some fear the news could cut alumni donations.

Ladin and the school won't comment on the situation, but some rabbis are shocked that she's still a member of the faculty.

"He's not a woman. He's a male with enlarged breasts," said Rabbi Moshe Tendler, a senior dean at Yeshiva's rabbinical school and a professor of biology and medical ethics. "He's a person who represents a kind of amorality which runs counter to everything Yeshiva University stands for. There is just no leeway in Jewish law for a transsexual.

"There is no niche where he can hide out as a female without being in massive violation of Torah law, Torah ethics and Torah morality."

Even if not in spirit, Ladin remains part male.

Although she's taking progesterone and estrogen to grow breasts and feminize her appearance, she retains the most prominent part of her manhood, according to the prologue of her unfinished memoir, "Inside Out: Confessions of a Woman Caught in the Act of Becoming." [...]

Ladin's wife filed for divorce and custody of their three kids and moved out of their Amherst, Mass., house, according to friends.

Although some rabbis are outraged by Ladin's return, many students are celebrating. [...]

Shayndi Raice Sigall, 26, of the Upper East Side, took Ladin's class in 2004 and said her return would offer students a unique learning experience.

"There are transgender people all over the world, and this is a wonderful opportunity for the school to show students firsthand how you can respect and learn from someone who might be different from you," Sigall said.

The transgender community is also thrilled with the surprising decision. [...]

Shavei Israel III - Proselytizing not kiruv/Finding Jews that don't exist

Guest Post: Recipients and Publicity's comment to "Shavei Israel II - Exploiting Law of Return Loopho...":

For once I agree with Jersey Girl's attitude here. [See JPost article she forwarded]

But Bartley, while I admit that my post was somewhat far-reaching, it does make a very good point, that in spite of Shavei Israel's posturing and to be blunt, MANIPULATION of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate's requirements for conversions, if you just take a hard cold look at what Shavei Israel is up to, and the JP article was a good example, they are searching high and low for ANY people with the remotest connections to the Jewish people, and they will work with people that halacha is clear are pure gentiles, meshumadim and outright Christians who do not have have a Jewish mother, for a few generations, and may even have been Catholics for a long time and in fact don't even want to "come back" to the Jewish people and Zion so that to get involved in "kiruv-like" activities to haul these people in that is a very controversial, and probably Halachically forbidden, activity.

Your contention that Shavei Israel is no different than a kiruv operation is wrong because they are working with the goal to reach people who THEY know will often times be gentiles and will require conversions, which is not and should not be the classical definition of "kiruv" which means reaching out to non-observant Jews and trying to mekarev them.

If you had read what I have written in some earlier posts about Kiruv that Dr. Eidensohn kindly published, you will see that what Shavei Israel is doing is like the current Reform Judaism effort of "Keruv" to non-Jews and to non-Jewish partners of Jews in the hope of bringing into the Jewish people and not even trying to convert them. This is the Achilles heel of the EJF/R. Leib Tropper/Tom Kaplan effort in spite of its counter-claims, and that is that in effect Shavei Israel, the Reform movement and even EJF are promoting a kind of evangelical Judaism that seeks to proselytize people into becoming Jews when they are neither asking for it nor need it.

Reminder - anonymous comments rejected

Islamic Anti-semitism - A sourcebook

Arutz Sheva reports:[...]

In his book, " The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History", author Dr. Andrew G. Bostom describes what it was like living as a Jew under Moslem rule. Quoting from Islamic sources and historical records, this 700+ page book provides a plethora of unaltered and complete historical accounts on how Islamic governments treated Christians, Jews, and other 'infidels'.

Bostom was inspired to focus on the Jewish aspect of history living under the thumb of Islam during research for another book on the Islamic treatment of non-Muslims. When he came across a quote by Sufi jurist Sirhindi (d. 1621): "Whenever a Jew is killed, it is for the benefit of Islam," he began researching and recording Jewish experiences under Muslim rule on a scholarly level.

In his August 31 interview on Israel National Radio's Tamar Yonah Show, he shared the dramatic account of a young Moroccan Jewess in her teens who lived in the 1800's, named Sol Hachuel. Falsely accused on charges of "apostasy" from Islam, she was offered riches and special rights if she embraced Islam - or prison, torture and death if she did not. Sol Hachuel chose to be imprisoned, starved, tortured and then decapitated in the town square rather than give up her Judaism. "I was born a Jew, and I shall die a Jew," she boldly stated to the Islamic court, according to Bostom's accounts.

