Rapping on Jerusalem’s door
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Music, Pop Culture, Religion
Brothers separated at birth - Shyne and the author. (Photo: Marc Israel Sellum)
A decade ago, as a 20-year-old Belize-born, New York street rapper – he was on top of the world – signed to Sean Combs’ (P. Diddy) label and recording his debut album. However, a nightclub shooting incident, in which Shyne claims he was protecting Combs, ended up with three people injured and a 10-year prison term for Shyne. Meanwhile his record was released and rose to the top of the hip hop charts making the rapper a household name in the urban community.
With an Ethiopian Jewish grandmother, Shyne returned to his roots while in prison, becoming observant, keeping kosher and celebrating Shabbat. Upon his release from prison last year, he was deported from the US and returned to Belize. But last Rosh Hashana, he decided to make his first visit to Israel, and he’s been a regular visitor ever since, spending most of his time here over the last three months.
Depending on the day, Shyne is dressed either in full haredi garb of the Hassidic Belz sect, or in a hip hop basketball shirt and baseball cap.
He’s become an ubiquitous presence in Jerusalem in recent weeks, whether it’s hosting a delegation of Def Jam executives last week to discuss his new album which they’re going to release early next year, working out at the David Citadel fitness center, studying at Or Sameach yeshiva or visiting the Gilad Schalit tent to talks with Noam and Aviva Schalit.
Whether or not his devotion to Judaism and Israel is a phase which will dissipate if a petition to pardon him and enable his return to the US is accepted by New York Governor David Paterson, Shyne seems sincere about his connection to the country and his faith, even undergoing a conversion process recently that Ethiopian immigrants take part in to erase any doubts of their Jewishness.
“I plan on making aliya and buying a home here,” he told me when we met at the Mamilla Hotel last week. “So even if I’m not really here, my soul will be. It will be my stake in the ground here.”
Court rules state must fund non-Orthodox conversion courses
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, General, Israeliness, Politics, Religion
UTJ's Moshe Gafni is not happy with neither the court decision nor with Reform Jews.
The ruling was the result of a petition filed by the Reform Movement in Israel demanding equal funding for its conversion classes vis-à-vis those run by private Orthodox institutions.
While the ruling may not have any impact on the status of the conversions themselves in the eyes of the state. it may influence the religious status quo and future court rulings on other questions of funding for religious services, where the Orthodox stranglehold on funding has frozen out other strains of Judaism.
Until now, non-Orthodox conversion programs have not been eligible for funding, which is provided by the Immigration Absorption Ministry to Orthodox schools.
Rabbi Gilad Kariv, director-general of the Reform Movement, said the decision was “very important and constituted one more step in the process of ending the Orthodox monopoly in Israel.”
He added that the ruling “was the harbinger of a series of High Court decisions to come which will eventually lead to a strategic agreement between the state and the Reform and Conservative movements regarding their status in Israel.” But Kariv cautioned that the process would still take many years.
One indication of that was the reaction to the ruling by haredi Knesset Finance Committee chairman Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) who holds the purse strings of the budget for religious funding. He said that he’ll block any attempt to transfer state funds to non-Orthodox institutions involved in preparing converts to Judaism.
“The Reform Movement is not a legitimate form of Judaism,” Gafni told The Jerusalem Post. “The Reform are a bunch of treacherous backstabbers to Judaism. They are jokers who operate without hierarchy and without rules.”
He added that the court’s decision to compel the state to fund non-Orthodox conversion institutes was a slippery slope that was liable to undermine the Jewish character of the state.
“Gafni should know that he, like all other Israeli citizens, must adhere to the law. He is probably just showing off to his friends and supporters in Brooklyn,” Kariv responded.
It looks like this is just the beginning, and not the end of the battle between the Orthodox and the Reform in Israel. Strap your seatbelts.
Iran’s New Year “Nowruz” An Ecological Bridge To Make Peace With Israel?
Filed under: A New Reality, Environment
Jews in Israel and the world over are busy now celebrating Passover, while Christians ready themselves for Easter. Iranians, we learn had their own celebrations this time of the year, coinciding with the vernal equinox on March 21.
Iran’s political makeup and leadership may not be making many friends these days, but its annual festival Nowruz, or the Persian New Year festival, is being celebrated in a number of countries, and by several different religions as well.
Nowruz spelled also Nowrouz or Nouruz, which means “New Day” in Persian, officially marks the first day of Spring in the Persian calendar and corresponds to the Spring Equinox which is marked on Western calendars as March 21.
The holiday is not only celebrated by the Iranians, but also by countries in Central Asia, South Asia, Western China, The Crimea, and by a number of ethnic groups in Balkan countries such as Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia. The holiday marks the period when the sun crosses the celestial equator and creates equal day and night.
