Blog/August 2014/Aug 8th

August 8th (See this week's devar torah)

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Hi, again!

שלום, שלום ואין שלום

(Jeremiah 6:14, 8:11; Ezekiel 13:10 — there’s a common theme, see if you can guess what it is). The first 71 hours of the 72-hour cease-fire were uneventful, but those jokers in Ḥamas couldn’t wait until the end, so they resumed rocket fire in the last hour of the “cease-fire”. What is it with those goons? Do they not realize that 90% of Israelis are in favor of severely punishing them?

On Sunday I sent Esther and Sarah on their way to Argentina, to celebrate Esther’s father’s seventieth birthday. ¡Feliz cumpleaños, pa! Daniela and Jeremy left last night to join them. And I, alone, remain…

It’s not all that bad. Of course I miss them a lot, but we’ve been in contact via WhatsApp and Skype. It may not really be the “next best thing to being there”, but it’s a reasonable substitute. Anyway, having the house to myself has been conducive to me getting a lot of stuff done. And experimenting in the kitchen (heh, heh…).

I really don’t have much to tell you this week. We had a very long fast-day (but then, so did you); the Holy Temple has not yet been rebuilt. Our cousins have been very naughty despite the “cease-fire”. The weather has been pleasant, though warm. I’ve resumed going on my nightly walks.

News? Well, if you watch the US news networks you haven’t the slightest idea of what’s going on here; you should instead look at the local news sites (despite their clear biases). There was an article this week saying “Americans favor Israel over Hamas 3:1”, on the theory that that’s a Good Thing. My friends and family: if you think that the (presumed) fact that only 25% of Americans favor Ḥamas is a “good thing”, you should think again. You are in grave danger there, and most of you don’t seem to have the slightest clue that America won’t be a “safe haven” much longer. Please get out now, while you can.

When nobody else is in the house it’s easy to get so wrapped-up in whatever you’re doing you lose track of time. Fortunately, my stomach eventually reminds me to eat, and the sun eventually reminds me the day’s gone by.

On a humorous note: Google “voice input” is very, very good. No, that’s not the humorous part. I’ve found that I can use Google’s voice input to respond on WhatsApp much faster than if I tried to type, and only rarely do I need to correct it. This week however, I said “ripe cheese”. Google thought I said, “raped cheese”. I don’t even want to think about the algorithm they used to come up with that…

Anyhow, I’m all alone. Just me this week (actually, it doesn’t bother me in the least, but whining is obligatory). A friend invited me for the shabbat day meal, but for the rest I’ve prepared:
braised brisket, brown rice, Israeli salad, coleslaw, sweet-and-sour eggplant, smoked salmon, a fruit-crumble (which is going to my hosts), and spice cake

Until next week,
shabbat shalom!

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