Thursday, April 16, 2009

Welcome to Taxachusetts: Give Us Your Money

According to a report released, appropriately, the day before Tax Day by the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, Massachusett's state tax system is one of the worst in the U.S. for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Now I finally understand why so many small businesses fail so miserably in our fine Commonwealth. Governor Patrick, are you paying attention?!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

The Four Questions... Now, in Latin!

Among the benefits of being married to a Latin scholar are that you have immediate access to translation services: Both from Latin into English, and from other languages into Latin.

So this year, in preparation for Passover, I asked my favorite Latin scholar to translate the Four Questions into Latin.

I've heard the Four Questions asked in Hebrew, Yiddish, German, Russian and Italian, but never until now (and at tonight's seder) in Latin. My only complaint is that there doesn't appear to be a word in Latin for 'matzoh'. That said, here they are:

1) Cur est haec nox dissimilis quam omnes noctes aliae? (Why is this night different from all other nights?)

2) Cur in omnibus aliis noctibus inter annum nos edimus aut panem aut matzoh, sed in hac nocte nos edimus solum matzoh? (Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either bread or matzoh, but on this night we eat only matzoh?)

3) Cur in omnibus aliis noctibus nos edimus varias herbas, sed in hac nocte nos edimus solum amaras herbas? (Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat only bitter herbs?)

4) Cur in omnibus aliis noctibus nos non tingimus nostras herbas etiam semel, sed in hac nocte nos tingimus eas bis? (Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip our herbs even once, but on this night we dip them twice?)

5) Cur in omnibus aliis noctibus nos edimus aut sedentes aut recumbentes, sed in hac nocte nos edimus recumbentes? (Why is it that on all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining, but on this night we eat in a reclining position?)

Happy Passover to all!