The times we live in
Yom Kippur begins tonight at sundown (oldie)
“Hi. This is Sarah Palin. Is Senator Lieberman in?”
“No, governor. He’s out today. This is Yom Kippur.”
“Well, hello, Yom. Can I leave a message?”
The Talking Parrot — the best Yom Kippur story
Meyer, a lonely widower, was walking home along Delancy Street one day wishing something wonderful would happen in his life, when he passed a pet store and heard a squawking voice shouting out in Yiddish,”fQuawwwwk…vus machts du?”
Meyer rubbed his eyes and ears. Couldn’t believe it. Perfect Yiddish.
The proprietor urged him, “Come in here, fella, and check out this parrot…”
Meyer did. An African Grey cocked his little head and said: “Vus? Kenst sprechen Yiddish?”
In a matter of moments, Meyer had placed five hundred dollars on the counter and carried the parrot in his cage away with him. All night he talked with the parrot. In Yiddish. He told the parrot about his father’s adventures coming to America. About how beautiful his late wife, Sarah, was. About his family. About his years of working in the garment district. About Florida .
The parrot listened and commented.
They shared some walnuts.
The parrot told him of living in the pet store, how lonely he would get on the weekends.
Next morning, Meyer began to put on his tfillin, all the while saying his prayers. The parrot demanded to know what he was doing and when Meyer explained, the parrot wanted to do the same. Meyer went out and had a miniature set of tfillin hand made for the parrot.
The parrot wanted to learn to daven (pray) and learned every prayer. He wanted to learn to read Hebrew.
So Meyer spent weeks and months, sitting and teaching the parrot, teaching him Torah.
In time, Meyer came to love and count on the parrot as a friend and fellow Jew.
One morning, on Rosh Hashanah, Meyer rose and got dressed and was about to leave when the parrot demanded to go with him. Meyer explained that Shul (synagogue) was not a place for a bird, but the parrot made a terrific argument, so Meyer relented and carried the bird to Shul on his shoulder.
They made quite a spectacle. Meyer was questioned by everyone, including the Rabbi and the Cantor. They refused to allow a bird into the building on the High Holy Days, but Meyer persuaded them to let him in this one time, swearing that the parrot could daven.
Wagers were made with Meyer.
Thousands of dollars were bet that the parrot could NOT daven, could not speak Yiddish or Hebrew, etc.
All eyes were on the African Grey during services. The parrot perched on Meyer’s shoulder as one prayer and song passed – Meyer heard not a peep from the bird. He began to become annoyed, slapping at his shoulder and mumbling under his breath, “Daven!”
Nothing.
“Daven parrot, you can daven, so daven…come on, everyone is looking at you!”
Nothing.
After Rosh Hashanah services were concluded, Meyer found that he owed his Shul buddies and the Rabbi four thousand dollars..
He marched home, so upset he said nothing to the parrot.
Finally several blocks from the Temple the Parrot began to sing an old Yiddish song, as happy as a lark.
Meyer stopped and looked at him.
“Why? After I had tfillin made for you and taught you the morning prayers, and taught you to read Hebrew and the Torah. And after you begged me to bring you to Shul on Rosh Hashana, why? WHY?!? Why did you do this to me?”
“Meyer, don’t be a schmuck,” the parrot replied.
“Think of the odds we’ll get on Yom Kippur!”
(That’s starts tonight at sundown.)
Please don’t vote for Donald Trump
This one is hard. He’s a brilliant entertainer, achieving a huge cult following.
But, as a politician who can pursue policies that will benefit the country, he sucks big-time. To wit:
+ Deporting 11 million+ immigrants will wreak havoc on our economy — the cost, the lost productivity, the lost tax revenues.
+ Putting more tariffs on will increase the price of goods we buy and drive up inflation. Hello.. It’s not the Chinese who pay the tariffs. We do.
+ Cutting healthcare benefits — via repealing the Affordable Care Act (inter alia) — will hurt millions of Americans.
+ Reducing, or worse, eliminating, our aid to Ukraine would put Europe in jeopardy — from the Baltic States to Poland.
+ He’s a terrible manager, as reflected in his many bankruptcies. Ask the families of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who died during Trump’s ultra-negligent handling of the Covid crisis.
+ He’s transactional — which he means he puts his own interests ahead of the country’s. What’s Elon getting for his support? You want something? Give him money.
For me, the worst about Trump is he doesn’t study issues. He doesn’t read his briefings or listen to his advisers. He makes stuff up on his own whim. Read what people who served in his administration tell us. Many, many have come out against him.
Oh, yes. He lies. His lies endanger peoples’ lives. And now they’re hurting FEMA’s hurricane recovery efforts.
Five people died in his January 6 Capitol Riot.
Read that again: Five people dead because Donald Trump encouraged a mob of his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol and overturn legitimate election results.
Five people dead.
Good news
Today in Columbia County, mid-New York State
Local tennis court we play on. About as close to Paradise as you can get.
Our wonderful neighbor, who owns the tennis court and lets us play on it.
The road I live on. The dust on our cars keeps the local car wash in business.
Last night in Columbia County
That’s the Catskill mountains. They’re on the other side of the Hudson River.
Please wish your Jewish friends (like me) G’mar chatima tova,” “May you be sealed in the Book of Life.”
Oh, I forgot, I’m an immigrant.
I once wrote the IRS a check for $40 million. I did it gratefully because they had provided me the wonderful country in which I could start a business, earn the money and pay back money as a “Thank You.”
I bet the millions of immigrants Donald wants to send back have paid the IRS a lot more than $40 million.
Our portfolio continues to climb. Biggest gainers today are TSM, VRT and RDDT. NVDA is up a little.
Today I nibbled at IOT and UBER.
See you this weekend. — Harry Newton
