After 3000 people were killed in 2001, President Bush said “I ask your continued participation and confidence in the American economy.”

Who acted more wisely?  I may blog about this in more detail after thinking a bit more.

*My first session Saturday morning was studying Talmudic discussions of work.  The most interesting segment was this:

Rabbi Beroka Hozaah asked Elijah the Prophet: Is there any person in this market who is destined for the world to come [i.e., Paradise]? He replied, no. … While they were conversing, two people passed by. Elijah said: These two are also destined for the world to come. Rabbi Beroka approached them and asked them what they did. They replied: We are jesters, and we cheer up people who are depressed. Also, when we see two people who are quarrelling, we work hard to make peace between them (Babylonian Talmud, Taanis 22a).

Though I’d heard of this segment, I heard a new slant on it: you don’t have to be a professional comedian to be a jester; you can be one in any occupation- perhaps even law professor!  I resolved to think about ways to amuse and cheer up my students (though admittedly, the next couple of weeks will be quite difficult since they involve future interests and the rule against perpetuitites, two of the more difficult subjects in my first-year property course).

*Another segment covered Jewish disunity in the past- in particular, the conflict between Bet Hillel and Bet Shammai (two groups of Pharisees).  Although Pirke Avot says their controversies were “for the sake of Heaven”, the Talmud says that there was a fight between them that possibly involved numerous murders; later Jewish commentators were divided as to whether these references to “slaughter” should be taken literally.  The broader point: even within a group that seems homogenous to outsiders such as the Pharisees, deadly conflict can arise (and has arisen).  So if you think there was Jewish unity in the good old days, you are wrong.

*I attended two sessions with Deborah Dash Moore of the University of Michigan.  Prof.  Moore spoke about her book “GI Jews” which discusses how American Jewish participation in World War II changed Jews.  Before the war, Jews had been concentrated in the Northeast and were widely discriminated against.  A few decades later, Jews were much less geographically concentrated, more assimilated, and less persecuted.  How come?  Moore suggests that military service exposed Jews to southern and western military bases (causing them to migrate south and west after the war, especially to Florida and California), and exposed Jewish soldiers to Christians (causing them to become more comfortable with, and more willing to challenge, Christians).  The other session was about a few Jewish photographers in the 1940s who specialized in downtown NYC street scenes- some interesting photographs by Helen Levitt and Miriam Cherry.  (Just google them to find out more).

*Saturday afternoon I saw part of a talk by Sarah Benor of USC on her new book Becoming Frum. Her book focuses on BTs (short for “baal teshuvas” or “returnees to observant Judaism”) adjust to the culture of “frum from birth” orthodox Judaism- focusing not so much on religious practice or intellectual views as to cultural quirks (for example, certain examples of questionable grammar common in close-knit Orthodox communities).  She also used an interesting phrase I’d never heard before: “peripheral BTs”, which she used to describe someone who is not fully part of the Orthodox community (either in terms of observance or by not living in a heavily Orthodox area) but still has taken on a great deal more religious observance over time.  She noted that BTs often either highlight their distinctiveness from other Orthodox Jews or “hyperaccommodate” (that is, show that they are more religious and /or visibly observant and/or culturally orthodox) than everyone else.

*Later on Saturday night I saw Rabbi Charlie Savenor talk about a distant relative of mine, Rabbi Tobias Geffen, who in the 1930s persuaded Coca-Cola to change one of its ingredients so that Coke could become kosher. (More importantly, he found my father in the DP camps and brought him to Atlanta, where his wife fixed him up with my mother – but Rabbi Savenor’s talk had nothing to do with that). I learned that many rabbis around the country had thought Coke was kosher, but that none had checked its ingredients as thoroughly as Rabbi Geffen.  A short version of the story of Rabbi Geffen and Coke is here; however, we read a responsa (Jewish legal opinion) written by the rabbi himself.  Rabbi Geffen had more of a flair for the dramatic than I had thought; a couple of paragraphs into the responsum, it appeared to me that he was saying that Coke was kosher, then he explains why it isn’t, and only at the end of the opinion does he explain how he got Coca-Cola to remedy the problems with its ingredients so its product could become kosher.

