The Mighty Zed

Framed---34th anniversary of Sydney Hilton bombing

2012-02-12T08:02:00.001-11:00

February 13 is the 34th anniversary of the bombing of the Sydney Hilton Hotel in Australia, in which three persons were killed. The bombing occurred during a Commonwealth regional heads of governments conference. As a result of bad police work, Australian political activist Tim Anderson was wrongfully charged. He was not finally freed from the perils of justice until the early 1990's.

The case created quite a stir as left wing groups in Australia and beyond mobilized to free Tim Anderson.

The campaign gave rise to two great protest songs by Alistair Hulett (1951-2010)

Criminal Justice

Framed

You Tube of celebration of clearing of Tim Anderson

I had the privilege of exchanging emails with Alistair Hulett about a year before he died. The Tim Anderson case makes us proud of the legal profession, when after long struggles, justice prevails.

The footsteps of David Goodis

2012-02-11T14:54:00.000-11:00

In the early 1950's David Goodis hung out at the Joseph Fox Bookshop at 1724 Samson Street in Philadelphia. The owner said the shop opened in 1951. She said the store stocked Goodis' first novel, presumably Cassidy's Girl. After he became successful, the owner said Goodis stopped coming to the store. She said she did not know where he hung out after that. She had no specific recollection of his habits or his appearance.

J. Edgar Hoover Goes to the Movies

2012-02-11T13:18:00.001-11:00

If you like classic movies, think how much better they could have been.

Imagine stronger social criticism, bolder characters, blunter endings.

Imagine what would have been had Hollywood not been censored.

Dr. John Sbardellati

John Sbardellati, assistant professor of history at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, tells the story of the unofficial censorship of the movies in J. Edgar Hoover Goes to the Movies: The FBI and the Origins of the Cold War, to be released May 8 by Cornell University Press.

Censorship is old as the movies. In Hollywood, censorship was not by “The Government.” Movies were not burned, theaters were not closed and scripts were not edited. But there was censorship, nonetheless. Censorship was the result of pressure by groups around the government, people who pulled the strings.

Originally, censorship was exercised by religious and veterans groups troubled by the immoral tone of the movies. As a result, Hollywood adopted the “Code” in the 1930’s, administered by the industry’s own Hays Office, which kept explicit sex off the screen and made sure that evil never triumphed at the end a movie.

In the 1940’s the censorship was directed against alleged Communist influence.

Sbardellati, a scholar of the cultural impact of the Red Scare and the McCarthy era, discusses the split between the right and the left in Hollywood. He shows how scripts were edited to eliminate suspected Communist themes---like sympathy for the workers and the poor and criticism of banks, lawyers, and businesses. For example, he examines the themes in Abraham Lincoln Polonsky’s “Force of Evil,” the tale of a powerful and corrupt lawyer and his relationship to the rackets in a poor immigrant neighborhood. Polonsky was later jailed as one of the Hollywood Ten.

Unexpected characters emerge from the book. Ronald Reagan as head of the Screen Actors Guild fought progressives in Hollywood. Russian born screenwriter Ayn Rand, a radical libertarian and atheist, wrote a handbook on enforcing anti-Communist standards in the movies. The work of great producers, directors, writers and actors, some blacklisted, other jailed for contempt of Congress, is examined.

Ayn Rand testifies before the House Unamerican Activities Committee

Ronald Reagan testifies before House Unamerican Activities Committee

To understand the impact of the censorship, I recommend “Out of the Past, Examining Film Noir,” a series of podcasts by Richard Edwards and Shannon Clute at www.noircast.net. Your attention is directed to the podcasts on “On the Waterfront,” “Good Night, and Good Luck,” and “Force of Evil.” Click for directory.

Despite the snappy title, J. Edgar Hoover Goes to the Movies, the book says little about the FBI director. Sbardellati quotes reviews submitted by FBI agents who were assigned to the movie industry, all part of the rightwing move to squeeze the left out of Hollywood.

Sbardellati gives an objective view of what we would now call the religious right and the cultural wars of the 1940s and early 1950s. It’s a good read for lovers of classic movies and Cold War junkies.

Manayunk Noir--July 2011

2012-01-29T12:19:00.001-11:00

The canal and the bridge to Montgomery County

Potato Chips

Cresson Street. Under the tresle. . . up the hill is a scene from a Ken Bruen novel.

Lower East Side 2011

2012-01-29T11:59:00.000-11:00

In America, everyone's ancestors came over on the Mayflower. Right? Right. More likely, they landed on the Lower East Side. Would our ancestors recognize skateboards?

Murder is my business. Real photography in its glory.

2012-01-24T15:59:00.001-11:00

For those of us who grew up with real photography, last week was disaster.

Kodak---the provider of basic cameras for generations, the manufacturer of film, photo paper, and chemicals---filed for bankruptcy. Would the drama of black and white film photography, the magic of the darkroom finally die from the digital revolution?

Alas, real photography is not dead. It lives in its glory at the International Center of Photography www.icp.org in Manhattan.

Sunday, I treated my darkroom team (code names D-76 and Dektol) to the International Center of Photography.

The lead exhibit was “Murder Is My Business.” It is a peek into the grubby life of Weegee (aka Arthur Fellig) (1899 to 1968). From the late 1930’s through the 1940’s Weegee filled New York tabloids with stark, searing, night time photos of crime, fires, and tragedies in the working class neighborhoods of Manhattan.

Weegee worked free lance. His darkroom was the trunk of his Chevrolet coupe. His headquarters was a shabby one room apartment near a police station.

The ICP show is named for Weegee’s famous 1941 exhibits at the Photo League, a left wing photographer’s cooperative which operated in New York from 1936 to 1951. Most of its members concentrated on pictures with social content. Weegee’s work was less political but more bloody, more tragic. Part of the original “Murder Is My Business” is replicated at ICP.

Also of interest is a recreation of Weegee’s grubby bedroom, with a speed graphic (iconic newspaper camera), a police radio, and a portable typewriter. Visitors can read samples of Weegee’s staccatto writing, which sometimes accompanied his pictures.

The exhibit includes copies of the fabled experimental newspaper PM. PM was liberal-left in its politics, innovative in its design, unorthodox in its structure---the pages were stapled together---and insane in its business plan---no advertising. Founded in 1940, it folded in 1948 as the Cold War reached full throttle.

In 1945 Weegee published a book of photos entitled Naked City. Naked City and Murder Is My Business. The names say it all.

On our way to the International Center of Photography, we stopped for breakfast at The Brooklyn Diner www.brooklyndiner.com on 43rd Street between Seventh Avenue and the Avenue of the Americas. The staff was friendly. The setting was gracious. The customers were interesting. Dektol had pancakes and D-76 had an omelette. They told me the food was as good as its presentation.

As for New York coffee, I’d rather be in Mount Airy.

The daisy girl, the mushroom cloud and the ad which changed it all

2012-01-08T11:38:00.001-11:00

With the Republican primaries in full gear, and negative ads saturating the airwaves as Presidential wannabees go from state to state, Louisiana State University Press has published a short study which puts the attack ads in historical perspective.

Daisy Petal and Mushroom Clouds: LBJ, Barry Goldwater, and the Ad That Changed American Politics is the story of the 1964 commercial which changed the tone and focus of Presidential advertising.

Robert Mann, the Manship Chair and a professor in the Manship School of Mass Communication and co-director of the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs at Louisiana State University, explains that prior to 1964, presidential campaigns drafted TV ads and only expected advertising agencies to produce the ads and make media buys.

It all changed in 1964, when the Democratic National Committee hired Doyle, Dane, Bernbach (DDB) to design TV ads for the campaign of Lyndon Baines Johnson. At the time, DDB seemed an unlikely choice. It had not been a top-tier agency. DDB was best known for its accounts for consumer products and distinguishing itself with its work for Volkswagen ("Think small") and Avis ("We try harder"). Though the principals in DDB were Democrats, they were new to political accounts.

1964 was the Cold War at its scariest. America had barely gotten through the Berlin Crisis of 1961 when we went eyeball to eyeball with the Soviets in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Fallout shelters were being built. Movies about nuclear war---Fail Safe and Dr. Strangelove---were being produced---and watched.

Mann skillfully strips 1960's culture to its barest---the fear of nuclear destruction.

DDB produced a series of ads playing on the public's fear of nuclear war. America was a gullible audience.

The Republican candidate for President was Barry Goldwater, the hard line conservative from Arizona. Unfortunately for Goldwater, he spoke his mind. He published books and newspaper columns. He spoke first and thought later. He used colorful and exaggerated language. He paid for his candor.

The Johnson campaign understood the public mood and found Goldwater's utterances a bonanza. It commissioned DDB to do the advertising. Its most famous product was the Daisy ad: a little girl is plucking petals from a daisy, there is a countdown of a missile launch, then a mushroom cloud, followed by the voice of President Johnson speaking about nuclear responsibility.

Though the Johnson White House had doubts whether the ad would create a backlash, it okayed the ad. The Daisy Girl ran only once. It made its point. Republicans denounced the ad, making it news. News programs played the ad to explain the protests. The ad went down in history and made extreme attacks acceptable. Daisy Girl could be the great-grandmother of Swiftboating.

Professor Mann is no stranger to politics. He was press secretary to Senator Russell Long (Democrat of Louisiana) and a journalist. He was sympathetic to Goldwater's dilemma and critical of the shock level of the Johnson advertising.

The book reveals how government ethics have changed in the last four decades. The Johnson advertising strategy was hatched in the White House, by the President and his top aides, on government time. Last year a Philadelphia City Council aide was fired for producing election materials on a printer in a councilwoman's office. A Pennsylvania state senator is under indictment for using her staff on government time in her sister's campaign for the State Supreme Court. A former member of the State House of Representatives was convicted for using government funds to buy computer programs used in election campaigns.

Daisy Petals and Mushroom Clouds is written in refreshing journalistic style. It provides a fresh look at history and gives a peek into the workings of the advertising industry. It is a good read for the political junkie.

Library of America to release Goodis anthology edited by Robert Polito

2011-12-31T14:46:00.002-11:00

The Library of America will release on March 29 the long awaited "Goodis, Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and 1950s" edited by Robert Polito, director of Writing Programs at The New School.

This volume contains five Goodis classics: Dark Passage, Nightfall, The Moon in the Gutter, The Burglar and The Street of No Return. Tour the noir geography of David Goodis as he writes about San Francisco, Manhattan, the American West, Philadelphia's docks, working class Philadelphia, working class Atlantic City and Philadelphia's tenderloin.

The volume is a study in Goodis' progressing inner torment Dark Passage and Nightfall were written before Goodis returned to Philadelphia after an unhappy stint as a Hollywood writer and a failed marriage. The Moon in the Gutter, The Burglar and The Street of No Return were written in a second floor bedroom in Goodis' parents' home on North 11th Street. These three Philadelphia novels are progressively gloomy. The characters are progressively hopeless. As Goodis advances in his career, his books address deeper and deeper psychological themes.

Polito includes a detailed chronology of Goodis' life, from his parents' occupations and residences, through Goodis' education, his publications, his disastrous marriage, his hushed romance, his brilliant descent into paperbacks, and his demise. Polito provides notes explaining the contemporary cultural references in the five novels.

I won't tell you about the plots. Get the book.

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Indigo

Robert Polito, Goodis scholar and editor, to speak at Free Library of Philadelphia on April 19

2011-12-31T14:31:00.001-11:00

Robert Polito | David Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and 50s (A)
When: Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 7:30PM
Where: Central Library
Cost: FREE
No tickets required. For Info: 215-567-4341.

2012 Philadelphia Book Festival

An editor, poet, and critic, Robert Polito is Director of Writing Programs at The New School and the author of National Book Critics Circle Award winner Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson, which untangled Thompson the author from his trademark psychopathic characters and grim tales of failed lives. Polito's new book is a landmark volume that collects five great novels from the height of noir cult favorite David Goodis's career. Born in Philadelphia, Goodis made a distinctive contribution to American hard-boiled crime fiction with his jazzy, passionate novels of mean streets and doomed protagonists, including Retreat From Oblivion and The Moon in the Gutter.

Robert Polito (left) with Goodis film producers Larry and Sharyn Withers at GoodisCON 2007

Robert Polito visits the room where Goodis wrote at his parents home on North 11th Street in Philadelphia

The Akeidah---Proof text for Jewish Martyrdom

2011-10-02T12:21:00.003-11:00

Rosh Hashannah Day 2, September 30, 2011

My talk is based on The Akedah, The Binding of Isaac, by Louis A. Berman (Jason Aronson, 1995). Dr. Berman retired as a professor of psychology in 1989 from the Unversity of Illinois at Chicago.

I was taught that the core lesson of the Akeidah was Abraham’s total faith in God. I heard the criticisms that he spoke up for Sodom and Gemmorah but obeyed an order to kill his child. I heard that the Akeidah was a statement against child sacrifice.

But in preparing for today’s talk, I uncovered the far more disturbing fact that the Akeidah is the proof text for Jewish martyrdom----Kiddush hashem---suicide to avoid forced conversion.

The theme of Jewish Martyrdom is developed in the Books of the Maccabees. These books were in written in Greek about 40 B.C.E. for a Hellenized Jewish audience. They are Greek in style and philosophy. They were not translated into Hebrew until a thousand years later. These books are not part of the Jewish Canon. The first two books are part of the Catholic Bible. The fourth book is only a foot note to the Greek Catholic Bible.

Jewish Martyrdom appears in the story of Hannah and her Seven Sons which appears in the Second and Fourth Book of the Maccabees.

Hannah and her Seven Sons are brought before the Greek king Antiochus. He commands each son to eat pork. He threatens each son that his tongue will be ripped out and his limbs will be severed unless he complies. Each son---one by one--is threatened, refuses to eat pork, and is dismembered in the view of the surviving sons and Hannah. Each son dies of his injuries, confident of resurrection in the World to Come.

Antiochus begs the youngest son to comply so as to save his life for the sake of his mother. Hannah counsels her only surviving son to refuse in the name of God. He refuses to eat pork, and is dismembered and dies.

After the last son is killed, Hannah dies.

The Seven Sons are saints in the Catholic Church. Their feast is August 1.

In the Fourth Book of Maccabees, Chapter 16, verses 20-25, it is said:

[20] For his sake also our father Abraham was zealous to sacrifice his son Isaac, the ancestor of our nation; and when Isaac saw his father's hand wielding a sword and descending upon him, he did not cower.
[21] And Daniel the righteous was thrown to the lions, and Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael were hurled into the fiery furnace and endured it for the sake of God.
[22] You too must have the same faith in God and not be grieved.
[23] It is unreasonable for people who have religious knowledge not to withstand pain."
[24] By these words the mother of the seven encouraged and persuaded each of her sons to die rather than violate God's commandment.
[25] They knew also that those who die for the sake of God live in God, as do Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs.

Using the Akeidah as a proof text, the concept of martyrdom took hold.

In the second century the rabbinic counsel at Lydda pronounced the laws of martyrdom---Kiddush hashem. A Jewish person had to suffer death rather than violate three commandments prohibiting idolatry, sexual immorality, and murder.

However, this view was not unanimous.

In the 12th century, the Jews in Spain and Morocco were being subjected to forced conversion to Islam. A Jew who had submitted to forced conversion asked a rabbi---a distinguished talmudist---to endorse the secret practice of Judaism. the rabbi said that each commandment of Judaism that would be practiced by a convert would constitute an additional sin.

Maimonides disagreed. Understanding that saying one is Muslim is not the same as being Muslim, and recognizing the monotheistic nature of Islam, Maimonides rationalized outward conversion to Islam, discouraged martyrdom, and recommended migration and exile. (See “Maimonides” by Joel K. Kraemer, Doubleday, 2008).

As the Crusades broke out in the the 11th and 12th centuries in the Rhineland, martyrdom took full hold. Berman contrasts Christianity from Islam. The Jews of Europe despised Christianity as idolatrous---not being monotheistic. They looked down on Christians. The Christians were focused more on converting Jews rather than destroying the Jewish people.

During crusader pogroms, Jews were offered the choice of torture or conversion. Swept up in the religious fanaticism of the times, Jews embraced the story of Hannah and her Seven Sons.

Faced with forced conversion, fathers slaughtered their wives and children, and then themselves.

It is told that the Jews of Eller assembled in a hall, recited their confessionals, and the saints among them slaughtered the entire congregation. Three hundred souls perished.

Rabbi J. H. Hertz relates in his Chumash commentary, the martyrdom at York Castle in 1190. Faced with a pogrom, the Jews holed-up in the Castle and committed suicide. Another 300 souls in Kiddush hashem.

Berman relates that the practice of martyrdom was supported by the belief in resurrection. There were legends and midrashim that Isaac was actually slaughtered and resurrected at the Akeidah. Some accounts say he was resurrected as soon as his windpipe was severed. Others say he bled to death. Others say that he was burned to ashes, but was immediately resurrected. Still other stories have Isaac ascend to heaven and return to earth after three years.

In the 12th century, Rabbi Ephraim ben Jacob of Bonn wrote an poem including:

He made haste, he pinned him down with his knees,
He made his two arms strong.

With steady hands he slaughtered him according to the rite,
Full right was the slaughter.

Down upon him I felt the resurrecting dew, and he revived.
[The father] seized him to slaughter him once more.

