Apparently, צפרדע is related to the Syriac/Aramaic ערדרע “to croak”: so sayeth the Klein dictionary…
Father of 4, Orthodox Jew, Liberal Zionist (probably doesn’t mean what you think it does), ADHD, straight musical theater queen, tired. Use “whom” correctly and we can be friends for life. Criticize my overuse of commas, and I’ll never speak to you again.
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Apparently, צפרדע is related to the Syriac/Aramaic ערדרע “to croak”: so sayeth the Klein dictionary…
Sounds nice, but probably not. צרפת appears in Biblical Hebrew as a Phonecian city. The association with France probably came to modern Hebrew, along with the association of ספרד with Spain, through Ovadia 1:20 (several online references)…
I just read the first sentence out loud and my boss reported me to HR…
I believe Loesser sings it on the “Evening with Frank Loesser” album, but I haven’t encountered it elsewhere.
What’s the over/under on how many delighted gasps & squeals we’re getting from that crew as Lauren reveals another fascinating tidbit?
That’s the synagogue I won’t set foot in…
It’s a very idiosyncratic blend of real and imagined personalities and institutions. (referring to the YU analogue as the Hirsch school no doubt offended people on both sides of the Heights, fr’instance). For me, they need to be taken on their own terms, not as roman a clefs, despite the shout outs.
There’s a lot to sort through in those books, including what’s changed and what hasn’t. Critical text work is no longer controversial, but it was back then, even if Potok overplays it. And yes, in the 1950s, it would not be unheard of for a charedi family to send an “out of the box” son to YU.
Hey! Those are panENtheistic ideas, thankyouverymuch. The Uncles Moishy will have to answer for that…
“If Hashem is everywhere, does that mean that when I’m chewing, I’m biting Hashem?”
See also _OUND - Wordles be that way sometimes…
First time taking one of @rokhl.bsky.social ‘s classes and enjoyed it greatly. If you’ve got the time and a few bucks to spare, consider learning a bit…
All these years later, I still squeal at the reference to the Hewlett-Packard 5710 dual column gas chromatograph, a beloved lab workhorse (until it was eclipsed by the 5890, some of which I assume will continue functioning until the heat death of the universe)…
First make edible candy corn, then we can talk…
There are people online who firmly believe that political candidates who share with 80% of their preferences are not worth voting for when running against candidates who share 0% of them, and I really don’t get it…
Two out of three in my case (never got into Christie). Gonna have to check with my classmate who now lives in Lakewood and just had his first grandchild if he let his kids read them…
HEY! I read those books when *I* was in 8th grade; that was only <*mumbled calculation*>… . . . GET OFF MY LAWN, YOU KIDS!
May The Good Lord bless the person who decided that the NJ rest stop midway between my home and Lakewood should be the Jon Bon Jovi one, so that each time we pass it, The Lovely Wife(tm) and I can belt out “We’re halfway there” and annoy the snot out of the kids…
Even discounting her singing (which I can understand, especially in her early years), she plays a few gazillion instruments superbly. Love the comparison to Fred Rogers, whose lifetime Emmy acceptance speech should have been the last one ever made… m.youtube.com/watch?v=Upm9...
That was terrific. There was also this great profile of her reading habits, where I lost it at her recommendation: www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/b...
I first found out just how beloved she was when she appeared on the old Colbert Report and Steve couldn’t maintain character in her presence. Her musicianship is top-tier (often somehow overlooked), her philanthropy remarkable, and she seems to deserve all the adulation she’s collected.
I treat the term “genocide” now (post-Gaza invasion) the way I treated the term “apartheid” as applied to Israel prior to October 7: I don’t think it’s the accurate or tactically useful term, but I can’t out–of–hand dismiss someone who uses it and that makes me very angry.
And, of course, @seforimchatter.bsky.social ‘s latest guest (Laura Yares) just referred to 19th century Jewish catechisms (accurately and fascinatingly) as a technology…
In her “Let’s Learn Everything” podcast interview, @gretchenmcc.bsky.social refers to writing as a technology several times, exploring the consequences of that in a way that blows her hosts’ minds in ever-more-delightful ways…
So… 90 minutes before mincha?
Really like this piece from Rabbi Guy Austrian: www.sourcesjournal.org/articles/in-...
