Miami Jewish Museum & Isaac Bashevis Singer

I had the privilege and pleasure of visiting the Miami Jewish Museum in South Beach this past Sunday. It was a rainy summer day and in between running between rainfall and puddles it was a good cultured experience.

There is an Isaac Bashevis Singer (and his artists) exhibit at the museum until September 2011 and I recommend that any fan of the literary great to go and check out the small, intimate exhibit at the museum. Singer lived his last days in the Surfside neighborhood of Miami and has a street named after him there. He was a prolific novelist of short stories, poems and more and was one of the greatest writers in the post World War 2 era. He keeps the Yiddish language alive.

The museum on its own is a small museum with interesting and wonderful information on Jewish Floridians, Cuban Jews and the Israeli connection.

More of July

Hurricane season became a reality (for approximately 24 hours) as Emily picked up over Haiti and the Dominican Republic and was heading towards the American Eastern Seaboard. Though it weakened and turned into heavy rain and flooding. The season continues.

A different hurricane was brewing in Washington as the Government and Politicians tried to make good with the debt deal. They procrastinated, fought, leveraged and finally brokered a deal. To further show the doom and gloom of the current debt crisis, it was revealed that Apple Inc had more money on hand than the U.S. Treasury (at one point).

A lone gunman went berserk in Oslo, Norway as he set off bombs in a Government building and attacked a Political camp, killing up to 80 people in a bloody rampage. The accused Anders Behring Breivik, claims the attack was needed to ‘save’ Europe from Muslim infiltration and that it would start a ‘necessary revolution’. Breivik’s attorney noted that his client appeared to be insane.

‘Borders’ the large bookseller closed its doors after filing for liquidation as the American dollar continued to weaken on international currency markets. Apple were in the news again as they launched their O SX Lion and the new MacBook Air into the Computer Jungle.

Music fans around the world mourned the untimely death of U.K. singer Amy Winehouse. Some say she joined the 27 Club alongside Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. Others say she didn’t.

After 21 stages of cycling through the beautiful wine country of France, we wish congratulations to Cadel Evans and Australia on winning your first Tour de France. What a wonderful feat of skill, persistence and hard work.

Please continue to pray for Chaim Yonatan Zev Halevi ben Yael for a complete and speedy recovery and be kind to one another.

sled.

June to July and more

Hello Miami, hello summer. It is viciously hot in Southern Florida but enjoying the beautiful surroundings. Atlantic Ocean waves, tropical storms and Cuba is only a 100 odd miles away.

The world was shocked and speechless as a young boy, just 9 years of age was brutally murdered in Brooklyn, New York. The abduction and subsequent savage attack on a young, naïve, innocent child was shocking and disturbing. There really are no words!

Rupert Murdoch made huge headlines (not sure it was reported in his own newspaper) as he closed ‘News of the world’ after 168 years of tabloid scandal. Quite funny as the demise of the largest scandal newspaper in the UK came via a scandal, a phone hacking scandal.

Congratulations to South Sudan on becoming the newest independent sovereign country on Planet Earth. Africa welcomes you and your arms. Meanwhile, North of South Sudan, Libya continues their warfare as petrol prices soar. Greece and Portugal continue to have financial woes in Europe. While on the topic of finance, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) elected a woman to fill the top seat (vacated by Dominique Strauss-Kahn). In any case, I wish former French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde congratulations on her election as IMF chief - please behave yourself.

The so-called peace Flotillas attempted to sail in the Mediterranean but didn’t get far. They then thought they could outsmart the Israelis by attempting a Flytilla (same idea as flotilla but via the air, as opposed to the sea) but they failed. It was an epic fail. Intelligent Israeli security personnel made sure no flytilla or flotilla took place.

Americans (and some others around the world) have been glued to their TV sets for about 5 weeks as they saw the Casey Anthony v State of Florida case take place. It was Law and Disorder as Anthony was acquitted on all Murder charges. While another Anthony, Anthony Weiner was all but forgotten.

In the tech world, Google+ was launched to counter the other social network sites. Facebook hooked up a video chat with Skype and Twitter joined in on the Social Media Chaos. ‎

Japan beat the U.S.A in the women’s world cup soccer final. Rafael Nadal won the French Open and Serbia hasn’t had such a bright day in a long time when local son Novak Djokovic won his first Wimbledon title.

Wishing you all a happy second half of July and be safe in the 9 days. Say a prayer for a friend of mine, Yonatan Zev Ben Yael for a complete and speedy recovery.

Peace.

Total Mayhem

Hi all, it was a month of total Mayhem, beginning with the death of Osama bin Laden and into the sea he was lade/laid. The World media went berserk as newspaper headlines and T.V programmes were filled with osamaganda. Obituaries were prepared, documentaries edited, blogs written and millions of tweets tweeted the death of the evil Osama. Done and Dusted.

It was a sad month for the Israeli Justice system as it said farewell to one of the greats. Former Israeli Supreme Court Justice Moshe Landau, who presided over the Adolf Eichmann trial and announced to Eichmann "This Court finds you guilty", passed away on the eve of Holocaust remembrance day he was 99. On a lighter note Israel celebrated 63 years of independence since 1948.

The computer war continued as ‎Bill Gates (Microsoft) wanted a communications aspect at the company, so they bought Skype for 8.5 billion cash. Stock exchanges greeted new companies to the exchange in May 2011. LinkedIn, the Professional social media network group went public. They can be found under the code LNKD on the NYSE. Pandora, an Internet radio station also floated as ‘P’ on the NYSE.

