Guest post at Mah Rabu on 10th of Tevet

Read it here.

Ten more thoughts on India

Ten more observations about India, having just returned from my trip there.



1. I went down to the southern most tip of India, where I was able to simultaneously swim in the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, and Bay of Bengal. There was a shrine there in memory of Mohandas Ghandi. The shrine had a picture of Ghandi, with what I'm relatively sure is a Christian halo around his head, which I've only otherwise seen for saints. Similarly, the language in the English version of the text near him made more "virgin" references then I'm used to in Hindu sources. It's fascinating that India's Christian population also has a significant following for Ghandi, despite him not being a Christian.

2. We stayed in the Leela in Kovalam Beach, which was gorgeous, though at times a bit inept. India is still barely electronic in their administrative functions, and so in the shuffles of papers things get lost. Despite telling the hotel when we checked in last Sunday that we were checking out on Thursday, they seemed to think that we were checking out Wednesday and began demand we vacate the room because they were full. Eventually the conference staff intervened on our behalf, but it was amazing that they would consider kicking out paying guests because of a snafu on their part.

3. Luckily, we didn't have to stay in one of the other conference hotels, the Uday Samudra, where we heard the rooms were not great, and everyone got sick from the food.


4. After the conference, we drove a few hours up north. Indian driving is something I have never seen before. Down here, it's not mass chaos, like Cairo, but it is crazy. First of all, you have vehicles sharing the road of vastly different cruising speeds (from bicycles to mopeds to three-wheeled auto-rickshaws, to cars, buses, and trucks). On mostly two lane roads, faster vehicles have to have some means of passing slower ones. What happens is that the middle of the road becomes a passing lane, used by traffic in both directions. If that weren't terrifying enough, if a medium speed vehicle is passing in the center and a high speed vehicle (like our driver's car) wants to pass, he goes fully into the oncoming traffic lane. Somehow the system seemed to work. While India has very high car crash rates, I happened to see none when I was there.


5. Farther north, we spent a night on a houseboat, exploring the backwaters of that area. It was wonderful - relaxing, comfortable, with great food. Apparently there are 500 houseboats in that area, each few owned by a different person. The boats contract with the tour companies which then contract with the drivers and the hotels. It seems to be a good system, though our hotel (Greenshore Apartments - see below) did not charge us a commission, which is very nice of them.

6. The tuxedo, mentioned in my previous post, came exactly as specified - without a doubt best fitting two pieces of clothing that I own. I highly recommend Duron Tailors. Bring many pictures of what you want, and ideally a driver or friend who speaks Malayalam (though their English is passable).

7. If you are looking for an inexpensive, comfortable place to stay on the beach, Greenshore Apartments is a great option. It has kind, helpful staff and charming British owners.

8. The religious harmony in India was absolutely incredible. We saw nothing but Christian, Muslims, and Hindus living side by side in accommodating peace (dietary requirements respected - it took our Hindu driver to explain why the tailors were closed for 3 hours Friday afternoon - the owners are Muslim). Our of Greenshore's 4 staff members one is of each religion and they get their respective Sabbaths off

9. Trivandrum Airport (TRV) does not understand internet boarding passes (the kind you get when you check in online and then print them from your computer). They kept asking for our "original" boarding passes and then finally sent us all the way back to check-in (past immigration) to get them. Hand luggage also all has to be tagged, so we would have been in trouble even if they accepted the boarding passes. This level of anachronistic incompetence at an international airport is incredible. Maybe Qatar Airways shouldn't laud their online check-in system if the local airports can't handle it.

10. Finally, the Sunday morning flight from TRV-DOH (Doha), as to be expected, is almost all men commuting for work. (Remember that the work week starts on Sunday in Muslim countries.)

That's all! Anyone traveling to Kerala please get in touch with me for more travel tips.

Weekend in Warsaw

I just returned from a weekend in Warsaw (which includes a massive clock tower - see above). It was an absolutely fascinating experience. Aside from a few days in Berlin (including East Berlin) several years ago, it's the first time I've spent in any formerly communist country. (I'm also not counting Shanghai here, which is a wholly different situation.)

