Those of you up on the latest in Kosher food scene probably heard about the new kosher Subway in the financial district on 28 Water Street. While this is not the first kosher Subway - there are locations in Brooklyn, Queens, and Livingston NJ - this one just happens to be conviniently across the street from my office. Like many Jews in the area, I thought I'd give it a shot on its first day as part of the tribe.
Like all good New Yorkers, I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday's game. It was actually the first time in years I can remember watching the game with friends with the intent of actually enjoying the game - as opposed to "parties" where socialization or watching for the commercials1 takes precedent.
I'll leave the actual football discussion to those more qualified, but I did notice three trends with how people relate to the game. The first trend is historical revisionism and occurs when the media completely rewrites the narrative depending on the outcome. Had Plaxico Buress not made the deciding catch, we would be talking about Wes Welker's inspired performance, how Brady's ankle was a non-story, and how Randy Moss made the difference in the game and achieved redemption. Many football games are decided on one play at the end of the game, and yet that microcosm of football will retroactively influence all which preceded it. This is of course most convenient for media writers who are expected to churn out "analysis" on a moment's notice and likely have two versions of the game written up, and will be ready with either narrative regardless of the outcome.2
Given that sports media rarely have opportunity (or capacity) for insight, talking heads will often resort to glib clichés. One such example is the post-game assertion that the winning team "wanted it more." This is nonsense for two reasons. First, in high-profile games such as the Superbowl, it is safe to assume that both teams desire victory. It's the Superbowl after all! One caller to WFAN similarly opined before the Giants/Dallas playoff game that the winner would be "who wants it more." The host correctly responded that it's the playoffs! Everyone wants to win in the playoffs! Secondly, the assumption is that mere desire wins games, not the ability to execute plays.3 Did Plaxico Burress want to win more than Wes Welker? Tom Brady more than Eli Manning? Jason Tuck more than Teddy Bruschi? Tom Coughlin more than Bill Billicheck? Equating after-the-fact results with desire is disrespectful to the effort of both teams.
Finally, I noticed a gender-based clichés in how men and women approach the game. Naturally the men were more into the game, but were clearly focused on the seriousness of each play and how it would effect the outcome. By the end of the game we were joking that according to our conversations were at least seven "biggest plays of the game right here." On the flip side, the hostess had a less-competitive approach to the game, saying more than a few times, "regardless of who wins, this is a really good game." She gets credit for trying, the guys were having none of it, "no, it's about who wins."
Got any more of your own?
1. With few exceptions (the FedEx pigeon, the balloons, Carville/Frist, and the Terminator assaulting the irrationally irritating Fox Football Robot), this year's commercials were particularly depressing This is not surprising considering that Superbowl commercials have collectively declined in quality for several years. This trend started several years ago when the ads became more tongue-in-cheek postmodern self-referential satires of the institution of "Superbowl commercials." Think of the "we just wasted $1,000,000 on this ad" commercials or GoDaddy's commercial which referenced the previous year's commercial. Since advertisers went for snark and clever over funny there has been no going back to the glory days of talking frogs and Bud Bowl.
2. For an amusing example of such a hedge, see the Amazon page for 19-0: The Historic Championship Season of New England's Unbeatable Patriots which includes the following Amazon marketing line, "Buy this book with New York Giants: 2008 Super Bowl Champions by Sports Publishing today!"
3. Another in a long list of football clichés.
The big Jewish story of Summer 2007 was Professor Noah Feldman's now infamous New York Times Magazine article "Orthodox Paradox" (July 22, 2007) in which Feldman critiques Modern Orthodoxy as being inherently and irrevocably inconsistent. The specific "paradox" to which Feldman points is that on one hand Modern Orthodoxy claims to embrace the secular world, yet simultaneously maintains a religious prejudice against it. Feldman cites examples of Jewish particularism in the Talmudic law that Jews do not desecrate the Shabbat to save the life of a non-Jew and through the personal ignominy he faced at his high school reunion having been ostracized due to his intermarriage.
Feldman's article generated some of the most vociferous discussion among the Jewish intelligentsia and throughout the J-Blogosphere, with Feldman being vilified for betraying the Jewish people either for intermarrying or through voicing his critiques in a public forum.1 While the frenzy has died down since the summer, Feldman exposed a nerve in the Jewish community which still rightfully still agitates many. To address some of those issues and the subsequent reaction, on Thursday October 18th NYU hosted a symposium entitled, "Orthodox Paradox: A Debate on Jewish Values" featuring the eclectic trio of Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, philanthropist Michael Steinhart, and the aforementioned Professor Noah Feldman.
