Intellectual Conversation

It was a warm day, but Starbucks was cold. She reviewed her Arabic notes as her teacher walked up to her table.

"How was your business trip to Pittsburgh?" he asked (in Arabic).

"Chicken!" she answered.

**pretty = djidad. chicken = didjadj

**********************

"And this is how you spell shukran (thank you) in Arabic," he noted as he wrote.

She blinked. "But you left out the n."

"It has no n. The hamza (a squiggle) is pronounced like an n."

"But you said the hamza is silent."

"It is."

She coughed meaningfully.

***********************

"How is this pronounced," she asked, pointing at a word that ended with a hamza. She had figured it all out. It would either be silent, or would be pronounced like an n.

He read the word.

"But why did you make that hard gutteral sound in your throat!" she accused him tearfully.

"Because of the hamza."

She stared.

The Best of Times... Slava's Snow Show

When the son of toy store clerks in the Soviet Union grows up to become a world-acclaimed clown, and the founding president of the Academy of Fools, and he creates a show, you can expect something special.

Maybe, if you're like me, you snickered the first time you heard there was an international Academy of Fools. But if you get the chance to catch Slava's Snow Show--don't miss it. Don't even think of it. It'll be the most amazing experience you'll ever have cost yourself.

It's hard to put into words what Slava's Snow Show is. On the face of it, it's a clown show with a Russian twist--it folds poignant moments of loneliness, goodbyes and rejection, into warm embraces of friendship, exploration, discovery and love, mixing tears with laughter and recognition. But it's even more than that. For the audience, it's about letting go of the knots that separate us, and letting go of the stress and isolation that we allow to envelop us. And it's connecting to a peace and delight, a happiness and contentment with ourselves, everyone, and the world as a whole. People talk about having a childlike experience of wonder and happiness, and although there is some of that, it's an all the more special experience because of its bittersweet side...

It's got the best of art, but also the best of community in it. Amazing that you can go to a show and feel such a sense of communion. And on top of all that, you can get your head massaged, get tossed over a clown's shoulder, and play ball with strangers.

I went to see it for the second time last night. Jody came for the first time. She went in stressed and overwhelmed, and she came out, I think, happy and content. And, surprised to feel so good. Well, our smiles speak for themselves. :)


Yellow, the lead clown. After the show, he sits on the stage and watches the antics of all the happy people. And if you come to engage him, he obliges most generously. As you'll see below.


After the show the Green clowns play with the audience, still in character.


Jody gets a head massage from a laughing Yellow, who's just been hit on the head with a huge ball.


And I also get some hair tips from Yellow as Jody snaps the evidence.

What Is My Kind of Theatre?or The Theatre I Love ~ by Slava Polunin

- It is a kind of wedding cavalcade,
where I try to marry everyone to everyone;

- It is a theatre of ritual magic
and festive pageantry,
constructed on the basis of images and movements,
games and fantasies,
that are the common creation of the audience and the people of the theatre;

- It is a theatre which inexorably grows
from dreams and tales;

- It is a theatre of hopes and dreams,
full of longing and loneliness,
losses and disillusionment;

- It is a theatre which always changes,
which breaths spontaneous improvisation
and cares scrupulously for tradition;

- It is in the vein of contemporary
multi-layered synthesis,
on the boundary of life and art;

- It is a theatre that works in an epic-intimate alloy
of tragedy and comedy,
of absurdity and naivity,
of cruelty and gentleness;

- It is a theatre which escapes
definition and the unequivocal
understanding of its actions,
as from attempts
to usurp its freedom.


Article from the SF Weekly
Slava's Snowshow: No dialogue, no plot, only miraculous and abstract moments on which to fix your own meaning
By Nathaniel Eaton
Article Published Apr 19, 2006

Russian-born Slava Polunin loves his theater "full of longing and loneliness, losses and disillusionment," so it makes strange sense that he has (deservedly) become a world-famous clown, is president of the Academy of Fools, and is the creator and heart of the sensational Slava's Snowshow. Sure, the show features some big shoe-in-the-face high jinks, especially during intermission, but it isn't focused on how many horn-honking clowns can fit into a little car; it's more about being steered through emotional extremes. Polunin is primarily interested in creating dream vignettes of wonderment, curiosity, and heartbreak, as when his small boat gets hit by an oil tanker or two lovers speak gibberish to each other on huge foam telephones. There's no dialogue or plot, only miraculous and sometimes abstract moments — such as a figure walking inside a glowing balloon — that allow the audience to superimpose its own meaning, while smoke machines work in overdrive and music from the far corners of the globe underscores the vision. The finale, which Polunin also performed in Cirque du Soleil's Alegría, is true heart-pounding astonishment. When the smoke clears and the gigantic balloons crash down, look for the old clown sitting unobtrusively in the audience like a quiet child, eyes aglow, watching the oblivious grown-ups gleefully bomb each other with snow confetti.

