| The Jewish Journal Archive | ||||||||||||||||||||
| March 14 - March 27, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Local
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Local StoriesLocal
Rabbis Unruffled by Robertson Appearance Gauging
Local Response
National
Rabbis Respond Critically —Brett
M. Rhyne Area Families Rescued by Emergency Fund BRETT
M. RHYNE House Upon a Hill: Temple Sinai Celebrates 50 Years GARY BAND Jewish Journal Staff A hundred feet or so above the shores of Marblehead sits the aptly named Temple Sinai. Led for the last 14 years by Rabbi Jonas Goldberg — along with a reported 23 committees — this tightly knit congregation of some 200 families will celebrate exactly 50 years of existence on May 24. Marked by a Jubilee Year of speakers delivering lectures on important topics of the day, including Boston Globe Op-Ed Columnist Jeff Jacoby on April 16, the year-long celebration will culminate with a Gala Celebration featuring Hershey Felder — of Gershwin Alone fame — on May 24. According to Claire Sandler, a temple member since 1969, the temple actually began as a Hebrew school on Atlantic Avenue, Swampscott, in 1953. It expanded to a temple at its present location in 1962. Five rabbis and 41 years later, the temple maintains a strong commitment to education and has evolved to meet the needs of the community. “When I came here in 1989, I was told that the temple is a partnership between myself and the congregation,” says Rabbi Goldberg. “That’s a very unique approach. Whatever we do, we do together.” Rabbi Goldberg replaced Rabbi Meyer Strassfeld, who led the congregation for 25 years and will attend the May 24 Gala. Some of the original 20 founding member families of the temple will also attend. Overseeing the myriad details of planning and executing Sinai’s 50th for the last 16 months are Jubilee Co-Chairs Deborah Shelkan Remis and Sandler. Ira Dinkes has been the temple’s president for the last two years. They say the celebration is to honor the founders, their vision, and the temple‘s ongoing commitment to education. Invitations to temple members for the Gala go out at the end of March, say the organizers, but the event is open to the community. Approximately 400 tickets are available. Dinkes, a temple member since 1992, says he has seen a “new vibrancy” in the temple over the last few years. Pointing to increased membership, the presence of the Jewish Historical Society, and making space available for United Synagogue Youth group gatherings and the recently formed Baby Club, he says, “We’re becoming much more dynamic and making sure our new members feel welcomed and included.” On the role of a synagogue, Rabbi Goldberg says, “We always speak of the Temple Sinai family; this is the family’s home... The people here are genuine, they care about one another, and they appreciate what each of us does for the congregation.” Shelkan Remis agrees. “Everyone walks in here as an individual, but soon becomes part of the family.” Sandler describes the temple as “Conservative egalitarian.” “We’re very haymishe,” she says. “Traditional, family-oriented, yet open to new ideas.” Remembering the days when women were not allowed on the bimah to read Torah, and seldom became a temple president, Sandler notes that Sinai has had three women presidents, and are often called for aliyahs. She is also very fond of the rabbi, saying he is “open to suggestions” and has shown a “willingness to change as required.” Explaining why Dinkes, Sandler and Shelkan Remis chose and have remained at the temple as long as they have, Dinkes refers to his Orthodox upbringing in Brookline. He says he likes Sinai’s type of service. “I don’t feel like I’m in temple to listen, but to pray and really participate.” “The minute I walked in it felt like home,” says Sandler. “The temple has always met my needs, culturally, spiritually and personally. I prefer a small temple and the intimacy of something family oriented.” Shelkan Remis had for years been a member of both Temple Sinai and Mishkan Tefila where her father, the late Cantor Gregor Shelkan, led the congregation in prayer and song. A member of Temple Sinai since 1983, her reason for staying is “the people. Everyone is welcoming and down-to-earth. It’s a very comfortable and inter-generational temple.” For more information on the Gala Event, call the Jubilee Hotline at 781-631-7733.
Holocaust
to be Remembered in Three Forums The
March 31 event, featuring Dr. Vanderpol, an author, will be held at Temple
Ner Tamid in Peabody from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Parents are encouraged to
attend with their school-age children. While there is no charge, reservations
are encouraged. The community’s observance of Yom HaShoah
will be held at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School on Lowell Street.
It will feature Dr. Michael Franzblau, a medical doctor and lecturer,
speaking on medical and ethical lessons from the Nazi era.
Christian Zionists: Caught in the Crossfire A.
LARISSA TIERNEY
A Brief Guide to Jewish Day Camps GARY BAND Jewish Journal Staff
National
News
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AMY
FARBER |
On
February 12, 2003, I embarked on what was a dream come true. My husband
Mark and I, together with our three children, Robin, 15, Shira, 20, and
Adam, 22, traveled to Israel.
Having sent all three children to Cohen Hillel Academy for the first nine
years of their educations. I had always envisioned traveling to Israel
as a family. Adam and Shira both had opportunities to travel to Israel
for part of their high school experiences.
Robin would have gone this summer with camp, had the trip not been cancelled.
For the past two years, the intifada has sapped Israelis’ spirits
while tourism has declined dramatically. Mark felt an overwhelming desire
to travel there to lend his emotional and financial support, and he did
so in March and October of 2002. While there, he visited with the families
of young Israelis who had spent a summer at Camps Simchah or Menorah over
the past several years. He cemented the friendships that had begun when
the girls had lived with us and others over those summers.
