High Holidays

The Rohr Center serving the Pratt Community
HIGH HOLIDAYS
Join a community of artists for a contemplative, intellectually stimulating and heart-centered experience.

Services led with meaning, melody and humor by Rabbi Simcha.

English/Hebrew books provided.

Rosh Hashanah (Day 1)

Thursday, September 9
10:30 – 1pm: Services
(followed by nosh & schmooze)

Rosh Hashanah (Day 2)

Friday, September 10
10:30 – 1pm: Services
(followed by nosh & schmooze)

Yom Kippur

Friday, September 17
6pm: Kol Nidrei
Saturday, September 18
11-1pm: Services
6:00pm: Neila
(followed by break-fast)

The Rohr Center – 543 Myrtle Ave
bet. Steuben & Emerson (Facing the Pratt Store) Clinton Hill / Bed Stuy
No Tickets, No Appeals, No Charge.
Everybody Welcome
Reservations Requested, Walk-Ins Welcome

RSVP:Info@RohrCenter.com

Hadas Gallery

Hadas Gallery is a grass roots student-driven organization committed to using the arts as a means for creative self-expression and reflection.

(Hebrew Myr ∙ tle)
- noun
1. Hadas. A bough of the Myrtle tree that forms one of the Four Species held together on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

Submissions?
Contact: Info@HadasGallery.com

Located in The Rohr Center
543 Myrtle Avenue
(between Steuben & Emerson)
Clinton Hill / Bed Stuy (Facing the Pratt Store)

In Your Dreams: The Kabbalah of Inception

It turns out that my mundane reality of morning school runs and chai tea lattes on the way to the office may not be as real as I thought, at least according to a new hit movie.

Directed by Hollywood hotshot Christopher Nolan (of The Dark Knight fame), the movie Inception stars Leonardo DiCaprio, and turns out to be that rarest of things: a big screen blockbuster with brains.

This complex, visually innovative science fiction/ heist film explores the phenomenon of lucid dreaming. We’ve probably all experienced uncanny moments of self-awareness during REM sleep – knowing that we’re dreaming while we’re dreaming, and maybe even trying to control the narrative. Inception depicts what you might call “lucid dreaming on steroids.”

DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, a veteran “extractor” who enters the dreams of others to obtain otherwise inaccessible information. Not surprisingly, he’s handsomely rewarded for this ability, but this arduous avocation has also cost Cobb the trappings of a normal existence.

In exchange for a chance to get his old life back, Cobb must now perform an “inception”: instead of extracting dreams, Cobb is assigned to implant a valuable idea into a target’s mind while he sleeps.

The act of inception is far more difficult and dangerous than extraction, but also more lucrative.

(And just think of how useful such a gift would be in the real world. I could finally get my children to clean up after themselves, and maybe even reprogram the barista to get my order right.)

The movie Inception “works” on many levels, as a philosophical puzzle and as sheer glossy entertainment. As a rabbi, I couldn’t help thinking of the Kabbalist teaching that while we sleep, our souls leave our bodies and ascend to their heavenly source in order to replenish energy.

The Kabbalistic commentary called The Zohar explains that when we sleep 59 out of 60 parts of our soul have now left the body, leaving only that 1/60 to sustain us physically. In this disembodied state, the soul encounters visions usually off limits to within our everyday world.

I also noticed that the movie Inception even has a character named Yusuf, a chemist who formulates the drugs needed to enter the dream world.

According to the biblical story, Joseph (or Yusuf) was blessed with the ability to interpret dreams, a rare skill that was highly valued by the Egyptian royal court. As such, his talents granted Joseph access to the highest echelons of society. He eventually became the second most powerful man in the empire, even though he was a foreigner who’d recently spent time in jail!

If the mystics and sages are right, our life is just a dream. In an instant, we can be transported to another dimension (no special effects or fictional narcotics required.)

Kabbalah considers our physical world an illusion, a temporary residence, and not true reality. So stop existing and start dreaming!

Simcha Weinstein is an internationally known, best-selling author. His first book Up, Up and Oy Vey!, received the Benjamin Franklin Award for the best book of 2007. He has appeared on CNN Showbiz Tonight and NPR, and has been profiled in leading publications, including The New York Times, The Miami Herald and The London Guardian. He is a regular contributor to The Jerusalem Post and The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), and other publications. He chairs the Religious Affairs Committee at the renowned New York art school, Pratt Institute. His latest book Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st century (Barricade Books: 2008) is out now.

