The frame of our new building is now complete. Take a look at the three pictures below: the top one shows a view of the site looking northeast. The middle picture shows an eastward view. (See the raised ceiling on on the third floor? That’s our sanctuary/social hall!) The bottom picture shows the signed beam (see previous diary entry) bolted into place in the second floor landing of the main stairwell.
Posted in JRC Construction Diaries
However one feels about the policies that have made such a mess of the Iraq war, it is politically and morally unacceptable to be so distanced from those in harm’s way and their families.
–Tom Brokaw (Washington Post, 11/26/2006)
There’s been hardly any media interest in the unrelieved agony of tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq. It’s an ugly subject, and the idea has taken hold that Americans need to be protected from stories or images of the war that might be disturbing. As a nation we can wage war, but we don’t want the public to be too upset by it.
–Bob Herbert (New York Times, 4/25/2005)
America is a nation at war. That is a simple and obvious statement, but I believe most of us would be hard pressed to articulate how this fact affects us in any fundamental way. Unless we have loved ones directly involved in this conflict, the war in Iraq war has precious little personal impact upon our lives. We know that American soldiers and Iraqi civilians are dying on a daily basis, but for the most of us the dead and wounded are merely faceless, nameless individuals in a conflagration taking place far, far away from our homes.
As of this writing, 3072 members of the Coalition Forces have now been killed in the war. (It has been widely reported that more US soldiers have now been killed than the number who perished during the 9/11 attacks). Iraqi civilian deaths are more difficult to ascertain, but most estimate that well more than 50,000 have been killed since the war began in March 2003. But lest we become inured to these kinds of statistics, we would do well to remind ourselves that each of these individuals is a father or a mother, a friend and a loved one. To paraphrase the Talmud, each person killed in Iraq is a whole world unto him or herself.
Starting last December, JRC began the practice of reading the names of five American soldiers and five Iraqi civilians who have been killed in the war in Iraq during our Shabbat services (before our Prayer for Peace.) It’s our way of very simply reminding ourselves that we are nation at war, that war comes with a real human cost – that war is not just an abstract concept, but a very terrible and daily reality for real life individuals.
We also want to honor the truth that the massive loss of Iraqi civilian life has been a particularly tragic consequence of this conflict. Unlike the US war dead, our country does not keep public record of civilian casualties. – and thus it is all the more critical to name the nameless, to honor the memory of innocent Iraqis who are living and dying in the crossfire of war.
Some might reasonably ask, why are we singling out those killed in this particular conflict? Aren’t there people dying in Israel and the territories, in Darfur and Somalia, in any number of horrible conflicts around the world?
There are certainly no lack of human tragedies that would be worthy of mention when we gather for services. The prospect is truly overwhelming to contemplate. But being overwhelmed is no excuse for paralysis or silence. I personally believe that if we’re to honor the memory of the fallen in our midst, we must find the wherewithal to begin somewhere.
I’d like to think that by naming the nameless of this one terrible conflict, we’re naming the nameless of wars everywhere.
(To read in-depth news and lists regarding US soldier deaths and casualities, visit Iraq Coalition Casualty Count. For news and lists of Iraqi civilian deaths, visit Iraq Body Count.)
The steel frame of our building has been going up all week and as of today it is almost complete. It is amazing to see how quickly the steel has been assembled. It is finally starting to look like a building!
Last Sunday JRC members gathered throughout the day to sign one of the steel beams. All day long folks dropped by to affix their names, messages, blessings, etc. that will become a permanent part of our synagogue structure.
It was a typically chilly Chicago day so we held the beam signing inside the construction trailer. Despite the cold weather (and the competing Bears playoff game) over 200 people dropped by to pick up a Sharpie and add their signatures to the beam!
The rest of the structure should be completed by next week. It’s not clear when our next communal ritual opportunity will take place, but knowing JRC, I’m sure we’ll think of something…
Posted in JRC Construction Diaries
The drumbeats for a US invasion of Iran continue – and sadly, there are still precious few in the Jewish community who are willing to suggest that Iranian President Ahmadinejad is anything less than Hitler incarnate. (See my earlier post on what I believe is an unfortunate and unhelpful comparison). Amidst all the rising rhetoric, I’d like to spotlight one under-reported but profoundly critical anti-war voice: namely, the Iranian Human Rights community. Two of my personal human rights heroes in this regard are Akbar Ganji and Shirin Ebadi.
