Our Worst Enemy

The Jewish Press ^ | January 19, 2005 | Rabbi Daniel Lapin

[Stepan12]

I am an Orthodox rabbi angrily denouncing one of the biggest recent box office hits. Which movie has earned my wrath? Here is a clue: it surprised everyone by selling over one hundred million dollars’ worth of tickets in its first week in theaters. No, it’s not Mel Gibson’s “The Passion.” The movie causing me deep distress is a Rosenthal/Tenenbaum production starring Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand.

I am sorry to see Barbra Streisand involved in such a flagrant defamation of Judaism. While she was making her film Yentl, for which I served as a consultant, she studied Judaism regularly and diligently with me. She was a warm and gracious guest on the occasions she had dinner with my family. Yentl’s nostalgic, if not altogether authentic, glimpse into 19th century Jewish life in Poland evoked a feeling of fondness for the characters; but like many ethnic Jews Streisand is largely isolated from her religious roots. In the new film to which I refer, she plays a heinous caricature of a Jewess.

If you would rather not part with good money for the privilege of seeing the Jewish people defamed, you should abstain from this movie, which I am reluctant to name on account of the implied vulgarity of its title.

Lest you suspect that I am just a grouch with no sense of humor, let me tell you a little about this offensive excuse for entertainment. The movie depicts a non-Jewish couple visiting their daughter’s future Jewish in-laws. The conspicuously Jewish parents are portrayed as sexually obsessed, constantly concupiscent degenerates. Nice people, but depraved. Even the decorations that adorn their home are suggestive.

[Stepan12]

A long but very insightful article.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I hated the original "Meet the Parents"...I was cajoled into watching it by my wife.

There is no way in Hades I will ever sit through another Ben Stiller movie.

[bayourod]

So what movie is he talking about?

[drt1]

He has an inherent inability to 1) Come to the point efficiently and 2) Actually identify the movie that prompted the article - I assume it is "Meet the Fockers" (sp?) but I couldn't find the actual name mentioned anywhere in the piece.

[Stepan12]

He is talking about the Fokkers (sp). What else would he be talking about if it's a movie with an obscenly suggestive title?

[BreitbartSentMe]

Meet the Fokkers (sp?)

[Tax-chick]

That's an outstanding article. The way he speaks of "Jews" like Woody Allen and Howard Stern is very similar to the way believing Catholics feel about the Kennedys and John Kerry.

[Publius6961]

When a has been, marginalized singer-actress feels desperate enough, any medium looks like a life preserver.

[marty60]

twenty years ago, one of Ayn Rand’s protégés, Leonard Peikoff, wrote a book called The Ominous Parallels in which he described how Germany’s cultural decline helped bring the Nazis to power. With haunting precision, Peikoff proved how similar is America’s cultural decline. Indeed, much of the filth in American entertainment today parallels that of Germany between the world wars.

I read this and think maybe it is time people start to reread it.

But, I agree with everything he said. I get angry when I see Christians denegrated, and really uncomfortable when I see the parodied of Jews on TV and in film. I have yet to meet a Jew that fits these stereotypes. I thought I was missing some kind of inside joke. Glad I was wrong.

[Stepan12]

Yeah.... Of course that's the one. I wasn't going to see that movie anyway.

[AQGeiger]

I found that movie insufferable as well. It employs only the basest forms of humor.

On another note, I found the article very interesting. The author has a point. I wonder if the Hollywood leftists intentionally portray so many Jews in television and movies as unsavory characters (as an extension of the anti-Semitism that pervades leftism). Or if they're so deluded that they have no idea that they are doing it.

As I read, I realized that I can't actually recall a television or movie portrayal of a Jewish person that wasn't mocking of Jewish culture or portraying the Jewish religion in a negative way.

[Bean Counter]

"There is no way in Hades I will ever sit through another Ben Stiller movie"

Here, Here!

[ASA Vet]

Even the decorations that adorn their home are suggestive

My first thought was Hillary's christmas tree, although they were functional not suggestive.

[Tax-chick]

a television or movie portrayal of a Jewish person

Joel Fleischman in "Northern Exposure" wasn't bad. (I went to high school with a boy *just* like that character :-). Sometimes it was rather a parody, but the whole show was like that.

And "Babylon 5," one of the great TV shows of the last 10 years, had some very positive Jewish characters, both secular and observant. I especially liked the fact that, unlike "Star Trek," the writers assumed that religions that have lasted for thousands of years will continue to have a role for thousands of years in the future!

[Stepan12]

I read this [The Ominious Parallels] and think maybe it is time people start to reread it.

Do you remember when Leonard Peikoff talked about the existence of such Weimer era books as The Whip in Sexuality and Sappho and Lesbos as symbolic markers, pointing to Germany's descent into Nazi barbarism?

[marty60]

It's been a while but yes, Hitler was sexually obsessed and fit right in with the society of the time.

[fish hawk]

I wonder what he thinks of Mel Brooks. No one makes more fun of Jews and stereotypes them like Mel. Sometimes funny but very degrading.

[marty60]

That is the point he was trying to make I think gradual decline.

Mel was great to liberal hoolywood as long as he was making fun of and paroding Jews, but when he moved to the homeless, he was gone. NOT PC .

[woofie]

A non Jewish perspective...The movie sucked

[MississippiMan]

I'm with you. I watched MEET THE PARENTS and found it to be a boring mediocre comedy; I've never understood why so many found it so hilarious. I've not seen MTF and don't plan to.

MM