Five years ago, Helen flew to Russia and went on a 70 day adventure. She’s turning it into a book. She worked for Jewcy.com for 14 months. Complete discussion video here.
As a former culture blogger for Commentary, I used to think it was creepy but also amusing that there were certain ideological constraints on what you could say in the magazine’s blog about non-ideological subjects. It was frowned upon, for instance, to suggest that W.H. Auden was a great poet even when he was going through a fitful and uneasy phase as a Communist. And did you know that the term "fossil record" is verboten in this once respected journal for New York intellectuals, even when used in defense of so worthy a figure as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and in defiance of so wretched a one as Osama bin Laden? I found that out the hard way, too. It’s not that the editors are creationists, you see. They just don’t like to upset the creationists.
So I don’t know why I registered even the mildest shock upon spotting an advertisement on contentions for an organization calling itself NARTH, which sounds to me like the name M. Night Shyamalan would give the otherworldly creature who brought democracy to the Middle East. NARTH stands for the "National Association for the Research & Therapy of Homosexuality." It purports to cure gays, in other words, using methods that have been discredited by the psychiatric community for decades. This is its mission statement:
We respect the right of all individuals to choose their own destiny. NARTH is a professional, scientific organization that offers hope to those who struggle with unwanted homosexuality. As an organization, we disseminate educational information, conduct and collect scientific research, promote effective therapeutic treatment, and provide referrals to those who seek our assistance.
NARTH upholds the rights of individuals with unwanted homosexual attraction to receive effective psychological care and the right of professionals to offer that care. We welcome the participation of all individuals who will join us in the pursuit of these goals.
I’d pay real money for a group that promised to end unwanted heterosexual attractions. But is this really what neoconservatism needs right now as ever breaker of misfortune crashes down upon it–pseudo-scientific bigotry?
David N. Friedman responds:
The lengths that some people go to make a smear never ceases to amaze me. If Michael Weiss or anyone else has some kind of a problem with people with unwanted attractions seeking a remedy–why not just say it? NARTH has treated hundreds of people successfully–what kind of bizarre intolerance would condemn a group seeking to help people?
Many people struggle with all kinds of ailments that are incredibly hard to fix and they are correct to search for help. In many cases, a "cure" is impossible but it can be manageable. My father smoked cigarettes for 20 years and then stopped easily and quickly–while others are so hooked they do not quit when doctors say they are going to die and even if someone paid them a ransom to stop. Some people beat alcoholism easily–others give up everything positive in their lives–knowing all the while what is happening–and cannot stop. Have some compassion, Michael. Homosexuality for some is a very fluid choice and many women go from straight to gay on a whim. For some men, it is also a fluid choice, determined by environment and made compelling by early experience that makes the attraction habitual so that it seems natural. And there are some men who feel so "hard-wired" in their same-sex attraction, it seems that nothing could shake it from them. What if one of these men hate the attraction and they desperately want to change– who among us really want to say to their face–stop looking for help!! Get used to it!
Let’s see…bury it down at the bottom of the page, just put a link to the update story, leave the original story. Good job. You’re quite the reporter.
Anybody with even half a mind could have seen this story was suspicious to begin with. First, the "B" that was scratched into this woman’s face was backwards…the result one would get if using a mirror to do the scratching. Second, it was awfully neat. Not the result one would expect from an enraged attacker trying to carve something in a struggling victim’s face.
But whatever. You were able to raise the specter of scary, violent black people running wild.
PITTSBURGH — A 20-year-old woman who was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield was also maimed by her attacker, apparently because of her political views, police said.
…Ashley Todd, of College Station, Texas, was using an ATM at Liberty Avenue and Pearl Street in Bloomfield just before 9 p.m. on Wednesday when a man approached her and put a knife to her throat. Police spokeswoman Diane Richard said the robber took $60 from Todd, then became angry when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the victim’s car. The attacker then punched and kicked the victim, before using the knife to scratch the letter "B" into her face, Richard said.
