Abq Jew ® Blog

First Pesach in Rhode Island

2026-03-25T09:08:00.004-06:00

Passover Is Almost Here: A time when Jews all over the world gather with friends and family, to celebrate our Holiday of Freedom.

This year, Mr & Mrs Abq Jew

will celebrate Pesach for the
first time in the Ocean State.
With family, while thinking of friends
in the Land of Enchantment.

Abq Jew here thoughtfully provides his and your favorite
three (3) classic videos. What would Pesach be without them?

1. Google Exodus: Best. Passover. Video. Ever.

2. Passover Rhapsody: Second. Best. Passover. Video. Ever.

3. The Passover Prank. Best. Passover. Prank. Video. Ever. For parents who (especially) miss their kids on Pesach.

Who know that Zoom is never enough.

As the Seders approach, Abq Jew must remind us all
(he must! he must!) that Good News, Salvation and Comfort
are just one (1) Pesach visitor away.

?אחד מי יודע

Tonight Could Be The Night!

At our Pesach seders

we Jews have been opening our doors to Elijah for thousands of years.

We still believe that Elijah the Prophet will return tonight

and announce the Coming of the Messiah.

When that happens, our first question will be:

Did Elijah remember to send out a press release?

If he did — you may learn the Good News in a few days or weeks.

But you can always hear about Salvation and Comfort at

AbqJew.net & AbqJew.com

Your guide to Jewish life in Albuquerque and beyond

A Zissen Pesach, World!

Chag Kasher veSameach, New Mexico!

Happy Passover, Rhode Island!

Take it easy!

You will perform Bedikat Chametz, burn the chametz, and publicly announce that any chametz remaining in your possession is 'ownerless property, as the dust of the earth'. Take it easy!

The First Pesach in Rhode Island

The Abq Jew Calendar Prepares

2026-03-10T10:04:00.003-06:00

To Sign Off: It's been more than 15 years!

Abq Jew set up the Community Calendar at

https://www.abqjew.com/calendar.php

to inform current, new, and prospective visitors and residents about Jewish events in New Mexico.

Specifically - Abq Jew set up the Calendar to enable Jewish New Mexico's organizations and institutions to coordinate their event planning.

Abq Jew has made the Calendar (and the Upcoming Community Events email) available to the world 24/7 for more than 15 years.

From the beginning, the Calendar - and all of Abq Jew's work - has been supported by many of New Mexico's individuals, businesses, and Jewish institutions.

Later, the Calendar was also supported by and shared with the Jewish Federation, and appeared on the Jewish Federation's website for many years. Then, the Jewish Community Foundation continued that support.

But now - it's time for something new.

But it's not here yet.

To explain all this more concisely:

The Abq Jew Website will remain up indefinitely. But updating it will take place only occasionally, as Abq Jew's time permits.
The Abq Jew Blog will remain up indefinitely. But updating it will take place only occasionally, as Abq Jew's time permits.
The Abq Jew Calendar will remain up indefinitely (as part of the Website). But Abq Jew will not update it after March 30.

Abq Jew will continue to send the weekly Upcoming Community Events email until March 30.

Until then (and for all time) -

And remember - you can buy Abq Jew a coffee anytime!

Remembering Neil Sedaka of blessed memory

The Lights of Albuquerque

2025-12-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

Like a Diamond in the Desert: Well, it's been more than six months since Mr & Mrs Abq Jew (and Ziggy, our Very Large Borzoi/Greyhound) said farewell to Duke City and the Land of Enchantment.

And you, Abq Jew's loyal readers, must be asking - what does Abq Jew, now happily living in the Ocean State, close to family, miss most?

First of all: friends. Being 2,167 miles away is not the same as being in the same metropolitan area.

Second: the sun. New Mexico, with its 300-to-320-day annual average sunshine, was the original Sunshine State - we even had it on our license plates! - until the hot-and-humid state of Florida stole our nickname. As we all know.

And third:

The Lights of Albuquerque

This may be what Abq Jew misses most. Just remembering how he used to drive up Golf Course Road and make the turn onto Congress Avenue ... or drive down Davenport Street and make the turn onto Paradise Boulevard ....

And there was Albuquerque, laid out before him. Like a diamond in the desert, every time he saw it. Gorgeous in the daytime; absolutely marvelous at night.

And now there are tears in Abq Jew's eyes, just thinking about it. It gets worse when Abq Jew hears Jim Glaser sing about it.

Desert moon, lights the freeway up tonight,

Chevy van, how I wish that you could fly.

Gotta get to her and tell her I was wrong,

But I'm still such a long, long way from home,

And the road goes on, on and on, on and on.

But the Lights of Albuquerque, will soon be shining bright,

Like a diamond in the desert, like a beacon in the night.

And I wonder if she'll take me back, will she understand?

Will the Lights of Albuquerque, shine for me again?

Thinking back, to the foolish things I said.

Looking out, at the white lines up ahead.

Gonna tell her I can't make it on my own.

Oh, this empty feeling won't leave me alone.

It goes on and on, on and on, on and on

But the Lights of Albuquerque, will soon be shining bright,

Like a diamond in the desert, like a beacon in the night.

And I wonder if she'll take me back, will she understand?

Will the Lights of Albuquerque, shine for me again?

Yes, Rhode Island is beautiful, too.

And it's wonderful to be able to share birthdays, anniversaries, holidays - and just regular drop-by-for-no-reason-at-all days - with the family.

But then, there's Albuquerque.

To a safe, healthy, happy new year!

Rabbi Eliezer Diamond Dies at 73

2025-12-18T04:00:00.003-07:00

Beloved Teacher: With great sorrow, Abq Jew announces the passing - one week ago today - of one of his first Torah (in the general sense) and (more specifically) Talmud teachers, Rabbi Eliezer Diamond.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reports:

Rabbi Eliezer Diamond, beloved Jewish Theological Seminary professor and author, dies at 73
Over his illustrious career as a rabbinic scholar, Diamond mentored generations of rabbis.

Rabbi Eliezer Diamond, who taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary for over three decades and left an indelible mark on generations of rabbis and Jewish scholars, has died.
Diamond died Thursday at 73, following several years battling multiple forms of cancer.
Born in 1952, Diamond received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees and rabbinical ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University from 1968 to 1977.
But it was at JTS, the Conservative flagship in New York City, where Diamond earned his doctorate in Talmud and was the Rabbi Judah Nadich Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, that his talents for mentorship and teaching flourished.

Yes, Abq Jew was also at JTS, the Conservative flagship in New York City. But Abq Jew never had the privilege of learning with Rabbi Diamond there.

But Abq Jew did have the privilege of learning with Eliezer Diamond at NYC's Orthodox flagship, the famed Lincoln Square Synagogue (the old building, as pictured) during the summer of 1974.

Here is how Lincoln Square Synagogue got started:

In 1964, in the living room of Emma and Danny Mars's apartment in Lincoln Towers, a part-time rabbi from Yeshiva University named Steven Riskin took the budding Lincoln Square Conservative Synagogue by storm.

His originality, charm and boundless energy captivated members and moved them to a more traditionally observant Judaism, in turn sparking a growing Jewish renaissance on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Before long, a new synagogue-in-the round made its debut at 200 Amsterdam Avenue, and the excitement at the renamed Lincoln Square Synagogue brought hundreds of young single professionals to the neighborhood, creating a vibrant scene for mixing and matching.

Young families were also drawn to LSS, attracted by the dazzling teachings of Rabbi Riskin, assisted by Rabbi Herschel Cohen z”l and Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald, and the gorgeous melodies of Cantor Sherwood Goffin.

“The New Orthodox” they called it on the cover of New York Magazine. Who knew?

But as members struggled to navigate between the laws of Jewish tradition and the secular values of the surrounding society, Lincoln Square Synagogue began to see its destiny.

In the summer of 1974, Eliezer Diamond was "just" a YU rabbinical student; Abq Jew was newly arrived from California with little formal Jewish education; and Lincoln Square Synagogue was just getting started.

Just down the street from the temples of high culture at Lincoln Center, Lincoln Square Synagogue quickly established itself as a temple of an innovative kind, showcasing the classical and the contemporary, history and modernity.

With joy and pride, the challenges of present-day living were brought into harmony with the ancient traditions passed down through the generations.

The sacred liturgical texts of tefillah were infused with a new vitality as haunting, time-honored melodies shared the stage with the music of Shlomo Carlebach and The Rabbi’s Sons.

The thirst for wisdom was quenched with the scholarship of Rashi and Rambam blended with the insights of 20th-century thinkers like Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook and Rabbi Joseph Dov HaLevi Soloveitchik.

Everything old was new again.

But Rabbi Steve Riskin was already Rabbi Steve Riskin - the NYC go-to guy if you were young, Jewish, and wanted to learn. Literally! When Abq Jew was searching, everyone told him: Go to Riskin!

Here is what Wikipedia tells us:

Steven Riskin graduated valedictorian, summa cum laude, from Yeshiva University in 1960, where he received rabbinic ordination under the guidance of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik.

At the age of 23, Riskin became the founding rabbi of Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York City and served in that position until 1983. Rabbi Riskin transformed the Conservative minyan into one of New York's most innovative and dynamic Orthodox communities.

The synagogue became particularly well known for its pioneering outreach programs which inspired many secular people to become religiously observant Orthodox Jews.

In 1983, Steve Riskin became Shlomo Riskin when he immigrated to the Israeli settlement of Efrat in Judea with his family. There he became the founding Chief Rabbi, a position he held until 2020.

Eliezer Diamond, of blessed memory, was one of a very small number of YU rabbinical students who Rabbi Steve Riskin brought to LSS in 1974 to instruct and guide and, perhaps, inspire us - an only slightly larger group of young, searching Jewish semi-professionals - in a summer of engagement and learning.

That is where Abq Jew first met Eliezer Diamond, and it is from those days that Abq Jew fondly remembers him. After all these years.

And from those who knew Rabbi Eliezer Diamond more closely, a note from JTS Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz:

Dear JTS Community,

The Jewish Theological Seminary joins colleagues, friends, family, and students in mourning the passing of Rabbi Eliezer Diamond z”l, the Rabbi Judah Nadich Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, who died last evening at home.

Rabbi Diamond was an honored scholar, trusted religious and spiritual leader, and transformational Talmudist.

Rabbi Diamond taught courses in Talmud and Rabbinics at JTS for more than 35 years, retiring approximately one year ago.

Generations of students were profoundly shaped by his inspiring teaching. His influential writings on prayer, asceticism, rabbinic narrative, and issues of environmental law and ethics have enriched the broader Jewish world. He is the author of Holy Men and Hunger Artists: Fasting and Asceticism in Rabbinic Culture and was at work editing a commentary on Yerushalmi Pesahim written by JTS Professor Louis Ginzberg (z”l).

Rabbi Diamond was not only an intellectual powerhouse, but had a deeply spiritual core. The combination of his intellect and his sensitivity gave him a unique perspective on how to analyze texts, approach the liturgy, and live as an observant Jew. As a dean, I saw at close range for decades how devoted he was to his teaching and to his students.

Provost Jeff Kress shared that Rabbi Diamond’s passing is a profound loss to our community. He said, “The gift of Eliezer was not only in how much he knew, but in how generously he shared that knowledge with all those around him.”

Rabbi Diamond received his BA, MS, and Rabbinic Ordination from Yeshiva University and earned his PhD in Talmud at JTS.

We know that many outside the JTS community are grieving as well since Rabbi Diamond’s impact extended far beyond our campus. Students at Stern College, Hadar, Drisha Institute, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, the 92nd Street Y, and several Ramah camps were fortunate to learn from him throughout his long career.

May Rabbi Diamond’s memory always serve as a blessing for all those whose lives he touched.

Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz

Elected in New York City

2025-11-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

What A Place To Be! So - as Abq Jew is sure you've heard - there were elections held throughout the United States yesterday. Important elections, whose results may determine the course of events far, far into our future.

Or then again, maybe not.

Abq Jew certainly hopes that turns out to be true in New Jersey, his former home state, where Mikie Sherrill, who would have been his US Representative had he skipped over 15 wonderful years in Albuquerque and remained in Livingston, is now the Governor-elect!

And then there's New York City.

Abq Jew certainly hopes that turns out to be flagrantly untrue in New York City, his former home base, where Zohran Mamdani, born in 1991, thirteen (13) years after Mr & Mrs Abq Jew left The Big Apple, is now the Mayor-elect.

Zohran Mamdani is a Democratic Socialist. He is also, at best(?), an anti-Zionist, but, at worst, an antisemite (for those who insist upon a distinction, albeit one with no difference). Most Jews have long recognized this (although some, amazingly, have not), and await his time in office with trepidation.

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, of NYC's Central Synagogue, spoke out about this before the election.

In her sermon for Parshat Lech Lecha (Get Outta Here).

Abq Jew firmly believes that it's not time to despair ... yet. And Dr Einat Wilf, in an X post, offers an important story ... and an intriguing question.

Lately I reflect often on the difference between historical and personal time. I imagine a Viennese Jew, let's say the year is 1902, he is 37. He is living in the best time in the best city for Jews, pretty much ever. His mayor is Karl Lueger and there is this ambient antisemitism, but life is really really good for the Jews in Vienna. In its cafes they are hatching ideas that will define humanity for the coming century.

Now, there is this guy Herzl, who clearly, from the perspective of that Viennese Jew, who is similar in age to Herzl, went a bit nuts. Why else would a man who scaled the heights of Viennese society, was the respected editor of what would be today a combination of the opinion, arts, travel, and literary pages of the NYT, suddenly start writing about a Jewish state and even going mad organizing for it and building its institutions and lobbying world leaders for it?
Now, let's imagine this Viennese Jew dies in 1937, at the age of 72. He passed his life in the best city during the best times for Jews in that city. When he dies, he still thinks, despite the gathering storm next door, that Herzl was crazy.
So, reflecting on the difference between historical and personal time, what do you think, would this Jew have been better off immigrating in the early 20th century to a malaria ridden tract of land in the Ottoman Empire or living in Vienna until his death?

Abq Jew must point out (he must! he must!) that, of all the many and varied Jewish organizations that have condemned Zohran Mamdani and his odious views - there is one prominent, well-known Jewish organization that has taken a somewhat different stance.

Abq Jew must also point out (he must! he must!) that he was initially convinced that it was noted (pardon, or not, the pun) long-time Jewish performer

Mama Doni

aka Doni Zasloff, these days a significant part of Nefesh Mountain (see September 2021's Ready For the Times), a New York-based progressive bluegrass band, who had been elected New York City Mayor.

That would have been charming! And entertaining!

Rosh Hashanah 5786

2025-09-16T09:35:00.001-06:00

Dip Your Apple In The Honey: It's Rosh Hashanah! And, as we begin a New Jewish Year, please remember - as Rabbi Adam Rosenbaum of Denver, CO; of Livingston, NJ; and now, once again, of Charleston, SC has taught us -

There is hope for the world.
There is hope for your life.
The way it is now is not the way it must be.

Abq Jew warmly invites you to check out
this now-classic Rosh Hashanah hit from 5772:

Dip Your Apple!

by The Fountainheads of Ein Prat

No apples, pomegranates, babies, or smartphones

were harmed in the filming of this video.

Please don't feed babies honey.

===============================

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Abq Jew knows (and knows you know), are special times for our Jewish hearts, minds, and souls.

The Ein Prat Fountainheads have - as always! - touched our hearts. Now, here is something that will touch our minds and souls.

From Rabbi Robyn Frisch, in 18 Doors:

6 Ways To Celebrate Rosh Hashanah

Without Attending Synagogue

1. Have a Rosh Hashanah Seder

Many Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews have a seder on the first night of Rosh Hashanah. This seder, which has its origins in the Talmud, is called a Seder Yehi Ratzon (“seder of God’s will”).

2. Have a Special Meal

There are lots of foods traditionally associated with the holiday that you can include with your meal, such as apples dipped in honey (for a sweet new year); a round challah (which reminds us of the circle of life, as well as the cyclical nature of the passage of a year); and pomegranates (it’s been said that there are 613 seeds in a pomegranate, corresponding to the 613 commandments in the Torah).

3. Do Tashlich

On the first day of Rosh Hashanah to go to a running body of water (preferably one with fish) and symbolically cast away your sins.

4. Engage in Cheshbon HaNefesh (“Accounting of the Soul”)

Rosh Hashanah is a great time to take stock and to think about—and maybe discuss with others—aspects of yourself that you would like to improve upon in the year ahead, as well as those things you’re proud of from the past year.

5. Do Teshuvah (“Return,” “Repentance”)

On or before Rosh Hashanah, you can ask people for forgiveness for things you have done to hurt them in the past year, and you can resolve not to commit the same wrongdoings in the future.

6. Spend Time in Nature

Rosh Hashanah is, after all, the Birthday of the World, so why not spend part of the day enjoying the natural beauty of the world?

L'Shana Tova Tikatevu –
May you be inscribed for a good year!

The first Abq Jew Blog post was published on September 19, 2010.

Ten years later - on October 10, 2020 - we hit 1 Million.

And now, after fifteen years - we're over 3 Million!

Fall 2025 @ OASIS Abq

2025-08-26T11:53:00.001-06:00

Great Courses of Jewish Interest

Abq Jew is pleased to inform you that
OASIS Albuquerque has just announced
their Fall 2025 line-up of classes!
Registration opens on
Wednesday September 3
but you can Wish List your selections now.

OASIS Albuquerque Executive Director Scott Sharp and his staff continue to bring you new and interesting class offerings, and continue to make sure there are courses of Jewish interest.

This session's courses and instructors include,

but are by no means limited to:

Going to Baht
for the Jewish Community in Bangkok

Wednesday September 17 @ 12:30 - #204Zoom

Instructor: Jack Shlachter

What It Is: The progressive (non-Orthodox) Jewish community in Bangkok is mainly comprised largely of expats with some additional congregants. During the year, the worship services are lay led, but a Rabbi is brought in to lead high holiday services each fall. In 2024, Jack Shlachter served as prayer leader for the congregation. He shares his experiences both with the community and as a tourist in Bangkok through a colorful and informative slide show.

The Biblical Soil of Social Justice

Monday October 20 @ 10:00 - #206

Instructor: Paul Citrin

What It Is: Social justice has its roots in numerous texts in Hebrew Scriptures from which both Judaism and Christianity draw their commitment. We examine and discuss some of those key passages in the hope of renewing the status and position of social justice and action in our days.

A New England Milestone

2025-08-21T09:52:00.001-06:00

Celebrated Everywhere: Abq Jew here reminds his loyal readers (who, of course, do not need to be reminded) that it was just about eleven (11) years ago that Abq Jew turned 64 (see For Vera, Chuck & Dave).

Remembering that day and those years (but now only vaguely), Abq Jew might have planned to present an updated repeat of his now-classic August 6, 2015 blog post Those Were The Days.

Instead, as Abq Jew reflects on what he has (and has not yet) accomplished
during his 75 trips around the sun, he keeps in mind what his father,
Richard W Yellin, of blessed memory, would have said
today on his 101st birthday:

"When Mozart was your age,
he had been dead for 40 years."

Yes, time passes. Vera celebrated her Bat Mitzvah last Shabbat - and all four grandparents were privileged (Ken O'Hara) to participate. Along with plenty of other family and loads of friends.

As for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart -
he lived but 35 years, 10 months, and 9 days.
He was privileged to see 13,097 sunsets,
but not one of them in Rhode Island.

Last Pesach in Albuquerque

2025-04-08T14:18:00.003-06:00

Passover Is Almost Here: A time when we New MexiJews gather with friends and family, to celebrate our Holiday of Freedom.

This year, Mr & Mrs Abq Jew

will celebrate Pesach one last time
in the Land of Enchantment.

Abq Jew here thoughtfully provides his and your favorite
three (3) classic videos. What would Pesach be without them?

1. Google Exodus: Best. Passover. Video. Ever.

2. Passover Rhapsody: Second. Best. Passover. Video. Ever.

3. The Passover Prank. Best. Passover. Prank. Video. Ever. For parents who (especially) miss their kids on Pesach.

Who know that Zoom is never enough.

As the Seders approach, Abq Jew must remind us all
(he must! he must!) that Good News, Salvation and Comfort
are just one (1) Pesach visitor away.

?אחד מי יודע

Tonight Could Be The Night!

At our Pesach seders

we Jews have been opening our doors to Elijah for thousands of years.

We still believe that Elijah the Prophet will return tonight

and announce the Coming of the Messiah.

When that happens, our first question will be:

Did Elijah remember to send out a press release?

If he did — you may learn the Good News in a few days or weeks.

But you can always hear about Salvation and Comfort at

AbqJew.net & AbqJew.com

Your guide to Jewish life in Albuquerque and beyond

A Zissen Pesach, Albuquerque!

Chag Kasher veSameach, New Mexico!

!לשׁנה הבּאה בּרוד איילנד

Pesach on Saturday Night. Again.

2025-04-02T14:57:00.002-06:00

And Egg Matzos for Shabbos: We Jews love Pesach (Passover). Absolutely love it. Whether we go the full Kosher-for-Passover route or simply taste the matzah and horseradish and drink the wine - we Jews love Pesach.

