Today is Thursday, March 17, 2022. Today is St. Patrick’s Day and it also marks the end of Purim, a Jewish holiday that began yesterday evening and ends tonight. This holiday is actually a joyous one in the Jewish canon; it celebrates the saving of the Jews from persecution during the Persian Empire in which Queen Esther helped save the Jewish people from destruction at the hands of Haman, who was the king’s viceroy. Esther was able to tell the king of Haman’s plan to exterminate the Jews in his empire as a result of Mordecai, Esther’s cousin and adopted farther, refusing to bow down to Haman. Purim gets its name from the lots that were drawn in which to execute Haman’s nefarious plot to extinguish the Jewish minority. The holiday falls on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar. These facts are contained in an online article for National World by Hiyah Zaidi.

The holiday is a loud, joyous festival meant to celebrate the defeat of enemies of the Jews and is more national than religious. Activities usually observed during the day include listening to a public reading of the Book of Esther, sending food gifts to friends, giving charity to the poor, and eating a festive meal. Other traditions include dressing up in costume or wearing masks (our version of Halloween) and having boisterous street celebrations, incorporating color and dancing. Men are encouraged to drink wine or any other alcoholic beverage, which is basically the only time this is promoted among Jewish men. The traditional food eaten during this holiday is a triangular pastry called “hamantaschen,” which is a sweet pastry filled with apricots, prunes, or poppy seeds. Chocolate is sometimes used as a filling too. So for the occasion, I picked up three of these pastries yesterday in a Forest Hills bagel store. I bought one prune hamantaschen for Elliot and two apricot pastries for me. I’m afraid they were not as tasty as I remember them. The dough seemed less fresh for some reason.

Since It’s getting late here, I will attenuate my entry today, One thing I forgot to write about is something very dear to my heart and that is the recent push to make daylight saving time permanent in this country, which passed the Senate unanimously on Tuesday. This legislation is just the thing I have advocated for every time we had to move the clocks back or forward for no apparent logical reason. You can imagine my excitement when I just heard this measure being written about in the news a few days ago. This is exactly what the doctor ordered, one could say. However, a more ominous follow-up online article appearing in The Hill by Aris Folley and Tobias Burns entitled “House leaders want to take up daylight saving time bill – later.” This could signify a delay now in getting the legislation passed. The article states that the lower chamber is punting the effort to eliminate the needless manipulation of our clocks to the back burner in favor of other pressing matters, including responding to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One encouraging sign, though, is that House members voiced their support for the bill.

“Speaker Nancy Pelosi told The Hill that she supports doing away with the semiannual time switch.” Someone whom I detest was actually the lead sponsor of the bill, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who urged the House to move swiftly on the legislation. I’m quite puzzled as to why the senator was strongly pushing for the practice of changing our clocks while the country is mired in the Russian-Ukraine conflict. The call to move quickly on passing the legislation has also been echoed by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), who is pushing for the measure in the lower chamber.

Under the newly passed proposal, daylight saving time would be made permanent, starting in November 2023. Another Republican representative from Florida, Byron Donalds, also pressed for speedy action on the legislation, saying that Congress is able to handle several issues at the same time. Other members, however, do not agree with Donalds’ or the other two representatives’ advocacy for the legislation at this moment. They would prefer that the House wait before bringing up the legislation.

“Expert testimony to the House Energy and Commerce Committee pointed to health risks associated with switching to and from daylight saving time.” Beth A. Malow, a neurology professor, corroborated what I’ve read about the practice – that it adds to increased strokes, heart attacks, and teen sleep deprivation. All I know is that after moving the clocks ahead on Sunday, I was a little more enervated a few days after doing it. I’m still adjusting to the switch like everyone else. I would welcome the end of the practice after doing it routinely for so many years.

I was very impressed with a video being posted by former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who made an appeal to the Russian people to resist their country’s disinformation as the devastating invasion of Ukraine continues. The former body builder and action film star said he was “sending this message through various different channels” for Russian citizens and soldiers. He hopes that his message about the atrocities committed by its government and military breaks through. So far, the video posted on Twitter has more than 16 million views. Schwarzenegger bluntly says in the video that “those in power in the Kremlin started this war,” not Ukraine or neither nationalists nor Nazis.

That’s the way, Arnold! Let’s hope your impassioned message does get through to the average Russian citizen. Terminator to the rescue!

So stay safe and be well.