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- The state to task

is to suggest the magnitude of the challenge.

Behind the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

lie the most profound questions.

- At the Western wall in Jerusalem,

Jewish reactions to the Camp David summit

were mostly positive.

However Palestinian response to the talks was

not as positive with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem

stating that he doesn't see any benefit from...

(violin music)

- Great.

Great.

- What is so great?

- Great. - Oh my God.

She says it's completely safe,

she feels completely safe. - Well, that's incorrect.

- She's incorrect.

- Well, because he's worried about you honey.

- Is she watching the news?

- He says if you saw the news here--

- Tell her to turn on the news.

- No, we don't want you to be scared, honey

- Of course we want her to be scared.

- We're just concerned

that it's a very volatile situation.

- How can she not be scared?

The entire peace process collapsed three days ago.

- The peace process is very bad right now.

- Peace process is over.

- The peace process is over.

- The entire Oslo Framework is out the window.

- They have security 24 hours a day.

- Obviously they have security.

They should have security, that's a given.

- She says the birthright people,

they don't let them visit anywhere

that isn't 100% safe.

- Where are they going tomorrow?

- Honey, where are you going tomorrow?

(gasps) The Wailing Wall.

- Excuse me.

- Well, you should be excited.

- She is not doing that.

Tell her she's not going there, Ellen.

- Dad is so excited for you to go there.

He's jumping up and down.

Oh, well everyone wishes you were here too honey.

But we're so happy-- - I'm not happy.

You're having such a good time.

- Don't tell her I'm happy.

I'm very unhappy.

- Well, it does feel a little bit strange being here.

It feels, it's very quiet without grandma.

- Let me talk to her.

- Do you want to say hi to dad before,

well, just a quick,

- Can I have the phone, please?

- Okay, well we have the cellphone in case anyth,

in case you need to get us for anything.

- You're not gonna give me the phone.

- Okay, love you too, bye sweetheart.

She's gonna call us tomorrow night

after they check in to the next hotel.

- She didn't wanna talk to me?

- I think she heard everything you wanted to say Michael.

- Good.

- And she was running out the door.

Her friends were gonna leave without her.

They're doing a moonlight tour of Jerusalem.

- Perfect.

- You know, she could be spending this whole trip

sitting in her hotel room by herself.

She's going out with people,

she's doing all the activities.

- I guess I just still don't really understand

why we had to send our daughter to Israel in the most,

the worst time to be in the Middle East in the last--

- We didn't send our daughter anywhere.

- 25 years. - She's 19 years old.

- She can make her own decisions.

- Yeah, well except this was a decision,

you did happen to encourage this particular decision.

- The doctor told us this would be the best thing for her.

Socializing, meeting people her own age.

- That's called an internship.

That's a summer job at an ice cream parlor.

That's not a 10-day bus ride through a war zone.

- It's not a war zone. - Not yet.

You know, this means a lot to her to be there

and frankly, I don't think it's the worst thing in the world

for a teenager to be interested in learning more

about her heritage.

- Oh, okay.

- And you being the Jewish parent here,

I would think maybe you might appreciate that.

- Heritage is, that's actually,

that's a very problematic concept first of all.

- Okay, can we just,

she's having a good time, thank God,

so can we please just try to be happy

that she's happy for a second?

- Is she sleeping?

Is she?

- Yes, Michael, she is.

- You asked her that?

- I didn't need to ask her that.

I trust her to tell us if there's a problem.

- So she's eating, she's taking her medication?

- Yeah, I would have heard her in her voice

if something was going on.

- Well, that hasn't historically,

that hasn't always been the case.

- You know what, right now I think you're upset

about other things, Michael.

- What other things?

- And you're putting all that negative energy onto Abby.

- What other things?

- Look, it's perfectly normal to feel like--

- I feel fine.

I'm fine.

- It's good that we're here.

It means a lot to your dad to have you.

- Did he say that?

- I could tell.

Why don't you go spend some time with him

before everyone else gets here?

- I'm only halfway through the GALIS.

- It's his birthday.

- His birthday is Tuesday.

- The two of you have a lot to talk about.

- I have to send the GALIS back by Monday.

I have a deadline, Ellen.

- Don't do this to me.

- Do what?

- What you always do when we're at your parent's house,

lock yourself in this room, pretending you have work to do

and I'm stranded downstairs trying to entertain your family.

- I do not always do that.

I have occasionally done that. - Yeah.

- It is quiet though, isn't it?

- I didn't notice.

- When I told Abby, when I said dad wishes you were leaving

Israel and coming home, you know what she said?

She said, "I already am home."

- Huh.

(orchestra music)

- She still hasn't called you?

- No, I wish she would.

- Are you hearing this?

It's been a year and she can't pick up a telephone?

- I heard.

- Every time I talk to her, I say, I must have said it

a hundred thousand times,

Howard, what do I say every time I talk to Jennifer?

- Call your aunt and uncle. - I say call Michael and Ellen

- You live in the same city.

- We'd love to see her, show her the new place.

- Oh my God, that's right, (clapping) the new apartment.

How is it, I need pictures.

Where are my pictures?

- We can send you pictures.

- Is it safe? Do you feel safe?

- In Park Slope?

- I thought, I thought Michael said Brooklyn.

- Well, East Brooklyn, it's a neighborhood in Brooklyn.

- And that's safe? - It's very safe.

- Yeah, better value too I bet, Brooklyn.

- Well, Manhattan was not, we could never afford that.

- Oh my God, I couldn't believe when Michael

told me you two were buying.

I didn't think you'd ever buy.

- Well, just felt like the right time

with Michael's career and Abby away at school.

- Welcome to the wonderful world of home ownership.

- Well, anytime Jennifer would like to visit

we'd be thrilled to have her.

- Oh my God, she's so wrapped up in her self.

One year at Tish and she's already,

she thinks she's Helen Hunt.

- So she's liking it?

- What's not to like?

They play games, they sing songs, they cry.

We're paying $40,000 a year for Montessori school.

- Well, I'm sure it's a great experience.

- What about Abby, and how's Middlebury?

What a phenomenal school that is?

- You know she really, her classes are terrific.

She loves her classes. - Of course she does.

Socially it's still, I think it's been a little bit

of an adjustment for her. - Oh no.

No, no, just in terms of, you know,

she doesn't have a million friends yet.

- Oh no.

- No, no, you know, we've been struggling

with the same things with her since the third grade.

- The ADD?

- She's had, yeah, issues with you know, body image and--

- Eating. - College, I think,

- has exacerbated certain things.

Being away from home for the first time maybe.

- Absolutely, that's not easy.

- She was in the hospital for a week in November.

- Sharon told me. - Oh my God.

Awful. - I didn't know that.

And she's such a beautiful girl, is the irony, isn't it?

- Well, she's doing better now.

Second semester, much better.

She's really started to get into the groove I think finally,

knock on wood, and she's gotten very involved

with Helel, which has been great.

- Fabulous. - Great.

- Yeah, she really, she started going to the Shabbat dinners

and the holiday services. - Fabulous idea.

No, I know, she got very excited about learning more

about Judaism and the culture and the history.

It's been very, well, I think it's been really great

for her to find something that she's so passionate about.

- Aw, she's a good girl.

- How's Joey? Is he doing okay?

- He's doing great.

- He was suspended for two weeks.

- Where the hell is Michael?

We've been sitting here for 20 minutes.

- Well, he's upstairs working.

- I think he's a workaholic, you know that?

- Well, his it's nonstop.

- It's like Howard, Howard is like that.

- Well, it's been a busy year.

- Michael's teaching three classes in the fall

and on top of that his new book is coming out

in a few months, which is what's making him really,

I mean he's obsessing over it, every detail.

- I didn't know Mike was writing a book.

- The last time I tried to read something Michael wrote

I couldn't understand anything he's talking about.

It's so convoluted the way he writes.

- Well, this new book is actually, it's a lot less academic.

So we're hoping it's more accessible than his usual writing,

sells more copies, which is you know, any copies.

- What about your job, do you still love it?

- (groans) love is a pretty strong word.

I mean there are times when it's, I mean when you feel

like you're really making a difference.

- I couldn't do what you do if you paid me $1 million Ellen.

- Well, it's important for children to have advocates

even if it isn't always pleasant.

- I have a buddy, his sister was a social worker

out in Anacostia in the housing projects there.

The thing she was doing with those people,

I mean heroic.

- No, I'm sure.

- Yeah, she ended up, she killed herself actually.

(laughter)

- Oh, look who's here.

- Were you talking about me?

I heard my name.

- Well, you heard wrong.

Say hello to your Aunt Ellen.

- Hi, Aunt Ellen. - Hello.

- Can you pull up your pants?

No one wants to see your underwear.

- Can I have another iced tea?

I'm thirsty.

- All the boys at his school now, this is what they do.

I mean look at this one, pants around his butt

and he thinks it's attractive.

- Can I have another iced tea now?

- You just had one. - I'm thirsty though.

- My mouth is like completely dried out.

- Well, you can drink water, you don't need more sugar.

- I don't like the water here.

It tastes bad, Grandpa doesn't have a filter.

- Where is Grandpa, I thought you two were watching

the baseball game together.

- He fell asleep.

- Uh-oh, you must have worn him out Joey.

- Is Abby coming today?

- Aw, he loves his cousin.

- Abby is actually in Israel right now.

- On Birthright?

- oh, you know about Birthright?

- One of my friend's cousins did it.

- Oh, great.

- He got blowjobs from all the girls on the train.

- Hey!

Is that how we talk?

- He did though.

- Well, we're hoping that Abby's trip

is a little less exciting.

- He doesn't know what he's talking about.

- How much do you wanna bet? - Enough.

Howard, can I please have another iced tea now?

I'm so thirsty.

- What did I just say?

What did I just tell you?

- I'm like dying of thirst.

- I'm gonna defer to Mom on this one.

- This is so unfair. - Get out of here, Joe.

- If you're just gonna stand there hawking

about the iced tea, goodbye.

- Asshole.

- Whoa, whoa, what did you say?

- I didn't say anything.

- You better start acting like a gentleman right now.

- I am acting like a gentleman.

- Do you hear me right now?

- I'm sorry.

- Go, find something else to do.

I don't want to see your face.

- I said I'm sorry. - Goodbye.

Jesus fucking Christ, mom.

- Goodbye, goodbye.

- Wow, he is so grown up.

- You're just gonna let him talk to me that way.

- You dealt with it, you were dealing with it.

- You're his father, he needs to hear from you.

- Stepfather.

- Oh, oh, what was that?

- Stepfather, I said I'm his stepfather.

- What is the significance of telling me that?

- Mike. - Hey, I'm so sorry.

- Mike. - Where were you?

- We've been sitting here for 45 minutes.

- I got stuck, there was a work call I forgot

I needed to take.

- I thought you said you were coming right down.

- I know.

- Hey Mike, how you doing, buddy?

- It was one of my advisees, I'm sorry.

- It's a Saturday.

- No, I know, he wanted to hash out the details

of the conference we're putting together

with the students for Nader.

- Oh my God, oh my God.

Don't tell me you're voting for that asshole.

Michael, please don't tell me that.

- I'm the faculty advisor for the group.

- You are such a jackass.

That is throwing your vote away.

Do you want Bush to win?

- Thank you, that's what I keep telling him.

- And Al Gore is not throwing your vote away?

Corporate lackey, Al Gore?

- I was a McCain guy, so...

- How are you gonna feel when Bush becomes

the next president?

- I'm gonna feel like there's no difference

between four years of Bush and four years of Gore?

- What a jackass?

- Did you bring the plug from the car?

The battery is running low.

- Well, just turn it off.

- Is that his cellphone?

He has a cellphone now.

- How I can turn it off, what if Abby needs us?

- Well, she's not gonna call tonight.

It's late there.

- Unless there is an emergency.

- God forbid.

- What, are you a heart surgeon?

You need a cellphone?

- It's a family phone. - It's convenient.

- Well, I'm dying to get one.

- You already have a car phone.

- Yeah, well, this is for when you're not in the car.

- You don't need that, Howard.

- Well, it's like Mike said, it's for emergencies.

- You don't have emergencies.

- I'm just gonna go get the plug.

- Can you sit with us for five minutes please?

- Of course.

(laughs)

- So, tell me more about Abby.

How's her trip, she's having a good time?

- She's having a great time.

- Yeah, how's the news coming out of there?

- Troubling. - There is no news.

- Nothing is happening, it's all fine.

- The Israelis have the military on high alert.

Hamas is in the streets calling for a new Intifada.

- Jerusalem, they're saying that was the final thing

for the Israelis, everything else

they could agree on, except Jerusalem.

- Well, I think there are actually a couple of things but--

- That fucker, Arafat.

Clinton give him everything they wanted,

they still couldn't say yes.

- It's a little more complicated than that.

- Oh, oh, I forgot he loves the Arabs.

- What happened at Camp David, was a lot more complex

than what you see on CNN.

- I'm sure that's true.