The son of one of these families became engaged during Mark’s October
visit. Soon after, we were all invited to the February 20 wedding…
our 26th anniversary! It was basherte. For all of us to attend
would mean that Shira and Robin would miss classes and Adam work. But
we agreed this was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.
Of the five of us, I was the only one who was fearful and apprehensive.
We would be taking a trip to a place with so much unrest, not to mention
a looming conflict with Iraq. All around me, people were surprised and
even alarmed by our decision to go. With resolve and determination, I
decided that I would trust the instincts of my husband and embrace this
trip completely.
We spent two days in Jerusalem, where we visited the Jewish Quarter of
the old city and the Western Wall. We shopped in the open market of the
new city, where we bought dates that were every bit as sweet as the finest
chocolates. We ate falafel and shopped at Machaneh Yehudah in Tel Aviv,
where we purchased crafts directly from the artists.
We took a cable car to Masada, enjoyed a self-directed tour, and hiked
back down; no easy feat for us near-50-year-olds. We traveled north to
the Golan and the Sea of Galilee, where the countryside was green, flowers
were budding and the Jordan River was finally gushing over its embankment
with newly welcomed rainwater. We saw snow on the top of Mount Hermon
and Druze villages, where goats and cows were everywhere.
The wedding was an incredibly joyous experience. Held in a beautiful,
heated tent, the food rivaled anything we’ve tasted here. The bride
and groom were positively glowing, as was the entire family. The 330 guests
were dressed in everything from jeans to cocktail dresses. The music for
the processional, recessional and dancing was American disco; we felt
quite at home.
In all of our traveling and visiting with family and friends we felt safe,
comfortable and enthusiastically welcomed. Robin, our youngest, fell in
love with the country just as her siblings had before her. It was a special
delight for Mark and me to witness the comfort with which Adam and Shira
helped us negotiate both the roads and the merchants. As we departed and
said our last goodbyes, I realized that this trip was a dream fulfilled
which left all of us with memories we will not soon forget.
MARK
ARNOLD
Jewish Journal Staff
PEABODY – It was billed as a networking breakfast for people looking
for work. The sponsors, the Jewish Business and Professional Association
(JBPA), anticipated 10 to 20 attendees. In fact, close to 100 men and
women, ages 30 to 60 plus, showed up for the event at Temple Ner Tamid
in Peabody on March 5.
“It’s a sign of the times we are living through that so many
came,” said Cliff Watkin, chair of the networking breakfast. “We’re
responding to a need in the community. People are out of work now. They
need leads. They need advice as to what to do.”
The event featured a motivational speaker, Steve Lentini of Sandler Sales
Institute in Waltham, who described how a job seeker’s confidence
level and body language could help land the right job. He advised the
audience to “enter into the zone where you see yourself winning the
job” before beginning each job interview. The attendees were also
counseled to make three or more new contacts each week.
In addition to job seekers, participants included a dozen men and women
who own or work for companies seeking people for sales, financial, customer
service, or other positions. Each of them described their openings. After
the formal part of the two-hour meeting, participants began networking,
introducing themselves to each other, swapping leads, and exchanging business
cards.
The breakfast was JBPA’s way of helping support the Jewish Community
Emergency Campaign, which began in January under the sponsorship of the
Jewish Community Foundation and Jewish Family Service. The campaign is
providing emergency grants to people suffering because of the downturn
in the Massa-chusetts economy.
“We provide a networking service to our members,” says Watkin.
“We started thinking, ‘Why not provide the same networking to
people who are out of work to help them get jobs?’ That’s what
we’re doing.”
Organizers contacted 450 people who had attended one or more JBPA programs
in the past to invite them to the job-seekers breakfast. Based on the
response, the group is considering hosting at least one similar event
in the near future.
In addition to Watkin, of Sentinel Benefits in Wakefield, JBPA’s
networking committee includes Rob Cowen of Carlson Real Estate, Rose Gershon
of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Richard Herman of United Promotions, Alan
Sidman of Allied Office Products, Mark Strager of Jaguar Printing, and
Sara Winer of Rivkind Associates. For further information or to get involved
in JBPA, contact Shari McGuirk at the Jewish Federation of the North Shore,
978-745-4222.
TOBY
AXELROD
BERLIN (JTA) — Daniel Libeskind is coming back to New York to help
heal the wounds created on Sept. 11.
He won’t be working with words or medicine, but with stone, cement,
glass and steel.
“My hopes are that out of the tragedy that happened, from the depths
of the ground, something will soar into the life of New York that reaffirms
the values we share: democracy and family and freedom and independence,”
said Libeskind, whose architectural designs were chosen to replace the
World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
The decision, announced Feb. 27 in New York, means both a homecoming for
Libeskind and the weaving together of themes that wind through much of
his work: openness, contrast of dark and light, the interplay of memory
and dreams for the future.
While Libeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin is a sprawling zigzag that
hugs the earth, his main tower inManhattan would soar toward the heavens.
Yet the two designs have something in common: Both contain elements of
sadness and hope.
“I have learned many things” through working in Berlin, including
that “one has to believe the future holds something better than the
past,” Libeskind, 57, told JTA.
Like his Jewish Museum, which contains a space for meditation on the destruction
of European Jewry, the design for lower Manhattan includes a memorial
at the original foundation of the World Trade Center, where some 2,800
people were killed.
Relatives of some victims already have said they appreciate the fact that
Libeskind did not want to build over the pit.
Libeskind was born in Poland in 1946 to two Holocaust survivors. He became
an American citizen in 1965, and studied music in Israel and New York.
