If you were interested in bidding on ponzi scheme-schmendrick Bernie Madoff’s intimate apparel…well, I have bad news for you.
This past weekend, a trove of Mr. Madoff’s personal items, ranging from a 10.5 carat diamond ring to his underwear, were auctioned off at top dollar.
Caveat emptor!
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Fashion designer Zac Posen adjusts orthodox teen contestant Esther Petrack before one of the final runway competitions on ANTM
If you’re anything like me, you’re just dying to hear impassioned opinions on ANTM (that’s America’s Next Top Model, for the non-cognoscenti among you) from someone who has never once watched the show.
What follows is based on a controversial clip featuring an Orthodox–or more specifically, a Modern Orthodox–Jewish contestant from the recent cycle of the CW reality show and the virtual ruckus it caused among the online community, Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike.
In case you have not seen this yet, here are some…visuals:
18-year-old Maimonides alum Esther Petrack was recently eliminated from the popular CW reality television show and has finally spoken out to dispel the rumors about her and to address the damning insinuations circulating among the blogosphere and beyond. In a Nov. 3 article in the Jerusalem Post, for example, the Orthodox Jewish reality TV star responded to a rumor that she had lived in Mea She’arim and was excommunicated by explaining that she had never lived there, and adding: ““How did they even find out about me? The video was on the Internet, which they’re not fans of, anyway.”
Indeed in that same interview, Petrack explained that she is not, nor has she ever been haredi. Yet despite this, the media persists in sensationalizing her story by describing her as haredi or ultra-orthodox.
Example:
Amusingly, the Israeli news reporter here also describes the school she attended in Boston (Maimonides–one of the bastions of so-called Centrist/Modern Orthodox Jewish education in the U.S.) as “haredi.” Haredi or not, Petrack’s appearance on the show created a stir among many in both the US and Israel who self-identify as “frum.” The infamous clip of the show went viral in the Orthodox community over a month ago, causing outrage and declamatory, self-righteous tongue wagging wherever it raised its scandalous head. One can understand why such provocative television might elicit a raised eyebrow or two but, in all honesty, I think such righteous indignation is misplaced. In all of the online discussion of this admittedly rather ridiculous episode, search though I might, nowhere could I find condemnation of what seemed to me to be the most shocking moment of all: an instance of blatant religious discrimination. In the video clip above, Tyra Banks makes clear, in no uncertain terms, that all contestants, irrespective of their beliefs or practices, are expected to conform to the show’s 24/7 work schedule, religious observance be damned.
While the norms and mores of civilized life are often suspended in ironically titled “‘reality” TV moments like these make me squirm more than scenes of so-called survivors consuming their own feces in order to prolong, for just another glorious week, their “15 minutes of fame.”
If an employer in the US today denied work to a prospective employee based on her/his religious practice, the almost automatic result would be a job discrimination lawsuit with an expectedly grim outcome for the employer . While, just under a century ago, pious Jewish immigrants, fresh-off-the-boat from Europe would routinely lose their jobs and face poverty and even starvation if they did not work on Saturday, thankfully times have changed dramatically, and now religious tolerance is a blessed norm in the US: no longer does a Jew have to choose between starvation for him/herself and his/her family and Sabbath observance. (Thanks is of course also due to courageous labor unions for more humane work hours and weekends off.) The apparent demand of the show’s creator and hostess, Banks, that Petrack chose between “honoring the Sabbath” and being part of the show, would seem to be a throwback to “bad old times” before anti-discrimination laws established norms of fairness and equality in hiring.
As to the “case” itself, we can hardly blame an 18 year old for the offenses of a crassly sensationalistic, heavily edited, celebrity-powered televised competition. While the wisdom of entering such a competition might be questioned at the outset, what Petrack does is her personal choice; she is not forcing anyone – Orthodox or not — to watch or to sanction or imitate her actions.
Much of the online uproar surrounding Petrack’s supposedly hypocritical activity as an Orthodox Jewish young woman is actually misinformed. We later learn, via a blog comment posting by Petrack’s mother (or someone posing as Petrack’s mother. However you please), that her daughter’s statement, “I will do it,” (viz., desecrate the Sabbath by working) was actually edited out of context. Upon re-watching the clip, you can see the response, indeed, was edited. Despite the remaining tsniut (modesty) issue, Esther’s Shabbat observance may very well have been ‘technically kosher’—contrary to the way several articles (even some sympathetic) suggest.