*Sunday I saw Joan Nathan talk about Jewish food in France; she discusses how the food culture changed- first due to medieval migrations from southern to northern France (which caused a shift away from foods like romaine lettuce that grew best in relatively warm weather to cold-weather foods like horseradish), and more recently due to the migration of much of north Africa’s Jewish population to France.  (In fact, because of this migration France’s Jewish population is actually larger than before Hitler).

*Deborah Lipstadt of Emory spoke about the Eichmann trial.  Key point: Eichmann trial, to a greater extent than Nuremberg trials, involved Holocaust survivors as witnesses, perhaps emboldening survivors to tell their stories more over time and thus raising long-term public awareness of the Holocaust.

*Israeli rabbi Aaron Leibowitz discussed kashrut in Israel.  To label itself as kosher, all Israeli restaurants must have certification from the Chief Rabbinate.  Unfortunately, there have been scandals involving Chief Rabbinate supervisors being sloppy- for example, visiting restaurants only once a month or so, not often enough to make sure the restaurant is following directions.  (Of course, if the Chief Rabbinate reforms it might go too far in the other direction, given its reputation for extremism in other areas).

*Today I saw Ethan Tucker discuss when someone can commit one sin to avoid another.  For example, one medieval case involved a Jew whose adult child was being pressured to convert to another religion.  Could the Jew ride a horse or write a letter on the Sabbath (both no-nos) to prevent this?  Some rabbis said yes, some no, some said it depended on how willing the child was to bail out on Judaism.   Tucker said the broader theoretical issue was whether we should worry about our own “personal spiritual batting average” or that of the community as a whole.

*Also today, I saw a photo exhibit about Hebron, a city so radically divided between Muslims and Jews that on some streets, half the street is fenced off for Jews and the other for Muslims.    For more info on this (though from a perspective somewhat critical of the Israeli govt.) you might want to read this page on “Project Hayei Sarah.”  (The second person on the video helped lead our discussion).

*Rabbi Leonid Feldman of Palm Beach spoke about work-life balance (he was for it).  He gave interesting examples; for example, he noted that when Jethro visited Moses after the splitting of the Red Sea, etc. Moses embraced Jethro instead of his wife or sons- and that by an odd coincidence, his sons’ career and children are not mentioned in the Torah.  Perhaps Moses’ commitment to his “work” deprived him of an adequate relationship with his children!

NOTE: I spoke on Sunday morning; I will post that speech separately.

Wed. night- Had to take Supershuttle from airport because KC bus system doesn’t serve airport at night (or, as I learned Sunday, on weekends).  Even Jacksonville has weekend airport bus service.  For shame!

Thursday- First took a ride on Kansas City’s bus rapid transit.  Didn’t think it was much different from regular buses except for nicer bus stops- stops were designated as “stations”, had big stops, computer generated signs telling you when next stop was, big good maps telling you what neighborhoods you were adjoining.  Buses had limited stops so about 20 percent faster than regular buses.  Buses themselves looked and felt like buses not like streetcars or trolleys- not nearly as impressive as the stations.

Then got off at KC’s River Market area at north fringe of downtown, walked through downtown.  Seemed very desolate, very few people, lots of parking lots.  Basically depressing, but on the positive side many former office buildings had been turned into condos and apartments, so residential situation improving.  Also a big nice downtown grocery store (wow!)

In afternoon visited Westside neighborhoods (1880s neighborhood, heavily Hispanic but beginning to gentrify- lots of vacant lots where houses should be, but many of the houses seemed well kept).

The most interesting part was a discussion of stop signs.  A neighborhood activist who was our tour guide showed us a corner where a traditional street signal had been turned into blinking red lights (kind of an electronic stop sign). Why are stop signs better?  She said that red/green/yellow signals encourage people to speed to avoid red lights, while stop signs encourage people to slow down. Thus, stop signs may be better, at least in low-traffic residential areas.

