San Diego Jewish World~July 12

Israel's prime minister reflects on his Jewish identity

Editor's Note: Following is a transcript of a July 10 speech by Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to the new Jewish People Policy Planning Institute

By Ehud Olmert

JERUSALEM—First of all I want to apologize in advance to the press and the networks. I'm going to be very boring tonight. [Laughter] And I'm not certain that what I have to say is something that deserves these projectors that are blinding my eyes, but of course you are free to do whatever you want.

I really thought about this talk tonight, more than I normally do about other occasions where I'm invited and honored to make a speech or an appearance, because I think this is different. We are having so many opportunities to talk about the current issues, the political issues, the political controversies, the issues of the day, the issues that will become the issues of the headlines tomorrow. On this particular occasion, I thought that when we talk about ourselves, it's different. And allow me therefore to share with you things as I see them from a very different personal perspective.

If I was asked today, which, I am sometimes, how I most accurately define myself as a person, what is it that will define me more accurately, or most accurately, probably I would say, certainly I would say, first of all, I am Jewish. Had I been asked this question when I was much younger, say, at the age of 14 or 15, I would have said, right away, I'm an Israeli. Something in me changed, to a degree that my answer is not what it was. And this of course is not accidental; it's not something that just happened, it happened through a very long and sometimes painful process of soul searching of who I am and where I come from. And the older I grew, perhaps with the wider responsibilities which I had to assume over the years, in different positions, the broader my understanding was of where it all comes from. And in this process, I didn't become less Israeli, I became more Jewish.

And the significance of the roots of myself, of my family, I thought for instance the story of my parents' lives which is one single individual story; there are millions like it. They were born in Russia and in the Ukraine and they grew up in China, of all places, and they came to Israel and lived in Israel all their lives since then. And I thought of what made them move in the first place from Russia and from the Ukraine to China. And what made them move was something that belonged to the history of the Jewish people, to the fears of the Jewish people, to the fate of the Jewish people, to the circumstances which are so unique for us and which are not identical to the history of any other people, and this is just one single individual story.

When I thought about the story of my wife's family and so on and so forth, and the inevitable impact of this was something which is a lot more significant in the making of a person's perception of himself in the world that he lives in, than maybe anything else. (Jump to continuation)

Transcript of Olmert's candid Al Arabiya interview

Editor's Note: Dubai-based Al Arabiya television posed polite yet tough questions to Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in an interview shown to the Arab world. Here is a transcript, as provided by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

You have often spoken lately of the possibility for an overall regional settlement with Arab countries, the moderate ones as well; but it seems, and this is no secret, that the Arab nations - perhaps even the moderate ones - feel that you are too weak too make historical decisions and are more interested in normalization and no more than that.

PM Olmert: Naturally, I cannot speak for others; I can only speak for myself and for the State of Israel. I wish to remind you that I am the first Israeli leader, and the only one at the level of prime minister, to say to all the Arab countries, following the Riyadh Summit, "We do not reject the Arab League’s peace initiative. Quite the contrary, let's talk about it," and I am willing to talk about it.

So I don’t know the basis for this assumption that I want a de facto arrangement and normalization. I want a peace settlement, first and foremost with the Palestinians; and I am ready to sit down and talk about the Arab initiative with all the rest of the Arab nations with whom we are not at peace. Definitely.

Interviewer: If you’ll allow me, I’d like to take us back a year. We are currently marking one year since the Lebanon war. Would you act the same way as then, meaning would you start an overall campaign against Lebanon and Hizbullah?

PM Olmert: First of all, I did not start any campaign. I wish to remind you that the ones who started the campaign was the Hizbullah organization. The Hizbullah organization was the one who kidnapped the soldiers, killed Israeli soldiers, and attacked the northern cities in Israel; and if you would ask this question of Nasrallah, he would certainly give you an answer, because he said after the war that if he had known for certain what would happen, he wouldn’t have started the war. So, first of all, he started the war.

