Pacific Jewish Center | Rabbi » TV

A Good Day for Sarah Palin

rabbifink — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:37:13 +0000

Things weren’t looking so good for Sarah Palin a couple years ago. What with the lost election, her daughter’s teenage pregnancy and some clothing scandal, it seemed Palin was destined for the waste bin of history. Easy come, easy go.

But Palin took some time off. Then she let the people become dissatisfied with their government and as President Obama did in 2008, Palin capitalized of the country’s yearning for change. Palin endorsed some long-shot candidates in the 2010 mid-term elections and some of them won, while others did not. The election was not a sweep for Palin, it was more like a draw.

But today’s news is a definite win for Palin. Two wins in fact.

Win #1: Sarah Palin’s Alaska is a brand new reality based TV show on TLC. I have not seen the show. I hear it is about Sarah Palin’s outdoor excursions including bear watching, fishing and other activities that are normal for Alaskans and boring for me… Anyway, the show pulled in a 4.96 rating. In English, that means that nearly 5 million people tuned in to see Palin and her TV show. That set a new record for TLC and is being called a whopping success. The show runs for another 7 weeks and we will need to monitor its long range ratings to see if it is really a success or a one hit wonder.

Win #2: Remember when everyone was making fun of Sarah Palin for inadvertently inventing a word in a twitter message (tweet)? Here is the text of the original tweet:

Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn’t it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate.

Here’s a screengrab of the tweet:

A few hours later the tweet was deleted and the word refudiate was replaced with refute (which is still not proper usage of the word, but at least it’s a word!).

As I type the word refudiate in this blog post, a red dotted line appears beneath it. Know why? Because it’s not a word. But that all changed today. Eventually my computer’s dictionary will get the memo (I hope).

The Oxford Word of the Year is………. Refudiate.

Really.

So, feel free to use refudiate in professional conversation. It’s perfectly legit.

Two big wins for Sarah Palin in one day.

Now I am just waiting for the Democrats to refudiate the Oxford Dictionary for supporting Sarah Palin…

For the full list of words added to the 2010 Oxford Dictionary see the NY Times technology blog: Bits

And for an article on the ratings see the NY Times media blog: Media Decoder

Esther Petrack's Mother Speaks: Esther is observant, it was all editing

rabbifink — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:28:52 +0000

Esther Petrack © CW

A few weeks ago I wrote about Esther Petrack, the modern orthodox contestant on America’s Next Top Model (ANTM). I responded to a post I read on Tablet Magazine that reported a conversation on the show purporting to show that Esther gave up Shabbos observance to pursue a career in modeling. See Esther Petrack: Modern Orthodox Jewish Girl on America’s Next Top Model Drops Shabbos on Television

Esther is popular and the post has been the most popular post on this blog since the day it was written. The point of the post was two-fold. One, there is a drama (contrived or real) to seeing someone drop their observance. One moment they are observnt and the next they are not. I found that drama (real or contrived) compelling. Second, the writer at Tablet claimed this was a “blow to modern orthodoxy”. I vehemently disagree. All streams of Judaism have defectors and even if Esther was “leaving” modern orthodoxy it was no “blow”, just a causalty like any other young adult choosing a different life from their parents.

Last night, Esther’s mom (Marina) commented on the original post. (link: Marina’s Comment)

The fateful words “I will do it” in an answer to the question about working on shabbat were the result of editing. Esther never meant or said that she would give up shabbat for the show, neither did she do it. These words were taken from a long conversation about the principles and laws of shabbat and how Esther was planning to observe them. The producers cut out these 4 words to create a more scandalous storyline; judging from the amount of reaction, they were quite successful!

This is very exciting news! It is obscene that ANTM found it necessary to manufacture drama at the cost of someone’s religious beliefs but on the other hand, it is a relief that it was manufactured.

I apologize to Esther, her friends and family and any other persons affected by the assumption that the edited conversation depicted something close to reality. It seems it was not “reality television” rather it was “manufactured television”. I will leave the original post up with a link to this post and Marina’s comment.

