This Week

For Openers

Your Trash, My Treasure

T

here seems to be an instinctive urge within
us to collect things.
Many obsessions have led to actual
museums being built, though not on a
grand scale. Many more of these "collections" can be
viewed without extensive travel — just let your mouse
do the walking through the Internet.
There is an actual Banana Museum
in Auburn, Wash. It contains some
4,000 items devoted to the "world's
perfect fruit." Banana factoid: Bananas
were introduced to Americans in 1876
at the Philadelphia Centennial
Exposition. Something called the
"telephone" was also introduced at
that event.
SY
The San Francisco area is home to
MANELLO the Burlingame Museum of Pez. For
those who crave the candy, there are
Editorial
dispensers and memorabilia on dis-
Assistant
play. There is also an on
line store that can be accessed.
The Quackatorium is a virtual look at antique med-
ical quackery and electrotherapy devices. Try
rickertd@gdls.com
In Boca Raton, Fla., one could visit Martin's Owl
Collection. If you don't get to the South, you can view,
online, a collection that takes up a whole room, cover-
ing walls, desk, shelves and a display cabinet. Wh000
knows what fun this might be?
If you are in Philadelphia, you may find great disap-
pointment if you look for the Pretzel Museum; it is
now out of business. (Not worth its salt, I guess.) The
walls bore pretzel photos and trivia and there was a
seven-minute film history of the pretzel up to modern
baking techniques. Factoids: Lititz, outside Lancaster,
Penn., is the birthplace of the pretzel. Helen Hoff is
the world champion pretzel twister at 57 per minute.

In Washington, D.C., you could visit a home that is
the Squashed Penny Museum. The entire collection is
worth $40. One will find a few pennies, some tall tales
from the owners, pictures of squishing techniques and
a gift shop.
No trip to India would be complete without a stop
at the Museum of Toilets in New Delhi. It details the
evolution of toilets and designs from different coun-
tries at different times. The purpose is stated as, "To
educate students on the historic trends in the develop-
ment of toilets."
Follow that visit up with a stop in Alamo, Texas, to
visit the Toilet Seat Art Museum. It displays seats deco-
rated with everything from license plates to barber
tools to heraldic crests. Isn't that the "living end"?
No devotee of mysteries would neglect a visit to the
Sherlock Holmes Museum at, of course, 221 b Baker
Street in London. A real step back in time.
The Museum of Advertising Icons provides a cyber
tour by CreatAbiliTOYS in Miami, which is clever and
nostalgic.
Not even pretending to be a rival of our own DIA is
the Internet collection to be found at BADART.com
It is a collection of the most "appallingly bad art
found."
Speaking of that which is bad, take a look on the
Web at the Bad Fads Museum. It gives examples of
bad fashions, collectibles, activities and events from the
last 100 years.
If you thought you had heard of everything being
for sale, you may have some fun perusing lists of
things that are sold in vending machines. Some are:
underwear, herbal remedies, sacks of rice, hunting per-
mits, eggs (poached on the spot), fresh fish, holy
water, beach balls and temporary tattoos.
Wow! After all that, I'm going to collect my
thoughts. They will soon appear in future columns. El

'.•Don't Know .2003

ntermarriage between Jews and non-Jews
is an important subject today. Are you
aware of the time when a Jew was forbid-
den to marry a Jew?
— Goldfein

•DDLIE31134UT JO SME1 atp Ern kiolInai
asoi sagas isal cpa2-emoDsrp SEAM jaE.isi Jo saqpi
a II Jo slaquiam 2uomu ageInumiaim ckiols!i4
tisimaj /circa Jo popad muilaD E 2upnG :JWASIIV

Quotables

"My strong impression is that the real threat to
Israel today comes not from the intifada
[Palestinian uprising], or the impending war with
Iraq. The true danger is in the impact of a collaps-
ing economy on the fabric of Israeli society, espe-
cially among the vulnerable populations who are
being hit the hardest."
— Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit CEO
Robert Aronson, in a community message posted on
the thisisfederation.com Web site.

"In a recent lecture of Hadassah on magic and
superstition in Judaism, the lecturer said one of
the explanations giveri for breaking the glass under
the chuppah [wedding canopy] is to illustrate how
precarious life is. If we ever needed proof, the
Columbia catastrophe on Shabbat, Feb. 1, pre-
sented us with a good one."
— Rachel Kapen of West Bloomfiek among her first
thoughts on the space shuttle Columbia's sudden
breakup on descent, killing all seven astronauts.

Yiddish Limericks

I bought a new racehorse this year.
It's tsiterik,* though, and I fear
My jockey's concerned.
This morning she learned
She's sitting on "Shpilkehs.' Oh dear!

Shabbat Candlelighting

"I like the Shabbat candles because they are really pretty
when they shine on the table and they make me feel special
to be Jewish."

— Eve Sherbin, 8, Bloomfield Hills

* shaky (nervously high-strung)
** pins and needles

Yiddish-isms

Sponsored by Lubavitch

Women's Organization.

— Martha Jo Fleischmann

Candlelighting

Candlelighting

Friday, Feb. 14: 5:45 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 21: 5:54 p.m.

kalleh

candlelighting, call Miriam

Shabbat Ends

Shabbat Ends.

A bride; a young married woman.

Anizalak of Oak Park at

Saturday, Feb. 15: 6:49 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 22: 6:57 p.m.

To submit a candlelighting
message or to receive

complimentary candlesticks

and information on Sbabbat

(248) 967-5056 or e-maik

mainzalakejuno.com

Source: The Joys ofYiddish by Leo Rosten (Mc-
Graw-Hill).

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2/14

2003

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