by Douglas [➚] · Friday, June 9th, 2006
So I finally watched a tape of a new movie that was sent to me, gosh, two or three months ago, called When Do We Eat? The producers wanted me to see it because, first off, they figured as a somewhat controversial Jewish thinker/writer, I’d be more inclined to “get it” than the average Joe or Jew, and because they were interested in what I thought of the horrified reactions from critics as trusted as those of the New York Times – who saw this film as yet another example of crass anti-Semitism.
What’s so interesting about the film, and the varied reactions, is that flaws that might be interpreted as uneven filmmaking in any other film are here considered to be some sort of Jewish self-loathing.
True enough, the film suffers a bit from not knowing exactly what kind of movie it wants to be. In the comic film tradition of the Christmas Eve family movie, the members of a rather varied American Jewish family are gathering for the annual Passover Seder. And their antics and professions (one is a sex worker, another is a dot.com exec-turned-Chabadnik, one is a publicist of some kind, one is a lesbian) are all the stuff of typical farce.
In terms of pure movie-making, the farcical antics of the first half of the movie force us as an audience to treat the characters as “types” we don’t really care about – so the more transcendent message of the rest of the film can get lost. I mean, it’s hard for Laverne and Shirley to make deep, resonant messages, as well. And we don’t expect it from Meet the Parents.
But, because this is a Jewish-themed film, it’s even harder for those of us with a connection to Judaism to make the leap from farce to allegory. And that’s what for me makes the film, itself, an interesting experience – and something I’d suggest you do when the DVD comes out later this summer.
The real message of the movie is that the Seder can become as transformative a ritual as a great acid trip; this stuff goes deep. But the experience of the film forces a certain kind of modern viewer – people like those of us who read Jewschool – to consider the state of Jewish storytelling, our own reactions to Jewish stereotypes, and our intolerance of people making light of our holy days. (I find it hard to imagine people taking offense – on religious grounds – to a version of ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ that may have displeased them.)
Can we stand a Pesach movie with both some flaws and some genuinely poignant realizations about the timelessness of this tradition? In era of Heebification, the successes and failures of this film are worth examining.
by Douglas [➚] · Tuesday, November 29th, 2005
Orthodox rabbis and the principals of the 43 Yeshivas in a New Jersey community called Lakewood make it official: No Internet in Homes with Children. Lakewood’s orthodox have already begun removing computers from their homes.
On the bright side, it means they can’t complain that what we’re saying online is bad for their kids.
Here’s the news story.
(Thanks to Kevin at Consumatron for the link….)
by Douglas [➚] · Thursday, April 21st, 2005
Why Toronto artist Melissa Shiff is exhibiting at NYU’s Center for Jewish Life instead of the Jewish Museum or, better, MOMA, is a mystery to me. But get there while you can to see one of the most innovative uses of space, myth and texture I’ve encountered in a long long time.
It’s a provocative and playful exploration of the real values underlying Pesach, transmitted to its audience through a series experiential installations that hit all the senses. From a video special effect that puts you at the center of the Red Sea, to a floor filled with pillows that crunch (yes, that’s matzah) as you walk across them, a Miriam bar, an Elijah lounge, and a plague animation, the installation embraces you with the real spirit and content of this holiday.
Of course, ghettoizing the best of Jewish conceptual art at a Jewish student center might be great for the students, but sequesters important works from the general audiences who might appreciate this work for something other than its “Jewishness.” Until we stop seeing art as a form of outreach, I fear work like this – which transcends the goals of the few institutions who might choose to fund it – will remain sadly under-appreciated.
