While plays like “Next to Normal,” or movies such as “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” exaggerate the symptoms of mental illness and make for compelling drama, the reality of living with mental illness is often quite different.

What does day-to-day reality for those with mental illness look like? According to the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH), “Mental illnesses are very common; in fact, they are more common than cancer, diabetes or heart disease. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, an estimated 23 percent of American adults (those ages 18 and older) or about 44 million people, and about 20 percent of American children experience a mental disorder during a given year.”

The NIMH goes on to say that “most people with mental illnesses who are diagnosed and treated will respond well and live productive lives. Many never have the same problem again, although some will experience a return of symptoms. The important thing is that there is a range of effective treatments for just about every mental disorder.”

When you hear about ADHD, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia or depression, for example, there is a good chance you already know someone, a friend or family member, living with one of these conditions.

The day-to-day reality for most people with a mental illness is that it’s real, it’s common and it’s treatable. Since thoughts and feelings are invisible, we may not be able to see when others are struggling. We often shy away from conversations about these conditions, unsure of what to say or how to say it, but overcoming the stigma associated with mental illness is the real challenge in our community.

Just as we have learned to talk more easily about AIDS/HIV, cancer, or addiction, we are learning to be more open about recovery from mental illness. We need to be compassionate, understanding and have frank discussions to build connection instead of isolation.

The stigma of mental illness can have as much or more impact on individuals and their family/friends as the condition itself. The sense of shame, loneliness and embarrassment can prevent someone from seeking treatment or support for what can be a manageable and treatable illness. The reality is that millions aren’t simply suffering from mental illness; they are living productive lives and are contributing members of society, dealing with the same daily challenges we all face.

Maybe what “Next to Normal” offers most is the opportunity to think and talk about what mental illness looks and feels like, and to open the discussion beyond stereotypes. Human dignity (kvod habriot) is central to Jewish thought and ethics, and by placing dignity at the center of the conversation around mental illness, we can only improve our lives and our community.

If you or someone you know is in need of some help in dealing with mental illness, contact Jewish Family Services at 913-327-8250.

Richard Odiam is director of clinical services for Jewish Family Services

JCC presents ‘Next to Normal’

The Jewish Community Center Cultural Arts Department presents the musical “Next to Normal” at the White Theatre for three weekends beginning Feb. 9. Performances are Feb. 9, 14, 16, 21 and 23 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 10, 17 and 24 at 2 p.m. Each performance will be followed by a talk-back session with a mental health professional to highlight and provide context for the issues raised by the script.

For ticket information, contact 913-327-8054 or visit www.jcckc.org/boxoffice.

I went to Cuba in December, representing Kansas City B’nai B’rith Lodge #184, along with Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn. We joined 17 others on the six-day mission, sponsored by B’nai B’rith International, touring the Jewish communities of Santiago, Guantanamo and Havana. It was a wonderful experience.

We witnessed and were able to participate in the resurgence of Judaism in Cuba. The Jewish community of Cuba has been surviving in the face of many challenges since the revolution in 1959. It has adapted to survive. For example, to meet the requirements for a minyan woman have been accepted as part of it. In deciding on membership for congregations, patrilineal descent is accepted as well as matrilineal descent. A renaissance is occurring with respect to developing new prayer books.

The communities outside of Havana are rarely visited, so we spent the first two days of the mission in Santiago, which is the second largest city in Cuba. Santiago was also the point at which Hurricane Sandy made groundfall as it swept across eastern Cuba in October. Less than two months later, some evidence of up-rooted trees and damaged homes was still apparent. We saw that the community was functioning well, except for an outbreak of cholera that was still of concern because of hurricane-damaged municipal water supplies.

While Cuba has a total Jewish population of approximately 1,500, about 75 Jews live in Santiago and are members of the synagogue. About half of the Cuban Jewish community are descendants of Turkish Jews who immigrated in the 1920s. The other half of the community are descendants of Polish Jews.

The synagogue in Santiago has two Torah scrolls. One is the “Ashkanazi” Torah and the other is a “Sefardi” Torah. The Sefardi Torah needed repair a few years ago. The Jewish community of Argentina stepped in to repair it on the specific condition that women stay at the rear of the room whenever the Sefardi Torah is opened.

We were in Guantanamo on Saturday. When Rabbi Cukierkorn led the Sabbath service there, it was the first one led by a rabbi in the history of the synagogue. Cuba has not had a resident rabbi in the entire country since the exodus of most of the Jewish residents following the revolution.

There are approximately 40 Jews in Guantanamo. Practically all of them are part of the extended Mizrachi family. Almost the entire congregation attended services to meet the B’nai Brith group. As the Mission was getting off of the tour bus on arrival the president of the community, Rudolfo Mizrachi, was vigilant in advancing the plea of the community. He asked for $1,300 so that the synagogue could acquire chairs and an awning for the patio on which the synagogue has most of its events other than worship. It turned out that the chairs being used were thin, flimsy toy plastic chairs. The request should be viewed in perspective: the average wage throughout Cuba is $40 per month. The average wage for doctors is $50 per month. Basic food such as meat, rice and cooking oil is strictly rationed and is not always available.

In Havana, our mission participants learned that the Cuban government has given tentative approval for 45 Jewish students to represent Cuba in the Maccabean games in Israel this summer. B’nai B’rith plans to assist the Patronato, which is the organization that organizes the Jewish community of Havana, obtain the proper athletic gear for the Cuban athletes. Overall the Patronato has to raise more than $125,000 for the athletes to be able to travel to Israel.

Throughout our mission, the spirit of nationalism and the secularism of Cuba was evident. We saw an abundance of signs and banners with slogans such as “Venceremos,” (“We Shall Overcome,”) “La Patria o Muerte,” (“The Motherland or Death”) and “Free the Miami Five” (five Cuban spies convicted of conspiracy in Miami).

Yet we could also see that Judaism is vibrant and developing in Cuba. The consensus among the group was that Cuba has very little anti-Semitism.

The people we met were eager to get everything they could in terms of aid. B’nai B’rith Lodge #184 donated 100 copies of Rabbi Cukierkorn’s book “La Guia,” which covers Jewish ritual and customs and is written in Spanish. The books were enthusiastically received. Even though the Cuban Jewish community has Torah’s kipahs, talit and prayer books, they have no libraries.

While I was there, I learned that the Cuban Jewish community can conduct a fluent service from a prayer book, but they don’t have the skill set to read from the Torah. That worries me somewhat that Cuban Jews are in danger of losing such literary traditions and Judaic knowledge.

But good things have been happening as well. B’nai B’rith has been sending medical supplies to Cuba since 1995. In addition to the books, members of the mission contributed prescription and over-the-counter drugs, canned food and adult diapers to alleviate some of the hardships caused by the economic embargo imposed on the communist country by the United States.

The Jewish community in Cuba has been isolated for 50 years. As the embargo and religious restrictions imposed a half century ago are being eased, there is a window of opportunity to provide resources to help. B’nai B’rith has been developing an effective program to deliver resources so that Judaism can continue to flourish in Cuba. I’m proud to be a member of B’nai B’rith and to be able to help Jews in another part of the world, at least in some small way.

I believe it is important to think about what being Jewish means to all of us. When you think about that, whether you know it or not, you may think of the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City or one of the many programs it funds through its partner agencies.

The Jewish Federation represents many different elements in our wonderful community. For many people, it is a collective organization that secures financial and social resources through philanthropic endeavors and initiatives. To others, it is a link to Israel or to Jewish communities throughout the world. Additionally, so many view the Jewish Federation as a caretaker — providing assistance for the most basic needs and ensuring that every member of our Jewish community gets the help they need, when they need it.

The Jewish Federation teams with partner agencies to identify and solve problems locally and meet the needs in our community. I have really found these strategies to be meaningful. A few that stand out for me are:

• Jewish Employment Services program, a joint program of Jewish Family Services and Jewish Vocational Service, which helps more than 50 Jewish clients each month search for employment (and places several people in new positions each month).

• The PJ Library program, where nearly 800 children, ages 6 months to 8 years, are Jewishly engaged in the comfort of their own homes with books and music.

• Subsidies to Jewish Family Services that make counseling and consultation affordable for nearly 250 clients per year.

