Books, Articles, a Commentary Review, and Pesach and Summer Plans

It has been a while since my last update, but there’s lots to tell. We’ve got books, articles, and travel plans.

Let’s start with the travel plans. If you don’t have Pesach plans yet, please consider joining the Fischers on a riverboat cruise along the Danube River, where Pesha and I will be scholars in residence. In addition to shi’urim on Pesach themes, we will be discussing some fascinating aspects of Austro-Hungarian Jewish history. Check out a list of some of our topics. If you decide to join us, please mention my name in your application. We will also be in the US this summer, for the first time since 2011. If you are interested in bringing one or both of us in as a scholar-in-residence during July or August, please let me know.

I haven’t written a book (yet), but I’ve had a hand in a few that have come out recently. During the summer, Rabbi Benny Lau’s Jeremiah: the Fate of a Prophet appeared, and next week, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed’s Peninei Halakha: Laws of Pesah is scheduled for publication. Both are published by Koren/Maggid, and I edited both volumes. In the case of Rav Melamed’s work, it is the first of a projected 15 (!) volume series. Two volumes on the Laws of Shabbat and two volumes on the Laws of Prayer (one specifically geared toward women; sponsorships are available, so please be in touch if you are interested) will appear in the near future.

A copy of Prof. Moshe Halbertal’s Maimonides: Life and Thought should be arriving in by mailbox any day. I had a small hand in this volume as well, having translated a chapter that originally appeared in Hebrew. I look forward to sinking my teeth into the rest of the volume.

Last but not least, The Iranian Talmud by my brother-in-law Shai Secunda is hot off the press. He and I have collaborated on articles, but this one’s all his (though he graciously mentions me as a “valued interlocutor” in the acknowledgments). We are absolutely thrilled for him!

There have been quite a few opportunities for me to write articles lately, with more on the way. A few months ago, New York’s Jewish Week gave me the opportunity to express some thoughts on Rav Ovadia Yosef upon the occasion of his passing (there has also been some interest in translating R. Benny Lau’s book on R. Ovadia; once again, there are sponsorship opportunities. Contact me if you are interested). More recently, the same publication gratified my penchant for pot-stirring by publishing my article on get­-withholding, in which I buck conventional wisdom. The backlash has been milder than expected, at least for now.

The most recent issue of Jewish Action has a section on “out of town” communities. They asked me to write an article on building a college campus community. It’s a short piece, but I managed to make some points while also sneaking in some veiled cynicism.

Most recently, I reviewed Ari Shavit’s My Promised Land for Commentary. It is very exciting for me to be published in such a venerable and well-regarded magazine. Hopefully this is not the last time. The review is paywalled, but one blogger posted a fairly extensive excerpt.

A few articles I translated have appeared as well: some of R. Dr. Avie Walfish’s recently posted material on Mishna Mo’ed and an important article by R. Eliezer Melamed on domestic partnerships and Jewish marriage in Israel. You may have also noticed that the Jordan Valley has been in the news a lot lately, in context of the ongoing negotiations between Israel and the PA. I’ve been helping my sister, Elana Diner, with her blog about life in the Jordan Valley called “(Jordan) Valley Girl.”  Check it out!

It’s Tu Bi-Shvat in less than a week. To help you prepare, take a look at an article I wrote last year and a Tu Bi-Shvat “Haggadah” that I compiled a few years ago, which divides the “Seder” by time period.

Enjoy!

30 Years since Israeli MIAs Disappeared

My latest post at the Times of Israel marks exactly 30 years (on the Hebrew and English calendars) since the Battle of Sultan Yacoub, where Yehuda Katz, Zachary Baumel, and Tzvi Feldman went missing. Take a look.

I spoke about them a bit at the brit of my son, Zechariah Yehuda (whose name coincidentally is that of two of the MIAs - the two who attended yeshivot where I studied as well), 6 years ago tomorrow (Hebrew calendar); his brit was on the day that Gilad Shalit was captured.