Joker origin story:
Gave blood yesterday for the first time in a few months. I don’t believe I noticed it last time, but the pre-donation questionnaire has FINALLY been updated to remove any reference to same-sex activity as a risk factor. If you can give blood, please do so…
👋
Was getting more of a Runt/Rita vibe personally, but I guess that’s too obvious…
Love her so much… in one of her cabaret shows, she recalled asking William Finn to explain what happens at a bar mitzvah, as she’d never been to one. Her description of Finn’s reaction to her not being Jewish (“you just have a Jewish aura”) was a source of merriment for years in our home.
Do the reverse Maria Dahvana Headley and replace all instances of “bro” with “hweat”…
I would really love to revisit it, as I’ve become much more of a jazz fan in the intervening years. It’s so well written that I can easily imagine any production being excellent, but Wood & Falco were on another level.
Saw him in Side Man. He was excellent, although Frank Wood & Edie Falco were transcendent. One of those incredible shows that seem to have been forgotten…
IIRC, there was an episode of Fear The Walking Dead that featured (I kid thee not) a Reform rabbi going through a crisis of faith tending to his zombie congregation…
www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
Took a picture of this machzor at a now-closed Heights shul several years ago. It wasn’t that long ago that Jews crossed the Washington bridge to and from the Bronx to attend services on each side…
Lovely. May you and your family find comfort in your memories, inspiration in your history, and fulfillment in your activities.
A diagnostic questionnaire used to evaluate the severity of nasal problems is officially known as the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test or SNOT. Not sure if I should giggle or be disappointed…
A colleague was a ferry pilot to Fire Island in the late ‘80s. Talking to her 20 years later about what it meant to have AIDS survivors was a memorable experience. This is another incredible step in ending incalculable suffering.
I’ve been a Tom Lehrer fan for some four decades now, and croaked out many of his songs in my piano bar days…
Surabaya Santa
For those who might not have heard it: here’s a BBC “desert island music” interview with Tom Lehrer from 1980. Not at all surprising that we have a few overlaps: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...
“When you attend a funeral/ it’s sad to think that sooner’r/ later those you love will do the same for you” Always a favorite. RIP and thanks for everything…
I don’t think I knew that you were a Warhammer widow. My condolences. That’s not a commitment thar people make lightly…
(She probably also said something about my overuse of commas, but I’d already been ignoring that for some 20 years by that point…)
When I moved into management from my technical position, my company enrolled me in a business writing class. The teacher took one look at my writing sample and said “oh, you’re a good technical writer. Just learn to use the active voice and maybe cut down on the semicolons, and you’ll be fine.”
As Fearless Leader noted, it’s often the correct way to go when you want to draw attention to The Thing Being Done more than to The Person Doing The Thing…
In many scientific/technical applications, it was the standard for describing experiments: “the mixture was refluxed at x temp for 2 hours, after which it was filtered and allowed to cool to room temperature. A white precipitate formed…”
That’s what I meant by “that state.” And yes, I-80 is the most boring stretch of tar in the Good Lord’s creation. The New Jersey Turnpike at least has amusingly-named rest areas…
We’ve done the New-York-to-the-Midwest (Chicago, Cleveland, Indiana, and Milwaukee) car trip a number of times. Some variant of “How friggin’ big is that state?” comes up every time…
Link is still paywalled…
How about “run” and “take”?
*Grumblegrumble three weeks grumblegrumble* OTOH, I now know what I’m listening to at 12:01 on 10 Av…
But then how can they contribute flavor to things cooked in them?
Cymbeline is a guilty pleasure of mine: all of Will’s off-the-wall plot twists thrown into one mishmash. My beloved Pearl Theatre Company ob"m did a superb minimalist production back in the day, and of course “Fear No More” is just an absolutely lovely song…
Who decided on the Sondheim overture as the background music?
Been a while since I’ve done a #JewishLearning thread, but must publicize @seforimchatter.bsky.social ‘s latest with R’ Moshe Taragin, discussing R’ Amital zt"l. A beautiful discussion of a beloved figure: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
I originally thought the answer was EDGE - “bound” as in boundary and “essentially” somehow cluing the last letters of the preceding words. Between Wordle, Connections, and this, it’s been a pretty brutal Friday morning…
Woo! And Hoo!
Quick PSA: Antisemites are responsible for antisemitism. Not Jews. Not even *those* Jews. Or *those*.
I’m afraid we’re getting to the point were fraud is so prevalent that at least some independent verification will be necessary. I’m only adjacent to the scientific research field, but by me I see these types of measures already being implemented, as well as others (e.g. required personnel changes)
This has been an issue in my field (Engineering QA) as well. Reviews implicitly assume that the reviewed entity wants to be in compliance/conformance and that provided records are valid evidence of properly completed activities. They are not meant to catch deliberate falsification…
🎶 and it isn’t mine at allll 🎶
*Kalir pokes head up* you rang?
