{"id":35702,"date":"2017-04-06T11:05:16","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T17:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=35702"},"modified":"2017-04-06T11:05:16","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T17:05:16","slug":"genetically-im-just-a-shepherd-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/genetically-im-just-a-shepherd-boy\/","title":{"rendered":"Genetically, I’m just a shepherd boy"},"content":{"rendered":"

By TED ROBERTS, the SCRIBBLER ON THE ROOF<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Ted_Roberts\"

My reminiscence of our forefathers\u2019 specialty springs from a recent experience with ornamental pepper seeds. With care, I planted them in a dug-up bed in our backyard; in a pattern of a Jewish star. That way, you see, when green heads begin popping I can distinguish weeds from peppers. I wait. I water. I wait some more. Green heads are surfacing all over. And yes, some of them, though not singing “Hatikvah,” are in the shape of a Jewish star. My peppers! No doubt. I wait some more. They don\u2019t look entirely like peppers. Another week of growth proves they\u2019re definitely NOT peppers. Because at maturity they are crowned with a nasty yellow flower. Evidently, the large retail chain that starts with a \u201cW\u201d and ends with a \u201cT\u201d (who needs a lawsuit) sold me a package of weed seeds. Maybe I did something wrong. After all, a shepherd\u2019s blood \u2013 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob \u2013 is in my blood. So I watch the weeds flourish in the shape of a beautiful six-pointed star.<\/p>\n

My next-door neighbor, a good Christian, can plant stones and grow lilies. He planted seeds from the same package and up jumped twelve pepper plants. But I bet he couldn\u2019t graze sheep like me or my ancestors.<\/p>\n

No doubt ancestry counts. I can\u2019t recall one of our forefathers who didn\u2019t make his way with livestock instead of cornstalks. It makes sense because remember our progenitors (like my wife) were always \u201con the go\u201d. Here come the Amalekites waving swords \u2013 better round up the sheep and head for the hills. Try that with forty acres of corn. A wandering people needed a mobile occupation. Also, there\u2019s more calories in a sheep than in a cornstalk. And, unlike today\u2019s fad, storing up calories was our ancestor\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n

So, my heredity must be why I plant pepper plant seeds and reap weeds.<\/p>\n

I did have one victory. My son took a trip to Israel and naturally I expected him to bring me a present. I didn\u2019t ask for an exotic, expensive gift. I only asked for an Israeli pomegranate. Full of seeds \u2013 I saw them as baby Jewish pomegranates plants \u2013 dozens of them. And who besides me, the Jewish farmer, could boast of pomegranate bushes from Jerusalem? My son complied, I planted, and even gave my neighbor \u2013 the good Christian \u2013 a seed or two; Jerusalem was equally sacred to him, you know. The unintentional Jewish founder of a new religion, somewhat based on Judaism, walked its streets.<\/p>\n

Next \u2013 incredible. My neighbor is blessed with a tree that could have decorated the front gate of Eden. Me? I get a weedy, skinny plant that oughta be in a horticultural hospital but it did survive \u2013 looked around my background, sniffed the air and and decided it was just like Jerusalem. Consider \u2013 both seeds came from the same globe-trotting fruit.<\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s all in the blood. My ancestors specialized in four-footed mammals with wooly backs. His grew cotton in the Mississippi delta.<\/p>\n

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