Tikkun Olam

I am sitting here crying...Arik Einstein, the legendary Israeli musician , passed away tonight, Tuesday, November 26th, 23 Kislev, at Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, from a ruptured aneurysm. I am still in shock. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said this about him, emphasis mine: “Arik was the greatest of them all,” Netanyahu said. “We all grew up on his songs. You said, ‘Arik Einstein,’ and you said, ‘the Land of Israel.’ He was a wonderful singer and a wonderful person.” You said, 'Arik Einstein,' and you said 'the Land of Israel.' There are no words. May his memory be for a blessing... This song was written by Aviv Gefen in memory of a friend who was killed, intended for Arik Einstein to sing. It is now his own goodbye...

Got off the phone with my daughter in Israel just three hours ago.  Problem with that is, that it was 2:45 a.m. for her when she called me.  She had just arrived home from a rock concert in Petach Tikva in honor of Yom haStudent (Student Day).  She was on a 'high' from having gone out with friends, and getting a ride all the way home--so that she didn't have to call a cab or worse, wheel herself home the rest of the way in the dark. Here are some of the bands which played there.  Infected Mushroom , a psychedelic band, was the featured one.  I had never heard of them before speaking with my daughter a day or two ago.  What do I know? Here are two songs of one of the opening bands, Mashina .  Below, Infected Mushroom (...why am I not hungry anymore?).  Personally, Mashina is more my style...

What a blessing this young man was...and still is, in death as well as life; because of what he gave to his family and friends, through his music, through his appreciation of others, and his joy in being alive. As seen on Upworthy : Here is the song he composed and sang, called "Clouds."

They have become very professional, in their harmonies and staging. Very different from when they first started as an a cappela group. The lyrics tell the Passover story in a different way. Have a very happy Pesach.  And to my non-Jewish friends, have a very happy holiday as well.

I thought it's about time that I posted some of my daughter's artwork.  She started painting when she was advised to do art therapy while she was hospitalized at Re'ut in Tel-Aviv.  It developed into a passion for her, and now she paints almost every day, when she is able.  She loves painting 3-D paintings, that is, she builds a layer with putty or cardboard, and it gives the appearance of bas-relief, i.e., objects popping out of the flat background.  This 2-dimensional display does not do her work justice, but hopefully you'll get an idea. Some of her favorite themes are taken from nature-sun, sea, and trees; music: musical notes, clefs, etc. (the two musical paintings here are a book of music, where she painted two pages of actual notes of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, and the green and gold painting is part of a theme from one of her favorite musicals), and she is working on a triple canvas of the Kotel (the Western Wall) for the physician's assistant (they c...

I was discussing parenting with my younger son, who has two toddlers, a three-year old and a two-year old.  He is discovering that's it's no picnic, raising children, especially when one or more is headstrong and leans towards...tantrums!  Let's face it, good parenting is very hard.  It has been said that one needs to take a driving course and earn a license to drive a car, but any person can be a parent, and there's no instruction manual that comes with the kid! Even a well-meaning, kind parent can become so frustrated with a screaming, tantrum-throwing child that he or she runs out of patience.  But one of the worst things to do is to scream back at the child or show intense anger--that just compounds the problem.  Most of the time, if it's a young, say, two-year old toddler who is "acting out" it is because he or she becomes frustrated at not being able to express himself/herself verbally.  Often, it's best to hold the child lovingly but firmly, a...

For my women readers in Israel, here is a series of shiurim which should really interest you:  Rabbi Avraham Arieh Trugman is beginning classes on the fundamentals of Kabbalah and Chassidism, to be held in Jerusalem starting November 22nd. The Fundamental Concepts of Kabbalah and Chassidut for Women will be held in the Katamon neighborhood in Jerusalem at the Shir Chadash shul, the first class being this Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. To get a feel for Rabbi Trugman's teachings, watch and listen to his latest shiur on the parsha we just read this Shabbat, Chayei Sarah.  See all his shiurim on the parshiot on the Trugmans' blog . He also composes music and plays the dulcimer.  You can listen to his music on the Ohr Chadash website.                                                 Rebbetzin Rachel Trugman, aside from being a wonderful human being with ...

Is G-d telling us to follow a certain path, the right path? To sing His song? To come with Him?  Very moving rendition by Moshe Hendel reminiscent of Paul Simon's folk-rock (seen by yours truly first on My Shtub .)  What does it mean? It's not gonna be that easy...

Had nothing to do today as I took an unpaid day off to see a doc about my carpal tunnel syndrome which has been festering for over twenty-seven years and getting worse (it hoits ) and in the early evening I visited Dov Bear's blog (boredom can drive one to do strange things sometimes...) and read his dissing of the Maccabeats relative to another group singing a Chanukah song.  I hadn't been on the bandwagon, and so hadn't heard the Maccabeats sing. After reading DB's post and listened to the group whose video he posted, I decided to watch one the Maccabeats' videos.  I am hooked.  There is no question that the latter (that's the Maccabeats, to you) is better.  They have a great ear for music, are on key, harmonize beautifully, and do it a cappella, for gosh sake.  Basically, it's like this: if I were a guy, I would've gone to YU and been in that choir.  That's it.  Maybe in my next gilgul ... I mean, they sing Matisyahu better than Matisyahu ....

