Shalom Dammit!
nytheatre.com review by Ed Malin
August 2, 2012
Admittedly, I have never before gone to the theater to watch a Rabbi harass the audience. There is something about the idea that just drew me there. Rabbi Sol Solomon, "Spiritual leader of Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York," and his trusty pianist Richard Shore are proudly out to offend people. Who can blame them if they do exactly that?
Let's start with the least offensive jokes in the show. The Yiddish words for male and female gentile are shiksa and shegets. Rabbi Sol graphically explains: every young Jewish boy wants to shtup a shiksa at least once; he also wants to shtup a shegets, but only in business.
Golf humor follows; consider what a Jew hears when "Tiger Woods putts." Next is an analysis of the Jesus legend. He healed the sick, but there's a name for people like that: doctors.
This leads to the humorously self-loathing part of the program. Channeling the melodies of Cab Calloway, Woody Guthrie and others, Rabbi Sol makes a rational case for Jewish neurosis. Inevitable comparisons between the land mass of New Jersey and Israel are next, followed by Jersey-bashing. Then comes an uneven comparison of Jewish and Muslim contributions to scientific knowledge. The show then arrives at its goal of telling everyone except Israel to go "F" themselves.
There is certainly much humor in this show. However, Rabbi Sol focuses on the homogeneous nature and views of the Jewish community. I think a look at Israeli politics shows a little more diversity, also known as chaos. If you are looking to laugh at yourself a little and at everyone else a lot more, this would be a good show to attend.
