TGR at the Trop
This summer I will go to at least4 stadiums and two of them new. The first on the list was Tropicana Field in Tampa Florida. So people make fun of the Trop. Its slanted, the roof is weird, and no one goes to games. It is true the Trop has a bizarre look, but I think it gave it unique character which is the number one most important thing for a stadium. It is also true that there were only a few people there. That was bothersome because most everything was closed.
But I will say this about the stadium, it was very fan friendly. There were tons of kid activities…which I did NOT partake in. At the end of the evening, as I scoured for the Super Sam Fuld cape, I eventually was given one which was great. And free parking! There was also this cool Ted Williams museum, as he was a resident of Fort Petersburg Florida and helped get the Rays (Devils Rays Z’L) started.
Although I did not find kosher food, the Jewish part of the Trop was in the Williams Museum. There was a nice wall dedicated to Jewish Baseball Players. There were also stands presenting Hank Greenberg and owner Stu Sternberg. Lastly, there we many mentions of Sam Fuld and that made for a nice Jewish experience.
Park number #20 down. Target Field will be #21.
And Let Us Say…Amen.
– Jeremy Fine
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Israel to transfer Palestinian terrorists’ bodies to PA
Israel will transfer the bodies of 130 Palestinian terrorists to the Palestinian Authority.
The expected transfer in the coming days is a good-will gesture to PA President Mahmoud Abbas and was approved by the Israeli government several weeks ago, according to Ynet. The decision came after a meeting of Israeli negotiators and Abbas over restarting stalled peace talks.
The transfer is expected to occur before the weekend.
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Because we Cannes, Cannes, can’t?
Because Cannes becomes the center of the film universe each year for ten days, the tales that trickle from the Croisette tend to be somewhat inflated, even inflammatory.
Last year, Lars Von Trier stole the show with some off-the-cuff sympathy for Adolf Hitler. A grain of salt, or rather sand, must accompany this sort of scuttlebutt.
Last week, when it was reported that the French feminist group La Barbe (“The Beard”) had published an open letter in Le Monde decrying the festival’s lack of female-directed films, I wrote to a director friend to inquire about the festival’s mood.
“What women thing?” was his clueless response.
But in fact, a scandal was stirring. On Sunday, La Barbe staged a small protest smack on the red carpet during the premiere of Michael Haneke’s “Amour”. Their protest signage, like their letter in Le Monde, was sardonic in tone: “Marveilleux,” ‘’Merci!!!” ‘’Splendide,” ‘’Incredible!” “Le Barbe” [Marvelous, Thank You, Splendid, Incredible, The Beard]—and were proudly wielded by fake-bearded women to challenge the cuckoo Cannes establishment.
“Men are fond of depth in women,” read the now infamous line of their letter, “but only in their cleavage.”
Do the Cannes programmers have any excuse for an Associated Press observation that reads like this: “None of the 22 films competing for the Palme D’Or prize at the festival this year was directed by a woman.”
While some have suggested that this may be symptomatic of larger industry ills in which the percentage of women directors who are hired to work is negligible at best, it does seem odd that a festival that prides itself on progressivism, freedom of expression and art could be so obtuse.
Cannes certainly likes its gaggle of glamourous women on the red carpet, the letter stated wryly: “[N]ever let the girls think they can one day have the presumptuousness to make movies or to climb those famous Festival Palace steps, except when attached to the arm of a prince charming.”
A woman has won the Palme d’Or, Cannes’ highest prize, only once, an honor attached to Jane Campion for 1993’s “The Piano.” And the current powers that be don’t seem to want to scuffle over the issue. Juror Andrea Arnold, a director who has shown two films at Cannes in the past said, “I’d absolutely hate it if my film got selected only because I’m a woman. I would only want my film to be selected for the right reason, not out of charity.”
Festival director Thierry Fremaux agreed. He responded to the Le Monde lambasting by stating that the festival selects films strictly based on merit. “We would never agree to select a film that doesn’t deserve it on the basis it was made by a woman,” he wrote.
But more than 2,397 women in entertainment have signed on to an online petition on the Website change.org demanding some sort of affirmative action. In a letter penned by the Brooklyn based non-profit Women and Hollywood, “Where Are The Women Directors?”, the authors wrote: “We call for Cannes, and other film festivals worldwide to commit to transparency and equality in the selection process of these films. We judge films as human beings, shaped by our own perspectives and experiences. It is vital, therefore, that there be equality and diversity at the point of selection.”
Signatories to the letter include feminist thinker and writer Gloria Steinem, playwright/activist Eve Ensler, writer Delia Ephron, and several Israeli groups, including the Haifa Feminist Center, Isha L’Isha, The Women in the Picture Association and The International Women’s Film Festival from Rehovot, Israel.