He was described as a musical genius but ultimately decided to study architecture,
earning degrees in 1970 from New York City’s Cooper Union for the
Advancement of Science and Art and in 1972 from the School of Comparative
Studies at Essex University in England.
Libeskind and his wife, Nina, moved to Berlin with their three children
in 1989, after Libeskind won the competition to design the city’s
Jewish Museum.
The museum was to open to the public on Sept. 11, 2001, but the event
was postponed two days because of the tragic events in the United States.
“When the attacks happened, I felt personally attacked,” Libeskind
said in a telephone interview from his Berlin office. “My brother-in-law
worked for 30 years in that tower. He had just retired,” and so escaped
the fate of thousands of others.
Working on the Berlin museum “prepared me to compete for the project
in New York,” Libeskind said. “I believe the memory of what
happened” in New York “is an eternal part of the place and has
to be seriously addressed. And it is so important to also have something
that soars.”
Libeskind said it was essential that people feel comfortable going to
work again at the site.
“It should not be just a symbolic entity. It should affirm that people
work every day at a height that is safe,” he said.
Site developer Larry Silverstein reportedly wanted more office space in
the design proposals.
But “it’s not realistic that anyone would want to work at that
height or that any investor would build it,” Libeskind said. So he
created a place that transforms itself with gardens, an observatory and
a restaurant as it rises to 1,776 feet, symbolizing the year of American
independence.
The main tower would be the world’s tallest building. Several smaller
structures would surround it, with the original four-and-a-half-acre World
Trade Center foundation as a focal point.
Libeskind has said it would cost some $330 million to build his design.
Construction reportedly would be funded partly by insurance payments for
the destroyed buildings.
The plan may go through changes before it is realized, Libeskind said.
“I think every design evolves, if it is good, and this one will also,”
he said.
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Stairman
to Run Marathon Keenholtz Makes the List Dana Keenholtz, daughter of Steven and Roberta Keenholtz of Marblehead, was named to the Dean’s List at Brandeis University for the spring semester on the Dean’s List. This is her fifth consecutive semester. She was also accepted into the National Honor Society of Collegiate Scholars and Psi Chi National Honors Society in Psychology. |
Volk
Lives Out Fantasty Birth Announcement Monica and Andrew Zimmerman of Framingham announce the birth of their son, Ethan Michael, on Feb. 8 at Newton Wellesley Hospital. Grandparents are Renee and Bill Zimmerman of Peabody, Great-grandmother is Clara Berland of Marlboro, NJ. Sibling is brother Jacob.
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MARK
ARNOLD
Jewish Journal Staff
The New York Times recently ran an article describing over-the-top
bar/bat mitzvahs, including one in which a young girl celebrated her coming
of Jewish age with a $12,000 party gown.
That kind of excess does not happen in the Jewish community North of Boston,
according to local rabbis. Almost a dozen area rabbis and other professionals
who prepare children for this Jewish milestone described to The Journal
how they are working to strengthen the spiritual, humanitarian, and family
aspects of the Jewish rite of passage, with mostly positive results.
“I urge all our bar/bat mitzvah students to become involved in a
mitzvah project,” says Rabbi Stephen Rubenstein of Temple B’nai
Abraham in Beverly. He even supports their chosen charity with a gift
of his own. In the past few years, the rabbi recalls, he has donated to
causes providing pizza for Israel’s Defense Forces, saving mustangs,
whales, animals abandoned by the side of the road, and a variety of other
projects favored by his bar/bat mitzvah students.
Other synagogues reporting mitzvah programs include Temples Ahavat Achim
in Gloucester, Ner Tamid and Beth Shalom in Peabody, Emanu-El and Sinai
in Marblehead, Shalom in Salem, and Beth El and Israel in Swampscott.
Activities drawing young volunteers being prepared for bar/bat mitzvah
include work with such community organizations as the Jewish Rehabilitation
Center, the New England Animal Shelter, My Brother’s Table, HAWC,
Jewish Family Service’s Food Pantry, and The Jewish Journal.
“More and more families are aware they have to give tzedakah,”
observes Rabbi David Klatzker of Ner Tamid. It’s an accepted part
of one’s bar or bat mitzvah.” Supporting the movement to give
tzedakah, the Continuity Committee of the North Shore Jewish Federation
has a B’nai
Tzedek program, which encourages bar/bat Mitzvah celebrants to convert
a portion of their gift money into tzedakah for the community
.
The program started in the western part of the state and has since spread
to dozens of communities, including Boston’s North Shore. Teens donate
$200 and a $300 donation is then made from the Committee to establish
a $500 philanthropic fund in the name of the bar/bat mitzvah youth. Yearly
for the next 20 years, participants make a donation in their name to a
Jewish charity of their choice using proceeds from the fund.
Thirty children are currently participating in the program, which includes
a yearly reunion meeting to hear about how their money is being spent
and gain renewed commitment. This year’s meeting is scheduled for
Monday night, May 19.
“We want to establish giving as a way of life with these kids,”
says Debbie Coltin, program development director of the Jewish Continuity
Commitee, which oversees the program.
But giving is not the only serious aspect of bar/bat mitzvah observance
that has taken on new meaning in recent years. Most of the synagogues
contacted by The Journal have added new requirements for bar/bat
mitzvah — beyond insistence on a minimum number of years of Jewish
and Hebrew education, mastery of the student’s haftorah and Torah
portions, and the ability to lead part or all of the Shabbat service.
