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16 Podu Iloaiei as Depicted in Literary Works
The small town of Podu Iloaiei has not often been described in the Romanian literature, and its image is far from complete. Sometime around 1840, C. Negruzzi described a rather negative image of the place.
For M. Kogalniceanu (The Physiology of the Provincial) in 1844, women between the ages of 15 and 40 should live at least in Sulitoae or Odobesti, in Herta or Agiud, in Memornita or Podul Eloaie (Pont d'Aloia as it was said in an inspired or transpired translation). It's like they are born in Iasi, which means they are just as good to be loved. Vasile Alecsandri visited in 1846: Millo's house in Podul Iloaiei
At the beginning of the 20th century, the humorist Gh. Braescu wrote in his story The Lucky Man (Selected Works, volume 1, Bucharest, 1967, pages 103-107): The new cabinet minister for tolerance visited his native town, Podul Iloaiei (the Moldavians call it Podliloaei), and asked the people 'What are your concerns? What do you need?' He was asked for nails, an iron plate, a secondary school, glass, and the Jewish glass seller kept on insisting on windows.
Beno Solomon published a story The Raoaiei Town in 1934 in the magazine Adam (No. 67, 68, and 69) about his childhood memories of the small town of Podeloi (the Yiddish name for Podu Iloaiei).
Naturally, the Yiddish literature has been more generous with this particular shtetl, which was mentioned by Adolf Magder in his work Alia, published in Romanian in 1912.
The dramatist Isac Abramovici wrote The Cheated Father-In-Law, a Yiddish comedy inspired by A. Goldfaden's The Two Kune-Leml. The plot and characters are set in Podu Iloaiei, but nothing specifically links the comedy with this place. The manuscript was kept in the archive of the writer Iulian Schwartz, who mentioned the manuscript on page 22 of his book Literarishe dermonungen (Bucharest, 1975).
An accomplished satirical description of day-to-day life in the town in 1919 was given in a revue show conceived by Ghetel Buchman (who was killed in 1941 during the pogrom in Iasi), Lupu Buchman, and the engineer I. Kern. Simcha Schwartz (1900-1974), who was well known in the theater world and was also a writer and sculptor, published several excerpts of the novel Podeloi in Yiddish papers. The famous poet Itic Manger wrote The Ballad of the Rabbi of Podu Iloaiei. I. Kara depicted the life of the town in his works A Moldevisher Yingle (A Boy From Moldova; Bucharest, Kriterion Publishing House, 1976) and Inghe Iurn In Veiniker Inghe (Young Years and Older Years; Bucharest, Kriterion Publishing House, 1980). We mention the following stories: A Boy From Moldova, Calman the Medicine Man, Dudl Consul, along with an excerpt from the novel The Spring of 1917 which was published by Iulian Schwartz (1910-1977) in the anthology Bukareshter Shriftn, I, 1978, pages 76-82.
Interesting memories about Podu Iloaiei and Hirlau were published in Israel by M. Landau (1894-1976). More recently, the musician Iehosua Gurevici published Steitleh Mit Idn in Yiddish (Tel Aviv, 1975), and later a shorter Romanian version under the title From Podul Iloaie to Vacaresti Street [B-22].
The image of the town is completed by the local folklore discovered and published by I. Kara in Czernowitzer Bleter, Oifgang, and Yivo-Sriftn, and by Iulian Schwartz in Bucharest Writings in Yiddish (volume IV, 1981).
For a comparison of Podu Iloaiei with other small towns in Moldova, Maramures, and Bukovina[B-23], we recommend the works of the poets Iacob Groper (1890-1966), Leon Bertis (1900-1980), and Samsn Ferst (1886-1968), and the works of the writers Luta Enghelberg (1878-1948), David Rubin (1893-1977), I. Vaidenfeld (1884-1966), H. Goldenstein, M. Held, D. Ionas, and V. Tamburu.
There are, of course, other works to be mentioned that were written either in Romanian or Yiddish and were published in Israel but were not available to us. It is possible that other works concerning Podu Iloaiei may still come up.
15.1 The Ballad of the Rabbi of Podu Iloaiei By Itic Manger
The old rabbi from the town of Lelioaiei
His forehead wrinkled with worry, says promptly:
The night has covered every lawn
What have I done since it was dawn?
His silent hands light a candle
His tired face reflects a light that's even greater
Weak, his fingers move attentively to all
The shadows quiver strangely on the wall:
I've prayed, I've saddened, and I've wept
Comfort to me the psalms forever kept
He murmurs, his heart throbs with pain:
On this week's day, my sadness brought shame
He puts on the clothes he keeps for days of joy
And slowly walks along the way.
He sees the stars above as embers smoldering
To him, small silver flowers flickering:
A miracle beyond compare, that has never been;
Praised be, my Lord, for this day and night have not
Been tainted with the shame my sadness brought!
But look, the street lamp trembles in the night
Playing with shadows of whispers hiding from the light,
And see the servant take to the black well
A horse. When suddenly a distant trill
Comes in his ears, listens carefully,
A rustle of wings, an endless tune may be.
The old rabbi from the town of Lelioaiei
His forehead wrinkled with worry, says promptly:
It feels so good to walk on ground
Each step is a pray, each move is a sound
He walks and his beard is waving in the wind
Of grief, drained has become his eyes' light spring
The old man is blind; but his heart bold
And light finds ways across the world,
Blue paths, from ancient, sacred times.
The woods enclose him; the springs call out high,
His steps are each a prayer to the skies.
Watching, the trees stand up as magic swords
To the beautiful paths, they're humble guards.
The woods enclose him even more and stronger
The old man feels weak and death can wait no longer
He lies as grass cut in the glades
As golden wheat is devoured by hungry sickles' blades.
The thoughtful midnight now comes down
Over the old man who has fallen on the ground:
- What whisper thee, old man? - I sing as once.
- Thy face is pale. - My heart is light.
- You're shivering with cold. - I do not feel,
Sweet, holy spirit soothes all my pain.
- Confess thee, brother. - I cannot, poor me
My past is grief and tears. I sit here silently.
For tears taint the face of earth
And the grace of this day's light diminishes.
The old rabbi from Lelioaiei town
To the night responds in a wise voice.
So dies the old man; the moon grows paler,
And with a smile, whispers in secret:
Only the right and kind are worthy
of such a death, oh heavenly father!
Translated from Yiddish to Romanian by I. Kara
15.2 The Rabbi of Podu Iloaiei by I. Kara
An old man of medium height, broad-shouldered, with a snow-white beard, a sharp, intelligent look underneath his long, silvery, rich eyebrows, and a strong, pleasant voice, dressed in modest, clean clothes, as is proper for a learned man. This is how I saw him 60 years ago.
On the eve of Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement, just before the Kol Nidre prayer, said for the absolution of the faithful from punishment for their disregarded oaths, he was standing humbly in front of the altar in the large synagogue. He was dressed in white from head to heels, his tales for prayer embroidered with silver thread though stained yellow because of long time use, murmuring passionately Tefilah zaka, the introduction prayer that shakes the souls of the faithful with emotion. Silently, in his inner self with tears and prayers and a high sense of responsibility for the mission he chose to assume, he was defending his flock on the terrible day of the final judgement.
Rabbi Ira (Uri) Landman, grandson of the tzadik of Strelite, was born in that Galician town on 24 Iyar 5598, meaning the spring of 1838. Having a sharp mind and inclined to study, he devoted himself to knowledge since his early youth. His ingenious commentaries were written in a capricious handwriting on long sheets of paper, which, to the end of his life, amassed in huge piles in the attic of his modest home. A small part of his works, written when he was young, was published in Cernauti in 1885 under the title Salom's Tears, a three-part necrology of some famous Hasidic rabbis. In town, where several other learned men were living, the rumor went that he could conceive a thousand interpretations concerning only the first word in the Bible, Bereshit.
Although he led quite a secluded life, the world was no stranger to him. Since he was known to be a peace lover, he was often called on to mediate when delicate issues were at stake. In his older years, he was no longer an adept of the Hasidic law; though the rabbis from Pascani and Buhusi appealed to him on a dispute concerning a possible in-law relation between them.
His opposition to the Hasidic law was discrete but constant. The tzadiks from Pascani and Stefanesti had many adepts in town. Actually, a real Hasidic dynasty descending from Rabbi Meir from Premislean was established here. After 1860, Reb Alter founded this Hasidic center. He was followed by his son Ben Zion, who was killed with his entire family during the 1944 bombing.
At nightfall, on the Saturday of sales-sides, the learned of the town would come to see Rabbi Ira and discuss his commentaries at that week's pericopa. He was also known for his intelligent, subtle humor, as well as for his morality. Even in his youth, he was greatly appreciated: The Moldavian Jews recognize but three rabbi figures - Moshe Rabenu, Sifsei Hahamim (also known as Sabetai Bas from Prague who was a famous popularizer), and Reb Meir Premislaner. As an elder, he was asked to see a stubborn man who refused to divorce his wife with whom he no longer lived. The wise, old man answered by adapting an old popular saying: Er heirt mich vi dem ruv (meaning he follows my advice as the rabbi's, which could also be interpreted as he follows my advice as the cat's). Mocking his poor living conditions, he once said: If you want to say that a house is in good wealth with plenty of food and clothes, you may say 'There is some extra for the rabbi, but it will probably never get to the rabbi.'
