Jewish Tribune: On knowing your audience

In the halachic debate over Jewish access to the Temple Mount, the language of debate is often inappropriate -- especially as the world listens. The fact is that it is often more than just inappropriate.

Further on this, please go to http://www.jewishtribune.ca/religion/2014/11/25/on-knowing-your-audience.

Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune: On Being Radicalized

There is a need to respond to this radicalization of individuals in the cause of Moslem fanaticism.

Further on this, please go to http://www.jewishtribune.ca/commentary/2014/11/18/on-being-radicalized.

Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune: Media attention and sound bites

In the wake of Gaza, there is a media war now being fought which many believe Israel is losing. The problem is: how do you fight sound bites with the call to actually think?

Further on this, please go to http://www.jewishtribune.ca/religion/2014/09/16/media-attention-and-sound-bites.

Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune: The Power of Prayer

We all pray for the safe return of Gilad, Eyal and Naftali -- but how exactly does prayer work?

For further on this, please go to http://www.jewishtribune.ca/religion/2014/06/24/the-power-of-prayer-2.

Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune - Yizkor: There is joy in the holidays

The recitation of Yizkor on the holidays presents somewhat of an issue. Within the realm of Halacha, the emotions of Simchat Yom Tov, the joy of the holidays, are deemed to be inherently in opposition to those of Aveilut, mourning for those who have passed away. They're potential co-existence is, thus, always a halachic issue with the former, generally, overriding the latter. Is the recitation of Yizkor on Yom Tov, thus, not somewhat of a paradox -- why would it be recited on these days?

For further on this, please go to http://www.jewishtribune.ca/religion/2014/06/02/yizkor-there-is-joy-in-the-holidays.

Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune: Universal Messages

While we must absolutely look at our history through the lens of our Jewish identity, we still cannot ignore the universal messages we must also learn from it. For further on this, please go to http://www.jewishtribune.ca/religion/2014/05/13/universal-messages.

Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune: The Motivation of Connection

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is noted for his solid support for of Israel. His commitment because of shared values must specifically be recognized.

For further on this, please go to http://www.jewishtribune.ca/religion/2014/02/11/the-motivation-of-connection.

Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune: It's about community, not just the individual

If the only value in being Jewish is our contribution to universal, personal ethics, the question emerges: if everyone is adopting these ethics, even to our credit, what significance still exists in being distinctively Jewish? In my latest Tribune article, this is the issue I address.

Please go to http://www.jewishtribune.ca/religion/2013/11/26/its-about-community-not-just-the-individual.

Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune: But What Does Jewish Pride Demand Of You?

In my latest Jewish Tribune article, reproduced below, I presented some thoughts on Pew. To see the original on line go to http://www.jewishtribune.ca/commentary/2013/10/30/but-what-does-jewish-pride-demand-of-you.
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But What Does Jewish Pride Demand Of You?

The recent Pew Research Center Survey of U.S. Jews —“A Portrait of Jewish Americans” – has received much attention, not only south of the border but throughout the Jewish world. The results are deemed not only to reflect upon the present picture of American Jewry but also to give us a perception of what possibly to expect in the future. This is not to say that what is being predicted is what will occur; oftentimes in the past, projected results from surveys have been proven wrong (for example , in the fifties, Orthodox Judaism was projected to disappear in America by the end of century). It does, though, inform us of issues that do need to be addressed if we want to ensure that the worse possible conclusions do not actually occur.

The various articles I read about this Pew study thus, obviously, attracted my attention. I was so drawn by the extent of this survey that I felt it best to actually download and read it, all 212 pages of it. However, right at its initial sentence I was immediately struck by what I felt was a most significant statement -- effectively causing me to stop reading. The opening line of the survey reads: “American Jews overwhelmingly say they are proud to be Jewish.” I was hit by the weight of the words.

