4.

COMPILED BY ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

Make Your Mark

I

viimmlor";
Dressed in Roman gear, visitors to Israel participate in a program
that teaches Jewish history through experience.

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Suppose you could go back to any time in Jewish his-
tory. What would you pick?
Would you like to meet up with the Jewish commu-
nity of thousands of years ago, or perhaps with new
Jewish immigrants to the United States at the turn of
the century? What would you ask people living at the
time? What would you like to see? Is there anyone spe-
cial you would want to meet?

his week, the Nobel Prizes were awarded. It
marks the 100th anniversary of the will written
by Alfred Nobel establishing those awards, and
next year (on Dec. 10) will be the 100th anniver-
sary of his death.
Jews have been Nobel Prize winners to a much
greater extent than their share of the world's pop-
ulation. A good family project is to explore the
Jewish connections of these winners. One place
to start is with The Who's Who of Nobel Prize
Winners, 1901-1990, edited by Schlessinger and
Schlessinger and published by Oryx Press. This
book includes an index citing those who iden-
tified as Jews (their list contains 106 names).
But more are added each year — eg, Yitzhak Rabin and
Shimon Peres won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. (You
might want to check all of the biographies of the book,
however, because some had Jewish parents but identi-
fied as agnostics, or converts to other religions. Some-
times, these biographies can be very interesting).
An even better family project is to collect postage
stamps depicting these Nobel Prize winners (or their
works). Many nations have issued stamps honoring
these famous people, and because of the centennial an-
niversaries, several nations (Antigua, Ghana, Grena-
da, Nicaragua, St. Vincent, Togo) have issued sets of
stamps depicting Nobel Prize winners in recent months.
Others will join in next year. As of now, 49 of the 106
Jews on that list have appeared on stamps. Just one
of these winners, Albert Einstein, has been on stamps
from more than 40 countries.
Of course, Jewish Nobel Prize winners is only one
of many possible. stamp collections de-

pitting famous Jews or their
works. These also can include
athletes (like Mark Spitz and
Meir Prinstein), artists (Chagall,
Pissarro) or actors (Jack Benny,
the Marx Brothers). Even comic-strip artists would re-
sult in stamps from several countries. The United
States issued stamps in October showing strips by
Al Capp and Rube Goldberg, and Canada just issued
a Superman (created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster)
stamp.
Your Judaica stamp collection could include stamps
illustrating subjects in the Torah (the time of creation,
Moses), Jewish holidays (all have been celebrated on
Israel's stamps), or Jewish history like the Holocaust
(last September the United States issued a stamp de-
picting concentration camps, and in November Cana-
da issued a Holocaust stamp).
Submitted by Dr. Murray Frost of Omaha, Neb.
(Dr. Frost writes a monthly column about collect-
ing Judaica on stamps, which appears in Global Stamp
News, Box 97, Sidney, OH 45365.)

Loony Limericks

y

ou can use silly words and phrases to
make silly limericks for Chanukah.
We'll supply the start, and you sup-
ply the last line. For example:
I once knew a girl named Mandy
Who liked to eat latkes with candy
Her mother said no,
That's the wrong way to go!
So she gave them to her pet fish Sandy
1. Try sufganiot filled with jelly
If you want something good in your belly

2. Our menorah we do love to light
There's a new candle every night
They make a nice glow
While the candles burn slow

Parsha Project

he coming week's Torah portion,
Genesis 41:1-44:17, is Miketz.
On Shabbat (Dec. 23), addition-
al Torah portions will be read for
Chanukah and Rosh Chodesh (the new
month).
Two years after Yosefs imprisonment,
Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, calls Yosef
in to interpret his dream. Yosef explains
that Pharaoh's dream means seven years
of plenty, followed by seven years of
famine. Yosef urges Pharaoh to use the
good years to prepare for the bad times

T

Flower
Power

Or maybe you please
Your donuts with cheese

ahead. Impressed by this interpretation,
Pharaoh appoints Yosef viceroy over
Egypt. Yosef collects all of the surplus
grain, and with the onset of the famine
begins a rationed distribution of goods.
The famine spreads to Canaan, and
Yaacov sends his 10 eldest sons to buy
Egyptian grain. The men are directed to
Yosef, who recognizes his brothers, al-
though they do not know his true identi-
ty. Through a series of subterfuges, Yosef
persuades his half brothers to bring his
full brother, Binyamin, with them to

Egypt on their next trip. Yosef devises a
plan to have Binyamin stay with him in
Egypt.
For a project: Yosefs interpretation
of Pharaoh's dream teaches us that pros-
perity is wisely used to prepare for the
lean times that inevitably arise. Yosef set
up a food bank. One popular way most
people prepare for the future is by putting
money in a bank. Many children have
coin banks at home. Why not make your
own from a jar or can, then decorate with
stickers and permanent markers.

Even though winter is here, you can
still invite spring into your home
with a bouquet of flowers.
For a few dollars, you can buy fresh
or silk flowers. Make silk flowers into
a bouquet, or use them to decorate
a basket filled with treats. You can
keep it yourself or, even better, de-
liver it to a friend. Those who have a
hard time getting out in the cold will
especially appreciate this treat.