Every Day during the Corona crisis our Advisory Board Member Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs (NL) writes a diary, on request of the Jewish Cultural Quarter in Amsterdam, which is published on the website of the NIW, the only Jewish Dutch Magazine. Rabbi Jacobs is the head of Inter Governmental Relationships at the Rabbinical Centre of Europe. We will be regularly publishing a selection of his informative, sometimes light hearted, but always wise pieces.
For our Dutch readers you can follow the diary every day at NIW home page: https://niw.nl
9½ = 4
A few days ago, I received a phone call from Israel from M who claimed he was many years ago in school with one of my children. He was not the brightest of the class, but he always received high marks for Jewish subjects due to his diligence and good behavior. He called me to wish me many more years because of Sjawoe'ot and proudly informed me that he has recently obtained his education diploma and now supervises children with learning disabilities. I remember being shocked at the time that one of the mothers told me that M's 9½ should actually have been a 4 and not comparable to her son's 8. There is no doubt that Torah study is of mayor importance. After all, we Jews are the People of the Book, of “learning”, daily and through the ages. And yet Judaism is not about the acquired knowledge. Judaism is not science, and “learning” is not studying. A high level of knowledge is not a proof of a high level of commitment. When traveling on a train journey we know beforehand what station we want to step out. And when we leave the train, it’s visible to everybody what the destination was. That too is the way a good book works. In the title of the book, the beginning, in fact, the entire content is included. And at the very end, in the last sentence or in the last word, the conclusion becomes clear and visible. The Torah starts with the history of Creation. And our great explainer Rasjie asks an obvious question: Why does the Torah starts with the story of Creation? The Five Books of Moses are primarily intended for the Jewish People and we can only speak of the Jewish People after the Exodus from Egypt when the Torah was received on Mount Sinai. Wouldn't it have made more sense if the Torah had started with this episode and not with the creation of the world? And Rasjie answers his own question as follows: before we start studying the Torah, we must realize and accept that there is a Creator! The last sentence of the whole Thora tells us how Moshe broke the stone Tablets of the Ten Commandments and G'd is grateful to him for that deed! Isn’t that strange! Is this the most suitable sentence to finish the Thora? And what was the course of Moshe breaking the Tablets which were literally a gift from Heaven? When Moshe saw that the Jews, his people, had forgotten G'd and worshiped the Golden Calf, shouldn’t he better have put aside the Tablets, go to his people and addressed them admonishing and then took back the Tablets. Why smash them? And why was G'd so pleased with Moshe's destructive act? And again, the same answer as to the question about the story of Creation: if the Jews no longer wanted to follow Hashem our G’d Who brought them out of Egypt and instead focused on idolatry, the Torah became totally worthless and the Tablets had nothing left to offer. The Torah is not a goal, but a means. The means to serve G’d and survive as a Jewish nation. And that's why the Torah starts and ends with that thought. If we are aware that the Torah is the means, then we can start “learning”. And it is not about the 9½ or the 4, not about a high or a low IQ. It is about commitment, real piety and sincerity. Torah is a means, and those who see Torah as the goal they better go to study something else. Many good, prosperous and healthy years גוט יום טוב Binyomin Jacobs, chief rabbi Sjawoe’ot 5781
Polish legislation to outlaw blaming Poland for any crimes committed during the Holocaust.
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, General Director of the European Jewish Association (EJA), calls upon Polish President Andrzej Duda, to exercise his constitutional rights and veto the shameful resolution of the Polish lower house of Parliament (Sejm) which took place on International Holocaust Memorial day.
Rabbi Margolin expressed his hope that the heads of all Polish political parties will come to their sences and revoke the resolutions by themselves.
"This legislation is a slap in the face - especially coming on International Holocaust Memorial Day - not only to the victims and to history but also to those Polish citizens who were deemed Righteous gentiles and saved Jews from Nazi extermination , who stood in stark contrast to those (too many) Polish citizens who cooperated with the Nazis"
Rabbi Margolin has instructed the EJA's legal advisors to examine all legal avenues to revoke this shameful bil in the Polish Constitutional court and emphesized that in addition to the work in Poland, the EJA will conduct a campaign in the European Parliament and other EU institutions to have the bill revoked.
Please Watch Rabbi Margolin addressing the Polish Prime Minister on the issue:
COVID Diary- Reflections from Our Advisory Board Member Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs
Every Day during the Corona crisis our Advisory Board Member Chief Rabbi Jacobs (NL) writes a diary, on request of the Jewish Cultural Quarter in Amsterdam, which is published on the website of the NIW, the only Jewish Dutch Magazine. Rabbi Jacobs is the head of Inter Governmental Relationships at the Rabbinical Centre of Europe. We will be regularly publishing a selection of his informative, sometimes light hearted, but always wise pieces.
Here, the Rabbi offers his unique and refreshing take on the portion. For our Dutch readers you can follow the diary every day at NIW home page: https://niw.nl and then: scroll down.
On Freedom of Speech
Freedom of opinion and speech is a great asset and therefore everything must be said.
And if I am allowed to say everything, I also have to accept everything and not moan when I myself become the target of taunts. Agree!
