One-man show for the weatherman who is funnier in person

By Cynthia Citron

Cynthia Citron

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, California  — Fritz Coleman, KNBC TV’s intrepid weatherman feels like he’s putting something over on his fellow Angelenos.  “I get paid for working for two minutes three times a day,” he says gleefully.  “I love my job!”  (Which also includes forecasting the weather over KNSD for San Diego and the North County.)

What’s more, he’s not a meteorologist.  But that’s okay, he says, because “Los Angeles is a city that has no weather!”  So he provides his weather wisdom “for people who are too lazy to look out the window.”

And to fill up the remaining 1,434 minutes in the day, he pursues his other successful career as a stand-up comic.

This month he brought his latest hilarious monologue “On The Fritz—An Evening with Fritz Coleman” to the stage of North Hollywood’s El Portal Theater and an appreciative audience that included the loyal crew from his 1988 late-night TV variety show “It’s Fritz.”

And as a delicious surprise, Coleman’s friend Laurence Juber, former lead guitar in Paul McCartney’s group “Wings,” and a man who plays acoustic guitar with all 20 fingers, opened for him.  Juber, a Grammy Award-winning fingerstyle guitarist, played his own special arrangements on his own specially designed acoustic guitar and brought down the house.

When Coleman came on, he plunged right into the confession  that he doesn’t have a degree in meteorology.  That fact doesn’t bother him, though, because “I’m thin and I wear glasses, so I look like a weatherman.”  If he didn’t forecast weather on TV, he says, “I’d have to do it door to door.  I’d be a Jehovah’s meteorologist.”

He cautions people on “how to drive in drizzle:  Always steer into the sprinkles…”

As a single man (he is divorced) he prefers women his own age, he says. (He is 62—“older than I’ve ever been.”)   He dates women from “Dregs List”—women with low self-esteem, and deplores surgical enhancements and Botox.  “Is it necessary for your body parts to last longer than you do?” he asks.

This is Coleman’s third one-man show.  His first, “It’s Me! Dad!” explored the angst of trying to explain your history to your children (he has three of his own).  This was followed by “The Reception,” in which he skewered the twice-married bride and thrice-married groom and the various guests at their wedding.  He accompanied his commentary with slides in order to “attach a face to a neurosis.”

The Pennsylvania-born Coleman attended Salem College in West Virginia for a couple of years and then, sensing that he was going to be drafted, he enlisted in the Navy.  Sent by the Navy to radio school, he was assigned to the Armed Forces Radio & TV Service and spent 3½ years on an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean.  When he got out, he went back to school (Temple University) then spent the next 15 years in radio doing every job you can think of.  These years included serving as an MC at a jazz nightclub in Buffalo, which he augmented by doing stand-up comedy on Monday nights, when the club would ordinarily be closed.  He also did a radio broadcast on a 50,000-watt radio station during afternoon drive time in Buffalo.

In 1980 he left this burgeoning career to come out to California, “the Mecca of stand-up comedy,” to hone his skills at the Comedy Store, The Improv, The Laugh Factory, The Ice House in Pasadena, and the Hermosa Beach Playhouse.  Then, practically as a fluke, he was invited by News Director Steve Antoniottti of KNBC to fill in for Kevin O’Connell, the regular weatherman, while O’Connell took a longed-for vacation.

In 1984 Coleman succeeded to the top spot in weather—the daily slot at 5, 6, and 11, which he has now held for 27 years.  In addition, he has received four Los Angeles-area Emmy awards for his comedy specials and series: “What A Week,” “It’s Fritz,” “Fritz and Friends,” and “The Perils of Parenting.”

And finally, he fills his “spare time” with community projects, entertaining at fundraisers, and lighting the village Christmas tree in Toluca Lake, where he has been honorary mayor for the past 15 years.

Coleman’s latest show “On The Fritz,”  presented by Weddington Street Productions, runs from the 19th of August through the 22nd, with the performance on the 22nd being an afternoon benefit  for the International Myeloma Foundation.

The El Portal Theatre, with its 360-seat Main Stage, is located at 5269 Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood.