The question I need to answer, and this is a legitimate question, is whether I would have responded as I did. Today I am convinced, more than ever, that I would have responded the same way and I am glad that I did. This war caused much suffering to many people. It caused much suffering to a great many Israelis, to a great many residents of the State of Israel who live in the north and had to live for 33 days in bomb shelters; and it caused a great deal of suffering to the Lebanese, who suffered as a result of this war. These Lebanese need to draw a conclusion concerning the Hizbullah and the suffering that the Hizbullah caused them.

There is no doubt that war always entails suffering and that is the last thing we want. I believe that most people don’t want suffering and don’t want civilians to be harmed. The Hizbullah is a terrorist organization. The Hizbullah is an organization that wants to hurt the State of Israel and to kill Jews.

We have no problem with Lebanon. According to the UN resolution, we do not occupy any area in Lebanon. Why do they have to attack us; why do they need to kidnap Israeli soldiers? Why do they need to kill Israeli residents? Why do they have to fire Katyushas and rockets on Israeli communities? It’s clear that when they do that, we respond. I want it to be clear that we will never be reconciled to the possibility of someone shooting at us without responding. There can be no such thing.

Lautenberg, Schumer, Clinton, Menendez vow
to block confirmation of ambassador to Libya

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) – Democratic Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (Democrat, New Jersey) today announced he would lead a Senate coalition, including Democratic Sens. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Charles Schumer of New York and Hillary Clinton of New York, to block the confirmation of Gene Kretz to be Ambassador to Libya.

The Senators further announced that they would maintain their hold on Cretz’s nomination until Libya fully compensates American victims of Libyan terrorist attacks in the 1980’s.

"Libya has failed to fulfill financial commitments they made to American victims of their terrorist acts," said Sen. Lautenberg, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "Libya voluntarily settled these claims. To not deliver on their promise is a slap in the face to American families that have waited for years for accountability for Libya's crimes. Libya must no longer be allowed to drag its feet and the U.S. must not pursue fully normalized diplomatic relations with Libya until they fulfill their legal obligations to American families.”

“A promise made must be a promise kept. Libya has not made good on its promise to the victims of Pan Am Flight 103, and it must be held responsible,” said Sen. Menendez. “Sending an ambassador to Libya is sending the wrong message to the world about how the U.S. will tolerate terrorism and the murder of American citizens. As we face a continuing terrorist threat, this is a message that we cannot afford to deliver.”

"Until Libya fully compensates the Pan Am families, no U.S. ambassador should set foot in Tripoli,” said Sen. Schumer, who is supporting the hold on Cretz’s nomination. “We’re serious about improving relations, but Libya needs to show that it is too. Paying off this long overdue debt would be a start.”

“Libya has been responsible for numerous murderous terrorist attacks against American citizens over the past several decades. These attacks have caused unending pain and suffering for Americans, especially the Pan Am families. We must pressure Libya and President Qaddafi to settle the remaining terrorism cases against his country before fully normalized diplomatic relations with the United States can take place. That includes blocking the confirmation of the President’s nominee to be Ambassador to Libya until these cases are resolved,” said Sen. Clinton

President Bush yesterday announced that he intends to nominate Cretz to be U.S. Ambassador.

Last month, Sen. Lautenberg inserted a provision into legislation to block funding for a U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya until the Libyan government honors its financial commitments to compensate America victims of Libyan terrorist attacks in the 1980s.

In 1988, Libyan terrorists killed 270 people in the Pan Am Flight 103 Lockerbie bombing. The Libyan government acknowledged its role in the Lockerbie bombing in 2003 and committed to a settlement to each victim's family. To date, Libya has not fulfilled its commitments.

In 1986, Libyan terrorists bombed the LaBelle discotheque in Berlin that killed two American servicemen and injured 90 other service members. In 2006, Libya entered into a settlement agreement with these victims and notified the State Department of their intentions. To date, Libya has also not fulfilled its commitment.

The previous story was provided by the office of Senator Frank Lautenberg

VIENNA (Press Release)— Leon Zelman, founder and head of the Jewish Welcome Service in Austria, has died at the age of 79 after a long illness. Zelman was born in Poland in 1928. He survived the Auschwitz and Mauthausen Nazi camps and was liberated by US forces in May 1945. A year later, Zelman came to Vienna, where he studied journalism. He co-founded the publication "Jüdisches Echo" (Jewish Echo) in 1951 and worked as its editor-in-chief.

