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{{bheader|October 10th|Devar/5769/Haazinu}}
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{{bheader|October 17th|Devar/5769/Sukkot}}
  
  
 
Hi again!
 
Hi again!
  
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This week we had Yom Kippur, so between preparation for the day and the full-day in synagogue, and preparing the sukkah for next-week's festival of Sukkot, we don't have much "news" to tell.
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The festival of {{wiki|Sukkot}} began this week.  I mentioned [[Blog/October 2008/Oct 10th|last week]] that ''everyone'' started building their sukkot. The building spree continued until the very last minute, with hammering and drilling audible until just before sundown Monday.  [[Media:Sukkah-outside.jpeg|Our sukkah]], being a pre-fab, was finished within two hours of starting; so we were well rested by the time the holiday began.  Only we didn't sufficiently consider the ''wind'' which blows toward our house from Jerusalem -- every afternoon -- and that stormy weather was in the forecast.
  
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Well, not exactly... On Sunday we took my mother-in-law to Jerusalem, and decided to eat out. Since we've had good food there before, we decided on the "Cafe Rimon" in the center of J"M.  It's a bit expensive, but we figured the view of all the people would be interesting.  Well: we had the ''worst'' service I have ever had.  I mean, it was slow.  Excruciatingly slow -- and the restaurant was not busy at all (the servers were 'hanging out' waiting for stuff to do).  There were four of us, but they brought one drink at a time, with a five-minute wait between them. Then they brought the entrees one at a time, same deal.  My water only showed up when I asked for it again.  Esther's "iced" drink had no ice.  The food itself was good, but when we got the bill and it said "Service not included", we wanted to write underneath, "yes, we noticed".
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The holiday itself was actually not windy at all -- in fact, the weather was a bit stagnant.  That led to there being an over-abundance of some sort of fruit-fly in our sukkah on the first night, which was a bit irritating (and also a bit problematic: we had to keep looking for flies in the food and make sure there weren't any).
  
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But our Yom Kippur was excellent, thank you for asking.  People who might not go to synagogue all year, and who don't even know what the word ''halacha'' means, don't drive.  There was not one car driving in Maale Adummim (well, not in the area we are in).  There was ''only'' one car driving on the J"M - Dead Sea highway, presumably an Arab, when we looked (it's usually full of cars).  The kids all were out on their skates and bikes; and as we walked to synagogue we were asked several times by anxious kids, "when does the fast start?" -- because then the streets would be totally empty.  One thing, both Esther and I wanted to yell out, "that tune is wrong!" several times... it's amazing what imprinting will do.   
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On the second and third "intermediate days" of the festival, I took off from work and we drove my mother-in-law around Israel: up the Jordan valley to {{wiki|Beit Shean}}, to {{wiki|Tiberias}} and then to the upper-Galilee where one of her brothers lives.  The second day we went to {{wiki|Netanya}} to see the coast (I didn't know there was such a nice beach there, so it was educational for me as well).   
  
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More interesting to me is that ''everyone'' started working on their {{wiki|sukkah}} -- even people one might not think would care to make the effort.  Practically every house has a sukkah, and we don't even live in a particularly "religious" area.  We've got ours up as well, but we had to halve it since it was way too big for the areas we have.  We also had to trim trees so the sukkah is not shaded by them.  Now we'll see how well the sukkah withstands the mighty afternoon winds here, and we'll know if we have to make changes.
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On returning the second day, we found the "schach" (thatching) of the sukkah was half blown-off.  So I went to work finding a suitable fastening method which did not run afoul of the ''halachah''.  We'll see if it holds up over shabbat...
  
