September 9, 2009

When we conjure up the typical profile of a “religious person”, one of the qualities that leaps to mind is temperance.  In some religious traditions – not ours – this quality dictates the severe discouragement or outright prohibition of any alcoholic consumption at all. In many other traditions – including ours – temperance means careful moderation in consumption, as the state of drunkenness that would otherwise result is incompatible with the state of Godliness. Beginning when Aharon and his sons were forbidden to drink while on duty in the Temple, and continuing through Nachmanides’ oft-quoted characterization of drunkenness as the antithesis of holiness (see his commentary on “You Shall be Holy”, Leviticus 19:2), our religious tradition presents us with the assertion that we may enjoy the presence of God, or the buzz of inebriation – but not both. They simply can’t occupy the same mind simultaneously. And since we are told to stand in God’s presence at all times (shiviti Hashem l’negdi tamid), drunkenness at any time is a sacrilege. Ibn Ezra likened habitual drunkenness to heresy (see his commentary to Deuteronomy 21:20). Rabbi Yosef Karo, writing in his Bet Yosef, ruled that drunkenness is prohibited even on Purim, for “drunkenness is an absolute prohibition, and there is no greater sin that it…” (Siman 695)

Tragically though, drinking, well beyond the simple “l’chaim”, has become something of a pastime among many males in the Orthodox community. Contributing to the nature of the tragedy is the fact that much of the drinking is specifically taking place under the guise of religious activity.  The OU’s highly publicized recent campaign against shul-based “Kiddush clubs” provides ample testimony to the wide-spread nature of the phenomenon.  Simchat Torah has somehow become synonymous with excessive alcohol consumption, in willful ignorance of what is allegedly being celebrated. And the drinkers seem to get younger and younger with each passing year.

This is tragic for many reasons. It disfigures and distorts religious life. It introduces the high statistical likelihood that the children of these men will also begin to drink. And it testifies to the troubling reality that many of our community’s men are enjoying little to nothing in the way of authentic religious experience. When davening itself (or learning, or acts of chesed) makes you feel good, it doesn’t occur to you to supplement your experience artificially.

While the Hasidic movement has contributed many great things to mainstream Orthodoxy, the contribution of “religious drinking” – rightly condemned by non-Hasidic scholars as thoroughly foreign to us – has been a disaster.

For the sake of the children, for the sake of the families, for the sake of God and the Torah, don’t smile and pretend that somehow it’s all harmless. Don’t wait till God forbid, something unspeakably terrible happens.
 

I was on vacation for several weeks in August and have spent the past few days catching up on the local news that the International Herald Tribune didn’t cover.  It was in that process that I discovered the sad news that the Autry National Center, one of this city’s jewels, has decided to shelve its plans for a renovation and expansion of its facilities.

The $175 million dollar project would have nearly doubled the size of the facility and continued the trajectory of the Autry into being a world class site for the viewing and study of Native American art and artifacts. Besides the cultural and artistic implications of the renovation, the renovation would have created in excess of 1,000 jobs in an economy where every single job matters.

This seemed as close to a “no brainer” as there is in the world of municipal politics—artifacts that can’t be displayed at the Autry’s Southwest Museum would be preserved and displayed in the newly renovated and expanded facility, the neighbors, the Native American community leadership and Griffith Park advocates all agreed. Unfortunately, in the byzantine world of Los Angeles politics there are no “no brainers.”

City Councilman Jose Huizar, utilizing the perks of power and the ability of a councilman to erect roadblocks to progress without ever having to himself lead and create, derailed the project.

In a blatant attempt to extract concessions for the Southwest Museum located in his district, a museum now run by the Autry but long ignored and neglected by its neighbors, he placed excessive demands on the Autry—itself a non-profit that has been buffeted by the economy. He insisted on its pledge to support the Southwest in perpetuity as a museum—a commitment few responsible corporate boards, let alone non-profits, would, could, or should ever make.

When the Autry finally said that enough was enough and it was shelving the project, Huizar—in Casablanca-like innocence—-said the decision caught him “by surprise.” One wonders how far he thought he could push before it would be too much for the Autry to bear. Now, he and his colleagues have no one to squeeze to gain the revenues they hunger to disburse.

This sad tale makes transparently clear what many have seen developing, a troubling vacuum in leadership that speaks for the benefit of the city as a whole. Each of the council members have fiefdoms over which they rule, but strikingly absent is a voice speaking out for what is good for the larger city beyond the narrow confines of a single district.

It takes leadership with guts to assert itself and simply state the obvious and the necessary—-renovating a well run facility that will give hundreds of thousands of people the opportunity to view unique artifacts trumps the complaints of neighbors of an ignored and run down 100 year old building which has not garnered much attention or concern for decades.

Would that we had that kind of leadership in this city—-instead, we have bad decisions, bad policy and as a result everyone loses.

Army Archerd, a longtime columnist for Variety who wrote glowingly of Hollywood, died yesterday at 87. The many obituaries pouring out indicate he was a beloved figure in the entertainment industry, widely respected for his 50-year tenure in a business where longevity is rare. Archerd died at UCLA Medical Center of mesothelioma, a lung cancer related to asbestos exposure that occurred during his WWII Navy service.

Archerd was widely envied for his illustrious list of contacts. Over the course of his career, he interviewed Hollywood legends from moguls Louis B. Mayer, Samuel Goldwyn, Harry Cohn and the Warner brothers to Oscar-winning actors Michael Douglas and Denzel Washington. He wrote well of movie stars during Hollywood’s “golden age,” a time before TMZ and entertainment tabloids stripped much of the glamour from celebrity.

But Archerd wasn’t always a soft-peddler. He knew when to use his outrage and assert his influence. Raised in what he called a “very Jewish home,” his values were deeply set and unshakable. “I have an antenna for any indications of prejudice in the industry, including, but not only, anti-Semitism,” he told The Journal’s Tom Tugend in 2003. Indeed, according to Variety, when Michael Jackson released his 1995 album “HIStory,” Archerd criticized the King of Pop for the anti-Semitic lyrics “Jew me/Sue me” and “Kike me.” Jackson recanted and promised Archerd he would re-record the song. Another time, Archerd called Marlon Brando out for using an anti-Semitic slur in an interview.

After he wrote about the suicide bombing at Hebrew University’s cafeteria, he was honored by American Friends of Hebrew University, who noticed Archerd’s increasingly pro-Israel message.

Archerd’s career chronicled the rise of Hollywood in American culture and as such, he became an integral part of its society. Archerd hosted lavish parties at his home for the likes of Gregory Peck, Jack Lemmon, Kirk Douglas and Elizabeth Taylor and was one of only a few journalists who earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

More Army Archerd at JewishJournal.com:

An Army of One

And you thought Madonna liked visiting Israel for Kabbalah classes. But really, the entitled Material Queen just wants to be pampered like the English royalty she isn’t—and Israel, desperate for positive PR, is willing to spoil her, no expense spared.

Cindy Adams reports for Page Six:

Madonna traveled light to Israel. Just took 11 suites plus 25 rooms plus her own Royal Suite plus her own Italian chef plus her own exercise equipment, which came in on a private plane, plus her five children. The fifth being that nice underemployed Brazilian young boy Jesus she schleps around. Unclear exactly what line of work he’s out of, but it’s definitely clear what kind of work he’s into.

Adjacent to her suite, the Dan Tel Aviv set up a private kitchen on the fifth floor where all her meals were served, including a traditional Shabat dinner presided over by the Kabbalah’s Rabbi Berg. And for those daily pilates and stretches, the hotel also turned their King Solomon Ballroom—often the site of bar mitzvahs and weddings—into her personal gymnasium. Nobody carried on this way even when Sadat came for a visit.

In return, she told her audience: “I shouldn’t have stayed away this long” and paraded around the stage wrapped in an Israeli flag.