ethics
« Previous EntriesThrough the Eye of the Beholder ….
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009“Anti-Semitism is a horrible disease from which nobody is immune, and it has a kind of evil fascination that makes an enlightened person draw near the source of infection, supposedly in a scientific spirit, but really to sniff the vapors and dally with the possibility.”
Mary McCarthy quotes (American novelist and critic,1912-1989)
The world often reflects what we want to see. This is precisely the illusion that feeds anti-Semitism. Strange as it may sound, the same people who criticize someone because he is Jewish, more often than not ignore the good that many Jews do—because they are Jews! What is wrong with this picture?
Would one ever expect to find in the Palestinian territories a hospital that would treat Jewish or Israeli patients with as much care as they treat their own? The very question invites ridicule and scorn—if you happen to be a Palestinian living in Gaza or the West Bank. Yet, Hadassah Hospital of Jerusalem routinely provides care for the injured among the Palestinians, who curse the Jews even as they recover from their life-saving operations. Aside from promoting a religion extolling victimhood, what other kind of gifts have the Palestinians contributed toward the betterment of the world? Sad but true, if the Palestinian community would love life more than they love death, the Messiah would have been here a long time ago.
But why digress?
After Paul Newman died, throngs of people spoke about his greatness and generosity of spirit, but the pundits conveniently forgot to mention Paul Newman considered himself Jewish.
Then again, if you look at the Nobel Prize winners, you will discover an amazing array of Jews, whose brilliance made the world a better and healthier place for all humankind. Of course the media never bothers to mention the number of Jews who have won this prize; they would rather focus on the droll characters of our people. The list is impressive:
Better Dead than Alive? A Tale from the Haredi Zone
Thursday, May 14th, 2009The ultra-Orthodox rabbis in Israel never cease to take the Jewish imagination to places where no rabbi has ever gone before. A case in point: One Israeli Haredi rabbi, Dovid Kornreich, thinks that homosexuals are better off dead than alive. In one of his popular blogs (his blogspot is called “A Voice [...]
How is this Pope different from all other Popes?
Thursday, May 14th, 2009How is this Pope different from all other Popes? For one thing, Pope Benedict XVI has been an outspoken critic for the plight of Christian minorities suffering in Islamic countries. Most recently, in his visit to the Jordanian capital of Amman, Pope Benedict made it a special point to speak out about the shabby way Iraqi Christians have been treated by their host country. Fearlessly, Pope Benedict is continuing his ideological battle against religious extremism that he in his 2006 speech at Regensberg where he quoted a Byzantine emperor from the Middle Ages criticizing Islam for seeking to spread its message by the sword. Although the Pope apologized to the Muslim community, he delicately made an apology only for the hurt his statement caused, but not for the substance of his remarks.
During his visit at the King Hussein Mosque in Amman on Saturday, once more Pope Benedict alluded to the 2006 speech. When he said, “It is the ideological manipulation of religion, sometimes for political ends, that is the real catalyst for tension and division, and at times even violence in society,” Benedict was reinforcing—if cryptically—his basic criticism of radical Islamic extremism.
Obviously Pope Benedict realizes that Israel is the only country that can ensure that the Christian holy sites in Jerusalem remain protected under her care. The relationship between Jews and Christians is, according to the Pope, spiritually profound and intimate. In one of his speeches Pope Benedict spoke about “the inseparable bond between the Church and the Jewish people …. From the beginning, the Church in these lands has commemorated in her liturgy the great figures of the patriarchs and prophets, as a sign of her profound appreciation of the unity of the two Testaments. May our encounter today inspire in us a renewed love for the canon of sacred Scripture and a desire to overcome all obstacles to the reconciliation of Christians and Jews in mutual respect and cooperation in the service of that peace to which the word of God calls us!”
