Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Mechanic Uses 2 Manuals for Refrigeration Repairs
If one hangs around Lower Manhattan long enough, one may see a white Ford van with its exterior adorned with Hebrew lettering and diagrams about the Kabbalah, the ancient mystical movement often studied by Hasidic Jews that deals with the nature of divinity and creation of the soul.
The van is not filled with Jewish missionaries, but rather with a greasy jumble of valves, fan motors, blowtorches and other equipment and tools. On the door, in English, is the company name: Aleph Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Service. Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Instead of some snappy slogan like "Don't Lose Your Cool" or "Let Us Chill You Out," there is the directive to "Study Kabbalah."
There is no cutesy company logo, like a smiling ice cube, but rather a puzzling weblike diagram labeled "Abraham's Ladder," with lines linking encircled words. Taken from the Kabbalah, the model has as its top element "infinite energy" and as its bottom, "material universe."
So what is with these mystical messages on a gritty construction van parked with other banged-up service vehicles on busy Manhattan streets?
Its owner, Nelson Cabezas, 58, is just waiting for you to ask, and if you catch him when he is not fixing a walk-in freezer, air-conditioning unit, sushi refrigerator or ice machine, he will offer as much explanation as you want.
Mr. Cabezas is not like most Kabbalah scholars. He is not a rabbi — he is not even Jewish. His parents came from Nicaragua, and he was raised on tough Bronx streets in the 1950's and 60's.
He is a refrigerator and air-conditioner mechanic with a theology degree. He is an ordained interfaith minister with a refrigeration engineer's license, who has spent the past few decades of his life studying refrigeration and the Kabbalah in tandem.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/20/nyregion/20plumber.html
If one hangs around Lower Manhattan long enough, one may see a white Ford van with its exterior adorned with Hebrew lettering and diagrams about the Kabbalah, the ancient mystical movement often studied by Hasidic Jews that deals with the nature of divinity and creation of the soul.
The van is not filled with Jewish missionaries, but rather with a greasy jumble of valves, fan motors, blowtorches and other equipment and tools. On the door, in English, is the company name: Aleph Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Service. Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Instead of some snappy slogan like "Don't Lose Your Cool" or "Let Us Chill You Out," there is the directive to "Study Kabbalah."
There is no cutesy company logo, like a smiling ice cube, but rather a puzzling weblike diagram labeled "Abraham's Ladder," with lines linking encircled words. Taken from the Kabbalah, the model has as its top element "infinite energy" and as its bottom, "material universe."
So what is with these mystical messages on a gritty construction van parked with other banged-up service vehicles on busy Manhattan streets?
Its owner, Nelson Cabezas, 58, is just waiting for you to ask, and if you catch him when he is not fixing a walk-in freezer, air-conditioning unit, sushi refrigerator or ice machine, he will offer as much explanation as you want.
Mr. Cabezas is not like most Kabbalah scholars. He is not a rabbi — he is not even Jewish. His parents came from Nicaragua, and he was raised on tough Bronx streets in the 1950's and 60's.
He is a refrigerator and air-conditioner mechanic with a theology degree. He is an ordained interfaith minister with a refrigeration engineer's license, who has spent the past few decades of his life studying refrigeration and the Kabbalah in tandem.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/20/nyregion/20plumber.html
Comments:
sounds like an interesting character. As long as he does not missionize, he sounds harmless enough to me.
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Comment Credit ---This article posted by 
: June 20, 2006 1:50 PM
: June 20, 2006 1:50 PM
