Thanks so much to everyone for reaching out and sending their prayers! We're fine, thank G-d.
We had a series of sirens in our town.
We heard a number of faint booms that sounded really far away - potentially impacts or interceptions, fainter than what we heard during Iran's previous aerial assault on my Dad's yahrtzeit - anniversary of his passing.
On October 7 I heard medium-volume thuds before the early morning siren in my town - I thought our folding table had fallen over downstairs. Those I think were Iron Dome interceptions over a neighboring city.
And my loudest boom in Israel was way back before we had Iron Dome in Be'er Sheva in March 2011. That lovely 5:30 am wake up, the first air raid siren I ever heard, landed in my neighborhood.
As I titled this post, I recalled a Holocaust survivor with whom I worked in Jerusalem, who said she had waited for the All Clear message that she was used to from World War II. She waited for hours, cause she hadn't learned that here, we wait in the safe room for 10 minutes after the siren ends.
My people have endured too much! But we are resilient and we will prevail, with G-d's help!
Here's to all of our forces, and the US forces, fighting tirelessly to keep us all safe! And here's to our allies fully supporting us instead of fecklessly trying to deter us.
And here's to a phenomenal new Jewish year, 5785, starting tomorrow night. Peace and love y'all
Nasrallah is dead. Kids in another neighborhood in my town heard the news, and immediately started spreading it by yelling that on the streets. My wife came home from synagogue on Shabbat, said she was bearing great news, and then shocked me and the kids. I nearly fell on the floor. It's as if the Jews had been the ones to kill Hitler.
Deterrence.
Bibi and his cohort thought Hamas was deterred on October 6, 2023. In a country surrounded by enemies sworn to its destruction as part of their Jihad - holy war, all proxy puppets in the hands of the Iranian regime, only destroying them can amount to deterrence. The word just doesn't exist otherwise. This greatly complicates our nation's life in a region full of more bad actors than a soap opera.
After watching Bibi's Channel 14 interview about 6 months ago, I got the sense between the lines of his responses that Hezbollah had deterred us. Thank G-d I was so very wrong!
The Biden doctrine to my eyes: Deter your allies. Urge them, "Don't win too much." The same thing seems to be going on in Ukraine. America - deterred by its enemies. It sure would be nice, despite the great inconvenience in an election year, for the administration to actually help us win. We seem to be fully capable of winning regardless. But with real support, fewer of my friends and neighbors would be getting wounded and killed.
As someone from the home of the world famous Don't Mess with Texas ad campaign, I couldn't be prouder of my Israeli brothers and sisters, out there risking their lives and telling our enemies, DON'T MESS WITH US. You will not destroy us. We are, in fact, here to stay. We love life. We are better than you and your blind hatred. Your path is the wrong way.
I'll sign off with a quote from my 3 kids today. An air force plane flew low, right over us. I said, "Go get em, boys." Then my delicious children, brainwashed beautifully by my lovely wife, all yelled to the skies, "Kick their tuchus!"
1. In my last post, I wrote that my heroes in the Israel Defense Forces are bringing light into the world. With everything that many of you are seeing in the news, that may sound callous.
So I urge you to think of the kids in Sderot, a development town with the great misfortune of being across the border from Gaza, who were able to return to school recently. For me, the aging piece has the greatest power to tug at my heartstrings. Think of the older adults who were able to return to their adult day center - eating two hot meals a day with their friends, seeing the center's physical therapist and social worker, and celebrating the holidays with their peeps. Those kids, older adults, and everyone in between, were evacuated at the start of the war to locations across the country to ensure their safety. So many others still haven't been able to return home. But because of our soldiers putting their lives on the line, we have reduced evil incarnate terrorists' capabilities to attack us.
Great light into the world.
2. The far right in the US, and now the "progressive" left. Each has their own Big Lie. 2020 was not rigged. And no, Israel and its supporters are not the cause of everything that's wrong in the world. To state the painfully obvious, anti-Semitism is the opposite of progress.
Israel is the great light, fighting off pure evil. We will defeat them.
3. And yesterday, for the eighth time since this horrific war was forced upon us, we put up this beautiful monthly prayer to G-d. On the Sabbath before every new Hebrew month, we say ברכת החודש/the Blessing of the New Month. And we pray that this will be that month of victory and redemption.
6 months into this war, almost 7. On one hand, I'm the most blessed man on Earth with the most incredible wife that ever existed and the most amazing, delicious kids I could have ever wished for.
On the other hand, my nation is in immense pain and anguish. This post's title comes from a David Horovitz Times of Israel column way back in December.
The nations of the world pour symbolic bags of salt on our wounds. Never have we felt, to this extent, such a Jew among the nations (I use the word Jew with great pride; but here, sadly, as the age-old slur, as we experience it these days).
While we thank the Biden administration and Congress from the bottom of our hearts for the immense material and practical support (and let's not forget the Obama administration's role in spearheading the development of the Iron Dome defense system), it is accompanied with such consistently distasteful sentiment from our allies.
So, aside from our unwavering non-Jewish supporters like Yoseph Haddad, Douglas Murray, Congressman Ritchie Torres and MEP Assita Kanko (I 💗 THEM ALL), we just feel so very alone in the world.
So, my friends and neighbors have literally answered the call and risked their lives in Gaza, on the front lines of the war against fundamental Islam, aka (that's right) evil incarnate (the world seems to have forgotten that "small detail" about Hamas and all of our enemies). These friends of mine and friend's sons write a letter to their family in case they won't survive the war. And some undergrad at Columbia thinks they can lecture us and our soldiers about war.
One of the nicest families in town, the ones who hosted our farewell event from the previous neighborhood, lost their son Itai in Gaza, killed by evil incarnate who booby-trapped a building the unit he commanded was operating in. Another neighbor and friend, an absolute bulldog on the basketball court at the pickup game here, was wounded in Gaza - targeted by an anti-tank missile because he is an officer. Did everybody forget that evil incarnate Hamas fights in street clothes, yet uses our rule-playing against us to kill our finest? And wound my friend? Anyway, this friend miraculously survived, but he is now in rehab, hoping to be able to walk again. Please pray for his full recovery, in our tradition when we pray for a medical recovery, we say the Hebrew name of the person and their mother's name - it's Yisrael ben Aliza.
But these same friends, and all our brothers and sisters, the best people I know, have been doing so much to take down those who killed us, who avowed to keep doing it again and again until we cease to exist. So many who murdered, butchered, and did unthinkable things to our babies, women, and older adults, and who would do it all again, have been killed or captured. We have brought so much light and blotted out so much darkness.
Yet still, so many are still in unthinkable conditions, hostages in Gaza, including another neighbor's grandson.
Every one of the seemingly infinite TWHJ moments over the last half + year (I am truly sorry to link to myself, that's obnoxious, but, well... please forgive me) brings me back 26 years.
For any high school or college friends, who most vividly remember me looking like this, I am almost definitely their only friend who lives in Israel. I was That Jewish Guy for them back then, and I took it up many notches since. So way back before I actually observed Jewish law...
I went on a "walkout" with my fraternity to Columbus for the '98 Michigan - Ohio State game. Running around my off-campus house to pack up for the road trip, I broke my toe on a door hinge. So late that night, on the way out of a Columbus bar, I was easy prey (and the most visible Michigan man among my fraternity brothers, wearing this oh so Maize shirt) for a bitter bitter Buckeye fan, who shoved me into High Street, not checking for traffic.
In this picture, a mere 8 days later, I am unscathed, by the grace of G-d.
Where am I going with this, you ask? The foolish mistake on my part - a) wearing that shirt, and more importantly, b) screaming with my bros "1, 8, and 1" - ol' John Cooper's record against us at the time (the next day, he picked up his second, and last W). Obviously I had no business doing a) or b).
But all these TWHJ moments, and there are way too many to count, feel like that - getting shoved into the biggest street in town. Tom Brady got absolutely hammered by the Ohio State defense that next day, and very impressively kept bouncing up despite our never having a chance in that game.
That's what the Jewish people have always done. Bounce right back up, BUT, we win the big games even when we have no business doing so (as Brady would of course go on to do in the NFL). But it is really hard, exhausting, and man, we could use a hand to pick us up off the mat some times.
Don't let anything I've written lead you to believe that I think our government is perfect. It is abundantly clearly anything but.
But our army is a pack of lions, of my heroes. One of those neighbor-friends said towards the end of a months-long stint in Gaza - "We're the world's Special Forces Unit in this battle against fundamental Islamic terrorism. But instead of thanking us..."
For now, I must catch some zzz's before the Seder tomorrow night, recalling Pharoah oppressing our people, and G-d saving us, miracle after miracle.
Everyone here experienced the miracle of our air defense against the evil incarnate Iranian regime's onslaught last Sunday morning. We're talking Grade A, biblical level miracles, folks. That fell on my father's yahrtzeit (Hebrew anniversary of his passing) - Israel and our international and regional partners working in harmony just like the best of his performances with so many bands and ensembles and choirs over his decades-long career.
