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