President Fischer said that Zelman had been an "exceptional" personality. His role in spotlighting Austria's role between 1938 and 1945, as well as during the post-war years, "cannot be valued highly enough.”

The preceding story was provided by the World Jewish Congress

Holocaust memorial in Berlin vandalized

BERLIN (Press Release)—Vandals have damaged a Holocaust memorial and burnt an Israeli flag. The incident happened at the Grunewald train station, from where the first transport of Jews to concentration camps took place.

"They knocked over several memorial candles and set fire to a small Israeli flag" at the so-called Platform 17 memorial at the station, police said. The Nazis began deporting Jews to concentration camps from the Grunewald station in October 1941. Israel’s prime minister Ehud Olmert visited the Grunewald memorial last year to pay his respects to the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis.

Jewish memorials and cemeteries are frequently vandalized in Germany, where political support for the far-right has increased in recent years. German chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed to combat right-wing extremism but critics say the US $25 million a year spent on campaigns to draw young people away from radical ideologies were insufficient.

HIAS applauds House vote to protect SSI benefits for blind, elderly and disabled refugees in the U.S.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) – After years of intensive advocacy work bringing together grass-roots, local, regional and national organizations, HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, is cheering a major legislative victory following yesterday’s passage in the House of a bill extending Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for disabled and elderly refugees.

“This is the most encouraging sign we’ve seen in recent years that Washington understands the plight of these vulnerable refugees, who are in particularly dire situations,” says Gideon Aronoff, president and CEO of HIAS. “With a significant portion of those affected being elderly refugees from the former Soviet Union (FSU), the Jewish community around the country has been deeply involved in efforts to solve this pressing humanitarian problem.”

If passed in the Senate, the legislation would extend SSI eligibility for two years for refugees, asylees, and other qualified immigrants, including those whose benefits recently expired. Benefits could also be extended an additional year for refugees waiting for a decision on their pending citizenship applications.

The House bill also comes at no cost to American taxpayers, as it includes a provision to pay for the extension by allowing the government to deduct from taxpayers’ refund checks debts they might owe for fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits.

HIAS, which has worked on behalf of the Jewish community on citizenship and naturalization issues since it opened its doors in 1881, has been aggressively advocating for solutions to the SSI issue since 2003, when the severity of the problem came to light, particularly after changes in U.S. policies since September 11, 2001. Earlier this month, HIAS organized and sent to Congress a letter signed by nearly 400 organizations nationwide, urging passage of an SSI bill. Among the signers of the letter are several other prominent Jewish organizations, including the United Jewish Communities; Jewish Council for Public Affairs; American Jewish Committee; Association of Jewish Family & Children’s Agencies; Women of Reform Judaism; The Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring; and Women of Reform Judaism.

Jews from the FSU are more affected by limits on SSI benefits than other refugee groups. The large wave of Russian Jewish emigration to the U.S. in the 1990s was demographically the oldest in U.S. history. This wave of Russian Jewish emigration coincided with the 1996 adoption in a welfare reform law that conditioned the receipt of SSI benefits for the disabled, blind and elderly on achieving citizenship within the first seven years of entry into the country.

“The number of people who are losing their life-sustaining SSI benefits, in large part due to delays in the immigration system beyond their control, is climbing,” the HIAS letter stated. “The Social Security Administration currently projects that 50,000 elderly and disabled refugees will face extreme hardship and destitution by 2012 due to the suspension of their SSI benefits. These individuals fled persecution or torture in countries such as Iran, Russia, Iraq, Vietnam and Somalia, and now are too elderly or disabled to support themselves.”

“Refugees fleeing persecution, injustice and even threat of death sometimes arrive in America with only the clothes on their back, and this program has provided a few hundred dollars a month for bare essentials. In recent years, this modest safety net has been taken away from approximately 7,000 elderly and disabled refuges through no fault of their own,” said one of the bill’s sponsors Jim McDermott, (D-Wash.) in a statement.

