Phiten, titanium and kabbalah

Fleischmanns and talking mano a mano

There is a town in the Catskills called Fleischmanns, which, loosely translated, means:  meat man.  Likely those with the root "fleisch" in their last name (Fleischer included) were, in the old country, butchers.

1/4/10 *edited to add*:  Why we didn't mention Ari Fleischer is beyond us.  I guess we're just not the politcal type.

And how it is that we just came to learn of the film Zombieland, directed by Ruben Fleischer, isn't too far fetched.  We love Abigail Breslin...as family pholks, we recently watched her in American Girl:  Kit Kittredge.  Joan Cusack was, as usual, superbly entertaining.  No neck brace ala Sixteen Candles, no water fountain, but all of her spunk and pizazz still there.

Back to the Fleisch...

For those of us who grew up Kosher, we are all familiar with Fleischmann's margarine, which as educated consumers now, we believe to be not working towards a positive goal...aside from margarine's proven track record as being bad for the body, they are owned by the corporate conglomerate ConAgra.  Not big fans of corporate food industrialization.  But that's for another day.  Or at least for discussion with the Jew and Carrot folks.

Fleisch = Meat

There is also Fleischmann's Yeast, also owned by a large food conglomerate, albeit smaller-sounding and British-based.

Today we met quite an erudite, helpful man, a real landsman, who grew up in the '40s outside of the town of Fleischmanns.  He is of the JTS-ilk, totally old school seminary style.  Though he said he would never want to go back (he lives comfortably in Manhattan), his upbringing there helped him form solid memories of a good life.  Phone calls were made via picking up their old rotary and connecting to an operator who would then make the connection to a call down in the city.

We were talking about computers that run automobile dashboards.
How they often fail.
How a manual car, with a 6 speed engine and no computer behind it, can run smooth as a whistle for years.
But we need the computers.   We are, indeed, in a digital age, there is no denying that.
But going back to a time when we just connect face to face.

Real, live interactions with our peeps.


Talking about fleisch and meat, did you catch the multi-ethnic Meatstick at MSG on 12/31/10?
Now, *that* is fun stuff!

A Tiny Island in Tunisia in North Africa

The island named Djerba off the coast of Tunisia is home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world.  Its synagogue., the oldest in North Africa, houses the oldest sefer Torah.   On the earth.  That exists anywhere.

Every year Jews pilgimmage there during the holiday of Lag Ba'Omer.  We just learned about this place that seems worlds apart from our cozy lives here in the U.S., and yet we are so connected.

And the population there?

Most of the Jews there are cohanim, descendants of the highest priestly tribe.  The ones who give you the famous "live long and prosper" blessing that Spock made famous on Star Trek (remember, Leonard Nimoy, too, is a cohane).  A whole community where literally all its Jews are cohanim?  Whoa.....talk about holy stuff.  Our question is, when it comes time for duchening, who is sitting in the shul to receive the priestly blessing?

What is the big deal you might ask?

from travelblog.org

We recently met someone who's father's family came from this town.  The father was raised in Tzfat, one of more than ten children in his family.  For anyone who knows about the town of Tzfat, this is the epicenter of the development of kabbalah.  Many of our great mystics learned there, and many are still drawn to the town's deep spiritual roots.

Deep stuff.  Deep, deep stuff.

By now everyone has heard about the Maccabeats

We figured that by yesteday everyone knew they had gone viral...




And indeed by this morning Yeshiva University's Maccabeats cover of the Dynamite acapella video by Mike Tompkins appeared on the Today show...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Wishing you guys up in Washington Heights a Happy Hanukkah!

Now, we just want to know how your show was last night with Mattisyahu!

Did Dr. Dre ever spin the Dreidel?

Highly unlikely, but hey, ya never know.

The humble little dreidel is so part of our experience with Chanukah, and yet does anyone know why it's called a dreidel?


Ester Shahaf design

It's a Yiddish word, no doubt.

To "dre" is to spin. A dreidel spins.
When you add on the "el" that gives it diminutive, cutesy-ness element.
So it's a little spinning top.

The Whole Phamily loves Yiddish - it's part of our Ashkenasic heritage. And dreidel is in Yiddish.
But we like to say sivivon also, which is the Hebrew word for dreidel.

This is no Dr. Dre, but here's a familiar tune, "Oh Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah" in Yiddish.

Hummus Place will one day nourish many more Americans than just some lucky New Yorkers

If the claims asserted by last week's New York Jewish Week article about the growing hummus market in the US materialize, our favorite chickpea dip-spread will soon be on the plates of Americans nation-wide.


