Ulpan Spolter

Introducing a new feature teaching you Hebrew words and phrases that I find interesting:
לסמס - lesames - to send a text message, (or SMS)
Explanation: Listening to the radio this morning, and the host was talking about a fund to raise awareness about a certain muscular illness. She said that to donate you can lesames - send an SMS message - to a certain phone number to donate money.
Usage: אני אסמס אותך - ani asames otechah - "I will text message you."

It's a Jewish country, all right

Where else would garbage pick-up day be late Saturday night/early Sunday morning?

Voting

Today I voted in the national elections for the 18th Knesset in Israel. Initially I was very torn. The religious parties feel that they should impose certain rules on the general public about keeping a Torah observant atmosphere. For example, they believe that in certain urban areas, all businesses should be closed on Shabbat. This is an idea I was uncomfortable with. I felt leary about forcing my own ideas on someone else. Do I think Shabbat observance is essential for every Jew? Of course. However, I did not think that I should impose that observance on every Jew, even against his or her will.



And then Ruby and I started talking. "Doesn't the Torah promote enforcing Shabbat observance for all Jews?" he asked. I conceded the point, but continued to say that that is in the ideal Torah world, within which we do not live. "How are we going to reach the ideal if we don't start promoting Torah values now? Should we just wait for Moshiach to come and then he will promote those values? Should we just sit back and wait?" I then realized that it is in our own hands to bring about the ideal Torah society. Just like our family did not wait to be borne on eagles' wings to the Promised Land, we should not wait to create a religious atmosphere in the Jewish Holy Land. The Jewish nation is one based on a set of Torah values. I do not believe in the concept of a secular Jewish state. So, I voted for one of the religious parties (there are 4 running).



I'm still to American to publicize which one I voted for, though. (Israelis are not private about it.)



I'm also American enough and a strong enough believer in the democratic process that when we went with the kids to pizza this afternoon (still searching for edible pizza in the YB area), I convinced the woman behind the counter to go vote. She wasn't planning to vote, because she didn't like any of the candidates for prime minister. Once I explained to her that you vote for political parties, not leaders, she decided that she would do that.



Grandpa and Savta are proud.

Tu B'Shvat

Today is Tu B'Shvat, the official "birthday" of the trees. In America, we didn't really do anything for it aside from the PTA handing out bags of dried fruit and "buksar" (carob) to the kids in school. That was until a few years ago, when the Kollel Torah MiZion in Detroit started doing a Seder Tu B'Shvat for women, which was very nice. We sat around a table, ate the different fruits from the 7 species (and other fruits as well), read relevant passages and sang relevant songs. Like I said - very nice. Then we moved to Israel.

We live in what could best be described as a cul-de-sac. The addresses are all Slav 32, with the first 8 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. For example, we are 32a, the neighbors we share a building with are 32b, and our neighbors directly across from us are 32g and h. Eight houses (four buildings - each is a side-by-side two family house) surround a common parking area. This is so great because not only do the kids have a place to play, but they also have other kids to play with. So, on any given afternoon starting around 4pm, the parking area is crawling with kids.

Last night we had a Slav 32 Seder Tu B'Shvat. It was really fun. We started with going through the seven species and other foods, trying to cover as many brachot as we could. Then we brought out supper - falafel, of course. Everyone brought something. It was really amazing. Each family also brought out a folding table, which we arranged as one long table and covered with a cloth. The kids sang, ate, and played, and the adults ate and talked. It was a very heartwarming experience to spend with our neighbors.

Tu B'Shvat Sameach!

Hashem Loves Us

Bubby is visiting! Yay! So today, we took the kids out of school to go on a tour of Ir David, the ancient site of the original city of Jerusalem. Petachya called it a "Bubby Day". It was very cool. Our extremely knowledgeable tour guide, Asher Altshul, showed us remains from as far back as the time of Avraham Avinu. We saw the tunnel Chizkiyahu dug, the site where Shlomo was probably annointed, and many other amazing things. However, the part I want to share with you happened this morning, on the way to Yerushalayim.

Ruby (as usual) turned on the news. After one of the reports, I asked him what was going on. In quick Hebrew (we can still use that in front of Leah, who was sitting next to me), he told me that a rocket had landed between two kindergartens in the Eshkol region, but that they had not exploded. Leah asked me: "What did Abba just say?" I answered: "That Hashem loves us."

So true.