Before We Start

1. This blog post is an exact repeat of Abq Jew's blog

post of March 3, 2021.

2. That's because the last time Pesach began on Saturday

night was - you guessed it! - four years ago, in 2021.

3. We all should keep a copy of this blog post

in a very safe place.

4. The next time Pesach begins on Saturday night -

it will be 2045, twenty years from now.

We May Start

And this year - after a 4-year hiatus - we Jews will begin our love affair with Pesach with a rare event that happens only so often. That makes Once In A Blue Moon seem frequent. Abq Jew hereby advises you, his loyal readers -

Make sure you've got Egg Matzo!

Why? Because this year

Pesach begins on a Saturday night!

Abq Jew hears you, his loyal readers ask:

What's so special about this?

To which Abq Jew answers:

There are three (3) things you'll notice immediately. (And a fourth thing you've always wondered about that comes up during the Seder.)

1. Bedikat Chametz

Bedikat Chametz takes place on Thursday night and Friday morning.

Why? Because the day before Pesach - when we would ordinarily burn the chometz - is Shabbat. No starting fires (or transferring flames) on Shabbat!

2. Fast of the Firstborn

The Fast of the Firstborn (or a Siyyum) takes place on Thursday morning.

Why? Because the day before Pesach - when the 'firstborn who open the womb' might ordinarily fast - is Shabbat. No fasting on Shabbat (except on Yom Kippur, of course)!

Fascinating fact: This is a logical AND operation. Which means -

If you're a firstborn who was delivered via C-section, you don't have to fast because you didn't 'open the womb' - even though you're the firstborn.
If you're a secondborn to a mother whose firstborn was delivered via C-section, you also don't have to fast because you're not the firstborn - even though you 'opened the womb'.

And note: The other best way to avoid fasting for the Fast of the Firstborn is to instead hold a Siyyum - a public celebration over completing a portion of Torah / Talmud study.

3. Shabbat Meals

The Shabbat meals - both evening and lunchtime plus, believe it or not, Seudah Shlishit - may involve ... wait for it ... challah.

Why? Because you've got to have 'bread' for it to be considered a meal, so you can make HoMotzi, so you can bentsch Shabbos.

Therefore, defying all logic, you can serve challah right up to about 12 noonish on Saturday, as long as you keep it separate, on a separate dish - or better yet, on a paper plate.

Yes, this is in spite of the fact that you have already performed Bedikat Chametz, burnt the chametz, and publicly announced that any chametz remaining in your possession is 'ownerless property, as the dust of the earth'.

Thank G-d Judaism doesn't have to make sense!

The Rabbis, in their finite but still immense wisdom, thought hard and found a workaround. You guessed it!

Egg Matzo!

How, Abq Jew hears you ask, does Egg Matzo provide a workaround to what is clearly and plainly a contradiction?
Here's how: At the First Seder, we are commanded to eat Matzo lechem oni, poor-man's bread, the 'Bread of Affliction.' To prevent us from jumping the halachic gun, the Rabbis forbade us from eating lechem oni during the hours just before the First Seder.

Here's the clincher: Egg Matzo - because that delicious egg has been added to enrich the flavor - is NOT 'Bread of Affliction'. But it is (if you've shopped carefully) Kosher for Passover!

If you think Pesach on Saturday night is Moshe Kapoyre now - you should have seen in Temple times. Here's a story from the Talmud.

Hillel Knows Some Things

The Pesach offering - we all remember the Pascal Lamb, don't we? or is Abq Jew putting Descartes before the hoarse? - had a strict time limit.

It had to be slaughtered bayn ha’arbayim (at twilight) - and it had to be totally consumed by midnight. Which naturally raised the question:

What to do if the 14th of Nisan falls on Shabbat?

The Mishna says: The following acts necessary for the sacrifice of the Pesach offering supersede the due observance of the Sabbath: The shechting, the sprinkling of its blood, the removal of its kishkes, and the burning of the fat with incense.

The Gemara tells us: The rabbis taught: The Halakha in the Mishna was not known to the Religious Authorities. It once happened that the 14th of Nissan occurred on a Sabbath, and they did not know whether the Passover sacrifices superseded the due observance of the Sabbath or not. In other words:

Zevachim before Pesachim, or vice versa?

The rabbis looked around for a man who knew the Halakha, and they were told that there was a man who had recently come from Babylon, called Hillel of Babylon, and who had learned under the two greatest men of that generation, Shemayah and Abtalyon. Hillel would probably be able to solve the problem.

They sent for Hillel and asked him: "Do you know whether the Passover-sacrifice supersedes the Sabbath?" and he answered: (condensed version) “Sure it does.”

But they insisted upon his basing his assertion upon some actual text. Which Hillel promptly provided, showing how the Torah's use of the word biMoado (at its appointed time) proved that Zevachim and the Passover offering may supersede the Shabbat offering.

When the rabbis heard this, they immediately put Hillel in charge.

Whereupon Hillel began to reproach them, and said:

Why have you put me in charge?
You should have been taking advantage of
the learning of the two great men of
your generation, Shemayah and Abtalyon.

Everyone knew that Passover Pilgrims were forbidden to carry their slaughtering knives to the Mikdash on Shabbat. So the Religious Authorities asked Hillel:

What is the law if a man forgot to bring the
shechting knife on the day before the Sabbath?
Hint: No carrying knives or anything else in public on Shabbat.

Hillel not-so-famously answered:

I have heard the Halakha but have forgotten it.

And famously continued:

Leave this, however, to the Israelites themselves,
for if they are not prophets they are descendants
of prophets, and they will know what to do.

The next day, Hillel saw that those who brought sheep as a sacrifice had the knife thrust in the wool of the sheep, and those that brought goats as a sacrifice had the knife stuck between the horns.

Hillel then (amazingly) remembered the Halakha covering the case and exclaimed:

Thus is the tradition which I have received
from my masters Shemayah and Abtalyon.

But Hillel's remembering brings up the much larger question:

How Could Hillel Or Anyone Else Forget?

How was it possible that, among the thousands of Passover Pilgrims who had assembled for the holiday, they could not find a single person who remembered what had been done the last time Passover followed Shabbat?

Answer #1: Blame it on God. The Talmud says: God caused the people to forget in order to make Hillel's achievement appear more impressive, and to facilitate his rapid rise to leadership.

Answer #2: Let’s do the math! Pesach on Saturday Night. How often, one wonders, doesn't one, does this happen?

Abq Jew first became aware of this question in 1977, when he was privileged to study Talmud at the Jewish Theological Seminary with now-Rabbi but then 'only' Professor Judith Hauptman.

Back then - there was, you will recall, no Internet and no Google, although there was now-Rabbi Burt Visotsky, the genius who lived down the hall - Abq Jew did the research using a [printed hardcover of the] 150-Year Jewish Calendar.

And discovered that there were regular intervals of 3, 4, 7, 13, and 20 years between instances of Pesach on Saturday night. As Wikipedia tells us today:

While the coincidence of the Eve of Passover and Shabbat can occur as often as three times in a decade, it is also possible for as many as 20 years to pass between two instances.

The percentage of the Eve of Passover on Shabbat occurring is 11.5%.

During the 20th century, the Eve of Passover fell on Shabbat 12 times: in 1903, 1910, 1923, 1927, 1930, 1947, 1950, 1954, 1974, 1977, 1981, and 1994.

In the 21st century, it has occurred three times: in 2001, 2005, and 2008. Future occurrences in the 21st century include 2021, 2025, 2045, 2048, 2052, 2072, 2075, 2079, and 2099.

So ...

Do you remember where, when, and with whom you celebrated Passover in 2008? In 2005? How about in 2001? Which version of the Haggadah did you use? And whose child, now likely Married With Children, asked the Four Questions?

Taking ancient life spans and 20-year gaps into account, it seems entirely reasonable to Abq Jew that living memory of what to do when Pesach begins on Saturday night might fade.

Which brings us to:

The Fourth Thing
You've Always Wondered About

You will find the Fourth Thing You've Always Wondered About right there in the Passover Haggadah. On page 25.

It's in the blessing right before the second cup of wine, which is based on a Mishnah in Pesachim.

Blessed are You, G-d, our G-d, King of the universe, who has redeemed us and redeemed our fathers from Egypt, and enabled us to attain this night to eat Matzah and Maror.

So too, G-d, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, enable us to attain other holidays and festivals that will come to us in peace with happiness in the rebuilding of Your city, and with rejoicing in Your service [in the Bet Hamikdash].

Then we shall eat

Note: if the festival is on any day except Saturday night say:

of the sacrifices and of the Passover-offerings;

if the Seder is on Saturday Night say:

of the Passover-offerings and of the sacrifices

whose blood shall be sprinkled on the wall of Your altar for acceptance; and we shall thank You with a new song for our redemption and for the deliverance of our souls. Blessed are You, G-d, who redeemed Israel.

In other words: Through the liturgy, we recognize that

The Passover-offering supersedes the Sabbath.

You know - just like Hillel said.

Here, Hillel. Have a sandwich.

One Little Goat

2025-03-27T12:21:00.001-06:00

By Dara Horn: A new "graphic novel" that has just been published and is now available. Just in time for Pesach!

Yes, Abq Jew has written about Dara Horn amd her books several times, including -

October 2023's The Story Continues
March 2023's Remembering Varian Fry
February 2023's Thinking About Anne Frank
July 2015's ELI Talk: The Problem of Eicha

Abq Jew again points out that the entire Horn family, may they all be happy and well, davened at Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston, New Jersey - where the entire Abq Jew family also used to daven.

Dara has two sisters, Ariel and Jordana,, may they live long and prosper, who are also writers, and who have been written up in The New York Times. The three sisters also have a brother who is not a writer (go figure).

Emily Schneider is not one of Dara Horn's sisters. She is, however, a writer and educator living in New York City. Her work has appeared in The Forward, Tablet, Jewcy, and Family Reading at The Hornbook.

Ms Schneider also review books for the Jewish Book Council. She recently spoke with acclaimed author Dara Horn about her new graphic novel, One Little Goat: A Passover Catastrophe. Here is a taste:

Portal to Passover: A Conversation with Dara Horn
Emily Schneider: Dara, I’m going to start by asking you what may be an obvious question. You have a very successful and acclaimed career as a novelist and a public intellectual writing about a range of subjects. What motivated you to write One Little Goat, a graphic novel of interest and concern to both children and adults?
Dara Horn: I actually first thought of this idea a number of years ago. I was on a road trip with my family in California, with my four children, and we stopped at a comic book shop. My kids are all into this kind of thing.

