Try educating one's boss about strict Sabbath observance

I think a synagogue website should have a “To whom it may concern” letter, in PDF form, signed by the rabbi, that explains to employers the requirements of shabbos in terms of leaving early on Friday afternoons in winter. It might indicate that the whole congregation (100+ families), and indeed the whole community, leaves work Fridays in time to be home an hour before sunset (at the latest) to welcome the Jewish Sabbath. Once the Sabbath commences, all work-related activity ceases, including electronic communication, entertainment and transportation. This of course makes working regular hours on Fridays in winter impossible.

Perhaps Agudah could have a similar letter signed by Rabbi Fuerst, its head rabbi, on its website. My sense is that in their relative insularity, many leaders of the community don’t fully understand how difficult it is to explain to employers that leaving early on Fridays isn’t a tactic to get a head start on the weekend, but to participate in an ancient day of rest custom as our ancestors have done for generations.

Dress code for religious observance

I had a discussion with my shabbos host Saturday afternoon in which he expressed annoyance at receiving dirty looks while at nearby Sha’arei Tzedek for wearing a blue Oxford short-sleeve shirt and no tie. While it’s wrong to be critical rather than welcoming, I replied that for Sha’arei Tzedek, a recently remodeled shul with a beautiful interior, he should throw a jacket on if he wants to attend on shabbos. In our society, occasions that require formal dress have fallen almost completely by the wayside. They are often limited to job interviews and life-cycle events such as weddings and funerals. (Just six percent of men wear ties to work daily. Fascinating.) I appreciate the orthodox Jewish expectation to dress formally for the Sabbath. While I don’t expect all men to go full jacket-and-tie, as I do, I maintain that the Sabbath is not the occasion to bust out the business casual. Short-sleeve polo shirt? Stay home! At least reach deep in the closet for the rarely-used Oxford shirt (long sleeve, please), and add a tie. And ladies: all Hillarys aside, the pantsuit must go! Please wear a skirt. I’m not saying that for modesty reasons, although at an orthodox shul it’s expected. It just looks nicer and more formal, and it’s a step away from another day at the office. A pair of ladies’ slacks sends a message: I’m not trying that hard, and I don’t much care about how I look.

I posted a Chicago Tribune article a few ago about dressing for church. It’s worth re-reading. “G-d cares about what’s in our hearts, not how we dress,” says a woman in a workout suit. Yes, but….there are occasions for workout suits, and there are more formal occasions that require people to dress accordingly. Church and shul included.

Leaving one's canine unattended

I hate to see this: some people leave their dogs outdoors, alone, for hours on end. Dogs are social animals with a pack mentality. They see themselves as members of the pack or leaders of the pack to which their owners also belong. When they are left alone, they seek out others with whom to socialize. Thus I heard a dog in a backyard bordering an alley Friday night barking at anyone who walked by. I walked over to investigate and came upon a beautiful female Alaskan, about 60 lbs., with a grey and white coat. She jumped to put her forelegs on her fence and stopped barking when I came up to her. “Sasha,” read her tag. Very friendly, she just wanted someone to keep her company. I felt bad that I couldn’t stay. Her fence proudly displayed a very funny “BEWARE OF DOG” sign. “She’ll lick you to death,” joked a friend who also stopped by. A few houses south in the same alley (2900 block of Jerome to the 2900 block of Birchwood), another dog also barked for attention. I worried about him because he was sensitive to my touch and wore a very heavy collar; I thought perhaps he was being abused or trained for fighting. I didn’t think I had enough evidence to call 311 to report the owners, though. It just isn’t fair to keep dogs alone for hours on end. Just being in the same room while ignoring the dog is a far better option; the dog considers that sufficient companionship.

How long is the Cubs' season-ticket waiting list?

There was an item in the Chicago Tribune about how certain Cubs playoff game attendees acquired their tickets. One woman won the cubs.com lottery. She has been sitting on the Cubs season-ticket waiting list for five years, and she’s still No. 1234 in the queue at last count. Yeesh! And she’s been waiting five years! How long IS that list? Longest in baseball? Some NFL waiting lists are decades long. I just read the Broncos list is 190 years long. The Packers, Steelers and Redskins lists are also on that level. The Bears’ list is probably about 20 years long. That means someone who joins the list today could expect to receive an invitation from the Bears to purchase two or four season tickets around 2038.

Election '08

I still believe an Obama-Biden White House would not bode well for the next four years in this country. Higher taxes, larger government, a liberal Supreme Court, and a softer stance toward international Islamo-Arab terrorism are all aspects of that administration which we could expect. However, I understand the viewpoint of my friends Laura and Steve who included “Republicans out of the White House” as one of the top three issues facing America in this election. If Sen. McCain were elected, I would worry about the ability of the Democratic Party to nominate serious candidates for president in the next two elections after three consecutive losses* (2000, 2004 and perhaps 2008).

Whoever wins in 28 days, this election will finally, after 56 years (!), break the death-grip the South, Texas and California have had on the presidential ticket. Every successful ticket since 1952 (Ike-Nixon) has had at least one candidate from the South, Texas or California. That streak is due in no small part to a pair of California Republicans, Presidents Nixon and Reagan, who won six presidential elections between them, including Nixon’s two terms as vice-president.

*”Three consecutive losses” reminds me of the Cubs in the playoffs.

Joe Six-Pack

Do we want Joe Six-Pack being represented in the Vice Presidential Mansion, or do we want him in the Vice Presidential Mansion?

Suddenly, we celebrate mediocrity

from The Week.

A rising tide of political mediocrity
Dick PolmanThe Philadelphia Inquirer

America used to be a meritocracy, said Dick Polman, but is now becoming a mediocracy. In a nation where every Little League team gets a trophy, we’re now “dumbing down the standards for public service,’’ requiring only that candidates remind us of us. Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is just the latest beneficiary of this new celebration of ordinariness. Before her came U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, whom President Bush lauded as “the best person I could find.” In reality, Miers’ chief qualification was handling the paperwork on Bush’s fishing cabin. Or consider the case of George Deutsch, a 24-year-old political appointee who barred NASA scientists from discussing global warming and ordered the word “theory’’ appended to every mention of the Big Bang. And then there was Michael Brown, the former FEMA chief who learned everything he knew about disasters while working at the International Arabian Horse Association. Four decades ago, the late Sen. Roman Hruska of Nebraska defended an unqualified court nominee by saying, “There are a lot of mediocre judges and people out there. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they?’’ Hruska was mocked for his comments, but it turns out that he was just a little ahead of his time.