Not to give this story a bad rap (oy), but rapper Shyne has now publicly embraced his Jewish heritage, has undergone a symbolic conversion in Israel (he already was an Ethiopian Jew) and is now an Orthodox Jew, readying his return to rapping . A significant statement he made explaining his choice to lead an Orthodox Jewish life: “What are the laws?” he said, explaining his decision to adhere to the Orthodox level of observance. “I want to know the laws. I don’t want to know the leniencies. I never look for the leniencies because of all of the terrible things I’ve done in my life, all of the mistakes I’ve made.” I can't wait to hear his next rap song.  Is it time for Matisyahu to move over...?! *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 administrato...

(nablopomo day 29) I was in a rush to get my post and pictures in yesterday, so I didn't pontificate on the significance of the name "Naomi." I remember, when my first Israeli grandson was born to my younger son, Nathaniel Blumenstein, I waxed eloquent ( or rather, my son did--I just copied and pasted his stuff!) on the meaning and significance of his name, Gavriel (which is translated as "Gabriel" in English) on my post back in November '08 after his birth, here . As is Gavriel, Naomi, too, is a special name.  It is Hebrew, originating in the TaNaCH in the book of Ruth.  Naomi was the mother-in-law of Ruth.  It means "my delight," coming from the Hebrew word, no'am , which is "pleasantness" or "delightfulness." The shoresh , or root, is " na-em ," which is 'pleasant' or 'lovely.'  The infinitive, " li-n'om , " means "to be pleasant." Hebrew grammar has seven different ...

(nablopomo day 15) An interesting cultural Israeli mix.  Have to put this stuff, each song in its entirety, on my MP3.  I love just hearing the Ivrit* , and the beat (I'm a poet!).  And in my opinion, good Israeli RAP music is much better than American rap--and this from someone who dislikes rap intensely.

  (nablopomo day 11) I want one!   (My son was a great drummer, once.) ( Drumbrella .)

(nablopomo day 11)   The lyrics are all the words needed for this one (hat tip RonMossad ).

Here is a musical young man whom everyone should see and take inspiration from.  (Hat tip to my friend George; if not for him, I never would have seen this.)   There are many layers to life; what we may consider a handicap may turn out to be Hashem's blessing, in unfathomable ways. . .

What does one do when the Arabs (who have no consideration for others) make incessant noise way above the maximum decibel allowance at dawn? Blast them with Beethoven, of course. Personally, I would add all the songs from before the inception of the State of Israel; all the halutznik songs, and then we should blast them with Yo Yah. *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.

This is one of my most favorite songs. It's solid Americana, and although I'm not generally a Country Music genre fan, it's so infectious--you just have to get up and dance! Yep. It also reminds me of my youngest, currently just having recently passed the Loren in Officer's Training Course in the IDF . You should see how my Rambo dances it--she's something else. If her platoon ever discovered her talents, look out! (YEEhaw). cotton eyed joe - rednex

They call themselves an "International" group, although the names are Israeli and so is their phone number (and I detect a definite accent to some of their English). My intrepid research staff in London (yes, the infamous M ) sent me this . Leave it to Yidden , if they can't debate you to death, they'll sing you onto the floor while you're laughing hysterically and peeing in your pants. And they're not even paying me to post this. Heck, I'm not even waiting for their reply to my email--just watch the video (Simon Cowell, eat your heart out):

Well, Toodles is here for an all-too-brief visit. Will be leaving a week from today for her sister's in sunny Rangoon (just kidding; it's closer than that), yet returning for about a week here for chol ha-mo'ed Sukkot and Simchat Torah, before she returns to sunny-hot-as-heck-Herzliyah. I splurged and bought her a cheap guitar (what are credit cards for, anyway?!), because she is teaching herself chords. I am so proud of her: she is doing so much: going to college, working as a webdesigner for her sister's company, is talented in graphic design (she says that's not what you call it, but I don't know what else to call it): she designs people's names in mosaic-type designs, in pen and ink. And now she's teaching herself to play guitar. Technology is wonderful: I just got off a Messenger video call to my son & new daughter-in-law, and also saw my youngest, who was on a three-day pass from the IDF. Toodles scooted up to the webcam and played her gee-t...

I was tagged twice, by Miriam and Norma . Problem is, they each tagged me for a different meme. First, was Miriam: I was tagged by her for the Eight-Ball Meme; then , more recently, Norma tagged me for the Seven-Random-or-Weird-Things -About-Me-meme. Oy. What's a blogger to do??! Hey, here's a brilliant idea: how about combining the two! (This is either brilliant, or totally insane.) Okay, let's go for it: I will start with the 8 - Ball questions, and underneath each 8-ball response, I will add one (1) Weird Thing answer. Does that make sense? Never mind - here goes: For the 7 Random/Weird Things, I have to: -first post the rules on my blog. -Share the 7 things about me on my blog. -Tag 7 random people at the end of the post, and link them on my post. -Let each of the 7 know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. (Again, because I'm combining them, you'll see the 8-Ball meme first, with (as I said above) the random/weird one at the end of e...