Talking about a local moneylender, Avram from the huts, he used to say: Now, his money keeps on multiplying even when he sleeps; in exchange, at the final judgement, he will sleep and above him the grass will keep on growing (meaning he will not reach eternal life). His satirical remarks remained in the memory of the local people. Thus, in town, the story went about one time when the rabbi had to go to Iasi. He had agreed with the wagoner not to take along the women who were going to sell chickens to the market in Iasi. The wagoner did not keep his word. In the morning when the wagon stopped in front of the rabbi's house, it was crowded, which upset the rabbi. Then, a bold woman asked him: Why don't you like to travel with us, Mr. Rabbi? Is it that you hate us so much? On the contrary, the rabbi sharply said and got up in the wagon. Another time, a woman came to him to complain that the boiling milk had spilled and got into the meat pot. The rabbi answered with a play on words in Yiddish: If you had not hurried to the neighbors, the milk would not have spilled, either.
One more of his quips: The prefect of Iasi heard that a wise rabbi lives in Podu Iloaiei. One time, when he was inspecting the town, he called on the president of the community and asked him to arrange a meeting with the rabbi. The president chose the Hasidic rabbi who owned a better house. The discussion with this rabbi did not impress the prefect who expressed his disappointment on his way back. The president of the community told him that there is one more rabbi in town, and they went to the Rabbi Ira. The discussion, which was led by a translator, impressed the prefect who expressed his consternation that the first rabbi, whom he thought wasn't too great, lives so comfortably while the wise Rabbi Ira does not enjoy the same conditions. Rabbi Ira Landman answered: The other rabbi makes his living from the Jews' troubles, while my life depends on their joys. The prefect was delighted with the answer.
Rabbi Ira used to say: A community rabbi is like a headache, a Hasidic rabbi is like a stomachache; if your stomach aches, you don't know exactly what it is, while with the headache you know exactly what and where it hurts.
During the last years of his life, Rabbi Ira was sick for long periods of time. He became blind and someone had to take him by the hand to the synagogue, but he did not lose his sense of humor. Once, a child who did not enjoy studying was brought to him, and, as proof, the child could not answer even the most elementary questions about the Bible. So the rabbi exclaimed: The rabbi of Podu Iloaiei cannot leave his congregation at this time, for this boy is not able to replace him. The first months of the 1916 war brought many troubles to Rabbi Ira. When his end was near, his son-in-law Iosl Schapira, the great grandson of the famous Rabbi Levi Itzac of Berdicev, was standing next to him. Iosl asked his father-in-law to give him his blessing. The old man answered: You should give me your blessing, for our Heavenly Father listens to you more. Then, he took his son-in-law's hand, kissed it, and then passed away. A biblical expression could describe this as death through a kiss.
15.3 Podu Iloaiei by Simcha Schwartz
In town, nobody knows how many years old Zeida a Babii is. Since they can remember, he has had a white, curly beard and rosy, skinny cheeks almost like a baby's. Still, Marcu Ghetel is the only one who knows Zeida from his youth, from the time when they were partners in taking care of the town's taxesa job they took over from the old Greekand collecting the tax for passage on the bridge over the Bahlui river.
How many years ago did this happen? Mr. Marcu pretends not to remember. And the mystery of their old age haunts the imagination of the townspeople. Mr. Zeida has no idea how old Marcu is, and Mr. Marcu takes his revenge by saying: I don't remember well.
But Kiva, the janitor of the synagogue, tells a story from which it becomes clear that the old rotter, meaning Zeida, is almost 90. He heard the story from his grandfather, blessed be his name: It was sometime in the year 1859, when King Cuza took the throne. One day, the king passed through the town. It was the fast day of Tisha B'Av. It was incredibly hot, and the Jews, with their beards all tangled and wearing long coats and striped cloaks, were standing idly around the market tables and talking endlessly, so that the fast day would pass easily. Suddenly a beautiful carriage stopped right in the middle of the marketplace, and a young nobleman stepped down, wearing polished boots, a long mantle, and a small, black beard, as the French fashion dictated. He said in a loud voice: Who's the boss in this town? The people didn't realize what was really happening, and the nobleman continued angrily: Why, masters, do you still use forged weights?xx (text mentions Turkish Oka, which is a measurement tool that was adopted from the Turkish people, but which later was forged, in the sense that it was lighter than it indicated, being carved in its interior, thus fooling people into thinking they were getting more product than they actually were).Why do you sit here, around the tables, doing nothing instead of working your lazy bones? I shall give you land, as to the peasants. I shall see that you will be given land to work, you lazy ones! While saying this, he took a small notebook from his pocket, wrote something in it, said goodbye, and went back to Iasi.
At first, they all thought he was some unknown, local nobleman, and they were merely surprised. But when they finally realized that it was the new king, the whole town started to worry: My Lord, what a misfortune, what a calamity. They all ran to Mr. Zeida who, as a friend of the Greek who had much influence in the royal court, could give them advice.
Back then, Zeida was a man passed the age of 40, and his oldest son, Duvid Leib, was already married. Kiva makes all sorts of calculations, and he is very close to finding out Zeida's exact age. Just then, Dudl Consul opposes, contesting Kiva's calculations. The dispute is ready to begin. Dudl argues that 1869 is the year that Cuza[B-24] took the throne. This infuriates Kiva who looks straight at Dudl, plays nervously with his beard, and tells his opponent that his head is full of manure and that all he says is rubbish. How could Cuza become king in '69, when he was forced to abdicate by Bratianu in 1960 and King Carol was brought to the throne in '66.
Dudl would have had something to say against the year '66, with which Kiva would have contradicted him in front of the other people. But he felt that they would not agree with him. Kiva was right, since 40 years of King Carol's rule was being celebrated right then.
So Kiva should be attacked from his weak side. Dudl attacks: Let's leave the calculations. Anyway, Zeida remains the most honorable man in town. This time, Dudl didn't fail. Kiva's large beard moves with indignation: Why? Maybe because, since I've known him, he has never given a nickel to the synagogue? Or to the poor? Dudl answers back: The town would not be the same without Zeida. Who managed to save the old public bath from demolition? I believe it was Zeida! Who talked the prefect into granting us a new place for the cemetery? He resolved many of our problems with his tears. Who brought forgiveness from King Cuza for giving us land? Wasn't it Zeida? He went to the palace in Iasi. He threw himself at the king's feet, he cried, ripped his beard, he persuaded the king to leave our town in peace.
Really! Big deal! And now that the Jews from Bivolari have land, is their life worse than ours is? Stupid cows! You think that fighting for a bargain with the peasants, for a weight of salt or a box of fuel oil is a better thing than working the land?
So the fight went on, and the people forgot about calculating Zeida's age, which remained an unsearched, blessed treasure.
Translated from Yiddish to Romanian by I. Kara
Yiddish Translator's Note
I bring here some extra information about the real heroes of this story. The writer Litman Vigder (1901-1972) told me about some episodes characteristic of Zeida a Babii. The news of Theodor Herzl's death was much discussed by the townspeople. Surprised, the old Zeida asked: Was he an important man? How much money did he leave?
Zeida's wife was deaf and even stingier than he was. If someone entered their home and asked her for a loan (she was also a moneylender), she would think that the person is a beggar and yell to Zeida from the kitchen: Zeida, don't give away a thing!
After World War I, the old man deteriorated. It was a sad thing to see the physical and psychic degradation of a man whom, hardhearted as he was, used to be one of the community's leaders.
Regarding the millionaire (in gold lei) Marcu Ghetel's spirit of economy, I remember the following story from 1919. To increase the number of riders on the railroads, fourth-class carriages were introduced on local routes; the carriages were actually trucks with wooden banks barely holding, and it was hard to climb in. Marcu Ghetel, almost 100 years old, had some business in Iasi. Following his eagerness to save money, he bought himself a fourth class ticket. When asked why, he answered: Because there's no fifth class. It's true! Still, he donated a considerable sum of money to the primary Jewish-Romanian school in town that now bears his name.
When the news of Herzl's death was heard, Jan Meirovici, book seller and printer of the town (he printed business cards), member of the committee, and candidate to the position of community leader, displayed in his shop window a large portrait of this great personality draped in black. An employee of the town hall saw the portrait and discretely asked whom it represented. Meirovici informed him: There used to be one Theodor who died, and this is his photo. This Meirovici was the first to publish illustrated postal cards depicting the primary Jewish school and the main streets of the town.
15.4 Podeloier Times (Podu Iloaiei Hotchpotch)
World War I and the great changes it brought in Europe, especially the reunification of Romania, had among its consequences a remarkable increase in the Jewish population both in quantity and quality which strongly influenced the local Jews' cultural life, including the amateur theater. The amateur theater troupes, who had been performing since the end of the 19th century, were no longer satisfied with the old repertoire. They were looking for modern plays dealing with that time's reality plays written in a more alert style, taking as a model the Romanian revue shows or, after 1919, the shows performed by the couple I.Sternberg-I.Botosanski who came from the other side of the Prut River[B-25] in 1914 and led a remarkable cultural activity.
Young intellectuals from small towns like Podu Iloaiei, Buhusi, Moinesti, and later Falticeni, Botosani, and other places, imagined revue shows on themes of local interest and with a marked satirical-social message. Several young people from Podu Iloaiei the student Ghetel Buchman who was murdered in 1941 during the Iasi pogrom, the engineer Iancu Kern who died in the United States at an old age, and Simcha Schwartz (1900-1974) who later became a famous sculptor wrote together the text and music, did the scene painting (with the help of Hamburger, the excellent makeup specialist from Iasi), found actors like A. Mendelovici (now a retired physician in Iasi), Levi Leibovici, Aron Iosupovici, and Velvl Buchman, and performed in the revue show Podu Iloaiei Hotchpotch, twice in Podu Iloaiei and once in Tirgu Frumos.
It was the winter of 1919/1920, and the public impatiently awaited the premiere of the show to be presented in the local Yiddish dialect. The literary value of Sim Schwartz's prologue was higher than that of the parts written by the other two co-authors who used the pseudonyms Leteg and Bokai (Ghetel and Iakob, respectively). The author himself performed the prologue, and the text became known in Bucharest and Cernauti, and then in Paris, Buenos Aires, Holland, Eretz Israel, and elsewhere. None of the co-authorsnor their relatives or friendswas spared from the satire's sting. The following is the Romanian version of this prologue, which was sung on the motif from the Hakdumot prayers recited on Shavuot:
Akdumois milin
Before I start babbling, my beloved brothers,
Insistently I ask you, don't become upset.
We shall start right now with a serious matter
And later end with a lunch prayer
Here, we shall serve dishes that are special
By choice or fix menu, all at reduced prices.
The hotchpotch is boiled in butter and honey
Still, we couldn't leave apart just a bit of venom
The cooks put in lots and lots of salt
They do not know much; it is not their fault.
When one cook is deaf, the other is blind
And one who knows music cries out Ghevalt
The first one wants profit, but loses it all
With empty words, another fills the whole world,
The first one studies the undead and ghosts
The other, from the Bible all the verses quotes.
The first one, when sees something
Falls to its feet, declaring his love
The other likes old papers, I say,
And reads them all as the calf eats hay.
They cooked this hotchpotch, since
It's said in the book with raw beans.
Reb Eli served us with ritual water
Mr. Hers Swarssome boiled gizzard.
Zeilig Moser gave us kosher meat
As the saying goes like Usar's girl[B-26]
Moise Buchman readily sold us wood for fire
While Arn Rosental put some gas on fire[B-27]
Iancu Leibovici rings the bell if danger
Ianculovici, Iosupovici bring a fire engine
David Leib Davidovici has good intentions.
The hotchpotch is ready thanks to all this help
So the good old tradition requires
And, please, don't give up just now.
Do not frown, come one, we're even
And the hotchpotch will be served in just a minute.
It would be too much to translate the whole text, which is composed of innuendoes that were familiar only to the local audience. It made a list of the small, local habits. Most of the people mentioned in the text were actually flattered to be at the center of public attention. The rest showed bonne mine au mauvais jeu, meaning good face for nasty jokes, while those who threatened to sue for defamation only increased the humor, success, and efficiency of the show, beyond its theatrical scope.
Dr. A. Mendelovici (1902-1980) who helped me reconstitute some of the verses, told me how much enthusiasm was put into the rehearsal and performance of this show, which, as a fact, had a short life on stage. The young artists went their separate ways and chose more serious careers. Still, the taste of the Hotchpotch remains on the lips of those who tasted it, back in those days.
15.5 A Boy from Moldova
by I. Kara
If the angel of life had forgot to hit a fillip under my nose, so I forgot everything that happened up in the heavens before I was born, I could have told you all about my genealogy. I could have told you about my father's grandpa, his father's father, Nuham sin Hers, also known as the cheese man, since he traded products like fresh and processed cheese, lambs, wool, and skins. I stumbled upon his name in the 1849 census for Podu Iloaiei, my native town. The town was founded around 1816 in the Iasi district, in the vicinity of a small inn and bridge that were in the custody of a woman named Leia or Lelioaia, and so the name of the town became Podu Lelioaiei. The bridge over the Bahlui River is still standing, although it has been rebuilt.
Maybe I could have mentioned my father's grandma, his mother's mother, Motl, a short, agile old lady who would not let our parents spank us, telling them don't hit the child in Romanian so we would not understand. And they would listen to her. I was only three years old when she passed away, and I can only see her image as in a hazy dream.
I remember my great grandmother Basie much bettera tall, clever lady but moody and fastidious. If she were offered a seat among the older ladies at a wedding, she would be upset that they had put her among the hags, and if her place was with the younger women, she would complain that they had placed her with the teenagers. Yes, it was hard to satisfy great grandma.
I shall spare you my nostalgic memories about all my uncles, aunts, cousins, and other relatives from several generations. I won't go and describe my little townall hidden among the hills, covered by forests, and close to the swamps of the Bahlui riverbed. The mosquitoes, malaria, and frog concerts are no source of inspiration.
I don't really remember any particular event before my fifth birthday. When I passed thirteen and, since I did not show a great deal of enthusiasm for my morning prayers, old Hana, the cook, would reproach me about my indifference and recall the time when I was less than three years old and would wear a towel instead of a tales and go visit the neighbors singing the Friday night prayer Lecha N'Ranana to everbody's amusement. But now .- she used to say, and then let the sentence unfinished ..Now it's different; my mind should no longer be as a three-year-old's, I would answer her silently in my thoughts.
From the time of heder, our modest confessional school, I shall evoke only several moments. Iosl belfer, the teacher's substitute, would come home in the morning, recite the prayer together with the kids, and then take them to school. He carried a basket with the children's lunch on his back. During the rainy and muddy days in autumn, he would carry us on his back too. Each period with its own means of transportation ..
The restrooms at the heder were natural. During the breaks, the kids would line up on the bank of the Bahlui River, and relieve nature with the open sky above their heads. If one considered that he was too close to the kid next to him, he would remember a local tradition and start shouting: Your mother will give birth to cats! And, since no one would have liked his mother to give birth to kittens, the person would move away without paying attention to what he trampled on. After the break, the air in the class didn't exactly smell like roses.
Strul melamed, my first teacher, was a good-looking man, broad-shouldered with a black beard and brown eyes. He had a good heart and, as a teacher, fulfilled his duties quite well. Soon, we moved to a more modern confessional school, with desks in rows and a blackboard, just like in the primary school. Here we studied the Pentateuch and even modern Hebrew using S. A. Gold's schoolbook printed by Samitca at Craiova. I still have one of those schoolbooks from 1912; I don't remember which edition. Even before I registered in the primary Jewish-Romanian school in town, our mother had taught us to read in Romanian and a bit of French. During the Balkan war in 1913, I was able to read the headlines in the papers. The first grade of the primary school was no problem for me. Our mother, Ester, was an intelligent and beautiful woman, and she could adapt to all sorts of changes in life. She was born in Tirgu Ocna, in a family where the father was a ritual chicken slaughterer. She was the youngest among four brothers; she became an orphan at a very young age and married young. I don't know when or how she managed to learn French satisfactorily, in the company of the rich girls educated by Mademoiselle Petavain, or when she picked up German from the illuminist Professor Feldbau. She even learned the Bible in Hebrew and some of the Talmud, simply by listening. If needed, she could give some help to a less smart student of the Talmud. She helped her children with their first, most difficult steps in school. Mother learned Romanian at random, but she gained solid knowledge of the language and even learned Russian, around 1940, in Cernauti. She showed much understanding for her children's advanced ideas. Since she became a widow in 1928, she had to face heroically a harsh fate. Those close to her used to say as a joke that her children address her as miss mamma!
Our father, Hersl, dedicated his childhood and teenage years to the traditional study of the Bible, the commentaries, and the Talmud. He married at age 20 and quickly wasted the dowry money. Quite early, he showed the real side of his personality: energetic, persevering, driven to initiative and exploration, and displaying an optimism that wasn't always justified. He died at age 51, a victim of the commercial honesty, consumed by disease in several days.
A curious thing: A social hierarchy was established by the way in which children addressed their parents. In modest families, father and mother were used. Other children more linked to the rural way of life used granpa and grandma. In the enlightened families, children called their parents vater and mutter (German); in other houses, including our own, papa and mam (French) were used. Everywhere in town, the language to be heard was a Moldavian Yiddish, but you could also hear Romanian. An old nanny, Aunt Maria, could repeat the Hebrew prayers with the children and was familiar with the complicated Jewish ritual, even though she was a good Christian Orthodox.
