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Major spoilers forStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalkerbelow.
Also, major spoilers for the Bible.
I dont mean to make you jealous, but my rabbi isnt just any rabbi.
Jon Leener, age 31, is the spiritual leader of two organizations in the Brooklyn Jewish world.
I have included annotations for the Hebrew and Yiddish terms, so fear not, Gentiles.
So seems like you liked the movie.Totally!
And when I was coming home, I was like,Yknow, its kinda like going toshulversusdaveningat home.
People were cheering when the opening screen came on with the credits rolling.
People were cheering at certain times.
You could hear gasps and whatnot.
Were coming at this from different mind-sets because Im a bitter cynic and youre not.
I feel like Im being manipulated.
But I feel bad saying that because it might harsh your vibe.No!
I thinkthe whole Disney takeovercomplicates its legacy to some extent.
But I dont know.
I love J.J. Abrams.
Im a hugeLostfan also.
So I trust him, I guess.
Did you watchStar Wars a lot as a kid?Totally.
Actually, I was talking about it in therapy the other day.
I told her I was going, and she was like, What doesStar Warsmean to you?
But I felt like it wasnt willing to go all the way.
But with this movie, I feel like it was very bold.
That was my initial thought.
What do you mean bybold?I felt shades ofEmpire Strikes Backin terms of the raw darkness of it.
And I guess I appreciated that.
You thought this was dark?There were some pretty intense scenes, no?
Yeah, but the end is so cheery!Thats okay!
I guess when I think ofEmpire Strikes Backbeing dark, its because the good guys lose.Yeah.
What did you think of all the shout-outs and nostalgia?
A lot of people disliked that, including me.
Now its back for no good reason!
But it sounds like that didnt bother you.The only time it bothered me was when Lukes plane came out.
The X-wing.Yeah, the X-wing.
That, I felt, was a little over-the-top.
But its all about how youre viewingStar Wars.
Or are you going in and being like,This is a whole universe that spans decades?
You have to have different principles to judging the movie.
What Jewish texts would you compareStar Warsto?The whole thing?
[Laughs] Kinda like, divinely inspired to an extent.
Its not debatable in terms of how youre gonna view those movies.
And then everything after is kinda up for grabs.
I think that happens with some of theStar Warsmovies.
This one,Rise of Skywalker was there a book of theTanakhit reminded you of?Hmmm.
Or a story or an anecdote, anything Jewish.I feel like all the movies are very biblical.
Especially this one in terms of the characters themselves.
And thats arguably the most popular biblical trope you find: The underdog is actually the savior.
Like in the Torah, every single firstborn son gets pushed down by the younger, weaker son.
Thats the premise of a lot ofStar Warscharacters.
Thats a good point!
Rey isnt exactly enslaved, but shes stuck on the bottom of society as this scavenger.
Especially in the sense of self-realizing.
Jacob starts out hesitant to claim his role as one of thepatriarchsand he literallywrestles with himself.
And that was a big theme of this movie, I think.
Fear of confronting yourself.
I guess Rey does that a lot here, and so does Kylo Ren to an extent.
But I think thats the deepest message ofStar Wars, ultimately: teshuvah.
Even if its their last, dying breath.
Im trying to think about the characters in this.
Who did you think represented teshuvah in this?
He realizes he has done all these awful things.
He had a name change, which, in the Torah, is always significant.
Good point!Because a name is not just a name.
Its their spiritual DNA.
Its emblematic of their essence.
His name actually changed.
At the end, they call him Ben Skywalker.
Wait, did anyone actually call him Ben Skywalker?
I guess the Emperor sorta did.I cant remember.
I am no longer recognized as that person, and I am now this.
And its true with Darth Vader and Anakin.
What does that name mean, really?
And Jacob actually renames him.
Okay, so that works for Ben Solo!
Theres a notion of completion.
Theyre not remaking the Book of Jonah.
And in the Talmud, the rabbis debate about which …
They say, So what is a defining element of a book that can be in the Bible?
Because the Book of Esther, for example, doesnt have any mention of Gods name.
So somebody wrote on my Facebook wall, What aboutRogue OneandSolo?
And I said, Thats not part of the canon.
Not in the same way.
To me, a defining feature ofStar Warsis John Williams has to do the music.
Im sounding like such a whiny fan here.
Maybe Im thinking about this the wrong way.
They do a lot of stupid stuff, and they experience a total collapse.
Its not necessarily passed down through biology.
Thats definitely the same thing in Judaism.
We have different sects Kohanim, Leviim and those go through the mother or father.
I was also thinking about the Dark Side a lot, and theyetzer hara.
I was just about to say.Or kinda the Sitra Ahra, which is defined as the other side.
And there are places in the Talmud that say everyone has a yetzer hara.
The Talmud says the greater a person is spiritually, the greater their yetzer hara will be.
There are also places in the Talmud that say our yetzer hara sustains the world to some extent.
How so?Like having sex, impulses like that sustain the world.
Its not making a distinction so much between the sides of the Force in that way.
I should see the movie again.
But I guess they were always products.
Last question: Whos the most JewishStar Warscharacter?Of all time?
Yeah.Hmmm, let me think about that.
At a very high level, hes not changing as much.
I would say its Anakin.
Interesting!It goes back to teshuvah.
He has so many comparisons toMoshe, too.
Like the prophets being isolated.
