Blog/March 2015/Mar 6th

March 6th (See this week's devar torah)

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Purim came, purim went; it was a festive week! Though we were very busy all week, I have the feeling we didn’t actually accomplish a whole lot. Sarah took a short vacation from us to the north of Israel, and we tried to “do stuff”.

Esther had to do some kind of medical scan as a follow-up for something from years ago, so we trundled off to the hospital at the very opposite side of Jerusalem from us in order to do it. Unfortunately, it was a lengthy procedure; so though we got there just past 8 in the morning, we didn’t leave until after noon. By the time we got home, we were both pretty tired, so nothing really was accomplished that day. I was impressed by how many Arabs were in the hospital – both as patients and as staff – I guess our “apartheid regime” isn’t as strict as all that. Anyway, we won’t know the results of the test for a while.

On the medical-news front, my mother and brother are both back home and doing as well as can be expected. Thanks for your kind wishes!

Since the purim holiday fell on our normal day for business meetings, we had to move them to a different day, which disrupted our normal schedule. That resulted in a chain reaction of disruption, whereby we really didn’t accomplish too much. Like I said before. I was able to make some progress and put out some more sample code, but not anything earth-shattering.

The biggest news of the week is probably Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu speaking to the US Congress. Esther and I watched it live via the miracle of the internet, and in our opinions it was a very good speech. Of course, that’s what Netanyahu is known for being particularly good at. With all my cynic-sensors on high-alert, I still thought he did a really admirable job; and successfully delivered a not so subtle message to Obama as well: “Even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand”.

Of course, being the stratospherically egotistical megalomaniac that he is, The One “did not have the chance” to watch Netanyahu’s speech. He also “did not have the chance” to meet with him for even one minute; he was miffed at Bibi for daring to show his face in Congress. Never mind that even the Saudis approved of Netanyahu going to Washington; as Steyn mentions, the enemy of my enemy is my enemy.

Obama makes me feel ashamed of America, Bibi makes me proud of Israel.

Some things:

• I hope and pray that this asshat doesn’t get chosen to be our next Prime Minister.
• Interesting article about the global cooling trend. Sunspot minima, specifically.
• Bill Nye “the science guy” says Jews need to get to know their neighbors better and then things will be alright. No, really.
• The Arabs of the PA are not allowed to stock Israeli products. Not because of Israel, but because of the PA’s new “boycott policy”. Of course, that means the Israeli suppliers do a better business since the majority of Arabs just want the same products everyone else does.

Purim was pleasant; we went to a later megillah reading than we normally do, and there was less noise and disruption. In the afternoon we went to the seudah at our friend’s place, as we have been doing since making aliyah. Everyone was nice and mellow at the end, and a good time was had by all. Looking forward to pesaḥ…

This week it’s us as well as Dinah. Our menu will include: curried turkey, rice, pareve spanakopita, veggie cholent, mushroom barley soup, roasted eggplant, and tons of desserts from the various purim baskets we received.

Until next time,
shabbat shalom !

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