One of the most notable of the new requirements is the emphasis on family
involvement. At Beth Shalom, Rabbi Howard Kosovske and bar/bat mitzvah
coach Robin Sparr meet with the candidate and their families three to
six times during the year preceding the event. The children attend a minimum
of six Shabbat Friday night services — there and at other temples.
They also collaborate with their family in drafting a d’var Torah,
a commentary on the Torah portion of their bar/bat mitzvah week, often
seeking to relate it to their own lives or contemporary events.
At Temple Israel in Swampscott, which has a similar family involvemetn
program, Rabbi Neal Loevinger says families now learn the blessings and
the Torah trop (musical notations) together so that the bar/bat mitzvah
becomes “a true family experience.”
Rabbis and other bar/bat mitzvah coaches report that the nature of the
bar/bat mitzvah reception itself is affected by the changes. “One
of the things in Judaism is to have a meal of obligation, so we celebrate
through food,” notes Rabbi Rubenstein. But, he adds, “the centerpieces
now often include baskets of canned goods or books that will be donated
to needy organizations following the event itself. In these ways, families
are consciously choosing ways to make the event meaningful. An invitation
might invite congregants to bring canned goods to the table with a note
as to where it’s going.”
At Temple Emanu-El in Marblehead, Rabbi David Meyer measures the seriousness
of the bar/bat mitzvah process partly by the increase in numbers of children
who continue their Jewish education after the passage to Jewish maturity.
“Our upper school has grown, reflecting the deepening commitment
to ongoing Jewish education following bar/bat mitzvah,” he says.
“Our 8th and 9th grades continue in a bi-weekly pre-confirmation
program. And we have 50 kids grades 10 to 12 in a post-confirmation class.”
The level of discussion, he adds, “increases exponentially as they
grow older.”
“We also use these students as teaching assistants with younger children
in our school,” says Rabbi Meyer.
Not every family meets their spiritual leader’s expectations for
bar/bat mitzvah observance, to be sure. “Off the record,” says
one rabbi, “some families take this seriously and some do not. As
rabbis we try to emphasize the spiritual aspects and make them realize
that the party is only one part, an important part but only one part,
of the celebration.”
All the rabbis spend time with the bar/bat mitzvah candidates, going over
their Torah portions, discussing the meaning of the event, and helping
them to understand the significance of this quintessential rite of passage
in Jewish life.
“What we are trying to do,” says Rabbi Kosovske, “is create
life-long memories as part of a life-long process of being Jewish and
‘doing Jewish.’”
World and Local Chess
MICHAEL
PERELSHTEYN
Special to the Jewish Journal
One of the strongest chess tournaments is underway now in Linares, Spain.
Among the players are Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Icramnik, Vishy Anand,
Peter Leko, Ruslan Ponomariov, and a young prodigy - 15 year-old Teimur
Radjabov. In round 2, Radjabov scored a big upset by beating the world’s
top rated player, Kasparov. Ponomariov, who is the FIDE World Champion,
is currently in last place. He is to play Kasparov in a match which will
take place in the summer in Buenos Aires with the prize fluid one million
dollars.
The strongest chess tournament in America, the US Championship, took place
in Seattle in January 9-18. The winner was Alexander Shabalov from Pennsylvania
with 6.5 points out of 9. The women’s champion is Anna Khan, from
New York. She tied with last year winner, Jenn Shahade, and Irina Krush,
but won the play-off. Eugene Perelshteyn from Swampscon, started out well
by drawing with last year’s US Champion, GM Larry Christiansen, and
winning against GM Sergey Kudrin. He lost to Grandmasters Joel Benjamin
from New York and Alexander Ivanov from Newton, and finished on 4 points
out of 9, tying for 39-44n’ places.
A strong international tournament took place in Bermuda, from January
25th to February 5th. The total of 12 players played in the all-play-all
round robin event. Grandmaster Daniel Fridman from Latvia won first place
with 8 points out of 11. Second went to Hikam Nakamura from New York,
who scored 7.5 points and achieved his final Grandmaster norm. At the
age of 15 years and 58 days, Nakamura became the youngest GM in US chess
history surpassing the record of Bobby Fischer, who became a GM at the
age of 15 years and 185 days. Eugene Perelshteyn played well and came
third, with 7 points, missing a Grancirnaster norm only by half a point.
The second Scholastic Chess Tournament of the 2003-year was held at the
Jewish Community Center in Marblehead on February 9. First place in the
grade K-3 division went to first grader Harrison Young of Marblehead with
3,5 points out of 4; second place went to first grader Justin Myerson
of Marblehead with 3 points, and third went to third grader JB Gough of
Wenham with 2,5 points. In the grade 4-8 division, first place went to
fifth grader Pasha Muravyev of Swampscott with 4 points; second took third
grader Scott Myerson of Marblehead with 3 points; and third went to third
grader Daniel Copeland of Swampscott with 2 points after playoff.
The next two JCC of the North Shore chess tournaments will be held on
March 16 and April 6 fromi 1: 00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. For more chess news
check out the website at http://home.attbi.coin/~mperel
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MATTHEW
S. ROBINSON |
Efraim
and Rosalie Eisen — Every Being Has a Light: Original Songs and
Visualizations to Meet Your Soulmate (Basherte)
On
their first recorded collection of inspirational words and music, Rosalie
and Efraim Eisen offer a collection of musical liturgy, niggunim and poetic
original tunes intended to stir the soul and focus the mind, body and
spirit on accepting love. Those who are familiar with the Basherte program
may be familiar with some of these songs and stories, but the Eisens present
them with a new, even more inspired light. While V’ahavta L’rayacha
K’amocha stresses the Golden Rule in the form of a favorite Jewish
summer camp sing-along, Esa Aynai is jazzed-up by the mandolin
and sax of Jim Armenti, who makes At the Well rock like classic doo-wop.
