October 2006 Archives

Truth be told, my first three years watching Sacha Baron Cohen was spent fast-forwarding through Borat on to Ali G. And for the last year or two Bruno has replaced Ali G as my favorite character. But recently--maybe only the last six months or so--I have gained a new-found appreciation for that Khazakh Borat. Whatever, I still think Bruno's fashion euphemism for something not being sufficiently stylish "send 'em to Auschwitz" beats Borat's middle-America sing-along of "throw the Jew down the well."

What I like about all three characters is that they highlight the idiocy of bigotry. Contrary to popular belief, Cohen does not "get away" with what he does because he is Jewish--he is not gay and yet his Bruno character is the best spoof on homophobia out there. Cohen "gets away" with it because ultimately he is mocking those who are sexist, racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic.

Perhaps a more provocative way to see Cohen's work is in opposition to the music album "Jewface," put out by bunch of kitchy pop-hipster Jews associated with a record label named Reboot Stereophonic. Unlike Borat, here it is actual Jews embracing and promoting the worst Jewish stereotypes. Unlike the Borat effect, "Jewface" does not mock anti-Semitic sterotypes; it celebrates them and says yeh, there is some truth here.

The producers of this album--who, in their own words, are "all kind of disaffected American Jews, who aren’t particularly religious, don’t really practice, and don’t really lead very Jewish lives at all”--seem to think that by digging up and releasing artistic musical experiments in pathetic self-mockery (and perhaps self-hatred) they might be tapping into a whole new form of Jewish identity. With tracks such as "When Mose With His Nose Leads the Band,” who could disagree?

I mean this is art, very serious art. Children, just do me and the rest of the Jewish people--you know, those of us who are not as cool, hip, and ohh how can I forget...as ironic as all of you--a favor: Please don't forget to close your bedroom door when you're playing your music.

Maybe I am dating myself, but when I hear one of Borat’s tirades, I immediately think of Archie Bunker of "All in the Family." That TV show broke ground a few decades ago because it exposed in humorous fashion the commonality of stereotyping and discrimination. Unfortunately, not as much had changed in the world as we may have hoped for when "All in the Family" first aired. (It is now on reruns and still surprisingly relevant.)

So I don’t have a problem with Borat, but I understand why the Khazakhs do, because he exposes the ugly side of otherwise respectful society in high contrast, much as Archie Bunker did a generation back.

Even the best of us carry stereotypes around in our heads, and not only in our heads. A visit to the Simon Weisenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance is one eye-opener about the degree to which stereotyping is part of everyone’s assumptions and interactions. No one is immune. That is perhaps the dark secret Borat uncovers and why his humor is so funny on one hand and so disquieting on the other.

“Throw the Jew down the well” is the chorus to a Kazakh folk song brought to us by Borat, starring in his own movie opening in just a few days. Of course as everyone knows, both the song and the character of Borat himself are made up, inventions of British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.

The Kazakh government is up in arms, and the Kazakh Embassy even devotes space on its home page to rebutting the movie’s assertions. Less predictable is the response of the organized Jewish community, which usually jumps at the slightest hint of anti-Semitism, reflexively bringing down the full force of its anger on any perceived infraction. For once, however, it seems that they actually get the joke--the Anti-Defamation League, for example, released a statement saying that Borat is not anti-Semitic, winking along with the viewer as it mocks the red-neck character and everything he stands for.

Of course, all this is easier because Sacha Cohen himself is Jewish. He’s one of us, so of course he’s in on the joke.

A pro-gypsy group, in contast, is not nearly so understanding of the film’s mockery of gypsies, launching a lawsuit in Germany to try to prevent the film’s distribution there. And of course, the Kazakhs are up in arms. And it’s a safe bet that the ADL and other groups wouldn’t be so blasé if Cohen weren’t "safely" Jewish.

This is a shame. Satire is an important part of comedy–the part that has the ability not only to make us laugh, but to make us wince and make us think. What’s more, reflexively decrying anti-Semitism at the slightest whiff of something offensive is not the way to combat this scourge.

We all remember how the ADL’s campaign against Mel Gibson’s "The Passion of the Christ" backfired and helped drive up the movie’s profile and ticket sales. Yes, Mel Gibson is unquestionably a jerk and an anti-Semite, but how many press releases do we need to send out about it?

The fact is, constantly crying wolf or going into red-alert mode at every perceived slight does Jews a disservice, making us less likely to respond seriously to the very real threats that do exist. Similarly troubling is the trend to use the charge of anti-Semitism as a cudgel to silence opposing points of view, as some have recently tried to do with the political activist group MoveOn.org or with anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan last year.

The fact is that anti-Semitism is on the rise worldwide, and we would do our best to combat it by addressing its real underlying causes–the mistrust and anger that exist toward Jews in many parts of the world–rather than by bullying and cowing easy targets, which only increases resentment.

Sometimes we need to poke fun at our sacred cows to keep us from taking ourselves too seriously. Sacha Baron Cohen provides this necessary service.

