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Op-Ed
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "The Most Important and Dangerous Jewish Value: The Messianic Impulse." Jewish Week. 01 February 2012.
“We want Moshiach now!” Have you sung it? What did you mean?
The Torah teaches us about the 4 stages of redemption (Shemot 6). Through God’s miraculous interventions in the world (the 10 plagues), there was a mass exodus, perhaps the greatest story of liberation and redemption in human history. Read More...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Jewish Law on Texting While Driving." Jewish Week. 23 January 2012.
The Orthodox community has been in a panic about the recent news that observant teenagers are texting on Shabbos. However, we must address a much greater life-and-death concern. Read More...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Gambling: More than A Fun Game of Cards?" Jewish Week. 16 January 2012.
Anyone who has held a lottery ticket knows the thrill of taking a gamble. Personally, I recall the emotional intensity of the poker games in the basement of my friend’s house as a child. With money on the table, even as a 12 year-old, this friendly get together was no longer a game. Five years later, I recall passing through an Atlantic City casino on a family trip shocked to see it full of yarmulke-wearing Jews. I wondered if gambling was an acceptable Jewish sport. Read More...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "The Jewish Imperative for Child Adoption." Jewish Week. 9 January 2012.
Millions of children fall asleep every night hungry, wearing an unchanged diaper, and with no one to hold them as they cry themselves to sleep. There is perhaps no greater suffering than to feel unloved, unwanted, and uncared for by anyone. This is the story of the orphan. Read More...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Spiritual Transformation Through Our Dream Interpretations." Jewish Week. 4 January 2012.
Every night of our lives, we enter the dream state. Sometimes we are very aware of our dreams upon waking, sometimes not at all. I often wonder about the theological implications of our unconscious thoughts that occur while we dream. How are we to interpret these ideas and how can those interpretations help us to grow to become who we need to be? Read More...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Skydiving Through Life: We are Responsible for the Present." Jewish Week. 28 December 2011.
When I was in college, I went skydiving over the plains of Texas. Three years later, wanting to relive that unique moment of transcendence and tested limits, I went skydiving again, this time over the Swiss Alps. Ten years later, I’ve learned to embrace a spiritual alternative to jumping out of planes. Read More...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Chanukah and the Value of Giving Gifts." Jewish Week. 19 December 2011.
I love to give and receive gifts. I enjoy the suspense of the unwrapping, the strengthened relationship that can emerge, and the opportunity to provide another with something new that they didn’t expect to receive. After all, life is about giving and giving gifts is just another way to fulfill our purpose. Read More...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "The Role of the Divine in Social Change: Where is God in Tikkun Olam?" Jewish Week. 14 December 2011.
Why is it that, at a typical American Jewish social justice event, no one invokes one of God’s names? When our movement openly accepts the role of the Divine in social change and in moral development, we embrace the most powerful part of our tradition. Read More...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Why Should We Care About the Religious Views of Our Candidates." Jewish Week. 5 December 2011.
As the Presidential race progresses, once again the role of religion in politics has re-emerged as a common tension that cannot be dismissed. American Jews have often feared bringing religion into the political discourse out of fear of anti-Semitism, but this concern has hopefully lessened since Senator Lieberman was a serious Presidential candidate while being open about his traditional Jewish practices and perspectives. In our commitment to build a just society, we have an imperative to ask questions about the religious views of our politicians. Read More...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "The Bodies Exhibit & The Jewish Value of Honoring the Body." Jewish Week. 30 November 2011.
Could you imagine arriving at a museum and seeing one of your loved ones who passed away on display for others' amusement?
The Body Worlds exhibitions are the world’s most popular touring attraction, having been visited by more than 32 million people. Another exhibit opened in 2005 and there have been serious allegations that the bodies displayed in this Bodies Exhibit were stolen or otherwise unethically obtained in China. In addition to the very problematic origins of the bodies, the use of human bodies for public entertainment or “education,” which could be achieved through multiple other means such as an animated 3D exhibit, is inappropriate and must be condemned. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "The Problem with Overpopulation and The Command to Procreate." Jewish Week. 22 November 2011.
The United Nations has declared that the 7th billion person in the world was just born. Further, they have announced that since 1960, we’ve been adding a billion people to the earth every 12 to 13 years. Read More...
Hart, Ari. "Prison Reform: An American Spiritual Crisis." Huffington Post. 19 November 2011.
"Welcome to the Waldorf Astoria," said the jail guard as he showed me the room I would sleep in, my prison issue bedding (top sheet, bottom sheet, two pillowcases, no pillow) and the vacuum-packed kosher meals that had been prepared for me. This was the beginning of the three days of this High Holy Day season that I would spend on Rikers Island, New York City's jail complex located in the East River. Here, where some 14,000 inmates await their trials, I prayed, ate and slept over during Rosh Hashanah and Shabbat as the rabbi of a community of 60 or so Jewish inmates. Read More...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Recovering the Transformative and Ethical Power of Music." Jewish Week. 16 November 2011.
