Something to do downtown.
Visit the City Gallery
and see the unusual work of Orna Ben-Ami.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
O U President visits Charleston, SC:
The Community Perspective.
The President of the Orthodox Union recently visited Charleston, SC, on a tour of 10 selected smaller Jewish communities around the US and Canada. For his current term, the president wishes to reach out to these 10 communities and support them to make them centers of Jewish growth outside of the nation's current major Jewish centers. The focus of this effort is based on fostering community as the means to achieving an environment in which the Jewish people do more than survive: the key is for Klal Yisrael to thrive.
Why is Charleston one of the 10 selected communities? Because it is seen by the OU as a community with potential. It is a small city which is often included in national lists - the last that comes to my mind was Time magazine's - "great cities for retirement" (see also). Charleston has charm, history, beaches, the water, a symphony orchestra, Spoleto and more. From the Jewish perspective, it has AHA and Brith Sholom Beth Israel, with at present 3 possible areas in the city and suburbs that Orthodox Jews considering a move here may choose from. With all that Charleston has to offer, the OU is ready to facilitate outreach efforts to publicize our community through this program.
The OU President spoke a number of times in Charleston. I heard him after Shabbat at a gathering of BSBI members in a private residence. On this occasion he also presented a word of caution in regard to the "disputes" that have taken place within BSBI over the last 2 - 5 years. He said the OU will be a partner in building community in Charleston, provided the "disputes" are settled soon. If not, he stated clearly that he and the OU would simply withdraw its offer of participation in this.
In the national context, the OU's program facilitating community development is an excellent idea. As I have indicated previously in the EC Forum, strengthening the Jewish people in Charleston is a community mission. In fact, Charleston is a leading community in the way its 3 congregations, Orthodox, Conservative and Reform, have cooperated over the years - all are partners in the Jewish Community Center, Addlestone Hebrew Academy and the CJF. The rabbis of these congregations have participated together at community events and Jewish Study programs at the college. Further, over the years, the rabbis have studied with one another and have long fostered an atmosphere of mutual respect. There are few communities in the world that measure up to this.
However, in recent years, BSBI has taken positions that are manifestly unsupportive of "building community". This is relevant in two key areas - BSBI's response to its "location issue" and BSBI leadership support for the JCC. (Those who are interested in the details may read through the archives of postings to the Forum.) What the President of the OU needs to address is what this means for the OU's program of national growth.
To state it simply: The OU wants to nurture community. BSBI, the single OU affiliate in Charleston, has reneged on building community. How does the OU respond to this meaningfully? What does the OU / the President have to say to those of us who have worked to build community constructively and in all good faith? Telling us that we have to fix these "disputes" is not a respectful response. It is simply not in our hands. As individual members of the OU, we deserve better.
And there is a deeper issue to consider here, which relates to what the President of the OU characterized as our "disputes". As everyone surely knows, the OU is an organization of religious standards. I do not mean just Kashrut, though certainly that is what the OU is best known for. There must be more to it. I am quite certain that in order to belong to the OU, Orthodox Congregations have to meet certain religious standards. Judaism is many things, but if nothing else, it is a religion of laws. What concerns me, and what I believe should concern everyone, is that adherence to religious laws should pertain not only to ritual, but also to governance and the conduct of "shul business" - this is an issue that touches the core of Jewish values. Now, I am not naïve. The likelihood of the OU President taking any meaningful action is slim-to-none. But if we cannot ask the OU this, then whom can we ask? Given the corruption of democratic processes by the lay leadership of BSBI, and the continual breach of trust and good faith of the past 2 or more years, when the highest official of the OU comes to speak to us, he should have more to say, and he has more to do than we have seen to this point.
In regard to the OU program of outreach, I believe all should be in full support both nationally and locally. However, if any endeavor is to succeed, it needs local parties to buy-in and be empowered. BSBI has to this point reneged on commitment to the process. In contrast, the New West Ashley Minyan is a grass-roots phenomenon; a group of people committed to building community, and to doing so where there is a real chance of growth and success. WAM is about empowering people whose needs and aspirations have been all but ignored by BSBI's lay leadership.
If the OU is intent on being an agent of progress and growth, then it must also be an agent of change, and it must do so without compromising the values and teachings of Judaism. I believe the OU is obliged to take action regarding BSBI's governance issues, or it risks being irrelevant in Charleston. And until such time as BSBI corrects the corruption of its processes, and returns to the community table as a full, honorable and committed partner, any real prospects for the growth of Orthodox observance in Charleston, and for the general strengthening of the city's larger Jewish community, will reside outside of BSBI.
Peter Rosenthal
The President of the Orthodox Union recently visited Charleston, SC, on a tour of 10 selected smaller Jewish communities around the US and Canada. For his current term, the president wishes to reach out to these 10 communities and support them to make them centers of Jewish growth outside of the nation's current major Jewish centers. The focus of this effort is based on fostering community as the means to achieving an environment in which the Jewish people do more than survive: the key is for Klal Yisrael to thrive.Why is Charleston one of the 10 selected communities? Because it is seen by the OU as a community with potential. It is a small city which is often included in national lists - the last that comes to my mind was Time magazine's - "great cities for retirement" (see also). Charleston has charm, history, beaches, the water, a symphony orchestra, Spoleto and more. From the Jewish perspective, it has AHA and Brith Sholom Beth Israel, with at present 3 possible areas in the city and suburbs that Orthodox Jews considering a move here may choose from. With all that Charleston has to offer, the OU is ready to facilitate outreach efforts to publicize our community through this program.
The OU President spoke a number of times in Charleston. I heard him after Shabbat at a gathering of BSBI members in a private residence. On this occasion he also presented a word of caution in regard to the "disputes" that have taken place within BSBI over the last 2 - 5 years. He said the OU will be a partner in building community in Charleston, provided the "disputes" are settled soon. If not, he stated clearly that he and the OU would simply withdraw its offer of participation in this.
In the national context, the OU's program facilitating community development is an excellent idea. As I have indicated previously in the EC Forum, strengthening the Jewish people in Charleston is a community mission. In fact, Charleston is a leading community in the way its 3 congregations, Orthodox, Conservative and Reform, have cooperated over the years - all are partners in the Jewish Community Center, Addlestone Hebrew Academy and the CJF. The rabbis of these congregations have participated together at community events and Jewish Study programs at the college. Further, over the years, the rabbis have studied with one another and have long fostered an atmosphere of mutual respect. There are few communities in the world that measure up to this.
However, in recent years, BSBI has taken positions that are manifestly unsupportive of "building community". This is relevant in two key areas - BSBI's response to its "location issue" and BSBI leadership support for the JCC. (Those who are interested in the details may read through the archives of postings to the Forum.) What the President of the OU needs to address is what this means for the OU's program of national growth.
To state it simply: The OU wants to nurture community. BSBI, the single OU affiliate in Charleston, has reneged on building community. How does the OU respond to this meaningfully? What does the OU / the President have to say to those of us who have worked to build community constructively and in all good faith? Telling us that we have to fix these "disputes" is not a respectful response. It is simply not in our hands. As individual members of the OU, we deserve better.
And there is a deeper issue to consider here, which relates to what the President of the OU characterized as our "disputes". As everyone surely knows, the OU is an organization of religious standards. I do not mean just Kashrut, though certainly that is what the OU is best known for. There must be more to it. I am quite certain that in order to belong to the OU, Orthodox Congregations have to meet certain religious standards. Judaism is many things, but if nothing else, it is a religion of laws. What concerns me, and what I believe should concern everyone, is that adherence to religious laws should pertain not only to ritual, but also to governance and the conduct of "shul business" - this is an issue that touches the core of Jewish values. Now, I am not naïve. The likelihood of the OU President taking any meaningful action is slim-to-none. But if we cannot ask the OU this, then whom can we ask? Given the corruption of democratic processes by the lay leadership of BSBI, and the continual breach of trust and good faith of the past 2 or more years, when the highest official of the OU comes to speak to us, he should have more to say, and he has more to do than we have seen to this point.
In regard to the OU program of outreach, I believe all should be in full support both nationally and locally. However, if any endeavor is to succeed, it needs local parties to buy-in and be empowered. BSBI has to this point reneged on commitment to the process. In contrast, the New West Ashley Minyan is a grass-roots phenomenon; a group of people committed to building community, and to doing so where there is a real chance of growth and success. WAM is about empowering people whose needs and aspirations have been all but ignored by BSBI's lay leadership.
If the OU is intent on being an agent of progress and growth, then it must also be an agent of change, and it must do so without compromising the values and teachings of Judaism. I believe the OU is obliged to take action regarding BSBI's governance issues, or it risks being irrelevant in Charleston. And until such time as BSBI corrects the corruption of its processes, and returns to the community table as a full, honorable and committed partner, any real prospects for the growth of Orthodox observance in Charleston, and for the general strengthening of the city's larger Jewish community, will reside outside of BSBI.
Peter Rosenthal
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Good News, and Bad News!
Healthcare in revision:
So, the bad news first: just because I have not written much in the EC Forum lately does not mean I am not working hard to stir up a storm. Quite the opposite - I have been applying myself obsessively and passionately in the same-old-same-old-way.
The good news is that I have switched the focus of my obsessive nature away from Shul politics to the realm of medicine.