Getting proud of myself for figuring out some of the British wordplay (“becoming useful” wouldn’t pass muster on these shores, I’m quite sure)
It is possible to be a Mamdani supporter without being an antisemite/kapo. It is possible to vehemently oppose Mamdani because of his past statements on Israel without being a fascist/sell-out. Please do better.
Quite lovely. I’m reminded of an aphorism attributed to the Taoist Chang Tzu: “The purpose of the word is to carry the idea. Once the idea is grasped, the word can be forgotten. Where is the man who has forgotten words? He is the one I wish to speak to…”
The uneven-but-VERY-good-when-it-was-good Canadian series “Travelers” featured a dystopic future that was only alluded to by its time-traveling protagonists, and boy howdy was that an effective evocation…
patted myself on the back for figuring it out quickly. I was looking for something ending in “ss” at first…
There was a time when my late grandmother couldn’t consistently remember who I was, but could whisper along to every word of *Oklahoma!* Watching her laugh while singing “I Cain’t Say No” was a very bright patch in a very dark time…
For the old-time rock & roll fans: Bill Haley did a cover of this years before “Rock Around the Clock”: m.youtube.com/watch?v=LkuT...
(Possibly) fun fact(s) of the day: that bit goes at least as far back as the 1909 musical “The Beauty Spot”: www.loc.gov/item/jukebox...
Someday, we will have real mainstream inter-religious Jewish-Muslim scholarship on these shores, and it’s going to be just awesome (just the memes alone, I tell ya…)
Solo concert, not staged opera performance, and she was giving a multiple encore. Little detail: she sings “grazie” (thank you) instead of “amore” (oh! love!) which is the original lyric…
Also, that scene is done with the tenor offstage (outside her window), which made his impromptu action almost appropriate: m.youtube.com/watch?v=IGlu...
This was her second or third encore , not something she planned to sing.
Three months in a row making it to shacharit on Rosh Chodesh on time because I scheduled my alarm properly! #ADHDLifeCelebrations
also
I’ve gotten this nonsense more times than I want to admit, and my answer is inevitably “is you sure about that?”
New proposal: for the next few years, Orthodox Jewish congregations can only hire heterodox-trained rabbis and vice versa. Ortho congregations need creative leadership, non-O rabbis deserve a committed laity, and Ortho rabbis should learn what the general Jewish population actually looks like…
I think the bands like to see what they can get away with… At one wedding we were at, the background songs included “Not While I’m Around” and “For Good.” The keyboardist looks over at The Lovely Wife(tm) and I belting along and goes “how do *you* know all the showtunes?”
As someone who remembers Very Frum People come down with the vapors when wedding bands started using lead electric guitars, this whole thing is really weird. There was also a period where acoustic-based wedding bands like Pey Daled were all the rage; I feel like I hallucinated that era…
…Every wedding singer I hear now, I think about that and agree. It really is something how much EDM/4-to-the-floor sound is now de rigeur.
…In one of the latter, a studio engineer commented that young singers were so used to AutoTune-style digital manipulation that *their unadulterated voices* sounded autotuned…
About a decade ago, there was a fantastic weekend-long Kennedy Center event called “American Voices” curated by Renee Fleming featuring multiple genres of performances, master classes, and industry discussions…
Waitaminit! This was put together by someone from the Arbiter-Ring, and THEY used chassidic transliteration?! איך נפלו גיבורים…
Been doing Duolingo Yiddish on-and-off (mostly off) for a while now. They use the chassidic pronunciations for their regular lessons. My Litvak grandfather z"l is absolutely spinning in his grave every time I do a lesson…
modern chassidish “koomitz-aleph-ooh” will always trip me up…
korystamper.wordpress.com/2018/01/11/d...
Do you have an Elazar ben Padat to tell you that it was all the other person’s fault?
Trump may not be an antisemite, but a lot of right-wing antisemites like what he says & does. Mamdami may not be an antisemite, but a lot of left-wing antisemites like what he says & does. Both having significant populations of Jewish supporters doesn’t change that.
This actually diminished him a bit for me: anyone who *loves* Connections (as opposed to having a tormented “I wish I could quit you” relationship with it) is not to be trusted… 😀
End results are not, by themselves, a valid metric for the legitimacy or suitability of the measures taken.