The Monday After the Sunday Foray

We are at the new/old coffee shop again this morning. As we write this, we're the only customer here, sitting at the back wall by one of the fridges. Ahh, here are some customers. One of them see's our Israel hat and asks us if we know this guy. We do not. We have finally seen someone we recognize. 

Into Manhattan yesterday for the first time in five years, since our grandfather died in March of 2018. The drive along Interstate 78 and then up the New Jersey Turnpike was smooth, as was the ride through the Lincoln Tunnel. We were on Dyer Avenue and hung a left onto 41st Street. We went east a block and then right onto 10th Avenue. We drove nine blocks and hung a right onto 50th and found a garage a few doors down from the theatre.

We were in the theatre district. Oldest Daughter and I visited a few tourist traps, Rockefeller Center, the NBC building. We went into the American Girl Doll store and then the MLB store. We saw a cool Israeli World Baseball Classic hat, but we didn't want to carry stuff around and as noted yesterday, we didn't want to wear anything Jewish in NYC. We got lunch at a nice pub, we had a fantastic burger, so far no gout, and then hoofed it six blocks to the UN building. Oldest Daughter is in her school's Model UN. She'll be there in a few weeks. 

After that we saw The Office: The Musical Parody. The show was in a small, intimate theater. We had seats in the first row and our feet were on the stage. The songs were fun and packed with The Office references. Both oldest daughter and I are aficionados of The Office. Here's the trailer. 3/4.

Bear in mind we were in the Theatre District, but we saw no bums, no crazies, no trash, and nary a mask. Mrs. Stroock, who must needs occasionally foray into Manhattan as she works for REDACTED, assured us we'd see plenty of bums, needles, poop, at Penn Station. Outro:

Will at 50th and Park. The Met Life Building, formerly the Pan Am Building. For decades Snoopy was the Met Life mascot. When our grandfather was an exec at Young and Rubicam Advertising, he suggested they put a giant inflatable Snoopy atop the building. Everyone knows who Snoopy is, he argued. They asked him not to return to the meeting after lunch. A tunnel actually runs around and through the Met Life building, and we used to drive through it on the way to visit him at 63rd Street. 

One of the subplots of Little Children involves a pedophile, Ronnie, played brilliantly by Jackie Earl Haley. Reader(s) of a certain age will know Haley, know him very well. Ronnie is recently out after serving a few years for indecent exposure. Haley's Ronnie rather sympathetically, one actually feels sorry for him and roots for him to get better. We've read the book, and there Ronnie is a fiend, a coward, a pervert. Why'd the director change that? This was a matter of some controversy at the time. We pitted Ronnie in the movie, and many of his scenes are hard to watch. Well done, Mr. Haley.

In The New Jew, Karol Marcowicz writes, 'A rabbi friend once told me that Jews are the only people that when someone says “I hate you” say “let’s hear him out.”' Marcowicz goes on to point out the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting and the Monsey stabbings. We'd add Governor Cuomo's Covid war on the Hasidic community, and the New York Times propaganda campaign against same. We're no fan of the Hasidics, but the actions of Killer Andy C and the Times are Judenhass. 

In all our nearly 50 years we can say the deed, hand and word of the Jew Hater has barely touched us. Once in a while we've heard a snide remark or a bad jake told without the knowledge that we were a Jew.  If confronted directly we will not 'hear them out'. No. We'll make a scene. One worthy of YouTube. That is the new Jew. 

This is also the new Jew:  'Sunday night, dozens of Israelis stormed into the Arab town of Huwara – located near Nabulus in the northern West Bank –where they set fires, burning buildings. One person was reported by local authorities to have been shot to death. The rioting by Israelis came in response to the murder of two Israelis – young brothers in their 20s Hillel and Yigal Yaniv – when they drove through the town earlier in the day.' Violence will beget violence. What can we say, thoughts and prayers, West Bank People. Thoughts and prayers. 

Monday Metal, this one goes out to Israel: