Comedy, Shootings, Debate, Party

When you’re a weekly columnist and you go through an eventful week, column ideas have a way of bumping into each other.

After cracking up for several hours at the Chosen Comedy Festival on Tuesday night in downtown LA, I was sure this would be my column this week. Among other things, I wanted to discuss the crucial role that laughter plays in our lives, and how it is so easily overlooked during anxious times. I was planning to argue, in fact, that laughter is precisely what we need during anxious and chaotic times.

Elon Gold and Modi, the two main stars of the evening, are always hysterical. But on that Chosen night, in front of a packed house at the Orpheum Theatre, they seemed to kill more than usual. I was planning to cite some of my favorite material from their show, and urge the organizers to make the festival an annual event.

But then, the next morning, another column interrupted. 

After our “AI is Here” edition went to press and while we were in our editorial meeting, we heard that a Jewish man was shot on Pico Boulevard. We jumped on the story, which moved very quickly as another man was shot the following day and anxiety spread through the community.

By the time the suspect was in custody and we learned about the antisemitic nature of the shootings, the comedy column faded in the distance and I asked myself:  How can I not make this hate crime the subject of my column?

By the time the suspect was in custody and we learned about the antisemitic nature of the shootings, the comedy column faded in the distance and I asked myself: How can I not make this hate crime the subject of my column?

But on Sunday morning, after a Shabbat where security was likely the #1 topic of conversation at synagogues and Shabbat tables, we hosted a global Zoom audience of more than 700 registered attendees for what was billed as the “Debate of the Year on Judicial Reforms.”

In partnership with The Tikvah Fund, the Journal had lined up two highly knowledgeable panelists around an enormously controversial and divisive issue — the proposed overhaul of the judicial system by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition.

Member of Knesset Simcha Rothman, chair of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee and a driving force behind the reforms, debated constitutional expert Professor Yaniv Roznai of Reichman University, an outspoken critic of the reforms. Jewish Journal columnist Shmuel Rosner moderated.

The debate was so electric, so full of substance, so civil and enlightening in so many ways regardless of which side you’re on, how could I not make that the subject of my column?

Here we were livecasting a debate on a historic crisis that has been roiling Israel, with hundreds of thousands of protestors flooding the streets week after week, and opposition to the reforms coming from countless corners. Much of the debate and media coverage has been polarized. The Rothman-Roznai faceoff may not have changed anyone’s mind, but at least it highlighted the many issues involved. (For anyone interested, I encourage you to see the debate on Jewishjournal.com and draw your own conclusions.) 

So, after considering a comedy column and a hate crime column and a judicial crisis column, later on Sunday I found myself at Jack Sinder’s 100th birthday party at Valley Beth Shalom. It’s true that with so much going on  during a crazy week, a column on a birthday party would not be my obvious first choice.

But I did hear something at the party that caught my attention and could have been the subject of an interesting column. One of the speakers spoke about the noble imperative of “fighting” for the causes we believe in, and heaven knows there’s an abundance of such causes in our community — from fighting antisemitism and anti-Zionism to fighting for justice and human rights. 

Then he made an important distinction in reference to Jack Sinder. There’s a difference between fighting and building. Jack, he said, has always been a builder.

With so much fighting going on, from fighting the rise in hate crimes to fighting the judicial overhaul, the notion of building is a good reminder that fighting is necessary but insufficient. We still need a vision for what comes after the fighting.

That distinction could have made for quite a column. With so much fighting going on, from fighting the rise in hate crimes to fighting the judicial overhaul, the notion of building is a good reminder that fighting is necessary but insufficient. We still need a vision for what comes after the fighting.

Whether it’s to build festivals of laughter or centers of communal gatherings and learning, as Jack Sinder has done, the Jewish future hinges on our ability to actually build things. Of my four column ideas after a long week, that might be my favorite.