Blog/May 2016/May 27th
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Another week in the Holy Land. This time, it’s political!
A week ago, Defense Minister Yaalon resigned, initiating seismic activity in our gov’t. Netanyahu, in a somewhat inexplicable move, initiated a restructuring of the governing coalition by making a deal with Liberman’s “Yisrael Beyteinu” party. The irascible and mercurial Liberman will become the new Defense Minister, and not everyone is pleased. That’s to be expected, of course.
As a side-effect of the resignation of Yaalon, a new MK from the Likud list was sworn in this week. None other than Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick — he who was shot four times in the chest at point-blank range, just over a year ago, by an Muslim-Arab peace-lover who was expressing his religion’s love of peace. Glick has been termed an “extremist”, but in fact the only “extreme” position he takes is that Jews should be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount. A position which, given the principle of “freedom of religion” Israel purports to uphold, should be absolutely non-controversial. But we don’t live in a vacuum, although I do think things could be significantly improved by putting a large number of people in a vacuum. But I digress…
An interesting survey says that Israelis, while fearful for their economic future, nevertheless want a Scandinavian-style welfare state. Much the same as the Sanders phenomenon in the USA. This goes to prove that you can lead a person to school, but you can’t make him learn mathematics or history.
Another interesting set of facts I stumbled across while supposedly working this week, is statistics on traffic-related deaths by country. You’ll notice that by any measure, Israel comes out safer than the US — despite the seemingly “bad” driving here. And by the way, stay away from Africa (I know I do)!
But alas! Not everyone, not even those who live here, appreciates Israel or Jews’ rights to the Land. In particular, one useless idiot has moral qualms about buying Tura wine, even though it “remains the most amazing wine I’ve ever drunk”. In an ironic twist, the dim-bulb failed to realize just how much he boosted Tura’s sales.
Now, in America, the choice is between Hillary and Trump (or perhaps Sanders and Trump). Can America survive even more “deficit spending”, after spending 4 trillion (with a ‘t’) dollars on the sad “war on terror”? And furthermore, can America survive when it can’t name the actual enemy?
Each year I bemoan the widespread Jewish adoption of pagan rituals in connection with a great Sage of Israel, but nobody listens. It was only about 800 years ago when Lag Beʿomer became “known” as the day on which R’ Shimʿon bar-Yoḥai died. This, because of the Kabbalist’s influence and teachings. Not coincidentally, the 33rd of the Omer falls on the 18th of Iyyar — and “18” is the numerological value of ḥai - or “life” (among other possibilities: ḥʼet, or “sin”, also matches. Make of that what you will). The bonfires, the gatherings at his grave-site, and more disturbingly the partying — all adopted from non-Jewish sources. A real ḥillul (desecration), not a hilula (celebration).
And now, back to our regularly scheduled news items:
Daniela has been looking for work, since she’s finished-ing her double MA degrees. This week she got a job offer, and accepted it. So she’ll be commencing work soon as a high-school teacher at a prestigious Jewish school on the East Coast (of the USA). We wish her success and good luck in her new career!
Sarah was away half the week, in Tel Aviv, with friends. Having fun, and ignoring her parents. Esther and I had to console ourselves as best we could. We barely made it.
As for us? Well, we were busy as usual — but nothing too exciting to report. The “holiday” of Lag Beʿomer came and went, and to commemorate it we shut our windows to minimize the deleterious effects of the holy smoke clouds.
This shabbat my nephew Chaim and his lovely wife Ariele are joining us.
On the menu:
baked chicken,
sticky wings,
veggie soup,
grilled Portobello mushrooms,
roasted veggies,
beet salad,
egg salad,
eggplant salad,
traditional cholent,
bagels and lox,
and brownies.
Until next time,
shabbat shalom!
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