Blog/February 2008/Feb 22nd

February 22nd (See this week's devar torah)
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Hi again!

It was a pretty calm week for us, thank God, with one exception I'll mention later on.

With all the media attention being given to the US presidential race, I feel it is only my duty to make comment as well. If you're thinking of voting for Barak Obama, maybe you should read this and this first. I do find it heartening that this time around the winners in the races so far are the less shrill, more moderate sounding ones. Whoever wins, it will probably not be good for the Jews in general or Israel in particular - not this time around. I hope I'm wrong about that.

Strong women: I've known for years that my dear wife is a strong woman - she would have to be to stay with me. But I was more than a little alarmed to see just how strong she really is! After a particularly energetic cleaning session she showed me the broom, our only broom, snapped clean in half. And I thought 10 shekels for a broom was too much!

Speaking of that strong woman, she and her ulpan went on a trip to the Knesset and the Israeli Supreme Court. The Knesset was out of session, but they got to speak with M.K. Aryeh Eldad. The court was working, and she got to sit in on part of a case being brought against the Israeli government. As she sat down in the visitor's section, she noticed the guy sitting next to her looked familiar. As it happens, he was Eli Yishai, one of the highest ranking politicians in Israel (at the moment, that is) and head of the Shas political party. When was the last time you spoke to a Congressman or Senator?

Odd stuff: I've been wondering for months just what this thing in downtown Jerusalem is. Nobody I asked had the slightest idea - it looks like a crane gone awry. Fortunately, this week an alert reporter wrote this article about it, so now I know. Now I know, that is, just how poorly my tax money is being spent...

Another alert reporter informed us about the plight of arab graduates of Israeli univerities. Pardon me while I cry a river. Let's see: there are 22 Arab countries, where they might find employment - since they hate and wish to destroy the one where they studied. They don't contribute to the security or social welfare of this country (and indeed, the opposite is true). But wait: there are more than a million Arabs living in Israel. Can none of them hire their brothers and sisters? Why is there almost no high-tech in the Arab sector? Hint: it's not because they're not smart. It's because the smart ones move to the US or elsewhere, rather than stay here and help their families and friends. They can't find jobs with Israeli companies, because ... who the hell would trust them? Let's get serious. Since the idiots in the various world bodies like to talk about "confidence building measures", let's try this one: stop trying to kill us, and our confidence in you will go up. You might even get hired in your profession.

In some of my past posts I crowed about the Israeli economy. As it turns out, the International Monetary Fund agrees, and soon shekels will be one of 17 currencies traded in the global markets. So - as I've said before - now's a good time to make aliyah, friends. On the other hand, Esther bought zucchini this week for the mind-numbing price of 26 shekels/kilo. If you recall, I mentioned we paid 22/kilo for chicken! That's what you get when you buy produce out of season during a shemittah year...

Now for this week's excitement. If you haven't seen the movie Ushpizin you should; we had our own "ushpiz" this week. We got a call the other night from a family member of our Bellevue rabbi, who said he had a package from the rabbi's family and could he deliver it to us? While we were surprised to hear from him, we weren't too surprised since he lives in Jerusalem, and makes trips to the US from time to time. We gave him directions, and about an hour later get a knock on the door... and instead of the guy we spoke to, there's our rabbi from Bellevue! You could have knocked me over with a feather! He came for his mother's birthday (all the children came), and dropped by while he was visiting. We were all happy and pleased to visit with him and catch up on the happenings in Bellevue. Rabbi, you are missed!

We just got back from a Friday morning tiyul - a trip - to the Ein Gedi nature reserve, which is located about 60km from us, next to the Dead Sea. It's a very impressive place: all around is sere desert - brown and rocky - and in the middle of it all, a flourishing oasis with waterfalls, ibex and all kinds of wildlife. Definitely worth a longer trip - but this being Friday, we have to get ready for shabbat so we only took a short trip (it also being the only day I really get off work and can do something like this).

Shabbat shalom!

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