Thursday, March 31, 2011

Pesach: Heaven For Dogs, Or ... ?

Is it Cruel to Force Dogs to Keep Passover?:  In the current edition of The Jewish Week, Rabbi Joshua Hammerman tackles The Big Question: Should you force (or allow) your canine companion to go Pesachdik?  Rabbi Hammerman states:
As the proud owner of two adorable standard poodles, one of whom is extremely neurotic, I can sympathize with you.
Let's start by saying that Passover is absolute heaven for dogs ....
Rabbi Hammerman states his belief that, in Dog, Pesach is known as the "Festival of the Crumbs".  He goes on to discuss a ruling of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik (The Rav, z"l) regarding toothpaste, and how that ruling applies to eating Pesachdik in general.

It helps, says Rabbi Hammerman, that dogs are automatically considered Sephardim - they are permitted to eat kitniyot (legumes) during Pesach - although he does not provide the source for this statement.

As one who used to ...  enable his pets to observe the laws of Pesach, Abq Jew takes heart that places like Evanger's make the whole enterprise somewhat less of an adventure.

Click here for more of Rabbi Hammerman's Pesach  / dog advice.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Jewish Genealogy in Abq

Genealogy Superstars: The New Mexico Jewish Historical Society (NMJHS) presents Genealogy Greats - Two Important Speakers on Jewish Genealogy.

Albuquerque Jewish Community Center
Sun 03 April 2011 @ 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
  • Bennett Greenspan, founder and CEO of FamilyTreeDNA.com, speaking on discovering Jewish History through DNA testing.
  • Stephen P. Morse, of stevemorse.org, discussing tools for genealogists such as demystifying the Jewish calendar.
Tickets:  NMJHS members: free; non-NMJHS members: $5

A companion program, Blast Into Your Past, will be presented at the

Rio Rancho Library @ Loma Colorado
Sat 02 April 2011 @ 10:30 am - 3:30 pm

This will be a general program aimed at beginners and recent family history researchers, athough the entire genealogical community is invited to attend.

Where does Abq Jew find out about these events? 
  • At the New Mexico Jewish Historical Society (NMJHS) web site.  
  • At Schelly Talalay Dardashti's Jewish genealogy blog, Tracing the Tribe.
Click here to find out more about the Genealogy Superstars event.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Who Do You Think You Are?

Tracing The Tribe:  Schelly Talalay Dardashti's Tracing The Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog reports that Jewish Records Indexing-Poland played an essential part in research for the new episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?" - spotlighting actress Gywneth Paltrow - to be aired Friday night, April 1, on NBC.

Paltrow's family's original name was Paltrowicz, a rabbinical family from northeastern Poland, specifically Suwalki, Lomza and other towns. JRI-Poland offers 90 records for the family.
Click here to read the full blog post.
Abq Jew did see last season's WDYTYA episode on Lisa Kudrow, and found it to be well-researched, entertaining, and incredibly moving:
Lisa Kudrow journeys to the small Jewish town of Ilya where she discovers how her great-grandmother died in the Holocaust. Yet, Lisa finds hope when she uncovers a 60-year old family mystery.

The Soul of Jewish Music

From Beverly Hills to Abq?:  Come hear my friend, cimbalist and klezmer banjo player Pete Rushefsky, with Itzhak Perlman, Cantor Yitzchok Meir Helfgot, and Hankus Netsky (along with a bunch of Klezmer Conservatory Band  friends).  They're at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills on March 30 ... it's a new show called "The Soul of Jewish Music!"


Be a part of history!  See SoulofJewishMusic.com! Tour dates to be announced!

Friday, March 25, 2011

The Triangle Fire: 100 Years Later

One Terrible Century:  Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, a horrible, largely Jewish, entirely preventable tragedy that transformed how Americans view the elemental right to workplace safety.

The Jewish Daily Forward observed the 100th Anniversary here, and posted this video:


Tablet Magazine also marks the 100th Anniversary here

Elizabeth Swados, Cecilia Rubino, and Paula Finn have created their own memorial, From the Fire.


