cheese stuffed challah... this loaf is my daughter... shabbat shalom!
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Once upon a time in the 1980s, when I was a twenty-year-old graduate student full of arrogance and attitude, I worked in the Hebrew books and manuscripts division of the Judaica Department at Sotheby’s New York. My boss was the “Judaica expert,” the late, great Jay Weinstein, a man truly deserving of his title, which he bore with immense modesty and humour. My own title was also “expert” but, by way of contrast, it only exacerbated my supercilious arrogance when I found myself called to the front desk to meet a client… The client I was about to meet on the day I am describing had called a week before to tell me that he was in possession of “a very old Hebrew book.” I was not looking forward to the encounter, since auction experts know very well that the hoi polloi consider anything more than ten years old to be ancient and hence of untold value. Disabusing clients of this notion as it applies to their particular treasure is an often painful but necessary task…
Mr. X, I was dismayed to find, embodied all my worst fears. Stooped, elderly, still in his coat, and eager — very eager. Authoritative and disdainful though I made myself, he was simply unimpressed by my “impressiveness.” With total focus and trembling hands, he reached into a plastic shopping bag and produced, wrapped in newspaper older than I was, his “treasure” — a book of Psalms, printed in Warsaw in 1920. I couldn’t believe this monumental waste of my precious time — a brand new book of Psalms would be worth more than this! I was exasperated by this schlepper, and I wanted to tell him so. I wanted to show him the real treasures — gold, silver, ancient, and precious illuminated manuscripts — that had been entrusted into my “expert” care. I wanted to show him the door as I told him with authoritative disdain, “That book is worth whatever you paid for it!”
But at that moment, like the angel in the legend who moves Moses’ hand toward the glowing coal rather than the glittering crown, thus saving his life, some kindly spirit moved my tongue. And instead of that anticipated send-off, I faltered, “Um, what did you pay for this?” The old man drew himself up to his full 5 feet, 2 inches. “For this, I paid seven days’ Auschwitz bread,” he replied with a dignity that totally deflated my pose. It seems that the Nazis had caught him with the little Psalm book, and as a penalty for possessing it, imprisoned him without food — only water to drink — for an entire week. Like Moses touching the coal to his lips, I was struck dumb. “This,” I stammered, “is too valuable for us to sell.” And I stumbled out of the room, a changed young man, with a new appreciation of what is meant by the words precious, valuable, and treasured.
Marc Michael Epstein, Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink: Jewish Illuminated Manuscripts (via jewishhenna)
trashrattie-blog reblogged
Yom HaShoah
Eighty years ago, fascism swept through Europe and the Pacific. Eighty years ago, fascism killed 6 million Jews. We still have not recovered. We will never recover. The atrocities committed by the Nazis are some of the most horrific the world has ever seen. The world looked away. The German people, the Austrian people, the Polish people, closed their eyes as their neighbors were taken, Jews and gays and communists and Rroma. The President of the United States knew and did nothing, turned away the boats filled with refugees that arrived on his coastline. The world allowed the Holocaust to happen. We must not forget. We must never look away from this. Today, on Yom HaShoah, we stand in solidarity with all victims of fascism, in Europe, in Asia, and beyond. We stand in solidarity with the victims of genocide, in Europe, in Armenia, in the United States, in the Americas, in Rwanda, in Arabia, and beyond. Today we must remember that the world did not stand up to fascism 80 years ago. Today we must stand up to fascism, in all forms. Today we must commit ourselves, in a way we have failed to do in the past, to that phrase, that mantra, “Never Again.” Long live the worldwide Antifa.
trashrattie-blog reblogged
Me in real life: There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, attempts at greening capitalism or making ethical purchases are just prolonging its longevity by folding resistance to it back into dominant hegemony.
Me in this job interview: I just *love* what an ethical company you are, I would love to work at a place so eco-friendly and concerned with social justice!
not so commonly talked about autism traits
~poor/abnormal posture ~trouble with left, right, and other directions ~disinterest in sports/physical activity ~rituals with no outcome ~large or unique vocabulary ~lack of organization ~intense compassion/empathy ~intense anger or no anger at all ~connections with animals ~difficulty understanding pop culture, styles, trends, etc
burn the discourse
look i’m not saying that barack obama is a Terrible Person or his administration hasn’t ever done anything right but can we please be a little more critical regarding him considering, among things:
- the ‘war on whistleblowers’ that has resulted in america ranking 41st in press freedom
- the method of counting ‘all military-age males in a strike zone [of a drone strike] as combatants […] unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent’
- the ‘insider threat program’ which was established under the mandate of an executive order in ‘response to the massive data leaks of the early twenty-first century’
- ‘the closing without charges of the only two cases under investigation relating to the US torture program: one that resulted in the 2002 death of an Afghan detainee at a secret CIA prison near Kabul, and the other the 2003 death of an Iraqi citizen while in CIA custody at Abu Ghraib’
trashrattie-blog reblogged
me considering spending money on basic needs: nah I'm kinda broke
me considering spending money of frivolous shit: hell fucking yes
also follow my ig if you want I'm gonna try to use it more
just like that it was summer again 🍉💛
I love my room my aesthetic is so good
cool room
trashrattie-blog reblogged
When you know something’s gon be good
