Following Tangents

Henry & Eleanor together at 
I love that she's reading a book and he's asleep.

As some of you gentle readers know, I write novels. Two are in print, and there is a third in production. I am heavy on research and accuracy, especially in the new book where I am dealing with real events...even if they happened at the end of the 12th century. This means I have spent much of the last few years studying maps, travel times, battles, and armor. I confess, I'm better at clothing parts than almost anything else...years in the theater can do that to you, but I happen to find that particular time period fascinating because so much was happening and almost everything we read about it is from a single perspective: that of the Crusaders and the church. Life at the end of the 12th was messy, bloody, disease ridden, smelly, toxic, and really, really colorful. I love the people who populated that period: Eleanor of Aquitaine, Salah ad-Din, the Jews of al-Andalus, and the tribes of the Maghreb. Of course, Eleanor is my all-time favorite kick-ass heroine. She was one tough cookie who managed to pretty much live life on her terms. She was a force of nature, out-dealing both her husbands, and especially by outliving Henry II who was, even by history's loose standards, a total putz who couldn't keep it in his pants. 

I always thought Peter O'Toole did a fine job capturing his essence in THE LION IN WINTER, while Katharine Hepburn was a great Eleanor. Thank the playwright/screenwriter, James Goldman, for the fabulous script. I feel like I've spent enough time with those two, Eleanor and Henry, to think they must've sounded much the way Goldman wrote them. Their disagreements were legendary, as were how they behaved toward each other despite producing a whole lotta kids, 8 in all,  including King Richard the Lionhearted and King John - aka Lackland -  who happens to be best remembered for being the usurper-villain in the Robin Hood stories. Never mind that he was the one who signed off on the Magna Carta, but who's looking, right?

I confess, I love the research. I love digging into weird stuff, following tangents, and filling my head with wacko-factoids. Yeah, I'm usually pretty good at trivia, too, but this is different. When I was doing the research for Dream Dancer, I spent hundreds of hours in the libraries at the University of Minnesota because the internet was in its infancy and for the early research years, Google didn't exist. Yeah, I used Mosaic and some library-sharing sites, but they were in their user unfriendly period and answers were not fast or reliable enough. I did make some good friends in the U of Mn School of Mines and Metallurgy, especially in their maps library. These guys got so excited about my weird questions, that I had all sorts of help finding answers. It was fun. Whereas I was inventing a culture and a people for Dream Dancer, the characters in the new book lived in a real historical period in real places with some pretty real battles. Sometimes that made stuff easy, other times, it made it impossibly hard to make sure I was getting it right. Since lots has been documented, I was swimming in the sea of info-overload. 

Lately, it feels like it's enough already. The book has been through continuity, line, and copy editing, as well as a trip through the machete machine. I am in the death throes of getting this tome out the door to the woman who will do the interior design as well as the cover. I am just about ready to lock it down and send it off. I'm really excited about this, and really tired of looking at it. 

Retiring didn't mean I was gonna stop working. If anything, I'm working harder these days. There are three novels behind this one in various stages of completion, and one of them actually gets the most attention since it will be next. That one's about an art lawyer. And yes, I have a team of legal eagles who have been great about answering the endless stream of questions I send out. With any luck, that one will go to editors sometime next winter, probably around February, but don't hold me to it. I'm terrible with deadlines. 

Enough whining.

Apartments at the Rodney

I do want to mention the collapse of the condo building in Surfside. Until the folks retired to Delray Beach, we spent a whole bunch of Thanksgivings about 5 blocks from the building, at an oddly magical place called The Rodney. I have great memories of my whole family...aunts, uncles, cousins, all taking apartments along the row...and running amok. The Rodney was totally out of place amidst those gleaming buildings. I used to wish my folks would buy a place in one of them. They were so glamorous with their shining white balconies, with chandeliers in the lobbies visible from the street. Oh, to be on the ocean side and stand looking over the water. But having grown up on the South Shore of Long Island, I was pretty familiar with salt-water erosion. We saw it on a small scale at our beach club where every year, some structure was in need of new concrete and general "realignment." As I listened to the reports on the news today, they were talking about the same stuff our earth-sciences teacher was talking about in high school: the importance of properly established run-off paths, sand settling, stuff like that. And I have to wonder why in this day and age, when a report about just this issue was filed in 2018, no one acted on it. We have enough deep-earth-discovery technology that testing for stability should be routine on a sand bar...and that's exactly what Miami Beach is. This is a tragedy that could have been prevented with proper maintenance. What is wrong with our nation that a structure with routine safe inspections can fail catastrophically like this one? Are we so focused on cheap that the price of life is not even in the equation? Where are our priorities?

Maybe that's easier to answer than one might think. Our priorities have moved away from science into fantasyland not only with vaccinations, but with infrastructure as well. It's easy to call the pandemic the big lie...as long as someone you love hasn't died from it...the same way it's easy to ignore the cracks in the roadbeds of bridges or on the walls of tunnels. It's also about cutting costs, saving a buck, and accepting okay, not best, practices in construction. It's about pseudoscience replacing fact-based medical practice. Look at any penis-enhancing drug, or miracle weight loss beverage. Someone is buying that bull-oney hook, line, and sinker. 

