Looks like the experiment from a couple of days ago didn’t work. Here’s the article in full, I’m still interested in what you all think.
A Happy Hipster Hanukkah
By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM (NYT) 1775 wordsPublished: New York Times, December 15, 2005
''HELLOOOOOOOO Jews!'' the M.C. shouted to the 1,000 or so people sipping drinks and jostling elbows in the hazy purple light of Crobar, the Chelsea club, on Sunday evening. Disco balls twinkled. Electric menorahs glowed. In the candlelighted V.I.P. area, people bit into chocolate Hanukkah gelt. From a stage on the dance floor Rachel Dratch of ''Saturday Night Live'' bemoaned being Jewish at Christmastime, and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the foul-mouthed puppet, belted out a joyous rendition of ''Shalom Aleichem.'' It was not long before people were waving their arms above their heads and lobbing inflatable dreidels through the air like beach balls.
There was a name for this merriment: ''A Jewcy Chnukah,'' a freewheeling celebration of the holiday produced by Jewcy, a group that brings together young Jews through celebrity-filled events. (Proceeds from Sunday night went to Natan, a philanthropic organization that supports projects that engage young Jews in their religion and heritage.) At the end of the evening, which included performances by the rocker Perry Farrell and the cast of ''The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,'' Jon Steingart, a founder of Jewcy, peered down at the packed dance floor. ''This,'' he said, ''bodes very well.''
''A Jewcy Chanukah'' is but one of many kitschy celebrations that in the past few years have made comedy as much a part of Hanukkah as latkes and sour cream. The irreverent and sometimes R-rated Hanukkah productions, popping up during what many people have called a Jewish hipster moment, are largely a reaction to what many Jews say is an overwhelming amount of Christmas hoopla. Their humor-laden productions attract thousands of young Jews (some of whom have never gravitated toward their own culture before) and, perhaps inadvertently, raise the question of what it means to be Jewish.
''We have 12 months of the year to assert our Jewish identity, so why now?'' said Rob Tannenbaum, one half of the variety show ''What I Like About Jew.'' ''The time of year that I feel most like a minority group is Christmas.''
Mr. Tannenbaum said he tries to convey his feelings to his Christian friends by asking them to imagine this: ''Everywhere you go strangers say to you, 'Merry Ramadan.' Anywhere you go you can't get into a store because people are bowing to Mecca. You'd be an angry minority. You'd be like, 'Enough of this Ramadan all ready.' ''
Christmas has gotten out of hand, said Jackie Hoffman, who is starring in ''Chanukah at Joe's Pub,'' a one-woman show. ''No one does 'The Sukkot Revue,' '' she said, referring to the autumnal Jewish holiday, ''because then we're not being badgered.''
Some Jews feel Hanukkah, which begins this year at sundown on Dec. 25, is the perfect time for comic relief because it is not a significant holiday. ''We don't do this with Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana,'' said Joshua Neuman, the editor in chief and publisher of Heeb magazine. ''There's an added comedic value in that we know it is largely the result of American commodity culture.''
Hanukkah is a minor, generally child-centered holiday that celebrates the victory of the Jews over the Syrian Greeks around 165 B.C. No classic Hanukkah films or ballets were inspired by it. There is no ''Miracle on Hester Street,'' no ''Radio City Hanukkah Spectacular.'' Jewish songwriters have been more inclined to compose Christmas songs, including many of the most beloved: ''White Christmas'' (Irving Berlin), ''The Christmas Song: Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire'' (Mel Torm ) and ''We Need a Little Christmas'' (Jerry Herman), to name but three. Adam Sandler's 1995 ''Hanukkah Song,'' in which he enumerates Jewish (and semi-Jewish) celebrities, is the closest thing to a mainstream Hanukkah tune.
''I think Sandler was the catalyst for a lot of this,'' said Robert Smigel, the voice (and hand) behind Triumph, after his performance on Sunday. ''A lot of that was him asserting himself as a Jew.''
