As Humor Editor of America’s Longest Running Jewish Sight Gag, Jewdar is not unaccustomed to being accused of providing ammunition to the enemies of Israel, the Jewish people and good taste in general. In those rare occasions where such charges have any basis (okay, so maybe the last one isn’t so rare), we can sleep easy knowing that the writings we generate tend to be true, and/or clever. That is, while we at times focus on the Jewish demimonde, that stuff is true, and when we make stuff up, at least its funny.
From what we gather, the book "demolishes the myths and taboos that have surrounded Jewish and Israeli history." Powerful stuff. And how does it do that? Apparently, by trotting out a variety of claims, none of which are new, some of which are already disproven, all of which are irrelevant. Again, we haven’t read it, but it seems apparent from the review, that Sand himself makes no claim to be presenting new material.
Thursday evening, Robert Frank, a New York mashgiach, emailed me: "Dear Mr. Ford, I would like to help to expose a big consumer fraud that is going on. I am employed at a hospital in New York City that claims to be kosher, but is not. Non-kosher products come into the hospital kitchen, because they order it on purpose, and are prepared and served to the patrons of the hospital cafeteria and hospital patients. I have contacted the rabbis who are in charge of the kosher supervision of the hospital but they do nothing to repair the problem. The hospital management and the rabbis have been trying to silence me through job termination. The rabbis and hospital management expect me to lie to anyone who inquires about the kosher status of the hospital. This consumer fraud and cover up by the rabbis must be exposed. Please help me expose this."
A few minutes later, I got Mr. Frank on the phone.
Robert: "I have a big problem. These people are cheating people left and right. My brother told me about your site. A friend of his he’s staying with reads your stuff all the time. The regular media doesn’t want to get involved with this type of story. They’re afraid of these organizations."
Luke: "So tell me about this hospital."
Robert: "It’s a hospital in the Bronx, which is north of Manhattan. It is supposed to be kosher. It’s certified by the Orthodox Union, the largest kosher-certifying agency in the country. Non-kosher products come in there all the time, get cooked, get served, and they tell us to shut up. If we say anything, they write us up. I don’t want to lie to people. They’re expecting a certain product and I tell people the truth and they’re trying to fire me. They’ve been doing it for years.
"I’ve already filed civil rights lawsuits against the hospital because I have a disability and they’re trying to fire me for the disability. We’ve settled with them twice. They weren’t supposed to harass me anymore and they’re trying to do it again. They want me to lie to people and I don’t want to lie to people. It’s not right."
Robert: "I’m the mashgiach there. I’m in charge of certifying this. I’m the only one who finds the non-kosher food and reports it to people. When you report it to them, they write you up for it. They say shut up and keep quiet.
"I went to the Orthodox Union last year. I made a personal visit to them. I’ve got them on tape telling me to keep quiet. I spoke to the head rabbi who’s in charge of the hospital and the vice president of the Orthodox Union. They were both in the room with my brother and me. My brother had a hidden tape recorder. They told us, ‘You can’t tell people that this place is not kosher. You’ve got to let us fix it. Don’t tell people.’
"They wanted us to sign a confidentiality agreement. I wouldn’t sign one because then I’d have to shut my mouth up."
Luke: "How long have you been working at the hospital?"
Robert: "Almost five years."
Luke: "Has there always been this problem?"
Robert: "Ever since I’ve been there, there’s been this problem. I’ve been trying to fix it for years and they’ve been trying to fire me for years. The first years I was there, I tried fixing things by reporting it. They got really upset about it and they started writing me up. Disciplinary write-ups. So many times they were ready to terminate me and then the union stepped in and had them remove all the write-ups. Now they’re doing it again. This is the third time they’ve tried it."
Luke: "So the hospital is your employer?"
Robert: "I work for the hospital, but they get their kosher certification from the Orthodox Union. There’s a certificate from the at the entrance to the cafeteria stating that it is under their supervision. That all the food prepared in the hospital, in the kitchen, is under their supervision. They only come once or twice a year, walk around, everything’s OK, give me my check and go. They don’t care what goes on."
Luke: "What is your working relationship with the Orthodox Union?"
Robert: "Oh, they want to fire me too because I want to expose everything."
Luke: "Do they employ you as well?"
Robert: "I was hired with their permission. I had to go and interview with them before I got hired. Originally I worked for them. When I first started there and was on a training basis. For the first two or three months. And then the hospital took me on because the Orthodox Union don’t pay their workers any benefits. They get a straight $17 or $18 an hour. No health benefits. No pension benefits. They don’t take taxes off. They pay you with a 1099. When it comes tax time, you get screwed. You have to pay all the taxes. But the hospital takes out the normal deductions. The union gives you a health plan. Full hospitalization. Unlimited prescriptions. That’s why I switched over. Everybody does."
Luke: "How does the non-kosher food get into the?"
Robert interrupts: "It’s either purposefully delivered or it comes in by mistake sometimes. It comes in on big deliveries and you can’t check them. All you can do is look through the invoice when they drop them off. A lot of the time when stuff came in, I took videos of it to prove that it came in."
Luke: "Is this your 40-hour a week job?"
Robert: "It’s about 30-40 hours a week. It depends on how they schedule me. Sometimes 50 hours a week."
Luke: "Are you the only mashgiach?"
Robert: "There are three of us. The other two are corrupt and just want to get paid off and keep their mouths shut. They’re afraid of retaliation."
Luke: "Retaliation from who?"
Robert: "The hospital and the Orthodox Union. The hospital wants us to keep our mouth shut and let things go the way they are. The Orthodox Union is backing them up. When you complain… I’ve got correspondence from them telling me that they don’t want me to interfere in company business.
"What are you talking about? You give the certification. How can you not interfere?"
Luke: "From your experience, the Orthodox Union is only looking at this as a money-maker?"
Robert: "Right. They have two hospitals. One in the Bronx that is not kosher-certified and this one which used to be part of Yeshiva University. And when they bought it out about 18 years ago, they had an agreement with Yeshiva University to keep it so-called kosher. It’s a 99-year contract, I’ve been told. This has been going on for years."
Luke: "How long have you been working in kashrut?"
Robert: "Before the hospital, I worked for six months in so-called kosher milk. It was the same problem on the farm. The people on the farm don’t care either. The rabbis who certify you on the farm don’t care either. They just come by. They don’t even pay you half the time."
"This was with CRC — the Central Rabbinical Council of Brooklyn. It was a chasidisha company. Rabbi Glick.
"The farm owner was very eccentric and he didn’t like people on his farm. Eventually he dropped the contract with them."
"Before this, I was working for a Jewish school. Fundraising for them. All the people I knew while I was fundraising, don’t want to get involved. Everybody is afraid of the Orthodox Union because they have a lot of power."
Luke: "This is fascinating."
Robert: "It is a fascinating story. I know. I’ve tried to contact all the newspapers in New York but they’re all afraid to do the story. I’m still working on the New York Post. They’re still debating whether to do the story. The Jewish newspapers don’t want the story. I’ve tried the other newspapers as well."
Luke: "Why are Jewish newspapers not interested in the story?"
Robert: "Because they get advertising from the Orthodox Union. They’re afraid to lose the business. There’s a Rabbi Winkler who has a magazine called Kashrus magazine. I went to him last year. He’s afraid to run the story. You’d think a magazine like that would kill to run the story. All he did was contact the Orthodox Union to save my job. The Orthodox Union and the hospital at that time just told me to keep quiet. I stayed quiet for six months but it’s gotten worse and worse. You can’t keep quiet when it’s not getting better.