…The robber is described as a dark-skinned black man, 6 feet 4 inches tall, 200 pounds with a medium build, short black hair and brown eyes.
palestine4ever: FAIL
palestine4ever: homely, overweight virgin republican gets assaulted by the big black buck of her most secret masturbatory fantasies
palestine4ever: and you fell for it!
palestine4ever: I just don’t know what to say.
palestine4ever: Spallone taught you nothing.
palestine4ever: I can only hope the rebbes are making some progress
SexyP: *wave*
SexyP: LUKE, you belong at the LA Times!
SexyP: Shul, shmul!
SexyP: That’s what you sould be doing.
SexyP: I so see you as an investigative journalist at a high-end rag pissing people off!
SexyP: The next Geraldo Rivera!
SexyP: You could then get a job at Fox News and your own show one day!
SexyP: I rather work at CNN or MSNBC. But I’m a moderate Democrat.
SexyP: You could even request to work at home and tell them being on cam will better your new column for the LA Times.
palestine4ever: I’m sure there’s a huge demand at a metro daily for the scandal of some rebbe’s dirty socks.
palestine4ever: The goy is too Jewish for the mainstream.
palestine4ever: And too goy for the Jews.
SexyP: He has to get away from them before they squash his identity and personality.
palestine4ever: Hence his torment.
SexyP: He can still stay Jjewish but why an extreme Jew??
SexyP: He would be so much happier without the guilt.
palestine4ever: Because he craves the acceptance of the hardcore Jews that won’t have him.
palestine4ever: It’s Luke, he can’t live without setting himself up for rejection before God, his father, etc.
SexyP: Glutton for punishment?
palestine4ever: He likes what he’s writing now, though in truth all of the rebbe stuff is probably of interest only to himself and the people discussed.
palestine4ever: Luke, a group of college republicans attacked me and forced me to wear preppy shirts with the collars popped.
SexyP: I told him before he sould go into mainstream celebrity Hollywood. Big money in that and you get invited to all the parties.
palestine4ever: Yes.
palestine4ever: He should have been Perez Hilton.
SexyP: Did they also carve the letter B into your face P?
palestine4ever: Nah, they just stapled their W-2 income statements to my chest.
palestine4ever: It’s a republican thing.
SexyP: He could teach Perez a few lessons!
SexyP: Luke is more hated!
palestine4ever: That + $1.90 = cup of coffee
palestine4ever: Perez has a career.
palestine4ever: Luke has vegan oatmeal.
palestine4ever: Such is life.
stewartmartha: hello
palestine4ever: Hello Martha.
palestine4ever: Big fan here.
SexyP: I also told him if you don’t want to go the way of celebrity Hollywood, then be the Matt Drudge and Perez Hilton of politics!
palestine4ever: He’d have to study it.
SexyP: Hello *waves*
palestine4ever: Luke doesn’t know a lot about politics
palestine4ever: Or rather views it all through his Judaized frame of reference.
SexyP: He talks a lot about it already.
palestine4ever: He was "disappointed" in Sarah Palin.
SexyP: Did he know that much about what he previously blogged about?
palestine4ever: This at a time when she had become a national disaster.
palestine4ever: No but he researched.
palestine4ever: I don’t see him putting that effort into anything but the Jew stuff.
stewartmartha: and eating lol
SexyP: He can research politics.
palestine4ever: Hm.
SexyP: I also told him about Jewish celebrities.
palestine4ever: But he won’t.
palestine4ever: 🙂
palestine4ever: He had a chance to get into Heeb magazine, which was right up his alley and a good stepping stone.
SexyP: Heeb?
palestine4ever: He just kept trying to turn the article into a blog post though.
palestine4ever: There were many amusing emails posted about it.
SexyP: He already has a name and connections. Why throw it all away to have people telling him no you can’t write this or talk about that.
palestine4ever: This makes sense to you and me.
palestine4ever: But it does not make sense to Luke.