Scripture, bear witness! Well-grounded is the
fact: And the Lord called Abraham, even a second time from heaven.

In the years since the Holocaust, an idea to compete with Kiddush Ha-shem has taken off.

Kiddush ha-chayim. The sanctification of life. The refusal to die is holy. Survival is holy---to preserve the faith and the nation.

Berman asks:

Does the Akedah, in it s Biblical form, sanction or perhaps promote martyrdom? Or rather does verse 12 underscore the santity of human life:

“Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him?” Writing on the Akeidah, Elie Wiesel answer the queston thus:

“In the Jewish tradition man cannot use death as a means of glorifying God. Every man is an end unto himself, a living entity.”

B'haalot'cha--40 years and the Long March

2011-06-19T08:59:00.002-11:00

Numbers 8:1-12:16
June 11, 2011

Today’s portion is about nation-building
Bookmark Exodus 18:13 and Numbers 11:16.

In October 1934, China was in a bitter civil war. The Communist forces in southern China were being defeated.

They engaged in the epic Long March. They retreated to the northwest of China. In 368 days, they covered 6,000 miles, crossed 12 provinces, 18 mountain ranges and half a dozen rivers. The Reds engaged in 15 major battles and some 300 skirmishes. They began with 100,000 troops, they ended with 50,000 troops.

At Yenan, they were met by Communist armies from the north. At Yenan, the Reds set up an “independent” state within China. They founded schools, engaged in land reform, organized cooperatives. The Communists provided political structure, founded an economy, and organized a grassroot military. They set up a state in advance of the 1949 People’s Republic.

The lack of human rights is a discussion for another day.

http://www.chabad.org/parshah/in-depth/default_cdo/aid/52613/jewish/In-Depth.htm

The Israelites engaged in a similar type of nation building in the Wilderness. In Numbers 11, we read that God tells Moses to appoint 70 elders.

The Commentators say that these elders replaced the elders appointed in Exodus The elders from Exodus were killed for misbehavior and disloyalty and lack of faith. Following the incident with the Golden Calf, the Levites slew 3000 people. A plague followed. The fire at Tabera killed more people. None of the elders appointed in Exodus were left.

I suggest a different view, based only on the text. The elders appointed in Exodus had a judicial role. Jethro observes Moses judging all day. Jethro says, “You are going to kill yourself at this pace.”

Moses---not God---appoints leaders, chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties, tens. According to Artscroll, there are four criteria for these leaders: (1) men of accomplishment; (2) God fearing; (3) men of truth; (4) who despise money.

These leaders are to be independent of financial pressure and not likely to be corrupted. They are appointed by a mortal--Moses--on suggestion of another mortal--Jethro.

In Numbers, God tells Moses to select “70 elders of Israel” who “have experience as elders and officers of the people.”

They gather at the Tent of Meeting. God comes down in a cloud. God transfers some of Moses’ prophetic powers to the 70. Their authority flows from God. They have experience as “elders and officers” of the people.

They share leadership with Moses. They are leaders ordained by God. The 70 do not replace the judges from Exodus. Instead the constitute a new ranch of government---the administrative branch--the bureaucracy.

After the story of the spies next week (Sh’lach Lecha), the next 38 years of history vanish from the record. During this time, I suggest, the institutions of Israelite society mature.

Moses continues as the executive and the legislative. The judiciary, established by Moses in Exodus, continues. The bureaucracy was established in today’s portion. Towards the end of the 40 years in the Wilderness, an aggressive military is organized.

At the end of the 40 years, we have a state in waiting, a society ready to cross the Jordan.

In the 40 years in the Wilderness, we have 42 encampments. It is our Long March. Our Yenan.

X marks the spot

2011-02-20T06:44:00.001-11:00

T-tzaveh, Exodus 27:20-30:10, February 12, 2011

Today’s talk is entitled “X marks the spot.”
It is dedicated to Abraham Lincoln, whose birthday is today. The connection is leadership and legitimacy.

Today, we read how the priests were installed; how they received the spirit--the commission from God; the legitimacy of their power.

Moses connected to God at Mount Sinai. The spirit was transferred from God to Moses.

In today’s portion, Moses is commanded to transmit that connection to Aaron and his sons---to make them priests. We are speaking of an heriditary priesthood. The ceremony which we read about was to happen only once.

The connection is transmitted through several media:

clothing
water
oil
bread
animals

I am working from Aryeh Kaplan’s translation. Moses is to speak to the people “wise of heart” to whom God granted “the spirit of wisdom” and request them to make the garments.

The spirit is transferred from God to the people with wisdom and from them to Aaron by means of clothing.

Aaron and his sons are taken to the door of the Communion Tent and immersed in a Mikva. Kaplan cites sources stating that the Mikva was a specially constructed pool containing 80 gallons of watr.

The vestments are placed on Aaron.

At the beginning of today’s portion, we read how pure olive oil was to be used for lamps which were burn in God’s presence in the Communion Tent from evening to morning.

Pure olive oil is part of the ordination ceremony.

After the turban is put on Aaron’s head, pure olive oil was poured on Aaron’s head.

Now comes the fun. According to Rashi, the oil was poured on the head and between Aaron’s eyebrows. He connected the two areas of oil with his fingers in the shape of an X.

Nachmanides says the oil was put where tephillin would be and drawn into the shape of the Greek letter Chi.

The oil was only placed on Aaron.

Two unblemished animals are sacrificed. Their life-force is transferred to Aaron and his sons. The blood of the animals is dabbed on the right ear lobe, right thumb and right big toe of Aaron and his sons.

Gersonides related the blood on the ear to “We shall hear” and the blood on the thumb and toe to “We shall do”

Blood is also sprinkled on their garments.

The body parts of the animals are placed in the hands of Aaron and their sons. They wave the body parts. Finally, the body parts are burned. Aaron and his sons eat parts of the roasted animals.

Only Aaron and his sons can eat of these animals. The common people cannot. Aaron and his sons gain atonement by eating the sacrificed animals.

The ordination ceremony lasts seven days.

The priesthood is heriditary. No further ordination ceremonies. The succeeding generations of priests receive their power by putting on Aaron’s garments.

The priesthood ended with the Destruction of the Temple. However, the idea of transmitting the tradition through our clergy continues.

I consulted with a Conservative rabbi who had Reconstructionist ordination, a student at the Jewish Theological Seminary and a Chabad rabbi.

The Conservative rabbi with Reconstructionist ordination explained that the priests also had teaching duties. Along side the priests was a long tradition of rabbis. After the Destruction of the Temple, the priests went out of business. What they did is lost to history.

However, rabbis continued teach. To enhance their authority and legitimacy, the rabbis claimed lineage from Moses.

For example, Pirke Avot, at the beginning of the first chapter states:

“Moses received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the Elders; the Elders to the Prophets; and the Prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. They (the men of the Great Assembly) said three things: Be deliberate in judgment, develop many disciples, and make a fence for the Torah.”

There developed the concept of smichah, where rabbi’s transmitted their authority to the next generation of rabbis. Originally, this authority came from the Great Assembly or Sanhedrin, which ended in Roman times. The classic image is the ordaining rabbi to lay his hands on the newe rabbi.

However, the concept of smicha continues to the present.

The Chabad rabbi explained that “Smicha today means that you did not take the mantel of ‘Rabbi’ on our own, but rather it was given to you by someone else, and also that you have the basic level of knowledge to serve others.”

He said that “you cannot be a real Rabbi, or what’s call a Rav (or Dayan in Europe)--meaning decide on halachic matters . . . unless you spent a significant amount of time apprenticing with another Rav.”

The JTS rebbincal student emailed several of her colleagues.
She received this description of the ordination ceremony at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.

"In front of a congregation of family and friends, each new rabbi goes in front of the opened ark. The president of the College blesses each new rabbi privately by placing his hands ofn the student’s head and shoulders and whispers a blessing. If the student has a family member who is a rabbi or cantor, that family member can also give a blessing before the opened ark The student’s family and friends stand while that student is being blessed."

A respondents from Reconstructionist Rabbincal College said that RRC does not do “smicha” in the sense of passing down the tradition. However, each member of the graduating class has the option of putting on his or her own tallit or having it placed by a classmate. Most of the graduates choose to have a classmate do it with the symbolic effect of getting smicha from your peers.

The Conservative rabbi who was ordained at RRC said that while his graduation had no laying of the hands. Then he pointed to his diploma. It has the signatures of all members of the faculty, suggesting that his authority as rabbi derived from the wisdom of his teachers.

Ernie Goodman--Recommended for lawjunkies

2011-02-03T02:58:00.002-11:00

I would like to clue lawjunkies into a great read. Sunday, I attended a reading by Steve Babson and David Elsila of their new book The Color of Law: Ernie Goodman, Detroit, and the Struggle for Labor and Civil Rights. Published by Wayne State University Press ($25 for 558 pages), the book is easy to read, journalistic in style. It tells the story of the social and legal struggles of most of the 20th century. It is built around the life of Ernie Goodman (1906-1997), Detroit's leading radical lawyer.

Here is part of the preface

There is much in the story of Goodman's life that speaks to activists today and the lawyers who represent them. Racial discrimination and class oppression, as Goodman well knew, do not openly declare themselves as injustice. Rather, when prejudice is well established, it takes on a legal coloring, codified in statutes and court rulings that justify inequality and uphold the status quo. Often enough, it is the thick, timeworn varnish of legal prcedent that smothers innovation and gives power and privilege the sheen of legitimacy: owners can dismiss long-term employees and move jobs elsewhre because the common law has "always" favored the master's deed of ownership (however recent) over the servants' sweat equity. Until the last third of the twentieth century, the color of law was also uniformly white: racial segregation was the norm and courts routinely upheld the separate and inferior treatment of minorities. At moments of crisis, when prcedent was no longer compelling and protesters demanded change, it was the thin veneer of legal rationalization that gave cover to an underlying tyranny; as Goodman came to know, even the most peaceful demonstrators could be arrested for "disturbing the peace," giving the color of law to police actions that nullified the Bill of Rights.

Like many famous dead people (David Goodis, Alger Hiss), Ernie Goodman has a website www.erniegoodman.com Check it out to learn more about the book and Ernie's life.

I recommend the book regardless of your politics.

My quotes from The Burglar for January 9 Goodis Memorial

2010-12-31T18:42:00.002-11:00

On January 9, Goodisheads will gather at Roosevelt cemetery to mark the 43rd anniversary of the death of noir author David Goodis.

I am submitting these quotes from The Burglar to be read at the ceremony.

In The Burglar, Goodis described working class Kensington:

They were looking at the haul. The four of them were on the second floor of a small, dingy house in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. The house was in Dohmer's name and it was very small, part of a narrow street of row houses hemmed in by factories. The house was their dwelling place, their headquarters, and they called it the Spot. Dust and dirty air from the mills was always coming in even when the windows were closed. Gladden had a habit of throwing a cleaning rag at the windows and saying it was no use trying to fight this dust. After a while she would sigh and pick up the rag and go on with the cleaning. (11)

About a third of the book is set in Atlantic City, where working class people visited and worked. Their lives were not of glitter:

In the upstairs hall, the heat was dark and thick and carried the decay of the people who lived in these rooms. (78)

The book is full of blood and gore:

The next thing he noticed was Baylock. On the floor, knees bent, Baylock had one arm across his eyes and the other arm rigid behind hiim. Baylock's eyes were very wide and the pupils were trying to climb into his forehead. Blood from his hammered head was bright and flowing and spilling down the split skull in a wide stream that stayed wide as it reached the shoulder, then became a glistening red ribbon headed toward the elbow. Baylock was almost dead and while Harbin stood there and looked at him he tried to open his mouth to say something. This was as much as Baylock could do, and in the middle of trying to open his mouth, he pulled back his head and died. (78)

The moonlight was on Charley and it was rather bright where it came against the head and shoulders. There it seemed to be moving moonlight because the blood was still flowing. Only a small part of Charley's face remained. The rest of it caused Harbin to turn his head fast. (97)

Despite its title, The Burglar delves into the noir psychology of frustrated love:

Della pushed the gun at him. "Stand back. You try to take it from me and I'll pull the trigger. Then I'll pull it on myself.
Harbin felt very weak. He leaned against the edge of the bed. "You really want me that much?"
"There's nothing else I want." (83)

I didn't want to lose you and that's why I killed him. Not to keep you alive for your own sake, but for my sake. That makes it selfish. Makes it murder. You see what I mean? I murdered him. (102)

AGENDA FOR GOODIS MEMORIAL

11:00 AM at the Mausoleum at
Roosevelt Memorial Park
2701 Old Lincoln Highway
Trevose, PA 19053
215.673.7500

11:30 AM Brief Graveside prayer

Please bring along your favorite Goodis quote or reading.
Then we will wind our way back to Goodis' home in East Oak Lane, Goodis' birthplace in Logan, Goodis' Hospital at the time of his death, and Goodis' choice for the origin of OF TENDER SIN.
The excitement of the day will culminate with a lively day of books and beer in Goodis' Port Richmond section of Philadelphia at the famous

PORT RICHMOND BOOKSTORE
3037 Richmond Street
Philadelphia, PA 19134

RSVP at info@noircon.com

Times Square--10 a.m. Sunday

2010-12-31T17:05:00.001-11:00

Elul 29--The final day

2010-09-11T13:56:00.003-11:00

Wait on the Lord, be strong, and let thy heart take courage; yea, wait though for the Lord. Psalm 27:14, JPS 1917

BH

The year will close in 14 hours.
The New Year is upon us.

Advice for the future.
Be patient with God.
Be strong.
Have courage.
With God's inspiration
we can endure.
We can achieve.

Not a revolution--
but progress and
a satisfying life.

Many thanks to Rabbi Melissa Klein and Tamara Cohen for conducting the Elul Workshop. It gave perspective for the New Year.

Elul Blog--Day 28

2010-09-07T12:27:00.004-11:00

"Teach me thy way, O Lord." Psalm 27:11, JPS 1917

BH

Today is the first day of school.
A day of teaching.
A day to focus on goals.

"Teach me thy way, O Lord."
God can be a teacher,
even if God is distant,
even it God does not intercede in our lives.

God is the source of morals,
of clean living.

God's way means living an honorable life.
"Teach me thy way, O Lord."

Elul Blog---Drawing towards the close

2010-09-05T23:42:00.009-11:00

ELUL DAY 27

Should an army beseige me, my heart would have no fear. Psalm 27:3, NJPS

BH

Today is Labor Day, the end of the secular summer. It is the end of the Summer of Hate.
The heat of summer heated the ugliness of the nation's soul. Stoked fires of hate. Challenged what we are as a nation. First it was immigrants--calls to deprive babies of citizenship. Then it was homosexuals, lest they marry. Finally it was Muslims, lest they pray.

Elul is the time to repent. Time for introspection. The month is about to end, but the nation has far to go.

Though the armies of hate beseige the nation's morals, God can give us strength to stick to our ideals and aspirations. We should not fear to stand for what is right.

ELUL DAY 22--END OF AUGUST Elul Workshop August 31, 2010

BH

Elul is two thirds over.
August expires tonigth.
The secular summer is almost over.

Where have I been?
Where have I gone?
I retreated within.
Seeking to define God.
God's limits.
God's powers.
God's dreadful possibilities.

I have recognized my limits.
My inability to reach up and enjoy
the awesome possibility of God.

I reach for comfort
but not the Infinite.

Where have I been?

PLACE IN NATURE---Elul Workshop August 31, 2010

BH

Solstice.
Harsh long black shadows at mid-day.
Extra bright sun.
Quiet.
Black sky.
Brilliant stars.
Cosmic.
Peaceful.
Cold wind.
Chill.
Pure.
Clear air.
Fresh air.
Clean.

God is here
in the black sky.
The bright stars.
The cold wind.
The long shadows.
The bright rays.
The quiet.
The peace.

I am here also.
I feel God,
but can I connect?
Does God connect with me?

I run from God,
afraid to cross the border,
afraid to enter the intimate embrace of God.

REACHING OUT---Elul Workshop August 31, 2010

BH

I reach out to my greatgrandmother, Rose Garber.
She died when I was nine years old.

She was a mystical woman.
Wizened.
White headscarf.
Light blue eyes.
Never learned English.
She sat and read and prayed.
I never understood a word that she said.
She would put her hands on my forehead and bless me.
I did not understand then.

Now I reach out.
What was her wisdom?
What was her understanding of God?
What was her power?
What did she believe?
Her faith must have been solid.

Tonight I ask her to reconnect
and tell me now
what I she could not tell me then.

BOOK OF LIFE---Elul Workshop August 31, 2010

BH

Blessing and Peace. Sustenance.
What is there to ask?

These are not selfish, not greedy terms.
We ask not for special favors--only fairness.

That we have peace of mind, peace of body and peace of community.

That we have proper sustenance--not wealth--but enough to eat, shelter, clothing, security and comfort.

Blessing for health.
Blessing for family.
May God inscribe us in the Book of Blessing.

ELUL DAY 23

In the land of the living. Psalm 27:13, NJPS

BH

The land of the living is our goal.
Through Teshuva, we may live
in the land of living relationships,
in the land of a living relationship
with a loving God.

Living with peace of mind.
Living with peace of the soul.
Living with confidence and comfort
as we face the days ahead.

