The Kosher Oyster - April/May 2019

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April/May 2019

Hello & Welcome

An introduction by Shira Rosenblum, AUJS Jewish Engagement Officer. Shira has been involved in AUJS for 4 years, as a MONJSS executive from 20162017 and as the National Conference Co-Convenor in 2018. Prior to that, Shira was a Madricha at Hineni. in Melbourne.

Modesty & Music

A brief exploration of the relationship between Judaism and music by Hannah Golan-Burnett. Hannah is a music student at the Australian National University. In 2018, Hannah was the President of AUJS ACT and remains on the executive this year.

Let It Go!

Sarah Sack takes a look inside the meaning of the Pesach story and how we as individuals can use the message of Pesach in our own advocacy. Sarah is a student at Macquarie University and is the Regional Events Officer for AUJS NSW. Sarah was also a leader at Hineni.

Purim: The Most Dangerous Festival In The World

Ittay Flescher investigates the darker nature of Purim, asking us, as activists, to use the lessons and teachings of the festival to our own benefit. Ittay is a journalist and educator who moved to Jerusalem from Melbourne in 2018.

Community Activism & YOU!

A breakdown of our community and what community activism means today by Tal Szumer Menashe. Tal is a student at Griffith University, the Vice President of AUJS Queensland and serves on the Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies.

Hello & Welcome Welcome to the first official AUJS Kosher Oyster Publication.

The Kosher Oyster was created with the aim of connecting Jewish students, AUJS members and our community with a wide and varied range of Jewish ideas - to provide a range of insights from various students, writers and community leaders.

This issue looks at the themes of Purim and Passover through a discussion of activism.

As students, we are capable of accomplishing amazing things. We turn marches into movements and right now, we live in a groundswell of student and youth activism.

I am so proud to finally see this initiative take off and proud to join you all in an incredlbe conversation of Judaism, our community and wider society.

Enjoy!

Shira Rosenblum AUJS Jewish Engagement Officer

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MODESTY & MUSIC: EXPOSING NEW TALENT

By Hannah Golan-Burnett

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odesty can be a loaded concept these days. It’s something that many tend to associate with oppression and misogyny, and it's been used to harm many in the past. Now, many use modesty as a tool for empowerment, rather than oppression. I wanted to look at some examples of women using music and modesty to empower from within our own community. Many religions include vows and laws about piety and modesty. In Judaism, we see this in concepts such as ‘Kol Isha Erva’ (the voice of a women being sexual) and customs around tzniut (modesty of presentation).

These concepts can be extrapolated towards women choosing their words carefully, acting modestly (i.e. not bragging), clothes covering the entire body and avoiding singing in front of men. Other cultures share many of these traditions, including choosing carefully about how the voice is used and the situations for its expression.

The specific ruling of Kol Isha can be derived from many different sources. According to Aish, this includes Mishnaic and Biblical sources. Whilst the Mishnah states that “men should not listen to women singing, because it can lead to impure thoughts” (Mishnah Berurah 75:17). It links this to the explicitly sexual: ‘A woman's voice can be erotic, as it is written, for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely.” (Song of Songs 2:14). The implication of the sources is that a woman's voices could lead men to have impure thoughts, and act on them

towards women who weren’t their wives.

These days, a statement like that would be viewed as putting responsibility on women for the man’s lack of self-control - as well as placing little faith in that sense of control!

Judaism is not the only religion to have a practice that specifically addresses women singing in front of men. In Sufi Islam, there is no issue with a woman’s voice. However, in some Islamic communities, women will often choose to stop singing at a point during adolescence as an act of piety. In both Judaism and Islam, women who follow these practices tend to be more on the Orthodox side of the religious spectrum.

The question is: does this rule mean that women don’t make music at all? Certainly not. Instead, they make music in their own spaces. Throughout Jewish history, we have seen Orthodox, observant women, singing to and for each other in gender-segregated groups such as at mikvaot (ritual baths), Rosh Chodesh (new month) ceremonies and prewedding parties. From strong Yiddish tunes in a dim Poland mikveh giving other women strength in new marriages, to solemn comfort through miscarriages, to women at a henna ceremony in Yemen instilling joy (and a bit of fear!) in the bride – there has always been music. So, what’s new? With the introduction of the internet and rapid globalisation there have been opportunities for women to create new spaces, with their own modesty codes, to perform music, mediate new musical influences, create music for new purposes and change the way in which groups use music.

