For Openers
My Kingdom For A ...
ur fine feathered friends and
four-footed friends and little
furry friends provide scintillat-
ing facts for our amusement and
edification.
Gathering little known and even little
cared about information such as what fol-
lows has provided me with another badge
SY
in my struggle to work up the get-a-life
MANELLO ladder of achievements.
Editorial
• Dolphins sleep with one eye open.
Assistant
(Those underwater babysitters are so obser-
vant.)
• Slugs have four noses.
• The starfish is one of the few animals that can turn its
stomach inside out. (That would be really helpful after eat-
ing school cafeteria food.)
• The katydid bug hears through
holes in its hind legs.
• When it comes to
accomplishments, note
that the elephant is
one of the few mam-
mals that can't jump
and the penguin is
the only bird that can
swim but not fly.
Were you aware,
though, that the
longest recorded flight
of a chicken is 13 sec-
onds. (Do you care?)
• The manufacturers of
cotton swabs might be
alarmed to learn that a giraffe can clean its ears with its
21 inch tongue.
• Is it habit or genetics? Bats always turn left when exit-
ing a cave.
• For manufacturers who are seeking new colors for
products, consider that the blesbok, a South African ante-
lope, is almost the same color as grape juice.
• The next time you complain about animals destroying
your garden, think about the fact that the two-foot long
bird called the Kea, that lives in New Zealand, likes to eat
the strips of rubber around car windows.
• Only in English would we call a group of geese on the
ground a gaggle, but a group of geese in the air is a skein.
• Don't try to get rid of your pet porcupine as you
would a goldfish; porcupines float in water.
• Talk about relaxed. The sloth moves so slowly that
green algae can grow undisturbed on its fur.
• The next time you are looking for odd Halloween dec-
orations, remember that cat urine glows under black-light.
• The accomplishments of animals are wondrous
indeed. A mole can dig a tunnel 300 feet long in just
one night; a hippo can open its mouth wide enough to
fit a four-foot tall person inside; a cockroach can live
several weeks with its head cut off — it
dies eventually of starvation.
• For those of us who
,
need the tie-in to food,
keep in mind that
there are 18 differ-
ent animal shapes
in the Animal
Crackers cookie
zoo. (Lions and
tigers and bears,
oh, my!)
'cha
on't Know
© 2003
-
C
an you name the only other
country in the eastern
Mediterranean besides Israel
which has a Muslim minority?
— Goldfein
•srudb :Jam.suy
notables
"Sometimes, one has to pray with
irony or anger. I believe that God
wants the truth of the heart in prayer."
— Dr. Saul R. Wachs, Education
Department chair, Gratz College,
Melrose Park, Pa.; quoted in
"Connecting With God Through
Tefillah" in the fall issue of the
Conservative movement's United
Synagogue Review.
"This small [Iraqi] Jewish community
has lived under a repressive regime for
decades. They have lived in a society
where the vast majority of the popula-
tion despises Jews and Israel. Most
have lived trying to hide their Jewish
identities except with close friends,
colleagues or neighbors."
— Rachel Zelon, of Hebrew Immigrant
Aid Socie t y, on Iraq's Jewish community,
which numbered 34 until some made
aliyah this summer; quoted by JTA.
Yiddish Limericks
"It's too late to keep you apart,"
My dad said, "but take this to heart:
Your shvigger's* a fright,
And fun bairn, falt nisht vite
Dos epple.** You're doomed from the
start."
— Martha Jo Fleischmann
Shabbat Candlelighting
"As a newlywed, Shabbat candles inspire me about the future, and I
look forward to building a bayit neeman b'Yisroel (faithful home in
the house of Israel) with my husband."
— Natalie Zacks, Oak Park
Sponsored by Lubavitch
Women's Organization.
To submit a candlelighting
message or to receive
complimentary candlesticks
and it formation on Shabbat
candlelighting call Miriam
Amzalak of Oak Park at
(248) 548-6771 or e-mai•
mamzalak@juno.com
Candlelighting
Candlelighting
Friday, Sept. 19, 7:18 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 26, 7:05 p.m.
Shabbat Ends
Saturday, Sept. 20, 8:18 p.m.
Shabbat Ends
Saturday, Sept. 27, 8:04 p.m.
* mother-in-law
** from the tree, the apple doesn't fall
far
Yiddish-isms
machetunim
Members of one's wife's or husband's
extended family.
Source: From The New Joys of Yiddish
by Leo Calvin Rosten, edited by
Lawrence Bush, copyright 2001, by
the Rosten Family LLC. Used by pen-
mission of the Rosten Family LLC.
9/19
2003
9