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October 31, 2005
Cathy Goes Public
For three years now, a close friend has been fighting lung cancer. She's a well known journalist here in Los Angeles and has not gone public with her illness.
Until now. Cathy Siepp has gone public. Cathy and her daughter Maia have had a Shabbos meal here at Casa Avrech and they shared a Passover seder with us.
As would be expected of this fine journalist, Cathy writes about her illness with sharp analytical skills, and her trademark dark humor.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:37 AM | Comments (2)
October 27, 2005
Leaving Brooklyn, Meet Goatboy, Larry Elder
I love a good sign and what could be more approriate than this sign posted on the Williamsburg Bridge.
Before the holidays Seraphic Friend Lisa sent us a present of the soap she and her family manufacture. She explained that her son Bobby was having severe allergic reaction to regular soaps and so Lisa started making Goatboy Soap. At first Lisa was reluctant to send us her product fearing that because we are kosher we might not be allowed to use it, but we assured her that since we are not eating the soap, well, it's no problem. After using Goatboy Soaps for a few weeks I can report that this is a wonderful product. The soaps come in many delicious scents, they work up a thick lather and a single bar seems to last forever. They also make great gifts. Thank you Lisa!
My good friend Larry Elder, visited Ariel in the hospital, and wrote a beautiful article about his visit before Ariel passed away. Larry has released a fine DVD called Michael and Me. It's Larry's take on the madness of the anti gun lobby in America. Specifically, Larry points out that guns save more lives than gun opponents are willing to admit. The scene where Larry confronts Michael Moore is priceless.
I spoke with Larry about his film and naturally we got on the topic of why so many Jews are pro gun control. Larry felt that Jews are just naturally Liberal and so unthinkingly fall into the party line. "It's really tragic, Robert," Larry said, "Jews of all people should realize that they should retain the right to bear arms. After the Holocaust, seeing what's going on in the state of Israel, every Jew should join the NRA."
This is a fine film and I urge all my readers to buy it and show it to all their friends.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:53 AM | Comments (10)
October 24, 2005
Have Shabbos Will Travel
Confession: the holidays are torture. Succos is supposed to be, z'man simchatanu, the time of our rejoicing. But we miss Ariel so much that joy is like a far shore. I sit in shul and watch the other men with their sons and I want to flee. Davening, praying, is a challenge, well, it's always a challenge, but particularly now. But as a wise man who lost two, yes two childen, once said to me: "It's supposed to be hard."
But every once in a while, something happens that's just... magical, there is no other word. For some precious moments I'm able to sit back and smile, chat with friends, meet new people and, well, become what I imagine normal is.
Last Friday night, we were invited by one of our best friends to Shabbos, Sabbath, dinner in their Succah. Their son, Yaakov, not his real name, was one of Ariel's ZT'L, best friends, and to this day, one of my most cherished photos is Yaakov holding Ariel's hand in the ICU. What the picture does not show is that Yaakov spent hours holding Ariel's hand. Most importantly Yaakov gave over divrei Torah, wisdom of Torah, to Ariel, spiritual fuel for our son.
We can always count on meeting interestng people at our friend's home for they are not insular Orthodox Jews; in fact, Baruch, (nhrn) and his wife, Adina,(nhrn), go out of their way to meet and befriend an incredibly diverse range of Jews: observant, not-so-observant, and completely secular Jews.
As we entered the home, Baruch introduced us to their other guests. There was Sarah (nhrn) and her two children. Baruch explained that Sarah's husband was upstairs, asleep.
"He's exhausted from work."
"Hard day at the office?" I quipped.
"Yes, protecting the President."
"Which President?"
"President Bush."
Oh.
My.
G-d.
Sarah explained that her husband was a member of the SWAT team with the **** County and was tapped by the Secret Service to help protect The President.
A few minutes later, Avraham, (nhrn), rumpled, wearing a yarmulke, and a tactical knife still clipped to his pocket, dragged himself downstairs and we all entered the Succah for Shabbos dinner.
It turned out that Sarah was also a cop. Both she and Avraham are observant Jews. Their teenage children go to Yeshiva.
I was, for a few minutes, in heaven. Yes, z'man simchatanu had finally materialized.
Avraham could not give details of protecting POTUS, but he did tell some hysterical Stupid Criminal Stories. CSI, he sniffed, is nonsense. Most perps are dumb as planks of wood. Naturally, his kids rolled their eyeballs as Avraham told his Stupid Criminal Stories, for they had heard them before. Many times.