100 YEARS AGO, New York City experienced its most devastating workplace tragedy before 9/11. In the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 146 immigrant girls, mostly Jewish and Italian, died trying to escape flames that roared through the upper floors of a garment factory near Washington Square. Trapped behind locked doors, many never had a chance to escape. Others jumped out the windows, some hand-in-hand, their hair and clothes aflame. The Triangle Fire became an unparalleled catalyst for social reform. Public outrage over the event galvanized the progressive movement, women’s suffrage, and instigated many of the reforms of The New Deal. The Centennial commemoration of the fire presents a unique opportunity for New Yorkers to honor those who lost their lives at Triangle and provides an important moment for the city and the country to reflect on the legacy of “The fire that changed America.”

From the Fire a new work created by the Tony nominated composer, Elizabeth Swados, writer/director, Cecilia Rubino, the poet, Paula Finn, and designed by Bonnie Roche-Bronfman, will dramatize the history of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and bring the event into the 21st century.

This dramatic oratorio/physical theater piece, sponsored by Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts, will be performed two blocks from the site of the fire at the historic Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square during the week of Triangle’s 100th Anniversary, March 23rd through March 27th, 2011.

Abq Jew has walked past the Triangle site dozens of times.  Regardless of season, weather, or time of day, this is what he sees.

146 souls lost.  And the most terrible images of peacetime urban catastrophe until 9/11.

May their memories be for a blessing.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Rabbi Marton Guttman, Of Blessed Memory

Rabbi Marton Guttman z"l 1910-2011:  The Jewish community of Albuquerque this week lost a wonderful rabbi, a respected teacher - and a real mensch.  Abq Jew did not have the privilege of knowing Rabbi Guttman personally, but did have the honor of being among those who escorted Rabbi Guttman to his final rest.

Rabbi Arthur Flicker of Congregation B'nai Israel, where Rabbi Guttman was a member, delivered the following eulogy, which he has graciously allowed to be published here.
We have gathered this afternoon to share our memories on the passing of our beloved rabbi, teacher, grandfather and husband, Rabbi Marton Guttman.

Rabbi Guttman was born in Hungary in 1910. He not only lived a long life of 101 years, he also lived an amazing, adventurous, giving and loving life of 101 years.

Marton Guttman was born into a family of rabbis, and it was natural that he went from Yeshiva to the seminary. It was very different from rabbinic training today. Back then, you had to memorize both the Torah and the Talmud. When one finished Hungarian seminary, he REALLY knew the texts of Judaism.

After seminary, Rabbi Guttman began his career as a teacher of Torah. He also met a breathtakingly beautiful young woman named Susan. Since she was blond and blue eyed, she was able to travel outside the Jewish ghetto in Budapest, sometimes even hitching rides with German soldiers, as she would forage for food to bring back into the ghetto.

Marton and Susan were married in 1944, just before he was deported to the Mauthausen. Fortunately, he survived and returned to Budapest and worked as a teacher. The family grew with the birth of their daughter in 1945.

In 1955, the Guttmans took advantage of the chaos of the Hungarian revolution to escape to Israel. They lived near Haifa, where Rabbi Guttman worked in a Yeshiva, taught third grade in a public school and taught Judaic studies at Haifa University. Susan worked in a nearby Kibbutz, doing difficult tasks like chopping the heads off live fish, in order to help make a living for the family.

In 1960, the family came to the United States, where the Rabbi was called to serve Congregation Ahavas Sholom in Newark, New Jersey. He served the congregation for 25 years, while also teaching at a Yeshiva in Passaic. The official history of the congregation states that while some members of the small congregation wanted to close it in the 1970’s “the determined effort of attorney Ben Arons, Rabbi Guttman and sisters Bessie Fried and Sadye Gerson saved the congregation and the building.” And Ahavas Sholom continues to exist as the oldest shul in Newark.

In 1986, at the young age of 76, Rabbi Guttman retired to Rio Rancho. Here, he became a renaissance man. He planted and cared for a garden. He exercised. He sang at the synagogue – chanting services and reading Torah and Haftarah. He wrote music. He read – particularly modern novels and books on American grammar, because he took up a new vocation. He became a writer. He wrote 8 novels over all, re-working them when Yvette would suggest grammar changes – although often he would argue about the grammar.