SexyP: I could be his agent if I lived near there. The ideas I’ve had for him.
palestine4ever: lol
SexyP: But he won’t listen.
palestine4ever: Chaim has been giving him many ideas for many years.
palestine4ever: Luke’s happy doing what he’s doing, I guess.
SexyP: Reality show for one!
SexyP: He’s already on cam.
SexyP: And who else has had his life!
stewartmartha: a musical would be nice
palestine4ever: He’d have to go back to porn.
palestine4ever: Watching Luke pick up children from school and going to Jew church = not very interesting TV.
SexyP: Don’t say the P word. He edited out on his blog when I said it.
palestine4ever: Yeah.
SexyP: *they’re watching*
palestine4ever: This would be great TV here.
palestine4ever: A middle aged man with a beard flossing.
palestine4ever: There’s a devoted but quite small audience interested in that 🙁
SexyP: From a former P blogger to now a Jewsih blogger kicked out of so many Shuls.
stewartmartha: maybe some jewish rapp would be the ticket
palestine4ever: Okay.
palestine4ever: Now try making 14 30 minute episodes about it.
palestine4ever: He doesn’t do much.
guest24: the bathroom is the place for flossing your teeth – yuck
palestine4ever: And the interesting parts are all gone from his life.
palestine4ever: Matt Welch, Emanuelle and all of those folks
palestine4ever: Rob Spallone and Jimmy D
stewartmartha: was that a pube
SexyP: Spallone is selling ice cream now.
palestine4ever: Now it’s down to Luke and the rebbe’s tube sock controversy
I just entered the name Osama Ladin and listed al qaeda as my employer and donated $5 to Obama via my discover card. I was not asked to give the 3 digit code on the back of the card.
The stigma about gays is gone and everyone seems to know someone who is gay, usually a family member, a friend, a coworker. Now, I am not saying this is the case in Norman, Oklahoma, but in the major media centers and opinion making centers, it just is. I am no fan of the left, but they are right, gay marriage is a lot like letting blacks eat at the same counter.
In 1955, that was not going to happen. By 1985, it just happened. In 1955, being Black had a stigma, by 1985, blacks were the bomb, they were on TV, they were in government, they had a seat at the table. Once the Mccain generation goes, it is all baby boomers with no values, and homosexuals and their spouses will have a seat at any table.
And do not tell me that being gay is different than being black because people choose to be gay. Even if they do choose, our society has no values and no credibility to preach such values. Perhaps in the realm of orthodox judaism, where indecency is frowned on can someone look at homosexual sex with an askew glance, but the rest of society – come on – what commandment is there left that anyone follows?
Of all the people we’ve interviewed over the years, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum’s one of the most inspirational. And awesome.
A spunky, socially aware New Jersey native, Kleinbaum currently presides over New York’s queer-inclusive synagogue, Congregation Beth Simchat Torah.
Aside from her Orthodox upbringing, Kleinbaum cites her background in Yiddish literature as one of the reasons why she chose to become a rabbi.
Said the jarringly young looking 49-year old:
I actually first seriously started considering Rabbinical school while I was teaching Yiddish literature. I thought I could teach Yiddish literature to a community without a religious background, but ultimately Yiddish is so infused with Judaism that it’s really hard to really deeply understand Yiddish just as a language, because it isn’t simply a language: it was embedded deeply in a culture, and that culture included Judaism, and you can’t parse them out without bleaching out from all of them really the power of what they are.
Now, years on, Kleinbaum uses her position and moral authority to fight injustice, like anti-gay legislation. In fact, the good Rabbi found herself behind bars last year for a Times Square protest against Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which prohibits openly gay Americans from serving in the military.
Our editor recently headed over to CBST to chat with Kleinbaum on the nature of religion, how she reconciled her faith with her lesbianism, Sarah Silverman’s "Great Schlep" and why religious leaders must talk politics.
When God began creation, the earth was unformed and void, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and God’s wind swept over the water. (Gen. 1:1:2.)
First day: God separated light from darkness. (Gen. 1:3–5.)
Second day: God separated the waters, creating sky. (Gen. 1:6–8.)