See “Crush Oppression” at the Bronfman Center 7 East 10th Street, New York City, Mon-Thurs from 11am to 7pm, Fri-Sat 11-5 and 7-9, and Sun noon-6pm, until May 2.
by Douglas [➚] · Sunday, March 20th, 2005
Our own Barbara Rushkoff, interviewed at YNet News: 
“I love to tell the story of Ruth, because I think she is a righteous, cool woman who was not only the first convert but also the first feminist. I love that a non-Jewish woman redeemed land for the Jews, how she wanted to become a full fledged Jew and how she embraced the whole “a woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do†philosphy – how cool is that?”
by Douglas [➚] · Friday, December 10th, 2004
Have you all seen this one, yet? I usually hate this sort of stuff, but the Outkast kinda kicks.
by Douglas [➚] · Thursday, December 25th, 2003
It concerns me that Mobius and other like-minded, ethical, and energetic people are wasting so much of their time arguing over Judaism. Believe me, I know what it’s like to watch one’s religion be hijacked by ne’er-do-wells. And I understand how frustrating it is to be engaged in one of the only blogs that dares to tell the truth about Jewish funding and power, and to be ostracized as a result–even by the so-called ‘hip’ Jews.
I just got off the phone with Mobius, in fact. He was talking about some people who like Jewschool, but can’t participate because they are hoping, someday, to get funding from the very people Jewschool occasionally criticizes. These cool kids, well, they take the philanthropy money knowing full well that they don’t mean to deliver to the philanthropy what they want–but also knowing it’s foolish to bite the hand that feeds you. At least not in a way that they can figure out.
But please, get real. The place you take your money from really is who you work for. Jewish hip is not cool. It is the appropriation of other culture’s cool in order to attract confused people to Judaism. This is why the philanthropies pay for it.
Real cool is self-generated. It’s people hanging out in groups, devising their own ‘cultural product.’ Not buying someone else’s, or waiting around for hand-outs from people they despise. (It’s why Keith Richards is so upset about Mick Jagger accepting his knighthood–but that’s another story.)
But Mobius was still upset–frustrated–in the battle over Judaism. How are “we” going to mount a resistance to the people who have taken over Judaism–who seem to own it? What I said to Mobius–and he asked me to repeat here–is that everybody is arguing over a word: Judaism. Judaism is this, Judaism is that.
Fact is, NOTHING IS ANYTHING. Read Robert Anton Wilson, or any general semantics text. “IS” creates false equalities between language and real stuff. This is an apple. No! You simply assign the value ‘apple’ to that object in order to refer to it. The word apple, like the word Judaism, lives way over there in the world of symbols.
Why waste our time arguing about that word–about who might be practicing the most legitimate form of that word, who owns that word, etc.? I’m much more interested in solving the corporate-sponsored water crisis in Brazil than arguing about whether its perpetrators should be funding a kitsch Jewish periodical.
I don’t feel the need to ‘win back’ Judaism from the corporations who may be owning it, or even the fundamentalists who refuse to argue issues (but never cease name-calling). Are these the best people to be concerned with?
Just because they’re “Jewish” doesn’t make them any more interesting to engage. Interacting with them isn’t any more gratifying or educational than engaging with the most fundamentalist Christians in America.
What? We’re supposed to engage with them because they are *our* loonies? *Our* brothers and sisters? No deal.
My brothers and sisters are the people who have committed themselves to making the world a better place, to dispelling ignorance, and to developing compassion. These are the people I consider good Jews, even though most of them aren’t (weren’t born Jews, or aren’t practicing Jews). Of course, I don’t refer to them out loud as Jews, because that word means something else to them.
Halakhah, covenant, etc. I know I know. Judaism has particularities and is unique in the way it brings us to want to be holy people. Believe me, I know.
We may only live once. We may only have a very short time to make a positive difference in this reality. I still do believe we people can make a difference. I simply fear that arguing over this word Judaism, and over the internal politics and external marketing of this word is robbing us of the will to make that difference. This, if anything, is the enemy’s objective.
by Douglas [➚] · Wednesday, December 24th, 2003
(Adapted from an earlier post on Rushkoff.com)
Christmas is a weird time for Jews. It’s treated by most of America as a secular holiday, like Valentine’s Day or Halloween (I know – neither started as a secular holiday, but they’ve lost most of their religious or pagan content). But it really feels to a lot of Jews like Christmas is still about Christ, or at least about a value system that’s post-Judaic.
For some Jews, Christmas is where we draw the line of our assimilation. In other words, we might go see Handel’s Messiah, but we won’t decorate a tree, or have one in the living room. (Even though the tree is actually a very pre-Christian pagan German thing, I know.)