ELUL DAY 24

Raise me high upon a rock. Psalm 27:5, NJPS

BH

A moment of triumph.
Life's victories are few and sweet.
Enjoy the triumphs when they occur,
but don't get haughty.
With a bit of luck--one can skid and fail.
God's inspiration enables us to triumph.
God's assurance helps us endure when we fail.

ELUL DAY 25

I sacrifice in His tent with shouts of joy, singing and chanting a hymn to the Lord.
Psalm 27:6, NJPS

BH

What a different view of God.
Primal, tribal.
Imagine celebrating God around a campfire.
Singing, chanting, shouting.

This God is one of release and relief.
Freeing the spirit.
But does God reassure and give strength?
Another Face of God.
Seek my face!

Elul Blog---Day 21

2010-08-30T22:57:00.002-11:00

"You have been my helper." Psalm 27:9, Tamara Cohen translation

BH

I do not see God is a helper.

A helper is a partner, who shares in work, an assistant. A helper is intimate. Such a God is too close for comfort, intrusive, overbearing, dominating, oppressive, controlling.

I prefer a God who encourages and assures, but never intrudes, never takes over, a God who respects distance.

A God of cool rather than a God of warm.

Elul Blog---Day 20

2010-08-29T06:37:00.007-11:00

"For he concealeth me in His pavilion." Psalm 27:5, 1917 JPS translation.

BH

Conceal.
A verb of mystery.
A verb of protection.
A verb of risk.
A verb of doubt.
A verb of dishonesty.
A verb of bravery.
A verb of deferral.

Short term safety.
Long term danger.

God conceals.
Cod brings doubt.
God brings assurance.
God is mystery.
God is faith.
God is trust.

Elul Blog--Day 19

2010-08-29T00:06:00.001-11:00

"Had I not the assurance that I would enjoy the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living," Psalm 27:13, NJPS.

BH

Yesterday was the anniversary of the death of my greatgrandmother, Bluma Jawits Levit. She died in 1906 at age 59 from cancer of the bowel and general exhaustion. She lived on Richmond Street in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia.

She was a mythic person, dead long before I was born. Imagine her struggles. Life in Ritavius, Lithuania, a voyage on the Atlantic, New York, Philadelphia. Raising a large family, losing her husband a year before her own death before she was old.

I can only imagine that she "had the assurance that" she "would enjoy the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living."

She must have been strong in body and rich in soul. God made it happen for her.

Elul Blog--Day 16

2010-08-29T00:02:00.002-11:00

"The Infinite shelters me as I encounter difficulty and pain," Psalm 27:5, Rabbi Yael Levy translation.

BH

The sky is black. The moon is round and bright. There are no clouds as I begin the day. God does give shelter and protection. However, the shelter is indirect and distant. There is no intercession, just confidence that there is a power to inspire, to give me strength to endure, aspire to ideals, get through setbacks, laugh and enjoy.

Elul Blog--Day 15

2010-08-28T23:56:00.007-11:00

"Guide me in the path of integrity. There is so much to lead me astray." Psalm 27:11 translated by Rabbi Yael Levy

BH

This morning is the full moon of Elul. The whole round bright moon shines through the cloud cover.

The moon's bright integrity prevails through the clouds.

The cloud is the negative, the frustration, the vulgar, the impediment. The cloud holds us back from being our best. The cloud leads us astray.

God guides us through the clouds in our lives, making us strong, restoring our integrity.

The full moon of Elul is a face of God, prevailing over the clouds returning us to the path of integrity.

Elul Workshop entering Day 15

2010-08-28T23:43:00.006-11:00

ABOUT TO ENTER 15 ELUL

BH

"To awaken to the beauty of each moment as I pass through this world." Psalm 27:4 transalted by Rabbi Yael Levy

This phrase evokes the fear of Elul. Assuming the High Holidays are a time of Divine Judgment and Divine Execution, this phrase "as I pass through this world" evokes the shortness of life and the path to doom. It foreshadow the futility of Qohelet, the turn of the season and the chill of autumn.

SEEKING GOD'S FACE

BH

"In your behalf my heart says, 'Seek my face.'" Psalm 27:8, NJPS

What does this mean?
Who is seeking whom?

Conventional: A mortal seeks God's face.
Nuclear: God should seek a mortal's face.

How egotistical. How arrogant. How selfish.

The cosmos in reverse.

WASHING

BH

Washing negatives in the tank.
Washing prints in the tray.
Washing away the hypo which preserves--but if left in--pollutes.

So is Teshuva.

Washing away bad habits, bad attitudes, bad thoughts, bad drives.

Some paths lead to progress, but if these paths are never halted, lead to trouble.

Teshuva--turn away, turn around.

Elul Blog--Day 14

2010-08-24T01:38:00.005-11:00

When evil-doers come upon me to eat my flesh,
even mine adversaries and my foes,
they stumbled and fell.

Though a host should encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war should rise up against me,
even them will I be confident.
--Psalm 27:2-3, 1917 JPS

BH

We are midway into Elul. "My heart shall not fear." "Heart" stands out in the 1917 JPS translation. I call it the Jewish King James. It has all the difficult sentence constructions of the King James, with the Christological implications corrected. It is based on an 1892 British revision of the King James. Nevertheless, the lofty, literary rendition of the Psalms is superb.

Religion is a matter of the heart--the spiritual heart. During Elul we focus on straightening the heart, putting relationships into perspective, mending them. We focus on our relationship to the Higher Calling--acting righteously, honestly and with integrity.

We are halfway through Elul, but are we halfway there?

Elul Blog--Day 13

2010-08-23T11:10:00.005-11:00

The while noiful mjen neiyen on me;
for to ete my fleischis.
Myn enemyes, that trobliden me;
thei weren maad sijk and felden doun.
Thouy castels stonden togidere ayens me;
my herte schal not drede,
Thouy batel risith ayens me;
in this thing Y schal haue hope
--Psalm 27:3-4, Wyclif translation, about 1385.

BH

No way can Wyclif be considered a Jewish translation. It is a double transation. Wyclif's Christian followers rendered into Middle English the Latin which had been translated from Hebrew seven centuries earlier.

In Wyclif's time, Jews had long been expelled from England. Nevertheless, I like to fantasize that Jews living underground referred to the Wyclif translation as they studied in their underground Cheders, Talmud Torahs and Yeshivahs.

Despite its inaccuracies and the Christian viewpoint, Wyclif brings forth a different take on Psalm 27. "Hope" (Psalm 27:4). "Thouy batel risith ayens me; in this thing Y schal haue hope."

Hope--as I go to work at the beginning of the new work week.
Hope to do well at work.
Hope that the people in my life will fare well.
Hope is another face of God.
Hope to get me to the Sabbath.

Elul Blog

2010-08-22T11:39:00.003-11:00

DAY 8

BH

You are my light and my salvation, whom then, should I fear. You are my living source of strength, before whom shall I be afraid.-- Translation by Tamar Cohen

"Living source of strength." This phrase takes God out of the spiritual into the physical. Living--a God who moves and breathes, an active companion in life, a partner in our thoughts and motions. Scary to hear God so close and so involved and so near in one's life. Scary.

DAY 9 at the Elul workshop

BH

I was asleep and my heart stayed awake.

This sentence shows the contradiction between the physical and the spiritual.

Sleep releases the spirit from the physical, allowing dreams to supersede our thoughts and our reality. However, the heart--the organ--is always awake. The spiritual heart remains awake though the rest of our thoughts should be sleeping. Hence dreams and heart unite.

Elul presents the opportunity to rise above the physical and let dreams engage the heart, and free the inner most soul to reach for the Divine.

DAY 9 at the Elul workshop

BH

Moses on the Mountain
asking mercy for himself
asking mercy for the people.

Moses sinned. He broke God's tablets.
The people sinned. They engaged in idolatry.

Will Moses be killed?
Will the people be killed?

Will Moses lose his prophetship?
Will the people lose their mission?

The sins are not sins at all.
Moses threw down some stone.
The people made a statue and praised it.

Moses and the people disobeyed God
--but they did nothing to harm another.

Nobody stole, nobody assaulted,
nobody slandered.

By disobeying God, the people matured.
They were freed to make their own decisions
and form a code of morality.

Now when they do Teshuva,
they relate directly to God.
In God's presence, they confront their errors,
straighten their backs,
and resolve to do better.

By smashing the tablets and worshipping the golden calf,
the people moved closer to God,
one on one.

DAY 10

BH

When evildoers approach to eat my flesh
when tormentors and enemies come after me,
see how they stumble and fall.
Were an army to besiege me,
my heart shall have no fear.
Should a war arise against me,
still I would be confident.--Psalm 27:3-4 translated by Tamar Cohen

At last night's Elul workshop, my chevruta saw the "evildoers" as the force eating within. I characterized it as an autoimmune sickness.

However, I see this verse facially as a military statement--army besieging war. In time of physical danger, God gives courage--courage to resist, courage to withstand, courage to accept.

One individual against the enemy can survive with the strength of God.

DAY 11

BH

When evildoers approach to eat my flesh
when tormentors and enemies come after me,
see how they stumble and fall.
Were an army to besiege me,
my heart shall have no fear.
Should a war arise against me,
still I would be confident.--Psalm 27:3-4 translated by Tamar Cohen

Eat my flesh--confident. What a spread. The ultimate threat balanced by the ultimate comfort. Psalm 27 sets forth the dangers of the physical and the cure of the spiritual. It would be good to believe that god grants comfort in the face of mortal peril. Does God? I hope I never have to know.

DAY 12

BH

When evil-doers came upon me to eat up my flesh,
even mine adversaries and my foes,
they stumble and fell.
Though a host should encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war should rise up against me,
even then will I be confident.--Psalm 27:3-4, 1917 JPS translation

The Sabbath is 13 hours away. A day to pause and appreciate the richness of life. A day to take a longer view of Psalm 27. It is about a God who protects, who causes evil doers to fail and gives confidence to victims of war. A bit too powerful for my concept of God, but rich and deep, nonetheless.

Elul Blog--Day 7

2010-08-14T23:17:00.002-11:00

Hashem is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? Hashem is my life's strength, whom shall I dread?--Psalm 27:1, Artscroll translation.

Artscroll is the dominant Orthodox publisher. It's books are infiltrating the non-Orthodox world because of their plentiful footnotes and Orthodoxy's aura of authenticity. The translation is more interpretive than literal. As one critic says, "It's not English."

Nevertheless, Artscroll has it right. "Hashem is my life's strength." God is the force within. The force that gives me strength. No salvation, no miracles, no repentance--but the strength of my soul.

Elul Blog--Day 6

2010-08-14T23:12:00.002-11:00

The Lord is my light and my rescue. Whom should I fear? The Lord is my life's stronghold. Of whom should I be afraid.--Psalm 27:1, Robert Alter's translation.

Rescue says it all. It is a better term than "Salvation," less Christian-sounding. God doesn't save. God rescues the soul when one feels despair. God gives hope and inspiration. Will God pull a drowning person out of the water or pull a person out of a burning building? I doubt it. But God gives hope and strength to face adversity. God rescues but does not save.

Elul Blog--Day 4

2010-08-14T23:08:00.003-11:00

The Lord is my liytnyng, and myn helthe; whom shall Y drede? The Lord is defendere of my lijf; for whom schal Y tremble?--Psalm 27:1, Wyclif translation, about 1385

The translation by Wyclif's followers (possibly Nicholas de Herford, John Purvey or John Trevisa) misses the mark. Their God is active. Their God is lightning, a God of terror. My God is passive. God gives me assurance. Their god is a warrior--a defender of the body, a source of dread.

My God is protective of the spirit and soul, a source of encouragement. I do not tremble before God. I do not fear God--but I look to God for support and comfort.

Elul Blog---Day 3

2010-08-12T12:35:00.002-11:00

Elul, what does it mean?

What use is Elul, if one does not believe the mythology of judgment and the ideology of repentance?

Elul is the warm afternoon of late summer. The harsh sun light. The warm wind. Followed by the cool moon in the dusty sky.

Elul is connecting with nature and asking why.

The Lord is my light and my rescue. Whom should I fear? The Lord is my life's stronghold. Of whom should I be afraid?---Psalm 27:1 Robert Alter's translation

Elul Blog--Day 2

2010-08-11T13:42:00.002-11:00

The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid.---Psalm 27:1

At the break of day,
minutes before Light,
reaching for the challenges of the day.

Planning.
Apportioning time.
Prioritizing tasks.
Summoning energy.
Seeking traction.

The Lord is my Stronghold.
I can get through the day.

Elul Day 1

2010-08-10T15:19:00.000-11:00

The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid.---Psalm 27:1

This is Elul. The season of strength. Grasping for God. Feeling the Ultimate. The Assurance. No matter how bad things may be, God is there to steady me, to hang on to, to inspire. God is the power to endure.

Alistair Hulett

2010-04-24T16:20:00.004-11:00

In January, I wrote of the death of radical folksinger Alistair Hulett. His widow has sent the email below

I recommend this podcast tribute "The Scallywag Show" with Barnacle Brian.

THE GALLOW’S RANT
ALISTAIR HULETT’S SPORADIC NEWSLETTER
APRIL 2010

Following the untimely death of Alistair Hulett in January of this year, this and future issues of the Gallows Rant come to you via his wife, Fatima Uygun, continuing Alistair’s long-standing tradition of keeping his friends and fans around the globe abreast of what’s happening with regard to his music and those political issues about which he was passionate.

Alistair has left us with a wonderful legacy in the form of his writing, his recordings and the widespread influence he had through his activism on behalf of many very worthy social causes. His family, friends and comrades are honoured to keep his memory alive in every way possible, so if you have any news or information that you feel should be included in the Gallows Rant, please write to alistair.hulett@googlemail.com.

ALISTAIR’S FUNERAL

This was held at the Linn Crematorium in Glasgow on 5 February, 2010, followed by a rousing reception at Langside Halls, where Alistair’s great political hero, John Maclean, held his rallies around the time of the First World War.

Grateful thanks must go to all those who helped organise and those who contributed to such a wonderful send-off for a much-loved man. Performers included Dave Swarbrick, Alasdair Roberts, Adam McNaughtan and David Lindsay. Graeme Cumming was an eloquent and sincere celebrant, while other speakers included Alison Hulett, John Hamill and Jimmy Ross. Special thanks go to Beth Armstrong who filmed the service and to the hundreds of people who came from far and wide to farewell Alistair so fittingly.

The reception at Langside Halls was spectacularly organised, decorated and catered for by the Govanhill Baths Community Trust. Thank you to all the musicians who performed, including Rory McLeod, The Swing Guitars, Mick West, Gavin Livingstone, Nancy & James Fagan, and to all those who spoke so sincerely and movingly about the influence Alistair had on so many lives.

OBITUARIES

These are all available on the Alistair’s Facebook tribute page (Alistair Hulett Tribute) set up by Tim Anderson, about whom Alistair wrote Roaring Jack’s much-quoted song, ‘Framed’. These obituaries will soon be posted on alistairhulett.com, but in the meantime you can click on any of the links below:

1. The Guardian

1.http://browse.guardian.co.uk/search?search=alistair+hulett&sitesearch-radio=guardian&go-guardian=Search

2. The Herald Scotland

2.http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/obituaries/alistair-hulett-1.1005601

3. The Scotsman

3.http://news.scotsman.com/obituaries/Alistair-Hulett.6048957.jp

4. Sydney Morning Herald

4.http://www.smh.com.au/national/obituaries/a-musician-of-talent-and-conviction-20100217-odtu.html?skin=text-only

5. Socialist Alternative

5.http://www.sa.org.au/culture-and-reviews/2551-alistair-hulett

6. Socialist Worker

6.http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=20165

7. Folk Radio UK

7.http://www.folkradio.co.uk/2010/01/alastair-hulett-rip

8. Living Tradition

8.http://www.livingtradition.co.uk/node/380

9. Green Left Weekly

9.http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/824/42383

TRIBUTES

MUSIC DELI

On 5 February, 2010, Paul Petran devoted an hour-long tribute to Alistair on ABC National Radio’s, Music Deli. The program was compiled from many previous sessions recorded by the ABC, including several interviews and on-air performances by Alistair of some of his most memorable songs. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/musicdeli/stories/2010/2807894.htm

SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE, SYDNEY

On Sunday 14 February, 2010, a tribute concert was held at The Gaelic Club in Sydney, organised by the Socialist Alternative. Performers included John Warner, Margaret Walters, Darren Whitaker, Jenny Fitzgibbon, Steph Miller, Rex Havoc, Ken Stewart, Colin Charlton, Miguel Heatwole and Cathy Rytmeister. Diane Fieldes was MC for the event, which is ably documented by Jo Mettam in the following write-up: http://www.sa.org.au/culture-and-reviews/2595-memorial-for-alistair-hulett-held-in-sydney. $360 was contributed to the Alistair Hulett Memorial Fund (see below).

ROMA, ITALIA

On 27 March, 2010, a tribute concert was held in Rome at the Hamish Henderson Folk Club.

The event included: readings by Carlo Costa and Lorenzo Teodonio, authors of the book about the Black Partisan, 'Razza Partigiana, Stovia di Giorgio Marincola’ (1923-1945); a speech by the great Guido Bellachioma; songs from Angelo ‘Sigaro’ Corsi, lead singer from Banda Bassotti; Pino Mereu; and Alison Adam. The concert was filmed and will be available soon on Alistair’s website.

