Touro College Sues State Agency Over Right To Sabbath Elevator For Students | The Jewish Week

Touro College Sues State Agency Over Right To Sabbath Elevator For Students | The Jewish Week
This article is very interesting. When I lived in the Touro dormitory there wasn't a shabbos elevator and one year I lived on the tenth floor. We would trek up and down the stairs during shabbos. I think that the request for a shabbos elevator is legitimate . When I was in college I had been in an accident and was not able to walk down stairs for a few months. It would have been nicer for me had their been  a shabbos elevator.  I don't know what floors they live on but I do find it anti frum for the board of the building to oppose the shabbos elevator. It isn't necessary to have one, but it does help. I don't think that for one day of the week that it is so awful for someone who does not keep shabbos to endure if it would make things a lot easier for others. To be fair I do not know all of the issues in this case. This is just my two cents.

Just my Luck

     I was running late today and my only consolation was that the people who annoy me at the train station at my usual time would not be there. Other people that I would not normally see would be there and perhaps not annoy me. Just my luck . All the usual flies were there. How was this possible? How could everyone be running late at the same time? Argh!

The Heat is On

     One thing about summers in New York is that my apartment is hotter than Hades and its not because my apartment building is pumping up too much heat. It is hot because its summer. In the winter I resist turning on the AC because I refuse to pay for AC when its really cold outside. In the summer I use the AC as much as I need to. In the winter everyone at work complains about the cold. In the summer work is properly chilled and no one objects. I prefer winter to summer. Too bad I live in a city where there is extreme indoor heat year round. 

A Good Night's Sleep

     A good night's sleep is always so hard to attain. Once I am actually in bed I have no problem sleeping but   getting to that point is a challenge. On week nights I am too busy enjoying my freedom from work that its hard to want to go to sleep early. Weekends its too much fun staying up late knowing there is no work the next day. I have read all of the studies about the myriad of ailments that visit those who do not sleep enough hours each night. One would think that that would be enough to get me to snooze more hours. Still.... I am attempting to get more sleep each night. Wish me luck. 

Shabbat Shalom

     Though I sometimes feel the crunch before shabbos and miss technology during shabbos, I am enjoy observing shabbos. I LOVE not being able to answer the phone on shabbos. I love being able to read and sleep for one day a week every week and not feel like I should be doing something else more productive. My world is so fast paced that if I was not forced to take a break each week due to shabbos observance I might not take a break. Its exhausting just contemplating such a notion. I am so looking forward to relaxing this shabbos. Have a fabulous shabbos everyone.

Staycation

     I went to Prospect Park yesterday. It was really beautiful I took some pictures and I realized that Prospect Park looks nothing like the rest of Brooklyn. It makes Brooklyn look like a resort town. Well, almost. I will say that visiting Prospect Park always makes me feel good because its slower paced and is full of nature.Yesterday was my Prospect Park , Brooklyn staycation. Enjoy the pictures and consider visiting Prospect Park if you live in Brooklyn. Its a cheap and enjoyable staycation.

Fathers Day Fun

I went to a street fair in Park Slope yesterday and I saw this sign. A little bit strange for Father's day.

Meanwhile Driving on 18th Avenue....

Yesterday I went to boro park with a friend and I saw this car on 18th Avenue.  Feel free to click on these photos to enlarge them so you can read the signs better. Truth is stranger than fiction my friends. I bet the driver is married with ten kids. Oy vey. G-d help us all.

Oldest vs Youngest

     I may be in the minority as a woman , but I would prefer to be the oldest attendee at a singles event than the youngest attendee. When I am one of the youngest attendees at a singles event I feel uber depressed. When I am one of the older attendees I feel out of place but never depressed. 

No One New

     Recently I was listening to a comedian's podcast who has a voice similar to someone I dated years ago. As I was listening to his podcast he revealed that not only did he have a voice similar to my ex-boyfriend but he also happened to have a lot of similar characteristics to him as well. My ex-boyfriend is not a closet podcaster and I do not plan on telling you which podcast I have been listening to . Just to be clear. The reason I am mentioning this podcaster at all is because I have always heard that on a subconscious level people are often romantically drawn to similar people. I have a crush on this podcaster because he reminds me so much of someone else that I had liked so much. It is a bit too eerie. Just when you think you have gotten so far from a person you realize you have gotten close to them again , just in the form of someone else.
   

Hitler's Children

     I recently saw a very interesting documentary called Hitler's Children which is about descendants of  Hermann Goering, Heinrich Himmler, and Amon Goeth . They speak with the guilt and horror of being their descendants. Some of them sterilized themselves so their genes would never be able to be reproduced. Some wrote books others make personal appearances and speak about how they don't want there to be another Holocaust and how heinous the acts their forefathers carried out were. This is a film worth watching
 

Sexy Beijing

I came across this on you tube. Yes, I am bored so I am spending a lot of time trolling you tube. Anyway, I found this episode of Sexy Beijing. I most tell you , Alison Josephs of Jew in The City has nothing on this chic. Watch this episode. Its too funny.

This Leaves Me Speechless......

   This is silly , but I was compelled to post it anyway.

Neighbors

      I am the most awesome neighbor. I just found out that my next door neighbors have been divorced since September and I am just finding out now. I am so oblivious that I did not realize that I had not run in to the husband in almost a year. He really was not all that memorable to begin with , but now that I think about it I realize that i have not seen him in quite some time.
     I would say that living in the apartment right next to mine is the greatest no holds barred but there is something negative about that apartment . Both couples who have lived next to me have divorced. I guess if you are single and you live next door to me its safe. Just don't have a spouse move in with you while living in the apartment next to me.

Maurice Sendak RIP Brought to you by Google

Where the Wild Things Are was one of my most favorite books as a child. Maurice Sendak would have been 85 today.

What If?

      What  would you do if  chas v'shalom were in an accident or in danger and you needed the help of  a  friend and your  friend did not come through for you ? Would you cut them out of your life or would you forgive them?
      I read a book about someone who was brutally  attacked and her friend saw it but ran away because she was scared. Her friend did call the police but she ran away from the situation . The friend was in such shock from seeing the attack she did not react as quickly as she should have. The woman who was attacked forgave her friend for not being as swift or as gallant as she could have been because she felt the no one knows how they would act in a dire situation and sometimes people do the wrong thing.
       B"H I have never been in that kind of situation. I was hit by a taxi when I was in college. A friend of my roommate's was staying over in my dorm room and it was a Thursday night and she wanted to go out for a soda. It was not really something that I wanted to do because I did not especially  like this friend of my roommate's . She kept begging me so eventually I went with her. On the walk home I misjudged how quickly a taxi was coming when I crossed the street against the light. This was not something I would normally do as I usually am  an overly cautious person. Sometimes when I am in the presence of others who are more daring I am more daring. In the end I was hit by the taxi . I had some injuries but I am fine now. I  later found out that my roommate's friend thought that I wanted to sue her so whenever I had tried to contact her after the accident she was nowhere to be found. That notion left me completely baffled. While it was true that  had she not begged me to join her that evening I would not have been hit by a taxi I did not hold her responsible for the accident. I thought at the time that since I really did not especially like this friend of my roommate that the fact that I went out with her  that evening that it  was just something that was supposed to happen . I did not blame her . It was the last thing on my mind. All I wanted at the time was to get better. Since I was in a college dorm at the time I had lots of people to help me. I was fortunate not to have anyone be a bad friend at the time.
       I think that no one really knows how good   a friend they would be when faced with dire circumstances. Sometimes those who one would least expect to be a good friend will be a good friend, other times those who one thinks one can count on fail to measure up. No one knows if they would forgive a friend for not measuring up when one really needs them unless one is tested in that way. 

That's a Lot of Matzah

I just came across the trailer to a documentary about Streit's matzah. Its adorable. Enjoy.

Tables

     Last month at weight watchers we focused on "mindful" eating as opposed to eating on the fly and not realizing how much you are  gobbling up. As usual it takes me a while to internalize things. I actually cleared off my table. Of course this was more because I was having guests than for dieting purposes. No matter . The deed was done. I have started eating meals at my table instead of on a tv tray in front of the television. It feels better to eat at a table . I think that I eat less at the  table than when I am watching tv . Lets see how long this habit lasts. 

Guests

 Usually when I have sleep over guests they are people that I know. Recently I had two sleep over guests- one that I knew and one that was the other guest's friend. Everything turned out fine but it made me appreciate people who are always having sleep over guests they don't know as a favor to neighbors or for a shabbaton. 

Special Diets

     Though I am not vegetarian I like vegetables and vegetarian recipe books because as someone who keeps kosher it makes it easier than using a cookbook for those with no specific diet. I was recently reading a cookbook that included information about being vegetarian or vegan and specifically what they should do when going to a restaurant that is not specifically vegetarian or vegan. It was very eye opening as individual who knows people who keep kosher most of the time but "eat dairy out" . There was a list of treif restaurant chains and  lists of  how they make their more vegetarian items. Often potato french fries are treated which beef tallow or made with meat fat. Even if the oil is vegetable oil they often use the same vegetable oil with meat dishes. They may fry eggs on the same griddle as meat  at the same time just a few inches away. Many pies and cakes contain lard. I would say that even if a person thinks that they are "just" eating dairy out they are "just " eating out fleishig as well because even the dairy stuff gets cooked with fleishig and might even have fleishig in it. I would say that if someone ate dairy "out" at a vegetarian restaurant they would know that it was just dairy but not necessarily kosher dairy. If one opts to eat non- kosher dairy  out don't delude one's self into thinking its "just" dairy. It probably is "just" meat as well.