Goldman, Lipman and Spider-Man: All Jewish names.

My Spidey sense is tingling, 48 years after the Spider-man was first concocted by Jewish artist Stan Lee; Jewish actor Andrew Garfield will don the spandex for the forthcoming fourth film in the Spider-man franchise, replacing Tobey Maguire in the role.

Garfield noted in an interview that he grew up in a middle-class Jewish home and attended private school. While born in Los Angeles, Garfield moved across the pond to live in England with his British mother and American father when he was 3.

Garfield being Jewish is no small matter to the Spider-man universe. In August 1962, Stan Lee was basking in the success of the Fantastic Four and the Hulk, created a new kind of superhero: “A teenager, with all the problems, hang-ups, and angst of any teenager. He’d be an orphan who lived with his aunt and uncle, a bit of a nerd, a loser in the romantic department, and who constantly worried.”

Spider-Man has a number of classically Jewish qualities.

Angst-ridden teenager Peter Parker is introduced in the first panel as “that bookworm [who] wouldn’t know a cha-cha from a waltz!” He’s drawn as a nebbish – a dark-haired, spectacled, neurotic worrier. When he’s bitten by a radioactive spider while visiting a science museum, Parker ends up with an array of superhuman, spider like powers: speed, strength, and agility; a tingling “spider-sense” that warns him of impending danger; the ability to quickly recover from injuries and poisons; and a proficiency for sticking to walls. Originally near sighted, Parker now has perfect vision.

The death of a loved one is a commonplace motive for crime fighting in comics. Just think of Batman. But Spider-Man is driven by guilt rather than revenge. Michael Chabon notes, “I don’t think there’s another comic-book superhero that’s as completely driven by trying to pay some debt, a debt that can’t be paid, as Spider-Man is.” Amazingly, Garfield recently noted, “I have a really big guilt complex and that if I’m not doing any kind of good then there’s no real reason for being.”

Sam Raimi, director of the previous hugely successful Spider-Man movies, agrees with Chabon: “Spider-Man is a character that spends his life trying to pay down his guilt, the only difference is that it’s caused by his uncle, not his mother. That’s a real classically Jewish quality — to be very aware of your sins in this life and try and make amends for them in this life.”

Michael Chabon’s fictional account of the early days of the comic book industry, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay depicts how badly the comic creators themselves needed heroes.

The theme of guilt leads to talk of Spider-Man being Jewish. So does Spider-Man’s dry sense of humor, “He’s a very funny guy, almost Seinfeld with webbing,” observes Marvel writer Danny Fingeroth. Chabon comments, “For years people have speculated that Peter was sort of crypto-Jewish. You know, living with his uncle Ben and aunt May in Queens.”

Many people consider spiders pests and are fearful of them, but in fact these creatures perform a vital natural function by keeping the insect population under control. In the same way, the Jewish people have received their share of bad press over the years. Israel is a special target of misrepresentation in media “spin.” Like the Jewish people, Spider-Man tries to do the right thing but is viewed with suspicion by authority figures.
Spider-Man’s famous costume covers his entire body from head to toe. Even his eyes hide behind unblinking white triangles. Spider-Man seems to be trying particularly hard to conceal himself; not many other comic book characters are so thoroughly disguised.

Spider-Man, unlike other superheroes, is more Woody Allen nebbish than all-powerful, suffering from stereotypical Jewish neuroses. When he was in his Clark Kent guise, Superman was only pretending to be a nerd. Peter Parker really was one.

The director of the forthcoming movie Marc Webb noted, “Mark my words, you will love Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker.” With a guy named Webb helming a Spider-man movie starring a guilt-ridden Jewish actor, who am I to disagree!

Simcha Weinstein is an internationally known, best-selling author. His first book Up, Up and Oy Vey!, received the Benjamin Franklin Award for the best book of 2007. He has appeared on CNN Showbiz Tonight and NPR, and has been profiled in leading publications, including The New York Times, The Miami Herald and The London Guardian. He is a regular contributor to The Jerusalem Post and The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), and other publications. He chairs the Religious Affairs Committee at the renowned New York art school, Pratt Institute. His latest book Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st century (Barricade Books: 2008) is out now.