On the show, Bostom read her historic speech that inspired the Fez Jewish community to remain committed to their Judaism despite the hardships of constant false charges, unfair heavy taxes, violence and murder.

Hear Hachuel's riveting last words to her executioner and her people

Listen Now or Download the interview.

Shavei Israel II - Exploiting Law of Return Loophole

Guest Post: Recipients and Publicity's comment to "Shavei Israel - Proselytizing or discovering Jews?...":

Exploiting the loophole in Israel's Law of Return for not having "giyur kehalacha" in it.

It was interesting that in the article about the Polish "hidden Jews" published in the latest Jewish Press, which is really just a press release from Shavei Israel that the JP, as is their style, has published, there is not a single word about Halacha and geirus. Not even the broader generalized terminology of "Jewish law" and "conversions" yet when one clicks on to the Shavei Israel website there are many links about that all the work they do is in accordance with the Israeli Chief Rabbinate and that they facilitate real conversions.

This is often the two-facedness, in other words hypocrisy (often self-created) of many Israeli governmental, kiruv and outreach type organizations. To win friends and influence people -- and of course to set the ground for major fund raising appeals with the unsuspecting Jewish public being softened up by these kind of media campaigns, and after all, Michael Freund head of Shavei Israel is described on their website as "Deputy Director of Communications & Policy Planning in the Prime Minister's Office under Benjamin Netanyahu" so he knows the whole PR game and how even press releases that pose as "articles' can be used as self-created "endorsementa" allowing for outright proselytising.

When the Holocaust destroyed Europe's Jewish centers, the survivors who came to Israel were all Halachik Jews. When Arab nationalism and antisemitism made life in Islamic lands impossible for Jews forcing them to come to Israel, they were 100% Halachic Jews. But then funny things started to happen. The fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of antisemitism brought forth people who wanted to take advantage of the well-established Israeli state. Everyone knew that the Jews of the USSR had non-Jewish relatives. The State of Israel and its secular elites, in a an ongoing fit and manifestation of POST-Zionism allowed the forbidden by opening the gates to people who should have been denied entry for the simplest of reasons, they did not qualify by the standards of Israel's own key 1950 Law of Return that could and should have easily excluded questionably Jewish Russians, Poles, Chinese, Indians and whatnot because they did not meet even Ben Gurion's original criteria for Israeli citizenship based on core classical Jewish identity.

The fatal loophole in the law that was compromised, was that the Law of Return, while talking of Jewish matrilineal descent, did not have in it the qualifying proviso of "giyur kehalacha" a "convert according to Halacha"!

And so the crack was opened and began a flood-gate. In poured the Russians, Falashas, so-called "Anusim", and now Shavei Israel and others like them take further advantage in the name of "Zionism" and "Judaism" and on their website even "conversion" but it will not be long before even these games will be dropped and anyone who thinks they are "Jewish" will decide they have the "right" to immigrate to Israel.

For the record, it was none other than the last Lubavitcher Rebbe who waged the strongest and longest political war to get the Israeli government to add the "giyur kehalacha" addendum as part of religious party's pre-conditions for joining the Shamir government. The uproar and counter-attacks against Chabad were furious, but the religious party's did not succeed, either by not insisting enough or being rejected, and the Lubavitcher Rebbe backed off at that time. Pity.

Israeli education endangers its existence

YNET reports:
The cultural ignorance of the secular education endangers the State's strength, Professor Ruth Gavison warned Sunday evening at the graduation ceremony of the Mandel Leadership Institution in Jerusalem. The Hebrew University law professor also warned against the lack of joint civil studies in the different streams of education.

Gavison complained that students of the state education system are unaware of the importance of a Jewish state and do not know why the battle for its existence has yet to end. "There is nothing which determines the State's strength more than the education it gives the young generation," she said.

Israel, educational policy should reflect the national, religious and cultural plurality, but also the joint objectives of the entire state. In practice, Israel gives preponderance to the multitude of minority groups, and fails to sufficiently stress the joint civil core, and the education for a rich identity of the Jewish-Zionist enterprise's key group – the Zionist group which does not observe mitzvot."

In an overall and harsh attack on the Israeli education system, Prof. Gavison went on to say that "in the Arab sector there is complete freedom to defy the legitimacy of the State's Jewishness, to argue that Israel must give up its Jewish uniqueness, and even to renounce basic duties of taking part in the civil life.

