Gilad Lotan » religion

The Sky is not the Same Color for Everyone

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:22:24 +0000

Just finished watching the movie A Jihad for Love. One of the first of its kind – a documentary following the personal stories of Homosexuals in Muslim nations. A highly controversial film, highlighting these issues which most dare not talk about.

It is heartbreaking to see these people’s struggle between love for their religion vs. realizing their sexuality. At first fighting against their innate feelings, hoping that the “wrong” can be cured, seeking advice, even marrying – to eventually find out that there is no cure. One of the women interviewed in the film described her search for answers to figure out why she was different, and how she could change. She tried the IslamOnline web portal, where she got in touch with Imams and other priests who all suggested that she get married as a cure. Well, she did. And she also somehow managed to get a divorce and escape from her country years later.

A Persian man told his tale – arrested at a “gay” meetup, whipped and beaten, managed to flee to Turkey. He received refugee status from the UNHCR and a visa to Canada. He cries when he finally arrives in Canada – “How can I be free when so many others cannot?!”

What touched me most was seeing how devoted these people still are; after all they’ve been through. How they maintain such a strong connection with their god, even though they are afraid; afraid that they will be punished by god for their actions. The film also introducesÂ the concept of Ijtihad, or independent reassuring. It is defined as the process of making a legal decision by independent interpretation of the legal sources, the Qur’an and the Sunnah. Conservative Muslims say that most Muslims do not have the training in legal sources to conduct ijtihad. They argue that this role was traditionally given to those who have studied for a number of years under a scholar. However, liberal movements within Islam generally argue that any Muslim can perform ijtihad, through which gay Muslims can justify their right for being both Homosexual and follow the Islam.

Tonight I feel thankful.
Thankful for living in a culture that will not stone me to death if I fall in love with a man.
Thankful to have the freedom and support to act according to my heart.
Thankful that the sky is piercing blue, for me.

Sharma refuses to associate homosexuality with shame, but recognizes the need to protect the safety and privacy of his sources, by filming them in silhouette or with their faces blurred. In one case, the family of an Afghan woman he interviewed “would undoubtedly kill her” if they found out she was lesbian. In another example, one of the associate producers, an Egyptian gay man, chose not to be listed in the credits for fear of possible consequences.
The film was banned from screening at the 2008 Singapore International Film Festival “in view of the sensitive nature of the subject that features Muslim homosexuals in various countries and their struggle to reconcile religion and their lifestyle,” Amy Chua, Singapore Board of Film Censors chairwoman was quoted as saying by The Straits Times.

The film’s director updates his daily blog with thoughts from his tour as well as comments he receives from fans of the film around the world.

[tags]homosexuality, islam, film[/tags]

Now Your Online Business can Observe the Sabbath Online!

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 03:56:26 +0000

Saturday Guard automatically shuts down your website during Sabbath (and ONLY during Sabbath) according to the browser’s geographic location. Another genius innovation from our beloved religious sect (did I already mention that I can’t wait for someone to invent sarcastic type already!)

With the development of technology the Internet takes a major roll in our day to day life and commerce. The Internet is active 24/7 therefore most web sites are opened during Shabbat. Until now it was technologically impossible to efficiently close a website during Shabbat since Shabbat comes and goes in different places in different times.

By utilizing the power of SaturdayGuard your site will be closed and opened automatically during the Shabbat. This will all happen according to the browser’s geographic location. Your website will be closed for visitors coming from a location where Sabbath is occuring, while it will be closed in a place where it is not yet Shabbat. For those of you who are worrying, there is even an attached signed “Kosher” certificate recommending the service by Yona Metzger, Chief Rabbi of Israel. My dear rabbi – is it not a problem that the server is still turned on and consuming electricity during Sabbath? In order to run the software which shuts down your website you still need to consume electricity and “do work”. Why not make transactions even during Sabbath by marking them down, and actually dealing with them after Sabbath has ended? You find ways to use electricity even during Sabbath.

