Oscars/Hollywood/Magnin

There are far too many things I want to post about this Magnin reading and the Oscars, so here are just a few highlights:

1) A letter to Rabbi Magnin from Cecil B. DeMille. He had awesome friends.

2) Son of Saul won Best Foreign Language Film. Here's an excellent Fresh Air podcast with the Director and star of the film.

3) A few articles about this year's Oscars and the deep Jewish connections to the industry and the awards.

4) Would definitely be interested to talk more about the underlying current of race in Hollywood that permeated this year's ceremony. If you haven't watched Chris Rock's monologue, I highly recommend it.

Dude, Where's My Car?

A little more detail regarding the time when Rabbi Leo Franklin returned the sedan gifted to him by Henry Ford. The comments, unsurprisingly, provide a frustrating view into current Islamophobic rhetoric, but the article itself provides an interesting parallel between anti-Semitism of Ford's time and the anti-Muslim sentiment today.

Larry David and the non-Jewish Country Club (NSFW)

Take a look at this video for a NSFW video! (go to 1:25)

Bernie Sanders and the Meat Rioters

I saw this article about Bernie Sanders' Jewish identity and this description caught my eye:

Mr. Sanders, those who know him say, exemplifies a distinct strain of Jewish identity, a secular offshoot at least 150 years old whose adherents in the shtetls of Eastern Europe and the jostling streets of the Lower East Side were socialists, anarchists, radicals and union organizers focused less on observance than on economic justice and repairing a broken world.

The description of the lower east side socialists made me think of the role these women took in their community and the economic life of their local society.

Stuffed Derma?

Just in case anyone was, like me, wondering what "stuffed derma" actually looks like...

... it's kishkas!!! Enjoy--

New York Meat Riots: Women Voiced

With the Meat Riots in May of 1902, young housewives in their 30's developed a voice and recognition that they too could participate in political activism. The women even interrupted the Torah reading so they could promulgate their very real struggle. Apparent in the riots is that these women cared deeply about the price of meat, considering that meat went up from 12 cents to 18 cents. Here is a NY Times headline from 17 May 1902:

Also, here is a New York Times article from 26 May 1902, explaining the events of the previous day with regard to the Meat Riots. The Butchers wanted to open their doors, but needed police protection in order to do so. The article contains many statements, particularly from the (Ladies) Anti-(Beef) Trust Association.

Wilshire Boulevard Temple

Following up as well on the theme of LA Jewish history, I was curious about Rabbi Edgar Magnin (who apparently delivered the inaugural prayer for President Nixon in 1969!?!) and Wilshire Boulevard Temple.

There's a documentary out now about the restoration of WBT's historic synagogue in Koreatown. Here's a clip from the film:


Edit Feb 28: I had the chance to see the entire film last Thursday night and it was wonderful, moving me nearly to tears. Director Aaron Wolf tells the story of the renovation as one of the institution, but also as one in which he reconnected with his own grandparents who had been intimately involved in the history of the synagogue. Their involvement was both personal and professional, as Wolf is the grandson of Rabbi Alfred Wolf, who started the WBT Temple Camps, and was one of the "gang of five" rabbis that were brought to HUC in the 30s from Germany.

American Jews: The True Hollywood Story

Although this article clearly reflects from present day into the past, it demonstrates what William Toll focuses on in his article about Pacific Jewry with regard to Los Angeles Jews and their impact on the entertainment industry. Haaretz published the article in anticipation of the 86th Academy Awards in 2014, but provided a concise history of Jewish influence on entertainment. Clearly, the Jewish community participated in facilitating the growth of the film industry and also the culture around it. In fact, the article continues to portray the difficulty Jews faced in the entertainment industry and how those problems were dealt with over time.

Also, please find this youtube video, entitled: An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood, which tells the history of the Jewish experience in Hollywood, and the review of the book version of the same story here.

Moses at Yosemite

So apparently there are some pretty famous stained glass windows in San Francisco Jewish history. Here's one of them from Congregation Sherith Israel:



Does it look to anybody else like Moses is next to an American flag? This blogger seems to think he looks like John Muir, which I find pretty accurate as well. I went to read a little more about this window, and here's what we get from Sherith Israel themselves:

West window: This dramatic work, "Moses Presented the Ten Commandments to the Children of Israel," was designed by Paris-trained artist Emile Pissis, brother of architect Albert Pissis. Emile created a movie-star handsome Moses, red robe flowing, surrounded by vibrant tribal flags and the Hebrew people. But instead of standing at Sinai, the Jewish people are gathered on granite rocks at the gateway to Yosemite, Half Dome and El Capitan in the distance. This is a modern Moses, and California is the Promised Land.

Tablet Article on 19th Century American Jews

 Phenomenal article today from Tablet (http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/197758/subversive-jews-american-culture) about an exhibit at Princton University Art Museum (http://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/exhibitions/1655). If you are still looking for someone to do a eulogy on, this would be a good place to start. The section on author Samuel Benjamin Helbert Judah is great. He sent a copy of his magnum opus to John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and their letters back to him are hilarious (TLDR: they didn't like it).

Two favorite excerpts from the article:
"The collection encourages a shift away from the all-too-prevalent focus upon the “image of the Jew”—meaning the study of the Jew as object—and underscores the agency of Jews, their role as creators and shapers of the nascent national culture."

"The bulk of Jews in antebellum America, even if they differed from the mainstream in matters of religion, were, of course, far from subversive. They kept their heads down and their mouths shut. Seeking to win their neighbors’ respect, they strove mightily to behave well. But they too paid a price. Their names go unrecorded in the annals of American Jewish culture and they left nothing for Leonard Milberg to collect. The moral, proclaimed by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich with respect to women, is no less true with respect to Jews: the well-behaved ones seldom made history."

Tsenah u'renah

Found this really interesting article and site when I was looking for more information on the tsenah u'renah. The Jewish Women's Archive appears to have some really good information and resources (there is a link to their homepage on the right side of our blog under What's Up with American Jews)
Here is a link to the Jewish Women's Archive Encyclopedia entry for the tsenah u'renah. http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/zeenah-u-reenah
I would be really curious to find out what other "bibles" for popular consumption were prominent during this period. What kind of biblical literacy or religious community did the Calof's Christian neighbors have in comparison?