Transcript
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Hi, this is David Alowski and welcome
back to the Rabiowski show.
And whether you're watching with our
friends and producers over at Tony Time
or wherever you watch listen to your
podcast, as always, we are excited to
have you along for the experience. And
as you may have noticed, we are still
not back in our regular location. Uh
we're in the same room, but um I told
you we had some electrical problems
because of the tremendous storm that
took place. And it turns out that the
central box that controls the
electricity, you know, they have these
little spots around, we opened up all of
them and they're not there. And finally,
my son-in-law who is an electrical
engineer. Shout out to Israel Mayor
Orbach. If anybody needs your electrical
engineering, he's not an electrician.
He's an electrical engineer. So, if
you're like building a building and you
need electricity put in, he's the man.
Anyway, he went through everything and
he said, "It must be behind the
bookcase." Now, you've seen that
bookcase filmed so many times and you
know there's a lot of sparum in there.
So, we had to take out all of the sparum
and move the bookcase. And sure enough,
after we moved about three of them, we
found the little box. And he says,
"Don't put any of them back yet." So, I
don't have my bookcases back. All of
them are piled up in the back room over
there. And uh and now my wife is telling
me that, you know, we should use this
opportunity to get new bookcases.
What can I tell you? I was brought up
cheap, you know. So when we bought the
bookcases originally, we bought what's
called ceit, what they call in America
paceboard. you know, it's basically
sawdust that's glued together, you know,
because we figured eventually we're
going to put in uh permanent bookcases,
you know, and build something in. And
that was about 35 years ago. And these
bookcases
as you do your sponge on the floor, you
know, it wears away and turns into dust.
So, the one at the end is literally
tilting like the uh Tower of Pisa. And
my wife was very nervous that it was
going to tumble over. But I found, if
you ever seen this toy called Kapla,
which are these little wooden things, if
I bend it forward and stick it over,
I think it's just fine. But my wife
decided to ask the handyman to screw it
into the wall. And of course, that was
the bookcase that the electrical circuit
was behind, so we had to unscrew it to
take it out.
So, uh, so I can't put my sperm back
yet. And, uh, that's going to be the
theme for our podcast today. I'm
starting you off before we begin. But
first, our sponsor Yehuda and Kana
Kravitz Hakarov to Rabiolski for
continuing to bring to Israel. I don't
know about this week. also Nishma's
Hindelen
Israel whose yard site is the 27th of
Tes and ine
should have an aliyah. Just before I get
down to what I want to talk about this
week, uh I have to give you an update.
If you have been living under a rock for
the past 6 months, I am making a Pesak
program up in Tavaria in the Nokiner.
I've made a video of the hotel. You can
see it. You can go to their website, see
more about it. As my son-in-law said,
you've been planning this for about 30
years. That's uh when I say my my
son-in-law, that was Momo Kutkus, who's
really very involved and involved in
different things. And he says, "You're
like a spring. You're all wound up.
You've been waiting to do this for 30
years." And I have. Every time I was a
Scotland residence, I said, "If it was
my program, I would do this." So, we're
doing that program. Anyway, we have 150
rooms available and uh we've sold 50 of
them and uh I know there are a lot of
people who tell me, "Oh, I'm coming. I
just haven't uh emailed. I haven't
called. I haven't taken care of it." We
want to see you there. Please, please,
please. It's going to be very exciting.
I I have to tell you, I can't tell you
how excited I am about this program. And
uh I am only one
uh you know there used to be this group
of highwire performers called the great
wellenders. You know what I mean? And
they would do all these things. I'm only
one of the wellenders. You know there's
I come from a a group of extremely
talented people in my family. We're
going to maybe have some little
interviews with some of the people going
to be doing things. But it's going to be
great. It's going to be fun. It's going
to be exciting. And it's interesting
that I noted one of the appreciation
comments that we're going to read at the
end uh actually was about the basic
program. So if you're thinking of
coming, please please you can go to my
website there. You can just click on it.
It'll take you right to to how to
register and um we got a lot of stuff
planned. It's going to be so much fun.
Please consider coming. Okay. So, as I
was uh
realizing that I've got these bookcases
jutting out, I've got all my swarm uh
piled up. And I just realized how there
are so many things that just annoy me.
I have a I have a pretty low annoyance
tolerance. I don't get angry because I
always had a terrible anger problem and
I worked many many years not to get
angry but I haven't reached the point
where I don't get annoyed. Now
being an angry person one of the tricks
we use is when we're angry we say I'm
not angry I'm just annoyed.
But I know the difference between anger
and annoyed. I mean I got angry at my
kids once. This this story is maybe 30
years old. And I was I yelled at them so
much that I I lost my voice and I had to
give a shar that night about Ken.
And I got up there and I said, "I'm
sorry. I lost my voice preparing for
this year. I was screaming at my kids."
So I know the difference between getting
angry getting annoyed. Just little
things that get you annoyed. So, um,
Zebie Calfman, who is very involved in
the podcast scene and he's got his
finger on a lot of different kind of
stuffs, who by the way is coming to the
Pesak Hotel. So, uh, you know, if if you
know him and all of his many talents,
you'll have a chance to spend some time
with him. But, um, I I said to him, you
know, I'm thinking of doing a podcast
just about all the stuff that annoys me.
He goes, that's a great idea because
everybody's like me. We all get annoyed
and you know these other people who do
podcasts, they're all so positive.
This is wonderful. This is great. This
is that. No, it's just annoying.
