February 28, 2010 | 11:12 am

The hidden clauses in Muslim marriage contracts

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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I’m taking contracts this semester, and if I’ve learned anything—and I have because Professor Asimow is awesome—it’s: put everything in writing and, though no one does it, please, please, please read (and understand) before you sign. Example No. 7,048, courtesy of Slate and a first-person retelling of a traditional Muslim marriage for Pakistanis:

More than the weight on my body, I was bothered by how extraneous I felt to the ceremony. My soon-to-be husband had been briefed by the religious scholar presiding. He had also read the marriage-contract papers in detail, making the additions and cancellations he wanted.

But I hadn’t seen the document. When I had asked to, my mother had rebuffed my request, saying there was no need, since she had already gone through it. When I told my fiance I wanted to discuss the contract with him, he wondered why I didn’t trust him to do what was best for us.

My grandmother, the stern matriarch of our family, warned me with a scowl that to read the contract would be a bad omen. But I was still eager to see the papers and began bugging my father. He initially consented, but eventually pulled back, saying he didn’t want my husband’s family to take offense. I burst into tears. My father patted me on the head, whispered consoling words, and said I should trust him.

Marriages in Pakistan are physically and emotionally exhausting. The rituals are designed to remind the woman that there is no turning back. Drained by the festivities and eager for a smooth end to the 14-day-long wedding, I gave in.

And so, during the ceremony, I sat a mile away from my fiance, could barely hear the words being recited, and felt as removed from the proceedings as a guest. I heard the microphone being passed to my husband. I heard him say “yes” three times, as is the tradition in Islam. I heard a round of congratulations. When my mother engulfed me in a tight hug, I protested that I had no idea what was happening.

This actually isn’t a great example because the consequences of her not reading the contract have, at least thus far, been minimal. But it’s interesting to see a religious spin on something very basic to day-to-day human interaction.

February 27, 2010 | 2:22 pm

Who to blame for 8.8 quake in Chile?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Like Haitians last month, Chileans are frantically digging through the rubble, looking for loved ones trapped under collapsed buildings and no doubt asking where is God. This time, though, the earthquake was much more massive. A magnitude 8.8 temblor—the fifth-strongest on record since 1900:

The largest was a 9.5 magnitude event that struck Chile in 1960, causing 1,655 fatalities, leaving 2 million homeless, and triggering a tsunami that killed people in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines.

Scores of countries around the Pacific Ocean are bracing for a tsunami unleashed by the latest quake, and which is now speeding across the ocean at 550 miles per hour, or the speed of a jet plane.

“A tsunami has been generated that could cause damage along coastlines of all islands in the state of Hawaii,” noted the U.S. government’s tsunami warning center in Hawaii.

Tsunami-causing quakes usually occur where shards of the earth’s crust—tectonic plates—meet. Magma rises from deep inside the earth, causing the plates to move. They slip-slide past each other, sometimes get stuck, then jerk forward again, producing a quake.

According to the USGS, the Chile earthquake occurred at the boundary between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates. The two plates are converging at a rate of 80 mm per year, with the Nazca plate moving down and landward below the South American plate.

Tsunami—great. At least Hawaii and Japan are prepared.

There is a must-see slide show from The New York Times. Hopefully this time around Pat Robertson won’t blame those godless Catholics in Chile.

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February 25, 2010 | 6:35 pm

Hamas scion spied for Israel

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

It feels a lot like deja vu. Eighteen months ago I blogged about how excited I was for an exclusive appearing Friday in the Haaretz Weekend Magazine. The subject was a Hamas scion who had converted to Christianity.

Today I’m looking forward to another story about Yousef that will appear in another edition of the Haaretz Weekend Magazine. This time it’s about Yousef’s decade of providing intelligence to Israel’s Shin Bet. An excerpt of the preview already online:

Yousef was considered the Shin Bet’s most reliable source in the Hamas leadership, earning himself the nickname “the Green Prince” - using the color of the Islamist group’s flag, and “prince” because of his pedigree as the son of one of the movement’s founders.

