SCOTUS and Gay Marriage and Talmud Torah

Back in 1982, the summer I worked as an intern at ERAmerica, a non-profit in WDC trying to pass the Equal Rights Amendment - or rather the extension of the ratification of the ERA, the question of whether the passage would allow gays to marry floated in the air. As an 18yo, I felt it would allow gays to marry. Here are the words: Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification. If the world were up to me, I would get rid of marriage totally and make civil contracts for all. If two people who are just good friends without any sex want to make a pack to help each other in sickness or health, it should be the same as if someone gets married for sex. On another level, we learned in High School at a Hebrew Day School (Orthodox) that the reason there are Jewish Laws about Homosexuality is because men would choose men to have sex with and not women. And if this occurs, the breakdown of the Jewish family unit would occur - no one would have children and no one to pass on the Jewish religion. Self Preservation in the highest order. Let's face it - Boys hung out with boys in the Talmud Torahs. I remember the rumors we heard about MTA and YU boys. I look forward to hearing what the SCOTUS has to say.

Where There's Smoke There's Mirrors

I'm following the Patraeus scandal. Petraeus, a now ex-CIA chief, who's impeccable career and is married commits adultery with his young biographer Paula Broadwell. A socialite, Jill Kelly , who take pleasure in telling people she knows know important people in the military, gets a few emails telling her to get off her high horse. Kelly gets annoyed and asks the FBI to look into these annoying emails. The emails were coming from Paula Broadwell’s computer. They search it and uncovered the illicit affair with the CIA Director. Jill Kelly goes under the knife. She’s striped of her honorary titles and her Cancer Charity turns out to be a charity in name only to travel and throw parties. Moral: Where there’s Smoke there’s a hidden agenda. Another life lesson. Stay true to yourself. Don't worry about what other people say. The honest and best will succeed in the end. BTW - Aliza started 3rd grade a 5th grade reading and math levels.

J'accuse

What do you do if someone accuses you of something that is not true and you are not even told who accused you or what was allegedly said? Wow! So much has happened in the past month and most of it was negative. There's someone on A's team who wants her off. I suspect it's the mom with the daughter who practices 12 hours a week, has a team coach, and at 8 is working on her triples. REALLY? Now A is younger and on a higher level than her daughter and me thinks she is just jealous. The problem: someone told "the board" that I said mean things about her daughter's line and her coach. I have no idea what they are talking about. They even asked me to apologize to the coach in question. So I did “I’m sorry for whatever I may have said that offended you”. I don’t know what it was, I don’t know who said it. I’m going to say I’m sorry for the trouble someone else put you through. Here’s a box of you’re a star chocolates.” It was really bizarre. Maybe they don’t want A on the team next year. Several months ago I was concerned that she was not at the level of the other girls on the team. She’s 2 years younger than everyone else. I just don’t want her to get hurt. You put her on this team. We are happy you did. But we would have been happy on the level with girls closer to her age (still would have been one of the youngest). The whole thing doesn’t bother me except A is getting weird vibes. Unprovoked on the car ride home after a training session she tells me the coach is acting like she doesn’t want her on the team. It is true she missed several practices and competitions due to illness and this was her first day back. She’s a smart girl. If she says something like I am alarmed. If you are not comfortable in the relationship between coach and player, accidents are more likely to happen. 1. Should I pull her off the team? 2. Tough it out 3. Move to another team after the season

Going Public 1

A is in 3rd grade at a local Public School. She's in a double class of 45 children and her full-time teachers make close to $120,000 per year. Most all the teaching is done by the assistant teachers or the student teacher. Our property taxes are extremely high. 70% goes to schools. And they high paid teachers don't even teach. What's that about? Monica

Books we are reading

We started 3rd grade last week. So far so good. Lots of reading and writing. We should keep track of the books she's read. The Diary of a Whimpy Kid The Diary of a Whimpy Kid the last straw The Diary of a Whimpy Kid the Ugly Truth Dork Diaries not so fabulous life Dork Diaries Ice Skating Baby Mouse Ice Skating and all the baby mouse books Animal Farm - listening to in the car. Dragondale - listening to in the car. Freindle - Listened in the car Jewish Stories (Saul Bellows, Shalom Alecheim, Singer ect) - listening in the car The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda Lunch Lady series The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee

1000 on the Hapmeter

Yesterday was a great day. Ali was so happy taking her Preliminary MIF test. The best part was she had the ice all to herself. Oh yes, she passed all three judges (only need 1) with a score of 15.2. She was so happy and animated. Joy.

