Seraphic Secret

Robert J. Avrech: Emmy Award winning screenwriter. Movie fanatic. Helplessly and hopelessly in love with my wife since age nine.

Friday Photos: Totally Random

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Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart in publicity still for Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece, “Rear Window.”
Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart in a publicity still for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 masterpiece, Rear Window.

Usually, we publish photos that have a central theme.

Not today.

We’re feeling a bit scattered. Perhaps we’re spooked by ObamaCare, by what’s happening to this country. We are watching a national calamity unfold in slow motion, and we are helpless to stop it.

In any case, here are a few photos, most taken by yours truly, with an iPhone.

The obligation to put on tefillin, as expounded by the Oral Law, is mentioned four times in the Torah. The arm-tefillin straps are wound first around the forearm seven times, and then three times around the middle finger and around the hand to form the shape of the Hebrew letter of either a shin (ש) according to Ashkenazim, or a dalet (ד) according to Sephardim. This is me, praying in morning minyan. My tradition is Ashkenazi.
The obligation to put on tefillin, is mentioned four times in the Torah. The arm-tefillin straps are wound, first around the forearm seven times, and then three times around the middle finger and the hand to form the shape of the Hebrew letter of either a shin (ש) according to Ashkenazim, or a dalet (ד) according to Sephardim. This is me, praying in morning minyan. My tradition is Ashkenazi.

 

A friend who sits next to me in synagogue is a Persian Jew and as you can see, he wraps his tefillin in the Sephardic tradition.
A friend who sits next to me in synagogue is a Persian Jew and as you can see, he wraps his tefillin in the Sephardic tradition.

 

On one of my morning walks, I came across this discarded mirror. I just love the fracturing of space the reflection creates.
On one of my morning walks, I came across this discarded mirror and door. I just love the fracturing of space the reflection creates.

 

As long time readers of Seraphic Secret know, we like signs. We consider them more than signs. The good ones are cultural signposts. I spotted this particular sign while I was driving in Beverly Hills. I pulled over, parked, and snapped this picture. A lady who was passing by said: “Whoever runs that gym must be insane or in insanely great shape.”
As long time readers of Seraphic Secret know, we like signs. We consider them cultural signifiers. I spotted this particular sign while driving in Beverly Hills. I pulled over, parked, and snapped this picture. A lady who was passing by said to me: “Whoever runs that gym must be a very scary trainer.”

 

Brought my car into the shop for an oil change and was transfixed by this composition of tires bisected by red bars.
Brought my car into the shop for an oil change and was transfixed by this composition of tires bisected by red lines.

 

Stopped into my local library to pick up a few books and saw this tattoo on the librarian. When I was a child, librarians were prim and proper ladies. Times have changed.
Stopped into my local library to pick up a few books. When I was a child, librarians were gloriously prim and proper ladies. Times, and librarians, have changed.

 

A suit for sale along Pico Boulevard. As I took this picture, the owner stepped out of his shop and told me that he would give me a good weal on the suit. I thanked him, but passed on the generous offer.
A suit for sale along Pico Boulevard. As I took this picture, the owner stepped out of the shop and said that he would give me a good deal on the suit, $59.95 I thanked him, but passed on the generous offer.

 

Obviosuly, I did not take this pic of the young Ann Margaret in leather, on a motorcycle. As I said, totally random.
Obviously, I did not take this pic of the young Ann Margaret. Not sure if this still is from a movie because Ann Margaret rode a classic Triumph T100, among the many bikes she owned.

 

Our grandson, Ariel Chaim, two months old, wishes all our friends and relatives a lovely and inspirational Shabbat.
Our grandson, Ariel Chaim, two months old, wishes all our friends and relatives a lovely and inspirational Shabbat. Photo by Offspring #3.

 

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Comments

    • Zahava:

      Those library tats are striking and literary and… I wonder if any of the young librarians have considered what will happen to their skin in a few years. Gravity is kind of unforgiving when it comes to flesh.

  2. On the Dungeon of Discipline: My imagination is running way again, seeing dominatrix-clad personal trainers in black with whips and chains.

    The Dungeon of Discipline – “where we will get you into shape and you will enjoy it! ”
     
    The Triumph Bonneville – a modern classic. Truly restored examples must leak oil just as the new ones.

  3. Love the still of Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart, who seem like some of the less unpleasant people Hollywood has elevated to stardom. Almost as delightful as the photograph of your grandson.
    Forgive me if this is an obvious question, but then I’m a non-Jew. Do you also wear a tefillin on your forehead?

    • Tefillin are made up of two separate pieces. The head-piece, and the arm-piece. Both have leather boxes which contain parchment scrolls that contain verses from the Torah. Both are held in place by leather straps that are knotted and wrapped in a ritually prescribed manner.

       

      For more, look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefillin

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