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January 31, 2010
Best of the Jewish Blogosphere
Fay Wray and Joel McCrea search for The Jewish Blogosphere.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2010
Friday Fotos
Recently, Ma'ayan Ariel and her parents visited Israel. Offspring #2 and her husband both spent a full year as religious seminary students in Jerusalem, but this was Ma'ayan's very first visit. They rented an apartment in Jerusalem, stayed with friends in Mo'din, visited with cousins in the Galilee, and spent a Shabbat in Efrat with Karen's brother David and his wife Elana.
Ma'ayan goes shopping.
A day at the beach in Tel-Aviv.
Climbing stairs in Jerusalem
Sunset in Mo'din.
And oh yes, when Ma'ayan was in Israel, the Hamas 54, all Democrats, took firm aim the Jewish State.
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a meaningful and joyous Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:55 AM | Comments (11)
January 28, 2010
The Two Tablets
Steve Jobs unveils the Apple iPad tablet.
Yesterday delivered a remarkable study in contrasts.
Two leaders presented their, um, tablets, to a world audience.
Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, introduced the iPad, a sleek, multifunctional tablet.
Barack Hussein Obama introduced, well, Barack Hussein Obama.
Steve Jobs handed down his tablet to the world press as a revolutionary device that will, among other goodies, create a new business model for media.
Barack Hussein Obama's tablet was BIGGER government.
Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created by Jobs.
Barack Hussein Obama has never created a single job in his entire life.
Steve Jobs has created wealth for millions of workers and stockholders—including yours truly who has been buying Apple stock since it was stuck at about $13.00 per share.
Barack Hussein Obama has never run a business, never had to meet a payroll, never created wealth for anybody.
Steve Jobs innovates.
Barack Hussein Obama supports a thuggish political status quo.
Steve Jobs created Apple computers, the iPod, the iPhone, phenomenally successful businesses. Hundreds if not thousands of spinoff businesses have been born from these products. Thus wealth is created.
Barack Hussein Obama does not believe in creating wealth, but in the redistribution of wealth.
Steve Jobs understands that he is the CEO, thus when Apple fails he takes responsibility and corrects his vision. It's called personal responsibility.
Barack Hussein Obama blames President Bush for, well, everything. It's called whining.
Steve Jobs believes in the genius of the free market.
Barack Hussein Obama believes in the genius of government—an oxymoron.
Steve Jobs believes in simple devices that are user friendly.
Barack Hussein Obama believes in armies of pencil pushers and complex layers of bureaucracy.
Steve Jobs leads by example.
Barack Hussein Obama leads by demagogic rhetoric.
I heard two great noises yesterday.
There was the great sucking sound of the Democrats going down the drain in November.
And there was the sound of Apple's stock surging into the stratosphere.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:12 AM | Comments (20)
January 27, 2010
Procession
Here's the trailer for Procession, a gem of a short film written and directed by Beth Spitalny. This is a tenderly rendered portrait of love, loss and grief. The film relies on wonderfully observed details and a classic, restrained style. There are no explosions, no special effects, no sex or nudity. Ms. Spitany is a young woman, but she directs like a veteran.
Full disclosure. I served as creative and religious consultant.
Procession is the touching story of Shayna, beautifully played by Lisa Strauss—her face is so filled with conflicting emotions that she hardly needs words to convey the depths of her pain—an orthodox girl who is unable to properly grieve when her (secret) boyfriend suddenly passes away.
Procession was invited to be part of a Fun Film Series called Cinema Speakeasy. There's a screening followed by a Q & A discussion and will take place Feb. 2nd in Echo park at 7:45pm. For more info go to: Cinema Speakeasy.
The film was also accepted by the Los Angeles Women's International Film Festival. Festival Dates are March 26 - April 1st 2010 at the Laemmles Sunset 5 in Hollywood CA. Here's their website. It is is still being updated with 2010 festival details.
For more information go to Procession. Highly recommended.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:19 AM | Comments (3)
January 26, 2010
Jean Simmons, 1929 – 2010
Jean Simmons
There are movie stars who who are movie stars because of the longevity of their careers, the high quality of their work, the charisma they project. I recognize the greatness of, say, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford without feeling any particular affection for these actresses. Their craft, their tenacity, and their ability to survive and thrive in Hollywood—a town of smiling cannibals—evokes my deepest admiration.
And then there are stars who have touched me in a way that is so profoundly personal that, when they pass away, I actually feel as if I have lost a central portion of myself.
I was just a child when I first saw Jean Simmons in David Lean's superb Great Expectations, (1946). As Young Estella, Simmons is coolly cruel and lovingly destructive to the orphan Pip. Simmons perfectly embodied Miss Havisham's monstrous creation. I loved and hated Estella/Simmons.
Simmons was just fifteen-years old when she appeared as Estella. As Pip observes, she is very proud, very pretty and very insulting.
After seeing Great Expectations, I made it my business to watch every movie in which Jean Simmons appeared. It was the beginning of my love affair with Hollywood stars. Or rather their shadows. As I soon learned as a screenwriter, Hollywood stars are just like you and me—only richer and crazier.