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Citron is Los Angeles bureau chief for San Diego Jewish World

Adventures in San Diego Jewish History, January 21, 1955, Part 2

Compiled by San Diego Jewish World staff

Linda Solof Betrothed to Bruce O. Witte
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 2

Linda Solof

Mr. and Mrs. A. Louis Solof announce the engagement of their daughter Linda Harriet to Bruce O. Witte, son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry O. Witte.

Linda, a student at U.C.L.A. passed the traditional box of candy at the Sigma Delta Tau Sorority. She is a native San Diegan and a graduate of San Diego High School. For five years Linda was a columnist for the Jewish Press, keeping the community up-to-date on teenage activities. (“Linda’s Lookout”.)

Bruce, a graduate of S.D. State College, was one of the organizers and first President of the Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity on the college campus.  He was also graduated from Hoover High School. Bruce served I the Air Force and is now a Lt. in the Reserve.

An early Spring wedding has been planned.

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Personals
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 2

In celebration of his Bar Mitzvah on January 14^th, Michael Bennett will entertain friends Saturday evening at a Dinner-Dance, to be held at the San Diego Hotel.

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Mrs. Ann Peckarsky is busy these days showing off San Diego to her sister, Mrs. Pearl Ginsberg of Milwaukee.  Mrs. Ginsberg will be a house guest at the home of her niece and nephew Ruth and Bill Colt.

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The Press received a friendly letter from Miss Kay Sylvia Bergman, renewing her subscription for two years. She sends her regards to all her San Diego friends and would like to hear from some of them.  Her present address is 5815 S. Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles 19.

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Pearl and George Martin left, via train, to attend the Convention of the National Association of Home Builers in Chicago. They went East last Thursday and plan to be away at least ten days.

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The family of Harry Cohn wish to thank their many friends for the thoughtfulness shown to them during their recent bereavement.

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The Sam Cohens and the Irving Kahns have promised to make another attempt to go East in the near future. The Press is sorry that bad weather prevented their making the trip we sent them in a recent edition.
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Sid Fleischman, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fleischman, has been legally adopted by Hollywood.  He has just signed a seven year contract with the producing company of Bat-Jac and at the present time he is working on the script of “Goodbye My Lady”, starring Lauren Bacall. Sid an his family will make their new home in Santa Monica.

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Today Dr. and Mrs. David Miller will also leave for a Convention.  They will attend the American College of Surgeons’ Convention, to be held in Palm Springs, on January 22^nd.  By the way, we hope you didn’t miss Dr. Miller when he appeared on TV as one of the Board of experts.

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Dr. and Mrs. Werner Lehmann entertained friends at a cocktail party held on January 14^th, at the Admiral Kidd Officers Club.
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Burton Nestor, who is recuperating from a recent appendectomy, wishes to thank his friends for their good wishes.

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Returning to make their home in San Diego are Dr. and Mrs. Albert Klug (Shirley Berenson) and their young son.

Dr. Klug has opened offices for the practice of medicine in San Diego.

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Mr. and Mrs. Sol Stone wish to thank their many friends for the kindness shown them during Mrs. Stone’s recent illness.

Arthur Neumann Wedding Announced
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 2

Al and Rose Neumann announce the marriage of their son, Arthur, to Marilyn Fladdel, daughter of MR. and Mrs. Jack Fladdel, of Brooklyn. The wedding was held on December 25 in Brooklyn, N.Y.

The young couple will make their home in San Diego. Arthur will continue his studies at State College.

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Starr-Fern Wedding
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 2

Announcement has been made of the wedding of Rachel Fern, daughter of Mr and Mrs. Jos. Fern of Elizabeth, N.J., to Marshall Starr, son of the late Isadore Starr and Mrs. I. Starr of San Diego. The weding will be held on January 23^rd, at 7 p.m. in the Avon Mansion, in Newark, N.J. Rabbi Abraham Zigelman will officiate.

Attendants will be Helen Josen, maid of honor and Phyllis Fern, bridesmaid.  Ushers will be Bob and Hyman Grossman, Robert and Michael Hecht, Irving Ditchik and William Fern.

