Blog/December 2009/Dec 4th

Nov 27th (See this week's devar torah)
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Hi again!

This week was Thanksgiving (a US national holiday, for you non-USA'ans). The one day a year when I, rather than Esther, make the whole meal. I'm not sure how I ended up as the Thanksgiving cook, but it's been our tradition as long as I can remember. Anyway, it's a bit different here in the Land. Most people haven't even heard of Thanksgiving, and the few who have rarely know what it is about. Stores (generally) don't carry pumpkin filling or cranberry sauce, not to mention whole turkeys... Israeli ovens are not usually that big. In any case, we celebrated by inviting our famous friend Fred and his family. An excellent time was had by all, and all the food was excellent (even if I say so myself). For you expats: if you want whole turkey, just tell your butcher... they'll order anything you want.

But if you go to the supermarket, you may want to pay attention to what happened to Esther this week. As she was in the checkout-line, just getting to the cashier -- a woman comes up and says to her, "I was in line". Esther says, "OK, behind who?". The woman replies, "Well, they're not here now". So Esther tells her, "Sorry, go to the back of the line". And the woman behind Esther says, "What chutzpah! Go to the back of the line!". So the woman, who was only looking for the real express-lane, ended up going to another line.

In humorous news: a would-be ninja in Seattle makes an ass (kebob) of himself. And in the "no, seriously!" news: the French hamster hotel is open for business. What more is there to say?

Daniela is trying to score free (or almost free) tickets so she can visit over PesaH. We would be delighted if it worked out; more delighted if she decided to make it a permanent trip. Her former roommate and a friend of hers are spending shabbat with us (they just arrived in fact). So we'll get to hear all her secrets. Tomorrow another two girls will join us for lunch; so it's going to be another lively shabbat. Good thing we have a lot of turkey left-over! (Sarah says the turkey was soooo good!)

The Obama administration's insistence that Gilo is a settlement has riled up a lot of people, for good reason. But, really, what difference does it make? As far as the Arabs are concerned, the "Green Line" lies several kilometers west of the coastline. No border of any Jewish state is acceptable to them on principle, as they have stated consistently over the years. Why chase the chimera of "peace", when we all know that is not at all what the enemy is interested in? It boggles the mind...

Until next week,
Shabbat shalom!

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