The End of Bukhara in Bukhara

I've been waiting a while for the mainstream media to pick-up the story about the destined destruction of the Dushanbe synagogue, Tajikistan's sole standing synagogue, and the New York Times finally gave it coverage in today's paper. The story's headline says, it all: "As a Synagogue Comes Down, A Culture Disappears, Too." In short, the synagogue, like other buildings in its vinicity, will be demolished to accomodate the construction of a presidential palace. And sadly, although the government offered the congregation a plot of land a few miles away, they lack the funds to rebuild.

I first heard about these tragic circumstances about six months ago from Lola, our dear friend in Dushanbe, when I asked her about the condition of Jews in Tajikistan. My question prompted her visit to the synagogue, where she met Rabbi Mikhail Abdurakhmanov (presumably the man in the photo below) and he informed her of their predicament. Following that encounter, Lola pursued the issue, and sought the support of Jews and Tajiks both inside and outside of Dushanbe to seek a solution; her reports were rarely optimistic. She did, however, share with me photoprahs from the synagouge, which I have posted below.






This isn't an event that warrants outrage or an outcry. Anti-semitism was not a factor here. Instead, when the day arrives, we ought to mourn the destruction of this last remaining vestige of Bukharan Jewish culture in Tajikistan -- a culture that dates back even prior to Jewish immigration to Europe. And more importantly, we ought to determine how we can help preserve that culture in the United States, Israel and elsewhere, and ensure that the Jews who remain in Tajikistan can either emigrate or live to the end in accordance with Jewish tradition.

Power to the Women!

Wafa Sultan and Irshad Manji have courage. Both women not only have denounced Jihadist Islam and the despotic regimes in the Middle East, but they have also made positive comments about Jews and Israel, which is largely taboo among Muslim reformers. On Al-Jazeera, Wafa Sultan, the Syrian-born psychiatrist argued:

The Jews have come from the tragedy (of the Holocaust), and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror, with their work, not their crying and yelling. Humanity owes most of the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists. 15 million people, scattered throughout the world, united and won their rights through work and knowledge. We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people. The Muslims have turned three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a single Buddhist burn down a Mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down an embassy. Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people, and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them. (Transcript: here)

Manji went a step further, and defended Israel in the New York Times (link unavailable):

Like all Muslims, I look forward to the day when neither the [IDF] jeep nor the wall is in Abu Dis. So will we tell the self-appointed martyrs of Islam that... before the barrier, there was the bomber? And that the barrier can be dismantled, but the bomber's victims are gone forever?

Manji and Sultan offer stinging criticism to the Muslim world. Their support for Jews or Israel's defense tactics would be enough to make an Al-Jazeera watcher boil-over with anger. But they go a step beyond, by using these examples to highlight the weakness within Muslim society and to strengthen their case for reform.

Why go to such lengths to make this argument? Why risk alienating their audience? Saul Singer, in his sharp column on both women, offers one answer:

My hunch is that Sultan and Manji felt they had to go so far as defending Jews and Israel because they recognize that it is impossible to fight the Islamist jihad without exposing its Jew-hatred in an unapologetic manner. They realize that we - Jews, Christians, and non-jihadi Muslims - are in this together.

I think their rhetoric has even greater implications. Anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism serve as the lynchpins to pan-Arabism and Islamism. In other words, it is the one issue that unites Sunni and Shia, Arab and Persian, and so on, and by targeting this fundamental premise, Wafa and Manji undermine the two ideologies that have crippled the Middle East. Further, they question the favorite scapegoat employed by despots in the region, namely that Israel and the Jews are the source of their countries' ills. The less their citizens believe this lie, the more vulnerable their tyrannies become to reform.

And finally, it is noteworthy that both commentators are women. According to my friend Oubai at Syria Comment PLUS, "It's going to be the woman of the middle east that liberate it." They certainly suffer more than anyone else and are the most immediate beneficiaries of reform. Sultan and Manji are just the beginning. Just wait until more women follow in their footsteps and lead the way.

People in the Streets: The Marathon Runners

Following the "peace" protest, 20,000+ people actually hit the streets to compete and participate in the 21st Los Angeles Marathon.
They not only traveled wide and far to participate, but they also trained for months on end to complete the 26.2 mile trek. One of those athletic superstars was my friend Jess Kronstadt. And while she tore up the street, I, along with many others, stood by in admiration to cheer, hydrate, and entertain. I have nothing else to write but CONGRATULATIONS on this herculean accomplishment!

