If The Heartbreak Kid is about a hapless Jewish man, Lenny Cantrow who falls for a hot, American blonde of upper-middle-class WASP extraction, Kelly Corcoran, then Goodbye, Columbus is about a hapless Jewish man, Neil Klugman, who falls for a Jewish girl going on WASP, Brenda Patimkin, from a nouveau riche, middle-class family. In each, the choice of mate is a sort of repudiation of the man's values, in each, the parents of the girl do not approve, and in each the family belongs to a well-off socioeconomic status. In this film, Brenda Patimkin reflects on how her family used to live in the Bronx, where Neil currently resides with his aunt. "Oh, we used to live in the Bronx," she says. The Patimkin's are social climbers, having made money selling construction-parts, they want nothing to do with their first-level immigrant past as Jews. The family — the mother, the brother, and the girt, except for the father, who is played by Jack Klugman (opposite the character Neil Klugman) — have all undergone rhinoplasty to hide their Jewish identity, and now they live in a WASP-ish neighborhood. However, their Yidishe identity comes through, for example, when the father refers to his little girl as his tsatschkele, his little pet. This film reflects the identity problems revolving around assimilation that American Jews faced in the mid-late twentieth century.
However, in a way, this film is a counterpoint to The Heartbreak Kid. There, Leonard Cantrow successfully, if naively, "assimilates" by marrying into the Corcoran family, here, Neil Klugman ultimately cannot stand the assimilated Patimkin family. If he saw in Brenda the image of the "hot" "non-Jewish" shiksa, what he found instead was the Jewish American Princess. Although he forces her to break traditional boundaries, she ultimately sides with her papa. Neil rejects Brenda's association with this well-off, assimilated family and says Goodbye, Columbus.
What is fascinating about the title is that it simultaneously represents the assimilated family, as well as a larger conversation about the Jewish people and Zionism. The brother repeatedly plays a record album from his alma mater, The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. He pines after his days as the quarterback of the football team and the attention that was lauded on him. So for him, Goodbye, Columbus is nostalgic. But for Neil, it is deeper. There was a 1926 Yiddish theatre song that the screenwriter Philip Roth may have picked up. The song was called “Ikh For Aheym,” “I’m going home.” The song featured the line, “Zay gezunt, Kolumbes,” “Goodbye, Columbus,” as in the legendary colonizer of the Americas. But, here, the song is referring to assimilated, American Jews returning to the Land of Israel (British Mandate Palestine), and making aliyah as Zionists and rejecting the materialism which America offered. Thereby, by rejecting the Patimkin's, Neil is simultaneously rejecting the nostalgic, assimilated life of the brother who only cares about American football and the comfy life of materialism. However, we do not know what Neil chooses. Does he become a Zionist, a librarian, a communist, a captialist, or does he find a proper shiksa, like Lenny Cantrow? The film just does not tell us.
The Heartbreak Kid (1972, Elaine May, Charles Grodin, Cybill Shepherd, Jeannie Berlin)
This delightful film is based on a quick piece published in the January 1966 issue of Esquire by Bruce Jay Friedman. Whereas Friedman's fast-paced piece revolves around the existential angst of being rushed into a marriage and choosing "the right one," Elaine May turns this into an American Jewish story of assimilation, in which the protagonist Leonard Cantrow (Charles Grodin) pines after his non-overbearing, non-Jewish love-interest, the daughter of Minnesota tycoon Al Corcoran, Kelly Corcoran (Cybill Shepherd).
When compared to the story, we can see how the screenwriter Neil Simon and director Elaine May remade the message as an American-Jewish narrative. First off, the story is much quicker and has a different characterization. In the story, the wife doesn’t have a name, and gets one line (And I’m supposed to just listen to that? in response to his insinuations of divorice). Furthermore, her characterization is completely different from the film: Cantrow's wife is described as pale and skinny (illuminated by Friedman's phrases his bride’s slack form,pale and angular), and contrasted with Kelly, the woman of his dreams, who is described as having a nice fleshiness, a good hundred and thirty pounds to his bride’s hundred four. In the story, the wife is a waif. However, as in the film, the story also describes her as having “loud pipes."