The owner of the vacation apartment we rented (he insisted on being paid in cash upfront; the apartment was clean and had a functional kitchenette, but was otherwise relatively bare and in a building otherwise in relatively poor disrepair), who spent a year living in Sweden, commented to me that he liked Warsaw better, because Sweden was too clean and orderly and Warsaw was grittier. I agree with his descriptions, but disagree with his preference.

As some examples, on our first day when walking into the subway, we walked by a women with a black eye, limping as if someone had just beaten her up. (I'd hope that she was going home after receiving the appropriate care and concern from the authorities and heath officials...). On a more mundane note, nothing was particularly clean or new, and some parts of the central station looked like the shop that was previously there had been just ripped out of the wall.

That said, the public transit system was actually excellent, with buses, subways, and trolley. Getting to and from the airport was very easy (take the 175 or 188 bus and then switch to the subway or trolley) and a great planning site. You can also get a day pass for 9 zl (~$3) good for 24 hours once validated (perfect for after Shabbat and Sunday), though no one ever checked our tickets on a bus or trolley.

Customer service, on the other hand, was not so great. For example, after checking out we put our bags in a locker for the day before heading to the airport. Upon returning to them, we had a very hard time getting the machine to accept a 1 zl coin and unlock our luggage. If we hadn't gotten it to work (through some combination of backspin on the coin and sheer luck), I'm not sure what we would have done. The one worker at the information station upstairs spoke no English, and there was no one else around. Our best bet may have been to break into the locker and hope no one noticed.
One of our goals in Warsaw was to see evidence of the Warsaw Ghetto and Jewish uprising there in 1943 that every Jewish child learns about in Hebrew school. We able to find a section of the ghetto's original wall (see above, between Seina and Zlota Streets, enter at 55 Seinna) as well as numerous monuments in Hebrew, Polish, and English.

We also thought that we would go to the Uprising Museum, which was supposed to be excellent and have lots of English. When we got there, the line was literally "out the door and around the corner." One of the guards said that it (August 1) was the anniversary of the beginning of the uprising, and so is a very popular day to come to the museum. (There was a large ceremony going on outside.)

This seemed odd to me, since I had learned that Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) was celebrated in the spring because of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. So how could this uprising have begun in August, long after the Ghetto Uprising had been crushed?

It seems that this museum was actually for the Warsaw Uprising, which took place in 1944. (Wikipedia shows you both links.) This was after the vast majority of Polish Jews had been murdered, and represented a much larger, coordinated, Polish military effort against the occupying Nazi army. It seems that, in anticipation of the advancing Soviet army from the east, Polish leaders tried to defeat the Nazis first, in an attempt to reclaim their independence, in part in the face of future Soviet hegemony.

Stalin, however, after encouraging the Poles to revolt, double crossed them and halted his army, allowing the battered Nazis to defeat the uprising, diminishing hopes of true Polish independence. To make matters worse, Stalin later persecuted those who had organized the uprising, likely to remove potential threats to his own totalitarian regime. In fact, this museum is only a few years old, as it would have been impossible to build it in Communist Poland.

As for the Jewish community, we went to Friday night services and Shabbat dinner. It's an Orthodox shul, with all of the gender inequality that comes with that. Furthermore, the vast majority of the people there seemed to be heloni (secular) Israeli tourists, and so I found the overall davening experience somewhat lacking, though, it reminded me how very much missing davening with a minyan on Friday nights this past summer. Shabbat dinner was much smaller and lovely, and is worth attending if you're looking for somewhere to spend Shabbat in that region.

A few interesting notes about the synagogue: Becoming a member of the community seems very arduous. I've never heard of an American shul doing such a litmus test on potential members. Maybe it's because in the US members are the primary source of funding, whereas here the nominal fee is small compared to funds from the Warsaw and Polish governments and other sources.

The Rabbi is fascinating. He speaks fluent Polish as well as native English. and has both Conservative and Orthodox smicha. Perhaps most fascinating, and spooky, was that he was invited to be on the plane with late Polish President in April but did not fly, because it was Shabbat, saving his life. The interview he gave after the tragedy is worth reading.

All in all, a fascinating city, and definitely merits a visit.