HOBART

Thanks to Roger Joseph, a tribute concert was held at the New Sydney Hotel, featuring Peter Hicks and John Gaitens, The Grassroots Union Choir, Twice Bitten and Trouvers. $472 was raised for the Alistair Hulett Memorial Fund (see below).

NATIONAL FOLK FESTIVAL, CANBERRA

Margaret Walters and a group of friends including Chris Maltby, Prue Cancian and Mary-Jane Leahy took over the usually acoustic/trad style chorus singing session on Easter Sunday night and – with minimal publicity – attracted about 200 people to a four-hour event dedicated to Alistair. About 50 songs were sung altogether (over 90% of them written by Alistair), performed by over 30 different singers. By all accounts it was a wonderful tribute to Alistair’s music and his life.

THE SCALLYWAG SHOW

Barnacle Brian has produced a really great podcast dedicated to the works of “the Roaring Jack front man, the late great Alistair Hulett (and a bloody nice guy in person) – lots or rare stuff for the hardcore fan and a great intro if you’re new to the music of the Australian Pogues.”

You can download/listen to the podcast by logging onto: http://thescallywagshow.libsyn.com

or http://www.shitenonions.com

GREGSON LANE FOLK CLUB

A big thank you to the Gregson Lane Folk Club, Preston England, in particular to Graham Dixon, for the tribute they staged on 8 April 2010. The event contributed £80:00 to the Alistair Hulett Memorial Fund (see below).

RORY McLEOD

Rory McLeod, who was not only one of the pallbearers at Alistair’s funeral but also brought the house down with his performance at the reception that followed, has included a tribute song to Alistair on his soon-to-be-released CD, ‘Swings and Roundabouts’. This will be available for purchase from 1 May, 2010 on Rory’s website http://www.rorymcleod.com.

UPCOMING EVENTS

SYDNEY – MEMORIAL/TRIBUTE AT THE VANGUARD

2 May 2010, from 6pm

This Memorial/Tribute to Alistair Hulett, organised by his wife, family and friends at The Vanguard, 42 King Street, Newtown, will celebrate Alistair’s life and musical legacy. The event will include performances by:

Roaring Jack

Kate Fagan

Urban Guerillas

Sydney City Trash

Handsome Young Strangers

Hunter Owens

Martin Pearson

Wheelers & Dealers and

Kate Delaney...among others.

There will be no charge for admission, but those wishing to attend must email John Cass on john@thevanguard.com.au to request a booking (giving names of those attending and a contact phone number). Priority for the table seating downstairs on the same level as the stage will be given to those people who book for dinner. Other seating will be available upstairs on the mezzanine level.

The Vanguard has made the venue available at no charge, but in return, guests are encouraged to order drinks and food on the night to help cover John’s costs of staffing and catering for the event.

The more structured, acoustic part of the evening will be from 6pm to 7:30pm. Martin Pearson will be the MC and Tim Anderson and others will share their memories of Alistair.

After a break for dinner and socialising, the various bands and singers will perform sets for the rest of the night until late.

For any further information please email Alison Hulett on hulettpopov@mac.com.

GLASGOW – STAR FOLK CLUB

Thursday 13 May, 2010.

This concert by a group of people who have a long association with The Star – and who were also Alistair's pals – will be a personal tribute to a man who was a dearly loved friend of the club. For more information contact http://www.starfolkclub.com/star_gig_guide.htm

NEWTONGRANGE, SCOTLAND – MAY DAY SOCIAL & CELEBRATION
Saturday 1 May, 2010, 7.30pm till Late.
Organised by the Midlothian Trades and Labour Council at Dean Tavern in Newtongrange, this event will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the formation of the Council. The social will also pay
tribute to folk artist, Alistair Hulett. For details, contact Jonsen Green jon45sen@yahoo.co.uk
ALISTAIR HULETT MEMORIAL FUND

This initiative will be launched at the Sydney Memorial/Tribute to be held on May 2 at The Vanguard (see above). The aim of the Fund will be to:

• support, develop and nurture musicians involved in social justice issues; and

• support musicians in need.

This will be achieved through grants, donations; the presentation of concerts and recitals; and the production of recorded and published music.

All future proceeds from the sale of Alistair’s CDs and merchandise, as well as royalties from his music, will go towards this fund.

If anyone is interested in donating to this registered charity, please email Fatima Uygun at alistair.hulett@gmail.com.

Further details of the Fund will shortly be available on www.alistairhulett.com.

OTHER UPCOMING INITIATIVES

ALISTAIR’S MUSIC ON iTUNES

Full albums and individual tracks from all of Alistair’s CDs (including some rare and out-of-print) will soon be available for purchase/downloading on iTunes. Further details will be posted on www.alistairhulett.com.

T-SHIRTS & BAGS ON SALE

A “Roaring Jack Tribute to Alistair Hulett 2010” t-shirt is available for $15 AUD and a “Smoke of Innocence” bag for $10 AUD. Both will be on sale at the Sydney Tribute on May 2 at The Vanguard, and afterwards via Alistair’s website www.alistairhulett.com. All proceeds will go towards the Alistair Hulett Memorial Fund.

TRIBUTE CD COMING SOON!!

Further details will be announced at the Sydney Tribute on May 2 at The Vanguard and afterwards via Alistair’s website www.alistairhulett.com. All proceeds will go towards the Alistair Hulett Memorial Fund.

GRATEFUL THANKS

... to everyone who has contributed to celebrating the music of Alistair Hulett, and a special thank you to Linda Leib from DragonFire Design for building and maintaining Alistair’s website. Also to Andy Carr from Roaring Jack Archives for his unstinting support and hard work on behalf of all Roaring Jack fans.

Alistair’s friend John Hamill is compiling an archive of all audio, video, photographs ect. If you have anything you would like to add to this archive please contact John at johnhamill54@googlemail.com or send to

John Hamill

19 Millar Grove

Hamilton

South Lanarkshire

Scotland. U.K.

ML3 9BF.

To stop receiving The Gallows Rant, just send us back a cheery ‘Please Delete Me Let Me Go’. If you’ve had this newsletter forwarded by a friend and want future copies sent direct to your own inbox, send an email message with the subject line ‘Rush Me A Rant’ to alistair.hulett@gmail.com and be sure to include your country of residence for the sake of keeping the mailing list nice and tidy.
Please also visit the two Alistair Hulett websites at www.alistairhulett.com and www.folkicons.co.uk then drop into The Roaring Jack Archives on www.roaringjack.com

Withers DVD reveals half the mystery of David Goodis

2010-02-11T04:19:00.009-11:00

He was seeing the night-black hair of Mildred, the disordered shiny mass of heavy hair. He was seeing the brandy-colored eyes, long-lashed, very long-lashed. And the arrogant upward curve of her gorgeous nose. He was trying with all his power to hate the sight of her full fruit-like lips, and the maddening display of her immense breasts, the way they swept out, aimed at him like weapons. He stood looking at this woman to whom he had been married for almost four years, with whom he slept in the same bed every night, but what he saw was not a mate. He saw a harsh and biting and downright unbearable obsession.

---Cassidy's Girl

Early draft of cover for Withers DVD

Why did David Goodis write as he did? Why do Goodis novels have abusive, lusty female protagonists?

Half the mystery of David Goodis is answered in Larry Withers' DVD David Goodis. . . To A Pulp. As a special feature, not part of the movie proper, is a video of Robert Withers. Robert Withers is the second husband of Elaine Astor, who was the first and only wife of David Goodis. Larry Withers is the son of Robert Withers and Elaine Astor.

I was amazed how open Robert was to his son about the intimate and frustrating details of his marriage. Robert Withers stuck with Elaine Astor for more than 20 years and through seven children, though he knew the marriage was done after six months. Only many years after the wedding, did Robert learn what it was to be loved.

Robert hinted that he understood David Goodis, because they had both been married to Elaine. Hearing Robert's account of the marriage, makes me guess how Goodis must have been tortured, twisted and choked by Elaine Astor.

Goodis never remarried. Could his pain over Elaine Astor have been released through his writing?

The second half of the mystery is answered by April Feld Sandor, who was 16 years old when her cousin and mentor David Goodis died. April says that David Goodis' life centered on his brother Herb. Herb was disabled by mental illness. David was his caretaker. Herb was a burden, though a beloved burden. April discussed the soul of David Goodis on my website www.davidgoodis.com

Bitter from a disastrous marriage and weighted by an incurable brother, could these be the secrets to Goodis' brilliance?

David Goodis...To A Pulp is available on DVD through Withers' company, On Air Video, onairvideo@mac.com and at amazon.com If you order directly from On Air Video, shipping will be free.

David Goodis . . . To A Pulp will have its World Premiere, March 5, 8:30 p.m., Society Hill Playhouse, 507 South 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-923-0210. $10 at the door.

W.E.B. DuBois---The Soul of Black Folks

2010-02-06T15:13:00.020-11:00

This year for Black History Month, I am reading The Soul of Black Folks by W.E.B. DuBois. I downloaded the book for free from gutenberg.org. I uploaded it to my Sony Reader Pocket Edition. DuBois (1868-1963) was always ahead of the curve. I wonder if he ever imagined that his works would be free on the internet and read without a book.

DuBois was one of the great intellectuals of the 20th century. Scholar, editor, and political activist, he was on the left wing of the civil rights movement. Bitter about America, he spent his last years in the orbit of Communism, siding with the Soviet Union during the cold war. In 1961, he joined the Communist Party and moved to Ghana. He became a citizen of Ghana shortly before his death in 1963.

Mute music on upper right column. Film by Louis Massiah.

I first heard of DuBois when I watched on television the 1963 March on Washington. One of the speakers noted regretfully that the brilliant W.E.B. DuBois had died a day earlier in Ghana. The speaker--aiming to place civil rights in the American mainstream--noted that DuBois had died out of favor due to his politics.

The Soul of Black Folks is timely reading, though it was published in 1903. It gives the white reader a sense of the limits Blacks were forced to live under.

The book is a collection of essays. DuBois writes in a fast, breezy style. He makes no pretense of objectivity. He characterizes persons and events without apology.

In one essay, he writes about Reconstruction, explaining the political history of the Freedmen's Bureau, the resistance to giving Blacks equality, and the broken hopes arising from the Civil War. He says the signal achievement of the Freedmen's Bureau was the establishment of elementary schools for Blacks throughout the South.

Another essay is about his rival Booker T. Washington, the educator. DuBois insisted on full equality. For DuBois, change flowed from the exercise of the right to vote. Washington reached national prominence in the 1890's, when Blacks were being disenfranchised, Jim Crow laws were being enacted, and Blacks were being pushed into peonage. Washington argued that Blacks should acquiesce to the loss of the vote and civil rights. Washington said Blacks should focus on basic education and industrial training, concentrate on working with one's hands and turn away from higher education. Washington played on the sympathy of wealthy whites who supported his educational efforts. DuBois paints Washington as a pathetic collaborator of racism. DuBois asked, if you don't have Black college graduates, who will teach in the elementary schools? In the struggle for history, DuBois won and Washington lost.

After graduating from Fisk University, DuBois taught in a one-room log cabin school house in rural Tennessee. He writes with tenderness about his students. with beauty about the countryside, and with joy about his experience. The school house had no windows. Light came in through big gaps in the logs. His desk was made of boards hammered together. He had to borrow a chair from a neighbor and return it at night. His students sat on benches without backs. The room had a blackboard. The children had a speller for a textbook. Such was the state of Black education in the rural South. DuBois writes how he returned 10 years later, and told of progress of the lives of the students. Few of the students met success, many of the students married young and lived with tragedy.

Though his career was marred by his late-in-life politics, the young DuBois was a great thinker and a superb writer. You cannot be a cultured person without knowing DuBois.

Trailer for David Goodis. . . To A Pulp

2010-02-04T08:48:00.005-11:00

Mute background music at upper level on right column

World Premiere, March 5, 8:30 p.m., Society Hill Playhouse, 507 South 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-923-0210. $10 at the door.

David Goodis...To A Pulp is available on DVD through Withers' company, On Air Video, onairvideo@mac.com and at amazon.com If you order directly from On Air Video, shipping will be free.

Goodis film probes 'dark tendencies' and hidden lives

2010-02-03T07:29:00.001-11:00

David Goodis...To A Pulp, a biography of noir writer David Goodis, has its world premiere, March 5 in Philadelphia.

For filmmaker Larry Withers making the movie was a peak into the once-hidden life of his mother Elaine Astor who had previously been married to Goodis.

The project began three years ago, at the suggestion of Goodis biographer Louis Boxer. Withers, 55, interviewed friends and family of David Goodis, including Harold "Dutch" Silver who taught Goodis how to shoot pool, cousins April Feld-Sandor and Bernie Shapiro, and friends Len Cobrin, and Frank Ford (Ed Felbin), writer Bill Sherman, English professor David Schmid, film critic Mike White, and cultural historian Jay Gertzman.

Withers gathered photos from the Philadelphia City Archives thru www.phillyhistory.org, There Withers found a photo of the now demolished Toddle House, where Goodis' pals gathered after his funeral 43 years ago. Withers found archive film on the web, such as period color movies of Dock Street and Delaware Avenue, setting of Goodis' biggest seller, Cassidy's Girl.

Withers learned that his mother had been married to Goodis, only after her death in 1986, when he went through her papers. Her second husband was Robert Withers.

"On a personal level, the film resolves a lot of parental things. It helps me understand the relations between my parents," Withers said. "I probably know more about David Goodis than my own mother, since many of Goodis' friends and cousins are still around. None of my mother's family are alive."

"A lot of my mother, I do not know. There are many aspects of her past even my father isn't aware of." Withers said. WIthers explained that his parents divorced when he was in his 20's. However, they had separated two or three years earlier.

Elaine Astor, David Goodis, and unidentified friend. Photo courtesy of Larry Withers.

Withers said he got to know Goodis by reading his books and making the movie.

"I think David Goodis was basically a gentle, caring person, very family oriented. The interesting thing is that he kept secret other parts of his life. He used his writing to play out his desires and dark tendencies," Withers said.

"Goodis could never reconcile the different parts of his life. His writing is psychological therapy. It's like sitting on a therapist's couch. His way to resolve things was to write about them," Withers said.

"His stories and novels are about people coming to terms with their lives. They do not get out of their troubles, but they reconcile with them," Withers said.

Withers said that "Goodis played out his dark tendencies through his excursions." Withers referred to Goodis' legendary night time visits to ghetto clubs and dangerous sites in the netherworld of Philadelphia.

Goodis was a screenwriter for Warner Brothers in Hollywood in the late 1940's.

"I could see how my mother could have been a temptress, but I agree with my father that she was a gold digger. She saw herself as a movie star. She had aspirations and David Goodis was the quickest way to those aspirations," Withers said.

Larry Withers. Photo by Louis Boxer.

As for Goodis' attraction to Elaine, Withers said, "A lot of it was physical, but intellectually they might have had something in common. My mother took writing classes and could write herself. She was well read. She read a lot of classics. Intellectually, they were on equal footing."

Goodis was legendarily cheap. Withers said, that his mother and Goodis were a match in that respect. "My mother was incredibly stingy. She would salvage old envelops and reuse stamps which had missed the post mark. She never went to fancy stores. She made her own clothes and my brothers and sisters and I wore hand-me-downs."

The movie premieres March 5, at 8:30 p.m. at the Society Hill Playhouse, 507 South 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-923-0210. $10 at the door.

David Goodis...To A Pulp is available on DVD through Withers' company, On Air Video, onairvideo@mac.com and at amazon.com If you order directly from On Air Video, shipping will be free.

Alistair Hulett, R.I.P.

2010-01-30T15:09:00.000-11:00

It is with sadness and personal loss that I share the passing of Alistair Hulett, a dynamic musician and political activist.

Much as a cantor conducts his/her ministry through music, Alistair conducted his radical politics through music. His lively, idealistic music is on my iPod. He keeps me moving and dreaming during my daily workout. I admire his idealism, though I disagree with his politics.

My favorite Alistair Hulett songs are Framed and Criminal Justice, recorded during the campaign to free Tim Anderson. On February 13, 1978, the Sydney Hilton Hotel was terror bombed and political activist Tim Anderson was framed. After years of struggle, he was acquitted in 1991.

Mute music on top of right column

Alistair was most recently involved with The Malkies, a Scottish folk and country band. He spent his career in Scotland, Australia and New Zealand.

I recommend Alistair's websites, www.alistairhulett.com and www.themalkies.co.uk/

Below is the announcement from his partner, Fatima.

Dear Friends,

It is with overwhelming sadness I write to report the death of Alistair Hulett – singer, songwriter, international socialist, revolutionary, ecologist, community activist and my partner and best friend of 17 years.

Alistair died on Thursday evening, January 28 at 6:30pm at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow. Many friends have been shocked by the severity and speed of his deterioration, none more so than myself.

Alistair became ill very suddenly on New Year's Day and was hospitalised on January 5 with suspected food poisoning. Liver failure was later diagnosed and it was hoped that he could receive a liver transplant, but further investigation revealed a very aggressive form of cancer which had already spread from his liver to his lungs and stomach. Alistair died peacefully only days after the cancer was first detected.

