March 21, 2010

This year marks the first time since 2006 that I haven’t traveled to Vegas for a weekend of March Madness. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t spent the entire weekend watching basketball. I thought my bracket was donesky after Thursday’s game, which put my point total in the bottom 3 percent of ESPN Tournament Challenge participants. But then Kansas lost and now I’m the darkhorse favorite to win it all—long as Kentucky goes the distance.

All this to say … we’re in desperate need of a basketball and religion story for The God Blog. And would you believe it, there are a few.

First there is Iranian-American Ali Farokhmanesh, whose clutch shot against Kansas (above) gave new life to my March. Honestly, who wouldn’t have taken that shot?

And while the NBA may only have Jordan Farmar and Omri Casspi as Jewish reps, the NCAA has plenty of MOTs. In a lamentation of Jon Scheyer snubbing the Fighting Illini, just like he snubbed the Maccabiah USA team last summer, The Great Rabbino offers this list of Jewish All-Americans:

1) Jon Scheyer – G – Duke Blue Devils – 18.6ppg, 5apg, 3.6rpg

2) Sylven Landesberg – G – Virginia Cavaliers – 16.6ppg, 2.8apg, 6rpg

3) Jake Cohen – F – Davidson Wildcats – 13.3ppg, 5.1rpg

4) Dane Diliegro – C – New Hampshire Wildcats – 8.9ppg, 8.1rpg

5) Derek Glasser – G – Arizona State – 10.1ppg, 4.8apg, 2.5rpg

Only Scheyer made the tourney. Read more of The Great Rabbino’s mourning Scheyer here. And go Wildcats.

Friends keep asking if Ben Stiller’s new movie, “Greenberg,” is based on my life. All I can say is I keep checking the mailbox for checks, but, alas, have thus far seen none.

What is the film about (besides, of course, being awesome and a little Jewish)? Watch the above preview and, I think you’ll agree that it looks excellent. Or, if you prefer, read Naomi Pfefferman’s Hollywood Jew review:

Having failed to make something of himself while his friends have developed successful careers and families, Roger Greenberg has left New York to house sit for his well-to-do brother in Los Angeles, where he is attempting to recuperate from a nervous breakdown.  There he chances to meet his brother’s twentysomething assistant, Florence Marr (Greta Gerwig), who turns out to be relationship material, in part because she is so passive she is able to absorb all of Greenberg’s abusive behavior and deflected self-loathing.

The depth of his self-hatred apparently extends to his Jewish background, as evidenced when Greenberg is persuaded to attend a Bel Air bar-be-queue where he meets up with some old Jewish friends.  These men are comfortably chatting about whether anyone has been to so-and-so’s seder;  various Jewish connections, and what constitutes a “Jewish” gesture (“You’re doing this,” one of them says to Greenberg, miming his effusive hand gesticulations).  “I’m half [Jewish],” Greenberg says.  “You look full,” a friend replies.  The appalled Greenberg has as much disdain for this Tribal schmoozing as he professes for his wealthy friends whom, in his opinion, have abandoned creativity in order to become successful. “Most people think I look Italian,” he says, sulkily.  “My mother is actually Protestant, so I’m not Jewish at all.”

Stiller’s own mother, the actress Anne Meara, converted to Judaism upon marrying fellow actor Jerry Stiller; Ben Stiller unabashedly identifies with the Tribe and also has mined his background to comic effect (during his stint as a presenter at the 2010 Academy Awards,  he peppered his “Avatar” spoof with Hebrew).  In “Meet the Parents” and its sequel, “Meet the Fockers,” Stiller plays a nebbishy Jewish nurse who is continually humiliated by his WASP father-in-law (Robert De Niro), a former CIA agent.  The third installment in the franchise, “Little Fockers,” will hit theaters Dec. 22, with a screenplay by Stiller’s longtime in-house writer, John Hamburg.

“The non-Jewish characters in the films are not anti-Semitic,” Hamburg told me last year.  “But there is the sense that Ben feels out of place among WASPS and also because he is a man who is not a doctor, but a nurse, which creates a kind of stigma.”

Much as I loved “Zoolander,” I’m hoping “Greenberg” is a return to the dramatic style that Stiller demonstrated in “Zero Effect.”

Cardinal Roger Mahony’s scandal-ridden tenure as the archbishop of Los Angeles Catholics is winding down, but Mahony is still stumping for immigration reform. Today he appeared on the lawn of the National Mall to campaign for reform, which he discussed as a guest voice on The Washington Post’s religion blog, On Faith:

The ultimate and determinative question for our country, much less discussed, is whether we should embrace or reject the immigrant heritage that has served us so well.

Right now, the trend is disturbing. For the past 20 years, we have pursued enforcement-only policies which have not significantly stymied illegal entry into the country. Since 2000, for example, we have spent over $100 billion on immigration enforcement. During the same period, the number of undocumented persons has grown from 7 million to 11 million.

Our legal immigration system, basically ignored by Congress for nearly 50 years, is outmoded and inadequate to our future labor needs, especially when the economy recovers. There are simply not enough visas for unskilled workers to come legally. The family-based immigration system, which has helped immigrant families remain together and thrive for decades, is unworkable and now keeps families apart.

The combined effect of these policies has negatively impacted immigrant communities, including their legal resident and U.S. citizen members.

We can return to our tradition as a nation of immigrants and welcome and invest in them, or we can continue to turn inward to the detriment of our own interests.

It is our choice. I pray we make the right one.

Read the rest here.