In Washington DC a Jewish boy was killed yesterday by thugs who were interested in rape and robbery. The boy was an activist in the Israeli scene and will be missed by the Jewish people. He was found by a policeman named Joe Gentile. No, really. I assumed Ynetnews had made a mistaken so I did a google search for Joe Gentile. I came up with a ton of people with that name.
Suprised, I did a google search for Joe Settler and Joe Camel and only found only one each.
Yesterday we went to Tiverya to eat in honor of our anniversary (my MIL treated and even stayed home to babysit so it was a full treat). We decided to go to the Pagoda instead of Decks because we were at Decks the last couple times we ate in the area and wanted to try something different. My wife thought the service was horrible, but I didn't think it was so bad. We got a great table, in the corner facing the Kinneret and had a very enjoyable evening.
After dinner, we visited with a former rebbe of mine and his wife who were staying in the area. We spoke about aliyah and the place for Americans in Israeli society today. I think the problem is that Americans don't want to look at the broad picture and are too concerned with the titles and stereotypes that those titles bring to an American religious family. In America, Dati Leumi is associated with modern orthodoxy, which religious dati leumiers call "dati lite." In Israel, they have their own yeshiva world with all the same type of politics etc. that are inherent in the American yeshiva world. If you look at a product of the dati leumi yeshiva system, you will not see much difference from an American yeshiva guy who went to college and got a job. The only difference is hashkafically, how they look at the State of Israel. But if you discuss it with them and how absurd their beliefs are, you will realize that it is 99% semantics. We believe this is the end of the exile and they believe that it is the beginning of the redemption. However, we are both looking forward towards a better reality. The end of an era and the beginning of another era are generally fuzzy enough that we won't know exactly how to define this time period for another couple hundred years as we look back and reflect on history.
Most of the more yeshivishe Americans don't necessarily fit in hashkafically with the Israeli chareidim, but they don't fit in at all with the dati leumis or with the Americans who left yeshiva to go to college and work. They would probably fit in well in a chareidi community and just be considered a bit modern.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Sunday, July 09, 2006
aliyahed
My older brother made aliyah with his family this past Thursday. I'm probably the last blogger to write about it because I haven't been around until now. Wednesday night we slept in Tel Aviv at a friends house after visiting my BIL in the hospital (he seems to be doing better now, thanks for the tehillim. Keep them up he's not all fixed up yet.). Thursday morning, bright and early we headed down to the airport. We waited with hundreds of other people at the tarmac for their historic flight to arrive. Then we listened to a ton of speeches about what a great thing it is for Americans to make aliyah.
We are now 4 siblings of 7 in Israel. One is planning on coming with Mashiach and the other 2 will probably end up here on their own if he doesn't hurry up. God promised us this country, he gave us this country and then he took it away. Some bloggers feel that it was probably just bad politics that caused nebekenezer (sp?) to destroy the temple and exile the Jews, but we know better. Now that God has started letting us come back, this is the place to be. You can even get a job here As the 2 good spies said "the land is very very good." It takes some getting used to - the people here are of a different mindset, the language is hard and the pay doesn't compare. But once you overcome that, it is very rewarding and even enjoyable living here.
My aliyah advice is not to get too caught up in the politics. It's generally good to pick one side, but when things don't go your way don't get too worked up about it. There's nothing you can do about it anythng.
After the aliyah ceremony we went to the safari in ramat gan. We really enjoyed it, especially the ostriches. After you drive through the safari part, you can stop and go to the zoo before continuing on to the lions section and finishing the rest of the safari. We spent about 4 hours there and the kids had a wonderful time.
Friday morning we spent in the Chula - no there were no birds and we didn't even get to see a kosher water bufallo - it was an enjoyable walk.
We are now 4 siblings of 7 in Israel. One is planning on coming with Mashiach and the other 2 will probably end up here on their own if he doesn't hurry up. God promised us this country, he gave us this country and then he took it away. Some bloggers feel that it was probably just bad politics that caused nebekenezer (sp?) to destroy the temple and exile the Jews, but we know better. Now that God has started letting us come back, this is the place to be. You can even get a job here As the 2 good spies said "the land is very very good." It takes some getting used to - the people here are of a different mindset, the language is hard and the pay doesn't compare. But once you overcome that, it is very rewarding and even enjoyable living here.
My aliyah advice is not to get too caught up in the politics. It's generally good to pick one side, but when things don't go your way don't get too worked up about it. There's nothing you can do about it anythng.
After the aliyah ceremony we went to the safari in ramat gan. We really enjoyed it, especially the ostriches. After you drive through the safari part, you can stop and go to the zoo before continuing on to the lions section and finishing the rest of the safari. We spent about 4 hours there and the kids had a wonderful time.
Friday morning we spent in the Chula - no there were no birds and we didn't even get to see a kosher water bufallo - it was an enjoyable walk.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
alternate realities
This morning on the train I had a conversation with Train Talk about alternate realities. Not surprisingly, he completely disagreed with me and insists that there are no alternate realities, at least not in the way that I explained them.
In general I don't like telling personal stories about my wife, but I think this is pretty important so I will anyways. Also our anniversary is this week, so its nice to mention stories about your wife in honor.
A number of years ago, shortly after we got married, my wife was reading Roots by Alex Haley. Somewhere in the middle of the book, the little girl (I forget her name) was getting raped. My wife couldn't handle the book anymore and put it away to never read it again. I was aghast. What kind of person would let a poor girl be raped for eternity just because she couldn't handle the end of the story. After arguing with my wife about it for a couple days and pleading with her to at least finish the rape part of the book and put an end to her suffering, I finally picked up the book and read it through cover to cover and put an end to the story.
Train Talk, like my wife and a number of other people, feels that the little girl was not actually being raped even while she was in the middle of reading the story. Putting the book away doesn't force a continuum, it is merely stopping reading which is supposed to be an enjoyable or educational pursuit.
These people simply can't see out of the narrow confines of their box and may not even realize that they are in a box to begin with. When you read a book or watch a movie or invest any part of yourself in something, that forms a new reality. That story or action now exists in your sphere of existence and influences you and can even have a strong impact. In each person lies a number of actual realities. This is what forms the uniqueness of an individual. There is no such thing as hot or cold as a global definition, merely as a concept, because your personal reality defines whether something is hot or cold, not an arbitrary temperature.
When you read a book with Ted Nash as the enemy, to take a DeMille book for example, he becomes your personal enemy. He has the ability to harm you in ways that you can't even begin to imagine. It is only a person's reckless irresponsibility to understand the consequences that allows him to accept an occurrence without being able to place the blame on the root cause of the problem. This was one of the purposes of the choose your own adventure books that were popular in the 80s. each person had the power to determine how the book was going to end and therefore be able to actually compete on an even playing field.
The problem is that there really is no reality and everything that surrounds you is an alternate reality. The issue becomes whether you focus on one reality so intently that you not only ignore the other realities surrounding you, but are completely unaware of their existence.
People must open their eyes and accept that life is a prism and not simply a ray of light.
In general I don't like telling personal stories about my wife, but I think this is pretty important so I will anyways. Also our anniversary is this week, so its nice to mention stories about your wife in honor.
A number of years ago, shortly after we got married, my wife was reading Roots by Alex Haley. Somewhere in the middle of the book, the little girl (I forget her name) was getting raped. My wife couldn't handle the book anymore and put it away to never read it again. I was aghast. What kind of person would let a poor girl be raped for eternity just because she couldn't handle the end of the story. After arguing with my wife about it for a couple days and pleading with her to at least finish the rape part of the book and put an end to her suffering, I finally picked up the book and read it through cover to cover and put an end to the story.
Train Talk, like my wife and a number of other people, feels that the little girl was not actually being raped even while she was in the middle of reading the story. Putting the book away doesn't force a continuum, it is merely stopping reading which is supposed to be an enjoyable or educational pursuit.
These people simply can't see out of the narrow confines of their box and may not even realize that they are in a box to begin with. When you read a book or watch a movie or invest any part of yourself in something, that forms a new reality. That story or action now exists in your sphere of existence and influences you and can even have a strong impact. In each person lies a number of actual realities. This is what forms the uniqueness of an individual. There is no such thing as hot or cold as a global definition, merely as a concept, because your personal reality defines whether something is hot or cold, not an arbitrary temperature.
When you read a book with Ted Nash as the enemy, to take a DeMille book for example, he becomes your personal enemy. He has the ability to harm you in ways that you can't even begin to imagine. It is only a person's reckless irresponsibility to understand the consequences that allows him to accept an occurrence without being able to place the blame on the root cause of the problem. This was one of the purposes of the choose your own adventure books that were popular in the 80s. each person had the power to determine how the book was going to end and therefore be able to actually compete on an even playing field.
The problem is that there really is no reality and everything that surrounds you is an alternate reality. The issue becomes whether you focus on one reality so intently that you not only ignore the other realities surrounding you, but are completely unaware of their existence.
People must open their eyes and accept that life is a prism and not simply a ray of light.
more tehillim
My BIL is back in the hospital.
Mass tehillim are appreciated.
benzion yehuda ben chana rachel.
Mass tehillim are appreciated.
benzion yehuda ben chana rachel.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Israeli Safari
Has anybody been to the Safari in Tel Aviv?
I'm thinking of taking the family this Thursday after we meet my brother and his family at the airport. They're making aliyah and will probably be exhausted tired when they get in, so we figured on doing something fun for the rest of the afternoon without them.
It costs 50 shekels per person, including kids.
Is it worth the cost?
I'm thinking of taking the family this Thursday after we meet my brother and his family at the airport. They're making aliyah and will probably be exhausted tired when they get in, so we figured on doing something fun for the rest of the afternoon without them.
It costs 50 shekels per person, including kids.
Is it worth the cost?
Happy Fourth
The fourth of July represents freedom to Americans. Freedom from British tyranny, freedom from the extra U, freedom from tea, freedom from a class system,...
In Israel, we are hoping for the Freedom of the soldier who was kidnapped, Gilad Shalit.
In Israel, however, the fourth represents nothing. No BBQs and no fireworks, even though we got rid of the Brits and got rid of the U, they still like to spell k words with a q. We are still held prisoner to ourselves and to world opinion.
The deal that the palestinians didn't accept included prisoners freed, and another withdrawal from Gaza. They had to guarantee an end to Kassam rockets and return our soldier. They wouldn't agree to that.
Looking at the entire picture, it looks like they want/need the Israeli army in the strip. Since the day Israel left they have been doing everything they can to get Israel to take it again. The fact that there was not a welcoming parade upon the reentry is the most surprising thing of the whole ordeal. It was only after shooting nonstop rockets at Israel, which Israel had promised to retaliate for, but never would, did they go to the next step of kidnapping a soldier. If we hadn't entered the strip, which we almost didn't, they probably would have just invaded assuming that we must all be braindead with no capacity to defend ourselves.
We have no deterrent capability. Not negotiating over the soldier is not going to give us deterrence because next week we will let them get away with a thousand other things.
Has anybody ever heard the expression, "if just one rocket lands..." That's Israeli deterrence for you.
Monday, July 03, 2006
an ultimatum
An ultimatum has been given that Israel better release the arab prisoners by 6 AM Tuesday or...
Or what? Or they're going to kill our soldier? Why don't they tell us the or what? It's very hard to take an ultimatum seriously if you don't know what the consequences are for not meeting their deadline. They could have made the same demands last month without kidnapping a soldier. "Free the prisoners by Friday or we're gonna git you."
If it does have to do with the soldier then they should specify what we should be worried about.
That's one perspective.
On the other side, the Israeli leadership is taking the ultimatum seriously and are discussing it at the highest levels. Olmert and Peretz. Peretz believes that negotiations will always win. Of course, we might have expected the Israeli Jimmy Hoffa to destroy Gaza first and then say "lets negotiate." But no, unfortunately the tactics that he had no problem using against the Israeli people to try and get his workers fine leather duck boots are invalid when trying to free a soldier from the grasp of the evil palestinians.
Meanwhile Kadima is in crisis according to a Haaretz report. They still have not built any institutions or policies and are quickly losing the support of their mayoral infrastructure.
In government, also according to a Haaretz report, everyone is working on their own civil marriage bill. It looks like the final bill will only allow people who are not disallowed from marrying by religious law but still can not get married by religious law to get married. So from what I understand of this article mamzerim will not be allowed to get married but a Jew will be able to marry a non Jew or a kohen will be able to marry a divorcee or something like that. Howevr someone who can get married in the framework of Jewish law will not be allowed to use this register.
So if a couple wants to get married civilly because they hate religion they would have to first get married to someone else and then cheat with each other, thus violating Jewish law and forbidding each other to get married to each othr which will then allow them to marry each other civilly. Maybe.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
lazy days of summer
Summer time is here and that means summer camp at our office. We have cable tv and 2 computers for the children. We also have arts and crafts materials available, such as papers, markers, cardboard and scissors. We haven't reached the point where we hire a counselor for the summer, but I figure that is only a year or two away. SO now we have a buch of kids in the office who are spending most of their summer locked in an office building watching movies and playing on the computer. The main problem that I see with this is that every time they want adult interaction, they are "bothering" the adults who are trying to work. How would you feel if everytime you wanted to talk to your dad, who is in the office next door, you felt like you were bothering him? That's why I don't like to bring my kids to work or do work at home when they are around. When I am working, I like to focus on what I am trying to accomplish. Any interference, especially a kid asking me how to turn off the vol!
ume of the tv while still having volume on the dvd (it's not so simple, I ended up just unplugging the cable), just increases the time that it will take to accomplish the task at hand exponentially.
The problem with summer vacation is that parents don't get a summer vacation. In two income families, parents don't have a lot of options for what to do with their children for two months. Even in single income families, the moms can't handle giving their children 100% of their time, no matter how much love they have.
My wife got together with 6 other mothers and each one is taking a couple days and providing a day camp for the kids for 3 weeks. Those moms that work are taking vacation days when it is their turn. Since we have two kids and all the other families just have 1 kid, then we get 3 days of being the couselor instead of only 2. Sounds fair to me. Our day camp is a midos mased camp and each day the mom-in-charge is supposed to work on 1 midah. I am not sure if that midah is supposed to help the mother deal with the kids better or if the kids are supposed to learn about the midah, but I think both would be positive influences on the kids.
