Tikkun Olam

I wasn't going to post anymore before Rosh Hashana, but I received this in an email (from my research staff) and, after picking myself up off the floor, couldn't resist sharing it with you. You'll notice a certain vice-presidential candidate is missing (-hadn't been chosen yet); you know, the one who can see Russia from her house . Shabbat shalom, and Happy New Year . *Copyright alert: No infringement of any text or graphic copyright is ever intended on this blog. If you own the copyright to any original image or document used for the creation of the graphics or information on this site, please contact the blog administrator with all pertinent info so that proper credit can be given. If you wish to have it removed from the site, just say the word; it shall be, ASAP.

[ *Copyright Alert below ] I want to do at least one last post before Rosh Hashana *. I am trying--between job searching on the web, real job fairs and virtual job fairs--to keep up my posts as much as possible, but it's very difficult ( Jewish guilt plays a part here). I was awakened this morning by my chayelet bodedah* daughter, not really too early for me (except tor the fact that I had been awake until 2 a.m. the night before...); we had a great conversation and talked for over 40 minutes (it's her shekel!) It was wonderful. Even though I am so missing my kids not being with us for the chagim* , we do have guests, and have to finalize our menu and confirm everyone, and possibly also shop for ingredients for challot (which I will bake; round has GOT to easier than braided), traditional sweet side dishes such as carrot and sweet potato tzimmes and desserts-and, of course, food for Shabbat. Baruch Hashem, we have our main dishes for the upc

This post has nothing to do with anything. I see that other, normal bloggers are posting about the Kadima elections in Israel (ok so I'm a little late with that), or the hilarious Palin vs Hillary (notice no one says 'Sarah vs Hillary;' or 'Palin vs Clinton'?) on SNL, or Obama's conference call with 900 Rabbis - you know, important stuff. Well, not me. I got hooked on Wordles , thank you very much. Actually, thank you very much to Ye'hi Sh'mey Raba Mevorach in her Wordle post. So of course, I had to try it. At 10:30 p.m. It is now 12:50 a.m. I can't stop! They are really cool, though; here are some I made from words from my blog, Tikkun Olam. You gotta try it (in the morning, though-right after breakfast). Oh, fine. I'll put the SNL video on my blog. Just 'cause I know you wanna watch a movie.

I am dumbfounded and proud to announce that someone I know and love, Nathaniel Bloomenstein, has created his second (the first one hadn't been active, but might be again soon...) blog. It is all about Torah, Ohr Chadash, and the environment. The name is Ofakim Hadashim, which means 'new horizons' in English. Please check it out (flock to it in droves!) here . Nathaniel, you just made my day (and I'm going to a job fair, so there is even more 'hope' in the air). I'm so happy, I think I'm gonna bake a cake:

My back hurts (must be those push-ups I was doing for weeks) and we have to eat dinner now, but wanted to inform you that Haveil Havalim* #182 is up and running at Shiloh Musings . Go check it out (and read my 2 entries!) (so, you interested in vanities ?...and it's got middle-eastern-type music, to boot...) * vanity of vanities

Been doing a little research (very little-Shabbat's in an hour!)and found some other pretty qualified people who could have been contenders for the vice presidential slot on the Republican ticket, namely: Olympia Snowe , Senator from Maine, and Linda Lingle , Governor of Hawaii. I hadn't heard of Sarah Palin before McCain's announcement, nor had I heard of Snowe and Lingle (I'm not so beki'ah on the governors and senators of all the states; I'd have to memorize them all). Snowe is considered a moderate Republican and apparently has a 79% approval rating from her constituents, so she must be doing something right. Lingle was elected as Governor of Hawaii in 2002 and is now serving her second term of office. She has an approval rating of 71% of her constituents. And she's Jewish . Wait, I know--Neither of them was Miss Maine or Miss Hawaii. That must be it. . . Shabbat Shalom.

I never know what will turn into a new post for me; this time, I was blog surfing (when I should have been job-hunting) and I came across a blog I hadn't seen before. I read several posts, but one particular post especially intrigued me, as I happened to have experienced the same 'loyalty game' that the blogger did--when I was just a school girl. I had been thinking about my connection to the State of Israel (actually, I'm almost always thinking about my connection to Israel) when I read that post. Now, you must understand that I consider myself a patriotic American. I am proud of the flag. I grew up on the East Coast in a big city, always have had an affinity for the West, horses, rugged individualism and pioneering. I value democracy and have always excersized my right to vote. When I was little I used to play "cowboys and Indians" (but I did always want to play the Indian) and to top that off, my husband is a Vietnam veteran (and my younger son

Article. [XIX] [Proposed 1919; Ratified 1920] The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Out of the blue and quite suddenly and unexpectedly, we now have Sarah Palin - a woman - running for vice president on the Republican ticket. Now, as a Jew, I have had the double personal pride in knowing that Israel (way ahead of the United States) elected a Jewish woman as Prime Minister, Golda Meir , in 1969. Though I disagree with her political and social ideology and her decisions and erroneous assessments which plunged Israel into the Yom Kippur war in 1973, I still take pride in the fact that she was an educated, intelligent woman who held the highest political office in her country and was absolutely committed to her beloved Land of Israel and her People . As an American, I think it's about time we arrived , but e

Have you thought about how ridiculous this whole candidate-election-hoopla-thing is, when you think about how it fits in the 'Great Scheme of Things?' Let's see, one candidate has a murky past: parents might not have even been married when he was conceived (He has stated to the effect that he is 'not clear' on that issue), his father disappears; yon son goes to a third world country and attends an Islamic religious school for a while, raised by a single (read=divorced or unwed) mother, she sends him off to live with his grandparents, name somehow changes to 'Barak' from 'Barry' somewhere along the line; somehow he becomes a state senator but nobody's heard of him for four years; suddenly he comes out of nowhere and is famous . Then they find a long-lost half-sister (in a burka). And he grew up, out of all the states available in the entire country, in HAWAII. Other-side candidate runs three miles every other day for fun; owns a rifle (waddya

Took a little hiatus from blogging this Labor Day weekend after Friday's post, because we had two events to attend on Sunday, the first one a dinner in honor of a former student who was recently married (for those who were not invited to the wedding-yours truly- but I'm ok with it, as it was out of state and I couldn't have gone anyway), and the second, a dessert farewell get-together for a close friend who is making aliyah with her husband and daughter. Funny, every time a close friend makes aliyah, I feel as if a part of myself is going with them: I feel an excitement that I can't explain, something akin to, their aliyah is moving me closer to making my aliyah (or my toshav-chozer-itude . Whatever it will be.) Well, it probably won't be too soon, because (blogging is going to be a bit less frequent for me now, I think) - my husband has informed me that if I don't find a job, in two months we'll be bankrupt. This blog is just not putting the helzel