In 1997 the creators of ''South Park'' mined the potential agony of being a Jewish child during December with the lament, ''It's Hard to be a Jew on Christmas.'' By 2003 T-shirts that read ''Jewcy'' were selling like potato hot cakes, and Jewish hip-hop went from a simmer to a boil. On Monday VH1 will attempt to understand why Judaism is all the rage with a pop culture special called ''So Jewtastic.'' An excerpt from the show's press material reads, ''In an age when Madonna demands to be called 'Esther,' Jon Stewart is a sex symbol and seemingly everyone speaks a little Yiddish, it's never been hipper to be a Jew.''
Chris Mazzilli, the owner of Gotham Comedy Club, said its annual ''A Very Jewish Christmas'' is one of its most successful shows. This year he expects about 800 people, up from about 400 last year.
''For us it was a lot easier six years ago,'' Mr. Tannenbaum said. ''There was a lot less competition on Christmas Eve. It was us or the Matzo Ball. Our only competition was a bunch of pathetic Jewish singles trying to drink enough Manischewitz to forget that they were probably going to be alone on New Year's Eve.''
This year ''What I Like About Jew'' will have its largest tour ever, a six-city romp around the East Coast. ''Like most other trends,'' Mr. Tannenbaum said, ''the Jewish holiday hipster started in New York and has spread outward.''
The movement is likely to only go so far, said Rabbi Marc Gellman, part of ''The God Squad,'' an interfaith cable television show, and a Newsweek.com columnist. ''This revival is primarily a New York-L.A. thing, and it's the result of the fact that the only geographical region that has a majority of Jews outside Israel is Manhattan,'' he said. ''If you live in Wichita, the new hip Jewish movement will never reach you.''
That these Hanukkah shows tend to be the product of secular Jews also keeps the mood light.
Over the last three years more and more young Jews have been flaunting their heritage, donning T-shirts that proclaim their Semitic roots, listening to the Hasidic reggae singer Matisyahu and climbing onto the celebrity-driven kabbalah bandwagon. And though many occupy the same Lower East Side walk-ups that their grandparents once did, they are not interested in quietly assimilating. They identify more with the cultural trappings of Judaism -- the music, the cuisine, the humor -- than with the teachings of the Torah.
''We ourselves are less observant Jews, but we are still very culturally Jewish,'' Mr. Steingart of Jewcy said. The comedian Rebecca Drysdale is of like mind. ''My connection with being Jewish is not a religious one,'' she said. ''It's cultural.''
Mr. Neuman explained: ''There's this emerging sense of new Jewish culture that is self-consciously postdenominational and largely devoid of religious context.''
But those who define themselves as ''cultural'' Jews may alter their definitions over time, Rabbi Gellman said. ''When they have kids,'' he said, ''they'll say: 'What do you mean? Of course my kid will have a bar mitzvah.' '' He also pointed out that while some people call themselves ''cultural'' Jews, ''Judaism defines identity by blood, not by belief.'' Translation: If your mother is Jewish, so are you.
''I think they know very little about Judaism, but they seem to be crying out for some identity,'' said Ms. Hoffman, who has nine years of yeshiva under her belt. ''I don't know if this generation knows much about Sophie Tucker and Mort Sahl and George Jessel. I think they're just grasping for something during such an unbelievable onslaught,'' she said, referring to the Christmas season. It is good that people are grasping, she explained, but added that taking a Judaism class can be worthwhile. ''Investigate before you declare yourself a Jew in name only,'' she said. ''It's not so bad.''
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog riffed on that topic on Sunday night. ''Jewcy is the bold new movement of cool Jews,'' Triumph said, his gravelly voice dripping with sarcasm. ''Yeah, we want to be cool. We're Jews, like the Beasties! We don't want to be nerdy, like Einstein.'' Then he admonished: ''Crack open a Torah. Learn something. That's right! I'm lecturing you bitches!''
