More on the Drew/Israel situation

See the previous post for more on this story as well as links to my previous posts about this.

Lara Portnoy, student member of the committee tasked with re-inventing the rule preventing [EDIT: Name removed as requested] from studying in Israel, a Yid herself and President of MESA (Middle-Eastern Student Association), has sent me a link to the JPost article I wrote about in the previous post. You can read it here.

I’d like to take this time to respond to a couple of comments that were left on the previous post. First, I’d like to respond to Richard Silverstein, proprietor of the excellent Israeli and American Jewish news blog, Tikun Olam.

Richard wondered if this is an issue of Drew simply refusing to endorse a decision to study in Israel or a refusal to accept credits from Israeli universities. I imagine that if a student transferred to Drew from an Israeli school, they would have no problem with their credits transferring. However, Drew sees accepting credits from an Israeli university, which a Drewid studied at while enrolled at Drew as equal to an endorsement of what our insurance company believes is reckless self-endangerment.

An individual called “lori,” who left no link nor email address with her comment, also visited the previous post and left a comment. Lori may have found her way here via Google search. I have had many visitors to the blog in the last couple of days via Google searches along the lines of “[EDIT: Name removed, as requested] + Israel” and “Israel + Drew University.” Regardless of how she found her way here, she said:

“This isn’t a circus. It’s wrong for Drew not to accept credits from Israel’s universities. The insurance excuse is bull – there are plenty of policies that cover study abroad in Israel. Drew needs to step up here or risk its standing not just with the Jewish community. Israel’s universities have led the way in tech and biomedical research and have Nobel nominees. Look what happened to British academia when they tried to play politics with Israel. Shame on Drew for not trying harder.”

If lori had examined my previous posts on this story, as the post she commented on suggested that readers do, she might not have made this comment. I’ve already addressed most of these issues in previous posts.

Lori says that “the insurance excuse is bull.” That confuses me. Apparently, many other small liberal arts colleges have the exact same bull insurance excuses. No one is arguing with the lori’s comment that, “Israel’s universities have led the way in tech and biomedical research and have Nobel nominees.” That is all true. That is also not the issue.

What angers me about lori’s comment is her attempt to equate this with British academia’s recent boycott of Israel. This is an analogy that simply does not hold up. In the case of the British academics, this was a concerted effort to make a statement about Israel. There were members of the British academic community saying flat out that they were opposed to Israel and Israel’s actions. In the case of Drew, this is really and truly an issue of insurance. No one here has said anything about Israel doing anything wrong.

The impending media circus?

I have reported on this situation previously here and here.

To summarize, because of a State Department travel advisory, Drew University is not allowing students to go to Israel at this time, though apparently we have allowed it in the past. There has always been a policy in place keeping students from attending study abroad program in countries that appear on any sort of State Department watch list. People have been allowed to go to Israel in the past due to inconsistent application of the policy as recently as this summer. With a new study aboard coordinator, a more consistent application of this policy has arrived. I am not happy about, but I understand the University’s position with regards to insurance. Apparently, policies like this are quite normal at schools our size all over the country.

This entire issue center’s around a particular Drew student who is planning on going to Tel Aviv University next semester, which is looking increasingly unlikely, which is making this student increasingly unreasonable.

What follows was added to this post on November 28, after the student this issue revolves around contacted me, asking for me to remove his name from my blog. Previously, this post had contained a number of specific references to things that the individual said to me. He told me after the fact that those things were said in confidence. Though that was not made clear to me at the time, I have decided to honor his wishes and drastically truncate this post.

That is not to say, however, that I am in any way happier about this issue than I was when I first posted this. I still find the transformation of this issue, which is about consistent application of a silly rule (which is now in the process of being revised), into an issue about anti-Israel statements.

My partner in tzitzit

At dinner tonight I ran into a guy I’ll call MC. He is an active member of Hillel and of Campus Republicans. The following is verbatim, I swear to God.

Me: Hey, MC! I didn’t know you were wearing tzitzit now!
MC: What? Oh. Yeah. I started like a week or two ago.
Me: Cool.
MC: I’m wearing a kipah now, too!
Me: I don’t care. Why did you start wearing fringes?
MC: Chabad.
Me: Holy shit.

I then walked away.

Incensed

Coming soon I’ll be blogging more about liturgy. Maybe there will be a couple of posts later this week or early next week on the topic. For now, you’ll have to with this.

