Recent comments

these rhetorical questions all derive from the same baseless premise: that conservative and reform rabbis and ceremonies have the same legitimacy as orthodox and therefore that orthodox rabbis and jews are at fault for not accepting them. that false (or at least unproven) premise is the crux of the problem and while the writer may believe it is correct, how does he or she have the temerity to simply assume that it's true and that therefore anyone who doesn't accept it is a bigot or worse? I'm not here to argue orthodox theology vs. conservative and reform but simply to point out the illogic of all those who say to the orthodox, chuck your disagreements and give up because we're 85% of world jewry (today) and really don't like what you stand for (even though our grandparents and certainly our great-grandparents stood for the same thing).

I sat through an all day motivational selling presentation at my post-MBA orientation at a large NY bank. The one takeaway from that episode that I recall and still use to this day is the focus on "Fear and Greed". It's just another way to say WIIFM, but it is true - people are naturally apathetic (perhaps my pessimism/cynicism is not healthy?), and the best (only?) way to get them mobilized is to show them how they benefit from what you are offering, or how they will be worse off if they don't act.

So, if you wish readers to offer "the same support for Jews building in the land of Israel" as they have for the Park51 community center in Lower Manhattan, does that mean that those who oppose the community center should also oppose, say, a new Jewish facility a few blocks from Maharat Ha'Machpelah in Hebron, since an extremist radical Jew, Baruch Goldstein, murdered Muslims there, and we should be considerate of those victims' families' feelings?

I would strongly support Jews building shuls and centers in our own communities including Hebron, regardless of what other radical Jews might have done nearby, and I equally support moderate Muslims who wish to build community centers and places of worship in their communities, regardless of what other radical Muslims might have done nearby. Encouraging the Park51 center is a strongly positive response to 9/11, and the opposition to it by some Americans only feeds Al Qaeda's extremism and recruiting. {Jonathan}

What is the connection? The Moslems bought the land with their own money in their own country, and have every legal right to build on it. The Israelis building in the West Bank are occupying land that never belonged to the State of Israel, and which everyone knows will one day be part of the Palestinian state.

A friend who's been in the music industry commented on this posting and made some important points. I respect his opinion highly. I share them below:

Hi Rabbi,

I have to comment on your file sharing article.

To start, although "file sharing" is the term used to describe this practice, files are not shared. They are copied and distributed to persons who have not paid for them. And the majority of these files are for entertainment, not to sustain life. We are not speaking about food or clothing or shelter. We are talking about people who choose not to pay for something others do pay for, to save their discretionary income for something they are not able to steal for free.

Fair use, which you mention, only applies to activities that do not harm the copyright owner's market for their work. Thus, use for educational/teaching purposes would be covered, but not allowing the taking of or giving away a work to some one who would otherwise have to pay for it.

Also, the analogy of trading cassettes with friends is flawed in a couple of ways. This activity was always illegal, but not criminal, and not enforced by rights owners as it created a small amount of harm when weighed against the negative pr of enforcing these rights. More importantly, how many cassettes could any one student in a dorm make and give away? A dozen, a hundred even a thousand? That doesn't compare to the literally hundreds of millions of copies made on P2P file sharing sites.

In addition, to question the economics of whether a "mogul" or a company or artist has already made enough is surprising in a free market, even if they were the only ones being harmed, which they are not. Who decides when enough money has been made from a product? The seller, the buying public or someone who doesn't have a stake in the matter and doesn't recognize the value of intangible property or the free market?
Doesn't supply and demand and price elasticity control when enough is enough? Why should BMW, and why can BMW, charge more for a car than Hyundai if they cost the same amount to manufacture? Because enough buyers are willing to pay for the BMW at that price, is why.

File sharing is theft. There is no doubt in any of the court decisions or among any of the rights holders who spend time and money to create a work, decide to sell it and are then deprived of some portion of their potential upside by a person or persons who share it with millions of others (when at least a portion of those other people would pay for the song or movie if they could not get/steal it for free).

If you were a full time free lance author of articles, and that was how you made your living, would you still think "the jury is out" if you could not sell or syndicate the article because it is on a file sharing site available for free?

File sharing is not a romantic Robin Hood activity. It has cost the entertainment industry billions of dollars and resulted in tens of thousands of people (not moguls or stars) losing their jobs as those industries have contracted. Many of my friends and colleagues have lost their jobs as a result of this so it is not an abstract discussion to me. It is a clear and unambiguous violation of the 8th Commandment and children should be taught that.

Who will compensate for it? Libya will compensate the Jews or the Jews will make up for the Palestinians?.

