An ode to the sneeze.

Because I know of few physical pleasures that rival that of which a sneeze can boast.

Think about it.
Stuffed up.
Must breathe through the mouth.
Can’t sleep if we can’t breathe.
Difficult for our companions to understand what we’re saying.
Can’t blow it out: we don’t dare use the force necessary.
Mouth is drying out.

Then we look at a bright light and the light triggers a nasal reaction.
With tremendous force, our face, throat, and chest muscles collude to create a sneeze that explodes out of our nostrils driving a half pound of mucous in front of it.

The catch here is that we’d better be ready to instantly catch that mucous, that solid waste, that slippery aqueous secretion we lovingly call snot or risk shunning.

Those first breaths that follow are among the best we ever take.
Better than smelling flowers or wine.

Sudafed? Flonase?
Greasy kids’ stuff.

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Tagging Today
Monday, December 3, 2018
My 235th consecutive posting.
Time is 12.01am.
Boston’s temperature will reach a high of 55* under partly sunny skies.

Dinner is Clam Chowder.

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Question of the Day:
What is Hanukkah ?

Hints:

Left:
Lighting the menorah.

We kindle these lights for the miracles and the wonders, for the redemption and the battles that you made for our forefathers, in those days at this season, through your holy priests.
During all eight days of Hanukkah these lights are sacred, and we are not permitted to make ordinary use of them except for to look at them in order to express thanks and praise to Your great Name for Your miracles, Your wonders and Your salvations.

Second from left:
Lovely.

Second from right:
Second night of Hannukah at Jerusalem's Western Wall
Oren Rozen - Own work

 Right:
Dreidels / Spinning tops in a Jerusalem market
Adiel lo - Own work

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Love your notes.
Contact me @ domcapossela@hotmail.com

This from Victor Passacantilli:

Dom,
Glad to hear you are healing well.
I have dealt with acid reflux for a long time.
When I was first diagnosed I was put on Nexium which my PCP claimed was the gold standard treatment for acid reflux.
Nexium along with other popular acid reducers like Omeprazole are PPIs (proton pump inhibitors).
In my case, the PPI put my kidneys in a state of failure after prolonged use.
A nephrologist took me of the Nexium and my kidneys responded by functioning normally again.
Presently I take ranitidine (Zantac) and it is helpful.
A simple Google search will explain how each works on the body and their side effects.

Web Meister Responds:
So lucid.
Thanks for sharing.
We bloggers are interested in learning from each other.

Good health to all of us.

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Short Takes:
Nephrology is a specialty of medicine and pediatrics that concerns itself with the kidneys: the study of normal kidney function and kidney disease, the preservation of kidney health, and the treatment of kidney disease, from diet and medication to renal replacement therapy (dialysis and kidney transplantation).

Nephrology also studies systemic conditions that affect the kidneys, such as diabetes and autoimmune disease; and systemic diseases that occur as a result of kidney disease, such as renal osteodystrophy and hypertension.

A physician who has undertaken additional training and become certified in nephrology is called a nephrologist.

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Answer to Question:
Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire.
Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar.
It is also known as the Festival of Lights and the Feast of Dedication.

The festival is observed by lighting the candles of a candelabrum with nine branches, called a Hanukkah menorah (or hanukkiah).
One branch is typically placed above or below the others and its candle is used to light the other eight candles.
This unique candle is called the shamash, "attendant".
Each night, one additional candle is lit by the shamash until all eight candles are lit together on the final night of the holiday.

Other Hanukkah festivities include playing dreidel and eating oil-based foods such as latkes and sufganiyot, and dairy foods.

Since the 1970s, the worldwide Chabad Hasidic movement has initiated public menorah lightings in open public places in many countries.

Major Jewish holidays are those when all forms of work are forbidden, and that feature traditional holiday meals, kiddush, holiday candle-lighting, etc.
Only biblical holidays fit these criteria, and Chanukah was instituted some two centuries after the Hebrew Bible was completed.
Nevertheless, though Chanukah is of rabbinic origin, it is traditionally celebrated in a major and very public fashion.
The requirement to position the menorah, or Chanukiah, at the door or window, symbolizes the desire to give the Chanukah miracle a high-profile.

The story of Hanukkah is alluded to in the book of 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees. The eight-day rededication of the temple is described in 1 Maccabees 4:36–4:59, though the name of the festival and the miracle of the lights do not appear here. A story similar in character, and obviously older in date, is the one alluded to in 2 Maccabees 1:18–1:36 according to which the relighting of the altar fire by Nehemiah was due to a miracle which occurred on the 25th of Kislev, and which appears to be given as the reason for the selection of the same date for the rededication of the altar by Judah Maccabee.[citation needed] The above account in 1 Maccabees 4, as well as 2 Maccabees 1:9 portrays the feast as a delayed observation of the eight-day Feast of Booths (Sukkot)"; similarly 2 Maccabees 10:6 explains the length of the feast as "in the manner of the Feast of Booths".

Another source is the Megillat Antiochus. This work is extant in both the Aramaic and Hebrew languages; the Hebrew version is a literal translation from the Aramaic original.
Recent scholarship dates it to somewhere between the 2nd and 5th Centuries, probably in the 2nd century, with the Hebrew dating to the 7th century.
It was published for the first time in Mantua in 1557. Saadia Gaon, who translated it into Arabic in the 9th century, ascribed it to the elders of the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel.
The Hebrew text with an English translation can be found in the Siddur of Philip Birnbaum.

The Scroll of Antiochus concludes with the following words:

...After this, the sons of Israel went up to the Temple and rebuilt its gates and purified the Temple from the dead bodies and from the defilement. And they sought after pure olive oil to light the lamps therewith, but could not find any, except one bowl that was sealed with the signet ring of the High Priest from the days of Samuel the prophet and they knew that it was pure.
There was in it [enough oil] to light [the lamps therewith] for one day, but the God of heaven whose name dwells there put therein his blessing and they were able to light from it eight days.
Therefore, the sons of Ḥashmonai made this covenant and took upon themselves a solemn vow, they and the sons of Israel, all of them, to publish amongst the sons of Israel, [to the end] that they might observe these eight days of joy and honour, as the days of the feasts written in [the book of] the Law; [even] to light in them so as to make known to those who come after them that their God wrought for them salvation from heaven. In them, it is not permitted to mourn, neither to decree a fast [on those days], and anyone who has a vow to perform, let him perform it.  

In the Christian Greek Scriptures, John 10:22–23 says Jesus walked in Solomon's Porch at the Jerusalem Temple during "the Feast of Dedication and it was winter."
The Greek term that is used is "the renewals."
The Hebrew word for "dedication" is "Hanukkah".
The Aramaic New Testament uses the Aramaic word "Khawdata" (a close synonym), which literally means "renewal" or "to make new."
Josephus refers to the festival as "lights."

Some Jewish historians suggest a different explanation for the rabbinic reluctance to laud the militarism. First, the rabbis wrote after Hasmonean leaders had led Judea into Rome's grip and so may not have wanted to offer the family much praise.
Second, they clearly wanted to promote a sense of dependence on God, urging Jews to look toward the divine for protection.
They likely feared inciting Jews to another revolt that might end in disaster, like the CE 135 experience.

With the advent of Zionism and the state of Israel, however, these themes were reconsidered.
In modern Israel, the national and military aspects of Hanukkah became, once again, more dominant.

In North America especially, Hanukkah gained increased importance with many Jewish families in the latter part of the 20th century, including among large numbers of secular Jews, who wanted a Jewish alternative to the Christmas celebrations that often overlap with Hanukkah.
Though it was traditional among Ashkenazi Jews to give "gelt" or money to children during Hanukkah, in many families this has been supplemented with other gifts so that Jewish children can enjoy gifts just as their Christmas-celebrating peers do.

While Hanukkah is a relatively minor Jewish holiday, as indicated by the lack of religious restrictions on work other than a few minutes after lighting the candles, in North America, Hanukkah in the 21st century has taken a place equal to Passover as a symbol of Jewish identity.
Both the Israeli and North American versions of Hanukkah emphasize resistance, focusing on some combination of national liberation and religious freedom as the defining meaning of the holiday.

Some Jews in North America and Israel have taken up environmental concerns in relation to Hanukkah's "miracle of the oil", emphasizing reflection on energy conservation and energy independence.
An example of this is the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life's renewable energy campaign.

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Good morning on this Monday, December 3, Christmas now 22 days away.
But Hanukkah is here and now!

We talked about the sneeze,
We shared thoughts on nephrology with Victor.
We talked about Hanukkah.
A lot.

Che vuoi? Le pocketbook?

See you soon.

Love

Dom