by Rabbi Arnold Saltzman
With Purim just a week away, it is custom to be busy with preparations for the holiday by making Shlach Manot, baskets with delicious deserts including the Hamanaschen made with poppy, cherry, chocolate, apple, prunes, and just about any filling you can think of to make this a sought after delicacy, so long as we don’t overindulge. Schools are busy with Purim Shpiels, plays which have light humor, and in which even being corny is acceptable on this particular day, along with masks, costumes and groggers, and the reading of the Book of Esther, Megilat Esther.
In the Five Books of Moses, the Torah, and its theme of Justice, it is rare in that we have moments of humor. Yet, the Book of Esther, part of the Tanakh, is a triumph that reveals Esther as the great savior of the Jewish people, with plenty of wisdom, intelligence, beauty, and humor. She saves the day, and the Jewish people. We could use her right now, considering Iran and its anti-Israel, Holocaust denial rhetoric and activities of the past decades.
It’s been almost a year and a half since our son, Michael went out to L.A. He is an actor-director-writer-musician. Many of his friends live in L.A. and unlike Washington, DC, where the industry is the Government, in L.A. the industry is entertainment, as in films and the ‘Academy Awards.’
There are many people who take a chance, Lech L’Cha – ‘go to land that I will show you,’ ‘Go West young man,’ and hope to make it there. The opportunities for Michael have been good. He appeared in a commercial for Hulu where he plays a giant Taco chip – after flexing his muscles and saying Grrrrr, he falls into the giant dip, much to everyone’s delight. Michael was a brilliant Taco Chip! He might even be the smartest Taco Chip in history!
Using Kick-starter, he and a group of talented friends raised funds to produce a six-part mini-series of an original show called, gulp – ‘Jewvangelist.’
When he mentioned the name of the show my first impression was the name could be problematic. For example, anything with the word ‘Jew’ in it frequently can have negative connotations. They took Jewish and Evangelist and made them into one new word, Jewvangelist. The second ‘gulp’- was the idea that somehow this show was going to evangelize Judaism. I needed to think about that.
Traditionally, Jews do not proselytize. Why is that? In the Talmud and later rabbinic literature, it became the norm that you had to study, study, and do more study, and after a long period of time and being discouraged twice a rabbi would say, OK, I see that you are sincere on the third try. If you are ready to convert and say so, we will be ready to accept you.
Hillel in the time of the Mishna already said that we should accept someone at their word if they wish to accept the mitzvot. This idea of being a ‘Chosen People’ was bound up in the idea that ‘you’ do not have to be Jewish, ‘we’ do. It is a great burden and a great privilege – yet as Tevya said after a pogrom ‘Lord, for once, couldn’t you choose someone else?’
That little statement summarizes the problem of being a minority religion in most of the world. You keep a low profile if you want to co-exist. The rabbis understood this and it was imposed upon them as well in most places to go slow when it comes to being a ‘Jew by Choice.’ If people became Jewish, it was a heresy in their church with consequences for them including the historic Inquisition, and other possible repercussions for the Jewish community. Therefore, in most places it was easier for the Jewish Community to co-exist without growing too much in population as long as this silent agreement of not encouraging others to become Jewish was the norm.
There is the humor in Jewvangelist. Here it turns this idea on its head and says we need more people, more Jews, so let’s learn from the ‘Mormons’ and Jewvangelize!
What is the appeal? Well Judaism is welcoming and modern. We welcome singles, the LGBT community, and special needs, young and old, multi-cultural and interracial, Interfaith families and Judaism is a religion in progress constantly adjusting to time and history. This has helped Judaism to survive as a religion and helped us survive as a people. So why not let people know that we have a terrific religion worth considering?
The Chabad and Lubavitchers had a similar idea, however they said ‘Jews’ are not being Jewish, so let’s go after Jews so they will be more knowledgeable and observant. Perhaps we can encourage and teach them some mitzvot. Chabad came up with the Mitzvamobile, where there would be Chabadniks who would go to college campuses and ask if you were Jewish and then put tefillin on you, and say the Sh’ma. This movement exists now in most countries around the world, the exception being the Muslim countries of the Arab world.
Jewvangelist’s Executive Producer, Kaitlin Walsh, deserves a lot of credit in putting this together, raising the funds, and organizing production. Becky Kramer who plays Rabbi Leah Levy, Christian Ayers who has written the screen play directed by Aaron Milus, and the rest of the credits at www.Jewvangelist.com including Alex Trugman playing the rock cantor, Jay Katz. So far they have filmed six episodes, not including this past week where the cast did a YouTube fundraiser for the Jewish Federation, which has allowed them the use of their offices for filming.
The show itself has twin rabbis, Rabbi Leah Levy who leads a congregation on the brink of extinction and her twin brother rabbi, my son Michael, who is the baaaad Rabbi Asher Levy, who is trying to hurry up the closing of Leah’s congregation so he can benefit both from the number of congregants and being ‘the’ success story with their parents. The cast includes a talented rock cantor who is openly attracted to a young man from the Evangelical Church, and a Mormon on a bicycle who is teaching Rabbi Leah, the rabbinic voice of the show, how to evangelize.
At last count they were at 6300 hits for the first episode. At first I was worried. Is this another Hollywood take on Jewish stock characters and clichés? Or was this a new melody? We are commanded to sing a new song unto the Lord, yet this is comedy and entertainment set in a Temple. Does it work? The concept is funny – because – we don’t proselytize. Yet, it does leave us with the question after we follow the interesting tensions and comic situations. Why don’t we reach out more to people who are interested in becoming Jewish? We have so much to offer, then why the hesitation?
Yet, it is a funny idea that we might be proselytizing – can you see people lining up to be Jewish? Why is that funny? This is due to the fact that our history has made it difficult to convert in the past. Even today, it is a responsibility that comes with its blessings and difficulties.
Nevertheless, if you become Jewish, just think of all the wonderful sermons you will be able to hear! We are so proud of our son, Michael, at last we have another rabbi in the family!
Shabbat Shalom – Mi Shenichnas L’Adar Nichnas L’Simcha
Happy Purim and enjoy the new series Jewvangelist!
If you would like to become Jewish, please, the line forms on the right!
PS – A few days after I gave this sermon, The Huffington Post did an extensive interview with the Director of Jewvangelist who gave excellent responses and did a wonderful interview.
www.huffingtonpost.com/joshua-stanton/jewvangelist-parody-pract_b_4932406.html