Blog/May 2009/May 8th
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May 8th (See this week's devar torah)
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Hi again!
It was a productive week -- I released my company's first shipping product (and now feel much less stress, thank you). We went for a "teacher conference" night at Sarah's school, and she is doing well academically. We gave our plants a little water and they started taking over the house. And this shabbat we will have, B"H, guests staying with us (seminary girls).
Unfortunately, Sarah was sick at the beginning of the week, and missed school because of it. Then she got better -- but yesterday developed a fever. So today we went to the doctor and found out she has strep throat! Not a great way to start off shabbat, but at least she's got antibiotics now and should be better, God willing, by Monday or so.
Daniela will be coming back for the summer, B"H, in two weeks. An obligatory part of travelling back and forth from the US is bringing "stuff" that is hard to get here. I'm seriously thinking about having her bring back our very own 'droid...
One of my weekly study-partners is also an occasional blog-writer. His last installment was particularly interesting to me, and I concur with much of what he says. But I would like to elaborate a bit on the Ptolemy vs. Copernicus issue. It is not precisely true that Copernicus was right (that the Earth orbits the Sun) and Ptolemy was wrong (that the Sun orbits the Earth). Neither is really correct, as they both orbit the combined center-of-gravity of the solar system (which itself orbits the center-of-gravity of the Milky Way galaxy, and so on ...). From a practical standpoint (as Einstein's theory of relativity makes clear), it makes no difference whether one chooses the Sun as the stationary frame of reference, or instead chooses the Earth. For day-to-day needs, it is just as useful to follow Ptolemy as Copernicus, and for some purposes easier to have a stationary Earth.
More Israeli goodness... Sarah says, "confidence is good" -- but there is indeed such a thing as too much confidence. The Israeli equivalent of "The Amazing Race" (called here "The Race for a Million") has Israelis traveling the world and performing feats just like the American version. Encouragingly, one of the (non-religious) media stars here refused to show a clip from it because it shows Israelis eating things forbidden by halacha.
You Americans who are about to make aliyah, take note. We came from the land of latex gloves and Purel, to the Land where random people off the street put their hands into the salad-bar. From a land where people Lysol their toilets, to the Land where some think the street is the toilet. From a land where people politely ask "how are you doing" (though they don't care), to the Land where people tell you what you should be doing (because they do care). From a land where our activities were of little importance, to the Land where we are bringing the ultimate redemption one step closer simply by being here. There is no place better for a Jew to be!
I pass the Talithakumi landmark in downtown Jerusalem almost every day, and I never knew what "Talithakumi" was supposed to mean. Now I know, and I hope we ship it back to the school and expel them from our country, so we don't have it in the middle of downtown Jerusalem. I wonder how many of the pedestrians there have any idea they have words from the xtian bible right over their heads? Or that the organization whose portal that was, doesn't recognize Israel?
You can help feed the hungry in Israel!
Until next week,
Shabbat shalom!
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