May 11, 2012 by Baruch.

A few years ago when this was written, this subject was beginning to attract attention.  Now that Mr. Obama announced his changed position, it becomes topical.  Some basic facts and conditions remain valid:

Originally posted by Baruch Cohon on  http://cantorabbi.com

One state after another is dealing with the same-sex marriage question. Is it legal? Is it constitutional? Should it be protected or banned? Debate rages about marriage and family law in general and about homosexuality in particular.

All right, let’s talk about homosexuality. While we’re at it let’s talk about definitions of marriage and the concept of family.

Difficult subjects, all. Subjects that many politicians would rather avoid – and talk show hosts thrive on. Subjects that increasingly concern our courts and our media.

Does the government belong in the bedroom? Must an act of congress validate an act of passion? Should the federal budget dictate a pregnant woman’s decision? If we lived in a theocratic society, all three answers would be Yes. In a secular society, all three should be No.

When is an action moral but not legal? Or legal but not moral? Does civil law have the right to judge morality? Does the legislature have the right to impeach a president on moral grounds? And does the state have an obligation to honor a union that the majority of its citizens consider immoral – particularly when that “honor” involves tax credits, public registry and records, employee benefits, social security payments, etc.? Again, the purely secular answer to these questions differs almost diametrically from the religious answer.

Population trends revealed by census data show a slow but definite change in American lifestyles. Family units shrink – fewer children, more one-parent households, more childless couples, more unmarried adults either living alone or together. So it seems that regardless of whether we want to answer the ought-to questions based on the Bible or the newspaper, reality tells us that family life as we know it is slowly dissolving.

Do you believe with the Book of Leviticus that “thou shalt not lie with man as with woman; it is an abomination?” Or do you believe that two homosexuals should be married and have the status of a family? What about two lesbians? Three? Four?

Do you believe that a woman and her pony should be able to marry legally and also be a family? Or a man and his sheep?

Do you believe that a brother and sister should be legally married?

What about a father and daughter?

What about a teacher and a 12-year-old student?

Think about your answer, because we all act from our conditioning. Gut reactions are one thing; justice might be another.

At the risk of offending everyone who reads this far, I will state that from where I sit it makes no difference how we answer. The bill that gets defeated this year could pass a year or two down the road, and very little will change. The disease called a “divine punishment” last year, is this year’s favorite charity. All the parades and protests, all the Constitutional amendments and court decisions are nothing but signposts. Those same signposts lined the Appian Way and the Acropolis and the path to the Pyramids. They are the signposts to social decay.

Behavior is not the issue. Deviant behavior was always a fact of human life; otherwise why would religion warn against it? The issue is social acceptance. Once a society accepts deviant behavior as being equally valid with natural/conventional behavior, that society is on its way down.

Is the direction reversible? Short of Messianic intervention, who knows? One certainty, however: redirection is worth trying.

The civilizations of the ancient world – Egypt, Greece, Rome –glowed for centuries before they scrapped their family mores and got extinguished by Barbarian invaders who didn’t have those problems. American civilization is just over 200 years old. A few brilliant cosmic moments. Can we save it?

Posted in Same-Sex Marriage, Jewish Blogs, Jewish Law, Jewish Traditions, Baruch Cohon | 2 Comments »

May 8, 2012 by Baruch.

Reviewed by Rabbi Baruch Cohon         

       Film festivals gain in importance every year, for the filmmakers and for target audiences.  Once limited to nose-in-the-air programs like Cannes, they now offer varied and sometimes outstanding choices of features, shorts and documentaries in many places.  Showings in some festivals can lead to professional success for the filmmakers, and can also build both general and special audiences.  Here in Los Angeles we have both an Israeli Film Festival in March, and for the past seven years the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival in May, under the creative leadership of Hilary Helstein.

       Out of more than 200 submissions, this dedicated young lady selected 25 films – no, they were not selected, she says, they were “chosen” – to exhibit over a very busy week in several theaters.  A talented filmmaker herself, Hilary showed her unique film “As Seen through These Eyes,” tracing the Holocaust through the work of concentration camp artists – not as part of the series, but earlier this year — to rave reviews.  For this seventh season of the LAJFF, she started us off with three totally different films.  One basked in the Hollywood star system, another was a silent classic, and a third gave us a unique coming of age story set against today’s Arab-Jewish conflict.  If the rest of the series offers similar variety and quality – and if you are in Los Angeles – don’t miss it! 