Here, in this new home, he also maintained his favorite vocation. He always remained a teacher. He didn’t teach formally in a classroom. But he taught everyone he met. He would teach through the Torah and life lessons he would offer from the Bima. He would teach through discussions sitting around tables at Kiddush. He would teach politely, taking a young rabbi by the hand and quietly offering a lesson away from prying ears. He was respected and loved not only for his knowledge, but for the wonderful way he would find to share it with his students.

Yet, even in retirement, far from Europe, the memories of the Holocaust continued to haunt him. When he and Susan moved to Sandia Springs, Yvette and volunteers cleaned his house. They found money hidden in the pages of books, in empty cans in the cupboards and hidden in furniture. The Nazis had not taken their lives, but even nearly 70 years later, the Nazis were still terrorizing their lives.

The word “Rabbi” means teacher. Rabbi Guttman took that part of his job responsibilities very seriously. Yes, he had a pulpit. But it was really a pulpit he shared with Susan. The congregation used to say that the Rabbi was the head and Susan was the neck. And of course, the head went wherever the neck directed it. But teaching was truly the Rabbi’s calling. Rabbi Guttman’s teaching skills and love of students was lifelong. And the rewards were lifelong as well. He hasn’t had formal students since leaving New Jersey 25 years ago, yet students continued to be in touch – calling and writing. 
[We would like to share the words of one special student who, while unable to be here today, would like to share these remembrances.]

When I was growing up, the synagogue in which I grew up had a Gabbai who had immigrated to the states from Europe. When a rabbi was called to the Torah for an Aliyah, he would always call out, “Ya’amod, Rabbeinu HaRav…” Our rabbi, the rabbi..thus giving special honor to the rabbi being called to the Torah. 
For us, Rabbi Guttman was truly rabbeinu, OUR rabbi. He was our teacher, our mentor, our scholar, our cantor and our friend. He will be missed by all who were blessed to share life, study, prayer and friendship with this very special man.

We extend our condolences to his beloved wife of 67 years, Susan, and to his granddaughter, Yvette. Yvette, your grandparents are so fortunate to have you. Your care, your support and your love have always meant so very much.

We offer the traditional words of comfort of our people:

Zichrono Livracha 
May his memory be a blessing

T’Hey Nishmato Tzrurah B’tzror  Hachayim 
May his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life
One final note:  Rabbi Guttman was cleansed and purified for his final journey by members of Albuquerque's Chevre Kaddisha.  The Chevre Kaddishe operates through the Community Chaplaincy program of the Jewish Family Service of New Mexico, under the guidance of Rabbi Min Kantrowitz.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Jewish Albuquerque 1860 - 1960

By Naomi Sandweiss & Dr Noel Pugach:  Available today directly from Arcadia Publishing or from Abq Jew's Amazon Store.

Naomi Sandweiss, an Albuquerque native and longtime New Mexico Jewish Historical Society volunteer, used more than 200 images from public archives, congregational collections, and individual and family collections to illustrate the city’s fascinating Jewish history. Dr Noel Pugach, Professor Emeritus at the University of New Mexico, taught courses in American History and Jewish History.

Arcadia's Book Description says:
Albuquerque, founded by Spanish colonists in 1706, seems an unusual place for Jewish immigrants to settle. Yet long before New Mexico statehood in 1912, Jewish settlers had made their homes in the high desert town, located on the banks of the Rio Grande River. Initially, business opportunities lured German Jews to the Santa Fe Trail; during the expansive railroad days of the 1880s, Jewish citizens were poised to take on leadership roles in business, government, and community life. Henry Jaffa, a Jewish merchant and acquaintance of Wyatt Earp, served as Albuquerque’s first mayor. From launching businesses along Central Avenue, to establishing the Indian Trading Room at the famed Alvarado Hotel and founding trading posts, Route 66 tourist establishments, and the Sandia Tram, Jewish businesspeople partnered with their neighbors to boost Albuquerque’s already plentiful assets. Along the way, community members built Jewish organizations—a B’nai B’rith chapter, Congregation Albert, and Congregation B’nai Israel—that made their mark upon the larger Albuquerque community.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Readiest for Purim!

