click above to watchclick above to listen (audio only).
Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with composer MOSHE DENBURG, who stays on and plays the Today/Yesterday trivia game with David Sheward and Leslie (Hoban) Blake
Topics include: world music, Tzimmes, Israel, India.
Segment aired Aug. 28, 2021 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio/podcast program #813 hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Please Note: Segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations. For the full interview with all elements, please visit the audio of the complete original broadcast.
click above to watch the episodeclick above to listen to the episode (audio only)
Here is the 808th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired live on Facebook, Saturday morning, July 24, 2021. Info: Davesgoneby.com.
Guests: actresses Lillias White and Vicki Quade; theater critics Leslie (Hoban) Blake & David Sheward.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews actress Lillias White; Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflection (Ben & Jerry’s); Colorado Limerick of the Damned (Hoehne); Greeley Crimes & Old Times
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (hotspot) 00:30:30 TODAY/YESTERDAY Trivia Quiz (July 24 w/ David Sheward, Leslie (Hoban) Blake, Vicki Quade) 01:50:00 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES 02:17:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Lillias White 02:51:30 Friends of the Daverhood 03:00:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #170 (Ben & Jerry’s) 03:08:30 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED (Hoehne) 03:11:00 DAVE GOES OUT
(This Rabbinical Reflection first aired July 24, 2021 on the Dave’s Gone By video podcast. youtube link: https://youtu.be/2l4v4oXw2Xc)
Rabbi Sol Solomon offers his Rabbinical Reflection on a cream-curdling decision by Ben & Jerry’s.
Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflections are heard on the long-running Dave’s Gone By radio/podcast program (davesgoneby.com) and then archived as text and audio on the Rebbe’s blog, Shalomdammit.com, where a transcript of this Reflection may be read.
Rabbi Sol is also the creator of the stage show, “Shalom Dammit! An Evening with Rabbi Sol Solomon,” which played in NYC in Nov. 2011 and Aug. 2012.
Shalom, Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for July 24, 2021.
I scream, you scream, we all scream — at Ben and Jerry’s!
Back in the late 1970s, a couple of underachieving Jewish slobs, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, raised $12,000 to open an ice-cream store. Combining their very different skills and sensibilities — did you know Ben Cohen has no sense of smell? Finally, someone who can sit next to old men at the synagogue on Yom Kippur. But in a couple of years, Ben & Jerry’s became a serious brand and, eventually, a world-famous hoo-ha.
To their credit, these nice boychiks always tried to be socially conscious. They donated to oodles of charities and non-profits. They made their packaging more eco-friendly and objected to using growth hormones in their cows. For a while they had a policy that nobody at their company could make more than five times what the lowest-paid worker made. That didn’t last. But Ben & Jerry’s stood as a model for visionary capitalists who could create something people want, be funny and hip about it, improve the world, and still make a bundle. The most conservative, right-wing neo-fascist could sneer at Cherry Garcia and Chunky Monkey — but they still ate it and had to marvel at the company’s success.
Messrs. Cohen and Greenfield sold Ben & Jerry’s to Unilever two decades ago. it is said that they have no connection to the company beyond their first names still being on the buckets. So the horrible things I’m about to say are, I assume, not directed at them. But they certainly are to current CEO, Matthew McCarthy. Well, he can kiss the blarney stone’s tuchas for his leftist, radical, stupid decision-making. He wants gender equity in the workplace? Fantastic. He wants to give black people reparations for slavery? He’s welcome to write a check. But his decision to stop selling ice cream in East Jerusalem and the settlements in the West Bank is more “half-baked” than their most popular flavor.
In a statement last week, Ben & Jerry’s said that selling their product in the “occupied” West Bank was, quote, “inconsistent with our values.” So boycotting a country that annexed land it won in a war against perpetual enemies and then building citizens’ houses on that land, is inconsistent with the values of making people obese and giving them heart disease?
In response to Ben & Jerry’s BDS bullshit, the Israeli government is very likely to do what all Jewish people do when threatened — call their lawyers. They did it three years ago when airbnb, the company for people who don’t think they’re good enough to stay in hotels, airbnb banned listing properties in the territories. Benjy Netanyahu got on the phone to Moskowitz, Moskowitz, Moskowitz, and Flywheel. They put up a flurry of lawsuits, and airbnb reversed its policy. To save face — well, one of their faces — airbnb promised to take any money coming in from those properties and funnel it to humanitarian aid. I just hope the CEO of airbnb gets AIDS.
