Friday, September 28, 2012

More atonement

This came to my attention through a friend, so I’m putting it in as a follow-up to my comments on whether a one-size-fits-all Yom Kippur apology via Facebook actually constitutes, you know, atonement.

It’s a collection of cartoons about Judaism (mostly) published by The New Yorker in honor of Yom Kippur.

But—and please forgive me, Roo—I’m using this as an excuse to tell you two High Holy Days stories that were related to me during my days working in the film industry.

The first was assistant to one of the execs at HBO Films, not Jewish, but from Brooklyn. (Of course, being a secretary was just his day job, silly. He was pitching a concept for a sitcom set in a gas station.) He swore that after sunset at the end of Yom Kippur it’s impossible to get into a Chinese restaurant anywhere in the borough.

On account of people spend the entire day in shul and fasting…

The second was a producer at Charles Fries Productions. He was Jewish and attended holiday services at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, where a lot of people in the film industry went. Keep in mind that this was back in the 80s, when the only connectivity option on the go was pay phones. Remember them?

Anyway, Richard swore that during the breaks in services you did not want to be anywhere between the agents and the bank of pay phones in the lobby, because there was a mad stampede for them.

I have to wonder how the sensibilities of our current times affect these aspects. I mean—I’ve been in Episcopalian services where people bring in bottled water; and trust me—Episcopalians run a tight ship, and these services don’t run longer than 60 minutes. (I’m expecting triple shot mochachinos and; bagels any day now.)

And as for going hours without checking your mobile device for texts, emails or Facebook updates—fuggedaboutit.

Besides—someone might be apologizing to all their friends. Wouldn't want to miss that.




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