       This season’s series opened with a true Hollywood event, timed for the 100^th anniversary of both Universal and Paramount Studios, with industry celebrities present, held at the Writers Guild Theater, and featuring a film about the motion picture industry and specifically about one of its famous stars, Tony Curtis – born Bernie Schwartz.  People who worked with him joined critic Pete Hammond for a panel reminiscence of his life and work.   His widow Jill Vandenburg and costar Mamie Van Doren spoke of his personality and helpful attitude.   They and others recalled some of the pictures he starred in.  Sally Kellerman met him on the set of The BostonStrangler; Marian Collier on Some Like it Hot; John Gilmore on The Sweet Smell of Success, and Marty Ingalls gave an unscheduled but entertaining commentary on his life.  Then came the film.

       TONY CURTIS, DRIVEN TO STARDOM was directed by Ian Ayres and included some interview footage with the actor himself in his later years.  It also presented scenes from many of his pictures, and personal recollections by Harry Belafonte who costarred with him in The Defiant Ones, the only part that got them both an Oscar nomination.   Coming after the live panel, this full-length documentary seemed more than full length, despite the fact that it was well paced and visually attractive.

       An oldtime Hollywood gag man once told me about a party that Tony Curtis supposedly attended and brought his father who was visiting him.  Greeting the host, Tony says “I’d like you to meet my father, Mr. Schwartz.” The host looks at the old man and says “What’s the matter, Curtis wasn’t good enough for you?”

       In fact, given the subject’s lack of participation in Jewish life after leaving the Bronx, one could question the Jewish value of this film for such a series. This despite the scenes of his brother’s tombstone with its Hebrew inscription, and his own funeral procession with one or two yarmulkes in evidence.  Of his several wives, not one was Jewish.  We do not see his name or his famous face associated with any Jewish cause.

       But that is not the theme of the film, nor its strongest effect.  It illustrates the value of old Hollywood, recreating some of the charm and excitement of the motion picture industry’s golden years, when Hollywood’s struggling Jewish immigrants-turned-moguls from Louie B. Mayer to Harry Cohn celebrated America, when they had the power to work wonders for their performers and their audiences, like the wonders they had worked for themselves.

       Furthermore this film gives us an insight into the character of a boy who escaped a childhood of poverty and discrimination, because his good looks got him into a studio system that produced celluloid glamour.  The talent scout who took young Bernie from a high school show to a 7-year U.I. contract was all the Moses the kid needed.  Give him credit.  Once he had it made, he could afford to be kind to others.  And he was.

       The film’s title says it clearly: driven to stardom.   As a salute to the industry, it was a fitting and effective opening choice.

       Filmed in Vienna in 1924, MOON OF ISRAEL is a silent spectacle with a cast of 5,000 directed by Michael Curtiz (when his name was still Mihaly Kertesz).  Cosponsored by the Austrian consulate and by Yiddishkayt LA, and introduced by Ed Lauter who is remembered as the chauffeur in last year’s surprise silent feature The Artist, this historic classic showed good reason why Jack Warner found it impressive enough to bring its director to Warner Brothers where he later directed big hits like Casablanca. 

       Adapted from a novel by Sir Rider Haggard, the subtitle read “A Story of Ancient Egypt.”  While some of the ancient Egyptians looked remarkably Teutonic, the story highlighted the Pharaoh’s power and developed some high intrigue in his court.  Central theme was Crown Prince Seti falling in love with a Hebrew slave girl called Moon of Israel, and a resulting clash between the prince and the other royals on whether or not to let the Hebrews go.  Particularly striking were the parades, the coronation, the wedding scenes, and the desert chases.  All of which led up to a violent attempt on Seti’s life which has him and his friend battling what looks like an entire army, with Moon of Israel braving desert cliffs to warn him and finally to save his life.  When their baby dies, we see a curtain effect with silhouette figures drawing a transparent amber curtain across the screen.

