Rights of Non-Jews In Israel: Rabbi Chaim David Halevy's View

There has been a controversy recently in Israel regarding selling homes/land to non-Jews.  A Group of Rabbis in Tzfat have called upon Jews to refrain from selling homes to non-Jews.  Then last Thurs. morning Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in a morning halakhah class was reported as saying that it is forbidden to sell homes to non-Jews in Israel.

Some have written that this is a straight forward law of the Torah with no one disputing it.  When I read this, I recalled the writings of Rabbi Chayim David Halevy who addressed this subject in his responsa Aseh Lecha Rav.

(A little about the relationship between Rabbi Halevy and his bar Plugta (partner in dispute) in this matter Rabbi Ovadia Yosef -- The following is from Rabbi Marc Angel's biography of Rabbi Halevy pg. 27.  "When the term of office of Sephardic Chief Rabbi  of Israel, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, was concluding in the early 1990's, Rabbi Halevy was offered as a candidate by the Mafdal party (Mizrachi).  Rabbi Halevy, though, was not one to engage in political maneuvering or campaigning for office.  Rabbi Ovadya Yosef, although a colleague of Rabbi Halevy's from their days together at Porat Yosef, was interested in having a Sephardic Chief Rabbi affiliated with and loyal to his Shas party. Given Rabbi Yosef's vast influence in the process of selecting the Sephardic Chief Rabbi, it was almost a foregone conclusion that Rabbi Halevy could not win-- unless he became a member of the Shas party.  Having been a longtime member of Mizrachi, and having a general aversion to the ethnic politics of Shas, Rabbi Halevy would not consider sacrificing his principles and integrity to join the Shas bandwagon/  Consequently, he did not win the office of Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel; rather the office went to Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, a follower of Rabbi Ovadya Yosef.)

Consistently in this 9 volume collection Rabbi Halevy rules that there is no contemporary prohibition to selling homes to non-Jews.  For the record I want to share his analysis.

In the beginning of chapter 7 of Deuteronomy the Torah states, "When God your Lord brings you to the land you are entering, so that you can occupy it, He will uproot many nations before you--the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Peritiztes, Hivites ad Jebusites-- seven nations more numerous and powerful than you are.  When the Lord your God gives them to you and you smite them, utterly destroy them, do not make any covenant with them and do not show them favor."  The Rabbis of the Talmud interpret "do not show them any favor" to mean do not give them any hold on the land (the Hebrew "techanem" can be read to me give them a camp -- thus do not give them a camp or hold (on the land)). It is this verse with the interpretation that I mentioned on which those who would forbid Jews to sell land to non-Jews base themselves.

What does Rabbi Halevy do with this.  Firstly, he notes that the straightforward read of the Biblical passage seems to refer to the original Canaanite nations and nobody else.  (Aseh Lecha Rav 4:21 page 20-21 8:68 pg 193).  Indeed, he notes that some of the rishonim (post talmudic commentators) limit this prohibition to the original seven Canaanite nations.  However, Maimonides understands this prohibition to apply to all idolaters.  To this, Rabbi Halevy brings the opinion of the Meiri (a fourteenth century scholar from Provence) that prohibitions against idolaters do not apply to contemporary non-Jews.  These prohibitions were directed against the extremely corrupt and violent society of ancient times but have no relevance to the morally restrained societies of today (Aseh Lecha Rav 4:1 pg. 24; 8:68 pg. 194; 9:30 pg 68).  On just these technical grounds R. Halevy claims that nowadays it is absolutely permitted to sell land to non-Jews.

But Rabbi Halevy goes further.  It is not just on the basis of these technicalities that there is no prohibition.  He seems to claim that given the radically different nature of society today there can be no place for discriminatory prohibitions like this.  He notes that Israel's declaration of independence states, "there will be complete social and political equal rights for all of its citizens without regard for religion, race, or gender."  On this basis Rabbi Halevy claims that Israel is obligated to its non-Jewish citizens the same rights that are granted by law to Jews. (Aseh Lecha Rav 9:30 pg. 61)  If the formative document of the modern state of Israel was made with a promise to give equal rights to non-Jews, this promise must be kept.  He further notes that in the western democratic world, in which Israel operates, the basis of society is that every human being has equal rights and there is no place in a democratic state for discrimination on the basis of religion. (ibid pg. 63).  The prohibitions mentioned in the early halakhic literature are based on a totally different political reality and therefore have no relevance in our democratic society.

In Rabbi Angel's biography on page 197, he quotes from Rabbi Halevy's book Bein Yisrael L'Amim, "It is clear that we cannot relate to the minority [Israeli Arabs] with false accusations and the ferocity of hatred.  Who knows better than we the taste of persecutions and racist discrimination that spread hatred and poison in the heart.  Rather, we go upright in the paths of peace and understanding, for they are the way of Torah whose paths are the paths of pleasantness and all its ways are peace.  We must find a just solution in the spirit of the Torah."
What a far cry R. Halevy's position is from what has been said in the name of halakhah in the news lately.  As one who finds both R. Halevy's legal reasoning and his moral intution compelling I felt the need to share this Torah.  Thanks for listening.

The Chief Rabbinate Has Run Its Course -- OpEd by Rosh Yeshivat Maale Gilboa Rabbi Yehuda Gilad

UPDATE UPDATE!!

The piece was posted in The Jewish Week.

In the wake of a decision of a committee of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate to review the status of those converted to Judaism by the Israeli Army's conversion program, Rabbi Yehuda Gilad (Rosh Yeshiva at Maale Gilboa) wrote an oped piece on ynet claiming that the Rabbinate has run its course (literally come to the end of its road/path).  Today I spent a lot of time translating the piece into English.  Google gave me a good start but I needed to work a lot to polish it.

