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Jewish Journal

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February 8, 2019

Making More Joy

Leave a Comment / Blogs /

What is the source of all this Joy in Adar?

Adar is the month when we tap into the joy of life the deepest ways. The Talmud teaches, Mi’shenichnas Adar, Marbim b’Simcha, which we can translate as “when Adar arrives, we increase joy.” But really the root word  רַבִּים means many. So when Adar arrives we can also read this as “when Adar arrives we multiply — with simcha, when Adar arrives we multiply — with joy.” In other words we celebrate the growth of the Jewish people with joy.

Well you might ask, don’t we always welcome the birth of Jewish babies with simcha? Is there a time that we are not going to welcome them with simcha?

Perhaps what this teaches specifically is that there is a special joy added onto the regular joy. Marbim. Additional joy.

All months have a uniqueness – Adar is connected to joy

What might be the additional joy of a baby born in Adar?

It could be because of the decree recorded in the story of Esther declaring a decimation of the Jews was in this month. The decree to end the Jewish people of Ancient Persia forever was issued in Adar. But instead of Adar being the yahrzeit for the Jews of Persia, it stands as a testament to the miracle that transpired. The Jewish people’s prayers and teshuva; the selfless actions of a woman not afraid to risk her life revealing who she was; her standing for the Jewish right to self defense in the face of such the oncoming threat; created the miracle we know of as Purim.

The miracle and joy of Purim came about through the actions of a people who recognized their dependence on Hashem. That they, and their future entirely depend not on their own independence, but on their total dependence on Hashem giving strength to their actions. Esther’s example of self-sacrifice, bravery, and concern for the fate of others was the vehicle for salvation and the harbinger of joyous celebration we now know as Purim.

Experiencing the joy

So this month of Joy could be said to encompass two intertwined ideas; we recognize that our continued existence comes from the desire to fulfill Hashem’s work in this world, and that we must be willing to do the work with a measure of joy, both when in comes to us in ease, and when it comes to us in peril.

This year we have two months due to the Jewish leap year, so I wish your a double portion of Adar joy.

____

Rabbi Yonah is the co-founder of Pico Shul and director of Shabbat Tent.

Making More Joy Read More »

Poll: 20% of Americans Support BDS

Leave a Comment / Online, United States /

A recent poll from Rasmussen found that 20 percent of likely American voters support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The poll, published on Feb. 6, asked respondents if they support “the effort calling for boycott, disinvestment and sanctions against Israel for its treatment of the Palestinians.” Twenty percent said they supported it, 41 percent said they were against it and 39 percent said they didn’t have an opinion on the matter.

Support for BDS is even lower in Britain, as a poll conducted by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research and Community Security Trust found that only 10 percent of people Britain support BDS, while 46 percent are against it and 42 percent have no opinion of it.

This would seem to be a decline in support for BDS in these two countries, as a 2016 Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 33 percent of Americans and 40 percent of Brits supported BDS at the time.

Rasmussen’s write-up of their latest poll states that their findings show that “support by several prominent new Democratic members of the House has raised the profile of the effort to punish Israel economically for its treatment of the Palestinians, but few voters are ready to join in.”

The poll was conducted from Feb. 3-4 among 1,000 respondents with a margin of error of three percentage points.

H/T: Algemeiner

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ADL Calls Out Candace Owens Over Hitler Comments

Leave a Comment / Online, United States /

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called out conservative commentator Candace Owens for saying the issue with Adolf Hitler was “that he had dreams outside of Germany.”

At a December event in the United Kingdom, Owens, the communications director for the conservative activist group Turning Point USA, said that the term “nationalist” has been misconstrued thanks to Hitler.

“If Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, OK, fine. The problem is that he had dreams outside of Germany,” Owens said. “He wanted to globalize. He wanted everybody to be German, everybody to be speaking German, everybody to look a different way. To me, that’s not nationalism.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) tweeted in response, “Hitler’s murderous crimes against Jews & others were horrific regardless of whether they occurred across Europe or in Germany alone.”

“Hitler wasn’t a ‘globalist’ but a genocidal dictator,” they added.

