Shabbat Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld
October 24-25, 2025 • 3 Mar Cheshvan 5786 • Noach (Gen 6-11).
Happy news - Body & Soul is back in stock. Just in time to help you and your family get healthier in 5786 !
...Fruit flies like a banana.
Try that one at your table and see (a) if anyone gets it and (b) if anyone can guess who said it....??
(Groucho Marx)
In addition to killing it with the Dad Jokes, I myself was killing some drosophila (fruit flies) this week.
I'm sure that you've done the same.
And I never bring fruit into the office. Certainly no bananas.
So what are they pestering me for? Apparently the coffee grounds in the garbage. Maybe it's time to take out the garbage.
But why not finesse an otherwise annoying experience into something more meaningful?
First of all, try asking at the table: Do you personally have any qualms killing a fruitfly?
We all know how hard they are to kill with their crazy zig-zag flight algorithm. But what else do you know about them?
They can detect odors from 30 feet away.
This olfactory prowess is attributed to their highly specialized antennae, which are rich in sensory receptors
They can taste with their feet.
Specialized chemoreceptors located on their legs allow them to detect sweet and bitter substances when they land on potential food sources
They have a unique brain structure for processing smells.
Their brains contain about 100,000 neurons, with distinct areas dedicated to processing smells. This structure allows fruit flies to quickly discern and respond to various odors, aiding in foraging and mating behaviors.
They share 75 percent of their genes with us and are used in 70 percent of genetic research studies.
For example, flies eating a lot of sugar also exhibit symptoms of type 2 diabetes. Researchers can also genetically modify fruit flies to study a variety of other conditions. Using fruit flies as test subjects, researcher Vicki Losick recently discovered that in wounds, cells enlarge by polyploidization—or the multiplication of chromosomes—to compensate for cells that are lost. This suggests that cellular damage caused by wounds either leads to cell proliferation or cell growth, depending on context, changing our understanding of how the body reacts to injury.
They are master beer tasters.
Fruit flies are masters of discernment when it comes to the yeasty flavors of beer. An experiment at Stanford found that fruit flies were attracted to beers with fruitier base yeasts, which tend to be the beers humans prefer as well
So kill them if you must, but maybe pause for a moment to appreciate the little drosophila? What do you think?
Shabbat Shalom
Happy news - Body & Soul is back in stock. Just in time to help you and your family get healthier in 5786 !
...Fruit flies like a banana.Try that one at your table and see (a) if anyone gets it and (b) if anyone can guess who said it....??
(Groucho Marx)
In addition to killing it with the Dad Jokes, I myself was killing some drosophila (fruit flies) this week.
I'm sure that you've done the same.
And I never bring fruit into the office. Certainly no bananas.
So what are they pestering me for? Apparently the coffee grounds in the garbage. Maybe it's time to take out the garbage.
But why not finesse an otherwise annoying experience into something more meaningful?
First of all, try asking at the table: Do you personally have any qualms killing a fruitfly?
We all know how hard they are to kill with their crazy zig-zag flight algorithm. But what else do you know about them?
They can detect odors from 30 feet away.
This olfactory prowess is attributed to their highly specialized antennae, which are rich in sensory receptors
They can taste with their feet.
Specialized chemoreceptors located on their legs allow them to detect sweet and bitter substances when they land on potential food sources
They have a unique brain structure for processing smells.
Their brains contain about 100,000 neurons, with distinct areas dedicated to processing smells. This structure allows fruit flies to quickly discern and respond to various odors, aiding in foraging and mating behaviors.
They share 75 percent of their genes with us and are used in 70 percent of genetic research studies.
For example, flies eating a lot of sugar also exhibit symptoms of type 2 diabetes. Researchers can also genetically modify fruit flies to study a variety of other conditions. Using fruit flies as test subjects, researcher Vicki Losick recently discovered that in wounds, cells enlarge by polyploidization—or the multiplication of chromosomes—to compensate for cells that are lost. This suggests that cellular damage caused by wounds either leads to cell proliferation or cell growth, depending on context, changing our understanding of how the body reacts to injury.
They are master beer tasters.
Fruit flies are masters of discernment when it comes to the yeasty flavors of beer. An experiment at Stanford found that fruit flies were attracted to beers with fruitier base yeasts, which tend to be the beers humans prefer as well
So kill them if you must, but maybe pause for a moment to appreciate the little drosophila? What do you think?
Shabbat Shalom















