when you give way to intoler-
ance, to totalitarianism impuls-
es, that train always leaves the 
station — it’
s never late. If you’
re 
metastasizing intolerance, Jew-
hate is going to come along for 
the ride. 
But in fairness, the allegory 
for today’
s moment is black 
and brown people and Muslims 
and immigrants. Those are the 
people who are being othered; 
those are the people who are 
being brutalized at the Southern 
border, those are the people 
who are stranded at the airports 
within weeks of this adminis-
tration taking office. They’
re the 
vulnerable cohort. 
So I would hope that Jews 
in particular would have the 
understanding that this is not 
just about Jews. The piece is not 
about anti-Semitism. It’
s about 
intolerance, fundamentally, of 
all kinds … This kind of dem-
agoguery, where you trade on 
fear and xenophobia in order 
to maintain and expand your 
political power, this is danger-
ous for everybody. 
On my website, I have pic-
tures of 10 of the 11 people in 
my family who were lost in the 
Shoah. I know their names. I 
know where and how they were 
killed. They couldn’
t get out. 
And the world thought, “There’
s 
too many of them, and they’
re 
not like us, they don’
t worship 
the same way, they have differ-
ent politics, we can’
t trust them.
” 
It was all said the same way 
it’
s now said about Muslims or 
about Mexicans or whoever 
else Trump is hating on. And 
the quietude of so many in 
the Jewish community in this 
moment, because they don’
t 
happen to be Jews, it’
s a shonda. 

JN: You talked to Philip Roth 
before he died. How did he help 
you shape the show?

Simon: The most dramatic thing 
we did was expand the point 
of view from a grown Philip 

looking back on his childhood, 
which is a very singular point of 
view. We gave everyone in the 
nuclear family a point of view, 
and we added Evelyn and Alvin. 
And he was in ready agreement 
about that. 
He [also] said, “Make sure 
they’
re secular Jews,” that 
they’
re assimilated. Because 
in doing so you put the lie 
to everything that Ford and 
Lindbergh are attempting to 
claim and act upon, which 
is the idea that Jews are not
assimilated … and they’
re vul-
nerable to outside influences, 
they’
re not as loyal. 
The point of the book is 
 
that’
s a lie. 

JN: The show uses anti-Semi-
tism as an allegory, but it’
s also 
very specifically Jewish. What 
was the significance of that for 
you?

Simon: Obviously I grew up 
Jewish. I am Jewish. My father 
was involved in Jewish issues 
for his whole professional life 
… And he grew up in Jersey 
City and [had] the immigrant 
experience — he’
s in the same 
cohort as Roth. I’
ve read Roth, 
and I’
m acculturated with 
Jewish American identity. 
Because I was accessing 
things that were familiar to my 
upbringing and my childhood, 
there are some lines that are my 
father’
s lines that he invented in 
the piece, along with dialogue 
from the book. 
Did I have fun with it? Yeah, 
but I have fun with all the 
characters. It was an opportu-
nity to write something a little 
different. But I didn’
t come to it 
thinking, “Oh boy, I get to write 
Jews.
” I was thinking, “Oh, some 
of the stuff I’
ve had in my head 
could find the page.
” 

Visit TheJewishNews.com on 
Monday evening after “The Plot 
Against America” series finale for 
more of our interview with Simon and 
for his thoughts on the ending.

Simon and Pearl 
Rosenbaum work 
at their art table.

— even if you stay in your jam-
mies all day long.
”
Morahan also is telling clients 
to create zones. If you’
ve got the 
space, each person, including 
kids, can be in their own sep-
arate work zone. “For younger 
kiddos, or if you have a smaller 
space, pick your clean zones 
and your work zones,
” she said. 
“For example, decide that the 
kitchen will always stay clean, 
and set up school in the dining 
room. 
“We will all have to be OK 
with areas of our home not 
being perfect. And this is so 
much easier when we know we 
have clean spaces we can retreat 
to — a nightly reset will also be 
extremely important so you can 
start each day fresh.
”
Sara Kalish, whose home 
organization business, Let’
s 
Start Here (lshorganizing@
gmail.com), is based in West 
Bloomfield, suggests using this 
time to declutter. 
“Organizing without purging 
is just rearranging your things,
” 
she said. “Start small — a bath-
room drawer, a nightstand. 
Organizing takes time, but ulti-
mately it saves time. Enjoy the 
process, get rid of things that no 
longer serve you, reminisce and 
appreciate the things you keep.
”
Alberts started out by clean-
ing out the entire kitchen pan-
try — she removed the old con-
tact paper, scrubbed down and 
sorted through the food and 

organized the shelves. Next, she 
moved on to office spaces. 
“I set up desks for both of 
my kids in our office so they 
have a work space,” Alberts 
said. “Then I organized my 
son’
s desk so he can clearly 
understand what needs to be 
worked on and what was com-
pleted. I’
m actually proud of 
that desk!”
The biggest change that Julie 
Rosenbaum and husband, Eric, 
made in their Novi home was 
to her dining room, which was 
once reserved for larger groups 
and holidays, and was seldom 
used. 
“We moved the rectangular 
table up against a windowed 
wall and that now serves as the 
puzzle table,
” she said. “I also 
use that space for ‘
official’
 Zoom 
calls, and it allows me to still 
keep an eye on the little ones.
” 
The open space she created is 
now used for more gross motor 
play for her 3- and 4-year old, 
including tunnels, forts, tent 
hideouts and nap time for her 
daughter’
s baby dolls.
Rosenbaum also had impec-
cable timing in ordering an 
art table before the pandemic 
began. 
“We do coloring, writing 
practice, journaling, Playdough 
and slime,
” she said. “It’
s also 
been so nice to see my kids sit-
ting there working together and 
collaborating on whatever plans 
they’
ve imagined.
” 

SIMON continued from page 27

 APRIL 16 • 2020 | 29