"This is a dangerous trend, both for the State and for the stability of the delicate link between majority and minority in Israel," she added. "The haredim, on the other hand, are unwilling to introduce core citizenship studies and integrations into the economy and society, and a significant number of them do not serve in the army and are not integrated into the workforce. This trend was recently backed by the political system for coalitional considerations." She then stressed the problematic character of the secular society. "The secular Zionist majority in Israel does not receive parallel education which is rich with identity, but rather a neutral education fitting the perception of the civil state. This majority is not given tools to significantly deal with the identity problems and the rightness of the way, which are a critical part of the ongoing success of the Zionist battle today.

"The combination of these trends endangers Israel in terms of its chances to survive in the long term as a state defending the Jewish people's right for self-definition, which is both democratic and defends its residents' human rights, and thriving."

Jerusalem become Chareidi?/ Demographics

Haaretz reports:

As an old-time Jerusalemite, city council member Saar Netanel (Meretz) remembers when the city's northern areas, Ramat Eshkol and Maalot Dafna, were populated by "bohemians" - television people, writers such as Meir Shalev and Amos Oz, the newscaster David Witztum, Knesset members, judges - in short, the stars of the 1970s and '80s. "Now all that is mere romantic memories," he says.

They say Jerusalem is turning ultra-Orthodox - that the city is being "Haredized." Supporters of this theory point out that evidence of this process can be found in the rising strength of the ultra-Orthodox sector in the local government institutions, mainly since Uri Lupolianski took over as mayor of Jerusalem in 2003. People talk about the "invasion" of the ultra-Orthodox into neighborhoods that had been markedly secular in character until then.

But is there any concrete evidence that Jerusalem's real estate market is becoming Haredized, or is the phenomenon limited to certain areas? The answer turns out to be complicated. There is evidence of a moderate increase in demand by ultra-Orthodox families throughout the city, and a significant increase in demand by Haredi families in certain quarters of the capital.

The real figures may come as a surprise. Many Jerusalem neighborhoods are indeed increasingly characterized by an ultra-Orthodox lifestyle. But a study of the demographic changes in the city shows that, in relation to Jerusalem's entire Jewish population, the proportion of ultra-Orthodox has increased quite modestly in recent years.

Jerusalem today has 740,000 residents, 480,000 of whom are Jewish. Dr. Maya Choshen of The Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies says that according to the institute's estimates, in 1995 the ultra-Orthodox constituted 29% of the city's Jewish population while in 2000, the figure was 30%. Today it's 32%, or some 196,000 people.

These figures illustrate that the increase of Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox population over the last 13 years was modest. By 2020, the proportion of Haredim out of the city's total Jewish population isn't likely to exceed 35%. [...]


The figures also belie another myth: that the secular are abandoning Jerusalem in droves, leaving the capital to the religious community. Yet the data shows that no small proportion of the people leaving Jerusalem are in fact Haredi.

The Haredim truly do face difficulties in the city. There's no future for them there, explains David Silbershlag, an ultra-Orthodox publicist and journalist. "They talk about negative immigration of the secular but everybody forgets that immigration has been negative among the ultra-Orthodox, too. A lot of them have moved to the satellite towns [around Jerusalem] such as Modi'in Illit, Beitan Illit, Elad and Beit Shemesh," Silbershlag says.

And because there aren't enough housing projects being built for the ultra-Orthodox community, some are even moving back to Tel Aviv. They're storming the Hadar neighborhood in Haifa, they're moving to Lod and will soon be moving to Ramle, too, Silbershlag adds.

The bottom line is that there is a demand for housing by the ultra-Orthodox throughout Jerusalem, and real growth in certain areas. [...]

Conversion - Woman to marry a cohen?

