A relative of mine handed me a copy of a new interesting book called "Kosher Movies". The author was working with the premise that he had seen all of these movies and if he didn't find meaning in them then they would have been a waste of time. Interesting.
Nevertheless, in his entry on the movie "Heat" with Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, he focuses on the self imposed loneliness of both protagonist and antagonist. Both of them lead lives that force them to live alone.
This goes against one of the most important of Jewish values: Chavrus- friendship, community. No Jew is an island.
The Talmud says that the putrid smelling ingredient "chelbana" was a necessary ingredient of the Temple indicating that we must include all in our community. The Ishbitzer takes this idea one step further and says that without the chelbana the whole mixture doesn't smell as good as it does. A community must include the perfect and imperfect if it's going to serve as a tzibur in the eyes of HaShem.
Rabbi Shlomo Einhorn