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LET IT GO!

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By Sarah Sack

etween 1959 and 1989, the fight for Soviet Jews was led by the slogan: ‘Let my people go’. In 1984, during the civil war in Ethiopia, Israel smuggled thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in the mission known as ‘Operation Moses’. What do both these events have in common? They are both references to the Pesach story.

Pesach (Passover) may arguably be the most celebrated festivals of the Jewish calendar. According to the Gen17 survey, 90% of Jewish Australians attend a Pesach Seder every year. Rabbi Sacks writes that, in the Seder, we are presented with numerous issues, such as slavery, freedom, power, human dignity and responsibility. As one of the names of Pesach is ‘Chag Hacherut’ (Festival of Freedom), I am going to focus on the theme of freedom. The Haggadah says that “in every generation we have to see ourselves as if we have left Egypt.”

A traditional interpretation is, that participants in the Seder are encouraged to remember the Exodus from Egypt, by imagining that they themselves were present and experienced the Exodus.

A more contemporary interpretation is presented by Rav Kook, who suggests that “in every generation every person needs to see how they are playing a role in the redemption of Israel and humanity.”

Pesach is not only an individual journey, but also a collective responsibility

to work for the freedom of Jewish people and humanity at large. Indeed, there are many Jewish people who are known for advocating for freedom.

Rabbi Joshua Abraham Heschel was inspired by the teachings of the Jewish Prophets. He took part in social action, such as the Selma to Montgomery Walk with Martin Luther King. Ruth BaderGinsburg, the second female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, is best known for her fight for gender equality, the rights of workers, and the separation of church and state. In the Tanakh, Moshe and Devorah embody the struggle for freedom. Moshe, the central figure of the Pesach story, together with his sister Miriam, fought for the freedom and rights of the Jewish people. Devorah, who was a respected judge and Prophetess in ancient Israel helped free the Jewish people from the oppression of the Canaanites. The festival of Pesach embodies the symbolism of slavery and freedom. There is a Hassidic teaching that chametz (leavened food) represents the negative part of a person’s ego. On Pesach, the Festival of Freedom, we remove that Chametz from our houses and ourselves. G-d’s message is that we can physically be taken out of slavery and take out the ‘chametz’ from our house, but it is up to the individual to temper their ego and activate their spiritual, mental and emotional side in order to be free and to focus on what is important.

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PURIM: THE MOST DANGEROUS FESTIVAL OF THE JEWISH CALENDAR

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By Ittay Flescher

urim is one of the most dangerous festivals in the Jewish calendar. Centered around a revenge fantasy against the most hated enemy of the Jewish people, taken literally, the story of Megillat Esther has more intrigue, violence, and gore than a Quentin Tarantino film. Thankfully, in their great wisdom, the Rabbis and the Jewish people today have turned Purim into a festival of joy, fancy dress, tasty foods and gifts to the needy. Fringe extremist Rabbis in Israel view Arabs or Palestinians as the descendants of Amalek, but the majority view Amalak as an evil inclination within us all with which we should struggle to overcome.

Imagining for a moment that this wasn’t the case, consider the following aspects of the Purim story.

In Megillat Esther, following Haman’s extermination decree against the Jews, King Achashverosh “permitted the Jews of every city to assemble and fight for their lives; if any people or province attacks them, they may destroy, massacre, and exterminate its armed force together with women and children, and plunder their possessions” (Esther 8:11-13). The megillah explains that following this command for armed violence against an entire nation including women and children, “the rest of the Jews, those in the king’s provinces, likewise mustered and fought for their lives.