Third day: God gathered the water below the sky, creating land and sea, and God caused vegetation to sprout from the land. (Gen. 1:9–13.)
Fourth day: God set lights in the sky to separate days and years, creating the sun, the moon, and the stars. (Gen. 1:14–19.)
Fifth day: God had the waters bring forth living creatures, and blessed them to be fruitful and multiply. (Gen. 1:20–23.)
Sixth day: God had the earth bring forth living creatures, and made man in God’s image, male and female, giving man dominion over the animals and the earth, and blessed man to be fruitful and multiply. (Gen. 1:24–28.) God gave vegetation to man and to the animals for food. (Gen. 1:29–30.)
Seventh day: God ceased work and blessed the seventh day, declaring it holy. (Gen. 2:1–3.)
Before any shrub or grass had yet sprouted on earth, and before God had sent rain for the earth, a flow would well up from the ground to water the earth. (Gen. 2:4–6.) God formed man from the dust, blew the breath of life into his nostrils, and made him a living being. (Gen. 2:7.) God planted a garden in the east in Eden, caused to grow there every good and pleasing tree, and placed the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and bad in the middle of the garden. (Gen. 2:8–9.) A river issued from Eden to water the garden, and then divided into four branches: the Pishon, which winds through Havilah, where the gold is; the Gihon, which winds through Cush; the Tigris, which flows east of Asshur; and the Euphrates. (Gen. 2:10–14.) God placed the man in the garden of Eden to till and tend it, and freed him to eat from every tree of the garden, except for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, warning that if the man ate of it, he would die. (Gen. 2:15–17.)
Announcing that it was not good for man to be alone and that God would make for him a fitting helper, God formed out of the earth all the beasts and birds and brought them to the man to name. (Gen. 2:18–19.) The man Adam named all the animals, but found no fitting helper. (Gen. 2:20.) So God cast a deep sleep upon the man and took one of his ribs and fashioned it into a woman and brought her to the man. (Gen. 2:21–22.) The man declared her bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh, and called her woman. (Gen. 2:23.) Thus a man leaves his parents and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh. (Gen. 2:24.) The man and the woman were naked, but felt no shame. (Gen. 2:25.)
The serpent, the shrewdest of the beasts, asked the woman whether God had really forbidden her to eat any of the fruit in the garden. (Gen. 3:1.) The woman replied that they could eat any fruit other than that of the tree in the middle of the garden, which God had warned them neither to eat nor to touch, on pain of death. (Gen. 3:2–3.) The serpent told the woman that she would not die, but that as soon as she ate the fruit, her eyes would be opened and she would be like divine beings who knew good and bad. (Gen. 3:4–4.) When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing in appearance, and desirable as a source of wisdom, she ate some of its fruit and gave some to her husband to eat. (Gen. 3:6.) Then their eyes were opened and they saw that they were naked; and they sewed themselves loincloths out of fig leaves. (Gen. 3:7.)
Adam and Eve Driven out of Eden (illustration by Gustave Doré)
Hearing God move in the garden, they hid in the trees. (Gen. 3:8.) God asked the man where he was. (Gen. 3:9.) The man replied that he grew afraid when he heard God, and he hid because he was naked. (Gen. 3:10.) God asked him who told him that he was naked and whether he had eaten the forbidden fruit. (Gen. 3:11.) The man replied that the woman whom God put at his side gave him the fruit, and he ate. (Gen. 3:12.) When God asked the woman what she had done, she replied that the serpent duped her, and she ate. (Gen. 3:13.) God cursed the serpent to crawl on its belly, to eat dirt, and to live in enmity with the woman and her offspring. (Gen. 3:14–15.) God cursed the woman to bear children in pain, to desire her husband, and to be ruled by him. (Gen. 3:16.) And God cursed Adam to toil to earn his food from the ground, which would sprout thorns and thistles, until he returned to the ground from which he was taken. (Gen. 3:17–19.)
Adam named his wife Eve, because she was the mother to all. (Gen. 3:20.) And God made skin garments to clothe Adam and Eve. (Gen. 3:21.)