I can't tell you about it now, but maybe later.
In the meantime, you can browse the old stuff in the archives.
I will keep service times current as always.
C U @ the J
So, the bad news first: just because I have not written much in the EC Forum lately does not mean I am not working hard to stir up a storm. Quite the opposite - I have been applying myself obsessively and passionately in the same-old-same-old-way.
The good news is that I have switched the focus of my obsessive nature away from Shul politics to the realm of medicine.
I can't tell you about it now, but maybe later.
In the meantime, you can browse the old stuff in the archives.
I will keep service times current as always.
C U @ the J
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Healthcare indecision:
When a panel of doctors was asked to vote on adding a new wing to their hospital…….
The Allergists voted to scratch it
and the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash decisions
The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it
but the Neurologists thought the administration had a lot of nerve
and the Obstetricians felt they were all labouring under a misconception
The Ophthalmologists considered the idea short-sighted
the Pathologists yelled, 'Over my dead body’
while the Paediatricians said, 'Oh, Grow up!'
The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness
the Radiologists could see right through it
and the Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing.
The Internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow
and the Plastic Surgeons said, 'This puts a whole new face on the matter.'
The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward,
but the Urologists felt the scheme wouldn't hold water.
The Anaesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas
and the Cardiologists didn't have the heart to say no.
In the end, the Proctologists
thought the decision could be left to anyone in administration.
The Allergists voted to scratch it
and the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash decisions
The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it
but the Neurologists thought the administration had a lot of nerve
and the Obstetricians felt they were all labouring under a misconception
The Ophthalmologists considered the idea short-sighted
the Pathologists yelled, 'Over my dead body’
while the Paediatricians said, 'Oh, Grow up!'
The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness
the Radiologists could see right through it
and the Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing.
The Internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow
and the Plastic Surgeons said, 'This puts a whole new face on the matter.'
The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward,
but the Urologists felt the scheme wouldn't hold water.
The Anaesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas
and the Cardiologists didn't have the heart to say no.
In the end, the Proctologists
thought the decision could be left to anyone in administration.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Speaking Southern - One mo' time!
Things learned by living in the Carolinas.........
Possums sleep in the middle of the road with their feet in the air.
There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 live in the Carolinas.
There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 live in the Carolinas, plus a couple no one's seen before.
If it grows, it sticks; if it crawls, it bites.
Onced and twiced are words.
It is not a shopping cart; it is a buggy.
People actually grow and eat okra.
Fixinto is one word.
There is no such thing as "lunch." There is only dinner and then there is supper.
Sweet Tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it when you're two. We do like a little tea with our sugar!
Backards and forwards means "I know everything about you."
DJeet? is actually a phrase meaning "Did you eat?"
You don't have to wear a watch because it doesn't matter what time it is. You work until you're done or it's too dark to see.
You don't PUSH buttons, you MASH them.
You measure distance in minutes.
You may have to switch from "heat" to "A/C" on the same day.
You use "fix" as a verb. Example: "I'm fixing to go to the store."
All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect or animal.
You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
You know what a "DAWG" is.
You carry jumper cables IN your car . . . FOR your car.
You only own four spices: salt, pepper, Tabasco and ketchup.
The local papers cover national and international news on one page, but require 6 pages for local gossip and sports.
You think that the first day of deer season is a national holiday.
You find 100 degrees Fahrenheit "a little warm."
You know all four seasons: Almost Summer, Summer, still Summer and Christmas.
Going to Wal-mart is a favorite pastime known as "goin' Wal-martin" or off to "Wally World."
You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good pinto-bean or "fish stew eating" weather.
A carbonated soft drink isn't a soda, cola or pop . . . it's a Coke, regardless of brand or flavor. Example: "What kinda coke you want?"
Fried catfish is the other white meat.
We don't need no stinking driver's ed . . . if our mama says we can drive, we can drive.
Not EVERYONE can be from the Carolinas. It's an art-form, and a gift.
_______________________________________________________
Acknowledgement: this is from an email going around. If you know where it originated, please let me know.
Possums sleep in the middle of the road with their feet in the air.
There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 live in the Carolinas.
There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 live in the Carolinas, plus a couple no one's seen before.
If it grows, it sticks; if it crawls, it bites.
Onced and twiced are words.
It is not a shopping cart; it is a buggy.
People actually grow and eat okra.
Fixinto is one word.
There is no such thing as "lunch." There is only dinner and then there is supper.
Sweet Tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it when you're two. We do like a little tea with our sugar!
Backards and forwards means "I know everything about you."
DJeet? is actually a phrase meaning "Did you eat?"
You don't have to wear a watch because it doesn't matter what time it is. You work until you're done or it's too dark to see.
You don't PUSH buttons, you MASH them.
You measure distance in minutes.
You may have to switch from "heat" to "A/C" on the same day.
You use "fix" as a verb. Example: "I'm fixing to go to the store."
All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect or animal.
You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
You know what a "DAWG" is.
You carry jumper cables IN your car . . . FOR your car.
You only own four spices: salt, pepper, Tabasco and ketchup.
The local papers cover national and international news on one page, but require 6 pages for local gossip and sports.
You think that the first day of deer season is a national holiday.
You find 100 degrees Fahrenheit "a little warm."
You know all four seasons: Almost Summer, Summer, still Summer and Christmas.
Going to Wal-mart is a favorite pastime known as "goin' Wal-martin" or off to "Wally World."
You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good pinto-bean or "fish stew eating" weather.
A carbonated soft drink isn't a soda, cola or pop . . . it's a Coke, regardless of brand or flavor. Example: "What kinda coke you want?"
Fried catfish is the other white meat.
We don't need no stinking driver's ed . . . if our mama says we can drive, we can drive.
Not EVERYONE can be from the Carolinas. It's an art-form, and a gift.
_______________________________________________________
Acknowledgement: this is from an email going around. If you know where it originated, please let me know.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Get up, and boogie . . .
The sages like to say that the second greatest wisdom in the world is music. Naturally, they hold that Talmud comes first.Now I am not about to contest that, but music is an amazing thing. Consider its many uses - it is used to enhance all sorts of things: spiritual growth and devotion in prayers, the impact of a movie, the atmosphere of a shopping mall, or a ride in an elevator.
Even the great bard recognized perhaps the most important use of music:
"If music be the food of love, play on!"
So here are some places you might like to go - in your mind, at least.
First stop: Here is a dancing parrot. Eat your heart out, Holly Girl. You've got no tricks like this birdie.
So what?
Well, what if Dr Sacks is right, that music is "hardwired" into
our brains!
Here are other interesting links on the subject of music and the brain that you might like to explore.
PS: "Lady Madonna, lying on the bed. Listen to the music playing in your head"
Friday, October 19, 2007
Do you want to see the "other" Piano Man?
We saw Billy Joel in Feb this year, and enjoyed it.
Here are some tickets, face value 100 a piece, for Elton John - you know, the British Copy.
Friday, Nov 9
Section 122
Row J
Seats 15 & 16
North Charleston Coliseum
If you are interested, or know someone who is, contact seller at this email:
cindyinsc@comcast.net
Have fun.
We are leaving for Atlanta.
See you next week!
Here are some tickets, face value 100 a piece, for Elton John - you know, the British Copy.
Friday, Nov 9
Section 122
Row J
Seats 15 & 16
North Charleston Coliseum
If you are interested, or know someone who is, contact seller at this email:
cindyinsc@comcast.net
Have fun.
We are leaving for Atlanta.
See you next week!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Recognizing the New WAM
While recognition of the New West Ashley Minyan by BSBI continues to be controversial in some quarters, Google recognizes this blog, for its ardent recognition and support of WAM.
Why not try it out - just do regular google searches, like:
wam charleston
or
west ashley minyan
or
minyan charleston
(By the way - remember, Charleston has the -on, minyan has the -an)
And on another front, did you see the realtor's ad for a house near the JCC in the Charleston Jewish Voice? "great access to the JCC and the New West Ashley Minyan". But, don't quote me . . .
and one last thing, if you haven't heard the DJ on radio W.A.M., just ask Chuckles Steinert to give you a sampler of his wonderful shpiel. Shtey toon'd!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
It doesn't matter who you vote for . . .
. . . the government always gets in.
In the meantime, here is a site where you call the shots, and the 'puter shows you where the candidates stand compared to you.
Give it a whirl!
In the meantime, here is a site where you call the shots, and the 'puter shows you where the candidates stand compared to you.
Give it a whirl!
Monday, October 08, 2007
Serendipity Now !
What goes around, comes around - here is a friendly encounter recorded on the web, starring Ephraim, Ari and some guy called Ed.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Resolution meets resolution:
Unity held at the New WAM last evening. Not by the imposition of time-limits, on who could speak and who could not. At last, a meeting where people who attended listened and responded to the concerns of others.
In the end, we hold to the same principles that have borne us to where we have come. WAM ain't broke, and needs no fixin' - just more of the joyous same.
Below is a position statement I had prepared and presented at the meeting. It wasn't adopted in a formal way, but I believe we effectively agreed with its contents by the meeting's end.
