Malcolm Gladwell has another one of his eye opening articles at the New Yorker. He writes about insides vs. outsiders, focusing on the figure of Sidney Weinberg, a former head of Goldman Sachs. While reading his article, I kind of thought about the Jewish people as the perpetual outsiders. I am sure that some Jewish philosopher has already written something like that. Read it and tell me what you think.
A few months ago, I heard an interview on the radio with Douglas A. Blackmon, the author of Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II
Under laws enacted specifically to intimidate blacks, tens of thousands of African Americans were arbitrarily arrested, hit with outrageous fines, and charged for the costs of their own arrests. With no means to pay these ostensible “debts,” prisoners were sold as forced laborers to coal mines, lumber camps, brickyards, railroads, quarries and farm plantations. Thousands of other African Americans were simply seized by southern landowners and compelled into years of involuntary servitude. Government officials leased falsely imprisoned blacks to small-town entrepreneurs, provincial farmers, and dozens of corporations—including U.S. Steel Corp.—looking for cheap and abundant labor. Armies of “free” black men labored without compensation, were repeatedly bought and sold, and were forced through beatings and physical torture to do the bidding of white masters for decades after the official abolition of American slavery.
When I read one of Rashi’s comments on this week’s parashah, I couldn’t help but think how historic this week’s events have been. On Genesis 12:11, which describes Abraham asking Sarai to try and pretend that she is his sister, Rashi says the following.
ופשוטו של מקרא הנה נא הגיע השעה שיש לדאוג על יפיך, ידעתי זה ימים רבים כי יפת מראה את, ועכשיו אנו באים בין אנשים שחורים ומכוערים, אחיהם של כושים, ולא הורגלו באשה יפה.
The simple meaning of the verse is: Behold, now the time has arrived when we must be concerned about your beauty. I have known already for a long time that you are of fair appearance, but now we are coming among black and ugly people, the brothers of the Cushites, and they are not accustomed to a beautiful woman. (here)
Abraham Melamed in his book The Image of the Black in Jewish Culture: A History of the Other
In their commentaries on Genesis 12:11, most medieval commentators echo the wonder of the Midrashic authors as to why Abraham should become aware of Sarah’s beauty precisely in the context of their journey into Egypt.
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While Bereshit Rabbah does not so much as mention blacks (cushim), simply describing the Egyptians as ‘ugly and black’, Rashi identifies them explicitly as ‘brothers of the blacks’. Nahmanides adheres to Rashi’s commentary without even mentioning the Midrashic source. While David Kimhi does not identify the Egyptians as true blacks, or even specifically as having dark skin, he gives full prominence to the usual stereotypes of the ugly, lustful inhabitants of the south…
Also see these comments by Jonathan Schorsch from his book Jews and Blacks in the Early Modern World
A change has come, we were alive to see it.
There is a tragic article in today’s Washington Post about a young hasidic boy who was stricken with brain cancer. He is currently being kept alive with a ventilator and drugs. The hospital wants to disconnect the ventilator, because in their opinion the boy is already dead, and in the opinion of the parents, the boy is still alive. The case is now in the courts. Some discussion of the different opinions regarding the time of death in Judaism can be found here, here, and here (PDF). For some legal commentary see here.
R. Yair Hoffman has some comments on the printing of the Shulhan Aruch,
Most of us know that the Shulchan Aruch was written by Rabbi Yoseph Karo. Most of us also know that the additions of the Rama, Rabbi Moshe Isserless, were added to the Shulchan Aruch and they served to eventually make the Shulchan Aruch the universally accepted legal code of all Jewish people—for Sephardim as well as for Ashkenazim. The first time that the Shulchan Aruch was printed with the Rama was not until 1577—four years after the Rabbi Meir Printz edition.
How did the printers of the new Shulchan Aruchs with the additions of the Rama differentiate between the Rama’s additions and the original words of Rabbi Karo? They used a Rashi font for the Rabbi Moshe Isserles comments and regular Hebrew fonts for the words of Rabbi Karo.
This, of course, led to an era of confusion. Indeed, even great rabbis misidentified the translations of the Rabbi Meir Printz edition with the positions of the Rama.
See here for the full article. (hat tip) For a more in-depth treatment of the issue, in addition to the introduction to the new Shulhan Aruch ha-Shalem edition, see:
1. R. Yitzhak Nissim, introduction to the off-set edition of the 1577/8 Krakow edition of the Shulhan Arukh.
2. R. Nissim’s article in the Sinai Sefer Yovel.
3. R. Nissim’s article in the book Rabbi Yosef Karo, Mossad ha-Rav Kook, on hagahot to the Shulhan Aruch.
4. This article by R. Yitzhak Yeshayahu Weiss which appeared in Beit ha-Vaad.
5. Rav Tzair, Toldot ha-Poskim, vol. III, pp. 58-62.
There may be other bibliographical references, but these are what I can think of right now.
Jeffrey Goldberg posts about Rahm Emanuel accepting the post of White House Chief of Staff. He specifically addresses the question of Emanuel’s relationship with Israel, and the serious nature of his post is highlighted by this very funny line, which those who know Israeli slang, and who probably also hold certain political views, can laugh at.
Peace-processors take heart: Rahm, precisely because he’s a lover of Israel, will not have much patience with Israeli excuse-making, so when the next Prime Minister tells President Obama that as much as he’d love to, he can’t dismantle the Neve Manyak settlement outpost…
Also see this post by Andrew Sullivan.
It seems that Canada now has a Shira Hadasha-like minyan,
The minyan’s mission statement reads, in part, that the community “follows the approach of those Orthodox rabbis who have argued that the dignity of human beings (kavod ha-briyot) is a crucial halachic value that permits us, and in fact obligates us, to expand the roles of women.”
See here for the full article.
For those who want to stay on top of election reporting, but don’t want to sit in front of the TV, I am finding that this live blog from the Huffington Post is reporting what the major news networks and web sites are saying.
It is hard to believe that in 21st c. America, one reads these reports.
Election Protection, the nation’s largest nonpartisan voting rights coalition, has received reports that dozens of optical scan machines across Florida are malfunctioning. In Florida, voters fill out a paper ballot and then feed their ballots into optical scan machines themselves.
…More than 30 voters called into Election Protection’s 866-OUR-VOTE hotline with concerns that their precinct’s optical scan machine is not working. When this occurs, ballots are supposed to be placed in a “a secure bin” under the voting machine. Because of the volume of ballots, these bins are now filling up. We have received several reports of poll workers collecting ballots in a bag, which is not in accordance with the law. Election Protection is working with local election officials to ensure that all votes that have yet to be counted due to optical scan malfunctions are placed in secure locations.
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“Florida election officials have a responsibility to create a secure location for these overflow ballots and to guarrantee that every one of them will be counted, despite machine malfunctions,” said Jon Greenbaum, Director of the Voting Rights Project for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “Florida voters must not be punished for administrative election failures.”
To all of those who are eligible to vote in today’s Presidential Election, go out and vote, and bring a friend, but don’t be tempted to take the free Starbuck’s coffee or any other gift after you have voted, you may be violating both federal and state law. (hat tip) For everything and more that you wanted to know about polls, see 538. Here is a semi-cerebral post about voting from Crooked Timber. For those who would like to ritualize their voting, here is a short prayer. Ever wondered what are the legal ramifications of a concession by a presidential candidate? See here and here. Google tries another avenue in their quest to take over the world with their elections maps (they are pretty cool). Here is the map which will have today’s election results. If like me, you either forgot, or were unable to see SNL’s Presidential Bash last night, you can see some of the videos here or here. Lastly, for fans of both Marvel Comics and Steve Colbert, see here for the latest on his presidential campaign and what it means for Spiderman and the Incredible Hulk. (hat tip)
Update: Newsweek has the latest on the legality of free coffee, donuts, ice cream, etc, for those who have voted. At least for Starbucks, realizing the potential illegality of giving out free coffee to people who have voted, has now said that “To ensure that we are in compliance with election law, we are extending our offer to all customers who request a tall brewed drip.” I can already see the lines forming. I liked the solution at my polling station, the local PTA sells tea, coffee, bagels, and other baked goods. They even had a special selection from the local kosher bakery.
“In this election, we cannot afford the same political games and tactics that are being used to pit us against one another and make us afraid of one another. The stakes are too high to divide us by class and region and background; by who we are or what we believe. “Because despite what our opponents may claim, there are no real or fake parts of this country. There is no city or town that is more pro-America than anywhere else — we are one nation, all of us proud, all of us patriots. There are patriots who supported this war in Iraq and patriots who opposed it; patriots who believe in Democratic policies and those who believe in Republican policies. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America, they have served the United States of America.”
Barack Obama, October 27th, 2008
And now the guy who just plays songs, and in this case a new one.