The Rape Of A Name

Posted on April 21, 2010 by Luke Ford

Dennis Prager writes:

Because of the Jewish preoccupation with preserving people

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When A Staffer At An Orthodox School Marries A Non-Jew

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Luke Ford

Joe emails: “What should a modern orthodox school do when a jewish staff member marries a non jewish staff member? Legally they can terminate both of them, but what SHOULD they do? Shalhevet has long had a female Jewish secular studies (English) teacher married to a goy who is Principal of General Studies. On the website it even mentions the name of the Jewish teacher to whom he is married. Not only do they not care, the publicize this shanda! There was another couple that met at YULA many years ago. YULA said one of you must go. Mr. Katz the math teacher stayed. YULA got rid of the female non-Jewish Spanish teacher.”

I asked around and was told “no other orthodox school that I know of allows such a thing.”

Andy, an attorney, emails: “Joe is wrong. Legally they cannot be fired. The church exception to the laws against religious discrimination apply only to discrimination against ministers and the like. We have won cases against churches that discriminated against secular studies teachers. And that is how it should be.

“If there was a blanket policy about no marriage between any employees I believe it would be enforceable. And religious institutions are exempt from the anti discrimination laws but only in connection with employees serving a religious function such as rabbi, pastor, teacher of religious subjects. But they cannot fire the janitor because she is Mexican and they cannot fire either or both staff people because of who they marry unless the staff person(s) they wish to fire is serving in a religious capacity. Or rather they can fire them, but that’s a case I would take.”

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Israeli Consulate Party

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Luke Ford

Jane emails: I went to the Israeli consulate big Shindig at the Saban theater (Temple of the Arts) Next to Larry Flynt’s building on the corner of Wilshire and La cienga.

2000 people attended (crowded and hot) the Machers in the community plus some politicians Jerry Brown… Jimmy Dalshad mayor of Beverly Hills stole the show with great jokes and warnings to Ahmadinajad of Iran.

Scoop: In honor of Theodor Herzl’s 150 birthday, Beverly Hills is going to name a street – Herzl street. The name of this multi media event was named: Promised .Wonderland. a journey. The 62 official celebration of independence day. through Israel’s culture and arts. This was also the grand opening of the Saban theater.

The show had: Flamenco dancer and guitarist, Cleizmers and Drummers, Elicia Silverstien- an amazing violinist, a black church choir sang an amazing HaTikvah. A great band, Israeli singers: Noa Dori, Sharon Farber, Axum- Israeli hip hop duo, Shofar blowers and many more… Mixed with films exerts and live on stage performance…

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Jewish Day Schools

Posted on April 19, 2010 by Luke Ford

Joe emails: Orthodox day schools cost a lot because they essentially have to pay two staffs.

The secular staff that teaches the same hours as public school, in a somewhat less dangerous environment (jews wield a sixth sense, not a six shooter), but with probably more academic pressure from the parents to educate their kids.

The rabbinic staff teaches the holy stuff, and in a way they are “well paid” – a teaching job at a good day school is pretty plum – the amount of test giving and standards employed to teach the kids really depend on the teacher. Rabbi Aron Tendler was known around YULA as pretty much of a joke when it came to his standards (we now know why). Given that most of these Rabbis have 4 or more kids, the day school job gives them a good income and the time to allow them to hustle some other scratch by being a kashrut rabbi, pulpit rabbi, etc. There is no question but that there is a healthy subsidy given by orthodox parents to the rabbinate as jews are alot smarter than catholics to live like ascetics. The comparison between a jesuit taking a vow of poverty to a rabbi teaching at a school living in a respectable house in the valley or in south robertson or on detroit is ridiculous. Jews are not catholics. Do not hate the player, hate the game.

What I do not get is why a Temple Sinai or other Reform Schools are so expensive. The religious staff knows less talmud than you and could not tell the difference between the opinions of Summakhos and the Rabbis as to the burden of proof relating to ownership of property. The expense of those places is absolutely baffling as the parents are paying for a religious education worth about as much as an Obama campaign pledge.

In defense of the system, there are apparently lots of scholarship cases, but the main issue is something that no one wants to discuss.

Why do the Wiesenthal Center and other charities commemorating the ashes of dead jews have more money than the saudis, while jewish days schools suffer for the money and gouge parents, thus providing a guarantee that jewish kids who cannot afford to attend end up, as far as being jewish, almost as Der Fuhrer intended. Of course, there is one small difference – he wanted them dead no matter the level of observance and you could not avoid the camps by simply opting out of day school. But the fact is that the jewish soul is lost in either event.

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Saving Shalhevet K-8th Grade

Posted on April 19, 2010 by Luke Ford

A few weeks ago, Shalhevet announced it was closing its K-8th grade schools to focus solely on its high school.

In response, a group of parents got together to raise money to reverse this decision.

