Rabbi Pinchas Stolper, ZTz"L, Plugged the Assimilation Leak

 

NCSY National Convention 1967
That's me receiving Standards Award from Rabbi Stolper

Rabbi Pinchas Stolper passed away a few weeks ago. If you google his name, you'll find information and a number of obituaries. None of them touches on the man who was instrumental in introducing me to "Torah True Judaism" as he had called it, during my years, mid-late 1960s, in NCSY National Conference of Synagogue Youth of the OU.

Immediately upon reading an email announcing his death and planned burial in Jerusalem, I contacted a few old friends from NCSY who live here in Israel not far from me. It was clear to me that I had to attend his funeral. According to Jewish Tradition, attending the funeral honors the dead person, and a shiva visit comforts the mourners. From the announcement there wouldn't even be a shiva in Israel.

Who, you may be wondering, was Rabbi Stolper? And how close was I to him? To be perfectly honest, I'd never been invited to his home and don't remember much in actual personal conversations, except when we were preparing posters for the NCSY marchers in the 1967 Salute to Israel Parade, just after the Six Days War. Rabbi Stolper couldn't contain his joy at Israel's miraculous victory. Rabbi Stolper did attend my wedding in 1970 where he spoke about Israeli History from the vantage point of a Betari, which we had in common. See my husband's blog post about Rabbi Stolper on the Betar blog.

In 1963 when I first got involved in NCSY I was just looking for friends. We had just moved to Great Neck a few months before, and I didn't fit in at all. My family ended up joining the Great Neck Synagogue, an Orthodox shul which may not have been a good fit religiously, but the price was right. Orthodox we weren't, nor Sabbath observers nor kosher. 

Post World War Two most people considered Orthodox Jewry a dying breed. Considering the attraction of assimilation, poverty of the Great Depression, the trauma of Holocaust and the Jewish men who spent years away from home, the UOJCA, now called OU was desperate to keep Jewish teens Jewish. In the early 1950s they established NCSY. Member synagogues were encouraged to establish chapters and have activities for the youth. At that time there were few Jewish Day Schools, and not all the families could afford to send their children. Also, many member families were like mine, not at all religious. So NCSY had a dual aim:

• Keep the religious kids religious.
• Introduce Judaism to the non-observant and encourage them to follow the mitzvot

NCSY wasn't a Zionist youth movement. The term "aliyah" wasn't heard officially at all in the 1960s, though quite a few of my NCSY friends are living here in Israel now.

I'm not sure of the exact year, but sometime before my joining NCSY, Rabbi Pinchas Stolper had been appointed as National Director. He must have succeeded, because there was soon an Assistant National Director, Rabbi Chaim Wasserman. 

Rabbi Stolper was a Zionist activist and a Betari. He had been Natziv, Head of North American Betar in the very early 1950s. He and his wife tried living in Israel but went back to New York. Rabbi Stolper built an amazing youth organization with chapters, grouped by regions, all over North America. He was an amazing administrator. NCSY events went like clockwork; each session started and ended on time. Chapters hosted regional Shabbat programs. For teens like myself, this was our first introduction to Shabbat. Even those from religious homes learned to enjoy Shabbat even more than they had. We sang Jewish tunes and danced and sang and danced. I'm convinced that Torah True Judaism entered my heart and mind via my dancing feet and loud singing, not that I understood the words of the songs. The educational "sessions" were led by some brilliant people. There are things I remember to this day. 

At National Conventions, held in a large hotel, The Pine View, only Shabbat ended late. But that was the plan. Rabbi Stolper led the Havdala, and some of us girls were given lit candles to hold high. We were told that the higher the candle, the taller our future husband would be. Rabbi Stolper was most inspiring during Havdala.

The key to the success in reaching Jewish teens like myself was the tolerance of the staff of advisors. We were given time and acceptance while learning and experiencing Torah True Judaism. In those days, tzniyut modesty was rare, even religious women wore sleeveless and Orthodox synagogues hosted dances. Some OU member synagogues didn't have a mechitza separation and even had mixed seating. The OU was in a "war for Orthodox survival," and Rabbi Stolper was assigned to save Jewish youth. Yes, he and his staff worked hard stop the flood of assimilation, and they succeeded. The terms "outreach" and "baal teshuva movement" came afterwards. In the 1960s Yeshiva University Youth Bureau also had activities for teens on Shabbat and weeklong Seminars late summer and during winter vacation. It wasn't a national organization; I went to some of their events, too.

The Friday of Rabbi Stolper's funeral as one of my NCSY friends and I waited with his Israeli relatives for the bereaved children and body to arrive from the states, I wondered why there weren't mobs of people. From my perspective, Rabbi's Stolper's influence on North American Jewry was humongous, but it was half a century ago and more. Or can we say that his great success in strengthening Torah Judaism in teens has produced a generation that is incapable of fully comprehending what a miraculous success he had accomplished?

יהי זכרו ברוך

I wrote the following blog posts which also mention Rabbi Stolper and NCSY:

NCSY at 60!, Havdalah, What? I'm Not Unique?!

NCSY, What We Didn't Know

'In Every Generation...' A Voice From My Past

Aliyah, Moving To Israel

Is Aliyah, Moving To Israel the "elephant in the room" for Jews who live abroad, in Chu"L, out of the Land of Israel?

To be perfectly honest, I'd say "no."

I grew up like most Jews, totally ignorant of the concept of "Aliyah." I also didn't know about Shabbat, kashrut and most of the Jewish Holidays. Jewish History was also pretty much a blank in my mind, as was the Bible, stories and Land. I was made vaguely aware of a bit of it in the Hebrew School I went to six hours a week for five years, in the Conservative Oakland Jewish Center. The teachers there were between a rock and a hard place, as the saying goes. The vast majority were actually strictly practicing and believing Orthodox Jews, but they had to dilute their teaching to suit the Conservative theology and the even less Jewishly committed parents, who would have had them fired or pull their kids out of the school if there were signs of "brainwashing."

But I knew very well that I was Jewish, even if I couldn't define exactly what that meant.

As ignorant and oblivious as I and my Jewish peers were in the 1950's and early 1960's, I know that today's young Jews, with the very minor exception of those who are strongly committed to their Jewishness, know much less than we did.

Many diaspora Jews today either have no real idea that they are Jewish or think they are Jewish and don't realize that there are halachik (Jewish Law) complications which make their Jewish identity very problematic. Assimilation and intermarriage are causing a bloodless Holocaust, which shouldn't be ignored. The big problem there is that there really isn't a solution, simple or otherwise.

The actual percentage of olim chadashim, new immigrants to Israel of diaspora Jews is horrendously minuscule. We all do our best to make olim chadashim feel as welcome as possible, but the actual success of one's aliyah depends more on the oleh/olah (immigrant) than it does on the welcomers, veteran Israelis and the systems here.

We're here in Israel for almost half a century, and I've never been sorry about our move for even a second.

Following are photos I took a number of years ago of a Nefesh B'Nefesh charter flight to Israel.

Assad Murders Syrians, Can it Be Stopped?

While the Syrian terrorist dictator Assad continues his murderous rampage, using chemical weapons plus against Syrians, anti-Israel countries conspire to condemn Israel for self-defense.

The pictures coming out of Syria are awful and make it clear that Assad is targeting civilians.

https://www.reuters.tv/v/jqy/2018/04/09/trump-says-big-price-to-pay-for-syria-attack

There are reports of  Syrian bases being bombed, but nobody knows who's doing it for sure. I have this picture in my mind of some mysterious cartoon character swooping in to "save the day."

My innate pragmatism makes me very pessimistic. That's because the western so-called developed world is being taken over by Moslems. That's because Christian society, even the Catholic countries are just not reproducing. Their birthrate is in the negative, especially among the academics, but even in "blue collar" social/economic circles. This means a serious lack of workers, and also not enough young people to pay into the governmental pension systems, like American Social Security.

That's why Europe and the United States are easing their immigration laws and encouraging even illegal migrants to remain. Somebody has to work. But the question is whether these newcomers, mostly Muslim, will assimilate into the existing culture and value system, or will they change society into their own.

Any objective social observer with a knowledge of history should be very worried.

Lot's Daughters, Vayera, Torah Portion of the Week

Today while reading Vayera, the Torah Portion of the Week, Parshat Shavua, I thought about Lot's two daughters. What they did sounds so totally unimaginable:

Genesis Chapter 19:31And the elder said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is no man on earth to come upon us, as is the custom of all the earth.		לאוַתֹּ֧אמֶר הַבְּכִירָ֛ה אֶל־הַצְּעִירָ֖ה אָבִ֣ינוּ זָקֵ֑ן וְאִ֨ישׁ אֵ֤ין בָּאָ֨רֶץ֙ לָב֣וֹא עָלֵ֔ינוּ כְּדֶ֖רֶךְ כָּל־הָאָֽרֶץ:
32Come, let us give our father wine to drink, and let us lie with him, and let us bring to life seed from our father."		לבלְכָ֨ה נַשְׁקֶ֧ה אֶת־אָבִ֛ינוּ יַ֖יִן וְנִשְׁכְּבָ֣ה עִמּ֑וֹ וּנְחַיֶּ֥ה מֵֽאָבִ֖ינוּ זָֽרַע:
33And they gave their father wine to drink on that night, and the elder came and lay with her father, and he did not know of her lying down or of her rising up.		לגוַתַּשְׁקֶ֧יןָ אֶת־אֲבִיהֶ֛ן יַ֖יִן בַּלַּ֣יְלָה ה֑וּא וַתָּבֹ֤א הַבְּכִירָה֙ וַתִּשְׁכַּ֣ב אֶת־אָבִ֔יהָ וְלֹֽא־יָדַ֥ע בְּשִׁכְבָ֖הּ וּבְקוּמָֽהּ:
34And it came to pass on the morrow, that the elder said to the younger, "Behold, last night I lay with my father. Let us give him wine to drink tonight too, and come, lie with him, and let us bring to life seed from our father."		לדוַֽיְהִי֙ מִמָּֽחֳרָ֔ת וַתֹּ֤אמֶר הַבְּכִירָה֙ אֶל־הַצְּעִירָ֔ה הֵֽן־שָׁכַ֥בְתִּי אֶ֖מֶשׁ אֶת־אָבִ֑י נַשְׁקֶ֨נּוּ יַ֜יִן גַּם־הַלַּ֗יְלָה וּבֹ֨אִי֙ שִׁכְבִ֣י עִמּ֔וֹ וּנְחַיֶּ֥ה מֵֽאָבִ֖ינוּ זָֽרַע:
35So they gave their father to drink on that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know of her lying down or of her rising up.		להוַתַּשְׁקֶ֜יןָ גַּ֣ם בַּלַּ֧יְלָה הַה֛וּא אֶת־אֲבִיהֶ֖ן יָ֑יִן וַתָּ֤קָם הַצְּעִירָה֙ וַתִּשְׁכַּ֣ב עִמּ֔וֹ וְלֹֽא־יָדַ֥ע בְּשִׁכְבָ֖הּ וּבְקֻמָֽהּ:
36And Lot's two daughters conceived from their father.		לווַתַּֽהֲרֶ֛יןָ שְׁתֵּ֥י בְנֽוֹת־ל֖וֹט מֵֽאֲבִיהֶֽן:
37And the elder bore a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of Moab until this day.		לזוַתֵּ֤לֶד הַבְּכִירָה֙ בֵּ֔ן וַתִּקְרָ֥א שְׁמ֖וֹ מוֹאָ֑ב ה֥וּא אֲבִֽי־מוֹאָ֖ב עַד־הַיּֽוֹם:
38And the younger, she too bore a son, and she named him Ben-ami; he is the father of the children of Ammon until this day.		לחוְהַצְּעִירָ֤ה גַם־הִוא֙ יָ֣לְדָה בֵּ֔ן וַתִּקְרָ֥א שְׁמ֖וֹ בֶּן־עַמִּ֑י ה֛וּא אֲבִ֥י בְנֵֽי־עַמּ֖וֹן עַד־הַיּֽוֹם:

