When I’m not blogging, chasing after my kids or trying to locate someone’s lost second shoe, I write news recaps for SeekingAlpha.com. (I bet people who Google my name think they’ve reached two different Miriam Metzingers, one who writes financial news and the other who writes about Jewish families. But no, we are one and the same person).
My work includes writing summaries of Jim Cramer’s Mad Money program on CNBC. I can’t believe I’ve already been doing this for four years, and it has been educational and entertaining, as I finally think I’ve gotten some idea of the method in the Mad Money Madness. I have to say, I’ve never seen anyone so scrutinized for their missteps as Cramer has been. Not all of his stock picks have been successful, but the ones that are go unreported. Let me just add, before going onto the main subject of the blog, he returned 31% on his picks last year. So in spite of the controversy, and John Stewart’s skewering of him, I think the man must be doing something right.
Another aspect about Cramer critics seize on is his flamboyant stockpicking style. I’ve seen him jump in a wading pool of lobsters, dress up like a matador, don a wig and strum a guitar like a 60s era Mod rock star, all to entertain while he informs the public about stocks. This is so different from the conventional Louis Rukeyser style of financial television I grew up with, complete with the bow tie, the polite grin and genteel “Good Evening” with his slight Ivy League “accent.” (May he rest in peace. I enjoyed his program). Cramer is laughed at but he laughs at himself most of all, and that is a rare gift.
Why am I dedicating this Jewish Family blog to Jim Cramer? Because he did something extraordinary. He didn’t predict a merger no one was thinking of or made a viewer millions speculating. Well, maybe he did, but that isn’t what I’m writing about now. No. He came to Israel on Passover.
I live in Israel so why should I think it is such a big deal that someone should come here? First, everyone knows of the controversy brewing the Middle East. It is heartening to see a high-profile person come to Israel at a time when her powerful friends are rethinking their friendship. When I asked Jim Cramer why he came to Israel, he said simply; “Because this is the place to be for Passover!” He added, “With all the talk from Washington, I wanted to see if it is still the same Israel I remember (from my visit in 1991). And yes, it is the same Israel and it is wonderful.”
I like the idea Jim Cramer came because he wanted to, not to make a point or a statement (that would have been good too but), simply because he likes it here and appreciated the beauty. He described with pleasure his Passover Seder under the stars in the Judean Desert, floating around in the Dead Sea, the fascinating excavations and the experience of true freedom. “Hey,” he told my boss, “I’ve been without e-mail and bread for a whole week! It’s so liberating!” (while Jews are allowed to use e-mail during the days of Passover that are not the beginning at end of the holiday, we have a tradition not to eat bread, but matzah, a flat, unleavened cracker-like food, on Passover).
What fascinated me about Jim Cramer is that for someone who is known to be a humorist (even though unfortunately some people miss the fact that he is a self-parodist), he is deeply serious. The bulk of our telephone conversation (the first in the four years I’ve been writing recaps of his programs) was about his theory of the Holocaust and the notion that the destruction of 6 million Jews was not just a part of the war, but was the whole purpose of WWII. “People say, “Enough Jim, stop obsessing about the Holocaust. But I won’t. I’ll tell you, when I am not working on my show, this is what I think about.”
It is interesting that someone who is so genuinely funny, so “obsessed” with amusing people is equally obsessed with one of the darkest chapters of human history and how it affects him as a Jew and his brothers and sisters, in his home country and abroad.
After we spoke, no doubt, he rolled up his sleeves, got the buzzers ready and began the “Booyahs”
I have to say, I have a newfound respect for Jim Cramer and have gained some insight on what drives people. We don’t know. You never know what moves a person, shakes them to their core, or gives them meaning. Ecstatic humor is not a sign of someone who is not serious, but it is an inexpensive vacation from the burdens of reality. And yet it is a gift.
I’m glad Cramer came home to Israel and experienced the liberation of Passover and the beauty of the Holy Land. I hope to see many more trips from many others in the near future.