Stephen Remembers Morley Safer
In 2005, Abigail Pogrebin published Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish. The following is an excerpt from the chapter about Morley Safer, the Canadian-American broadcast journalist best known for histenureas a reporter onCBS 60 Minutes, who diedon Thursday at the age of83.
MORLEY SAFER, the seventy-four-year-old, wizened newsman, is reclining on a well-worn leather couch in his handsome carriage house, smoking the cigarettes hes never quit, and sipping coffee he cant do withouteven on Yom Kippur. Im not a total hundred percent faster as I once was, he says with a smile. I do have coffee. I need it. Giving up coffee would be cruel and unusual. Aside from caffeine, fasting is not a hardship. I never eat breakfast anyway and not much of a lunch, he explained. But I remember the agony of it as a kid. I mean, agony.
He and his wife, Jane, are not observant, but they do go to synagogue each year. Then we go for a long walk. I think the sheer disengagement, even if one didnt go to synagogue, does make you think. Which is hardly a punishment once a year, and in fact, may be a bonus. Its not exactly wearing a hair shirt or flogging your back or climbing one thousand steps on your knees.
Safer grew up in Toronto, where he experienced some anti-Semitic incidents he prefers not to talk about: I dont want to go into all that, he says, stubbing his cigarette out in a large ashtray.
His family observed a modified Shabbatattending Saturday services, then a matinee. The only holiday he still celebrates without fail is Passover. Weve been doing it for the last thirty-odd years, since Sarah was born, he says, referring to his only child, who is thirty-four when we talk. Its an interesting, really jolly mix of people. Not all the guests are Jewish. I think its about evenly split, Safer says. And the most insistent onesthe ones who start calling weeks before, saying, We havent been invited yettend to be the non-Jews. He chuckles.
For the traditional meal, the Safers order their gefilte fish from Rosedale Fish and Oyster Market on the Upper East Sideits the oldest fish market, Safer tells me, as if that should be obvious to any true New Yorkerbut hes still in search of the perfect lump of pike. Ive yet to find gefilte fish that is as close to the one my mother made, he says wistfully.
Sarah was sent to Hebrew school, he says, so that shed be equipped to spurn Judaism with intelligence. Youve got to know what youre going to reject, Safer says. You should not be allowed to reject something without learning it first. Today she is non-observant. It was her choice, he says. Would I like her to come to synagogue on Yom Kippur with us? She has once or twice. But I cant imposeshes a thirty-whatever-old woman. As a young woman she kind of rejected it, probably more strenuously than she does now. She has a sonour first and only grandchild. Sarahs husband is a Russian Jew, but they chose not to circumcise their son. I would have wanted it because its such an ancient tradition, he says. But he didnt pressure her. Theres nothing more destructive than that.
The Safers never celebrated Christmas, and I ask if he has any reaction to Jews that do. I find it a little alien, but Im not a tyrant on these things. I find excessive Christmas stuff kind of gives me the w*****s anyway. And I hate Christmas in New York because of what happens to the city. I mean, you cant get a cab, the weather is lousyyou freeze your a*s off, and there is no joy in it. I love the idea of itthe idea of charity and all of that.
Ill tell you a story, he continues. At the office, you always get presents for the people you work with around the holidays. Id been doing it for the thirty-three years Ive been at 60 Minutes; I always give a couple of very good bottles of wine, or one very good bottle of wine and one very good bottle of spirits or malt. And it was just fascinating: One year, it was at the height of the homelessness crisis, and I said to my staff, Look, I have a thought: What I would love to do is go and buy food and gloves and scarves. And well distribute the stuff and then all go and have a nice supper together. They looked at me like I was crazy: What? Thats the worst idea you ever had. I was devastated, he says with a laugh. I tell Safer they probably couldnt stand the idea of giving up their malt liquors. He nods. Here I am, engaging this holiday with the kind of heart that youre supposed to have. And people were appalled.
The doorbell rings. Thats our dog coming back from her walk, he says, looking suddenly like a thrilled little boy. Come here, Dora! We have a houseguest! Dora! Dora runs to Safer and they canoodle each other. Hello, my little lady; heres my sweetie pie, They clearly have a mutual admiration. I try to pat her casually, despite my complete awkwardness with animals, and think of the right thing to say. Shes so clean, I manage.
She likes you, Safer says with a smile. She loves loving. I warn you. After some genuine ardor from her owner, Dora pads away, ostensibly to seek a second breakfast.
As Safer fetches a bottle of Pellegrino water from the open kitchen, I ask him whether he thinks being Jewish has affected his reporting in any way. I think, after all these years, and having spent a lot of time covering Middle East wars and covering Israel between the wars, you really are able to detach when you do this work.
But I remember the first time I went to Auschwitzit was probably in the fifties. I was working for the CBC [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation], doing a half-hour documentary on Poland. This was after the food riotslate fifties, early sixtiesand the full horror had really been revealed. That was just one of the most powerful moments in my life. The camp hadnt been museum-ized yet; it was in many respects not much different from how it was left.
And it was also very powerful the first time I went to Germany, which was even earlier. I remember getting off the plane in Frankfurt and hearing that sound of the guttural language. He pauses. And you think, There but for a few years . . .this was 1954 as opposed to 1944its not that much time.
So, would Safer say that his Jewishness is a significant part of him? Oh yes, he responds. Its who I am. I think its an important part mainly for what many people may regard as secular reasons, though I dont think theyre entirely secular. That is, I think it leads to a more contemplative kind of life. I think it gives you a very, very clear idea of ethics, which Im not suggesting I may practice. But I certainly have a clear idea. Which is why I never understood why they go through this charade now of teaching ethics. You cant teach ethics. You have to be a zombie not to know the difference between right and wrong. I think that a Jewish background does give you a very, very strong sense of doing the right thing.
Excerpted from Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish by Abigail Pogrebin. Copyright 2005 by Abigail Pogrebin. Used by permission of Broadway Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
Source: http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/203183/morley-safer-on-gefilte-fish-observing-the-high-holidays-and-visiting-auschwitz