From St Petersburg Hillel:  For everyone who lived through the bad times - you'll love this.  Rabbi Menachem Creditor says:
Torah's back, and it's a brand new day since the Soviet Jewry marches. I've got a feeling. Shabbat Shalom and Happy Purim!
And a YouTube commentator says:
FANTASTIC!!! The Jewish soul protected by the "Shield of Abraham" is eternal and indomitable! Bury it beneath the hard frozen earth, covered with ice and snow, deny it any nourishment for decades, it will not be killed; it will sprout and burst forth upward towards the light at the first hint of Spring! And burst forth to bring beauty to the world above - - even the same world that kept it buried all those years. Yasher Koach to you all.

Click here to watch this video on YouTube (and to see lyrics & credits).

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Readier for Purim!

NJJN Purim News Quiz:  Every year (that Abq Jew can remember) New Jersey's Jewish News puts out a Purim News Quiz.  This year's Quiz questions include:

Which item made news when it was put up for sale last year?
  1. The prayer book Madonna uses at Kabala meetings
  2. The synagogue where Bob Dylan celebrated his bar mitzva
  3. Justin Bieber’s yarmulke 
Enjoy!  It's (almost) Purim!


Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Ready for Purim!

Purim Spoof 2011:  Every year (that Abq Jew can remember) New York's The Jewish Week puts out a Purim Spoof.  This year's Spoof headlines include:
  • Mideast Negotiator Mitchell Heads to Broadway
  • Natalie Portman Engagement Ends Jewish Single Crisis
  • ‘Jeopardy’ Computer Ordained
And, of course:

Yuri Foreman To Fight Helen Thomas

Yuri Foreman, the Belarus-born Israeli raised boxer has announced that his first fight after losing his championship belt to Miguel Cotto will be against recently retired White House correspondent Helen Thomas for the Heavyweight Title of Lebanese Descent.

“I just want to start rebuilding my career while doing something good for the Jewish people,” stated Mr. Foreman, who recites Psalms during his bouts.

Not one to be easily intimidated, Ms. Thomas stated, “I will knock him back into Germany and Poland, where he belongs.”

Mr. Foreman retorted, “I will only hit her in the face so as to not affect her on-camera appearance.”

Ms. Thomas has been training for years, she said, by beating up on Israel regularly.

Click here to continue laughing.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Prayer in Response to the Earthquake & Tsunami

By Rabbi Menachem Creditor:  Via the Rabbinical Assembly.  Download PDF here.

Dear God,
 
Many, many images of God have been lost in earthquake
and fire and mighty waters just yesterday.
And so we turn to You, Adonai,
and we ask for Your strength and comfort.
 
We open our hearts one to the other
as brothers and sisters struggling in Your world.
“Above the thunder of the mighty waters,
more majestic than the breakers of the sea is Adonai (Ps. 93:4).”
Be with us as we offer what we can, through prayer and action,
to our sisters and brothers who are suffering in Japan
and who stand on alert around the world.
 
We ask for You to be the still, small voice after the fire,
allowing space for mourning and hope in the face of tragedy.
We see Your sheltering Presence and Your holy tears
in the receding waters of the Tsunami
and in the rescue work being carried out
by so many for the sake of a fragile world.
 
May it be Your will, Adonai our God and God of our ancestors,
to send healing to the injured and comfort to those in mourning.
May You be with those who are engaged in the sacred work of rescue.
Be with us as we bring shelter, food, and water to those in need.
 
May we merit to save many lives.
 
May those affected by this disaster know Your comfort.
 
May we act when we learn how we can help.
 
May our world be blessed by peace.
 
Amen.

Purim Puzzles

The Queen You Thought You Knew:  Lawrence Grossman writes in Jewish Ideas Daily about a new book that explores the Story of Esther from new angles:
Purim, Judaism's strangest holiday (which this year falls on March 20), is prescribed by what may be the strangest book in the Hebrew Bible, the scroll (m'gilah) of Esther. Two public readings of the book, one at night and the other in the morning, tell a story of Persian palace intrigue in the fifth century B.C.E., a recitation accompanied by the holiday's decidedly unspiritual noisemaking, tippling, and masquerade.
 Grossman continues:
Now an impressive reading of the m'gilah with fresh eyes, free of midrash on the one hand and of scholarly/trendy categories on the other, has come from David Fohrman, a modern-Orthodox rabbi. Proprietor of a user-friendly website, Fohrman is a sought-after lecturer whose extensive Jewish knowledge is capped by rabbinic training and a Johns Hopkins-honed mastery of textual close reading. His combination of skills is deployed to good effect in The Queen You Thought You Knew.
Abq Jew has always thought that the Story of Esther was one of the best in the Bible.  Megillat Esther could easily go 13 weeks on TV - perhaps as a replacement for Two and a Half Men.

