Scene Around

Stayin' alive'... Stayin' alive'...

No... I'm not referring to the famous movie "Saturday Night Fever" with actor, JOHN TRAVOLTA, strutting down the street.

Rather, this article is about the new Yiddish language website.

(Yes... you read right!) This comes directly from the World Jewish Congress Digest: "Reports on the death of Yiddish seem to be greatly exaggerated, particularly since a 115-year old Yiddish newspaper is taking to the web. The New York-based Forvets (The Forward) can now be found on the Internet.

Targeting an international audience, the editors say their research shows a significant number of Haredi families, both in the United

States and Israel, converse in Yiddish. They point to the fact that half their Yiddish readers are Holocaust survivors who arrived in the United States between 1945 and 1955.

"This land is our land"...

Also in the World Jewish Congress Digest I read an article that says an ancient find says Jews were long here.

"An archeological site near the Temple Mount has yielded treasures dating from the time of the first Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and reconfirming a biblical Jewish presence. The Hebrew University-led team unearthed 36 gold coins, gold and silver jewelry, and a distinctive gold medallion.

"Commenting on the recent discovery, Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN

NETANYAHU said, 'This is a magnificent discovery. Nationally, it attests to the ancient Jewish presence and to the sanctity of the place; this is as clear as the sun and it is tremendous... historic testimony, of the highest order, to the Jewish people's link to Jerusalem, to its land and to its heritage.'"

Beware of scams...

I recently received a phone call asking to speak with the homeowner.

(That alone put red flags up in my mind.) He had a thick accent and he said he was calling from Microsoft. I asked him what city he was calling from and he answered "Sacramento, Calif."

I then said he was phoning at a bad time and he asked me what time it was where I was. I responded that I am situated three hours earlier than California. To that he said, "So, what time is it there?"

I did not answer the question but asked him what time it was in California.

His answer was only 20 minutes difference from mine!

(Maybe I should have asked for the time in Nigeria? Anyway, I promptly hung up!)

Speaking of scams...

I recently heard from our own BILL KAHN via email. I'm passing it along:

"Two years ago I became interested in people being taken in by scams, frauds and cons and felt I could help people. I developed a website

http://www.stopthescam.org, wrote a number of articles for newspapers around the country, spoke on NPR, did a webinar on the Internet and started a lecture series in the greater Central Florida area.

As I mentioned, it was for a wide variety of organizations: cities, service and civic organization, clubs, retirement facilities, religious organization, libraries and homeowner associations. I also work in conjunction with the Orange County Fraud Unit.

During my lecture series, the thing that struck me was the people that had been taken in by crooks. It was always sad to hear the stories. A few got to me before the fact, and asked if something sounded legitimate. I found that when you had to ask yourself that question, it wasn't. Someone asked me, if I had to give one, just one piece of advice to keep people safe, what it would be. So my advice is, if someone approaches you by phone, email, social media, mail with a great deal, needs personal information, out of the blue wants to become your friend, correct some errors in information they have about you... just say NO!" (Oh yes... after a lifetime of doing for others, caring for others, helping others, Bill is being recognized by being honored for community service by the Kinneret Council on aging. Bill feels that it is particularly nice that he and the seven other seniors being honored along with him for their good works and kindness, are still alive and well to receive this recognition.)

A little romance (for Valentines?)...

This story is no longer about Bill Kahn (not that he isn't romantic)... rather it is about his parents. Read on:

"My dad, Bernett Kahn, was born in 1894. He came from Russia when he was 11 years old. Both he and my mom, Pauline Rachel Zuckerberg, escaped before they became part of the horrors of that period. Later Dad joined the Army during WWI and therefore got his citizenship. He was gassed with Mustard gas during the war, which contributed later to his death. His courtship with Mom was interesting, but the poem he wrote to her summed up their life together. Those times were different then today when many marriages are very short lived. Just coming out of the service and in uniform, he was walking in the New York (Wall Street area) looking for a job when he came upon an Austrian restaurant. Mom's father had a restaurant in Vienna and opened this one up. My dad was looking at the wonderful Austrian pastries in the store window when he was spied by my mother, who was working in the restaurant. She motioned him to come in, but he showed empty pockets. She motioned him to come in anyway, and here I am!  

"As a side story, in 1941 (Dad was 48) he went to enlist again in the Army. They were very nice and said to him, 'we thank you very much, but think you can do more for your country on the home front.'"

For Valentine's Day, here is Bernett's poem titled "You & I":

Though our hair is streaked with silver, and the years have just passed by, we walked the road together, You and I

Though the road was most uneven, and the going was sometimes rough, we trudged the road together, You and I

How sad and lonely, the road would have seemed, if we had not been together, through all these happy years, You and I

Though we have had our squabbles, our joys and sorrows too, we weathered the storms together, You and I

So let us walk the road together, while the years are passing by, hand in hand we'll go marching, You and I

(Written about 1947 after they were married about 30 years)

Music to my ears...

On Sunday, Feb. 23, starting at 12:30 p.m. (Note new time), emcee, our own wonderful ALAN ROCK presents PAT GULLATTA along with his swinging trombone and the Jazz train, featuring my personal all-time favorite pianist, MICHAEL KRAMER, and my personal all-time favorite bassist, BEN KRAMER, and super talented drummer, GREG PARNELL.

The jazz is happening at the Altamonte Chapel, 825 East S.R. 436

(Semoran Boulevard), Altamonte Springs. The phone number is

407-339-5208.

The band swings for the first hour and professional musicians and vocalists are welcome to sit in for the second set. (Great sounds... guaranteed!)

One for the road...

(In honor of the Olympics)

As you may know, in a slalom race the skier must pass through about 20 "gates" in as little time as possible.

Well, it happened that Israel had the fastest slalom-skier in the world, and the country had great expectations for an Olympic gold medal.

The day of the final came, and the crowd waited in anticipation. The French champion sped down the course in 38 seconds. The Swiss was clocked at 38.7 seconds, the German at 37.8 seconds, and the Italian at 38.1 seconds.

Then came the turn of the Israeli. The crowd waited, and waited... SIX MINUTES!

"What happened to you?" screamed his trainer when the Israeli finally arrived. Replied the exhausted Israeli: "Which of those bastards fixed a mezuzah to each gate?"