When the 1913 war was over, and tens of Jewish soldiers returned, the only one missing was a poor widow's only son who had died in battle. This was a prelude to the world war that was drawing near. Between July 1914 and August 1916, the period when Romania maintained its neutrality, commercial life flourished. The Germans bought massive amounts of raw materials, cereals and food, and paid good money for them. Some merchants even made some fortune and started dreaming about extending their business to a larger city.
The mobilization on August 15, 1916 opened a page of crucial importance in history. A world was fading and with it the first years of the childhood of a boy from Moldova.
15.6 Calman the Medicine Man by I. Kara
On Friday afternoon, Vasile the bath-house attendant hasn't even finished walking through town, ringing the bell and calling Idara budara! (To the bath, fellows!), when there they are, rushing to the community's bath with basin, oak broom, and clean clothes in their hands. Three of them were regular customers of the bath; they open and close the party of the weekly bath. After spending the first session of steam on the highest step in the room, they descend and solemnly take their seats on the large benches covered with mats in the room where they left their clothes before the bath. They talk about the quality of that day's steam and forecast the taste of the traditional goulash with hot corn flour, their Friday lunch.
The oldest of the three musketeers is Meir Kolomeier, an old man of long, lanky stature. He is a sales agent, a man trusted by the landlords who has seen many villages and towns. The second is Calman, the medicine man for cows. He is of medium stature, a little overweight with a rare, pointed, goat-like beard just like Meir's. The youngest is David, the sieve maker, who walks around the villages carrying his huge sieve on his back. He works for both landlords and peasants, winnowing their wheat. All three men wear rustic shirts and broad, red girdles over their thick cloth pants. Their entire life is linked more to the villages than to their little town. The bath is the place where they rest and recall the old times.
In their youth, the poor Jews of the town used to wear tight trousers, peasant shirt, girdles, and fur caps. You could distinguish them from the other peasants only by their mantle and their beard and side whiskers. They complain that the prices are high (it is 1912!) and remember the prices of the times before: three nickels for a measure of good wine[B-28], ten for a quarter kilo of smoked meat, and bread cost almost nothing. They mention with a sigh the buxom, hardworking, and daring bartender woman and many other things from their past youth, which they now see through pink glasses.
In the meantime, the people of the town rush to take their bath and return quickly to their homes. The three old men are lost in times of yore and are preoccupied with their repeated steam baths and cold baths; they do not realize that the time passes. They keep on talking and do not go home until the bath attendant comes in to tell them that the women have come to take their bath.
On the main street of the town, all of the houses' rooms that face the street are dedicated to some kind of business: stores, manufacturing, warehouse, bureau, butcher store, café, or candy store. This is the commercial street. In the yard, there are warehouses, barns, stables, chicken coops, the summer kitchen, and sometimes a small garden. At Calman's house, everything takes place in the part of the house that faces the yard; in summertime, on the porch, and in winter, in the kitchen. He doesn't stay much at home. He lives his life mostly in the country, where there are stables, grasslands, sheepfolds, and winter camps. If someone needs him for some sick animal, he enters through the back door.
It's Saturday morning, on a day in September. At the open windows, the devoted Jews slowly recite that week's pericope from the Bible. Since dawn, Calman has sat on the porch bench, watching the people. On his head, he has his black fur cap, which he always wears; on his back, his old vest that he never leaves without. The red girdle is at its place as always, keeping him in health. Suddenly, at the door, appears old Gheorghe, who is the shepherd at the sheepfold that belongs to Miss Pascanita, the owner of the Scobalteni estate. After saying Good morning! to each other, Gheorghe readily announces to Calman that there's no need to worry. There's no case of disease. He came to town with an interest at the local Court of Justice, and stopped by to visit his friend. Calman moves over so that the man can sit next to him, and together they go on recalling the old times. On their lips, the same sweet, soft, calm, and mild Moldavian dialect blooms.
Do you remember, Calman, that summer night when you saved Ion Cutan's red cow and its calf from death? And there go the praises to the unique breeding cow, nice and of good breed just like a maiden, even if the cow and generations of its cubs had passed away into eternity long ago with the butcher's kind help.
Calman rests his eyes on his six-blade pocketknife, with which he has saved so many cows from death. They remember a snow-stormed, moonless winter night when they rushed in a sleigh to a sheepfold, where the wolves had massacred sheep and lambs. Only Gheorghe's skill and cold-bloodedness in handling the horses saved them from being eaten by the wolves, for the pack was chasing them and roaring terribly. They also remember the village parties at which Calman never ate meat. But he was as skillful a dancer as anyone else in his large boots. As well, he was anyone's equal in drinking wine.
In town, Calman is considered too much of a peasant, but they all respect him for his skill and hard work. He has saved many animals from disease or death: someone's cow or goat that provides food for the family, someone else's horse that is used to make a living. He even cured, with his herbs and medicines, the town's breeding ox that had an injured leg from jumping over a fence. Lost in memories, Calman doesn't realize that by now the people have filled the synagogue he also attends, and that the sermon has already begun. Fortunately, old Gheorghe remembers his interest that brought him to town. The old man drinks to the bottom his glass of strong brandy, takes a bite of the white bread that the lady of the house brought, says goodbye, and heads toward the Courthouse. Calman quickly grabs his Saturday tales and goes to the Aziel synagogue, the oldest in town, in which his father, grandfather, and great grandfather, one of the founders of the town, prayed.
The entire town is discussing the news that the postman has brought Calman a letter, together with two boat tickets for him and his wife, from his only son who immigrated to America many years ago. Calman is overwhelmed. It's true that the Balkan war and the Great War of 1914-1918, and the events that followed, produced radical changes in Calman's old world. His two friends died, many things changed in the village and in town, and nothing is as it used to be. My, world, world
Calman understands that he will have to leave behind all that has made up his life until now. He wishes to know where he is going, and he finds out. New York is a big city with as many inhabitants as Romania's entire population before the war; the houses have many floors (They surpass the clouds, Calman says to himself) and people of different origins live there. Calman cannot imagine a city larger than Iasi. He was there several times, and the crowds of people, the tramway, the houses with two or three floors, the noise, and the motion left him perplexed. He came home and felt sick for a couple of days. And America is so far away. You go by train and by boat, and the journey never ends.
Calman is walking through the rooms of his home, feeling like a stranger since his wife sold or gave away everything and packed their bags. He only took his tales for prayer, his stamp collection, his coat, cap, and boots. His friends in town and from the villages accompanied him to the station. Calman looked like an oak tree that has been uprooted from its land in the woods of Arama (Cooper) and taken to be transplanted in America.
In New York, Calman lived for one more year, a plentiful life but a lonely one. Then the news came that the old man had died. His longing for his town, the field, the woods, the shepherds and the sheep, and the places that had made up his life for over 70 years had consumed him quietly.
Good people, the end of my story is sad. But this world's wheel never stops spinning, and it is in vain to cry over past times. The times are changing and so are we.
15.7 Dudl Consul by I. Kara
In the small towns of Moldavia, Shabbat Hagadolthe Saturday before the celebration of Pesachwas considered the day of those who were bald or had some kind of scars on their heads, kareches the bald men. This was of course in memory of one of the ten plagues, with which Iehova struck the Egyptians. It was said that on that day, these people were supposed to go to Mitzraim. The practical jokers had already made up the list of all those with bare heads, and they would display the list in front of the synagogue. Above the list, a bowl with cabbage juice was hung, supposedly a cure against baldness, as well as a damaged comb as a hint to those who, as children, would not bathe. In time, the kareches would receive some kind of citation order at their home, indicating the exact date and place to embark for Mitzraim. The town had fun on this subject, except of course those implicated, and the joke would last until the day of Pesach as a prolongation of the carnival-like Purim.
In my native town, the shiny heads had a diplomatic representative nicknamed Dudl Consul. Otherwise, he was an interesting, picturesque character. He was descended from a notoriously poor family and had many jobs but little progress. Mainly he worked as a stone hewer, a mason, but since few people built brick houses, he wasn't too busy. An incredible thirst for knowledge and science devoured this poor workmanthe craving to become better and do extraordinary things, impulsive dreams about traveling to exotic countries. He was the double version of Benjamin the third, Moldavian version, model 1900.
I don't believe Dudl ever attended the primary school, but he could read Romanian quite well, and he was one of the few in town who subscribed to the magazine Sanatatea. He read and carefully studied the articles in the magazine and tried to cure the sick ones in his large family by following the advice and prescriptions given in the pages. He was always ready to discuss medical subjects, and for him Sanatatea was almost a Bible.
One time, someone took him seriously and asked for the magazine to verify the arguments brought up in a discussion. The joker pretended to look over the articles. Seeing an ad for a medicine against hair loss, he showed it to Dudl who couldn't give an answer, for this was his weak spot.
Dudl passionately read Popular Science and Travels Paper. When the number of students in town (meaning high school boys) increased, Dudl tried to engage in discussions with them on physics and technique. During the students' vacation, he used to borrow their schoolbooks, and, in time, he became a passionate searcher for the much sought after perpetuum mobile.
He lived in the basement of a miserable building, at one of our neighbors. Each year, the rivers Bahlui and Bahluiet took pride in their waters and flooded the field along with the suburbs of the town, the camps and huts of the Gypsies and poor Jews, and sometimes even the yards of the up-town houses. One spring, Dudl's yard became a pool. His imagination grew wild: He was feeling the call to navigate. He took an old bathtub from the cellar. For a mast, he used a no-longer-used shovel that he took from the neighboring bakery. He tied to the shovel the all-patched and only sheet in his home and proudly set out to explore the world. Fortunately, the ship stumbled upon the yard's fence, and our hero took only a cold bath in the muddy waters of the over flown Bahlui River. If he had somehow managed to leave the harbor, the town would have counted one more poor widow and a household of orphans.
Dudl survived the flood and then tried to grow a coffee tree right in his backyard. The soil was just clay, covered with bricks, ash, and pieces of glass, among which weeds and thistles were growing. He remembered a picture from Popular Science and Travels Paper. With his family's last savings, he bought coffee beans and planted them in the clay that the flood had left behind. While waiting for the harvest, he and his family had at breakfast a cup of chicory[B-29] without milk and a slice of black bread with jam. The dream of a cup of genuine coffee with milk and cream and some fresh rolls was still far from reality. Such is life ..
After World War Iwhich for Dudl meant starvation, disease, and all kinds of miseriesnew houses were built in town. Dudl could not keep up with the developments of science that reached the level of Einstein's works, but instead he had plenty of work as a bricklayer. He even had enough money to build a bakery oven on which he put the following message in capital letters: Raised by David Pietraru in the year 1918.
Now he could peacefully pass away.
And he didn't have to wait for long.
(A Boy from Moldova by I. Kara, Bucharest, Kriterion Publishing House, 1976, p. 44-46)
Not far from the famous city of Iasi, there is the well-known, little town of Podu Iloaiei that became famous through the Svart family, which included four art creators; and not far away from the town there is a village very much the same as all the other nearby villages with good-looking houses covered with iron plate and poor people's huts covered with straw. (p. 75)
And this is the story of the Velvl clan. His background was in Podu Iloaiei. Here, his great-great-grandfather Iancu Moise found a place to settle and founded a dynasty of shoemakers. He ruled for 30 years and had three sons, all shoemakers, of whom two had no offspring. The second son, Velvl's great-grandfather, had two sons and three daughters. He was able to earn the first place in the family, but not the money to make a living. One must be extremely clever to see his three daughters married, especially in Podu Iloaiei. Velvl's grandfather also proved to be a clever man. He married his daughters to his apprentices. (p. 49)
(Haim Goldenstein: A Century of Silence, a novel written in Yiddish, Bucharest, Kriterion, 1979). Translated by I. Kara.
JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of
the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material
for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.
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Updated 21 Dec 2007 by LA


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Coding a Statechart in C
Contrary to popular belief, you don't need big code-synthesizing tools to translate UML statecharts to efficient and highly maintainable code. The implementation strategy I use to hand-code the PELICAN crossing statechart in Figure 2 in portable C is based on QP-nano, a generic "event processor" from my company Quantum Leaps. Actually QP-nano is more than just an event processor; it is a complete platform for executing concurrent state machines. Besides the optimized hierarchical event processor, QP-nano also provides event passing mechanism, event queuing, time event generation (timers), and a simple non-preemptive, prioritized scheduler to execute state machines in run-to-completion (RTC) fashion. All these services require about 1300 bytes of code (ROM) and just a few bytes of RAM on the 8051.
QP-nano has been designed for small systems with limited RAM. In this minimal version, events are represented as structures containing the byte-wide enumerated type of the event, such as TIMEOUT or PED_WAITING, which in the UML is called the "signal." Optionally, QP-nano lets every event have a single scalar event parameter. Event parameters are useful to convey the quantitative information associated with the event. For example, an ADC conversion might generate an event with the signal ADC_READY and the parameter containing the value produced by the ADC.
Each state in QP-nano is represented as a C function called a "state handler" function. The job of QP-nano is to invoke these state handler functions in the right order to process events according to the UML semantics.
A state handler function is a regular C function that takes the state machine pointer as the argument and returns a pointer to another state handler function, which is
typedefed as
QSTATE in the QP-nano header file qpn.h. You need to structure your state handler functions such that they return the pointer to the superstate handler, if they don't handle the current event, or a NULL-pointer, if they handle the current event. QP-nano uses this information to "learn" about the nesting of states to process events hierarchically and correctly execute state transitions.
To determine what elements belong a given state handler function, you first need to look up the state in the diagram and follow around the state's boundary. You need to implement all transitions originating at the boundary, any entry and exit actions defined directly in this state, as well as all internal transitions enlisted directly in the state. Additionally, if there is an initial transition embedded directly in the state, you need to implement it as well. You don't worry about any substates nested in the given state. These substates are implemented in their own state handler functions.
Take, for example, the state
carsGreen in Figure 2. This state has one transition TIMEOUT originating at its boundary, an exit action and the initial transition to the substate
carsGreenNoPed. The state
carsGreen nests directly inside
Listing One shows the state handler function
Pelican_carsGreen() corresponding to the PELICAN state
carsGreen. The state handler takes only one argument: the state-machine pointer;
Pelican* in this case (1).
By convention, I always name this argument "me". (If you are familiar with C++, you'll recognize that
me corresponds to the
this pointer in C++.) Generally, every state handler is structured as a big switch that discriminates based on the signal of the current event. To reduce the number of arguments of the state handler function, QP-nano stores the current event in the state machine object pointed to by the me pointer. For convenience, QP-nano provides the macro
Q_SIG() to access the signal of the event (2). Each case is labeled by an enumerated signal and terminates with
return (QSTATE)0. Returning a zero-pointer from a state handler informs the event processor that the particular event has been processed. On the other hand, if no case executes, the state handler exits through the final return statement, which returns the pointer to the superstate handler function
(QSTATE)&Pelican_carsEnabled in this case (11). Please note that the final return statement from a state handler function is the only place where you specify the hierarchy of states. Therefore, this one line of code represents the single point of maintenance for changing the nesting level of a given state.
(1) QSTATE Pelican_carsGreen(Pelican *me) { (2) switch (Q_SIG(me)) { /* switch on signal of current event */ (3) case Q_ENTRY_SIG: { /* entry action */ QActive_arm((QActive *)me, CARS_GREEN_MIN_TOUT); BSP_signalCars(CARS_GREEN); (4) return (QSTATE)0; /* event handled */ } (5) case Q_INIT_SIG: { (6) Q_INIT(&Pelican_carsGreenNoPed);/* initial transition */ (7) return (QSTATE)0; /* event handled */ } (8) case Q_TIMEOUT_SIG: { (9) Q_TRAN(&Pelican_carsGreenInt); /* state transition */ (10) return (QSTATE)0; /* event handled */ } } (11) return (QSTATE)&Pelican_carsEnabled; /* the superstate */ }
At the label (3) in Listing One, you can see how to code the entry action. QP-nano provides a reserved signal
Q_ENTRY_SIG (and also
Q_EXIT_SIG for exit actions) that the event processor sets in the state machine before calling the appropriate state handler function to execute the state entry actions. Therefore, to code a state entry action, you provide a case statement labeled with signal
Q_ENTRY_SIG, enlist all the actions you want to execute upon the entry to the state, and terminate the actions with
return (QSTATE)0 (4). Coding an exit action is identical, except that you provide a case statement labeled with signal
Every composite state (a state with substates) can have its own initial transition, which in the diagrams is represented as an arrow originating from a black ball. For example, state
carsGreen in Figure 2 has such a transition to the substate
carsGreenNoPed. QP-nano provides a reserved signal
Q_INIT_SIG that the event processor sets in the state machine before calling the state handler function to execute the initial transition. At the label (5) of Listing One you can see how to code the initial transition. You provide a case statement labeled with signal
Q_INIT_SIG, enlist all the actions you want to execute upon the initial transition, and then designate the target substate with the
Q_INIT() macro (6). You terminate the case statement with
return (QSTATE)0, which informs the event processor that the initial transition has been handled (7).
Finally, at the label (8) in Listing One, you can see how to code a regular state transition. You provide a case statement labeled with the triggering signal (
Q_TIMEOUT_SIG in this case), enlist the actions, and then designate the target state with the
Q_TRAN() macro provided by QP-nano (9). You terminate the case statement with
return (QSTATE)0, which informs the event processor that the event has been handled (10).
And this is about all you need to know to code any state (To conserve stack space, QP-nano can handle up to four levels of state nesting). The PELICAN crossing source code (pelican.c) accompanying this article provides more examples, such as coding internal transitions and transitions with guards.


text:
Recently, I've been on the biggest health kick of my life.
I have started running.
I said.. I. HAVE. STARTED. RUNNING.
This morning I did a Jillian Michaels workout dvd.
Last night I speed walked for 52 minutes.
(if you could see my face right meow it would be one of shock)
Now.... you need to know me to know that this is all very out of the ordinary!
On the inside I've always considered myself healthy,
but definitely not a runner-kinda-healthy!!
Is that too much to ask?
