All posts in category Books, Movies, Culture

Beyond Fantasy: The Meaning of the Holocaust

I finally had the opportunity to watch the movie Inglorious Basterds. It is a fictional story about an American unit of Jewish soldiers who terrorized the Nazis behind enemy lines during World War II. The movie culminates in the burning down of a movie house filled with Nazi leaders including Hitler (Yimach Shmo). The movie ends with the humiliation of the a dreaded Gestapo officer who had been a cunning butcher of Jews .

The film indulges us with a fantasy of revenge against the horrific brutality of the Nazis. The film depicts the righteousness of Jewish terrorists who resort to their own brutal tactics to spread fear among the Nazis. There is satisfaction in this. It is comforting to the imagination to see the really bad guys get what they so richly deserve. But there is a strange and even more unsatisfying reliance on revenge fantasies when indulging in this movie. It left the movie with a knot in my stomach.

The movie Defiance , which came out earlier in the year, depicts a true heroic story Jewish resistance to the Nazis during World War II in a much more powerful way. The Jews are believable and their courage and endurance as depicted by the film is deeply moving.

On Yom Hashoah, which is almost upon us, we confront the reality of the holocaust and mourn the catastrophe that befell our people. It is not a time to engage in fantasy.

In our congregation we are fortunate to have beloved members who survived the terrors of those years. The Kanes, the Schlesingers, and Jenny Zavatsky testify to a different sort of courage.

They remind us of the remarkable ability to renew after terrible trauma. This week the Kanes are in Germany to mark the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald. We are proud of their courage to return to the site of their hard memories. Their presence at this ceremony reminds of the ultimate defeat of our oppressors and the victory of freedom. It also reminds us of their courage and preciousness.

Our members who are survivors are representative of a whole generation that survived the chaos of those years to contribute to the rebirth of the Jewish people in Israel and in many Western countries including the Jewish community in the United States. Rabbi David Hartman points out that the greatest response of the surviving generation was to produce children in record numbers. This is the real courage we should note on Yom Hashoah. This reaffirmation of life, of hope, and faith in the continuity of the Jewish people should inspire us in our own lives. Let us think of them when we mark Yom Hashoah this year.

In honor of Yom Hashoah I end with a moving reading composed by the poet, Michael Gurian

We Are a People

(Responsive Reading, For Yom HaShoa Remembrance)

“And they shall never be forgotten.”

We are a people of gardens and storms,

of prayers and history and holiness.

We are a people known to have survived

the excesses of G-d’s masterpiece.

We saw the worst that could happen;

now we know for sure: there is nothing

more worth living for than the road of joy

we can each find just off our road of sorrows.

We are a people grateful for everyday things:

to complain about one another is self-pity;

we must fight to imitate G-d in all our actions,

and we are a people who know how to fight.

We are a people who seek justice for all in need;

our personal actions breathe with G-d’s love.

We are a people who challenge the universe;

thus, quite often, we eat a feast of losses.

How shall we manage our human appetite for power?

What shall we do with this wild absurdity, this life?

Make a safe home for our children and trust

a vast, wandering light we cannot understand.

Live with courage and purpose, so that when we fall,

we fall into the arms of an infinitely greater Being.

Please join us for a moving presentation connected to the holocaust by John Williams on Shabbat morning. Please join me for the community Yom Hashoah observance on Sunday, April 11 at the AJCC.

Rabbi Gartenberg’s Observations about the Movie, “Up in the Air”

I recently had the opportunity to see the newly released film Up in the Air, created by director Jason Reitman and starring George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, an unattached frequent flier who is hired to lay off employees for companies that do not have the stomach to do the task themselves. The movie is a timely portrait of a new America made anxious by job insecurity, corporate bottom lines, and impersonal technology.