So is the fancy Festival du Cannes snobbish and sexist? Were the offerings from women not up to 4-star snuff? Or is the entire entertainment industry so subsumed in gendered hierarchy, women not only come up short but silenced?
Because we Cannes, Cannes, can’t? Read More »
Senate candidate posts anti-Semitic views, videos on Facebook
Thomas Bleming, a candidate for the U.S. Senate from Wyoming, has posted anti-Semitic videos on his Facebook page.
Among Bleming’s postings is a video he labeled “the eternal Jew, updated for 2010.” “The Eternal Jew” is a notorious Nazi propaganda film that described Jews as “parasites” intent on world domination.
The video posted by Bleming, who announced last week that he would challenge incumbent Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) for his seat, appears to use the original script with contemporary images. It also includes images of Jews who have been convicted of crimes, among them Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff and Dr. Baruch Goldstein, who massacred Muslims in Hebron. The film says, “All these Jews are typical.”
“This vid tells it like it is, and of course those responsible for exposing what each and everyone knows is true, is an ‘anti-semite,’ ” Bleming wrote.
The video also includes clips from several people making anti-Israel statements, including Ralph Nader and John Mearsheimer.
Bleming, 66, also posted a film, “Real Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies People,” with his comment, “And we all know WHO controls Hollywood.”
Bleming, who also has posted that Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels were right about the dangers of the Jewish people, told The Associated Press that he doesn’t regard himself as a Nazi.
“I wouldn’t say so,” he said. “I’m an American.”
Bleming hoisted an M1 carbine at a saloon south of Cheyenne as he made his announcement, according to The Associated Press.
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Ancient Bethlehem artifact unearthed
The first and oldest ancient artifact providing tangible evidence of the existence of the city of Bethlehem was discovered during archaeological excavations in Jerusalem.
A clay seal, called a bulla, was discovered in soil near the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem inside the City of David archaeological park. The bulla, measuring about 1.5 cm, included three lines of ancient Hebrew words including the words Beit Lechem, which is Bethlehem.
“This is the first time the name Bethlehem appears outside the Bible, in an inscription from the First Temple period, which proves that Bethlehem was indeed a city in the Kingdom of Judah, and possibly also in earlier periods,” according to Eli Shukron, director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
The bulla was likely affixed to a tax shipment of silver or agricultural produce sent from Bethlehem to the King of Judah in the eighth or seventh century B.C., according to Shukron.
Bethlehem is mentioned in the Bible as the place where the foremother Rachel was buried. It was also the site of King David’s anointing.
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Texas Jewish man sues for discrimination
A Jewish man in Texas is suing his former employer over discrimination claims.
Sheldon Reichstein in his lawsuit against the Youth Advocate Programs Inc. alleges that various employees made discriminatory remarks about his race and religion, according to the Southeast Texas Record. A secretary allegedly said that Reichstein was treating her like a Hebrew slave.
Reichstein worked for the organization for 11 years before he was dismissed in April.
He was the company’s only white, Jewish administrator in the Harris and Jefferson counties of Texas, according to the suit.
The suit alleges that once the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission agreed his complaint warranted a lawsuit, he was fired in retaliation.
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The Torah of our lives: On writing the next chapter
“Boomers [people born between 1946 and 1964] are the first generation in human history … to reasonably anticipate living well and wholesomely into their 80s and 90s, if not beyond,” sociologist Steven Cohen writes. “But not only are Jews (as others) living longer, they are living in an age of meaning-seeking, with the interest and wherewithal to make living a life of meaning an ultimate and reasonably obtainable objective for any point in their lives.”
I just turned 62; I’m a boomer. My grandparents experienced their lifetimes in three major life stages: childhood, midlife and old age. (The idea of adolescence as a distinct period between childhood and adulthood didn’t develop until early in the last century.) For my parents, there was childhood, adolescence, adulthood and then retirement (to Florida) at 65 and the beginning of old age. For me, it will be different.
There is a lot being written about a new life stage between maturity and old age. Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, in her book “The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk, and Adventure in the 25 Years After 50,” writes: “The arc of life and learning is continually being expanded and redefined. … [N]ot only are people living longer and thus facing interesting questions related to how to compose their lives, but also that what I am calling the Third Chapter represents a significant and new developmental period in our culture. … This is a chapter in life, then, when the traditional norms, rules and rituals of our careers seem less encompassing and restrictive; when many women and men seem to be embracing new challenges and searching for greater meaning in life.”
