Having not seen the students for four days I was eager to share with them some of the current things affecting Am Yisrael. We started with a couple of pictures I took at the mall in Mevaseret, the suburb of Jerusalem right near the kibbutz where they live.
All of these pictures try to give an idea of what everyday life is like in a majority Jewish culture. We also mentioned a few current events. On a train in Belgium the Jews were asked to get off and shower at Auschwitz. While this is only one example, it seems clear that things in Europe are not great for Am Yisrael. We also read Natalie Portman's short piece about what Israel means to her. I also showed the students a letter sent to all Israeli parents explaining that there will be a national defense drill later this month. This year the drill will be based on rocket attacks, which, unfortunately, still affect Israel all too often (though with Iron Dome and the still-being-tested Iron Beam they do far less damage than they once did).
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| A Random Bakery |
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| Look what they're selling at the bakery: Hamentashen! |
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| A beit knesset next to the bathroom in the mall |
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| The food court is already kosher for Pesach |
We then dove back into Jewish history with a reminder that Am Yisrael was now in Galut Bavel (the Babylonian Exile). Last week Baruch spoke to the students about some of the features that allowed Am Yisrael to stay a community while in Babylon and the first waves of shivat tzion (the return to Zion) once the Persians took control from the Babylonians. The Persians had a different imperial philosophy than the Assyrians and Babylonians; they believed in allowing each ethnic/social/religious/national group to live in its own land and worship its own god(s) so long as they were loyal Persian subjects. As you can imagine, Cyrus, the Persian ruler who originally made this decree is viewed favorably in Jewish tradition. Given this history our current discord with Iran (Persia) is particularly ironic.
The new material today began with one of the most important characters in Jewish history: Ezra HaSofer (Ezra the Scribe). The Tanakh tells us that Ezra, a religious scholar/leader (and for those modernists out there one prominent candidate for the role of final editor of the Tanakh) in the Babylonian community receives a letter telling him that the situation in Yehuda is not good (Ezra 7). The Babylonian imperial policy was to deport the elites to Babylon, which meant that much of the population actually stayed in Yehuda. When Ezra arrives we see that this local population has mostly left Am Yisrael. They're doing avodah zarah (worshiping foreign gods) and marrying the local non-Jewish women. Ezra arrives in Yehuda and tries to strengthen the community through, among other things, forbidding intermarriage (Ezra 9). I then asked the students what they thought about this and how they felt about intermarriage, which, as we see in this story, has been a contentious issue among Jews for at least 2500 years.
After many of them had voiced their opinions (rather than relate them here, hopefully the students will share in the comments or in their own blogs) I showed them some of the results of the recent Pew Survey called "A Portrait of Jewish Americans." After explaining to the students that they (the students) are not a representative sample (just by being here they identify themselves as being comparatively involved, active Jews with a strong Jewish identity), I showed them the data from the recent Pew survey that shows that children of intermarriages are considerably less likely to identify as Jewish (though young people from mixed marriages are significantly more likely to identify as Jewish than older people from mixed marriages). The Pew survey is full of interesting facts about the state of modern American Jewry, and if you haven't looked at it I'd encourage you to check it out (you can also Google it and you'll find a plethora of articles analyzing the data.) Do you think Reform Judaism should allow intermarriage? Is it good/bad for Am Yisrael? Would you, personally, be willing to marry a non-Jew? Do you think you're likely to marry someone Jewish? Why or why not?
We then jump to our next major character, Nehemia, cup-bearer to the Persian King (an important position, since it meant he was the one protecting the king from being poisoned), who likely was the highest ranking Jew at the Persian court. He, too, receives a letter expressing how dire the situation is in Yehuda, which makes it seem like Ezra's reforms weren't wholly successful. With the permission and support of the king Nehemia makes his way to Yehuda.
Upon arriving to Yerushalayim Nehemia is shocked to find the city walls in complete disrepair. He immediately organizes the citizens to begin building them anew. The surrounding nations mock the Jews' efforts, but quickly realize we mean business, and devise a plan to attack the workers. The Jews sniff out and preempt the plan, and from that point on build the walls with their weapons at the ready. This idea of rebuilding the country in difficult conditions among a mostly unfriendly local population was a great inspiration to the chalutzim (pioneers) who moved to Israel and started rebuilding the land 130 years ago. Working around the clock Nehemia and the Jews successfully build respectable walls around Jerusalem in just 52 days.
