Parliamentary elections were held last week in Scotland, with a major issue being the possible move toward independence from Great Britain. The drive for independence has grown much stronger since Great Britain decided to leave the European Union. Pro-independence parties gained a majority of seats in the election, and the largest party, the Scottish National Party, has stated that they will hold a national referendum on the issue. Jews have been in Scotland since at least the 17th century, and the Jewish population grew to more than 20,000 after World War II. However, at this time it is estimated that there are only about 6000 Jews remaining, centered primarily in the cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee. Rabbi Mendel Jacobs of the Lubavitch of Scotland is known for what action that related to traditional Scottish culture?

Edinburgh Piper by David Blaikie is licensed under CC BY 2.0

A. Rabbi Jacobs ruled that Jewish men are not allowed to wear tartan kilts, the traditional Scottish clothing. He based his ruling on Deuteronomy Chapter 22 Verse 5, “A woman must not put on man’s apparel, nor shall a man wear woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord your God.”

B. Rabbi Jacobs ruled that Jewish men are only allowed to wear tartan kilts, the traditional Scottish clothing, if it has his rabbinical certification. He based his ruling on the shaatnez prohibition, wherein Jews are not allowed to wear clothing that combines wool with linen. Jews can bring their kilts to the Rabbi for inspection. If he determines that the item only contains wool, he stamps the clothing with a kashrut certification symbol similar to the kosher O-U symbol. However, in this case the symbol is a letter L in a circle (for linen), with a red diagonal line through the L. Jews entering Rabbi Jacobs’ shul wearing a kilt must show the O-L stamp to the synagogue gabbai for approval before being allowed in.

C. The Jacobite is a steam engine train, part of the Scottish West Highland Railway Line, that travels through the Scottish Highlands and is very popular with tourists. The train was used in many of the Harry Potter movies and presented as the Hogwarts Express. Rabbi Jacobs has declared that Jews are not allowed to ride the train, as the association with the name Hogwarts renders the train unkosher. He said this is based on the principal of marit ayin which states that things that are technically kosher but appear to violate the law are therefore deemed unkosher.

D. Rabbi Jacobs created a kosher tartan, the traditional Scottish cloth consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands, representing clans in Scotland. His tartan design includes blue and white for the Israeli and Scottish flags, gold for the golden items in the Biblical tabernacle, silver representing the silver decorations on a Torah scroll, and red symbolizing kiddush wine. The tartan design can be purchased in the form of a kilt, necktie, mouse pad, yarmulke, and a tallit.

E. Rabbi Jacobs moved to Scotland in 2017, and soon after he noticed that the name of Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns, appeared on signs as Rabbie Burns (which is the traditional Scottish spelling). Misinterpreting that the famed poet was actually a rabbi, Rabbi Jacobs held a celebration for the local Jewish community on Burns Day, the poet’s birthday, where he served a dinner of kosher haggis, the traditional  dish of sheep’s heart, liver and lungs, onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, cooked inside the sheep’s stomach. Said Rabbi Jacobs, “If we can eat kishka, why not eat haggis like Rabbi Burns?”

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Democratic political operative James Carville, chief architect of Bill Clinton’s presidential election, gave an interview recently to the online news site Vox on the election of Joe Biden, and the current state of the Democratic Party. He praised President Biden (“It’s very difficult to find something to complain about.”). And he offered advice and criticism to the Democratic Party for their overall poor results (other than winning the presidency) in the last election (“We won the White House against a world-historical buffoon. And we came within 42,000 votes of losing.”). What “Jewish-referenced” comment did Carville offer?

James Carville by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

A. Speaking of the division between Republicans and Democrats over the last few administrations, Carville said, “Not every problem is intractable, like the Israeli/Palestinian issue, chas v’chalila. Most issues really do have points of compromise. We just need politicians who are willing to compromise.”

B. Said Carville, who was an advisor to Ehud Barak in the 1999 Israeli elections, “Do I think anything is possible in politics? Hey. I'm the guy who helped Ehud Barak defeat Bibi Netanyahu for prime minister in 1999. I haven’t seen anybody else doing that lately, even with that guy under indictment. Guess you could say I’m a goy with a yiddishe kop!”

