Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 5, 1987 Page: 3 of 20
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BY IRVING GREENBERG
One of the most surprising
elements in Judaism is the
salience of humor within the
sacred realm. The classic
example is Purim, the holiday
with a sense of humor. The
central feature of the holiday is
the reading of the Book of
Esther in the form of a
rollicking historical picaresque
story with reversals, unmasking
of characters, dark depressions
and 'perils of Pauline’ escapes.
On this day, we are comman-
ded to get drunk, says the
Talmud, tongue in cheek. In
the synagogue, the tone of
levity is set by the booing and
hissing of Haman, and, in many
services, the burlesque of the
traditional nusach (melodic
line) by mixing in high holidays
and other inappropriate
melodies into the evening ser-
vice. At home, there is the
parody kiddush — a pastiche of
bits of verses, which run on,
one into the other, without real
meaning (example: Aleynu le-
shabeach la' adon/Adon olam
asher malach, etc.). There are
also folk traditions of carnivals,
Purim shpiel, and Purim
mummers - all designed to
create a riotous and laughing
situation. What is the connec-
tion of humor and holiness?
Behind the humor are some
very serious affirmations.
Laughter is a unique reflection
of Judaism's conception of life
and reality. One of the Torah's
central positive teachings is
that there is one God. The ob-
verse implication of this
teaching is that there is no
other God. This means that
Jews not only teach
monotheism, Jews teach again-
st idolatry. If you believe in the
infinite One God, then
everything else is relative. No
other deity, no other value
source, no other power, das the
right to claim that absolute
status.
If others claim that they are
God, i.e., if they decide what is
right and wrong, if they
demand absolute loyalty, then
they are idols. To be a Jew is to
fight idolatry. The midrashim
about Abraham's earliest years
describe him as a child
smashing the idols in his
father's shop; this is his in-
troduction to becoming a Jew.
Thus, the existence and the
witness of the Jews is a
challenge to absolutes
everywhere — which is why so
much anti-Semitism has been
directed against Jews by other
faiths and other political
systems that demanded ab-
solute loyalty to themselves.
But how shall we fight
idolatry? One of the real
dangers is that if we try to
refute and argue with the ab-
solute claims of the idols, that
very argument gives them
dignity and significance.
The presumptuousness of the
demand for absolute loyalty on
the part of human systems is
best undermined by mockery
and laughter, which puncture
pretensions without giving
weight to the other. Nothing is
more appropriate than humor,
then, to destroy the claims of
idolatry.
In the Book of Exodus, the
Torah describes how the
awesome all-powerful Pharaoh,
the tyrant who claims to be the
embodiment of the Divine, is
undermined by a plague such
as a profusion of frogs that
crawl out of his shelves, his
closets, his very bed. One can
imagine the queen or the king
climbing into the royal four-
poster and sliding under the
sheets with all the arrogance of
dynasty only to jump out in
terror and fright at the little
frogs crawling under their
pajamas. Similarly, the Torah
describes the Egyptian wise
men, claiming to control the
powers of the universe, over-
whelmed by the crawling a
swarming and biting little bugs
that make them scratch
desperately and in vain — until
they must retreat before
Moses, the representatives of
the slaves and of the Infinite
One whom they were trying to
dismiss.
The same satiric approach is
captured by Isaiah, who
describes the credulous, naive
bumpkin shaping and worship-
ping idols. He carves half his
wood into an awesome god
before whom he bows down
and to whom he would sacrfice
everything. The other half —
the broken pieces of wood and
shavings — are thrown into a
fire on which he cooks his
food, and sits there and says,
'Ah mechayeh.' The Pslams
poke fun at idols who have eyes
but see not; ears, but hear not;
and legs that cannot walk.
Just as idolators absolutize
their deitis, so do people tend
to give infinite weight to their
own contemporary situation
and conditions. We are
obedient to the norms of our
society; we stand in awe of the
authority claims addressed to
us in our own lives. In a way,
this is our idolatry. When
people will sacrfice all ethics
and religion for the sake of
making money, then monev has
become god. When people kill
or drop all their values because
of a totalitarian system that
demands it, then this is the
contemporary idolatry. Humor
comes to the rescue by
'debunking' the present
situation. The desperate humor
in Purim is poking fun at the
awful power of evil in a world
where a hateful individual
(Haman) can consign a whole
people to genocide, and a
drunken king can remove his
ring and endanger the survival
of a whole people. Humor and
satire tell us that this structure
of the world is not absolute;
there is something beyond it.