Marshall Starr attended San Diego State College and is now in business for himself. The couple will reside in San Diego.

San Diegans who will attend the wedding in New Jersey are Mrs. Isidore Starr and Mrs. Jos. Silverman.

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Richard Miller Bar Mitzvah
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 2

Dr. and Mrs. David Miller announce the Bar Mitzvah of their son, Richard Elihu, on Saturday, January 29^th, 9:30 a.m., at Tifereth Israel Synagogue.  Kiddush will follow the service.  Members of the family extend an invitation to friends to join them on this happy occasion. (Invitations are not being mailed.)

On January 28^th, Richard will conduct the Friday evening service. His parents will hostess the Oneg Shabbot.

Grandparents Dr. and Mrs. Louis Victor and Mr. and Mrs. M. Miller of Boston, are planning to attend the Bar Mitzvah.

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Cradle
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 2

Friends who phoned the Irving Stones on Sunday, Jan. 9^th, to congratulate them on their Wedding Anniversary, learned that the family was celebrating the “Happy Birthday” of Leonard Paul, who had arrived at 2:33 p.m. that day.

Red haired, blue eyed, Lenny tipped the scales at 8 lbs, 10 ozs.  His teen-age sisters, Joan and Martha, are eager baby sitters.

Maternal grandmother is MRs. Martha M. Taylor of San Diego, paternal grandmother is Mrs. G. Stone of New York City.

The Bris was held on Sunday, Jan. 1`6^th, with Rabbi Morton J. Cohn officiating.

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Bar Mitzvah
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 2

Mr. and MRs. Reuben Aved are proud to announce the Bar Mitzvah of their son, Donald, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 22^nd, at Tifereth Israel Synagogue.  Chaplain E.H. Rickel will officiate.

Kiddush and a reception will follow the services. All their friends are cordially invited to attend.

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Classified
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 2

Secretary Wanted – Knowledge of Bookkeeping, Interesting Position.  Apply Jewish Social Service Ageny, 333 Plaza. BE 2-5172.

Women Wanted—Make extra money. Address, mail postcards, spare time every week. BICO, 143, Belmont, Mas.

Man Available—For gardening… trucking service…Pick up and Delivery… Call after 5 p.m.  BE 9-5788.

Art Teacher – B.A. desires work in Art, Nursery or related fields. – Tel AC-3-7394.

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Calendar
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 2

January
23^rd—Sun.,m “Monte Carlo Nite,” Tifereth Israel Center.  Starts at 2 p.m.
24^th—Mon, 7:15 p.m.  Boys Club presents Al Kaye, sportscaster, Community Center.
24^th—Mon, 6:00 p.m. AZA Dinner, S.D. Hotel
25^th—Tues, 8 p.m., Fox Lodge installation, Beth Jacob Center.
26^th—Wed. eve., “Mr. Hadassah” Night.  Dinner and Fashion Show, Mission Valley Club.
30^th—Sun., Pioneer Women Annual Bazaar. Beth Jacob Center

February
4^th—Fri, 7:30 p.m., Temple Beth Israel Dedication Services
6^th—Sun, from 3:30 p.m. to midnight – “Country Fair.” Beth Israel Sisterhood—American Legion Hall.

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A.Z.A. To Hold Installation Jan 24
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 2

On Monday, Jan. 24^th, at 6 p.m. at the San Diego Hotel, the A.Z.A. boys will hold a pre-Installation Dinner for their incoming officers. Later that evening, 8:30 p.m., at the regular meeting of Lasker Lodge at Temple Center, they will hold their formal installation.

Those to be installed are Pres., Steve Goldfab; Vice Pres – Alvin Cohen; Recording Secy’y, Allan Friedman; Corresponding Sec’y, Jack Sharpe; Treasurer, Ronnie Doctor; Reporter, Pete Colt, Sgt. At Arms, Mark Ulansky;  Asst Sgt at Arms, Stan Ornstein; Pledge Master, Eddie Naiman; Chaplain, Stan Breitbard.

