Erev Sukkos In The Library With Neil

Yesterday was my Hebrew Birthday - I hung one more shanah on the wall (to paraphrase Paul Simon).

The YU library is open today til 3:45 PM, bad if you're a frum librarian, good if you're a frum local. A colleague asked me to return a book for him, so that's why I'm here. And how could I visit that YU library (while it's nice and quiet) and not sit and blog a bit? I just printed out some teaching related sources. I'm pretty excited about teaching.

Yesterday I received a pre-release copy of a book that I'm impressed with. it's a biography of the Mad cartoonist Al Jaffee called Al Jaffee's Mad Life by Mary-Lou Weisman. it's a straight up bio on the one hand but it's filled with pictures drawn by the subject so it's kind of a graphic novel. I was wondering why it was offered to me to read and write about. About 30 pages into it I understand.

Jaffeee, now pushing 90 had, parents who came from frum homes. His father let go of the traditions. His mother wouldn't. They had four kids in six years and then she made the unusual move of leaving a comfortable acculturated life in Savannah, Georgia and heading back (surprising everyone) to Lithuania. I'm now up to the part where boisterous young Al has won over the kids who beat him up when he first arrived in the Old Country.

Looking back, Al wonders if his mother was really Orthodox because she covered her hair, but hadn't shaved her head. And I wonder too, how myths and misinformation carry on.

It seems like a well done book, written by an old friend of Al's who really knows what she's doing. The drawings fit well and add a lot. It's a page turner.

I just picked a few magazines off of the shelves. The National Review's cover wonders "what marriage is for." The article is political rather than philosophical, agenda driven rather than being an honest exploration. Disappointing. The New Republic has a strong poem called "Chance" by Anjie Mazakis, which includes and adapts a beautiful quote from Wuthering Heights, "She's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, it is the same." Psychology today has a cover story called "Revenge of the Introverts" and observes that because things are set up to have it appear that everyone is an extrovert "it's hard not to feel like an outsider in your own culture." Forbes' thoughts on the business of life are focused on sports and they quote a pro saying "...There's going to be a life after tennis that's a lot longer than your tennis life."

I am pleased that my new insight on Sukkos has been received positively by others. May we all be blessed with a Chag Sameach.