I'll wrap up with my pitch for you to listen to Shemekia Copeland - one of my favorite blues singers. Paraphrasing this heartfelt number, "Don't Whisper that you support Israel, say it out loud." The good guys will prevail, with G-d's help, and your support. G-d bless y'all.
We're grinding along. One soldier was rescued last night from Hamas captivity, another died in service defending our North.
A friend's nephew was murdered on October 7. A grad school classmate/colleague in elder care's aunt and uncle, themselves older adults, were as well.
We mourn and pray for the return of all the rest of our captives and do our best to keep on truckin.
What to Pray For - Part 2:
Pray for the mental health professionals (including my lovely wife). Those providing care are themselves mourning, anxious, fearful - experiencing the whole gamut of emotions. May G-d help them to help their clients, supervisees, etc.
Pray that my people of Israel never undergo this terror again.
Pray that G-d perform miracles enabling those who are risking their lives to ensure this never happens again to completely succeed in their mission.
Our entire nation is one big miracle, all the way back to Abraham and Sarah (in this week's Torah portion, VaYeira) miraculously giving birth to Isaac in their ripe old age. Please keep the miracles coming!
From the Artscroll commentary on last week's Torah portion, Lech Lecha:
As the story of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs unfolds, we see that infertility was common among them, but that prayer and Divine intervention resulted in the emergence of the nation. This was G-d's way of proving that the Jewish people are not a natural phenomenon; without miracles we could not have existed, nor could we continue to exist.
Ain't that the truth.
Please of course keep up the prayers I asked for in my last post. About that post, Yossi Klein Halevi (link to his TOI piece below) wrote a book "Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor." So along those lines, with my high school friend Lauren's permission (she also quoted me in her blog back in the day!), I bring you the first installment of:
"Emails with my Presbyterian High School Friend."
Sammy - Just wanted to write and tell you that we are continuing to pray and remember and cry out to God on your behalf. Goodness, the words in your blog, "Our Father, Our King, accept - with compassion and favor - our prayer." What beautiful words.
I’m doing a bible study on some of the Psalms right now, and this week we read Psalm 5 which starts like this:
“Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice…”
The assurance of: “You hear my voice” is so powerful.
So we are praying and trusting that Our Father and Our King hears our voices as we cry out to Him.
There are lots of conversations happening that are making me reconsider the privilege I have - as someone who does not feel persecuted (at least here in Dallas, TX) for my faith. It breaks my heart to see my friend write the words, “The world hates Jews.” I cannot comprehend what it feels like to type those words, so I want to make sure you know without a doubt that you (and your beautiful family!) are loved and worthy and valued, and that the world is a better place - my life is more full - to have a friend like you. I am so grateful for years of friendship and conversations about how we both walk out our faiths. You are a gift to me, Sammy.
Praying for light to shine in the darkness. For love to have the final word. And for the Rangers to win.
Lauren - as I wrote "the world hates Jews," I thought of you. I knew that would be painful for you to read. Your reply was just so thoughtful and gorgeous and so appreciated.
But, alas, after all these years watching the world do its anti-Semitic thing time after time, knowing what was coming this time... shoot, I honestly felt numb when I typed that. I'm gonna even make it into TWHJ to tighten it up in future reference here. There is no other explanation.
But here's to that light and love winning out, and yes the RANGERS BABY!!!
--
Why did I lose it a few weeks ago upon reading "Our Father, Our King, accept - with compassion and favor - our prayer"? Let's look at some of these requests to our King. Nobody had any illusions that our haters' designs needed nullifying, that our enemies' counsel needed thwarting (heck, the day I moved here, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made one of his infinite statements about how Iran would destroy us). But these (full prayer book text at bottom)?
Exterminate captivity, destruction, iniquity and eradication (aka the Holocaust) from the members of Your covenant.
Take pity upon us, and upon our children and our infants.
Act for the sake of those who were murdered for Your Holy Name.
Act for the sake of those who were slaughtered for your Oneness.
Act for the sake of those who went into fire and water for the sanctification of Your Name.
Avenge before our eyes the spilled blood of Your servants.
Israel was founded to render these requests irrelevant (certainly at the kind of scale of October 7, at the bare minimum), first as recent history from the Holocaust. As the 7.5+ decades passed, harking back to Sukkot, just 5 weeks ago, before this war, it felt like these things were only relics out of the history books, things that could never happen to us again. But they did.
