Thursday, December 17, 2009
About Me
- Name: Shira Salamone
Once upon a time, I belonged to a left-wing egalitarian Conservative synagogue, where I was one of a number of women who wore a tallit—and one of the few members who used an Orthodox prayer book (adding the Mothers, of course). Having moved since then, I now belong to a right-wing traditional Conservative synagogue, where I’m almost always the only woman wearing a tallit—and one of the few members who adds the Mothers. I seem destined to be forever . . . on the fringe.
PUBLIC SERVICE POSTS
- Park your ego at the door: Links to my series "On raising a child with disabilities"
- Parenting 101
- Febrile seizures: Life-saving information
Previous Posts
- Six months of Kaddish: Lost in the transportation
- Confused, as usual
- What was private has become public, & vice versa
- So much for "yeridat ha-dorot"
- Half and half
- Chanukah fun, courtesy of DovBear
- Much better, thanks
- Nes gadol on a sad near-semi-anniversary
- "I am not a tragedy," says Chana
- Why Torah doesn't "read" like a book (by XGH)
MY BLOGROLL
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11 Comments:
See next comment.
Please keep going.
Just a bit further.
Please be patient.
Just one more.
Thank you for your patience. This is one of my (in)famous "hidden" posts, published in the comments section so that my co-workers would not only have to click, but also scroll, in order read it. I like to delude myself that I'm still an anonymous blogger at the office.
Note that this post was actually published on January 17, 2010, several days after the earthquake in Haiti.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Not-so-instant replay
You'd think that I would have learned from the *last* time I discussed contributions to disaster relief.
But no, I just had to open my big mouth again.
And the result sounded so much like the original disagreement that it was downright weird.
When I mentioned contributions for Haitian-earthquake rescue efforts to a co-worker, her immediate response was to ask whether Haitians were anti-Semitic.
So I did a nearly-word-for-word repetition of my original protest, which was that I wasn't going to punish children for the sins of their parents.
I then threw in a mention of "darchei shalom" ("paths of peace," which I think means that Jews need to be friendly to non-Jews if for no other reason that to encourage them to be friendly to us). And I commented that it would be "marit ayin," (it would look bad) if Jews didn't contribute. But her only reaction was that she wouldn't help those who hated her relatives.
Apparently, my rabbi and my co-worker have one thing in common--their only question is, "Is it good for the Jews." Even when saving lives is involved, nothing else seems to matter to either one of them.
Words fail me.
posted by Shira Salamone at 11:55 AM
The mind boggles.
There are things I don't like about Haitian attitudes, but to condemn old people and children and their parents and, heck, their pets, seems so trivial.
I'd hate to think that Jews could forget so quickly what happens when you condemn an entire race for what a few people may be like.
Thank goodness this attitude doesn't represent that of most Jews. Every major Jewish organization from the Orthodox Union to the Union for Reform Judaism to the American Jewish World Service, and heaven knows how many others, has set up links to Haitian-earthquake relief funds. That's more in keeping with "pikuach nefesh," the Jewish mandate to be vigilant about preserving life.
R' Gil Student has an interesting related post. See http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2010/01/tehillim-for-haiti.html
Steve, thanks for the URL. I like Rabbi Student's conclusion, but not the logic by which he arrived at it.
Here’s my response to Rabbi Student.
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