Emanuel bar mitzva followed by mitzva

[FarCenter]

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel’s son Zach and nephew Noah had their long-awaited bar mitzva ceremony on Sunday morning, at the southern wall excavations area near the Western Wall.

The ceremony took place after police obtained a restraining order against right-wing activists who intended to heckle Emanuel. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Baruch Marzel and Noam Federman were forbidden to come within 1,000 meters of Emanuel, whom they consider a traitor to Israel.

The press was also kept at a distance as Zach and Noah each read from the Torah portion of the week and gave their bar mitzva speeches.

Some 40 well-dressed friends and relatives of the Emanuels attended the ceremony, including former ambassador to the United States Itamar Rabinovich and Catholic relatives of Emanuel’s wife, Amy, who converted to Judaism.

No women were called up to the Torah, but some of the female guests wore kippot at the bar mitzva that was held in an area reserved for Conservative ceremonies.

The ceremony concluded with the bilingual song “Od yavo shalom aleinu (Peace will still come to us),” which features the refrain “Salaam (peace, in Arabic) aleinu ve’al kol ha’olam (For us and for the entire world, in Hebrew).”

<SNIP>http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=176937

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Rahm is in Israel?

Very interesting.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. I know

One more reason I can't stomach Rahm.

[MadBadger]

4. Because we all can choose who are parents are...

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. In this case the apple has not fallen far from the tree

[Arkana]

8. Hate the father if you must, but hating the son for something he has no control over

is stupid and uncalled for.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. I hate the son because he is an asshole

It just so happens his dad was not such a nice guy either.

[MadBadger]

10. Sounds like you hate the son cuz you think hes pretty close to a terrorist.

[CTyankee]

34. You know, Kansan, that lots of Jewish kids have their Bar/Bat Mitzvahs in Israel.

My son in law did. And he's a staunch liberal.

I'm going to chalk some of the replies on this thread this up to just not knowing many Jews and what their religion might expect of them. I know my granddaughter had to study on weekends in classes and at home for her Bat Mitzvah and I have another one doing the same for her Bat Mitzvah in another year. One of the requirements is for good works, service to people and for justice. Altho I am not Jewish, my granddaughters are. I think many people on this board would be well served to find out more about American Jewish customs...such as having Bar Mitzvahs in Israel...before ascribing some dark motives to them.

[JerseygirlCT]

38. I agree.

I've also got Jewish family (not my kids; my husband is fairly agnostic so mine are raised in my church), and it always surprises me to find people who really haven't had much interaction with American Jews. Maybe it's also about growing up in the northeast?

I love my family, and I love their religion and traditions.

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. I love my family too

Now what does that have to do with this topic?

[proud2BlibKansan]

41. You are going to have to explain how your post relates to what I posted

I have Jewish family members myself. Does that mean I have to worship Rahm Emanuel? What if my family members don't like him either?

[CTyankee]

44. My point was that Rahm was in Israel for his son's Bar Mitzvah.

It looks like you criticized him for being there. I was merely pointing out that it is something that some Jewish families choose to do, i.e., hold their sons Bar Mitzva's in Israel...nothing to do with politics one way or the other.

Now, maybe you think it was bad of Rahm to even consider doing that, but in and of itself, going to Israel for a child's Bar Mitzva is not political thing. And I was saying that perhaps you just didn't know that and that not everything Rahm Emmanuel or any other Jewish family with regard to their kids Bar Mitzvas fits into a narrative casting them as taking a politically motivated trip.

I have my problems with Rahm too. And at one time I didn't understand about this whole idea of going to Israel for the ceremony's purpose. However, I have now been schooled on Jewish traditions and I continue to be schooled since I was brought up vaguely Southern Protestant.

I also have a stepdaughter who is studying to be a rabbi. She spent a year in Israel on her studies, yet she is a staunch liberal. You can be a devout Jew and not be a right wing idiot...and I think there is too much black and white on DU. There is much more gray between the two...

[elleng]

6. "It's a very involved Jewish family," fyi:

Emanuel was born in Chicago, Illinois to Jewish parents.<4> His father, Benjamin M. Emanuel, a Jerusalem-born pediatrician, was a member of the Irgun.<5><6> His mother, Marsha Smulevitz, was the daughter of a Chicago union organizer.<1> She worked in the civil rights movement and owned, briefly, a local rock and roll club.<5> She is now a psychiatric social worker.<5> The two met in Chicago in the 1950s.<1> Emanuel's older brother Ezekiel J. Emanuel is an oncologist and bioethicist, and his brother Ari Emanuel, a Hollywood talent agent.<7> He has an adopted sister, Shoshanna, who is 14 years younger.<5>

Emanuel's first name, Rahm (רם) means high or lofty in Hebrew, and is the namesake of one Rahamim (surname unknown), which means mercy in Hebrew.<8><9> The surname Emanuel (עמנואל), adopted by the family in honor of his father's brother Emanuel Auerbach, killed in Arab-Jewish fighting in Jerusalem, means God is with us. Sources disagree as to whether the family name was changed in 1933 or 1938.<5><8><9>

When the family lived in Chicago, Emanuel attended Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, a Conservative Jewish day school.<10> After his family moved to Wilmette, he attended public schools: Romona School, Locust Junior High School, and New Trier West High School.<1><11> He and his brothers attended summer camp in Israel, including just after the 1967 Six Day War.<5><12>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahm_Emanuel

[jillan]

27. Oh my - those are the same exact schools I went to when I lived in Wilmette.

I wonder if I ever met him...probably not, I'm 3 years older than he is.

[elleng]

29. One of his brothers, maybe?

QUITE an accomplished family, it appears!