Israel's New Daylight Savings Law

Interior Minister Eli Yishai has extended Daylight Savings Time into October. This means that Yom Kippur will not fall during DST about 50% of the time. Extending DST into October makes economic sense according to virtually all studies, but many religious people are upset because now Yom Kippur will be "longer".

Of course, Yom Kippur will not be "longer." It's 25 hours any way you slice it. If the issue is that it "feels" longer or contains more waking hours, synagogues now have leeway to start services a bit later (daylight starts later, after all) so people can sleep longer and keep the same number of wakeful fasting hours. And if not? Tough it out. An hour being hungry isn't worth tens of millions of shekels. Furthermore, synagogues that start earlier at the beginning of the winter calendar (because sof z'man kri'at Shema is earlier) will be able to keep their 8:30am start times for a few extra weeks. So there's a net benefit for hours of sleep accrued. Since I try to go to a very early minyan on Yom Kippur so that I can come home and my wife can go to a later minyan, the new schedule actually works out better for me.

Am Shalem: The Entire Jewish People

• I've joined up with R. Amsalem's "Am Shalem" movement as a grassroots organizer, working primarily with the movement's English-speaking division. I have some ideas of where to go with this, and I'll update this blog with relevant news. For some background, here's a feature that Aryeh Tepper did on R. Amsalem w/ JID, and here's a brand new article about Anglo activism in the movement. 
• Email me (adderabbi at gmail) if you're interested in getting on the movement's mailing list, making a donation, or otherwise getting involved.
• [UPDATE: tHE SHIUR HAS BEEN POSTPONED. i WILL RE-POST ONCE IT'S BEEN RESCHEDULED] R. Amsalem will be speaking at Kehillat Shaarei Yonah Menachem in Modiin on Saturday Night, May 28. Details to follow, but it has been confirmed.
• From an article that speaks to these issues and certain key fault lines, there is an emerging dispute about whether Lag B'Omer should be celebrated this year on the 33rd or 34th day of the Omer. The reason to postpone is to prevent Shabbat desecration during preparations. The Ashkenazic Haredi authorities are not in favor of postponing, but the Sephardic rabbis generally are. In my opinion, this dispute falls along a fault line of "secessionist Orthodoxy" that goes back to the austritt days of R. Hirsch. Basically, does the halakha address the community of the self-defined faithful, or does it speak to the entire Jewish people (the Am Shalem, if you will). My grandfathers both ministered to the non-observant, and one grandfather studied in the Wurzburg Seminary founded by R. Seligmann Baer Bamberger, the disputant of R. Hirsch on the austritt issue. It is clear where my sympathies lie.
• And finally, speaking of my grandparents, I will be giving my annual yahrzeit shiur in memory of my three grandparents who passed away during Sefirat Ha-Omer. The shiur will take place on Tuesday night at 8:30pm at the Glenwood Synagogue in Ramat Modiin (Hashmonaim). The topic is: "A Path through the Graveyard: R. Shimon b. Yochai's Return to Society" - and yes, the topic will very much have to do with the themes discussed earlier in the email.

Two other short notes:

• According to Blogger, this is my 1000th post.
• I think I'd really enjoy this album

Zaydie in the JTA Archives

With the news that the JTA recently uploaded 250,000 articles spanning nearly a century, I had to check it out. I searched for familiar names and places, including my grandfather, who actually appeared in one article. First the article, then my reactions:

June 3, 1971
Maryland’s Only Kosher Poultry Processing Plant to Remain Closed Pending Hearing

BALTIMORE -
Maryland's only kosher poultry slaughter and processing plant will remain closed pending a hearing on June 9. Pen-Mar Poultry, Inc. located in this city, was closed down last week because of what Dr. Robert J. Lee, chief of Maryland's meat and poultry inspection division, termed as "gross unsanitary operative conditions" in the plant. Dr. Lee said the products prepared were subjected to bacteria, with insect and vermin control almost completely lacking. Rabbi Leopold Fischer, the plant's ritual slaughterer and spiritual leader of Congregation Zera Israel here, denied the charges and attributed any shortcomings to the upkeep of outmoded machinery. He told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that "Our chickens are clean." He further stated that the 1,500 families who normally get their poultry from Pen-Mar are now being forced to import chickens from New Jersey and New York. According to Dr. Lee, state inspectors have been working closely with the Pen-Mar management since the beginning of the year in an effort to upgrade the facilities, but have been met with "extreme verbal abuse" by the staff. He further stated that "Not once have they (Pen-Mar) asked to have inspection reinstated since its suspension on May 25." By law, state inspection is required to maintain operations. Rabbi Fischer confirmed that friction exists between management and State inspectors.