Despite the event's classification as a "debate", there was little collective coherency among the three panelists. Instead of addressing one area of "Jewish values" each panelist discussed his own approach to the question based on his own individual set of values.
Continue reading "Orthodox Paradox: A Debate on Jewish Values" »
New York has always been a culturally dynamic city, but certain neighborhoods have generally been able to maintain their character over the years. To some extent people follow reputations; once an area establishes an identity it is likely to attract those who find such an area attractive, thus perpetuating the status quo. Economics likely play a larger, but related role, in that certain neighborhoods may attract diversity due to cheaper rents while others will be more exclusive due to the high costs. But even the formerly inoculated communities have been finding that as the economies change, so goes the neighborhood.
I recently received the unfortunate news that the Eden Wok on 72nd is now closed (though not updated on their website). I've always liked Eden Wok for the quality/price, and the $20 all you can eat Mondays was remarkably convenient for sheva berachot.
The best story I have though has to be the time when Jose and I split a pu pu platter. I noticed one of the egg rolls was precariously close to the flame thingie in the middle, and then the nearby wontons started smoking. Before we knew it, all the deep fried goodies started catching fire which spread to the wooden serving bowl itself.
It took a while to flag down a waiter - in retrospect service could have been faster that day - and they promptly doused the thing in water and gave use a new one. I guess what made it funny at the time was how nonchalant Jose and I were to the point where the guests seated nearby looked like we were crazy for being so calm - which of course was a completely accurate assessment.
Ah, good times.
Last summer we discussed the deplorable conditions at the popular eatery Kosher Delight. As you may recall, KD failed its 05/05/2006 inspection with a score of 33 violation points, and after briefly rebounding to a more respectable score of 9, is currently holding its precarious score of 26.
A score 28 or above is considered failing, and requires a reinspection.
Much to my surprise (and dismay) KD doesn't even come close to being the worst in New York. According to Sen. Jeff Klein (D-Bronx) that dubious distinction belongs to Cafe La Fonduta which somehow racked up an astounding 160 violation points, and my own quick lookup returned D.M. International Restaurant with an impressively pathetic score of 174.
Once again, the failing score is 28.
After some more poking around I noticed that at least three of the worst offenders were presumably Kosher establishments, interestingly, all located in Brooklyn. Souad Glatt Kosher Catering received a 105 on 12/26/2006, then the homely named Ess N' Bench scored a 106 on 02/15/2007, and finally "Moses Wertzberger" received a 122 on 12/12/2006.
The dates here are relevant for the all important "historical context;" some establishments have a long history of negligence while it's possible that other just had a bad day. For example, in 2006 Souad Glatt failed three other inspections (29,32,55) before finally dropping to a more respectable 8. On the other hand, Ess N' Bench has had generally been acceptible score-wise.1 (No history was listed for Mr. Wertzberger)
We also find this variation on the most extreme end of the scale. D.M. International typically scored high (37,22,20,59) but Cafe La Fonduta was relatively acceptable scoring 12 and 16 in previous inspections.
How do these establishments degrade so drastically? My guess is that there would have to be either a significant change in the establishment or in the health codes, possibly both. If a restaurant changes ownership, the new proprietors may be either oblivious or incompetent in the areas of food safety and city guidelines. Changes in the establishment may also include irresponsible physical alterations. Violation 7 of Ess N' Bentch is labeled "Facility Design," a violation notably absent in their previous inspection. This would lead me to conclude that somehow the design or layout changed of certain areas which could have led to not only the specific violation but facilitated every other one as well. Finally, any changes in the health codes would obviously impact the final scoring if what was once acceptable is now deemed to be a violation.2
Even so, some of these increases do seem high to me. While I suggest avoiding the above establishments, I am also wondering if we also should take these reports with a grain of salt.
1. As I mentioned in one of the earlier posts on the subject, I personally view some violations more severe than others. Lacking an "Employees Must Wash Hands" sign does not bother my sensibilities as much as any violation involving "mice" or "vermin."
2. There are many other possibilities, but I am focusing on those which do not involve anything illegal.
Like all Jewish communities Washington Heights has its share of internal controversies, but rarely do they become publicized. Most discussions on the Maalotwashington message board did not get circulated and at times they were moderated when the discussion happened to get out of hand. In the rare instances that a significant problem arose, we have usually been able to achieve some resolution or at least mutual understanding and do so with minimal fanfare.