[cali]

17. Why? Why do you find it of interest that he's in Israel?

[Brickbat]

22. How so?

[saracat]

7. His wife "converted" to Judaisim? Sorry, as a recovering Cathplic, I do NOT

applaud anyone converting to any religion for that sake of a spouse! I find it wrong when the Catholics required it( they no longer do but children must be raised Catholic, something almost equally wrong)and I find it unlikely that Amy converted for any other reason. I know many mixed marriages, including some in my own family and the spouse never converted. In the case of the Jewish spouse, the children were given a choice.This does not appear to be the case. This really reeks of domination and control. Ick!

[REP]

11. Judaism is a matrilinear religion; it "passes" through the mother

Raising the children as Jews really isn't enough; to be Jews, they have to be born of a Jewish mother (or convert themselves). Depending upon what tribe the Emmanuels are/claim to be, a Jewish mother makes a big difference (especially if she's a virgin at her wedding).

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. There are varying degrees

My sister converted from Catholic to Jew when she got married and she has been accepted and is active in their synagogue.

[msanthrope]

13. Not true of all of Judiasm--my DH had my DD named in his temple

and I am certainly not Jewish, nor would I ever consider converting.

Apparently, she's considered Jewish enough to get appeals from Israel and their lobbying groups....

[JerseygirlCT]

15. Not really the case in Reform Jewish circles, but traditionally, yes. nt

[laylah]

28. Per my Jewish husband...

this has not always been the case.

I am a recovering Catholic, we have 2 children together, one of which I baptized under the kitchen sink because I was afraid of the Catholic BS that should something happen to her, she would go to Hell:wtf: This was in the very early '80's. My point is...it has not always been matriarchial according to my Jewish husband...for whatever that is worth.

[REP]

36. Yes, there is an exception for certain Jews

Still, the mother must be a virgin at the time of her marriage within this group. No divorcees; otherwise the children are Jews but bastards.

[JerseygirlCT]

40. I don't know that Judaism has ever been *matriarchal*. But matrilineall

is a little different.

That said, I don't think the idea that Jewish identity is passed along from the mother is biblical at all, but there is a tradition. And that tradition isn't held to much in Reform Judaism.

[JerseygirlCT]

14. Well, in Judaism, people are not really pushed to convert. Quite the

contrary. You must go through quite a process, and it's not made easy by any means.

I don't think you can assume that his wife did not choose to convert herself.

[tammywammy]

16. I've read they dated for 4 years before marrying

For me it's easy to assume she wanted to convert rather than being forced to do so (especially with such a long period of dating).

[JerseygirlCT]

19. Yup. That would be my assumption, too.

It's a lovely, rich faith - I certainly can see the attraction, especially if your spouse, or potential spouse, is strongly connected to it.

[saracat]

31. Who knows anything? It took my friend years to convert to Judaism

and she also dated her hubby to be for 5 years.He thought she loved him and her MIL bullied her. It wasn't the religion in that case, it was the MIL. People have different reasons. MS Emmanuel may be genuinely attracted to Judaism.None of us can really know. Most folks I know don't take either their spouses or their own religion that seriously. My husband and I were raised differently.I was a catholic , he was not.Neither of us are anything now. My BF is married to a Catholic who forces her to raise the kids catholic and she resents it, but she loves her husband.

[saracat]

24. Most Jews I know do not convert anyone.Only one woman I know was "pushed"

to convert and she was told in no uncertain terms by her soon to be obnoxious mother in law that if she did not the marriage would not even be considered. It was a miserable marriage and thankfully, my friend finally summoned up the guts to leave him. I do not know about the situation with Ms. Emmanuel, but I find anytime any partner converts to anything ,it is creepy. I am not a fan of religion to begin with .It has nothing to do with Judaism per se.

[WolverineDG]

33. Maybe she chose to convert

or are you one of those feminists that insists women are always victims who are dominated & coerced because we are obviously too stupid to think for ourselves?

dg

[saracat]

35. Maybe she did. I am a feminist but I am aware that not ALL

women are free from coercion. My friend wasn't.

[JerseygirlCT]

37. It seems you're basing your entire opinion on this topic on

one bad experience that your friend had. That's a bit of a narrow frame from which to question the decisions of very many people.

Certainly some people have been browbeaten into decisions they didn't like - over religion, over children, over many things.

I just don't see that it offers much to judge the Emmanuel's situation, though.

[saracat]

43. Religion browbeats folks of all genders frequently. I already said I have no idea about

Ms. Emmanuel. But I have experienced knowledge of many occasions where women have been coerced into "conversion" to various religions, Muslim, Mormon, Catholic, whatever. And most often it is women doing the converting. I find it all creepy and that is my opinion.

[blogslut]

18. There's something ugly in this thread

and it isn't Mr. Emanuel.

[cali]

20. quite true.

[tammywammy]

21. Yep n/t

[Brickbat]

23. Agreed.

WTF?

[saracat]

26. Some of us are not big fans of religion. Any kind. I have Jewish members of my

family.I also have a Jewish member of my family who "converted" and became a Jesuit priest. He is now a divorce lawyer.Big whoop. I find any kind of "conversions" creepy. But whatever floats your boat.

[The Straight Story]

39. Isn't there usually in all threads where religion is mentioned? (nt)

[jillan]

25. Just for the record - I rec'd this thread...and wonder what kind of person would unrec it?

[elleng]

30. Seems to me there's a pathological 'unreccer' at DU!

Regardless of content.

[saracat]

32. Just for the record. I didn't unrec this.What reason would anyone have to unrec it?