Hap'o'meter

Ali hurt her shoulder at Gymnastic Camp. With no one to watch her, she came to work with me. She was busy drawing and playing computer games. For lunch, we had an outdoor picnic. Before bed, Ali told me about the hapometer. She told me her hapometer was the highest at the picnic lunch. I asked her what else was high on the hapmeter. She said "you know when you have to poo and it comes out or when a fart comes out - that's high on the hapometer. She sounds like an old lady. She was going to bed and I turned the lights off. She asked me to get her the glow-in- the-dark pillow. With complete excitement she told me about this commercial she saw that if nightlights don't give you enough light, you can buy a glow-in-the-dark pillow, covers and sheets. They showed a complete glow in the dark room. It only needed 2 batteries and costs $19 plus shipping and handling. It was so funny that I had tears in my eyes from laughing. So I said my hapometer was high. She asked me if I farted.

Computer Camp

Here's A card to me.
GoAnimate.com: mstrayton%27s+Animation by mstrayton


Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Father's Yahrzeit Week

I get an email about a party in Deal, NJ. I feel nostalgic and google Syrian Jews. Go to Wikipedia. Find the pizmonim project http://www.pizmonim.org/.  I then visited Freddy Zalta on Facebook to share my find only to find his Happy Birthday Sam 96 (his father, my grandfather's brother). http://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/freddy-s-zalta/my-father-sam-zalta-happy-birthday-pop-96/438766831252
I looked at my calendar to find my father's Yahrzeit- and sure enough - it's now! As girls in Orthodox Hebrew School we are told that only males must follow laws that are bound to time."Z'mon grama" is the phrase used. Why? because females have timers built into their beings. And today, my built in timer reminded me of my father Yahrzeit is coming up. And since I always took the easy way out, let the boys worry about time bound commandments.
So I listened to some of the pizmonim. The names of some of the singers were familiar. Mikey Cairey who taught my brothers their Bar Mitzvah parashas. Also listed was one was the father of an old boyfriend. How could I resist the google? Two things were reveled. His children go to Ramaz. (I'm sort of jealous). He donated money to Mitt Romney (I'm so glad we didn't work out).It's OK to vote for him - but give money - yuck!

To make sure the Sam Zalta's story (my paternal grandfather's brother) is alive in my daughter's world I will copy and paste Freddy Zalta's story here:

My Father, Sam Zalta, Happy Birthday Pop - 96!!!

by Freddy S. Zalta on Friday, June 18, 2010 at 9:38am ·

Throughout my life father has spoken about his past. His hazel eyes sparkle when he mentions his father and his grandfather. Stories of how his father was the barber of the community on the Lower East Side and later, on Bay Parkway. His father would open the door to anyone, always with a smile. He wouldn’t charge the people who couldn’t pay the nickel or so for a haircut and he would provide a cot and some sort of meal for the new arrivals from the Old Country.

My fathers grandfather had a long beard and could not speak a word of English. Despite this he would sit outside the train station on Delancey and Essex Streets, down the block from the Williamsburg Bridge and sell chocolates, ties or whatever it took to bring home some spare change.

My father tells me about all the good people from the old days – about how his father was the most amazing and kind man. How his father would always go out of his way to help another person, no matter whether he was black, white, Jewish, Italian, Irish – it didn’t matter to him. Race was no issue to Mr. Moussa Zalta and his heart of gold.

Sam Zalta, my father, tells me his father was the sort of man who would give his last penny to another person without any questions or strings attached.

That his father would serve coffee among other things and invite people, strangers to come inside to partake. He had canary’s in his barber shop and a love of people and torah which he has never seen in another person.

