June 30, 2010 | 12:54 pm

Observant Jew tackles TV in ‘Big Brother 12’

Posted by Danielle Berrin

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It takes talent to be an observant Jew in Hollywood, let alone on reality television, but along comes Andrew Gordon, a 39-year-old podiatrist from Miami Beach, Fla. to prove it’s possible.

In case you’re thinking: ‘A Jewish podiatrist? Whouda thought?’ Consider some of the more challenging issues Gordon is about to face.

Gordon is the latest addition to ‘Big Brother 12’, a reality series about “contestants who live in a camera-rigged house and have their lives taped 24 hours a day as they compete, fight, and occasionally sleep together,” according to TVGuide.com.

Why a religious person who holds himself to the highest moral standards (one hopes) would voluntarily subject himself to the moral turpitude so often manifested in reality television is surely the reason producers are betting on good entertainment. On the promo video, Gordon declares, “I am a practicing Jew,” which of course means, he’s bound to become the house freak. 

“There’s so many things they don’t realize,” Gordon says, already stirring up drama. “Sitting at the table, I won’t be using their dishes; I wont even be eating their food.”

Gordon also plans to observe Shabbat—which means, everyone on the show is going to learn a thing or two about the rigors of Jewish halacha (law).

“It’s already going to be tough in that house, so it’s going to be even tougher dealing with these extra little things,” Gordon told the Associated Press. “People are probably going to look at me as an outsider and wonder what I’m doing and why I’m not eating their food. It’s something I’ve had to explain my whole life as a practicing Jew. Whatever happens, I’ll deal with it.”

Hollywood seems to enjoy the communal alienation and ostracism that comes with stereotyping its minor-est minority—perhaps a by-product of that anti-ethnic spirit so well wrought by Tinseltown’s founders. In any other circumstance Jewish alienation might be deemed troublesome, but on this show, it looks to be an asset. Apparently, a house “mole” will not compete for the usual $500,000 prize, but attempt to win cash based on his/her ability to “disrupt the lives of the other houseguests.”

Authoritarian kashrut should be a tremendous advantage in that department.

June 28, 2010 | 4:42 pm

Disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff makes a Hollywood comeback [VIDEO]

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Jack Abramoff, the disgraced Washington lobbyist who is serving the final months of a three-and-a-half-year prison term, isn’t so reprehensible that Hollywood couldn’t find a way to redeem him.

In what will likely be a sympathetic portrait, the man who plead guilty to felony charges related to the defrauding of several American Indian tribes as well as corruption of public officials is now the subject of the film “Casino Jack” starring Kevin Spacey.

Abramoff, who is now working for a reported $7.50 an hour at a kosher pizzeria in Baltimore (he counts himself a Baal Teshuva) has apparently cooperated with the film, which producers believe has awards potential for Spacey.

The early Oscar buzz is yet another indicator that the film will be kind in its portrayal of Abramoff, as a man deserving of audience empathy and affection. After all, when has any Oscar-nominated protagonist been depicted as otherwise? With this, Abramoff joins a long list of disgraced real-life characters, from Richard Nixon in “Frost/Nixon” to Sean Penn’s convicted killer in “Dead Man Walking” who on film are given second chances to prove how hubris wrecked their humanity. (Another example of this can be found in the Sean Penn film “All The King’s Men” with Penn playing a corrupt politician inspired by Huey Long, the former Louisiana governor.)

Even though production of “Casino Jack” has completed, Deadline.com’s Mike Fleming reported this morning that the film is experiencing release delays due to distribution difficulties and may not reach the silver screen until October. 

In the meantime, Abramoff is serving out the remainder of his term at a halfway house in Baltimore—you know, biding his time until he gets invited to walk the red carpet.

You can check out the trailer for the film below:

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June 24, 2010 | 1:40 pm

Matisyahu to Knesset: I’d rather go naked than wear fur—but shtreimels are OK

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Jewish reggae star Matisyahu is urging the Israeli government to ban its fur trade.

Well, most of it anyway.

Earlier this week, Matisyahu sent a polite letter to the Knesset supporting a bill that would prohibit the production, sale and importation of all fur products, according to a release sent by animal rights advocacy group PETA. But the bill stipulates one exception: shtreimels, the traditional fur hat worn by some Hasidic Jews, who like to dress up for special occasions, such as Shabbat.

“I hope you will agree that the way that animals suffer and die in the fur trade violates the fundamental principle of tza’ar ba’alei chayim, which forbids gratuitous cruelty to animals,” Matisyahu wrote in his letter. The letter, sent via email, included a link to a disturbing video that showcases some of the horrific abuses animals suffer while being skinned alive. (Consider this fair warning.)

