The Spice Box
THE SPICE BOX "If the gates on high are locked, . ' Header Rabbi Ronald Roth accompanies his photograph with a letter that, In true homiletic tradition, provides an alternative interpretation...
...Now, tell me about the two dishes again...
...You talked about Jewish...
...Mishkan Tenia...
...Smith...
...Talk about mixing your metaphors...
...Kunsan then said to us, "Momma says we'll stay...
...Smith has behaved like a Christian," you've flattered Mr...
...Bichard Israel Only in California Eollowup We reported last month on the wedding of 60 Russian Jewish couples at Temple Mishkan Tenia in Newton, Massachusetts...
...United States...
...Wo, our religion says we may not eat certain things...
...He broke into a big smile...
...At the same time, it is hardly the ideal vehicle to bring information about Jews to a neutral culture like Tibet...
...I We ourselves were I broken up, rather than ? down, by sex when we I read a report of student \ errors by Professor I John Edwards of St...
...Oh yes...
...Are our People so proud of the revival of our Language that they look for any opportunity to enjoy it in all its manifestations...
...The Hebrew name of the congregation is above the doors and means 'Gates of Heaven.' Are the locked gates on the steps a symbol of the difficulties in entering the world to come...
...Shylock in Tibet My wife and ? had just given birth to our fourth child under the age of six...
...We were desperately in need of some live-in help, perhaps a student who could help with the older children and do light household chores in exchange for room and board...
...Has the crime rate in New York caused the congregation to create a paradoxical entrance to their building...
...The last answer and question mad© us a. little nervous...
...Their son, the doctor...
...Several weeks hack, a Boston couple visited Leningrad Synagogue...
...She inspected quite thoroughly, then said something to Kunsan in Tibetan...
...Food laws...
...If, in the same tone of voice you say, "Mr...
...If that criterion is rigorously employed, we'd guess (from reading this morning's, or any morning's, newspaper) that we'll not only lose all those "begats" but we'll also end up with barely enough commandments for one tablet...
...The case being established that I was, more or less, of normal human species, the conversation then turned to the question of nationality...
...Are the artists of our Land especially sensitive to the needs of the hearing impaired...
...We were young and innocent...
...His father was at Yale working on a po-I litical history of Tibet...
...We reserve the right to edit all submissions...
...The Merchant of Venice" helps keep that tradition alive and well...
...Why the redundancy...
...The next day he came again, this time with his mother, the wife of the Minister...
...Kunsan stayed...
...Don't hold your breath Those who follow news from the publishing industry may be aware that the forthcoming blockbuster event is the Reader's Digest condensed version of the Bible...
...It was by no means intended as an insult that they thought I was'of the Jewish Nation,' although they couldn't quite ascertain where that nation would be located—since it wasn't Israel they had in mind...
...She carried herself like one of those people who may be in error, but is never in doubt...
...One story must be retold...
...Apparently one of the musicians was not satisfied with the outcome of the conversation, although I thought we had filed it away, because many hours and subject matters later, in a burst of rare, unadulterated curiosity, she asked: 'Well then, what religion are you?' "I should get a new passport maybe...
...The conversation, however, took a few unexpected turns...
...None of the categories.made any sense to him...
...Even Hebrew movies, we're told, have Hebrew subtitles...
...Don't Buddhists in Tibet have certain foods they may and may not eat...
...our thanks to him, as also to the lensman who took the pic, Stan Levey of those same parts...
...Living with an American famUy would be perfect...
...I was Shylock in "Merchant of Venice...
...There, an elderly man approached them, and, since Hebrew and Russian were not languages common to them both, a smattering of English framed the context of the conversation of only a few words...
...No, I am a rabbi," and then swallowing hard said, "That is a little like a Jewish priest...
...Only priests pay attention...
...They make you sick...
...Could he take care of children...
...Kunsan began to declaim, " 'Hath not a Jew...' So I know everything about you...
...This is so complicated...
...We are indebted to reader R. Stein, of Copiague, NY, for sending us this clipping from the Long Island Jewish Press...
...Kunsan said that she would like to look at the house...
...milk and meat, kosher slaughtering, pork and shellfish, all the sets of dishes...
...If you can't beat 'em, join 'em...
...Kunsan stopped the conversation...
...We are a reli-^ous people from the Mid-East...
...sure of entertaining some guests from Peking, China in my home in TJraga (Japan), the conversation turned to the subject of Jews...
...J Francis Xavier Univer-I sity in the magazine J Verbatim...
...Could he change a diaper...
...He was the son of the Pi-nance Minister of the Tibetan Government in Exile...
...I won a prize for how well I did it...
...Depending on length, we'll pay from $5 to $50 for material that is accepted...
...Would he mind helping with the chores...
...This was inevitable because we were all musicians, and Oriental musicians, in particular, have a fascination—bordering on reverence—for Jewish musicians...
...We flndi we receive pleasure 'erom the simple manipulation of the gentiles...
...Does the sign that says Open' remind us of our abiliiy to repent and enter God's presence, even when the gates appear locked...
...Yes...
...And then he added, "What is a diaper...
...Congressional liturgy Header Adele Miller (of Bethesda) sends along a self-explanatory-letter: "As the Information Officer for a Federal Bureau, I must read parts of the Congressional Becord that pertain to the programs our office administers...
...What is Jewish...
...Kunsan was eager to live in the area, take whatever courses in English might be available and learn about American culture...
...A recent article in Publisher's Weekly describes the principles of condensation the editors employ—such things as cutting repetitive thoughts, words and incidents...