The Shalhevet board and administrators are pleasantly surprised by this upswell of community support and it just might be enough to reopen K-8th grade.

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‘Because She Wasn’t Jewish’

Posted on April 18, 2010 by Luke Ford

“I need to understand,” she said. “Why did you write that?”

“Well,” he said, “I always have to balance multiple concerns. I am not going to lose a good friend over a blog post, but almost everything else in my life, I’m willing to risk for a good blog post.

“I drove home from your party debating the whole way. I had an amusing blog post in my mind, but on the other hand, I knew that if I published it, I would have no chance with the blonde. What to do?”

“I think I know why you wrote it,” she said. “It’s because she wasn’t Jewish.”

“Yes,” he said. “That’s it. She’s not Jewish. She’ll never become Jewish. I wasn’t risking anything. She’s beautiful paint for my canvas. Shiksas are for practice.”

“But isn’t that kinda racist?” she asked.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I have my inner life, that is within Orthodox Judaism, and I have my outer life. My inner life is most precious to me. The rest, not so much. I love to write, but I’m not going to do at the cost of what is most precious to me. I adore shiksa blondes, but they’re not what’s closest to my heart. I can blog them.”

“How do you know,” she asked, “what is a good blog post? One worth risking a beautiful blonde?”

“If I want to read it,” he said.

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How Common Is Spinka-Like Tax Fraud In American Yeshivot?

Posted on April 18, 2010 by Luke Ford

It is very common. Children learn it from their parents in business.

We had a scandal in the past year among the Sephardic Jewish community in New York.

Most of it comes from our Eastern European heritage where many Jews only survived by cheating the government that was oppressing them.

You couldn’t be honest and survive in Czarist Russia. You’d starve to death. So Jews learned to cheat to get by.

It’s a teeny bit like Israel before Benjamin Netanyahu. It had such sky-high tax rates and oppressive bureaucracy that virtually everybody cheated on their taxes, including otherwise good people.

Reb Moshe Feinstein says very clearly that the United States is a good country, not an oppressive one like Czarist Russia, and that taxes should paid honestly. Reb Moshe wrote that because most of the people around him treated the United States government like it was Czarist Russia.

From a religious perspective, let alone an Orthodox Jewish perspective, we are at war with the society around us. The internet, the newspapers, the televisions, magazines, movies, public education, sporting events, everything is against our values. The Orthodox culture inherently dismisses the culture around it. The Modern Orthodox are selectively dismissive and the Haredim are almost totally dismissive, but both groups of Orthodox Judaism know that they are at war with the majority culture with its drug use, sexual permissiveness, gender bending, and the like.

When you feel like you are at war with the society around you, it makes you less concerned with paying taxes honestly (unless you get into the media spotlight on this issue, then the incentive is to promote the socially acceptable way).

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Rabbi Avi Weiss’s Bridge Too Far On Female Orthodox Rabbis

Posted on April 18, 2010 by Luke Ford

Rabbi Avi Weiss miscalculated. He thought he could get support on this issue without talking to anyone.

His approach was the opposite of Chana Henkin‘s. She created a limited semicha (rabbinic ordination) for women to rule on Jewish law. She moved slowly. She got support. She went for real power for women rather than for the show of power. The women in her first classes were so carefully picked that they did not try to overturn the system. They made a good impression on the rabbinic establishment in Israel. A woman in the first graduating class because the first woman to work in the administration of Israel’s Batei Dins (religious law courts).

Thirty years ago, if you went into the Chief Rabbi’s office in Israel, there was not a woman there. Now it is filled with them. Ninety percent of the secretaries are women. It wasn’t that they protested, but the women who went to work there did their jobs very well and they were very careful. They created real change.

I don’t think Rabbi Avi Weiss consulted with other rabbis before he conferred the title of “Rabbi” on Sarah Hurwitz. He then backtracked and made a deal with the RCA to not confer such a title on any more women.

Few if any of Rabbi Avi Weiss’s natural rabbis publicly supported him when he gave the title “Rabba” to Sarah Hurwitz.

Rabbis such as Saul Berman and Marc Angel are major players in Modern Orthodoxy. I wonder if they were consulted on “Rabba Sarah Hurwitz”? I suspect they felt blindsided.

If Rabbi Weiss had defined “rabba” as something close to what Nishmat had already done, there would not have been as much outrage. Even in Haredi circles, Nishmat creates little blowback. Many Haredi women call its hotline with questions about the family purity laws and the like. It’s accepted.

With the “rabba” title, Rabbi Avi Weiss failed to say what such women could and could not do. What kind of rabbi are they? Are they a traditional rabbi in the 19th Century model, a rabbi who’s primarily a dayan? That would be a big problem because the women in line to get the “rabba” title are not sufficiently learned. Are they a traditional rabbi in the early 20th Century model where the rabbi is primarily a posek? That’s also a problem because of the lack of learning required to get the “rabba” title. Few if any Yeshivat Chovevei Torah graduates merit such distinction. Few if any YCT grads have the Torah learning of their YU peers.

