Where the Jews Are

Saturday, November 8, 2025

You can stop holding your breath, Melania Trump has been named Patriot of the Year. https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/melania-trump-fox-nation-patriot-of-the-year-award-13948664.html

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We paid a shiva call at the Goldfarb home tonight. David is gone more than a year-and-a-half and now Connie is gone, leaving a huge hole in our social and intellectual lives. Whether fish, wine, cheese, European history, Middle Eastern history, opera, apples, orchids, Jewish practice or tomatoes, one or the other or both had authoritative opinions about the subject. They are irreplaceable.

Afterwards, we went to dinner with Eva and Jerry, equal admirers of the Goldfarbs, to Joanne Trattoria, 70 West 68th Street, owned by Lady Gaga’s parents. In spite of this glitzy association, it operates in a friendly manner, with a conventional Italian American menu and mid-range prices. Although not full (we arrived just before curtain time), it was noisy, but bearable.

We shared a pitcher of white Sangria, mildly but effectively alcoholic ($29.95). We also shared a Caesar salad, definitely including the anchovies ($21.95). I had Joanne’s spaghetti and meatballs, four of the latter, needing a bit  more spices. Eva had a generous portion of Mom’s Lemon Artichoke Chicken, chicken breast, flour, salt, pepper, lime juice, parmesan cheese, white wine, artichoke hearts, chicken stock, and parsley ($32.95), while the spouses each had Big Joe’s (presumably Papa Gaga) Eggplant Parmesan ($28.95). A successful meal with good friends.  

Sunday, November 9, 2025

An unpublished letter sent to the New York Times, reacting to a profile of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. “The main reason that Josh Shapiro is a more credible face of the Democratic Party than any ‘progressive’ is that he runs against and beats Republicans.”

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Affordability may be the word of the year. It was a critical element in the recent local mayoral election and there is evidence that it is an issue of national consequence. This survey shows that the median age of first-time home owners is up to a record high of 40-years old and that there are fewer first-time homeowners than ever before.

https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/first-time-home-buyer-share-falls-to-historic-low-of-21-median-age-rises-to-40

The real estate market has simply outpaced the job market, leaving younger people at a disadvantage. It made a difference here politically and it is certain to be a theme in other venues.

Monday, November 10, 2025

One byproduct of the New York City mayoral race are headlines like this: “From Texas to Tel Aviv, invitations go out to Jews fleeing ‘Mamdani’s New York’” 

https://share.google/SO76uqNMMnj4wKIRE

I’ll say this categorically, if you are now in Texas or Tel Aviv or Timbuktu, do not anticipate with fear or glee an influx of New York Jews. We ain’t going nowhere. We are packing our mezuzahs only in the fervid imagination of Rupert Murdoch's journalists and the like.

If you want are impatient waiting for the Jews to arrive, here is where to find them while they are still in college. https://www.hillel.org/top-60-jewish-colleges/

The public schools with the most Jewish undergraduates are the University of Florida, Rutgers University and the University of Central Florida; the private institutions are Boston University, Tulane University and George Washington University. If the rate of infiltration is more important to you, the schools with the highest percentage of Jewish undergraduates are Tulane University, Brooklyn College and Brandeis University. Yeshiva University, with over 2,200 undergraduates, almost all of whom identify as Jewish, (https://yuobserver.org/2019/09/53-6-of-students-feel-religiously-represented-by-yu-74-8-are-religiously-content-on-campus/)

apparently drew a bye on this round.

 

Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Thanks to Dan Quiz Show for sending “The One Food You Should Travel for in Each State” https://share.google/S2fUkN4ysp7qifkzp

I found it worth citing, because it did not resort entirely to clichés. While Connecticut gets the clam pizza deservedly, pizza is not the choice for (Chicago) Illinois or New York (City), Italian beef sandwiches and Jamaican patties, respectively. Similarly, Philadelphia cheese steak succumbs to scrapple, hog odds and ends mixed with cornmeal and fried, for Pennsylvania. On the other hand, scrapple?