...Please send us ideas, notes, curiosities—aiiything you'd like to share with our subscribers...
...We said we would like to think about the matter some more...
...Shucks...
...Be sure to include your name, address and telephone number...
...We were just having some fun...
...The real reason, it seems, lies in the nature of Israeli audiences: Producers know they can count on their viewers to be so noisy that no one in the theater will be able to hear the dialogue anyway...
...This month's classic belongs to Rabbi Allen I. Preehling of University Synagogue in Los Angeles...
...Several months ago, while I had the pleaInvitation Readers are invited— and encouraged—to submit material for The Spice Box...
...The following item in the May 30 Jewish Week-American Examiner caught our eye: "KLM, the Dutch airline, announced that it is closing its kosher kitchen at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport as of October 1 because of a fall-off in demand for in-flight kosher meals and the lack of space____ "KLM said that fewer passengers, including Jewish passengers, are requesting kosher meals, although there has been an increased demand from Moslem passengers...
...Contrary to what they had imagined, I had no great massive head, bobbing under its own weight, no overty-long torso accentuated by truncated arms and legs...
...That was the beginning of a long and complicated adventure in the confrontation between East and West...
...Along with the subtitling of foreign language films comes the problem of accurate translation, as in the case of an American show recently aired on Israeli TV...
...I learned English in the Jesuit Mission School in Darjeeling...
...Imagine my surprise to read in the Record of October 6,1981 (ErevYom Kippur came on October 7 last year) the following statement by Congressman Theodore Weiss (D-NY), discussing the difficult job the committee had to perform in reducing the budget a second time in one year: " 'We went through the same agonizing process ear her this year in making the decisions as to who should live and who should die, what programs to cut and which of our citizens we would disadvantage ...' "He was obviously getting ready for the High Holy Days...
...Jew...
...To learn it well, we put on plays...
...THE SPICE BOX "If the gates on high are locked, . ' Header Rabbi Ronald Roth accompanies his photograph with a letter that, In true homiletic tradition, provides an alternative interpretation to what at first seems a terrifying metaphor: "As the rabbi of a congregation in New Jersey, I occasionally spend my day off on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, taking photographs...
...Since I was the first Jew they had ever met in person, they were all worked up about the fact that I was of normal proportions...
...The original spoke of "a woman in labor...
...We placed an announcement at the university student employment agency and within a few days Kunsan appeared...
...Follow-up: the Japanese and the Jews Just the other day, the mailman brought us this letter, postmarked "Japan," from moment reader Deborah Minkin: "I offer this as a sequel to Rabbi Maltzman's (of Tokyo) letter in the March 198S Spice Box, and would like to add that the curiosity and interest in Judaism expressed here in Japan are never coupled with their counterpart I have experienced in other countries: anti-Semitism...
...Momma intimidated not only Kunsan, but us as well...
...Smith has behaved like a Jew," you have insulted him...
...Professor I Edwards quotes a stu...
...Screen mis-plays Subtitles on our movie and television screens maybe the exception rather than the rule here in Worth America, but in Israel, they are standard fare...
...We were puzzled but invited them in...
...Though the play has enormous literary merit, it does us no favors...
...I explained that we were Jewish...
...Our license bureau rolls along...
...Where...
...Although I had to reconfirm this by producing my passport, I told them I was an American (eliciting many oohs and ahs) and reassured them that many Jews live in America and quite a number were even born there...
...If you say in ordinary English speech, "Mr...
...This might, of course, be expected in a homogeneous society that contains virtually no Jews, in a country where the leading brand of tomato juice displays a Magen David on its label...
...Yes...
...We were drawn especially to the intention to cut "material of little relevance to the 20th century reader...
...In this part of the world, being of Russian-Jewish descent holds more importance than a DMA...
...Are you a priest...
...Yes," came the reply...
...The book's intended to sell very, very well, which means, at least, that they won't be cutting all the false profits...
...We could almost see the lightbulb of illumination flash over his head...
...I have never tried to explain a kosher kitchen to someone who has never even heard of a Jew before...
...I am very sympathetic to the sophisticated literary analysis of "The Merchant of Venice" which shows convincingly that it is not its basic intention to be an anti-Semitic document...
...We were trying to tell Kunsan about our kosher kitchen...
...We studied Shakespeare...
...I am not clear about her actual size, but in my memory, she was a very large, square-shaped lady, dressed in severe and regal clothing, quite accustomed to authority...
...dent paper in an intro-I ductory psychology i course: "The phallic stage is the stage where we become interested in our gentiles...
...There are things we can and can't eat...
...Israelis must have gone off to bed that night wondering about the habits of American working women...
...I did not know that word, but Jew, I know all about Jews...
...One firm, it appears, replied, "Sorry Our problem is alcohol...
...It could make you blind We heard recently about a form distributed by a federal agency that asked respondents to "enumerate your employees broken down by sex...
...the Hebrew subtitle rendered it as "a woman in the Histadrut...
...Boston...
...He had many brothers and sisters back home...
...Word does get around...
...But do they say hamotzi...
...Material cannot be returned...
...Kunsan thanked us and left...
...While my guests were all virtual compendiums of 'Who's Who in Jewish Music,' the only Jew they had ever 'seen' was Henry Kissinger, and that was in a newspaper photo...
...The enclosed picture is of the entrance to a synagogue on Rivington Street...
...We have special food laws...
...We don't realize at this age that this is known as masturbation...
Vol. 7 • July 1982 • No. 7
