Jerry Falwell on the spiritual state of the union:

Has America crossed the line of no return?
Some believe so. But I continue to claim II Chronicles 7:14: 'If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.'
Let us pray and work together to see an unparalleled revival in this great nation. This is the only hope for America.

Naomi Chana watches television. Hilarity ensues:

I had flipped past it before the sentence registered, and at first, I thought I was having mezuzah-related auditory hallucinations, which is about the most boring religious mania I can think of offhand. But I flipped back, and sure enough, there was the Scary Protestant Channel in all its glory, with the usual Distinguished White Guy sitting there demonstrating... yes, a mezuzah. Or, as he put it, a "me-zu-ZAH." In the minute or so before the commercial break, I managed to deduce that (a) either the Scary Protestant Channel or just the Distinguished White Guy's "ministry" was having some kind of fundraiser or pledge drive**, and (b) the me-zu-ZAH (with mass-produced scroll) was a Free Gift With Donation. The whole exercise was laden with references to returning the Jews to the "kingdom of Israel" and, of course, sponsoring the monarchical candidacy of one J.C. (Funny, I thought he'd turned down that job. Of course, if they're able to get people into the kingdom of Israel, I want to buy their time machine, not a fake mezuzah. I've always wanted to know more about the eighth century B.C.E.)
Now, see, I've always thought it was only polite not to play with other peoples' religious doohickeys in public -- that's the only reason I don't have a statue of the Virgin Mary in my backyard wearing a tasteful little tallit and kippah. (After all, the apocryphal literature suggests that she was a woman ahead of her time; I just choose to extend the metaphor.) But I can't quite manage to be offended -- well, not much; the political implications disturb me, of course -- because this is just so fascinatingly weird. I almost regret that I've never gotten to watch a Scary Jewish Channel -- I'm sure they must have one or two in the state of Israel -- just to see what they hand out as pledge-drive gifts. (At a guess: not crucifixes.) And I really do regret, deeply and profoundly, that I am unable to entirely rid my brain of the disturbing mental image of Jerry Falwell wearing tefillin. Urgh. But. Still. Ain't American religion grand? Especially on TV.

"EU recognizes Hamas as terror organization" (Thanks, Yuter).

The decision, which both Israel and the US intensively lobbied for, was made at a meeting of the 15 European foreign ministers in Riva Del Garda, Italy. The EU previously had blacklisted only the group's military arm, Izzadin Kassam. But it agreed Saturday to block funding to Hamas political offshoots, fund-raising charities and social welfare groups.
[...]
Officials at the EU head office will meet Monday to discuss details of the blacklisting. Israeli diplomatic officials said one question that needs to be addressed is whether the decision represents blanket EU policy which each of the 15 EU states has to follow, or whether each state will have room to determine policy on this issue on its own.
[...]
Dominque de Villepin, the foreign minister of France, which has long opposed a tougher stance on Hamas, already said that enforcement of an assets freeze or a ban on suspected Hamas offshoots would be a "voluntary" decision for individual EU countries.
De Villepin said that French investigators, investigating the Paris-based Committee for Charity - one of the five European-based organizations that had its assets frozen by Washington in August - found nothing wrong with the group's work.
But despite earlier French objections to outlawing Hamas, de Villepin told reporters that "a consensus emerged to decide on putting Hamas on the list of terrorist organizations."
Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said a group of intelligence services from member countries would on Monday start examining Hamas and then make recommendations about how to blacklist the organization, according to media reports from the EU meeting. "There is complete political agreement...but it is not for us (ministers) to put it on the list," he told reporters. "That is the so-called clearing house, a group of experts, which examine if a group of people should be on the list. It is their decision," he added.
"There was complete agreement that, given the outrage perpetrated by Hamas...on the 19th of August and which killed so many innocent people and for which there was no conceivable justification, we've taken a political decision to freeze the assets of Hamas and other actions," British Foreign Minister Jack Straw said.
The EU is expected to formalize the decision later in the month at another meeting of the EU's foreign ministers.
Senior Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi responded by saying the EU's decision reflected its "crusader mentality and fits in perfectly with the Zionist and American mentality."
"The crusaders gave birth to Israel and they will pay the price for their decision," added Rantisi.
The Hamas leader also called on Muslims to boycott European goods.

Making of a Godol eBay auction, now with 3 days and 11 hours left, still has 0 bids.

Apparently, Eichman's son is a respected archeologist, who is currently doubting the historicity of the Queen of Sheba (washingtonpost.com). Who knew?

