Politics Much..?

Every six months, there’s one event that I look forward to immensely.  American comedian, Avi Liberman, brings in three American comics in order to do a series of shows whose proceeds go to charity. It’s a great way for English speakers to have a night out that is reminiscent of “the old country” while giving back to the community at the same time. For the past couple of years, the organization that has been receiving the proceeds is the Koby Mandell organization (for more info, click on the attached link- www.kobymandell.org)

 

Avi Liberman really outdid himself this year with the comics he brought, Mark Schiff, Butch Bradley and Steve White. Each performed for about half an hour and each had the audience rolling with laughter. Covering topics such as Israeli drivers, ultra-Orthodox, the holidays, El Al, and more- you know, topics that a modern orthodox crowd would appreciate.

 

After the show Avi and the comics have a short Q and A session with the audience. The first one was the standard- How is Israel different than what you thought it would be? What do you like about it? Then came the clincher- What do you think about the Schalit deal? There was silence in the room. The comics looked at each other awkwardly. I could just hear them thinking- how the heck are we supposed to answer that??

 

Avi gave a small laugh and said, “Well, that’s a good way to kill the mood. Anyone want to ask about the Shoah?”. The crowd laughed and moved onto the next joke. However, my friend and I just looked at each other and rolled our eyes. Why do people have to push politics into every little nook and cranny of our lives? It kind of gave the whole evening a bit of a sour taste. I don’t think that woman really cared what they thought; I think she was just trying to make a statement. But there are other ways to do that. Politics is on the front burner as it is in this country, so why can’t people for once just leave it at home???