Ganji is an Iranian journalist who has written and spoken out extensively against Iran’s oppressive domestic policies. He spent six years in prison and underwent an extended hunger strike before his release in March 2006. Although the US government spoke out on his behalf, Ganji refused a personal invitation to the White House last summer because he believes current US policy does not help promote the cause of democracy in Iran.
In an interview last July, Ganji had this to say about a potential US invasion of Iran:
We strongly oppose any military invasion against our country. First, it is impossible to invade Iran in the same manner that Iraq and Afghanistan were invaded. The most they can do is to launch missile attacks from afar or to perform pinpoint operations against. But this will not bring democracy. It will only devastate our country. And it’s certainly not clear that this would bring down the tyrannical regime.
Democracy cannot be exported with the use of military invasion or with $75 million budgets. The sad situation we witnessed in Iraq is certainly more than enough. We follow a third line. And the third line says no to American foreign policy and says no to the policies of the Iranian regime. We are antiwar. We speak for peace. And in order to bring peace, we need the system in our country to become democratic. However, we are the agents of bringing that democracy, not the United States.
President Bush and Mr. Blair have already admitted that these tyrannical despotic systems have been put in place by the West, and even today that they have realized their past mistake, they intend to solve it through a military solution. But there is no military solution to the problem.
Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer and human rights activist who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts – in particular on behalf of women and children in Iran. Like Ganji (whose case she defended), Ebadi has also spent time in an Iranian prison. And like Ganji, Ebadi believes that an invasion of Iran would be a tragedy for all concerned. In an 2005 article for the Independant (UK), she wrote:
Not only would a foreign invasion of Iran vitiate popular support for human rights activism, but by destroying civilian lives, institutions and infrastructure, war would also usher in chaos and instability. Respect for human rights is likely to be among the first casualties.
Instead, the most effective way to promote human rights in Iran is to provide moral support and international recognition to independent human rights defenders, and to insist that Iran adhere to the international human rights laws and conventions that it has signed.
Getting the Iranian government to abide by these international standards is the human rights movement’s highest goal; foreign military intervention in Iran is the surest way to harm us and keep that goal out of reach.
Iranian society is much more complex and multi-faceted than the image conveyed by our government and media. For years within Iran, there has been a growing movement of local politicians, grassroots activists, and young bloggers working tirelessly for civil society and human rights in their beloved country. Certainly no one has less illusions about Iranian oppression than courageous activists like Ganji and Ebadi – and few have as much moral authority as they to address the disastrous prospect of a US-led invasion.
As the drumbeats grow louder, I believe their collective voice is one we would do well to heed.
“See, I shall strike the water in the Nile with the rod that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood; and the fish in the Nile will die. The Nile will stink so that the Egyptians will find it impossible to drink the water of the Nile.” — Exodus 7:17-18
Many commentators point out there is a well-structured literary artistry to the Torah’s portrayal of the Ten Plagues. Biblical scholars generally divide the first “natural” nine plagues up into three groups of three each, with the “supernatural” final plague standing alone unto itself. It is also commonly accepted that the plagues serve to underscore the power of the Israelite’s God over Egypt, and in fact, over all nature. Scholar Nahum Sarna’s comments typify this well-known interpretation:
The controlling purpose behind this literary architecture is to emphasize the idea that the nine plagues are not random vicissitudes of nature; although they are natural disasters, they are deliberate and purposeful acts of divine will – their intent being retributive, coercive and educative…They are to demonstrate to Egypt the impotence of its gods and, by contrast, the incomparability of YHVH, God of Israel, as the one supreme sovereign God of Creation, who uses the phenomenon of the natural order for His own purposes. (JPS Torah Commentary on Exodus, p. 38.)
The theological agenda of the Biblical author notwithstanding, it is also possible to detect a powerful environmental attitude expressed in the description of the plagues – and the first six in particular. What does it mean that the waters of the Nile were turned to blood? Some have suggested that this phenomenon might be viewed as a naturalistic reference to the overflow of red silt that is produced from the Nile during Egypt’s heavy rainy seasons. It has also been suggested that the mixing of bacteria with the red earth could conceivably affect the oxygen balance of the Nile’s waters, resulting in the killing off of the river’s fish described in verse 18.
In turn, the compromising of the Nile’s waters may well have initiated a kind of chain reaction – bringing a inevitable sequence of plagues into the Egyptian community. It is not unreasonable to imagine, for instance, that the drastic change in the Nile’s waters led to the second plague: an over abundance of frogs displaced from their natural habitat. The third and fourth plagues – lice and insects – would also be an inevitable by-product of the putrefying fish and frogs. This imbalance could easily have created a fertile breeding ground for pestilence, resulting in the fifth and sixth plagues: cattle disease and boils, respectively.
