At the Bubble - Parshat Shemot

The end of the first chapter of Sefer Shemot recounts the story of the Hebrew midwives and how they defied Paro's order to kill the male Jewish infants.

Verse 21 reads (Artscroll translation): And it was because the midwives feared God that He made houses for them.

The Hebrew is actually rather vague: vaya'as lahem batim ויעש להמ בתים .

We must ask: Who made? Who was it made for? What are houses? One of the complications is the masculine ending on the word lahem. The Torah throughout this story used the feminine endings when referring to the midwives, why would it suddenly switch to the masculine if the word lahem refers to the midwives?

Rashi says (Artscroll translation): He made houses for them - The houses of kehunah, the priesthood, and leviyah, the tribe of Levi, and royalty, all of which are called houses ... Kehunah and leviyah from Jochebed, i.e. Aaron and Moses, and royalty from Miriam who was an ancestress of King David. According to Rashi, the answers to the three questions are God made for the midwives dynasties. Houses are not to be understood literally.

Rav Saadia Gaon says (my translation): He made for them (feminine להן) houses, guarding them.
His answer to the questions would be God made for the midwives places for their protection.

Next let's look at the Rashbam (one of Rashi's grandsons). His approach is very different: And he made for them houses - to guard them lest they would go to the Jewish women giving birth. Rashbam understands that it was Paro who made houses for the midwives, that is he imprisoned them so that they could no longer aid the women in childbirth.

All three of these commentators understand that להם, despite its masculine ending, refers to the midwives. How can that be? The truth is, the Torah in other places uses masculine endings even when referring to a group of women. For example, see Bereshit 31:9, where a masculine ending is used even though the pronoun is referring to Rachel and Leah. It would seem that the general context of our verse leads these commentators to conclude that the pronoun refers to the midwives.

For a very different approach we can look at the comment of Rabbeinu Bachya.

And the explanation of the verse according the simple meaning: And it was when the midwives feared God more than they feared the king and they kept alive the male babies, and he made houses for the Jews, that is to say, he settled guards and placed an Egyptian house between every two Jewish houses so that they would not be able to hide the babies.

Rabbeinu Bachya understands the pronoun להם as being masculine. Therefore, he interprets the verse as Paro making houses for the Egyptians amongst the Jews in order to spy on the Jewish families.

Short Vort - Vayeitzei

Here is the text of the "Short Vort" that I recorded today. If you want to hear me saying it, follow this link. You'll find it about two-thirds of the way down the page under the heading "features" or look in the archives.

Beautiful

It seems that all of our forefathers were married to beautiful women. The Torah is actually very explicit on this point.

Shortly after Avraham came to Eretz Yisrael, there was a famine in the land. He and his wife Sarah fled to Egypt to avoid the famine. As they approached Egypt, Avraham said to Sarah, “I have known that you are a woman of beautiful appearance.” (Bereshit 12:11) It turns out that this was not just Avraham’s biased opinion. We are also told that the Egyptian’s saw how beautiful Sarah was and took her directly to Paro!

Yitzchak was married to Rivkah. Two times the Torah relates that she was beautiful (Bereshit 24:16 and 26:7) using the expression that she was “fair to look upon.” In fact, the first time this trait is mentioned, the Torah says that Rivkah was “very fair” and the Netziv understands from the addition of the word “very” that Rivkah was the most beautiful maiden in that place.

Our father Yaakov married two sisters: Leah and Rachel. When the Torah describes these two women it says (Bereshit 29:17) “Leah’s eyes were tender and Rachel was beautiful of form and beautiful of appearance.”

Why is the Torah telling us so much about how beautiful these women were? Every Friday night we recite the words of Aishet Chayil, from the last verses of Sefer Mishlei (Proverbs), the wisdom of King Solomon. The next to last verse says:

Proverbs 31:30 Grace is false and beauty vain; a woman who fears Hashem, she should be praised.

We could be tempted to view this verse as a rejection of physical beauty. Let’s completely forsake the physical and embrace only the spiritual. The Vilna Gaon suggests another approach: Grace is false and beauty is vain when they are divorced from fear of Hashem. Without fear of Hashem then they are like a jewel in a pig’s snout. But when a woman fears Hashem, then also the grace and beauty are to be praised.