A good part of me empathizes with Petrack. How many of us can readily recall certain decisions and activities undertaken at the tender age of 18 that we would not exactly wish to immortalize on video? Especially for those of us raised in Modern Orthodox milieus, the eternal saga of rationally reconciling the two (modern and orthodox) is a plight that strongly resonates. Granted, at least in my line of work, this doesn’t generally involve lifting one’s shirt on television…..at least not as far as I can remember, anyway.
One day, when I host a Jewishly-observant-themed talk-show entitled Halakhically Incorrect, I think Petrack should be a guest.
Anyone who has, at some point, lived a genuinely modern and Orthodox existence knows that certain actions, on paper, (or, in this case, video edited out of context) could easily baffle others. Or, as one of my good friends from college whom I recently visited remarked while laughing with a glint in his eye, “Remember when I used to sin for you on Saturdays?” referring to my Shabbat observance in which several of my more keyed-in non-Jewish friends and living-mates knew to flip the bathroom switch on before I ducked in on the seventh day of the week.
In short, the real judgment in this case should be against Banks for issuing such a shockingly intolerant ultimatum, not against an 18 year old struggling to reconcile traditional religious observance and modernity. But Banks is “nit fun unzere” (translation: not one of the “tribe”). So why attack her, right?
Naches all around.
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Moshe's NY Kosher on Devon Avenue
Back in January, a Chicago Jewish News cover story asked if Devon Avenue, once known as the “Jewish Mag Mile” on the city’s far north side was nifter. The Tribune wrote it up in May and last week, even the Chicago Reader picked up on the story with the move of Rosenblum’s Judaica to Skokie and the closure of Good Morgan Fish and Morgan Harbor. This follows the shuttering of Brisk Yeshiva, MiTsu Yun, Jerusalem Pizza and others in recent years. What was once a mile long strip of stores is a shadow of itself.
My mother remembers when Devon was a classy street with quality merchant stores, but that was in the 50′s. Since I can remember it from the mid-70′s it was always a bit run down, heavily ethnic (it is the most diverse mile of pavement in all of Chicago) but not without its charm. The Indo-Pak part of the street is now far more dense, lively and even clean.
Jewishly speaking, the locus of W. Rogers Park has been rapidly shifting North toward Touhy and even Howard. The Russian immigrants who once kept the shift at bay have moved to the burbs. In the last five years we’ve seen several new shuls open on Touhy, including Sharei Tzedek (aka Bais Barnaby’s), Mkor Hayyim, Sephardic Ohel Shalom and the new Adas Jeshurun. These are joined by Or Menorah and the Egal Minyan in the Temple Menorah building closer to Howard, where a ‘Kosher’ jewel opened 5 years back.
Is Devon dying? Of course it is. But it has been dying for three decades now. Someday I’ll drive my kids through the neighborhood and show them what once was, just as last week I drove through N. Lawndale, where my grandfather grew up a century ago. There too are the shells of shuls by the dozen, now Baptist churches. Undoubtedly the Sentinel or Forward back in the 50′s decried the “Demise of Douglas Boulevard.” And fifty years from now, my grandchildren will read a post on their iPads about the “Downfall of Dundee,” around which there is now another great cluster of Jewish life.
Ein chadash takhat ha-shemesh!
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I don’t begrudge all the earnest folks who do good work for the jooz. I even like when they are all named to important lists. Like Slingshootz. And the Forvertz 50. And the Joozish Week 36-24-36. Etc. Etc. Etc.
But I begz your pardon, what’s with this Jewish Community Zeroes thingy? All the issues of teh femalez aside teh questionz iz, ‘Wasnt this whole thing just a clever tactic for JFNA* to collect several hundred thousand emailz of teh young Jooz? *(not their real name, which is much longer and is never to be abbreviated even to save space)
We at Jewschool felt we ought to do the same… Since we’re all about the Joozploitation, we are very proud to announce…
**Teh Jewschool Progressive 36 Lamed Vavnik Double Chai Latte Hero Sandwichez… Bitchez.**
Zero Calories
Step one:
We announce the contest and make it sticky on the site. (check)
Circulate it via email, blogosphere and intertubes. (need your help here)
Develop snarky but slick logo that looks Obama-esque (uh, check?)
Step two:
Nominations accepted via form submission on the website
Post facebook event/app/group/widget to redirect voters to jewschool.com
Be sure that heads of major Joowish organizations and entities iz nominated.
Also, anyone with a huge email/twitter/facebook following…
Note that femalez iz welcome to apply but will not be winnerz
(cuz they iz too stoopid… naw, cuz they all already iz heroz- hi mom!)
Step three:
Inform all nominees they are finalists. Because they are all special.
To be named a 36, they must encourage their supporters to vote for them
(and be popular).
Votes are accepted via hosted form, which collects their name, locale,
email, etc.
Step four:
Announce winners of the cheerleading squad via press release, youtubz
and facespaces.
Compile voter list into email database and announce winners via email list
Solicit their financial support, just for shirtz and gigglz
step five:
Use the email list for our own purposez: to give all teh kittehz cheezburgerz er- Kosher tofu-parve cheezburgers..!
Muuuuhahahahahaha!!!! I eatz it up. I laffs at u.
More »
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Around the country, yesterday, many cheered and many booed as Chief US District Judge Vaughn Walker declared Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California, as unconstitutional and in contradiction of the due process clause.
While a seeming majority of US Jews are clearly supportive of overturning the ballot proposition, known in many circles in California as “Prop H8,” the Orthodox Union made this bizarre statement, according to the JTA:
“In addition to our religious values — which we do not seek to impose on anyone — we fear legal recognition of same-sex ‘marriage’ poses a grave threat to the fundamental civil right of religious freedom.
“Forcing a choice between faith and the law benefits no one,” it added, concluding that the OU looked forward to the appeals process.
In what world does the OU live? Apparently one where they will be forced by US law to officiate at same-sex marriages? Yes, that’s right, here in America practices and beliefs are forced upon religious organizations all the time. That’s why every synagogue has to have a nativity scene or a giant set of Ten Commandment plaques…
The full statement, which can be read here, goes on to say:
Already, in states with same-sex civil unions and similar laws, religious institutions, including churches, social service providers and youth groups have been penalized by authorities for their beliefs. Forcing a choice between faith and the law benefits no one.
We look forward to the appeals process which will bring these critical issues to America’s highest courts.
Oh! Now I get it! They are against being told what to do or believe because it impedes the religious freedoms of a sliver of a tiny minority population in the US (which I really don’t understand how their freedoms are impeded at all)… What they are NOT against is taking away the constitutional rights of at least 10% of the US population who have been relegated to second-class citizen status and forced to stand by as the sacred institution of marriage is maintained for adulterers and wife-beaters… Good ol’ fashioned sense and reasoning from the OU.
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Things just move too fast in the Middle East to keep up these days.
And in commentary, Gershom Gorenberg says despite American Jews’ dissonance on Israel’s illiberalism, there are now new venues for the expression of your values. “Don’t give up. Get involved.”
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Well, this was the week that was. As a service to all you loyal readers I bring you the following analysis of the week’s events which will put everything into perspective. (Courtesy of Arutz Sheva, of course.)
Rabbis: Flotilla Clash Similar to Gog and Magog Prophecy
Sivan 21, 5770, 03 June 10 07:34by Gil Ronen
(Israelnationalnews.com) The Rabbinical Council of Judea and Samaria issued a statement Thursday in which it said that the results of the incident in which Israel intercepted a flotilla trying to break the naval blockade of Gaza seem like the Biblical description of “the beginning of the Gog and Magog process where the world is against us, but which ends with the third and final redemption.”The statement explained that while secular Zionism always wants Israel to be beloved by other nations, “the legitimacy of our people is not derived from the nations of the world and their poisonous traditions, rather from the Torah of Israel which teaches us that [Israel] ‘is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations’” (Numbers 23:9). They emphasized that there is no reason to be alarmed by the world’s condemnation as it is a predicted result of fear of Israel’s success.