One of the questions involved in conversions is whether to convert a non-Jew to minimize the sins a Jew is committing by living with or marrying a non-Jew. There is a famous teshuva by Rav Dovid Tzvi Hoffman that seems to permit a cohen to commit the sin of marrying a giyorus. Such a ruling is rejected by most if not all major poskim. I thought it might be of interest to see the teshuva as well as the rejection by Rav Moshe Feinstein.
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R’ Dovid Tzvi Hoffman(Malamed LeHo’il 3:8 E.H. C.M.): Question: A cohen who is married to a non‑Jewish woman and she gave birth to a son and he was circumcised and died. She is now upset that she is not the same religion as her son and wants to convert and marry the cohen according to Jewish law. There is concern that if the court does not agree to give the non‑Jewish woman that she will become ill and have a nervous breakdown. What should be done? Answer: First we need to investigate which is the greater prohibition - for a cohen to marry a giyorus or a non‑Jewish woman? It seems obvious to me that there is a greater prohibition to marry a non‑Jew. There is no need to elaborate on this but 1) there is a loss of all his progeny since they will be non‑Jews like the mother 2) the Maharam Shich (E. H. #37 & #155) states that marrying a non‑Jewish woman is a Torah prohibition which is severely punished by kares. In contrast a cohen who marries a giyorus is only violating a Torah prohibition. Consequently in order to save a Jew from the more severe transgression it is best to convert this woman. However objections can be raised against this solution because the rule is that we don’t say that a person should sin in order to save another from sin. It says clearly in Berchos (30b) that if someone wishes to convert but doesn’t want to accept even one obligation – he is not accepted for conversion. Consequently this non‑Jewish woman who wants to convert would be required to leave her husband, while she in fact wants to marry him according to Jewish law! So clearly she will not accept the prohibition of a giyorus marrying a cohen. So how would it be possible to accept her for conversion in order to help the cohen avoid sinning. We can answer that in truth if she explicitly states that she does not want to accept this mitzva of not marrying a cohen – it would be prohibited to accept her as a convert. However in this case she has not stated explicitly that she doesn’t accept this mitzva. Therefore even though we know that she will transgress this prohibition, nevertheless in order to help the cohen and in order that his progeny will be Jewish – we accept her. Furthermore we can say that it is only in the case where the benefit accrues only to the non‑Jew that we say the potential convert is told that either he accepts the entire Torah or else he will remain a non‑Jew as before. That is because a non‑Jew is not punished for not keeping all these mitzvos. However if the non‑Jew is converted in order to benefit a Jew – it is definitely better that the conversion be done in order that the progeny of the Jew not be lost and that the Jew not be punished by kares for sinning with a non‑Jewish woman – even if it results in both of them doing lesser sins. That is because now it is not only that the Jew is sinning but she is sinning by causing him to sin. In particular in our case since there is the additional concern that she will have a nervous breakdown because she is not accepted as a Jewish convert. If that happens it will be a chilul haShem, G‑d forbid! The non‑Jews will say that Jews have no mercy on this non‑Jewish woman and they don’t care if she becomes sick and has a nervous breakdown. As opposed to this is the prohibition of a Jew marrying a convert he has been suspected of living with (Yevamos 24b)… Furthermore if she becomes sick they can say to her that if her whole motivation for converting with only because she considered her son Jewish – this is a mistake because even after circumcision he wasn’t Jewish if a Jewish court didn’t immerse him in a mikveh. However after all this analysis, if she really wants to convert because she believes in the G‑d of Israel – it is possible to convert her. The person who raised this question thought that there was a basis for leniency because the cohen was blemished. However this is a mistake because there is no difference between a blemished cohen and one who isn’t blemished concerning which women are prohibited to marry… It is only with a challel (a disqualified cohen) that it is permitted to marry these women since he really isn’t a cohen at all as is stated in Shulchan Aruch (E. H. 7:20). It is important to warn the man and woman that they must be very careful to observe the laws of nidah and mikveh. Because otherwise the conversion will cause a greater loss than it helps. Their children will also be challelim (disqualified cohanim) and they will not be able to give the priestly blessing and their daughters are similarly disqualified (Shulchan Aruch E.H. 7)

Igros Moshe(E.H. 2:4): This that you bring from Melamed l’Ho’il that it is better to convert the woman who wants to marry a cohen – in order to save the cohen from a more severe Torah sin which involves the punishment of kares and instead he will be transgressing a Torah sin without kares. This makes no sense to me. The opposite is true because if she converts and doesn’t observe the prohibitions of nidah, he will then also be violating the prohibitions of nidah which is itself punishable by kares. On the other hand if she doesn’t convert there is no Torah prohibition of nidah but it is only a rabbinic decree. But there is also the prohibition of “not marrying non-Jews” since this is done in the circumstances of marriage. If they live together as a married couple amongst Jews then this is considered a public violation that is liable to the punishment of death at the hand of zealots which is even more severe than kares. In addition there is also the punishment of kares learned from tradition (Sanhedrin 82). However if they live amongst non‑Jews it is not considered a public violation and therefore there would only be the violation of the Torah law not to intermarry. However perhaps without conversion when there are two Torah prohibitions 1) not to intermarry and 2) zona and the Rambam (Hilchos Issurei Bi’ah 12:7) says that there is a loss that is not found in other sexual transgressions and perhaps it is more severe than involvement with a convert even though there would be the additional prohibitions involving nidah and zona. Besides the question of which is a more severe sin - I have already explained that in this case the conversion is considered invalid. Even though the Melamed l’Ho’il states that the desire to commit the transgression of marrying a cohen does not invalidate the acceptance of mitzvos – in my humble opinion this is not so as I have already explained. The sefer Melamed leHo'il is not available to me now to study. The bottom line is that in my humble opinion his views in this matter are not to be relied upon.