A Jewish interest in protecting the holy sites of Jerusalem is not merely a matter of Jewish concern; it is also of Christian interests. In saying this, the pope made clear that he views the preservation of Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem as essential for Christian heritage. For the record, the Islamic Wakf (religious leadership of Jerusalem) which desires to be the sole custodian of Jerusalem’s holy sites in the event of its partition, has already gone to great lengths to systematically destroy the ruins of the Temple Mount and the Jewish and Christian heritage of the holy basin through archeological theft, illegal building and digging.
The government of Israel needs to rethink its attitude about Pope Pius XII; this is an important matter especially since the Vatican wishes to canonize Pope Pius XII. Until now, there has been a lingering controversy about Pope Pius’s alleged support for the Nazis; Israeli scholars need to revisit and examine this matter with their Catholic counterparts. In one recent study a new revelation was introduced in January 2007 by Lt.-Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, the former head of the Romanian KGB, that the allegations against Pius XII were the brainchild of the KGB. In an article published in National Review, Pacepa recalls, “In my other life, when I was at the center of Moscow’s foreign-intelligence wars, I myself was caught up in a deliberate Kremlin effort to smear the Vatican, by portraying Pope Pius XII as a coldhearted Nazi sympathizer.”[1]
A Modern Story about Pygmalion and the Haredi Rabbi
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009An interesting story hit the newspapers in Israel the other day. Rabbi Rafael Cohen, chief of the northern city’s kosher division in the city of Tiberias, calling for a boycott of all stores that display mannequins in bathing suits, claiming that to merely look at these figures, “damages the souls of [...]
Excerpts from the Pope’s Speech at Yad Vashem
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009Pope Benedict XVI visits Yad Vashem Memorial, Jerusalem
“I will give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name … I will give them an everlasting name which shall not be cut off” (Is 56:5).
This passage from the Book of the prophet Isaiah furnishes the two simple [...]
Journey through the Looking-glass: Pope Benedict XVI’s Interfaith Encounter in the Holy Land
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009One of the most interesting aspects of the Pope’s recent visit to Israel was the interfaith group that met with the Pope to discuss important issues and challenges that Jews, Christians and Muslims face as a faith community. Despite the good intentions of the forum’s organizers, the Pope’s desire to act as a facilitator for religious tolerance found some explosive road-blocks along the way, as they met at the holy site Norte Dame.
Following the pope’s visit to Yad Vashem, Palestinian leader Sheik Taysir Tamimi forced his way to the pulpit at an inter-religious event demanding that the pope to fight for “a just peace for a Palestinian state and for Israel to stop killing women and children and destroying mosques as she did in Gaza”; he asked the pope to “pressure the Israeli government to stop its aggression against the Palestinian people.”
Of course not a word was said about how these mosques were being used as military bases to attack Israeli citizens. Evidently, Tamimi doesn’t get what “Never Again” really means. Context is everything. But let us return back to our discussion.
Rather than confronting Sheik Taysir Tamimi, the Pope quietly listened and left the room. As one friend of mine wrote in his blog, “The biggest shame of it all is that the entire Muslim community he represented was not even embarrassed by or ashamed of this verbal explosion.”
Yet, this was not the only place where Pope Benedict XVI found some difficulties. After he spoke at the Yad Vashem, the Pope proclaimed that he had come: “to stand in silence before this monument, erected to honor the memory of the millions of Jews killed in the horrific tragedy of the Shoah … ‘May the names of these victims never perish! May their suffering never be denied, belittled or forgotten!”
Pope Pius XII and the Chief Rabbi of Rome
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009Pope Pius XII cannot win with certain kinds of people. No matter how many people he saved, someone will always say, “So, nu, only 850,000 Jews? Why didn’t he save two million Jews?” Even if the Pope had saved two million, someone would say, “Nu, only two million? Why not four million?”
If the mighty European nations couldn’t stop Hitler, how could the Pope? Maybe, just maybe, given the limitations of his office, he ended up saving more Jews than he would have had he made a public protest against Hitler …
Who can presume to have God-like power and adjudicate this matter once and for all? I know that I sure can’t, but the many Jewish witnesses I mentioned above saw firsthand what the Pope did; I think many folks may not like the quiet way the Pope got things done, but it is quite possible that he did the best he could given the circumstances he had to deal with.