Har HaBayit

Today, I had an aliyah (an ascent, from the Hebrew root 0-l-h, to ascend). Jews normally use this word to mean one of two things: saying the blessing over a section of Torah reading, or immigrating to Israel. I'm using it, for the first time, in the original sense, which is to ascend onto Har HaBayit (literally the Mountain of the House, normally called the Temple Mount in English) in Jerusalem.

If you thought the (Kotel) Western Wall was complicated, try Har HaBayit. It is venerated by Jews (as the location of the 1st and 2nd Temples), Christians (as near the Last Supper, Crucifixion and the Resurrection), and Muslims (as where Mohammad ascended to heaven). To this day, Jews from all over the world pray facing Har HaBayit, and many Muslims regularly pray in the Mosque there, as the holiest site after Mecca and Medina.

Its history is even more complicated, with Muslims building a mosque (Al Aksa) and a shrine (the Dome of the Rock) there and Crusaders digging under it in search of the lost Ark of the Covenant. After the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, the site along with the entire Old City passed under Jordanian control. It was only with Israel's victory in the Six Day War in 1967 that control falling into Jewish hands, after a 2000 year lapse.

The current state of affairs is very touchy at best. Jews (including outwardly religious Jews) are allowed up Har HaBayit, but are not allowed to pray. One man was even arrested last December for allegedly doing so. There are other stories about rabbis being allowed to pray in special circumstances, but holding any kind of regular Jewish services up there is completely impossible. It is still too fresh in everyone's mind when Ariel Sharon (before becoming Prime Minister) callously ascended to Har HaBayit with his entire security detail, providing one of the sparks for the 2nd Intifada.

So how does a religious Jew go about an aliyah? First of all, he or she must be as ritually pure as one can be in a post-Temple world. For men this is easy - go to the mikvah that morning before you go up, I used one at Ohel Shimon Yeshiva, near Rachel Imenu and Hizkiyahu HaMelech. If you go make sure to bring seven shekels in exact change.

For women, it gets more complicated. In short, women should not be in niddah (menstruating), or have engaged in (heterosexual) intercourse in the previous 72 hours. (This requirement should probably also apply to men with respect to homosexual intercourse.) Then women should also go to a mikvah (which can be somewhat difficult for unmarried women in Jerusalem).

The entrance is next to the south entrace to the Kotel plaza, near Zion gate. It opens around 7:30 AM, except for Fridays and Muslim holidays. The security allegedly checks for any Jewish ritual objects (bibles, prayer books, tallit, tefillin) and from what others have told me from their experience makes you leave them there. They did not ask me for any identification.

Ha HaBayit itself is gigantic. Much, much larger than I ever could have imagined. It is also very quiet and peaceful, which only adds to the enormous reverence of the space.

I wasn't quite sure where I was allowed to go as a religious Jew. The concern is that one should not enter the area that was once the Holy of Holies in the Temple, or be near the Ark of the Covenant. However, since Har HaBayit was significantly expanded in the Second Temple period, the South section (where the entrance is, near Al Aksa Mosque) is certainly safe for Jews who follow the purity precautions mentioned above.

Eventually, I saw three observant Jews on a tour. I followed them, figuring that they would know where not to go. Up until this point, I had been wearing a baseball cap over my kippah, and had tucked in my tzizit, so that the police wouldn't profile me as a potential agitator. Once I was with other religious Jews, though, (who were already being followed around by the police), I figured I could express my religion.

We ended up walking all of the way around Har HaBayit, only avoiding the raised platform that the Dome of the Rock is on. (This is apparently what it looks like inside.) Despite the regulations, these men quietly said Pslams, which were traditionally recited by pilgrims as they approached the Temple. Since the guards could not hear them, they certainly did not bother any Muslims praying on Har HaBayit.

We exited Har HaBayit on the Western side, though what was called "Chain Gate". This let us out right onto Rehov HaShelshelet (the Chain Street), in the Arab shuk. I had been here several times on my way to the Kotel, but normally would turn right 20 feet before this point to go down the stairs to the Kotel. I never knew what was beyond that point, and also never realized that the bottom of the shuk was the same level at Har HaBayit. Nor did I realize that, since the shuk slopes down when coming from Jaffa Gate, that Jaffa Gate is actually higher than Har HaBayit. I had only seen Har HaBayit from the Kotel and from Robinson's Arch, where one is looking up 50+ feet at it.

