A classic Yiddish folk tale
Monday reading #43
Monday Reading is my weekly recommendation of something I’ve found thought-provoking or fascinating. Sometimes it is about something I have read. Sometimes it is about television or food or music or projects I care about supporting. Sometimes I do not send it on Monday. Please share with anyone who might like the vibes!
In honor of my fractured spine,1 a classic children’s book: Margot Zemach’s Caldecott-winning picture book It Could Always Be Worse, a retelling of a Yiddish folk tale in which a poor man asks his rabbi what he should do about his frustration over his crowded, chaotic one-room house.
My sister ex-wife saw it at the National Yiddish Book Center museum shop years ago & we refer to it often; I sent it to my BBF Amelia’s son for his third birthday.2
One of the best things about diasporic Judaism is our fundamental respect for, and cultural attachment to (no paywall), the kvetch,3 We kvetch, and then our rabbis remind us that it could always be worse. Which, you know, can’t argue with that.
See you soon!
PS: In response to the very reasonable question “what’s up with this newsletter,” I’m … working on it, in spite of (?) my fractured spine. If you are a paid subscriber, thank you. It makes a very big difference to me. I’d love to send you a copy of “Jail on Wheels.”
P.PS. I’ve been informed that the link from last week was messed up! I’ve corrected it!
(Sunday night, slipped and fell, L1, don’t need surgery, 8-12 weeks in a brace, Northwestern Memorial's ER is buck wild on Sundays at midnight???)
Speaking of my sister ex-wife, she was interviewed for The New York Times this summer (no paywall) about the power of the Elsa dress (Frozen-heads will know) & how it has helped her soon-to-be-adopted foster daughter face life’s many challenges.
It’s Yinglish—in Yiddish the word’s meaning is slightly different.