Deli Man Official Trailer 1 (2015) - Documentary HD

   I saw the movie DELI MAN yesterday. It is a documentary about delis and how they are becoming extinct. What I found extremely interesting is though many people associate delis with Jews , they really weren't created by Jewish people. Delis did not exist in Eastern Europe. There were delis in Germany , but they weren't really a Jewish phenomenon . German delis were highly trief as they had a lot of pork products there. Germans brought the deli to the United States and in the early twentieth century they were the fast food of the time. When Eastern European Jews came to America the young people were enamoured with deli cuisine and many Jewish people opened kosher delis , and added some Eastern European dishes to the menu. A kosher or Jewish deli was a way for immigrant Jews to assimilate into American culture and eventually delis became associated with Jewish culture. Jewish food really is the food of  the countries we live in . The United States is no different.
           The film interviews several deli owners from around the United States and Canada. This is where things got very interesting. They featured a Houston based deli , a Toronto based deli , a California based deli as well as a few in New York.
            The golden age of the deli was the 1930's and 1940's. This explains a lot. I never really thought of delis as being Jewish or as having Jewish food . The golden age of the deli was way before my time. It was more of my grandparents' era.  My parents were very heath conscious . Though we never had white bread, we rarely ate cold cuts.
             The movie is more like an ode to the deli rather than a celebration . Many of the old  Yiddish speaking immigrants have passed on . The younger generation that is not so observant is not so into deli food. Religious Jews aren't necessarily into deli food. The few deli's that exist are of a dying breed. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Aside from being kosher or matzoh or challah, Jewish food is not really a specific cuisine, its more dependent on what country that  Jews live in.
            Ziggy Gruber has a deli in Houston where one would not think of as being a great place to open a Jewish deli, but he is successful because he has become somewhat of a Jewish celebrity there and his restaurant has become a place where Jewish people connect to their Judaism.
          DELI MAN does not really specify whether most of the delis in the film are kosher . It mostly explores a deli as being part of 'Jewish culture', Katz's , Carnegie deli and Stage door are mentioned as being specifically not kosher but of the deli men featured in the film the kashrus of their institutions are not really explored.
         DELI MAN does not make me want to eat a corned beef sandwich,. It does not really make me wish that I lived in the golden age of the New York deli. It is however a nice epilogue to the golden age of the deli and to the 'gastro Jew' . Feivish Finkel, Freddy Roman and Jerry Stiller are featured as New York Jews reminiscing about delis.  I am not sure that the goal of the film was comedy, but I did find the film to be quite comedic.
         Judaism really is about religion. Kashrus separates us from the rest of the world, but the genre of our kosher food is not what keeps us around. Thank goodness. It really does not matter whether or not Delis exist twenty years from now. Judaism will be making Jews Jewish as it always has been.

What Would You Choose?

      What would you do if you found out you weren't really Jewish? I without a shadow of a doubt am Jewish and there is no way that I will ever have this conundrum, but it is always a fun what if????
      I think that the bigger issue is what religion would you choose if not Judaism? I can't imagine practising any religion other than Judaism, especially since I think that all other religions are bogus. I suppose if I wasn't Jewish I would  be no religion.
       I guess the hardest part of choosing Judaism  is knowing about the holocaust and how so many people still hate Jews. Would I choose Judaism knowing this?
      If I was married I would definitely choose to be Jewish if I found out that I really wasn't Jewish. If I was adopted by a Jewish family I would want to be Jewish even if I hadn't been born Jewish.
     It is odd to think about because my whole life has been a Jewish life and to find out your whole life is not really what you thought it was could be such a shock to the system. I think that if I found out I really was not Jewish I would try to experience life without Judaism for a little bit before deciding what I would really want to choose. Maybe that sounds strange because I am Jewish  and as a Jew  I do not want to be anything else but a religious Jew.

Maharat, Women of the Wall , Orthodox Jewish Feminists, Charedi Men

     There are a lot of Orthodox Jewish women who are trying to change the system. There are the women who want to be a maharat, the women of the wall and Orthodox Jewish feminists. Then we have the charedi men who eliminate women from photos, want women to sit at the back of the bus , have separate sides of the road for women , etc . The fervor of these men and women is remarkable no matter who one agrees with. How can these feelings , attitudes and beliefs be channeled to create an undisputed  kiddush Hashem ?

The Jazz Singer

     The Jazz Singer was the first Hollywood feature film that had people speaking in it. It actually is  more of a silent movie interspersed with singing and some dialogue. The Jazz Singer  is kind of sad. Its the American Jew's assimilation's dream.
    A short synopsis of the film is in order. Jakie Rabinowitz is a cantor's son who lives on the lower east side in New York . The story starts out when he is about 10 years old in about 1910 and he is enticed by the jazz music in what looks like bars. He actually goes and sings in the these places. His father the chazan wants him to follow in his footsteps. He of course has other thoughts. Jakie leaves his parents and pursues his musical career. . Eventually a gentile woman named Mary helps him get his big break. He sends his mother news of his success. She is pleased his career is doing well, but not happy that he is dating a shiksa (the word used in the film). When his father turns 60 he visits his parents again. His father is displeased that he is  still OTD and tells him never to return.
     Years later Jakie aka Jack Robin is scheduled for a big show to premiere on Yom Kippur night. At the same time his father is very ill and is dreaming of his son being the chazan for  Kol Nidre at  his shul .First a family friend urges him to do Kol Nidre for his father in the shul. Next his   mother goes to get him from the theater and hears him sing. She realized that her son is meant to be a jazz singer. She still implores him to do Kol Nidre as his father is very ill and this is his dying wish. Eventually his duty to his family culminates with him doing Kol Nidre for his father's shul.
       In the end Jakie/Jack does perform Kol Nidre for his father's shul. He remembers it despite his many years OTD. This of course does not keep him on the derech. He continues to perform on stage. The film ends with him singing the song Mammy in black face.
       The parents always look old in this film even when they are young. They are always old because their ways are old, therefore they always look old.
      When I first saw this film I was in my early twenties and I was horrified.. It was such a glorification of assimilation. My grandmother who was about 15 when she saw the movie absolutely adored the movie and was so happy that I had seen it. Then again, the era The Jazzz Singer was the era my grandmother grew up in. By then there were a lot of Jewish immigrants who were trying to fit in with the general culture as well as retain their religious identity. Though all Jews experience this in the current era,it was different then. They were of the first to be Jewish in America after immigrating to the United States at the turn of the century.
     After watching this film years later I have a different take on it. The Jazz Singer is very much in the tradition of Yiddish films. In fact its almost "too Jewish". Jakie's parents are authentically orthodox Jews. The shul has a mechitzah. Since Jolson was Jewish and was born in Russia he sings Kol Nidre perfectly. I think that the OTD factor is sad, but there is also a lesson to be learned. Jakie's emotional connection to both of his parents were still drawing him to his Jewish identity. His mother's love kept him connected and his father's  teachings  were still ingrained in him otherwise he would not have returned to do Kol Nidre even that one last time. The black face scenes were there to show how Jakie was not really being himself when he was on stage. He was trying too hard to fit in and be someone else instead of be himself. At that time (1927) Jews did not want to flaunt their Jewishness due to so much anti-Semitism.
     I think that a lot can be learned from The Jazz Singer .  The saga of OTD is not a new one. Even if a family member does not observe Judaism as one would like them to , one must not abandon them. One needs to show them love but also try to make them understand why what one believes in (Judaism) is important . They may never return to full observance, but there is zero chance of their return if one cuts them off.
      You may not agree with me on my analysis of this movie, but you won't regret watching it if you haven't yet watched it. It is of great significance that a film on this topic was the first feature talking film.
      If The Jazz Singer disappoints you too much , be sure and watch the 1937 Yiddish Moishe Oysher film The Cantor's Son. It is the anti-Jazz singer movie about a cantor's son who comes to the United States to become a singer and ends up returning to Poland to marry his sweetheart and to return to his roots.
   