Yeah,
right. We all know, we know what
annoying is. Kids can be annoying. You
know, it's not it's I don't mean that in
a bad way. We love them just the same,
but sometimes we wish that they wouldn't
keep poking us. That's one of the things
that always annoy me. Poker is, you
know, these people who poke you and
sometimes they poke you hard and it ends
up hurting my chest. That's almost as
much fun as the people who slap you on
the shoulder. Say, "How's it going?
What's going on?" You know, or they slap
you on the back. And I'm I have a low
tolerance to pain and I bruise easily.
So
I put that up with the people who when
they shake hands with you, they like
squeeze it trying to break the bones in
your hands. So these are just little
things. None of these things are
serious. These are not serious problems,
you know. And uh sometimes people tell
me stuff that they fetch about and I
say, "Listen, if at the end of your life
that's the worst thing that happened to
you, you'll die a happy man." None of
these things are serious. They're just
annoying little annoyances that are put
there to uh challenge us and see how are
we going to react. So sometimes we have
momish really serious things that go
wrong. And then there are things that
are not so serious. They're just
annoying. Like over Shabas I sort of bit
my lip and it was right at the tip over
here. And I don't know if you noticed, I
have a little space between my teeth and
it keeps getting stuck in this space.
So, it's never gonna heal.
I don't know what to do about it, but it
is just annoying. So, I have put
together this will be a very annoying
podcast.
I put together just a list of things
that annoy me to share with you because
frankly, I can't afford therapy. And
this is uh this is my podcast. I get up
and I talk about things that bother me
and uh get off my chest. I feel bad for
people. I've mentioned this in the in
the past that a uh prominent
psychologist told me that most of his
job wouldn't be necessary if people just
had somebody to listen to them. And uh
me, I'm so lucky. I get to sit and talk
to thousands of people every single week
and share my thoughts. A lot of people
don't have that. So these are just
little annoyances. And it was it was
well the first one that took place that
I'm going to share with you that gave me
the inspiration for this podcast and I
thought ah should I do it? And then Ze
Calfman said go for it. So I said okay
here it is my friends. This will be an
annoying podcast as I share with you a
bunch of things that annoy me not
serious things. And the first one was
that I was trying to open a roll of
toilet paper. Now again, I don't know
how many of these things are local
terra, but for some reason they glue
down the beginning of the toilet paper
and I can't pull it open unless you rip
off like a whole thing of toilet paper.
What are they protecting it from
exactly? You know, um I I'm working on
uh Gimlvat. I'll be turning 67. uh
working on a couple of things that when
I turned 70, but one of them is 70
things I've learned in 70 years. And one
of them is something I learned from a
cipher. I'm giving it away is the cipher
said to me, he was looking at my straps
and he says, "You're tying them too
tight,
you know, and then you stick it in on
the bottom and uh and that wears away,
you know, the the the paint the on the
on the ritsu." He says, "Just roll them
loosely and put them in the bag. Once
they're in the bag, they're not going
anywhere."
I have to tell you that was a
life-changing piece of advice. It was
absolutely brilliant. So, uh, in 3 years
you'll hear a positive podcast and I
think, gosh, once the toilet paper, you
know, roll it up, put it in the little
bag there, when you take it out, what do
I need a glued clown for?
Now, this is another thing which again,
I don't know if this is true in America
or not, but I know it's true here in
Israel.
When you open up a a package of tissues,
which in itself is very hard because
it's almost impossible to open up
anything that uh has been made to pull
open in Israel. In fact, there's an old
joke. The Israeli Air Force developed a
new plane and the wing kept falling off
and they didn't know what to do. And
finally this one person said, "I'll I'll
tell you how to fix it." He says, "Are
you a aeronautics engineer?" He says,
"No, but I know exactly how to do it."
He says, 'What do you do? And he says,
"Give me a drill." And he drew a small
line of little holes all the way along.
And sure enough, it never fell off. He
said, "Why?" He goes, "Cuz nothing in
Israel opens on the perforation."
So you're sitting there trying to pull
open the tissues. You know, you're
ripping it. Once you have it open, the
tissues are upside down.
You It's not like in America, I used to
buy a box of tissues. You pull out the
first tissue and each tissue comes.
These are upside down. You have to like
pull out three tissues and move them all
around. You can get out a tissue. How
much technology does it take? They do it
in America. Just to be able to pack the
tissues so that one comes out after the
other. All right. Now, this is
definitely a Israeli experience. Uh,
coming from America, I found this
absolutely shocking. Everybody knows
that if you buy an 8 oz honey, let's
argue an 8 oz of honey for $5, I don't
know what the prices are. Actually, my
daughter uh Mindy ended up being on the
prices, right? And she didn't know the
price of anything, but she won a whole
bunch of stuff that she's still trying
to sell. But anyway, she um she went
with a group. She she works for uh Mora
and NYU campus and she took them to Los
Angeles and they went to watch the
prices right and everybody was trying to
get picked and they picked her of all
people and she never saw the prices
right. She never heard of Drew Carry.
She knew the price of anything and she
won like a a whole showcase. Anyway, she
goes, "I don't know how. I just guessed,
you know, seat desire." So, in the end,
like Drew Carey comes over to like, you
know, shake her hand or say something
and she runs to go to be be with her
girls and they were all dancing on
stage. It's good night to see. It's uh I
don't know which episode it was. It was
last year, but uh it was in May, but
very exciting. But anyway, I don't know
the prices of anything, but let's say
for argument sake, if an 8 oz honey is
$5,
then a 16th ounce honey is going to be
less than $10. I don't know if it's
going to be $9, $8.99, $8.50, but when
you buy something larger, it's going to
be cheaper. This is, of course, one of
the whole concepts of going to Costco
where you buy yourself a box of
cornflakes that's supposed to last you
somewhere between 6 and 8 months. These
big gigantic boxes. I don't know how you
pour it into the bowl, you know. And the
idea is when you buy in bulk, it's
cheaper. But in Israel, when you buy a
500 g honey, it costs 20 shekels. And
when you buy a
uh kilo, double that, it'll cost you 50
shackles.
