Grapevine, June 14, 2024: Shuttle diplomacy

Ever since the days of Henry Kissinger, American secretaries of state have been practicing shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East, and it looks as if Antony Blinken may be doing so with greater frequency than Kissinger had done. Unfortunately for Blinken and other high-ranking American officials, protocol demands that all their visits to Israel include meetings with a certain number of high-ranking Israelis, including the president. On these visits, Blinken cannot afford the luxury of sleeping in. His meeting with President Isaac Herzog on Tuesday morning was at 8 a.m.

Unlike his predecessors, Herzog seldom publishes his public schedule, with the exception of one or two events in any given week, although he has many more. His spokespeople put out a press release afterwards, which is largely devoted to anything Herzog may have said and barely notes anything of interest said by his guest(s). All his meetings with Blinken and other senior American officials are announced in advance, even though they are closed to the media. There’s something amiss when that which was always public is kept private and that which is private is made public in advance, after which a censored version is released by the Government Press Office.

Smotrich's tone

THE BITTER pre-Shavuot exchange between Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and families of the hostages is untenable. There is no justification for his language or tone. True, there are a few loose cannons among the family members, but their outbursts are born of frustration and desperation. They behave quite differently when sympathetic radio and television anchors interview them, and they are often pathetically grateful for the opportunity to speak about their missing loved one(s) or to send a message in case a loved one has access to a radio. One wonders how Smotrich would react if one or more of his own children had been taken hostage.

Lessons of the Bible

“FOR THE sake of our Brothers. Sisters, and Friends” is a line taken out of the Jewish prayer book and made more widely known by the late Singing Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach to a tune that he composed. This is the theme today– Friday, June 14, 4 p.m. – at a welcoming of the Sabbath jointly organized by the families of the hostages still in captivity in Gaza together with Beit Avi Chai at the intersection of Balfour and Gaza Roads, Jerusalem. Last Tuesday night, Beit Avi Chai and about a dozen nearby synagogues were the destinations of what seemed to be an endless parade of people going to all-night studies, a customary Shavuot practice according to which a series of lecturers give talks on a variety of subjects directly or indirectly related to the Bible.

Most synagogues and cultural centers in this part of Jerusalem offer lectures in English as well as Hebrew, and Beit Avi Chai is no exception. Lectures were held in four different parts of the building, with three reserved for those in Hebrew. In the fourth section, lecturers in English included author and journalist Yossi Klein Halevi, Bible teacher Judy Klitsner, and international lawyer, playwright, and former Israeli ambassador to the UK, Daniel Taub.

A very personal and poignant aspect for Klein Halevi was that his grandparents were deported to Auschwitz on Shavuot. Klitsner, a natural comedian, proved that Bible study can be fun. Despite addressing the serious topic of division among Jews and their ancestors since the time of Cain and Abel, Klitsner’s presentation was hilarious and provoked much laughter. Taub spoke of works – mainly holy books – that are lost or improved in translation and how translations can depend on cultural differences or politics – or both. In his introduction to cultural differences, he gave the word “key” as an example. In German, the word for key is schlussel, and when used as a verb, it means to lock up. In Hebrew, the word for key is mafteach, the verb for which is to open up – two completely different cultural concepts, which explains why there are so many discrepancies in various translations of any one book or poem, including the bible.

Mothers and fathers

ASHKENAZI CHIEF Rabbi David Lau went slightly beyond his usual geographic boundaries when, in Jerusalem for major Jewish holy days, including Shavuot, he delivered a fascinating sermon following the afternoon (Mincha) service at Hazvi Yisrael synagogue in the neighborhood of Talbiyeh. The sermon illustrated the complexities of the Jewish religion, weighing biblical commandments against regular good deeds, both of which are known as mitzvot in Hebrew. It’s a biblical commandment to honor one’s parents, but that does not specifically entail depriving oneself. Lau gave more than one example, but the first was particularly interesting from a human interest perspective: A young man gave a donation to the synagogue that he attended in order to be called to the Torah during the reading of the weekly portion. His father, who was at the service, started screaming at him, berating him for buying a call-up to the Torah for himself instead of for his father. No amount of reasoning could persuade the father to stop shouting, and congregants began taking sides.

