Blog/August 2008/Aug 8th - Revision history

Ron at 12:14, 15 August 2008

2008-08-15T12:14:51Z

Ron at 12:57, 8 August 2008

2008-08-08T12:57:06Z

Ron at 10:37, 8 August 2008

2008-08-08T10:37:46Z

Ron at 10:32, 8 August 2008

2008-08-08T10:32:45Z

Ron at 10:04, 8 August 2008

2008-08-08T10:04:40Z

Ron: Replacing page with ' {{blog}} {{bheader|August 8th|Devar/5768/Devarim}} Hi again! Shabbat shalom! {{nav|Blog|Blog|Blog/August 2008/Aug 1st|Aug 1st||}}'

2008-08-08T06:03:14Z

Replacing page with ' {{blog}} {{bheader|August 8th|Devar/5768/Devarim}} Hi again! Shabbat shalom! {{nav|Blog|Blog|Blog/August 2008/Aug 1st|Aug 1st||}}'

Ron: New page: {{subst: :Blog/Latest}}

2008-08-08T06:01:32Z

New page: {{subst: :Blog/Latest}}

New page

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{{bheader|August 1st|Devar/5768/Masei}}

Hi again!

This week marks our ''one-solar-year'' anniversary of making aliyah (moving to Israel). We have to wait two weeks to celebrate on the Hebrew calendar (15 Av), but we think we can start now. A recap is in order ...

After planning our aliyah meticulously -- leaving nothing to chance, we thought -- we embarked on our noble adventure. Just a few days before we left our house in Bellevue, Washington, the buyers pulled out; leaving us with very few funds and a white elephant to get rid of. Fortunately, we had already rented a place in Israel, so we had nothing to worry about in the short term...

When we arrived, we found out the house was a complete disaster. Water leaking in several places, dirt which had probably been brought out of Egypt by the Israelites, a background bouquet of ordure, very unpleasant neighbors and unhelpful landlords. But at least we spoke Hebrew already, so no problems there... except for the government agencies, at which we spent many many hours trying to sort out the paperwork which Nefesh B'Nefesh was supposed to have helped us with. Sarah was despondent, we were upset.

As time progressed we found that speaking Hebrew did not help when dealing with our neighbors. They were good at lying in any language. They tried (and succeeded) to avoid paying their share of anything and everything. But at least there was a ray of sunshine... The clerks at the City Hall of Maaleh Adummim befriended us and helped us out. We started to turn things around.

In the meantime, I had started working for a small startup in Jerusalem. Esther resumed working for her former company in the US, Sarah was in school all day and Daniela was learning in Jerusalem. Eventually, we got used to the weather, the people, the culture and all that. Then we realized we had to get out of the rental, so we looked for and found a house. By this time, we had sold our house in the US so we were able to actually make it happen. The exhilaration of looking forward to a "new" house free of our neighbors and landlords, buoyed us through the ensuing months.

Finally, not long ago! we moved into the "new" house, and though it ended up costing us more than we had originally planned, the ecstasy of leaving the place we were was overpowering. We're still basking in the joy of home-ownership. So far, our aliyah has been successful. There have been ups and downs, as chronicled on these pages. But in general I can say there's no place I would rather be,

''Indian insights'': No indoor plumbing? Not a problem, just go wherever you are! There are signs on walls stating: "Please do not urinate on this wall". Since the majority are illiterate, however, the signs do no good. Airport security signs: "Items not permitted: ... hand grenades, ... canned food, ...". OK, I get the 'hand grenade' prohibition, though I rather doubt anyone would bring one on board innocently. But canned food? Are they really worried someone could take over a plane with the lid from a tuna can? As it turns out, I did bring canned fish in my carry-on, and no one was the wiser.

In joyous news, our resident weasel has finally [http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127018 announced his resignation]! Oh, that we could rely on his declaration! Until I see someone else in his chair, I'll hold back on the celebration. And afterwards... who knows how much worse a leader we might get? Hard to imagine, but the current crop of likely candidates is ''even worse'' than Olmert. I'm still holding out for {{wiki|Tvrtko Kale}} for PM. He could really make a difference.

Speaking of {{wiki2|Beitar_Jerusalem_FC|Beitar Yerushalayim}}, we had an interesting experience coming back from the Malha mall the other day. Bad timing on our part, we left along with 10,000 Beitar fans (the stadium is right next to the mall). So we got to see a kind of freaky side of Israeli life - the supposed "right-wing blue-collar" crowd of Beitar supporters. Honking horns, displaying their team's colors proudly. It almost made me curious to actually watch a game... but not quite.

Shabbat shalom!

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 Those of you who have been waiting to purchase a {{wiki|kilt}}, but were holding back because of ''shaatnez'' or because you couldn't find a clan MacCohen, can now purchase [http://www.jewishtartan.com/ the "Official Jewish Tartan"]!  .  Truth is stranger than Fiction!
-Biblical revisionists are going to have a hard time with the [http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=40140 latest archaeological find] in Jerusalem.  The combination of this find with a previous one, essentially corroborate the historicity of the book of Jeremiah.  True, this is centuries after King David -- but it's pretty exciting when science confirms Tanach.
+Biblical revisionists are going to have a hard time with the [http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=40140 latest archaeological find] in Jerusalem.  The combination of this find with a previous one, essentially corroborates the historicity of the book of Jeremiah.  True, this is centuries after King David -- but it's pretty exciting when science confirms Tanach.
 Electrifying!  We got our first electric bill since we moved.  There's an air-conditioner in almost every room, and the girls have them on more often than not.  Nevertheless, our bill was ''half'' what is has been in the past.  That's right, half.  I think we were getting really ripped-off at the rental, I surely do...