But as the community continues to grow and the transient community constantly changes, the internal dynamics will naturally have to adapt. Having more people in the community means more ideas and opinions among the congregation, but fewer outlets for an individual to express them. In Washington Heights this can be particularly frustrating since the community is ideologically diverse (relatively) there are more opinions and perspectives which would be ignored or in some cases suppressed. From the other point of view, it is likely that an established community would have confronted many of the "new" issues at some point and would not wish to repeatedly revisit old arguments every few years given the high turnover of members. The mutual question at hand then becomes how can individuals express themselves, and in turn, how does the community respond.
The past few weeks have been unusually eventful with a heated debate over women speaking in the synagogue and the formation of a new "progressive" minyan. While both could be considered controversial to varying degrees, the discussions surrounding them demonstrate different examples of expression within a religious community.
Loyal readers of the blog may have picked up on my interests in shtick and music, so it not come as a surprised to know that I would enjoy some of Peter Schickele's work on P.D.Q. Bach.1 Last night I was fortunate to have attended my first P.D.Q. Bach Concert at Lincoln Center.
The best way to describe the experience would be to combine the music of classical composers, the irreverence of Frank Zappa, and the audience of Rocky Horror (though thankfully, without the drag). I'm not sure how else to explain the surreal and seamless synthesis of balloons, bicycles, basketballs, power outages, the hokey pokey, and a bagpipe vibrato.
If you find this sort of thing appealing or happen to be completely drunk, then check out come clips and the upcoming concert schedule.2
1. Many thanks to Ben Resnick for the introduction.
2. Though I doubt I can attend, I'm loving the fact that the April Fool's concert will be held in a place called Fredonia.
I'm mildly amused to announce that today I have had my first story approved on Fark. Ex-roommate Yossi sent me this mashup of The Chevra's Yehei over an early adult swim animation. All we needed to submit the link in standard Fark cliche language and there is is.
Shiny.
The NYTimes had an article this past weekend about Wedding Fatigue brought on by the inordinate amount of time and money one spends to attend (and gift) the ever increasing number of summer weddings.
Fortunately, Jews haven't (yet) adopted all the pre and post rituals - I still don't understand the purpose of a rehearsal dinner - but even the weddings themselves take time and many, many Sundays. I remember some friends of mine having months of Sundays filled with weddings, along with the occasional mid-week night wedding.
I can see how too many celebrations can become wearying for one person, but I don't understand it when people complain about it especially when you put it in the proper context. In contrast to a wedding, another significant life-cycle event which brings out friends and family is one's funeral. And at every funeral I've attended I've heard people who haven't seen each other in years wish, "only by simchas, only by simchas." So now when we do have the simchas, we complain that it's too much?
I think it's a serious problem when simchas become burdensome as chores. Yes they are a lot of work and a significant expense, but fundamentally, they still have to be simchas. Thankfully, all the weddings I've attended in recent years have been genuinely enjoyable mostly because the couples always understood what was really important in a wedding. Some were more formal, others more lavish, but the fundamental simcha was always an inspiring and noticeable constant.
I don't know if this is a changing trend or if it's just that I've been fortunate to have quality people in my social circles, but in either case I think the attitude adjustment would be most welcome.
A website called Baby Rock Records is selling CD's of "lullabalized" versions of popular music.
Rockabye Baby! transforms timeless rock songs into beautiful instrumental lullabies. The soothing sounds of the glockenspiel, vibraphone, melltoron and other instruments will lull your baby into a sweet slumber.
Presumably the intent is to turn kids into social misfits at the ripe old age of 3 weeks. Here are just some of the bands they've covered or are planning to in the near future:
Apparently Ozzy, Iron Maiden, and the Sex Pistols were too difficult to obtain, but on the plus side, they probably didn't need to put in too much effort to convert Coldplay into baby music.
Seriously though, I like a good glockenspiel as much as the next guy, but the selected audio samples they provide remind me of the old MIDI's only MUCH creepier and eerily hypnotic. Take a listen to their take on Nirvana's Come As You Are (MP3) and Metallica's Enter Sandman (go figure). I'd be very curious to see what long term effects these may have on kids.
Then again, a better question might be if you'd really prefer Rafi.
