Banning critical race theory will gut the teaching of Jewish history

 https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/banning-critical-race-theory-will-gut-the-teaching-of-jewish-history-673335

 Yet in nearly two dozen states, the movement to impose restrictions on the teaching of history is gaining momentum. Incited by a national hysteria over “critical race theory,” advocates of these educational fatwas are borrowing a page from authoritarian governments like Vladimir Putin’s Russia in a clumsy effort to avoid discussing the messy, controversial and painful moments in America’s history.  

And as a professional historian, I can tell you that these bans will be terrible for anyone teaching or studying Jewish history.

What exactly is critical race theory, and how is it apparently  — in the words of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who is seen as a potential presidential candidate — teaching our kids “to hate each other” and “hate our country”?

Failed Louisiana Holocaust education bill was used to pan critical race theory

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/failed-louisiana-holocaust-education-bill-was-used-to-pan-critical-race-theory/

But Mintz had second thoughts once he began learning more about the content and the backers of the proposed legislation. Its sponsor, a Republican state representative named Valarie Hodges, had also expressed hostility toward teaching the histories of other racial and religious minorities. Some of the original bill’s language seemed to suggest that lessons on the Holocaust would be framed partially as a celebration of the American military. And during debate, the bill’s supporters would “deploy Jews rhetorically, without involving Jews,” he said.

 

 

The Conservative Case Against Banning Critical Race Theory

 https://time.com/6079716/conservative-case-against-banning-critical-race-theory/

 The case against CRT, in short, is not about a fixed set of ideas. It is about wanting to avoid certain feelings of discomfort or even shame. But the right has encountered this idea before—and seemed not to like it. Until recently, commentators on the political right have claimed that universities are captured by “leftist” students who “don’t think much” about free speech, or who “don’t want to be bothered anymore by ideas that offend them.” A “jargon of safety” in universities, complained commentator Megan McCardle, is then used to “silence” those who don’t agree.

Ironically then, if there is a lesson to be learned from the war on CRT, it has nothing to do with how to talk about race—and everything with how the Trumpian revolution continues to devour the principles of American conservatism.

Texas Democrats leave state to try to stop GOP voting bill

 https://apnews.com/article/government-and-politics-texas-voting-voting-rights-7d9f2da74fb647b40214fa88ccdbcebb

 The cross-country exodus was the second time that Democratic lawmakers have staged a walkout on the voting overhaul, a measure of their fierce opposition to proposals they say will make it harder for young people, people of color and people with disabilities to vote. But like last month’s effort, there remains no clear path for Democrats to permanently block the voting measures, or a list of other contentious GOP-backed proposals up for debate.

In Israel, activists and families push for stiffer sentences for child sex abusers

 https://forward.com/news/472617/in-israel-activists-and-families-push-for-stiffer-sentences-for-child-sex/

 “The Israeli public still looks at child abuse as something that happens to others,” said Anat Ofir, director of the Child Abuse Prevention Initiative at the Haruv Institute, which launched a media campaign five years ago to raise awareness of the issue.

MK Miri Regev: 'Writing is on the wall' for Temple Mount bridge collapse

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/mk-miri-regev-writing-is-on-the-wall-for-temple-mount-bridge-collapse-673572

 The bridge was constructed in 2007 and was intended to remain in place for several months until a more permanent solution was built. Due to claims from the Wakf Islamic religious trust, instituted by Jordan after the War of Independence, that Israel was trying to destabilize the Temple Mount, a more permanent solution was never found, and the wooden bridge remained in place.

In 2011, the Jerusalem city engineer issued an order to close the bridge due to safety concerns, but it has remained open for public use.

Earlier this year, experts from the Western Wall Heritage Foundation warned that the bridge’s wood was extremely dry and cracked, attempts to treat it had failed, and replacing it was the only option.

Lord George Gordon

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_George_Gordon

 

 In 1787, at the age of 36, Lord George Gordon converted to Judaism in Birmingham,^{[dubious – discuss]} and underwent brit milah (ritual circumcision; circumcision was rare in the England of his day) at the synagogue in Severn Street now next door to Singers Hill Synagogue. He took the name of Yisrael bar Avraham Gordon ("Israel son of Abraham" Gordon—since Judaism regards a convert as the spiritual "son" of the Biblical Abraham). Gordon thus became what Judaism regards as, and Jews call, a "Ger Tsedek"—a righteous convert.

