Why was Maimonides controversial?

 https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjg65_OjOLxAhUPY8AKHdgwAMIQFnoECAMQAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.shulcloud.com%2F618%2Fuploads%2FPDFs%2FDivrei_Torah%2Fwhywasmaimonidescontroversial.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2uRkgxwsnv6HKC2dyJJ47V

 7-All Jews must accept the 13 Principles of FaithControversial when proposed. 

Luminaries such as Hasdai Crescas and Yosef Albo asked: Is the rest of Judaism any less important? All agreed that the principles are indeed in Judaism, but many were uncomfortable with the idea of a formal creed, that would separate “good” Jews from “heretics”. More importantly, Judaism stresses action, that is commandments, not belief. Belief is not central in Judaism. Your thoughts are your own, and you are not accountable for them. So Jews ignored the 13 principles for many centuries.

Sages and Saints (Naso 5779)

 https://rabbisacks.org/sages-and-saints-naso-5779/

 What is much more puzzling is the position of Maimonides, who holds both views, positive and negative, in the same book, his law code the Mishneh Torah. In Hilchot Deot, he adopts the negative position of R. Eliezer HaKappar:

Conservative Media Is Amplifying the Critical Race Theory Opposition

 https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/conservative-media-critical-race-theory-opposition

The Black Lives Matter protest movement not only turned a spotlight on horrific incidents of police violence, but forced Americans to confront systemic racism and explore tragic moments in the country’s history. Thoroughly addressing the Tulsa Race Massacre, establishing Juneteenth as a national holiday commemorating the end of slavery, and shedding light on the racist origins of local and federal policing have helped spur a long-overdue reckoning. But conservative lawmakers and the right-wing media industry are now hell-bent on stifling educators from teaching about America’s history of racism and how it still impacts people of color today. 

In making “critical race theory” their new culture war scapegoat, conservative networks have relied heavily on reactionary commentary coming from concerned parents and school employees. Over the past few weeks, Fox News featured numerous guests who fit that bill, but in the cases of 11 of them, the network failed to fully disclose their professional conservative ties, according to a report from the progressive nonprofit Media Matters for America. The news watchdog found that Fox introduced the guests as everyday Americans––teachers, members of school boards, and parents of students––who just want to voice their concerns. But the network either downplayed or omitted their conservative career ties, such as GOP strategist, think tank staffer, Republican lobbyist, and professional pundit. 

Who’s afraid of ‘Critical Race Theory’? Jews should embrace the right’s latest bogeyman

 https://forward.com/opinion/459785/whos-afraid-of-critical-race-theory-why-jews-should-embrace-the-rights/

 Critical Race Theory has become the latest misunderstood academic bogeyman in politics. From Donald Trump to Senator Josh Hawley to Jewish publications across the nation, everyone seems to think that the greatest threat facing our nation is a rather obscure academic discipline that examines systemic racial inequality in America.

It’s no surprise that conservative politicians want to paint anything addressing the impact of racism as somehow “evil” or divisive. Unfortunately, the deliberate demonizing and misconstruing of an important academic methodology is affecting the general public’s view of this work and driving a wedge between marginalized groups like Black and Jewish Americans. “We live in a world in which everyone is being told to side either with the ‘racists’ or the ‘anti-racists’” wrote the writer Bari Weiss in Tablet Magazine recently. “Jews who refuse to erase what makes us different will increasingly be defined as racists, often with the help of other Jews desperate to be accepted by the cool kids.”

As a Jewish scholar who uses Critical Race Theory in my work, let me assure you: This take is wrong. Jews have nothing to fear from Critical Race Theory.

Critical race theory is not anti-Semitic

 https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/critical-race-theory-is-not-anti-semitic

As the rhetorical battle over Israel and Palestine wages, some progressives find ourselves caught in the middle.  Too many leftist groups have taken a Palestine-by-any-means-necessary approach that can veer into anti-Semitism.  The right-wing in the U.S. is gleefully pointing to the anti-Semitism as a reason to blame critical race theory for all manner of evils.  Critical race theory is not anti-Semitic, and it’s not anti-Palestinian either.

 A key reason for liberals to recognize nuance in the Middle East is that some on the right in the U.S. are trying to twist the anti-Israel rhetoric of the few into a reason for all Jews to support conservative politics.  This may entice some to support any and all of the current Israeli government’s policies over recognition of the many problems with Trumpian authoritarian politics.  Indeed, The Wall Street Journal recently published a claim that progressives' use of critical race theory fosters anti-Semitism.  When people on the left act as if Hamas’s attacks on Israel are unproblematic and take issue with Israel’s right to exist, however, we play into the right’s recruitment of U.S. Jews.

 

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.”

MK Hendel: 'We won't cease demolishing terrorists' homes to placate US'

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/309593

Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel (Derech Eretz) has promised that the Israeli government will not cease demolishing terrorists' homes to placate the US government.

"We do what is good for the State of Israel," he told Kan 11. "The new government's policy is clear when it comes to violations of sovereignty and the management of terror. Sometimes we may disagree with he US government, but most of the time we will go hand in hand."