My kids school gave them homework for the summer. Every day they expect them to learn 1 perek of chumash, 1 perek of navi and 2 mishnas of pirkei avos. I thought that was a great idea until I started doing it with them. It took me 1 hour to go through the first perek of bereishis, without rashi. Its not something they can do on their own yet, and I don't have 3 hours at home even if they had the patience to sit that long. I can read it to them like a story, but I think they will accomplish more if they actually read it themselves. So I think we're going to just do one track, and I'll give them the option of doing either chumash or navi.
The lazy days of summer have arrived.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
simpolistic complexity
There is a Charlie Brown episode where they are taking a math test and peppermint patty asks marcie what she wrote for a certain question. Marcie replied with a number (I don't remember which) and peppermint patty says, "I wrote green" Green? Was the surprised response. She replied, "I thought it was a trick question."
People sometimes complicate simple things for no reason. It isn't because they are less intelligent or are missing something, it's because they think that life is more complicated then it really is.
On the other hand, sometimes people take things that are very complex and try to provide a simple solution that doesn't fully answer the need.
Therein lies the problem.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
an evening of dance
One of the guys at work is part of a ballroom dancing performance and he asked everyone to come and watch. For 7 months he has been practicing this 3 hours a day 5 days a week. He first sent out an email which I ignored. He then walked around asking everyone if they were going to come or not. I told him that I had to think about it. Then he came around again asking if I was coming and I told him I had to discuss it with my wife. Finally he came around asking if I had discussed it with my wife.
So I agreed to go. I do have to work with this guy and I don't really want to insult him. Shouldn't there be some law about what co-workers are allowed to ask you? Or how many times? Is this the same thing as girl scout cookies?
My wife quoted a recent dilbert when I told her about it, which surprised me because I hadn't realized she kept up.
So we're making an evening out of it and got a babysitter, which is a story unto itself, and we're going out for dinner in Haifa, if we can find a kosher restaurant (apparantly not such an easy feat). Our babysitter said she really wanted to come but her friends were getting together at 10:30, so would we mind if she found someone to replace her then. Of course, she didn't know for sure that her friends were getting together, so she only wanted someone to replace her if she decided to leave. We needed a babysitter, so we agreed that if one of our regular babysitters was willing to replace her at 10:30 conditionally then that would be fine. Obviously she didn't find anyone, so we found another babysitter who was happy to stay the whole time.
So I agreed to go. I do have to work with this guy and I don't really want to insult him. Shouldn't there be some law about what co-workers are allowed to ask you? Or how many times? Is this the same thing as girl scout cookies?
My wife quoted a recent dilbert when I told her about it, which surprised me because I hadn't realized she kept up.
So we're making an evening out of it and got a babysitter, which is a story unto itself, and we're going out for dinner in Haifa, if we can find a kosher restaurant (apparantly not such an easy feat). Our babysitter said she really wanted to come but her friends were getting together at 10:30, so would we mind if she found someone to replace her then. Of course, she didn't know for sure that her friends were getting together, so she only wanted someone to replace her if she decided to leave. We needed a babysitter, so we agreed that if one of our regular babysitters was willing to replace her at 10:30 conditionally then that would be fine. Obviously she didn't find anyone, so we found another babysitter who was happy to stay the whole time.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
God's role in tragedies
אני מאמין באמונה שלמה שהבורא יתברך שמו הוא בורא ומנהיג לכל-הברואים והוא לבדו עשה ועושה ויעשה לכל-המעשים.
I believe with complete faith that the Creator—blessed be His name—creates and directs all creatures; and that He alone made, [now] makes, and will [always] make all the works.
The first of the 13 declarations of Jewish faith is that God is running the show. People continuosly question "where was God" when certain events happen or they blame individuals or political philosophies for tragedies that happen on a national/global level. People think that God gives us freedom of choice so we can screw things up on our own. Therefore, if we vote Sharon into power and he decides that he is going to go against everything he has ever campaigned for, then obviously he is using his freedom of choice to screw up the entire country.
WRONG.
During the tsunami/hurricane/... you would think that people would finally say this is the hand of God, a completely natural act of destruction. Nope. The same people who blame politicians and people for events on a global/national level either don't understand how God could let this happen or say it is a completely natural event and has no spiritual connotations.
WRONG AGAIN.
I'll tell you where God was during the expulsion from Gaza - with tears in his eyes, he kicked them out with his own foot.
I'll tell you where God was during Hurricane Katrina - He was standing there blowing real hard.
I'll tell you where God was during the tsunami - He was spitting at the people who lived in the area.
And to go one step further (into the forbidden zone) God himself lit the fire in the crematorium and sprayed Zyklon gas on the Jews during the Holocaust.
Do you know why? Neither do I.
In the Torah when tragedies happened, it is made fairly obvious what the reason for the destruction is.
In parshas Nitzavim it clearly states natural desasters come from God for a very specific reason:
גפרית ומלח, שריפה כל ארצה - לא תיזרע ולא תצמיח, ולא יעלה בה כל עשב: כמהפכת סדום ועמורה, אדמה וצבויים, אשר הפך ה' באפו ובחמתו. ואמרו כל הגויים: 'על מה עשה ה' ככה לארץ הזאת?; מה חורי האף הגדול הזה?'. ואמרו 'על אשר עזבו את ברית ה' אלוהי אבותם, אשר כרת עימם בהוציאו אותם מארץ מצרים.
Because the Jews did not follow the covenant of God, who took us out of Egypt.
We see the Torah full of stories that describe what happens when Jews are bad: After the sin of the golden calf, a good portion were wiped out. After the spies, they had to dig their own graves and sleep in them at night because there were good odds that they wouldn't wake up. After Korach, aside from the ground opening up and swallowing them, there was another plague where people started dying until Aharon the kohen gadol burnt ketores in the camp of the people.
Jewish tradition is that the first Bais Hamikdash, the jewish temple, was destroyed because the Jews regularly performed the 3 big sins. It wasn't because the king wasn't strong enough and didn't have a good army. Does anybody remember the story of Micah who took the idol and caused the Jews to lose lives for the first time in a war?
The second temple was destroyed because people hated one another for no good reason, not because the politicians didn't live up to their promises.
It would seem utterly foolish of Pharoah not to let the Jews go, when his country was being destroyed. But God had other plans and hardened Pharoah's heart.
There are the good times as well. In the days of Purim the people returned to God, and the planned holocaust didn't happen. In the days of chanukah, the people returned to God and the enemies were chased out of our country.
That doesn't mean we should just give up. We have to do our part by voting for the right people and protesting decisions that we feel are bad the jewish people. That doesn't always work like we saw after voting for Sharon.
However, the most important thing we have to work on is ourselves. Find out what God wants from us and start doing it. Until that happens, the political and security situation is going to continue getting worse. The biggest problem that we have to overcome in our generation is that people don't really believe in God. Return to the first of the declarations of faith and the path will becaome a lot clearer.
Where does freedom of choice start and divine providence end? That is another post, another day, probably not in the near future.
I believe with complete faith that the Creator—blessed be His name—creates and directs all creatures; and that He alone made, [now] makes, and will [always] make all the works.
The first of the 13 declarations of Jewish faith is that God is running the show. People continuosly question "where was God" when certain events happen or they blame individuals or political philosophies for tragedies that happen on a national/global level. People think that God gives us freedom of choice so we can screw things up on our own. Therefore, if we vote Sharon into power and he decides that he is going to go against everything he has ever campaigned for, then obviously he is using his freedom of choice to screw up the entire country.
WRONG.
During the tsunami/hurricane/... you would think that people would finally say this is the hand of God, a completely natural act of destruction. Nope. The same people who blame politicians and people for events on a global/national level either don't understand how God could let this happen or say it is a completely natural event and has no spiritual connotations.
WRONG AGAIN.
I'll tell you where God was during the expulsion from Gaza - with tears in his eyes, he kicked them out with his own foot.
I'll tell you where God was during Hurricane Katrina - He was standing there blowing real hard.
I'll tell you where God was during the tsunami - He was spitting at the people who lived in the area.
And to go one step further (into the forbidden zone) God himself lit the fire in the crematorium and sprayed Zyklon gas on the Jews during the Holocaust.
Do you know why? Neither do I.
In the Torah when tragedies happened, it is made fairly obvious what the reason for the destruction is.
In parshas Nitzavim it clearly states natural desasters come from God for a very specific reason:
גפרית ומלח, שריפה כל ארצה - לא תיזרע ולא תצמיח, ולא יעלה בה כל עשב: כמהפכת סדום ועמורה, אדמה וצבויים, אשר הפך ה' באפו ובחמתו. ואמרו כל הגויים: 'על מה עשה ה' ככה לארץ הזאת?; מה חורי האף הגדול הזה?'. ואמרו 'על אשר עזבו את ברית ה' אלוהי אבותם, אשר כרת עימם בהוציאו אותם מארץ מצרים.
Because the Jews did not follow the covenant of God, who took us out of Egypt.
We see the Torah full of stories that describe what happens when Jews are bad: After the sin of the golden calf, a good portion were wiped out. After the spies, they had to dig their own graves and sleep in them at night because there were good odds that they wouldn't wake up. After Korach, aside from the ground opening up and swallowing them, there was another plague where people started dying until Aharon the kohen gadol burnt ketores in the camp of the people.
Jewish tradition is that the first Bais Hamikdash, the jewish temple, was destroyed because the Jews regularly performed the 3 big sins. It wasn't because the king wasn't strong enough and didn't have a good army. Does anybody remember the story of Micah who took the idol and caused the Jews to lose lives for the first time in a war?
The second temple was destroyed because people hated one another for no good reason, not because the politicians didn't live up to their promises.
It would seem utterly foolish of Pharoah not to let the Jews go, when his country was being destroyed. But God had other plans and hardened Pharoah's heart.
There are the good times as well. In the days of Purim the people returned to God, and the planned holocaust didn't happen. In the days of chanukah, the people returned to God and the enemies were chased out of our country.
That doesn't mean we should just give up. We have to do our part by voting for the right people and protesting decisions that we feel are bad the jewish people. That doesn't always work like we saw after voting for Sharon.
However, the most important thing we have to work on is ourselves. Find out what God wants from us and start doing it. Until that happens, the political and security situation is going to continue getting worse. The biggest problem that we have to overcome in our generation is that people don't really believe in God. Return to the first of the declarations of faith and the path will becaome a lot clearer.
Where does freedom of choice start and divine providence end? That is another post, another day, probably not in the near future.
Monday, June 26, 2006
guns aren't muktzah
Last night at the hilchos shabbos shiur we were discussing various
kinds of muktzah and weapons came up. There were two opinions brought
down that weapons were not muktzah.
Rav Goren, the first chief rabbi of the Israeli army, said that it is
a "kli shemelachto leheter", a vessel whose primary use is permissable
on shabbos, because it is a mitzva to shoot the enemy even on shabbos.
Rav SZ Auerbach also said that it is a kli shemelachto leheter. His
reason reasoning was because the primary use of a weapon is not using
the weapon. Rather, the primary purpose of a weapon is deterrence.
In the end the rabbis psak was it depends on the situation and why you
want to carry the weaon as to whether it is allowed or not. I just
wanted to share an odd bit of trivia with you.
lousy defense
In the wake of the kidnapping of Gilad Shlait, we must first and foremost assign blame. It is impossible for Jews to do anything without first blaming somebody for what happened. So the shin bet said that they told the army this was going to happen so it's the army's fault. The army said the shin bet gave them general information but nothing specific so it was bad intelligence.
Joe Settler and Jameel, along with countless others, blame the left wing for getting us into this mess. The left wing sees this as a success because the arabs are not being victimized in this instance and therefore they blame the right wing for instigating towards a response.
Shimon Peres says "kidnap shmidmap. Ron Arad was kidnapped years ago and we aren't doing anything for him."
One of the major problems is that Israel does not learn from history or rather when they learn from history they do do a half assed job. Historically to defend a castle or a city, you would build a wall around it. Israel has started to do this and it hasn't helped. The problem in this specific instance is that the terrorists went under the wall. If Israel had learned from history they would know that castles not only had strong walls to protect them but also a moat. If there was a moat surrounding the walls with alligators and snakes, then the terrorists wouldn't have been able to get under. I feel strongly that the moat digging should start immediately and that walls should only be finished after the moat completely surrounds us. After the moat is finished and the walls are completed we will be heavily fortified and we can continue to threaten to retaliate when rockets are shot at us.
After the blame we need to threaten. The government of Israel has declared that if we ever get that soldier back there's going to be hell to pay. Did anybody else fall off their chairs laughing at that statement? Here's the conversation between 2 Gazans:
Gazan A: We finished with the game of capture the soldier, should we give him back?
Gazan B: Are you nuts? As soon as we give him back they're going to play Kick Our Ass.
Gazan A: You have a good point. Pass the peanuts.
It's too bad Sharon isn't still in office so he can start firing people who are thinking that maybe the evacuation wasn't such a good idea.
Finally we get to solutions. Israel has asked Abu Mazen to return the body safely. His miltary wing responded by sayng, "we have chemical and biological weapons, come and get him." We then asked our international supporters to help get our boy back and they requested that we don't do anything to destabilize the region.
In the end nothing will be done because we are a people without a leader. A body without a head, running around in circles because we have no clue which way is up.
Joe Settler and Jameel, along with countless others, blame the left wing for getting us into this mess. The left wing sees this as a success because the arabs are not being victimized in this instance and therefore they blame the right wing for instigating towards a response.
Shimon Peres says "kidnap shmidmap. Ron Arad was kidnapped years ago and we aren't doing anything for him."
One of the major problems is that Israel does not learn from history or rather when they learn from history they do do a half assed job. Historically to defend a castle or a city, you would build a wall around it. Israel has started to do this and it hasn't helped. The problem in this specific instance is that the terrorists went under the wall. If Israel had learned from history they would know that castles not only had strong walls to protect them but also a moat. If there was a moat surrounding the walls with alligators and snakes, then the terrorists wouldn't have been able to get under. I feel strongly that the moat digging should start immediately and that walls should only be finished after the moat completely surrounds us. After the moat is finished and the walls are completed we will be heavily fortified and we can continue to threaten to retaliate when rockets are shot at us.
After the blame we need to threaten. The government of Israel has declared that if we ever get that soldier back there's going to be hell to pay. Did anybody else fall off their chairs laughing at that statement? Here's the conversation between 2 Gazans:
Gazan A: We finished with the game of capture the soldier, should we give him back?
Gazan B: Are you nuts? As soon as we give him back they're going to play Kick Our Ass.
Gazan A: You have a good point. Pass the peanuts.
It's too bad Sharon isn't still in office so he can start firing people who are thinking that maybe the evacuation wasn't such a good idea.
Finally we get to solutions. Israel has asked Abu Mazen to return the body safely. His miltary wing responded by sayng, "we have chemical and biological weapons, come and get him." We then asked our international supporters to help get our boy back and they requested that we don't do anything to destabilize the region.
In the end nothing will be done because we are a people without a leader. A body without a head, running around in circles because we have no clue which way is up.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
camping
At 5:30 AM my children woke up, and starting talking loudly, laughing and generally making a ruckus. I started laughing, revenge is so sweet.
We were at the kineret on a small camping trip Thursday night. We figured it was a good time to go before all the kids got off of school, because it would be a little quieter. We found a nice beach where they promised no midnight disco party and a family atmosphere, which was exactly what we were looking for. I set up the tents, while the kids played in the water with my wife and our friends (they had gotten there earlier and had already set up their tents). Then I went in the water for a while while the grill heated up.
We had a nice bbq and got the kids to sleep at a very decent hour. We actually climbed into the tents around 11:30 and were planning on actually sleeping through the night. At about 12:30AM a group of 9 Muslim Arab men set up right next to our tents and started their BBQ. They weren't louder then they needed to be, meaning there was no yelling or loud music. But when you have 9 men bbqing and having a good time, it is not quiet. I got out of my tent and walked around so they could see that peopl were asleep over there, but that didn't faze them. They kept going until around 3:30. I said to my wife, tomorrow we will get our revenge.
I probably drifted off to sleep for a couple hours before my children woke up and were out of the tent whooping it up. They weren't louder then neccessary, just as loud as children should be when they get up. Our friends kids also got up around the same time and they were playing very nicely together.
The best part was the expression on the faces of those arabs as they lay there thinking "we just went to sleep." They had brought mattresses or sleeping bags and weren't sleeping in a tent, so we got to see the shock registering on their faces. I didn't allow my kids to make unneccessary noise, and I asked them not to yell when they were yelling. But kids make noise and that's that.
We went swimming and were in the water from around 6Am until around 10. Everyone had a lot of fun.
Ask Shifra wrote about being judgemental the other day when she saw some possibly modern orthodox kids and modern orthodox adults walking on shabbos, filthy and sweaty after a strenuous shabbos afternoon football game.
When I'm at the beach, I generally keep my glasses off and since I can't see 5 feet in front of me there is not as big of a tznius problem as there could be. (I'm not saying that there is no problem, it is just minimized.) Anyway, for some reason my glasses were on at one point and I saw a religious lady with her hair covered wearing a bikini walking around with her husband. She kept her hair covered when she went into the water. I turned to my wife and asked her what she thought about nude sunbathing with hair covered. She didn't think that either was very appropriate.
So we tried not being judgemental and made up stories about them, though in reality we were judgemental and felt that she was a crackhead. Either show off your body or be tzanua, but covering your hair and very little else seems a bit strange.
We were at the kineret on a small camping trip Thursday night. We figured it was a good time to go before all the kids got off of school, because it would be a little quieter. We found a nice beach where they promised no midnight disco party and a family atmosphere, which was exactly what we were looking for. I set up the tents, while the kids played in the water with my wife and our friends (they had gotten there earlier and had already set up their tents). Then I went in the water for a while while the grill heated up.
We had a nice bbq and got the kids to sleep at a very decent hour. We actually climbed into the tents around 11:30 and were planning on actually sleeping through the night. At about 12:30AM a group of 9 Muslim Arab men set up right next to our tents and started their BBQ. They weren't louder then they needed to be, meaning there was no yelling or loud music. But when you have 9 men bbqing and having a good time, it is not quiet. I got out of my tent and walked around so they could see that peopl were asleep over there, but that didn't faze them. They kept going until around 3:30. I said to my wife, tomorrow we will get our revenge.
I probably drifted off to sleep for a couple hours before my children woke up and were out of the tent whooping it up. They weren't louder then neccessary, just as loud as children should be when they get up. Our friends kids also got up around the same time and they were playing very nicely together.
The best part was the expression on the faces of those arabs as they lay there thinking "we just went to sleep." They had brought mattresses or sleeping bags and weren't sleeping in a tent, so we got to see the shock registering on their faces. I didn't allow my kids to make unneccessary noise, and I asked them not to yell when they were yelling. But kids make noise and that's that.
We went swimming and were in the water from around 6Am until around 10. Everyone had a lot of fun.
Ask Shifra wrote about being judgemental the other day when she saw some possibly modern orthodox kids and modern orthodox adults walking on shabbos, filthy and sweaty after a strenuous shabbos afternoon football game.
When I'm at the beach, I generally keep my glasses off and since I can't see 5 feet in front of me there is not as big of a tznius problem as there could be. (I'm not saying that there is no problem, it is just minimized.) Anyway, for some reason my glasses were on at one point and I saw a religious lady with her hair covered wearing a bikini walking around with her husband. She kept her hair covered when she went into the water. I turned to my wife and asked her what she thought about nude sunbathing with hair covered. She didn't think that either was very appropriate.
So we tried not being judgemental and made up stories about them, though in reality we were judgemental and felt that she was a crackhead. Either show off your body or be tzanua, but covering your hair and very little else seems a bit strange.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Toning down your resume
People have to learn how to tone down their resumes instead of building them up. I just got a resume from someone who put down he was the Director of sales and marketing for a company and President of another company, etc.. He's 27 years old and graduated from college in 2002.
When I asked our HR person what she thought of him for a sales/support coordination position, she looked through his resume and said he's probably overqualified. When I explained that he was 27 and probably just built up his resume she said that if he thinks he did all of these things then he will be bored at our job and will probably leave after a year or so.
I'm not saying that he didn't do what is on his resume, but there are a lot of different ways to present it. We have all been president of our own consulting firms. We have all been the VP of something or other because we were one of two people working in the company and we could be VP. We have all worked summer jobs as interns through which we can claim title to king of the world.
But a company does not want to hire a CEO for a sales position. A company wants to hire a salesman for a sales position. You should never have a higher position then the one you are looking at on your resume. If you are looking at IT Manager, your resume should have IT Manager at the highest level of what you have done. That is called a parallel move. If you write that you were the CIO and now you are willing to accept IT Manager, they will look at you as over qualified. In a 5 person company, the salesman is the assistant sales person as well as the Sales Manager and the Director of Marketing and Sales, as well as the Vice President of Sales and the Deputy Director of the company. However those titles are not going to get you a job, because everyone is looking for a lateral move and are not willing to pull someone above or below his experience.
I recommend before sending in a resume to find out what the requirements are and reading your resume from their perspective. If you were looking through the 100 resumes that you've received, would you consider this one to be a perfect fit for the position?
computax sucks
I went to the CompuTax show yesterday at the Tel Aviv exhibition center and I was totally disappointed. My goal was basically to meet vendors and see what was out there.
The vendors who were there weren't interested in talking business, they were interested in selling products to individuals. However, we aren't talking about retail stores, these are distributors. There were a few vendors who were interested in finding out what I was interested in, but when I asked questions I mostly got a response to look at their website. And if I leave my business card, someone would get back to me.
There were a couple of interesting things to see, but it certainly wasn't worth the time and effort of going.
I had signed up for an IT strategy lecture before the show to make a full day of it, and that was partly fairly interesting. The guy tried to bring a proof that managing IT strategy correctly was the key to success because in a PWC survey companies who align their IT startegy with their business strategy are much more successful then those that don't.
I suggested that maybe the companies that don't align their IT strategy don't understand business as an entity and that's why they are less successful. He said he knows a lot of people who are good at business and don't align their IT and aren't as successful and I explained that those people might be good at sales or other aspects of business, but they don't understand business as a whole. At which point he said exactly right and kept going.
The point is that IT isn't the cause for business success, rather if you don't understand how to manage your operation as a congruent entity then you obviously won't do as well if you did have everything going in the same direction.
The vendors who were there weren't interested in talking business, they were interested in selling products to individuals. However, we aren't talking about retail stores, these are distributors. There were a few vendors who were interested in finding out what I was interested in, but when I asked questions I mostly got a response to look at their website. And if I leave my business card, someone would get back to me.
There were a couple of interesting things to see, but it certainly wasn't worth the time and effort of going.
I had signed up for an IT strategy lecture before the show to make a full day of it, and that was partly fairly interesting. The guy tried to bring a proof that managing IT strategy correctly was the key to success because in a PWC survey companies who align their IT startegy with their business strategy are much more successful then those that don't.
I suggested that maybe the companies that don't align their IT strategy don't understand business as an entity and that's why they are less successful. He said he knows a lot of people who are good at business and don't align their IT and aren't as successful and I explained that those people might be good at sales or other aspects of business, but they don't understand business as a whole. At which point he said exactly right and kept going.
The point is that IT isn't the cause for business success, rather if you don't understand how to manage your operation as a congruent entity then you obviously won't do as well if you did have everything going in the same direction.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
CompuTax
Tomorrow I'll be off blogging (and work) to spend a day at the
CompuTax exhibition. CompuTax is supposedly the only computer show in
Israel and it occurs once a year. All of the big vendors are supposed
to be there and everything should be on sale.
Back in the states, I used to go to computer shows regularly and pick
up good equipment dirt cheap. I've heard that they do have great sales
here, but I am assuming that means the prices will be only 20% higher
then what I could find retail in the US.
If anybody else is planning on being at the exhibition tomorrow, let
me know and we'll hook up.
settlers are enemies
The Yisraeli newspaper is a recent newspaper phenomena in Israel that is competing against the mainstream press. There are two editions, morning and evening and it is given away for free at the train and bus stations. Advertising costs 20,000 shekel per day for a full page ad and they are getting advertisers. (what that means is that I can't afford to advertise in the Yisraeli, which I was thinking about doing.)
That is all just background information for those people who would have said,"I've never heard of the Yisraeli, it must not be a real paper"
This morning I read an article that the soldiers stationed around Psagot have been banned from visiting with the residents of that city. The unofficial reason given was because they don't want friendly relations to hamper the upcoming expulsion. In other words, the residents of Psagot should be looked at as enemies. It is dangerous to visit with them, as they may destroy the mission.
One resident says that that he has been hosting soldiers for the past 25 years and now he feels like they are treating him like a Palestinian. He doesn't feel that being friendly towards Israeli soldiers is bad for Israel.
Last Thursday night, Jameel's wife hosted Israeli soldiers for a BBQ at their Muqatan settlement. If this keeps up, those might be the last settler steaks those soldiers get to eat.
The army gave an official "security" reason for the ban on Psagot, but sees it as a weak excuse.
That is all just background information for those people who would have said,"I've never heard of the Yisraeli, it must not be a real paper"
This morning I read an article that the soldiers stationed around Psagot have been banned from visiting with the residents of that city. The unofficial reason given was because they don't want friendly relations to hamper the upcoming expulsion. In other words, the residents of Psagot should be looked at as enemies. It is dangerous to visit with them, as they may destroy the mission.
One resident says that that he has been hosting soldiers for the past 25 years and now he feels like they are treating him like a Palestinian. He doesn't feel that being friendly towards Israeli soldiers is bad for Israel.
Last Thursday night, Jameel's wife hosted Israeli soldiers for a BBQ at their Muqatan settlement. If this keeps up, those might be the last settler steaks those soldiers get to eat.
The army gave an official "security" reason for the ban on Psagot, but sees it as a weak excuse.
Monday, June 19, 2006
maybe realignment is good for Israel
A new perspective just hit me as I was reading through the daily news. The right wing uses the Gaza example showing one reason why the convergence plan will be bad for Israel. Bad for our morale, bad for our security and bad in all other aspects. Thinking through it rationally, there have been no positive aspects to the diengagement from Gaza from any perspective. From the looks of it, there will be no positive benefits to retreating from the West Bank. There will be nothing positive about giving the Arabs Jerusalem.
Obviously we are missing something here.
Israel has had numerous enemies over the past 50some years. Some of them blatantly hating us, others not so blatantly. Jordan has a peace agreement with us, as does Egypt, but there is nobody foolish enough to think they they won't join in the next war against Israel, tacitly at the very least. The British have made their hatred of Israel very well known, from the time before the modern State was created through today, as they are trying to put our officers on trial for war crimes. I don't even think we need to mention the French.
Looking at Sderot and the security situation since the disengagement, we would expect the British to stand firmly behind Israel and say, "Do it again." Jordan certainly has the ability to keep the Palestinians at bay for a couple of months while they silently encourage rockets sent at El Al planes leaving Ben Gurion international. Egypt should be smiling and saying, disengagement sounds cool, that will show the Gazans that they won and they should keep fighting on that side of the border. The French should be ecstatic at the prospect of more chaos in Israel.
I only wonder what we are missing here? What could possibly be so bad for the Jews in Israel that would make a convergence seem like a good thing for us? The convergence plan is based on giving the palestinians 90% of the West Bank. We already gave them 100% of the Gaza Strip. Is it practical for anyone to think that in negotiations they will receive 100% of the West Bank? Isreal is saying we won't negotiate anymore, here is 90% of what you want and the other side is saying "no, we will only accept it after we negotiate."
One possibility is that it will greatly empower Hamas and the rest of the Islamic brotherhood, which will then be bad for the rest of the world. Remember what happened to France a couple months ago, when the country was trashed by a bunch of muslims? Egypt and Jordan are barely holding onto their thrones amidst a sea of Islamists. Britain is being taken over by the brotherhood as well. (can you say terrorist wearing sneakers).
When your enemies don't like your plans, that generally shows that they think it is better for them without your plans. This is a rare case where what is bad for Israel will be infinitely worse for the rest of the world. There is no other possible explanation why our enemies would be against our suicidal plans.
Obviously we are missing something here.
