The End of Normal: A Wife's Anguish, A WIdow's New Life

     I just finished reading Mark Madoff's widow Stephanie Madoff Mack's book.  It is very sad. Mark Madoff was the older son of the infamous Bernie Madoff. Mark Madoff   committed suicide . Stephanie Madoff Mack wrote about what it was like to live under the shadow of what happened. Her father in law's sins ruined the lives of everyone around him. Bernie Madoff's children were not involved in his scheme , but they suffered from guilt by being the children of a felon. The grief was just too much for Mark Madoff to bear and tragically he ended his own life.
     I have heard a lot of people who seemed happy that Madoff had to suffer the loss of his son. I understand why they are so mad about the damage that Madoff did that they felt that way. The thing is Mark Madoff was not part of his father's ponzi scheme. Bernie Madoff swindled his own relatives as well as too many other people . A child should not have to suffer for the sins of his father when he has not followed in the father's footsteps. Some evil people are heartless anyway so what would devastate a normal person may not phase them .
     What was good about Mack's book is that it shows how deeply one person's sins can hurt another . Even when someone takes responsiblity for their sins it may not matter when they damage so many others especially loved ones along the way. A lot of people think that dishonesty is okay so long as they don't get caught. This book is here to tell you what happens when someone is caught and what it does to all those caught up in the web.
     Unfortunately I know of others who have committed lesser scale ponzi schemes. The results no less devastating. It is so important to be honest in business. Let Stephanie Madoff Mack's book be that cautionary tale. Her life was destroyed due to her former father in law's sins. Don't let this happen to you or anyone else you love.

extraordinary ordinary people

i just finished reading condoleeza rice's book extraordinary ordinary people. it is a her memoir. it is quite fascinating.
condoleeza rice was born in birmingham , alabama in 1954 . segragation was alive and well in the southern united states and was especially strong in birmingham, alabama. she was the only child of middle class black teachers/professors. she is a pianist who became interested in politics after taking a political science class in college in denver from a course taught by josef korbel who was madeliene albright's father. madeleine albright was at studying at columbia at the time.
rice's parents moved her to denver when she was a teenager as they  found teaching jobs there. bentzion netanyahu was a professor at the university of denver who also lived in the apartment complex her parents lived in . he invited rice and her family to the first seder she ever attended. later, in  the political arena rice would always send regards to bibi's father whenever she would see him.
though i was aware that rice was secretary state i did not think much about it which is why this autobiography was so delightfully informative. it is so well written. her journey is so inspirational. i highly recommend this book.

The Joy of Books

this is such a cool video. i like all forms of books as in e-books and physical books. this video is such a great homage to physical books. enjoy!

free???? book events

it finally happened like i knew it would. the death of the free celebrity book reading. i went to barnes and noble's in union square tonight intending to see katie couric speak about her new book and there was a barricade in front of the book event space. the guard said that there was priority seating for those who bought books and those who didn't buy  books could wait in the stand by  line to be seated later. this is a first . i don't know it if was just because it was katie couric's book event, or if this is the new policy. either way it sucks. i admit that i don't always buy the book when i attend a book event, but there are many times when i do end up buying the book  after hearing snippets of the book during the book event . i thought that this was one of the ideas of a book event.
lots of people attend book events and do not buy the book so i understand why they want to have priority seating for book buyers at these events. however, if i have to wait in a stand by line before a book event i won't bother attending the  event unless i know for sure before hand that i wanted to buy the book. the store will be missing out on me buying a book only because i attended the book event because if i can't get a seat unless i buy the book, im not going to bother attending at all. this is why i said that these book events are no longer free. if i must buy the book to get a  seat the book event  is no longer free.
i have the feeling that the priority seating will only be for big name book events because few will want to buy a book buy an author they are unfamiliar with before attending their book event.
if i would stand in a stand by line to get a seat at a book event i would on principle not buy the book.
im so glad i have taken advantage of attending all the book events i could possibly attend in the past ten years because now the party is over  .