But I digress. In current times, when even ice cream is politicized, Ben & Jerry’s is facing a backlash over its anti-Zionist actions. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called them “the anti-Israel ice cream.” South Florida politician Lavern Spicer tweeted, “I will never buy Ben & Jerry’s again. They might as well change their name to Hamas and Adolf’s.” A little hyperbolic Lavern, but appreciated nonetheless.
The BabylonBee satire magazine created a new Ben & Jerry’s flavor: Push the Jewish into the Sea Salt and Caramel. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has as much reason to eat his feelings as anyone, says he’s reluctantly giving up Cherry Garcia. And right here on Long Island, Town of Hempstead Supervisor Don Clavin bashed Unilever in a speech. He vowed to remove every Lipton teabag and Hellman’s mayonnaise jar from government offices. And let’s not forget Breyer’s ice cream, which is for people who don’t think they’re good enough to eat Super Fudge Chunk.
Uniloser has opened up a pint of worms with its decision to punish Israel simply for treating land in Israel like Israeli land. It’s time for Unilever, airbnb, and all these suddenly “woke” enterprises, that have no trouble doing business in China, Russia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia; it’s time for them to think real hard about who the good guys and the bad guys really are in this world. Until then, it’s up to us reasonable people to boycott them. Ben & Jerry’s go peddle your lumpy shit-cream elsewhere. We won’t buy it, we won’t eat it, and we’ll make sure your economic future hits a very rocky road.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York. Whatever happened to Sealtest?
click above to watch episode #796click above to listen to the episode (audio only)
Here is the 796th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired live on Facebook Saturday morning May 1, 2021. Info: davesgoneby.com.
Guests: actors Christiane Noll and Jason Graae. theater critics Leslie (Hoban) Blake and David Sheward, Dave’s wife Joyce.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews actress Christiane Noll; Jason Graae plays the Today/Yesterday trivia quiz vs. Leslie (Hoban) Blake and David Sheward; Dave Goes Off on Rash & Tag; Greeley Crimes & Old Times; Colorado Limerick of the Damned (La Garita, CO); Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection (Meron).
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce 00:10:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Christiane Noll 01:15:30 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES 01:26:00 TODAY/YESTERDAY Trivia Quiz: May 1 w/ Jason Graae, Leslie (Hoban) Blake, & David Sheward 03:05:00 Friends of the Daverhood 03:12:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #169: Meron 03:20:30 DAVE GOES OFF: rash `n tag 03:59:00 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED: La Garita, CO 04:01:30 DAVE GOES OUT Classy Noll / on youtube
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for April 30, 2021.
Happy Lag B’Omer everybody! And if you’ve ever had your Omer logged, you know just how delightful that can be.
Lag B’Omer is a relatively minor holiday on the Jewish calendar, but our people appreciate it because it is a happy one. Well, not completely happy. God won’t let a Jewish holiday be completely happy. And this festival, in particular, is about putting a bookend on a time of gloom.
Some say Lag B’Omer is celebrated because that day marked the end of a terrible plague in the Jewish community. No, not bad drivers. Rabbi Akiva, who was a great sage — and a mediocre parsley — had a lot of disciples who started dropping dead between Passover and Shavuoth. Somehow, on this date, they stopped dying. Maybe it was Pfizer, maybe Moderna — whatever. Suddenly it was time to rejoice.
Now, a completely different explanation for Lag B’Omer involves one of Ravi Akiva’s disciples, Shimon bar Yochai. Lag B’Omer is the day he kicked the b’ucket. So who celebrates a death? Well, this Yochai guy was something of a mystic. By writing the Zohar, he started the Kabbalah ball rolling. He told his followers, now that I’m leaving my body, all my teachings and good deeds belong to the universe. So don’t mourn; go have a wedding, do a dance, get a fun haircut, light a bonfire because of all the light I’ve brought into the world. And marshmallows.
So that’s what Jews have been doing — taking a break during a somber time on the calendar, when everyone’s worried about the harvest, and having a party. And if you happen to be in Israel, you can go visit the tomb of Shimon bar Yochai, which happens to be in a town called Meron. I think you know where I’m going with this.
Year after year, hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Jews make a pilgrimage to Meron for feasting and fun. It’s like Woodstock — only Jews don’t take acid; we get acid reflux. The Yidlach gather for this festival — sometimes 400,000 people show up for this Lag B’orgy.
April 2021, because of COVID, only 100,000 came. Easy-peasy, right? Except, a few people slipped, folks behind them couldn’t go backwards — voila! Stampede. 45 people crushed to death like grapes in a Manischewitz pulper. 150 more wounded. It’s the worst peacetime disaster in the history of Eretz Yisroel. I know you’re waiting for a joke but no…that’s the emmes.
Who’s to blame? Everybody, of course. First of all, you have the insular Orthodox, who don’t think the greater community’s rules apply to them. We saw this with the Haredis in Brooklyn, who were holding massive, unmasked weddings and funerals when the governor was begging everyone: don’t even hold small unmasked weddings and funerals. Were Cuomo’s restrictions draconian? Did the Orthodox exacerbate a health crisis? Or vice versa: by disregarding protocols, did they prove that, at least for people under 60, we’ve all been going overboard with a punishment that’s worse than the disease?
Even if that were true, and Governor Cuomo was erring on the side of caution — well, not with his schmeckel but with everything else — what the Haredi were doing was unbelievably selfish and thoughtless. “We follow American laws to the letter…up until the moment we don’t happen to agree with them. Who needs police? We police ourselves.” So elected officials who crave the Orthodox vote look the other way when rules are bent.
Sometimes that’s fine — sometimes it enables catastrophe. Wifebeaters and child molesters keep on beating wifes and molesting childs while the Rabbis try to fix things behind the scenes. Ask the Catholic church how well that works. And it’s this entitled arrogance of the Haredi attitude that tells Bibi Netanyahu, “We’re gonna put a hundred thousand people on a road meant for 30,000. HaShem will be our crowd control.” But they forget: God likes crushing things. Look what He did to Samson.
Jews have good reason for being wary of outsiders. From Roman soldiers to Spanish inquisitors to Cossacks — if a goy was on your doorstep, he wasn’t holding a check from Publishers Clearing House. However, when it comes to legitimate concerns about public safety — whether you’re spitting corona droplets on your cousin or getting pushed so close to a stranger your quarter shoes land on his forehead — it would be nice if my brethren would show a little consideration for the bigger picture.
Besides, what’s so wrong with a few more weeks of distancing? We’re Jewish. We shouldn’t be going to mass.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches.
Click above to watch a video of Dave Lefkowitz’s phone interview with his aunt, Bonnie Pinkow.Click above to listen to the interview.
Dave Lefkowitz chats with his aunt, BONNIE PINKOW
Topics include: New Year’s, family, Israel, Jordan.
Segment aired Dec. 31, 2019 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” podcast program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Please Note: Segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations. For the full interview with all elements, please visit the audio of the complete original broadcast.
All content (c)2019 TotalTheater Productions
More information on Dave’s Gone By? Visit www.davesgoneby.com.
Click above to watch in-studio footage of Rabbi Sol Solomon’s phone interview with David Broza.Click above to listen to the interview.
Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with musician DAVID BROZA
Topics include: Israel, Townes Van Zandt, music, Judaism, Bob Dylan.
Segment aired Aug. 24, 2019 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” podcast program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Please Note: Segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations. For the full interview with all elements, please visit the audio of the complete original broadcast.
click above to watch episode #710Click above to listen to the entire episode.
Here is the 710th episode, “Broz Before Hoz,” of the long-running podcast, Dave’s Gone By.
Host: Dave Lefkowitz
Guests: musician David Broza, Dave’s wife Joyce
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN (work photo, Netflix Greeley, Hickenlooper, dog diaper) 00:42:00 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES 01:12:00 TODAY YESTERDAY – Aug. 24 02:01:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews David Broza 01:37:00 INSIDE BROADWAY (news & review (01:50:30; Bat Out of Hell)) 02:50:00 New Potato! 02:54:00 STORYTIME – Why Fish Fart, pt. 7 03:09:00 Friends of the Daverhood 03:16:30 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED – Marble 03:18:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Aug. 24, 2019 Playlist “Rock `n’ Roll High School” (01:34:30; Ramones). “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” (01:55:00; Meat Loaf). “The Woman by My Side” (02:00:01), “Time of Trains” (02:41:00), & “Silver Dollar” (03:24:00; David Broza).
Click above to watch in-studio footage of the entire episode.Click above to listen to the episode (audio only).
Here is the 678th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired live on Facebook Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018. More info: davesgoneby.com
Host: Dave Lefkowitz
Guest: author Joseph Rotenberg (“Timeless Travels”), Dave’s wife Joyce
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Joseph Rotenberg, Greeley Crimes & Old Times, Inside Broadway, StoryTime (Jamie O’Rourke, pts. 2), Colorado Limerick of the Damned (Dacono), Dave’s Big Dictionary (marigold), Saturday Segue (in the news).
