Saturday, September 17, 2022
As much as I massaged Google, I could not find out how many churches there are in Florida. Several sites offer city by city listings, but none have a statewide total. I was wondering how many of the indeterminate large number of Christian services Sunday morning would consider the Sermon on the Mount, at least in part. You know, where JC teaches:
- Feed the hungry.
- Give water to the thirsty.
- Clothe the naked.
- Shelter the homeless.
May we ask Governor Ron DeSantis to take some time off from exporting refugees to read the Good Book?
Sunday, September 18, 2022
Maureen Dowd has an interesting interview with Tom Stoppard, the noted British playwright.
It coincides with the Broadway opening of his latest play, "Leopoldstadt," a semi-autobiographical work about an assimilated Jewish family dealing with the Nazi terror. Until his mid-50s, Stoppard reputedly had only the vaguest knowledge of his family's Jewish character. Through relatives, he learned for the first time that all of his grandparents and his mother's three sisters were Jewish victims of the Nazis. He claims that he "was totally poleaxed," having been raised as a proper British schoolboy after the early death of his Czechoslovakian Jewish father.
Coincidentally, we heard Stoppard speak to a sold-out audience at the 92nd Street Y this afternoon and we have tickets to “Leopoldstadt” on October 1st.
. . .
For many of us, sports takes us away from the often ugly realities of daily life. See, for instance, the war on consumer protection (https://www.newyorker.com/
the rich and famous stealing from the poor (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/
Today offers a good distraction. For the first time since September 27, 2009, just shy of 13 years, all four of the major New York City-denominated teams, the Mets, the Yankees, the Giants, the Jets, won their games.
https://www.foxnews.com/
By the very nature of fandom, however, that news does not bring equal delight. Even if your guys won, satisfaction comes when others also lose.
Monday, September 19, 2022
Most of my dining forays are no more than a subway ride from Palazzo di Gotthelf. The New York Times goes much further afield in designating the 50 best restaurants in America.
Right now, my score is 0-50, giving me something to live for.
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Pastrami Queen, 1125 Lexington Avenue, does not hit the top 50, but it was my destination today on a charitable mission. The adorable Michael Ratner had hip replacement surgery on Friday and is still confined to the boundaries of his apartment. So, I volunteered to hasten his recuperation with food from Pastrami Queen.
Fortunately, I was on time for their Tuesday Special, two sliders, corned beef and pastrami, French fries, pickles and coleslaw for $16.95. Such a deal. Even with my own aching hip, I crossed the intervening half mile rapidly in order to offer Michael therapeutic relief, a sort of Kosher Florence Nightingale.
Thursday, September 22, 2022
Many of us have been watching the three-part, six-hour documentary “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” which confronts the anti-Semitism that kept countless European Jews from reaching safety here. Opposition in Congress and key government agencies limited official rescue efforts to near insignificance.
It was a bleak picture, but some people in and out of government struggled to do the right thing. One of them was Dean Alfange, father of our dear friend Dean Alfange, Jr. Born to a Greek Orthodox family in Constantinople, he eventually led the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe and later the Committee to Arm the Jewish State. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
May his memory be for a blessing.
Friday, September 23, 2022
What better way to see out the old year than by visiting a new Chinese restaurant? Dunhuang Grand Central, 320 Lexington Avenue, is an airy joint with one long wall covered with wood paneling and sconces seemingly borrowed from an English pub.The menu is noodle-centric, five different shapes and widths, all hand pulled in-house. I had Dunhuang Hand Pulled Fried Noodle, thick lo mein-like noodles pan fried with lamb, scallion, carrots and cabbage in a brown sauce ($13.50). The portion was large, the amount of lamb generous and the taste first-rate. I enjoyed it sufficiently that I excused the spatter on my baby blue sweatshirt.
I sure used a lot of talc back in the day. Hope next year brings some good news
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