As a member of Museum of Science in Boston, I received a postcard at the end of May 2006 announcing that the Body Worlds exhibit would start two months later. I had seen the exhibit in June 2005 while attending a family reunion. My cousins and I were uncomfortable with the exhibit, although I could not say exactly why. I was put off by the signage in praise of the exhibit, and the exhortations to donate one's body to the cause. When I received the postcard announcing the exhibit, I consulted my Rabbis both about their opinion of the exhibit, and my proposal to demonstrate in front of the museum. Although my opinion about the exhibit was endorsed, my tactics were not. Rabbi Menachem Creditor responded: " while I agree that the exhibit is deeply wrong, I'm not sure a program[ie demonstration] is a good response ...the best thing to do is reinforce Jewish conceptions of the body in this case." I trolled the Internet for information about the exhibit. I put in a phone call to the museum, and got a polite response, which avoided the issue of why I was objecting. I then wrote the letter that appears on this site's homepage. I created the website, and found a few supporters in Sharon where I live. I informed the news media that I would start my protest with a press conference and demonstration. Unfortunately, that was June 7th, 3006 the day of the monsoon, and I lasted from 11:00 to 1130 AM. No one saw me. I was dejected when I left the museum, but when I checked my voice mail and e-mail later in the afternoon I had messages from the Patriot Ledger and the Boston Herald. They both interviewed me by phone at length. If my quotes were a bit more pointed when I talked to the Patriot Ledger, it was because I did not have my notes in front of me and had to ad lib. The Patriot Ledger reporter was thorough, and even had me retrieve my sign, which was a mass a soaked cardboard, and tell her what it said. Both papers produced nice articles that allowed me to state my case.
Subsequently, I have demonstrated at the museum on the evening of July 4th,for a couple of hours on Wednesday, July 17th, 2006, and on Monday July 31. The exhibit had opened the day before. I was fortunate to be joined by a supporter. I had a Karaoke with me so people could hear me, since the sidewalk is a distance from the entrance to the museum. It is discouraging when very few people are curious to see what I am doing. I then went to the office of the Jewish Advocate for an interview. On that very day, July 31, a report aired on WBUR-FM, which briefly quoted me. Listen to it or read the transcript. Be sure to read the comments: see what do you think? at the bottom of the story. When I got home I had a message from Fox 25 News. They came to my house a couple of hours later at 7 PM, interviewed my for 20 minutes and took some shots of me pointing to the web site and to the signs I had held that day. The reporter politely thanked me, and sped off. The 20 minutes resulted in two sentences on the air during the news at 10 PM, plus the web site and the signs. I have come to realize that I have found a cause in need of a spokesman. I believe the news media actually like this, because instead of merely saying that the exhibit is controversial, there is someone actually making the case.
On Thursday August 4 a very thorough story appeared in the Jewish Advocate.