       When Seti enters the Hebrew temple in the land of Goshen, we see the Thirteen Divine Attributes inscribed in Hebrew over the altar.   But the Hebrews accept him no more than the Egyptians will accept his lady love.  Throughout the picture, every sequence hit a new visual high, with huge props, massive sets, masses of people and horses and chariots, all choreographed into motion that could be fluid or frightful.  We see a “war of the gods” with the unseen Deity of the Hebrews destroying a giant Egyptian idol, while a drenching storm raged outside the temple.  Finally we see the Exodus itself, with Curtiz’ Moses splitting the Red Sea as well as DeMille’s Moses did and perhaps even better.

        Following the Biblical narrative at that point, the Egyptians drive the Hebrews out, and then Pharaoh has his mind changed, anticipating that his former slaves could “stir up the Syrians” against him.  When he sends a force to try to recapture the Hebrews and bring them back, we see the Pillar of Fire that stops them.  No spectacular effect was spared.

        Worthy of special mention was the piano accompaniment, a necessary part of any silent movie experience.  Austrian pianist Gerhard Gruber celebrated his birthday by playing up a storm for this picture.  An expert at this specialty, he made a major contribution to the evening.  Altogether a classic !

        The Los Angeles premiere of KADDISH FOR A FRIEND should draw a larger audience than it did here.  Made in Germany and directed by Leo Khasin, this film explores the difficult maturing of an Arab boy from Lebanon living in fear of getting himself and his family deported from Berlin.  His father and his friends, all Jew-haters, pull him violently in one direction.  His mother, sensitive and pregnant, sounds a different note.  The action centers on the apartment above theirs, where an 84-year-old Russian Jewish war veteran lives.  After a malfunctioning shutoff valve causes a serious leak, the boy Ali and his friends break into the apartment and vandalize it.  Charges and countercharges follow, with Ali’s mother sending him back to help the old man repair the damage so he can stay in his home.  It is Ali who finds the bad shutoff valve, so he is accepted.  Both of them are reluctant and resentful, but gradually they become friends.  And when the old man dies, it is Ali who stands at his grave and lets the rabbi lead him through the Kaddish, since no relative is there to say it.

        Along the way, both Ali and old Alexander undergo changes.  Not sure how their situation will play out or how their characters will relate, we see Ali in conflict with his Arab buddies, we see him take punishment from his father, we see him save a friend’s life after he was knifed in a street fight, and save a girl’s honor when the boys are attacking her.  We also see Alexander attempting to modify his charges against Ali and failing, getting angry and running the boy out of his apartment, later defying the German court and finally succeeding in exonerating the boy.  Some moving scenes dramatize the ongoing challenge to overcome prejudice.

        Not a perfect picture (what is?) but very worthwhile.  It merited its Best Film award in the Washington DC Jewish Film Festival.  See it if you can.

Posted in Hilary Helstein, Moon of Israel, Kaddish for a Friend, Tony Curtis Driven to Stardom, Jewish Blogs, LAJFF 2012, Film Review, Tony Curtis, Baruch Cohon, Israel, Holocaust, Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival, Film Festivals, Jewish | 2 Comments »

May 7, 2012 by Baruch.

        The Torah sets out strict rules for the sacrifices that formed ancient worship and for those who were charged with the duty to offer those sacrifices.  Just as any animal brought to the altar must be as near perfect as possible, so the kohen, the descendant of Aaron the High Priest who slaughtered that animal must be free of physical blemish.  Leviticus chapter 21 goes into explicit detail.  Blind, lame, hunchback, dwarf, cockeyed, scurvy, castrated – these and other defects like a broken arm or leg disqualified a man for sacred service.  He could eat his priestly portion.   He could take part in upkeep of the sanctuary.  He was still a kohen.  He just could not officiate.                  

         An interesting observation is what defects are not mentioned in this list.  The three standard conditions that set people apart in all walks of life were deafness, insanity and underage.  People in those conditions were not held responsible for carrying out most commandments.  Our ancestors had no way to cope completely with the problem of how to teach the deaf, or to make the feebleminded or deranged understand.  And of course an underage child changed status only on reaching the age of maturity.  So these three do not appear here, and presumably it was taken for granted that they would not consider officiating at the altar.

