I don't know if I'll have time to blog again before Shabbat, so I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for inviting me to blog here.  I guess I'm not your usual blogger, certainly not your usual anything.

You know who I am, where I live  and what what I look like, but many of you who commented just signed in as "Anonymous."  It's always easier to attack while protected by a mask, so I'd say that we had an unfair playing field.  At least I stand by everything I wrote, except the dumb mistake when I said that the 39 melachot forbidden on Shabbat were from building the Temple.  They're from constructing the Mishkan, Tablernacle.  I never claimed to be perfect.

You can always visit my blogs, and you can comment/criticize there, too.

Have a Shabbat Shalom U'Mevorach, a Peaceful and Blessed Shabbat!

Bibi, Running Scared

My FatherYesterday, August 9, was my father's 87th birthday.

I've never checked out the Hebrew date for him; though my husband and I celebrate our kids' (and our own) according to the Jewish Calendar.

My father's father didn't live long enough to be a grandfather, but my father and his two siblings are still alive, bli eyin haraa, the youngest being 80.  My grandmother lived until about his age, and she then had six great-grandchildren.  My father's third, will G-d willing be born within a couple of months, and his elder brother has two.

My father worked as a CPA for many years.  He has survived an aneurysm and can still walk a mile or more without any pains.

G-d willing, he and my mother will be visiting us in Israel in a couple of months.

Map of IsraelMap of Judea and SamariaHere's the map.  I live in Shiloh. It's north of Jerusalm in Samaria.

You may be wondering about that wall, which is being built.  It's not near shiloh at all.

Yes, I knkow that there are spelling problems in the text, but I can't move the maps out of the way to fix them.  Next time, text first, then illustrations.

The photos I took of the Arab Mansions are all between Shiloh and Jerusalem. There is a building boom, and there's no way that such a high percentage of families could be building at the same time withoout some sort of funding.  The additions are large and well-decorated, as you can see.  It's not just a matter of dad, uncle, sons, nephews working together in their spare time.  These towns hadn't been destroyed first, either.

One of the great things about Shabbat is the basic concept, cessation of melachot, 39 specific categories of work;  It's not work in the classic, linguistic sense.

They are the creative, in the change ot another form of matter, used in constructing the Holy Temple.

We're talking about cooking, weaving, building, etc.

Twenty-five hours per week to concentrate on the spiritual.

Now to get the chicken ready for cooking and a quick swim.  I like to start early.

America has strict laws about discrimination.  No town or building can forbid a person to live there according to his color or religion.  Yes, you agree; don't you?

Jews can live in Hebron, Nebraska, or Jericho, New York.  So why can't they live in the original cities of those names?  Look at the destruction of Jewish homesin Hebron by the Israeli army.

Loehmann's isn't Loehmann's anymore

Nu? What did they expect?

The only "tourist" thing I do when in New York is go to museums.

On previous visits, besides a traditional evening with a cousin in the Jewish Museum on Fifth Avenue, the museums I see are MOMA, Natural History and similar classics. This visit I finally admitted that I've never liked the dinosaur skeletons, and the art ones can be boring.

View from the museum. So I decided to take my daughter's advice and go to a new museum, one I hadn't even heard of, the Museum of Jewish Heritage. A friend and I took the subway downtown to check it out. First stop was the restaurants, because even grandmothers have to eat. Food was great, and the free samples of the soups were appreciated.

We got a kick out of "remembering" things considered "history."

It was almost perfect, until we entered an exhibit with so many "speakers" going on at once, I thought I was in a nursery class for hyperactive kids allergic to all medications. It was too close and crowded, with horrendous acoustics.

I had to flee and didn't get to see everything. I had heard enough!

For decades, popular wisdom insists that the Holocaust could have been prevented if only the German soldiers had refused to follow orders.  Of course, that naively takes for granted that your ordinary German had some moral objections to persecuting, dragging to ghettos and murdering Jews.

Two summers ago, in Israel, many soldiers were terribly upset by their orders to evict, exile innocent law-abiding Jews from their homes in Gush Katif and Northern Shomron.

Thirty-eight years earlier the world saw Israeli soldiers cry uncontrollably after liberating the kotel, the Western Wall.  What a difference when we saw soldiers crying, in 2005, as they didn't have the guts to go with their morals and feelings.  We saw soldiers breaking down, because they knew that they were obeying evil laws made by immoral politicians.  The Nazi soldiers didn't cry when they murdered Jews.

Many of the soldiers of Disengagement, two years ago suffered the worst of Post Traumatic Stress, and that's why yesterday IDF soldiers from an elite fighting unit refused to evict innocent, patriotic Jews from homes in Hebron.

Today's soldiers are stronger than their elder brothers. Yasher kocham!

My body is on a different schedule from the clocks in the house here in Israel and also different from New York hours.

I've been a bad girl and keep imbibing caffeine.  Experts say that being caffeine free is a good way for the body to adjust to time zones.  And being on vacation from my teaching job allows me the dangerous luxury of naps.coffee

We all have our weaknesses, and I love coffee and strong tea with sugar and ice.  And I'm lazy.

And I just got up from a very deep nap, late morning Israel time, but before dawn New York time.

It's lunch time according to Israel time and breakfast in New York.  So, that's a doubly good excuse to eat.

Home Game LogoLast night, Israel Time, I went with a group of veteran (as old as I am, I was the youngest) activist friends, to see Home Game, the movie about the Gush Katif Basketball tournament.

We were turned away, allegedly because there were no available seats.  My friends had been told that there was no need to reserve places in advance:

"Just get there 10 minutes early."

After some of us insisted they let us watch:

"We'll even just stand."

"There won't be room.  I can screen it again at 10pm."

I left on my trek home,  as did another couple.  I shouldn't have been such a wimp.  Here's what happened:

You wont believe this but we did all five of us get in with seats! The officious little man let us in to pay later and "move if anyone came" and nobody did. I am so sorry I didn't insist on booking.  It is a very very disturbing film on many levels with absolutely idyllically beautiful youngsters as the narrators - articulate, Hollywood beautiful  wonderful teens - even the hand held cameras made it moving - the rest of the people were amazing too - the absolute best of the best that Israel can produce -

Try to see it if you can.  Try harder than I did, please.

Israeli Society is suffering. The skin holding it together is burnt, brittle and peeling off. We need a good doctor, preferably a plastic surgeon.

Is there a doctor in the house? Is there a MK Dr. Arye Eldad, MDdoctor in the Knesset?

Actually, there is. One of the world's best Plastic Surgeons, who specializes in burn victims and skin transplants is Dr. Prof. Arye Eldad, MD and Knesset Member from the Ichud Leumi, the National Union Party.

Tonight I attended an informal meeting of political activists in Jerusalem. We all agree that the only Israeli politician we fully trust and respect is Dr. Arye Eldad. A new political group has been established recently. It's called Hatikvah, The Hope.

He gives us hope for the future of the country.

Women's empowerment has meant that women now have the right to say "no touching" and call sexual harassment if anyone disobeys. But at the same time, there are women who complain of rudeness or discrimination when a man won't shake their hands. Jewish Law forbids even casual touching between the sexes. So there are men in high public office, like the Mayor of Jerusalem, who follow the Law and won't shake a woman's hand. They should be respected, not harassed!

Read this.

Women's empowerment has meant that women now have the right to say "no touching" and call sexual harassment if anyone disobeys.  But at the same time, there are women who complain of rudeness or discrimination when a man won't shake their hands.  Jewish Law forbids even casual touching between the sexes.  So there are men in high public office, like the Mayor of Jerusalem, who follow the Law and won't shake a woman's hand.  They should be respected, not harassed!