Shavei Israel - Proselytizing or discovering Jews?

Guest Post: Recipients and Publicity's comment to "Conversion - Chinese descendants of Jews":

Controversial actions by Shavei Israel in the name of Zionism and Judaism.

The following article about "Children of Hidden Jews Come to Israel" in the latest Jewish Press is quite worrisome and puzzling. It seems it is just another hare-brained idea to bring olim to Israel without giving careful scrutiny to the Halachic issues of their REAL HALACHIC Jewish status and the obvious need for Halachicly valid conversions, none of which are even mentioned in the article, making it seem that a collection of doubtful people who may or not be Halachicly Jewish were collected in Poland and brought over to Israel as if they were some type of "Bnai Akiva" youth group who needed an Israel-experience boost, when it is far from it. Read the article and note some questions about it that follow the article:

Jewish Press: Children of Hidden Jews Come to Israel September 5, 2008

Twenty-two young Poles who recently discovered their Jewish roots completed a special seminar – the first of its kind – organized on their behalf by Shavei Israel in Jerusalem.

The three-week program was held entirely in Polish, and participants traveled throughout Israel, studied Hebrew, and learned about Jewish history, culture and religion.

According to Michael Freund, founder and chairman of Shavei Israel, a number of the participants have decided to remain in Israel and continue their studies, while others are going back to Poland with the hope of playing a more active and central role in the Jewish community.

“In light of the positive feedback that we received from the participants, we plan to continue organizing similar seminars next year as well, in the hope that it will lead to a strengthening of Jewish life in Poland and ensure that the younger generation of Polish Jews remains connected to their Jewish heritage,” Freund said.

Currently, there are approximately 4,000 Jews registered as living in Poland, but experts suggest there may be tens of thousands of other Jews in Poland who to this day are either hiding their identities or are simply unaware of their family heritage. In some instances, due to their experiences during the Holocaust and under Communism, some Polish Jews chose to sever all connection with Judaism and to hide it from their children and grandchildren, who are now beginning to discover the truth.

In other cases involving Jewish children adopted by Catholic families or institutions during the Holocaust, the adoptees or their descendants have begun to uncover their Jewish roots. In recent years, a growing number of such people, known as the “Hidden Jews of Poland,” have started to return to Judaism and to the Jewish people, with many contemplating aliyah.

Shavei Israel currently has two full-time emissaries in Poland: Rabbi Boaz Pash, who serves as chief rabbi of Krakow, and Rabbi Yitzhak Rapoport, who is the rabbi of Wroclaw (formerly Breslau). For more information visit: www.shavei.org”

==============================
[see JPost for more complete article]

So much for the article.

Here are a few troubling questions:

Firstly, see the Shavei Israel website and it becomes quite obvious that they have set themselves up to perform nothing less than the job of the Mashiach who Judaism teaches will gather up even Jews who are lost but not everyone will be brought out of the woodwork, (see the Rambam end of Hilchos Melachim)

Indeed it is such a complex task that the Rambam is not kidding when he says that this will be one of the huge jobs fit for the Mashiach himself at the end of time before rebuilding the Bait HaMikkdash, so why is a modern-day Zionist organization getting involved in doing this? Maybe the answer is BECAUSE they are a modern-day Zionist organization and often times they do more harm than good in their zeal to bring "everyone" home to Zion.

Secondly, perusing their website one sees types of people who probably converted to Judaism now acting in this task that they now foster of encouraging "hidden Jews" to come out of hiding. Who gave them this taks for doing Klal Yisroel's work? Should they be doing this at all and the way that they that they openly push and advertise to attract "hidden" people, meaning that it must be proseltysing to non-Halachik Jews (most of whom are HIDDEN by choice) to take them out of hiding? But the Halachik questions relating to giyur kehalacha are monumental.

Thirdly who is the founder and leader of this organization? He is quite a moern fellow and not a rabbi or scholar of Judaism. His biography on the "Staff Page" at reads:

"Michael Freund- Founder and Chairman of Shavei Israel

He writes a syndicated column and feature stories for the Jerusalem Post, Israel's leading English-language daily, and he previously served as Deputy Director of Communications & Policy Planning in the Prime Minister's Office under Benjamin Netanyahu. A native of New York, he holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University."

