Saturday, January 15, 2022
The headline reads "Pay on Wall Street Will Surge After Year of Record Profit"; another reason why Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.
. . .
While wasting time on my smartyphone, an advertisement popped up that is most likely to discourage my patronage: "Influencer-approved sneakers." Do you think that while my talented, accomplished young bride strains to keep my conduct civilized, I'm going to be swayed by some ill-educated teenager who pays extra to have her pants ripped?
Sunday, January 16, 2022
Even as the National Football League began its championship playoffs this weekend, Jews news came out on top. First, of course, was the synagogue hostage situation in Texas. Fortunately, the small number of congregants and the rabbi went unharmed physically. The oddest wrinkle was the intended beneficiary of this mad act -- Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman sentenced to 86 years in federal prison for attempted murder. https://www.washingtonpost.
Siddiqui's interesting biography is highlighted by her doctorate from Brandeis University, founded and supported by the Jewish community. Yet (or because), she demanded that jurors in her trial in federal district be DNA tested to prove they weren’t Jewish. “If they have a Zionist or Israeli background, they are all mad at me. They should be excluded if you want to be fair.”
At about the same time that the crisis in Texas was being resolved, the trustees of the University of Michigan were dealing with another. Mark Schlissel, Brooklyn-born president of the university, was being fired for conducting a long-term romantic relationship with a female employee.
"According to emails posted by the university on its website, Schlissel wrote to the female employee regularly, including in October 2019 when he emailed about receiving a box of knishes. The woman said in reply that she liked the doughy snack food. Schlissel replied again: Can I 'lure you to visit with the promise of a knish?'" https://www.freep.com/story/
Forget for a moment the prurient nature of this exchange. Clearly, the reporter or the woman involved or both are not Jewish. A knish more closely resembles a doorstop than a "doughy snack food." Pretzels, M&Ms are snack food. A knish entails a major investment in time and calories, not an idle pleasure.
. . .
My aunt Rosalind Cohen Goldenberg died today, 105 years old. She was the wife of my mother's youngest brother, the last survivor of my parents' generation. This lovely woman had three children, 10 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.
Only 3 of the great-grandchildren are actually named Goldenberg, two boys and one girl, and, in fact, there are no other limbs of the family tree with young Goldenbergs. This may be an example of regression to the mean since, as proven by the invaluable research of Ittai Hershman, the name was adopted in 1909 when my grandmother Esther Malka joined her husband Joseph in America. According to the immigration records, the family was known as Chelchowsky until they arrived here. Family lore was that my grandmother's young sister Tillie, already an American high school student, urged the name change.
There is every reason to believe that the name Chelchowsky itself was misrecorded and was really Chelchowski, a much more common Slavic spelling. An Internet search finds no one named Chelchowsky anywhere in the United States or Poland, while there are Chelchowskis in both. According to the website Forebears, it is a "Polish surname, derived from the word, chełch, which means 'liar', 'chubby', 'chattering'." If the shoe fits?
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Can you think back to the weekend, when everyone's attention was on the Texas synagogue hostage situation? Remember CNN's coverage (probably the same as everyone else's)?
Serious-looking people moving about, standing about. Serious-looking vehicles moving about, standing about. And what happened? Will the National Rifle Association offer a new slogan? "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a rabbi with a chair."
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
You go, girl.
-- Headline: "Top Editor Files Discrimination Suit Against The New York Post"
-- Subhead: "In the lawsuit, Michelle Gotthelf said the tabloid’s longtime top editor, Col Allan, had retaliated against her after she turned down a sexual proposition."
. . .
Responding to the wit and wisdom of the United States Supreme Court, Starbucks has added Covid-19 to its menu for the convenience of its customers. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/starbucks-ends-workers-vaccine-mandate-after-supreme-court-ruling-01642617488?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo
At present, this will only be available in-store. However, a product development team is working to extend this to drive-through orders as well.
Thursday, January 20, 2022
We found ourselves on Long Island at the end of the lunch hour today and were in perfect agreement. Kosher delicatessen. We headed to Ben's Kosher Delicatessen, 59 Old Country Road, Carle Place. It is a branch of the mother ship on West 38th Street, a familiar destination, not to be confused with Ben's Best Kosher Delicatessen, 96-40 Queens Boulevard, Rego Park, sadly out of business for more than three years now.
It turned out to be a wise choice, even a superlative one. The sprawling premises sitting right next to Barnes & Noble was almost empty after 2 PM, which hastened delivery of our order. Madam had a chopped liver sandwich after first satisfactorily taste testing a sample ($13.49). The sandwich was big enough that the second half became my dinner at home. I had a pastrami/tongue combo ($20.99), superior meat, machine sliced, piled very high. By the way, we skipped
testing the aphrodisiacal properties of a knish and shared well-done,
crinkle-cut French fries instead ($4.99).
Top notch job today!
ReplyDelete"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a rabbi with a chair." I'm still laughing.
Ben's is in my neighborhood. I'll give it a try.
ReplyDelete