Hendel added that the first dispute between the Biden administration and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's government was with regards to the demolition of a terrorist's home, and that the dispute is not a rift in relations.

'The home of a family should not be demolished for the actions of one individual'

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/309538

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has raised concerns with Israeli officials over the demolition of the home of the family of a terrorist, State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday.

"The secretary and other senior officials here at the State Department in recent days have raised these concerns directly with senior Israeli officials, and we will continue to do so as long as this practice continues," Price told reporters.

"As we've said numerous times now, the home of an entire family should not be demolished for the actions of one individual," Price added.

 

Private panel of rabbis annuls marriage of abused wife who sought divorce -the Kaminetsky heter

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/private-panel-of-rabbis-annuls-marriage-of-abused-wife-who-sought-divorce/

The private court, headed by Rabbi Daniel Sperber and convened by the Center for Women’s Justice organization, dissolved the marriage on the grounds that the woman would not have agreed to the nuptials had she known of her husband’s criminal record, which included time in prison for assaulting his first wife.

 Sperber said that his ruling did not conflict with the state-approved Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which has a monopoly on marriages and divorces, as he was not granting a divorce but rather invalidating the marriage in the first place.

However, Kobi Alter, the spokesperson from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, told The Times of Israel that the dissolution was not recognized by the rabbinate and that the woman would not be allowed to remarry via state authorities as she is still considered married.

Groundbreaking ruling in rabbinical court frees 23-year 'chained woman' - the Kaminetsky heter

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/groundbreaking-ruling-in-private-rabbinical-court-frees-23-year-agunah-559190

 In a groundbreaking development for divorce rights in Israel, Tzviya Gorodetsky, who has sought a divorce from her husband for 23 years, has been freed from her marriage by a private, ad hoc Orthodox rabbinical court headed by respected Orthodox rabbi and talmudist Rabbi Daniel Sperber.

The ruling could pave the way for more such women to avail themselves of private rabbinical courts, if they believe that they have no chance of ever escaping their failed marriages. It follows other attempts to bypass established religious institutions in such realms as conversion, kashrut and marriage.A similar ruling by another such ad hoc court was issued in 2013.

 The Chief Rabbinate is certain to reject the validity of the divorce, but Gorodetsky could likely remarry in a private Orthodox ceremony if she so wished.

PA orders Palestinian businesses to remove Hebrew signs

 https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/pa-orders-palestinian-businesses-to-remove-hebrew-signs-673265

 Abdullah Kmeil, the Palestinian Authority Governor of the Salfit district in the central West Bank, on Thursday issued a “strict decision” obligating all commercial installations and shops in the area to remove signs and billboards written in Hebrew.

Kmeil, who is also a senior official with the ruling Fatah faction headed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, ordered the businesses to replace the signs and billboards with ones written in Arabic.

The decision came after many Palestinian businesses in the West Bank, especially those close to settlements, started hanging signs in Hebrew to attract Jewish clients.

Kmeil gave the businesses one week to comply with the decision, according to the Salfit Governorate Public Relations and Media Department.

Kmeil said that the measure “comes in light of a decision that was taken previously and confirming that the occupation is exploiting the scene of the signs in Hebrew for purposes that serve its racist and fascist policy.”

 

High Court rejects petition against Jewish nation-state law

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-july-08-2021/

Justices rule there are no grounds to throw out the 2018 legislation, say it anchors Israel’s identify as a Jewish state without undermining its democratic character

 

Child-abusing daycare provider sentenced to 9.5 years in prison

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/309504

 The operator of a daycare center in central Israel who was convicted of abusing nearly a dozen infants and toddlers was sentenced Thursday to nine-and-a-half years in prison.

Carmel Mauda, 28, the operator of the ‘Baby Love’ daycare center in Rosh Ha’ayin, received the sentence at the Central District in Lod Thursday afternoon, after arriving accompanied by her father.

Bezalel Smotrich: 'Insane' that divorced fathers shouldn't have anything to eat

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/309500

 MK Bezalel Smotrich, who heads the Knesset's Religious Zionism party, has called on Welfare Minister Meir Cohen (Yesh Atid) to eliminate the discrimination against divorced fathers.

"One of the worst crimes happening today in the State of Israel is the discrimination against divorced fathers," Smotrich said. "It's a complex and complicated issue. It has a lot of facets and small letters."

Smotrich recalled his pre-election promise to change how the issue is managed, prevent parental alienation, and prevent abuse of false allegations as a way of managing divorce.

MK Ahmad Tibi decries cuts to daycare subsidies for haredim

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/309483

 Joining the mostly haredi voices condemning the recent decision of Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman to cancel daycare subsidies to families where the father is in full-time Torah learning, was, perhaps unexpectedly, Joint Arab List MK Ahmad Tibi.

Tibi was interviewed on Radio 103FM, where he criticized Liberman’s decision, calling it “inappropriate.”

“This decision weakens the weak even further,” he said. “I am familiar with the conditions in which these families live, and this decision should be reconsidered.”

MK Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionism party also decried Liberman’s decision.