Greg Myre of The New York Times published an important story about the demographics of Jerusalem today.

The article analyzes some of the implications of the statistics illustrated in the graph at left:

"In a 1967 census taken shortly after the war, the population of Jerusalem was 74 percent Jewish and 26 percent Arab. Today, the city is 66 percent Jewish and 34 percent Arab, with the gap narrowing by about 1 percentage point a year, according to the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies.

Jerusalem’s profound religious and historical significance makes its status perhaps the single most explosive issue in the Arab-Israeli conflict. And that status clearly would become even more contentious were the balance of the population to tip toward the Arabs. This is a specter that worries Israelis, even as the 40th anniversary of their victory in the June 1967 war approaches."

The article goes on to describe the well-known fact that Jerusalem remains highly segregated, in fact, it remains two separate cities– West Jerusalem, which is largely Jewish, and East Jerusalem, which is largely Arab.  While the author mentions the city’s weak economy, he does not state clearly that Jerusalem is, in fact, the poorest city in all of Israel.

The article also notes that the large majority of Israelis treasure Jerusalem but would not want to live there:

"A poll released last week captured the Israeli ambivalence over Jerusalem. More than 60 percent of Israelis said they would not want to give up Israeli control of the city’s holy sites, even as part of a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Yet 78 percent of Israelis said they would not consider living in Jerusalem or would prefer to live elsewhere in Israel."

One anecdote from a Jewish woman who decided to leave Jerusalem after being harassed by an ultra-orthodox woman who disapproved of her attire captures some of the angst that people feel about living in Jerusalem, but, in my view, this brief story only scratches the surface of the intolerance that ultra-Orthodox Jews, the haredim, have toward other Jews, not to mention anyone else of a different persuasion or ethnicity.

In my own experiences visiting Jerusalem on eleven occasions, I have felt unwelcome at the Kotel (this is the general description of the site of the Western Wall) almost every time that I go to pray at the Western Wall.  I’ve been harassed by the ultra-orthodox on multiple occasions.  Unlike many non-Orthodox Jews who now avoid going to the Wall to avoid being harassed, I’ve developed my own way of dealing with it:  I make sure to go to the Western Wall as many times as possible in order to assert the fact that the Holiest place in Judaism is not the exclusive territory of the haredim.

According to the article, Jews are leaving Jerusalem because a minority of Jewish fundamentalists are, in effect, chasing them away.  Unfortunately, this trend will only have the residual effect among Jews of leaving more polarized and intolerant people in Jerusalem.

The haredim are not likely to change their ways anytime soon.  If the Israeli government would officially recognize the legitimacy of Conservative and Reform Judaism and take concrete steps to officially allow greater religious pluralism among Jews in Israel, perhaps more Jews in Israel would want to live in Jerusalem and this would not be the poorest city in the State of Israel.  Such contructive change might have a positive ripple effect across a wide range of the socio-economic issues that plague Jerusalem.  Well, I can at least dream…   

The new President of France has strong Jewish ethnic origins and understands the roots of Zionism and the case for the existence of Israel.  Below, I have excerpted parts of an article written by Raanan Eliaz in the European Jewish Press that outlines the Sarkozy family’s origins and experience during the Holocaust.  There is plenty of debate over whether Sarkozy’s Jewish ethnicity will materially influence French policies in the Middle East.

Puting this question aside, but drawing on my own family history and my father’s negative experiences with French anti-Semitism, in my view it’s a big deal that someone of Nicolas Sarkozy’s background, who is also a vocal supporter of improved relations with the United States, is the new leader of France. Bonne Chance, Monsieur President!

From the article:

"In an interview Nicolas Sarkozy gave in 2004, he expressed an
extraordinary understanding of the plight of the Jewish people
for a home: "Should I remind you the visceral attachment of
every Jew to Israel, as a second mother homeland? There is
nothing outrageous about it. Every Jew carries within him a fear
passed down through generations, and he knows that if one day he
will not feel safe in his country, there will always be a place
that would welcome him. And this is Israel." (From the book "La
République, les religions, l’espérance", interviews with Thibaud
Collin and Philippe Verdin.)

Original article: ejpress.org/article/16491

Last night my family and I returned from a wonderful Passover Seder at the home of close friends.  Ten children, six of them teenagers,  participated in the Seder.

Last week, my friend, David, who hosted the Seder, and I got together to discuss preparations for the reading of the Haggadah, and we agreed that it would be both relevant and educational to prepare some questions for the teens that relate Passover to contemporary issues.

