Category Archives: Passover

By Robert J. Avrech | April 5, 2018

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

Also posted in Akira Kurosawa, Buster Keaton, Cathy O'Donnell, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Kim Novak, Photography, Rick McGinnis, Screenwriting | Tagged Akira Kurosawa, Buster Keaton, Cathy O'Donnell, Charles Sheeler, Double Indemnity, Dovima, George Ault, Gerald Murphy, Joan Fontaine, Kim Novak, Marvin E. Newman, Matisse, Richard Avedon, Rick McGinnis, Thomas Hoepker, Walker Evans, Walter Sickert, Yvonne De Carlo | 2 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | March 30, 2018

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions, Passover 2018

Also posted in Art, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, IslamoNazis, Israel, Jew-hatred, Judaica, Judaism, Photography, Rick McGinnis, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged Arthur Szyk, Audrey Flack, Bird's Head Haggadah, Dovima, Eleanor Parker, Emma Matzo, Frank Stella, George Ault, J.R. Everman, Lizabeth Scott, Maria Montez, Moshe Zabari, Richard Avedon, Rick McGinnis, Sari Srulovitch | 2 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | March 23, 2018

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

Also posted in Art, Dovima, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Judaica, Judaism, Movie Posters, Movies, Painting, Photography, Quotes, Rick McGinnis, Saul Bass, Screenwriting, True Hollywood Confessions, Vintage Cars, Vivien Leigh | Tagged August Herbin, Cartier, Cecil Beaton, David Niven, Eva Rubinstein, Fashion, Fay Wray, Félix Vallotton, George Clausen, Ginger Rogers, Hiroshige, Jean Harlow, Joan Collins, Michael Wolf, Nina Leen, On the Waterfront, Passover Haggadah, Peter Mitchell, Richard Avedon, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Vivian Maier, Vivien Leigh, William Helburn | 3 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | April 16, 2017

Portrait of Granddaughter as Matzoh

Tweet In observance of the last two days of Passover Seraphic Secret will be offline until Wednesday. We wish all our friends and relatives a joyous and kosher Passover. We also wish an inspirational Easter to all our Christian friends.

Also posted in Judaism | Tagged Easter, Passover | 1 Response

By Robert J. Avrech | April 13, 2017

Friday Photos: True Passover

Also posted in Eleanor Parker, Friday Fotos, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Israel, Jerusalem, Jewish Holidays, Judaism | Tagged art, Judaica, Passover | 7 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | April 10, 2017

Passover 2017, The Problem of Freedom

Tweet Tonight begins the holiday of Passover in which Jews celebrate deliverance from Egyptian bondage. In order to escape the shackles of slavery, the vast machinery of the mighty Egyptian state had to be crushed. Those who wielded absolute power were reduced to nothingness. G-d did this not only to diminish the physical power of […]

Also posted in America, Islam Denial, Islamic State, Islamic Terror, IslamoNazis, Israel, Jewish Holidays, Judaism | Tagged Democrat Fascists, Hagaddah, Holocaust, J Street, Jewish Voices for Peace, Passover, Slavery | 1 Response

By Robert J. Avrech | April 6, 2017

The Westworld Haggadah

Tweet by Jake Novak There’s a key moment in the Seder when the Haggadah informs us that all Jews must think of themselves as if they personally came out of bondage in Egypt. Talk about a tall order. Thank goodness, most of us live decidedly comfortable middle or upper middle class lives. Getting our heads […]

Also posted in Bible, Israel, Jewish Holidays, Judaism | Tagged Exodux, Haggadah, Jacob, Job, Moses, Seder, Slavery, Talmud, Westworld | 1 Response

By Robert J. Avrech | March 31, 2017

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

Also posted in Friday Fotos, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Jewish Holidays, Judaica, Judaism, Leonardo da Vinci, Movie Posters, Movies, Painting, Photography, Quotes, Screenwriting, Touch of Evil, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged Barnett Newman, Carl Dreyer, Classic Cars, Day of Wrath, Francesca Woodman, Gertrude Käsebier, Harpo Marx, Kazuo Hasegawa, Kyôko Kagawa, Leonardo Da Vinci, Ludwig Yehuda Wolpert, Mina Avrech, Picasso, Randall Knives, Sean Scully, The Crucified Lovers, Touch of Evil, Vincent van Gogh | 10 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | April 28, 2016

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions, Passover Edition

Tweet When Mike Todd (b. Avrom Hirsch Goldbogen) was killed in a plane crash, Elizabeth found comfort in Judaism. “I am absolutely Jewish now in my beliefs and feelings,” she said. At her conversion, Elizabeth Taylor took the Jewish name Elisheva Rachel. In the compulsively readable Furious Love, Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger report on the […]

Also posted in Actors, Art, Egypt, Elizabeth Taylor, Family, Friday Fotos, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Israel, Painting, Photography, Quotes, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged Amy Klein Reichert, Audrey Flack, Dura Europos fresco, El Lissitzky, Elizabeth Taylor, Ethiopian Jews in Israel, Furious Love, James Jacques Joseph Tissot, Jet Naftaniel-Joëls, Kosher for Passover Food Cart, Mayan Ariel, Moshe Zabari, Nicole Eisenman, Nodar Djindjihashvili, R.B. Kitaj, Richard Burton, Sari Srulovich, Wilhelm Hensel | 11 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | April 26, 2016

The Jewish Story is Under Assault

Tweet Those who read this blog on a regular basis know that Yossi Klein Halevi and I went to yeshiva high school together. At the time, Yossi was active in Rabbi Meir Kahane’s Jewish Defense League. Yours truly was sort of terrified of the JDL guys who used to hang out by the lockers and […]

Also posted in Jerusalem, Jerusalem Denial, Jew-haters, Jew-hatred, Jihad Watch, Judaism, Yossi Klein Halevi | Tagged Anti-Zionism, Judaism UNder Assault, Seder, Torah, Yossi Klein Halevi | 7 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | April 21, 2016

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions, Passover Edition

Also posted in America, Eleanor Parker, Friday Fotos, Jewish Holidays, Judaism, Painting, Photography, Photography, Signs, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged Bird's Head Haggadah, El Lissitzky, Eleanor Parker, Ethiopian Passover, Frank Stella, JDC, Ludwig Wolpert, Meichel Pressman, Moritz Oppenheim, Moshe Zabari, Passover Seder, Persian Passover, Yemenite Passover | 4 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | April 20, 2016

Passover 2016: The Slave Learns to Love His Shackles

Tweet Friday night begins the holiday of Passover in which Jews celebrate deliverance from Egyptian bondage. In order to escape the shackles of slavery, the vast machinery of the mighty Egyptian state had to be crushed. Those who wielded absolute power were reduced to nothingness. G-d did this not only to diminish the physical power […]

Also posted in America, Big Government, Gun Control, IslamoNazis, Israel, Jew Without A Gun, Jews & Guns, Obama Watch, Obamacare, Second Amendment | Tagged Big Government, Daenerys Targaryn, Egyptian Bondage, Emilia Clarke, Freedom, Game of Thrones, George Orwell, Holocaust, Judenrat, Kapos, Second Amendment, Slavery, The Mentality of Slavery | 2 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | April 9, 2015

Friday Photos: In Every Generation

Tweet On Passover, Jews around the world recite a passage from the Haggadah that strikes a note both poignant and defiant. In every generation they [our enemies] rise up against us to destroy us, but the Holy One Blessed Be He saves us from their hands. But Judaism does not place faith in faith alone. […]

Also posted in Art, Brigitte Bardot, Friday Fotos, Holidays, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Iran, Islam, Islamic Terror, IslamoNazis, Israel, Jean Harlow, Jew-haters, Jew-hatred, Jewish Holidays, Joan Crawford, Judaism, Kim Novak, Kirk Douglas, Marilyn Monroe, Susan Hayward | Tagged Anish Kapoor, Clyfford Still, Ethiopian Jews, Ethiopian Passover, Jews of Iran, Joan Crawford, Lana Turner, Ma'ayan Ariel, Matzoh, Otis Kaye, Passover in Iran, Passover in Manila, The Yellow Ticket | 19 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | April 3, 2015

Friday Photos: Passover, Time to Remember the Future

Tweet Jewish holidays do not simply recall the past. Jewish holidays are cautionary tales for all time. They remind us that Jewish history repeats itself with terrible constancy. The Jewish people introduced ethical monotheism to the world — and for this gift the world has never forgiven us. Thus, we are despised and demonized.

Also posted in Ariel Sharon, Art, Edward Hopper, Friday Fotos, Holidays, Hollywood, Hollywood Cars, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Iran, Israel, Judaism, Obama Watch | Tagged Abba Kovner, Audrey Hepburn, Edward Hopper, Entebbe, Jewish partisans, Lizabeth Scott, Myrna Loy, Sandy Koufax, Shalom of Safed, Theda Bara, Vermeer, Yom Kippur War, Yul Brenner | 11 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | March 27, 2015

Friday Photos: Announcing a New Jewish Holiday Edition

Tweet Jewish humor is filled with self-deprecating observations. We poke fun at our peculiar foibles, and frequently address our greatest anxieties — intermarriage, Jew-hatred, weight-gain — with a take-no-prisoners attitude. If you want to know how Jews are really feeling about something or someone, pay attention to the jokes Jews tell each other. A few […]

Also posted in Abraham Avrech, Art, Friday Footwear, Friday Fotos, Holidays, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Jew-haters, Jew-hatred, Jewish Holidays, Judaism, Marilyn Monroe, Obama Watch, Painting, Photography, Photography, Los Angeles, Pico-Robertson | Tagged Anita Björk, Barbara Stanwyck, Eleanor Parker, Gary Cooper, Hank Greenberg, Hitchcock, I Confess, Jewish Humor, Jimmy Foxx, Kelly's Kosher Kitchen, Livia Yarden, Louboutin, Miss Julie, Rembrandt, Sally Gray, Tattoos, Teshuvah, Twin Towers | 30 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | April 20, 2014

