September 30, 2009 | 2:47 pm

‘Jewish clause’ and everything under the sun

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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After blogging Friday about “the Jewish clause” in bubbe and zayde’s will, I sent the story around to my property law class, and our professor responded with a 1974 Ohio case that showed the Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling last week wasn’t so odd.

In fact, the circumstances of Shapira v. Union National Bank were quite similar. In that case, the Ohio Court of Common Pleas upheld a portion of a will that would release inheritance to the testator’s son:

“only if he is married at the time of my death to a Jewish gifl whose both parents were Jewish.  In the event that at the time of my death he is not married to a Jewish girl ... then his share of this bequest should be kept by my executory for a period of not longer than seven (7) years and if my said son ... gets married within the seven (7) year period to a Jewish girl whose both parents were Jewish, my executor is hereby instructed to turn over his share of my bequest to him.”  If the failed to marry a Jewish girl within the allotted time, the bequest was to go “to the State of Israel, absolutely.”

Sound familiar? Here’s a bit more on that case.

September 30, 2009 | 12:14 pm

If Roman Polanski were a Catholic priest

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I thought it was odd Sunday after news broke that Roman Polanski had been arrested in Switzerland on a 31-year-old warrant for fleeing the United States after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor. But I didn’t expect people, other than maybe the French government to pitch a fit over it. Polanski has made a few great movies—top of the list “Chinatown” and “The Pianist”—but we’ve all got to pay for our sins.

How wrong I was.

This Polanski defensefrom Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times:

But at a time when California is shredding the safety net that protects the poor and the unemployed, not to mention the budget of the public school system, you’d hope that L.A. County prosecutors had better things to do than cause an international furor by hounding a film director for a 32-year-old sex crime, especially one that Polanski’s victim wants to put behind her. As Marina Zenovich’s 2008 documentary, “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,” ably chronicled, the original prosecution of Polanski was marred by all sorts of embarrassing missteps and strange behavior, largely by Laurence Rittenband, the original presiding judge.

Still, actions have consequences, and Polanski’s sins have not been forgotten. He has been barred from returning to the U.S. and prevented from traveling to other countries, including England, because of extradition issues. His career has clearly suffered from his inability to work in Hollywood, where he made such celebrated films as “Chinatown” and “Rosemary’s Baby.” He has been embraced by many—having won a number of awards over the years—but also shunned by a number of detractors. As he put it in his autobiography: “I am widely regarded, I know, as an evil, profligate dwarf.”

But he also has his stout defenders, notably French Minister of Culture Frederic Mitterrand, who said over the weekend that he was “dumbfounded” by Polanski’s arrest in Switzerland, adding that he “strongly regrets that a new ordeal is being inflicted on someone who has already experienced so many of them.”

In the coming weeks, the Polanski affair will no doubt become a tabloid sensation, with op-ed moralists, excitable bloggers and the Glenn Becks of the world noisily weighing in on the propriety of his possible prosecution. Some will say Polanski is a predator whose punishment is long overdue. Others will argue that it’s the height of folly to be stalking a 76-year-old man who has admitted his guilt and was long ago forgiven by his victim.

I’m speechless.

But Mollie at GetReligion isn’t. She surveys what a cause celebre Polanski has quickly become among celebrities. Frankly, it’s embarrassing.  She also notes a post at the Washington Post’s On Faith site from Father Thomas Reese:

Imagine if the Knight of Columbus decided to give an award to a pedophile priest who had fled the country to avoid prison. The outcry would be universal. Victim groups would demand the award be withdrawn and that the organization apologize. Religion reporters would be on the case with the encouragement of their editors. Editorial writers and columnist would denounce the knights as another example of the insensitivity of the Catholic Church to sexual abuse.

And they would all be correct. And I would join them.

But why is there not similar outrage directed at the film industry for giving an award to Roman Polanski, who not only confessed to statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl but fled the country prior to sentencing? Why have film critics and the rest of the media ignored this case for 31 years? He even received an Academy award in 2003. Are the high priests of the entertainment industry immune to criticism?

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September 29, 2009 | 9:56 pm

Go green and stop being so fruitful

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

You’ve probably heard that the newest way to be green is by limiting the number of children you have. Well, now it’s imperative for Christians. That’s right: It’s no longer be fruitful and multiply. At least, not if I’m to believe an email I received yesterday from Jesus@aol.com:

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, in 1915 the world’s population was just 1.8 Billion people. In 2009 the world’s population is 6.8 Billion people. In the past 94 years the world’s population has increased by 5 Billion people. That’s only one lifetime. In 500 years that will be 25 Billion people. If there is poverty, starvation, global warming and a hole in the ozone layer now, what do you think it will be like in 500 years? Man is literally destroying the earth and himself by over populating. Save your generations from suffering a miserable and horrible end. Stop creating and if you have children tell them when they grow up not to create. Please help spread this message to the entire world.

Jesus

I’ve yet to confirm the authenticity of the email sender.

