THE REAL HEROES

A Script for Life

Joe Thorman was a funny guy. Really funny. Sitting in the dining room during lunch, he could have the whole table laughing with a single well-placed word or even only a well-timed facial expression. The Purim play Joe's year was one of the best in Ohr Somayach history.

Joe hadn't planned on these impromptu lunchtime performances. At one time Joe had intended to use his comedic talent, along with his considerable writing skills, in a larger forum than the Ohr Somayach dining room - in the world's largest such forum. Since he had been a small child, Joe wanted only one thing out of life: to be a Hollywood scriptwriter.

For this he sacrificed a great deal. Along with the thousands of other dreamers who descend on Los Angeles yearly and work menial jobs hoping for their big break, Joe Thorman waited tables and dreamed. He dreamed of the one thing that mattered to him: writing scripts for movies.

He didn't want to act in movies; he didn't want to direct movies. He only wanted to write the scripts for movies, and he was convinced he had the talent. He just needed one break. And he knew that once he got that break and sold his first script, once he got into the club, he would be set for life.

Well, Joe waited a lot of tables, but his big break didn't materialize. He didn't give up; he kept writing script proposals, dropping them off at the studios, and harassing every connected person he could reach, begging them to at least read one of his scripts to see if he had the goods to succeed.

At some point during Joe's wait to get rich and famous, he stumbled onto Judaism. He didn't have much else to keep him busy, so he began attending some classes, and slowly he began to realize that there was something missing in his life, something besides a movie-writing contract.

Slowly he found his way back to his roots and became more and more observant, but he still kept his dream of script writing alive. Eventually, realizing that Hollywood wasn't knocking down his door and looking to acquire more Jewish knowledge, Joe decided he would travel to Israel and study in Ohr Somayach for a year. Hollywood would have to wait.

Well, what do you know - all of a sudden Hollywood couldn't wait. The week before Joe was to leave he received a call from the head of a major movie studio; they wanted to produce one of Joe's scripts, and they wanted Joe on board as an in-house writer. He would receive a salaried position and royalties on all his scripts. Best of all, he would live out his dream of writing movies. The break he'd been waiting for all his life had finally come.

Of course, he would have to postpone that year in yeshivah if he wanted to take this job, but there was no rush. He could study Torah any time. This job was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Joe intended to remain feligious, and even make a kiddush Hashem as a religious, principled Jew in the movie industry. Ohr Somayach would have to wait. Such was Joe's immediate reaction.

Upon a little reflection, and much consultation with people whom he greatly respected, Joe realized he couldn't do both. His Yiddishkeit was nowhere near strong enough to withstand the tests of working in the movies, the very wellspring of the world's immorality.

He knew he was being forced to choose one or the other: his lifelong dream or his religious observance, which had picked up in the last twelve months. An excruciating choice, one with which most of us would hope ever to be faced.

After much agonizing, and much serious thought about his life and his goals, Joe came to a decision. He would follow his head, not his heart. Though his lifelong ambition was finally being realized, he would continue with his plans and do what he knew was the correct thing: he would go to Jerusalem and study Torah.

And that was how I found out that Joe Thorman was a funny guy.

Joe had a nonreligious twin brother named Mark. When Joe told him of his decision, Mark cried. He was convinced Joe had lost his marbles.

When Joe first told me his story, I knew one thing for sure: Joe could always remain true to the Torah. No one sacrifices that much for something to which he isn't fully committed. The very sacrifice helps create and solidify the commitment. Joe had given up his lifelong dream for his tradition; that tradition was now his forever.

The story even has a happy ending. Baruch Hashem, Hollywood has survived without Joe Thorman, and as for Joe, well, he's done more than survive. He's thrived as a happy, frum Jew and the proud father of six beautiful Yiddishe kinderlach.

Buy The Kiruv Files by Dovid Kaplan and Elimelech Meisels at a special online price at www.targum.com