We have become easily deluded into believing whatever slick nonsense is on television or the internet. We have chosen to believe the snake-oil salesmen because they wear expensive-looking suits and Rolex watches...real or fake. Doesn't matter because we are a gullible people, a nation of dupes. The sheer number of telephone scams people fall for should tell you something right there. The princes of Nigeria may be gone, but yesterday, I got a voicemail telling me there was an unauthorized charge on the credit card assigned to my Amazon account and to press 1 to report it. Not even the DO NOT CALL lists work. Clearly, I'm not the only one who thinks we are patsy nation. 

I don't see a lot of hope out there on the horizon for straightening out the priorities of this country. There is no middle ground any more, and too many MAGA hats are still running the GOP. Unless that changes, or the Senate goes blue, this stalemate will go on for yet another election cycle. I wish President Biden luck in his quest to get the GOP to move on any issue. Even one would be a baby step in the right direction. You just gotta hope.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

If you don't recognize the number, don't answer the phone.

If someone is for real, they will leave a message. 

Duh. 

Message on a Menu

So, my cousin Matt posted this picture on Facebook. Now, Cousin Matt is a level headed, no drama-kinda guy, and even he found this to be rather bizarre. I know we've all heard how wearing a mask is a kin of a gold star (and I kid you not, that bright star herself, Marjorie Taylor Greene really said this) from the Nazis:

Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazis forced Jewish people to wear a gold star...

I don't know about you, but that makes all those gold stars I got at my last job seriously suspect. Anyway, I'm equally sure Solzhenitsyn is spinning from having his name taken in vain in this way. 

We managed to have an interesting back and forth about the meaning behind the message:

Me: I’m not sure I would want to eat there. What other health and safety rules do they feel are part of the lie?

 Matt: I don’t think it’s a bad place, but a lot of people around here are very dramatic and put upon by mask wearing. You see nazi comparisons, the don’t tread on me flag, still trump flags all over the place eight months after the election. Everything is another infringement on their rights and there’s a constantly simmering resentment that never goes away.

Me: I get that. Really. But when health regulations are minimized, I can't help wondering about how the kitchen is run. We had a spate of kitchens with violations during the pandemic here in MN. The other part is why even put that on your menu? What message are you telegraphing? Does that become a valid question?   

And here comes the part I really liked:

Matt: Sure. And the most foolish part of it is that a business is choosing to needlessly alienate at least half of the people who see the sign. But there is no logic or reason involved in these things. A lot of anti vaxxers around here too, those things go hand in hand.

Let me repeat the key sentence in that last graph: The business is choosing to needlessly alienate at least half the people who see the sign. 

I am certain there will be people who will defend the right of the restaurant to post that notice. I am sure there is an audience for that sort of thing. I am equally sure that people want to eat in a place with the risk to their health is minimal at best. But it raises a bigger question, one I've written about before and I am sure I will write about it again: appearances matter.

When a new business opens its doors, usually a great deal of thought has gone into the name of that business and the visual branding of said business. You want me to learn the name, know the name, associate the name with good stuff. That's pretty much a given. Inside said business, you want your employees to appear confident, qualified, and well-versed in their chosen field. This is true to everyone from the bottom rung up. It doesn't matter what the job is, it should be done well. This is pretty basic stuff, folks.

So why go out of your way to tell strangers who come into your establishment that you think the pandemic was overblown and masks were there to make you unhappy? Really? Ever hear of Typhoid Mary?

Mary Mallon in the hospital 1909

Mary Mallon was not a comic figure or an urban legend. She was an asymptomatic carrier who infected the families for whom she worked. Follow the link; read the Wiki article. It's short enough. Granted, this took place at the start of the 20th century. But there are lessons to be learned.

A young woman I happen to know confessed she was scared of getting vaccinated. Yes, her kids got all their childhood vaccines, but she was needle-shy and worried she might get sick. At the same time, she has asked her mother to come to her between rounds of cancer treatment. I explained to her, as I am sure her mother's medical team will explain to her, that she cannot be around her mother if she remains unvaccinated. "If you insist your kids get their shots, how can you tell them you are too scared to get yours?" We had a long talk about it, we talked about asymptomatic carriers, but she said "all that stuff on the news" from the anti-vaxxers scares her. They do say some pretty scary things. I don't know if I convinced her to look at the science, but she said she will get her vaccine because she wants to see her mother. Any reason is a good one as far as I'm concerned. I just hope she actually gets it. 

Look, I'm just as happy as the next person that restrictions are being eased, and we are returning to some kind of new normal. But I do not believe for one New York minute that this is over. As the virus mutates into new, more contagious forms, we will all be getting boosters and updated vaccines. People who are not vaccinated will continue to carry and be at risk. The reality that the vaccine will not always keep you from picking up corona virus, but will lessen the impact if you do, seems not to be registering with some people. You can still get sick, but not AS sick.  Just look at the path of the Delta Variant. 

In the United Kingdom, where the Delta variant makes up 91 percent of new cases, one study found that the most reported symptoms were headache, sore throat, and runny nose. (US publication Healthline).              

The appearance of that strain is increasing in the US and more people, when testing positive, will show up with Delta Covid. Muppet News Flash: it won't always be that variant; soon another one will come along and once again, there will be a scramble to adjust vaccines. Hopefully, the bottom line is that thems that get vaccinated have a first level protection from the worst symptoms of the disease variant. No guarantees, of course. 

HOWEVER, and gee, isn't there always one of those. 