Position statement: New West Ashley Minyan: Sept 2007
We, the participants of the New West Ashley Minyan, currently meeting for prayer services at the Jewish Community Center, on Wallenburg Blvd, Charleston, SC
In recognition that our inclusiveness, our vitality and our warmth as a new and growing group, and our successes in every area draw upon the participation of people of various outlooks, both those who are Shomrei Shabbat, and those who are simply traditional observers of Jewish religion, those who are members of BSBI, as well as those who are not,
Now unanimously agree to continue our activities and operations in the same open manner that has been our custom up till now.
We are grateful for the gifts brought to our venture by all responsible – from material support to the provision of ritual objects, from the gifts of inclusive leadership, to the performance of the voluntary duties by all those who choose in some way to serve us, and not least for the use of the facilities of the Jewish Community Center.
We recognize that, in this community, we share many goals with Rabbi Ari Sytner and Congregation BSBI, and we are ever hopeful that at some point we will be able to reconcile with BSBI as equals,
We wish to afford the widest of choices to our participants – those wishing to remain members of BSBI should be free to do so, just as those who choose not to should not be compelled and subjected to such a relationship unless and until the group unanimously chooses to.
We commit ourselves to preserving the unity of this group, and through that to strengthening this community and all of Klal Yisrael.
In the end, we hold to the same principles that have borne us to where we have come. WAM ain't broke, and needs no fixin' - just more of the joyous same.
Below is a position statement I had prepared and presented at the meeting. It wasn't adopted in a formal way, but I believe we effectively agreed with its contents by the meeting's end.
Position statement: New West Ashley Minyan: Sept 2007
We, the participants of the New West Ashley Minyan, currently meeting for prayer services at the Jewish Community Center, on Wallenburg Blvd, Charleston, SC
In recognition that our inclusiveness, our vitality and our warmth as a new and growing group, and our successes in every area draw upon the participation of people of various outlooks, both those who are Shomrei Shabbat, and those who are simply traditional observers of Jewish religion, those who are members of BSBI, as well as those who are not,
Now unanimously agree to continue our activities and operations in the same open manner that has been our custom up till now.
We are grateful for the gifts brought to our venture by all responsible – from material support to the provision of ritual objects, from the gifts of inclusive leadership, to the performance of the voluntary duties by all those who choose in some way to serve us, and not least for the use of the facilities of the Jewish Community Center.
We recognize that, in this community, we share many goals with Rabbi Ari Sytner and Congregation BSBI, and we are ever hopeful that at some point we will be able to reconcile with BSBI as equals,
We wish to afford the widest of choices to our participants – those wishing to remain members of BSBI should be free to do so, just as those who choose not to should not be compelled and subjected to such a relationship unless and until the group unanimously chooses to.
We commit ourselves to preserving the unity of this group, and through that to strengthening this community and all of Klal Yisrael.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
The New Year at the New WAM:
Taking stock:
The New West Ashley Minyan, a community orthodox minyan, has been up and running for a year and a half. It’s founding and milestones have been recorded in this Forum. The New WAM can be called a “group”, but it is such an inspiring experience, that I prefer to call it “the experience”. And every newcomer and visitor to our services has agreed with this notion – The New WAM is an experience – warm, welcoming, fresh, spirited, and visibly friendly. It has been an honor to be part of its growth from the very beginning.
As the rebuilding of the JCC draws nearer, the New WAM shines as the most promising growth point for Charleston’s Jewish Community, and it is a grass roots phenomenon.
But the long shadow of Brith Sholom Beth Israel looms over this. This too has been recorded in the Forum since its inception. The present finds us having to address a “Resolution”, proposed by an ad hoc “Planning Committee” of BSBI. The text of that resolution is set out below, for you to review, and I will be blogging further on the issue today. So, as they like to say when Speaking Southern, in the warm and friendly south, y'all come back and see us!
But for now, read the resolution – look carefully at its details, and see what it means. How the issue is decided tonight will have many implications – and will have a telling effect on the future of the New WAM, the future of Orthodox Jewish Charleston, and of the Jewish community at large.
_________________
RESOLUTION:
Be it resolved by Brith Sholom Beth Israel as follows:
In order to encourage the practice of Orthodox Judaism,
And
In recognition of the desire by (sic) a number of BSBI members to keep the Sabbath and pray at the Jewish Community Center,
1) BSBI will assist the Minyan at the JCC as part of BSBI Congregational activities as a BSBI Minyan, with rent support, as approved by the Board in the BSBI Budget, so long as the JCC Minyan is viable to justify assistance and the JCC Minyan supports BSBI services as provided herein.
2) The JCC Minyan reaffirms its support for BSBI and the main sanctuary located at 182 Rutledge Avenue.
3) The JCC Minyan will continue to support and encourage attendance at High Holiday Services, special Honors, daily minyan and special Sabbath Services at the main sanctuary on Rutledge Avenue. The JCC Minyan shall close on days and events when driving is permitted and attend services at the main sanctuary on Rutledge Avenue.
4) The JCC Minyan will conduct its activities as directed by the BSBI Board of Trustees, will not enter into any contracts or other obligations in the name of BSBI, and will participate in BSBI Fundraising efforts with all funds to be handled in accordance with BSBI procedures.
5) All BSBI members reaffirm our commitment to conduct ourselves with respect for each other and to use our best efforts to encourage warm, courteous and respectful relations among all members.
Planning Committee: (names will not be listed).
_______________
Should you wish to post a comment on this, please go to the
EC Forum Free Zone.
_______________
In a Nutshell . . . (updated at 9:36am)
It is quite simple, really. If you don't see it right away, read the resolution again.
The resolution defines a relationship that is obviously not one between equals. The New WAM is subordinate to BSBI, and its Board.
Now, I know full well what the original intent was, and will discuss aspects of that later, but the foremost question is why anyone in the New WAM should ask others to accept a subordinate relationship?
Judaism values the individual, and above all it values each and every individual human life. The value of the individual, and protecting his / her self-respect and honor, these are our core values. In the context of establishing and fostering a vehicle of spiritual and communal growth, especialy Orthodox Jewish growth, why should we be so ready to relinquish our principles in this way?
In a nutshell: The resolution falls dangerously short of a satisfactory reconcilliation, and pushing it through is an unacceptable sacrifice of our principles.
_____________________
Should you wish to post a comment on this, please go to the
EC Forum Free Zone.
_____________________
If it ain't broke . . . (update at 12:08pm)
I was born in South Africa, and have been in Charleston since 1989. I am a veteran in many ways - we evacuated for Hugo, had post hurricane freezer parties, evacuated again for Fran, and drove overnight to Columbia, SC, as Floyd bore down on us. The fiasco of the Floyd evacuation took out Governor Hodges' chances at a second term in the process, and gave us lots to complain about for quite a while.
I speak a little Southern as well, and there is this wise Southern saying we need to follow right now: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
The New WAM is not broken, at least, not yet. On the contrary, the New WAM has done so well, that people have brought to it all sorts of "gifts", and have done so joyfully.
On the flip side, BSBI is broken. That is to say, its procedures speak of a deep and ingrained state of being "broken". Members can't bring resolutions to the congregation, votes are manipulated, past presidents exercise unmitigated control, the processes are consistenly undemocratic. The board is the tail that wags the congregation.
By all means, if you feel so moved, work to fix it. For the other side of the saying means that that which is broken should indeed be fixed.
But there is one more piece of wisdom to be drawn from this - "Don't tie what is not broke to that which is." We can do more for ourselves and the greater Jewish community by staying apart from BSBI than we can achieve from within it. Nothing of what makes up the New WAM as we have built it in the last 18 months has come from BSBI. We should not give up our autonomy, our strength, our promise and our pride, for some words on some paper, and some lipservice to unity and peace.
___________________________
UPdate at 5:17 pm
Recognition: The original purpose.
The original purpose of seeking recognition from BSBI Congregation was twofold: first, to give the congregation a chance to sign off on the status of the New WAM; second - to achieve equal status to the South Windermere Minyan House under the auspices of BSBI.
The resolution above, which you should have read by now, is the product of this process. It is clearly not what was initially desired by those seeking recognition for WAM, and this in itself speaks to the issues of procedure at BSBI. (To elaborate on the procedural misconduct of the President and Board: The record in fact reflects that a resolution for BSBI to recognize the New WAM was made at a regular BSBI Board meeting - probably in May or June of 2007. To prevent ANY discussion, the motion was immediately tabled, and subsequent requests to then bring the resolution to the congregation were quashed. This is in clear violation of the BSBI constitution and by-laws, and Roberts Rules of Order. Tabling a motion should only occur after discussion has demonstrated a need to study the question further, before rendering a decision. In this case, tabling was used to prevent ANY discussion. Thus, artificially, the parliamentarian could rule that the Board had not "discussed" the motion, so it could not be brought to the congregation. This was based on a motion that was adopted a decade or more ago to prevent "surprise" motions going to the congregation without first going to the Board.)
But, back to the issue at hand: The premise itself, for the New WAM to seek minyan house status, is problematic. One of the friction-points of BSBI has been the very existance of the Minyan House. It is an arrangement that embodies a second class status for those at the Minyan House. Even though they have been, for a good while now, the very core of observant members in BSBI, they have been treated quite shabbily. Are we to seek the same shabby treatment for ourselves as the New WAM?
