My friend author Rochelle Krich is steaming mad over a LAW AND ORDER episode a couple weeks back that portayed orthodox Jews in a less than flattering light.
We have an Orthodox Jewish rabbi dispensing unOrthodox theology and upholding the fiction behind the family chumash.
We have Eric, a greedy Jew who engineers the desecration of a Jewish book that results in someone’s death.
We have Barry, an Orthodox Jewish killer, all-around
louse, and frequenter of lap dancers who recants his testimony against
Eric when he learns the chumash isn’t "the one."My father lied to me, he says. It’s all a lie.
"It"?
Greed, brazen immorality, hypocrisy, lies.
According to Law & Order, that’s Orthodox Judaism.
I saw the episode and it didn’t offend my Jewish sensibilities, mainly because I’m a bad Jew and LAW AND ORDER portrays everybody as immortal, hypocritical, and dishonest. It’s a murder mystery and every character is a suspect. For that to be possible, everyone has to have a motive. It isn’t the job of the writers to portray every racial, political, economic, cultural and religious group in a positive and accurate light — in fact, they do the opposite and on a weekly basis. They didn’t single out Orthodox Jews — if they had, then perhaps I would share my friend Rochelle’s anger.
Oh. I thought Moses brought the 10 Commandments down for everybody else. You mean those were for Jews, too?
Best,
Mark Terry
“LAW AND ORDER portrays everybody as immortal, hypocritical, and dishonest.”
If only Jerry “Lennie Briscoe” Orbach could have been immmortal. The show hasn’t been the same without him.
LAW AND ORDER portrays everybody as immortal, hypocritical, and dishonest.
I had no idea the characters were elves: in the next episode, does the evil Melkor steal the Silmarils an unleash those well known detectives and slayers of thousands the sons of FĂ«anor?