Compared to the film, the characterisation of Lenny's women seem like a reversal. Lila is loud-mouthed, is buxom and untowardly sexual; she is also dark-haired and of darker complexion. She represents the worst of Jewish women. Therefore, Lenny is not attracted by his overbearing Jewish wife.
In the film, it is the pale, skinny, slack-formed shiksa who attracts him. The film transferred the characterization of his wife onto the shiksa Kelly. In the story, it is his wife who sounds like Twiggy. The story and the film are the opposite.
By so doing, the film reaffirms stereotypes of Jewish women. There is another series on Netflix right now using that same theme: Nobody Wants This… (because, er, nobody wants to see more Jewish women stereotypes, but actually apparently everybody does), about a Los Angeles Reform rabbi (played by Adam Brody) who falls for a non-Jewish sex-podcast-host (played by Kristen Bell). In the words of people who were involved with the production: The stereotypes of Jewish women can sometimes lean into shtick, necessary as they are for the show’s comedic contrast between the fun, outspoken, sex-positive shiksa and the severe, withholding Jewish women who view her as a threat. But [the real-life rabbi Steve] Leder said that while their exaggerated tendencies were written for a laugh, the Jews were in on the joke.
I sure hope so, and clearly there is comedic value in The Heartbreak Kid. Whereas in Nobody Wants This, the shiksa is the sexy one, in The Heartbreak Kid, it is Lila who is buxom and sensual; the audience is supposed to find her curling Lenny's chest hair discomforting and her constant need of reassurance, "am I good enough?" disturbing. While Kelly is sensual in a vague sense (in the sense that any woman in a bikini is sensual — compare Kelly's black one-piece with Lila's two-piece polka dot bikini set and robe, preceded by her red bathrobe), Kelly represents the virginal young woman. Kelly is seen by Grodin as proceeding from the clouds, as he stares up into the sun. She is young and naive, and she plays with Grodin's emotions (seemingly changing her mind whether she wants to pursue, or be pursued by, him). She is the "little girl" to Lila's matronly, fully-grown womanly attributes. Although in terms of getting what she wants, Kelly seems much more mature than Lila, who always needs reassurance.
Ultimately, then, The Heartbreak Kid falls into the age-old trope about the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. If we see Lila as the foil for Judaism, she is earthly, sensual, emotional, and unstable. Kelly is the foil for Christianity (her family is Episcopal). Kelly is light, airy, young, heavenly, and alluring. These are powerful tropes.
But in the end, Leonard finds himself in the same situation, at the end of the film rattling off his half-baked theories to two children, who leave him, and then mumbling to himself incoherently. He pursued the second beauty, but one wonders if he would have been better off with Lila. The original story (A Change of Plan) makes this point clearer, with its heading: Dedicated to any man who has ever, for one fleeting moment or more, harbored the thought that his wife was not absolutely the most wonderful woman he ever met. While portrayed through the lens of Cantrow, this is a really a tale of two women.
If you are looking to learn more about early Christianity, early Judaism, and its relationship to the Second Temple Period, these resources will be helpful. The Second Temple Period was the time when the Temple was rebuilt under Ezra-Nehemiah after the return of the exiles from Babylon back to Judea. It covered approximately 500 years, from 444 BC/BCE to 70 CE/AD. During this time, the last books of the Bible were completed (e.g., Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles, Esther, Haggai, etc.). Also, the apocryphal books were written during this time, as well as the pseudepigraphical books (the name means falsely attributed, and refers to books whose authors pretend to be someone else from Biblical history, such as Moses, Enoch, or Abraham).
The following categories of Jewish books were written during Second Temple times:
The Apocrypha (called the Deuterocanon, or Second Canon, by Roman Catholics)
The Pseudepigrapha (books from famous biblical heroes, Moses, Enoch, Abraham)
The Dead Sea Scrolls (books collected by the Essene sect at Qumran on the Dead Sea)
Philo (a Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, Egypt, who wrote commentaries on Bible)
Josephus (a Jewish historian who wrote Jewish histories for the Romans)
The New Testament (books regarding Jesus of Nazareth by his Jewish followers)
All of these were Jewish books written during the Second Temple period.