Here is a linear style (if I loose my job at YMG, Metzudah publishing may be an alternative ;-)) translation followed by just the English.  I hope to publish the English version in some English papers and on our English Maale Gilboa website. (I am open to hearing grammatical corrections as well as suggestions to improve the translation as well)

If there is to remain any meaning to the terms state Rabbinate and religious Zionism, then the recent decision casting aspersions on IDF conversions, should be "last straw" in our relationship with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. As a religious Zionist who believes that Israel is the beginning of our redemption, it is not easy for me to come to terms with this realization, but it seems to me that that the time has come to say honestly, sincerely, and painfully, that the Chief Rabbinate as it stands today has run its course.  The Rabbinate’s resolution, besides transgressing the biblical prohibition of oppressing converts, (reason enough to reject it), clearly demonstrates its complete abnegation of responsibility to Clal Yisrael and the Jewish character of the state, and preference for a sectarian approach that sees reality through an ultra-orthodox lens .We have reached an absurd situation in which the state’s own Rabbinate, bowing to the Chareidi position, is endangering the past achievements and future potential of Israel.  The high degrees of assimilation of the Jewish people in exile means that Am Yisrael is losing thousands of Jews each year. The State of Israel was until recent decades the only place in the world where assimilation was nearly non-existent. Marriage between Jews and Gentiles living in Israel, Arabs and Druze, etc. are rare, and Israel was the only place that guaranteed the demographic future of the Jewish people. As is well known, in the last decade, things have changed. The large immigration from the former USSR included hundreds of thousands of descendants of Jews who themselves are not Jewish according to halachah. These wonderful people have in an impressive fashion integrated into the life of the state – into the army, the economy, and into society in general. The stage that should complete the integration for many of them into a normative Jewish life in the state of Israel is marriage with Israeli Jews. Our people has never in our history faced a challenge like this one before.  This is the time to engage in a broad national campaign, to encourage halachic conversion of large segments of this population. This should be a watershed moment for a state Rabbinate that has the considerations of the entire Jewish people before its eyes. It must be stated clearly; there are only two options: One is a sweeping effort towards creating an halachic, friendly, and welcoming conversion process based on the large body of lenient opinions articulated in the halachic corpus over generations, that would allow acceptance of many of these immigrants into the Jewish people. The alternative is an unyielding adherence to the most stringent positions in halachah, according to which one may not accept conversions of these immigrants, even at the price of creating thousands of mixed marriages between Jews and Gentiles. There is a known and accepted principle in the world of Jewish law that under pressing circumstances, one may rely upon a minority opinion. It seems that there could be no greater pressing circumstance or emergency than the current situation! Moreover, there is no need to rely on isolated or obscure opinions but rather there is ample and prevalent precedent in Jewish law for a more permissive approach. Ultra-Orthodox who adopt the strict approach are apparently unconcerned about the demographic disaster of assimilation. According to them, intermarriage is a phenomenon only in the secular society, and they can therefore can absolve themselves by saying "its not our problem.”  However, those who are concerned for the future of Israel as a Jewish state cannot remain indifferent to the present situation that is developing before our eyes. In only a few years from now, we will split into two separate peoples. Both will be Israelis, Hebrew speakers, and self-identified as Jewish, but only one will be technically and halakhically Jewish. As important as issues such as kashrut, Shabbat and religious services are, there is currently no Jewish communal matter that comes close to approaching the significance of this challenge upon which our future here as a Jewish state rests.  We must admit and say honestly, the current Chief Rabbinate (with all due respect to the many fine individuals who make up its ranks), as an institution, has neither the desire nor the ability to cope with this challenge. Unfortunately, it buries its head in the sand, and even kowtows to the Chareidi community, which is ambivalent at best, and antagonistic at worst to the very state the Rabbinate is meant to serve.  Despite the pain and difficulty involved in breaking with this institution that we had great dreams for, I hereby call upon the lay people and the Rabbis of the religious-Zionist community to say openly what many of us have already felt in our hearts for some time. The Chief Rabbinate has run its course.

