JustASC

There is a midrash in Talmud (Gittin 56a) about two men, Kamtza and Bar-Kamtza, whose similar names set in motion a series of epically tragic events. A friend of Kamtza’s accidentally invites Bar-Kamtza to a feast. It turns out Bar-Kamtza is an enemy of the host, who throws him out. Humiliated, Bar-Kamtza vows revenge on his host and the rabbis who refuse to intervene. He informs on his fellow Jews to the Romans, who destroy the Temple and exile the Jews.

Echoes of that nightmarish “for want of a nail” scenario are heard and seen in The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s intense, streamlined version of Timon of Athens, one of the Bard’s most enigmatic (and least performed) plays. Timon is a generous and naive lord who goes broke after showering largesse on his craven and self-serving fellow Athenians. Spurned by his unforgiving debtors and dubious friends, Timon retreats to a forest cave, steeped in bitterness and consumed by his hatred of Athens’ “Large-handed robbers”:

I am Misanthropos, and hate mankind.
For thy part, I do wish thou wert a dog,
That I might love thee something.

Director Brian B. Crowe’s version of the play is beautifully staged and lit and expertly acted by a cast that includes Geoffrey Owens, who played Elvin on “The Cosby Show.” The Cabaret meets Sweeney Todd concept strikingly captures the general air of decadence and rot that surrounds the play.

The play continues through July 24th at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre omn the Campus of Drew University in Madison, NJ.

Marc Tracy nominates CNN’s Belief Blog for the most tone-deaf lead of the week:

The following may cheer those who complain that Jews exercise too much influence in the American political system.

“The massive overrepresentation of Jews on Capitol Hill, long a source of pride for the community, has been shrinking in recent years and could drop in the coming election cycle from 41 to the mid 30s, a level last seen 15 years ago,” Nathan Guttman recently wrote in The Forward, the Jewish newspaper.

Maybe CNN is on to something — tell a story from the perspective of the haters and bigots most likely to be cheered by the news.

Think of the possibilities for these stories:

Immigration from Mexico Decreasing as Mexican Economy Improves

The Great Migration? Many Blacks Returning To The South

Census: Fewer black children in biggest US cities‎

Atheists least likely to be elected president, less likely than gays, lesbians or members of Reverend Wright’s church

More Babies Can Mean Less Education for Moms, Study Shows

My headline, by the way, comes from a joke I once heard Joseph Telushkin tell at a fundraiser:

A plane carrying Jesse Jackson, Shimon Peres, and Pat Buchanan crashlands on a deserted island, where they discover a brass lamp. They rub it and out pops a genie.

“I will grant each one of you one wish,” says the genie.

Says Jackson: “I would like to go to Africa, and lead all my brothers and sisters in the world back to their homelands.”

Says Peres: “I would like to return to Israel, where I will be joined by every Jew in the world in the land of their forefathers.”

Says Buchanan: “I’ll have a Coke.”

Does a New Jersey suburb, with a diverse population of African-Americans, Orthodox Jews, and other ethnic groups, offer a model for Mideast peace?

My latest column discusses the promise – and pitfalls – of American-style multiculturalism:

Many American Jews celebrate two Independence Days: the Fourth of July and Yom Ha’atzmaut. Two democracies, two very different models. And yet for observant Jews there are clear similarities. In both places they are challenged to live in ways that mark them as different than their neighbors — in worship, education, romance, political aspirations. Complete withdrawal leads to insularity and intolerance. Complete assimilation leads to oblivion.

In America, we seek a balance — gathering to celebrate what we share, even as we revel in the things that make us different. I only wish there were a few more opportunities for sharing.

Jacques Berlinerblau of the Chronicle of Higher Education comments on a Forward story about “the declining number of Jews in the House and Senate.” Berlinerblau attributes this decline to Jewish congressman who tweet photographs of their groins to constutuents  to the decline of secular liberal Judaism and the growing influence of the Orthodox community, who are not yet inclined toward public service:

There was a period stretching from roughly the 1940s to the 1990s of staggering, unprecedented Jewish achievement in the American public and private sector.

In my own writing I have referred to this half century as the era of “secular Yiddishkeit.” It was the moment when the children of immigrant Jews of Eastern and Central European appeared to take over the world. They excelled in art, science, politics, journalism, academe, etc., and they did so in numbers completely out of proportion to their actual size.

Of late, Jewish population growth has stagnated somewhat. The great generation of secular liberal Jews is graying. This may be one reason why we are witnessing a substantial, though not necessarily alarming, decrease in Jewish representation in many fields.

My friend Elli adds his own gloss:

Particularly in the younger generations, fewer and fewer American Jewish liberals are Zionists; fewer and fewer American Jewish Zionists are liberal.