- The Palestinians, the so-called Palestinian state,

that Clinton and Barack put forward,

the Israelis would have continued to maintain full control,

in terms of militarily, in terms of border--

- Okay, the things he says sometimes, if I didn't know him,

honest to God, if I heard him on the street

I'd think he is an anti-Semite, honest to God.

- I'm a Jewish studies professor.

- Oh, really?

When is the last time you were at synagogue?

- Ah, when was the last time you went?

- We were at Washington Hebrew for Yom Kippur.

- You go twice a year, Holly,

which is two times more than I go.

You're not exactly the Rebbe here.

- I went for Sukkot last year, thank you very much.

- I'm an atheist, just like you.

- I'm not an atheist, excuse me.

- Do you believe in God?

- That has nothing to do with it.

(laughter)

- Bombs is what scares me, suicide bombs,

because these guys, they'll walk into a café.

Everything is fine, everyone is eating tuna sandwiches,

drinking espresso, chit chat and then all of a sudden,

you know, body parts, and it's just awful.

Blood everywhere, arms, they find people's arms or legs.

Two hours later, a block away, they'll find a leg.

That's what I, I just, I don't want that sort of thing

to start happening again, because that is just,

you hear the screaming and the bones and...

- What the fuck are you talking about?

- That's what they do.

- Why would you say that, Howard?

- They blow themselves up--

- Their daughter is there, Abby is there.

- It's scary as hell.

- I don't think anyone on either side wants

dead American kids on the news.

- Let's maybe not talk about dead American kids right now.

- That would be nice, wouldn't it?

- By the way, where is Sharon?

Speaking of suicide bombers.

- (laughs) You are so bad.

She had a book sale at school.

- Hey, congratulations on the book, Mike.

That's fantastic.

- How about a glass of wine?

Am I the only one who wants a glass of wine?

- I'm okay with coffee for right now.

- There is a huge accomplishment to write a book.

- Thank you.

- I always want a glass of wine, it's that bad?

- So, is this your first book?

- My third book, the others have been

a lot more specialized so-- - Unreadable.

Well, I wouldn't say that.

- I would.

- They were not intent, they were written for academics,

so they were not for a general audience.

- Oh yeah, what's this one about?

- I don't want to have this conversation.

- What conversation?

What did I do now?

- I'm not good at the whole two sentence,

like this is a book about--

- It doesn't have to be two sentences.

- I hate that.

- Who said it had to be two sentences?

What is he talking about?

- It is Jewish history.

It's about Jewish history.

- Well, that was two sentences.

(laughter)

- Have you read it? - He won't let me.

- I want her to see it when it's finished.

- You sent the manuscript to your dad six months ago.

- That was different.

- You sent it to dad?

- He must have been so touched.

- Well, he never got back to me.

So I guess he wasn't that touched.

- You're kidding?

- Has he read it?

- I have no idea.

- Well, have you asked him? - He won't ask him.

You haven't asked him, ask him.

- I sent it to him, it's his prerogative

if he wants to talk about it.

I'm not gonna force him to talk about it.

- Don't see why you can't just ask him.

- Because I shouldn't have to ask him.

- I'll ask, you want me to ask?

- I really actually wish that you wouldn't, Holly.

- It's crazy, six months.

- Michael has some other news too.

- Really?

- I, I've been recommended for tenure starting in the fall.

- I thought you already had tenure?

- No.

- Well, then great.

What?

- No, it's just sort of a, it's a big deal.

- It's great, I just said. - It's really great.

- Yeah, most people, it's not an easy thing to accomplish.

- Yeah, I'll bet.

- What are you teaching next year?

Anything I'm interested in?

- Ah, I'm teaching a grad seminar on ethics

in the Rabbinic literature.

I'm teaching the freshmen survey course.

I do every fall on Jews in Europe in the 19th Century.

- I'm already asleep. (laughs)

- Thank you.

- No, I like the class you did on Jews in the movies.

That's my kind of thing.

- Mike, I've been reading, have you checked out

the new Reagan biography yet?

- Ooh, I haven't.

- Well, I think you would really,

I mean the guy is a sensational writer.

- Really?

- Well see, but I'm a big nonfiction guy,

so that sort of thing is right up my alley anyway.

- Do you miss mom?

- Do I what?

- Do you miss mom?

Mikey, I miss her so much.

It's like a piece of my heart has been ripped out.

That's how it feels, isn't that awful?

- I mean I do miss her, Holly.

It's kind of a random thing to bring up out of nowhere but--

- How is that random?

- You know what, maybe I will have a glass of wine.

- You sound like Jennifer, random.

Everything I say is random.

"That's so random, mom."

- It's just a very personal question to throw out there

when we're sitting here talking about Ronald Reagan.

- Okay, what do you think about dad, be honest.

- Wow, you just switch gears, don't you?

- Do you see how thin he is?

Didn't I tell you, he looks so old.

- He is old.

- House Riesling, that's all there is.

- I'll have a glass too, please.

- None for me, I can't drink it, it's too sweet.

- Sharon spends all her time with him, you know this?

- With dad? - Oh yeah.

- They go shopping together, they go to the movies,

they're like BFFs as Joey says.

Oh yes, she is constantly at the house too.

You should see, the way she walks around now,

she picks things out.

- What does that mean?

- She says I'll take this, I'll take that.

This is mine, I want the silver, I want the crystal.

Oh yeah, she's already gone through all mom's jewelry.

You know this, right?

Ellen, you should be very concerned about this.

We're not getting a thing.

- Oh, it's your mother,

and she didn't like me very much either.

- Oh, she loved you. - She didn't love you.

- But that's not your fault.

(audience laughs)

- Mom loved Ellen.

- She was very upset when you didn't convert.

- I offered to convert, Michael said no.

- Why would you convert to a religion for a spouse

who doesn't believe in it?

- She puts sticky notes on things, Sharon.

On the bottom of furniture, the backs of paintings

with their name on it.

- Sticky notes?

- (laughs) the store though, that's what she really wants.

Oh, she's got her eye on that store.

- Store, Dad's store?

- Oh yeah, she made friends with the family there,

the Mexican family that rents it.

She takes Dad there to see them every Sunday.

- Why would she even want it?

I thought it was a ghetto dollar store now.

- Do you have any idea how valuable the real estate

there is these days?

We're talking mega.

- It's up-and-coming, that whole area, 14th St.

Lots of new stuff coming in, condos, retail.

- Howard and I, we actually got in touch with an architect

about, okay, you cannot breathe a word of this to Sharon.

I will kill you if you talk to Sharon about this.

I mean it.

- You're talking to an architect about the store?

- Did you hear what I just said?

- I heard you, yes.

- We've been discussing renovations.

- The store hasn't been renovated what, like a 100 years?

All the systems need updating,

all new plumbing, electric.

- Who's gonna pay for that?

- I'm gonna pay for it, well we, are gonna pay for it.

- Why would you do that?

- Because it's the perfect place for my business.

Howard thinks so too.

- There is a lot of potential there.

- What is your business?

- What do you mean what is my business?

Interior design.

- You do interior design?

- Yes, I do interior design, you know that.

- I mean I did our whole, well, I redid our entire house,

top to bottom, and I did Sharon's apartment.

- That's not really a business, right?

That's more like a hobby.

- Well, because I don't have an office.

The store would be my office.

I could actually start something.

- She's got a terrific eye.

- Have you talked to Dad about this?

- Oh my God, Sharon has got him so in love

with this Mexican family, he's gonna keep them there forever

paying like $200 a month, meanwhile, we could be making

that store so beautiful.

Mikey, it makes me ill.

- Where is Sharon's boyfriend in all of this?

- Dumped her. - Oh no, poor Sharon.

Yeah, she left the temple, she joined too.

You know that right, the temple she joined after mom died?

- The orthodox one.

- It wasn't orthodox, it wasn't conservadox.

- Right.

- Yeah, she was very involved in the temple

and all of a sudden, she broke up with her boyfriend.

That was it with temple.

She got dad going there too all the time.

- I don't like her doing that.

- He got a lot out of it.

- He doesn't even read Hebrew.

- Yeah, but she was gonna get him into a class there.

- Abby wants to learn Hebrew when she comes home.

- Fabulous.

- Why is that fabulous?

I don't understand this, why is everyone,

why are we excited about this?

- It's wonderful, it's keeping the tradition alive.

- Which tradition exactly?

- Oh my God, he has to contradict everything.

- No, it's not her tradition, it's not,

our grandparents, Mom's parents,

do you think they spoke Hebrew?

They didn't even go to temple, they were educated people.

They were enlightened, cosmopolitan people.

Now everyone is sudden, I don't know what happened.

What happened, everybody's religious now?

- So what?

- The head of my department, this is a smart guy.

This is not, this is a world-renowned scholar.

He grew up like us with the cheeseburgers

and the sweet-and-sour shrimp, and the Christmas trees--

- Oh, I love Christmas trees.

- Now his whole family, his whole family shomer Shabbos.

They're walking the synagogue on Saturday morning.

- Why does that upset you?

- Because we spent the entire 20th Century trying

to get away from all that, and now you look around

the upper West side, everybody's reading books on kabbalah

and kosher sex, whatever the hell that is.

It's like what happened to the last 100 years.

Didn't we already have this conversation?

Didn't we decide we were done with spirits in the sky?

- I think you could be a little more tolerant

of other people's beliefs.

- I know what he is saying.

I understand what you mean, Mike.

- No, you don't.

- The pendulum swings in one direction

and then it swings back the other way.

The parents are religious so the kids rebel

by giving it up, and then their kids rebel

by going back to it.

- So history is just an endless repetition of the same,

back and forth?

- The families I work with, I see it every day,

the same patterns repeating themselves.

- So how does anything new happen?

How does anything change?

- Maybe it doesn't.

- He doesn't believe in tradition.

Ellen, you're talking to the wrong person.

- I do believe in tradition, I just don't believe

that religion, organized religion is necessarily

a part of that tradition.

- Of course, you don't.

- No, 100 years ago, Jews were part of every single radical

secular political movement in Europe.

The Zionists, they hated religion, they hated the Rabbis

more than the communists did.

Now the point was to change this world, to make a world

where Jews wouldn't even exist.

It would just be one single international human brotherhood

and then at a certain point, we just, we gave up.

We gave up on politics and social justice because,

I don't know why, because it was difficult,

because it didn't always work.

So now, we're running back into the arms

of the most irrational,

the most superstitious reactionary forces.

We're running as fast as we can back into the dark ages.

Back behind our borders and our fences and our walls,

willingly by choice, with eyes wide open.

So no, I'm sorry, I don't see that as keeping

the tradition alive.

Abby learning Hebrew, that's not our tradition.

That's not my tradition.

- We sure there is just the Riesling?

(laughter)

(orchestra music)

(Michael chuckles)

- Oh, this one is my favorite.

Read this one, I love this one.

"Dear mommy, I'm sorry I did a bad to you."

- I love that.

- "I wish you were not so mad at me now, love Mikey."

- I mean is that not, how adorable were you?

"Did a bad."

- I don't find this adorable, I find this troubling.

(laughter)

- Oh, I love it.

- I should show this to a therapist.

This is like the smoking gun.

(laughter)

- A lot of these are like that, apologies.

- I remember just constantly apologizing as a child.

- Mom used to say, do you remember?

"I can forgive but I can't forget."

Do you remember that? - Of course.

You can't say things like that to a five-year-old?

- You can actually, you just, you shouldn't.

- I'm grateful though, you know, that she was tough on us.

Ugh, these kids I teach, you should see the parents,

just terrified of their own children, tiptoeing around them.

- What do you think they're like in New York?

- There are pictures too, see?

Tons of old pictures.

(Michael chuckles)

Dad, behind the cash register.

- That is probably the only time in his life.

- I know, I can't believe mom let him stand there

long enough to have his picture taken.

- Look at the fear in his eyes.

- She could be sweet though, mom.

- When she was happy with you there was nothing like that.

It was like the clouds parting and courses of angels.

- I emailed you last week.

I don't know if you got it.

- No, I did, I'm sorry, I've been swamped.

- I keep calling you, I don't hear back.

- I've just been really crazy with work and moving

into the new place.

- I just never know, are you getting the messages

or am I, did I call the wrong number?

- I'm sorry.

- Well, I was just trying to see if you wanted

to visit the store tomorrow, you and Ellen.

I thought it might be fun if we all went.

I'd love to introduce you to the Jimenas family.

- Yeah, maybe, I don't know what time we have to head back

to the city is the only problem.

- We've become very close with them, Dad especially.

They love dad, it's adorable.

They think he's like a legend.

- That's sweet.

- I think they saved his life.

Honestly, he was not, I could barely get him

to leave the house after mom died.

So finally, one day I decide I'm taking him to the store.

He hasn't been there in 10 years, he just collects

the rent checks in the mail, he should see it.

He should meet his tenants.

He never even met them. - Right.

He and Rod, they hit it off right away,

talking about the orioles in the neighborhood.

- Rod?

- Rodrigo, he is the one that it's his store.

