Picto Diary - 25 January 2016 - Snow Job
Above: Caleb Chapmen Sound House. Big Band #1. 25 September 2016.
Drums plays in Big Band #2. TIMDT and Mwah (sic) took him down to American Fork for his rehearsal.
Above: First Flush Darjeeling purchased at Glenburn Tea Estate while in Darjeeling last week. 25 January 2016.
Above: Snow job. Our deck. 25 January 2016.
On return from a month in India.
Big job. Little snow blower.
Great day to resume skiing. 4 inches new on groomed.
(PC 28)
Above: Rabbi David Levinski speaks to La Societe Deux Magots (LSDM). Wasatch Bagel, Park City, UT. 25 January 2016. Rabbi Levinski is chief rabbi of Temple Har Shalom. Park City, UT.
Hat tip: Dentist.
Note: Note taker is fallible. Mistakes are his. Rabbi Levinski is welcome to make corrections/clarifications to these notes.
Background
Grew up Chicago 'burbs. Northbrook.
Typical Reformed Jewish upbringing. Not a lot of Jewish observance at home, but strong Jewish identity.
Local public schools. Suburban high school.
Indiana University. Pursued the arts.
Post graduation... wrote music reviews for the Chicago Tribune. Played guitar in a rock band.
Became Hasidic for three years... I left the rock band, but there was some overlap between my musicianship and my Hasidic experience... I have a photo of me in Hasidic dress playing in the band in a Philly night club.
I left Hasidism. I couldn't deal with their social role for women.
I began study become a Reformed Jewish rabbi. I studied on campuses in Los Angeles, Cincinnati and Jerusalem.
I loved studying The Talmud... the first major collection of rabbinical teachings. We also studied Christianity in depth.
Obtained a PhD over a seven year period at Stanford University. While in Palo Alto, I was rabbi for a Jewish reconstructionist movement of 137 adults, including three Nobel Prize winners.
Returned to Chicago for six years, for five of which years I was an assistant rabbi and for one year where I was solo.
Our Chicago congregation was a reformed congregation... its orientation, politically, was center left with a religious veneer. South side congregation included some of Chicago's elite.
After six years, I decided it was time to move. During High Holidays one of my rabbinical mentors pointed me to the opening at Har Shalom in Park City. At first I though, "huh?" But, I took the job... and love being here.
Why are most Jews politically liberal?
Not all American Jews are politically liberal.
Story. Ken Kurson, currently editor of the conservative New York Observer, was a band mate of mine, and like me, politically liberal.
Ken wanted to write a leadership book on Rudy Guiliani. He obtained Guiliani's assent to follow Guiliani for a day. Coincidentally, that day was 11 September 2001. What a historical fluke! Ken followed Guiliani for the next three days, neither one of them sleeping during the period. Following that experience, Ken became a political conservative... he had a powerful conversion experience.
Jews are not monolithically liberal. Many who live in the New York City area, are not comfortable with the high tax, redistributionist, political philosophy of the left. They have become fiscally conservative. As a cohort, Jewish people have done well in the United States. They are no different than any other group who has obtained some level of material success in not wanting to see their wealth confiscated.
Some American Jews, most of whom are middle to upper middle class, are concerned about the Iran Deal and its potential impact on Israel. This issue drives many to think more conservatively.
That being said, however, it is important not to conflate Israel with Jewish thinking. They are not always the same thing. There is a lot of ignorance out there. The actions of Israel are not necessarily the actions of Jews. Israeli policy and Jewish beliefs are not necessarily the same thing.
Jewish Social Consciousness
Socially conscious behavior has been a watchword of Jews for three thousand years. For three thousand years Jews have followed the teachings of the bible. From the earliest times, the jubilee, requiring wealth distribution amongst the community every fifty years, was celebrated. Jews are inured to show charity.
Actually, Jews living in ancient times, following bible teachings, lived under a form of Autocratic Socialism. The biblical prophets... Isaiah, Amos... were radicals, highly focused on social justice. Jews looking to the government, therefore, to be a participant in accomplishing social justice is an age old way of thinking. This age old world view of government participating in the social justice equation may explain, in part, Jews propensity to be politically liberal in the modern American context.
Bernie Sanders, for example, who is Jewish, appeals to an age old biblical notion that government has to play a strong role to ensure social justice. In an odd way, Donald Trump is appealing to this same belief. Intrestingly, Trump and Sanders, putative conservative (Trump) and liberal (Sanders) candidates are two tips of a spectrum bent into a connecting circle, where the positions of both have great similarities.
So, many Jews want to retain the social justice message of the bible as they consider their political affiliation. But, there are also many Jews, having achieved some level of prosperity, who have become fiscally conservative politically. They don't want to ignore the concept of Jubilee, they are just not sure that the "redistribution" should be in the hands of the government.
Q and A
LSDM: What is the nature of your Park City congregation?
DL: We're a reformed congregation... and, a more mixed group than you might think. There are strong conservative voices in our congregation.
LSDM: Do you take a political position as a rabbi?
DL: No. I am politically liberal... but, I don't speak in overtly political terms when I'm performing my duties as a rabbi.
I'm a Talmudist. The Talmud. 26 volumes of arguments where questions are asked, but, no answers are given. Central to human growth and development is the search for truth... the debate.
LSDM: Many Christians believe in revealed truth and that specific answers to life's moral questions lie within the New Testament, and, as is the case for the Mormons, modern revealed scripture. It seems that the Jewish approach eschews "specific answers" and embraces "debate."
DL: Jews believe that God stopped talking to his people 3000 years ago. He left it to mankind to sort out truth for himself with the aid of principles and "questions" revealed in Old Testament times.
LSDM: There seems to be no home politically for Jews who are socially liberal but economically conservative. Socially conservative Republicans believe that the constitution is inspired by God. This is scary stuff.
DL: Conflating the US Constitution with revealed truth is not part of the Jewish way of thinking.
LSDM: Anti semitism, largely driven by left wing movements, threatens the status of Jews throughout Europe. Yet, American Jews continue to vote predominately "left." Those same left driven, anti semitic, forces are building in the United States. Amongst American cohorts, Israel's strongest friends are on the right. It is puzzling, therefore, why American Jews seem to identify more politically with those political elements who pose the greatest threat to them.
DL: I see these trends in Europe and am troubled by them. The United States is a free country where Jewish pursuit of centuries old social justice and political liberalism can be pursued without threat. Should the European trends towards anti semitism become threatening here, AmericanJews might be forced to rethink their politics.
Thank-you
LSDM thanks Rabbi David Levinski for his informative presentation.
Addendum:
Less than $25 for watch???
TIMDT,
Park City, UT
$200.00.
Steve,
Jessie and I loved your travelogue on Facebook featuring your old stamping ground. Did you use a travel agent or organized tour? We would like to follow in your footsteps.
Best
John,
New York City, NY
http://www.travelscopeindia.com/
Begin forwarded message:
From: Julia Ogden <[email protected]>
Date: January 25, 2016 at 7:57:38 AM MST
To: Margaret Taylor <[email protected]>
Subject: Fwd: Travel like Wes Anderson on the Real Darjeeling Limited RailwayBegin forwarded message:
From: Marny Dixon <[email protected]>Subject: Travel like Wes Anderson on the Real Darjeeling Limited RailwayDate: January 21, 2016 at 7:36:16 PM ESTTo: Marny Dixon <[email protected]>, Sheila Forman <[email protected]>, Julie Ogden <[email protected]>Above: Riding in Dagestan. 2013. Images from KazAbove: Riding in Dagestan. 2013. Images from Kaz.Above: Bishop at Rana's house. 18 January 2016. Image forwarded from Chita.Lady and Big Bird:
A hot off the press column by Commie Marx of the NYT. I do not have anybody's addresses so do with this offering as you see fit.
Sent from my iPad
Begin forwarded message:
From: Mike Callen <[email protected]>
Date: January 27, 2016 at 07:46:13 MST
To: Vickie Callen <[email protected]>
Subject: Fw: The Margaret Taylor Dance Troupe.
Reply-To: Mike Callen <[email protected]>
On Wednesday, January 27, 2016 2:28 AM, Mike Callen <[email protected]> wrote:
Special to the New York Times.Dame Margaret Taylor, aka Indira II, led her loyal troupe, including your reporter, on her 463rd tour of India this month. As usual the world press scrambled to cover the event and this reporter was an eye witness to history for the second time in an many years.
The excitement reached a high point early at the safari camp where leopards and other man eating beasts thrive. Special vehicles were provided with drivers who could drive over ruts and bumps without hesitation. The passengers, on the other hand, all had to make dental appointments for their return. The ferocious felines would make an appearance at dark so viewing could be a dodgy affair. Snap Snap Julie, who readers will recall from last year, brought incredibly sophisticated equipment that virtually guaranteed prize winning photos. For example, after making a few adjustments Snap Snap could point her camera into the dark, press the button, and lo and behold, show us a picture of a tiger attacking a rhinosceros. Phenomenal. What a pro. On one occasion the result was even more startling - a shot of the Miss America pageant right there in the hills of Rajasthan. How does she do it?
One of the most frightening moments of the entire tour occurred while returning from one of these outings. Dame Margaret's man servant, aka Big Bird, suddenly became extremely agitated and shouted for the vehicle to stop instantly. "It's a matter of life and death", screamed Big Bird. Naturally troupe members dove for cover while your reporter took the course of action consistent with his heroic nature. He threw his body on top of the females most exposed to the dangerous beast Big Bird had observed. For thirty seconds there was deathly silence except for muffled shouts emanating from those being protected by Mr. Callen, some of them evidently unaware of their rescuee status. "Where is it? Where is it?", cried Bullet Bill Ogden. "There on the branch of that Mullagatawny tree. It's a rare rare species. What a beautiful double breasted centrifugal anterior beaked swallow streaking wiffle pouffer. Look at those colors. Reds, oranges, purples, blues and that's just the head. It can fly, it can eat insects, it can lay eggs. Have you ever seen such a specimen?" This was the first but by no means only spasm of ecstacy exhibited by Big Bird, but somehow troupe members never quite caught on to his newly found obsession with our feathered friends.
