Heeb

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach wasn’t invited to today’s memorial circus, so there was no chance that the masses of mourners huddled around Facebook would hear Shmuley’s wise words. Faced with the possibility of missing this PR opportunity, Boteach penned a second Michael Jackson remembrance piece in the Jerusalem Post that is more profound than the one he posted last week’s on beliefnet.com.

This time the good Rabbi skipped the heartwarming stories and focused on "bringing redemption to Michael’s life" (Clearly, Corey Feldman did not accomplish this by wearing a full Michael Jackson outfit to the memorial service.) 

"The death of Michael Joseph Jackson is not just the personal tragedy of a man who died young. Nor does it solely represent a colossal waste of life and talent. Rather it is, above all else, an American tragedy. For whether we wish to acknowledge it or not, our obsession with Michael Jackson, our infatuation with every peculiar detail of his life, stems from the fact that he represents a microcosm of America."  

 

"YES, THERE was Michael’s troubled soul. Could a man so blessed with fame and fortune, we wondered, really be so miserable that he had to numb his pain with a syringe of Demerol? And yet, my friends, America is the richest country in the world with the highest standard of living. Still, we consume three quarters of the earth’s anti-depressants and one out of three Americans is on an anti-anxiety medication."

 

Damn Shmuley!  Now I’m too depressed to enjoy the MJ spectacle. Anyone got some Demerol?