Israel has had numerous enemies over the past 50some years. Some of them blatantly hating us, others not so blatantly. Jordan has a peace agreement with us, as does Egypt, but there is nobody foolish enough to think they they won't join in the next war against Israel, tacitly at the very least. The British have made their hatred of Israel very well known, from the time before the modern State was created through today, as they are trying to put our officers on trial for war crimes. I don't even think we need to mention the French.
Looking at Sderot and the security situation since the disengagement, we would expect the British to stand firmly behind Israel and say, "Do it again." Jordan certainly has the ability to keep the Palestinians at bay for a couple of months while they silently encourage rockets sent at El Al planes leaving Ben Gurion international. Egypt should be smiling and saying, disengagement sounds cool, that will show the Gazans that they won and they should keep fighting on that side of the border. The French should be ecstatic at the prospect of more chaos in Israel.
I only wonder what we are missing here? What could possibly be so bad for the Jews in Israel that would make a convergence seem like a good thing for us? The convergence plan is based on giving the palestinians 90% of the West Bank. We already gave them 100% of the Gaza Strip. Is it practical for anyone to think that in negotiations they will receive 100% of the West Bank? Isreal is saying we won't negotiate anymore, here is 90% of what you want and the other side is saying "no, we will only accept it after we negotiate."
One possibility is that it will greatly empower Hamas and the rest of the Islamic brotherhood, which will then be bad for the rest of the world. Remember what happened to France a couple months ago, when the country was trashed by a bunch of muslims? Egypt and Jordan are barely holding onto their thrones amidst a sea of Islamists. Britain is being taken over by the brotherhood as well. (can you say terrorist wearing sneakers).
When your enemies don't like your plans, that generally shows that they think it is better for them without your plans. This is a rare case where what is bad for Israel will be infinitely worse for the rest of the world. There is no other possible explanation why our enemies would be against our suicidal plans.
the moth
We have a number of lizards running around our house. They are little and cute and everybody likes them, so we don't even try to get rid of them. I'm not convinced that if we tried to get rid of them they would leave without a fight, but that's a different story. I've heard that lizards eat bugs and that they are actually good to have around.
On Friday night we were eating our shabbos meal and we noticed that there was a little lizard on the wall standing very still. There was a big moth flying around and every once in a while when it landed the lizard would move slightly.
As we were watching, a small moth landed near the lizard. Suddenly, it moved very quickly and snatched the moth with into its mouth. The moth was beating its wings trying to get away, but the lizard wasn't letting go. This was savagary at its finest. Beast against Beast. Survival of the Fittest. The lizard slammed the moth into the wall a couple times. After a couple minutes of fighting, the lizard nodded his head and swallowed the moth whole. You could see the lizard's body shaking as the moth was still alive inside it mouth desperately fighting for survival. Finally, the lizard swallowed the moth and it was never seen again.
We now have one less moth in the house and are happier because of it.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
canada is magog
I've picked up a small ice coffee habit recently. I don't drink coffee and I'm off of coke, because of my diet (which is going very well, thank you for asking) so when I don't sleep well at night I am very tired in the morning. Ice coffee is the perfect answer between coffee and coke because it is like a slurpee, (but not, don't ever confuse any frozen drink in Israel with a slurpee. you'll be disappointed) and it doesn't have coke in it, but it does have caffeine. I guess it tastes like coffee but it is cold and doesn't bother me so much. It's a 10 shek once a week habvit right now, so I'll survive.
I learned something interesting in the daf yomi yesterday (yoma not rosh hashana). We all know that the masicah is supposed to come in the aftermath of the great war between gog and magog. We don't really know who these nations are and people have often suggested that the world warss have been between gog and magog, or it was the cold war between the US and Russia etc... It turns out that magog is the son of yafes, the son of Noah. The gemara discusses who each one of yefes' kids are. Magog is listed as Canadia.
Now we know half of the participants in the war and we can say with absolute certainty that Gog is going to win.
I learned something interesting in the daf yomi yesterday (yoma not rosh hashana). We all know that the masicah is supposed to come in the aftermath of the great war between gog and magog. We don't really know who these nations are and people have often suggested that the world warss have been between gog and magog, or it was the cold war between the US and Russia etc... It turns out that magog is the son of yafes, the son of Noah. The gemara discusses who each one of yefes' kids are. Magog is listed as Canadia.
Now we know half of the participants in the war and we can say with absolute certainty that Gog is going to win.
What sucks about Quiddich
I've been reading Harry Potter recently. It's an enjoyable clean read and it keeps me in the ballpark of my oldest daughter's imagination. I read the first in English, the second in both English and Hebrew and now I'm working on the third one in only hebrew. One of the nice things about reading these stories in Hebrew is that it really contains a lot of conversation, which is what I am looking to learn, so it is increasing my vocabulary and knowledge of the normal ways to say things (Hebrew is not a direct translation of English.)
For those non-Harry Potter readers, Quiddich is a game played by witches and wizards on flying brooms. It is kind of like that game that you play in bumbper cars where you try to catch a ball with a net and throw it in the hoop, but a lot more complicated. (My sister just reminded me the name of the game is whirlyball, and she doesn't know if it is played outside of the great midwest.)
Harry gets a brand new broom so that he can go faster then everyone else. This is what sucks about Quiddich. The winners are the people with the best equipment, not necessarily the best players. Every good sport regulates the equipment so that equipment is not a factor in winning the game. In baseball, for example, players are not allowed to cork their bats because it makes the ball go farther. In hockey, the sticks have to be regulation size. You can't play with a stick that gives you a two inch advantage over the other players. I actually was at a game where they made someone switch sticks. In basketball you can't wear shoes with springs in them to make you jump higher. Quiddich, on the other hand, is stacked so that the guy who can afford the best equipment has the best chance of winning.
Until this problem is fixed, Quiddich will never, at least in my mind, be a real sport.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
manipulation
Some people hear the word manipulation and are instantly repulsed. Its 12 letters simply makes it 3 times as bad as a 4 letter word. I will agree that there are manipulative abuses, but call a spade a spade. Lets be honest, everyone manipulates and it is not a bad thing when done properly and correctly. To put it simply, manipulation is the act of specifically doing something that will increase the chance of other actions being performed (my own definition). A teacher promising no homework to students who are quiet during the class is manipulating them. A wife who puts the garbage bag in a place where her husband will see it is manipulating him.
God himself, according to Rashi, puts a high value on manipulation. When moshe was taking donations for building the temple he refused to take the mirrors of the women because they were used for sexual purposes. God told moshe that it was the best donation of them all because the women used them to manipulate their husbands who were not interested into being interested. The mirrors were then melted down and used to make the laver.
I'm not saying that all manipulation is good, but it can be a very powerful tool to get people to do what they should be doing or really want to do anyways, just don't know it yet.
In short, if you want something from someone figure out what will get them to change their minds. Then apply the right sort of pressure or modify the situation until they feel on their own that this is exactly what they want to do.
The innocent, terrorized people of sderot are currently on a hunger strike to try and manipulate the government into doing something about the daily barrage of rockets that are falling on their town.
As Dr. Seuss says, "It's easy to win you just have to know how."
God himself, according to Rashi, puts a high value on manipulation. When moshe was taking donations for building the temple he refused to take the mirrors of the women because they were used for sexual purposes. God told moshe that it was the best donation of them all because the women used them to manipulate their husbands who were not interested into being interested. The mirrors were then melted down and used to make the laver.
I'm not saying that all manipulation is good, but it can be a very powerful tool to get people to do what they should be doing or really want to do anyways, just don't know it yet.
In short, if you want something from someone figure out what will get them to change their minds. Then apply the right sort of pressure or modify the situation until they feel on their own that this is exactly what they want to do.
The innocent, terrorized people of sderot are currently on a hunger strike to try and manipulate the government into doing something about the daily barrage of rockets that are falling on their town.
As Dr. Seuss says, "It's easy to win you just have to know how."
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
mondail or mondale
My wife took me out for dinner the other night to Morgenfelds for my birthday. Morgenfeld's is a South American steak house in moshav Liman, a small moshav approximately a 5 minute drive from Rosh Hanikra. While the restaurant is not kosher lemehadrin, some of their meat is glatt and they will be happy to tell you which one if you ask. Of course you have to know who to ask. We asked the waitress if she could ask Marcell which meat was chalak (the hebrew word for glatt). She said they all were. I told her that Marcell said that some of them were and some of them weren't, so could she please go and clarify. She came back and said that the sinta was and the others weren't. That made sense because the other times we had been there the sinta was glatt, though the last time the Asta was too. We ordered the special, which is an antipasta plate, a specific appetizer and a main dish for 100 shek. If you order them separately it would come out to 125 shek, so it is a good deal (but yo!
u have to get antipasta instead of wings, which everyone would most likely order if they were just ordering an appetizer).
Sitting next to us was a bunch of English people, not just English speakers but real britim. They were a funny group and it seemed like they had a special relationship with the owner of the restaurant, and I surmised that he married into the family. My wife didn't think that it was nice that I was talking about them the whole time, even though they didn't hear me.
The mondail was on the big screen tv the whole time, I think it was brazil against some other team. Mondail, for those that don't know, is the guy who lost to Reagen in the 1984 presidential elections. He not only lost, he lost badly. The only 2 places he won were Minnesota (his home state) and Washington DC (not a state). Europeans, who have a habit of loving things that Americans hate and vice versa, chose Mondale to represent the soccer championship. So they took the guy who America rejected and used him to represent the sport that America rejected. Very appropriate. Though Walter Mondale doesn't spell his name the same way the Europeans do, that is because Europeans don't know how to spell. Even in England, the country where the English language evolved from, they throw in the letter U in random places. Note: That the canadians also do this just shows that their language has not finished its evolutionary cycle yet, though it is light years ahead of the British. As an asi!
de, Walter Mondale has Norwegian ancestry and is very proud of that.
After dinner we walked around the beach for a little bit. All in all it was a very enjoyable evening.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
israel train accident
Snickers in Israel are not kosher. You read it here first 3 months ago. I don't know if it's because of the triangle k or for some other reason, but my assumption is that the rabbanut reads my blog.
Every morning I take the train to work, well at least part way to work. I have to take a sherut, shared taxi, from home to the train station and then a taxi meets me at the next train station and takes me to work. But as they say, that's neither here nor there. Yesterday at about 12:30 PM I got an email from the guy I take the train with (an infrequent commenter named traintalk) that there was a train crash.
The train going from Tel Aviv to Haifa had hit a car on the tracks and 3 of the cars flipped over. 5 people were killed and over 80 people injured. ברוך דין אמת. It turns out the driver of the car was hit and pushed onto the tracks by another car and was unable to get off. The driver escaped just in time.
Now the story gets a bit fuzzy. The driver was on valium at the time of the accident. According to drugs.com people who are on Valium should use caution when they are driving, operating machinery or performing other hazardous activities. That means that it is ok to drive as long as you do it cautiously. Apparantly, the drugs people don't see any reason for people not on valium to drive carefully. Also when you use Valium you shouldn't use alcohol. As everyone knows, when you use alcohol with drugs that say do not use with alcohol they work better, so we can assume he was drunk.
So now we have a reckless, drunk, drug addict who is driving around and parking on the tracks.
There was obviously no way to stop this accident from happening. The only real question here is would we feel better if it was a terrorist attack so we would have an enemy to blame or does accidental friendly fire in some ways comfort us?
Every morning I take the train to work, well at least part way to work. I have to take a sherut, shared taxi, from home to the train station and then a taxi meets me at the next train station and takes me to work. But as they say, that's neither here nor there. Yesterday at about 12:30 PM I got an email from the guy I take the train with (an infrequent commenter named traintalk) that there was a train crash.
The train going from Tel Aviv to Haifa had hit a car on the tracks and 3 of the cars flipped over. 5 people were killed and over 80 people injured. ברוך דין אמת. It turns out the driver of the car was hit and pushed onto the tracks by another car and was unable to get off. The driver escaped just in time.
Now the story gets a bit fuzzy. The driver was on valium at the time of the accident. According to drugs.com people who are on Valium should use caution when they are driving, operating machinery or performing other hazardous activities. That means that it is ok to drive as long as you do it cautiously. Apparantly, the drugs people don't see any reason for people not on valium to drive carefully. Also when you use Valium you shouldn't use alcohol. As everyone knows, when you use alcohol with drugs that say do not use with alcohol they work better, so we can assume he was drunk.
So now we have a reckless, drunk, drug addict who is driving around and parking on the tracks.
There was obviously no way to stop this accident from happening. The only real question here is would we feel better if it was a terrorist attack so we would have an enemy to blame or does accidental friendly fire in some ways comfort us?
Monday, June 12, 2006
kiruv?? no.. Look a bird.
Ynetnews has just published an article that will convince a number of Israels to go to Sweden and commit crimes. This is not out of hatred for Swedes or protest against an unfair foreign policy, such as writing on every product made in Jerusalem that it is made in an illegal occupied territory. The story is actually about what great living conditions prisoners in Sweden get. Private television, Steaks every Saturday, a shopping trip every half a year and sex once in a while in a luxury apartment. I can imagine some of them turning down the offer of probation.
We were at a sheva brachos on shabbos afternoon for some people we don't really know. I think we still get invited on the oleh who's new in the community ticket, because a large percentage of the community was there, but nobody our age. I was talking to Don who used to run the local chapter of Elul, an adopt a chiloni program. I used to go to the program but the timing was bad for me so I dropped out. I asked him how the program was going and he said he stopped it because the main office in Jerusalem put out too many requirements. I said that was too bad and he said he didn't like the program anyways. Elul is a group of religious and not religious learning together, but it is supposed to be a from a "your ok" perspective. More of a culturally jewish learning then a religious jewish learning. So for sefiras haomer, he had to get poems written by secular jews and discuss what the meaning aside from also throwing in some traditional jewish texts. I remember one session that I went to where a woman said that she loved doing certain mitzvot because they made her feel good. I explained to her that those weren't mitzvot, she was doing it for herself and not because God told her too.
The word mitzva means commandment, not feel good social behavior. If you only do the ones that you like, then you didn't do any because you are not doing what God wants you are doing what you want.
