Rabbi Mandel Goes to the Movies!
At Touro Synagogue
December 29, 2018
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It was warm day in Newport, considering it was winter, both inside and outside of shul.
David Nathanson decided to sit near me on the Touro Street side of Touro Synagogue rather than the Barney Street side, where he usually can be found. He told me it was a seasonal move. David must have felt a little SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). So he came over to the sunny side! In winter, the Touro Street side is the sunny side. In addition to being our spiritual center, Touro Synagogue also serves as our sundial and calendar, even though the clock doesn’t work.
There were a few visitors present. In his words of Torah, Rabbi Marc Mandel connected the parsha, Shemot, to his activities during the week, when he made a quick trip to New Jersey to attend a wedding.
“I went to a wedding where the bride is studying to be a nurse. The parsha made reference to the two nurses, Shifra and Puah, who not only didn't kill the Jews, but kept them alive, because they feared God.
“At the hotel, I saw the movie The Fugitive. The plot of The Fugitive is the exact opposite of the story of the nurses in the parsha. A billion dollar pharmaceutical company was killing people to save their special drug from being exposed as harmful. If the company had the fear of God, it would not have been trying to murder people.
“Moshe was a fugitive, too, for trying to save the lives of innocent people.
“I was at a hotel; Moshe was at a hotel, and he did not circumcise his son. His wife took care of it. Moses didn’t manage his downtime very well!
“What do we do with our down time? My friend from California worked the whole day at the hotel - we need to learn from him.
"In our life’s journey, may we have enough fear of God to inspire us to use our downtime wisely.”
The Fugitive film was based on the eponymous television series. The plot of someone fleeing a murder is often used, and the resemblance to Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo, is unmistakable. According to a Wikipedia article, “One who recognized the similarity was Morse [Barry Morse played the policeman chasing the fugitive in the tv series]; he pointed out the connection to Quinn Martin[ the producer], who admitted that The Fugitive was a "sort of modern rendition of the outline of Les Misérables.[5]
“Morse accordingly went back to the Victor Hugo novel and studied the portrayal of Javert, to find ways to make the character more complex than the "conventional 'Hollywood dick'" as whom Gerard had originally been conceived. "I've always thought that we in the arts...are all 'shoplifters,"' Morse said. "Everybody, from Shakespeare onwards and downwards...But once you've acknowledged that...when you set out on a shoplifting expedition, you go always to Cartier's, and never to Woolworth's!"[5]
I don’t live in Hollywood; Woolworth’s quality is fine. Cartier’s may have cachet, but that’s not the same as quality. I don’t shoplift at either place.
I eagerly await the day when a Jewish Newport posting starts with, “Rabbi Mandel stars in a Movie!”
May you make good use of your down time on the sunny side of the street.
Shabbat Shalom from Jewish Newport
It was warm day in Newport, considering it was winter, both inside and outside of shul.
David Nathanson decided to sit near me on the Touro Street side of Touro Synagogue rather than the Barney Street side, where he usually can be found. He told me it was a seasonal move. David must have felt a little SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). So he came over to the sunny side! In winter, the Touro Street side is the sunny side. In addition to being our spiritual center, Touro Synagogue also serves as our sundial and calendar, even though the clock doesn’t work.
There were a few visitors present. In his words of Torah, Rabbi Marc Mandel connected the parsha, Shemot, to his activities during the week, when he made a quick trip to New Jersey to attend a wedding.
“I went to a wedding where the bride is studying to be a nurse. The parsha made reference to the two nurses, Shifra and Puah, who not only didn't kill the Jews, but kept them alive, because they feared God.
“At the hotel, I saw the movie The Fugitive. The plot of The Fugitive is the exact opposite of the story of the nurses in the parsha. A billion dollar pharmaceutical company was killing people to save their special drug from being exposed as harmful. If the company had the fear of God, it would not have been trying to murder people.
“Moshe was a fugitive, too, for trying to save the lives of innocent people.
“I was at a hotel; Moshe was at a hotel, and he did not circumcise his son. His wife took care of it. Moses didn’t manage his downtime very well!
“What do we do with our down time? My friend from California worked the whole day at the hotel - we need to learn from him.
"In our life’s journey, may we have enough fear of God to inspire us to use our downtime wisely.”
The Fugitive film was based on the eponymous television series. The plot of someone fleeing a murder is often used, and the resemblance to Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo, is unmistakable. According to a Wikipedia article, “One who recognized the similarity was Morse [Barry Morse played the policeman chasing the fugitive in the tv series]; he pointed out the connection to Quinn Martin[ the producer], who admitted that The Fugitive was a "sort of modern rendition of the outline of Les Misérables.[5]
“Morse accordingly went back to the Victor Hugo novel and studied the portrayal of Javert, to find ways to make the character more complex than the "conventional 'Hollywood dick'" as whom Gerard had originally been conceived. "I've always thought that we in the arts...are all 'shoplifters,"' Morse said. "Everybody, from Shakespeare onwards and downwards...But once you've acknowledged that...when you set out on a shoplifting expedition, you go always to Cartier's, and never to Woolworth's!"[5]
I don’t live in Hollywood; Woolworth’s quality is fine. Cartier’s may have cachet, but that’s not the same as quality. I don’t shoplift at either place.
I eagerly await the day when a Jewish Newport posting starts with, “Rabbi Mandel stars in a Movie!”
May you make good use of your down time on the sunny side of the street.
Shabbat Shalom from Jewish Newport
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