By Skip Sheffield
Jewish people are nothing if not resilient. How else could they have survived and endured more than 5,000 years against all odds?
There is no single answer, but “Rabbi Mike” Stern has an important clue.
“Jews have a very strong sense of humor,” Stern declares. “If you think about it, more than half of the most popular classic comedians are Jewish. Humor is how we cope with all the transitions.”
Rabbi Mike is a man of action who puts his theories to practice. A year ago he put on an evening of Jewish humor at the Levis JCC in west Boca Raton. It was so popular Stern decided to take the concept on the road in a secular setting. A month ago Stern produced a show he dubbed “Old Jews Got Talent” at the paragon Deerfield 8 movie theater in Deerfield Beach. By popular demand the event will be repeated from 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, April 10 at the same location.
“The Borscht Belt school of Catskills comedy is dying out,” Stern asserts. “This is our small effort to keep the tradition alive.”
Some of the “Old Jew” comics are professionals. Most are not.
Ron Goldfarb made a name for himself in the New York Bar Association before retiring, moving to Florida and taking up painting. Goldfarb auditioned and was chosen for the first Old Jews Got Talent show. Now he is back with a new batch of jokes.
“When you think about it, there is a similarity between layers and stand-up comics,” muses Goldfarb. “We both use words to make a living, and we have to think on our feet. I find the sound of laughter gratifying, just as I would defining a tough case.”
Rabbi Mike runs a one-man, non-profit ministry called Rabbi Without Walls. For shut-ins or people who can’t afford temple memberships or simply need reassurance, Stern travels to them.
“I started Rabbi Without Walls in Philadelphia and ran it eight years there, and I still hear from people there” Stern reveals. “I decided to try it here when my wife and I moved to Florida two years ago. You could call Old Jews Got Talent an outreach of that program. A temple or a church is not defined by its walls, but by people who believe.”
Tickets for Old Jews Got Talent are $20, $22.50 and $26.50. Call 414-573-9608 or go to mstern@rabbiwithoutwalls.com for more information.
Delray Has a 3-Day “Affair”
The 51st Delray Affair is this weekend, April 5-7 along East Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. As always the Chamber of Commerce-sponsored art, entertainment and food festival is free and open to the public. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Call 561-278-0424 or go to
www.delrayaffair.com for more information.
Keroac’s “On The Road” in the Theater
“On the Road” was a ground-breaking novel by Jack Kerouac that defined what would become known as the Beat Generation. Opening April 5 at FAU’s Living Room Theater, “On the Road” is a cinematic treatment by Walter Salles, director of “The Motorcycle Diaries.” The central character of Sal Paradise, played by Sam Riley in the movie, is a fictionalized version of Kerouac, as is Dean Moriarity (Garrett Hedlund) a stand-in for Kerouac’s best friend, Neal Cassady.
Finished in 1951 but not published until 1957, mostly due to censorship issues, “On the Road” was a rambling, spontaneous, improvised interior monologue, famously typed on a 120-foot roll of paper with no punctuation or paragraph breaks.
The movie resembles the book rather self-consciously, as some of the actors are well known. A case in point is Marylou, played by “Twilight” star Kristen Stewart, who sheds her teen image along with her clothes for the amoral character. Also playing against type are Kirsten Dunst as Camille and Amy Adams as Jane. If you are looking for titillating thrills, you will not find them here. In fact “On the Road” with all its hetero and homosexual sex, smoking, drinking, drugging and carousing, becomes a bit dull.
Two stars
