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Herbert J. Cohen

Kosher Movies: Temple Grandin

After making Aliyah to Israel, I taught high school students a course that prepared them for the college matriculation examinations, part of which required them to engage in a conversation in English on a predetermined topic. For many years, students were required to do a research paper which would serve as the basis for the conversation with the examiner. I felt that the research paper was not essential to determine whether the student could converse in English. Instead, I told my students to write an essay on “influential films of the twentieth century,“ with the caveat that they should include at least two footnotes in their article which supported their observations.

The removal of the research paper and the substitution of the paper on movies uplifted the spirts of the students and all of them passed the matriculation examination with flying colors. The message: when confronted with a problem, be willing to look at it with different eyes and you will come up with different and, perhaps, better solution.

Temple Grandin tells the true story of an autistic woman who convinces veteran cattlemen to change the way they bring livestock to slaughter. She looks at a problem with different eyes and, as a result,  she creates better and more efficient procedures to deal with cattle. Let me explain.

Temple Grandin loves animals. She developed an interest in cattle husbandry by spending a large part of her childhood at the ranch of her Aunt and Uncle. There she became concerned about the treatment of cattle in processing plants, and became an advocate for humane slaughtering practices. Viewing things from her idiosyncratic autistic perspective, she sees the process of preparing cattle for slaughter differently from cattle businessmen who simply have been following their own time-worn preconceptions about the best way to handle cattle. Temple devises a simple but ingenious method to reduce the anxiety of the animals so that they will proceed in an orderly and calm way to slaughter. Her innovations in streamlining the mechanics of cattle movement in their pens creates more humane modalities for dealing with the cows.  It all happened because she refused to be limited by the fixed perceptions of others.

In the world of religious behavior, it is also important to see things from a fresh perspective and not simply do things because other people do them.

David Kilimnick, a Jewish educator, writes about the positive outcomes that can result from looking at ingrained habits and behaviors from a totally novel perspective. For example, he suggests the following: “Always think of other people as being ill and you will be a nicer person. Use Emojis with everything. They may not say anything, but they do look cute and get other people thinking that you care about them. If you don’t express yourself in words, you will come off as a much nicer person. Let somebody on the bus first. Watch videos with headphones so you don’t bother other people. And don’t talk politics. it’s time we all learn to love each other, keep our legs off the chairs in front of us, stop talking politics and tell everyone that we are sick, so that we can all help bring the redemption.”

Temple Grandin’s persistence in the face of constant criticism is worthy of emulation. Facing many obstacles because of outdated perceptions of autistic people, it requires her to vigorously defend her innovative thinking even when people feel her intellect is flawed. Temple’s success story is instructive: if you feel your perspective is the correct one, you owe it yourself and to your community to stick with it until your position is unequivically proven wrong.

About the Author
Originally from Mt. Vernon, New York, Herbert J. Cohen served in the pulpit rabbinate in Atlanta at the beginning of his career. After six years, he moved into the educational rabbinate and served for 23 years as Principal of Yeshiva High School of Atlanta. In 2010, he and his wife came on aliyah to Israel. His latest book, published by Urim Publishers, is "Kosher Movies: A Film Critic Discovers Life Lessons at the Cinema." He may be reached at rabbihjco@msn.com.
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