Nothing New Except You People & Emor

Is it okay if one week feels like it just blends in to the next?

And I feel like there’s nothing new to say?

Same old, same old in the news, except worse.

Nothing much new in my life.

Except that, for some reason, from someplace in Cyberspace, I learned of a movie called “You People.”

I read about the critique of it, and it peaked my interest.

(It’s been at least a month since I’ve watched anything. I like to tell my husband how superior I am because of that (lol).)

The movie is about a couple in California: Jewish guy and a Black-American Muslim woman.

It got terrible push-back from the Jewish community especially.

Being truly curious, I watched it.

It’s got some famous actors, for one.

The Jewish mother (from Seinfeld and SNL) treats her new future daughter-in-law like a token to be shown off.

She embarrasses herself and her family perpetually with her ignorance.

I’M embarrassed by her.

The Black father (Eddie Murphy) tries to ruin the relationship deliberately.

The whole thing perpetuates SO many stereotypes.

Yes, it brings out some important themes: 1. Take responsibility for learning about what it’s like to be Black. 2. If you’re white, you will never, ever know what it feels like to be Black in America. 3. You should never compare the Black experience with the Jewish experience.

But the Jews in the movie are unreasonably wealthy and the Black people curse way too much and want to get easy money.

Neither group seems to try to live by the tenets of their religion in any practical way.

(Which bothered me especially.)

Though heartwarming in the end, it actually makes both Jewish and Black people look awful.

And truly solves no problems at all for the world.

A few quick thoughts on this week’s Parsha:

Emor ends with a strange little story.

A fight breaks out in the camp between two (young?) men.

One is half Israelite/half Egyptian.

The other is full Israelite.

The latter blasphemes God’s name.

For such a crime, it is clear that the punishment is death by stoning.

Whether you’re an Israelite or not, as long as you are within the walls of the Israelite community, the same rules apply to all.

(A fact that is always interesting to me.)

Everyone within hearing is to lay their hands upon the guilty one.

Meaning, everyone is responsible, according to ancient commentary.

The Israelite’s mother is Shelomit, daughter of Dibri.

Other ancient commentary says that her name infers, besides peace, that she talks too much, causing problems (an interesting contradiction, don’t you think?).

Why her son is then the problem, I’m not sure, except maybe that our gossip creates and spreads problems.

The Rabbis make a big deal out of speech.

They remind us repeatedly about its effects.

For, with words, the world was created.

Thus, the world is repeatedly, constantly, renewed and re-created.

So we must never underestimate the power of our words.

What follows this little story of the fight and a stoning are the famous verses, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”

Not meant to be taken literally, but rather to say, an even exchange.

I leave you with questions.

How can these ideas be applied to our lives?

Our world?

Ideas about witnessing as a way of taking responsibility?

Ideas about the power of speech and the effect of our words?

And about, well, I guess, retaliation?

Or making up for what harm we’ve done?

How should we apply these ideas in our personal lives?

And in the world?

Do you have anything you’d like to share with me?

Please leave a comment below.

Shabbat Shalom.