View source for Blog/August 2014/Aug 29th

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{{bheadernew|August 29th|http://ronware.org/wiki/Devar/5770/Shoftim}}

Hi, again!

As usual, it was a very busy week in the Aaron residence and in the Land. War and cessation thereof (though not War and Peace, that would be a stretch).  Lots of work, with good progress.  Hot weather and a new month.  Wandering Jews!

Among the Wandering Jews are Sarah and Dinah, who left this week for their excursion to the British Isles.  From the reports we’ve received, they’re having a great time; seeing so much rain again has been particularly exciting for them.  We hope they keep their powder dry, though!  They started in London, and are spending ''shabbat'' in Manchester with friends.  ''shabbat shalom'', ladies!

Other Wandering Jews include [http://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-community-forced-out-of-guatemalan-village/ these Guatemalan residents].  Why are they there to begin with?  More pointedly, why are ''any'' Jews still residing in London, Paris or New York?  We have ''our own land'', the Land God promised us; we need to be ''here'', not in the Exile.

I won’t try to tell you it’s all a bed of roses here in the Land.  This week began with heavy rocket barrages from the savages of Gaza.  Mid-week we apparently came to a ceasefire agreement with them, which has held since.  Our Prime Minister, Netanyahu, agreed to this without consulting the Cabinet, since it was very likely they would not have agreed to the ceasefire.  So we are led by a petty despot, who is now seeing his approval rating go down the toilet (because the people want a real end to the “situation”).  Who knows how things will resolve?

Of course there is a great deal of good to be found in the Land.  The economy is strong and unemployment is low (though wages are also relatively low).  The food is fresh and healthy.  The air is clean. Most everything is available.  But the best thing, I think, is the people.  People who care about their fellows; though that can be overwhelming at times, it is a good thing to know that you are not alone.

Back to the Wandering Jews theme: those of us who pay attention to the standard blessings have noticed that every single time we eat a meal with bread, we praise God for the “good and spacious Land”.  We also notice that three times a day we request in our standing prayers that the Exiles be ingathered.  I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but seriously: how can you be a “religious Jew” and not live in the Land?  If you base your decision of where to live solely on financial grounds, you are confusing the “עיקר” with the “טפל”, that is that which is of “primary importance” versus the “secondary”. I know, I know: this falls on deaf ears — but try I must, and try again.  [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0319.htm#17 הוֹכֵחַ תּוֹכִיחַ אֶת-עֲמִיתֶךָ, וְלֹא-תִשָּׂא עָלָיו חֵטְא] — you shall repeatedly rebuke your fellow, and not bear sin because of him.

This week saw a “great leap forward”, so to speak, in our “8th” project.  We sent out the first beta-program invitations, and were pleasantly surprised by the strong positive response we got to the invite.  Now we’re working on finishing up a few issues before we open the beta-program to the participants.  Among other things, we got all the “cross-platform” stuff working properly on all the platforms we currently support… a rather critical thing for a “cross-platform” development tool!  We also refined our web site and the product documentation.  Good things, but a lot of work.

The weather has been hot, but supposedly it will cool down a bit towards the beginning of the week.  This week we celebrated the start of the month of ''Elul'', which means we have just under a month until ''Rosh Hashanah''.  Oy!  I don’t know about you, but I am ''definitely'' not ready.  Good thing we’ve got a month to prepare ourselves!  

And what preparation, really, does one need for the High Holidays? Certainly it’s important to make your meal plans, purchase new clothing, make synagogue reservations and so on; but that’s all (very) secondary.  The ''primary'' preparation one needs is introspection, leading to ''teshuvah''.  May we all merit having the proper intent and engaging in useful introspection, leading to our return to the proper path, leading ultimately to the return of righteous leadership by our ''mashiaḥ'', may he be revealed soon, amen!


Though Sarah and Dinah are overseas, we have Fred and Natania to take their (physical) place.  We’ll serve up simple yet satisfying fare:<br>
roasted chicken,
baked yams,
zucchini with mushrooms,
corn on the cob,
hard-boiled eggs,
rice,
''salatim'',
fruit salad,
and banana cake<br>

Until next week,<br>
''shabbat shalom''!

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