An evening with Martin Fletcher

A Benefit for The Rohr Jewish Student Center Serving Pratt Institute and the Downtown Brooklyn Collegiate Community

An evening with Martin Fletcher NBC News Israel Bureau Chief

MARTIN FLETCHER is one of the most respected foreign correspondents in television news. He has won five Emmys, a Columbia university duPont award, and several Overseas Press Club awards. He spent the last thirty years as NBC News Bureau Chief in Tel Aviv. His first book “Breaking News,” received universal recognition as one of the best books ever on the work of a foreign correspondent. He recently published his second book, “Walking Israel: A Personal Search for the Soul of a Nation.

Sunday, December 12, 2010 at 7pm
Pratt Institute Library – Alumni Reading Room, 5th Floor 200 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn I NY 11205

7 PM: Buffet Reception | 8 PM: Lecture
Reservations Requested – Limited Seating RSVP: rabbi@pratt.edu / 718 866 6815

No Gelt, No Glory

Welcome to “Extreme Sports: Jewish Style.” I’ll leave the suicidal skateboarding to the kids. Being a rabbi, I’m more of a dreidel blackbelt!

While they aren’t as transformative as the Kabbalah or as lucrative as a lottery win, I’m uniquely qualified to reveal to you another very powerful secret of the universe: the Upside Down Dreidel Spin.

This is the bubbie of all spins, but in the spirit of Chanukah, remember: just as the oil in the temple burned for eight days, a great dreidel player must cultivate patience and perseverance in order to master this move.

Step 1

Despite what the song says, most dreidels aren’t “made out of clay.” That’s the good news, because when it comes to dreidels, materials matter.

Start with a good quality dreidel, not one of the cheap plastic ones. The ideal dreidel is made of wood and measure about 1-inch square.

Here’s the key: make sure the very top of the handle is smooth, without any nicks or cracks.

Step 2

You also need a hard, smooth surface to spin on. Based on my extensive experience, I highly recommend the underside of a challah board.

Now, grip the dreidel’s handle between your index finger and thumb, with your palm facing upwards. The back of your hand should be no more than 6-inches above the spinning surface.

Step 3

Spin the dreidel with a snap of your thumb and index finger as you normally would — but release the dreidel with a gentle upward toss.

Step 4

Watch the amazed and impressed expressions on the faces of your family and friends.

Because at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about. The very shape of the dreidel is a metaphor: when all its square, chunky contours spin, the dreidel looks round and smooth.

And just as the circle has no top and bottom and all its points are equivalent, so too is the family. When we come together in a circle of embrace, each member is equally important.

However, that doesn’t stop me from wanting to outdo them all with my Upside Down Dreidel Spin. I’d better start practicing now if I want to be ready for Chanukah.

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.

JSU’s Menorapalooza 2010!

Join the Pratt JSU for a Chanukah Party replete with FOOD and a Menorah Building Competition!

Latkes, doughnuts and more!

Come build a Menorah from recycled materials: Wood, metal, ceramics…anything goes.

First Prize
Your Menorah will be THE OFFICIAL PRATT Menorah
to be lit by President Dr. Tom Schutte.
Also, a $100 PrattStore Gift Card.

Second Prize
$50 PrattStore Gift Card

Third Prize
$25 PrattStore Gift Card

A note about Menorahs: A Menorah consists of 8 lamps (candles/oil) arranged in a straight line. An additional “helper” lamp is placed alongside but separate, usually (but it doesn’t have to be) elevated.
Have a look at the pictures for inspiration but DO YOUR THANG!

Art School Rabbi Chanukah Special

Rabbi Simcha.com is pleased to present the Art School Rabbi Comic, an on going satirical series about Rabbi Simcha’s life as campus rabbi.

In this fifth episode Rabbi Simcha discusses the miracle of Chanukah. Please use the comments form below. We welcome all feedback and look forward to hearing your ideas for future storylines.

Art School Rabbi is illustrated by talented artist Dave Ben-Yshay.
Check out his amazing website Shkoyach – The New Age Jewish Comic Strip.

Chanukah: A Time For Superheroes

Doctor Leonard Samson, better known as “Doc Samson,” strides down the corridor and into the classroom, massive muscles rippling beneath his skin-tight red costume. He sports a long mane of hair, just like his biblical namesake (except the real Samson’s hair wasn’t green, presumably).

Today, Doc Samson, taking a welcome break from his crime fighting, is visiting the children at his old Hebrew school to tell them all about Chanukah. It’s a very special occasion, so Doc Samson’s wearing a navy kippa along with his skin-tight red costume. The teacher, an aging bubbe named Mrs. Klein, proudly introduces our colorful hero: “I was his teacher here at the yeshiva when he was a very little boy.”

But the chutzpadik kids are unimpressed by their bizarre guest.

One student voices his certainty that Doc Samson had been beaten up by the Hulk. Others ask whether the Maccabees had guns or cable TV. Read more

I Hate Thanksgiving

Maybe I’m just a “fundamentalist” rabbi who’s lost his sense of fun, but when it comes to giving thanks, I don’t “get” it.

We don’t celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday in my native country of England, and can you blame us? Imagine gathering around plates of mushy peas to express your gratitude for another year of record rainfall.

Being new around here, I looked up the history of Thanksgiving and now I’m more confused than ever. Those Pilgrims and their native neighbors first gathered around the table in 1565, in the month of September. Now that makes sense: celebrating a harvest festival during harvest time. (That’s what they still do up in Canada, by the way; their Thanksgiving always falls on the second Monday in October. This year that was also the first night of Sukkot, so that must have made it extra special.) Read more

Hallmark Holiday

Of all the annual “Hallmark holidays”, I hate Valentine’s Day the most.