   

madoff isn't really jewish

 i am sure that the title of this post caught your attention. oh and while i am at it rabashkin isn't really frum and neither are any of the other people who are otherwise shomer mitzvot but were convicted of ponzi schemes as of late.
gimme a break. every time i hear about a frum person involved in a major crime i hear people try to rationalize it by saying "well they weren't really frum" oh really? i disagree. i think that they were frum otherwise. i think that they did something very wrong, but they were actually shomer shabbos otherwise. to be devil's advocate, just because someone does an averah, no matter how large or small it does not blot out all of the mitzvot that they otherwise did do. i am not justifying their crimes, but just because they did a crime does not erase any good that they might have done in their lives.
the other reason i resent it when people like to wax poetically about how these frum people who were involved in embezzlement weren't really frum is because if they weren't caught they wouldnt be saying boo and because the rest of the world thinks these losers are frum. there has to be a better reaction than disassociation. i think that it would be best to say that they were frum and even frum people have nisyonos that they do not always pass and sometimes they give into their yetzer harah and do the wrong thing. they shouldn't do the wrong thing, but sometimes people do mess up big time- even frum people. we are given the laws of the torah because otherwise people would sin. DUH!!  if we were all so perfect just because we were keeping shabbos and kosher that we would not even think of being involved in fraud or an occasional ponzi scheme then "don't steal" would not be one of the ten commandments. HELLO.
instead of disassociating with the fraudsters as members of the tribe or fellow frummies perhaps learn to condemn the sin and try to make sure all of our coreligionists realize that fraud is not ok. we should try and figure out why this is happening in our community so it will stop .

"I Am Jewish"

after seeing the anti-birthright israelers protesting at occupy wall street it was nice to watch a different version. i have met so many apathetic twentysomething jews that its nice to see someone with another attitude. everyone is not frum so we can only hope those who are not don't get totally lost to judaism. perhaps one day all jews will be observant but for now i hope for everyone being observant in their own way.

questions and answers

you question judaism . you reconcile your own way of doing things. it may not be the most mainstream, but you find a way of making the mitzvot your own. sometimes its annoying to see others so sure of hashkafos you  no longer call your own. if it upsets you  perhaps its because although you have disowned that way of thinking there are still things about that way of doing things that still get to you. and guess what ? that's okay. maybe take what works for you and leave out what doesn't. or maybe try and be mature enough to realize that just because you may have moved on others have not. what's right for one person may not be right for you and vice versa.  and then own it.
life's too short to get caught up with keeping up with the jones' even religiously. to keep up with the jones' can be good if it helps you strive , but if it hinders  give it up. find the klal you fit in with that helps you grow.

purim greetings

purim will soon be upon us. i have always loved purim . i wonder if the charedim will soon be calling megillas esther  megillas mordechai because they so want to hide women . this of course would be ridiculous because the name esther already means hidden so no need to hide her  more.
one of the reasons ive liked purim , aside from shalach manos and hamantashen is because a woman is a central part of the story of purim. now that i think about it intermarriage was a part of the purim story. after all achashverosh did not convert to judaism. then again, marrying a gentile is not one of the three cardinal sins in judaism- killing, idolatry or adultery so i guess to save the jewish people its ok to marry a goy. the funny thing is as many times as i have studied the story of purim i never remember discussing the intermarriage component. if it was discussed it must not have been much because i have zero recollection of such a discussion. i am surprised that the less ritualistic branches of judaism haven't had a field day with  this one. then again maybe they have but because im frum i haven't heard them do this.

judaism in flux

the idea of sara horowitz the modern orthodox version of a woman rabbi has been denounced by mainstream orthodoxy. i have read that some think the reaction to this will be for many disgruntled orthodox jewish woman to leave orthodoxy. others believe that if the mainstream orthodox establishment would have condoned the rabbah or any version of a rabbah that this would be a slippery slope toward reform judaism.

