Monday, August 06, 2007

No more Feldman. Please

The Jews and their blogs are once again alive with criticism and counter criticism regarding Noah Feldman.

He is the lawyer who (cliche alert) set off a firestorm (Ugh. I feel so unclean.) two weeks ago when he attempted to share his understanding of Modern Orthodoxy with the world. Those who did not agree with Feldman's assessment, including several members of my own extended family, were greatly disturbed that Feldman would write, and that the Times would publish a take on Modern Orthodoxy that was not perfectly in line with their own view of the subject.

Now, a lot of you are excited beyond words to discover that Feldman and his girl-friend were not, in fact, cropped out of the infamous reunion picture. (Yes CS. YOU! :) )And some of you (not CS who hearts the Times) are especially pleased to find that the Times knew it all along. Unfortunately, Feldman never says that he was cut from the picture. Indeed, he writes:
A number of years ago, I went to my 10th high-school reunion, in the backyard of the one classmate whose parents had a pool. Lots of my classmates were there. Almost all were married, and many already had kids. This was not as unusual as it might seem, since I went to a yeshiva day school, and nearly everyone remained Orthodox. I brought my girlfriend. At the end, we all crowded into a big group photo, shot by the school photographer, who had taken our pictures from first grade through graduation. When the alumni newsletter came around a few months later, I happened to notice the photo. I looked, then looked again. My girlfriend and I were nowhere to be found.
What happened was this: Many pictures were taken, from different angles, and the school chose to use one in which Feldman did not appear. He wasn't cropped. He was the victim of photo-editing. And the difference is...?

No comments: