Frume Sarah's World

They are welcomed!!

When I visit other blogs and see that no one has commented, I think, “how sad. No one is reading this poor person’s work.”

And then I realized that people who read my blog must think the same thing.

So, please — if anyone is reading this, please comment. If I was writing solely for the sake of writing, I’d just keep a journal!!

From the AP:

‘Oy Vey’ Traffic Sign Goes Up in Brooklyn

Wed Sep 28, 6:58 PM ET

“Leaving Brooklyn Oy vey!” That’s what motorists now see as they cross the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan. The huge sign, affixed to a cross beam of the bridge high above the bustling traffic, is a sweet victory for Marty Markowitz, president of the borough, home to a large Jewish population.

When Markowitz first approached the Department of Transportation about the sign in January 2004, he was rebuffed because the agency felt it would be distracting to motorists.

After “revisiting” the issue, the DOT allowed the sign to go up two weeks ago, Markowitz said Wednesday. “I’m thrilled.”

Markowitz said he is responsible for many other signs praising his great borough that are posted at every entrance into Brooklyn. The DOT, he said, “saw that those signs caused no problems, and that the ‘Oy vey’ sign would be fine.”

A request for comment from the DOT was not immediately returned.

“Oy vey,” Markowitz said, is an original Jewish “expression of dismay or hurt.”

“The beauty is, every ethnic group knows it,” he said, and motorists seeing it know it means “Dear me, I’m so sad you’re leaving.”

He also proudly recited from some of the other signs from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Belt Parkway that welcome motorists to the borough:

“Not Just A Borough, An Experience”; “Name It…We Got It”; “Like No Other Place in the World”; “Believe the Hype.”

Will the “Oy Vey” sign stay up indefinitely?

“I think these things are up to the discretion of the borough president,” said Markowitz, managing to sneak in a plug for his re-election bid.

So slender. Often overlooked. Misused. Or not used at all.

The semi-colon is typically regarded “only” as a mark of punctuation that indicates a degree of separation that is greater than that of a comma but less than that of a period.

In the world of email, however, it wields a much greater power.

It seems that many Jewish organizations were hit by what is referred to as a “reverse non-delivery report (NDR) attack.” This is not a virus and would not have been detectable by any type of virus scanning etc., as it is an exploitation of one’s email server’s normal design and operation. As a result, the mail server at work was overloaded on 10/5/05 sometime during the early afternoon. In other words, this NDR overloaded our server with over 300,000 messages before stopping. It clogged things up for everyone, but I was one of the lucky three who were actually on the recipient list. If you ever see 13,000 emails in your inbox, chances are that you are not actually popular. Just that you were hit with an NDR.

While I was waiting for our awesome IT guy to clean out my queue, I took a look at the other addressees on the list. I saw that my dad was included on the list — however, he was saved from the onslaught because the sender had inadvertantly left out the semi-colon that Outlook requires to separate email addresses.

We should all pay homage to the mighty semi-colon!!

I have so much to do…and I’m not in the mood to accomplish anything. I’m just reading over my sermon and going over readings. Not really getting much done.

I don’t know why I even came to work today. I keep forgetting that I like to take the day before the holiday begins to get in the mood. Budgets, programming strategies, attendance projections — it can all wait. I’ve got a really important date to keep starting tonight — and I don’t want to keep the Big Guy waiting!!

L’shana Tovah T’kateivu
What shall I wish you for the
New Year besides health, happiness,
peace and prosperity?
I wish you the ability to choose
what is good for you.
I wish you the wisdom to distinguish
between what you
want and what you need.
I wish you the power of appreciating
what you already have.
I wish you the inner peace that
allows you to spend some time
each day doing nothing.
I wish you the self-esteem and
self-confidence that enable you
to witness the success of others
without envy.
I wish you dear ones who
respond to your love and at
least one person whom you
can trust unconditionally.
Joshua O.Haberman

Very best wishes for a happy and peaceful new year. May this be a sweet year for you and your loved ones!

Life as a Jew can be so confusing.

In English, when we say that we have tabled an issue, we mean that we are taking it off the table and are no longer discussing it at this point.

But take a look at this:

Heniach al Hashulchan
Literally: Placed on the table
Idiomatically: Put up for discussion / Raised a motion

“Heiniach” means placed on or rested on (kelaiyim 8:8). Yes this could refer to setting up for dinner, but in the real world it is a political action and refers to tabling or raising a motion. You will usually find the phrase in the same sentence as “Chaver Knesset” (Member of Knesset). One thing is certain: When you “table” something, you bring it up for discussion (mostly with the press). In many cases, after it is tabled, it is slid along until it reaches the edge where it falls into the waste paper basket or in political jargon, sent to committee.

May your tables aways be full – with joy and health

Shana Tova

eli
Eli Birnbaum
Director Internet Services and Public Relations
The Jewish Agency for Israel

It is no wonder that with logic like this we are all a little f’tumalt!

I am so enjoying this!!! I am excited to come to work each day for many reasons…but the prevailing reason right now is that each day I learn a new song on my guitar.

In addition to the list from last week, I have now mastered the following:
Hatikvah
Ivdu Et HaShem B’simcha
Eliyahu Hanavi
Hamavdil/Shavua Tov
Od yavo Shalom

And I am working on:
Al Kol Eileh – not really for camp…just because I have always loved this song!
David Melech Yisrael – Jewish standard
Gesher Tzar M’od – gotta know this one!
Im Tirtzu – another standard

What’s next:
BaShanah HaBa-ah – just a really great song!
Eretz Zavat Chalav – from my Camp Komaroff days
Kol HaN’shama (Sufi chant version) – cool song
Od Yishama – fun song

I’ve also learned which pick I prefer (Dunlop Tortex – green)…which makes me feel like a real guitar player!!!