Blog/September 2015/Sep 11th

Sep 11th (See this week's devar torah)

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Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the air-conditioning’s delightful! And since we won’t open the door; let it blow, let it blow, let it blow! (pace Dean Martin). Really, we woke up a few days ago to an orange pall hanging over the region. The sun has been invisible for the past several days, and is only starting to make a comeback now. There’s grit everywhere, and everyone’s cars look like they were entombed!

In other news: Esther was working hard(er than usual) this week. Because she’ll be absent from work most of next week, and because of filing deadlines which are unfortunately timed, she had to put in extra hours to get work done. Fortunately, unlike me, she gets paid for those hours!

Sarah had ordered a(n expensive) lens for her camera. When it arrived, she noticed that it had the wrong connection — meaning it wouldn’t be able to fit onto her camera. She double-checked her order, and she had placed it for the correct type. So she called the company, expecting to have a hard time… but a miracle happened! They said, “no problem, we’ll exchange it”. So she went to Tel Aviv and replaced it with no fuss (except for travelling to Tel Aviv in the heat and dust).

A few items of note:

• Israel has to go it alone. Our “unshakable ally” has abandoned us, as I’ve long said it would. As King David ob”m put it so well, “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help”. Amen, selah!
• The “New York Slimes” “outs” Jewish lawmakers. Is there no limit to the depths they can plumb?
• The anti-Israel B(oycott) D(ivest) S(anction) movement is unamused by ḥummus
• Looking for an alternative to GMail? Here are a number of options

Since the latest release of 8th last week, I’ve been working on addressing various bugs. I’m wracking my brains to figure out one particular issue, which I would have liked to have fixed before our holiday; but I’m not sure that’s going to happen. Such is life. I did, however, succeed in resuscitating the “64-bit Windows” version which had lain moribund many months. That effort also took a great deal of brain-sweat, but I managed in the end.

Interestingly, we had two people contact us this week regarding 8th. One was a Byelorussian fellow who said, “Thank you for your work! How do you find time to relax? I want to make a present for you - wall clock with birds - the most popular item in our store”. I thanked him, and said, “I just don’t sleep much”; and that while I appreciate the gesture, I was afraid Israeli Customs would demand a ransom before releasing the clock to me.

The second fellow was a Christian Zionist from Holland, who said among many other things, “In 8th I found a very nice language, which inspires me. And also the fact that I can somehow support members of the People of G-d makes me very happy”. This fellow took upon himself the Sisyphean task of “evangelizing” for 8th. He’s trying to get us noticed more, and of course we welcome his kind assistance. We are hopeful this heralds a bright start for the New Year!

The sandstorm which settled over our area of the world three days ago is scheduled to stay until Sunday. Then it will supposedly lift, the temperatures will drop and B”H we should have a pleasant Rosh HaShana holiday. We all hope they remember to turn on the A/C in the synagogue!

Party at the Aaron’s this shabbat! Dinah, RivQua and Chaim, oh my! We’ll feed them:
butternut squash soup, baked chicken, roasted potatoes, pasta primavera, vegetarian chili, salatim, chocolate cake, and fruit.

N.B.: the Rosh HaShana menu will be mentioned next week, after having been consumed with happiness and joy. And hopefully, no sand.

Until next time,
shabbat shalom and shanah tovah!

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