Angel Face (1952), paired a grown up Simmons with tough guy Robert Mitchum. Once again, Simmons plays a beautiful monster, a woman with serious daddy issues. It might be Simmons greatest performance. Even as she weaves her web of destruction, we glimpse a vulnerability that is heart-breaking. This was Simmons greatest asset, her ability to project warmth and yearning through that aloof mask of symmetrical beauty.
Here's a clip from Angel Face. The entire film is posted on youtube. Watch and listen. Simmons has a beautiful speaking voice, crisp and clear as a diamond.
In The Actress (1953) Simmons portrays a small town girl who yearns to move to New York to be an actress. Simmons is in pigtails and pinafores, light years away from the calculating femme fatale of Angel Face, and she perfectly embodies a dreamy young girl who yearns to escape her dreary life. It's a fresh and lively performance that was a mirror of my desire to escape Brooklyn and go to Hollywood.
In Elmer Gantry (1960) Simmons plays Sister Sharon Falconer, an evangelical preacher who travels through rural America. This is, perhaps, my favorite Simmons movie. Her religious convictions run deep and true, yet when she falls in love with the fast talking Elmer Gantry, Burt Lancaster, a charming huckster, her faith is sorely tested. Simmons is no saint, and she doesn't play it as such. Instead she endows Sister Sharon with a steely innocence that, eventually, leads to Gantry's moral awakening. It's a subtle, restrained performance, a great performance that should have been nominated for an Oscar.
in this clip from Elmer Gantry, Jean Simmons makes her appearance at about the four minute mark.
As Varinia, the beautiful slave girl in Spartacus (1960), Simmons loves Kirk Douglas with such depth that in the end, when she holds up her infant child for the crucified Spartacus to behold, I actually fell apart in the movie theater. Thick tears rolled down my cheeks, and I understood, perhaps for the first time, the emotional power of movies.
Here's the last scene from Spartacus. Watch and weep. The score, by the great Alex North, is one of the finest ever composed.
I've always thought of my wife Karen, as my very own Jean Simmons; the same regal bearing, penetrating eyes, ink black hair, tiny waist, and a cool, ferocious intelligence that masks a universe of deeply felt emotions.
Born in England, Simmons became an American citizen. She was married and divorced twice, to actor Stewart Granger (1950-1960) and director Richard Brooks (1960-1977). Both men were quite a bit older than Simmons and both were, ah, quite controlling. She had two daughters, one from each marriage. Simmons was an alcoholic and spent time in rehab.
In 1965, on the set of Life at the Top, Simmons was interviewed by photo journalist Eve Arnold. At age 36, Simmons was in a reflective mood, acutely aware that she was approaching that point in her career where starring roles dried up for aging beauties:
I cannot help but constantly think about that age thing. At thirty you start thinking about being forty, and pushing age. I hope to get over it soon, and then get on with it. I don't know what it is, but in this country, it is as though it is a crime to grow old. As though everybody isn't doing it. Or maybe it is just this business.
Jean Simmons passed away from lung cancer, age 80, on Friday January 22, in Santa Monica, surrounded by family.
Thank you for all your hard and beautiful work.
Rest in Peace.
For more articulate and touching Jean Simmons memorials please visit:
John Nolte at Big Hollywood.
Dan Callahan at Slant Magazine.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:54 AM | Comments (13)
January 25, 2010
I am Israel
H/T Israel Matzav
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:02 AM | Comments (4)
January 22, 2010
Friday Fotos
Designed by Frank Gehry, the Walt Disney Concert Hall is an architectural gem in downtown Los Angeles. The acoustics are wonderful and the hall seats 2, 265.
The shiny, undulating surface is stunning. The building looks like a post-modern alien space ship parked regally at 111 South Grand Avenue.
Initially, the computer-designed surfaces caused problems for neighbors as sunlight bounced off the shiny stainless steel, creating intense glare that reflected into condominiums. Rooms turned hot as steam baths. Frank Gehry and Partners solved the problem by sanding the offending panels, thereby dulling the mirror-like skin.
Tefillin alert, Tefillin alert! There, don't you feel safer.
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 05:10 AM | Comments (5)
January 21, 2010
Jewish Supermodel Joins Super Jewish Army
Let's all salute Private Esti.
I have to tell you, this story has all the ingredients for a delightful screwball comedy.
She's young, she's beautiful, she's Jewish and she's in the army. International supermodel Esti Ginzburg has joined the Israel Defense Forces while still juggling a career as a model and actress.
There aren't many international supermodels who would choose to serve in the Israeli army—right smack bang in the middle of their careers, but Israeli model Esti Ginzburg isn't about to let that stop her.
The 19-year-old from Tel Aviv, who has modeled for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, and designer names like Tommy Hilfiger, Burberry, and Pull & Bear, is now serving a two-year military service for the Israel Defense Forces, while also juggling international modeling jobs.
