On Mintz and Men

[I began this post at 5pm, had to abandon it unfinished at 6:47 to get my butt to seder that was to begin at 7 but didn't begin until 8, and finished after.]

[April 9, 3:10pm: Edited to make it a bit shorter.]

I apologize in advance for the length, because I generally don’t have the patience to read anything that’s this long.

Occasionally I read something that makes me smack my head with disbelief, as in, “I can’t believe he/she wrote that.” I wasn’t going to post about this. I wasn’t going to comment on Corey Mintz’s  article in last Saturday’s Toronto Star about an unconventional passover seder. I first noticed it in Taste T.O.’s weekly Saturday feature In the Papers (April 4). I starred the Taste T.O. post in Google Reader, unsure if I wanted to read about it again, post about it, or go there in general. It seemed like an article I had to bookmark. So, I thought “Mintz, you ass.” and moved on. I wasn’t going to address it here.

Sometimes I begin comments in response to blog posts and find that that they’ve become opinion pieces or diatribes.  Well, that sort of lead me to this post, except that I wasn’t commenting to a blog post.

Another fact about me (one was revealed on Monday): I briefly worked in radio a couple of years ago. While between careers around 2003 (?),  and then on a casual part time basis through 2008, I worked for Rogers Broadcasting, which owns Jack FM, CHFI, 680 News and The Fan 590 in Toronto. One of the first people I met there was  Maurie, who had been a producer on Jack FM’s morning show until the station went to a DJ-free format.

Maurie is my Facebook network. and today he posted audio of an interview that he did with Dave Trafford at CFRB 1010 earlier today, an interview which he was recruited to do in response to Corey’s article.  A lot of Jews listen to Newstalk. I grew up listening to CFRB in the car when Andy Barrie was still on air there (now I listen to him every morning on CBC). The interview is not on CFRB’s website nor do I know if it will be.  Maurie posted it as a video link. It may or may not be accessible to you. It may or may not be copyright infringement.

The interview with Maurie and CFRB’s Jessica Baker was good. Their messaging was basically, “The seder is mostly about family, we enjoy the family time and the festival meal, we don’t have the patience to read through the whole book beginning to end, we count the pages until the part that says we eat and then we’re done.” Pretty consistent with my experience and that of most people I know. One friend’s family reenacts the plagues with masks and toys, which I think is awesome, and tomorrow I’ll be at a seder hosted by two friends, one of whom is a rabbi, and I’ve been informed that there will be lots of discussion going late into the night. Lots of wine too.

So, Corey’s article…

I began a response to Maurie’s video post and the most recent draft looked like this:

Trafford missed the point a little bit. Yes, Mintz was slagging traditions but it went beyond that. He mocked the holiday. He made fun of the food customs, the story and the traditions. Furthermore, he created a new menu that aligned unkosher food with the story. He takes the concept of slavery and turns it into pork belly on sauerkraut. The poached egg over cornbread completely misses the point and is wrong on so many levels.

There’s no way that he wasn’t aware that he’d be pissing off readers, alienating his own. It was tasteless (pardon the pun). I wasn’t offended but thought he came off as an ass. Passover is one time, I find, that even non-kosher Jews try to step it up [be kosher for the week].

Instead I praised the interview, said that the interviewer missed the point and told him that he’d inspired a blog post.

Blog readers, I don’t think I need to point out what’s wrong with pork belly. That’s obvious. As stated, the cornbread is wrong for many reasons: He directs cooking it in pork or bacon fat.  Corn is considered kitniot, forbidden on passover.

As expected, the article drew ire from members of the Jewish community. Here I put on my “media analyst” hat that I haven’t worn in a while  (still fits, and I’m not donning it for a 6am work time) and report on the tone of the feedback:

• 24 comments online. 19 negative, three positive, three neutral. I’d chart it if it was for work.
• Of the negative: Many said that the newspaper should be ashamed of themselves. Some threatened newspaper subscription cancellation (congratulations, Mintz). Some called him “pathetic” and “insensitive”. One called him a “self-hating Jew”. My opinion: Self-hating, no. Flippant? Yes. Insensitive? Yes, but unintentionally, which is why I referred to him as an “ass” in the opening paragraph.
• The Letters to the Editor in the print edition, as published online today, reflect pretty much the same. I wasn’t monitoring it over the week, but there’s a whole lot of offense expressed.

A sampling of the letters with my commentary, Toronto Sun style:

Mr. Mintz is enslaved by crassness and disrespect. He is trapped in the same arrogance as the “puffed up bread.” He doesn’t stop to think about how many people feel sadness from his insensitive, post-cultural ramblings.

I like that one and agree somewhat. It was crass and they were “insensitive post-cultural ramblings”.

Just because I don’t think much of traditions doesn’t mean I should belittle those that do. It may not have been your intention, Corey, but the article is a bit offensive to those that care…

I agree, and intention is always important to me.

Is it necessary to offend those who do care about tradition?

Truly pathetic that you have to go to such lengths to offend those who take their traditions seriously and find real meaning in them.

I wouldn’t say “pathetic”, but otherwise yes. He had to know that he’d risk offending people but I don’t think that he wanted to offend. I’d say that he didn’t intend to offend but knew it would happen.

I doubt the Star would publish pork chop recipes for the Islamic festival of Eid.

I’m not so sure.

Chag sameach to everyone, including Mr. Grintz – I mean Mintz.

Well done. Try singing “You’re a mean one, Corey Mintz”. It works.

And finally one of the positive comments:

The Globe also printed non-kosher passover recipes (udon noodles, shrimp). So for those of you who said they were switching papers…do your homework. I prefer this take on it because at least Corey points out that it is not kosher, and states his reasoning for it. I interpreted this as fitting in with a trend of marketing religion to a younger generation by making it “untraditional” and “cool”.

A good point. I agree with the words and interpretation of this comment but that doesn’t make Mintz right.

This is the Globe and Mail article to which the writer refers.   They backpedalled by claiming in a “correction” that only the first soup listed in that article was intended for the seder menu (I’m somewhat skeptical).

I’ve always taken issue with people who say “I’m Jewish“. You are or you’re not. You’re observant/practicing (to varying degree) or you’re not. Secular? Cultural? Whatever. All labels. I don’t believe in labels. What matters is how you feel and how you behave. Mintz seems to be flaunting the “ish”. This would be perfectly acceptable in a personal blog but in a newspaper (one with higher circulation than the National Post, and possibly the Globe and Mail though I could be wrong) it isn’t right. I wish I could respect him for being so honest but my feeling is that he intended to give the finger to his community, and that’s just not right. If he considered his audience, he decided to write the piece anyway. It was a ballsy move.

So, sorry Corey but while I dig your fridge contents with your homemade pickles and Spiderman and generally like how you write,  you, my friend, were a douchebag. While I appreciate what you were trying to do from a culinary/food enthusiast perspective, I’m mildly creeped out (but not offended, and wouldn’t be cancelling my subscription if I had one). Maybe 4 cups of wine will mellow you out.

At the risk of sounding as flippant as Corey (this IS my personal blog and not a newspaper): You can repent for it on Yom Kippur.  Ugh, I feel dirty and inappropriate saying that. Instead of deleting that I’ll just say this: Please don’t do that again. Thanks.