Philosophers

How many people think of Geo. Carlin as a philosopher?

Charlie Chaplin as a serious thinker?

How about Redd Foxx?

One of the benefits of the WWW is that different folks' thoughts can be collected "together" and ones appropriate for the moment can be borrowed - and properly cited, thank you - by anyone willing to make the effort.

Some of the thoughts might seem "out of synch" with the public or professional personality of the author, which only goes to at least suggest that we are a complicated species that often has as many mood layers and feelings as an onion has layers.

Before judging your neighbor, consider for a moment the environment, the mood of the moment, and place your opinion in the proper context.

yohanon

I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older; then it dawned on me - they're cramming for their final exam. George Carlin

Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people. Charlie Chaplin

The show (Sanford & Son) doesn't drive home a lesson, but it can open up people's minds enough for them to see how stupid every kind of prejudice can be. Redd Foxx

No matzeh by the Bay

Just received an interesting email about matzeh in the San Francisco Bay area.

More accurately, the LACK of matzeh on Bay area stores.

The email contained a link to a San Francisco Chronicle SFGate.com article which is worth reading.

The link:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/22/BA14109EAK.DTL

One paragraph caught my attention. "Costco stores in the Bay Area didn't stock any matzo, store operators said. Company spokespeople didn't return alls. Trader Joe's decided to not stock matzo nationwide - though the shortage appears largely restricted to the Bay Area."

Seems to me that Cosco and Trader Joe's apparently don't want Jewish business.

Where I hang my hat, we have well-stocked Safeway, Giant, and Shoppers supermarkets, and a couple of Wegmans - and this is not a particularly observant area. There also are two kosher markets (markets specializing in kosher food?) within a relatively short drive.

Matzeh was in abundance before Passover began. Even sh'murah matzeh was available "off the shelf" and from Chabad and probably other sources.

As the Chronicle article noted, Passover is the one time of the year when even the totally non-observant Jew buys kosher; for many kosher markets, this is their "Christmas" make-or-break season.

I'm glad I have alternatives to Costco and Trader Joe's. If they don't want my custom, I can go where it is considered worth courting.

yohanon

To be fair

Trader Joe's apparently is bowing to customer pressure. I received the following email on Day 4.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding our selection of kosher for Passover foods. We have never carried an extensive line of Kosher for Passover products. We currently carry Empire Kosher Chicken, as well as a few candy items that are Kosher for Passover. However, part of our holiday evaluation process this year involves us looking at expanding the amount of Kosher for Passover items we will carry in our store in the future.

Based on the conversations we've had with our store Captains, and with customers this year, we will have matzo next year, as well as an expanded selection of Kosher for Passover products...particularly in the meat case.

Seder guests

It states in Parasha Bo (13: 43) that a "nokar" shall be excluded from the Passover seder.

I've never heard the prohibition mentioned by a religious leader, but it was enforced in our home - until this year.

For some reason, my normally outspoken Spouse never challenged the decision to follow the Torah's injunction - until this year.

Over the years, the prohibition has caused us some grief.

We had a very dear "Dutch Aunt" who very much wanted to join our seder. We wanted her presence; we valued her wisdom. But . . .

All that is, sadly, "past tense."

But to paraphrase The Main Question of the holiday, why is this year different from all other (previous) years?

Because this year the Spouse challenged the prohibition.

She didn't challenge the Torah; we are observant and accept the Torah as "set in concrete." Still, like the U.S. Constitution, it is a living document subject to interpretation by people who are knowledgeable and who follow certain "rules of interpretation."

What she did was to suggest that perhaps the prohibition applied only to the korban, the sacrifice, and specifically the sacrifice immediately before our exodus from Egypt.

I'm not sure where she got the idea to challenge our current mind set - our walls are lined with books of all varieties and from all perspectives and in several languages, and the Spouse is very much a reader, but she also is an independent thinker, something I value highly.

Not being a hakham (a particularly intelligent person, usually equating to a "subject matter expert" or, within the fold, a Sephardi/Mizrachi religious leader of some renown), and with the advantages of email, we asked several sources.

From one source we received two independent responses which, strangely enough, were in agreement. Another source provided a dissenting view.

The two-for-one source, the Orthodox Union or "OU," suggested that today a "nokar" may be invited to a seder. Even the dissenting voice agreed that if a "nokar" happened to appear - say, as part of a mixed marriage or as someone's guest who just tagged along (please - if anyone intends that surprise, warn the hosts in advance so a place can be set at the table). "Shalom biet" is the watchword - and it especially needs to be watched as we near the last cup of wine.

There were some concerns on how to treat the "nokar." but the bottom line for us is that the seder is no longer just for us.

It means, as I read it, that we should open our door to all when, as the hagadah tells us to do, we invite "all who are hungry" to come and eat.

