"Roses of the Prophet Mohammed"

... are what you'll have to ask for in Tehran if you want a Danish to go with your tea or coffee, according to both Dagens Nyheter in Stockholm and Haaretz in Israel. Following - or is that "follying"? - in the footsteps of "Freedom Fries" and - if you have a longer memory, or talkative older relatives - "Victory Cabbage". Iranians, who are apparently really big on the pastries, have renamed danish pastries, in order to protest about the caricatures published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten some months ago. Oddly enough, Danes call the pastries weinerbrød or "Viennese bread", acknowledging that the art of layering butter and dough comes from the east - from the Turks, according to most food historians.

Hats or Wigs or None of the Above

Someone recently asked a friend of mine about why some Orthodox Jewish women wear wigs, why others wear hats or kercheifs, and why some don't cover their heads at all.

It's a good question and it depends on your community and your own background, as well as your position on hair covering among the Modern Orthodox (MO). This is based on my own personal experience, having belonged to more Orthodox than Chassidic shuls in the US and Europe. It is also important to realize that there has been a techtonic cultural shift in the last 20 years, when it comes to outward signs of observance. When Blu Greenberg wrote her important book about running a (modern Orthodox) Jewish household, it was not at all unusual for MO women to wear pants and not cover their hair except for Shabbat. The MO community had been colored by the radical societal changes of the 1960's and 70's and women not covering their hair outside of shul was the norm, not the exception. It's important for younger women to remember this bit of history.

As many MO communities and congregations have grown more traditional - if not to say conservative - in their practices, a number of traditions that were best preserved in other more traditional Chassidic or Misnagic/Litvishe communities were re-introduced. So it becomes kind of a generational thing, where you see many younger MO women, who have been brought up and educated in a more traditional environment, covering their hair all the time - although more likely with a hat or scarf -"tichel" - than a sheitel - and a good number of "older" women feeling comfortable with a headcovering - often a hat - just on Shabbat and other holidays. There are some women who cover their hair in any Jewish public or religious context, and some observant women who do not cover their hair ever, at all, which reflects the time in which they grew up, as well as their own personal choice.

Hey, as Jews we are monotheistic, not monolithic!

Trader Joe's Update VI

More news - looks like no TJ's at 280/University in St. Paul, according to the Pioneer Press. Wellington Management has apparently signed a letter of intent with Riverside Market for "2700 on the Avenue" project. This means the area near 280 and University Avenue will get a grocery store, but it won't be Trader Joe's. Not to fear - TJ's typically expands to several stores once it breaks into a fertile market. So keep your hopes up!

Revisiting an old friend

I am reminded of a poem I haven't thought of for years, by the Swedish
poet, Karin Boye and translate it here quickly for you:



Ja visst gör det ont

Ja visst gör det ont när knoppar brister.
Varför skulle annars våren tveka?
Varför skulle all vår heta längtan
bindas i det frusna bitterbleka?
Höljet var ju knoppen hela vintern.
Vad är det för nytt, som tär och spränger?
Ja visst gör det ont när knoppar brister,
ont för det som växer
och det som stänger.

Ja nog är det svårt när droppar faller.
Skälvande av ängslan tungt de hänger,
klamrar sig vid kvisten, sväller, glider -
tyngden drar dem neråt, hur de klänger.
Svårt att vara oviss, rädd och delad,
svårt att känna djupet dra och kalla,
ändå sitta kvar och bara darra -
svårt att vilja stanna
och vilja falla.

Då, när det är värst och inget hjälper,
Brister som i jubel trädets knoppar.
Då, när ingen rädsla längre håller,
faller i ett glitter kvistens droppar
glömmer att de skrämdes av det nya
glömmer att de ängslades för färden -
känner en sekund sin största trygghet,
vilar i den tillit
som skapar världen.
-- Karen Boye

Of course it's painful when the buds break open
Why else would spring hesitate?
Why should all our heated desire
Be bound up in the frozen bitter pale?
The sheath was the bud all winter.
What is this new thing that eats away and explodes?
Of course it is painful when the bud breaks,
painful for that which grows
and that which closes.

Yes, it's hard when the drops fall.
Quivering with paralyzing anxiety, hanging heavily,
clinging to the branch, swelling, sliding -
the weight draws them down, how they cling.
Difficult to be uncertain, frightened and divided,
Hard to hear the depth pull and call,
and just the same stay sitting and only tremble -
hard to want to stay
and want to fall.

Then, when it's worst and nothing helps,
the tree's buds Burst, as if in jubelation.
Then, when fear no longer holds,
fall in a glitter, the branches drops
forget that they were frightened by the new
forget that they were anxious about the journey
feel for a second their greatest security,
rest in that trust
that creates the world.

trans ablevayble (c) 2006

Offbeat Museums - Part One *Update*

Tired of the same dull screen and dingy four walls? You never know when you will need a quick change of scenery. Call it cabin fever if you like, but there are times when a person just needs a virtual road trip. Sure, you could visit the Met or the Louvre or the British Library, but sometimes you need it funkified. Here are some preliminary suggestions for a brief visit to the museums, collections and galleries specializing in the odd, amusing and "why the heck would somebody do that?".

Harry Truman's Tropical Shirts

Museum of Family Camping

The Banana Museum

Museum of Weird Consumer Culture

The Enchanted Highway may not qualify as a museum per se, but is a great piece of outsider art.

The Testcard Gallery

Online Air Raid Siren Museum

Phones Around The World!

The Condiment Museum

Gallery of Tiny Cars Next to Real Cars

Scout Emblems from Everywhere

Gallery of Birth Control Packaging

Museum of Bad Art

Cyberspace Vacuum Cleaner Museum

The Japanese Tobacco and Salt Museum

Antique and Vintage Sewing Machines Virtual Museum

Boombox Museum

The Museum of Burnt Food

Oh, yeah! It's ON - Trader Joe's Update V

You read it here first, sports fans, Trader Joes is opening in May in S. Louis Park, Minnesota. We're even on the TJ's official website now. Now we'll know we've arrived when we make it onto the drop-down menus, but this will have to do for now. Read it and wait, Madison, Wisconsin!