אם יש עדיין בעולמנו משמעות כלשהי למושגים כמו "רבנות ממלכתית" שיקולים כלל ישראליים  ואף "ציונות דתית" בכלל,דומני שהחלטת הרבנות הראשית לישראל המטילה צל של ספק על הגיורים בצה"ל, צריכה להיות "הקש  האחרון" ביחסנו עם הרה"ר לישראל. כציוני דתי המאמין שמדינת ישראל היא ראשית צמיחת גאולתנו לא קל לי עם תובנה זו, אך נראה לי כי הגיע הזמן לומר ביושר בכנות ובצער, שהמוסד הזה כפי שההוא נראה היום הגיע כנראה לסוף דרכו.  החלטת מועצת הרה"ר לישראל  מלבד היותה נגועה באיסור דאורייתא של"הונאת הגר", סיבה מספקת על מנת להוקיעה, משקפת בברור את ההתבטלות המוחלטת של  הגישה הרואה את עצמה אחראית לכלל ישראל ולאופיה היהודי של המדינה, בפני הגישה החרדית הרואה את המציאות דרך אשנב התפיסה החרדית. הגענו למצב אבסורדי בו ההישג היהודי הגדול של מדינת ישראל  עומד  בסכנה דוקא בשל עמדתם של יהודים חרדים  וכעת גם בתמיכתה של הרה"ר לישראל. במצב ההתבוללות הנורא בו מצוי העם היהודי בגולה, עם ישראל מאבד אלפי יהודים מדי שנה . מדינת ישראל היתה בעשרות השנים האחרונות המקום היחיד בעולם בו ההתבוללות אינה קיימת כמעט לחלוטין. נישואין בין יהודים לגויים הגרים בארץ , ערבים  דרוזים וכיו"ב  נדירים, וכך היתה ישראל למקום היחיד בעולם המבטיח את העתיד הדמוגרפי של העם היהודי. בעשור האחרון , כידוע השתנו הדברים. בעליה הברוכה מבריה"מ לשעבר, עלו גם מאות אלפים של צאצאי יהודים שאינם יהודים על פי ההלכה. האנשים היקרים הללו התערו באופן מרשים בחיי המדינה, בחברה, בצבא, בכלכלה, ובכל מערכות החיים. השלב החותם את ההתערות של רבים מהם בחיי המדינה, הוא נישואין עם יהודים ישראלים בני הארץ הזאת. אתגר לאומי, יהודי, הלכתי מעין זה לא היה לנו מעולם בהיסטוריה של עמנו. זהו הזמן לצאת במבצע לאומי רחב היקף, על מנת לעודד גיור כהלכה של רבים וטובים מן הציבור הזה . זו אמורה להיות שעתה הגדולה של רבנות ממלכתית ששיקולי כלל ישראל לנגד עיניה.  צריך לומר זאת בברור האפשרויות הן שתיים בלבד: האחת היא מאמץ נרחב לגיור הלכתי מאיר פנים, מעודד וידידותי המסתמך על הדעות המקילות של חלק גדול מפוסקי הדורות המאפשר קבלתם של רבים מעולים אלו לעם ישראל. והשניה היא היצמדות לגישות המחמירות בהלכה אשר על פיהן אין לקבל גיורם של עולים אלו, כאשר המשמעות  של קבלת דרך זו היא אלפי נישואי תערובת בין יהודים לגויים.  כלל ידוע ומקובל בעולמה של ההלכה הוא שבשעת הדחק סומכים להקל גם על דעת מיעוט בהלכה. במקרה דנן דומה שאין שעת הדחק או שעת חירום גדולה מזו! מה גם שאין צורך להסתמך על דעות יחידות  וניתן להסתמך על דעות הרווחות למדי בעולם הפסיקה. החרדים המאמצים את הגישה המחמירה, אינם מוטרדים כנראה מאסון ההתבוללות, נישואי התערובת הרי יהיו מנת חלקה של החברה החילונית, ואשר אולי על כן יכולים הם לפטור עצמם באמירת "מה לנו ולצרה זו". אולם מי שחרד לעתידה של ישראל כמדינה יהודית, אינו יכול להישאר אדיש נוכח מצב המתפתח מול עינינו בו בעוד שנים לא מעטות יווצרו כאן שני עמים. שניהם ישראלים  דוברי עברית, בעלי זהות ותודעה עצמית יהודית, אך אחד מהם אינו יהודי בעליל. עם כל החשיבות לנושאים כמו כשרות, שבת ושרותי דת, אין כיום בארץ שום ענין יהודי ציבורי המתקרב בחשיבותו לאתגר חשוב זה, שההתמודדות עימו קריטית לעתידנו כאן כמדינה יהודית.  צריך להודות ולומר בהגינות ,הרבנות הראשית הנוכחית בכל הכבוד, ומבלי להתיחס לענינים הפרסונליים של חלק מנושאי התפקידים בה, אין בה את הרצון והיכולת להתמודד עם אתגר זה. במקום זאת היא בוחרת במקרה הטוב לטמון את ראשה בחול, ובמקרה הפחות טוב לכוף את ראשה בפני "גדולי התורה" החרדים הליטאים. עם כל הכאב והקושי אני קורא אפוא בזאת לחברי הרבנים ולציבור הציוני דתי בכללו לומר בגלוי את שרבים מאיתנו חשים  ושותקים זה מכבר: הרבנות הראשית לישראל הגעה לסוף דרכה.

If there is to remain any meaning to the terms state Rabbinate and religious Zionism, then the recent decision casting aspersions on IDF conversions, should be "last straw" in our relationship with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

As a religious Zionist who believes that Israel is the beginning of our redemption, it is not easy for me to come to terms with this realization, but it seems to me that that the time has come to say honestly, sincerely, and painfully, that the Chief Rabbinate as it stands today has run its course.

 The Rabbinate’s resolution, besides transgressing the biblical prohibition of oppressing converts, (reason enough to reject it), clearly demonstrates its complete abnegation of responsibility to Clal Yisrael and the Jewish character of the state, and preference for a sectarian approach that sees reality through an ultra-orthodox lens .We have reached an absurd situation in which the state’s own Rabbinate, bowing to the Chareidi position, is endangering the past achievements and future potential of Israel.

The high degrees of assimilation of the Jewish people in exile means that Am Yisrael is losing thousands of Jews each year. The State of Israel was until recent decades the only place in the world where assimilation was nearly non-existent. Marriage between Jews and Gentiles living in Israel, Arabs and Druze, etc. are rare, and Israel was the only place that guaranteed the demographic future of the Jewish people.

As is well known, in the last decade, things have changed. The large immigration from the former USSR included hundreds of thousands of descendants of Jews who themselves are not Jewish according to halachah. These wonderful people have in an impressive fashion integrated into the life of the state – into the army, the economy, and into society in general. The stage that should complete the integration for many of them into a normative Jewish life in the state of Israel is marriage with Israeli Jews.

Our people has never in our history faced a challenge like this one before.  This is the time to engage in a broad national campaign, to encourage halachic conversion of large segments of this population. This should be a watershed moment for a state Rabbinate that has the considerations of the entire Jewish people before its eyes.

It must be stated clearly; there are only two options: One is a sweeping effort towards creating an halachic, friendly, and welcoming conversion process based on the large body of lenient opinions articulated in the halachic corpus over generations, that would allow acceptance of many of these immigrants into the Jewish people. The alternative is an unyielding adherence to the most stringent positions in halachah, according to which one may not accept conversions of these immigrants, even at the price of creating thousands of mixed marriages between Jews and Gentiles.

There is a known and accepted principle in the world of Jewish law that under pressing circumstances, one may rely upon a minority opinion. It seems that there could be no greater pressing circumstance or emergency than the current situation! Moreover, there is no need to rely on isolated or obscure opinions but rather there is ample and prevalent precedent in Jewish law for a more permissive approach.