His funeral will be held at Linn Crematorium in Lainshaw Drive on Friday 5 Feb at 1:30pm, with a reception afterwards (venue for this will be advised once it's confirmed).

I would like to thank, with all my heart, the hundreds of people who wrote letters, sent emails, cards and left telephone messages of support during his short illness. They were a huge comfort to myself and his family.

A memorial will also be held in Sydney organised by his family and friends in the next couple of months.

Alistair was a kind, gentle man who was committed to fighting for a better world – a world based on the principles of justice, equality, love and respect for all of humanity. The world was a better place for knowing him and is a sadder place for his loss. He leaves a great legacy in his music that will continue to bring inspiration to many who, like him, believed a better world was possible.

Fatima

alistair.hulett@gmail.com
www.alistairhulett.com

Images from the Crypt

2010-01-09T14:29:00.000-11:00

The past morphed into the present over New Year's weekend 2010, as I reviewed contact sheets from my days on the USS HERMITAGE (LSD-34) almost four decades ago. My photographic sensitivities have changed. As I went over the old contact sheets, I realized that I had missed pictures showing teamwork and action.

In two glorious nights in the darkroom, the past became the present. Some negatives were slightly damaged. Some negatives had been overexposed. Black and white film photography forevermore.

In late winter or early spring 1972, the HERMITAGE engaged in a highline exercise with another ship. A line is fired from the HERMITAGE and a chair is transfered to the other ship.

The images were taken in Barranquila, Colombia around 1971.

Jerry Mink balances a swab when the HERMITAGE was docked at homeport in Little Creek, Virginia. A ship on the horizon in Chesapeake Bay. To the right is another ship. Note the helocopter landing pad.

This picture was taken on a Caribbean cruise. I wonder what they were staring at.

See my USS HERMITAGE website.

CBC reports on birth of digital camera 35 years ago

2009-12-24T04:22:00.000-11:00

Digital cameras: a decade of revolutionary pictures. Steven Sasson, the Kodak engineer who invented digital photography 35 years ago, discusses how he did it and the impact it has had

Last Updated: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 | 4:53 PM ET Comments29Recommend36
By Peter Nowak, CBC News

The intermediary output device for the first digital camera, designed by Kodak in 1975. (Courtesy Kodak).

As historians document the first decade of the millennium, much attention will be paid to how global terrorism, as well as the rise of the internet, transformed the world and its people. Less obvious, however, is how the past 10 years changed how we see the world — or more specifically, how we photograph and visually record it.

Read the entire report and pictures at http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/12/22/digital-camera-kodak-history.html

January 10: Noir Coalition to re-enact funeral of David Goodis and tour his haunts

2009-12-11T02:58:00.000-11:00

"From the nearby Delaware a cold wind came lancing in, telling all alley cats they'd better find a heated cellar" -- Shoot the Piano Player (Down There)

Sunday, January 10, 2010 is the 43rd anniversary of the funeral of David Goodis, the Prince of Noir. In his memory, the Noir Coalition of Philadelphia will re-enact his funeral and tour the slums, dives and streets-of-the-lost which he frequented. His characters will retreat from oblivion, as we learn what made David Goodis the brilliant writer who he was. Details will follow.

At 11 a.m., Hardcore Goodisheads will convene at the Oak Lane Diner, Broad Street and 66th Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19126, 215-424-1026, for a bleak, chilling, depressing tour of the hardboiled underbelly of David Goodis' Philadelphia.

At 2 p.m., (the exact time the hearse arrived on January 10, 1967) we will gather at Roosevelt Memorial Park, 2701 Old Lincoln Highway, Trevose, PA 19053 (215-673-7500), just over the Bucks County line from Philadelphia. The grave is located at Section B-3, Lot 324, Grave 3 near the mausoleum.

At graveside, we will read excerpts from David Goodis' coldest, most gripping work. Bring your favorite, darkest passages from Goodis' novels and short stories.

After David's funeral, friends gathered at the Toddle House to remember David's outrageous humor and recount his devoted friendship. The Toddle House---at Broad and Belfield Streets in Logan---is now a vacant lot.

We will re-live the apres-funeral with lunch at the Club House Diner, 2495 Street Road (between Knights and Mechanicsville Road, 215-639-4287) in Bensalem, a few minutes from Roosevelt cemetery. Lunch (liquid and otherwise) begins at 3 p.m. We will adjourn at nightfall.

If you would be interested in tour or the luncheon or want more information, please email Louis Boxer at lboxer1@gmail.com or Aaron Finestone at aaron@microbrewjournalism.com . Your email is not binding. We just need estimates for the bus and the restaurant.

Join us for this Day with Dave. What better way to spend a cold day in January, alley cats and all.

Sarah, Hagar and the politics of the "shifchah"

2009-11-08T00:41:00.000-11:00

Vayeira (Genesis 18:1-22:20)

In August, one of our rabbinical students, Neora, held a yard sale in preparation for her moving to Israel. For a dollar, I picked up Ancient Sisterhood: The Lost Traditions of Sarah and Hagar, by Savina Teubal (1926-2005).

Teubal was a feminist scholar and writer. She grew up in the Syrian-Jewish community in Argentina and later lived in England and the United States. She earned a doctorate in Ancient and Near Eastern Studies from International College and was an affiliated scholar at the University of Southern California.

Teubal looks into the relationship between Sarah and Hagar and places it in the context of Babylonian society. I think she goes to far in positing that (1) Sarah was a priestess, (2) Hagar is combination of two characters---Abraham’s concubine and an un-named Desert Matriarch, and (3) ancient near eastern society was matriarchal. However, these are topics for another day.

Her analysis of the relationship between Sarah and Hagar and the Babylonian context is an eye opener.

The key term is “shifchah.” which is generally translated as “maidservant.” In the Babylonian context, the shifchah was not just a servant. The shifchah was the surrogate mother for the Naditu, an order of childless Babylonian priestesses. The shifchah’s child was the the priestess’s child. This child inherited the priestess’ property.

In the Bible, the shifchah was the property of the mistress. When Sarah was unable to conceive, she gave her shifchah to Abraham. Hagar was the mother in place of Sarah. Hagar was not Abraham’s wife or concubine. Hagar was Sarah’s property.

In the Jacob story, Laban gives each of his daughters a shifchah. When Rachel is unable to conceive, she gives Bilhah, to Jacob. Bilhah conceived. Bilhah’s children are Rachel’s.

When Leah stops conceiving, she gives Zilpah, to Jacob. Zilpah conceives. Zilpah’s children are Leah’s.

In Lech Lecha, we read that when Hagar became pregnant, problems arose between Sarah and Hagar. Sarah complained to Abraham. Abraham replied, “Do to her as you see fit.” (Artscroll, Genesis 16:6). Clearly, Hagar was Sarah’s property, not Abraham’s wife.

In Vayeira, we read, that Sarah asked that Hagar and Ishmael be expelled. Abraham complied, not only because God consented, but because Hagar was Sarah’s to expel.
Savina J. Teubal

Teubal says that the child born by the shifchah would inherit the mistress’s property. Therefore, Sarah told Abraham, “Drive out that slavewoman with her son, for the son of that slavewoman shall not inherit with my son, with Isaac.” (Artscroll, Genesis 21-10). Sarah was disinheriting Ishmael to make sure that Isaac would get all of Sarah’s estate.

By this declaration, Sarah has terminated Hagar as her shifchah. Sarah uses the word “amah” meaning slave instead of shifchah. By reducing Hagar from shifchah to amah, and by expelling her, Sarah has disowned, disinherited and unadopted her son Ishmael. I find Sarah’s treatment of her son, Ishmael shocking.

The Artscroll Chumash sets forth the traditional defenses for the expulsion of Ishmael. According to Rashi, Sarah found Ishmael mocking "mitzachek" Isaac. This verb is used to denote idolatry (Exodus 32:6), adultry (Exodus 39:17) and murder (Second Samuel 2:14). Ishmael had to be expelled because he menaced the spiritual and possibly the physical health of Isaac.

Tribute to Savina J. Teubal

In memory of Albert Anastasia

2009-10-25T04:18:00.000-11:00

Today was the 52nd anniversary of the assassination of Albert Anastasia.

On October 25, 1957, the head of Murder Incorporated, a New York mob affiliate, was executed as he sat down in the barber chair at the Park Central Hotel in Manhattan. He had visited the barbershop as part of his daily routine. The assassins shot Anastasia from behind and escaped through the subway. To this day, they remain at-large, if not dead. As the New York Times wrote, "Death took the executioner."

Zoey and I marked this historic day by visiting Mugshots, a theme restaurant across from the Eastern State Penitentiary in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia. Eastern State opened in 1829 and was closed in 1970. It was built like a fortress.
It was converted to a museum because the walls were too thick to tear down.
Second floor cell block inside Eastern State Penitentiary

Eastern State was the center of some of Philadelphia's greatest folklore. America's greatest criminal, Al Capone, spent six months there on a gun rap. It is said that his cell was the lap of luxury. In 1945, bank robber Willie Sutton and hitman Frederick J. Tenuto (who later climbed over the walls of Holmesburg Prison and was never captured) were among 12 prisoners who tunneled under the walls only to be captured within hours. The reconstructed synagogue notes one of its most colorful congregants, Morris Bolber, who helped grieving widows collect on their husbands' life insurance policies.

I had a Green Mile salad wihout dressing. I topped it with Muir Glen Organic Tomato Ketchup. I finished it with Peruvian decaf coffee. Rich, thick and wonderful.

Zoey had a black bean burrito (salsa, beans and cheddar cheese), holding the sour cream, but adding guacamole. She topped it off with green jasmine tea and a wedge of lemon.

A taste of Alcatraz on the East Coast.

"Man the ship and bring her to life"

2009-10-10T11:38:00.000-11:00

In June, I attended the reunion for the USS HERMITAGE (LSD 34), on which I had served. At the closing event, a former commanding officer spoke about the decommissioning ceremony on 2 October 1989. He said that "the colors were lowered and the crew marched off the ship" leaving it to the Brazilian Navy as the CEARA (C-30).

The image of the decommissioning has stayed with me

On 10 October 2009, I witnessed the reverse image. I attended the commissioning of the USS WAYNE E. MEYER (DDG 108) at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia. Rear Admiral Meyer was father of the AEGIS weapons system. He died on September 1, 2009 at the age of 83. It is rare for a person to be alive when a ship is under construction and named after him.

Rear Admiral Wayne E. Meyer

The ceremony drew young and old, veterans and their families, and lots of brass. I shook hands with two admirals of the Australian Navy.

The commissioning pennant and national ensign are raised.

After the speeches, the national ensign and the commissioning pennant were raised. The Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Chief of Naval Operations were present. The four star flag of a full admiral was raised.

The crew takes its positions on board.

Anna Mae Meyer, wife of Rear Admiral Meyer, announced, "Man the ship and bring her to life." The crew marched on board and took its positions on each deck. The guns were activated, rotated and "whirred." The ship's horn blasted. A five inch 38 caliber gun on the USS NEW JERSEY (BB 62 ), now a museum across the Delaware River, fired a salute.

History came full circle. I imagined the closing of the HERMITAGE and witnessed the birth of the WAYNE E. MEYER.

Website of USS WAYNE E. MEYER (DDG 108)
Obituary of Rear Admiral Wayne E. Meyer
Philadelphia Inquirer report

Live from Harrisburg

2009-09-25T22:34:00.002-11:00

Food and Republican State Committee

Flamingo Diner in Harrisburg

2009-09-25T22:34:00.001-11:00

The Mighty Zed is in Harrisburg to cover a meeting of the Republican State Committee. On the train to the State Capital, I watched a video of the 1947 noir classic Dark Passage. One scene was in Harry's diner in San Francisco. The working people who ate there were not stockbrokers or lawyers.

As I was walking from the train station in Harrisburg to the hotel, I passed by a diner right out of Dark Passage. Welcome to the Flamingo Diner near Third and Market Streets about two blocks from the train station, and a block from the Zion Lutheran Church where William Henry Harrison was nominated for President in 1840 by the Whig Party.

Watch out, Allan Linnell (aka Vincent Parry) played by Humphrey Bogart is about to order hams and eggs and coffee.

Caffeine Connection

2009-09-25T22:33:00.001-11:00

After checking in at the hotel, The Mighty Zed proceeded to the State Museum to check out the 1949 Packard. On the way, I stopped at the Caffeine Connection.

Definitely not a national chain. One of a kind design, done by the owner. Across the street from the Capitol, you wouldn't find Vincent Parry here, at least before he became Allan Linnell. If Irene Jansen were visiting Harrisburg, she would surely stop at the Caffeine Connection.

Tom Corbett: Chocolate pretzels for Governor

2009-09-25T22:32:00.001-11:00

This afternoon, The Mighty Zed began the circuit of hospitality suites. First stop, Attorney General Tom Corbett who is running for Governor.

With Pennsylvania being the nation's premier pretzel producer and the national committeeperson in the chocolate business, Corbett is the clear favorite for Governor.

Tom Killion

2009-09-25T22:31:00.001-11:00

It seems that everyone is running for Lieutenant Governor. Tom Killian served up meatballs, shishkabobs, roasted potatoes, and of course, vegetables.

Dinner and speech after speech after speech after speech

2009-09-25T22:30:00.001-11:00

The aroma of political chicken and the crispness of political salad. When will the speeches end? When the union requires overtime for the waitstaff.

Nick DiFrancesco---Biker for Lieutenant Governor

2009-09-25T22:29:00.001-11:00

Nick DiFrancesco had the nontraditional suite. Biker theme. Best shirts of the precampaign.

A Republican cultural revolution.

Pat Toomey--Hot chocolate

2009-09-25T22:28:00.000-11:00

Cookies, cupcakes and cocoa.

Jim Gerlach

2009-09-25T22:27:00.000-11:00

The only candidate to offer fruit.

Carol Aichele

2009-09-25T22:26:00.000-11:00

Flambee and a band.

Tom Corbett

2009-09-25T22:19:00.000-11:00

Last stop on the sugar train.

Sweetness and the New Year

2009-09-20T12:39:00.000-11:00

One of the overused cliches of the Jewish New Year is to wish someone a "sweet" year. I came to understand this tired cliche at Lipkin's Bakery, as I observed the confluence of ethnicity, ritual and sweetness.

On Friday, the morning of the eve of the New Year, I went to Lipkin's to purchase traditional holiday foods--round challahs (braided eggbreads), honey cake and apple cake. I can guarantee you that I ate none of them.

Lipkin's is located in Rhawnhurst, a once booming Jewish neighborhood which has aged out. Rhawhurst has a growing and young Orthodox community, but the rest of the Jewish residents are mostly seniors. Lipkins is across the street from a tattoo parlor. What else is there to say?

I arrived at the bakery at 9 a.m. The store was packed. About 15 people, mostly seniors, were waiting in line outside. These people did not dress Orthodox. The banter was not about religion. They spoke about buying challahs and cakes to bring to their children's homes. I heard that at 7 a.m. the line had stretched around the corner. For the customers, food was ritual.

The ritual was not limited to Jews. In line was a robust man, about 70, who wore Army insignia on his baseball cap, shirt and belt buckle. He said he was Catholic and related his experiences at the Polish bakery in Port Richmond. Inside the Polish bakery the customers had been lined up for cheese bobka. One of the employees had announced that the plain bobka was ready, and anyone who wanted the plain bobka should move to the front of the line. The man raised his hand and started to move forward. The woman in front of him said, "stay in your place." So, Friday, the Army vet was at Lipkin's waiting again for bobka.

When I got inside the bakery, I was in heaven. Cookies, cakes, bread. There was bobka for the Army vet. The food was fresh from the oven. Employees were jammed behind the counters, packing orders and waiting on customers, as the owner brought hot bread into the retail store. Ah, the aroma, Vaporized sugar. No high fructose corn syrup here. It reminded me of the bakeries in Logan, a formerly Jewish neighborhood with a world-class delicatessen district at 11th and Loudon Streets.

Back then, we had a choice of bakeries. New Logan (where my family shopped), Rosen's and White Palace were at 11th and Loudon. A few blocks away at 7th and Rockland Streets was Liss's (which my father preferred--better parking). Lipkin's was like being back home. I vowed that In my next life I will work in a bakery.

I called Zoey to give her play by play descriptions of the line inside the bakery and the food. Zoey grew up in California. She was raised on Mexican food. I wanted her to know what real bakeries were all about. I held up my cel so Zoey could get a whiff. The woman in front of me in line confirmed to Zoey how good it was.

Thirty-five dollars later, I walked out of Lipkins with two round challahs, six cinnamon buns (not round sticky buns), a rye bread (unsliced), a pumpernickle loaf (unsliced), an apple cake and a honey cake. Yes, the food is ritual, even if I would be spening parts of three days in the synagogue.

So wishing someone a "sweet" year is more than a tired cliche. It is the wish for an authentic bakery experience.

P.S. On Sunday, I participated in Tashlich, a folk ritual in which bread is thrown into flowing water. Tashlich is a mystical way to cast away of one's sins. I threw some of the round challah I purchased on Friday into the creek at Carpenter's Woods. The ritual of buying the bread was completed by casting away the sin of gluttony.

Achieving perspective. USS HERMITAGE reunion.

