big warm hug!

if leaving a comment here is too laborious, for whatever the reason, do so @ sacredchow@aol.com, and we'll make sure to post it for u.

big warm hug!

take root, seep out.

@ sacred chow closing down. the paint strokes of the kitchen cleaning up, forks rumbling, water flowing; sacred chow is clean, glowing and strong.

perhaps if i rumble and flow into peace you will come along?

take root, seep out.

and vote for sacred chow, frickin' delicious, frickin' heart-healthy, frickin' low-carbon, frickin' plant-based, frickin' sustainable, frickin' vegan,

frickin' halal, frickin' observant-kosher with lots of frickin' gluten free stuff too @

http://citysbest.aol.com/new-york/best-dining/vegetarian/ .

and be on the frickin' look-out for the frickin' truth!

which candidate will be the fairest in the land?

the answer is self-evident.

it's apparent that governor george bush isnt a leader or a mindful person, nor remotely presidential. after watching the pubs and dems debate through 2007 and 2008, and concluding with their final nominations, it is still clear that "age, race, and gender" discrimination are very real issues in our great democracy, from the 3 main contenders to our main streets in america. however, if we demand from the candidate and their team, the dream, our boldest and most courageous plan, we will have a vision called america that strives for equality and fairness towards all beings and creation: less violence, less carbon, less poverty, less cruelty, less hunger with equal education, health coverage, constitutional protections, and with this comes a little more breathing room for freedom and peace to grow. if i strengthen this in me, i will strengthen this in you, our sons and daughters, and the wisdom of the sages is ours to give for eternity.

let our greatest truth be self-evident!

happy puerto rican day too! felices fiestas y'all!

The Puerto Rican Day Parade (also known as the National Puerto Rican Day Parade) is a locally televised parade that takes place yearly on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The parade, which is always held on the second Sunday in June honors the nearly 4 million Puerto Ricans on the island itself, as well as the Puerto Ricans and those of Puerto Rican heritage on the mainland. In 2006 more than 80,000 participants marched and nearly 2 million spectators lined the parade route. The parade always attracts many celebrities, both Puerto Rican and of Puerto Rican heritage, and many politicians from the tri-state area.
The parade marches along Fifth Avenue from 44th Street to 86th Street and has grown to become the second largest parade in New York City after the West Indian Day Parade along Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. With close to 3 million spectators annually it is one of the largest parades in the country.

happy shavu'ot! the festival of weeks.

Shavu'ot - it is the giving, not the receiving, that makes this holiday significant;

a time of anticipation, new freedom from oppression. it began with "the giving" of the torah on mount sinai, and from the 2nd day of passover through shavu'ot, 7 weeks, we spiritually reflect upon our redemption from bondage.

You shall count for yourselves -- from the day after the Shabbat, from the day when you bring the Omer of the waving -- seven Shabbats, they shall be complete. Until the day after the seventh sabbath you shall count, fifty days... You shall convoke on this very day -- there shall be a holy convocation for yourselves -- you shall do no laborious work; it is an eternal decree in your dwelling places for your generations. -Leviticus 21:15-16, 21

Shavu'ot, the Festival of Weeks, is the second of the three major festivals with both historical and agricultural significance (the other two are Passover and Sukkot). Agriculturally, it commemorates the time when the first fruits were harvested and brought to the Temple, and is known as Hag ha-Bikkurim (the Festival of the First Fruits). Historically, it celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, and is also known as Hag Matan Torateinu (the Festival of the Giving of Our Torah).
The period from Passover to Shavu'ot is a time of great anticipation. We count each of the days from the second day of Passover to the day before Shavu'ot, 49 days or 7 full weeks, hence the name of the festival. See The Counting of the Omer. The counting reminds us of the important connection between Passover and Shavu'ot: Passover freed us physically from bondage, but the giving of the Torah on Shavu'ot redeemed us spiritually from our bondage to idolatry and immorality. Shavu'ot is also known as Pentecost, because it falls on the 50th day; however, Shavu'ot has no particular similarity to the Christian holiday of Pentecost, which occurs 50 days after the Christian Spring holiday.
It is noteworthy that the holiday is called the time of the giving of the Torah, rather than the time of the receiving of the Torah. The sages point out that we are constantly in the process of receiving the Torah, that we receive it every day, but it was first given at this time. Thus it is the giving, not the receiving, that makes this holiday significant.

