One Night with the King

A couple of nights ago, I saw One Night with the King, a movie about the Book of Esther. Well, actually, the movie is based on the novel Hadassah: One Night with the King, by Tommy Tenney. But, since I've never read the book, nor do I plan to, I can only comment on the movie.

To be fair, I had ulterior motives in seeing the movie, and believe it or not, they were not Tiffany Dupont (seen on the left). Purim is the underdog of Jewish holidays. It's fun, it's raucous, it's frivolous, it's deeply philosophical, it's family-oriented, and you are commanded to get drunk. In Israel, it borders on Mardi Gras or Carnivale. In the U.S., it borders on obscurity. It just doesn't have the calendar real estate of Chanukah...you know, right next to Christmas. Frankly, it deserves much better than that, and I take every oppportunity to push my Purim agenda. Consider me a Purim champion.

So, naturally I jump at any movie that promotes, advertises, or in any way exposes Purim to the greater goyische public. Even if it simply retells a Biblical story. Even if it's made by Gener8xion Entertainment, a Christian company, with (potentially) an agenda separate from mine.

Back to the movie. Well, the movie could have been worse. That's not a ringing endorsement, but it's also not a scathing indictment. As a movie, it's not bad. It creates an entertaining love story out of an Biblical tale, and makes you believe that Esther's life is truly on the line as she goes to plead King Ahasuerus (well...Xerxes in the movie) for the lives of her people. Tiffany Dupont plays a spunky, buoyant Esther, and she is Jewish-looking enough to pull off the role. John Rhys-Davies as Mordechai is...well...John Rhys-Davies. He looks and sounds like Mordechai should sound, although you do keep expecting him to burst out with "Indy, my friend!" (a la Raiders of the Lost Ark). James Callis plays a suitably vengeful and evil Haman who hates the Jews with a passion due to the wrongs the Hebrews done to his people 500 years earlier. Yeah, it's nasty stuff, right out of the Bible.

The sets are gorgeous, the acting is decent, and, most importantly, the dialog is not as stilted as one would expect from a Biblical movie. I did like the fact that the movie was RELATIVELY faithful to the original story (the Bible, not the novel). Considering that the novel was written by a Pentecostal evangelist, I was not expecting a very faithful treatment of the material...or at least not a Jewish treatment.

However, the movie (or the novel) tries to turn the story into Midrash by adding some bizarre back story about a pending war with Greece. This would have worked better if the movie hadn't muddied the waters by mixing up some key plot elements in the story. I could just see fans of the original book shouting at the screen, "No, you fools! Mordechai hears about the decree AFTER refusing to bow down. After! After! After!" And of course, it has to add some typical Hollywood elements of mistaken identity and fear of infidelity.

For some reason, all of the secondary characters are played by Indians. It used to be that Italians and Jews were interchangeable in Hollywood. I guess in Biblical epics, Indians and Jews are interchangeable. I would have loved to see Aishwarya Rai play Esther. But anyway...

I guess my biggest beef is that I still have not seen a movie based on the Book of Esther that is truly faithful to the story. The story of Purim is one of the hottest, raciest, most exciting books of the Bible filled with vanity, honor, vengeance, love, bravery, and, of course, clan warfare. It doesn't need a Hollywood treatment.

But keep Tiffany.

The Yearly T'ruah

The Yearly T'ruah, our family newsletter, is finally finished. I sent it out to most of my family and friends, so if you did not receive a copy, this means that a) we did not send you one, b) we sent you one (with our best wishes for a new year) but it got lost in the mail, or c) we sent you one (with our best wishes for a new year) but silly us...we sent it to the wrong address.

In other words, we are only admitting to options b) and c). However, I am willing to send a copy to anyone who requests it on an opt-in basis.

If you did not receive a copy, possibly suggesting that we do not have your most recent contact information, please drop me a line, and tell me where you are now, what you are doing, etc., etc., etc.

And Happy Gregorian New Year.

Happy Low Salt Chanukah!

My mother came to visit this weekend for Chanukah. She is on a low salt diet, which always makes going out to restaurants a bit of challenge. However, we promised her that everything I cooked at home would be as low in salt as possible. Since Saturday night was designated "Latke Night," I had to come up with a tasty low-salt latke recipe.

Now one tack is to add savory spices to the latkes to create a new latke entity. Possibilities include:

Indian spices - curry powder, cumin, garam masala

Mexican spices - chili powder and picante

Italian spices - basil, oregano, thyme

Dill and mint

Now that I think about it, I should have tried dill, mint, parsley, and onion powder. The onion powder would give it a rounder, saltier flavor to balance out the bitterness of the dill. And hopefully, this could all be done without any added salt.