i don't believe that any woman who truly is an orthodox jew would cast off all of the mitzvot just because they wish women could be part of the clergy. where would these women fit in jewishly otherwise? conservative and reform judaism are too watered down . the reform judaism of a hundred years ago may have suited them , but not the reform judaism of today. this is why i suggest that these woman will go in yet a different direction. they will form their own feminist version of orthodox judaism. in fact many already have. i am aware of private minyanim where there is a mechitzah but sometimes women lead parts of the service from the women's section. they aren't completely orthodox but i wouldn't consider them conservative judaism either. im not sure what i think of this concept, but i think that more of these minyanim will develop.

i do understand why the mainstream does not agree with the rabbah/maharat/female orthodox rabbi model. they are afraid of the slippery slope. one diverges from the tradition of exclusively male lay leaders , which isn't actually assur and then slowly the non-conformity will veer too far from the right and start turning into conservative and reform judaism .

suddenly goyish.

i have a friend who always had thought she was jewish because her father was jewish until one day she found out that orthodox jews only go by matralineal descent. so she converted to judaism and became orthodox. i always wondered what someone in this situation feels. my friends mom wasn't alive when she came across this information. all of her family at the time was jewish. they weren't orthodox, but they were jewish.

what would you do if you found out you weren't really jewish? as a kid my first thought was that i would leave judaism. as an adult i realize that my answer is quite different. if i wasn't jewish i certainly would not be christian. christianity seems like b.s. to me. especially after a lifetime of judaism i could not even contemplate being a christian. islam is anti-woman and pro-suicide bombing so that religion would be out as well. i suppose i would consider becoming a member of the "i just believe in being a good person " religion that many secular jews believe in .

the thing is if i found out that i wasn't jewish but the rest of my family was jewish (as they are now) i would find it hard not to be jewish anymore. being jewish is so much a part of my life. the thing is , if i found out i wasn't really jewish as in i was adopted as a baby i would like to think that i would choose judaism. maybe this is because if i would adopt a child i would hope that they would want to be jewish. but on the other hand adoptive children usually want to become a part of their adoptive families lives which includes their religion. i think that unless i had a bad relationship with my adoptive family i would remain jewish. being jewish would be all i would know. and if i would be the same person i am now, i know that i enjoy being jewish and observing the holidays and the mitzvos .

still, its hard to really consider an answer because its hard to choose an answer to a question that isnt. im jewish . im not adopted. three of my grandparents and all of my great -grandparents were born in the shtetls of russia-poland. so whatever answer i might have to the "what would you do if you found out you weren't really jewish?" question are purely hypothetical.

midwood memories

i like to kvetch about midwood as much as the best of them, but not today. i dont go to shul for shacharis every morning, but this year since elul, as ive been running to work every morning ive heard the shofar blowing from the shuls i pass by . no im not hearing things. this is midwood after all! im not sure why i hadnt noticed it before other years. i find it really cool.

why be jewish?

often when jewish people are confronted by sincere converts to judaism they ask they "WHY would you want to convert" after all its no easy task to be jewish even if one is not observant. i think that a convert makes people turn inward and access ones own connection to judaism. it is different to have chosen to be jewish as opposed to being born jewish .when one is born jewish one can decide how jewish one wants to be but the pintele yid will always be there no matter what . a convert always must uphold his judaism to prove he really is a member of the tribe.
as a person who was born jewish i cant imagine being anything but jewish. christianity and islam dont interest me. if i wouldnt be jewish i wouldnt be any religion. but would i choose judaism? i dont know. its so hard to ask oneself a question that is so hypothetical that i cant be unbiased in my answer.
though i find this question so hard to answer i will also say that since i am jewish i cant imagine not being frum. it is so much a part of who i am. i have friends who have gone off the derech who think not being frum would bring me more dates. of course they arent frum but they dont have as many dates as i do. the truth is for my off the derech friends, not being frum is so much a part of who they are. it really has nothing to do with whether or not they think they will find a relationship. its just how they feel most comfortable. alas ... we all have to do what is best for us. which bring me back to the converts who make us contemplate our relationship with hashem. why be jewish? well because it is what we feel is right for us. or at the very least what i think is right for me.

hands of my father

every time i see a deaf person signing i am mesmorized. its a most beautiful language to watch. i always hope im not being impolite when i am watching.

often there are people signing at book readings or shiurim that i have attended. most recently there was a translator signing at barnes and noble at union square for a larry king book reading. though i wanted to watch the signing it was also distracting, not unlike subtitles in foreign movies. if you dont need the translation it can be distracting.

as a child i learned the alphabet in sign language which proved to be more fun than passing notes in class. at some point i remember learning how to sign shema as well.

over shabbos i read the most incredible book. hands of my father by myron uhlberg . this is about the hearing son of two deaf parents. this is one of the most beautifully written books i have ever come across. the photos that are included are fabulous. myron uhlberg's parents were born in the early 1900's to jewish immigrant families. though their parents never learned sign language themselves, they loved their deaf children enough to send them to deaf schools so that they would be able to read and write .they learned sign language from their school friends. louis and sarah uhlberg married and had children during the depression. louis uhlberg supported his family as a printer. both of myron's parents knew that hearing people did not think of deaf people as being completely human or intelligent. they did not care. the times they lived in were not very accepting of those with disabilities. they persisted and lived full lives. they had a strong marital bond and deeply loved their children.

for young myron it was challenging to be the hearing child of deaf parents. his first language was sign . the first words he signed were 'i love you' . from the time he was six years old he became his fathers voice when needed. he also heard what hearing people said about deaf people which was tough for a child. especially tough for a child who knew how very special his parents were.

the most wonderful part of the book is how the author really lets the reader get to know his parents, especially his father. his father did not let his disability get in his way. he could not hear, but his other senses were heightened . because he could not hear he could clearly see who people were . he could not be fooled by people whose words did not match their facial expressions, because he could not hear them in the first place. it was also wonderful to read how this hearing boy had a normal childhood even in such a unique situation. he had to be adult when he had to speak for his father, but his father still wanted him to be a child.

louis and sarah uhlberg grew up in a tough time for deaf people, but they were very strong people. they had families who never truly understood them or had faith in their abilities , but managed to have a marriage any couple could envy and raise two very special children.

unfortunately louis uhlberg's parents werent able to give him a connection to judaism. it was also hard for louis uhlberg to reconcile how hashem could have made him deaf. in his youth shul's werent deaf friendly.

it was a pleasure reading such a loving tribute from a son to his parents. it was such a pleasure getting to know them. it was hard to put the book down.

this is a book of triumph over the face of adversity which i highly recommend.

hesoundswonderfulmarryhim

usually i dont tell my parents about any of the guys i go out with because they always think that they are wonderful and why dont i marry them. he's jobless... marry him. he's jewish ... marry him...he's unreliable... marry him. occasionally they shock me and actually dont like someone. i wouldnt take my parents advice about a guy if they like him but if they dislike a dude i take heed. if he is bad enough for my parents not to like he must be bad.

usually if my parents dislike a guy its because he's too opinionated and probably a republican. im a registered democrat who would better be categorized as an apatheticrat so coincidentally an opinionated republican would not be for me .

any man with a history of being less than kind to any male member of my family isnt considered much of a catch either by the parental code.

at the moment i cant recall any other exceptions to the hesoundswonderfulmarrryhim rule. so if a guy is nice to my brothers and a democrat my parents will get out their net and try to get him to marry me.

oy vey.

WHO BY FIRE

A few months ago I read the book Who By Fire by Diana Spechler. Who By Fire is a book about a Jewish family named Kellerman that is torn apart by tragedy and their journey toward closure and acceptance. Youngest daughter Alena was kidnapped. Dad Ben eventually flies the coop leaving his wife Ellie to raise their two remaining children Bits and Ash. Thirteen years after their sister's broad daylight kidnapping Bits has become a free-spirited wild -child type and Ash has become an Orthodox Jew who is studying at a right-wing yeshiva in Israel. Mom Ellie is none too keen on her son Ash's involvement in frumkeit so she devises a way to lure him away. This of course is where the fun begins.