"I have a lawyer. We’re filing a civil rights lawsuit within another week or two against my supervisor for harassment. They’re harassing me for fighting back against them. I already have complaints in with the New York state department of Civil Rights because of my disability. I have a herniated disc. They were supposed to give me light duty."
Luke: "I don’t understand why the Orthodox Union is not concerned."
Robert: "They just want to collect their paycheck. The rabbi who’s in charge of kosher supervision, Rabbi Schreier, is just a figurehead. He comes and collects his paycheck. He was there a couple of weeks ago. I went to him and said, ‘We had a whole bunch of cheese that came in that wasn’t kosher. And they made pizza with it. I didn’t discover it until after they had made the pizza. I tried to throw the pizza out. They wouldn’t let me. All he said was, this can’t happen. It’s not right.
"He didn’t do anything to stop it. They didn’t go in there to try to repair the kitchen. Now the kitchen is not kosher.
"My lawyer sent the Orthodox Union letters, threatening to file lawsuits last year based on the low-level of kashrut. They didn’t seem concerned about a lawsuit.
"They just told my boss Barry Kwiatkovsky (the assistant director of the nutrition department in my Weiler division, the one that is supposed to be kosher), who’s supposed to be an Orthodox Jew and a rabbi… He’s letting people buy non-kosher food. He eats there himself, which tells me he doesn’t care."
Luke: "None of the rabbis you’ve talked to about this have wanted to do anything about it?"
Robert: "No. I’ve spoken to Rabbi Yaakov Luban, he’s Rabbi Schreier’s boss. I’ve sent him emails. They’ve written me off. In one of the write-offs, it says I am not to interfere with the kosher production. The head of the kashrut department at the Orthodox Union is Rabbi Menachem Genach. He doesn’t want to do anything either. Rabbi Winkler of Kashrus Magazine wrote to all these guys. He even asked to come down but they didn’t want to let him in the kitchen because they knew there would be problems.
"As soon as my lawyer threatened a lawsuit, the Orthodox Union didn’t want to do anything. Let’s send Mr. Frank out to the dogs. Let him get fired.
"Rabbi Luban made some sort of deal where they are not supposed to write me up anymore. They wrote me up last week. All the rabbis got written up for letting in non-kosher food. The write-ups state that we have to be diligent on inspections.
"I’m getting another discipline notice for doing something else. I’m meeting with them on Wednesday."
Luke: "What is your union?"
Robert: "It’s 1199 Hospital Workers Union. The worst piece of garbage I’ve ever seen. They don’t want to do a thing. I have the union rep on tape telling me not to do anything with kashrut.
"After we made the deal last year, she said, ‘You see, the rabbis don’t want to help you. You should keep your mouth shut and not tell anything about what is going on.’ I have her on tape doing that."
Luke: "Why does the union want you to keep your mouth shut?"
Robert: "Because it moves the status quo. The status quo is that people come in and buy the food and nobody knows that there’s a problem. And I’m rocking the boat.
"They wrote me up four times last year and this will be my sixth one when I get it Wednesday.
"Right now I have a problem with one of the managers. She doesn’t want to let me pray in the morning. They won’t let me go to synagogue in the morning. I go into a little closet and pray for half an hour. I’m coming back from my praying and the manager goes, ‘Where were you? I needed you in the kitchen.’
"I said, I was praying. She said, ‘Pray on your time.’ I said, you can’t do that. You have to pray at a certain time. She said, ‘I don’t care.’"
Luke: "Who owns the hospital?"
Robert: "The Montefiore Hospital Corporation."
Luke: "Is it Jewish?"
Robert: "It’s a secular corporation."
"A couple of months ago, I wrote to the president of Yeshiva University, Richard Joel, telling him all about this story. He didn’t even return my email. I have copies of the emails I sent to a whole bunch of the newspapers. They never even wrote me back."
"The Orthodox Union is collecting money for nothing. They’re not even doing what they’re supposed to be doing… They have us as mashgiachs delivering food to patients, putting place mats on trays, serving food, but they don’t let us do kashrut. They just want us walking around so people can point and say, ‘There’s the mashgiach. Everything’s OK.’ To be a figurehead."
Luke: "Which Jewish newspapers did you contact with this story?"
Robert: "I contacted The Jewish Press, Hamodia, Yated and Kashrus Magazine. None of them would run the story because they are afraid of the Orthodox Union."
Another mashgiach emails me: "Luke- This story is HUGE. As a part-time mashgiach myself, I can attest to the horrors of Pesach hotel Kashrus. If you would like, we can talk and I can let you know about some of the violations committed with the implicit knowledge of the Rav HaMachshir in a number of five-star hotels in Miami. For years, I have wanted to help expose the kashrus business as fraudulent, but, like Mr. Frank, have had no outlet for doing so."
He tells me over the phone: "The caterer didn’t care about the mixing of milk and meat dishes. They were washed together in the dishwasher, making trafe (non-kosher) all the dishes washed.
"The caterer wore a leather yarmulke and presented himself as a Modern Orthodox Jew but he really didn’t care about kashrut. The rabbi in charge told me to separate the milk dishes from the meat dishes on a yom tov. You’re not allowed to separate out the bad from the good on a yom tov. That’s borer.
"In the kosher for Passover hotel next door, a friend of mine was the mashgiach. The staff was caught warming up a pepperoni pizza in the meat oven. It was abysmal.
"There’s intimidation going on right and left. There’s intimidation by the caterer of the mashgiach. The caterer wants to serve his food and get the mashgiachim off his back. There’s intimidation of the mashgiachim by the kitchen staff who view the mashgiach as an interloper. There’s intimidation by the head of the program.
"A buddy of mine, a Chabad baal teshuva, got this cool job as a Passover mashgiach at a hotel in Cancun. He told me that the kashrus was so terrible. They were being run over by the kitchen staff. He went to the manager of the program and said, I’m going to make a public announcement that the food is trafe unless this stops right now.
"The manager had hotel security remove him and he took a flight home on chol hamoed (intermediate days of a Jewish festival)."
Robert Frank emails me: "DEAR MR FORD ENCLOSED IS A LETTER THAT I WROTE TO RABBI LUBAN AT THE ORTHODOX UNION TO TRY TO RESOLVE THE KOSHER PROBLEMS AT MONTEFIORE HOSPITAL, I SO NOT THINK THAT ANYTHING WILL HAPPEN TO CORRECT THE PROBLEM, BUT THE ORTHODOX UNION WILL CONTINUE TO CONDONE THE THE NON KOSHER CONDITIONS AT MONTEFIORE HOSPITAL, AND RABBI BARRY KWIAKOVAKYS PERSONAL VENDETTA TO HARASS AND TERMINATE ME."
Robert Frank emails:
DEAR RABBI LUBAN, WE SPOKE BRIEFLY THIS PAST FRIDAY, ABOUT THE KOSHER PROBLEMS AT MONTEFIORE HOSPITAL, ENCLOSED IS A LIST OF THE PROBLEMS.
NON KOSHER FOOD COMES IN ALL THE TIME AND IS PREPARED BY THE COOKS AND SERVED TO UNSUSPECTING HOSPITAL PATIENTS AND PATRONS OF THE HOSPITAL CAFETERIA. WHEN I TRY TO INTEFERE IN ANY WAY OR REPORT THE SITUATION TO RABBI SCHRIER , I AM GIVEN BOGUS DISCIPLINE NOTICES AS PUNISHMENT FOR MY DISCOVERING THE NON KOSHER FOOD AND REPORTING IT.
