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Nuances Of Nursery Rhymes
T
he other day I was reading old
sense: With all those children, her
Mother Goose rhymes to my
mouth is constantly open; all day, she’s
kids from an ancient picture
yelling, “Get inside!” “Get off him!” “Stop
book. One had us particularly mesmer-
throwing!” “Put your pants back on!”
ized:
“No climbing up the shoelace!”
There was an old woman who
It seems highly likely a fly
lived in a shoe;
might get in her mouth.
She had so many children, she
And like any typical busy
didn’t know what to do.
mother who spends her meal-
She gave them some broth,
times breaking up fights and
without any bread;
wiping up spills with not much
She hugged them and kissed
time for actual eating, I bet
them and sent them to bed.
she’s kind of grateful for the
Rochel Burstyn
It was my ever-practical
sudden crunchy snack, kosher
8-year-old Binyamin who
or not.
asked, “But … how did she
In general, nursery rhymes
decide which one to put to bed
are for little kids who aren’t
first?”
going to get nitpicky with meaning,
Then we had a whole discussion. My
point out that there’s no such word as a
younger kids voted “oldest to youngest;” “tuffet” or that certain lyrics are disturb-
my older kids voted “youngest to old-
ing. Like “Rock-a-bye Baby” — the kid
est;” my husband suggested alphabeti-
falls out of a tree! No wonder the kids
cally. I suggested grabbing the closest
crying; you’re giving him nightmares!
kids and starting with those.
Many nursery rhymes are about a
My concern wasn’t really where to
fellow named Jack. He was apparently
start but how the poor old lady keeps
“nimble and quick,” yet still fell down
those kids in bed so that while she’s
a hill, presumably with a “splat” at the
tucking in No. 28, the first 10 haven’t
bottom. (Or maybe a Sprat?) Then,
already climbed out and are raiding the
hypochondriac male that he is, takes
fridge for leftover broth. Or worse yet,
to bed with the entire contents of the
discovering her hidden stash of choco-
medicine cabinet, a bucket of ice cream
late chunk ice cream in the back of the
and his phone switched to Netflix … a
freezer.
recovery technique better known in the
I also wonder if this old lady in the
old days as being laid up with “vinegar
shoe and the old lady who swallowed
and brown paper.”
the fly are one and the same. It makes
There’s also much ado about Mary;
despite her being rather contrary, she
seems to have quite the green thumb as
well as an adoring pet lamb.
There are many nursery rhymes
about animals and their human care-
takers. It seems that Little Bo Peep
would be a match made in heaven for
the similarly-sized Little Boy Blue, who
seems to have all his ducks lined up in
a row before grabbing a well-deserved
nap.
Another good match: What do you
think of Old Mother Hubbard, of the
empty kitchen cupboards, with Old
MacDonald, who likely has tons of
extra food on that successful farm of
his? Sure, there might be a cultural
and generational clash, but I reckon if
a cow can do a sporty lunar high jump
and kitchen utensils can elope, then
anything can happen in the wonderful
world of nursery rhymes!
And even with our modern, alter-
native endings, we’ll respect that not
everyone has a complete happily-ever-
after:
Hickory Dickory Dock,
Two mice ran up the clock,
The clock struck one …
The other one got away with minor
injuries. •
commentary
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Michigan Board Of Rabbis Opposes
Executive Order On Immigration
T
he Michigan Board of Rabbis
joins with the Central
Conference of American Rabbis,
the Rabbinical Assembly, the Cantors
Assembly, the Union for Reform
Judaism, the Orthodox Union, the
Rabbinical Council of America, the
United Synagogue of
Conservative Judaism,
the Anti-Defamation
League, the American
Jewish Committee,
the Simon Wiesenthal
Center, Republican
and Democrat gov-
ernment leaders, and
Rabbi Marla
other U.S. and global
Hornsten
Jewish organizations in condemning
the recent executive order barring many
refugees and immigrants from entering
our country.
Certainly, preservation of life is
among the highest of Jewish values, and
the preservation of one’s own life and
that of one’s family certainly takes pre-
cedence over another’s life (Babylonian
Talmud Bava Metzia 62a).
Therefore, we support the executive
order’s goal of ensuring “that those
admitted to [the United States] do not
bear hostile attitudes toward it and its
founding principles … [and prohibit-
ing the admission of] those who would
oppress Americans of any race, gender
or sexual orientation.”
Justin Wedes owns a business,
but didn’t study business in college.
His background in theoretical physics
and linguistics reflect his curiosity. He
likes to know why things are.
“Linguistics was because my facility
with languages enabled me to connect
and get to know people whose stories
you don’t normally hear,” Justin said.
“I want to know about people. When I
realized that people excited me more
than what was going on in a lab, I
decided to teach, instead of pursue
pure science.”
Justin moved to New York and
taught at a school attended by kids
from Brooklyn’s Red Hook Houses
housing projects. He heard their
stories, too, the daily issues of children
in poverty. Justin wanted to advocate
for them, and he became an activist
for social justice and fair funding for
education. It was as an activist that
Justin returned to Detroit during the
city’s bankruptcy process, and
founded a non-profit in support of
those facing water shut-offs. To
support his activism, Justin did some
website design and other PR jobs.
“I did all of that from a real sense of
tikkun olam and tzedekah,” Justin
said. “It drives me. I want to respond
in ways that matter, and I also want to
sustain myself. The intersection of
those two things was strategic media
development, so I made a business
out of it. Hebrew Free Loan and their
Marvin I. Danto Small Business Loan
Program helped me realize and
expand Liberati Group, which focuses
on groups in Detroit that are doing
great work, have good products and
services, but can’t compete with the
big boys. HFL’s support made possible
our ability to educate and inspire.
Every community should be so lucky
to have an HFL in their corner.”
Health. A fresh start.
A good education.
The next great business idea.
As our community’s JCRC/AJC wrote
in its statement, “We live in a danger-
ous world, and as such we endorse
appropriate, lengthy and stringent
background checks for all potential
refugees.”
However, for many reasons, including
feeding the terrorists’ propaganda and
that the vast majority of those seeking
entrance to our country are fleeing
oppression, this executive order fails to
fulfill its own goals and, furthermore, it
serves as an affront to religious people
everywhere.
The Torah demands, “You shall not
stand by the blood of your friend”
(Leviticus 19:16). Based on this mitzvah
(sacred obligation), our rabbis conclude
Hebrew Free Loan gives interest-
free loans to members of our
community for a variety of
personal and small business
needs. HFL loans are funded
entirely through community
donations which continually
recycle to others, generating
many times the original value
to help maintain the lives of
local Jews.
6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 300 • Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301
Hebrew Free Loan Detroit
@HFLDetroit
continued on page 8
jn
February 9 • 2017
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