The Religion of Football (Soccer)

As I write this, Germany has just trounced my beloved England 4-1 for a spot in the World Cup quarterfinals.

As an Englishman living in New York — the world’s unofficial capital city — I’ve been inspired by the passion and excitement I’ve witnessed, as fans of all nationalities gather in the bars of Brooklyn to celebrate “the beautiful game.”

I’d hoped this would be England’s year. After all, I am a man of faith. Yet when England was knocked out, I was well prepared. Partly because I’m a faithful supporter of Manchester City, a team that has yet to win so much as an eggcup since the year I was born.

So yes, I know the meaning of pain. In fact, I was a season ticket holder for many years. Then when Manchester City was demoted to the old second division, I was motivated to rip up that season ticket and enter rabbinical school. (Well, several life changing trips to Israel helped, too).

As luck would have it, my beloved City has now grown into one of the world’s richest clubs, and is in the running for some major silverware next season. I don’t know if my tantrum had any effect on that.

But I was happy to trade my season ticket for a siddur after I began to notice how today’s fans idolize their football heroes. Perhaps because of our sedentary careers and routine lives, many of us live vicariously through professional athletes. Their success becomes our success, and their failures become our failures. Should David Beckham’s injured knee really result in a national day of morning? Where are our priorities? The great Bill Shankly got it wrong: football is not more serious than life and death.

Saturday afternoon is a perfect time for faith, family and friends. We should be relaxing on the pews of the shul, not in the terraces.

Don’t think I’m bashing the beautiful game; after all, once Shabbat over, I still run to check the scores.

In fact, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, noted that football is a powerful metaphor for life.

The objective of the beautiful game is to kick a ball into a “goal.” It sounds easy, but we all have opponents to face, and our true potential is only awakened by challenge and adversity.

In his enlightening and entertaining book “How Football Explains The World,” American fan Franklin Foer uses football anecdotes to explain how the world at large works.

He notes that every four years, we see globalization made manifest in the World Cup. During this communal event, the world is united. Nations may be battling other nations, but they are doing so without weapons – and all are united by their passion for the game itself.

The most important thing to remember is that, win or lose, it’s just a game, and a funny old one at that!

Simcha Weinstein is an internationally known, best-selling author. His first book Up, Up and Oy Vey!, received the Benjamin Franklin Award for the best book of 2007. He has appeared on CNN Showbiz Tonight and NPR, and has been profiled in leading publications, including The New York Times, The Miami Herald and The London Guardian. He is a regular contributor to The Jerusalem Post and The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), and other publications. He chairs the Religious Affairs Committee at the renowned New York art school, Pratt Institute. His latest book Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st century (Barricade Books: 2008) is out now.

Shtick Shift now on iPhone and iPad

Download Shtick Shift on your new iPhone4

With all the excitement around the launch of apples new iPhone4, thought i would remind you that my latest book Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century is available to download and read on the iPhone and iPad.

Whilst its not currently available via Apples ibooks store, you can purchase it from Amazons Kindle store, which can be read on all iPhones (not just iPhone4) and the iPad using the free Kindle app.

For those of you who dont have an iPhone or an iPad, Shtick Shift is also available on Kindle, Blackberry, PC, Mac and for the less tech savy paperback.

Fergie’s Fall

As an Englishman living in New York, I’ve become rather ambivalent towards the Royal Family over the years. The latest scandal rocking Buckingham Palace hasn’t changed my attitude.

The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson (a.k.a “Fergie”) was just caught in a mortifying tabloid trap. Fergie met with a reporter posing as a businessman who said he was willing to pay handsomely for precious access to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew (who happens to be the fourth in line for the throne).

Alas, evidence captured on hidden video reveals that the Duchess was more than willing to cooperate — if she was paid $40,000 up front, in cash, and £500,000 more later.

To us “commoners,” the situation is baffling. Hasn’t the high profile Duchess made millions of dollars as a Weight Watchers spokesperson and popular children’s author, to name just one of her business ventures?

Stranger still, we’ve learned that, while Prince Andrew is a member of one of the world’s richest families, Fergie’s divorce settlement reportedly nets her only $21,000 a year.

