Today we present Part II of our chat with DAS from DAS blog… Despite his liberal beliefs, we like him anyway. Today in Part II he talks more about his politics and as an added treat, since he bears an uncanny resemblance to my former Rabbi, he also chats about the weekly Torah portion.
This brings back memories of the synagogue we attended when we lived in Central Jersey until my mom sold her house in Union County in ‘97. As I mentioned in the Feb. 14th column I also got married there in 2004. Over the years, I spent a lot of time there…. usually trying not to getting caught yapping...
Since I came from a German family, the time that I arrived at services was always a topic of discussion… But when my mom would ask what time I got there… I had to clarify if it was the time I entered the building.. or the time I got to my seat… Y’see, I'm a social butterfly plus we also had a little group there called “The Nate Club”,… a little group of us whose membership consisted of being named Nate. One of those Nates who was fondly referred to as “Uncle Nate” passed away recently. He used to sit at the first seat after you entered the sanctuary, and it would be totally unheard of if I strolled to my seat without first visiting Uncle Nate, and it was always nice to catch up with what was going on with him. Therefore synagogue arrival time and seat arrival time were two very different times.
Uncle Nate was a big shot with the local public school system and in the early 80s when I was struggling with high school science he very kindly loaned me this new science text book that he had obtained…. He told me it was very valuable and not to lose it… which I promptly did.. Although it might have been stolen from me. Nonetheless.. Nate… science book… not together! I of course had to break the news to him.. And his reaction was why he was always a role model to me. He didn’t rant and rave and yell or scream but he very calmly made it very clear to me how disappointed he was in me which made me feel incredibly guilty. Over the years he would bring it up to me every once in awhile with a little twinkle in his eye that I knew I would never live it down.
After we moved out of Union County in ‘97, I saw Uncle Nate several times over the years. (Actually I lived in Woodbridge about a block away from the Union County line, so technically I was barely in Middlesex. The Union County Middlesex County line runs down the middle of the Pathmark so technically you could have a sandwich where the bread was bought in Union County and the tuna was bought in Middlesex County.) Uncle Nate was still looking pretty good into his mid 80s. About a year ago we got a call that he was not doing so well so we ventured off to pay him a visit. You could tell right away he wasn’t his old self. He was looking at the Sunday Paper and it took him awhile to remember who I was… He had been friends with my parents so it took some time to jog his memory, and even though he hadn’t seen me in about 3 years he eventually remembered who I was.. Even though he looked a lot younger than 87, it was obvious that he was having trouble with his memory... because a few minutes later he was having trouble remembering me.
I looked at Trophy Wife and told her… “Did you know Uncle Nate used to be a big shot in the local public school system?”… And without missing a beat, Uncle Nate looked at her and casually remarked.. “I sure was…… And your husband lost my science book!”. Then he looked at me and with a hint of that little gleam reminded me… “It was a physics book too!”
The floor there was very clean. I know that because I picked my jaw up from it!
Now here is Part II with DAS…. Click play or hit the icon at the title to play it in your Windows Media Player.
Next week: We go from the Nate Club to the Movie Club with Godfather I.
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