I'm feeling a bit embarrassed about having sent out a notice of our appearance on CNN. Not because we did not appear -- we did. But because I feel I was snookered. And I'm supposed to be a media sophisticate. When I was approached by one of the CNN producers Izzy Lemberg, with whom I've done a number of interviews in the past, he told me that they were interested in doing a program on raising a large family. After watching the video, however, it is clear that the only thing they were interested in was fitting us into some prescripted slot to say that chareidim value large families. Even Judith and my comments on secular-religious tensions were omitted, as they might have complicated the script that had already been written.
As an object lesson, on when not to appear, you can find the video by going to www.cnn.com, then to video, then to international, and then to one called Orthodox and secular Jews divided (or something like that). For the curious, some of the kids and Judith photographed well. Hopefully, this clip will not remain long.