Soft Touch

Monday, August 13, 2018

Perri Klass is a doctor and a successful writer.  She had a piece in The New York Times this weekend, not addressing vaccinations, nutrition, or pain management, but rather about growing up in a household of 5 people with one bathroom, first in a Manhattan apartment and then in a suburban house.  Actually, the latter had a half bathroom (toilet, sink) inconveniently located, which, she claims, they never used, adults and children continuing to crowd into the one full bathroom.  
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/06/well/lessons-from-life-in-a-one-bathroom-house.html

Of course, this resonated with me and probably everyone that I went to high school and college with.  We all lived at home in apartments with one bathroom.  In my case, I shared the bathroom with my parents and my brother until I left for graduate school.  It never got that crowded again. 

While my first marriage was rocky, two bathrooms in the apartment and then the house we shared allowed us to focus on other things to fight about.  My current and eternal marriage is buoyed by two amply-sized, well-equipped bathrooms at a distance from each other.  A definite component of marital bliss.
. . .

If you marvel at the obtuseness of elected Republican officials in dealing with the racist, misogynistic, narcissistic, chronic liar in the White House, relax; history is merely repeating itself.  Most national Republican legislators in 1974 hung on to the sinking Nixon administration even as it was swamped with evidence of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and "a cancer on the presidency."  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/13/opinion/watergate-republican-party.html

May we only hope for a similar resolution in the near future.

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

I continued my exploration of Lower East Side/East Village Chinese restaurants at lunch today at Mimi Cheng's Dumplings, 179 Second Avenue, where 8 to 12 people can huddle on 4 picnic benches, another 9 perched on stools at two ledges around the perimeter.  Additionally, there are 6 two tops on the sidewalk.  The room itself is painted white, with simple artwork on the walls.   

The menu is also simple -- 6 types of dumplings, spicy Dan-Dan noodles, scallion pancakes and "12-Hour Organic Chicken Noodle Soup."  I ordered pan-fried chicken and zucchini dumplings (6 for $9.95) and a scallion pancake ($5.75).  The dumplings were very good; the scallion pancake, very flaky, more phyllo dough than crêpe, most memorable for being overpriced.  
. . .

Today's obituary for Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz, a feminist author and activist cited her proposal for "radical diasporism," a version of Jewish identity without the centrality of Israel.  She wrote: "What do I mean by home?  Not the nation state; not religious worship; not the deepest grief of a people marked by hatred.  I mean a commitment to what is and is not mine; to the strangeness of others, to my strangeness to others; to common threads twisted with surprise."  Her partner cogently stated that Jews should "take the fullness of their Jewish traditions and values and put them into practice wherever they are, wherever they call home.”  I am quite comfortable with this latter proposition, although I find the former a bit hard to parse.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/13/nyregion/melanie-kaye-kantrowitz-dead.html 

Wednesday, August 15, 2108

Mark Dilman and his family are visiting from the Left Coast.  Besides offering me the pleasure of his company, he supplied this photograph.  

Thursday, August 16, 2018

Lunch yesterday was with Mark Dilman, originally from Tbilisi, Georgia, his Parisian wife and his Roumanian sister-in-law.  Today, I had lunch for the second year in a row with Aron Sebagala and Solomon Walusimbi, members of the Abayudaya tribe, Ugandan Jews, now numbering about 2,000.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abayudaya

Aron, a medical student, and Solomon, a law student, spent this summer, as they had last, as counselors at a children's camp run by the Jewish Reconstructionist movement.  Before July 2017, they had never left Uganda.  Their schedule allowed time for some sightseeing here each summer.  They return home tomorrow, but only for two days before traveling to Israel with other young members of their community.  I can't imagine the kaleidoscopic rush of their experiences at this time of their lives.  I hope that we can read about it someday.

For the record, lunch yesterday was at a branch of &pizza, 15 West 28th Street, where individual pizzas are made right in front of you from an almost unlimited list of ingredients that you choose.  Pizza was not only a common denominator for my international companions, but it also satisfied their four (American-born) children accompanying them.  

Today, Aron, Solomon and I ate at Hummus Place, 305 Amsterdam Avenue, Israeli and Kosher (not as commonplace as you might expect), respecting the dietary rules that the Abayudaya observe.  They had falafel, while I had shakshuka, eggs stewed in a tomato and pepper sauce.

Friday, August 17, 2018

A Swedish Muslim woman has successfully sued a company that refused her a job when she would not shake hands with her male interviewer.  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/world/europe/sweden-muslim-handshake.html

 

I found this particularly interesting because the same issue arises in parts of the Jewish community.  Many orthodox men and women avoid physical contact with unrelated people of the opposite sex. 

https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/no-handshake-dont-take-it-personally/

 

The women are following general rules of modesty and chastity, Shomer Negiah.  I remember being introduced to the new wife of a Jewish neighbor, a woman he met and married in Belgium.  I stuck out my hand to congratulate her and welcome her to the Big Apple.  Her reaction was immediate, crashing into the wall behind her to avoid contact with me.  Recollecting that my neighbor was relatively observant, I understood what had just transpired.

Orthodox men's behavior has a murkier basis.  According to scripture, menstruating women are unclean, to be avoided even by their husbands.  See Leviticus 15:19, 18:19 and 20:18.  To play it safe, all unrelated women at any time are kept at a distance.  Alan Dershowitz, in his presycophant days, told of a friend devoted to  Judaism and the New York Mets.  When the man headed to Shea Stadium, he purchased all the adjacent seats to avoid accidental contamination.