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Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

July 20, 2020

Judy Gold Stands Up for Comedy in Her Book ‘Yes, I Can Say That’

Leave a Comment / Books, Entertainment /

Comedian Judy Gold doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind. In her new book “Yes, I Can Say That,” the veteran stand-up, actress and Emmy-winning writer-producer (“The Rosie O’Donnell Show”) weighs in on serious topics including free speech, censorship and cyberbullying, while paying tribute to her Jewish (and other) comedy heroes by telling some of their best jokes — and her own. 

“I wanted people to understand what good comedy is, how powerful it is,” Gold told the Journal. “It’s the most palatable way to talk about uncomfortable and subversive topics and to deal with differences. That’s what a joke is: taking circumstances and personalizing them, having a point of view. It’s disarming. Even in the darkest of times, people make jokes. It unites people.” 

Nevertheless, Gold, her peers and comics who came before her have somehow been held to a higher standard, facing backlash from easily offended monitors of political correctness.   

“I believe in free speech. I think everything is fodder for comedy but it has to be a smart, well-crafted, funny joke,” Gold said. For example, jokes about COVID-19 “would be about wearing masks and gaining weight” in quarantine. The same applies to race issues. “If you’re trying to incite hatred or division, it’s not funny.”

Gold also spends time talking about herself, her family and what it was like growing up to be 6 feet 3, Jewish, female and gay. “The world identifies you by a physical characteristic and that’s not who you are. Everybody has to make a comment. It’s hard to embrace when you’re a young kid and you want to look like everyone else,” Gold said. “It was hell, but it gave me a sense of humor and a thicker skin.”

A Newark, N.J., native, Gold grew up with two older, quieter siblings. “I was always funny and had this sense of humor, but I also wanted to control what people were laughing at,” which directed her into stand-up. She first tried it on a dare while in college at Rutgers University, and hasn’t looked back. 

Her comedy always has been very Jewish. “It’s in my DNA. It’s generation after generation of being kicked out of countries and anti-Semitism,” she said, noting that she has been a victim of Jewish hatred “way more than anti-LGBTQ. I’ve gotten it on stage and it’s way worse on the internet.” But it hasn’t stopped her from joking about her shocked reaction to her son’s desire to add a New York ZIP code tattoo to his arm. “I mention the Holocaust every time I get on stage.”

She “sees the world through Jewish eyes” and believes activism is an integral part of that. “I love the social justice part of being Jewish, tikkun olam. We have to give back and repair the world,” she said. “There’s so much we can do for one another. We share the planet and I think it’s our duty to contribute for the good and the betterment of society.”

“I wanted people to understand what good comedy is, how powerful it is. It’s the most palatable way to talk about uncomfortable and subversive topics and to deal with differences.” — Judy Gold

She speaks fondly about her religious education and love of tradition. “There was a sense of pride in our house in being Jewish. My mother loved being a Jew. She was very observant. We kept kosher, did all the holidays, Shabbat dinner every Friday, we had a Sukkah. Everything. I went to Hebrew school and Hebrew high school. Our synagogue was Conservative, leaning more toward Conservadox.”

While on tour, she attended services all over the U.S. to say Kaddish for her father during the year after his death, and recalled going to a service at a Swedish synagogue two years ago. “Wherever I went they were singing the same songs. It felt familiar, and there’s something very comforting about that,” she said. 

These days, celebrating Shabbat with home-made challah keeps her connected to her faith during the pandemic, which has derailed her plans to appear in “Last Summer at Bluefish Cove” on Broadway. “I had so much planned,” she said. Personal and universal frustrations provide fodder for her podcast “Kill Me Now,” in which she and celebrity guests discuss the things that make them mad. Upcoming guests include Beth Lapides, Mary Lynn Rajskub and Jordan Carlos.

Unable to tour to perform or promote her book, Gold has done both via Zoom. She performed on the back of a flatbed truck at a drive-in movie theater in Queens, N.Y. “You can’t hear them laughing so they just flash their lights,” she said. “It was fun, but there’s nothing like live performance. The world without the arts is really a sad place.”