انا اسمى روث

انا اسكن فى بروكلن. انا احب سفر و قراة

Sign of Our Times

I'm casting about for organizations in the city which focus on Jewish-Muslim dialogue and peace. I want to get involved.

Anyway, I came across one Muslim pro-peace site which has a banner which is both very sad and rather wryly funny in a dark, horrible way. It's definitely a sign of our times.

You can see it within its context by clicking the title of this blog, but here is the text of the banner below:

*****************
General Disclaimer
Whatever act of Violence has just taken place, we deplore it.
***********************

It's the site of the Muslim Peace Fellowship, "a gathering of peace and justice-oriented Muslims of all backgrounds who are dedicated to making the beauty of Islam evident in the world."

Victory, Thy Name is ... Irony.

A Brief Background into the Arabic Alphabet, Beauteous As It Is

After resisting it for five weeks, on Friday I gave in. I went to the bookstore and bought the misnamed Easy Arabic Script.

That's right. The Arabic alphabet requires an entire book to learn. For real. This is the toughest alphabet I've ever touched. I touch it, and it whips out an entire book and smashes my face into a pulp.

I exaggerate not.

It appears that the word "genius" is originally derived from the Arabic, and I can tell you I know why that is. It is because one has to be a genius to read Arabic.

Exhibit A:

Each letter has AT LEAST THREE FORMS, based on where it is in a word.
ﻉ = ﻊ ﻌ ﻋ
ﻩ = ﻪ ﻬ ﻫ
(and so on)

Exhibit B:

Each letter looks different in script (handwriting) than it does in type.
For instance, ﻬ looks like a hospital vital sign squiggle in script.

Exhibit C:

Arabic is written without vowels, with the exception of three "strong" vowels: A, EE, and W. Of course, the "A" can be morphed into an "UH" or an "EE" by a little squiggle, and the "EE" can sound more like a "Y" sometimes, and the "W" can sometimes be pronounced "WA."

Not so helpful anymore, is it?

And forget about the so-called "short vowels" sounds like "a, uh, oo, i." They only figure in learners' books. Not in papers, God forbid, nor in literature.

Exhibit D:

Unlike English, in which all letters follow rules about where they lie on a given line (ie uncapitalized vowels stand within the bottom half of a line, "t"s are crossed about one-third to half-way down, etc), most Arabic letters are free-floaters. They can be found on the top half of a line, the bottom half of a line, and even on top of one another. And it's not based on the letter before them. It's based on the letter after them. That's right.

It's going to take FOREVER for me to learn this one.



THAT SAID... Let's commence to my victory this morning...

I live in a neighborhood with a large Muslim population. So large is it, in fact, that numerous storefront signs on Coney Island Avenue, near me, are in Arabic.

Waiting for my bus today, I entertained myself by attempting to decipher the Arabic store signs--knowing that I would never know if I had transliterated them correctly, seeing as how I don't know more than 30 words in the language, tops.

I start with a sign across the street. It's a large white one, with "Barber Shop" written in large red letters. Above the English, however, are Arabic letters. I gasp in delight--it's my chance to learn what "barber shop" is in Arabic! It's my own public dictionary!

I begin to mumble out loud as I go through the words a letter at a time.

"B..A..R...B...R SH...P"

*weep* I don't know whether to trill in glee that I've clearly managed to correctly read the letters... or to snicker at the irony of not having learnt anything new at all.

I turn to another Arabic sign above the English sign "Meat Shop."

"M...T SH...P"

Great. I am trying not to laugh at the signs, which would not gain me any friends on the street, and my eyes well with tears.

Victory is...BARBRSHP.

An Interesting Glimpse into Another World

This afternoon, I got a rather memorable phone call at work from a man interested in turning me on to Chabad, a very religious, orthodox subset of Judaism.

