8 | The Jewish Press | June 3, 2022
Voices The Jewish Press (Founded in 1920) Margie Gutnik President Annette van de Kamp-Wright Editor Richard Busse Creative Director Susan Bernard Advertising Executive Lori Kooper-Schwarz Assistant Editor Gabby Blair Sam Kricsfeld Staff Writers Mary Bachteler Accounting Jewish Press Board Margie Gutnik, President; Abigail Kutler, Ex-Officio; Danni Christensen; David Finkelstein; Bracha Goldsweig; Mary Sue Grossman; Les Kay; Natasha Kraft; Chuck Lucoff; Joseph Pinson; Andy Shefsky and Amy Tipp. The mission of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to build and sustain a strong and vibrant Omaha Jewish Community and to support Jews in Israel and around the world. Agencies of the Federation are: Community Relations Committee, Jewish Community Center, Center for Jewish Life, Jewish Social Services, and the Jewish Press. Guidelines and highlights of the Jewish Press, including front page stories and announcements, can be found online at: www.jewishomaha.org; click on ‘Jewish Press.’ Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors, or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole. The Jewish Press reserves the right to edit signed letters and articles for space and content. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the Kashrut of any product or establishment. Editorial The Jewish Press is an agency of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Deadline for copy, ads and photos is: Thursday, 9 a.m., eight days prior to publication. E-mail editorial material and photos to: avandekamp@jewishomaha.org; send ads (in TIF or PDF format) to: rbusse@jewishomaha.org. Letters to the Editor Guidelines The Jewish Press welcomes Letters to the Editor. They may be sent via regular mail to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154; via fax: 1.402.334.5422 or via e-mail to the Editor at: avandekamp@jewishomaha.org. Letters should be no longer than 250 words and must be single-spaced typed, not hand-written. Published letters should be confined to opinions and comments on articles or events. News items should not be submitted and printed as a “Letter to the Editor.” The Editor may edit letters for content and space restrictions. Letters may be published without giving an opposing view. Information shall be verified before printing. All letters must be signed by the writer. The Jewish Press will not publish letters that appear to be part of an organized campaign, nor letters copied from the Internet. No letters should be published from candidates running for office, but others may write on their behalf. Letters of thanks should be confined to commending an institution for a program, project or event, rather than personally thanking paid staff, unless the writer chooses to turn the “Letter to the Editor” into a paid personal ad or a news article about the event, project or program which the professional staff supervised. For information, contact Annette van de KampWright, Jewish Press Editor, 402.334.6450. Postal The Jewish Press (USPS 275620) is published weekly (except for the first week of January and July) on Friday for $40 per calendar year U.S.; $80 foreign, by the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Phone: 402.334.6448; FAX: 402.334.5422. Periodical postage paid at Omaha, NE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154-2198 or email to: jpress@jewishomaha.org.
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Bad Moon Rising? seems that the modern Jewish explanation is that alSAM KRICSFELD though lunar eclipses are predictable, the “omen” asThe Kansas City Jewish Chronicle Editor On May 15, half the world and I had the opportu- pect is that the eclipse’s occurrence marks a time that nity to watch our floating rock cast a shadow on a people are predisposed to tragedy and punishment. smaller floating rock. Lunar eclipses aren’t particu- Basically, it marks a predetermined time of bad luck. As somebody who is making larly rare in terms of celestial quite a few big changes in their events, but this one coincided life, I did not like to read this. I’d with a “supermoon,” meaning just found out that right before I’ll the moon was brighter than make one of the first major leaps usual. The sun, Earth and the in my adult life, I’d witnessed a cemoon lined up, and I watched as lestial event that I thought was a the moon was slowly covered up sign that I —and everyone else — and turned red. would have bad luck. As I stood futzing with my I kept reading, thankfully, and camera and tripod in my uncle’s discovered that I’d jumped to backyard, I was suddenly aware conclusions and worried a bit too of how quickly the universe soon. I was directed to Tosefta moves. I was reminded of the world’s turning when, after only Credit: Zeederp, licensed under the Cre- Sukkah (yes, I hadn’t heard of it a few minutes, I could no longer ative Commons Attribution 4.0 Interna- either) 2:7, where it says: tional license. “When the luminaries are see the moon in my viewfinder. With a strong feeling of existential motion sick- eclipsed, it is a bad omen to the whole world... ness, I went inside after the maximum eclipse at When the sun and the moon are turned as it were 11:11 p.m. to view my photos. My entry-level camera to blood, punishment by the sword comes on the and 400mm lens did a decent job — certainly better world, punishment by pestilence and by famine...” So far, not so good. It continues: “There is no nation than the naked eye or my cellphone — and I drove home as the Earth’s shadow slowly slid off the moon. punished whose gods are not punished with it, as it On the drive back, I realized I hadn’t said a bless- is said, ‘And against all the gods of Egypt, etc.’ When ing upon viewing the eclipse. Because we as Jews Israel is busied in the study of Torah it is not troubled say blessings for many special natural phenomena by these things, for it is said, ‘Thus said G-d, Learn (rainbows, thunder, comets), I figured that we’d not the way of the nations, etc.’ [Jerimiah 10].” The Lubavitcher Rebbe said, “Not only are Jews have something for the awe-inspiring eclipse. I was surprised and a bit dismayed when I read that the able to overcome their nature (through hard work, Talmud says lunar eclipses are considered a bad etc.), but rather they don’t take these ‘signs of the heavens’ [i.e. eclipses] into account in the first omen for the Jewish people. Upon reading some more about the matter, it place... The ultimate level is when we no longer have
to pay attention to the rules of nature at all. This is the way G-d behaves with righteous people (and ‘Your nations are all righteous’) — a clearly miraculous manner that is completely beyond nature.” After my impromptu, multi-hour, solo Jewish studies session, I felt a bit better. I was reminded that we are fortunate that G-d is merciful, and that even though we might be predisposed to some bad luck, we can mitigate or even avoid it by working to be a better Jew. I feel the need to add a disclaimer that I am not a rabbi or a scholar — I’m a guy who looked at the moon and went on the internet to look stuff up. From what I gather, there are times other than eclipses when we are predisposed to bad luck — Jewish astrology is a thing — but predisposition does not affect free will, and using our free will to work towards being a better Jew can overcome the omen. Levi Brackman’s Chabad.org article Is Astrology Kosher? put it in terms I understood best: “The message is clear: nature and its rules — including astrological truths — do exert an influence on our lives. It presents us with auspicious times and circumstances, and inauspicious ones; it imbues our character with certain traits and tendencies. However, one must recognize that ultimate power rests not with ‘nature’ but with the Creator of heaven and earth.” I found various opinions, difficult language, endless sources, and arguments in Jewish laws and literature about the omens of eclipses. Even if everything I’ve researched up to this point is disputed, the “solution” of doing G-d’s will has benefits no matter what. So next time there’s a bad moon rising, trouble on the way, or bad times today, the scholars say that mitzvot, prayers, tzedakah, Torah study — anything you can do to be a better Jew — will make things a bit better.