Why are they charging? Why do I have to
buy two small ones and that works out to
be cheaper than having to buy a big one?
I No one has been able to explain this
concept to me. There's another thing
that annoys me and again I this is not
only in Israel because I've had this in
America too. You make a right turn. The
only thing you do is make a right turn
and then you have to make a left turn
like immediately.
But it's across six lanes of traffic.
So you make a right lane and you have to
now
it's hard to merge in America. in
Israel, forget about it. Because even
though there are people who are willing
to give away land for peace, when it
comes to driving, every Israeli says not
one inch. I have a friend of mine w
turned onto the highway and it it was
the bus lane, but that's where it turns
into. And he was trying to move over and
nobody would let him in. And they took a
picture, send him a ticket for being in
the bus lane. And he shows him there's
no place to move. Nobody would let me
in. What do you want me to do? It's uh
it's a tough thing. I So what's the
solution? I don't know what the solution
is, but you got to come up with some way
for people who are making a right lane
to get across six lanes of traffic, you
know, in in in less than 7 seconds. I
don't know how to do it, but just
thought I would share that one. And on
the subject of driving, how come people
drive at night with their brights on so
that I'm blinded when traffic in the
other lane is shining in your face? I I
had this uh tyber once to get like a
one-way mirror windshield so that it
would shine back at them. Someone said,
"No, but that's very dangerous." And I
was like, "All right, fine." But but I
am annoyed about it.
Um,
okay. Advice to people who dive in long.
Yeah. Don't stand in front of the door.
Nobody can get in or out of the shaw
because you've decided to dive in your
motor es. And and don't wherever you
stand, do not stand behind me. If you
know you're going to dive in a long
estate, go to the front. Stand in the
front. You're obviously very you belong
on the mis wall. Go up there and dive
in. Don't. Now is not the time for Nova.
You understand? I'm going to sit in the
back. No. Do not do that. You're
blocking everyone. And And you see these
people
who who keep doing this like
just keep turning around every 5
seconds. There must be a message in
there for you. And yet they do it day
after day, week after week, month after
month. We know that you're just dabbing
in the front.
Um, and on this subject, of course, this
is one of my pet peeves. I've talked
about it many times when you see someone
get on the express line with a cart full
of groceries. So, okay, all of us have
been guilty of when it's 10 items going
on with 11 or 12 items. You know, we're
Moraeta because we say, well, you know,
I saw somebody once go in with a much
more than 10 items. I said, it says only
10 items. He goes, I only have 10 items.
These are the dairy products. These are
the canned goods. These are the fruits.
This the vegetables.
Okay. But people get on with a with a
whole cart.
Now, sometimes I have to be down.
Sometimes when there's nobody on the
express lane, I have seen the person
call over someone and say, you know,
next in line, just, you know, come and
do it. And then someone with three items
comes over and thinks, oh, the guy did a
terrible thing. He was called over.
Right? This happens to me on rare
occasions when I fly that if I'm uh
flying uh I'm in the economy line and
there's nobody on the business class
line, they might call you over and say,
"Okay, I'll take you over here." You
know, so people might look and say, "Oh,
are you in business?" "No, but they
called me over. I didn't do anything."
Yeah. But, uh, I'm talking about people,
you see there's three people in front of
you with two or three items and you go
on with a whole cart. Maybe they're
handicapped. So, there is a rule in
Israel that if you're over 80, you don't
have to wait online. But these people
are not over 80. And the only handicap
that they have are emotional handicaps
which make them unable to sense other
people in this world besides themselves.
I think I think that handicap is called
ga
egoentricity.
But again you can see if a person has a
problem okay I understand
but that uh if there is if there is any
handicap like I say it's either
emotional or mental but uh but there's
no there's no obvious handicap there.
Okay
this I have in America but much more in
Israel. you have to make a left and
there's a very long line. So what do
people do? They move up in the lane next
to the left lane which is only to go
straight and as soon as the light
changes they cut off everybody.
Now now that's bad. But when there's
like three or four people doing this and
you miss the light by like three cars
because these people decide not to
follow the rules. The most annoying
thing is that I didn't think of it, but
uh you know, nobody wants to have to
wait online. Jackie Mason used to do a
whole routine. You know, says Gentiles
love waiting online. They don't care.
They get online. They s wait online. A
Jew is waiting five minutes. Why is
there a wait? Why am I waiting here? Why
is there a line?
No, nobody wants to wait online. But uh
wait your turn.
And that's why you always have that
situation where when they come up, they
want to try to cut in front of you. And
they're always nice people. Let them in.
You know, I feel like there are rules,
my friend. You play by the rules.
Um,
who's in charge of numbering the pages
in magazines?
How come the story is on page 26 and
page 26 does not exist?
I'm flipping pages. They're counting
ads. They're counting this. They're
counting. I can't figure out the page
numbers. And there are streets like
that. Much more in Israel to be fair.
But I was in New Jersey and on one side
of the road was number 14 and on the
other side was 27. Okay. Who's working
out the number? So here in Israel, it's
because different things were built and
they all turned in together. So it
became one long road so that you're
driving from Gula
and it turns into King George and King
George turns into Keranius and Keranius
turns into a micrio and it's one long
road but they were different
neighborhoods that all joined together.
So, I understand why the numbering might
be off, but um when they have a brand
new neighborhood, why can't they figure
out the the uh numbering?
And just on the subject,
doesn't anyone realize there's a problem
with old new utric in Brooklyn?
Is it old or is it new?
So, there's evidently must be a new new
utric. And this is the old new utric
which is like in Prague where they have
the alter no the old new shaw. So
they made a new shaw and then they made
another new shaw and this was the old
new shaw. So all right but that doesn't
bother me so much cuz I I grew up with
it and you just expect it.
Do you ever buy a bag of potato chips
and when you open it up there are three
potato chips inside and the whole bag is
filled with air.
Okay, there's got to be something wrong
with that. I understand when you buy a
box of cereal and it says some settling
may have occurred. So, okay, you fill it
up and then, you know, with the shaking
it, it settles down. But the whole
potato chips bag only has three in it.
The rest of it's all air. Why isn't
there a law against that? It's got to be
a problem with it. And uh and on the
subject of bags, why would you make like
a snack bag or a bag of cheese or any
other kind of bag that you cannot open?
You're pulling and pulling until finally
the whole side rips open.
Okay. So, you understand if something is
like a a solid box and you need a knife
to cut it open or something, you know,
but bags like this should be able to be
made to just pull open. I shouldn't have
to rip the whole thing apart.
And one of my favorites is, you know,
sometimes they have one of these bags
where you rip off the top and then it
has like a little zip lock thing to
close it afterwards. But when you rip
off the top, it still doesn't reach the
zip line. So you have to now still cut
it after you rip it off. There's a
little little spot there. Rip it off. So
this goes, I guess, originally with the
perforations in Israel, but I think I've
had this in America, too. Yeah, you you
should make it so that it pops open. I
don't think it's too hard.
This wasn't even on my list, but now
that I'm talking about this, um, in the
good old days, cans were cans, and you
had to use a can opener to open it up.
And now a lot of cans have this little
ring on it, but it's it's a very
delicate procedure. You have to pull up
the ring and then pull forward. Now, um
I have diabetes, so I have neuropathy in
my hand. So, it's hard enough, but once
you get it and you pull it, if you don't
pull it right, then the ring pops off.
And I need a can opener. There's got to
be a way to make it so that doesn't
happen. And also, do they have to
sharpen the side of the lid that comes
off so that it slices your finger if
you're not paying attention? I'm sure we
can come up with a way to make the
little thing on the inside there dull.
My gosh, look how many fetches I have.
It's unbelievable.
I I used to go to uh Misha Shapiro and
Porish. I had come by and I remember
what I always had something to fetch
about and complain about, you know. So
one year he says to me,
I said, "Yeah, I got one for you."
And I would get him upset every single
purum
this year. I remember he says to me, he
goes, he goes, I said, Kent, yeah. I
said uh uh Ramadesko was a neighborhood
that had been a secular neighborhood and
was slowly turning into a karedi
neighborhood. So uh the buildings were
mixed, you know, there was half like
young couples and half older secular
people. And uh and this guy says to me,
I'm living in one of these mixed
building and another family is having a
a party poor night. They're drinking and
singing and carrying on and it's
bothering the older neighbors. You could
see they keep opening their doors and
what's going on and they're whispering
to each other. They don't know what to
do.
So my wife went up there and uh to tell
them listen you know it's and she
started screaming at my wife and mind
your own business and do whatever I
want. Then the husband came out and
started screaming at my wife and he goes
I wasn't sure what to do. I told her boy
did he get upset?
He says there's no Indian to drink at
night. There's no Indian to have a sea
at night. He says you know these these
are spoiled brats. Someone should give
them a slap. You know how away this
behav I got them all worked up.
So,
okay, this doesn't apply so much anymore
because the from world has woken up to
this, but there was a time I'm going
back years when if you were from person,
it was dregur to get a Brooks Brothers
shirt. And of course, no Jew would ever
go out and pay the full $50. He waited
till they went on sale three for $100
and he'd wear these Brooks Brothers
shirts. Everyone knew it was Brooks
Brothers because there were these little
lines, you know, uh on on the cuff that
you could spot them in instant. I didn't
know that until uh somebody's at my shop
said he goes, "Oh, Brooks Brothers." I
said, "How do you know?" He goes, "Look
at the cuff."
Anyway, you spend all this money and it
feels pretty thick. It's not iron
cotton. And I don't know, after about
five washes, the whole cuff phrase is
coming off.
It seems to me like if you pay that much
money for a shirt, that shouldn't
happen. Now, this this doesn't happen so
much anymore because my son uh who's uh
much more of a fashion plate than I am,
he says, "No, nobody buys Brooks
anymore. Charles Turit and he offered to
get me some Charles Tur, but they don't
have a pocket. I need a pocket to be
able to like keep my phone, my pen, my
two dot zoot which is my identity card
which you have to carry in this country
in case they stop you and say let me see
your papers you know so you have to I
don't have a so you keep it in your in
your trouser pocket and then the phone
goes off and you don't really hear it
because I never keep it on ring on I
keep it on vibrating when I feel it
vibrating it doesn't mean anything cuz I
always feel parts of my body vibrating.
I never know what it is.
Anyway, I don't know why they would make
such expensive shirts where they fray.