If you are saying that a “rabba” is a teacher, that is not a problem. If you are saying that a “rabba” is a darshan (preacher), that is not a problem.

I’m really very wise and if the rabbis would simply consult with me privately before they go public with their decisions, I could save them a lot of grief.

Chana Henkin did not give her women a title. She gave them a function.

Do you want power or do you want the aura of power? The title of “Rabba” has the aura of power.

The Queen of England has no power. She has the aura of power. She has nice robes and she wears nice jewels. She looks like she has power.

Chana Henkin went for real power, not the appearance of power.

Rabbi Avi Weiss went for the robe of power with the title of “Rabba” but he didn’t even get that because nobody in Orthodox Judaism is going to recognize “Rabba Sarah Hurwitz”.

If Rabbi Avi Weiss had spoken to his colleagues, I don’t think he would’ve acted as he did.

Now take me by contrast. Before I blog anything significant, I always talk to the rabbis first to get their permission. Thus they all line up behind my blog whenever I become controversial.

I can’t imagine that this controversy has done Rabbi Weiss’s institution Yeshivat Chovevei Torah any good.

Rabbi Avi Weiss has serious financial backing. To get its graduates jobs, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah underwrites their salaries (it is done differently each year but essentially YCT underwrites 75% of the rabbi’s first year salary, 50% of the second year, 25% of the third year). Thus a lot of shuls see it as a good deal to hire a YCT graduate over a YU grad even if the rabbi won’t be accepted as a member of the RCA.

If Yeshivat Chovevei Torah gets looked upon as the whacky yeshiva that ordains women, then those financially shaky shuls in small cities that hire YCT grads may think a second time.

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The Triumph of Maimonides Academy

Posted on April 18, 2010 by Luke Ford

Under Rabbi Karmi Gross, Maimonides Academy moved from a small insignificant school to a large Torah institution that is loved by its students and respected by its community.

Through good education management, Rabbi Gross first commanded respect. The financial backing followed.

Now Rabbi Karmi Gross has moved to Israel. The new leader is Rabbi Aharon Wilk. I hear no fewer plaudits for the school.

“The problem with the model we have for education in Los Angeles,” says one community rabbi, “is that it all depends upon who your head of school is who’s doing all your hiring. If he’s good, he’ll get a good staff.

“By contrast, if you have a board of seasoned educators (no Jewish school in LA has this), you’re not dependent on one person.”

Ohr Eliyahu in Culver City is to the right of Maimonides Academy. The school is popular and respected in the community. It boasts solid secular and religious education and is the brainchild of Rabbi Shlomo Goldberg, formerly of the Pacific Jewish Center.

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Why Do Jewish Day Schools Cost Three Times As Much As Roman Catholic Day Schools?

Posted on April 18, 2010 by Luke Ford

You can send your child to a Roman Catholic day school for $6,000 a year. If you want to send your child to YULA or Shalhevet and you have to pay full price, that will cost you about $20,000 a year.

Why this price differential?

* The cost of the teachers. Much of Catholic education is conducted by priests and nuns who earn about as fifth as much as teachers at Jewish schools (be the subjects religious or secular).

* Many Catholic schools are built on land that was given them.

* Many Catholic parishes are rich and they subsidize Catholic schools.

One of the big obstacles to leading an Orthodox Jewish life is the high cost of Jewish day schools. These schools also demand above average intelligence and discipline. “Orthodox slacker” is a contradiction in terms. You have to work hard to be an Orthodox Jew. You have to make more money than the average bloke. You have to be smarter than the average bloke. And your children have to be above-average.

This is off topic, but I remember once going up after Friday night davening and asking to be set up with a Shabbat dinner.

I was placed with this family where every child (in addition to the parents) had some marked retardation.

The food was about as meager and unappetizing as I’ve ever experienced for a Shabbat meal (my being vegetarian didn’t help matters) and on the one hand, I was taken aback by all the ticks and jerks and retarded behaviors of my hosts (I much to prefer to look upon beautiful people, well dressed and behaving in a classy way), but on the other hand, I was moved by their hospitality and their commitment to leading a traditional Jewish life (they were not Modern Orthodox). I had these huge rushes of emotions that ranged from horror to awe. And I feel like a total jerk writing about them because these people were so nice to me. They did everything they could to make me feel at home and here I am blogging about them.

There’s something holy and precious and private about Orthodox Judaism that does not belong on blogs.

I wonder why more Jewish day schools haven’t mounted capital campaigns for endowments. They are rarely run by people with business backgrounds (such as Rabbi Berel Wein)

Most schools have two boards — a board of trustees (for financial stuff) and a board for educational stuff, but Jewish day schools rarely use this structure, so you don’t get decisions made for either rational financial or rational educational reasons.

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