Understanding priorities

We saw two movies over the past week. First, Barry and I went to see “Truth,” with Robert Redford as newscaster Dan Rather and Cate Blanchette as the program producer, Mary Mapes. I remember Dan Rather but to be honest I had no recollection of why, after many years as the anchor on CBS News, he appeared to have fallen off the planet.

It all began with a topic that had come up a number of times before: George W. Bush’s military service. Mr. Bush’s family connections had allowed him to avoid being drafted into the war in Vietnam, serving instead in the Texas Air National Guard. In September 2008, the CBS 60 Minutes news team reported on newly gathered evidence that Mr. Bush had been derelict in those duties, and what happened then is the story the movie tells.

Meanwhile, the supporters of Mr. Bush did a fine job of discrediting the story and the key staff of 60 Minutes. At the end, Mr. Rather, Ms. Mapes, and most of the other reporters were fired from CBS. In their zealousness in reporting a story they truly believed was factual, were they too quick to believe their sources? On the other hand, when key sources later recanted, was it because they felt the reporting was in error or because they were forced by Bush’s advisors to do so? Admittedly in the enthusiasm to report this story, there was some sloppiness in documenting everything the CBS News team had learned from the extensive interviews. The movie does not really try to answer that question, and you walk out realizing how easy it is to change the entire narrative by altering just a few key facts.

We spent the weekend up in Sharon. We had an especially enjoyable Sabbath lunch with Barry’s brother’s daughter, our niece Sarah, who lives in Boston. Although Sarah and her sister are fairly close in age to Simmie and Dina, the girls did not spend a lot of time together growing up; sometimes life gets in the way of doing the things that really matter. But what is funny is that Sarah is also an educator, working with children with learning disabilities. She and Dina are able to speak the same lingo and compared thoughts on various approaches, and she is very good at engaging the children, who, not surprisingly, took an instant liking to her. We all agreed that we should not let so much time pass before we get together again.

On Sunday, while Simmie and Ronen shopped for a new car to replace one of theirs that is on its last leg, we took the girls to see The Peanuts Movie. It was very nicely done, with the comic strip characters up to their usual antics. There were also some “classic” moments, like when a famous Van Gogh painting flew out of Snoopy’s doghouse window and Maya yelled out “there’s Starry Night!” The story is about a new girl in town who attracts Charlie Brown’s attention, but his nervousness gets in the way of just being able to speak with her. It was good but I cannot imagine why anyone would go to see this movie without children.

As a sort of experiment, we took the train to and from Boston (the nearest stop to Sharon Route 128). We had planned carefully on our last trip, making sure we had all we needed so we would not have to bring too much luggage with us. The train, I have often said, is quite civilized. While we cannot do it every trip, we should be able to use it to ease up on Barry doing so much driving.

Barry has a very full day today, so I did something I keep talking about doing, attended Rav Avi Weiss’ Tuesday morning class on the biblical story of Joseph. I was stunned to find 25 seniors there! Many had obviously come before and were very comfortable about contributing ideas and asking questions. Learning with Rav Avi is never boring. During the course of the class, he told a story some of us have heard before. For many years, Avi was one of the leaders of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, an organization that worked to liberate Soviet Jews; earlier this year he published a memoir detailing his efforts, Open Up the Iron Door: Memoirs of a Soviet Jewry Activist.

His son’s junior high school graduation was scheduled at a time when he was supposed to be overseas for one of the countless events he attended as part of SSSJ. He spoke with his son, and his son waved him on saying “I understand, this is important, you have to go.” It was only a few years ago that this topic happened to arise, and his son, now grown, voiced his disappointment that his father had not attended his graduation. Rav Avi said “you wanted me to go to the protest in Poland,” to which his son replied, “come on, Dad, I was just a kid, what did I know? Now I wish you had been there!”

I remember the first time Rav Avi shared this story with Barry and me. Barry’s father (may he rest in peace) died just a few days before Dina’s high school graduation. I was chatting with Rav Avi about how disappointed Dina was that her Abba (father) would not be with her at her graduation. You can probably see where this is going. Rav Avi asked me to let him think about this, and he got back to us encouraging Barry to go to the graduation, albeit with some restrictions. With the help of friends, Barry came, sat in the back, and saw Dina receive her diploma before returning to his mother’s apartment where he was sitting shiva. After the class this morning, I went up and told Rav Avi about this incident. I did not expect him to remember this, but I did want him to know that 15 years later it still means a good deal to our family that Barry was able to be there even if in a limited way.

Have a good week.

Love,

Rebecca