She eventually hopes to do a one-woman show based on “Yes, I Can Say That,” write another book and marry Elysa Halpern, a therapist, real estate executive and her partner of 13 years. “She’s someone I want to grow old with,” Gold said. She has two sons from a previous relationship: college-bound Ben, 18, a 6-foot-8  basketball player, and Henry, 23, a production assistant. 

In the book’s acknowledgements, she thanks her boys for putting up with her screaming, “ ‘Keep it down! Do you understand that I have to write a book?’ I love you both more than anything. And remember that I’m counting on you to pluck my chin hairs when I’m lying in my own urine at the Hebrew Home for the Aged.”

Asked about the lessons she has learned from her career, Gold provided several. “You can’t measure your success by someone else’s success. It’s really about reinventing. No one is going to do the work for you. If you get the chance, you have to be prepared,” she said. “And you have to enjoy getting there.”

“Yes, I Can Say That” is available starting July 28.

Judy Gold Stands Up for Comedy in Her Book ‘Yes, I Can Say That’ Read More »

‘Telechaplaincy’ is Effective and Can Lead to Meaningful Spiritual Conversations

Leave a Comment / Columnists /

In this era of physical distancing, one of the most urgent questions we all face is how to remain or become connected to others. Whether we tap newer platforms such as Zoom or FaceTime, or use the good old telephone, many of us worry these forms of connection still are too detached and can’t replace coming together in person.

This is why an intriguing and timely study published this month in the Journal of Supportive Care in Cancer surprised me. In this unique study, titled “Feasibility and acceptability of a telephone-based chaplaincy intervention in a large, outpatient oncology center,” researchers examined the use of the telephone in chaplaincy. They found that patients reported very high satisfaction with spiritual and emotional support by phone. More than 90% of surveyed participants were “very satisfied” with a chaplain’s ability to listen to them and to make them feel comfortable on the phone. They expressed high satisfaction with the ability to pray, tap into their inner strengths and resources, and overcome their fears and concerns with the chaplain on the phone. In fact, many of the respondents reported preferring the anonymity of the phone over in-person support.

I frequently have been surprised that meaningful connections can be created by phone, and that patients and families have expressed tremendous appreciation.

In Jewish law, there is a longstanding debate regarding whether one fulfills the mitzvah of bikur holim (commandment to visit the sick) over the phone. Most rabbis who write about this question have concluded that visiting the sick by phone does fulfill the mitzvah, but not in its full and ideal sense, because one may not be moved to pray with the same intensity for a patient they have not seen in person, and because they cannot offer the same type of physical assistance by phone. While some of that concern may be mitigated by Zoom or FaceTime, this study is an important reminder that even when we can’t provide support in person, making a phone call can be an excellent alternative that should not be quickly dismissed.

Our chaplains at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have continued to see patients in person throughout this pandemic, believing we need to be right there alongside patients and staff who need us during times of uncertainty and confusion. However, some of our chaplains are unable to be in the hospital during this time, and some patients are not allowed to have any visitors, so we also utilize “tele-chaplaincy” in some instances. It took some practice and getting used to, but we consistently have been surprised at the depth and profundity of many of these calls, and the ability to forge meaningful connections over computer or phone.

When there have been patients whose rooms I could not enter during these past few months, I also had to rely on phone calls. While the phone rang, I found myself getting nervous, an emotion I generally don’t feel when knocking on a patient’s door in person. When the patient answers the phone, I have to be very careful not to make him or her afraid because the chaplain is calling. After we begin to speak, I have to be extremely sensitive to exactly what the patient is saying and even the tone of voice because I can’t rely on facial expressions and nonverbal clues that usually are crucial aspects of communication. But even with all of that, I frequently have been surprised that meaningful connections can be created by phone, and that patients and families have expressed tremendous appreciation, just as the journal’s study found.

It is not only true in hospital chaplaincy, but in all of our lives. I am afraid that because we cannot be in physical proximity to most people in our community right now, many of us simply feel there is no way to truly connect for the time being. It is indeed a frustrating and difficult time, but it is a time when we need supportive connection more than ever. Even if it is not ideal, it is worthwhile to pick up the phone and call the people in our lives. The likelihood is that they will benefit from it, and may appreciate it now more than ever.

