How many times have you come across people who were successful at something, because of what seemed like a “lucky break”? I thought about this after reading an article in the San Francisco Chronicle from September 19, 2020, “How sand dunes became S.F.’s Golden Gate Park, thanks to a clumsy horse” written by Gary Kamiya, who is the author of the best-selling book, “Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco” (I explored this book while doing research for my photo-story book, “42 Encounters in San Francisco”, which is available on Amazon.com).

There is also the story of how Scotchgard was discovered by Patsy Sherman, who had a lucky break when she was trying to develop a special rubber.

The adhesive behind Post-it notes was discovered in 1968 by Spencer Silver, a researcher at 3M Laboratories, who was actually looking for a stronger adhesive.

Can there be a lucky break be in politics? Recently, I read a very interesting article about Joe Biden, which was published in The New Yorker on August 31, 2020, titled “Man in The Middle” written by Evan Osnos.

Last Friday Jews celebrated Rosh Hashanah (I wrote about it last week). In the Torah, ten days later, which falls on the eve of Sunday the 27^th, starts Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement. According to tradition, this is the day when God decides each person’s fate. So Jews are encouraged to make amends and ask forgiveness for the sins they committed over the past year. The holiday is observed with a 25-hour fast and special prayers. However, before asking God, one needs to settle their relationships with people and ask for their forgiveness. Therefore, I am using this opportunity to ask you to forgive me. One of the prayers is to ask God for the forgiveness of the sins, which we did knowingly, as well as for those which only God knows about.

Recently in the weekly portion I was reading that Moses before ending his life’s journey told the Israelites, “See – I have placed before you today the life and good, and the death and evil” (Nitzavim 30:15). And then a few lines later, as to repeat his important message, he said again, “I have placed life and death before you, blessing and curse; and you shall choose life, so that you will choose life, so that you will live, you and your offspring” (Nitzavim 30:19). And then he concludes in the next chapter, “For I know that after my death you will stay from the path that I have commanded you and evil will befall you at the end of days, if you do what is evil in the eyes of Hashem (God), to anger him through your handiwork” (Vayelech 31:29). 

If you are reading this story on Friday, September 18^th, I am wishing you a Good and Sweet New Year. According to the Jewish calendar, it is the eve of the two day holiday, Rosh Hashanah, which according to Torah, commemorates the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first humans, 5781 years ago. Though the Torah is the Jewish Bible, the first humans were the parents of all of humanity, and the celebration of their birthday can be shared with everyone. Rosh Hashanah is translated as Head of the Year; however, it is the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. The first one is in the spring month and is called Nissan. It is considered the New Year from counting the years of kings in ancient Israel. Nissan is the month of the celebration of the festival of Passover. While Rosh Hashanah is the anniversary of the creation of the world, Nissan celebrates the founding of the Jewish people after their exodus from Egypt.

So the question is, how can we have a Good Year if no one knows when the vaccine will be available? When I called my brother, who lives in Toronto, and cannot go to work because of the lockdown, he made a comment, which put everything into proper prospective. “It does not matter how long the coronavirus will last; sooner or later, life will be as it used to be, meanwhile enjoy today!”

Let’s enjoy every day regardless of how many years passed since Adam and Eve appeared in this world. Have a Good and Sweet Year!

Recently our daughter Alona’s boyfriend Jeff shared a recent of his experience with us. He took his car in for an oil change. However, when he tried to turn on the ignition, the engine was dead. Fortunately, he was in the right place. The culprit was the battery, which had survived 260,000 miles.

Many car owners have had similar experiences, when for various reasons, their car battery died. While, the solutions are relatively simple – to carry charging cables and ask friendly drivers to help you, or to call AAA, or another road side assistance service; sooner or later, charging does not work anymore, and you have no choice, but to replace the battery. This relates not only to cars, but to our bodies as well.

We were reminded that the coronavirus is still around only by the masks some had on their faces. All of the restaurants were open and served very good food at the outdoor terraces. With the local population of about twenty-three thousand, there is an estimated six million tourists who visit the community, annually.

As a boy, Jeff used to skateboard down the hills and catch waves on his surfboard. He told us about his childhood experiences and how the area had changed since. In the morning, we went for a walk on the beach, and in the afternoon we drove to other surrounding towns, and then returned to the beach to watch the sunset. We could easily stay there for longer, but we missed Max, and he missed us. Perhaps next year we will drive down there together with him and stay longer.

Have you ever had invasion of ants on your kitchen counter or in the bathroom? I tried different methods to get rid of them, however every winter, when it rains, they are back. I decided to write about ants after coming across an article in the July 25, 2020 publication of Popular Science, “Ants could help us beat future pandemics”, written by Michael Schulson. What surprised me was that scientists have been studying how deadly pathogens affect ant colonies, even before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The article is based on the research done by many scientists. One of them is Natalie Stroeymeyt from the University of Bristol in the UK. According to her, “Human public health departments are only a couple of centuries old, while ant societies have been evolving for millions of years”. “It’s very rare to find a colony collapsing under the weight of a pathogen,” Stroeymeyt writes. “We know that their mechanisms are extremely effective.” Can we learn from ants or stubbornly try on our own?