Essays and viewpoints

PURELY COMMENTARY

for openers

Have You Heard?

Won’t you sit for a spell? No, I do not want you to just become comfortable; I need you to pay attention to your spelling. Yes, I know there is Spellcheck and now Autocorrect (“Did you mean Sy Manello Automatic?”).

Editorial Assistant However, a lack of knowledge is causing us to miswrite our 140-plus characters due to expect to be a clear commuhomonyms/homophones. nicator. (And do not get me started Are word choices our only on those wild abbreviations!) method of passing an hour?

If you are wholly involved Your answer to that depends in accurate communication, on whether you’re going to, you will not feel so holy if despite the weather, brave it you get messed up with holly. out with a dictionary. You need to hear what you Bear in mind that you can have written here and, except bare your soul in writing, but for the fact that you can- also do it aloud so that you not accept criticism, do not know the words you choose are allowed.

If you ail, some ale might be a remedy. Too much, however, might lead to an epithet being written for your epitaph.

You will never get a medal if you meddle in other’s business. It takes nerves of metal to prove your mettle.

Do not be so vain as to inject a vein of humor when

guest column

Honoring the Past, Looking to the Future

Faith leaders call for passage of the Equality Act.

Bella Abzug was a force sive changes, co-authored and with the Equality Act of 1974. absence of a federal law prohibof nature. She was the shepherded through passage With co-sponsorship of the bill iting LGBTQ discrimination, first Jewish woman of the Freedom of Information by then-U.S. Rep. (and future comprehensive nondiscrimielected to the U.S. Congress Act and the Right to Privacy New York City Mayor) Ed nation protections for LGBTQ and a leader in the women’s Act. Abzug personified the Koch, another venerated Jewish Americans have been passed movement. beautiful Jewish tradition of political and community lead- state by state and city by city. Abzug, who tikkun olam by fighting for er, they pushed equality for- While such progress is worth died 23 years women’s rights and LGBTQ ward. Though this legislation celebrating, a patchwork of ago, served equality and nondiscrimination has languished in the Senate, civil rights laws is insufficient three terms in protections. today, the LGBTQ and other to guarantee consistent protecthe House of On May 14, it will be 47 progressive communities are tions across the nation. That’s

Rabbi Representatives years since the first LGBTQ urging Congress for protections why I joined more than 200

Michael Moskowitz in the 1970s. civil rights legislation was following in the footsteps of the faith leaders, including over Ahead of her introduced into Congress. Bella efforts of Abzug and Koch. 20 rabbis from communities time, she championed progres- Abzug launched that effort Across our country, in the across Michigan in signing

the weather vane of conversation indicates a serious mood.

It is one thing not to waste food but you should not be over indulgent; be mindful of your waist.

One idea that has won many hearts is to break bad news gently and to put a brake on overstepping bounds.

If you can adapt to new ideas, then you can adopt new procedures. Never use a flower if you need flour; know that too much scent has often sent folks away from you; what you sow, so shall you reap.

If all of this has proven too much to take in, remember two principles: Your principal investment in learning will get you through this phase of texting and nothing will ever again faze you.

continued from page 4

a public letter that calls on elected leaders to support comprehensive nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ Americans.

The path toward LGBTQ equality is long, but a brighter and more equitable future is within reach. Today, Democrats and Republicans have introduced their versions of nondiscrimination protections that would update the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to explicitly ban LGBTQ discrimination in housing, employment, public education, federal funding and other areas of American life. In February, the House of Representatives passed the Equality Act for the second time, with bipartisan support. Most recently, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a historic first hearing on it.

While senators sparred over the details of the bill at the hearing, there’s a consensus among senators that LGBTQ discrimination is a real problem, and a bipartisan solution is needed to address this injustice. We cannot and must not lose sight of that common ground. As diverse of a nation as we are, granted we won’t agree on everything, but we all can agree that inaction is not an option.

SUPPORT GROWS

Support across the country for a federal nondiscrimination law is at an all-time high. A recent Public Religion Research Institute survey shows that 76% of Americans favor laws that would protect LGBTQ Americans from discrimination, up from 72% in 2019. Support for LGBTQ protections transcends party lines, with 62% of Republicans, 79% of Independents and 85% of Democrats favoring such laws.

