RZ Weekly

30/09/2024

Yesterday, the 140 secret voters for Israel's Chief Rabbi left us with two candidates for the Chief Rabbi who will compete in a runoff. I have only one thing to say about the whole affair: I nominate Rabbi Johnny Solomon as a write-in candidate to unify the entire Jewish world.

24/09/2024

New podcast name...same great discussions with Johnny Solomon and Mali Adler Brofsky. But we won't claim to be "weekly". New episode dropping soon.

14/06/2024

This caricature, which is featured in today's Mekor Rishon by artist Shai Tzerka, pretty much hits the nail on the head in describing the feelings of the Religious Zionist community. Basically spot on.
At the same time, it has garnered a cry of anti-Semitism from representatives of the Chareidi community (see here:https://www.bhol.co.il/news/1665322), one of whom compared the drawing to Der Sturmer.
In truth, the strong sting of the drawing and the sharp response must be in large part because the truth hurts. Chesed organizations are wonderful and gemachim are nice. But as nice as that is, it cannot be compared in any way to the fear, sacrifice and service of sending your husbands, fathers and sons (and daughters) to a very deadly war.
It's a bit sad that the Chareidim are playing the victim. Sad and kind of pathetic. But it's also an indication of a sea-change in sentiment in Israel. Chareidi draft-avoidance (dodging?) used to illicit a shrug. Today, the reaction is one of anger and bitterness. One gets the sense that our political representatives can feel the winds of change and will no longer go along with this sad charade.

30/05/2024

Chaim Strauchler raises interesting questions about airport lounges and shul kiddushes. Airports segregate by class, giving the wealthy preferential treatment. Shuls, on the other hand, are what he calls "third places" that are supposed to serve everyone equally.

But do they really?

Most shuls have kiddush clubs, and from what I can tell they are pretty exclusive - limited to a select group of people, and usually those who can afford a 50 dollar bottle of booze. There's no Red Label at kiddush clubs - just at the "main" kiddush. Moreover, shuls have created tiers of membership - and while they don't distinguish overtly, everyone knows who the "platinum" donors to the shul are, and the special treatment that they get, even if it's not overt. Finally, I remember well attending the AIPAC conference, which is supposedly a "third place" and it being very clear from the very tags that people were wearing who was important more and who less.

So let's not kid ourselves about the community spaces being "third places". They're much more like the airport, where most people sit in the regular seats, and some special people have access to the lounge.

The question is: Is Chaim right? Are these places supposed to give equal access and treatment? Or is kol dishfin really only reserved for the night of the Seder?

Chaim Strauchler draws a parallel between the “free food” at airport lounges and at shul kiddush. In this week’s “TRADITION Questions” he asks how new luxurious norms might challenge the classic social inclusion created by Jewish community, and sees within the gamification and stratificat

22/04/2024

We're all feeling a bit off this chag. We all have questions.

How can we celebrate when the world seems to be against us?
How can we think of freedom when Jews are held in caves for the crime of being Jewish?

My wife, Rena Spolter, spoke this Shabbat about the song ויהי בחצי הלילה, which we sing at the end of the Seder. Redemption often happens in the middle of the night; not in the morning, when we can see the light of sunrise, but rather during the night, when it's still dark. The Jews were saved at midnight. According to the Tora, that's when they "left" Egypt. But they didn't really leave at midnight. They sat, shut in their homes, eating the Korban Pesach, hearing the cries of the Egyptians and the tumult of Egypt on that sleepless night.

Here in Israel, it seems hard to believe that we experienced a terrible "middle of the night" little more than a week ago. And, while we can sense the miraculous salvation of hundreds of rockets and drones missing their mark, we still feel like it's the middle of the night. Iran still threatens. Hizballah beckons. Hamas remains.

Indeed, perhaps our task tonight is to sing the praise of Hashem despite the fact that it's the middle. We sing because our ancestors sang - in circumstances far more difficult and challenging. And we sing because we continue their faith that despite the darkness, the Holy One will indeed redeem us.

Soon it will be morning.

Chag Sameach.

24/03/2024

In 2017, the first Purim following the election of Donald Trump, I gave an audio shiur entitled, "Who is Achashveirosh?" The shiur highlighted how Chazal note the fickle, ever-changing nature of the King of Persia, and his temperamental, shifting loyalties.
I think that the underlying idea in this shiur is perhaps even more relevant today, when the political winds have shifted significantly. We are certainly not in the same position we were seven years ago, and it behooves us to consider the lessons of the Megillah surrounding a ruler with the proclivities of Achashveirosh.

Link to the shiur in the first comment.

22/03/2024

David Brofsky shared with me a link to the Purim issue of Hamevaser (the YU hoity toity journal that we worked on) from 1994. I think I learned more from my Hamevaser experience that I did from most of my classes - but that's another issue.
In any case, I needed a good laugh, and I got one. Many of the issues are still very relevant, even 30 years later (wow! I'm old). The cover art, which mocked a then-famous Moment Magazine cover, is by Avi Greengart (then a budding artist).
Much of the material is still funny, but I'm convinced that if we published this today we'd be expelled. Download now before YU removes the link.

https://repository.yu.edu/bitstream/20.500.12202/6460/1/YUL.Hamevaser.1.1994-purim.33.03.Hamemoment.pdf

19/03/2024

The funeral for Daniel Peretz, hy"d, was powerful and moving in so many ways. But the words of Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon (הרב יוסף צבי רימון) have been reverberating in my head since last night.
So I translated them - and am sharing them.
Feel free to share with others.
May the memory of Daniel's gevurah inspire us all.

01/03/2024

לכבוד שבת קודש מבית היוצר של פתחיה ספולטר. שבת שלום לכולם, תפילות לשלום החיילים והחזרת החטופים.

https://open.spotify.com/track/2YDXRF0yV2ggThwCGwibIU?si=6fb22d97a87d4c0e

05/02/2024

A few months back, I finished a fascinating book on the early life of JFK, but found myself wondering more about his father, who shaped his life.
I just finished listening to the audiobook of "The Ambassador" by Susan Ronald, and I found the book both fascinating and incredibly disturbing.
It's well-known that Joseph Kennedy was a hateful, vile anti-Semite. But more importantly, he worshipped at the altar of himself. Everything he did was in the service of, and due to his incredible belief in himself - his own abilities, prowess, needs, power. He was simply unable to curb his own self-worship, even when it was bringing about his own undoing.
Listening to the book, I could help thinking about another self-indulgent major political figure who believes that he, and only he, has the answers to every problem. And is also his own worst enemy. (And no, I don't think he's an anti-Semite).
The book is also a tale about the dangers of very rich people using their money, power and influence in the political sphere, and the great dangers that they can be to the entire world. (if he really wanted to, Kennedy might very well have prevented the US from sending arms to England through Lend-Lease, which literally was a critical lifeline for the UK.)
One major criticism - the author completely ignores how Kennedy made his fortune - which I understand was through incredibly shady, if not illegal stock manipulations. Despite this, the reader is left with no doubt as to the character of the book's protagonist. Ick.

30/01/2024

In this episode of RZ Weekly, Reuven Spolter, Mali Adler Brofsky and Johnny Solomon examine the current emotional undertone within Israel and the related attitudes and daily experiences of Israelis, while comparing this with how many Jews in the diaspora – often under the influence of the general media - are relating to and interpreting current events in Israel. Given these differences, is the Jewish world united, or alternatively, following a period of unity across the global Jewish communities, are we seeing evidence of a growing rift?

21/01/2024

Hey friends! I'm on my way to London to give a talk at the LondonSchool JewishStudies primary school conference this week on behalf of Herzog Global. I'll also be giving training sessions at a number of schools and meeting with Jewish studies teachers.

