Blog/August 2012/Aug 17th

Aug 17th (See this week's devar torah)

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Hi, again!

What a week! Sarah got a scholarship and helped new immigrants, Esther tried to unburden us from the impressive pile of laundry we've accumulated, we endured more plumbing joys, my project at work is making good progress and I'm resuming work on some pet projects.

You know that we made aliyah five years ago, right? Well, there are still a few financial benefits to making aliyah -- one of which is that the government will help pay for your advanced education (one college degree). But that benefit is supposed to be used within the first three years of aliyah, and as I said we've been here five. So Sarah appealed on the basis that she's been in National Service for two years -- and her appeal was accepted! So she's getting a much-reduced tuition, and we're quite proud that she did all that on her own (yes, she did do that).

The kitchen sink faucet has not been working well for over a month, and I knew I would have to replace it. I dread that, because though I'm quite capable of doing almost any sort of mechanical or electrical work, my plumbing skills are sub-standard, at best. So we went off and got a shiny new faucet from a kitchen contractor's store. We even got a discount because it was a display model. But unfortunately, I found a few issues when installing it. First, our hot-water shut-off valve under the sink leaks. So that has to be replaced at some point, but not today. Then, I found that the stupid new faucet is designed poorly, in that there are three tubes and a threaded stud coming out of the base of the faucet, and there is insufficient room for all of them to be put through the counter-top hole at the same time.

That means that the faucet has to be put through and then some of the tubes connected from the bottom; inconvenient, but at least not too bad. But what is bad, is that the tubes and the stud all have nuts on them which need to be tightened -- and when the tubes are tightened, it is not possible to put a wrench on the stud's nut to tighten it (that's the part that holds the faucet firmly to the counter-top). But after almost an hour of cursing and getting dirt in my eyes, I managed to get it tightened sufficiently to at least function normally. Then came the water-pressure test. Guess what? The brand-new faucet leaks. Badly. Fortunately, I have a neighbor who is a professional plumber, and I asked for assistance. Basically, the faucet is defective and I need to return it. Grrr! So I ended up putting the old one back on.

I started working again on a couple projects; the first is the Mishne Torah Translation project, which has lain dormant for quite a while. The second, more immediate one, is the siddur based only on the Mishne Torah. Both have been requested lately, and I'm giving them most of my spare time (starving my other projects, but what can you do?).

And this week, as I sat on the bus going to work, an Ethiopian woman sat next to me. Next to her, a couple of American women sat down -- one of whom seemed to be a resident, and the other apparently was making a "pilot trip". This latter was vociferously holding forth on all the deficiencies of Israel: it's dusty; it's a schlep to get to Jerusalem by bus, how can you not have a car?; my husband can't find a rav, he won't be able to learn; it's too difficult to make a good living here, you have to be willing to lower your standard of living to third-world levels. After hearing this woman hold forth for twenty minutes or so, I was about to explode. What I wanted to do (but didn't have the opportunity) was ask her: "did you read last week's parashah, where it talked about the blessing over meals? Did you see where it says (and presumably you say as well, since you seem "religious") that we bless God for the "desirable, good and spacious Land" He gave us? You do realize, don't you, that He wasn't talking about Lakewood or Teaneck or Manhattan? You do, right???"

In my fantasy, I was planning on also mentioning the haftara from Tisha Be'av, where at the end it says He will winnow out our chaff from the wheat -- and do you really want to be the chaff? But as I said, I didn't confront the woman -- what do you think, should I have done so?

Stuff and nonsense:

• This guy captures almost perfectly what I think about the way Jews are educated today
• Finally, proof that Israel is an apartheid state! Or not...
• It must be incredibly tough to be an actually reasonable Arab.
• A few famous quotes
• Talk about a dead-end job!

Busy shabbat planned this week! We're having guests for dinner, and will be someone else's guests for the second meal. At home we're preparing: lamb chops, roast beef, oven-fried potatoes, carrot kugel, matbouḥa, tabouleh, egg salad, smoky eggplant, fruit and ice-cream with preserved sheseq

Until next week,
shabbat shalom!

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