How could they have each seduced their father in order to reproduce? How could it have been that they didn't know that they were related to a great family, Avraham's, and that they would have a future out of Sdom?

Lot's wife looked back and froze into salt, but Lot seems to have frozen in a different way. Did he talk? Did he tell his daughter's about his amazing cousin Avraham who would rescue them and offer them a chance for a new and better life?

It seems that Lot hadn't raised his children as relatives of the great Avraham. His daughters were just like all the others in Sdom. Lot may have tried to protect the visiting "messengers" from his evil neighbors, but his proposed solution, which was to send his virgin daughters to be raped and worse, just shows how totally assimilated to the mores of Sdom he and his family had become.

I didn't grow up as removed from Jewish Tradition as Lot's daughters, but I besides identifying as a Jew, I didn't know much. Today I have relatives who aren't Jewish, and some who are Jewish may not even know it.  No doubt the Jewish identity of the next generations will be much weaker.

In some ways we can compare Lot's daughters to the Holocaust survivors. There were those who strongly felt as Jews and wanted to escape Europe and start new lives in the Land of Israel. While there  were other survivors who still felt the Europe was their home and couldn't leave. And others, maybe lile Lot, were emotionally paralyzed and just let others make the decisions.

As horrendous as Lot's daughters acted immediately after they had been rescued from Sdom, those children born to them each ended up as nations and part of the Biblical narrative. Ruth, King David and ultimately the Messiah are descended from Lot and his elder daugher. That still doesn't excuse their behavior. Maybe if Lot had raised his children with an awareness of their family ties to Avraham and Avraham's morals and religion the Jewish People would have grown more quickly and without some of the suffering.

Judaism Built on History and Memory, Part 1 Holocaust

Yes, there is a connection to this and to last night's post based on Pirkei Avot:

1. Moses received the Torah from Sinai and gave it over to Joshua. Joshua gave it over to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets gave it over to the Men of the Great Assembly. (Chabad)

Now that the Jewish World is commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day, it's also mourning the fact that there are fewer and fewer actual survivors who are capable of telling their stories to the younger generations.

Ignorance and amnesia – a deadly combination

World War Two, which included the Holocaust, ended over seventy 70 years ago, and that means that especially considering the problematic physical/medical condition of those who had survived, not too many people are still alive and in any condition to tell what they had suffered/experienced. Also, quite a few had kept all of those horrendous memories all bottled up in order to survive and thrive emotionally.

In recent decades there had been great efforts to convince survivors to tell/record their stories. And there have been many Holocaust memorials built all over the world. I've even complained that it's easier to raise money for these memorials than for any projects to try to increase Jewish identification, education and observance among young Jews.

Assimilation and intermarriage have been emerging as the direct result of Jewish embrace of Liberalism and Equality which aim to take down the social and cultural barriers between different religions. In many Jewish families living outside of Israel there is hardly a single marriage between two Jews on the horizon. What is most disturbing is that the acceptance of this situation is even described as a "Jewish value," and Reform Judaism makes "conversion" and the definition of "who's a Jew" simpler and more encompassing than ever. To do this they have gone farther and farther from traditional Torah Judaism, the Judaism that was passed on from Gd to Moshe and further in an unbroken line to this day.

At best they've kept the box and some superficial symbols but emptied them of Gd's authority over us. Convenience and modernity have replaced the Authority of Torah and Gd.

Modern "versions" of Judaism are also attempts to avoid/prevent antisemitism by making Jews less "different," as if the Holocaust was caused by the strict observance of Shabbat and Kashrut, two principles that separate the Jewish People from other religions.

The Nazi Holocaust had nothing to do with Judaism as a strict religion. Intermarried Jews, their children and grandchildren were murdered along with rabbis and their followers. Even German Jewish war veterans who had been awarded medals for bravery in World War One were included as Jews and not exempt as German patriots and heroes.

It is very necessary to look at the big picture, especially now that the individual stories are getting harder to hear.

The big difference between now and the world eighty plus 80+ years ago is that now there is a State of Israel, a Jewish State, which almost nobody really believed would happen way back then. And in addition, not only is strict Torah Observant Judaism getting larger and more popular, but even the non-observant Jews here in Israel are showing a strong interest in classic halachic (Jewish Law) literature and Philosophy.

Ironically, as Judaism is getting stronger here in Israel, Germany is at the forefront of the European Union and the concept of Europe as a People. Yes, I see the Hand of Gd in this.

Is Yom Kippur Still a Big Draw for Assimilated Jews?

I know there still are Jews who show up to shul on Rosh Hashanah to hear the shofar and then again on Yom Kippur for a quick visit to ask Gd to give them "life," or whatever.

When I was growing up, my father was one of them. Besides a family Bar Mitzvah or something similar, he didn't consider it "going to shul" important to make time for. Many of those "twice a year shul goers," were young. Not only did shuls fill, but they had to rent larger places, erect tents and hire rabbi/cantors to lead services. There were different prices for the "regular cantor" and the "hired" one. And in many communities, they didn't have a regular synagogue, with a rabbi, but they'd hire someone. And lots of capable and not so capable rabbinic students or just anyone willing and able, make good money  for a few days' work.

nefesh

In all honesty, I'm curious, interested in knowing what the situation is today. Do synagogues that are empty most of the year suddenly get Jews anxious to pray?

I'd like to know, so please give reply in comments, thanks.

The USA is Not a Jewish Country!

I was born and raised in the USA, the United States of America. And in the second half of the twentieth century, post-World War Two, it was very much a Christian country. The Jewish population was an extremely vocal minority, and if there were any other religions, one rarely if ever heard from them. And although there certainly were quite a few races other than Caucasian aka white, standards of beauty were primarily WASP, emphasizing straight, light-colored hair, small nose, light eyes, thin eyebrows and oval faces. Shoes were made for narrow feet, and the classic sheath dress was most flattering on narrow hips.

When I took on Jewish Sabbath observance and couldn't take important standardized tests on Saturdays, at least others had already successfully fought that battle, and there were places designated for Sunday testing, PSAT, SAT, College Boards etc.

Pinterest 

After Thanksgiving, public places and public schools were decorated for Christmas, even including religious Nativity scenes. And schools had very Christian religious assemblies/pageants. That is until the local Jewish populations got strong and confident enough to stop it. Sometimes all that was done as a "change" was to add a dreidel and Chanukah Menorah to the Nativity Scene and sing "Dreidel Made Out of Clay" along with "Silent Night."

And many localities which have never had much of a Jewish presence, things never changed. They stayed unabashedly Christian.

Now, America is changing. Local authorities, schools and universities have to deal with the fact that there is religious diversities and the "minorities" aren't willing to stay silent or quietly assimilate. Isn't it all so deja vu? That's how I felt when I saw the following:

Georgia Jewish students riled by homecoming on Yom Kippur

I, personally, solved the dilemma by becoming more Jewish and not trying to live in two separate worlds simultaneously. I also moved to Israel, where not only are the Jewish Holidays the official ones, but the shoes are wider, too.