the demise of the bookstore

one of the most sad events in current history is borders bookstore filing for chapter eleven. a lot of borders bookstores in manhattan are closing including one branch that was/is  near where i work. i am despondent. i loved their book events. i loved being able to run there for a seven o'clock book event on nights i worked late and still be able to get their on time because it was so close by . i loved browsing the books during my lunch break from work.
alas, i too am the owner of an e-reader. so even sad as i am about the bookstore closures i am part of the reason bookstores are closing. i don't buy as many print books as i used to.
another reason bookstores are closing is due to the internet. many of us are buying books online. its usually cheaper to buy a book online even if its from a website that has a physical bookstore.
of course now that everyone is buying almost everything online what are we all doing in all of our free time??
libraries are still open. i like libraries, but i've always liked bookstores better because bookstores always have the new releases quicker than the library does.
i recently attended a book event at barnes and noble . it was incredible. the place was filled with swarms of people. im sure that there were  many people who bought the book, but it seemed like there were less people who bought the book at this event then at events years ago. the event that i was at recently was for the younger crowd. the younger crowd is much more tech savvy so they might not be as likely to buy print books than the older crowd.  perhaps more bookstores should have book events that target the older crowd that  is more technologically phobic and more likely to buy a print book.
p.s. the above photos were taken at the borders at columbus circle which actually is still open. i just didnt have any photos of any other borders bookstores.

hush

i just finished reading the book hush by  a woman whose pseudonym is eishes chayil..i am in awe.
sexual abuse in the clergy is not a new thing especially among the catholics. these issues have only been out in the open in the recent past. sexual abuse of children is not limited to any particular religious group and isnt only something priests do to catholic school children. its an equal opportunity psychological disorder.
 recently chassidishe as well as yeshivish pediphiles have polluted the airwaves with scandal. what had once been taboo to discuss has been blown out of the water. exposing such monsters does not mean that everyone who is chassidishe or yeshivish is a pedophile just like all catholic priests are not pedophiles either. the point of blowing the cover of such scoundrels is to protect the innocent who have been scarred by such monsters and to not let them ever commit such vile acts again.
a woman who calls herself eishes chayil witnessed her childhood friend being molested. she also knew of a boy who had hung himself because he had been molested. the community she grew up in was hush-hush about these events. they didn't want anyone to know lest it ruin their chances for shidduchim. eishes chayil wanted to wake people up. sexual abuse of  children occurs in every community and must be addressed so there will never be another child  suffering from sexual abuse. eishes chayil succeeds in conveying her message by portraying a multifaceted, loving  and g-d fearing community of chassidim who are a bit too  concerned with being spurned by the community for condemning child molestation and not concerned enough about preventing it in the first place. it might ruin their shidduch chances. it might cause them to be threatened  physically. this type of ignorance must not continue.                                                                             because this is a novel and not just a newspaper article eishes chayil was able to show us the beauty and innocence of a chassidishe lifestyle. chassidim may be much too concerned with what the jones' will say but they are also basically caring people.they  just need to work on this issue.  we don't need any more young men jumping from their hotel windows on their wedding night because they were molested as a children.
there is a reason why the world is more open about psychological disorders. it is so those who chas v'shalom have to endure such atrocities will be able to be helped and so abusers will stop.
when a frum community ignores the cries of those who are molested because it may be lashon hara or because  it could ruin the good name of the molester's family that community is condoning molestation. silence is acquiescence. the torah does not say one should stand idly by while children are abused. that is not torah and it is not frumkeit. it seems the chassidim are more concerned with the good of many rather than the well being of an individual. im not sure why. i know that ive learned in the modern orthodox school that i went to as a child that if you save one person it is as if you have saved an entire world. if one person is murdered it is as if a whole world has been destroyed. is this not a chassidishe or yeshivish concept? i thought that this was what the torah espouses. period.
everyone loses when molestation occurs . the victim as well as all of their friends and family.
thank you eishes chayil for writing this tenderly  written  book about such a grievous issue. if it will help but  one child be safe it will have been successful.  may this book protect  us all.

naomi ragen

i have always found that reading naomi ragen's books has been a guilty pleasure. you want to hate them but they are just too much fun to read.
the first naomi ragen book that i have read was jephte's daughter . though i enjoyed the book very much i regret to inform you that i have no recollection of it because i read it so long ago. naomi ragen was to me the first of a genre of writers who write about frum people because this is how they grew up, and they don't hate frum people and they dont have everyone throwing off the yoke of torah at the end of the book like an erica jong, belva plan or howard fast book.
naomi ragen isnt afraid to confront social justice issues in the frum community . people don't always agree with her conclusions but i think its good to voice awareness. she criticises to provoke change not to merely air dirty laundry.
naomi ragen recently came out with a new book the tenth song. i haven't read the book yet but i plan to. its already on my kindle.
a few days ago i went to borders for a book reading with naomi ragen. i had to go. i was not disappointed. she  is conservative middle aged  modern orthodox woman who possesses extreme fiestiness.
there was a small crowd at borders for her book reading which i found sad for such a well known author. its always fun to meet a favorite writer. it adds a whole other dimention!