What will follow will be a list of published versions of these books, with links to them being found on Amazon.
I. Apocrypha
M. Coogan, editor. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Fully revised fourth edition. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010). This is considered the standard Apocrypha Bible.
The Jewish Annotated Apocrypha.
II. Pseudepigrapha
James Charlesworth, editor. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. 2 volumes. (New York: Doubleday, 1983-1985). (link) This edition has the full texts, plus pages of introductions and commentaries.
The Charlesworth edition is exceedingly helpful, and includes 65 different books:
1 Enoch (Ethiopian)
2 Enoch (Slavonic) (Appendix: 2 Enoch in Merilo Previdnoe)
3 Enoch (Hebrew)
Sibylline Oracles
Treatise of Shem
Apocryphon of Ezekiel
Apocalypse of Zephaniah
Fourth Ezra
Greek Apocalypse of Ezra
Vision of Ezra
Questions of Ezra
Revelation of Ezra
Apocalypse of Sedrach
2 Baruch (Syriac Apocalypse)
3 Baruch (Greek Apocalypse)
Apocalypse of Abraham
Apocalypse of Adam
Apocalypse of Elijah
Apocalypse of Daniel
Testaments of 12 Patriarchs
Testament of Job
Testaments of Three Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob)
Testament of Moses
Testament of Solomon
Testament of Adam
Letter of Aristeas
Jubilees
Martyrdom of Isaiah
Ascension of Isaiah
Joseph and Aseneth
Life of Adam & Eve
Pseudo-Philo
Lives of the Prophets
Ladder of Jacob
4 Baruch
Jannes and Jambres
History of the Rechabites
Eldad and Modad
History of Joseph
Story of Ahiqar
3 Maccabees
4 Maccabees
Pseudo-Phocyclides
Sentences of the Syriac Menander
More Psalms of David
Prayer of Manasseh
Psalms of Solomon
Hellenistic Synagogal Prayers
Prayer of Joseph
Prayer of Jacob
Odes of Solomon
Alexander Polyhistor
Philo the Epic Poet
Theodotus
Orphic Hymns
Ezekiel the Tragedian
Fragments of Pseudo-Greek Poets
Aristobulus
Demetrius the Chronographer
Aristeas the Exegete
Eupolemus
Pseudo-Euopolemus
Cleodemus Malchus
Artapanus
Pseudo-Hecataeus
This 2-volume edition has more books than anyone would ever need in their lifetime!
If somebody just wants to read the texts of 1 Enoch and Jubilees, and others, themselves without any scholarly comment, the following editions may be useful:
The Complete 54-Book Apocrypha: 2022 Edition With the Deuterocanon, 1-3 Enoch, Giants, Jasher, Jubilees, Pseudepigrapha, & the Apostolic Fathers (Covenant Press, 2022). Handy, non-scholarly edition of a majority of the books in public domain translations.
III. The Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered by Arab Bedouins in a cave in the Judean desert in 1948. The Bedouins did not know what they were, so they took some fragments to a local Orthodox priest. The Priest could not read them but eventually contacted some Jewish academics who could read the ancient Hebrew script. Eventually, a team of Protestant and Catholic scholars was assembled to decipher the documents. More were found every day. It took nearly 50 years to catalog all the scrolls, and still clean-up work is being done. In total, 900 scrolls and scroll fragments were found, composing about 100 different texts.
The Dead Sea Scrolls consist of three types of works: Biblical Manuscripts, Sectarian texts dealing with the Essene community at Qumran, and Non-Sectarian texts that the Essenes collected at Qumran (e.g., Jubilees and 1 Enoch).
There have been many editions of the scrolls, but here I am aiming at comprehensiveness, clarity, and fidelity to the original.
Editions with Original Hebrew:
Florentino García Martínez and Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar, editors. The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999-2019. This edition has the Hebrew & English side by side on facing pages, so you can know what is being discussed! It comes in 2 volumes:
The masterful, 3 hour and 27 minute film from Martin Scorsese simultaneously disturbed and enlightened. It is a paean to a century before, an homage to a time long ago, and a morality tale about greed, based on the 2017 book of the same name by David Grann.