Ani L’Dodi is given a matrimonial lilt with the help of Amy Rose’s
flute and Chris Devine’s violin, which also gives the original title
track an Old Country feel. Open Up Your Heart, on the other hand,
deals with the often-painful truths of modern romance. Where Eisen’s
burgeoning vocal abilities falter, partner Rosalie and friend Felicia
Shpall fill in beautifully. Through narrative and guided visualization,
Rosalie reminds us all to keep our eyes, minds and hearts open to possibility
and wisdom. Even son Jonathan plays a joyful role. Inspired by Reb Zalman
Schachter-Shalomi, Reb Shlomo Carlebach and each other, the Basherte gang
grows and will continue to grow with the help of the magic of music and
love
The
Play's the Thing — Or Is It the Production?
GARY
BAND
Jewish Journal Staff
SOMERVILLE — Double Plays is a theatre festival with a twist:
four 10-minute plays are performed twice in the same evening, each with
two different casts and two different directors. Jewish Journal Assistant
Editor Brett M. Rhyne wrote one of the works and directed another.
Jewish Journal: This is the second play you’ve had
produced recently; we wrote about Dodging Bullets in our Jan. 31
issue. Tell us a little about the inspiration for Love Slash Hate and
the process of writing it.
Brett M. Rhyne: Of the four pieces, mine is the only one to be
written for this festival. The producer, Lisa Burdick, and I both belong
to the Shadow Boxing Theatre Workshop; she knows my work and asked me
to write something for Double Plays. Knowing it was going to be
produced twice in the same evening, I wanted to write a piece that could
be done as a comedy or a drama, depending on the director’s approach.
I started with this idea: The scene opens with a wife, Maya, screaming,
“I hate you!” at her husband, Tony, and him replying quietly,
“I love you.” It ends with Tony shouting, “I love you!”
and Maya whispering, “I hate you.” For me, the fun was in figuring
out how they get from point A to point B and all the reversals they go
through in between.
JJ: You’re directing one of the plays in the festival,
The Cheese Sculptor. Why did you decide to take this role and how
does it feel looking at the play from this vantage point as opposed to
writing?
BMR: By working so closely with the actors, directing becomes a
much more collaborative process than playwrighting. It’s fun. As
my brother Craig, a theatrical director in New York, says, “That’s
why it’s called a ‘play.’”
Knowing the format of the festival — that The Cheese Sculptor
was going to be produced twice in the same night — gave me tremendous
freedom to be experimental in my thinking about the work. So, while the
play is written for a man and a woman, I cast two women in the lead roles.
Also, I know the other Cheese director, Tami Altman — an Israeli,
by the way — is doing the work as a comedy; my version is, not surprisingly,
much darker.
JJ: How do you see directorial techniques emphasizing important
aspects or greater understanding of the play’s subject matter?
BMR: Toward the end of the rehearsal process for Dodging Bullets,
I mentioned to the director, Bob Stachel, that I was frustrated at feeling
so powerless in terms of the performance. Bob replied that, as a director,
he has the most control over a production when he casts the actors, and
his control gradually diminishes to zero by opening night.
I cast Eve Passeltiner, who showed remarkable range and empathy in Dodging
Bullets, as Alex, the sculptor of the title and the dominant partner;
I cast Kate Frederick as the younger, more submissive Erica, because,
at auditions, she showed a vulnerability and an unbalanced quality that
I really liked. They get along beautifully and even look like a couple;
the rehearsal space has a full-length mirror, and sometimes I have them
look at themselves standing together. I hope their affinity helps the
audience understand the play as a drama about a passionate, tumultuous
relationship.
JJ: Whether you’re a writer, actor or director, it
could take years to get recognized and bust out of Somerville. What do
think it takes and what are your plans for future writing and directing
endeavors?
BMR: Well, the theatre is on Broadway in Somerville, so in a way
I’ve already made it.
I do think, though, that one appeal of playwrighting is that you don’t
have to be present, so your work can be produced anywhere. Production
companies, festivals and competitions are always looking for scripts.
It’s much tougher if you’re an actor or director.
Double Plays runs Tuesday, March 18 and Wednesday, March 19, 7:30 p.m., at The Theatre Coop, 277 Broadway, Somerville; tickets are $10; call 617-308-7709.
The Wedding Doctor #1
|
BRETT
M. RHYNE |
How did people plan weddings before computers?
Considering how many Jewish couples meet through computer dating services,
it seems only fitting that the first thing to do when planning a wedding
is establish an email communication system among the families.
Well, maybe the second thing. The first thing is to cry, “Ma, let
go! I can’t breathe!”
A Wedding Bulletin should go out about once a week. It’s a
big, important job; the more verbal and computer literate of the loving
couple should be the editor. Editors collect, organize and present that
week’s information, in conjunction with their sweeties, of course.
The intention is to (1) provide updates on what’s going on; (2) gather
feedback on those updates; and (3) incorporate that feedback into the
planning process as well as the next update.
Q: What goes in the bulletin?
What doesn’t? Keep a To Do list of tasks and who has responsibility
for each one. Divide responsibility for tasks among family and wedding
party members. The To Do list is the starting point for the bulletin.
