Blog/October 2007/October 26th

October 26th (See this week's devar torah)

Shalom, y'all -

One of our friends and neighbors also has a blog called A Little Bit East of Yerushalayim. This week he commented about the desert: There would be no one admiring the sand, because no one does, there being nothing soothing or exhilarating about what seems to be only a vast nothingness. I disagree, as I find the desert's stark beauty inspiring. To me, it suggests on the one hand man's insignificance, as King David states; "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou thinkest of him?"  (Psalms 8:5). It also brings to mind King David's praise of God: "my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee, in a dry and weary land, where no water is"  (Psalms 63:2).

While waiting for a final answer on the job front this week, I was able to get out another release of Reva, my dialect of Forth. Also managed to do a bit more organizing of the house. But now, thank God, I'll have little time to do these sorts of things, as I start work at ClassifEye this coming Sunday. (For those of you who don't know, Sunday here is a regular workday, which is something that takes a bit of adjusting to). I'm excited about this position, since I think it will not only be interesting, but challenging as well as potentially monetarily enriching at some point.

Esther is taking the doula course, which involves her traveling to Jerusalem several times a week. She also tested for placement in an advanced ulpan (Hebrew course) so her Hebrew skills would sharpen; but she won't know until next week where she placed. Sarah is getting additional tutoring so she will have a chance to be ready for some of the bagrut (matriculation) exams at the end of the school year. She's doing really well in math, thanks to the tutor she has, and is surprised to find she actually enjoys it to some extent. So too, I hope she starts enjoying the rest of her schooling.

Holy vegetables, Batman! This week we managed to buy the most hechshered vegetables we've ever seen: seven different agencies certified them! In the case of vegetables, particularly in a shemittah year, that's not too unreasonable. But the water bottle with a hechsher saying it's only certified during the rest of the year, e.g. not during Pesach - that's a bit too much, in my opinion.

Speaking of religious matters - there are people with far too much time on their hands. It seems that for some, the wearing (or not) of socks by women is a crucial matter upon which one's attachment to God rests. There was a woman "hanging out" at the mikvah accosting the women leaving the mikvah and basically implying that having feet bare of stockings is tantamount to heresy. She further suggested that wearing socks may be a segulah (basically a good-luck charm) for having male children.

In a vignette which highlights just how different it is to live in Israel, Esther and I were riding the bus to Jerusalem the other day. A dark-complexioned fellow with a backpack came on the bus and sat in the seat opposite us. He didn't look comfortable, he didn't look Jewish and he was fidgeting with his backpack. So she and I independently examined his actions out of the corners of our eyes to see, "is he a terrorist or not?". Finally, he spoke on his phone in an Indian accent, in English - and we could relax a bit. I guess we're guilty of profiling, so sue us ...

Which brings me to another topic, which is relative safety and perceived danger. We know people who forbid their children from riding the buses in Israel, and insist they take taxis. Now, despite an occasional bombing of a bus, riding the bus is the very safest mode of transportation here - far safer than driving your own car, and safer than taking a taxi. It turns out that there are frequent incidents where a taxi driver tries to "take advantage" of a young lady - or at least make her uncomfortable. There are virtually no such incidents with bus drivers. Taxi drivers often gouge their fares. Bus drivers never do. Taxi drivers don't have to be specially trained in safe driving techniques. Bus drivers do. And yet, people latch on to the fictional notion that buses are unsafe when in fact quite the opposite is true.

We went to a Nefesh-B'Nefesh-sponsored night out at the Tower of David Museum, which was very interesting. First, because the historical information was interesting. Second, because of the unique "Soundscapes" exhibit. Finally, it was interesting because we thought we would catch a bus not far from where we were, and stood in the "bus stop" as the bus we wanted zipped by. Apparently, it wasn't actually a bus stop.