We are not outta the woods yet. Which makes me continue to don a mask in the grocery store. I don't know who's vaccinated and who is not. There are parts of the world where no vaccine is available, and there are pandemic pockets everywhere. As much as I want to go to Israel in the fall, it's not a foregone conclusion that international travel will be the best idea in a few months. All one can do is wait-and-see.  But none of that is giant. There is a much bigger elephant in this room...and it has less to do with pandemic and more to do with science. 

Going back to the article about Mary Mallon. Never mind that she was a cook who admitted she didn't wash her hands very often. One line really jumped out at me:

For example, Milton J. Rosenau and Charles V. Chapin both argued that she just had to be taught to carefully treat her condition and ensure that she would not transmit the typhoid to others. Both considered isolation to be an unnecessary, overly strict punishment.

Nice thought, but completely wrong. Again, she was transmitting typhoid to almost everyone she came in contact with. AND, she had one of her friends providing test samples which, of course, came back negative, while she was continuing to infect others. Do you really think times have changed?

No, they have not. In those days, the doctors and the hospital administrators were the ones pooh-poohing cleanliness and other assorted procedures we think of as sensible. Nowadays, we have whole broadcast networks declaring their lame-ass opinions are smarter than science. Sure, they are. And the leviathan lives at the edge of the ocean. Just like the restaurant with the message on their menu. Their opinions were not based on the science of Pasteur and Lister, fathers of germ theory, guys who changed medicine for the better. The anti-vaxx opinion is based on convenience. 

Solzhenitsyn

Ergo, the real problem with the notice on the menu is the message it sends the patrons of the establishment. Instead of acknowledging we are coming out of a pandemic and they are doing their due diligence to ensure the safety of their patrons, they are calling the actions taken to stem the pandemic a lie, and citing Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to do it. Do they know he was a dissident who was jailed for exposing human rights abuses? Do they think requiring people to behave scientifically responsibly is a human rights abuse? 

Is the lie the part that attempts to save lives, or is the lie the part that encourages a false sense of complacency? 

I cannot help but wonder what Solzhenitsyn would think of his words being used in that fashion. And I cannot help but wonder what other science they discard in their quest for their version of the truth. 

And even if Matt thinks this is an okay place, I'm not so sure if I lived near there, I would eat in that establishment. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Yeah, the masks, for the most part, can come off.

That said, be smart about crowds and small spaces.

                                      And remember, little kids are not yet vaccinated.                                                            

When G-d Sends A Rowboat

Well, the nation is moving slowly back to some kind of normal. I'm not completely certain what that means or what that is, but I think that isn't completely realistic thinking. BACK is not the right word. We will never go back to what once was. We have lost our 21st century pandemic cherry to COVID, and while a hundred years ago we managed to survive Spanish Flu, this time, the vast array of transportation modes made transmission rates explode. For the moment, masks are off, people are gathering inside public spaces, and even I'm trying to figure out if my fall jaunt to Israel is gonna happen this year. The jury is still out on that one.

The first minyan back in the chapel
17 bodies/16 zoom boxes. Not too shabby

One of the more interesting conversations about the new normal came this weekend. Our shul had regular services with a full Torah service. Yes, masks were in place. At the same time over 100 intrepid souls sat in our regular places in the pews, we were still streaming live. That stalwart factor of my life, morning minyan, is now outside on Sundays, weather permitting, and inside on Tuesdays. We will gradually add more days. But therein lies the rub: our morning minyan now spans two countries and a bunch of states. 

We have regulars zooming into Minnesota from Canada, New York, Alabama, and Wisconsin. These folks are there every morning and as long as we can see 'em, they are counted to make up the 10 necessary for a minyan. As we go live, do we stop counting them? Does it have to be 10 people in the physical room? Or 10 faces we can see? But we have created this incredible, diverse community and we were there for each other during the duration. How do we not continue to count them to make a minyan? 

One idea is 10 in person is a minyan. 10 on zoom is a minyan. 5 and 5 is not. For a full Torah service with aliyot, 10 must be in the room. What happens if there are not 10 in the room? Is reading from a tikkun without aliyot permissible in this configuration? 

To many, this is a tempest in a teapot. This is our shtick and who cares so long as we make a rational decision for our community? Why does this matter?

Well, it matters to me. Or, should I say, the process matters to me. The conservative movement (not to be confused ever with conservative politics or political parties) looks to the traditions of rabbinic Judaism when faced with change. 

Balancing tradition and modernity is a dance, which ignites innovative ideas—those that shape our work to strengthen synagogues and those that influence how we live meaningfully as Jews today.                                                                United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism 

I'm not going into all the details of what the movement does or does not do, follow the link above if you're curious. But I am interested to see how the adjustments we have made this past year to deal with the pandemic become part of the new reality. It's really very exciting to be in the middle of these changes. 

Changes are not to be underestimated. They aren't always perfect or even tidy. Sometimes, they start small and snowball into something greater. Sometimes it's a small adjustment that ends up with a seismic shift. You never know. Kinda like the butterfly effect. 

And speaking of seismic shifts...

There's an old joke (#3 according to the ZJOD hit parade of humor and one of my all-time faves) where Sam is in a flood zone. He's on the porch when a man comes by in a rowboat, then the second floor when a motorboat comes, then on the roof when the helicopter comes, each time, turning away help by saying "G-d will save me! I have perfect faith!"  And he drowns. When he stands before the throne, he complains "Why didn't You save me? I had perfect faith!" And G-d answers, "But Sam, I sent you a rowboat."

