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LETTER FROM JERUSALEM
The pros and the cons of Annapolis
By Ira Sharkansky
 JERUSALEM—It looks like there will be a meeting, of sorts, at Annapolis. Participants and commentators are ranging between those who ridicule the performance as without hope, and those who say that it has the potential of endorsing continued conversations between Israelis and Palestinians that might, one day, become serious negotiations. The ambivalence, inclined to pessimism, reflects the complex reality, made up of positive and negative possibilities.
Ira Sharkansky
In the nature of this business, it is not possible to weigh each of the positives and negatives, and come up with a persuasive balance. Those who go into such a meeting with hope have to take some chances, and those who go through the motions expecting nothing should know that their attitude might ruin the possibility of success.
Despite the problems in weighing the plusses and minuses, it may be helpful to list the most prominent of them. At the least, it may help an observer understand the efforts, as well as the reluctance of participants to make greater efforts. This exercise will not have the weight of a scorecard at a sporting event, filled with the statistics associated with each player and team. In politics there is no such exactitude. But here we go.
These calculations, for what they are worth, are entered from an Israeli perspective. Palestinians can do their own work.
On the positive side of the ledger, or the reasons for Israelis to make an effort at reaching an accord, or at least advance the prospects for later negotiations that may be successful:
* Israeli efforts will enhance the support the country receives from well-intentioned other governments.
* Signs are that individual Palestinian leaders have concluded that their armed struggle has failed, and that achieving a state alongside Israel is their best chance for international recognition, aid, and reasonable standards of living.
* There is substantial support among Israeli Jews for trying, once again, to reach an accord with the Palestinians, as well as with the governments of Syria, Lebanon, and other Arab/Muslim governments. Israelis crave recognition, as well as opportunities to travel to places so far denied to them. A political leader can probably find enough support in the Knesset to approve whatever deals are made to recognize a Palestinian state, and to reach agreements with Syria and Lebanon.
*
Israeli efforts to reach an agreement with Syria, for example, might spur Palestinians to a posture of greater flexibility out of fear that they might be left behind.
*
Support from the government of the United States, as well as current governments of Germany, France, and Great Britain, may be sufficient to buffer Israel against continued hostility from other international sources.
*
Israel will remain strong militarily. If a peace with Palestine goes bad, as in the case of Oslo 1993, the IDF can return Palestine to the Dark Ages. If Israel once grants recognition to a Palestinian state, its attack against armed Palestinians may actually may be viewed as more legitimate than at present among important other governments.
* If an agreement is reached with Syria, the record of agreements with Egypt and Jordan indicate that Arab governments keep their agreements and guard their borders with Israel against violence originating on their soil. The weakness of Lebanon as a regime is less promising.
On the negative side of the ledger, or the reasons for Israelis to go through the motions only for the sake of not embarrassing the President of the United States:
*
Nothing that Israel attempts is likely to satisfy the United Nations Human Rights Council, the International Court of Justice, or the numerous other bodies and governments stacked against Israel.
* The intense rejection of Israel, fueled by religious fervor, is not likely to be quieted by any kind of agreement. Moreover, the record until now is that Palestinian leaders are reluctant to act against those whose violence against Jews is motivated by religious or nationalist doctrine.
* There is substantial distrust of Palestinian intentions, both among the Israeli Jewish public, and among Israeli Jewish politicians. Emotional issues like the division of Jerusalem, control of the Temple Mount, withdrawal of settlements in the West Bank, the return of Palestinian refugees, or the freedom of Palestinian prisoners convicted of killing Jews, can scuttle any effort at reaching agreement about the establishment of a Palestinian state.
*
There are no hopeful signs that Palestinian leaders are inclined to give up demands that have heavy emotional weight with their people, and which have equally negative emotional baggage with Israeli Jews. These include the right of refugees to return, exclusive Palestinian control of the Nobel Sanctuary (Temple Mount), and the freedom of Palestinian "prisoners of war," who are murderers or terrorists in the eyes of many Israelis.
*Gaza is the bad half of Palestine, in the firm control of those who reject the legitimacy of Israel's existence. The leaders of Gaza continue to arm themselves with the tacit cooperation of the "moderate" government of Egypt, and do what they can to scuttle peace prospects with missiles, mortars, and attempted armed incursions into Israel. It is hard to imagine that peace negotiations with the Palestinians of the West Bank can survive a serious Israeli military attack on Gaza, if it occurs.
*Politics in important places are subject to change. A liberal Democratic administration in the United States, and/or changes in the complexion of governments in Germany, France, and Great Britain may leave Israel exposed to intense opposition from other sources, including the threats of political isolation, economic sanctions, and even military intervention if Israel acts against violence from Palestinian or other Arab sources.
We should not overlook the weight of short-term political calculations and other pedestrian possibilities likely to affect great decisions. The current prime minister of Israel may see political advantages associated with a serious effort at reaching an accord with the Palestinians. To date, however, his numerous meetings with Palestinians have not permitted an accord in even the most general of terms. Signs are that Ehud Olmert cannot accept many of what seem to be non-negotiable Palestinian demands. Moreover, there are several police investigations underway against the Prime Minister, dealing with allegations of misconduct in offices that he has held.
If Olmert leaves office in the near future, there are too many combinations possible for even this fuzzy level of analysis for who might succeed him. It is not only a matter of who would be the prime minister, but what might be the make up of the Israeli government in the event of a reshuffle, or the Knesset in the event of an election.
In short, only God knows if we are on the verge of peace with Palestinians and others, or simply at another insignificant marker in the history of Israeli efforts to reach accords with its neighbors. And in the Jewish tradition, God has not spoken to anyone since the prophet Malachi, perhaps 450 BCE.
WAR AND LORE
Mr. President, please cancel conference
By Isaac Yetiv
 LA JOLLA, California—My open letter to U.S. President George W. Bush:
Dear Mr President:
For the sake of American credibility and the prestige of your office, I urge you to cancel the
International Conference on the Middle-East projected for Nov-Dec 07, or to adjourn it sine die (without date).
In your famous speech of 2002, as the first U.S. president in history to talk of a "Palestinian state" (until then considered taboo by America, Europe, and even the U.N.), you conditioned this improbable advent with demands of democracy, cessation of terror and violence, proper ways of accounting
Isaac Yetiv
to fight corruption, and serious reforms in education for peace.
Today, in her incomprehensible ardor to establish a Palestinian state, your secretary of state seems to have dropped all these conditions, which will guarantee the creation of a non-viable basket- case terrorist state. This cannot be a "key American interest” as she declared. This, and more:
* We have seen this film before, a dozen times, when the great superpower twists the arms of a friend and ally, Israel, to placate a terrorist entity. It is rumored that the friend got threats and the terrorists got promises. What a shame! And as it happened before with your predecessor, the rejection came from the terrorists, not from Israel.
*It is a pathetic picture depicting all of Israel's enemies on one side and tiny Israel, alone, on the
other, besieged by the Palestinians, the Arabs, the Europeans, the U.N., all hand-stretched to the
Americans to receive that Israeli pound of flesh.
* Nothing that even this "loser" unpopular Israeli government can offer will satisfy the Palestinians.
They want it all because they have never been taught, mainly by America, to compromise and accept half a loaf. They want one state , not "to live side by side in peace with Israel" as you repeatedly declared, but to replace Israel. I think time has come for America to internalize this time-and-action-proven axiomatic truth, and cease fighting the quixotic windmills.
*The result of this self-delusion is another failure, which will be blamed on the Secretary of State and on you, and which will inaugurate the third intifada, as Clinton-Barak efforts produced the
second. More violence and bloodshed on both sides.
*It was reported that the messianic enthusiasm of Secretary Rice for a Palestinian state draws its
origins from her childhood in Alabama in segregation times. This is a false analogy, and very misleading: the Black people never threatened to destroy America and were not supported by an ocean of enemies to America.
The other analogy to the Irish conflict, apparently uttered by Tony Blair, is no less false. The only way to begin to resolve the conflict is to lean, without fear, on the Arab side, Palestinians and Arab autocrats , to clean up their act, become responsible, recognize the realities, and negotiate honestly and bona fide with Israel directly to reach a compromise of live-and-let-live.
In my opinion, the only durable solution is a Jordanian-Palestinian Confederation.
THE JEWS DOWN UNDER
Orthodox dispute poll indicating most New South Wales Jews favor gay unions
By Garry Fabian
LEARNED TRIO—Rabbi Martin Lawson, left, and Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal, right, flank Prof. Shalom Paul, whose lecture last night was sponsored by their two congregations and the Agency for Jewish Education.
THE JEWISH CITIZEN
Eve was superior to Adam, biblical scholar Shalom Paul asserts
By Donald H. Harrison
 SAN DIEGO—Two disparate groups likely will revel in some of the conclusions that Prof. Shalom Paul, longtime head of biblical studies at Hebrew University, has drawn about the Adam and Eve story in the Bible: feminists and staff members of Bahrain's Ministry of Tourism.
Paul, in a well-attended talk Tuesday evening in the sanctuary of Tifereth Israel Synagogue, said that misinterpretations of the true meaning of the Adam and Eve story have caused women to be unfairly and improperly
Donald H. Harrison
subjugated down through the millenia.
The story has been interpreted to mean that God created Eve after Adam to be a help mate or a servant to him. But, he said, in ancient days, the idea of being created last meant that such a being was not of lower standing but of higher standing. One need refer back only one chapter in Genesis to the idea of humanity being created on the sixth day of creation, after the animals already were created.
Furthermore, he said, rather than woman being created to help man, from a lower status, the Bible used a word that indicated the help of a woman would come from her higher status. The same Hebrew word for help is utilized in this verse that appears in Psalm 121, A Song of Ascents: "I will lift up my eyes to the mountains: from whence shall my help come."
Another male-centered misinterpretation of the Adam and Eve story deals with the verse in which God expels Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, telling Eve that her husband shall rule over her.
However, said Paul, closer reading of the biblical text indicates that only in sexual matters, not in all matters, is a woman to be responsive to her husband. Later in the Bible, he added, there is a verse in which this is reversed, the man is commanded to respond sexually to his wife.
Phrase by phrase, word by word, using knowledge of linguistics, ancient story telling, psychology and physiology, Paul dissected the Adam and Eve story, and judging by the rapt attention and the smiles of discovery on the faces of the audience, he provided many people new ways to think about one of the oldest stories. Co-sponsors of the evening along with Tifereth Israel Synagogue were Temple Emanu-El and the Agency for Jewish Education.
Some other of Paul's insights into the story: The "snake" was not the slithering reptile that artists often picture wrapped around a tree, but a metaphorical presence--the yetzer ha ra—within Eve herself. The snake imagery, rather than that of a cockatoo or another animal, was chosen, he said, because in ancient story-telling the snake served as a catalyst, a being that caused the story to move forward. As for the snake being forced to crawl on its belly at the end of the story, Paul described that as an aetiological tale, one that tries to explain things that already exist. In other cultures, he added, there are stories about why a camel has a hump or a giraffe has a long neck.
The tree of knowledge of good and evil was a biblical idiom for a tree that provided understanding of all things. Paul explained that when writers want to indicate totality they tie together opposite polarities, such as night and day, back and forth, black and white, and, in this case, good and evil.
Not a snake, but humanity, exercising free choice, was responsible for the expulsion of man and woman from a state of bliss to a state of striving. The value of the story, he added, is in the moral lesson that it teaches: that there are boundaries and restraints on free will, and it is important to wisely choose how to use God-given gifts.
If there is a bright side, suggested Paul, it is that even Paradise has its drawbacks. Too much of a good thing can get boring—perhaps like being on a cruise ship for too long. Eventually, the human being once again wants challenge.
Cruise ships, though, can bring this report to Bahrain. Paul said that analysis of the verses describing where Eden was, has led him and other scholars to conclude that the biblical author intended to describe modern-day Bahrain. The Bible mentions four rivers in Eden's environs: Pishon and Gihon, both of which are not known today, and the Tigris and the Euphrates, which flow through modern Iraq to the Persian Gulf, where Bahrain is situated.
In addition to what the Bible says, there is an ancient story of the Sumerians, which also pictures and gives clues to the location of a Paradise. Scholars of that tradition, independent on the biblical scholars, also have concluded that the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain—today one of the world's wealthy oil producers—was once that Paradise on earth, according to Paul.
During a question and answer session, in which Rabbi Martin Lawson of Temple Emanu-El, carried a microphone to members of the audience, one woman asked Paul what he meant by saying the "author" of the Adam and Eve story, when Jewish tradition teaches that the Torah was Divinely given.
Paul, with great diplomacy, said that this was once the prevailing belief in Judaism, notwithstanding the fact that nowhere in Torah does it say that God is its sole author. However, Paul added, nowadays scholars with the advantage of the sciences and other advanced learning believe that the Torah was written by humans who heard Divine echoes.
Other participants in the program were host Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal of Tifereth Israel Synagogue, and violinist Eileen Wingard, who introduced Paul. Wingard's family members have a longstanding personal friendship with the Pauls.
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Now let us give thanks for Judith, a Jewish female prototype found in the Apocrypha
By Judith Apter Klinghoffer
 CHERRY HILL, New Jersey—I know this is a bit self serving but I cannot refrain from a bit of gloating. I have just recently discovered the wonderful Book of Judith. I suggest you do the same. It constitutes atraditional reading for Hanukah. Do not get discouraged by the first 7 chapters - though today they seem most relevant – but instead skip to the 8th chapter and you will not be sorry.
