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Stars of David
Abigail Pogrebin
By
Published: Jan 01, 2007
Category:
Spirituality
Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish
Abigail Pogrebin
Desmond Tutu can beg for peace all day, and he’s lucky if he gets a squib in the press. But let George Clooney stand next to him, and the whole world perks up. And you can say all you like that American culture is shallow and that our cult of celebrity makes it impossible for serious ideas to get a hearing — but even as you say it, surely you realize what a total bore you’ve become.
America is what it is. Celebrities rule.
So Abigail Pogrebin set out to interview Jews whose names you know to discuss their religious beliefs and practices. Very clever. A theologian talks, we snore. But 62 Jews from Hollywood (Dustin Hoffman, Steven Spielberg, Kyra Sedgwick), the Supreme Court (Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer), television (Sarah Jessica Parker, William Shatner), journalism (Mike Wallace), fashion (Diane Von Furstenberg, Kenneth Cole), and sports (Mark Spitz, Shawn Green)? Tell us more.
For those who know celebrities, the punch line should not be surprising: The famous are very much like regular people. That is, it’s all about them. On other topics, like their religion, they’re a lot of talk and not a lot of action — there are a great many “cultural Jews” in the celebrity class and very few who can be found in shul with any regularity.
But there is, of course, one thing that celebrities do better than others. Talk. Smart celebs are fun to listen to, no matter the topic. They’re provocative. Funny. Sometimes even wise. And because we feel we know them, we relate.
Some snippets from the book:
Steven Spielberg: “I’d ask my dad, ‘Why can’t we put lights up? We’re the only house on the block that doesn’t have lights.’ And my dad would say, ‘We have a porch light.’ I said, ‘Dad, you know what I mean.’”
Natalie Portman: "My dad always makes this stupid joke with my new boyfriend, who is not Jewish. He says, ‘It’s just a simple operation.’ "
Mike Nichols: “I once said to Jerry Robbins, ‘I’m worried that all the great monsters of narcissism in show business are Jewish.’ And I named some names. And there was a long silence, and he said, ‘Yes, well: Mickey Rooney.’”
Jason Alexander: “It specifically says in the Torah that you can eat shrimp and bacon in a Chinese restaurant.”
Dustin Hoffman (on demanding a revision in the script of “Marathon Man”): “I won’t play a Jew who cold-bloodedly kills another human being. I won’t become a Nazi to kill a Nazi. I won’t demean myself. I don’t care what he did. Even though he tortured me, I won’t do it.’
Joan Rivers: “The Jews take care of everything, and everyone hates the Jews. The blacks hate the Jews. You fools. Who marched with you? Not the WASPS. Trust me; not the WASPS.”
Sarah Jessica Parker: “If I had straight hair and a perfect nose, my whole career would be different."
Nora Ephron: “I am probably the only young woman who worked in the Kennedy White House whom the president did not make a pass at. Perhaps it’s because I’m Jewish. Don’t laugh, think about it — think about that long, long list of women JFK slept with. Were any Jewish? I don’t think so.”
It’s not all amusing. There are overtly serious responses. And there is one that comes with fire and brimstone. It’s from Leon Wieseltier, the literary editor of The New Republic. He walked away from Judaism; in his return, he’s devout. And hypercritical of American Jews who aren’t: "I can respect heresy, I can respect alienation, I can respect Karamazovian rebellion, even Oedipal rebellion. I don’t mind renegades or apostates… My point is that American Jews aren’t renegades; they are slackers.”
All those voices — funny, profane, holy — resonate with Pogrebin. “Being Jewish is powerful and, in a sense, unavoidable — whether one embraces it or leaves it on the shelf, whether one lives a visible life or an anonymous one,” she concludes. “And that, in the process of writing this book, it’s become more vital to me than I ever expected.”
Indeed: At 40, Abigail Pogrebin was bat mitzvahed.
To buy “Stars of David” from Amazon.com, click here.
