O Jerusalem (2007)

Directed by Elie Chouraqui and written by Elie Chouraqui and Didier Le Pechaur. Together they made a mediocre movie about an interesting subject. Made like a TV movie of the week, its dialogue was about as gripping as a didactic an educational film you might have sat through in grade school while passing notes.

I am not sure what was worse, the bad acting or the cheesy clichés in the script. From the very start, you see the actors missing beats and using over the top emotional responses. It didn’t worry the film-makers if the movie made emotional sense, instead it just told you something like “pain here, “or “joy here.”

O Jerusalem tries to tell the story of the birth of the nation of Israel in an even handed manor. Nothing does that better than casting an aging French pop star, Patrick Bruel, as a main character.

At best, it gives a basic outline of events around 1948 Palestine/Israel. It speaks of some of the basic arguments on both sides of the issue while giving respect to each. It shows British compliancy, and the greater Arab hypocrisy in terms of the conflict. On the hand the movie, focuses too much on European Jews who came to Palestine after World War II. It would have been wise to focus on Jews that have been in the area since biblical times; who have never left the area in thousands of years. Those people were mentioned but never shown. Big mistake! It did a good job at showing the different factions on both sides and the consequences of their actions.

I suppose it could be a good film for someone not aware of the events. The use of archival news footage is highly effective in giving a taste of realism.

It is hard to say that because many of the people who are the most passionate, especially college students, know relatively little of the historical events (even if they think they do), and with passions so high you wonder if opinions could be altered.

Tovah Feldshuh returns to her brilliant off-Broadway portrayal of Golda Meir. Ian Holm certainly gets the hair right for playing Ben Gurion.

Watching the film did remind me of my three week trip to Israel. There are many reminders of the wars there. Left intentionally are the shot up military vehicles on the side of the road to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv or vice versa.

For all that the movie gets right; you still have to suffer through a poor film. O Jersusalem stars JJ Field, Said Taghmaoui, Maria Papas, Patrick Bruel, Ian Holm, and Tova Feldshuh.

How to Raise a Jewish Dog by the Rabbis of the Boca Raton Theological Seminary as to Ellis Weiner & Barbara Davilman

I really bought this book thinking it was a humor book. It seemed like one because of the pictures of people putting up “Dog not lost YET” poster and crying “how could you do this to me” to a dog who had gone through the trash looking for food, seems so funny to me. It turns out that this book is serious. It actually is a book on how to train your dog.

Still interested, I read the book over a weekend.

You don’t have to be Jewish to use and understand this book. You only have to love your dog. For me, Dogs have always been a part of life. Everyone in my family had one: big dogs, little dogs and ones that were in-between. Some were smart and some weren’t. Some sweet, some mean. This book helped me feel better about my family’s incredibly personal relationships with our K9 friends.

The book promotes having a symbiotic relationship with you dog. Treat your dog like a high being and you are on your way. Know your dog’s moods and you’re in better shape. Expect to argue with your dog and now you are in the mindset to effectively train your dog to be a Jewish dog.

One example is the fight for the chair. This reminds me of a famous series of battles between my dog (Beagle) and my grandmother. My grandmother always lost these battles and said to my dog “If you want that it so bad, you can have it!” In How to Raise a Jewish Dog the exact same scenario is played out, with the same outcome and the same sentiment expressed. Brilliant!

The book, explains that instead of punishing your dog, they are against violence, guilt your dog, which is much more effective. They advocate praising your dog as much as possible, especially in public and in front of other people; so that the dog feels like the whole world loves him.

The book starts out by asking the four questions. Think of the four questions from the Passover Seder. It points out strategies for dealing with other dogs (stay away from the Beagle’s evil ways {food, food, food}) and other people who your dog doesn’t like. It covers raising the dog from infant to old age, travels and manners.

Why the Rabbis of the Boca Raton Theological Seminary? Well, it turns out that these guys were trying to form their own liberal Judaism in Boca Raton Florida. They met in a motel there, which they eventually bought. Students were worried that they were leaving their dogs at home alone. So, the Seminary let a couple students bring their dogs to class., then everyone brought their dogs, and there was a whole community of dogs at the Seminary/Motel. They found the dogs to be a welcomed addition to the environment. Everyone was much happier with the dogs being there, but they were presented with a series of behaviorial problems. Together they figured out ways to solve these behavior problems and produced some pretty well adjusted dogs. People outside the Seminary started to notice these well behaved dogs and offered to pay them to train their dogs. The rest, as they say, was history.

Remember, at the start of this, I thought this was a humor book. Well it is a very funny book, because it is very realistic with our relationship with our four legged friends. They seem to get it. I laughed throughout it. It was a very enjoyable read, and it brought back a lot of warm feelings and memories of Beagle, Shoemaker, Dude, Jerry Jacob, Zach, Spike, Pepsi, Pepper, Sundance and stories of Peanuts, the funny legged dog.

Born to Kvetch by Michael Wex (2006)

It’s funny how Yiddish has become an acid test of Jewish authenticity. Of course, most Ashkenazi Jews(Jews typically from eastern European decent) comes from a Yiddish background anyway. Jews in the ghetto spoke almost nothing but Yiddish from the time of Crusades to the World War II. There are still pockets of Yiddish around the world that still do speak it, but they are very small. It is not the dominant Jewish cultural force that it once was. I know people from the former Soviet Union who are Jewish, or at least they say so, who are now living in Brooklyn and are trying to use Yiddish words and expressions to try to give a false impression of their Jewish background. The only problem is that they don’t get the words right and they misuse them to a point of laughter or embarrassment if you understand what is going on.

Michael Wex’s book is a good book if you feel like taking a stroll down a Polish Ghetto a hundred years ago. He is like that kid in school that tells you all bad words and dirty jokes of his culture. If you ever grew up in a place where there were many cultures living together, you know what I mean.

Wex does more than give you a babe mayse. He offers a cultural and historical explanation of the expressions and customs of the Yiddish language of which they are based on. It would be a good read if you grew up putting stones on a gravestone and only knew that it was the custom.

The writing is like the old person who has, long past, given up any tact of not using bad words in both Yiddish and English. In fact, I have not known so many dirty words in any book, yet in this academic pursuit, the book it doesn’t seems dirty and it is just a bit vulgar. Really, you can’t say Shlong without laughing or feeling uncomfortable. (figure it out).

Born to Kvetch goes further than just showcasing the Yiddish brought to this country between 1862 – 1948. The author brings Yiddish up to the present and even discusses Yiddish in terms of the Beatles and the Dot-com crash. He seems to be a huge fan of 60’s music and references it of often to explain the Yiddish phrases. He even uses Gangsta Rap to explain the word Yidena.

Wex explains the Yiddish that has been incorporated into America culture from such people as The Three Stooges to Lenny Bruce. Places like New York have Yiddish words used in their everyday language. Even a Chinese immigrant shleps. I explained to someone that people in California don’t shlep and never plotz. She just said that they probably don’t shmeer either.

This is a really great book if you are researching your Jewish roots or if you are interested in Jewish Studies. Sometimes, it is just good for a laugh. The writer is a Yid with all the humor that goes along with it. If you are not interested in this kind of stuff, you should be board out of your mind, because it is like spending 14 hours in Yeshiva.

I really like this book because it was so detailed and really gives a sense of how rich and developed the Yiddish culture is, and it does so without leaving out any of the superstitions, ironies, or the bad stuff. I know my grandmother spoke Spanish with a Yiddish accent, which sounds really weird if you ever get a chance to hear that.