Don is now working on another type of kiruv where he has performances with mostly chinolical groups and they tell and act out stories of "Jewish History", mostly stories of holy rabbis with Jewish messages. He says as long as you don't put a religious context on it then the message penetrates deeply. He also told me a story of a univrsity in Israel, I forget which one, that had a Chinese philosophy class. It was the most popular class in the university. The professor made up names for the philosophers and taught them pirkei avos. At the end of the semester, he told them that it was really pirkei avos and explained who the philosophers that he talked about really were. Jews love hearing about other nation's cultures, but it is very hard to get them to pa attention to our own.
We were at a sheva brachos on shabbos afternoon for some people we don't really know. I think we still get invited on the oleh who's new in the community ticket, because a large percentage of the community was there, but nobody our age. I was talking to Don who used to run the local chapter of Elul, an adopt a chiloni program. I used to go to the program but the timing was bad for me so I dropped out. I asked him how the program was going and he said he stopped it because the main office in Jerusalem put out too many requirements. I said that was too bad and he said he didn't like the program anyways. Elul is a group of religious and not religious learning together, but it is supposed to be a from a "your ok" perspective. More of a culturally jewish learning then a religious jewish learning. So for sefiras haomer, he had to get poems written by secular jews and discuss what the meaning aside from also throwing in some traditional jewish texts. I remember one session that I went to where a woman said that she loved doing certain mitzvot because they made her feel good. I explained to her that those weren't mitzvot, she was doing it for herself and not because God told her too.
The word mitzva means commandment, not feel good social behavior. If you only do the ones that you like, then you didn't do any because you are not doing what God wants you are doing what you want.
Don is now working on another type of kiruv where he has performances with mostly chinolical groups and they tell and act out stories of "Jewish History", mostly stories of holy rabbis with Jewish messages. He says as long as you don't put a religious context on it then the message penetrates deeply. He also told me a story of a univrsity in Israel, I forget which one, that had a Chinese philosophy class. It was the most popular class in the university. The professor made up names for the philosophers and taught them pirkei avos. At the end of the semester, he told them that it was really pirkei avos and explained who the philosophers that he talked about really were. Jews love hearing about other nation's cultures, but it is very hard to get them to pa attention to our own.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Our Land
Picture this:
You are walking in the hills of the Galilee enjoying nature in God's own country. You walk for about an hour and you don't even see one bear. The birds are chirping happily and flying around playing tag with each other. You sit down on a log in the middle of nowhere and watch some Persian fallow deer drink from a stream, unafraid. Mountains on the right and mountains on the left, the path goes straight through the middle. You can climb the mountains and explore. Other people have been there before. There is not an inch of virgin land anywhere in Israel. You may find something interesting, but you probably won't. You can play in the stream if you'd like, fresh cold spring water. There are fish swimming around, though if you try to catch one you'll probably just get wet.
This is your home and your land because God gave it to you.
I like to tell my children stories of tzaddikim who may or may not have walked right where we have walked. They generally don't believe me, which is good because I'm generally making up the story. I feel that most of the stories of tzaddikim are generally exaggerated and untrue in any case.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
My brother-in-law survived his surgery yesterday and I had a very enjoyable vacation day. A friend just happened to be in the country with his fiance this week, so we planned on getting together. The timing worked out perfectly because I had already scheduled a day off to watch the kids when they got home from school while my wife went to watch her brother.
Then my friend didn't call me back, so I decided that it would be a totally awesome day if I went to nachal yehudiya by myself. If I left at 8:00 Am, after dropping the kids off at school and I could find someone to watch the little one when he got off at 1 there should be no problem getting back on time. But then my friend called back and said that they would be on the 10:30 train getting in at 12. So we decided to go to rosh hanikra, which is pretty close by, or to our local nachal and go explore the cave that I've never been in.
A weird thing happened in the morning before I went out. One of the neighbors who I hadn't met yet came by and told me that he has a very small yard and I have a very large yard and he has a swing and all i need to do is put a cushion on it. It took me a while to figure out what he wanted, but in the end he wanted to use the space the swing was taking up and he didn't want to throw it away, so we got a real nice metal A-Frame porch swing.
My friend never called and by the time he answered his phone it was too late to go to the golan. He pretty much overslept, with some sort of excuse about a brother's wedding and not getting to sleep until very late. So they didn't come up.
I decided to have a fun day anyways, so I went to the bottom of rosh hanikra, where I had never been and climbed around the white mountain face. There were a couple signs up that said anybody who goes in the water will go directly to jail and put on trial (in that order), so I decided to play it safe and not go in the water, but there were some pretty funky stuff there to explore. A number of arab fishermen were standing on the rocks fishing and they may have thought I was trying to steal their stuff because they kept looking at me funny. They were probably lousy fishermen because I didn't see them catch anything the whole time I was there. History has shown that lousy fishermen make good disciples, so if I ever Jesus out, I'll probably go there first to get them on board.
After I had my fill of the mountainside, I found a nice, quiet, private beach area and played in the water for a little bit. I put on suncreen but still got burnt up.
There is nothing as refreshing as doing some nature all by yourself
Double kudos to the neighbors who picked up the little one from gan and watched him until I got home and then called at night to see if I needed a babysitter to go get my wife and in-laws. I had already found a babysitter, so we were good, but it is so nice having friendly neighbors.
Then my friend didn't call me back, so I decided that it would be a totally awesome day if I went to nachal yehudiya by myself. If I left at 8:00 Am, after dropping the kids off at school and I could find someone to watch the little one when he got off at 1 there should be no problem getting back on time. But then my friend called back and said that they would be on the 10:30 train getting in at 12. So we decided to go to rosh hanikra, which is pretty close by, or to our local nachal and go explore the cave that I've never been in.
A weird thing happened in the morning before I went out. One of the neighbors who I hadn't met yet came by and told me that he has a very small yard and I have a very large yard and he has a swing and all i need to do is put a cushion on it. It took me a while to figure out what he wanted, but in the end he wanted to use the space the swing was taking up and he didn't want to throw it away, so we got a real nice metal A-Frame porch swing.
My friend never called and by the time he answered his phone it was too late to go to the golan. He pretty much overslept, with some sort of excuse about a brother's wedding and not getting to sleep until very late. So they didn't come up.
I decided to have a fun day anyways, so I went to the bottom of rosh hanikra, where I had never been and climbed around the white mountain face. There were a couple signs up that said anybody who goes in the water will go directly to jail and put on trial (in that order), so I decided to play it safe and not go in the water, but there were some pretty funky stuff there to explore. A number of arab fishermen were standing on the rocks fishing and they may have thought I was trying to steal their stuff because they kept looking at me funny. They were probably lousy fishermen because I didn't see them catch anything the whole time I was there. History has shown that lousy fishermen make good disciples, so if I ever Jesus out, I'll probably go there first to get them on board.
After I had my fill of the mountainside, I found a nice, quiet, private beach area and played in the water for a little bit. I put on suncreen but still got burnt up.
There is nothing as refreshing as doing some nature all by yourself
Double kudos to the neighbors who picked up the little one from gan and watched him until I got home and then called at night to see if I needed a babysitter to go get my wife and in-laws. I had already found a babysitter, so we were good, but it is so nice having friendly neighbors.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
PA referendum
Abu Mazen, otherwise known as Abbas, is trying to call a referendum of his local arabs to determine if they are interested in accepting a call to peace. Well actually it isn't a call to peace. It is a call to temporarily accept the '67 borders as the borders of a Palestinian state. Hamas opposes any declaration that will show them of having moderated at all.
Lets go to your local joe camel in East Rafiach.
Interviewer: Do you think the palestinian people should accept the '67 borders as a palestinian state and have a lasting peace with Israel?
Joe Camel: No way. We kicked them out of gaza. Next we're going to kick them out of jerusalem and then we're going to return to our homes in Jaffa and Haifa.
Interviewer: Don't you believe in peace?
Joe Camel: I believe that when all the jews leave our homes then there will be peace.
Interviewer: Did you vote for Hamas in the last election?
Joe Camel: Duh. Just like everyone else did. The Hamas kicked the jews out of our gazan homeland and they are currently getting them out of the entire west bank.
In the last election, the vast majority of the people voted against peace. Why does mazen think that this time they will change their minds? Because a bunch of prisoners, who just want to get out, have said that they should give up on their national aspirations? I think not.
If abbas had any intelligence, he would not have even suggested a referendum, in the same way that sharon did not want a national referendum on jewish gaza after he saw how badly he lost in the Likud referendum.
Lets go to your local joe camel in East Rafiach.
Interviewer: Do you think the palestinian people should accept the '67 borders as a palestinian state and have a lasting peace with Israel?
Joe Camel: No way. We kicked them out of gaza. Next we're going to kick them out of jerusalem and then we're going to return to our homes in Jaffa and Haifa.
Interviewer: Don't you believe in peace?
Joe Camel: I believe that when all the jews leave our homes then there will be peace.
Interviewer: Did you vote for Hamas in the last election?
Joe Camel: Duh. Just like everyone else did. The Hamas kicked the jews out of our gazan homeland and they are currently getting them out of the entire west bank.
In the last election, the vast majority of the people voted against peace. Why does mazen think that this time they will change their minds? Because a bunch of prisoners, who just want to get out, have said that they should give up on their national aspirations? I think not.
If abbas had any intelligence, he would not have even suggested a referendum, in the same way that sharon did not want a national referendum on jewish gaza after he saw how badly he lost in the Likud referendum.
Monday, June 05, 2006
lights out
Well the boys at the Electric Company decided to show Haifa just who was really running the country and they shut off our power without any warning. It's probbaly a warning to the whole country. Yesterday, our power at home was shut off for an hour and someone told me that downtown Haifa was off as well. Today it was Technion campus that got hit without warning.
At least I got to find out what some of the problems with my network setup were. Our UPSes didn't all work, so they have to be fixed, it did give me some down time to go around plugging things in that needed to be plugged in without requesting a couple minutes for a shutdown from everyone.
It was an enjoyable break, but now back to life.
My in-laws have come in to visit, which some people may consider a bad thing but I personally enjoy. I'm just a little concerned that after they leave the a/c will remain on and that is hugely expensive. I don't mind turning it on in August but June? We're just getting used to the heat.
Anyways, the reason they're in is because my brother-in-law is going under the knife to have his heart fixed on Wednesday. Everyone say tehillim. benzion yehuda ben chana rachel.
I decided to take a vacation day so we wouldn't have to go crazy trying to workout where the kids go and everything after school. Then I found out a friend came in from the states so I might be able to get together with him that day as well. So I was thinking of findiong a babysitter for my littlest who finishes gan at 1 and going on a mad hike and getting home by 3:30 when the other kids are finished. It sounds rational to me, but my wife thinks that going on a pleasure janut while her brother is being cut up might not be in the spirit of the day. Obviously, I don't agree.
In the end it will depend on whether my friend has time to come all the way up to our end of the country or not and if I can find a babysitter for the little guy.
I'm looking forward to Yehudiya.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
company vacation
Our company vacation was just announced.
At the end of October we will be flying from Haifa to Eilat on a Thursday evening, staying in a nice hotel with kosher food, having group activities and flying home Saturday night after shabbos is over. It is 100% paid for by the company.
On shabbos we wouldn't join in any group activities that included shabbos violations. Last year, the kids got to watch part of the magic show that was done on Friday late afternoon after they promised us that there would be no shabbos problems with it. They kept their words and the kids got to see a good part of it.
Last year we went to the Dead Sea with the company to a hotel with kosher food and had some real problems with the children. A hotel with kosher food in Israel is not by any means a kosher hotel. All shabbos the hotel guests were in the pool with loud music blaring. There was no eruv, so it was difficult to go outside and we had to figure out a "method" for the kids to get their free popsicles from outside without violating the laws of carrying on shabbos. We explained to the kids how important shabbos was and why it was better for us to be in the hotel then outside in the pool. But they were very disappointed and wanted to (at different times) yell "it's shabbos" at the other guests who didn't understand how important it is to keep shabbos and go into the pool anyways. We try to teach our kids that our way of life is correct and better, but when you put a child in front of a candy store, they don't really care how candy is going to rot their teeth.
I can't imagine that it would be any different in Eilat, no matter how many things we brought to entertain them all shabbat.
Another option is to figure out somewhere to leave the kids for shabbos and go by ourselves. By that time my wife will be in her 8th month and might actually appreciate the weekend away. Of course there are logistics involved in this and we've never really left the kids for shabbos before, but this is not unsurmountable.
A solution to the problem may have been found because the flight back to Haifa leaves at 7 PM and you have to be at the airport an hour beforehand. According to hebcal, Shabbos ends that week at around 6 PM in Eilat. I don't know how far away the airport is from the hotel but getting there with 4 kids the minute that shabbos ends is a practical impossibility. I told my secretary we had a problem and let her know that, in any case, we haven't fully decided if we are going or not. Now we'll have to see if they find a way to overcome this problem, and if not we might get to decide on an alternate vacation spot for the religious families.
Persoanlly, I prefer to go on the vacation with the rest of the company, to show them that religious people can be semi-normal and will be happy to be a part of things if they can be done in an acceptable way. However, putting young kids through that is a completely different issue.
At the end of October we will be flying from Haifa to Eilat on a Thursday evening, staying in a nice hotel with kosher food, having group activities and flying home Saturday night after shabbos is over. It is 100% paid for by the company.
On shabbos we wouldn't join in any group activities that included shabbos violations. Last year, the kids got to watch part of the magic show that was done on Friday late afternoon after they promised us that there would be no shabbos problems with it. They kept their words and the kids got to see a good part of it.
Last year we went to the Dead Sea with the company to a hotel with kosher food and had some real problems with the children. A hotel with kosher food in Israel is not by any means a kosher hotel. All shabbos the hotel guests were in the pool with loud music blaring. There was no eruv, so it was difficult to go outside and we had to figure out a "method" for the kids to get their free popsicles from outside without violating the laws of carrying on shabbos. We explained to the kids how important shabbos was and why it was better for us to be in the hotel then outside in the pool. But they were very disappointed and wanted to (at different times) yell "it's shabbos" at the other guests who didn't understand how important it is to keep shabbos and go into the pool anyways. We try to teach our kids that our way of life is correct and better, but when you put a child in front of a candy store, they don't really care how candy is going to rot their teeth.
I can't imagine that it would be any different in Eilat, no matter how many things we brought to entertain them all shabbat.
Another option is to figure out somewhere to leave the kids for shabbos and go by ourselves. By that time my wife will be in her 8th month and might actually appreciate the weekend away. Of course there are logistics involved in this and we've never really left the kids for shabbos before, but this is not unsurmountable.