keep the beat juice clean!

hey vegetarian,
if you are vegan, well you're vegan. there just is no other possible way.

although i disagree with consuming dairy, i do think if we purchase an animals by-products from a sustainably-minded vegetarian farmer, we could probably bet that these animals are well cared for and respected. at the corner pizza store, not so much. and mozz and parm arent vegetarian. if we consume too much dairy, whatever our source, we'll over-coagulate the beat juice. now that's a real gross visualization, similar to never flossing. think of a hot summer day, meat scraps laying for weeks in a garbage heap during a 98.6% heat-wave. hey, that's the same temp in our mouth. yum, kiss me you fool: a delectable spread of garbage dump road-kill right here in my mouth.

okay, so floss every day and keep the beat juice clean!

love, sacred chow

with one tookus* you cant dance at 2 weddings!

so went the refrain in my family when one of us was going above and beyond our physical capacity. which really was about letting go, choosing, and making a firm decision as to which "wedding" to attend.
the astounding point here is that, after past-horrors like the pogroms, of my grandma's childhood, and the constant horrors of no choice, no food, no clothes, no education, shelter, peace, freedom..., to having a choice, 2 weddings no less, with food, drink, joy, song and dance - how very fortunate i am to be able to quote such a refrain, and say: sacred chow, and how!
here in my little america of hope, i ask: and how g-d? "and how, and how? start with a truly sacred chow." and how!

* derrière.

"how to live a low-carbon life", aka - those damaging methane burps

food

recent research, summarized in the new scientist magazine of 18th july 2007, suggests that modern methods of intensive beef production generate large amounts of greenhouse gases. this is, of course, not a new hypothesis: we have gradually become aware of the huge amounts of grain needed to feed our animals, and of the troublesome amounts of energy needed to produce the fertilizer needed to get our cereals to grow. the scientist david pimentel has suggested that it takes seven times as much grain to feed all meat animals in the US as it does to feed the human population.
the new research, carried out in japan but surely representative of the impact of modern farming methods in the rest of the industrial world, suggests that one kilogram of meat creates the equivalent of over 36kg of global warming gases. this number immediately strikes one as large. the average person in the US eats about 12 kilogram of beef a year. so eating a typical amount of beef generates 0.4 tons of emissions. after including the impact of international aviation, each US citizen is responsible for about 12 tons of emissions from all sources, including industry.
a simple sum shows that beef, a relatively small part of many people's diet, accounts for between 3 and 4% of one's carbon footprint. this is bad enough. but let's look at it another way which perhaps makes our concerns with food production even clearer. a simple calculation shows that industrial food production is more destructive of the global atmosphere than driving a car.

here's an example. walking three miles uses about 180 calories. replacing, assuming you don’t want to lose weight, would mean eating about 100 grams of beef. of course, it depends on the cut of meat, and how much fat it contains, but this figure is reasonably typical of beef in US shops. the scientists in japan give a figure of 36 kg of emissions for a kilo of meat, so a portion of 100 grams equates to about 3.6kg. this is the first part of the calculation – it shows that one 3 mile walk generates 3.6kg of emissions if one replaces the energy lost with beef.
what if one drove the 3 miles instead, and so didn't need the extra food? the average US car emits about 290 grams (0.29kg) of CO2 for every mile traveled. a 3 mile trip therefore generates 0.87 kg of emissions. this is about a quarter of the equivalent emissions from walking. and if there are two of you, and you share the car, then walking would be eight times as bad for the climate, if both are replacing the energy lost with beef. the troubling fact is that taking a lot of exercise and then eating a bit more food is not good for the global atmosphere. eating less and driving to save energy would be better. i can't deny that this is a troubling conclusion.

why am i recommending driving? the honest answer is – i'm not, i'm simply pointing out that modern agriculture is extraordinarily energy intensive. and it is not just energy. cows belch gallons of methane every day and methane is a fiercer global warming gas than CO2. manure and fertilizer also give off smaller quantities of nitrous oxide, which has over 300 times the impact of CO2. intuitively we recognize that major industries such as aluminium smelting generate climate changing emissions.
we need also to become accustomed to the idea that our food production systems, particularly those involving ruminant animals and their methane burps, are equally damaging. as the man from delta air says, cows generate more emissions than aircraft. unfortunately, we have to agree with him. and it wouldn’t do any harm also to acknowledge that transport is getting slightly more energy efficient by the year but as far we can tell this isn’t the case with the food supply chain.

