Blog/June 2008/Jun 6th

May 30th (See this week's devar torah)
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Hi again!

It's been a busy week, and a week of changes.

I finally got "reinstated" with the National Insurance Institute, so I was able to join the same 'health fund' that the rest of my family is in, and stop the 'supplementary private insurance' which was a constant drain on my pocketbook. But when I registered at the health fund, the clerk informed me that I was fine, and Sarah was fine, but Esther was not covered -- the NII had removed her eligibility! So she went to the NII's office here in Maale Adummim, and got it straightened out -- it was a mistake (of course!) but no one had bothered to inform her she wasn't covered. Now she's covered again, presumably -- we have to check on Sunday again. I must point out that the person here with whom Esther dealt at NII, was fantastic -- she didn't give up until she was able to get a concrete answer (and she had to call all sorts of places to clarify the situation).

We also got the car back from repairs. It looks better than when I first got it, so I better take good care of it. The leasing company actually brought the car out to my home, from Jerusalem -- that's service!

You remember the story of Cain and Abel, right? Cain kills his brother and has a 'mark' to distinguish him forever? When I first made aliyah in the early '80s, I went to the city of Akko to get listed with the Ministry of the Interior. The clerk who dealt with me was an Arab who didn't know much English; so he translated my middle name from "Kevin" to "Cain". At the time I didn't notice, and forever after my name has been "Ron Cain" according to the Israeli gov't. This time around, I specifically asked them to change my official name to just "Ron", which they did -- but the old name still appears on my ID card (just not as the primary name). But worse, is that when we opened our checking account at the bank, they had us listed with the 'old' names -- so "Ron Cain" is on all of our checks. <grrr>

Also, this week, we made the final payment to the owner of the house we're buying, so this Sunday we get possession (B"H!). That very day, the contractors will start demolishing, and hopefully the work will be (at least mostly) done before the last week of June, when we are scheduled to move in. They said they can do it -- now we'll see. Timing is everything; and our timing stinks. We had to transfer funds from the US, but the shekel strengthened even more against the dollar so our purchasing power has considerably diminished.

Really, I shouldn't complain. We don't have it nearly as hard as the poor folks aboard the space station. Their problem's a real pisser! They can't just go behind a tree, like some do in the Holy Land...

It's rare these days in Israel to find a public figure who can think rationally. The main group in power consists of utopian peace junkies who, despite all evidence to the contrary, cannot see we have no partners for peace. Even foreigners, companies such as VW and Honda see the truth for what it is. But maybe, just maybe, our enemies are changing?. Let's hope so, for their sakes as well as ours.

This shabbat we're honored to have a friend of ours from Seattle stay with us. She always makes us laugh, hopefully we'll make her laugh too. Best regards to her parents, Stephanie and Stan from us!

Sarah's perspective, unedited is here. Commentary there may or may not reflect the opinions of the owner of this site ...

Shabbat shalom!

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