Okay, this is just an a a philosophical
question. I don't know if there's an
answer to this. Uh where do my uh
cutting knives and peelers go?
Why am I constantly buying cutting
knives and peelers? Why are they always
disappearing? So I have a theory. The
theory is that like when you peel
potatoes and you peel the carrots, you
know, Arab shabas and the peeler is
there. When you sweep all of it into the
garbage, you sweep the peeler along with
it or the cutting knife along with it.
This happens to be a gamorra and bum
mitzia where it says if you find a
little knife
uh in the garbage,
is that considered heer? And I
considered he know apparently thousands
of years ago people were still sweeping
their little cutting knives and their
peelers into the garbage. So, uh there's
got to be a way. Uh I'm thinking maybe
uh they have those uh air tags that um
that you're supposed to be able to
identify something. You can find it on
your phone and uh
which is a absolutely terrible story.
Should I tell it? I'll tell it.
Absolutely terrible story.
It was at a SIMA. Somebody wanted to
make a video and I have a phone, my
American phone,
that has video on it. So, my wife took
my American phone and gave it to
uh somebody to film. At the end when
they were cleaning up
uh
at the end of the evening, I said to my
wife, "Where's my phone?" And we all
searched around and nobody could find
it. And so we went through the garbage
and couldn't find it. Somebody tried
calling it was there was no place to be
found. Yeah. Was not in the house. So my
son-in-law said, "Oh, I had taken out
the garbage."
So I guess it got thrown away in the
garbage. So I said, "Listen,
I'm pretty sure I have a backup." You
know, whatever it is. But my wife of
course felt terrible.
So she called the sanitation number and
they said, "Okay,
that garbage bin." Now they redid the
garbage in Jerusalem. They dug these big
big holes and they made these gigantic
sleeves that go into the ground and
everyone dumps it in. So there's no way
to get it. I guess you could get someone
who's small enough and drop them down
the chute to go through all the garbage,
but then you'll have to wait till the
morning when the garbage people pick up
the giant chute and drop it into the
truck and hope that they're okay.
So, so my wife told them, he says,
"Listen, you know, there's uh
I threw we we lost something in the
garbage. It's in this garbage can, you
know." So, they said, "Okay, they're
coming tomorrow."
And uh just be there when the garbage
men come,
sanitation workers, and uh you know,
tell them where it is. So sure enough,
early in the morning, she goes up and
she says, "It's this one." And they lift
up the giant sleeve and instead of
dropping in the garbage can, they drop
it on the sidewalk. An entire long
sleeve of garbage. Now she has to figure
out which are our bags of garbage, go
through all of our bags of garbage until
she finds the one that had my phone in
it. And I really told her, I didn't
think this was necessary, but she felt
it was. And then she had to clean up all
the garbage and put it back. I would
have come up to help her, but I was
giving a share at the time. And uh but
uh I definitely gave him moral support
when she came back after after she took
a shower.
Anyway, so uh that was the only time
that I actually lost a phone. But you
know, peelers and and uh knives, that
happens a lot. I find this happens with
a lot of different pieces of silverware,
teaspoons, forks. I think as people
leave them in things and then when they
throw away the leftovers, it goes in the
garbage with it. My mother had given us
this one
uh particular set of silverware. And I
found that the teaspoons
was the exact size to measure out my
coffee. I only use fulgures instant
coffee and uh I have to have the right
amount otherwise it's too weak and then
I might as well drink tasteless choice
but uh uh or just add some brown food
coloring to the water but um so I had to
right amount and one by one we lost
every single piece I'm down to one spoon
one teaspoon and I guard it carefully in
my coffee drawer to make sure it doesn't
disappear every now and then the
cleaning lady cleans it out and I find
the spoon someplace else and I have to
quickly retrieve it and make sure it
makes it back into the drawer under my
constant supervision. Yeah. Anyway, so
those stuff get thrown away.
I don't know what the solution to this
is. In America, it's also true, but here
in Israel, you can buy watermelon one of
two ways. You can buy a whole watermelon
or you can buy it alsin.
It's cut in half. Now, when it's cut in
half and there's a half a watermelon, I
know you can get this in America. They
wrap it in aluminum foil. You can see
right away if it's mushy and you can
lift it up and smell to see if it has
that distinctive watermelon uh smell to
it. But when you buy a whole watermelon,
you have no way of knowing. And I cannot
tell you how many times and I followed
all the rules. You thump it, you listen
and this, you wet, you look for the
cream color on the side, all this stuff,
and it comes out totally tasteless. And
you bought like a whole watermelon.
There has to be some way to develop a
device to be able to put it on the side
of the watermelon and to like check the
flavor content or something. I don't
know how to do this. I'm I'm not uh I'm
not that creative, but uh those of you
who uh have an inventive spirit, I think
you should get to work on this cuz this
is what's important cuz people care more
about watermelon than almost anything
else. On the 50th anniversary of the
state of Israel, they took a poll. What
was the greatest thing that Israel
achieved in 50 years? And it was
seedless watermelon.
So, we have a suggestion of getting like
a metal straw and sticking it in and
pulling out some of the watermelon and
then tasting it. But I don't know how
happy they will be. This is sort of like
going into a bakery and taking a bite
out of every Danish till you find one
that you like.
But assuming you could do that maybe
with like a hypodermic needle, you could
do that and then just extract some. That
might be an idea.
Okay,
look how much stuff there is to fret
about. I bet you I'm not alone. I bet a
lot of people are listening going,
"Yeah, yeah, me too. I also that also
annoys me."