Superficial Judaism

This blog post/rant was "inspired" by an article in the Forward:

Singapore wedding Derrick Ong Photography

My Son Won't Even Break the Glass at His Wedding
We have always been a Jewish family. We celebrate all the Jewish holidays, had our kids bar mitzvahed, sent them on Birthright trips, and occasionally attended shul.
My son is marrying a woman from Singapore and we adore her. They are having a secular wedding — which we have accepted — but I did ask my son if he would break a glass at the end of his ceremony. He has refused. We are all going to Singapore to participate in her family traditions, but he has said he doesn’t want us to throw him a wedding or reception here. I am heartbroken that he will not honor this one request to honor his roots as a person who was raised in a Jewish home. Am I being ridiculous?
Read more: http://forward.com/opinion/spirituality/318058/he-wont-even-break-the-glass/#ixzz3hj1hWmbn

Please don't get me wrong. I do sympathize with the writer, but she is definitely on the wrong track. Here's the comment I left on the site:

Sorry, but breaking a glass won't make the wedding Jewish when the bride isn't. And it also won't help to dance a hora. Their children will not be Jewish, so if you want to interest them in Judaism, you have a long way to go and fighting with them now won't help.

Her son is marrying a non-Jew who treasures her family and traditions. It's an easy guess to say that she will make every effort to raise whatever children they have in those traditions, and it's pretty obvious that her son has no problem with it.

If she wants to create a situation in which future grandchildren and her son and daughter-in-law would want to live as Jews, then the best thing would be to increase her observance of genuine Jewish/Torah traditions, making them enjoyable and invite the family.

Judaism isn't a part-time religion. Every aspect of life has a Jewish connection. There are not only blessings before food but after, and there is even a blessing one says after normal "body functions" in the toilet.

During my most recent (last March) visit to New York, I was surprised to see a big poster for "traditional" sic Passover Seder food on the window of a traif non-kosher restaurant.

I just couldn't get over the absurdity of it. (That's why I took pictures of the windows.) I do admire the fact that many Jews, even those furthest from traditional Jewish life do try to to celebrate the Passover Holiday and others. And I do understand how the woman who wrote the letter is upset that her son refuses any vestige of Jewish tradition at his wedding.

A seder meal from an oyster bar is no more kosher than a wedding to a non-Jew that includes the breaking of a glass is Jewish. 

And even those Torah observant, Orthodox rabbis, such as Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, who promote easier conversions for those who come from paternal Jewish lines, it is only for those who fully identify as Jewish and want to lead full Jewish lives.

About conversion, he (Rabbi Riskin) said that for those with patrilinial (via the father) Jewish history/roots there is a concept of zera yisrael, Jewish Seed, which when recognized makes for an easier conversion, but a conversion nevertheless.

There is no automatic Jewish status for children of Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers to make the bubbe feel better.

And there is no guaranteed formula to automatically assure that all Jewish children will live as Jews, even here in Israel. May Gd give us all the wisdom to do the best possible for our families and loved ones.

What's A Jew? Who's A Jew?

One thing I've been noticing over the years when at the Kotel is that more and more obviously non-Jews come to pray there.  As an ancient recognized holy spot for Jews, other people and religions also want the benefit of the "local call" to G-d.

That's fine.  I've also seen it in Shiloh among those who come to Shiloh Hakeduma at Tel Shiloh to visit the site and also pray.  Christian groups have been coming for decades.  They consider the Jewish Bible and History as also theirs.  Even abroad, there are non-Jews who frequent the graves of Jewish people/rabbis etc considering them as not just spiritual mentors for Jews.  Don't forget that Christians and the Muslims vie for the status of our replacement as G-d's Chosen People.  Their biggest theological and logistic problem is that we not only still exist, but bli eyin haraa, we're thriving in a successful country and active Diaspora.

Our biggest problem is that with Jewish success and acceptance there is terrible assimilation.  Many Jewish families or branches of Jewish families have ceased to exist as Jews.   Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman brought up that subject in his address to the Presidents Conference.