Ultra-Orthodox who adopt the strict approach are apparently unconcerned about the demographic disaster of assimilation. According to them, intermarriage is a phenomenon only in the secular society, and they can therefore can absolve themselves by saying "its not our problem.”  However, those who are concerned for the future of Israel as a Jewish state cannot remain indifferent to the present situation that is developing before our eyes. In only a few years from now, we will split into two separate peoples. Both will be Israelis, Hebrew speakers, and self-identified as Jewish, but only one will be technically and halakhically Jewish.

As important as issues such as kashrut, Shabbat and religious services are, there is currently no Jewish communal matter that comes close to approaching the significance of this challenge upon which our future here as a Jewish state rests.  We must admit and say honestly, the current Chief Rabbinate (with all due respect to the many fine individuals who make up its ranks), as an institution, has neither the desire nor the ability to cope with this challenge. Unfortunately, it buries its head in the sand, and even kowtows to the Chareidi community, which is ambivalent at best, and antagonistic at worst to the very state the Rabbinate is meant to serve.

Despite the pain and difficulty involved in breaking with this institution that we had great dreams for, I hereby call upon the lay people and the Rabbis of the religious-Zionist community to say openly what many of us have already felt in our hearts for some time. The Chief Rabbinate has run its course.

Shehechiyanu!

Hey gang!

We got our car!  Yayyyy!!  It is gorgeous!  Sleek and rugged and shiny and beautiful!  I am terrified to drive it!!  I am so nervous I am going to scratch it and bang it up!  And I feel a little awkward having such a spiffy car on kibbutz.  It's not very kibbutz-like (like the story about the kibbutznik who visits a ranch in Texas, and the rancher is giving him a tour, and he says (it's better with Ross' southern drawl, but picture it with a drawl), "On my ranch I can git up in the mornin' and drive and drive all day, and I won't reach the other side by nightfall," and the kibbutznik responds, "Yeah, I used to have a car like that too!").  But I am sure that within a few weeks (or days?), it will be banged and scratched and covered with dirt, just like all the other kibbutz cars, and then our only worry will be how could we have paid so much money for this filthy, banged up car?!  I believe we paid more for this car than for all our other 4 cars that we have ever owned combined.  We could have bought a used car, but we couldn't resist using our "right" as immigrants to purchase a new car with ONLY 75% taxes, a right that is good for only 3 years. 

 

It fits our whole family pretty comfortably, and supposedly our groceries, at the length of a corolla (though it's wider), and it gets the best gas mileage of any car around here that will do all that, and it is a Toyota, so we expect it to last us for a very long time. 

 

In other news, I want to update you about the fish at Sachne!  I was there on Friday, and I thought to myself, I should really try out this fish pedicure thing.  My whole swim from the bridge to the waterfall, I was thinking to myself, "You can do this, Emily.  You know it's safe. They said so on the Today Show.  Rebecca does it.  You love soft feet.  You'll try it for 15 minutes.  You gotta see if it works!"

 

These thoughts carried me all the way to the waterfall, where I found a nice spot for a massage and backed myself in.  I relaxed my feet, thinking, bring 'em on!  Three seconds later, it felt like a swarm of man eating sharks was closing in on my feet.  I let out a yelp, and before I even knew what I was doing, I had dived in, and was swimming as fast as I could back to the bridge.  I was kicking and kicking for several seconds, as though I still had to shake them off of me.  I was looking around me under the water, and it suddenly occured to me-- the fish in the video were teeny.  They were probably smaller than my finger.  These guys are more like the size of my whole hand!  Do they really just nibble off the dead skin, or could they take off a whole toe with it?!

 

It's really not that I'm squeamish.  It's more than I am concerned for their moral development.  I mean, isn't that "ever min hachai?!" (the prohibition of eating a limb off a live animal-- a prohibition that applies to "the sons of Noah,"  meaning all those who were saved in the flood)  Those guys were saved in the flood!  In fact, ALL the fish were saved in the flood!  Have they no respect for G-d's other creatures?!  Do they even know or care that I don't even eat fish?!?!?!?!

 

Anyway, other than that the swim was pleasant.  No big stories to tell.

 

I'll just conclude with a smart kid report.  The subject today is Rivital (and Shai too, actually, in the sequel, which I'll just go ahead and give to you now.  I know how you hate suspense...)

 

Ross was studying Talmud with Tali on Shabbat.  They have been learning Tractate Megillah.  They had been discussing issues related to how you know what is considered a walled city, in that you would have to read megillah on Shushan Purim (for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about-- it doens't matter).  So then out of nowhere the text mentions an akronym-- MNTzPCh (they do that sometimes).  Ross looks at it and wonders what it stands for.  He glances at Rashi, smiles, and says to Tali, "Ah!  I'll give you a hundred dollars if you can tell me within five seconds what MNTzPCh is (or maybe he knew without looking at Rashi, but the story is way better this way, dontcha think?).  He starts counting: 1.....2.....3.....4..... Rivital: ALL THE LETTERS THAT HAVE FINAL LETTERS?"  And there goes 100 dollars!  Just like that! 

 

When we spent seder at our neighbors in Baltimore (the cantor of the shul and his family), the cantor did this thing where he would ask questions throughout the meal, and offer rewards for the answers.  He would say things like, "I'll give you 2 dollars if you can tell me....x.... (whatever-- I'm too tired to think of a real example).  If no one knew, he'd raise the ante.  "I'll give you 5 dollars.  Alright 10 dollars....  For one question, he was really dragging it out, until he said, "Alright I'll give a thousand dollars to anyone who can tell me who was the (whatever).  And at that moment his teenage daughter stepped in from the kitchen, not having heard the question until then.  She immediately answered it correctly, and BOOM-- bought herself a new car.  OK, I'm making up the part about the new car for effect.  Boy, I'm dangerous when I'm tired!  But she did get a thousand dollars!

 

Anyway, so Rivital made her easy hundred, and later she was telling what happened to Shai.  Shai said, "Well what was it?"  and she said, "Ah, you wouldn't know it." and Shai said "try me." and of course he came out with the right answer immediately!!!!