The public is cordially invited to attend.

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Bloch’s “Shelomo” To Be Played By Piatigorsky
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 3

A performance by Gregor Piatigorsky of Ernest Bloch’s best known work, the “Schelomo” Rhapsody for cello and orchestra, will highlight the program when the world famed cellist appears as guest soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Sunday evening, at 8:30 in Russ Auditorium.

Piatigorsky’s local engagement is one of his first since his return to the concert stage following an extensive European tour.  During this tour, when he boarded a plane to leave Israel, the entire Israel Philharmonic Orchestra went to the airport to bid him farewell.  The cellist had played 17 concerts in Israel including several with the orchestra, and he turned all of his fees into the pension fund for the orchestra. As a gesture of gratitude the musicians filled the airplane cabin with flowers.

Wallenstein, who will be on the podium Sunday night, has also programmed Barber’s “Overture To The School for Scandal,” Borodin’s “Polovtsian Dancers” from “Prionce Igor,” Berlioz’ “Symphanie Fantastique” and Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7.”

The orchestra’s Sunday concert is the second in its current series. Tickets are available at Palmer Box Office, 640 Broadway.
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Solomon To Play At Russ Jan. 28
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 3

Although he first visited America in 1926, the eminent British pianist, Solomon, who returns to San Diego for the first time in two years on Friday evening, January 28^th, in Russ Auditorium, was not introduced to California concert-goers until 1951 when he was brought to Los Angeles by Moss and Hayman.

Enthusiastic response was immediate and Solomon returned to California, playing to sold-out houses in 1952 and again in 1953. The key to the deep enjoyment he gives his audiences may be found in the statement of one reviewer. “He plays with the ecstasy of a man who hugely loves what he is doing.”

Solomon’s 1955 concert tour in California is again under the Moss and Hayman management.

Tickets are on sale at the Palmer Box Office, 640 Broadway.  Phone Belmont 9-4700.

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First Auto Show Set For S.D. Feb. 2-6
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 3

The first Auto Show in 22 years will open in San Diego at the Electric Bldg on Feb. 2-6, according to the Motor Car Dealers’ Association.

The International Show will have more than 100 cars including many experimental models coasting as high as $25,000.  Entertainment will be provided from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. nightly. 

Tickets will be available at the Electric Building, Balboa Park.

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Palmer Box Office
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 3

Palmer Box Office has opened auxiliary box offices at Taylors, 1146 Orange Ave., Coronado, HE 4-5361, and Coles, 7871 Ivanhoe Ave., La Jolla, GL 4-4766.  Main office is still at 640 Broadway.

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(Prejudice)
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 3

Prejudice has always been the greatest obstacle to progress.

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Worth Reading
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 4

“In our tradition, it is neither ruler nor politician, neither soldier nor merchant who represents the ideal. The ideal is represented by the teacher – that is to say, the person who is able through his work and his employ, to reach the intellectual, moral and artistic life of his people.

“This involves a definite renunciation of what is commonly called materialism. The idea is that human beings can attain a worthy and harmonious life only if they are able to rid themselves, within the limits of human nature, of the striving for wish-fulfillments of the material kind.  The goal is to raise the spiritual level of society.” – Albert Einstein

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Hadassah To Hold Rummage Sale
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 4

Mrs. Alfred Solomon, Rummage Sale Chairman, has an active committee composed of Hadassah members serving as her Co-Chairman for the gigantic Rummage Sale to be held on February 1^st through 4^th at 2870 National Avenue with working hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Co-Chairmen include Mmes. Leonard Pearl, Jack Brisker, Sydney Segal and Leon Solomon.

Do you have rummage?  If so, call Mrs. Solomon at Academy 3-8512 or Mrs. Pearl at Atwater 1-3289 and a fast delivery car will pick it up for you. Clean out your attic!  Clean out your garage. There’s money in them thar discards for Hadassah.

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Attention! Blue Jean and Pinafore Set
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 4

Superman—George Reeves – motion picture and T.V. Star has taken over National Sponsorshnip of the Children’s Crusade for the Leukemia Wing at the City of Hope.

