Comedy night at the synagogue

To those of you who're in Montreal or nearby: I hope to see many (or some) of you at the synagogue tomorrow for a stand-up comedy show featuring Mo Amer and Rabbi Bob Alper. See the poster above for details.

Rabbi Alan Bright on fasting in Judaism

Ramadan went by with its usual speed this year, and we are nearing the end of Shawwal. Meanwhile, the Jews have celebrated the High Holy Days, one of which, Yom Kippur, involved one of the most important fasts of the Jewish calendar.

During Ramadan, all Muslims read or hear the Qur'anic verse "You who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may be mindful of God" (2:183). "Those before you" refers to older communities of monotheists, including the Children of Israel. I therefore asked my friend Alan, rabbi of the Shaare Zedek synagogue here in Montreal, to share with us his perspective on fasting in Judaism.

Atonement through Affliction

by Rabbi Alan Bright

Islam follows a solely lunar calendar; as a result, the cycle of twelve lunar months regresses through the seasons over a period of about 33 years. Judaism, however, follows a quasi-lunar calendar or, as it has become known, a “lunisolar” calendar. As the Jewish festivals are quired by Torah mandate to fall in specific seasons, months are intercalated according to the Metonic cycle, in which 235 lunations occur in nineteen years. In our days, the Jewish calendar is predominantly used for religious observances; however, it is used by traditional Jewish farmers in Israel as an agricultural framework.

Due to the mechanics of both the Muslim calendar and the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, followed the holy month of Ramadan, the most sacred time of the year for Muslims, by approximately one week this year.

A question that is often asked of me;

“Is there a corollary between the fasting within the Judaism and Islam”?

Ask a Jew why he/she fasts on Yom Kippur (the most widely observed fasts of numerous fasts within the Jewish calendar) and the answer will most likely be “to atone for our sins”. Suffice it to say that this vague answer is only one facet of repentance for a Jew.

Ask a Muslim why he/she fasts during Ramadan and the answer most likely will be "to create a greater awareness of God". Awareness of God and his presence is called "Taqwa", a word that can also mean "fear of God", "piety" or "self-restraint". Another reason many Muslims give for fasting is "to feel more empathy for the poor and indigent".

While both these great Abrahamic faiths include fasting as part of their doctrine, they do so for very different reasons.

From sunset Sunday September 27th through dark Monday September 28th, Jews around the world observed the festival of Yom Kippur. For this year only, these dates correspond to the dates outlined in the Old Testament. In the book of Leviticus the following is found:

...In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and you shall not do any work ... For on that day he shall provide atonement for you to cleanse you from all your sins before the L-RD. -Leviticus 16:29-30

The name of the seventh month in the Jewish calendar is Tishrei. So from the evening of the ninth day of the month of Tishrei until the following evening, (Leviticus 23:32), the holiest day of the year in the Jewish calendar is observed.

Even though not stated directly, i.e., “on this day you shall abstain from eating”, this, however, is the place from whence the concept of fasting in Judaism is derived. The question that begs to be asked is how did the rabbinic sages arrive at an interpretation of “you shall afflict your souls” to mean an abstention from all food and drink?

Throughout biblical literature, we find cases of great people who took it upon themselves to abstain from food and indeed other luxuries in order to repent for wrongdoing. For example ,in the Book of Samuel II, we read that King David –- King of Israel -- atones for his unacceptable sexual proclivities towards Bathsheba by fasting while praying to God for forgiveness. This motif of fasting as atonement for prior sins either committed or even contemplated became an accepted mode of repentance throughout Jewish history to present day. Furthermore, we find the same not only for individuals, but also for congregational penance. It is believed that fasting arouses the compassion of God to forgive the penitent for not only negative behavioral situations, but also to implore God's protection in times of calamity either personal or communal.

