With age comes wisdom?

So Saturday night I was invited to go to another footy match. While I was there, I heard the following statement, from what appeared to be a smallish, frailish, elderly woman regarding the events on the field:

"Kill the fucker you bloody bastard!!"

Ahhhhh, the wisdom of my elders.

A Theological Dilema

So I am personally opposed to cremation for Jews. The theology that has developed within me over my life is such that I find cremation to be at least problematic if not outright wrong. With that in mind, I was recently approached (as in about 15 minutes ago) to officiate at a cremation funeral. I had asked for the opportunity to officiate a funeral or two while I was here, since it is something I have never had to do before and feel like it is an important area to gain some experience. So my colleagues thought that I would welcome this opportunity, especially because the situation is one that is relatively straight forward (the death was expected, no known family issues, etc.).

I had about 10 minutes to make a decision, during which time I spoke with the senior rabbi here. I felt a bit pressured to take on the funeral. Whether the pressue was real or imagined is, of course, impossible to tell. Regardless, I felt a certain amount of pressue to accept the funeral, as it was 'offered' to me largely because of my standing request to have more experience.

I decided to do the funeral.

Why?

Aside from any 'peer pressure' that may have been there, in the end I decided that it is not fair for me to express my distaste for cremation or the accompanying service if I have never actually done one. In some ways, I am taking this on to reinforce my beliefs. Having actually done a service like this, I would be able to say with greater authority that I find them problematic (or worse).

Despite this rather creative act of rationalization, I can't help but feel like a hypocrite and a sell out. Is this the kind of rabbi I'm going to be? The kind that caves in to communal pressure this easily? I feel like shit about it to be honest. I feel like I have let myself down. I like to think that I'll take some sort of lesson from this whole exprience, that it will teach me how crappy it makes me feel to give up my priciples. On the other hand, maybe it will just show me how much easier it can be to have no spine.

Of all the gin joints...

So last night (Thursday for me) I really felt like going out and having a beer. Nothing major, just to go chill and maybe read and people watch and drink a good beer. It was pretty frickin' cold, so I didn't feel like wandering around all over the place, and was trying to think of where to go, when I remembered that there was a place near me that looked pretty low key so I decdided to go check it out.

I get there and walk inside and immediately sense that something is amiss, mainly because I don't see a bar, only a middle-aged woman sitting at a desk in what appears to be some kind of lobby. I think she senses my confusion and so she asks, "Can I help you hon?" I explain that I had been looking for a place to get a drink and had just wanted to check this place out.

Me: "So, um, what is this place?"

Lady: "Oh, its a brothel"

Me: "(deep swallow), um, a what?"

Lady (who must have thought I was either some kind of moron or a nice, pure and innocent young man, or both. Personally, I'd like to think I'm neither): "You know, a brothel, you know what that is right?"

Me: "Of course! I mean not of course, but, well, yeah, I know what it is"

Lady: "So can I help you with anything?"

Me: "Uh, no thanks, I think I'll have to pass"

Lady: "Are you sure? If you'd like you can take a look at our services and meet some of the girls in case you see someone you like or would like to come back."

Me: "Well that's very kind of you, but no thanks" [Exit stage left]

I feel like I should explain that prostitution (and in turn brothels) are legal in the state of Victoria, in which Melbourne is located. This is a fact I was aware of. Despite that, I never would have expected to wander into a brothel in the middle of super-Jewish suburbia. Not that I think Jews don't dig on brothels, I'm sure there are plenty who do, but I generally think of brothels as kind of being on the outskirts of places, not around the corner from where I do my laundry.

I never did get my beer that night. When I got home though, out of curiosity (seriously, it was only curiosity...really!!) I decided to see if this place had a web page, again showing my naivite by thinking they wouldn't, but lo and behold (or maybe in this case ho and belold?) they do. So if you are interested (only out of curiosity of course, and there is nothing explicit unless you consider the very idea of prostitution explicit) check out: www.club859.com.au and you can see what I saw (they have pictures of the outside and the lobby).

Thats my story.

Yisrael Binyamin Jankovic

So this is a little out of sequence, but my nephew's brit (circumcision) was yesterday and so his name was finally made public (see title). It was hard not to be there, but my family called me and I got to talk with everyone, and it was recorded so I will be able to see it when I get back stateside. I have been trying to think of what I will actually call him, because Yisrael is too many syllables, and every kid needs a nickname. I am currently debating between Izzy and Ra-Ra, but if anyone has suggestions I am happy to hear them.

Oh, if you want to see pictures, go to my sister and bro-in-law's blog:

http://zevandchaiya.blogspot.com

No one to tell

So I am pretty dedicated to the idea of working abroad once I get ordained, however I got my first real taste of how potentially difficult it could be during the conference. Around midnight my time on Wednesday/Thursday I got a call from my dad telling me that I had a nephew! I was so happy and excited, and then I realized that I had no one to share it with. There was no public phone nearby and I can't make international calls on my mobile. I was standing in the dark, alone, bursting with joy. It was a weird feeling. Its the first time in a long time that I actually felt lonely.

What the @#$% was that?!

During the JCMA conference I was awoken by this very odd noise. It sounded ...

okay a quick aside. the maintenance guy just came by and asked if by next Friday i could, "look a bit scroggier" (I'm in a suit if you can believe it) because I remind him of the Mormons that go around knocking on peoples doors. Who in their right mind would have ever imagined that someone would have to ask me to look 'scroggier'.