The ecological significance of the first six plagues is undeniable. The Torah describes a dramatic process in which the compromising of the Nile’s precious balance initiates an environmental domino effect – eventually reaching out into Egyptian society itself. Contemporary scientists teach us much the same thing: the biodiversity that pervades our natural world exists in an intricate balance. The moment the habitat of one species is compromised, other elements of our biodiversity are inevitably affected.
This warning was dramatically expressed in 1992, when approximately 1,700 of the world’s scientists (a majority of them Nobel Prize laureates) signed the “World’s Scientists Warning to Humanity.” Regarding the current threat to living species, the letter stated:
The irreversible loss of species, which by 2100 may reach one third of all species now living, is especially serious. We are losing the potential they hold for providing medicinal and other benefits, and the contribution that genetic diversity of life forms gives to the robustness of the world’s biological systems and to the astonishing beauty of the earth itself.
Much of this damage is irreversible on a scale of centuries or permanent. Other processes appear to pose additional threats. Increasing levels of gases in the atmosphere from human activities, including carbon dioxide released from fossil fuel burning and from deforestation, may alter climate on a global scale. Predictions of global warming are still uncertain—with projected effects ranging from tolerable to very severe—but the potential risks are very great.
Our massive tampering with the world’s interdependent web of life—coupled with the environmental damage inflicted by deforestation, species loss, and climate change—could trigger widespread adverse effects, including unpredictable collapses of critical biological systems whose interactions and dynamics we only imperfectly understand.
While we may not be used to reading the Exodus story as an environmental cautionary tale, the challenge posed by Parashat Va’era is nonetheless profound. Embedded within this story of spiritual/political liberation may lie an ecological vision with equally universal implications. Have we unleashed a similar series of plagues upon our contemporary world? Will we yet find a way to maintain the “world’s interdependent web of life?”
Posted in Environmentalism, Torah Commentary
The journalistic bombshell of the week is Tuesday’s report in Ha’aretz that Israelis and Syrians formulated a series of “understandings for a peace agreement” in a series of secret meetings in Europe between September 2004 and July 2006.
According to the article, the agreement would include:
- Israel’s withdrawal from the Golan Heights to the Pre-1967 lines.
- A park to be set up for joint use as a buffer zone by Israelis and Syrians along the Sea of Galilee.
- Israel continued control over the use of the waters of the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee.
- Syria’s agreement to end its support for Hezbollah and Hamas and to distance itself from Iran.
Inevitably, after the article hit, official government sources in Israel and Syria vehemently denied any such meetings ever took place. Yeah right…
Ah, the tortured dance of diplomacy! Still, in this increasingly polarized world of ours, it’s heartening to know there are still those those who are endeavoring to keep the channels of communication open. Thank God for low-level diplomats…
Here’s the full text of the document drafted during the secret talks. As always, check out Joshua Landis’ blog SyriaComment for ongoing analysis about this increasingly critical part of the Middle East world.
The first delivery of structural steel has arrived!
Now the construction crew will assemble the beams like an erector set, fastening and tightening the bolts, and eventually welding them into place. By the end of the week we should be able to see significant progress in the framework of our building.
This Sunday, we are having a congregation-wide “beam signing.” JRC members have been invited to write their names, messages, blessings, etc. on one of the steel beams before it is installed for posterity. True to form we never pass up an opportunity to gather together for ritual purposes…
Posted in JRC Construction Diaries
“The Israelites were groaning under the bondage and cried out; and their cry for help from the bondage rose up to God.” — Exodus 2:23
“Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come…” — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The book of Exodus opens, famously, with a vivid depiction of the Israelites’ oppression at the hands of Pharaoh. By the end of the second chapter, their collective cry reaches a crescendo of sorts – a kind of cosmic “tipping point.” Subsequently, we read, “God heard their moaning, and God remembered the covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. God looked upon the Israelites and God took notice of them” (2:24-25)
From a purely literal point of view, we might read the verses above as the awakening of an anthropormorphic God to the cry of a people oppressed. This divine attribute is not unusual in Torah – witness God’s remarks to Abraham before the Sodom and Gomorrah episode: “I will go down and see whether they have acted altogether according to their outcry that has reached me” (Genesis 18:16).