During the second intifada, intelligence Yousef supplied led to the arrests of a number of high-ranking Palestinian figures responsible for planning deadly suicide bombings. These included Ibrahim Hamid (a Hamas military commander in the West Bank, Marwan Barghouti (founder of the Fatah-linked Tanzim militia) and Abdullah Barghouti (a Hamas bomb-maker with no close relation to the Fatah figure). Yousef was also responsible for thwarting Israel’s plan to assassinate his father.

“I wish I were in Gaza now,” Yousef said by phone from California, “I would put on an army uniform and join Israel’s special forces in order to liberate Gilad Shalit. If I were there, I could help. We wasted so many years with investigations and arrests to capture the very terrorists that they now want to release in return for Shalit. That must not be done.”

Awesome. Read the rest here and check back tomorrow for more on the full story. You can also hear an NPR interview with the reporter after the jump:

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February 24, 2010 | 2:07 pm

Palestinian awareness week comes to UCLA

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The “apartheid wall” in Bruin Plaza

You’ve seen this wall, or something like it, at UC Irvine, where even Israeli diplomats are given the business. But this photo was snapped this morning at UCLA, which, to be fair, has had its own anti-Israel incidents. Note what appears to be a blood-stained Israeli flag above the portion of the wall that says “Israel: the politics of genocide.”

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February 23, 2010 | 5:20 pm

Kornheiser doesn’t like Catholic schoolgirls

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

ESPN anchors seem to get suspended and fired so often that it probably wouldn’t warrant a post here even if there was a religion angle. But the religion hook on Tony Kornheiser’s suspension is too unique to pass up.

Kornheiser, the Jewish half of “Pardon the Interruption,” has been given a brief suspension for comments he made regarding Sportscenter anchor Hannah Storm’s wardrobe:

“Hannah Storm in a horrifying, horrifying outfit today. She’s got on red go-go boots and a catholic school plaid skirt … way too short for somebody in her 40s or maybe early 50s by now.” [She’s 47.] “She’s got on her typically very, very tight shirt. She looks like she has sausage casing wrapping around her upper body … I know she’s very good, and I’m not supposed to be critical of ESPN people, so I won’t … but Hannah Storm … come on now! Stop! What are you doing? … She’s what I would call a Holden Caulfield fantasy at this point.”

In a follow-up post today, The Big Lead sided with Kornheiser, again referencing religious attire:

We’ll be brief: Silly suspension. Storm’s Sportscenter wardrobe for nearly two years has been embarrassing. Male anchors are dressed in suits; Storm frequently wears outfits that you might see on a cougar at a bar. Is she going dancing or talking about the Kentucky Wildcats? Erin Andrews has cleaned up her sartorial act on the sidelines. Is it too much to ask Storm to do the same?

Nobody expects Storm to be covered in burka, but ...

Andrews, of course, looks respectable in any outfit and is, according to the Greenbergs, the best female reporter in sports. Read the rest here.

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February 23, 2010 | 10:49 am

Evidence of Solomon’s kingdom found in Jerusalem

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Every now and then we get some amazing archeological news from Israel.

Remember a tomb with a Jew? Or how about the claim that the Dead Sea Scrolls never existed? Or this ancient tablet? Or Google Earth capturing the parting of the Red Sea?

Well, the latest news should be a lot more encouraging to Bible-believers. (CBS News gave it this awkward headline: “Scholar: Bible History May Be Correct.” Right, because everyone knows the Bible isn’t true ... )

Here’s what Jonathan Tobin of Commentary had to say about excavations in East Jerusalem that revealed an ancient wall from the time of King Solomon:

The significance of this extraordinary find is that it provides new proof of the existence and power of the Davidic monarchy, the Israelite state that it led, and the more than 3,000-year-old Jewish presence in Jerusalem. These new discoveries, along with those of a previous dig in a different area of the city of David, contradict contrary Palestinian claims that the Jews have no claim to the area. They also debunk the assertions of some Israeli archeologists who have sought to portray the kingdom of David and Solomon as an insignificant tribal group and not the regional empire that the Bible speaks about. Indeed, Mazar believes that the strength and the form of construction required to build these structures correlates with biblical passages that speak of Solomon’s building of a royal palace and of the Temple with the assistance of master builders from Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon). Moreover, contrary to those who speak of the Jewish presence in the city as a passing phase in ancient times, the discovery of Jewish seals, which speak directly of an Israelite state, proves that what Mazar has found are not the remains of a Jebusite fort conquered by the Jews but rather of a great city built by David and his son Solomon.

More on the discovery from Haaretz

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February 23, 2010 | 1:07 am

Hipster Jesus, with beer and cigarette, appears in Indian textbook

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

This image of Jesus holding a beer can and cigarette appeared in a textbook in India. Are you offended? Enough people in the Indian state of Meghalaya were that the government confiscated the books and is now considering legal action against the publisher:

The controversial picture of Jesus was discovered in cursive writing exercise books being used at a private school in the state capital, Shillong.

The [education] minister said that although private schools were not obliged to use textbooks prescribed by the Meghalaya Board of Secondary Education, his government has taken speedy action by seizing all the copies of the textbook from schools and bookshops.

“We are deeply hurt by the insensitivity of the publisher. How can one show such total disrespect for a religion?” asked Dominic Jala, the Archbishop of Shillong.

“Just think how this would impact on students at such a tender age.”

Read the rest from the BBC here.

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February 22, 2010 | 2:31 pm

Zazi pleads guilty to terrorism charges

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Big development in the terrorism case against Najibullah Zazi. He pleaded guilty this afternoon in New York. From the AP, via The Washington Post:

The 25-year-old former Denver airport shuttle driver also pleaded guilty Monday to counts of conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and providing material support for a terrorist organization.

He faces a life prison sentence without parole in the plea deal.

He was arrested in the fall after arousing authorities’ suspicions by driving cross-country from Denver to New York around the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Authorities say he received al-Qaida training in Pakistan, bought beauty supplies in Colorado and tried to use them to cook up homemade bombs in a Colorado hotel room.

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February 22, 2010 | 11:58 am

Seriously disappointed by ‘A Serious Man’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I don’t say this often, but I was wrong. “A Serious Man,” while intriguing because of its overwhelming Jewiness and at times entertaining, was seriously disappointing. After six months of waiting—law school is a jealous mistress—I finally got around to watching the Coen brothers film with my wife this weekend. And all I can say is ... meh.

Here’s how The New Yorker’s David Denby summarized:

The movie is a deadpan farce with a schlemiel Job as a hero—Professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a physicist at a local university, whose life, in 1967, is falling apart. Gopnik’s wife (Sari Lennick) is leaving him for a sanctimonious bastard (Fred Melamed) who covers his aggressions against Larry with limp-pawed caresses and offers of “understanding.” Larry’s kids are thieving brats, and his hapless, sick, whining brother (Richard Kind) camps on the living-room couch and refuses to look for work. There’s more, much more, a series of mishaps, sordid betrayals, and weird coincidences, but Larry, a sweet guy and “a serious man”—upright, a good teacher, a father—won’t hit back. Occasionally, his eyebrows fluttering like street signs in a hurricane, he stands up for himself, but he won’t take a shot at anyone, or try to control anyone, verbally or any other way. He won’t even sleep with the dragon-eyed but sexy and highly available woman next door who sunbathes naked.

The Coens begin mysteriously, with what feels like a Yiddish folktale. Long ago, in a shtetl somewhere in Eastern Europe, an elderly man, supposedly dead, wanders into the house of a married couple. The wife is sure that he’s a dybbuk—a spirit possessing a human’s body—and she sticks a knife in his chest. The troubles surrounding Larry Gopnik in suburban Minnesota many generations later can only be seen as the revenge of “Hashem”—the word that Conservative Jews in this Midwestern community use to name God. (If that Old Country dybbuk was not God himself, he must have been in God’s employ.) One model for the tale is obvious: acting on his wager with Satan, God drives Job to despair. Yet Job, risking his life, questions his tormentor, and Larry does not. The Coens created him that way; they explicitly celebrate “simplicity” and resignation. But a schlep and a weeper is a hero impossible to stay interested in.