Remarking that the man had become like God, knowing good and bad, God became concerned that he should also eat from the tree of life and live forever, so God banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the soil. (Gen. 3:22–23.) God drove the man out, and stationed cherubim and a fiery ever-turning sword east of the garden to guard the tree of life. (Gen. 3:24.)
Eve bore Cain and Abel, who became a farmer and a shepherd. (Gen. 4:1–2.) Cain brought God an offering from the fruit of the soil, and Abel brought the choicest of the firstlings of his flock. (Gen. 4:3–4.) God paid heed to Abel and his offering, but not to Cain and his, distressing Cain. (Gen. 4:4–5.) God asked Cain why he was distressed, because he had free will, and if he acted righteously, he would be happy, but if he didn’t, sin crouched at the door. (Gen. 4:6–7.) Cain spoke to Abel, and when they were in the field, Cain killed Abel. (Gen. 4:8.) When God asked Cain where his brother was, Cain replied that he did not know, asking if he was his brother’s keeper. (Gen. 4:9.) God asked Cain what he had done, as his brother’s blood cried out to God from the ground. (Gen. 4:10.) God cursed Cain to fail at farming and to become a ceaseless wanderer. (Gen. 4:11–12.) Cain complained to God that his punishment was too great to bear, as anyone who met him might kill him. (Gen. 4:14.) So God put a mark on Cain and promised to take sevenfold vengeance on anyone who would kill him. (Gen. 4:15.) Cain left God’s presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. (Gen. 4:16.)
Lamech followed Cain
Cain had a son, Enoch, and founded a city, and naming it after Enoch. (Gen. 4:16.) Enoch’s great-great-grandson Lamech took two wives: Adah and Zillah. (Gen. 4:17–19.) Adah bore Jabal, the ancestor of those who dwell in tents and amidst herds, and Jubal, the ancestor of all who play the lyre and the pipe. (Gen. 4:20–21.) And Zillah bore Tubal-cain, who forged implements of copper and iron. (Gen. 4:22.) Lamech told his wives that he had slain a lad for bruising him, and that if Cain was avenged sevenfold, then Lamech should be avenged seventy-sevenfold. (Gen. 4:23–24.)
Adam and Eve had a third son and named him Seth, meaning “God has provided me with another offspring in place of Abel.” (Gen. 4:25.) Seth had a son named Enosh, and then men began to invoke the Lord by name. (Gen. 4:26.) After the birth of Seth, Adam had more sons and daughters, and lived a total of 930 years before he died. (Gen. 5:4–5.) Adam’s descendants and their lifespans were: Seth, 912 years; Enosh, 905 years; Kenan, 910 years; Mahalalel, 895 years; and Jared, 962 years. (Gen. 5:6–20.) Jared’s son Enoch walked with God 300 years, and when he reached age 365, God took him. (Gen. 5:22–24.) Enoch’s son Methuselah lived 969 years and his son Lamech lived 777 years. (Gen. 5:21–31.) Lamech had a son Noah, saying that Noah would provide relief from their work and toil on the soil that God had cursed. (Gen. 5:28–29.) When Noah had lived 500 years, he had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Gen. 5:32.)
Barack Obama‘s choice of Joe Biden as his running mate prompted a small wave of warnings about Biden’s propensity for gaffes. But no one imagined even in a worse-case scenario such a spectacular bomb as telling donors Sunday to "gird your loins" because a young president Obama will be tested by an international crisis just like young President John Kennedy was.
Scary? You betcha! But somehow, not front-page news.
Again the media showed their incredible bias by giving scattered coverage of Biden’s statements.
There were a few exceptions. On MSNBC’s "Morning Joe," co-host Mika Brzezinski flipped incredulously through the papers, expressing shock at the lack of coverage of Biden’s remarks. Guest Dan Rather admitted that if Palin had said it, the media would be going nuts.
So what gives?
