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4 HASHALOM April
2017
April 2017
HASHALOM
5
Love Hurts? Part 2
MISHNA IMPOSSIBLE 9
I struggle with a strange dichotomy – a strong belief in something that
I cannot see or prove, and an equally strong desire for things to “make
sense”. This ongoing debate about “afflictions of love” is a perfect example
– trying to marry the rational with the spiritual, with messy results!
In continuing to make sense of this, I was reminded of a quotation from
a sermon given by Rev Theodore Parker, an American pastor, before the
Civil War:-
“We cannot understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one, and our
eyes reach but a little ways; we cannot calculate the curve and complete the
figure by the experience of sight; but we can divine it by conscience, and we
surely know that it bends towards justice. Justice will not fail and perish out
from the world of men, nor will what is really wrong and contrary to G-d’s real
law of justice continually endure.”
I have always been inspired by this quotation – the idea that the world
is greater, deeper and more eternal than we can understand yet “bends
towards justice”.
This begins to provide an answer for me, imperfect as it may be. If our
lives are a drop in the universal ocean, a blink of Heaven’s eye – then
equally, our time in the World To Come will be far longer that we can
conceive. That is where we will spend all of Eternity, bar 120 years.
Think about it – how short is 120 years in the known history of Man, let
alone what is to come!
So, we have a limited time where we can actually do what will elevate us
and enrich our experience in the next Phase, whether these are the sort
of things that we choose to do or those that are done to (or for?) us. As
R’ Tarfon said in Ethics of the Fathers (which, itself, is a Tractate of the
Talmud),
“The day is short, the work is much…the reward is great, and the
Master is pressing.”
On this treatment, any suffering (however long or intense it may be in
temporal terms) is fleeting in universal terms, and the reward for that
suffering is exponentially greater. So, its not about how bad it is here but
how good it will be there. Hmmm, ok, look it is an answer – it doesn’t
satisfy me completely but it might be a start. If those innocent victims
went through purgatory so that their eternal lives would be immeasurably
better, that is at least a comfort (even if cold). So, my dad then had to
battle towards the end so that his soul could be cleansed and he could
reap a greater reward? I hope so, I really do.
And perhaps that is the best I can hope for – perhaps like the Talmud
itself, there is not a definite answer.
When all is said and done, all we can do is make an imperfect stab at
understanding the Perfect and do the best with what we have. The rest
is…faith.
Warren Shapiro
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OUT OF PERSPECTIVE
I started writing this piece on 8 March, International Women’s Day.
I had just come off a few intensive weeks of editing MSW (Master
of Social Work) papers at the end of the first semester for my wife.
Coincidently, my daughter had a big costume party at school on
that day for Purim (where she dressed up as a devil, although she
is really an angel). So, it made me think, how do we make women
count in Israel?
I noticed that many of the prescribed readings dealing with social
policy in the MSW course were published by the Adva Centre. So this
piece will be a promo for them too. Adva Center is a non-partisan
policy analysis institute whose mandate is to examine Israeli
society from the perspective of equality and social justice. Their
studies of Israeli society present critical analyses of public policy
in the areas of budgets, taxation and social services (as quoted off
their website). I had actually met with the Director of the Centre
many moons ago, some months after I had made aliyah. I had just
finished my Master’s thesis dissertation which dealt with benefit
incidence analysis in South Africa (all this basically means is how
effective is the impact of budget spend on various social-economic
groups). There had been a lot of work in S.A. around the Women’s
Budget Initiative from the mid-nineties, with S.A. regarded as one of
the pioneering countries of gender budgeting. As I recall, the Adva
Director was interested to hear about this.
Fast forward some 14 years, and I read with much interest that
Adva had launched their own gender budget study of local Israeli
municipalities. But first, a definition of gender budgeting courtesy
of
: Gender budgeting is a way for governments
to promote equality through fiscal policy. It involves analysing a
budget’s differing impacts on men and women and allocating money
accordingly. For example, in Israel, a world-wide hi-tech bubble bust,
extenuated by the impact of the second intifada 2001-2003, led
the government to cut social spending, particularly unemployment
benefits, child allowances and incomemaintenance payments. These
welfare cuts affected women disproportionately. Why? They earn
less to begin with and are more likely than men to be single parents.
Similarly, slashing funding for public services such as child care,
which is a common way to reduce public deficits, requires women to
provide more unpaid labour at home, which in turn constrains their
ability to participate in the labour force. Another example: visit any
one of the current infrastructure development projects (for example
the Light-rail project in Tel Aviv, Fast-train to Jerusalem, new ports
at Ashdod and Haifa), and count how many women workers you find
on site. The rationale of a gender audit of budgets is to point out
how women’s development issues are generally overlooked in the
budget process, and that women generally receive less resources
than men.
Making a big change at a national level is difficult, and the
longevity of fragile Knesset coalitions doesn’t help matters. So
Adva turned to Municipal budgets to make an impact. This makes
sense as municipalities are more accessible, and most day-to-
day needs and services are provided under the auspices of the
local mayor or Regional Council head, rather than a MK. The
following mention some of Adva’s achievements from a country-
wide study.
In Netanya, a “Key Women
in the City” forum was
established. The aim here
was to increase women’s
representation and roles
in municipal corporations
and to incorporate gender
budgeting methodologies
into municipal budgets
and services. In the
Christian Arab village of
Fasuta (which is in the
north near Mt. Meron), the
women there analysed
time-use surveys and
proposed a new library
for leisure-time activities
in the afternoon. In the
Muslim town of Kfar
Kassem (in the centre
near
Rosh
Haayin),
available public spaces
were predominantly used by men. Local women lobbied for
a new park and jogging track which was approved by the city
council. In Beersheva, available vocational training had low female
participation because what was offered was stereotypically
associated with men (like welding and electrician courses).
Additional courses more “suitable” for women were given due
consideration. In Or Akiva (near Hadera), the cultural centre was
found to be under-used by local women due to high cost and the
content of shows not reflecting their preferences (the majority of
the residents are from the former Soviet Union). The municipality
made a decision to subsidise a variety of events and women joined
the repertoire committee for recommending new shows. In the
Mateh Asher Regional Council (which encompasses kibbutzim,
moshavim and villages in the North-west coastal corner of the
country up to Rosh Hanikra), the sports budget was analysed. Of
the approx. ILS 3.5 million budget, women received only 31% of the
total. Why? Most of the spend was allocated to volleyball, soccer
and basketball, with more boys playing these sports. There was
even a girls’ basketball team with a signed-up coach, but because
all the courts were occupied by male teams, the team couldn’t
train and the funding was withdrawn. It was recommended to
re-examine how sports facilities were assigned and to increase
allocation of funding to female teams.
A budget, in the end, is simply a tool for distribution - who gets
what? All research clearly points out they are seldom ever gender-
neutral. The initiatives and programmes that Adva are leading
should increase participation of Israeli women in the decision-
making process at local government level, and make the whole
budget process more transparent. With time, I am sure it will
spillover on to a national level too. They are clearly beneficial
and should be promoted, until International Men’s Day is not
celebrated every other day of the year.
Making women count in Israel
David Arkin