Friday, May 18, 2012

Red Green Teaches Life Lessons

Most Of Which Involve Duct Tape:  One of the many pleasures the relaxed, laid-back Jewish lifestyle afforded Abq Jew in Livingston NJ was watching The Red Green Show.


Who is Red Green?  The Red Green Facebook page says:
Born December 24, 1945 to mixed parents. Canadian. Male (except for the two weeks after the bicycle crossbar incident) Married to Bernice for 42 years. Right after he met his nephew Harold he made the decision not to have children. Has been leader of Possum Lodge since the late 70's. Does not receive a salary but has access to petty cash. Does not have significant formal education but has access to petty opinions. Retired in 2006 when he ran out of ideas. Rejoined the workforce in 2009 when he ran out of money.
But Abq Jew knows you want to know more!  IMDB describes Red Green thusly:
Self appointed master handyman and outdoorsman and a weekly participant in Canada's socialized medical system. The Ambassador for Scotch Brand Duct Tape and a firm believer that no repair job should outlive you. Hates information but loves his own point of view. Likes taking things that were intended for one purpose and using them for something completely different. Oblivious to failure. (That could all change once he experiences success). Either the youngest old man or oldest young man you will ever meet.
Abq Jew cannot find The Red Green Show on New Mexico TV.  This may be because Red Green stopped making new episodes in 2006 (although this didn't bother anyone in New Jersey), or because The Red Green Show emanates from Canada (this also didn't bother anyone in New Jersey).

So, to help us all make it through the weekend, Abq Jew is thoughtfully providing a brief video clip of said The Red Green Show right here.  You're welcome!


For those of you who thought this was really funny and really, really want to know lots more - here is a comprehensive biography of Red Green from the Red Green website:
Red Green was born up north, in the nether regions, in the years just after the war but just before the fighting. He was a complete surprise to his father and mother and everyone else at the Dance Contest. His father took one look at him and named him Red which was a disappointment for Mom. She wanted to name him Plaid. She got even when she bought him his first shirt.

Blessed with instinctive common sense, Red stopped growing at the height of 5 foot 8 since the door to the cabin was 5 foot 9. He attended Possum Lake School until he was 20 and then he went to Junior High, which he enjoyed very much until they assigned homework. He immediately left school to join his father's business - collecting unemployment insurance, but there were problems because Red didn't have enough job skills for the government to decide what type of work he was out of.

Eventually Red left home to strike out on his own, which is pretty much what he did. He tried his hand at carpentry and welding and then, while that was healing, he tried his other hand at plumbing and electrical work. In the hospital recovery room he met Bill and became interested in joining Possum Lodge. Around this time Red met his wife Bernice at a church picnic where they had both gone for the free food. Red and Bernice feel instantly in love and got married later that year without even waiting for the results of the pregnancy test.

Red became more and more involved with Possum Lodge and in time became the only guy that nobody hated and was elected Lodge Leader. He needed to refinance the Lodge so Red borrowed a large sum of money from his brother just before he was fired from the bank. Red is still paying his brother back by employing his brother's son Harold as the producer/director/dork of The Red Green Show.

Currently Red and Bernice are happily married without children and living in suburbia, but Red spends most of his time at Possum Lodge taking care of Lodge business and doing his television show and maintaining a safe distance between himself and the nearest factory outlet mall.

Red Green is the leader of Possum Lodge, Chapter 13, a northern Ontario eyesore who's motto is, Quondo Omni Flunkus Mortati (when all else fails, play dead). Red has the down home wisdon of Will Rogers, the rural charm of Garrison Keillor, and about 18 times as much handyman inventiveness as the entire cast of Home Improvement. Married to the ever-understanding and never seen Bernice, Red has no children, just a television show that's a fishing show, a fix-it show, and a men's advice program all rolled into about 3/4.

Red is the glue that holds the lodge together. He is friendly, inventive, cheap, and as honest as the day is long, which means he's the least honest on December 21st. When he works on his Handyman projects, Red is not stupid, he's just sort of lazy, impatient, and prone to subsitute sub-standard items (such as usiing duct tape instead of nails, screws, bolts, glass, glue, rivets, solder, or welding) so Red's projects are always less than reliable and more than butt ugly.

Red is deeply respectful of his wife Bernice, and quite the opposite of Harold. Viewers trust Red. He is sensible. He scorns fads and fancies. He cuts through the crap. He is everyone's friend and confident, because he is very tolerant. With friends like he has, he has to be.
As Red Green always says -

If the women don't find you handsome,
they should at least find you handy.

Shabbat Shalom, Albuquerque!
Good Shabbos, New Mexico!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

What Really Happened at Sinai?

Making Connections to Judaism:  Congregation B'nai Israel invites the community to the second lecture in its Making Connections to Judaism Speakers' Series.  Evening lectures (7:00 - 8:00 pm), each preceded (6:30 pm) by a lite dinner.

 Rabbi Paul J Citrin
Congregation B'nai Israel 
Tuesday May 22
$8 CBI Members     $10 Community

Rabbi Paul J Citrin speaks about what really happened at Sinai and why the modern Jew should care. The talk will compare traditional belief to aspects of modern theology, fundamentalism vs transformative thinking.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Torah in the Modern World

Congregation Albert's Adult Education Retreat:  Congregation Albert announces a full day of learning!


