Blog/September 2022/Sep 2nd

Sep 2nd

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Another genealogical bonanza!

Inspired by our success with my mother’s paternal grandmother’s line (née Vasilevsky), Jeremy started picking at her paternal grandfather’s line (Rubenstein). Once picking started, a whole lot unraveled. In short, we were able to push that line back another generation, and I discovered a whole ton of new relatives, backed up by documentation as well as DNA matches.

Among other strangeness, the “Rubenstein” name was a new one. Originally it was “Rabinovitz”. Why did they change it (and only some of the siblings did)? Who knows! A generation later, some of the Rubensteins became “Roberts”. It sure does make tracing genealogical lines more challenging.

In the 1891 Census of England, my great-great-grandpa Rabinovitz was listed as being “a Jewish killer of animals (shochet)”. That sounds a bit raw, doesn’t it? Crazy stuff!

A short note: I periodically get pigeonholed regarding my political leanings. Despite others’ opinions, I’m politically homeless, both in the US and here in Israel. There is no party, as far as I can tell, which has any chance of success, and pretends to match my ideal. That is: in favor of shrinking the government as much as possible, refraining from spending like a drunk hooker stealing my money, and leaving me alone. So basically, a “small ‘L’ libertarian” with traditional social mores.

Don’t mistake my utter disdain for current leaders as an indication I’m somehow in favor of their opponents. I find them all mostly repugnant. See Isaiah 1:23 for reference.

This week’s things of note:

• Holly Math Nerd on student-loan forgiveness.
• Prof. Hossenfelder on whether or not the “Big Bang” happened.
• Another professor on the ideological refusal to acknowledge evolved sex-differences.
• Dumpster Fire’s political onesie edition.
• One young Jew’s post-graduation plan: making “aliyah”. His reasons are interesting and unsettling.
• And speaking of Isa 1:23, Avigdor Liberman’s party wants more pig slaughterhouses in Israel. Because how else can you simultaneously piss off all the traditional Jews and Muslims who make up the majority of the population?

We worked quite a bit. Esther’s got a backlog of tax-clients to deal with. My main client reawakened and needs things urgently. So, basically, all as usual.

The hot weather I mentioned last week came with a vengeance this week. We hit highs of over 39C (102F+). Fortunately, the heat wave has abated and we’re looking at normal summer temps (30C more or less) over the next several days at least. Excellent!

This shabbat our menu will probably contain:
homemade pita, turkey shawarma, spicy sticky chicken wings, rice pilaf, chard pie, various salatim, and peaches.

Until next time,
shabbat shalom!

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