Talia, She Wrote

So the previous post was born out of my Facebook conversations today.

I would like to share with you the extended conversation I had with an acquaintance from college. We will call him "JU" (like our university). A few others jumped into the conversation and I will add them in with appropriate names. :)

After I posted the Patheos discussion about the Dems blaming the Jews, I got this comment on my wall - (here we go folks, be sure you are strapped in and ready for the ride)

JU - talia, I'm curious...would you still support Obama if he apologized to the world for the United States provoking Iran to send a nuclear missle into Jerusalem?

Jen - I don't think the US would have to provoke Iran for that to happen. I don't think I understand the hypothetical you've posed.

JU - The President would blame the US for this

Jen - on what are you basing this assumption?

JU - The international apology tour that he undertook several months ago.

Jen - so because he make an international trip, it's an "apology" tour? your logic still eludes me....

JU - He dislikes this county, the founding documents he finds a document of "Negative rights", and will bow to a Saudi King. With no basis he calls Cambridge police stupid for arresting a black professor who was acting beligerent toward an officer of the law ..Obama takes ten days to comment on the attrocities that the Iranian people suffered after ... Read Moretheir election; sat in a Church pew for 20 years listening to an anti-semitic preacher, Jeramiah Wright. The cynicisim posed in my question is to find out if Talia sides with Israel or Obama?

Jen - I think you're funny in a belligerent and mis-informed sort of way. There is still no logic in what you are saying. However, I will have to let Talia answer your question, which perhaps I should have done to begin with rather than engage in this madness. Curiosity got the better of me.

ME! THD - I highly disagree that the two are mutually exclusive. I believe that Obama is the man to take our country to the next level, into the 21st Century. I think he has the compassion and understanding to handle international diplomacy as well as domestic with tweezers, rather than the sledge hammer our former president used.

I think President Obama supports Israel and Jews but sees a need for this insane Middle Eastern feud to end. And I agree with Jen, Iran doesn't need any provocation to attack Israel. They have been threatening for years and years.

Eretz Yisrael is my spiritual homeland. I spent time there and love the land and my people. I support Israel and do not want to see it split into pieces but I also have good friends who are Arabs, Muslims, and who call themselves Palestinians. ... Read More

I think Mr. Obama was correct to open dialogues with the Arab nations. Without dialogue, there can be no peace or understanding. I do not believe that America can survive as an insular country... (it continued but took a bit to type, so there were responses in between)


More after the jump

So... as part of my job at Patheos, I posted a discussion in our discussion forum. Here is a link to it - Are Jews to Blame?

In a nutshell (help I'm in a nutshell... sorry couldn't resist) it discusses that more Democrats than Republicans BLAME JEWS!!! for the financial crisis!!!! 34%, in fact!! That is incredible to me considering that we Jews don't have any financial magical power. There are those stereotypes. There have always been those stereotypes. Why? Because back in the day, Jews were forbidden from doing many jobs. Money lending was considered "dirty" so it was relegated to the "hated" class, the Jews. Hence, we got pretty good with numbers and some families stay in the business. Now, I don't have my head in the sand and I know that Bernie Madoff perpetrated one of the largest ponzi schemes in the history of the world and that he was Jewish but what about these?

(My post continues below these...)

(borrowed from - Business Pundit)

More after the jump

If you are like me (a week ago) you have NO idea who Molly Goldberg/Gertrude Berg is.

I was listening to NPR on Friday and heard a very interesting story. It was about this Jewish woman in the 1920's who created a sitcom, The Goldbergs. In fact, she created the genre of sitcom, to an extent. It started as a radio show and then was adapted to television. It went off the air in the 1950's. Sadly, most of the episodes were destroyed but there are a few historical records of the radio show and television show.

I read a great article on MyJewishLearning.com about The Goldbergs. Read it here
Also, there is a new film out called, Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg (a signature call of that show), by Aviva Kempner. Here is the interview with Aviva on NPR (which is what sparked my curiosity).

Gertrude Berg was an actress and writer (screenwriter, eventually), one of the first women to hold those roles. She was born in NY to a Jewish family and wrote about what she knew, Jewish family life in NYC. She was the first person to receive the Emmy for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series but things weren't always funny for Gertrude. She was loyal to her cast/friends, almost to a fault. When her television husband, Phillip Loeb, was accused of Communism (he was involved in the Actor's Equity Union and AFRA to better conditions for actors), Gertrude stood by him... until she was forced to let him go for fear that the show would be taken off the air. She did, however, keep him quietly on the payroll because he was eminently unemployable after being blacklisted by McCarthy. Though she provided for him, Phillip Loeb sank into a depression. Being unable to work and with failing eyesight, he ultimately committed suicide in 1955.