However, the recently released results from the Pew survey on American Jewry make for pretty depressing reading. They demonstrate that there is a significant rise in those who have little or no Jewish content in their lives, marry outside the faith and are not raising their children Jewish, than from a similar survey taken ten years ago. The intermarriage rate has reached a high of 58% for all Jews, and 71% for non-Orthodox Jews, a huge change from before 1970 when only 17% of Jews intermarried.
On attitudes towards Israel we are witnessing a major generational gap. While 30% of respondents professed to be very attached to Israel and 39% said they felt “somewhat” attached, 31% answered that they felt not very or not at all attached to Israel. Asked whether caring about Israel was an "essential" part of being Jewish, only 43% answered in the affirmative, only one percentage point higher than those that responded “having a good sense of humor” was an essential part of being Jewish.
According to the researchers, older Jews are more likely than younger Jews to see caring about Israel as an essential part of what being Jewish means to them, with more than half of respondents over the age of 65 believing that caring about Israel was an essential part of their Jewish identity, whereas only 32% of respondents under the age of 30 shared the same belief.

This massive loss to the Jewish People also exists in my own family among my cousins and their children and grandchildren.

At this point in time, years decades after Conservative and Reform Jews have decided on their own criteria for conversion, there are many, many people who consider themselves Jewish but aren't.  For strictly Torah observant Jews aka Orthodox to refuse to recognize them isn't "discrimination" any more than it would be considered discrimination when a new immigrant who had been a doctor in his/her former country is required to study and qualify.

Chanukah Message for Today and All Time

Today is the second day of Chanukah 5774.

Our Jewish Holidays are celebrated to teach us lessons, timely lessons. Our Mitzvot, the G-d given Commandments don't have expiration dates. Each one is supposed to be observed by Jews forever.  G-d and Chazal, our Sages are supposed to be our experts, not United Nations officials, the American President, academics or the media.

It's very worrying that while the "gut reaction" of your typical Israeli is that there's nothing illegal in "Jewish settlements sic in the west bank sic," the minute they are reminded that the world, the United Nations considers them illegal, suddenly they do, too.

The survey, conducted by New Wave Research on behalf of Regavim, found that 60 percent of Israelis view the settlements to be legal, while only 16 percent consider them to be illegal. 24% were unsure.
When respondents were asked about the legality of settlements under international law, the results differed substantially. A slight majority of 36% said they were legal and 35% said they believed them to be illegal. 29% said they didn't know.

We are not supposed to look at international public opinion and "justice" to learn right from wrong.

Our moral and legal compass is supposed to be tuned in to G-d and Torah Judaism.

This gets to the very core of the Chanukah story.  In actuality, the element of the oil and the light is minor and even added later.  I have no doubt that the emphasis of the oil and the increasing lights of the Chanukah menorah are to give visual and kinesthetic tools to teach the story.  Unfortunately, the oil or candle-lighting ceremony has taken off in popularity and left the true message of Chanukah far behind.

The poll quoted in the Algemeiner story shows that many Israelis and Jews all over the world are actually Hellenists, assimilated. They look to non-Jewish sources for their values, opinions and morals.

¹as·sim·i·late
 verb \ə-ˈsi-mə-ˌlāt\: to learn (something) so that it is fully understood and can be used
: to cause (a person or group) to become part of a different society, country, etc.
: to adopt the ways of another culture : to fully become part of a different society, country, etc.

The modern Maccabee challenge/war isn't the military one of ancient times.  It's an intellectual spiritual one. We must understand that the bedrock of our laws and morality must from Jewish sources, Jewish History and G-d.  This is a very important war, and the battles won't be easy.

Chag Urim Sameach and Shabbat Shalom

Change in Rituals Divide Jewish People, Re: Pew Report and The Bible

"Nothing's new..." as King Solomon repeats over and over in Kohelet, Ecclesiastes. 

Recently the Jewish world has been talking about the Pew Report, which gives a depressing, though not all that surprising report of the American Jewish population. Simply put, the more traditionally observant the stronger the growth and outlook for the future.

