Lagh ba‘Omer bonfires and HapPijamoth

Jewish date:  18 ’Iyyar 5772 (Parashath Behar).

Today’s holidays:  Day 33 of the ‘Omer/Lagh ba‘Omer (Judaism), Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of the Apostle Simon (Greek Orthodox Christianity), Feast Day of St. John Holmes (Church of the SubGenius).

Greetings.

Last year I somehow missed the Lagh ba‘Omer bonfires.  This year I planned ahead and captured a few pictures last night at a vacant lot near the local mall:

This activity was primarily one of children and families and included roasting marshmallows.  Bonfires also seem to be a relatively recent practice.  For more on current lore on Lagh ba‘Omer, especially inaccuracies in it, please see “Lagh Ba’Omer - A Gratuitous Holiday”.  It takes an hour to listen to the lecture, and it is in Judeo-English, but it is well-worth it.

This poster advertises a Lagh ba‘Omer parade and show this afternoon, courtesy of Ḥabbadh.  Parades are not a Lagh ba‘Omer tradition, but given that Israel is the only predominantly Jewish country on the planet, one has to expect that celebrations of Jewish holidays over here would be scaled up to a larger scale than in the Diaspora.  The man pictured on the poster and featured at the show is Gershon “Geri HambuGeri” Mandelba’um, a character from the Israeli children’s show HapPijamoth (“The Pyjamas”).  I have seen seasons 3, 4, and 5 of HapPijamoth on-line as part of my efforts to better understand spoken Modern Hebrew, and so I am going to use this opportunity to talk about the treatment of religion in HapPijamoth.


HapPijamoth belongs to the genre of “stupid shows”, not meant to be taken seriously and with most of the characters being not particularly bright.  (This is not an insult, but a statement of fact.  For example, one of the main characters, ‘Odhedh Paz, actually thinks he is pregnant in one episode, despite being unambiguously male.)  The show is named after a band, HapPijamoth (who actually wear pajamas during performances), and strongly associated with the band is Geri Mandelba’um (who runs a low-quality hamburger restaurant called HambuGeri) and his teenage daughter Roni.  HapPijamoth and Geri frequently get into trouble due to their lack of intelligence, greed, ignorance, laziness, and lack of foresight.  Roni is smarter than any of them and seems to be in the show for teenagers to identify with.

Given that this is a stupid show, no topic is treated particularly deeply, including religion.  The average episode ignores religion altogether, though it is dealt with from time to time:

• One of HapPijamoth, Qobbi Faraj, has a superhero-level ability to change his appearance.  (If they ever explain this, it is not in an episode I have seen.)  One of Qobbi’s alter-egos is Sabbabah Sa’li, apparently a parody of the Qabbalist Baba Sali.  This quasi-character’s speech is very difficult to understand, and I do not mean that he speaks with an accent which gives me trouble or he speaks too fast; a lot of what he says is deliberately ungrammatical or nonsense, to the point where the other characters do not know what he is trying to say.
• Roni often asks for (or extorts) money from Geri.  In one episode he takes money out of a ṣedhaqah (charity) box and gives it to her.
• In one episode Geri attempts to get kashruth certification for HambuGeri.  In order to avoid having to hire a rabbinical supervisor, he claims that his rav is Sabbabah Sa’li, which gets Qobbi into trouble since not only is Sabbabah Sa’li not on record as being ordained, but Qobbi lacks even rudimentary knowledge of kashruth.  A song in this episode about HapPijamoth becoming ba‘ale teshuvah (becoming religious) is not reflected in their behavior.
• One of HapPijamoth, Yamith Sol, enters a talent show doing an interpretive dance which goes horribly wrong in that the chair she uses during the dance falls apart and has to be repaired on stage.  The music she chooses, “’Eḥadh Mi Yodhea‘?”, is a traditional Pesaḥ song reviewing a number of the basics of Judaism; her outfit and dance are not consistent with the song or observant Jewish norms.
• Season 4 ends with all the characters mysteriously dying.  Season 5 begins with HapPijamoth in the Gan ‘Edhen for TV shows, which seems based on a popular American Christian conception of Heaven, and trying to go back to Earth in response to a prayer from a child who is distressed that the show has ended.  One of HapPijamoth, Nathan Qupperman, is put into the role of God, though as a shining human-shaped being rather than incorporeal; he declines to go back to Earth.  Geri is in the Gehinnom for TV shows, a place blatantly based on a popular American Christian conception of Hell, complete with the demon king ’Ashmedha’y in the role of the Devil.  It goes without saying that HapPijamoth are successful in their quest, as failure would mean the end of the show.  ’Ashmedha’y recurs in another episode, in which one of his schemes ends up destroying the Earth, which gets him in big trouble with YHWH.  (Yes, that gets undone, too.)

