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Good or Bad, Now or Later?
A man praying, wearing tefillin. Photo: wiki commons.
JNS.org – As a rule, when people choose to embrace their heritage and begin practicing their faith seriously, rabbis suggest a step-by-step approach. In our Jewish journeys, “instant Jews” and overnight sensations don’t usually last in the long run. But there are certainly times when a leap of faith may be in place and even recommended.
This week, we conclude the book of Genesis with the story of the end of Jacob’s life. Before Jacob dies, Joseph brings his two sons—Ephraim and Menashe—to be blessed by his father.
While bestowing his blessings on his grandsons, Jacob acts strangely. He puts his right hand over his left to bless the younger son, Ephraim, with his right hand and the older son, Menashe, with his left. Joseph tries to correct his father, but Jacob takes no notice and tells Joseph he knows exactly what he is doing. It wasn’t because his eyesight was failing, Jacob’s action was quite deliberate. Jacob manipulated his hands cleverly, saying that Ephraim’s descendants would rise higher than Menashe’s children.
I am grateful to Rabbi Yanki Tauber for bringing to my attention a teaching of one of my saintly ancestors, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir of Gur, also known by his work as the Chidushei HaRim.
There are two paths in the service of God, two ways in which to live our lives. Psalm 34 in Tehillim says, “Turn away from evil, and do good.” We mustn’t allow our evil inclinations to get the better of us. We must constantly work on improving our conduct and our character. We must fight the darkness. This is represented by Menashe. Joseph named him Menashe indicating that “God has made me forget all my toil and all of my father’s house.” The difficulties of the past have been dealt with and put aside.
Ephraim, however, means that “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” Ephraim speaks of positivity and being fruitful, doing good and adding light.
Although the verse in Psalms first says, “Turn away from evil” and then says “and do good,” there is considerable disagreement about whether the sequence is arbitrary or mandatory.
Joseph argued that we must first rid ourselves of our negative conduct and character traits, and then we can focus on acquiring positive merits and doing good. Whereas Jacob believed that we should begin to do good immediately, even if we are not yet refined, and the good deeds themselves will help us improve and we will naturally come to refine our character traits.
Rabbi Yitzchak Meir explains that this is why Joseph, who believed that the correct sequence in life should be to turn away from the bad and then do good, preferred Menashe to be blessed with Jacob’s right hand. Jacob, however, believed that one could very well begin by doing good, and thereafter turn away from evil, as represented by Ephraim, the younger son.
It’s a fascinating question that still rages among different Jewish schools of thought. Some argue strongly that it is wrong, and even ridiculous, for Jews who have not yet become observant suddenly to begin studying Jewish philosophy. You must first start with the “bread and butter” of Judaism before you get to the “meat and potatoes.” Others disagree and will gladly teach Jewish philosophy to even the most uninitiated.
Chabad is clearly in the latter camp. The traditional sequence is not a must. On the contrary, a little light dispels a great deal of darkness. One mitzvah, one good deed and one page of Torah can ignite a fire in the soul of any Jew. If we wait until people “clean up their act,” so to speak, we may wait a long time. One positive step, even if it doesn’t seem a logical first step, may inspire a dramatic spiritual makeover.
Should someone who is not yet fully observant begin to wear a kippah? Is it wrong? Is he giving a false impression of himself to the public?
Many might call it absurd. But others might encourage it, as it may be one more step in the right direction and keep the person motivated to continue his upward momentum, even if he is not yet formally “ready” for it. In the journey of the soul, we need not wait until we overcome all of our negative inclinations before we embark on doing good.
So, the Chabadniks will stand on the street encouraging Jewish men to put on tefillin. Do they know where the guy they are talking to just came from or where he is going? No, but they will still happily help him perform a mitzvah. Even if it remains a “one-off,” the mitzvah itself is real and valid. As is the Jew. We may never know what kind of positive effect the act of putting on tefillin may have on him in the future.
I always say that when they ask, “Excuse me, are you Jewish?” it makes people think. Even if people say “No,” or “I’m busy,” or “Not today,” it’s pretty much guaranteed that as they walk away with that thought on their minds. Even if they did not put on the tefillin, the question itself disrupts their status quo. It makes them think. “Am I Jewish?” “What have I done lately to make me Jewish?” Who knows what effect just the question may have on the individual passerby?
We live in a world with darkness and redoubled darkness. While there are many signs of light to come, at the moment, the darkness is thick. To me, one visible demonstration of the power of light over darkness is on college campuses worldwide. Since the terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, there have been violent, venomous marches and protests for the Palestinians, Hamas and terrorism. Yet Jewish students regularly stand up for themselves with honor, identity and pride, putting their arms together, standing shoulder to shoulder and singing “Am Yisrael Chai,” “Shema Yisrael” or “Oseh Shalom.”