I prefer not to be a second class member, and would not expect anyone else to be either. Furthermore, if the New WAM were somehow compelled to sign off on this resolution, which would be a grave mistake, I and others like me would be relegated to 3rd and 4th class status by such a decision. I hope it will not turn out so.
On being divisive:
One of the catch phrases I was first affronted with when establishing the "Outback Minyan" was to be told I was being "divisive". The simple matter is, at one time or another, all of BSBI has been divisive. First, there was Brith Sholom, from which broke away Beth Israel. Then they got together, from which broke away the South Windermere Minyan House. Rabbi Radinsky can fill you in on who initially opposed the Minyan House, but then switched to it and became ardent members there. It is all just a matter of selective memory for some.
Right after the dreadful Location Vote, some of those in South Windermere told us not to divide. "The solution should not be to divide." Others, briefly, said, "Yes, let's divide! You get things up and running around the JCC, and after 6 months, we will follow."
Of course, the real dividers were the Board and the Downtowners, and the South Windermere residents who voted with Downtown. All of them divisive, to the core.
Now, there is a notion, even a custom, that to espouse and work for the unity of BSBI is somehow the most noble position one can take. Pity, it turns out. You see, the ONLY thing, the only thing, that divides WAM, that causes anger and dissent at WAM meetings, is the matter of BSBI. This resolution in persuit of recognition is just such a case in point.
Making Peace:
So, how to make peace? What is evident from the wording of the resolution is that the Board of BSBI is not ready for a real reconcilliation, and we must not delude ourselves to think that it is.
It is also not our task to bypass the BSBI Board so the congregation can make its own decision. After all, this is the Board that a resounding majority of the congregation elected. I know. I was there.
So those of us who see BSBI's lay leadership for what it is are not the bearers of the dreaded "divisiveness", and please don't lay that term on us. Your complaint, such as it may be, is with the Board of BSBI AND the Congregation that elected it.
Finally, we can have peace. Let's stop pestering BSBI for "recognition". Let's get out of their faces, and they can stay out of ours. History tells us there will ultimately be a united orthodox congregation, and it will be better and stronger for all of us if we begin to create good precedents and procedures for it now, as we joyfully build it through the special experience that is the New WAM.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Friday, August 31, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
The world is a narrow bridge . . . .
Facing Jewishness, Serioulsy.
Noah Feldman had an interesting article recently, in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. It deals with a number of questions and issues facing Modern Orthodoxy and serious young Jews from all arenas.
The article is available online, once one registers for the free online service at the NYTimes website. (The first time you follow the link above, you will find you have to register, then it goes to the article.)
The article has stimulated widespread responses, including in the Jerusalem Post -
and here is what you get just by googling "Noah Feldman".
Letters responding to the article are already avaible in the NYTimes, and I will try to track these down in due course. For now, there is more than enough to keep you busy, and deep in thought. Like this response on Aish.com.
Best Wishes,
ecf editor
ps - regarding the school reunion photograph, here is a further update from Jewish World section of Aish.com
Noah Feldman had an interesting article recently, in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. It deals with a number of questions and issues facing Modern Orthodoxy and serious young Jews from all arenas.The article is available online, once one registers for the free online service at the NYTimes website. (The first time you follow the link above, you will find you have to register, then it goes to the article.)
The article has stimulated widespread responses, including in the Jerusalem Post -
and here is what you get just by googling "Noah Feldman".
Letters responding to the article are already avaible in the NYTimes, and I will try to track these down in due course. For now, there is more than enough to keep you busy, and deep in thought. Like this response on Aish.com.
Best Wishes,
ecf editor
ps - regarding the school reunion photograph, here is a further update from Jewish World section of Aish.com
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Of mice and men . . .
Re-inventing the wheel!
If we are truthful, most of us think that Mr Jobs and Apple Computers were the inventors of the modern mouse; but it turns out we would be wrong. The inventor was, apparently, one Douglass Engelbart. Of course, without Apple, IBM, Bill Gates and others who popularized the PC, this mouse would not have gotten so well-established. Or perhaps it really is the other way round. Anyway, the modern mouse has not only increased in number, but they are now available in designs of great variety!Just look here!
Now, with not much imagination, if I had said to you, "Have you ever seen a mouse on a wheel?", you would have said, "Of course!"
You know, like this:
But what about a wheel on a mouse? Well, these days, that is nothing less than the standard! So much the standard, that from the perspective of revolutionary technological leaps, it brings together one ancient with one modern ground-breaking invention.
Of course, why should only humans have fun.
Here is a mouse who (for his chutzpah, we shall honor him with this pronoun, as if he were a "person") has re-engineered the frog -
and as Louis the XIVth used to say, "After me? The flood!"
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Image Acknowledgements: 1 the animated "mouse on wheel" comes from an education resource website: Discoveryschool.com who specify the following - Discoveryschool.com must be credited, use is not for profit, and includes a link to the Discoveryschool.com Web site. Credit must read - "Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com". 2 "Mouse on frog" from National Geographic News.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Zis is gutt, ja?
Progress and Unity in Europe:
The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union, rather than German, which was the other possibility.
As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".
In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.
In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where! more komplikated changes are possible.
Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.
Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.
By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".
During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vordskontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.
Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.
Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.
If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl.
ps - yu ken us ze emel butn belo! kvatchkopf!
pps - If zis mad you laf, pleas ze yor bos.
ppps - If zis mad you kry, you hef bin siting by yor kompute to long.
The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union, rather than German, which was the other possibility.
As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".
In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.
In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where! more komplikated changes are possible.
Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.
Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.
By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".
During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vordskontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.
Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.
Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.
If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl.
ps - yu ken us ze emel butn belo! kvatchkopf!
pps - If zis mad you laf, pleas ze yor bos.
ppps - If zis mad you kry, you hef bin siting by yor kompute to long.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Michael, give us Moore!
The most recent storm in a tea cup; Michael Moore gave Wolf a Blitzing.
After airing a report by Sunjay Gupta, which included a charge that Moore fudged the numbers in his new movie, Sicko, (in which the Sicko is the US Healthcare System), Blitzer asked Moore for his reaction.
Here is the whole sequence from the Situation Room. (Keep your arms, legs and head inside the vehicle!)
Here's the thing with these shows. Blitzer introduces the piece as - (paraphrase) "some are saying that Moore's facts are not accurate". Gupta's report then goes into action, reporting errors that turn on factors of the order of less than 5 %. And he calls these "errors" - the word he actually uses: "fudged" the facts.
The spin doctor's implication? If Moore's facts are inaccurate, then his position on the issues can't be trusted. That is what set Moore off.
I believe he was justified, and Gupta owes him an apology - for casting aspersions on his credibility. On LK Live, it turned out, Moore and Gupta had used different sources for their respective data - but in essence their data agreed. (Any test / report that is 90% accurate, is as good as gold!)
The dope who got caught in the middle was Wolfy. But then, having not apologised for his remarks about that other movie by Moore, relating to the war in Iraq, Me thinks Blitzy had it coming.
In the AOL news section a day-or-so back, someone noted that this was the best appeal to the mainstream media to get real since Jon Stewart macerated the teen with the bowtie on CNN's fake debate show, Crossfire. Oh, man, let's roll!
After airing a report by Sunjay Gupta, which included a charge that Moore fudged the numbers in his new movie, Sicko, (in which the Sicko is the US Healthcare System), Blitzer asked Moore for his reaction.
Here is the whole sequence from the Situation Room. (Keep your arms, legs and head inside the vehicle!)
Here's the thing with these shows. Blitzer introduces the piece as - (paraphrase) "some are saying that Moore's facts are not accurate". Gupta's report then goes into action, reporting errors that turn on factors of the order of less than 5 %. And he calls these "errors" - the word he actually uses: "fudged" the facts.
The spin doctor's implication? If Moore's facts are inaccurate, then his position on the issues can't be trusted. That is what set Moore off.
I believe he was justified, and Gupta owes him an apology - for casting aspersions on his credibility. On LK Live, it turned out, Moore and Gupta had used different sources for their respective data - but in essence their data agreed. (Any test / report that is 90% accurate, is as good as gold!)
The dope who got caught in the middle was Wolfy. But then, having not apologised for his remarks about that other movie by Moore, relating to the war in Iraq, Me thinks Blitzy had it coming.
In the AOL news section a day-or-so back, someone noted that this was the best appeal to the mainstream media to get real since Jon Stewart macerated the teen with the bowtie on CNN's fake debate show, Crossfire. Oh, man, let's roll!
Sunday, July 08, 2007
In Rome: One step forward, two steps back . . .
From AOL news -
Pope Angers Jews, Liberals With Rite
Conservatives Rejoice as Pontiff Revives Old Latin Mass
By NICOLE WINFIELD,AP
Posted: 2007-07-07 23:16:06
From the report:
The document upset Jews, since the Tridentine rite contains a prayer on Good Friday of Easter Week calling for their conversion. The Anti-Defamation League called the move a "body blow to Catholic-Jewish relations," the Jewish news agency JTA reported.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center urged Benedict to publicly point out that such phrases "are now entirely contrary to the teaching of the church."