The Council blessed the soldiers of the IDF and called for the formation of an emergency unity government that will lead the nation from a position of strength.
[…]
Is that clear?
Full story here.
(Tip o’ the hat to Nachman Umani.)
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An e-mail from J Street tipped me off this morning to a horrifyingly genuine thing: Jewish Americans for Sarah Palin.
And yes, the above picture is actually featured on their website.
There’s really nothing I can add to their own words, so I’ll just reproduce their launch op-ed here:
Op-Ed: Palin’s policies reflect Americans’ spirit on Israel
By Benyamin Korn · April 18, 2010
PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — The Obama administration’s tilt against Israel, its tacit acceptance of a nuclear-armed Iran and its weak approach to combating Islamic terrorism all pose a direct challenge to Jewish Americans.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has described the “Obama doctrine” in U.S. foreign policy as “coddling our enemies while alienating allies.” Palin has emerged as the leading public voice in opposition to President Obama’s dangerous new direction.
For these reasons, my colleagues and I are launching a national organization of Jewish Americans for Sarah Palin, supported by the new Web site JewsforSarah.com — Home Page for Jewish Independents.
JASP is comprised of academic, religious and community leaders who are dedicated to promoting consideration of Palin’s policy positions in the wider American Jewish community. We are unconnected to any political campaign or fund-raising organization.
We find Palin’s positions on Israel, Iran, national security, fiscal responsibility, energy and social policy — as well as her record on these issues as governor of Alaska and candidate for vice president of the United States — to be serious, substantive and politically mainstream. More »
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A shonde of infinite proportions. I was in disbelief when I heard of this and sure enough it’s factual and true. Richard Goldstone, the author of the ‘Goldstone Report’ on the war in Gaza has been pressured by South African Zionist organizations to not attend his own grandson’s bar mitzvah service because they have threatened to protest.
JTA reports: (I found a link here, but I’m sure there’s more)
Jewish groups, including the South African Zionist Federation, had planned to organize a protest outside the synagogue if Goldstone was in attendance, according to reports.
Rabbi Moshe Kurtstag, who heads the South African Beth Din, or religious court, said he was not involved in the negotiations, but he lauded the outcome. “People have got feelings about it, they believe he put Israel in danger and they wouldn’t like him to be getting honor,” he said.
Reached in Washington, where he is now based, Goldstone was reluctant to comment, but did say that “In the interests of my grandson, I’ve decided not to attend the ceremony at the synagogue.”
Arthur Chaskalson, a retired chief justice of South Africa, said it was “disgraceful” to put pressure on a grandfather not to attend his grandson’s bar mitzvah.
“If it is correct that this has the blessing of the leadership of the Jewish community in South Africa, it reflects on them rather than Judge Goldstone,” Chaskalson said. “They should hang their heads in shame.”
Seriously. What a shonde. They should hang their head in shame, and it’s equally shameful that the rabbi didn’t say as much. When a rabbi agrees that a person should not be in attendance at their grandchild’s bat/bar mitzvah and all because of politics, well, from here it seems that sinat hinam is reaching dangerous levels. Shame on them.
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Happy Rosh Chodesh, everyone!
• Harvey Pekar, best known for his American Splendor comics, is working on the provocatively titled How I Lost Faith in Israel (via Bleeding Cool). Incidentally, I recently stumbled across Pekar’s graphic adaptation of Studs Terkel’s Working
• If your friends are anything like mine, then you’ve probably already seen the New York Times article about Delis about 30,000 times. Where to begin. The title, “Can the Jewish Deli Be Reformed?” made me want to point out that most of the delis are already on the liberal side of the spectrum, but when the article quotes a deli owner as describing kosher meat as “meat that gets blessed by a rabbi” without correcting him, I wanted to cry.
• If you happen to be looking over my shoulder when Twitter is on the screen rather than Reader, then surely you’ve already seen the list of Joshua Venture Fellows, the first since the Venture rose from dormancy. You’ll note some of Jewschool’s favorite (and previously blogged-about) projects among the list, including G-dcast, Uri L’Tzedek, and Challah for Hunger.