May this be true of all of our wives and daughters.

Wake Up Call

Hi. We're back from our trip to the States. Finally, things seem under control and I'm ready to try posting again.

Here's a cute video. If you have a cat, you can relate to this. According to one source this video is called "Cat Man Do" and the animator is named Simon Tofield.

Enjoy.

Air Travel on Sukkot

Here's some good news for anyone planning to fly during the Sukkot holiday from Arutz 7:

U.S. Allows Carrying 'Four Species' on Airplanes

(IsraelNN.com) The United States Transportation Administration has stated that the "four species" (arba minim) of a palm branch, myrtle and willow twigs and the etrog are not on the TSA's list of prohibited items for carrying on airplanes in the country.

The department noted that the arba minim used on the Sukkot holiday are significant for Jews and has advised workers and security officials at airports that Jews may be meditating and using them in prayers while waiting for airplanes.

On one recent flight, passengers were suspicious of an Jew who was meditating while praying.

However, we do have to be careful with the meditation aspect of prayer!

Chag sameach

Pomegranate seeds

One of the more fun aspects of Rosh Hashanah is eating the special foods, “significant omens” as it is translated in one of my books.

There is an almost universal custom amongst Jews to dip a piece of apple in honey and ask God to grant us a “sweet New Year.” Although the apple has had good PR over the years, it is by no means the only significant omen. In fact, my machzor (Rosh Hashanah prayer book) lists a total of nine foods to be eaten as omens.

One of these special foods is the pomegranate. Before we eat the seeds of a pomegranate we will say “May it be Your will ... that our merits increase as the seeds of a pomegranate.”

The pomegranate is mentioned five times in the Torah, the most famous being its last appearance:

Devarim Chapter 8
7 For the Lord your God is bringing you to a good land, a land with brooks of water, fountains and depths, that emerge in valleys and mountains,
8 a land of wheat and barley, vines and figs and pomegranates, a land of oil producing olives and honey,
9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, you will lack nothing in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains you will hew copper.

We see the pomegranate mentioned in verse 8 along with six other foods. This group is known collectively as the “seven species that the land of Israel is blessed with.” Since none of the other of the “seven species” made the cut to be significant omens, we have to look else where for a source that the seeds of the pomegranate are related to our merits.

In the Gemara massechet Berachot (57a) we find the following:

If one sees pomegranates in a dream,
if they are little ones, his business will be fruitful like a pomegranate;
if big ones, his business will increase like a pomegranate.
If they are split open:
if he is a scholar, he may hope to learn more Torah , as it says: I would cause you to drink of spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate;
if he is unlearned, he may hope to perform precepts, as it says: Your temples are like a pomegranate split open. What is meant by “Your temples” [rakothek]? Even the illiterate [rekanim] among you are full of precepts like a pomegranate.

Some have wanted to make a natural connection: Even the most unlearned Jew is full of precepts (commandments), there are 613 commandments, therefore there must be 613 seeds in a pomegranate.

So, how many seeds are in a pomegranate? It just so happens, one intrepid soul has done some research. His name is Alexander Haubold and his website Aqua Phoenix contains the following comments about pomegranates:

What has nature blessed us with - the pomegranate is a very unstructured structured fruit. It contains multiple compartments, each tightly packing seeds around a sponge-like center, in some more or less random formation.

Sources are in disagreement about how many seeds a pomegranate holds. Some sources fix the number to exactly 613, some allow for an error of +/- 200, yet others believe that all pomegranates have the exact same number of seeds. It is certainly possible to disprove the first and third of these.

Our intrepid researcher dissected a number of pomegranates and counted the seeds. He reports his results in a table (only part of which I've included here):

Country Sample Size avg #seeds
US 150 680
Singapore 2 459
Iran 37 338
Spain 2 709
Turkey 12 576
Brazil 3 809

All 206 613

(I have had no success in producing an actual table with the numbers in neat columns. Therefore, I've provided a very minimal data set. The full results and many other calculations are on Dr. Haubold's website.)

So there you have it, according Dr. Haubold, he found an average of 613 seeds in his sample of 206 fruits. Are his results accurate? I don't know, and I certainly don't have the patience to duplicate his research!

