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{{bheader|September 19th|Devar/5768/Ki Tavo}}
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{{bheader|September 26th|Devar/5768/Nitsavim}}
  
  
 
Hi again!
 
Hi again!
  
What a week! Lots of stuff to talk about...
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Last week I mentioned we got a new table -- here's my report:  The table is fantastic!  It's big enough to seat guests comfortably, it's rock-solid, and it even looks nice.  Thanks for asking! Only two noticeable flaws: first, there is a decorative "band" around the table made of applied stone 'tiles'.  One of the tiles is broken.  One of the chairs has legs not of the same length, so it wobbles.  However, the chairs are (at least for now) extremely sturdy, and far more comfortable than the folding metal chairs we were using before.  The one design flaw in the table is that the top slides open (to extend it), but there is no latch to keep it from sliding. So today b"n I'll attach a latch to the underside of the table to keep it from sliding when someone leans on it.
  
First - this past shabbat there was a terrorist event in the small town of YitzharOne of our cousins from a neighboring village took it into his head to cause some damage.  So he went into Yitzhar, burned one house and stabbed a nine year old boy who tried to stop him.  Then he ran off to the neighboring village.  A group of irate Yitzhar residents went into the village and fired some shots and threw some stonesThat was apparently the event.  Now, depending on what you choose to read, you will hear a story of [http://israelinsider.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2018399%3ABlogPost%3A6921 self defense], or perhaps [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1221142463212&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull the Wild West]Or more ridiculous: [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1221142471312&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull pogroms] and [http://israelinsider.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2018399%3ABlogPost%3A7105 yet more on pogroms]. Then of course, there's the [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1221142466441&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull lame response of our government].
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Esther's mother arrived yesterday, and will be staying for a bit over a monthShe had a long flight in from Buenos Aires, and arrived safely and in good shapeSince this is her first time in Israel, we'll have to give her "the tour" like we did for my motherCan't play favorites...
  
Not everyone who reads these pages is JewishFor my Christian readers: this is why [http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127592 you should care].
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The weather here is starting to cool downThe sky is overcast and we might even get some rain sometime over the next couple days.
  
What else?  Oh, on the way to work every day I hear an alarming ad on the radioIt opens with ''shofarot'' sounding an alarm - then the serious voice of the announcer tells us that [http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=11590 Rabbi Nachman's grave] is in danger.  Why?  Because some Ukrainian businessman won a judgment of $10 million against the grave-site of R' Nahman.  So the announcer continues, imploring us to donate money to 'save our Rebbe's grave'.  Not that I have anything against R' Nahman, Heaven forbid -- but wouldn't it make sense to ''move his grave'' to Israel and thereby (1) solve the Ukrainian problem, (2) save Breslovers millions of dollars every Rosh Hashana and (3) provide a more honorable resting place for their Rebbe?
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We are trying to brine our olives (from our trees)The olives we put in to "soak" for the past two weeks have changed colors, and we're hoping they are ok and don't have wormsWe have to do a bit more research on the whole olive-brining process, I think.
  
In personal news... we finally got our dining room table! Finally, we don't have to eat off the folding plastic table and folding metal chairs! We're looking forward to a more restful shabbat this week.
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This coming week is Rosh Hashanah -- so shopping for last-minute shabbat supplies was a bit like contact-sports. Especially at the fishmonger. One woman was yelling at the fishmonger -- screaming, actually -- that she's was waiting for an hour, and why didn't he have her order ready yet?  I was going to mention to her that the forty other people in line may be the reason her order was taking time ...  And speaking of 'contact sports', my doctor told me I should avoid contact sports for the near term. I didn't have the heart to tell him I've been avoiding contact sports since high-school!
  
Esther went with a neighbor to [http://jewishuniverse.israelnationalnews.com/travel/index.php?articles_ID=81 kever Rachel].  This is her story in her own words:
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In Israeli news: the [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1221745564761&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull people have spoken].  Well, actually, less than half a percent of the people have spoken -- and chose Tzippy Livni as the head of the "Kadima" party (Olmert's party).  I'm not sure it's an improvement over Olmert, but at least it's a change.  We'll see if she's able to pull together a governing coalition.
 
 
"I got a call from a neighbor who was going to drive with her daughter over to kever Rachel and invited me to go.  I immediately accepted the offer since it was one of the places I've never visited.  Up to last month it was not possible for private cars to go all the way to the site.  People had to go by bus from Jerusalem, which according to my neighbor it could take up to an hour, and once they got to the site had to wait to be escorted by a soldier.  Just a couple of weeks ago the government decided to open the road to private cars on an experimental bases.  It took us 25 minutes to get there from Maaleh Adumim.  The kever is right at the entrance to Bethlehem and just a few blocks away from where Daniela attended seminary last year.  You drive in one block and then get in to the road to the grave which is lined on both sides with very high cement walls to protect the visitors from our friendly neighbors.  Once inside it is all very quiet.  There is an entrance for the men and one for the women.  The women section has two small rooms where people sit and pray.  I was able to get into the innermost room first standing and then found a chair and sat down.  It was very inspiring to be there and I hope it stays open to private transportation so more people have a chance to go visit".
 