I thought back to the many discussions I had, over the years, with professionals within the Jewish community about the problems of assimilation and intermarriage. So many of them felt the problem was the absence of Jewish Pride and the need was to re-instill it within our Jewish youth. Their answers were, always, linked to emotion. Just get people to feel pride in their Jewishness and they will want to identify with the Jewish community, want to marry a Jewish spouse.  I contended that it wasn’t enough. This Pew survey would now seem to support me.

More explicitly, later in the survey report, it is declared that no matter how individuals may define themselves as Jews, they are proud to be Jewish. It would thus clearly seem that Jewish pride is not the answer to the growing intermarriage rate. Jewish pride is also not the answer to assimilation as the survey further showed the trend within all the subgroupings within the Jewish community is towards less tradition and involvement. The question is not really whether one feels pride or not. The real question is: what is the effect of this feeling of pride? What does it demand of you?

There are many reasons for why a person may experience an emotion of pride. There are also many reasons why a person would want to experience this emotion. In response, though, we may wonder if the emotion is appropriate – should I feel pride in someone from my home town winning the marathon because we both come from the same place? Our conclusion may be – and this would seem to be the general view within society -- that it doesn’t really matter. If you feel the pride, which is a positive emotion, why not embrace it? The challenge though emerges if there are responsibilities that arise with this pride.

Being Jewish marks you as a member of a certain group no matter how you may then wish to define this group. Feeling pride in being Jewish thus means you feel pride in being part of this group. It is true that if you do not feel pride in being part of this group, there is no way that you will want to identify with this group – and this is what the many communal professionals were indicating when they argued that we had to instill pride in our youth – we had to make them want to be part of the Jewish group. What they missed, though, was this further challenge. This group identification as a Jew must also play a definite role in the existence of a proud Jew. It is not enough to simply feel pride. There is a responsibility that goes with this pride. That is not just a matter of emotion.

This is what the first sentence in the Pew survey conveyed to me. I suppose I implicitly understood this idea when I debated with others about the sole value of emotional pride in the battle of Jewish identity. It just became further articulated in that opening statement in this report. It is fine that Jews, of all stripes, feel pride in being Jewish. Jewishness, however, is not static. It is not something that simply exists to which one can respond (or sadly not). Jewishness is a living, breathing entity that affects existence and thus demands from those who wish to identify within its grouping. It is a pride that is demanding. It is a pride that is imposing. The question is not simply whether you feel pride in being Jewish. The real question is how this pride has made you different and causes you to act differently, to attempt a different path in life – for the good. This must be the follow up question to this Pew survey.

Jewish Tribune: Identity of a Jewish State - Part II

Determining that Israel should be a Jewish State rather than just a State of Jews must demand of us -- given the reality of the heterogeneous nature of the modern Jewish world -- a method by which we can meet such a determination. In this Tribune article, I continue my investigation into this matter, identifying further yardsticks by which to measure this very concept of a Jewish State.

Please go to http://www.jewishtribune.ca/religion/2013/09/16/identity-of-a-jewish-state-part-ii


Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune: Identity of a Jewish State, Part I

Determining that Israel should be a Jewish State rather than just a State of Jews must demand of us -- given the reality of the heterogeneous nature of the modern Jewish world -- a method by which we can meet such a determination. In my recent Tribune article, I begin to address this issue by introducing the need for us to define yardsticks by which to measure this very concept of a Jewish State.

Please go to http://www.jewishtribune.ca/religion/2013/09/10/identity-of-a-jewish-state-part-i.

Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune: State of Jews or Jewish State?

In many ways, I believe that we are again asking that age-old question - Is Israel a State for Jews or a Jewish State? In my recent Tribune article, I address this issue from a somewhat different perspective that has timely application within our modern setting.

Please go to http://www.jewishtribune.ca/religion/2013/07/30/state-of-jews-or-jewish-state.

Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune -- Selling Israel to our youth?

A new video on YouTube promoting Israel, entitled "Tel Aviv - There's Room for Everyone", has created quite a stir with its promiscuous implications. We may ask: Is this an acceptable way to present Israel to the world? Given that the video was produced with Federation backing, this question is even more pertinent. In my latest Tribune article I address this question.

