21 November
Movie Review: Piece by Piece 
November 21, 2024 Movie Review: Piece by Piece
November 14, 2024 "Humor on the Margins: Cartoons in the Turkish Jewish Newspaper Şalom" by Rakel P. Meşulam
November 7, 2024 The "Ottoman and Turkish Ketubbot" Exhibition
November 4, 2024 TV Show Review: Nobody Wants This
November 1, 2024 The Irresistible Drunkenness of Reading Books
FEATURE/Ashkenazi fate
Bahar FEYZAN
Daniel Preston and Bahar Feyzan
October 22, 2014
Ibn Khaldun once said “geography is fate”. However, an Ashkenazi woman changed that fate. The geography here is America. The transoceanic relatives of chocolate and whiskey duo here are presented in the form of salt water taffy and Bourbon- a kind of diluted whiskey. The production facility’s building has a vintage look. American magazine Business Week refers to the story as “Brooklyn’s best kept secret”.
He is 44 years old. His name is Daniel Preston.
His mother was among those whose fate changed after escaping from Poland and Austria by ship, in the World War II. At the age of 16, she crossed the ocean and took refuge in New York. She married another immigrant who came to USA from the Dominican Republic.
At those years, due to rising anti-Semitism, further immigration was almost impossible. The lucky ones who made it to New York by ship had to work very hard to survive and hold on to life. The real question was, “What did the children of immigrants who came to USA do?” In other words, what did the first generation in the new geography do especially when their generation and their parents have moved their fate to other geographies?
And, then?
The world is an average place with no center... We have no choice, but to squeeze in and make room for ourselves either by pushing someone or climbing on top of each other to be the first one to grab a lending hand…
Despite all this turmoil and commotion, the generation born in the new geography is the luckiest generation. They are the ones who unlike their parents didn’t have to fight homelessness. They’re the ones who began their lives seamlessly, without the need to struggle.
I met one of those people in New York.
At first, he seemed like an ordinary person. I thought he had hard time putting words together. It wasn’t long until I realized his problem wasn’t with words... The best way to describe Daniel is that he is an engineering prodigy. He sold the patent of the parachute he invented to the Israeli Army. His contract prohibits him to manufacture the same parachute for other organizations for five years.
In the facility he produces chocolate and Bourbon, he invents various machines and sells them to other manufacturers.
It’s hard to keep in mind everything he invented since he was 11, when he first started inventing. All I can tell is that Daniel who says he sleeps only few hours every night is capable of limitless things.
Whenever he faces a challenge in life, he invents something. It’s kind of his lifestyle, the way he lives. Due to his ongoing contracts, he cannot touch his ‘toys’ which we call inventions, therefore his whole world these days consists of chocolate and American whiskey, Bourbon. He produces chocolate with various flavors: clove, cardamom, orchid, sea salt, vanilla, and beans. His chocolates are 70 percent cacao beans. Healthy and delicious...
While talking to Daniel, I couldn’t help but think what would have happened if he lived in Turkey. Would they make his life miserable or would they punish him for his success? I don’t know… As you all know, it’s hard to pave the way alone in our country... Once you go astray or stand out from the crowd, they start digging. He lives in a geography where he’s not concerned with politics and doesn’t have to put up with questions like “who are you, what are you doing, who gave you permission, etc?” His fate is in his own hands…
As much as I agree with Ibn Khaldun, I believe if he was living in today’s world, he would have added “Being a businessman in Turkey is a different fate.”
Related Newsss ss
1 November
The Irresistible Drunkenness of Reading Books
“Veni, vidi, legi! / I came, I saw, I read!"
7 March
Tracking Down Mario Levi
"My luggage has been checked. He smelled everything and rummaged around. In shirts, trousers, handkerchiefs. They were looking for lace and jewelry. Even for banned books. Idiots looking for you in your suitcase! You won´t discover anything here! The contraband traveling with me. I stuck it in my head. And there are a lot of books in my head! I assure you. My head is a chirping bird´s nest. From the confiscated books." Heinrich Heine / Germany. "A Winter´s Tale"
13 December
Kissinger´s Political Doctrine
“Life is suffering. Birth involves death. Transitoriness is the fate of existence. No civilization has yet been permanent, no longing completely fulfilled. This is necessity, the fatedness of history, the dilemma of mortality.” Henry Kissinger - From the preface of his doctorate thesis at Harvard University.
13 April
Do All Organisms Feel Pain?
Scientists have revealed that plants exposed to stress also react like humans and animals do. This is a very important discovery for understanding the universality of pain for all living things.