The American Jewish Committee similarly tweeted, “Here’s something that we can’t believe that we have to say in 2019. but here we are: ‘No, @RealCandaceO, Hitler was actually really bad from the beginning.'”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center also tweeted, “Scope and depth of @RealCandaceO lack of knowledge of basic history is appalling and frightening. #Hitler’s program to make #Germany great was based on race and #antisemitism!”

Owens is doubling down on her remarks.

“He [Hitler] was a homicidal, psychotic maniac who was bent on world domination outside of the confines of Germany, and you wouldn’t say he’s a nationalist because he wasn’t about putting Germans first,” Owens said in a Periscope video. “There were German Jews that he was putting into camps and murdering. He was a mass murderer.”

“So that’s the argument I was making on stage: This man, by no means, should be considered a nationalist.”

According to Jewish Virtual Library, Jews were targeted under Hitler’s regime in Germany through the 1935 Nuremberg laws “to ostracize, discriminate and expel Jews from German society.”

H/T: Washington Times

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Billy Crystal Returns to Rom-Coms as  Rabbi in ‘Untogether’

Leave a Comment / Entertainment /

Billy Crystal charmed us in “When Harry Met Sally,” “The Princess Bride” and “Forget Paris” but now the nice Jewish boy is testing out his rabbinic knowledge as a rabbi in the new indie flick “Untogether.”

The quirky rom-com set in Los Angeles was written and directed by Jewish British-American journalist and novelist Emma Forrest. Forrest wrote the acclaimed memoir, “Your Voice In My Head,” in 2011.

Real-life sisters Jemima Kirke (“Girls”) and Lola Kirke (“Mistress America”) portray the main characters. Jemima plays an ex-junkie and aspiring writer who is dating a doctor-turned-war-memoirist played by “Fifty Shades of Grey” star Jamie Dornan. Her sister, Lola plays a masseuse, who dates an older rock star (Ben Mendelsohn) but soon finds herself drawn to a much-older liberal rabbi (Crystal). 

“Untogether” will be the first time Crystal is portraying a rabbi in a movie, though he has made many jokes about rabbis in his stand-up specials.  

Other tribe members in the film include Jennifer Grey (“Dirty Dancing”) and Scott Caan (“Ocean’s Eleven”).

Multiple scenes are set in synagogue, one character even suggests that someone has “copy-edited the Torah.” Forrest told JTA that the rabbi is inspired by an “amalgamation” of Los Angeles Rabbis David Wolpe (Sinai Temple), Mordecai Finley (Ohr HaTorah) and Sharon Brous (IKAR).

Crystal reportedly first passed on the opportunity but, after a script rewrite, he signed on. Forrest said she got valuable input from him, which “really enriched the script and the film.”

 “Untogether” is available on Amazon Prime Video Feb. 8.

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A Teacher Whose Class is Eternal

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When my grandfather died, our family received an outpouring of letters and cards from his former students. As a high school math teacher and coach for generations, he had inspired countless students with his wisdom, encouragement, and reminder to always have faith in themselves. Twenty-five years later, it is my turn to be “that student,” paying tribute to a beloved educator, whose lessons stay with me to this day. I hope I can do justice to someone who taught me so much and whose lessons stay with me 15 years later.

When I arrived as a student at Baltimore Hebrew University (BHU), I knew I wanted to learn more about Judaism. I also knew I loved the study of sociology. What I was not expecting was Dr. Rela Mintz Geffen. Taking her class “Sociology of the American Jewish Community” was like I had hit the academic jackpot. A required course that fascinated me. Class readings that I could not put down. I was hooked. Not just by the class, but by the scholar behind it.

Essentially, Rela (she let me call her by her first name—a sign of her true humility) had created her own field. She was interested in anything and everything related to modern Jewish life in America. Many Jewish scholars have studied texts, history and philosophy. Rela understood and appreciated those topics, but also what set us apart as Jews living in the United States. Her class felt less like a lecture and more like a talk show of sorts. She had us looking at wedding announcements from The New York Times, “Chrismukkah” cards, Hanukkah stockings and any other props she could find to launch discussions about what made American Jews so unique. Sure I had read NYT many times, but never paid attention to the fact that the occupations of the bride and groom’s parents were mentioned in their wedding announcements. Or the struggles people were having when they merged Hanukkah and Christmas in obscure ways.