That’s why it’s kind of funny that Hannukah is celebrated at this time, too. Not because of the whole ‘oil lamps defy the darkness of solstice’ thing, which I’m sure has its pagan roots, too. No, it’s because Hannukah celebrates a war against assimilation – a moment where religious, country Jews stormed the city and clobbered the Jews who had given up their identity and assimilated into Greek culture, and then forced them all to have circumcisions.
It is often said that without the Hannukah wars, Judaism would have perished. So it’s kind of fun that this holiday about fighting the pull of assimilation – about drawing the line, and feeling the difference – happens right when America is at its most Christian feeling for many of us.
But this year, after writing a book about Judaism that looks at some possible ‘end games’ through which to transform consciousness by perhaps dispensing with the word and race of Judaism and spreading its codes and ideas more universally, I had a weird thought: What if the Hannukah wars had never happened? What if Judaism were absorbed into Greek culture? Would the Greeks have incorporated more Jewish ideas, or would the Judaic idea – the notion that people can make the world a better place – have perished?
I wonder. I don’t mean to start any arguments, here, (heh) but was Judaism’s great golden age during those early Greek centuries, when non-Jews lined up outside our Beit Midrashes (houses of study) in order to read Talmud and argue theology with our rabbis? If Judaism had merged with Greek culture then and there, would we have gotten the Enlightenment 15 hundred years earlier? Would we have gotten out of the next 1800 years of persecution?
Or would the world be a darker place?
Just a thought, on Hannukah. Happy Holidays.
by Douglas [➚] · Wednesday, December 10th, 2003
Yay. The stuff I said in Nothing Sacred is finally reaching the mainstage: middle-of-the-road rabbis. Check out this article on Rabbi Sasso in Indiana, who argues that Judaism be viewed as an evolving civilization, not a “Preservation Society.”
by Douglas [➚] · Thursday, October 2nd, 2003
“Israel unveiled plans on Thursday to build more than 600 new homes in Jewish settlements, drawing fresh Palestinian condemnation a day after Israel approved an expansion of its security barrier in the West Bank.
“The government published tenders for a series of building projects planned for three West Bank settlements on occupied land in defiance of a U.S.-backed ‘road map’ peace plan that calls for a halt to construction at settlements.”
by Douglas [➚] · Wednesday, July 23rd, 2003
A publicist for www.Jewishdating.us just emailed me. Apparently, it’s not a Jewish dating site, but a site to discuss *other* Jewish dating sites. According to the press release, “The first ever web site set up to talk about Jewish dating has now gone live.”
“JewishDating.us (www.jewishdating.us) acts as an independent resource and forum where Jewish people can not only discuss and share their experience of using online Jewish dating services such as JDate, JCupid and other services, but also comment on the rise of speed dating and other ways for Jewish people to meet their ideal Jewish partner.”
“With nearly one million Jewish people around the world either signed up to or previewing online Jewish dating services, JewishDating.us aims to be a helpful resource when choosing and using which service provider to go with.”
So I propose we start yet another site – JewishDatingDiscussionsDiscussion.com – where we can compare the relative merits of sites on which Jewish dating sites are discussed. And so on.
by Douglas [➚] · Monday, June 2nd, 2003
The UJA just yanked their interview with me from their web site for being too, well, you be the judge.
by Douglas [➚] · Saturday, May 24th, 2003
UK Jewish Comedy Website: the inheritors of the borscht belt or sketch comedy writers looking for work? Or both?
by Douglas [➚] · Tuesday, May 20th, 2003
BitterLemons.org is assembling some pretty interesting coverage of the Middle East conflict, for those who need a more nuanced approach than what the news offers.
by Douglas [➚] · Wednesday, April 23rd, 2003
My wife, the gorgeous and inimitable Barbara Rushkoff, will be exhibited starting this Friday night at the Philadelphia Jewish Museum. We’ll both be there at the opening, Friday evening, to celebrate. Come if you can!
by Douglas [➚] · Tuesday, April 22nd, 2003
“Whether you like the classics of Fiddler on the Roof or the more modern Eurovision winner Dana International, the UK’s first and only Jewish ringtone and logo service is bringing the Jewish flavour to mobile phone users.”
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