Those less inclined to supernatural literalism might understand this passage as a description of the Godly process by which a people is roused to realize its liberation. Yes, the Exodus story teaches us about the harsh reality of enslavement – and how the spirit of a people can become crushed and beaten down through collective oppression. But Exodus story also ultimately reminds us that a crushed spirit can never be fully broken – that there comes a point by which the collective cry of the oppressed will rouse the divine impulse that makes for freedom.
This is, in short, how liberation movements are created. As history has demonstrated, once this tipping point has been reached, freedom is not merely possible – it is inevitable. This concept was literally revolutionary for its time and remains so today. Indeed, though the Exodus is most certainly a central sacred story for the Jewish people, it important to recognize that it has also been the inspiration for a myriad of liberation movements throughout the centuries. (See, for instance, Michael Walzer’s wonderful book “Exodus and Revolution” for more on this point).
It is especially noteworthy that we begin reading the book of Exodus on the same weekend that we celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – a civil rights leader who placed the Exodus story at the center of the movement he helped to create. In truth, the American civil rights movement represents a profound example of a political/spiritual tipping point: a moment in history in which a people’s collective cry was transformed into very real social and polical change. King himself identified this dynamic in his classic essay, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail:”
Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come. This is what happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom; something without has reminded him that he can gain it. Consciously and unconsciously, he has been swept in by what the Germans call the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa, and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and the Caribbean, he is moving with a sense of cosmic urgency toward the promised land of racial justice.
As Shabbat Shemot and MLK Day serendipitously converge, we should be doubly mindful of this truth: the cry of the oppressed does not and should not simply echo off into the night. The urge for freedom will eventually come. At the same time, as we recount these histories we must continue to ask ourselves honestly: where are the collective cries for help in our own day? What will we do to help tip the balance towards justice and liberation?
Posted in Civil Rights, Judaism, Religion, Torah Commentary
The foundation is now complete! The workers have spent the week leveling off the site and believe it or not, the first shipment of structural steel will arrive this Monday. The next three weeks will be spent erecting the basic frame of the building. We are told it will go up very fast, in thirds, from the east side to the west, three stories at a time. By the end of January, we will have a very good idea of what the building will look like structurally.
If you are wondering why most of the ground in this picture still looks like so much dirt, it’s because the concrete slab that will provide the foundation floor will not be poured until March. Though the caissons, foundation walls and grade beams are firmly in place, the leveled ground needs to be left as bare earth for now so the workers can install the necessary underground plumbing, etc. The concrete for the third and second floors will actually be poured in place before the ground floor goes in.
Perhaps I’ll weigh in on the “Global Warming” vs. “El Nino” controversy in a future post. For now, let’s just say that the unseasonably warm weather has been kind to our construction project. We are still right on schedule.
Posted in JRC Construction Diaries
From My Other Blog:
Parashat Bo 5767
Why does God need the Israelites to mark the doorposts of their houses with blood? Being omniscient, wouldn’t God automatically know the difference between an Israelite and an Egyptian house? Rashi famously answers this question by pointing to the words “a sign for you.” According to this interpretation, the blood on the doorpost is less a sign for God than it is for the Israelites – presumably as a reminder of God’s redemptive power.
Taking Rashi one step further, we might regard the blood on the doorpost not only as an internal sign for the Israelites, but as an external sign for the Egyptians as well. After all, by marking their doorposts in the way, the Israelites were publicly identifying themselves and their households throughout Egypt. Marking their homes with blood was thus be an act of proud defiance – the Israelites were, in a sense “wearing their oppression” openly to the outside world.
Ironically, however, blood is not only symbolic of oppression and death, but of life force. Indeed, according to the Ancient Israelite world view, sacrificial blood was regarded as having saving power. By marking their homes with their pain, the Israelites were also saving themselves – initiating a process that would lead to their eventual redemption.
Post Script: The notion of publicly “wearing one’s pain” was recently explored in a powerful way by one contemporary artist. In 1996, a Jewish museum in Berkeley, CA displayed a mezuzah filled with artist Albert Winn’s HIV-infected blood on a temporary doorpost. Winn commented that displaying his blood was his personal way of “making sense” of his illness while raising awareness about HIV/AIDS on World AIDS Day.
Post-Post Script: The CBS News reported last summer on a fascinating phenomenon occurring in the Gulf Coast region: the dramatic increase in tattoos bearing storm-related images. According to the report, many Katrina survivors are having images of “hurricane swirls, crumbling buildings, names of the dead or broken hearts gushing floodwater” displayed permanently on their bodies. One tattoo parlor owner suggested that these new tattoos were a kind of therapy for the wearers:
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Posted in HIV/AIDS, Hurricane Katrina, Torah Commentary