 

With that I'm off to sleep. I am sooooooooo  tired zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz  Love,,Em

Volunteering as a value in our childrens schooling

Below is an article written by the principal of our school (its grades 1-12). I definately have mixed feelings about the combat unit piece as it pertains to my children.  However, the point about teaching the value of volunteerism and giving back to society is one reason I am happy with the community and school my children are in.

Yes, the good ones are going into combat

Service in a combat unit isn't just an existential need of the State of Israel. It is also an expression of friendship, love of the land, ambition, leadership, physical and mental stamina and an awareness of collective duty.

By Moshe Tur-Paz Tags: Gideon Levy Israel news IDF

"Richard Cohen, a columnist for The Washington Post, recently wrote about how proud his graduating class from a school in Queens, New York was of three of its students who went on to win Nobel Prizes, another who became a renowned psychologist and yet another who was a trailblazing women's basketball player." That is how Gideon Levy describes his vision for school achievement in Israel ("Kfir wants you?" - August 10). He contrasts his vision with the fact that Yedioth Aharonoth actually paid tribute to the schools that came in first in the "combat unit and draft evasion index."
The school at which I am principal, Shaked-Sde Eliyahu, is a regional religious school in the Emek Hama'ayanot area near Beit She'an. The school came in first in the "combat unit competition," with 87 percent of its graduates serving in combat units, commando units and volunteer units for soldiers lacking combat qualifications.

I am not ashamed of this achievement. On the contrary, I am proud of it. My school has a success rate of more than 70 percent on the matriculation exams. It has a rich curriculum, varied and creative course offerings, and a broad range of Jewish studies. Most of its graduates, especially students from the religious kibbutz movement, complete a year of community service before serving their full army service or alternative national service.
Richard Cohen is a good Jew who has chosen not to live in Israel. He can write his column in his safe haven. Meanwhile, the graduates of the Shaked School, the Hispin yeshiva and the Sulam Tzur comprehensive school from my area will lay in wait on ambush duty, serve at roadblocks and endanger their lives in all those activities that Gideon Levy so abhors. Service in the Israel Defense Forces is a necessity very much connected to education.
Service in a combat unit isn't just an existential need of the State of Israel. It is also an expression of friendship, love of the land, ambition, leadership, physical and mental stamina and an awareness of collective duty. The Education Ministry should develop, encourage and reward the teaching of values in schools. Values education includes volunteerism, compassion, tolerance of the other, development of humanitarian values and creativity as well as contributing to the state even if it means risking one's life.
Israelis are entitled to know the matriculation rates at their children's schools, but that's not enough. They are also entitled to know about the values taught at these schools. I, too, am very concerned about the results of the army survey. I am concerned that the top 10 schools with graduates in combat units (five religious and five secular) all belong to the rural education school network. I am concerned that the large cities (especially those between Hadera and Gedera) are underrepresented on the list. I am concerned that the things that have been said about the contribution of the "State of Tel Aviv" to the defense of the state could turn out to be correct.
Last Shabbat, soldiers from the army's Nativ course, most of whom are about to be converted to Judaism, were hosted by families on my kibbutz, Tirat Zvi. This week a new group of immigrants whose parents had left Israel joined the kibbutz. And two weeks ago, my kibbutz hosted children from Ilan, the organization for disabled children, for an enrichment summer camp. For many years now, the religious kibbutz movement has taken a leading role in volunteering and community service.
The Education Ministry would do well to continue to encourage and develop values education. Parents and schools would do well to examine educational outcomes from a value and societal standpoint, including enlistment in the IDF. The graduates of "Kochav Nolad" (the Israeli version of "American Idol"), will apparently fight for their right to the recognition and success Cohen has achieved. To our regret, we will have to lean on our sword for many more years and rely on our graduates, who are fighting for the state's existence.
The writer is the principal of the Shaked School at Sde Eliyahu, whose graduates were ranked first by the IDF and Education Ministry according to participation in combat units.

Pool Membership

When I lived in Baltimore I used to swim all the time.  It is by far my favorite exercise, and it keeps me happy and healthy (well, not all by itself, but you get the point....)  When we arrived, I was excited that there is a pool on the kibbutz, but the pool basically closes when school starts.  I guess they figure it is mostly for the kids, plus all the lifeguards are school teachers. 

 

I have asked around, but was worried that swimming elsewhere would be too pricey.  When we lived in Jerusalem it cost 50 shekel a pop to go swimming.  Not even per day-- after you spent the 50 to get in, if you left for lunch or something you'd have to pay again for reentry.  And that's at a pool that is swimming with food wrappers and cigarette butts, and the lanes are so close together that you rub against people on both sides as you swim!  (It used to remind me of the Simpsons episode when Bart got up in the middle of the night and erased all the lines in the parking lot at school and repainted them a little too close together so when people drove up in the morning and parked no one could open their car door...)  There was a yearly membership rate, but it was something insane-- thousands of dollars if I recall. 

 

I was told there is a kibbutz nearby with an indoor pool, and I was also told that people swim at Sachne.  For those of you really avid readers, you may remember the big touristy place we accidentally went to twice in one week, that is actually a stunningly beautiful natural spring that is humungous and beautifully tended, with an assortment of waterfalls and all sorts of death traps for children, and packed with tourists--- especially in the summer.  Well, expensive as it is for a day (though slightly more than half of the price of the garbage and cigarette infested Jerusalem pool...), it turns out they have very reasonable yearly membership rates.  And while they are outdoors, they are open year round, and the water stays at a stable 28 degrees C (82 point something F) all year.  AND the kibbutz has a group membership that makes it substantially cheaper. 

 

I kept putting off looking into it.  I guess something about driving down the big mountain and trying to swim my way around all the tourists didn't seem so appealing.  But I was feeling desperate for a swim, so I started looking into it last week.