Well, he runs it with his son, Eduardo, you would love it.

Being there, you walk in and it's just, you can feel it.

There's all that history.

- I thought it was a bargain store now.

- Well, but I mean so much of it is still there though.

I mean the old moldings, and the tin ceiling.

And in the back, it's like it's frozen in time.

There's an old framed picture of Kennedy hanging up.

- Yeah, I tend not to connect very much with places.

Old houses, old buildings.

- Some places though you can feel it.

Like a spark of something.

- Yeah, never really found that to be true.

- Well, I won't beg you, but I think you would love it.

I think you would really get a lot out of it.

- Maybe.

- Did Holly tell you about Jonathan?

- Jonathan?

- Jonathan, we dated for a year.

- No, yes, she did. - Over a year.

Yes, I was sorry to hear about that.

- Well, I hope you know that it wasn't your fault.

(laughter)

I don't know if Holly told you that it was, but it wasn't.

- And why would it be my fault?

- Um, for calling him a Nazi at the funeral.

- I called him a Nazi?

- Yes, Michael, you were talking to him.

And he was telling you about his job in marketing

and you went on, ugh, 20 minutes

just on and on about Hitler and the media and complicity.

How he needed to think about complicity.

- And that's why you broke up?

- No, I'm saying that's not why we broke up,

if you thought it was.

- I would never have thought that.

- He was very upset by that conversation.

It rattled him, to be called a Nazi.

That really got to him.

He started questioning everything,

his career, our relationship, his faith.

- I don't even remember the conversation.

He slept with our cantor.

That's why we broke up.

- You're kidding.

- Please, don't tell this to holly.

I know you and Holly, you repeat everything I say.

- What?

- Come on, Michael, I know how you, it's fine.

- Well then don't tell me that.

- It doesn't bother me, I get it.

I'm asking you not to--

- You know what, if you don't trust me,

why would you tell me something like that?

- I do trust you, I just, I don't want you to tell Holly.

- I won't tell Holly.

- She lords things over you, she loves that.

- So tell me what happened with Jonathan?

What happened with Jonathan?

- Well, Jonathan and the cantor, they're both obsessed

with Bruce Springsteen, so that was, they were always,

after services they were always finding a table together

at The Oneg to talk about the boss

and how much they love the boss,

what a great boss the boss was and then fast-forward

to two months ago and I walk into my apartment

and there they are on my bed.

- Jesus.

- Yeah, oral sex at the same time, 69.

On my bed.

- That's probably more than I needed to know.

(laughter)

- And this is the kicker.

Do you know what he said?

- I really don't.

- "It's not what it looks like."

(laughter)

Do you like that?

69 on my brand-new duvet cover, $400.

Now I'm gonna have to get it dry-cleaned

which is gonna cost me 75 and it's not what it looks like?

I mean, can you even?

(Michael laughs)

- Was she a good cantor?

- She wasn't great, frankly.

She was very nasal.

- I told you he was a Nazi.

- Oh, stop.

(laughter)

- Stop it.

- I warned you.

- I should've listened.

- You can do so much better than that guy, Shar.

- I've gotten fat.

- What are you talking about?

- I have.

- You are like emaciated.

- Well, thank you but--

- It's not a compliment but...

- You look great.

- I stopped working out.

- I can't tell.

- I got one of those rollers from TV, the ab roller.

- Does it work?

- I don't know, I haven't opened it.

(laughter)

- I never come in this room anymore.

Whenever I'm at the house, just too many memories,

you know, mom.

- It reminds me being 14 and smoking pot out the window.

- You know, the hospice people, they were going to set

it all up in her room.

They just assumed but she wanted to be here,

in Mikey's room, no surprise.

- Well, listen, if you want help getting rid of some

of this stuff--

- We've already gotten rid of most of it.

All the rental stuff, the hospital bed.

- You still got her cloths in the dresser.

- I'm not throwing out her clothes.

I'm not ready to do that.

- What about the wheelchair?

You need a wheelchair?

You need her prescriptions? - I'm not ready.

- I like knowing that it's all here.

It feels like it's all just sitting here waiting for her

to come back.

Like she just went downstairs to make herself a cup of tea.

- I don't remember mom ever drinking tea.

- Well, with the chemo it's all she could keep down.

Just peppermint tea and Lorna Doones.

You were lucky, you missed a lot of that.

- I was working. - I know.

I'm not good in that sort of,

I didn't wanna see her like that.

- No one wanted to see her like that.

We still did though. - Okay.

She understood, she really,

I mean, you know mom.

Her son could do no wrong.

Dad looks good, doesn't he?

- Holly thinks he looks thin.

- She is so full of shit.

You know, he's put on 10 pounds since last year.

He was like a skeleton when mom died.

He practically killed himself trying to take care of her.

Those last few weeks, he barely left the room.

He wouldn't sleep, he wouldn't eat.

- Probably only time in their marriage they got along.

- Don't say that.

- It's true.

- Now he goes to that McDonald's drive-through in Bethesda

all the time, ugh.

I can't get him to stop.

- He is still driving?

- His eyesight has gotten terrible.

He sees double.

- That's not ideal, Sharon.

- I would really, I would love for you

to talk to him, Michael.

Just whenever I try to talk to him about things like that

and he shuts down.

- Well, if he is not listening to you,

why would he listen to me?

- He respects you.

- Not sure that's true actually.

- Oh, come on.

- I sent him the manuscript to my book six months ago

and he never responded.

- I know.

- He told you?

What did he say?

- You know what, you should ask him.

It's not my place.

- What did he say, Sharon?

- He was hurt.

He found it very hurtful.

- He found it hurtful?

- It's inflammatory, Michael.

A lot of what you've written, it's very inflammatory.

- He told you it was inflammatory?

- He told me that and then when I read it I agreed.

- You read it?

- He gave it to me to see what I thought.

- Aha.

- I'm your biggest fan, you know that but honestly,

if you want me to be honest with you,

I mean it's offensive, Michael.

- You were offended?

- Yes.

- How were you offended?

- Jews run the government?

- Where did I say that?

- Jews run the media, the Holocaust is about making money.

Jews making money off of the Holocaust.

- Sharon, that's incredibly facile reading

of an actually quite complicated argument.

- What did you think was going to happen?

You thought Dad was going to, he would really

respond to a book like that?

- You knew that it would upset him.

- It's a very personal book for me,

I thought maybe he would appreciate that.

- Well, it's not like an attack, like a personal attack--

- On dad, on our family.

- How is it an attack on our family?

- Obviously, you hate where you come from.

- Ugh.

- You hate the culture that you come from.

- That's not true.

- Well, I gave it to my Rabbi--

- You gave it to your Rabbi?

- I have a very close relationship with my Rabbi.

- This is the Rabbi from the synagogue with the can't,

with the 69ing cantor?

- He was just upset about it as I was, okay?

He tried to fire her, and then the board, ugh.

She did a whole song and dance for the board.

- So what did your Rabbi say about my book?

I'm sure he had a wonderfully sage response.

- Well, he said in the Talmage, they talk about--

(Michael scoffs)

If you slander your fellow Jew, that's the most,

that's an unforgivable crime, Michael.

That's one of the worst crimes that there is.

- Okay.

- I'm just telling you what he said.

- Just so you know Sharon, that was completely inappropriate

of you to do that.

- To do what?

- That is an unpubli, that is a manuscript of a book.

My book, which I sent to dad, not to you

and certainly not to your asshole Rabbi.

- Okay, that is not fair Michael.

Abby told me about the petition against you.

So obviously he's not the only one who felt that way.

- When did you talk to Abby?

- Abby and I talk almost every day.

- Since when?

- She started calling me when she was in the hospital.

- Abby called you from the hospital?

- She wanted advice and I guess she felt like

I was the easiest person for her to talk to,

about the sort of things that she was thinking about.

- And what was she thinking about?

- Life, everything, religion, God, Judaism.

- So you've been encouraging that?

- Why wouldn't I encourage it?

- Because her parent, you are not her parent, Sharon,

and her parents don't approve of those kinds of values.

- Actually Ellen has been very supportive.

I'm not sure why you're so against it.

- Because I raised her as a se,

to be a secular person, a rational person.

- It has been very healing for her.

She was almost, I mean in November.

- What did she tell you about the petition?

- She told me that people read your book--

- That's not true actually.

- And they started a petition to get you fired.

- No one has read my book.

My book doesn't come out until October.

The only people that have read my book are you and dad.

- And Rick?

- Who is Rick?

- My Rabbi.

(laughter)

- Rabbi Rick?

(laughter)

- So you're not worried that there is

a petition against you?

- It's not even, some disgruntled right-wing undergraduates

read a two-page excerpt of the book

which they took completely out of context

and they came up with the idiotic idea for a petition.

Well, you can't fire a tenured professor.

I've been recommended for tenure, did you know that?

Did you even, did Abby tell you that?

- I thought you already had it.

- Well, I didn't.

- Well, mazel tov then.

- Thank you, so much.

- How many people have signed it?

- I don't know, not very many.

- 50?

- Maybe, something like that.

- More than 50?

- I should go check on Ellen.

- Please, don't go, look, I don't wanna fight with you.

- Neither do I.

- I need to tell you something.

- Okay.

- You just gonna stand there?

- I guess not.

- You can't tell Holly.

- I won't tell Holly.

- I think I like someone.

- Okay.

- Please don't tell this to Holly.

- I am not going to tell Holly.

- I think, it feels like maybe,

I don't know, I feel so, I'm happy, you know.

- That's great, Sharon.

- Yeah, no, it is.

- Who is it?

- Well, actually it's Rod.

Rodrigo, that's the sort of funny thing about it.

- Rodrigo, from the store, from the Mexican bargain store.

- They're not Mexican, they're Guatemalan.

- Isn't he, how old is he?

- 51, it's 12 years, it's not that big a difference.

- So he is what, he's divorced or?

- They have a terrible marriage.

- Oh my, Sharon.

- They hate each other.

- With children, they have children.

- Forget it, forget I said anything.

- Sharon.

- No, if I knew you were just gonna stand there and judge me

I wouldn't have told you.

- I'm not judging you, I'm telling you this is a bad idea.

- Ugh, why did I even?

I knew you would be like this.

- Like what, like sensible, like reasonable?

- No, like you always are.

Like you know everything and everybody else is a moron.

Like I am a moron.

- This is a family you're getting involved with here Sharon.

- I don't care.

- You don't care.

- I don't care.

(knock on the door)

- What are you fighting about?

- No one's fighting, we're talking.

- Howard kicked me out of the kitchen.

I have been exiled from the kitchen.

- Uh-oh.

- I was accused of micromanaging the table setting.

Those are the charges against me, I'm a micromanager.

What are these?

- Old drawings and pictures.

Mom had them by her bed.

- Oh, oh my God.

Oh, is this the house with the tree in front?

- That's the store.

- How do you know?

- Because I drew it.

- Really? It looks like the house to me.

- No, first of all,

(laughter)

this is a guy trying on clothes.

- Is that what that is?

I thought that was a baby.

- I thought that was a little puppy dog,

with the tail here.

- What tail?

- The tail, see, the tail.

- That's a suit jacket.

- Wow, you were terrible at this, weren't you?

- Aww, this is nice, all of us here,

the kids at the house.

I don't remember the last time this happened,

all of us here together.

- The funeral.

- Really? It's been that long?

- Well, that was the last time that Michael was home.

- Mom, look.

How young she is here.

- The cigarette on her lip.

- Poor Mom, I miss Mom.

Do you miss Mom, Sharon, Michael doesn't miss her.

- I didn't say that.

- I thought you said you didn't miss her.

- When did I say that?

- I don't know, I thought it was weird too.

(laughter)

- I didn't say it.

- Well, good.

- Obviously I miss her.

- We all miss her. - I know.

- Maybe she's here today too, in spirit.

- That's sweet, Sharon to think that.

- Don't you ever feel that way?

Like you're walking up the stairs and suddenly just feel

this sort of presence, like someone's right there

next to you?

- A little maybe, I think a little.

- I do.

- That's nice.

- Do you, Michael, do you ever feel that?

- No.

(laughter)

(orchestra music)

- She says the food is out of this world.

- Ugh, it's like nowhere else.

- She had the best falafel.

- Ah, nowhere else.

- I wasn't finished.

- You'll be up all night again.

- They were in Tel Aviv, they went to this little hole

in the wall place, she said,

"Mom, you'd have no idea it was even there

"this place, no sign."

- Those are always the best.

- Falafel is origina, it's actually,

it's an interesting history

in terms of the politics of falafel.

- Whoa, whoa, the politics of falafel?

Come on, that is not a real thing.

- It is actually.

The Israelis claim it's an Israeli food,

the Palestinians say it's Palestinian food.

- Boy, they are just divided on everything over there.

- Ask Clinton.

- Yeah, ask Clinton, he'll tell you they can't

even agree to disagree.

- The Arabs, they're never gonna be happy with anything.

- Absolutely.