G-d sent Israel a rowboat this week. 

Naftali Bennet & Yair Lapid

Look, I think the first PM of this shift, Naftali Bennett, is significantly too far to the right but here's the thing: this is a coalition government. An Islamist party is in the mix, and the ultra-orthodox are out of the coalition. This is progress. NOT having the Haredim in the mix means that the rest of the Jews have a chance of having more democracy in a place where the population is so diverse and the government these last twelve years has been so deaf. 

I was listening to Arieh O'Sullivan's interview with Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief Ya'akov Katz for KAN, the Israeli English news service. Like most Israelis, he sees this election as an opportunity for the government to actually work for Israelis instead of themselves and power. He points out that Bennett may hold right wing views on some policies, but in the past, while holding other posts, he has encouraged meetings with all sectors of Israel, including Reform and Conservative rabbis. The exclusion of the Haredim from this coalition means relations with the Jewish Diaspora stand a chance of improving. 

Israelis are exceptionally good at criticizing their own government. They have raised it to an art form. Bibi is still a MP and is already saying he will bring this government down. Haredim are planning a march for tomorrow (Tuesday) to protest the new government. Bennett et al are not going to sail smoothly into fixing what's wrong. But they get to begin that process. They will learn to navigate the reefs and the shoals. With luck, they'll have lots of co-pilots willing to help out when and where needed. With even more luck, they'll all cooperate and learn to listen to each other.

This election isn't a rescue helicopter or even a motorboat. It's definitely a rowboat, but one that might help Israel to move slowly forward out of the morass that it is in politically, socially, and internationally. 

Yeah, year, I'm Pollyanna. We know this. But I need to believe that there is hope for the new government the same way there is hope for our government.

Meanwhile, back at the golf club: Yurtle McTurtle made one hellaciously stupid pronouncement today. As The NYTimes reported today:

Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and minority leader, threatened on Monday to block any Supreme Court nominee put forward by President Biden in 2024 if Republicans regain control of the Senate next year.  

“I think in the middle of a presidential election, if you have a Senate of the opposite party of the president, you have to go back to the 1880s to find the last time a vacancy was filled,” Mr. McConnell said in a radio interview with the conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt. “So I think it’s highly unlikely.”

Why now? Why say something this stupid before the midterms? Well, when you have a teeny-tiny tootsie like the other guy and you're under his thrall and desperate to keep him from exposing whatever teeny-tiny Acme Anvil he has dangling over your head, you're going to say anything to keep him happy. The GOP is not in control of the Senate. The GOP continues to prop up that less-than-benevolent despot because if they don't, he will drop that anvil on their heads. Which, of course, speaks to the larger issue of whether or not our rather fragile democracy is in danger. The biggest hope we have is that in their investigations into tax returns and business practices, the various attorneys-general will be able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Feckless Loser is a fraud, a phony, a thief, and a charlatan who has preyed on his minions. We can only hope that his minions finally come to understand they have been betrayed in the worst possible way. If not.......

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

COALITION: 

an alliance for combined action, 

especially a temporary alliance of political parties forming a government 

In Israel's current state, this is a good thing. 

Mowing As A Metaphor: Care-taking and Care-Giving

Today is June 7th. 

My honey, John Deere

I used to make it a point to mow the lawn on June 7th, but them days are long gone. As is my beloved tractor. It was the zen of mowing that I loved. The idea that there was a beginning, a middle, and an end. With earbuds in place, a Broadway show on the iPod, and the big green mufflers over my ears, I got approximately 54 minutes of total alone time. FIL would stand on the deck, moving his arms like one of those guys guiding planes on the tarmac, pointing to a line of lawn I may have missed, but I couldn't hear a damn thing but the music.  That was the good part. I couldn't hear squat.

Those 54 minutes were important to me. Those were 54 minutes during which I could quiet my mind, focus on something specific, and not be afraid of the next minutes. Yeah, I was always afraid of what disaster would strike next. It was never an if, it was a when. But as long as I could drive the mower up, around, and down, all was right in my world. For the moment, anyway. 

But I always mowed on June 7th (unless it was Shabbos because I never mowed on Shabbos) because that's Ziggy's secular date of departure. The secular part is the rationale here. Ziggy was fiercely devoted to his suburban lawn, and caring for it fell to me. Mowing, weeding, feeding...all symbolic acts meant to preserve something. I couldn't do much for the lawn at the cemetery, but I could take care of his lawn.

Sometimes, when I feel particularly bleak, I remind myself that care-taking  and care-giving are inexorably linked. Sure, it's easier to care for and about things you love, that confront you, that force you to pay attention. Other things may dance around the periphery, but don't fall into either care-taking or  care-giving categories. Thinking about stuff like that can make your head explode. Or, it can make you revisit some priorities. 

I happen to know a guy who is up at the Enbridge Line 3 protest. I envy him. He's putting his convictions on the line. I happen to think, along with a couple of petrol-engineers I know, that this pipeline is a bad idea for a whole host of reasons. From The Washington Post: 

The intensifying conflict over Line 3 has been driven in part by Indigenous activists who see a double-barreled threat in the pipeline: a carbon-producing fossil fuel project at a time of worsening climate change and one that also risks polluting tribal lands in the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Emboldened by some victories — such as the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, and the gatherings at Standing Rock — protesters hope to intensify pressure on the Biden administration to suspend the pipeline permit before the project is completed.