Ginzburg's job in the army is to talk to high-school students about their options in the service. It's a far cry from the exotic photo shoots, glittering events, and designer clothes she's used to, but Ginzburg doesn't mind.
"If you live in this country and you grow up in this country then you have to serve and do the minimum," she tells ISRAEL21c. "It's the values I grew up on and I always knew I was going to go in, even though it's hard."
Last year, Ginzburg—who began modeling at the age of eight—made her acting debut in the film, Twelve, directed by Joel Schumacher, which will premier at the upcoming Sundance film festival.
Original story here.
H/T Air Force Officer.
And while we're on the subject of the IDF—hey, this is not just some random cheesecake posting—here's an excellent analysis comparing U.S. and Israeli Homeland Security, prepared by the USAF.
This report compares United States and Israeli homeland security practices. Its purpose is to determine whether there are lessons from Israeli experience that might enhance U.S. homeland security efforts. The research for this study included a literature review as well as field interviews with American and Israeli elites in Washington, D.C., and Israel during the summer of 2005. The principle investigator met with key Israeli homeland security and counterterrorism experts in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ramla, and Hertzilya.
This report sets the stage for a comparison of United States and Israeli homeland security issues and policies by addressing the common and unique threats facing each state. It then looks at how each state has organized its governmental response to those threats, its policies for preventing terrorist attacks, and its response capabilities should an attack occur. In the final section it lists lessons from Israeli experience that might be considered by the United States, along with a discussion of the reasons the United States will likely be unable or unwilling to implement those lessons.
Full report here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 04:40 AM | Comments (4)
January 20, 2010
Rebellion in Massachusetts
A week ago, Karen and I sent money to the Scott Brown campaign. Sitting on the sidelines we felt a bit helpless. Maybe, we reasoned, our contribution will help Brown's noble effort. Or at least make us feel a bit less helpless.
But, I cautioned myself, this is Mass., the state that went for McGovern.
The state that has been fully colonized by liberal Democrats.
The state that went for Obama by a 26 point margin.
And the seat occupied by Ted Kennedy for, oh my gosh, 47 years.
But the polls were moving in Brown's favor.
(Definitely because of our contribution)
Then I smiled.
Hugely.
Because Barack Hussein Obama climbed aboard Air Force One and winged his way to Mass., to bolster Coakley's campaign.
I turned to Karen and said:
“This is great. Obama's doing a Copenhagen all over again.”
That's the wonderful thing about narcissists. They never learn. They remain, um, narcissists.
In Mass., Barack Hussein Obama delivered a fab-u-lous, completely tone deaf speech.
Barely mentioned his government run health care medicine show. Even he knows it's toxic.
But he did heap scorn on Scott Brown's pick-up truck, not once, not twice, but six times.
A truck made by GM.
Obama is not just a narcissist but an elitist.
At Lexington and Concord, in 1775, a band of brave Americans started a revolution.
And now in 2010, in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans three to one, a massive group of Americans have fired another shot that will reverberate around these United States.
Americans do not want socialized medicine.
Americans do not want Obama's horrific expansion of government bureaucracy.
Americans do not want higher taxes.
Americans do not want massive government deficits.
And Americans do not want Islamist terrorists to be treated like American citizens.
In short, this election was a repudiation of Obama's radical, far left policies.
Come November, the next Democrats to fall are: Harry Reid (Nev), Blanche Lincoln (Ark), Arlen Spectre (Pa), Russ Feingold (Wisc) and Evan Bayh (Ind).
I'm already signing checks, and that makes all the difference.
For an articulate look at Scott Brown's win, please read my friend Wolf Howling's analysis.
Victor Davis Hanson points out that no one likes a serial whiner.
And hey, the Dems loss in Mass., is a victory for—you guessed it—Israel.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:56 AM | Comments (19)
January 19, 2010
Haiti: No One But the Israelis Has Come to Help
The IDF field hospital in Haiti has been set up in the soccer field, which is located close to the airport.
I am delighted that CNN—an aggressively anti-Israel network—reported on the Israeli presence in Haiti. In fact, Elizabeth Cohen, CNN's medical correspondent, visibly shaken, reports that only the Israelis have set up a proper medical center, whereas America is still flailing around.
America is a great country, the greatest. But greatness comes at a price.
We are big. We are bloated with political opportunists, bureaucrats protecting their fiefdoms, and mountains of paper work. Big is not necessarily better, sometimes it's just, um, bigger.
We Jews are a minority of minorities, but we adapt quickly to changing situations and because the Torah mandates that we treat our brothers as we wish to be treated, Israel, the Jewish State, moves swiftly and effiectively to alleviate the terrible suffering in Haiti.
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen interviews Dr. Jennifer Furin in a makeshift medical tent on Monday January 18, 2010.
Cohen: "Have the American's set up a field hospital?"
Furin: "Currently, not yet."
Cohen: "The Israeli's came from the other side of the world..."
Furin: "It's a frustrating thing that I really can't explain..."
