A Quick Look At the News,  March 15 –Feb 15:  Vallium II

 

By Barry V Silverberg                               Grammatical Advisor:  Dick Duck

                                                                   Culinary Assistance:  Ehud Marrak

 

Dear Readers,

            The following comments are inspired by “ authentic passages” from authentic newspaper.  Unfortunately, the world in which we live is not authentic at all; in fact, the Zohar teaches us that it is just a corridor which we must cross within the short span of our lives, armed with nothing but a floor polisher and a bottle of Pledge.

 

            Before embarking on this month’s  column, I’d just like to thank those of you who send me letters, jokes  or obscene cartoons (Yes, Bat Sheva, I mean you) and forget to hide away all their other   friends in the BCC space.  So I now have several hundred more names of people I can flood with material that I can’t publish anywhere else.

 

 Maariv, March 14, page 17;  This page opens up with the mildly funny piece about two dueling Mexicans who managed to kill each other at the same time.  I’m sure I saw this once in a Bugs Bunny Cartoon.  What it means is that this page is going to be a doozy.  And it is!

Most of the page is taken up with “Dr. Suess in Hollywood,”  with a big colour photo of the Cat posing with Thing One and Thing Two.  Now, look over on the left:  By sheer co-incidence  wedged in there  immediately adjacent to the Seuss (Hebrew for horse) article, is a charming item about a gentleman in Utrecht who was arrested for performing the … erm… carnal act with, you guessed it:  A ‘Seuss’. I quote herein the prosecuting attorney:   “We saw no signs of violence or coercion on the pony, therefore we found no charge that we could press against him” (translation mine/ BVS).  What are they implying?  That this was relations with a consenting adult pony?  Nay or Yay?  Those of you who were raised on “I would not could not, on a boat.  I will not, shall not with a goat,” now know what  he would and could, and dould.

 

STICKING IT TO THE PRESIDENT:  Britishers who apparently have an ugly habit of spitting  their Chewing gum onto the ground **  are now being offered an incentive to  be more civilized.  Picures of George Bush are put up on public walls, with the assumption that gum chewers will automatically stick it to George.    .   .This has given me some great ideas about what we could do in Israel about the cigarette butts and dog turds that festoon our streets and sidewalks.

 

MAZZAL TOV:  To the  couple in the Viagra ads:  You know, that good looking pair that are always posing in their underwear.   For quite some weeks now, my morning Ma’ariv  has featured a half page picture of them; she’s mostly under the blankets and she’s like, Again you forgot to let the dog out!   Really reproachful, and he’s sitting on the bed with his back to her and his head  down, What can he say?  There’s nothing to say, schmuck!

            But as of last week, they are both glowing.  Holding hands, smiling, positive eye contact, the works.  Something good has obviously happened.  Their kid finished his English project, they found a good mouthwash,  I dunno.  Keep it up, kids.

 

**  Is this what they mean by English expectorate?

 

Fri Feb 2 Maariv and local Kiriat Shmona Weeklies:    Plans are underway to reconstruct the Beis Hamikdash. Why is this newsworthy you ask? Harrey (that’s Aramaic for – After all,) we Jews have been praying to have the Beit Hamikdash reconstructed for 2002 years – and that’s without time off for holidays!  Why are these plans different than any other plans? 

            Because A: the contractors have already been hired, and B : The holy walls won’t be going up in Jeru this time, but in --brace yourselves  --  in scenic Kiriat Shmona, no less, just drive past the mall and hook a right.

            The kids are already singing, Yibbaneh, Yibaneh , Yibaneh Hamikdash – be Ka.Sh

éáðä, éáðä, éáðä äî÷ãù – á ÷"ù!!

 

 

YOU CAN ADD IDEAS TO THIS LIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

úéáú è÷ñè: Ten reasons why having a Beit Hamikdash in Kiriat Shmona is a good idea: 1 I’ll be able to run over, catch a priestly blessing and get back before the long break is over. 2 I’ve made enough sacrifices to live in this place; now I’ll have someplace to put them. 3 Property values are going to soar. 4 I won’t have to beg the family to come to us for the holidays for a change. 5 I don’t have to buy a new car, for the old one will soon return to life. ________________________your idea here____________________ Ten reasons why having a Beit Hamikdash in Kiriat Shmona is a terrible idea: It’s been done (see Kings II) Someone’s going to build a mosque over the Tennis Center. Everytime I get in the shower, I’ll feel the eyes of the whole Jewish people looking my way. I’ll never find a place to park again. ________________________your idea here____________________

 



 Speaking of the holy temple reminds me of  my first days in a religious school.  This was years back, and I had just been tossed out of High Ve’Gay Regional School for weighing anchors around pupils as they floated down the stream during my classes.  I got a job at the local Dattee school, and  on the first day, as I addressed the class, I leaned back against the teacher’s desk.

 

You can’t sit on the desk, piped up a spotty 8th grader in a sanctimonious tone. 

 

Why not?  I ask?

 

Because the classroom is our Beit Hamikdash and the teachers’ desk is the Mizbay-ah (=Altar) comes the smug reply.

 

Well, don’t worry.  I snap,  my butt is the Korban Pesach.

______________________________________________________________________

Barry Silverberg, Kiriat Shmona, March 15, 2004