And one book that they came home with was a very, very thick graphic novel by this cartoonist, Theo Ellsworth. They were fighting over this book throughout the whole trip! I borrowed this book from them, and I was just enchanted by the artwork.

And at that point, an idea I’d had for a graphic novel sort of came roaring back to me. I could see how it could come to life, now that I saw an artist whose work I really appreciated.

And I looked this artist up; I knew nothing about him. He’s a pretty acclaimed indie comics artist. Theo Ellsworth, lives in Montana. He’s probably not Jewish. This is a kind of deep in the weeds idea for someone who doesn’t know much about Passover.

I cold-emailed him, said, “Hi, I love your work. I’m a writer. Here’s an idea. It’s a little hard to explain.” And he was totally game. But the deeper question that you’re asking is,

Why would I do this when I’m really writing for adults my whole career?

This is an idea I’ve been thinking about since I was a child. I’ve always been fascinated by the seder and how it is much more similar to other seders than it is to other days of the year.

When you’re at the seder table, it’s much more similar to being at a seder table ten years ago than it is to something that happened the week before. And it feels much more connected through time than space.

This is something I’ve been fascinated by since I was a kid — the idea of Jewish life and texts being a portal to a past that we really shouldn’t have access to is something that I’ve written about in all of my books. All of my books are some version of this. This is simply the most direct version.
ES: You begin your journey into Pesach, the festival of freedom, by reconsidering a myth. This is a holiday Jews throughout the world are celebrating. It’s so imbued with meaning for everyone, across a broad range of religious observance.

So it must be an unalloyed joy for children, right?
DH: Yes, and also because it’s a holiday that’s ostensibly supposed to be centering children.
ES: That is really at the center of your book. For many kids, it could be tedious, repetitive, a little bit opaque, even though, as you said, children have a starring role.
DH: Yes, this holiday’s celebrating freedom, but you are stuck at that table for a very long time. This is a dynamic that I’m very familiar with because my whole family’s life has been built to protect children from it. I’m the host of my family seder.
I’m one of four children, and, in the seder that I grew up in, my parents avoided this boredom by having us be very involved in a creative way. We would have to write songs and skits, acting out the different parts of the story. It was different every single year.

We would work on this whole show that we would put on at different points in the seder. The story of Abraham smashing the idols would be Mesopotamian Idol, a parody of American Idol.

It was always something based on whatever was trending in pop culture at that time.

Now, I also have four children. My parents have a total of fourteen grandchildren. So it’s a large seder I host, with a lot of young people. I had to make a decision.

Either I can read every single page of the Haggadah, or I can have my children enjoy Pesach.

That involves a ridiculous amount of creativity, and that’s what we’ve done. Our seder is very traditional in that we do read every page of the Haggadah. It’s very untraditional in that we use technology. We have all these different settings that you move through and you meet different characters in the Pesach story.

In one room, the angel of death pops out of a closet and slays the Pharaoh’s son. In another room, we have a blue lasers and fog machine that fills the space with a blue fog, but only up to waist height. It creates this wave-like look on the surface. And as you walk through it, it parts in front of you.

Everybody in our seder is personally experiencing coming out of Egypt. Some of these ideas I got from classical Jewish sources. Everybody’s very invested and the other most important part is the kids have roles in our Seder. And it’s become a competition every year of who can make it newer, more interesting, funnier.

My daughter’s the wandering Aramean; she comes and she has a scroll that she wraps around the entire room that has the passage we all read out loud together. We have light-up Had Gadya animals that my husband made by soldering a bunch of LED lights together. So it’s like a Vegas seder!
Every year we make a movie out of these pieces and recreate the Pesach story. We divide up the story into the different family pods. This group of siblings is assigned to do the burning bush or some other piece of the tale. And then the final product is screened.

No one knows what the other people have done, but everybody feels very invested in their part.

Pesach Prep 5785 Begins!

2025-03-19T10:23:00.001-06:00

Ready for Pesach? If you're thinking "Pesach is coming when the winds finally die down" - nope, this is New Mexico, and the winds are still blowing. But Purim has come and gone, so it must be time to get ready for Pesach!

Here are a few ways we prepare for Pesach:

1. We set the clocks forward one hour, so we can start the Seder even later than ... we used to in the good ol' days, when there was at least a chance that Daylight Saving Time wouldn't begin until after Pesach.

2. We wake up on Shushan Purim (or the day after) with a terrible headache.

3. We report the first Albuquerque sighting of Pesach food. This year, it was Rabbi Emeritus Arthur Flicker of Congregation B'nai Israel who reported on March 14 that the Mother Lode of Passover Food has begun to congregate at the Smith's at Constituion and Carlisle.

So far, these Pesachdik items have shown up:

Pickles, Sardines, Tuna, Beets, Chicken Soup Mix, Matzah Ball Mix, Cake Meal, Matzah Meal, Potato Starch, Strawberry Preserves, Apricot Preserves, Raspbery Preserves, Ketchup, Salad Dressing, Borscht, Gefilte Fish, Honey, Egg Matzah, Shmurah Matzah, Manischewitz Matzah.

4. And - the best sign that Pesach is coming? It's when we get Mesifta Beth Shraga's Bedikas Chametz Kit in the mail!

What, you may ask, is a Bedikas Chometz (Search for Chometz) Kit?

Well. First - you do know that all chometz (food products that just might contain even a smidgen of leaven or leavened bread) must be removed from your house and / or no longer owned by you, right?

So, after all the cleaning with blunt instruments has been completed, the night before the first Seder we get down to tachlis. What do we need?

A candle - so we can see into every nook and cranny to make sure there's no chometz there.
A feather - so we can reach into every nook and cranny and eradicate any chometz.
A wooden spoon - so we've got something with which we can transfer the chometz we find.
A burnable bag - so we've got something into which we can place the chometz we find before burning said chometz and bag the next morning.
A petek - with the right legal formulae (let's not call them prayers) to absolve us of all guilty ownership of any chometz we didn't see.

Viola! Or another stringed instrument! Here's your Bedikas Chometz Kit!

The petek traditionally has a couple slightly different versions of the statement

All chametz, leaven and leavened bread, that is in my possession which I have not seen, removed, or is unknown to me, should be annulled and considered ownerless like the dust of the earth.

Homemaker's Hint: If you believe what you're saying - and you should - your efforts to clean the house before Pesach need not go beyond the reasonable and customary!

Which is to say, you don't have to drive yourself crazy. Abq Jew knows - for some of us, we don't have to drive. We can walk! It's not that far ....

It's Purim! Here We Go!

2025-03-12T15:57:00.000-06:00

Purim 5785: And so it's Purim! Or at least (depending on when you're reading this) almost Purim! The celebration of topsy-turvey, when bad things turn out to be good, and good things turn out to be - also good!

How could this be? Abq Jew hears you, his loyal readers, ask.

Well, following a brief century of inactivity, we see that miracles are again on the rise. We Jews, of course, have always believed and will always believe in miracles - mostly, because they happen. Not often enough, and often not to the people (and animals) that need them most - but miracles do happen.

Especially in Jerusalem, where a phone call to Our Father Who Art In Heaven is a local call. But how about other places in The Holy Land, like Ashkelon? And Haifa? How about outside The Holy Land?

How about Rio Rancho?

Well, maybe Rio Rancho is connected via Bluetooth. As our local TV station KOB reported on February 17th:

Construction begins on busy stretch of road in Rio Rancho
RIO RANCHO, N.M. — Construction on a new water line and road on Broadmoor Boulevard is scheduled to begin Monday in Rio Rancho.

This project consists of a new water line and new roadway reconstruction from Country Club Drive to Loma Colorado Boulevard.

Construction will last for about a year and will cost $8,436,641.10.

However, no full lane closures are expected during the process. You can expect some delays.

“Both directions of travel will be maintained throughout the duration of the project, ensuring that traffic can continue to flow smoothly along the roadway,” the city states.

Wow! A cost "prediction" down to the penny! And with only an approximate period for construction. Clearly, Rio Rancho is talking to Someone Up There.

Note: A February 25th update to KOB's story did not mention the time frame or cost of construction. The cell service must have dropped the call.

In the meantime, here in the Greater Again USA:

While Ireland's iconic Molly Malone could soon be out of reach. It’s time to give Molly the respect she’s always deserved!

In an effort to put an end to the long-standing tradition
of tourists rubbing her for luck, local busker Tilly Cripwell’s
“Leave Molly Malone” campaign has spurred
Dublin City Council to consider elevating the statue.
The proposal would see her lifted onto a higher plinth,
complete with a commemorative plaque
that details her history and legacy.

And we'll always have Scotland ....

The Morna Louisa is a half-length portrait painting by the Scottish artist
Leonardo McVinci in 1501 and is considered an archetypal masterpiece.
It has become the most parodied work of art in the world with McVinci's
original art piece being first copied by his Italian cousin Da Vinci
between 1503 and 1519, who named his piece "Mona Lisa"
which translates in Italian to "My lady Lisa".
Morna can be seen above with her pet Haggis as well as
the famous Nessie even making an appearance in the background.

But we now return to our original theme: Miracles. And (of course) the Land of Israel. And (of course) Dry Bones.

And in heaven, this Purim features its very own full worm blood moon and its very own total lunar eclipse!

I Have No Other Land

2025-03-05T13:56:00.007-07:00

The Oscars, Again: As Abq Jew is sure you have heard - No Other Land, which chronicles Israel’s demolitions in the Judaean Palestinian West Bank village of Masafer Yatta, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

More importantly - Israeli superstar Gal Gadot, resplendent in a slinky red gown, appeared with her husband, Jaron Varsano, on the red carpet. And she also presented an award for Best Visual Effects with her Snow White co-star, Rachel Zegler, who has often posted support for Palestine.

And this year was way better than last year! The Jerusalem Post recalls:

There were many pins this year, but most, like the glittery one that Best Actor winner Adrien Brody wore, were likely apolitical fashion statements....

Last year, many red pins given out for Artists4Ceasefire were seen on the red carpet. The Brigade, a group created by pro-Israel film industry professionals after October 7, released a statement last month condemning the Artist4Ceasefire pins, which are red and depict a stylized hand, saying,

“That pin is no symbol of peace.
It is the emblem of Jewish bloodshed,”

since it was inspired by a photo of the bloody hands of a member of a mob that lynched two soldiers in the West Bank in 2000.

Everyone everyone remembers that photo.
Abq Jew will not show it here.

But back to the Academy Awards and No Other Land.

Just three months ago (see December 2024's Korin Allal, Musician, Dies at 69) Abq Jew showcased Korin Allal's most famous song - “Ein Li Eretz Acheret” (“I Have No Other Land”). With lyrics by famed Israeli songwriter Ehud Manor.