As soon as we exited, the three man began dancing and singing "Yibaneh HaMikdash" (He will build the Temple), a popular song that I knew well and had danced and sung to many times on Jewish holidays as part of the normal liturgy. I stopped to think. This was a much more direct application of this than I was use to, and was now directly contrary to Islam, since actually rebuilding the Temple would require tearing down (or at least moving) the Dome of the Rock. I ended up joining the men dancing and singing briefly, since I think that my metaphorical understanding of that song was still true, and that if I would happily sing it back in the United States, how could I not in the Old City in Jerusalem?

Throughout the day, though, I have been struggling with the notion of the Temple. It is ubiquitous in Jewish liturgy, a significant portion of the weekly Torah readings, and a major focus of everyday study of ancient Jewish laws and customs. Furthermore, as a meat-eater (though one who constantly attempts to limit his meat intake), I have no fundamental problem with ritual animal sacrifice (since I all of the meat I eat has been ritually slaughtered). Furthermore, I would hope that animals that are to be ritually offered to God in a Temple are actually better treated than the animals that I eat now.

That said, I don't think I can truly wrap my head around demolishing one of the holiest spots in Islam to rebuild our Temple. That would put us clearly in the camp of the Romans (who destroyed the 2nd Temple) and the Taliban (who destroyed numerous priceless Buddhist holy sites in Afghanistan).

So what do we do? Change the liturgy? That would be a colossal sea change for observant Judaism, which in many ways is still ritually living in a world that assumes that our nearly 2000 year post-Temple period is temporary. To accept that the Temple will never be rebuilt would truly be the end of Judaism as we know it, almost on par with the destruction of the Temple. Our holidays would change. Our connection to Israel would change. I don't think we're ready for that, or will ever be.

So, I leave Har HaBayit conflicted. In Bethlehem last Friday, I said that Israel would never relinquish the Old City. It would give up the entire Galilee first. After visiting Har HaBayit I'm more sure of that than ever. Where to go from here though, I don't know.

Women of the Wall

Today, for the second time, I proudly prayed with Women of the Wall, from behind a mechitza (a semi-transparent wall that separates men and women in Orthodox synagogues).

Women of the Wall pray at the Kotel (Western Wall), the holiest accessible prayer site for Jews once a month on Rosh Hodesh, the first day of the new month, and one of the most joyous non-Shabbat/holiday services. These women wear traditional Jewish ritual items, such as a tallit (prayer shawl with specially tied fringes). Over the past few decades, they have been harassed, taunted, arrested, interrogated, and sued, all only for peaceably assembling and expressing their religion. Recently, larger and larger groups of ultra-Orthodox Jews have gathered to attempt to disrupt their prayer.

(The other time I was there was a few weeks ago during one of the intermediate days of the holiday of Passover, and since it was a one-off meeting, no one seemed to notice what was going on or bother to protest. This is a case-in-point that the actual prayer is almost completely non disruptive and therefore not actually a threat to anyone.)

The space in front of the Kotel is organized with adjacent men's and women's sections with a mechitza between the sections perpendicular to the Kotel itself, and a mechitza parallel to the Kotel at the back of each section. I was with about a dozen men behind the mechitza at the back of the women's section, as close as possible to the about 70 women in front of the mechitza at the back of the women's section. There were also a handful of men across the mechitza in the men's section.

Today, there were multiple police officers on the outside of both mechitzot, near where each group of men stood. This police officers did their job perfectly, turning away any men attempting to harass the women, such as by throwing chairs (which happened one month ago).

At one point, one ultra-Orthodox older man on the men's section began screaming at a police office, about how they did not respect Jewish law and tradition. A younger ultra-Orthodox man came over and persuaded him to stop yelling, asking him to come with them toward a larger group. It was then that I noticed what was happening on the men's side. Before this point there was the general commotion of a weekday morning with Torah reading at the Kotel (generally Mondays and Thursdays) which normally includes Bar Mitzvahs of both Israelis and those that come from abroad. But at this point, something different was happening.