 

50 Shades of Gay: How Views on Homosexuality Are Splitting the Orthodox World

 https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-how-homosexuality-splits-the-orthodox-world-1.5383363

 As liberal as they become, Katz does not believe that Orthodox rabbis will ever agree to perform same-sex marriages, though Sperber thinks there may be a way around this. “The problem is with the word ‘marriage,’” he notes. “Perhaps they can call it something else like a ‘partnership.’”

What Happens After Death?

 https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/282508/jewish/What-Happens-After-Death.htm

While there are numerous stations in a soul’s journey, these can generally be grouped into four general phases:

1. the wholly spiritual existence of the soul before it enters the body;
2. physical life;
3. post-physical life in Gan Eden (the “Garden of Eden,” also called “Heaven” and “Paradise”);
4. the “world to come” (olam haba) that follows the resurrection of the dead.

What are these four phases, and why are all four necessary?

 

The Two Watchmen

 https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/352254/jewish/The-Two-Watchmen.htm

Talmud, Sanhedrin 91a–b

Antoninus said to Rabbi Judah HaNassi: The body and the soul can each absolve themselves from judgment. The body can say: “It is the soul who has sinned. Why, from the day it left me, I lie like a dumb stone in the grave!” And the soul can say: “It’s the body who transgressed. From the day I departed from it, I fly about in the air like a bird!”

"Orthodox" gay marriage and the path to destruction

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/25249

(We cannot fail to note an Israeli Open Orthodox rabbi (Benny Lau) who attended a gay wedding with his well wishes, Rabbi Avi Weiss who, while rejecting Orthodox gay “marriage”, takes a very soft stance on going public on homosexuality, and Open Orthodox Rabbi Dr. Daniel Sperber, who sanctions the idea of “Orthodox” gay marriage, so long as another word, such as “partnership”, is used for it.)

Ra'am MK Mazen Ghainem: If Israel fires on Gaza, I'll topple the government

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/309629

MK Walid Taha of the United Arab List has informed the government that his four-MK-strong party will no longer be voting in the Knesset, nor will it be participating in Knesset committee discussions, “until further notice.”

It appears that the United Arab List (UAL) has been offended by overtures made by Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz to the predominantly Arab Joint List party, in attempt to garner their support in key Knesset votes and thus to free the coalition of dependency on the UAL and possibly eject the UAL from the government entirely.

Earlier on Sunday, Radio Mekan reporter Amit Segal quoted UAL MK Mazen Ghainem in threats he made on the government. “There’s no love lost between [UAL head] Mansour Abbas and the new government,” Ghainem said. “Bennett and Netanyahu? They’re both bad.”

 

 

As Israel’s biblical farming sabbatical nears, medical cannabis is budding issue

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-israels-biblical-farming-sabbatical-nears-medical-cannabis-is-budding-issue/

As many Israelis prepare to “rest the land” during the upcoming agricultural sabbatical year as commanded in the Book of Exodus, a debate has been sparked among rabbinical authorities as to whether locally grown cannabis will be subject to a complex set of guidelines. Will religious Jews be permitted to benefit from the plant in any way while observing the biblical laws of shmita that were set from on high?

The debate stems from the biblical commandment that residents of the Holy Land observe seven-year cycles culminating in a Jubilee every 50th year, with specific laws dictating matters such as loan forgiveness and the return of property titles. Most of the laws, however, deal with agriculture, and include restrictions on planting, tending, harvesting or even claiming ownership of crops that grew in one’s own field.

Scientists Identify Specific Human Brain Circuit for Spirituality

 https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-identify-specific-human-brain-circuit-for-spirituality/

 A new study led by investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital takes a new approach to mapping spirituality and religiosity and finds that spiritual acceptance can be localized to a specific brain circuit. This brain circuit is centered in the periaqueductal gray (PAG), a brainstem region that has been implicated in numerous functions, including fear conditioning, pain modulation, altruistic behaviors and unconditional love. The team’s findings are published in Biological Psychiatry.

“Our results suggest that spirituality and religiosity are rooted in fundamental, neurobiological dynamics and deeply woven into our neuro-fabric,” said corresponding author Michael Ferguson, PhD, a principal investigator in the Brigham’s Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics. “We were astonished to find that this brain circuit for spirituality is centered in one of the most evolutionarily preserved structures in the brain.”