"You look like Elvis"

February 4, 2005

This past Friday morning I volunteered in Isaac's 2nd grade class again to do subtraction and "rounding off" drills with the kids. While I was in the classroom awaitng the morning's assignment, I noticed that one of the girls was looking at me suspiciously, in particular at my boots (pictured here). I asked her "do you like my boots?", and she started to smile and replied "yeah...you look like Elvis". Needless to say, this comment made my day, but I also started wondering what these kids think scientists "look like".

It turns out that not only is 2005 the "World Year of Physics" but the 2004-5 school year marks the 350th anniversary of Jews being in America. To celebrate this anniversary, the synagogue I belong to (Etz Chaim) has a special program for its Sunday School parent-student assembly. Each week they "bring to life" some important Jewish historical figure who has at some point lived in the United States. The way they do this is that there is a big "time machine" in the sanctuary (see the picture here), and there are two "scientists" (high school students wearing lab coats) who open the door to the time machine and bring out the guest. I had already jokingly complained to our Rabbi that the scientists I know don't wear lab coats and that we're trying to fight that stereotype--to this he jokingly responded "next you're going to tell me there's no such thing as a time machine".

Anyway, I have to confess to enjoying many of the guests, and the kids have been really excited about it. But this last week's guest was Einstein (shown in the dark picture), and I was disappointed at how almost nothing of Einstein's scientific legacy was presented. The actor (parent) playing Einstein did mention how he worked hard towards establishing the state of Israel, and also how when he was asked to be the second prime minister of Israel he declined, saying he was a scientist and didn't know enough about government to be a prime minister. The actor also mentioned how he (Einstein) was very much against using or even building atomic weapons. All of these things made me wonder what Einstein would think of the current situation in Israel and how that country has responded to the Palestinian struggle for self-determination.

Of course the funniest part of the skit for me was the fact that Einstein himself was wearing a lab coat for the whole thing. Although I've seen plenty of photos of Einstein, I don't ever recall seeing him in a lab coat . The real question that stuck in my mind was, did Einstein ever wear shoes that could pass for Elvis boots?

Comments

[walter richardson]

Nice article....I am a 53 year old man who in the opinion of many looks like Albert Einstein, but I eat like Elvis. LOL