To answer our question about how the rabbinic sages arrived at the interpretation of “you shall afflict your souls” to mean the abstention from all food and drink,

Rabbi Arnold Bienstok in his essay on Fasting in the Jewish Tradition states that the rabbinic commentators interpreted the Biblical phrase “affliction of the soul” to embrace a generic understanding of denying oneself physical pleasure on Yom Kippur. The prohibitions included not just eating and drinking, but also bathing, washing, and anointing. Sexual abstinence also becomes part of the rabbinic understanding of “affliction of the soul.” Even the wearing of leather is prohibited because of its association with luxury or rabbinic compassion for animal life (tsaar baalei hayyim).

As stated earlier, fasting is found in the books of the Bible. Throughout biblical Judaism, the prophets develop the concept of Divine appeasement by fasting as it serves to transform the individual spiritually. Bienstok further comments that for the prophetic voice, ethical perfection is the ultimate demand of the religious life. Ritual behavior is meaningful only if it is marked by the inner transformation of the character of the penitent. The prophetic voice condemns ritual expression that is not marked by spiritual transformation. Rabbinic tradition selected the Biblical readings of Leviticus 23 and Isaiah 58 as the readings of Yom Kippur to share a balanced perspective on fasting. Leviticus 23 presents fasting as a propitiatory offering of atonement. Isaiah 58 asserts that the genuine fast is self-evaluation.

* Rabbi Alan Bright, a native of London, England, is the spiritual leader of Shaare Zedek Congregation, Montreal Quebec. Born into a modern orth'odox Jewish family, Alan attended seminaries in the UK and USA, namely Jews' College (UK), Yeshivat Rivevot Ephraim and The Jewish Theological Seminary (USA). In addition to Orthodox ordination, Alan holds a Masters' degree from Concordia University, with a major in Ancient and Medieval Jewish History. Alan's area of interest is medieval Jewish death and burial rites and customs. Alan can be reached via email at rabbi@shaarezedek.ca.

Today we are all Palestinians

Today was the 16th day of Israel's murderous Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. In order to stop Hamas and other rockets that, over the last several years, have killed 13 Israelis (including three children), the Israeli government has, to date, killed over 800 Palestinians. According to Palestinian Ministry of Health figures accepted by the UN, as of 8 January, the Israeli offensive had killed 257 children and 56 women. And who knows how many of the men killed by Israel were civilians? So who is the terrorist?

I am certainly not taking any kind of ambiguous stance towards the killing of civilians. When Hamas or another Palestinian militant group kills even one Israeli civilian, that is wrong. But what happens when Israel blatantly kills hundreds of Palestinian civilians in a few days? When are we all going to admit that an innocent Palestinian life is just as precious as an Israeli one? When are we going to proclaim loudly that killing a hundred Palestinians is no less evil than killing one Israeli?

As we are told by our Creator in the Qur'an,

We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people (Qur'an, 5:32; Abdullah Yusuf Ali's interpretation).

This is something that Hamas would do well to remember. But, in the current circumstances, these words from the sacred text of Islam apply especially to those who are mentioned in them in the first place. Over the years, the thing that has angered me the most about Hamas is their refusal to draw a distinction between the Israeli armed ("defence") forces and Israeli civilians. According to Hamas's logic, since most Israelis, at one time or another, serve in the armed forces, they are all legitimate military tactics. This interpretation, IMHO, very clearly runs counter to the long-established Islamic tradition of limiting warfare to clear military targets. However, Israel, which, despite its occupation of Palestine, has, for decades, been claiming the moral high ground on the issue of terrorism, is now, quite obviously, deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians in order to make Hamas look bad in the eyes of its civilian supporters.

This is an exceedingly slippery slope. Pretty much the only sympathy Israel enjoys outside the US is related to its civilians coming under attack every once in a while from Palestinian extremists. It has now proven that it is willing to do the same to the Palestinians, and on a massively higher scale. It may well be that the only well wishers Israel will have left if it continues down this path are going to be American Republicans.

Meanwhile, the mood on the streets of the world is decidedly pro-Palestinian. A demonstration here in Montréal, which my wife and I attended yesterday, drew "almost 10,000 people" according to the normally pro-Israeli Gazette. This time around, even the Gazette looked decidedly pro-Palestinian. And in London, somewhere between 4,000 and 15,000 pro-Israeli, largely Jewish, demonstrators, demanded a cessation of hostilities.