 
 
Daniela's computer virus problems were finally solved this week.  We reinstalled Windows.  I hate Windows...
 
 
 
Sarah got her ''bagrut'' results; and while they were disappointing to ''her'', they were not bad at all.  ''Especially'' considering she had to learn Hebrew while learning the subject matter. 
 
 
 
In more Sarah news: yesterday she got her ''tsav gius'' -- call-up notice from the Army.  So she needs to register with them in December.  In the meantime we need to find out exactly what she has to do for the "religious girls" exemption.  So you can call her 'recruit Sarah' now.
 
 
 
I got a call this week on my cel-phone, from some woman I don't know, for a woman I don't know.  The conversation went like this: ''Hello, Tali?''.  No, sorry, no Tali here.  ''Are you sure?''.  Yes, I'm sure there's no Tali here.  ''Well, I was given this number for "Tali".  It's about a law-school course.''  That's nice; but I'm not Tali, nor do I know a Tali, nor do I want to be a lawyer... good bye!
 
 
 
Work was excellent, if stressful this week.  I was able to get a small project finished which will serve as a launching-point for future projects.  In 'manly' news, I re-screened our screen door and main window of the kitchen, so we can get a cross-draft now without worrying about bugs flying in.  I know, it's not interesting ... but you have to take the good with the bad.
 
 
 
In odd news: we were invited to a meeting with the mayor of our town the other night.  Well, we weren't the only invitees, but in any case -- we went, and there was noone else there.  We still don't know why.  So my phone rings, and a friend of mine says he's in our neighborhood, and would I mind dropping by where he was.  Since we were on our way back from the abortive meeting with the mayor anyway, we said "sure".  Turns out, he's at a local Chabad shul (literally two minutes from my house), and they were having a 'chai Elul' party.  The place was just one room -- it reminded me of our shul in Bellevue ''many'' years ago, when it was getting started -- and there was an "interesting" collection of characters there.  More varieties of pickled fish than I'm used to... but it was an interesting end to the evening.
 
  
 
Until next week,<br>
 
Until next week,<br>
Shabbat shalom!
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Shabbat shalom and Shanah Tovah!
  
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Latest revision as of 15:10, 3 October 2008

September 26th (See this week's devar torah)
Send Ron feedback on this blog


Hi again!

Last week I mentioned we got a new table -- here's my report: The table is fantastic! It's big enough to seat guests comfortably, it's rock-solid, and it even looks nice. Thanks for asking! Only two noticeable flaws: first, there is a decorative "band" around the table made of applied stone 'tiles'. One of the tiles is broken. One of the chairs has legs not of the same length, so it wobbles. However, the chairs are (at least for now) extremely sturdy, and far more comfortable than the folding metal chairs we were using before. The one design flaw in the table is that the top slides open (to extend it), but there is no latch to keep it from sliding. So today b"n I'll attach a latch to the underside of the table to keep it from sliding when someone leans on it.

Esther's mother arrived yesterday, and will be staying for a bit over a month. She had a long flight in from Buenos Aires, and arrived safely and in good shape. Since this is her first time in Israel, we'll have to give her "the tour" like we did for my mother. Can't play favorites...

The weather here is starting to cool down. The sky is overcast and we might even get some rain sometime over the next couple days.

We are trying to brine our olives (from our trees). The olives we put in to "soak" for the past two weeks have changed colors, and we're hoping they are ok and don't have worms. We have to do a bit more research on the whole olive-brining process, I think.

This coming week is Rosh Hashanah -- so shopping for last-minute shabbat supplies was a bit like contact-sports. Especially at the fishmonger. One woman was yelling at the fishmonger -- screaming, actually -- that she's was waiting for an hour, and why didn't he have her order ready yet? I was going to mention to her that the forty other people in line may be the reason her order was taking time ... And speaking of 'contact sports', my doctor told me I should avoid contact sports for the near term. I didn't have the heart to tell him I've been avoiding contact sports since high-school!

In Israeli news: the people have spoken. Well, actually, less than half a percent of the people have spoken -- and chose Tzippy Livni as the head of the "Kadima" party (Olmert's party). I'm not sure it's an improvement over Olmert, but at least it's a change. We'll see if she's able to pull together a governing coalition.

Until next week,
Shabbat shalom and Shanah Tovah!



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