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GET THE LATEST AT FORWARD.COM 1 GET THE LATEST AT FORWARD.COM News Five things Jews can do to stop climate change By Rob Eshman The news from the United Nations on climate change is as systemic endeavor – that’s what we need,” Savage wrote, daunting as it is depressing. The question is what can we, as invoking a classic line from Pirkei Avot, Ethics of the Fathers. individuals and as a community, do about it? Some Federations, like Baltimore’s Associated, have acted on The report’s key finding is that human activity has already and invested in these issues (and, by the way, galvanized young raised the planet temperature by 1.1 degree Celsius — the reason people in doing so). Others are far behind. Savage and his for this summer’s intense wildfires, floods, perhaps even successor at Hazon, Jakir Manela, are calling for “a community- the die-off of gray whales — and that the planet could warm by wide seven-year commitment to environmental sustainability 2, 3 or even 4 degrees Celsius, with even more catastrophic across the entire Jewish community” by the fall of 2022. effects, over the next two to three decades. 2. Sermonize. The (barely) good news is that cutting greenhouse gas Rabbis have an opportunity during the upcoming High Holidays emissions and removing carbon from the atmosphere can avert to spur their congregants to individual and collective action. the otherwise inevitable planet-wide disaster. In other words, Boring? Not Jewish enough? Listen to how Rabbi David Wolpe there’s hope, and where there is hope, there is a reason to act. Sinai Temple in Los Angeles spoke about it on Kol Nidre in 2019. Jewish organizations and leaders, with some notable “If you can’t imagine the bad that would happen,” he said, “then exceptions, have not made climate change action their focus. you could never imagine the good you can do to repair it.” The tendency is to focus on issues that are more immediate or 3. Act Alone. more emotional, like antisemitism, Israel advocacy or Jewish continuity. The individual choices we make for sustainable living matter — what we eat, what we drive, how we power our homes, But now we are faced with a report telling us that in order to businesses and institutions. As for eating, keeping kosher isn’t survive on this planet, period, we must stall, and hopefully enough. In 2008, Scientific America actually crunched the reverse, climate change. Otherwise, we face the very real option numbers on whether the diet of those who observe the laws of of eradicating antisemitism by killing off humanity as we kashrut produces more or less greenhouse gases. The bottom know it. line is that America’s 10 million kosher consumers (not all of If we as humans get climate change wrong, it will make very them Jewish) represent a marginal slice of the market. little difference what we as Jews get right. But to the extent personal choices matter, eating a pound of Many climate experts warn that the time in which individual beef, whose production releases 13.67 pounds of greenhouse action can make a difference has long passed, and that only gases, is far worse for the planet than eating, say, a pound of institutional and governmental change can make any wild salmon, which releases less than .23 pounds. Eating a meaningful difference. As a community that accounts for just mostly plant-based diet with sustainably raised or harvested 2 of every 1,000 people on Earth, it’s hard to feel like even animal proteins is a start, though as food writer Mark Bittman universal action by Jews can have real impact. Still, our tradition warns in “Animal Vegetable Junk,” we are past the point where calls for tikkun olam — for each of us, individually and personal choice alone will forestall disaster. What if individuals collectively, to do what we can to repair our broken world. not only made better personal choices but did so as part of a Here are five ways to start. communal effort, multiplying the effect? If your Jewish institution doesn’t have a plan to offer sustainably-grown food— 1. Take climate change as seriously as antisemitism. and cut back on food waste— now’s the time. Climate change “has to go on the agenda of every single Jewish 4. Support faux meat. institution,” Nigel Savage, the founder of the Jewish environmental group Hazon wrote in response to news of the The world needs solutions to climate change that can scale U.N. report. That means Federations, synagogues, the whole quickly, far faster than individual diets. This month, an Israeli alphabet soup of Jewish nonprofits, need to define and enact a start-up, Aleph Farms, announced it will increase production of response as thoroughly as they did in recent years in its cellular meat to 5,000 burgers a day, an astonishing volume. addressing antisemitism. “A deeply serious public commitment, Aleph is the leading company worldwide for creating meat by not to finishing the task, but to starting it as a central and growing cells from otherwise living animals. The meat looks and Five things Jews can do to stop climate change 2 GET THE LATEST AT FORWARD.COM tastes like meat because it is. There are other Israeli Opinion companies at the cutting edge of faux meat production, including Redefine Meat that are poised to satisfy the world’s Jewish wisdom can help Cuomo growing craving for juicy protein while all but eliminating meat production— which the UN report cited as a major contributor apologize for real to global warming. By Laura E. Adkins 5. Use our leverage. With virtually every party leader calling for his resignation, As Bittman and others have pointed out, only governments Gov. Andrew Cuomo had little choice but to step down. and corporations have the capacity to launch the sweeping policies and practices that will forestall climate change. That’s Yet it took Cuomo 89 seconds into his resignation speech on why a Jewish community that has generations of expertise in Tuesday to get to I’m-sorry-you’re-offended — which he leveraging its power to influence legislation and policy followed with excuses, swipes at his accusers and denials of changes needs to take climate change on as a cause. bad behavior. Only two major Jewish groups, Hazon and Dayenu, have made My colleague Mira Fox wrote that his apology was “a decent this their focus — they need far more support. If your thing is first step — especially considering that it was paired with a lobbying for Israel, read this sobering assessment of the meaningful action.” environmental and social disaster that awaits Israel in the face of global warming to understand that the country’s primary I’m not so optimistic. Though 18 minutes in, Cuomo did finally foe is unseen, and at its gates. give us something to work with. It is at all our gates. Addressing his daughters, Cuomo said, “Your dad made mistakes. And he apologized. And he learned from it. And – that’s what life is all about.” Rob Eshman is national editor of the Forward. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @foodaism or email [email protected]. I’ll assume this statement is aspirational — because the first step of learning from one’s mistakes is not issuing triumphant proclamations, but embodying quiet humility. As the Catholic scholar Marcellino D’Ambrosio writes, “seven deadly sins are identified from which all other sins flow. The deadliest of these seven is pride.” And as the Book of Proverbs puts it, “When Create a Future for arrogance appears, disgrace follows; wisdom is with those Courageous Jewish Journalism who are unassuming.” It’s very easy to say “I apologize” when you’re backed into a The Forward is the most significant Jewish voice in corner. It’s very hard to actually repent for bad behavior — to American journalism. Our outstanding reporting on spend time in quiet reflection, out of the spotlight, thinking cultural, social, and political issues inspires readers of about what you’ve done wrong and how you’ll change your life all ages and animates conversation across generations. to avoid repeating similar behaviors in the future. For Cuomo Your support enables our critical work and contributes to have any hope at all of salvaging his legacy, it’s time to to a vibrant, connected global Jewish community. stop talking and start taking his own advice. The Forward is a nonprofit association and is supported In even the shortest version of the process of repentance, by the contributions of its readers. repairing the harm you’ve done to someone else takes a very long time. In the traditional Jewish framework, we must recognize that what we did was wrong, regret what we did, To donate online visit stop doing it, feel bad about having done it, sincerely Forward.com/donate apologize to the people we have harmed and ask for forgiveness, resolve not to do what we did again, increase our good behavior in other arenas, and actively work on becoming To donate by phone, call more self-aware in general. 212-453-9454 Even for the best of us, trying to change a deeply ingrained behavior or make up for serious harm might take years, if not Five things Jews can do to stop climate change 3 GET THE LATEST AT FORWARD.COM a lifetime. It’s very likely that you might even die still trying. Culture One 13th-century Spanish rabbi provides a poignant example. Why retire? Catching up with the most-watched Jew in Rabbi Yonah of Gerona led the demonization of the rationalist rabbi Maimonides, even going so far as to burn Maimonides’ works in the streets of Paris. When the Dominican Catholics, inspired by Rabbi Yonah’s fervor, started burning cartloads television history of volumes of Talmud as well, he realized the terrible folly of By Court Stroud his actions. This isn’t a trick question. Who is the Jewish TV star who Rabbi Yonah spent the rest of his life trying to atone for his hosted the longest-running variety show in television history, behavior. He vowed to make a pilgrimage to Maimonides’ airing for more than 50 years and watched by as many as 100 grave in Israel in order to spend seven days requesting million viewers worldwide? forgiveness in front of ten witnesses; he was stopped by the If you answered Don Francisco, host of Univision’s “Sabado Spanish authorities on the way there, and never made it. When Gigante,” which signed off in 2015 after 53 years and 42 days he became a distinguished Torah teacher in Toledo, he (a Guinness World Record), give yourself a point. And if you deliberately incorporated Maimonides’ teachings into his said Mario Kreutzberger — or better, Mario Luis Kreutzberger lectures and curriculum. He wrote several thick volumes on Blumenfeld — add extra credit. atonement and regret, including the 683-page “Shaarei Teshuvah,” The Gates of Repentance, a severe and intense A Chilean native and the son of German Jews who fled to that guide to the agonizing steps required to truly atone for what country, Kreutzberger recently penned his life story, “Con one has done wrong. ganas de vivir. Memorias” (“A Desire to Live: A Memoir.”) His Judging from Cuomo’s words and actions, he seems to view second memoir, it follows his 2002 autobiography, “Life, the process of moving on more as one of wiggling away: cast Camera, Action!” Both detail his journey from an early doubt on the accusers, vaguely apologize, remove yourself fascination with television to becoming the on-screen from the scene (sort of), remind us that you love your children embodiment of international Hispanic culture. and the accusations made against you hurt them, and insist With no plans to retire, the 80-year-old Kreutzberger hosted a that what you did was not really so bad, anyway. limited series on CNN in February, “Don Francisco: Reflexiones It wasn’t a great look. But the words he let slip when 2021.” That month he spoke with media writer Court Stroud. addressing his daughters reveal that he might know the real Their conversation originally appeared in Forbes. hard truth deep down. You’re one of the Spanish language’s most famous people, After sincerely admitting his behavior and apologizing, as so it’s ironic that Spanish wasn’t your first language. Cuomo himself framed it, next must come the process of Don Francisco: Yes, German was my first language. I lived with learning from what happened — and making this learning what my grandmother and she spoke only German. When I went to the rest of his life is all about. school, I spoke Spanish. – I’m the son of a Holocaust survivor. My father was in a Laura E. Adkins is the Forward’s Opinion Editor. Follow her on concentration camp and my mother left the country after Twitter @Laura_E_Adkins or email [email protected] . Kristallnacht. My father, he never wanted to talk about the concentration camp or that he suffered. One of his relatives told me that he was in Bergen-Belsen. Create a Future for Courageous I wrote some books with small parts of my story because my Jewish Journalism father never wanted to talk about this. That’s why I did a documentary about the concentration camps under the name “Witnesses of Silence” (“Testigos del Silencio”), because not To donate online visit Forward.com/donate only my father, but most of the survivors also never wanted to talk about this. To donate by phone, call 212-453-9454 Four or five months ago, during the time that I was writing my new book, “A Desire to Live” (“Con Ganas de Vivir”), I learned that my father was the prisoner 27770 from Buchenwald. Jewish wisdom can help Cuomo apologize for real 4 GET THE LATEST AT FORWARD.COM Your parents escaped from anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. funny name, “Don Francisco Ziziguen González.” That must have had a huge effect on you. I went one day to a contest to tell jokes. I was very good telling Oh, yes, it has even today. Because I just did a small piece jokes. But before I went on, the host asked me, “What’s