I AM UNDER ORDERS FROM RABBI BARRY KWIATKOVSKY AND THE 1199 UNION REP NOT TO REPORT ANY KOSHER VIOLATIONS TO THE ORTHODOX UNION. ABOUT 2 WEEKS AGO WHEN RABBI SCHRIER CAME TO VISIT THE HOSPITAL , HE ASK ME IF EVERYTHING WAS OK, I DID NOT WANT TO LIE TO HIM , SO I TOLD HIM THAT I HAD FOUND NON KOSHER FOOD QUITE A FEW TIMES OVER THE PAST SEVERAL MONTHS.
BY TELLING HIM IT RESULTED IN ALL OF THE MASHGIAGHS BEING GIVEN DISCIPLINE NOTICES, FOR LETTING IN NON KOSHER FOOD. I HAVE BEEN TOLD SEVERAL TIMES BY RABBI KWIATKOVAKY TO LIE TO ANYONE WHO ASKED ME ABOUT THE KOSHER STATUS OF THE HOSPITAL, AND RABBI BAERRY KWIATKOVSKY HAS MADE SEVER THREATS IN THE PAST TO ME THAT HE WILL MAKE MY LIFE A LIVING HELL IF I DO NOT DO AS HE WANTS.
WHEN I COME BACK TO WORK AFTER MY DAYS OFF I USUALLY FIND SOME SORT OF NON KOSHER PRODUCTS, WHICH MEANS THAT SOMEONE ELSE IS NOT DOING THEIR JOB, RABBI BARRY KWIATKOVSKY IS PLANING ON WRITTING ME UP AGAIN THIS COMING WEDNESDAY ON SOME TRUMPED UP CHARGE.
RABBI BARRY KUIAKOVSKY HAS A PERSONAL AGENDA TO SHUT ME UP BY WRITTING ME UP ENOUGH TIMES TO BE ABLE TO TERMINATE ME. ONE OF THE SUPERVISORS SANDE PEPAJ HAS BEEN HARASSING ME BY GIVING ME A HARD TIME WHEN I GO TO PRAY IN THE MORNING, SHE SPEAKS TO ME IN A VERY SARCASTIC TONE OF VOICE, AND TELLS ME I CAN NOT PRAY WHEN I AM AT THE HOSPITAL AND I MUST, IN HER OWN WORDS WAIT UNTIL I GET HOME, SHE HAS TOLD ME THAT SHE IS UNDER ORDERS BY RABBI BARRY KWIATKOVSKY TO HARASS ME AND GET ME TO QUIT.
I NEED YOUR HELP TO GET RABBI BARRY KWIATKOVSKY TO STOP HARASSING ME, AN LET ME DO MY JOB, I NEED YOU TO CALL HIM AND STOP THE BOGUS WRITE -UP THAT I AM TO RECEIVE ON WENSDAY FROM BEING ISSUED TO ME, AND HAVE HIM REMOVE THE WRITE-UP THAT I RECEIVED 2 WEEKS AGO, FROM MY PERSONNEL FILE, IF I GET 5 WRITE- UPS I WILL BE FIRED.
I WILL CALL YOU IN YOUR OFFICE ON MONDAY TO DISCUESS THIS SITUATION, AND HOW ALL THESE PROBLEMS CAN BE RESOLVED, IF NECESSARY I WOULD LIKE TO MEET WITH YOU AND RABBI GENACH AT THE ORTHODOX UNION HEADQUARTERS TO WORK OUT A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM.
"DEAR MR FORD: ENCLOSED IS A LETTER THAT MY ATTORNEY WROTE TO THE ORTHODOX UNION, THEY NEVER ANSWERED HIM, AND ENCLOSED IS ONE OF MY WRITEUPS WHERE IT STATES THAT I AM NOT TO INTERFERE WITH ANY EMPLOYEE AT MONTEFIORE HOSPITAL WHEN THEY VIOLATE ANY KOSHER RULES."
"DEAR MR FORD THIS IS THE STATEMENT THAT I MADE ON MY COMPLIANT TO NEW YORK STATE DIV OF HUMAN RIGHTS."
1. I am Employed By Montefiore Hospital Nutrition Department Located at 1825 Eastchester RD Bronx,N.Y. 10461 .
2. My position is Mashgisch: my job is to keep the kitchen kosher. My function is to insure that Jewish patients receive meals as per the dietary guidelines set forth for strictly Kosher meals.
3. I am ordered various times a day to perform numerous tasks outside my scope of normal duties , which take me away from my Kosher Certification Duties they include taking heavy food carts to hospital patients,serving food and soup and dishing out food and cutting up 50 pound bags of potatoes and preparing salads for patients and taking food down to the food stand in the lobby.
4. By my doing the tasks in paragraph 3 I am taken away from my duty which is to make sure that the food is Kosher for the Jewish patients. During these times of distraction, it is when infractions occur which would make the items served the patients not Kosher.
5. Also by having me doing these tasks which was not the reason I was hired is a violation of the ADA because of my disability with my back. They are making me do these tasks to force me to resign.
6. Several times they asked me to resign and if I do not, they would make things even more difficult for me.
7. When I am on duty in the Jewish Sabbath and holidays I am made fun of by my supervisors because I cannot do regular weekday work because on these days I cannot ride elevators, write, etc. as per my following the Jewish laws.
Good Shabbos
Sandy
Robert emails me: "DEAR MR FORD, I MET RABBI YAKOV LUBAN OF THE ORTHODOX UNION AT A BRIS THIS MORNING AND SPOKE TO HIM ABOUT THE PROBLEMS AT MONTEFIORE HOSPITAL, I OFFERED TO SHOW HIM VIDEOS OF THE NON KOSHER FOOD THAT CAME INTO THE HOSPITAL, I AM OFFERING TO TAKE A LYE DETECTOR TEST TO PROVE THAT I AM TELLING THE TRUTH , IS MY SUPERVISOR RABBI BARRY KWIATKOVSKY READY TO TAKE A LYE DETECTOR TEST I DO NOT THINK SO. RABBI LUBAN MENTIONED THAT HE HEARD ABOUT THE ARTICLE THAT YOU WROTE ON 11-26-09 ABOUT THE KOSHER CONDITIONS AT MONTEFIORE HOSPITAL. ENCLOSED IS A COPY OF AN E-MAIL I SENT RABBI LUBAN AFTER OUR MEETING."
Here is that email: "DEAR RABBI, LUBAN, THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO SPEAK TO ME WHEN YOU WERE AT THE BRIS THIS MORNING. I AM ENCLOSING A FEW VIDEOS OF THE NON KOSHER FOOD THAT CAME INTO MONTEFIORE HOSPITAL, I WILL TAKE A LIE DETECTOR TEST AT YOUR EXPENSE TO PROVE THAT I AM NOT LYING ABOUT THE KOSHER PROBLEMS AT MONTEFIORE HOSPITAL. IS RABBI BARRY KWIATKOVSKY READY TO TAKE A LIE DETECTOR TEST. LETS GET THIS DONE AND THEN WE WILL SEE WHO IS LYING. PLEASE SPEAK TO RABBI BARRY TO GET HIM NOT TO WRITE ME UP ON WEDNESDAY AND REMOVE THE OTHER WRITE-UP THAT I RECEIVED 2 WEEKS AGO, AND FOR HIM TO STOP HARASSING ME AND TO TELL HIS MANAGER SANDE PEPAJ TO STOP HARASSING ME AND LET ME DO MY JOB. DO YOU KNOW THAT NO EMPLOYEE OF KITCHEN OR CAFETERIA RECEIVES ANY KOSHER FOOD PREPARATION TRAINING I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF ANY KOSHER KITCHEN HAVING EMPLOYEES THAT ARE NOT TRAINED IN THE KOSHER DIETARY LAWS, THE MASHGIACHS CAN NOT BE ALL OVER. LETS WORK TOGETHER TO FIX THE PROBLEM."
