August 20, 2007 | 3:54 pm

A sight to be seen

Posted by Dikla Kadosh

Last week I took my sister to see the Donald Margulies play, “Sight Unseen,” at art/works theatre on Santa Monica Blvd. When we walked up to the tiny theatre in the waning evening light and saw only one couple lingering outside, I figured we were either a little early (it was 7:40 p.m.) or a little late (the show started at 8 p.m.). It turned out it was neither. The attendance that Thursday night was 7, including the two of us.

The theatre may have been empty, but the play was plenty full. Full of emotion and wit and thought-provoking content. It was full of intensity and complexity. It was full of dialogue. And subject matter: modern art, love, identity, Judaism, wealth, marriage.

Johnathan Waxman, played by the handsome Jeffrey Dean, is a wildly successful and arrogant Jewish-American painter who is in London for his first European retrospective. He decides to pay his former college sweetheart, Patricia (Tiffany Walker), a visit in her northern England farmhouse, where she lives a sparse existence with her quirky archaeologist husband, Nick (Steve Owsley). Patricia has never healed from her painful breakup with Johnathan fifteen years earlier and her current passionless marriage is a sad result of mere circumstance.

Awkward chit chat, bitter accusations and highly charged exchanges ensue as the old lovers meet for the first time since their explosive breakup and as Nick faces the menacing figure that has been looming over his marriage and his mantle in the form of a nude painting Johnathan did of Patricia the day they met.

Superbly written, “Sight Unseen” won an Obie award for Best New American Play when it debuted in 1992. It also had a long, successful run at the Manhattan Theatre Club in 2004 where Laura Linney reportedly played Patricia to perfection. Though Tiffany Walker was a bit overdramatic in her performance as the resentful shiksa and Jeffrey Dean not quite charming enough to make his insecure but self-absorbed character likeable, the production was still powerful and entertaining.

And full. Very very full.

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August 20, 2007 | 12:16 pm

Jonah Hill is ‘Superbad’

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Jonah Hill got discovered in a bar. It was storytelling/poetry night at “Black and White,” a hip joint in Manhattan’s East Village, when a couple of peers noticed this funnyman. They suggested Hill meet their father, who turned out to be Dustin Hoffman. After that, Hill (a Los Angeles native) found himself living the dream with roles in “I Heart Huckabees,” “The Forty-Year-Old Virgin” and “Click.” He currently stars in the new movie “Superbad” by director-friend Judd Apatow.

On Aug. 12, he was featured in a one-on-one chat with the New York Times’ Deborah Solomon discussing youthful immaturity, being bar mitzvahed and sex.

Superdude

       

There is much that is supergood about your performance in “Superbad,” which opens this week. But how do you feel about landing your first big role in a film that celebrates male immaturity and vulgarity? Any time I have a conversation with a female reporter, this kind of comes up. The way that Michael Cera and I talk in the movie is vulgar. But whether people realize it or not, this is how 17-year-old kids talk today. You might not want to believe it.

 

Trailer: ‘Superbad’

     

  You make the film sound like an example of gritty realism, when it’s a teen comedy about two underage buddies trying to buy alcohol to impress girls. I don’t think “Superbad” is a teen movie. I think it’s a movie about young people. I mean, no one has sex with a pastry of any kind. You’re referring to the definitive moment in “American Pie.” What do you consider the definitive moment in “Superbad”? My favorite parts are when Michael and I are just walking around talking. If you didn’t believe that Michael and I love each other, then the whole movie doesn’t work. Growing up in Los Angeles, did you always want to be an actor? No. I wanted to be one of the Simpsons. I wanted to live in Springfield. Actually, you do seem like an animated character. I didn’t ever think about that. What did you learn from working with Judd Apatow, who produced “Superbad” in the wake of the comedy hits “40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up,” in which you had supporting roles? The best advice Judd gave me is that there are a billion other people who are funny and want to be doing what you’re doing. The second you stop realizing that — and you stop working as hard — opportunity can go away for you. It sounds as if you have a healthy work ethic. My dad is an accountant, and he instilled a good work ethic in me. The last thing I ever want to do is blow an opportunity, especially this one. You’re clearly less of a hedonist than the high-school character you play in the film. Do you use drugs? Occasionally I smoke pot. I am way too neurotic to ever do any real drugs. That’s good. How would you compare your sex life with the character you play? I am not a superlecherous guy. I usually enjoy having a girlfriend as opposed to dating a variety of women. I’m a nice Jewish boy. Did you have a bar mitzvah when you were a kid? Yeah. It was amazing. It was magical. The theme was “Jonah Goes Platinum.” Did you like high school? No. I felt underappreciated in high school. Unless you were good at sports or got great grades, no one seemed to bother about you. I was pretty laid back. I was like, “Hey, what’s up?” I wanted to get the hell out of there. You wound up moving to New York to study acting at the New School and quickly broke into film. “I Heart Huckabees” was my first movie, and Dustin Hoffman discovered me. So thanks, Dustin. What do you think is the best film that disappeared overnight? “The Puffy Chair.” It’s one of my favorites. No one I know has ever seen it. It’s about a man who drives cross-country to bring his dad a puffy chair he had as a kid and that he found on eBay. Sweet. What’s your next film? “The Middle Child” is a movie I am writing for Universal, which will hopefully be the next one I do. Judd and I are looking at directors right now. Are you a middle child? Yes. How old are you? 23. Young man, have you done your homework? Unfortunately, no. (Photo by Emily Shur)

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August 17, 2007 | 1:53 pm

Shabbat Shalom, hey! (remembering)

Posted by Danielle Berrin

When I was growing up, Shabbat meant coming together. No matter how physical our weeks were, Shabbat was a release from rigor; an invitation to relax, come home and be together.

Beginning Friday evening, our daily lives were left at the door and the Sabbath halo enveloped us with the scents of simmering sauté pans and the sounds of conversation filling the hallways. Almost every Shabbat, we opened our home to share our blessing with others. On this night, we could talk to each other and listen more deeply than the rush of the workweek allowed. Shabbat was a gathering of life; a blanket of togetherness.

And it was so much fun. Each member of my family had a “part” during the service. My mother assigned these roles early on to ensure we were always actively engaged in the observance—our part was our responsibility and the holiday was incomplete without it. If we were talkative or rowdy during the blessings (as was the proclivity in my household), my mother would just start over. She wouldn’t proceed until we all met in the same spiritual place.

For twenty-years, Shabbat was a Friday evening bustle of heightened family dynamics, the warm company of friends and strangers and a dessert spread that makes Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory seem sparse. There was always laughing and feasting and joy.

As I got older, I valued the joy but I craved enlightenment. I began attending Saturday morning Torah study with my mentor, teacher and friend, Rabbi Terry Bookman. There, I found more community, more warmth, more love, more Judaism. Afterwards, we would gather in the chapel for a musical minyan and I could sing from my soul. When it ended, the Miami sun would be shining and I remember feeling so full, so fulfilled.

When I moved to Los Angeles, I knew it would be just as hard to leave my synagogue as it would be to leave my family. Shabbat would never be the same and I would have to accept that loss and swim through it, in order to discover a new way to celebrate. Alone, I would have to reinvent a day that had always been about being close to the people I love.

(Pictured: our family member Max)

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August 16, 2007 | 10:24 am

A jewel above rubies

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Jewels captivate hearts. Beyond their physical qualities or economic value, there is something about coruscating colors and refractions of light that fills our soul with joy.

“A story is told that God’s divine throne is filled with empty spaces of varying sizes and designs. Each space represents the soul of a person who has fulfilled his or her task in this world. Each soul is a different colored jewel…only when the spaces are filled and the crown is complete, will the messiah descend and the world be completed.”

The Jewish calendar month of Elul began yesterday. It is customary during Elul to begin spiritual preparation for the high holy days. For the third consecutive year, artist/musician Craig Taubman has compiled 29 unique stories that comprise “Jewels of Elul.” Limned by an extraordinary group of people including Elie Wiesel, the Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra, Matisyahu and Neshama Carlebach, each story is a reflection on this year’s theme of ‘hope and healing.’

Each day throughout the month, a new “jewel” will be posted to the website and hard copies are available for free, thanks to the generous contribution of the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.

Elul begins the repentance process; “selichot,” prayers for forgiveness, echo inside our minds. It is believed that the Hebrew letters of Elul—Alef-Lamed-Vav-Lamed—represent an acronym for the phrase “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li,” which in English translates to “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” The ‘beloved’ being God and ‘I’ being the Jewish people.

As a people, we look to each other and to God as we reflect on our lives and ask forgiveness from those we have hurt. We forgive one another and we forgive ourselves. Thus, healing begins and we can look to the future with hope.

For a dose of daily inspiration, you can find the glittering jewels at www.jewelsofelul.com.

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August 15, 2007 | 1:08 pm

The bone and stone sculptor

Posted by Dikla Kadosh

Dr. Robert Klapper is one amazing guy. He’s a world-renowned orthopedic surgeon whose patients include Dustin Hoffman, Sasha Baron Cohen and Brett Ratner. He holds numerous patents for surgical tools. He is an avid surfer. He sculpts pietas out of imported Italian marble from the same quarry that Michelangelo used. And, at the opening of his exhibit at his own art gallery this past Saturday night, I overheard someone saying that he is always upbeat and cheerful. Always.

True to form, Dr. Klapper was charming the socks off of his patients (Elliot Gould was the only recognizable face), friends and supporters at the Klapper Gallery on Beverly Boulevard in the shadow of Cedars Sinai Medical Center, where he is the Clinical Chief of Orthopedic Surgery. Raised in New York, educated at Columbia and Cornell and now living in several homes in the southland, the good doctor is a Jewish mother’s dream come true.

Sadly, Dr. Klapper’s own mother was not there to bear witness to what he appears to consider his greatest accomplishment: a gallery full of gleaming white half-finished Michelangelo-inspired marble statues. His mother-in-law was there and she’s a huge fan of The Jewish Journal. After hearing about last week’s Friday Night Live, I am even more grateful to have met a loyal reader, live and in person.