Before this health kick, my mind said to me "you're vegetarian... you can eat more than that! HAVE ANOTHER BOWL! Go onnnnnnn!"
(cheese.... obviously not healthy, but my first piece in 10 days!)
The most giant quinoa salad.
Mixed lettuce, 4 cups
Quinoa cooked, 2 cups
Sweet potato, cubed, roasted, 1/2 cup
Tomatoes, diced, 2 medium
Cucumber, diced, 1 cup
Capsicum, diced, 3/4 cup
Snap peas, sliced, 1 cup
Celery, sliced, 1/2 cup
Mixed roasted salted nuts, 1/2 cup
Serves 5.
224 calories per serve.
10 grams fat per serve. (8 of those in the nuts)
Minty pea dip.
Peas, 2 cups
Lemon juice, 2 T
Roasted garlic, 2 cloves
Dijon mustard, 1 t
Mint leaves, 1/4 cup or less
Olive oil, 2 T
23 Calories per dessert spoon.
I served this salad with a sprinkle of salt, a splash of Chinese Red Vinegar and a scoop of pea dip and hummus!


text:
The San Diego Comic-con has been releasing its program details, and fairly full details regarding the Game of Thrones panel are now available:
2:45-3:45 Game of Thrones Panel and Q&A session—; Based on the bestselling fantasy book series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, HBO's Game of Thrones series concluded its 10-episode second season on June 3. Created and executive produced by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the series follows kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars and noblemen as they vie for power in a land where summers span decades and winters can last a lifetime. Season 2 of the hit series told an epic story of duplicity and treachery, nobility and honor, conquest and triumph, set in an enthralling world of intrigue, seduction, and magic. Based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, production of season 2 also took place in Croatia and Iceland. Some of the cast featured in the second season and appearing on this panel are (in alphabetical order) Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy, Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen, Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark, Kit Harington as Jon Snow, Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister, and Richard Madden as Robb Stark. George R. R. Martin, who also serves as a co-executive producer and writer on the series, moderates with executive producer Carolyn Strauss. Hall H
So, now we have a list of "some" o the cast who'll be appearing. Why "some"? I suspect some more may be added as they clarify schedules… and, given the extreme silence from HBO on casting to date, I think it's safe to say that a "surprise" or two in terms of casting news will be revealed at the con.
HBO adds a follow-up indicating that executive producers Benioff and Weiss will not be in attendance as the season will already be filming at the time of the convention.


text:
Alan Newman
Title: Emeritus Professor of Law
Office: Room 317
Phone: 330-972-5859
Fax: 330-972-7337
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
SSRN: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=348238
Selected Works - bepress: http://works.bepress.com/alan_newman/
Curriculum Vitae: Download in PDF format
Professor of Law Alan Newman joined the faculty in 1996. He teaches courses in wills, trusts and estates and accounting and finance from a lawyer's perspective. Professor Newman received his bachelor of accountancy, as well as his J.D. degree, from the University of Oklahoma. He was the valedictorian of his law school class, a member of the Order of the Coif and the articles editor of the Oklahoma Law Review.
After law school, Professor Newman clerked for the Honorable Thomas Gibbs Gee, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, before entering private practice in Oklahoma City. Professor Newman is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He also is an academic fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and a certified public accountant.
Professor Newman is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Probate Law Journal of Ohio and recently served as the reporter for the Joint Committee on the Ohio Trust Code of the Legal, Legislative, and Regulatory Committee of the Ohio Bankers League and the Estate Planning, Trust, and Probate Law Section of the Ohio State Bar Association. His recent publications include Bogert, Trusts and Trustees (volume containing sections 961-974), Thomson West, third edition (2010); Revocable Trusts and the Law of Wills: An Imperfect Fit, 43 Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Journal 523 (2008); Zimmerman v. Zirpolo Trust: The Beneficiary's Right to Information, 22 Probate Law Journal of Ohio 214 (May/June 2012); Trust Modification or Termination for Unanticipated Circumstances, 22 Probate Law Journal of Ohio 135 (January/February 2012); and The Uniform Trust Code: An Analysis of Ohio's Version, 34 Ohio Northern University Law Review 135 (2008). Professor Newman was voted Outstanding Professor of the Year in 2012, 2011, 2007, 2001, 2000 and 1998.
Outstanding Professor of the Year 2007.


text:
Staples rallies to stun Newtown in baseball opener
WESTPORT -- Quiet at the plate for five innings, the Staples High baseball team solved Newtown's Brandon Marks before it was too late.
Down five runs with six outs to go in Wednesday's season opener, the Wreckers erupted for six runs -- all off the ace right-hander -- to notch a dramatic 7-6 win over the Nighthawks.
Staples (1-0) collected five hits in the sixth, nearly matching their total from the previous five innings combined.
Marks, who limited the Wreckers to six hits -- five singles -- through the first five innings, departed with the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth. Newtown led 6-4 at the time.
"One thing about this program is the kids aren't going to quit," Staples coach Jack McFarland said. "They feel like, when we play at home, we have a good chance. We're going to use all our outs."
Left fielder Matt Smith hit a ball off reliever Patrick Rowley that was misplayed in center to make it 6-5 in the sixth. Matt Campbell's bases-loaded walk tied it and designated hitter Frank Vartuli's groundout plated the go-ahead run for Staples.
"It was a game of adjustments, really, by our hitters," McFarland said. "That kid was throwing a good game, but we saw a lot of his pitches. By the fifth, sixth inning, we were starting to figure him out a little bit."
After stranding seven runners through five innings, Marks got into trouble early in the sixth. Vartuli led off with a double and second baseman Nick Vega bunted for a hit, bringing up Noah Yokoi. The Wreckers' catcher doubled to make it 6-2. Alex Ludel and James Frusciante followed with run-scoring singles to cut the deficit to two runs.
Marks walked only one and struck out seven over five-plus innings.
"The kid was a little bit of a puzzle with his curveball. He was throwing a nice game," McFarland said. "Our second and third time around, our kids made in-game adjustments at the plate. It really made a difference.
"Some kids had some awful at-bats the first couple innings."
Newtown coach Matt Memoli described Marks outing as "absolutely gutsy."
"He was an animal today," Memoli said. "When I took him out, the first thing I said was `There was not one other thing I could've asked.'"
Staples right-hander Greg Salamone, who recorded six saves in 2012, closed out the game with a perfect seventh inning.
"Last year he broke the (school) record for saves. He's cool out there. He knows how to close a game out," McFarland said.
Newtown, the defending South-West Conference champion, collected 10 hits.
The Nighthawks took a 3-1 lead in the third inning on designated hitter Julian Dunn's two-run single off left-hander Chris Speer. They tacked on a run in the fifth on a double by left fielder JP Blanco and two more in the sixth. Blanco went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored.
Speer, a senior, allowed three runs on four hits over four innings for Staples. He departed down 4-1.
"He gave us what we wanted. I wanted him to throw about 70 pitches today," McFarland said. "It's a cold day, it's a long season. I think anything more than that in this kind of weather is crazy."
Right-hander Justin Gallanty tossed two innings in relief for Staples and earned the win. He allowed three runs.
Newtown stranded seven runners in the loss.
"Against a team like this, you need everything you could get," Memoli said. "We just didn't get it done."
email@example.com; 203-255-4561 ext. 114; twitter.com/DougBonjour
Records: Newtown 0-1; Staples 1-0.
Batteries: N -- Brandon Marks (L, 0-1), Patrick Rowley (6) and Austin Raftery; S -- Chris Speer, Justin Gallanty (5) (W, 1-0), Greg Salamone (7) (SV, 1) and Doug Bonenfant and Noah Yokoi. Doubles: N -- Dean Demers, JP Blanco; S -- Bryan Terzian, Frank Vartuli, Yokoi.


text:
April 20, 2008
Editors Note: This is the second in a series of feature stories on the student-athletes who help shape the fabric of the Cal State Northridge Athletic Department. Today, a look at water polo goalkeeper Jillian Stapf who battled a childhood disability to become
one of the top players in the country.
The Stapf Presence
By Chris Podbielski, Media Relations Intern
Northridge, Calif. - Internal tibial torsion, commonly known as "toe-in", affects many children under the age of two, and usually corrects itself when a child learns to walk.
Jillian Stapf's case however, proved a bit more severe--evidenced by the fact that her doctor could turn Stapf's left foot around a full 360 degrees. He advised breaking the tibia to correct the problem, and then inserting screws to hold the bone in place. Stapf's parents decided to find another doctor, who recommended a less invasive method. The new physician prescribed plaster, rather than surgery.
"I would run around with casts on," said Stapf, who is one of the top collegiate water polo goalkeepers in the country. "It never seemed to slow me down too much. Every once in a while I'd trip over myself, but little kids do that anyway."
Not only did the childhood treatment not slow Stapf down (she barely remembers it), but it also played a role in piloting her to her current position; starting goalie for the nationally-ranked Cal State Northridge women's water polo team. Because of her impediment, her athletically-minded parents got her swimming at the age of four. And a family friend clued her in to the possibilities of water polo when Stapf entered her freshman year in high school.