It means I may not pass go, I may not collect $200.
For 43 years, people have been saying "Ehehhehhehh!" to me.
It means I can’t get away with anything.
I’ve got to stop pushing, punching, provoking the girlies.
My first year of Alexander Technique teacher training was straight forward. Until now.
Over the past six weeks, I’ve learned how to put hands on. Prior to this, I was just working on myself.
Now I get to put my bloody mitts on people lying on a table, but the teachers watch me closely and they keep going "Ehehhehhehh!"
Then I have to step away, think my directions, and start again.
I know the teachers only want to help me with my use, but it is humiliating.
If it was only teach and I, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but this takes place in front of the victims. That’s what I find humiliating. It tells people I’m not safe, that I don’t have a license to practice Alexander Technique.
I’m told to get my thinking right, my monkey right, before I put hands on. Frankly, I’m the kind of guy who only feels right once he’s got his hands on. Then I can start breathing. But this doesn’t cut it with the powers that be.
I’m told to attain my length and width before I put hands on.
All this criticism makes me I feel like I’m not good enough. That I’m less than. That I’ve failed.
I want to be smooth. I want to march right up, lay my student out with just the right number of National Geographics under her head, put my bloody mitts on her, keep up a lively conversation across the room with my mates about who we did this weekend, and then think my directions, letting my head go forward and up, and my fingers lengthening, not grabbing, the victim.
In short, I want to walk up and impart my magic with my warm hands and loving heart, just like mommy used to do.
Can’t get fairer than that.
All these orders to think my directions, to think forward and up with my head, to think of my torso lengthening and widening, all this before I touch the sacrificial lamb, oy vey, it’s bloody mental.
I had this same sort of trauma in grade school. I badly wanted to do things but the powers that be wouldn’t let me.
I don’t know much. I never graduated from college or nothing. But I know about Aussie blokes.
There’s this one Aussie bloke I know right well. He was raised a Sevie. You Yanks would call that a Seventh-Day Adventist. By his late teens, he’d given that the chuck and become an atheistic communist. Then he started listening to Dennis Prager on the radio and he gave communism a chuck and embraced Judaism.
So what happened to this bloke when he converted to Orthodox Judaism? Did he leave his bad habits behind? No. He just piled his Orthodox Judaism on top of all his other bad habits.
Before his conversion, this guy had issues with sheilas. He feared and hated ’em. After his conversion? He feared and hated ’em.
Before his conversion, he was a bit of a drongo. After his conversion, he was a bit of a drongo.
Before his conversion, he was a bit sleazy. After his conversion, he was an Orthodox Jewish sleaze.
Before his conversion, he was a snake. After his conversion, he was an Orthodox Jewish snake.
Get the picture?
Before his conversion, he had problems with community. After his conversion, he still wasn’t wanted around these parts.
Before his conversion, he had problems with authority. After his conversion, he was still trashing rabbis on his blog.
Now I know about this other Aussie bloke who has a happier story.
His name was Frederick Matthias Alexander (20 January 1869 – 10 October 1955). He was an actor. As his career got going, he developed a problem. He kept losing his voice.
He went around to different doctors to try to find the problem and to solve it.
One doctor suggested he rest his voice for two weeks before performance. He did. On the day of his performance, his voice felt strong. Then halfway through his oration, he lost his voice.
His friends told him that he was gasping for air when he orated.
"Might it be something I’m doing?" he asked his doc.
His doc said probably, but he didn’t know what it was exactly.
F.M. sat in a room with mirrors and examined what he did as he performed.
He noticed that just prior to speaking, he’d tip his head back, push his chest out, and depress his larynx. This would cause him to audibly gasp for air. He noticed that he had this same habit in everyday conversation but it was not as severe as when he performed on stage.
Figuring that this was hurting his voice, he used his will to try to stop these bad habits. To his chagrin, he found these habits were not susceptible to his will. Even though he tried not to tip his head back and he tried not to push his chest out, his habits were stronger than his will.
F.M. discovered that the only way he could successfully tackle his problem was with an indirect approach.
He found success by inhibiting his habitual impulses and thinking his directions — sending his head forward and up, allowing his back to stay back and to lengthen and widen. If he pushed his head up, he found his torso tightening, constricting his breath. But if he simply thought up, he lengthened and widened, his lungs had more room to expand, he learned to breathe easily and deeply without gasping and depressing his larynx.
Many habits are only changed with such an indirect method.
Let’s take a golfer who keeps taking his eye of the ball. The harder he tries to keep his eye on the ball, the worse he hits it. With the direct approach, just trying to will himself to keep his eye on the ball, he only plays worse.
The golfer’s only hope is the indirect method, to inhibit his habitual responses and to think his directions.
It’s the same way with immoral habits. Let’s suppose you’re a wanker. You try to use your will to abstain from wanking. It doesn’t work.
So what to do?
You attack the problem indirectly, you try to increase the presence of God in your life, you try to up your holiness level and to study more Torah.
I think happiness is only attainable as a byproduct of living a virtuous life.
With some people such as myself, goodness is only attainable through indirect methods.
When I started listening to Dennis Prager in 1988, I soon came to believe in ethical monotheism. But that didn’t make me a lot more virtuous. What did effect my behavior was when I joined a specific religious community, a synagogue. Then the thought of humiliating myself before them became painful. I formed bonds with people. I did not want to let them down. This had a profound effect on my behavior.
Sure, I still screwed around and did a lot of sleazy things, but I did less than what I would’ve done otherwise. Fewer sheilas, more Torah.
I find the best indicator of my moral performance is the tightness of my bonds with others. When I feel free and easy, lacking close ties, I can do almost anything and justify it. It’s a lot harder to justify things to a specific community with an ancient rule book.
The way most people become Orthodox is not by studying its theory, but by joining a specific Orthodox community and engaging in its rituals, thus forming bonds with others who reinforce the program.
"You seem like such a good girl," I told an acquaintance. "You seem so responsible and caring. You run your own business. You’re always considerate of other people’s feelings. You seem like you were the teacher’s pet. You’ve strived to live up to your parents’ expectations.
"I’d love to hear you write from your bad girl. Can you get in touch with your bad girl? The part of you that is ashamed and selfish? The part of you that is jealous and vindictive and needy? I’d love to hear you writing about stealing from someone. It may not have been money, but surely there’s been a time when you took something that did not belong to you.
"I had a girl, Holly Randal, who writes everything like a high school essay. Very formal. You’re a little bit like her. You obey all the rules of grammar and usage. I’d love to hear you read something that was fragmented. That was a run-on. Surely in your speech you sometimes violate the rules of grammar. Incorporate that grammatical naughtiness in your writing. Don’t violate the rules of grammar willy nilly. Tape record yourself talking to a good friend and locate the ways you violate grammar and usage in the vernacular way you speak and then incorporate that into your writing. Maybe tape record your therapy and write from that. Incorporate the informality and directness of everyday speech into your writing."
He chose the black crayon which turned out to be purple.
On the far left of the 8.5 by 11 inch white paper, he drew a tall stick figure of himself standing on the south-east corner of Pico and Beverwil. Above him, he sketched a yellow sun, the only part of his sketch that was not purple. He wore a long beard and a smile.
