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November 23rd (See this week's devar torah)
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It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood… won't you be my neighbor?. That's what Mr. Rogers sang every day with his calm, reassuring voice. Poor Mr. Rogers would have a fit if he had to deal with my neighbors! Last motsaei shabbat (Sat. night) we got a call from our landlords, saying they were in Jerusalem and would be coming over to meet us and the downstairs neighbors (hereafter: DN), "to clear up some things". Of course, we were not expecting them and had plans of our own, but they're the landlords and we do have problems which need to be addressed. So we waited and eventually they showed up. When we informed them we still had not received payment from the DN (amounting to about $250) for the various bills we paid, they were astonished. So they called them to come up and discuss the issue.
I don't want to be unkind, but our DN are dumber than stumps. That's unkind to the stumps, but it's true nonetheless. The main problem in their mind is that they are eligible for a discount on the property tax (arnona) bill, as are we. The problem is that the bill is sent out for the full amount, and they are unwilling to pay the full amount. So they think, somehow, that we should give them the discount (which is of course not in our hands to do), and they are only willing to pay us the discounted amount. Naturally, that causes a problem, since the bill is what it is and needs to be paid in full or the city will cut off the water supply to the house. The resolution the landlords came up with, was to write an official letter to the city, and have each of us go to city hall and request the arnona bill be split between us, so we would get a bill for our amount, and the DN would get a bill for their amount. This would at least keep us from having to be the DN's bank.
So this week, Esther went to the city officials and showed them the letter and tried to get them to split the bill; naturally, that wasn't something they were interested in doing since it complicates things for them. But more interesting is the fact that the DN went the day before. Now, we had been wondering all this time just how they could be eligible for a discount on the arnona bill - they're not immigrants, or recently out of the army or anything like that. It turns out, the woman is "divorced". Yes, the poor divorcee lives with her four kids... with her husband! Now, I've heard of amicable divorces before, but this is a bit extreme - especially since she was pregnant not long ago. You can do anything in Israel! B"H!!
After dealing with such people, it's good to keep in mind the little things that help make life here wonderful. Remember that you didn't come here because you love the government or because you really needed a lot of stress to help you through your mid-life crisis. You're here because there is no better place for a Jew to be. Despite the 'hiccups'.
This week we saw yet another ludicrous attempt at "peace", in Annapolis. As an extra bonus, our partners for peace declared they would blow up something. So security was on super-high alert in Jerusalem, to the extent that the main roads were completely shut down as police conducted car-by-car searches. It was most impressive; I hope we don't see many more of these dividends of peace...
Sarah found lice in her hair, which caused a great deal of turmoil and gnashing of teeth. Fortunately, lice are easy to get rid of. Fortunately, I say, because they are a recurring affliction amongst school-age kids. Why didn't Hashem leave the lice in Egypt, I wonder?
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