Goodness and greetings, friends.
Books
I once had a professor who witnessed the death of a language. He attended the funeral of a tribal elder, the last one who spoke the native tongue. The idea of losing something as profound as language still haunts me. And so, I have a great appreciation for Hebrew, a language that was resurrected from old scrolls and now serves as the official language of Israel (alongside Arabic—the language of my grandparents).
And so, I highly recommend Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books by Aaron Lansky. The title says it all! Why would Lansky go through all the trouble? Well, “Historical amnesia is a dangerous malady, especially for a people whose identity is as dependent on historical memory as [the Jews].” Hence, the author delivers a remarkable tale of his experiment to collect the history, culture, and unique humanity of the Jewish people. I appreciated how Lansky contextualized everything: the way octogenarians fed him kugle and sugar cubes before giving away their “inheritance”; the shifting demographics of the Lower East Side and the Bronx; the monumental task of delivering three thousand Yiddish books to a school in Lithuania after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The geographic and historical scope of the book was phenomenal. If you have relatives who left Europe for the US (or anywhere else), this is a must read. It will give you a new found appreciation for your roots. Du veyst?
Because of my newfound enthusiasm for Yiddish, I looked up Lansky’s project; Yiddish Book Center. It’s remarkable. And now I want to learn Yiddish. There are many great thinkers whose original papers were authored in Yiddish, Isaac Beshevis Singer is among them. A prolific writer, his collection of short stories, A Friend of Kafka, is a poignant reminder of what happens when language (and through it, culture) is lost. Each story is heartbreaking and ironical. The characters wink from the pages and provoke, “I’m not a drunkard, but when your heart grows bitter you want to forget the sorrow.” We must never forget.
Beats
While on the topic of storytelling while under the influence, listen to Teddy Swims Tennessee Whisky. His voice is honey.
Barbells
Not everyone is a huge workout buff, but everyone can work out. I heard a great line from Tony Gentilecore this month. He said your workout plan should be 3 x 52. Three days a week, fifty-two weeks of the year. I like the simplicity of it. We’re looking for longevity, not a quick fix. How can you adjust your life to accommodate this paradigm?
As for me, I’m swinging and squatting as per usual. 🙂
Peace and love,
Kit
Find the balance. 