letters – Dave's Gone By

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #203 (3/7/2026): I’ve Got Mail!

RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #203 (3/7/2026): I’ve Got Mail!

This Rabbinical Reflection first aired March 7, 2026 on the Dave’s Gone By video podcast.

Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflections are heard on the long-running Dave’s Gone By radio/video 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.

More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com

More on Rabbi Sol: shalomdammit.com

TRANSCRIPT:

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for early March 2026.

My friends, I do so much talking and sermonizing in these Rabbinical Reflections, sometimes I forget that being a clergyman goes both ways. I don’t go both ways, I like the frum pussy, but in terms of relating to you, my flock, I should take more opportunities to acknowledge your responses — give feedback to your feedback, if you will. And you will.

So in this Reflection, I am skinnydipping into my mailbox to reply to your queries with the naked truth.

Back in June of last year, I expressed worry that Zohran Mamdani would become the Mayor of New York City, which, alas, came to pass. A YouTube viewer wrote, “Zohran’s refusal to acknowledge the existence of Israel as a Jewish state during the debate is telling.” Darn tootin’ it’s telling, and I told you so. Big surprise that last week’s joint attack by the United States and Israel on Iran led Mamdani to hyperventilate about what he termed “a catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression.” No word about the thousands of Americans who died, directly or indirectly, at the hands of the last two cockamamie Khamenis. No memory of the American hostages held for more than a year during the Carter administration. No acknowledgement of the mass executions these dictators have ordered of their own people, all the way from 1988 through last week. Zohran, you may think President Trump is a bad guy. Sometimes he is a bad guy. But he took out a worse guy. And if you ignore the difference, you’re dumber than the left-wing schmucks who voted for you.

Also last summer, when media was running the false narrative of Palestinian children languishing because Israel was blocking their food supplies, an Arab Facebooker chided me. He wrote, “You laugh on Palestinians dying of hunger.” No, I don’t laugh on Palestinians dying of hunger. I laugh at Palestinians dying of hunger – but only because it’s not true, or if it were true, it’s because Hamas created the conditions for starvation: they started a war with an act so barbarous, starvation is too good for them. And might I add that a Jewish poster then joined the conversational thread and wrote, “Spot on, Rabbi! Preach on!” I will, my friend. And I do have a spot on my x-ray that my neurologist is looking at.

Responding to my February Reflection about anti-Zionist, semi-intellectual hypocrite Noam Chomsky showing up in the Epstein Files, a YouTube viewer with a Greek name so long you have to breathe twice in the middle of it, wrote, “God bless you, Rabbi Sol Solomon!” He followed it with emojis of an Israeli flag, a Greek flag, and two fingers making a peace sign. All I can say is thank you, Ileos! I am honored to know that you are right behind me, which is the Greek way.

Finally, a Mr. Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey, writes, “Dear Rabbi Sol Solomon, Aren’t you worried that by toppling the Iranian government, we are further destabilizing a region that is already a powder keg?” Fair question. Of course I’m worried. I’m worried about everything. I worry about putting too much fabric softener in with my dress socks. But as for making the Middle East worse, is that even possible? Not to mention that after we struck Tehran, the Iranians responded by bombing not America, but Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain… Hey, maybe if we pull their coattails, they’ll bomb Lebanon and Syria, too.

After 50 years of Sharia shit, Iran has the chance to become a real country again. And when populations of nearby Caliphates and oligarchies see that change is possible, those dominos just might fall, too. Let the liberals kvetch, “How dare Donald Trump institute regime change! Only Congress can do that.” Well, since the hostage crisis, 24 Congresses had the chance to knock out the Supreme Leaders of Iran. Instead, they bobbed and weaved and allowed terrorists to land blow after blow in Israel, America, and around the world.

No question, Iran could become our next Afghanistan. But maybe it’ll be a new Romania. And unlike Dracula, that would not suck.

If you want to write to me — and why wouldn’t you? – please address your letters to shalomdammit@aol.com. That’s shalomdammit@aol.com. I admit, our mail carrier has a hard time delivering those letters, but I do get `em, and I appreciate the time you take to engage with me, particularly when you glorify and exalt me.

