8 | The Jewish Press | May 20, 2022
Voices The Jewish Press (Founded in 1920) Margie Gutnik President Annette van de Kamp-Wright Editor Richard Busse Creative Director Susan Bernard Advertising Executive Lori Kooper-Schwarz Assistant Editor Gabby Blair Sam Kricsfeld Staff Writers Mary Bachteler Accounting Jewish Press Board Margie Gutnik, President; Abigail Kutler, Ex-Officio; Danni Christensen; David Finkelstein; Bracha Goldsweig; Mary Sue Grossman; Les Kay; Natasha Kraft; Chuck Lucoff; Joseph Pinson; Andy Shefsky and Amy Tipp. The mission of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to build and sustain a strong and vibrant Omaha Jewish Community and to support Jews in Israel and around the world. Agencies of the Federation are: Community Relations Committee, Jewish Community Center, Center for Jewish Life, Jewish Social Services, and the Jewish Press. Guidelines and highlights of the Jewish Press, including front page stories and announcements, can be found online at: www.jewishomaha.org; click on ‘Jewish Press.’ Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors, or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole. The Jewish Press reserves the right to edit signed letters and articles for space and content. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the Kashrut of any product or establishment. Editorial The Jewish Press is an agency of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Deadline for copy, ads and photos is: Thursday, 9 a.m., eight days prior to publication. E-mail editorial material and photos to: avandekamp@jewishomaha.org; send ads (in TIF or PDF format) to: rbusse@jewishomaha.org. Letters to the Editor Guidelines The Jewish Press welcomes Letters to the Editor. They may be sent via regular mail to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154; via fax: 1.402.334.5422 or via e-mail to the Editor at: avandekamp@jewishomaha.org. Letters should be no longer than 250 words and must be single-spaced typed, not hand-written. Published letters should be confined to opinions and comments on articles or events. News items should not be submitted and printed as a “Letter to the Editor.” The Editor may edit letters for content and space restrictions. Letters may be published without giving an opposing view. Information shall be verified before printing. All letters must be signed by the writer. The Jewish Press will not publish letters that appear to be part of an organized campaign, nor letters copied from the Internet. No letters should be published from candidates running for office, but others may write on their behalf. Letters of thanks should be confined to commending an institution for a program, project or event, rather than personally thanking paid staff, unless the writer chooses to turn the “Letter to the Editor” into a paid personal ad or a news article about the event, project or program which the professional staff supervised. For information, contact Annette van de KampWright, Jewish Press Editor, 402.334.6450. Postal The Jewish Press (USPS 275620) is published weekly (except for the first week of January and July) on Friday for $40 per calendar year U.S.; $80 foreign, by the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Phone: 402.334.6448; FAX: 402.334.5422. Periodical postage paid at Omaha, NE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154-2198 or email to: jpress@jewishomaha.org.
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The harp above our bed about this stuff much better than editors. But then, ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT they also expect us to think for ourselves, so maybe Jewish Press Editor There are times when I don’t read emails from my I should at least consider the question. What’s our “harp?” Is it programming, which alsynagogue that carefully—as much as I hate to admit it. I open them, always, but there are many times I sort of skim through. This week, though, I happened to actually pay attention. Here’s some of what I read: Psalm 119:62 reads, “I arise at midnight to praise you.” The Rabbis asked a practical question about this verse and offered a beautiful answer. Traditionally, King David is credited with writing Psalm 119. How, the Rabbis wondered, was he able to get up at midnight every night? Their answer: David, the renowned musician, would Staffer of the Israeli field hospital Kohav Meir plays with children hang his harp above his bed, and at outside the structure near Lviv, Ukraine, March 23, 2022. Credit: midnight God would send a breeze Schneider Children's Medical Center through the window to strum its strings. Roused from lows us to show up, come together and connect? Is it opening our eyes and paying attention to the rest sleep by the music, David would rise to praise God. What good is it, if the wind blows, but above your of the world, so we know when to give, help, reach bed no harp hangs? It is our task in life to ensure that out? Is it our empathy, our patience, our willingness we are alive to the possibility of the stirrings of God’s to learn new things and see other perpectives? Maybe the “harp” can be anything to anybody and wonder. We must train ourselves and our children to tune the instruments of our souls so that when the there just isn’t one single answer. The value of these types of emails often lie in the positive struggle, the breeze blows we will be aroused by the melody. fact that we have to really mull this over. If we want Hang a harp above your bed. What does that mean for the rest of us, “hanging to find answers that truly matter, sometimes we a harp?” How do you “tune the instrument of your have to put in a lot of work—and that’s okay. It reminds me of something I heard the other soul” I’m kind of tempted to save the questions for another time, when I can ask a rabbi. Rabbis know night, about how we as Jews are all responsible for
each other — we have to pay attention to each other, no matter where we live, and be ready to step up. Maybe “hanging our harp” just means that: pay attention, but don’t stop there; act accordingly. Right now, that “harp” means not looking away from what is happening in Ukraine. In the media, we are already noticing a shift in reporting — there is a tiredness, a feeling that the status quo is war and suffering, and it’s nothing new. Only the most horrible war crimes still make headlines; the regular day-to-day suffering is pushed down, and how awful is that? Within two months, the fact that Ukraine is under siege has become “old news?” We have to do better than that. This community has already really stepped up — it’s okay to be impressed with the money raised so far, with those 28 bags of medication sent to the Polish border. But this war is not over, it is not boring, it is never, ever old news. It is now, it is urgent, it is much more important than stories about escaped inmates or who Kim Kardashian is dating. So, as a community, let’s “hang our harp.” Let’s keep paying attention, let’s keep giving, let’s continue to care and keep Ukraine front and center. Open your heart, open your wallet. Don’t tell yourself, “I already gave, so I did my part.” Give again. And again. Give until we have done everything and anything possible, and then give still more. Remember all those times we talk about Tikkun Olam? There’s our harp. And it’s much more than a breeze that’s hitting those strings. It’s a storm. Let’s all answer it.
