A Hobo's Paradise

Well, nearly all of us have an idea of an ideal heaven in our minds. Mostly, these ideas have not been developed and shaped with free will, though we have so many intruder thoughts which are dictating us about how a desired place should look like.

Pretty scary isn't it? But there were some guys who described a heaven which is quite appealing and apparently has more intervention of free will.

Hoboes were wandering homeless guys who were traveling by hopping in and out of the freight trains during the great depression times. They have their own culture, own language and even own writing system. So these guys described a place, a heaven and a safe haven, which they call "Big Rock Candy Mountains". You could recall this song from the movie O Brother Where Art Thou.

Big Rock Candy Mountains

One evening as the sun went down and the jungle fire was burning

Down the track came a hobo hiking and he said boys I'm not turning

I'm headin for a land that's far away beside the crystal fountains

So come with me we'll go and see the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains there's a land that's fair and bright

Where the handouts grow on bushes and you sleep out every night

Where the boxcars are all empty and the sun shines every day

On the birds and the bees and the cigarette trees

Where the lemonade springs where the bluebird sings

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains all the cops have wooden legs

And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth and the hens lay soft boiled eggs

The farmer's trees are full of fruit and the barns are full of hay

Oh, I'm bound to go where there ain't no snow

Where the rain don't fall and the wind don't blow

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains you never change your socks

And the little streams of alcohol come a-trickling down the rocks

The brakemen have to tip their hats and the railroad bulls are blind

There's a lake of stew and of whiskey too

You can paddle all around 'em in a big canoe

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains the jails are made of tin

And you can walk right out again as soon as you are in

There ain't no short handled shovels, no axes saws or picks

I'm a goin to stay where you sleep all day

Where they hung the jerk that invented work

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

I'll see you all this coming fall in the Big Rock Candy Mountains!

David Zasloff

This extremely talented guy is a jazz comedian. He has written two books: “Zen Judaism, The Joy of Suffering” and “The Complete Book of Everything, Part I”.

David Zasloff and his band perform a different kind of music: "zen jazz". This is a combination of African, Japanese, Jewish, Latin, Caribbean and bebop. Besides playing trumpet, piano, percussion, guitar, autoharp and shofar, this inspiring musician is a master of shakuhachi.

We met David while we were surfing Youtube to see what is shofar, and what does it look and sound like. This amazing person plays hatikvah with shofar, which is already very hard to blow (just like ney).



David Zasloff is not that famous except a limited part of the USA. For more information, please visit the musician's homepage by clicking on the title of this post.

Hand to nose?

I know that hand to nose is some kinda weirdo name for a blog. But it has a good background tale folks. So gather around the fire and grab your coffee cups!

In the ancient times, the first real civilization was emerging in the Middle East.They were called "Sumeru" by Akkadians. So that's why we call these Indo-European people Sumerian. They were calling themselves "SAG-GIGA" which basically means "the black-headed people". Also they are the same people who are called as "Shinar" in the Hebrew Bible.

So what is it to do about "hand to nose"? Here it comes:

Sumerians were greeting each other with moving their hands to their noses. This way of greeting is the first recorded greeting in the human history.

So thats why we greet you with the oldest greeting!

"Silim-ma he2-me-en"!