Having taken care of Jerusalem and the Jews' physical safety, the Tanakh then jumps back to Ezra HaSofer, and tells us how this new leadership set Am Yisrael back on the right moral/religious track. In Nehemia 8 the Tanakh tells us that Ezra takes out the Torah and reads "in the sight of all the people." This is likely the beginning of the tradition of reading the Torah in public (and the reason it's generally read on Mondays and Thursdays is because those were market days, when the most people would be present). We are also told specifically that he reads so that the people can understand, even going so far as to translate it to the vernacular, in this case, Aramaic. The Tanakh is not supposed to be something far away that we can't understand. In Devarim (Deuteronomy) we are specifically told "It is not in the sky." (Devarim 30:12)
The Tanakh goes on to say that Ezra opened the Torah for everyone to see it, and, in response, all of Am Yisrael stands. For those of us who have ever been present at a Torah reading this ceremony is instantly recognizable. Even today at the end of the Torah reading someone lifts up the Torah, shows it to the community and says that this is the Torah that Moshe received from Sinai. I am still amazed (and I think many of the students will agree) to find out how truly ancient many of our traditions are. (Here's a video of the ceremony if you've never seen).
Nehemia then makes two more rules to try and strengthen Am Yisrael. The first is that he arranges a lottery and chooses 10% of the Jews in Israel to move to Yerushalayim. The second is that he tries to enforce observance of shabbat in Yerushalayim, for example by closing the city gates to prevent trade. When I asked the students about these measures, specifically about requiring 10% of the population to live in the capital, many of them supported the idea (though they weren't thrilled that it was a requirement, rather than optional). There are clearly a number of benefits to a plan like this; for example, it strengthens Jerusalem itself, the city of David, the Jewish capital, and all of Am Yisrael's connection to it.
In my opinion the story of shivat tzion, while always full of lessons (it is the Tanakh after all), is especially relevant to our generation. The story of Am Yisrael returning to an Eretz Yisrael that has been neglected for years and is inhabited by often hostile non-Jews sounds an awful lot like the modern Zionist movement. When I ask the students to try and put themselves in the stories we talk about they often explain that things were so different thousands of years ago that they can't make a comparison. And while I certainly agree there are major differences, I think it's critical to try and view it as if you were there. We often judge what other people in other times should do differently from how we think about ourselves. To make that point I asked the students if any of the measures instituted by Ezra and Nehemia would be appropriate for today. For example, for those who thought requiring 10% of the population to live in Jerusalem was a reasonable requirement, do you think 10% of the American Jewish population today should be required to live in Israel? If not, why? Would it be good for Am Yisrael? What's the difference between Nehemia requiring it 2500 years ago and requiring it today? In general, do you think the various measures Ezra and Nehemia used to rebuild Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael were effective? Do you approve of the methods they used? Do you think they could have achieved the same results with different methods?
We then jump to our next major character, Nehemia, cup-bearer to the Persian King (an important position, since it meant he was the one protecting the king from being poisoned), who likely was the highest ranking Jew at the Persian court. He, too, receives a letter expressing how dire the situation is in Yehuda, which makes it seem like Ezra's reforms weren't wholly successful. With the permission and support of the king Nehemia makes his way to Yehuda.
Upon arriving to Yerushalayim Nehemia is shocked to find the city walls in complete disrepair. He immediately organizes the citizens to begin building them anew. The surrounding nations mock the Jews' efforts, but quickly realize we mean business, and devise a plan to attack the workers. The Jews sniff out and preempt the plan, and from that point on build the walls with their weapons at the ready. This idea of rebuilding the country in difficult conditions among a mostly unfriendly local population was a great inspiration to the chalutzim (pioneers) who moved to Israel and started rebuilding the land 130 years ago. Working around the clock Nehemia and the Jews successfully build respectable walls around Jerusalem in just 52 days.
Having taken care of Jerusalem and the Jews' physical safety, the Tanakh then jumps back to Ezra HaSofer, and tells us how this new leadership set Am Yisrael back on the right moral/religious track. In Nehemia 8 the Tanakh tells us that Ezra takes out the Torah and reads "in the sight of all the people." This is likely the beginning of the tradition of reading the Torah in public (and the reason it's generally read on Mondays and Thursdays is because those were market days, when the most people would be present). We are also told specifically that he reads so that the people can understand, even going so far as to translate it to the vernacular, in this case, Aramaic. The Tanakh is not supposed to be something far away that we can't understand. In Devarim (Deuteronomy) we are specifically told "It is not in the sky." (Devarim 30:12)
The Tanakh goes on to say that Ezra opened the Torah for everyone to see it, and, in response, all of Am Yisrael stands. For those of us who have ever been present at a Torah reading this ceremony is instantly recognizable. Even today at the end of the Torah reading someone lifts up the Torah, shows it to the community and says that this is the Torah that Moshe received from Sinai. I am still amazed (and I think many of the students will agree) to find out how truly ancient many of our traditions are. (Here's a video of the ceremony if you've never seen).