The study of Jewish history is anything but boring. Here’s a little known fact: The Chief Rabbi of Rome, Rabbi Yisrael Zolli, converted to Catholicism because of the Pope’s efforts in saving Jewish lives.
In a statement of thanks, Zolli said, “What the Vatican did will be indelibly and eternally engraved in our hearts. . . . Priests and even high prelates did things that will forever be an honor to Catholicism.”[1] Although Zolli said he converted for “theological reasons,” it is generally believed that he did so out of gratitude for what the Pope did for his people. Rather than encouraging a massive conversion on the part of Jews to Catholicism, Zolli preferred to state that his conversion was a personal one based on his rethinking of Catholic theology and teachings and his personal friendship with Pope Pius XII, a man whose personal integrity he deeply respected and admired.
Lapide writes: “When Zolli accepted baptism in 1945 and adopted Pius’s Christian name of Eugene, most Roman Jews were convinced that his conversion was an act of gratitude for wartime succor to Jewish refugees and, repeated denials not withstanding, many are still of his opinion. Thus, Rabbi Barry Dov Schwartz wrote in the summer issue, 1964, of Conservative Judaism: ‘Many Jews were persuaded to convert after the war, as a sign of gratitude, to that institution which had saved their lives.’ “[2]
The Warped Ethics of PETA
Thursday, April 30th, 2009Animal rights are important; animals depend upon us for their care and maintenance. Judaism has taught that animals are not machines; they are sentient beings and the just person “carefully considers the life of his animals!” (Prov. 12:10). The recent story about the “Swine Flu” and the Israeli Haredi politician reminded me of another old news story that occurred while Chairman Yaser Arafat was still alive. If you like sardonic topics, this is definitely another one for the books.
A few years ago, the Palestinian leader ordered his followers to take a live donkey, laden with explosives to be detonated within the vicinity of the Israeli public. After the incident occurred, PETA issued out one of its more memorable platitudes, “At PETA, we strive to end violence every day. As Albert Schweitzer stated, ‘Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.’”
Why don’t the Haredim (Ultra-Orthodox) in Israel honor Memorial Day?
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009Rarely do we have a chance in the American Jewish communities to hear a Jewish point of view that many of us would frankly find offensive. Yet, in the interest of communication, it is imperative we understand the words of the ultra-Orthodox critic-if for no other reason-because he forces us to think about what he is really saying. Oftentimes, it is the hidden and unspoken message that speaks louder than the audible one. Let me tell you about a story that happened this past week in Israel ….
In an interesting article that appeared in the YNET News from Israel, a Haredi rabbi attempts to explain the perennial question people in Israel always ask around this time of the year, when Israelis and Jews all around the world remember Israel’s fallen soldiers and victims of terror: Why don’t the Haredim (the Ultra-Orthnodox and Hassidic) communities observe Israeli Memorial Day or Independence holiday? Why don’t they stand up during the siren?” “Why are they so indifferent towards Independence Day?” And so on. Without missing a beat, the writer explains, “The Haredim simply don’t care … this day symbolizes nothing to them.” Unlike the Neturei Karta of Jerusalem, who mourn on this day much like many Palestinians do-howbeit for altogether reasons. In their eyes, all Jews must wait for the Messiah and not place their trust in a secular Jewish State.
How do I know whether there is an Afterlife or not?
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009I have a friend who is slowly dying of cancer. She is very bright and we often have stimulating intellectual conversations together. Although she does not consider herself to be very “bright,” she is one sharp cookie! She is slowly coming to terms with her mortality, as we all will, sooner or later. Here is a copy of an email correspondence I had with her. Perhaps others who are reading this little article of mine, might find some solace to the pastoral and spiritual issues it raises:
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