And as our citizens mourn... our soldiers are out there, spread all across our beloved, beautiful, holy land, looking clearheadedly into the future and giving everything they've got to make it a glorious one.
That brings me back to a 2006 Birthright trip that I staffed. These groups, bringing young Jewish adults from around the world to Israel, always include about a handful of Israeli soldiers.
I'll never forget what my Israel Defense Forces soldier roommate, his emotions riled up as he experienced seeing Israel "for the first time" again along with the American bus-mates, said to me as we watched my Mavs' lose in the NBA Finals - "I LOVE this land! I would die for this land." He said that to me in the very corner of this beautiful land that was scorched by Hamas terrorists on October 7.
Some 200,000 Israelis have flown back here, with that love of land and nation etched all over their hearts and souls. Each one of them is our answer to Hamas, who believed they were on the cusp of either murdering us all, or watching the rest of us run away screaming and crying. This is our land, world. We're staying here, more than that - we're coming back. Don't mess.
--
Times like these, so very trying for us, help clarify the importance of emotional intelligence when reaching out to loved ones who are suffering.
From Rabbi Zelig Pliskin's "Growth through Torah", about last week's Torah portion: The Almighty told Abraham to travel away from his father's home, his birthplace, and his land. Only now when he personally experiences being a stranger in a foreign place will he know firsthand what it is like. This will give him a greater appreciation of what he can do to help his guests...
Whenever you personally suffer any kind of pain or sorrow, remember carefully every aspect of your experience. When other people are in similar situations, you will know with greater depth what they are experiencing. This will help you to help them with greater sensitivity and kindness. Moreover, it will make your own suffering easier to cope with. You will view it as a meaningful learning experience that will assist you in becoming more effective in helping others
I so appreciate all of you checking in.
My brother from another mother and former roommate, Rabbi David Fain, struck a chord when he checked back in with me this week with this message: "prayers are with you my brother! Stay strong"
That's an emotionally intelligent man telling me - "This is Week 4. I know this is hard for you. I got ya." Love you too Dave!
--
A few words about my family's part in the war effort:
Over the last 3 Shabbats, we've hosted for meals 3 families with a combined 3 husbands and 3 sons called up to reserve duty and out defending our land.
When we're cooking for said meals (that's me grilling), we make a little extra as a nice treat and deliver to a celiac soldier whose gluten-free army grub is less than ideal.
In wartime, the most trivial things turn into defiant acts of Zionism. Our economy is hurting. Just going to the supermarket or the fruit stand is our small part in keeping our beloved country going.
Last week I celebrated at my friend's son's Bar Mitzvah, which didn't go as planned, but was nonetheless a raucous celebration of his coming of age, of our tradition, of our land.
Focus on family and supporting the wife and kids is always my main thing, even more so now. That's my role here in a nutshell.
We are so blessed. I am here, getting amazing quality time with my family, all sorts of extra hugs and cuddles. So so so many of our brothers and sisters are not - either tragically never will again, or will be missing husbands/dads/sons (mostly men; we do have one female friend who volunteered to serve) for probably many months. My last post was on the 20th anniversary of my 3:43 performance in the Chicago Marathon! We're running, as my kids would say, a super-muper marathon.
Our evil incarnate enemy that we seek to destroy doesn't have to worry about scaling their startups, or developing their social services. They have an economy of death and destruction that's given a blank check by the likes of Iran and Qatar.
Our effort to destroy them means so many of our software engineers, teachers, you name it have to hit pause on all that to focus their skills, talents and genius against the evil.
Hey enemies - we're not only smarter than you, better than you, we're also WAY better at multi-tasking than you. Those loving fathers and husbands spread love to their families, students, coworkers. And yea, kick tuchus (to quote my wife) on the battlefield.
Yedidia Stern's suggestion to call this the Genesis War.
My friend Sara Hirschhorn on the rotten state of affairs on campuses. About that, 20+ years ago at Michigan, I got treated to a weekly diatribe against Israel disguised as an "Op-ed" in the student paper, hateful anti-Israel protests, and the big winner: someone took a key to Israel on the globe at the Ugli (undergrad library) and wiped it out, then did the same with a marker in the atlas.
My classmates back then probably have their own kids now in the same dorms and classrooms, with a decades-long heaping of anti-Semitism surely leading them to celebrate evil incarnate.
As for the Samantha Woll (we overlapped at U of M) murder investigation, it seems WAY too convenient for that to be coincidental in a metro area awash with Hamas celebrations. I hope I'm wrong (how awful is that to hope for a random murder), but I highly doubt it.
