I Have Lunch With Filmmaker Todd Daniel Schechter

We drive past an accident in Westwood. Video

I needed to capture this video because I have a problem with being premature.

I try to explain it away as I don’t have a problem, I’m just a busy man.

From now on when feeling the onrushing of this very personal problem, I’ll just pull up this video and meditate on it and on other car wrecks and the faces of men I daven with and my mother’s pure love for me.

While I drive, I interview Todd about his pluralism thing. Video

Frankly, it sounds not so Torahdic to me, and more like a great set-up to get funded to go to events filled with hot Jewish chicks "looking to connect Jewishly," as Rabbi David Wolpe would put it.

You might look at Todd and think he’s a Torah Jew because he has a nice smile, clean teeth, a beard and a hat. But those are all filmmaker traits for him, and not so much in the service of Heaven.

It’s a wonder I can even relate to this pagan.

We hit Pizza Station with a comely British lass. Then I walk them down Pico Blvd to the Museum of Tolerance and muse about which Holocaust museums are the best for a first date.

It salves our pain over the ending of LimmudLA.

I say that Orthodox Judaism is the sexiest thing, that I love the mehitza (separation) because it increases longing. I love long skirts.

Friend: "You know what they say about long skirts? The longer the skirt, the quicker it comes off."

It’s good to have an honest conversation with a stranger because they are often less reticent about telling you your zipper is down.

This one asked me to desist from making jokes about AIDS, and referring to non-Jewish women as "shiksas." She wondered why I was so obnoxious and did this have anything to do with my never marrying. She wondered why the floor of my van was lined with copies of my books. Who was I trying to impress?

By the time I dropped her off, I felt three feet tall.

Todd’s MySpace.

The last I see of Todd, he’s trudging down Beverly Drive for an appointment at Coffee Bean with David Suissa.

Seven different people told Todd to connect with Suissa.

Anybody who wants to do anything in L.A. about bringing Jews together makes an appointment to see David Suissa.

Since selling his marketing firm (200 employees) three years ago, David has been devoted himself to fatherhood, writing and things Jewish.

He’s that rare person who can bring Reform, Conservative and Orthodox rabbis together to study Torah.

Suissa writes a weekly column for the Jewish Journal. Here’s an excerpt:

You haven’t lived until you’ve waited three hours in a cramped living room waiting to see a Chasidic rebbe so that you can ask him, at 1 a.m., for a bracha to meet the man of your dreams; or for your wife to recover from cervical cancer; or to do well in your med school entrance exams; or, simply, to ask him whether you should start a low-end schmatta line that you’ll produce in China, and, if he says yes, to get a bracha that you’ll succeed.

This is the midnight underworld of Jewish life — far removed from our everyday Jewish experiences, and set in the mystic realm of blind faith and the power of holy men.

The Jewish Journal gave David this glowing profile in its Feb. 11, 2000 issue: "David Suissa’s campaign for unity has one inspiration: He is madly in love with the Jewish people."

Suissa was all over LimmudLA. I hope it didn’t hurt his reputation that he was seen chatting with me.

I heard David say on a panel that he spends most of his time in Jewish life talking to people with whom he disagrees.

That’s a rare quality. Most people get so upset by important differences that they shut out most of the world.

From Aish.com:

David Suissa, a top advertising executive, wants to sell you something: unconditional love for every Jew.

David Suissa (pronounced Swee-ssa) is the founder and CEO of Suissa Miller Advertising, a $300 million marketing firm named "Agency of the Year" by USA Today that attracts clients like Heinz, Dole, McDonalds, Princess Cruises, Charles Schwab and Acura. Suissa’s writings on advertising have been published in several publications including the Los Angeles Times and Advertising Age.

Suissa is also a dynamic and innovative Jewish leader who doesn’t know how to think small. He is the founder, publisher and editor of "Olam," a magazine of Jewish unity and spirituality. He is the force behind olam4israel.com, an activist movement rallying worldwide support for Israel, and freethe400million.com, a movement to promote democracy in the Middle East.

Recently, Suissa launched a billboard and newspaper campaign promoting Israel and its democratic values; and co-founded the ITF (Israel Task Force), a high-powered group of business and community leaders rallying Israeli PR activities under one umbrella. He also lectures regularly around the country and on college campuses on the subjects of spirituality and Israel.

His charitable work extends beyond the Jewish world to include projects for AIDS, abandoned children, and drug abuse, for which he won a presidential award.

Suissa also has an artistic flair. His song of Jewish unity, "Ani Ohev," was launched at the Israeli Knesset in May 2002, and was played on Israeli radio stations and in Jewish communities worldwide.

About Luke Ford

I've written five books (see Amazon.com). My work has been covered in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and on 60 Minutes. I teach Alexander Technique in Beverly Hills (Alexander90210.com).
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