It was an amusing and interesting conversation. He was an amiable conversationalist, and although we disagree and I somewhat paraphrase our conversation below (he spoke a lot) to bring out the humor, I did enjoy the call, and it all was friendly and tongue-in-cheek for me.

Operation Interest Ruth in Chabad

Caller: Chabad Lubavitch is the most liberal of the Orthodox groups, you know.

Ruth: Hm. How interesting!

Caller: Judaism is based on the law, on the Truth. The great thing about Orthodoxy is that wherever you go, it's the same. It's like McDonalds that way.

Ruth: But without cheeseburgers.

Caller: Yes, without cheeseburgers.

Ruth: But if Chabad Lubavitch is the most liberal of the Orthodox groups, then it follows that Orthodoxy is not all the same.

***

Caller: Aren't you proud that both of your parents are Jewish?

Ruth: [pause] I'm proud of both of my parents as people.

Caller: [pause]

***

Caller: But what makes Judaism unique is that it's the Truth.

Ruth: I believe that Chabad Judaism is a true way of being Jewish. I also believe that other forms of exploring religion and spirituality are the truth. I don't believe in one truth. That concept turns me off. It's like the concept of having to go through Christ to reach God.

Caller: [unknown spluttered prayer] Why do you bring that up?!

***

Caller: Through mitzvot (good deeds) we bring holiness down.

Ruth: Is that the point in Chabad of doing good deeds?

Caller: Yes. God created us to have a home among us, that we should build holiness and the Messiah should come.

***

Caller: What do you believe is the difference between a Jew and a non-Jew?

Ruth: It depends on the Jew and the non-Jew.

***

Caller: Would you like to meet for coffee, maybe, sometime? At Starbucks?

Ruth: Don't get me wrong. I find Chabad very interesting. However, I also find it...

Caller: Even more interesting?

Ruth: (pause) Alien. And I would not join Chabad. It is not for me.

Caller: Well, then we can just meet and have a coffee.

Ruth: Let me be frank. You are not going to convert me.

Caller: Oh heavens no! You're Jewish, anyway! I couldn't convert you.

Ruth: You want to convert my practice and my belief.

Caller: What makes you think that??

Ruth: You talk more than you listen.

Caller: You've asked me questions. I would very much like to just be friends.

Ruth: I don't generally make a practice of making friends with people whose sole purpose in befriending me is to change me.

Caller: Well, maybe we can talk on the phone sometime.

Ruth: That would be lovely.

Caller: And you know, sometimes my wife and I have people over for Shabbos dinner. And people who aren't religious come...you might meet a nice young man!

Ruth: Laughs.

***

So, you can see his persistence. I have to say, I admire his ability to keep trying to welcome me in despite my candor. He was more interested in expounding his philosophy than having a discussion, of course, and the one-liners on my side were more a matter of need than of any usual brevity of speech (as anyone who knows me is aware).

I have no ill-will toward him, although there are definitely major points of disagreement that I have with his philosophies, of course. As I do with the orthodoxies within all the three religions of the Book, so to speak.

One thing he said gave me pause. I'm used to thinking of myself as "the Other" in the eyes of the Chabad and ultra-Orthodox. Usually, I imagine that they see me either as a wayward Jew or as undistinguishable from the general population (Christian).

But he had found my name through a newspaper article about a workshop I'd done on some recent research by my organization. He said that he found it interesting to read about the work of Jewish professionals outside the Orthodox world, who were looking into why Jews are not connected to synagogues and Jewish life, nor committed to marrying other Jews.

Can I explain why I find that interesting? I don't know. I guess because it's the closest to possible (?) validation that Jews of all stripes are Jews, and that you don't have to be like them to be an important and functioning part of the whole. Of course, maybe that's not what he meant. I guess I was just surprised that our work isn't completely ignored and considered irrelevant to them.

Which brings me to the realization that I have no idea what "they" think at all. That I am working on assumptions. I would like to talk about that with the Chabad guy. But would he talk about it with me, or would he be too heavy in convert-Ruth-to-Chabad-ways thoughts to really exchange opinions on that matter?

Maybe there's only one way of knowing. Let's see if he calls.

There's a Jewish philosophy which I understand Chabad keeps: "If you save one person, it is as if you had saved the world." Of course, they would view that as redemption or inclusion in helping to "bring holiness down" to earth. I wonder if he'll continue his efforts to save the world by "saving" me.

Time will tell. :)