Much here that makes one wonder about the the effort he is pushing, but in our times he will surely raise lots of money for a cause like this. He learned at the knee of Binyamin Netnayahu and has an MBA. He is obviously very idealistic but he skates on thin Halachic ice.

Fourthly, it's very tricky, because Shavei Israel does have some very learned and talented rabbis, albeit mostly all Religious Zionist and modern, with connections to the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, as they explain that they facilitate conversions for Anusim. See

"The program is approved by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and is under the supervision of the relevant government ministries. All of our graduates go before a Jerusalem Beit Din (rabbinical court) under the auspices of the Chief Rabbinate, where they undergo a formal conversion or return to Judaism. Since the institute started to work, before 8 years, more than 500 students have completed the program and cast their lot with the people of Israel. There is tremendous demand for such classes, and we hope to expand the program in the coming years.

Machon Miriam is named after the late Dr. Miriam Freund-Rosenthal of blessed memory, who served as National President of Hadassah and strongly believed in reaching out and helping Jews wherever they might be. It was thanks in part to her inspiration that Michael Freund, her grandson, founded Shavei Israel."

Now while this is all very grand and noble but this is NOT enough for a green light to go on the campaigns they have launched so openly and broadly in EJF-Rabbi Leib Tropper/Dr. Tom Kaplan fashion!

Having some success with few people should not become a license to go out and solicit wholesale conversions in a kind of "empire building of hidden Jews" way.

Sure, genuine seekers of Halachic conversions should be treated with dignity and respect afforded to all geirei tzedek, but it is dangerous, foolish and ultimately self-defeating to do this en masse, in production-line wholsale fashion sending out emissaries, to seek our hidden Jews here-there-and-everywhere looking under every nook and cranny, doing what they call in Yiddish "climbing up smooth wall" routines ("kricht af glatte vent") and looking for jobs in an exertion of effort that could be better spent educating and reachinhg those who are 100% Halachic Jews who need Torah education, rather than doing things that have the potential of assisting people who may not have the staying power and long-term desire to be part of Klal Yisroel.

Grandparents Circle & Intermarriage

Haaretz reported:

When Barbara Mindel wanted to help instill Jewish traditions in her grandchildren - the offspring of an interfaith marriage who were raised without Judaism - she took a simple step. Mindel moved a dreidel and a Hanukkah menorah, which had been perched on a high shelf in her home, to a lower shelf so that her young grandchildren could see them in plain view.

The strategy worked. Her grandchildren, ages 2 and 4, marveled at the menorah, and Mindel was able to teach them the basics of the Jewish Festival of Lights.

Mindel, 67, was tipped off to this approach at an Atlanta meeting of the Grandparents Circle, a new group for Jewish grandparents grappling with how to pass on Jewish traditions to grandchildren who are growing up in interfaith homes.

"Some of my grandchildren are not being brought up with any religion, and the others are being brought up with both," explained Mindel, a resident of Alpharetta, Ga., who has two children married to Christians. "It bothered me, but there's nothing I could do about it. I wanted to approach people in similar situations to see what they did to allow Judaism into the kids' lives."

Originally piloted in 2007, in the Los Angeles area, the Grandparents Circle program expanded to Atlanta and is set to launch in more than 10 additional cities across North America by 2009. Little more than a year after the first group began meeting in the heavily Jewish San Fernando Valley, San Francisco, Baltimore and Cleveland, among other cities, will soon have their own groups.

A Jewish grandmother initiated the six-session course, which is based on a curriculum designed by the New York-based Jewish Outreach Institute.

While searching for ways to impart Judaism to her interfaith grandchildren, Bettina Kurowski, a health care consultant and Jewish federation lay leader who lives in Encino, Calif., stumbled upon the book "Twenty Things for Grandparents of Interfaith Grandchildren To Do (And Not Do) To Nurture Jewish Identity in Their Grandchildren." Co-authored by JOI executive director Kerry Olitzky and the institute's associative executive director, Paul Golin, the book lays out practical ways to teach Jewish tradition without stepping on any toes.

When Kurowski - who is chairing this year's $50 million Annual Campaign for the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles - was introduced to the book just before its publication in 2007, she was so impressed with its content that she wanted an interactive program to complement its teachings. Kurowski, 62, ultimately gave JOI some $30,000 in grant monies to create a curriculum that could be used in California and beyond. The ensuing pilot program, which was free for participants and was funded with a $10,000 grant from The Jewish Federation Valley Alliance - the Northern Valley arm of the L.A. federation - met at one of the L.A. area's largest Conservative synagogues, Valley Beth Shalom.

