< Holy Days Sermons Get A Little Help From Hollywood

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SCOTT SIMON, host: From a reverend now to the rabbinate, because for rabbis, the high holidays are a kind of ratings period. Synagogues are packed with many people who attend only a few times a year and expect to be impressed - entertained would be nice too. Rabbis Mark Diamond and Jon Hanish of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California recently organized a workshop in which some top Hollywood writers came in to try to advise rabbis with their sermon schtick.

Rabbis Diamond and Hanish join us now from NPR West. Thanks for being with us.

Rabbi JON HANISH (MEMBER, BOARD OF RABBIS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA): It's a pleasure.

Rabbi MARK DIAMOND (MEMBER, BOARD OF RABBIS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA): Thank you.

SIMON: So let me begin with you, Rabbi Diamond. You had writers from "Mad Men," "Friday Night Lights," "The Simpsons," "Desperate Housewives." What do you feel you need help with - drama, comedy, one-liners?

DIAMOND: We're very pleased that in Jewish tradition there is a teaching that says: Who is wise? One who learns from all people. And we wanted to bring together a cohort of our finest young and veteran rabbis with a cohort of writers who could really work with our rabbis.

SIMON: Rabbi Hamish, and you went to film school?

HANISH: I went to film school. I went to USC, received by my MFA there; spent 15 years in the industry before I transitioned into becoming a rabbi. So I see lots of parallels between screenwriting and between the rabbinate. Storytelling is storytelling. Guiding them with an idea that's written in three-act-structure, well, it's no different whether you're a rabbi or a screenwriter.

SIMON: Could you, Rabbis, give us some idea of the kind of advice he got in these workshops? I mean I'm just betting you were told to be personal, right? Compelling?

HANISH: Yes.

DIAMOND: Yes.

HANISH: You know, rabbis traditionally have shied away from personal stories, stories about their own lives. And you're seeing with the new generation of rabbis, more and more we turn to our own lives to prove points, to humanize ourselves so we can connect with our congregations.

SIMON: Now, to point out the obvious, I mean particularly since we're talking about the High Holidays, I mean that's a pretty compelling story, in and of itself, what you read in the Bible. Isn't it?

HANISH: You've got to take characters everyone knows and place them in a situation in which the audience is not expecting. As one writer said, you know, Abraham and Sarah, they go shopping at Costco and what happens? And then you take the story from there and you integrate the new with the old.

SIMON: I didn't know Abraham and Sarah went to Costco. I mean they did a lot of begetting, so they would need a lot of diapers.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SIMON: You know, over the years, I have actually compared notes with some rabbis that I meet around the country; because to point out the obvious, we each have an audience on Saturday morning.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SIMON: Let's put it that way. In any event, I point out what is to me the obvious: Nobody thinks I have a pipeline to God. Well, I mean, people think you do.

HANISH: You've left me speechless.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

DIAMOND: You've got two rabbis speechless. This could be the first time in Jewish history.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SIMON: Wow, what a distinction.

HANISH: I think every person has a pipeline to God and that's what we teach in Judaism, that it's not God through rabbi. It's God through human interaction.

DIAMOND: Absolutely. And that's again, I think is the profound challenge and opportunity of the holidays, is what message are you going to convey to the hundreds - in some cases thousands - of people sitting there in your audience? You are not speaking for God, but you are bringing the wisdom of God and the tradition to bear to a large audience.

SIMON: I'm curious about this. It seems to me over the years almost every version of the joke I've heard that begins: There was a priest and a minister and a rabbi, the rabbi gets the punchline. Now why is that?

HANISH: Well, Scott, I would say that's probably depending on the audience you speak with. If the joke is told in a Catholic community...

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

HANISH: ...I'm sure the priest gets the punchline.

SIMON: And, of course, I mean yes. You've heard the famous one about the Jewish man who changes his name to try and join a restricted country club. He plays golf, a foursome. He's on the green for the first time. He misses a putt by just half an inch and he goes: Oy vey, whatever that means.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

HANISH: Excellent.

DIAMOND: Oh, that's great.

SIMON: Rabbis Mark Diamond and John Hanish, whose High Holy Days seminar was presented by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, very nice speaking with you.

DIAMOND: Thank you so much.

HANISH: Likewise, thank you so much.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIMON: You're listening to NPR News.

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