Colbert and Mark Feuerstein Unleash my Pet Peeve

I was watching Colbert and the Late Show the other night and he had on actor Mark Feuerstein (check him out on IMDB) as a guest.  I’ve been a long-time fan of MF’s – going back to Caroline in the City but not a “serious fan” in that I don’t watch everything he is in.  Apparently his current show – Royal Pains is beginning its 8th and final season therefore his press junket on Colbert.

Anyway, Colbert and MF are chatting and Colbert brings up MF’s being “re- bar mitzvahed.”  BAM!  Right in the sweet spot one of my biggest Jewish education pet peeves.  First, I shout at the TV “UGH! you don’t get bar mitzvahed, you become bar mitzvah.”  No one was listening on the other end.

Then it gets worse as MF continues to explain that his father says to him (at age 30) “Hey your Torah portion is coming back up in Temple and you can read it again.”  At which point I yell at the TV “reading Torah is NOT the mark of a bar mitzvah ceremony, the aliyah is!”  No one was listening on the other end.

Then MF continues to say that he was walking around town listening to his Walkman (yes, he jokes at how old this story is as proof of the artifact) so he could “hear the song” over and over again so he could re-memorize “the song.”  At which point I yell at the TV “it’s not a ‘song’ it’s Trope, and if you didn’t learn to read it in the first place, you shouldn’t be ‘memorizing’ it again – that’s not the point of ‘reading’ Torah!”  No one was listening on the other end.

You might first respond by saying, “Robyn, no one was listening because you were screaming at a TV of a pre-recorded show.”  But the truth is that I have been ‘screaming’ at Jewish educators, Jewish leaders, rabbis, cantors and ritual directors of years – and no one is listening.

We continue to perpetuate all that is wrong with everything MF said – and he said it not only to Colbert, but to the millions of viewers watching.  He shared misinformation because we – Jewish education leadership – continue to perpetuate the misinformation surrounding bar/bat mitzvah:  that it’s something that happens to a kid, that as an adult you can ‘have’ one, that it’s okay to memorize a tune and some words that have no meaning to you and can just get up and recite the “song” and not actually read from Torah.  Not to mention that the reading of Torah isn’t the actual part of the ceremony that marks the bar/bat mitzvah – but the aliyah.

Some might wonder why do I think this is an important issue to even “scream” about.  One of the biggest reasons is because the entire supplemental religious school system has been mostly reduced to this prepare young Jews for this event which is incorrectly perceived to be ‘required’ in order for someone to be a bar/bat mitzvah.  Because the education we give the kids is focused on this faux performance of reciting a memorized ‘song’ instead of connecting them to deep meaning with our ancient texts with modern lessons. They (parents and young Jews) are missing the point because we are letting them.  They are missing an important opportunity because we are perpetuating the problem.

What do you do when an entire adult community within a society has all the wrong information and continues to perpetuate it because the education leadership of that society refuses to shout from the mountain tops that we have had it all wrong.

When will someone listen?

(If you want to watch the full exchange, here is the link to the Colbert episode.  MF comes on after Anderson Cooper at 30:40)