2009-08-19T20:25:00.000-11:00

In June, Zoey and I attended a reunion for the USS HERMITAGE (LSD-34), the ship on which I served. It was liberating. The HERMITAGE was in commission for about 30 years. Ship's company numbered about 225. Some 60 shipmates and some wives attended the reunion. Two of the shipmates had served on the ship with me.

The reunion released my old resentments. I saw my naval service in a new perspective. Whatever happened in the Navy was a long time ago. Each shipmate progressed and found his own level in life. The years on the HERMITAGE have little to do to where I am today.

However, I came to understand that we were a select group. Only a few thousand men served on the HERMITAGE and were thereby qualified to attend the reunion. Each of us helped defend the nation. As a former Commanding Officer noted, each of us fulfilled our responsibilities and passed the standards and traditions of military service on to succeeding crews.

We helped build America. From John Paul Jones to the present day sailors, we are part of the American story.

Paul Robeson---The Museum and the Midrash

2009-08-16T10:49:00.000-11:00

Until Friday, August 14, I considered Paul Robeson (1898-1976)--the great singer, actor and political activist---the prime example why artists should stay out of politics. Generally, artists are naive. They don’t know what they are talking about. They are manipulated by the people with agendas. Robeson moved left when the country moved right. His career was destroyed by McCarthyism and the Cold War.

Then I visited the Paul Robeson House at 4951 Walnut Street in Philadelphia. Robeson lived there in his declining years with his sister after the death of his wife. The house, actually a museum in the making, is the project of neighborhood civic and cultural groups and staffed by loving senior citizens. It is here that I learned about the Man and the Midrash.

In the Jewish world, Midrash are the stories around the Biblical texts. You might call Midrash the film left on the cutting room floor---the film that did not make it into the movie. In a secular sense, the story of George Washington cutting down the cherry tree would be Midrash. The story may not be accurate, but the Midrash speaks to Washington’s integrity.

The Robeson House was short on history. There were panels with photos and text from a national tour. The panels were excellent, but there were no audios of his singing or videos of his movies. However, history can be dry. I got Midrash, rich and loving, told by staff who believed in his greatness.

Robeson and his wife came from distinguished lineage. The Philadelphia neighborhood of Bustleton was named after his white Quaker ancestors.

His black ancestor, Cyrus Bustill, bought his freedom out of slavery. He was a baker. He lived a block and a half down Arch Street from Betsy Ross. He sent bread to Washington’s troops at Valley Forge.

Robeson’s father escaped from slavery, went to Lincoln University, and became a Presbyterian minister in Princeton, New Jersey.

Growing up, Robeson studied hard, excelling in almost all white schools, winning scholarships, and starring in athletics. Racism blocked his career in law. He directed his brilliance to singing and acting. He was a star on the world stage.

In England, Robeson had his political awakening. He learned about imperialism, fascism, Pan Africanism, and got a new understanding of American racism. Robeson became an international celebrity supporting causes on the left.

He visited Spain during the Civil War to entertain Loyalist (Republican) troops.
His voice carried over the battle lines, and both sides stopped fighting during his concert.

During the Cold War, he spoke favorably about the Soviet Union, According to the guide, Robeson spoke privately against Soviet repression. However, publicly he did not dissent. He saw the Soviet Union as a balance against imperialism.

As the Cold War progressed, Robeson’s career and his health declined.
He lost his passport. The guide said that the FBI offered to restore his passport if Robeson would agree only to entertain abroad without speaking about politics.
Robeson declined.

The guide said that the CIA had secretly poisoned Robeson with an early form of LSD, thereby causing the depression he suffered in later years. There had been no history of depression in Robeson’s family.

When Martin Luther King hit his zenith, Robeson declined to join the civil rights struggle as a celebrity. By that time, Robeson’s voice and health had declined. If he could not be the real Robeson, he did not want to be seen publicly endorsing the cause.

Whether history or Midrash, the stories gave me a sense of Robeson as a world class entertainer and a towering but tragic activist.

The guide said that Robeson was not naive. He knew exactly what he was doing politically and he accepted the risks.

I will not comment on Robeson’s politics. His tragedy and his courage are the story. The Midrash made the museum.

Re'eh: Centralizing the Cult

2009-08-15T16:33:00.000-11:00

In Re'eh (Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17), Moses instructs the Children of Israel to centralize the Cult in “the place that the Adonai your God will choose.” We hear this phrase at least 15 times.

The Children of Israel are instructed:

1. To destroy the sacred places of Canaanite worship;

2. Not to worship as the Canaanites;

3. To establish an exclusive site for sacrifice;

4. That families are to go to this central shrine for sacrifices;

5. That people may convert their livestock into money, go to the central shrine, and there purchase animals to sacrifice, food and provisions; and

6. That the people may eat meat at any time, rather than only at sacrifice.

The command to centralize the Cult had far reaching effects on the religion, economy, and politics of the Kingdom of Judah.

Dr. Beth Alpert Nakhai, of the University of Arizona at Tucson, edited Re’eh for The Torah: A Woman’s Commentary. She writes:

“Creating sacrifices only in Jerusalem would have been a boon for that city’s economy, strengthening the crown as it faced Assyrian imperialism, especially in the 7th century B.C.E.”

In The Torah: A Modern Commentary, Rabbis Dudley Weinberg and W. Gunther Plaut theorize that the core of the Book of Deuteronomy was written during the reign of King Hezekiah, who ruled in Judah from 725 to 687 B.C.E.

King Hezekiah outlawed idolatry and pagan shrines. He attempted to centralize religious activity in the Temple at Jerusalem. See 2 Kings 18; 2 Chronicles 29 30 and 31.

After Hezekiah died, the people of Judah returned to idolatry and the core of the Book of Deuteronomy was lost.

In 621 B.C.E., King Josiah instituted radical reforms. The idols were smashed. The local shrines were overthrown. Sacrifice was centralized in the Temple in Jerusalem. Passover was celebrated for the first time as a pilgrim festival in Jerusalem rather than a family celebration at home.

While the Temple was being refurbished, a Book of Teaching was discovered. See 2 Kings 22 and 23 and 2 Chronicles 34 and 35.

The reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah are so similar to the commands of Deuteronomy, that Rabbis Weinberg and Plaut believe that the core of Deuteronomy was written during the time of King Hezekiah and discovered during the time of King Josiah.

I believe that the centralization of the Cult in Jerusalem had the following impacts:

1. It created a banking and market system. Livestock was sold and converted to money. The pilgrims with their families would travel to Jerusalem where they would camp out or rent rooms, purchase provisions, and purchase animals for sacrifice.

2. The influx of pilgrims would enrich the Temple treasury. The King could use this money to build the army. A stronger army would deter Assyrian aggression.

3. Increased use of the Temple, would require capital improvements. Public works increases employment and puts more money in circulation.

4. The nation would be unified. The local shrines and the local priests would be put out of business. Opportunities for idolatry would be reduced. All religious power was concentrated in the Aaronite priests in Jerusalem.

5. Livestock would be raised and sold for eating on as everyday food.

Rabbi Lewis M. Barth of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, sees a theological aspect of the centralization of the Cult.

Rabbi Barth says Adonai had to be changed from a desert God to the God in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Barth explains that Adonai had been established as the desert God through theophany--revelation, as at the Burning Bush.

Before the Cult could be centralized in Jerusalem, the people’s memory of Jerusalem---as a pagan city with pagan gods--had to be changed.

Instead of theophany, the authors of Deuteronomy repeatedly used the phrase “the place that Adonai your God will choose”, and the commands for pilgrimage and sacrifice, to ensure that people would accept Jerusalem as their single sacred site.

Pinchas: The challenge to channel.

2009-07-11T14:20:00.000-11:00

Today’s portion, Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1) teaches us to channel our zealotry.

Camped at Shittim, the Israelite men go whoring with Midianite women. The Midianite women entice them to worship Baal Peor.

God tells Moses to have the ring leaders impaled. Moses so instructs the people. A plague breaks out, eventually killing 24,000 Israelites. In the presence of the congregation, Zimri, an Israelite man takes Cozbi, a Midianite woman, to the Entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Suddenly, Pinchas, the grandson of Aaron, takes a spear and plunges it through their bellies. The plague ceases.

God rewards Pinchas with a Covenant of Peace, establishing a hereditary priesthood through Pinchas.

Rabbi Laura Geller of Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, a Reform synagogue, explains that the Talmud makes clear that Pinchas should not be a role model for anyone. Pinchas ignored legal process. He did not warn the couple that their behavior would result in death. He was witness, judge and executioner.

Rabbi Geller notes that had Zimri killed Pinchas first, it would have been self-defense. Had Pinchas killed the couple at anytime other than the moment of actual intercourse, it would have been murder.

A refreshing and surprising view is offered by Rabbi Elyse Frishman, editor of the Reform siddur Mishkan T’filah, and rabbi at The Barnert Temple in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.

Rabbi Frishman defends the zealotry of Pinchas. Not only did Pinchas act in defense of God, he acted to save lives. With a thrust of the spear, Pinchas ended the plague which had claimed 24,000 people. Pinchas purged Israel of the guilt of whoring with the Midianite women. Pinchas purged Israel of the guilt of worshipping Baal Peor.

I reject Rabbi Frishman’s view.

Zealotry is self-destructive.

One of the offshoots of the activism of the 1960’s was the Weather Underground. This group was insane with zealotry.

On October 20, 1981 members of the Weather Underground attempted to rob a Brinks’ armored truck outside a bank near Nyack, New York. A security guard and two police officers were killed. Nine children were made fatherless. Dr. Alan Berkman was suspected of treating one of the robbers for a gunshot wound. Dr. Berkman became a fugitive.

Later he was involved in the armed robbery of a supermarket in Connecticut. On May 23, 1985, he was arrested near Doylestown, Pennsylvania. On his person were a pistol, a shotgun and keys to a garage. The garage contained 100 pounds of dynamite. Dr. Berkman served eight years in prison.

After his release, he became active in AIDS issues. He founded Health GAP, a world-wide project to provide AIDS medicine to the poor. He died June 5 at the age of 63.

His obituary in the New York Times quoted an interview with Dr. Berkman made in 1994. At that time Dr. Berkman was on parole. He was working at a drug treatment clinic in the South Bronx.

Asked how someone so committed to saving lives could have joined groups that were willing to plant bombs, Dr. Berkman replied:

“I had seen pain in the communities I worked in,” and “an increasing indifference” to that pain.

“We became desperate and kept going further out on the limb.”

“There is plenty to learn from all the mistakes we made. Power is corrupting.
And the use of violence is a form of power. People motivated to stop the suffering of others have to be careful not to be caught up in the same dynamics.”

One of the defendants in the Brinks robbery of 1981 was Judith Clark, who drove a get-away car.

Harriet Clark is the daughter of Judith Clark and Dr. Alan Berkman. Commenting on her father’s obituary, Harriet Clark wrote a letter to the New York Times. The letter was published on June 26. She wrote:

“My father’s lifelong commitment to social justice --- a commitment that turned to extremism and violence, but that also guided him after his release from prison to build a meaningful and productive life. This is in many ways the story of both of my parents.

"My mother, Judy Clark, was also an activist in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. She, too, turned to violence and extremism, culminating in her role as a getaway car driver in a robbery that took the lives of three men. Her sense of remorse and regret and her deep belief in repair have guided her as she, too, has built a committed and productive life --- piloting a program for inmates with AIDS, working in the prison’s college program, counseling mothers in the nursery, and through it all raising me.

"My mother has served 28 years out of a 75-to-life sentence and will not be eligible for parole for another 47 years. My father’s life demonstrated the contributions people can make when given the chance. My mother’s life demonstrates this as well, and her contributions would be even greater if she could come home.”

Many of us have the zealot within us---the inner Pinchas. How should we handle it?

Rabbi Shefa Gold writes, “The zealot is the one who acts fearlessly, without hesitation, without stopping to ask permission. He translates the yearnings and guidance of the heart into bold decisive action. When the zealot inside us is not honored, [and not] given a place of respect within us; we fall into complacency, ambivalence or paralysis.

"We become the woman of the Song of Songs who hears her beloved knocking and hesitates, saying 'I have taken off my clothes, how can I dress again? I have bathed my feet, must I dirty them.' [Song of Songs 5:3] When finally she answers the door, he is gone. Our hesitation results in the tragic loss of the opportunity to meet Life, face to face, right now!”

Rabbi Shefa Gold concludes, “When we surround that force [of zealotry] with values of compassion, mercy, tolerance and understanding, then the power of zealotry confers vitality and clarity upon those that experience it.”

Trotsky and the American Revolution

2009-07-05T04:02:00.000-11:00

Leon Trotsky, the Bolshevik who morphed into the great-grandfather of neo-conservatism, coined the slogan "Permanent Revolution." Without trying, Trotsky defined the story of America.

American history has been a permanent struggle over rights. Oppressed groups press for their rights. Groups argue for the creation of new rights. There have been fights for the rights of labor, women, blacks, gays, and people with disabilities.

Public debate is framed in terms of rights---civil rights versus states rights, reproductive rights versus the rights of the unborn, individual rights versus group rights.

Rights are asserted by conservatives---gun rights, religious rights. Rights are asserted by liberals---workers' rights, right to health care.

The American Revolution renews itself everytime we fight over rights.

May the Permanent Revolution continue.

Happy Birthday USA.

Shoot the Piano Player---Truffaut and Goodis

2009-06-26T14:40:00.000-11:00

If you want to understand key aspects of the personality and motivations of David Goodis, watch Tirez sur le Pianiste (Shoot the Piano Player), Francois Truffaut's 1960 adaptation of David Goodis' novel, Down There, also known as "Shoot the Piano Player. Truffaut (1932-1984) was a leader in French new-wave cinema, and he loved the Goodis noir style.

That's the view of Julian P. Rackow, one of the attorney's who represented Goodis in his law suit over the TV series "The Fugitive." In June 2009, Rackow attended a screening of Tirez sur le Pianiste, in French with English subtitles.

The film starts in the middle of a story. Charles Aznavour plays the role of a piano player in a dance club. He finds romance with a female bartender. The film gradually reveals that the piano player had originally been a gifted and famous concert pianist, but met tragedy. His life and world of fame fall apart, and he eventually resurfaces in the dance club. The piano player is pulled into a conflict involving his brothers, who have gangster connections. The piano player and his girlfriend become entangled in deadly issues with the gangsters (the result of which will remain for viewing of the film).

At GoodisCON, Rackow had been asked what he remembered of David Goodis as a person. "This question was a struggle for me to answer. It had been 40 years since I had known Goodis. At that time, there was no reason to retain memories of him as a person, since we were focusing on the legal issues of an important copyright case. I had nothing written about him as an individual, and could only rely on long-forgotten mental images and a reaction," Rackow said. After seeing the movie, he could answer the question.

"The piano player, as played by Aznavour, had many of the personality and physical traits of David Goodis," Rackow said.

"Imagine being on a psychiatrist's couch and having buried details flashed up on the big screen. For example, Aznavour has a discussion with his girlfriend, in which she tries to draw him out and learn about his past. Although the piano player had a droll sense of humor and appeared to be outgoing in his dance club persona, he has trouble responding. He says that he is shy, afraid to open up, and does not know how to help himself move ahead to rebuild his life." Rackow said.

"The apparently extroverted, popular, hot-shot piano player in a bar, is in fact, the quintessential loner. This character was David Goodis, all wrapped up tightly within himself. It was as if Goodis were projecting himself onto the screen. Like Goodis and his famous Hollywood connections, the piano player, with wonderful artistic talent and great relationships, had difficulty with fame, and appeared far more comfortable within his own shell," Rackow said.

"Upon leaving the theater, my wife said that I looked as pale as a ghost. I was shaken because it was as if I had seen David Goodis," Rackow said.

"Tirez sur le Pianiste was an incredible experience," Rackow said. "In addition to the connection to Goodis, it is phenomenal movie-making. The movie is almost 50 years old, but it seems as relevant, contemporary, and insightful as any current film. It is brilliantly directed, and while the style is film noir, there are scenes that are wonderful comedy. The film captures the droll style of a Goodis novel, but it is not a light or "funny" movie. Part of Truffaut's (and Goodis') brilliance was the ability to tell a serious and ultimately sad fictional story, with a lightness that allows the audience to feel the reality of the events," Rackow said.

For more on Truffaut and Goodis click to Shooting Pool with David Goodis: Truffaut and Goodis

A Revolution like none other

2009-06-15T07:42:00.000-11:00

Yesterday, my nephew Adam and I celebrated Flag Day. Adam, a blogger from Hawaii, was here exploring his ancestral state.

We visited the Betsy Ross House, where the first American flag was made. The Continental Congress adopted the flag on June 14, 1777, hence the holiday.

We stopped by Christ Church, where George Washington worshiped, and Old City Coffee, a block down Church Street, where George Washington did not sip.

We visited the Second Bank of the United States, where President Andrew Jackson stared down Bank President Nicholas Biddle and destroyed the national banking system, an error cured in 1913 with the establishment of the Federal Reserve System.

Along the way, we joked that the American Revolution really was not a revolution. It was a bourgeois-democratic revolution. The same rich merchants and planters who ran the economy under the Brits signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Truth be told, British authority collapsed in 1775 and 1776. Mecklenburg County, North Carolina declared its independece on May 20, 1775. Colony after colony authorized its delegates to the Continental Congress to support independence. The Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776 confirmed what had been going on for months.

The American Revolution was not a revolution as we know of it today. No guillotines (France). No re-education camps (China). No firing squads (Cuba). Had the Brits not tried to re-assert their authority, the American Revolution would have been bloodless.

Now that's revolutionary.

My favorite atheist writes on my favorite spy

2009-06-10T13:32:00.000-11:00

I just finished a new book by my favorite atheist about my favorite spy.

Author: Susan Jacoby.
Title: Alger Hiss and the Battle for History (Yale University Press, New York and London, 2009).
Spy: Alger Hiss. He will admit being a favorite while denying he was a spy.

Jacoby, resident atheist at the Washington Post, has published a chatty and entertaining account of the cultural legacy of Alger Hiss. The book reviews the basics of the Hiss-Chambers case, the big spy case of the Cold War, and Alger Hiss' struggle for vindication and respectability.

Jacoby, born of a Jewish father and a Catholic mother, was raised Catholic. She is not shy at poking fun at religion. Political correctness is not part of her world. She offends and enjoys doing it.

For the first time she reveals the real, but unstated reason, for "persistence of the passions" surrounding the case. (Page 19).

Finally, Hiss was a gentile--a not-insignificant though rarely acknowledged element in the response to the case, especially on the part of anti-Communist Jewish liberals (and Jewish conservatives, for that matter) attempting to distance themselves from the historic association between Jews and Bolshevism. Hiss's non-Jewishness [I never saw that word before] would become even more important to Jewish conservatives after the Rosenbergs were convicted and executed (by which time Hiss was already in jail). In the heart of the State Department, there had been a Communist spy--and the spy was, thankfully, not only a [mild Yiddish pejorative for gentile] but a WASP! (Page 20).

So, we learn that Hiss was a victim of WASP discrimination.

Alger Hiss swears to tell the truth.

The book is full of funny asides. Commenting on the Chicago Tribune's (the 1950's right wing Chicago Tribune, that is) spelling reforms, Jacoby notes:

The phonetic transliteration of certain words like bureaucracy into burocracy was a trademark of the Tribune at that time. I spent the first eight years of my life in Chicago, and until my second-grade teacher in a parochial school--the nuns were sticklers for correct spelling--taught us about diphthongs, I had been convinced by the Tribune that through was spelled thru. (Page 113).

Though Jacoby identifies herself as a liberal, she does not like Alger Hiss. She flags him on his agility in avoiding the truth.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Alger Hiss--then 88 years old--made a final attempt to demonstrate his innocence. He asked a Soviet intelligence historian to search KGB files to confirm that Hiss was "never a paid, contracted agent for the Soviet Union." Hiss initially got the answer he was looking for. No records were found. Of course, Hiss had never been accused of getting paid for giving government documents to Whitaker Chambers. Hiss had never been accused of being a contract agent. He was a volunteer. Hiss directed the search to the wrong agency. Chambers worked for military intelligence--GRU--not KGB. Hiss' proof of innocence collapsed in a matter of days. (Pages 184-188).

Jacoby's book is a good read, especially for Cold War junkies. Buy it and see if you can catch Alger Hiss telling the truth.

The Year of the Bible and the limits of religion in public life

2009-06-01T13:23:00.000-11:00

If you thought the religious right was wiped out in last November's election, think again. It's coming back. Representative Paul Broun (R-Georgia) has introduced legislation to make 2010 the Year of the Bible.

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield has written a constructive essay on this bill for the On Faith column on the Washington Post website.

Rabbi Hirschfield says

Would it really be so wrong to honor the most influential book, for better or worse, in America? Comfortable or not with that reality, that is the way it is. And for that reason alone, the year of the Bible should be a good idea.

Let's face it, the bible is the 800-pound gorilla in American political, literary and cultural life and it needs to be addressed in ways that rescue the conversation from both the rabid secularists and the coercive religionists. And a year honoring the good book could do just that. In fact, the year of the Bible should be a no-brainer. But because we are so divided as a nation and so stupid in our approach to religion in American public life, we can not even have an intelligent conversation about the bill itself, let alone about how to acknowledge the importance of the Bible in our culture and in our politics.

Rabbi Hirschfield's point is extremely well taken. The Bible is the central book in American culture. It influences our language and our literature. It is central to the way our diverse religious and ethnic groups view the small issues of daily life and the big issues which confront our society. The Bible unites us and divides us.

One of the downsides of separation of church and state--and I emphatically support separation of church and state--is that it requires us to banish the study of the Bible and religion from the public schools. Without familiarity of the Bible, a person is not fully equipped to operate in America today.

Rabbi Hirschfield takes to task the secularists who would banish religion from public life as well as the religious activists who would impose their agenda on everyone.

Balancing Rabbi Hirschfield's view is his On Faith colleague, Susan Jacoby. She is essentially the resident atheist at the Washington Post.

Jacoby is author of Freethinkers. A History of American Secularism (Holt, New York, 2004). Raised Catholic, Jacoby's distain for her ex-faith seeps through her writing. In Freethinkers, she is refreshingly honest in her feelings and writes without fear of offending. Jacoby describes the harm religious activists have caused by promoting as public policy their views on obscenity, evolution, birth control, abortion, public prayer, anti-Communism, funding of parochial schools, and faith based social programs.

Jacoby sets forth the constructive role secularists have played in fighting the overreaching of religious activists.

Hirschfield and Jacoby together suggest proper limits for religion in public life. Hats off to the Washington Post for recruiting such responsible columnists.

The Blessing of the Sun marks new cycle of freedom

2009-04-08T01:52:00.000-11:00

Today, Jews all over the world celebrated the Blessing of the Sun. According to Tradition, the sun is in the same position as it was at Creation. Every 28 years the sun returns to this point.

Tonight, we celebrate Passover, the anniversary of liberation from bondage in Egypt.

Twenty-eight years ago, there was a Soviet Union. It is doubtful that Jews there could have blessed the sun without fear or intimidation.

Just prior to the Blessing of the Sun, I sat at services. To my right was Rachel and to my front was Tracy, proudly wearing tefillin. Twenty-eight years ago, women were just beginning to participate fully in Jewish life. Now women read Torah and Haftorah, serve as rabbis and congregational leaders.

Yesterday in Vermont and last week in Iowa, gays and lesbians won the right to marry.

At the end of World War II in Europe, President Harry S Truman proclaimed that "The Flags of Freedom fly all over Europe."

The Flags of Freedom fly over the world today, more so than in 1981.

These are Revolutionary Times.

Photographs taken at Germantown Jewish Centre, Philadelphia, PA. Rabbi Leonard Gordon presided over the ceremony. He co-edited the "Tractate of the Sun" with Rabbinical student Abe Friedman.

Robert Mills Smith, Requiescat in Pace

2009-04-04T15:31:00.000-11:00

Robert Mills Smith was a quartermaster on the USS HERMITAGE (LSD-34) from 1969 to 1972. He turned the mundane into an adventure. He posed this photo as I practiced on the ship's "intelligence" camera, a Mamiya C-3 twin lens reflex. The shot was taken in 1970 while the ship was at its homeport, the Naval Amphibious Base at Little Creek, Norfolk, Virginia.

P'dukei: It's in the Cloud.

2009-03-21T13:56:00.000-11:00

Wilderness.

Blazing sun.

Black nights.

Silence.

Isolation.

The Children of Israel had something we lack.

The Cloud.

The visible Presence of God.

The Cloud guided us as we fled Egypt.

The Cloud separated us from Pharaoh’s armies at the Red Sea.

The Cloud was at Sinai at the giving of the Law.

The Cloud stood at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting when Moses was inside.

Today’s portion ends with the completion of the Mishkan.

The text reads:

When Moses had finished the work, the Cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Presence of Adonai filled the Tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, because the Cloud had settled upon it and the Presence of Adonai filled the Tabernacle. When the Cloud lifted from the Tabernacle, the Israelites would set out, on their various journeys; but if the Cloud did not lift, they would not set out until such time as it did lift. For over the Tabernacle a Cloud of Adonai rested by day, and fire would appear in it by night, in the view of all the house of Israel throughout their journeys.

(Exodus 40:34-38, The Torah: A Women's Commentary, WRJ/URJ, New York, 2008).

Rabbi Elana Zaiman explains in The Women’s Torah Commentary (Jewish Lights) that by building the Mishkan, the Children of Israel “became connected to . . . God in a new way.”

Witnessing God’s Presence at Sinai “was frightening and distant, too unreal to comprehend. The act of God handing them an identity from above did not work for them. They had to be part of the process."

The Clouds and Fire at Sinai is followed by God’s command to build the Mishkan.

By giving birth the the Mishkan, the Children of Israel experienced their identity as God’s people in a more intimate and involved way. God understood that they needed to be active participants in this process, for after the Mishkan was built, God covered it with a cloud by day and a fire by night. With the birth of the Mishkan, the experience at Sinai became a daily revelation of God’s presence. With the birth of the Mishkan, the experience of Sinai in the heavens above moved to the earth below.

As today’s text states, the Cloud and the Fire at the Tabernacle “would be in the view of all the House of Israel throughout their journeys.”

At the end of the journey, at the frontier of the Promised Land, the Cloud is about to disappear. The people would have to proceed on the basis of faith rather than vision.

Moses tells the people that he is about to die and that Joshua will be their leader.

Moses says that God will travel before them and wipe out the nations in their path.

Moses charges the people:

Be strong and resolute, be not in fear or in dread of them; (meaning the Canaanites); for it is indeed your God Adonai who marches with you; God will not fail you or forsake you.

(Deuteronomy 31:6, The Torah: A Women's Commentary, WRJ/URJ, New York, 2008)

The Visual Presence of God ended with the lifting of the Cloud. However, the people still had a symbol of God’s dwelling among them. This symbol was the Mishkan, and later the Temple.

Rabbi Zaiman explains that with the destruction of the Temple, the rabbis found a way to preserve God’s presence, though not tied to a specific place.

The rabbis ceated a new name for God based on the word Mishkan. They created Shechinah a feminine name, "suggesting God’s presence in a very physical and imminent way. The rabbis understood that the people of Israel still needed to have a dwelling place for God. . . ."

Said the rabbis in Megilla 29a, “Every place to which they (Israel) were exiled, the Shechina went with them.”

Rabbi Zaiman explains, “Through the name Shechinah, the rabbis enabled God’s physical presence to exist in exile.”

Beating the cultural bind of segregation. . . .

2009-02-28T14:55:00.000-11:00

Growing up in the segregated City Between Two Rivers, I missed a rich segment of American culture.

Fortunately this just past Black History Month gave me the opportunity to make amends. I have been savoring two outstanding works, both of which I recommend.

Harlem Speaks by Cary Wintz (Sorcebooks 2007) is a collection of portraits of writers and artists from the Harlem Renaissance---that outburst of brilliance which lasted from the end of World War I, when Harlem was becoming the Black Metropolis until the early years of the Great Depression. Along with the book is a CD where you can hear the voices of these artists.

What a range of personalities! The expatriate song stylist Josephine Baker. The pianist Eubie Blake. What a range of politics and lifestyles! The scholar and editor W.E.B. DuBois, who in his last days joined the Communist Party and moved to Ghana. The folklorist Zora Neale Hurston, who after her star had dimmed became a right-wing Republican. The Jamaican immigrant Claude McKay who was a communist before he was an anti-communist. The great gay poets Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen. The incomparable Duke Ellington.

Harlem Speaks is the story of literary salons, exciting night clubs, interracial venues, the relations with white publishers and patrons, and cultural debates, such as place of jargon in Black writing.

I lost my copy on the subway after getting through half the book. It was worth spending $30 to get a replacement.

One of the writers mentioned in Harlem Voices is Richard Wright, who never graduated high school but reached the top of the literary world. A native of Mississippi, he matured in Chicago, joined and quit the Communist Party and spent his final years as an expatriate in France.

His most famous work Native Son, (Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005, introduction by Arnold Rampersad) has had me gripped for the past week. Native Son is the story of Bigger Thomas, a 20 year old good for nothing, who lands a job as a chauffeur for one of Chicago's wealthiest and most liberal families. He accidentally kills their college student daughter.

I find the book most interesting for its historical context. It addresses oppression by whites, patronization by white liberals, resentment by the black underclass, crime, the Popular Front, crime, and the anticipation of tantalizing sex.

The book is a time warp, as it describes movie theaters before they were multiplexes. It explains the state of technology, where the ultra-rich still heated their homes by coal, but had a device which automatically loaded the coal every day. The book showed how rich and poor lived in 1930's Chicago. I hope the social commentary in Native Son is outdated and that American society has changed.

I am reading the restored version. In 1940, the Book of the Month Club insisted on changes as a condition of publication. Wright agreed to delete passages dealing with raw sex and put a less sympathetic spin on Communism. The original galley proofs were discovered and the restored text was published in 1993.

I'm one quarter through the book, and eagerly await the next chapter.

Black history is now part of the required curriculum in the Philadelphia public schools. The content of such teachings can be political and controversial. I do not know what is taught. However, anyone who does not learn about the Harlem Renaissance is deprived of a vital chapter in American history.

The intellectual face of Islam pushes extremists off stage

2009-02-22T08:40:00.000-11:00

Too often, Islam gets a bad rap, as extremists grab media attention, blocking from public view the rational, intellectual side of Islam.

This weekend, I had the privilege to witness the other side of Islam, at the Scholar in Residence program at Or Hadash, a Reconstructionist congregation in the suburbs of the City Between Two Rivers.

The speakers were Rumee Ahmed and Ayesha Chaudhry, professors at Colgate University. The pair are totally modern, totally American second generation immigrants. Their parents came from Pakistan. Ahmed was born in the Washington, D.C. area. Chaundhry was born in Toronto, and is here on a green card.

They tackled hard parts of the Qu'ran, interpreting, tempering and rationalizing passages written as absolutes, one of which could justify abuse of women.

I left the event with three pearls of understanding:

1. Tribalism. Violence, extremism and honor killings, are the result of tribal behavior rather than religion. Much of the Islamic world is rural, where tribal affinities prevail over government and religion. When the people converted to Islam, the religion was imposed on the existing trial customs, cultures and lifestyles. Hence the Islam of Tanzania is different from the Islam of India and the Islam of Indonesia.

2. Colonialism. The great universities of classic Islamic philosophy and law were destroyed by colonialism. The Islamic clergy has declined in quality and prestige. The best and the brightest Muslims aspire to other careers. Though colonialism in the Islamic world officially ended in the two decades after after World War II, there is great resentment against the West Colonialism has left a scar in the individual and collective self-esteem among Muslims.

3. Integration. There has been little terrorism in the U.S. Muslim community, due to the high degree of integration in American life. Islamic immigrants are generally well educated and socially mobile. They have good incomes. African-American Muslims have been in this country for generations. In Europe, by contrast, Muslim immigrants are enghettoed. There is little social mobility, with children continuing in the same low paying occupations as their parents. European Muslims resent colonialism. France, Britain and Holland were colonial powers in the Muslim world.

The Scholar in Residence program was sponsored by Joan and Ben Dickstein who have spent their lives pursuing human rights, social justice and interfaith dialogue.

I salute Or Hadash for helping me appreciate the diversity in Islam and lowering walls within the greater American community

Video of David Goodis commemoration

2009-02-13T10:45:00.000-11:00

On January 25, 2009, 13 Goodisheads gathered at graveside to honor the Prince of Noir. Larry Withers produced this video:

Please silence the background music. Switch is to right and below.

Retreat From Oblivion: Goodis' first novel is worth a visit from Homeland Security

2009-01-29T02:55:00.001-11:00

I recently came into possession of a rare copy of Retreat From Oblivion, the first novel by David Goodis (Dutton, New York, 1939).

Homeland Security, are you listening?

The book got poor reviews when published. Even today it is mediocre. However, the book shows the promise of Goodis before he reached his noir zenith in the Philadelphia novels written a decade or two later. Retreat From Oblivion is Goodis, but not quite Goodis.

Reading Retreat From Oblivion must be like watching Jackie Robinson play for the Montreal Royals in the International League, the year before his 1947 rookie season with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Retreat From Oblivion is pure Goodis. Regretfully, the dialog is flabby. The writing lacks the tightness, the sparseness of words, which make the later Goodis works so intense. I suspect that if he rewrote the book in 1953, it would have been one fifth shorter.

Missing is Elaine Astor, the wife from Goodis' one and only disastrous marriage. The women in Retreat From Oblivion are evil, particularly Jean. They clobber their men. The anti-hero Herb (same name as Goodis' mentally ill brother) is beaten by his wife Jean and his paramour Dorothy. Though abusive, none of the women resemble Elaine Astor, who appears as Mildred with "tremendous breasts" in Cassidy's Girl and under other names but the same physique in other Philadelphia novels.

Retreat From Oblivion is more sexual than the later novels, with Jean having affairs with two men, including George Green who she met at a bar and Paul, her best friend's husband. Wisely, multiple love triangles are understated in later Goodis works. This books sets the Goodis standard for tortured marriages.

In Retreat From Oblivion, Goodis dabbles in politics, placing his characters in the orbit of the Spanish Civil War and China's resistance to Japan. Written during the Popular Front era, the book describes Dorothy's fundraising for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. While her Italian husband is fighting in Spain in the Garibaldi Legion, she is involved with Herb, all the time pining for her anti-fascist husband. Politics was best left out of the later works.

