Just because I know there's some young critters out there...

[mrkelley23]

Compared to me, anyways.

Today's QoD got me thinking about Judaism and Jewish. As I said in an earlier post, there are very few Jewish folk here.

Most, if not all, of what I learned about it came from fiction works, including stuff by Chaim Potok and Harry Kemelman. Well-written fiction can teach me more than non-fiction any day. I guess it has something to do with the way my brain creates relationships, which is how we memorize everything, anyway. It works better for me in the context of a story.

Sorry to prattle, but this is a bit of an epiphany for moi.

[earendel]

Compared to me, anyways.

Today's QoD got me thinking about Judaism and Jewish. As I said in an earlier post, there are very few Jewish folk here.

Most, if not all, of what I learned about it came from fiction works, including stuff by Chaim Potok and Harry Kemelman. Well-written fiction can teach me more than non-fiction any day. I guess it has something to do with the way my brain creates relationships, which is how we memorize everything, anyway. It works better for me in the context of a story.

Sorry to prattle, but this is a bit of an epiphany for moi.

I'm a big fan of Harry Kemelman's "Rabbi" series. The movie, not so much.

[ghostjmf]

I can think offhand of at least 3, maybe 4 self-identified Jewish people here, if by here you mean the board (& not your town). Of which I am one.

I kinda shudder to think of opinions formed by, say, watching Seinfeld, which I loathe, & Woody Allen, who I used to laugh at sometimes but who is classically a self-stereotyped NYC Jewish comedian.

OK, you said Potok, who I believe came from a very Orthodox background (I haven't read him) & Kemmelman, who does the "Rabbi Slept Late" series? Haven't read him either.

In general, you aren't going to "meet" everyday people in books because those aren't the kind of people who write books, generally.

[mrkelley23]

I can think offhand of at least 3, maybe 4 self-identified Jewish people here, if by here you mean the board (& not your town). Of which I am one.

I kinda shudder to think of opinions formed by, say, watching Seinfeld, which I loathe, & Woody Allen, who I used to laugh at sometimes but who is classically a self-stereotyped NYC Jewish comedian.

OK, you said Potok, who I believe came from a very Orthodox background (I haven't read him) & Kemmelman, who does the "Rabbi Slept Late" series? Haven't read him either.

In general, you aren't going to "meet" everyday people in books because those aren't the kind of people who write books, generally.

No, I was talking about my rather backwater town in southern Indiana. I freely admit my relative ignorance about Judaism. All I was saying is that what little I do know comes from those novels. Yes, Potok's novels focused on a very Orthodox family, but Reformed and other traditions were interwoven in the story.

My notions are (probably) romanticized at least, but I feel better for having them.

[earendel]

In general, you aren't going to "meet" everyday people in books because those aren't the kind of people who write books, generally.

Kemelman does a pretty good job of giving a "behind the scenes" look at the life of a Reform rabbi. Having worked for a Jewish family for several years (Conservative) and hearing them talk about Temple politics, I'd say Kemelman has it nailed. Of course Rabbi David Small is like J. B. Fletcher in terms of having to deal with murders on a regular basis, something not likely for "everyday people". But when discussing matters of Torah or how the Temple Sisterhood functions, he's spot-on.

[ghostjmf]

The TV director who got "Brooklyn Bridge" on air for exactly one season (I think) before it got pulled despite the network's promises to him did a decent job of representing what I'm willing to believe is what his family was like.

There was no one in it mean, sarcastic, etc. So he apparently had this idyllic family. But there was the requisite amount of goofy sayings in Yiddish (minus the very sarcastic ones that his family, apparently, did not do) & people interrupting each other, along with "normal school & home life in the 40s, or whatever, in Brooklyn" to get some kind of Jewish, as opposed to other-than, flavor across.

I'd recommend you rent/buy it but its probably not on DVD.


And for earendel, even without having read it, the stuff about Temple politics in Kemmelman is bound to be spot-on, but having said that, even the thought of having to read about it gives me a headache. This is kinda why some of us don't belong to any such institution, even though I attend periodically.* I'd also guess its really not that different except in religious details, if ever they enter in, than church politics in any other persuasion.


*You just try to get a straight answer out of anybody about "why popular rabbi X has suddenly been disappeared from the scene", either. You probably have to been in on the details to get anything beyond "no one knows". An extremely interfering person in my home town got a rabbi fired because he wasn't running enough youth social groups to suit their fancy, & his wife actually had her own career that didn't involve "hostess", or something like that. Only reason I know this is my Dad was fuming about it at the time.

[earendel]

And for earendel, even without having read it, the stuff about Temple politics in Kemmelman is bound to be spot-on, but having said that, even the thought of having to read about it gives me a headache. This is kinda why some of us don't belong to any such institution, even though I attend periodically.* I'd also guess its really not that different except in religious details, if ever they enter in, than church politics in any other persuasion.

I'm sure that's true, just as I'd groan about having to read books about Baptist business meetings and committee meetings. But for someone on the outside looking in, so to speak, it's interesting.

[macrae1234]

The Mrs and I loved Brooklyn Bridge during its too short run. Did you know the actor playing Marion Ross's husband has been married to Olympia Dukakis for 45 years.