I have some free time and would love to get together to discuss:
1. Jewish education trends and using technology in Jewish Ed
2. Mishnah Yomit
3. Aliyah and life in Israel
4. Life after the rabbinate
5. Where to get good coffee in Hendon
6. Kitah
7. RZ Weekly and podcasting

Feel free to reach out. I'd be happy to connect.

The Virtual Rabbi - Rabbi Johnny Solomon Sarah Manning - feel free to share!

03/01/2024

If you understand Hebrew, I strongly recommend taking the time to listen to this interview with Tamar, the Chareidi mother of David Mittelman, who died defending his country on October 7th. The interview is significant for so many reasons:
1. The incredible gevurah that David ob"m demonstrating, literally saving lives of others as he stood his ground against dozens of terrorists
2. The complicated nature of a chareidi who joins the IDF - and the complicated family dynamics that ensue. Tamar speaks about supporting her son, being with him, but there's a subtext to the fact that it must have been complicated.
3. The beautiful description of her son's funeral which brought people from all walks of life - chareidi, chiloni and Dati Leumi

If there will a gradual change in the Chareidi community, we should not expect people to change their fundamental values. That community believes in the primacy of Torah study over anything else. Successful Torah learners will not be encouraged to join the IDF.

But what about young men like David Mittelman who don't want a yeshiva and kollel life? Will they be forced to live as a "lone soldier" with an adopting family, as David did? Without a doubt there will be others who learn about his heroism and bravery and happiness in serving his country, and will want to follow suit. Will the IDF - and the Chareidi community - find a formula that will allow those boys to serve proudly?

It might take time - a lot of time - but listening to Tamar Mittelman speak with pride and love for her fallen son, I thought I heard that it might just be possible.

תמר, אמו של דוד מיטלמן לוחם גולני שנפל בקרב על כיסופים בשבת השחורה, בריאיון לקלמן ליבסקינד ואסף ליברמן. מתוך התוכנית "קלמן ליברמן", 03.01.24 צילום: מתוך רשתות חברתיות

03/01/2024

The power of learning every day is in its consistency and constancy. No matter what, learning is part of your day. Yet, some days the Mishnah that you learn in Mishnah Yomit seems to slap you in the face.

Today is one of those days.

Today we're studying about ne'emanut - a person's reliability to testify about him or herself in Ketubot Chapter 2. The Mishnah raises the issue of whether a woman (or multiple women) who were captured can testify that they were not in fact r***d.

It is chilling that we are still dealing - thousands of years later - with the spectre of the capture and r**e of Jewish women. The concerns of millenia ago arise yet again.

03/12/2023

Kitah's new program for Homeschoolers with a Monday Zoom begins on January 2nd! That's less than a month from now! Know a family that's Homeschooling? They're kids will love Kitah!
And if you live in Florida, you may be able to take advantage of the Step Up for Families program, as Kitah is an authorized provider.
Learn more at kitah.org/florida
Register now! Space really is limited.

29/09/2023

Something I wrote on the issue we discussed in our last podcast….

No matter how you feel, disrupting prayer services is not OK, nor is attacking property or antagonizing people to tears

28/09/2023

In this emergency edition of RZ Weekly, we respond to the disrupted Yom Kippur prayer service in Dizengoff square, we discuss the fears and fearmongering concerning public spaces, religious power, and Jewish identity in Israel, and we try and offer a broader perspective of what the present is and what the future may bring.

Listen to this episode from RZ Weekly on Spotify.

26/09/2023

CONTEMPLATING KOHELET: In our latest edition of RZ Weekly which is not only available as a podcast (see https://open.spotify.com/episode/4L7lPqJLdpC2kCZPI3EL5I?si=LpjP0GlLSNuW1BGIX9z-8g) but also as a video (see attached), Reuven Spolter, Mali Adler Brofsky and Johnny Solomon get into the Sukkot spirit by talking with David Curwin about his new book 'Kohelet: A Map to Eden - An Intertextual Journey' published by Maggid. Please watch, or listen, and let us know your thoughts.