Written in 1982 in the midst of the First Lebanon War, its haunting melody and defiant lyrics are particularly relevant today.
Its primary message is reminiscent of the famous quotation by Golda Meir:

“We Jews have a secret weapon in our struggle with the Arabs; we have no place to go.”

But it goes on to pledge, “I will not stay silent because my country changed her face/I will not give up reminding her/And sing in her ears until she will open her eyes.

Click here for video

This song reminds us of why we fight when forced into battle time and time again by neighboring countries who seek only to destroy our Jewish State.

אין לי ארץ אחרת

Ein li eretz acheret
I have no other country

גם אם אדמתי בוערת

gam im admati bo'eret
even if my land is burning.

רק מילה בעברית חודרת

Rak milah b'ivrit choderet
Just a word in Hebrew penetrates

אל עורקיי, אל נשמתי

el orakai, el nishmati
to my veins, to my soul.

בגוף כואב, בלב רעב

B'guf ko'ev, b'lev ra'ev
With a weak body, with a hungry heart.

כאן הוא ביתי

kan hu beiti
Here is my home.

*
לא אשתוק

Lo eshtok
I will not stay silent

כי ארצי שינתה את פניה

ki artzi shinta et paneha
because my country changed her face.

לא אוותר לה

Lo evater la
I will not give up on her

אזכיר לה

Azkir la
I will remind her.

ואשיר כאן באוזניה

V'ashir kan b'ozneha
And I will sing right into her ears

עד שתפקח את עיניה

Ad sheh-tiftach et eineha
until she will open her eyes.

Why is Abq Jew angry?

Because the No Other Land film stole our song - its Jewish title, its Jewish meaning, and the Jewish history it portrays. And no one said anything.

Future of Jewish has published a more complete picture of what happened at Masafer Yatta. With facts and context.

The award for Best (Antisemitic) Documentary goes to...

Of the many reviews of the newly Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” none of them even hint at the facts. The film is pure propaganda meant to incite people to hate Israel.

In June of 1982, Israel Prize laureate and much-loved songwriter Ehud Manor was sitting with his wife Ofra in the living room, watching the news on television. The news item was about the First Lebanon War between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization attacking Israel from Lebanon.

Ofra recalled this event vividly: “We saw footage of Israeli soldiers entering Beirut. Ehud broke down. I’m telling you, he was weeping. He said: ‘I cannot take it’ — and then he began jotting down words on a piece of paper.”

Those words went on to become the song, “Ein Li Eretz Acheret” (Hebrew for “I Have No Other Country”) — voted time and again as Israel’s favorite song, and its title morphed into a popular catchphrase throughout Israel.

Two days ago, the 97th Academy Awards (The Oscars) gave its Best Documentary award to a film that plagiarized “Ein Li Eretz Acheret” and conspicuously spun it to demonize Israel.

Israel Bachar, Israel’s Consul General in Los Angeles, tweeted in response to the Oscars ceremony:

“If Hollywood wants to watch a Palestinian documentary,
I recommend that they watch the hundreds of hours
in which the Palestinians have documented themselves
murdering entire families, kidnapping the elderly and infants,
and committing every crime against humanity imaginable.”

In much, much happier and well-deserved news - Gal Gadot recently received the ADL's International Leadership Award. The ADL's website tells us:

Actress and Producer Gal Gadot was honored with the ADL International Leadership Award for her commitment to combating antisemitism.

In her acceptance speech, the global icon added that

“This is a time when many of us in the Jewish community have had to find our voice and confront the hatred against us, even if it’s extremely uncomfortable.

Click here for video

Mayor Wu Plays Gershwin

2025-02-26T16:50:00.000-07:00

Rhapsody in Blue with the Boston Pops: Please! Let's take another break from the harsh, terrible, sorrowful news of the day. Yes, Abq Jew fully recognizes that there are many - too many - who cannot take such a break. But let's, while we can.

From Steady, the Substack newsletter of Dan Rather - the American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. To which (especially his Reason to Smile columns) and to whom Abq Jew has referred many times in the past.

More Than a Mayor
In an attempt to remind us all that there are still elected officials out there who believe in serving their constituents and their communities, we have found a reason to smile: Michelle Wu, the mayor of Boston. And lest you think we are moving away from a musical focus, just wait.
Wu is the first woman and first person of color to hold the job. A daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, she is a self-described “pragmatic progressive.”
Her campaign website lays out her vision: “This moment is a call to action. To me, that means thinking big about how to build a more resilient, healthy, and fair Boston, and then having the courage and political will to fight for all of our families.” By most accounts, she is making good on those promises.
While doing all she can for the residents of Boston, Wu is also an accomplished musician. She started taking piano lessons at the age of four and has been playing ever since. On her first day at City Hall, she had a piano placed in her office. Wu must have found time to use it, if her performance with the Boston Pops is any measure.
Last September, Wu performed with the famed orchestra as part of Concert for the City, an free annual concert for the people of Boston.

The YouTube intro to the performance tells us:

At the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 2024 Concert for the City, Mayor Michelle Wu performed George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" with the Boston Pops.
The Concert for the City is a free event that showcases all that the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops have to offer, alongside arts and music education partners and programs from throughout Greater Boston.
At the 2023 Concert for the City, Mayor Michelle Wu performed Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467 (2nd movement, Andante).
Mayor Wu returned to Symphony Hall this year to perform one of her favorite pieces, Georgie Gershwin's 1924 solo piano and jazz band musical composition, "Rhapsody in Blue."
Mayor Wu is a champion of the arts and music in Boston, helping to make arts education more accessible to young people through her Connect, Learn, Explore summer learning initiative and BPS Sundays, a program making certain museums, zoos, and cultural institutions free for Boston Public Schools students on the first and second Sundays of each month.

Click here for video

After her performance, Mayor Wu wrote:

I had a wonderful time performing “Rhapsody in Blue” with the Boston Pops at the @bostonsymphony’s Concert for the City, alongside many incredibly talented musicians like the @bostonchildrenschorus, the @bforchestra, @veronicaroblesmariachi and more!
Events like this are what make Boston so special—seeing so much of the incredible talent and artistry that exists in our city, all in one place and entirely free.
I want to thank the BSO for opening their doors to our communities every year, and creating this opportunity for all of us to share in the magic of music’s company together.
Congratulations to all of the musicians on their incredible performances! Honored to share the stage with you and our Boston Pops!

Surely you, Abq Jew's loyal readers, know the answer to this one! But just in case, Wikipedia reminds us all -

George Gershwin (/ˈɡɜːrʃ.wɪn/; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue (1924) and An American in Paris (1928), the songs "Swanee" (1919) and "Fascinating Rhythm" (1924), the jazz standards "Embraceable You" (1928) and "I Got Rhythm" (1930), and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935), which included the hit "Summertime".

And of Rhapsody in Blue, Wikipedia tells us:

Rhapsody in Blue is a 1924 musical composition for solo piano and jazz band by George Gershwin. Commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman, the work combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects and premiered in a concert titled "An Experiment in Modern Music" on February 12, 1924, in Aeolian Hall, New York City. Whiteman's band performed the rhapsody with Gershwin playing the piano.

So. About Boston.

As Abq Jew has pointed out (see July 2024's Our House), Mr & Mrs Abq Jew no longer have close family who live in New York City or in New York State.

And here in Albuquerque, New Mexico - where our own Mayor Tim Keller celebrates music in his own way - well, Mr & Mrs Abq Jew do not, despite their best efforts over 15 years, have close family who live here. Alas.

But Mr & Mrs Abq Jew now have very close family who live in Rhode Island. Just a short drive to Boston, half-way to NH - where (see May 2021's Portsmouth Parking & The Jews) they also have very close family.

Shattered Dreams, Broken Lives

2025-02-19T17:18:00.001-07:00

Never Forgive, Never Forget: Statement from Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters, Wednesday, February 19:

We received the heart-shattering news that Shiri Bibas, her children Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz are no longer with us.

This news cuts like a knife through our hearts,
the families’ hearts, and the hearts
of people all over the world.

Oded was a journalist and peace activist who helped found Kibbutz Nir Oz. He dedicated his life to helping others and transporting sick Gazans to Israeli hospitals, and his grandchildren called him "Super Grandpa" for his wisdom and love.

Shiri was a dedicated mother and accountant, known for her boundless kindness, who nurtured and cared for all the kibbutz children. She touched everyone's heart with her capacity for giving and love for others.

Ariel, just four-year-old when kidnapped, loved Batman and playing with tractors in the garden. Baby Kfir, not-even-one-year-old when taken, had gorgeous red hair and a smile that could melt any person.

They weren't just names - they were beloved people, with families who cherished them, with dreams and futures stolen from them.

We grieve not only for them, but for the other precious lives lost, including four more deceased hostages who will be returned next week.

We will not rest. We will not stop fighting for every hostage who isn't part of the current deal - for those still alive, clinging to survival, desperate to return to their loved ones and begin healing.

And for those we know are deceased - their families deserve the dignity of closure, the basic right to give their loved ones a proper burial.

Never Forgive. Never Forget.

A Great Love

2025-02-13T12:33:00.006-07:00

Abundant & Eternal: Yes, right after Mr & Mrs Abq Jew celebrate their wedding anniversary every year, there appears on the civil, which is to say Christian, calendar the Feast of Saint Valentine.

There's lots of Valentines and almost as many St Valentines, and the tradition of which particular Valentine they, which is to say Christians, feast for is, to say the least, ambiguous. But here we all are.

We Jews give and receive love, too - but, of course, not exactly like our neighbors. And we do not on observe the same day.

For a couple thousand years (approximately), we've celebrated Tu b'Av, the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Av. My Jewish Learning tells us that Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said:

There were no better (i.e. happier) days for the people of Israel than the Fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur[!], since on these days the daughters of Israel/Jerusalem go out dressed in white and dance in the vineyards. What were they saying? Young man, consider whom you choose (to be your wife)! (Ta’anit, Chapter 4)

We Jews do speak about abundant and eternal love. But when we do, we are usually speaking about the love of God for his people Israel.

And its reciprocity. Most (arguably, as are most things Jewish) notably in the Ahavah Rabbah prayer, which we recite before the morning and evening Shema.