• JFS’ Help@Home, which enables Jewish seniors to remain active and in their homes longer by providing handyman services, general chores, computer assistance, nutritional assessments and more.

These programs are just a few examples of our collective dollars in action!

Given how consumed we all tend to be in our busy lives, it’s easy to overlook the value these programs, and dozens of others, have in our Jewish community. The Jewish Federation’s annual giving campaign is what helps makes so much of this possible for our community, making an enormous difference in how our agencies are able to serve our community appropriately.

It’s important to recall that a large number of our fellow Jewish community members rely on the Jewish Federation for help and these needs continue to rise. Your gift to the annual campaign is essential and can help your friends, family members and neighbors who are in need today.

This year’s Super Sunday event is Feb. 3. It is the one day each year where thousands of Jewish Kansas Citians come together to proudly show their support of the Jewish Federation by making a pledge to monetarily support our Jewish community. It is a time of great pride for all of us as we continue to raise the bar on our campaign targets and goals. As I said before, the money raised by you, our community members, supports an array of programs — locally, in Israel and around the world.

Nearly 70 percent of the money we raise remains in Kansas City to sustain and enhance Jewish life. As you can see by the programs we fund, every gift makes a difference. Every donation you make and every hour you volunteer changes lives for the better, enabling our partner agencies to best serve our community, whatever the needs may be at any given time. Whatever may inspire or motivate you to make a difference likely connects you to a meaningful Jewish Federation program that will help make our community or the world a better place.

Super Sunday is an opportunity to be a part of a caring community that gives back. It is also an opportunity to foster and celebrate Jewish identity for future generations. Along with my Super Sunday Co-Chair Tracy Shafton, I ask you to get involved either by volunteering your time or making a meaningful donation.

Thank you, in advance, for engaging.

Neal Schwartz is co-chairing this year’s Super Sunday with Tracy Shafton.

Tuesday, Jan. 22, was the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, known as Roe v. Wade.

Since that day in 1973, our country has been embroiled in significant moral and theological issues:

• When does life begin

• What constitutes life

• Who has “control” over such life

• What is the role of government in protecting life

• What is the role of religion in America in influencing government

On the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling, I am writing to let the world know: I am pro-life. Permit me to explain.

My views are influenced by a multitude of sources: my family, my community, media, cultural biases and norms. As one might imagine, faith and religion play an enormous role in shaping what I believe. And Judaism, as a tradition, based on both Torah and its legal synthesis, is — for me — the dominant determiner of my views. (And parenthetically, the Bible — which includes the Torah — is also the primary reference point for many Christians who hold fundamentalist beliefs.)

So, what does the Bible say? Here is THE relevant quote:

“And if two men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit departs, and yet no [other] harm follows, he shall be fined ... and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any [other] harm follows, then he shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” (Exodus 21:22-25)

Simply put, if the woman loses the fetus (and by extension, this applies to abortion), then there is a penalty paid. However, it is not life. For if the woman were to die, then the attacker has to sacrifice his own life. The fetus clearly has value but it does not hold the legal status of “living.” There is only one life that matters. The woman’s.

In the 3,500 years since this statement was first made, Jewish tradition and law (halachah) has evolved and made many detours. Yet, the essential elements of the Torah remain true: a fetus does not have the same status as that of the woman. While it may be potential life, it is not the priority. The woman is.

Thus, there is (in my opinion) only one position to hold, assuming one wishes to follow the Bible: Abortion is a legal and moral imperative, especially if the life of the woman is endangered. Even if there is no danger, abortion is NOT the killing of a person ... for personhood is reserved only for those who have been born.

So, why am I pro-life?

Because it is the life of the woman for which I am most concerned. I care about all life, even the potentiality of life. Yet, when a woman has a need for abortion — regardless of the reasoning — it is her life and the sacredness of that life that has my attention, my concern and my unwavering support. Unequivocally, this is the position that Torah COMMANDS.

I resent mightily those who characterize my position as homicide or infanticide, that I am in favor of killing babies. Or who suggest that they — and they alone — are pro-life. I am a lover of life and will protect it however I can. The difference is the focus. I choose to support a position that loves and protects the life that is over a life that might yet be.