The lecture came lovingly gift wrapped in humor, but like many jokes it contained an element of truth. ''It's not just a kitschy subject matter,'' Mr. Smigel said later. ''It can be reduced to that, and that's a fear of the older generation. I feel very lucky that I got to get a real education in the religion.''
Some people do not enjoy the new Hanukkah shows. ''The older generation is often uncomfortable with our performances,'' Mr. Tannenbaum said. ''There is a sense that was common in an older generation that you shouldn't do anything that could be bad for the Jews. Don't be loud. Don't be vulgar. Don't be proud. Blend in. Assimilate. Finish college.''
During the first song in ''What I Like About Jew'' (one of the milder lyrics is ''She puts the whore in hora''), Mr. Tannenbaum said he usually hears ''a chair scraping and a pair of orthopedic shoes leaving the room.''
No such exit was made at ''A Jewcy Chanukah'' on Sunday. After two hours of music and comedy, Perry Farrell mixed the sacred and secular by singing ''Avenu Malkenu'' and ''Jane Says.'' Then he curled his string bean body over a microphone and cried, ''Happy Hanukkah!'' in a voice so joyful, he might as well have shouted, ''Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.''
12.25.2005
12.20.2005
The Slow Motion Brain State
I must be crazy for posting today; I’ve spent the last seven hours writing a paper due this Thursday. I have another six page paper due Tuesday, and a ten page paper due the Monday after that.
I’ve gone into self-induced hibernation for the next few weeks.
I can only write so much. After that, my brain starts to work in slow motion. I’ll sit and change a sentence for five minutes. I won’t make different corrections, rather I’ll go back and forth between two corrections over and over, each one sounding correct.
It’s at this point I realize its time for a break.
I’ll get up and walk into the kitchen, turn around a few times, and walk back to my desk. I can usually squeeze out another few sentences, before my brain slows down again. The longer I write the more walk around breaks I have to take.
This state usually lasts through finals, till next semester. Sadly, there is no next semester for me, for this is my last at YU. Part of me will miss the slow motion brain state of finals time. But really, this time happens every day, just after I wake up.
The morning routine is so engrained within most of us, we don’t even know what were doing. When I think back to the early morning, all I remember are the words,
“Max Fresh, with Breath Strips”
My best guess is it comes from the words on my toothpaste. I think I must read and reread it as I brush my teeth.
The only other time the slow motion brain state occurs is just before I fall asleep. For more on this, see the “Sleep Ramble” post.
I’ve gone into self-induced hibernation for the next few weeks.
I can only write so much. After that, my brain starts to work in slow motion. I’ll sit and change a sentence for five minutes. I won’t make different corrections, rather I’ll go back and forth between two corrections over and over, each one sounding correct.
It’s at this point I realize its time for a break.
I’ll get up and walk into the kitchen, turn around a few times, and walk back to my desk. I can usually squeeze out another few sentences, before my brain slows down again. The longer I write the more walk around breaks I have to take.
This state usually lasts through finals, till next semester. Sadly, there is no next semester for me, for this is my last at YU. Part of me will miss the slow motion brain state of finals time. But really, this time happens every day, just after I wake up.
The morning routine is so engrained within most of us, we don’t even know what were doing. When I think back to the early morning, all I remember are the words,
“Max Fresh, with Breath Strips”
My best guess is it comes from the words on my toothpaste. I think I must read and reread it as I brush my teeth.
The only other time the slow motion brain state occurs is just before I fall asleep. For more on this, see the “Sleep Ramble” post.
12.17.2005
A Happy Hipster Hanukkah - New York Times
I'm not sure how this is going to work. I saw the "Blogger" button on my Google Bar, which I clicked after I read this article. Let the experiment begin.
The article is about Jews becoming hip and celbrating Jew-culture. I've yet to see this around YU, but it may happen...I wonder what you all think about it.
Read it HERE
The article is about Jews becoming hip and celbrating Jew-culture. I've yet to see this around YU, but it may happen...I wonder what you all think about it.
