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The Jewish Press

(Founded in 1920)

Margie Gutnik

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Annette van de Kamp-Wright

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Richard Busse

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Susan Bernard

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Gabby Blair Sam Kricsfeld

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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.

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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.

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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.

The harp above our bed

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT

Jewish Press Editor

There are times when I don’t read emails from my synagogue 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 hang his harp above his bed, and at midnight God would send a breeze through the window to strum its strings. Roused from sleep by the music, David would rise to praise God. What good is it, if the wind blows, but above your bed no harp hangs? It is our task in life to ensure that we are alive to the possibility of the stirrings of God’s wonder. We must train ourselves and our children to tune the instruments of our souls so that when the breeze blows we will be aroused by the melody. Hang a harp above your bed. What does that mean for the rest of us, “hanging a harp?” How do you “tune the instrument of your soul” I’m kind of tempted to save the questions for another time, when I can ask a rabbi. Rabbis know

about this stuff much better than editors. But then, they also expect us to think for ourselves, so maybe I should at least consider the question. What’s our “harp?” Is it programming, which al-

Staffer of the Israeli field hospital Kohav Meir plays with children

outside the structure near Lviv, Ukraine, March 23, 2022. Credit: Schneider Children's Medical Center lows us to show up, come together and connect? Is it opening our eyes and paying attention to the rest of the world, so we know when to give, help, reach out? Is it our empathy, our patience, our willingness to learn new things and see other perpectives? Maybe the “harp” can be anything to anybody and there just isn’t one single answer. The value of these types of emails often lie in the positive struggle, the fact that we have to really mull this over. If we want to find answers that truly matter, sometimes we have to put in a lot of work—and that’s okay. It reminds me of something I heard the other 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 considered good enough reasons to get an abortion. In order to qualify for an abortion that is legal and paid for by the state, Israeli women have to sit in front of a committee and tell them why they are requesting an abortion. Although 98% of abortion requests are approved, the law reflects the belief that women cannot or should not make this decision 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 them, at least through the first trimester. He says that women should not need to give any reason for their request, and that nobody should have to determine whether their request is valid. While we don’t have these committees in America, we have heard a lot this month about the legislation that many states have developed, each providing different circumstances under which they would permit abortion. Some say that abortions will only be permitted if the woman’s life is in danger. Others allow abortion after rape or incest. And of course one’s ability to terminate a pregnancy is already limited by where one lives, how far along one is in pregnancy and the financial resources one has available. Well-meaning Jewish groups often draw on rabbinic sources to claim that Judaism is supportive of abortion rights. Unfortunately here, too, we see the justification approach. Last week, in a statement, the Orthodox Union explained that it cannot support an “absolute ban” on abortion because Jewish law requires abortion when “carrying the preg-

nancy to term poses real risk to the life of the mother.” This popular argument is commonly also heard among more progressive Jewish groups. But when you hear that “Jewish law permits and sometimes requires abortion,” you must also listen to the assumption underlying this statement: Women do not have the bodily autonomy to make

A pro-choice activist holds a sign at a protest at the U.S. Supreme

Court, Washington, DC, May 2, 2022. Credit: Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images that decision on their own. Jewish law must permit it — and sometimes demands it, regardless of what a woman prefers. These statements, often used to express support for abortion rights, are ultimately stymied by the assumptions of rabbinic law, a system that does not support bodily autonomy or the ability to make decisions about one’s own body. The statement by the Orthodox Union goes even further. It also explicitly prohibits what the group and others call “abortion on demand,” or abortion because someone doesn’t want to be pregnant. By contrast, the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center bases its position on reproductive rights on “the core belief that each person should have agency and autonomy over their own bodies.” Other progressive Jewish groups, including the National Council of Jewish Women, have gone on record highlighting the value of bodily autonomy over reproduction, but too few. Some non-Orthodox rabbis even expressly forbid it.

See Jewish tradition ‘permits’ page 9

May 19, 2019, was a glorious day to gather and celebrate. We officially welcomed Countryside Community Church as a neighbor on the Tri-Faith Commons, dedicated Abraham’s bridge, and broke ground for the TriFaith Center and the first planting of a Tri-Faith Community Garden and Orchard, now named the Tri-Faith Unity Garden and Hope Orchard. On that sacred day, we acknowledged the traditional land of the Omaha people and paid our respects to the Elders, both past and present. We stand on the shoulders of giants from many communities — including all of the visionaries who believed and continue to make the bold experiment of Tri-Faith possible. In the past three years, we have seen our democracy threatened and attacked. We are coming to understand a long-overdue and ongoing racial reckoning, a pandemic, war…and at the same time, we are witnessing breakthrough innovation. We have a purpose. We are growing relationships (and veggies). To the few very spirited volunteers who planted 20 fruit

trees and watched the first eight raised beds be delivered to the new garden space in 2019, you are a force. I see you creating a culture of trust — YOU are literally the muscle of this movement to lead change. It is not just fertile ground. We witnessed these gardeners produce more than 2,500 pounds of crops last season. This doesn't begin to reflect our community partnerships, the sharing of stories, and co-creation of opportunities to serve our larger community by improving physical, mental, social, enWENDY vironmental, economic, and spiritual health. GOLDBERG With a ton of uncertainty, when we all are feeling vulnerable, Guest Editorial these dedicated volunteers found new ways to show up with and for each other. I love how they lead with, “How are you feeling? What’s going on with your family?” Before they “get down to work.” And it is this practice that we all want to sincerely thank them for leading. Thank you for growing our capacity to collaborate and for celebrating diversity and difference. Thank you for living the experiment and for learning we can grow together and adapt and pivot as we need to. Our co-location invites us to care about each other as we create a powerful example of positive, loving common action to counter the global plague of bigotry. This is exactly what our world needs.

Jewish tradition ‘permits’

Continued from page 8

Unless you support a person’s right to bodily autonomy, then you are supporting a system wherein someone else determines what you or anyone else can do with their bodies. It does not matter whether that person is a lawmaker, a judge, a contemporary rabbi or one from 2,000 years ago. It does not matter whether that person would permit most abortions or even require some. There’s a temptation right now to say that restrictions on abortion rights in the United States violate the religious freedom of Jews. That’s true, to an extent. But a religious argument based on Jewish law and rabbinic texts only goes so far. Those of us who support reproductive health, rights and justice ought to be honest about the connection between that and our rabbinic tradition. I believe in the same bodily autonomy argument that Nitzan Horowitz makes. It may not be an argument rooted in Jewish law, but it is a Jewish argument — and it’s time to make it.

Michal Raucher is associate professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University and author of “Conceiving Agency: Reproductive Authority Among Haredi Women” (Indiana University Press).

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

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CNAAN LIPHSHIZ

JTA The series Heirs to the Land that dropped on Netflix in April looks like just another installment in the genre of Spanish period dramas. In some ways it is, featuring the familiar mix of romance, violence and a liberal dramatization of key historical events in medieval Spain that have made international hits out of several recent Spanish productions such as Isabel and El Cid. But Heirs to the Land also takes a deep dive into what it meant to live as a Jew in Spain at the time, when the strictly Catholic country began its descent into organized persecution of minorities that culminated with the Inquisition. The series reflects a growing appetite in Spain for exploring local history in general, especially its oft-overlooked Jewish chapters. “You have multiple references to the Inquisition and to antisemitism in recent historical production, but I wanted to go beyond and show the texture of life for a Jew in Spain just before the expulsion,” said executive producer Jordi Frades, who is not Jewish. Possibly the most heavily Jewish production of its kind in Spain, the 8-episode second season of Heirs to the Land, based on a novel by Ildefonso Falcones, follows the life of Hugo Llor, a fictional character born in 14th-century Barcelona. Whereas previous productions about the Inquisition including the Netflix series The Cathedral of the Sea, which Frades also directed, and the Netflix film Coven of Sisters depicted Jews briefly and mostly as hapless victims, Heirs to the Land digs much deeper. It depicts a Jew learning of the massacre of Jews in Valencia in 1391 even as he maintained trust in the government and king, who, at that time, sometimes intervened to protect Jews from lynchings but at other times ignored or encouraged them. Frades said the new series attempts to do for the Inquisition what Schindler’s List has done for the Holocaust. The reception of Heirs to the Land has been good, Frades said. The series has cracked the list of Netflix’s top-10 most viewed shows in 50 countries, including Israel and France, he said, citing information provided to him by Netflix.

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SUNDAY JUNE 12

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