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (“a egg,” Columbia Christmastime) 00:16:30 FLUSHIN’ FRENZY! 00:37:00 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES 01:03:00 INSIDE BROADWAY 01:28:30 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED – Dacono 01:32:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Joseph Rotenberg 02:08:00 STORYTIME – Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato, pt. 2 02:19:00 Friends of the Daverhood 02:27:30 MY SICK MIND – Penny Marshall 02:32:30 DAVE’S BIG DICTIONARY – marigold 02:39:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – In the News 03:18:00 DAVE GOES OUT
Dec. 22, 2018 Playlist: “The Flesh Failures” (01:24:00; Hair 1968 Broadway cast). “Magic Penny” (02:40:00; Malvina Reynolds). “Good Year for the Roses” (02:46:30; Elvis Costello). “Lungs” (02:49:30; Townes Van Zandt). “When I Get to the Border” (02:53:30; Richard & Linda Thompson). “My Defenses are Down” (03:09:00; Annie Get Your Gun 1946 Broadway cast). “Let the Sunshine In” (Hair 2009 Broadway cast).
Shalom, Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of March 25, 2018.
What does Israel really need? What’s missing from the land of milk and honey? Oh, some would say peace between Jews and Arabs. Others might suggest curing cancer or irrigating more of the Negev. But a couple of Rabbis have a different idea. They say what Israel needs most of all is a theme park.
No, I am not kidding. A story in the Jerusalem Post explains that entrepreneurs have been visiting Eretz Yisroel in the hopes of building a Jewish equivalent of Disney’s Magic Kingdom. In fact, planning is well under way for a 60-acre tourist attraction in the heart of Dimona—a city which, until now, was best known for housing the secret arsenal of Israel’s nuclear weapons. What better place to bring kids for a Hebraic vacation or, as I call it, Shlepcot.
The theme park will consist of five “worlds”: “World of Spirits, World of the Jewish Nation, World of Society, World of Time, and Oasis.” Someone got lazy with the last one, there. (Either that, or Noel Gallagher is really out of ideas.) But this is beautiful – Lea Malul, CEO of the project, told the Jerusalem Post, quote, “The park will have the same rides and the same layout as Disney World but with content. It will be 90% fun and 10% content.” Because God forbid Jews should have 100% fun at anything. No, always gotta make room for disappointment and boredom. Even at Passover, a happy holiday where we escaped from slavery and entered the holy land, we pour out 10 percent of our wine glasses. Why? Because Egyptians died, and we’re not supposed to celebrate too much. So now they’ll have a theme park where the last 10 seconds of the roller coaster slows down for a physics lesson.
But seriously, although the original idea for Shlepcot was put forward by a New Jersey Rabbi, the venue won’t be one of these biblical passion pageants. Nevertheless, it will promote Talmudic values. For example—and again, this is right from the Jerusalem Post—the popular Splash Mountain ride will include a theme of six work days and then, after the drop, a calm zone representing the day of rest. There’ll also be a People of the Book Roller Coaster. Which I guess means that Genesis and Exodus go really fast, and the last three books go two miles an hour and put you to sleep before Deuteronomy. They also might consider branding the long lines in the hot sun as representing 40 years in the desert, and making The Haunted Mansion Leona Helmsley’s old apartment.
If the project goes forward, developers expect the surrounding area to be built up with shopping malls, hotels—I’d say falafel stands are a good bet. More importantly, officials from Dimona hope to make that city an international destination. Said one official, quote, “Every year, four million cars pass by en route from Beersheba to Eilat. We want them stopping in Dimona.” What they don’t say is that the city was originally settled by North Africans and later got an influx of Russians. So the theme park will have both rhythm and fixed elections.
Here’s one more quote from Malul, the CEO: “Jewish history is mostly sad – with the Holocaust and so on.” I love that, `the Holocaust and so on.’ Like she’s browsing through a catalogue. But, she says, “this will be a unique way for Jewish values and learning to become fun.” Well, 90 percent fun.
Most promising is the idea that this park will not have Mickey Mouse or Goofy but “alternative characters who will represent the heroes of tomorrow,” unquote. One can only imagine: Ephraim, the plucky lizard. Stingy Duck. Winnie the Jooh. Captain Shnook. Shmuella DeVille. Shimon E. Cricket. And of course, Lilo and Stitch, the stitch being part of grandpa’s hernia operation. And I guess you need seven dwarf-equivalents: Yitzi, Chaiki, Shloimi, Rivki, Doc (who is a Jewish doctor), Gassy, and Grumpy because, let’s face it, Grumpy was always the Jewish one anyway.
Jokes aside, I am all for anything that brings joy and tourism to Dimona. And if some shmegegge employee accidentally pushes the wrong button, and instead of starting the Magic Carpet ride blows up half of Lebanon? Well, that would sure be worth the price of an E-Ticket.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches, in Great Neck, New York. (sings) “Leave a small tip after all, leave a small tip after all…”