As we celebrate Abzug’s extraordinary life as a fierce and early defender of LGBTQ equality, her life’s work offers important lessons for contemporary generations of elected officials, especially for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the first Jewish lawmaker to hold the title. The road to justice is not always easy. But if we can learn anything from Abzug, it is to be motivated by what the Torah demands, in teaching “Justice, justice you shall pursue,” and in so doing continue her mission to march forward on this path.

We have a real opportunity to finish the job Abzug started nearly 50 years ago and secure comprehensive nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people across the land. Sen. Schumer has a historic opportunity to bring together the bipartisan support needed to deliver equality for all LGBTQ Americans.

Let us value bipartisanship. Let’s focus on the values that we all have in common in order to come to a solution combating the discrimination and marginalization of LGBTQ Americans.

Thriving free from discrimination isn’t just a Democratic or Republican ideal — it’s an American value, focused on freedom and opportunity for all.

WIKIPEDIA

Bella Abzug

Rabbi Michael L. Moskowitz is spiritual leader at Temple Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield.

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essay

What Would It Take for Me to Go Back to Synagogue?

When I was very attended a family wedding in young, what moti- New York and stood in awe vated me to go as I took in the sight of what to shul on Shabbat morning seemed like hundreds of men was the fire station two houses in black hats and dark suits away from the synagogue. swaying fervently as they My dad was recited the afternoon Minchah the rabbi of prayer. I zipped through the the only con- silent Amidah and was waiting gregation in for the service to continue. A Annapolis, Md., few minutes went by and then and shul atten- a few more minutes until it

Gary dance was a seemed everyone had finished.

Rosenblatt JTA family affair. If I I asked my brother what the behaved during holdup was, and he pointed to services, my big brother would a very short older man, eyes take me to the fire station closed, still in fervent prayer. afterward, and sometimes the “That’s Rav Aharon Kotler, firemen let me sit at the wheel the head of one of the biggest of the hook-and-ladder truck. yeshivahs in the world,” he told That made my week. me.

In recent days, I’ve been “What’s taking him so thinking a lot about my various long?” I asked. “Can’t he read experiences with shul atten- Hebrew?” dance over the years. The sad As I got older, I learned truth is that though I am for- about the importance of kavatunate enough to have received nah, or intention, putting one’s my second COVID vaccine heart and mind into the words more than a month ago, I hav- we were saying as we prayed. en’t been back to shul, and I’m But during my teenage years, not sure why. But the weather prayer for me was associated is getting warmer, and I’m run- more with obligation than ning out of excuses. choice.

It’s ironic because these last few years I’ve really enjoyed shul — the services, the rabbis, the people, the singing. In my early years, not so much.

As kids, learning to read Hebrew and becoming familiar with the prayers, the goal at services was to be the fastest.

When I was about 10, I

MORNING MINYANS

Starting when I was 11, I attended a yeshivah in Baltimore through high school and lived during the week at the home of my maternal grandparents. My grandfather, a European-born, Yiddishspeaking Talmudic scholar, had his own shul on the first floor of the large cottage house. I lived in the attic, and once I became a bar mitzvah, I was needed most mornings to help ensure a minyan of 10 men.

I’d know my presence was required because one of the shul-goers would ring a loud buzzer and hold it down for what seemed like minutes while I got up, less than enthusiastically, and dressed in a hurry. I attended out of a sense of duty, and I admit that if an 11th person showed up, I was tempted to go upstairs and back to bed.

The association of annoying alarms and shul attendance continued when I got to Yeshiva University. I soon learned that loud “minyan bells” were rung every weekday morning in the dorm to wake us up for services; attendance was mandatory. The first couple of weeks we would wake up with a jolt from those bells. But somehow, after that we didn’t seem to hear them anymore.

One teenage bit of mischief came about in Annapolis on Rosh Hashanah when I was about 15. The shul was packed, and my friend Michael (whose father was the cantor) and I chose an arbitrary spot in the service and stood up from our front-row seats. There was a rustling and stirring behind us as, gradually, the entire congregation of several hundred rose, following our lead. As soon as everyone was up, we sat down, and they did the same. We did this a few times before my dad, seated facing us in his white robe on the bimah, subtly signaled his displeasure

Over the years as an adult, with shul attendance no longer coercive, I have been blessed to have belonged to three synagogues (in the three states where we lived) that were true houses of prayer. Each in its own way was special, but they all had active and devoted members committed to Torah and led by learned, exemplary rabbis. And in each of the shuls, what I have enjoyed most in the service is when our joined voices blend in song, stirring a kind of transcendent feeling of collective prayer and community.

