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.