We emailed the children in advance and asked them to think about these questions before the Seder:

Passover celebrates the end of Jewish slavery in Egypt; can you think of an example of slavery that exists in the world today?

The seder is filled with rituals (cups of wine, parsley, breaking matzoh); are these rituals relevant in your life today?

During the seder, we remember the ten plagues that fell upon the Egyptians; do we face any plagues in our life today?

What does Hillel mean when he says: “Do not unto others what you would hate them to do unto you.  That is the whole Torah.”

We leave the door open for Elijah as a sign that nobody is shut off from his fellow man; what else can you do tomorrow to demonstrate the same thing?

When I returned home I turned on the local news and saw a screen shot of our synagogue, Temple Emanu El, where I served on the board for six years, and listened to a news reporter explain that a blue swastika, the universally recognized symbol of anti-semitism, had been painted on the wall of Temple Emanu El yesterday at 11AM.  For news coverage of the incident, please click here.

In a statement Monday, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said, "San Francisco’s largest Jewish temple was defaced with a symbol of hatred on the eve of Passover. San Francisco is known as a city that embraces people of all faiths. We strongly condemn this act of hatred and intolerance."

It is a hard slap in the face to religious tolerance to see this happen in our local community, and I am very distressed by it.  Could this be the thoughtless act of a young person? If so, I wonder what questions are being asked at that family’s dinner table?

An important opinion column in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal by Katherine Kersten, a columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, titled "Shariah in Minnesota?", exposes the weak underbelly of our open, democratic society. 

Our policymakers need to think very hard about underestimating the political intent behind the tactics of fundamentalist activists who wish to use the tools of democracy and tolerance to subvert religious pluralism in this country.  Fundamentalists wish to impose their view of how things must be done on everyone else, and they are perfectly happy to use democracy to destroy democracy.

One of the things that makes America a great country is our openness to diversity and our tolerance of "the other".  A melting pot society only works, however, when everyone "melts" a bit to become woven into the rich tapestry that is America.

Minnesota has turned into an interesting test case due to a number of incidents that a reasonable person might consider part of a broader group’s attempts to faciliate a larger political agenda :

* Several years ago, Muslim taxi drivers at the Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport started refusing to transport passengers carrying alcohol in their bags, demanding the right to discriminate among passengers;

* In November 2006 the now-celebrated case of the six "flying imams" occurred, where disruptive behavior by six imams before and immediately after boarding a flight raised suspicions among passengers and airline personnel, leading to the detention of the imams and more recently, to the following:

"Last week, the six imams filed suit in the U.S. district court in Minneapolis against US Airways and the Metropolitan Airports Commission, claiming discrimination and defamation.  Now some Muslim cashiers at Twin Cities Target stores have begun refusing to scan pork products, like bacon and pepperoni pizza, and insisting that other cashiers or the customers themselves do it."

Ms. Kersten observes:

"The events here suggest a larger strategy: By piggy-backing on our civil rights laws, Islamist activists aim to equate airport security with racial bigotry and aim to move slowly toward a two-tier legal system.  Intimidation is a crucial tool.  The "flying imams" lawsuit ups the ante by indicating that passengers who alerted airport authorities will be included as defendants."

Allowing such attempts to succeed today will undermine our open society and stand the notion of civil rights in this country on its head.  In my view, reversing bad legislation that may have "good intent" will exact an even greater cost on our socio-political institutions farther down the road.

Are we willing to allow mis-guided notions of tolerance and diversity to rule over common sense?  I hope not.   

Today is a very special Shabbat because we are celebrating my son’s Bar Mitzvah– the first in our family in 30 years– and the last such milestone after our daughter’s Bat Mitzvah of two years ago.  As the son of a Holocaust survivor I feel very proud to have now successfully passed the torch of the Torah, the moral and legal framework of Judaism, on to the next generation.

Considering this observance of Jewish faith and ritual in a larger context, particularly the secular vs. religious debate that occupies so much of the media, I feel that many critics of religion and of religious observance are missing a very big point.

In a column on religion in the New York Times on March 3rd, Peter Steinfels takes to task Richard Dawkins’ book, The God Delusion, which so many people continue to read.  Steinfels notes that the new wave of books on atheism, including, of course, Sam Harris’ "Letter to a Christian Nation", is being criticized primarily by avowed atheists, philosophers, and scientists writing in publications like The New Republic and The New York Review of Books.