My comments:

1. My father recalls that there was a lot of politics involved, as the first major slaughterhouse, Empire, was trying to put the little guys out of business and threw political weight around to get it done.
2. At that time, my grandfather was not actively slaughtering anymore, but was the supervisor of the other shochtim.
3. My father works in occupational safety professionally. I'm wondering if he was rebelling against something...
4. Should I worry that this man was also my mohel?

Wonder what else I'll dig up on this new toy.

Surviving by Running; Surviving by Staying; Surviving by Surviving

All four of my grandparents were living in Europe during the Nazi rise to power: 2 in Germany and 2 in Romania. My maternal (German) grandparents each came to the US independently – they did not meet until much later, marrying in New York in 1948. My grandmother came with her family as a teenager in 1938, settling in Washington Heights. My grandfather came alone in 1937, leaving his parents behind, having graduated from ILBA – the Jewish Teachers’ Seminary in Wuerzburg (which he initially attended because he could no longer attend public school). He settled in Baltimore soon thereafter, accepting a job as a music teacher (initially – he eventually became principal) at Beth Tfiloh in Baltimore. His father, my great-grandfather, died (of natural causes, but no doubt accelerated by the war) in Stuttgart in 1942, and my great-grandmother managed to then secure passage to America via Portugal on a kindertransport. She was among the last Jews to leave before the implementation of the Final Solution. Both grandparents lost extended family members in the war, but their immediate families and many other relatives managed to escape to the US before the war; a handful survived the war and made their way to Israel afterward.

My Romanian (paternal) grandparents got married in the mid-1930s, lived in Grosswardein for a little while, and then moved to a small town in Transylvania called Orastie, where my grandfather became rabbi. Romania, an Axis country, was terrible for the Jews; the best that can be said for them is that they were unsystematic about killing us, and as a result the majority of Jews in Romania at the start of the war survived. Parts of Transylvania were annexed by Hungary, which for a time was considered more benign for Jews (that situation ended in the spring of 1944, when the Nazis occupied Hungary and implemented the Final Solution there). Several of my grandmother’s family members pleaded with them to flee to Hungary with them, but by grandfather insisted on staying put. Most of my grandmother’s family was wiped out – she was 1 of 15 siblings; 3 died before the war, 9 died in the war, and 3 survived. My grandfather’s brothers had made it to Palestine in the late 1930s with (secular) Zionist youth groups.

My grandfather’s insistence on staying put, as best as I can reconstruct it, had to do with his status in the town. As rabbi, he had cultivated relationships with several local powerbrokers, including the local sheriff (“cultivated relationships with” probably means nothing more than “liquored up”). As a result, his family was protected by local police whenever the regular army was in the neighborhood; there are stories that he even faced a firing squad before the sheriff intervened. He felt that there was no place safer for his family than in a small town where he was respected. Turns out he was right.

None of my grandparents ever spent time in a concentration camp or ghetto. None of them had to suffer inhuman torment, had to go through hell, or had to hide in a barn. Did that make them Holocaust survivors or “merely” Holocaust refugees? And does it really matter?

Ironic Orthodoxy

As is customary at the end of the end of the gap year, one of the seminaries where my wife teaches recently held a banquet at which individual students pay tribute to each teacher. My wife is always curious about these tributes as she likes to see whether the students really "get her."