Weddings are supposed to be happy occasions celebrating the love and commitment of two individuals who choose to spend the rest of their lives together. And yet for some reason, bands play songs which are completely incongruous with the theme of the day, and incredibly they do so often at the couple's request.
AskMen listed 10 Wedding Songs to Avoid where people think these songs are romantic but have obviously never listened to the lyrics. While many Jewish weddings don't usually play secular music in full, every now and again the band will play a riff or two from rock songs just to shake things up a bit. And here too many of the selections can seem a little bit strange.
I first commented on this a while back, and noticed it again at the first wedding I officiated. Since I hear new things all the time I've decided to keep a running list of all the well intentioned but probelmatic songs I've actually heard at weddings. To narrow things down, I'm just focusing on songs in which the lyrics don't fit in with the spirit of the day. For example, while Get Down Tonight might not be the most romantic or subtle song in the world, it still makes sense in its own way. On the other hand, the ones listed below are a little more difficult to explain.
I'm sure I'll be adding more in the future - especially if I get married myself.
1. Though in fairness, Robert Plant does refer to Stairway as a "bloody wedding song."
2. For Jewish weddings, note that the "Yiddin" dance fits perfectly.
You might remember the post we did a while back on extravegant Bat Mitzvahs. Today's Fark links to a cameramen's detailed account of the $10 Million Bat Mitzvah held at New York's Rainbow Room last November. Quoth the cameraman:
This wasn't a concert in a restaurant. This was a f-----g arena show tucked into a closet. This was overkill. This was excessive. This was a rich man's fantasy concert, not a Bat Mitzvah.
Hard to argue with the assessment given the entertainment:
I can't imagine what her wedding will be like, but if it's also going to be in NYC, I'm available.
When we last looked at Kosher Delight's health inspection report we found that they failed their 05/05/2006 inspection with 33 points of violations and required a full reinspection.
I just noticed that the reinspection was done on 07/13/2006 with a marginal improvement. KD did pass this inspection scoring 26 violation points - the failing mark is 28 points.
The violations cited are disturbingly similar to what was found previously. In addition to "Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to vermin exist" and "Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility's food and/or non-food areas" this time we also have "Evidence of flying insects or live flying insects present in facility's food and/or non-food areas" and "Evidence of roaches or live roaches present in facility's food and/or non-food areas."
Kind of makes you want to go vegetarian elsewhere.
It seems like ages ago, but we once discussed college rankings, and how YU fared much more poorly by standards other than those used by US News.
On that note, Washington Monthly has a new ranking system aimed at determining the educational value of the universities, a metric which is unfortunately overlooked in choosing a college and nearly impossible to define based on most ranking systems.
But what's missing from all the rankings is the equivalent of a bottom line. There are no widely available measures of how much learning occurs inside the classroom, or of how much students benefit from their education. This makes the process of selecting a college a bit like throwing darts at a stock table. It also means that colleges and universities, like our imaginary mutual-fund managers, feel little pressure to ensure that students learn. As anyone who's ever snoozed through a giant freshman psychology 101 lecture knows, sitting in a classroom doesn't equal learning; knowledge doesn't come by osmosis.
Although there are tests out there to help guage students' collegiate academic progress (CLA, NSSE), most universities apparently keep their results to themselves. So, WM devised their own system which focuses on the university's social impact.
And so, to put The Washington Monthly College Rankings together, we started with a different assumption about what constitutes the "best" schools. We asked ourselves: What are reasonable indicators of how much a school is benefiting the country? We came up with three: how well it performs as an engine of social mobility (ideally helping the poor to get rich rather than the very rich to get very, very rich), how well it does in fostering scientific and humanistic research, and how well it promotes an ethic of service to country. We then devised a way to measure and quantify these criteria.
How does YU measure up? Despite ranking 45 in US News' survey, YU weighs in at an embarrassing 200 of 245 schools.
In fairness, WM's methodology took military and peace corps service into consideration, neither of which are areas which are conducive to perpetuating an Orthodox Jewish lifestyle. Furthermore, many YU students do in fact enter communal service, bet it as teachers, social workers, psychologists, and the occasional Rabbi. However since these professions serve a relatively small and exclusive community, these contributions would likely be overlooked.
Still, it might be nice for Yeshiva University to look beyond the 4 cubits of the Jewish world. Although there have been notable exceptions, most students I've known are either not interested or ideologically opposed to contributing to the non-Jewish world. We've covered some of the drawbacks of taking federal funding, and it might be a nice idea to contribute something to the society at large. Not only would probably help in kiddush hashem and tikkun olam departments, but it may also have other significant religious benefits.