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

You know the shul you'll never set foot in, well, Panda Express is the equivalent among Chinese restaurants. Today, I broke ranks and had lunch at Panda Express, 1277 First Avenue. There was a good reason for this lapse. At 11:45 AM, I drank a potion labeled Drink Me in the Nuclear Medicine Department at Weill Cornell Medical Center, 525 East 68th Street. One hour later, I was given an injection of some radioactive stuff, so that three hours later a machine could track how the stuff navigated its way through through the cookies, ice cream and pretzels that are my bricks and mortar. In that three-hour interval, I was free to wander. The sprawling hospital complex ends at First Avenue, where a number of fast-food joints await the patronage of hospital personnel in a rush to snog in supply closets. 

I tried Panda Express, which has over 2,550 stores around the country. It’s unlikely that I’ll go to another. I had the “Bigger Plate,” three more-or-less main courses along with rice or noodles ($17.60). I chose honey walnut shrimp, black pepper steak and orange chicken with lo mein, labeled chow mein for some reason. The real problem with the noodles was that they were decidedly al dente, more Italian than Chinese. The other dishes were mushy or overly chewy. I had no complaint, though, about the one liter cup of Coke Zero for $3.20; a lot of places are selling a cold 20 oz. bottle for $3.29.

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The last penny was produced today. The government decided to stop minting them, costing almost four cents each, making your thoughts several times more expensive.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/12/business/last-penny-minted

Thursday, November 13, 2025

I am enthused. Law Professor David was in town for a special study session and there was no way to keep his mother from seeing him before he got back on a train to Boston. So, we met for dinner at Bar Primi, 349 West 33rd Street, across from Moynihan Train Hall. It has three large spaces, an indoor restaurant, a covered patio with heaters and an uncovered patio. During the very busy happy hour, we were seated comfortably in the covered patio even with temperatures in the low 40s.

The menu is Italian and it was easy to make choices. Mother and son shared fusilli giganti, spirally pasta in pesto sauce ($27) and ricotta agnolotti, pasta folded over cheese ($29). I had New Haven white clam Sicilian squares, eight 2” x 3” rectangles topped with baby clams and lots of garlic ($28), a fabulous concoction. I drank a near-pint of Greenport Harbor IPA with it ($9).

We also indulged in dessert. The pair enjoyed Strawberry Fantasia, ice cream, shortcake, whipped cream ($17). I had affogato, espresso poured into a scooped out cup of ice cream, rather than over it ($13). 

Next time that you are going to or coming from Pennsylvania Station or Madison Square Garden or Macy’s or B&H Camera or that neighborhood generally, try Bar Primi — reservations strongly recommended.

Friday, November 14, 2025

It’s University College London; it’s 2025. Watch the clip.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/blood-libel-ucl-antisemitism-x6085b05z

Food and Think

Saturday, November 1, 2025

In the 21st century, since leaving law school, I have not had to typically hand write more than my name and address. In fact, decades ago, I abandoned any attempt to write cursive and resorted to printing, a legacy of being the only lefty in a right-handed family. Today, the computer even fills in basic identifying information, so that anything that emerges from my hand usually looks like a random collection of lines and arcs. There is also the squiggly line that passes for your signature on electronic devices. Autograph collecting whether for fun or profit effectively ended 15 ears ago.

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Until recently, the international bridge over the Niagara River between Canada and the United States was named the Peace Bridge. President Trump just announced that it’s now the War Bridge.

In fact, one ancillary reason that I was rooting for the Toronto Blue Jays to win the World Series was the prospect of a Canadian team being invited to the White House for the traditional victory celebration. Would they have been invited, would they go, what derision might they have encountered? Maybe next year.

Sunday, November 2, 2025

Today is the New York City Marathon, a gathering of 55,000 runners from 150 countries. I participated, as usual, and came away exhausted. Palazzo di Gotthelf is very close to the finish line and when I went out into the street I saw so many runners, distinguished by the tangerine-colored capes given at the end, that I had to hustle to say “Congratulations” and “Good job” to as many of them as possible. 

The entire afternoon was not solely occupied by greeting the marathoners. I did take time out to go to brunch with the charming Elaine C., Caring Ken Klein and my young bride at Amélie, 566 Amsterdam Avenue, a friendly French bistro, related to four other Amélies around this country. It occupies a long and narrow space, with about a dozen two-tops, decorated in an underfunded “Moderne” style.

I had steak and eggs, hanger steak actually served rare as ordered, with two fried eggs and French fries ($28). The other folks all had the Autumn Scramble, eggs with wild mushrooms, squash, goat cheese, French fries and country bread. While the food was a B, our table had an A+ time.

Monday, November 3, 2025

Once upon a time, big city politicians built loyalty by handing out turkeys at Thanksgiving to the needy. Now, the administration is trying to win friends and influence people by taking food off the table of millions of Americans.

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Jeffrey Heller, human rights crusader, shares my concern about the state of our nation. And, he has not merely sat around yapping about it; in the last several years he has ridden his bicycle around the country calling attention to the plight of refugees and asylum seekers. Now, he serves as a docent at Ellis Island, offering visitors information about immigration at an earlier time in our history, you know when we took the huddled masses yearning to be free like my grandparents.

We had lunch at Simply Noodles, 267 Amsterdam Avenue, a small joint with reliably good pan-Asian food. We shared a scallion pancake ($8); vegetarian buns, spongy bao style ($10); angel hair noodles mixed with scallion oil and mushrooms, well prepared but lacking oomph ($15). I also had dumplings in spicy oil, meat filled and covered with ground peanuts ($10 for five). 

Another reason that Jeffrey has stopped roving for a while is his six grandchildren, all in the low single digits, living a subway ride away.

Tuesday, November 4, 2025

It’s Election Day and we face three flawed candidates for mayor, Sliwa, a clown; Cuomo, a predator; Momdani, a neophyte. What message does “the greatest city in the world” (lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda), “so nice that they named it twice” (lyric by Jon Hendricks) want to send?

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Ittai and Linda, another Upper West Side Power Couple, just spent a week in London, Ittai informed me when we met in Fairway Market, 2131 Broadway, the crossroads of the Jewish colonial settlement in Manhattan. 

He described the wonderful meal that they had in a Michelin-starred Nigerian restaurant and later forwarded the menu. The name is Chishuru, a Hausa word meaning “the silence that descends on the table when food arrives.” That’s religion to me.

Wednesday, November 5, 2025

I’ve reached an age where it’s prudent to do “advance planning,” a polite euphemism for looking into the dark tunnel. One central issue is the DNR, the directive to medical personnel Do Not Resuscitate, often encircling Grannie’s frail wrist. I have introduced an additional instruction for my waning days — DNTMTS, Do Not Tell Me The Score. It has a seasonal character. In the Fall, Winter and Spring, spare me bad news about the Rangers; in the Spring and Summer, keep my hopes about the Mets alive.

Friday, November 7, 2025

I’ve had days recently when I’ve had two medical appointments, but today was a first — two funerals. On the whole, I prefer the doctors, even without my clothes on.

Looking Back

October 25, 2025

Accompanied by our older grandson, we went to Iceland in 2022. We had never been. Now, mosquitoes have followed us. They had never been either.

https://www.npr.org/2025/10/22/nx-s1-5582748/iceland-mosquitoes-first-time

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That’s some nerve of Ronald Reagan interfering with our foreign trade policy. 

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2674234187/

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We went to the theater tonight to see “Punch,” a British import. It is close to the real events surrounding the death of a young man by one punch from a barely mature working class “thug”. The first act is a tour de force for the actor portraying the perpetrator. The second act tails off into an exercise in restorative justice instigated by the victim’s parents. An interesting work, on the whole.

Sunday, October 26, 2025

Zuromin is a town 120 kilometers northwest of Warsaw, Poland. Itta Latter, my paternal grandmother, was born there in 1876. My father was born there or nearby in 1903. In 1900, about 1/3 of its 6,000 residents were Jewish. Today, Jews remain only in the cemetery.