- As long as the Israelis refuse to even discuss the concept

of a right of return--

- You think if it was up to them,

they would give you that right?

- Why should I have that right?

- Bite your tongue, Jews have one country.

How many countries do they have?

They can go anywhere, we have one.

- I heard it was Jerusalem,

that was the main no-consensus on Jerusalem.

- Well, there is a consensus actually.

There are eight different UN security council resolutions

on the subject.

- Oh, oh, the UN, real Jew lovers.

- They wanna cut off the city.

Divide it up into parts.

It's not a city anymore, it's just pieces.

- Much like the proposed Palestinian state.

- Let's maybe talk about something else.

- Wouldn't that be nice?

- I didn't bring it up.

- I think McCain could have done something great over there.

- We're not talking about it anymore, Howard.

- I was saying-- - It's over.

(laughter)

- Dinner was delicious, Holly.

- Oh, stop.

- You outdid yourself, honey.

- I need the recipe for that green bean casserole.

- Oh my God, it's so easy.

- It's mom recipe.

- Well, mine is a little different.

- It tastes just like Mom's.

- Hers was off all from a can, I use fresh.

- Well, it was delicious. - It was great.

- I could probably do a tablecloth flick

when I pull the tablecloth out.

- Okay, we're not doing that now.

- I could probably do it.

- I don't care if you can do it, we're not doing it.

- He loves magic. - Oh, good.

- Okay, I'm not asking you again.

Put the Nintendo away and go sit with the rest

of your family.

- Come join us, Joey.

- Holly, why don't you finish the dishes later?

We're all relaxing now.

- I just gotta let these soak.

- Ah, she can't stop.

- Anyone else need more wine?

- Yeah, I'll have a drop.

- So do you feel 75, Lou?

- 75, what a fucking nightmare.

- Dad!

Please with the language.

- Are you expecting a call?

- Oh, Abby has the number in case there's an emergency.

- Is that a cellphone, can I see it?

- The battery is running low.

- Can I still see it?

- He doesn't need to see it.

- Why don't you put it away?

- I'm just worried I won't hear it.

- Well, give it to me, I'll hear it.

- That's what I want for my birthday.

- Well, you're not getting it.

You're not a drug dealer.

(laughter)

- Sharon was saying maybe we could all

go to the store tomorrow.

- Really?

- Well, Dad and I were there on Sunday anyway.

- Yeah, maybe, we can try but--

- Oh, I'd love to go.

- Yeah, we have the train to catch though.

- Oh, the Acela, is it the Acela?

Because you can exchange your ticket for a later one.

No charge, I've done it a hundred times.

- Perfect.

- Great, thanks Howard.

- Poor Abby, she's gonna be jealous she missed out.

- Hey, you guys should come too.

- Maybe. - I'm busy.

- I don't think Joey's ever been.

- I'm busy though.

- What are you busy with?

- Extracurriculars.

- Your uncle and I grew up there, you know.

- Yeah, I know.

- We used to go there after school,

do our homework in the back.

- Do you know about the store, Joey?

Have you told him about the store?

- Of course, he knows all about it.

- Do you know what it was called, Joey?

- No.

- Yes, you do, yes he does.

- Haberman's Corner.

- Alright, I knew that, I already knew that.

- Your grandmother's family, they were the Habermans.

And it was your grandma Mimi, her father,

Papa Bill, your great grandfather.

He bought it all the way back in,

wait, when did he buy the store, dad?

- Oh, who knows.

- 1880s.

- Yeah, could be.

- So when Grandpa, when he came back from the war

and he married Grandma--

- Were you in the marines?

- Army.

- Marines are the best though, they have swords.

- Your Grandpa liberated Dachau.

- Oh cool.

- That's incredible.

- That's a big deal, Joey.

- Well, there were a lot of us.

- And so when Grandpa, when he married Grandma Mimi

after he came back, he started working in the store

with Papa Bill.

they sold menswear, suits, ties--

- They sold cloths to black people.

Don't you remember me telling you about this, Joey?

- We sold to all kinds, we didn't care.

- Predominantly black people.

- In 1947, the Blacks couldn't even get

into a department store in Washington.

- Incredible.

- At Haberman's we had good merchandise.

We carried everything they wanted, we were fair priced.

We didn't care what color they were.

It didn't matter to us.

- A lot of the stores in the black neighborhoods

were owned by Jews, historically,

because they were cheaper to own

and there was a captive customer base.

- This was not a black neighborhood,

it was a mixed neighborhood.

- And the Habermans hated you, didn't they Dad?

- (laughing) The Habermans were German.

You know they've been in Washington

for two generations already.

My family, we were Russian right off the boat.

So we were, hm-hm.

They looked down at us, they were snobbish, but it was okay.

It was alright.

- So after Papa Bill died you took over the store?

- Well, with Mom, Mom ran the register.

She did all the bookkeeping.

- What happened?

- What happened, Martin Luther King died

and the Blacks had a riot and they burnt down the city.

That's what happened.

- The blacks had a riot.

All the black people apparently on the entire planet

had a riot.

- Every street they burned down, all the way up

to our street. - Wow.

But by the time they got to us, I guess they were worn out.

Stokely Carmichael must've gone to bed early.

- By the time they got to you, the National Guard was there.

- It's like in the Exodus story, when God passed over

the houses of the Israelites.

- Is it though?

(laughter)

- I think it's very much like that.

We were there that night, do you remember Michael?

- I didn't know that.

- Oh yeah, we walked there together after school,

the two of us.

I remember when they announced it on the radio,

the assassination and Mom and Dad,

I remember they looked at each other like they knew,

like they just knew.

And dad, he took out all the money from the safe.

They took out all the books from our bags, our school bags.

They put the books in the safe,

the money in our school bags.

He said sorry about the books, we'll get them later.

(Lou chuckles)

Do you remember this?

- Yes.

- And then you decided, oh, Mom was so mad

that Dad decided he was gonna stay until things calmed down.

So, we locked up, Mom put down the grate

and I remember we looked back inside and there's dad

just sitting there listening to the radio.

I'll never forget that.

He stayed there all night.

- I don't remember where I was.

- Oh, you were a baby, you were at home with the nanny.

- Why did you sell the store?

- I didn't sell the store, we leased the store.

- Your grandfather rents the store to people

who pay rent for it, Joey.

They pay him rent every month so they can use it.

That's how rent works.

- Why don't you just run the store?

- Oh, I'm too old to run a store.

I don't have the energy.

- It takes a tremendous amount of work

to operate a business, Joey.

It's very time-consuming.

- I got tired of all the bullshit.

- Dad.

- After the riots, the Blacks, they were all--

- Okay dad. - Okay.

- Well, the city changed, the whole country changed.

- Probably for the better in many cases.

- In most cases.

- Yeah, it changed, more drugs, more guns, homeless people.

- Well, it's changing again.

The neighborhood, all those new restaurants,

new apartment buildings, the rents in that part

of the district, they have shot up.

- Yeah, yeah.

- We don't want to raise the rent.

Dad loves the tenants we have now.

- We're gonna have them for Rosh Hashanah this year.

They've never been to a Jewish holiday.

- Ooh, they're in for a treat.

- You should see Dad with Rodrigo.

They have such a good time together.

- (laughing) He's got my sense of humor.

- Which is what?

- Funny.

(laughter)

- Dad and I actually, last week we opened

a college savings account for Eduardo's daughter, Sylvia.

She's seven, she's adorable, so smart.

- You're paying for her college now?

- It's a couple hundred bucks a year.

- She is brilliant, this girl.

- How lovely.

- I'm gonna grab another beer, anyone else for a beer?

- I need water, with ice.

- Coming right up.

- So when I go, Joey--

- God forbid, Dad!

- He loves to talk like that, he think it's cute.

- Oh no, some day, when I go,

the store will be yours. - Aw.

- Probably I'll make it a videogame store.

- You're not doing that, Joey.

- Do you know how much money you can make

in a videogame story?

- Well, you'll have to split it with Abby and your sister.

- That's fine.

- Oh, he's so generous.

- We'll see what the Jimenases think about that.

They have their own plans, I'm sure.

- It's not their store.

- I didn't say that it was.

- My father, when he came to this country, he was your age.

Didn't speak a word of English, didn't go to high school,

he didn't go to college.

Came here with the clothes on his back.

- It's amazing.

- When he walked through Haberman's corner,

now here is a man who spent his entire life

living paycheck to paycheck,

everything he did, everything he put aside,

it was all for that.

That he could live long enough, that he could see that,

that he could see that his son owns something.

Something that was brick and mortar,

something you could touch, something you could pass

on to the next generation.

Something that was better than what came before.

- Wow, Dad.

- Do you hear what he's saying Joey?

- No Mom, I'm deaf.

(laughter)

- Nobody here thinks that's funny.

- I always thought that one of you kids would want

the store, but you were always busy.

- Well, we had careers.

- Well, so.

- Speaking of careers, Dad, Michael actually

has some big career news, don't you Michael?

- We don't have to do this.

- Can I tell everyone?

- I think everyone already knows.

- Dad, Michael got tenure.

- Oh.

- Isn't that great?

- That's great.

- Good for Michael. - Thank you.

- We should toast.

A toast.

- And Michael has a new book coming out too, Dad.

- Let's not talk about the book.

- Dad, did you know that Michael has a new book?

- I don't need you to do this.

- Let's talk about something else.

- So Dad, Michael was very concerned

because he sent you the book six months ago,

and he didn't hear back.

- What are you doing, Holly?

- So Joey, are you excited to start eighth grade?

- I'm starting 11th grade.

- Are we talking about the book, did I miss it?

- No, we're not.

- Well, give us the synopsis.

Mike, synopsize it for us.

- Well, Dad read it, maybe Dad can tell us about it.

- He doesn't wanna talk about it.

- Well, I at least want to know the title.

Can I hear the title?

- It's called Forgetting the Holocaust.

- Whoa.

So it's about the holocaust, sort of a history?

- It's about Jews, American Jews,

- And the holocaust?

- The relationship between American Jews,

Israel and the holocaust and just,

how that relationship works.

- Aha. - Great.

And how does it work, the relationship?

- It works because Israel and the right-wing allies

of Israel in this country and the United States,

they use the holocaust, the memory of the holocaust

to get American Jews to support certain kinds

of policy prerogatives in the Middle East.

- Is it fact, or opinion?

Because it sounds more like opinion maybe.

- Well, I have 60 pages of footnotes.

- That is impressive, wow.

- I mean why do you think both political parties

in this country are in lockstep with whatever Israel wants?

Why is it the one thing they can all agree on?

Because of the goodness of our leaders,

because they love Jews so much?

They certainly didn't love us while the holocaust

was actually, you know, happening.

- Maybe because they understand

that it's the right thing to do.

- (chuckles) Or maybe it's because

they get campaign contributions from wealthy Jews

and wealthy Jewish foundations

and that's what drives American foreign policy.

- He sounds like Pat Buchanan.

- Because Jews who used to care about civil rights

and social justice, economic justice,

they're now, now their number one,

their only issue is Israel.

- This is what your book is about?

- You know there's a petition against him.

Do you know about the petition?

- There's a petition?

- It's like a hundred people.

- You said 50.

- You know, I think it was very brave of Michael

to write about a subject like this.

I think it took a lot of courage.

- Well, you're not Jewish, Ellen.

- Sharon!

- Not to be rude, but I don't think you really understand

what these issues mean to people.

- Right, only Jews are allowed to have

an opinion about Israel, everyone shut up and agree.

- This isn't about opinions, Michael.

This is about Ellen has never had to worry

about being put in a concentration camp,

because she's Swedish. - There it is.

- Norwegian, actually.

- There it is.

Thank you, Sharon, for demonstrating the entire thesis

of my book, the best way to win an argument about Israel

change the subject back to the holocaust.

- If you don't understand the holocaust,

how do you understand Israel?

- The idea of the holocaust has been used

to distort American Jewish life and discourse

and cultures since the 1960s until today.

- Here we go.

- Now, walk into any synagogue in America,

te holocaust is now the centerpiece of Jewish life,

the linchpin that binds us together.

It's not culture anymore or food, certainly not religion

with the number of American Jews that actually practice

their religion, it's the six million

and we have been manipulated, all of us, our entire lives,

to feel constantly victimized, constantly afraid.

You hear it all the time, It could happen again.

Never forget, because it could happen again.

- Well, because it could happen again.

- It already has happened again.

Happened in Bosnia, it happened in Rwanda.

It just didn't happen to us.

No, we learned all the wrong lessons from the holocaust.

We learned that the world hates Jews,

that the world will always hate Jews

instead of what we should have actually learned.

Which is that nationalism is a sickness and it is lethal.

And the book argues that the only way we can escape

what has essentially become at this point a religion

and a culture of frankly death, and death worship,

a culture that finds its meaning and its reason for being

in the channel houses of Europe,

the only way we can get past that

is if we forget it, actively.

We stop making movies about it and writing books about it

and just celebrating it, venerating it like,

because otherwise if we don't, I feel I argue at length

in the book, if we don't forget the holocaust now,

if we don't begin to disentangle ourselves

from our own obsessional neurosis then we'll be,

this will be the end of us.