Judith Apter Klinghoffer
If you have a daughter, you should certainly acquaint her with this role model. How can you not when it includes the following passage:
Then was there a concourse throughout all the camp: for her coming was noised among the tents, and they came about her, as she stood without the tent of Holofernes, till they told him of her.
And they wondered at her beauty, and admired the children of Israel because of her, and every one said to his neighbour, Who would despise this people, that have among them such women? surely it is not good that one man of them be left who being let go might deceive the whole earth.
In other words, if Jews are as successful as they seem to be according to the information bellow - the answer as always should be - Cherchez le femme!
The Heritage Institute did a study showing that of all the distinct ethnic groups in the United States , including those of English heritage, the Jewish community had the highest 'community' score of any other group.
Jews ranked...
* Number 1 in providing medical advancements that saved American's lives in the last 100 years.
* Number 1 in authorship of both biographical and fictional materials.
* Number 1 in per capita income.
* Number 1 in the creative arts
* Number 1 as educators, (grade school through college level)
* Number 1 in the legal profession
* Number 1 in the banking/investment banking business.
* Number 1 in providing the most charity/philanthropy per capita.
* Number 1 in journalist/media participation.
* Number 9 in military service. (they made the top ten, out of 20 ranked ethnic groups)* Number 10 in athletics. The Jews squeaked into the last top spot with their participation in ice skating, tennis, track and baseball. (Rod Carew was allowed)
* Number 1 in the lowest incidents of anti-social behavior.
Jews commit the least amount of violent crime of any ethnic group. (The best neighbor to have is a Jew)
America has always honored Jews and that is why Jewish representation in Congress is at an all-time high and vastly exceeds their numbers in the population.
SAN DIEGO JEWISH WORLD THE WEEK IN REVIEW
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20
Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: Rabbi at interfaith service denounces tactics of Minutemen against migrants
J. Zel Lurie in Delray Beach, Florida: Calling Israel a 'Jewish state' a misnomer
Melanie Rubin in San Diego: Another Jewish license plate: 2Nudnix
Dan Schaffer in San Diego: Look! Look! Dick and Jane’s new authors
practice a vicious brand of partisan politics
Isaac Yetiv in La Jolla, California: Three reasons for saying no to the Palestinian 'right of return' demand
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19
Peter Garas in Canberra, Australia: Jewish knowledge and information on the web: can it be indexed for researchers?
Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: TV Phenomenon personality materializes at Soille San Diego Hebrew Day fundraiser
Joe Naiman in Lakeside, California: Is Ryan Braun baseball's first Jewish rookie of the year? It depends...
Sheila Orysiek in San Diego: 'What could not sustain them but the spirit of G-D and His grace?'
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18
Shoshana Bryen in Washington, D.C.: Every veteran is Hal's best Koster-mer; JINSA backs him for citizen's award
Cynthia Citron in Los Angeles: Lessons assures that audience learns too
Rabbi Baruch Lederman in San Diego: 'Pearing' our perceptions and reality
Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal in San Diego: Notice Divine presence all around us
FRIDAY-SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16-17
Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: Beau's Geste: Student gives up bar mitzvah money so others kids can have a school
Ira Sharkansky in Jerusalem: Jewish shtetl mentality is understandable
but dangers to Jews often exaggerated
David Strom in San Diego: The saga of a Muslim woman seeking a modern life that her society would deny
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15
Shoshana Bryen in Washington D.C.: Parsing Secretary Rice's Mideast outlook
Joel and Arlene Moskowitz in La Jolla: Two centuries of U.S.-Muslim conflict dissected by author Michael B. Oren
Fred Reiss in Winchester, California: Fictional rabbi become a detective— as if her life wasn't already crazy enough
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson in Eilat, Israel: The joy of wintering on Israel's Riviera
Isaac Yetiv in La Jolla: Two myths will color Annapolis confab: "occupation" and "illegal settlements"
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14
Garry Fabian in Melbourne, Australia: Former Labor prime minister slams Liberals' pot shot about Israel .... Stark memories of Kristallnacht
Gaylene Fisch in Solana Beach, California: KLS: A rare syndrome affecting Ashkenazi families for which there is no known cure
Gerry Greber in Solana Beach, California: Baptist minister shares 35 years of Israeli memories with Women's Ort lunch group
Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: Strolling through the knotty questions of inter-religious and inter-Jewish relations
Sheila Orysiek in Costa Mesa, California: Tango's repetitive dance moves and lack of color in costuming can tire audiences
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson in Eilat, Israel: The quieter voices at Israel's playground
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SYDNEY—An online survey has sparked a heated response from the Rabbinical Council of New South Wales (RCNSW) , an organisation that represents most Orthodox rabbis in the state.