the frenzied weathervane.

the unbridled cruelty of humanity has pushed so many of us into predicaments that have no right existing along with humanity, but they do. and like a frenzied weathervane spinning uncontrollably in strong winds, no sure direction is apparent. but when the winds begin to diminish, and (if) a sense of calm is before you, look, look, and love.

my maternal grandparents came to america from the pogroms of belarus; and my paternal great grandparents came to america from romania. my grandma lillie would hold me in her arms and tell me so many frightening tales of her childhood in belarus. she whispered about the hateful and dreaded cossacks on their mighty horses. the cossacks, her voice trembling, would rummage fiercely through all the jewish villages to burn, rape and pillage their lives and homes. she told me of how she, her mom, mom's sisters and her sisters, would all frantically run and jump into their secret hiding places when they would hear the pounding of the horses hooves. after the dust cleared, and they'd re-enter their home, everything would be turned upside down, broken and trampled upon. many of the houses and businesses in the village would be burning or burnt down: unbearable, unrelenting fear. one of her sisters, my great aunt rose, just 10, never made it out of belarus; and the rest, with some fathers, uncles and sons, the ones that weren't miraculously killed, were able to "get out", with underground jewish agency funding, to "ellis island, america". great grandpa and grandma preefer from romania, aka grandma & grandpa from the country, moved to the catskills mountains of new york state, thus the country, and opened up a bungalow colony on what became known as preefer farm, which was on preefer road in glenwild, ny. while my great grandparents lived in romania during its appalling oppression of romania's jews, this was not their sole reason for coming to america, because everyone hated everyone according to great grandpa, but also to leave a small-minded, very stale, gray society. and since they had saved enough money, and just a bit more to "get out", they would find a way to america to build "the golden life". grandma lillie gave birth to 3 kids, one was my mom, the other 2 were my uncle eddie and uncle sonny. my mom became a psycho-therapist, uncle eddie the director of united cerebral palsy, nyc, and uncle sonny opened h& h bagels, which he sold in the 1970's. but h & h was one of the first bagel kingdoms in nyc, and has grown to become a global behemoth. my great grandparents gave birth to 4 sons, one was my grandpa artie. grandpa artie and his brother, jack, opened a textile factory named after my dad, melco textiles; the two other sons became doctors, good ones too. my dad and his bro, uncle joel, along with their cousin, roger, built melco into one amazing enterprise. ah, here in the land of plenty these jews became doctors, directors and merchants extraordinaire: doctors preefer, melco and h & h, wow! how could i uphold and build upon these traditions of excellence? an heir to a bloodline espousing the economics of supply & demand juxtaposed with über-liberals preaching freud, marx and palestine. jewish, yes absolutely. orthodox, conservative, reformed, agnostic, atheist...? i suppose so. sounds jewish to me!
i lived in israel to study my historical roots, met my great, great aunt lena, who traveled to palestine while her brother, grandpa from the country, chose new york. i went to law school and practiced law to learn how to represent the poorest folk of kings county, nyc, & of an exceptionally rural county in pa. i learned fairness.

and how sacred chow? from hearing the stories of the pogroms to working for the poorest of folk, my focus became how could i build fairness with less violence? i found the answer looking through a webster's dictionary, sacred, sacred cow, sacred heart, sacred scriptures, ah, sacred chow! i know, that having brought a jewish and legal sensibility of fairness into being at sacred chow, that creation is a bit more restful and soothed. and i know, here on earth, that my child, who is half korean and half jewish, lives with this sensibility as well, and much more: his agile mind, body and soul grow in the presence of a truly sacred chow.
in the darkest days of the pogroms, in the darkest days of our lives, the frenzied weathervane turning and turning in the winds of time, in search of real peace and freedom, stops at love. i say, i love you! i hold you in my arms and drink in your tears, and tell you that sacred chow is here to help fill your broken hearts and bellies with love. i will do my part, you do yours, let's speak to g-d, ask for direction, and we will find our way to each other. this i promise.