Blog/September 2007/September 14th

September 14th 2007

Because Rosh Hashanah starts tonight, I won't be able to send out my Shabbat email on Friday - so you'll have to suffice with this Rosh Hashanah/Shabbat combo-pack...

First off, I would like to apologize to anyone who was offended by what I said about Chabad in Israel last week. My intent was not to offend, nor even to poke fun at Chabad, but rather to report what I see here as I see it. I am sorry for any offense.

Second, I would like to request mechilah (forgiveness) from anyone I have inadvertently offended, slighted, insulted, etc. during this past year. I realize that my sense of humor is not shared by everyone, but please do realize that whatever I may have said, was not said with malice.

Now to business:

The big news is that I finally did manage to get health coverage, but it took a lot of pleading by my wife to people whose job it is to help us, before we actually got any results. I could write a book about this, but it would be banned.

Only slightly less important in the Aaron family annals is that Sarah finally received the bed we ordered for her (a month ago, which is what they promised). So she is happier, which makes all of us happier.

We went to the shuq (Machaneh Yehuda, in Jerusalem) this week to get supplies for Rosh Hashanah - and it was an amazing sight! "Who is like Your people, Israel, one nation in the Land?!?" You might think that only "religious" people would be out in droves trying to get the best fruits and vegetables, the choices meats ... but no, the shuq was a great cross-section of Israeli society. Rich and poor, religious and less so, black white and everything in between - the shuq was absolutely packed with people. Everyone seemed to want the same piece of fruit, the same chunk of meat, the same bag of olives. It was an absolute madhouse, and it was great fun.

It's also interesting to see how prices vary in direct proportion to how close the stand is to the main street. TIP: go away from the main street, for the best prices!

ALERT: Buy your paper plates by the kilo! Apparently, Israelis don't care exactly how many plates they get, so plates are sold by the kilo (approximately 66 plates, according to the wrapper on the package). As long as you invite a kilo of guests, I suppose that is ok.

Last shabbat we used the patio I had roped off, and had our "seudah shelishit" outside. It was wonderful - the temperature outside was pleasant, there was a nice breeze and the cats stayed away until after we were done.

ALERT: Felines outnumber humans 3 to 1! It's well known that there is a plague of cats in Jerusalem, but it seems to have spread to Maale Adummim as well. Everywhere one goes, there are cats skulking about - waiting for the chance to pounce on some discarded morsel of food.

ALERT: Three day holidays also in Israel! One of the things I was looking forward to was celebrating one day of yom-tov in Israel instead of two. Certainly, I was looking forward to not having the three-day whammy we so often dealt with outside the Land. Well, it's proper and fitting that my first yom-tov in Israel should be Rosh Hashanah, which is two days everywhere, even in Israel - and that it be Thursday/Friday, so that we have the dreaded three-day whammy to look forward to again! On the bright side, R"H is the only two-day yom-tov here...

Now I better get busy getting ready for yom-tov and shabbat -

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