Link to full article
Pope Angers Jews, Liberals With Rite
Conservatives Rejoice as Pontiff Revives Old Latin Mass
By NICOLE WINFIELD,AP
Posted: 2007-07-07 23:16:06
From the report:
The document upset Jews, since the Tridentine rite contains a prayer on Good Friday of Easter Week calling for their conversion. The Anti-Defamation League called the move a "body blow to Catholic-Jewish relations," the Jewish news agency JTA reported.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center urged Benedict to publicly point out that such phrases "are now entirely contrary to the teaching of the church."
Link to full article
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
UnOrthodox choices in Charleston . . .
My how the scene has changed? A little more than a year ago, Orthodox Jewish Charleston was no more than it had been for the last 30 years. BSBI had its never-ending struggle, gently ( or not-so-gently ) declining over time, with its aging establishment on Rutledge Avenue, and its backward mentality, steeped in the wisdom of rational modernity: "The shul that I (and /or my children ) don't go to, must stay downtown" the substance of its thinking. And "If you want to be observant, move downtown or to South Windemere!" its other favorite words of wisdom.
BSBI's truly Orthodox Annex in South Windemere had its own ups-and-downs, but still holds out after 30 years. Long treated as second-class members by its parent body, the "Minyan House" remains there in the little house that contravenes the zoning laws of its residential surroundings. Frankly, both downtown and South Windemere have priced themselves out of the "young family" market, and now the last of any goodwill has been spent as well. (Call and ask President Berlin, and he will fill you in. Just ask about the agenda of his special bored meeting.)
But suddenly, there are new, and real, choices at hand. For one, there is Chabad of Mount Pleasant, which will in time attract a following of newcomers to Charleston. For another, there is a new focus at the JCC on Wallenburg Boulevard. Here you will find the area's largest attendance at regular Shabbat services. With a friendly atmosphere, and lots of warmth.
This is not the only sign of life West of the Ashley. AHA has had another banner year, the JCC Camp program is larger than ever before, and the JCC swim team boasts 90 swimmers, and have won all of their first 3 meets.
As always, choice is good for the consumer - do you want something vibrant and dynamic, or something old and stuffy? Something glowing with promise, or glowing with fresh paint?
Ever wandered why the New WAM has such traction even without a pulpit rabbi to lead it? A little birdie told me it was so BSBI would see that these years of their decline were not due to the personality and character of their rabbi, but the folly of their location!
Oops, Watch the birdie!
Sunday, June 17, 2007
A sense of humus . . .
Generally a good thing, a sense of humor, and humus too. Here is the round up for Father's Day, 2007:Item #1: First major spat at the new WAM - the disagreement might split the (sides of the) congregation. It's all about when to do the announcements. About a month ago, at one of our highly irregular business meetings, a suggestion was made to move announcements to the spot ahead of the Mussaf services. As usual, I was the lone dissenter - my feeling is, as we bid farewell to the Torah, slowly closing the ark, singing an inspiring melody, all are standing, all are peacefully focused: the time is perfect for a heartfelt davening of the Mussaf. It's an artistic issue, really. If William Shakespear were Jewish, and alive to take part in the debate, he'd be on my side, there can be little question. And this is especially true given the wit and flare brought to the announcements by the WAM Radio DJ, Charlie ("Chuckles") Steinert.
Now, new as we are to such things, a friend of mine persists in taking the opposite view. So certain is he that he is right, that he promised to find a referrence for his position in the Chumash! This, while we are in the midst of the Torah service just yesterday! Well, after the Haftorah reading, he leans over to me to show me. He points out where the Mussaf sacrifices are listed in the Stone Chumash, then turns back a page, and shows me where Moses ordains that Joshua should have the honor to address the Israelites. "See," he says gleefully, "the address comes before the Mussaf." Case closed!
Well, not really. You see, I think it is quite clear that the address refers to the rabbi's sermon. And indeed, in most congregations, the traditional spot for the sermon is right after the Torah service, and before Mussaf. So, I say, the citation does not prove my friends' point, at all. You should have seen the look he gave me, for raining on his parade! But we sat together at the Kiddush anyway, at least for now.
Item #2: The search for presidential courage. Now don't be misled, this does not refer to the leadership of BSBI, though heaven knows there is a need for courage there too. No, I think you should read the current issue of Time, where Joe Klein discusses some pointers that may help decide whom to vote for in 2008. Food for thought - Please review at your leisure, and come back and read it later, if you need to stay focused as the campain progresses. I liked the illustration that headed the article, reproduced for you here without permission as a not-for-profit public service:
Finally, item #3 - At my kind of shul*, everyone has a sense of humus, and bagels, and egg-salad, and M and M's . . . And when Father's Day follows the Sabbath, as it usually does, who can hold to a diet! Happy Father's Day, julle**!
* See "At my kind of shul . . . " And "At my kind of shul, a mother's day reprise"
**"Julle" is "Ya'll" in Afrikaans
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Wednesday, June 06, 2007
40 years after Sgt Pepper's . . .
A judge cites Beatles in sentencing a thief.
Ah, how we boomers are aging!
Do you think the judge is just Mean Mr Mustard? Or does he want to be a Paperback writer?
Ah, how we boomers are aging!
Do you think the judge is just Mean Mr Mustard? Or does he want to be a Paperback writer?
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Looking forward by looking back . . .
Spoletto at the halfway mark.
One of the very many good things about living in Charleston, SC, is Spoletto, the annual arts festival. I do not personally scour the news releases and write-ups to set up an intense program of music, theater and art commitments, but try to be somewhat selective. Mostly, I have to fend off numerous offerings from my better-half, but every now and then, I give in.
Over the years, I have had the misfortune to attend some really outrageously esoteric shows, catering to those who live, probably not by choice, on the fringes of the bell-curve of the human intellect. Perhaps to my everlasting shame, I am not a fan of the composer Phillip Glass, because I sat through a collaborative work of his and Allen Ginsberg several years ago, and took an oath to avoid him at all costs, forever!
On the other hand, I have seen some exceptional performances, the best of which was Stanley Jordan, who more-than-eclipsed Chet Atkins, with whom he shared the billing.
This time around, I have been to more than my usual one-or-two shows. The first was the BatSheva Dance Company, last week at the Gaillard. The two highlights of this performance, for me, were driven by the music. The first, the opening number, was an explosive middle eastern – techno riff, and the dancers took turns to improvise a blend of flowing and seizure-like movements, while the rest of the troupe stood by in suspended states of inelegant passivity. Then, every so often, they forcefully gestured in unison towards our right, fists and hips flailing, as if to drive of, in terror, some unseen aggressor.
The second highlight was also loud, pulsating techno – from the Passover Seder – Echad Mi Yodea – Who knows One? And they went all the way, from 1 to 13. The troupe were seated for this in a semicircle, and I did not make a connection with every piece of symbolic movement, but the effect was every bit as dramatic as the music itself. Each verse culminated in a motion that began at the dancer at our left, spread like a wave to the right, where the last dancer ended falling exhausted and spent onto the dance floor. For these 2 numbers alone, the show was worth it.
My next show was the “Constant Wife”, which was an uplifting comedy in English manners and mores. Fun, if not entirely representing what really happens to people in such situations.
Last night, we went to see “Denmark Vesey: Insurrection” at the American Movie Theater on King Street. This is a powerful performance of a play that makes innumerable connections to past and present realities. The playwright, Julian Wiles, has brought together themes and questions that resonate in today’s post-9/11 world* – the more things change, the more they stay the same – politics, religion, fear, rumor, secrecy, freedom, justice. I recommend you all go and see it.
I leave you with a thought expressed by my mother. In the days after my father passed away, she said she was not going to make any sweeping decisions about her life until things had settled some. She said she had seen some women hastily move out of their homes, and make other big decisions, only to regret them later. The wisdom in this is not to make important decisions in haste and desperation, in a state clouded by extreme emotions. If all men could follow such advice, Denmark Vesey would have found justice**, and we would not have foundered into Iraq.
_____________________________
* Playwrights have often made their plays as commentary on current political events. Shakespeare's plays of earlier kings, such as King Lear, were cloaked critiques of the monarchs of the time - when more vocal opposition could lead you to lose your head. But we are luckier than that.
** The slave insurrection has reportedly been taught in local history classes over the years. Go and see if th play's presentation matches what you were taught in school, or what is available at resources online.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Serenity Now !
How the New West Ashley Minyan may reconcile with Congregation Brith Sholom Beth Israel without anyone losing their sanity.
At the outset, I must be clear: I am not opposed to reconciling with BSBI, nor do I think that Charleston, SC, has the resources to support more than one orthodox congregation.
On the flip side, I am not in favor of abandoning reason, and ignoring harsh realities. The central fact that one has to absorb is that reasonable change cannot be achieved from within BSBI. If you cannot accept this, you are most likely deeply emotionally bound to a notion of loyalty for personal and / or family reasons. Like most people dealing with this, you have probably been deeply hurt by the actions of BSBI’s lay leadership over recent years. I certainly have been, and I recognize your situation, and sympathize with you all.
Nevertheless, we need to look at this in a clear-headed way.
The New WAM is now almost 18 months old. It is and has been, a wonderful grass-roots experience. Everything about it is spontaneous and voluntary. It has given the Charleston Jewish Community a new and vibrant growth point where its two key institutions are situated - JCC and AHA, the community center and school. Whether BSBI buys into it or not, this is without doubt where Charleston’s single orthodox congregation will ultimately be situated.