Fox News—the only network that is pro-Israel, that's because it's Conservative—reports on the world class physicians from Israel who are in Haiti. Over three-hundred Israeli doctors volunteered, and out of that forty were deployed.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:10 AM | Comments (27)
January 18, 2010
Haiti: A Child Named Israel
The IDF, Israel Defense Forces, are in Haiti with their most excellent rapid response emergency and medical teams.
Here, IDF soldiers arrive at the airport. The Oketz Canine Unit searches for survivors, and Israeli soldiers speak with Haitians in the capital of Port Au- Prince.
Here's an IDF team extracting a Haitian from the rubble of a collapsed building. Thank G-d, the man survived.
And here, the IDF medical team delivers a baby, subsequently named “Israel.” Mazal Tov!
Amid the terrible destruction of Haiti, a story of hope and thanks.
A baby saved in a field hospital established by the Israel Defense Forces has been named "Israel" to honor the rescuers from the Jewish state, CBN.com reports.
The hospital, which is staffed with 40 doctors and 25 nurses and paramedics, began treating a steady stream of injured survivors on Saturday.
"There is no hospital around, so the ambulances started bringing patients here," Col. Carmi Bar-Tal, deputy commander of the IDF emergency and medical unit, said.
"We have the capacity to help," the colonel said. "We know how to bring medicine to the field."
Full story here.
Pop Quiz: Which oil rich Arab Muslim country has deployed emergency rescue and medical teams to Haiti?
1. Saudi Arabia
2. United Arab Emirates.
3. Kuwait.
4. None of the above.
If you answered 1, 2, or 3. You are delusional and need professional help.
I fully expect the Arab Muslim world and their leftist enablers to put out the story that Israel is in Haiti in order to harvest organs, or spread AIDS, but hopefully sane people will understand that Israel is first and foremost a Jewish state whose mission is to be: a light unto the nations. —Isaiah 42:6
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:32 AM | Comments (16)
January 17, 2010
Best of the Jewish Blogosphere
Marilyn says, “I don't know jack abut Jack but I'll drink to him anyway.”
Up and live, Haveil Havalim, The Year of Jack Edition, presented by our leader, Jack.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 01:08 PM | Comments (4)
January 15, 2010
Friday Fotos
For today's edition of Friday Fotos, I had these ambitious plans to explore a new and novel—at least for me—Los Angeles neighborhood. Perhaps Little Tokyo or Koreatown. And there's an Indian enclave that I've been meaning to visit for years.
But for the past few days I've been looking at my food and it occurred to me that here was a landscape I never explored.
Okay, I'm lazy. Didn't feel like schlepping downtown.
In the morning I always eat steel cut oats—I prepare a week's supply on Sunday—with a dash of milk, topped with either strawberries, blueberries or blackberries. As I eat, I read the Wall Street Journal or their magazine Smart Money. The most important news in the world, the news that really counts, is business news. And the only way to build wealth is to enforce fiscal discipline—just say no—and arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible. My latest stock pick is here.
Lunch is salad. A BIG salad. First I spread out a bed of baby spinach. I slice strawberries into seven even sections, then blueberries, blackberries, figs, all sliced in variations of seven and fourteen. You're counting, right? Well, some slices are beneath the spinach. Yup, I get all Rain Man every once in a while. I peel a Clementine or two. And per Karen's instructions, run the peel through the garbage disposal. And then it's time for nuts, AKA the crunch factor. I like plain almonds. And I indulge myself with Macadamia nuts which cost the earth—Trader Joe's has the best price in town—but that's how I reward myself after a morning of hard or, um, not-so-hard work. Most salad dressings have garlic in them and garlic gives me a migraine, so I just sprinkle some lemon juice as a dressing. After that, I'm good to go.
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a restful and joyous Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:25 AM | Comments (13)
January 14, 2010
Joan Crawford: An Obvious Strumpet
Joan Crawford, an obvious strumpet, plays Sadie Thompson, another obvious strumpet, in Rain, 1932.
In her fascinating but frequently scathing Hollywood memoir, The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, screenwriter Frederica Sagor Maas recalls a young starlet's arrival in Hollywood in 1925.
Eddie Goulding [prominent director] called me one morning and asked if I would like to join a welcome party going downtown to meet the Santa Fe train, which was bringing yet another young hopeful to the MGM roster of starlets. This one had been discovered and signed by [producer] Harry Rapf, who had picked her out of the chorus line at the Winter Garden in New York. Not having anything better to do, I went along. The name of the starlet was Lucille LeSueur.
When the train pulled in, I couldn't believe what I saw. My first thought was that the name “LeSeuer” (pronounced sewer) was certainly applicable. She was a gum-chewing dame, heavily made-up, skirts up to her belly button, wildly frizzed hair. An obvious strumpet, I was introduced.
“You a writer, huh?” She looked me over, her gray eyes cold and calculating. Restless ambition was written all over her. Crude as she was, everything about her seemed to say, “Look out. I'm in a hurry. Make room!” We kidded among ourselves about Harry Rapf's choice and forgot about it.