Childish though it may be, one of the things I really looked forward to during high school were those frequent occasions when something incensed me. This would necessitate a quickened heart rate, visits to school administrators and more than a few general rants. If you know me, you know I love to hear myself give a good diatribe. Here at Drew University, I’m finally given reason for one of these. From Jeremy Dery, one of the co-Presidents of Hillel I received this evening the following email:

Some important events have just occurred regarding Drew University and Israel. Drew is now planning on removing all Israeli universities from the approved study abroad list. This is due to a US State Department warning against travel to Gaza and the West Bank. The issue that specifically addresses Israel states that the State Department simply “urges U.S. citizens to remain mindful of security factors when considering travel to Israel and Jerusalem at this time”.

I have written to President Weisbuch in regard to this issue, and have asked to meet with him. I feel that there are other methods to pursue instead of completely removing Israel. This action has clear and negative ramifications for the Jewish Studies Department and Jewish life in general here at Drew. Hopefully Drew will consider alternative actions instead of this bold move. I will keep you all updated on what happens.

Needless to say, my head just about popped off while reading this. This, by the way, comes after Jeremy has already been approved for next semester in Tel Aviv. They may even revoke the approved status of his trip.

Excuse me while I go yell a lot.

Day-Dayeinu! Day-Dayeinu! Day-Dayeinu! Dayeinu Dayeinu! Dayeinu! (v’gomer…)

This week, I wrote a mediocre paper, had an incredible misadventure at the bank, stressed out about various things and bought a printer that didn’t come with the USB cable is requires to be used properly. It was not the best of weeks. That being said, I am pleased to announce that I am having one the best Shabatot I can remember.

I led services for Hillel last night for the first time. Not only did I lead, but I was privileged to lead from the new service that I created for Hillel. Everyone seemed to like it. One fellow freshman, Matt, had never used a sidur with transliterations. He found for the first time that he was able to say the Hebrew along with his fellow pray-ers. That alone would have been enough to brighten my week. Dayeinu.

Also present at services were two members of and the Rabbi of Madison NJ’s only congregation, Chavurat Lamdeinu. They were lending us their Torah so that we could have a bit of Torah reading for Simchat Torah. The Rabbi rather liked my service as well and told me so. It would have been enough. Dayeinu.

So inspired by the presence of the chaverim from Chavurat Lamdeinu was I, that I decided to trek into town this morning to the Madison Masonic Lodge, home of CL. I arrived just in time for Torah study and stuck around for services. The crowd is mostly older, but their prayer style is loud, egalitarian, heavy in Hebrew and thoroughly fulfilling. They pray at the top of their lungs in a way I have found uncommon outside of Orthodoxy and NFTY. They use a sidur called Sidur Eit Ratzon, a creation of the chavurah movment. I liked it well enough and have decided to purchase my own copy. It has problems enough though and I still prefer my own creation, Sidur Eilu D’vareinu. More is to come about Sidur Eit Ratzon on this blog after I buy a copy. I was offered rides by several people and eventually accepted a ride from Henry, a co-founder of CL who was going in the opposite direction of Drew, which was perfect because I needed to go that way to buy a USB cable for my new printer. Dayeinu.

Henry, who is emblematic of the cogent way in which seemingly all members of CL are able to discuss liturgy (a rare community, indeed), dropped me off across the street from Staples, where I intended to by the USB cable. Lo, and behold! There was a Burger King across the street from the Staples. For those of you not in the know, Burger King is the only place in the world where Icees are served and one of the flavors of Icee is always Coke. Truly, the Coke Icee is the Messiah of Shabat Cokes. So, on my way to Staples I picked up a Coke Icee. Dayeinu.

The salesperson I encountered at Staples knew exactly which cable I needed and directed me to it quickly. There was 100% recycled paper available, which I picked up a package of. Dayeinu.

The whole morning was topped off by lunch at a diner. Hot corned beef on rye with a slice of swiss chesse. It was more than enough.

So Shabat Shalom and I hope everyone has a Shabat as fantastic as mine!

“A replacement to Artscroll monopoly”?

I don’t want to name names, but someone involved in my newly-created Erev Shabat service for Hillel who has also taken a look at my personal sidur, Sidur Elu D’vareinu, said the following:

“I had a chance to look through both your Hillel Siddur and your own personal one. You have done a masterful job at both. Who knows, over time, your siddur might become the Rinat Yisrael pocket size for the Liberal Community. The Jewish world is in definite need of a replacement to Artscroll monopoly.”

I am stressed out to all hell this week so the email was much appreciated. The Hillel service will premiere this Friday at our parents weekend/Simchat Torah celebration.

Why “Life to All” is Meaningless

Bear with me through the first paragraph. There is meat after that, I promise.