The stock answer is: "It’s just Biden being Biden." We all know how smart he is about foreign policy, so it’s not the same as when Sarah Palin says something that seems off.
Yet, when Biden asserted incorrectly in the vice-presidential debate that the United States "drove Hezbollah out of Lebanon," nobody in the US media shrieked. (It was, however, covered with derision in the Middle East.) Or when he confused his history by claiming FDR calmed the nation during the Depression by going on TV, the press didn’t take it as evidence that he’s clueless.
And Biden is the foreign-policy gravitas on the Democratic ticket, so his comments are actually even more disconcerting.
The outakes of his Sunday remarks don’t begin to capture the magnitude of what he said. After warning the crowd that there would be some sort of international incident – Biden could think of four or five scenarios – he told the donors: "We’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right."
If someone is miserable every minute of their life, is snuffing it a bad idea?
I caught a drasha on Simchat Torah that said the best antidote to despair and suicide was Torah.
One bloke got so upset with this argument that he walked out.
What about people with such deep problems that nobody likes them and they have no meaningful ties and every moment of their life is a misery? With such deep despair, perhaps suicide is the way to go?
Oy ve, every cell of my body rebels at this notion. I hate it! I would want to live as long as I had some mental functioning, enough to blog and learn Torah and cheer on the Dallas Cowboys and dream about their cheerleaders.
I hate writing this post. I hate this topic. I hate talking about it. I class suicide with alcoholism and drug abuse — things that I just despise. Things that give me the creeps, that fill me with unfiltered hatred. I tend to view suicide as the wimp’s way out.
Suicide says screw you to God but there are much healthier ways express your antipathy for the HaKadosh Barchu, such as banging a shiksa.
Des emails:
You continue to be a heartbreak to me and your step-mum, boy. The level of smugness in your posts–to say nothing of the overt racism you’ve been showing toward the blacks–is appalling.
So you disapprove of suicide, drug addiction and alcoholism? No one cares, Sunny Jim. Show a little empathy for the troubled among us.
As far as those poor blighters being "wimps," it’s pathetically comical that a ponce like you who attacks people from behind the safety of a keyboard would level that charge.
Mend your ways, lad, or I’ll split your fair-dinkum thorax open with a garden hoe and feed your innards to the crows…if the blacks don’t get to you first.
This black columnist says it is ridiculous to worry about blacks rioting if Obama loses.
After all, they are such law-abiding citizens.
Why would anyone after Watts and the LA Riots worry about blacks rioting because things don’t go there way?
No justice, no peace?
Maxine Waters anyone?
Do I have to list the high violent crime rates for blacks and all the vicious deadly rioting many blacks have done after sporting events let alone judicial decisions that didn’t go their way?
If Obama loses, it will only be because of white racism, right?
Oct. 20, 2008–"Would black people riot if Sen. Barack Obama didn’t win the election?" That was the question a white man in Memphis recently asked a racial reconciliation group with which I am involved.
After five years of being a columnist for the daily paper in Memphis, I wasn’t surprised by the absurdity of his query. Many whites still labor under the illusion that black folk act en masse and that if you ask the right one, you can get the official position of some 40 million people. If a few of us get angry, that logic allows, it must surely result in a riot.
Riot because we didn’t get our way? Please. Black people have more than their share of experience with disappointment and dashed dreams. (See: King, Martin Luther; Evers, Medgar; Chaney, James.) Matter of fact, I’d go so far as to say we’re experts in making the best out of a losing hand.
The reply to the curious white gentleman: "No! There is no reason to believe black people will riot if Obama does not win."
But soon after getting this man’s e-mail, I started to wonder if he was on to something, if he had noticed what I had: a seething, barely constrained, ugly anger and frustration that makes good riot fuel. The kind of anger that prompts people to shout "Kill him!" and "Off with his head!" at rallies. The kind of hatefulness that would prompt a man to bring a stuffed monkey with an "Obama" sticker on the toy’s head to a campaign event.
That kind of group-fueled nastiness must surely beg the question: Will white people riot if Obama wins?
"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)