 

I tried calling, but no one answers the phone and there is a machine that is full.  I tried that for a few days.  Then when I was going to be down the mountain anyway last Sunday I thought I'd just drive over there (it is right at the bottom of the mountain, making it a 10 minute drive).  Unfortunately, I had Abaye with me (long story), so I couldn't actually go for a swim, but I thought I'd go inquire.

 

The woman informed me that a family membership would be 440 shekels for the year.  The whole year!  That sounded good!  That's what, like a little more than 100 dollars.  BUT......  First of all, the membership is only goes from January to January, so if I get it now, I'm paying all that for less than 3 months.  Which honestly is about what I paid in Baltimore to swim (and that was only because we got a big rabbinic discount), but you just kind of feel ripped off, if you know what I mean.  AND second of all, the woman said it would be really ashame to pay all that and not be part of the kibbutz package, though it is too late to join the kibbutz group now.  So it seemed her advice was to not swim for 3 months in order to not be missing a bargain.  I respect that. 

 

 I couldn't swim that day anyway, so I decided to see what the group price was, figuring maybe  I could bargain with the manager.  I asked the secretary in the kibbutz office, and for a FAMILY from our kibbutz to use Sachne for a YEAR costs FIFTY SHEKEL!!!!  That is to say, like, TWELVE DOLLARS.  FOR THE YEAR!  FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY!!!!

 

So NOW how can I possible pay 440?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! (Jodi-- I know YOU understand me!)

 

I said to the secretary that maybe I could tell the guy what members pay and explain that I am a new immigrant and so I wasn't here for the membership, and maybe he would make me some kind of deal.

 

She responded, "NO!  You can't tell them what we pay individually!!  That might make them raise our rates!"  We pay one group fee, and as many families as want to go in split that cost.  I guess she is worried that if they know how many people are chipping in they would charge more. 

 

So I went back down there today, and I asked to speak to the manager.  He was very short (in the sense of not patient or responsive), and said that the rate is the rate, but I can pay as an individual 170 shekel.  This seemed much better and totally outrageous at the same time.  But what am I gonna do, so off I went to pay.

 

When I got to the woman at the front, she asked what he offered me, and I told her 170.  She said that's not bad.  I said, yeah, I suppose, unless you consider that it is probably 3 times what I could have paid for the whole year.  She said, "Nah, they pay around a hundred each."  Bite tongue.

 

I asked if I could pay for the day to make sure I like it, and then upgrade to a membership on my way out.  She said no, but that I could go in for free today and pay next time.  That works. 

 

I went in and gave myself a tour of the place (I asked her if she would, and she said she can't but  I should take a map.  The map, incidentally, only shows how to get to the place from outside, and how pretty it is.  It includes NO information about the facilities about which I was asking...).  I checked out the showers and walked around the entire perimiter of the water (which is big, including 3 large pools and at least 4 waterfalls) so I'd know what all the possibilites are.  I scoped out picnic tables (thought I'd do a little writing after my swim-- Jodi - you inspired me!), and chose a spot to put my stuff.  My stuff was not much, since the place is notorious for having things stolen.  I asked the woman at the front if she thought my clothes were safe and she said yes.  So I left everything in the car except my clothes and sandals, and I tied the car key around my wrist and went in.

 

People had recommended swimming between the big water fall and the bridge (it's like 200 or 400 meters).  That seemed like a good idea.  There were mind of a lot of people there, but nothing at all like the summer (mostly European tourists-- apparently Time magazine rated it the most beautiful place in Israel, and one of the 20 most beautiful places in the world), and the spring is HUUUUUGE, so I really didn't have to worry too much about swimming into people.  So I left my clothes and sandals on a picnic table bench, and went to down to jump in among the fishies.  Literally.  The place is teeming with them.  They reluctantly scootch a little as I lower myself into the water (the water is all deep, so not much gradual entry except holdng onto the rock as you slide in).  I swim all the way down to the waterfall.  I am about to go back, and I think, wouldn't it be refreshing to stand under the waterfall (we are in the middle of a heat wave here).  I go under, and the waterfall is pounding on my back, giving me the most extraordinary massage (and I happen to have a crick in my neck from the last couple of days, so it was awesome!).  I am moving my shoulders back and forth to maximize the massage, and taking it all in, when I suddenly notice the gentle nibbling on my feet, as I have become a brunch buffet to a school of fish.  It doesn't actually particularly hurt, but for reasons I can't explain but I bet you can understand, I don't want the fish nibbling on my feet.  But I don't want to leave the waterfall either.  So my shoulders and back and head are relaxing into the waterfall, while with my feet I start doing a mad dance to frighten away the fearless fish.  This works for a little while, but it gets annoying and I head back.  On my next round I do the water fall again, but head right back when fishy lunchtime starts. 

 

I also tread for awhile in the deep end, something I wasn't so into before, but when it means watching the stunning view and being a part of this natural amazing wonder all around you, it's pretty nice. 

Eventually I get out.  No towel necessary around here.  I throw on my clothes (which have been neatly placed on the tippiest corner of the bench of the picnic table, which is now inhabited by a big party from some place whose language I have never heard (I actually think they are from Miami and were faking it so I wouldn't take them on for moving my stuff). 

 

I head to the car for my laptop, and find a new table to start writing.  This goes well for awhile, until another party decides that my table is perfect for them, and they start crowding around like we are all sitting down for lunch in middle school and we just sit wherever there are empty spots at tables.    There is a very similar empty table with the same shade literally one tree away, but I figure that resettling is going to buy me limited time around here, and my concentration is waning.  At this point I was already bone dry and dripping with sweat (had it been ever a half hour?), so I decide it is time to head home for the air conditioning. 

 

BTW, When I told Ross about the cost, he said, "Hey, can we get a family membership so I can go too?"  So we'll have to see what happens next.  Will the Singers buy a family membership?  Will Emily keep asking to go in once to try it out hoping the lady won't notice?  Will Ross shave really well before and go in on Emily's membership?  Stay tuned for the next episode of "The Mundane Adventures of the Singers in Israel, when Adin eats shwarma and says "That was yummy!"