Scorsese crafted an elaborate framing device, in which the viewer is brought back into the 1920s. He used old-timey black & white vintage footage (newly filmed, of course) which displays a number of richly ornamented Native Americans gallavanting through the town of Fairfax, Osage County, Oklahoma, showing up their bling, stylishly posing for the cameras, and driving their Studebakers—or rather, being driven by their chauffeurs. Enter the Osage: a Native American tribe whose relocation to a reservation whose land was previously deemed worthless until the discovery of natural oil. Scorsese cuts to a scene depicting several Osage braves enjoying an oil-drenched dance under a geyser of the bubbling brew. Scorsese intercuts the old-style title cards, or intertitles, appropriated from the silent film era, explaining how the Tribe benefitted from the oil boom, resulting in the wealthy Indians above.
Enter the white man. We see several examples of obese hucksters trying to disenfranchise the Osage from their money, offering them expensive photographs, sham insurance deals, and generally any other shady way to steal their guaranteed oil money. Of the photographs, we see a couple take up the offer, and Scorsese privileges us with several of these historically preserved photographs of Osage Indians posing for the camera, in their spiffiest Western best. Our heroine (played by indigenous Montana actor Lily Gladstone) also appears in one, doubtlessly photoshopped onto an older photograph. The boomtown 1920s are in full swing.
We see Leo DiCaprio, in the huckiest (like huckster-hillbilly-golly-gee-shucks) role we've ever seen him in, exit the train for town, and proceed to watch, and throw a few punches in, some drunken brawl—until his Indian accomplish taps him on the shoulder, and brings him to the car. Darn, Leo was just getting use to the local scene.
For much of the movie, we see wide-eyed Leo imbibing everything around him like a kid's first time at a circus. The brawls, the street races, the scam artists, the money. It's all so exciting and new to him!
He is taken to meet his uncle, who wants Leo to address him as the King, just as he did as a child. The uncle, William King Hale, is quite the local magnate around town, financing schools, hospitals, and public works. He promises to take Leo (his name is Earnest Burkhardt) under his wing, and show him the ropes.
Leo's first job is as a cab driver, a chaffeur, but driving Studebakers. He picks up his soon-to-be love interest Miss Molly Kyle, an Osage beauty whom apparently many a man had his eye on. After three rides, Earnest is smitten by Molly, and apparently vice versa. She invites him into her house, she makes him some pudding, and they spend the rest of the evening sizing each other up while smoking and listening to the sound of the rain on the roof.
Apparently, however, the King has some interest in Leo (*cough* Earnest) settling down with Molly. After all, she has is one of four sisters who are all full-blood Osage, with all the oil rights and benefits that entails (*cough* money).
I won't ruin the rest of the plot for you, but essentially in the rest of the movie, we see Leo become a sort of Wolf of Oke Street. (At several points, we hear Leo say, I do love me my money, in a manner not unlike Brad Pitt's Lt. Aldo Raine, I do want me my Nazi scalps!.) By the time we're done, we're not sure whom to believe, who to trust; was Leo purely motivated by greed and evil, or were his actions manipulated by those around him? Apparently, Scorsese would have had the time run a lot longer, but — and this is one of the differences between the book and the film — he did not want the film to become like a police procedural/courtroom justice epic.
The film ends with the framing device of a cast of voice actors in the 1960s narrating to an enthralled audience, in Garrison Keillor-Praire Home Companion-style, what happened to each of the characters. We are shocked, we are disturbed; like the audience of the true crime mystery theatre, we are enthralled, we want to know more. But that's the point: maybe some of these things can never be explained.
I understand that delving into uncomfortable aspects of American history might not be everyone's cup of tea. However, The Killers of the Flower Moon offers far more than just a recounting of past injustices. The book, and the film, is a compelling narrative that transcends history; it's a captivating tale of mystery, conspiracy, and the birth of modern investigative techniques.