But why then get upset about anti-Israel resolutions in the UN, the anti-Semitic floats in Aalst or the umpteenth anti-Semitic cartoon in the Volkskrant?
Everything can be said, right? A cartoon that insults the heart of Islam must be possible, right? And what's wrong with black Pete? Do dark skinned people feel offended? Don't complain, freedom of speech!
But that opinion should of course not be every opinion, because if parents want to teach their children that the family with a mom and dad is the cornerstone of society, it could be seen as discriminating towards people who have a different orientation…
A befriended non-Jewish, non-Christian, non-Muslim and unmarried journalist (thus of impeccable behaviour!) Has warned me not to write that I am in favour of freedom of expression, but that that freedom must have restrictions.
That nuancing "but" would bring a torrent of criticism on myself. "But" I don't get that, because if freedom of speech is to be cherished, then I am allowed to express my opinion, even if that opinion differs?
And so with this my opinion, straight from ancient Judaism (Proverbs of the Fathers 2: 1): “What is the right way that man must choose? Any way that gives honour to him who follows him and by which he is honoured by men. ”
In other words: Black Pete really had nothing to do with discrimination for me. But if normal thinking people with a black skin colour now experience this as discriminating, then we have to stop.
Fanaticism is no good, neither from the right nor from the left, not from religion, but also not from secularization. Because secularization can also be fanatic, compulsive and intolerant.
But just before writing this, I got a call from a secular mayor friend: "Binyomin, if you ever need to, you can count on me." This again shows: friendship and solidarity, between secular and religious, standing up for each other, that is not only possible but eminently desirable.
Hitler's Prewar Speeches Fetch Thousands at Contentious Auction
Handwritten notes for speeches given by Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler have been sold at auction in Munich. Jewish groups had expressed concerns that they might serve as encouragement to neo-Nazis.
An auction house in Munich on Friday sold notes handwritten by Adolf Hitler for speeches he gave before World War II, despite criticism from representatives of the Jewish community.
The manuscripts were purchased by anonymous bidders, with all of them going for far more than their starting prices. The top price of €34,000 ($40,300) was reached by a nine-page document with notes for a speech to new military officers in Berlin in 1939, just eight months before World War II began.
The Hermann Historica auction house has defended the sale in a telephone interview with The Associated Press, saying that the notes were of historical significance and should be kept in a museum or given to researchers.
Vehement criticism
Ahead of the auction, representatives of the Jewish community criticized the sale of the documents, saying they could serve as welcome fodder to neo-Nazis at a time when anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic crimes are on the rise in Germany and Europe.
"I cannot get my head around the sheer irresponsibility and insensitivity, in such a febrile climate, of selling items such as the ramblings of the world's biggest killer of Jews to the highest bidder," Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the head of the Brussels-based European Jewish Association, said in a statement. "What auctions like this do is help legitimize Hitler enthusiasts who thrive on this sort of stuff." The article was published on DW.com
EU court rules non-stunned halal and kosher meat cannot be marketed as organic
Some religious ritual slaughter involves slitting animals' throats without first knocking them unconscious
Halal and kosher meat cannot be labelled organic if the animal was not stunned before being killed, the EU’s highest court has ruled.
The official EU organic logo must not be used on any meat derived from an animal slaughtered while still conscious, the EU Court of Justice said on Tuesday.
Organic labelling marks out the highest standards in farming welfare, judges ruled.
Stunning animals – often done through electric shocks or through a bolt to the brain – significantly reduces suffering and therefore is integral to organic standards, the judgement concluded.
Contrary to popular belief, most livestock slaughtered in halal abattoirs are stunned before they are killed.
How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) estimates about 88% of animals killed through halal methods are stunned beforehand using techniques acceptable in Islamic law.
But a minority of halal food – and all kosher meat – does not involve stunning.
The case was brought to the EU court by a French animal welfare association in 2012, which argued halal beef should not be labelled organic.
The rules on ritual slaughter in both Islam and Judaism are complex. To be truly halal, an animal must first be healthy and then slaughtered by a Muslim by cutting the throat with a sharp knife in a single slash.
The blood must then be fully drained from the carcass. A 2012 FSA report said about 12% of the 940 million cows, sheep, pigs, and poultry birds slaughtered each year in Britain were killed in a halal manner.
It is possible to stun halal animals via electricity which makes the creatures unconscious but not dead before their throats are ritually slit.
However, Jewish kosher slaughter, known as shechita, cannot use pre-killing stunning.
Jewish abattoirs also cut the throat of animals with a sharp blade, which proponents insist causes immediate loss of consciousness and is therefore humane and meets the EU’s requirements for stunning.
The EU ruling does not affect the legality of ritual halal or kosher slaughter, but will make it harder for some ritually-slaughtered meat to be labelled organic.
Longstanding rules create an exception under the need for freedom of religion to EU regulations on killing animals without pre-stunning.
But some EU nations, including Denmark and most recently Belgium, have banned entirely ritual slaughter, a move backed by both animal welfare advocates and right-wing populists
The article was published on The independent
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