After decades of dry piano, violin, and guitar lessons, I finally retired without any real merits forfeiting my hopes of ever becoming a rock star or fiery composer. Only recently have I realized that music is still at the core of my Jewish spiritual and ethical passion. Singing at protests, including melodies into activist storytelling, and opening my heart to new ideas and ideals while listening to powerful symphonies have changed the way I feel and interact with the world. Read More...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Embracing the Lost Art of Creativity." Jewish Week. 9 November 2011.
I was 5 years-old and my father was the President of Crayola Crayons. This gave me significant popularity points as a kindergartner. One day, my parents came home to find that I had taken my Crayola markers and painted all over all of the white walls in the house. As protocol for this type of normal occurrence, my mother scolded me while my father, as a marketer of ideas, stood back and thought. It was in this precise moment that the washable marker was invented. I take some credit for this invention. Read More...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Torah and Science: The Jewish Moral Case For Embracing Evolution." Jewish Week. 1 November 2011.
The Jewish tradition embraces a very positive approach toward secular wisdom. The Talmud even transforms a mundane encounter with a wise gentile into a religious experience: “On seeing one of the sages of the nations of the world, one makes the following blessing: ‘Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has given of His wisdom to mortal human beings,” (Berachot 58a). The leading scientists of our age have fully embraced evolution as a given, yet for some reason, a literalist approach toward the Creation story is embraced by some rabbis today. Read More...
Hart, Ari. "Rabbi Learns Repentence From Prisoners." The Jewish Daily Forward. 28 October 2011.
"Welcome to the Waldorf Astoria,” said the jail guard as he showed me the room I would sleep in, my prison issue bedding (top sheet, bottom sheet, two pillowcases, no pillow) and the vacuum-packed kosher meals that had been prepared for me. This was the beginning of the three days of this High Holy Day season that I would spend on Rikers Island, New York City’s jail complex located in the East River. Here, where some 14,000 inmates await their trials, I prayed, ate and slept over during Rosh Hashanah and Shabbat as the rabbi of a community of 60 or so Jewish inmates. Read More...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Gun Control Vs. Gun Rights." Jewish Week. 25 October 2011.
While I was recently giving a class at a Modern Orthodox synagogue in New York City on the topic of halachic approaches to weapons I asked this group of 25 people (most between 50-65 years old) how many of them owned guns. I expected 1 or 2 hands to emerge but was astonished to find that about 50-60% admitted to having a gun at home. Shortly after, I learned that there is an Orthodox organization now training Orthodox Jews to use guns and to bring them to synagogue as a form of “protection.” If the religious Jewish community in America has joined the consumers of guns then we must also enter into the national gun discourse. Read More...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Conflict Resolution: A Spiritual Approach." Jewish Week. 18 October 2011.
It seems as if there is disagreement and tension everywhere. Most days, I feel surrounded by conflicts that emerge globally, nationally, locally, professionally, and personally. Read More...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "The Right People Are In The Room." Jewish Week. 10 October 2011.
There were times, when I was one of three students that would stay awake late enough to hear Rabbi Shlomo Riskin when he would stop by our beit midrash at Yeshivat Hamivtar to give a late night class. What I was so profoundly moved by was the fact that Rav Riskin would speak to the 3 of us as if there were 200 people present. He offered his normal passionate and engaging class since we were the right people in the room. Read More...
Hart, Ari. "Confronting the Oppression of our Hands: A Social Justice Reflection for Yom Kippur." Huffington Post. 06 October 2011.
It is dusk on Yom Kippur. As the holiest day of the Jewish year comes to a close, the Neilah service arrives. Neilah means closing, and the Jewish tradition understands that this fifth and final prayer service occurs when the gates of prayer begin to shut. Read More...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "The Purpose of Creation." Jewish Week. 6 October 2011.
I found myself consumed in the liturgy by the phrase “HaYom harat olam” (today the world is created) and with questions about the purpose of creation and of my personal existence. As we reflect on the direction of our lives between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we might ask ourselves why humans, generally as well as individually, were created. Read More...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "A Yom Kippur of Mercy or Cruelty?" Jewish Week. 26 September 2011.
Some Jews have a medieval custom to sacrifice a chicken before Yom Kippur, “kaporos.” One grabs the chicken’s legs while pinning its wings back and swings it around one’s head. These chickens are packed into crates before this procedure and then usually sent to be slaughtered after. Others are often just left in crates to die. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Religious Freedom and Sharia Law." Jewish Week. 21 September 2011.