A solution to the problem may have been found because the flight back to Haifa leaves at 7 PM and you have to be at the airport an hour beforehand. According to hebcal, Shabbos ends that week at around 6 PM in Eilat. I don't know how far away the airport is from the hotel but getting there with 4 kids the minute that shabbos ends is a practical impossibility. I told my secretary we had a problem and let her know that, in any case, we haven't fully decided if we are going or not. Now we'll have to see if they find a way to overcome this problem, and if not we might get to decide on an alternate vacation spot for the religious families.
Persoanlly, I prefer to go on the vacation with the rest of the company, to show them that religious people can be semi-normal and will be happy to be a part of things if they can be done in an acceptable way. However, putting young kids through that is a completely different issue.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Israeli accounting
Yesterday I went to Petach Tikva (the same one that was for sale on EBay) for a meeting with an accountant. Some of you may be surprised that I would travel such a distance to meet an accountant when there are plenty of accountants in the north. I have found a problem with a lot of Israelis and especially Israeli accountants that they only know how to think horizontally. I am an out of the box person and I only think laterally. This comes into play when I try to explain to an Israeli accountant what I want to do and he looks at me strangely and says you can't do that.
So I got a recommendation from a former petach tikvan that if I want to talk to a creative accountant then I need to speak to his guy in Petach Tikva. So I called the guy up and set up an appointment and went down to Petach Tikva, which happens to be in the middle of nowhere for those of you thinking of going.
I started off by telling him about my diaper venture that I never followed through with because of the Israeli accountant's advice, which is the reason I was looking for a person who understood the way things really work. I explained to him that I was probably hiring a bunch of doctors soon and I could either do it the standard way by having the parent company pay them on US W-9s or I could start a company here, bill the company for the entire amount and pay them as Israeli employees.
He started off by explaining what kind of headache I would be getting into if I opened a company here and how much simpler it would be if I did it the standard way. I told him that was the advice that I would expect from an Israeli accountant and what I was thinking was more along the lines of how much money could I save the doctors by doing it in Israel, along the lines of tax benefits, pension plans and so on. Because if we could do that correctly then I could take an administrative fee off the top and everyone would win. The doctors would take home more money, I would earn more money and the parent company would be paying the same amount. Only various governments would lose out.
He took a second and then came up with social security tax. If you are self-employed in Israel and report to the US government, which is a good idea if you ever want to see the motherland again especially when you are paid on a US tax stub, then you have approximately 15% social security tax, which you don't have to pay if you are an employee of an Israeli company. So off the top, before anything else I saved them 15%. There is also keren hishtalmut, which is a savings plan that lets you put money away tax free and at the end of 6 years you get it as a lump sum, tax free. Then there is kupat gemel (pension fund), which I still have to learn about, but basically it sounds like if they decided to take a year vacation, they would be able to get "pitzuim" and take a salary, which they can't do as self-employed people.
After we finished talking he was excited about the idea and he's going to charge me a lot of money to write it up and give me some spreadsheets so I can convince future employees that I am right.
In short, if you are going to receive $1000 on a W9, which would leave
you with $600 after everything, it might be more worth it to become an
Israeli employee and receive $900 which would leave you with $650 and
a lot of extra benefits. I still have to get the exact numbers before
I decide whether it is 100% worth it and how many employees I need to make it more worth it then headache.
Monday, May 29, 2006
Mashiach (A Religious MEME)
My sister in law put up this meme and tagged the world
1. How will he arrive?
1) We're expecting a white donkey, but some modernists have translated that to a white Cadillac with tinted windows.
2. Under what global circumstances will he arrive?
2) I'm expecting he will come in the midst of a very serious threat to the existence of the Jewish people.
3. Will everyone believe in him?
3) I think there will be the skeptics, but the difference will be who the believers are. In the times of the false mashiachs (such as shabtai tzvi) most of the rabbis denounced them and the lay people supported them. I think here the rabbis will support him and there will be a korach type story where a bunch of people get swallowed by an earthquake.
4. How will we all go to Israel, or will we?
4) Definitely by plane. It's much too far to walk. I think that the majority of religious Jews will come (except for maybe yak), some of the non religious will immediately want to become religious and come also and the rest will be lost amongst the nations.
5. Will all our enemies be destroyed?
The real question is who are our enemies. I think religious muslims will respect the outcome and join our side. The enemies will then become the previous apathetic who see this as a threat to their lifestyle.
6. Will a lot of us die in the process?
If you consider the Holocaust part of the process, it's already up to 6 million.
7. What about revival of the dead?
I think revival of the dead is something that we cannot fathom, especially because of the concept of gilgulim, so there's really only 100 people and everyone else is recycled. The last mishna of the 4th perek of peirkei avos indicates that the final judgement day will be after the dead come back.
8. Will we still have to work?
I think we'll have to work.
9. When Mashiach (who is human) dies, who will be our leader?
The son of mashiach. We believe in the kingdom of David and Mashiach will be the first of the new dynasty.
10.Will there be a King of Israel, a Beit HaMikdash, and a Sanhedrin?
Yes. They are actually working on the sanhedrin now, Mashiach will be king and the Bais Hamikdash will be built. The Temple Mount institute is building the objects used in the bais hamikdash according to the exact specification so they will be ready when it is time to use them.
1. How will he arrive?
1) We're expecting a white donkey, but some modernists have translated that to a white Cadillac with tinted windows.
2. Under what global circumstances will he arrive?
2) I'm expecting he will come in the midst of a very serious threat to the existence of the Jewish people.
3. Will everyone believe in him?
3) I think there will be the skeptics, but the difference will be who the believers are. In the times of the false mashiachs (such as shabtai tzvi) most of the rabbis denounced them and the lay people supported them. I think here the rabbis will support him and there will be a korach type story where a bunch of people get swallowed by an earthquake.
4. How will we all go to Israel, or will we?
4) Definitely by plane. It's much too far to walk. I think that the majority of religious Jews will come (except for maybe yak), some of the non religious will immediately want to become religious and come also and the rest will be lost amongst the nations.
5. Will all our enemies be destroyed?
The real question is who are our enemies. I think religious muslims will respect the outcome and join our side. The enemies will then become the previous apathetic who see this as a threat to their lifestyle.
6. Will a lot of us die in the process?
If you consider the Holocaust part of the process, it's already up to 6 million.
7. What about revival of the dead?
I think revival of the dead is something that we cannot fathom, especially because of the concept of gilgulim, so there's really only 100 people and everyone else is recycled. The last mishna of the 4th perek of peirkei avos indicates that the final judgement day will be after the dead come back.
8. Will we still have to work?
I think we'll have to work.
9. When Mashiach (who is human) dies, who will be our leader?
The son of mashiach. We believe in the kingdom of David and Mashiach will be the first of the new dynasty.
10.Will there be a King of Israel, a Beit HaMikdash, and a Sanhedrin?
Yes. They are actually working on the sanhedrin now, Mashiach will be king and the Bais Hamikdash will be built. The Temple Mount institute is building the objects used in the bais hamikdash according to the exact specification so they will be ready when it is time to use them.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
happy brithday
It was my birthday on Friday and my wife made me a very nice birthday party shabbos afternoon. We had 6 couples over with their families and the kids had a great time beating each other up. From what I gethered, they were playing cops and robbers - boys against girls. It took me a while to figure that out while watching the much bigger girls throw the little boys on the ground and then into the fisher price house while kicking and screaming. (All of the girls are bigger then the boys in our crowd.) A nice time was had by all. I got one present, someone gave me a book that he wrote on education in Hebrew called, "Even parents need to grow up."
To reciprocate I let him read my book on Labor and Delivery which he had a hard time with because it was in English. I couldn't give him a copy because only 10 were printed and they've all been given out. If anybody is interested in reading "Labor and Delivery" leave a comment with an email address and I will send it. I wrote it from the woman's perspective and it is all in rhyme. It is appropriate to read after the first one is born, but can be read before the second one.
As a second birthday present, the Hizballah decided to send some rockets our way. The last news report said they hadn't gone farter west then manara, which is about 45 minutes from us, but my wife says she can hear the explosions. It looks like we're not going out for dinner tonight, though I am not clearing out our bomb shelter because there isn't enough room in there for all of us for more then 15 minutes. I should probably put building a bigger bomb shelter higher up on my priority list.
The doctor initiative is slowly gathering speed. We've gotten a number
of resumes so far, with minimal advertising. If I wasn't clear before
we are working with a company that does telephone medicine. It's an
exciting opportunity for doctors in Israel who are interested in part
time work to help supplement their income. If you know of any doctors who are licensed in the US and would be interested in supplementing their income, please let us know at: physicians@technologism.com
Thursday, May 25, 2006
what a view
This morning it was bright and sunny at 6:15 AM when I walked out of the house and got into the shared taxi to take me down the mountain. We start driving down and I see an amazing view. Normally I can see all the way from Haifa, the part that juts out into the sea, all the way to Rosh Hanikra, the northern border with Lebanon. Today all I could see were clouds from an airplane perspective. There was a huge cloud bank (not smog) stretching the entire way across and I was looking down at it, it was unreal. These weren't dismal clouds, we're talking real white and puffy.
We didn't get to drive through the cloud bank because the road cut down and underneath it before we got there, but I noticed that as we got under the cloud everything just turned dark.
Israel Job Opp: Physicians
Any US licensed physicians in Israel who are looking for a new part
time opportunity (may become full time), please send your resume to
physicians@technologism.com
This is NOT an Internet medicine program.
If you know of any physicians in Israel who are looking for a new part
time opportunity, pass this along.
Doctors must be licensed in at least one US State. Board Certified
physicians have preference (doesn't matter what the certification is
in).
We currently have a need for doctors who can be primary care
physicians such as Pediatricians, General Practitioners, Emergency
Medicine, Internists,...
If you feel that while you have a speciality you are still qualified
as a PCP, send in your resume with that fact noted.
We are trying to expand our program to include specialists as well,
but that will depend on how many doctors we have available, so if you
are interested in a future opportunity, please let us know you exist.
Send all resumes to physicians@technologism.com
Disengagment punishments??
I have decided to answer the content of the insulting commentor who was banned. She had some interesting questions, which I am happy to discuss, I simply refuse to allow an insulting diatribe in my comments section. If you don't understand where I am coming from, you can ask a question or you can disagree. If you want to simply bash what I am writing you can start the antirockofgalilee blog or publish your comments on your own blog. I only read the blogs of people who I am interested in what they have to say. If I think they're off the wall and I find their content insulting to me I don't go to their blog and bash them, I simply don'y read them.
Q) Do I speak for God?
A) No. But when there are a number of seemingly disconnected events that happen "coincidentally" at the same time, I feel there is room to connect them. I think that history has shown us how God operates and that it is not problematic at all to say that if you feel that something was done incorrectly and bad things happen to the people who did it, that they are connected. Can you imagine what would have happened in the Purim story if the Jewish people had not listened to mordechai and esther's call to repent. They could have said this anti-semitism has nothing to do with the way we are behaving and the party was an irrelevant factor. It doesn't take any imagination to see what would have happened, it happened in 1939-1945 in Germany.
Q) Does that mean that I think that everyone who died in the Holocaust was a bad person?
A) No. If you remember from the Purim story, the first person who was supposed to be killed was Mordechai, the tzaddik. When God decides to punish the Jewish people, he does not differentiate between good people and bad people. The entire nation is guilty. As an aside, this is the reason why the Jews in Egypt had to put blood on their doorposts. They needed extra merit so they wouldn't be killed in the plague, because plagues do not differentiate between different people.
Q) Am I saying that everyone who gets sick is a sinner?
A) No. There are different reasons why people get sick. I don't know the reason why people get sick, each situation is between man and God. When it happens publicly immediately after the person did something that you consider inappropriate, then you can tie them together. If more then one thing happens soon after then I am more confident tying them together.
Q) Did my brother-in-law have a stroke because of the disengagment?
A) I don't believe he did, but I also don't think it was a random occurrence. He had nothing to do with the disengagement, and nothing that I know of that he did would cause God to punish him this way, so I will chalk this one up to an unknown cause.
Q) Was God involved in Hurricane Katrina?
A) Yes. God caused the hurricane to happen for a specific reason. It very well may have had to do with the disengagement. As I posted at the time, the percentage of US residents who were evacuated during the hurricane is the same percentage of Israeli residents who were evicted from their homes in Gaza. Coincidence, I don't believe so.
Q) If God was invloved, why do all of these things look natural? The PM didn't listen to his physicians advice, was under a lot of stress and in bad health. The police have been criticized for a long time. The moshav was near arabs who have bird flu. There has always been talk of sex at army bases. Shouldn't it have been hail and brimstone?
A) God takes care of things in a natural fashion. That is the entire miracle of Purim, that seemingly disconnected events coincidentally happened in an unordered fashion and caused other things to occur. Haman just happened to show up at the moment that the king was thinking about rewarding mordechai. The prime minister could have had a stroke the week before the disengagement and plenty of people live with his bad health for years after. The police investigations have never gone anywhere in the past, for example in the bus 300 case all the people involved got promoted. There were other moshavs where the bird flu could have started in Israel that are also close to Gaza. The army sex scandals which have been going on for years are all coming to light now, giving people a very low opinion of the army.
Is any of this absolute evidence? Of course not. But there are enough coincidences to allow inteligent people to draw conclusions.
Q) If this happened 5 years from now, would I still say that they were linked?
A) Probably not. Though that doesn't mean that it wouldn't have been. It would mean that God does not necessarily want us to draw those conclusions.
I would appreciate it if the banned commentor does not comment. I don't read her blog because I don't care about what she has to say. That is a better method then showing how "smart" you are by posting sarcastic insulting comments on blogs of people you disagree with.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Black Jack morality
A Breitbart article talks about an ordinance in the city of Black Jack, Missouri, which doesn't allow more then 3 people from living in the same single family house unless they are related by blood, marriage or adoption. This ordinance is upsetting an unmarried couple who have been living together for 13 years and have 4 children from different marriages/relationships. They feel that the city is trying to impose their morals and ideas of what makes up a family on the residents.