Critics, such as Marxist Terry Eagleton, make a very simple point that I find amply evident–

Referring to Dawkin’s book, Eagleton observes:

"In a book of almost 400 pages, he can scarcely bring himself to concede that a single human benefit has flowed from religious faith, a view which is as a priori improbable as it is empirically false. … The countless millions who have devoted their lives selflessly to the service  of others in the name of Christ or Buddha or Allah are wiped from human history– and this by a self-appointed crusader against bigotry."

Today, as my wife and I embrace our son and celebrate with our family, friends, and our Jewish community the coming of age of another generation of Jewish men, we are also celebrating the passing of the mantle of knowledge that inspires people to do the right thing in the name of humanity.  I thank God for that.

Rabbi Michael Melchior recently participated in the fourth Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism.  Sheikh Abdullah Nimr Darwish, founder of the Islamic movement in Israel, made a very important speech in which he condemend Holocaust deniers.  I have excerpted a portion of the article covering the event, which was publsihed in Haaretz (click here for full article):

February 13, 2007

The founder of the Islamic Movement in Israel condemned Holocaust denial in the Muslim world on Sunday, rejecting statements by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Also, Darwish accused his audience of not understanding Muslims or their concerns, and he protested Israel’s refusal to support the recent Saudi Arabian peace initiative involving Hamas and Fatah. "Why are you trying to distance yourselves from Muslims as if they were the devil?" he said. …

In many conversations that I have had with experts on Islam about the absence of outrage against Muslim extremism by the so-called "Silent Majority" of Muslims, we invariably get caught up debating the question of the persistence of this deafening silence from moderate Muslims.

When a constructive Muslim voice is expressed in a public forum, we should all take note and remember the importance of the event and the  courageousness of such people.  The fact is that Islamic pluralists who speak out against hate invite threats and death edicts (fatwa) from fundamentalist extremists who actively promote anarchy and the cult of death through martyrdom thoughout the Middle East.

I don’t agree with everything that the Sheikh had to say, but I am willing to give him the room to be constructive and to ask for more Muslims to join him in bringin more voices to light from the Silent Majority.

Jerusalem
December 11, 2006

We stood on the side of the road in silence, looking across the valley at the Temple Mount and the Al-Aqsa Mosque from Mount Scopus. Only the gathering evening wind and the steady idle of the Mercedes taxi’s engine accompanied us while we looked out into the encroaching darkness.  It was almost 6 PM, and my Israeli driver, who has shepherded me through ten trips to Israel since 2002, had brought me to this historic site before my dinner meeting to enjoy a few quiet moments and admire the lights of Jerusalem.

We had just left the Kotel, where I observed the 32nd anniversary of my father’s passing by reciting the Jewish mourner’s prayer, the Mourner’s Kaddish, at the Western Wall.

As we contemplated the Old City, we heard a new sound.  A melodic and melancholy chant now blended with the swirling wind and rose through the valley from the Al-Aqsa Mosque to reach us on Mount Scopus.  It was the muezzin’s evening call to prayer , multiplying through a succession of loudspeakers from the minarets of the numerous mosques that dotted the darkening landscape in front of us.

“Do you know how to pray?” my driver asked, piercing the silence.

With my own recent prayers still in my head, I quickly replied, “Yes, of course I do.”

His query surprised me, since my own experience is that spirituality and prayer come from within and need no formal instruction.  But my first reaction misinterpreted what he was really saying.

“I don’t know how to pray”, he asserted. “I am a Jew, and I live in Israel, and that’s it. . . . I think that the Jews who live outside of Israel know much more about prayer than many Jews here in Israel.  To be a Jew outside of Israel, you have to want to be a Jew and want to learn how to pray.”

I felt saddened as I considered his heartfelt statement, but I didn’t know how to respond.  I closed my eyes and asked myself how differently he, an Israeli Jew, would feel about his own Jewish identity if the State of Israel actually embraced religious pluralism.

And for a moment, as I strained to hear the now fading melody of the muezzin, I imagined what that Israel would be like.

Photographs (click on image to enlarge)

The Western Wall in the foreground with the golden dome of Al-Aqsa Mosque above it, in a picture I took in June 2006.

The view of Al-Aqsa Mosque from Mount Scopus, December 11, 2006, at approximately 6 PM .