This year, the student who spoke at the banquet recounted how she enetred the year as a skeptic, fairly well convinced that her critique of the halakha's attitude toward women would prevent her from adopting an Orthodox lifestyle. She described that my wife's "Women in Halakha" class changed that perception since she saw that it was possible to life with the questions and critiques. Another teacher later told my wife that she thought it was a misrepresentation - the student made it seem that my wife is somehow uncomfortable with Orthodoxy but has made an uneasy truce with it. The truth? Well, my wife and I are on the edge - or perhaps not so much on the edge - of what I've begun to call Ironic Orthodoxy.

The Ironic Orthodox generation is the generation that comes after the Great Post-1967 Orthodox Awakening. The Ironic Orthodox are largely day-school and yeshiva educated. With their grandparents they share a certain comfort in their own Orthodox skin; to them, Orthodoxy is familiar, natural, and organizes their lives. With their parents they share a familiarity with the world of Jewish learning and are even able to access that learning to a large degree.

The Ironic Orthodox generation does not buy into the apologetics: not about the status of women, not about the integrity of the transmission of the Oral Law, not about the "timelessness" of obviously time-bound religious laws, customs, and ideas, etc. This generation is hard to inspire; its demeanor is skeptical and ironic, somewhat aloof and dispassionate. Their irony is not a dramatic irony - like Statler and Waldorf observing the and criticizing the show yet remaining very much a part of it - but a jocular or sarcastic attitude or perhaps even a post-irony that simultaneously adheres to and mocks traditional religious structures. Yet it's not a bitter or angry mocking. It seems to be more of a taking-for-granted of life's absurdities and of the failure of ideology to explain or animate the full gamut of practice. It does not necessarily advocate or seek change.
The acclaimed Israeli TV show "Srugim" is an example of Ironic Orthodoxy - from the camera lens's perspective, even if it does not necessarily describe any character in particular. The lens captures both the familiarity and the absurdity of contemporary Orthodox living. In an odd way, despite the fact that, as Shai points out, the only "normal" character in the show is hiloni, its portrait of contemporary Orthodox life is far from unsympathetic. Blogs, especially those that combine deep literacy, adherence, and irreverence - are examples as well.
Another, lesser known example might be the new Orthodox reality show "In Over Our Heads." It's too early to tell where this is going to go, but it seems to take Ironic Orthodoxy as a starting point. Its second episode is most poignant in this regard: a woman who had never really practiced taharat ha-mishpacha learns about the laws and also gets a dose of ideology to boot. The ideology is ridiculed throughout, as are some of the practices - particularly harchakot - yet when it comes time for the actual dunking to take place, it turns out to be much more meaningful than the woman had anticipated.

I do not have an explanation or justification for this, though I tend to regard it as a generally positive phenomenon. When it devolves into anger and bitterness, it can get ugly. Moreover, I'm skeptical of attempts - Yoav Sorek and Elchanan Shilo come to mind - of attempts to turn this post-ideological phenomenon into a new ideology. I have some additional thoughts along these lines, but wish to restrict myself to observations at this point.

TEREM

I spent a good couple of hours at the TEREM Emergency Medical Center last night with out oldest. She cut her chin at the park yesterday afternoon and we had to get it glued back together. No big deal; kid no. 2's done that at least 3 times already.

I know that it's hackneyed to talk about the humanity that one sees in hospitals, the fact that Jews and Arabs care for each other, and the like. Pesh wrote a real tear-jerker about it here. Then again, when you encounter it in real life, you tend to take a step back to appreciate it.

TEREM was founded by Rabbi Dr. David Applebaum, an ER physician and a musmach of R. Aharon Soloveichik, who embodied many of the highest ideals of Judaism and consequently Zionism. He and his daughter Nava were tragically killed by a suicide terrorist while sitting at a cafe on Emek Refa'im St.on the morning of Nava's wedding.

There is a portrait and brief biography of Rabbi Dr. Applebaum at every TEREM center (there are currently 6); in a sense, the TEREM centers are a living testament that the values of humanity and care can overcome the monstrous hatred that cut short the life of its founder.

