Here in Highland Park, New Jersey

The history of the Jews and Iran goes way, way back in time.

I am currently reading a book called A History of Iran by Michael Axworthy. It is a fascinating book, if you want some understanding of world events, and if you have an interest in the history of religion (did you know that the Bahai faith started in Iran? I didn’t know that before reading that part of the book last night).

Some excerpts:

The history of the relationship between Iranians and Jews is almost as old as the history of Iran itself. After the conquest of the northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians around 720 BC, large numbers of Jews were removed to Media, among other places, setting up long-lived Jewish communities, notably in Ecbatana/Hamadan. A second wave of deportation, this time to Babylonian territory, took place in the 590s and 580s under Nebuchadnezzar…Babylon came under Persian control in the 530s, and thereafter many of the Jews eventually returned home. Some scholars believe that Judaism changed significantly under Mazdaean influence in the period of the Babylonian exile…For hundreds of years thereafter, first under the Persian Empire and later under Hellenistic rulers, diaspora Jewish and Mazdaean religious communities lived adjacent to one another in cities all over the Middle East.

In the 17th century:

After 1642 there was a particularly grim period of persecution and forced conversions. Orders were issued that Jews should wear distinguishing red patches on their clothing to identify themselves, that their word at law was near worthless, that they must not walk in the middle of the street or walk past a Muslim, that they must not enter a shop and touch things, that their weddings must be held in secret, that if they were cursed by a Muslim they must stay silent, and so on. Many of these would-be rules probably reflect the aspirations of a few extremist mullahs rather than the reality as lived. Conditions would have varied greatly from town to town and changed over time, but they were still indicative of the attitudes of some and appeared to legitimize the actions of others.

Under Nader Shah in the 18th century:

Nader was generous to the Armenians, and his reign was regarded later by the Jews one of relief from persecution (though minorities suffered as much as anyone else from his violent oppression and heavy taxation, espeically in later years).

In the late 19th century, relating to the assassination of the shah:

One aspect of the assassination illustrates the complexity of attitudes towards Jews in Iran. Apparently in his interrogation Kermani said that he had had an earlier opportunity to kill the shah, while he was walking in a park, and had not done so—despite the fact that he could easily have escaped because he knew that a number of Jews had been in the park that day and they would be blamed for the killing. Kermani did not want the assassination to be blamed on the Jews and did not want to be responsible for the riots and attacks on the Jews that might follow. For every anti-Semitic preacher or rabble-rouser, there many educated humane Iranians—clerics and others— for whom it was a matter of conscience to do what they could to help the Jews and other minorities, irrespective of the radicalism that might characterize their other beliefs.

I haven’t finished the book yet; I am almost up to the twentieth century.

If you want to read a book about growing up Jewish in 20th century Iran, I highly recommend Journey from the Land of No by Roya Hakakian. It is written by the sister of a friend who lives here in Highland Park.

In my own experience, my first encounter with Iranian Jews was when 4 Jewish Iranians joined my high school class in 1979. I later became friends with an Iranian Muslim when I worked at M.I.T. I was surprised to learn that she was friends with one of my high school classmates. Apparently, having both grown up in pre-revolutionary Iran, the two had much in common, including language, that went beyond religion.

Finally, to keep up with what is going on for Jews in Iran today, And now, the truth about the Jews of Iran.

Like the Julie Andrews’ movie version, Mary Poppins in the book classic by P.L. Travers is fun, funny, and good at taking care of children. However, she is not glamorous at all. Here’s how the talking Starling in John and Barbara’s story, one of my favorites in the book, describes Mary:

“She’s special, you see. Not in the matter of looks, of course. One of my own day-old chicks is handsomer than Mary P. ever was —”

It seems that the baby twins can hear the Starling talk, but once they turn one, they can no longer understand the bird. Mary Poppins, however, is special, and she can understand the bird.

Another one of these stories that I enjoyed was called Bad Tuesday. Michael, the boy in the story, wakes up with a “curious feeling” and all day long is bad, bad, bad. He knocks over the housemaid’s hot water jug and kicks the banister as he goes down the stairs, knowing perfectly well he will wake up the household in the process.

The door of his Father’s study stood open…so Michael did a forbidden thing. He went in, sat down at his Father’s desk, and his Father’s pen began to scribble on the blotter. Suddenly his elbow, knocking against the inkpot, upset it, and the chair and the desk and the quill pen and his own best clothes were covered with great spreading stains of blue ink….

“That child must be ill,” said Mrs. Banks…
“I’m not ill. I’m weller than you,” said Michael rudely.

The truth is, I was a little disappointed with the end of the chapter, when Michael got a glass of milk from Mary Poppins and seemed to revert to being good.

Here’s the letter Mary leaves for Jane at the end of the book, when the wind changes so she flies off with her umbrella:

Dear Jane,
Michael had the compass so the picture is for you. Au Revoir.
Mary Poppins

And so Jane asks Mrs. Brill, who responds, “Au Revore, dearie? Why doesn’t that mean—let me see, I’m not up in these foreign tongues—doesn’t it mean ‘God Bless You’? No, no, I’m wrong. I think, Miss Jane, dear, it means To Meet Again.”

And so I probably will take another Mary Poppins book out of the library, as she says she will come back to those children, and I really enjoyed this first book.

This is where I was for about two hours this morning, at the Friends of the Highland Park Library Book Sale. I volunteered for a little over an hour taking the money from the sales, and then I came back with my daughter to buy some books. Despite the pouring rain, patrons were coming in and buying books. Those running the sale told me that the sale has been a success (they have made over $3000). In the middle of the photo is Mort, who spent a lot of his time this past week putting together the sale, and on the right is George, another sale organizer.

So, what did we buy? I bought a biography of the Rema, the story of Rabbi Moshe Isserles. It says in the introduction that certain liberties where made with re-creating his life, but I think I will get a feel for what life was like in 16th century Cracow. My daughter selected a Mother Goose book (we already own one, but this one has different illustrations), a Berenstains Bears book, and Meet Samantha, an American Girl book. I also threw in a copy of the Princess and the Goblin, thinking at some point my daughter will enjoy this classic.

I’m currently reading Mary Poppins, the original book by P.L. Travers. It is delightful, and one can see how it inspired the producers of the more famous movie. I hope to post excerpts from the book in the next week. But now I need to get back to my holiday preparations.

A few recommendations for Rosh Hashanah books for young children:

• Apples and Pomegranates: A Family Seder for Rosh Hashanah by Rahel Musleah
• A Sound to Remember by Sonia Levitin
  (nice story about failure, success, and perserverance)
• The Magic Pomegranate by Peninah Schramm
  (not really about Rosh Hashana but about pomegranates, one of the simanim)
• Happy New Year, Beni by Jane Breskin Zalben

Children’s books are often a great way to learn a new topic. For example, when I was learning needlepoint about twelve years ago (I was pregnant with my second child and wanted to do something creative that required little clean up and one could sit), I found some nice books in the children’s section of the library.

Meanwhile, I am struggling over a carrot. Did you know that carrots’ leaves, the frilly part anyway, are far from the carrot top?

My plan is to do a watercolor of the carrot. I have the paper set up, and the watercolor nearby. But first I need to decide on a composition. I’d like to have some greenery with my carrot, but I can’t decide on where to place it. I don’t want it on top, as in the first photo.

Note to pomegranate lovers: Not yet in season here. So I either have to work from a Google photo or copy this stamp. Not my ideal choice.

I’ve been reading bits and pieces of A Mind at a Time: America’s Top Learning Expert Shows How Every Child Can Succeed, by Mel Levine, MD.

Summary (part of it) of the book by Amazon:

Tales of creative, clumsy, impulsive, nerdy, intuitive, loud-mouthed, and painfully shy kids help Levine define eight specific mind systems (attention, memory, language, spatial ordering, sequential ordering, motor, higher thinking, and social thinking).

I tend to like books that talk about various intelligences (see Howard Gardner’s books) because I was a rather artistic, creative child trapped in a rigid, analytical school.

I like the descriptions he gives to various children. Maybe you can find yourself? Or someone you know?

Bethany never gets invited to parties. The phone rings off the hook for her brother and sister, but never for her. At school she is picked on, jeered at, taunted, and avoided like a venomous snake by her classmates. She has no friends and is understandably crushed. Bethany is lacking in the kind of social thinking that is needed for maintaining successful relationships. Her mother laments, “Bethany would give her right arm to have a true friend, but it seems as if every time she comes close to having a satisfying relationship, she messes up. She either says or does something that upsets and puts off her new friend. And Bethany has no idea what she’s doing wrong, no idea at all.”

Fritz wore very thick lenses in his wire-rimmed spectacles. He was an awkward kid who mostly liked being by himself. At age eight he was becoming an insatiable glutton for the printed word, devouring all manner of written nourishment wherever he found it. At first, his parents were vexed by his marathon stays locked in the bathroom, until they found out that that was where their eccentric Fritz felt most comfortable savoring his reading. Fritz came to see me because of some motor problems, including difficulty writing, along with some seeming leaks in his memory.