While it was true that the young man was obligated by a Torah commandment to honor his father, said Lau, he was not obligated to arrange for his father to be called to the Torah. It would have been nice had he done so, but there is no commandment to do it. In the overwhelming majority of cases, a person should not forfeit a biblical commandment to enable someone else to perform it unless there is some urgent or compelling reason to do so, and then only if it is a commandment that is not specifically time-sensitive. Although Lau was fairly clear in his explanations, it would not be surprising if some of his listeners were more confused at the conclusion of his lecture than they had been at the beginning.

After the Holocaust

ON SATURDAY this week, Hazvi Yisrael congregants will meet Rabbi Avi Baumol, the third of three top-notch finalists in the congregation’s search for a spiritual leader.

A Yeshiva University alumnus, Baumol has a BA in Economics and an MA in Medieval Jewish History. He is also a licensed Israeli tour guide.

His previous positions included a long stint as a rabbi in Krakow, Poland. His grandfather, Rabbi Joseph Baumol, was ordained as a rabbi in Tarnow, in pre-Holocaust Poland, and settled in America before the war. He lost most of his family in the Holocaust but built a life for himself in New York as a pulpit rabbi and a rosh yeshiva (dean of a yeshiva) in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and after many years, he settled in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Avi Baumol, who lives with his family in Efrat, went to serve in Krakow in 2014 and spent five years helping to revive Jewish life there. His most profound experiences came from people who had only recently discovered they were Jewish and wanted him to teach them about Judaism. Presumably, this will come up in discussion when he addresses the Hazvi Yisrael congregation.

Ashkenazim and non-Ashkenazim

EUROPEAN JEWS who came to pre-State Israel during the century before the state’s establishment did not always take kindly to their non-Ashkenazi co-religionists, especially those from North Africa. The Ashkenazim considered themselves superior, and unfortunately, some still do, despite the many laudable achievements of immigrants and their descendants from Morocco, Iraq, Syria, Tunis, Egypt, and elsewhere in the region.

Today, people originating from these countries are mostly known as Mizrachim (Orientals) or Sephardim, and they come within the purview of the World Union of Sephardi Jews (more commonly known by its French title, Union Sefaradi Mundial), which is headed by internationally renowned legal expert and former cabinet minister Shimon Shetreet. The WUSJ aims to remove the stigma associated with Jews from Arab lands by demonstrating how many of them have contributed to the development of the State of Israel in numerous fields and by strengthening the status of those living in peripheral communities.

This week, within the framework of these activities, WUSJ awarded citations to some 25 people who have made an impact in various ways. At a festive event at Jerusalem’s Ben Zvi Institute, where Israel’s second president, Yitzhak Ben Zvi, lived during his tenure, citations were awarded to past and present diplomats, academics, entertainers, political figures, religious personalities, journalists, and more. Judging by the surnames of many of the recipients, the Sephardim were far more accepting of the “other” than were the Ashkenazim. The surnames were not just a result of intermarriage between Sephardi and Ashkenazi families. There were also people with longstanding Ashkenazi ancestry. Those Ashkenazim who continue to be biased against Jews from Arab lands should remember that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and King David were not Ashkenazim. Among the award recipients was founding president of the Ambassadors’ Club of Israel and former chief of State Protocol Yitzhak Eldan, who, like Shetreet, was born in Morocco; Tunis-born journalist Peggy Cidor, who, for more than a decade, has been writing on Jerusalem affairs for In Jerusalem, the local supplement of The Jerusalem Post, following a 20-year career in broadcast journalism; and journalist and political analyst Nechama Duek.

Other recipients included actress, singer, dancer, and radio and television personality Rivka Michaeli; singer and songwriter Hanan Yovel; composer and musician David Krivoshei; cabinet ministers and Knesset members Limor Livnat, Orit Noked, Zehava Galon, and Uri Machlev; and Mayors Miriam Fierberg Ikar (Netanya), Moti Sasson (Holon), Ron Kunik (Givatayim), Ruvik Danilovich (Beersheba), and Moshe Fadlon (Herzliya), along with others who have done much for the state without public acknowledgment or awards. This was a way to amend this lacuna. Even people who have won admiration, respect, and recognition may have certain achievements and accomplishments that they value more but that have not been previously recognized.

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