Okay. Um,
okay. I don't I don't know if ladies
have this experience. Uh, gentlemen have
this experience a lot. And especially if
you live in a firm community where you
walk into the coat room and there are
a hundred black overcoats and 100 black
hats.
And uh
sometimes people put their name in the
hat or they put uh their initials.
Uh sometimes there's a little label.
Sometimes they put it right into the
band itself. Yeah.
Um,
but uh the little labels tend to fall
off, etc. But people don't usually do
that with their overcoat. I have not had
my name in my clothing since I went to
camp when you had to have name tags on
all your clothes. My mother used to take
us to a camp store and we'd buy
everything there that we needed for camp
and they would sew on the name tags for
you so everyone knew who everything
belonged to because when they take
everything and just throw it in the
laundry and you find some, you know,
six-year-old's uh undershirt and try to
figure out whose it is, you know, when
there's uh 50 six year olds.
Not not that easy. Everybody had to have
a name tag. But since then, I really
don't put name tags in uh in any of my
clothing. Yeah. Uh that went out with uh
when I used to have to wear nose plugs.
My wife still teases me about this
because I never learned how to swim. Uh
it was too complicated for me cuz you
have to be able to swim and turn your
head and take a breath and put it back
in and take a breath. And I couldn't get
a breath in that amount of time that I
turned my head. So, I would like do the
crawl halfway through and then I would
just get up and go
like and breathe and swim at the same
time. I'm sure there's an art form to
it, but I never mastered it. And then
and because I'm gasping for breath, the
water would go in my nose and you know,
it was very uncomfortable. So, I had
nose plugs. I mean, if that's not a
recipe to for a kid to get beaten up in
camp,
go swimming with nose plugs.
That's almost as good as, you know, the
kid with the glasses with the with the
band-aid holding it together in the
middle.
So, that's why I don't go swimming. And,
you know, my wife would always say, you
know, can't you take the little boys
swimming or can't you take the kids
swimming? You know, I was like, nope.
She goes, well, you don't have to go
swimming. You could just stand in the
pool, you know. I was like, yeah, well,
go and put on a bathing suit. years ago
and stand in the pool and drive home all
my terrible memories from trying to swim
with my nose plugs.
No, thank you. Yeah. Um but uh but I
can't. It's happened to me more than
once where I come out and my overcoat is
gone. There's another overcoat there
that's not mine. And then you go to this
moral dilemma. It's raining outside.
It's cold. Should I take his overcoat?
And then hopefully we'll switch it. So,
I don't do that. I go out. I get rained
on. I'm freezing cold. And I come back
hoping that at some point someone will
notice the mistake and put it back. And
they never do. I'm always forgetting my
overcoat.
Yeah. When I do when I do wear one, I
have to go. I don't often wear an
overcoat because I usually go from my
house to the car, from the car to
wherever I'm going to and then back into
my car. So, but if I have a little
distance to walk or something, I put on
an overcoat and then when I take it off,
I must always forget to put it back on.
And and when I'm halfway home and I
suddenly realize, "Wow, it's really
cold." And then I say, "Oh, I left my
overcoat in wherever I was." And you
have to go back and get it. But
sometimes you get all the way home and
you realize it. and uh you're pretty far
away. So I guess I'll get it next week
when I give a shear there and uh have to
get back my overcoat. But okay, but
that's my own fault. But people who are
taking my overcoat
just cuz they didn't take the time to
look
or they take your hat
and the one that's left behind is much
smaller than mine. So, didn't the person
notice that my hat was like falling down
over their eyes?
Uh,
not everybody is an observant Jew.
I can't explain this phenomena.
This has happened to me later in life.
It didn't happen when I was young. I
would put on my fillin,
my yacht fillin. I pull it really tight
and I'd wrap it around. I put it on and
halfway through dabbing. It's falling
off my arm like literally drooping.
In the middle of doving, I have to take
off my tillin. And it's really weird
when you take off your tin yard and you
still have your fill in. I have to put
it back on again and tie it on.
Sometimes this happens to me twice
during domining. I don't know why. Has
nothing to do with the knot. It's And I
pull it as as tight as I can. I mean,
I'm ready for a blood transfusion. By
the time I pull it so tight,
that still droops. Now, it happens in my
tential ro, but that you can just pull
back and bring it back on. But
the problem is that like if I if I'm not
quick on the uptake, someone's always
pointing uh uh uh
you know, your fillin's not straight.
And then there's always a clip of people
who say, "You're feeling straight. Your
head's not straight."
Thank you. I've never heard that one
before. Thank you very much.
But uh I don't know why this is. Why?
Why am I telling drooping?
Yeah,
I'd like to say it's because I lost
weight and so I don't have as much meat
on that arm over there. I guess I'll
have to do some more arm curls and build
up the muscles so that the phone will
stay where it's supposed to be. But uh I
I don't have a good solution to this
one.
I have sparum that are
uh
50 years old.
They're pretty frightening.
Uh, in fact, I had to move my shaws
because uh, one of one of one of the
producers of the show said, "You can't
stand in front of the bookcase with the
ripped up shaws." I said that ripped up
shaz I bought when I was 14 for $35 from
Z Burman very well
sadik labra who was mary me you know he
he told us go out and buy sparum and he
had a deal with z bur so for $35 I got a
shas and it's obviously not the highest
quality and it's fallen apart over the
years and one person said to me what
could be more beautiful than having a
picture of a used shas behind
people know that you actually used it.
But okay, I had to move others for him.
But I was just learning with somebody.