In Paris, last week, when a Muslim cab driver picked me up I noticed a slight discomfort came over me. I realized, at that moment, that American religious fanatics had succeeded at convincing me to be afraid. Religion, at its best, furthers deep value formation and creates bridges and connections whereas religion at its worst is destructive and spreads fear throughout society. There is a growing religious fanaticism, with diverse manifestations, that seeks to promote fear of the other and that fear almost inevitability leads to hate. This fear and hate is unfortunately not absent from major segments of the Jewish communal discourse. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "The Jewish Perception of Tattoos: A Fair Prejudice?" Jewish Week. 14 September 2011.
I recently spoke with young former gang members undergoing tattoo removal at Homeboy Industries, a job-training site in LA for at-risk and gang involved youth. Their tattoos serve as serious barriers to employment and acceptance into mainstream society. A Harris Poll taken in 2008 estimated that 14 percent of Americans now have tattoos and the Pew Research Center shows that a whopping 26% of those between 18-25 have at least one tattoo. Is the typical Jewish perception toward these individuals with body art fair? Read more...
Hart, Ari. "Remembering and Erasing Evil: 9/11 and Amalek." Huffington Post. 8 September 2011.
For most Americans, Sept. 11, 2001 was a day we can never forget. Where we were when we heard, the images on TV, the fear in the voices of our loved ones, the horrible loss of life: every time the anniversary rolls around, we encounter our own traumatic experiences. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Global Unity or Chaos: Special Report from the World Economic Forum!" Jewish Journal Blog. 6 September 2011.
I have returned to Switzerland this week as the Rabbinic Representative to join global partners and interfaith leaders at the World Economic Forum. Here, we continue to plan the annual gathering in Davos this winter and to think-tank the greatest moral, economic, and political issues of our time. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "A Chassidic Approach to Spiritual Materialism and Ethical Consumption." Jewish Week. 2 September 2011.
One of the primary areas in daily life where I strive for piety is in my eating choices. Jewish tradition is rich with wisdom pertinent to our greatest moral problems related to food consumption today: hunger, just labor practices, treatment of animals, fair trade, environmental impact, and access to healthy food options. I have become more interested in exploring the degree to which the lifestyles advised in Chassidic thought can assist the moral life choices of one seeking to eat and consume more justly. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Why Does God Test Us?" Jewish Week. 24 August 2011.
Walking in Seattle yesterday, I smelled one of the most amazing unkosher cuisines I could ever remember smelling. As I stared at my food enemy, I had a thought which I imagine most religious Jews have at one point or another. I wondered: Was God testing me with this great smell? Was this amazing scent a way to bring my downfall? Read more...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Intertwining Inner and Outer Religious Life: Yehuda haLevi's Human and Divine Law." Jewish Week. 19 August 2011.
The Orthodox Jewish community in the United States for the last few decades has been experiencing a move toward higher ritual observance, as demonstrated by Samuel Heilman’s study, “Sliding to the Right,” and, in many communities, prioritizes ritual observance and religious conformity over spiritual leadership, natural morality, and common sense ethics. Instead of committing time and effort to addressing local poverty, many devote resources to the search for the perfectly-shaped lulav. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "How Should We Treat Undocumented Workers?" Jewish Week. 29 July 2011.
How should the American people treat a population which only has a marginal economic impact yet still manages to stimulate job growth and consumption in the country? The presumed answer is sadly far from the reality of how America behaves towards “illegal immigrants.” Read more...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "The Forgotten Population: Domestic Workers in Our Homes." Jewish Journal. 15 June 2011.
Ever stop to ask the salary of the woman washing dishes on Shabbat in your neighbor’s home, or the gentleman mowing your friend’s lawn about his vacation, or the nanny raising the children down the block whether she had time to sit down for lunch today? If you did, you most likely discovered an unpleasant situation of inadequate pay, few or no breaks, no paid sick or vacation days, and perhaps even bullying or verbal abuse. But how can it be? Those employers (neighbors) seem so nice, and their domestic workers always seem to be smiling and content. Read more
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Yeridat HaDorot, The Descent of Man: Is Progress Possible in Our Time?" The Jewish Week. 10 June 2011.
Will we ever end poverty, hunger and genocide? Is there hope that tomorrow will look brighter than today? The social justice movement is guided by a messianic vision that a world that is more just and free is possible. Can we, as Jews, embrace this promise of progress? Read more...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Solitary Confinement: When Solitude is no Longer a Virtue." The Jewish Week. 05 May 2011.
Last week there was a major Congressional briefing on the effects of long-term solitary confinement. Experts demonstrated that prolonged, isolated confinement causes serious psychological damage. Yet most courts and legislatures have been unwilling to declare this harsh practice unconstitutional or to change this nation's current unethical practice. Can anyone hear the cries from the "hole?" Read more...