Sadly, our country has chosen to legislate what is essentially personal moral decision-making. We do not know what will happen when the Supreme Court someday revisits Roe v. Wade. Or what further easings/restrictions will be placed on a woman’s right and ability to seek an abortion. Since I cannot keep the conversation out of legislative and judicial hands, it is my job (and yours) to speak truth to power in whatever forum we can. On the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, I do so by invoking Torah truth. I choose to follow Torah. I choose to believe in its wisdom. I choose to support abortion. As a result, I am proud to say: I am pro-life.

Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff is senior rabbi of The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah.

“Jewball” by Neal Pollack, Thomas & Mercer, 2012, $14.95

Author Neal Pollack has scored a slam dunk with his fast-paced novel “Jewball.”

Pollack has based the book on a real professional basketball team of the ’20s and ’30s, the Philadelphia Sphas (South Philadelphia Hebrew Association) who played in a barnstorming league. The author has written a whirlwind tale about a group of Jewish boys with talent who were threatened by the German-American Bund, and who outwitted these American Nazis both on the court and on their home turf.

The protagonist of the narrative is Inky Lautner, who in real life was, at 15, the youngest person ever to play professional basketball. In the novel, Inky is uneducated and poor and stupidly takes a side job as an enforcer for the Bund. It doesn’t take him long to realize his mistake and return to his fellow teammates. In the meantime, the team must deal with the fact that their manager Eddie Gottlieb has a gambling debt that was bought up by the Bund. To pay off the debt, the Sphas are expected to throw a game in Minneapolis to a German-American team who support Hitler’s theories of racial superiority.

On route to the novel’s final game, readers follow the team to Harlem, Brooklyn, Scranton, Pittsburgh and Chicago. They played for the most part in hotel ballrooms. After a game, they partied as hard and fast as they played. This road trip is filled with great basketball, profanity, sex, alcohol, and an occasional good night’s sleep. This page-turner keeps on scoring unbelievable shots until the last page.

Almost all of the characters in “Jewball” are based on historical figures. Everyone on the court, with one fictional exception, was actually on the Sphas. The members of the Bund were also historical figures. Even the Jewish gangster Pollack introduces was based on a real gangster. That’s part of the fun of “Jewball.” Although the author creates a situation that is fictional, it is easy to imagine that the entire story could have happened just as he wrote it. This is a book for anyone who likes basketball, for anyone who enjoys seeing the American Nazis brought down by a bunch of poor Jewish boys, for anyone with a connection to Philadelphia, and particularly for anyone who enjoys a fast-moving novel that’s dark, profane, and sometimes funny.

Andrea Kempf is a retired librarian who speaks throughout the community on various topics related to books and reading.

Hagel’s views cause for alarm

The nomination of former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense has received much attention from the media. I’d like to add my personal experiences in dealing with Hagel when I was editor of the Omaha Jewish Press, 1996-2009. (Hagel was senator from 1996-2008.)

The attitude of both Hagel and his staff (campaign and senatorial) was dismissive at best and arrogant at worst. Whether it was to ask for a quote or solicit an ad, we rarely heard back from him or his staff; when we did, it was usually a rejection. While other members of Congress — Democrats and Republicans — were polite and interested in what concerned the Jewish community, Hagel and his staff gave the impression they didn’t care.

During my first three years as editor, I also served on the National Council of Jewish Women’s national board. During that time, we attempted to lobby Hagel on Iran sanctions, Israel and reproductive rights. Hagel appeared indifferent on all these issues as well.

His 180 degree-flip-flop on choice should alarm both pro-choice and pro-life advocates. For Hagel’s two terms, he had a perfect record on voting against abortion rights (a 100 percent rating from the Family Research Council). According to the Huffington Post, “Hagel … voted four times between 1998-2003 to uphold a ban on abortions at military hospitals, and he announced in 1995 that he had ‘tightened’ his position on abortion to oppose it in cases of rape and incest.”

Now nominated as secretary of defense3, he makes a complete about face! Which of Hagel’s “beliefs” will prevail? Is this change just political expediency? If so, what does that say about his character?

Columnist Caroline Glick sends up another red flag: Hagel is “looking to take on the U.S. military. They will slash military budgets … slash pensions and medical benefits for veterans in order to save a couple dollars and demoralize the military. They will unilaterally disarm the U.S. to the point where America’s antiquated nuclear arsenal will become a complete joke.”

It’s also frightening that Hagel sits on the board of the George Soros-funded Ploughshares Fund. WorldNetDaily’s Aaron Klein wrote that Ploughshares “has a long history of anti-war advocacy and is a partner of the Marxist-oriented Institute for Policy Studies, which has urged the defunding of the Pentagon and massive decreases in U.S. defense capabilities, including slashing the American nuclear arsenal to 292 deployed weapons.”

That Hagel is associated with Ploughshares, which “has also partnered with a who’s who of the radical left, including Code Pink, … United for Peace & Justice, the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation…” should be cause for alarm. These organizations call for talks with Hamas and Hezbollah and fund enemies of Israel and the USA. That makes Hagel the wrong nominee to supervise America’s security.

Cutting waste is admirable; slashing the DoD by stripping it of the capability to defend America is deplorable. Yes, it would affect our ally Israel, but worse, it threatens the safety of American citizens abroad and here at home.

Call your senators; urge them to vote against Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense.

Carol Katzman
Overland Park, Kan.

Generous benefactors make programs happen

Last month The Jewish Chronicle published a wonderful article about our annual Bagel Bash program that provides an opportunity for “young professionals” to meet one another and socialize. In addition to publicizing last month’s program, there was a feature about two individuals who met at a Bagel Bash and subsequently decided to get married.

Although the Jewish Federation received the appropriate credit for sponsoring Bagel Bash, the program would not be possible were it not for the generosity of Alice Statland, who established a fund at the Jewish Community Foundation in memory of her late husband, Dr. Harry Statland, for the express purpose of providing monies to underwrite the cost of such gatherings. The Dr. Harry and Alice Statland Young Adult Endowment fund makes it possible for us to offer two or three programs each year where more than 150 individuals gather for a good time and, on occasion, meet their life’s partner.

It is important that members of the community be aware that programs like Bagel Bash don’t just happen by themselves. The volunteer committee consisting of Aaron Goldman, Greg Herman, Amy King, Dave Suroff and Alan Widman along with Vicky Kulikov and Carol Pfau of our professional staff as well as generous benefactors like Alice Statland provide the human and financial resources to make it possible for our young people to connect in a Jewish setting.

We are grateful for the many local leaders who step up and meet the critical needs of the community.

Alan S. Edelman
Associate Executive Director
Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City

All of these arguments going on around me, arguments about whether we have the right to have guns, or whether guns kill people or people kill people, or whether gun control will save lives. And the arguments are hollow, devoid of the pathos of murder and death, empty of the moment between life and death, so empty of the blackness of staring into the oblivion, hearing the words, “I am sorry, but your child is dead.”

Have you spoken those words? Have you sat and stared at a blank piece of paper, wishing that the eulogy you will speak the next day to bring non-existent comfort to parents who are burying their child would suddenly appear and save you the shallowness of knowing that despite the necessity to speak there is nothing really to say? If you have, then you understand.

I am not alone in knowing this reality. But I hear no one discussing it. I nearly wrote just now, “senselessly lost a child,” but I took out “senselessly.” No child’s death makes sense. No death really makes sense, at the deepest emotional level. Death is absurd, so we concoct hopeful stories as to what it means. But in the final analysis, we all know that the reason we recite those stories — “Rabbi, what do we believe about afterlife?”— is because death attacks the very notion that life possesses ultimate meaning. You may as well say to a parent, “Come here a moment, I want to grasp your heart and tear it out of your chest; I want to smother your breathing with my fist; I want to gouge my fingers into your eyes so that even if you still can see light you will not really be able to see at all, everything will become a hellish mystery.”

Horror. Horror films attempt to engender an emotion that will dissipate. The horror flows through your pores and back into the world. There’s a relief, a catharsis from the experience. It’s a false horror, a manufactured emotion. It’s the new virtual world in which so many try to live. Murder; snatching a screaming child from her umbilical mother’s arms, placing her in a box, lowering the box into the ground, saying a final goodbye. That, that is horror. Horror churns in the bowels like a whirlpool in a sewer, tearing out your guts but unable to be discharged. If you have great defenses, you maybe can slow the churn, make yourself focus on something else for seconds, even minutes. But it explodes back, and shreds seams in your life fabric you didn’t even realize could be torn apart.