I am committed to this new reality, as are many others. Individually and collectively, we do not presently have the where-with-all to create this congregation now. But we are at the beginning of a journey, and eventually, I am certain, we will reconcile with BSBI. But for now, we have to look outside of BSBI for our direction. If this angers you, I believe you must recognize that your anger is more appropriately directed at BSBI than at me or the many others who attend the New WAM.
A small BSBI subcommittee recently met with representatives of the New WAM to discuss BSBI recognizing the New WAM as a part of BSBI. They engaged in some formal "fact-finding", as if such issues would really affect their decision! At the last BSBI Board meeting, the chairman of this committee made no report, and when someone proposed a motion in favor of recognition, the motion was tabled to kill discussion. Thus confirming the many things I have said in this forum about the death of due process at BSBI.
The question now is whether to take the matter of BSBI recognizing the New WAM to the congregation. Everyone involved must address this question for their own conscience. I am not in favor of such an action, but recognize that everyone is free to choose and act freely for themselves. This is, I believe, a principle that we must ensure we uphold in the workings of the New WAM - that we accept there are various ideas about how to proceed, and respect others for their opinions and convictions.
Whatever structure we create for the New WAM as we go forward, our participants need to be free, as they are now, to choose whether to be members of BSBI, or not. If you choose to press the issue with BSBI, brace yourself for a difficult meeting, and for its aftermath. And also recognize, that if you succeed, you are affecting what the New WAM may become.
Finally, be sure that you have examined the other ways we might move forward, without being confrontational. In the context of BSBI, I would object to achieving the blessing of the congregation for the New WAM, while still having to live under the regime of the current lay leadership.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Where can you see more unity?
. . . . than at a BSBI meeting?
And if you see a Cheetah in your midst, how come there's also some dude wearing a Yankee bandana spoiling the view?
Ag Man! Game watching is just not what it used to be!
Update: May 28, 2007: Leopard caught chasing cat in residence in the Negev. Oy Vey !
And if you see a Cheetah in your midst, how come there's also some dude wearing a Yankee bandana spoiling the view?
Ag Man! Game watching is just not what it used to be!
Update: May 28, 2007: Leopard caught chasing cat in residence in the Negev. Oy Vey !
Monday, May 14, 2007
On Israel's Inquiry into last year's War in Lebanon
Strange as it may seem, Nasrallah has seen fit to comment on Israel's ongoing inquiry into last year's war in Lebanon. It is interesting to note that he needs to look for ongoing evidence of Hizbollah's so-called "victory".
Here is a full and pointed response from Thomas Friedman that is well-worth reading. In Charleston, you may have seen this in the Post and Courier.
If you are interested in keeping up-to-date with opinion pieces by Friedman, here is a link to his page online at the New York Times. You may also want to see what he has to say on Iraq, Oil, the environment, and future prospects for the US to lead the way with new technologies and alternative sources of energy.
Addicted to oil? Hey, now look who's talking?
Here is a full and pointed response from Thomas Friedman that is well-worth reading. In Charleston, you may have seen this in the Post and Courier.
If you are interested in keeping up-to-date with opinion pieces by Friedman, here is a link to his page online at the New York Times. You may also want to see what he has to say on Iraq, Oil, the environment, and future prospects for the US to lead the way with new technologies and alternative sources of energy.
Addicted to oil? Hey, now look who's talking?
Thursday, May 03, 2007
A warm gesture from the new South Africa!
Perhaps in order to be the exception that proves the rule, Ronnie Kasrils, a Jew serving in the SA government, has invited Haniyeh of Hamas to visit South Africa.
Here is the report from the Jerusalem Post with some interesting talk-back to follow.
From here, you can track the Jerusalem Post headlines: like the response in Isreal to the reports coming out of the commission of inquiry into Israel's failures in the war against Hizbollah last year in Lebanon.
Or that the Rolling Stones will be performing in Hayarkon Park. Where will you be for Rosh HaShanah?
Here is the report from the Jerusalem Post with some interesting talk-back to follow.
From here, you can track the Jerusalem Post headlines: like the response in Isreal to the reports coming out of the commission of inquiry into Israel's failures in the war against Hizbollah last year in Lebanon.
Or that the Rolling Stones will be performing in Hayarkon Park. Where will you be for Rosh HaShanah?
Sunday, April 29, 2007
So much going on . . .
I know it appears that I have not been doing much for the last several weeks, but, like the north east US about 2 weeks ago, I have simply been snowed.
I am not going to bore you further with excuses, and also, no promises about doing better in the coming weeks.
But there is stuff going on that you might want to keep up with.
My most cherished source of news and entertainment is undoubtedly comedy central's terrible twins, Stewart and Colbert. Don't phone our house between 8 and 9 pm Mon - Thurs, because we are catching up on "last night's hoots!" and often also the best, most critical and honest, of all interviews in the media.
Probably the most important of these was the recent appearance of John McCain on the daily show. John Stewart did what the rest of the media has not managed to do, and that is ask McCain to address Iraq issues in an honest and forthcoming way. McCain resorted to the usual sound-bites and catch-phrases that pass for answers with the conventional talking heads. However, on the issue that "calling for an end to US involvement in Iraq" amounts to "not supporting the troops", Stewart and the audience held McCain's "feet to the fire". I hope I can find a link to this for you to watch it on the web. (As of the evening of Apr 30, no sign of the whole segment on the web, but Jon Stewart was interviewed by Bill Moyer about the McCain interview. You will find more clips from Stewart and Moyers interview that you may also want to view, but come back for the next link below.)
The McCain interview reminds me of Stewart's encounter with
Tucker Carlson, (on Crossfire during the run up to Bush vs Kerry) when he berated Carlson and the rest of the conventional pundits, news and talk-show hosts and interviewers for not doing a decent job asking politicians the tough questions, and demanding meaningful answers. (This I have tracked down, but I warn you that you view these links at your own risk, comedy central is on cable, and I am not sure all expletives will be suitably "bleeped". ) The encounter also recalls what Pieter Dirk Uys, a satirist of South African politics, likes to say about his material, most of which he "gets from the government". He gets so much, he doesn't pay taxes like the rest of us, he calls what he pays "royalties".
Truth is, it is a shame that the media cannot address the issues in a way that moves the proceedings forwards effectively - but that, one might say, is really the job of the politicians. Then again, who elects them?
Finally, there are a few other recent news items of interest:
1 Kibbutz Degania has gone into "private ownership".
2 Kinsley had an article with some great insights on
US partisan politics, reading almost like a script from John Stewart or South Africa's own Pieter Dirk Uys.
Look at this: "until recently, there was no shortage of politicians proudly claiming the label "conservative." Now, the only serious presidential candidate who calls himself a conservative is former Governor Mitt Romney--and he clings to the label because, based on his record, he obviously isn't one. Senator Sam Brownback, who calls himself a conservative and actually is one, isn't considered serious for that very reason. Meanwhile, Senator John McCain, who is serious, calls himself a "commonsense conservative," thus implying that most conservatives lack common sense. This is even more insulting than George W. Bush's "compassionate conservative" of 2000 election because common sense is considered, by conservatives, to be a specifically conservative virtue. Unlike, say, compassion."
3 I will add some commentary to my prior post about moderation in the Middle East. Who would have thought there would be a strange connection between discussions regarding the US position in the Middle East and the 90% consensus regarding man's likely contribution to climate change?
When you are done with that, I must direct you to another planet undergoing precipitous climate change! The EC Forum's antiglobal warming science fiction correspondent has just sent me this link: melting of the Martian polar ice. He says it is surely due to the rovers man sent to explore the Martian surface. Funny, I thought we sent radio-controlled, battery- powered micro-units. But of course, now I know Nasa sent up a fleet of SUV's proving Hummers can go anywhere! (Try whistling Dixie!)
I am not going to bore you further with excuses, and also, no promises about doing better in the coming weeks.
But there is stuff going on that you might want to keep up with.
My most cherished source of news and entertainment is undoubtedly comedy central's terrible twins, Stewart and Colbert. Don't phone our house between 8 and 9 pm Mon - Thurs, because we are catching up on "last night's hoots!" and often also the best, most critical and honest, of all interviews in the media.
Probably the most important of these was the recent appearance of John McCain on the daily show. John Stewart did what the rest of the media has not managed to do, and that is ask McCain to address Iraq issues in an honest and forthcoming way. McCain resorted to the usual sound-bites and catch-phrases that pass for answers with the conventional talking heads. However, on the issue that "calling for an end to US involvement in Iraq" amounts to "not supporting the troops", Stewart and the audience held McCain's "feet to the fire". I hope I can find a link to this for you to watch it on the web. (As of the evening of Apr 30, no sign of the whole segment on the web, but Jon Stewart was interviewed by Bill Moyer about the McCain interview. You will find more clips from Stewart and Moyers interview that you may also want to view, but come back for the next link below.)