One of the places that Jewish boomers are going in search of this “greater meaning in life” is the synagogue. Along with families with young children, they are the next largest group coming to synagogue, whether or not they are actually joining. Boomers are our adult learners; they populate many of our worship services and they come to their rabbis and synagogues for help dealing with their aging parents. At the same time that they are responsible for elderly parents, many still have older children at home or who have recently returned because of the difficulties of this economy. How can they navigate these competing claims? What does it really mean to honor one’s mother and father? How does one parent an adult child? What ought to be the role of grandparents?
We boomers are in the process of composing and reinventing our lives as we realize that time means something different when there is less of it ahead than behind. What will be our legacy? How can we continue to create lives of meaning and purpose when we can no longer define ourselves primarily in terms of our careers or even our families? What would constitute meaningful volunteer work and a chance to give back? Where might there be the opportunity to mentor a younger generation, to share professional and life wisdom? What kind of travel offers the opportunity to do service as well as experience a different culture? What kinds of intentional communities might offer attractive alternatives to living alone in our homes? And what kinds of spiritual resources does our tradition have to offer us as we write this new chapter of our lives?
It turns out that Judaism has a great deal to teach about aging wisely, particularly about the spiritual practices of forgiveness and gratitude that seem to be so central to the work of this stage of our lives. Judaism teaches that God is present in every moment; we acknowledge God’s presence by blessing, ritual and ceremony. Traditional Jewish life cycle rituals of brit milah, bar mitzvah, marriage, and illness and death might have been sufficient for my grandfather’s life, but they don’t acknowledge the reality of my life experience. We first learned this in the early ’70s when the Jewish feminist movement challenged us to think about the Torah of our lives and acknowledge the divinity present in all of our experiences. While one could certainly argue that there are many other rituals that our tradition offers connected to other moments of transition, such as affixing a mezuzah when moving into a new home or expressing gratitude for surviving an illness (Birkhat ha-Gomel), the claim that all of our experiences are Jewish experiences and therefore deserve to be acknowledged through ritual suggests that we turn to creating new rituals to help us think about this new chapter as well.
What are those moments? They include retirement, moving out of the homes where we raised our children, becoming a grandparent, giving up our cars, major birthdays, reaffirmation of marriage vows, and even choosing whether to begin a new relationship when a beloved spouse no longer recognizes us because of advanced Alzheimer’s.
As USC anthropologist Barbara Myerhoff taught, there is danger in creating new ritual. It needs to feel authentic and convincing by somehow echoing the power of more familiar ritual and linking us to the cosmic narrative of our people reflected in Torah. We need to touch not only the Torah of our own lives; these new rituals must also connect us to the Torah of tradition.
The norms, rules and rituals of this stage haven’t yet been written; we are writing them together as we compose this next chapter of our lives enriched by the insights of Jewish tradition. I look forward to a challenging and engaging conversation.
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Supermodel Naomi Campbell celebrates birthday in Bethlehem
Supermodel Naomi Campbell visited Bethlehem in honor of her birthday.
Campbell lit candles in the Church of the Nativity Tuesday, the day she turned 42, according to reports. She ate lamb and rice at a nearby restaurant accompanied by friends, Palestinian guards and her own security guards.
“I’m happy to be here. Weapons and war, greed and oil … I hope it all stops,” she told the Palestinian Authority’s official television station, The Associated Press reported. “I care about health, about good vibrations, not destruction.”
Other reporters in Bethlehem were not allowed to interview or photograph Campbell, the Palestinian Maan news service reported.
She reportedly also visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
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Major powers and Iran start nuclear talks in Baghdad
The major powers launched a new round of talks with Iran on its suspected nuclear weapons program.
The sides hope to emerge from the session in Baghdad on Wednesday with the outline of a plan that would lead to increased Iranian transparency in exchange for a degree of relief on sanctions.
Iran experts say that the major powers, including the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, may offer a deal that requires Iran to give up enriching uranium to 20 percent, a few steps shy of weaponization, in exchange for being allowed to enrich uranium to 3.5 percent for medical and research purposes as well as an intrusive regimen of inspections.
Iran indicated Tuesday that it may soon agree to allow United Nations inspectors to examine its nuclear facilities.
Israel wants all enrichment to stop and the dismantling of a reactor near the Shiite holy city of Qom uncovered in 2009 by Western intelligence.
Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Western powers cite increasing evidence of a weapons program, including signs that Iran is testing a trigger mechanism for a bomb.
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Israeli soldiers injured by Palestinian snipers
Two Israeli soldiers were injured by Palestinian snipers near the Gaza border.
The soldiers were conducting routine patrols Wednesday near the border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Israeli soldiers returned fire, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Last week, Palestinians also fired on Israeli soldiers working on the Israeli side of the border fence.
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