Jewish tradition ‘permits’ abortion. If you believe in bodily autonomy, that’s not enough. MICHAL RAUCHER JTA Last week, Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz responded to the draft U.S. Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, “A woman’s rights over her own body are hers alone.” It might seem odd that the Israeli health minister was commenting on American abortion law, but his response, contained in a tweet, addresses a theme common to the abortion discussion in Israel and America that I research as an ethicist and scholar of reproduction among Jews. In the 1970s, the Israeli Knesset debated the legalization of abortion. After several years of discussions, it ultimately passed a law that permitted abortion in certain circumstances: 1) If a woman is younger than 17 or older than 40; 2) when pregnancy results from rape, incest or extra-marital relations; 3) under the possibility that the baby will be born with a physical or mental deformity; and 4) when the continuation of the pregnancy could endanger a woman’s life or mental health. This law allows for certain abortions to be performed until the 39th week of pregnancy. When I teach Americans about abortion law in Israel, they often express shock that Israel seems much more progressive than America. That’s because their frame of reference for religion and abortion is a particular strain of American anti-abortion Christianity. My students — college-aged and adult, Jewish or not — are surprised to see a country so strongly influenced by religion that is not opposed to abortion. Yet in one important way the Israeli and American attitudes toward abortion are similar. They both reflect the fundamental assumption that abortion is wrong, and one must have a “good enough” reason to do something that is otherwise wrong. This is called the justification approach to abortion. Certain abortions are justified, while others are not. The justification approach to abortion also assumes that women were meant to be mothers. As a result, not wanting to be pregnant for nine months, give birth or raise a child are not consid-
ered good enough reasons to get an abortion. nancy to term poses real risk to the life of the In order to qualify for an abortion that is legal mother.” This popular argument is commonly also and paid for by the state, Israeli women have to sit heard among more progressive Jewish groups. in front of a committee and tell them why they are But when you hear that “Jewish law permits and requesting an abortion. Although 98% of abortion sometimes requires abortion,” you must also listen requests are approved, the law reflects the belief to the assumption underlying this statement: that women cannot or should not make this deci- Women do not have the bodily autonomy to make sion on their own. Consider the case of a pregnant 24year-old married woman who is pregnant from consensual sex but does not want to be pregnant because of the potential harm to her career. Or a 35-yearold married haredi (ultra-Orthodox) woman who has eight children and who simply cannot care for one more. In Israel, both of these women must lie or otherwise mislead the committee to get their abortions. Horowitz opposes these committees and has been advocating to get rid of A pro-choice activist holds a sign at a protest at the U.S. Supreme them, at least through the first Court, Washington, DC, May 2, 2022. Credit: Stefani Reynolds/AFP trimester. He says that women should via Getty Images not need to give any reason for their request, and that decision on their own. Jewish law must permit that nobody should have to determine whether it — and sometimes demands it, regardless of what their request is valid. a woman prefers. These statements, often used to While we don’t have these committees in Amer- express support for abortion rights, are ultimately ica, we have heard a lot this month about the leg- stymied by the assumptions of rabbinic law, a sysislation that many states have developed, each tem that does not support bodily autonomy or the providing different circumstances under which ability to make decisions about one’s own body. they would permit abortion. Some say that aborThe statement by the Orthodox Union goes even tions will only be permitted if the woman’s life is in further. It also explicitly prohibits what the group danger. Others allow abortion after rape or incest. and others call “abortion on demand,” or abortion And of course one’s ability to terminate a preg- because someone doesn’t want to be pregnant. nancy is already limited by where one lives, how far By contrast, the Reform movement’s Religious along one is in pregnancy and the financial re- Action Center bases its position on reproductive sources one has available. rights on “the core belief that each person should Well-meaning Jewish groups often draw on rab- have agency and autonomy over their own bodies.” binic sources to claim that Judaism is supportive Other progressive Jewish groups, including the Naof abortion rights. Unfortunately here, too, we see tional Council of Jewish Women, have gone on the justification approach. Last week, in a state- record highlighting the value of bodily ment, the Orthodox Union explained that it cannot autonomy over reproduction, but too few. Some support an “absolute ban” on abortion because Jew- non-Orthodox rabbis even expressly forbid it. ish law requires abortion when “carrying the preg- See Jewish tradition ‘permits’ page 9
