We had a restful Sabbath here in New York. We spent Sabbath
morning at our New York synagogue, the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. It is
truly a unique and fascinating place to go, with seldom a dull moment. This
week it was a celebration of 50 years since the establishment of the Student Struggle
for Soviet Jewry, which worked to allow Jews in the former Soviet Union to
leave the country. Rabbi Weiss played a significant role in this effort over
many years. The founder of the organization, Jacob Birnbaum, sadly, died a few
weeks ago. One of the original core founders, Glenn Richter, spoke after
services, a sort of walk down memory lane. Fifty years provides a great deal of
perspective which he articulated quite well, including some light and humorous
recollections.
We have seen two movies recently, one was well before Passover but I had not written about it because, frankly, I really did not especially like “Le Weekend.” Despite the French name, the two leads were well-known British actors and the movie was in English. The trailer makes this film seem a lot funnier than it actually was. In fact, it seemed an incredibly dark story of a couple who had not just fallen out of love with each other but had developed deep contempt for each other. Did I take this all too seriously? Maybe that was my problem: that line between humor and darkness can be quite thin.
The second film was a new movie not written by Woody Allen but one in which he had a major acting role called “Fading Gigolo.” It was an enjoyable hour and a half but I am not entirely certain that I understood the point that writer/director John Turturro was trying to make. Turturro plays Fioravante, a dour fellow who works part-time at a bookstore and does other odd jobs. The bookstore owner, Murray, played by Woody Allen, is suffering through the process of having to permanently close the store. Murray comes up with the idea that Fioravante would be a terrific male “chaperone,” and negotiates a percentage of all of his liaisons with wealthy women (one of whom is played by Sophia Vergara, who
plays Gloria on "Modern Family") . Through Murray, Fioravante meets Avigal, a Chassidic Jewish woman who is a widow with six young children, and what begins as a flirtation soon starts to become more serious. Woody Allen has included some “bit” about traditional Jews in many of his films, but I cannot recall any that focused so heavily on that world, and in a surprisingly sympathetic way. I have to keep reminding myself that this was John Turturro’s film and not Woody Allen’s, which makes this all the more puzzling, because I do not believe John Turturro is Jewish. Clearly he knew enough about the Chassidic Jewish community to imagine this setting for his film about relationships between men and women.
If I can judge how much I enjoy a movie by whether I was actually able to stay awake through its entirety, then I enjoyed “Fading Gigolo” but did not enjoy “Le Weekend.”
Thanks to all of you who have taken time to write me about my last post. Your words have been tremendously meaningful and uplifting.
Have a good week!
Love,
Rebecca
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