Blog/May 2008/May 23rd

May 23rd (See this week's devar torah)
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Hi again!

This week was the end of my Mom's trip to the Holy Land. We sent her back Monday night, and she arrived back in Seattle safely, B"H. Given it was her first trip outside the USA, she did well and we hope she'll decide to make the trip again. Now that she realizes that not all of us ride donkeys to work (but some of us do: I encounter a trio of donkey-riding Arabs every morning on my way to work). And she didn't have difficulties with security in the airport, or have to pay extra for baggage.

My friend Dov-Ber alerted me to the Seattle divestment campaign. When I read stuff like that, it makes me thank God that I moved to Israel when I did. I'm on all their "black lists" now: white, male, Jewish, Israeli and a "settler". All I'm missing now is to become a multinational corporation. Of course, another reason to be glad I'm in Israel is I don't need one of these dorky things.

This Thursday night was the beginning of Lag Ba'omer, which is the holiday where we burn down the town. There were bonfires everywhere, fueled by kids hauling everything combustible they could find. We saw a boy maybe eight years old, hauling a very long tree branch. There were people who had rented trailers for their cars so they could haul all sorts of wooden debris to the bonfires. There were even people with shopping carts (they only cost five shekels!) full of combustibles. People were "hanging out" around the fires, eating and just having a good time. This morning, the entire town smelled of wood smoke, and there isn't anything wooden left in the city, I think. Daniela and her class went to Meron for the holiday, along with an estimated 200 thousand others. She says, "it was loud, crowded and smelled bad".

In the meantime, our friendly neighbors decided that a pre-condition for talks to continue, is for them to have a standing army. Because, you know, they're afraid the Jordanians will invade them.

This week I discovered that reinforced concrete is harder than the body of my car. Every day, I make a somewhat complicated turn to get into my parking spot at work. Every day, I go in reverse around a concrete pillar. Every day I clear the pillar. Well, not every day. This week I didn't clear it -- I don't know how I misjudged, but I did. So the car came to an alarming, sudden stop -- and my heart leapt into my throat. B"H, I'm fine; the car, however, needs care (the rear left fender folded in, and presses the tire). I called the leasing company, and they towed away that car and gave me a loaner in the meantime. It's pretty embarrassing to be felled by a stationary object. At least no-one got hurt (except my feelings). I'm just glad my Mom was not here when it happened...

In good news: Sarah took a "matkonet" (preparatory test) for one of her Bagrut (matriculation) exams, and got a 91; so we're all happy and she's feeling better about the Bagrut exams. Only a few to go 'till the end of June, then we can sort-of relax (until next year).

Shabbat shalom!

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