One of the most interesting and memorable experiences of the entire trip was our driver, a man named Raja. The troupe traveled on a mobile apartment complex masquerading as a bus. Indeed it was learned later that there were several stowaways on the vehicle that had never been seen. Raja did his best to avoid crushing any cyclists while roaring down the lanes and highways of India. If a passenger happened to be sitting next to the window near the rear of the monster it was inevitable that an occasional tut tut or solo motor scooter-walla would be witnessed being obliterated as Raja cut back to avoid wiping out an entire family. Ramrod Raja, as he was known in Hindi, was proud of never having eliminated an entire family with perhaps an inevitable exception or two, but his dedication to on time arrivals was appreciated by all. There are trade offs in this life.
Our stops at former maharajahs palaces converted to hotels were right out of Rudyard Kipling. Dame Margaret proved to be a democrat true and blue. One would think that as the promoter and organizer of the tour she would have arranged the very best rooms for herself. In true Taylor style she arranged a lottery for each stop. She was incredibly lucky, a real hot streak, just like last year. Every one would check in and amble over to her Royal Suite guarded by liveried swordsmen, to see the swimming pool, marble balconies, servant cadres, ballrooms, etc. Dame Margaret always assured the rest of us that her lottery was held fairly, if privately. She only used her sedan chair, provided by the Ministry of Tourism at each stop, said Maharani Margaret, "to keep the sepoy unemployment rate down". What a sacrificer.
During a stop at one quaint town Beige Abelson, aka Pamela, took to dancing with one of the local tribesmen. Of course within the local culture Beige was telling the local gentry that she was his slave for life and as she is a very pretty lass the village chieftains were delighted. Luckily the startled crowd of villagers was distracted by Bullet Bill Ogden's attempt to steal the village truck (Bill is a real estate developer from Miami -get it?). While chasing Bullet Bill, Beige and mate Harry got out the back way. No harm, no foul, as we say at the Times. Where did Beige get the name Beige when Pamela would serve at least as well? An anecdote should suffice. One troupe member, an admirer of the lady's beauty and charm, insisted on buying her a scarf that contained (gasp) color. Beige accepted with her usual grace. Within ten minutes Her Ladyship was seen purchasing another beige scarf with devoted husband Harry. Overheard was a conversation with the clerk that had him swearing on Shiva's sword that there was not one iota of color in the garment. We all love Beige and refuse to give up on this color phobia. She doesn't even like red sauce on her pasta, confusing servers by asking for beige sauce.
A quaint custom that could be adopted in a place like Park City is the use of pigs. In a town the troupe walked through there were dozens of pigs and piglets scoffing up everything and anything. The guide was beaming with pride as he pointed out how hygenic the system was allowing for the pig droppings which the village governors hadn't quite figured out how to deal with. Who needs modern plumbing when the pigs fly? Clearly these animals are riddled with diseases yet to be identified, but the streets are clean.
Your reporter and his spouse were forced to return to London before the final stop in the tea estates of Darjeeling. I was committed to rehearsing a love scene with the drop dead gorgeous leading lady of the movie Wonder Woman. The movie is being directed by Patty Jenkins, one of our adopted daughters who we love dearly. Taking that gorgeous and very personable specimen into my arms was a clear second choice, of course, but duty called. My wife and I envied the troupe's three hour plane ride, the three hour van ride across the roads of West Bengal built in the days of the Raj, the hammocks for sleeping with mosquito nets of World War II vintage with holes that piglets could slip through and did I mention the rain? Yes, seasonal rains provide a finsihing touch of realism to the Indian experience. With modern medicine the various illnesses one usually contracts can be treated almost every time. Once there it would be time to look at tea leaves. Not just any run of the mill tea leaves, but genuine Darjeeling tea leaves. The troupe had an unexpected stroke of luck. The Chief Minister of West Bengal was visiting while they were there so the roads were closed when she made her way from rally to rally. Instead of bouncing, bouncing, bouncing down the pot holes and ditches while observing local life in the flesh our friends were able to sit, sit, sit and observe the locals. Envy is a vice and the Callens had to admit to being infected by it. At least the troupe was not able to see the Himalyas due to the weather. Otherwise they would have been distracted from the tea leaves.
Final note: Big Bird distributed several pictures of birds from Darjeeling. They fly, eat insects, lay an occasional egg, and do other birdy things. Thanks, Big Bird, we all wish you well in your new endeavor and wonder if you've looked into the Great Course video progams.
Dame Margaret has done it again. On her next tour the troupe is promised a visit to a steel foundry, a jute plant, a hospital, and other fascinating Indian snatches of life while Big Bird is going to find some rare birds for everybody.