Down Pico and Olympics Blvds, he drew the shuls that had rejected him — Young Israel of Century City, Aish HaTorah, Beth Jacob, Bnai David-Judea, Chabad Bais Bezalel. Racing up past the shuls, he drew two snarling dogs labeled "Kill", their bare teeth flashing in the sun.
The teacher asked the class to give their drawings a name. He chose, "The Road."
What did you discover?
"I’m not sure I discovered anything," he said. "There’s a road ahead. There’s sunshine. There’s a long road. And there are savage dogs out to kill me."
Does that surprise you?
"No," he said.
What do the dogs represent?
"They represent the whirlwind," he said.
Of?
"That I have yet to reap."
What do you mean?
"Past decisions I’ve made that will come back to haunt me."
They look prehistoric.
"I’m not a good drawer."
No, no, no. They look really interesting. Their teeth are almost as big as their bodies. And yet the hero is smiling under the sun.
"They’re dangerous dogs. They’re rotweilers or boxers or pitbulls. He’s smiling but he knows the killer dogs are coming for him up the road. But it’s a long road. That means I think I’m going to have a long life but there are killers after me."
Are they crocodile dogs?
"Their teeth. And they’re racing towards me. And I’m standing there smiling and having fun in the sun."
But you’re a lot bigger than them.
OK.
I don’t know if you’ve heard the term "naive art." Naive folk art. Childlike and yet the danger. Mixing that adult and that child.
Drawing is a way to make things concrete — feelings and ideas.
It was his turn to share. He picked up his journal and read excerpts.
Nov. 11. I’ve never been expressive during ***. **** says she suspects I make **** to all women the same way. She talks about my monotonous pounding.
My first time (in February 1989), I just held her in a hug for what felt like 30 minutes. I didn’t want to be too quick. I wanted her to feel something too. When she waved her hands and told me to finish, I turned deadly serious.
I remember one day in August 1993 when I cried during…. We’d gone to the beach and I’d cut my foot. I felt we were on the verge of breaking up. We hardly ever made **** anymore. She felt sorry for me and halfway through, I started crying. I finished anyway. That’s the only time I’ve cried during…
I dated this powerful girl, Holly, who liked to be verbally degraded…. I found I enjoyed giving her a stern talking to. I enjoyed delivering that degradation.
When the fun and games were over, however, there was no doubt who was in charge.
I tend to date powerful women. They like me taking charge. It’s a pleasant break for them. I enjoy the illusion of power. My fantasies tend to revolve around wielding power.
Aside from these exceptions, I tend to have the focus of a prisoner in a mine meeting the quota that will permit him to live another day. That’s what *** means to me when it culminates happily — it means permission to live another day, to live light and free and happy, to live relieved of an enormous burden, to live without the demon spawn.
Without regular ***, I feel half alive. I don’t feel like a man. I feel like I’m walking around with squeaky hinges. I’m not living in my body. I’m living in my head. I’m out of balance and out of whack. I’m filled with frustrations. I feel unloved. I have so much to give but nobody wants to receive it.
When I look back on the past 20 years, when I’ve had regular ***, I’ve felt happy, no matter what else was going on in my life. When I did not have regular ***, I did not feel happy, no matter what else was going on in my life.
A passionate intimate relationship tends to be the difference-maker for me in my happiness.
Nov. 16. I am in an unsafe relationship. Why did **** not call me back Saturday night? Why does she wait until its yom tov (holy day) before she calls? Who is she meeting in Hawaii? Who goes to Hawaii for a week to be alone?
I need to be honest with myself about my own feelings, even if I don’t share them with ****. It does not feel good to have my calls unreturned. It would not bother me so much if I had my life together and I was surging ahead with lots of friends and social engagements, money coming in, groovy demands on my time, phone ringing, Blackberry buzzing, invites, and good health.
I am headed in the right direction but I’m struggling. I’m broke. I’m sick a lot.
I feel like **** lives a far more active life than I do.
I want to share vulnerable parts of myself with her so she can be vulnerable too and then we can become closer and mend each other’s brokeness.
I feel shaky. I’m pushing myself over my limit. My habit when I feel this insecure is to run away (most often) or to lash out. I can’t wait to go home to feel safe.
I am going to swallow my pride and ask to borrow money in the next week. I want to wait as long as I can while keeping up my minimum $2,000 checking account balance.
Nov. 17. I feel good that I rode out my shaky downturn. I feel good about my conversation last night with ****. It restarted our relationship.
Yesterday’s therapy was powerful. I’m learning how to articulate my feelings and how to share them. I can share my feelings without hurting others. I can take more risks with what I share. I’m learning to be vulnerable.
Nov. 19. I love to perform. I love attention. I was born to do one-man plays. Who might want to direct me in a one-man play based on my life? It’s rich soil.
I love the direction of our relationship. She purrs like a kitten after I make **** to her.
Is that a performance? That’s an obvious juxtaposition.
I wonder if I should sign up again for the $1,000 annual unlimited yoga pass. I got my money’s worth this year, going about four times a week, just $4 a class, just five blocks away. A studio that looks good and smells good and everyone’s nice to me and I meet my friends and I make new friends. It makes me happy, healthy and holy. It’s my shul substitute. No Modern Orthodox shul wants me but the yoga studio wants me. I wonder how much I am missed at Aish, Bnai David, YICC, Beth Jacob. Well, nobody is calling me. I can’t imagine they’re too cut up about it.
Is there any guilt? Is yoga a substitution for synagogue? Is that OK with the powers that be?
Well, —- them. I’ve got the blog. It’s my virtual shul. And I’m the rabbi. I give the sermons. I set the rules. Ong namo guru luke namo. Let’s all rub our hands together and tune in.
Nov. 22. I am exhausted. I’ve been low for a couple of weeks. I’m paying the price for my burst of survival energy in early November. I can’t believe how little yoga I’ve done since Rosh Hashanah. What a bad stretch of illness and exhaustion. With my crushing debt load, I fear the worst is yet to come. I have $600 a month in minimum credit card payments. I can do it.
Nov. 23. My therapist notes how much stronger I am. I’m not going to the weak and victimhood mentality when **** threatens to break up with me.
I’d love to hear how she threatens. What she says. How he receives it. Is it an ultimatum? What isn’t she getting?
We’re taking a break for a few days to reassess things. Well, she’s reassessing. I know I want her around. She can’t swallow my right-wing politics and religion.
When was the last time she read a book on politics? Her politics are all emotion. Mine are intellectual, backed up by sturdy amounts of reading.
I know that many other women find me attractive. I know my life is headed in the right direction.
Was I denying my feelings when **** talked about breaking up? I sounded so chipper.
No. I’m sure I will miss her, but I’ve given her the best I’ve got. I left it all on the field.
I can trace my feelings of loss and abandonment to earliest childhood. I did not have a secure lasting relationship with one caregiver.
I want to know why he’s using that word "caregiver" instead of "parent". Do you realize how unusual that is? That’s a string to pull. I would never in a million years call my mother a "caregiver". What is that? What is that distance?
My mother loved me but she died of cancer when I was four. My dad loved me but he was very busy and not around me much in those early years. My brother and sister loved me but they weren’t around me much in those early years. Ivy Harker loved me but she was only around a few months. The Barretts loved me, but that only lasted a few weeks.
Throughout my life, I’ve found people to love.
How he do did that? Does he trust that? When did he lose that?
But there have been those long lonely stretches.
I’ve created the life I’ve wanted. I am here in the heart of Modern Orthodox Judaism in Los Angeles. Why am I so alone?
I should feel confident in my ability to make my way, to form attachments, to maintain relationships.
I don’t let **** knock me off course with her emotional rollercoaster.
