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THE WEISS CHRONICLES
Chronological Account of the Weiss family with contextual remarks, some weather, sports and other news.
You can write to me at: mhw20854@yahoo.com
The people in the Weiss family are: Martin, Ann, Beth and George. I also sometimes write about other people or our pet.
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Two Images from Ramat Gan
The first image was taken from Tamar's bedroom.
The trees are, I think, Mediterranean cypress.
The tower is an apartment a few blocks away from Tamar's place. It is about 30 stories tall. It is called the Savyon Mofet Tower and is at the corner of Herzl and Krinitzi Streets.
Unfortunately, the view is not really useful as you can't see it from the living room where the view is of the 4 story apartment house next door.
The second image was taken in Rambam Square or Bialik Square (if has a statue of Bialik and both a Bialik Street and Rambam Square street names). It is also just a few blocks away.
There was a bubble machine and, yes there are a lot of kids around the square (and a lot of young adults and a lot of seniors, etc.)
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Trusting Merchant
On June 26, I was at Bialik near Jabotinski Street to buy wine (it is also called
יין בעיר
or wine city
I selected the wine and brought it to the counter. The merchant rang it up and just as I was about to give him my credit card the electricity went out.
I sat down on a nearby chair to wait for the electricity to come back on. After about 15 minutes the merchant came to me and said,
"The electrician will come but it will be two hours so you take home today and come back and pay me tomorrow."
I said, "This is the first time you've ever seen me and you trust me to come back and pay you".
He said, "Yes. Of course."
The next day I did pay him and took his picture (second image).
twinning this experience with the one at the Ministry of the Interior would make an interesting parable on the merits of 'the invisible hand of the market' vs. 'clumsy hand of government'.
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Summer Orange
This is the first time in a long time that we've been in Israel in the summer.
One of the nice things about the summer is the orange blossoms of the Royal Poinciana (aka Flamboyant Tree).
The tree, which once established is both drought and salt hardy but easily damaged by freezing, is native to Madagascar.
In the USA it grows in south Florida. It blooms from about May through July. In the winter the blossoms become pods so it takes some maintenance to sweep them (also to trim them and to prune away above ground roots if needed).
The first image shows a tree with the 39 Bialik Street Tower in the background. However, they are seen in many places in Ramat Gan, including in front of apartments.
The second image shows a tree near an apartment house. You can see the long seed pods that I think were from last years blossoms. At some point they will fall and litter the ground.
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
The Ministry of Interior is Just like you would think
Beth and I went to the Ministry of Interior today to get an English copy of Oz Yehudah Weiss's birth certificate (the English copy is needed for the passport).
Unfortunately, the Ministry said they hadn't received the information from the hospital yet (birth was 13 days ago).
Israel can track rockets and intercept them in real time but not get an electronic record across town in two weeks.
Fortunately, the Ramat Gan office of the Ministry is only about a 10 minute walk from Beth's apartment.
Monday, June 24, 2019
Unsolicited Advice
We took Oz Yehudah out today to get a passport photo taken (which doesn't make a lot of sense since babies look pretty much alike but those are the rules). We used the Doona (see images earlier).
We stopped at a store to buy something. A customer criticized us because she didn't think the newborn should be sitting up (babies lie down in the stroller).
I looked into this when I got home.
Although there is a spread of opinion, the general thinking is that newborn babies need some time sitting up (and obviously you do this while you hold them) but need lots of time lying down. As a result, people recommend the Doona be used for relatively short trips (under two hours counting both stroller and car seat time - our trip was about an hour).
Sunday, June 23, 2019
The Cofix Story
Today was a nice Iced Coffee Smoothie day.
I walked down to Rambam Square a few blocks away and got three of them for 5 shekels (about $1.40) a piece (there were about 7 people in front of me at the store).
This store, currently part of a franchise with 200+ places including some outside Israel, started in 2013 after some cost of living protests in Israel.
In 2017, they briefly raised their price to 6 shekels but reverted to 5 shekels after protests.
It is really delicious, much better than anything I've had in the USA, although I've had products as good in other places in Israel (but for more than 5 shekels).