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September 29, 2009 | 10:45 am

Yiddish keeps on keeping on in Mexico

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

JTA has started a new feature called The Wandering Jew. Ben Harris began at Burning Man, and last week headed south. In the above video, he tells the story of a Mexican Yiddish day school.

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September 29, 2009 | 1:13 am

‘No Jews were harmed in the making of this motion picture’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

That appears on the back pages of the press notes for the Coen brothers’ new movie.

The LA Times’ Patrick Goldstein asks whether the “A Serious Man,” which opens Oct. 2, is more Jewish than matzoh ball. Here’s his evaluation:

I’m no expert on Judaism, but as someone who’s pretty familiar with Jewish filmmaking, I’d have to say that the Coens are in a category all of their own. Over the past half-century, we’ve seen all sorts of Jewish sensibilities grafted into our movies and TV shows, from the Borscht Belt mugging of Mel Brooks to the sleek one-liners of Neil Simon to the frat-boy raunch of Adam Sandler and the cranky self-involvement of Larry David. But the Coens are originals. “A Serious Man” offers the occasional whiff of Woody Allen (from his “Deconstructing Harry” era) and a definite kinship with Philip Roth (the movie has a bored, slit-eyed Jewish sexpot housewife who could be right out of “Portnoy’s Complaint”).

But the Coens are sui generis Semites. They practice the comedy of Jewish alienation. Having grown up in 1960s suburban Minneapolis, the offspring of two college professors (hence the whiff of autobiography in “Serious Man”), their attitude toward alienation is entirely different than if they’d come of age in Westchester or Woodland Hills.

Talk about Jewy After the jump, a trailer for “A Serious Man.” Take a peak. You’ll see academia and kippot.

Thanks for sending this along, Owen. Good as I’m sure this film will be, I’m still waiting for the Coen brothers to get cracking on “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union.”

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September 28, 2009 | 10:42 pm

Good yontif, great sports

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Good yontif and welcome back to my Jewish readers. I hope you had an easy fast.

As you obviously know, Yom Kippur began this year on Sunday night. That posed some problems for professional sports—particularly Jets’ fans—but schedules were re-arranged so Sandy Koufax wouldn’t have to come out of retirement just to sit a game out.

For a great article on the topic, check out George Vecsey’s column for the Times Saturday:

“Leaders in the Jewish community contacted us,” said Len DeLuca, the senior vice president for programming and acquisitions at ESPN. DeLuca noted that Yankees-Red Sox games had put up some of the highest ratings for the network but added, “This is the most solemn holiday in a religion.” So ESPN moved the game.

“Does it cost us money? No,” DeLuca said. “Does it hurt us in the ratings? Yes. But look at it this way, table tennis is thrilled to have the Yankees and Red Sox as a lead-in.” DeLuca added that in the future, “you can be sure, baseball teams will be looking at all the holidays.”

Baseball cannot avoid conflicts. Games are played on Good Friday, the most solemn day on the Christian calendar. On Oct. 2, 1978, they played on Rosh Hashana, and Bucky Dent hit one into the screen at Fenway Park. Supply your own moral.

One year, baseball did get a message from on high. In 1986, the geniuses scheduled two Mets-Astros postseason games, for the night and next afternoon of Yom Kippur. Yours truly predicted a downpour of Biblical proportions, which in fact occurred, postponing the afternoon game. They got what they deserved.

Vecsey concludes with that salutation I often use to express approval: “Amen.”

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September 28, 2009 | 11:35 am

Tim Tebow resurrected

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Maybe you saw that scary, scary moment Saturday when Tim Tebow, Florida quarterback and all-around man of God, was knocked out cold after getting sacked. (ESPN report and footage.) Tebow suffered a concussion and was released from the hospital Sunday.

The above video is a report on the missionary work Tebow did in the offseason.

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September 26, 2009 | 3:01 pm

The makings of Najibullah Zazi

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The New York Times has an in-depth profile today of Najibullah Zazi, the former coffee cart vendor arrested this week for allegedly planning terrorist acts in the United States. Here’s

In many ways, Flushing must have seemed like another planet to a teenager raised in tribal villages. But several of the family’s neighbors came from the same region, and many prayed together at the Masjid Hazrat Abu Bakr, a large Afghan mosque, which was near their house.

Najib entered Flushing High School, and played billiards with friends and basketball with other Afghan boys in the yard at Public School 214. He loved video games and all things technological, and that grew into a fascination with cellphones and computers, said a friend, Ahmad Zaraei. He played the lottery.

Najib was not a strong student, and he dropped out before graduating, friends said. Mr. Rasooli, the elder Mr. Zazi’s step-uncle, said it bluntly: “He was a dumb kid, believe me,” but one who was dedicated to making money and helping his father.

Mr. Zaraei said, “He was basically a left shoulder for his father.”

The younger Mr. Zazi also spent a lot of time at the mosque, even volunteering his time as a janitor there. He turned 16 a month and a day before Sept. 11, 2001. One acquaintance who gave only his first name, Rahul, recalled discussing the attacks three years later and Mr. Zazi saying: “I don’t know how people could do things like this. I’d never do anything like that.”

Life at the mosque was disrupted after the attacks. Worshipers there, a large white structure with a turquoise minaret on 33rd Avenue, became deeply divided. When the imam, Mohammed Sherzad, spoke out against the Taliban and Osama bin Laden, pro-Taliban members of the mosque revolted, praying in the basement or the parking lot, and eventually ousted the imam, who opened a smaller mosque nearby.

It is unclear where, in this heated time, the Zazis fell, though the imam said in an interview that he saw several members of the Zazi family, including Najib, praying in the parking lot with those who opposed him.

There’s a lot more in the Times’ story, and as you would imagine, much of it has to do with religion. Read it here.

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September 26, 2009 | 10:05 am

G-20 High Holidays

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Welcome back, VideoJew! Jay Firestone is in Pittsburgh for the High Holidays and the G-20. He looks at how the two line up and plays with some Legos.

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September 25, 2009 | 11:36 pm

From Bubbe and Zayde: Marry a gentile, lose your inheritance

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

This. Is. Rich.

Although Erla Feinberg’s final act might have disappointed most of her grandchildren, it carried out her late husband’s dying wish in a way that held up in court.

In a unanimous decision, the Illinois Supreme Court this week ruled that Max Feinberg and his wife could legally disinherit any grandchildren who married outside the Jewish faith as long as the method of doing so did not encourage divorce.

“Although those plans might be offensive to individual family members or to outside observers, Max and Erla were free to distribute their bounty as they saw fit and to favor grandchildren of whose life choices they approved,” Justice Rita Garman wrote.

The origins of the case date to when Max Feinberg, a Chicago dentist, discovered that a grandson was taking a Gentile to the junior prom at Niles West High School. Besides communicating his strong feelings about religious loyalty to his grandson, Feinberg wrote those feelings into his will in a section that some family members have dubbed the “Jewish clause.”

I’m taking contracts next semester, and you better believe I’m counting on this story being added to our textbook.

I wonder if the will uses a big-tent approach to define Jews. Obviously, I’d be out. But what about a half-Jew? A secular Jew? A JewBu?

More from my friend Manya Brachear and her colleague, whose name I didn’t catch, here. Please lay off the Jew jokes in the comment section.

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September 24, 2009 | 7:34 pm

Without Hollywood Bowl, it’s a Sabotage

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Would have been going to the Hollywood Bowl to see the Beastie Boys tonight. But then MCA got cancer, and the OG Jew crew had to cancel its tour. At least we can enjoy “Sabotage” via YouTube. Get well, Yauch.

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September 24, 2009 | 2:26 am

Michael Moore: rabble rousing Catholic

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Michael Moore, whose latest documentary—for lack of a better description—opens Oct. 2, is back in the news for “Capitalism: A Love Story.” My friends at Reel Stupid have some fun comparing “Capitalism” with “Fame,” and rightly take issue with Moore’s billing: “‘From Michael Moore, the most dangerous film maker of our time’—Yah ... If he sat on you.”

No news there, but what I was suprised to learn was that Moore is a Catholic. My colleague at GetReligion, Steve Rabey, points us to this profile from the Sunday New York Times:

As much as Mr. Moore sometimes plays a comic-book version of class warrior—Left-Thing vs. the Republic of Fear!—his politics are not grounded in class as much as in Roman Catholicism. Growing up in Michigan, he attended parochial school and intended to go into the seminary, inspired by the priests and nuns who, at least until Pope John Paul II, inherited a long tradition of social justice and activism in the American church.

“The nuns always made a point to take us to the Jewish temple for Passover seders,” he said. “They wanted to make it clear that the Jews had nothing to do with putting Jesus up on the cross.”

Along with a moral imperative, Catholicism also gave a method. Mr. Moore idolized the Berrigan brothers, the radical priests who introduced street theater into their activism, for example, mixing their own napalm to burn government draft records. Their actions were a form of political spectacle that, conceptually, is Marxist—workers seizing means of production and all that—and it influenced some of Mr. Moore’s best-remembered stunts.

I’d really like to know what that means for Moore. I doubt he’s as Catholic as the pope, he might even get denied communion because of his political beliefs (though I don’t know his position on abortion)—so where does that leave him?

Rabey found this quote from a 2007 Seattle Times article:

I’m actually a fairly conservative person. I live a very conservative lifestyle. I try to go to church most Sundays. I was raised Catholic, so I’m Catholic—sometimes a recovering Catholic. I’ve been with the same woman for the past 26 years.

Well, I wouldn’t call going to church most Sundays “conservative.” I know plenty of liberally minded Christians who do that too. But it’s something.

P.S. Love that M.I.A. soundtrack from the trailer.

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