Remembering Slain
Bondi Beach Shliach
Rabbis lead extraordinarily demanding lives. At any given moment, there are countless individuals who require attention, guidance, or support. The work of the rabbinate is a continuous act of balancing: weighing urgent needs against those that are less immediate; addressing educational, pastoral, programmatic, and organizational responsibilities; and tending to every demographic within a diverse and evolving community.
Under these pressures, a particular mindset naturally develops – one that prioritizes programs and initiatives capable of reaching the largest number of people at once. The logic is intuitive: If an event attracts more participants, then more individuals have been served by the shul and the broader Jewish community. In this framework, the rabbi inevitably becomes the gatekeeper, responsible for determining which programs, speakers, and organizations will best serve the “majority.” Anything that touches only a small subset of the community can feel difficult to justify.
Rabbi Eli Schlanger, Hy”d, urged us to reconsider the very metrics by which we evaluate communal success. A community’s value, he argued, should not be measured by how many people attend a program, but by how deeply and authentically it includes those who might otherwise remain unseen. Inclusivity means noticing the individuals who do not fit neatly into the standard categories around which communal life is often organized. This idea shifted my thinking in a profound way.
A recent Executive Council of Australian Jewry report found alarmingly high levels of antisemitism continuing in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, despite a year-on-year decline from 2024’s record high. The most serious categories of incidents – including arson attacks against synagogues, preschools, and other Jewish institutions – reached their highest levels ever recorded over the past year.
Rabbi Schlanger was a brilliant and amazing young man, all light and giving. Just a year or two ago, he and his wife opened a new Chabad house, and he was an integral part of the Sydney community. He was the driving force behind the Chabad house, ran the events, and brought tremendous energy with him. He has a baby only three weeks old. We are stunned and broken.
Brian Goldenfeld
Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Mamdani and International Law
The editorial in the November 28th edition of The Jewish Press referred to Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s comment, issued through a spokesperson, concerning the intimidating protests which greeted Jewish Americans at an event hosted by Nefesh B’Nefesh at the Park East Synagogue. The editorial quoted the spokesperson as saying, “The Mayor-elect has discouraged the language used at last night’s protest and will continue to do so,” and “He believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation and that these sacred places should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.”
There is no international law which forbids Jewish people from observing their religion, and there is a religious obligation to make aliyah. On the other hand, there is a legal definition of antisemitism which would criminalize Mayor-elect Mamdani’s antisemitic rhetoric. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism has been adopted or endorsed by 46 countries. The IHRA working definition offers examples of antisemitic acts, including “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”
The idea of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine was approved by the League of Nations Council on July 24, 1922, and endorsed by the United States Congress on June 30, 1922. Article 6 of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine stipulates that “The Administration of Palestine…shall facilitate Jewish immigration…and shall encourage…settlement by Jews on the land.” Article 7 proclaims a nationality law: “There shall be included in this law provisions framed so as to facilitate the acquisition of Palestinian citizenship by Jews who take up their permanent residence in Palestine.”
Thus, the efforts of Nefesh B’Nefesh totally resonate with League of Nations policy. Indeed, it is Mayor-elect Mamdani’s views which violate international agreements.
President Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress have the opportunity to enact the IHRA working definition of antisemitism into law. Such a move would greatly diminish the rising tide of antisemitism from both the political left and from the still minuscule contingent of Jew haters on the political right.
David Ferster
Great Neck, N.Y.
Parsha Points to Ponder
In his excellent essay on the parsha and haftara of Vayishlach (“Confrontation and Redemption,” Dec. 5), Rabbi Kenneth Brander speaks about two instances of confrontation with the broader society in the parsha – and lessons that contemporary Jews can draw from them.
The two that he notes are Yaakov’s reunion with Eisav and Yaakov’s wrestling match with the mysterious ish/malach. While those are definitely part of the story, I think there’s another instance to note that teaches far-reaching lessons on these matters. At the end of the parsha, Shimon and Levi trick the people of Shechem and go to war against them after they violated Dinah. Depending how one reads the details and which mefarshim one looks to, this incident paints an interesting bookend to the events at the beginning of the parsha.
M. Schwartz
Manhattan, N.Y.