The McCain interview reminds me of Stewart's encounter with
Tucker Carlson, (on Crossfire during the run up to Bush vs Kerry) when he berated Carlson and the rest of the conventional pundits, news and talk-show hosts and interviewers for not doing a decent job asking politicians the tough questions, and demanding meaningful answers. (This I have tracked down, but I warn you that you view these links at your own risk, comedy central is on cable, and I am not sure all expletives will be suitably "bleeped". ) The encounter also recalls what Pieter Dirk Uys, a satirist of South African politics, likes to say about his material, most of which he "gets from the government". He gets so much, he doesn't pay taxes like the rest of us, he calls what he pays "royalties".
Truth is, it is a shame that the media cannot address the issues in a way that moves the proceedings forwards effectively - but that, one might say, is really the job of the politicians. Then again, who elects them?
Finally, there are a few other recent news items of interest:
1 Kibbutz Degania has gone into "private ownership".
2 Kinsley had an article with some great insights on
US partisan politics, reading almost like a script from John Stewart or South Africa's own Pieter Dirk Uys.
Look at this: "until recently, there was no shortage of politicians proudly claiming the label "conservative." Now, the only serious presidential candidate who calls himself a conservative is former Governor Mitt Romney--and he clings to the label because, based on his record, he obviously isn't one. Senator Sam Brownback, who calls himself a conservative and actually is one, isn't considered serious for that very reason. Meanwhile, Senator John McCain, who is serious, calls himself a "commonsense conservative," thus implying that most conservatives lack common sense. This is even more insulting than George W. Bush's "compassionate conservative" of 2000 election because common sense is considered, by conservatives, to be a specifically conservative virtue. Unlike, say, compassion."
3 I will add some commentary to my prior post about moderation in the Middle East. Who would have thought there would be a strange connection between discussions regarding the US position in the Middle East and the 90% consensus regarding man's likely contribution to climate change?
When you are done with that, I must direct you to another planet undergoing precipitous climate change! The EC Forum's antiglobal warming science fiction correspondent has just sent me this link: melting of the Martian polar ice. He says it is surely due to the rovers man sent to explore the Martian surface. Funny, I thought we sent radio-controlled, battery- powered micro-units. But of course, now I know Nasa sent up a fleet of SUV's proving Hummers can go anywhere! (Try whistling Dixie!)
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Moderation in the Middle East . . . ?
Here is an interesting report I first saw in the New York Times - Week-in-Review.
Read it and chew on it - there are some interesting connections and insights to be had.
The author is David Brooks - "A War of Narratives "
__________________________________________
Update - Wednesday, April 18, 2007 9:31:00 PM
Point #1 - why would Arabs with moderate views, even if strongly held, want to stand up and declare themselves? To set themselves up as targets for the extremist elements? Before there can be any progress, there has to be stability. Even a fairly large moderate center can be nullified by enough militants on "the fringes". There just isn't a reasonable basis for moderation to hold sway in most, perhaps all, countries in the Middle East for the foreseeable future. And though they appear "moderate" to us, to their own people, they will look like radicals of the extreme left.
Update April 29, 2007
Point #2 - notice how the Arab academics took the postion that various publications in the US prove that their "narrative" is right -
As in:
"Speaker after speaker triumphantly cited the work of Stephen Walt, John Mearsheimer and Jimmy Carter as proof that even Americans were coming to admit that the Israel lobby controls their government."
Point #3: Notice the similarity between point number 2 and the anti "climate-change" lobby?
Yup - quoting a isolated professor from MIT that no consensus exists about climate change is like quoting Jimmy Carter on Israel's failure to make peace with the Palestinians.
Give me a break! Huh?
Read it and chew on it - there are some interesting connections and insights to be had.
The author is David Brooks - "A War of Narratives "
__________________________________________
Update - Wednesday, April 18, 2007 9:31:00 PM
Point #1 - why would Arabs with moderate views, even if strongly held, want to stand up and declare themselves? To set themselves up as targets for the extremist elements? Before there can be any progress, there has to be stability. Even a fairly large moderate center can be nullified by enough militants on "the fringes". There just isn't a reasonable basis for moderation to hold sway in most, perhaps all, countries in the Middle East for the foreseeable future. And though they appear "moderate" to us, to their own people, they will look like radicals of the extreme left.
Update April 29, 2007
Point #2 - notice how the Arab academics took the postion that various publications in the US prove that their "narrative" is right -
As in:
"Speaker after speaker triumphantly cited the work of Stephen Walt, John Mearsheimer and Jimmy Carter as proof that even Americans were coming to admit that the Israel lobby controls their government."
Point #3: Notice the similarity between point number 2 and the anti "climate-change" lobby?
Yup - quoting a isolated professor from MIT that no consensus exists about climate change is like quoting Jimmy Carter on Israel's failure to make peace with the Palestinians.
Give me a break! Huh?
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Yom Hashoah - April 15th, 2007
Holocaust Memorial - West Park Cemetary, Johannesburg, SA. Photo: 2005 P RosenthalYom HaShoah Annual Community Observance
Charleston SC
Sunday, April 15, 2007
4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
The official start is at 4:30pm at Brith Sholom Beth Israel on Rutledge Avenue.
There will be some artwork on display, so one may want to arrive at about 4 pm.
After the program at BSBI, there will be a march to the Holocaust Memorial on Marion Square.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
For my 53rd birthday, I got . . .
a banner from J-rod, a picture from Z-meister,
calls from Jhb and Londres,
a Beatles Jig-Saw puzzle from the Bizzles
an action figure (as above) from B-line
and a WAM kiddush from my Sveet-hart (tricky one, too)
and, still-to-come, a portable GPS from the 3 amigos and their mom
so Pops won't get lost again
movin' on . . . .
Sunday, April 08, 2007
"Food, glorious Food!"
"Please, Sir, I want some more!""Mooooore?"
On the 6th day of Pesach, who, in their right mind, wants MORE?
And what MORE are we talking about? More FOOD? More MATZA? More Yontovs? More Shul services?
What is going on here?
Well, it is spring, and Charleston’s blossoms and flowers are out in glorious color. So what if the cars are all dusty shades of green. More POLLEN, anyone? (Everyone is coughing, tearing, sniffling, and generally too choked up to respond?)
I believe there is some wisdom that goes - don’t complain about the rain . . .
My interest is in seasonal activities, but mostly focused on the community. I am speaking of things as I seethem. I hope others share my perspective.
For example, I enjoyed the AHA fundraiser, "An Evening of Good Taste". The setting was pleasing, the atmosphere relaxed, and the evening was entertaining. I am sure some could find things to fault, but none seemed serious to me.
Ok. The funny guy from Atlanta was not so funny. But he did give us something to talk about, and he did contribute a new element to Rabbi "Zitner’s" growing legend. I will make a prediction - that name might be around for a while. And if you want to see the Rabbi smile, ask him about it. If that doesn’t work, tell him you enjoyed his rendition of "Piano Man" in concert with Mark Rosenberg. I think the music was great.
On top of that, it was an occassion when we could all come together for AHA, which is not just about our future, even more, it is about our present. The more we come together around AHA, the stronger and more vibrant we become.
And so it was also with "Oliver".
Three enthusiastically received performances, all to full houses. The children at AHA have never looked cuter. The singing was excellent, and so many different children had a chance to shine. Even the chorus was phenomenal - their voices boomed exuberantly "Food, glorious Food!", and the audience got to join in eventually too, for a boisterous rendition of "Oompahpah".
For me, some of the highlights took place off the stage. Something I have always treasured about the school is the way the younger students get to interact with their elders - not the adults, but the senior students. And not just onstage, but at other times as well. I saw a tall fellow in a tophat getting roughhoused by a first-grader.
Then I bumped into a young lad in costume, made all the more realistic by his very long and very untidy hair. "So," I said, "Now that the shows are over, you can get your hair cut!" (This I said in a tone suggesting some disapproval of his appearance!) All I got for my effort at reforming our youth was a beaming grin - priceless!
So, "MORE" I say. And thanks to all who work so hard to make this stuff happen.
Chag Sameach to all for the last two days of Pesach,
And for an encore, kindly pass me the matza!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Another blow to democracy at BSBI . . .
Congregation BSBI voted at its March meeting to shut down another of its cherished democratic processes.
It is no longer constitutional to amend a resolution from the floor at regular meetings of the congregation. This plugs another seditious hole in that veritable tome of due process known to most decent organizations as "Robert's Rules of Order".
Whoop dee doo, fellows. Way to go, folks. Roll up for the Magical Mastery Tour!
Need any more pointers about where things might change?
You don't need a Ph D in political science to know that autocratic regimes typically get more draconian as they get weaker.
So it goes . . .
Sunday, March 25, 2007
that's just the way it is . . .
friday evening at services, the fellow sitting next to me leans over and says, "this is a strange minyan." I pause, a little puzzled. sometimes I miss things, and I reflect a moment before deciding to ask him, "what do you mean?""everyone likes each other!"
"when you have hungered for something for a long time, that's how it is . . . "
and he nodded in agreement
and I found the words from "Sim Shalom" singing in my head - "Chain v'chessed . . . "
I thought about this again at the morning services. the kiddush was set up early, and it was rich and colorful. with time, the services filled.
what makes this so different from other places I have been is that this seems so effortless, for everyone . . .
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Play it again, Al . . .
If you want to pick on Al, at least you should also make the effort to keep us amused!We are NOT amused!