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 Electrifying!  We got our first electric bill since we moved.  There's an air-conditioner in almost every room, and the girls have them on more often than not.  Nevertheless, our bill was ''half'' what is has been in the past.  That's right, half.  I think we were getting really ripped-off at the rental, I surely do...
-Odd, but true:  For many months, on Fridays we would hear some guy going around yelling, "avatiach!" (watermelon).  We never were sure exactly what he was yelling.  First, because he's an Arab and his accent was pretty thick.  Second, because he was not carrying watermelons.  We thought, maybe he was saying, "shatiach!" (carpet), and he's a carpet cleaner.  It was a weekly puzzle, trying to figure out what the guy was saying.  Only now, just a few minutes ago in fact, did we figure it out.  He's yelling "alte zachen" (old stuff)!  He's collecting cast-offs to resell or whatever.  An Arab yelling out in Yiddish!  Only in Israel...
+Odd, but true:  For many months, on Fridays we would hear some guy going around yelling, "avatiach!" (watermelon).  We never were sure exactly what he was yelling.  First, because he's an Arab and his accent was pretty thick.  Second, because he was not carrying watermelons.  We thought, maybe he was saying, "shatiach!" (carpet), and he's a carpet cleaner.  It was a weekly puzzle, trying to figure out what the guy was saying.  Only now, just a few minutes ago in fact, did we figure it out.  He's yelling "alte zachen" (old stuff)!  He's collecting cast-offs to resell or whatever.  An Arab yelling out in Yiddish in a Hebrew-speaking neighborhood!  Only in Israel...
 Shabbat shalom!
 {{nav|Blog|Blog|Blog/August 2008/Aug 1st|Aug 1st||}}

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 At the fishmonger this morning, buying fish for shabbat, there was a guy in front of me buying a ''lot'' of fish.  I asked him if he was throwing a party, to which he replied "it's shabbat!  what's shabbat without fish?".  I should point out, there was nothing about the guy to indicate he was concerned about shabbat.   Anyway, we started talking about this and that, and he mentioned he had been overseas recently, and was glad to be back.  In his words, "there's no place like our Land!".  He's right. For all the complaining you've read here in these pages, he's right.  About the fish, too.  Only here in Israel can you learn Torah while buying fish!
-I generally don't like shopping, but this week I got to do my share of it.  Earlier in the week we went to buy a dining-room table.  Until now, we've been eating off of a Costco folding plastic table.  It just ain't right to eat shabbat meals off such a cheap table.  But it works, and we couldn't find anything we liked.  About a two months ago, we had gone to this one furniture place and ''almost'' liked the furniture there.  After looking around at other places, we decided we liked this place's stuff the best of what we had seen.  So we go back there, and -- once again, a salesman who to all external appearances was not religious -- started talking about how he liked a particular table because it extends out a long way, and on shabbat and chagim you can get your family around it!  When we told him we were sitting on folding-metal chairs, he grimaced and said "that's not very good for shabbat".  He's right.  Then when we told him we were eating off a folding plastic table, he said "well, I guess the chairs go with the table".  He's right about that, too...  Anyway, B"H we should have a real table and chair set by Rosh Hashanah.
+I generally don't like shopping, but this week I got to do my share of it.  Earlier in the week we went to buy a dining-room table.  Until now, we've been eating off of a Costco folding plastic table.  It just ain't right to eat shabbat meals off such a cheap table.  But it works, and we couldn't find anything we liked.  About two months ago, we had gone to this one furniture place and ''almost'' liked the furniture there.  After looking around at other places, we decided we liked this place's stuff the best.  So we go back there, and -- once again, a salesman who to all external appearances was not religious -- started talking about how he liked a particular table because it extends out a long way, and on shabbat and chagim you can get your family around it!  When we told him we were sitting on folding-metal chairs, he grimaced and said "that's not very good for shabbat".  He's right.  Then when we told him we were eating off a folding plastic table, he said "well, I guess the chairs go with the table".  He's right about that, too...  Anyway, B"H we should have a real table and chair set by Rosh Hashanah.
-Those of you who have been waiting to purchase a {{wiki|kilt}}, but were holding back because of ''shaatnez'' -- [http://www.jewishtartan.com/ your time has come]!  The "Official Jewish Tartan".  Truth is stranger than Fiction!
+Those of you who have been waiting to purchase a {{wiki|kilt}}, but were holding back because of ''shaatnez'' or because you couldn't find a clan MacCohen, can now purchase [http://www.jewishtartan.com/ the "Official Jewish Tartan"]!  .  Truth is stranger than Fiction!
 Biblical revisionists are going to have a hard time with the [http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=40140 latest archaeological find] in Jerusalem.  The combination of this find with a previous one, essentially corroborate the historicity of the book of Jeremiah.  True, this is centuries after King David -- but it's pretty exciting when science confirms Tanach.
 Electrifying!  We got our first electric bill since we moved.  There's an air-conditioner in almost every room, and the girls have them on more often than not.  Nevertheless, our bill was ''half'' what is has been in the past.  That's right, half.  I think we were getting really ripped-off at the rental, I surely do...
 Shabbat shalom!
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 Hi again!
 Shabbat shalom!
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