Parsha Senryu -- Parshas Ki Seitzei

If a bonnie meet
A bonnie passing in war...
Shave her, then wed. (21:10-14)
(SIW)

First fruit gets the stuff.
No exceptions, not even if
His mother's unloved. (21: 15-17)
(SIW)

The defiant son.
Origin of Jewish guilt:
Death for your chutzpah. (21:18-21)
(SIW)

Cross-dressing's no good.
It's an abomination.
Evidence: RuPaul. (22:5)
(SIW)

Flog the defamer!
Don't mess with Jewish virgins --
The Elders have their backs. (22:13-18)
(SIW)

Non-virgins get stoned.
Not in the back of a van,
As they would today. (22:20-21)
(SIW)

Not into the kink.
This parsha doesn't like sex,
Many people die. (22)
(SIW)

Oedypus alert.
Don't marry your father's ex.
Umm...who would do that? (23:1)
(SIW)

Holy camping laws:
"Dig a hole when you shite here."
God, Jews' Park Ranger. (23:14)
(SIW)

Don't grab a man's crotch.
You will get your hand cut off.
Protect by all means. (25:11)
(SIW)

Recall Amalek,
And all that they did to you.
Struck you from the rear. (25:17-19)
(SIW)

Write your own Parsha Senryu! Send in yours on Parshas Ki Savo by Thursday.
Parsha Senryu are also posted at Mimaamakim.
To receive Parsha Senryu by e-mail, send a blank message to parsha-senryu-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

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Harry seems to be back to blogging regularly.

EphShap finds a copy of Making of a Godol for sale on EBay. The starting bid is $350.00, and as of the time of this post, there are no takers. With 5 days, 10 hours left, we'll see what comes of this. It's probably not good for the owner that his Feedback rating is a goose egg.
I still can't believe that no one's run off 100 copies of this thing and sold 'em a pair a week.

The Shir haShirim Challenge

According to silly girl lore, reciting Shir ha'Shirim once a day for forty days is a magical panacea for finding your bashert be'korev. With that in mind, I am going to bli neder recite Shir ha'Shirim daily for the prescribed forty days, commencing later today (Ches Elul), and track my progress towards kallah-land in this blog.

Dei'ah veDibur op-ed about introspection as the High Holy Days roll in:

We are now in the middle of Elul, the season of teshuvoh. We must certainly check our own ways and repent. But with an eye to the breakdown in so many areas of traditional morality that pervades the societies around us, it is of vital importance that we inspect ourselves and insulate ourselves and our families to ensure that -- Rachmono litzlan -- this general moral deterioration does not have effects, chas vesholom, on our lives as lived according to the Torah.

US government is sinking deep into debt while embracing major spending programs and cutting taxes at the same time. Meanwhile it is working, but at some point things will break down. State governments are relying on gimmicks and tricks to avoid facing the reality. In California, when the governor presented a rational program of expense cuts and tax raises, he was threatened with being turned out of office. This shows an utter flight from responsibility.

I'm pretty sure I don't get it.

In a story about a councilman protesting an all-Korean storefront sign in Queens, there are some odd defenses of the store. The councilman is invoking an old law that seems to require some English on signs, and civil liberties types are up in arms. As an appetizer, we have this:

"Such a requirement, from a civil liberties perspective, is not kosher," said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "The government cannot compel or prohibit speech based on its content - or form."

Jeffrey Fogel, legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights, said he can't understand why anyone is upset by the sign.
"A lot of people in Flushing are going to die at an early age as a result of having to look in characters in Korean?" he asked sarcastically. "This country was built on immigrants, many of whom, on the lower East Side, only had Yiddish on their signs."

There's something symbolic about moving on your birthday. Anyway, I'm just taking a short break to grab a glance at the Jewish Press Letters Section. Some good entries this week. Sam Rieger exposes the Bloomberg Israel visit (all 8 hours of it) for the PR stunt it was. The Token Frum Christian (tm) writes in support of the 10 Commandments and to reiterate his support for Israel, despite the Jewishness of the ACLU. (Dr.) Yaakov Stern weighs in on Shmuley Boteach and Dr. Laura, and, ki-darko ha-qodesh, comes out against contemporary Orthodoxy. All great reading.
The Stupid Letter Of the Week is the latest response to the response to the response (...) to the "Saying Good Shabbas In Brooklyn" Issue. When we last left our heroes, Rachel Weiss had again strongly come out against saying "Good Shabbas" to people, despite Rabbi Moshe Feinstein's example to the contrary, for fear that the resulting slipperly slope would lead to some strange woman greeting Her Husband with a "Good Shabbas", damaging both their souls beyond any possible estimation. This, by Yisroel Friedman of Rochester, NY, was this week's best response.

