Blog/March 2009/Mar 6th

March 6th (See this week's devar torah)
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Hi again!

Help feed the hungry in Israel!

This was a crazy week. I was wandering all around the greater Jerusalem area (by foot and by bus); taking care of unemployment benefits, interviewing for jobs, looking for work and helping other people. I had one very good interview which is turning into a second interview next week - so B"H, maybe I'll be employed again soon. In other good news, the Kinneret rose 44cm -- almost half a meter -- just this week! Go, Kinneret!!

How do you get two camels into a Subaru? No, it's not a joke... just part of the funny middle-East. I battled the creeping vines and came out mostly unscathed, but the #$@$ roses are killing me! They fight back.

The global economy is in the toilet, but never fear! The Six-Trillion Dollar Man will save everyone! But (alas!) he is choosing a sidekick for head of the National Intelligence Council (which controls which intelligence information the President of the USA actually sees) -- who is a rabid anti-Semite. Not good. Not good at all.

One of the things about living in the Land that takes some getting used to is just how strong connections are between vendors and their clients. We've been buying our meat from a particular butcher in the Mahane Yehuda shuq. This week we went shopping there, and I decided to go to the guy next door to him, because his prices are better and I'm unemployed. So I got my chickens, and as I'm walking back -- I encounter my regular butcher -- who takes me aside, and asks me, "Why didn't you buy from me? What's the matter? Do you know you were my first customer? How could you do this to me!?! Don't ever, ever, buy from anyone else! If you think my prices are too high, just tell me and I'll give you a discount!". Getting told-off by my butcher was surreal, but then so is life in the Land. It turns out the other guy wasn't any cheaper anyway.

I was asked to translate some instructions from Hebrew to English, for the "Purim baskets" being sent out this coming week from our synagogue. If you ever feel tempted to rely on automatic translations, you might want to reconsider. My friend, the publisher of the most convenient and accurate printed edition of the Mishne Torah available, has convinced me to continue the translation work I started years ago. So B"H, I'll be resuming that work in the next week. Stay tuned for more, later.

Until next week,
Shabbat shalom!

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