Shanah tova. May we all have a sweet and healthy new year. May all of our merits increase like the seeds of a pomegranate, no matter how many that may be!

Hurricane Felix?

Tropical Storm Felix Strengthens to Hurricane

ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada — Hurricane Felix gathered strength Saturday and pounded Grenada with heavy rains and winds, snapping small boats loose from their moorings and toppling utility poles on its route toward the Caribbean island of Aruba.

The storm was upgraded from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane Saturday evening, with sustained maximum winds near 75 mph.

The whole report from Fox News is here.


Yes, Felix is sometimes wild, but no one else has ever accused him of being a hurricane.

Felix first checked weather conditions in his water dish:



Just to be on the safe side, he's gone to high ground to wait out the storm.


We wish all who are in the path of Hurricane Felix that they should also weather the storm safely.

Giving Thanks

It can be very difficult to thank a person when they have done us some kindness. We don't always like to acknowledge that we are in fact indebted to them.

I heard a very profound idea once in a shiur. We are always obligated to give thanks, even when the person who did us a kindness actually did it for his own benefit.

Shortly after I heard this idea I was walking home through the industrial area near Angel's Bakery in Givat Shaul. During my walk I needed to cross a street just as a truck wanted to make a left turn. The truck driver saw me and indicated that he would wait and that I should cross. I waved my thanks to the driver and quickly crossed. I then realized that it was to the driver's benefit that I should cross - my not being there made his turn easier. Nonetheless, I was obligated to thank him for letting me continue on my way without additional delay.

I now want to publicly express my thanks to Davka Corporation and one of their technical support employees, Yechiel. My favorite word processor for mixed Hebrew and English applications is DavkaWriter. I've been using it for about four years and find it very suitable for my needs and easy to use. It is usually my first choice even when I know my document will not contain any Hebrew.

Yesterday afternoon I used it to write the draft of my post on Parshat Ki Tavo. Later in the evening when I tried to open the file again, the program would not open the file. I was totally stumped and a bit upset. I didn't want to recreate the post. I sent an email to the DavkaWriter technical support team. Within 30 minutes I had a response from Yechiel asking for the stubborn file and a promise that he would try to fix it. This morning when I woke up, there was the file, all ready to go.

Thank you Davka Corporation and Yechiel for such timely support.

At the Bubble - Ki Tavo

This week’s parsha is Ki Tavo which contains the second tochachah (admonition). The tochachah describes what will happen to the Jewish people if they keep the Torah and what will happen if they fail to keep the Torah.

The parsha begins with the mitzah of bringing bikkurim (first fruits) to the Beit HaMikdash (Temple). (English translation from the Judaica Press CD Tanach with Rashi, with my edits)

Deuteronomy Chapter 26
1 And it will be, when you come into the land which the Lord, your God, gives you for an inheritance, and you possess it and settle in it,
2 that you shall take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you will bring from your land, which the Lord, your God, is giving you. And you shall put [them] into a basket and go to the place which the Lord, your God, will choose to have His Name dwell there.
3 And you shall come to the kohen who will be in those days, and say to him, "I declare this day to the Lord, your God, that I have come to the land which the Lord swore to our forefathers to give us."
4 And the kohen will take the basket from your hand, laying it before the altar of the Lord, your God."
5 And you shall call out and say before the Lord, your God, "An Aramean [sought to] destroy my forefather, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there with a small number of people, and there, he became a great, mighty, and numerous nation.
6 And the Egyptians treated us cruelly and afflicted us, and they imposed hard labor upon us.
7 So we cried out to the Lord, God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.
8 And the Lord brought us out from Egypt with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm, with great awe, and with signs and wonders.
9 And He brought us to this place, and He gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10 And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground which you, O Lord, have given to me." Then, you shall lay it before the Lord, your God, and prostrate yourself before the Lord, your God.

Verses 5 - 10 contain what is known as Vidui Bikkurim, the Confession of First Fruits that a person would say when he brought his basket of first fruits to the Kohein in the Temple.

The Rambam in the Mishne Torah codifies as halacha, that a convert may bring bikkurim and he recites the Vidui.

The very next section in the Torah is about another vidui, this one concerning tithes that were supposed to be given.