• There’s been a lot of hipster/Hasid synergy lately – did you catch the report on NPR about how Williamsburg is one of the neighborhoods with the lowest census returns in all of New York, thereby screwing New York City out of federal funds and representation?
• Have you signed on to The Charter for Compassion yet? “We therefore call upon all men and women to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion…”
• I haven’t tried it out in person yet, but Magic Yad looks like a super cool mashup of Leap Frog and Torah.
• The West End Synagogue in NY is having a one-day symposium about “The New Pluralism in American Jewish Life” this coming Sunday. Here’s a link to a PDF of their flier. I hope what they lack in graphic design they’ll make up in content. NB that our very own BZ is one of the speakers.
• One of our favorite blogs, DovBear, interviews a Reform Rabbi! See, most of DovBear’s readers are Orthodox, so whether the interview itself is interesting or not, the comments surely will be. (And by “interesting,” I might mean “a shit show.”)
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You may recall last month when professional Fox News shit-shoveller pundit-face douchebag Glenn Beck announced that social justice has no place in religion and that if your church says anything about social justice, you should run for the hills.
Jewish social justice outfit Jewish Funds for Justice decided to fight back by creating a central repository of anti-Beck haikus. And they’re tweeting them at him. It’s all good. Just go to Haiku Glenn Beck or tweet using the #tag #becku.
Some of my faves:
And Jesus said to
All his hungry disciples
“Hands off my fish, chumps”
it used to be just
thirty pieces of silver
but now? sponsor’s gold
Glenn Beck knows that when
Jesus preached social justice
it was sarcasm.
Beckstein reminds me
of the kid in my Jew school
who ate the glue stick
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At least once a day, I get an email from someone advertising something in a particular, but unnamed, liberal part of the Jewish community that mentions a woman and gives her the title “Reb.”
Can someone please explain to these folks that the word “reb” means “Mr”? “Reb” does NOT mean “Rabbi.” Reb, when a rabbi uses it in front of his name, is a sign of modesty on his part (or alternatively a claim to it that’s akin to the old joke which ends “look who thinks he’s nothing!”).
“Reb,” when a woman uses it in front of her name, is demonstrating that contrary to being knowledgeable, she (or whoever put the title there) is actually ignorant about the Yiddish culture she is attempting to co-opt. Granted there is at least one woman rabbi I know of who uses this term knowingly, and I acknowledge that there is a need for terms that parallel respectful terms for men, but if you’re a rabbi, can you please just call yourself either “Rabbi” or “Rabbah?” Or coin a new term, I don’t care. “Reb” just makes you ridiculous. Seriously, I can’t help but wonder if Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, who seems to have some connection with this usage and certainly knows better, is having a private laugh at you behind your back.
Rant off. Thanks for listening.
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Humanitarian aid arriving in Haiti? Essential goods finally delivered to Gaza?
Oh wait, it’s just the opening of the first H&M store in Israel last week…
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I picked up this little clay Hasid paperweight in a tourist market in Krakow. He has a diamond in his hand. Reactions to him vary, from astonishment to rage.
Rabbi Duvid Bergman of the Radziner Shul in Boro Park gives spectacular shiurim in a concise and eloquent Poylish Yiddish. For all of our Yiddishists out there – s’iz nisht keyn treyf-posl.
Juan Goytisolo, arguably Spain’s great living novelist, released a radical revision of his text Juan the Landless. In this new revision-translation, we meet a Spaniard tortured by a vicarious guilt for the crimes of his country – the persecution of Muslims, Jews, and homosexuals. A man with no land, no history… ain’t nothing like a little Occidental guilt.
A recent digital exhibition of Nomi Talisman’s project META/DATA is up on the website of The Judah L. Magnes Museum. Quirky.
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I posted about the Ethan Bronner thing. People are behaving remarkably civil toward each other in the comments, which is not anomalous at Jewschool. But when it’s a post about Israel, civility in the comments is damn near unique.
Aaaaaaand, if you’re concerned about the fascist attacks on the New Israel Fund, try decking out your twitter profile pic with the NIF solidarity horn! It’s hot.
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