One of the amazing things
about the record of the
Holocaust is how Jews were
able to use humor in the face
of the most absolute evil of all
time in order to reassert their
human values. They told the
story in the Warsaw Ghetto,
during the bitter mass roun-
dups in which thousands of
children were deported. An SS
officer invaded one home and
was about to take away a
woman's only child. She
pleaded and wept so piteously
that the Nazi hesitated for a
moment. Then, to make cruel
sport with her, he said to her,
"I will give you one chance to
save your child. I have one
glass eye. It is so perfectly
matched that it is in-
distinguishable from my nor-
mal eye. If you can pick out
which one is the glass eye, I
will spare your child.” The
woman looked deeply into his
eyes for a moment, and
without hesitation said. "It is
the one on the left.' The Nazi
was taken aback. "You are
right.” he said. But how did
you know? the woman s an-
swer: "The left eye was softer
and more compassionate than
the other one.”
In Auschwitz, they told the
story of a pitiful freezing band
of Jewish prisoners being mar-
ched up and down in the
coldest winter, gradually ex-
piring from exhaustion. Their
guard had them maintain
military precision as they
walked on the muddy, swam-
plike paths which passed for
streets in Auschwitz. Taunting
them, he ordered them to
repeat after him and call out
with military smartness the
location they were at. They
marched down one path. The
guard called out. "Goering
Strasse!” (street). The prisoners
replied, calling, ' Goering
Strasse!” On the next path, the
guard called out, "Goebbels
Allee!” The prisoners replied,
See Humor Page 15
Rapid Doubling Of Converts Seen
BY BEN GALLOB
(Copyright 1987, Jewish
Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
Experts indicate that the
number of converts to Judaism
in the United States will
double to 300,000 by the year
2000, a New York educator
notes in a recent issue of the
Reconstructionist. The writer,
Lawrence Epstein, a former
humanities professor who is an
administrator at Suffolk Com-
munity College in Selden, N.Y.,
favors the conversions. Never-
theless, he notes that the in-
crease in the conversions has
helped "trigger religious con-
fronations within (American
Jewry that some predict could
result in a permanent split
between Orthodox and non-
Orthodox Jews.”
Epstein told the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency that about
eight years ago he became
aware of the demographic fac-
tors that diminish U.S. Jewry.
Epstein, who is vice-president
of the National Jewish Infor-
mation Service, concluded that
the most promising way to ex-
pand the American Jewish
population was by conversion
of non-Jews. He said he had
written a number of articles on
that topic and was planning a
book on it.
In his Reconstructionist
report, he asserts that "Several
factors in the social climate of
the United States have com-
bined to create an atmosphere
congenial to the revival of a
Jewish movement to seek con-
verts,” the first being "the
widely noted legitimation of
ethnicity as an acceptable
organizing principle for defen-
ding identity.”
Second, he notes that fun-
damentalist Christians "have
made the act of proselytizing
well known as a way to win
over reluctant Jews. Jewish
reaction may in some sense be
seen as adopting the tactics of
what many (Jews) view as a
religious threat to Jews.”
Most important, Epstein
asserts, is that "many Jews
favor conversion as a form of
demographic self-defense.
Most American Jews believe
that American Jewry is com-
mitmg a slow communcal
suicide.” American Jews fear
for then future, he declares,
because of a combination of
negative population growth, a
See Doubling Page 17
Intermarriage and Conversion
Conservative Movement Plans Conference
Outsider Jews
Insider Trading
For the first time in its
history, the nine arms of the
Conservative Movement will co-
sponsor a National Conference
on Intermarriage and Conver-
sion. reflecting the mounting
concern of the Jewish religious
community regarding the
threat to its future which in-
termarriage poses. Coordinated
by the United Synagogue of
America, and co-chaired by
Harold Kalb. Esquire, of Roslyn
Harboi. New York, and Jack
Weinshanker of Clark. New Jer-
sey. the Conference will be
held on Monday. March 2. and
Tuesday. March 3 at the Jewish
Theological Seminary of
America. 3080 Broadway, in
New York City.
