Gut shabbes, and oy. The farpotshket Phelps Phamily is coming to Chicago Monday to protest at my North side shul!
As Kossack Mikey noted in a June 19 diary, they’ve turned to the old canard of anti-Semitism. A response by the local Edgewater Community Religious Association is planned, to which I’m formally inviting each and every one of you, but especially Chicago-area Kossacks. Moreover, I’m inspired by a great act of fiscal jujutsu practiced by a gay congregation in New York City to ask for your help in turning the tables on these meshugges.
For details, and a definition of "farpotshket," please join me below.
The Topeka tummlers are coming to Congregation Emanuel, a Reform synagogue that also hosts Or Chadash, a gay and lesbian-oriented congregation, at 5959 N. Sheridan Road (at Thorndale Avenue) from 11:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
If you’re in the Chicago area, or will be on Monday, please join us at the synagogue by 11 a.m. for a counter-demonstration of faith and tolerance. As with so many anti-Phelps actions, keep it civil. We all know they want physical confrontations, which we all know would be disastrous.
"We are hoping that rather than confrontation, we have an example of collaboration," says Rabbi Michael Zedek.
You can use the parking lot if you drive, but like going to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, it’s much better to take the L. Ride the Red Line to Thorndale, turn left out of the station and walk east to Sheridan Road, which you can’t miss; go any further east, and you’ll end up in Lake Michigan. Bus routes 147 and 151 ply Sheridan Road and stop right in front of the shul.
Counter-protests showing that hatred and bigotry aren’t welcome are certainly good, but I want more. I want to hurt these people in a way they don’t recognize until it’s too late – like, say, the climactic battle at the end of "Highlander" when Conor MacLeod defeats The Kurgan by severing him from his head before he realizes what’s happened.
And here, I'm inspired by Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, a gay synagogue in Manhattan, which used its visit from Phelps to raise $10,000.
Let’s do likewise. Whether it’s $1, $5, or $10 per minute, or whatever you care to give, please send some (tax-deductible) gelt to Congregation Emanuel, 5959 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL, 60660, ATTN: Sarabeth Salzman. Please write "protest" on the memo line.
Unfortunately, the synagogue can’t take online donations, but if you prefer to use a credit card, call the office: (773) 561-5173, Mondays-Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., or Fridays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
I’m annoyed that I have to share this gorgeous, sunny day with vileness like the Phelpses. I’m irked that I have to share this world and all its wonders with people like these. But these things happen for a reason, and I believe the reason for this is the sort of response I’ve seen here again and again and again: A community rallying for better days and better ways.
Thanks in advance to those who can be there Monday morning, and to everyone who opens their wallets. And now, farpotshket, as defined by the late great Leo Rosten in "The Joys of Yiddish":
Pronounced far-POTCH-ket, to rhyme with "car NOTCH let." From the German: Patsche "slap."
- Messed-up, sloppy, crossed-out-and-erased-and-written-over-again.
- Anything bollixed up, from a painting to a cause.
Farpotshket has an onomatopoetic splash to it I greatly enjoy. "His painting was certainly farpotshket." "Their statement to the press was really farpotshket." "He’s famous for his farpotshket logic."
P.S. Among Rosten's definitions for "tummler" is "One who creates a lot of noise (tummel) but accomplishes little."