A week later, she looked me up. She had remembered my name from among the others she had met that first day. “They've given me a new name,” she told me. “From now on, I'm gonna be Joan Crawford, see? Lucille LeSeuer, I'm burying her. For good. I was thinkin' I oughta change-like and kinda live up to being Joan Crawford. Because Joan Crawford is gonna be a Hollywood star—that's why she came out here.” Her determination was fierce.
I wondered where I entered the picture, since she had sought me out. “How can I help you... Joan?” I asked.
“You're a writer, right?”
I nodded.
“I like the way you dress. You dress like a lady. I need that. I want to be dressed right. Smart. I figured you could help.”
How could anyone turn down an ambitious young person like that? I took her on. Next day, Saturday, my Moon [a car] and I picked her up at a nondescript hotel where she was staying in Hollywood, and we went shopping.
You have to admire young Lucille's pluck. She transformed herself into a lady—of sorts—and went on to become one of Hollywood's greatest stars with a career that stretched from 1925 to 1972. In contrast, Frederica Sagor Maas became another show biz casualty, fleeing Hollywood in the 1950's. Ms. Maas is now 109 years old. One of the few Hollywood pioneers still with us.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:43 AM | Comments (7)
January 13, 2010
G-d, Guns, Guts and American Pick-Up Trucks
This segment from CNN is a perfect illustration of the enormous gulf that exists between the sophisticates—code for Liberals—in this country, and the ordinary, common sense American citizen—code for Republicans.
The issue is, naturally, guns.
Or more precisely, the relevance of the Second Amendment, the Right to Bear Arms.
On the one hand we have CNN news bunny Carol Costello, highly educated, image burnished to a Vogue-like sheen, and mindlessly chanting anti-gun mantras.
The object of her scorn is Missouri businessman Mark Muller of Max Motors, a Christian and a man with a great deal of common sense.
As you can see, there is no contest.
Ms. Costello comes across as a condescending elitist. Mr. Muller, displaying patience and courtesy, effortlessly demolishes her shallow world-view.
H/T My good friend Joshua Pundit.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:21 AM | Comments (13)
January 12, 2010
Obama Nominee: It's the Fault of the Jews
Erroll Southers, President Obama's nominee to head the Transportation Security Administration, claimed in 2008 that America is targeted by terrorists because of alliances with countries like Israel and France.
Due to connectivity that we have with countries such as Israel, France — countries that are seen by groups, by al Qaeda, as infidels or anti-Islamic — by the true nature of our alliance with them means that we subject to be attacked as well.
Blaming Israel for Islamist pathology is standard on the left.
It's like blaming Jews for Jew-hatred. A well-developed tactic among those who use “mere anti-Zionism” as their fig-leaf.
The reference to France is, I have to admit, a novel and delusional twist.
Anyhoo.
Barack Hussein Obama, who has spent his entire adult life cultivating warm relationships with these “progressive” creatures—Khalid Rashidi, Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dorn, Jeremiah Wright, Michale Pfleger, Samantha Powers, the list of scoundrels is, well, endless—it's no surprise that Obama has nominated this tool to head up the TSA.
Southers also clues us in that he's comfortable with reducing funds for Homeland Security because the risk of terrorism has diminished. Southers hopes that the money will, instead, go to promote education and deal with—gee, what a shock—“global warming.”
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:16 AM | Comments (15)
January 11, 2010
The Last Jews of Yemen
Josh Berer, 24, invites Rachael Strecher, 23, to taste Camel's milk, a Yemeni delicacy.
Seraphic Secret has been writing about the Jews of Yemen for quite a while. An ancient Jewish community, The Jews of Yemen have long been oppressed by their government and their Muslim neighbors.
Soon, Yemen, like the rest of the Arab Muslim world—except for Morocco's 2,000 Jews—will be Judenrein, forcibly cleansed of Jews.
Here's the story of two young Jews who have been documenting the last of the Yemeni Jews and remarkably—because no other media outlet has reported on this—inform us that Jew-hatred spews from public loudspeakers on a daily basis.
Think of it, there are just a 67 Jews left in Yemen, yet the Mosques and the government blame Jews for all their troubles.
Hey, I have a fab-u-lous idea, let's ethnically cleanse Judea and Samaria of Jews and create yet one more dysfunctional radical Islamist state built on pathological Jew-hatred.
They also encountered the strange paradox of living in a place where, they found, the Yemenis as individuals were utterly hospitable and open — even “goofy,” Strecher said — but where antisemitism was rife; where Berer said he often felt “like a criminal, like a fugitive”; where they had to hide the fact that they were Jews.
The experience was not dissimilar from how the Yemeni Jews themselves interacted with their society.
“People who knew them thought of them as the ‘good Jews’,” Strecher said. “But the idea of Jews was repulsive to the general public. I’m not exaggerating. Every week, you heard on the loudspeakers about how the Jews were the cause of all evil, the root of everybody’s problem.”
Partly as a reaction — as a form of “defiance,” as they put it — the two found themselves embracing their Jewish identities as they never had before.
