If I could speak..... with Sarah Silverman

 Another blog of a ‘what if’ variety

Over the years, I’ve seen a celebrity in sport or literature or movies/television and wondered aloud what I would say to that person if I could have say, 20 minutes with him/her. Today I’m wondering what I would say to Sarah Silverman if I had that time … you never know. What prompts this? 

I’m writing this blog post while on a United airlines flight from Sydney to San Francisco. I watched a Paul Reiser comedy show for an hour, then when it finished, the algorithm invited me next to watch the “Sarah Silverman: Someone you love” comedy special filmed in Boston in 2023. I always liked her on Saturday Night Live and when she shows up on other people’s shows, she’s very funny, very Jewish, usually a bit raw around the edges, and watchable, too. The flight is 14 hours, and after our lunch was served and collected, I thought, “why not?” It’s only 58 minutes after all.

 

The setting: the special “My Struggle”

The show starts with Sarah off stage, sharing final thoughts with her two small children, husband and the nanny named Colleen. The son is young, pre-teen, but wearing a Hasidic Jewish beard and fedora and says, “You are a disgrace to my people.”  She brushes it aside. OK, I thought, this could be a device. The kid doesn’t come back, but the idea does.

 

Within the first 20 minutes, Sarah tells us that she grew up in New Hampshire and used to attend church when she stayed over Saturday night with school friends. The takeaway from her experience back then was that the church used the concept of hell to keep people in check.  Fear and terror are what she remembers.

 

Sarah and her friend Heidi in New York City were recently walking near Washington Square Park, when she saw a group of Catholic children leaving school and shouts after them, “There is no hell!” She feels it her duty to correct the misinformation campaign of the church. 

 

What if I’m wrong?

She does pull back a little from that line of thinking, admitting that although she is sure there is no hell, “Maybe I’m wrong.” She is sure and gains affirmation from “this is a godless crowd” but then hedges her bets, “I have ‘God’ people in my life; my sister is a rabbi.” Even so, she works hard to convince the crowd of her non-belief in hell, and then subsequently in God himself. 

 

“Maybe there is a hell. If the burden of proof were on me, no, I can’t prove there is no hell.” That’s a spark of humility that is so refreshing and something for Sarah to consider. What if you are wrong, dear Sarah? Our people have lived throughout the centuries tossed to and fro in lands and religions and sometimes horrible persecutions by peoples who don’t know God. Don’t let the misanthropes of the Scouts or some of the Catholics rob you of the opportunity to know the Lord. And no, I can’t prove there is a God, but if there were a God, I would imagine that we would see ‘design’ in nature and in our purposes. We would see things like ‘love’ and ‘thankfulness’ and ‘kindness’ as moral and good. If there were a God, then some of us who follow him would want others to join us, so we would be evangelising and sharing the Good News message with others. If there were a God.

 

The Jewish situation

At 30 minutes, she tells a story of staying at a fancy schmancy Hawaiian hotel and their prevention of Jews being in the pool. Why? It is due to a strange diarrhea theme.  Sarah uses it to address antisemitism. I was surprised when she used the pool image to mean, “No Jews allowed.” She insisted and sought crowd affirmation that every Jew in the audience had diarrhea at least every 14 days of their lives. That’s not my experience, and I found the stereotype interesting. She asks one particular audience member, Kim Martin-Epstein, if he’s “ever gone 14 days without having diarrhea? That would be absurd,” she avers.

 

She used that pool story as a launchpad for more discussion of Jewish topics like Hanukkah and the idea of miracles at all! She says, “I don’t know why people hate Jews so much. I mean, I get, a little, but SO much?” 

 

She references Hitler’s book which is called Mein Kampf, which means “My Struggle,” Sarah says, “is there a more Jewish sounding book than that?” She wondered if she should title this comedy special “My Struggle” so that when it’s translated into German, …. That perpetual smile showed up again. Love it.

 

Remembering the only line of her son, she self-criticises her godlessness by saying that she is “selling out her culture for laughs.”  When she spoke about her podcast the last couple of years, she describes herself as being “so Jewy” on it. She avers that her increase in that is due to the increase in antisemitism worldwide. 

 

Believe with your whole heart

In light of the hell conversation and the abortion protesters, she says of herself, “I know what it is to believe in something with your whole heart…so that you want other people to believe it, too.” That’s righteous (her choice of words) for sure. Sarah, the faith some of us Jews have in Yeshua, our messiah, is available for you and your family and Heidi and everyone you mentioned in today’s show. I do believe in Jesus. He is our messiah. He did forgive me of all my sins, and he wants you to know him and follow him. 

 

My takeaways, if I could speak with Sarah 

1)        Sarah, in the same way you wanted to correct the misinformation with your ‘no hell’ shout at Washington Square Park, I would like to challenge you quietly and respectfully to read one of the biographies of Jesus for yourself. Like John’s bio. It’s sometimes called ‘The Gospel According to St John.’ Read what that Jewish man had to say, and catch his perspective on what he saw and heard. It couldn’t hurt.

2)        It IS a struggle to be Jewish and maybe even more so to be a Jew for Jesus. It doesn’t get us on a comedy circuit, and sometimes it’s a bit lonely out here, but it’s been worthwhile for me these 50 years of my faith journey.

3)        You don’t have to mock our people, or as you say, “sell out” your culture for laughs. We are a funny people and have many quirks. Even the phrase “Jews for Jesus” could be a whole set in another special down the road for you. But beyond the possible comedy of our name, the first followers of the Jewish messiah were not Catholics, but Jews. Not from Rome or Salt Lake City or New Hampshire, but from around Israel. 

4)        When God shows you his awesome love, I expect you to believe with your whole heart, and what a day of rejoicing that will be, for you, your partner, and all in your spheres of influence. 

 

Final thoughts

I’m sure that many of my followers on FB, insta or this Blog would be super offended at the themes and the at least R-rated language. Sarah speaks easily about bodily functions, sexual activity, and such. If you would be bothered by this, please give this special a miss. Also I wonder if Andrew Mendelson who is listed in the credits as being the Editor is related to me. You never know.

 

Now I press the button, send this Blog, and move on to the next algorithmic recommendation, Seth Meyers (who is ¼ Jewish, and married to a Jewish lawyer) in his Dad Man Walking special.