The software creator explains “since the internet was not created according to the Halacha (Jewish law), there are many problems – one of them is that it is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Desecration of Sabbath is a grave sin. (link)

[tags]judaism,technology,religion,web,kosher,shabbat,website[/tags]

Open Sourcing Passover

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:29:06 +0000

Passover is probably the only holiday that I get truly excited about celebrating. Not only because its great food, but for its many little customs. The Seder takes place on the first night of Passover. A time to get together with friends and family, eat well, drink lots of wine, sing and tell the story of the Haggadah — basically a great opportunity to get together!

The ‘Haggadah’, a text read in celebrating households, was written around the 2nd century and deals with some of the basic notions of freedom. Those which we easily take for granted. Seriously, had the Hebrews not been freed from slavery we would be living in a dark, dark world -
no New York Bagels, no Goonies, Seinfeld and… well… leaving politics out of this one.

The Haggadah has been “open source” for centuries, as families and communities created their own versions and additions to the story – contextualized it, and made it relevant to their social circles. However, many were kept within closed doors, usually purely for geographic reasons. With the ease of online communication, it is amazing how many people have been sharing their Haggadah versions. Over the past week, I’ve heard personal stories about people who were asked by friends to e-mail out their version of the Haggadah (complete with subtext, images and pop-songs). We are getting so used to the notion of personalizing every thing around us. So why not read a more relevant version of this story? The idea driving this Passover custom is to be thankful for our freedom, and “never forget” that our ancestors were enslaved in Egypt.

Douglas Rushkoff began a web-based project called open source haggadah that lets you pick and choose which parts of the long text you’d like to read (actually, I have never managed to get to the end of the text… definitely not after wine+food). There is a standard Hebrew format, but many radically different translations and adaptations are used (best-of-the-bunch is the hardcore feminist Haggadah, with no masculine reference to g-d. With all the sizzling hot trends supporting open source-ness, this was a perfect chance to get a bunch of friends together over a .
(note to self: read through all of the Haggadah text before the Seder)…

Although it DID make out for a very entertaining evening… Especially after the wine started kicking in. Here’s one result – Souris managed to sign up for L_RD on twitter, and already has 22 followers – much easier being a twitter god than helping the Israelites out of Egypt :: Oh dear
Here are some pix from the Seder:

and a link to the Haggadah we used.

[tags]haggadah,jewish,holiday,religion,culture,technology,cultech,open,source,passover[/tags]

Playing with Text

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:28:05 +0000

I’ve recently been inspired by some text visualization methods. Of specific interest to me are Edward Tufte’s Sparklines, simple word sized graphics, which allow their users to get the gist of what’s happening with the data without needing to fully read it all. The graphic below is a 13th century manuscript bible with these amazing decorative tendrils. Reminds me of most standard Hebrew bibles which has scribbles signifying musical phrases and tones drawn above and below the words.

I wonder why we’ve lost these decorations and symbols from our text styling. This is slowly coming back with (::cough::) emoticons. I’ve always wanted to have cynical text. That would extremely useful!

Another project, Similar Diversity, is a well-done textual analysis which visualizes words from English translations of Holy scriptures. My favorite of their images is the first one below:

Different colors signify the holy book the word appeared in, while size, obviously, relates to the number of times the word came up. I wish they had chosen more interesting words, though. Its obvious that GOD or LORD would show up most in the scriptures, but how about the word RAPE or WAR? Or even LOVE and HATE? That would be fascinating!

This is an illustration of the relationships between the words. Very stylized, clean design. I like it.