Gertrude addressed real issues affecting Jews in America with her scripts. Ms. Kempner mentions this in her interview with NPR, "Very early on as Hitler rose in power, she had a very overt Passover scene on radio," says Kempner. "Some months after Kristallnacht, she had a stone being thrown through the window on the radio show, and while no one was addressing the Holocaust on TV, she had an episode where she got letters from her relatives."

But Molly Goldberg was everyone's mother during those 26 years (20 years on radio and six years on television)... imagine that! 26 years! We are lucky if a show lasts one year these days.

She was the stereotypical Jewish mother but not in a negative way. Always positive and with dignity. It didn't matter where you lived or if you had ever met a Jew, you loved Molly Goldberg.
President Roosevelt supposedly said, "I didn't get us out of the Depression, The Goldbergs did."

Once the television show went off the air, Gertrude moved onto the Broadway stage earning a Tony for her work in A Majority of One.

Gertrude Berg (zt"l) passed away in 1966.

What a powerful history that I never knew. I will be looking for anything I can find from the amazing 26 years of The Goldbergs and if you want to see something now, the article from MyJewishLearning.com has a few clips.

I have to say that I was incredibly disappointed in this episode of What Not To Wear.
What they neglected to show is that Mayim is an Orthodox Jewish woman and she following the laws of tznius (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tznius). They even had her study partner on the show to talk about it (http://www.jewinthecity.com/a/2009/05/mayim-bialik-to-guest-star-on-a-very-special-jew-in-the-city.html) but they cut it.

They criticize the length of her skirts and encourage her to hem her skirts shorter and wear sleeveless tops but that may not be what she feels is appropriate. Why can't we find modest and attractive clothing? Why can't longer skirts look attractive? Why isn't modesty attractive?

I was really looking forward to this episode to see beautiful modest clothing in respect of Mayim's beliefs but I was disappointed... I still love Stacey and Clinton but I think they missed a great opportunity to speak to a chunk of the population who dress modestly.

Things that I love -

• Rainstorms
• My family (even if they are crazy)
• Clean sheets
• Squash (... I'm not even a little bit kidding, and yes, I mean the veg)
• A night out with friends
• Learning new Jewish "stuff"
• Catching Sherlock Holmes/Hercule Poirot/M*A*S*H*/Murder, She Wrote on tv randomly
• Making new friends
• Writing letters and postcards by hand & using the postal service to mail them
• Benefit blush (shallow, I know... but I do love it) & mascara
• My besties that I rarely see because I live by mountains and they live by oceans
• Friends who step up and love you when you need it
• People who do random acts of kindness for no reason
• Honest compliments
• QUOTES!

Things that I hate -

• Food that is so spicy that is makes my mouth burn
• When people abruptly stop talking to me
• Intolerance
• Restaurants that don't serve anything that doesn't have pork or shellfish in it (SOME PEOPLE CAN'T EAT THAT STUFF!!)
• Unanswered text messages
• People who hold grudges
• Being judgmental
• Lies (especially the ones that hurt)
• Short rainstorms
• Men who can't grow up & treat people around them like crap
• People who don't know that bacon is pork (okay, it is pretty funny... but seriously!)
• People who you trust but then treat you like crap
• People who manipulate you
• Not being able to let go of the hurt

Never make someone a priority
who makes you an option.
Let the filtering begin.

Do the words "Jon" "and" "Kate" make you want to hang yourself? Have you dreamt of putting gum in Kate's hair just so she has to cut those ridiculous things she calls bangs off? Have you checked with your significant other to see if you can handle adopting at least the 6 little ones (because frankly, Maddie is a little brat) to save them from the woman to has pictures to prove she gave birth to them? Then this blog is for you...

I think it is HILARIOUS.

Things I Want To Punch In The Face

I got this in an email from Parasha Partners today. It is a really helpful guide for the Saturday morning services.

CAN YOU STAND IT?
by RABBI REUVEN DRUCKER

I occasionally go to synagogue on Shabbat, but feel very uncomfortable — I never know when to stand or sit. I expect that I will eventually figure it out, but it would be helpful if there were some general guidelines you can provide.

1. Baruch She’amar (the beginning of what’s called “Pesukei d’Zimra”), p. 370;
2. V’yavareich David, p. 396;
3. Amidah (silent prayer), p. 420, and the chazzan’s repetition of the Amidah (unless one is infirm), Kedushah (if one sits during the repetition), p. 422;
4. the carrying of the Sefer Torah (Torah scroll), p. 436 & p.458;
5. the Mussaf prayer and its repetition by the chazzan, p. 462, including Kedushah, p. 464 (if one sits during the repetition);
6. Aleinu, p. 480.

Rabbi Drucker can be reached at rabbidrucker@partnersintorah.org