How hard was it to hold on?
She was so happy this morning on the phone and the voice of doom this afternoon. This is her pattern. I’m solid. I don’t bounce up and down. Every month or two, she looks to break up with me. I am in an emotionally unsafe relationship. I bet this gives her a feeling of power to constantly talk about breaking up.
She has her own abandonment issues.
She’s constantly manipulating me, expressing her contempt. She’s good for *** and for companionship. We share interests in reading, writing, personal growth.
I can roll with the punches and connect with other girls, preferably Jewish.
That meant a lot to me on Shabbos when Joe* called me a holy man who speaks the truth. Reb Levi of Berdichev. Much of my life is holy. My commitment to truth is holy. I can take pride in that. Who knows how much of my life has been held back by ****?
I love my therapist.
I want to know if he loves ****. It’s interesting hearing all the good things and then, I love my therapist. An interesting absence.
I love how she encourages me to share my vulnerability.
It’s funny how my Alexander teachers must struggle to deal with my verbal provocations. So little has changed since my childhood. I’m still the boy with the verbal dagger, waving it around to keep others at bay.
I want to know what that means.
I can come from a place of strength in a relationship. I don’t have to be this needy suck.
I can just enjoy ****’s rollercoaster of emotions. I don’t need to fix her. She’s not a woman I can treasure. She cheated on me. The more passionately I pursue interests outside of her, the better.
Better for whom? Was that the catalyst? Was there a feeling of betrayal when he found out? Who betrayed who first?
I saw **** four times over the past week. She always gets scared as we get closer.
I want to know if he does. What is getting closer? Is it continuity? Consistency? Or is it something that happens when they see each other a lot?
What do I think impresses girls? Why do they sleep with me? I want to say it is my ability with words, but I once slept with a beautiful girl from South America. She did not speak English. I hardly speak any Spanish. And yet she gave herself to me after a few trips to synagogue. I don’t think it was just the profundity of the prayers.
It was a Friday night in September 1994. I met her at Stephen S. Wise temple. I’d just gotten out of a passionate relationship, one that caused me to cry over the loss every day for three months straight.
She was wearing jeans and she had big breasts. I remember getting her outside after services and moving my hands towards them and saying, "Es muy necessario!" And she pushed my hands away and said, "No es necessario."
She was in town for a month visiting relatives. I began picking her up in Brentwood on Friday nights and Saturday mornings and driving her to temple to listen to the wise teachings of Dennis Prager.
How did we communicate? Through touch. Through a few commonly understood words. Through looking in each other’s eyes.
One Friday night after temple, we walked the Venice board walk. Then we went back to my Datsun stationwagon and I drove her to Brentwoood. We pulled over on a dark street near where she was staying and we got in the back and we made out. I was on top of her grinding away and then something happened and I was a sticky mess.
The next Friday night, we made out again. I was grinding away again. I was groaning. She was groaning. She said, "Condom?"
Thank the Good Lord, I had one. Away we went. It was glorious. We only had that one evening together in that way but I’ll live off the fumes for the rest of my life. When I’m married and bored, I’ll be able to look back to the girl from South America.
I slept with a beautiful girl with big breasts who didn’t speak English. And I did it in the back of a car I was living out of for six months! I slept in this car for six months. I was homeless for six months. I was quite ill much of this time but I managed to get it together for a few hours and I had a great time with this girl.
I think I turn switches in women’s brains and that’s why they decide to date me. I don’t sleep around anymore. I haven’t for more than ten years. I don’t prey on women anymore. I hope I’m not gross.
I want to get married and live a Torah life, just like I promised Dennis Prager 20 years ago. I want to be a good reflection of his teachings, not some chronically ill homeless bloke seducing busty South American girls on the dark streets of Brentwood after the intoxication of Friday night davening at Stephen S. Wise temple.
I want to sleep with every attractive woman I meet but I don’t because most of them won’t go for it and the Torah forbids me.
Why do some women want to sleep with me? Well, some women (such as Holly Randall!) have a thing for f***ed up broke writers. Some women find my delicacy and vulnerability appealing. My looks and my height normally play a role. My ability with words always plays a role. I think that South American girl could hear the music in my speech even if she did not understand 99% of my words.
I have this kingdom — Lukeland. It’s an alternate universe. I light candles. I shut the doors. I play groovy music. I open up my heart. I open up her heart. We study the sacred text. We write. We laugh. We cry.
Many women want to visit Lukeland. Some women want to move in.
I want to know if he ever reads his writing to them. Does he ever write to them or for them? Or is it just eloquent conversation? Or does he make sure to tell them, I’m a writer! I’m a writer!
I love it when a woman lifts me up. I’m a climber. I’d like to explore this. I feel so ashamed. I could talk about sex all day long and feel no shame, but my desires to be rich and powerful, that feels shameful. Is it socially acceptable to want to belong to a higher social class and to hope that your girl takes you there?
I want to know how high he socially climbed.
I’m not very practical. I’m an idiot savant. I’m good with words. That’s about it. I need help with the rest of my life. I’m like a rock star. I can command a room, but otherwise I’m helpless.
I’d love to see him in action. When does he turn it on? Can he do that at will or is it just situational? How low has he fell? What’s his class limit?
I feel like **** takes me into an alternate universe. I like her friends. I like how she sees things that I miss. She saved my life while I was driving carelessly (I didn’t realize I was driving in the lane of oncoming traffic on the PCH). I love how she took me to a play and to the opera. If we spent more time together, she’d take me more places. I’d meet more of her friends. She’d help me find work.
Does she always pay? What is that like for him?
I wonder if I measure up to what she wants in a man?
Is he looking for a girl with higher social status than ****?
What miracle would permit me to go to LimmudLA 2010? I can’t believe I found the money to go to the previous two. Just plunked them on my credit card. I can’t be that reckless this time. It is less than three months away. I want a miracle. How can I score some money? If I unexpectedly came up with the funds, I’d rather spend them on my Alexander Technique education.
I love the competitiveness of Jewish life. It pushes you to do your best. You go further than you think you can.
How is Judaism motivating him? Is it motivating him for sexual relationships? What is a miracle? Are there two kinds of miracles? A sexual miracle and a holy miracle?
My number one priority now is finding money to finish my Alexander Technique training.
I need a good earner. I need a sweet spot. Find it and I will transition to a new life. Without it, I will flail.
What’s ahead for me? I can look to the past for answers. Tough times. Hard work.
I want to know if he’s doing Alexander Technique for restorative reasons or if he’s training to teach it?
The more honest you get, the funnier it gets.
He’s writing things that perhaps he wouldn’t say. Notice what happens to you when you are listening to something so intimate and personal and truthful. Does it take you in? Does it give you permission to tell your secrets?
I want to know more about the social climbing and the class anxiety.
What is important to him about women vs. the sexual attraction and conquest? How does he navigate all that with his faith? What is it to get a smart, sexy, beautiful woman? Is that his work right now? What is he achieving? What is giving him worth? Is there any love? What validation does he get? Why do some women have a thing for him? Is it because he’s ****ed up? Because of his troubles? Because he’s that romantic troubled writer?
Any memories or images come up while you’re listening?
Just the women. The softness and the nurturing. The curves. The comfort. The mommy replacements. The mommying I didn’t get as a tiny child.
I’d love to hear that. That that goes hand in hand when he talks about them. That deep feminine understanding. What is it like to realize that? What does he think the women are getting from him? Is it just sex? Or is that a wonderful thing to be able to offer? I want to know how he’s able to take women into an alternate universe. What is that other place? Is it otherworldly? Is it holy? Is it salvation for both of them? Is it an escape? Transcendent?