Rabbi Jason Weiner is senior rabbi and director of spiritual care at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

‘Telechaplaincy’ is Effective and Can Lead to Meaningful Spiritual Conversations Read More »

Carnegie Corp. Honors UCLA’s Judea Pearl as One of America’s ‘Great Immigrants’

Leave a Comment / Columnists /

The Carnegie Corp. of New York has selected UCLA professor Judea Pearl as one of America’s “Great Immigrants,” and as is his wont, the Israeli-born computer scientist greeted this latest encomium with an unorthodox observation, noting that without the estimated 400,000 to 500,000 Israeli immigrants in the United States, American Jewry would lose its Jewish identity in two generations. He added that the Israelis “will save American Jewry from committing identity suicide.”

To buttress this declaration, Pearl noted the cultural impact of America’s Israeli community as organic carriers of biblical stories, Jewish history and the saga of Israel’s modern rebirth.

He also cited that in Jewish American households, the names of Jewish heroes tend to be those of former Israeli prime ministers David Ben-Gurion, Yitzhak Rabin and Golda Meir, and that without the Israeli communities in New York, Los Angeles and other major cities, the process of assimilation by American Jews would be greatly accelerated.

The Carnegie announcement cited Pearl’s “transformative contribution to artificial intelligence, human reasoning and the philosophy of science.” Among other honors, Pearl received the A.M. Turing Award in 2011, dubbed the Nobel Prize in computing.

The list of noted immigrants and their contributions to American life and democracy has been compiled since 2006, drawing inspiration from Scottish immigrant Andrew Carnegie, who established the charitable foundation bearing his name in 1911 to do “real and permanent good in this world.”

This year’s list highlights the work of millions of immigrants in the global health crisis as COVID-19 responders, noted Celeste Ford, director of external relations at the Carnegie Corp. “A third of the honorees are helping the recovery by serving as nurses and doctors, as well as scientists who are striving to find effective treatments and vaccines,” she said.

Another Jewish immigrant known for his off-beat innovations also made the list: Art Spiegelman, author of the graphic novel “Maus: A Survivor’s Tale.” He was born Itzak Avraham Ben Zeev in Stockholm, the son of Polish Jewish Holocaust survivors, whose experiences Spiegelman interpreted by casting the Jews as mice and the Germans as cats.

“Remember that to an outside observer, silence is interpreted as an admission of guilt.” — Judea Pearl

When Pearl is not deep in his research, or explaining it, most recently in “The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect,” he is working with his wife, Ruth, and their two daughters at the Daniel Pearl Foundation, named for the couple’s son who was kidnapped and executed in Pakistan by Islamic extremists in 2002, while reporting for The Wall Street Journal.

Rather than sinking into lifelong embitterment or swearing revenge, the Pearls decided to channel the legacy of their son into a global organization to perpetuate Daniel’s ideals of free journalism, love of music and dialogue between East and West.

Pearl also is a vocal defender of Israel and Zionism, frequently admonishing the UCLA administration for what he considers its failure to define and defend Israeli students as a distinct ethnic group when attacked by slurs and racial labels. In one drawn-out struggle, Pearl failed to persuade UCLA to condemn a guest lecturer from another university, who labeled Zionists as “white supremacists.”

Pearl summarized his credo in his exhortation last year at a special graduation ceremony for Jewish students at UCLA. “We should not beg for safe space [on campus] but create one through assertiveness and our just cause,” Pearl said. “He who does not defend his identity from slander cannot expect to be respected. Remember that to an outside observer, silence is interpreted as an admission of guilt.”

He went on to say, “The term anti-Semitism connotes submissive begging for protection and should be replaced by a fighting word — Zionophobia — the irrational fear of a homeland for the Jewish people. It rhymes with Islamophobia, on purpose, of course. When you call someone a Zionophobe, it means if you deny my people’s right to a homeland, something is wrong with you not me. 

“Jewish students,” noted, “will regain respect only when Zionophobia becomes the ugliest word on campus. It depends on us. If we use it often enough, it will become the ugliest.”

