Kelal Yisrael - Building Bridges (2004)

/ Kelal Yisrael - Building Bridges (2004)

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January 28, 2004

Kelal Yisrael - Building Bridges (2004)

Jewish Unity

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Kelal Yisrael (2004)

Intro: I enjoy flattrg intros – bt not go t my head bec recall Y.U.CAF cashier: "so you're a nobody". Theme = Klal Yisrael ~ Unity – but industrl sz YAWN. * Rarely were wee unitd; 2nd Tmple – 20 odd sects. Tod – prob same/more attempts A-J to coordnt – usually cm t grief: R. Jac Jos; Syn C.Am. Isr Unity: t Genie – one wish – bridge Hawaii – Isr politics. Politics of Isr no more arcane/disheartnng than sociology A -Js... *Bt< discuss hw attain U, 1st Q: Is it good thng, highst on A-J agenda? Well if by U~all cm t same view – I not sure I in favor J-U!

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The Global Jewish Community: One Family Indivisible (2005)

This essay will focus on the theme of "Global Jewish Community – One Nation Indivisible," or to use a shorter and more pregnant term, hallowed by centuries of usage and resonant with both sacred and national sentiment: Klal Yisrael – the indivisible global community of the Jewish people. Before such pious sentiments have a chance to act as sedatives and put you to sleep, dimly expecting the usual sermonic bromides about Jewish unity that are the clichés of our communal discourse, let me assure you that I will not dwell upon them. They are true, of course – the Talmud's teaching of Kol Yisrael arevim zeh ba-zeh, that all Jews are responsible for each other; that we must learn the lessons of the Holocaust; and that the State of Israel needs us as its only friends. They are true, but I shall not elaborate on them. Let me ask you to bear in mind that what we take for granted does not necessarily enjoy universal acceptance amongst the Jewish people. We may advocate Jewish unity passionately, but it has not reached the level of a general consensus – far from it. A scene just forty-eight years ago, aboard a BMT train in Brooklyn: Poland had been invaded by Hitler in September of 1939. Five months earlier, a twelve-year-old youngster is shouting above the din and the rattle of the train, appealing for funds for Vaad Hatzalah to save Polish Jews. He approaches a middle-aged, obviously Jewish man who snarls at him and says, “I don't care about Polish Jews. I’m a Belgian Jew.” I was a youngster, and I shall never forget that rebuff – not because my request for funds had been turned down (I have since grown accustomed to that) – but because what I passionately believed in as a self-evident truth was cruelly shattered before my very eyes.The memory of that stupid man’s statement will always be an execration that I will never forget. It gave me no joy when three months later Hitler invaded Belgium. Hence, I have never thought of the concept of Klal Yisrael as something that is s…

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שלום בית - ברשות היחיד וברשות הרבים (1998)

Will divide talk into 2 parts: שלום בית in the home (רה"י) and in the community (רה"ר): A) Sources and definitions of שלום בית. 1. מס' שבת דף כג ע"ב – אמר רבא, פשיטא לי: נר ביתו ונר חנוכה – נר ביתו עדיף, משום שלום ביתו. נר ביתו וקידוש היום – נר ביתו עדיף, משום שלום ביתו. 2. מס' שבת דף כה ע"ב – (איכה ג') ותזנח משלום נפשי נשיתי טובה. מאי ותזנח משלום נפשי? – אמר רבי אבהו: זו הדלקת נר בשבת. 3. [נימוק אנטי-פמיניסטי] בראשית רבה (וילנא) פרשה יז ד"ה ח – שאלו את רבי יהושע... (רשימת תשובות לשאלות)