Charles Krauthammer’s Washington Post opinion piece on Borat is important and insightful.  Krauthammer reacts with disbelief to Sacha Baron Cohen’s recent, rare, out-of-character interview since the release of the film.  In The Rolling Stone, Cohen defends the anti-Semitic expose’ that runs through Borat, claiming that Borat’s Jew-baiting is a sub-rosa attempt to expose a core of anti-Semitism that lives comfortably in the United States.:

"Borat essentially works as a tool," Baron Cohen says. "By himself being anti-Semitic, he lets people lower their guard and expose their own prejudice, whether it’s anti-Semitism or an acceptance of anti-Semitism. ‘Throw the Jew Down the Well’ [a song performed at a country & western bar during Da Ali G Show] was a very controversial sketch, and some members of the Jewish community thought that it was actually going to encourage anti-Semitism. But to me it revealed something about that bar in Tucson. And the question is: Did it reveal that they were anti-Semitic? Perhaps. But maybe it just revealed that they were indifferent to anti-Semitism.

Krauthammer concludes otherwise:

America is the most welcoming, religiously tolerant, philo-Semitic country in the world. No nation since Cyrus the Great’s Persia has done more for the Jews. And its reward is to be exposed as latently anti-Semitic by an itinerant Jew looking for laughs and, he solemnly assures us, for the path to the Holocaust?

Look. Harry Truman used to tell derisive Jewish jokes. Richard Nixon said nasty things about Jews in government and elsewhere. Who cares? Truman and Nixon were the two greatest friends of the Jews in the entire postwar period: Truman secured them a refuge in the state of Israel, and Nixon saved it from extinction during the Yom Kippur War.

It is very hard to be a Jew today, particularly in Baron Cohen’s Europe, where Jew-baiting is once again becoming acceptable. But it is a sign of the disorientation of a distressed and confused people that we should find it so difficult to distinguish our friends from our enemies.

I think Krauthammer’s concluding statement is very profound–  with barely 13 million Jews in the entire world, the fact that a majority of Jews are unaffiliated with Jewish congregations or otherwise disconnected with their Judaism– even in the State of Israel– speaks volumes to the alienation and "disorientation" that defines more Jews than not when it comes to being in touch with their ethnicity and their religious heritage.

The Rolling Stone interview asserts that Cohen, whose Jewish ethnicity from his mother’s side originates in Persia, aka Iran, is a "devout Jew" because he keeps Kosher and observes Shabbat. I would be very interested to have a serious conversation about Judaism with Baron Cohen, not with Borat.

Thanks to Brad Feld  for posting this link to Salon.com’s excellent investigative report into how many of Borat’s scenes were staged setups versus Reality TV.

http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2006/11/10/guide_to_borat/

The report reveals that the vast majority of Borat’s content is a full-on comedy scam that was brilliantly (and sometimes daringly) executed on various groups and individuals across the U.S.  And most of Borat’s "victims" are taking it very well, with the notable exception of the University of South Carolina Chi Psi frat boys who are initiating legal action against 20th Century Fox and One America Productions.  Perhaps they feel compelled to sue because they can’t handle the fact that their morality-in-the-gutter virtuoso performances are an embarrassment to the youth of this country.

The Sunday New York Times ran a story on November 5 about how it is now socially acceptable among Spaniards to uncover the Jewish heritage that Spain forcibly purged and took great pains to eradicate for 500 years.

"Now it’s trendy to have Jewish roots," according to Javier Castano, who is an expert on Spain’s Jewish history at the Higher Council for Scientific Research in Madrid.  The full article is worth reading (click here).

I enjoyed my own experience traveling in Spain and exploring its Jewish and Muslim past in the summer of 2005 with my family.

It is unfortunate that today deep anti-Semitism continues to scar Spain. The New York Times reporter, Renwick McLean, also makes this point in quoting Jacobo Israel Garzon, president of the Federation of Jewish communities in Spain:

"A contradictory element in all this is that a new anti-Semitism is also developing in Spain.  It uses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as its source, but it passes very quickly from anti-Israelism to anti-Semitism."

The expulsion of the Muslims and Jews from Spain in 1492 effectively gutted the country of its intelligentsia and economic engine, a socio-economic trauma from which Spain has, in effect, never emerged.

A demographic footnote: the article tallies the Jewish population in Spain at 40,000 – 50,000, which overstates the most recent demographic source data that I have published elsewhere in this blog.  According to the Jewish Agency for Israel, the most recent census data available on their site is from 2002, which estimates the total Jewish population in Spain at 12,000. I doubt it has increased materially since that time, unless, of course, this trendiness is leading to a wave of Jews declaring a new Spanish aliyah.