"A Jew? Here??..." -- Blinkin, "Robin Hood: Men In Tights"

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Today at The Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, my Bible class watched a DVD of the musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."

Oh yeah.

It was a good day.


" Potiphar was cool and SO fine/
But his wife could never tow the line/
It’s all there in chapter thirty-nine/
Of Genesis "

-- from “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”, lyrics by Tim Rice

You’re darn right it is--

Genesis 39 (summary):

“And Joseph was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh... bought him…” (verse 1)
“And Joseph served him… he had made him overseer in his house” (vv. 4-5)
“His master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me” (v.7)
“But he refused…” (v.8)


Then what does Potiphar’s wife tell her hubby and all the other servants?

“… he came unto me to lie with me and I cried with a loud voice” (v. 14)

What a lying, scornful cougar!

But wait—one more thing:

“And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, ‘The Hebrew servant which thou hast brought unto us came in unto me to mock me.’”
-- Gen. 39:17

Woah woah woah.

Ex-squeeze me. Baking powder?

“Hebrew” servant?


Why does she have to throw that “Hebrew” part in there?


Well, let’s ask a guy a helluva lot smarter than yours truly:

"If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am citizen of the world. If my theory is proven to be untrue, then France will say that I am a German, and Germany will say that I am a Jew."
-- Albert Einstein

As Jews, we represent... the lollipop guild!

(Ahem)

No.

If you're reading this, I'm assuming you're Jewish.
If you're not... guess what? I just made you an honorary M.O.T. (Member Of the Tribe)! Mazel Tov!

There aren't a lot of Jews in the world (about 1/5 of 1 percent of the world's population).

As Jews, each one of us represents all of us… whether or not we choose to, our behavior reflects on Jewish people everywhere.
Jews are linked the world over. When one of us succeeds, we all succeed. And when one of us screws up…

Hey, Jewish folk reading this— Do you remember when you first heard about—

David Berkowtiz.

*Wince*

Meyer Lansky

*Damn*

Or

Bernie Madoff

*Come on!*

It hurts us all, gives Jews a bad name.
But, hey, let’s not forget—

Elie Wiesel

*Huzzah!*

Steven Spielberg

*Right on!*

Or 25% of the world’s Nobel Prize winners for both Physics and Medicine/Physiology

*Pocket Protectors Unite!*

Not to mention ol’ Albert.


A Jew making good in the world is like your home team winning the big game (“That’s right! Atta boy! That’s one for us!”)

And when Roman Polanski or Woody Allen pop up in the tabloids… we cringe together.



But Jonas Salk cured polio!... and celebrated Passover!



“We’re all in this together!”

-- those annoying kids from Disney’s “High School Musical”

(two of whom are Jewish!)

(...so I guess they're okay)
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