Torah in the Modern World
UNM Student Union Building
Sunday June 3
10:00 am - 4:00 pm


$36 Community
 $18 CA Members 
To register by Monday May 21 
please contact Tammy Kaiser
(505) 883-0606 or 





Featured speakers and topics include:
  • Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld - Keynote
  • Rabbi Min Kantrowitz - Business Ethics
  • Cantor Barbara Finn - Torah Tunes
  • Rabbi Paul Citrin - Resurrection IS a Jewish Idea
  • Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld - Amazon.com And Jewish Ethics
 Also enjoy Visual Midrash, Jewish Text Study & Hands-on Activities
with Tammy Kaiser, Director of Lifelong Learning

Crypto Judaic Studies Comes Home

A Message From SCJS President Dolores Sloan: The Society for Crypto Judaic Studies is preparing for a homecoming.  For it was in New Mexico in 1991 - in the mountains, near Taos, to be exact - that the first gathering of what was to become the Society took place.  And it's in New Mexico - in Albuquerque - where our 22nd Annual Conference will be held, July 22-24, at the Hotel Albuquerque in Old Town.


22nd Annual Conference
July 22 ~ July 24
Hotel Albuquerque ~ Old Town

It was in New Mexico that some folks turned on their radios one day in 1988 and heard a program on National Public Radio called "Search for the Buried Past: The Hidden Jews of New Mexico."  The program spoke of a Jewish ancestry for some Hispano families, who either practiced aspects of Judaism in secret or observed Sephardic Jewish customs in their lives, unaware of the origin.  The word spread, as listeners identified everyday practices in their families. 

Dolores Sloan
Those who gathered at that founding meeting of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies, three years later, were well aware of this phenomenon.  Among them were individuals who had discovered crypto-Jewish heritage in their own families, as well as scholars, a rabbi and others interested in regional history and culture.  The Society they established was academic and secular and its twin mission is still operative today: to stimulate and disseminate research on the subject and serve as a resource for those studying crypto Judaism or exploring it in their own lives.  I call your attention to the article by SCJS Founder Stan Hordes in the upcoming issue of HaLapid, which explores this further.

Although there are other regions in the US where crypto Judaism can be found, such as the Texas/Mexico borderlands and in Northeastern communities with a history of Portuguese immigration, it was the "discovery" in New Mexico that brought the phenomenon to national attention. New Mexico was where Members Stan Hordes and Seth Kunin conducted their research and interviews for their foundational work in this field and where the state's Jewish Historical Association presented a day of related cultural programs at Albuquerque's Kimo Theatre in the mid 90s.  It was from New Mexico that Writer Kathleen Teltsch, with Cary Herz's photography, filed the first national stories on crypto Judaism in the New York Times.  And New Mexico is where my Hispano friends shared secrets with me of neighbors who light candles on Friday evenings, cover their mirrors when someone dies and sweep the floor toward the middle of the room.

So SCJS will be going home July 22-24, a family reunion of sorts.  To reach out to that greater family in New Mexico, we'll be offering "Our Roots: Exploring Hispano Family History," a special workshop, just before the conference opens, on July 22, from 12 to 4:30 p.m. at the Hotel Albuquerque. Speakers include Robert Martinez and Henrietta Martinez Christmas, members of the Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico, and Mona Hernandez, SCJS member, each with extensive experience tracing their Iberian roots.

Also speaking is Genealogist Schelly Talalay Dardashti. Jose Antonio Esquibel, foremost genealogical researcher, historian and author on the subject has prepared a special message for the event on Hispano roots in New Mexico.  SCJS board member Arnold Trujillo is Coordinator, with the support of Gloria Trujillo and Mona Hernandez.   The workshop will be open to the public for a small fee and free to those who preregister for the conference by July 15.

Keynote speaker for the conference is David Gitlitz PhD, professor emeritus at the University of Rhode Island, and author, Secrecy and Deceit: The Religion of the Crypto-Jews.  His talk on "Portuguish and Spaniolese? The Where of the Mexican Conversos." will follow Sunday's evening's traditional opening dinner.

Monday and Tuesday will feature scholarly papers, personal stories of the crypto-Judaic experience and a variety of arts programs. As this issue is published, Program Chair Seth Ward and his committee are reading through the proposals of those have responded to the Call for Papers. Last year's conference featured twenty-three presentations from a variety of disciplines on several continents --academic, cultural and artistic--and this year's looks like it will match or exceed that figure.

Isabelle Medina Sandoval
Writer and Educator Isabelle Medina Sandoval will present the first annual Martin Sosin Address, funded by the Sosin-Stratton-Petit Foundation to advance scholarly studies of crypto-Judaic art and artisanship.  The Foundation will also fund a workshop on Sephardic Songs of the Diaspora by Daniel Elias and Maurice Sedakka of the Daniel Elias Sephardic Ensemble.  The Ensemble are the featured musicians of this year's annual Judy Frankel Memorial Concert on Monday evening.

Also featured are artists from four genres whose work is influenced by crypto Judaism.  Anita Rodriguez and Diana Bryer, New Mexico visual artists, will take conferees on a walk through of their vibrant exhibits, taking about muse and process.

Rosa de Castilla, Diana Bryer
Lois Rose Rose will present an exhibit on the pomegranate and its place in Sephardic and crypto-Judaic history. We'll see excerpts from Marranos, feature film by Howard Woolf, and learn how the awareness of his converso family inspired its making.

Chair Gloria Trujillo and Albuquerque Chair Stan Hordes have secured the right hotel in the right place. We'll be staying at the Hotel Albuquerque in colonial Old Town. Information on hotel reservations and a registration form are here, so complete and mail the form to Gloria.

There'll be time to talk with speakers, browse our book table, spend time in the art gallery and relax with old and new friends in the extended familia that is SCJS.

Join us for the homecoming in New Mexico!