Two years after I graduated, I stopped by her office to visit and tell her I was getting married. She asked me if he was Jewish (before seeing the name Goldberg on the save the date card!) and when I told her we met on JDate, she was overjoyed. Of course we had discussed modern Jewish dating in her class and I was now living it. It did not stop there. In my wedding video, there is footage of her greeting my cousins from Philadelphia. I did not know they knew each other and they did not know the other one knew me. Of course, who else but Rela, Jewish sociologist extraordinaire, could live out such a Jewish geography moment?!?!

Rela returned to Philadelphia and Gratz College in 2007 and BHU closed in 2009, its programs and faculty becoming part of Towson University. She died on Super Bowl Sunday, February 3, in Philadelphia at the age of 75. While I do not think she would have been happy with the Patriots win, she no doubt would have had a thing or two to say about the first Jewish MVP of a Super Bowl!

I thought about her as I got ready to go to work on Monday morning. Whether I was aware of it or now, her influence is all around me. From the copy of “Kosher Christmas” in the living room to the Judaism Unbound podcast waiting for me (topic: the Women’s March), I realize that although I have not seen or spoken to her in several years, she gave me a gift. More priceless than the washing cup she brought me from Israel. It is a gift she gave all of her students.  She turned on the lens that caused all of her students to see the world in a different way.  It is the greatest gift an educator can give.

So, I drove to work listening to that podcast with its diverse panel of guests of varying gender identities and expressions. And I must have heard the word “intersectionality” a dozen times. She would have loved it. Then I arrived at my office and looked at her signature on my diploma on my wall.

In the words of Kaddish d’Rabbanan (Kaddish of the Rabbis), beautifully set to song by the late Debbie Friedman, we ask for blessings for teachers, their students and the “students of the students.” I know anyone who has known or studied with Dr. Rela Mintz Geffen has been blessed by her wisdom and friendship. May she be blessed in peace forever.

Lisa Rothstein Goldberg received graduate degrees from Baltimore Hebrew University, when Dr. Rela Mintz Geffen was president. She is a social worker and Jewish educator living in Louisville, Ky., with her husband and their daughters.

A Teacher Whose Class is Eternal Read More »

Netta Barzilai Calls Out BDS: ‘When You Boycott Light, You Spread Darkness’

Leave a Comment / Israel, Online /

Reigning Eurovision champion Netta Barzilai called out the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for “preventing light from being spread” in a Feb. 7 interview on the BBC.

Barzilai said that people who want to boycott the upcoming Eurovision competition in Tel Aviv aren’t helping facilitate peaceful dialogue.

“I believe in a dialogue, I believe in a process,” Barzilai said. “Boycotting is preventing light from being spread, and when you boycott light, you spread darkness.”

She reiterated that she is all for having dialogue but “boycotting isn’t the answer.”

Barzilai won the 2018 Eurovision competition with her hit song “Toy,” resulting in the 2019 Eurovision being held in Israel.

There have been calls from the BDS crowd to boycott the competition; for instance, former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters is among those calling for the BBC, which is broadcasting the competition, to hold the competition elsewhere.

The BBC has rebuffed such requests, stating that the competition is apolitical and it would be inappropriate to ask for it to be moved for political reasons.

Netta Barzilai Calls Out BDS: ‘When You Boycott Light, You Spread Darkness’ Read More »

‘Blue Bloods,’ ‘Sopranos’ star Steve Schirripa on His Jewish Roots and Kosher Sauces

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When you talk about the greatest television shows of all time, odds are that “The Sopranos” will come up in that conversation. While “The Sopranos” has not produced a new episode in more than a decade ago, many of the “Sopranos” cast members continue to work steadily, and Steve Schirripa is clearly one of them.

