Better Place Israel CEO Moshe Kaplinksy at the first electric parking lot in Pi-Glilot, Israel

By ariel

The second half of the most recent Gregorian decade saw an increase in the desire in Western countries to boycott Israeli products and personnel. These boycott movements are run by far Left and Muslim groups who believe they are helping the Palestinian people by cutting off the Israeli hand that feeds them. Needless to say, many boycott supporters are Jews, proving that the world is a circus and we are its clowns. (One may also ask why no one is calling to boycott luminaries such as Sudan, Zimbabwe and Pakistan, but this is a discussion for another time).

In Britain for example, several workers’ and academics’ unions have moved motions favouring such boycotts. However, after considerable effort by sensible members (both Jewish and Gentile), these efforts were quashed. The argument that boycotts only alienate and polarise whilst dialogue and interaction can bring peace won the day in the land of artful diplomacy.

Whilst diplomacy can work, it is often tedious and gives time to the economic/academic terrorists to form arguments and have a say in the press. By contrast, a more effective and aggressive method for countering boycott movements has developed over the last couple of years in Canada.

BUYcott Israel is an initiative of the Canada-Israel Committee and has employed a highly successful method of thwarting any attempt to boycott Israeli goods. Once word of a boycott proposal is received, BUYcott Israel sends out mass emails to the Jewish Community and its friends asking them to buy the said goods en masse. The most recent success involved an exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls at a Toronto Museum. The scrolls were on loan from the Israel Antiquities Authority and a small number of protesters called for the exhibition to be boycotted until Israel returned the “stolen artifacts” to Jordan or the Palestinian Authority (the scrolls were discovered in the Judean desert between the mid 1940s and late 1960s). The response from BUYcott was to encourage everybody to buy tickets to the exhibition. Result: every session sold out. Other success stories can be seen here.

Whilst we in Australia are fortunate not to have such anti-Israel hysteria in the air (whether due to sensibility or apathy), the Canadian approach appears an ideal model for us to learn from should the need arise.

Recently, the ACT electricity distributor, ActewAGL, signed an agreement with Israeli company (although now with headquarters in Palo Alto, California) Better Place to install a network of charging stations for electric cars and naturally hopes the ACT’s vision is adopted in the rest of Australia. (Until now, automobile companies have developed electric car prototypes, but with nowhere for the driver to charge the battery, the idea is arguably unworkable). Better Place has secured similar deals in Europe, Japan and, in the words of Better Place founder Shai Agassi, “The People’s Republic of Berkley, [California]”. Furthermore, a little bit of research shows that Israel in general is a world leader in the development of “green” solutions.

As the rollout of electric cars begins, I eagerly await the kvetching and kvelling of those who will be torn between two passions: saving the planet and destroying Israel, the planet’s potential saviour. At that time, I would encourage people to switch to an electric car, thereby supporting both our atmosphere and Israel.

A scene from "A Matter of Size"

By ariel

In March this year, I returned from a nine month spell in Israel.  While there, I stayed with some family friends in Ramat Aviv where the lady of the house is an avid Israeli and Jewish film buff.

I remarked to her on a number of occasions that I had not watched more than a couple of recent Israeli films because I don’t like when art comes with a political agenda. Whatever happened to lovely films like Salah Shabati, Kazablan, Eskimo Limon, or the exceptional Ushpizin? Why does every Israeli film have to be made through the prism of the Arab-Israel conflict or the Holocaust? Sure, all films in all cultures reflect the nature of that society, but not to such a political, soul-searching extent. I lamented the lack of Israeli filmmakers who are willing to produce a simple love story or comedy without all the political and emotional baggage.

How pleased I was to discover that the opening night screening at the Festival of Jewish Cinema in Sydney would be of the new Israeli comedy, A Matter of Size (in Hebrew, Sippur Gadol – literally, A Big Story). I immediately purchased tickets to what would promise to be a light hearted comedy about a group of obese Israelis who – led by a shy chef named Herzl – give up on the ideal physical image and embrace their size to form a sumo wrestling club. (For details see here).

Fluent Hebrew speakers will have much more fun with this film as they revel in the uniqueness of modern Israeli slang. When it comes to foreign films, I am usually sceptical of subtitles, often finding that slang and idioms are not translated effectively. However, in this case (as with another film I saw at the Festival), the translators do a near exemplary job in conveying the nuances of the dialogue. Very satisfying for a language stickler like myself.

If you see one film at the festival this year, make it A Matter of Size. For those like me, who are frankly sick of the recent trend of political cinema emerging from Israel, this will be a pleasant night out, guaranteed to leave you in stitches. As the festival website states, this film is “[a] declaration of personal pride and feeling good about oneself, this is a touching and life-affirming film”. I can’t wait for the DVD release!

Joe Lieberman

By Ariel

When it comes to this subject, I feel a great rupture between my intellect and emotions; between my acceptance of the reality of the world in which we live and my ideas of how the world should be; and between the different aspects of each of these faculties.

The subject to which I refer is that of the involvement of Jews in politics outside the State of Israel.

I should clarify that when I say “involvement” I specifically refer to sitting in the legislature as a representative of the people. Lobbying on the part of minority groups is important and with this I take no issue – all should be free to engage in the market of ideas and try to persuade politicians to adopt their view. If they happen to be convinced by Jewish communal concerns over those of others, then mazal tov.

I first became aware of my anxiety in 2000 when US Senator Joe Lieberman was running for Vice President on a ticket with a phoney environmentalist/filmmaker. Initially, I, like many, was enthralled that a fellow Jew – Shomer Shabbat– could be within a (literal) heartbeat of the Oval Office. It was at the same time revealed that a record number of Jews were sitting in Congress, in a huge disproportion to their numbers as a percentage of the population.