But I have a a giant shar and tour that
uh when I was running Long Island CSY
one year they I think when I was leaving
they bought they bought it for me. A big
you know this big gigantic shar which
you know how often do you get a chance
to use it really?
But uh I was learning uh I was learning
tour kosh mishbah I hadn't done it full
disclosure I never went for y and yen I
don't know dionis
and there are pages missing inside
now I'd like to tell you that when I got
the tour I went through every kick
counting the pages there was I don't
even think the place that that that we
got it from is open anymore where it had
to be like 45 years ago. I I don't think
anybody, you know, these people are
still around. But what am I going to do?
Come back with a tour from 40 years ago
and say, "Hey, there's some pages
missing." I have a microscolus like
that, too. Which I didn't notice, but
when you get to Dvarim, there's like six
pages missing. And and it repeats other
pages. So, whoever the genius was that
was putting this together just took the
wrong pile of of uh pages and and put it
all together. So, uh what do you do? So,
I'm not going to get rid of it. Well,
why isn't it in order?
Uh I mentioned this that uh when I went
to art school um they have a very
special binding process and I was very
impressed and they said because our is
we do not want our farm to fall apart
and uh gosh when you walk into the
average base mush every book is rebound
something as soon as they buy it they
rebind it because they know that they
they're using cheap bindings. Why? Why
can't you put in a good binding from the
beginning?
Few things really push people over the
edge as much as walking outside
and a car splashes a puddle all over
you.
You
I I know women who they had to go to aa
they had to go to, you know, whatever it
is. They're all dressed up and they're
they're walking and somebody splashes a
puddle over them and like that's it. You
know what I'm going to do? I have to go
home now and change. I'm never going to
get back. What it took me to get out of
the house with the kids and everything.
You can usually see these puddles. You
know, do do you have to hit the puddle?
Now, I understand little kids love to
jump in puddles.
That's why mothers try to give them
boots because they know as soon as
there's a puddle, a little kid has to
jump in a puddle, you know. But you're
old enough to drive a car, you shouldn't
have to go into the puddle. Um, and uh I
don't think that takes a lot of
consideration.
Uh, I can't I can't figure this one out.
And again, I don't know if this is a
strictly Israeli thing. They make these
flowers. They look like big daisies. I
don't know what they're talking about.
And almost every bundle of flowers that
you buy, unless of course you go to a
florist and you pay double the price and
you pick out which ones you want. But if
you're buying flowers from one of these
hoppers, Arab shabas, you know, and you
get you get one of those bundles, they
always have these flowers in them and
they you put them in the vase and within
3 hours they all fall over.
all like the the stem is made out of
something that was made to droop. Now I
guess if you got only those flowers and
you just had a whole vase of drooping
flowers, maybe it's some kind of a
statement.
Um
my daughter Esther who uh has a keen eye
for detail because we didn't give her
Prozac when she was a child. So
I say that with love. But I have certain
kids who are perfectionists. You know,
what can I tell you? You know, she she
was making a sense bar mitzvah and she
made like 70 salmon flowers and then she
decided they came out too well done. So
she made another 70 salmon flowers so
that they had the right color.
She says when she gets these flowers,
she takes a wire and sticks it inside of
the flower to make it stand up. That to
me is too labor intensive. See, uh these
are liies. They they don't they never
droop, you know? Get something nice and
hard.
Why do I have to have flowers that
droop? And every bundle has them in.
Who's in charge of the kapra flower? uh
union.
Someone should call them up and tell
them, "Leave out the droopy flowers.
You're not helping anybody.
Um I don't know why, but uh I can count
on the finger of one hand and still have
four fingers left how many times I sent
ties to the cleaners with a stain and it
came out." And they always say, you
know, "Oh, we'll we'll do your tie." But
the stain's still there. I can't get a
stain out of a tie.
And I'm I I like my ties. There are
certain ties that I really really like.
And you get a stain on it and then you
say like, "How noticeable is it?" And I
still wear it. How stained does it have
to be till I get rid of it? How
embarrassing is it? Yeah. It was so
interesting. Somebody once uh wrote in a
question. They say, "How many ties do
you have?" Yeah, I actually thought
maybe take out all my ties, but I don't
want to. But uh but you know, as you get
a state on your favorite tie,
why can't you clean it? There's got to
be a way to be able to clean a tie. So,
uh anyone knows uh a good method for
this, but uh as somebody once said, you
know, ties are basically bibs for adult
men. Instead of spilling it on their
shirt, they spill it on their ties.
There is a uh a mall
in Miami Beach. Uh
what's it called? A very very fancy
mall. Basically, only drug lords from
South America go there. But you could
pay like $3,000 for a tie.
And I thought to myself, imagine
spending $3,000 on a tie and you get a
stain on it. So, I mean, I buy my my
ties at Burlington. And I used to get
them three for $10, you know, actually
three for $5. Now it's three for $10,
you know. So, it's not such a big deal.
But if you find a tie that you really
like that really goes with the outfit,
you get a stain on it, you don't want to
get rid of it.
So upsetting.
This one, again, I don't know if this is
a strictly Israeli experience.
Um,
when my son was 12, my son Yakov, he's
been on the podcast. I took him to
America and then we stopped off in
England on the way back and I said to
him, "Be careful because in America they
drive on the right side of the street
and in England they drive on the left
side of the street." And he said to me,
"And in Israel they drive in the middle
of the street." And the older I get, the
more I realize how true that is. Why?
Why? I'm not talking about where the
it's tight on the side, but they just
look go down the middle of the street.