your about Buchenwald Camp, what it means for me knowing — name?” I said, “Mario Kreutzberger.” “What? That’s impossible.” when I’m 80 years old — that my father was the prisoner 27770. I said, “Why don’t you call me Don Francisco?” I won and said [to myself], “This is a name that is for good luck.” About eight This was when I knew it was very strong for me. Even though I weeks after, I took out my name, and forever I’m Don Francisco. knew that he was in a concentration camp, I never knew how it was he arrived. My colleague is a journalist. He wrote to that Of all the interviews you’ve conducted, which surprised you concentration camp. He found out the name, the number, the the most? date when [my father] came in, the date when he came out. I Many. I interviewed all the Presidents of the United States: could put together different pieces of my story and fill out this Bush, the father; Clinton; Bush, the son; Obama, and also the chapter about the concentration camp in the new book. candidates running against them. Obama was a very important At the end, I said, “Mein Vater hat es mir immer gesagt” — that interview for me, and also Bush, the son. means “my father always told me” — yes, forgive but do not forget. What happened with George W. Bush? How did you start your career in television? With Bush, I have an anecdote. We drove to the place where he My father sent me in 1959 to New York. I went to the technical lives in Texas, before he was president. Very far. I arrived there university to become a men’s clothing designer. I was there for and did the interview. At the end, I said, “Mr. Bush, maybe two years. But when I went into my very humble hotel room, I you’re going to be the president. You never will remember me saw a radio very similar to the radio that I had in my home in because I’m from a humble television station in Spanish.” He Santiago but instead of having a piece of cloth in the front, this said to me, “You’re wrong. I’m going to give you the first “radio” had a glass. When I put it on, you were able to see and interview.” to listen at the same time. I said, what I’m studying is yesterday. He won the election and was the president. He did a big party This is the future: television. for the Hispanics. I was not invited. [Laughs] I was forgotten I fell in love at first sight when I saw television, watching Jack completely. After about eight days, they called me from the Paar, Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson. I was inspired by these people. White House. The guy who was in charge of Hispanic relations told me, “The President told you he will give you the first How did you get your start performing on TV? interview.” He had only done press conferences. I flew to When I went back to Chile, that was the beginning of Chilean Washington, and he gave me the first interview. television. I went to the station to say to the people there, “You You just wrote your fourth book. You’re starting a new series know, I saw more television than all of you. I was watching for with CNN en Español. You have so much energy that I’m two years.” “But who are you? You are nobody.” Oh, my hesitant to ask, but has retirement ever crossed your mind? perseverance. I was trying and trying for one year. They gave me an opportunity on Sundays for one hour. I was just married. No. This is like killing your soul. Why do you have to retire? At the week number eight, fuera. They fired me. There is a magic word: perseverance. Perseverance is the word You were let go? that keeps me, at 80 years, trying to start something new. I was the captain of a 747 and now I’m building a Piper with one I was so depressed. At the week number nine, they took me engine. back. The people kept calling for me. “Where’s the fat guy?” I was always heavy, even more than now. Why? It doesn’t matter if it’s 1,000 feet, 5,000 feet or 7,000 feet. The altitude doesn’t matter. What’s important is flying. I Were you already going by the name Don Francisco? like to fly. I started acting because my mother was an opera singer. She – was so depressed. She never could perform because of the This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Court Stroud has Holocaust. She always thought that maybe I could be a singer worked at Univision, Telemundo, TV Azteca and CBS Interactive, among and she promoted me always to study singing and to learn others broadcast outlets. He runs The Cledor Group, a media consulting different instruments. But I was not able to do that. and training company and holds undergraduate degrees from the I started acting in a Jewish club and made the impression of a University of Texas-Austin, an MBA from Harvard University and Jewish guy that couldn’t speak Spanish well. This guy had a teaches at Columbia. He may be reached at courtstroud.com Why retire? Catching up with the most-watched Jew in television history 5 GET THE LATEST AT FORWARD.COM Culture Disney star Raviv Ullman is ready to be your new rabbi By Mira Fox Raviv Ullman might have been your middle school crush when he starred in Disney’s “Phil of the Future.” Today, he’s probably more akin to your rabbi (not that you can’t have a crush on your rabbi). While Ullman still acts, he’s moved past goofy sci-fi comedies to more serious work, such as a documentary about the Dakota Access Pipeline. And, during the pandemic, he began a new podcast, called “The Study,” in which he dissects and interprets the weekly Torah portion along with various Jewish professionals and luminaries. Guests have included Ilana Glazer and Neshama Carlebach. Ullman’s maternal grandfather, Joseph Ehrenkranz, was a charismatic pulpit rabbi in Stamford, C.T. Ullman called him a “superhero” who everyone knew from his “incredible sermons,” so in a way, the podcast is nothing new. But Ullman takes a different approach to the text, looping in activism, Photo by Getty Images environmental themes and even the history of smells. I have also started working in the opera space recently, which is ‘I never forgot and I never again felt as safe’ — readers share the brand-new but really exciting. Boston Lyric Opera and Long most antisemitic things that ever happened to them Beach Opera commissioned an eight-part miniseries by James When we spoke, Ullman was warm and chatty, often going off Derrah, the LBO artistic director, and Ellen Reid, who won a into long, philosophizing spiels as he considered Judaism, art Pulitzer for opera, and they wrote this opera. I was invited to and his relationship to Torah — as well as comparing notes with come act in it — it was a dual cast where they would record it in me on biking around the city from his former days living in a studio and actors would act it on screen. Brooklyn. “I often forget that I’m in interview mode and I’m just I’ve since been roped into this opera world. Up until recently, I’d having a good time talking,” he said. actually never been to an opera. Hearing opera singers, like