Those peak moments make the shul-going experience something to cherish.

JTA

PANDEMIC WORSHIP

Then came COVID. Houses of worship were closed, the virus was all around us, and we had no choice but to stay home. I missed the rhythm of walking to and from shul on Friday evening and Shabbat morning, feeling part of the spirit of the kehillah (congregation), and often lingering after services to catch up with friends.

But I became accustomed to staying home, and that had its

PURELY COMMENTARY

commentary

Israel Has No Choice but to Act on its Own to Stop Iran

The head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency and the government’s national security adviser was in Washington late last month on an important mission that has failed even before it began.

Jonathan S. White House

Tobin jns.org spokesperson Jen Psaki made it clear that the Israelis are wasting their time. When obtained by the New York state sponsor of international asked if Israeli pleas about Times, he said, “It was for- terrorism and its illegal misthe danger to the region if mer U.S. Foreign Secretary sile-building. Kerry told Zarif the United States rejoins the [sic] John Kerry who told to simply wait out Trump and 2015 nuclear deal would have me Israel had launched more then deal with a more pliant any impact on President Joe than 200 attacks on Iranian Democrat that he hoped Biden’s plans, Psaki answered, forces in Syria.” would be elected in 2020. “No.” There is a lot to unwrap That’s exactly what hap-

She went on to say that the in that one sentence and not pened, and now the Iranians Israelis are free to keep “chal- just because the Times buried are reaping the benefits. lenging” the administration’s this revelation at the bottom Biden’s foreign-policy team, goal of returning to a weak of its story. composed almost entirely pact that gives Tehran a legal Kerry, for whom Psaki of veterans of the adminispath to a nuclear weapon by served as spokesperson tration of former President the end of the decade, but the during the nuclear negotia- Barack Obama, are again best they could hope for is to tions from 2013 to 2015, cur- resuming their past practice be “kept abreast” of America’s rently acts as Biden’s special of appeasing the Iranians plans. presidential envoy of climate. with concessions in the

That contemptuous atti- We already knew that in 2018 works to entice Tehran to tude was of particular signif- Kerry consulted with Zarif, return to a deal with little icance because the day before advising his former nego- hope of improving upon it. the Israeli security officials tiating partner not to work arrived, news broke about with the Trump administrahow former Secretary of tion, which withdrew from State John Kerry had shared the nuclear deal as part of a intelligence with Iran about “maximum pressure” camIsraeli covert operations paign to force the Iranians seeking to stop their nuclear to agree to a new tougher program. According to an agreement that would elimaudiotape of comments made inate sunset clauses, as well by Iranian Foreign Minister as include bans on Tehran’s Mohammad Zarif that was role as the world’s leading

U.S. MISSION/ERIC BRIDIERS.

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2015.

U.S. ISRAEL TENSIONS

Kerry’s collusion with Iran is important because it comes in the context of the growing tension with Israel over its efforts to sabotage the Iranian nuclear program. Unlike in the past, when it was clear that the United States and Israel were cooper-

continued from page 7

own pleasant pattern: sleeping later, praying at home, spending more time with my wife and, when the weather allowed, meeting up with friends — 6 feet apart — on a bench outside.

I know I’m not alone in my ambivalence about going back to shul now. I’ve talked to friends about it and they, too, seem a bit mystified about what keeps some of us home. We know that going back would be good for the congregation, and probably for us, even though the prospect of COVID-limited attendance, singing and socializing is less than appealing.

Are we just lazy or fearful of becoming sick? Or have we become dependent on the safety and security of keeping close to home?

What would get me back to shul? No, it’s not the prospect of visiting a nearby fire station after services. It’s the chance to ignite a spark of faith and commitment, and time to take the next step back on the long path toward normalcy.

So, there I was on Saturday, back in synagogue. Sitting alone, at least 6 feet away from others, and wearing a mask, felt isolating at first, like praying alone in a room despite the others around me. But gradually the mood lifted and the familiar comfort of the prayers — and the warm (if muted) greetings from fellow congregants — made me feel at home again. I could get used to this.

Gary Rosenblatt is a former editor of the Detroit Jewish News and editor and publisher of the Jewish Week, 1993-2019. Follow him at garyrosenblatt. substack.com.

PURELY COMMENTARY

continued from page 8

ating in a joint effort to derail the Islamist regime’s nuclear ambitions, the administration went out of its way to disavow any role in Israel’s recent successful attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility.

