Zackary Sholem Berger's Blog, page 43
May 29, 2011
"How can a rebbe do something like that?"
Katle Kanye on the violence in New Square perpetrated by the rebbe's staff:
They'll ask how a rebbe can do something like that. He's a rebbe, after all. And I'll say that a rebbe is just like them. He can be in the papers with a different-colored bekeshe every week and he's no less a sheigez for all that. They'll want to know who the real rebbe is. I'll tell them that they shouldn't first look at the tzaddik and decide that whatever he does is right, but they should know what is right — and if a rebbe doesn't behave that way, he's worth nothing.
And if they say that all rebbes are the same, so they're all worth the same thing, I'll tell them that they shouldn't look for greatness on the front pages of the papers or at the head of the table, but among Torah scholars, genuine people, simple Jews who work hard and come to shul to daven and hear a shiur. And what about gedolim? From the time of Yehoshua bin Nun on they are mostly either fools or robbers and often both. And if we've survived a bitter exile it's in spite of them and not because of them.
From here we can segue to right and wrong, stealing and banditry, murder and bloodshed. And – on the other hand – compassion, politeness, and honesty. It makes no difference whether it's a Chasid or a modern Jew, a frum person or an irreligious one, a Jew or a non-Jew, black or white — all are alike when they behave like human beings. [...]
And if you'll ask me why I'm so furious about this? It's simple. Even though many of those killed in the Holocaust were God-fearing – nevertheless we took the blessing of 'Your seed shall multiply like the sand of the sea' and buried our heads in it. If we don't admit our problems and do something about it, it'll go on this way, or our kids will get disgusted with us, like many have already. But if we do admit them, and tell our kids that the tzaddikim are not our models and the gedolim are not our guides but what it says in the Torah and the Talmud – with a good bit of the "fifth section of the Shulchan Aruch" and humanity – maybe then there's hope.
May 26, 2011
E-NITSB
Not in the Same Breath is now available as an e-book on Goodreads for $1.99! Go and read.
May 25, 2011
Four Lines about Breakfast Foods
This omelet doesn't justify,
says egg.
Sausage's
raison d'etre's iffy.
Lemma
Broken yokes get all the ink.
Who rhapsodizes fatty links?
May 16, 2011
In love with a book: The Book of Jobs
I'm in love with a book – the 1987 Standard Industrial Classification Manual. Let me tell you why.
The SIC is a taxonomy of industries. The current edition, dated 1987, will be the last of a noble line which began in 1941: the publisher, that bestseller factory doing business as the Office of Management and Budget, has replaced this classification with a new system which is now just beginning to sweep aside the old. So it is time to appreciate the Manual while it's still here.
The names in the SIC are accompanied by the sights and sounds of a world that has only just disappeared over the horizon, a world in which the expansive category of Eating Places (Industry No. 5812) still includes such now-extinct fauna as Automats, Beaneries, Box lunch stands, Frozen custard stands, and Tea rooms – not to mention the still-widespread foursome of Lunch bars, Lunch counters, Luncheonettes, and Lunchrooms (only their dearest friends can tell them apart) and the well-loved twins Pizza parlors and Pizzerias.
Read more of this essay of mine in things 19/20, available for purchase.
May 15, 2011
Congratulations to the book giveaway winners!
I look forward to sending out copies to Mandi Ray, Melissa Thayer, Deana Boswell, Nia hames, Ray Dunne, Alexander Jones, Jessica Sattell, Carl Todasco, Liz Woods, and David Richardson. Congratulations!
To the 606 others (wow…) who wanted a free book, let me say that I'm grateful for your interest. If the $15 is too much to swallow, may I suggest the $4.99 PDF version on Lulu, or the $2.99 Nook version?
And – to repeat this for those that might not have seen it – if you send me your name and email (zackarysholemberger at gmail), and would promise to pass on a free book into the wild for the delectation of random recipients, I will happily send you a copy.
May 8, 2011
And speaking of Arizona and health care…
It's 3 am, I'm writing in the lobby of the Sheraton (grant applications FTW!), and I've struck up a conversation with the guy mopping the floors, who was born in Chihuhua, Mexico, and has two kids. He himself is not a citizen and has no insurance, but on hearing I'm a doctor he says his back hurts. So here I am Googling "free clinic phoenix" and feeling frustrated. Where's Phoenix's Bellevue? I gave him the phone number of Arizona's Medicaid, which I doubt he'd be eligible for – but maybe they can direct him somewhere.
And speaking of Arizona and health care...
Advocating for advocacy
One was by Holly Atkinson, former head of Physicians for Human Rights, on the topic of advocacy and professionalism: "Should Medical Professionalism Include Advocacy?"
Not surprisingly, given Dr. Atkinson's history, her answer was Yes. The most interesting moment of her talk came with a question from the audience. The gist of the question was that requiring advocacy for professionalism implies that those of us who don't participate in advocacy aren't good doctors. In response, Atkinson proferred a definition of advocacy that was disappointingly weak. Everything is advocacy - an individual doctor who goes to bat for their patient is an advocate too! But if that's advocacy, the word loses useful meaning. I wanted Atkinson to bite the bullet and say - that's true! Doctors that don't advocate are lesser professionals. I wouldn't have agreed with her (I think every doctor has their own interests and talents, and politics - which is what Atkinson really meant - needn't always be among them), but I would have had more respect for her advocacy of "advocacy."
The second plenary was by Michael Marmot - Sir Michael Marmot to you. He was deliberately provocative, acid-tongued, and wholly self-possessed: an example of what an entertaining medical speaker should be. Again, though, I was not wholly satisfied. Marmot's research is unimpeachable - he is the giant whose Whitehall studies established the importance of the social gradient to health. His findings lead to some striking observations: the life expectancy in some neighborhoods of Glasgow is lower than in some poor countries, even though Scotland provides basic services that are often lacking in, say, Africa (drinking water, basic food and shelter, etc.). That's because the poor of Glasgow are sicker and dying sooner than the rich.
Marmot too is an advocate. But, like Atkinson's, his passionate call didn't echo with me - not because I'm cynical, but because (looking at the two speakers' biographies) they themselves, at the beginning of their careers (where I am now, more or less - not that I'm going to be an Atkinson or a Marmot) did not work as advocates. Marmot did research. Atkinson trained in global health and health juournalism, founding and editing what eventually became Journal Watch.
I agree wih their call to justice in health, but I think advocacy comes with knowledge. Rather than marching out to demosntrate, I need to gather facts first - in my own way. Then with time, perhaps, I will be able to advocate from my own heart what I have established in my own little corner of research.
May 7, 2011
Pass the book!
I'm very excited at the goodreads reception my new book is getting! And at how many people are lining up for a free copy.
I'd like to get more people the chance to see the book, of course. So I will release 5 more copies from their gilded cage to anyone who's willing to pass the book (http://pass-the-book.blogspot.com/). Contact me if you're interested.
More books available for giveaway...with a twist
I'd like to get more people the chance to see the book, of course. So I will release 5 more copies from their gilded cage to anyone who's willing to pass the book (http://pass-the-book.blogspot.com/).
If you've clicked on the link, understand the system, and would like to participate, send me an email (zackarysholemberger at gmail) or contact me through my web page.
Also, I am available to speak about matters Jewish, medical, Yiddishy, or poetical. Contact me if you're interested.