Anthony Weiner (a politician, but a human too) also went public, for the wrong reasons, on Twitter. He subsequently resigned from Congress.

Out in California, Arnold Schwarzenegger's marriage was terminated - (but he'll be back). Other discoveries were made in the Schwarzenegger household too.

The Icelandic volcano of ‘Grimsvotn’ erupted; it is probably a little easier to pronounce this volcano than ‘Eyjafjallajokull’ of last year. Another erupted volcano in Chile left thousands of passengers stranded in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa as dangerous lava filled the skies above the Southern Hemisphere causing hundreds of flights to be cancelled.

Many proclaimed, but the world didn't end. Either did the civil war in Libya and the killings in Syria and Yemen. Haiti has a new President - the singer Michel Martelly! On musical note congratulations to Azerbaijan on winning eurovision 2011.

Dallas was too hot for the Miami Heat as German wunderkid Dirk Nowitizki destroyed LeCon James and co in the NBA finals. Barcelona thrashed Manchester United in a messi night at wembley to claim the Champions League.
Say a prayer for our brothers and sisters in Israel as they continue to defend their sovereignty.

I hope June is a healthy and happy one for all. Regards from Miami Beach.

'The Brothers Ashkenazi' by I.J. Singer

Set in pre-war Lodz, during the years of revolutions, wars, pogroms and anti-Semitism comes a story complete with joy, tragedy, perseverance and triumph. The Brothers Ashkenazi, twins, Meir Simcha (Max) and Jacob Bunem (Yakub) are destined for success, in different ways. They both grow in wealth, affluence and influence, but learn that all one takes to the next world is a good name, a healthy reputation. As they grow in age, they grow apart, however brothers remain brothers.

The story is written with great detail and description about an era of Eastern Europe that was rife with commerce, development and hardship. Singer captures the movement, the fluctuation and craziness of the characters in exquisite thoroughness. Singer puts The Brothers Ashkenazi back together again.

'Sacred Trash' by Adina Hoffman & Peter Cole

Hoffman and Cole team up to write a narrative on what some called 'the 8th wonder of the world' - the lost and found world of the Cairo Geniza.

The book is about discovery, tradition and rescue of holy Jewish literature of 900 years in age from Fustat (Cairo) Egypt.

With a dynamic team of research scholars including, Solomon Schechter, S.D Goiten and many other 'Geniza' experts, the authors narrate a story of immense historical importance, filled with richness, colour, depth and lucidity.

What may be 'trash' to some, is a 'treasure' to others.

A Royal April

I write from Sydney, Australia after a wonderful visit to my homeland for Passover (Pesach). It was a fabulous trip, a first for MDL. We had precious family time plus we visited and saw some of the great Australian sites. Pesach, as usual in Anglesea was leaven free. Thanks to all the hardworking team for making a real beautiful Chag (holiday). Let us hope and pray that what we read aloud at the Seder “next year in Jerusalem” actualizes.

As the academic year winds down in the North, the South readies itself for ski season. New Zealand is still one of the choicest of options even though Christchurch lies in a heap of rubble.

Apparently #osamaisdead. Barak Obama announced to the world that Osama Bin Laden, the worlds’ most wanted man was captured and killed by American forces in Pakistan. Possibly Obama found Osama to boost his re-election campaign. Media sources have been waiting a long time for this newsworthy story including the broadsheet, tabloid and electronic newsfeeds. Conspiracy theories will be created and perhaps Obama was upset that he did not receive an invite to the Royal Wedding and in turn, Will and Kate’s media fame was overshadowed by the death of Evil Osama. Details to ensue.

April 1st brought snow to New York (this is not a April fools joke) while a Government shutdown was avoided in Washington D.C. The Australian Dollar continues to strengthen and a high of 1.10 USD was recorded in late April. Meanwhile the Japanese government approved a quake budget of 4 trillion Yen to assist in the cleanup and recovery after the mass earthquake and tsunami. Samsung is suing Apple, but that seems to happen every day.

It was a Royal April as Will and Kate tied the knot in London. Thousands upon thousands came to London to see David and Posh Beckham’s outfits (and Kate’s dress). The Empire State Building turned 80 while Israeli teenagers got a taste of Justin Bieber as he performed in Tel Aviv.

Fighting continues in the Middle East and Africa. In Libya, NATO attacked Gaddafi and succeeded in killing Gaddafi’s son (G senior still on the run). The fighting also claimed the lives of notable Journalists Tim Hethrington and Chris Hondras. In the Ivory Coast, French forces captured dictator Laurent Gbagbo. Syria has problems too, as does Bahrain and was forced to cancel its Formula 1 championship race.

Manchester United will not win the treble this season and Fernando Torres finally broke his goal-scoring drought for Chelsea (at a cost of 50 million pounds). Sri Lanka might have been bribed to lose the world cup final (but India and Tendulkar were the better team).

Yom Hashoa, the day of Holocaust remembrance passed and we remember all the pure and holy souls who died in the sanctification of G-D’s name during World War 2. Yom Haatzmaot, Israeli Independence Day approaches and let us all join in unison and pray that the ‘David’ can once again defeat the ‘Goliath’ and keep Israel safe.

Dayenu.