I smile when my father tells me stories about his father and grandfather. Daddy, you have set a precedent for your children and grandchildren to follow. Your footprints are large, too large for us to even consider filling.

Daddy, you are known throughout the world, literally. When the Syrian government jailed and threatened to kill your cousin, whom you had never met, you contacted Ed Koch and told him about the situation. Within a day they were set free.

When the Syrian Jews were given permission to come to New York in the early 1990’s you were the first stop they made. They would come to you set up their telephones, electricity and to ask questions about everything. They would literally line up in our store on Kings Highway while my brothers and I would shake are head and not understand how you had this magical effect on people.Why you would even take the time out of your day, a large chunk at that, to do things that a community board or government agency should do.

“Make a fresh pot of coffee” he would call out to me. Grudgingly I would get up and do as he said.

Daddy would stand by the door way of Whiz Travel and call in passersby to offer coffee, shelter or a blessing.

My father has a magical quality – he loves people and his motto has always been, "Do unto others, as you would have done to you."

The other day, April 27th, it was a beautiful day in New York City. My father was being interviewed by the Sephardic Heritage Foundation to recount his days on the Lower East Side. He spoke to Lisa Ades about his early childhood there – with each block we walked memories came flooding in.


He spoke about the beauty of his mother and the love that flowed from her comforting each of her twelve children. Leila Zalta, a beautiful lady who I remember as a 96 year old watching "I love Lucy" and baking Syrian pastries in her apartment on east 5th st around the corner from Shaare Zion.
We walk on down Essex Street and come across from a Park.

“That’s were I was born, the building is gone now, but that was 44 Essex Street. Across the street, right here, is where there was once a fire and my uncle climbed onto the roof and began saving people one by one.”

Memories were related to us with that old familiar sparkle in his eyes - with a tear or two and some choking up when he mentioned his parents. He smiled and mentioned how there was only one bathroom for several families to use in each building and how they would each take turns bathing on Thursdays to prepare for Shabbat.

"My grandfather was a wonderful man," he says, "He would help anyone and everyone, always with a smile." With those words he pauses and smiles.


I respect the legacy of my Great Grandfather and Grandfather. I have heard from strangers from all over how wonderful they were. But no one can top the impact my father has made on his children, grandchildren, the strangers and his friends. Sincerity, love, honesty and compassion, those are the pillars of our religion and our community.

My father is a pillar for humanity - he is also an adorable man!
My father, a man who has led by example all of his life, instills a pride among us that all Zalta's are related. A man who has taken the Zalta name and elevated it even further with his natural acts of Hesed, good deeds. As children and grandchildren, we walk with a pride and a sense of importance with the knowledge that the leader of our family is, and always will be, Sam Zalta, son of Leila and Moussa.

Just got our 3rd grade classroom assignment. Squeeky wheel worked
Thank you Mrs. R.

Oh yeah uh huh

Schools is over. Closing Down. Reuben Gittelman Hebrew Day School is no more. They are forming a new school with the same people as the old one. REALLY. We are heading to public school. We met with the Principal and told her that Aliza was good in math.  She is a 98 student.  What I found out last week at her author's tea is that A is exceptional in writing. I'll have her post her work once if figure out how to adapt a PDF for this medium.
Camp is starting. Oh yeah uh huh. Swim Team is starting Oh yeah uh huh.. Dream Camp on July 7, Oh yeah uh huh. Looking to August = big ice skating month.
P just started a new job. CTO an a generic drug startup.
And...
A said to me today she had psychic powers. When she wants something she can make it happen. Funny thing is that I believe I have them too. When I really want something, I seem to make it happen. Oh yeah uh huh.
More on that later.
M

My Three Dreams

My 1st dream is to be in the ice skating Olympics.

My 2nd dream is to sing the national anthem in the Boulder's Field.

My 3rd dream is to make my own children's website.