Hart, Ari. "Food Justice at your Seder Table." Huffington Post. 18 April 2011.
The Passover seder is Jewish drama. Over the evening, a tale of slavery and liberation, despair and hope, narrow straits and open possibilities unfolds. We experience this drama through food. We lift high the matzah, the bread of affliction, for all to see; we taste the painful maror to remind us of embittered lives and oppressive work; we drink four cups of redemptive wine. Food brings these experiences to life. Through eating, we bring these symbols into our bodies. Read more...
Raisner, Yitzi. "Food Justice at the Seder Table." Jewschool. 13 April 2011.
The Seder is an orchestrated affair with fourteen movements, from Kadesh to Nirtzah. At my family’s Seder, though, there is a prelude which marks the true beginning of the meal, long before the first cup of wine is poured. One might call it Bechira, “The Selection.” For you simply cannot approach the Pesach table without a thoughtfully chosen Haggadah (and pillow, for that matter). My grandmother is loyal to the Szyk Haggadah for its aesthetic offerings. My sister, on the other hand, appreciates the Abarbanel’s unique insights. It’s a highly personal choice and no two people end up at the table with the same one. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Pregnant Inmates Chained During Labor: On theDignity of Childbirth." The Jewish Week. 12 April 2011.
Childbirth is one of the most sacred events of the human experience. All women deserve the dignity to give birth free of danger, restraint, or oppression. Unfortunately, this is not the case in America for inmates who are forced to go through labor in shackles - not metaphorical shackles; real ones. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "A Pesach Plea for Prison Reform." The Jewish Journal. 12 April 2011.
Last week, here in Los Angeles, we read with horror of an inmate in a local county jail who was strangled to death in his cell. This inmate had been complaining to a judge that he was being “hassled” by other inmates. Overcrowding and unsanitary conditions have plagued L.A. County’s jails for more than 30 years, along with a culture of violence and fear that includes prisoner-on-prisoner assaults and the use of excessive force by deputies. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Alternatives to Incarceration: A Jewish Approach." The Jewish Week. 07 April 2011.
Many prisoners keep knives in body cavities, an ex-convict explained to me last week, to ensure they can protect themselves from brutal prison violence and rape. This horrific description haunts me. Read more...
Hart, Ari. "Tax Season: The Most Spiritual Time of Year?" Huffington Post. 04 April 2011.
Forms. Number-Crunching. Headaches. Worry. Going through the year's spending and income and applying it to the nitty-gritty of our tax code often feels like the least religious, least spiritual activity possible. While doing our taxes can be a source of frayed nerves and aggravation, they can also be a spiritual lens that reflects our priorities, values and the effects of our labors on the world. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Jewish Hotel Ethics." The Jewish Week. 31 March 2011.
Hotel workers are among some of the most poor and abused laborers in America today. Over 90 percent of hotel housekeepers have reported suffered work-related pain due to the demands of the job. How can the Jewish tradition inform an authentic Jewish ethic for hotel guests? Read more...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Another Kosher Scandal: What's at Stake?" The Jewish Week. 24 March 2011.
Yes, once again kosher is not yosher (just)!
Pickles used to be my favorite snack, but now I can't help but think of the workers in a pickle at Flaum Appetizing before taking a bite.
Just a few years ago, Flaum, which also produces Sonny & Joe's and distributes Tnuva and Bodek products, fired seventeen Latino workers who stood up against over a decade of abusive treatment and unlawfully-withheld benefits and overtime pay. Read more...
Hart, Ari. "Holding God Accountable: Faith and Disaster." Huffington Post. 21 March 2011.
"Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked ... ?" Genesis, 18:23
These words echoed in my spirit as I watched the images of the tsunami strike in Japan, and as the situation continues to unfold it evokes profound spiritual anxiety in me. How do we make sense of such enormous tragedy within the context of our faith? For we who believe in an active God who cares about what happens in this world, how do we make sense of wide-scale catastrophe? How do we respond when horrible things happen to innocent people?
We hold God accountable. Read more...
Hart, Ari. New York Muslims and Jews: Serving Together. Jew School. 30 January 2011.
It sounds like a dream: a Muslim woman wearing a full head covering, laughing and joking with an orthodox rabbi as they paint a mural of Run-DMC for Brooklyn schoolchildren. But on Martin Luther King Day, 2011, that dream was real. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. Where are the Women in the Global Future Discourse? Special Report from the World Economic Forum. Jewish Journal. 27 January 2011.
It has been hard not to notice that speaker after speaker here in Davos are men. Where are the women in these conversations? Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. Gloal Affairs: A Balancing Act? Special Report from the World Economic Forum. Jewish Journal. 28 January 2011.
As global politicians, corporate executives, and thought leaders exchange business cards at a rapid rate here in Davos, two things are clear: on the one hand these brilliant powerful leaders have great influence over the global economy, and on the other hand no one is in control of this extremely complex system. The conversations are empowering and humbling. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. A life without limbs, a life without limits: Special Report from the World Economic Forum. Jewish Journal. 27 January 2011.
One major CEO explained to me after the presentation that he could not return to the normal sessions about the state of economy after his heart had been so touched and transformed by Nick’s story of survival and persistence. I personally left amazed and awed at Nick’s achievements to inspire millions around the world through his motivational speaking and even saving lives by motivating communities not to kill infants born with deformations or disabilities. Read more...
Fuchter, Dasi. Queens College Hillel Social Justice Group Take on Labor Violations. The Jewish Week. 12 January 2011.
Two years ago, during my freshman year at Queens College, I found my passion for Jewish social justice when I started a Challah for Hunger chapter on campus, an organization that raises money and awareness for hunger and disaster relief through the production and sale of challah bread. Read more...
Hart, Ari. Peoplehood, Universalism and Particularism. Jewish Philanthropy. 5 January 2011.
During a steamy Chicago August a few years back, I led a summer program called Or Tzedek that brought Jewish high schoolers to Chicago neighborhoods. Our goal was to explore Judaism and social justice. On the second day of the trip, I brought my students to Chicago’s predominantly African-American South-West Side. Our project for the day was knocking on doors and distributing leaflets to people in the neighborhood about prenatal health opportunities available to pregnant women. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. Invisible People: We Have The Power to Make Them Visible. The Jeiwsh Week. 31 January 2010.
Having moved between countries and cities throughout my childhood, I recall often standing alone at recess feeling as if I was invisible. In a very small way, I feel like I can relate to the hundreds of people feeling the powerlessness of invisibility in a society that does not see them. Read more...
Rosenstock, Natasha. Hazon Conference Focuses On Food And Torah. The Jewish Press. 24 December 2010.
A rabbi, a nun, and a UN official walk into Hazon. No, it isn’t the start of a joke. Hazon is an increasingly visible Jewish en- vironmental organization that recently hosted and co-sponsored the Faith in Food gathering run by the Alliance of Religions and Conser- vation. Its Food Conference, held earlier this month in Falls Village, Connecticut, brought together food activists from every corner of the Jewish community and every area of food production, consumption and activism. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. Casino Jack: Are We Trapped in Money Worship. The Jewish Week. 23 December 2010.
Watching “Casino Jack” on its opening weekend was the very first time I ever felt embarrassment for wearing a kippa in a movie theatre. When Jack Abramoff, played by Kevin Spacey, sponsored kosher restaurants and a yeshiva with dirty money, the woman sitting next to me let out a disgusted “My G-d!” I shrunk in my seat. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. A Jewish Vision for 2025. The Jewish Week. 17 December 2010.
What do we hope the American Jewish community will look like in 2025? No one knows what the coming years actually have in store for the Jewish community but we can at least attempt to outline a vision for what our future can entail with focused and vigorous efforts. Before we discuss the mechanics of accomplishing our collective dreams —hundreds of leaders, thinkers, and organizations would need to do that work in very different ways—perhaps we can at least advance open conversations of where we, as the empowered and engaged in the Jewish community, are looking to go. Read more...
Weiss, Ari. A history of the Jewish people in 30 objects. The JC.com. 16 December 2010.
There seems no connection between a smart phone and one of the world's oldest religions. What the iPhone signifies, however, says something deep about how Judaism will be practised and lived this century. The iPhone is about creating innovative ways of obtaining access to personalised information. Jews are increasingly thinking about Judaism not as peoplehood ("I'm Jewish because I was born Jewish") but as identity ("I am a social justice Jew"). As opposed to peoplehood, identity is dynamic; one seeks and searches for information about their identity. Like the iPhone, to be successful, identity needs access to personalised information. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. The Cost of a Sheitel: Chillul Hashem in People’s Court. Vos Iz Neias. 9 December 2010.
We’ll all be asked 6 questions in shamayyim (Shabbos 31a). The very first question is, “Were you honest in business?” To be financially dishonest is the ultimate rejection of Hashem and divrei Chazal. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. The Calling. The Jewish Week. 3 December 2010.
A calling is like love. Anyone who has been in love knows what it feels like. But one who has never been in love might question whether love even exists since the concept can be totally abstract. So too with personal purpose: one must feel it to know it. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. Creatures in the Nation-State. Ideals. 19 November 2010.
In what way are humans and animals distinct? Throughout history, arguments have been made on various grounds including: reason, emotional capacity, language, moral intuition, freedom of will, physical capabilities, and the ability to create sustainable social systems. If humans are created in the image of God,then there must be something unique about our essence.However, with time, each of the above proposals for human uniqueness has been exposed to have flaws. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. Post-modern Jewish Identity. The Jewish Week. 17 November 2010.
