What Does It Mean To Be Part Of Am Yisrael?

Ever since the beginning of the semester, we have been asking ourselves the question "What does it mean to be part of Am Yisrael (a.k.a. the Jewish people)?"  What do you have to do in order to be a part of the Jewish people?  According to ancient Jewish law, if your mother is Jewish, then you are considered Jewish.  According to modern Reform Judaism, if you define yourself as Jewish, then that is good enough.  In my opinion, the minimum requirement for being Jewish falls somewhere in the middle of those two.  You have to put a little bit of effort into being a Jew.  You have to take part in the religion of Judaism.  To me, you at the very least should go to High Holiday services, although you should also do a bit more than that.  Judaism is not just an issue of how you define yourself to me.  I believe that Judaism is more about how you take your definition of yourself and put it into action.

Washington Jewish Week

Today, I found out something about my Washington D.C. which is the fact that it has a Jewish newspaper.  One that has been around since 1930, nonetheless!  To me, to think about D.C. as a highly Jewish area seems crazy, considering that I can name about twenty Jews in my high school, two of them being my twin brother and myself.  So for me to realize that there are enough Jews for a Jewish newspaper is absolutely crazy.  I believe that it is important to have a Jewish news source, so that the only reporting on Israel is not just about the conflict, but also about Israel as a country.  A Jewish newspaper in many places could help get rid of the false belief that Israelis are a bunch of warmongering Jews who just hate Palestinians.

Preferred Seating

Today, Anat Hoffman came and spoke to us, and talked about all the problems the IRAC (Israel Religious Action Center) is trying to fix.  One that stuck out to me was that, on a flight, an ultra-orthodox man is not allowed to be seated next to a woman.  If they are, it is almost certain that they will request a seat change or request the woman's seat to be changed, and the flight attendants will sometimes help them move/get the person next to them to move.  To me, this is not okay, not only because it is illegal, but also because it is simply not okay.  You could possibly make the argument that within Israel, Jewish laws should apply, because that is within a jewish state.  However, to apply that same logic to a flight, that is not even in Israel while it is in the air, is not okay.  In Israeli society, the people who aren't Orthodox already have to make sacrifices.   They should not have to make a sacrifice on a plane to leave or come into Israel.