The program, designed for all the movements, was not a sure-fire bet. Intermarriage is a highly controversial subject in Jewish circles, and of all the movements? rabbis, only those who are Reform and Reconstructionist are permitted to perform interfaith nuptials. "It's a traditional Conservative synagogue in its liturgy," Kurowski said, referring to her synagogue, VBS. "So we weren't sure how many takers we'd get."

To her surprise, Kurowski said, the pilot group filled up immediately. About 20 grandparents - some in couples, some singles - came together each week to hash out the challenges of fostering grandchildren from mixed marriages. "It was a combination of talking about how you feel about being in this situation and how to deal with your own feeling in a way that facilitates the relationship rather than making it worse," she said. "Everybody needed to talk about that." [...]

Anusim - self image as superior Jews?

Anusim's comment to "Descendants of Marranos (Anusim) II - should they ...":

I just tuned into your blog - you should be ashamed of yourselves.

Anusim are not simply contemporary Hispanics clamoring for a link to effervescent Orthodox Judaism. They are also people who have hidden their roots for any of a myriad of reasons including oppression in the U.S., Mexico or other country which, heaven forbid, had a bad attitude towards Jews.

To revel in all the reasons that people who may very well be genuine Anusim should be spurned, turned away and ridiculed, while refusing to admit that you yourselves lack the very evidence you claim is necessary to prove you are a Jew.

My maternal ancestors were Sephardim of Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia. They escaped the Spanish Inquisition in 1492, only to be exterminated at Jasenovac at the hands of Catholic Ustashe, or forcefully converted to Serbian Orthodoxy and executed by SS in 1942.

My great-grandmother (Sephardic Jew from Croatia) was forcefully converted, under torture and threat of death, to Serbian Orthodox Christianity during the Balkan Wars of 1912/1913. Upon release her father arranged for her to be married to a man who represented himself as Jewish in Butte, MT, in 1913.

In case you were unaware, Jews were emancipated in Habsburg lands in 1878 easily 10 years after negroes were emancipated in America. My great-grandmother and great-grandfather were born before emancipation.

My great-grandmother never accepted Christianity nor participated in the Christian community in Montana. Since there was no Sephardic Community in Butte, she didn't participate in that community either. Was she Christian? no... Was she practicing Jew? yes...behind closed doors and curtains. Did she pass on the rhythms of Jewish living? yes...

She hid her Jewish origins, as did the entire family, after my great-grandfather died in 1925. It may come as a surprise to you to know that there was little affection for Jews in a town where Gaelic-speaking Catholics, and their clergy, reigned. My mother did not know that her grandmother was Jewish - nor was she aware that so many family members were killed at Auschwitz, Dachau, and Jasenovac.

We only recently discovered Austria-Hungary Empire birth records which prove Jewish maternal descent origins. According to the presiding Rabbi at a local Sephardic Synagogue, along with a Posek from a Syrian Rabbi in Jerusalem, I am a contemporary 'Anus' and have undergone Halachic Return as spelled out by Rav Soloveitchik and HaRav Eliahu.

I would argue that Messianists and superstitious Jewry are rotting the foundation out from under Maimonidean Orthodox Judaism.

True Anusim represent a small, small group. Most who have Jewish ancestry, yet presently Christian, prefer to remain as they are since they find little appeal in Judaism after all of these centuries...and all of these sorts of blogs.

Jewry guided by superstition is far more dangerous than a small handful of people, standing outside the tent asking to come in, who actually claim to be descendants of Spanish Jews or contemporary Anusim.

If this blog is to be believed, Orthodoxy is taking on a xenophobic persona that should give you pause. I am aghast that this blog may actually reflect the current state of Orthodox Judaism where you live. I can only say 'Baruch Hashem' that you live where you do...which is many thousands of miles away from me.

Child Abuse II - Protecting our children

micha 's comment to "Child Abuse - Protecting our children/R' Yakov Hor...":

A small first step, and something any reader of this blog can do.

Retire the word "frum", and go back to complimenting people by calling them "ehrlach".

Admittedly, it's not much. but it's a first step to fixing the culture, and something that can be done from the ground up. And something you can start doing even before you step away from the computer.

Rightists to parade in Arab city/ Supreme Court rules they have the same rights as gays

Arutz Sheva reports:

The Supreme Court handed down a surprising ruling on Thursday, ordering the police to allow nationalist activists to march with Israeli flags in an Israeli-Arab city.