Superman urges all of you children who would like to become members of his club to have your parents and grandparents send donations of $1.00 or more to:

Superman
City of Hope
Duarte, California

You will then receive a special Superman Button to wear and a membership card signed by Superman.

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Jewish Community Center Use Increased
Southwestern Jewish Press, January 21, 1955, Page 4

Mr. Edward A. Breitbard, president of the Jewish Community Center noted the increased Center activities during the past year of 1954 in his annual report given to the Center membership. 

1.  In 1954 an average of 54 different activity groups per month used the Center as compared to 34 in 1953, an increase of more than 50 percent. The number of sessions jumped to 1582 in 1954 from 952 in 1953.  The attendance was raised to 36,507 from 28,701 of 1953.

2.  232 campers participated in 5300 camper days during the summer day Camp Jaycee. It may be noted that 27 youngsters received a total of 595 free camper days.

3. An original musical play was put on by the teen-agers, the young married couples organized a very successful Community Center Couples Club and the women organized a Center Women’s League which sparked outstanding social, cultural and fund-raising Center activities.

4.  More than 100 volunteers participated in a Center self-study which highlighted the need for adequate Center facilities and indicated that 90 percent of the Jewish population were ready to assist in the Center development.

5. $105,000 was raised in two building fund dinner meetings.

6.  In concluding, Mr. Breitbard thanked all who helped improve the center program and indicated with such team work, an adequate Center facility with an outstanding program could be developed within a short period of time.

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“Adventures in San Diego Jewish History” is sponsored by Inland Industries Group LP in memory of long-time San Diego Jewish community leader Marie (Mrs. Gabriel) Berg. Our “Adventures in San Diego Jewish History” series will be a regular feature until we run out of history.  To find stories on specific individuals or organizations, type their names in our search box.

Intimidation persuades many Arabs to never cross the party line

By Bruce S. Ticker

Bruce S. Ticker

PHILADELPHIA — Heartwarming words from Sarah Shiha, a student at Ain Shams University in Cairo: “Apart from the political issues, we are humans. I respect your religion, you respect mine.”

Her next comment, on Israel, sounded more robotic than humane: “What we see is that we had a land, and that people came and took this land. Now they want to stay here, and every day they are killing more and more of our siblings.”

Shiha is among 20 students from Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon who participated in a five-week program sponsored by the U.S. State Department to learn how religious pluralism is among America’s great strengths, according to an article in The Jewish Exponent of Philadelphia.

It seems that Shiha and her associates could have been a tad more diplomatic, especially since her inflammatory comment might be read by thousands of American Jews. She could have easily sidestepped the question by insisting she needed to learn more about the Israeli/Arabic conflict, couldn’t she? She might have faced more than verbal disdain back home. She might be murdered by her own people.

In the Middle East, free speech can carry a fatal price. Arabs have murdered their own who were suspected of collaborating with Israel, and Arab leaders who suggested or acted upon peaceful existence with Israel. Remember Anwar el-Sadat?

Yasser Arafat indicated that he feared a comparable fate if he assented to the peace plan offered during the Camp David summit 10 years ago. In his book “The Missing Peace,” Dennis Ross (then President Clinton’s Middle East envoy) relates a conversation in which Arafat asked then secretary of state Madeleine Albright if she wanted to attend his funeral. This comment came out of left field, but why else would he say this?

Arafat’s comment could invite some sarcastic responses – such as, his funeral was long overdue. I think his top motive for rejecting the plan was fear that other Arabs would kill him because they refused to accept any peace settlement.

It is clear that many Arabs keep silent because they fear retaliation. Of course, it is impossible to determine how many Arabs really loathe Israel and those who follow the script to protect themselves and their families.

Examples do abound. Before returning to his current prime minister post, Benjamin Netanyahu was asked by a television interviewer to identify Arab businesspeople with whom he communicates; he refused because, he said, it would jeopardize their lives. I recently read a report of an Arab man who saved Jews during World War II and told them to say nothing about his help. Israeli leaders claim that Arabs who sold land to Jews denied doing so because they could be harmed.