Work just sent out an e-mail informing us that one of our employee perks is a 15% discount on Michael C. Fina. I don't anticipate taking advantage of this benefit in the near future, but I did poke around their website to see what's actually being sold and just how expensive everything is.
I got distracted by the following product description:
Vera Wang's dinnerware collection is inspired by the contemporary bride. Dishwasher safe, it is meant to be used every day.
It's not surprising that as we approach the GLBT World Pride in Jerusalem (August 6-12), we find increasingly critical and hostile rhetoric against the event. Jerusalem is no stranger to religious controversies, and the opposition to homosexuality is nearly universal among the major religions.
My understanding is that there are two major goals of the Pride events. The first is to provide support and encouragement for the GLBT community internally, and the second is to promote tolerance and acceptance. (Yes, I know this is an oversimplification). From the World Pride mission statement:
It is time to demonstrate to our community, to our neighbors and peers and indeed to the world, not only that we belong, but that our love and our pride can cross the harshest borders that divide people.
"In these times of intolerance and suspicion, from the home of three of the world's great religions, we will proclaim that love knows no borders." [emphasis added]
World Pride is not simply a matter of communal bonding or promoting tolerance, but a subliminal protest against intolerant religions. There is of course an intelligent strategy at work here. By assuming a greater challenge, the GLBT community can more effectively galvanize itself by breaking another barrier (if peaceful) or standing strong in the face of opposition.
But consider some of the stated themes of the upcoming World Pride:
Given the underlying attitude towards religion, these statements are disingenuous at best. If the values are guided by tolerance, then a better location should have been selected. The parade obviously does not conform in respect to the Orthodox populations as evidenced by the vehement opposition. And if the theme is truly to avoid harsh criticism (unclear if it refers to giving or receiving) then why select such a volatile location?
My issue here is not questioning the right to assemble or even the right to protest GLBT's treatment in the major religions. But I personally find it hypocritical to do so under the banner of tolerance. The choices of Rome and Jerusalem seems to be an "in your face" approach almost daring people to pick a fight. If the message is really about tolerance, then this strategy is counter-productive since the parade will most likely breed even more resentment.
I do think there can be a compromise between religion and the GLBT community, and I offered my own suggestions to that effect. But as I argued regarding pluralism, tolerance does not mean that other people must unilaterally accept you on your terms. There first has to be mutual acknowledgement and respect of each other's beliefs and perspectives, and this would have to entail avoiding obviously antagonistic actions.
If one requests tolerance, one must be willing to give it as well.
This weekend is Memorial Day, a national holiday which in theory pays tribute to the soldiers who have and continue to defend the freedoms we take for granted, but in reality is an excuse to barbeque and clog up the nation's highways.
There is also mihag kadum that one is only allowed to wear white from Memorial Day to Labor Day in September. I happen to have an off-white straw hat perfect for Shabbat walks for someone with fair skin. My question for anyone out there with a moderate fashion sense, is does this white rule apply to Memorial Day itself i.e. the Monday, or may one start wearing white on the Saturday of Memorial Day?
Or to put it in brisker terminology, is it taluyi on the yom or the shem of the weekend?
Thoughts?
There was a big kerfuffle a few years back about kohanim flying on airplanes and passing over cemetaries and one of the wackier proposed solutions involved having the Kohein wrap himself up in a bodybag. While this didn't go over well at the time, it was probably due to lousy marketing. Had they called it an "airline sleeping bag not only would it have become trendy, but they could have even charged $99 for it.
Ok so we'd need to make a more "modest" sleeved version, but it's basically there.
The increased visibility of Jews and Judaism in the mainstream media should be obvious to most people who actually partake in secular culture. On this blog we've recently discussed a new movie on competitive bar-mitzvahs and further back we noted a Comedy Central special titled Heroes of Jewish Comedy.
While these examples cover only the most superficial aspects of cultural or ethnic Judaism1 we are also noticing a more overtly religious Judaism being portrayed. Many blogs are covering the Orthodox Jew(s)2 on NBC's The Apprentice, and the of course, there's everyone's favorite Lubavitch rapper Matisyahu who recently played MSG.