I have a video of my son, Rabbi Nissen Goldman of Chabad on Campus, standing against a violent mob at the noxious University of Cape Town. His students wear their tallit and tefillin proudly. They are fighting hate with love, war with peace, and destruction with determination. We hope and pray that their light will dispel such darkness. Should they wait until they convince their antagonists of the justice of our cause? It may be a long wait.
So, it would seem that if you are ever inspired to do a mitzvah or study Jewish philosophy, don’t tell yourself you’re not ready or worthy of it. Every good deed is a ray of light that can illuminate the world. I am certain that the psalmist would be happy even if you first “did good” and then “turned away from evil.”
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Syria to Give UN Watchdog Inspectors Access to Suspected Former Nuclear Sites as New Regime Seeks Sanctions Relief
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media, in Tehran, Iran, April 17, 2025. Photo: Iranian Atomic Organization/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Syria’s new government has agreed to provide the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) — the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog — with immediate access to former nuclear sites, signaling a move to restore international trust as it hopes to have international sanctions lifted.
On Wednesday, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi told the Associated Press that Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has shown a “very positive disposition to talk to us and allow us to carry out the activities we need to.”
After meeting with Sharaa in Damascus, he expressed hope that the inspection process would be completed within the coming months.
The IAEA’s goal is “to bring total clarity over certain activities that took place in the past that were, in the judgment of the agency, probably related to nuclear weapons,” Grossi said.
He also noted that Syria’s new leadership is “committed to opening up to the world, to international cooperation.”
Last year, the IAEA conducted inspections at several sites of interest in Damascus while former President Bashar al-Assad was still in power.
Under Assad’s rule, the country was believed to have operated a secret nuclear program, which included an undeclared nuclear reactor built by North Korea in Deir el-Zour province, in eastern Syria — a fact that was revealed after Israel destroyed the facility in a 2007 airstrike.
Since the collapse of Assad’s regime in December, the IAEA has been looking to regain access to sites associated with the country’s nuclear program.
In addition to conducting inspections, Grossi said the agency is prepared to provide Syria’s new government with equipment for nuclear medicine and to help rebuild the country’s radiotherapy and oncology infrastructure.
“And the president has expressed to me that he’s interested in exploring, in the future, nuclear energy as well,” Grossi said.
Last month, US President Donald Trump announced the lifting of sanctions on Syria — a major policy shift that aligns with the European Union’s efforts to support the country’s recovery and political transition.
As Sharaa focuses on rebuilding Syria after years of conflict, the lifting of Western sanctions that isolated the country from the global financial system is expected to boost its weakened economy by paving the way for greater humanitarian aid, foreign investment, and international trade.
Earlier this year, Sharaa became Syria’s transitional president after leading the rebel campaign that ousted Assad, whose Iran-backed rule had strained ties with the Arab world during the nearly 14-year Syrian war.
The offensive that led to the fall of the Assad regime was spearheaded by Sharaa’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, a former al-Qaeda affiliate.
Since then, Sharaa has repeatedly pledged to unify Syria’s armed forces and restore stability after years of civil war. However, the new government continues to face major hurdles in convincing the international community of its commitment to peace.
Incidents of sectarian violence — including the mass killing of pro-Assad Alawites in March — have deepened fears among minority groups about the rise of Islamist factions and drawn condemnation from global powers currently engaged in discussions on sanctions relief and humanitarian aid.
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Barcelona’s Primavera Sound Music Festival Showcases Tunnel Installation That Simulates Gaza Bombings
An outside view of the “Unsilence Gaza” installation at the 2025 Primavera Sound music festival. Photo: Screenshot
A reproduction of a tunnel that simulates the sound of bombings in the Gaza Strip is being showcased this year at Barcelona’s annual Primavera Sound music festival, which opened on Wednesday.
The unique installation, titled “Unsilence Gaza,” allows visitors to walk through a dark tunnel-like path where they hear noises of explosions as well as dramatic, ominous music. At the end of the tunnel, there is a wall with a message that says in English, Spanish, and Catalan: “Silence isn’t the opposite of the sound of bombs, it allows them to happen.” The outside of the installation features the message: “When everything blows up, don’t hide in the silence.”
The installation makes no mention of the Gaza-based Hamas terrorist organization that started the ongoing war with Israel after it orchestrated the deadly, mass terror attack across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
UNSILENCE GAZA #PrimaveraSound2025 Instalación de 15 metros de túnel que simula el ruido de un bombardeo a Gaza en el festival de #primaverasound de #barcelona pic.twitter.com/L7XnpF06u1
— Barcelona.lives (@BarcelonaLives) June 4, 2025
The installation was designed by Palestinian sound engineer Oussama Rima and is located by the main entrance of the annual music festival, held at the Parc del Fòrum. T-shirts and sweatshirts with the words “Unsilence Gaza” are also being sold at the festival and proceeds from the sales will be donated to the Palestinian Medical Relief Society to support emergency medical aid.
