God, God

By Gutman Locks for JewishMag.com
Now we are in the month of Elul. Elul is the time when we prepare for the New Year. On the New Year we will stand before the King of the Universe, and our portions for the coming year will be set aside according to the judgment that we receive. How well we prepare during Elul may very well affect the judgment that we will receive. Will it be favorable, abundant? Will we find success this year in those areas where we need so much help? This makes Elul one of the most serious and important times in the entire year.
Without doubt, the highlight of Elul comes early in the morning, when we say the Selichot prayers. And the highlight of these prayers comes when we recite G-d’s 13 Attributes of Mercy, beginning with, "G-d, G-d..."

Doubling G-d’s Name is a very unusual thing to do. If the man who was leading the communal prayers would repeat the central prayer, “Hear, O Israel, the L-ord our G-d, the L-ord is One,” thereby saying it twice, we must take him down from his position at once. The problem is that someone might think we are addressing two gods! But here, during these prayers, we all call out “G-d, G-d,” actually doubling His very Name!

Not only this, but when we call out, some people scream loudly, some actually cry and yearn with all their heart. What is going on here? What are we really doing? How are we to call out? What should our intentions be?

We can learn the answer to these questions from G-d Himself. When G-d tested Avraham, He told him to sacrifice his only beloved son, Yitzchak. Avraham picked up the knife and actually put it to his son’s throat, prepared to carry out G-d’s command. What an awesome moment in the history of the universe this was! It was then that G-d called out to Avraham saying, “Avraham, Avraham. Do not lay your hand upon the lad….”[*]

Why did G-d double Avraham’s name? How did He call out to him? It is well known that G-d doubled Avraham’s name because He loved him. He doubled his name as a sign of endearment. He was expressing just how beloved Avraham was to Him, especially at that moment when Avraham showed that he was willing to sacrifice whatever he had for G-d. G-d called out to Avraham with all the love that a father could possibly have for a son.

It is with this depth of love that we are to call out to G-d when we double His Name. “G-d, G-d, we love You, and thank you for all that You have done for us, and for all that You will bestow upon us throughout our lives. Thank You. Thank You.”

When we will call out like this, not only will our prayers be meaningful and pleasant to us, but they will actually cause our judgment and portion for the coming year to be one of love.

[*] Genesis 22:11

The Nazi-Hunter Who Might Secretly Be A Jew

The 1992 video game Wolfenstein 3D was the first "1st-person shooter"—that is, a game where the screen mirrored the character's field of vision, and the player's presence is marked by the barrel of a gun in the lower-right hand corner of the frame.

The game itself is simple. B.J. Blaskowicz, a Polish spy, prowls through Nazi dungeons during World War II. In the years since Wolfenstein, the conceit itself has become common—even Call of Duty, the most popular video game on the market, takes place during WWII and features Allied troops storming Nazi bases—but, unlike in films, the idea of Jews fighting in WWII and getting their revenge on Nazis, has never really solidified.

Still, gamers have been making a case for years in favor of Blaskowicz's Jewishness. He even has a page on JewOrNotJew.com. A recent post on the video game blog Kotaku.com fleshes out the speculation. Wolfenstein's lead designer Tom Hall seemed tickled by the reading, though would not confirm speculations: "An interesting angle," he replied. "[It] deepens the meaning of his actions and struggle!"

- Matthue Roth

Ben-Gurion's Rice

You might recall a story that takes place in Chelm, city of fools, in which the village runs out of sour cream right before Shavuot. The elders suggest that since they still have plenty of water, why not switch the names of water and sour cream? Almost a stroke of genius; Chelmites get plenty of sour cream, but face a sudden shortage of water.

Prompted by a rice shortage during Israel's austerity period of 1949-59, David Ben-Gurion commissioned a much sounder solution that resulted in one of Israel's favorite carbs: ptitim, or what we in America call "Israeli couscous." The food engineers at Osem devised the rice impostor by roasting "grains" of wheat flour paste. The resulting ptitim (whose name comes from the Arabic word for "pounding dry bread") was a hit.

Today, ptitim appeals primarily to children—they can be found in the shapes of stars, rings, and hearts (but not dinosaurs, as of this writing). But if ptitim is Israel's mac-and-cheese, it’s gourmet to the rest of the world: a quick recipe search brings up a "ptitim risotto with radicchio" and even a pineapple couscous brûlée.

- Leah Falk

A 1950s Western With a Jewish Twist

Have Gun – Will Travel was an "adult Western" series that aired in the late 1950s to early 1960s. Set in San Francisco nearly 100 years earlier, the hero, Paladin (played by Richard Boone), was a gentleman gunfighter who enjoyed opera, beautiful women, fine food, and chess. He often quoted Shakespeare and Greek philosophers and, in one episode, both Pirkei Avot and the Zohar.  

In that episode, "The Fatalist," written by Shimon Wincelberg, a young Jewish immigrant named Rivka Shotness begs Paladin to help her father, Nathan, who is being bullied by hoodlums. Paladin agrees.

"In Hebrew," Rivka tells him, his name means "wonderful  law." Her father then quotes Pirkei Avot 3:2: "The Mishnah says, 'Pray for the welfare of the authorities, for if not for the fear thereof, men would swallow each other alive.'" Paladin responds from the same chapter,  "Doesn’t your Mishnah also say, 'Im ein Torah, ein kemach: 'If there is no law there is no bread'?"  He continues: "The good die young that they may not be corrupted; the wicked live on that they may have a chance to repent."  Astonished, Nathan marvels: "Mr. Paladin even quotes from our holy Zohar!"

Perhaps a young Billy Joel was watching.
- Michael J. Bohnen