Land mismanagement coupled with fossil fuels is a continuous recipe for disaster. We already know what fossil fuels do to the environment, yet no one seems to be in a hurry to stop its usage.  Yeah, yeah, cars and power plants. I know the drill. But if this was your house, wouldn't you be working to keep it healthy for your family? The pipelines have long been under fire as environmental and cultural hazards, yet they keep trying to push them through our state. If Enbridge wants a pipeline to Superior, let them run the damn thing through Thunder Bay and keep it the hell outta Minnesota. 

That pipeline is not taking serious good care of this state, tribal lands, or the air we breathe. If we cannot take a moment to pop our heads out of our collective ass, we deserve to keep breathing methane and other fossil fuels.

I can hear Ziggy in my head: You can't fix stupid.

Trickle down stupidity, just like trickle down economics, doesn't work. This has been proven about a zillion times, but some politicians like to take it out for a spin every so  often the same way people ride around in Hummers telling you they're fuel efficient. Sure they are. Not.

I can hear Ziggy in my head: The size and the decibels of a vehicle when added together are inversely proportional to the size of the owner's winkie.

Regardless, there are some pols who think We, the People, don't notice this stuff, that if they say it, we're gonna buy it hook, line, and sinker. Just like the people who still think the election was stolen. They will never be disabused of that notion because people who tell them "Trust me" are lying through their teeth. They're not caring for their constituency; they are caring only for themselves.  

But lawns and lands are not even close to where our care-taking, care-giving responsibilities end. Not by a long shot. There is a democracy at stake here. Sitting by while voter suppression is the legislation du jour is bad governance. If you're still grousing about electoral fraud, why aren't you demanding recounts of all the Republican elections as well? Or only if you win, it's fair and square? Declaring your allegiance to a habitual liar and unrepentant huckster is bad for your constituents. 

Can you say double standard, boys and girls?

Sometimes, you have to listen to what the hucksters are selling. If a political party comes along and tells its constituency, 

we're against:

• increased access to voting, 
• increased access to affordable health care
• increase access to reproductive health care
• increased access to early education
• increased access to modern curricula
• increased civil equity in gender, religion, and sexual orientation matters
• increased background checks and sensible gun legislation

you can safely bet your last buck they are also against a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. These are not the folks working toward a just and civil society, they are in it for the money and the power, in that order. These people are privateers and they are just like pirates on ye olde open seas. And just like those pirates, they are trying to steal you blind, hoodwink you with their fancy ideas that this is for the sake of small government. Don't buy that precept. It's garbage, and figuring it out is not rocket science. 

Jeff and Mark Bezos

But speaking of rocket science, Jeff  Bezos is  taking his little brother on a joy ride into outer space. Excuse me for  being a little sister AND the mother of  sons, but any time an older child says he's taking a younger sibling on a joyride of any kind, it's time to start worrying BIG time. This is from the same school of thought as, Frozen flag poles taste the best. Like a chocolate Tootsie Pop. You should try it!  

Seriously? Lick a flag pole? Go up in your big brother's rocket ship? Even if this rocket ship is one giant safety feature, how selfish do you have to be to risk a sibling's life? Meanwhile, where is their mother? She's alive, but why hasn't she grounded them both?!?!? Has the woman slipped a cog? 

All of which circles back to caring for a lawn. Which by now you realize is a metaphor for figuring out what is important. 

I cared for the lawn with organic, not hostile fertilizers. I avoided weed killers. I kept a wide apron between my lawn and the pond to avoid run-off. I worked diligently to remove buckthorn and other invasive species from that apron....and I have the scars to prove it. I sowed prairie flowers and grasses back there to help suffocate as many of the non-native weeds that I could. I have no idea if the new owners of my house held on to the information I left them about the protective apron. I don't know what they use for fertilizer, but I hope they pay attention to the needs of the big pond. I hope the loons still stop there on their migration route.

I was a caregiver for that plot of land, and the longer I am away from that role, the more I realize that I still do care, and that I miss being the steward of that small strip of Mendota Heights. I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Whether you are care-taking or care-giving,

make time to care for yourself. 

If you are stressed and burned out, 

you won't do the job you want to do. 

The New Normal Isn't Just About Covid

Well, I managed to survive Ziggy's yahrzeit week, capping it all off with the 568th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople to the Turks, and the 68th anniversary of the arrival of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay  at the summit of Mt. Everest. Young Sir insisted we put candles on the cake, we did, and we all sang Happy Birthday to Saba. We'd never done that one before, but the kids sang with great gusto. Happy birthday, dear Saba. Truth be told, I was rather pissed at Ziggy for not being there. It never ceases to piss me off that he isn't here for his grandkids, that they will never know him except through stories and photos. That they will never hear the squeaky noise or the nose be-boop from his lips. And even though both the Senior Son and the Junior Son are able to replicate those noises, it's just different enough to my ears that my heart hurts just a little. So it goes.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...tomorrow morning minyan will be live and in person at shul. There will still be masks and social distancing, but we will be back in the chapel on one day a week as we begin the process of reclaiming some semblance of normal. There are still concerns about Mondays and Thursdays when people cluster around the amud (lectern) for Torah reading. I think it's a proximity thing. Plus there are people with children too young to be vaccinated yet, so caution prevails. Which is fine. Meanwhile, we will still use zoom because our minyan now regularly includes people from a bunch of other states as well as Canada. Morning minyan has become a rather robust group and we're not about to deprive anyone of the ability to daven (pray) with us. If someone wants to attend, we are there for them...but we had this discussion a couple of weeks ago.

