WHY THE COLOR GREEN?

Today, March 17^th, is St. Patrick’s Day. You may have wondered why the color green is part of the holiday’s theme. A simple answer is that traditionally green represents the Catholics of Ireland, the color orange – Protestants, and white symbolizes peace between the two religions, which is represented in the flag of Ireland.

The question is, “Why is drinking alcohol such a big part of celebrating on St. Patrick’s Day?” Of course, Irish people did not invent the tradition of drinking over a holiday. As I mentioned last week, Jews were commanded to get drunk long before St. Patrick’s Day. There is evidence that brewing alcohol was dated from 7000 to 6600 BC. I read that the history of the world had changed after brewing was discovered. Early humans were hunter-gatherers. Men hunted, women prepared food, took care of children and planted food. And after realizing that food can be converted into alcohol, men took over agriculture and, as they say, the rest is history.

Nevertheless, the patron saint of alcoholics is Venerable Malt Talbot, who was born in Dublin, Ireland. Whatever is your excuse, please drink responsibly. On St. Patrick’s Day, the color green is not only in alcoholic drinks and in the river in Chicago, some people use it as head coverings, as you can see in these three images.

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LUCK OR PROVIDENCE

After I decided on the title of today’s story, I looked up the meaning of providence, which is “the protective care of God or nature as a spiritual power.” It fits perfectly to the story of Jewish holiday Purim, which was celebrated starting last Monday evening and through Tuesday. The story is the celebration of what seemed as a lucky moment for Jews to survive in Persia, modern Iran, sometime around the year 357 BCE. The name Purim means casting lots in the sense of making a random selection. It seems to me that all of our lives is Purim.

We often are making decisions which are “random selections”, since we do not know what is going to be the outcome (some claim that the only thing which was not random for us to choose is our parents before we were born). At the same time we also are making conscious decisions which seem to give us expected results. Probably because they are guided by some mysterious forces, which belong to the realm of providence. There are a number of traditions, which make the Purim holiday special; one of them is dressing up, and the other one might surprise you – Commandment for Jews to get drunk until you cannot distinguish between Mordechai and Haman, or those who are good and not so good.

The three images are my encounters in the Congregation Chevra Thilim, the oldest synagogue in San Francisco, which was founded in 1892 during the celebration of Purim. The events, which happened long, long time ago, are still remembered and celebrated thanks to the Rabbi of the congregation Shlomi Zarchi and his wife Chani, as well as visiting Rabbi Shimon Margolin.

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WHERE ARE OUTSIDE LANDS?

In the last week’s post, I wrote about San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. When was the last time you visited this natural wonder, 3.5 miles of sand and waves? It is different every day, if not every hour, and it is always beautiful; not only the sunsets.

In the early days of San Francisco, it was known as part of “Outside Lands”. And then in 1884, the steam railroad started to bring people for the first amusement rides. The Cliff House, which opened in 1863 and Sutro Baths in 1896, drew thousands of visitors. Though Sutro Baths has been long gone, you can still enjoy beautiful views from the Cliff House restaurant.

Because of the cool weather and very cold water, most of the time the beach is not crowded.  But on sunny days the beach is packed. Thanks to Max, who can run along the beach leash free, we often come here. Hope to see you there next time. Meanwhile, enjoy these three images.

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FROM SAN FRANCISCO WITH LOVE

I wrote my first book of the “42 Encounters” series in 2016.
“42 Encounters in San Francisco” was an expression of my love and appreciation for the best city in the world. If you are reading newspapers and even ventured to certain areas of San Francisco, you might have perception of doom and gloom in those places. Yes, the city has serious issues; however, every loving family does. Therefore, I decided to publish a new book, “San Franciscans. Looking Forward Through Looking Back. 42 Encounters with City Builders.”

To assist myself and get a different perception, I joined author Gary Kamiya on a walk downtown titled Barbary Coast. We started in North Beach, crossed Chinatown, and ended up in the area used to be called the Barbary Coast. I visited and photographed these areas many times. And while walking through familiar streets, a smile of pleasure did not leave my face. Restaurants were full, shoppers were spending money. Perhaps there were fewer tourists, but Grant Street in China town had its share.

In the afternoon, Max took us for a walk along the beach on the Great Highway, which was closed for traffic. Where else, but San Francisco, can you spend the morning in the center of over 150 years of city history and the evening in front of the ocean? And at the same time, it is not about old buildings with memorial plaques, and not even remarkable man-made nature.

It is always about people. These three images are from one day journey. Enjoy and Share!

ENCOUNTERS IN GOLDEN GATE PARK

On Sunday afternoons, our labradoodle Max takes us for a walk. We have a number of destinations, preferably the areas where Max can run leash-free. It can be either Fort Funston or, weather permitted, along the ocean, since the road is closed for traffic on weekends. Also, there are very nice places in Golden Gate Park. One of them is around Stow Lake.

The lake is beautiful, but Max has to be on leash there, unless we cross a small bridge so he can chase squirrels. And then there is a walk from 25^th Avenue and Lincoln Way through the forest to a small lake. Our latest discovery is on Richmond side. This time we parked on Fulton Street, close to 11^th Avenue, where there is a trail leading through pine tree forest to the Rose Garden.

There are no roses though this time of the year… We continued our walk to John F. Kennedy Drive. Typically for a Sunday, there were no cars, and the sign pointed to JFK Promenade. Bicyclists, walkers, runners, dog walkers, even coyotes come here to have a good time. So did Max, and so did we. The three encounters I photographed on that day are the testimony that we are blessed to live in San Francisco and to have such a beautiful park.

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HOW TO FIND INNER PEACE

WHO IS THIS PERSON?

I usually do not read obituaries. What was different this time was the title in The Wall Street Journal on January 7-8, 2023, “Real Estate Mogul Rescued Soviet Jews”. This deceased person was Albert Reichmann (1929-2022). Our family left the former Soviet Union in 1972, and I am grateful to people like Mr. Reichmann, since it took us three years to get out. I also noticed the photograph in the obituary, showing a man in his 50s. He died at the age of 93. I am sure he looked differently. In the book “West of Eden” Jean Stein writes that when Ann Warner, the wife of Jack Warner, one of the brothers who created Warner Brothers Studio, died, her step son Jack Warren Jr. noticed that the newspaper that published her obituary placed a photograph of another person.

When we are alive, many of us are usually very much concerned about how we look. And then, when we are gone, who we were and how we looked disappears together with so many things which seemed so important to us while we were alive. I do not think that knowing that will make any difference in our lives. There is saying in Russian, “While I am alive, I am hopeful”. We are remembered by our deeds, not by our looks.

There is a joke about the man who was reading the obituaries every day. A friend asked him why he was doing that. “I want to be sure my name is not there.” When my time will come, I would like to have a very short obituary – “Manny lived, laughed, loved and was loved”. I captured three images of the fading away lilies in the last moment of their lives.

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Let’s Make 2023 a Great Year!

I am predicting for myself that 2023 is going to be a great Year. The reason is because I am planning to make it great. The secret – the word planning. As the saying goes, “if you are failing to plan, you are planning to fail”. My plan is not future projection numbers; but rather, taking action, which I expect will help a lot of my clients and friends. Some of them I started in 2022, such as Mortgage Solutions Academy – MSA, which I sent to 16,000 real estate agents and others, and you can follow them on YouTube. As part of MSA, twice a month, in January we are starting in-person educational events in our office. Also, in January my e-book “Retirement Solutions For Smart People” will be available. In 2022, I started a new website, The Healing Images – THI Effect to help those who need to deal with the stress in their lives.