At its core, this book is a gripping true crime story, filled with intriguing characters, suspenseful plot twists, and a gripping quest for justice. David Grann, and Martin Scorsese, skillfully weaves together multiple narratives – the Indian murders, the birth of the FBI (called here the Bureau of Investigation), and the pursuit of truth – making it read like a gripping thriller rather than a typical historical account.
Picking up this narrative, you're not just confronting the uncomfortable past; you're also witnessing the evolution of law enforcement and investigative methods. The story, whose criminal justice side is more transparent in the book, introduces you to real-life heroes like Tom White, an FBI agent who navigates through a maze of deceit and corruption to bring justice to the victims and their families.
Moreover, The Killers of the Flower Moon prompts reflection on broader societal issues, encouraging readers to consider the implications of historical injustices on present-day circumstances. It provides an opportunity to better understand the complexities of American history and how these events have shaped our society today.
Reading this book offers a chance to broaden your perspective, fostering empathy, understanding, and a deeper appreciation of the struggles faced by marginalized communities. It's not just about confronting uncomfortable truths; it's about gaining insight, empathy, and a more profound connection to the shared human experience.
In essence, The Killers of the Flower Moon isn't solely about the discomfort of history; it's about the intrigue of a compelling story, the pursuit of justice, and the lessons we can draw from the past to create a better future. It's a captivating journey that will leave you informed, moved, and with a renewed appreciation for the power of uncovering hidden truths.
How an AI image generator interpreted Killers of the Flower Moon; try it here at Kittl.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorcese, Wolf of Wall Street, Killers of the Flower Moon, Inglorious Basterds, Brad Pitt, Quentin Tarantino, Robert DeNiro,Money, Greed, Survival, Osage Indians, Fairfax, Osage County, Oklahoma, Lily Gladstone, indigenous representation
Once upon a blue moon a songwriter comes out with tunes so slow, so cool, so soulful, that you cannot just help but immerse yourself. It starts infecting your soul, and you cannot help but tap your feet, sing along, and find yourself humming the song days later. The sound is timeless—is it the '70s, '80s, '00s retro? Songs so cool that Jimmy Fallon declares it's his favorite song he's been listening to.
But the only problem is no one's ever heard of the band or the music.
Until now.
Until some vinyl-scrabbing crategrabbers in a Montana thrift store, reached the bottom of the barrel, and came to surface with 1979's Dreamin' Wild by brothers Donnie and Joe Emerson.
No one had ever heard of this album, or the artists, until Seattle-based vinyl collector Jack Fleisher found it in the back of the stack. And loved it. And began posting it on vinyl forums online. And every vinyl freak decided they wanted a copy of their own.
It's 2011—and the music hadn't hit the airwaves for some 30 years. The indies and the collectors dig it. And then Jimmy Fallon declares that the soulful crooner Baby—sounding as if it emerged from any of the great '70s acts—is his favorite song of the year. And it begans infecting everyone's ear who gives it a listen. Baby gets recorded by several different artists.* Pitchfork writes a review of the album. Other outlets, including The New York Times want to do a story on it, but nobody has a copy of the album.
The reason? Almost all the original pressings—except for the few that had made it out of the house—were still sealed in boxes in the Emerson's parents' basement. It had been a commercial, and apparently artistic, flop for the Emerson's. But apparently not so any longer.
Light in the Attic, a Seattle-based boutique record label helmed by Matt Sullivan specializing in bringing to light and repressing long-forgotten records, had gotten their hands on Jack Fleisher's copy and wanted to give the album the proper release it deserved after 30 odd years.
All that happens, and more. The re-release, the media press, the legendary tour, but first Matt Sullivan must find the Emerson brothers—from their rural abode in Fruitland, in eastern Washington. After the commercial failure, Joe stayed on the family farm, toiling at woodwork and logging; while Donnie, who had dreamed of music his whole life, attempted to lead a moderately succesful attempt in the industry, but with no lasting impact—until now.
