Tag Archives: Judaism

seven modest proposals for the british jewish community

the ferocious but charming miriam shaviv over at the jc is blogging a number of “daily proposals to transform the british jewish community” during march. i was discussing this with my redoubtable other half over friday night dinner and we thought the following might be worth submission:

1. transparency at the jewish leadership council

ok, we know who the board of deputies are. we know what it’s for. we know how it’s funded. we know how you get to be on it. we know who it represents. now, we have this new organisation called the “jewish leadership council”. on it, you have various movers and shakers, you’ve got the vc/banking/property tycoons, you’ve got the charity/safety/israel activists, you’ve got synagogue movement machers, you’ve got access, you’ve got international connections, you’ve got lords, baronesses, knights and the chair of ujs – you’ve got two women and no rabbis, for some reason. you’ve got no haredim, for some other reason. you’ve got leaders from the most broad-based and influential organisations in the community – but what are they for? clearly, this is an influential bunch of people, but who chooses them? who decided that there should be a jewish leadership council in the first place? how are they accountable? what is their strategy? what is their relationship with the board? how is it funded? i for one would like to know.

Posted in Activism, Antisemitism, Democracy, Education, Entryism, Environmental, Identity Politics, Interfaith, Israel/Palestine, Jewish Extremism, Misc, Obscurantism, Politics | Also tagged | 6 Responses

beard-pulling update: are lubavitch a bunch of messianic heretics, or what?

it appears that the mainstream orthodox rabbinical council of america has picked a fight with the powerful chabad / lubavitch movement over the perennial problem about whether the last lubavitcher rebbe is dead, or the messiah, or both, or what. obviously, there is a slight problem with jews who start believing that the messiah has already come if the relevant prophecies haven’t been fulfilled. similarly, if the messiah in question hasn’t rebuilt the Temple, hasn’t ingathered the exiles of the jewish people or has, in fact, shuffled off this mortal coil and run down the curtain to join the choir invisibule, but his followers start coming out with terms like “occultation” and claiming he isn’t really dead and has Divine powers, G!D forbid, it does start to look a tiny bit like, well, er, christianity.

king messiah, or ex-parrot?

king messiah, or ex-parrot?

Posted in Exegesis, Farce, Freedom of Expression, Obscurantism | Tagged | 3 Responses

ultra-orthodox rabbinate explores new ways of making life pointlessly difficult

just so you don’t think it’s only muslims and christians who like to impose unnecessary strictures on daily life, this just in from ha’aretz:

the latest halachic ruling banning the use of elevators on the Sabbath shocked residents of the Tovei Ha’Ir retirement home in Jerusalem.

Most residents at this institution, which caters to the religious and ultra-Orthodox, received news of the rabbinical edict with indifference.

Tovei Ha’Ir residents have been using elevators on the Sabbath for years – this is the only way they can get from their rooms on the upper floors to the dining hall and synagogue. 
  
One of the retirees, a Haredi man, barely concealed his sarcasm when he responded, “What changed suddenly? What was kosher until now is suddenly treyf?”

Posted in Exegesis, Obscurantism | Tagged | 27 Responses

Islamist Doublespeak Part II: Misrepresenting the Divine Word Itself

we’ve already seen in my last piece how islamists manage to pervert the Quran’s open-minded approach to the other abrahamic religions:

the only true followers of Moses [pbuh], are the Muslims, for it is part of moses religion [and the religion of all other prophets] to accept the latest Messenger and revelation; that is why Muslims are considered to be the followers of all the Prophets.

it also appears that the last piece upset some of our local islamist trolls.

good.

anyway, what i’m going to take a look at now is the assumption i noted in the previous piece, namely that “the jews” possess a “corrupt” verion of the Torah and that, as a result, we have drifted away from the “original religion” of every prophet from adam to abraham – which was, of course, “islam”. there are four components to this idea, namely:

Posted in Exegesis, Interfaith, Islamism | Also tagged , | 6 Responses

Islamist Doublespeak and the “People of the Book”

just to introduce myself and give a bit of context, for those who haven’t come across me before. i am what you might call a “grassroots activist” particularly with regard to interfaith dialogue activities. i’m a traditionally observant jew (although i wasn’t always observant), from a sephardi/indian/baghdadi background, although i have a pretty wide acquaintance across the jewish community from the secularist ultra-left to the religious ultra-right. i don’t speak for anyone but myself and i do not hold a brief for any community or political organisation. although i’d describe myself as a “religious zionist”, that probably doesn’t mean what you think it means (i’m also a supporter of palestinian self-determination) but that’s a discussion for another day.

Posted in Interfaith, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , | 15 Responses
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