The Believer Page #6

- If you see a...|- Is it permitted...

- (many voices overIap)|- Danny?

Danny?

- (voices continue)|- Danny! Hey!

Stuart.

Schoenbaum.

Shlomo.

- Shlomo.|- Danny. God!

God, it's... it's been years.

- How you doin'? How are you doin'?|- l'm doing great.

l'm at the rabbinic program up at JTS.

JTS.

What about you? What are you doing?|Something strange, l bet.

Uh,...

No, it's kind of an underground thing.

Like an artist?

No.

Uh, like a private business.

Hey. You remember Miriam?

Yeah.

Hey.

Hey.

She's at Yale Law now,|interning for the District Attorney.

We're getting married next spring|in Jerusalem.

That's great.

Maybe Danny'd like to come to|the minyan for Rosh Hashanah.

That's a great idea.

We're davening with a group from|the seminary. Guess who comes? Avi!

You two can go at it like you used to.

Danny and Avi used to argue about|everything. Talmud, Torah, politics,...

- ..girls. Always ended in a fist-fight.|- l remember.

l always won.

The arguments, anyway.

Here. lt's up at Kl on 101st.

Try to make it. Could be fun.

Yeah.

= My country, 'tis of thee,|Sweet land of liberty

= Of thee l sing =

(Carla) Lo Ta'asher...

(grunts)

Ta'aseh.

Ta'aseh.

VekoI peseI.

VekoI tmunah.

Tmunah.

''Make no graven image of the Lord|or the form of any figure...

..of man or woman,|or anything that looks like anything.''

Because He's not like anything.

Not only can you not see Him or hear Him,...

..but you can't even think about Him?

l mean, what's the difference between that|and Him not existing at all?

There's no difference.

l mean, Christianity's silly, but at least|there's something to believe in.

Or not believe.

- ln Judaism, there's nothing.|- Nothing but nothingness.

Judaism's not really about belief.

lt's about doing things.

Keeping the Sabbath, lighting candles,|visiting the sick.

And belief follows?

Nothing follows.

Cos you don't do it because it's smart,...

..or stupid, or because you get saved,|because nobody gets saved.

You just do it because the Torah tells you to|and you submit to the Torah.

That is f***ed.

Don't swear in front of it, OK?

- Why should l submit?|- You shouldn't.

You think l should|just because there's no reason.

l think you shouldn't.

Judaism doesn't even need a God.|You have the Torah, that's your f***ing God.

Book's closed.

l think your Hebrew's getting real good.

l told you l was good at this.

You also had nothing else to do all day, so...

What are you saying?|l learnt it better and faster than you did?

Maybe it's because l'm smarter.

You think that's funny?

Think Jews are the only smart ones?

Think l'm Jewish?

lt's all you ever talk about.|Jewish, Jewish, Jewish.

Only people that ever talk about it|that much are Jews.

- Nazis talk about it all the time.|- Do they?

Real ones. Hitler and Goebbels,|they talked about it incessantly.

ls that why you became a Nazi?|To talk about Jews incessantly?

- D'you want a punch in the mouth?|- OK.

Let's light candles on Friday.

Say the Kaddish.

The Kaddish is a prayer for the dead.

Kiddush. Say the Kiddush.

Light candles.

Come on.

We could shave my head,|f*** through a sheet, all that stuff.

Let's just try it.

= Barchu et Adonai hamevorach

= Baruch Adonai hamevorach I'oIam va'ed

= Baruch ata Adonai|eIoheinu meIech ha'oIam

= Asher bachar banu mikoI ha'amim

= Ve natan Ianu et torato

= Baruch ata Adonai, noten hatorah =

(congregation) = Amen =

(whispers) Danny. Hi.

(chanting of the Torah)

God said to him ''Abraham, ''|and he answered ''Here I am. ''

And he said ''Take your son,...

..your onIy son, whom you Iove, Isaac,|and go to the Iand...

He's not his only son.

The only one he loves.

- Hey, Avi.|- Hey.

- Good Yom Tov.|- Shanah Tovah.

Only kill the ones you love, right?

Why are you here?|Thought you were an anti-Semite.

- Will you two grow up?|- He's a skinhead.

- lt's a style! There are anti-racist skins.|- Believe me, Danny's the racist kind.

Are you a fascist, yes or no?

- Shh!|- He thinks the Jews are wimps.

- What's a fascist?|- l rest my case.

He's a Jewish Nazi. He always was.

- Avi's a Zionist Nazi.|- The Zionists are not Nazis.

They're racist, they're militaristic. They act|like storm troopers in the Territories.

And do you hate them because they're|wimps or because they're storm troopers?

They don't have extermination camps.

- They have Sabra and Shatila.|- Or do you just hate them?

That was the Lebanese killing each other.|The lsraelis knew nothing about it.

- Sharon encouraged the Falangists to go in.|- We don't know that.

- There's no proof.|- Have you ever read the New York Times?

lt was a war. People got killed.

l wanna know why the Jews are always held|to a higher standard than everybody else.

Because we're the Chosen People.|lsn't that right, Daniel?

- lsn't that right?|- Uh... Listen.

Read early Zionists on European Jewry.

- They sound exactly like Goebbels.|- They sound like you.

Just how Nazis did everything that Hitler told|them, you do everything the Torah tells you.

- lt's identical...|- Shh. Stop it!

- We don't want that in here.|- Avi, outside.

Not in shul.

Why'd you come tonight? To see me?

To study Torah.

Thought you hated Torah.

- Doesn't mean l don't like to study it.|- Expose all the lies and f***ed-up thinking.

D'you know the joke of a Jew|shipwrecked on the desert island?

When they rescue him,|they see he's built two synagogues.

They said|''For what you built two synagogues?''

He says ''One to pray in and one|l'd never set foot in so long as l live,...

..so help me God.''

You pray in the one you'd never set foot in.

And vice versa.

This is me.

Tell me about Lina Moebius.

- How did you know about Lina?|- l work in the DA's office.

Go to those meetings,|half the people there are informants.

- Like who? That Times guy?|- Which Times guy?

There's more than one?

- F***.|- Be careful.

Half the right-wing money in New York|is here tonight.

They've come to see you.

lf you impress them,|if you do what l know you can,...

..this movement will be up and running|by tomorrow.

And we will be on the front page|of the New York Times in six months.

- Here he is.|- ls that him?

(applause)

- Balint.|- Daniel Balint.

(chants) = Sh'ma, IsraeI,...

- = ..Adonai eIoheinu, Adonai echad =|- What is this?

- Does anyone know what that is?|- A Jewish prayer.

A Jewish prayer. Do you have any idea|why l would say a Jewish prayer?

- Because you're a Jew!|- (laughter)

That could be one reason. What's another?

Let me put it this way.

Who wants to destroy the Jews?

(murmuring)

Who wants to grind their bones|into the dust?

And who wants to see them rise again?

Wealthier, more successful, powerful,|cultured, more intelligent than ever?

Then you know what we have to do?

We have to love 'em.

What? Did he say ''Love the Jews''?|lt's strange, l know.

But with these people, nothing is simple.

The Jew says all he wants is to be left alone|to study his Torah,...

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes