(1) Ukraine has basically been out of the news recently in American media. But for the Ukrainians, the war continues, deaths continue, Russian attacks on energy sources continue, the fighting continues, and like during the heart of World War I, nothing much seems to be happening to change the facts on the ground. There was a line in Homeland that I thought was applicable to the situation Ukraine finds itself in: “We are not strong enough to win the war, and we are not weak enough to lose it.” The line was a complaint, not a brag, and I think it typifies the situation Ukraine finds itself in.

(2) Last week I complained about the play The World to Come and wondered, since it got such good reviews, if I no longer can enjoy theater. Last night, we saw Jodie Foster’s French language film Private Life (I know that is not a French title, but….give me a break, please) at the Avalon with our friends, the Gandals, and none of us enjoyed the film. Jodie Foster (who was quite good) plays a unhappy Jewish psychiatrist in Paris, who is surprised to learn that one of her long time (nine year) Jewish patients has suddenly died, and even more surprised to find out that the death was ruled a suicide. I described both Foster (a/k/a Lillian Steiner) and her patient as Jewish, because none of us were expecting this to be a Jewish-themed film, which perhaps it was. And I saw “perhaps” because the film is so unusual (should I instead say “so French”) that it is hard to understand what is core to the film and what is incidental. Foster (Steiner) determines to find out who murdered her patient, shows up at the funeral and at shiva (she is kicked out because the widower thinks his wife’s psychiatrist drove her to death), determines first her patient was murdered by her daughter and then by her husband, and then determines that ……The film involves not only therapy and psychoanalysis, but also a hypnotist, and dreams, and past lives (at one point Steiner decides that her adult son was, in a previous life, a Nazi-supporting member of the French militia who wanted to arrest her in an opera house where she was playing the cello, and that that explained why she never loved him).

I admit to two things. I have never understood French intellectual thinking — all of those famous French intellects and philosophers. None of them have ever made any sense to me, try as I might. And, I have never understood psychoanalysis as something that has ever benefited anyone who has undertaken to be analyzed. I have always viewed it as an expensive hobby – more expensive than, say, doing crossword puzzles or putting together jigsaw puzzles. The film did not change my view of either.

(3) My old friend Jeff Dwyer made a comment on yesterday’s post, suggesting that it is time to find a wormhole that could take us to a parallel universe. He asked if I would join him. It’s not a bad idea at all, but my thought is that if there is a parallel universe (and, to be truthful, there are probably an infinite number of them, if any), how would we know that we would be better off there than we are here? And our universe still has plenty in it for us to explore, doesn’t it? After all, we have only really explored in some detail one planet, and touched upon other planets in one solar system. Our solar system is, so they estimate, one of between 100 to 400 billion solar systems in the Milky Way (our own personal galaxy) alone. And, they estimate that there are about 2,000,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe. That is two trillion. Now, even if you take the low number (100 billion) as the average number of solar systems/or stars in each of 2 trillion galaxies, and multiply 2 trillion times 100 billion, and you ask AI to give you the answer, you don’t get an answer. That is how many stars are in the universe. I think you would write the number: 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Is that 2 quintillion?

I myself would be satisfied if we were able to explore those 2 quintillion (or maybe even 8 quintillion) stars and their planetary systems. I would be looking for a planet with life on it (I see there may be up to 500 million planets in the Milky Way alone that may have some form of “life” on them). And not just any life, but life similar to human life. Specifically, I would like to find a planet where the highest form of life can do everything we do, but also have three, rather than two, arms. A planet where, when you to a lunch buffet, say, you are able to hold your tray, and a drink, and still pick up your desert. That is all I ask. And I would hope that be three-armed would not be a recessive trait.

The sermon at yesterday’s Shabbat services at Adas Israel was on the concept of an omnipresent God (is God omnipresent, or only located inside of you, or do you have a choice of putting God where you would like God to be; that isn’t doing it justice, obviously – or maybe it is). But if there is an omnipresent God who is (as he must be) present in 2 trillion galaxies, can you expect him to be present in all of those parallel universes that Jeff would like to explore? Eager minds would like to know.

(4) Have I rambled on long enough this morning? Maybe not.

Yesterday afternoon, at Adas Israel, having nothing to do with the morning sermon, we heard from Israeli thinker Micah Goodman. Goodman, born of American parents in Jerusalem, author of several well respected books, and scholar at the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, talked about everything in the 2 trillion galaxy universe except for the omnipresence of God. He is a charming, and obviously very bright individual, easy to listen to and watch, and able to answer any question put to him with ease. Starting with talking about how Jewish religious texts are constructed with rules and then with narratives often challenging the rules (sometimes successfully), he wandered into the discussion of many European thinkers, and then into the details of Zoroastrian thought and more. His mind is brilliant, but very crowded. Perhaps overly crowded. He is trying very hard to sort things out, and perhaps he is succeeding. But perhaps just confusing himself more, although I must say that he really enjoys the confusion, it appears. But if you ever have met someone who raises a question and gives it a brilliant answer which raises more questions, and where this goes on infinitum, I think you have Micah Goodman. And I am not criticizing him for this. More power to him. And, cousin Kiku Day, he clears his mind by taking ice baths.

(I dedicate this answer to (4) to friends Mel and Barbara Gelman, who were curious as to what I was going to write about Micah Goodman.)

(5) After the film, we went to a new (to us) Indian restaurant in Silver Spring, Spice Street Restaurant on Georgia Ave. Add it to the list of Indian restaurants we like and go to: Cafe of India, Malabar, Delhi Spice, and Maya. And I am leaving one out, I think (not on purpose).

See you tomorrow (I hope), when perhaps we will talk about the attack on Iran that might happen between now and then.

You will see that I broke my normal rules by mentioning 6 people today. A good thing to do? Or not?