its not a set up

one really cant rely on others to find a zivug. a friend of mine recently started dating someone who is a an acquaintance . when i found out i actually felt bad that i hadn't thought of setting them up myself. i see them together now and i think that they make such a great couple . why hadn't i thought of it ? this is exactly why im so pro singles events, and dating sites . one can be pro-active. one doesn't have to rely on others to set them up. because frankly if you wouldn't try any direct venues of finding a match even one's best friend might not think of anyone for you even if they were standing right in front of them.

you just never know....

i love when the tv news interviews neighbors of a criminal and the neighbors say, " gee he was such a good neighbor, so quiet, would not have suspected a thing." one always assumes this is hogwash. or is it? unfortunately i have learned that this is not true. sometimes one finds out a friend or acquaintance has committed a serious crime and one would never have guessed that they would have. i think that part of the reason is that one would never suspect that anyone one knows could be capable a serious crime. guess again. it is possible. unfortunately.
a man who had done construction work for my grandparents years ago later committed a serious crime. one would have never thought it possible. he was so nice to my grandparents . unfortunately the man snapped and and the rest is history.
its such a crazy world. one just never knows....

has anybody seen my hat?

the other day i was on the train and accidentally lost my hat. usually i take my hat off when i get on the train because its too darn warm and i put my hat in my backpack. on this particular day i was waayyyy too tired to do so. at some point i dropped my hat never to be seen again.
the thing that gets me is that whenever i notice that someone has dropped something on the train i tell them. in my case, no one did. perhaps no one noticed, perhaps someone noticed. ill never know. all i do know is that i lost my beloved crocheted hat that i made with my very own hands.
luckily i still had some red and white yarn sitting around, and whipped up a near identical hat.
why am i so upset? ill tell you why im so upset. i lost a hat i created and i wonder where it has gone. is someone else wearing it? did someone throw it out? did it totally get trampled? so many unanswered questions.
alas, i am glad i was able to crochet another red and white hat, but i really dug the old one and wish it was still in my possession!

classmates of anne frank

in commemoration of kristllnacht (november9-10 , 1938) the jcc of manhattan screened the documentary classmates of anne frank.
classmates of anne frank was the brainchild of theo coster, a former classmate of anne frank's . theo coster and his wife ora are the creators of many delightful childrens games which include my personal favorite guess who.eyal boers, a family member of theo coster is the director.
though this film does not delve deeply into the specific horrors of the holocaust , it does make one feel the great loss of anne frank. one sees her eighty year old former schoolmates and she is not alive to reunite with them. you see they are vibrant seniors who despite all they have endured, have had families , careers and most of all long life. anne and so many other of their classmates did not. anne was a young lady with many friends and admirers and would be a bubbly bubby today if not for hitler and his nazis. the diary of anne frank is one of the most well read books in the world. imagine how many blockbusters she would have written had she survived.
one sees the triumph of spirit these classmates have .
ive often heard it said that anne frank might have had more of a will to live had she known her father was still alive. upon mention of this in this film , anne frank's former classmate nanette konig debunked this theory. anne died of typhus. whenever anyone had typhus in the camps that was it. it was too deadly. no matter how high one's spirits.
another myth is the passage of anne's diary where she says in the end she believes all people are really good at heart. as hanna goslar and nannette konig said separately THIS WAS BEFORE AUSCHWITZ.
many of anne franks former classmates speak the world over about the holocaust. they are pleased to be known as former classmates of anne frank.
after the film there was a question and answer session with the director eyal boers as well as the daughter of anne frank's former classmate nanette konig.
as a child i encountered many holocaust survivors. they were parents or grandparents of my classmates . a documentary like this one is very important. these elderly survivors are a bridge to the past . their stories are sad , yet so inspiring. i cant imagine a world without these individuals. films like this assure that their stories can be heard in their own voices for future generations.