Olmert said to the Israeli Cabinet today that "Israel is nearing the goals which it set itself." If that goal is the destruction of Hamas, Israel has, in fact, taken a step back. If it is a secure future for Israel, Olmert has taken one giant leap back. One can only hope that he'll come to his senses.

Happy Hanukkah!

I'd like to wish all my Jewish readers a happy Hanukkah. May the candles you light in celebration remind us of the light of monotheism bestowed on Jews and Muslims alike.

Earlier this month, my wife and I visited the Shaare Zion synagogue here in Montreal for an informative and entertaining evening, where Jewish, Christian and Hindu speakers discussed their respective winter holidays associated with light -- Hanukkah, Advent and Diwali -- and the synagogue's cantor, Boaz Davidoff, led his band in some exciting Hanukkah music in Hebrew and English. We need more of this sort of event, I tell you.
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Now playing: North Sea Gas - Will Ye No Come Back Again
via FoxyTunes

Gülen schools promote moderate Islam in Pakistan

The Fethullah Gülen movement, led by a Turkish neo-Sufi, has been gaining international prominence in recent years due to its promotion of interfaith dialogue and moderate, apolitical Islamic practice. Apart from dialogue meetings with representatives of other religions, such as priests and rabbis, one of the movement's main activities is a network of schools that now covers over 80 countries.

The Gülen movement now has seven schools in Pakistan, where they are becoming increasingly popular with parents because of the way they promote Islam without preaching intolerance. Only one official, government-approved course on Islam is taught at the Gülen schools in Pakistan. However, the teachers encourage the practice of Islam in the student dormitories, and themselves act as an example of peaceful, practising Muslims. This is an approach that large numbers of Pakistani parents have been receptive to, given their frustrations with collapsing government-run schools, private Western-style schools that do not adequately teach Islam, and Islamic seminaries that are often tied (at least on the level of perception) with intolerance or even violence (New York Times).

I wonder how the recently opened Gülen school in Montréal is doing.

José Correa on presenting before the Bouchard-Taylor Commission

Recently, my friend and fellow Muslim, al-Haj José Correa, an alumnus of McGill University, presented a brief to the Bouchard-Taylor Commission on reasonable accommodation on behalf of the McGill chapter of the Muslim Student Association.

I'd like to share with you his account of the events of the day:

The experience of presenting a brief at the Bouchard-Taylor commission felt a lot like I was voting at a general election. Except, instead of simply stepping behind a booth to vote, I got the rare chance of explaining why I was voting the way I was. Now just imagine having to explain to the public after casting your vote - in 15 minutes, and while live cameras focus in on your every word - why you voted NDP or Liberal, etc. I guess that's what the experience was like for me.

Now, before being seated and commencing, Bouchard and Taylor were introduced to me and shook my hand affectionately. For some reason I was somewhat startled. I guess I had developed a slight and undetectable persecution complex over the preceding weeks under the influence of the media, being Muslim and all. The handshakes had managed to pull me abruptly and expeditiously back into the society I thought I was living in before the whole commission began. Moreover, the co-presidents were quite spontaneous and welcoming, surprisingly, given what must have been the thousands of testimonials and presentations that had come before me.

Since Bouchard and Taylor are ordinarily university professors, I couldn't help but feel at times I was really being graded. Still, their questions demonstrated quite convincingly that they had spent adequate time reading my brief, which in a weird way, comforted me. However, one line of inquiry from Bouchard made me question if I was actually defending a dissertation.

At the end, as I exited the hall, feeling relatively satisfied with the course of the presentation, I was unexpectedly swarmed by an estimated 25 journalists and media types -- a first for me. Wow! Thinking back, this was the most fascinating part of my whole experience. Pressed to answer rapid fire questions from a choir of intrigue, microphones and flashes, I suppose lent me a brief glimpse into the lives of politicians and public figures. And that's what it was like.