This is where Dreamin' Wild, the film, comes in. It features Casey Affleck, brother of Ben Affleck, as Donnie Emerson; his brother Joe Emerson is played by the perfectly cast, good-natured Walter Goggins (whose affable ah-golly-gee-shucks disposition, also on display in his role as a country preacher in The Righteous Gemstone's, shines through here.) Donnie's wife is played by the adorable Zooey Deschanel. His father is played by veteran actor Beau Bridges, and Chris Messina plays the talent agent, master of repressing Matt Sullivan. And the film's cinematography of sweeping fields, and mountains, a paeon to the rural life, evokes Terrence Malick, who is mentioned in the credits and was co-producer with this film's director (Bill Pohlad) on other films.
Having a dream come to fruition after 30 years. Planting a crop and getting no result. Crafting an album that no one hears. Wishing and wishing and hoping and dreaming until you can't dream anymore. The stress of life has squeezed every last dream out. You walk in a haze, having forgotten your childhood hopes. But then the phone rings. And everything changes. The years the locusts have eaten are over, and it was all a dream.
Your dreams weren't too wild. Your wildest dreams are about to come true; it's just around the corner. If it happened for Donnie and Joe Emerson, it can happen for you too.
Girls in Israel dancing during Tu B'Av at school in Hadera. Wikicommons Creative Commons license
There is a Jewish holiday that I knew nothing about a few days ago. I knew the summer holiday of Tisha B'av (the ninth of the Hebrew month Av), but I had never heard of its cousin that follows six days later: Tu B'Av = the fifteenth of Av.
While Tisha b'Av commemorates the destruction of the Temple and resultant tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people, Tu b'Av celebrates marriage? A sort of Jewish Valentine's day?
According to the sages, there is a deep mystical meaning that arises with this often overlooked holiday.
In modern Israel, based on an ancient biblical practice, Tu b'Av is a time for the young girls to don white dresses and go out into the fields and dance to attract potential suitors. In modern Israel, it is time to celebrate, and encourage romantic love, with young people going on dates, flirting, and enjoying candelit dinners.
As we know, romantic love is a picture of divine love, and specifically of the love between G-d and Israel. G-d is depicted as the lover, and Israel is depicted as the beloved maiden, which is the rabbinic interpretation of the Song of Solomon. Christians similarly believe that it is the love between Christ and His bride, the Community of Called-out Believers.
According to the rabbis, however, Tu b'Av marks the time when the sins of Tisha b'Av are overturned. It is sort of a mini Day of Atonement, coming six days after the horrible destruction of Tisha b'Av.
The Tisha b'Av – Tu b'Av connection
According to the sages, the calamity of Tisha b'Av came about because the Israelite spies that entered Canaan gave the people a bad report of the land. This was seen as a denial of Go-d's deliverance of the Israelites. G-d had brought them into a beautiful land flowing with milk and honey, and all they could do was complain about it and say how bad it was! Thus, G-d instituted a ḥerem, a ban, of destruction on that day, which has continued to this very day.
But Tu b'Av was a reversal of the Tisha b'Av ban!
Because of the sin of the spies, the people cried that night (the night of Tisha b'Av). G-d accordingly instituted a punishment for them due to their lack of faith. He decreed that all males between the ages of 20 and 60 would die in the forty years wandering in the wilderness. The men accepted their punishment, and according to the sage Rashi, would dig their own graves on the night of Tisha b'Av each year. They would then lie down in their graves, and await until the morning. In the morning, Moses would go through the camp and cry out, Let the living separate from the dead! If the man was still living, he would arise and be thankful for his life. The dead would be buried in their spot.
This practice went on for 40 years every summer. Finally, on the 40th year of the wandering, on that particular 9th day of Av, something different happened. The men made their graves. In the morning, they awoke and not a single man had died! They assumed they had made a mistake in their reckoning, so they went back to their graves the next night, the 10th of Av. They woke up the next day alive! They were so pious, believing that they had still made a mistake, that they returned to their graves. They did this 6 nights in a row. Finally, on the 15th night of Av, they saw the full moon in the night sky, and realized that the entire male population had indeed survive unscathed. They realized that G-d had reversed the decree of judgement against them. The day, the 15th of Av, became a celebration of God's mercy and love!