Then visited Voelker (1920s KC neighborhood) – moderately nice, reminds me of Atlanta’s Virginia-Highlands area.  Most interesting thing was how duplexes, single-family homes, and small apartment buildings coexist amicability, debunking big lie of Euclidean zoning: that single-family and multifamily cannot live together.

Friday- I spoke Friday morning, then went to a presentation on how to make infill easier and better. Dan Parolek praised the “missing middle” of American housing- duplexes and small apartment buildings.  These buildings provide density that supports transit (for example, a KC duplex is 12-19 dwelling units per acre, a bus supportive density) but fit into single family areas in a way that a five story apartment building (let alone a high rise) does not.   He noted that lot width regulations allow you to ensure visual compatibility with houses: a 30-foot-wide apartment bldg is more compatible with 30-foot houses than a 100-foot-wide bldg.  In response to a question about parking and traffic, he said that if you let those considerations guide decisions you are mandating suburban form everywhere (since more parking means more car dependence/subsidization).

Norman Wright of Columbia, Tn. (a small town near Nashville) reminded us of the big picture: by allowing NIMBY veto we make sprawl easy and infill hard so naturally we have more sprawl.  He suggested a form-based code that makes infill easy enough that you don’t need a public hearing for infill.  Lisa Nisenson also spoke on infill- the most interesting thing she said was to use Pinterest to show examples of best practices.

Then I spent shabbos near the Country Club Plaza neighborhood (there was no shul nearby so I did everything on my own- there is a Chabad nearby but numerous sick children prevented me from visiting the Chabad rabbi’s house as I was hoping to).

From an urban Jewish perspective, Kansas City may be the worst city of any size in America.  Other than the Chabad (which isn’t really a full-fledged shul yet, though I suspect it might be in a few years) and a Reform congregation that only meets on Fridays, every single synagogue is in Overland Park, Kansas, where bus service is limited to rush hour buses from downtown.  This is dreadful even compared to Detroit (Conservative shul near downtown) or Cleveland (only one Reform shul within city limits, but lots of shuls in transit-accessible inner-ring suburbs) or St. Louis (ditto).  If your urban core has less Jewish life than those cities, that is pretty sad.

Saturday morning I walked through the Westport area, which was pretty depressing.  The core of Westport (near Westport and Pennsylvania) is nice, but much of the surrounding area has so much parking as to look like a fairly dingy suburb.  Also, there is a one-way street or two on the area’s western fringe, which outside downtown really has no value- it just encourages people to speed through the neighborhood, reducing retail value and creating dangers for pedestrian and motorist alike.  It could be argued that one-way streets are better for pedestrians because they don’t have to look both ways- but in Westport even this advantage was diluted because motorists were making left and right turns onto the one-way streets, which means pedestrians still have to look out for cars.   Dan Burden suggested a good litmus test for one way streets: if drivers speed, turn it into a two-way.

I also walked around the Country Club Plaza area and Ward Parkway; these are quite pretty (especially the fountains and bridges in the middle of Ward Parkway) though I didn’t like that (a) some streets south of the parkway (only five miles from downtown) lacked sidewalks and (b) that the Plaza was so dominated by national chains that there was a lot of practical stuff that was hard to find (e.g. no drug store, grocery etc that I noticed).

Sunday’s highlight was a walking audit of downtown and Quality Hill led by Dan Burden.  He mentioned that downtown had some lanes that were 14 foot wide- obscenely wide even by American standards (I think 12 feet is the average suburban lane width).  No wonder KC so car-dominated!

He mentioned that one common excuse for wide lanes is buses- but buses are only 8 or 9 feet wide so this argument is weak.

Burden also talked about “transparency” – the idea that pedestrians feel more protected where there are windows on the street as opposed to blank walls.  Downtown KC did not do well by this measurement- even condos had blinds hiding first floor windows.

Then we discussed the proper composition of sidewalks; he mentioned that brick, though colorful, isn’t good for disabled or elderly pedestrians because it is hard to maintain, leading to falls.  He suggested that decorations like street furniture or bricks should only be in the last foot or two of sidewalk, so people would have plenty of room to walk safely.