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Just when we thought only Israeli politics could get this dirty, up comes the Obama campaign and [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017470356&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull lies about Israeli general's opinions].  More correctly, they misled the generals.  Good to know about a potential President of the United States.  Of course, US presidents lying to Israeli governments is nothing new - the Embassy of the US is ''still'' in Tel Aviv instead of Jerusalem, despite ''every'' president promising to move it to J"M since ... well, for a long time.
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We went to the ''shuq'' to get fish and other things for shabbat.  As we were waiting at the fishmonger, an older fellow in front of us started arguing with the vendor about the price of the fish.  The vendor told him if he could find that kind of fish for the price he was asking, he would give him four cases of fish.  Then the older fellow started taking fish off the scale, and putting others on... in the meantime, someone on the other side of Esther had had enough of the first guy, and yelled at him to leave the merchant alone -- and either buy fish or get out of there.  To which the first guy yelled back, "Just who do you think you are!?!".  From there the voices got louder and more energetic, and I pulled Esther away from the two disputants.  Fortunately, they broke off their engagement and the situation calmed down.  And who said shopping in the ''shuq'' wasn't exciting?
  
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Before that I had to pick up a package from the post-office.  Unlike in the USA, the post office here will ''not'' deliver packages to homes -- instead, they leave a notice in the mail box for you to come get the package from them.  We went to the post office, and were there over an hour (!) waiting for our turn.  But the good thing is you get to meet all sorts of people while waiting in line.  Everyone is complaining about the abysmal service (to each other, but not to someone in charge who might be able to do something about the service), so everyone feels a sort of common bond.  Luckily, they were able to actually ''find'' my package quickly when my turn came (no, that's not a given).
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Anyway, I have to finish preparing for shabbat, so...
  
 
Until next week,<br>
 
Until next week,<br>
 
Shabbat shalom!
 
Shabbat shalom!
  
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{{nav|Blog|Blog|Blog/October 2008/Oct 3rd|Oct 3rd||}}
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{{nav|Blog|Blog|Blog/October 2008/Oct 10th|Oct 10th|Blog/October 2008/Oct 24th|Oct 24th}}

Latest revision as of 16:44, 24 October 2008

October 17th (See this week's devar torah)
Send Ron feedback on this blog


Hi again!

The festival of Sukkot began this week. I mentioned last week that everyone started building their sukkot. The building spree continued until the very last minute, with hammering and drilling audible until just before sundown Monday. Our sukkah, being a pre-fab, was finished within two hours of starting; so we were well rested by the time the holiday began. Only we didn't sufficiently consider the wind which blows toward our house from Jerusalem -- every afternoon -- and that stormy weather was in the forecast.

The holiday itself was actually not windy at all -- in fact, the weather was a bit stagnant. That led to there being an over-abundance of some sort of fruit-fly in our sukkah on the first night, which was a bit irritating (and also a bit problematic: we had to keep looking for flies in the food and make sure there weren't any).

On the second and third "intermediate days" of the festival, I took off from work and we drove my mother-in-law around Israel: up the Jordan valley to Beit Shean, to Tiberias and then to the upper-Galilee where one of her brothers lives. The second day we went to Netanya to see the coast (I didn't know there was such a nice beach there, so it was educational for me as well).

On returning the second day, we found the "schach" (thatching) of the sukkah was half blown-off. So I went to work finding a suitable fastening method which did not run afoul of the halachah. We'll see if it holds up over shabbat...

We went to the shuq to get fish and other things for shabbat. As we were waiting at the fishmonger, an older fellow in front of us started arguing with the vendor about the price of the fish. The vendor told him if he could find that kind of fish for the price he was asking, he would give him four cases of fish. Then the older fellow started taking fish off the scale, and putting others on... in the meantime, someone on the other side of Esther had had enough of the first guy, and yelled at him to leave the merchant alone -- and either buy fish or get out of there. To which the first guy yelled back, "Just who do you think you are!?!". From there the voices got louder and more energetic, and I pulled Esther away from the two disputants. Fortunately, they broke off their engagement and the situation calmed down. And who said shopping in the shuq wasn't exciting?

Before that I had to pick up a package from the post-office. Unlike in the USA, the post office here will not deliver packages to homes -- instead, they leave a notice in the mail box for you to come get the package from them. We went to the post office, and were there over an hour (!) waiting for our turn. But the good thing is you get to meet all sorts of people while waiting in line. Everyone is complaining about the abysmal service (to each other, but not to someone in charge who might be able to do something about the service), so everyone feels a sort of common bond. Luckily, they were able to actually find my package quickly when my turn came (no, that's not a given).

Anyway, I have to finish preparing for shabbat, so...

Until next week,
Shabbat shalom!


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