This year in the Bible course I'm taking in Matan, taught by Dr. Yael Ziegler, we've been learning about the split in the Jewish Kingdom after the reign of King Solomon,  The southern Judah Kingdom kept Jerusalem as religious capital and was ruled by King Rachavam, while the northern Israel Kingdom was led by King Yiravm (Jeroboam.)  The true split in the Jewish People began when the religion in the north changed from traditional Jewish practice, the Torah.

1 Kings Chapter 12 מְלָכִים א

כז  אִם-יַעֲלֶה הָעָם הַזֶּה, לַעֲשׂוֹת זְבָחִים בְּבֵית-יְהוָה בִּירוּשָׁלִַם, וְשָׁב לֵב הָעָם הַזֶּה אֶל-אֲדֹנֵיהֶם, אֶל-רְחַבְעָם מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה; וַהֲרָגֻנִי, וְשָׁבוּ אֶל-רְחַבְעָם מֶלֶךְ-יְהוּדָה.	27 If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then will the heart of this people turn back unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me, and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.'
כח  וַיִּוָּעַץ הַמֶּלֶךְ--וַיַּעַשׂ, שְׁנֵי עֶגְלֵי זָהָב; וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם, רַב-לָכֶם מֵעֲלוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִַם--הִנֵּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל, אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱלוּךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם.	28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said unto them: 'Ye have gone up long enough to Jerusalem; behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'
כט  וַיָּשֶׂם אֶת-הָאֶחָד, בְּבֵית-אֵל; וְאֶת-הָאֶחָד, נָתַן בְּדָן.	29 And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan.
ל  וַיְהִי הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה, לְחַטָּאת; וַיֵּלְכוּ הָעָם לִפְנֵי הָאֶחָד, עַד-דָּן.	30 And this thing became a sin; for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.
לא  וַיַּעַשׂ, אֶת-בֵּית בָּמוֹת; וַיַּעַשׂ כֹּהֲנִים מִקְצוֹת הָעָם, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-הָיוּ מִבְּנֵי לֵוִי.	31 And he made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, that were not of the sons of Levi.
לב  וַיַּעַשׂ יָרָבְעָם חָג בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁמִינִי בַחֲמִשָּׁה-עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ כֶּחָג אֲשֶׁר בִּיהוּדָה, וַיַּעַל עַל-הַמִּזְבֵּחַ--כֵּן עָשָׂה בְּבֵית-אֵל, לְזַבֵּחַ לָעֲגָלִים אֲשֶׁר-עָשָׂה; וְהֶעֱמִיד בְּבֵית אֵל, אֶת-כֹּהֲנֵי הַבָּמוֹת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה.	32 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he went up unto the altar; so did he in Beth-el, to sacrifice unto the calves that he had made; and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places that he had made.

Dr. Ziegler always stresses that the Bible is a book  of theology, not history.  These changes in religious worship that were in stated by Yiravam caused irreparable harm in the unity of the Jewish People.

It reminds me of what has been happening to the Jewish People in modern times.  The "newer versions" of Judaism, Reform, Liberal, Conservative, etc. generally don't last too many generations, because the fewer Torah Mitzvot (commandments) a family observes, the statistically quicker their road to assimilation.

Many of these traditions and laws may seem unimportant and pedantic to some, which is why they are "deleted" from modern Jewish practice by many. Individual non-observance has always existed, but the recent institutionalization of it, making it official practice has truly and dangerously split the Jewish People. Today many people think they and their parents and children are Jewish, but they aren't.  This is the result of changing the definition of Jewish lineage from the mother only to from either parent and non-Torah observant conversion.

I have no doubt that many of those who have made these changes have done so with the best of intentions, hoping to hold on to as many Jews as possible, but the results are the opposite.  We lose more Jews than we gain, especially in future generations.