People in the Street: The Protestors

This past weekend, people united to protest the war in Iraq, the occupation of Palestine, and just about any cause supported by the extremist Left. This demonstration in Los Angeles was particular in two regards. First, it was sponsored by A.N.S.W.E.R. Los Angeles, a Stalinist organization that has defended dictators from the late Slobodan Milosevic to Kim Jung Il, and whose leader, Ramsey Clark has participated in the defense of Saddam Hussein. Second, it attracted members of the Hollywood Elite: Paul Haggis, double Academy Award winner ("Crash" Best Picture), Maria Bello, Golden Globe nominated actress ("A History of Violence"), Diane Lane, Academy Award nominated actress ("Unfaithful"), and Martin Sheen, award-winning actor ("The West Wing"). Surely, it was an event not to be missed ...

If only Martin Sheen and Paul Haggis were to march for "peace" in occupied Iraq

Actress Maria Bello "apologized" for initially supporting the war.

But most important of all, it was an incredibly rich educational experience for me. I learned really clever rally calls: "Bring the troops home now," "CNN, NBC, show the peace march on TV," and my favorite, "2-4-6-8, the United States is a terrorist state." President Bartlet, I mean Martin Sheen, reminded me that "we are living in an occupied country," and the protest's organizer, Muna Coobtee, taught me another insightful lesson:

[Weapons of Mass Destruction] are spread out around the world on U.S. bases, and U.S. war ships. They’re stockpiled in Israel , the Zionist state designed to threaten all of the people of the Middle East , to maintain their illegal occupation of Palestinian lands. These are the real terrorists.

So, if we're the real terrorists, who are Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, and Yasser Arafat? Coobtee doesn't say ... in fact, she did not once mention any one of their names during her speech. That's because the real enemies are Bush, Cheney, and other leaders in their cabal.

Coobtee also indicates that the protest is not just about protesting the War in Iraq. In fact, it's about something much greater:

This demonstration—like protests going on all over the world today—reaffirms the will of people everywhere to continue to build a global movement for peace with justice everywhere. The people’s needs must come first. We must disarm and dethrone the centers of militarism and repression centered in Washington and Wall Street, to rebuild and redistribute the wealth which we, as working people around the world, have created. It is through a mass, independent movement in the streets that this will happen.

And I thought Marxist-Leninism was dead -- how silly of me. Apparently, it lives on in the streets of Hollywood (see below).

Surely, the families of fallen soldiers would approve

Is this woman a Guantanamo Bay Prisoner? Or Jesus Christ?
A Pacifist? Or Suicide Bomber?

Now I'm really confused
I pledge Allegiance to the United Nations of the World ...
At least no Molotov cocktails were to be found

Because a protest wouldn't be complete without a reminder that Bush is Hitler
Or that the United States and Israel were behind the 9/11 attacks

A.N.S.W.E.R. claims that "more than 20,000" participated. The Los Angeles Times puts the figure at "several thousand." My guesstimate is 2,500. You decide ...

I know that some like to claim that Hollywood is out of touch with the American people and that its movies have a predominantly liberal bias. I guess we'll just have to wait until a Support The Troops Rally hits Hollywood and Vine to be proven otherwise. In the mean time, I won't hold my breath.

Taliban at Yale

So much has been written about the New York Times' flattering piece on Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, the "Roving Ambassador for the Taliban" turned Yale Student, that I do not have much to add.

My friend, Jamie Kirchick, writing for the Yale Daily News takes Hashemi to task:

There is little evidence to show Hashemi's beliefs have changed much; indeed, available information indicates his views on world affairs hardly differ from ignorant conspiracy theories so common today in the Muslim world. In an article posted on the Web site of the organization sponsoring his stay in the U.S., he writes, "Seemingly, like the poor Taliban, common Americans are ignorant of the fact that their franchise state of Israel in the Middle East is serving as an American al-Qaida against the Arab world."

While some members of our elite may agree with Hashemi, I don't recall Israel's call for jihad "against the Arab world," its desires to impose sharia, or its decision to brutally murder thousands of innocent civilians. To Hashemi, I must be yet another common, ignorant American ...

