My first (or two hundred and sixteenth) post!

Welcome to my new blog. My name is Philo, and I’ll be your tour guide here.

The tagline pretty much says it all. Common-sense, Halachically observant Judaism.

I grew up Orthodox, but I prefer not to use that label anymore, save for occasional convenience sake. I observe Halacha, but I reject much of the dogma, and accept the general theories of the Documentary Hypothesis as likely.

I believe in God, and have a personal relationship with Hashem, even if I don’t believe He literally wrote the Torah.

I believe Judaism to be an evolved and evolving religion, created by people who were searching for the divine and reaching for Hashem. Those people evolved into the Jews.

Judaism started in ancient Eretz Yisrael, but took no finished form. Instead, Judaism has been constantly evolving and adapting and is as much a product of the Diaspora as of Eretz Yisrael. That journey still continues.

The journey includes adaptations of practice to new realities, understandings, and sensibilities. That means, for instance, expanded roles for women in communal ritual observance, and acceptance of heterodox movements of Judaism as valid expressions of faith.

My own journey is also an evolving one, hence the title of this blog. I am also searching for the divine, reaching for Hashem, but without ignoring science and history. That is what guides my intellectual and spiritual travels.

Past fellow travelers on this journey have been Yehudi Hilchati, who blogged under the eponymously named blog, and DYS and Rabba bar bar Chana, who blogged at “Torat Ezra”. I still see them every day in the mirror, but I’ve moved on to new things. All of their old posts have been imported here, however, for your reading pleasure.

I invite you to join me on this journey. It’s a journey for truth but also for spirituality.

Welcome!

Boycott the Israeli Rabbanut

Cross-posted on DovBear

The “who is a Jew” situation in Israel is getting preposterous. A granddaughter of holocaust survivors who wants to get married is being asked by the Rabbanut to provide 4 generations of ketubot on the maternal side to prove her Jewishness. And the Rotem bill, set to be taken up by the Knesset in the next few months, would solidify Rabbanut control over all conversions.

It’s time to end the Rabbanut’s power in Israel. We should call on all couples wishing to get married, even fully Orthodox ones with impeccable “Jewish” credentials, to get married in Cyprus in a civil ceremony, and then to have a private chuppah in Israel that has no Rabbanut sanction at all. All people should rise up and reject Rabbanut control over all their lifecycle events, not just when they fear being rejected by the Rabbanut.

Basically, we should call for a boycott of the Rabbanut. Do an end run around them to protest their abuse of power and increasingly extremist standards. By getting married within the rules of the Rabbanut, Modern Orthodox Israelis, for example, are helping perpetuate their Taliban-like regime.

Israel was founded as a haven for Jews and as a Jewish state. But why does that mean that the Israeli Rabbanut should have the right to dictate what Judaism is for everyone?

Let there be separation of shul and state in Israel. Israel can be a Jewish country in the sense that it provides a place for Jews and for Judaism to be safe. The Rabbanut can still exist, and be funded by the state, but only as an optional service for those who want it. And the heterodox movements should also have their own, optional streams within the Rabbanut.

Sadly, though, demographics in Israel make it likely the current official religious extremism will just get worse and worse.

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Archived comments:

noa@israel
i seincerly laughted when rabbanut forced kosher mc donalds to change their logo on blue one. crazy enough. still for many more jewish people it is important to be sure that food is kosher and so on

Friday, September 17, 2010, 09:51:06

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Jewzilla
Excellent, I agree.

I do believe there should be an observant (yet, benevolent) Torah leadership and authority, but that is not about politics but real Torah; and not galuth-Judaism.

Tuesday, August 03, 2010, 20:58:04

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On Her Own
I’m with you on this one for sure. The whole situation is really awful.

Monday, August 02, 2010, 15:53:36

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