"Basketball was my thing for a long time," said the 6'1" Michigan native and avowed Detroit Pistons fan. "I already tried volleyball and softball but didn't really take to those. And then my sister's friend told me about water polo and how much she loved it. So I decided to try it for a year and I loved it too. And here I am now."
Here, as in egg-beating her way to a season record-breaking 348 saves in her freshman year, which combined with this year's stats (251 saves), place her at second-best in Matador career saves. Here, as in the first Northridge net minder to score from her cage, which she actually has accomplished twice. Here, as in leading her team to a pair of conference victories in 2007. Molly Barnes, head coach of CSUN water polo, says plucking this unseen player from the mostly un-proven pools of the Midwest afforded a great opportunity for the team.
"We knew we were going from a goalie who was 5'6" with great legs, but no one was ever afraid to shoot on her--to the opposite end of a spectrum. With Jill we were getting a goalie that just covers a lot of area and looks pretty big in the cage and so they don't shoot as much. They're a little more afraid to shoot on Jill."
But besides filling a cage, Stapf's presence looms large in other places too. Last summer she worked out with the Junior National Olympic water polo team, competing in pools in New Zealand and Australia. This year the Matador looks for the same level of competition, but also adds a new dimension to her game:
"She could go, potentially, to the Olympics if she chooses to stay involved and dedicate her life to that after her four years have ended at CSUN," said Barnes. "She's just a good kid, she's never a problem and she gets her stuff done. But she also been chosen for the NCAA Leadership Conference and we're really excited for her to go to the conference, and for her to learn and hone all of those leadership qualities she has."
The Matadors compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), the toughest women's water polo conference in the country. Stapf's ability to deflect a skip shot (she currently places sixth in the conference in saves per game) rates nearly as much importance as her ability to really employ those leadership qualities. As the last defense between the goal and an opponent's shot on net, Stapf needs to keep her head. The goalkeeper remembers that nail-biting first year competing in the MPSF.
"I was really nervous," said Stapf. "Then again our whole team was really nervous because we had a lot of freshmen starting. We were really young. We're still young, We're only sophomores. But we definitely matured a lot last year. I still have a lot to learn but ... it's gotten better. I have more confidence and I have good teammates around me."
It takes a really good kick as well as a good head to rise above in water polo. Barnes says Stapf has a great, professional ethic--the sophomore constantly works out her legs in practice and hardly needs any hand holding. When she showed up as a freshman player last year, Barnes remembers, Stapf showed up ready to go. It seems this student-athlete was ready to go the moment the casts came off in her childhood.
"The scariest thing about her and the best thing about her," says Barnes, "is that potential she has. She's an athlete. They don't make them like that every day."
Editors Note: Jillian Stapf's 599 career saves is only 164 short of the school record held by Graziella Caredda (2003-06) ... Stapf will have two more seasons after this year ... Last weekend, Stapf recorded an incredible 34 saves in two wins on the same day against UC Santa Barbara and Cal State San Bernardino ... Stapf began the day with 14 saves against the Gauchos and followed up with a career-high 20 saves against Cal State San Bernardino.


text:
- Research
- Open Access
Mathematical modeling of left ventricular dimensional changes in mice during aging
© Yang et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012
- Published: 17 December 2012
Cardiac aging is characterized by diastolic dysfunction of the left ventricle (LV), which is due in part to increased LV wall stiffness. In the diastolic phase, myocytes are relaxed and extracellular matrix (ECM) is a critical determinant to the changes of LV wall stiffness. To evaluate the effects of ECM composition on cardiac aging, we developed a mathematical model to predict LV dimension and wall stiffness changes in aging mice by integrating mechanical laws and our experimental results. We measured LV dimension, wall thickness, LV mass, and collagen content for wild type (WT) C57/BL6J mice of ages ranging from 7.3 months to those of 34.0 months. The model was established using the thick wall theory and stretch-induced tissue growth to an isotropic and homogeneous elastic composite with mixed constituents. The initial conditions of the simulation were set based on the data from the young mice. Matlab simulations of this mathematical model demonstrated that the model captured the major features of LV remodeling with age and closely approximated experimental results. Specifically, the temporal progression of the LV interior and exterior dimensions demonstrated the same trend and order-of-magnitude change as our experimental results. In conclusion, we present here a validated mathematical model of cardiac aging that applies the thick-wall theory and stretch-induced tissue growth to LV remodeling with age.
- Left Ventricle
- Collagen Content
- Left Ventricle Wall
- Left Ventricle Mass
- Temporal Progression
Over 70% of 50 million Americans over 60 years of age have cardiovascular disease (CVD) [1, 2]. CVD prevalence increases with age, and outcomes in older patients with acute coronary syndromes are poor [1, 3]. It is important to note, however, that aging itself, even in the absence of CVD, alters LV structure and function and impairs the ability of the LV to respond to stress and injury. Thus, understanding the mechanisms of cardiac aging has significant clinical relevance.
While most studies focus on the myocyte contribution to cardiac systolic function, indices for systolic function, such as ejection fraction, systolic velocities, and systolic isovolumic acceleration rate, have been shown to have little relation with age in both clinical and animal studies [4, 5]. In contrast, echocardiographic indices of diastolic function including early (E) and late (Atrial-A) diastolic peak filling velocities and the E and A velocity ratio (E/A ratio), mitral deceleration time (the time from the peak to the end of the Doppler E-wave), isovolumic relaxation time (the time between the closing artifact of the aortic valve), and the earliest detection of trans-mitral blood flow have been demonstrated to decline with age in clinical studies [6–8]. With physiological aging, the LV undergoes monotonic structural changes that include increased wall thickness, chamber diameter, and mass [6–8].
We have shown diastolic dysfunction at the organ level in mice during cardiac aging [9], and diastolic dysfunction is caused by increased myocardial stiffness at the tissue level [10]. The myocardium is composed of myocytes (muscle) surrounded by the ECM environment. Accordingly, myocardial stiffness is determined by the volume ratio and the combined mechanical property of the myocytes and ECM. In the diastolic phase, myocytes are relaxed and ECM is a critical determinant to the change of LV wall stiffness. About 90% of cardiac ECM composition in the young LV is collagen I and III. We have shown that collagen content in senescent mouse hearts doubles compared to young hearts [9, 11]. Since collagen has a magnitude increase in stiffness over myocytes, the age-related increase of collagen content in the LV shifts myocardial mechanical properties from a myocyte-based stiffness to one influenced by collagen-based stiffness [12]. Therefore, the goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of ECM composition on LV remodeling with aging using a mathematical model developed by integrating cardiac mechanics and our experimental results in mice.
Different LV wall stress models, such as the Laplace law based thin-wall models, thick-wall shell models, and finite element models, have been established to describe LV mechanics and compute stress [13, 14]. Most current thin-wall and thick-wall models of LV remodeling were established assuming idealistic spherical, spheroidal, or ellipsoidal geometries. While finite element models allow some flexibility in the LV geometry, they require high computational power. Currently, these models focus on the stress calculation taken from a particular snapshot of the cardiac cycle or for the entire cycle. However, the interplay between LV stress and strain and between remodeling and geometric evolution on the life-time scale has not been established.
Phenomenological models on geometric remodeling with aging have been developed to apply on arteries under hypertensive conditions [15, 16]. The arterial wall is considered as a thick-wall vessel, and the remodeling equation on either inner or outer artery surface has been postulated as a function of strain and stress at the corresponding location. While these models do not consider the intrinsic relationships between phenomenological assumptions, they provide a possible methodology to model the temporal progression of tissue remodeling with aging.
There are very few computational models available to study LV geometric adaptation with aging. Recently, we established a computational model of LV aging that incorporates Laplace law based stress model [11]. This model captures the overall trend of LV radius change with age. However, this thin-wall model assumes a constant thickness and no stress variation across the wall, LV thickening with age was not addressed. Here, we improve this model by adopting a more sophisticated thick-wall theory and stretch-induced tissue growth theory for the model used in this study. The novelty of this model lies in the integration of both computational and experimental approaches. The wall radii remodeling model established in this study was subject to the temporal function of the total mass which was measured in our experiments. Additionally, the predictions of LV geometry and end diastolic pressure-volume relation from the mathematical model were compared with our experimental measurements to validate predictions of the mathematical model.
With physiological aging, the LV undergoes tonic structural and functional changes including increased mean LV wall thickness, chamber diameter, mass, concentric remodeling, and decline in LV diastolic function in humans [6–8]. We assumed mice age-related remodeling follow similar rules. Our model was established based on the following 2 assumptions.
1) The LV was modeled as a concentric spherical shell with interior and exterior radii and , respectively, at the no-load state. Due to the transmural pressure difference on the inner and outer surfaces, the deformed inner and outer radii were and , respectively. The ventricular wall was modeled as an isotropic and linear elastic material of two constituents, cardiac myocytes and ECM which is represented by collagen.
(2) Internal and external radii, ie., R i and R o , as well as wall thickness R o - R i , all have non-decreasing trend with age.
