A pre-Shabbat Letter from our Rabbi:

[PCIntern]

Dear Adath Israel Community,

This week, we as a Jewish People have been horrified by the murder of Rabbis Aryeh Kupinsky, Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, Kalman Levine, and Moshe Twersky in the midst of their morning prayers at Kehilat B'nai Torah in Har Nof, Jerusalem, as well as the later death of Master Sergeant Zidan Nahad Seif, the heroic Druze police officer who lost his life after preventing further terror from the murderers who violated the Sanctuary of B'nai Torah.

This Shabbat at services, I will take an opportunity to reflect more deeply on the tragedy and what it means to us as a worldwide Jewish community. During our Shabbat morning services (similar prayers to those that the rabbis were reciting when they were struck down) we will say kaddish for those who have been lost. We will thus make the statement that kol Yisrael areivim zeh ba-zeh - that all of Israel, all of the Jewish People, are responsible and interrelated with one another, especially in comforting one another in the face of evil.

These heinous acts (and the ensuing public, worldwide justifications and celebrations of these crimes) cut to our very heart and soul. But they only strengthen our collective resolve to live in peace and security in our Jewish homeland, and especially in Jerusalem, the eternal undivided capital of the Jewish People.

As your Rabbi, I join my prayers with yours for a Shabbat Shalom - a Shabbat when we might begin to see new-found glimmers of reassurance, consolation, security, and peace.

Rabbi Eric Yanoff

[msanthrope]

1. Good Shabbos, PC. nt

[PCIntern]

2. Shabbat Shalom, msanthrope. nt

[shenmue]

3. {{{Peace}}}

[leftynyc]

4. Shabbat Shalom, PCIntern

I've been feeling the pull to attend Shabbat services all week.

[longship]

5. This atheist hopes that peace can happen in the Middle East.

And the utter madness there can be stemmed. It is my opinion that it can only happen if religious fundamentalism (not necessarily religion itself -- nobody credibly believes that) is stamped out. One does that by rational and respectful discussion, even when there are disagreements at the core of ones beliefs.

And make no mistake, what is happening in the Middle East is utter madness. And all are punished. All of them. Especially Netanyahu.

[frazzled]

6. Only one thing bothers me in this letter

The last line: "Jerusalem, the eternal undivided capital of the Jewish people."

Given that this statement is one of the largest sticking points in a resolution to this conflict, and that it is not a view accepted by the international community* ... isn't it a bit provocative? And a bit at odds with the idea of "living in peace"?

As an American Jew deeply saddened by the recent killings, I am nonetheless also not accepting of fiats declaring Jerusalem to be the "undivided capital" of the Israeli state. There will be more killings (on both sides) until all parties can come together for a compromise on the status of Jerusalem. Until final status negotiations are completed, is it wise of us to promote such provocative claims? Not even the ADL makes such claims, but rather chooses to present the various positions as yet to be resolved. (See http://archive.adl.org/israel/final_status/jerusalem_1.html)





*While the international community regards East Jerusalem, including the entire Old City, as part of the occupied Palestinian territories, neither part, West or East Jerusalem, is recognized as part of the territory of Israel or the State of Palestine. Under the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine passed by the UN in 1947, Jerusalem was envisaged to become a corpus separatum administered by the United Nations. In the war of 1948, the western part of the city was occupied by forces of the nascent state of Israel, while the eastern part was occupied by Jordan. The international community largely considers the legal status of Jerusalem to derive from the partition plan, and correspondingly refuses to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the city.

[PCIntern]

7. Uh-huh. noted. nt