Tikkun Olam

(nablopomo day 1. I must be insane.) Gosh, I'm doing this again.  Thirty days in June weren't enough for me, so I'm going for July.  Am attempting to post daily, this time for thirty-one days, but to be honest, I'm skeptical.  I don't know if I will be able to succeed in doing this.  I probably am saying this because right now, I am extremely tired.  It's after nine p.m. and we haven't eaten supper yet...but we are having beer-butt chicken, so I am...psyched!  (-more on this at a later date.  Maybe.). The Nablopomo theme for July is "Saved." I can relate to this theme, because I save everything.  I am the original bag lady, without the bags.  Except for saving old newspapers--and I think I do have a couple or three of those--I am a pack rat.  My D. H. wants to simplify, pare things down to just what we need (not what we think we need, what we actually need ), and I view my life as a museum. An example? Here's one: our eldest is alm...

(nablopomo day 30--the last!!) I want to end this Nablopomo for the month of June with a clever little video from No Laughing Matter , illustrating the effectiveness and unity of the United Nations, who are definitely united and effective on one thing, and one thing only: bashing Israel. Maybe things will improve in the month of July.

(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 28) Finally I have some photos to post of my new little grandaughter, Naomi.  I actually mentioned her name in my response to a comment on yesterday's post, not having realized that I never disclosed her name in that post! So, her name is Naomi, and here she is! D. H. says they're not high-resolution.  I say they are higher than high!  Or maybe that's me: I am higher than high!

 (nablopomo day 27) I was on pins and needles all Thursday and Friday, knowing that my daughter-in-law's due date had passed (June 24th), and not having  heard a word. Then, around 12:30 p.m. on Shabbat, the phone rang.  I jumped up and ran to look at the caller I.D. As you might already know from reading this blog (-you do read this blog, don't you?!), we are Jewish and observant, and consequently do not use the phone on Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath. So basically, all I could do with the phone was... look at it!.  I saw that it was a call from Israel, so I rapidly slid down the bannister (well, not exactly, but it sure felt like it) to the main level in our townhome, where the kitchen is and our phone recording machine, and hopped from one leg to the other waiting for the message (bet you didn't know I could hop, either). Sure enough, it was my older son, Mr. Arnold Mayergi , sounding excited and exhausted at the same time--don't they always go together, th...

(nablopomo for day 26, a tad late. so what.) Haveil Havalim, the Jewish Blog Carnival, is up and running at this place .  Read it. That's an order. (But take it in a nice way. Please.)

 (nablopomo day 25, anniversary of the abduction of Gilad Shalit...) Anyone who says Hamas are "freedom fighters" is ignorant, or delusional.  Hamas is a terrorist organization, fighting dirty in violation of international laws for one reason, and one reason only: to annihilate Israel. That is why they went across the border of Gaza, on June 25th, 2006, and attacked an IDF post in Israeli territory . And this was after Israel had evacuated Gaza (which just goes to show you what a BIG mistake that was).  Hamas, in the raid, kidnapped then 19-year old Gilad Shalit.   As written above, the summer before, in 2005,  Israel had removed approximately 9,000 Israelis from towns which they had built from scratch on what used to be sand dunes, in order to return Gaza to the Arabs- a gesture of good-will if I ever saw one - in a show of peace. But there was, and still is no partner for peace on the Arab side. Hamas does not want peace.  It wants the elimi...