Deuteronomy Chapter 26
12 When you have finished tithing all the tithes of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, so that they can eat to satiety in your cities.
13 Then you shall say before the Lord, your God, "I have removed the holy [portion] from the house, and I have also given it to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, according to all Your commandment that You commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten.
14 I did not eat any of it while in my mourning, nor did I consume any of it while unclean; neither did I use any of it for the dead. I obeyed the Lord, my God; I did according to all that You commanded me.
15 Look down from Your holy dwelling, from the heavens, and bless Your people Israel, and the ground which You have given to us, as You swore to our forefathers a land flowing with milk and honey.

According to the Rambam, a convert does not recite this vidui.

Why is there any difference between these two viduis? Why may a convert recite the vidui of bikkurim, but he may not recite the vidui of tithes? We could suggest that the vidui of tithes includes the phrase (verse 15) “as You swore to our forefathers” and the convert cannot say this. However, the vidui of bikkurim also says (verse 3) “the land which the Lord swore to our forefathers” and the convert should not be able to say this.

The Ramban in his commentary to verse 15 says:

Ramban Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 26
Verse 15 ... “To our fathers” those who came out of Egypt, for it was said, “to a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8), similar to the expression, “and the Egyptians dealt ill with us and our fathers” (Numbers 20:15).

The Ramban is telling us that “fathers” in verse 15 means those who came out of Egypt. The convert cannot claim those who left Egypt as his forefathers. However, in the verse 3 concerning bikkurim the reference is to Avraham. Hashem first promised the land of Israel to Avraham’s descendants, the Jewish people. In addition, Avraham is the father of all converts. When his name was changed from Avram to Avraham (Genesis 17:4-5) God told him that he would be “a father of a multitude of nations.” Therefore, the convert can recite the vidui of bikkurim which gives thanks for the land that was first promised to Avraham.

Change

We all want to change. We all want to be better people. But we've all tried it enough times to know that it isn't easy. We also know that are not any "tricks of the trade" or "quick fixes". Meaningful change is extremely hard work.

At the same time, our desire to improve is real.

I've just finished listening to a shiur that I think will have a major impact on my life. I found it on the blog "Beyond BT". It is a shiur by R. Moshe Schwerd given before Rosh HaShanah several years ago on the concept Din v'Cheshbon. You can download the shiur in MP3 format here.

As I'm writing this and suggesting listening to this shiur, suddenly, I'm filled with doubts. Will a shiur that I found to be very inspiring cause other people to become depressed and overwhelmed? I hope not. I only hope that everyone who listens will find the same inspiration that I found.

Please let me know what you think.

At the Bubble - Ki Teitzei

On most Wednesday evenings I give a shiur in English at the Beit Kennest Merkazi in Beit HaKerem. At my yeshiva we fondly call it The Bubble. Once upon a time there was a competition of sorts between the names Igloo and Bubble. I personally favor Igloo, but more years ago than I can remember the name Bubble was victorious.

The weekly shiur is in English and is usually attended by six - twelve residents of the neighborhood. My favorite aspect to this shiur -- we have a lot of interaction and the attendees are not afraid to state their opinions and ask questions.

This week we looked at some verses from Devarim chapter 23 (English translation from the Judaica Press CD Tanach with Rashi, with my edits)

Deuteronomy Chapter 23
10 When a camp goes out against your enemies, you shall beware of everything evil.
11 If there is among you a man who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come within the camp.
12 And it shall be, towards evening, he shall bathe in water, and when the sun sets, he may come within the camp.
13 And you shall have a designated place outside the camp, so that you can go out there.
14 And you shall keep a stake in addition to your weapons; and it shall be, when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it, and you shall return and cover your excrement.
15 For the Lord, your God, goes along in the midst of your camp, to rescue you and to deliver your enemies before you. [Therefore,] your camp shall be holy, so that He should not see anything unseemly among you and would turn away from you.

Rashi on verse 10 says:
When a camp goes forth, you shall beware for Satan accuses in time of danger.

The Be'er Basadeh (a commentary on Rashi) explains that there is a difference between when a person is at home compared to when he is in danger. When he is at home he does not need to be so careful. However, while traveling or during war when the danger is greater, the Satan accuses and a person needs extra guarding.