Which brings us to

Josh Warshawsky

"The preeminent voice of contemporary, soulful, exciting music within today’s Judaism." About whom (see October 2020's Music as Midrash and Prayer) Abq Jew has written before. And whose website tells us:

Rabbi Josh Warshawsky is a pray-er, gatherer, music creator, and lifelong meaning-seeker.
He is the rabbi at Congregation Agudas Achim in Bexley, OH, and a nationally touring Jewish musician, songleader, composer, and teacher of Torah. Josh seeks to build intentional praying communities, and travels to synagogues and Jewish communities across the country sharing his music and teachings on prayer and meaningful living.
He has released four albums of Jewish music, filled with melodies written intentionally to express the deep meaning of the words of our tradition. His latest album, “Chaverai Nevarech Vol. IV,” comes out February 6th!

Here is a video of Rabbi Josh Warshwasky and Coleen Dieker leading the Chaverai Nevarech Band in their rendition of Ahavah Rabbah.

Click here for video

Rabbi Josh always assembles the very best musicians and the very best of modern Jewish music for his back-up band. The Chaverai Nevarech Band continues that harmonic and harmonious tradition.

Abq Jew is especially excited to see (the guy in the green shirt at 1:05) Rabbi Noah Diamondstein as part of the Chaverai Nevarech Band.

Rabbi Noah is - as stated - also one of the very best. In his own right.

Abq Jew knows this for a fact, because Rabbi Noah officiated - both beautifully and meaningfully - at (see November 2023's At the End of the Rainbow) the wedding of Mr & Mrs Abq Jew's wonderful daughter Alex to the equally wonderful Jake.

Want more music? Here is a video of Rabbi Josh Warshwasky and Coleen Dieker leading the Chaverai Nevarech Band in their rendition of Yom Shabbaton. Look for the guy in the green shirt.

Click here for video

And - as a special Valentine's Day / Shabbat treat - from (where else?) The New Yorker - the first three frames of Liana Fink's series on The Wife of Valor!

Click here for full series

Joining The 49ers

2025-02-06T13:02:00.001-07:00

Old, Old News: This coming Shabbat (Shabbat Shirah!), Mr & Mrs Abq Jew will אי״ה celebrate the 49th anniversary of their wedding at NYC's Town & Village Synagogue (with reception following at the Waldorf Astoria).

Yes, Mr & Mrs Abq Jew will be 49ers! You, Abq Jew's loyal readers, may not know this, but - once upon a time, long, long ago, Mr & Mrs Abq Jew almost became true San Francisco 49ers.

Shortly after Abq Jew graduated (see June 2024's Religious Freedom? Meh., et al) fromThe Jewish Theological Seminary of America - and realized that there was no job in Jewish Education waiting for him anywhere in the US - Mr & Mrs Abq Jew (and Mickey the cat) took off for California, where Abq Jew grew up and where Abq Jew's parents z"l then lived.

And where jobs were plentiful. In Silicon Valley, of course, which did not then include The City By The Bay. But The City was only 50 miles and a one-hour drive away, and it was so beautiful ....

So (see December 2021's Joseph Dreams) anyway - Mr & Mrs Abq Jew wound up in Sunnyvale, in the heart (or, perhaps, another body part) of Silicon Valley. Where Abq Jew's 10-mile commute to work still took about 45 minutes, including the 15 minutes he needed just to get out of the driveway.

Do you like crossword puzzles? Abq Jew will do a middle-of-the-night Wordle, but Mrs Abq Jew will do crossword puzzles until the cats come home.

Now comes the magic - when Abq Jew puts
California, puzzles, and Shabbat Shirah together!

So. Abq Jew the Engineer grew up (if anyone ever does) in California. Junior high, high school, and 3 of 4 years in college (with one year at The Technion).

Mrs Abq Jew the Artist grew up (as one does) in Brooklyn. Midwood High School. Undergrad years in Philly (with one year in Italy).

And thus, Abq Jew and Mrs Abq Jew approach, reconnoiter, attack, and occasionally defeat crossword puzzles differently. We help each other when indecision strikes, and laugh when one of us can actually decipher a clue.

A recent clue: "Pontiac muscle car." Three letters.

An East Coast artistic yet non-musical and certainly non-automotive upbringing did not provide the background Mrs Abq Jew needed to proclaim the answer:

GTO

Which Abq Jew, with his California upbringing, knew instinctively. (Here's where Shabbat Shirah - the Sabbath of Song - comes in.)

You see - Abq Jew grew up with California muscle cars. Although he walked to high school and only drove the family's 1962 4-door Dodge Lancer on off days - Abq Jew listened to Ronny and The Daytonas' song on the car radio.

Abq Jew hears you shout. Wasn't that a Beach Boys song? I mean, didn't The Beach Boys also do GTO?

Well, yes, they did. The Beach Boys covered (as they say) "GTO." But said Beach Boys are much more famous for Little Deuce Coupe!

And here are the lyrics. Abq Jew knew you'd ask.

Little Deuce Coupe

Little Deuce Coupe, you don’t know what I got

Little Deuce Coupe, you don’t know what I’ve got

Well, I’m not braggin’ babe so don’t put me down

But I’ve got the fastest set of wheels in town

When something comes up to me he don’t even try

‘Cause if it had a set of wings man I know she could fly

She’s my little Deuce Coupe

You don’t know what I got

Little Deuce Coupe

You don’t know what I got

Just a little Deuce Coupe with a flathead mill

But she’ll walk a Thunderbird like she’s standin’ still

She’s ported and relieved and she’s stroked and bored

She’ll do a hundred and forty in the top end floored

She’s my little Deuce Coupe

You don’t know what I got

She’s got a competition clutch with four on floor

And she purrs like a kitten till the lake pipes roar

And if that ain’t enough to make you flip your lid

There’s one more thing, I got the pink slip daddy

And comin’ off the line when the light turns green

Well, she blows ‘em outta the water like you never seen

I get pushed out of shape and it’s hard to steer

When I get rubber in all four gears

She’s my little Deuce Coupe

You don’t know what I got

But ... as Alice did, you may also ask:

What does it all mean?

Once upon a time, long, long ago, Abq Jew - the only Jew at his high school, scared and lonely and trying to fit in - knew all about this stuff.

And don't get Abq Jew started about surfing.

The Longitude of Dogs

2025-01-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

A Powder of Sympathy: Where the heck are we? Folks have been asking that question since well before F Troop. When The Holy One, Blessed Be He, asks us that question, the correct and most favored Biblical response has always been

Or, in its most recent and bravest iteration -

But where, exactly is here?

Way back in the Olden Days, Abq Jew recalls (see May 2017's Walking to Jerusalem), one could only find out where he was by a) asking for directions, which men (even then) never did; or by b) checking his good old Astrolabe (not, as it turns out, a Labe invented in Houston).

But as useful as an Astrolabe is (the sextant is even better), it could only determine one's north- or southiness from the Equator.

Which is to say - one's latitude.

But how about one's longitude - one's east- or westiness from ... well from somewhere? As Abq Jew has pointed out -

How hard? So hard that the British government established the Board of Longitude in 1714. Which issued a statement and announced a contest - with considerable prize money - to the first person who could figure out how to measure longitude at sea.

There were several attempts, and several different solutions offered. But it turned out that (Abq Jew is skipping the technical details here) the best way to figure east- or westiness required that the ship's navigator know exactly what time it was in the home port (or, eventually, in Greenwich).

As compared with the [solar] time aboard ship.

Easy today. Back then, impossible. Clocks just weren't accurate enough, losing copious immeasurable seconds and minutes every day. What to do?

Rely on a dog - man's best friend. In this case - an injured, wounded dog. And on an ancient, pseudoscientific form of tele-medicine. As explained in New World Exploration -

One bizarre suggestion for telling time at home port was the wounded dog technique. This method depended on a miraculous substance called “powder of sympathy.”

This mysterious powder was able to heal wounds from any distance merely by applying it to a piece of bandage that had been on an injured person.

The important element of the procedure was that the patient felt a sharp pain at the moment the powder came in contact with a bandage that had touched the wound.

Applying this strange phenomenon to finding latitude would require having a wounded dog on board every ship.

Supposedly when the clock in London struck noon, someone there would dip bandages from all the dogs in the sympathy powder and the wounded dogs on ships anywhere in the world would yelp in pain, signaling that it was then noon in London.

If a ship’s navigator could then determine the solar time aboard ship he could calculate longitude.

Even if the preposterous notion of sympathy powder were valid, the method would require a wounded dog on each ship and a person to dip many pieces of bandage in the powder at noon each day. Furthermore the poor dog’s wound would have to be kept open so the system could continue working.

Fortunately this idea was never really taken seriously by anyone as no one could produce the powder of sympathy.

Longitude was eventually solved, the prize money was awarded, the health and well-being of our beloved and useful canine companions was preserved.

All because clocks, aka chronometers, became way more accurate. Which leads us to the question -

On one hand - nothing. North- and southiness has - for us Jews - been solved. We Jews have always centered our maps on God, Torah, and - as must be stated these days - the Land of Israel. Jerusalem is now and has throughout history been our North Star.

But on the other hand - everything. It's the east- and westiness of the world and its religions, cultures, and politics that we Jews still struggle with - to understand and deal with them.

American Jews (in particular) have veered to the left of the political spectrum since we got here. But we now find that our formerly liberal friends are too "liberal" to support Jewish people and values.

Some American Jews have found solace in the politics of the right. But our new, conservative, Israel-supporting friends too often veer to the far right, antisemitic corners of the political spectrum.

So where the heck are we?

Stuck in the middle - with Jews.

The Last of the Liberal Jews

2025-01-21T04:00:00.001-07:00

Adam Katz, Future of Jewish: There is, on Substack and elsewhere - on the Internet, and in the World - a newish publication called Future of Jewish.

Abq Jew thought you should know about it.

Future of Jewish

From their About page:

Welcome to Future of Jewish, the fastest-growing independent publication about Judaism and Israel, featuring 73,000+ subscribers from 50+ countries!
Our mission is simple, and hopefully worthwhile: to help many more people become smarter about Judaism, Israel, and the Jewish world.
As “explanatory journalists,” all of our materials are sourced from a wide variety of people and organizations, across every possible spectrum you can imagine (political, societal, national, ethnic, religious, et cetera).
Our goal is to ensure that everyone — regardless of income, location, or status — has access to accurate knowledge about Judaism, Israel, and the Jewish world.

Here is a Guest Post by Adam Katz, which appeared on his Substack as well as on Future of Jewish. Abq Jew found it to be especially meaningful in these tubulent times.

Jews rose up from disenfranchisement but never forgot where they came from. It took a betrayal of epic proportions to separate them from the liberal movement and the world may never be the same again.

The Last of the Liberal Jews

A few days ago, I received news that my former law professor passed away. I think back to his constitutional law class where he passionately advocated on behalf of the disenfranchised and how inspiring he was.

