Oh, hello there.

It's me, Leo.

We're still on vacation this week.

I'm recording this from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where I've just finished the third martini of

the day.

Okay, the fourth.

Okay, not the day, the afternoon, the early afternoon, if you insist, but nonetheless,

we have a very special episode for you this week.

How special?

Fund drive special.

How is that special?

Because this isn't NPR, we're not going to just talk at you until you give us money and

then send you some dumb tote bag you'll stick in your closet and never use again.

When we at an orthodox do fund drives, we do them in style.

So here it goes.

First, let's take a moment to remember why we do this show.

And maybe why you like listening to it.

All of us here on the show, but I suspect also among listeners, are very different.

Some of us pray three times a day, and some of us can't wait to slurp down some delicious

oysters.

Some of us study the Talmud and some of us watch the marvelous Mrs. Maison, where Ashkenazi

and Sephardi and Mizrachi were observant and totally non-observant, were straight and

...