The implication of these off-the-record comments from “senior administration officials” is that the administration regarded Israel’s efforts as seeking to forestall an American push to re-engage with Iran.

A news analysis published in the Washington Post filled with quotes from anonymous American and European sources, as well as some on-the-record potshots from former Obama administration figures, said the Jewish state was trying to play “the spoiler” to undermine Biden’s diplomacy.

The liberal magazine Slate labeled the attack as an act of a “sneaky saboteur,” as if there was something inherently illegitimate about actions that sought to prevent a terrorist theocracy from acquiring a nuclear weapon that could fulfill the ayatollah’s genocidal threats against Israel.

As Martin Peretz pointed out in Tablet, while Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s messaging on Iran has sounded a moderate tone, he has essentially outsourced the nuclear issue to Robert Malley, Biden’s special envoy on Iran. Malley was not only one of the chief architects of the disastrous nuclear deal with Iran; he is a veteran appeaser and critic of Israel.

In essence, right now the United States is asking Israel to back off on its efforts to stop Iran and to trust Biden’s team to deliver a diplomatic solution to the problem. But given that Malley has demonstrated no interest in strengthening the nuclear pact so as to forestall an Iranian bomb or stop the regime’s terrorism, that’s a leap of faith that no responsible Israeli government can make.

QUESTIONS REMAIN

More to the point, Zarif’s revelation about Kerry’s sharing of intel about their anti-Iran operations makes it clear to the Israelis that the administration isn’t merely wrongheaded in its approach but may actively be seeking to undermine their country’s security and that of its regional allies.

Not only did Psaki refuse to answer a question about Kerry’s astonishing betrayal, she didn’t even make an attempt to say something that might reassure the Israelis that the administration regarded this as an issue of concern, let alone something about which an apology should be forthcoming. An investigation into this scandal is imperative. So is Kerry’s resignation from his current post.

The implication here is something that advocates for Obama’s signature foreign-policy accomplishment have always been at pains to contradict. Democratic apologists for the deal have spent the last six years trying to claim that the agreement was the best way to safeguard Israel against an Iranian nuclear weapon.

However, critics pointed to the way the deal empowered and enriched a rogue regime and asked whether the goal was very different from the one Obama had discussed.

Obama said it was a chance to give Iran the opportunity to “get right with the world” by giving up its nuclear ambitions. Instead, the deal may have been part of an effort to shift American policy in the region from one of an alliance with Israel and the Gulf states to one in which Iran would supplant them as America’s best friend in the region. Few would have believed this claim in 2015. And yet, the impact of the agreement on the region, coupled with Kerry’s actions and the efforts of Obama alumni to return to the deal on Biden’s watch, lend some credibility to this theory.

Whatever Obama intended or what Biden may want now, the inescapable conclusion from these events is that the Israelis should be in no doubt about the fact that they are being abandoned by the United States with respect to Iran. This leaves Israel with no good options.

Nevertheless, the Jewish state has no choice but to proceed as if its future safety lies solely in its own hands. If the Biden administration or the Democratic Party don’t like that, they can reverse course and start acting as if they take the Iranian nuclear threat seriously.

Otherwise, they should pipe down and let the Israelis do what they must to stop an existential threat to their existence.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS — Jewish News Syndicate. Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin.

letters

Get the Word Out

Doctors and scientists have recently discovered that many immunocompromised individuals, such as those undergoing treatment for cancer, develop zero antibodies in response to the COVID-19 vaccination. I am one of those people, and I have been informed that the only way I will be safe from this deadly virus is if and when we reach herd immunity.

The pandemic era has been a challenge for us all. Many of us have protected ourselves by getting vaccinated. But those of us who remain unimmune are unable to go out into the public domain without fear of death.

Many things can kill us, including food, or simply walking across the street. But vaccines prevent death. What we don’t know might kill us, but what we do know is that COVID-19 has caused far too many fatalities worldwide. If you are afraid of the vaccines because of our “government,” then research the “science.”

This pandemic will not go away unless and until everyone is brave enough to vaccinate for the greater good. People waiting, or even choosing not to be vaccinated, are keeping people like me trapped and in danger.

As I and many others remain on COVID house arrest,we are caged and deprived of fulfilling lives. I have always been an active person who loves being with people — social interaction is a psychological requirement for a healthy existence. Please help us all and get vaccinated now. Without your help to reach herd immunity, our nation will remain compromised, and we will continue to lose even more lives.

— Cindy Ludwig Franklin