Alors écoutez moi, vous faites comme d'habitude, vous promettez tout, et moi je n'donne rien.
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Reasons why "the mad adventures of rabbi Jacob" is the best movie ever:
1. It's funny
2. Luis de Funès is a great actor
3. Instead of the usual romantic subplot, this movie has a "true hair to the throne" subplot.
Seriously you should watch it. Preferably the french version because it's the original.
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A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO,
a neighborhood science teacher asked if I believed that the Genesis account of creation was true. I answered, yes. Great, he said. Would I like to speak to his class about my understanding of creation? This modern-day John Scopes thought he was inviting a modern-day William Jennings Bryan to reenact the classic duel.
However, I told the class that while I believed the Genesis account of creation to be true, I also believed the scientific theory of evolution to be true. My response was greeted by puzzlement on the part of twenty-five eighth graders and disappointment on the part of their teacher. I went on to explain that science is one of humanity's great truth traditions, and religion is another. The two have threatened each other since well before the theories of Charles Darwin were formulated. But they needn't be engaged in such a heated rivalry because their goals are so different.
Science can help us understand how the world was created, but it can't tell us why it was created. And religion has no business telling us how the world was created, but we desperately need it to help us under- stand why we're here.
Genesis doesn't discuss the survival of the fittest, but, as you well know, Darwin's scientific creation story does. That story's operativeprinciple of the survival of the fittest became known as Social Darwinism, which taught that only the truly gifted deserve to survive. It is unfortunate that this teaching has become an axiom of modern life. In contrast, our Jewish tradition has always taught that we are responsible for the survival of the least fit: the orphan, the poor, the lonely, and the stranger, to name just a few. And in Genesis 1:27 we are told that every single human being is divinely gifted and deserving of dignity. The opening of Genesis tells about the creation by God of a universe of harmony, balance, and beauty, formed from soupy chaos, tohu vavohu. It is the most profound story we know, and it reminds us why we are here. It sets forth our work, and our challenge. But is the story true?
Regretfully I must admit that the story is not true, or at least not yet. When will it be true? When we accept our responsibility as God's partners in creating the world described in Genesis.
-Rabbi Rick Jacobs (b. 1955)
An excerpt from my Temple's Rosh Hashanah prayer book. Under the cut is just a testimony from me but feel free to reblog for the quote alone.
It really stuck with me because I was raised Protestant. I even attended a private Christian (nondenominational) school for three years. Sixth through 8th grade (for non-Americans, I was the ages of 11-14 give or take).
I was taught that evolution wasn't real. I wrote an 8 page essay on why Charles Darwin was wrong and that The Bible was correct. Little did I know I actually did believe in evolution, and so did most of my peers as I reasoned that over a long time of adaptations maybe there could be a different species
I was shell shocked when I switched to a public high school (14 years old) and flat out told evolution was true (or well as true as a scientific theory can get). I lost my trust for authority, and I realized how damaging my education had been.
I'm AFAB, and so I was taught my responsibility was to be quiet and to please my husband. I often asked far too many questions, especially when it came to the teachings of the Bible, to the extent my own teachers, men and women who were supposed to nurture my curiosity and be my guide into the world, shunned me.
Starting my Jewish journey, I sobbed. I sobbed after the first service I went to. It's so different from what I had been through before. I'm so glad I'm allowed to ask questions and it's even encouraged. I'm glad the Torah is scrutinized and we are encouraged to study the book and even admit when G-d has done wrong.
My partner, knowing my past, pointed this specific excerpt out to me. I had to fight back tears. I feel so loved and welcomed in Judaism.
"...Jewish tradition has always taught that we are responsible for the survival of the least fit: the orphan, the poor, the lonely, and the stranger, to name just a few. And in Genesis 1:27 we are told that every single human being is divinely gifted and deserving of dignity."
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Col. Rabbi Jacob Goldstein was the Chief Chaplain at Ground Zero for all military branches following the 9/11 attacks in NYC. The son of Holocaust survivors, Col. Goldstein was born in a displaced persons (DP) camp in Paris shortly after WWII. He immigrated to the U.S. with his parents and went on to serve as a U.S. Army Chaplain for 38 years. 20 years ago, on the morning of September 11, 2001, Col. Goldstein’s National Guard unit was among the first to arrive on the scene. Following that tragic day, he spent 4 and a half months living at Ground Zero, sleeping in Bowling Green Park with fellow soldiers. This picture shows Rabbi Goldstein (left) at Ground Zero with the remains of the fallen towers visible in the hazy background.
Today, and every day, we remember and honor the 2,977 lives lost on the morning of September 11, 2001, and we remain forever grateful to the countless first responders who demonstrated immeasurable heroism on that fateful day.
: Maj. Jean Katzer
American Society for Yad Vashem
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