The Duchess’s public life hasn’t been entirely free of public stumbles. The British media is particularly keen to mock her unpaid debts, her latest charity fads, and her every attempt to forge yet another “career.”

Less attention is paid to the efforts made by the Duke and Duchess to create a somewhat “normal” upbringing (in aristocratic terms, at least) for their two children. After a fire destroyed Fergies’s manor home in 2008, she and the children moved into the Royal Lodge with her ex-prince. (Andrew has reportedly assured Fergie that he has no intention of kicking her out, post-scandal.)

The Duchess may still have a roof over her head, but her attempt to make a quick buck may have cost her even more than she’d hoped to “earn.” She’d landed recently landed a £300,000 deal for three television documentaries, but now “a TV source” told the media that, “She’s an embarrassment and has been axed. It’s not clear whether she’ll be able to work again.” No doubt the fallout from Fergie’s lapse in judgment will continue to grow.

The Duchess has thrown away more than most people ever get, and now she has behaved foolishly once again. However, some blame must also lie with the devious undercover tabloid reporter who conducted a sting operation on a woman with notoriously poor judgment who is thought to be drowning in debt.

The Torah states (Leviticus 19:14): “You shall not curse the deaf nor place a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God — I am your Lord.”

Now, the word “blind” can be seen a metaphor, representing someone who is ignorant, foolish or, shall we say, “morally blind.” Thus we are admonished not to take advantage of such people, no matter how tempting it may be. We sometimes assure ourselves that we are merely “teaching the other person a lesson” when we do so, but isn’t that just a rationalization we use because we want to look superior?

On this verse in Leviticus, Nemaha Leibowitz the renowned Bible teacher once noted that:

“The Torah teaches us that even by sitting at home doing nothing, by complete passivity and divorcement from society, one cannot shake off responsibility for what is transpiring in the world at large… By not protesting… danger spots, you have become responsible for any harm arising therefrom, and have violated the prohibition: ‘Thou shalt not put a stumbling block before the blind…’”

So we cannot shrug off mean-spirited attacks on anyone, no matter their position in society. Placing temptation in the path of a weak person is wrong, no matter the excuse or the target. Sadly, our tabloid culture has played a part in breaking our moral compass.

In the wake of the scandal, Fergie stoically appeared at BookExpo in New York, to promote her new series.

Her forthcoming “Helping Hand Books” are intended to “help children understand personal and social issues that affect them growing up, including starting school, coping with bullying and learning about strangers.”

Clearly, Fergie herself needs to learn a few lessons about avoiding “strangers.” My advice to her is to take some time for introspection and rejuvenation. Now that would be a story worth reading about.

Simcha Weinstein is an internationally known, best-selling author. His first book Up, Up and Oy Vey!, received the Benjamin Franklin Award for the best book of 2007. He has appeared on CNN Showbiz Tonight and NPR, and has been profiled in leading publications, including The New York Times, The Miami Herald and The London Guardian. He is a regular contributor to The Jerusalem Post and The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), and other publications. He chairs the Religious Affairs Committee at the renowned New York art school, Pratt Institute. His latest book Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st century (Barricade Books: 2008) is out now.

Homer in the Holy Land!

Sure, Israel has been under a lot of pressure lately from the Obama administration, but that’s nothing. It recently survived the biggest challenge in its history when the Simpons family landed at Ben Gurion Airport.

The first family of American comedy ventured to the Holy Land in a new episode called “The Greatest Story Ever D’ohed.” Leave it to the hapless Homer to do the impossible: uniting Jews, Christians and Muslims together – in outrage.

It all starts when Homer’s born-again Christian neighbor Ned Flanders invites the Simpson family to join his Bible study group on a tour of Jerusalem.

“Hmm, let me think,” muses Homer. “Take my family to a war zone, on a bus with religious lame-o’s, in a country with no pork, in a desert with no casino…”

But his devoted wife Marge insists that the whole family schlep over to Isreal for the trip of a lifetime.

As usual, this episode of The Simpsons was packed plethora of cringe-inducing gags, including the “Israel Airlines” plane coming down on a drinking glass (like the groom at a Jewish wedding – get it?), a hotel named the “Wailing Waldorf,” and even a gutter cleaner — wait for it — fiddling on a roof.