While packing for a trip to Ghana eight years ago, numerous observant Jews dissuaded me, arguing I could not volunteer abroad and maintain full, authentic observance. I knew that I had multiple identities and this trip gave me no pause. Since then I have worked in ten countries learning that I can be an observant Jew and a global citizen. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. Who is a Jewish Hero? The Jewish Week. 5 November 2010.
Historically, heroes are those who have risked their lives as sacrifice for the greater good of humanity. What distinguishes a Jewish hero? Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. A Jewish Imperative to live in the Diaspora? The Jewish Week. 15 October 2010.
Living in caravans in a small settlement town during my years learning in Israel, my dream was always to settle the land. As a religious Zionist, I feel that living in Israel is a tremendous and miraculous opportunity, and all Jews can and must consider making this life transition as we are all very familiar with the halakhic obligation of yishuv ha’aretz, the religious obligation to settle the Land of Israel. I would like to suggest, however, that in addition to this well-known imperative, there is also a crucial duty to reside in the Diaspora. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. A reflection on ethical consumption. The Jewish Week. 21 September 2010.
Each fall after the High Holy Days have passed, the Jewish people move from comfortable homes into impermanent huts in backyards, driveways and on balconies for the festival of Sukkot. By eating and living in these fragile shelters, we train ourselves to temporarily subordinate our gashmiut (materialism) to the value of ruchaniut (spirituality). Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. A Jewish Apology to the World. The Jewish Week. 7 September 2010.
At this time of year, it is common for many of us to pick up our phones and send emails apologizing to others for the ways that we wronged them in the past year. In addition to doing personal repentance (teshuva), Rav Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel, explained that we as a people (Knesset Yisrael) must also do teshuva. How do we, as a nation, ask the nations of the world for forgiveness? Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. A God That Repents and Seeks Liberation. The Jewish Week. 23 August 2010.
The month of Elul is a time in which we pause and reflect upon our past year to engage in teshuva (repentance). I often ask myself: Are we alone in our attempts to change and grow? The Talmud suggests that God actually engages in teshuva (Megillah 29a). Can this radical suggestion that God grows, evolves, adapts with the times, and experiences redemption pass as an authentic Jewish theology? Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. Kiddush Clubs: A Destructive Force? The Jewish Week. 13 August 2010.
A number of years back, I attended a kiddush club gathering in the basement of a synagogue. Right when the haftarah reading began, about 8 or 9 older men snuck out the back and in a small dark room in the basement opened multiple bottles of alcohol. They drank excessively until the sermon was over and then not so inconspicuously returned back for the final portion of the Shabbat morning service. Isn’t it fair for one to enjoy a nice scotch on their weekend, I wondered at the time? Read more..
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. "Orthodox Solidarity with Frum Homosexuals." The Jewish Week. 04 August 2010.
Three leading Modern Orthodox rabbis and personal teachers of mine (Nathaniel Helfgot, Aryeh Klapper, and Yitzchak Blau) recently released a statement of principles on how Orthodoxy can and must relate to homosexuals in our community. This document, which has now been signed by over 100 Orthodox rabbis and educators, was carefully drafted over the course of 6 months and “revised based on the input from dozens of talmidei chachamim, educators, communal rabbis, mental health professionals, and a number of individuals in our community who are homosexual in orientation.” Read more...
Hart, Ari. "Sustainable Food, Sustainable Faith" The Huffington Post. 28 July 2010.
The Talmud tells a story about a miracle man and mischief-maker named Honi: One day, Honi was walking down a road and saw an old man planting a carob tree. Honi asked the man how many years it would take for the carob tree to bear fruit. The man replied "not for 70 years." Honi asked "silly old man, do you really think you'll live another 70 years to see its fruit?" The old man answered "I found this world planted with carob trees. As my ancestors planted for me, so I will plant for my descendants." Read more...
Adler, Tali. "Social Justice and Orthodox Judaism" The Huffington Post. 24 July 2010.
Last summer, Jesse Rabinowitz, a 19-year-old Orthodox Jew, found himself in a hot, dusty Guatemalan village. A participant in a service-learning trip, Jesse built houses and learned about the lives of migrant workers and their families who stayed behind. At the end of his trip, Jesse made a promise to the people he met in the Guatemalan village: he would fight for the rights and dignity of their relatives in the United States. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Rabbi Shmuly. "Speak Truth to Power" The Jewish Week. 16 July 2010.
