Seraphic Secret

Robert J. Avrech: Emmy Award winning screenwriter. Movie fanatic. Helplessly and hopelessly in love with my wife since age nine.

Chanukah

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

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“I’ve never had a dull moment in my life. I’ve always wanted to try something new. When I was a child, I wouldn’t wear what the other kids had. I won’t now. I had the first pantie girdle, the first broadtail suit, the first sack dress — from Givenchy. I was even the first Gloria. Everybody named their children after me. I can always tell how old Glorias are.”
—Gloria Swanson
Photo by Charles Sheldon, 1925

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Rabbi Meir Soloveichik on Chanukah, The Triumph of Monotheism

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Families on Hanukkah gather together and celebrate around dreidels, chocolate coins, and presents. Yet the holiday’s most profound meaning is in its core symbol and ritual: the lighting of the menorah. Rabbi Meir Soloveichik takes us through Hanukkah’s two pivotal historical stages, the age of the Temple and the age of Diaspora, teaching us about the triumph of monotheism and Judaism, and the lessons Hanukkah’s miracles hold for anyone who cares about Jewish survival.

Chanukah 2018: Same Enemies, Same Conflicts

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Today is the first day of Chanukah.

And here is a timeless message from Simon the Maccabee:

“We have not taken a foreign land, nor did we take the property of others — for this is the inheritance of our fathers, which was for some time unjustly possessed by our enemies. But we, having the opportunity, returned to us the inheritance of our fathers.”

— First Book of the Maccabees, 15:33-34.

“לא ארץ נוכריה לקחנו ולא ברכוש זרים משלנו, כי אם נחלת אבותינו, אשר בידי אויבינו בעת מן העיתים בלא משפט נכבשה. ואנחנו כאשר הייתה לנו עת, הושיבונו נחלת אבותינו” (ספר מקבים א, טו’ לג-לד) [Read more…] about Chanukah 2018: Same Enemies, Same Conflicts

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

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“I have always had a special respect for Kathleen [Byron] ever since she pulled a gun on me. It was a revolver, a big one, U.S. Army issue, and it was loaded. A naked woman and a loaded gun are persuasive objects.”
—Director Michael Powell on his tumultuous relationship with actress Kathleen Byron, via: Million Dollar Movie by Michael Powell, one of the best movie autobiographies ever written.
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Chanukah 2017: The Battle of the Maccabees Continues

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chanukah1

Today is the first day of Chanukah.

And here is a timeless message from Simon the Maccabee:

“We have not taken a foreign land, nor did we take the property of others — for this is the inheritance of our fathers, which was for some time unjustly possessed by our enemies. But we, having the opportunity, returned to us the inheritance of our fathers.”

— First Book of the Maccabees, 15:33-34.

“לא ארץ נוכריה לקחנו ולא ברכוש זרים משלנו, כי אם נחלת אבותינו, אשר בידי אויבינו בעת מן העיתים בלא משפט נכבשה. ואנחנו כאשר הייתה לנו עת, הושיבונו נחלת אבותינו” (ספר מקבים א, טו’ לג-לד) [Read more…] about Chanukah 2017: The Battle of the Maccabees Continues