Some months ago, a native Iranian on a German sports team refused to play against an Israeli team. He did not offer this as a reason, but he still had family in Iran who could be endangered by his participation in that game.
 

The Arab and Muslim world is tightly controlled in parts. Putting Israel aside, ordinary Arabs and Muslims must worry about violent feuds between families and tribes, honor killings of women and conflicts with the ruling class. On Aug. 8, an Iranian attorney fled to Norway after he defended a woman who faced being stoned to death because she allegedly committed adultery. An Afghan couple were stoned to death, on Taliban orders, because they allegedly cheated on his wife and her family-chosen fiance.

Those familiar with the Middle East attest that roughly half of Turkish and Iranian citizens are sensible people who yearn for more moderate leaders. Egyptian businesspersons worked well with their Israeli counterparts, and Turks in the military oppose their ultra-religious regime. 

Tom Friedman of The New York Times reported on a Gazan woman whose son’s life was saved by a Jewish physician at an Israeli hospital. Now she wants her son to blow up…er, grow up…to become a suicide bomber. Consider that she must return home to face not only her neighbors but also Hamas, which has the power to make life miserable for her.

It is most annoying that American Muslims readily complain of bigotry, yet are less consistent in condemning Islamic-related violence – especially when Israelis are victimized. Muslim society in America appears to be closeted and hard to figure out.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the driving force behind the proposed mosque near Ground Zero, dodged a radio reporter’s question as to whether he concurred with the State Department’s designation of Hamas as a terrorist group, The New York Jewish Week reported.

Said Rauf: “I’m not a politician. I try to avoid the issues. The issue of terrorism is a very complex question…I’m a bridge builder. I define my work as a bridge builder…I will not allow anybody to put me in a position where I am seen by any party in the world as an adversary or as an enemy.”

Far from an exercise in clarity.

It is strange that free speech exists on two levels in our own country – one standard for most of us and a self-imposed standard for a stifled and bewildering minority.

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Ticker is the Philadelphia bureau chief for San Diego Jewish World
 He may be contacted via bticker@comcast.net

Direct peace talks will share Israeli dinner conversations with those about IDF, extremist rabbis and errant academics

By Ira Sharkansky

Ira Sharkansky

JERUSALEM–While the big news of the day is the impending start of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, to open with a blessing by Barack Obama, the news that has held Israel in its grip for two weeks is a document purported to influence the selection of the next commander of the IDF.

The document became public when trumpeted on one of the commercial television channels with a taste for yellow journalism. While I have not been able to locate the text of the document, there has been no end of commentary about it. Moralists condemn the appearance of a plot claiming to be the work of a professional public relations firm, laying out plans to influence the public, governmental officials, and key military officers in order to affect the selection of the next commander. 

The document may be a parody of the maneuvering that typically surrounds those occasions every four or five years when it is necessary to appoint the next commander of the IDF or the head of the national police. The obvious candidates, and individuals who feel themselves close to them and perhaps hoping for an eventual boost to their own careers, line up potential supporters in order to influence the government ministers with responsibility for nominating their chosen candidate to the entire government for the formal selection.

Both the IDF and the national police are led by a collection of Alpha Males with the talent and the elbows to get where they have gotten, and who aspire to go further.

Parody: a work created to mock or make fun by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation. 

Commentators have not been able to agree whether the figure prominently mentioned in the document is the person meant to be selected, or if the campaign is really meant to tarnish his reputation and render him unfit for selection. 

If the document it is a parody or a serious attempt at strategy, it has stepped on sensitive toes. The IDF is as close to the principal icon of civic religion as can be found in this hotbed of cynicism. The lieutenant colonel who has been identified as the likely source of the document is currently on vacation overseas. If and when he returns home, he can expect to be brought to the police station from the airport for questioning. 

Two other hiccups in the national culture have also occupied us.