A woman hears a noise, descends the basement steps, finds her husband’s body on the floor and his brains splattered on the stone walls, blood everywhere. A young girl grows up without a father, gunned down on a whim after a robbery. I cannot adequately describe such scenes. They overwhelm my mind. I imagine that in war, at least you know you could die. But a 6-year-old leaves home for school, and her mangled, lifeless body is placed in your arms that afternoon? This is not an event. This is the world’s destruction; this is beyond hell, at least hell has some order, some defining characteristic, you are there for a reason. But a murdered child’s body defies reason, scorns reason. It is a freefall into the chaotic abyss.

And these people, who have experienced none of this, debate whether they should be allowed to own a weapon manufactured for three reasons: to kill people, to give a marksman a thrill, and to make a profit for gun companies.

There is no pathos in these debates, and without pathos they are absurd. I cannot bear them. Murder of a child makes insanity a realistic description of the world because if your child is murdered it’s the best description of what’s real. And if you cannot understand that, you ought not be in this debate, because this is the central fact with which it begins.

Rabbi Mark H. Levin is the senior rabbi of Congregation Beth Torah. This article first appeared on the Reform Judaism website, www.reformjudaism.org.

Going to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, even for only two days, was the most powerful trip we have ever taken. As soon as we stepped off the plane and put our bags in our hotel room we went straight to the Holocaust Museum, which was a very moving and unique experience. Just being in the museum before looking at any of the exhibits gave us a very unsettling feeling. The way the museum was built was purposeful and evoked a keen sense of sadness. Uneven stairwells, exposed ducts and little view to the outside from the museum were all design elements intended to make you feel as if you were in World War II era train station.

As students at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy,  we thought we knew a lot about the Holocaust. But spending as little time as we did in the museum, and not even making a dent in all the information and resources there, proved us wrong. The museum has information about the Holocaust and more recent acts of genocide that we hadn’t yet learned about in our studies. We were moved in ways that we never could have imagined just by spending a few hours in a museum. The trip as a whole had a huge impact on us and we believe it is very important to remember and teach the horrors of what went on during the Holocaust beyond what we learn in school.

The way we feel toward the Holocaust and its atrocities has drastically changed since the trip. We now fully acknowledge the importance of teaching others about the atrocities of the Holocaust. Expressing our feelings toward the Holocaust and how we felt while at the museum is a very tough job. Our best advice to you is to visit the museum yourself so that you can know and feel exactly what we are trying to express.

We have only the best things to say about the Together We Remember program, and we are so thankful Mr. (Sam) Devinki gave us this incredible opportunity. From the experience, we will be able to share the important information that we learned with as many people as we can. We have already shared our experience with other students at HBHA and we will soon broaden our horizons and share our experience with as many people and organizations as we can. This article is just the beginning.

More about Together We Remember

Thirteen ninth-grade students —representing Congregations Beth Shalom, B’nai Jehudah, Beth Torah, Kol Ami and Kehilath Israel, as well as the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and an unaffiliated teen — participated in the Together We Remember Holocaust learning experience in November. This all-expenses-paid trip to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., is coordinated by CAJE/Jewish Federation and The Midwest Center for Holocaust Education and paid for by Sam Devinki and endowments from Herb Buchbinder and Harvey Bodker.

Prior to the trip, the participants attend three educational sessions about the Holocaust, designed by Jessica Rockhold of the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education and Amy Ravis Furey with CAJE/Jewish Federation. One of the goals of the Together We Remember program is to increase the number of young people who are knowledgeable about the Holocaust. Upon their return from the Holocaust Museum, students spread the message of the Holocaust to peers and congregations throughout the metropolitan area.

Evolving evolution

During the inception and conclusion of the book of Beresheet, discussion of Darwinian evolution often surfaces. Darwin was aware of the principle of abrupt evolutionary change, in his discussion of the natural selection of the species, but it was only a half century ago that language scientists recognized its importance. Noam Chomsky in his book “Language and Mind” comments:

“There seems to be no substance to the view that human language is simply a more complex instance of something to be found elsewhere in the animal world.