I don't have any problem with a US city democratically voting to uphold a certain level of morals. If you don't want to follow those morals then Get Out Of Town. The residents will have their rights violated by letting people who are publicly sinning live in their community. They are trying to raise their children to be good moral people, which includes marrying the person you are living with. This couple has the option to get married and they will not be subject to fines.
We are not talking about an archaic law from the middle ages here, this was put on the books in 1985. If the people of Black Jack Missouri decide that they want to lower their moral standard then they can vote on it in the next elections, but it seems to me that the good peopel of Black Jack are intent at keeping the pretense of a moral and just country life.
I am not sure what right of the couple is being violated by the city, as they can live in a different town that doesn't have that rule. Why should they force their morals on the rest of the city just because they found a nice place to live. It is a nice place to live, probably mostly because there aren't immoral people like themselves, living in sin, hanging around.
This is not prejudice on the basis of race or any other qualification. Even gay people can live in their city as long as they don't have any children (unless there is another law about that). The fact is that this couple is publicly flaunting their immorality in the face of a community that is not willing to accept that kind of behavior.
Shout Out to Black Jack Missouri. Keep the faith.
I don't have any problem with a US city democratically voting to uphold a certain level of morals. If you don't want to follow those morals then Get Out Of Town. The residents will have their rights violated by letting people who are publicly sinning live in their community. They are trying to raise their children to be good moral people, which includes marrying the person you are living with. This couple has the option to get married and they will not be subject to fines.
We are not talking about an archaic law from the middle ages here, this was put on the books in 1985. If the people of Black Jack Missouri decide that they want to lower their moral standard then they can vote on it in the next elections, but it seems to me that the good peopel of Black Jack are intent at keeping the pretense of a moral and just country life.
I am not sure what right of the couple is being violated by the city, as they can live in a different town that doesn't have that rule. Why should they force their morals on the rest of the city just because they found a nice place to live. It is a nice place to live, probably mostly because there aren't immoral people like themselves, living in sin, hanging around.
This is not prejudice on the basis of race or any other qualification. Even gay people can live in their city as long as they don't have any children (unless there is another law about that). The fact is that this couple is publicly flaunting their immorality in the face of a community that is not willing to accept that kind of behavior.
Shout Out to Black Jack Missouri. Keep the faith.
police warned
The Mossad used to have a saying that no matter how long they'll get those that terrorize Israel. This was one of the concepts of Munich as the mossad chased down all of the perpetrators, slowly but surely.
There is room to say that God is operating on the same principles with those who expelled his katifians and laughed.
First the prime minister is struck down with a stroke.
The moshav that housed the disengagement authority was the first one struck by bird flu.
A large number of army sex scandals have been recently publicized making a joke out of the army.
Finally, the entire leadership of the Israeli police are about to be thrown out of office for incompetence in the line of duty.
General Halutz, I've heard that God does not frequent Las Vegas, it may be a good place to hide.
Traiditon has it that when Titus destroyed the temple, it was only because God wanted the temple destroyed. But then Titus got haughty and said that he defeated the God of the Jews. God got angry at him, not because he destroyed the bais hamikdash and beat up the Jews. They deserved that. But he shouldn't have laughed. So God sent a little misquito which flew into his nose and when up to his brain and hammered at it until it killed him. When they split open his head after he died, a mosquito the size of a bird flew out.
There's a right way to expel people and a wrong way to expel people. They did it the wrong way. Now they are paying the price.
There is room to say that God is operating on the same principles with those who expelled his katifians and laughed.
First the prime minister is struck down with a stroke.
The moshav that housed the disengagement authority was the first one struck by bird flu.
A large number of army sex scandals have been recently publicized making a joke out of the army.
Finally, the entire leadership of the Israeli police are about to be thrown out of office for incompetence in the line of duty.
General Halutz, I've heard that God does not frequent Las Vegas, it may be a good place to hide.
Traiditon has it that when Titus destroyed the temple, it was only because God wanted the temple destroyed. But then Titus got haughty and said that he defeated the God of the Jews. God got angry at him, not because he destroyed the bais hamikdash and beat up the Jews. They deserved that. But he shouldn't have laughed. So God sent a little misquito which flew into his nose and when up to his brain and hammered at it until it killed him. When they split open his head after he died, a mosquito the size of a bird flew out.
There's a right way to expel people and a wrong way to expel people. They did it the wrong way. Now they are paying the price.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Despicably polite
I learned a new Hebrew word today and with it, I think I understand Israeli culture just a little bit more. My boss asked me today if something was "minoomas" and I told him no. During the rest of the conversation I made it clear that there was no problem with it at all. This confused him and he said as much. Assuming I misunderstood, I asked him what minoomas meant and he said it means polite. This confused me, because I was pretty sure it meant disgusting. I went back to my office and checked my dictionary and sure enough the word for despicable is nimas. The dictionary also confirmed that minoomas was polite. In Hebrew conjugation you can put a mem in front of a word to say that you are doing it. So minamas would be to make something despicable.
Now it is easier to understand a society where with a slight mispronounciation you have changed from being polite to disgusting.
After thinking about it this makes a lot of sense.
The beauty is in the details.
Now it is easier to understand a society where with a slight mispronounciation you have changed from being polite to disgusting.
After thinking about it this makes a lot of sense.
The beauty is in the details.
Monday, May 22, 2006
running away is a crime in itself
I saw an interesting article on ynet that said petach tikva was for sale on EBay. I didn't believe the article so I checked Ebay and found the auction. It is currently at $255. It includes a standing room seat on the bus from petach tikva to Tel Aviv.
Another interesting thing I saw on Ynet recent updates is that someone was indicted for killing a person for looking at him. He is also charged with leaving the scene of a crime. I guess if someone is stupid enough to stab someone 4 times for looking at him he is also stupid enough to commit the gross and heinous crime of leaving the scene.
I feel that leaving the scene should, in most cases, be part of the same crime. For example shoplifting. If you don't leave the scene of the crime, then you didn't really shoplift and therefore there was no crime. Murder is technically different because the guy is dead whether you wait for the police to arrive or not. In pirkei avos it asks why God created the world in 10 sayings instead of just doing it all at once (which he is perfectly capable of doing) and the answer is did give more credit to the righteous and more punishment to the wicked.
Somehow I doubt that was the intention of the Israeli justice system when they came up with a law against running away after you commit a crime.
Another interesting thing I saw on Ynet recent updates is that someone was indicted for killing a person for looking at him. He is also charged with leaving the scene of a crime. I guess if someone is stupid enough to stab someone 4 times for looking at him he is also stupid enough to commit the gross and heinous crime of leaving the scene.
I feel that leaving the scene should, in most cases, be part of the same crime. For example shoplifting. If you don't leave the scene of the crime, then you didn't really shoplift and therefore there was no crime. Murder is technically different because the guy is dead whether you wait for the police to arrive or not. In pirkei avos it asks why God created the world in 10 sayings instead of just doing it all at once (which he is perfectly capable of doing) and the answer is did give more credit to the righteous and more punishment to the wicked.
Somehow I doubt that was the intention of the Israeli justice system when they came up with a law against running away after you commit a crime.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
something magical about jerusalem
We got home last night at about 12:30 and I made it up for work today with no problems. I have found that since I've started swimming I am able to deal with a lot less sleep, much to the dismay of my dear wife.
It's always nice and exciting heading down to Jerusalem. Even though we chose to live very far away (for very good reasons), the feeling that I have when I'm there was a large factor in my desire to make aliyah. We started off the trip in RBS to visit the in-laws. We went to the Grill Burger instead of the Burgers Bar because it was closer and we didn't have a carseat for my niece so the women wanted to minimize the amount of time in the car. (Kudos to rafi and mike for the recommendations) The food was good, I had the kids chicken and hot dogs as well as a burger, fries and chicken wings. The wings were the best part, and I highly recommend them. The burger wasn't great but I've had much worse. After dinner my wife found a friend a chatted for a while and then there was a GAP/Old Navy sale in some woman's apartment, (yes in RBS) so the women headed off to fight the crowds.
We finally left RBS and hit the 38 and I turned left and my wife, God Bless her, told me I turned the wrong way. I explained to her that we were going to take the back roads to Jerusalem because it was quicker. She didn't like that I dea but I explained that I made an executive decision and there was no veto. As we were driving I decided to call someone just to make sure I was on the right road because I had never gone that way before. Thankfully, Muqata was home and he told me I had just missed the turnoff. Since we were going through the settlements for a little bit, I asked him who I call if rocks get thrown at me. He said he would look up the number and I told him it wasn't that important because I have a red button in my car and if I push the button then helicoptors come and shoot the other guys. He was pretty impressed that I had one of those and wanted to know where I got it. After we discussed it for awhile he laughed and said he didn't think it was the real thing. So he gave me the army's phone number. Now I have to get my red button tested to find out what it really does. I don't want to push it just in case the helicoptors knowck off one of my neighbors by mistake, but I'd hate to try it when I need it and hear a laughing sound.
Anyways, we made it to jlem pretty quickly (much much quicker then if we had taken the 1), especially as we were staying in katamon which is where the back roads let you off. We picked up my sister who had just started eating because she didn't believe we would make it that fast and she took us to the itty bitty apartment that we were going to stay in. I've actually seen smaller apartments before so I'll change this one to a "small" apartment. It was already late, so the kids fell asleep relatively quickly though one of them kept yelling that he wanted to go home.
In the morning we went to the wall for an intense prayer session. I took number 3 with me and my wife got the others. He found all the aleph bet on the page of the siddur that I opened it up to and was very impressed with himself.
We left the wall in front of the temple mount and decided to do something temply. On the case of the big menora in the cardo it said where the mueseum with the new vessels of the temple are on display. There's an organization that is making them according to specification so that when Mashiach comes to rebuild the bais hamikdash we will already have everything ready. It was a very cool place and they gave us a booklet with descriptions of what we were looking at. We probably spent an hour or so in there.
We then headed off to the biblical zoo and met my friend and his family there. The kids got along very well, which is nice. My friend is raising his kids chareidi and i'm raising mine national religious, so the kids will have a bit of cross culture when they get older (if they talk to each other).
Shabbos was very nice. My brother and his wife as well as my two cousins who are in the country came for shabbos as did my cousin's girlfriend.
I went to the wall for davening friday night. Jammed packed as usual. Dinner went well. We told them all the good news (see the loop). And then they all helped us carry the sleeping children back to where we were staying. Davening in the morning was excellent. It was an all English speaking minyan (though they did speak in heavily accented Hebrew) and it was in Ashkenaz, which I haven't heard in a long time.
Lunch wasn't until 12:30 and in retrospect it was probably good because it split up the day more then it would have if we had eaten at 10:30. After lunch there was a lot of adult conversation (well more like 22-25 year old conversation) going on and the kids were stir crazy because they are used to wide open spaces.So we headed back to the apartment we were staying at and napped for a little.
On the way back we stopped at KFC, I recommend the spicy wings and continued on our way.
It's always nice and exciting heading down to Jerusalem. Even though we chose to live very far away (for very good reasons), the feeling that I have when I'm there was a large factor in my desire to make aliyah. We started off the trip in RBS to visit the in-laws. We went to the Grill Burger instead of the Burgers Bar because it was closer and we didn't have a carseat for my niece so the women wanted to minimize the amount of time in the car. (Kudos to rafi and mike for the recommendations) The food was good, I had the kids chicken and hot dogs as well as a burger, fries and chicken wings. The wings were the best part, and I highly recommend them. The burger wasn't great but I've had much worse. After dinner my wife found a friend a chatted for a while and then there was a GAP/Old Navy sale in some woman's apartment, (yes in RBS) so the women headed off to fight the crowds.
We finally left RBS and hit the 38 and I turned left and my wife, God Bless her, told me I turned the wrong way. I explained to her that we were going to take the back roads to Jerusalem because it was quicker. She didn't like that I dea but I explained that I made an executive decision and there was no veto. As we were driving I decided to call someone just to make sure I was on the right road because I had never gone that way before. Thankfully, Muqata was home and he told me I had just missed the turnoff. Since we were going through the settlements for a little bit, I asked him who I call if rocks get thrown at me. He said he would look up the number and I told him it wasn't that important because I have a red button in my car and if I push the button then helicoptors come and shoot the other guys. He was pretty impressed that I had one of those and wanted to know where I got it. After we discussed it for awhile he laughed and said he didn't think it was the real thing. So he gave me the army's phone number. Now I have to get my red button tested to find out what it really does. I don't want to push it just in case the helicoptors knowck off one of my neighbors by mistake, but I'd hate to try it when I need it and hear a laughing sound.
Anyways, we made it to jlem pretty quickly (much much quicker then if we had taken the 1), especially as we were staying in katamon which is where the back roads let you off. We picked up my sister who had just started eating because she didn't believe we would make it that fast and she took us to the itty bitty apartment that we were going to stay in. I've actually seen smaller apartments before so I'll change this one to a "small" apartment. It was already late, so the kids fell asleep relatively quickly though one of them kept yelling that he wanted to go home.
In the morning we went to the wall for an intense prayer session. I took number 3 with me and my wife got the others. He found all the aleph bet on the page of the siddur that I opened it up to and was very impressed with himself.
We left the wall in front of the temple mount and decided to do something temply. On the case of the big menora in the cardo it said where the mueseum with the new vessels of the temple are on display. There's an organization that is making them according to specification so that when Mashiach comes to rebuild the bais hamikdash we will already have everything ready. It was a very cool place and they gave us a booklet with descriptions of what we were looking at. We probably spent an hour or so in there.
We then headed off to the biblical zoo and met my friend and his family there. The kids got along very well, which is nice. My friend is raising his kids chareidi and i'm raising mine national religious, so the kids will have a bit of cross culture when they get older (if they talk to each other).
Shabbos was very nice. My brother and his wife as well as my two cousins who are in the country came for shabbos as did my cousin's girlfriend.
I went to the wall for davening friday night. Jammed packed as usual. Dinner went well. We told them all the good news (see the loop). And then they all helped us carry the sleeping children back to where we were staying. Davening in the morning was excellent. It was an all English speaking minyan (though they did speak in heavily accented Hebrew) and it was in Ashkenaz, which I haven't heard in a long time.
Lunch wasn't until 12:30 and in retrospect it was probably good because it split up the day more then it would have if we had eaten at 10:30. After lunch there was a lot of adult conversation (well more like 22-25 year old conversation) going on and the kids were stir crazy because they are used to wide open spaces.So we headed back to the apartment we were staying at and napped for a little.