On a different note, Pesh and I have found that our oldest has picked up some antipathy toward Arabs. She certainly did not pick it up from our home, but, let's face it, there are certainly friends she could have picked it up from. Not too long ago, we were driving in the car and she pointed to a community and asked who lives there. I told her that it is an Arab community, and she said, "I hate Arabs." I stopped the car and let her have it.

Last night at TEREM (which was plenty busy treating a real cross-section of Israel's population), I happened to notice that the doctor who treated her was Arab. He was not wearing his ID badge outwardly (and I can only speculate as to why), but I noticed based on his accent (and his inability to pronounce the 'p' sound - 'im zeh koreh ba'am acher'), and the discharge summary confirmed it. My daughter did not notice.

On the way back home, I asked my daughter if she liked her doctor. She said she did. "Was he a good doctor?" "Yes." "Was he nice?" "Yes." "Did he take good care of you?" "Yes." And then I let her in on it - "You know that your doctor was an Arab." She was shocked. It was one of those moments that every parent and teacher lives for where some connection is made in a profound way. In Hebrew we say "yarad ha-asimon." The token dropped (a metaphor based on what used to happen when you made a call from a coin-operated public phone - as soon as the connection was made, the token dropped). This morning, she was proudly telling her mother and siblings all about her Arab doctor.

Second Annual Jahrzeit Shiur

Like last year, I will be giving a shiur Tuesday night (4/27) in memory of my maternal grandparents, Ruth and Eric Levi z"l, at 8:30 at the Ramat Modiin Synagogue (Glenwood) in Hashmonaim. The yahrzeits of both grandparents fall during sefirat ha-omer.

The topic of this year's shiur is:

When Judaism Confronts a New Culture - a Reading of the Talmudic Story of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his Colleagues (Shabbat 33b) 

Light refreshments will be served.

Love Truth and Peace - Naming our Kids, Part V

Parts I, II, III, and IV.

When we learned that Pesha is pregnant with our fourth child, a girl, we began discussing potential themes and names, although we knew that we would not finally decide on anything until after the birth.

We operate within certain constraints, though. All of our children have double names that make sense together, that can actually be read together as a single thought - Ruchama Bat-Zion means "The daughter of Zion has been shown compassion"; Rephael Amichai means "God heal my living nation"; and Zechariah Yehuda means "God remember Judah". All of our children have biblical names, even if they are methaphorical names. All are somehow linked to the land and people of Israel, sometimes even relating to particular events in our lives and in the situation of the Jewish people as a whole at the time of the birth. Finally, though this was originally unintended, all of our kids' names come from Trei Asar on some level. Although we value naming for deceased relatives, we have found that our primary concern is for the elements listed above, and if we can additionally commemorate the memory of a relative, that is icing on the cake (Rephael and Yehuda, in addition to their general meaning, were part of the names of Pesha's and my grandfathers, respectively).

Among the themes that we had been discussing for the new baby were light (we knew she would be born around the darkest time of year), peace (which seems so elusive), and love, as well as two relatives in particular who were considering naming after. When our daughter arrived yeasterday, on the 10th of Tevet, we felt that we should consider the fact that it is a significant day on the Jewish calendar in selecting a name.

At that point, it was easy:

 כֹּה-אָמַר ה' צְבָקוֹת, צוֹם הָרְבִיעִי וְצוֹם הַחֲמִישִׁי וְצוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי וְצוֹם הָעֲשִׂירִי יִהְיֶה לְבֵית-יְהוּדָה לְשָׂשׂוֹן וּלְשִׂמְחָה, וּלְמֹעֲדִים, טוֹבִים; וְהָאֱמֶת וְהַשָּׁלוֹם, אֱהָבוּ.

So says the Lord, God of Hosts: The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth month, the fast of the seventh month and the fast of the tenth month shall become for the house of Yehuda [times of] joy and gladness and holidays; so love peace and truth.

Zechariah 8:19

This verse speaks of the transformation of days that were observed as fast days during the Babylonian exile into holidays. The fast of the tenth month, which we observed yesterday, shall be transformed into a holiday for all Israel (as it has already been transformed into a day of joy for my family). There is a condition, though - love truth and peace. The love of truth and peace will be the means by which these days of sorrow are transformed into days of celebration.