The State Prosecution had objected to the request, saying a parade of Jewish nationalists in Um el-Fahm would present a danger to public security. Previous such requests to march have been turned down.

The court ordered the State to provide, within 15 days, a plan by which a group of marchers, headed by Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben-Gvir, would be able to walk freely in the city with Israeli flags.

The City and Terrorism

Um el-Fahm is Israel's 2nd-largest Arab city (after Nazareth and ahead of Rahat), with 43,000 residents. It is located along the Wadi Ara highway, between Hadera and Afula in the "Triangle" area, just south of the Galilee. It is the headquarters of Israel's militant Islamic Movement, and was the center of anti-Jewish riots at the beginning of the Oslo War in late 2000. Several terrorist attacks have originated in or occurred near Um el-Fahm.

They Guarded the Gay Pride, They Can Guard Um el-Fahm

Justice Chanan Meltzer told the State representatives, "If the police were able to protect the Gay Pride march, then there is no reason why it cannot do the same in this case." Marzel noted during the proceedings that the police provided 13,000 policemen for the Gay Pride parade, and can come out in similar force in Um el Fahm.

Justice Edmond Levi said that the State's suggestion that the petitioners be allowed only to "overlook" the city is a "blow to democracy." The police "must find the way to allow the petitioners to march in a certain part of the city," he said.

Marzel, head of the Jewish Front organization, said afterwards, "This is a major development. We hope that the State Prosecution will internalize the message that freedom of expression is not reserved only for Arabs and leftists."[...]

Positive uses of Internet

Woman saves baby’s life — by e-mail

U.K. mom saw tumor that doctors missed: ‘Anybody would have done it’

It wasn’t easy for Madeleine Robb to send an e-mail to another mom warning that her baby might have a deadly form of eye cancer. But she’s glad she did it — and so is the mother of 1-year-old Rowan Santos.

“I didn’t want to scare her,” Robb told TODAY co-host Meredith Vieira from London on Thursday. “But then I weighed out the options. If something wasn’t wrong, then no real harm was done. If something was wrong, I really had no option, so obviously I had to tell her.”

Just hours after reading the e-mail, Megan Santos of Riverview, Fla., learned from a doctor that Rowan has a potentially deadly form of childhood cancer called retinoblastoma.

Although Rowan will, unfortunately, lose her left eye, Megan Santos has called Robb, who hails from England, a “hero,” because the online diagnosis may have saved her baby’s life.

The two moms, who each gave birth to a daughter on the same day, spoke for the first time on the phone on Wednesday. But it was a newer form of communication, the Internet, that provided the vital information and the lifesaving link.

Crucial correspondence
Santos and Robb first met online through chat on a pregnancy Web site, BabyFit.com, when they were both expecting. Their respective daughters, Rowan Santos and Lileth Robb, were born on the same day last August, spurring a continuing friendship through regular e-mails and photo-sharing.

When Santos posted a photo of 1-year-old Rowan on the Web site, her friend across the Atlantic noticed a white shadow in the baby’s left eye.

Robb, a 32-year-old business analyst with no medical training, found the image curious, so she did some research on the Web. She learned that the white area could be a symptom of an eye cancer called retinoblastoma.

Though it was the first time she’d ever seen the symptom, Robb explained, “I’d seen a news article here in the U.K a few years ago, something similar, and it just sparked a memory of that. Also, the word ‘cancer’ sprang to mind with the same memory. So obviously I was quite concerned and just decided to do more research.”

From her home in Stretford, England, Robb sent a concerned e-mail to Santos. Immediately, Santos made an appointment with Rowan's doctor. The next day, Aug. 8, she was referred to an ophthalmologist. A series of tests revealed Rowan did have a cancerous tumor growing on her retina.

Rowan will lose the eye sometime this winter, and there are rounds of chemotherapy ahead. But Santos has nothing but gratitude for the e-mail warning she believes saved her daughter’s life.

“Grateful cannot even begin to describe how we feel toward Maddie,” Santos told the U.K.’s Daily Mail. “Do I consider Madeleine our hero? Most certainly. If she hadn't sent that e-mail, Rowan's prognosis wouldn't be as good as it is.”

But Robb was self-effacing about the “hero” moniker. “I suppose if that’s how they feel, then that’s what I am to them,” she told Vieira. “I think anybody in my situation would have done the same thing, if they had known what I knew and had the opportunity to say it.

“I suppose I’m a hero in a certain sense, but in another sense, I think I’m rather normal and I care about people.” [...]