This will be our last chapter as a people.

If we can even call ourselves that anymore,

when the only thing that connects us to one another,

that connects us to ourselves even, are ghosts.

I don't believe in ghosts.

(orchestra music)

(music on TV)

- Do you mind if I join you?

- Oh, not at all.

Need a hand?

- No, no, I'm okay.

(moaning) The difficult part is sitting down or standing up.

You have to choose one or the other

and then just stick with it.

(laughter)

Mind if we turn that off?

- Oh, I'm not watching.

- Sharon and I, we went to the cemetery last week.

Did I tell you this before?

Good.

We made a stone for you, for your mother

and we told her you said hello,

and I wanted you to know that.

- Thank you.

- It's a nice spot.

Busy, very busy, all week busy.

And that's what she liked about it,

right in the middle of the action. (laughs)

You got tenure, you didn't say anything about it.

That's an accomplishment, come on.

I didn't know about this petition.

100 names you say?

- Close to that.

- How close?

- The last time I checked,

it had just passed 9000 signatures.

(laughter)

I was recommended for tenure.

The board hasn't, they still have to approve

the recommendation, they have to vote, and,

- I did read your book.

- I heard.

What did you think?

At Dachau, I don't know if you came across this

in your research or not.

Well, the Americans liberated the camps at Dachau.

You have to remember, they didn't know what we know now.

They didn't have a word as to what they were going to see,

what they were gonna walk in on.

They thought it was a POW camp.

Every door that they opened, in every room,

from the floor to the ceiling, they found bodies,

stacked up, one on top of the other.

You can imagine the smell coming from everything,

from the gas chambers, from the bricks in the crematorium,

from the ovens, from,

the dirt under your feet, boots.

And the ones we found, the ones that were still alive,

it was the worst with them.

The smell coming up off their skin, their breath.

Oh Michael, they were so hungry.

Well, the GIs gave them food, they gave them rations.

Some of them, they were so hungry, they ate so quickly.

No one could get them to slow down

and their stomachs ruptured.

All those years, then they end up dying of a full stomach.

Some of them,

they weren't hungry.

They didn't want to eat.

They went back

and they found the guards, the Germans.

And they took shovels.

Well, they found shovels.

They found bricks, they found sickles

and they hit them with the shovels and the bricks

and the sickles, the Germans,

who had killed their parents,

their brother maybe,

their children right in front of them.

They took shovels, men who didn't weigh 100 pounds.

You could see the bones sticking through their skin.

They took their shovels and they smashed in their faces

on and on and over and again.

And the Americans, some even, they helped.

They rounded them up, they rounded the guards up

and they gave the prisoners their guns

and the prisoners shot them one by one like animals.

Like Jews.

And the Americans, they just watched.

We stood, we watched

and we were glad.

My God, we were glad.

I'm still glad.

For you history is an abstraction,

for us who have survived this century,

this long, long century,

there are no abstractions anymore.

♫ Happy birthday to you.

- Come on dad.

- Come on Michael, Joey sing.

♫ Happy birthday to you.

♫ Happy birthday dear Dad.

♫ Happy birthday to you.

(cellphone ringing)

- Hello. - Happy birthday Lou.

Honey? - What's going on?

I can't hear you. - Where is she?

I can't hear her.

- Where is she?

- I can't hear you.

- Everybody, shh.

- Abby, slow down, I can't understand you.

(gasps)

- What happened?

- Now to the chaos in the Middle East

where that day of rage turned into violent confrontations

between Israelis and Palestinians.

NBC's Martin Fletcher is on the front lines in Jerusalem.

(gunshots)

- Israeli police today stormed

the most sacred shrine in Jerusalem,

after hours of running battles with Palestinians

who call this their day of rage...

(report drowned out by music)

The Palestinians set fire to this police station

trapping police inside, then hurled thousands of rocks

from inside the mosque.

Police fired back with tear gas and rubber bullets

avoiding live ammunitions,

trying to keep the death toll down.

The Palestinians set fire to this police station

trapping police inside.

Then hurled thousands of rocks from inside the mosque.

- I'm home, finally.

Oh my God, terrible accident on Wisconsin.

Dad?

You awake?

- Oh, hi, you are awake, hi.

That is the worst intersection, at Albamoro.

People go through there like it's,

they're driving 60 miles an hour, it's absurd.

Oh here, that doesn't look very comfortable.

How's that?

I just spoke to Rod again.

He said they're all pulling for you, down at the store.

The whole family.

Eduardo wanted to come and bring you flowers.

I said, "Ed, what is Dad gonna do with flowers?

"He doesn't need flowers, what he needs is,

"he needs somebody who could actually,

"he needs people here helping him,

"that's what he actually needs."

Ed said, "But aren't you helping him?"

I said yes.

He said, "Well, what about everybody else?"

I said, "Everybody else, who's that?

"Oh, you mean my siblings, oh, they're busy," I said.

They've got every busy, very important schedules apparently.

I'm just so, I know I sound like a broken record,

but I'm still just a little unclear on what Holly

has better to do right now,

just because I have to go back to work eventually.

I've already used half my vacation days,

I can't just, I have a job.

Holly meanwhile she's sitting at home

watching Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

- Hi Sharon. - (gasps) Oh my God.

(laughter)

Did I scare you?

- Oh my God.

- I'm sorry.

- I was, I got refills on dad's meds.

- Did you save the receipts?

- I put it on his MasterCard.

- You just left Dad here?

- Well, I was gone for 15 minutes.

- Oh, really, because I've been here for a half hour or so.

- He was sleeping when I left and he has a Life Alert

if there was an emergency.

- I made up the guestroom for Michael and Ellen.

- Oh, thank you. - And I vacuumed.

I've been meaning to vacuum all week.

- Now you don't have to.

- Now I don't, good point.

You scared me half to death. - I know.

I thought I was gonna have a heart attack.

- Thirsty Dad?

- I gave him a glass of water just an hour ago.

- His lips are chapped, Sharon.

- I've been giving him water all morning.

- He needs to stay hydrated.

- Yes, I'm aware, hence the water.

- His lips shouldn't get chapped like this.

- They weren't chapped when I left.

- Well, they're chapped now so.

Here dad, juice.

No, we gotta use the left hand, remember gotta practice?

Come on, there you go.

Oh, oh, that's alright that's okay.

It's okay, Dad, it's okay.

You want more?

Okay Dad, okay.

- Guess who called this morning.

Guess who called, Holly.

- I don't know, Sharon.

- Rodrigo, he's been calling every day.

- That's nice.

- I know, don't you think?

He got Sylvia on the phone yesterday.

I put it on speaker for Dad.

She was so sweet.

It really makes his day hearing from them,

hearing from anyone.

- I'm sure.

- How does he look, what do you think?

- Good.

He looks good.

- Better, don't you think?

Better than last week. - Mm-hmm.

Good, I think so too.

- Much better.

(orchestra music)

It's been a nightmare.

- How was I supposed to know that, no one told me that.

- An unending fucking nightmare.

It hasn't even been a week.

- You told me he couldn't talk, Holly.

That's all anyone told me.

- Well, he can't talk.

- It's more than he can't talk.

He's not even, just sits there.

- Isn't it fun?

- Does he have any idea what's going on?

- Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

He's in and out, he gets confused, he forgets where he is.

- So cognitively-- - He can't dress himself.

- He can't feed himself, he can't go up the stairs

by himself, we have him sleeping on a pullout sofa

in the office, he can't use the bathroom by himself.

- Jesus.

- Yeah, it's all very good news.

- So what are we gonna do?

- What do you mean what are we gonna do?

- I mean in terms does he need professional care?

Does he need, what does he need?

- Professional care, he's getting professional care,

he's in occupational therapy, he's in physical therapy.

- Here I'm saying, somebody here, somebody living here.

- I don't know, maybe.

- What about Sharon?

- What about her?

- She's already living here, right, it seems like?

- What are you saying?

We should hire Sharon to be dad's nurse?

- No, I'm saying maybe that's something she wants

to keep doing for the time being.

- Would you wanna keep doing that?

- I'm not Sharon, I don't enjoy my own misery

in quite the same way she does.

- Oh, she's already complaining, I'm not doing anything,

Howard is not doing anything.

- Okay, because otherwise I mean, a person who comes here,

a live-in person, that's gonna be, that's very expensive.

- Yes, Michael, we know it's gonna be expensive, thank you.

- I'm saying I don't think Medicare covers

that kind of thing.

- Well, it didn't cover it for Mom.

- Right, so exactly.

- And you weren't there for most of that I guess.

- Are you guilt tripping me now about Mom?

- I don't know, do you feel guilty.

- I don't live here, Holly.

it's a trek for me to get here.

You live 15 minutes away.

- 30 to 45 in traffic actually.

- You're a much better person than I am, what can I say.

- Give me a fucking break Michael, you show up here

a week after the stroke.

- Yeah, you told me you didn't need me.

You and Sharon both told me not to come.

- 'Cause we know how busy you are.

- Yes, I'm in litigation right now.

I've been in depositions all week.

If you would have told me to come here sooner,

I wanted to, fuck you.

- Fuck you. - No, fuck you, Holly.

No, fuck you, Michael.

You fucking self-righteous fucking asshole.

How was the train, did you take the train?

How was the train?

- We took the bus.

- Greyhound?

- Do you really care? - No, I don't.

- How are you?

- How am I?

- I feel like we haven't spoken in months.

- We spoke yesterday. - For 10 minutes.

I'm great, Holly, I have never been better.

- Are you being facetious? - Yes, I am.

- How's the job search going?

- The job search, that's funny.

I can't get a job anywhere in North America at this point.

I have a publicist though, I got a publicist.

He gets me speaking engagements at left-wing colleges

and bookstores, tiny bookstores.

- That's fancy. - It's not really.

It's better than nothing.

- It essentially is nothing, so -5% for the publicist.

- And the lawsuit it's still-- - Ongoing.

Have you thought about settling?

- Sure, and they just need to reinstate me in my position

with lost wages plus damages for defamation

and I want an apology, public apology from the board,

from the president, then sure,

I'll settle for that, that's fine.

- What do they say?

- What do they say, they say my work lacks scholarly rigor.

That's their term of art, scholarly rigor,

whatever that means.

Scholarly rigor which, this is after the faculty committee

voted unanimously to recommend me for tenure.

Glowing reviews from students, fellow academics,

but no, the board has decided that they know better.

Only the second time by the way, in the 150-year history

of the university that the board of trustees

has refused to approve a tenure recommendation.

What was the first time, you may be asking yourself.

Oh well, the guy was accused of, this is not a joke.

He was accused of fucking a horse.

(laughter)

So in the annals of university history

it is now me and the horse fucker.

- So they didn't like the book?

(laughter)

- No, they did not like the book.

They disliked the book I would say.

- Is it is selling at least?

- How is it supposed to sell when the publisher

won't market it, I mean it's like,

you'd think it never even happened.

- Sharon said that Abby decided not to go back to school?

- When we took her in January, she couldn't wait

to start classes and see her friends and then,

we got a call from the emergency room three weeks later.

Before Israel we didn't, we thought she had

an eating disorder, even when she was in the hospital

last year it was bad, but it was still,

we've seen bad, we didn't think it was some kind of actual,

hearing voices, talking to herself,

hurting herself, cutting herself.

- The cutting, sometimes they do that for attention.

- No, these were not, what happened in Jerusalem,

I don't know how much you actually want to hear this all.

- No, I wanna hear.

- The depth of the cuts, the lacerations that she made,

these were very, they were not superficial.

They told us it was Jerusalem syndrome,

that Abby had a case of Jerusalem syndrome.

- Howard looked it up on the computer.

- The hospital there say they see 100, 150 people a year

with it. - That's a lot.

Well, it's especially people with pre-existing,

if they already have certain trauma or emotional issues

which obviously Abby, it can trigger,

just being there in the city.

People weren't even religious, suddenly they start

seeing visions and scaring tourists.

But if it was Jerusalem syndrome, she's home now.

So why is she still...

Why isn't she okay?

- How is Ellen managing?

- Ellen is, she is in complete denial.

She spent the whole fall going with Abby to temple,

every Saturday, she thinks Abby is having

a spiritual crisis.

She wants her to talk to a Rabbi.

She wants her to be a Rabbi.

She doesn't understand that when Abby said

she's having visions, when Abby says God is speaking to her

what she really means is she's having a mental breakdown.

Not something to be encouraged, she's not Joan of Arc.

Although look at Joan of Arc, imagine if she'd been alive

in the age of Wellbutrin and cognitive behavioral therapy.

(laughter)

- She thinks that God is speaking to her?

- On occasion.

- Do you want some drugs, maybe?

It sounds like you could maybe use some drugs.

- What do you have?

- Everything. (laughter)

I'm like a pharmacy.

I've got Ativan, Klonopin, Xanax, Valium.

- I'll have half a Xanax.