In his own statement, Jerry Weller (Republican, Illinois who also sponsored the bill, said, “These are individuals legally allowed into the United States for humanitarian reasons after fleeing persecution and suffering in their own countries. Recognizing the likelihood of ongoing issues in the naturalization process, this legislation provides up to one extra year of eligibility – for a total of up to ten years – for those refugees and asylees needing more time to complete the naturalization process.” HIAS worked closely with the offices of McDermott and Weller and continues to work toward Senate passage of the legislation with Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) and Herbert Kohl (D-Wisc.), sponsors of the Senate’s companion bill.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)—U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (Democrat, California) today submitted the following statement into the Congressional Record in memory of Lady Bird Johnson:

“Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to Lady Bird Johnson, one of our nation’s most beloved former First Ladies.

Lady Bird Johnson was a conservationist, an enthusiastic political wife, a shrewd businesswoman, and the loving grandmother of a close-knit family.

But she will be best remembered for her efforts to make America a more beautiful country.

Lady Bird Johnson was born Claudia Alta Taylor to her parents near Karnack, Texas in 1912. Legend has it that she received the quaint nickname when a nursemaid exclaimed that the young Claudia was “as purty as a lady bird.”

At a very early age, she expressed an interest in the environment, and in particular, wildflowers – which would become a lifelong passion.

A graduate of the University of Texas, Lady Bird received a bachelor of arts in history and a bachelor of journalism in 1934.

It was in Austin where she met her future husband, Lyndon Baines Johnson. The connection between the two was electric – after a whirlwind romance and courtship, the two were married in November 1934.

Lady Bird was a loyal and tireless supporter during her husband’s political career – usually behind the scenes – from Congressman to Senator, from Senate Majority Leader to Vice President, and finally, on that fateful day in 1963, as the 36th President of the United States.

And it is her accomplishments as First Lady that distinguished Lady Bird as visionary.
Lady Bird brought a dash of Texas hospitality and genteel charm to the White House during those first dark days of the Johnson Administration, as the nation struggled to recover from the tragedy of the Kennedy assassination. (Jump to continuation)

Sen. Frank Lautenberg carries legislation to
have postage stamp for late Barbara Jordan

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)– Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (Democrat, New Jersey) introduced a bill to honor Rep. Barbara Jordan, the first African-American to represent Texas in the House, with a commemorative stamp. Rep. Jordan was the first African-American and the first woman to deliver a keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. That speech was delivered 31 years ago today.

“Congresswoman Barbara Jordan was a pioneer whose devotion to civil rights warrants recognition. She was an amazing woman. She always fought hard for what she believed in and devoted herself to improving the quality of life for all Americans. Barbara Jordan deserves a commemorative stamp,” said Sen. Lautenberg.

“I am proud to celebrate the legacy of one of our nation’s most influential civil rights leaders. An ardent protector of our constitution, Former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan is an integral part of our rich American history and should be remembered as such. We pay tribute to this pioneer of American politics,” said Sen. Menendez.

Lautenberg’s resolution, which has a number of cosponsors including Sen. Menendez, would seek a Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee recommendation to the Postmaster General that a commemorative postage stamp be issued in honor of Jordan.

Barbara Charline Jordan was born in Houston on February 21, 1936. She was educated in Houston’s public schools and received a B.A. in political science and history from Texas Southern University in 1956. She graduated from Boston University School of Law in 1959. She was admitted to the Massachusetts and Texas bars.

In 1966, Jordan became the first African-American since 1883 to serve in the Texas Senate, where she served with distinction until 1972. That year, she won election to represent Texas’ 18th District in the U.S. House of Representatives and became the State’s first African-American Representative.

On July 12, 1976, she became the first African-American and the first woman to deliver a keynote address to the Democratic National Convention. In August 1994, President Bill Clinton awarded Jordan the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor

SAN DIEGO—For several weeks now other members of Chabad at University City and I have been going to the Westfield Shopping Center in the University City area to hand out a flyer on the truth behind the “Bodies” show at the former May Co department store.

