Tikkun Olam

I received a comment to my last post which incensed me, and after writing a long rebuttal comment I decided just to run it as a post. Here it is (read that comment first). You say I think that Jews are not capable of 'Run of the mill buffoonery? Lust? Depression? Drug use? A penchant for petty thievery? Adultery?' Unfortunately, Jews are not immune from any of these sins you mentioned in your comment. If what you got out of my post that was that Jews are always innocent of the above, you seriously misread it and missed my point entirely. What I am averse to is not necessarily depicting Jews committing crimes (I say "necessarily" for a reason, which I will address in a moment); rather I am opposed to the Coen brothers pernicious depiction of Jews in the manner of classic Antisemitism and Antisemitic cartoons, as utilized (among others) by the Nazis. In addition, they created an amalgam of nefarious and ridiculous characters which are exaggerated stereotypes, right...

One week ago, on Wednesday, I canceled my evening adult Hebrew class to see, along with two of my students and spouses (mine included) a free preview of the Coen brothers' new film, A Serious Man, which hadn't yet opened. It was set in the late 60s, supposedly about Jews in Minnesota. I was interested. I am always interested in movies with Jewish themes, especially those produced by non-Jews purporting to depict Orthodox or Chassidic Jewry, as in the movie "A Stranger Among Us." I usually sit there in the theatre with clenched fists, taut muscles and gritting my teeth, as I watch an embarrassing, often painful rendering of what the producers and/or directors think "Jewish Life" is really like. With all their production assistants and dialect and behavioral and cultural "coaches" and trainers, they rarely get it right. In contrast of course, the Israeli film Ushpizin (in Hebrew, ha-Ushpizin) was outstanding. It was produced, directed and acte...