The effort is groundbreaking—and if the bill passes, would make Israel the first country in the world to enact such legislation. But the implicit hypocrisy of banning fur to everyone else while allowing Orthodox Jews to sport their Shabbes wares is yet another example of the chokehold the religious establishment in Israel has on the Israeli government. If the Torah bans gratuitous cruelty to animals, then it goes without saying (though I’m doing so anyway) that it should apply as much to observant Jews wearing holy garments as it does to fashion-seeking Israelis.

This conflict goes unacknowledged in Matisyahu’s letter, which expresses gentle support for the bill without any strong condemnation for those who wear fur—in any form. Could it be religious alliances are less pliable than Torah principles?

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June 23, 2010 | 1:20 pm

Can Hamas resist Bar Refaeli?

Posted by Danielle Berrin

It comes as no surprise that Hamas has again denied The International Red Cross their request to visit captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, but if it were supermodel Bar Refaeli asking, would the answer be the same?

According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, “[T]he Shalits are hoping to join thousands of supporters, including supermodel Bar Refaeli and dozens of other local celebrities, on a cross-country march for Gilad’s release.”

The Shalits won’t be the first to make use of international celebrity to draw attention to their cause—it’s de rigueur today to link big name celebrities with humanitarian issues. Spotlights so big, it goes, can easily be shared. Plus, that kind of glitz helps shed some light on some of humankind’s darker corners. But what exactly do the Shalits hope to accomplish by using the supermodel as secret weapon?

Sure, famous people can draw attention to otherwise overlooked issues: From Bono in Africa to Angelina Jolie at the UN, celebrity equals awareness. But the difference between AIDS in Africa or sex-trafficking in Cambodia is that those causes need celebrity advocates to insist on their gravity. Shalit is already the poster child of Israel’s struggle against a terrorist enemy; his is a cause that plenty of people are attuned to—he has countless advocates, and they’re dutifully marking their calendars with the number of days he has languished in captivity.

The Shalit crusade is not the same as a humanitarian crisis. Shalit is caught in the middle of a war between two clashing cultures, opposing styles of government and radically different value systems. How do we think Hollywood can help here?

But the saddest part, is that Bar Refaeli, of all Hollywood people, seems to be the worst choice for bolstering Shalit’s cause. In case organizers of this cross-country march have forgotten, this is the ethically bold supermodel who publicly denounced Israel’s military service requirement, the concerned celebrity who said she’d rather live in New York than serve her country.

It’s doubtful George Clooney could get Hamas to release Gilad Shalit, but Bar Refaeli doesn’t stand a chance.

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June 17, 2010 | 7:50 pm

Meet Drake: The new Jew in hip-hop

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Meet Aubrey “Drake” Graham, the biracial Jewish-Canadian rap artist whose star is quickly rising on the hip-hop scene.

Though fans have followed him since his days as basketball star Jimmy Brooks on the Canadian soap “Degrassi: The Next Generation,” a recent spate of press has introduced the 23-year-old artist to the broader public. And public take note: The New York Times declared the young, emotionally vulnerable artist “the most important and innovative new figure in hip-hop.”

Drake released his first album “Thank Me Later” earlier this week, though his mixtapes have been widely circulating since 2006. In fact, Drake earned the unusual distinction of being nominated for 2010 Grammys without the release of an album. To his credit, he’s been traveling the right company: Rap star Lil Wayne was the first mainstream act to incorporate Drake into his touring routine and served as a kind of mentor to the fledgling artist.

But Drake’s fast rise isn’t the most interesting thing about him. In a culture of misfits and outsiders, he is the ultimate outsider – the rare black Jewish rapper. (UPDATE: In an earlier version of this article, I referred to Drake as the “first ever” black Jewish rapper, but it has since been brought to my attention - and rightly so—that Y-LOVE, the Orthodox black hip hop artist also fits this description, though Drake remains the first-ever biracial Jewish Canadian rapper.)

According to an interview with Heeb magazine:

Drake was born to an African-American father and a Jewish mother, who divorced when he was five. Raised by his mother in Forest Hill, a heavily Jewish neighborhood of Toronto, he attended a Jewish day school, and was even Bar Mitzvah’d (the song of the night was Backstreet Boys’s “I Want It That Way”).

His upbringing wasn’t as rosy as it sounds. His father was primarily absent, and according to The Times, struggled with drug addiction and spent time in prison. His mother suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, which precluded her from working and forced Drake to grow up fast. In interviews, he often portrays himself as a loner.

“I went to a Jewish school, where nobody understood what it was like to be black and Jewish,” he told Heeb. “When kids are young it’s hard for them to understand the make-up of religion and race.”

He told the magazine he was often called a schvartze: “But the same kids that made fun of me are super proud [of me] now. And they act as if nothing happened.” He does however, display signs of Jewish pride.

According to Heeb, he wears a diamond-studded Chai and wants to travel to Israel.

