Evangelical Christians have taken up the cause of Jewish settlers in the West Bank, The Jewish Daily Forward reports. In this article by Nathan Jeffay, a spotlight is cast on the role of evangelical Christians in affirming the lives of West Bank settlers, all under the believed mandate of Christian scripture. Jeffay writes:
“The young Christians working in the Psagot Winery’s vineyards near Ramallah in mid-March were members of HaYovel. Last year, this Tennessee-based evangelical ministry started a large-scale operation to bring volunteers to tend and harvest settler grapes. They attach epic importance to their work.
‘When you see prophecy taking place, you have the option to do nothing or become a vessel to it,’ said volunteer pruner Blake Smith, a 20-year-old farmer from Virginia.”
Liberal Jews… Orthodox social justice [Zeek]
While the Orthodox movement still spreads the foundations of social justice work among its practitioners, a new book may offer words for Orthodox and Liberal Jew alike. In this review from Zeek, Margie Klein highlights the relevance of Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz‘ “Jewish Ethics and Social Justice.” Klein writes:
“Though I still believe that the Torah and subsequent Jewish texts contain important truths within them, I don’t believe that they are literally true. Rather, I believe that my ancestors wrote down their stories and laws in an effort to live holy lives and help their descendents do the same. So when I come back to Jewish texts, it is not to convince myself that the social justice issues I care about are important, but rather to inspire my work, connect me with generations of Jews whose legacy I hope I am continuing, and remind the public that our tradition cares about these issues.
This is, of course, very different from the Orthodox Jewish perspective. Whether or not all liberal Jews have followed this trajectory, my guess is that for most, our connection to social justice is not primarily motivated by traditional halacha. Given this, making our arguments as halachic arguments is the wrong starting place, or even disingenuous for those who feel more disconnected from traditional Jewish law on most other issues.”
Jewish law in the extreme: thoughts for Passover [Haaretz]
In light of rising tension between ultra-Orthodox leaders and the rest of world Jewry, Rabbi Micah Peltz asks the question, “What happens when we take Jewish law too far?” Peltz attempts to negotiate the viewpoints both extreme and moderate in light of the upcoming Passover observance.
“Even with all of these strict rulings during the year, the strictest opinions come out during Passover. It seems like kosher for Passover certifications appear on everything – no matter how unnecessary. Last year, during Passover, I was in a supermarket in Minneapolis and found a nectarine with a “Kosher for Passover” certification on it. A better example of innovation in Jewish law I have yet to see.
Let me be clear. I don’t mean to say that observing the laws of Passover, or the details of halakha in general, is wrong. On the contrary, taking halakha seriously is important. But, if we truly take halakha seriously, then we must apply it to our world – to our context. Too often, in matters of halakha, we lose the forest from the trees. When paranoia dominates practice, and we are so absorbed with the minutia of the law we forget why we are following it in the first place.”
Mad Men and Jewish-American culture [Tablet]
In this article from Tablet Magazine, Rachel Shukert explores the 1960s, popularly captured in critical TV darling “Mad Men,” (which had its 5th season premiere last night), and what it all meant for Jewish culture in America.
“Much has been made, and rightly, of the transformational aspect of the show’s ’60s setting: the Decade When Everything Changed. To paraphrase Harold Bloom’s Shakespeare analogy, if Shakespeare invented our modern conception of the human, the 1960s ushered in the America most of us know today: noisy, fractious, socially aware yet hopelessly narcissistic, grandiose yet paranoid, forever enmeshed in so-called “culture wars” that seem never to resolve. (The haughty doctor who tells Peggy Olsen how he’d ‘like to think’ the prescription he’s giving her for the Pill won’t turn her into ‘some kind of strumpet’ seems positively enlightened when compared to the bizarre Arizona bill requiring women to prove to their employers they at they aren’t using their birth control for, you know, birth control. The Orwellian dystopia begins in utero.) But something else was happening to the well-educated, coastal elites that Mad Men portrays that counts, at least in part, to the well-educated, coastal elites who Twitter, recap, and Tumblr their every move. Forget ‘The Greening of America.’ In pop culture terms, the 1960s were the Jew-ing of America.”