I saw in him what I saw in myself, raised in a second generation Jewish family that built a life in the United States. As our standing in society grew, so did our income, but we never forgot where we came from. My law professor who sadly passed away this week was an old school liberal Jew.

The Jewish experience in America is like no other because we truly gained representation in government and acceptance in society. The pace at which Jews rose from the packed tenements of Chicago and New York to become leaders in industry and government is unmatched.

It is proof of the American dream that Jews are now admitted to the most elite universities and country clubs, hired by the stodgiest old blue blood law firms, and recruited by elitist consulting firms. Shit, we can easily buy homes in rich white neighborhoods!

Jews are part of the fabric of our diverse and rich American community. We do not change our names any longer to avoid anti-semitism. We marry non-Jews and nobody notices except for an occasional grumpy Bubbee. We are accepted and appreciated and respected. We contribute to institutions and help build industries.

For awhile, anti-semitism began to feel like paranoia; we felt no different from our friends and neighbors and had no reason to. In short, the powerful instrument of democracy in America empowered Jews to a degree never before thought possible. It seemed sort of a little bit like we were … white?

And while we experienced an age of acceptance here in America, something miraculous occurred on the other side of the globe. Jews began moving back to their ancient home in Palestine and buying land from Arabs to establish their own nation. We watched in awe as a small group of Zionists built a government and infrastructure from nothing and our incredible country recognized a modern Jewish state called Israel.

The now common Jewish cycle of fear and pride began in the second half of the twentieth century. Fear turned to pride when the unfathomable events of the Holocaust led to world recognition of the State of Israel. We watched in fear as five Arab nations invaded following the announcement of the independence of the State of Israel in 1948.

Then we watched with pride as Israel battled those powerful countries back across their borders. Back and forth/fear and pride as Israel’s Arab neighbors invaded, sent missiles, blew up night clubs and coffee shops; and Israel advanced on the world stage, built industries, grew its economy, and established trade across the globe.

Israel fought seven major wars on multiple fronts against multiple enemies and won all of them. Out of necessity it built one of the most powerful militaries in the world and created one of the most respected spy agencies. Its economy boomed louder than the missiles from its neighbors and its innovation made it integral to modern society throughout the world.

In what can only be described as extraordinary, the confluence of Israel’s military acumen, innovation, economic stability, political clout, and perseverance led it to build an invisible dome in the sky so its citizens can go on with their daily lives while rockets are haphazardly sent into its territory by neighboring countries.

But, despite our success in America and in Israel, we still honor our past and remain staunch supporters of those not fortunate enough to be in our shoes. No matter how much money we made, taxes were secondary to protecting the disenfranchised. For a century, Jews were a reliable voting block for Democrats.

Jewish lawyers continued to battle in the trenches for the wrongfully accused and continued to protect everyone’s civil rights. Our millionaires gave millions to non-jewish charities and our billionaires gave billions more. We remained proud liberals because we remembered what it was like to be the underdog.

But then something very unexpected happened. The institutions we helped to build turned against us. The universities we supported began to support people who want to kill us. Being Jewish is controversial again and our public figures are concerned they may be outed as Jews. It is too controversial to say the words “Jew” and “Holocaust” when accepting a “Golden Globe” for portraying a Jew in the Holocaust.

Our liberal politicians cannot say the word “anti-semitism” without also saying “Islamophobia.” Jews were hunted down, murdered, raped, and kidnapped in Israel by a terrorist organization, but the UN indicted Israel’s leaders for “war crimes.”

The same terrorists kidnapped American citizens, and American college students protest the only country on the ground trying to rescue them because it is Israel. Presidents of Ivy League schools do not think calling for the murder of Jews is bullying, harassment or inciting violence, or a threat to safety of its students.

Where does an old liberal Jew go when the liberals turn against him?

In America, it seems the conservatives still have the chutzpah to call it like it is. Things that are clear to conservatives have become opaque to liberals. Simple facts are questioned by liberals:

Fact: Hamas is a terrorist organization.
Fact: Israel is a democracy.
Fact: Jews are capable of being bullied.
Fact: Israel is not the aggressor.
Fact: Israel honors peace accords.
Fact: Israel accepted a proposal for a two-state solution several times.

It was the teamwork of a republican politician and private Jewish citizen that took down the president of Harvard after her shameful testimony before congress. Biden has been an incredible supporter of Israel, but as soon as the party switched allegiances, its new candidate slowly pulled the support to appease liberals. Jews who were lifetime Democrats are leaving the party in droves.

I never learned what my law professor felt as he witnessed the liberals’ great betrayal of the Jewish community. My guess is that he felt very similar to me and the millions of Jews in America who never dreamed they would be raked over the coals by the people who they thought were their brothers and sisters. The Democrats appeased the far Left of the party and lost the Jews, and the world may never be the same.

Peter Yarrow Dies at 86

2025-01-13T10:01:00.000-07:00

Day Is Done: As you have almost certainly heard - Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary - has died, at the age of 86. The Associated Press reports:

Peter Yarrow, the singer-songwriter best known as one-third of Peter, Paul and Mary, the folk-music trio whose impassioned harmonies transfixed millions as they lifted their voices in favor of civil rights and against war, has died. He was 86.
Yarrow, who also co-wrote the group’s most enduring song, “Puff the Magic Dragon,” died Tuesday in New York, publicist Ken Sunshine said. Yarrow had bladder cancer for the past four years.
“Our fearless dragon is tired and has entered the last chapter of his magnificent life. The world knows Peter Yarrow the iconic folk activist, but the human being behind the legend is every bit as generous, creative, passionate, playful, and wise as his lyrics suggest,” his daughter Bethany said in a statement.

Abq Jew will leave it to the many, many others who knew Peter Yarrow - or met him, or heard him perform - to provide a proper eulogy. There's plenty of them, and they're all over the Internet.

Instead, here is Abq Jew's tribute - Day Is Done, written by Peter Yarrow in 1968. One of Abq Jew's favorite PP&M classics, which he used to sing to his son - when both of them were a lot younger.

Wikipedia tells us -

The song was written as an anti-war song during the Vietnam War era. According to Yarrow, it was written from the perspective of his younger brother who faced the possibility of getting drafted into the army.

Yarrow performed it as the opening song at a concert during the anti-war march he helped organized in Washington in November 1969. It became one of the best-known protest songs of the era.

Yarrow said that the message of the song is that

"Children will lead us to a better world".

First - a version with Peter, Paul and Mary; the Smothers Brothers; Donovan; and Jennifer Warnes.

Click here for video

Day Is Done

Peter Yarrow

Tell me why youre crying, my son

I know youre frightened, like everyone

Is it the thunder in the distance you fear?

Will it help if I stay very near? I am here

And if you take my hand my son

All will be well when the day is done

And if you take my hand my son

All will be well when the day is done

Day is done, day is done, day is done, day is done

Do you ask why Im sighing, my son?

You shall inherit what mankind has done

In a world filled with sorrow and woe

If you ask me why this is so, I really dont know

And if you take my hand my son

All will be well when the day is done

And if you take my hand my son

All will be well when the day is done

Day is done, day is done, day is done, day is done

Tell me why youre smiling my son

Is there a secret you can tell everyone?

Do you know more than men that are wise?

Can you see what we all must disguise through your loving eyes?

And if you take my hand my son

All will be well when the day is done

And if you take my hand my son

All will be well when the day is done

Day is done, day is done, day is done, day is done

And if you take my hand my son

All will be well when the day is done

And if you take my hand my son

All will be well when the day is done

And here - the classic version with Peter, Paul and Mommy. And with the incomparable Paul Prestopino, of blessed memory, on banjo.

Click here for video

The Dutch Collaborators

2025-01-07T12:18:00.001-07:00

More Than We Knew: As Abq Jew has often mentioned (see January 2024's Escape From Amsterdam; June 2023's Amsterdam: Occupied City; and April 2023's Hiding During the Holocaust), he has become fixated on the travails of Dutch Jews during World War II.

But then we New MexiJews celebrated Hanukkah and New Year's and other joyous events (see Welcome, Alana Lee!). No one was paying attention to the news shmews. And then Abq Jew caught this story on NBC News.

The story almost slipped under the radar. In fairness, it was (lightly) covered by other news media, including Jewish news media. But Abq Jew caught David Hodari's more complete exposition on NBC News.

Half a million suspected Nazi collaborators are named as the Netherlands reckons with WWII past
Eight decades after the Holocaust, the list was made public in the country of Anne Frank as a law prohibiting its release expired on New Year’s Day.

By David Hodari

Dutch patriots guard townspeople accused of collaborating with the Nazis in Nijmegen,
Netherlands, after American airborne troops liberated the town in 1945. Bettmann Archive

It has long been a source of shame as much as curiosity.
Now, some 80 years later, the names of those suspected of collaborating with the Nazis have been made public in the Netherlands as the country goes to new lengths to document the extent of its complicity in the horrors perpetrated by the Third Reich.
In the country where teenage diarist Anne Frank is the most famous victim of the Holocaust, a historical research group funded by the Dutch government has for the first time published a list of nearly half a million people suspected of collaboration during World War II, after a law prohibiting its release expired on New Year’s Day.

Part of Abq Jew's fixation on the Dutch story is due to his family connection: the stories not told by Abq Jew's mechutan (his son's father-in-law), but told by other members of the family and by straightforward historical sources.

But a major part of Abq Jew's fixation is due to the overwhelming tragedy, which Nina Siegal shared in her recent book The Diary Keepers:

Of the estimated 140,000 Dutch Jews, only about 35,000 survived World War II. Some 102,000, along with hundreds of Roma and Sinti people, died in the Holocaust.
That means that about 75 percent of the Dutch Jewish population was murdered in five years.
In a single generation, the Nazis had managed to wipe out four centuries of Jewish tradition and culture in Amsterdam and the Netherlands
In France, 25 percent of Jews were killed during the Holocaust; about 40 percent of Jews from Belgium were murdered.
The Netherlands holds the dubious distinction of having the lowest survival rate of all the Western European countries.

Celebrate on Liberation Day in 1945. Universal History Archive /
Universal Images Group via Getty Images file

David Hodari's article continues:

The Huygens Institute’s “War in Court” project, which received an $18.5 million (18 million euros) grant from the three Dutch ministries that govern education, health and justice, has made public a digital archive that includes a list of 425,000 mostly Dutch people who were investigated for collaborating with the Netherlands’ Nazi occupiers.

The archive is “an extraordinary resource, and one that is very timely in terms of the Dutch debates about World War II and levels of collaboration,” said Dan Stone, a professor of modern history at Royal Holloway, University of London.