[tags] text, visualization, sparklines, tufte, similar diversity [/tags]

Hanukkah: cultural wars defining Israeli identity

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 08:19:01 +0000

Hanukkah is just around the corner. Definitely my favorite of the Jewish holidays, it has interesting historical value and deals with issues relevant to our current-day culture (not only in Israeli). It celebrates the victory of the Israelites over the ancient Greeks in a series of battles taking place around the year 165 BC. This was not about territory nor resources, but dealt with freedom; the freedom to practice religion and follow the Jewish faith. Hanukkah lights represent the ancient Jewish tradition (soul) and the victory of spirituality over the material and physical (attributes related to ancient Greek culture).

Classical rabbis usually downplay the military and nationalistic dimensions of Hanukkah, yet some even interpret the story of the miracle oil as a creative diversion away from the struggle with empires that had led to the disastrous downfall of Jerusalem to the Romans. In Israel, Hanukkah was transformed into a celebration of military strength, a kind of antidote to what was perceived as the powerless Diaspora Jew that Israelis needed to psychologically overcome.

While Hanukkah traditionally speaking is only a minor Jewish holiday, it has taken a place equal to Passover as a symbol of Jewish identity. Both the Israeli and North American versions of Hanukkah emphasize resistance, focusing on some combination of national liberation and religious freedom as the defining meaning of the holiday.

Even though Israeli society is mostly secular, Hanukkah is celebrated in many homes spanning both secular and religious sectors of the population. A recent survey shows that the majority of Israelis (83%) light a candle every single day of Hanukkah. This is an amazing figure, considering the substantial religious-secular tear within the Israeli society. It is a country where the majority of secular citizens feel religion forced upon, embedded within the legal systems governing their surrounding space. Most secular citizens in Israel identify as Israelis first, and Jewish second.

Above: all nine Hanukkah candles lit, signifying the final eve of celebration

Yet even secular Israelis take pride in their rich set of customs and traditions. These usually encompass large family gatherings and delicious mounds of food. Israelis usually feel nostalgic toward tradition when away from home, yet when living in Israel most feel the need to fight it – a continued fight for national identity. The same battle fought by their Maccabean ancestors. Only this time, it is that against the same camp. A fight where both sides, religious and secular, are constantly moving to further extremes, mostly out of fear and trepidation.

Personally, being Israeli signifies a set of cultural norms and community. It signifies going to the army, eating fresh watermelon on the beach and Friday night family dinners. But when when my Friday night driving gets in the way of my neighbor’s observance of the Sabbath is when things start getting tricky. There exists a thin line which holds all Jewish-Israeli sects together, and it is tradition.

Above: a photo from the Wailing Wall, tradition mixed with religion

However, tradition alone cannot hold a society together. It becomes strenuous holding all bits together. Many feel that if Israel did not have so many serious problems with its Arab neighbors, it would be in the midst of a lethal civil war, one aimed to redefine what it means to be part of an Israeli nationality.

And until then, I’ll enjoy the Latkes.

Happy Hanukkah!

Here’s the complete Hanukkah story:

Around 200 BC Jews lived as an autonomous people in the Land of Israel (Judea), controlled by the king of Syria. The Jewish people paid taxes to Syria and accepted its legal authority, and by and large were free to follow their own faith, maintain their own jobs, and engage in trade.

By 175 BC Antiochus ascended to the Seleucid throne. At first little changed, but under his reign, the Temple in Jerusalem was looted, Jews were massacred, and Judaism was effectively outlawed. In 167 BC Antiochus ordered an altar to Zeus erected in the Temple. As the conflict escalated, Antiochus prohibited any Jewish religious practices. His actions proved to be a major miscalculation as they provoked a large-scale revolt. Judah, a leader of the revolt, became known as Yehuda HaMakabi (”Judah the Hammer”). By 165 BC the Jewish Temple was liberated and rededicated.

After recovering Jerusalem and the Temple, Judah ordered the Temple to be cleansed, a new altar to be built in place of the polluted one and new holy vessels to be made. Olive oil was needed for the menorah in the Temple, which was required to burn throughout the night every night. But there was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet miraculously, it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. An eight day festival was declared by the Jewish sages to commemorate this miracle.