Maybe this year, in addition to the Cup of Elijah we will set a place in honor of the "Dutch Aunt" who no longer is with us.

yohanon

"A tongue sharp as a sliver of obsidian"*

I know that ill-spoken words can hurt; thoughtless - and sometimes deliberate - words not only sting when said, but, unlike most physical wounds, leave a searing scar which even years fail to erase.

The same applies to the written word as well, but perhaps there is something cathartic when the offending missive can be crumpled into a ball and ceremoniously discarded into a nearby waste basket or flushed down a toilet. Digital damage falls someplace between the spoken word and the written word: pressing DELete can be satisfying, but it lacks the impact that can be achieved by discarding with vigor an offending missive.

I was reminded of this the other day when I received an email from a person I unwittingly injured with an unkind word many years past.

"You've changed," my correspondent noted. "You used to make smart remarks, calling me 'grace' when I stumbled."

I had not intended to offend; my remark was made in at least "semi" jest; words which I apply equally to myself - indeed, I am often more severe with myself than with others, even "in jest."

I didn't know until today that what I thought was, at worst, a teasing remark was perceived by the hearer to be "as a sliver of obsidian."

That it was - is - became evident when the word came back to haunt me 30-some years after it was spoken.

Words, said in jest, in anger, in any and all modes, once spoken never can be fully retrieved.

My very delinquent apology may be accepted, but I know the scar remains.

---

* From The Three Sisters: A Charlie Moon Mystery by James D. Doss, St. Martin's Press, ISBN-13: 9780312364595 http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Three-Sisters/James-D-Doss/e/9780312364595/#EXC

yohanon

Lessons not learned

Ramba"m was roundly criticized for failing to "cite the source."

I recently queried some experts about a Passover problem - the noker issue - and a couple of the experts responded in a timely manner. I'm still waiting for two more. I doesn't bother me so much that the two responders were at odds with their answers; that's to be expected of a people who, it is said, that if there are three of us, there are four opinions. What DOES bother me is that neither responder cited his sources. Neither responder is as renowned as Ramba"m, yet both presumed to give a ruling without citing their sources. Maybe my problem is more than (just) a religious one. For many years I was an honest journalist. That's not to be construed that I ever was anything other than an honest journalist, but . . .

As an honest journalist, I learned early on that only a columnist or editorial page writer could make pronouncements. Simple reporters were rightfully required to "cite the source" or, put another way, "attribute everything." Point the finger, as it were.

When my three children were young, they would be challenged with "Who said!" I tried the same approach on the Spouse - once. I'm not offended when asked to cite my authority and I never understood why anyone else would be.

Unless a person is "the absolute authority," that person should cite the source, if only to give credit to those who paved the way for the "authority" to gain his or her position.

yohanon

For want of a driver

I have a mix of peripherals connected to a Windows box.

I frequently am less than happy with Windows. I also am frequently frustrated by Microsoft Office, especially when MS fixes something that isn't broken (e.g. the Word user interface).

So when my XP Pro machine locked up - again - and when I failed to quickly find a Word function in Office 2007 that once was conveniently available in Office 2003, I thought it was time to start Looking Into Linux. I know there are Open Source applications "out there" that have the look and feel of MS products (which version?) and that can suck in MS-created files and turn out MS-compliant files so, although I live in an MS environment, I don't need MS to survive. So why stay with Windows and Office? Simple. Peripherals. I have a great Canon i850 bubble jet printer and a still-going-strong HP flatbed scanner. I've also got a Brother multifunction device which . . . well, it failed shortly after it went into service. None of the peripherals work with Linux. I also have Verizon DSL. I've had cable; Verizon is more portable and, over the years, has been good more than bad. I have yet to see a Verizon DSL modem for a Linux box (although I know there are Linux-compatible modems). I know I could set up the portable's 80G replacement hard drive to dual boot, but

Let me rephrase that. I know the 80G hard drive can be set up to dual boot.

I'm not a computer mavin or geek or nerd, although my first machine was CP/M (guess that just means I'm old). I want my software shrink wrapped, good to go out of the box. My #2 is a geek, but he is "there" and I am "here" so he's not much help. Besides, his path to geekdom included "repairing" a couple of my computers (including my classic all-in-one CP/M box). Why not Apple? Good company and I understand Macs include a Linux flavor. But Apple is Apple and if I am going to run Linux, let it be on a Linux machine. Bottom line: As long as the printer keeps printing and the scanner keeps scanning, I'm "stuck" with Windows. But I certainly wish Canon would get with the program and create downloadable Linux drivers for dummies - the same user requirements as those for Windows: "Click the button." yohanon

No particular focus

This is a personal blog with no particular focus created by a person with varied interests and an abiding curiosity in almost everything.

That being written, KA_DEE_MAH (forward!).

yohanon