Please see Selling Israel to Our Youth?.

Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune - Women of the Wall: Reaching Beyond Disagreement

The present conflict involving the Women of the Wall goes beyond the specifics of this issue and raises concern about our nations ability to continue in unity. In regard to this, our first issue may be this recognition of this challenge of unity in itself. This is a matter I further pursue in my most recent Tribune article

Please see Women of the Wall: Reaching Beyond Disagreement. 

Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune: re: Letter regarding Judaism and Democracy

Recently, I wrote an article in the Jewish Tribune regarding the perceived conflict between democracy and Judaism which I posted on the blog at

http://nishmablog.blogspot.ca/2013/03/jewish-tribune-judaism-vs-democracy.html

Subsequently, there was letter to the paper that critiqued this article. This letter can be seen at

http://www.jewishtribune.ca/commentary/2013/03/19/reader-taken-aback-by-rabbi-hecht-in-judaism-versus-democracy-column

I, in turn, responded to this letter in a subsequent paper which can be seen at

http://www.jewishtribune.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2013-04-11.pdf

(My response, unfortunately, was not formulated for the web but rather can only be seen in a pdf of that week's paper as a whole. The response is on page 20 of the paper and is entitled: "Same issue: value conflict in Israel.")

What I found most interesting in this interchange was the distinction in language and meaning that permeates the Jewish community but to which we are often not sensitive. For example, there is clearly a difference in how the writer and I understand the term Judaism. This is the reason why I wrote my article "Adjective and Non-Adjective Jew" (available on the Nishma website at http://www.nishma.org/articles/introspection/introspection5761-2-adjective_jew.htm). I guess that since I was already aware of this problem, I must also accept some of the responsibility for the disconnect in this dialogue due to the fact that I did use the generic term Judaism within my original article -- which then allowed the writer to go on from there.

Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune: Judaism vs. Democracy

There are many people who would like to define the present political tensions in Israel as a conflict between the advancement of Jewish values and the advancement of Western values. In my latest Jewish Tribune article, I comment upon this perspective.

Please see http://www.jewishtribune.ca/uncategorized/2013/03/05/judaism-versus-democracy

Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune: Paved with good intentions

Too often, a label of anti-Semitism is simply an easy way to dismiss a problem. To correctly respond to perceptions of the conflict in the Middle East, it is necessary to go further.

In my latest Jewish Tribune article, I expand upon this idea. Please see
http://www.jewishtribune.ca/commentary/2012/12/14/paved-with-good-intentions

Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune: A Child and Decision to Convert (4)

There was a case recently, in England, which was reported as allowing a Jewish ten-year-old girl to convert to Christianity. That was not the actual decision, though. What the case still revealed, however, were not adversities for us from the outside world but, rather, problems and weaknesses in our modern understandings of Jewishness.

In a series of articles in the Jewish Tribune, I further investigate this. For the fourth in the series, please see
http://www.jewishtribune.ca/religion/2012/10/29/a-child-and-decision-to-convert-4

Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune: A Child and Decision to Convert (3)

There was a case recently, in England, which was reported as allowing a Jewish ten-year-old girl to convert to Christianity. That was not the actual decision, though. What the case still revealed, however, were not adversities for us from the outside world but, rather, problems and weaknesses in our modern understandings of Jewishness.

In a series of articles in the Jewish Tribune, I further investigate this. For the third in the series, please see
http://www.jewishtribune.ca/commentary/2012/10/23/a-child-and-decision-to-convert-3

Rabbi Ben Hecht

Jewish Tribune: A Child and Decision to Convert (2)

There was a case recently, in England, which was reported as allowing a Jewish ten-year-old girl to convert to Christianity. That was not the actual decision, though. What the case still revealed, however, were not adversities for us from the outside world but, rather, problems and weaknesses in our modern understandings of Jewishness.

In a series of articles in the Jewish Tribune, I further investigate this. For the second in the series, please see
http://www.jewishtribune.ca/religion/2012/10/16/a-child-and-decision-to-convert-2

Rabbi Ben Hecht