(Personally, I wasn’t thrilled by one sight gag: the sign over baggage claim reading, “Israel: Your American tax dollars at work.”)

The Simpsons are joined by cocky Israeli tour guide named Jacob, voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen. (This actually makes sense, since the very Jewish Cohen spent the entire movie Borat speaking a “foreign language” that was actually Hebrew – an in-joke lost on almost all viewers.)

When Jacob takes the group to the Wailing Wall, Homer and Bart argue about how to place written prayers between the rocks. Being an incorrigible brat, Bart pulls out some of the notes and reads them:

“Sad. Sad. Never gonna happen. Sad. Maybe if you were Brad Pitt.”

Next stop is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Ned prays that Homer finds some meaning in the tour — then discovers Homer taking a shluf on the tomb.

“Homer, this is the most sacred spot in Christendom,” Flanders says, “not your backyard hammock.”

Homer: “I’m sorry. It’s just that these tours are so exhausting. You’re jet-lagged, you’re walking around all day, it’s so hard to sleep knowing Marge and the kids are all stuck in one small room. It’s so nice and cool in the Tomb of the Unknown Savior.”

Flanders: “Unknown?! This is the tomb of the most famous man who ever lived.”

Homer: “Porky Pig?”

With that, the normally mild mannered Flanders loses his Christian cool with Homer — and as a result, he’s the one banned for life from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher! Meanwhile Homer, thinking that Ned is wandering alone in the desert, rides off on a camel to save him and soon becomes lost in a sandstorm.

While feeling the effects of dehydration, Homer starts singing about how thirsty he is, to the famous musical signature from Lawrence of Arabia.

In a haze, Homer makes his way to the salty Dead Sea — clearly not the best place to quench your thirst. There, he’s confronted with a vision: a pickle, tomato and carrot – that is, the creatures from the “Veggie Tales”— who proclaim Homer the messiah.

Back in civilization, Dr. Hibbert diagnoses Homer with Jerusalem Syndrome, “the name given to religious delusions or psychoses that occur when people visit Jerusalem.”

(And I should know: about a decade ago, I made a trip to Israel and decided to give up my successful film production career to become a rabbi. “D’oh” is right!)

The episode ends with Homer standing at the Dome of the Rock, exhorting an interfaith crowd to forget their theological differences and become “ChrisMuJews.” He even tries to unite the masses through a universal message of “peace and chicken,” since at least all three Abrahamic faiths approve of eating that particular variety of poultry.

It’s a cute joke, but even though Homer is begging Christians, Muslims and Jews to put aside their differences, he didn’t actually specify what those differences are. Perhaps not surprisingly for a 30-minute comedy show, The Simpson’s experiences in Jerusalem didn’t touch on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Of course, another animated comedy show, South Park, has gotten itself into a lot of trouble lately for daring to mock those religious “differences,” particularly Muslim extremism. So The Simpsons deserve credit for showing their solidarity with another cartoon. Every episode opens with bad boy Bart Simpson writing lines on a chalkboard as punishment; this time the lines said, “South Park – We’d stand beside you, if we weren’t so scared.”

Simcha Weinstein is an internationally known, best-selling author. His first book Up, Up and Oy Vey!, received the Benjamin Franklin Award for the best book of 2007. He has appeared on CNN Showbiz Tonight and NPR, and has been profiled in leading publications, including The New York Times, The Miami Herald and The London Guardian. He is a regular contributor to The Jerusalem Post and The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), and other publications. He chairs the Religious Affairs Committee at the renowned New York art school, Pratt Institute. His latest book Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st century (Barricade Books: 2008) is out now.

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Building Campaign Blog

The Rohr Jewish Center at Pratt Institute

Servicing:

Pratt Institute, Polytechnic University, Long Island University (Brooklyn), Brooklyn Law School & St. Francis & Joseph College

This Blog:

Follows the progress of the construction of an all-glass storefront at a pivotal location, facing Pratt Institute, complementary institutions will help fit the center into a vibrant multi-cultural arts district.

The Pitch:

Downtown Brooklyn is the hipster capital of the world and is witnessing a renaissance, an awakening of ideas, hope and optimism. Yet, there is no organized Jewish student life in Downtown Brooklyn. Almost every school in North America has a space for Jewish student life and why should Downtown Brooklyn be different?

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