I'm bringing this up because just the other day I heard Matisyahu's King Without a Crown (Stubb's version) on Z100 in the middle of a party mix featuring your standard trance music and Reggaeton. But as odd as that cultural placement was, it *still* wasn't the most bizarre I have seen.
That honor goes to MTV's Real World Season 7 (Seattle). Cast member Stephen3 demonstrated his connection to Judaism4 in the casting special by lighting Shabbat candles. While such choreographed displays of ritual are commonplace, MTV did have chutzpa to play Just One Shabbos in the background.
MBD on MTV. It doesn't get much better than that.
Still I'm curious if anyone out there can top it. Open question: what is the most surreal interpolation of Judaism in mainstream culture you've personally seen?
1. Also see Seinfeld and to some extent Jon Stewart.
2. As of this post, one of two was eliminated.
3. You know, the guy who slapped Irene.
4. I forgot if he actually converted or just hung out with Jews in college.
It seems that Yeshiva University is in yet another scandal over it's policies and treatment of homosexual students. According to the NY Post, AECOM student Jeevan Padiyar, a homosexual student, was harassed over the passed three years and eventually dismissed from the school. Padiyar alleges that his treatment was purely based on his sexual orientation. While such allegations are normally difficult to prove, Padiyar has produced a particularly incriminating memo (pdf) allegedly sent by Dr. James David, the Associate Dean for Students.
Just got an e-mail from SawYouAtSinai shilling for www.purimbaskets.com:
Ramo in O.C. 695 says that men should not give single women mishloach manot because it would create a safek kiddushin. Perhaps SYAS is more progressive (or agressive) than we thought in solving the shidduch crisis?
I've been getting quite a few comments about my recent citation in Tuesday Morning Quarterback (TMQ). For those unfamiliar with TMQ, it is a weekly analysis of the previous week's football games written by Gregg Easterbrook whom you may recall was involved in an overblown kerfuffle some time ago over some comments he made on his blog. Thankfully, NFL.com saw past the stupidity and now hosts on its website one of the most thoughtful, articulate, and entertaining football analysts in the media.
For all those interested, tonight is the End The Madness talent show featuring an extremely rare live performance by myself. If you'd like to know why the performances are rare, stop by KJ (125 East 85th St.) at 6:30 PM and hear for yourself.
In all seriousness, it should be a fun evening and I'm looking forward.
And yeah, I know I'm behind in regular blogging yet again. The past few weeks have been crazy with the niblings (who got back all right - pics forthcoming), school work, and currently a return to "real work." Lots to write about, but sadly no time.
I've never liked golf. Sure there's loads of skill involved in hitting 1in ball 400 ft and into a tiny cup, but I daresay it's even more boring then NASCAR which livens things up with a crash or two.
My uncle took me to the driving range once when I was in high school and that was a disaster, but at least then you had the fun of trying to hit the moving target of the ball collector truck. Maybe the PGA can somehow incorporate the truck-guy for bonus points, and even then I'm not sure I can bring myself to care.
But every so often, the PGA invades the tiny hamlet of Springfield New Jersey with one of their major tournaments. Twelve years ago we had the US Open and now we've got the PGA Champoinship. Back then there was loads of traffic, a goodyear blimp, and blatant profiteering. We've still got all that stuff, but now I have access to a digital camera.
Warning - large pictures ahead
SIW e-mails me about a quiz show he's doing with some other folks and he's looking for the looking for the funniest Jewish jokes.
You read that right - someone is actually asking me for jokes.
Of course, this meant I drew blanks. While I may contribute to Purim shticks or throw in a few lines in situations, I was never good at coming up with jokes on the fly nor have I memorized the collected works of Henny Youngman. But while I couldn't help Steven out directly I did start thinking about what constitutes "Jewish" humor.
The obivous angle is that the comedian is Jewish - which seemed to the the basic theme of a Comedy Central special on the new Jewish comedians. This connection isn't surprising considering that "Jewish" jokes are cultural if not stereotypical and as Sienfeld has taught us, only Jews can get away with these jokes without being considered anti-semetic.
The problem is that as cultures change, the stereotypical references become less significant. The classic Jewish jokes from the Borscht Belt were mostly based on a European "old country" mentality of Jewish culture and Jewish history. But as Jewish life moved out of the shtetle, so too must the humor.
One option is to identify and contemprize the familar themes. For example, topics such as mothers, guilt, and anxiety are are still things relavant to most people. The persecution complex may have to be toned down a bit, but there's plenty of paranoia to go around. Or you could turn the stereotype dial up to 11 like Hebrew Hammer, which in the style of blaxploitation provided a fresh take on old ideas. Of course, some things would work better than others and through differnt comedic formats.
The other direction would be to satarize the modern societies of Judaism. There are websites and plays dealing with the modern professional Jewish world, and of course, there is no shortage Yeshivish jokes out there. The problem is that while these jokes may reflect the current reality, most of these are far too specialized to be funny for outsiders.
At any rate I'm at a loss for now, but I'm sure some things will be percolating in the back of my head.
Sorry for the interruption, but I just got this photo from the Chicago Jewish Folk Arts Festival.
Last night's 60 Minutes covered the psychic talents of mentalist Marc Salem. Most people have heard of him by now as he's been performing in several shows and appearing on TV for quite a while.
I'm not going to address the guy's skills, but I do have a really funny story from way back when. About 15 years ago at the Jewish Renaissance Festival, I went to see him with my family. He wasn't a big name then and the attendance was relatively sparse, but we thought it would be an interesting show. Anyway, over the course of his shtick he goes to my mother and borrows her watch. Immediately after picking it up, he asks "who's Alan?" and then starts rattling off obscure details about my father. Even the cynical Yuter clan was impressed at this display of psychic prowess.
After the show we started shmoozing with him and he admitted that that particular trick was somewhat unplanned. It turns out he knew my father from way back,1 recognized him in the audience and thought that even though it was a risky shtick to pull, the potential payoff was too great.
1. On the other end, my father isn't always the best at recognizing or remembering people especially when they use a stage name.
Still in time for Hannukah, Fark links to this nifty What's That Song program. It's pretty simple - you pick an artist, you hear selections from that artist, and you guess which of that artist's song it is. From what I can tell he taps in to Amazon's archive of CD samples which gives you an impressive selection.
You can start with some basics like Billy Joel, Dylan, U2, Metallica, Elton John, and yes, even Weird Al and They Might Be Giants.
You'll notice though that many of the samples have the song titiles in them, making this whole excersize entirely pointless.
However, all is not lost.
Since it's based on Amazon's extensive library, you can even do Carlebach or Lanzbom. You might recognize the tunes, but the official titles are in english. This means that in order to guess correctly you actually need to know what the song means. Nice challenge, eh?
Enjoy!
In case you're wondering, I did pretty well on the ones I personally took:
Hooray! You scored 10 out of 10.
Perfect. 100%. You are a music guru. We bow down before you.
80's music is just the beginning.
With this final post, the Protocols era comes to a close. Despite its humble beginnings in late 2002, Protocols quickly became the one of the Jewish community's widest read and influential publications - in print or online. Its eclectic Elders frequently posted updates and summaries on topics including politics (American, Israeli, and global), religion, academia - and basically anything else they felt like. They uncovered and confronted scandals, occasionally created them when none existed, and even started getting mainstream media recognition. Though well short of its goal to "totally dominate the blogosphere," Protocols clearly became the center for Jewish news on the internet.
Today on YUTOPIA, we look back at Protocols meteoric rise, its internal technical and personal struggles, and its eventual descent into cultural irrelevance and its unfortunate demise.
First there was that whole messiness with McGreevey donations and witness tampering. Now, the school named after Charles Kushner's family has over 40 students busted for drugs and alcohol.
I have several friends who teach there, my father contributed to the curriculum when it first started, and I'm sure there are many positive things to say about the school. Still, I know this school has had such problems and it's been going on for years.
But now, not only does this happen, but I first hear of it from FARK of all places.
Hopefully this will be embarrassing enough to the school, the board, and the students to actually effect some change.
I can't say I'm terribly optimistic, but that's for another time.
Just found this CNN article:
Nataliya Fox accused Encounters International of fraud and negligence, saying it should have screened its male clients and told her about a law that helps foreign nationals escape abusive relationships without fear of automatic deportation.
Instead, Fox testified, agency owner Natasha Spivack told her to endure the alleged abuse or return to Ukraine.
I can't say if I'd hold the agency responsible for background checks, since its relatively easy to lie on these things. However, the response to "endure" the abuse - especially when they could have easily provided her wth a way out - is so intolerable that I can't disagree with the judgement.
I had some of these in an update of the last post, but I'm seeing some really good articles on Arafat. Here are some of the better ones I've seen thus far (might add more).