Rabbi Stern, who’s Orthodox bashing? I also believe having a large Jewish family is a mitzvah. If you can afford the extra room, great. And if you can fix up your home and stay in the neighborhood near family, even better, as I wrote.

The problem of McMansions is not a denominational one. There are plenty of suburban Conservative and Reforms Jews who live in McMansions. McMansions are an American Jewish problem. It's a reflection of how we prioritize our personal spending and what we believe is most important. And it affects how we subsequently fail to adequately share our wealth with the needy, with our movements in Israel and Europe, and with our communal agencies, which are consistently underfunded and thereby hobbled in their efforts to provide sufficient and compelling educational, social-service, and outreach programs.

All too many times the “McMansion” issue is just a socially acceptable form of Orthodox bashing. “Why do these Jews have to destroy our communities?” “The Orthodox have no respect for our aesthetic.” “Don’t they have any shame?” These are only a few of the comments lurking not so deep beneath some Conservative or Reform Jews' Sunday afternoon observation of “Oh my God--look at that disgusting, gauche brick thing that they put up on what used to be the Cohen’s lawn!”

The bottom line is Orthodox Jews have figured out how to earn a little bit of gelt, and when you have seven kids, anything less than a mansion can get a little bit tight. Granted, I find most Orthodox Jews in the "Five Towns" of Long Island and other locales guilty of overindulging in a nouveau-riche aesthetic that makes even the most polite blush.

Likewise, many Orthodox Jews may have a Mercedes in the driveway and spend Passover in luxury hotels in Florida but can’t afford to pay up their synagogue membership dues. (It took close to 15 years for one Long Island synagogue known for its so-called wealthy congregants with mega-McMansion homes to raise enough funds for a synagogue-rebuilding project).

And yes, I am sorry to say but many Orthodox Jews in the Five Towns, Teaneck, New Jersey, and Brooklyn, New York, have little respect or notion of a public aesthetic that’s tasteful, modest, and respectful of a community's history. That said, when you have a lot of kids, what is most important is not looks but space. Kids require space, Shabbat company requires space, and hachnasat orchim (welcoming guests) requires space.

Its not Orthodox Jews who have a problem: it’s the rest of the Jewish community that gawk at the mansions of celebrities and take vacations to Newport, Rhode Island, to admire the palaces that were built by wealthy WASPs.

Of course, people who find the need to have mikvahs (ritual baths) built into their homes are pathetic, but let’s be fair and honest: Are they any more pathetic than the rest of America that dreams about having a pool in their backyard?

Rabbi Grossman sees McMansions as a sign of status and wonders how much money their owners gave to tzedakah, as opposed to pouring it into gold bathroom fixtures–a fair question.In fact, Judaism is not an ascetic religion and encourages us...

I see them everywhere, in new suburban developments and in urban neighborhoods: gigantic homes that could house a tribe, let alone an average family, and sometimes contain such perks as indoor pools. Labeled McMansions in the 1980s, Jews are building...

Today's front page New Times article on Israeli machismo is very telling. It highlights how even those who speak in the most universal ethical/religious terms can locally act in the most unethical and anti-religious manner.The Israeli machismo issue is only...

Both Rabbi Stern and Rabbi Grossman correctly point to the hypocrisy of those who claim moral authority acting in immoral ways. But the issue goes deeper than that when we come to the question of people in positions of political...

Rabbi Stern points out the distinct irony of Israeli President Moshe Katzav refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of Conservative and Reform rabbis on the basis of Orthodox law as interpreted by Israel’s Religious Ministry while engaging in personal behavior that,...

If there is any truth to the mounting rape and misconduct charges facing Israeli President Moshe Katzav, it will be a sad day not only for Israel but all religious Jews. The truth is that at this point there is...

Idolatry as “Bad habits,” “addictions,” “kissing Torah scrolls”: Weren’t these the kind of things pulpit rabbis spoke about in the 1950s on Shabbat when they couldn’t think of anything else to talk about?Both Rabbi Waxman and Rabbi Grossman fail to...

I don’t share Rabbi Waxman’s ambivalence about whether kissing the Torah smacks of the very idolatry Judaism has always been so vigilant against. I think of it more like kissing a love letter: a physical expression of a passion for...

The Torah scroll is taken out of the ark. The rabbi walks in a procession around the synagogue holding the Torah as congregants reach out with their tallises (prayer shawls) or siddurim (prayer books) to touch the scroll and then...

It's ironic that Rabbi Grossman sees Sukkot as an enjoyable holiday. In its essence, the holiday is meant to make us feel uncomfortable and challenge our sense of rootedness and complacency. Yes it might say in Scripture that you should...

I’m inclined to agree with Rabbi Grossman about the virtues of Sukkot relative to Yom Kippur. Too many American Jews are "twice-a-year Jews," meaning they show up at synagogue for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.Now granted, these are extremely important...