Several types of items should appear in the Bulletin:
• Resolved items. As soon as something is decided, let everybody
in on all the details. Sometimes we don’t have the details right
and need to be corrected. That’s good. Second-guessing resolved items
should be discouraged. Whenever possible, try to include links to vendors’
websites, so people can check out the band, photographer and florist for
themselves.
• Ongoing items. Report on the research done so far, as well
as when choices have been narrowed to two or three for a given item. Again,
it’s helpful to give people web links so they can see for themselves.
• Questions. Frequently solicit opinions about things in the
Bulletin. It should be made clear that all comments are welcome,
but the loving couple ultimately makes decisions.
• Feedback. Include comments about items from previous Bulletins
in the current issue. This gives everyone a voice and creates a conversation
among the families.
Q: Who gets the Bulletin?
Anybody who wants it. This is an effort to include everyone in the planning
process while still maintaining a manageable — not overwhelming —
amount of emails. Set up a list-serve for all recipients; all responses
go to the sender. This keeps information flowing in a controlled fashion,
so emails don’t go flying all over the place and, most importantly,
the loving couple doesn’t have to read 30 emails from everybody every
day. You have enough to do.
It’s important to balance inclusion with sensitivity. With divorce
so common these days, loving couples often have to manage the needs and
insecurities of parents who are not on good terms and may not, in fact,
have spoken for many years. It’s common for divorced parents to have
issues of about money, entitlement and fairness; be sensitive.
Q: What if family members don’t have email?
Many bubbe and zayde don’t have computers, let alone
email. The simple solution is to print a hard copy and mail it to them.
This lacks the immediacy of electronic communication, but does help to
include them in the wedding planning.
It’s nice to end the Bulletin with a call for questions, comments
and concerns, as well as a quote. Here’s one from André Maurois:
“A happy marriage is a long conversation that seems all too short.”
The Wedding Doctor is in! Write to him at editor@jewishjournal.org.
We
have no love for the Christian Coalition, and we are not in sympathy with
many of the causes supported by its co-founder, the Rev. Pat Robertson.
Robertson, the erstwhile Presidential candidate and host of the widely
broadcast radio program, The 700 Club, is scheduled to speak on
“The Importance of American Support for Israel” at Temple Beth
Sholom in Framingham on Sunday, April 13.
But he is not Adolf Hitler, nor an Arab terrorist bent on Israel’s
destruction. On the contrary, he believes strongly in Israel’s survival
and works tirelessly to build support for the historic Jewish homeland
among Christians who would otherwise pay no attention to Israel’s
plight.
Therefore, we think he deserves a chance to express his views in a Jewish
house of worship — as long as he restricts those views to the subject
at hand and doesn’t proselytize for his version of Christian truth
or promote such other causes as his opposition to abortion rights, gun
control, and the separation of church and state.
Observes Rabbi Ilana Rosansky of Salem’s Temple Shalom (see story,
page 1): “Unlike during the Holocaust, today there are people speaking
on behalf of Jews. It’s very, very important to raise the consciousness
in the non-Jewish community regarding Israel’s safety and security.”
We couldn’t have said it better.
MARK
ARNOLD
Jewish
Journal Editor/Publisher
Pat Robertson is Not the Answer
The
Jewish community does itself a disservice by courting the Christian right
— of which Pat Robertson is chief spokesperson — solely because
of its support for the State of Israel. Robertson opposes mainstream Jewish
positions on every domestic issue, including women’s and GLBT rights,
reproductive health, gun control and separation of church and state.
Politically, stronger ties between the Christian right, the Israeli right,
which is currently in power in the form of the Sharon administration,
and the American Jewish right only serve to reinforce hawkish and intolerant
policies and alienate significant liberal elements of the Jewish people
here and in Israel.
The argument of our right-wing American Jewish leadership — “Israel
needs all the friends it can get right now” — creates hysteria
and stymies reasonable debate about the path to peace. To paraphrase Samuel
Johnson, pragmatism is the last refuge of these self-serving demagogues.
If Robertson could be challenged on his views at Temple Beth Sholom, we
might feel differently. But the structure of the Framingham forum does
not allow audience members to question him on anything other than the
subject of his speech, “The Importance of American Support for Israel.”
Robertson supports the State of Israel because he believes that in ‘the
end of days’ all Jews must be gathered in Zion before Christ will
come again. At that time, he asserts, Jews will either be converted or
annihilated. With friends like that, who needs enemies?
—Brett M. Rhyne
|
DOV
BURT LEVY Dov Burt Levy is a columnist who splits his time between Salem, Mass., and Jerusalem. He can be reached at dblevy@columnist.com. |
It’s
a story involving anti-Semitism, President Bush, inspectors and constitutional
issues. It’s still unfolding . And believe it or not, it has nothing
to do with Iraq.
The story happened in the towns of Kennebunk and Kennebunkport, Maine,
known for their quiet beaches, formidable homes, and the residence of
the first president George H. W. Bush and his wife, former first lady,
Barbara. It’s a venue frequented by the current president, George
W. Bush, as well.
A local court ruled that a restaurant, Bartley’s Dockside Dining,
must comply with a town inspector’s ruling that prohibits displaying
the restaurant’s Hebrew National Hot Dog signs on its outdoor umbrellas.
Brian Bartley, third-generation owner of Bartley’s Dockside Restaurant
since 1977, claimed a town code-enforcement officer told him he found
the umbrellas “personally offensive.’’
Bartley’s attorney was more direct. He charged that the whole business
smacked of anti-Semitism.