At the same time, we are acutely aware that the uptick of antisemitism cannot be ignored. The store selling yellow stars to people who think vaccinating is the same as gassing people needs to be recognized for what it is: a symptom of a very sick segment of society. Even though the proprietor of the store in Nashville, hatwrksnashville "apologized" on Instagram, the sentiment lacks a signature or other identification leaving, at least in this writer's eye, room to doubt the sincerity of the apology:

Let's go back to symptom for a moment. 

Symptom: a physical or mental feature which is regarded as indicating a condition of disease, particularly such a feature that is apparent to the patient.

When one has symptoms, one can either ignore it in hopes whatever ails one will go away, or one can go to the doctor to find out if it's a problem in need of attention. There are times if one ignores a symptom, it can kill you. When Jews in 1930s Germany thought Hitler was nothing more than a temporary aberration instead of a symptom of something bigger, over 6 million Jews and other minority groups ended up dying. 

The increase in violence toward Asians is yet another symptom of our nation's sickness. 

The daily reports of mass shootings is yet another symptom of our nation's sickness. 

The refusal to accept the results of a well-examined national election is yet another symptom of our nation's sickness. 

And the refusal of Republican senators to permit a bi-partisan investigation of the events of January 6th is yet another symptom of our nation's sickness. 

We, the People, can continue to keep our collective heads in the sand, refusing to recognize that this is one seriously sick nation while we prepare for the new American order. SCOTUS will hear cases on abortion rights, voting rights, LGBT civil rights, and immigration rights. With the current conservative majority, it is very possible that precedent will be ignored and laws will be overturned reflecting not the voices of We, the People, but the opinions of a narrow, religiously conservative band who would return us to a previous century. Once upon a time, this was unthinkable. Not so much now.

If one wants to narrow the scope to examine the results of our shift toward conservative/right wing government, one needs only to look at Texas, their legislature, and Governor Abbott.

May 5th: From the Texas Tribune  - America's racist history

Mirroring moves by other red-state legislatures across the country, Texas Republicans are attempting to reach into classrooms and limit what public school students are taught about the nation's historical subjugation of people of color.

Two bills moving through the Texas Legislature would bar the teaching of critical race theory, an academic discipline that views race as a social construct and examines how racism has shaped legal and social systems. 

Decrying critical race theory has emerged as a common refrain among conservative Republicans nationwide, but the Texas legislation would go further by discouraging Texas students from discussing current events or controversial public policy issues. 

May 19th, 2021:  From the Washington Post  limiting abortions

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Wednesday signed legislation banning abortions in the state as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, a measure slammed by critics as one of the strictest and most extreme measures in the nation and hailed by antiabortion supporters as a landmark achievement.

The Texas bill known as S.B. 8, described as a “heartbeat ban” abortion measure, prohibits the procedure the moment a fetal heartbeat has been detected. By banning abortion after the six-week mark, many women in Texas who are not even aware they are pregnant will not be allowed to get the procedure done in the state. The bill, which goes into effect Sept. 1, does not include exceptions for women impregnated as a result of rape or incest, but offers a provision for medical emergencies.

May 25th, 2021: From the New York Times  open carry gun laws 

Now, within days, Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign a wide-ranging law that will throw much of that regulation out the window, allowing virtually anyone over the age of 21 to carry a handgun, no permit required. The landmark bill would make Texas — which has three of the nation’s 10 biggest cities — the largest among 20 other states to adopt a “constitutional carry” law that basically eliminates most restrictions on the ability to carry handguns. 

May 29th, 2021:  From the New York Times   voting restriction

[Update: the bill was defeated  on Monday with the GOP promising to revamp it for passage] 

The Republican-controlled Texas State Senate passed a bill early Sunday that would impose a raft of new voting restrictions in the state, moving a step closer to the expected full passage of what would be among the most far-reaching laws in Republicans’ nationwide drive to overhaul elections systems and limit voting.

 

The bill would tighten what are already some of the country’s strictest voting laws, and it would specifically target balloting methods that were employed for the first time last year by Harris County, home to Houston.

 

In addition to banning drive-through voting and 24-hour voting, which were used by nearly 140,000 voters in Harris County during the 2020 election, the bill would prohibit election officials from sending absentee ballots to all voters, regardless of whether they had requested them; ban using tents, garages, mobile units or any temporary structure as a polling location; further limit who could vote absentee; and add new identification requirements for voting by mail.

 

Partisan poll watchers would also have more access and autonomy under the bill’s provisions, and election officials could be more harshly punished if they make mistakes or otherwise run afoul of election codes and laws.

 

 

These are but four examples of what is moving through the legislature in Texas. You will find similar bills moving through Republican controlled legislatures across the country. Even in Minnesota, the GOP led chamber is attempting to mirror some of these laws. 