How are your Hoop hopefuls doing?
I am in the hunt with 48 points after round 2, with Kansas, UCLA and Memphis through the 3rd. Stay tuned.
By the way, I said it: Basketball is for the birds - and the fans agree. Why else do they spend their game-time screaming "Fowl!" at the officials?
Monday, March 12, 2007
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Adapt or Die: Notes from the road - Part 3.
Although I have been right about quite a lot in my time, I have frequently not been very good about predicting the future. At the age of 13 (i.e. 1967), I begged my parents for a tape recorder, to record the hit parade, and radio shows like “No place to hide!” (a science fiction thriller serial starring Mark Saxon and his trusty sidekick, Sergei Gromulko – SA did not get TV till 1975! talk about needing to adapt, yong!). My dad, who was in the electrical business, gave me a catalogue. I looked through it, and picked what looked like the coolest, surest thing: a real reel-to-reel machine with auto-reverse – to turn the tape around there was a switch that ran the tape in the opposite direction. Internally, there was a dual record/replay head, one head used for each tape direction. When a friend of mine showed me his tape recorder, with this frail-looking platic “cassette” thing containing miniature tape that you could flip in a second, I thought “that would never last.” Ya, well, no fine! And the rest is history. (How was I to know that dual recording heads are better used for stereophonic sound – the radio wasn’t in stereo!)
My next big technological miscalculation, as I recall, was the plausibility of using Ultrasound to diagnose the dreaded leg vein clot (better know as a DVT – deep vein thrombosis). Initial ultrasound machines were clunky things with mechanical arms. Then the transducer probes got more compact and could be used with a free-hand action and angled in any direction. Still, my bet was ultrasound would never be as accurate as sticking a needle in a vein of a patient’s foot, and injecting x-ray dye with the patient propped-up on a clunky x-ray table with tourniquets on the leg, with the radiologist racing to take pictures of the veins before the dye disappeared – you know, with the training and reflexes of . . . like . . . a sports photographer. I never dreamed that ultrasound would improve to such an extent that one would simply move a transducer up and down the leg, squeezing the veins to see if they collapsed – when the veins did not collapse, the diagnosis of clot was made. (The impact of this on medical practice is one of the most enlightening stories in the evolution of modern medicine.) Venography, needless-to-say, has gone the way of the reversible reel-to-reel.
Yes, and I didn’t believe auto-focus cameras would work well either! (Actually, while you sit there, chuckling. Just look how often the background of the picture is in focus and Aunt Emma and your cousin Louise are once again smiling fuzzily at you, with red eyes from that built-in flash!)
So, after the fall of apartheid, I thought Pieter Dirk Uys (now pronounced “Pita Drek Aish”) was done for, and Evita Bezuidenhout would go the way of JF Kennedy imitators.
Well, I just caught his latest show, and it ain’t so! Pieter is a little slower physically, but his mouth is as fast as ever. He is thankful to any and all South African politicians for providing him with such varied and rich material – as he puts it, he “doesn’t pay taxes, but royalties!”
Many of his classic Apartheid-era characters have indeed adapted - Evita is running for president, nogal. (President Mbeki favors a woman, and Evita feels this is an appropriate extension of AA - affirmative action). And The Kugel, who returned to SA pre 1994 from failed emigration to Toronto because she would “rather be killed in her bed than have to get up and make it!” – she now lives in Cape Town. Her children visit her every year from Perth with at least one new grandchild per visit, and a Vietnamese nanny in tow. Still, she says, “If the road to the Cape Town airport was safe, she would emigrate already”.
For me, the best moment, among many side-splitters (eg Evita ran 4 red lights to get to the performance) was the character who derides the smug ex-pats who come back for visits from “Canada” to spend what’s “left in Nedbank”. Having fled SA, a greater danger awaits them – in reference to the SARS outbreak there a year-or-so back, the bitter local character says, “the bird flu will staat in Kennada. Dja. Kentucky Fried Chicken sal snies, en djulle sal vrek!”
I missed the next 5 minutes of material, wiping tears from my eyes, and trying not to spoil the show for the rest of the audience by stifling my shrieks . . .
“Long live Evita!”
_____________
Eknowledgement: Foto above traced on google images to the following website
http://www.evita.co.za/photo_gallery.htm View at your own risk!
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Notes from the road . . . Parts 1 and 2
Part 1:
Enjoying a trip back home, but the locals are
“Kvetching about the weather!”
__________________________
I have been visiting Johannesburg, South Africa, since Thursday of last week. It is late summer here, and the season has been fairly dry. Not that you can tell from the color of the trees that line Johannesburg’s avenues and roads. In light of that, it seems a bit odd that just about everyone I have encountered has complained about the weather.
“The heat has been unbearable etc etc”
“Man! It was 34 today!”
You know, I am so used to the temperature being quoted in Fahrenheit, 34 Centigrade does not mean too much to me any more. I have not found the weather all that hot, and so I am not up to complaining. Yes, if you step out into the noon-day sun (like mad dogs and Englishmen) and stay there, you will feel the heat. But, really, what are they kvetching about? I am barely breaking a sweat! And there is a reason almost no-one has A/C in their homes – you don’t need it. Johannesburg is 6,000ft above sea level, with NO humidity.
I remember once traveling in Spain in midsummer, and at 10 pm, as the sun went down over our campsite, just outside Seville, the temperature was 40! Now, thaaat was hot! You know, hot like Charleston. It didn't drop to 39 till around midnight - talk about a schvitz! We had to have water fights to stay comfortable, never mind sane.
Anyway, back to the present. After chuckling at all my friends and family for complaining about the heat, I thought I’d google a conversion table.
Well, here it is, with the conversion for 34 degrees Centigrade shown ( I'll add the link to this automated table later, y'all . . )
Enjoying a trip back home, but the locals are“Kvetching about the weather!”
__________________________
I have been visiting Johannesburg, South Africa, since Thursday of last week. It is late summer here, and the season has been fairly dry. Not that you can tell from the color of the trees that line Johannesburg’s avenues and roads. In light of that, it seems a bit odd that just about everyone I have encountered has complained about the weather.
“The heat has been unbearable etc etc”
“Man! It was 34 today!”
You know, I am so used to the temperature being quoted in Fahrenheit, 34 Centigrade does not mean too much to me any more. I have not found the weather all that hot, and so I am not up to complaining. Yes, if you step out into the noon-day sun (like mad dogs and Englishmen) and stay there, you will feel the heat. But, really, what are they kvetching about? I am barely breaking a sweat! And there is a reason almost no-one has A/C in their homes – you don’t need it. Johannesburg is 6,000ft above sea level, with NO humidity.
I remember once traveling in Spain in midsummer, and at 10 pm, as the sun went down over our campsite, just outside Seville, the temperature was 40! Now, thaaat was hot! You know, hot like Charleston. It didn't drop to 39 till around midnight - talk about a schvitz! We had to have water fights to stay comfortable, never mind sane.
Anyway, back to the present. After chuckling at all my friends and family for complaining about the heat, I thought I’d google a conversion table.
Well, here it is, with the conversion for 34 degrees Centigrade shown ( I'll add the link to this automated table later, y'all . . )
– turns out "34" means it’s in the low-to-mid 90’s.
Hmmmm. Guess it is hot. I can’t argue that 90 isn’t hot now, can I. As Schalk Lourens used to say, "when it’s 90 in the shade, you can break an egg on a flat rock in the sun and it will fry there right in front of your eyes!" (The way the locals are complaining, maybe that should be "Skulk" Lourens. Come to think of it, maybe it always was. Better yet, make that Moner van Heerden! ) Anyway, frying the egg I haven’t tried.
But I have been outside here, and I can tell you, 34 centigrade on the Highveld, if that's what it was, is simply not hot – it may be hot "For" the Highveld, but it is not hot. Not for a resident of Charleston, SC. There, we have 90’s and more, but with HUMIDITY!!!!!! So, we know! about hot.
So, in all humil(d)ity - Quit whining already! The sky is blue, the air clear and the colors of the summer are splendid. Enjoy already! When it comes to weather, you Jo’burgers don’t know how good this is.
____________
Part 2:
It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world:
You may have seen the above composite derived from the US museum of Natural History website. Well, to understand the world in greater detail, and with more immediate effect, visit this "worldmapper" web site developed by the University of Sheffield in England. Remember to click on images to see them more fully, and check out the categories for topical issues that interest you.
PS: 3-26-07 The point about CO2 emissions is this - opponents of measures to curb emissions, including opponents of Kyoto, like to say that the US can't do it alone. While that is true, the maps illustrate how much the US can do because of the large proportion of emissions it is responsible for. Europe, which is a significant contributor as well, is ahead of the US on this, (although many city and state governments in the US have got on board). But if you combine the US, Europe and Japan, and there is a significant potential for reductions in emissions. The question is whether the US sees any value in leading by example.
For the Sheffield map on greenhouse gases, click here.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
An "Inconvenient" Night at the Oscars
Al Gore's movie won best documentary, and also an Oscar for it's theme song. You can see more pictures from the movie (the one above copied from AOL) and the Oscars in general by
visiting this link.
And, for more on climate change, there's always this blogger's
climate watch, tho' it is in need of repair. Now I have reason to get it back up to snuff!
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