my secret camera

my secret camera by frank dabba smith has the most amazing photos of the lodz ghetto. mendel grossman lived in the lodz ghetto and kept his camera hidden in his pocket as he photographed everyday moments of jewish people in the ghetto. they are very gentle photos that capture the humanity of these people who eventually endured brutal torture. they are also very artistic photos. when i look at the photos in this book the people come to life unlike other photographs. mendel grossman manages to capture the emotions and personalities of  his subjects.
this book is available in the new york public library in the children's section.. im not quite sure why. its not really a children's book. its also available on amazon.com and bn.com.
i bought this book years ago and im still in awe of these photos.
my most favorite photo is filled with valises and many people just schmoozing. one's eyes can't help but notice two women in this scene who are chatting as if they are in a supermarket . in another corner of this photo there are two ten year old boys smiling as if they are having a grand old time. its the saddest photo because with  the distance of time we all know what happend next to most of these people.these "before"  photos show these  precious souls before they became the skeletons of nazi war footage.
my secret camera  is not a sad book . its a lovely homage to those who perished. these photos attest to how much beauty was erased from this world. their physical beings may be gone, but some of their images are saved in this small photo book .

the end of the story

im a girl who hates surprises. i usually read the last few pages of a book first. im THAT impatient.
on the other hand i believe that life is like a story and death is like the end of the story. with the story of life i for darn sure am not racing to see what the ending is . id prefer to enjoy the journey . id like to take my time getting to the happily ever after, the end part.

the illustrated people

when i was a kid the only tattooed person i remember seeing was on the cover of ray bradbury's book the illustrated man. now i realize that part of the reason i did not encounter many tattooed people was because i lived in the midwest. but still. i dont think that tattoos were as much the rage years ago as they are now. it seems that so many seemingly "normal" folk have them. what are these people thinking? i realize that as a jew that the torah forbids tattoos , but lets get real. who wants to voluntarily inflict pain upon one's self? i for one do not. and does any twenty-something consider how ridiculous these tattoos will look when they are eighty? tattoos arent so easily removed . what looks hip at twenty-two is extremely un-hip at eighty. then again the only thing hip at eighty is a hip replacement. but you catch my drift.

the freedom writers

i just finished reading a most incredible book compiled by erin gruwell and her students called the freedom writers . erin gruwell is a white woman who taught kids from the hood to channel their anger into writing using the diary of anne frank as a catalyst. reading the diaries of these high school students is a rude awakening. there are fourteen year olds who are jaded by drunk or druggie parents and have been molested by parents or family "friends". so many of their friends and relatives are in jail or have been murdered. most adults ( bh) have not experienced as much adversity as these teenagers. because there is so much corruption around them many cannot rise above it. many do not have a support system that could help them rise above their lot. erin gruwell created a classroom that was supportive . she also had them read books and diaries of those who rose above hate and racism so they would not feel like their suffering is debilitating. she encouraged them to share their own stories through writing their own journals.

reading this book made me thankful that i did not grow up in the hood.

after teaching this group of students for four years erin gruwell taught college courses to create future educators how who will foster a nurturing teaching environment for students from backgrounds like the freedom writers so their students will be able to rise above their "destiny" .

book: the women who raised me

i just finished reading a most excellent book called the women who raised me by victoria rowell.

victoria rowell is an actress on the soap opera the young and the restless .

please don't stop reading folks. this post is not about about a book about the frivolous life of a soap actress. this post is about the fact that its not what your background that defines you, its what you do with your life.

victoria rowell is the biological child of a mentally unstable white woman and an unknown black father. she grew up as a foster child and a ward of the state of maine . this woman did not let this stop her from reaching for her dreams . it also did not stop her for being grateful to the people who were present for her in her childhood as well as the rest of her life.

whenever i think of foster children i conjure up an unstable child. many children who go through the foster care system get quite messed up. partly due to their upbringing , partly up to their unwise choices.

as a young child one of her foster mothers helped her cultivate her innate talent for dance by finding a dance program for foster and disadvantaged children in boston .the rest is history.

