Dear Editor,
In Parshas Vayakhel, Rabbi Zobin ("Taking Things Apart")
suggests screwdrivers as excellent presents for children.
This reminded me of a story which happened to my grandfather,
maybe a hundred years ago, in the days before educational
psychologists. Children did as they were told (hopefully) and
there was little discussion about whether parents were doing
the right thing or not. They did what they thought was best
for their children, with at least as much success as parents
have nowadays, if not more. However, that is not the subject
under discussion.
This was also in the days when wrist watches were mainly
Swiss-made, and an expensive item. A first watch was
presented to a Bar Mitzva boy and greeted with great joy by
the recipient. Like other Bar Mitzva boys of his time, my
grandfather looked forward to this gift with impatience. The
great day arrived and his father presented him with a
beautiful box. The boy opened the box and gazed at the
contents in silence. With a polite "thank you", he went into
his bedroom and threw himself on his bed and cried.
It was an old watch which he had seen on his father's wrist.
True, it was still going, but it was not a watch he could
show his friends. So he wore it in the house but took it off
to go to school.
Two weeks later, his father asked him pleasantly why he was
not wearing his watch. Reluctantly, shamefacedly, the boy
admitted that it was broken. Still pleasantly, the father
asked how it had happened. The boy confessed that he had
taken the thing to pieces and had put it together again,
unsuccessfully, and could find no place for one or two of the
screws. He promised to try again.
His father smiled at him and told him to do just that. Then
he called him into his study and said, "Ever since you were a
tiny child, you have always taken things apart. You were
often unhappy about the results but that did not prevent you
from doing it again. I knew you would take your first watch
to pieces..."
Taking out a small package from his desk drawer, he said,
"Here is the real watch I bought for your Bar Mitzva. You
already have the box." And with a knowing smile, he added,
"The works are the identical Swiss ones of the one you have
dismantled."
As a postscript to this story, my grandfather grew to be a
great talmid chochom who spent his days learning and
teaching, yet he could fix almost anything which needed
fixing.
Thank you, Rabbi Zobin.
L. Kohn
TAPEWORM
Along the same lines, another fascinating and useful tool you
can give a child is a metal tape measure, the kind that
glides back automatically in its holder (available at two-
shekel stores or for a bit more at hardware stores).
Children love the mechanism that makes it leap back inside
but they also love to measure things, up and down, lengthwise
etc. Give them assignments, like making a height chart for
the children, measuring size of furniture for switching
around, fitting things into places etc. Pocket size, it gives
them a sense of possession, maturity and importance.
MRS. JAFFEE FROM HAIFA:
A frequent and enthusiastic phone commentator, she actually
put this in writing:
I love my weekly Yated, which I literally devour, not
so much the news as all the other features and articles.
I HAD to write you to tell you how much I enjoyed every word
of the article by Miriam Luxemberg ("Spiritual Economy"
Parshas Truma). Not patronizing, it offered a fresh approach
to our everyday chores which many of us do by rote. I read it
many times over and hope that I can now do many of my usual
activities with meaningful effort.
Thank you, Yated, and a big yasher koach to
Miriam.
EITZES
Mrs. G. has a money-saving brainstorm. If you bought
decorative shelf paper for Pesach, you know how expensive
that can be. As gift wrapping, it is also expensive, even
though you don't use the same quantities, but Bar Mitzva,
birthday and wedding presents add up. Pesach gave her a
brilliant idea. The white paper she used to cover many
surfaces is cheap, cheap. Used as gift-wrap, you can write a
message on the paper itself, decorate it, and even put cute
stickers on it and the gift becomes more personalized and is
still much less expensive than the conventional gift-wrap.
She knows a family that uses old newspaper for wrapping
school books. If you're too conventional for that, you can
still stock up on this white paper and change frequently if
need be. And decorate to your heart's content. Stickers are
very cheap and enhance a great deal.
WHAT TO DO with your leftover POTATO STARCH? Malka M.
suggests three nice ideas, two edible, one not.
The OML.
When making an omlette, add a teaspoon to each egg and then
beat well. Pour your egg into the frying pan, heated
with a bit of oil, and watch it puff up and set into a firm,
delectable OML. It will have become so much more substantial
that you can't even call it in its diminutive form!
Flip over and serve with jam or ketchup. For a real OML, do
what my Bubby used to do (she called it a bubbele) as
a special treat: she whipped up the egg with the potato
starch (remember those coil egg beaters before the days of
electric mixers?) until it was very light and frothy and then
fried it. It puffed up beautifully.
The second idea: Talcum powder. Take your plastic container
of Johnson's / whatever brand and open up the top with a
knife. Pour in potato starch till the top, close very well
and shake. Your new powder will be just as soft and still
retain that gentle baby smell I love so much.
Note: DO NOT use baby powder on fungal diaper rashes. Fungi
(funguses, if you like) thrive on starches, so learn to
diagnose and differentiate. Note: DO use it liberally to
PREVENT or soothe chafing in the summer.
And the third one: When rolling out ready doughs that you
don't want to sift flour for, spread potato starch on surface
and roll away. Cleans easily, too.
