Personal Space

     One of the things I dislike about living in religious Jewish  Brooklyn is the blatant disregard for personal space. It always bothers me how no matter how much I try to  not walk into someone someone always walks into me. For people who claim to be shomer negiah its a little odd.
       During this plague of coronovirus it seems the chassidic and yeshivish have seemed to be the last to adhere to the concept of social distancing which makes sense. The most physically pushy people just can't seem to tamp things down.
        It does suprise me how little regard for personal space people have here.When I broke my shoulder people would just run right into me even when I was wearing a sling . I find the lack of regard for personal space so unrefined and actually so un-Jewish. I am not against physical contact with others , but being bumped into constantly by strangers is unwanted physical contact.
       If the result of the current plague would be that people could get a little closer to my normal state of social distancing physically  it will have all been worth it.
   

Temporarily Closed World

   I do admit I was freaking out about this plague , but now I am beginning to calm down a bit. Its nice to be at home and watch television. I have been catching up on all of the tv shows that I have been meaning to watch  which is a good thing. I am missing being at work just for the human contact. I was at work this week and will be going to work once a week for awhile as they can't afford anything else. I work in the medical field so they are open. Blah. After much freaking out I have decided to risk going to work as I do not want to lose my job.
    The last time I was on house arrest was when I broke my shoulder three years ago. At least this time I am not in physical pain and I am able to enjoy watching television and reading and crocheting. All of the important things in life.
      I am going to miss going to the botanical gardens as they are closed for a little bit but I went the past two Sundays which I am so happy about. I saw the magnolia blossoms and cherry blossoms which are so good for the soul. Hopefully they will reopen soon.

magnolia blossoms

cherry blossoms

Corono Crazy

     As I am writing there is a health crisis in the United States and around the world. After my initial panic I have calmed down. Most people who contract this virus have a very mild case of it and recover. Its really bad if the elderly contract it or if someone with a compromised immune system contracts it. Oh and there isn't a cure or much treatment for it yet. The panic over the epidemic has made panic buy toilet paper to the point no toilet paper could be found. I luckily bought toilet paper last week when I saw a you tube video of two women fighting over toilet paper in a grocery store in Australia. Crazy I know.
     I went to work all week last week . I rode the subway with about half the people who are usually on the subway . It was surreal, but good because for those who had to take public transportation there were less people breathing the air.
      The scariest part of the pandemic is the lack of information that is out there. I think that it is important to be okay with the not knowing no matter how gnawing. Eventually it will be solved, but hopefully sooner than later. 

Exclusive: Rep. Ayanna Pressley Reveals Beautiful Bald Head and Talks Al...

   On Thursday Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley decided to reveal that she has alopecia and then reveals her bald head for all to see. While I think that it was very brave of her to share this I find how she presented it quite curious. She feels that its dishonest not to reveal her bald head since she has been using her ethnically black hair styles to make her more help forge a bond with voters. Hmmm. So now she wants to reveal her bald head because after all bald is beautiful. Hmmm. Well isn't she kind of ignoring the elephant in the room? Instead of being a public service announcement for alopecia she has announced she has alopecia because she feels dishonest. Her hair is really a wig and to her that makes her less relateable to other blacks as a congresswoman. Wow. She really is putting her head in the sand.
   Alopecia is stress related and it is more rare to get alopecia totalis as Pressley has. It seems being a congresswoman is really getting to her and her body can' t seem to hide it so she got alopecia.
I feel bad for her but she is clueless. Alopecia is there to tell her to slow down. . A lot of women are going through this these days. Why not advocate slowing down  and listening to the signs one's body is giving them?  While its good not to beat ones self up over things like this its also not really  a bald is beautiful moment. Is Pressley really that unevolved ?
   As an alopecia sufferer I think that Pressley's reveal is a ploy at self promotion when it really could have been a wonderful way to raise awareness of the way alopecia affect a person's life. She just made it a political fashion statement. Good grief.  I'm unimpressed and I have alopecia .areatta.

Steven Skybell & Jennifer Babiak sing "Do You Love Me" from Yiddish Fidd...

   I really love this song in Yiddish. They do such a good job . 

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF in YIDDISH FOLKSBIENE …… Stephen Sorokoff

    I saw FIDDLER ON THE ROOF IN YIDDISH last week. I don't really speak Yiddish but I had gotten good recommendations from friends and decided to splurge and see it.
  There are English subtitles on curtains on either side of the stage and I will admit that its a little annoying to have to look at them because you do miss some of the action when you are looking at the subtitles. That said, I think that this was one of the most moving renditions of Fiddler on the Roof that I have ever seen. Okay, I just saw this and the movie from 1972. But still, its quite good. The old Yiddish Tevye Der Milkeur  (not sure if I am spelling it correctly) is the best but I know that will never be repeated. In the old Yiddish version, Chava notices her mother's wedding dress among her gentile husband's family's possession after a pogrom and then goes back to live with her father and leaves Anetevka with her father and sisters. Of course, this is most likely what happened if this story was real. Hollywood can't handle this of course.
  Now that we have gotten my reservations out of the way, Steven Skybell was a wonderful Tevye. He brought so much strength and warmth to the role. Jennifer Babiak looked too young to be playing Golde, but was good as well. Jackie Hoffman who plays Yente stole every scene she was in . The shabbos scene in the play was better than in the movie and I loved the bottle dancers at the wedding. I also loved the eerieness of Tevye's dream.
   Most of the cast did not speak Yiddish to begin so they had to teach them what the words meant and how to pronounce them. Many of the actors were not Jewish.
    The play is so powerful because it is spoken in the language the people in the story would have spoken. It is also more emotional seeing it on a stage than on the a screen.
   Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish is playing until January 5 off Broadway. It is worth the splurge. 

Mini AOC

 This little girl is my hero. She makes me laugh so much. She should be on Saturday Night Live.