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Hollywood Hype
The Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
JNS.org – The Academy Awards ceremony—with all its traditional Hollywood hype and international attention—is set to take place in Los Angeles on March 2. The Oscars represent the best talent the big screen has to offer, and the annual extravaganza has become a symbol of fashion, glitz and glamor. It offers a global stage for the stars to parade their dazzling designer gowns and over-the-top outfits to their adulating admirers.
Apparently, the famous after-party is where protocol and etiquette are abandoned in a competition of who can be daring enough to show as much flesh without getting arrested for indecent exposure.
I think the Oscars—and Hollywood, in general—have become equally emblematic of talent and trash. We can respect and admire art and talent, and, of course, a good movie with a meaningful message can leave impressions for life on millions of minds and hearts. And at the same time, it is all so superficial, so empty. Are we celebrating art? Perhaps. But so much of the periphery seems to be dominated by an outer beauty and an inner emptiness.
Hollywood is hollow. I see bright lights and blank faces.
How many celebrities can we hold up to our children as role models? This one died of an overdose; that one is in jail for sexual harassment. How many die of old age? How many have good marriages or have celebrated a golden wedding anniversary? (I’ll settle for silver!) The divorces are certainly much more spectacular than the weddings.
None of it seems real. Never mind fake news, it’s a fake world in La-La Land.
Now, let me share a Talmudic story.
Rabbi Gamliel was a first-century sage, and the head of the Yeshivah and the Sanhedrin—the Jewish Supreme Court based in Yavneh after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. It happened that the sages felt it necessary to depose Rabbi Gamliel from his position, as they considered him to have been demeaning to his colleague, Rabbi Yehoshua. He was replaced by Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, who appears prominently in the Haggadah on seder eve every Passover.
The Talmud recounts that on the day Rabbi Gamliel was replaced, hundreds more benches were needed in the study hall for all the new students who now flocked to study Torah.
Why? Because the rabbi was very strict in his admissions policy.
He insisted that to be accepted in the yeshivah, a student needed to be tocho k’baro. It means that his inside (his thoughts and feelings) must be like his outside (his conduct). Not only his outer behavior needed to be appropriate but also his inner character. If not, the student wouldn’t be accepted.
When Rabbi Gamliel was replaced by Rabbi Elazar, the admissions policy changed dramatically; anyone who wanted to study Torah could now join.
They dismissed the guard at the door, and permission was granted to the students to enter. On that day, many benches were added to the study hall to accommodate the numerous students. One opinion stated that four hundred benches were added to the study hall. And one said: Seven hundred benches were added to the study hall (Brachot 28a).
I suppose that we can debate which admissions policy is best. The most famous yeshivahs and universities today have stricter admission policies than most. Indeed, their graduates excel. On the other hand, there is a case to be made for an open-door policy that would be inviting for every student to learn and grow in Jewish wisdom and practice.
At any rate, I am sharing this story to give you a taste of the values and standards that our sages wanted their students to aspire to. To appear pious and devout on the outside, and be crude and callous on the inside is dishonest, hypocritical and unbecoming for a student of Torah.
Personally, I would advocate that the broadest admissions policy be welcoming to every Jew, young or old, to get a taste of Torah and allow it to enrich their lives. At the same time, we need to aspire higher and aim to develop students who will embody the lofty ideals of traditional Torah personalities in their chosen lifestyles. We need to be honest, consistent, wholesome and genuine. Creating a religious impression while being a degenerate hedonist is dishonest. Such a life is a lie; it’s not real.
We can find this message in Parshat Terumah this week. Moses is instructed to build the Mishkan—the very first Sanctuary for God—in the wilderness. It would house the sacred vessels that would later be in the Temple in Jerusalem. The holiest of all was the aron, the ark that contained the Tablets of Testimony with the Ten Commandments and was placed in the Holy of Holies.
The ark was to be made of acacia wood, and coated with gold on the inside and outside. How did Betzalel, the young genius who was the architect and designer of the Mishkan, construct the ark? Rashi tells us that he made three arks, one slightly larger than the next. The largest and smallest were made of gold, and the middle one was made of wood. He placed the wooden ark inside the larger golden ark and then the smaller golden ark inside the wooden ark. So, he now had a wooden ark coated with gold on the inside and the outside. Gold, wood, gold—it was brilliant in its simplicity.
The message? We need to be pure gold outside and inside. We should always try to be honest, wholesome and holistic. And we should produce students who are sincere, genuine and real—not plastic, barren or bare. Their outer personalities and their inner characters should be alike, a match, and consistent.
Hollywood produces lots of talent. Yeshivahs produce real people, inside and out.
The post Hollywood Hype first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays
A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.