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CANDLELIGHTING

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THE JEWISH VIEW

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HOLIDAYS

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JUDAISM 101

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{weblog_name} - A Better Plan
Comments (1)

Last Sunday’s community wide Yom HaShoah/Yom Ha’atzmaut event at Baltimore Hebrew Congregation had more sub-plots in it than an episode of “24.” All 1800 of us were ostensibly there to hear Alan Dershowitz, arguably the most recognized international voice in the area of combating Holocaust denial and Islamic anti-Semitism. Thankfully, we did get 45 minutes of Mr. Dershowitz’s inspiring brilliance. Apparently not enough thankfulness was spread around. In no particular order, here goes: The University of Baltimore School of Law was absolutely slighted. No U of B connection, no Alan Dershowitz, pure and simple. Except for the mention of Prof. Kenneth Lasson, the man who brought Mr. Dershowitz to town, there was almost no Jewish Council thank you to the University of Baltimore School of Law. Don’t think that the officials from U of B didn’t notice the exclusion… read more

“Why not politely inform everyone who could be offended by Cantor Rowland that they can stand in the hallway while she delivers the words of our sages. Or better yet, let’s just open up our programs and read it out loud together.”

I like your second suggestion.  As for the first suggestion, it was only a few years ago that Jewish legislators in Annapolis led a campaign to keep visiting clergymen from closing their invocations with, “In Jesus’ name we pray.”  What right have Jews to tell a Christian how to pray?  Why don’t the Jewish legislators just stand in the hallway until the clergyman has finished his invocation?

Certainly, no Jew would presume to attend a church service and tell the priest or minister not to pray in Jesus’ name.  But a legislative session is not a church service.  It’s a public gathering where all legislators should feel included and no one should have to go stand in the hallway.

Similarly, no Orthodox Jew would presume to attend a Reform service and tell the cantor not to sing because of kol isha.  But a Yom ha-Shoah gathering is not a Reform service, even if it is held in a Reform temple.  It’s a gathering of the entire Jewish community, where no Jew should have to “stand in the hallway” in order to obey the rules of his religion.

It would indeed have been better to have everyone present read the words of the memorial prayer aloud.