Beyond being part of the cast of the CBS hit “Blue Bloods,” Schirripa has found success as a producer, author, voiceover artist and show creator. Schirripa also has his own line of organic, vegan (and kosher) pasta sauces, Uncle Steve’s Italian Specialties Group. The Brooklyn, New York native also has dozens of “Tonight Show” appearances under his belt.

Bringing together the old and the new, Steve Schirripa will be performing as part of “Sinatra Meets The Sopranos” at the NYCB Theatre in Westbury, New York on May 4. Schirripa will be appearing alongside Michael Imperioli (“Christopher Moltisanti”), Vincent Pastore (“Sal Bonpensiero”), singer Michael Martocci and host/comic Joey Kola.

The “Sopranos” actors will be telling stories and answering audience questions – as moderated by Kola — about the acclaimed David Chase series while Martocci will be performing actual charts from Frank Sinatra’s long-time musical director Vincent Falcone.

Below is a snippet from my January 2019 phone chat with Steve Schirripa, while the full chat will be appearing next month as part of the Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz podcast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEuWo95DpTI

Jewish Journal: Not everybody realizes that you’re part-Jewish. Were you bar mitzvahed?

Steve Schirripa: No, I was not bar mitzvahed. My mother was Jewish so I had a whole Jewish side of the family. My mother’s maiden name was Bernstein. My grandmother’s name was Moskowitz, so I know all about that world. So I was raised Catholic, but I very much identify as being Jewish as well. I had all kinds of aunts and uncles and I had the best of both worlds.

JJ: Are there any projects or events that I didn’t touch upon that you’d like to mention?

SS: I’m hosting the Garden Of Laughs. It’s a charity event at Madison Square Garden. Jerry Seinfeld and Jon Stewart and Brian Regan… It’s April 2. It’s the third time I’m hosting that, that’s for charity, the Garden Of Dreams Foundation. All the money goes for kids in the Tri-State area .

JJ: Finally, Steve, any last words for the kids?

SS: My thing is, “Listen man, stay the course.” Try to do something that you like. It doesn’t come right away. Listen… I never had any dreams of being an actor until I was in my mid to late 30s. It came out of nowhere. It wasn’t a dream that was simmering. So you never know where it’s going to take you, you know?

‘Blue Bloods,’ ‘Sopranos’ star Steve Schirripa on His Jewish Roots and Kosher Sauces Read More »

‘Wicked’ to Fly Onto Big Screen in 2021

Leave a Comment / Entertainment /

Good news! We found the most “swankified” place in town: A movie theater near you during the holidays in 2021 – when Universal Pictures will FINALLY fly the popular Broadway musical “Wicked” onto the big screen.

The epic musical, about what happened before Dorothy dropped into Oz, just celebrated its 15th anniversary on Broadway (and there are touring productions all over the world).

The three-time Tony Award-winner was adapted from Gregory Maguire’s novel by writer Winnie Holzman and Oscar-winning composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz, who are also collaborating on the screenplay. It will be brought to the big screen by director Stephen Daldry and producer Marc Platt.

No word yet on who will take the two leads – originated on stage by Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth (Glinda aka Galinda) and Idina Menzel (Elphaba) who won her first Tony for playing the flying green witch.

 

‘Wicked’ to Fly Onto Big Screen in 2021 Read More »

Woman Stabbed to Death In Jerusalem

Leave a Comment / Israel, Online /

A 19-year-old woman was found dead in Jerusalem on Feb. 7, with multiple stab wounds and stripped of all her clothing.

The woman, identified as national service volunteer Ori Ansbacher, was found in Ein Yael, which is in between Jerusalem and the al-Walaja village in Judea and Samaria, after being reported missing earlier in the day.

“When we reached the scene, we were taken to an open area,” Magen David Adom medic Seffi Mizrahi told reporters. “There we saw the 19-year-old woman who was unconscious, without a pulse and not breathing. Unfortunately, all we could do was pronounce her dead.”

Four Palestinians were arrested in connection with her death, but they were eventually released due to a lack of evidence tying them to the crime scene. Ansbacher’s death is being treated as a possible murder.