With his complex identity, Drake is using the internalized experience of his childhood to infuse hip-hop with a rare emotionality. The Times gave his album an encouraging review, calling it “moody, entrancing and emotionally articulate,” and adding that he “manages to balance vulnerability and arrogance in equal measure.”

After struggling through childhood, Drake seems to be enjoying the current payoff. The Heeb interview chronicles him driving around Manhattan in a Bentley—though there have already been reports of overspending and financial mismanagement. Even so,with his career on the ascending arc, Drake doesn’t seem to be worried about finances. He told The Times he’s more concerned about the insularity caused by fame:

Drake wonders if real intimacy is now out of reach, maybe irretrievably so. “Did I sacrifice something?” he asked, looking for the black cloud above the silver lining. “Have I not realized what it is yet because I’m enjoying this too much?”

Watch Drake’s “Best I Ever Had” video directed by Kanye West:

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June 17, 2010 | 3:59 pm

Post removed

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Out of respect for the Obama family, we were asked to take this post down. We apologize for the inconvenience.

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June 15, 2010 | 5:13 pm

Welcome to the Jungle: Adam Lambert premieres new music video

Posted by Danielle Berrin

If you want to know what a Gothic forest rave party looks like, Adam Lambert’s new video “If I Had You” offers an education.

It’s a grisly setting for a song that preaches about love, but then again Lambert likes playing to the kinky crowd (anyone remember his American Music Awards performance?). Once again he has outfitted himself in a costume that looks like it could kill someone, while singing about love triumphing over fame and fortune. In the background, equally well dressed jungle creatures grind around amid colorful strobe lights.

But all the fuss feels a bit forced—too wannabe Lady Gaga. And whereas Gaga seems to be articulating an artistry through her narrative videos and outlandish couture, Lambert is still just a great voice playing dress-up.

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June 14, 2010 | 1:00 pm

Paul Haggis, two rabbis and “Million Dollar Baby”

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Strange things happen when you’re sitting alone, at your laptop, at Clementine’s in West Los Angeles. Like a brief conversation I just had, that went like this:

A tall man wearing a French beret approaches. “Have we met before? Or have I just seen you here?”

“We haven’t met,” I say.

“Oh, well, hi. I’m Paul Haggis.”

He said it like it was nothing. Like it was just another name in this town, and not: “I’m Paul Haggis, as in, I wrote ‘Casino Royale’ and ‘Million Dollar Baby’ Paul Haggis. I have Oscars on my mantle.”

He quickly headed off, drove past on the way out and waved from his Lotus. Goodbye Paul Haggis.

I contemplated chasing after him for an email address but then I thought, ‘He’s not Jewish! Whatever will I use it for?’ And then I realized I had made a terrible mistake: everybody is a little bit Jewish.

But not everybody is the subject of deep Shabbes lunch conversation—with two rabbis, I might add—as was the case with Paul Haggis this past weekend.

Over lunch, Rabbi Penina Podwol, a teacher of the professorial kind at New Community Jewish High School (aka New Jew), was reflecting back on the school year that just ended and mentioned one of its highlights: discussing the film “Million Dollar Baby” with teenage students. Podwol used the film’s euthanasia plot as a launch pad for discussing Jewish medical ethics. The kids really liked that, she said, but they were disturbed that Clint Eastwood kills Hillary Swank in the end.

“But she was completely paralyzed from the neck down,” I objected.

At which point, Rabbi Aaron Alexander, Associate Dean of the Ziegler School for Rabbinic Studies at AJU as well as Rabbi Podwol’s husband, asked: “Was she conscious? Or was she a vegetable?”

“She was conscious,” Rabbi Podwol answered.

“Oh, well that’s a different story,” Rabbi Alexander said. “Someone who is conscious can still love.”

Rabbi Podwol pointed out that she had asked a loved one (Clint Eastwood, her sort of surrogate father) to help her die. He had presented her with options for what she might do with her life—post glorious boxing career—but none appealed. And besides, were her avenues for love the same now that she was so limited in the world?

“Her whole identity was wrapped up in her physicality,” I added, “her place in the world was as a boxer.”

“Well did she have a living will?” Rabbi Alexander asked. No, she didn’t, but if she had, it was decided, perhaps they would not have saved her in the first place.

“Technology complicates things,” the rabbis agreed.

But technology is a modern reality, and in a world where technology can be life sustaining, what does it mean to end your life by removing it?

The conversation turned to assisted suicide; and how it would have been really great if Rabbi Elliot Dorff, one of the country’s leading thinkers on Jewish bioethics, were there to enlighten us.

So Paul Haggis, if you’re reading this, now you know your very own importance to the Jewish people. And since you dramatically defected from Scientology and, oh I don’t know, might be looking for another religious enterprise to cathect to—you should know you are always welcome to join our Shabbat lunch conversations about your movies.

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