In reading the recent letters to the editor regarding the lack of friendliness displayed by those who do not greet everyone they see on the street with a hearty “Good Shabbos,” I came to the following conclusion.
We all know the principle of dan l`kaf zechus, judging everyone favorably, giving the benefit of the doubt. Rav Yitzchok Hutner, zt”l, explained that his means that instead of finding faults in others, we should find excuses for their behavior. We should seek positive explanations for their actions. In this particular instance, it is fairly easy. The neighborhood in question has one of the largest concentrations of religious Jews in the world. It is highly impractical (and monotonous) to say “Good Shabbos” to everyone one passes on the street.
If that explanation is not acceptable, then consider that Chazal also say 'Kol ha`posel, pasul.' In simple terms this means that one who finds a defect in another possesses the same fault, which is why s/he was able to identify the fault and dwell on it to such an extent.
So, if you still are finding 'trouble in the ‘hood,' you might want to take a moment, lift up your own “hood” and take a serious look!

Not what I needed to see today:

Thousands of haredim turned out Monday night in a continuing protest against Egged's launch of a mehadrin (strictly kosher) bus line, in which men sit at the front and women at the back, running between haredi neighborhoods in Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem.
Although the demonstration was legal, it turned violent, with two policeman hurt by rocks, and one demonstrator arrested, according to a police spokeswoman.
The protesters are demanding that Egged withdraw its new segregated service so as not to harm the business of the private bus company already providing that service.

Interesting piece on Sightings as the School Year kicks into gear:

Not many years ago, many of us pointed to nearly zero coverage of the little bit of religion news that was occurring. Now the question has to do with readership. Who will interpret these sacred happenings, and how will anyone put to work any knowledge gained of them? Now there are more happenings and printed reports and events than ever before, but is a college-bred population ready to do some discerning?
Undergraduate curricula can help Americans prepare to deal with news of economics, business, entertainment, athletics, military action, and other news. Will school administrators and custodians of collegiate assets and curricula design more courses, attract faculty, and nudge students to learn more about the lethal and health-giving world of religion?

A reader writes in regarding Rabbi Forsyth:

FYI - regarding Rabbi Forsyth - this is a guy in his 40's who is never been married and is an "expert" or marital and other relationships??????
Truthfully, on the "older" singles scene he is considered a nebbishy joke unless you are Hareidi, then if you have the title rabbi in front of your name, you are an "expert" on what ever you talk about!!! :)

Whew. And I thought they said "March 21, 2004..."

Guess I get to graduate med school after all...

Ironically, I think I have an exam that day (the earlier one)....oh nuts.

In the WOO HOO!!!! Department:

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has stopped 111 state-sanctioned murders from occurring. (How's that for partisan rhetoric? Wow, this IS fun!)

My personal favorite fact in the decision, though, was this one:

"Meanwhile, the case that led to the appeals court ruling was described in the decision as "the raw material from which legal fiction is forged."

According to the ruling, that "raw material" included:

• The judge imposing the death sentence while allegedly under the influence of marijuana. The judge was later disbarred. "


I forgot what we were doing, Kremit.

Ask the Elders, Vol. I
We've already received our first question in our Ask the Elders series.

Dear Elders,
I've been dating my boyfriend for about three months now. Sometimes, I feel as though he only values me for my intellect. I mean, he always asks about my latest chops in Stern Kollel shiur and loves editing my Revel papers for me, but when’s the last time he noticed the effort I put into coordinating my Chanel lipstick with my manicure? Or how shiny and black my boots are? I mean, what is it that makes RIETS guys more excited by learning that looks?
-- Gemara Glamor-Rama

It was only a matter of time...:

Following in the footsteps of Madonna, Roseanne Barr and his ex-girlfriend Briittany Murphy, Just Married star Kutcher has started to show great interest in the mystical offshoot of Judaism.
Kutcher and Moore were spotted shopping at the Hollywood Kabbalah Center on August 20th, where they emerged with a $78 Kabbalah poster.

James Davila promises to keep blogging away, even as he finishes his book. I'd just like to say that I'm going to try to keep blogging, even as I spend the year in the kollel. I would also like to point out that Davila has less of an excuse for a drop-off than I do, seeing as though he probably has constant access to the internet from whatever library/office he's operating out of, while the YU beit midrash does not yet have any sort of ethernet hookup.