C. Referencing the way that politicians communicate, using too much “jargon-y language,” Carville said that political speech needs to be more accessible. He went on to say, “I always tell people that we’ve got to stop speaking Hebrew and start speaking Yiddish. We have to speak the way regular people speak, the way voters speak.”

D. Regarding his general philosophy about political work, Carville said, “Coming from Louisiana, I always say that we have to view American politics like red beans and rice. You have to take your time to get where you’re going. Put the beans in a pot, put it on the stove on low, and give it most of the day. Don’t rush it. If you’re patient, you’ll end up with a simple but delicious feast. I told this story once when signing books in New York and this lady said to me, ‘That’s just what my Bubby always said to me. Be patient. But she talked about her cholent sitting on the stove overnight’.”

E. Carville married Mary Matalin in 1993. She was a Republican political consultant and operative, having worked for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, as well as Vice President Dick Cheney. Said Carville, “People ask me all the time how I could marry Mary? I have no idea (well, really, I have no idea why she would marry me). But knowing that we made our marriage work is what gave me the chutzpah to push President Clinton to get Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat to shake hands at Camp David.”

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Among the nominations for Best Picture at the 2021 Academy Awards was The Trial of the Chicago Seven, and that movie featured Sacha Baron Cohen, nominee for Best Supporting Actor (neither won). Cohen played Abbie Hoffman, Viet Nam war protestor, co-founder of the Youth International Party (Yippies), and one of the defendants in the trial of the Chicago Seven, charged with intent to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic Convention. Hoffman said that Judaism informed his world view in regard to the importance of rebellion, as he wrote in his autobiography Soon To Be A Major Motion Picture. “Intellectual arrogance and moral indignation grow out of the ghetto history. For 5,000 years, Jews always had the opportunity to rebel against authority, because for 5,000 years there was always someone trying to break their backs.” What was Abbie Hoffman’s “Jewish” interaction with pediatrician Dr. Spock, a fellow anti-war protestor?

1970, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA - Jane Fonda - Jane Fonda by Tommy Japan 79 is licensed under CC BY 2.0

A. Dr. Spock was president of the synagogue where Abbie Hoffman was bar mitzvah, and presented him with a gift from the congregation.

B. Abbie Hoffman cooked gefilte fish from scratch for Dr. Spock when Spock invited him for dinner while they were both hiding from authorities in the Virgin Islands.

C. Dr. Spock performed Abbie Hoffman’s circumcision.

D. One of the protest activities at the 1968 Democratic Convention was a Friday night Shabbat service and protest led by Rabbi Michael Lerner. Following the service, Hoffman and Dr. Spock danced the hora arm in arm.

E. Abbie Hoffman, who is a Kohen, met Dr. Spock for the first time when they both spoke at an anti-war rally in New York’s Central Park in 1967. Rather than extending his hand in greeting, Hoffman held up both hands with fingers spread in the traditional pose of the Kohanim, the Jewish priests, much to Dr. Spock’s bewilderment. It turns out that Hoffman confused Dr. Spock with Mr. Spock, who co-opted the Kohen sign as the Vulcan salute on Star Trek.

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Israel celebrated her 73rd birthday with the Yom Ha’atzmaut holiday last week. Among the many ways in which the occasion was noted was the singing of Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, by Wanda Howard Battle as part of the Israeli embassy’s virtual celebration.  Battle is a vocalist at Montgomery’s Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church. She had recently led Israeli ambassador Gilad Erdan on a tour of the church, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been the pastor, and where he had helped organize the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955. Hatikvah was not officially adopted as the Israel national anthem until 2004, though it had been the de facto anthem since statehood was declared in 1948. Hatikvah, under the name Tikvatenu (Our Hope), was originally a poem written in 1878 by Naftali Herz Imber, a Jewish poet from Ukraine. In 1887, Shmuel Cohen of Rishon LeZion sang the poem using a Moldavian folk-song melody. That melody, which is the tune that Hatikvah continues to be sung to, actually has roots to the 16th century in Italy, from a song called La Mantovana (Mantua Dance) by Giuseppe Cenci. The Hatikvah melody has been heard more recently when a singer sampled the tune in one of his songs. Which rap or hip hop musician sampled the music of Hatikvah in a rap song?

HaTikvah Flag by Avital Pinnick  is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

A. Tupac Shakur.

B. Drake.

C. Matisyahu.

D. The Notorious B.I.G.

E. The Notorious Bet Ayin Gimel.

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