As we walked towards residential Quality Hill (just west of downtown) Burden pointed out that not all surface parking lots were equally bad.    He showed us one where apartments surrounded the parking lot, creating a level of visibility that might make one feel safer when exiting the car and walking to an apartment.

He also had an interesting idea: every police officer should walk two hours, to (1) get them to know their community better, and (2) put them in better shape (and I would add (3) to be more sympathetic towards pedestrians).  Not sure how practical it is, but interesting.

- on the CNU website, on pro-urban TV theme songs, on whether the most transit-friendly regions have had higher real estate value increases than other regions, and how urbanites and suburbanites may differ in defining “quality of life.” 

- on Planetizen, explaining that even at pretty high levels of density, additional density reduces car use.

After I gave a little more thought to my idea, here’s my vision of America as NYC- similarities are meant to be geographic not demographic.

Alaska- The Bronx. Up in the NW corner of the city, kind of forgotten by much of the rest of the idea.

Hawaii- Staten Island.  An island vulnerable to tropical storms, south and east of everything else.

I imagine Manhattan as the continental West, as follows:

Washington state- Washington Heights, of course (the NW end of the city, just where Washington is in the lower 48).

Oregon- Upper West Side (just south of Wash Hts like Oregon from Wash).

California- Midtown and Western Manhattan; I guess San Francisco is Midtown, metro LA is the Village, and San Diego is Wall Street.

Idaho- Spanish Harlem.

Nevada- Upper East Side/east Midtown

Arizona- Lower East Side

Most of Queens would be the northern half of the rest of the Lower 48, and Brooklyn the southern half (except southern Queens at the eastern fringe).  Here’s my first stab at it (which I urge the rest of the world to improve  upon):

Montana- Astoria/Long Island City

Wyoming- Greenpoint/Williamsburg

Colorado-Brownstone Brooklyn (Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope etc)

New Mexico- Sunset Park/Bay Ridge

The Dakotas- those two low profile twins, Woodside and Sunnyside

Nebraska- Boro Park

Kansas- Bensonhurst

Oklahoma- Brighton Beach/Coney Island

Texas- Flatbush

Minn– East Elmhurst (where Laguardia is), Jackson Heights.

Iowa- Southwestern Queens (Middle Village, Glendale, Ridgewood)

Missouri- Bedford-Stuyvestant

Arkansas- Crown Heights

Louisiana- Kensington

Wisconsin- Corona

Illinois- Rego Park

Indiana- Forest Hills

Kentucky- Ridgewood

Tenn- Bushwick

Michigan – Flushing

Ohio- Kew Gardens

New York- Hillcrest/Fresh Meadows/Utopia

Pennsylvania- Jamaica/Jamaica Estates

Maine- Little Neck

New Hampshire- Douglaston

Vermont- Bayside

Mass- Oakland Gardens

Ct-  Fresh Meadows

RI- Hollis Hills

NJ- Queens Village

Del- Cambria Heights

Md-Laurelton

Va- Rosedale

NC- Ozone Park

SC- Rochdale

Mississippi- Brownsville/East New York

Alabama – Canarsie

Ga- Springfield Gardens

Fl- The Rockaways (peninsula in the far south)

WV- Richmond Hill

1.  Think the only obstacle to gun control is NRA campaign contributions? Actually, public opinion has become more pro-gun over time.  Early 1990s polls showed fairly overwhelming support for stricter gun laws; now public opinion is more evenly split.  (See also here and here).

2.  Could this be because more Americans own guns?  Not necessarily. The percentage of people owning (or at least admitting to owning) a gun in the house has oscillated between a high of about 50 percent (in 1968 and again in 1993) and a low of 36 percent (1999).  The most recent polls show about 40-45% of households owning guns.

3.  Are Americans more murderous than they used to be?  Not really.  The 2011 murder rate (4.7 per 100,000) is lower than at any time since 1963.

Sandoval won 53% statewide but only 33% of the Hispanic vote.  He ran only three points ahead of Sharron Angle (the party’s failed Senate nominee) among Hispanics, but ten points ahead among Whites.  (Exit poll data for the Senate race here).