Two Steps Forward...

The purpose of this blog is to light up the Shabbat table. Please print and share.
Happy Birthday shoutouts to Pinchas in Jerusalem and Ilana in Providence - may you live in good health til 120!

Last week's Giant Leap questions stumped a lot of people; here's the answer: the first quote is from the rabbi, the second from a non-Jewish journalist.

This week I learned about a remarkable Baltimorian named Avraham Lilienfeld, MD. His daughter and family (and many grandchildren) still live here.

Hopkins University memorializes Dr. Lilienfeld as a "hero of public health". They credit him with tranforming epidemiology "from a discipline limited to infectious diseases to one concerned with all diseases that afflict mankind."

(He was also an amazing, caring teacher, they say.)

What they would rather you not know is that Dr. Lilienfeld had been denied entry to Hopkins Medical School because he was Jewish.

Even though he grew up in Baltimore and earned his Bachelor's at Hopkins, the Medical School told him that they were very sorry, but they had filled their Jew-quota for the year.

When he heard that, he vowed, "I'll be back."

He kept that vow, and how.

You can read more of his amazing story here.

Speaking of advances in medicine, someone in the locker room today commented that Germany probably stunted the field by 100 years because they murdered three generations of brilliant minds.

Yet here's an "interesting fact" about German medical science.

Question for your table: is it truly interesting, and moreover, why?

The fact, courtesy the Atlantic, 2014:

Nazi Germany’s well-known obsession with creating a master Aryan race led to many atrocities. But from these same sinister motives came research that may have had health benefits for the German people during World War II — studies on the dangers of smoking that led to the most advanced anti-tobacco campaign of its time.

Question for your table: Why is this newsworthy?

After you elicit some answers, you might share the following:

- Some find it newsworthy that such an evil empire could display even a modicum of goodness.
(and therefore they'd rather not publicize it - why give them credit for anything and risk diminishing even slightly their evil?)

- Others find it newsworthy that a nation with such advanced thinking, science and culture could create such tremendous evil.

What do you think - newsworthy (and why or why not)?


Shabbat Shalom




Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers!  Like it, forward it....

A Giant Leap?

The purpose of this blog is to make small giant steps at the Shabbat table. Please print and share.

If you missed Andrew Chaikin's thrilling seven-minute retelling of the moon landing, you can stream it here or download it here.

Cool. But let's try to go a small step beyond the wow.

Apollo 11 was amazing. It was hard, and required the concerted effort of thousands of dedicated people (according to NASA, hundreds of thousands, when you include the many companies in the supply chain). Not to mention the price tag - about $140 billion in today's dollars.

(Which inspired certain critics.)

But the obvious question for your table is, How was the moon landing truly a giant leap for humanity?

Here's another way of looking at it - and asking at your table. Compare and contrast the image above with this one:

For your table: Which represents a greater moment?

Thinking back to that era, other putative "great leaps" come to mind, such as this, this, or this (or more specifically this detail)....some say even this.

Here are two editorial thoughts from the era, one from a Jewish and the other from a non-Jewish source. Can you guess which is which?

1. Building on his knowledge of our planet, and the laws which govern nature on Earth, man was able to plot a course to a place he had never been; land on a surface he had never before touched; and predict quite accurately what that surface would be like. Man was able to protect himself against an environment he had never experienced, and find his way back through the blackness of Space. And-the laws worked: they worked on the Moon exactly as they worked on Earth.

2. An accomplishment of this immensity had transcended nationhood. Such global unity was something that no peacemaker, politician or prophet had ever quite achieved. But 400,000 engineers with a promise to keep to a president had done it and Nasa knew it. On the plaque fixed to the legs of their machine they had written the words: "We came in peace, for all mankind."


Shabbat Shalom

PS - Yes, LTC Armstrong's footprint is clickable.

Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers!  Like it, forward it....

The Sixty-Year Secret

The purpose of this blog is to add longevity to your Friday night dinner table. Please print and share.

It's not every day that you meet a couple who have been married for sixty years.

We're talking about long enough to start looking like siblings.

I was fortunate enough to be seated beside such a couple on a flight this week.

They were blessed with great health. They sauntered down the aisle and lifted their bags into the overhead storage with such spryness that it didn't even occur to me to offer to help.

During the next couple hours, I learned a lot about them - their careers, their children and grandchildren, their current pasttimes.

But... let's make this a question for your table:

What would you ask a couple who have been married for sixty years?

Naturally, most people want to know what's the "secret" to staying married so long. So naturally, I asked them this.

Before I tell you what they said, try asking it at your table - what do you think is the most important secret to a long marriage?

Their answer actually surprised me. I expected something about learning how to ignore the negative. Instead, they said that for them it was something very positive - building trust.

Interesting - and potentially deep - answer that leads to the obvious question: how do you do that?


Shabbat Shalom

PS - Yes, as usual, the image above links to something interesting.
PPS - Only one person correctly guessed the answer to last week's penultimate question. Any takers?


Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers!  Like it, forward it....

Locker Room Talk

The purpose of this blog is to help you not be boring at the Shabbat table. Please print and share. 
In memory of my never-boring grandmother - Yehudis bas Alexander - whose yahrzeit was this week.


There are these two guys in the JCC locker room. Our paths cross once every few weeks.

They are both the sort of people (maybe you know some of them) who are obsessed with President Trump.

One is obsessed because he dislikes Mr. Trump.

The other is obsessed because he appreciates Mr. Trump.

As I said, our paths cross every so often.

Yesterday, for the first time, they were both in the locker room at the same time.

Don't worry, it remained cordial. It was no different than two guys taking jabs at each other over which football team is superior.

The problem (for me) is that these conversations are so boring. How can you carry on a conversation about these things for so long?

But I kept my mouth shut. Until the Trump non-fan tried to rope me in.

"So, are you going down to DC for Mr. Trump's Fourth of July 'celebration'?"

He's done this before - assumed that I'm a Trump fanboy. Maybe he's been traumatized by the Jewish support for Trump.

I said, "I wasn't invited."

But he continued to try to draw me in, so I said, "Don't you ever get tired of talking about politics?"

"It's important. Don't you think it's important? It affects you, doesn't it?"

"If you're trying to understand an issue, I hear that. But just talking the way your talking, it's like you're talking about sports or the weather. It's not making you wiser, it's just entertainment."

"OK, so it's entertainment. I guess that's why I like it."

And that was that, until we both finished our workouts at the same time and we were back in the locker room. I'd forgotten about the conversation, but he hadn't.

"So what do you enjoy talking about?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Business?"

"No."

"Your family?"

"No."

"Your job?"

"No."

"The movies?"

"No - do you want me to tell you?"

"Let me guess. Torah?"

"Not in the locker room."

This went on for at least another minute until he had exhausted all possibilities in his mind. "OK, I give up." He was sitting down now, looking a bit defeated.

"Well if you really want to know, what I enjoy talking about is...."

2 questions for your table:

1. What would you guess I said?
2. What would you have said?


Shabbat Shalom


Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers!  Like it, forward it....