However, I didn't try any of the above. Instead, I substituted half of the russet potatoes with sweet potatoes. This gives the latke a slightly sweet dimension that makes up for much of the missing salt without making the whole dish noticeably sweet. One caveat...sweet potatoes do not bind together like russet potatoes, so you need to make sure you have enough egg in the mixture to hold everything together. I think the only way to make the dish using only sweet potatoes (and no white potatoes) is to add extra egg. Furthermore, it helps if you squeeze and shape the patties before frying them instead of simply ladling the potato mixture into the oil (which you can do if you only use white potatoes).

I must say that the latkes came out pretty well. Or at least I thought so. Shirah took a bite and immediately reached for the salt. The kids put ketchup on them. Of course, they put ketchup on everything. That's what happens when you are born in Minnesota. But I digress...

Yesterday at religious school, I taught the 5th graders how to make latkes. It was an interesting experiment in project management: trying to distribute tasks among 20 10-year olds. I divided up the room into four tables: two tables grated potatoes, one chopped onions, and one mixed the egg, matzah meal, and salt together. We only had one "grating" injury requiring a Band-aid (well, a couple of Band-aids in rapid succession) which really wasn't too bad considering that these were young children wielding sharp knives with a 1:7 adult:child ratio.

Personally, I thought the recipe had WAY too much salt in it. I'm not sure whether the kids read the recipe wrong, or if they read the recipe correctly and I just need to adjust the 2 tsp. to 1 tsp. However, my wife tried one later in the day. She commented, "They were really good. I noticed that they tasted a little different from the ones you make at home...but I couldn't pinpoint the difference."

"They had salt in them," I told her evenly.

"Ah..." she said with a voice that suddenly understood every dish I ever made in the past ten years.

I'm going to buy her a salt lick for the 8th night of Chanukah.

The Land of Curiosities

My sister Paula is a graphic designer in Chicago, andshe has art directed an interesting children's novel called The Land of Curiosities, Adventures in Yellowstone, 1871-1872. It is the first in a series created by The EcoSeekers that teaches awareness andhopes to inspire activism in children about the environment.

Paula forwarded me a message from authors Dave and Dee Neil:

Hello family, friends, colleagues, and other people we like, We are proud to announce the launch of ourcompany’s website, www.theecoseekers.com, and our first book, THE LAND OF CURIOSITIES: Adventures inYellowstone, 1871-1872.

This is the first book in a collection of stories about defining events and themes in the history of the environmental movement as told through the experiences of courageous young fictional characters.

In a good ol' Western adventure, THE LAND OF CURIOSITIES revolves around the creation of Yellowstone as the world's first national park in 1872. Geared towards ages 8 and up (and loved by adults too), the book includes a 16-page real history section for educators and the curious.

We are particularly excited by the very positive responses we have received thus far, from kids and adults. Endorsements include Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, and Nell Newman.

Take a look at our website http://www.theecoseekers.com/ and help spread the word. And, naturally, feel free to buy as many books as you’d like (they make great holiday gifts)!


PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL along to others. We’d greatly appreciate your doing so. We hope to hear from you soon. The brother-sister team of….
- Dave and Dee Neil

P.S. In case we have not spoken in a while… Last year,we created a company called The EcoSeekers™ to educate and engage kids in the environmental movement through our branded entertainment, products and online community. Our goal is to achieve the level of influence and success of American Girl and HarryPotter, but for the environment. We're a publishing company and more!

...Or Maybe Stick With Google During Chanukah

IN REGARDS TO YESTERDAY'S POST...

Shortly after I bragged to you all about Ask.com's Chanukah skin, they apparently pulled the skin from the site. So, now Ask.com has no reference to Chanukah whatsoever on the front page.

I give up. I'm going back to Google. And while I'm at it, I'm going to eat some trans fats.

Use Ask.com During Chanukah

Chag Sameah, y'all. Happy Chanukah.

I went to Google's Website this morning to see if my favorite search engine...you know, the one cofounded by a Russian Jew...had any mention of the first day of Chanukah on its front page. Considering all the esoteric holidays that Google acknowledges, Chanukah was a pretty safe bet.

Nada. Zilch. Rien. Efes. Null value.

Ask.com, on the other hand, has a wonderful Chanukah-themed image as a background. So, I'm making a resolution this Chanukah to switch from Google to Ask.com in protest. I encourage you to do the same. Support multiculturalism and use Ask.com. Protest the great Antiochus of Google (let's not forget the whole Google China incident) by boycotting Google.

The Maccabis have spoken.