| Aboard Plane, Tefillin Causes ‘Security Situation’ (more) In what was dubbed by police a “security situation,” a Chautauqua Airlines flight from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Louisville, Kentucky was diverted to Philadelphia this morning when an observant seventeen-year-old from White Planes tried to put on tefillin. Or as Philadelphia police Lt. Frank Vanore described the “religious device”: a set of small black boxes attached to leather straps and containing biblical passages.
According to news reports, a stewardess became alarmed when the boy stood up and started wrapping them on, alerting the Transportation Administration Authority of a “disruptive passenger” and triggering the stop in Philly. The flight attendant had simply never seen tefillin before.
As rabbijam quipped on the Shefa list: “From what I understand, the pilot diverted the plane to Philly instead of Kentucky out of concern that the boy wouldn’t find a minyan in Kentucky. Thoughtful.” But, seriously, people are so jumpy about the wrong things. Regarding the arrest of Nofrat Frenkel at the women’s section of the Western Wall by allegedly wearing tzitzit and preparing to read from a Torah, I received a post on the Shefa list today with a response from Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C with this curious line: “In light of this ruling, the site or Robinson’s Arch, which adjoins the Western Wall and is along the same retaining wall of the Temple Mount above, was designated to host egalitarian services that encourage both men and women to wear tallit and read from the Torah.”
Women of the Wall is not and has not been an egalitarian group in any way. Nofrat and Anat haven’t been arrested/questioned because of egalitarian services in the gender-separated area, but for practicing an authentic Jewish tradition. Not to beat a dead horse, but women may be traditionally exempt from Tzitzit and reading from the Torah, but there is no universal prohibition of it. Simply put:
Menahot 43a ת”ר הכל חייבין בציצית כהנים לוים וישראלים גרים נשים ועבדים ר”ש פוטר בנשים מפני שמצות עשה שהזמן
גרמא הוא וכל מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא נשים פטורות Baraita: All are obligated in tzitzit, priests, levites, israelites, converts, women, and slaves. R’ Shimon exempts women because is is a positive time-bound mitzvah of which women are exempt.
And if you want to get picky, wearing tzitzit without techelet (a blue fringe) might not even count for the positive commandment! But see here as well for a progressive halakhic view:
An well-written article on women and tallit and tefillin Also see custom drives Jewish law on women Mechon Hadar in NYC recently put out a long summary teshuva that is interesting (http://www.halakhah.org/) Simply put, our goal is to obtain the freedom to pray and to do everything that is halachically permitted for women on the women’s side of the mechitza. This includes reciting prayers together that do not require a minyan, and, yes, most of all, it includes reading from the Torah. (Though it has been many years since we have been able to read from the Torah in the women’s section at the Wall.) At a minimum, we want to be allowed to pray at the Wall for one hour each month, free of injury and fear. This should not be a provocative request.
via What the Women of the Wall Want – Forward.com. It is sad commentary on the state of Judaism that divergent practices fully-supported by Halakha, that do not affect people’s freedom of worship nor the unity of the Jewish people bring up such vitriol, as seen in the comments. Surely innovations such as changes in wedding and divorce ritual, conversion, testimony, and such items do affect the unity of the Jewish people. However, a woman who puts on a tallit is, at worst, following a minority opinion. Andy Sacks writes about the new Israeli siddur (Hebrew, translated) put out by the Masorti movement: But it is one new Siddur that is creating a stir here in Israel. The Masorti Movement has just, together with Yediot Books, published V’Ani Tefilati: Siddur Yisraeli. One thousand radio spots are being broadcast to draw the attention of the Israeli public to the first Siddur intended for all to use – secular, observant, educated, Sefardi, Ashkenazi, or traditional. That Yediot is distributing a prayer book for the first time shows confidence that this can be a very big seller. Years in preparation, this Siddur includes modern Israeli poetry alongside traditional prayer. The language is gender sensitive. One may easily include the Matriarchs along with the Patriarchs when praying. Absent is the blessing thanking God for “not creating me a woman.” It is replaced by a blessing that thanks God for “making me in the divine image.” The apologists can explain this blessing in any way they wish, deluding themselves and others into thinking it is does not offend women. They may even claim that it even shows great respect to the special role women hold in our tradition. But those sensitive to the true meaning of the words they offer will struggle with the old language and may find the new formula (which also has its origins in our liturgy) a better fit. This holds true of those passages where the traditional prayer formula called for the reestablishment of the Temple and of animal sacrifice. This prayer books allows for a spiritual understanding that would not necessarily require the destruction of those buildings that stand on the spot of our Temple, or of the actual killing of animals.
I comment on the comment thread there: FWIW, two teshuvot on including the imahot/matriachs.
http://www.schechter.edu/responsa.aspx?ID=35
http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/teshuvot/docs/19861990/rembaum_matriarchs.pdf
It is a matter of contention in the movement.
A couple of points: 1) this is an Israeli siddur meant for Israelis, hence the Hebrew. 2) while it may not be the same as an Artscroll siddur, or any siddur from 10 or 100 years ago, that doesn’t immediately make it a “bastardization”. The first siddurim Amram, Saadia, Rambam, etc. were all different in significant ways. Some medieval innovations like kabbalat shabbat are now common
Also see this post: The Daily Prayer: “On not making me a woman” Balashon has an interesting post: chanukah And there’s a song in this album: Hanukkah Rocks –The LeeVees, with Adam Gardner of Guster, download for $7 Current Events in Israel, from article, blog 1, 2
 Sussman's destroyed laptop. …. Among other suspicious item; an Arabic phrasebook, a journal entry that mentioned a Palestinian(yes, they even flipped through my journal), stamps from Syria, Qatar and the UAE, Palestinians in Palestine guidebook, and a map a friend had drawn with a main street in Jerusalem, the central bus station and my intended hostel. “Who are you meeting there?” They asked me. … Moments later a man came outside and introduced himself as the manager on duty. And then, “I’m sorry but we had to blow up your laptop. “ What….all my client case notes and testimony, writing, pictures, music and applications. Years of work. NO!!!! What?? Are you insane?? What were you thinking? THAT’S ALL MY WORK!? …It turned out it hadn’t been quite blown up, but rather shot through with three bullets. We were able to extract the hard drive, seemingly unscaved. Thank goodness… ….. I completely agree with Freitas’s comment. “These guys shoot every day at unarmed people, even children. Why so much surprise about a simple laptop?” …
From the Comments: hmm said, on December 15, 2009 at 7:10 pm here’s what probably happened with your laptop. at the border they use a chemical kit to detect explosives or people/things that have been in contact with explosives. your laptop probably reacted positively to the kit (which doesn’t necessarily mean you were anywhere near explosives, it may react positively to other things as well). security procedures at the border require the object be put in a “bomb pit” and then it’s shot in an attempt to trigger the explosives. your statement about “unprovoked, unduly aggressive, a waste of government funds…” just goes you show you have lived a sheltered life, not having to deal with or even know about such things as i mentioned about. i had a good laugh reading the comments to your previous posts by the haters and generally clueless. i hope this helps clear things up, although i doubt that from the general tone of the last couple of posts and the sort of comments you tolerate, not to mention agree with. peace. ………. Mo said, on December 15, 2009 at 7:25 pmHmmm… -hand drawn map of downtown Jerusalem
-Arabic stickers on laptop
-”F**k Star of David” pic on phone
-passport stamps from Arab countries
-various Arab publications
-photos condemning Israeli military action in Gaza Why didn’t she just tape road flares to your chest? Of course the guard got suspicious and called for the bomb squad. Stupid hippie…
I recommend and am right now listening to these two albums: Erran Baron Cohen Presents: Songs In The Key Of Hanukkah – Download the mp3 album now for $2 Hanukkah Rocks –The LeeVees, with Adam Gardner of Guster, download for $7 Also, if you haven’t, listen to Eight Days of Hannukah by Sen. Orrin Hatch
Eight Days of Hannukah Jewish Screenwriter Pens ‘Kosher’ Vampires for ‘Twilight’ Vampires aren’t very Jewish,” Rosenberg says. “The most basic thing about them is that they are born out of Christian mythology.” Nevertheless, she is quick to point out that Meyer, a devout Mormon, has created her own vampire mythology, devoid of religious connotation, absent the Christian symbolism of crosses and holy water. And yet, the protagonist vampires of “Twilight” are different in another way from other vampires. “They’re kosher vampires,” Rosenberg says, laughing.
To call them “kosher” may be a stretch, but the leading figure, Edward Cullen, and his family are all “vegetarians” — which in this context means they don’t drink human blood, though they do eat animals — and therefore they are not killers, but hunters. Their anomalous way of life, in which diet is not simply a carnal drive but a moral choice, makes them outsiders, not only from the world of mortals but also from the larger vampire culture, who see the Cullens as a threat to the vampire establishment. The story’s human protagonist, Bella, idolizes the Cullens, and, you could say, sees them as a light unto the vampire nation.
Feh, kosher vampires would drink fish blood, which is pareve and kosher. Both animal blood and human blood are prohibited by Jewish law. Plus, the fish would presumably have to be dead already (though they don’t require schechita/kosher-slaughter) so as not to transgress “eating a limb from a living animal”. It says Noah was righteous in his generation and commentators question whether this means “even in his generation” or “relative to his generation”. A related question is, both Abraham and Moses argued with God against destroying two cities and his people respectively. Why didn’t Noah argue with God not to destroy the world? (culled from JTS) Genesis 4:26 כו וּלְשֵׁת גַּם-הוּא יֻלַּד-בֵּן, וַיִּקְרָא אֶת-שְׁמוֹ אֱנוֹשׁ; אָז הוּחַל, לִקְרֹא בְּשֵׁם יְ-ה-וָ-ה. {ס} | 26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enosh; then began men to call upon the name of the LORD. {S} |
Not withstanding Exodus 3:14-15, it says here that people began to use the Tetragrammaton YHWH. This term of God’s name was in daily use through first Temple times. By the Second Temple period, it was only said on ritual occasions, such as Yom haKippurim. Soon, its pronunciation was considered lost. But it can be reconstructed. ‘Yahweh’ seems to be the correct pronunciation. PDF: Tetragrammaton: How to Pronounce (74), (source) See PDF
There has been some archeological finds with YHWH, notably “Yahweh and his Asherah“.
And see here. |
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