As I thought more about the idea however, I began to ask whether this was in fact a good thing. On one hand, how could one not be proud at how far Jews have come in terms of acceptance? It was not long ago that a Jew could not get a job in Europe or even the United States. On the other hand, a proliferation of Jews serving in world parliaments would undoubtedly lend further credence to the myth of the “Jewish cabal”, the “Zionist lobby” and the “Elders of Zion” which are hell-bent on world domination. America, as the most powerful country on Earth, is their focus and Joe Lieberman is the proof.

Yet surely a Jew – or a member of any minority – should be able to represent constituents as a loyal citizen of the state. After all, nobody would bat an eyelid if a Chinese-Australian were to sit in Australia’s Parliament (e.g. Senator Penny Wong), so why should being Jewish pose a problem?

This leads to another question: Why is it that only Jews are accused of dual loyalty (to Israel and their home countries)? Nobody accuses Penny Wong of having dual loyalties to Malaysia (her place of birth) or to China (her ancestral homeland). Furthermore, it is not only insulting to the individual to be accused of dual loyalty, but it is insulting to the State of Israel by insinuating that loyalty to Israel necessarily conflicts with loyalty to Australia, America or Britain. As though Israel is not a member of the Western, liberal-democratic world, but is an enemy state with values uncommon to the rest of the West. (In contrast, both the states of Malaysia and China do have vastly different moral compasses from those of Western democracies).

I believe the issue is that the Jew has never been fully accepted into other societies. Whilst Greek-, Italian- or Christian Lebanese-Australians, Americans and the British have essentially assimilated, the Jew remains ever separate from society at large, even though he has been tolerated and has integrated into its fabric. The Jew will always be made to feel somewhat unwanted. The more successful the more resented they will be. So, at the end of the day, the only place for Jews to serve is in the Israeli Knesset. Only in Israel can the Jew be a true representative of their constituents and not be accused of dual loyalty. Because in the end, Israel is the natural home of the Jew and it is to there that they will ultimately look to express themselves without recrimination from others.

Ariel is a full-time Jew with an interest in a variety of Jewish issues, and a passionate political analyst with a keen eye for hypocrisy and mismanagement. In order to pay bills, Ariel works as an electrical engineer in the Energy Supply Industry, but is not responsible for any electrical failures you may have experienced recently. Hopefully, someone will listen to what he has to say.

Walter doesn't roll on Shabbos. Change the schedule.

By ariel

Should Jewish sports clubs compete on Shabbat?

This question has confronted me since early adolescence, when I began playing competitive basketball with Maccabi NSW. It was around the time of my bar-mitzvah when I faced a dilemma which took many years to resolve. With junior competitive sports in Australia traditionally played on Saturday mornings, Maccabi has forever had to enter teams in these competitions if it wished to remain a seriously competitive club and impress upon the “seventy nations” that Jews can excel in sport.

Having had a solid Jewish education, I was always taught that Jews should not desecrate the Shabbat (at least) in public. If becoming bar/bat-mitzvah is about an adolescent accepting the yoke of the commandments – the mitzvot – then how could I in good conscience continue to participate in these basketball competitions?

So I missed basketball one week in order to have my bar-mitzvah. But the following week I was back on the court, convinced I was on my way to playing in the American NBA. I eventually advanced to the U-16s competition which was held on Friday nights. Like many “traditional” Jewish families, this posed less of an issue for us because it meant that after the match we could sit down to dinner together and the following morning I would go to shul with my father.

Sometime in Year 11, I decided that perhaps the path of shmirat Shabbat – Shabbat observance – was “the right thing to do” for me vis-à-vis world Jewry.  It helped that by this time, the U-18s and subsequent adult tournaments were played on Sunday evenings.

I began to resent Maccabi for putting young Jews in a position where they misrepresented our values, and to an extent I continue to do so, if only because I believe it is plainly wrong for a representative Jewish agency to publicly desecrate the Shabbat.

I recall that sometime during this whole period a wealthy observant Jew in Melbourne offered to sponsor all of Maccabi Victoria’s sports clubs on the condition that they cease playing on Shabbat. The organisation agreed and I felt good, proving that nothing is impossible to achieve.

Shmirat Shabbat has always been central to the Jewish people’s experience and existence, at least until the last two or three generations. There is an expression that more than the Jewish people have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jewish people.

Today, with more unaffiliated Jews discovering the beauty of our traditions and taking on Shabbat observance (based purely on my own observations of those I know), clubs like Maccabi may struggle to maintain their membership levels over the coming generations. I know many talented sportsmen who are also frum (observant), but are precluded from participating in many Maccabi events because they are held on Shabbat. Granted, there are opportunities for adult competition on Sundays, but what about the kids whose age groups primarily compete on Saturdays (there are one or two sports which are the exceptions)?

I don’t pretend to have a solution to the sport on Shabbat dilemma, but I contend that it is a communal dilemma, which should be addressed seriously. We are blessed to live in a free and fair country where all ethno-religious cultures are respected. There is no reason why the Jewish community should have to renege on its most quintessential traditions for the sake of amateur sports. I do not believe others would do the same.

I am convinced that a number of solutions to this problem will emerge, given serious consideration. None will be perfect, but one will be the best of the lot and we should run with it when it reveals itself.

Ariel is a full-time Jew with an interest in a variety of Jewish issues, and a passionate political analyst with a keen eye for hypocrisy and mismanagement. In order to pay bills, Ariel works as an electrical engineer in the Energy Supply Industry, but is not responsible for any electrical failures you may have experienced recently. Hopefully, someone will listen to what he has to say.