When Avraham learned that I was a Hollywood screenwriter, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Who could blame him? Hollywood liberals are correctly perceived by cops (and the armed forces) as the enemy. Baruch immediately jumped in and informed Avraham that I was not one of those limousine liberals. In fact, Baruch assured Avraham of my Conservative credentials, adding that I was a member of the NRA.
It turns out that Avraham collects antique weapons. At one point, as he listed all the amazing rifles and pistols in his collection, he mentioned one rifle that I had written about in a screenplay and was intimately familiar with. And so, I took the opportuntiy to quote one of the characters from my own screenplay about this particularly wonderful rifle:
"A fine machine." I said in my best Clint Eastwood voice.
Karen cracked up, slapped the table and announced: "You have no idea how long Robert's waited to use that line!"
I smiled sheepishly for Karen is always there to keep me honest.
Oh, it was a lovely and lively evening. Only later, as we were walking home, Karen and I, Offspring #2 and her friend who is visiting from New York, (Offspring #3 is in NY), only then did I realize that Ariel would have loved meeting Avraham, would have taken immense pride in the fact that an observant Jew is a member of a SWAT team and was chosen to protect our President.
And so, yes, it sounds silly to say that the evening was magical, but for a few precious hours, under the roof of the Succah, I felt myself like any other man, enjoying the glow of Shabbos, the companionship of friends; for a few hours, grief, my default emotion was put on hold.
I wish all our readers a lovely and meaningful Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. I will not be able to blog until after Simchat Torah where I will write about the amazing Conservative Film Festival.
Oh yes, a fine article by Bloghead about the history Simchat Torah. I urge you all to read it.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:02 AM | Comments (18)
October 20, 2005
Bulgarian Mossad Agents!
Five Bulgarian Nurses and a Palestinian doctor working in Libya are on trial for their lives, accused of infecting children with the AIDS virus.
Of the 380 children that are infected, 47 have died.
The nurses and the doctor initially confessed to the charges but later claimed police extracted their confessions with torture including beatings and electric shocks.
Libyan dictator Muhammar Gaddafi has accused the nurses and the physician of being -- I kid you not -- Israeli Mossad agents. The Bulgarian nurses, who probably cannot find Israel on a map, and the Palestinian doctor, who alas, probably can, all face a firing squad.
By all accounts, the AIDS virus is rampant in some parts of the Arab world, but denial is the order of the day and who else to blame but impoverished foreigners and naturally, the eternal enemy: Jews/Israel.
It's eerily reminicent of the outrageous charges hurled at Jews during the Middle Ages when they were accused of poisoning wells and causing the Bubonic Plague.
President Bush has been protesting this sham trial vigorously. Condoleezza Rice has lodged complaint after complaint, threatening to isolate Libya diplomatically and economically.
Perhaps it's time to drop a few bombs on Gaddafi's tent again. It worked quite well when President Reagan did it. I vote for the Daisy Cutter.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:12 AM | Comments (4)
October 17, 2005
Succos Present, Succos Past
Building the Succah is supposed to be a joyous labor, but I have to confess that for me it's simply an emotional minefield. The year before Ariel died, his best friends from his high school, Yeshiva Gedolah of Los Angeles, came over to our house.
They brought soda and pizza and they all sat in our Succah and sang, told divrei Torah, and traded school stories. Ariel sat bundled in his LL Bean coat, tethered to his oxygen cannister. He was so happy. I remember sitting inside the house and just listening to the boys singing and wondering if Ariel would be around for another Succos.
Now, our Succah seems, well, haunted.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:02 AM | Comments (11)
October 12, 2005
Forgiveness
When I was seven years old my parents sent me to Camp Massad, a sleep-a-way camp. I was incredibly homesick. I was lucky though, I had the world's most wonderful counselor: Shlomo Riskin. He was about 17 years old then, and he comforted me and took me under his wing. We have been friends ever since.
A few weeks ago, Rabbi Riskin was in Los Angeles to give a series of lectures. Here's one bit of Torah he said that was incredibly powerful. He asked: Why is Yom HaKippurim in the plural? His answer, and he quoted from the Talmud, but I'm afraid I forget the daf, the page, is that forgiveness goes in two directions. We ask G-d to forgive our sins, but we also have to decide if we are going to forgive G-d for what he's done to us. Thus the plural language.
And so, I go into Yom Hakippurim asking G-d to forgive me for my sins. And yet I wonder if I'm going to forgive G-d for taking Ariel from this life.
Not everything is forgivable.
Karen and I and offsprings #2 & 3 are off to the cemetery now, to Ariel's grave, to ask him to pray for us. We wish you all a meaningful fast.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:52 AM | Comments (11)
October 11, 2005
Hebrew Kid Gets an Award
We've just been informed that The Hebrew Kid and the Apache Maiden is a Finalist in the USA Book News Awards, Young Adult Fiction category.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:03 AM | Comments (14)
October 06, 2005
Liberty in Hollywood
The winds of change are blowing through Hollywood.