It's interesting to note that 59% of Texans are against the new gun law, but that seems not to be of import to either the legislature or the governor. After all, Texas does have a fine history of mass shootings...including one that was planned for a Walmart today. Maybe more people firing at each other is a good thing. But one must ask if the folks of Texas will rise up against that flagrant disregard of the voice of the people? Probably not since most of the state seems to think Feckless Loser won the election. 

In other words, things are moving back to normal...that place where We, the People really don't count for much. 

There is no accounting for this level of collective irresponsibility. There isn't. But like any good symptom of a disease, if ignored, it will spread and fester. Just like it did in Germany, Austria, Poland.....

There is no vaccine against hate. There is no Pfizer or Moderna shot to be given that will stop senseless brutality. Human nature has time and time again proven that we are a warlike species, motivated by hatred of the other coupled with a desire to kill. Don't believe me?  Look at Yemen. Look at China. Look at Myanmar. Ethnic cleansing is alive and well in those places. 

Funny thing about those places....no one protests about the treatment of those people. I guess there are no Jews to blame there. Just a thought. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Day
Not a great Bill Maher fan here, but last Friday, he won my vote.

Do yourself a favor...watch the whole thing. 
"You can't learn history from Instagram."

 

I Am A Zionist...And Damn Proud Of It.

This statement has been posted in a number of places, sometimes presented as a meme, other places as an unattributed quote. I cannot vouch for the statistics at the bottom, but they sound reasonable enough. 

I am not here to defend the actions of the government of Israel or the United States. I am here to tell you I am a staunch supporter of the right of Jews to live in our own homeland. 

That homeland called Israel may be a modern state, but the last time that strip of land had an autonomous government, not run by a foreign power of ANY kind, was the Hasmonean Kingdom of Judah that was absorbed into the Roman Empire around 37 B.C.E. when Herod (yes, that Herod) was installed as a puppet king by Rome. Even Christian history, the preferred version for a good chunk of the world, recognizes that Israel was a Jewish state even then. 

I've written these words before: we are the indigenous people of that area. 

We are not the only indigenous people. There are others with lots of other names. By comparison Palestine is a word invented by the Romans, has never actually been a country or an ethnic group. At least not until the establishment of the modern State of Israel. This is not fiction or opinion; this is historically accurate.

That said, the Palestinians identify as a group now; in a perfect world, the two state solution would have already have been accepted and the Palestinian people would have a working, functional, state of their own. But they don't. 

But that's not what I'm writing about tonight. Tonight, I want to simply point out that being a Jew living in the Diaspora does not mean we are group think, that you know what any of us think about Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, or even Jerusalem unless you have asked one of  us for a personal opinion. For as many Jews there are, there are that many opinions plus one or two or three or a hundred. 

If you don't like the policies of the Israeli government, that does not give you carte blanche to beat up random people on the street, burn synagogues or businesses, or threaten the rest of us with rape, death, mutilation, or anything else. That is ANTISEMITISM. 

Did you get that? 

Let me repeat it just in case you didn't quite understand what I mean:

If you don't like the policies of the Israeli government, that does not give you carte blanche to beat up random people on the street, burn synagogues and businesses,  or threaten the rest of us with rape, death, mutilation, or anything else. That is ANTISEMITISM. 

Increased violence against minority groups is not limited to Jews or the U.S. Hate crimes against Asian Americans have risen almost exponentially since the last administration blamed them for the pandemic. There is certainly a disconnect when it comes to the treatment of Black Americans by the justice system, including but not limited to cops. And the invisibility of the Native American population is beyond reprehensible. 

Jew hating is an ancient practice full of bullshit and lies that seem to cycle through every generation. Germany did an admirable job of attempting to rid the world of Jews, but alas, once again, we survived. One might think that after the oh, so public documentation of the Holocaust, some of this might stop, but no. Even Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan supported the ol' blood libel bullshit:

During a televised speech Monday, Erdogan criticized the ongoing conflict and said he had spoken to a “Jewish prime minister” during a past visit who told him it was the “greatest pleasure” to kill Palestinians when the unnamed official served as a general in the Israel Defense Forces. Erdogan said, “This is part of their nature" and “they are only satisfied by sucking blood."    (from AL-Monitor)

Great to know old habits die hard....or not at all. 

Which is precisely my point. There is a double standard for Us. And by Us, I mean Jews and Israel. It's open season to attack Us because Israel defends itself against thousands of rockets fired at towns and villages indiscriminately. As John Oliver pointed out so well on This Week Tonight last week:

And look, it is true that militants from Palestinian groups like Hamas fired over a thousand rockets toward Israel this week, and that is reprehensible. But — and I realize this is the most load-bearing conjunction in history, “but” — the majority of those rockets thankfully didn’t reach their target, for a very clear reason. The casualties and the damage would have been greater but for Israeli interceptor rockets, the so-called iron dome, which blew most of the incoming missiles to pieces. 

Yeah, Israel has a so-called iron dome. And I know “what if we blew up the rockets with more rockets?” Sounds like something someone drunkenly wrote down on a napkin once, but it is a real military defense system that works. And I also know not all the rockets were shot down. Israeli civilians were killed this week, which is terrible. But the point is, this isn’t “tit for tat.” There is a massive imbalance when it comes to the two sides’ weaponry and capabilities. While most of the rockets aimed toward Israeli citizens this week were intercepted, Israel’s air strikes were not.