Trump Vodka at sabbath kiddish
At shacharit on Sabbath I went to the little shul across the street from where Beth lives. It is at 18 Shilo and she is at 13 Shilo so it is about the shortest walk I've ever had for this.
Of course they gave me an aliyah. They have a 30 minute
intermission between shacharit and taking out the Torah (for study or socializing).
After musaf they have a kiddish. The rabbi gives his drosh (in Hebrew with an occassional English phrase) during the kiddish.
At kiddish one of the drinks was Trump Vodka. It was obvious that in this minyan there was a pro Trump vibe and also the Vodka was kosher and kosher for Passover.
This vodka has an interesting history. It was originally to be a super premium product to be sold at $100-$150/bottle (second image). They didn't sell enough and the distillery reduced production to a minimum in about 2011. Because they were kosher for passover (except for one year when there was a mistake at the distillery) there was still a market in Israel (perhaps other places) for a non premium product (first image).
Based on what I saw on line (third image) the non premium product sells for about $20-25/bottle. I had some and it had a nice sweet taste ('Sweet like Trump' the Rabbi said).
Friday, June 21, 2019
Inadvertent Bargaining after a violation of Murphy's Law
I was going to get some bread, pastry and wine for the sabbath.
It was hot so I wore sandals. As I approached Bialik Street (which is parallel to Shilo Street where Beth lives - Beth previously lived on Bialik Street) I noticed that my sandals were tearing.
This was a violation of Murphy's law since this section of Bialik Street has a half dozen shoe stores and most of them also sell sandals.
At one store I saw a pair I liked (seen above, nice soft bottom). I asked the store clerk, "How much?"
"A Hundred and Fifty" she said (150 shekels was about $40).
I didn't say anything but I must have made a face and she then said, "No. A Hundred"
Normally, I don't bargain with clerks in Israel but apparently here I inadvertently did so.
The Bris
June 20 was the bris.
The first image is during the bris.
He cried for only a second or two. Before the bris he had antiseptic and some anti pain cream and during the bris he got to chew on a piece of cotton soaked in grape juice.
The second image is after the bris of Oz Yehudah Weiss.
We had about a dozen people in Beth's apartment. There were some of Beth's friends from work, some from Beth's friends from the neighborhood. Also Rimon Rafiah, from Modiyin came (a friend of mine from work in Transportation since 2006 who also knows Tamar) as did Alfred and Yonnah Kromholz (friends from our synagogue since about 2004 and who also know Tamar) from Jerusalem (where they now live).
After the bris we went to lunch on Bialik Street.
On the way back home I buried the foreskin in a 'garden' on the ground floor of her apartment building.
Thursday, June 20, 2019
Baby Weiss after first bath
Baby Weiss got his first bath today (was at about 90F per advise from several websites).
This is part of getting him ready for the bris.
He got fed just after the bath.
He seemed to enjoy it all. However, current medical opinion is that baby smiles before about 3 months are involuntary.
The Doona
Irwin and Cheryl got Beth a Doona for the baby.
This is a combination stroller and car seat.
In the top image it is in the car seat position.
In the bottom image it is in the stroller position.
The advertisement for this says that it goes from stroller to car seat in seconds. That is true (probably averages about 5-10 seconds) but it took me about 10 minutes to figure it out.
It was designed only a few miles from where Beth lives, by a graduate of Shenkar named Yoaz Mazar and his wife. Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art is in Ramat Gan. An earlier version of this attributed it to Bar Ilan, Tamar pointed out the error.
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Thursday, June 13, 2019
BABY WEISS
Born 12 June to Tamar (conceived via AI)
A boy.
Weight at birth about 7 pounds and change.
Bris scheduled for 20 June. Also naming at that time.
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Preventing Demon Attacks is Part of the job now
Update on this. The Salt vs Demons issue is apparently more widespread than I thought. Recently, in a Florida Walmart a man was spreading salt in the store to rid himself of evil demons
Below was posted May 8, 2019
Up to recently, the Star K had been allowing the restaurant owners to do this (preventing demon attacks) but now I will be doing it.
I will do this by placing a few grains of salt in any containers of pre-cracked eggs and sliced onions that are kept overnight.