“At the very least, it shows that huge numbers of people were accused of collaborating with the Nazi occupier,” Stone told NBC News by email. “And the fact that relatively few were imprisoned probably tells us as much about postwar Dutch society as it does about the wartime facts.”

Of those in the database, only a fifth ever appeared in court, with most cases concerning more minor offenses such as membership in the Nazi party, Reuters reported. According to the Dutch central statistics bureau, in 1939 — the year World War II broke out — the country’s population was 8.7 million.

That would make just under 5% of the country suspected collaborators.

Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940 and occupied the country until the allied liberation in 1945.

During that period, more than 100,000 Dutch Jews — around three-quarters of those in the country — were killed in the Holocaust, with approximately 6 million Jews murdered overall alongside the Nazis’ political opponents and members of other groups declared to be inferior, such as Roma and LGBTQ people.

Why is this important now?

A 2023 survey carried out by the Claims Conference — a U.S.-based nonprofit that represents Jews in negotiating for compensation and restitution for victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs — found that despite efforts by the Dutch government that include a new memorial in 2021 and a new museum opened last year, the efficacy of Holocaust education in the Netherlands is waning.
The survey found that 23% of Dutch millennials and Gen Zers believe the Holocaust is a myth or the number of Jews killed during WWII has been greatly exaggerated.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day
is Monday, January 27, 2025.

Welcome, Alana Lee!

2025-01-01T11:12:00.002-07:00

Live! From Rhode Island! Mr & Mrs Abq Jew are thrilled beyond measure to announce the arrival, back in December 2024, of our newest granddaughter, Alana Lee, born to their wonderful daughter Alex and her equally wonderful husband Jake.

Mr & Mrs Abq Jew waited 3,815 days (10 years, 5 months, and 9 days) (see July 2014's Welcome, Violet Olivia) for a third grandkid celebration.

But they remember waiting forever for their first grandchild (see August 2012's Welcome, Lena Rose).

And thus, Mr & Mrs Abq Jew joyfully send love and happiness to their machetonim, who have waited forever for Alana Lee!

To celebrate the arrival of Alana Lee, here is Harry Belafonte singing Malvina Reynolds' Turn Around. To which Alex and Abq Jew danced at Alex & Jake's wedding (see November 2023's At the End of the Rainbow).

Click here for video

Not My Circus

2024-12-24T15:03:00.001-07:00

Not My Monkeys: You've got to give it up for the 118th Congress, especially for our idiosyncratic, still-learning-how-to-govern House of Representatives. The US government did not run out of funding money and shut down last weekend!

All of which brouhaha caused Abq Jew to set aside his old, faded philosopher's hat (which he rarely wears, anyway) and instead don his sturdy linguists's helmet - in search of the backgound of the not-my-problem phrase which so disturbingly yet eloquently describes the Republicans in the House. To wit:

Not My Circus. Not My Monkeys.

Well. Who knew? The aforementioned phrase originated (or so Liza Achilles claims) in Poland! Well ... in Polish, anyway.

Nie Mój Cyrk. Nie Moje Małpy.

The phrase, of course has many derivatives. Including one that seems to apply to both the House and the Senate. And the Executive Branch. Which is not to mention - the Supremes!

But Abq Jew digresses, as is his wont. Don't think he won't! But - back to our original phrase. Which can be expressed in many, many languages. Or even turned into a fancy German folk song!

As the German a cappella formation ALTE BEKWANTE has done right here -

Click here for video

Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys

Nicht mein Zirkus, nicht meine Affen

Not my circus, not my monkeys

Nicht mein Zirkus, nicht meine Affen

They'll manage their stuff without me

Die werden ihren Kram schon ohne mich schaffen

Not my construction site, not my house

Nicht meine Baustelle, nicht mein Haus

That's why I'm staying out of it

Darum halt ich mich da raus

I tuned in anytime, anywhere

Ich hab mich jederzeit überall eingeschaltet

Other people's households co-managed

Andrer Leuts Haushalte mitverwaltet

If there was a row somewhere, I wanted to mediate it

Wenn's irgendwo Krach gab, wollt ich schlichten

It didn't work at all

Geklappt hat das mit nichten

Every shoe I saw lying around somewhere

Jeden Schuh, den ich irgendwo rumliegen sah

I got dressed straight away, that's what I was there for

Zog ich mir gleich an, dafür war ich da

But now I'm finally putting an end to it

Aber jetzt mach ich damit endlich Schluss

Because I'm neither allowed nor required to

Weil ich's weder darf noch muss

I often find it difficult to endure

Ich find's oft noch schwierig auszuhalten

To stay out of it every now and then

Mich ab und zu mal rauszuhalten

But now the big day comes

Aber jetzt kommt der große Tag

Where I just say to myself

An dem ich mir einfach sag

Not my circus, not my monkeys

Nicht mein Zirkus, nicht meine Affen

They'll manage their stuff without me

Die werden ihren Kram schon ohne mich schaffen

Not my construction site, not my house

Nicht meine Baustelle, nicht mein Haus

That's why I'm staying out of it

Darum halt ich mich da raus

It's not my job to wake others up

Es ist nicht mein Job, andre wachzurütteln

It's my job to shake things off

Es ist mein Job, Dinge abzuschütteln

A lot of things really don't concern me

Mich geht vieles echt nix an

Sometimes I ask myself: when

Manchmal frage ich mich: wann

I finally manage to be relaxed

Ich es endlich schaff entspannt zu sein

This seemed to be unknown to me until now

Mir schien das bislang unbekannt zu sein

The realization that sometimes things can work without me

Die Erkenntnis, dass es auch mal ohne mich geht

Maybe it won't be too late

Kommt vielleicht noch nicht zu spät

What you might think is good is not always good

Was man vielleicht gut meint, ist nicht immer gut

That which you consciously don't do

Das, was man mal bewusst nicht tut

Gives others the space they need right now

Lässt anderen den Platz, den sie grad brauchen

A reason to take a dive

Ein Grund, mal abzutauchen

Not my circus, not my monkeys

Nicht mein Zirkus, nicht meine Affen

They'll manage their stuff without me

Die werden ihren Kram schon ohne mich schaffen

Not my construction site, not my house

Nicht meine Baustelle, nicht mein Haus

That's why I'm staying out of it

Darum halt ich mich da raus

I have to decide what I find important

Ich muss entscheiden, was ich wichtig find

And which things are pretty trivial

Und welche Dinge eher ziemlich nichtig sind

And where I'm groping in the dark

Und da, wo ich im Dunkeln tappe

I'll shut up

Halt ich halt die Klappe

Not my circus, not my monkeys

Nicht mein Zirkus, nicht meine Affen

They'll manage their stuff without me

Die werden ihren Kram schon ohne mich schaffen

Not my construction site, not my house

Nicht meine Baustelle, nicht mein Haus

That's why I'm staying out of it

Darum halt ich mich da raus

Not my circus, not my monkeys

Nicht mein Zirkus, nicht meine Affen

They'll manage their stuff without me

Die werden ihren Kram schon ohne mich schaffen

Not my circus, not my monkeys

Nicht mein Zirkus, nicht meine Affen

That's why I'm staying out of it

Darum halt ich mich da raus

Thank you for scrolling all the way down here!

By now you must be asking yourself -

What has this got to do with the Jews?

Well. It turns out that the phrase in question is an integral part of Jewish tradition. In the form of that olde, familiar saying -

.‏‎עס איז ניט מײַן ציג. און ניט מײַן חנוכּה–ליכטל
Not My Goat. Not My Hanukkah Candle.

The goat, of course, must come from Chad Gadya - One Little Goat - that Father bought for two zuzim, right around Pesach. Which teaches us that actions have consequences, and which reminds us that G-d rules the world.

Then again - perhaps the goat comes to us from Shmuel Yoset Agnon's The Fable of the Goat (מעשה העז). One of Agnon's best-known and most-loved works. About which Abq Jew posted in August 2013, in honor of the first birthday of his first grandchild.

And then there's the Hanukkah candle!

Korin Allal, Musician, Dies at 69

2024-12-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

I Have No Other Land: The Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post reported last week that Israeli singer-songwriter Korin (Corinne) Allal died on December 12th, at 69, after a battle with cancer.

The Jerusalem Post wrote in an editorial:

Corinne Allal leaves a lasting legacy for future generations
Perhaps the most famous song she composed and sang, to the lyrics of Ehud Manor, was “Ein Li Eretz Acheret” (“I Have No Other Land”).
Corinne Allal, the singer, composer, and guitarist who died after a battle with cancer at the age of 69, was an Israeli icon whose repertoire of songs not only still resonates but also left a lasting legacy for future generations.

Perhaps the most famous song she composed and sang, to the lyrics of legendary songwriter Ehud Manor, was “Ein Li Eretz Acheret” (“I Have No Other Land”).

Written in 1982 in the midst of the First Lebanon War, its haunting melody and defiant lyrics are particularly relevant today.
Its primary message is reminiscent of the famous quotation by Golda Meir:

“We Jews have a secret weapon in our struggle with the Arabs; we have no place to go.”

But it goes on to pledge, “I will not stay silent because my country changed her face/I will not give up reminding her/And sing in her ears until she will open her eyes.

The Israel Forever Foundation provides the lyrics, and says -

This song reminds us of why we fight when forced into battle time and time again by neighboring countries who seek only to destroy our Jewish State.

אין לי ארץ אחרת

Ein li eretz acheret
I have no other country

גם אם אדמתי בוערת

gam im admati bo'eret
even if my land is burning.

רק מילה בעברית חודרת

Rak milah b'ivrit choderet
Just a word in Hebrew penetrates

אל עורקיי, אל נשמתי

el orakai, el nishmati
to my veins, to my soul.

בגוף כואב, בלב רעב

B'guf ko'ev, b'lev ra'ev
With a weak body, with a hungry heart.

כאן הוא ביתי

kan hu beiti
Here is my home.

*
לא אשתוק

Lo eshtok
I will not stay silent

כי ארצי שינתה את פניה

ki artzi shinta et paneha
because my country changed her face.

לא אוותר לה

Lo evater la
I will not give up on her

אזכיר לה

Azkir la
I will remind her.

ואשיר כאן באוזניה

V'ashir kan b'ozneha
And I will sing right into her ears

עד שתפקח את עיניה

Ad sheh-tiftach et eineha
until she will open her eyes.

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The Jerusalem Post editorial concludes:

Allal’s last public appearance was singing “Ein Li Eretz Acheret” with Gali Atari on October 7 at the Bereaved Families Memorial Ceremony at Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park, where the thousands attending – including family members of the fallen and relatives of the hostages – sang along.
Her death reminds us that none of us lives forever, and we have to do what we can while we can. But her music will always be with us, raising us up when we’re down. May her memory be blessed.