Other occurrences on Tu b'Av
During Temple times, wood had to be cut down from the trees. After the 15th of Av, the sun starts losing its intensity (in Israel), going into fall and winter. Accordingly, wood cut after this date could not be used for the Temple — because the lessened intensity of the sun might not dry it out enough and it could decay. The work of cutting all the wood for the Temple was thus completed on Tu b'Av. This great accomplishment made it a day of celebration!
Jeroboam ben Nevat, the bad king of Israel, installed roadblocks forbidden Jews from making pilgrimage to G-d's Temple during Passover, Sukkoth, and Shavuot, the three pilgrim feasts. Hoshea, the last king of Israel, removed these blockades. This happened on the 15th of Av.
When the Romans massacred the Jews of Beytar during the Bar-Kochba Revolt (132-136 AD/CE), they refused to let the dead bodies be buried for three years. When the Jews returned to the bury their dead, they found the bodies undecayed, and they buried them intact on the 15th of Av.
Tu b'Av in the Mishnah
In the Mishnah, the compilation of oral commentary on the Bible completed in the 2nd century CE by R. Simeon ben Jose, the sages discuss the tradition of Tu b'Av. On this day, it is recorded, the the young maiden of Jerusalem would go out and dance in the vineyards. This is recorded in Mishnah, tractate Taanit, chapter 4, section 8:
They would go out dressed in white clothes, so that no one could distinguish between rich and poor and judge between them, causing embarassment to any.
Literally, When the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in white garments, borrowed (from each other), so that no one would put to shame whoever did not have it
They would dance in the vineyards, and the young men would come to watch.
And what would they say (to the boys)? Young man, lift up now your eyes and regard what you will choose for yourself! Do not give your eyes to Beauty, give your eyes to Family! [That is, a good family] Grace is deceptive, and beauty is vain. A woman who fears Hashem, she shall be praised! [Prov. 31:30] They also quoted [the next verse]: Give to her from the fruit of her hands! Let her deeds be praised in the gates!
According to one interpretation, the girls from good families but without beauty would say Pay no attention to Beauty, but pay attention to Family!, while the girls with no family or looks would say, Grace is deceptive, and beauty is vain. But a woman who fears Hashem, she shall be praised! The point is, though, that each was equal, and the boys could only choose the ones that was best for them, all things considered.
Tu b'Av in the Bible
In the Bible, in Judges 21, this custom of Tu b'Av is briefly mentioned, indicating that it had ancient precedent. The Tribe of Benjamin had been, effectively, cut off from Israel. They had no wives. So the elders of Israel gave them a plan: they were to go to the Tu b'Av vineyard dance and take wives for themselves. This effectively reinstated Benjamin into the fold of Israel, and permitted inter-tribal marriages.
And they said, Look, the annual feast of YHWH is being held at Shiloh. (It is north of Beth-El, east of the highway going up from Beth-El to Shechem; and south of Levonah.)
As soon as you see the daughters of Shiloh going out to dance in dances, let each man jump out of the vineyards and catch for themselves his wife from the daughters of Shiloh. Then take off for the land of Benjamin!
The sons of Benjamin did so. They carried off women, according to their numbers, from the dancers whom they had seized. They took and they returned to their inheritance. They built their cities, and they lived in them.
This was a day of rejoicing for Benjamin, because Benjamin was added back into the fold of Israel, and was allowed to intermarry any other tribe. Israel was united, in some small sense.
In a mystical sense, Tu b'Av looks forward to the day when all Israel's sins will be remitted, and the Messiah will return and catch us up together with him in the air. The Messiah will take us to his abode, and it will be a day of rejoicing and feasting and celebration. There will no longer be any tear. All the calamity of Israel will have ceased. And the marriage supper of the lamb will commence.
Sources:
The Mishnah Elucidated: A Phrase-by-Phrase Simplified Translation with Basic Commentary Schottenstein Edition, edited by Rabbi Nosson Scherman and Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz; ArtScroll Series Mishnah Vol. 6: Tractates Taanis / Megillah / Moed Kattan / Chagigah (Rahway, New Jersey: Mesorah Publications, 2015)
Rabbi Chaim Richman, Parashat Eikev: The Circle Dance of Tu B'Av, Jerusalem Lights - Rabbi Chaim Richman YouTube.