Cousin Jerry Latter and I were among the 40 or so people attending the Fall meeting of the Zuromin Society, held in a private room at Noah’s Ark, 493 Cedar Lane, Teaneck, New Jersey. While one or two people were born there, the rest of us were children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of people from Zuromin. Jerry’s paternal grandfather was my grandmother’s brother.

Noah’s Ark is a large Kosher delicatessen, located in a very Jewish shopping district. Lunch was a prerogative of society membership. I started with matzoh ball soup, a decent matzoh ball in colored hot water. On the table were very sour pickles, coleslaw and a nice Caesarish salad. I chose a pastrami sandwich on rye bread and took a handful of good French fries from a large bowl on the table. There were also small carafes of regular and Diet Coke, which were constantly being refilled. This cut the waste, but was labor intensive.

Monday, October 27, 2025

There is good news. Häagen-Dazs has released a new flavor that has my name all over it — Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel. It’s delicious. I remember digging pretzel rods into cartons of chocolate ice cream, my own form of immunotherapy.

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We were watching an episode of “Top Chef,” improbably filmed at the Adolph Rupp Arena of the University of Kentucky. Rupp was the school’s successful basketball coach in the mid-20th century. I like to remember how he was out-foxed by Nat Holman, coach of the historic 1950 CCNY basketball team. 

Kentucky was segregated, a sign of American greatness that many yearn to restore. Its basketball team was necessarily all white, while Holman had to draw upon the flotsam and jetsam of New York City playgrounds. When the teams met, on March 14, 1950, at the National Invitational Tournament in Madison Square Garden, Holman started an all-Black team, which shocked and defeated the favored Kentucky team 89-50. Unfairly, Rupp looms larger in sports history today than Holman.

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

I stayed up last night to watch the World Series game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays. I faded, though, around 1 AM after the 12th inning, which spared me six more innings until the Dodgers won in the 18th almost two hours later. Normally, only a game involving the New York Mets would interest me as much, but I’ve adopted Toronto as a sort of theoretical refuge and, of course, I retain residual resentment against the Dodgers for abandoning Brooklyn.

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I had lunch at Boongs Chicken, 1075 First Avenue, a Korean chicken joint, new to me. It’s small, but bright and airy, with six two-tops in front of a faux brick wall. Opposite is a colorful wall of hundreds of ramen packages.

I had a spicy snow (dry spices) chicken sandwich, which came with good crispy French fries and a can of Coke Zero for $15. I skipped garnishes, so the spiciness stood out. While the portion of chicken was modest, the flavor was big.

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

It's probably better that Annabel Goldsmith was dead so that she could not read this in her obituary. "It didn’t help that her husband was a serial adulterer, and she was unfaithful, too." 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/world/europe/annabel-goldsmith-dead.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Thursday, October 30, 2025

I’ve moved up in the world. I’ve been seeing a variety of doctors to address my growing list of maladies, but today I went beyond the ordinary specialist and saw a hyphenated specialist, a neuro-ophthalmologist. I hope that I live up to the attention.

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Tonight, we listened to Professor Mel Scult interview Professor Sharon Musher, a great granddaughter of Mordecai Kaplan, founder of Reconstructionist Judaism. She has just published “Promised Lands: Hadassah Kaplan and the Legacy of American Jewish Women in Early Twentieth-Century Palestine,” focused on her grandmother, one of Kaplan’s four daughters.

While concerning a relatively narrow subject, the conversation was very informative and engaging, reflecting the knowledge and personality of the participants.

Friday, October 31, 2025

I met Terrific Tom for lunch at Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine, 369 Lexington Avenue, one of 12 outlets of this local chain. It operates cafeteria style, the server puts together your dish behind the counter at your direction. You then plop down at one of the dozen two-tops along the wall. By the way, we were both costumed as grumpy old men.

I had oxtail stew, small size, with yellow rice and French fries (barely fried) ($16.99). The small was too small, four pieces of tail, so to speak, with some meat clinging to them. The sauce was very good, on the other hand. Dinner cannot come soon enough.