Where did you get all those?

- They're prescriptions.

I have anxiety issues, I'm being treated by many doctors.

They don't know about each other.

(laughter)

Take the whole thing, you'll thank me later.

- Oh, this is like old times.

Me and my big sister getting high

and listening to Jim Croce.

(Holly laughs)

- No, Jim Croce this time.

- It's too bad.

- So how are you, how are things with you?

Aside from the anxiety issues.

- Things are all right, well, until Dad.

- Yeah, Joey's-- - Joey is okay.

How's Howard?

- Working like a maniac, traveling all the time,

doing all these big mergers.

He got a computer for his birthday,

now he's obsessed with it, the web.

Whenever he's home he's down in the basement on AOL.

He does these family genealogy things chat rooms.

- That sounds fun.

- Yeah, I think he's probably doing porno things,

is my hunch, I mean genealogies at 4 o'clock in the morning

does not sound normal to me.

- Well, but it is Howard so.

(laughs)

- Hey, I wanna show you something.

I had these printed up the other week, take a look.

- Holly Fisher, Spaces and Places.

- I mean everyone says interior decorator, interior designer

I thought let's do something different,

let's do something fun.

Spaces and Places.

It's fun, right, isn't it fun?

- Yeah, it's very fun.

- It's so fun.

But it's gonna be very upscale, like very concierge.

And this architect and I we've been really getting

into the plans, especially since Dad got sick, I thought,

"Hello, wake up call, we can't keep waiting on this."

I mean we're talking about we need somebody living here,

taking care of him, well guess what,

Dad needs someone in that store

who's gonna be paying real money every month,

not the discount.

- Wait, so you're gonna pay rent to Dad?

- Why not, Howard and I will pay the actual price,

not the discounted special and we'll do all the renovations,

all the upgrades.

- What does Sharon say about this?

- Oh my God, Sharon is practically,

she would cut my head off before she lets me take the store

away from these people.

Mikey, you should see how she is

with this little Spanish girl.

I think she finally understands that she is not going

to have children of her own, but that's over and done with

and so this little girl, it could be,

it could be like her adopted daughter, it's sick.

- So you haven't brought it up with her?

- Well, I figured I wanted to make sure you're on my side

before I did.

- Do I really have to pick a side?

- I'm sorry, are you new to this family?

Have you never been in this house before?

Oh no, you keep that, that's yours.

So tell me more about your career.

I mean it's official, you're fired, end of story?

- The university doesn't have an open position for me.

That's the party line, no open position

because the anti-defamation league has nothing better to do

than to turn me into their cause of the month.

The self-hating Jewish studies professor Hitler apologist

who wants to wipe Israel off the map.

- Wow.

- I mean the bottom line is they can't fire you

for saying something politically they find noxious

so this is how they do it.

This is the game plan, they find some technical loophole.

They use words like scholarly rigor, so they don't have

to say the truth which is that academic freedom

in this country does not extend past the green line,

past 1967, let alone '48.

It's a dark time.

- Sounds like it.

- For all of us, I mean another Bush in the White House.

A second Intifada, Ariel Sharon,

the Butcher of Sabra and Chatila, history repeating itself,

every terrible thing coming back around again but worse.

And where are we in all this, American Jews,

we're just ra ra raing along with everyone else.

The Bushes and the Chaines

and the Donald Rumsfeld of the world.

Alan Greenspan, that's what's left.

That's our inheritance.

100 years ago we had Albert Einstein.

We had Emma Goldman, Hannah Erin, Walter Benjamin,

now who do we have?

William Kristel?

Alan Dershowitz?

That's what remains of

the great Jewish radical intellectual tradition.

O.J. Simpson's defense attorney. Really?

What happened to the red diaper babies?

The Jews who sat at the lunch counters

and marched in Selma?

Who burned their draft cards and storm the Pentagon.

We were in the streets.

We were shutting down traffic, disobeying police orders,

refusing to be silent in the face of empire and death,

but we traded all that in for a seat at the table,

for Joe Lieberman on the presidential ticket.

Look at us now, now the whole world eats bagels,

they watch Seinfeld in Topeka.

We even have our own country with our own atom bombs

and everything, Star of David, gunships.

We're white people now.

We're respectable, we're nothing.

We're nothing at all.

- But, so I can count on you though, with the store?

(laughter)

- Sure, I think I'm starting to feel that Xanax.

My tongue is really heavy all of a sudden.

- Take a nap.

- Maybe.

- I'm happy you're here, Mikey.

- Don't call me Mikey, I hate that.

- I'm happy you're here Michael.

- Me too.

(chatter on TV)

- How's school?

- It sucks.

- That's too bad.

- I'm used to it.

- We saw your sister's play a few weeks ago, The Seagull.

- Mom said Jennifer had the smallest part in the whole show.

- Well, she didn't say very much,

but she was on stage a lot, especially in between scenes,

moving things on and off.

- Is Abby coming today?

- She's not but she sends her love.

- Is she living in a mental hospital?

- Is she--

- Howard says she has to live in a mental hospital.

- It's called an outpatient program, she was never,

She's not in a mental hospital.

- Howard said Abby went crazy in Israel.

- Abby had, she was going through a tough time

but she's doing a lot better.

She's feeling really good now.

- Why isn't she here?

- She had, she has a busy schedule.

- At the mental hospital?

- Again, there's no mental hospital.

There's an outpatient program.

- Ellen, I didn't know you were here.

- Oh, we just got in.

- And you're here too. - Hi.

How long has he been asleep?

- About 10 minutes.

- Do you think he is warm enough?

I just turned the heat up.

- I think it's good.

- (sighs) How's Abby?

- She's doing okay.

- I spoke to her this morning.

She said she wanted to come today,

but Michael wouldn't let her, that's not nice.

- Well, Michael felt that it was better for her

not to make the trip, all the added stress.

- We should talk later, just, privately.

- Okay.

- Abby is feeling very, she's upset with her dad.

She thinks he's being very unsupportive.

- She and I, we've had a lot of conversations about this

and, we've resolved the issue.

- Let's talk later. - Great.

But I want to be as helpful as I can, you know.

- Thank you.

- I love my Abby.

I was there when she was born, remember that?

- I do, I was also there.

(laughter)

- That's true.

- Why are you here?

- Howard dropped me off.

- What is he doing?

- He said he had to run errands.

- What errands?

- I don't know, stop screaming.

- Hi, sweetheart, aw, you look thin.

Is he warm enough?

- I just turned up the thermostat.

- I'm freezing, are you cold Ellen?

- No, I'm okay.

- I don't want him to get overheated.

- It's like an igloo in this house.

- Where is Michael?

- I left him upstairs, he's taking a nap.

- I thought we were all going to talk

as soon as he got here.

- Well, he's tired, I gave him a Xanax.

- Okay.

- You know, I'm here too, Sharon.

I can talk, why don't, why don't we talk?

- Yeah, let's talk.

- Do you want me to--

- I don't think we need you right now, Ellen.

- Is that okay? - No, of course.

- Thank you, sweetheart, you're so sweet.

Isn't she sweet?

- Oh, the sweetest.

- Should I get Michael?

- Not if he's napping, I bet he's tired

from the long bus ride, it's very tiring.

Sitting on a bus, reading a book.

- I'll see if he's up.

- She left Abby at home alone with a nurse.

They hired some nurse.

- I thought Abby was in a mental hospital.

- It's an outpatient program.

- She begged them to come today, begged, to see Dad.

- That's sweet.

- Michael refused, of course Ellen just rolls over.

- It sounds like things are very delicate

with Abby right now.

- What, is that what Michael told you?

- I don't want to have this conversation in front of Joey.

- I'm not listening.

- Go into the other room.

- You go into the other room.

- Excuse me?

And pull up your pants, you look like a thug.

- I am a thug.

(laughter)

- He doesn't even know what that means.

- Yes, I do, I'm not retarded.

- What did I tell you about using that word?

- I know, I know, Jesus.

- Well then, don't do it!

- That's smart, not letting him say retarded.

- Why is that smart?

- Well, because it lets him know that it's not a bad thing.

- Joey is not retarded.

(laughter)

- I know that.

- Well then why is that smart?

- You know what Holly, if you're just gonna pounce

at everything I say--

- No, no, let's talk about Dad, let's talk about Dad.

- I'm exhausted.

- Well, you're doing too much.

Sharon, you're running yourself rugged.

- I can't just take off work forever.

I have 23 kids that need me. - Of course.

I can't keep doing everything myself.

I've been here every day, Sharon.

- That's not true, but okay.

- You're right, Thursday I had a doctor's appointment.

- For the entire day.

- What is gonna make you happy here?

- We're going to need somebody here with him 24 hours a day.

- Well, I think we all agree on that.

- The sooner the better.

- Well, Howard looked through Dad's long-term care policy.

First of all, it takes three months for it to even kick in

- We can't wait for three months.

- And then once it's done, Howard says it's crap.

- So? Where does that leave us?

- Well, obviously there's the store.

- The store?

- Well, just in terms of when you look at the money

that's coming in.

Sharon, the rent that's being paid right now

is very, very low.

- That's what Dad wants.

- Is that what Dad wants, or what you want?

- It's what we both want.

- So you're saying you won't even consider the income

that Dad is getting from the store, which is his primary,

his only source of income.

- I won't.

- Well, I don't really know what the other option,

Sharon, I hate to tell you.

- Well, the option is Howard, obviously.

He makes more money than all of us combined.

- We can help out.

- You can help out?

- I'm not asking Howard to put in all the money

when you won't even have a conversation about the store.

That's not fair.

- Fair is we each give what we can afford.

I can afford to spend time helping Dad

and you and Howard can afford to pay for his care.

- We would be paying for his care so you wouldn't have

to spend time helping Dad.

- I would still help Dad.

- Then why would we pay for his care?

- You know what, forget it, it's not worth it.

- Oh, oh, are you gonna have a hissy now?

Is that what's happening?

- No, just let Sharon do everything.

It will be just like Mom, allover again.

- Excuse me?

- No, because Sharon, what does she have better to do?

- Okay, no, if you're gonna be like this, I'll leave.

- She could stay with mom, change her catheter,

change her clothes. - I'm leaving.

Where are you going?

- I'll pick up dinner.

- I already got groceries.

- Well, I'll get more.

- That's a waste. - I know.

Look, Holly.

- Where did Mom go?

Aunt Sharon, where--

- She left, okay.

She's gone.

- Okay.

- What happened?

- Mom left.

- Where did she go?

- I don't know.

- How is it going?

- Fine.

- Yeah, how's school?

- It sucks.

- That's great.

(laughter)

- He's asleep.

- I can see that.

Where did Holly go?

- I hear you're taking drugs.

- What?

- Holly gave you drugs, right?

You're high.

- I took one Xanax, I'm not high.

- We're not here to have fun with drugs, Michael.

- Fun with drugs?

(laughter)

- We need to figure this out.

- I'm here to figure it out, what is your problem?

- My problem, I don't have a problem.

I'm not the one who can't spend two minutes in this house

without getting stoned.

- You know what, if you're gonna be combative and rude

at everything I say ...

- No, I'm not, I'm sorry.

I'm in a shitty mood, I'm sorry.

I have the worst headache.

- Have you eaten anything?

- I'm so nauseous right now.

- Are you sick?

- Holly put me in a shitty mood.

- Well, you don't have to take it out on me.

- I know, you're right, I'm sorry.

You're right.

Thank you for coming, thank you for being here.

I know it wasn't easy for you.

- I wanted to be here sooner.

- But still, you did your best.

- You did tell me you didn't need me.

- It's been a hard couple of months, I know.

With Abby, then this whole lawsuit business.

- Yep.

- I guess maybe I was right though, about the book.

- What?

- I told you, people would be upset.

- I don't care if people are upset.

- Well, then good.

- They should be upset, it's upsetting.

- It is upsetting, to tell people to forget the holocaust.

- I didn't, that was not meant to be taken literally,

obviously, that was a provocation,

an intellectual provocation.

- So you don't want people to forget the holocaust?

- I do want, I want people to remember in a different way.

- Why didn't you say that then?

- That is what I said.

- No, you said forget. - As a provocation.

Well, I didn't get that. - Okay.

It seems like I think most people didn't get that.

- It does seem like that, doesn't it?

- Ugh, just what a shitty year it's been.

All this shit, Abby, Dad.

- And then the supreme court.

The coronation of George W. Bush.

I thought that was gonna kill me on top of everything else.

I started watching CNN till two, three in the morning

just yelling at the screen.

'Cause if I can't yell at the board of trustees

I can at least yell at fucking Wolf Blietzer.

(laughter)

- Oh my God, you voted for him, didn't you?

- What? Who?

- You voted for Bush, didn't you?

- It's none of your business what happens

inside the ballot box, that is private.

- Only Republicans say that.

(laughter)

- I'm an independent.

- Cannot believe that my own sister voted for George Bush.

- Just because you disagree with my opinions

doesn't mean that you're right and I'm wrong.

- Except in this case actually I think it does mean that.

