Pronunciation Lesson

Saturday, October 4, 2025

It may be coincidence, but so many current administration policies that depart from established norms threaten our health, safety and security. The firing of military leaders, infectious disease researchers, federal prosecutors, climate scientists, Voice of America staff, among others demonstrate a pattern of either disregard for our nation’s future or a conscious effort to weaken us. It seems no different than capitulation to our enemies.

Sunday, October 5, 2025

Kristi Noem, the well-coiffed Secretary of Homeland Security said that people should not attend the Super Bowl unless they are “law-abiding Americans who love this country.” Of course, they will probably also have very deep pockets, because, as of this morning, four months in advance of the event, three and a half months before the teams are picked, the cheapest seats I could find on Seat Geek were $7,592 and $8,102 on StubHub. I think that the pickings for ICE will be pretty slim under these circumstances. And, I wonder who will be paying for the agents whom she promises will “be all over” Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, next February for the NFL game.

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We went to a matinee performance of “Ragtime” in preview at Lincoln Center. It’s a revival of the 1998 musical, set in the early years of the 20th century. The main focus is a successful Black musician whose hopes for the future are destroyed by confrontations with racism. A secondary plot is the upward mobility of a Latvian Jewish immigrant. Together, it’s the story of America. The music is very good, the performances generally excellent.

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At the curtain, we rushed off to make a six o’clock reservation at Kebab Aur Sharab, 247 West 72nd Street, a thriving Indian restaurant. Regular readers will have noted that dinner with my young bride is frequently Indian while lunch with the boychiks is likely Chinese.

KAS is a large joint with an attractive South Asian decor. We ate up front in an atrium facing the street. Madam had Kerala fish curry ($36), branzino in a coconut-based curry sauce. I had Famous Butter Chicken ($30), eight or so small pieces of boneless chicken in a rich, creamy sauce. Plus naan ($7) and basmati rice ($7) added up to a pricey, but very good meal. It also left us just over a couple of blocks from home.

Monday, October 6, 2025

When I was a little Jewish kid in Brooklyn (never really little, actually), I went to Hebrew school one hour a day in the afternoon five days a week from age eight to 13. The purpose was very simple, learn to read Hebrew so I could chant the prayers and Haftorah (readings related to the Torah) associated with my Bar Mitzvah on or around my 13th birthday. 

What I learned back then, among other things, was that Saturday was Shabbos, a prayer shawl was a tallis, a circumcision ceremony was a bris and the Fall harvest festival was Succos. Today, the language has changed, sounding more formal, and it’s Shabbat, tallit, brit and Sukkot. As a broad-minded guy, I am trying to go along, although I lapse occasionally.

Which brings me to tonight, when we celebrated Sukkot at a dinner famously prepared by Aunt Judi. She served a mushroom and chestnut soup: barbecued beef ribs; marinated chicken thigh meat on skewers; boneless chicken breasts, dipped  in honey mustard horseradish sauce and coated with diced fried onions; faro with onions; roasted cauliflower; leek pie; coleslaw and fudgy chocolate brownies, all deliciously made in house. I also had a small piece of blueberry buckle, a blueberry filled coffee cake with a streusel topping, baked by Helen Z., another guest. I then took a large piece home. 

There was a variety of beverages, including an excellent Kosher wine, Baron Edmond de Rothschild Rimapere Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region of New Zealand. Although I was the driver tonight, I took a few sips, enough to recommend highly.

Tuesday, October 7, 2025

Today is another day that will live in infamy. When FDR originally spoke those words almost 84 years ago, I imagine that they stirred many folks shaken by the events at Pearl Harbor. Now, in difficult times, we hear a word salad that may encourage some folks, but confounds many others.

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There is a strong element of superstition in Chinese culture. Eight is considered a very lucky number. Accordingly, the Beijing Olympics began at 8 PM on the eighth of August, the eight month, 2008. 

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition_in_China

I’m not sure if there’s a connection, but eight seems important to Jews too. The Sukkot, Hanukkah and Passover holidays are all eight days long. While commands from on high supposedly set these rules, we don’t know if the Almighty did so with fingers crossed.

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"Harvard may be partly to blame for encouraging student absences, with a policy that allows students to enroll in two classes that meet at the same time.” Ya think?

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/us/harvard-students-absenteeism.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

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Some happy news -- the hockey season starts tonight.

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Profile in courage

Republican Congressman Wesley Hunt announced his candidacy for a U.S. Senate seat, saying “You cannot author gun control legislation in Texas.”

Thursday, October 9, 2025

Mr. & Mrs. Stony Brook Steve are leaving for a European trip this weekend, while my young bride and I are headed merely to the Boston area. This was sufficient cause for him and me to have lunch together. We went to the Fairway of 74th Street Cafe, 2121 Broadway, a simple choice for us simple guys. I had their daily special, a $5 Burger, $10 with French fries. a very good deal.

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I can't help but cite Andy Borowitz who says "Indicting People Who Lied to Congress Would Overcrowd Prisons." Accompanying the article are photographs of Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Clarence Thomas. 

Friday, October 10, 2025

The Upper West Side's Power Couple hit the road to visit the second and third generations in Eastern Massachusetts. Our new car is less than six months old and has less than 2,000 miles on it. So, a trip like this still feels like a new adventure. An exciting part is being able to get in and out of the car unassisted. 