This poses a problem for the biologist, since, if true, it is an example of true ‘emergence’ — the appearance of a qualitatively different phenomenon ...”

Language, as viewed by Chomsky, is not the result of gradual evolutionary refinement, but rather an abrupt change, referred to in mathematics as a step function. Human language is a drastic leap from the primitive communication gestures and noises of the higher primates. With millions of dollars of government funds, psychologists and linguists using standard language training procedures in human family habitats were unable to teach chimpanzees to talk or to understand relatively simple sentences. In a subsequent set of investigations Philip Lieberman in his book “The Evolution of Uniquely Speech, Thought, and Human Selfless Behavior” concluded that the chest position of the human laryngeal vocal tract, the dimensions of the oral cavity in which the tongue is housed, and the shape of the human tongue enable only humans to produce the precise articulatory movements of the thousands of different speech sounds in the languages of the world. Were the language centers of the human brain a part of the brains of the higher primates, they would still be unable to produce human speech. That language and speech are singular human properties indicate that Darwinian principles of evolution fall substantially short when employed to support the position that humans are merely a final evolutionary byproduct within the animal kingdom. The possession of human language and human speech indicates an abrupt, special and unique creation. These thoughts were with me as I left services, singing to myself Chazak, Chazak, Vinitchazaik. (Be strong, be strong and may we be strengthened.)

Harris Winitz, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, UMKC
Kansas City, Mo.

“Promiscuous: ‘Portnoy’s Complaint’ and Our Doomed Pursuit of Happiness,” by Bernard Avishai. (Yale University Press, 2012)

The late 1950s and early 1960s represented a unique chapter in the history of American fiction — the rise of the Jewish writer. Beginning with “Marjorie Morningstar” (1955), which landed its author, Herman Wouk, on the cover of Time, the American Jewish experience dominated American literature. All of this culminated in 1969 with the publication of Philip Roth’s controversial “Portnoy’s Complaint.” Then, suddenly, the bubble burst. Except for Neil Simon, Jewish writers seemed to cater more to a niche market. While many of these writers showed a deeper and more sympathetic understanding of Jewish culture than did their predecessors, they no longer commanded center stage.

When “Portnoy’s Complaint” first appeared it was surrounded by controversy. Some critics saw it simply as obscene. In the words of Gershom Scholem, “This is the book for which all anti-Semites have been praying.” Now, more than 40 years since its publication, we should be able to achieve a more balanced approach. Such is the purpose of Bernard Avishai’s “Promiscuous.”

From the outset, Avishai focuses on something that should have been obvious from the beginning — the ironic distance between Portnoy and Roth: “The caution — that Portnoy was not Roth — was ignored even by more seasoned critics who read novels for a living.” Many readers who assumed that Roth was writing about his own family, for example, have been surprised to learn that Roth, unlike Portnoy, did not have a sister.

For Avishai, who is personally acquainted with Roth and has been able to obtain some first-hand insights, the novel is essentially a satire, and Portnoy himself is the principal object of the satire. Another target of Roth’s satire, Avishai asserts, is psychoanalysis itself: “If you read between the lines — and how can you not? — the uber-objects of Roth’s satire are those very orthodox psychoanalytic expectations, which Portnoy implicitly pays homage to.” Avishai defends Roth against the charge of misogyny, saying “Portnoy does not objectify women until he has objectified himself.”

I wish Avishai had paid more attention to this novel as literary satire, with its implicit critique of the novels of Malamud and Bellow, who placed too much symbolic weight on their Jewish characters. In “The Assistant,” Malamud had treated the Jew as a representative of the prophet Isaiah’s “suffering servant.” For Roth, speaking through Alex Portnoy, such concepts cannot be applied to contemporary Jews.

There are some places where Avishai’s arguments are a bit hard to follow, and there is one incident of nasty lashon hara directed at one of Roth’s detractors which has no place in a book of this type (page 136 if you have the book — otherwise, I don’t want to spread the rumor here). But if you agree that “Portnoy’s Complaint” is a landmark of Jewish-American fiction, then this book is a must read.