Media and electronic devices have a planned obsolescence. Now by media, I am excluding, in this instance, print books; I am specifically referring to when media is accessed through electronic devices, and physical audio-visual materials.
It used to be, one could go in the store, and find a physical item one was looking for. Anymore, if one does venture into the store, one is hard pressed to find a copy of what one is looking for. Instead, the retailer will tell you to order it online. Now, I came into the store to the find the item. I did not come into the store to be told to order it online. If I had, I would have done that first.
Anymore, however, the absence of items/copies of what one is looking for is pushing people to order online even if they don't want to. Sometimes, I'll ask the kind retailer (if that is his business) to order it for me directly and I'll pick it up at the store. I would rather him or her do it than me order it online, on principle's sake. I would save money if I ordered on Amazon. But I refuse to support giant techopolies whose vested commercial interest is in selling my data—and me—to outside vendors, and who are achieving world domination at a greater rate every day, digitally if not in the future physically.
To give a silly example, I went into the hardware store to find some batteries for a stopwatch that stopped working. The sales rep knew exactly what batteries they were by name/model #, however, when we got to the aisle, they were nowhere to be seen. Not only were they out of stock, but apparently, there was no place for them either. I had him order a set for me, which turned out to be around $8. However, I later looked on Amazon and I could have got them for $4.
For an old person to make such claims is a rant. For me, a young, tech-capable man who knows all about computers, programming languages, is just ludicrous. Or so they say.
I have the right to live in a world where I can find something at the store. I'm not upset that I have to order it through the store. In fact, I want to support the store, and I'd rather order through them. I am more upset by the fact that using the store is almost become the alternative option, the weird option, the backwards option.
Physical Media
It is getting hard to find physical media—CDs, DVDs, VHS, Blu-ray, Cassette tapes, LPs, LaserDiscs, and whatever other format imaginable. There was so much joy for me in finding these physical items, holding an album in my hand, poring over the liner notes. Digital doesn't cut it.
Let's say you want to watch a movie, maybe an older one. You have several options: (1) see if your local library carries it. They may or may not, but are often glad to order it for you. (2) Go to a store. The likelihood of you finding it at any store is pretty minimal. Walmart, Target etc. only have the latest releases. There are no video stores any more, so good luck with that. A pawn shop or thrift store is hit and miss. (3) Go online. Here you can try to find it on Craigslist, or maybe Amazon if you choose. Amazon will most likely have a copy listed. You can also pay Google or YouTube or Apple to stream it/rent it. I refuse to pay any money for a streamed copy of a movie that is going to buffer over my slow internet on a tiny screen. Others certainly disagree. It may be likened to attending a movie; however, a theatre is a completely different experience, namely, the anticipation of driving there, waiting in line, buying a ticket, ordering popcorn, and sitting in a darkened room with many other enjoying the same spectacle. The process of sitting at a screen may be similar, but I have not yet been willing to pay for a rented-streamed movie, whereas I'll gladly pay $12+ for a movie theatre.
The Hunt
I've been on a strange hunt. I've been searching for a MacBook (I love Macs—don't shoot me) computer with a DVD drive. Apple last made those in 2012. So I am effectively looking for a 9+ year old computer, which sounds very illogical. However, not is there not anything wrong with such computers, but they work just fine, can run the latest Mac OS, or if one wants Windows 10 or a 64-bit/32-bit Linux distro.
Apple has forced me to make it harder to watch DVDs. I am not going to stop watching DVDs any time soon, nor ripping my CD collection. So take that Apple. Yes, I can get an external drive. But I want an internal drive. So I will continue to search for my golden, DVD MacBook until the cows come home or Jesus returns. Whichever is first.
So all y'all can take the latest spotify, streaming, pay-all-your-money to Netflix and Hulu and every other company and service out there, while I'll be quietly enjoying my DVDs and records and LaserDiscs and whatever other physical media I can find. My paradise.