The Primavera Sound Foundation said on its website that the installation aims to remind people about the power of sound and how, especially in Gaza, it is associated with pain, fear, “torture and trauma.”
“We have normalized seeing war, but not listening to it,” the foundation said. “We live in a world saturated with violent images. Hypervisibility has anaesthetised us: we see, but we do not react. Sound, on the other hand, can still move us. At Primavera Sound, sound is emotion, connection, pleasure. But sound can also be the opposite: it can become a weapon. With this installation, we want to remind you that in Gaza and other parts of the world, sound is pain. It is fear. It is torture and trauma.”
In its statement, the foundation made no mention of Hamas or Israel. Instead, it talked about “genocide,” increased military spending, “warmongering rhetoric and attempts to criminalize and silence voices that defend peace.” The installation was conceptualized by the non-profit organizations Casa Nostra, Casa Vostra and the International Institute for Nonviolent Action (NOVACT), with support from the Primavera Sound Foundation.
More than 150 artists will perform at the Primavera Sound music festival this year including Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX, Troye Sivan, Chappell Roan, FKA Twigs, HAIM, Fontaines D.C., IDLES and Magdalena Bay.
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Sephardic Jewish Film Festival in NYC to Feature Array of Movies Celebrating Culture, Tradition, History
A promotional image for the film “Giado: Holocaust in the Desert” being screened at the 2025 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival. Photo: Provided
The New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival (NYSJFF), also known as the Sephardic Film Festival, returns to New York on Sunday for a week-long celebration of films that spotlight the traditions, cultures, and histories of Sephardic Jews.
This year’s festival will features documentaries, feature films, and shorts that highlight stories set in Israel, Morocco, France, Turkey, and more. It kicks off on Sunday night with a Pomegranate Awards ceremony, whose honorees will include French-born Israeli singer Yael Naim, Iranian-American writer Roya Hakakian, and French-Tunisian actor and screenwriter Michel Boujenah. Acclaimed Brazilian Jewish singer-songwriter Fortuna will receive the ASF Pomegranate Lifetime Achievement Award for Preservation of Sephardic Culture. Fortuna will also perform at the opening night ceremony with Trio Mediterraneo and special guest Frank London, a Grammy-winning trumpeter and co-founder of The Klezmatics.
NYSJFF is organized by the American Sephardic Federation.
A documentary about Naim will make its world premiere at the film festival on Monday and the screening will be followed by a Q&A with Naim and the film’s director, Jill Coulon. Also screening on Monday is the 1985 French comedy “Three Men and a Cradle” starring Boujenah, who will participate in a Q&A after the screening. Boujenah won the coveted César Award for best supporting actor for his role in the film, which is about three adult friends who are enjoying their single life until they get stuck taking care of a baby.
The Sephardic Film Festival will additionally feature the North American premiere of the films “The Last Righteous Man (Baba Sali)” and “Jinxed.” The latter is a Hebrew-language comedy, directed by Hanan Savyon and Guy Amir, about two repairmen who go to fix a television and instead find a dead body in a client’s apartment. They are then mistaken for murder suspects and get mixed up with the mafia and police investigations, as bad luck follows them around.
The Sephardic Film Festival will also host the New York premieres of “Matchmaking 2,” “Neuilly-Poissy” and “The 90s – The Revelry — Hillula,” which was a box office hit in Israel.
The film festival line-up includes “Over My Dead Body,” which explores Persian-American Jewish traditions; a documentary short about efforts to preserve the Ladino language spoken by Sephardic Jews; and a film that highlights the first-hand testimony of Yosef Dadosh who, at the age of 20, was one of 3,000 Libyan Jews deported by the Italians to the Giado concentration camp during the Holocaust.
This year, the Sephardic Film Festival is part of a new, larger cultural festival called Festival Sefarad, which will be a citywide celebration of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish communities. Festival Sefarad will include film screening, musical performances, workshops, book talks, and Shabbat dinners throughout the month of June. The festival is organized by the American Sephardic Federation with support from the UJA-Federation of New York.
“Our inspiration to expand the 27th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival into the first-ever Festival Sefarad is the acute need, in the face of so much adversity and antisemitism, to create communal, intellectual, and cultural events that bring all Jews together,” Jason Guberman, executive director of the American Sephardi Federation, said in a statement. “With the support of the UJA-Federation of NY and 50 organizations throughout Brooklyn, Manhattan, Long Island, and Queens, the ASF is hosting over 40 events that showcase the dynamism, resilience, and joy of the Greater Sephardic world for Jews of all backgrounds and friends.”
The 27th New York Sephardic Jewish Film festival runs from June 8-June 15. The festival concludes with a live concert by legendary artist Enrico Macias. Tickets for the film festival are available online. The annual festival, which started in 1990, has previously screened films from Morocco, India, Yemen, Kurdistan, and more.
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