Major plenary sessions will
be addressed by some of the
most promient leaders of the
Movement, among whom are
Chancellor of the Jewish
Theological Seminary. Dr.
Ismar Schorsch, whose topic
will be. 'The Challenge of an
Open Society, and Franklin D.
I^putzer. Esquire, of Miami,
Florida International President
of the United Synagogue of
America, who will conclude the
events of the two days with "A
Formula for Action' at a
session chaired by Rabbi
Jerome M. Epstein. Senior
Vice-President and Chief
Executive Officer of United
Synagogue. The third major
arm of the Movement, the
Rabbinical Assembly, will be
tormally represented by its
President, Rabbi Kassel
Abelson of Minneapolis, Min-
nesota. who will chair the
plenary session in which the
subject matter will address
where the Movement stands on
intermarriage, with Rabbi Joel
Roth. Chairman of the Commit-
tee on Jewish Law and Stan-
dards. and Rabbi Benjamin 2.
Kreitman. Executive Vice-
President of United Synagogue,
as the leading participants. Ms.
Evelyn Auerbach of Glen Rock.
New Jersey. National President
of the Women's League for
Conservative Judaism, will
preside over a session on Con-
version. Rabbi Stephen C. Ler-
ner of the Rabbinical Assem-
bly, will act as facilitator and
three panelists, one who con-
verted to Judaism before
marriage, one who converted
after marriage, and one who
has chosen not to convert, will
discuss their choices. Rabbi
Charles Simon, Executive
Director of the Federation of
lewish Men’s Clubs, will con-
auct the session at which Dr.
Morton K. Siegel, Director of
the United Synagogue Depar-
tment of Education, will
dialogue the topic, "Can In-
termarriage Be Prevented?”
Other featured speakers in-
clude Dr. Neil G. Gillman of the
See Intermarriage Page 17
aby steven m. cohen
"opyright 1987, Jewish
Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
The crimes committed by Iv-
an Boesky, Dennis Levine and
several other Jews on Wall
Street have provoked
widespread anxieties among a
good number of American
Jews. They worry that the
publicity surrounding the in-
sider trading scandals will stir
up not-so-dormant anti-Semitic
sentiments. For here is a case
not merely of Jewish
criminality, the crimes, the
ways in which they were com-
mitted, and their context all
conveniently comport with
readily available anti-Semitic
stereotypes.
After all, the many anxious
Jews must be thinking, here
was a coterie of Sammy Glick-
hustlers scheming to get an
edge on the thousands of
American stockholders across
the country, who could not be
privy to the inside information
that the youngish hotshots
fereted out and kept to them-
selves. What's more, some of
their chicanery took place
around United Jewish Appeal
functions, conjuring up 2000-
year-old images of Jewish
money-changing in the Temple.
The insider-trading imbroglio
certainly damages Jews
reputation for fiscal integrity.
It immediately raises questions
which one doesn't ask in mixed
and polite company: Why are so
many Jews involved in the Wall
Street scandal? Are Jewish
business people more pre-
disposed to dishonesty than
others? Or. are there other ex-
planations?
There are other explanations.
Taken together, they may - or
may not - dispel doubts about
Jewish business ethics.
First, consider the
phenomenon of ethnic
clustering. Many ethnic groups,
including American Jews, tend
to congregate within certain
professions and certain in-
dustries. And within those
professions, they cluster in cer-
tain sub-specialties; and within
specialties, they cluster even
within certain firms. The E.F.
Hutton check-kiting scandal in-
volved few. if any. American
Jews. But any pattern of
wrongdoing centered in the ar-
bitrage sub-industry was sure
to involve not one. but several.
Jews.
Second. Jews - like
Japanese. Cubans. Armenians.
Koreans. Asian Indians - and
so many other American ethnic
groups, are entrepreneurially
inclined. Members of these
ethnic groups have long family
histories of independent
business ownership, and they
See Insider Trading Page 13
PAGE 3 THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1987 TEXAS JEWISH POST
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 5, 1987, newspaper, March 5, 1987; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth755225/m1/3/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .