Tikkun Olam

 We returned home after 9 pm tonight from our day trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, specifically to drive Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous road in the U.S.  It's one of our favorite places, partially because it spans several biomes , including the Alpine Tundra , and because it feels so expansive and majestic, and puts us humans in perspective.  It attests to the wonders of creation... We drove up above 12,000 ft. where the temperature dropped to the 40s; there were huge 8-foot snow "canyons" on either side of the road, which had just been cleared on Friday for the season opening (the road above a certain altitude is closed from Labor Day to Memorial Day, generally, but some years the weather did not allow the road to be cleared until June). On the western, Pacific side of the Continental Divide, we found a picnic area near a trail head, walked a little bit, and then sat down to a fleishig picnic of roast chicken wings, legs and thighs, quinoa salad, veg...

At around the time of Yom ha-Zikaron, Israel's Memorial Day to its fallen in all its defensive wars, I posted a short video of the Israeli Remembrance Day ceremony. Now, even though the United States' Memorial Day has just passed, it is never too late to honor those who serve in our Armed Forces, and those who gave their lives for our country. A nation's ethic can be measured by how they honor their dead.  Unlike another so-called "religion" in who's name atrocities such as beheadings, horrific 'honor' killings of women and girls, and suicide (really homicide) bombings are committed, how we --in Israel and the United States--honor our dead and fallen, attests to how we value and respect life . I hope you can view here this HBO film, Taking Chance , in its entirety (set aside an hour and a half).  It is a testament to our brave military and civilians who serve this great country. May it remain great, and a staunch ally of Israel.

You don't see this happening on the highway in the States on Memorial Day: And as far as Yom HaShoah goes (which I posted about previously), I believe that this is an appropriate response from the Jewish People to the world at large:

I hadn't been to the mountains in such a long time, I started to think I was living in Florida. So yesterday for the first time this year, we visited Rocky Mountain National Park, in order to drive upTrail Ridge Road and picnic in the Park. Trail Ridge closes for the winter after Labor Day weekend and re-opens, weather permitting, on Memorial Day weekend, and is a very popular tourist spot, especially on opening day(I bet you didn't know that June 21st, the day of the summer solstice, isn't really the start of summer. It's Memorial Day weekend. Everybody knows this. June 21st is the freaking middle of the summer , for gosh sakes). "What is Trail Ridge Road?" you ask (well, you didn't--but you should have). I will now tell all you flatlanders out there: It is 'the highest continuous major highway in North America.'(-to paraphrase the Rocky Mtn. National Park brochure). It reaches 12,183 feet above sea level (for Americans) at its highest point, or...