Tikkun Olam

Ok, the personal saga has begun; here I am, in sunny FL, with my daughter and grandkids (and the rest of the mishpocheh ) for three days, after which we will all - the whole hamulah , daughter, grandkids & friend (but not the rest of the mishpachah).- will get on an El Al jet and fly non-stop to Israel for my younger son's wedding later in June. It, G-d willing, will be a wonderful simcha. But I anticipate The Trip From H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks . . . if the plane had chandeliers, my grandkids (and I) would probably be swinging from them! The only time in my life that I had ever been on a twelve-hour flight with little kids (three of 'em) was when we made Aliyah, thirty years ago. And I myself was practically a kid then, green around the ears but much younger, and able to take it better, physically and mentally. Now, I'm. . . never mind. Also, I only had two kids then, one being a six-month old baby, which doesn't count. You don't have to worry about mentally o...

Courtesy of my friend Betzalel (at least, I hope he still is!): " These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters who had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place. It's worth reading to the end! Those of you who have worked with attorneys will find this very easy to understand. Others will find it easier ." ATTORNEY : Are you sexually active? WITNESS : No, I just lie there. _______________________________ ATTORNEY : What is your date of birth? WITNESS : July 18th. ATTORNEY : What year? WITNESS : Every year. _____________________________________ ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact? WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks. ______________________________________ ! ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all? WITNESS: Yes. ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory? W...

My "Open Letter to the World" which I had placed as a permanent addition to my sidebar has suddenly disappeared from my blog. Hmmmm...you think it might have been politically incorrect??! Here it is again; of course, Rabbi Kahane was right. The world was just not ready for him yet. The question is, is the world ready for him now. . .? (if there are any techies out there who know how to get it back on my sidebar, please email me!)

It is now motzai Shabbat , and I am finally getting to this post. Hope it's not too out-of-date already. A while ago, Ezzie posed a question on his blog which intrigued me: What Made You Become Frum? I commented that my answer is too long for a comment (is that redundant?) , but that I would love to blog about it. So curl up on the sofa with a nice hot cup o' Jo and some burekas . This is my story. . . Once upon a time in deh ohld kahntree (New York City) there was a little girl. She was born to a not-well-to-do family of 'conservadox' literati: Artists and intellectuals, teachers, bi-polar actors/songwriters/musicians and Hebrew poets (and with only two parents!) Every so often those parents used to have soirees in their tiny apartment, with their socialist-and-former-socialist (just like in the old days of the Bund ) poet/writer friends over, laughing, talking, reading poetry, while (sometimes vehemently) discussing politics, Israel, Am Yisrael and the Stat...

I haven't had a chance to post since Lag ba'Omer because I have been working at a full-time temporary job, which I will write about hopefully soon. But that is not what this post is about. Ok, I admit it. I would have loved to be even nominated to be considered for the JIB Awards. Unfortunately, at this point in time my blog doesn't even qualify to be in the "Small Blog " category (at least, I hope it doesn't; because if it does, then it means that - yikes - nobody likes it, and my ego couldn't take that !) But I must say, at this time of the year when nominations are in progress and THE AWARD is imminent, I see a kind of cutthroat, ultra-competitive-but-whiny pick mmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee attitude among the various bloggers, and it seems a bit much. Shouldn't we be blogging for blogging's-sake, not for the sake of receiving a prize? Shouldn't we be writing what is important to us and/or the Jewish People and/or the State of Israel, rather tha...

This very weekend I was going to sit down and write my post about Ezzie's question, 'why are you frum ' - after I had written on mominisrael's modesty meme, but Lag ba'Omer came in the middle and messed everything all up! I started a job last week on a special project which is two-and-a-half-weeks long, and because I get up around 5:30 a.m. and get back after 5 p.m., I am usually too exhausted to compose a post, especially since I need to 'turn in' between nine and ten p.m. Then Lag ba'Omer arrived, and I was determined to celebrate it, despite the fact that I am here, and not in Yerushalayim with my kids or in Meron , the burial place of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai--where I should be! So the (only) kosher Italian Restaurant in our neighborhood was having a " Lag ba'Omer Night " celebration, with (canned music and a fish/salad buffet-so we went and brought some friends with). It actually was very enjoyable. Each of the participants l...