Ramban in his commentary explains that the Jewish soldier is being warned that war is a time of great and numerous temptations. Many people will falter during this time and perform acts of theft and violence without any embarrassment. They may also become involved in sexual sins and even the most upright person, a person who by nature would not easily sin, will become cruel. Therefore, the Torah warns the Jewish soldier to stay away from these sins in particular and, in general, from every action that the Torah forbids.

The Ramban then quotes a midrash. The midrash learns from these verses that the Jewish army must avoid those sins that caused the Canaanites to be driven out of Eretz Yisrael. The sins of idolatry, adultery and murder caused the Canaanites to be driven out and if the Jewish army engages in them then the Shechinah (Divine Presence) will be taken away from the Jewish camp.

The midrash makes one final point. In the Hebrew of verse 10 is the word "davar" (thing). The midrash links this to the similar verb which means "speak." From this the midrash learns that also those in the army camp must avoid Lashon Hara, evil speech, which causes strife amongst people and can be even worse than the blows suffered at the hands of our enemies.

Wedding in Shaarei Chesed

The truth is, our Friday mornings are usually pretty dull. We go to the shuk Machane Yehuda to buy bread, veggies, fruits and other essentials for Shabbat. Once a month we pay the rent. (We've found over the years that paying rent is a great way to build a positive relationship with the landlord.) Lisa cooks and I clean the floors. We try to relax some, but that doesn't always happen.

This Friday morning (barely five hours ago) we went to a wedding! A couple that we've gotten to know a bit married off one of their daughters this morning. We've met the kallah (bride) once, but to my knowledge, have never met the chatan (groom). As a matter of fact, I don't know their names.

Now you are saying to yourself, why doesn't he just get up, grab the invitation and find out what their names are?







You see, we never got an invitation. Yesterday evening we got a call from one of our neighbors who is good friends with the parents of the kallah. It seems that a invitation was mailed to us but for never delivered. Yesterday the post office returned the undelivered invitation to the parents of the kallah. They called their friends in our building, the friends called us, and voila, we went to the wedding!

The wedding was held in the side street in front of the GRA Shul in Shaarei Chesed. It was a lovely morning for a wedding with cool morning air and a slight breeze. Of course, the sky was clear, no clouds are allowed in Jerusalem until after Sukkot.

Weddings in Jerusalem are notorious for starting late. This wedding was supposed to start at 10 am. I was thinking, it's Friday, they have to start on time. Even so, as we left our apartment about 15 minutes before the official start time, I wondered if we would look like foolish Americans and that really everyone knows that a wedding never starts on time. Well, lots of other people thought the wedding would start on time and there was already a good crowd when we arrived. I'm not sure what time things actually started, but the delay didn't seem too long.

Shabbat shalom.

Passport Update

This morning I had a meeting. On the way home I decided to check our mail box. Nothing.

Just then I noticed the mailman making a delivery across the street. He walked over to our building and starting putting mail in all the boxes. He asked my name and I told him. He said, "Are you expecting passports?"

"Yes."

"I have them here."

What a break! I signed for the two pieces of registered mail. Being outside at that moment saved a trip to the Post Office and having to stand in their line! I'll take that any day.



The old one is on the right. Note that two corners have been cut off. Inside someone diligently stamped "Cancelled" on the first six pages. I guess the fact that it had expired wasn't enough. Not only that, but two of the stamped pages were laminated. I think it would be tough to reuse that passport!

So there you have it. We went to Misrad HaP'nim last Thursday morning and here on Monday morning we have new passports.

Now we just need a travel destination.

More about that later...

Lemur Madness

One of our favorite places at the Jerusalem Zoo is Lemur Land. The zoo has a large colony of ring-tailed lemurs and a few brown lemurs. The ring-tailed lemurs are much more vigorous and put on a great show.

Here is a bit of what Wikipedia has to say about lemurs:

Lemurs make up the infraorder Lemuriformes and are members of a class of primates known as prosimians . ... The term "lemur" is derived from the Latin word lemures, meaning "spirits of the night," or "ghost(s)" and likely refers to the large, reflective eyes which many of the nocturnal lemur species have. ...

