I’ve finally found a good opportunity to write on this topic. Orthodox Jews too often fail to care about the environment and the world. Maybe this is because they associate environmentalism with the “left” and the “liberal”, or because it is too difficult to keep both torah and environment, or because it’s not torah, and therefore bittul torah, or they just assume that God will fix everything for them. But these are usually excuses for simple apathy, or laziness.
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In March 2005, McGill closed its Muslim prayer room. In 2006 the Canadian Supreme Court overruled a Québec school’s ban on carrying a Sikh ceremonial weapon. In January 2007, Canada was inflamed with discussions of “reasonable accommodation” after the release of a “Code of Conduct” for newcomers to Hérouxville. It seems as if Québec again wants to copy France in a strong stand on Laïcité.
Suddenly in these last few days, University administration has decided the chapel in the McGill “Birks” Religious Studies building no longer exists. Signs that once indicated its presence are now gone. The room that the rest of the building is centred around no longer has any official purpose or title. (more…)
Yesterday in “Neuroscience of Language”, a woman in the front row was identified by the lecturer as Efrat, a post-graduate student. The guy next to me felt the need to point out (by way of name, accent, appearance) that she might be Israeli. I told him after the class that I wasn’t surprised: I estimate that about a quarter of the class is Jewish, a common phenomenon in linguistic circles. (more…)
On Wednesday morning in Vegas, I printed out a list of Bay Area synagogues, and looked up some maps to show me that I only had a few options approaching downtown San Francisco. So I called “Young Israel San Francisco” (I guess “young” sort of appealed) first from Vegas, and later from a public telephone in Oakland airport. In three 50c phonecalls from the airport to a woman who answered with “Hebrew Academy”, I had arranged a place to stay, eat and pray on shabbat, and public transport there. I thought that was pretty good-going.
Still, when I arrived on the doorstep of Rabbi Lipner a little late (public transport instructions didn’t match reality too closely) at 6:30pm on Friday afternoon, I didn’t know what to expect, nor what anyone answering the door should expect of the hairy youth on their doorstep carrying three large bags. (more…)
I wrote my first letter to the AJN last week. It seems they weren’t interested in publishing it. After a couple of weeks of response to some articles on the short welcome that was extended to the Russian migrants to the Australian Jewish community, the AJN published a seemingly unrelated “glossy magazine”. This was my response:
It was nice to see that the glossy Wedding supplement (AJN 29/6) included its token Russian couple.
But since we’re talking marginalised, it would seem Sephardim don’t get married!
The famed Moroccan wedding feast; the colorful Yemenite henna party; the joyous shabbat chatan were all left unmentioned. Our beautiful Oriental women didn’t grace its pages- not even in the abundant advertisements!
While we are being inclusive and welcoming, why not give those photos a little colour?
I think it’s worth pointing out that our community, while diverse, is very easily dominated by the (granted, majority) European population, whether via South Africa or not. I don’t know whether it’s because the sephardim are so integrated or because they are so different that they are forgotten…
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