 

Till next time,

 

Emily

Bald Dishwasher cont...

Dear friends who have not yet changed your emails or moved and left no forwarding address,

 

I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry, but I have to say a few more things about the dishwasher....

 

We'll start with the mundane but most important-- It is AWESOME!!!!!!  It works great, and it holds so much!!  As we were loading up Friday night, and we kept adding more and more stuff(s), we began comparing it to Mary Poppins' carpet bag.  We were 16 people at dinner, and we could fit ALL the plates, ALL the soup bowls, ALL the glasses, ALL the silverware, and a few serving things (including at least one big bowl) on top of that!!!  (Not literally on top-- that would have broken the glasses...)  So that was great!  AND the Shabbat timer thing totally worked... in the end....

 

But I want to share with you the pre-Shabbat scene:

 

In order to set it for Shabbat, you have to turn it on before Shabbat (though it won't actually go until the timer goes off).  So that means we had to have the last pre-Shabbat cycle finished in time for that (we usually load and run a dishwasher right before Shabbat, but we will have to get more organized).  So I thought I had enough time, but of course we were running a little later than we would have liked, so when I went to turn on the last pre-Shabbat load, it said it would take 1:42, and there were not quite an hour and forty two minutes left until Shabbat, so I tried changing it to the less intense setting.  Now it said 1:25,which seemed to be barely perfect for me to open it when it was finished, and set it for Shabbat.  So I start it, and I'm doing my stuff around the kitchen, reheating the food and cleaning up, and looking over at Kojak (hey!  That's a good name for it!!  Get it?  Bald?  I just came up with that now!) every once in a while to see how we're doing.  The little clock on Kojak  says 1:20... 1:15... 1:10... 100...right on schedule, and THEN guess what it says...........

 

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

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.

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.

 

 

99!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The darn thing is only in minutes!!!!!!  The cycle's  not an hour and 25 minutes, it's a HUNDRED and 25 minutes!!!  Now we are running 40 minutes late!!!!!!!!

 

So what do I do?  I can't possibly let the cycle run into Shabbat and just wash dishes by hand like we've done every single Shabbat for our entire lives up till now, right?!  Nah.

 

I wait till the very last possible moment, hoping I will catch it on the drying cycle.  I open it up just before candle lighting, and it is filled with suds.  Rats.  I grab a big towel and pull everything out to rinse afterwards in the sink.  Then I proceed to set the dishwasher, except guess what?  It doesn't want to be reset!  It wants to finish rinsing what it started!  I can't get the darned thing to get off of "30", and whenever I shut the door it starts rinsing.  I'd give up, but I've already pulled out all the soapy dishes!  Do I really reload them all now?!  I try turning the machine off (a bunch of times).  I try holding buttons for long periods of time.  I try other stuff I won't mention in case there are children reading.  Finally finally, on a whim, I pop out the button to set the cycles and I spin it around to look at all the options, and sure enough, there is a reset button!  And the rest is history.  At least now that I've written it on a blog it's history.  Otherwise it probably would have been, I dunno, nothing really.  Another event forever lost to the world, I guess.  Like the rabbi who was playing golf on Yom Kippur and got a hole in one.  No one knows about it, because who could he tell?  He certainly couldn't post it on his blog!

 

Anyway, that's all for now. 

 

May you all have a calm and peaceful week with little stress and lots of clean dishes....

 

Love,

 

Em

Bald Dishwasher

Hi!

 

I must bore you yet again with our appliance purchasing adventures.  This is the last of our major appliances (oh-- except a dryer.  I'll try to buy a dryer in a way that won't be worth reporting-- if I buy one at all.  I actually just affixed a tarp over our laundry lines in hopes of avoiding that expense and environmental handicap for awhile). 

 

So we finally got our dishwasher (Yayyyy!!!!)  But it is bald (oof).  I don't mean bald  like no hair (ie no top).  I mean bald like it underwent brain surgery and they forgot to stitch it back up again!

 

Let me start from the beginning.  I mean really the beginning.  In many ways, Ross and I are pretty low-maintenance people (right?), but we do love our dishwasher.  When we were first married and had no money, we barely went out and we saved in almost every possible way, but we bought a dishwasher (actually in our second year of marriage.  I don't know how we survived our first one!)  When we were in Vancouver and we used to regularly host over 20 people for one or two meals nearly every Shabbat, we looked into getting our dishwasher on a timer for Shabbat use.  We came really close.  We even had a technician come and install a timer on it ($100!), but as the guy was packing up his tool box and walking out the door, Ross was looking at the machine and saying that no, it won't actually work.

 

The problem is that we, as religious Jews, do not turn on machines on Shabbat.  We do set timers BEFORE Shabbat to turn things on and off (like lights), but we can't actually do something ourselves on Shabbat to cause something to go on. 

 

So with a dishwasher, even if you set it on a timer to only go on at midnight, and even if you put in the detergent before Shabbat, there is seemingly no way of getting around the fact that after you load the thing, you have to close it, and when you click it closed, that is causing it to start, even if it won't actually start for several hours, because if you DON'T close it, it WON'T start.  Are you following me?  Do you care?  (Don't answer that Mom...).  Anyway, so after Ross nixed the timer, I called a rabbi friend and mentor of ours, and after much deliberation, he said that he thought it would be permissible, but only if we disengaged the lock mechanism.  The problem with this is that the lock mechanism is a safety feature, without which, kids could open the machine mid-cycle, and china and sharp knives could go flying across the room.  So we never did it.