Read it HERE
12.13.2005
What's Emerging at Ground Zero
I’ve been real busy and neglectful of the Blog. For that I apologize. Just so you don’t get bored and forget about me, here is an Op-ed I wrote about NYC and Ground Zero:
Ground Zero continues to be a source of fascination. While the tragedies of 9/11 will always remain a scar on the psyches of New Yorkers and the nation, the physical healing of the site has only just begun. Insights form New York City history and the modern science of Emergence is helping politicians, developers and engineers rebuild lower Manhattan.
I applaud the multiplicity involved in Ground Zero’s reconstruction. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), a joint state-city corporation governed by a 16-member board of directors, is a sign of great progress for this city.
In the days of Robert Moses, power would never have been distributed this broadly. Moses alone would have chosen both the reconstruction plan and the contractors. He would have likely used the opportunity to push through his failed Lower-Manhattan Expressway or Brooklyn Battery Bridge projects. Or else, he would have replaced the sterile office complex of the World Trade Centers with something even larger.
He would have healed the Ground Zero site with an ugly scar, like the one rusting at the Worlds Fair grounds or like the strangling highways that surround Manhattan today.
While Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki are currently caught in a power struggle that would have been familiar in Moses’ era, theirs is a more balanced fight than anything with which Moses would have been involved. The Lower Manhattan Development Board is half appointed by the Governor of New York and half by the Mayor of New York, something to which Moses never would have agreed.
The infighting between our Mayor and our Governor for say over the reconstruction of Ground Zero is a sign of healing in a post-9/11 and post-Moses world.
Moses’ strongest and most successful opponent, Jane Jacobs, intuitively grasped the lessons of the modern science of Emergence. Emergence is the science of bottom up organization, like that of ant colonies or the human brain. Jacobs sees cities as operating under these same, self-organizing rules.
In The New Yorker, Jacobs is said to disagree with restoring the grid of streets near Ground Zero. She said there, “I was at a school in Connecticut where the architects watched paths that the children made in the snow all winter, and then when spring came they made those the gravel paths across the green. Why not do the same thing here?” Her proposal is right out the textbooks of Emergence.
The developers seem to have accepted Jacobs’ suggestion, at least for Cortlandt Street, where they will construct a multilevel, glass-walled shopping galleria called Cortlandt Way instead of reopening the regular thoroughfare. This space will increase the random interactions of multiple agents (in this case people) that produce the self-organizing structure of emergent systems. A regular street limits these interactions, as pedestrians are limited to sidewalks and separated from each other by streets.
The more open nature of the Cortlandt Way mirrors the more open process of development going on in lower Manhattan. Both are encouraging signs for the future of this great city.
Ground Zero continues to be a source of fascination. While the tragedies of 9/11 will always remain a scar on the psyches of New Yorkers and the nation, the physical healing of the site has only just begun. Insights form New York City history and the modern science of Emergence is helping politicians, developers and engineers rebuild lower Manhattan.
I applaud the multiplicity involved in Ground Zero’s reconstruction. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), a joint state-city corporation governed by a 16-member board of directors, is a sign of great progress for this city.
In the days of Robert Moses, power would never have been distributed this broadly. Moses alone would have chosen both the reconstruction plan and the contractors. He would have likely used the opportunity to push through his failed Lower-Manhattan Expressway or Brooklyn Battery Bridge projects. Or else, he would have replaced the sterile office complex of the World Trade Centers with something even larger.
He would have healed the Ground Zero site with an ugly scar, like the one rusting at the Worlds Fair grounds or like the strangling highways that surround Manhattan today.
While Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki are currently caught in a power struggle that would have been familiar in Moses’ era, theirs is a more balanced fight than anything with which Moses would have been involved. The Lower Manhattan Development Board is half appointed by the Governor of New York and half by the Mayor of New York, something to which Moses never would have agreed.
