10 | MAY 19 • 2022 

PURELY COMMENTARY

THE FROZEN BAGEL continued from page 4

never really the whole service. 
As it was an all-important 
bagel day, I figured I’d head 
over and give it a whirl.
When I walked in, there was 
Adam, and he gave a big smile 
and hello. I simply replied, 
“I don’t want to hear it! This 
is your fault!” Adam laughed 
and said, “I’ll take full blame, 
and credit!” We generally 
make jokes about having to 
go to synagogue, getting out 
early, and all the other usual 
stuff. I’m told by many of my 
Christian friends the same 
stereotypical jokes are cracked 
about church as well. Religion 
is religion. Needless to say, 
after a few days it became a 
pattern even when it was an 
omelet morning.
There is a question the sages 
bring up. What is the greatest 
passage from the Bible? Is it 

the Shema? “Hear O Israel 
the Lord our God the Lord is 
one!” Is it the famous “Treat 
your neighbor like yourself,” 
etc.? Finally, it was decided 
that the greatest line of all is: 
“They brought the sacrifice 
every day, twice a day, once 
in the morning and once in 
the afternoon.” Really? That 
one? Routine in life is import-
ant. The Rabbis felt it was 
so important that they were 
willing to say it is the greatest 
thing we are taught.
I remember being on the 
road with another comic 
during my early years of when 
I first started working at clubs. 
We were staying at the infa-
mous “Comedy Condo,” and 
I asked if he wanted me to 
wake him up the next morning 
if I got up first. He replied, 
“No way. I’m a comic, I don’t 

get up until noon,” as if there 
was pride in that. I remember 
thinking to myself, “Ya know, 
I’ll bet Drew Carey isn’t getting 
up at noon” or any other suc-
cessful person for that matter.
Rabbi Muskin, the rabbi 
at my synagogue, once gave 
a speech on Yom Kippur 
and gave examples of how 
great men valued routine. 
Beethoven would count out 
exactly 60 beans of coffee 
and grind that. It was exact-
ly 60, no more and no less. 
It was the one thing he was 
very particular about, but 
nothing else as far as food or 
drink. That one routine was 
important to him. Darwin 
and Einstein were meticulous 
about their daily walks. The 
list goes on and on. There is 
even the famous speech by 
Admiral William H. McRaven 

about making your bed every 
morning. Routine, and getting 
something done is important. 
The admiral knows it, and the 
Rabbis knew it thousands of 
years ago. After not having to 
have a schedule, I know it too. 
I don’t have to get up early in 
the morning, but I try to any-
way. Routine is important.
It’s said that, throughout 
the centuries, it’s not that the 
Jews kept the Sabbath, but 
the Sabbath kept the Jews. Or, 
more simply put, it’s not so 
much that I keep the bagel, 
but the bagel keeps me … or 
it at least keeps me from over-
sleeping. 

Avi Liberman is a stand-up comic who 

was born in Israel, raised in Texas and 

now lives in Los Angeles. Avi founded 

Comedy for Koby, a bi-annual tour of 

Israel featuring some of America’s top 

stand-up comedians.

UN SECURITY COUNCIL continued from page 6

to 120 countries. To reflect this 
growth, four additional rotating 
seats were added to the Council 
in 1965, bringing the total num-
ber of Council members to 15. 
Today, the UN has 193 member 
states, yet the Security Council 
has remained the same. 
Over the past 40 years, there 
have been various proposals 
to expand the Council’s mem-
bership to between 21 and 26. 
Italy at one point had suggested 
that instead of adding new per-
manent and non-permanent 
seats, ten semi-permanent seats 
be added, with no veto power, 
to be rotated among thirty 
mid-level powers. A high-lev-
el panel in 2004-05 offered a 
complex package of alternatives, 
one of which suggested the 
creation of new categories such 
as six permanent seats without 
a veto power, or eight four-year 
memberships. In 2015, France, 
with the support of Mexico, 

launched an initiative aimed at 
suspending veto powers in cases 
of mass atrocity. Despite years 
of negotiations, none of these 
ideas materialized. 
In the mid-1990s, the Clinton 
administration endorsed 
expanding the Council to 20-21, 
including five new permanent 
members: Germany and Japan 
from the industrialized nations, 
plus three regional powers 
from Asia, Latin America, and 
Africa, respectively. This pro-
posal has not advanced for two 
reasons. First, the Non-Aligned 
Movement has demanded a 
larger increase (at least eleven 
additional seats); and second, 
the regional groups have been 
unable to agree on which coun-
tries should be eligible for the 
additional permanent seats. 
In each regional group, more 
than one regional power aspires 
toward a permanent seat: in 
Asia — India, Indonesia, and 

Malaysia; in Latin America — 
Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and 
others; in Africa — Nigeria, 
South Africa, and Egypt. 
In reality, none of the current 
five permanent members wants 
to expand the Council, as it 
would dilute its own power and 
make the work of the Council 
more complicated. At the same 
time, none is openly opposed 
to change, understanding that 
such a position would be dam-
aging to its standing in world 
public opinion. 
During his recent visit to 
Ukraine, UN Secretary-General 
Guterres conceded that “the 
Security Council failed to do 
everything in its power to pre-
vent and end this war. This is a 
source of great disappointment, 
frustration and anger.
” He then 
added: “I have not the power 
to reform the Security Council. 
I have no illusions about the 
possibility to do it immediately, 

but I will do everything I can 
through making the UN as 
effective as possible in situations 
like these to at least compensate 
for a failure that I cannot solve.
” 
There can be no doubt that 
any just and sustainable inter-
national order must include 
a Security Council that is 
efficient, effective, credible 
and legitimate. However, these 
four imperatives are not nec-
essarily compatible. 
The challenge facing the 
UN, and the international 
community at large, is how 
to make the Security Council 
more credible and legitimate, 
while ensuring that it does not 
become even less efficient and 
effective. 

Aaron Jacob is American Jewish 

Committee (AJC) Director of Diplomatic 

Affairs. From 1998-2002, he served 

as Israel’s Deputy Permanent 

Representative to the UN at the rank of 

ambassador.