Overturning Roe would be an unconscionable infringement on the religious freedom of Orthodox Jews DOV LINZER AND SARA HURWITZ JTA As Orthodox rabbis, we are devastated by the news that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. If this happens, states will be free to pass laws to prohibit or strictly limit abortion, and approximately 25 of them are prepared to do so or already have. Such legislation would impact the lives of tens of millions of women. It would also be an unconscionable infringement on the religious freedom of Orthodox Jews. A strategy of the anti-choice camp is to claim that women make the decisions to terminate a pregnancy for trivial reasons. That is the opposite of our experience. A few years ago, one of us was approached by a pregnant woman whose husband had a history of erratic and violent behavior. She herself had just learned that the fetus she was carrying had a severe congenital birth defect and she did not believe that she had the capacity to care for such a child. Carrying out the pregnancy would wreak havoc on her delicate and compromised family situation. She was deeply conflicted about which decision was the right one. Had Jewish law offered her no choice — as she had initially believed — it would have robbed her of any moral or religious agency. No wonder, then, that she felt trapped and helpless. This changed when she was presented with the fact that, according to some Jewish decisors, abortion was an option in her case, for reasons we’ll explain. She was able to own her agency, to grapple with the competing ethical and religious mandates, to consult with a halachic (Jewish legal) authority and to give weight to her own and family’s well-being. The final choice she made isn’t what is relevant here. It is that she was empowered to make it. We believe that halacha is binding and that protecting human life is one of its highest values. Our commitment to halacha is not contradicted by our pro-choice beliefs but expressed by them. We have seen how many false assumptions exist when it
comes to Orthodoxy’s approach to questions of when life begins or what a woman’s autonomy entails. So we are writing together — as two leaders of Orthodox seminaries — to clarify misconceptions and to challenge those who claim that there is one “authentic” Jewish way at this personal decision. The Orthodox position on abortion is not the same as that of the Catholic Church. In fact, there is no one “Orthodox position” on abortion. Jewish law
Protesters attend the "Jewish Rally for Abortion Justice" at Union Square near the U.S. Capitol on May 17, 2022. Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
is rarely, if ever, univocal on issues. Its beauty and power lie in its decentralization and in the multiplicity of opinions articulated by those who interpret it. When it comes to abortion, the opinions run the gamut, from those who see the fetus as merely a part of the mother’s body to those who rule that abortion is tantamount to murder. The status of the fetus might also be quite different depending on the stage of development, whether first, second or third trimester, with an increasingly shrinking range of justifying circumstances as the fetus becomes more fully developed. It would be wrong to characterize any of these positions as either pro-life or pro-choice. Jewish law is not so simple. As distinct from much of the contemporary “either/or” discourse around abortion, Jewish law embraces a “both/and” approach. There is both a mandate to protect life, even a future life,
and, at the same time, a religious obligation to protect the health and psychic well-being of every human being. Because a fetus is not seen as a full life, these two mandates exist in an ongoing tension. Halacha embraces the complexity and messiness of our lives and rejects simplistic, prepackaged answers. Orthodox women grappling with the question of whether to have an abortion will be guided by their consciences and their faith and consult with a religious advisor to guide them regarding Torah values and ethical and religious-legal obligations. To deny women the right to choose is to assume that they cannot be responsible to give this consequential decision the full weight that it deserves. It is to infantilize women, to exhibit a lack of trust in them to be responsible moral agents. And in the case of women committed to Jewish law, it is to rob them of the ability to be true not only to the dictates of their conscience, but to their faith as well. If the Supreme Court removes the protections of Roe v. Wade and states adopt legislation that limits or eliminates a woman’s right to choose, we and our co-religionists will be effectively barred from acting in accordance with our religious beliefs and from being guided by our moral compass. Taking away choices about one’s pregnancy undermines central values of Jewish law: engaging a range of options, bringing to bear competing Torah values, and owning the complexity of one’s reality. Dov Linzer is the President of Rosh HaYeshiva of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, and serves as a religious guide to the yeshiva’s current rabbinical students and over 130 rabbis serving in the field. Sara Hurwitz is Co-Founder and President of Maharat, the first institution to ordain Orthodox women as clergy, and also serves on the rabbinic staff at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.