Our conversation, edited lightly for clarity and rather heavily for [Metropolitan Opera star] Isabel Leonard, sing at full volume, length, is below. feet away from you, is one of the most insane things I’ve ever experienced. It’s like being on a roller-coaster ride, you feel it in I have to admit that I grew up without cable and I have never your toes. seen “Phil of the Future.” And how did the podcast fit into all of this? You’re in the clear. It was a very specific moment, that show was not on for very long, and so it was a very small but mighty In the beginning of the pandemic, everything shut down, and audience. I’m glad to talk about other things. everything that I do is collaborative. I really missed that. A podcast that was studying Torah with a rotating group of rabbis Why don’t you tell me a little bit about what you’ve been up seemed like an incredible way to be in conversation with people to recently? I know you’ve been working on this documentary about the world around us. about the Dakota Access Pipeline. It was born out of doing Shabbat dinners at home. In the When I started that project, a director friend said, “Oh, you’re pandemic, we kept it up and that was really helpful. It was really making a documentary — have fun for the next six years!” hard to engage with the world — we didn’t know what the heck And I said, “Ha ha, six years.” Anyway, it looks like that’s about was going on. There was a pandemic, and a whole new upswell how long documentaries take to make, so that’s still an of activism, and it was hard to look straight at it all the time, ongoing project. with perspective. Disney star Raviv Ullman is ready to be your new rabbi 6 GET THE LATEST AT FORWARD.COM Torah gave us an in. Here’s what’s happening in the Torah, and sometimes, but why are these things so deeply specific? When I what does that make us think of, and how do we reflect on it? read this whole thing about acacia wood and the very specific That was a really useful tool that kept a big group of friends in incense that was used, that made me wonder why smell is so deep conversation with each other at a time when we didn’t important, and how smell has been used in religions across the know where exactly to start the conversation. So I’m trying to course of history. So we brought people in to talk about that. be truthful to that with the show. The other thing that’s even more difficult and more thrilling are How did those Shabbat dinners get started? the really problematic parts. Like, Pinchas is a problematic character but he’s written as a hero. And we find a lot of I went to Israel with my brother for a few months and came misogynistic writing in the Torah. On the show, we try to really back inspired to have Shabbat again, so I started hosting look at that and tear it apart. What if we’re able to trace some Shabbat for friends in both L.A. and New York, wherever I was. modern bit of misogyny back to a line in Torah? Then we’ve We weren’t a group of people that were looking to go clubbing actually uncovered something and can start to unravel it. on a Friday night, we wanted to spend it breaking bread, and everyone was welcome. It sounds like there’s a clear theme of interrogating stories in all of your work. I remember being nervous to get all of these non-Jews to wash their hands for challah and then stay quiet until they ate it. And That’s the Judaism I grew up with. Friends would come over for then it was everyone’s favorite thing — people looked forward Seder, and they’d been used to reading through the Seder as to that quiet moment at the end of the week. fast as possible to get to dinner. But we sit around for hours and hours and hours and rip the thing to shreds, and we do it That kind of blew my mind. People are starving for this ritual! every year. It’s one of my favorite things to do, because it’s like We need Shabbat to just take a break for a second, even if it’s this deep engagement with my family. the 20 seconds between washing your hands and the challah. I was taught that asking questions is one of the most Jewish Then I hosted Shabbat Zoom every week in the beginning of the things you can do. Israel means “to wrestle with God” — I’m pandemic and so many people showed up. Like, this was after leaning into that as hard as I can. I don’t have to blindly accept they had been on Zoom all week long, and they still showed up. anything, the whole point is to wrestle with it and ask the hard questions. Who is the podcast’s audience? It’s very specific and very Jewish, yet on the other hand, it’s not – you talk to all kinds of How has doing the podcast changed your relationship people and connect the text to the environment, to Black to Judaism? Lives Matter, to activism. One of my favorite parts of making the show is sitting down I recently had this realization that all of the different art that I with my producer Evan, and we read through the Torah portion want to make — the person that I want to make this for, the together, and think about all of the conversations we could intended audience for all of these things, is me. have, and then figure out how to do the episode. But Evan and I are in deep conversation around the text, and that’s our own I get really frustrated in the arts when people try to make chevruta. I’d never done that as an adult, not since I was at something for everyone. I definitely don’t pretend or want to Hillel Hebrew Day School. pretend that I’m speaking on behalf of all millennial Jews, or all progressive-leaning Jews. Who is your dream guest? The journey of the show was me being curious to go through I’d love to study Torah with Obama, or to talk to [Secretary of the Torah for the first time as an adult, and to do it with people the Interior] Deb Haaland about her spiritual journey and the who are way smarter than me. And that is seemingly resonating importance of land and our relationship to it. — we dip in and out of the number one spot on iTunes, which is wild. Oh, or when I was a touring musician, I did a tour with Lizzo, very early on in her career. It would be fun to study some Torah How do you approach all of the boring parts of Torah? You with Lizzo. know, the bits you’re afraid to get as your Torah portion for a bar mitzvah, that say exactly how long the Temple should be – or what kind of wood to use. Mira Fox is a reporter at the Forward. Get in touch at [email protected] or on Twitter @miraefox . We like to have fun with it. Leviticus can be a little dry Disney star Raviv Ullman is ready to be your new rabbi 7 GET THE LATEST AT FORWARD.COM Culture Scrap the sermon: In the pandemic rabbis decide less is more By Louis Keene A time to learn, a time to feel, a time to snooze: the rabbi’s The change has helped reduce the overall length of the B’nai sermon. For centuries it has given Saturday morning prayer David service by around 45 minutes compared to pre-pandemic services their character and depth — and their length. times. Congregants are now in and out of shul in less than two hours most weeks — a pace that would have been considered But last summer, when Orthodox synagogues across the United blistering before the backyard minyans made them States held abridged outdoor services to limit the spread of commonplace. COVID-19, the sermon — along with most singing and large parts of the ritual — became a casualty. Shorn of accoutrements, and For congregants interested in going deeper, Kanefsky leads a with spaced-out seats keeping chatter to a minimum, services 30-minute shiur, a text-based Torah class, most weeks after moved briskly, almost businesslike. kiddush. Between the shiur and the mini-drasha, his total preparation time roughly equals the pre-pandemic amount. Now, with congregations mostly vaccinated, synagogues reopened and the traditional service restored, some rabbis are Shorter sermons are different by nature — more to the point, trimming their sermons as part of a concerted effort to keep the with fewer offramps to lose sleepy congregants. service moving and congregants engaged. The pandemic taught what the people in the pews might have been too embarrassed “In the old days, I would search for numerous sources that to say to their spiritual leaders: talk less. buttress a certain point,” Kanefsky said. “Don’t do that anymore — I got my one source. And then you wanted to weave in a The secret Jewish history of Jethro Tull story? Alright, so there’s no story. You have an idea, and you find a delivery mechanism for that idea that is straight and Rabbi Kalman Topp, head of Beth Jacob Congregation, an unadorned.” Orthodox synagogue in Beverly Hills, Calif., said that his sermons occasionally stretched past 15 minutes prior to the As long as there have been rabbis, there have been sermons. pandemic. Now he keeps them between five and 10. And there are no rules on sermons. But there are conventions. “‘Less is more’ is the name of the game,” Topp said. The Talmud contrasts the approach of Rabbi Abbahu, who The abbreviated sermon is far from the only change favored a storytelling style, with Rabbi Hiyya Bar Abba’s synagogues are making in the service of speed. They are also expositions on Jewish law. But the sermon as centerpiece of the hastening the procession of the Torah scroll, eliminating prayer service only dates back a few centuries, and is generally misheberach blessings between aliyot and cutting out select understood to have been borrowed from Protestantism. singing parts — in some cases, enough to get congregants home And before the standard length was 15 minutes, speeches 45 minutes sooner than they used to. typically lasted twice that. But while some rabbis still cling to the old format, rabbis who Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein, the rabbi of Congregation Kehillath shrunk the speech have encountered little pushback. They are Jeshurun from 1936 until his death in 1979, and who for decades all reckoning with a lesson many are now learning after more taught homiletics — that is, the art of the sermon — to rabbinical than a year of working from home and praying around the students at Yeshiva University, was known for delivering corner: people love convenience, and they hate to part with it. sermons so meticulously organized you could set a watch to At B’nai David-Judea, an Orthodox synagogue in Los Angeles them. Between 11:00 and 11:30 — marked by the bell tower of the where this writer prays, Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky has replaced the nunnery across the street from the synagogue — Lookstein full-length sermon with what he calls the “mini-drasha” — a five- would pack an introduction, three points and a conclusion, week or six-minute talk. Rather than precede Musaf, the concluding after week. service of morning prayers, his sermon now follows it, more “When somebody was asked what he talked about, nobody parting wisdom than fire-and-brimstone. Kanefsky said he would say, ‘He talked about 30 minutes,’” recalled his son, Rabbi adopted the new approach after gathering input from longtime Haskel Lookstein. synagogue members. “They enjoyed an experience of davening that had momentum,” In 1958, when he began giving sermons at his father’s he said. synagogue every few weeks, he too spoke for half an hour, Scrap the sermon: In the pandemic rabbis decide less is more 8 GET THE LATEST AT FORWARD.COM reading from handwritten notes that filled about 10 to 12 News pieces of paper, double-spaced. But the younger Lookstein, who inherited both his father’s pulpit and his homiletics class, Where the kitschy Holy Land said the speech gradually contracted. theme park died, a medical Around 30 years ago, he said he shortened his weekly sermon facility will rise to about 20 minutes. And in the years leading up to his By Mark I. Pinsky retirement from YU, he said, he taught his students to aim for 15. The end of days for Orlando’s Bible-based theme park, And since returning to synagogue, Lookstein’s successor at the Holy Land Experience was widely foretold. What no one Kehillath Jeshurun, Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, has been speaking expected was the form its afterlife would take. for only five to seven minutes. Steinmetz also delivers a longer Consider: Holy Land was the vision of a Jew who converted to essay each week — via email. Christianity and became a Baptist minister. When low ticket sales and runaway operating expenses led to huge financial Lookstein supported the change, and imagined his father losses, the park was taken over by a controversial, scandal- would too. plagued, Pentecostal television ministry. “People don’t have the same attention span anymore,” Then last week, the 14-acre property was sold to a Seventh- Lookstein, 89, said. “You gotta adjust to people’s needs.” Day Adventist-affiliated health system for $32 million. The Still, for many people — clergy and lay — the homily remains vest pocket theme park is likely to be leveled and turned into a essential. Delivered after the Torah scroll is returned to the regional health center. ark, a powerful sermon can inject relevance into the liturgy “AdventHealth will make a significant investment in and build momentum toward the individual’s silent recitation redeveloping the property to bring enhanced health care of the Musaf Amidah. services to the community,” Amy Pavuk-Gentry, an Rabbi David Wolkenfeld, who leads Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel, AdventHealth spokesperson, told the Orlando Sentinel. an Orthodox synagogue in Chicago said the segue from Holy Land was founded by the Rev. Marvin Rosenthal. Raised sermon to prayer was impossible to replicate over Zoom, let Jewish in Philadelphia, Rosenthal became a traditional Baptist. alone in an email, and is hard to capitalize on with a shorter The dual goal of his ministry, Zion’s Hope, he said, was to speech. educate