Vol. LXXXIV No. 50 Omaha, NE
Celebrating 84 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
21 Av, 5765 August 26, 2005
Klutznick-Harris Symposium Celebrates 18th Year with “Love--Ideal and Real--in the Jewish Tradition” by LEONARD GREENSPOON Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization at Creighton University Thinkers from Aristotle to Zeno have pointed out how powerful love is. It is a strong emotion that takes hold of humans even as we try to direct it. At the same time, the Hebrew Bible is filled with commands to love God as well as other humans, ourselves included. How is it possible to legislate love? And what happens to this fundamental human emotion when it becomes a commandment? Professor Lawrence H. Schiffman will raise these and other fascinating questions in his keynote address: “Commandment or Emotion?: Love of God, Family, and Humanity in Classical Judaism”, at the 18th Annual Klutznick-Harris Symposium. Schiffman will speak on Sunday, Sept. 18, 7:30 p.m., in the Jewish Community Center theater. His talk, which will be followed by a dessert reception, is, like all Symposium events, free and open to the public. Dr. Schiffman, who received his academic training at Brandeis University, is Chairman of New York University’s Scribal Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and serves as Ethel and Irvin A. Edelman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at NYU. He is recognized throughout the world as a leading specialist in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Judaism in Late Antiquity, the history of Jewish law, and Talmudic Literature.
He has written well over a dozen books, which have been received with scholarly and popular acclaim, and more than 150 articles. His colleagues have bestowed many honors on him, including the presidency of the Association for Jewish Studies. Schiffman is almost as famous for his numerous television appearances as he is for his writings. He is a familiar figure to regular viewers of A&E and PBS. Rabbi Jonathan Gross of Beth Israel Synagogue is familiar with Schiffman’s work and speaks of him as one of the preeminent scholars of Judaism today, noting that “Schiffman is also known as a dynamic and engaging speaker, and we are fortunate that he will be here with us at the Symposium.” Schiffman is one of thirteen scholars from around the world who will participate in this year’s Symposium, which has as its title, “Love--Ideal and Real--in the Jewish Tradition from the Hebrew Bible to Modern Times.” Activities get under way at the J on Sunday, 12:30 p.m., with a series of six presentations that precede Schiffman’s keynote address. On Monday, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m., there are six more speakers at Creighton University’s Scott Student Center Ballroom. A full schedule will follow in a later issue of the Jewish Press The range of topics is wide. From the Hebrew Bible come three presentations. “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” exam-
Lawrence H. Schiffman ines some of the stories from the Book of Genesis in which love is expressed or represented; in so many of these passages, the portrayal of “love” clashes with traditional assumptions and judgments. “Love in the Palace: Some Things Just Aren’t Done” looks at the rape of Tamar by Amnon (both of them are David’s children) as chronicled in Second Samuel, chapter 13: “It begins with love that is actually lust, turns quickly to hatred, and then careens at the end to revenge, murder, and alienation.” No Klutznick-Harris Symposium on Jewish love would be complete without a talk on the biblical book, The Song of Songs, which has elicited many reactions from Jewish thinkers--but it is
ARTZA is Back!
Relative Ease of Gaza Withdrawal Could Affect Israel’s Future Agenda by LESLIE SUSSER leave their homes: There JERUSALEM (JTA)--In were tears, harsh words and the long run, the ease with some ugly physical clashes, which Israel evacuated Gaza but no bloodshed. Strip settlements could Indeed, what violence there prove to be as significant as was seemed to set clear limits the pullback itself. to future resistance after The fact that the withIsraeli society unanimously drawal went relatively condemned waving sticks, hurling wooden beams and smoothly challenges the long-standing belief that pouring down oil, paint and Israel will not be able to disturpentine to fend off solmantle large numbers of setdiers and police as “intoleratlements in the West Bank, ble hooliganism.” All this could have major shores up Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s international implications for the West and domestic standing, and Bank. For decades, many suggests that the settler Israelis have argued that the A bulldozer tears through rows of settler homes during the movement will not be able settlement project was irredemolition of evacuated settlements on Aug. 21, in the Pe’at to set the national agenda in versible. Now pundits are Sadeh settlement in the Gaza Strip. Credit: BP Images/JTA quite the same way as it has challenging that view. for more than three decades. Writing in Ha’aretz, Zvi Barel argued that the ease of Despite apocalyptic forecasts of conflicts approaching the evacuation had shattered the irreversibility theory. civil war, it took the Israeli army and police less than a “Suddenly it becomes clear that the logic that dismanweek to remove the roughly 9,000 Gaza settlers and tled the Gaza settlements can also be applied to the about 3,000 radicals who had infiltrated the settlements West Bank. The fears that drove the state are also to stiffen resistance. reversible: no civil war or military mutiny. Only curses, The strategy was to isolate the settlements and send nails and oil,” he wrote. “This is precisely the time for overwhelming numbers of soldiers and police into one the state to continue down the same path it charted in or two at a time. The military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gaza and proceed to the West Bank, the illegal outposts, Dan Halutz, explained that the huge numbers made it the tiny settlements, the lawbreakers--even the state’s possible to do the job using minimal force. fear of the settlements can be reversed.” The settlers expressed their anguish at being forced to Continued on page 12
Inside Opinion Page see page 8
This Week: Monthly Calendar: Pages 6-7 Kooper and Fellman Trusts Announce Scholarships: Page 2
JFS Offers Parenting Course: Page 3
only in modern times that its “very direct sexual imagery has been validated.” Ancient Jews produced much literature in addition to the Hebrew Bible. Among the least known of such works is the very entertaining novel that we today call Joseph and Aseneth. The author of this work, taking his cue from the brief reference in Genesis 41 to Joseph’s marriage to an Egyptian named Aseneth, considerably embellishes the biblical account to highlight Aseneth’s “love at first sight” for Joseph. The theme of love and examples of it are not absent from other classical Jewish literature, as is evident in a presentation titled “Is Rav’s Wife a ‘Dish’?: Food and Eating Metaphors in Rabbinic Discourse on Sexuality and Gender Relations,” and another on “Peace and Love (Sexuality) in the Book of the Zohar.” The former highlights the ways in which food-related metaphors serve as a prominent element in rabbinic discussions about men and women; the later looks beyond Zoharic expositions of sexuality and love to see how they intersect with the concept of peace. The Zohar is, of course, a central document of Jewish mysticism, which is also the topic of another presentation, “Kissing Cabbalists: Hierarchy, Reciprocity, and Equality.” This talk draws attention to kisses of both the mystical and the more mundane sort. Continued on page 3
Spend Four Weeks Next Summer on the Ultimate Israel Experience by LISA SHKOLNICK JCC Assistant Executive Director The Jewish Community Center, in conjunction with the Jewish Federation and the JCC Association of North America, is bringing back Omaha’s most popular Jewish teen Israel experience--ARTZA: To the Land. Under the local JCC leadership of Artza Director, Guy Matalon, and Omaha’s Community Shaliach, Uri Levin, this trip is destined to be an amazing, once in a lifetime experience! Chaired by Diane Malashock and Michael Miller, the ARTZA Committee has guided the planning process, and will be available to address any questions from participants and families during an informational session on Sunday, Oct. 30, at the JCC. Continued on page 12
A visit to the Western Wall is one of the emotional and spiritual highlights of ARTZA.
Coming Next Month: New Year’s Issue, Sept. 30 New Revelations in AIPAC Case Raise Questions: Page 5
Former Lincolnite Expresses Opinion on Disengagement: Page 8