Photos
April 29, 2010 by simchaweinstein
Filed under Photos
Smile for the Camera. Check out my latest pictures in the all new rabbisimcha.com gallery. The best place to see all the pictures from Jewish events on and off campus.
Building Campaign Blog
April 26, 2010 by simchaweinstein
Filed under Building Campaign, Events, featured
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?
Building Campaign Blog
Latest Blog News:
September 6 2010
Putting chairs together
Getting the seats ready to Yom Tov
August 26 2010
Space used for Photo shoot
Prep for the photo shoot
August 25 2010
Plumbing sorted
August 2 2010
Lights are in
August 1 2010
Electrician makes a start
June 9 2010
The floor is going down
June 6 2010
The decorators are quick movers
June 6 2010
The decorators get started
April 26 2010
Internal walls ready for plastering
April 26 2010
The floor will be going down in days
January 18 2010
Won't be long now
January 14 2010
Its starting to take shape
Building work continues
January 12 2010
After a brief hiatus building continues
Building work continues
September 18 2009:
The framing is taking shape
September 16 2009:
Contractor Yankie Sufrin and architect Eric Moed at the site
Taking time out from building Eli and Mendel eating marshmellows - like their Heroes from the urban grilling radio show
Doorway being fitted
September 14 2009:
I'm not sure if were r going to be ready for the high holidays??
I'm not sure if were r going to be ready for the high holidays?
September 10 2009:
The wall is down and framing begins tomorrow!
September 8 2009:
Tear down this wall - construction has begun!!
Click here to find out more about the The Rohr Jewish Center at Pratt Institute and ways you can get involved and help raise money.
Oh, to kick some villainous tuchas
April 15, 2010 by simchaweinstein
Filed under Articles, Popular Culture, featured
They call me the “Comic Book Rabbi.”
Oh, to kick some villainous tuchas
They call me the “Comic Book Rabbi.”
Given the chance to choose my own “superhero” nickname, I’d have picked something more dynamic, like “Super Jew” or simply “The Rabbi.” (Imagine The Thing, but with a kippah.)
I come by my humble nickname honestly, though. My first book was called, Up Up and Oy Vey : How Jewish History, Culture and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero. Not surprisingly, I quickly came to be seen as an expert about the Jewish influence on American popular culture.
Most of the time, I study these matters at arm’s length — literally, with a well-thumbed issue of the Fantastic Four circa 1964 in hand.
However, I confess (and that’s not something rabbis normally do) that I sometimes fantasize about doing more than writing and talking about superheroes. Like millions of ordinary people, I wonder what it would be like to pull on some Spandex, then hit the mean streets and kick some villainous tuchas.
No wonder the new movie Kick-Ass is getting so much buzz. The film, based on the 2008 graphic novel by Mark Millar, tells the story of teenage dweeb Dave Lizewski, who sets out to become a real life superhero.
Like Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster and the other members of the tribe who created “Golden Age” superheroes like Superman, Lizewski is a bit of a nerd, invisible to girls and the “cool” kids. So he creates his own superhero costume, dubs himself “Kick-Ass” and goes out in search of bad guys to beat up.
Predictably, Dave fails at his first attempt to fight crime. He discovers that, unlike the fights he’s seen in the movies, real fisticuffs can actually be pretty painful.
After being recorded in action by bystanders with cell phones, Dave/Kick-Ass predictably becomes an internet phenomenon that inspires a whole legion of copycat costumed crime fighters, including a foul-mouthed 11-year-old named Hit Girl. Meanwhile, Dave sets up a Kick-Ass website and is soon overwhelmed by requests for help from total strangers.
These days, aren’t most of us looking for heroes, or wish we could be one? Before you dismiss Kick-Ass as ridiculous fiction, consider my friend, former yeshiva student turned crime-fighter Chaim Lazaros. A bit like Spiderman’s Peter Parker, Chaim is a student at Columbia University by day and a superhero by night, going by the name of “Life” (that’s what his given name means in Hebrew.) Dressed all in black – complete with an eye patch — Chaim goes out looking for trouble on the streets of New York, but it’s not what you think: he’s dedicated to helping out the sick and the homeless.
Chaim is one of a surprising number of people all over the world who are living out the Kick-Ass fantasy. At websites like RealLifeSuperheroes.org, they explain that their “main objective is to inspire others. We hope through our actions we can inspire others to go out and do good, help others, and stand up for what they believe in. There is a hero in everyone and we need to bring it out to help make this world a little more super.”
For whatever reason, these “real life superheroes” feel more empowered to help others when they put on a mask. It seems bizarre, but think about it: don’t we all wear a mask? We hide behind forced smiles or make-up or even Botox. Sometimes we “try on” a new personality, especially when we’re younger and just learning about ourselves, and the world. In fact, the word “personality” comes from “persona,” the Latin word meaning “mask.” We might have one “persona” at work, and another around friends, and yet another around members of the opposite sex we’re trying to impress. Sometimes we forsake our real selves for the assimilated archetype we think society wants us to portray.
So putting on the literal mask of the superhero lets Chaim and his partners in crime fighting throw off the shackles of society’s expectations and pursue more noble, transcendent pursuits.
Yet we have to remember that, “with great power comes great responsibility,” as Spider-Man always says, in a rueful, resigned tone that hints he’d rather be an ordinary mortal.
All of us have responsibilities, and they aren’t fantasies. We can’t hang them up in the closet like a cape when we’re too tired to deal with them. The secret is to stop thinking we either have to be a superhero or a nobody. Sometimes the bravest thing we can do is just be ourselves.
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 Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA). 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 on sale now.