Adam,

Your post is marred by woeful ignorance of Israel and how its army works.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of pictures like those posted by Eden Eberjil. Taking trophy pictures of bound detainees (or corpses) is the norm, not the exception, as has been pointed by the veteran group, Breaking the Silence, which posted some of its collection on Facebook, and was echoed in Haaretz's editorial yesterday. And it is nothing new, either.

Is it universal? Certainly not, thank God. But it is widespread, and you cannot show me a single directive of the IDF that has prohibited it, or a single soldier disciplined for doing it before Eden went Facebook.

And most Israelis think that there is nothing wrong with what Eden did, indeed, there is now a Facebook page supporting her, and a Jerusalem Post readers' poll that shows overwhelming support of the "Big deal. What was wrong with what she did?" position. Look at the talkbacks, as well.

What does all this have to do with better psychological profiling? Kick all the Eden Ebergils out of the IDF you have no IDF.

In fact, the pictures were not of suspected terrorists but apparently of Gazans illegal day laborers, who crossed into Israel in order to support their families. As you know, Gazan's freedom of movement have been curtailed by Israel in an effort to punish them collectively for electing Hamas, and to use their suffering as a bargaining chip to release Gilad Shalit. As for Kassam rocket attacks, those stopped when a cease-fire was arranged and started up again when Israel broke the cease fire. (The time line of this is well-documented.)

Finally, the security fence that snakes through occupied territory has not stopped a single suicide bomber; or at least there is no evidence to that effect. It was not pacificism that stopped suicide bombing, but a strategic decision by Hamas and other groups that suicide bombing was hurting the Palestinian cause. There is, however, abundant evidence that the security fence has a) been a method of expropriating Palestinian lands for settlement, as already recognized by the Israeli High Court, and b) destroyed the lives and livelihoods of many Palestinian civilians. Please don't make the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. In fact, the sharpest drop of suicide bombing occurred in Jerusalem, which has not been closed off by the "security fence."

In any event, go to the Breaking the Silence website and check out my post on the subject of Eden Eberjil (the latter is less important)

http://www.jeremiahhaber.com/2010/08/move-over-eden-abergil-eleven-new.html

And while you were sleeping, you may not have heard of the Israeli soldier suspected of stealing and selling laptops taken from the Gaza Flotilla. And the Israeli reaction. As one of my readers said, "Why not? Spoils of war!"

Look, all my kids served in the IDF, two as officers. They understand that these things happen when you have absolute power and when you are bored,unless you have been strongly conditioned to think otherwise. That's human nature. No amount of carrying around the IDF ethical code in your pocket is going to help, either.

Best
Jerry

I have only been able to visit Israel once, so far, and being a messianic Jew, I hope and pray for peace daily for the state of Israel. To often Idealism, and it's procrastinating abstanance encourages a more volital situation, then if we had attacked the notoriety in the first place.
I agree with BB, when some one continues to threaten you and at this point make it a public mantra (!!!) Come on, the Americans are going out of thier continent, to protect our freedoms, Israel has a right to defend itself, and the life and life force it has created with the gift they have fought to protect for over 60 years now.

I felt safer in Israel than I feel in Washington DC at night, or the day for that matter. May G-d continue to protect and defend the state of Israel.
Just Imagine the people in the Gulf coming to Washington DC, and demanding washingtonians to give up their homes, and beginning to bomb the area, what would you do washington; graciously leave, and maybe even leave instructions for how to care for the place???

this article is great and really interesting - an aspect of orthodoxy that many are afraid to touch. fantastic, brave work, sharon.

My country, America, plays by the book of polite politics too much. Our proposed sanctions against Iran have done very little to the Iranian government. Yes, sanctions have hurt the Iranian people, but have done very little against the nuclear situation. Obama won't do anything. Again, it's left up to Israel to do the dirty work. But better it be done now, before Iran has the weaponry, than later, when Iran can counterattack.
From one American to all of Israel...sorry. Looks like we're playing the role of Abe Lincoln when we should be playing the role of George Washington.

The article while trying to be accurate tends to be a bit pessimistic.

Thank you Allan,

Here's to you! Thank you for all you have said and done in your career and in your community on behalf of the environment. As the Program Director at COEJL, I would love to speak with you. We need energized people like you to help awaken our communities to speak out for the environment and do what is needed to provide a healthy planet for future generations. Please feel free to contact me at our New York office at 212.532.7436.

Kind Regards,

David L. Marks
Program Director
COEJL - Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
116 East 27th Street, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10016-8942
T: 212.532.7436
F: 212.686.1353