In the Babylonian Talmad, Tractate Niddah, folio page 17, it says,
R. Simeon b. Yohai stated, There are five things which [cause the man]
who does them to forfeit his life and his blood is upon his own head:
Eating8 peeled garlic, a peeled onion or a peeled egg, or drinking diluted liquids that9 were kept over night; spending a night in a graveyard; removing one's nails and throwing them away in a public thoroughfare; and blood-letting followed immediately by intercourse.
From the context with the graveyard and commentary to page 65 of tractate Sanhedrin, the issue is that demons are the problem. Based on Ezekiel 16:4, salt evidently has some efficacy in protecting against demons.
I think the Zohar has quite a bit more on this but I'm unable to find it and I have trouble searching for things in Kabbalah generally.
Interestingly, the Magic Seasoning in the first image has a star K symbol.
The salt in the second image seems to promise anti demon protection of some sort. The company that makes this anti demon salt also sells t shirts apparently (third image - click for an enlarged version).
Animal Metamorphisis Imagination
Last night our cat came and visited me.
I fell asleep with my hand on her (she was presumably also sleeping).
I dreamed that I was sleeping next to a dog.
It took me a few moments when I woke up to realize I was still next to my cat.
Thursday, June 06, 2019
NYC May 22 gathering of descendants of Kitcheners
Ann and I and Irwin and our cousin Ellen met in New York City on May 22.
It was a gathering of descendants of the Kitcheners.
The Kitcheners were a subgroup of refugees from Europe who left just before WWII. My (and Irwin's) father and Ellen's father were among them.
The pictures were from this gathering.
The first includes spouses of descendants, the second does not. We are holding images of our fathers.
The final image is of Irwin, me Ann and Ellen at the event.
More about the Kitchener camp is available here and here.
The presentation that Irwin made at this gathering is here.
In NYC other venues
As noted above, we were in NYC for the Kitchener gathering.
The first image is from May 22 before the Kitchener descendants gathering.
It was taken in Battery Park near the Jewish Heritage Museum.
There was a special exhibit of Auschwitz there. A lot of the exhibits were similar to those at the Holocaust museum in Washington DC but some were not.
There was one exhibit I really wanted to see, a holographic presentation of two people, now deceased, using AI to answer live questions (by voice recognition of a few words and playing something related to that). However, it wasn't working that day.
On May 23, we moseyed around with Ellen.
The second image is from the 86th floor observatory (which is all inside).
The lighting wasn't good for this so I don't know what direction I was looking at when the image was taken.
The third image is from the upper of the two viewing platforms at the Empire State Building. This observatory is partly outside.
The view is south toward the lower part of Manhattan. Freedom Tower (which also has an observatory,is visible between Ellen and Ann.
Freedom Tower's observatory is at 1254'. The upper observatory at the Empire State Building is at 1224'. The upper observatory at the Rockefeller Center is at 850'. We were at the Rockefeller Center observatory in January 2017. The blog from that trip is here.
Moral Issues in Dreams
I had a dream involving a moral issue.
I was supervising a sales team (not sure if we were selling hardware, software or system integration). We were meeting in the lobby of a fancy hotel the morning of our presentation. Apparently the presentation was going to be in a conference room of the hotel. Also apparently the team from our potential client was staying at the hotel.
A young lady on my team came close to me and said,
"This should be easy. I had sex with three of them last night."
I didn't know what to say. I didn't think I should compliment her on what seemed to be unethical. Nor should I harshly criticize her for what was done off the clock.
I said, "I guess that was smart."
Tuesday, June 04, 2019
A Shortage of the Impossible
The kosher vegetarian place where I do a lot of work has both Impossible Burgers and Impossible Kabobs on the menu (I had my first i-kabobs yesterday). The impossible paddies have been served here for about 6 months now.
It has been a big hit even though there are two other kosher places very nearby that also serve these items (the difference is that the paddies and kabobs go through the pizza oven here as opposed to the griddle).
Unfortunately the demand for this item grew faster than the supply because of several thousand Burger King restaurants now offering the "Impossible Whopper".
This restaurant will likely be forced to have 'Impossible-less' days beginning next week.
Eventually the production will increase as there is no shortage of the basic ingredients and no technical or commercial barriers to increasing the number of assembly lines.
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