Blog/January 2008/Jan 4th

January 4th (See this week's devar torah)
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Hi again!

A while ago we spent a shabbat in Haifa, at my friend's home. One of his customs which I liked very much, and have adopted, is to greet everyone with a "shabbat shalom!". Old, young, religious or not - everyone gets greeted in a pleasant manner. It's interesting to see how people react. Most people just say, "shabbat shalom". Some say it with a smile. And then there are those who seem to be offended that anyone would offer such a greeting.

Speaking of shabbat: as we were in the middle of our dinner, Daniela looked at the window behind me and exclaimed, "Cool! A gecko!". Of course, everyone turned to look - and indeed, there was a gecko on the outside of the window. Esther is revolted by any such creatures, so she was not happy about the gecko being next to us. But when I took a closer look, I discovered it was a dead gecko - which made things even better. So at least I got to talk about the eight species of crawling things which the Torah labels as causing ritual impurity... (though I'm not certain the gecko is one of the eight).

Being protected is being prepared. That's printed on the front of a pamphlet we received this week from "pikud ha`oref" פיקוד העורף. Literally translated, that means "the nape command". Esther couldn't figure out what that had to do with the contents of the pamphlet, which was lots of information on emergency preparedness. Turns out "pikud ha`oref" means the "Home Front Command". Live and learn... If it weren't for 'people' trying every artifice to kill us, that pamphlet could be much smaller. And now that the American empire is starting to fold, we'll have to rely on ourselves even more than before.

Speaking of that, the almighty dollar is no longer so mighty... it's currently trading at a nine-year low against the shekel, and the trendline is for even lower rates. Time to sell out there and move here, don't you think? With the low exchange rate, it looks getting around the bad news about water in Israel by simply purchasing it from abroad is less of an option. Maybe we will yet, or perhaps we'll get smart and take control of our northern water supply from our enemies? Nah, that's unlikely with our current leaders.

In family news: Daniela went with her school to Eilat for three days on what was mostly a hiking trip. They stayed in a pretty nice hotel - which did not provide any towels. Apparently the school didn't pay for rooms with towels, so there were a hundred of her classmates without towels. At least Eilat in the winter isn't too warm.

Sarah is going to be in a play at her school (sadly, I cannot go see it). She has the part of an English person... who has three lines and exits. Well, it's a start. She also has improved a lot in her math, getting an 88 (her first test was a 62). This, given the instruction is entirely in Hebrew. כל הכבוד, שרה!.

Esther's doula client decided to give birth without her, so she didn't get to gain experience. Oh, well - with the birth rates around here it won't be long before she has another client.

I've had a hankering for real Pad Thai for a long time. Kosher restaurants generally make pathetically bad versions of it, and I remember fondly the dish from back when I didn't yet keep kosher. So back before we moved, I made my first attempt - which was not great. This week I made a second attempt, and if I may say so, it was pretty good. Still need to refine my technique, but it's getting closer.

Shabbat shalom!

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