Animal Observations

While I cannot say that Tel Aviv is my favorite city, neither is it overly depressing for me to make a foray into it.  This is quite fortunate, because as matters currently stand, I will have ample occasion to make forays into that city on more than an infrequent basis for the next few weeks if not months.  Not too difficult, inasmuch as there is a bus about 2 blocks from my apartment that takes me to another bus which, in turn, takes to my choice of a few relatively convenient locations in Tel Aviv.  Today's bus ride dropped me off across the street from the building in which my first appointment was held; the next appointment (which may or may not turn into a short gig) was a 10-minute walk away.

I have been using my running workouts to familiarize myself with the town where my wife and I now live.  Between them and my perambulations elsewhere (including but not limited to Tel Aviv), I have had the opportunity to observe certain animal life in the Land of Israel.

First of all, there are lots of pet supply stores.  In my town, I counted 6 in a 5-block radius.  People love their pets here.

Compared to the USA, there are greater numbers of feral cats in urban areas.  These felines, while not at all obnoxious, do seem to have a certain sense of entitlement; it is as though they know that they are in a special Holy Land.  There is a feline family around my apartment building, and there is at least one neighbor in the next building over who has made it her business to leave healthy nutritious snacks for the cats.

On the other hand, neither my town, nor Tel Aviv, nor the Holy City of Jerusalem seems to have quite the rat infestation problems that have long been the norm in New York, whether urban or suburban or rural.  Perhaps the cats have something to do with it.

The dogs also seem to have a certain discipline not typically encountered in the USA.  They tend to mind their own business.  When I go for my workout runs and pass a dog being taken for a walk, the dog tends to ignore me (though there have been a few exceptions).  They rarely bark at strangers on the street, and rarely try to aggressively insert themselves between their masters and strangers.

But then, again, the people on the streets seem to be less aggressive towards one another, at least in the established residential areas.  It is well known that dogs tend to assume their masters' attitudes and values (albeit from the canine perspective, which can differ considerably from the human perspective).  The dog owners walking their pets probably feel quite secure on the streets, so they do not proactively confront passers-by, so neither do their dogs.

But knowing something about the Israeli mentality, I do believe that the dogs' behavior would be remarkably different if their owners felt insecure in any given situation.  And I do believe that the dogs, like their owners (many of whom have done military reserve duty), are quite capable of mobilizing for active defense if they ever were to perceive a threat to their masters' security.

This is all personal conjecture.  If such conjecture is ever validated, be assured that I will validate it as a spectator and not as a participant.

Doggone Mullahs!

Even though our household currently has no pets, canine or otherwise, my wife and I do consider ourselves to be dog lovers.  At this time, our respective routines and schedules would not allow us to give pets the attention they need and deserve.

But one need not be an active cynophile to understand the significance of the ongoing efforts by the Iranian government to ban or otherwise restrict the keeping of dogs as pets.

This tells me all that I need to know about the regime in Teheran (though it cannot be said that I didn't already have a clue).

Those who abuse dogs will usually go on to abuse people.

Arab Neighborhood is Going to the Dogs

Shuafat is a neighborhood in the Municipality of Jerusalem. The population of Shuafat is Arab. As such, it is an accepted cultural norm in Shuafat to physically attack Jews who come into their neighborhood. Even if those Jews happen to work for the electric power utility, or the Jerusalem municipality. While the residents of Shuafat unabashedly detest anything Jewish, the nevertheless do feel a strong sense of entitlement to the services of the State of Israel and the Jerusalem municipality.

Packs of wild dogs have, of late, converged upon Shuafat. The Shuafat residents now complain that the Jerusalem Veterinary Service does not provide adequate protection to their neighborhood.

But, as the JVS so appropriately notes, they cannot be expected to send their people into Shuafat without adequate protection from the Shuafat Arabs who habitually attack employees of the Holy City of Jerusalem.

If you want service, then you need to ensure the safety of the providers of such service!


This, by the way, is yet another reason to love dogs!

Dog-gone House Rules.

Our family lifestyle is not currently conducive to pet ownership (though, as mentioned in the posting of 12 September 2010, we do, from time to time, pet-sit). We do, however, appreciate the salutary role of pet ownership, and are all in favor of it if the pet is reasonably well behaved.

Such is the case of Charlie, the dog owned by Donata Forman. Charlie is a Chihuahua-type breed, small enough to be carried in Donata's handbag, and, as all involved agree, extremely well tempered and behaved. But the Board of Managers of the Village View Condominium in Queens, where Donata lives, insisted that Charlie's presence violates House Rule No. 1, "Positively no pets are allowed in the building for any reason."

House Rule No. 1 was enacted by the Board of Managers. The Board of Managers sued Donata Forman. Judge Lane of the Queens County Supreme Court agreed with the Board that the Board had the authority to regulate the presence of pets on the premises, and, on account of other issues of law and fact, set the case down for trial.