Marina added:

Careful viewers could see that there was editing and I would have hoped that non careful readers would have gieven Esther the benefit of the doubt, kaf zechut…

Some people saw that and correctly did not assume. Kudos to them and to the rest of us, the rebuke is warranted.

Finally:

I’m proud of Esther’s midot and comittment to mitzvot which she carried through the show. As a cute example, since you probably know that the girls were housed in a house overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Venice, Esther used the ocean to [ritually] dunk (tovel) a pot she bought to cook for herself in the house.

Isn’t that nice?

Plus, I had no idea that Esther was so close to my shul – I would have invited her for a shabbos meal if I had known… And apparently, Esther remained committed to her Jewish heritage and principles while on the show. Nothing could make me prouder.

Readers: Please help spread the word that Esther was harshly edited by ATNM and she never gave up Shabbos. It was wrong of them to edit her that way and now that we know the truth we have a responsibility to fix the wrong.

Esther Petrack: Modern Orthodox Jewish Girl on America's Next Top Model Drops Shabbos on Television

rabbifink — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:21:33 +0000

Esther Petrack © CW

MUST READ UPDATE: Esther Petrack’s Mother Speaks: Esther is observant, it was all editing

Tablet Magazine reports that there is a Modern Orthodox girl from Massachusetts on America’s Next Top Model with Tyra Banks.

It’s always cool to see a fellow member of the tribe on TV show, even a reality show. It is more than a little counter-intuitive to see a Jewish girl competing for a modeling contract when you consider the tradition of tznius (something akin to modesty) that has been a hallmark of observant Judaism. In fact it probably breaches most tznius standards to just participate in a reality show, but certainly a show that celebrates the barely clothed human body.

Yet, I was still wondering (hoping?) that somehow Esther would follow the lead of her biblical namesake (Queen Esther of Purim fame) and somehow make a kiddush Hashem (glorification of Godliness) on the show.

Tablet Magazine reports the following conversation took place:

After letting Esther say a bit about herself—namely, that she was born in Jerusalem—[Tyra] asked her about her Orthodox Jewish practice. “Do you honor the Sabbath?”

“Yes I do,” Esther responded, proceeding to explain the rules regarding the usage of electricity, computers, cell phones, and cars on Friday night and Saturday. Tyra sternly informed her that ANTM contestants work all the time, seven days a week. … Would Esther, Tyra wanted to know, be able to adhere to the ANTM work schedule? Her Jewish identity was all of a sudden squarely on the spot…

…She replied after a momentary hesitation: “Yes, I would do it.”

UPDATE: There is a good chance that this was edited to sound worse than it actually was live. I really hope that is the case. However, the feelings I experienced READING the transcript are colored by the way CW depicted the conversation. My main point is not relevant to whether Esther is a Shomer Shabbos or not. I hope she still is…

I know many non-observant Jews. I know many Jews who “honored the Sabbath” at some time in their life and no longer “honor the Sabbath”. This is different. Not because she is on TV or seeking a career in modeling. It’s different because the world saw the moment that she made the decision. We were witnesses to the “moment”. One minute she was Observant and the next moment she was not.

To me, that is a very dramatic moment.

We all have those kinds of moments in our life. That moment of choice. We are told “Choose Life”.

Tablet Magazine’s Dvora Meyers then goes on to write that this is another harsh blow to Modern Orthodoxy. On that point I disagree. Every sect and stream of Judaism has those who stay on that path, others move to more traditional practice and others to less practice. It is not a “problem” unique to Modern Orthodoxy.

Also, don’t think for a second that the story of Esther Petrack’s connection with her Judaism has been written and is now over. People change. Teenagers do things they later regret. Especially as we are now in the final days of Judgment and we are very aware of the power of Teshuva (Essay: What is Teshuva (repentance) and How Does It Work in Judaism?) it is important to realize that we have all done things that we regret. Esther dropped Shabbos on national TV but we have all dropped things in our lives.

The beauty of this time of the year is that we have a wonderful opportunity to pick things back up. Hopefully, Esther and all of us along with her will be able to pick ourselves up and be the Jewish people that we truly want to be.

