The Sanhedrin vs. the Beijing Olympics
By Daniel Treiman
Human rights activists critical of the upcoming Beijing Olympics have gained a surprising new ally: the “re-established Sanhedrin.”
Yes, that’s right, the re-established Sanhedrin — a body launched in 2004 by a group of Israeli Orthodox rabbis in a somewhat audacious attempt to reconstitute the ancient supreme rabbinic court of the same name — has reportedly ruled that “participating in these Olympics will be deemed a danger to the well-being of humanity,” pointing to the Chinese communist regime’s human rights abuses.
Even more surprising is that, according to YNet, these Orthodox rabbis were spurred in part by claims from Israeli athletes who are practitioners of Falun Gong and complained of the persecution of Chinese members of the Buddhist-influenced exercise movement. The Sanhedrin also approached the Chinese embassy in Israel to hear the regime’s side. Ultimately, however, the Sanhedrin appears to have weighed in firmly on the side of the Falun Gong practitioners.
YNet reports:
January 3, 2008, 5:38pm
Forget ‘Kosher Cheeseburgers,’ Let’s Focus on Rebuilding the Temple
By Daniel Treiman
Rabbi David Bar-Hayim thinks Israel’s Orthodox Jews are debating the wrong things. By way of example, the rabbi points to a few silly questions that have been posed to him about food:Whether religious Jews should eat anything that looks non-kosher
Whether the desire for kosher cheeseburgers indicated a character or spiritual flaw
Whether one should eat in a restaurant at all
Whether one should stick to eating “Jewish food”
He points to these narrow arguments about diet as evidence of an “Exilic” mentality that is hostile to innovation and “incapable of providing the intellectual and spiritual leadership necessary for the flowering and growth of Jewish life in Erets Yisrael today.”
So what should Jews be debating? The rabbi has some suggestions:
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