But Michael Mauro, Donata's attorney, noted that under New York's Condominium Law, (1) whether or not a condominium can allow or disallow pets on its premises is a subject that must be addressed in the condominium's by-laws; and (2) the by-laws require a vote of at least 66% of the condominium unit owners, at a duly noticed meeting, in order to be enacted or amended. Moreover, the Village View's own by-laws impose an 80% threshold vote for amendment.

And so, on appeal, the Appellate Division reversed Judge Lane, ruling that the Board of Managers could not enforce House Rule No. 1.

Charlie is now legally at home in Donata's condo apartment.

This is a big win for pet owners.

Not mentioned in any of the judicial opinions is the fact that Donata Forman is a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service. If a letter carrier keeps a dog for a pet, then chances are that the dog is very well behaved!

Rosh HaShanah 5771 (Wrap-up)

We had an interesting Rosh HaShanah. It is two days, but this year, the next day was our religious Sabbath, which meant 3 days of not doing certain tasks. Accordingly, I have just caught up on my e-mail backlog (and my snail mail backlog, for that matter).

We frequently have guests for Shabbat or the holidays. This year, our guest was of the canine species. Due to a series of miscommunications, there was a misunderstanding as to who would take care of my son's roommate's sister's Yorkshire Terrier. About 2 hours before candle lighting time (signifying the beginning of the holiday), there was this Yorkie whose mistress had left town, and whose mistress's brother and roommates were about to leave for their respective Rosh HaShanah hosts, neither of which was conducive to bring the Yorkie for the 3-day period, thus leaving the Yorkie (named Maxine) with no place to go for Rosh HaShanah. My wife agreed that we would take Maxine (after consulting with me, of course).

And so, our son dropped Maxine off with us while he was en route to his Rosh HaShanah destination (the home of a Rabbi who had been a teacher of his when he was in junior high school, whose wife is terrified of dogs). Maxine was very well behaved and dispositioned, and it was certainly a pleasure to have her.

My son has returned home. He is now doing his laundry, and will probably stay the night before returning Maxine to her mistress (or, more likely, to his roommate, who is Maxine's mistress's brother).

One of the members of our congregation is now ill, and in no condition to come to services to hear the Shofar. So I walked the 2.5 miles to his house and sounded my own Shofar, just for him and his wife. It was good to see them, but I am quite concerned about his condition.

After the end of Shabbat, I decided to go running a few miles. This layoff of 3+ days without any significant aerobic exercise (that aforementioned 2.5 miles walk plus 2.5 miles return was the closest thing to aerobic exertion I had) is beginning to take its toll. The run did me good.

Next Shabbat happens to be Yom Kippur, so there will be none of the usual eating. Until Yom Kippur, we are in a period of penitence. Accordingly, earnestly I ask forgiveness from all whom I have wronged, and, in turn, grant forgiveness to those who ask it of me in earnest.

Wishing a Shanah Tova, a Good Year, to Everyone!

Terrorist in Drag

The latest news: Maulana Abdul Aziz, the terror-inciting Muslim cleric at the Lal Masjid in Islamabad, was arrested while trying to sneak out in a woman's burqa.

This is not the first time that a Muslim terrorist has hid under a woman's burqa to elude capture. Indeed, it is totally consistent with the Muslim terrorist ploy of using ambulances to transport bombs and terrorist personnel. And the IRA Provos, who rank perhaps a half step above the Muslim terrorists at best, have also had instances of dressing up in drag to escape Maze Prison.

And even when the Muslim woman is really a woman, she still can be carrying a bomb under her burqa.

This is all very troubling. On one hand, there are the obvious security issues involved in allowing people who apparently are women to walk about at large wearing burqas. On the other hand, if we prohibit burqas (which I happen to favor), then the civil libertarian sob sisters will demand that religious Jewish women not be permitted to cover their hair.

This all is more than just a hypothetical scenario for me. My wife is one of those religious Jewish women who does cover her hair. And at the culturally diverse educational institution where I teach, I have had students sporting all kinds of head coverings. One semester I had 3 kippot (in addition to my own kippah), a shaitel, two turbans and 4 hijabs on my class roster.

More to the point, I have had in my classes Muslim women who covered their faces with niqabs. And while I never at any time feared for my personal security on account of it, I would be less than honest if I were to tell you that I never gave it a second thought.

There needs to be a way to find out who and what are underneath the burqas and the niqabs. There are two ways of doing this:

1. Have the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency spend millions and millions of our tax dollars to develop a hand-held burqa buster device which detects the minute electromagnetic resonances of the chromosomes to determine the gender of the wearer, as well as the signature resonances of explosive materials.

2. Use good old animate energy. Man's Best Friend can surely be trained to sniff out the burqa wearers. My favorite cyberspace canine, Lagniappe, has been trained to do something similar to this. The basic principles and technology are already available, and, quite frankly, I personally have a higher degree of confidence in a cadre of properly trained canine companions than in any of DARPA's high-cost overrun technology.