They disposed of their enemies, killing seventy-five thousand of their foes; but they did not lay hands on the spoil. That was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar; and they rested on the fourteenth day and made it a day of feasting and merrymaking.” ( Esther 9:11-17). At this point in the story, no Jew has been harmed, and 75,510 Amalekites are dead. Celebration ensues, to this very day. For generations, anti-semites used this story to explain how awful Jews were as a people. In his infamous Antisemitic book of 1543, “On the Jews and their lies,” Martin Luther King wrote, “How much the Jews love the Book of Esther, which so well fits their bloodthirsty, vengeful, murderous greed and hope.”. Over time, various movements within Judaism began to question the Purim story for these reasons. The famous 11th Century scholar Abraham Ibn Ezra, who was clearly uncomfortable with the violence, asked, “Why did Mordechai write

that the Jews should kill their enemies? Would it not be enough for him and for them that they (the Jews) should escape?” Leading 19th-century British Reform scholar Claude Montefiore, in an editorial in London’s Jewish Chronicle in March 1888, went so far as to call for Purim’s abolition. I remember once asking Rabbi David Hartman who was well known for his liberal Orthodox views, how he justified celebrating this festival. He explained that one needs to read the story as a projection, rather than history. Hartman believed that at the time the Megillah was written, the Jews didn’t have the power to vanquish their enemies with anywhere near the force and brutality depicted in the megillah. Given their powerlessness, what they did was tell a story of their great might and fidelity to a God who fights on their behalf. The reading of the megillah each year then became a ritual of catharsis for Jews who over the centuries, had no political authority nor army, but for a day a year could see themselves as being the most powerful nation on earth. Hartman also explained that one mustn’t forget what Haman is alleged to have done in the story. When Mordechai did not bow down to him, his rage did not extend just to Mordechai, but to the whole Jewish people. Jews have always suffered from a generalisation of certain acts that individual Jews do, and to be labeled as misers, as cheats who will always lie to steal more money. “We who have suffered from the disease of generalization must not fall into the same pitfall, the same demonic urge to seek revenge on a whole people, because of the actions of singular individuals,” explained Rabbi Hartman.

As AUJS students on campus, the activist in you must choose each day how you respond to both the positive and negative generalisations directed towards your faith and the State of Israel. With different readings of the Purim story, one can find justifications for all sorts of response. My hope for those reading this now is that you will heed the words of Rabbi Hartman, to use this festival as a time to remind yourself of the importance of rejecting generalisations on both the of the argument with which you agree and the one you oppose. That is truly where our power and strength resides, and it’s the most Jewish thing to do.

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COMMUNITY ACTIVISM & YOU!

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By Tal Szumer Menashe

utting aside the question of what your mum, dad, great uncle Moishe, or your Savta think community activism is, or how they think it should be done – community activism is not just an important aspect of the community, but important for all of us as individuals. In an era where the only thing we know about change is that it is not just constant, but faster, and coming from every direction – community activism is one vitally important method to ensure your personal well-being by supporting the well-being of the community at large. Now that I’ve stated my staunch support for community activism but left you wildly confused as to what I am talking about and why, let me explain. I believe that ‘community activism’ is a misnomer, and that rather, we should discuss ‘community participation’. Ensuring the strength of the community does not necessarily come through being an activist specifically. You could lead a Taglit group to Israel, you could be elected to an AUJS committee and argue constitutional amendments, you could go to synagogue, and you could even decide to keep kosher, all in an effort to support and strengthen the Jewish community! It is not these particular activities that make a difference - but being active is what is important. Participation is what forms community. You 10

could say the only important tool to strengthen a community is showing up every once in a while, and getting involved in whatever project best suits you. Our community no longer has boundaries, defining where and how we exist, where we belong, or what particular activity we should perform. Our community forms in places where people feel like they belong. Our community is in a Maccabi football/netball/volleyball/ fencing team. Our community is at an Approachable Members Of Your Local Community concert. Our community is when a bunch of old friends decide they haven’t hung out in a while and that they and socialise together once again. Community forms, breaks, and re-forms. So, is a community important? Absolutely.

It’s a place for people to connect and to reconnect, to strengthen bonds, to commit to the preservation of our historic culture, rituals, and behaviours. And, is being active in the community important? I believe that some kind of activism is fundamental to every person. Participating in something keeps you alive and lets you find out what kind of person, what kind of Jew, you are. The form and function of a community is always going to be under debate and the shape that activism takes will also be subject to exhaustive examination.

But the decision to participate, and how, remains up to YOU.

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The Kosher Oyster is always looking for contributers. If you would like to be involved in further Kosher Oyster publications please contact Shira at shirar@aujs.com.au.