Through the Generations: The 'Axe Detailer'

The 'Axe Detailer' is a cleansing tool for men. One reviewer called it, reasonably, a loofah for guys. (It's made out of artifical materials.) The ad copy that comes with it warns us that "when girls check out a guy, they notice every part. They don't miss a thing." This is silly advertizing of course. ('Dove for Men' sells an extremely similar product with no silly ad copy at all.) But when I use the Axe Detailer, I get a special pleasure due to the marketing.

I realized today that the pleasure I get is kindred with the feeling I get when I don tefillin. That act puts me in touch with untold generations of Jewish men who have done the same before me. Scrubbing with the 'Axe' puts me in touch with a delightfully younger generation of desperate men, all doing what I'm doing.