- You didn't vote for Gore either.

- Well, I didn't think he was gonna lose.

- I know this may not matter to you, but Bush happens

to be much better for Israel.

- Better in what sense of the word?

- He isn't going to force them to give up Jerusalem

like Clinton was trying to do.

- The Israelis would have kept all of West Jerusalem,

two thirds of East Jerusalem.

- A lot of Democrats, a lot of liberals, people like you

have become frankly, very anti-Semitic,

especially about Israel.

And a lot of Jews are realizing that the Republicans,

they actually like Jews.

They want them in their party.

- Until they don't.

- Well, anyway, like I was saying,

it's very kind of you to take time out of your busy schedule

to be here a week after we needed you.

- You told me you didn't me, Sharon.

- I'm so appreciative that you could be here with us today

to help poison the atmosphere.

You've already turned Holly into a nightmare.

- Hello, anyone home?

- Ah, fabulous, another big help.

- I'm here to be helpful, Sharon.

It's why I'm here.

- Oh, hey Mike, how are you doing, buddy?

- Hey, Howard.

- Where is Holly?

- She stormed out of the house.

- A ya ya yi.

Is everything-- - Everything is great.

Hi Sharon, how are you sweetheart?

- I feel like I'm gonna vomit Howard, how are you?

- Pretty good, can't complain, weather could be better.

- So happy to hear that,

I'm gonna sort Dad's post for the week.

- We're not gonna talk?

- How can we talk when Holly isn't here?

- Well, can I help you?

- No, thank you.

- Well, don't say I didn't offer.

- Yeah, definitely will not say that.

- Is she insane?

Your words not mine.

- Is anything to drink in this house?

- There might be some Kahlua left over from Holly's birthday

- I only see vodka.

- Well, that's it then probably, sorry to say.

- First time I ever got drunk was vodka.

Holly and I stole a bottle from my parents.

We must have been, I was probably 12.

She must have been I guess, 15, 16.

We split it one night when they went out to dinner.

I threw up three times, Holly held her own.

(laughter)

- Sounds like Holly.

- Sharon was nine, she caught us and ratted

to Mom and Dad naturally.

I don't think it warrants actual glasses.

- I'm alright, I think.

- You sure? It's terrible.

- My parents, it's funny, they never drank.

Holidays occasionally, I figured it was a Jewish thing.

- No, my family was split right down the middle.

The Russians, they barely finished a glass of Manischewitz

at Passover, but the Germans they were all drunk.

- That's fascinating.

You're gonna regret that later.

- Ah, I'm sure I will.

- Why don't you slow down, Mike.

You're gonna get drunk like that.

- That's the idea.

- It's pretty early, don't you think?

- Well, I need to get drunk enough to beg you for money so.

- (laughs)

Yeah, you need money, Mike?

- I'm about 100 grand in the hole right now, approximately.

Not to mention two months late on the mortgage.

So yes, I do, I do need money.

I was just thinking that maybe you could float me a loan,

and I'd pay you back, I'm obviously.

It's just right now with the apartment,

and legal fees and Abby, the treatment program,

Abby's school, which we're still paying for.

- Have you thought about declaring bankruptcy?

- Yeah, I have thought about that.

- And I thought I could borrow money from you

so I wouldn't have to do that.

Was my thought on that.

I mean it would just be temporary.

I mean as soon as I win the case, I'm gonna have,

we're seeking major, major damages.

- Well, but if you lose the case Mike--

- No, no, no, it's a fundamental first amendment issue,

so either we win in court or they settle

and the settlement is, it's got to be high six figures

for us to even entertain it.

It's just right now, my lawyers are just,

they're delaying anymore work on it until they get paid.

- Oh boy, boy, oh boy.

I mean the thing is, God, it's just cash is pretty tight

for me right now, Mike.

We're not doing so great ourselves at the moment.

- Really? Slow year for you.

- It was actually.

- It's not what Holly thinks.

- Well, Holly doesn't know.

- Well, Bush is gonna give you the tax cuts though,

that'll be nice, right?

Maybe that'll bump you back up a little.

- Hey, I voted for Gore.

- Good for you, Howard.

- I just couldn't wait for that damn election to be over

and then Florida I couldn't believe everything

that went down, with the Chads.

What was that, a hanging or a regular Chad.

Could you believe that?

Can I...

(gags) - You okay?

- God, that's really...

- You don't have to...

- I made some bad decisions, Mike.

I made some pretty, oh, these past couple of months.

- What kind of decisions?

- Holly doesn't even, look, this has to be

between you and me, man to man.

You have to promise me that, Mike.

- What kind of decisions, Howard?

- You have to promise me, please, promise.

- Jesus, I promise, yes.

- Okay, because I just--

- I promise, calm down.

- I'm trying.

We got a computer.

- Right, Holly said that you do genealogies.

- Yeah, I mean no, I don't.

I got involved with some, I don't know just chat rooms.

These chat rooms, nothing actually,

just some stupid sex talk bullshit, nothing big, stupid.

- I think that's pretty common.

- Yeah, no, I think yeah but, then it started,

I don't know, I just, I kind of got into it, Mike.

I got really, just the whole experience.

Nobody knows who you are, what your history is.

You can be fat or thin or black or white,

or you can be a guy who's a girl, or a girl who's a guy.

Am I freaking you out?

- Mm, not yet.

(laughter)

- I gave someone my credit card.

I don't know why I even, I mean,

but we talked for hours online.

I mean hours and hours and we met a couple of times.

She was well, she had a hard life, she was from,

one of those, Estonia or Lithuania.

She wasn't a call girl, but she was,

well, she got involved in some things

that she wanted to get out of.

You know they lock you into these things

and you can't get out, so I said, I was so stupid Mike.

I was so freaking stupid, I told her, I gave her my card,

I said do what you have to do then get it back to me

and she did, she charged a couple of thousand bucks

on the card, said yep, all done, thank you so much.

And then she sort of disappeared.

But then a week later, the phone rings and it's MasterCard.

And it was tens of thousands of dollars, Mike

and I can't dispute the charges because I gave her the card

so I canceled it, problem solved.

But then I got another call from Visa

and another call from Discover, she used my information.

She used my name and information and she took out,

she had 12 credit lines, all maxed out, cash advances.

We're talking hundreds, okay, hundreds of thousands

just gone like that, vanished.

And it's not like, we didn't have a whole lot of savings

to begin with.

Everything I make it goes right out the door.

And what am I supposed to do now?

If I tell them what happened, they'll have to open

an investigation and if they open an investigation,

Holly finds out, and if Holly finds out I am fucked.

Look, it wasn't even sexual between us is the thing.

Well, at least after the first couple of times.

(laughter)

I just, I liked her, I thought she was nice.

So, what do you think?

- What do I think.

- Well, about the situation.

- What do you think I think, Howard?

- I don't know.

- That's my sister.

- Well, it's my wife.

- How am I supposed to respond to this?

- Like a friend maybe.

- Well, I'm not your friend, Howard I'm your brother-in-law.

- Well, okay, well then never mind.

- Never mind, I can't never mind,

how am I supposed to never mind?

- Well, if you had told me about something like this

I would have never mind.

- Well, I didn't have sex with a prostitute

from the internet and give her my credit card, Howard.

That was you, you did that.

- I did, you're right, I did.

- So what are you gonna do?

- I don't know.

- You don't know?

- I don't know. - That's not good.

Well, I had one idea maybe.

- What is it?

- Well, this has to come from you, it can't come from me.

Otherwise Holly will just...

- What's the idea, Howard?

- The store.

- Is this about Holly's interior decorating business,

the Spaces and Spaces? - No.

'Cause I don't think that's gonna be

a real cash cow, Howard.

- I'm not talking about Holly's business, Mike.

- So what are you talking about...

- Hello.

(orchestra music)

(murmuring)

- I think we need to have some sense of overall cost

before we start even talking about who's doing what.

- This is not about money.

- It's a lot about money.

- I disagree.

- It has something to do with money.

- I think actually it has more to do with care.

- Right now we need to know what each of us

what we're gonna be expected to contribute here

in terms of, fine, care, let's call it care.

- Well, with mom for instance, what ended up happening was

I did everything, from the beginning.

- That's just not true, Sharon.

- I moved into the house the day she was diagnosed

and I left a month after the funeral, two years of my life.

- I was here as often as I could be.

- Which was not a lot if we're being honest about it.

- I had two children to raise.

- It doesn't matter who was here more.

- Well, you weren't here at all, so.

- I really don't want to dredge this up.

- Yeah, I bet you don't.

- Can we get back to Dad?

Since that's why we're here, please?

- If I could just, look with families,

when there are health issues that affect everyone,

a good question to start with is really,

what kind of care do you think he's gonna need?

- He's going to need someone here, someone at the house.

- Okay, great, that's helpful to guide the conversation.

- And how much does that cost?

- A $1,000 a week. - Wow.

- A week? - At least.

Ellen and I don't have that kind of money.

- Do you think I do?

- Well, I'm sure we can help.

- Howard looked through Dad's savings.

- There is not a huge amount of savings.

- He spent all of it for Mom,

insurance wouldn't cover any of it,

the prescriptions, the nurses.

- Howard and I can obviously, we have the most

so we could pay for a lot of the care, that's fine with us.

- Good.

- Well, not necessarily.

I mean with Joey, with his needs,

we don't have unlimited resources.

- No one is saying unlimited.

We're saying you're rich, you're a lawyer.

- Joey is very expensive.

- Okay, that's not a nice thing to say.

- Well, I didn't mean it like that.

- He's our son.

- Come on, I'm saying with his school.

Look, a lot of our money is tied up.

There is Joey's tuition, Jennifer's tuition,

Jennifer's apartment, Jennifer's allowance.

- Which we've already cut back on.

- Well, if it's not already with the kids,

it's tied up in investments, we don't have a tremendous

amount of cash lying around for the taking.

- I wonder if maybe the best solution,

there might actually be a best-case scenario here

that we haven't even thought about.

- Which is what?

- Well, the store. - Yes.

- What about it?

- Properties in that area, 14th St.--

- Everything there is hot right now, Sharon.

- I'm not raising the rent on the Jimenas family.

- I'm not talking about raising the rent.

- If other property owners are doing that,

pricing people out, that's despicable.

To me that's horrible. - I agree.

- I'm not saying raise the rent.

- I think Michael is saying that maybe it's time

to consider new tenants, tenants who can afford

to pay the market price for rent.

- That's not exactly what I'm saying.

- The Jimenas family is wonderful

but the store is a business.

Sharon, we have to think about it like a business.

- Yes, I'm aware that it's a business, Holly, thank you.

- I need an office, I've been looking for the past two years

Howard can tell you I've looked everywhere

and that the store, well, it's perfect.

It's the perfect location.

- An office? - Mm-mhm.

For what?

- My business. - What business?

Well, it's called, Spaces and Places.

- What is she talking about?

- Let's maybe take a second before--

_ it's a boutique interior design firm.

- Well, I'm lost.

- With the rent that we pay Dad, we'll end up paying

for his care, that's the point, okay Sharon?

- You want to kick out the Jimenas family

so that you can have an office for a business

that doesn't exist?

- It does exist.

Do you want to see my business cards?

Can you support me here, someone?

- So this is your idea too?

- Yes, it is.

- You wanna put the Jimenas family on the street

after all they've done for Dad?

- Can I say something?

- What have they done for Dad?

- Everything. - Like what?

- Before we get too far ahead of ourselves--

- Like lift his spirits.

- Oh, oh, by calling him on the phone once?

- By caring, Holly, by actually caring.

- I think Mike is trying to say something.

- I'm saying sell the store.

We sell the store.

- What?

- Before you both have your knee-jerk reactions--

- Absolutely not.

- You want to sell the store? - We are not doing that.

- It's not even the store anymore.

It hasn't been the store in 30 years,

it's a Mexican bodega.

- Guatemalan, and it is not a bodega.

- Are you gonna participate in this conversation, Howard

are you just, are you suddenly a deaf mute?

- I'm listening to Mike, I wanna hear what Mike has to say.

- This would guarantee that we have enough money

for Dad and whatever's left over, we can you know,

we can divide the rest between us.

- So this is an investment thing for you?

This is a moneymaking thing.

- It's our inheritance, we're going to inherit it anyway,

what is the difference?

- The difference Michael is that he is still alive.

- Yes, and this way he could see us enjoy the money

instead of waiting around until he isn't here anymore.

- You're gonna sell the store to some

huge real estate company that's gonna knock it down

and turn it into some kind of what?

Just condos for yuppies. - It's horrible.

It's a neighborhood. - That's exactly right Sharon.

- It's not gonna be a neighborhood for much longer.

That's the way things are going.

- So you're comfortable, Mr. Ralph Nader?

You're comfortable completely transforming the face

of this neighborhood?

- It's happening already whether we want it to or not.

- No, you're comfortable kicking Hispanic people

out of their own neighborhood.

- Oh, it used to be a Jewish neighborhood

then it was a black neighborhood, not it's Hispanic.