The book is full of classic Goodis characteristics --- extended events in the long and lonely night, colored lights at night, and
unlikely happenstance meetings with strangers.

There are cynical observations of life

In the evening he would read for a while in the room and it was quiet as he sat down by the window and read the Telegraph. He would look over the front page and read about all the trouble and death and the problems, the vast puzzles which made faces at him from the headlines, the whole thing amounted to a mess. He had concluded this many years before, and at times since he had started going with Jean, even before that, when he and first gotten this job, he had definitely come to that conclusion. But he never dwelt upon it. He agreed with himself that it was this way, it was just a big mess, and then he forgot about it and joined in the misery. When all was said and done, he was just one of the boys, and what happened to them had to happen to him. Sooner or later, everybody was in for a terrific jerking around. You couldn't run away from it. It was always caught up with you.

There are tortured internal debates.

Jean bit into the pillow. Her teeth gnawed at the cotton. She wanted Paul. he was sleeping with Wilda and she wanted him to get out of Wilda's bed and come over here. Please, Paul, she said to the pillow, please come over here. Why didn't you leave today, Paul: Please, why didn;'t you leave? herb, herb, come back then. Paul isn't coming over. I know he isn't. So you come back, Herb. Oh, no, stay away, stay away. Where did you go, you crazy Herb ? Where did you go? Oh, Paul.

I'm at page 111 and glued to the book, shortcomings and all. If you can possibly get this book, read it. As for Homeland Security, it's worth the risk.

A mile outside the City Between Two Rivers,

2009-01-26T03:44:00.001-11:00

January Cold came in, formed four walls around them and closed in on the Thirteen. Gathered to remember the Prince of Noir, they read from his works, told tales, and raised his Shade from the bleak grave

On January 25, 2009, just hours before the 42nd anniversary of the death of David Goodis according to the Hebrew calendar, 13 militant Goodisheads gathered at Roosevelt Cemetery to remember Philadelphia's Prince of Noir.

LINKS

Duane Swierczynski's blog on the ceremony

You Tubes by Duane Swierczynski

Duane Swierczynski's blog on "Relics of a Noir Writer"

Peter Rozovsky's blog on the ceremony

Louis Boxer's photos of the ceremony

Aviation Nation

2009-01-07T06:58:00.000-11:00

In November I attended the Aviation Nation air show at Nellis Air Force Base outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. Hot sun, long shadows, patriotic viewers.

A great day to be American!

Solstice Philadelphia 2008

2009-01-07T06:43:00.001-11:00

Solstice week 2009 was a disappointment with clouds dimming the blazing sun and softening the long dark shadows.

10th Street north of Race Street.

Scaffolding in front of the former Strawbridge and Clothier store on Market Sreet west of 8th Street.

Goodis Graveside Rememberance set for January 25

2008-12-21T03:56:00.000-11:00

Dear Goodisheads:

The night of January 25 is the anniversary of the death of David Loeb Goodis according to the Hebrew Calendar. In honor of the Great Philadelphia Noir Writer, Louis Boxer and Aaron Finestone are staging a gathering to remember David Goodis on the afternoon of January 25 at Roosevelt Memorial Park, 2701 Old Lincoln Highway, Trevose, PA 19053 (215-673-7500), just over the Bucks County line from Philadelphia.

The grave is located at Section B-3, Lot 324, Grave 3.

After David's funeral, friends gathered at the Toddle House to remember David's outrageous humor and recount his devoted friendship. The Toddle House---at Broad and Belfield Streets in Logan---is now a vacant lot. We will re-enact the apres-funeral lunch at the Club House Diner, 2495 Street Road (between Knights and Mechanicsville Road, 215-639-4287) in Bensalem, a few minutes from Roosevelt Cemetery.

The memorial begins at 2 p.m. The luncheon begins at 3 p.m.

At graveside we will read excerpts from David Goodis' coldest, most gripping works.

If you would be interested in attending, would you please email us (lboxer1@gmail.com and microbrewjournalism@gmail.com). Your email would not be binding. We just want to give an estimate to the restaurant.

What better way to spend a cold January afternoon.

McCain is dead. Black and white film photography lives.

2008-10-23T12:57:00.000-11:00

Though the McCain-Palin ticket may be dead, black and white film photography is the real winner in this election.

On September 22, 2008 my workfriend Kat and I went to the McCain-Palin rally in Media, Pennsylvania. I took my Leica M-2, built in 1960, and lots of Ilford HP5 black and white film---hand rolled, of course.

Kat had been the only Republican in her class at Bryn Mawr College. She had recently returned from Africa, where she worked as science advisor to the Tanzanian parliament and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro on the winter solstice. She wanted to see Sarah Palin.

I was hoping to photograph the protesters, expecting scruffy refugees from the 1960’s. However, when I developed my film in D-76 and printed the pictures on Ilford Cooltone RC Multigrade paper with Dektol, the Republicans proved to be the stars of my shoot.

Resolute, neat and serious. These heartland Americans meant business.

As the protesters shouted insults, Kat yelled “get a job.”
How did she ever become a Mawrtyr?

As the rally began, I spotted Kat texting her friends with play-by play descriptions of the rally. Then I saw her holding her cel high. She had called her brother in Iowa, so he could listen to Sarah.

Meanwhile, a strange man got in my face and asked whether my camera was a M-3 or M-2. I told him M-2 and tried to get away. Minutes later, as I was loading my Leica the strange man was photographing me.

When Palin finished speaking, Kat said, “Let’s get out of here.” She had come for Sarah, and so did the crowd. As McCain spoke people headed for the bus stops.

As we sat on the bus, the strange man walked by. He was stalking me. Was he Secret Service, DNC or the Digital Police?

Film photography forever.

Coming November 2010.

2008-09-28T11:23:00.000-11:00

The soul of David Goodis

2008-09-07T13:00:00.000-11:00

Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart surround David Goodis, about 1947. Note lines of B&B's clothing and Bogart's natural hair line. Photo courtesy of April Feld Sandor

New: The Soul of David Goodis.
Goodis' cousin reveals the key to David's personal mystery in Microbrewjournalism website.

NoirCON 2010

2008-07-30T13:54:00.000-11:00

Announcing NoirCON 2010. Topic: International Noir. Philadelphia November 2010.

Click for Schedule.

Severance Package---a novel for foodos

2008-07-22T06:53:00.000-11:00

There are foodies and then there are foodos. Foodies sample food and enjoy fine dining. I'm a foodo. I like to eat and the setting does not matter. It's the eating that counts.

That is why foodos will savor Duane Swierczynski's new novel Severance Package.

On the first page we learn that Paul Lewis has seven minutes to live. By page seven, his loving wife Molly has assassinated him with her special potato salad styled after his grandmother Stella's traditional Polish delicacy.

On page nine we learn that Molly's boss, David Murphy, has catered a Saturday morning staff meeting with "an array of cold cuts and Pepperidge Farm cookies" plus Cokes and Diet Cokes.

On page fifteen, we find Molly in the parking garage at 1919 Market Street. She dumps the contents of a white bakery box---containing cannolis purchased at the Reading Terminal and doughnuts (not donuts as in Dunkin) on the floor of the garage and places a loaded pistol between the two sugar jelly doughnuts which stuck to the bottom of the box.

On pages twenty and twenty one, we learn that on the way to the meeting Ethan Goins uses a debit card at McDonalds to purchase a large Coke, an Egg McMuffin ("With a slice of Canadian bacon wedged between the soft marble slab of egg and flour-flecked sides of a gently warmed English muffin") and four hashbrowns.

The night before, Ethan went drinking with the females from the office and got plastered with French martinis which tasted like Tang and were "sweet as a child's breakfast drink." For Ethan "the infusion of meat and caffeine and carbohydrates and protein was the only prayer he had of making it through this morning alive."

If you want to know what Philly is like in the 21st century, read Swierczynski. He is a shining Philadelphia writer and Philadelphia should be boldfaced. He celebrates the ethnic flavors of our town. He gives tastes of the social, political and architectural history of the city.

Swierczynski uses subtle humor--the kind you realize two days after reading it. In Severance Package, Paul Lewis is thankful that fifty years ago his family changed their name from Lewinski. Imagine everyone asking if Monica was your cousin?

I won't give away the plot. Get the book.

Always classic, never obsolete. Black and white film forever.

2008-06-01T12:52:00.000-11:00

Hoagies at solstice. Across from Jefferson Hospital on 11th Street, Philadelphia, solstice 2007.

Kadesh Barnea, where the Israelites sojourned before entering the Promised Land, must have looked like this. Photographed outside of Las Vegas in 2005.

The Maltese Falcon---A subtle and wicked tale

2008-05-19T09:16:00.000-11:00

The Maltese Falcon is amazing in film and in print. It speaks to many levels--violence, mystery, romance, cynicism. There is a subtle but deeper theme---Sexuality. Gay sex. Straight sex.

An article is Wikipedia reveals the key--the gunsel. Joe Cairo was obviously gay, but the gayness goes beyond Cairo. Sam Spade repeatedly refers to Wilmer as "gunsel." I thought the term related to gun. Since the Maltese Falcon was filmed, the term has come to mean a petty crook and gunman. It turns out that an older meaning of the word is a young gay man who takes care of (or services) an older gay man. That term explains a lot.

In the movie, Sam Spade abuses and demeans Wilmer. Sam Spade takes pleasure in beating up Joel Cairo. In the movie, Sam Spade shows an evil grin while hassling Wilmer and speaking to Joel Cairo. It originally occurred to me that Caspar Gutman may have been gay, but primarily he was a wealthy collector and probably a lawyer. Now it all comes together. Wilmer was the gunsel for Gutman. Even if the relationship was not sexual, Wilmer was more than a body guard. The relationship of Wilmer to Gutman is about bonding.

I viewed the movie for the third time last night. I am re-reading the book and I am up to the first time Sam Spade beats up Joel Cairo. The homosexual subtext is all over the place.

The story is full of sexual tension. The promiscuously heterosexual Sam Spade beating up the gay Wilmer and Joel Cairo. The competition for the Black Bird between the flaming heterosexual Brigid O'Shaughnessay and the gay Caspar Gutman. The straight team of Sam Spade and Brigid O'Shaughnessy versus the gay team of Joel Cairo, Caspar Gutman and Wilmer.

Caspar Gutman is the most interesting character. I like his laugh and how he avoids answering questions. Imagine him on a witness stand. Maybe Wilmer and Cairo follow him for the money--but maybe for more.

Then, there is the sexual tension around Sam Spade. Sam Spade is unfaithful to a succession of women--- Effie, Iva and Brigid (who he sells out to the cops)---all in 90 minutes of film.

No matter what one thinks of the morality and politics of homosexuality, beating up gays because they are gay is evil. Sam Spade is evil. Unlike most Bogart characters, there is nothing heroic about him.

The Maltese Falcon is a wicked tale.

Shopping for Passover with Johnny Mathis

2008-04-07T02:07:00.000-11:00

One of the worst traumas of the 60's is Johnny Mathis. His voice reeks of high fructose corn syrup.

Saturday night, I went shopping for Passover at Kosher on the Boulevard. The Shoprite on Roosevelt Boulevard does a tremendous service to the community. Its kosher department is the largest south of Fair Lawn, New Jersey. It has all the traditional foods from instant macaroni and cheese to teriyaki sauce.

Most interesting was the matza wrapped in the British empire flag. I inspected the box looking for the endorsement by Winston Churchill. Instead I learned that it had been packed in New Jersey. Maybe it is the official matza of Charles Battenberg and Camilla Parker-Bowles, but if the word got out the company would go out of business.

As I went from aisle to aisle, I was pummeled by "oldies" music. It was as if Hy Lit, rather than Elijah, was about to come to our seder. I complained to every employee I saw, "The 60's are OVER. Put on some living music." Each employee had been born long after the oldies had been consigned to the wax museum.

As I was about to pay $250 for the evening's entertainment, I was assaulted by Johnny Mathis singing "Wonderful, Wonderful."

I was ready to use my political connections to pull their kosher certificate.

Wonderful, wonderful.

Report from NoirCON

2008-04-06T11:01:00.000-11:00

Writers are poor; poets are destitute. So explained one panelist why people write and publish noir. It is for the fun, not the money. NoirCON was a blockbuster. Writers, publishers and fans gathered at the Society Hill Playhouse in Philadelphia for a four-day celebration of noir writing. For podcasts of NoirCON, click to Richard Edwards and Shannon Clute's www.noircast.net. For this non-author, NoirCON was an out-of-body experience. Hats off to Philadelphia's Doctor Noir (a.k.a. Louis Boxer, M.D.), Deen Kogan and staff.

The Activist

2008-04-01T14:13:00.001-11:00

1200 block of Walnut Street, noontime, Solstice week, Philadelphia.

NoirCON, April 3 to 6 in Philadelphia

2008-03-30T11:32:00.000-11:00

A celebration of Noir writing will be held at the Society Hill Playhouse in Philadelphia on April 3 to 6. Click for more information
Click for schedule

The Maltese Falcon: How could a "member" be so "ist?"

2008-03-26T05:06:00.000-11:00

My friend Dayna returned from an architectural tour of San Francisco. She capped her site seeing with a seafood dinner at John’s Grill.

“Dashiell Hammett and Sam Spade hung out there,” she said. Ever the city planner Dayna added, “You should read the Maltese Falcon to understand what San Francisco is about.”

I had given up on the Maltese Falcon at least twice. The details were too tedious and the action too slow. At Dayna’s urging, I gave the book another chance, reading slowly to envision San Francisco, 25 years after the automobile revolution and at the dawn of the radio revolution.

The book was written around 1929 by Dashiell Hammett who later became the lover of left-wing playwright Lillian Hellman. It depicts the lifestyle of the very rich.

The story is obviously fiction. Can you imagine people buying newspapers and operators dialing telephone numbers? What happened to the internet, iPhones and blackberries? It’s almost as bizarre as the story that Priscilla Hiss used a typewriter to copy pilfered documents.

The 1940 movie: Sam Spade, Joel Cairo, Bridgid O'Shaunghnessy, Caspar Gutman

What surprises me most about the Maltese Falcon, is how “ist” the writer was. If not officially a member, Dashiell Hammett reputedly traveled in the orbit of the Communist Party. Some leftist! He had no sense of political correctness. His depiction of Brigid O’Shaughnessy (Mary Astor in the movie) is totally sexist. His description of the gay character Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre in the movie) is 200 per cent heterosexist. However, Hammett’s greatest incorrectness is his insensitive portrayal of persons of size. This is how he describes Caspar Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet in the movie):

Spade went in. A fat man came to meet him.

The fat man was flabbily fat with bulbous pink cheeks and lips and chins and neck, with a great soft egg of a belly that was all his torso, and pendant cones for arms and legs. As he advanced to meet Spade all his bulbs rose and shook and fell separately with each step, in the manner of clustered soap-bubbles not yet released from the pipe through which they had been blown. His eyes, made small by fat puffs around them, were dark and sleek. Dark ringlets thinly covered his broad scalp. He wore a black cutaway coat, black vest, black satin. Ascot tie holding a pinkish pearl, striped grey worsted trousers, and patent-leather shoes.

Dashiell Hammett, Five Complete Novels, Avenel Books, New York, page 363.

Maybe Hammett was a red, maybe not. But at least Dayna, who wore black patent leather shoes when she visited John's Grill, told the truth. Hammett hung out at John’s Grill.

At page 404-405, Sam Spade

called another number and said: “Hello, Frank. This is Sam Spade. . . . Can you let me have a car with a driver who’ll keep his mouth shut? . . . To go down the peninsula right away. . . . Just a couple of hours. . . . Right. Have him pick me up at John’s, Ellis Street, as soon as he can make it.

He called another number--his office’s--held the receiver to his ear for a little while without saying anything, and replaced it on its hook.

He went to John’s Grill, asked the waiter to hurry his order of chops, baked potato, and sliced tomatoes, and ate hurriedly, and was smoking a cigarette with his coffee when a ticket-set youngish man with a plaid cap set askew above pale eyes and a tough cheery face came into the Grill and to his table.

I’ve been a vegetarian for 18 years. I understand potatoes and tomatoes. But what are chops?

Last man standing

2008-02-23T12:56:00.000-11:00

Solstice week, Philadelphia, facing south from City Hall.

The beard makes the man

2008-02-17T02:34:00.001-11:00

The young rabbinical student at the cusp of his career gives a sermon. With a full black beard and tall and lean stature, he brings to mind that greatest of Presidents, Avi Lincoln. Looking on and beaming with pride is his second cousin, the accomplished senior rabbi with a near white beard. The Jewish tradition has a wonderful story about a young rabbi about to take on leadership. Miraculously, overnight he grew a full white beard.

Technorati

2008-02-12T15:18:00.000-11:00

Technorati Profile

The heat of winter

2008-01-12T16:10:00.000-11:00

A cold night in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia, Aviva blogmaster for radicalruach hosted a Malavah Malkah at P'Nai Or to extend and send off the Sabbath. Havdallah lead by Rabbi Marcia Prager and Cantor Jack Kessler. Story telling by Nachshon David visiting from Israel. Singing, dancing, music, food.

Beat the heat.