The movie not only movingly portrays these hard times, it also explores the tensions between experience and youth, personified by the conflict between Bingham and his younger protégé, Natalie Keener, played brilliantly by Anna Kendrick. This “dynamite young woman” with an Ivy League diploma has wowed the boss with her cost saving and high tech methods of delivering the bad news. Bingham, the older man who crisscrosses the country in order to deliver bad news face to face, reluctantly becomes the mentor for the whiz kid. The movie beautifully shows the limits of Natalie’s confidence in technology in the face of the humanity and failings of the older Bingham.

In one telling scene we see an older office worker let go with a video screening. He goes in and out of the camera frame, becoming blurry from his alternating rage and grief. As Frank Rich describes it, “It’s like watching a man being assassinated by a predator drone. But this is Detroit, not Waziristan.” (NYTimes 12/14) Ultimately, the high tech solutions to Bingham’s odd business collapse at the same time Bingham himself discovers how family and friendship is his and his clients’ salvation during hard times.

As we enter the cycle of the Reading of Exodus in January, we are told of our ancestors falling into terrible times as Pharoah and the Egyptians oppress them step by step until they are fully subjugated and enslaved. One of the striking things about the Exodus narratives and the Midrash is the depiction of the children of Israel struggling to keep their families intact in the face of difficult conditions. Moshe’s mother ends up being the wet nurse for him in Pharoah’s palace. The Midrash tells us how Israelite women cared for their men by enticing them with mirrors despite their exhaustion from their labors.

Family and fellowship are so important during hard times. Our congregation should be a source of comfort and support for our members who are experiencing tough times. That is one of the reasons we initiated Shabbat dinners, which we call Shabbat Table Experiences, at the synagogue after early services. These Shabbat dinners are a wonderful time for fellowship. At these meals we invite everyone to bring a dish (from our kosher item list) to the meal. This way, everyone can participate and save the expense of paying for a meal. Most of all the meals give us face to face time, and opportunities for conversation, fellowship, and joyfulness. We can use all of these things during these tough times when we all feel “up in the air.” Join us for our upcoming Shabbat Table Experiences at TBS which are featured at our website at www.tbslb.org and in the Scribe.

Rabbi Dov Gartenberg

A New Way to Celebrate Hanukkah

On the fifth night of Hanukah a group of TBS members gathered at the We Olive store in Belmont Shores for an adult celebration of Hanukah. We took over the store and setup a long tables with tasting trays. We lit the Hanukiot in the store and sat down for a Hanukah tour de force. In honor of the festival and the miracle of the oil, the proprieter, Phil Hughes, gave us a tasting of 8 California Olive Oils. He described each of the oils and the oil producer, helping us to understand and appreciate the pleasures of olive oil tasting.

After each tasting we discusses some facet of Hanukah, the history, the traditions, and the meaning. People shared their own Hanukah memories as well as made connections to the original Hanukah in the land of Israel which is so tied to the olive.

This was truly a Taste of Hanukah. All enjoyed the rhythmn of tasting and conversation in the beautiful ambiance of a store surrounded by everything olive. We thank Phil and We Olive for a memorable Hanukah celebrationAnd we also raised some money for the Temple.

Here are the oils we tasted and dipped in breads.

First Night: Bozzano Generations: a light, smooth, and buttery olive oil.

Second Night: Pacific Sun, Tehama County: a buttery, fruity, low pungency olive oil.

Third Night: Robbins Ascolana dipped in a Chile Dukkah: a high fruit floral with peppery finish.

Fourth Night: Round Pond: a well balanced, light grassy, hint of banana, medium pungency

Fifth Night: Hidden Hills: a bitter oil with high pungency

Sixth Night: Wind Dance: a grassy oil with high pungency.

Seventh Night: Olio Nuevo: Green toasted nuts, medium to high pungency. Picked and pressed a month ago.

Eighth Night: Meyer Lemon: Sofft buttery with a hint of lemon.