Theological rating:  D (the afterlife episode is what really did it in).

Peace, and please be careful burning stuff today.

’Aharon/Aaron

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Update a few hours later:

I am aware of the incongruity between a Habbadh event and a character from a show with a theological rating of D.  This is Earth.  Weird things happen here.  I did not plan to attend the show, period.  That did not stop it from being held in the basketball court next to the synagogue I went to for minḥah (afternoon services).  And I heard Yaniv Polishuq doing his Geri HambuGeri character, including his trademark taunting (for which mere transcription cannot do justice).  And he even did a song including the trademark taunting.  Given the incongruity, the effect was surreal.

Ḥanukkah-based advertising, shark attacks, and a music video

Greetings.

Jewish date:  2 Ṭeveth 5771 (Parashath Vayyiggash).

Today’s holidays:  Day 8 of Ḥanukkah (Judaism), Bl. Juan Diego (Roman Catholicism), The Martyrdom of St. Kenny (Church of the Subgenius).

Topic 1:  I have had more opportunities to go out searching for Ḥanukkah-based advertising.  Given enough looking, I did find some vendors on ’Aḥuzah Street in Ra‘ananah, Israel, trying to get into the Ḥanukkah spirit.  First, the previously mentioned Megamind poster:

Note the complete lack of Ḥanukkah imagery.  The only connection to Ḥanukkah is that is when it is in theaters.  The blue guy clearly has nothing on the Grinch.

There were also a few restaurants where menoroth were lit.

The complete lack of any Ḥanukkah theme in either restaurant gave the impression that these menoroth were lit in fulfillment of the commandment of lighting the menorah, not as an advertising ploy.

There were some menoroth placed in windows that did look more like advertising ploys.

What makes me think these menoroth are advertising ploys is that they were never lit and thus did not fulfill the actual purpose of the menorah.  The first three are clearly meant to be artistic, the first residing in an art shop and the next two in a flower shop.  (And no, I have no idea what the Seven Dwarves are doing there.)  The last menorah resides in a hair-styling shop.  In no case was there any attempt at a general Ḥanukkah theme or anything over the top.

This is the biggest, boldest advertising I found for any Ḥanukkah events, and only the bottom two occur on Ḥanukkah.  Unless you read Hebrew, you would never know this.  Note the complete lack of sparkle and flair.

Conclusion:  Commercialization of Ḥanukkah has not occurred here in Ra‘ananah.  Let’s pray it stays that way.

Also:  The point of the menorah is to spread the message of the victory of the Maccabees and the triumph of Judaism over the ancient Greek religion.  Thus I must note this menorah put up by Ḥabbadh/the Lubavitchers:

Yes, that is on the top of a multistory building.  And big enough to be seen easily from the ground.  (Though not the easiest menorah to photograph.)  Now that’s publicity.

Topic 2:  “Egyptian Shark Attack: Jews Not Jaws?”.  This report deals with probably the silliest anti-Semitism in a long time:  the claim that Mosadh is behind recent shark attacks in the Red Sea.  And, no, I cannot make up something like this.  And I would like to note that if Israel had the technology to control the behavior of sharks, they probably would not waste it on causing shark attacks on random swimmers, but use it to cause animal attacks on terrorists instead.

Topic 3:  To conclude, I would like to note this virally spreading Ḥanukkah video by Yeshiva University’s Maccabeats: “Candlelight”:



(Thank you, Mom, for noting this one.)  The emphasis in this song is excellent.  This is not a song about dancing and food.  And it is not about the miracle of the oil; this miracle is really minor, for if it had not occurred, Ḥanukkah would still be worth celebrating.  The emphasis is on the victory and Torah study, right where the emphasis of the holiday belongs.

Peace and happy Ḥanukkah.

Aaron

Jewish graffiti

Greetings.

Jewish date:  8 Tishri 5771.

Today’s holidays:  Ten Days of Repentance (Judaism), Feast Days of Cornelius and Cyprian (Roman Catholicism), Paryushana (Hinduism), The Day That Shall Not Be Named (Church of the SubGenius).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Got Science?”.

Topic 1:  Jewish outreach gone wrong.  In practically any religion, getting the message out, at least to the members, is of value.  Thus outreach in some form is to be expected.  And anything which can be done right can probably be done wrong, too.  And Jews are no exception in this regard.

The most famous Jewish group engaging in outreach is Lubavitch, known officially as Ḥabbadh (Chabad).  This group of Ḥasidhim are famous for setting up tables in public settings and inducing men to put on tefillin, and I did see a few instances of this.  Lubavitchers are also famous for many of them thinking that their last rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, is Mashiaḥ (the Messiah), despite the inconvenient fact that he died in 1994.  And this belief featured almost always in Lubavitcher signs which I saw in Israel:

The top caption reads “May our lord, our teacher, and our master, king, the Mashiaḥ live forever and ever."  The lower caption reads “Mashiaḥ promises—not even one Jew will remain in exile!”