On the way back we stopped at KFC, I recommend the spicy wings and continued on our way.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
friday night
An MIT professor has taken research to a new level to try and figure out exactly how children learn to speak. While on the one hand there is an oops button, so they can erase the embarrassing moments, on the other hand, those moments are probably the most impressionable and the researchers will never know that they happened.
Dilbert was exceptional today, you have to read the archives to get the whole picture, but dogbert's answer, "Doesn't that seem like a stupid question now?" is spot on.
What kind of school has programs for little kids late at night just so children can stay up late for shabbos? My friend in jlem sends his children to a school that has an activity for children on Friday night between minchah and maariv. My children, thankfully, go to sleep before shabbos starts when it gets late because they are too tired to stay up.
This is relevant because if the kids are going to stay up late then they need to take a nap during the day. If they need to take a nap then we can't go to ein prat so instead we're going to the zoo.
This friend does not read my blog because he said he only wants to read my anonymous blog, which still doesn't exist. He doesn't believe the content on a non-anonymous blog is worth reading.
Dilbert was exceptional today, you have to read the archives to get the whole picture, but dogbert's answer, "Doesn't that seem like a stupid question now?" is spot on.
What kind of school has programs for little kids late at night just so children can stay up late for shabbos? My friend in jlem sends his children to a school that has an activity for children on Friday night between minchah and maariv. My children, thankfully, go to sleep before shabbos starts when it gets late because they are too tired to stay up.
This is relevant because if the kids are going to stay up late then they need to take a nap during the day. If they need to take a nap then we can't go to ein prat so instead we're going to the zoo.
This friend does not read my blog because he said he only wants to read my anonymous blog, which still doesn't exist. He doesn't believe the content on a non-anonymous blog is worth reading.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
southbound
Tomorrow evening we are leaving the Galilee and heading towards the center of religious affairs, Jerusalem. My children will undoubtably have the same argument that they have whenever we start heading south, is it Jerusalem of Gold or Jerusalem the holy city. I explained to the that Jerusalem is a dussy word so you have to say eer hakoidesh like all national religious people when they are trying to sound dussy.
Dussy, for those who don't know, is being a dati with a sav. It's used for things that are "too frum", I have heard plenty of chilonical Jews using dussy words like tachlis and shabbos. It's a cultural thing. When they spell out dussy words they use a samech and some extra ayins so you don't confuse it with the Hebrew word of the same meaning with the sefardic pronounciation.
We have a big event planned, as the entire family in Israel (at least my side) will be in attendance for shabbos. On Friday I am thinking of going to Ein Parat, which is one of the rivers that flows out of the garden of Eden. It's just passed Maale Adumim in the direction of Ramallah.
On the way down we're stopping in Little America to visit my wife's relatives and some friends. Does anyone know of a Burger joint in ramat bet shemesh? I seem to remember hearing that they have the best burgers bar in the country.
Dussy, for those who don't know, is being a dati with a sav. It's used for things that are "too frum", I have heard plenty of chilonical Jews using dussy words like tachlis and shabbos. It's a cultural thing. When they spell out dussy words they use a samech and some extra ayins so you don't confuse it with the Hebrew word of the same meaning with the sefardic pronounciation.
We have a big event planned, as the entire family in Israel (at least my side) will be in attendance for shabbos. On Friday I am thinking of going to Ein Parat, which is one of the rivers that flows out of the garden of Eden. It's just passed Maale Adumim in the direction of Ramallah.
On the way down we're stopping in Little America to visit my wife's relatives and some friends. Does anyone know of a Burger joint in ramat bet shemesh? I seem to remember hearing that they have the best burgers bar in the country.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Israeli Business Meeting
(OOPS. I posted this on the wrong blog yesterday)
Last night I had the opportunity to meet with Jameel Rashid and anonymous (Not the anonymous who makes nasty comments on my brother's blog. A different anonymous). I met them in the train station at Hof Hacarmel. We walked into the mall and my bag got searched, as usual, but they just flashed their "I have a gun, don't bother searching" card and walked right through. We sat down next to the burger ranch for a serious business discussion and ordered fries.
Anonymous presents the idea and shows me some samples. It took some time for it to sink in because I wasn't on the same page as them. We discussed the target market and the legal issues involved. We ordered more fries. We discussed a number of issues until I was satisfied that I had a good grasp of what they wanted to do. Then, before we could order more fries, it was time to leave because our trains were leaving and the entrance to the Muqata is closed late at night.
We didn't have time to finish the discussion on compensation and I wanted to continue to think about the project to decide if I wanted in.
I went home and I thought about it and I thought about it and the idea makes sense. I can even see the people who would use it. I pretty much stayed up all night mulling it over, thinking through the pros and the cons. The maximum time I can put in is 20 hours extra per week. I already have a full time job and that is the time that I can squeeze in and still have time to learn English once a week with daughter one and put the boys to sleep when I get home. But it gives me no time for anything else and 6 months is a long time to not have time for anything else.
My main problem with the project was that it didn't speak to me. I didn't get excited thinking over the possibilities and how it would work. If I don't get excited about an idea then it becomes work and not fun. I already have a full day of work, when I do another project on the side, I need to be motivated and to be motivated, I need to be excited about the project.
I called the muqata and anonymous this morning and asked them to find someone else.
On to the next possibility.
Last night I had the opportunity to meet with Jameel Rashid and anonymous (Not the anonymous who makes nasty comments on my brother's blog. A different anonymous). I met them in the train station at Hof Hacarmel. We walked into the mall and my bag got searched, as usual, but they just flashed their "I have a gun, don't bother searching" card and walked right through. We sat down next to the burger ranch for a serious business discussion and ordered fries.
Anonymous presents the idea and shows me some samples. It took some time for it to sink in because I wasn't on the same page as them. We discussed the target market and the legal issues involved. We ordered more fries. We discussed a number of issues until I was satisfied that I had a good grasp of what they wanted to do. Then, before we could order more fries, it was time to leave because our trains were leaving and the entrance to the Muqata is closed late at night.
We didn't have time to finish the discussion on compensation and I wanted to continue to think about the project to decide if I wanted in.
I went home and I thought about it and I thought about it and the idea makes sense. I can even see the people who would use it. I pretty much stayed up all night mulling it over, thinking through the pros and the cons. The maximum time I can put in is 20 hours extra per week. I already have a full time job and that is the time that I can squeeze in and still have time to learn English once a week with daughter one and put the boys to sleep when I get home. But it gives me no time for anything else and 6 months is a long time to not have time for anything else.
My main problem with the project was that it didn't speak to me. I didn't get excited thinking over the possibilities and how it would work. If I don't get excited about an idea then it becomes work and not fun. I already have a full day of work, when I do another project on the side, I need to be motivated and to be motivated, I need to be excited about the project.
I called the muqata and anonymous this morning and asked them to find someone else.
On to the next possibility.
article missing
I posted yesterday about my business meeting, but it isn't here now. I could have sworn that I saw it after it posted yesterday.
If anybody else saw it, pleaase comment here so I know that it did post.
Thanks.
If anybody else saw it, pleaase comment here so I know that it did post.
Thanks.
galilee roast
The Galilee, and probably the rest of Israel as well, was full of smoke last night. It was more apparant in our area because we live about 25 minutes from Meron, the Mecca of Lag B'Omer. Over 200,000 people come to Meron from all over the country to celebrate Lag B'Omer and dance on the grave of the Rashbi. Everyone was at a bonfire. There was one community bonfire for the national religious, and I don't know if they had a city bonfire for the non-religious. We went to a neighbor's yard and had our bonfire with 3 other families. The hot dogs were "al ha-aish", and were actually put on skewers and laid across two pieces of wood at the edge of the fire. Of course there were potatos wrapped in tin foil to make it Israeli. It was too hot (actually our sticks were too short) for the children to actually get to roast their own marshmellows, but they enjoyed them anyways. Our bonfire ended at around 11 and we only had one kid sleeping by that time. A teenager told me that they aren't even starting their bonfire until midnight and it would last all night. One of our kids had a bonfire birthday bash to go to (for 1st graders). I asked her if they sang songs about bar yochai or bar kochba, and she said no they sang aish aish medoora (fire, fire, bonfire).
Thirty days before a holiday you are supposed to start preparing for it, by learning the laws and getting ready spiritually and physically. This is the only holiday that I have seen people actually start getting ready for a minimum of 30 days before. Already before pesach you could see kids dragging wood to their stash in preperation for the big day. Crates, pallets, trees, branches, old furniture and anything that might be burnable is thrown onto the altar of lag b'omer.
I now understand what cultural Judaism is all about. There is practically nobody, religious and secular alike (myself included), who have any inkling as to why we are having a bonfire on the 33rd day of the omer and why we are putting potatos wrapped in tin foil in the fire. We just do it and we don't ask questions and we have fun.
While we are supposed to count 49 days, 7 complete weeks, until receiving the Torah on Shavuos, most of Israel counts 33 days till we get to light up the countryside for no apparant reason.
Thirty days before a holiday you are supposed to start preparing for it, by learning the laws and getting ready spiritually and physically. This is the only holiday that I have seen people actually start getting ready for a minimum of 30 days before. Already before pesach you could see kids dragging wood to their stash in preperation for the big day. Crates, pallets, trees, branches, old furniture and anything that might be burnable is thrown onto the altar of lag b'omer.
I now understand what cultural Judaism is all about. There is practically nobody, religious and secular alike (myself included), who have any inkling as to why we are having a bonfire on the 33rd day of the omer and why we are putting potatos wrapped in tin foil in the fire. We just do it and we don't ask questions and we have fun.
While we are supposed to count 49 days, 7 complete weeks, until receiving the Torah on Shavuos, most of Israel counts 33 days till we get to light up the countryside for no apparant reason.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
life at a macro level. according to avos
During sefiras haomer there is a custom to study pirkei avos, ethics of our fathers.
This week is the 4th chapter and I wanted to share with you the last mishna.
It is very powerful and basically sums up life from a macro perspective. I highly recommend the 4th chapter as it is chock full of good advice. Included are the basis for such sayings as "every dog has its day" and "Who is wise? one who learns from everyone. It gives advice on interpersonal relations: Don't try to appease a person at the peak of his anger and don't try to offer comfort when his dead is lying in front of him.
The final mishna (in English):
Those that were born will die and those that are dead will live and those that are living will be judged.
To know and to inform that He is God, He is the Fashioner, He is the Creator, He understands, He is the Judge, He is the Witness, He is the Plaintiff and in the future He will judge.
Blessed is He, before whom there is no injustice, no forgetfulness, no favoritism, and no acceptance of bribery, for everything is His. And you should know that everything is on account.
Don't convince yourself that the grave will be an escape for you - for against your will you were created, against your will you were born, against your will you live, against your will you die, and against your will you are destined to give an account before the King of all kings, the Holy One, Blessed is He.
This week is the 4th chapter and I wanted to share with you the last mishna.
It is very powerful and basically sums up life from a macro perspective. I highly recommend the 4th chapter as it is chock full of good advice. Included are the basis for such sayings as "every dog has its day" and "Who is wise? one who learns from everyone. It gives advice on interpersonal relations: Don't try to appease a person at the peak of his anger and don't try to offer comfort when his dead is lying in front of him.
The final mishna (in English):
Those that were born will die and those that are dead will live and those that are living will be judged.
To know and to inform that He is God, He is the Fashioner, He is the Creator, He understands, He is the Judge, He is the Witness, He is the Plaintiff and in the future He will judge.
Blessed is He, before whom there is no injustice, no forgetfulness, no favoritism, and no acceptance of bribery, for everything is His. And you should know that everything is on account.
Don't convince yourself that the grave will be an escape for you - for against your will you were created, against your will you were born, against your will you live, against your will you die, and against your will you are destined to give an account before the King of all kings, the Holy One, Blessed is He.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
racism? or anti-stupid.
Doctionary.com defines racism as either believing that one race is superior to others or having prejudice/discrimination because of race.
If you believe that there are inferior races, but not that any one race is superior are you still a racist? For example, you don't believe that your race is a step up from the human level, but you define a lower level called the idiot level where certain races belong.
If you help people of your own race before helping people of a different race, is that racism? Or is that fraternal love? If there was only a member of the other race needing help then you would help him, but you prioritize them lower on the list.
"There is a serious deterioration in the treatment of Arab Knesset members," said MK Taleb a-Sanaa (Ra'am-Tal). "People point to a number of reasons for this; but I think it all comes down to racism."
This is the guy who had a meeting with Hamas representatives and then had his ass thrown out of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He didn't give Hamas any classified information, the Committee didn't meet even once before they decided not to meet just so this guy wouldn't have an opportunity to hear any classified info.
"I am no racist," said Lieberman. "I just ask the obvious questions. Why does no Israeli Arab MK condemn calls by the Iranian president? ...The Arab public has to understand the problem lies in their midst."
The problem with calling people racists is the same problem with calling people anti-Semites.
When people make comments about stupid things done by a group of people they are called racists or anti semites, if it's against Jews.
Maybe these people just don't like stupidity.
If you believe that there are inferior races, but not that any one race is superior are you still a racist? For example, you don't believe that your race is a step up from the human level, but you define a lower level called the idiot level where certain races belong.
If you help people of your own race before helping people of a different race, is that racism? Or is that fraternal love? If there was only a member of the other race needing help then you would help him, but you prioritize them lower on the list.
"There is a serious deterioration in the treatment of Arab Knesset members," said MK Taleb a-Sanaa (Ra'am-Tal). "People point to a number of reasons for this; but I think it all comes down to racism."
This is the guy who had a meeting with Hamas representatives and then had his ass thrown out of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He didn't give Hamas any classified information, the Committee didn't meet even once before they decided not to meet just so this guy wouldn't have an opportunity to hear any classified info.
"I am no racist," said Lieberman. "I just ask the obvious questions. Why does no Israeli Arab MK condemn calls by the Iranian president? ...The Arab public has to understand the problem lies in their midst."
The problem with calling people racists is the same problem with calling people anti-Semites.
When people make comments about stupid things done by a group of people they are called racists or anti semites, if it's against Jews.
Maybe these people just don't like stupidity.
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