Full story by Gal Beckerman here.
And here's a lovely and poignant slide show by Rachael Strecher.
The Jews of Sana'a from Jewish Forward on Vimeo.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:54 AM | Comments (3)
January 10, 2010
Best of the Jewish Blogosphere
Ima on and off the Bima presents Haveil Havalim #251.
And here's a great “educational” short from 1937.
Screen star Constance Bennett demonstrates her daily beauty routine.
Who knew?
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:37 AM | Comments (3)
January 08, 2010
Friday Fotos
“Nice cars.”
The downtown gangbanger stares at me through opaque shades.
I'm kind of terrified. These Latino guys are big as refrigerators. Nasty prison tats snake up and down their muscled arms.
“Um, looks like you guys put a lot of work into your cars.”
“Yeah, these our things, man.”
“Is it okay for me to take some pictures?”
The gangster studies me, gazes at one of his homies and says something in Spanish. His pal responds in rapid fire.
No subtitles, but the dialogue sounds, ah, hostile.
“You a reporter?”
“No.”
“Photographer?”
“No, I just like to take pictures.”
“Gimmee a thousand bucks and you can take ten pictures.”
“Huh?”
He chuckles. He has a gold tooth right up front.
“Just funnin' you, man. Knock youself out. But just the steel, no pictures of us.”
Son-in-law #1 and I are downtown, at the L.A. Gun Club. We were supposed to get in some target practice, but inexplicably the club is closed. Instead, we discover the parking lot filled with classic Detroit steel, lovingly restored. Bright and shiny fetish objects.
My hands shake a bit as I trip the shutter.
“How come you guys are here with your cars?”
“We havin' a service.”
“Service?”
“One of our boys got killed. This is a whaddayacallit?”
“Memorial?”
“Yeah, that.”
I'm dying to ask how their boy got killed, but I'm pretty sure I already know.
“My condolences.”
“Thanks, man. You like the wheels?”
“Beautiful. Just beautiful.”
My gangster buddy grins proudly.
His gold tooth sparkles in the dazzling California sunshine.
Karen and I wish Offspring #2 a very happy birthday. You are a wonderful and loving daughter, wife and mother.
And to all our friends and relatives, we wish you a restful and meaningful Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:20 AM | Comments (21)
January 07, 2010
The Ten Best Movies (I Screened) in 2009, Part II
Continuing from last week, here’s my list of the Ten Best Classic Hollywood Movies I screened during the past year. I realize that this list seems a bit, er, obscure, maybe even esoteric, but in truth, all these films are hugely entertaining and suitable for most everyone.
Here are my top five films.
5. The Kid Brother, 1927, starring Harold Lloyd, and Jobyna Ralston. Writers: John Grey, Ted Wilde, Thomas J. Crizer, Lex Neal, Howard J. Green. Directed by Ted Wilde, J.A. Howe (co-director), Harold Lloyd (uncredited) Lewis Milestone (uncredited).
Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston in The Kid Brother, 1927.
Ralston was Lloyd’s leading lady in six of his most important films
of the 1920's.
The great silent comedians were Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd. Chaplin’s character, the Little Tramp, was perhaps the most popular and poignant in all film history. Keaton, the great stone face, was technically the most bold. Even today, film students worship Keaton’s technical innovations. But Lloyd, in his horn rimmed glasses, was the most ordinary of the great comedians. His trademark character, always named Harold, was eager, brash, clever and eternally optimistic. In short, Harold Lloyd was the most American of the legendary triumvirate.
In The Kid Brother, Harold Hickory, the Sheriff’s youngest son, is a weakling who always defers to his hulking big brothers. But Harold must recover stolen money and win the love of Mary Powers, Jobyna Ralston, a performer in a traveling medicine show.
This is a male Cinderella story, with Harold as the household slave.
In the opening scene Harold washes clothes in the butter churn and then using a string, runs the wash through a wringer, and finally attaches the string to a kite which floats in the air as a dryer. It’s a lyrical and effortless way of establishing Harold’s clever character and his low rank in the alpha male family.
The Kid Brother has, to my mind, the most romantic scene ever filmed.
After meeting and spending time with Mary in the woods, she departs, making her way over hill and dale.
Harold is so reluctant to part from her he climbs a tree to keep her in sight. The camera cranes up with Harold as he climbs.
He calls out to her: “What’s your name?”
She calls back: “Mary.”
As she continues along, Harold loses sight of her.
Harold climbs higher so he can follow Mary’s progress. The camera continues craning with him.
“Where do you live?”
“In the medicine tent.”
Mary strolls along.
The camera cranes even higher.
“Goodbye,” cries Harold.
She waves and walks away. Now, she’s just a dot in the landscape.
Harold is way up in the tree, but he’s so enraptured that he loses his balance, falls, bumping into one branch and the next, until he hits the ground. Dazed, he plucks a flower and tears off petals: She loves me, she loves me not.
It’s a breathtaking sequence where movie technique perfectly expresses the inner longings of the main character.