Thanks Zev
Finally, according to all shittot, Arafat is dead. Check out this Hallmark tribute picture on CNN:
Kind of makes you forget about the few thousand Jews he's responsible for murdering.
At risk of losing my blogger's license, today's discussion is on politics. I'm not going to discuss whether or not the results are "good" or "bad" on any level, but I did notice two ironic results. The first was picked up by The Daily Show in their election recap. The Bush camp claimed that John Kerry was soft on terrorism and would be too weak of a leader. Despite these accusations, Kerry easily carried New York, the state most directly affected by the 9/11 attacks.
Similarly, Kerry attacked Bush's economic policies which supposedly cost jobs while giving tax breaks to the wealthy. However, as Nicholas Kristoff mourns, Bush carried all the "middle America" hard working states.
It could be that the candidate's directed their messages to the wrong people - in the sense that they weren't able to change the people's minds. Or, you could say that they simply sold their positions to whomever wished to hear them.
Anyway, I'm also interested in the role religion played in people's decisions. Between the left-leaning liberal Jews and R. Eliyashiv's pesak to vote for Bush, I've gotten several IM's asking for my opinions. Maybe for when I get back to Chicago.
Amusing article from Reuters: Israel to Soothe Trauma with Marijuana - specifically for soldiers under stress. For a more serious take on drugs in Judaism, read this article by David Novak. As I recall, he demonstrates that most of the arguments in the teshuvot which prohibit taking drugs could equally be applied to smoking and drinking - neither one of which are as explicit prohibited.
If you're an old computer gamer1 you've probably played or at least heard of Lucas Arts classic Monkey Island series. I know I'm about a decade behind on this, but it just recently came to my attention that the dueling insults were actually written by Orson Scott Card, author of the Ender's Game series and many others.
Two random links of pseudo-relevance: 1. His website has interesting pictures of him at a sci fi conference in Israel. 2. See I-Mockery's Monkey Island 2 Outtakes.
1. Meaning, you're a geek who likes playing old computer games or you're just an old geek who used to be a gamer back in the good 'ol days.
| 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2002 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | 24.1 | 24.8 | 26.0 | 26.9 |
| Women | 21.4 | 22.0 | 23.2 | 24.6 |
It's about 80 degrees here in Chicago, and people on campus are already dressing accordingly.
That's if you can call it "dressing."
It's not that I haven't been exposed to this before - I mean I did live in Washington Heights for a few years - but I spent most of my time in the YU library (surprise). I've also heard the rantings about how women are judged by men and thus are forced to dress accordingly. Even some Orthodox women find "tzniut" rules unfair, difficult, or just really annoying.
For Jews, most people would cite legal sources, and say that certain dress is mandated by Jewish law.1 For the general society non-observant Jews, or frustrated observant Jews, we have books covering the "inspirational" merits of modesty. Still, this doesn't seem to do it for many women.
Based on my current situation at UC, I'd like to add one more reason for modest dress. To put it as tactfully as possible, many women just don't have the figure to be dressing in certain ways.2
It's not a typical "Rabbi" answer and it might seem misogynistic, but it doesn't make it any less true. Odd as it sounds, dressing modestly can make a women more attractive3 and as bad as the shidduch system is now, without the rules of tzniut, I'm sure it would be much much worse.
Like it or not, we do judge people based on how they look and carry themselves. And I also realize that society has imposed unrealistic expectations for how women (and men for that matter) are supposed to look. There are many degrees and qualities of attractiveness even beyond physical appearence. We also have our flaws. There's no reason to emphasize them in public.4
1. Maybe I'll get to the details in a later serious post.
2. This isn't to suggest that women who can dress certain ways should do so. I'm sure that most if not all women think they look good the way they dress. I'm just saying that far too frequently, they're just wrong or blind.
3. I fully acknowledge that my perception of what is or is not attractive has been conditioned by my upbringing. Even so, I'm guessing that people will agree with me on this point.
4. This would also apply to other areas such as personality.
A happy birthday to the State of Israel. (Thanks to Yair for informing me of the "official" Yom Ha'atzmaut greeting).
Speaking of Israel, I'm not sure when Chabad joined the Shas party, but apparently, the Rebbe is still politically active.
In other random news, kudos to Steve Stanzak for pulling off what I've been suggesting for a while: actually living in the library.
A&E home video has just released The Kids in the Hall Season 1 DVD which includes one of my favorite sketches of all time, The Dr. Seuss Bible.
