Happy Hanukkah!

There are three aspects to teshuvah, as I see it:

1) Asking forgiveness from Adonai
2) Asking forgiveness from other people
3) Forgiving yourself

I struggle a lot with number three.

For those who observe, I wish you an easy fast, and may we all be sealed for a blessing this coming year.

First candle is tonight — on what’s also the shortest day of the year. A nice duality there.

Here’s to a brighter 2009 for all!

Leon Ferguson, an African-American from New York, wears a white skullcap and Jewish prayer shawl to the march, describing himself as a gentile with a Jewish heart. He is close to tears as he contemplates the possibility of an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.

“The true and living God wants his people to be in an undivided Israel, undivided Jerusalem,” he says. “There should be no more give-backs. Every time we give back the land of Israel, something happens in the United States. Katrina followed the give-back of the Gaza.”

Oy.

Not to mention the crux of the issue, which Gershom Gorenberg points out towards the end of the piece: support for Israel isn’t necessarily support for the Jewish religion or the Jewish people. After all,

many evangelical Christians want Jews to convert to Christianity.

“That vision is one in which the Jews eventually disappear,” [Gorenberg] says. “If you say that at the end of days, in a perfect world there aren’t going to be any Jews, what you’re saying, right now, is that you don’t accept the legitimacy of Judaism.”

By way of the Huffington Post:

Madonna toasted the Jewish new year with Israeli President Shimon Peres and declared herself an “ambassador for Judaism,” local newspapers reported Sunday.

The singer, who is not Jewish, arrived in Israel Wednesday on the eve of Jewish new year to attend a conference on Kabbalah or Jewish mysticism.

Madonna met Peres at his official Jerusalem residence on Saturday evening and the two exchanged gifts, with Madonna receiving a lavishly bound copy of the Old Testament.

Oh, of course, it’s a superstar diva with entitlement issues. Carry on, then.

So, as I was cleaning out my overloaded e-mail in-box tonight, I found this jewel that Jason sent to me a few days ago.

Too funny!

Former pitcher Ken Holtzman, outfielder Art Shamsky and baseball’s first designated hitter Ron Blomberg will manage three of the league’s six teams during the inaugural 45-game schedule that begins on June 24.

The brainchild of Boston businessman Larry Baras, the league boasts former [Expos and Red Sox] general manager Dan Duquette as its director of baseball operations, and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer as commissioner.

Organizers said they believed Israel was ripe for another professional sport besides soccer and basketball.

[snip]

While the majority of players drawn to the venture are of Jewish lineage, the league has no restrictions. About 15 Israelis have made the league, a number that is expected to grow as the country is more exposed to the sport.

“We’re going to build up the infrastructure of the sport, so we can perpetuate the growth of baseball,” said Duquette, who said the league has already applied to compete in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

Elie Wiesel, the renowned Holocaust author and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was attacked and dragged out of a San Francisco hotel elevator last week, possibly by a Holocaust denier who claims to have stalked Wiesel for weeks, police said.

Wiesel, 78, was at the Argent Hotel Feb. 1 for a conference on “Facing Violence: Justice, Religion and Conflict Resolution” when he was confronted in an elevator by a man insisting that he wanted to interview the author, according to San Francisco Police Department Sgt. Neville Gittens.

Wiesel said he would do so in the hotel lobby, but the man insisted on going to Wiesel’s room. The man then stopped the elevator at the sixth floor and tried to force Wiesel into a room there.

“That’s when the victim started yelling,” Gittens said.

Wiesel escaped unharmed, made his way down to the lobby and called police.

I’m relieved that Wiesel is safe, and disgusted that someone should try to use physical force on him. It’s bad enough that there are people who refuse to believe the Shoah happened. It’s even worse that these revolting examples of personhood are so wrapped up in their hate and lies that they think they can use physical force on the living reminders of the truth.

UPDATE 2/18/07:
A suspect has been arrested in this case:

Montgomery Township police arrested Eric Hunt, 22, of Sussex County, N.J., at 1:30 p.m. EST Saturday. He faces charges that include attempted kidnapping, false imprisonment, elder abuse, stalking, battery and the commission of a hate crime, according to San Francisco police.

He was being held without bail in the Somerset County Jail in New Jersey, awaiting extradition to San Francisco.

Lighting the candles on the last night is always a little bittersweet.