Carnegie Corp. Honors UCLA’s Judea Pearl as One of America’s ‘Great Immigrants’ Read More »

A Moment in Time: Getting Your Feet Wet

Leave a Comment / 'A Moment In Time', Blogs /
Dear all,
We brought the kids to our pool earlier this week on a hot afternoon. As you can see from the photo, Maya was just a little more apprehensive than Eli! But it was important to seize the moment in time to get their feet wet.
Trying something new (getting our feet wet) is easier for some than others. There are those who just jump in the deep end. And there are those who take time to get acclimated.
Both are ok. What’s not ok is not trying at all. Throughout life there will be opportunities to try – and fail. We just need to ensure that we don’t fail to try!
Go out there.
Get your feet wet with something new.
Take a risk.
Be safe in the process.
And harness the future!
With love and shalom,
Rabbi Zach Shapiro

A Moment in Time: Getting Your Feet Wet Read More »

War in the Time of COVID-19: Armenia attacks Azerbaijan. Again.

Leave a Comment / Blogs /

It has been almost 30 years, but the pain and suffering I endured at the hands of my captives and torturers is something I will never forget; something that I live with every day of my life. So it is particularly painful for me to watch the news every day and to see that my country Azerbaijan is once again being brutally assaulted by the same invaders that imprisoned me, tortured me, and left me so damaged that I have required multiple spinal surgeries to recover and live today as a mother, a voice for survivors and an advocate for justice.

Thanks to the outpouring of support and solidarity, especially from Jewish communities around the world, I and my fellow countrymen and the over one million Azerbaijanis still living as refugees and internally displaced, have great hope that one day we will return home and somehow revive the world that was taken away from us —  the homes, memories and lives we once lived, lives that remain stolen to this day.

Despite the brutal history of invasions and offenses by neighboring Armenia against Azerbaijan in the Karabakh region, despite international condemnation and despite the fact that today the entire world is in crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are once again facing those same invading forces. On July 12, Armenia’s armed forces unleashed unprovoked fire at the northwestern border of Azerbaijan, killing four Azerbaijani soldiers  in what has been the worst assault since 2016. Today, they continue firing heavy shells indiscriminately into both military and civilian structures  which has resulted in the killing of a disabled 76 year old Azerbaijani, and on July 14, of a highly respected military general.  And this attack is happening along the Armenia-Azerbaijan international border, not in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, which has been occupied by Armenia since the early 1990s.

It is impossible to sit back in silence. It is especially disturbing to know that Armenia has become a recipient of over $2.5 billion worth US foreign aid, allocated by the US Congress at the behest of the Armenian lobby. Yet Armenia, with a devastated economy, an increasingly dwindling population and the worst levels of COVID-19 in the entire Caucasus region, devotes seemingly endless funds and effort to what is clearly their most pertinent objective: invading Azerbaijan and taking Azerbaijani lives. In a world that should be paying attention, Armenia is once again violating international law with impunity. They are literally using American taxpayer money to attack a major U.S. ally, unprovoked. This cannot stand.

We have shown, through the solidarity of communities across the world and of every faith, that what happened in Azerbaijan 30 years ago will not be forgotten and that we can still hope for justice someday soon. And so I hope today our supporters and friends across the world, especially in the U.S., where we have been so profoundly embraced and supported, will stand up again now and condemn this invasion and make it clear that unprovoked warfare has absolutely no place in the world we live in today, especially during the current global health crisis. It is tragic to note that the notorious Armenian lobby, known as ANCA — a political arm of Armenian Dashnaks that have a history of supporting Nazi Germany and the Holocaust during the WWII — has successfully hoodwinked some U.S. elected leaders to attack Azerbaijan —  the victim of aggression, occupation and ethnic cleansing. Its an art of revisionism that they often employ and have used to avoid responsibility for what the European Court of Human Rights has designated “Crimes Against Humanity,” and to justify raising a statue of a Nazi collaborator in the center of Armenia’s capital city in recent years.

All of this is inexcusable, and with the support and outcry of our allies, politicians must stop participating in the ANCA-orchestrated revision of history and fact, especially as it directly relates to innocent blood being shed today, against every principle of international law. And we are counting on uncompromised U.S. leadership to stand up to ANCA and their manipulations, and more importantly, to condemn and stop sending precious U.S. taxpayer money to a country that has devoted all that it has to destroying another; my homeland Azerbaijan, considered across the world to be an exemplary model for Muslim-Jewish harmony.

