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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.”
The post Good or Bad, Now or Later? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Al Jazeera Hit With Defamation Lawsuit by Syrian Jewish Ex-Refugee
The Al Jazeera Media Network logo is seen on its headquarters building in Doha, Qatar, June 8, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Naseem Zeitoon
A defamation lawsuit was filed against the Qatar-based Al Jazeera media network on Wednesday by Abraham Hamra, a Syrian pro-Israel advocate and lawyer.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Hamra “is a Jewish refugee from Syria, born in Damascus. He fled Syria with his parents and siblings in 1994 at the age of eight, following the partial lifting of restrictions on Jewish emigration by the Syrian regime under President Hafez al-Assad in 1992.”
The Algemeiner obtained a copy of the complaint, which explains that, on Aug. 25, Al Jazeera posted a video claiming that Hamra was paid by the Israeli government to visit an aid site of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israel- and US-backed program that delivers aid directly to Palestinians, operating independently from UN-backed mechanisms.
“This accusation is false in its entirety. Plaintiff has never received any payment, compensation, or financial incentive from the Israeli government or any affiliated entity for visiting aid sites in Gaza,” the lawsuit claims.
“The visit by Plaintiff related to Israel and Gaza was undertaken independently, in his personal capacity, on his own dime, as an advocate for his community and to bear witness against misinformation,” the suit continues.
The UN and critics of Israel have expressed concerns that the GHF’s approach forces civilians to risk their safety by traveling long distances across active conflict zones to reach one of its four food distribution points, at times creating chaotic scenes where Israeli forces have used gunfire to control the crowd.
However, supporters of the GHF argue that it bypasses the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which often steals humanitarian supplies for its own purposes and sells the rest at inflated prices. The GHF has called on the UN to publicly condemn the killing of aid workers in Gaza and to collaborate in order to provide relief to the enclave’s population, accusing the UN of perpetuating a “vast disinformation campaign” aimed at tarnishing the foundation’s image.
The lawsuit notes that the social media post from Al Jazeera, which included the image of Hamra, “cites no sources for the ‘reportedly paid’ claim, and publicly available information about Plaintiff, including his professional bio, social media posts, and known activities, demonstrates he is an independent US attorney with no financial ties to foreign governments.”
Al Jazeera also “failed to conduct even basic fact-checking, such as contacting Plaintiff for comment or verifying the allegation, despite their status as a major media network with resources to do so,” according to the lawsuit.
Al Jazeera did not respond to a request for comment from The Algemeiner.
The lawsuit argues why the allegedly false claim rises to the level of libel, saying it “constitutes libel per se under New York law because it accuses Plaintiff of committing a serious crime, namely, violating FARA [the Foreign Agents Registration Act] by acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Israel, and tends to injure him in his profession as a lawyer.”
“FARA requires individuals acting as agents of foreign principals to register with the US Department of Justice, and failure to do so is a federal offense punishable by fines and imprisonment,” the suit says. “By falsely alleging Plaintiff was paid by a foreign government to promote its interests, the statement implies criminal conduct and undermines his professional integrity.”
Consequently, Hamra is seeking payment for damages of at least $1,00,000 and requesting a trial by jury.
Read the lawsuit here: Hamra v Al Jazeera ECF No. 1 Complaint
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US Lawmakers Launch Investigation Into Wikipedia Over Claims of Systemic Anti-Israel Bias
US Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC). Photo: Reuters
The US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has opened an investigation into the nonprofit that operates the Wikipedia website, demanding answers over concerns that hostile foreign actors are exploiting the popular online encyclopedia to spread anti-Israel propaganda and antisemitic narratives.
Republican Reps James Comer (KY), who chairs the committee, and Nancy Mace (SC), who chairs the panel’s subcommittee on cybersecurity, information technology, and government innovation, on Wednesday sent a letter to Maryana Iskander, chief executive of the Wikimedia Foundation, asking the nonprofit to turn over records showing how the platform polices disinformation campaigns that target articles related to Israel and the Middle East.
The lawmakers cited studies showing that pro-Russia networks and other state-backed operations have sought to manipulate Wikipedia entries on conflicts involving Israel, often by inserting anti-Israel or antisemitic framing designed to sway Western audiences. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), for example, published a report earlier this year arguing that “malicious” Wikipedia editors have inserted anti-Israel bias onto the site, oftentimes violating the organization’s neutrality policies in the process.
Meanwhile, a report from the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab found evidence of Russian-linked attempts to shape narratives used to train AI chatbots by twisting information about Israel.
“The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating the efforts of foreign operations and individuals at academic institutions subsidized by US taxpayer dollars to influence US public opinion,” Comer and Mace wrote. They emphasized the importance of stopping organized attempts to “inject bias into important and sensitive topics.”