What are you afraid of? You end up
taking up both lanes. Just move over a
little bit. And when you see me coming,
so then move over.
And this is a similar attitude. And
again, I don't have this in America.
There are people who shop and they leave
their shopping cart right in the middle
of the aisle so you can't get by.
And they're like standing there staring
at the various types of tomato sauce to
decide which one to get. And they're all
basically the same, you know, and I have
to say, "Excuse me." You know, and then
they give a sigh and they move their
card out of the way so I can get by, you
know,
just just move it over.
And the last thing that really annoys
me, probably my biggest complaint are
people who complain. You know, when you
listen to these people complain all the
time. I can't stand complainers. They
annoy me so much.
Now, it doesn't bother me when I
complain because that's how people are.
I used to dive in in the Boston base
medish and it was so packed. There were
weren't I lived on Rojin. There weren't
too many shuls around. I'd go there. It
was ridiculous.
My wife at one point said, "I'm going to
ask a shila that you're not allowed to
go to a sh because you come back so
miserable. You ruin chabas for
everybody." You know, I used to get
there and it was packed. No seats. So,
you find a place to stand, you run
around, you find a kish, you find a a
sitter, and then you you find a place to
stand.
And then more people come in.
I remember one time I took three steps
back and somebody slipped right into
that spot. I couldn't move up the
situation
and I was like, what? Why you if you
didn't if you came to show on time, you
wouldn't be doing this. You come in here
late and you steal the couple of inches
that I have.
Of course, there was certain times that
I came late and I slipped into a little
spot and I hear the person behind me
sigh and I think to myself, what a son
is. Shouldn't you be happy that another
yid is coming to schul?
What's the difference between two
instances? One is me. So when I
complain, it's okay. But when other
people complain, boy does it annoy me.
All right. Well, I don't know if you
gained anything over here. All I know is
that people who spend their time
complaining, it's because they don't
take time to appreciate all the good in
their life. So, I put this together just
because, like I said, every now and then
you get annoyed like when you try to
open a tissue package or something.
You're not really complaining,
but uh people need to quickly refocus on
all the good on their life to make sure
that this doesn't happen.
As always, my producer sent me some
comments from listeners
regarding your best question short.
Well, I agree with your premise that
interesting packaging is a good way to
attract people. I disagree with what you
said about the Pesak program. I don't
know if I've mentioned this, but we're
making a Pesak program up in Tavaria.
Pesak with Rab with the Olavski family.
you really should come. It's going to be
a lot of fun. The fact that you don't
advertise five-star entertainment is
part of what attracts me and I believe
that that would attract a Rabolofski
type crowd. These are people who are
less showy and more interested in what's
important. Midos learning Torah while
still having a good time in a nice
place. I could not have said it better.
from someone who has listened to your
shiior and podcast for many years. Thank
you, Mrs. Olowski. No, I'm just kidding.
Kana, I hope you're coming after all
that. Looking forward. Hi, Rabbi
Olowski. My wife and I listen and watch
your shorim all the time. We really
enjoy them. We laugh through all the
jokes even when we don't understand
them.
Somebody told me, I've told this in the
past, someone told me they were at one
of my sh and everyone's laughing. And
the guy turns to the person next to him
and goes, I don't get it. And the other
guy goes, neither do I, but they know it
must be funny. And it's in them that
they didn't get it, but not that I'm not
funny. Yeah. Thank you for the wonderful
content for making Torah learning so
entertaining. I have to tell you that is
probably my one of my major goals is to
be able to give people Torah in an
enjoyable, happy, entertaining way cuz
live in such a sad world. People
complain all the time. You know what I
mean? I can't stand those complainers.
Hi Rabbi. I want to say how you changed
my life. I am a regularbased Yakov girl
in Lakewood who was on the fringe of
Judaism and life. when my sister
convinced me to listen to why be Jewish.
The shittita changed my life and I'm a
different person today thanks to you and
aeshu h
I got to tell you you know when I hear
from non-observant listeners when I hear
from uh non-Jewish listeners when I hear
from uh people from kind of walks of
life I have to tell you that the people
who are right in the midst of the from
world and find that this gives them and
and uh gives him strength. I have to
tell you how wonderful that makes me
feel. And
uh all of us all of us will get I get
from you, you get from me. And that's
what we're going to do on Pes at the
Rabowski Pes program. We're going to
give each other and we're going to have
fun fun fun and exciting times and good
times. And please, if you are thinking
of coming, contact right now. Go to my
website raviolaskki.com.
And in fact, that's it for this episode.
If you want to find out more about the
show shoe, really big shoe, that's Ed
Sullivan. Nobody under 50 knows what I'm
talking about. A really big shoe.
Anyway, maybe it's under 60, but uh that
was Ed Sullivan. So, um you want to find
out more about the shoe, uh you can go
to my website. If you want to sign up
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to um leave a comment or ask a question,
you can do it at my website. There's
other articles and shiiorum. Go to my
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Let everybody know you're one of the
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You can sign up for one of our online
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end of Keshma. So, uh good stuff. Good
stuff coming. Each one is
self-contained, so it's not like you,
you know, you won't know what's going on
cuz uh it's basically the same domining
that we all do. You can go to um sign up
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sign up for the uh Miles Sharon for
ladies on uh on Monday. And that's it
for this show. Until next time, I am
David Olowski and this has been the
Rabbi Olowski show.
>> It's the Rabbi Orlowski Show. Torah and
Simka, ready to go. The Rabbi Olavski
show. Knowledge and wisdom will help you
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It's the Rabbi Orlovski show on
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