The sun and fire are important elements in the ancient Persian religion of Zoroaster and the festival is observed by this ancient monotheistic faith. In fact, Nowruz is one of the seven most important Zoroastrian festivals the festival is also observed by the much newer Bahai faith which also has its origins in Iran.
The founder of the Bahai religion, Bahalulah, placed much importance on the observance of this annual change of seasons and Bahai faith members the world over eagerly await this event.
Legend has it that this festival, which has it origins in ancient Persia around 600 BCE, is the basis for the Jewish festival of Purim which also comes around this time and is based on the lunar calendar. The festival is celebrated by a number of Muslim communities, including among the Alewite and Alevi sects.
Signifying rebirth, some of the main customs of the holiday includes spring cleaning and inter-family visitation.
As in other holidays that celebrate the New Year, it is believed that what people do on Nowruz will affect them for the remainder of the year. Certain flowers such as tulips and hycinths are placed in the home. Like before Jewish holidays, new clothing is also purchased. Another nice custom involves something sweet being hidden somewhere outside the home, and whoever finds its and brings it inside will have a better year. Families also visit the graves of loved ones on the last Thursday or Friday of the old year proceeding festival.
Faith plays an important role in spreading environmental awareness, and joint environmental concerns can unite faiths. Nowrouz and its many derivations means so much to so many people, it may yet be an excellent ecological “bridge” to unite peoples the world over.
This post was written by Maurice Picow and first appeared on the Middle East environment news site Green Prophet. To subscribe to the newsletter send an email to contact@greenprophet.com.
[Image via Hamed Saber]
Beitar Crocs
Filed under: Business, design, History and Culture, Sports
I’ve gotten used to the ubiquitousness of Crocs in Israel, the way these resin-made clogs have become the hottest shoe in Israel since Nimrod’s biblical sandals. They’re so popular, the company that imports them has been accused of instituting a Crocs cartel, and has convinced Israelis to pay approximately $17 more for them in these parts.
I myself resisted buying any Crocs for some time, but gave in last summer when I purchased their forgiving flip-flops for my fat, pregnant feet, and then the ‘Audrey Hepburn’ style for the colder months.
And then, today, I saw yellow Crocs emblazoned with the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team emblem displayed outside a local store. There they were, sitting next to the fleece-lined Crocs and the Mary Jane Crocs. I took a closer look, figuring they were fakes, but they actually sported the Crocs emblem, right next to the black and yellow Beitar menorah symbol. The shop owner told me that they were a special Crocs order, just being sold in Jerusalem for Beitar-crazed fans, and were available at his store, and other local shops selling Crocs.
The thing is, I can’t really picture Beitar Jerusalem fans wearing Crocs, given their penchant for storming the field whenever they’re upset with the results of a game, and where else would you wear your Beitar Crocs, except to a soccer game? And I was also surprised to see Beitar Crocs being sold at this particular sports store, which is situated in Baka, home to transplanted Americans and generally genteel, secular Israelis. Your average Beitar fan? Not so genteel. Not very Baka. But the shop owner was informative on that account as well, and said you’d be surprised who’s a Beitar fan…and that he had more than one American customer picking up a pair to bring home.
Foto Friday – Yuval Nadel
Filed under: Art, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Religion
The world of haredi observant Jews is one that most secular Israelis never get a chance to see – and if they do, they find it alien, even threatening. Photographer Yuval Nadel, an Israeli-born Jew with a secular up-bringing, became familiar with and learned to appreciate and respect the people who lead a religious lifestyle.
In a collection of photographs called “Custom, Prayer and Ceremony – The Jews of the Land of Israel”, he documents that meeting between secular and religious without trying to explain the lifestyle or Jewish customs. “As a photographer, it was important for me to show the religious experiences of Israeli Jews from my personal point of view,” he says.
The photographs presented in Nadel’s book were taken over four cycles of holidays and intermittent days between 2004 and 2008. Nadel writes that his journey began at the annual festive Lag B’Omer commemoration at Mount Meron. “I was captivated. Over the next four years, I traveled around the country to the various outposts and locations where Jews perform their mitzvot (commandments), ceremonies and prayers… I arrived to these places as a photographer, as a bystander observer and yet as someone participating in the experience. It was so, because that’s how I was received…”
While most such books “fall prey to the sin of anthropology… based, at worst, on patronizing voyeurism and at best, on intellectual curiosity,” writes Israeli journalist Kobi Arieli, an observant Jew, “Yuval Nadel’s approach arises out of a positive attitude that is nurtured and grows with each image… This book is a story about love and light, which is why it is both good and enjoyable.”
For his part, Nadel says, “If these photographs can contribute even slightly to help unite Jews through exposing a beautiful side of the world of observant Jews in Israel, I will have reaped my reward.”
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