"Speak truth to power!" "Power is corrupt!" These popular mantras have fueled rhetorical wars among the classes for generations and are still voiced by many activists today. The disdain for power long predates the Marxists and the counter-culture activists; it enters the discourse of the early Rabbis in the Mishnah: "Love work, hate holding power, and do not seek to become intimate with the authorities," (Pirke Avot 1:10). Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. "Take It to the Streets: Radical Judaism" Patheos. 12 July 2010.
Judaism experiences major threats right now: existential threats concerning Israel, anti-Semitism, assimilation, and apathy to name a few. Yet, aside from this typical list, I believe that the most imminent threat may be the privatization of religious meaning-making. The major challenge for the Jewish community in the 21st century will be whether or not we can translate our rich tradition and holy law to speak to the most pressing contemporary moral problems of our time. Read more...
Hart, Ari. "Judaism, Food and Social Justice" The Huffington Post. 12 July 2010.
Is there more to Jewish food than bagels and Manischewitz? The new Jewish Food Movement, a loose confederation of farmers, religious leaders, health and nutrition buffs, organizers, philosophers, activists, and consumers, says yes. Drawing on deep Jewish religious traditions and values, the movement is inspiring a new generation of Jews to lead lives of faith, justice, environmentalism, and community through their food. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. "Extravagant Jewish Celebrations - Have We Gone Too Far?" The Jewish Week. 09 July 2010.
$100,000 for a wedding? $20,000 for a bar mitzvah? When did extravagance and luxury become such primary Jewish values? I can’t remember the last simcha (Jewish celebration) I attended at which there were not tremendous amounts of wasted food, overly expensive napkins and bands large enough for a royal banquet. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. "Discrimination Within Orthodoxy?" The Jewish Week. 25 June 2010.
Last week, thousands of Ultra-Orthodox Jews came out for mass protests across Israel. What was the contested issue: defense for Israel? Support of Agunot? Parents against child molestation? An end to violating business ethics and Israeli law? Not in the least bit. Sadly, this mass protest, the largest of its kind in years, was for the right to keep Sephardim out of Ashkenazi schools. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. "The BP Oil Spill, Personal Responsibility and Jewish Law" The Jewish Week. 18 June 2010.
This April, an explosion on a BP drilling rig caused the largest oil spill to have ever hit the Gulf of Mexico, which has led to mass public damage and estimates of around 60,000 barrels continuing to flow out each day. There are ongoing debates over who is to blame for this massive spill and who is accountable for the cleanup: The US government? BP? Halliburton? Transocean? Many fingers have been pointed and responsibility needs to be taken, but amid the cacophony of corporate vs. government clashes, we can also learn personal lessons from this fiasco. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. "Reborn Again? A Jewish Moral Argument for Reincarnation?" The Jewish Week. 11 June 2010.
I fear death. I think about dying frequently and often try to make meaning of my mortality. Until recently, if someone had mentioned reincarnation to me, I would have dismissed it as a non-Jewish theological belief. I imagine most people share my visceral skepticism of the possibility of reincarnation and of its authentic Jewish roots, but perhaps we can temporarily suspend this disbelief and explore the idea together in search of a theology that can improve us. Perhaps, this thought experiment can even promote certain moral virtues. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. "Banin as Bonim: Does Jewish Traiditon Condone Child Labor?" The Jewish Week. 28 May 2010.
"Halakhah isn't concerned about child labor."
These words came from the mouth of a rabbi at a panel at YU, on which I was a panelist. Still shocked by his words, I remain glued to the daily news of the Rubashkin trial where Sholom Rubashkin is charged with 83 child labor violations after having been found employing 57 minors. Tears rolled down one child's face as she sat in court a few days ago explaining, "I don't want to remember it," referring to her work at the Postville factory where she was exposed to harsh chemicals. Another child, a 15 year old, recently explained in court that she was de-feathering up to 45 chickens per minute on a 12-hour overnight shift. Their stories and the many others told by the child laborers brought tears to my eyes. We were enjoying kosher meat at the expense of children for years. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. "The Ethics of Innovation." The Jewish Week. 14 May 2010.
Faster! Bigger! Newer! More in touch! The innovative sector of Jewish life is thriving as never before through grassroots movements, including hip prayer groups, Jewish farming, and religious community organizing that are emerging to meet an expanding range of Jewish needs. While I consider myself a social entrepreneur within this trend and am excited by its progress and creativity, I can’t help but raise ethical concerns and questions about this progress. Why do so many innovators find it necessary to disparage the larger Jewish establishments? Why is there often so much inter-generational and inter-cultural animosity in the Jewish marketplace of ideas? Can innovators collaborate and support the time-honored institutions and still be avant-garde? Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. "Witnessing Haiti: A Call for Transparency in Disaster Relief." The Jewish Week. 29 April 2010.
When I was in Haiti last week, I was overwhelmed by the lack of accountability. One role that I played in Haiti was as a representative for the Disaster Accountability Project, an organization which calls for transparency and accountability in the allocation of donor and government funds to disaster relief projects. Organizations have received millions of dollars from governmental and philanthropic sources but have provided little to no transparency in the allocation of their funding to the daily human needs in the area of disaster. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. "Gold for Rubashkin or Guatemalans?" The Jewish Week. 15 April 2010.
I recently encountered signs posted around Brooklyn calling the community to rally to Rubashkin's defense. Surprised and confused, I wondered how a small segment of the Jewish community was now holding values that were a complete anathema to me. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. "Jewish Feminism Beyond Ritual?" The Jewish Week. 8 April 2010
In the past half century, North American Jewish feminists have made leaps and bounds - across the various denominations - in ensuring the inclusion of women in ritual life, as well as in the elevation of women to positions of respect and leadership in the community.
More recently, Jewish feminism has grown to include more systemic issues such as advocacy for comprehensive forms of sex education and the plight of agunot. Read more...
Hart, Ari. "The justice in giving." Haaretz. 23 March 2010.
How we make and spend our money is also central to Judaism year-round. Judaism's concern with money is manifest most nobly through the eternal practice of tzedakah: using money to pursue tzedek - justice - by providing financial support to individuals and institutions in their struggles against hunger, poverty and injustice. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. "A Vision For Street Torah." The Jewish Week. 22 March 2010
This column is a protest: its intent is to help prevent Jewish thought from being hijacked to the monastic serenity of quiet mountaintops where peace is chosen over truth and the self over the collective. Authentic religion today is lived in the hustle and bustle of the streets and it is here that Torah can be most transformative for 21st century Jews. As Moses is reassured (Deuteronomy 30:12), “Lo bishamayim hi” – The Torah is not in the heavens! Read more...
Brickman, Michal and Dani Passow. "A Jewish Call for Employee Rights." The Jewish Press. 11 March 2010
Last May, our organization, Uri L'Tzedek, officially launched the Tav HaYosher - "ethical seal" - to certify kosher restaurants that uphold three basic employee rights: the right to fair time, the right to fair pay, and the right to a safe work environment. As an Orthodox organization guided by Torah and dedicated to combating suffering and oppression, we are motivated by the Torah's prohibition "You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is of your brothers, or of your strangers who are in your land inside your gates." Read more...
Hart, Ari. "Right of Reply: Young US Jews - Self-centered and Individualistic?" The Jerusalem Post. 29 October 2009.
In his recent column in The Jerusalem Post Magazine ("The I's have it," October 16), Daniel Gordis informs us that out of all the challenges facing Israel and the Jewish world today, this is the real crisis: America's "unfettered individualism" is corrupting the minds and souls of young American Jews, leading them to abandon Israel. Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. “An Annual Call to Justice.” JTA. 7 September 2009.
"The Talmud teaches that the three types of shofar blasts heard on Rosh Hashanah represent three types of cries: the teruah (brief whimpering cries), the shevarim (groaning cries of medium length), and the tekia (long clear cries). Each cry represents a different kind of suffering in the world that we are called to internalize: the intermittent sob of those afflicted with disease and physical and mental suffering; the groan of an oppressed laborer in a cell, a factory and a field; and the plaintive keening of one entrenched in the deepest form of poverty in the developing world." Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. “The Shofar’s Cries Are Our Call to Action.” The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle. September 2009.
"The Talmud teaches that the three types of shofar blasts heard on Rosh HaShanah represent three types of cries: the teruah (brief whimpering cries), the shevarim (groaning cries of medium length), and the tekia (long clear cries)." Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. “Jewish Wisdom, and a ‘Wise Latina.’” The Forward. 21 August 2009.
"With tears and gratitude, Judge Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in as the 111th United States Supreme Court justice — the third woman and the first Latino to make it to our high court." Read more...
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. “The Shame of Orthodoxy.” Haaretz. 2 August 2009.
"'Is nothing sacred?' read a newspaper headline last week that accompanied a photo of one of many Orthodox rabbis in New York and New Jersey who had been caught in a vast criminal scandal. Seeing the images of the rabbis allegedly involved in the laundering of tens of millions of dollars and in black-market trafficking of kidneys, I felt an all-too-familiar shame." Read more...
Milgram, Rabbi Goldie. “What Is Next For Kosher Living?” The Philadelphia Jewish Voice. June 2009.
"Ideas about renewing Jewish ethics regarding kashrut (kosher products, their production and distribution) coming from the far left of Judaism have now made it almost all the way across the spectrum of the Jewish people. It has been several decades since Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (widely known as Reb Zalman, founder the phenomenon known as Jewish Renewal) began urging a return to Torah values regarding care for the planet, for workers and food-related health issues. Some in orthodoxy are now taking notice of these ideals." Read more...