In high school, we ran to our lockers, hoping to see a bunch of pink and red cards waiting for us. While my locker was never empty, it wasn’t exactly overflowing, either.

High school was a long time ago, but as a rabbi, my contempt for Cupid has only grown. The whole occasion is so fabricated and trite. We send out millions of cards. Drugstores turn themselves into chocolatiers for a week, to the point where I can’t find the vitamins and cough syrup. Florists have their busiest day of the year. Restaurant reservations are at a premium. But after all that build up, how can the day itself turn out to be anything but a flop?

And when we designate a single day to celebrate the power of love, what does that mean for the rest of the year? We hate each other?

Even the Vatican seems to share my low opinion of Valentine’s Day. The “Vatican II” reforms of the 1960s crossed the feast of St Valentine off the Church calendar, explaining that the lore surrounding the “patron saint of lovers” was nothing more than romantic legend.

Speaking of which, one of the least known but perhaps most joyous and festive holidays on the Jewish calendar occurs on the 15th Day of the Hebrew month of Av.

Tu B’Av, the 15th Day of Av, is both an ancient and modern holiday. At one time, it marked a matchmaking day for unmarried women. In modern times, Tu B’Av has slowly evolved into a Hebrew-Jewish “Day of Love,” a little like Valentine’s Day.

The last Mishnah in Tractate Ta’anis says:

“There were no holidays so joyous for the Jewish People as Tu B’Av (the Fifteenth of Av) and Yom HaKippurim (The Day of Atonement), for on those days, daughters of Jerusalem would go out dressed in borrowed white clothing.”

The Mishnah explains that women borrowed each others’ white dresses, so as not to bring shame upon those who couldn’t afford finery. On that day, the poorest woman may have ended up wearing the most expensive dress. The message to suitors was not to judge their potential brides by mere externals.

If only Valentine’s Day could incorporate a lesson from Tu B’Av: it doesn’t matter how many cards you get in your locker, as long as you find that one special card that you’ll treasure for a lifetime.

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.

Everything Changes But You

As an Englishman in New York, I sometimes find myself balanced between two cultures that are more different than you might think.

As the old joke goes: “America and England are two nations divided by a common language.” Here’s an example: I have spent the last decade as the Chair the Religious Affairs Committee at America’s renowned art school, Pratt Institute. But when I’m “back home,” I reminded by my old mates that the word “prat” is, well, not exactly a term of endearment.

So I felt like a “prat” when I found out that I almost missed the latest craze across the pond. I was shocked to see my English friends updating their Facebook profiles with messages like “OMG I just got Take That tickets!”

Take That are back?! Americans have never heard of this cringe-worthy boy band that we all used to mock (and many of us secretly liked) back in my university days. Now, they’re no longer boys, but incredibly, these “washed up” performers have reunited with lead singer Robbie Williams — and just sold one million concert tickets in 24 hours.

I did the math and couldn’t believe how much time had passed since Take That’s glory days, when I was still a student (and a long way from becoming a rabbi – or even thinking about it.) It was almost 20 years ago that Nigel Martin-Smith began manufacturing a British boy band, hoping to replicate the meteoric rise of the New Kids on the Block in the United States.

My generation got sucked into the subsequent mass market merchandising mania, buying up Take That dolls, apparel, posters, sticker books – you name it.

So I suppose the band’s resurrection should have come as no surprise. Cultural commentators (not to mention parents who can’t believe their “children” are moving back home) have noticed that adolescence is lasting longer and longer in the West. Many of us are desperately keen to re-live our college years. In fact, some of us are still living them, twenty years on.

Only a generation or two ago, the average twentysomethings had achieved most of adulthood’s milestones — education, job marriage, and children of their own. Yet these days the age of marriage is growing and those having children is dwindling. Such a notion would have been baffling and laughable to our grandparents.

I have to be honest: I’m not enjoying the thought of one million nostalgic, menopausal mammas dancing to Take That’s cover of the Barry Manilow disco hit “Could It Be Magic.” (Although in fairness, my old mates tell the band’s new music isn’t quite as dreadful as their old hits. Naturally, I haven’t listened to any of their latest songs myself…)

British writer Nick Hornby’s bestselling novel, About A Boy, tells the story of two likely lads: Marcus, an eccentric, introverted, bullied 12-year-old with a suicidal mother – and Will, a 36-year-old bachelor. Thanks to the royalties from his father’s hit Christmas song, Will doesn’t have to work and spends his days living the aimless life of an overgrown adolescent: smoking, watching TV, listening to albums, and looking for female companionship.

Following a pleasant (if inevitably short-lived) relationship with a single mother, Will comes up with the idea of attending a support group for single parents as a new way to pick up women. To fit in, he invents a two-year old son called Ned. At one of these meetings, Will meets the very real Marcus, and a friendship develops. Marcus helps Will grow up and visa versa. In the end, both of them start to act their age.

The book and subsequent film version of About A Boy struck a chord with many people of my generation – which, for all their humor, is a sad commentary about my Peter Pan cohort.

And speaking of “chords”: Take That might be back for good, but – call me a ‘prat’ if you like – I’ll give them a miss. I’ve moved on.

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. He will be speaking on Monday, Nov. 22, at the Chabad of Bloomsbury