 

Now that we are in Israel, we have friends who just purchased a new dishwasher, and I'll be darned if it didn't have a Shabbat timer on it!!!  This is Israel, folks.  We can do anything we want.  We can change daylight savings at a different time of the year from the rest of the civilized world just so our Yom Kippur fast will end earlier, and by golly we can have Shabbat timers on our dishwashers!  How does it work?  The secret is, rather then disengaging the safety lock all the time, there is a special Shabbat switch that allows you to disengage it only on Shabbat for the sole purpose of having it run at midnight that one time.  Granted, if there is a family with kids who will wake up at midnight and go open the dishwasher, it is ours, but we're taking our chances!  So of course,as I am purchasing all new appliances anyway, I decided I had to have THAT dishwasher.

 

But it's more complicated than that.  See, there is not a special dishwasher available.  Rather, there is an organization that will come install the device onto an already existing dishwasher.  There seem to be only 2 models to which this can be done properly, and one buys the machine, and then a guy from the organization comes out to your house to install it.  Unfortunately, however, they are not prepared to travel all the way out to where we are.  I asked if there is anything that can be done, and he said that he has a relationship with a store near him.  He could install the device into a machine at the store, and then they would deliver the machine to me.  I called the store, and he explained that there are 2 machines-- one really excellent, and one substantially less so for not much cheaper.  So I said we'll take the excellent one.  He said we should just know that it is "half integrated ("chetzi integrali?").  I askedwhat that means, and he said it doesn't come with a door.  I asked why on earth a dishwasher wouldn't come with a door.  He explained that people get this kind when they want it to match their kitchen, so they have their builder or designer create the door to match the rest of the room.  Fair enough.  I asked what I could do, and he said I could buy a door from him separately.  So OK, we'll take the door.  Is that the only difference?  Yes-- basically (he tells me).

 

So the machine arrives last Thursday, and like with the washing machine, I am not allowed to touch the thing until the service guy comes to install it.  So it sits in its box in the kitchen for a week (makes a nice counter top), and the guy arrives today (same guy as the washing machine, as a matter of fact).  He takes one look at the box in the corner, and he says, "I think you have made a big mistake."  Why?  The machine is chetzi-integralli.  Yeah, I know that, but I bought a door!  But he explains that the whole machine is designed to be installed into a counter.  He opens the box to explain.  The machine is completely bald.  Like they built it, but didn't have time to put the top on, or ran out of materials or something.  You can see some of the hardware and pipes (though not enough for it to be really cool -- like if you could actually watch the machine working, like the donut machine a Krispy Kreme Donuts). 

 

So it's got a door, but it is naked and exposed on top (I am sure we will accidentally drop something down there, like a playmobile toy, or like on Seinfeld when Kramer accidentally dropped a junior mint into the guy who was having open heart surgery-- remember that?), AND it is totally unstable, because it is meant to be attached to something.  So if you open the drawers, the whole machine tips forward! 

 

But we are nothing if not survivors!  So I put the big slab of cardboard from the box it came in on top of the machine, and then I hurled an unpacked box of books on top, against the back, to stabilize it, and we washed our first load of dishes!!!!  Testing the Shabbat timer as I am writing!!!!  Woo hoo!!!!  So now that the crisis is over, we have time to think through our next step.  I'll be sure to keep you posted (unless you change your email address, or maybe even move and leave no forwarding address, to avoid further detailed messages about purchasing appliances...).  Is appliance purchasing this big of an adventure for everybody?

 

What else can I tell y'all?  Ross is getting settled into his work.  He had a great week.  He had his first class with the American students, and he loved it!  He also figured out that to get in good with them, all he needs to do is serve fresh fruit.  Apparently the budget does not allow a regular supply of fresh fruit and fruit juice.  Where is that fund raiser when you need him?  Maybe Ross can get someone to donate money for fruit, if we mark the peels with names-- "this clementine im memory of my darling clementine...." 

 

The kids are still doing great in school, and they are all really excited about the kids programming on kibbutz.  It is a special month for B'nei Akiva, and they are all psyched up for it!  And we are hosting the lower school kiddush after shul this week.  Dirt will be served! 

 

Last Shabbat Abaye was invited out at 9:00 at night, and he returned at 9:45 with 4 older girls in tow (Shai's age?-- BTW, Shai would have been invited too but he was already asleep...).  They sat on the floor drinking and playing cards.  If you are going to hang out with older women drinking and playing cards, it should be at home where your parents can keep an eye on you, right?  Just kidding-- it was REALLY cute!

 

This Shabbat we are hosting guests for the second time in a row.  We are having a family, who one of their sons is one of Abaye's best friends, a couple of guys from the Yeshiva, and our friend Maddy, who we met in Baltimore just before we moved here (she lives here, but her mom lives there, and she summers there to help take care of her mom) and who set us up by giving me a big scarf (she expressed that the synagogue is freezing and all the women have them), and strongly suggesting that we reconsider our decision to not purchase an air conditioner (one of the best reconsiderings we have ever done!!!)  So I guess she is responsible for keeping me warm AND keeping us cool!  Thanks Maddy!  (I think she sometimes reads these...). 

 

I think that's about all I have to report.  I think I have added enough so that it doesn't seem that this entire email is about a stupid dishwasher, right?  Though that last sentence isn't helping....

 

Have a good night/morning/afternoon and a Shabbat Shalom!

Love,

 

Emily

YouTube Devar Torah

My first youtube Devar Torah for Maale Gilboa!

If you are interested in getting one of these short (3-5 minute) Divrei Torah every week by e-mail let me know!

To see the one I did in Hebrew click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq80-_VjSzU

Seat Belts?

So yesterday I took my driving test and thank goodness I passed!  I arrived at 9:15 as my instructor asked but it wasn't time for my test yet.  In fact a previous group was finishing up.  After they finished my instructor had me drive his previous testees home -- I guess to give me more practice.  While we were driving, we went past a cop.  I noticed out of the corner of my eye that as we approached the cop, my instructor grabbed his seat belt and pulled it over his body.  He didn't actually buckle it, just pulled it toward the buckle until we passed the police officer.  Then he let it go.  This is the guy who is teaching how to drive safely!?!?!?!?!

Well at least we can move ahead now with buying our car.