victoria rowell went on to dance with twyla tharp, become an actress as well as found her own charities for foster children.

victoria rowell proves that it pays to be a foster parent or a mentor in general. her biggest achievement is not her career , but the fact that she has such hakaras hatov- such appreciation- for those who helped her along the way to shape who she is today .

reading this book can be quite tough. its so sad to see how alone a foster child can be even in the best of cases. what makes it worthwhile is the ending where this child ward of the state has such determination to evolve into such a grounded,positive , accomplished individual.

the barnes and noble date

one thing i hate about midwood is that there are no secular bookstores here. on the weekends i often frequent park slope where there is a barnes and noble bookstore. one would think that frum jews do not frequent secular bookstores given the desert of secular bookstores in midwood and dare i say boro park or crown heights. well.... EVERY time i go to the barnes and noble in park slope i am always in good frum company. today was no exception. however today there was a special treat. the frum barnes and noble date. this is a welcome update on the lounge date.
at first i wasnt sure what i was seeing. i saw one very decked out ultra frum bais yaakov type girl sitting by herself at a table at the cafe. a few tables over i saw another very dressed up bais yaakov type girl. eventually i saw their dates sitting with them.
i have always thought that a bookstore is a good site for a frum date. we are the people of the book for heaven's sake!
aside from the dates there were several woman with sheitels and men with yarmulkes reading books at several tables in the cafe.
half the fun of going to the barnes and noble in park slope is having an excuse to frequent the hip park slope. if there was a barnes and noble in midwood i probably wouldn't go to park slope all that often.

a matter of faith

a few years ago i read the book the spirit catches you and you fall down by anne fadiman. its about a child of Hmong immigrants in merced california who has epilepsy and the culture clash with the hospital , doctors and modern medicine. though they did not denounce doctors and modern medicine they had their own version of faith healing and rituals which they incorporated into their child's treatment. it was difficult to communicate with them even with a translator because there weren't words in their language to convey the western information that needed to be transmitted to them.
the title of the book is the Hmong definition of an epileptic seizure. to them it is like g-d is lifting them up and then lets go and then they have a seizure. the Hmong consider this to be very spiritual.
what really struck me as interesting in this book were the rituals the Hmong performed to help treat their child. they didn't make much medical sense which frustrated the medical professionals, but some of their rituals actually helped her, though they were quite unusual. ( unfortunately i read the book a few years ago so i don't remember exactly what they were).
this made me really think . because these people really had faith that their rituals would change their child's fate it did help her. it did not cure her, but the authorities all saw that this child was well taken care of and by her behavior was a child who was loved and knew how to love others. they also saw that ultimately the beliefs and rituals of this family probably did not make her any worse for wear if not maybe even better off.
this of course made me think a lot about the power of faith and prayer. does prayer work proportionate to how much a person believes in it, or does it work because it works? i have heard that a patient will heal quicker if he has confidence that his doctor will cure him. on the other hand , i have heard that if someone prays for someone else, even if the person doesn't know about it they will (or it will help) them get better. perhaps it is only crucial for the person doing the prayer or ritual to have faith in what they are doing .
i prefer to believe that prayer does help and that it is real. we don't always get want we ask for, but i think that it is important to ask anyway. perhaps prayer is meant to be a lesson. we pray to get want we want. it is important to ask for what we need in life even if we may not get it. the point is not whether we get what we need and want but that we try . also, the more that we believe in change, hope and recovery the more it will happen.