What I really loved about this book is that includes a character who is a baal t'shuvah written by a non-Orthodox Jew. The story is divided by chapters which alternate between the standpoint of Bits, Ellie and Asher, it is not exclusively the story of a new baal t'shuvah and how he copes with his non-frum family, its also the story of what non-frum sister Bits and non-frum mom Ellie think about the whole deal.

Had this book been written in the early 1970's Ash may have been a Zen Buddhist instead of a new baal t'shuvah. I'm so glad this book was written in 2008.

From Diana Spechler's writing it is obvious that she has a relative or a good friend who is frum . WHO BY FIRE is not another PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT or some misguided Howard Fast novel. Thank goodness. Its an honest exploration of secular versus Orthodox Jews. There is dialogue and contemplation without negativity.

Last but not least WHO BY FIRE is simply an intriguing story about family dynamics. I couldn't wait to see what would transpire while at the same time I didn't want it to end.



NEXT POST: SPECIAL BLOG INTERVIEW WITH DIANA SPECHLER.

we know that moshiach must be coming soon when hostess twinkies are kosher

i had a friend years ago whose favorite saying was that we would know that moshiach would be here soon when hostess twinkies were kosher, because hostess twinkies are about at treyf as you can get. recently(it could be maybe a couple years ago) ive noticed that hostess twinkies have a triangle k on them. triangle k is not a hechsher i go by, so this still doesnt help me, but does it still count as being kosher? even in some remote roundabout way?

other signs that moshiach is coming soon. 7-11 on avenue m has cholov yisroel milk available for its coffee drinking customers. now i do agree that it really is just due to demographics. any establishment in midwood that offers cholov yisroel milk is definitely going to generate more traffic than one that doesnt .... still.... this is 7-11 we are talking about. redneck heaven. to me, its gotta be a sign.

another sign that moshiach is coming is walgreens on avenue j . they even have hebrew on their storefront. now i agree that the fact that walgreens has green in its name and there are alot of jewish people with the name green or some variation of green in their name (greenstein, greenberg, greenblatt)however , its still a step. walgreens was a well known chain of pharmacies in the midwest where i grew up, the midwest is redneck heaven, which of course makes walgreens count. i know that growing up in the goyishe bible belt , one would never imagine a walgreens store, not even one in brooklyn, having hebrew on its storefront. so there you have it moshiach must be on the way.

kiruv

i had an interesting conversation the other day with someone who is not frum. he asked me why "those people" who are asking him if he is jewish are trying to convert him because he's already jewish. well, i figured "those people" must be lubavitchers. my answer was that though they might want you to be like they are, what they really want is for you to become more involved in your heritage. next, he said they asked him if he knew hebrew or yiddish , of which he knew a little. and then he told them actually , he speaks indonesian. and then that made me think...
so many times people become frum and then they shun all other parts of their lives, not just the totally unkosher parts, but the other parts that are just worldly . studying about diverse countries and languages is interesting and makes one appreciate the world that we live in. it can even make one appreciate one's own culture, religion , country even more.
even though people may not be shomer shabbat, it doesnt mean that they they dont feel a strong connection to their heritage. they just may have other ways of expressing it. i think its important to respect that. especially since often this can be a relative. they may not emote their religion the same way you might, but they may feel just as strongly about it.
i dont denounce what any kiruv organization is doing. i think that its great for jews to become more involved in their heritage, but i think that it shouldnt be done in a way that embarrasses the person they are trying to bring closer. it should be out of love , not out of cultishness. and ... if the person that they are trying to mekarev declines to be frum, they should still welcome them. otherwise, this is being cultish. i think that kiruv should be just that . bringing someone closer to hashem. closer just means closer. closer cannot be defined. it just means closer. closer doesnt not refer to how frum. it just means closer. or at least that is what it should mean.

gelt vs gifts

some say Hanukkah gelt is more jewish than Hanukkah presents. i for one will be happy to accept both.

i wont pretend to know definitvely why this is , but i personally think that getting hannukah gelt is the same as getting a Hanukkah present. perhaps bubby and zaidy didnt know what to get the grandchildren for Hanukkah one year, so they settled on giving them a little gelt and thats how the whole tradition of Hanukkah gelt started!

is gelt more jewish because jews are greedy?

gelt is a gift because anything i have to write a thank -you note for recieving is a gift in my book.

perhaps Hanukkah gifts are exchanged due to the juxtposition of x-mas and Hanukkah. so the young-uns wouldnt get jealous. no matter. its not assur to exchange gifts on Hanukkah (although im sure some scroogey rebbe must think it is). if it is its a well kept secret. ( that hopefully will stay that way).

i wish all of my readers a happy Hanukkah, lots of gelt or gifts, whichever you prefer!!!

unbearable thoughts

its been a week since the attacks in mumbai and i am still disturbed by it. how it happened to the people of india as well as those murdered in the chabad house. i am also in awe of those firefighters who rescued people from the hotel in the taj mahal, even when they were instructed not to by their superiors. at great risk to their own safety they rescued 3oo people. i am equally in awe of sandra samuel the nanny who saved the baby of the slain chabad rabbi and his wife. equally miraculous is how this baby lived through this at all.

in the new york's jewish week rabbi menachem mendel nemes , a yeshiva teacher in crown heights was quoted as telling his students that" if this group can cause that much destruction in the world, imagine if that size group got together to do good deeds." this my friends is the truth . this is what is wrong with the world. so many pool their energies for evil instead of channeling them toward good. what an incredible world we would live in if only good was channeled instead of evil.

however... all is not lost. hatikvah-hope is in the essence of the jewish people. we must have hope that good will prevail over evil and that there will be total and complete shalom someday soon.... very soon...
as for those freaks of nature who say to the world "maybe now they will understand" when a terror attack happens to someone who isnt jewish "GET OVER YOURSELVES!!" its equally evil to revel in anyone suffering such a brutal attack. one should wish that peope learn compassion for terror victims in a peaceful manner, not by reveling in others misfortunes. i heard frummies say this after 9/11. to me they almost seemed happy. many jewish souls were lost during 9/11, yet they were happy to pontificate their mantra of "maybe now they will understand" . well folks, i surely dont understand. reveling in harm to others just "so they will understand" is childish and definitly not frum.

beyond kosher....

often those who used to be frum ridicule the mitzvot because they feel they are so confining and archaic only to replace them with equally obscure rituals to replace them with. a campy old movie that demonstrates this issue is the imported bridegroom. the imported bridegroom is a movie about an american jewish family at the turn of the twentieth century. the father wants his daughter to marry a torah scholar who he imports from the old country. of course the daughter has no interest . she would prefer a doctor or a lawyer. eventually this bridegroom metamorphoses and pseudo- Americanizes. instead of remaining a talmudic scholar, he becomes a philosophy scholar.
some trade kashrut for veganism. they feel kashrut is archaic, so they trade it for the more limiting veganism. while vegetarians dont eat meat , and are often in to animal rights, a vegan takes it the extra mile and doesnt eat any animal or being by product. no eggs, dairy or honey (a bee-ing product). i lack the convictions of a vegatarian, but i can understand why they might not want to eat an animal. i dont understand the need to limit animal by products or the concept of insect abuse. vegans dont eat honey because they feel it harms bees??? this is beyond kashrut, and possibly an advertisement for kashrut. kashrut isnt as limiting.
of course , go tell a newly converted vegan this!! perhaps its the thrill of individualism that sparks these food fetishes more than idealism. after all , a major reason for kashrut is to keep us jews separate so our goiyeshe neighbors wont come for dinner that might lead them to marry our jewish daughters.