Bravo Trader Joe’s

: Trader Joe’s

An awful group has been in the news recently targeting (and slandering) stores for carrying Israeli products. A difficult challenge has emerged since the end of the recent Gaza War in January of how to counter the numerous boycotts launched against suppliers, vendors, and retailers throughout Europe who distribute or sell Israeli products. A major contributing factor to the difficulty in combating these boycotts was and remains the relatively small Jewish population throughout Europe, as compared to the much larger and growing Muslim population.Very sadly, the tactic employed against Israeli products in Europe has now made its way to the United States, with an eye toward a grocery retailer that many of us patronize, Trader Joe’s. In the United States there is a significantly larger Jewish population then there is in Europe and we now find ourselves in a position to actually be able to make an immediate and POSITIVE impact on Israel’s behalf.

Trader Joe’s has been targeted by anti-Israel groups for boycotts (and picketing) early this summer because of their refusal to bow to pressure by anti-Israel groups who have sought to have the store’s management remove Israeli products from their shelves. The group spearheading this effort nationwide is the BOYCOTT DIVESTMENT CAMPAIGN, a coalition of anti-Israel groups that is based in Pittsburgh, PA. They are working in concert with the Northern-California-based South Bay Mobilization Group.

Together with other groups comprising this sinister coalition that aims to cast Israel as an Apartheid State in the vein of South Africa – a baseless charge that reflects ignorance and, most often, anti-Semitic sentiments, those targeting Trader Joe’s seek to bring harm to Israel’s economy and to tarnish its standing in American public opinion by mobilizing intimidating boycotts in a most offensive manner.

June 20 was their initial nationwide World Refugee Day where their website stated that “We invite you to organize in your community and deshelve, sticker, boycott, and protest the presence of Israeli products!” Fortunately, this first effort did not bare much fruit – The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles covered this story – http://tinyurl.com/ma3hcy

Here’s what we can do:

* Learn more about this by reading the report issued on StandWithUs.com, an Israel-advocacy organization

* Shop at Trader Joe’s – and introduce yourselves to store-managers and to let them know that one of the reasons that you are patronizing their store is precisely because of their principled and courageous determination to continue selling Israeli products. Let them know that you know of many others who feel this way, who might not choose to introduce themselves personally, but who have determined to support Trader Joe’s all the more so because of its decision.

* Wherever you may shop – consider going out of your way to purchase Israeli products and thanking store-managers or proprietors for carrying Israeli products.

* Forward this post to help show how Jews in the USA, unlike in Europe can make a huge difference together on Israel’s behalf. This will strengthen the Jewish community and uphold principles of freedom and decency that strengthen the United States on the whole as well.

Some of this material was derived from StandWithUs, NerTamid, Jewish Journal, Snopes

1 Comment

by David Alpern on August 13, 2009 • Permalink

Posted in Books, Movies, Culture

Tagged Trader Joe's boycott Israeli products Jewish journal

Posted by David Alpern on August 13, 2009

https://dovmoshe.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/bravo-trader-joes/

Rabbi G’s Movie Recommendations: Food Inc.

I saw the movie, Food Inc., on Sunday night and hope every TBS member will see this very important documentary. As many of you know I am very active in the Jewish Food Movement and Hazon.org. This movie shows why this movement has burgeoned in recent years. There is something deeply wrong with the American food system. The rise of obesity, the dramatic increase of type 2 diabetes, the homogenization of food products despite the seeming diversity are all features of the food crisis that is growing day by day. This movie powerfully give visual testimony to the devastation of the mass food industry and is a wake up call to all of us. Please see it and post your comments to this posting.

Rabbi G

1 Comment

by Rabbi Dov Gartenberg on June 22, 2009 • Permalink

Posted in Books, Movies, Culture, Tikkun Olam

Tagged Eco-Kosher, Food Inc

Posted by Rabbi Dov Gartenberg on June 22, 2009

https://dovmoshe.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/rabbi-gs-movie-recommendations-food-inc/

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Beyond Fantasy: The Meaning of the Holocaust

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A New Way to Celebrate Hanukkah

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Bravo Trader Joe’s

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