        In our day, with no sacrifices to offer, the kohen has much more limited duties.  A very important one is the task and privilege of blessing the people.  In Jerusalem this happens every day.  Outside of Jerusalem it happens on select occasions, depending on the tradition of the community.  Every Sabbath in some Sephardic congregations. (By contrast, many Ashkenazi congregations never have this ritual on Sabbath.)  On Festivals and High Holy Days in all traditional synagogues.  Do the Biblical restrictions apply to dukhenen, the act of pronouncing the Priestly Benediction?   After all, the act requires each kohen to ascend in front of the Ark, and that could be difficult for a lame or blind man.  Also he has to hear the cantor intone each word before he and the other kohanim repeat it to the people.  His hands, spread in the traditional position with the ring finger and middle finger widely separated, have to hold his tallis out in front of him.  Could he do that with a broken arm?   No wonder the Talmud in Tractate Taanis states that a kohen who has a moom (a blemish) shall not “raise his hands” in blessing.                                                                      

        In fact, when the time comes for this blessing in many synagogues, we seldom see a handicapped kohen  join in it.                                          

        Now wait a minute.  We are not living in the days of the Talmud, and certainly not in the century of the Sanctuary.  We have a different view of how to treat handicapped people today, and we don’t call them “blemished.”  There must be some way to open an opportunity for a blind or lame kohen to spread the Divine blessing.  Suppose he is the only one available.   Should his community not get blessed?                          

        Well, the Code of Jewish Law, the famous Shulhan Arukh, anticipated that question, about 500 years ago.  It sets out exceptions to the Talmudic edict.  It states that if the kohen is well known in his community, so that the people will not be distracted by his handicap but will just listen to his blessing, then he is qualified to take part.  And the standard of being well known is defined as living in that community for at least 30 days.                      

        My friend Rabbi Binyomin Lisbon of my local Chabad synagogue tells me that Chabad encourages handicapped kohanim to perform the blessing, providing helpers for those who need them.  Indeed Chabad favors “fixing the place of people with disabilities in the very heart of the community, and allowing each and every person to take part in our shared effort to repair the world by the light of the Torah.”  

The one requirement that supercedes all others is found in the last word of the brocha that each kohen says before pronouncing the Benediction, praising G-d “…who has sanctified us with Aaron’s sanctity, and commanded us to bless the people Israel b’ahavah – with love.”                          

As a kohen, I am grateful for the opportunity to do that.  And I can only encourage my fellow kohanim to join me, whatever blemishes we have.

Posted in Sabbath, Jerusalem, Shulhan Arukh, Jewish Law, Jewish Blogs, kohen, Talmud, Judaism, Torah, Cantor, Baruch Cohon, Jewish | 1 Comment »

April 24, 2012 by Baruch.

          This could well be my blog for last week, this week and the month to come, but it probably won’t.   Something else always can be expected.  But starting on the second night of Passover we began doing something that will continue until Shavuot, the next festival on our calendar, this year falling on the 27^th and 28^th of May.    We began counting the days.

          Leviticus 23:15-16 instructs this count: “Count for yourselves from the day after the rest-day, from the day you brought the wave-offering (a sheaf of newly harvested grain that the priest waved in the holiday ceremony, called omer in Hebrew), seven complete weeks, until the day after the end of the seventh week, count fifty days.”  The words themselves are noteworthy in this commandment.  The rest-day, first day of Passover, is called shabat – even though it might not fall on Saturday.  (OK, this year it did, but more often it does not.)  The end of the week is called shabat.  And the seven complete weeks are called shabatot – “sabbaths.”  Then the fiftieth day, the day we celebrate as Shavuot, literally the feast of Weeks, is also called Pentecost, from the Greek word for fifty.  The fiftieth day.  And in the Talmud, Shavuot goes by the name atzeret, the concluding festival, as if finishing what Passover started. 

          What is going on here?  Why is it a distinct mitzvah, a sacred duty to count these 49 days?   Indeed, we learn that every Jew should pronounce the blessing of sephirat ha-omer – “counting the omer” – every night.  Miss a night, and you can count the next day – but without the blessing, because you missed the time.  And these seven weeks are called the season of sephira – the season of counting.  Why?   Because this is one more opportunity to dramatize our history.  It took 50 days for our ancestors to make their way from the Red Sea to Mount Sinai.  Those 50 days completed a whole change of identity, from a motley crowd of fugitive slaves – to a nation.  Seven weeks and a day is not a long time to effect such a change.  Every one of those days had its own importance.   So does every one of our own days.