Young Israel Urges Jews Not To Walk Home Alone

Tweet In the wake of the Jew-hating shooting in Kansas, the National Council of Young Israel, an Orthodox network, is urging Jews, on the last days of Passover, not to walk home alone from synagogue. With all due respect to Young Israel, that advice is just silly and only reinforces victimhood. Do you honestly think […]

Also posted in Abraham Avrech, Gun Control, Second Amendment | Tagged CCP, Easter, Kansas shooting, Passover, Rabbi Abraham Avrech, Yellowboy Carbine | 22 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | April 13, 2014

From Somalia to Brandeis, The Road of Liberal Fascism

Tweet And if your son asks you in the future, saying, What are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, that the L-RD our G-d commanded you? You will say to your son, We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt; and the L-RD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. The L-RD […]

Also posted in Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Honor Killings, Islam, Islamic Terror, IslamoNazis, Israel, Jew-haters, Jew-hatred, Jihad Watch, Judaism, Politics, Sharia, Terrorism, Torah | Tagged Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Brandeis, Brendan Eich, Forced Marriage, Genital Mutilation, Honor Killing, Liberal Fascism, Mozilla, Phyllis Chesler | 9 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | March 31, 2013

A 21st Century Exodus from Egypt to Israel

Tweet Tonight begins the last two day of Passover in which the Jewish people celebrate their liberation from Egyptian slavery. The IDF recently published an amazing story about Dina Ovadia, an Egyptian Jew, whose narrative is a modern Passover story. This isn’t Cpl. Dina Ovadia’s first Passover in Israel. Slowly, slowly she seems to be […]

Also posted in Egypt, Israel, Israel Defense Forces | Tagged Alexandria, Dina Ovadia, Rolin Abdallah | 17 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | March 25, 2013

Passover 2013: Of Slaves, Slavery, Judenrat, Kapos and America

Also posted in Obama Watch, Obamacare, Taxes | Tagged Big Government, Democrat Fascism, Judenrat, Kapos, Lielle Meital, Slavery, Soft Tyranny | 9 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | March 22, 2013

Passover: Liberty, Then and Now

Tweet Seraphic Secret rises at 5 a.m for a morning walk. The streets are empty save for the chug-chug-chugging of the pick-up trucks delivering newspapers. Sprinklers hiss, and lawns glisten. The air is lightly perfumed with jacaranda. I listen to a news round-up and feel—there is no way around this—sad and defeated.

Also posted in Judaism, Judaism & Christianity, Maayan Ariel, Obamacare, Remembering Ariel | Tagged Shabbat | 39 Responses

How I Married Karen

The new book
by Robert J. Avrech

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About Me
Robert J. Avrech
Los Angeles, California
I'm an Emmy Award winning screenwriter. I'm also an observant Jew, a religious Zionist, a conservative Republican, and a member of the NRA. I've been writing and producing in Hollywood for over twenty-five years. But the focus of my life is my family: my radiant wife, Karen—with whom I have been in love with since I was nine years-old—and my two daughters, who, thankfully, look like Karen. Not too long ago, we had three children. But our son, Ariel, died at the age of twenty-two from cancer. We miss him terribly. We think about him practically every minute of every day. People tell us that time heals, but Karen and I know this is not true. Time grinds away doing its terrible work. Ariel is gone. Yet absence becomes presence.

Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
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Annual Ariel Avrech
Memorial Lectures
Young Israel of Century City

Fourteenth: June 11, 2016
Daniel Greenfield: “Fighting Anti-Semitism and Defending Israel in the Age of BDS.”

Blog Post
MP3 Audio Stereo (100 MB)

Thirteenth: May 22, 2016
Ben Shapiro: “How You Can Save Israel”

Blog Post
MP3 Audio Stereo (70 MB)

Twelfth: June 7, 2015
Larry Elder: “The New Black Anti-Semitism”

Blog Post
MP3 Audio Mono (50 MB) | Stereo (100 MB)

Eleventh: June 8, 2014
Michael Medved: “Shifting Alliances: Why Liberals No Longer Reliably Support Israel — And Conservatives Do.”

Blog Post | Audio (mp3 97MB)

Tenth: June 9, 2013
David Horowitz: “The War Against Judaism on the University Campus.”

Blog Post | Audio (mp3 16MB)

Ninth: June 3, 2012
Joel B. Pollak: “The Mainstream Media’s Betrayal of Israel.”

Blog Post | Audio (mp3 15MB)

Eighth: June 5, 2011
Yossi Klein Halevi: “What is Expected of a Survivor People: Lessons My Father Taught Me.”

Blog Post | Audio (mp3 18MB)

Seventh: June 13, 2010
Dennis Prager: “Happiness is a Mitzvah, Not an Emotion.”

Blog Post | Audio (mp3 80MB)

Sixth: June 21, 2009
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky: “Conformity in Jewish Life: Vice, Virtue or Affectation?”

Blog Post | Audio (mp3 64MB)

Fifth: June 15, 2008
Rabbi Dr. Gil S. Perl: “What Was the Rosh Yeshiva Reading: Intellectual Openness in 19th Century Lithuania.”

Blog Post | Audio (mp3 70MB)
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