The infighting between our Mayor and our Governor for say over the reconstruction of Ground Zero is a sign of healing in a post-9/11 and post-Moses world.
Moses’ strongest and most successful opponent, Jane Jacobs, intuitively grasped the lessons of the modern science of Emergence. Emergence is the science of bottom up organization, like that of ant colonies or the human brain. Jacobs sees cities as operating under these same, self-organizing rules.
In The New Yorker, Jacobs is said to disagree with restoring the grid of streets near Ground Zero. She said there, “I was at a school in Connecticut where the architects watched paths that the children made in the snow all winter, and then when spring came they made those the gravel paths across the green. Why not do the same thing here?” Her proposal is right out the textbooks of Emergence.
The developers seem to have accepted Jacobs’ suggestion, at least for Cortlandt Street, where they will construct a multilevel, glass-walled shopping galleria called Cortlandt Way instead of reopening the regular thoroughfare. This space will increase the random interactions of multiple agents (in this case people) that produce the self-organizing structure of emergent systems. A regular street limits these interactions, as pedestrians are limited to sidewalks and separated from each other by streets.
The more open nature of the Cortlandt Way mirrors the more open process of development going on in lower Manhattan. Both are encouraging signs for the future of this great city.
12.07.2005
Will it grow back?
I found myself in Midtown this afternoon. I was around Stern (not by choice, I was meeting a friend at Mendy’s for lunch) when I remembered that my roommate’s girlfriend had mentioned her hair salon was near Brookdale. I recalled, as well, how badly I needed a hair cut. She said it was just across the street.
I hate hair cuts. They never turn out the way you asked, there’s some stranger poking around with sharp objects near your head, and for weeks after it’s all over, you’ve got that “I just got a hair cut” look. I’m not a big complainer, but hair cuts drive me nuts.
During my stay at YU, I’ve gone though some harrowing hair experiences. The first was when I stupidly went to University Cuts, or University Barber, or whatever that sketchy place on Amsterdam is called. The guy didn’t speak English and there was no antiseptic container for the scissors, only a gross jar. The best part was half way through, when he said, “Uh…you know the good thing about hair? It grows back”. At the time, I thought that to be the worst phrase one could hear when getting a hair cut.
I was wrong.
You’d think I’d learn to stick to English speaking barbers, but no. On the YU Italy trip this summer I stumbled into a normal looking Italian Barber shop and stupidly thought, “Well, I’ll give it a go, I need a hair cut anyway”.
We somehow negotiated a price, despite the language barrier. They led me back to one of those sink-chairs and sat me down. When they had my head back in that awkward sitting up, head washing position, the lights whet dim and crazy, Italian techno music started up. Strobe lights came on and I felt like that dude from Eurotrip, who was caught in a similarly vulnerable position (though much worse for him).
I was in a daze from all the flashing lights and loud music, but they managed to get me into one of the seats and started to cut my hair. After some time I began to realize the barber was crazy. I looked like a chea pet (Tani can testify to this). The Roman barber mumbled out, “Eh…you like?”
I said, “Well, it’s a little crazy.”
“Eh…this shop is crazy! The music is crazy!” he said as he leaned in to say quietly in my ear, “And we’re all on the crazy stuff!”
At which point I realized, “It will grow back” was no longer the worst thing to hear from someone cutting your hair.
I hate hair cuts. They never turn out the way you asked, there’s some stranger poking around with sharp objects near your head, and for weeks after it’s all over, you’ve got that “I just got a hair cut” look. I’m not a big complainer, but hair cuts drive me nuts.
During my stay at YU, I’ve gone though some harrowing hair experiences. The first was when I stupidly went to University Cuts, or University Barber, or whatever that sketchy place on Amsterdam is called. The guy didn’t speak English and there was no antiseptic container for the scissors, only a gross jar. The best part was half way through, when he said, “Uh…you know the good thing about hair? It grows back”. At the time, I thought that to be the worst phrase one could hear when getting a hair cut.