The voices of sanity are being raised in the creative community. I'd like all my readers to be aware of the Liberty Film Festival. This article gives just a brief rundown on the events but you should go to the home page and definitely buy tickets.
I have spoken with Govindini Murty and Jason Apuzzo, co-directors of the festival. They are incredibly tenacious, dedicated and smart. The work they are doing is most important. Hollywood movies are powerful propaganda tools and have the potential to influence millions of people.
The Libert Film Festival is the anti Hollywood Film Festival.
If you love America this is the fesival for you.
If you love Israel this is the festival for you.
If you love truth this is the festival for you.
If you love movies this is the festival for you.
There comes a time when a dominant political ideology morphs into a dictatorship of thought. There comes a time when even common language becomes so debased that simple words such as "terror" and "terrorist" no longer have any meaning.
Why?
Because moral equivalence has so corrupted a segment of society's notions of good and evil. In fact, Liberalism has become so intolerant that it now chokes off dissent.
Liberals are simply tyrants dressed in Dolce Gabbana.
And so there is nothing for good men and women to do but throw themselves upon the gears of this odious machine. Liberals and Liberalism are the voices of appeasement. Hollywood Liberals bear a grave responsibility; their disgraceful response to 9-11 and to the global War on Terror has been to capitulate to Islamic pressure groups and cast their movies with what? The old reliables: Neo-Nazi Terrorists (practically non existant), Irish Terrorists (who have, by the way, surrendered armed struggle.) Gosh what will we see next, Icelandic Terrorists?
Hollywood depicts every form of terrorist but the ones who are out there every single day murdering innocent men, women and children -- Islamic Terrorists. If not for the Jihadists we see on the fine TV series "24" one would get the impression that the Muslim world is a force for peace in the world instead of the stew of state sponsored torture, terror, murder and destruction it truly is, if not by deed, then by its pitiless silence.
It's odd, I've never ever heard one liberal express horror that not one of the twenty-two Arab states on the face of this planet have any Jewish citizens, nor would tolerate a Jewish citizen. In fact, these deeply racist Arab societies have all rid themselves of their Jewish populations -- Yemen, Iraq, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey -- first confiscating (stealing) their property and then physically expelling nearly a million Jews, thereby putting an end to communities whose glorious origins go back as far as the third century BCE.
Liberals seem not bothered at all by these evil Islamic anti-Semitic state policies. One can only surmise that Liberal education and a fanatical belief in what has become a debased multi-culturalism leaves the Liberal no choice but to excuse Islamic societies that are Judenrein.
No, Liberals are too busy protesting the Jewish presence on the West Bank. Which, by the way, always makes good copy for Al Jazeera. Make no mistake about it, our enemies recognize "useful idiots," (Lenin's label for Western liberals,) when they see them.
And so The Liberty Film Festival rises in the heart of Hollywood to counter Michael Moore's lies, to defeat the defeatists, to arrest appeasers, to announce that not every writer and director and editor and actor and cameraman is an unthinking drone who follows the liberal party line.
Oh yes, I have been asked to introduce a wonderful Israeli film Entering Zion by two rising young documentary filmmakers K'fir Alfia and Alan Lipton of the Protest Warriors.
The film will screen Sunday, October 23, 2005, from 10:00am to 11:15am, with a ten minute Q&A afterwards. I will be doing a five minute introduction to the film, and moderate the Q&A with the filmmakers afterward.
I hope that many Seraphic Secret readers will attend this wonderful film festival.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 01:51 PM | Comments (16)
October 03, 2005
Seraphic New Year
Yesterday, Karen took Offspring #3 to Loehmann's. While in the dressing room they called Offspring #2 who was, at that very moment, telepathically, in the NY branch of Loehmann's. Totally unplanned, mind you. So when my girlses (not a mistake) shop it's a communal affair with lots of give and take and laughter. It's a joy for me, a male, to watch female society up close and personal.
We miss Ariel terribly. It's hard to believe that this is the third Rosh Hashanah without him. It's even harder to believe that we will spend the rest of our lives without him. Sometimes I look up and expect him to just walk through the door and say hello. I expect it because, well, it's enough already, this death thing, it's just gone on long enough. Hasn't it?
Karen and I want to take this opportunity to wish all our readers a happy and a healthy New Year. We thank you all for your generosity, for your kindness and for your infinite wisdom.
After the Holidays, we will continue with the How I Married Karen series.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:21 PM | Comments (14)