Elsa keeps “bombing out” on tests or quizzes that force her to memorize and later answer questions that have only one correct response. She recently flunked a quiz on plant structure despite studying like a devout monk. “I thought I knew all that stuff, but it must have just leaked out of my brain while I was sleeping.”

Marcus’s parents fret over his inability to distinguish left from right; more often than not, he puts his shoe on the wrong foot. Marcus’s father once commented to me, “It’s as if this kid is completely lost in space. He never remembers where he’s left anything and he puts his shirt on backward more often than not — even when he thinks about it.” Also, his confused drawings in school are a source of shame to Marcus.

A six-year-old boy can never seem to settle down at night; almost every night he debates his worn-out parents about having to go to sleep at a reasonable hour as if he is appealing an unjust sentence. At bedtime he seems to have energy to spare, and his parents try to figure out how to burn off that excess. Much as they love time spent with their child, they really wouldn’t mind having a little time to themselves. Unfortunately, he’s raring to go when they’re about ready to hit the sack.

Alcindor is frustrated and exquisitely self-conscious about not being able to ride a two-wheeler when all of his buddies can do so effortlessly. He feels like a klutz. The poor kid is living with a breakdown in his motor system, at least at this point in his development. The motor system is supposed to govern the very precise and complex network of tight connections between the brain and various muscles all over the body.

A child like Nana may be discovered to be daydreaming and fidgeting in class, dreadfully out of focus. She is told she needs to start paying attention in class or she’ll get a detention. She comes to believe she is somehow bad. No one seems to realize that her fragile concentration is a kind of mental fatigue or burnout; she has neurodevelopmental dysfunctions interfering with her mind’s ability to turn on and keep up the flow of mental energy that she needs to concentrate in class. Her neurodevelopmental dysfunction is misread as a behavoir problem when she has to combat serious mental fatigue.

Writing is especially hard for April. Torture is a more accurate word for it. Despite good ideas, very nice handwriting, and fluent language, her written output is labored and seriously flawed. Writing is often a seemingly insurmountable threat to kids with attention problems, as it takes strong attention controls to conduct the orchestra needed to express thoughts on paper. “Whenever I try to write,” says April, “I lose my ideas and I get all mixed up.”

Geraldine has been depressed all year. Her parents got a divorce, she broke up with her boyfriend, and her grandmother died last summer. Her mother and father feel guilty, as they worry they have damaged their daughter permanently. Geraldine feels sad much of every day. She’s lost interest in school; her grades show it. Students with anxiety or depressed feelings often lose all interest and become inhibited about performing in school, which then begins to stunt their academic and neurodevelopmental growth. Geraldine has closed her mind to new learning during a period of school in which kids ordinarily develop their ability to absorb and think about highly abstract terms such as creationism, symbolism, altruism, and imperialism. If her mind stays absent from school, this important growth spurt in higher-order thinking may fail to take place. Emotions and neurodevelopmental functions are like a two-way street: emotional problems may weaken the functions and weakened functions can cause emotional turmoil.

Early in the book he says that people who study kids are either splitters or lumpers. He’s a splitter. “I am steadfastly unwilling to lump children into categories and then assume that all members of each category are pretty much alike. To the contrary, to me kids have more differences than resemblances.”

More on this book at http://www.allkindsofminds.org/.

Best one:
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
Piscine Molitor Patel aka Pi survives 227 days in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger for company in his little lifeboat. The first half of the book he defends zoos and becomes a Catholic, Hindu and Muslim. Yes, all three. I was really riveted to the second half of the book, the survival adventure.

Also a good book:
The Lost, by Daniel Mendelsohn
A true story, Daniel Mendelsohn seeks to find out what happened to his great uncle and aunt and their four daughters during the Holocaust. By the end of the book, you feel like you knew these girls, who are all killed. Daniel Mendelsohn was emotionally attached to his grandfather, which propelled him years later to do all this multi-continent research (he flies to Europe, Australia and Israel to interview survivors). A sad point, however, is that his research on his family is his only connection to anything Jewish.

Ilana-Davita on The Lost

Worth reading:
Being Mrs. Alcott, by Nancy Geary
A good book for those familiar with the notion of keeping all one’s emotions inside and how that can be detrimental. The main characters are all believable and well-rounded; my only complaint about the book is did the wealthy, noveau riche characters at the end from Long Island need to have the last name “Marx”?

Therapydoc on Being Mrs. Alcott

Feel free to recommend some more!