Thick-wall LV model
It's concluded that Poisson's ratios of all stable isotropic materials falls in the region (-1, 0.5) and only auxetic materials with honeycomb structures and networks have been found to have negative values [18]. Apparently, heart tissue is not auxetic. Therefore, for LV, its Poisson's ratios falls in the region 0 < v < 0.5. As a consequence, it is apparent that the loaded wall thickness, i.e. r o - r i is smaller than the zero-load thickness, i.e. R o - R i . The LV transmural pressure P has been shown to alter with aging. We adopted the temporal profile of pressure difference reported in the literature [11, 19].
In equation (7), V c (t)/V m (t) is the volume occupied by collagen/muscle at time t, and M c (t)/M m (t) is the mass of collagen/muscle at time t. Parameters ρ c and ρ m are mass densities of collagen and myocytes. The density of collagen is an intrinsic property of the material and therefore does not change with time unless the collagen molecular structure undergoes significant changes. The density of collagen is adopted as ρ c = 1.70 g/ml [22]. For muscle, due to the fact that approximately 80% of the mass is water as has been measured in experiments for multiple mammalian muscle (either cardiac or non-cardiac), the density is close to that of water, with variation contributed by tissue and tissue solids. We adopt myocyte density as ρ m = 1.06 g/ml [23, 24].
Since we assumed that the material is isotropic and homogeneous in our model (assumption 3), the spatial remodeling can only occur in the radial direction. As a result, the spherical geometry is always maintained. Therefore, only radii, e.g., the free radii R i and R o alter with aging.
Stretch-induced tissue growth model
in which, f (t) is the function that characterized the rate of change for the outer radius, parameter τ R is the remodeling characteristic time for R o (t), variable is the ratio of the change between deformed and free radii raised to the power D on the exterior surface, parameter τ f is the decay constant for function f which guarantees a bounded outer dimension of the LV. The parameters τ R , D and τ f are constant parameters to be determined.
Equations (5-7) and (12-14), together with the definitions of α(t) and λ(t), formed a mathematical model to characterize the temporal progression of the LV geometry by applying thick-wall theory and stretch-induced tissue growth. Given the temporal functions M c (t), M m (t) and P(t) with aging, we solved the mathematical model numerically.
Input functions and parameters
Constant parameters and initial values adopted in numerical calculation and the source of the data.
Parameters (unit)
Initial value R i (t = 7.5mons) (mm)
Our experiments on over 148 mice
Muscle density ρ m (gcm-3)
Collagen density ρ c (gcm-3)
Muscle elastic modulus E m (Pa)
Collagen elastic modulus E c (Pa)
Poisson' ratio v
Time step h (hrs)
Further, from equations (2-3), the pressure difference is the only external load that deforms the LV wall. With retreat of this pressure, or establishment of balance between inner and outer surfaces, any stress or strain disappears. Now if we compare the elastic modulus and the pressure difference, the highest pressure, i.e. 7.1 mmHg, is equivalent to 944 Pa, less than 2 orders of magnitude lower the magnitude of Young's modulus. Therefore, without detailed computation, we can see that there should exist none noteworthy deformation (< 1%) and the strained dimensions should be extremely close to the free ones. This was proved by detailed computation shown later.
Discretization of equations
The radii and were real positive numbers subject to the condition d(t) > c3(t).
We studied the variation of free and deformed radii in the time domain [t0, t0 + T] and evenly divided this region T by a total of N small constant intervals of h. Equivalently, the domain could be rewritten as [t0, t0 + Nh]. The following is the procedure to calculate time-dependent radii.
1. Read initial values R i (t 0), R o (t 0), calculate r i (t 0) and r o (t 0) and , note that α(t 0) = 1. Iterate steps 2-5 until the final step N.
The numerical calculations were performed using in-house Matlab codes. In all simulations, parameter τ R = 0.22 month, D = 2.5 and τ f = 5.6 month, initial values used in our model were listed in Table-1. The initial radii were determined by minimizing the error from experimental measurements considering both end diastolic dimension/diameter (EDD) and wall thickness.
Changes of EDD, wall thickness and stress
As is seen in Eq. (2), and its contribution is a force toward inner direction. The magnitude of all these averaged stresses went up with time, which was a natural result of enhanced pressure P(t) (Figure 3A). We also showed that the magnitude of the circumferential or meridional stress was higher than that the radial (comparing Figures 4E and 4F).
Pressure-volume relationship with aging
Analysis of constraints of remodeling equation
And the above inequalities do not rely on a concrete system. Both sides are known functions without parameter dependence. Therefore, it is a universal condition for the selection of the type of rate function. f(t) Though this is a stringent condition, functions fall in the proposed region will guarantee the stability of the system.
In our simulations, parameters τ R = 0.22 months, D = 2.5 and τ f = 5.6 months were chosen by minimizing the deviations of computed EDD and wall thickness from measurements at senescent age, i.e. (R i - R i , exp )2 + (WT - WT exp )2, in which WT means wall thickness. The growth function f(t) determined by these parameters, the dotted cyan curve, falls in the bounded region. The analysis of the boundary of the growth function provided a standard procedure for us to determine the possible sets for parameters with or without simulation results, which should be able to be applied in the modeling of age-dependent remodeling process of different species given experimental data, e.g. rat, dog or even human. In addition, if a growth function f(t) of this form is given, we can also use this boundary condition to predict whether LV geometry and wall thickness will monotonically increase or not.
In this study, we established the first analytical mathematical model to quantify long-term LV geometric remodeling dynamics with aging by applying thick-wall theory and stretch-induced tissue growth postulate. This model addressed the temporal progression of cardiac aging and is an advancement from most current models that analyze the static equilibrium of LV remodeling and our previous thin-wall model of LV remodeling. In addition, we analytically determined the boundary for the tissue growth rate to guarantee the stability of the remodeling. This boundary might provide a reference for experimental measurement to examine the remodeling outcomes. Further, the parameters in the mathematical model were determined by using our experimental results from over 140 C57/BL6 mice. Some parameters and initial conditions were selected by minimizing the error between our computational predictions and experimental measurements. In addition, the model was validated by comparing the predictions of internal and external radii and wall thickness in diastole to experimental results. The predicted LV geometry trends were consistent with the experimental results. Thus, this study is a real integration of computational and experimental approaches for model establishment and validation using mice data. This approach and the proposed model can be applied to establish a cardiac aging model for human in the future.
The P-V curve in Figure 5 shows that both pressure and end diastolic volume escalate with age. This has been observed in a LV P-V relationship experiment on rat aging study by Pacher and colleagues [25]. In their study, LV end diastolic volume, LV end diastolic pressure, and the slope of EDPVR were greater in senescent than in young rats. In another experimental aging study on C57BL/6 female mice [26], the pressure was augmented in 16-month-old mice compared to 6-month-old group. In our experimental study, we observed increased LV volume with age. These experimental results confirmed our computational predictions.
Though our computational results follow the trend of LV geometry changes, the proposed model has some limitations. First, we assumed the LV to be a spherical shell. With this assumption, all directions grow at the same pace to maintain the spherical symmetry. Sphere is a special geometry that requires minimum linear dimension for a constant volume. However, LV does not have a spherical geometry in reality. In addition, we assumed that LV was composed of elastic, isotropic, and homogeneous materials and applied the linear mixture theory to calculate the Young's modulus of the myocardium. Though the assumptions simplify the mathematical model and the computational analysis, such simplification might lead to prediction errors. From our computational results, the radii growth calculated are 3.43% for external, 2.37% for internal radius, and 5.72% for wall thickness collected from C57/BL6 mice. Some of these values were small compared to our echo experiment on C57/BL6 mice, in which EDD grows 2.60% and wall thickness is up 13.20% from young to senescent. In addition, our previous experimental work on CB6F1 mice reported EDD and wall thickness have 12.73 and 13.00% growth, respectively, in the LV between the groups of young and senescent [27]. This discrepancy may be originated from the simplification of the geometry we chose or the prediction of the myocardium stiffness. Future experiments will build on these limitations to improve our results by incorporating more realistic geometry and taking more advanced techniques to determine LV stiffness.
We have established the first mathematical model to study age-related temporal-spatial LV remodeling by adopting thick-wall theory and stretch-induced tissue growth theory. IInputs of the mathematical model were real experimental data including temporal profiles of LV mass, collagen content change, and pressure across LV, which were obtained by over 140 mice. The established model captured the major property of LV remodeling with age and yielded predicted results of LV geometry progressions in mice comparable to experimental results.
The authors acknowledge grant and contract support from NSF CAREER award #0644646 (to HCH), NHLBI HHSN268201000036C (N01-HV-00244), NIH R01 HL75360, Veteran's Administration Merit Award, and the Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Fund (to MLL), and NIH 1R03EB009496, and NIH SC2HL101430 (to YFJ.).
This article has been published as part of BMC Systems Biology Volume 6 Supplement 3, 2012: Proceedings of The International Conference on Intelligent Biology and Medicine (ICIBM) - Systems Biology. The full contents of the supplement are available online at http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcsystbiol/supplements/6/S3.
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