In our morning service, we were up to Hallel. This is special part of services added on the happiest days of the year: on holidays (Passover, Sukkot, Shavuot, Chanukah) and on Rosh Hodesh. It consists of the most jubilant parts of the book of Psalms. As we began this, the ultra-Orthodox men (there were probably now more than 50 of them) began also reciting from the book of Pslams. They however, were not singing Hallel. There were wailing the saddest parts of the book, normally reserved for times of intense mourning and hardship. It was as if they were begging God to forgive them for being near this spectacle.

As they began to sing louder, so did we. I could hear the women singing in front of me, and joined them as loudly as I could. I've never been that afraid while praying before. I kept saying to myself, "Look forward toward the Kotel and keep praying. You are here to worship God on Rosh Hodesh. What you are doing is normal and regular, albeit in an exceptionally special place."

This incredible contrast, between the our joyous Pslams of Hallel and the ultra-Orthodox men's wailing Pslams of mourning, reminded me of the verse in Deuteronomy 30:19:

הַעִידֹתִי בָכֶם הַיּוֹם אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת הָאָרֶץ הַחַיִּים וְהַמָּוֶת נָתַתִּי לְפָנֶיךָ הַבְּרָכָה וְהַקְּלָלָה וּבָחַרְתָּ בַּחַיִּים לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה אַתָּה וְזַרְעֶךָ

"Today, before heaven and earth, my witnesses for you, I give you live and death, blessing and curse; choose life that you and your offspring will live."

Unlike the ultra-Orthodox men there this morning, we chose life. We chose to sing and praise God on 1st of the month in the way that our ancestors have for many generations. I have asked myself why I, as man, needed to be there today. My answer was simple: How could I not be there? How could I justify to my children and grandchildren that when women went to the Kotel to pray and were harassed I did not go in solidarity with them? How could I justify it to my God?

After the services at the Kotel, one of the older women approached me and said that today was the first time when she could hear male voices behind her singing along with them, and how wonderful that was. I thanked her, but said that the honor of being there with them was all mine.

Two Jewish notes

Two quick stories about Jewish communities out here that I don't think I've mentioned yet:

1) In China (PRC), it is actually illegal for the Chabad in Shanghai to have any interaction with Chinese citizens, because of the government ban on proselytization. This law does not apply to foreigners (whose religious needs organizations are allowed to serve), so anyone holding a passport of another country (or permanent residence) is okay. But, unlike in Japan, where you can have a conversion class, such a formal outreach to anyone interested would not be a good idea in China.

2) I am generally amazed by hiluni (secular) Israelis, especially the way that Judaism for them is traditional Orthodox or nothing. A group of Israeli architects visited the new Jewish community building here in Tokyo. When entering the space designated for services (where they had to be reminded to put on head coverings out of respect), they repeatly asked where the women were supposed to sit. Their host continually replied that men and women sit together, and so there was no separate women's section.

Later, when seeing the gorgeous tiled bathrooms, they remarked that the building must have been built on a budget, because the sinks don't have automatic hand sensors. Their host explained that, no, there were no budgetary concerns here, but, rather, the automatic hand sensors would cause a problem on Shabbat. This perplexed the Israelis, who seem to not be able to wrap their heads around a shul that sat men and women together, yet cared about automatic hand sensors on Shabbat.

Apprently, in their world, once you don't discriminate based on gender for ritual participation, you might as well throw out all of the laws of Shabbat and kashrut!

Semibiyake (charcoal grill)

Last week, my colleagues and I had a team at a semibiyake (charcoal grill) restaurant. Basically, the tables had two square holes in them (maybe 1' by 1' by 2'), into which the waiter put a smoldering charcoal grill. We were then able to order a range of items, and baste and grill them our self. The fish-eating vegetarian senior manager and I had one grill, which we used for mushrooms, eggplant, and sardines (see below):


as well as deep fried garlic in sesame oil (which was amazing, though I couldn't wait and so ate many of the cloves before they were fulled caramelized).


On the other grill, my colleagues grilled many kinds of meat, as well as LIVE SEAFOOD. By this, I mean prawn-like creatures and others that were still blowing bubbles from their mouths, and whose tentacles were moving. Disgusting.

(Though, I'm not sure totally un-Jewish. Clearly Judaism forbids eating flesh torn from live mammals and birds. But what about fish? Could I have taken a live sardine, thrown it on the grill, and then eaten it?)

