•

JN Thoughts

MON ,

George Cantor's Reality Check column will return next week.

Holocaust 'Humor' Mere Bile

S

taste, with an understanding that it is easy to
go "over the line and authors must be free of
political baggage so they are not accused of having axes
to grind.
In her novel My Holocaust
(HarperCollins), the author, Tova
Reich, fails on all counts.
The satire in her novel is offen-
sive, immature and not only dis-
tasteful but, in a word, ugly.
As to politics, given her personal
relationships in the subject she cov-
ers, it is obvious she is, at least to
some degree, working to get even.
Let's first deal with her "satire."
Reich's major point is that the
Holocaust remembrance has
become an industry with Jews wal-
lowing in victimhood and "mach-
ers" working to satisfy their egos.
At the same time, she skewers other special interest
groups — from gays to vegetarians — who stake claim
to their own holocausts. Her main characters are Maurice
Messer, a survivor, and his son, Nathan, who are, respec-
tively, chairman and president of Holocaust Connections
Inc. The elder Messer also serves as chairman of the
Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.
Maurice Messer also has a granddaughter (Nathan's
daughter) who converted and became a nun — Sister
Consolatia of the Cross — who lives (guess where) in the
Carmelite convent at Auschwitz.
The book wastes no time, describing, at the very begin-
ning, Messer on a mission to Auschwitz. Reich has visitors
arriving in limousines, making cell phone calls while in
the camp, women filing their nails, etc. I think you get the
picture.
Every single character is flawed, with all of them
being goniffs or 80-year-old lechers, trying to seduce the
women on the tour, or both.
Here is a sampling of her bile:
•At the display of hair shorn from Jewish inmates,
Reich has Mrs. Gloria Leib, the wife of a macher, remark:

ir

Dry Bones

Y MIX OF IDEAS

atire, to be effective, has to be written in good

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"ISRAEL IS DISCUSSING
'CORE ISSUES WITH
THE PLO."
OF COURSE THE
JEWISH REFUGEES
FROM ARAB
COUNTRIES,

"... who knows what's crawling around in there,
mice, lice ... do something creative to make it a
little more presentable and attractive ..."
Her daughter, Bunny adds,"... this is so gross!
Yuck! I really, really hope you don't make your
visitors do hair at your Washington museum."
•Explaining why the Washington museum com-
memorates "five million others;' Nathan Messer
states: "Oh, we just made it (the five million) up.
It was as a political necessity to justify a Jewish
museum on the National Mall ... like sharing the
Shoah wealth ... after all the political bloodlet-
ting, we were still ahead by a million."
•When the Washington museum is taken over
by proponents who demand representation for
other "holocausts:' Reich has Holocaust survivors,
shouting: "Holocaust survivors coming through
— wanna see our tattoos? What you think maybe
this is my telephone number in case I forget!'
Unfortunately, there is more — 300-some pages
of more.
Now to Reich's politics. The novel as a roman
a clef quality, given that her husband, Walter
Reich, was director of the Washington Holocaust
Museum but was forced out after refusing to guide a tour
for Yasser Arafat.
So, is Reich shredding her husband since he is the kind
of Holocaust official she takes apart? Or is she getting
even with the museum hierarchy for firing her husband?
Further, Messer several times refers to the "crazy rabbi"
who climbed the fences of the Auschwitz Carmelite con-
vent. Well, it turns out that "crazy rabbi" — Avi Weiss
— is Reich's brother. Is it embarrassment over her brother
that led to this tasteless novel? Is she striking at him? Or
what?
Yes, there are serious questions to be asked on how the
commemoration of the six million has evolved:
•Have we, as a people, immersed ourselves in victim-
hood?
• Have we failed to recognize the misery of others?
• Is the Holocaust being exploited?
These questions should be addressed but with sensi-
tivity, maturity and, perhaps, with humor, but not with

F:g20 lesP
C HE I
ILLEGAL ARAB
BUIDLING IN EAS T
JERUSALEM,
ARAB
DESTRUCTION OF
ISRAELITE "FINDS"
ON THE TEMPLE
MOUNT,

—

AND THEIR
COMPLETE REFUSAL
TO ACCEPT ISRAEL
AS A "JEWISH
STATE'

II, ARE NOT
CONSIDERED TO BE
'CORE ISSUES'

www.drybonesblog.com

vulgarity.
When New York Times book reviewer David Margolick
panned the book, Reich responded — rarely ever done by
an author — writing that Margolick had "... no under-
standing of either fiction or satire ..."
It's just the opposite: Margolick knows what good fic-
tion and satire is and that's why he found Reich's book
wanting.
But she also responded in the voice of Lipman
Krakowski, a character in her novel. In his letter,
Krakowski says, "Anyone with half a brain is sick and
tired of all this 'sacred' talk about victim idolatry at the
expense of the dead."
I can't wait to get letters from Reich and Krakowski.
Actually, that's not correct: I can wait. ❑

Berl Faibaum, a former political reporter, author and public rela-
tions executive, teaches journalism part-time at Wayne State
University in Detroit.

Why A Women's Commentary?

Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss

Special Commentary

New York/JTA

T

he December debut of The Torah:
A Women's Commentary brings
together the scholarship and
insights of women from all segments of the
community and around the world.
For the past two years, in advance of the
commentary's publication, I have previewed
drafts in congregations across the country.
Inevitably, when I conclude my teaching, a
male member of the audience asks one of
the following questions:
•"Why should men be interested in a

women's Torah commentary?"
•"Why would you create a commentary
that only speaks to half the community?"
•"In this day and
age, shouldn't we cre-
ate a work that brings
together women and
men instead of segre-
gating them?"
For much of the long
and illustrious history
of Jewish biblical exege-
sis, commentaries have
been written by men.
Such commentaries typically aim to eluci-
date the plain sense of the text and make
the Bible meaningful for subsequent gener-

ations. The Torah: A Women's Commentary
strives to do the same.
To achieve these goals, The Torah: A
Women's Commentary
presents five forms of
commentary for each
Torah portion. The Central
Commentary contains
the Hebrew text and a
gender-accurate English
translation, along with an
explanation of the text,
highlighting female char-
acters and issues involving
women.
A shorter, Another View essay focuses on
a specific element in the parshah in a way

that complements, supplements or some-
times challenges the Central Commentary.
The Post-Biblical Interpretations section
gathers teachings from rabbinic writings
and classical commentaries, showing how
traditional Jewish sources responded to
texts pertaining to women.
A more philosophical essay called
Contemporary Reflection explores various
aspects of the Torah portion and challenges
readers to consider how it speaks to us as
contemporary Jews. Finally, the Voices sec-
tion offers a collection of creative responses
to the portion, mainly poetry.
No one questions why women should

Women's on page B2

January 31 • 2008

B1