In order to hand out a flyer on the Westfield property, I filled out a nine-page application for a permit from Westfield, LLC; agreed to abide by fourteen pages of rules governing “non-commercial expressive activity;” and provided a $50 refundable deposit.

Our flyer contains quotes from the show’s medical director, a professor emeritus from the University of Michigan, on the origins of the twenty-one Chinese people on display. The flyer also contains portions from the California State Health and Safety Code on the procedure in this state for assigning unclaimed dead bodies to medical schools for educational purposes.

We object to the lack of public disclosure at the show itself on the origins of the bodies on display. We object to the lack of modesty accorded the bodies by their being un-covered. I know of no other legal display of human remains—in a museum, at a center for medical education, or at a funeral hall—that allows for the entire corpse to be on view.

We object to the lack of dignity in the skinning of the bodies, and their muscles being painted to suit the so-called educational component of the display. We object to the claim of artistic creativity in the positioning of the bodies as if they were still alive to enjoy athletic pursuits like soccer.

We object to the marketing of this show to children as young as four years old as an educational experience, without any recognition of the need for respect when learning anatomy directly from the human form.

For my bat mitzvah portion I learned that in Ancient Israel Verse 21:1 of Judges instructs us as to what was done when the corpse of a stranger was found in the open, outside of one’s city. The elders of the nearest city were to conduct an investigation of the death. They were to provide a public apology to the corpse in case some lack of attention on their part had inadvertently caused the slain person to come in harm’s way. Do we owe these twenty-one Chinese new-comers to San Diego anything less?

Jews in the News
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Like you, we're pleased when members of our community are praiseworthy, and are disappointed when they are blameworthy. Whether it's good news or bad news, we'll try to keep track of what's being said in general media about our fellow Jews. Our news spotters are Dan Brin in Los Angeles, Donald H. Harrison in San Diego, and you. Wherever you are, if you see a story of interest, please send a summary and link to us at sdheritage@cox.net and we'll acknowledge your tip at the end of the column. To see a source story click on the link within the respective paragraph.

*The California Supreme Court has turned down an appeal by Sara Caplan seeking to be shielded from an order by a lower court judge that she testify in open court about what she knows about possible evidence tampering in the Phil Spector murder case. If she doesn't testify, Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler has said she will be jailed for contempt. The Copley News Service story by Matt Krasnowski is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (Republican, Minnesota) is holding hearings on the issue of how easy it is to by radioactive materials after a sting operation by the Government Accounting Office with only a post office box was able to obtain a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Associated Press story is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (Democrat, Van Nuys) has pulled from the state Senate's active file his controversial bill to require most dogs and cats in the state to be neutered. The measure encountered strong objections in the state's upper house. The story by Patrick McGreevy is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers wanted White House aides to testify about the process leading up to the grant of clemency that President George W. Bush extended to I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, but White House Counsel Fred Fielding sent back a letter saying Congress has no jurisdiction over the President's power in such matters. The Associated Press story is in a package of briefs in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is denying reports that a resumption of peace discussions between Syria and Israel may be imminent. To the contrary, she says, Syria has been playing "a dangerous game" in the Middle East. The story is in today's Ha'aretz.

*The San Diego Union-Tribune, in an editorial, shares the indignation expressed by Reps. Bob Filner (Democrat, San Diego) and Brian Bilbray (Republican, Oceanside) over the opposition by the U.S. Boundary and Water Commission to the Bajagua solution to Mexican sewerage that flows over the border.

*Shimon Peres, soon to be inaugurated as the president of Israel, has agreed to also serve as president of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, an organization which will seek closer links between Jews in the Diaspora and in Israel. A story by Yaakov Lapin is on today's Y-Net News Service.

*George Skelton, a politics writer for the Los Angeles Times, says in today's column that there are many similarities between politics and sports, which he used to cover when he was just starting out as a reporter. He quotes consultant Dan Schnur on the importance of teamwork in the political game.