What is the connection between his religion and yoga? Does he know the connection between kaballah and shakras? The tree of life? What do you want to investigate?
The climber. I feel deep shame. Wherever I can find shame, I can find good material. The material is as good as the intensity of the shame.
I want to hear that too. That’s part of the story too — how you are using shame as a guide. You know that is a litmus test. I find it ironic that you can talk about sex all day and not feel any shame. So you really are an artist-warrior willing to look and to investigate.
Nov. 25. I’m feeling ****’s loss. I’ve accomplished nothing of note today, just my three hours of Alexander Technique work and my washing and the movie Angels and Demons and I finished the Richard Russo novel That Old Cape Magic.
I want to write about class anxiety. I was raised to believe we were the highest class — the educated class. My dad was a self-made man. He led us to believe we could accomplish anything if we just put our mind to it. My dad put enormous effort into his work, his education, his scholarship and his evangelism. He was proud of working hard. He pushed himself to the limit. Always doing and doing. He encouraged us to be the same way. Alexander Technique is the perfect antidote to my childhood. It’s a path of grace and poise and non-doing.
In high school, I knew there was a better place for me — Pacific Union College. I’d run to my friends there over the break. Now it is Thanksgiving again and there’s nowhere to run. I’ve created my life here. Why isn’t it working out?
My substitute for the warm welcoming home is the warm welcoming female body. It’s not enough.
When it’s finished, we lie on the floor gasping for breath. Then she snuggles into my arms, surrendering her contempt.
She no longer wants to fight, she no longer needs to prove how much she doesn’t need me. I’ve drained the hate from her body. I’m safe for the day.
The music plays. The candle burns low. My life flickers.
I don’t feel like we’ve built anything. We’ve rubbed ourselves together and kindled the forbidden flame, but we’re no closer to making a life together. We’re no closer to bridging our differences in religion and politics.
I have friends of all political and religious persuasions. Why should opinions about politics prevent us from ****ing each other? But politics come into almost everything. Are certain positions patriarchal? What cable channel do we watch? Who pays for dinner? When we walk past Orthodox Jews on Saturday afternoon, do we say "Gut Shabbos" or "Hi"? Is it more important that we do our duty or that we pursue our bliss?
We’re from the same social class. Our fathers have PhDs and distinguished academic careers. Neither of our families are rich.
I want to talk to **** about class anxiety. Does she ever feel it? What does she regard as classy and as low-class? In what ways has she been a snob? In what ways has she been hurt by snobbery? When has social class gotten in the way of her relationships?
I feel most comfortable with academics and the children of academics.
I find it hard to locate my class anxiety. I’ve occasionally had the feeling of not belonging, of not being good enough. I feel it sometimes in Orthodox life, where those who are Orthodox from birth have varying degrees of skepticism about converts and penitents. Young Israel of Century City is a stronghold for those who are Modern Orthodox from birth. The rest feel like outsiders.
I’m in such a bad financial position right now. I’m taking loans from my family. Why do I keep putting myself in pathetic places and then seeking help? It’s not very manly. I feel pathetic. Why do I do this?
I think it goes back to my earliest childhood. I was farmed out to different people to look after me while my mom was dying. They’d often want me to do things I didn’t want to do, such as to eat my vegetables. I’d just sit there and refuse. During this long wait at the table, feeling fragile and helpless, I sought ways to salvage power. And where did I find it? I found it by being pathetic. I found it by keeling over. I found it by hurting myself, by running into a door or falling down the steps or by skinning my knee or my elbow, bloodying myself up, or just by thinking the most pathetic thoughts and letting that play out on my visage, letting my eyes retreat into my skull and the skin around them darken, so that I’d look hollow and starving and pathetic. The weaker I acted, the worse I looked, the more pathetic I got, the more help and love and attention I got.
I found power in being pathetic.
I’m not sure that’s quite it.
I was a lost and lonely infant and I wanted to be picked up and to be loved. I found I was more likely to get hugged if I wailed. I found I could get love by screaming. I found that if I fell into pathos, somebody would be more likely to pick me up and dust me off and help me go in the right direction.
Perhaps I’ve put myself on the sick bed, in the homeless state, in the broke state, in the broken state, in the bad boy state, the rejected oh woe is me state, because I’ve learned over my life that that is the best way to get the love I need.
I still want to suck on dead mommy’s breast.
I remember a poster on XPT saying that pity was Luke’s Trojan horse to get inside women.
I wonder if I can learn to get the nurturing I want through healthier means, through achievement and greatness and honesty and vulnerability. Maybe by impressing people with the good and responsible way I lead my life, they will feel safe enough to include me.
I find that when people help me (in ways I need helping), I feel nurtured and loved. I yearn for that, though I am usually too proud to ask for it unless I’m desperate.
I’m desperate.
Here’s another way of looking at. There’s this dark cavern inside of me, this inexhaustible yearning to be mothered. When I am reasonably successful with my life, I can cover this hole over, but when my life misfires, the hole opens up for all to see.
A couple of aspiring reality-TV stars from Northern Virginia appear to have crashed the White House’s state dinner Tuesday night, penetrating layers of security with no invitation to mingle with the likes of Vice President Biden and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
Tareq and Michaele Salahi — polo-playing socialites known for a bitter family feud over a Fauquier County winery and their possible roles in the forthcoming "The Real Housewives of Washington" — were seen arriving at the White House and later posted on Facebook photos of themselves with VIPs at the elite gathering.
"Honored to be at the White House for the state dinner in honor of India with President Obama and our First Lady!" one of them wrote on their joint Facebook page…
But a White House official said the couple were not invited to the dinner, not included on the official guest list and never seated at a table in the South Lawn tent…
While the White House offered no official explanation, it appears to be the first time in modern history that anyone has crashed a White House state dinner. The uninvited guests were in the same room as President Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, although it is unknown whether they met the Obamas and the guest of honor.
"Everyone who enters the White House grounds goes through magnetometers and several other levels of screenings," said Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service. "That was the case with the state dinner last night. No one was under any risk or threat."
Donovan said a preliminary internal investigation Wednesday identified "a Secret Service checkpoint which did not follow proper procedure to ensure these two individuals were on the invited guest list." He declined to give further details. An administration official said the White House will conduct its own review…
Ms. Salahi’s [Facebook] profile also revealed a possible link to one of the dinner guests. In one of her photographs, Ms. Salahi and her husband are shown drinking wine and celebrating at the Indian embassy with Arun K. Singh — the Deputy Chief of Mission at the embassy — for the kickoff of a polo match between India and the United States earlier this year. Ambassador Singh was on the guest list for the state dinner Tuesday night.
In the latest indication that the National Football League will redirect its approach to players’ concussions, the co-chairmen of the league’s committee on brain injuries resigned from the group Tuesday, the league announced.
Dr. Ira Casson and Dr. David Viano, members of the committee since 1994 and co-chairmen since 2007, co-authored most of the group’s published research papers whose conclusions regarding head injuries were met with considerable criticism from medical peers. Casson has been the league’s primary voice discrediting all evidence linking football players with subsequent dementia or cognitive decline, drawing criticism from fellow scientists, players and ultimately Congress…
“The N.F.L. is currently identifying their replacements and additional members who will bring to the committee independent sources of expertise and experience in the field of head injuries,” [Commissioner Roger] Goodell said…
This is the second time that the league has replaced leadership of its committee on concussions. In early 2007, the chairman, Dr. Elliot Pellman, resigned after strong criticism of his work and indications that he had exaggerated several aspects of his medical education and professional status in official biographical sketches and a resumé prepared for Congress. He was replaced by Casson and Viano…
Michael Makovi writes: Judaism by Rabbi Dr. Isidore Epstein. There are two reasons for recommending this book:
(1) As its subtitle ("A Historical Presentation") suggests, the book is almost a history book. The book is not a full-blown book of Jewish thought, nor is it a book of Jewish history, but it is half of each, and so the reader will get to know a lot about Judaism, and how to place everything he’s learned into historical context.