Lemurs are found naturally only on the island of Madagascar and some smaller surrounding islands, including the Comoros (where it is likely they were introduced by humans). Fossil evidence indicates that they made their way across the ocean after Madagascar broke away from the continent of Africa.[2] While their ancestors were displaced in the rest of the world by monkeys, apes, and other primates, the lemurs were safe from competition on Madagascar and differentiated into a number of species. These range in size from the tiny 30 gram (1 oz) Pygmy Mouse Lemur to the 10 kilogram (22 lb) Indri. The larger species some of which weighed up to 240 kg[3] have all become extinct since humans settled on Madagascar, and since the early 20th century the largest lemurs reach about 7 kilograms (15 lbs). Typically, the smaller lemurs are active at night (nocturnal), while the larger ones are active during the day (diurnal).

The small cheirogaleoids are generally omnivores, eating a variety of fruits, flowers and leaves (and sometimes nectar) as well as insects, spiders and small vertebrates. The remainder of the lemurs, the lemuroids are primarily herbivores, although some species supplement their diet with insects.

Lemurs have opposable thumbs and long grasping toes, but their tails are not prehensile. Lemurs have nails rather than claws. All lemur species have a tapetum, the reflective layer over the retina.[3] Lemurs are thought to have limited color vision.[3] Lemurs depend quite heavily on the sense of smell and have large nasal cavities and moist noses.[3]

Unlike most other primates, lemur species that live in groups have a Matriarchal society (i.e. females are dominant over males). Most lemur species are primarily arboreal and traverse the canopy by vertical clinging and leaping or quadrupedalism, with the notable exception of the Ring-Tailed Lemur (Lemur catta) which spends a considerable amount of time moving about on the ground.

Endangered species

All lemurs are endangered species or threatened species, many species became already extinct in the last centuries, due mainly to habitat destruction (deforestation) and hunting. Although conservation efforts are under way, options are limited because of the lemurs' limited range and because of Madagascar's economic situation relative to the developed world.

You can see Wikipedia for the rest of the article.

We like to visit Lemur Land in the late afternoon. Even if the day has been hot, the weather often starts to cool about 5:30 pm. This is when the lemurs stop sitting around and start flying! At Lemur Land in the Jerusalem Zoo visitors are able to walk into the compound with the lemurs. The following videos were taken last summer from the middle of the lemur enclosure. Notice how gracefully and quickly a lemur can jump and bounce from point to point. Sometimes the landing and push off seem to be simultaneous. Enjoy!

? Information ?

Sometimes I feel like I have a big question mark on my forehead. Since I'm often walking around town I'm frequently asked for directions. It even feels like a questioner will single me out of a crowd of people that I'm sure could do a better job than me. I guess (he said modestly) it's because I'm good looking and have a great smile!

I don't mind trying to answer questions, but there some that I prefer more than others.

My favorite type is something like: Where is Albemarble Street? I have no trouble saying with great authority: I don't know. Every once in a while I'll look it up on a map when I get home and discover that it's a dinky side street in Ramot Gimmel that probably most of the residents of Ramot have never even heard of.

My next favorite is like what happened last Thursday just after Lisa and I left Misrad HaP'nim. Two tourists asked us if we spoke English. When we said "Yes," the look of relief on their faces was obvious. They then asked for directions to Rechov Yaffo. How fortunate. We were standing right on the corner of Yaffo and Shlomtzion HaMalka. Directions promptly and expertly given.

A less favorite type is when a person asks: Where is mrmplffmw? What? You know, mrmplffmw. At least I think they said the same thing the second time. It doesn't matter if they are asking in English or in Hebrew, I will never understand this person. They again get an "I don't know," but one this is much less satisfactory from my point of view.

A lesser favorite is when they ask for directions to a well known place, for example, Gilo. Depending upon where we are standing, I may even be able to point at Gilo. But to tell someone how to get there, especially how to drive there, is just not possible. First of all, I've only been to Gilo once or twice. We don't own a car, so I've never driven myself there. It's only been by bus or taxi. So I'm useless for giving these directions.

My least favorite is when they ask for directions to a well known place, and I actually know how to give the directions. I tell them and we part company. A great feeling of accomplishment. We part company as friends. I take about three steps and realize that I told them to turn right, but actually it's a left turn! I turn around to correct my mistake, but they are gone. Hopefully, they will quickly realize my error and not go too far out of their way. ...