*Lois Wyse, author and sloganeer who came up with the well-known promotional line "With a name like Smucker's it has to be good," has died at age 80. An obituary by Claudia H. Deutsch of the New York Times News Service is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

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News Sleuths: Israel and neighbors

Watching the media gathering and reporting the news of Jewish interest

Date: July 12, 2007
Place: White House
Time: 10:30 am., Washington DC time
Press Conference Speaker: U.S. President George Bush
Source: White House transcript
Subjects: Libby, Chertoff

(Continued from above)

Q If I could just switch subjects for a second to another big decision you made recently, which was in the Scooter Libby case.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

Q You spoke very soberly and seriously in your statement about how you weighed different legal questions in coming to your decision on that commutation. But one issue that you did not address was the issue of the morality of your most senior advisors leaking the name of a confidential intelligence operator. Now that the case is over -- it's not something you've ever spoken to -- can you say whether you're at all disappointed in the behavior of those senior advisors? And have you communicated that disappointment to them in any way?

THE PRESIDENT: Michael, I -- first of all, the Scooter Libby decision was, I thought, a fair and balanced decision. Secondly, I haven't spent a lot of time talking about the testimony that people throughout my administration were forced to give as a result of the special prosecutor. I didn't ask them during the time and I haven't asked them since.

I'm aware of the fact that perhaps somebody in the administration did disclose the name of that person, and I've often thought about what would have happened had that person come forth and said, I did it. Would we have had this, you know, endless hours of investigation and a lot of money being spent on this matter? But it's been a tough issue for a lot of people in the White House, and it's run its course and now we're going to move on.

Thank you. Thank you, sir. How comfortable are you -- sir, how comfortable are you with your Homeland Security Secretary saying, in the face of no credible intelligence of an imminent threat against the United States, that he has a gut feeling that one is coming this summer? And, sir, what does your gut tell you?

THE PRESIDENT: My gut tells me that -- which my head tells me, as well -- is that when we find a credible threat, I'll share it with people, to make sure that we protect the homeland. My head also tells me that al Qaeda is a serious threat to our homeland, and we've got to continue making sure we've got good intelligence, good response mechanisms in place, that we've got to make sure we don't embolden them with -- by failing in certain theaters of war where they're confronting us, that we ought to continue to keep the pressure on them. We need to chase them down and bring them to justice before they come home to hurt us again. (Jump to continuation)

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Spring Valley volunteers Rina and Semyon Mogilevsky help out the IDF

ISRAEL-SAN DIEGO COUNTY CONNECTIONS—Semyon and Rina Mogilevsky of Spring Valley recently returned from Israel where they volunteered at an IDF base near Tel Aviv. Mogilevsky said he and his wife were assigned to separate barracks by gender. "Toilets and showers were in the building close by; in that respect, staying in the Super 6 Motel would be considered as a luxury." There were compensating advantages, however, including "close proximity of friendly people." The Mogilveskys and other volunteers wore the same uniform as other soldiers, "we ate the same food and we were assigned to a regular type of work. From eight to four we worked in a warehouse stuffing field bags for military medics." Also, at least once per week, "we served in the kitchen doing dishes, sweeping floors, cleaning tables and preparing the dining room for the invasion of hungry soldiers." The dozen volunteers, who came not only from the U.S. but from Holland, Sweden, Belgium and New Zealand, freed regular soldiers for other duties. "We are very satisfied with our modest contribution to the life of the country which by its very existence means so much for many of us."

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Judaism

People of the Books

A history and philosophical examination of the Kaddish

The Mystery of the Kaddish: Its Profound Influence on Judaism by Leon H. Charney and Saul Mayzlish, Barricade Books, Fort Lee, NJ; ISBN 1-56980-300-5, 2006, $22.95, p. 236

Reviewed by Fred Reiss, Ed.D

WINCHESTER, California—The Hebrew word Kaddish means sanctification, and it appears in several forms, including, the Scholar’s Kaddish, Half Kaddish, Full Kaddish, and Burial Kaddish. Whenever a member of the Jewish faith says, "I'm going to say Kaddish," there is only one unambiguous meaning, "I’m going to say Mourner’s Kaddish."

According to Jewish mysticism, when the body dies, the soul wanders for seven days between the cemetery and its Earthly house, and does not fully understand what happened. (Mirrors are covered in the house of mourning so that the soul cannot see itself without the body and become further frightened.) On the eighth day, the soul is brought before the heavenly court. There, its life is examined for eleven months and a judgment is rendered either to send the soul to Gan Eden (heaven) or Gehenna (hell).

The mourner recites the Kaddish for eleven months along with the community. Together, they show support for the soul. In effect, those alive, through the Kaddish prayer, come to the aid the deceased. Later, when needed, the living will return to the gravesites asking the dead to intercede on their behalf.

Authors Charney and Mayzlish focus their book, The Mystery of the Kaddish: Its Profound Influence on Judaism, on all the forms in two parts. Confronted with the death his mother, Charney wanted to “explore how one of the most integral prayers of the Jewish people is practiced in different communities and cultures under various rabbinical interpretations.” In order to accomplish this, the authors take us, in the first part, on their personal journey of discovery from the Middle East, to Europe, and then to Asia Minor. Along the way, we meet people who have a special, perhaps even mystical, connection with the Kaddish.

For example, they heard various melodies of the Kaddish in Tel Aviv, and learned from the cantors and congregants how these melodies added to the prayer’s intensity. In Jerusalem, the authors visited the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva where they come away understanding that the Mourners’ Kaddish “offers us a recipe for life, teaching us that we may not delay our assigned tasks and the demands made upon us. It reminds us of an hour glass, where the sand inexorably runs down, where things which might appear to be minor are major and vice-versa.” After a trip through the Holocaust Museum, also in Jerusalem, they went away recognizing that the Kaddish prayer, in the post-World War II world, is the ultimate acceptance of God’s actions.

In Poland they saw how people reacted to the prayer through the eyes of the late Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev, who perceived the Kaddish as personal contact with God. The Kaddish became a longing for the re-establishment of the Temple in the Czech Republic, and in Turkey it was a search for meaning, as a person “may even question the very existence of God, the same God who took one’s dear one; yet ultimately arrive at the truth, and faith in the justice of the Creator.” The authors’ extensive travels between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East allow us to conclude that the meaning of the Kaddish prayer is as personal as the one reciting it. (Jump to continuation)

Bud Selig should take Rev. Jesse Jackson's advice about Barry Bonds

SAN DIEGO—It's not every day that we find ourselves agreeing with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, but his criticism is on target about the cold shoulder that baseball commissioner Bud Selig and other officials are giving San Francisco Giant slugger Barry Bonds as he attempts to surpass Henry Aaron's home run record. Jackson was quoted today in the San Diego Union-Tribune as saying, "if you can't prove it, embrace him and his record."

Naturally, Selig is a bit squeamish about seeming to make too big a deal over a record that some believe was steroid-induced, but until such time that is an established fact, if it ever is, we all were brought up to believe that a person is innocent until proven guilty.

So Selig ought to try to be at the games leading up to the big 756, and after the mighty swat, he should have a press conference with Bonds at his side. When a reporter asks if the record still will stand if Bonds is found to have used performance-enhancing drugs, Selig should respond "the record will stand no matter what. If what you say were to come to pass, it would be a record with an asterisk by it. Today we need to deal in facts, not in speculation. I'm here to congratulate Barry." —Donald H. Harrison

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{Marc Kligman, who combines being a sports agent with his life as an observant Jew, invites you to listen. Click on the ad above for more information}
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Home run derby shows ADL's Abe Foxman how
they settle a tie game in Israel Baseball League

GEZER, Israel—July 12- It took a homerun derby for the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox to top the Ra'anana Express 6-5 on a night in which the director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abe Foxman, threw out the game's ceremonial first pitch.

Down by four runs through four innings, the Blue Sox came charging back on back-to-back homeruns from star sluggers Jason Rees and Johnny Lopez in the top of the fifth. With the game tied at five runs apiece through seven innings, IBL rules dictated a homerun derby and the Blue Sox responded.

Bet Shemesh won in the first round on one home run apiece from Californian Gregg Raymundo and Lopez once again. Scott Jarmakowicz of Florida added icing to the cake with two blasts of his own as Bet Shemesh won the derby 4-0 to improve to 11-2.