So this morning I named my newborn daughter שלומית אהובה, Shlomit Ahuva, "Beloved Peace", in the hopes that she will live to see the day that her birthday, the 10th of Tevet, is celebrated by all Jews as a holiday of gladness and joy.

UPDATE: The rav of our shul, Rav Sobol, just pointed out that Shlomit was the name of the daughter of Zerubavel, from the generation of the prophet Zechariah that returned from Babylonian exile (Divrei Hayamim I 3:19).

Follow-up n the Issue of Ordaining Women

In addition to the post I linked to below, I made another point about this issue here.
I see four sources of pressure that push toward the ordination (call it what you want) of Orthodox women:

1. Feminism within Orthodoxy - the desire of Orthodox women to gain titular recognition of their achievements and positions. This is part of the general trend toward egalitarianism and feminism (two separate movements, of which I';m more comfortable with the latter than with the former, ve-acamo"l) within the Orthodox world. This pressure, on its own, is generally counterproductive in that it generally provokes disproportionate reaction. It's necessary, though, in order to drive the movement once other pressures are created. Note, for example, that the institutions of to'enet din and yo'etzet halakha were both born of necessity (the former from the misogynist structure of Israeli divorce courts, the latter from the recognition that women are far better purveyors of hilkhot niddah than men are).
   
2. Other Jewish movements - this is not to say that other denominations put pressure on Orthodoxy to do anything. That would, again, only provoke reaction. However, the fact that there ARE non-Orthodox women serving as rabbis in non- or quasi-rabbinic positions (Hillel directors, federations, funds/ endowments, think tanks, community learning programs, NPOs, etc.) puts pressure on the Orthodox community. Many Orthodox women who are equally or better qualified than non-Orthodox applicants to the same position are at a disadvantage due to their lack of recognized credentials. This flaw is not fatal, but it is definitely an obstacle.
3. The changing role of the "Rabbi" - the historical role of the 'rabbi' is the subject of many books and dissertations. There is no doubt however, that it has changed yet again in the US in recent generations. Any religious functionary is now a 'rabbi' - from the first-grade rebbi to the kashrus supervisor to the 'kiruv professional'. Some would argue that the title has been rendered meaningless. I would not go that far; rather, it has a connotation of being a provider to Jewish religious services. Semikhah itself has followed suit. One may get semikhah online with shemayisrael.org. Ner Israel offers a semikhah for mastering 5 volumes of the Mishnah Berurah; I've even heard of a semikhah in Israel (for 'kiruv professionals') which involves a test on 50 blatt Gemara of your choice as well as mastery of the Kitzur Shulchan Arukh. It's hard to know why exactly this change took place, but here are some possibilities: a) the desire to generate more respect for these otherwise minor functionaries (it would be interesting to look at Torah U-mesorah archives to see if they ever made a decision to have the rebbeim addressed as 'rabbis'); b) the general compartmentalization of Jewish proficiencies due to advances in technology and communications: a rabbi used to have to know all about paskenin maros as well as treyfos. With the advent of refrigeration and overnight mail, he needs to know neither in order to be effective. Thus, instead of a single, general role, you have numerous smaller ones, all of which are called 'rabbi'. It could be that smaller roles existed in earlier times, but were not called rabbi> Rather, it was melamed, magid, shochet, mohel, etc. Those divisions may still exist, but all are still titularly 'rabbis' (Rabbi Ploni Almoni, Certified Mohel) - kind of like 'doctors'. Thus, the term has become a marker that says 'this person is an authority/ service provider in the following area'. As this perception grows, there would be an increasing need to do the same for female 'service providers'. In several senses, this has already happened - both with new titles like 'yo'etzet' and 'to'enet' (which, I believe, will ultimately be subsumed under 'rabbi' like 'mohel' and 'shochet' were), and older ones like 'rebbetzin' and 'rabbanit'. Nevertheless, none of these terms offer the blanket coverage that 'rabbi' does. Only the wort ostriches still believe that women do not fill roles that are currently being filled by 'rabbis', or that they lack the requisite knowledge that it takes to be a rabbi. It's about title, nothing more.
   
