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LETTING Go from page 27

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telling him that if I called and he
didn't answer the phone, I would
assume he was at the library studying
or at Hillel House praying. I believe
his reply. was, "If that works for you,
Mom, then it works_ for me." And it
did for four. years.
I didn't even try it with son two.
IP When they don't answer now, I have
no clue as to where they are. I have
to live with that. It's the lack of con-
trol that drives me crazy.
I figure I have given enough lec-
tures about drinking, driving, college
parties, drugs, responsibility, etc., to
last anyone's lifetime. (Certainly, my

kids would agree.) One friend smiled
and replied, "The more temptations
there are, the more I worry." Now, I
was worried that I had been worrying
about the wrong thing.
I guess you have to put some effort
yourself into the things if any -
progress is to be made. If I succeed in
"letting go" of my children, I may
have to take control of my.own life.
Yikes! Maybe, instead, I'll go down-
stairs and dust off th'Thanksgiving
table again. It's been set since Yom
Kippur. Both boys are coming home.
I'll take this one slow step at a
time. ❑

REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK

Akiva Hebrew Day School
Chinese Auction

Sunday, November 23, 1997

WHO WE ARE from page 27

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Beth Achim
21100 W. 12 Mile Road • Southfield, Michigan

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For booklet and more information call (248) 552-9690

Small
Miracles

by Yitta Halberstam
and Judith Leventhal

Ally McBeal: Broadcasting disinformation.

Remember the lobster-in-the-
omelette episode, the black-hatted,
gossipy rabbi episode, and when
Kramer saved the baby from the
mohel (claiming human rights) on
"Seinfeld"? Remember the ambiguity
of Ross and Monica's Jewish identity
on "Friends"? (An NBC spokesperson
said half the family was Jewish,
thanks to father Elliott Gould, and
half was not.)
I'm offended. I'm offended by
intelligent TV portraying Jews and
Judaism as the just-out-of-the-shtetl
"other," and I'm offended by intelli-
gent TV portraying Jewish characters
as self-hating, uncertain, afraid-to-be-
who-they-are.

0

In the end, Ally McBeal turns
down the rabbi's request for a date.
He wants her to accompany him to
the woman's second wedding, which
he will perform. So she struggles with
her own complexes about dating —
which the entire show is about —
and later, goes to the synagogue and
asks him out, saying she wants to
"juggle" men, that it's better to date
"unlikelys" than wait for Mr. Right.
The rabbi accepts.
And even though McBeal's black
roommate says, "He's Conservative.
He won't intermarry," McBeal replies,
"I don't convert on the first date.
Well, neither do we. ❑

"

60 true stories of remarkable
coincidences that have changed
the lives of ordinary people.

Available in paperback for $7.95.

Judith Leventhal
will be speaking at
The Jewish Book Fair
on November 11:

10:00 am at the Maple/Drake

Building in West Bloomfield

8:00 pm at the Jimmy Prentis Morris
Building in Oak Park

For more information, contact Nancy Lipsey
248-661-7649

11/7
1997

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