You can read the text of his brief below:

1. ABOUT PRESENTER: MSA McGILL

The Muslim Student Association of McGill University is a student body which provides religious and cultural services to the Muslim community on McGill campus. Such services include daily and Friday prayers, the dissemination of information on Islam and Muslims, and interfaith and cultural activities with other groups on campus.

We are particularly well placed as a Muslim university student group to advise the commission about accommodating minorities, having recently been denied a prayer space by our university administration. We know firsthand what it is like to be denied the very thing this commission has been put together to reassess.

2. OPENING QUOTE

{O humankind! We have created you male and female, and have made you into

nations and tribes that you may know one another. Verily, the noblest of you,

in the sight of God, is the best in conduct. Verily, God is the all-Knowing, Aware. (49:13)}

3. THE CONSEQUENCES OF MISINTERPRETING SECULARISM

Simply said, denying minorities the right to accommocations such as providing them with prayer spaces, marginalizes them by creating disincentives to participate fully and equally in the function of important institutions such as universities. Reasonable accommodations make minorities feel included and at equal footing with others and contributes greatly to the welfare of society. Our argument is basic: reasonable accommodations are necessary for proper integration to take place. Depriving minorities of their religious and cultural rights has the opposite effect.

Think also of the message that we send to visiting students from around the world, who represent not a permanent element of our society but are rather witnesses of our society's lack of openness and hospitality. Think of how they view us and what they learn from us and what they take back to their home countries when we fail to meet their most very basic needs by denying them a space to pray, relegating them rather to the corridors and stairwells of our supposedly enlightened institutions. Should this not be a point of reflection? Should this analysis not be part of our own foreign policy considerations?

Moreover, we often and easily overlook the fact that not only immigrants introduce different cultural practices into a host country. Many native Quebecers, for instance, are embracing Islam and are choosing to adopt religious and cultural practices that do not strictly originate here in Quebec. Interestingly, the argument that immigrants should adopt local practices upon arrival does not apply here. When defining the values implied by such things as clothing attire and religious practices, we should note that many liberal-minded, native Quebecers are choosing to adopt these same practices, no longer making these items exclusively foreign but rather part of our inner cultural development.

Our distinct Quebec character is not a motive nor a mandate to change - for the sake of change alone or primarily - that which is right and good about our society just because we hold it in common with the rest of Canada. We are different from the rest of Canada but our differences should not justify us adopting rejectionist and anti-conformist attitudes. Our autonomy and our aspiration to actualize as a distinct society and as a nation should be the result of independent thinking, not reactionary group thinking.

Quebec is poised to empathize with minorities who seek simply to have their differences recognized because they too feel worthy and dignified and not deserving of assimilation and neglect. Wanting to preserve and honour these differences should not be confused with rejecting the host culture, and Quebec knows very well that asserting its distinct character does not imply thinking any less of the rest of Canada.

We should continue to listen to one another and rightfully value the opinion of those who choose to make religious symbols part of their identity. If there is concern for how these symbols are used outside of Quebec, then these symbols can be explicitly defined so that we as Quebecers can make clear which implied meanings we welcome, accept or tolerate, and which meanings contradict our values. As students and as Muslims living in Quebec we dream of a Quebec where external attire will simply mean an internal, private choice, not a public imposition of religiosity or inequality between genders. We have been taught to treat our neighbours as we would ourselves. All of the beauty of ethics can be argued to flow from this one overarching-principle. But we should also be mindful of one important qualification; that is, not to engage in false empathy : false empathy means putting yourself in the position of others but incorrectly construing their inner experience. False empathy is what happens when we insist with golden rule impetus that some given clothing attire is oppressive because we can't help but feel sorry or personally violated. So let us beware of committing false empathy, ironically, to the detriment of others.

4. CONCLUDING REMARK

But most importantly, we should remain staunchly vigilant of the fact that it is becoming increasingly unpopular to avail ourselves of our rights as Muslims. Our experience is that we often feel the need to take other channels than the ones we are entitled to for fear of earning the scorn of society. In light of this, other groups should step in or be set up to ensure that everyone's human rights continue to be protected.