These have been trying months with a global pandemic, major social and economic crises affecting nations across the world, and certainly the worst and most disastrous time for one nation to flagrantly invade another  for no reason beyond their own self-entitled violence. As a mother and a survivor, I say to these perpetrators: how dare you? And to the enablers of this violence, the lobby and those elected leaders it pays to revise history before a trusting public, I ask: how dare you? And to my friends, my brothers and sisters in the Jewish community and beyond — to all those committed to a better and more peaceful world — I look to you for solidarity, for an outcry and to help put an end to the unabashed violence committed against my nation — an unwavering ally to the United States and the State of Israel, by condemning the actions of Armenia and its lobby in the U.S.

War in the Time of COVID-19: Armenia attacks Azerbaijan. Again. Read More »

Amar’e Stoudemire Offers to Bridge the Gap Between Blacks and Jews

Leave a Comment / Culture, News /

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Former NBA All-Star Amar’e Stoudemire said there is a “lack of leadership” in the Black community that has led to expressions of anti-Semitism, and he has offered to bridge the gap between Jews and Blacks.

Stoudemire, who lives and plays professionally in Israel for Maccabi Tel Aviv, was reacting to a number of recent anti-Semitic social media posts by Black sports figures and celebrities.

He told the TMZ website that the Black community needs an education.

“I do think, I know with me being in the position where I am where being an African-American Jew who’s learning at a high level, I think there’s a narrative shift that’s happening,” he said. “We have to figure out a way to now, you know, teach the next generation on, you know, positivity.”

Stoudemire said that due to the leadership vacuum, many Black people have turned to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan for inspiration. Farrakhan has a long history of anti-Semitic comments, including comparing Jews to termites and denouncing what he calls the “Synagogue of Satan,” and has praised Adolf Hitler.

In January, Stoudemire in an Instagram post called for an end to anti-Semitism among Blacks in response to a stabbing attack on a rabbi’s home in Monsey, N.Y., days earlier during a Hanukkah celebration.

Amar’e Stoudemire Offers to Bridge the Gap Between Blacks and Jews Read More »

French Party Leader Says Jesus’ ‘Compatriots’ Killed Him

Leave a Comment / News, Worldwide /

In a July 16 radio interview, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left French political party La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), said that Jesus Christ’s “compatriots” put him on the cross.

According to i24 News, Mélenchon was asked if “the police should be like Jesus on the cross and not reply” during the anti-racism protests. Mélenchon replied, “I don’t know if Jesus was on the cross. I know who put him there; it seems that it was his own compatriots.”

Anti-defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted that Mélenchon essentially accused Jews of killing Jesus. “Disturbing that the leader of left-wing France Unbowed party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, used an age-old anti-semitic trope accusing Jews of killing Jesus,” Greenblatt wrote.

He then provided a link to a section of the ADL’s guide on anti-Semitic myths, explaining the history behind the trope that Jews killed Jesus.

In 2019, Mélenchon accused the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions of “blatant, violent and aggressive sectarianism, namely against me … to the point of encouraging people to hit me during a demonstration like the one for Mirelle Knoll.” Knoll was the 85-year-old Holocaust survivor killed in March 2018; two men suspected of killing her will stand trial.

French Party Leader Says Jesus’ ‘Compatriots’ Killed Him Read More »

Ontario Municipality Police Initially Call Nazi Monument Vandalism a Hate Crime, Later Says It Isn’t

Leave a Comment / News, Worldwide /

Police for a local Ontario municipality initially declared the vandalism of a monument to a Nazi SS division a hate crime before later clarifying to the contrary.

The monument to the 14th SS Division, located in the St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery in Oakville was vandalized with graffiti that read, “Nazi war monument.” The Ottawa Citizen reported that the Halton Regional Police were investigating the matter as a “hate-motivated” crime.

The police later released a statement clarifying it initially thought the graffiti was targeting Ukrainians, not Nazis.