making trouble... again

as anyone who reads this blog knows, im a big fan of movies and an even bigger fan of movies with jewish themes. i reviewed the movie making trouble almost two years ago after i viewed it at the jewish film festival. since i wrote this review january 23, 2008 which was at the beginning of my blogging career i thought this movie deserves a second mention for those of you who may not have seen this review, or the movie for that matter.
this review is a bit updated from my last review because after a second viewing of the film i realized that i had mixed up some of the facts in my first review! anyway, here goes....
making trouble is a film directed by rachel talbot and presented by the jewish womens archive. the movie is about funny jewish women, featuring molly picon, fanny brice, sophie tucker , joan rivers, gilda radnor , and wendy wasserstein. though joan rivers is not the youngest of the lot, she is the only one still alive. the movie begins with four younger jewish comediennes- judy gold, jackie hoffman, cory kahaney and jessica kirson sitting at katz's deli discussing the topic of jewish women in comedy and introducing these legendary ladies of comedy.
the first great lady of jewish comedy featured was molly picon. she grew up in philadelphia and started out performing in vaudeville. subsequently she starred in many yiddish films and plays. to me she is legendary even though i had never heard of her until i happened upon her 1980's autobiography at the library. after reading about her life i watched many of her films on video from the library and became a huge fan.the woman did somersaults at eighty!! one of the most touching scenes recounted in the film was how molly went to the d.p. camps after the holocaust and performed for the survivors. in an interview, she spoke of a mother who held out her small child and begged molly to perform saying " my child has never heard laughter. perform for her!" and she spoke of child survivors who she had performed for outside who insisted she perform even in the rain. it was amazing to see film clips of an exuberant molly playing a teenager in yiddle mitn fiddle at 37 years of age.
next up was fanny brice who was quite a star in her time as well. my parents have always remembered her playing baby snooks. fanny brice was so popular that a betty boop cartoon even features her in cartoon. fanny brice was a beautiful woman, but since she didnt posses the blond haired, blue eyed look of the time so she became a comedic actress instead of the romantic lead. she eventually got a nose job to look less jewish. from the footage she looked very jewish , but contrary to what many say, she was not ugly. apparently she did not have a yiddish accent, but affected one when she performed.
sophie tucker , who id heard of but knew the least about was also featured. she grew up in connecticut to an observant jewish family. after a brief marriage and the birth of a son she went off to become a performer at the tender age of 17. to me she seemed the least jewish of all of the comediennes featured even though her life was very much entwined in the jewish community.
sophie's grand-niece was featured giving insight about her aunt. eerily this niece very much resembles her great aunt.
next up was joan rivers. when they showed a recent clip of her it was heartbreaking. she has done so much plastic surgery that she looks more like jocelyn wildenstein than jocelyn wildenstein herself. id seen old footage of joan rivers when i was a child, but this was the first time i had seen old footage of hers as an adult. she was truly funny from the start. the thing that i have always like about joan rivers is that she never denies her jewishness. in fact she owns it. upon viewing her pre-plastic surgery self, i realized that she never needed any to begin with.
gilda radner was always my favorite on saturday night live. i read a lovely book about her by alan zwiebel called bunny, bunny. alan zwiebel was featured in her retrospective in the film. the film included my favorite snl faux commercial for jewess jeans. i hadnt seen it in years. it was just as funny now as it had been then . they also showed a clip with bill murray and john belushi where gilda lights the menorah and says the bracha over the candles. they also showed clips of lisa lupner and roseann roseanadann.
last but not least was wendy wasserstein. though i admit that ive only read a few of her works i think that she was truly amazing. it is so unfortunate that she died so young. i met her in person a few years ago when she did a book reading at barnes and noble for her book shiksa goddess. wendy was such a regular person. she appeared to be the type of person you'd want to be friends with. she was so real. the interviews for this film were taped right before her passing. in fact she passed away before the film was made. it was hard to watch those recent clips of her because she looked like she was in so much pain. thankfully there were other clips of her when she was more vibrant. when the sisters rosensweig came out they wanted her to change the name because it sounded too jewish. why did she have to call it the sisters rosensweig? they said that people around the country would not be able to relate to it. to which she replied " people in around the country don't have sisters?"
i appreciated the contrast between the younger jewish comediennes and the older ones. as you are hearing them retell the stories of these great ladies, you hope that one day their careers will be retold on film.
i wished the film would never end, but alas it did. it was perfection. i highly recommend it. it was a fabulous retrospective with an equal mix of facts i had already known and facts i was honored to learn. once in awhile it is screened around the united states and its now available on dvd through the jwa.

kindle

i finally did it. i broke down and bought a kindle. i bought it for my birthday . i do admit that i felt a bit extravagant buying it. so far i do like it. i visited my parents last week and it was very convenient to have on the plane ride. it is different than reading from a book but i would say its good different, not bad different. all books are not available on the kindle yet, but most new ones are. i would imagine that eventually many more books will be available on the kindle once people adjust to the new technology.
i love conventional books, but i dont have enough room for all of the books i love on my bookshelves. keeping books on a kindle maximizes space and saves trees. i wont miss conventional books, because i will still be reading them on shabbos . shabbos lamps have been created but not shabbos kindles. yet....

under lock and key

on sunday while i was flipping through some cool books at urban outfitters i came across a book of postcards. one of the postcards really struck a chord. here goes: ' i ran away when you tried to find the key to my heart and i found someone else who will never want to find it. '
i pray that this will never be my postcard. relationships can be scary especially if i like someone, but i hope i am brave enough to face the challenge.

hands of my father

every time i see a deaf person signing i am mesmorized. its a most beautiful language to watch. i always hope im not being impolite when i am watching.

often there are people signing at book readings or shiurim that i have attended. most recently there was a translator signing at barnes and noble at union square for a larry king book reading. though i wanted to watch the signing it was also distracting, not unlike subtitles in foreign movies. if you dont need the translation it can be distracting.

as a child i learned the alphabet in sign language which proved to be more fun than passing notes in class. at some point i remember learning how to sign shema as well.

over shabbos i read the most incredible book. hands of my father by myron uhlberg . this is about the hearing son of two deaf parents. this is one of the most beautifully written books i have ever come across. the photos that are included are fabulous. myron uhlberg's parents were born in the early 1900's to jewish immigrant families. though their parents never learned sign language themselves, they loved their deaf children enough to send them to deaf schools so that they would be able to read and write .they learned sign language from their school friends. louis and sarah uhlberg married and had children during the depression. louis uhlberg supported his family as a printer. both of myron's parents knew that hearing people did not think of deaf people as being completely human or intelligent. they did not care. the times they lived in were not very accepting of those with disabilities. they persisted and lived full lives. they had a strong marital bond and deeply loved their children.

for young myron it was challenging to be the hearing child of deaf parents. his first language was sign . the first words he signed were 'i love you' . from the time he was six years old he became his fathers voice when needed. he also heard what hearing people said about deaf people which was tough for a child. especially tough for a child who knew how very special his parents were.

the most wonderful part of the book is how the author really lets the reader get to know his parents, especially his father. his father did not let his disability get in his way. he could not hear, but his other senses were heightened . because he could not hear he could clearly see who people were . he could not be fooled by people whose words did not match their facial expressions, because he could not hear them in the first place. it was also wonderful to read how this hearing boy had a normal childhood even in such a unique situation. he had to be adult when he had to speak for his father, but his father still wanted him to be a child.

louis and sarah uhlberg grew up in a tough time for deaf people, but they were very strong people. they had families who never truly understood them or had faith in their abilities , but managed to have a marriage any couple could envy and raise two very special children.

unfortunately louis uhlberg's parents werent able to give him a connection to judaism. it was also hard for louis uhlberg to reconcile how hashem could have made him deaf. in his youth shul's werent deaf friendly.

it was a pleasure reading such a loving tribute from a son to his parents. it was such a pleasure getting to know them. it was hard to put the book down.

this is a book of triumph over the face of adversity which i highly recommend.

kindle

ever since the kindle has been invented i have considered buying one. not being one to make snap decisions i still have not purchased one. one reason i havent purchased one yet is because you cant use a kindle on shabbos. of course i usually read magazines on shabbos . but this is besides the point. a kindle is certainly lighter to carry around than a book. you dont need a computer to upload the books either, they can be put directly onto the kindle itself. now there are also some cool kindle covers that are even in my favorite color purple.
im not sure how i feel about viewing book pictures on a kindle. its a different experience. looking at a print of a photo is totally different than viewing a digital photo on the camera itself. i think it might be hard to get used to . with a kindle you can buy a book and even store it on the kindle or on your computer for reading at different juncture. you own the book, but just virtually. its not exactly the same thing. then again, i am still one of the few who borrow books from the public library. the books on loan from the library are never really mine either and it doesnt bother me all that much.
travel would be easier with a kindle . i wouldnt have to buy as many books pre-vacation. i would still need to bring some books if i was to go a away for a long yom tov. a kindle would still lighten my luggage.
eventually i will break down and get one. too bad im so technologically reluctant.

salute to israel parade 2009

it was a beautiful day for a parade, except for the brief rain at 4:20 yesterday afternoon when i was leaving the post - parade concert in central park.

the parade was as enjoyable as ever. kahane chai or jdl or whatever they are calling themselves these days were there selling meir kahane's books. they had the book why be jewish . that book had been out of print for years. i had been trying to find it ever since i took it out of the library about ten years ago. though the pop-culture references in the book are dated, the sentiment is not.

its always fun to see the professional marching bands mixed with the usual hodgepodge of parade marchers.

enjoy the pictures.