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February 13, 2012
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Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
August 4, 2004
/17 Menachem-Av, 5764
History on the heart
By Rabbi Avi Shafran
The neo-punker who learned the secret of Jewish survival
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
How we came to meet is a long story, and of no particular import here. But a recent guest in my office was a young non-Jewish musician, the lead member of a "neo-punk" band.
As he left, he gave me a gift, his group's most recent CD. Although my musical tastes run in somewhat other directions, I was touched by the gesture and thanked him. Then, realizing that he would probably want a report that I had given his work a listen, I told him that I would be unable to do so for a number of days, since it was smack in the middle of the "Three Weeks" — the time between the fasts of Shiva Asar B'Tammuz (the seventeenth day of the Jewish month Tammuz) and Tisha B'Av (the ninth day of the month Av) — when observant Jews refrain from certain joyous pursuits, and when there is a custom to not listen to music. I explained that the period commemorates the destruction of the central Jewish temple in Jerusalem, the first time more than two millennia ago, as well as a number of subsequent Jewish historical tragedies.
He seemed puzzled by the fact that events so distant in time could be so pressing in the present as to evoke fasting or refraining from music. "That's just too funny," was his response, which I understood to mean he found the notion mystifying.
As well it might be. For it seems a singularly Jewish trait to be so attuned to history.
Even Jews who are not religiously observant have history on the heart. That is why Jews love to seek out their roots, and why they inquire about those of other Jews they meet; why there are Jewish genealogical societies and history lectures, why Holocaust museums and commemorations abound. And Jews who embrace their religious heritage more fully are even more exquisitely sensitive to the past, not only the recent, but the long ago.
This is being written shortly after Tisha B'Av, the fast that ends the "Three Weeks" and the saddest day on the Jewish religious calendar.
This Tisha B'Av, like every one, observant Jews fasted and wept over the tolls taken by the travails of the Jewish past. They sat low like mourners for much of the day, and read about the destruction of the Temples, reciting poetic dirges for hours about those Jewish catastrophes and others (including the previous century's; there may be concern about the lessening attendance at Holocaust commemorations, but as long as there is Tisha B'Av there will be memory).
The fact that most of the events took place hundreds, even thousands, of years ago did not, and does not, make them less relevant. For only our own determined actions and devotion to G-d and to others can merit the end of Jewish travail. Only then can the mourning stop. And so Tisha B'Av remains the saddest day.
Jewish history-headedness yields not only memory, but fear as well — and the contemporary world scene does not reassure. One sees nations that are lethal mixtures of advanced weaponry and retarded morality, cauldrons of contentiousness putridly spiced with violence, cruelty and, of course, passionate hatred of Jews.
Whether or not weapons of mass destruction are ever found in Iraq, there appears to be not a sliver of doubt that they are well on the way to being produced in Iran. And while Pakistan, whose nuclear capability is well established, may be our ally today, its leader lives a precarious life, one whose end is coveted by Islamic extremists (hardly a rare breed on the subcontinent, or in much of the rest of Asia or the Middle East).
In 2002, Leon Wieseltier famously entitled a piece he wrote for The New Republic "Hitler is Dead." In it he decried the "mythifying habit" of perceiving Jew-hatred over history as a cohesive evil, scoffed at those who perceive the possibility of a future "Second Holocaust," and proposed that Jews come to recognize that our world, even with all its bluster and anger and anti-Semitism, is essentially different from the one that existed before the Second World War.
His essay was characteristically brilliant, charming and lyrical. But it was also as wrong as any collection of words could possibly be. Hitler may be history (in the colloquially flippant use of the word) but his proud progeny, unfortunately, are alive and well. The Nazi-inspired imagery printed in Arab papers and scrawled on European grave-markers are not without meaning. The building of gas chambers may not be underway, but the aiming of missiles most certainly is. And while it may be heartening to imagine best-case scenarios, history-honed hearts all too easily imagine other possibilities.
And yet, the Three Weeks are pointedly followed by the "Seven of Consolation," when the synagogue readings from the Prophets consist of G-d's reassurances that, although we have suffered grievously and often, suffering need not be our future; things can be better. The comfort, though, derives not from any Wieseltierian refusal to countenance the vexing truth about Jew-hatred over history, or the possibility that what was could ever be again. It comes, rather, from being reminded of Who is in charge, Who alone can protect whomever He chooses.
And with that hope the sensitive Jew takes heart, and sets himself to the quiet work of being better.
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JWR contributor Rabbi Avi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America.
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© 2004, AM ECHAD RESOURCES
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