4. Money - there's money to be made and money to be saved by women who have some type of clerical title. Perhaps the financial pressure is not yet so great, but it's there, and it will grow. As we all know, economics are a much greater stimulus of halakhic innovation than ideology or anything else.

There is not yet pressure to find a title for the husband of such a female Orthodox clergyperson. That's why I like Maharetzin.

I Am the Maharetzin

[Note: My wife is not a Mahara"t, though she has, for many years, filled roles that may easily be described as rabbinic]
As part of my husbandly duties as Maharetzin, I would like to announce that my wife will be speaking 3 times in the next two weeks in the Baltimore/ Washington area: For the next two Tuesday nights (7/7 and 7/14), 8-9:30pm at the National Synagogue (free of charge), on the topic "Asking for What you Want: Chana and the B'not Tzelophchad"; Wednesday, July 15 at WIT Baltimore, 10-11pm. The topic has to do with the biblical DIna, and there is a charge for the class, but I don't have any more details right now. All shiurim are for women only.

This gives me the opportunity to write about a topic I've been avoiding for a while - the Maharat. The record shows that I wrote, in February 2006, that "that there's a real problem that there's no way to recognize a learned Orthodox woman" and that "there's actually a pressing need for some way to recognize the achievements of Orthodox women so that they can get the benefits that they would accrue if they were a different gender or denomination". Will the title "Maharat" allow its bearers to claim parsonage on their income taxes, or land those non-rabbinic jobs that are reserved for those with ordination (e.g., Judaic studies principals, Hillel directors), only time will tell. Time will tell if this is attempt to address the issue will succeed; there's no question, though, that it is addressing a very real need.

In truth, there are many "Maharat"s out there already - perhaps not 'officially', but in terms of all but name (and pay scale) they fill those quasi-rabbinic roles (since I'm no longer practicing as a rabbi, but my wife still serves in a quasi-rabbinic capacity to many of her students, I guess that makes me a Maharetzin).
By the way, the Maharetzin often fills a major role (I propose that there be a session at the next JOFA conference entitled: 'The Role of the Maharetzin'). In my case, I help prepare the shiurim - often providing an idea and a few sources, which the Rebbetzin/Maharat then runs with and teaches better than I ever could.

Notes from the First Day in the Alter Heim

we're back in the US for a good chunk of the summer. We'll be in the DC area for the next few weeks (let us know if you're in the area and want to get together) before heading up to camp. The rebbetzin has a few teaching engagements lined up in Baltimore and DC.

Although I normally like having the opportunity of listening to regular MLB night games. Last night, the combination of jetlag and disappointment had me turning it off in the 4th inning, with the Sox up 6-1 and threatening to run up the score. What a mistake!

The rental car comes equipped with Sirius satellite radio. I found some stations with music from the 80s and 90s - amongst the first few song I heard were People are People (Depeche Mode), Welcome to the Jungle (GNR), and Mysterious Ways (U2). Needless to say, they're now pre-set and I'm trying to figure out how to get this set up in Israel.

The woman behind the service desk at the airport (I will not provide any more detail, though it should be fairly obvious that this took place at BWI) had a name tag that said LEWQUANDIS. And she wasn't even that talkative.

My Daughter's Kushya

My second grade daughter, currently learning Parshat Vayechi, came up with the following question:
Q. Why did Dina not get a bracha?
My wife and I think it's a great question.
She also came up with an answer:
A. It probably would have been something really girly, like "get married and have lots of kids".

Interesting new blog

Check out The Talmud Blog.
I would probably be interested in it even had I not been related to the blogger...

Ushpizin on Shavu'ot

Since making aliyah, we have instituted a custom in our family regarding the night of Shavu'ot. Our meal is graced by the presence of two very important guests who truly enhance our simchat Yom Tov. Their names are Ben and Jerry.