As previously noted, I was asked about a week ago to create a new packet for use on Friday evenings by my Hillel. A week or so later, earlier this morning, I finished. The speed with which I finished it shocked Hillel’s co-Presidents, liturgy committee, and advisor. It shocked me too, even. It took no time at all to get the Hebrew together. The contents of Kabalat Shabat had been pre-decided (rather arbitrarily, in my opinion) by one of our co-Presidents, the Moroccan, an asshole with far less liturgical knowledge than he pretends. The rest basically follows the text of my forthcoming sidur, Sidur Elu D’vareinu, with one exception. In the interests of inclusivity, I have put in the choice to say either “m’chayeh metim” or “mevi sh’lemut” during G’vurot. Upon delivering this first draft of the service to Hillel for review, I was appointed Head of Alumni Relations, whatever the hell that means.

As for this “mevi sh’lemut” business, I am quite excited to have people actually davening with these words. I shall explain. Traditionally, G’vurot, a prayer about God’s powers, refers to God’s power to resurrect the dead. This bothers me and it bothered our Reform liturgical forebears. Their genius solution was to replace “m’chayeh metim” with “m’chayeh hakol.” This says that rather than God giving life to the dead, God gives life to everything. In principle, I have no problem with the idea of God as a source of life, but this replacement of one things with its most literal opposite has rendered a meaningless phrase.

When we say “m’chayeh metim,” what we are saying is condensed version of saying, “God, when you bring the personal Messiah, son of David, you will raise the dead.” Let us now make to replacements in that statement to render a parallel, Reform version. We will replace “the personal Messiah, son of David” with “the Messianic Age” and “raise the dead” with our new Reform idead “give life to all.” What we are now saying when we pray G’vurot is, “God, when you bring the Messianic Age, you will give life to all.” Gosh. I think that I already believe that God gives life to all and that God’s status as a life-giver will not change because of the arrival of the Messianic Age.

Believing that this new phrase, “m’chayeh hakol,” does not actually say anything of consequence, nor truly address my beliefs about the Messianic Age, I sought a new phrase. A third option, if you will. While discussing this issue one day with a good friend, Matti Barzilai, who deserves true credit for this innovation, I expressed frustration that I could not think of what this third option might say. Matti asked me what I believe about the Messianic Age. I began to outline is to her as a time of complete peace, which all humans will one day work toward in cooperation. The features of peace, completeness, and wholeness came to the forefront as I elaborated. Matti suggested “mevi sh’lemut” as an option. After a few days though, I typed it into G’vurot as my new replacement for “m’chayeh metim.”

Let us test it out. “God, when you bring the Messianic Age, you will bring wholeness, peace.” Yes. That I believe.

Sidur Hillel Shel Drew

As I have often noted, I edited a sidur this summer called Sidur Eilu D’vareinu. It is currently in the copyediting and formatting process. Readers of this blog will be amongst the first to know when it is complete. This is not fact that I keep quiet, to say the least. I am quite proud of my sidur and I often tell people about it.

Not long after meeting the Austinite and the American, names I shall use for two Hillel board members here at Drew, I told them about my sidur. They thought that it was interesting, but did not say much of it. Fast-forward a week or so all the way to yesterday. I walked out of my Intro to Islam class and into a courtyard, whereupon I was accosted by the Austinite and the American. They said, “We want you sidur.” I said, “No, you don’t.” “Yes we do,” they insisted. “You’ve seen that thing that we use at Hillel. It’s awful.” They are referring, by the way, to the photocopied packets of pages from Big Blue that we daven from at Hillel services. “Agreed,” I told them. “I don’t like it much either, but my sidur is not your solution.” I carry it around in my bag so I took it out to show them why they do not want it. “Oh,” said the American. “It’s all in Hebrew,” said the Austinite. “Right,” I said.

The way this conversation ended was with me agreeing to create a service for Hillel. I say a service, not a sidur, because all that Hillel does around here is Friday night. This service will include Hebrew, English translation, and transliteration. This whole thing is a giant can of worms.

The problem here is a problem of power. This project gives me a lot of power over what people say. As far as I can tell, the liturgy committee, my overseers in this endeavor, only care about what is in Kabalat Shabat and what selection of closing songs get included. That works out well because those are two things I could not care less about. This leaves me free to do whatever I want with the Shma section, the Amidah, and the Aleinu. I can assume that most of the people whom this sidur is being made for have no idea what they are saying. If I keep the small changes I made in my sidur to satisfy my theology in this service, I have great control over what other people say when they pray. That kind of scares me.