Welcome to Amyland!

The Mother of All Comedy:  The latest issue of Hadassah Magazine has a Brief Review of Amy Borkowsky's new CD.  Hadassah's Susan Adler writes:
Mom and Dad, beware—your children are sharing your messages in weird ways. (Justin Halpern repackaged his father’s rants into a popular book and television show.) Amy Borkowsky has 10 years’ worth of her mother’s phone messages. The results are hilarious—and familiar—reminders about how to dress for the weather, upcoming birthdays, the single state, warnings not to get a cat, financial advice and the danger of kidney stones (www.mothercd.com).
Amyland.com provides this snippet of Amy's bio:
Amy's wild ride from life as a typical single woman in New York City to becoming dubbed, "the comedian who's making a career out of listening to her mother" began when she started saving the tapes from her old dual-microcassette answering machine. As each tape filled up, she would toss it in a drawer, never imagining that someday the messages from her overprotective mom would lead to two "Amy's Answering Machine" CDs, this year's new release, "The Mother of All Comedy CDs," and an iPhone app called "Amy's Mom," now on iTunes.
This video will give you a taste of what's in store (literally) at Amy's website.  But even the examples ("Click to play actual messages") will have you ROFL.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Judaism & Power

Great Conversations with Erica Brown:  The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington's Jewish Leadership Institute is sponsoring a series of lunchtime conversations with Dr Erica Brown.

Dr Brown is a writer and educator who works as the Scholar-in-Residence for The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and consults for the Jewish Agency and other Jewish non-profits. Erica is the author of the books “Inspired Jewish Leadership,” a National Jewish Book Award finalist, and “Spiritual Boredom.” She also coauthored “The Case for Jewish Peoplehood” (all through Jewish Lights). Her most recent book is “Confronting Scandal.” Dr Brown also publishes the blog Weekly Jewish Wisdom.

The DC Federation website says
What does Judaism say about the great themes of life and literature? Take a break from the office to think big thoughts with good company. Bring your lunch and your ideas for a great conversation about what matters to you!
But the key marketing technique is this "video", created via a wonderful web tool at  Xtranormal.com.  Enjoy!


Why does Abq Jew bring this up?  Two reasons:
  1. Erica Brown is one of the foremost speakers in the field of Jewish Ethics today.  If you have the opportunity to hear her - go!  
  2. We've got talent and pizazz right here in the Duke City.  Abq Jew wants to do this, too!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Standing Up For Workers & Jewish Tradition

Halacha vs "Right To Work": Avram Lyon is the former executive director of the Jewish Labor Committee and a consultant to unions, foundations, and Jewish organizations.  In an Op-Ed piece for the New Jersey Jewish News, Lyon writes:
Since the 2010 election we have witnessed an explosion of partisan, ideologically driven behavior in state politics unlike anything experienced in our lifetime. Governors and legislators in 11 states have introduced, or announced plans to introduce, legislation deceptively called “Right to Work.” These laws are designed to eviscerate worker rights to form or join a union, bargain collectively, or negotiate for pensions and benefits. At the core of this ideological disagreement is a false choice: it’s “them” (overpaid public employees) or “us” (taxpayers).
 Lyon further states:
Halacha — Jewish law — is explicit and unequivocal in its support of the rights of workers to organize and be protected in their work.
Abq Jew's grandfather Harry Wise, of blessed memory, was a Wobbly - a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).  Other family members (including Morris Rosenfield z"l, for whom Abq Jew is named)  and friends (such as Simon Typograph z"l) were also active in the garment industry unions.  Our family has done pretty well in America - but we also remember where we came from, who got us to where we are now, and how they struggled to do it.

Abq Jew wishes that employers hated unions so bad that they made working conditions so good that unions could not take hold - but he has seen little evidence that the Messiah has arrived.