Anyways so I heard this noise, and it sounded a bit like maniacal laughter, and my very first thought (seriously) was, "i didn't realize there were monkeys in Australia".

I found out later that it was a kookaberra (sitting in an old gum tree for you GUCI folks), this bird that sounds like the offspring of a screech monkey and a hyena and looks like a pigeon. I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but...

Meeting Muhammed

On the Monday following my rugby outing I left for what is called the JCMA Conference. JCMA stands for Jews Christians and Muslims of Australia, and this was their 'big' yearly conference. I put big in quotes because there were only about 80 people there, but it was the biggest one they've had yet.

As someone who has never been especially interested in interfaith work I was expecting a kind of I'm-okay-you're-okay-happy-sappy-pc-bs-lovefest, which is the impression I have gotten of a lot of American interfaith work.

The conference took place at a Catholic college called Pallotti (not to be confused with Pilates) about 1.5 hours outside Melbourne, essentially in the middle of nowhere. This is the view from the college.

The first person I met when I got there was Muhammed, a Malaysian Muslim in his early thirties studying in Melbourne for his PhD in Islamic Philosophy. He seemed like a nice guy, and we found out that we would be roomates for the next four days. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about that, but I figured I would go with the flow and see how things turned out.

The conference itself turned out to be a far more powerful and productive experience than I ever could have imagined. As opposed to the pc-bs approach that I was expecting, there was a real desire amongst the participants to engage in dialogue in the truest sense. People asked me questions about Judaism and challenged some of my ideas, especially about Israel. I had an opportunity to ask praciticing Muslims and Christians about their faiths, and raise questions about ideas that I either didn't understand or didn't agree with. The whole atmosphere of the conference was one of openness, including openness to disagreements and debates. In large groups we addressed some contentious issues like the legacy of the Crusades, who owns Abraham and whether there is currently a clash of civilizations between Islam and the West. In the small "cluster groups", these issues continued to be addressed, but more often than not we took opportunities to raise other issues that were on our mind. These ranged from whether the Hebrew Bible and Quran are the word of God, and if not how might that affect Jews, Christians and Muslims to the Israel-Palestinian conflict (which I brought up, and actually had the chance to lead a session on). It was the first time for me that I felt comfortable really challenging people of other faiths on their beliefs, without fear of offending or starting a fist fight and it was wonderfully enlightening and energizing. These are some of the attendees.

As important as the large group sessions and cluster groups were, where I learned the most was in my room with Muhammed. Each night, when we got back to our rooms to go to sleep, he and I would talk about all sorts of issues of religion, politics and philosophy (to be fair, he did most of the talking about philosophy). This is where I feel like I really gained an greater understanding of Islam and was able to explain various aspects of Jewish thought and observance to him. We also spent several hours one night talking about the Israel-Palestinian thing. I/we get such a skewed view of Muslims and Islam in the States, it was great to be able to sit with someone who is a practicing and knowledgable Muslim and hear honestly what they think and what their religion actually says. It was a very powerful experience for me and I hope he and I can keep in touch to continue our conversations and keep learning from each other.

Beating the All Blacks (but not in an LAPD way)

So the past ten days or so have been the best and most intense I have had since getting here. I will fill in as I go, but rather than try and stick it all in one big-ass post, I am going to try and go chronallogically (sp?) beginning with two weekends ago. So here it goes....

I had a really nice Friday night Shabbat dinner at the home of a family of a congregant. This particular congregant is the young member of the board and very active and so I was looking forward to the meal. It was a lot of fun, I was one of two guests (the other being another American, Dan Levin from St. Louis, anyone know him?) with a bunch of family. One of the things that I have been discovering but for what ever reason was more noticeable to me in this setting is that due to the nature of my position/title/whatever, people are actually interested in what I have to say, even when I clearly have no idea what I am talking about (which you lot know is most of the time). It is kind of a weird feeling to have people you don't know look to you for opinions on things and actually give a damn about what you say. I'm not sure I like it...okay who am I kidding I do like it because in theory I can say rediculous things and people respond, "hmmm, that's very interesting" or "what a unique approach" when we both know I'm full of shit. Also I have on occassion been in love with the sound of my own voice (shocking I know) and this provides plenty of chances for me to expound on just about anything. I will ask that if any of you ever hear/see me getting into this state, please poke me with a sharp stick or something equivalent so that I might ween myself off of this ego-encouraging brew.

Anyhoo, at this dinner, Dan (the other American) told me that there was a major rugby match the next night between Australia (the Wallabies) and New Zealand (the All Blacks). This match is actually listed on the Sports Illustrated 101 sporting events to see before you die, so not being dead yet, I figured I should take advantage of the opportunity. I'm glad I did. It was a great atmosphere and everyone was really into it. Even Dan and I got into it, despite the fact that neither of us had any real clue as to how the game is played (but as related in a previous post, when has that ever stopped me). I should take a minute and inform you that the All Blacks are a heavy favorite to win the Rugby World Cup, and there is a real serious rivalry between Australia and New Zealand, with rugby being one area where NZ has bested the Aussies on a regular basis. So the fact that Australia actually won was a huge upset! We went out afterwards and found the bars packed with rugby folk and enjoyed a pint or three. I learned during this outing that asking "whats on draught" is actually a request for a Carlton Draught but "what's on tap" is the appropriate question for finding out what beers are actually on tap...i'm writing this and I still feel like a moron two weeks later. oh well. so that was that.