It's a hummus revolution, and it's happening from sea to shining sea.


Whole families will buy it right alongside their butter and cream cheese. 
Put it in wraps.
Bring it to school with baby carrots.


If it can be in supermarkets (Sabra is now America's #1 hummus) why not strip malls and food courts?


Enter Hummus Place in NYC.  There is room for more hummus.  The hummus revolution is brewing.

Here we are tonight at their St. Mark's Place location.  They have 5 total.  They want to franchise.


It's genius.


Middle Americans will soon be eating chummus from Mankato to Maui.  But they'll also want to get it when they go out.  What a nice healthy addition Hummus Place will be.


Tonight we tried Hummus Place's hummus fava:  delicious.  Topped with whole fava beans, Tahini, organic hard boiled egg, olive oil & spices.  Delicious.  Grilled eggplant with tehini:  superb.  Ambience wonderful, especially since we walked in 20 minutes before closing.  We were celebrating a birthday, and just like that, a kadaif dessert was brought to the table.  This delicious combination of shredded halva, ricotta cheese, and date honey was simply delectable.


We wish Hummus Place the greatest success possible.


Check out this You Tube from Keren Weinberg

Here's another Buxbaum

Julie Buxbaum is also a story teller.

Just more of the mainstream type.

Sorry we missed ya just a post ago.

Julie is bright (Penn and Harvard-educated).  She's likely a very good writer.  And, judging by their covers, her books look like the type we'd want to read.

We don't watch Oprah, but they look like they'd be Oprah books. 

We're quite sure that with the Harvard and Penn connections we'd do well at the Jewish geography game.  Thus the Whole Phamily gets stronger and smaller all at the same time.

Now if the Whole Phamily could only employ good writers...

Buxbaum the Storyteller

There are variations:  Buxbaum, Buckspan, Buchman, Buchweitz...we are only guessing that the meaning for "buch" is the word book.  Perhaps families with this surname were involved with production or selling of books.

If this is the case, then Yitzhak Buxbaum's name is very fitting.  He is a teller of sacred Jewish tales.  A master storyteller or maggid, Reb Yitzhak is a unique soul and brings the stories from the alter heim (Eastern European towns where so many of us originate from) into the 21st century.  His site is the Jewish Spirit Journal, a gateway to mysticism, spirituality and Kabbalah.

Maybe he can weave a story of the Whole Phamily and tell us exactly what we're doing here.

Jah Levi was Kid Goldstein growing up? Return!

We have just come across the reggae artist Jah Levi.  He is a spiritual healer.  According to his bio, he is a spiritual leader in two churches:  Essene and the Peruvian Soga del Alma.  We're not sure what it means to be a card-carrying member of the Native American church, but he's got one.  He is an herbalist and acupuncturist.   His music is entrancing.  We aren't too educated in reggae music, but Bob Marley's One Love sounds good to us.

And his father was folklorist Kenneth Goldstein (a historian on Adirondack music...full disclosure:  the Whole Phamily has deep roots to the ADKs...yes, we are all connected).

So give it up, Mr. Levi...we believe that you're connected deep, deep, deep.  We believe you have healing powers.  We believe you create great music. 

Not a smidge mention of the Jewish factor other than your father's last name.

Hmm....

Time to come on home!

Raz Hartman had a vision.  You can visualize it, too.  It starts with being in the Sinai desert, nothing at all on the horizon.  Then you see one little speck.  That speck turns out to be a person.  But it's not just one person, it's 10 people.  They get closer.  Not 10 people, it's 100 people.  As the mass gets closer, you realize it's not 100 but 1,000 people.  No, it's not just 1,000, it's more like tens of thousands.  Then you realize it's hundreds of thousands of people, all the Nation of Israel and they are all dancing and singing in the desert, walking closer toward you.  And you realize that the music is coming from the center of this mass of people.

This music is coming from the tribe of Levi.

This vision inspired a song called Shuva which is for sale CD Baby.  You can listen to just this one sample which is Track #7  (this one little track does not do justice).  This is the star song of the CD and it is not available to listen fully online.  The liner notes are important, as well.

Simply put:  Shuva means return.

In the meantime, we have a hankering to get back to the woods.  Frolicking around in Paul Smith's isn't too far away...

Talk about world unity!

Michael Franti is not a Jew, but he is clearly a peace-lover and positive thinker.  He is hopeful for the world.  He is hopeful for world peace.  We're not quite sure about his Israel politics, but we welcome him onto our humble blog here, and hope to serve as a reminder that we are all connected and all want the same good things for our families.

Check out this American-born musician's video entitled Hey World.