Abq Jew wishes that unions were not necessary - but they are. And he firmly adheres to Lyon's view that supporting unions and workers' rights is a very Jewish thing to do:
There is, then, an imperative not just in Jewish tradition, but in Jewish law as well, to support workers’ rights. Workers today need protections — now more than ever — to survive in this era of partisan political fighting.
You can, and should, read the complete Op-Ed here.

Rabbi Min on Tikkun Olam

Basic Jewish Value #8: The mission statement of Jewish Family Service of New Mexico reads: “Guided by Jewish values, we offer targeted social services that help preserve and improve the quality of life for New Mexicans.” What are these Jewish values? How do they help guide the day-to-day work that we do at JFS? When new employees join the staff of JFS, they are introduced to eighteen of these basic Jewish values.

The words "Tikkun Olam" refer to the Jewish value of actively participating in healing the world. "Tikkun" comes from the Hebrew verb "l'taken" which translates as ‘to heal' or ‘to repair.' "Olam," usually translated as "world" can also refer to all and space... meaning the entire universe! Underlying this Jewish value is the idea that the world in which we live today in imperfect and that each of us has a variety of opportunities to actively participate in improving some part of that world. According to Jewish tradition, we are OBLIGATED to participate in this repair; it isn't optional! In Pirkei Avot, a section of the Mishna which is full of advice for creating and sustaining healthy lives and community, we are told: "It is not your obligation to complete the task, but neither are you at liberty to desist from it entirely...."

Each JFS program actively participates in Tikkun Olam, whether it is supporting Holocaust Survivors whose painful past can haunt them, providing Medication Management to seniors who are having difficulty keeping track of correctly administering their often complex medications, or assisting seniors maintain their cognitive agility through participating in the "Brain Fitness" activities offered through the JFS Health and Wellness programs. When you support JFS staff through volunteering or donating, you are doing your part in helping to heal the world.

Rabbi Min Kantrowitz
Director, Jewish Community Chaplaincy Program

Monday, March 7, 2011

Meet Alvin Wong

The Happiest Man in America: From The New York Times (where else?):
For the last three years, Gallup has called 1,000 randomly selected American adults each day and asked them about their emotional status, work satisfaction, eating habits, illnesses, stress levels and other indicators of their quality of life.
The New York Times asked Gallup to come up with a statistical composite for the happiest person in America . . .
Gallup’s answer: he’s a tall, Asian-American, observant Jew who is at least 65 and married, has children, lives in Hawaii, runs his own business and has a household income of more than $120,000 a year. A few phone calls later and
Click here to continue reading the article.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Creating A Welcoming Website

Come On In: The Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs has just created an infomercial on this very topic and posted it on YouTube. FJMC says:
A synagogue's website is its face to the community. Unlike previous generations, who would visit a synagogue, meet the rabbi and attempt to "feel" if they would be comfortable in the synagogue, people today, regardless of their age, go directly to the website. If they are seeking that initial feeling, it needs to be on the website. 
FJMC's advice applies to Federation, synagogue, and community websites - and even to AbqJew.com.  We should all take a look at this and learn!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Welcome Home, Belle!

Miracles Do Happen!  We are enormously pleased to welcome our newest and youngest (20 months) Greyhound into our family!

Belle arrived yesterday by chauffeured minivan from Derby Lane in St Petersburg, Florida, the oldest track in the US. There was a kennel fire at Derby Lane a couple of months ago, and James Campbell, the kennel owner / trainer, rushed into the fire and saved all 46 of his dogs.  Belle was one of them.


Belle was scheduled to be adopted out - she never raced - until a spider bite (!) almost got her put down.  But the Naples / Fort Myers chapter of  Greyhound Pets of America stopped that.  Belle was treated for the spider bite and recovered - then got an infected cuticle that, again, almost delayed her departure.

But we wanted to adopt Belle, and no one else.  To us, she is one in a million.  (To the Greyhound racing industry, she is one of a million.) 

So when Belle arrived and we saw how bad her toe actually looked - and that she was hopping around on three legs - we took her to our local Greyhound vet, Dr George Abernathy of Sunrise Veterinary Clinic

Today he removed the infected nail - but, fortunately, did not have to remove the toe.  We'll change the dressing tomorrow, then , in two weeks, remove her sutures.  Then - watch out!  Belle is awfully fast on three legs - we can hardly wait to see her race Henry (her big brother) on all four!