Shavua Tov

Maybe it's me, but this show, called Blind Date, starring Rebecca Northan sounds like one of the smartest artistic ideas I've ever heard. The play opens with her being stood up by a date. She picks a replacement date from the audience. They talk for and hour and a half. And that's a show. One thing that makes it a little different and easier for all involved is that she wears a disguise, what she calls the smallest mask in the world: a red clown nose. She also wears her favorite dress, which looks a bit clownish. And she puts on a French accent to make this a little more show like and less intimidating. It's presently playing in New York. Sounds interesting to me.

On Friday, while waiting for my doctor's appointment I read a review of the above mentioned show. I also read about Mike Leigh's latest film, Another Year. It sounds good, but something about the Time magazine review made me sad. The reviewer editorializes and critiques an unmarried character for being too picky. First of all, how does he know? Second of all, she's fictional.

Still, with ear infection/cold/? I am going to describe a New Yorker cartoon that I liked - rather than scan it. Two dead men in angelic garb float in heaven. Each is staring at his cell phone. One turns to the other and says, I'm only getting two bars - how about you? Wow.

Did you ever notice that there's a chiastic structure built into the Yosef story: clothes, dreams, pit, pit, dreams clothes. Any questions?

I just came across a book I bought 20 years ago by Allan Ishac called 50 Places To Find Peace And Quiet In New York. One of his recommendations is the Roerich Museum on W 107th street. Here's a nice one by Nicholas Roerich. His specialty was his own surroundings, the Himilayan mountains.

A Vayigash Thought

Once upon a time a teacher had barely a connection with a student. The student never participated in class. one day they learned the story of Yosef and arrived at the denouement. Joseph reveals his identity and then immediately asked his brothers if his father is still alive. What's puzzling , and the teacher raised this question to the class, is that Yosef knew his father was alive. They had just been talking about their father. The quiet boy in the back corner raised his hand for the first time that year and suggested an answer: "Maybe Yosef was asking if Yaakov was alive as his father. Maybe he wanted to know if he wasn't just physically alive, he knew that. He wanted to know if his father cared about him. After that the teacher looked in the boy's file and found that his parents were divorced and the father was out of the picture. The Rabbi took an interest in the boy and the boy responded well.