Saturday, August 12, 2023
My
young bride and I went to shul this morning, she at Temple Israel,
Natick, Massachusetts, and I at West End Synagogue in the Holy Land.
This way our prayers were geographically balanced, like
the ideal Ivy League freshman class.
. . .
I was annoyed reading about a hot new restaurant in Brooklyn named Traif,
229 South Fourth Street. https://traifny.com/
Traif means unkosher in Yiddish and the Jewish chef-owner chose it because it "melds
[his] ironic love for pork and shellfish along with his philosophy of
‘cook what you love, not what you're supposed to.’" While the website
asserts that the restaurant is "Celebrating all foods unkosher . . . and some kosher," Traif's menu is hardly more Jewish than McDonald's and contains nothing Kosher. https://foursquare.com/v/
So, first
of all, I'm annoyed because of the confusion between Jewish and Kosher.
Kosher is Jewish; Jewish is not necessarily Kosher.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/
. . .
There is another interesting matter in the area of Jew food. Front and center is the Kosher ban on pork and
other schweinerei, that is porcine products. Well, what of pretend
pork? Herr's is distributing a roast pork (artificially flavored)
potato chip, which has received certification as Kosher by the Orthodox
Union, whose OU symbol is authoritative to many Jews throughout the
world. https://forward.com/fast-
The potato chips contain no unkosher ingredients, thereby justifying the certification, or does it? Exactly the sort of question that has occupied Jewish sages over the centuries.
Sunday, August 13, 2023
Speaking
of Jewish sages, I am in love with a rabbi, specifically Rabbi Dr.
Raphael Zarum, Dean of the London School of Jewish Studies, who also holds a doctorate in theoretical physics. I heard him speak today on J. Robert
Oppenheimer's Jewishness and the ethical issues surrounding nuclear
weapons. What I learned, among other things, was that Joseph Rotblat, a Polish Jewish physicist, eventually a Nobel Prize winner, resigned from the Manhattan Project once Germany was defeated, before Trinity was tested, the only person known to have done so.
https://www.britannica.com/
. . .
Speaking of ethics, you might be interested in "What judicial ethics rules say about Clarence Thomas’ lifestyle bankrolled by his friends." https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/
. . .
A
real estate listing today on Oceanview Road in Brielle, New Jersey,
evoked the comment “Despite the name of the road it is on, the house is
inland from the ocean and has no water views." This comports with the
insight of the brilliant Calvin Trillin that topographic names in real
estate are rarely accurate. Watch out for Shady Acres, Pine Grove, or
Valley Vista.
. . .
If
you are considering retirement, I expect that it would take more than a
pretty name to lure you. A new survey weighs several variables of
affordability, overall well-being, the cost and quality of healthcare,
weather and crime to determine the alleged best and worst states for
retirement.
https://www.bankrate.com/
However, the results look like something seen in a funhouse mirror, down is up, up is down.
| 1. Iowa | 50. Alaska |
| 2. Delaware | 49. New York |
| 3. West Virginia | 48. California |
| 4. Missouri | 47. Washington |
| 5. Mississippi | 46. Massachusetts |
Monday, August 14, 2023
Here's a new entry in the All Men Are Brothers file: "Tasers, taunts, torment: How 6 White officers subjected 2 Black men to hours of grueling violence, and then tried to cover it up."
https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/
https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/
. . .
Scientists
believe that they have solved the mystery of the origin of Covid-19,
which has now taken at least 6,954,336 lives worldwide. https://covid19.who.int/
The root cause of the rampant coronavirus seems to be H*nt*r B*d*n.
. . .
It’s Monday, so Caring Ken Klein, Dan FamousUncle and I went to Pastrami Queen, 138 West 72nd Street, for their Monday Special, a pastrami sandwich and a can of Dr. Brown’s (diet black cherry all around) for $19.95. With the sandwich itself normally priced at $24.95, the attraction is evident. On the other hand, the sandwich appeared a little skinny, a sin in deli-land.
Tuesday, August 15, 2023
Today is grandson Noam’s 13th birthday. We are looking forward to his Bar Mitzvah on Labor Day weekend, our first big post-Covid celebration.
. . .
Madam and I went to see “The Doctor” tonight, not the Doctor, “The Doctor,” an adaptation of a 1912 play. Antisemitism, a significant aspect of the Austrian original and much of the first act, eventually gets lost in the confusion of color-blind and gender-blind casting, "white actors play black parts, women play men, to leave us in a morass of uncertainty," according to the The Guardian's review. This was intended to demonstrate the audience’s unconscious bias. My own bias is towards understanding what’s going on and that wasn’t always easy.
That said, I liked the play overall as long as it concentrated on its overarching theme of medical science vs. religion.
Wednesday, August 16, 2023
"Mostly Mozart" is over, not just for this summer, but forever. This summer concert series at Lincoln Center, relying on instrumentalists from the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera and other classical ensembles, originated in the 1960s. It used to be a great bargain for us culture vultures, born into families that forgot to establish trust funds. In 1981, you could buy a coupon book of 10 tickets, to be used in any combination, for $65. https://www.csmonitor.com/
This last factoid was excavated by ever-reliable Burt Grossman. In recent years, ticket prices rose to the high two-figure range, but, with the end in sight, the series offered Choose-What-You-Pay ticketing this season, with a suggested ticket price of $35 and a minimum ticket price of $5. That’s as close to 1981 as we are going to get in any matter.
Thursday, August 17,
2023
The headline reads “Gov. Hochul criticizes NYC Mayor Adams over handling of
migrants.” https://www.djournal.com/news/national/gov-hochul-criticizes-nyc-mayor-adams-over-handling-of-migrants/video_c00cabbd-f98c-5993-bcdb-86a34c717660.html
Of course, the names could be reversed in this very difficult situation, the city having taken in over 90,000 refugees in the last year. https://www.npr.org/2023/08/01/1191406532/nyc-has-seen-an-influx-of-90-000-migrants-and-asylum-seekers-since-last-spring
One
name is missing in this dispute, the most influential name of all — President
Biden. Democratic politicians are fumbling a dilemma created, in part, by
the Republican governors of Texas and Florida. National leadership is
notably absent at present.
Friday, August 18, 2023
The exhibit about Jewish refugees in Shanghai has been extended to August 31st at Chase Plaza, 28 Liberty Street. Try to see it.
. . .
Where is Herschel Walker now that we need him?
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