(2) The book is a delightful example of German/British/early-American enlightened Orthodoxy. ‘Nuf said.
Rabbi Dr. Isidore Epstein’s The Faith of Judaism. In terms of scope, basic philosophic position, etc., this book is comparable to Rabbi Berkovits’s God, Man, and History.
Rabbi Benjamin Blech’s Understanding Judaism: The Basics of Deed and Creed. The basic thesis of the book (viz. the respective places of belief and practice in Judaism) is itself sufficient to recommend it, but along the way, Rabbi Blech manages to include a spectacular amount of information relevant to the beginner. (And even for the learned; as he says, many YU rabbinical students would audit his class (which his book is based on), which was really directed at baalei teshuva.)
Everything by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin. The beautiful thing about his books is that they are so accessible. With his Jewish Literacy, I’d open it to a random page and read a few pages, and within a few weeks, I had unintentionally read the whole book. I kept opening the book to random pages, and I couldn’t find anything I hadn’t read.
Everyman’s Talmud, by Rev. Abraham Cohen. Think of this book as a miniature Bialik’s Sefer ha-Aggadah. A beautiful example of German/British/early-American-style enlightened Orthodoxy, and the book which (besides Telushkin) first began my becoming a baal teshuva. (In fact, it was Cohen’s book which convinced me to keep the laws of…err…vain seed.)
Affirmations of Judaism (1927 edition) by Rabbi Dr. J. H. Hertz. A beautiful explication of Judaism, which tragically is no longer in print. But there are still many copies on Book Finder. However: you want the red1927 edition, not the blue1975 edition; the latter, despite having the same title and author, is an entirely different book.
NACHUM LAMM POSTS: Gil, the note you add after Kugel reminds me of a revelation I once had: Jewish Action once had a list like this. (From that list, I’d add "A Tzadik In Our Time," a book which an NCSY advisor once described to me as "making you happy to be a Jew." As it happens, Feldheim did a job on that one too in the second edition, but that’s neither here nor there.)
Anyway, the Jewish Action list included some books from Prager/Telushkin with a note along the lines of "Observant readers should beware of some passages unacceptable…" etc. etc.
Some time later I saw a mention of "This is My God" in the late unlamented Jewish Observer. And virtually the same line appeared about Wouk’s work. (An Allan Sherman pun.)
Since then I, like Nechama Liebowitz and the Rambam (not that I mean to compare myself to them), stopped caring about who wrote a book or even its purported hashkafa and more about what it said.
In that spirit, let me suggest some of R’ Meir Kahane’s books- not the real political ones, good as they are, but books like "Listen World, Listen Jew," which are quite compelling and well-written and especially needed in this troubled time.
ANON POSTS: Mayer Schiller is a published racist (one needs to just google his name to discover this fact). While one may be OK with this, I would not suggest this book as a kiruv book, lest the person you are giving it to look up the author online, and be totally turned away from Judaism.
MEIR RESPONDS: Rabbi Schiller is not a racist. Advocating segregation doesn’t make you a racist. The reason he advocates segregation is the same reason he believes chassidim should live in their own enclaves. He believes each community best preserves its traditions when living together in its own community.
ANON POSTS: What on Earth are you complaining about Rabbi Schiller? He believes whites are intellectual superior to blacks. So? That’s his opinion, and he’s entitled to it. I’m sure tens of millions agree. If that’s racist, then call me a racist too, I guess. If you think having opinions makes you racist, then it begs the question of just what is racisim, anyway.
STBO POSTS: Rabbi Schiller is plainly racist, and there is no way a reasonable person could read his voluminous writings and interviews (many available online) and conclude otherwise.
He’s also something of an intellectual, and has a proclivity for associating with political outliers, cranks and extremists, and working with racial separatists internationally. He is outspokenly anti-American.
The Road Back isn’t a bad read, but it is part and parcel of his strong hostility to modernity, the modern world and democracy.
PIERRE POSTS: R. Schiller is a VERY complex person, I would never be capable of denying that – and I have also never read or heard him malign anyone based simply on melanin content or cultural background (and I have given him plenty of opportunity and scoured the internet for material of his). You should give his talks with R. Becchofer a listen to hear his words about the nations and their contributions, and his almost-despair at the paucity of such teaching in Orthodox Jewry.
However, this cannot be said for the great number of outreach rabbis I have ‘tested’ about race or ethnicity or merely listened to when "goyim" come up – or a significant number of Orthodox synagogues I have spent any time in.
MEIR POSTS: Rabbi Schiller is not plainly a racist, and I have read some of the stuff online. Believing that Arabs, Jews, whites, blacks, Irish people etc. should live separately in order to preserve their customs and way of life does not make you a racist.
And Pierre is right — I had forgotten about this — that Rabbi Schiller maintains a very humanistic outlook, much broader than the outlook of many MO rabbis.
In-Towner posts: If you’re going to keep a potential kiruvee away from the "racist" writings of Rabbi Schiller, then make equally sure to guard him/her from the works of some of our most eminent Rishonim. I mean, do I really need to rehash some of Rashi’s many glorious characterizations of people of color?
ANON POSTS ABOUT R. SCHILLER: I had the privilege of being in his class and would go so far to say that I might not be religious today were it not for the man. He also affected others I know for the good. I had the opportunity to hear him talk about matters of hashkafa and race for a year, rather extensively. I have heard he is no longer permitted to talk about race as he did in class by us.
My view is that, as was already mentioned, he is a complex man and an intellectual. He is also a racist. Yes, he does not look to melanin content and can provide an intellectual argument for his positions. Yes, they are all internally coherent. And he can run rings around most people who have not given 1% of the thought to the matter that he has. But he has an emotional dislike of non-whites and it was my thought (and others in the class) that ultimately this was behind much of his views. That, of course, does not seperate him from many other Orthodox Jews, who have not made any effort remotely close to come to terms about why they think a certain way.
No one is perfect. R’ Schiller is to be lauded for following his ideals even when they have led to him fundamentally changing his life or adopting highly unpopular viewpoints. To my knowledge he has harmed no one, including any member of a minority (though if his views were ever implemented they would harm a great deal of people). Even in his racism, R’ Schiller imparted the value of thinking about WHY your views are a certain way. I think this value that he taught the students led us all (or at least nearly all) to ultimately reject his personal views. R’ Schiller is an interesting example of a persion with views that society properly considers noxious but who has and continues to make valuable contributions even so.
I see that Barack Obama bowed to the dictator of China.
That makes me feel proud.
Dennis Prager said on his radio show today: "The sense of worry that many Americans have right now about the United States is the greatest in my lifetime…. The calamity is so great, I don’t know if the country can recover from the idea of a much larger government, much larger debt, much reduced dollar, much reduced prestige of the United States of America. I don’t think that we can survive…if these things pass (Obama-care)."
Prager is in Zambia this week with his 17-year old son. What are they doing there aside from sight-seeing? They’re distributing mosquito nets.
"This guy knows all the gossip, the ins and outs, the lashon hara of the Orthodox world. He’s an [expert] in... all the inner workings of the Orthodox world." (Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff)