Reader Meredith has apparently been poring over "Questions to Rabbi Forsyth" and came up with this gem of an exchange:

Question: I have been with a girl for a year now. It's a long-distance relationship, but i manage to see her often enough as to make her happy. We are not shomer negiah. We feel we are not strong enough, but we love each other deeply. I am a 19 year old male, and she is a 17 year old female. We've discussed marriage, and we both agree that we want to spend the rest of our lives together. The thing is, she is too young, i am studying medicine at university, and she has only begun her undergraduate's degree. When is a good time to propose, since we don't have jobs, and make no earnings? and also, will we be able to have a successful marriage, even though we aren't shomer negiah (we are not having sex, but we do almost everything else). I know this is a very disgraceful thing, and is strictly prohibited by the Torah, will our marriage be ruined because of this?
Thank-you in advance for your time rabbi.

A: BS"D
It seems you are both too unready and that marriage is very impractical. Because you are not shomer negia, it is probable that you will not have enough respect for each other to have peace. There is a direct correlation between keeping negia before marriage and respect after marriage, and there is a direct correlation between respect and peace in marriage. Therefore, logically, it is expectable that you will respect your desires more than each other and peace will not last. It will break down sooner or later, after the "honeymoon feeling" wears off or when a child comes and forces you to accept more responsibility than you are ready for. You have no income so you will have no means to live. You are both too immature. The smartest thing is to each go your separate ways. Mature and grow independent. Learn a gainful profession. Strengthen yourself in Torah, character and spirituality. If later when you each are ready, you can re-open the door and try growing serious when you both can handle commitment in an adult relationship.

Best wishes,
Rabbi Forsythe

Tamara thinks we have a problem with deifying Nicole Kidman:

When I was in the supermarket recently I was stopped dead in my tracks by the September cover of Vogue magazine. There was a luminous Nicole Kidman, resplendent in a formal gown, rising from a frothy, billowy fabric sea like a cinematic Aphrodite. The caption appropriately read "On Life as an Icon."
I mused to myself that whereas the Israelites had their golden calf, we have Vogue magazine.

Gimlet Eyes is back to blogging and is now an uncle to 15.

OnlySimchas: "Birth of 8th baby girl to Meilech Schwartz no boys, yet :( "
I think that's pretty disgusting, and it should be obvious why.
(Thanks, Meredith)

The Baltimore Sun asks "Is the Bible history or fiction?" and answers with a definite "yes".

Um...yeah

"Released in July, Revolve is the latest teen Bible published by Transit, the teen arm of Thomas Nelson Bibles, the largest Bible publishing company in the world. Nashville-based Nelson released "The Extreme Teen Bible" in 1999. It sold over 12 million copies in three years and spawned copycats from other Bible publishers." (NYPost)

Occam:

I think the pursuit of Osama bin Laden, and our stated aim to take him dead or alive, should be rethought. He is, after all, the leader of the political wing of Al Qaeda's and killing him would undoubtedly just inflame "the region."
If the same media who cover Israel were to cover America's War on Terror- we would be assured That Al Qaeda's "Militant" wing had exactly 19 members.

Reader Duvie writes in response to Sam:

I found Sam's hymn to Avraham Burg an ugly little screed.
Let alone his bile for those gnomish, shrill, little, American Jews (from Teaneck and the Five Towns no less!) who support the right of Jews to live in Judea and Samaria.
It is his use of the disgusting Judeo-Nazi slur–even with the self-protecting distance of a "deep-down" "feeling" of "nausea" at the "thought" of a "Leibowitz" "nightmare"--which is contemptible, whether it be rooted in ignorance of history and current events, moral indiscrimination, extreme carelessness with words, or the tedioud irony lite that slaps the Nazi suffix on anything disagreeable.
Also, and unrelated, 1) it takes no less or more courage, I think all would agree, to write about Israeli politics from Teaneck than it does from say, Einstein (and for that matter the opposition bench of the Knesset.)
2) Avraham Burg isn't Emile Zola--he isn't even Ben Gurion–so I wish Sam wouldn't make it sound like the appearance of his byline in Yediot is such a capital event.

NYT endorses Ydanis Rodriguez in Washington Heights City Council Race:

10th District (Washington Heights, Inwood): Miguel Martinez, the first-term incumbent, is a likable, low-key politician. But a district with desperate problems like a lack of affordable housing and severely overcrowded classrooms would benefit from an infusion of independent ideas and energy. Ydanis Rodriguez, a teacher and grass-roots organizer who has worked with immigrant children and created a local college preparatory program, has demonstrated a special kind of vitality in pressing for better services for the community. Recently, when the subway stop at 191st Street was closed for repairs through the end of the year, Mr. Rodriguez led a successful effort to get shuttle service for residents. We endorse Ydanis Rodriguez.

This site, rishonim.com, is being adverstised by a flier outside the YU Beit Midrash. More comments after I check out their sample, but more Torah on the web can't be a bad thing, right?