What really struck me is that the religious advertising, both Lubavitch and of other groups, was not limited to legal signs.  There was also a sizable amount of graffiti.  How anyone rationalizes petty vandalism is unknown to me—graffiti is a form of damaging the property of other people or the public in general—but they do it anyway.

This illegal poster reads “The anointed king (= Mashiaḥ) will live”.  All the Lubavitcher vandalism I saw was in the form of posters.

Less famous for outreach, but clearly working hard at it, are the Breslover Ḥasidhim.  This is one of the groups featured in the Israeli film ’Ushpizin.  During my trip, some of them repeatedly set up a station at the end of Ben Yehudhah Street in Yerushalayim and played loud music with the intent of attracting people.

Notice the poster, which bears the caption “Na Naḥ Naḥma Naḥman from Uman”.  Rav Naḥman was a Breslover rebbe, and he is buried in Uman, Ukraine.  This caption was revealed in a mysterious note in 1922, and some Breslovers use it as a mantra.  And they have been hard at work trying to spread this mantra by spreading it all over Israel, often in the form of graffiti.  There were some posters, but a lot of the copies of mantra were written by hand:

Religion often blurs into politics, and so it should be no wonder that religious vandalism also can have a political aspect.  To give two diametrical examples:

This sticker proclaims “Today all know Kahana’ [= Meir Kahane] is right!”, referring to the angry Zionist political activist whose activities went beyond peaceful protest and civil disobedience into violence.  In opposition to this, we have this unacceptable accusation:

The writing reads “Zionists = murderers” and was probably written by someone of a Neṭure Qarta’ or Satmar bent.  The writer definitely has no grasp of what the Israeli government or Zionists actually do.

Anyone with any information on how anyone rationalizes the sorts of petty vandalism documented in this post, please let me know.

Topic 2:  For today’s religious humor:  “Kitteh Komic of teh Day: Gods n Goggies”:

This comic, of course, reflects very primitive notions of godhood.

Peace.

Aaron

Am I the only here getting sick of Temple Mount conspiracy theories?

Greetings.

Jewish date:  24 Kislew 5770.

Today’s holidays:  Day 2 of Ḥanukkah (Judaism), Third Sunday of Advent (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of Frederick of Hohenstaufen (Thelema).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Hackergate is Bogus: The Climate Crisis is Real - The Petition Site”, “Take Action: Help restore peace and health to our national forests”, “MoveOn.org Political Action: Stop the gift to Big Insurance”, and “Create a Generation Free of HIV - The Petition Site”.

Image of Rav Menachem Mendel Schneerson via Wikipedia

Topic 1: “The Great (and Imperfect) Hope That Is Chabad” by Rav Shmuley Boteach.  Notably Rav Boteach promotes the strengths of Ḥabbadh while acknowledging its weaknesses.  This includes embracing that Rav Menachem Mendel Schneerson was human, with his own share of flaws and weaknesses, while rejecting any claims of him being Mashiaḥ or having special powers.  This is trying to be objective about how one is and the way things really are, and it should be considered a virtue.  When one recognizes that one makes mistakes and has weaknesses, one can do something to keep on guard against one’s mistakes and correct them and to guard against one’s weaknesses.  One who does not acknowledge his/her imperfection has little hope of overcoming it.  Furthermore, a perfect hero is one that no one can hope to copy, while an imperfect hero can be readily identified with and emulated.

Image of that Muslim atrocity on the Temple Mount via Wikipedia

Topic 2: “Israel set to make Aqsa museum a synagogue”.  Thus is it written:

The head of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, has claimed there are Israeli plans to empty the museum of Al-Aqsa Mosque and turn it into a synagogue.

Note that Israel letting Muslims keep on defiling the Temple Mount has had zero benefits politically.  Still they keep on spinning conspiracy theories pretending they actually own the place and that Israel is plotting to destroy everything Muslim up there.  Also note the extreme lack of evidence provided.  There is also the hypocrisy that the Waqf has been busy for something on the order of 20 years destroying everything they can up there of Jewish origin, in violation of Israeli law, to Islamize it as much as possible.  Archaeologists have been doing a lot of sifting through soil the Muslims have removed from the Temple Mount, recovering whatever artifacts they can salvage.  Is it any wonder I keep advocating that Israel stop playing this stupid game, disband the Waqf, kick the Muslims off the Temple Mount, and rebuild the Temple for the sake of peace?

Topic 3:  To end on something not depressing, I present a silly joke.

Peace and happy Ḥanukkah.

Aaron