Christians about the Jewish roots of their faith, and to “My goal is, when you say ‘Please rise for Musaf, it’s like, bam,” proselytize Jews to abandon their faith. he said. “That’s your mic-drop moment.” The latter drew criticism from local rabbis when Holy Land He was not the only one wary of sacrificing too much on the Experience opened in 2001. But their concerns didn’t altar of convenience. materialize when few Jews went to the attraction. Rosenthal is an ex-Marine and former professional dancer Lookstein, at least, has made peace with whatever might be with a circus ring master’s flair for showmanship, down to his lost as services and sermons get shorter. Were he called upon pencil thin mustache. He disdained – but tolerated – modern to give a sermon today, he said, he wouldn’t let it go longer evangelical outreach to Jews like “Jews for Jesus.” But he also than 10 minutes (that is, five or six pages of notes). disdained charismatic Pentecostal Christians. When Holy Land Lookstein said he thought that as art of the sermon was lost opened he famously said he wouldn’t hire a Pentecostal at the to time, so would the Jewish capacity for a certain type of park, even to sell hot dogs. intellectual rigor. But losing congregants would be worse. Rosenthal, who is ailing, did not respond to the Forward’s “What may be lost is depth of thinking, and breadth of request for comment. covering a subject,” Lookstein said. “But there’s no point doing Lower than expected attendance led to financial trouble and that if people are not ready to listen. It is what it is. You can’t Rosenthal lost control of the attraction in 2005. His backers offer something to people that they’re not prepared to took over, cast him out, and sold the park to Trinity receive.” Broadcasting Network, headed by a flamboyant Pentecostal – couple, Jan and Paul Crouch. Despite grandiose plans to Louis Keene is a staff reporter at the Forward. He can be reached at expand Holy Land, after the couple’s deaths their successors [email protected] or on Twitter @thislouis . couldn’t make a go of it. Scrap the sermon: In the pandemic rabbis decide less is more 9 GET THE LATEST AT FORWARD.COM Most of the staff was laid off before the onset of the COVID-19 “The Florida Project,” illustrated the plight of such workers, who pandemic. Now they have sold the property to AdventHealth, often live hand-to-mouth. which is affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist church, considered by some evangelical and traditional Christians to Recently, especially in the southeast part of the county, an hold a few questionable doctrinal stances. economic alternative has been rising. These include new hospitals (Nemours and the VA) and a clinic affiliated with a Orlando is a kind of fantasy heaven, where imaginative dreams new medical school at the University of Central Florida. become reality, thanks largely to sprawling Disney, Universal, Clustered around these medical facilities are a number of and SeaWorld theme parks, located just down Interstate 4 from biotech companies, both established and start-ups. Holy Land, and a host of kitschy, lower-tier attractions like Gatorland, the Titanic Museum and “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” The prospect is for better paying jobs and some relief from the powerful hospitality industry, which now exerts a stranglehold Less well known is that Orlando is also a place where ambitious on the local political system. dreams sometimes die hard, especially when entertainment and Christian religion are combined, as they were at Holy Land. So, Holy Land’s final irony: From the rubble of a theme park that – for inspirational entertainment – celebrated Jesus’ healing Central Florida, despite being an evangelical heartland that ministry through faith, will rise a faith-based facility dedicated supports numerous mega-churches, as well as being the home to healing through modern science. of national and international ministries like Campus Crusade for Christ, has been a graveyard of attractions with a – Mark I. Pinsky chronicled the rise and fall of the Holy Land Experience Christian agenda. from the time it was in the drawing board, for the Forward, the Orlando Previous casualties range from the low budget musical “The Sentinel and other national and international publications. Rock and the Rabbi: The Story of the Powerful Friendship Between a Fisherman and the Son of Man,” to the multi-million dollar “Ben-Hur: The Musical.” The problem, observers said, was not a lack of faith, either on the part of locals or tourists. Major theme parks have conditioned audiences to demand high production values for Create a Future for their entertainment dollars. Yet spectacles are expensive to produce, which means high ticket prices. Orlando’s big three Courageous Jewish commercial theme parks charge more than $100 for a Journalism one-day pass. The Forward is the most significant Jewish voice in “Ben-Hur” spent eight million dollars designing a 2,600-seat American journalism. Our outstanding reporting on theater, complete with eight animatronic horses for a chariot cultural, social, and political issues inspires readers of race, and a six-ton Roman galley. Still, both “The Rock and the all ages and animates conversation across generations. Rabbi” and Ben-Hur closed after just a few months. Similar Your support enables our critical work and contributes efforts for religious entertainment attractions never got off to a vibrant, connected global Jewish community. the ground. The Forward is a nonprofit association and is supported For the Holy Land Experience, Rosenthal hired a design by the contributions of its readers. company that worked with Universal, and its recreation of First Century Jerusalem drew praise. There were costumed shows with singing and dancing, but no rides. At one point Holy Land, To donate online visit although a much more modest attraction, was charging $50 a day. Forward.com/donate There is a subtle, symbolic logic to the purchase of Holy Land by AdventHealth. To donate by phone, call Call 212-453-9454 For years, Central Florida progressives have bemoaned the area’s reliance on the low-wage service and hospitality jobs – theme parks, restaurants and hotels. The poignant, 2017 film, Where the kitschy Holy Land theme park died, a medical facility will rise 10 GET THE LATEST AT FORWARD.COM Culture How a Yiddish theater mecca became ‘the church of rock ‘n’ roll’ By Henry Sapoznik 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the closing of the Fillmore East, the iconic theater that early on was dubbed by a member of the Grateful Dead as “The Church of Rock n Roll.” And while the Fillmore is best known for the way it mainstreamed youth music, this rock ‘n’ roll church also has a Yiddish provenance. It was built in 1922 by Jewish entertainment entrepreneurs Elias Meyer and Louis Schneider and began life as the Commodore Theater, a