Interior Ministry

Yep, we did it. Yesterday was our adventure at Misrad HaP'nim (Ministry of the Interior (MOIN)) to change our address and renew our passports.

We're hoping to attend a friend's wedding and noticed that our Israeli passports expired six months ago. A visit to the Ministry of Interior website was actually more frustrating than our visit to their office. Why so? I don't like using IE7, but the site wouldn't open correctly with Firefox. That is actually my experience with a number of Hebrew websites, they just don't work properly with Firefox.

Anyway, once we broke down and opened IE7 and the site finally loaded, it was fairly simple to find the section for passport renewals. All you need is 225 NIS and two photos of the proper size.

On Wednesday Lisa got her pictures taken at a photo place on the Hebrew U campus. A mere 20 NIS for six photos. I went to a shop on King George Street where I paid a whopping 22 NIS, but walked out with eight photos. That afternoon Lisa came home from work early and we took a trek out to the zoo. (More about our zoo adventures in another post.) As we were comparing notes I mentioned that I told the guy the pictures were for an Israeli passport, so he had me stand in front of a blue background. Lisa grew silent. ... Finally she said, "My picture is with a white background. Now what do I do?"

Several times during the afternoon she grew pensive and muttered, "Now I've wasted 20 shekels and I'll have to find a place to get more pictures!" When we got home, I fired up the computer, opened Firefox, went to the MOIN website, shut down Firefox, opened IE7, went to the MOIN website and searched around for their requirements for passport photos. They specify size, shape, size of your image, orientation (straight on), and that you must be NEATLY dressed, but not a single word about the background! (As for the neatly dressed requirement, I shudder to think what people wore before that rule went into effect!)

Thursday morning we left our apartment about twenty minutes before the MOIN main office opened. It was a pleasantly cool morning. We stopped at a cash machine. We were prepared both with cash and a check, just in case! As we got close to the office I spotted a small group of people outside. Just then the door opened and the security guards started letting folks in. At the prescreening station on the second floor we were given our number. We were number 8. Already the first few people were being waited on. After a few minutes our number popped up on the screen and we moved over to the clerk's station. She took all of our papers, entered all the stuff into the MOIN computer system, and asked for 450 NIS. She didn't even give our pictures a second glance, apparently background color is truly not an issue.

She then sent us to the next station over. Since we were there with extra photos they gave us each new copies of our Teudat Zehut (Identity Card).

After a few minutes we had our new id cards and left the building. We were back on the street before 8:25 am. In other words, the whole experience took us barely 20 minutes and our day was not spent just waiting around.

What's the secret? Get there early, have your forms already filled out (many are available on the MOIN website) and have your photos ready. And remember - background color doesn't matter!

Kitzur Shulchan Aruch Online

Usually once a week I learn over the telephone or Skype with a friend in Los Angeles. We've been learning the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (KSA) by R. Shlomo Ganzfried. We have identical editions so it is always easy to make sure we are literally on the same page.

Well this week my friend did not have access to his copy of the KSA. Usually he is at home when we learn, but this time he was actually still at work. It just so happens that I have the KSA as part of one of the databases of seforim that I've purchased. So I opened up DBS (see their web site here), quickly found the KSA, copied the relevant portion to a word processing program, saved it as a PDF file, and emailed the PDF to my friend. The whole thing took only a few minutes.

After we were done learning, I decided to see if there are copies of the KSA available online. Sure enough, I found two. Most of the hits that I got from Google were stores trying to sell the KSA, but buried a couple of pages in were sites with the actual text of the KSA.

The first one is an all Hebrew website called Shofar Net. To view the KSA click here. I didn't spend much time at their website, so I'm not vouching for it.

The other site I found is here. This site offers the KSA with nikudot (vowel marks) or without. It also has a search capability which I haven't tried using.

BTW, I prefer to use one of the printed editions of the KSA which has footnotes referencing when the Mishna Berura disagrees with the ruling of the KSA. The Mishna Berura is considered more authoritative for our times, but the KSA is an easier book to learn.