I was wrong.
You’d think I’d learn to stick to English speaking barbers, but no. On the YU Italy trip this summer I stumbled into a normal looking Italian Barber shop and stupidly thought, “Well, I’ll give it a go, I need a hair cut anyway”.
We somehow negotiated a price, despite the language barrier. They led me back to one of those sink-chairs and sat me down. When they had my head back in that awkward sitting up, head washing position, the lights whet dim and crazy, Italian techno music started up. Strobe lights came on and I felt like that dude from Eurotrip, who was caught in a similarly vulnerable position (though much worse for him).
I was in a daze from all the flashing lights and loud music, but they managed to get me into one of the seats and started to cut my hair. After some time I began to realize the barber was crazy. I looked like a chea pet (Tani can testify to this). The Roman barber mumbled out, “Eh…you like?”
I said, “Well, it’s a little crazy.”
“Eh…this shop is crazy! The music is crazy!” he said as he leaned in to say quietly in my ear, “And we’re all on the crazy stuff!”
At which point I realized, “It will grow back” was no longer the worst thing to hear from someone cutting your hair.
12.05.2005
Actual Lights in the Heights
Here Josh B., are the lights in the Heights from 186th street. Sorry for the blurriness, it was freezing and I had no gloves. This is a great example of perseverance and a merrier neighborhood.Lights in the Heights
Is it sacrilegious to think Christmas decorations are great? I think people should have colorful flashing lights up all year long. The trees I can do without, but the lights should stay up.
The best lights in the Heights are on 186th between Audubon and Amsterdam. It’s this second floor fire escape with Christmas lights hanging all over the place. Awesome.
I was talking with this dude who said Christmas lights are ok, but only in snow covered suburbs. He said the lights in the Heights were lame and pathetic. I told him I think it’s just the opposite. These Dominicans are doing the best they can. They’ve got no snow covered yards. No gently sloping roofs on which to hang their festive gear. Instead, they jam their few flashing lights into the measly space they have available. A window, a fire escape, the phone booths…And that makes them all the more festive and merry. Not merry in the Christmas sense, but merry in the “let’s hang colorful flashing lights outside our windows and on our fire escape” sense.
Which brings me to the movie Elf. It was just on cable and I guess that’s what made me think about the lights in the Heights. Will Ferrell running around NYC in an Elf costume just makes you think. And I realized this snowy time in New York is really one of the best. Bad Christmas jingles in all the stores, ten times more stupid tourists running all over the place and everyone wants to go ice skating.
This time of year is just different.
This time of year, one can understand Buddy the Elf (“Hi, this is Buddy the Elf, what’s you’re favorite color?”) when he says, “I just like to smile! Smiling's my favorite.”
The best lights in the Heights are on 186th between Audubon and Amsterdam. It’s this second floor fire escape with Christmas lights hanging all over the place. Awesome.
I was talking with this dude who said Christmas lights are ok, but only in snow covered suburbs. He said the lights in the Heights were lame and pathetic. I told him I think it’s just the opposite. These Dominicans are doing the best they can. They’ve got no snow covered yards. No gently sloping roofs on which to hang their festive gear. Instead, they jam their few flashing lights into the measly space they have available. A window, a fire escape, the phone booths…And that makes them all the more festive and merry. Not merry in the Christmas sense, but merry in the “let’s hang colorful flashing lights outside our windows and on our fire escape” sense.
Which brings me to the movie Elf. It was just on cable and I guess that’s what made me think about the lights in the Heights. Will Ferrell running around NYC in an Elf costume just makes you think. And I realized this snowy time in New York is really one of the best. Bad Christmas jingles in all the stores, ten times more stupid tourists running all over the place and everyone wants to go ice skating.
This time of year is just different.
This time of year, one can understand Buddy the Elf (“Hi, this is Buddy the Elf, what’s you’re favorite color?”) when he says, “I just like to smile! Smiling's my favorite.”
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