TSA on Sukkot

The Transportation Security Administration just put out the following alert:

The travel period for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot begins approximately on Wednesday, September 30, 2009, and ends approximately on Tuesday, October 13, 2009.

Observant Jewish travelers may carry four plants – a palm branch, myrtle twigs, willow twigs, and a citron – in airports and through security checkpoints. These plants are religious articles and may be carried either separately or as a bundle. Jewish travelers may be observed in prayer, shaking the bundle of plants in six directions.

The workforce should note that TSA’s screening procedures do not prohibit the carrying of such agricultural items through the airport or security checkpoints, or on airplanes. These plants are not on TSA’s Prohibited Items List. And, as always, TSA is committed to treating all passengers, including passengers who may be observing Sukkot, with respect and dignity during the screening process.

Amazing.

(HT: RJG)

Shabbat in Shanghai

Just wanted to post some pictures of the Chabad in Shanghai where I davened Shaharit one weekday morning and spent Shabbat while I was there.

Lovely community. The building is much smaller than the new building in Tokyo that I posted about a while back (where I've spent an enormous amount of time this past few weeks with the chagim). Also, the community is very different, with far more students studying abroad than in Japan (where I've met almost none).

If you go, stay at the Sheraton. It's a relatively easy 20-25 minute walk, though the entrance is a bit hard to find (it's across the street on the left at the main intersection, and then toward the back of a complex).

Rosh Hashana in Tokyo

Shana Tova everyone.

I just spent a wonderful Rosh Hashana here in Tokyo. The Tokyo community has been nothing but warm, friendly, and welcoming to me throughout the past month here. It was truly reminiscent of the enveloping, never ending chag of davening, eating, and shmoozing in a large commuunity that I've experience both in college and in New York.

It really is amazing that I can travel half way around the world, and find basically a conservative shul that is very similar to the one I grew up in (frummer in some ways - no microphone, duchaning, less frum in others - most heavily attended service was Friday night, and enormous drop off between first and second day despite it being a Sunday)

The food was again out of this world, with 120 people at Friday night dinner (I won't list all of the items, but everything was great from the onion soup that came with two 18 inch thin garlic bread sticks to the Waldorf salad to the nutty cinnamon bobca).

By the way, it is amazing to me the way that on chag and Shabbat, Jews basically eat a sumo diet - a huge meal, follwed by sleep, followed by fasting (whether during davening until a late lunch or throughout the day), followed by another huge meal, followed by more sleep. We're not so good at grazing throughout the day. As Tzom Gedaliah draws to a close here in Japan, I've been trying to think about what a sumo wrestler would do (eat a lot quickly and then go to sleep), so I can do the opposite.

Ideal Jewish Community

I wrote this for a more specific context, but thought that it was worth sharing here:

1) Spectacular fully egalitarian (both gender and sexual orientation) davening with no page number announcement, critical masses singing, and excellent, well screened, coached, and prepared daveners and leyners
2) Every Shabbat and holiday evening, morning, and afternoon davening
3) Large Kiddushes, and occasional communal meals
4) Inter-generational community (both kids and senior citizens), without comprising on #1
5) Several rabbinic presences, available for halakhic questions, teaching, pastoral and life cycle involvement, and occasional sermons/divrei Torah, but none of the pomp and posterity of a “shul rabbi”
6) Representative, volunteer leadership
7) Independence from traditional Reform / Reconstructionist / Conservative / Orthodox movement structure
8) Streamlined, low overhead budget

If not now, when?

R. Andy Sacks on Rosh Hashana

Rabbi Sacks, currently the head of Masorti in Israel, and one time rabbi of my parents shul (in the 1980s), posted an amazing list of dreams for a better Israel.

Jewish Community of Japan New Building Opening

I just got home from the grand opening of the brand new building of the Jewish Community of Japan. (The last few Shabbats I've been eating and davening in their temporary offsite space.)

First of all, it was a totally amazing event. Their sanctuary was in full High Holiday mode, with portable walls removed (does every shul have portable walls? Do other houses of worship have this phenomenon?), and folding chairs set up.