tweetup / blogger meet up

i went to the jewish tweetup /blogger meet up at 92y tribeca last wednesday.
when i first saw the event advertised by frumsatire on facebook, i wasnt sure if i even wanted to go. it would be fun to meet other bloggers, but did i want to blow my anonymity? would it make any difference to those who would meet me if i were no longer anonymous? would they even know i am a blogger anyway?
WELL ... i decided to go anyway. i figured chances were there would be so many people there that it wouldnt matter anyway....
there were not so many in attendance, but it was definitely quality above quantity..... though not a huge turnout, it was so social i didnt get a chance to chat with everyone!
moshe and his wife who i met months ago were there , heshy fried of frumsatire, wolfishmusings and jacobdajew, elisheva and her husband therealshliach, jacobdajew, and susanne were there. i met elke reva sudin of hipstersandhassids and her husband saul . i met itamar and metroimma. i also met sshriki who frequently comments on my blog.
it was cool to see those responsible for typing some of the blogs that i have read. there really werent enough people to make it too overwhelming.
it was kind of like a book event at barnes and noble for bloggers. someone was even on her computer during the event to make all of us bloggers feel at home. after all , stepping out of the computer into real life can be a bit daunting.

rock the vote

yes i admit that for someone who didnt even realize that there was going to be an election until last week that 'rock the vote' is quite an interesting title for this post! no matter. i might not have realized that there was going to be an election, but that does not mean that i dont think that it is important to vote.
i voted this morning at my most favorite time - 6:30 a.m. this is before work. i don't like having to stand in line to vote and usually if you vote this early in the morning there is not a line.
when i grow up i want to be one of those senior citizens who work at the polling centers. they look like they are having so much fun .
i used to go to the polls at 6:00 a.m. when they allegedly open. no more. at 6:00 a.m. the employed seniors are just trying to remember what the procedures are. i could vote that early but im not too confident my vote will actually count at that hour. by 6:30 everything is usually up and running so i feel safe to vote.
i don't know about you , but i always seem to misplace the orange or yellow postcard which tells me which election district i am in. i usually have to look up my voter registration online. i always remember where im supposed to vote. when i asked the senior at the polling center which area of the building i needed to go to to vote she told me that she thought i was in the wrong polling center. but of course. eventually i found the correct area to go to . i knew i was in the right place because i saw the same senior from last year manning the election booth.
i love the fact that new york still has the old fashioned voting booths. they are so cool. no chads to deal with either. its also good because this way the seniors who run the polls don't have to deal with any new fangled technology.
there is always so much drama during the voting process that i almost forget to find out who won!

a serious man?

the only thing serious about this movie is its title. it is a coen brothers film about a jewish physics professor named larry gopnick who is black mailed , has marital strife and and various eccentric family members. the jewish week likens larry gopnick to a modern day job. i say they are giving this film too much credit. this is a film that is one note more serious than an adam sandler movie.
the film begins with larry's 12 yr old son in hebrew school. he is close to bar mitzvah. the funniest scenes are those with the hebrew school teachers and children.
the film seems to be depicting reform jews in 1967 who seem to know a heck of alot more about judaism than most reform jews know. granted this is 1967, not 2007, but the characters are constantly referring to g-d as hashem, and ive never met a reform jew who would ever do this let alone actually know that hashem meant g-d. several of the rabbis in the film do not wear kippot in the tradition of reform jews of that era. the rabbis were portrayed in seinfeldian tradition. because they were sooo cartoonish you couldnt be too insulted by how absurd they behaved. i wish i knew more about reform judaism because i think i was missing out on some of the jokes.
as usual when i watch a movie with more authentic jewish references i find myself the only person in the audience laughing. often the hebrew/yiddish terms were not translated. the barmitzvah boy had a friend named he kept calling faigel. turns out the kids last name really was faigel. it took me awhile to figure this out . i kept thinking he was making fun of his friend. this of course was an inside joke for those in the know because it was never explained. i of course was the only one laughing about this one. there were other instances too, but i dont want to give them away if you decide to see the movie.
there is strife between larry and his wife who is carrying on with a homely widower 20 years her senior. one would be offended by the wife's overdone stereotypical jewish wife behavior, but she was so over the top one could not help but just laugh.
this is one of those few movies where actual jewish actors were used to portray jews.
after all of the comical strife that befalls larry gopnick the film has the most perfect ending. i will not tell you what it is, but i loved it.
this movie is most definitely not the the story of a modern day job. its much too over the top .
entertainment weekly said and and i concur that the idea of this movie is to show how jews of the 1960's thought they were so assimilated, but really they weren't. the way they showed this was by the inappropriately frum jargon the characters used by reform jewish characters. i find this especially interesting because more yiddish would have been used if this film were more authentic to the time period. more hebrew was used due to the lack of fluency in yiddish of the current young movie going audience.
a serious man was not the dark film i thought i was going to be. i didnt want to actually like it, it just worked out that way.