This past week (plus the previous two weekends) was the holiday(s) of Passover this year. The first half of the time, my wife and I spent in Rochester, her hometown, where her parents live and the last half of the time in Columbus, where my parents and grandmother live. For the first weekend, we stayed at my mother-in-law's house, attending services at a local shul. For the latter weekend, we stayed at my grandmother's house, attending services locally, as well (albeit a 45-minute walk). For the week in between, there was Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday: Tuesday On Tuesday, we mostly got to hang out with my wife's father, including going to the batting cages, which was certainly fun, as well as going to the mall. As it was earth day, there were a lot of things trying to be green. Don't get me wrong, however, I generally try to be green and environmentally-conscious, etc., but the trendiness of environmentalism in the past week has been quite a lot! If I wasn't already into it, I would try to go against the grain - it just seems all so sudden. Anyway, I think that, on the whole, it's a positive and I hope that people are somehow more environmentally/ecologically aware because of it. Wednesday We went to the Rochester Zoo (actually entitled "Monroe County's Seneca Park Zoo") before driving to Columbus. We had a pleasant time there, as, although it started raining a little bit, the weather got better. The highlight of our trip was watching a burmese python eating a bunny rabbit - certainly a special treat for us to watch. While the zoo is not particularly large, according to the guide we got when we entered, they have "New York State's only African elephants", something we don't have in The City. Also, there one can see "the only Bornean orangutans and white rhino in New York State as well as the only Eurasian arctic wolves in the U.S." The guide also added that their "African penguins are one of the top three breeding colonies in the nation." Thursday We shopped at Easton on Thursday, mostly shopping for clothing, but also just browsing the stores. Our favorite non-clothing store was Sharper Image, where they had neat gadgets and the like, but there was this one particular massaging chair that was simply great (and expensive).
Friday Our big thing of the day for Friday was to visit COSI. However, before we did, we visited Topiary Park, a "landscape of a painting", the painting being Georges Seurat's most famous work (A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte). Our time at COSI was fine, though as we were going through it, I kept remarking to my wife that it wasn't the same as the previous COSI, whereupon she said to stop saying that and for her to experience COSI on its own terms for herself (as an aside, my family members and other people with whom I spoke also agreed with my thoughts). Anyways, aside from the exhibits themselves (we liked the space area a lot), we enjoyed the two movies on the extreme screen, "Sea Monsters 3D: A Prehistoric Adventure" and "Greece: Secrets of the Past" (although we enjoyed the former moreso than the latter).
Also, each of the nights (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday), we enjoyed our holiday with a movie an evening. Okay, now we can go back to eating hamez after the week+ hiatus.
Yesterday, we went to the Columbus Zoo, my hometown zoo, so to speak, which I have not visited in years (between 2-4 years) and really wanted to go back and see it. A couple of the areas of the zoo were new to me, such as the Voyage to Australia& the Islands (which was probably there the last time I was there, but it might not have been open), the African Forest was redone, and Asia Quest, which just opened last summer. One part of the zoo about which I was disappointed was that the Johnson Aquatic Complex was closed. Speaking of further developments - it seems that some animals have already been removed to be a part of future parts of the zoo, such as polar bears which will be a part of the Polar Frontier, which is to open next fall, and giraffes, which will open in three years. Pictured at the right is "Fluffy", the largest snake in captivity at 24 feet long and over 300 pounds heavy. There were some neat animals that I had not seen before, such as the markhor and some of the animals in the Australia exhibit. A common thing that I have been noticing in my previous zoo visits (such as the NOLA Zoo, the Bronx Zoo, and the Boston Zoo (visited after Shavuos this year)) is thee making of the surrounding areas like that of their natural habitat, both flora-wise, but also similar to the human environment. "Rhino Ryan" noted that "The Columbus Zoo has fastly become one of the most popular and most innovative zoos in the country. ... The zoo is home to some of the rarest animals on earth and has been one of the trend setters of biomes. Biomes are areas in zoos built to house animals and plants of the same area whether it be a rainforest style or tundra." Another common thing (though I don't remember having seen it at the Biblical Zoo when I visited over three years ago) is that there is a huge push to save animals and that a very oft-repeated refrain is that humans, often via habitat destruction, are responsible for the demise of many, many species of animals. Anyways, I know I already noted this, but I guess this message needs to be put out somehow and the zoos are the most basic locus at which this message needs to start. The one object that is noteworthy Jewishly is that there is a quote on the way into Manatee Coast that says, "Deeds of giving are the very foundation of the world." For the source to this quote, it quotes "the Torah". Now this is interesting because this quote is clearly not in the five books of the Torah, but seemingly a Talmudic quote. Thus, they probably got this quote off of the Internet. Indeed, searching for this phrase, yields several results, with most of them giving the same reference as "the Torah." While I am not sure where the true source of this quote is, I believe it is a paraphrasing of Shimon, the Just's words of "Upon three things the world stands: Upon the Torah, Upon the [Temple] service, and upon acts of kindness" (Avot 1.2). Apparently, someone must have originally paraphrased this quote and then other people quoted it without knowing precisely its location. Eventually, when the Columbus Zoo was creating their Manatee Coast exhibit, they found this quote and then printed it up and used it. (Below is a movie HTR made a few months ago at Manatee Coast.)
The last two shabbasos have been out of town for me as will this upcoming one. Two shabbasos ago, I headed up to Boston to visit Rabbi Klapper, of whom I was a student in his Summer Beit Midrash program. Specifically, I was in the Cambridge-Somerville area (my second time for shabbas there (my previous one being last summer during the SBM)) and it was a nice time. Last shabbas, I went up for my sister's fiance's aufruf in Ithaca, NY, my second there (my first), which was also a nice time and somewhat low-key. I now set out today to go back home for a week to Gahanna, and will be spending shabbas in Columbus. (The last time I spent shabbas in Columbus, the eruv was down but, fortunately, it is now fixed.)