Holocaust survivors and dental care

This afternoon a group of Holocaust survivors plan to march from the Kenesset to the Prime Minister's Office to protest the financial support the Israeli government gives to survivors. Here is how Israel National News (Arutz-7) describes the march:

Survivors Plan March to Protest Aid Package

by Ezra HaLevi

(IsraelNN.com) Holocaust survivors advocacy groups plan to hold a ‘March of the Living’ opposite the Knesset Sunday in protest of inadequate aid from the state.

The protest, widely publicized and encouraged in Israel’s media, is set to begin at the Knesset and end at the Prime Minister’s Office. It comes in response to a proposal by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to allot 130 million shekels toward survivors in 2008 – a sum that advocacy groups say amounts to 83 shekels per survivor and term “insulting.”

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert responded to news of the march angrily, saying “They should be ashamed! My parents escaped the Nazis, and they are attacking me?!” Prime Minister's Office officials claim that it is absurd that the protest is directed against the first government to offer to increase the aid package at all.

Youth groups, organizations and Knesset Members across the political spectrum have announced their plans to attend the protest. Israel’s major daily newspapers published banner headlines announcing the protest will take place at 4:30 PM and featured maps of the march’s route.

See here for the whole article.


Meanwhile, a friend of mine, Dr. Shmuel (Sheldon) Abramson is taking some practical steps to help.

Dr. Abramson and his wife Connie made aliyah about 12 years ago. While many people their age would just sit back and enjoy the grandkids, not the Abramsons. Shmuel, who had been a practicing dentist in the States, decided to get an Israeli license. After months of study and practice he successfully passed all of the required tests.

He has now decided to make the treatment of Holocaust survivors a focus of his practice. Here is part of what Shmuel wrote in a recent letter:

Many Holocaust Survivors are in urgent need of Dental Care and do not have the available funds to obtain these services. I have been providing these services to the best of my financial ability, however the need is so great that I need additional help to provide the dental care to these patients and in so doing help preseve the overall general health of these patients!

Shmuel has opened a clinic as part of the Emunah, Yossi Berger Holocaust Center. There he hopes to provide dental care to his regular patients and the estimated 40,000 Holocaust survivors who live below the poverty level.

Dr. Abramson has his practice at 5 Shatz Street, Jerusalem.

Dr. Shmuel Abramson in his clinic.

Our cat of the day

I've just submitted Felix as a candidate for "Cat of the Day."

As you would guess, this website features a new cat each day as the celebrity cat. Owners supply a picture and a short explanation as to why their cat is special. Here is what I wrote about Felix:

We rescued Felix from near our apartment building in Jerusalem. We thought that he was just a small cat who needed some good food. We quickly discovered that he could barely breathe. Our vet diagnosed that he had a torn diaphragm and his internal organs were pressing against his heart and lungs. At that time Felix weighed one pound. The vet said that if we could get his weight up to two pounds he would operate. During the next two weeks we fed Felix all the high fat dairy products that he would eat.

The vet operated one morning and called us that afternoon and said we could pick him up. We thought, based on research we had done, that we would be bringing home a very sick cat that would need a week of nursing until he would be a normal kitten. Were we wrong! Even though he had had major surgery less than 10 hours before, he was full of energy. The vet said don't let him jump. Felix only wanted to run and jump! He had all of his kitten energy that he hadn't been able to use!

Today Felix is a healthy 10-pound cat and it is hard to believe how small he was when we first found him. He wants to be king of the household, but our two older cats have different ideas!

We have no idea how long it will be before we hear if Felix is accepted. Personally, I think, paws down, that he is a winner!

One thing I didn't mention in the info for "Cat of the Day" is how he came to have a torn diaphragm. Of course, we don't know, but the vet had a guess. Either he jumped from a high place and tore it when he landed or he was kicked. Sadly, the being kicked theory is quite possible since so many people in Jerusalem consider cats as nasty vermin.

Why did we name him Felix? One of the things we were feeding him when he first joined us was the Felix brand wet cat food. We couldn't help but notice the similarity and just started calling him that since we had no other ideas at the time. Frankly, we didn't know if he would survive and therefore at first resisted getting too attached.

Just starting

This is just an opening salvo to test the waters. You could call it a shot across the bow. But then we would be completely guilty of metaphor abuse.