“Had the umbrella said ‘Christian National Hot Dogs,’ I
don’t think there would have been any issues,” said Bartley’s
lawyer, Ronald Coles.
As far as this writer knows, neither owner Bartley nor attorney Coles
are Jewish. But they may be aware that in the 1940s and 1950s and possibly
later, area hotels were off limits to Jews. Perhaps the Kennebunk establishments
had signs saying “Not open to members of the Hebrew Faith” which,
I think we can agree, is a lot more sophisticated than those signs that
used to read: “No Jews or Dogs permitted.”
If that is true, and the town inspector is old enough, then he certainly
might have found the sign to be “personally offensive.” After
all, going from “Hebrews Out” to “Hebrews In” is a
crushing blow. The term “Hebrew National Hot Dogs “ is so close
to “Jewish National Homeland” — the goal of the Zionist
movement — that it could have just, as the kids say, freaked out
town officials.
So far this has been a Jewish controversy without Jews. I do have a little
influence in Israel and, indeed, I know enough Israeli soldiers personally
to get a squadron to move in and replace those Hebrew National umbrellas
and perhaps even add several Israeli flags. But that would be roundly
condemned by the United Nations. Not that I care.
On the other hand, this may be God’s way of punishing Hebrew National
for one serious offense. If you check out their on-line store, you will
find that they are selling T-shirts, mustard, the 6-ft. umbrella (red
and yellow complete with authentic Hebrew National logos) and even a Hebrew
National Mezzuzah, without parchment, in the shape and color of a hot
dog on a roll. There’s mustard along the dog and also at the top
where it forms the Hebrew letter shin. If Hebrew National is competing
for the Jewish kitsch piece of the year, they deserve some punishment
for that abomination.
I like what lawyer Coles said about the situation: “Silly. Umbrellas
are a sign of summer and there’s no need to regulate them. What would
Rome be without Cinzzano umbrellas. What would Paris be without Perrier
umbrellas?”
I think Kennebunk would be pretty good with Hebrew National umbrellas.
But my name is Dov Levy and I don’t live there. I say, leave it to
the Bushes and all the folks who do. They’ll figure it out. Or maybe
they won’t.
I Won't Dance — Don't Ask Me
|
ELLEN
GOLUB Ellen Golub teaches journalism at Salem State College. She may be reached at elkele@attbi.com |
In
Europe, my grandmother’s family owned a cow named Vashti. They were
too poor to drink her milk or eat her cheese — this they sold to
Jews more well-to-do than they themselves. But they managed to subsist,
from day to day, on the meager earnings from Vashti’s dairy products.
It was my grandmother’s job to walk Vashti to pasture in the morning
and to bring her home at the day’s end. On those long, leisurely
meanderings, she and her cow would stop to pick a flower or listen to
the wind. Always, my grandmother told me, Vashti knew to pause at the
cheder where Uncle Haim was the Hebrew teacher. Vashti would wait
respectfully, chewing her cud or the grass, while my grandmother strained
to hear a few words of the education that belonged to the boys in her
town.
At Purim, when we read the Megillah, my thoughts always turn to my grandmother
and her cow. The irony of her family was that though they had a cow of
their own, none of the children ever had milk to drink. The larger irony
was that, though Eastern European Jewry owned one of the most stimulating
intellectual and cultural traditions, its women were starved. Burden bearers
and child bearers, they were responsible for walking the cow to pasture,
though they never received a drop of her milk.
During the festival of Purim, when we remember how Persian Jewry was once
saved by the efforts of a Jewish woman, it is important to recall that
this woman, Esther, is a character elaborated, if not oppressed, by the
rabbinic imagination. She is the rabbis’ personification of virtue,
an ironically kosher tart. In their depiction of Esther and Vashti, the
rabbonim wanted to be sure we would choose Hadassah (Esther), a woman
who submerges her identity for the sake of her people. Thus her textual
and midrashic character is perfectly docile. She does as she is
told, and — just as they suspected — her womanly charms prove
more powerful than law.
Indeed it is Vashti whom the rabbonim always hated. To heap infamy
on her, they report in the Midrash that she was the daughter of Nebuchadnezer,
responsible for making Jewish women work naked on the Sabbath. Yet in
point of fact, Vashti’s only crime, as reported in the text of the
Megillah, is her modesty. She refuses to grant the order of a drunken
king that she dance naked before his guests. Vashti is therefore banished
and the Megillah happily reports the new proclamation that resounds throughout
the kingdom: “Wives will show respect to their husbands, great and
small alike.” To the detriment of women, the Megillah reinforces
a classic set of patriarchal values.
The real concern of the Scroll of Esther is not in Persia, but in power
and dominion: men over women, us over them, Mordecai over Haman, sexuality
over royal edict. The proud and perceptive court Jew surreptitiously places
his niece (or wife — the relationship is unclear) in the king’s
harem. Dark and comely, she knows how to please a man. She follows orders.
She conceals her heritage, as she is told. Whatever Mordecai decrees,
Esther obeys. In fact, it is only at Mordecai’s insistence, his reminder
to her that she will not survive the massacre of the Jewish people, that
Esther is moved to appear before the king unannounced. Therefore does
she exhibit courage; as many of the rabbis point out, she had little choice.
Thus
one cannot evade the notion that Esther might have been the first dumb
blonde, the first scab, and therefore one of the few women that the rabbis
thought worthy of characterization. Esther stepped in to replace Vashti,
a woman who said “no” to power. Vashti said “no” in
the face of banishment and infamy, from the solitary quarters of her own
conviction. Vashti had a mind and used it; she had a body and kept it.