Read the rest of Denby’s review here. To be sure, that opening scene, which featured Fyvush Finkel (it doesn’t get much more Yiddish), felt more like a separate short film than a part of “A Serious Man.”

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February 21, 2010 | 3:49 pm

Report: Israeli prime minister authorized Dubai assassination

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

News keeps on coming regarding that assassination in Dubai, and this report from The Sunday Times, via Haaretz, would make me very nervous if I lived in a Jewish community outside the United States:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized in early January the assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, according to a report published in the Sunday Times.

Based on information obtained from “sources with knowledge of Mossad,” the paper reported that Netanyahu gave Mossad chief Meir Dagan the green light for the Dubai operation during a meeting at the Midrasha - the intelligence agency’s headquarters, in the northern suburbs of Tel Aviv.

The sources also said that the Mossad hit squad trained for the Dubai mission by secretly rehearsing in a Tel Aviv hotel.

Netanyahu reportedly told the Mossad agents, “The people of Israel count on you. Good luck.”

Read the rest here. I’ve seen no media outlet independently reporting this claim, but that doesn’t mean it’s not accurate. Let’s just hope we don’t see a repeat of the terrorists bombings in Argentina from 1992 and 1994.

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February 21, 2010 | 2:37 pm

NY Jewish woman reportedly had 2,000 descendants

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

When Rachel Krishevsky died in September, her family said she left behind 1,400 descendants. Not to be outdone, Yitta Schwartz died last month with, according to her family, as many as 2,000 descendants. I’ll be honest, the math seems a bit murky after the 200 grandchildren, but her story is interesting nonetheless:

Whatever the occasion, she would pack a small suitcase and thumb a ride from her apartment in Kiryas Joel to Williamsburg or elsewhere.

“She would appear like the Prophet Elijah,” said one of her daughters, Nechuma Mayer, who at 64 is her sixth-oldest living child, and who has 16 children and more than 100 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. “Everybody was fighting over her!”

There were so many occasions that, to avoid scheduling conflicts, one of her sons was assigned to keep a family calendar. But her family insists that Mrs. Schwartz had no trouble remembering everyone’s name and face.

Like many Hasidim, Mrs. Schwartz considered bearing children as her tribute to God. A son-in-law, Rabbi Menashe Mayer, a lushly bearded scholar, said she took literally the scriptural command that “You should not forget what you saw and heard at Mount Sinai and tell it to your grandchildren.”

Read the rest here. And, in case you’re wonder, yes, a lushly bearded scholar is exactly how I want to be described someday.

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February 21, 2010 | 10:48 am

Israeli police looking into alleged sexual abuse by Rabbi Motti

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

As I’ve explained before, sexual abuse isn’t just a Catholic clergy thing. It affects all religious communities, including the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, where until recently families had been unwilling to come forward with allegations. Friday police in Israel said they were looking into claims of abuse by one of the country’s most famous rabbis:

Mordechai Elon—known as “Rabbi Motti” by viewers of his popular TV show and by many young men in the West Bank settler movement—has vehemently denied the accusations by a group of fellow rabbis who say their aim is to combat sexual harassment by authority figures.

But that has not stopped a wave of soul-searching, which has some parallels with recent turmoil in the Roman Catholic church.

At issue is the power of charismatic clerics over young people in their care, as well as questions about the extent to which religious communities should regulate their own affairs without involving the Jewish state’s secular authorities.

A Justice Ministry spokesman said the attorney-general had asked police to consider whether there was sufficient evidence to mount a formal criminal investigation, after the organisation Takana alleged Elon had broken a promise made to fellow rabbis some years ago to limit his contacts with young men and youths.

Read the rest here.

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