One is a rabbi’s publication of a treatise that is said to identify the conditions when it is permissible according to religious law to kill a non-Jew. The police have summoned the rabbi for an investigation under the heading of incitement to racism, while a number of prominent rabbis have supported his refusal to appear. The debates are a bit murky to outsiders. Most of the rabbis who have spoken up distance themselves from the book in question. Some say that they regret its publication. However, they stand along with the author for his right to express his view of religious law, which he reaches according to conventional rabbinical exegesis. They are willing to let him play in his corner of the rabbinical garden, while letting the rest of us know that he is an outlier and should not be taken seriously. 

The problem is that Yigal Amir learned a bit of religious law and tradition in the yeshiva of Bar Ilan University, and extrapolated his understanding to a justification for killing Yitzhak Rabin. 

Two centuries before Christ, ancient rabbis had already neutralized “eye for an eye,”  death penalties, and other draconian provisions that can be found in the Hebrew Bible. Jesus preached what they ruled, and the early Christians who wrote the New Testament gave him credit for what they called new doctrines that they used to contrast with, and demonize Judaism.

The Talmud documents the rabbinic modifications and cancellations of what appears in Torah, but there are some who have not accepted the message.. There is enough that is dangerous in the attic of Judaism to be wary of fanaticism. The rabbi who published the book justifying the killing of non-Jews under certain circumstances presents the impression of a scholarly impotent, but the words he has written may stimulate those inclined to madness.

The other hiccup in these dog days of August appears elsewhere on the ideological spectrum, A movement from  the right has taken aim at university departments of sociology (at Tel Aviv University) and political science (at Ben Gurion University) for being under the control of anti-Israeli leftists. They have demanded that university administrators fire the ideologues, and threaten to urge donors to avoid contributing to any university that fails to purge the errant. In response, every university president interviewed on the subject has stood fast on academic freedom, emphasizing the professional criteria employed in selecting and promoting individuals through the academic ranks.

One suspects that this will blow over, along with the other issues. People will return from vacations in time for the start of school on September 1, and the country will go back to something approaching the Israeli normal.

No doubt that there are extremists in the universities as well as among the rabbis of Israel. However, a purge of either community led by outsiders is not in the cards. Just as leading rabbis have condemned their colleague while arguing for his right to write as he wishes, so university personnel know how to deal with individuals who go over the edge of good sense. There are islands of madness in Israeli universities, just as there are islands of madness exist in other academic centers. Religious and academic madness are among the prices paid for religious and academic freedom. Both allow the mad the freedom to demonstrate peculiarities to their colleagues and students. Occasionally there is damage, sometimes a tragedy like the assassination of Rabin, but more often there is a recognition of those who are extreme and their isolation by ridicule or silence.

The big news of impending negotiations between Israel and Palestine has produced yawns, shrugs, and doubts from a wide range of commentators. According to a prominent article in the New York Times:

The American invitation on Friday to the Israelis and Palestinians to start direct peace talks in two weeks in Washington was immediately accepted by both governments. But just below the surface there was an almost audible shrug. There is little confidence — close to none — on either side that the Obama administration’s goal of reaching a comprehensive deal in one year can be met.  
Just to mention a few of the knottiest of issues: Palestinian adherence to the pre-1967 armistice lines and the rights of refugees, along with their extremists who insist that those are illegitimate concessions, against Israelis who are not sure about what to do with 50,000 Jews scattered throughout the West Bank, intense distrust of Palestinians, and insistence that any Palestinian state be de-militarized and that Israel control the Jordan Valley.

It will take a miracle equivalent to the parting of the Red Sea or virgin birth to deal with these issues, even beyond the year that the Obama White House has alloted to the process. One should never say never in this land that has claimed great events in the past, but one can guess that a year and more from now commentators will be arguing as to who should be assigned the greater fault for the failure of the talks, or for making the Middle East even more dangerous than it was earlier. Already one can expect who will assign responsibility to the Palestinians, who to the Israelis, and who to the Americans.

On the other hand, the place that saw the reincarnation of Jesus, Mohammed’s ascent to heaven, and the rebirth of Israel may yet have something else to show the world. 

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Sharkansky is professor emeritus of political science at Hebrew University.