She had a name, and we remember it.
It is always curious to me that so many Jewish women are named in honor
of Esther, and so few in memory of the first queen, Vashti.
|
PHYLLIS
DINERMAN @Phyllis Dinerman 2003. Phyllis Dinerman is a resident of Marblehead and Boynton Beach, FL. She may be reached at sliceofLife@dinerman.com |
“Who’s
there?”
“It’s Noah, and there’s a flood coming. I want you to come
on my ark.”
“Is this a joke?”
“No, I’m really Noah.”
“Noah who?”
“I have no last name.”
“Oh, and I should open the door for you? Try next door.”
Noah goes next door and rings the bell.
“Hi, it’s Noah. I’ve built an ark, and I want you to come
with me. There’s going to be a flood.”
“I don’t mind a little rain. It’s good for the grass. Besides,
what kind of an ark do you have? How big a ship? Are meals included?”
“There is no late-night buffet. There is no swimming pool, and there
is no entertainment. We are just going to cruise until the rains stop.
We will dock when we see a rainbow. By then we will have reached dry land.”
Noah walks up and down the street, ringing doorbells. No one believed
him.
He yells at the top of his lungs from the top of the street, “I’m
really Noah. You must leave your homes and come on my ark. There’s
a flood coming, and it will last 40 days and 40 nights.”
Someone yells out, “So we’ll rent some good movies and eat in
for a change.” Another yells, “Take my wife and her girlfriends
with you. They can play mah jong on board.”
“Take my neighbor’s two dogs. You want them to go two by two
anyway.”
No one believed Noah.
So Noah trekked down to Fisherman’s Beach where he anchored his large
wooden ship. People were sitting and staring, and commenting, “It
looks awful. It’s as big as an ark.”
“It is an ark,” replies Noah in a gentle voice.
“What’s in it? How big is it?” the onlookers asked.
“It’s 450 feet long and 75 feet wide and has three floors.”
“Does it have an elevator?” someone in the crowd asked.
“No elevator. It has ramps for the animals to go up and down.”
“Animals? People have to share this boat with animals?”
“Yes,” replied Noah. “They will come two by two.”
“Is this a porno ship? What’s with the two by two?”
“I don’t see any windows. Aren’t there outside cabins?”
“There is only one window,” answers Noah.
“Sure,” said one woman, “and I suppose that’s your
stateroom.”
“How old are you anyway, Mister, or Noah, or whatever you call yourself?”
“I am 600 years old, and I have three sons and their wives who are
going with me.”
“Oh, my God!” one of the onlookers cried. “To be on a ship
for 40 days and 40 nights with your children. Have a safe trip, Noah,
but I’ll make a reservation with the Carnival Cruise line before
I take one step on that wooden boat of yours.”
So Noah and his family and a ship full of animals set sail from Fisherman’s
Beach awaiting the floods and the sign of a rainbow in the sky to herald
the end of his voyage.
Moral of the story: If someone comes knocking at your door and says his
name is Noah, ask to see some identification.
|
JONATHAN S. TOBIN Jonathan S.Tobin is executive director of the Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia. He can be reached via e-mail at jtobin@jewishexponent.com |
It
is an unhappy fact of modern American discourse that anything someone
opposes can be called a “Holocaust” and anyone whose politics
we don’t like can be called a “Nazi.”
Examples of this proliferation of Holocaust metaphors are everywhere.
Any terrible event can now be called a “Holocaust.” The latest
entry into the competition for most outrageous use of the Holocaust to
make a point is an ad campaign run by the People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals. In it, PETA makes a direct comparison between the slaughter
of animals for food and the murder of Jews in the Holocaust, as well as
comparing the treatment of Jews in ghettos and Nazi murder camps with
factory farms.
Opposing the abuse of animals for any reason is an honorable cause that
engages the sympathy of decent people everywhere. Such sentiments also
find strong support within Jewish tradition, which regards such practices
as both an ethical and religious transgression. Animal rights groups are
also on solid ground when they protest needless experimentation on animals
by scientists. Hopefully advances in science and the technologies available
to test drugs will soon make such abhorrent practices obsolete.
That said, to make a direct analogy between the effort to exterminate
the Jewish people and raising animals for meat is an absurdity that only
an extremist could accept. It is one thing to believe, as vegetarians
and vegans do, that the consumption of animal products cannot be justified.
It is quite another to assert, as Princeton University “philosopher”
Peter Singer once wrote, that “a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.”
To maintain no distinctions between animals raised for food and the deliberate
murder of six million Jews is more than merely ridiculous. It is a sign
that the animal rights world is abandoning rational discourse. The Nazis
and their rigorously vegetarian lunatic leader once denounced Jews as
being subhumans who deserved the same treatment as lower life forms. Today,
that same argument is being used by PETA.
We should cherish and protect animals, but there is no moral equivalence
between eating meat and the mass murder of human beings. By asserting
such an equivalence, PETA has deeply offended the remaining survivors
of the Holocaust, as well as all thinking persons, both Jewish and non-Jewish
alike.
We can only hope that the denunciations that PETA receives for this vile
attempt to hijack the Holocaust will serve as a warning for all those
who do not fear to invoke the greatest of human crimes to denounce far
lesser offenses.
This is one misused Holocaust metaphor that should not be allowed to pass
without condemnation.
|
JONATHAN FRIENDLY Jonathan Friendly is the national editor of Jewish Renaissance Media |