Secular Talmud Blog

A Lifesaving Effort?

impenetrable or totally irrelevant to their
Merging the very old with the very new,
lives."
Rabbi Adam Chalom has created a way
Rabbi Chalom takes a naturalistic, his-
to allow the computer-literate to engage
torical and cultural approach to the
in daily study of the Talmud.
study of Jewish religious liter-
Rabbi Chalom — of Kol
ature including the Talmud,
Hadash Humanistic
the Bible and other texts.
Congregation in Chicago and
Even the blog's name apiko-
former rabbi of the
rostalmud.blogspot.com is
Birmingham Temple — said
explained as originating from
his program was inspired by
the rabbinic epithet "apiko-
the Orthodox movement's cel-
ros," defined as a Jewish
ebration last month of the
heretic, a Jewish freethinker, a
completion of study of all 73
Jewish agnostic who denies
tractates of the Talmud by
divine justice and life after
learners around the world who
death.
spent 7'/2 years studying one
Chalom
Rabbi C'
"Because blogs enable read-
page of the Talmud each day.
ers to comment on what they
Rabbi Chalom's Talmud
read, my Talmud blog actually reflects
blog — or Web log, an online public
the style of Talmudic discussion, where
journal of individual expression —
one text is commented on, and then
explores the Talmud from a Humanistic
someone comments on that comment,
Jewish perspective, with one page of
and so on," Rabbi Chalom said.
learning each day.
To contact Rabbi Chalom, call (847)
"The Talmud, like all Jewish culture,
602-4500 or e-mail
belongs to everyone connected to Jewish
info@kolhadash.com .
life, not just to those who accept its
To access the Talmud blog, go to:
absolute authority," Rabbi Chalom said.
apikorostalmud.blogspot.com.
"I want to make this literature accessi-
— Shelli Liebman DO? 2an, staff writer
ble to secular, cultural and Humanistic
Jews who would otherwise find it

Dr. Daniel Man was a prisoner of war
in Egypt during the Yom Kippur War of
1973. He was captured by the Egyptian
army while serving as a military doctor
for Israeli troops stationed at the Suez
Canal. Dr. Man's son Uri of Los Angeles
credits the late statesman-philanthropist
Max Fisher of Franklin with indirectly
saving his father, who was held as a
POW for 46 days. At the time, Uri's
mother was pregnant with him.
During the war, Israel needed to re-
supply with military equipment, espe-
cially fighter planes, to counter the
aligned Soviet-fortified offensives that
Egypt and Syria launched on Yom
Kippur 1973.
Biographer Peter Golden tells how
Fisher, who died at age 96 on March 3,
called in his chips as a Republican sup-
porter to remind President Nixon that it
was in the foreign policy interests of the
United States to re-supply Israel.
"Under no circumstances were we
going to allow a Soviet airlift to Israel's
enemies lead to an Israeli defeat," Nixon
is quoted in Golden's 1992 book Quiet

All-Jewish Five

5 1/2 hours after Glenbrook won its
semi-final game. Carbondale had 8 1/2
hours between games.
The Spartans created a three-mile traf-
fic jam in Northbrook on March 20
with a victory parade followed by a cele-
bration in the school's gym.
The Spartans are coached by Dave
Weber, brother of Bruce Weber, who
coaches the No. 1-ranked University of
Illinois men's basketball team which
played for the national NCAA champi-
onship on Monday.

Glenbrook North High School in
Northbrook, Ill., won the Class AA state
championship in basketball March 19.
The starting five players and the first
player off the bench are all Jewish.
Class AA in Illinois includes all
schools with enrollments larger than
750 students. Northbrook is north of
Chicago and northwest of Evanston.
The Glenbrook North Spartans
defeated Carbondale High 63-51 at
Carver Arena in.the Peoria Civic Center
for the championship. Some 10,000
fans attended the game, which came just

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114

Lif

— Alan Hitsky, associate editor

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Don't Know@2005

Which nation of 18 million, but having only
100,000 Jews, includes four Jews in its top 10
richest people listing, including the second richest
man in the entire country?

— Goldfein

'ITEJQA0

puoDas alp su A.moj juesj gap& 'Erfensnv:Jamstry

Diplomat.
But it took three days to begin re-sup-
ply flights to Israel. Uri Man ascribed
the delay to Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger. But Golden writes that the
cause of the delay has become a linger-
ing historical debate, and the.blame has
often erroneously been dropped on
Kissinger's doorstep. Golden said Nixon

attributed the delay to Washington
bureaucracy, not Kissinger.
Golden theorizes that Fisher's pitch to
the president to begin the U.S. fortifica-
tions airlift may well have been a moot
point. "Yet what stands as historically
significant is that Fisher was able to talk
directly to the president at such a
moment and the manner in which he
presented his case," Golden writes.
"Both indicate Fisher's unique contribu-
tion to the political life of Jewish
America."
What's not crystal clear is whether
Fisher's urging somehow encouraged
Nixon to cut through the bureaucratic
red tape quicker. Uri Man is convinced
it did.
"If the airplanes had not been sent,"
Man wrote in a March 22 electronic let-
ter to Fisher's son-in-law Peter
Cummings of Birmingham, "Israel
would have been destroyed and my
father may have never been released
from the POW camps."
Man is a vice president for Palm
Beach Gardens, Fla.,-based Ram Real
Estate, headed by Cummings.
Man ended his e-letter this way:
"Although I never had the chance to
meet Mr. Fisher, my father's life and my
life, like so many others, were directly
touched by his leadership. What a small
world it is. Now I have the honor to
work for Mr. Fisher's family."

— Robert A. Sklar, editor

Passover Food Guide

A guide has been developed to help
make buying Passover products less
burdensome. The "Passover Guide for
Kosher fdr Passover Foods for 2005"
arms shoppers with information com-
piled by the Orthodox Union (OU).
The booklet also has information on
Passover observance, on making a

kitchen kosher for Passover, holding
the seder and counting the Omer.
The guide is available at synagogues
or may be purchased through the OU
Web site at: www.ou.org; by e-mailing
Miriam Ganz at GanzM@ou.org or
by calling (212) 613-8198. Cost is $3.

— Shelli Liebman Dorfman, staff writer

Quotable

Do You Remember?

"Non-violent resistance is no solution, either. We
know what the Israelis can do to unarmed peace
activists. Violence, rather than feebleness, gener-
ates power for the oppressed."

April 1985

— Nasser Amin writes in SOAS Spirit, the
University of London's School of Oriental and
African Studies student magazine. The article
"When Only Violence Will Do" scoffi at the concept
of innocent Israeli victims, describes the whole of
Israel as a Jewish colony that should be dismantled
and calls for all Zionists to be exposed. Sent by JTA.

Employees of the Magen David Adom in Israel
began a work stoppage protesting that their
salaries had not been paid. The action shut down
services of the first-aid society.
When asked how the society would react if calls
came for help, an official said workers would
return in event of a terrorist attack.

— Sy Manello, editorial assistant

4/7

2005