I estimate there were 400 people there, including the Israel Ambassador, the German Ambassador (who stuck out like a sore thumb, looking an an old school northern European or old boy American diplomat), the Secretary General of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (who flew in from Moscow), the head of the Holocaust Memorial in Hiroshima (who read in the most wonderful Japanese-accented Hebrew), and the architect of the building, Fumihiko Maki (who has taught at Harvard, and designed one of the new buildings at the World Trade Center).

We davened maariv as a large community, and I was struck by just how passive everyone was. This is probably because many of the individuals who were there are either not traditionally practicing Jews, or non-Jews who are friends of the Jewish community in one way or the other. Given that I've been davening at Hadar this past few years, I've forgotten what it's like to be in a group of 400 people in a shul and be one of the only ones saying "beri kho" during Kaddish.

The food during the reception was amazing. In no particular order:

yakitori (chicken skewers)
shnitzel
breaded salmon balls
garlic bread with egg salad
cucumbers with tuna salad
garlic bread with smoked salmon
garlic bread with white fish
cocktail spoons of tuna
veggies and humus
fruit

I can't wait for Shabbat dinner tomorrow night!

Finally, a word about the building itself. It has:

a sanctuary
a banquet hall
a library
class rooms
a gift shop
a deck (that would be great for a sukkah)
an enclosed roof (that would also be great for a sukkah)
an underground parking garage
and, a mikvah (though there didn't seem to be any water in it, so I'll probably have to wait until later in Tishrae for my annual pre-Rosh Hashana dunking)

A few pictures:

Japanese Jewish Weddings

Shavuah Tov everyone.

I learned something fascinating over Shabbat. Apparently, there is a growing trend in Japan to have theme weddings. I'm not talking about "Black tie option" vs. "Black tie encouraged". I'm talking about full blown Disney World themes (e.g. pirates, dinosaurs).

So, of course, there is a rabbi in Japan who has realized that this is a gold mine. Think about it: Japanese weddings that are Jewish themed! This is not about conversion or anything particular spiritual - simply a theme wedding, where the theme is us! (Kind of sounds like the premise of a Twilight Zone episode, where I'm the same, but everyone else is Japanese but dressed like Chabad.)

Now, of course, aside from how weird this is, marrying non-Jews is not such an acceptable thing for a rabbi to do. The question is how this will play in the greater international rabbinic community is still open. It'll be fascinating to see how it turns out.

In the meantime, just think, another way to make your wedding even more expensive: Pay someone extra to make it a "Jewish" themed wedding!

Origami on Shabbat?

Can I could do Origami on Shabbat? Since I've been in Japan, I have rekindled perhaps my oldest connection to Japanese culture (before Mario and Final Fantasy) - Japanese paper folding.

Within seconds, I found an answer:

Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Aurbach, zatzal, prohibits making toys - like a boat, or hat - by folding paper, since it is like making a utensil. However, if the paper was folded into a toy before Shabbat, it is permitted to use it on Shabbat.

And there you have it.

Stuff young Jews like

Great new blog. Check it out.

Major PA Jews back Obama

Read their letter here.

The Economist's poor choice of graphic

The Economist's excellent Lexington column on American politics used an insensitive image for Eliot Spitzer: a crusader knight.

Apparently, the British magazine does not realize that representing a Jew in the garb of medieval Christian knights who murdered thousands of Jews in the name of their G-d, preemptively absolved by the their Pope for the murders, would be a bit insensitive.

Spitzer may have been a crusader in the common, small "c" use of the word today, but that does not justify representing him in the white-and-red-cross garb.

Irshad Manji's first Moral Courage Project event

Last Tuesday, Irshad Manji, author of "The Trouble With Islam Today," hosted Dr. Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, a professor of law at Emory University and author of “Islam and the Secular State,” at the first event of her new program at NYU.

Read more about the event here.

Not even civil marriage

This blog has previously argued that federal and state governments should separate religious marriage (which should be left to religious communities) and the benefits of civil marriage.

Today's L.A. Times takes this one step further, arguing that Americans should be able to designated whomever they want for benefits otherwise associated with marriage, such as inheritance, hospital visitation, survivor benefits, custody etc. The idea is that since the state has no business determining whether two married people are actually romantically intwined, why should it even bother to associate marriage benefits with marriage? Why can't Americans simply explicitly dictate which benefits they would like with which people?