“Ori Ansbacher was murdered last night in Jerusalem with shocking brutality,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “We all embrace the Ansbacher family and the Tekoa community. The security forces are investigating the murder. We will find those responsible and deal with them to the fullest extent of the law.”

Ansbacher’s funeral was held on Feb. 8.

“Thank you, my Ori, that you chose to come into this world through me,” Ansbacher’s mother said. “Thank you for 19 and a half years of light and joy. I ask now, as you rise up to a world where there is only good, that you give us the strength from above to continue to believe in the good in this world. Send us your light from above so we can continue to put on a good face.”

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Why Can’t Some Jews Say Thank You?

Leave a Comment / Editor's Note /

You would think that a Jewish group would be happy to hear the leader of the free world stand up during his State of the Union address and say things like:

“We must never ignore the vile poison of anti-Semitism, or those who spread its venomous creed. With one voice, we must confront this hatred anywhere and everywhere it occurs.”

And remind the world that just months ago, “11 Jewish-Americans were viciously murdered in an anti-Semitic attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh,” and welcome Pittsburgh survivor Judah Samet, who “arrived at the synagogue as the massacre began.”

“But not only did Judah narrowly escape death last fall,” the president added, “more than seven decades ago, he narrowly survived the Nazi concentration camps.”

The president went from anti-Semitism to the Pittsburgh tragedy to the Holocaust:

“Judah says he can still remember the exact moment, nearly 75 years ago, after 10 months in a concentration camp, when he and his family were put on a train, and told they were going to another camp. Suddenly the train screeched to a halt. A soldier appeared. Judah’s family braced for the worst. Then, his father cried out with joy, ‘it’s the Americans.’”

The president wasn’t done with the Jews:

“A second Holocaust survivor who is here tonight, Joshua Kaufman, was a prisoner at Dachau. He remembers watching through a hole in the wall of a cattle car as American soldiers rolled in with tanks. ‘To me,’ Joshua recalls, ‘the American soldiers were proof that God exists, and they came down from the sky. They came down from heaven.’”

As I was hearing the president go on about the Jews, I was almost embarrassed at all the attention. Will others be resentful or envious? But the president still wasn’t done:

“I began this evening by honoring three soldiers who fought on D-Day in the Second World War. One of them was Herman Zeitchik. But there is more to Herman’s story. A year after he stormed the beaches of Normandy, Herman was one of those American soldiers who helped liberate Dachau.

“He was one of the Americans who helped rescue Joshua from that hell on Earth. Almost 75 years later, Herman and Joshua are both together in the gallery tonight — seated side-by-side, here in the home of American freedom. Herman and Joshua, your presence this evening is very much appreciated. Thank you very much.”

So, why am I quoting so extensively from the Jewish section of the speech? Because right after the speech, I received this statement from the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA) in response to the State of the Union Address:

“At a time when our country is in need of unity and leadership, President Trump delivered a divisive message characterized by fear and empty words.

Tonight was a missed opportunity for the president to lead and unify the country after a painful period of obstruction and a 35-day government shutdown. There is no onslaught of immigrants or security crisis on our southern border, and the U.S. military must not be used for political purposes. We reject the president’s ongoing obfuscation of the truth.

Trump’s continued insistence on an unnecessary border wall demonstrates that he is out of step with a bipartisan consensus in Congress, the will of the American people, and our core national security interests. Actions speak louder than words, and President Trump’s actions have been completely inconsistent with the best interests of our country and our values.

 In response to the president’s call for unity, we are unified in support of political change that will restore moral leadership and credibility to the White House, and our mission is more important now than ever before.”

Fair enough. Let’s grant, for the sake of discussion, that everything in this statement is true and justified. But why not one word of recognition of the president’s passionate mention of Jewish suffering and the need to fight the disease of Jew hatred? I understand Trump hatred. I’m as aware as anyone about his many flaws.

But does that mean a Jewish group cannot even show a tiny little bissel of gratitude when the president says things that are good for the Jews?

Has extreme partisanship gone that extreme?

Why Can’t Some Jews Say Thank You? Read More »