Agent Emes will protect your shofars from fish-head-wielding anti-Semites. Or something like that. Thanks to Reader Meredith for this peek at life for those wacky, wacky Yids.
The homepage announces it thusly:

Award-winning filmmaker, Leibel Cohen, is set to release the first of an exciting, mystery-adventure video series. At long last, a video Jewish parents can get for their middle-schoolers that won't have them asking "but is it appropriate?"

Stevie-
I don't know who you are , or what your beef is, but as creator of "Agent Emes", I can most definitely assure you that you have read a lot more into it than what is there. Have a nice life.
Leib Cohen

Morah Beila: Okay, class, tell me who the hero of the story is?
Kid: Agent Emes!
MB: Very good. Now who is he trying to save?
Kid: The Jews!
MB: From whom?
Kid: From the diabolical Dr. Lo-Tov!
MB: And what does Dr. Lo-Tov intend to do?
Kid: Damage the shofars so that we can't ask god for forgiveness as Jews on Rosh Hashana.
MB: And why would Dr. Lo-Tov want to do that?
Kid: Because the Jews are too good and they foil his evil plans.

To which I respond:
1. Anti-semites DO, in fact, exist.

2. How do you know Dr. Lo-Tov is a gentile?

3. Please tell me where I can find some of these videos (or stories) of “mythically great and powerful Jewish people”. I'd like to show them to my kids. Anything to offset the negative stereotypes they are used to seeing in the media.

All that said, I do commend you on your remarkable insight, which goes to far as to break down the entire AE story based on a 2-minute trailer, to the extent that you are able to divine classroom discussions that haven't occurred yet.

You might find some consolation in knowing that the original script of the story DID call for a cat to play Agent-Emes and a tube of toothpaste to play Dr. Lo-Tov. Unfortunately, all the talking cats in Pittsburgh were in other shows, and I didn’t have the budget to animate the toothpaste tube. If “Agent Emes” sells – which I expect it to – I may be able to rectify this in future episodes.

By the way, I am sorry to have perturbed you. Should I cancel the series?

I just got my TV hooked-up to the cable for reception, and am surprised to find that I'm getting the Food Network, which I'll be watching pretty close to all day long. Right now, Food 911 is playing, and the host is helping to teach an Israeli-American young woman named Karen to make falafel like she made at home.

Host: So do you cook a lot?
Karen: Yeah, I try to!

Southern Baptists take on Egalitarianism:

America's largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), for example, now insists the Bible prescribes male pastoral leadership in church and the 'gracious submission' of wives to their husbands. As a result:
• Teachers at their seminaries and missionaries around the world who refuse to sign a statement in agreement are being fired or forced to resign their posts.

There is neither Jew or Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus

some Christians working in Eastern Europe have found that promoting female subordination undermines their evangelism. After years of communist egalitarianism, people aren't very receptive.

The book’s first essay, also entitled “Equality Lost,” seems to promise by virtue of its title that it will articulate a vision of an ideal halakhic and religious system where women and men are deemed equals. This promise, however, is only partly fulfilled. R. Henkin’s vision of ideal Judaism affords women equal respect and dignity but at the same time affirms role differentiation and hierarchy of status. What we have lost is not gender equality of roles and status, but rather due regard for women’s equal intelligence, potential, and dignity

One searching for a fundamental value of equality would be naturally drawn to the first chapter of Genesis, where man and woman are created simultaneously and equally be-tselem Elohim, in the image of God, and are equally blessed and commanded by their Creator. The divisions of role and status that are found in the Torah occur only later: between man and woman, in Genesis 2, where Eve is created from Adam and for the purpose of helping and completing him; and between Jew and non-Jew, in the Noah-Abraham-Exodus narratives. These divisions can be understood, in this paradigm, as a true “lost equality,” a necessary compromise between the ideal and the real, between human beings’ ontological equality and the realities of society. This vision would see the mitsvot in which these hierarchical distinctions are embedded as necessary compromises with specific socio-historical realities, as Rambam argued in the case of sacrifices and as we implicitly assume in the case of slavery. The goal, according to this vision, would be to work within the halakhic system to restore the real – society and halakhah - to the ideal to the greatest extent possible.

Aidel Maidel finds that honesty is the best policy.

3 p.m. -- Councilmember Larry Seabrook rallies in support of Lyudmia Tesher, an orthodox Jewish woman who claims her franchise agreements with Sunoco were terminated for discriminatory reasons; Barstow Avenue and Coop City Boulevard, Bronx.

Noon -- Mass marking 64th anniversary of Hitler's invasion of Poland; St. Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr Church, 101 E. 7th St.