Soon it will be something else.

- I am not comfortable with any of this.

- Thank you.

- That is your family's heritage in that store,

it's Abby's heritage in that store.

- It's a building Ellen, it's four walls and a ceiling.

- Our grandparents built those walls.

- I don't actually think--

- They built the ceiling, they built something there for us.

- I'm sorry to burst your bubble on this,

I think the building was already there.

- Abby would be heartbroken to lose that history.

- How do you think that Jennifer would feel, or Joey?

- They don't care.

- That is absolutely not true.

- We could sell it for $3 to $4 million, okay?

That's the figure we're talking about here,

just so we're all on same page, okay?

$3 to $4 million.

- You're kidding.

(laughter)

- Conservatively.

- So what?

- So what?

- I don't care if it's $20 million.

- That's a lot of money, Holly, $3 million.

- We already have a lot of money Howard.

- Nobody needs that kind of money.

- We do, we're broke Ellen.

- We are not broke.

- No, we understand Michael, money comes first.

Spoken like a true socialist.

- Howard and I can give you money.

Michael, if you need money--

- Oh, really?

We don't need money, Michael is exaggerating.

- He's being very dramatic.

He's putting on a little show for us.

- In what way am I exaggerating?

- We have my salary,

you're completely discounting my salary.

- Your salary, are you kidding?

- Am I kidding?

- I'm sorry, but there's already a compromise here

which everyone is ignoring and that is, Spaces and Places.

- Oh my God.

- Howard and I are offering to take care of Dad,

all of his expenses.

- Is that true, Howard?

- But you need something in return.

You need your little, your project.

- Is this what you wanna do, Howard?

- Howard and I, we're going to renovate the store,

we're going to take care of all the upgrades for free.

- But we should discuss the details first.

- Who's gonna pay for that?

He's not gonna pay for that.

- Of course he is.

- Let's just, can we discuss for one second?

- See.

- Do you believe in this or not, Howard?

- I believe in it, I just, I think what Mike is saying

it makes a lot of sense to me.

- Oh, it does, does it?

- Oh, $3 million.

- So nobody here is on my side.

- No, of course I'm on your side, Holly.

- Nobody is supporting me.

- I'm just trying to think about it practically.

- You know what, I give up.

- No, Holly.

- I give up.

- We'll give you the money, okay Sharon?

Howard and I we're gonna give you the money.

You happy? You can keep the store.

- No, I'm not sure that's the best plan, Holly.

- I just want Dad to be happy, that's all I want.

And if that's our money, that's our money,

I'm not arguing anymore.

This is insane. - Thank you, thank you Holly.

- For saying the one sensible thing that anyone has said.

- Except you can't give Dad the money, it's tied up

like Howard said. - That's the problem.

- So get it untied up, I don't understand that.

- Well, it's a lot more complicated than,

I mean there are fees and taxes and just I would really

rather not do that.

- Oh, I would really rather not sell

my family history, Howard.

Choices, choices.

- Alright, we'll pay for now

and then we can readdress in a year, I don't care.

- We can't do that.

- No, I can't guarantee I have the cash.

- He doesn't have the cash.

- Why not?

- He just said, he just told you that.

- It doesn't make a lot of sense.

- A lot of it is tied up in the stock market

and other investments.

- He doesn't have the money, Holly.

- What does that mean?

- It's gone, okay? It's gone.

That's what it means.

- Okay, well it's not-

- Stop, just stop.

We don't have time for this, I'm sorry.

It's gone.

- What is he talking about?

What is he talking about, Howard?

- It's complicated.

- What, you lost money?

What did you do?

- Look, it's gonna be fine.

- You can have this conversation another time.

- What did you do, Howard?

- I just, I met someone who needed help.

- You met someone?

- Holly.

- Oh my God.

How much money did you give this person?

- No, we have money.

- Then where is it?

- Yeah, a lot of it is just tied up.

- Okay, if you say tied up one more time,

I'm gonna tie you up by your fucking balls, Howard.

(laughter)

Where is our money?

- I don't know what you want me to say.

- You bastard.

- What do you want me to say?

- I want you to get the fuck out of this house.

That's what I want, Howard.

- Holly--

- Get the fuck out.

- Look, I'm not giving up my family, our history

because of whatever kind of creepy thing that Howard did.

- Don't Sharon. - I'm not doing it.

- What is the alternative?

- I guess we all just have to pitch in.

- Well, we can do that.

- How can we do that?

- We can help Michael, obviously.

We can help as much as we can afford to help.

- Thank you Ellen.

- We have a mortgage.

- So, we'll take out another loan, this is family.

- We can't take out another one loan,

who is gonna give us another loan?

- Then we'll figure something out, we always do.

- And what about the $2000 a week

for Abby's treatment program, where is that gonna come from?

- That's temporary expense, she's done in two months.

- And then what?

- And then she's going back to school in the fall.

We've already set that money aside.

- And how long until we get a call from the hospital.

How long until the phone rings at two in the morning

because she hasn't eaten in a week.

- She's doing better. - 100%.

She's working very hard.

- She's always doing better, Ellen.

She was doing better before Israel.

She was doing better after Israel.

- Well, I happen to have faith in our daughter.

- I do too. - And I see the reality.

- And what is the reality?

- The reality is our child is sick.

She is sick, and she's not,

getting better, she's not gonna get better Ellen.

We are gonna be taking care of Abby

for the rest of our lives.

- Excuse me. - Ellen.

(door slams)

(Ellen crying)

- Let's maybe start from the premise that we have

no other options here, okay?

Because guess what, we have no other options here.

- Why don't we sell the house too?

- Tell us the alternative.

- Yeah, why don't we sell the drapes, fire sale.

Let's get rid off it all.

Let's make a killing, maybe we would all retire early.

- What's your better idea, Sharon?

We're all waiting to hear it.

- Dad won't let you do this.

You've realized that, right?

He's not going to let you sell his store.

- He's not in a state of mind to make that kind of decision.

- According to who?

- According to the fact that it's completely obvious.

Look at him, he has no idea what's going on.

- That is not true.

- Well, then we'll hire a lawyer to prove that it's true.

- Oh my God.

- We are not punishing Dad because you decided

to buy an apartment six months

before you published Mein Kampf.

(laughter)

- Okay.

- Yeah, maybe if you hadn't felt the need to write a book

telling the whole world how much you hate yourself.

A book that, by the way, a book that broke

your father's heart, okay?

You think it's a coincidence how sick he is?

- Oh, you're trying to get me--

- You think that's just happenstance?

- Trying to push my buttons, Sharon.

I'm not gonna let you, not today.

- You dragged your family through the dirt.

- Oh, okay.

- You dragged that six million through dirt

for your own ambition. - Right, okay.

So all the coeds on campus and their

'Free Palestine' T-shirts could think,

"Ooh, what a cool guy he is."

He's willing to slander six million dead Jews,

what a hero. - Right.

Yeah, let's be honest with ourselves, Michael.

Let's be honest.

You don't believe in anything except yourself.

You're a hypocrite and you're a liar,

and the fact that your mother begged for you

on her deathbed and you were too busy with your career

to be with her, is indicative of a whole lot else

wrong with you.

- I was here as soon as I could be.

- Which was just too fucking late, wasn't it?

- Fuck you, Sharon.

- Both of you, you made the bed, Holly,

you want an award for that?

You want a trophy, you vacuumed?

- I think we should vote.

- You are not selling my store?

- Your store?

- I'm the only one who cares about it, who appreciates it.

- You could pretend to be on your high horse

about this, Sharon, with your principles and your bullshit.

You and I both know the only reason you care

about any of this, is 'cause you're fucking

the Guatemalan guy, okay?

So save the sanctimony.

(laughter)

- What?

- She's sleeping with Rodrigo, you didn't know this?

- Thanks for sharing that, which you swore not to do.

- Oh, you're welcome.

- Is that true?

- A married man.

- They're separated now.

- Oh, good for you, great job, well done.

- I'm pregnant.

(audience gasps)

- You've split up a marriage so you give yourself

a pat on the back.

- What did you say, Sharon?

- Your family values, friends and the Republican party

are very impressed.

- We're having a baby.

- You're having a baby, Sharon?

Sharon.

- I don't believe that.

- Ugh, do you wanna look at the fucking sonogram?

I'm happy, for the first time in my life

I'm finally, I'm happy.

(cries)

- Look, if we don't have this money,

I don't know what else we're gonna do.

Do we wanna put Dad away somewhere?

Is that what we want, we wanna put him in a facility

like a government facility?

And now there's a baby?

Who's gonna take care of the baby, Sharon?

How are you gonna afford that?

With sales from the bargain store, with your teaching salary

how much does that add up to?

It's history, I get it, I do.

We all wanna save history and hold on to our history.

I would love to keep the store and pass it onto our children

and our grandchildren, but at what cost?

It's a store.

It's a parcel of property.

It's not some kind of magical place.

There are no magical places, there is just dirt.

It's all the same, dirt.

This is our family.

The family that is sitting here at this table.

The people who came before us, they're not here anymore.

There's just us.

And Dad is part of this family and we owe him this,

we owe him.

(laughs)

Come on.

- (sniffles) I'm sorry Sharon.

(Lou groans)

- Jesus, Dad. - Dad.

- Dad let's go back to the chair.

- No, no (wails).

No, no.

No, no.

No.

- Shh.

(orchestra music)

- You're leaving?

- Hi, we are leaving, yes.

- I didn't really get to see you at all.

- Next time I guess.

- When is that going to be?

- I don't know.

- Maybe Passover. - Maybe.

Why was everybody yelling?

- Oh, there was a disagreement.

- About the store?

What happened?

- We're selling it, we're gonna sell it.

- To who?

- I don't know.

- When?

- As soon as possible, I guess.

I don't...

- I thought we were gonna inherit the store.

Me and Jennifer and Abby?

- Yeah, didn't work out like that.

- Oh.

What are we going to inherit then?

- I don't really know.

- I used to sit up here sometimes with Grandma,

when she was sick.

It looked like the bed kept getting bigger

and she was just this blue nightgown

that got smaller and smaller.

- I don't remember that.

I didn't,

I wasn't here.

- Jews don't believe in heaven.

- Are you asking me that?

- Mom says they don't.

- Well, it's a little more nuanced than that but...

- Mom says the only way people live after they die

is if we remember them,

except what happens when all the people who remember them

are dead too?

What happens when the last person who remembers

can't remember anymore?

- That's a tough question.

- Is Abby sick now forever?

- Abby is struggling.

- Can I help her?

I would like to help her if I could.

She's my cousin, my only cousin.

- I will let you know if we think of anything.

- I would like to make sure that she's okay.

- That's very nice.

- She's my family.

- Well, I should probably--

- What happened to her, in Israel?

No one will tell me.

- It's sort of complicated Joey.

- I don't mind.

I like complicated stuff.

Please?

- She was in Jerusalem. - In Israel?

Sort of, that depends on how you...

Yes, she was in Israel.

And she was with her group and then at a certain point,

we don't really know when, but she broke off from her group

and went on her own. - Why?

Well, that's, we don't know that either.

That's when everything gets a little hazy

'cause she doesn't really remember everything

that happened after that.

Just bits and pieces, but she remembers that she climbed

somewhere up high, and she was looking down at the city

and she called us then.

I don't know where she was at this point

or how she got to a payphone but she called us.

And she said the city had opened up to her.

It had opened up, she said, so she could see

the inside of it.

The earth, all the built-up rock,

all the time, the centuries.

Ellen didn't, she told her to slow down

but Abby couldn't stop.

She just kept going.

She said, "I saw where Jesus entered on a donkey

"past the gates of the old city."

- I saw where Jesus Christ entered on a donkey

through the gates of the ancient city."

- I saw where Mohammed came from Mecca.

- I saw where the prophet traveled through the night

from Mecca on a dream.

- I saw where David laid the foundation

for the temple, I saw the walls.

- I saw the walls and the altar and the sashes

of the priests and I smelled the incense

of the burnt offerings.

- I heard the widows and the orphans.

- I heard the wailing and gnashing of teeth of the widows

and orphans and strangers.

- I saw the Greeks, the Romans, the Persians, the Turks.

- I saw the famed warriors of Babylon

and the terrible legions of Caesar and Suleiman.

- Righteous servants all of the one God, and the one faith.

- Brandishing cold steel to the throats of the infidels.

- I saw the crusaders in their armor.

- I saw the crusaders sweaty and reverent,

burning the bodies of unbelievers in great pyres

under the stars.

- I saw men in many uniforms speaking many tongues.

- And I saw them all pass away.

- One by one. - By one.

- By one.

- Back into the sand from whence they came.

- I saw kingdoms rise and crumble in a moment.

- In a breath.

- I saw visages of emperors, hard faces stamped on coins

of gold and silver, their names long forgotten,

lost to time.

- Vanished, back into the sand.

- Everything back into the sand.

- Gradually everything, all of us, everything in time

swallowed back into the sand.

(applause and cheers)

(orchestra music)