swank 2,200 seat revolutionary hybrid mixed-use space (movies and vaudeville) and just one of their 17 theaters on the Lower East Side alone). Meyer and Schneider presented silent movies and vaudeville (both American and Yiddish) alongside night school, a popular and profitable method for fast-track Jewish acculturation. (For example, in the winter 1925 season, their Mt. Morris Theater in a formerly Jewish Harlem neighborhood, which was seeing a significant demographic shift of incoming African-Americans, Meyer and Schneider booked in Goldye Mae Steiner billed as “di shvartze khaznte, The World’s Only Colored Woman Cantor.”) To build the Commodore, Meyer and Schneider turned to architect Harrison G. Wiseman (1877-1945) whose neo- Orientalist and Deco- styled theater constructions were among the most literate and lavish of the day. Wiseman (who, By NYC Department of Records… incidentally, was not Jewish) found even more popularity in the late 1920s with the arrival of talking pictures and microphones. was sold in 1956 and functions today as “The Holy House of Theaters rushing to “wire” their houses for sound found that Prayer for All People.” extant Wiseman theaters were eminently better suited than other theaters to the different needs of both amplified and On August 8, 1927, Variety announced the unexpected news acoustic sound. that Meyer and Schneider would be selling their Commodore Theater to rival mixed-use showman Marcus Loew. In no time, The playhouses of Wiseman, who could easily be called the Loew’s Commodore turned to its own formidable roster of father of New York Yiddish theater architecture, were familiar to movies from its MGM Hollywood studios and deep catalog of Yiddish theatergoers on the Lower East Side as some of his variety artists including those in the Yiddish world. earlier houses (like the extant Orpheum, which has hosted “Stomp” for years) had subsequently become Yiddish theaters. A January 18,1928 notice in Variety states that Boris Thomashefsky (whose fortunes had begun to wane in the late Wiseman’s first-known Yiddish commission was the 1925 Louis 1920s) would debut a vaudeville sketch called “Mark’s Millions” N. Jaffe Theater, home to Maurice Schwartz’s Yiddish Arts at the Loew’s Commodore, ironically only a few blocks from Theater on East12th and Second Avenue; it functions today as where Thomashefsky’s own original theater once stood. The Village East Cinemas with much of the interior decorations still intact. The rise of talking pictures and the decline of vaudeville in the early 1930s meant that Loew’s theaters cut back on live shows Yiddish shop-worker-cum-vest-pocket de’ Medici art benefactor to increase focus primarily on offerings from MGM. William Rolland too turned to Wiseman when he sought to build a theater for the great Michal Michalesco in 1929. Rolland At the same time, a change in ownership at WLTH, one of erected his eponymous Brooklyn theater on St. John’s Place, Brooklyn’s feisty low-power radio stations featuring Yiddish (the “Gateway to Eastern Parkway” and the source of its programs, would bring the decamped little station cheek to jowl subsequent name change to the Parkway Theater.) The theater with the Commodore. How a Yiddish theater mecca became ‘the church of rock ‘n’ roll’ 11 GET THE LATEST AT FORWARD.COM With business offices and some studios pitched at next door’s California where he honed his promoter skills creating Manhattan Central, WLTH traded on the superb acoustics of the performing platforms for bands like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Commodore, periodically broadcasting concerts performed for a Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company and Janis Joplin, live audience from its stage. For example, poet actor/director Graham continued to maintain an active link with his (and the driving force of WLTH Yiddish programming) Victor Yiddishkayt. He was the first underwriter of Chabad San Packer, would, early in his tenure, broadcast live performances Francisco’s giant Hanukkah menorah the first of its kind outside of his adaptations of Yiddish novels and plays before theater of Israel, and maintained some Yiddish literacy. His older sister, audiences until the station was forced off the air in 1942. the late Ester Chichinsky, was known to be a fluent Yiddish The 1948 anti-trust rulings against movie studios owning their speaker. own theaters meant that the Loew’s Commodore was cut loose It’s impossible not to think that Graham: educated, clear-eyed from MGM. It eventually became The Village Theater, whose and intuitive — would not be aware of the irony of what he was management paid the bills by toggling between neighborhood doing in repurposing this old Jewish theater and changing its theater groups, foreign films and short-run seasonal leases. identity the same way the neighborhood, too, was changing its One of those leases was made to Polish-born Yiddish actor own identity from the Lower East Side to the East Village. Ben Bonus. Like a salmon swimming back upstream, Graham returned in Bonus, (1920-1984) had come to the U.S. in 1929 and, denied 1968 to the New York of his middle youth to open a church of membership in the Hebrew Actor’s Union, toured the country in Rock n Roll in a former Jewish theater — now debased and his so-called Jewish Mobile Theater (“a limousine with scenery disemboweled, one of a phalanx of redundant and anonymous tied on the roof and six actors huddled inside”). He became a neighborhood storefront banks — as the last of the flamboyant sort-of Yiddish theater Johnny Appleseed, championing the Jewish impresarios to make its walls ring. works of Goldfaden, Sholom Asch and Mendele Moykher Sforim – and touring the provincial Yiddish theater circuit. Author Henry Sapoznik In 1964, Bonus and producer partner Sol Dickstein started leasing the Village Theater running what their ads described as “a musical revue with American and Yiddish stars and revivals of Yiddish film classics” — in other words, an unintentional reanimation of the successful original mixed-use approach of Meyer and Schneider in the 20s. Create a Future for Working with his wife, the late Yiddish actress, Mina Bern, their shows like “Let’s Sing Yiddish” (and its tie-in LP) when matched Courageous Jewish Journalism to their unspooling of old Yiddish talkies drew in crowds. A few The Forward is the most significant Jewish voice in weekends a month, he was able to fill the theater’s 2,800 seats. American journalism. Our outstanding reporting on cultural, social, and political issues inspires readers of But external changes were already in place at the Village — a all ages and animates conversation across generations. November 11, 1965 press release touted a “folk rock” concert Your support enables our critical work and contributes starring Chuck Berry! Tuesday night presentations of “The to a vibrant, connected global Jewish community. League for Spiritual Discovery “ were led by Dr. Timothy Leary who, in a puckishly-posed picture beneath the unchanged The Forward is a nonprofit association and is supported Loew’s marquee, was advertised as the “reincarnation of Jesus by the contributions of its readers. Christ” while neatly framed by both the banner for Bonus’ Yiddish-American vaudeville theater, and the storefronts of the kosher dairy restaurant, Ratner’s. To donate online visit By 1968, Ben Bonus had moved on and in moved another Forward.com/donate Yiddish-speaking survivor of Hitler’s Europe: Bill Graham (1931-1991) . To donate by phone, call The Berlin-born Graham (né Wulf Grajonca) had been Call 212-453-9454 kindertransported out of Germany to France from where, subsequently, he grew up in the Bronx. Despite neutralizing his childhood German accent, changing his name and moving to How a Yiddish theater mecca became ‘the church of rock ‘n’ roll’ 12 GET THE LATEST AT FORWARD.COM News Why California just gave the 100 year-old Breed Street Shul $15 million By Ryan Torok A crumbling synagogue in a neighborhood long ago abandoned by the Jewish community just received millions of dollars from the State of California. At a time when the state faces urgent needs for affordable housing, homeless services and drought relief, you might ask: “A synagogue?” On Aug. 10, the Breed Street Shul Project announced that California’s recently passed 2021 budget includes a $14.9 million allocation for the restoration of the historic Breed Street Shul in the Boyle Heights neighborhood east of downtown Los Angeles. Supporters of the largesse say the money will pay for much more than the rehabilitation of an old shul. The money, said Stephen Sass, president of the Breed Street Shul Project, will not only renew a “culturally iconic historic” building but will spur collaboration among the Jewish, Latino and other minority communities in Boyle Heights and throughout the city. “It will be a truly transformative project,” he said. At a press conference held Tuesday outside the fenced-off shul, From left: Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (at lectern) was one of several elected Sass said the newly announced funds – which will be allocated officials and community leaders at a press conference on Aug. 10 announcing a to the Breed Street Shul Project through a fiscal agent, as is the $14.9 state grant to the Breed Street Shul restoration. case with these kinds of state allocations – will help turn the long-shuttered property into a multipurpose social service and Torah, was once the largest Orthodox congregation west of cultural space, one featuring a shared workspace for nonprofit Chicago. Today its 18,000-square-foot Byzantine revival organizations; a performance and events venue; and an exhibit structure with a Jewish star above its main entrance is a and gallery space focused on the shul’s unique history and remnant of a bygone time, a period from the 1920s to the 1950s Boyle Heights’ diverse heritage. when Eastern European Jewish immigrants populated the area alongside Latino, Japanese, and Black working-class neighbors. “The building has so much extraordinary potential and need of an infusion of resources, so it felt like the right time to make a During the post-World War II era, Los Angeles Jews began push,” said California State Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, migrating west toward the Fairfax district and to the San who helped lead the effort to secure state funding. Fernando Valley, and Boyle Heights became a largely Latino neighborhood. Another good reason for the windfall? California has money— a historic budget surplus estimated at $75.7 billion has given In the 1980s, the Breed Street Shul fell into disrepair, a result of legislators a chance to cross some items off their wish lists. the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake as well as of neglectful stewardship of an Orthodox rabbi who took control of the The Breed Street Shul Project was one of many organizations to building. receive grants from the state in the 2021 budget. The state went from a “massive deficit to a really big surplus due to higher than After wresting control of the building in 1999, the Breed Street expected revenues, and we’re trying to bring money to the Shul Project attempted for years to garner support for restoring organizations that support our communities,” said Gabriel, who the synagogue and transforming it into a community center for is the chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus. the surrounding population. The Breed Street Shul, also known as Congregation Talmud To Sass and others, Breed Street Shul is a symbol not of a Why California just gave the 100 year-old Breed Street Shul $15 million 13 GET THE LATEST AT FORWARD.COM ethnic enclave, but of a diverse community that serves as a The two met years ago at an interfaith Passover seder at the model of American democracy. Breed Street Shul’s Talmud Torah. Built in 1915, the structure behind the main synagogue served as the shul’s original home Boyle Heights shows that “multi-ethnic communities are the and for several years now has accommodated community norm in the United States,” George J. Sánchez, author of “Boyle programming. The main building – the Byzantine structure – has Heights: How a Los Angeles Neighborhood Became the Future required more extensive repairs and fundraising efforts. Gabriel of American Democracy” (UC Press, 2021). said in a public said the approval of the funds provided a rare opportunity for conversation with the Forward. “Sometimes that’s hidden from unity during divisive times. us right when it’s in front of us.” “At a time in our politics when a lot of folks want to divide us, In 2001, the building, whose dilapidated interior is adorned with we have to be intentional about creating places for people to rare frescoes of the Zodiac, was named to the National Registry come together,” he said. “And this is a spot that is going to of Historic Landmarks. serve as a bridge and a meeting place for communities to come together.” In advocating for the funding, Gabriel, whose 45th district includes much of the west San Fernando Valley, worked with – Assembly Member Miguel Santiago, whose 53rd assembly Author Ryan Torok district includes parts of Boyle Heights. Create a Future for Courageous Jewish Journalism The Forward is the most significant Jewish voice in American journalism. Our outstanding reporting on cultural, social, and political issues inspires readers of all ages and animates conversation across generations. Your support enables our critical work and contributes to a vibrant, connected global Jewish community. The Forward is a nonprofit association and is supported by the contributions of its readers. To donate online visit To donate by phone, call Forward.com/donate 212-453-9454 Why California just gave the 100 year-old Breed Street Shul $15 million 14