Israel: Ethiopian-Coptic Dispute in Jerusalem

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 22:51:26 +0000

Jerusalem is the everlasting city of layers. Inhabited for over 3000 years, it is a hodgepodge of different cultures and religions from around the world. This post describes the prolonged rivalry, rarely written about, between Ethiopian and Coptic communities in Jerusalem.

It is believed that Coptic presence existed in Jerusalem since the 9th century AD. The Coptic Partriarch in Jerusalem is located adjacent to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, venerated by most Christians as the place where Jesus was crucified and buried. In it, Saint Anthony’s Church.
There exists a 30 year long dispute between the Copts and the Ethiopian Church over the the ownership of Dir Sultan, a structure found on the rooftop of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Today Ethiopian monks and one Coptic monk live in the structure. Because of the dispute, the structure is in shambles.

In the 1970s, Ethiopian monks who lived on the rooftop, invaded the Coptic chapels in the adjacent structure. This took place when the Coptic monks who usually inhabit the chapels, are baptizing in the Jordan river, near the dead sea, and leave the chapels unsecured. The Ethiopian monks change the locks on all the gates. A harsh dispute immediate arises between the two Christian communities, who until then, were very close. This dispute is yet to be solved, and the chapels are still under Ethiopian authority.

The two chapels are extremely neglected, especially when compared to the adjacent chapels in the Holy Sepulchre. Ethiopian monks live in extremely meager conditions on the rooftop structures, also called Deir el Sultan.

Deir el-Sultan is symbolically the most important, and most honoured, Ethiopian outpost in the Holy Land. Once a place of some magnitude, and importance, it is now a shadow of its former self. It consists of no more than a collection of Ethiopian houses on the roof of the Chapel of St Helena, one of the Chapels of the Holy Sepulchre.

Perhaps the earliest important account of Deir el-Sultan was produced by an Italian Franciscan, Francesco Vernieri, who lived in the Holy Land from 1631 to 1647. Describing the poverty of the Ethiopian monks there at the time, he wrote:

“They own a place in front of the square of the Shrine of the Holy Sepulchre, where there are some narrow, low and dark rooms, and there they sleep on the bare ground. They own as a church a place on Cavalry where they say that Abraham led his only son Isaac in order to sacrifice him. Inside the shrine of the Holy Sepulchre they possess a small chapel where the soldiers divided and cast lots for the clothing of Christ”

Deir es-Sultan, despite its presently reduced circumstances, comprises three chapels: The Chapel of the Three Living Creatures; the Chapel of the Archangel Mika’el; and the Chapel of Madhane Alam, the Saviour of the World, which is used as a sacristy.

Deir es-Sultan is currently inhabited by around a dozen monks, and half as many nuns. source

Some images from the location:

Dir el Sultan, rooftop of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre – layers upon layers of history:

a nun sits on the rooftop, Deir el-Sultan:

Meager living conditions on the rooftop:

The disputed chapel:

Church of the Holy Sepulchre:

Harry Potter – the Sabbath connection…

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 01:50:43 +0000

My latest Global Voices Online post examines the Israeli law which forbids businesses to run during the time of Sabbath. Over the past week there has been rising anticipation towards the planned Harry Potter gala event, which was synchronized worldwide to 2am local time, Friday night, smack in the midst of the Jewish Sabbath. The law itself is extremely problematic, in a country like Israel which is becoming more and more capitalistic. in current day Israel, many businesses are open during the Sabbath (unlike a mere 15 years ago when I was growing up there…). They are willing to soak up the cost of the fine received for working on Saturday, since the profit is so much higher. There was definitely no worry about Steimatzky, Israel’s largest bookstore, canceling the event because of threats from the religious parties in the government. Still thousands of excited fans came to the Tel-Aviv port to participate in the event!

The picture below was taken after 3am, when lines were already quite short. Although the port drew steady streams of very excited fans, with big smiles!