ISRAEL
ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post, Dec. 22: Not many people have heard of the Yeshaya Horowitz Foundation, which disbursed about $140 million over the past 15 years in Israel. Started by an anonymous donor, it funded basic medical research — advancing theoretical knowledge in science and medicine with no immediate commercial value. Such work, however, often sets the stage for private industry to take over. Horowitz money paid for doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships, and was just now covering the completion of a lab to be jointly operated by Hadassah Hospital and the Hebrew University.
Now it appears that the Yeshayad Horowitz Foundation has been wiped out — one of a long list of praiseworthy organizations laid low or mortally wounded by the unspeakable avarice of Bernard Madoff and, as of this writing, his unknown co-conspirators.
A swindler
The Jewish world finds itself shaken — by the financial losses caused by the international economic downturn, by the blows inflicted by Madoff, and on top of these, by a profound sense of embarrassment at the perpetrator’s openly aligning himself with modern Orthodox Jewry. If we tell ourselves that Muslim terrorism is enabled by a larger collective that tolerates extremism, what do we say about a swindler with such close ties to our community?
Was not Jerusalem Post financial columnist Pinchas Landau spot-on when he inquired whether it was Madoff alone who had lost his moral compass? Landau is surely justified in emphasizing the ethical component to Judaism and arguing that too many of us, focused on ritual, have lost sight of its centrality.
The Jewish people have engaged from time immemorial in a never-ending struggle to be a light unto the nations. Madoff is a dismal reminder that we still have a long way to go. Our capacity for communal soul-searching is a strength. Let’s not shirk it.
BRITAIN
The Times, London, Dec. 24: In his end-of-year address to the Curia, Pope Benedict decried modern society’s blurring of gender roles. He also urged the defense of heterosexuality — a cause that he likened in importance to preserving the rain forests from destruction.
The Pope was justified in his criticism of “gender theory,” though the target is obscure and represents more an error than a threat. But in depicting homosexual relations as a threat to the natural order of creation, he is wrong. His remarks inflame rather than inform theological reflection on the intractable issues of human sexuality. And the nature and timing of his intervention detract from the reflective character of his Christian witness.
Reaching out
On other issues, the Pope has shown himself commendably willing to reflect critically on the Church’s role in history and society. He has marked the forthcoming 400th anniversary of Galileo’s confirmation of Copernican astronomy — conclusions that later earned Galileo condemnation by the Roman Inquisition.
The Pope has also argued that Martin Luther was a church reformer rather than a heretic. And the Pope has advanced dialogue with Muslim scholars, mending the damage from his apparent criticism in 2006 of Islam as hostile to reason.
Yet on matters of gender and sexuality, the Pope shows reluctance to move beyond superstition and to embrace tolerance.