Nehemia then makes two more rules to try and strengthen Am Yisrael. The first is that he arranges a lottery and chooses 10% of the Jews in Israel to move to Yerushalayim. The second is that he tries to enforce observance of shabbat in Yerushalayim, for example by closing the city gates to prevent trade. When I asked the students about these measures, specifically about requiring 10% of the population to live in the capital, many of them supported the idea (though they weren't thrilled that it was a requirement, rather than optional). There are clearly a number of benefits to a plan like this; for example, it strengthens Jerusalem itself, the city of David, the Jewish capital, and all of Am Yisrael's connection to it.
In my opinion the story of shivat tzion, while always full of lessons (it is the Tanakh after all), is especially relevant to our generation. The story of Am Yisrael returning to an Eretz Yisrael that has been neglected for years and is inhabited by often hostile non-Jews sounds an awful lot like the modern Zionist movement. When I ask the students to try and put themselves in the stories we talk about they often explain that things were so different thousands of years ago that they can't make a comparison. And while I certainly agree there are major differences, I think it's critical to try and view it as if you were there. We often judge what other people in other times should do differently from how we think about ourselves. To make that point I asked the students if any of the measures instituted by Ezra and Nehemia would be appropriate for today. For example, for those who thought requiring 10% of the population to live in Jerusalem was a reasonable requirement, do you think 10% of the American Jewish population today should be required to live in Israel? If not, why? Would it be good for Am Yisrael? What's the difference between Nehemia requiring it 2500 years ago and requiring it today? In general, do you think the various measures Ezra and Nehemia used to rebuild Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael were effective? Do you approve of the methods they used? Do you think they could have achieved the same results with different methods?
Thinking about the intermarriage discussion, I tried to level myself and think of counter-arguments to my own beliefs. I am a romantic, so I found it hard to believe that I was sticking to 'no intermarriage to a religious man (of a different religion)' side. But thinking about it, I realized that part of being Jewish is loving God. If you want to raise your kids Jewish you must love God, and the religion to some extent. Even if your image of God in unclear, as if mine, your love and passion for him/her/it should outweigh your love for another human being. If the spouse isnt heavily observant or religious of another religion, and youve agreed to raise your kids Jewish than, by all means, get married. But you cannot have a Jewish household with a strong Christian or Muslim. And carrying on the Jewish ancestry is extremely important....ie...Jewish kids.
ReplyDeleteIn class we talked about how in the time of the Tanakh people married only for wealth and what would make a better name for their family. In today's society most people marry for love, maybe some people still marry for money but love is normally the main reason. Therefore back in the time of Ezra where people married for money I personally don't think that the people should have been intermarrying because I am sure there was lot of wealthy Jews to chose from. But today people marry for love so who are we to decide who you can love. I believe in our society today intermarriage should be allowed but in the time of Ezra he had every right to be upset at the Jewish people.
ReplyDeleteIn class, a lot of people said they thought it was fair to require ten percent of the population to live in Jerusalem in that time. But then when asked whether it would still be fair today, the answer was a little less clear. It seems to me that it's a lot easier to say it's fair back then because it is distant, almost not real because of how long ago it was. However, if this rule were to be instituted today, the effects would be very real. We would know people who had to move to Jerusalem because of this rule, and to many of them it would not seem fair. Ezra and Nehemia should have no right to force people to live anywhere. There are differences in the circumstances between the two time periods, but I think that is the main reason students in class found it easier to justify this rule in ancient times than now. While forcing this upon people might be good for Am Yisrael, I'm not sure its benefits are enough to justify a move so drastic. However, one might say it was necessary back then to rebuild Am Yisrael. Overall, I think the fact that we still exist as a people thousands of years later is a testament to the fact that their methods of restrengthening the people of Israel were very effective.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I love class discussions. I love engaging in the conversation, especially when I can relate it back to my life. I specifically enjoyed talking about intermarriage, and hearing everyone else's views. Even though I might not agree with everything that was said, I valued, and even found myself benefitting from, seeing the opposing arguments. I do agree with the fact that marrying a Jewish man or woman increases your chances of having a Jewish family, but I don't think that your religion has to be necessarily titled. I, personally, think of Judaism as more of a culture as opposed to a religion. I don't find myself to be particularly religious, but I don't think that makes me any less connected to Judaism and the morality aspects of the religion. Therefore, if your spouse and you decide to partake in the moral themes running throughout Judaism, I think intermarriage is a-okay.
ReplyDelete