“At no time did the Halton Regional Police Service consider that the identifiable group targeted by the graffiti was Nazis,” the statement read. “We regret any hurt caused by misinformation that suggests that the service in any way supports Nazism.”

Halton Police Chief Steve Tanner tweeted, “There is no support for the Nazi SS within Canada, nor should there ever be anywhere. The Nazi party/SS are by no means a protected group under any hate crime related legislation. The most unfortunate part of all of this is that any such monument would exist in the first place.”

Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, director of the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism at the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said in a statement, “We were initially quite shocked to learn that Halton police saw the defacing of a Nazi monument as a hate crime and are very appreciative that they have corrected the direction of their investigation. The bigger question we should be contending with is, why is there a monument to Nazi soldiers in our country at all?”

According to the Ottawa Citizen, the 14th SS Division consisted of Ukrainians who allegedly killed hundreds of Polish civilians in 1944.

Ontario Municipality Police Initially Call Nazi Monument Vandalism a Hate Crime, Later Says It Isn’t Read More »

How Hen Mazzig is Advocating for Jews and Israel Online

Leave a Comment / Israel /

“No one wants me to exist,” said Hen Mazzig, a staunchly Zionist, gay, progressive, Black Lives Matter supporter and self-declared Jewish person of color. “People on the left hate that I’m pro-Israel and that I’m fighting anti-Zionists, and people on the right that say that I’m divisive” for raising awareness about racism within the Jewish community. But he’s unapologetic, stating, “I learned that I can’t compromise any part of my identity.”

Mazzig, a writer, Journal contributor and senior fellow at the Tel Aviv Institute, which combats hate online, began advocating for Israel and the Jewish people when he served in the Israel Defense Forces  (from 2008-12) as a liaison officer for international organizations to the United Nations. The son of an Iraqi mother and Tunisian father, Mazzig has become an envoy for the Mizrahi cause, telling the world the story of 850,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands. His activism emerged after hearing harrowing accounts from his parents and grandparents including his maternal grandmother witnessing her best friend’s rape and mutilation during the 1941 Farhud in Baghdad. 

Last week, Mazzig discovered #JewishPrivilege had become the top trending hashtag on Twitter. It was being used to endorse the notion of Jews as a privileged group who, as well as controlling the world, are responsible for all of its ills, including police brutality. So Mazzig decided to do what he calls a “social media flip.” He called on his 30,000 followers to appropriate the anti-Semitic hashtag by recounting their own experiences of being a Jew. Overnight, #JewishPrivilege started trending again, but this time for the right reasons, as celebrities including Sarah Silverman shared their encounters with anti-Semitism. The episode generated a lot of attention, with large news outlets including NBC reaching out to Mazzig for comment. 

We’re witnessing a mainstreaming of anti-Semitism and it’s more than troubling — it’s sickening.

#JewishPrivilege as well as other trending hashtags including #Hebrews #Jews and #Semites, are reflective of a disturbing development in the world’s oldest hatred, Mazzig said. “We’re witnessing a mainstreaming of anti-Semitism and it’s more than troubling — it’s sickening,” he said. “When you hear artists of high caliber saying those things, it’s terrifying.” 

According to Mazzig, strange bedfellows have emerged from this foreboding new landscape, with far-right anti-Semites usurping anti-racist slogans, including the Black Lives Matter hashtag, in order to attack Jews. “White supremacists are basically on the same side as the Louis Farrakhans,” he said, referencing the Nation of Islam leader. “Are you really erasing 400 years of slavery in America just to blame the Jews?” 

“It’s shocking for a lot of people but that’s because we have a very short memory,” he said, noting how German Jews in the 1920s were safe in their belief that democracy was flourishing. “Jews in America today also feel safe. [But] we should remember that this is happening in every generation. The biggest difference this time is that we have Israel.” 

That is why he said, it’s imperative that all Jews and all enlightened people support Israel. “As a progressive, I find it bizarre that progressives around the world will not support Israel.” He described Jewish groups such as IfNotNow as “useful idiots” but says that more and more young Jews are stepping out of the shadows and fighting back.

How Hen Mazzig is Advocating for Jews and Israel Online Read More »