Specifically, the committee is demanding records on possible coordination by nation-states or academic institutions to influence Wikipedia pages, internal arbitration files documenting how the site has handled editor misconduct, identifying data for accounts flagged for suspicious activity, and any analysis showing patterns of manipulation tied to antisemitism or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The letter also requests details of Wikipedia’s editorial policies to ensure neutrality and prevent the spread of bias.
Although the committee acknowledged that most online platforms face disinformation threats, the letter stressed that Wikipedia’s outsized influence as one of the most visited websites in the world and a key training source for artificial intelligence systems makes it especially important to prevent anti-Israel narratives from taking root unchecked.
The Wikimedia Foundation has previously stated that it takes action against volunteer editors who violate neutrality rules, but lawmakers say further transparency is needed to guarantee accountability.
However, a detailed investigation by Pirate Wires in October 2024 revealed that a powerful group of roughly 40 Wikipedia editors coordinated to “delegitimize Israel, present radical Islamist groups in a favorable light, and reshape the narrative around Israel with alarming influence,” particularly after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel. Notably, one editor removed mention of Hamas’s 1988 charter, which calls for the killing of Jews and the destruction of Israel, from the Hamas article just six weeks after the attack. The group also reportedly sought to suppress documented human-rights abuses by Iran, and a related effort by a Discord-based collective known as “Tech For Palestine” coordinated mass editing of articles related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
According to a report by the Jewish Journal, Wikipedia’s arbitration committee (ArbCom) permanently banned two editors outright for engaging in off-platform coordination tied to the “Tech for Palestine” Discord campaign, citing violations of policies. Additionally, the committee imposed indefinite topic bans on eight editors in the Israeli-Palestinian area for disruptive behavior such as non-neutral editing, personal insults, and misrepresentation of sources. In December 2024, ArbCom permanently banned two anti-Israel editors and placed restrictions on three others for violation of site policies in the Israeli-Palestinian topic area.
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Tunisian Brothers to Face Trial for Cutting Down Olive Tree Honoring Murdered Jew Ilan Halimi in France
A crowd gathers at the Jardin Ilan Halimi in Paris on Feb. 14, 2021, to commemorate the 15th anniversary of Halimi’s kidnapping and murder. Photo: Reuters/Xose Bouzas/Hans Lucas
Two Tunisian twin brothers have been arrested in France after allegedly cutting down an olive tree that had been planted to honor Ilan Halimi, a young French Jewish man tortured to death nearly a decade ago.
According to the Bobigny prosecutor’s office, two 19-year-old undocumented men with prior convictions for theft and violence were arrested for vandalizing Halimi’s memorial in the northern Paris suburb of Épinay-sur-Seine.
Both brothers appeared in criminal court on Wednesday and were remanded in custody pending their trial, scheduled for Oct. 22.
They will face trial on charges of “aggravated destruction of property” and “desecration of a monument dedicated to the memory of the dead on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion,” offenses that, according to prosecutors, carry a sentence of up to two years in prison.
Both suspects were taken into custody around noon on Monday while returning to the crime scene, French media reported.
Investigators tracked them down after discovering two slices of watermelon left by the perpetrators at the base of the olive tree, which contained their DNA.
Halimi was abducted, held captive, and tortured in January 2006 by a gang of about 20 people in a low-income housing estate in the Paris suburb of Bagneux.
Three weeks later, Halimi was found in Essonne, south of Paris, naked, gagged, and handcuffed, with clear signs of torture and burns. The 23-year-old died on the way to the hospital.
In 2011, an olive tree was planted in Halimi’s memory. Earlier this month, the memorial was found felled — probably with a chainsaw — in the northern Paris suburb of Epinay-sur-Seine.
Halimi’s memory has faced attacks before, with two other trees planted in his honor vandalized in 2019 in Essonne, where he was found dying near a railway track.
Hervé Chevreau, the mayor of Épinay, announced that a new memorial tree will be planted in the second half of September.
After the attack, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the incident, vowing that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.
“Felling the tree in honor of Ilan Halimi is a second attempt on his life,” the French leader said in a post on X.
Halimi’s sister, Anne-Laure Abitbol, also condemned the incident, warning that public denunciations are no longer enough and calling for concrete action.
“In France, we are no longer safe, neither alive nor dead,” Abitbol told RTL in an interview.
“I feel less safe in France,” she said. “By recognizing a Palestinian state, Macron is encouraging antisemitism and failing to take action against antisemitic attacks in the country.”
Last month, Macron announced that France will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September as part of its “commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”
Israeli officials have criticized the move, which was followed by several other Western countries, calling it a “reward for terrorism.”
France’s Jewish community has faced a troubling surge in antisemitic incidents and anti-Israel sentiment since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Jewish leaders have consistently called on authorities to take swift action against the rising wave of targeted attacks and anti-Jewish hate crimes they continue to face.
According to the French Interior Ministry, 646 antisemitic incidents were recorded from January to June this year — a drop from the previous year’s first-half record high but a 112.5 percent increase compared with the same period in 2023, when 304 incidents were reported.