          During most of the sephira season, Jewish weddings are traditionally banned.  While exact dates of the ban vary in different communities, one day – the 33^rd day of sephira, called Lag Baomer – is a happy day for weddings everywhere.  Tractate Y’vamos recounts that a plague was devastating Rabbi Akiba’s students and Bar Kochba’s soldiers and that it came to an end that day.  Clearly a good day to celebrate.  This year it coincides with May 10^th, so if you’re planning nuptials this spring…

          Modern times add considerable color to the sephira season.  Take last week’s Yom haShoah – Holocaust Memorial Day on the 27^th of Nisan.  Or this Wednesday and Thursday when Israel observes Yom haZikaron – the Memorial day for those who gave their lives in Israel’s wars – followed by Yom haAtzma-ut – Israel Independence Day, a day of gala parades and parties in Israel, which will be honored in most of the U.S. on Sunday the 29^th. 

Indeed we can count some important days here.   And I want to mention a contemplated future holiday to follow Yom haShoah, when we can celebrate the end of the Holocaust and the survival of our people despite history’s worst attempt to destroy us.  Let me know what you think of that idea.

          Why keep and augment these customs?  Because we need to fulfill the mitzvah of counting sephira. 

Count your days, to make your days count.

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Posted in Jewish Traditions, Sephira, Talmud, Shabat, Omer, Jewish Blogs, Counting, Mitzvah, Shavout, Yom haShoah, Rabbi, Torah, Judaism, Cantor, Baruch Cohon, Passover, Cohon, Jewish | 1 Comment »

April 9, 2012 by Baruch.

 At our Seder, a teenage guest named Natalie asked a question that is not in the Haggadah.   “We have Pesach to celebrate the end of Egyptian slavery,” she said, “so why don’t we have a holiday to celebrate the end of the Holocaust?”

Why, indeed.  Just as we mention the Exodus in many of our prayers, we certainly mention the Holocaust in numerous connections all the time.  Survivors who kept silent for half a century are now telling and writing their stories.  That is one kind of celebration.  Before we realize it, those survivors will be gone.  The rest of us still need to put the Holocaust in perspective.

Future generations may well be bombarded with repeated denials of history.  For them, for us, and for the survivor generation alike, we do need to observe the ultimate triumph of the Jewish people over the most terrible effort at genocide.  The Haggadah itself reminds us that “in every generation there arise those who would wipe us out.”  B’chol dor va-dor om’dim aleynu l’chaloteynu.  They fail.  We succeed.

True, we have a Yom haShoah every year on the 3^rd day in Iyyar – this year coinciding with the 25^th of April.  It is a sad day, observed as a memorial to those who were murdered in the Holocaust.  Similarly the State of Israel holds a Yom haZikaron (Memorial Day) on the 9^th day in Iyyar honoring those who gave their lives in defense of the Jewish state.  But that is followed just one day later by Yom haAtzma-ut, a day of joy celebrating Israel’s independence.  Why not follow Yom haShoah with a worldwide celebration of Jewish continuity, a day to give thanks for being part of the Eternal People, to bless our destiny and our living creative presence in the world in spite of everything? 

I submit that young Natalie is right.  We need a religious and communal tribute to our ongoing existence – not as victims but as victors.  We need a day to declare our connection to Klal Yisrael – the total Jewish people – to its past and its future, a day to celebrate the end of a tragedy and to bless the beginning of triumph.

What form should this new Yom Tov take?  What ritual would be appropriate?   What should be its name?   How can we make it a worldwide holiday?

Legitimate questions, all.   In search of legitimate answers and a workable plan, hopefully for next year, we at the Cohon Memorial Foundation seek your ideas and suggestions.  Please share your thoughts, herewith or on our email: rabco613@hotmail.com  

Thank you,

Rabbi Baruch Cohon, 

Vice-President, Cohon Memorial Foundation  

http://www.cohonaward.com/

Posted in Pesach, Passover, Holocaust, Exodus, Jewish Blogs, Yom haShoah, Seder, Cohon Award, Israel, Judaism, Rabbi, Cantor, Baruch Cohon, Jewish | 2 Comments »