Weekend Shorts

1. Tried a new restaurant, Hank's Oyster Bar, on Q at 17th. It is very small, and packs in an extraordinary number of people (fire marshall, not allowed?), so if you want intimacy, this is not the place. But because it is so jam packed, and you feel like everyone in the restaurant is in some way sitting at your very table, the feeling is very relaxed and friendly, and you don't mind the lack of space (ventilation is good - there is no lack of air).

The food is good, heavy on the seafood and the drinks but with several meat, fish and vegetarian dishes, although our appetizers were better than the main courses. But it is very, very pricey. The Appetizers go as high as $15 and the entrees are $15 to $20, with sides (nothing on the plate except the entree) at $4 each, and drinks in the $10 range.

Will we return? Probably not, but if we woke up and found ourselves there, that would be OK, too.

2. Joel Peters, professor of politics at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, who is spending this year at George Mason, was the Adas Israel scholar in residence this weekend. We heard him twice on Saturday, speaking about the Israeli political system and upcoming elections. It was interesting, and he speaks well, but it was not profound.

His point was that, in spite of everything going on, the elections are dull, because, within a few swing seats, everyone pretty well knows how they will turn out. That Kadima will have the most seats, followed by Labor and then Likud and then the fringe parties, and that it won't be until after the election when Kadima, with no more than 40 seats will have to put together a coalition with at least 61 seats, that the fun (and interest) will really begin.

He bemoaned the lack of leadership in Kadima (Olmert being non-charismatic), in Labor (Peretz being untested), and in Likud (Netanyahu being too tested). He agreed of course that this was a crucial time for Israel and the middle east, but said that the normal election excitement in Israel just is not there this time.

3. The Dybbuk and Ori Soltes. I haven't mentioned the Dybbuk, at Theater J, which was co-adapted and assistant directed by daughter Hannah, but it was an extraordinary accomplishment of hers that deserves more than a brief comment in this blog. We saw it for the second time Saturday night and thought it improved from the strong performance we saw on opening night. It runs through March 19.

At this Sunday's talkback, Ori Soltes, Georgetown faculty member and lecturer about town, gave a one hour presentation that could not have been better or more carefully connected to the performance. He has spent a lot of time studying the Jewish community of the Republic of Georgia (oops - that is where Hannah and co-adapter Paata Tsurkeshvili set the play), and edited a book on the history of Georgian Jews.

His presentation was in three parts: Jewish mysticism, particularly in the 15th and 16th centuries and how it dealt with the transmigration of souls after death; the history of the Georgian Jewish community, which by artifact goes back almost 2000 years, and by tradition goes back another 500 years, to the Assyrian and Babylonian victories over Israel and Judah; and the particular Georgian practices and traditions that found their ways into the performance.

Soltes is a first class lecturer, and it was a first class talkback, attended by, I would say, 3/4 of the audience who had come for the matinee.

4. I was rooting for Finland, but the 3-2 Swedish victory in Olympic Hockey made for very good watching. The entire hockey program at the Olympics was fascinating for anyone who follows the NHL as it gives you a chance to the many of the same players in very different configurations, playing on a larger rink with somewhat different rules. I think Olympic rules are better than NHL rules, but no one is going to rebuild the American and Canadian arenas to accommodate.

5. Last point on Olympics. Extraordinary closing show. Not usually the kind of thing I watch or like, but I thought this was spectacular.