For now, though, it’s time to close the mailbox and wait for your missives to pour in. I can’t wait. I mean, I can wait, I will wait, but you know I embellish.

This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #115 (2/1/2015): Letters, I Get Letters

click above to listen (audio file)

RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #115 (2/1/2015): Letters, I Get Letters

aired Jan. 31, 2015 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: http://youtu.be/9h85v4ZV3lY

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of February 1st, 2015.

(sings) Letters, I get letters. Actually, I don’t get letters. I get emails and tweets and instant messages and the occasional bomb threat. And while it’s true that people only write to you for two reasons: to complain–or it’s your birthday—either way, I am happy to be acknowledged and on the radar, so to speak. It’s like an actor: you can get great scripts or you can get Vin Diesel scripts; it’s all good . . . until the phone stops ringing.

Well, my proverbial phone has been ringing off the proverbial hook, so I thought I would share some of these messages with you, my proverbial congregation. Now, I was terribly broken up last week by the death of Joe Franklin. Legendary talk-show host, magnificent New York character, and more than a passing acquaintance of my good friend Dave, who hosts the Dave’s Gone By radio program, of which I assume you are familiar. Joe came to my stage show, “Shalom Dammit!”, when it was at the Roy Arias Theater in Times Square a couple of years ago. Joe stayed through both acts, he applauded, I think he was eating a tomato—but he did not throw it—and he said very nice things about me and my performance.

But even if he hadn’t, there will never be another like Joe Franklin, who carved out his niche—which sounds both erotic and painful—and made a life in show business for seven decades. I should only be so lucky. I’m already so short.

So in the spirit of Joe’s eccentricity and sly obliviousness, I took to Twitter and wrote this message: quote, Joe Franklin was a legend, and I’m proud that he came to my stage show, “Shalom Dammit!”. Then, after the show, we both raped Sarah Silverman.” Unquote.

I know, shocking. How could I possibly fit all that information into 140 characters on Twitter? But more to the point, how could I make a joke about sexually assaulting the best-looking Jewish comedienne since Totie Fields still walked on twos? So a lady wrote to my Facebook page to opine that, quote, “Rape is not a joke punchline.” I guess she never met Bill Cosby. “I love your posts,” the woman said, “but this one is VERY OFFENSIVE!” She put that in capital letters, I guess because she knows my eyesight tends to fail right in the middle of messages. Very thoughtful. She also worried about, quote, a backlash against me and this radio program. Thank you, ma’am, but in order to have a backlash, I first have to have a lash. I don’t have enough followers for an eyelash!

But seriously, for those of you, like this worried woman, who thought my joke was off the grid, you do have to keep in mind that it was Sarah Silverman who started the ball rolling in the first place. She was in that movie, “The Aristocrats,” where all these comedians tell different versions of a long, scatological joke about a showbiz family and their disgusting, depraved, sick and kinky exploits . . . basically the Palins. So Sarah Silverman is in there, and she does her own twist on this twisted joke, one that implicates Joe Franklin by name, accusing him of sexual molestation. Cue the giggles.

To be fair, Joe didn’t find it funny, and he contemplated suing her for defamation of character. Joe’s friends and colleagues reminded him that she was just kidding, and he should lighten up, and that, really, he had no character. But seriously, the rape joke was hers, she put it out there, making it fair game for my tweetmaking.

Which does point to a larger issue: the idea that rape is never funny and can never be funny under any circumstance. Same with the Holocaust, 9/11, retarded people and Nelson Mandela. If you’re like this woman who wrote to me, you can’t possibly find anything amusing, ever, about any of those four things: Holocaust, 9/11, retards, Mandela. If you’re like me, you’re already picturing a retarded Nelson Mandela trying to fly a plane into the World Trade Center, but he’s brain damaged so he crashes into Elie Wiesel’s house by accident.

Anything and everything is fair game depending on time, context, delivery and audience. When Michael Richards used the “n” word at that comedy club years ago, he wasn’t wrong for trying; he simply misjudged the material and the crowd. I use the “n” word in my sermons all the time, and everyone laughs and laughs. Except the janitor.

But moving on to my next letter, this one comes from Marie, an elderly lady in South Florida, or, as I like to call it, Israel East. Marie is responding to my Rabbinical Reflection about the slaughter at Charlie Hebdo magazine. Says Marie, quote, “I couldn’t agree with your comments on Islam more. The Paris thing makes me sick. I don’t like Charlie Hebdo, but I don’t think one should kill someone for cartooning.” Unquote. One time I came close with “Ren and Stimpy,” but I got over it.

Marie goes on to say that “People don’t know history! They act,” she says, “as if Israel went to battle to take over the West Bank instead of being attacked. The problem goes all the way back to the Middle Ages, when the Muslims tried to take over the world. They made it all the way up to France until they were stopped in the Battle of Tours in 732.” Personally, I thought the Battle of Tours was 1965 when the Rolling Stones were trying to out-sell the Beatles, but I digress.

“Why is it,” writes Marie, “that in Paris, the Jewish Museum has to have antechambers and all sorts of protection, but the huge Arab Institute needs no protection?” Maybe it can’t fit the condom over the dome. “Why are we not hearing in the news,” continues Marie, “about Muslims from North Africa trafficking humans and, if caught on the seas, killing them?” I dunno, Marie, maybe because they’re not inadequately trained police officers.

And finally, says Marie, “If the Western World is so bad, why are all these Muslims here, or coming here? And why are we not hearing about the consistent, casual rapes by Palestinians in North England?”

Good point, Marie, although I’m not sure what a casual rape is. It’s like, “Hey, baby, I kinda wanna rape you, but, you know, no strings, and I don’t want you to wake up in the morning and feel weird about it. And for god sakes, don’t tell my friends because they think I’m still raping my ex.”

Oh no, oh no! I made a rape joke. Which, for some people, renders me worse than those who are out there actually committing such crimes. Sorry, but no comparison. And besides, if unwanted sexual advances are never funny, how come when I pull down my pants at night, my wife starts laughing?

Thank you, by the way, for your letters and comments, which you can send to shalomdammit@aol.com, that’s shalomdammit@aol.com, or find me on Facebook at Sol Solomon, or twitter me at RabbiSolSolomon or, best of all, leave me alone; I have a deadline for a fan fiction piece I’m writing about Mayim Bialik being violated by Prince Andrew. It’s hot . . . and funny.

This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.

–> https://davesgoneby.net/?p=27462

Dave’s Gone By #495 (1/31/2015): IRON ORR

click above to listen to the episode (audio only).

Here is the 495th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Jan. 31, 2015. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with author and activist Valery Orr (“Bar None”). Plus: Rabbi Sol answers his mail, Inside Broadway, Saturday Segues (Lloyd Cole, disappointment), The Wretched Pun of Destiny (Egypt), Dylan – Sooner & Later (aarp), Crime Time.

Guests: author Valery Orr, Dave’s wife, Joyce Weil

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce Weil (bagel dog, ankle dream)
00:26:30 CRIME TIME
00:47:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Lloyd Cole
01:07:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Valery Orr
02:08:00 Sponsors
02:18:00 INSIDE BROADWAY
02:43:30 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #115 (Letters, I Get Letters)
02:53:00 Friends
03:00:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (AARP)
03:25:30 THE WRETCHED PUN OF DESTINY (Egypt)
03:27:30 SATURDAY SEGUE (Low Expectations)
03:32:00 DAVE GOES OUT

Jan. 31, 2015 Playlist: “Love You So What” (00:48:00), “Undressed” (00:51:00), “You Will Never Be No Good” (00:54:00) & “No More Love Songs” (00:57:00) & “Winter’s Retreat” (01:00:00; Lloyd Cole). “Don’t Be Denied” (02:00:30) & “Mr. Disappointment” (03:39:00; Neil Young). “Mister Snow” (02:40:00; Carousel Broadway cast w/ Audra McDonald). “Foot of Pride” (03:02:30), “Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee” (03:08:00) & “Forever Young” (03:16:00; Bob Dylan). “My Back Pages” (03:13:00; The Byrds). “What a Letdown” (03:35:00; Barenaked Ladies). “I’ve Been Let Down” (03:44:00; Mazzy Star). “No Expectations” (03:47:00; The Rolling Stones). “Joe Franklin Show Theme Song (12th Street Rag)” (04:03:30).