Birthday Parties

I never, nor will I ever be, a fan of the birthday party. I sort of believe birthday parties are lame. Yet, so many people worship them.  Do parties fill a void in one's life? Now I understand a party for an accomplishment - like reading the parasha and making a big speech in front of 100's a people at the tender age of 12/13. But the blessed day you were born 47 years ago - I do not get.
  P has it right. My gift to you is that you don't have to me.

Noisy Big Walk

Today I went on a walk across the GW bridge with my mom. It was very noisy. I am scared  of heights. When I looked down I was scared. It was a really hot day and I was tired. We also went to the Intrepid museum. I don't want to be in the Navy. The beds look uncomfortable. Even worse than sleepaway camp.

Cheesecake a la Kocot

Cream cheese, sour cream, yogurt, cottage cheese ... pretty much any white creamy substance that smells like sour milk,  is not on my food consumption list.  When I was a child, I couldn't even sit at a table with someone eating any of these foods. In fact, a cereal box separated me from the person eating the goo.

However, at 16 I became curious of the cheesecake. What was this love afair with cheesecake? And so many kinds, so many recipes. Italian style with ricotta, New York style from Juniors. One day I came home from school and opened the fridge. Nothing to eat except an Entemann's cheesecake. (In those days it was real Entemann's). I closed the door and went upstairs. Came back down and decided to try it. Not bad. So I had a piece and another and another.

After dinner mom pulled out the cheesecake for dessert. She said "Who ate the cheesecake?" I claimed "Don't look at me - I hate cheesecake". And so began my guilty pleasure.

Several years later I was working as an intern in Washington, DC. I played softball on the district of Columbia Law Clerks team. Teams with three-girl quotas are always looking for female players who can sort of play. And so I met Nancy Kocot. She brought cheesecake to a party.
It's over 30 years and I still have the recipe she gave to me. Since the Jewish holiday of Shavuot (a dairy holiday celebrating Moses accent to Mount Sinai to get the Ten Commandments) is coming this weekend, I thought I'd make Nancy's cheesecake recipe. I can barely read the recipe card anymore, I thought I should include it in my blog for A to have forever (or until the next tech thing happens).  Nancy, if you manage to read this. I just want to say thanks for the recipe and the memories.

Cheese Cake a la Kocot
3 well-beaten eggs
2 8oz packages of cream cheese, soften
1 cup sugar
1/4 t. salt
2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. vanilla extract (don't understand the difference between vanilla's just made it with 2 t. extract.)
3 c. sour cream (I only used 2 cups)

Combine eggs, cheese, sugar, salt, and extracts; beat until smooth. Blend in sour cream. pour into graham cracker crust in 9" spring form pan. Trim with crumbs. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 mins. or until set.
Cool well about 4-5 hours or overnight. Filling will be soft).

Graham Cracker Crust
Combine 1-3/4 c. fine graham cracker crumbs., 1/4 c. chopped walnuts, 1/2 t. cinnamon, 1/2 c. melted butter. Preserve 3T mixture. Press remainder on bottom and up the sides of a 9" springform pan.

Whose blog is it anyway?

A is in 2nd grade and has a blog at school. Since, I can't access the blog AND because most of my blog posts are about her anyway, we thought we should do a blog together.

It's May, and school is almost over. Her school is closing due to demographics - mediocrity - whatever. Next year we'll be going to Public School. This is a big step for me since I'm not a fan of organized anything.  I also have no experience with PS so I have no idea what to expect. There's a program at her school that sounds so perfect for her.  It's called MAC -Multi-Age Curriculum . The children work independently in groups. They teach each other. There's little homework, leaving more time for skating (synchro, free, dance, tests), piano, sport du jour  Apparently, there's no criteria to get into the program.  I'm told I need to demand it. The problem is that the teacher who teaches the MAC class is leaving. I don't know what to do. But one year in 3rd grade MAC won't do any damage to her. I'm sending emails and A is writing cards. We are even enlisting parents with children already in the program to lobby on my behalf. PATHETIC. And I'm not even sure this is something we want!

Art for Friends

Today I gave Brooke the cartoon of the lizard she asked me to do for her. I didn't give Sam his clam, banana,snail. Why he wanted a clam, banana, snail I'll never know.

A