Harold Lloyd is often accused of being cold and mechanical. But in truth, he was a great American romantic, and The Kid Brother might be his greatest achievement.
To read the rest of my article, head on over to Big Hollywood.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:58 AM | Comments (6)
January 06, 2010
Karen's Radar
Organizing one of our closets, like Schliemann excavating Troy, Karen makes a major discovery.
“Hey, did you know that we have our graduation autograph books from eighth grade?”
Karen and I attended Yeshiva of Flatbush elementary school together.
I fell in love with Karen when we were in third grade.
In 1964, we were on our way to high school. Karen attended Yeshiva of Flatbush H.S., and I was exiled to Brooklyn Talmudical Academy, a school for malcontents and losers. I fit in perfectly.
Karen flips through my book.
“Hey, you really took this seriously. You got everyone to sign your book.”
Even then I was an obsessive compulsive. If there's an empty page, I need to fill it with words.
Karen says: “I was like, okay I'll get a few signatures. Didn't take it too seriously.”
I'm thinking: That's because you were the prettiest, smartest, most popular girl in school. You didn't need validation.
Flipping through my book, Karen reads some of the inscriptions:
Open the gate, Close the Gate, How the Heck did you graduate?
Remember A, Remember B, But C that U Remember Me!
May your life be like Italian Bread, long and full of dough.
Karen makes a further discovery: “Hey, you know who didn't sign your book?”
“Who?”
“Me.”
“Well, yeah. I was so in love with you I didn't dare ask.”
Karen frowns. Even now, after 32 years of marriage, she finds my endless love incomprehensible.
“Karen, did you ever think of asking me to sign your book?”
I don't know why I bother asking, I mean I wasn't even on Karen's radar.
Karen goes: “Robert, you weren't even on my radar.”
Okay, I asked for that.
But how come now—even now—I have to bite my lip and hold myself back from saying: But am I on your radar now?
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:27 AM | Comments (20)
January 05, 2010
Nuclear Woodstock
The delusional spirit of Woodstock is alive and well in the White House. Barack Hussein Obama, a far left ideologue, is determined to steer American nuclear power towards a more, um, delusional policy.
And to the Europeans who might be cheering Obama's move, please note that the only reason you can afford to live in your nanny states is because America has shouldered the burden of protecting you. It's American military might that rescued Europe from two world wars; it's American nuclear posture that halted Soviet expansion into Western Europe post WWII; and it is only through vigorous American power that Europe will be protected from newly emboldened Russia and the emerging threat of a nuclear Iran, which means a nuclear umbrella for transnational Caliphate Muslims.
This, from the Los Angeles Times, not exactly a Conservative publication:
President Obama's ambitious plan to begin phasing out nuclear weapons has run up against powerful resistance from officials in the Pentagon and other U.S. agencies, posing a threat to one of his most important foreign policy initiatives.
Obama laid out his vision of a nuclear-free world in a speech in Prague, Czech Republic, last April, pledging that the U.S. would take dramatic steps to lead the way. Nine months later, the administration is locked in internal debate over a top-secret policy blueprint for shrinking the U.S. nuclear arsenal and reducing the role of such weapons in America's military strategy and foreign policy.
Officials in the Pentagon and elsewhere have pushed back against Obama administration proposals to cut the number of weapons and narrow their mission, according to U.S. officials and outsiders who have been briefed on the process.
In turn, White House officials, unhappy with early Pentagon-led drafts of the blueprint known as the Nuclear Posture Review, have stepped up their involvement in the deliberations and ordered that the document reflect Obama's preference for sweeping change, according to the U.S. officials and others, who described discussions on condition of anonymity because of their sensitivity and secrecy.
Full story here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:55 AM | Comments (5)
January 04, 2010
Gitmo Guys Get to Go to Yemen
On Fox News Sunday, top White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said the administration "absolutely" intends to keep sending Guantanamo prisoners to Yemen. The administration has sent seven detainees to the country, Brennan said, with six of those sent in December. "Several of those detainees were put into Yemeni custody right away," Brennan said. He did not elaborate on how many is "several" or where the other Guantanamo inmates sent to Yemen might be today. But he said the U.S. has faith in Yemen to handle the situation. "We've had close dialogue with the Yemeni government about the expectations that we have as far as what they're supposed to do when these detainees go back," Brennan said.
Full story here.
A few notes:
1. Terrorism Czar John Brennan is a political mouthpiece for Obama. So, everything he says reflects the political ideology of Barack Hussein Obama.
2. Sending Gitmo detainees back to Yemen is a lot like sending a child molester to teach kindergarten.
3. Yemen is Osama Bin Laden's home country. It's where the Bin Laden clan was birthed, and their roots in that blighted land are deep and popular.
4. In 2000, al-Qaeda terrorists in the Yemeni port of Aden rammed the naval destroyer USS Cole with an explosives-laden speedboat, killing 17 sailors.
5. In September, 2008, al-Qaeda terrorists attacked the U.S. embassy on the outskirts of the capital, Sanaa, leaving 19 people dead.
6. Brennan says that the U.S. is working closely with the government of Yemen. Really? Is that why the U.S. and Great Britain shuttered their embassies in Sanaa, Yemen's capital? Make no mistake about it, the Americans and the British high-tailing it out of Yemen is a great victory for the terrorists. Especially after the Christmas airline bombing.
7. Brennan claims, in the same interview, that there are no more than a “couple hundred” al-Qaeda members in Yemen. He said this with a straight face. Look, Yemen might be the most terrorist happy country in a world of Islamic terrorist-loving countries. Al-Qaeda does not hand out membership cards. There are no monthly dues. But Yemen is lousy with al-Qaeda sympathizers and volunteers. I'm sure it's in the tens of thousands. That's why Saudi Arabia is conducting raids into Yemen on a daily basis where they are wiping out entire villages.
8. Yemeni President/Dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh maintains power with the assistance and support of al-Qaeda. There's no way he's going to undermine his terrorist buddies in any meaningful way. His strategy is simple. Press Barack Hussein Obama for lots of money and tons of weapons, ostensibly to fight al-Qaeda, but in reality, Yemen's flying a double flag.
9. The Jews of Yemen, one of the oldest Jewish communities in history, is now all but extinct. I'm waiting for one of those so-called human rights groups to, um, investigate why every Islamic country—save Morocco's 2,000 Jews—is Judenrein.
10. A CIA officer wisely advised: “Yesterday's war was Iraq, today's war is in Afghanistan, tomorrow's war is Yemen.”
Charles Krauthammer, articulate as always, nails Obama's incompetence:
The reason the country is uneasy about the Obama administration's response to this attack is a distinct sense of not just incompetence but incomprehension. From the very beginning, President Obama has relentlessly tried to play down and deny the nature of the terrorist threat we continue to face. Napolitano renames terrorism "man-caused disasters." Obama goes abroad and pledges to cleanse America of its post-9/11 counterterrorist sins. Hence, Guantanamo will close, CIA interrogators will face a special prosecutor, and Khalid Sheik Mohammed will bask in a civilian trial in New York — a trifecta of political correctness and image management.
And just to make sure even the dimmest understand, Obama banishes the term "war on terror." It's over — that is, if it ever existed.
Obama may have declared the war over. Unfortunately, al-Qaeda has not. Which gives new meaning to the term "asymmetric warfare."
Full article here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:09 AM | Comments (10)
January 01, 2010
Friday Fotos: The Bostoner Rebbe Edition
Grand Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Horowitz, z'l, known as the Bostoner Rebbe. July 3, 1921 - December 5, 2009. The first American born Chassidic Rabbi.
A few months before Karen and I were married in 1977, we drove to Boston so I could meet one of Karen's closest friends.
It was one of those get-the-best-friend's-approval gigs.
Not too much pressure for yours truly.
Naturally, the day we drove, a Friday, there was a ferocious New England snowstorm. With visibility close to zero, we limped into the friend's home about 45 seconds before Shabbat.
Karen's friend and her husband were active members of The Bostoner Rebbe's congregation.
In addition, Karen's father Rabbi Pinchas Tzvi Singer z'l and the Bostoner Rebbe z'l were old friends who were chavrusah, study partners, when they were both young students at Yeshiva Torah Vodass.
On Sunday, before making our way back to New York, Karen and I were granted a private audience with The Rebbe. Rabbi Horowitz spoke fondly of his friendship with Karen's father. He quizzed me about my plans to be a Hollywood screenwriter. Rather than discourage my career choice, The Rebbe told me that it was a perfect opportunity to illuminate Judaism.
Gracious, witty and wise, Rabbi Horowitz kindly gave us a pre-wedding b'racha, a blessing, which we have always treasured.
The Rebbe also agreed to sit for a portrait.
In those days I worked with a Nikon SLR, and shot almost exclusively in b & w.
I asked The Rebbe to sit at his desk where there was a spray of soft winter light. The Rebbe continued talking to Karen while I snapped off just three shots, all from the same low angle. The Rebbe is relaxed but he's also intensely focused on what's going on outside the frame. You get the feeling that he's just about to smile. It's a lovely moment that comes close to capturing this fine man's essence.
Years later, before we went into production on A Stranger Among Us, I showed this picture to director Sidney Lumet and said: “This is what a Rebbe looks like.”
Sidney sent the picture to wardrobe and make-up.
The Rebbe in the movie, played by Lee Richardson, looks remarkably like The Bostoner Rebbe.
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a peaceful Shabbat filled with b'rachas.
And if you live in Israel, A Stranger Among Us will be screened next week at The Jerusalem Cinematheque.
Melanie Griffith investigates a murder in New York's diamond district, A Stranger Among Us. Eric Thal, left, as Ariel and Lee Richardson, center, as The Rebbe.
And hey, my post Suicide in Slow Motion won the First Place, Watcher Of Weasels Non-council Award. Read all the amazing submissions.
From Big Government, here are The Most Underreported Stories of 2009.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:24 AM | Comments (5)