The exhibit, titled “Michelangelo’s Slaves,” pays homage to the great artist’s unfinished slaves lining the walkway leading up to the monumental David. Dr. Klapper was particularly taken by the slaves’ struggle to break free from the stone surrounding them and has mimicked that style in every one of his sculptures.

The subjects he decided to chisel out of the incredibly heavy slabs of stone shipped to Los Angeles from Carrara in large boxes called coffins reflect the doctor’s scattered interests: Abraham, The Sixth Sense, The Surfer, Ghost, Noah, Mary, Pieta…

It seemed odd to me that a Jewish man would be moved to lovingly recreate a pivotal moment in Christian history, but then the artist explained that a mother losing her son is a universally touching subject.

And Dr. Klapper is all about touching: touching people’s lives as a healer and touching people’s hearts with his art. This man may not be the next Michelangelo, but he sure is enjoying life a great deal more than the notoriously melancholy and dissatisfied Renaissance man.

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August 13, 2007 | 2:30 pm

The real Jewish Journal

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Rob Eshman does not need defending. Yet during his conversation with Rabbi David Wolpe following Friday Night Live last week, I wanted to stand up and speak out.  But I didn’t have to. Rabbi Wolpe rather eloquently took to the task and fended off the firestorm.

It was a highly charged evening—beginning with a particularly moving FNL service and followed by a heated discussion, not between Rob and Rabbi Wolpe, but projected onto them by the impassioned feelings and provocative questions posed by the audience.

Is The Journal biased to the ‘left’? Which side is morally justified, the Israelis or the Palestinians? How could you suggest Jewish women in their 30s and 40s should date non-Jews?

Good questions. Tough questions. But asking them means getting an answer, whether you like it or not.

The truth is, you can only really edit a Jewish publication, if you love being Jewish, if you love Israel with your soul. Yet among the crowd gathered at Sinai Temple late Friday night, The Journal’s support of Israel was challenged; its “service” to the community was challenged. I thought: if only these people visited The Journal, they would feel how much love there is…

Real love is not unbiased love. Real love is complex; it’s complicated. And really loving something or someone is not believing in their perfection or in their flawlessness, but in learning of their weaknesses and accepting their vulnerabilities—and challenging them to grow. Robert Frost once said, “I have never learned anything from any man who has agreed with me.”

The service of The Jewish Journal to the community is both to celebrate our great love of the wisdom tradition that is Judaism, but also to challenge it - to love it more deeply because we recognize all of its facets and flaws. In acknowledging those issues, in reporting on what is taxing and stimulating and tough in our Jewish community, we penetrate the core. The love then becomes a profounder love, a spiritual love, a real love. That’s when dialogue happens. That’s when debate and discussion happen. That is what unites a community. Unanimous agreement isolates it.

Read The Jewish Journal. Disagree with it. Write a letter to the editor. Isn’t that the mutual exchange of a relationship? The essence of participating in a community? Actually, it sounds more like family dinners at my house.

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August 10, 2007 | 5:35 pm

Shabbat Shalom, Hey!

Posted by Dikla Kadosh

I grew up in a home where we all identified as Jewish and Israeli, but rarely acted accordingly. We always had Friday night dinners, but I can’t recall my mom lighting the candles too often.

As the least observant member of my family for most of my life, I don’t think my mom ever expected me to start lighting shabbat candles. But I have recently. At first, I did it because it means a lot to my boyfriend, who also keeps kosher, puts on tefillin every morning and goes to synagogue every Saturday morning. But then I started to check the lighting times on my own, without David having to nudge me. Sometimes I’m worried I’ll forget (it hasn’t become an ingrained habit yet) so I set an alarm to remind myself.

I like lighting the shabbat candles because it makes me feel like a woman. I feel like the spiritual guide of our household though David and I would be in deep trouble if I was to lead us in religious practices. I feel holy. Like in those 30 seconds when I’m covering my eyes and reciting the prayer I deserve my last name (Kadosh). I feel significant because if I wasn’t there, that apartment on Zelzah Avenue would be without the warm glow of the Sabbath candles.

Lighting time tonight is 7:28 p.m.

Shabbat Shalom to you all!!!

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August 9, 2007 | 3:39 pm

Breaking borders

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Carl Sandburg wrote:

The Daniel Pearl Foundation believes that journalism, writing and innovative communication will create a more understanding, more peaceful world. As part of their mission, they sponsor a Daniel Pearl Fellow who is a promising foreign journalist and provide them with an opportunity to work in U.S. news media for a six-month period. This year, an Egyptian journalist was invited to work at the San Francisco Chronicle and will spend a week in Los Angeles at The Jewish Journal, observing the dynamics of our Jewish community.

On August 16, the Journal’s editor in chief Rob Eshman will engage in a discussion with the journalist on how America is perceived abroad, especially in Egypt and among Muslim nations, and how his personal experiences have influenced his perspective. Judea and Ruth Pearl will also participate on the panel and share their stories about initiating Jewish-Muslim dialogue.

If we all open our hands as the Pearls have done, perhaps our hearts will follow.

7:30 p.m. Steven Allen Theater, 4773 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles. Co-sponsored by L.A. Press Club. www.danielpearl.org.

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