 

So, if I'm getting this right, John Oliver would be happier without Iron Dome because then the rockets would've hit many of their targets, thereby killing lots of Israelis. But because they developed Iron Dome to protect their citizens, then there's an imbalance of power that should be negated.  Hmmmm. 

I think Tom Aharon did a great job of debunking John Oliver in his rebuttal piece. If you haven't seen it, it's worth watching:

The more I think about it, I understand that the surgical strikes in Gaza are painful for those people. But y'know what? I didn't see any Hamas warnings to the citizens of Ramat Gan warning those people missiles were being launched at them, whereas the people in Gaza were specifically told which building was being targeted and should be evacuated.

We can all agree what is happening in Gaza is not good. It's not good for Israel, it's not good for the citizens of Gaza under the thumb and above the rat warren of terror tunnels. And it's certainly not good for any of the children on both sides who are going to have long term PTSD from this never ending war. It has to stop. 

As does attacking Jews world-wide for being Jews. Or Asians for being Asians. Or Black American men for driving or walking while being Black American men. Or Indigenous women. Attacking random people for being something is, as Ziggy would say, the surest sign you have a tiny little dick and need to compensate by attempting to act like a bigger one. Guys, that is total bullshit, everyone sees it for what it is, and frankly, you look even stupider than you probably are. 

I am hoping to be back in Israel, pandemic and hostilities permitting, in the fall. When I'm there, I have a sense of belonging, a feeling of homey-ness I don't get anywhere else. Yeah, the Haredi attitude of we're right/you're wrong pisses me off no end. Still, I think about making aliyah a lot...but Little Miss and Young Sir keep me rooted here right now. 

I have been a Zionist since the day I learned what the word meant in first grade. I believe we are entitled to live in our own homeland. I believe ALL Jews should be welcome there. And I believe that we will eventually come to peaceable terms with our neighbors. 

That said, I guarantee that when that day comes, assholes are still gonna be beating up Jews and burning Jewish business and synagogues. Y'know why? 

Because it has NOTHING to do with Israel and the Palestinians. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Saturday, May 29th, is the 568th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople to the Turks.

Tradition requires an angel food cake with chocolate frosting. 

Just sayin'. 

Telling Time the Jewish Way

Shavuot begins at sundown and lasts until Tuesday night. Ergo, the blog must go out this afternoon so I can beat the sundown deadline. With kiddies coming for dinner, there is still much to do. And yes, there is cheesecake involved. 

Those who know me in real life know that this is not my favorite holiday. It used to be, but Ziggy's death 10 days after the holiday has relegated it to least favorite because instead of creamed herring, cheesecake, and picnics at shul, I only associate it with death. 

Traditionally, Shavuot marks the time when, in our 40 year desert shvatzir, we arrived at Mount Sinai. According to the Torah, this is zeman Toratenu, the time when we were given the Torah.

In case you are not familiar with the Torah as opposed to the Bible, it's really quite simple: the Torah consists of  the 5 books of Moses:  Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. That's it. The canon of  the Bible includes the 5 books along with the Prophets and the Writings. The Torah, for all intents and purposes, is the law. It's the guidebook on how to be a Jew. There are 613 positive commandments contained in Torah, and those are the basis for our moral and legal code. 

In other words, the Torah is a Jewish document. Period. End of discussion. 

One of the most important and crucial elements in Torah is the establishment  of the Jewish calendar. There are distinct references to Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Pesach, and Shavuot. The communal calendar is what makes a people a people. Common celebrations and observances unite a population. You don't find Christmas, Easter, or Ramadan mentioned anywhere. That's because those holy days are not part of our observances. We have a boatload more holidays after the big 5 scattered throughout the year. Big observances like Hannukah as well as little ones like Tu B'shevat. They are remarkably different, commemorate different events, but I don't mind. Some are seriously colorful. Others just make  you remember.

My life runs according to the Jewish calendar. I cannot tell you the English date of Ziggy's death, but I can tell you (without missing a beat) he died after sundown 10 days after Shavuot. Grandma Bessie thought she was born on the first day of  Shavuot, but we know she passed away on the second day of Sukkot. And Young Sir was born the day before Purim. And Ziggy and I were married the day before the 9 days to Tisha B'Av commenced. 

I don't mind telling time that way; it anchors me. Linking provides context. Not a bad thing. 

Being Jewish in these times is interesting at  best, and that's not in a good way. It's open season on Jews all over the globe. Not that this is news. But sometimes, I really wonder why. If Puerto Rico or the US Virgin Islands started lobbing missiles at, oh, say, Florida, what would be the US response? Would we stand by and watch, hands in pockets, as houses and schools are blown up? And for the record, being Jewish does not mean you agree with Israel's politics.

Yeah, well everyone has to hate someone, I suppose. It just really bugs the hell outta me when people  who are reputed to be smart cannot figure out our ties to the land ancient, and that all we really want is to be left alone. That we in the statement is about being Jewish. You don't like Jews? That's your problem, not ours. Don't be Jewish. Don't marry one of us. Just leave  us the hell alone to live our own lives. 

And on that happy note, Chag Same'ach to those who are observing Shavuot. And a guteh voch....a good week...to everyone. Time to light candles.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

If you're worried about the amount of fat in cheesecake,

use half cream cheese, half Neufchâtel (cream cheese "light.")

The best ones have the fewest ingredients.