The Good Wife: Unorthodox, From a Rabbi / Law Student Perspective

rabbifink — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:33:59 +0000

The Good Wife is a new legal drama on CBS. The show is great. Usually the legal issues are portrayed correctly (at least from a law student’s perspective) and the character development of the main character has been superb.

This week’s episode revolved around a chasidic couple living in Chicago who were responsible to fix a fallen eruv wire, but since it fell on Shabbos they had to wait until Shabbos had ended and in the meantime a woman claims she fell over the wire and is suing for 1.2 million dollars in punitive damages. The title of the episode does not refer to the couple, rather it refers to their lawyer with an unorthodox approach to law.

Read on for my comments, critiques and a HUGE PLOT HOLE.

The defense is based on the 1st Amendment, freedom of speech, and claims that the couple has the right to practice their religion and a jury should decide if they are liable when they believe it would be wrong for them to fix the eruv wire. That defense fails when the wife (a recent baalas tshuva / one who returns to Orthodox Judaism later in life) is found to have been making phone calls to her father on Shabbos. If she calls her father on Shabbos she should also be able to fix the fallen wire. Ultimately, the defense shows that the entire slip and fall was concocted and the jury finds for the defense.

You can read a full synopsis of the episode here or, even better, you can watch the show (at least for the time being) on CBS.com.

The portrayal of the chasidic community, the laws of eruv and the relationship between the chasidic couple were pretty good. BUt there were a few things that they got wrong. It is so funny to me that any orthodox Jew would notice the nuances that are incorrect but the entire staff of the show does not see the mistakes. Ironically, last week’s episode of The Good Wife revolved around a witness who could not tell the difference between 2 black men. It seems that people from other ethnicities have a hard time seeing the nuances of other ethnicities. It is no different when Hollywood tries to portrays Jews. They simply don’t have the sensitivities to the finer details of orthodox Judaism, especially chasidic Judaism.

Things They Got Mostly Correct

The chasidic garb. She was wearing typical women’s dress. Subdued colors and very modest. He was in black and white with his hat nearby at all times.

Strollers. Everyone had strollers in the chasidic neighborhood.

Kosher markets. There was a kosher market within walking distance.

The shomrim guy. He looked like every non-chasidic Hatzalah (Jewish volunteer ambulance core) guy I know.

The intimacy between the couple. Most couples on the show celebrate victory with public hugs and kisses. The chasidic couple did not embrace in public, but their connection was displayed by touching each other’s hands secretly.

Mistakes

The chasidic guy never smiles. That is just not nice.

The chasidic guy has a “tchup”(coiffed hair), chasidic men have hair that is cut very short.

The chasidic guy has a trimmed beard, that is not common at all.

The chasidic guy has a RING! (I mean, come on, that’s an easy one!)

They say an eruv “creates a symbolic courtyard“, that’s not quite true, an eruv joins many domains into one common domain by surround the entire community with a wall. (But that is a hard one.)

A young chasidic boy has a leather kipa perched awkwardly on the back of his head.

Something That Bothered Me

The wife was a twice rehabbed drug loving party girl who found chasidic Judaism while incarcerated. Showing her revival as a chasidic Jewish woman bothered me slightly. It was if to say, one has to be so crazy to find chasidic Judaism attractive. Maybe I am nitpicking, but it bothered me just a little.

HUGE PLOT HOLE

When the plaintiff got injured it was Shabbos. She was asked why she was walking through this neighborhood and she said she was going to the market. She was asked why this market if there are four markets closer to her home and she said because this market is the kosher market where they sell gluten free products.

Do you see the problem? (answer below)

This is an inexcusable error. CBS, next time you want to do a show with chasidic or Orthodox Jewish characters and plot elements you can hire me. I will be your rabbinical consultant and make sure you get it right.

The Good Wife is a great show. One of the reasons it is great is not the attention to detail. A twitter buddy of mine also noticed a legal problem a few weeks ago. I guess when you are law student and a Rabbi you are going to notice the mistakes of Jewish culture and law.

(Plot hole answer: The kosher market is closed on Shabbos. She could never be walking to a kosher market on Shabbos!)

Read this blog post by @matthue about his experience as an extra for the episode!