Father Figure

Saturday, September 27, 2025

If you walk around Manhattan, you won’t get very far before encountering scaffolding, playground monkey bars transferred to the sidewalks, known as sheds in the trade. They are installed as part of building or renovation projects to protect those below from falling objects. I still remember the tragic tale of a piece of lumber falling from a construction site on Columbus Circle, near where I was working, ricocheting off a building opposite and striking a young actor walking below. His head injury was fatal. This and similar events prompted legislative action.

Today, there are over 8,400 sidewalk sheds around the city.

https://www.coleschotz.com/nyc-city-council-takes-aim-at-overabundance-of-sidewalk-sheds/

The problem is that many of them never seem to move. More than 300 of them have been up for more than five years. “One stood in front of the headquarters of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for 15 years.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/nyregion/nyc-scaffolding-sidewalk-sheds-city-council.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Recent rule changes address the permit process and penalties for abuse. Time will tell.

Sunday, September 27, 2025

Every so often in the past, at this time of year, I have responded to the teachings of my faith and asked someone(s) for forgiveness. I'm not good at it and do it reluctantly, although I don't deny the need for the gesture. What concerns me is the other direction, hearing from those who have trespassed against me. Sometimes waiting in vain for the well-earned apology. I know you did it; you know you did it. It was no mistake. I prepare myself to be gracious, but nothing is forthcoming. Wait 'til next year?

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The publication of “107 Days” by Kamala Harris has renewed focus on the 2024 presidential election and specifically Harris’s nomination. She pushes back against the idea of a mini-primary, advocated by Nancy Pelosi, among others. Two questions or maybe 1 + 1 questions. Who would have beaten Harris in a primary? Would Candidate X have done better against Donald Trump?

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Everybody wanted the Mets to win except the Mets.

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Fortunately, I did not lose my appetite entirely over the disgraceful end to the baseball season. Madam and I went to Baazi, 2588 Broadway, a conveniently located Indian restaurant that we have enjoyed before. It has two levels, the first with 15 two-tops and one large table for eight. One long wall downstairs is mirrored; opposite is a drawing of the Red Fort, located in Old Delhi, built of red sandstone in the mid-17th Century. I can’t describe the upstairs, because I’ve never ventured there and my knees will not allow it in the future.

We had familiar dishes. Madam ate saag paneer, cheese cubes in puréed spinach ($19). I had “Dumpukht Gosht Biryani,” an Indian version of lamb potpie ($22). 

Monday, September 28, 2025

Jill Lepore is in the midst of a great career. She has a chair in history at Harvard and is a professor in its law school. Additionally, she is a prolific staff writer on The New Yorker. 

Tonight, we went to the main branch of the New York Public Library to hear her discuss her latest book, “We the People,” an examination of the United States Constitution, before a packed house. She focuses on the amendment process and how it deals or fails to deal with political, social and economic changes. She maintains that the very presence of an amendment process denies the basic premise of originalism, the Constitution as a static reference.

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

I’m not sure whether it was the last lunch of 5785 or the first of 5786, but six members of the Boyz Club sat down at Jing Fong, 202 Centre Street. There was a constant flow of carts loaded with dim sum coming at us. As usual, it was too hectic to keep track of the 15 dishes that we had, the shrimp rice roll and the siu mai and the har gow and the spring roll and the vegetable dumplings and the shrimp rolls in wonton skin and so on. Net result - $25 each.

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PBS, remember it?, had a program tonight on the "Hard Hat Riot," when construction workers in Manhattan turned on anti-Vietnam war protesters on May 8, 1970. I think that it was an under appreciated event and a harbinger of the future through this day. The Republican Party went from blue bloods to blue collar. The sight of working class men, veterans, sons of veterans and fathers of soldiers, battling draft-deferred college students helped Richard Nixon to a historic landslide victory in 1972. The classic alliance of the labor movement with the Democratic Party was broken and has never been restored.

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Speaking of conflict, Secretary of Raw Pete Hegseth gathered all the country's top military leaders for a lesson on leadership today. He told them, “At every level, either you can meet the standard, either you can do the job, either you are disciplined, fit, and trained, or you are out.” I agree totally and believe we should start right at the top.

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

It’s unlikely that you would recognize Elisha Wiesel, the only child of Elie Wiesel. He has had a successful career on Wall Street and now manages a hedge fund while most of us, at best, trim hedges.

I encountered him in 1992, visiting my young friend Nate at Yale University during intersession. As we walked across the barren campus, we saw a young man who well might have been auditioning for a vacancy on The Ramones. His head was unevenly shaved, his black leather motorcycle jacket had chains dangling and slogans painted in white. Nate, discreet, then and now, whispered, “That’s Elie Wiesel’s son.” 

I burst out, “For this he went to Auschwitz?” although probably out of hearing range. And that’s my Yom Kippur lesson.

 

Thursday, October 2, 2025 

We ended Yom Kippur with a lovely meal hosted by Connie Goldfarb. Rochelle Goldfarb made a delicious zucchini and cheese quiche served along with lox, whitefish, herring in cream sauce, herring in wine sauce, bagels, cream cheese and luckshen (noodle) kugel from Russ & Daughters, the premier New York appetizing store, which probably makes it #1 in the country. It is so popular that Connie had to place her holiday order in August. 

Hey, Grandpa Alan, I’m not from around here. What’s an appetizing store? It’s a store that sells lox, whitefish, pickled herring and accouterments which collectively keep Jews at home on Sunday morning.

Friday, October 3, 2025

What I learned today.

The term "algorithm" originates from the name of the Persian mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, who lived in the 9th century and wrote influential works on mathematics. He never took over his father's tailor shop.