And then, in a detailed piece on the Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal, John Fund has the goods on Hashemi, unveiling both his failure to repent for serving one of the world's most brutal regimes and Yale's warm embrace of the Taliban apologist. Meanwhile, the university keeps ROTC (officer training for the United States military) seventy miles from campus. One cannot help but doubt where lays the allegiance of many in the university.

Taking that cue, Flagg Youngblood, my former colleague at McMaster-Carr Supply Co., delivers a knock-out punch to Yale's supposed "support of those [of] those who wish to make such a commitment [to ROTC] and [its belief that] the leadership these students provide." Never mind ROTC's absence,

Yale also filed a friend of the court brief in 2004 supporting the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights' failed bid to keep military recruiters off campus. Fortunately, the Supreme Court rejected Yale's logic on March 6 with an 8-0 decision in Rumsfeld vs. FAIR. If this is support, I cannot imagine disapproval.

And yet out of this debate, one can find reasons for optimism. Now that he is here, Jamie Kirchick recognizes that:

We should welcome Hashemi, in hopes that American pluralism -- eating in a kosher dining hall, taking classes alongside girls and gays -- will help him liberalize his homeland. Rahmatullah Hashemi has much more to learn from Americans and Yale than we do from him.

Hashemi's presence has also heightened the public's awareness of the Ivory Tower's prevelant moral relativism, anti-Americanism, and antipathy to service. In fact, his acceptance might promt calls to reform academia, and even hasten ROTC's return to campus.

Kosher Sex

Jewish men and women must be rejoicing in response to an article published in Akdamot, an acaedmic journal on Jewish thought. According to Prof. Zvi Zohar, premarital sex is permitted by halacha (Jewish law) so long as the relationship is based on mutual respect and the woman immerses herself in a mikve (ritual bath).

While I'm sure that most of my peers would greet this opinion with an "Amen;" I am not sure how to approach this article. In the first place, I could care less about the halachic perspective on premarital success. Its significance is more interesting; I'm simply dumbfounded that a reinterpretation of Jewish Law, or its strict adherence, could fundamentally undermine tradition. It practically makes a mockery of Orthodox Judaism.

And then read what one Rabbi Tohar-Lev had to say:

There are certain laws that are best kept secret. Zohar's article will give some young people the justification they were looking for. Nobody wants to be a sinner.

Not once have I heard anyone suggest that laws be "kept secret." Aren't laws intended to be made public so that people can adhere to them? If this law should be kept secret, why not include laws governing what Jews eat, what they can do on the Sabbath, etc? And if following Jewish law leads to sin, why don't we abandon Jewish law altogether?

At this point I can't decide between the rabbi or the professor: who is the bigger fool?

Bereshit: An Introduction

"Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'arets." In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. (Gen, 1:1). Creating heaven and earth seems like a lofty goal, but tonight I just don't seem to have the energy. And neither does my colleague. In fact, I'd be content with writing a few paragraphs, though this admission comes at the expense of being rebuked by my mother for being "unambitious." Sorry, mom -- deal with it.

Why, Bereshit? Why at the beginning of this blog, must I begin with THE BEGINNING? Because I was asked by my co-conspirator to begin with "a BANG." I don't recall exactly if it was just a regular bang, or "THE BIG BANG," but I decided to err on the side of caution, since this is our first collaboration, and I really want to impress him. It also introduces a very important set of issues, already hinted at by our blog's title, "Data Myths." Can myths be reconciled with data? Are faith and reason diametrically opposed without any room for accomodation of the other? Must we believe in either Creationism or Evolution? Or by equating Bereshit with the Big Bang, have I demonstrated a degree of cognitive dissonance that some might regard as unhealthy?

Bereshit also represents just one of many shared beliefs by my friend and me. Although these words were taken straight from the Torah and the King James Bible, the idea that the world was created by a Divine Being is universal among all ethical monothesits. There are many other values that we share, including many outside of religion, but this one is perhaps the most basic. By remembering what we have in common, without losing site of our differences, we hope to construct a healthy and informative environment for discussion, debate, and inquiry on just about any topic that suits our fancy.

And finally, I would be naive to believe that introducing this blog with Bereshit would not offend someone -- a rabbi, perhaps an evangelist, or maybe even an imam. Well, (if they were to actually read it), they better get used to it. Although we have great respect for religion, we will not shy away from its criticism or orthodoxy in fear of offending others or being labeled heretics.

Let the fun Bereshit ...