The wife and I each gave a shiur over Yom Tov - the same shiur, more or less, in fact. It's an expansion of this. I generally don't stay up all night anymore. Maybe when the kids are older (more on that below). I made sure to give the shiur at a time that I could still get a decent night's sleep. I had the 12:40- 1:25 am slot. It went very well - there were a lot more people than I expected (I printed 20 source sheets, and there was not even enought for people to double up). The problem was, I got so jacked up on caffeine before the shiur that I could not fall asleep afterward.

My favorite Shavu'ot memory: I must have been 10 or 11. My father and I were learning mishnayot in the wee hours on Shavu'ot morning, in the basement of the shtiebl on Park Heights Avenue, AC on full blast, soda and chips in reach. We got up to the following mishna (Bekhorot 5:3):

One some children were playing in a field, and they tied the tails of two lambs together, and the tail of one of them was disconnected - and it was a firstborn. The incident came before the sages, and they permitted it. They went and tied the tails of other firstborns, and they forbade it...

I remember poring over the books, trying to figure out (er, make heads and tails?) out of the text, and then we get to this little anecdote, and we just lost it. We probably laughed for 10 minutes, imagining these kids tying the tails of sheep together. So what's your 'all time favorite mishna'?

Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree

We're headed to the Oak Tree of Return for a bar mitzva this Shabbat. Should be nice to be back in the alter heim. More than anywhere else, many people there remember what we went through when Ruchama was born (also here). Many people get a lot of nachas from seeing her "all grown up". It is also home to, I believe, the largest per capita readership of this blog of any municipal entity in the world. Should be fun.

Lag ba-Omer Shiur

I will be delivering a shiur in memory of my maternal grandparents, Ruth and Eric Levi z"l, this coming Sunday night at 8:30 at the Glenwood Shul in Hashmonaim. The yahrzeits of both grandparents fall during sefirat ha-omer.

The shiur is entitled: "The Spiritual Transformation of R. Shimon b. Yochai" (and yes, much of it will be based on my readings of the relevant gemara that appear on this blog).

Light refreshments will be served. The shiur is sponsored by my parents.

Toasted and Exhausted

My neck and face are sunburned.
It is early evening, but I'm exhausted.
After a festive davening, a hike around some local ruins, some time watching the kids bounce around on big inflatable toys in a cul de sac inhabited by friends, and a barbeque with friends all afternoon (1/2 hour drive away), I'm beat (the beer didn't help).
The highlight was the following:
On the drive home, Child A started complaining that Child B had leaned over and licked her lollipop. I pointed out that the lollipop remained intact, so she could continue eating it. She said she didn't want Child B's germs. I asked: "Would you like me to link his germs off?". She agreed. I took a lick of the lollipop and returned it to Child A, who happily continued to eat it.
All the while, Child C was giving himself zerberts on the soles of his bare feet.

I miss Sundays.

Quid contra quo

About a month ago, my son Raphi (age 4.5) earned a prize from his nursery school teacher for behaving very nicely in school and not fighting with any other kids. The prize? A water gun. I have no idea if the irony is lost on the teacher, but we found this hilarious.

Today, I saw that the OU did pretty much the same thing. It is organizing a Campus Learn-a-Thon. One of the prizes is a Nintendo Wii console. I'd venture that computer games are the greatest single cause of bittul Torah around today.

On the other hand, I mentioned the other day that my father provided me with an incentive to learn how to layn the Megillah. The incentive was a TV. I don't really watch much TV anymore, but I still layn the Megillah.

I still think that campuses should adopt an idea that I hatched when I was the JLIC educator at UMD, but never got the chance to implement. The idea was to have a Fleisch-a-thon to raise hunger awareness. The contest would be that one must remain in a fleischige state (according to the full-6-hour opinions) for the longest time possible. That means no dairy products for the duration of the contest, and that you must set an alarm to wake up in the middle of the night and munch on some meat. Sponsorships would be per 6-hour increments. The vegetarians would go nuts with this, but I bet it would be wildly popular.

Students who want me to sponsor them should email me (adderabbi at gmail dot com). Readers who wish to sponsor students - same email.