So much attention has justly been placed on our murdered and kidnapped babies and children. University of Haifa professor Issi Doron, a huge leader in Israel's gerontology world and an elder law expert, has started Older Lives Matter, an initiative to shine light on the older adult victims of Hamas crimes.
Along with the prior running recommendation to read David Horovitz pieces on Times of Israel, I recommend everything by:
If you do take my recommendation and financially support Times of Israel, I'd love to hear that you did. They are doing such crucial wartime work and, again, really deserve it.
I'll wrap up with a very timely Israeli love song, from Danny Sanderson - in my eyes Israel's Paul McCartney, the brainchild behind Kaveret, the closest thing we had to The Beatles. This one goes out to the love of my life:
לא יפריד דבר בינינו לעד גם אם העולם ייפסק ביום אחד מקומי תמיד יהיה לצידך לאורך כל הדרך אני אהובך
את תמיד היית הכל בשבילי בזכותך למדתי מה ומי אני מתנה כזאת של פעם בחיים צריך לשמור עליה עולמי עולמים
הנהר סוחף אותנו ישא אין לדעת לאן או את אורכו של המסע וכשנגיע אומר בוודאי זו הנסיעה של חיי
גשר מזהב סלול אל ליבך מחבר את שנינו בכל אשר נלך ברוחות הקור סופות וגשמים אני צמוד אלייך עולמי עולמים
הנהר סוחף אותנו ישא...
לא יפריד דבר בינינו לעד...
Nothing will ever keep us apart
Even if the world ends in one day (it certainly has felt like the world is ending twice now in our last few years together - Covid and now this war)
Thank you again so much for the incredible waves upon waves of support, far and wide. That includes everyone who's calling my mom to check in. It means so much to me and my family.
My wife mentioned yesterday that an Israeli Rabbi had suggested including the Avinu Malkeinu (Our Father, Our King) prayer during this war. Anyone who's been to services for the High Holy Days (Rosh Hashana - the new year, and Yom Kippur - the day of atonement), knows - and feels - the famous, melancholy minor melody.
At Rosh HaShana the year I made aliyah (emigrated) to Israel, hosted by my friend Mordechai McKenney at his Jerusalem yeshiva (Jewish academy of learning), I adopted my first-ever favorite verse: אבינו מלכנו, הרם קרן ישראל עמך - Our Father, Our King, raise high the pride of Israel, Your people.
As I met the love of my life, the most incredible person I've ever met, and we subsequently created our beautiful family with the addition of our native Israeli kids, I changed that to: אבינו מלכנו, מלא ידינו מברכותיך - Our Father, Our King, fill our hands from Your blessings.
Reading these prayers yesterday, I totally lost it. Especially this one: אבינו מלכנו, קבל ברחמים וברצון את תפילתנו - Our Father, Our King, accept - with compassion and favor - our prayer.
I lift my head to Hashem, G-d, please, accept these prayers with compassion and favor.
--
Thank G-d we're doing fine.
The soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces need your prayers.
I know many of these guys quite closely. I know of no one in the world who I would rather have to fight this war, to defeat this evil incarnate, rearing its ugly head - again - in 2023.
Hamas won the first day, one of the most mind-boggling series of failures any government and military command have ever made. There were inspirational stories of heroism among the endless stories of horrors of horrors.
But as one man who successfully defended his small town said - in the Middle East, you can't rely on good defense. This ain't the San Antonio Spurs with a "defense wins championship" motto. So we will come after you now and win this war.
In every prior conflict with Hamas in Gaza, we have been too surgical. We let this cancer fester for too long.
--
Back to that failure of our leadership.
In early 2021, the Economist ran a special podcast dubbed The Jab, about the COVID-19 vaccine release. Every week, I took so much pride when their musical chart sounding out who had most swiftly vaccinated their populations had my little Israel at #1, every week. We protected our older adults, our women and then our children, like no other country in the world.
2 and a half years later, this happened to our women, our children, and our older adults.
But again back to those IDF soldiers. That's where my trust is when the leaders failed us.
But now Bibi, and Yoav Gallant must redeem themselves and win this war. Thank G-d they brought on another experienced voice of reason from the opposition in Benny Gantz.
--
Allow me to frame this war for you. This is the continuation of the War of Independence from 75+ years ago. We came here to create the reborn state for the Jewish people in our eternal homeland. And we're still fighting to keep it.
Hamas truly believes that they are on the cusp of killing us all, or if that fails, of driving whoever's left out of our homeland crying and screaming. They are dead wrong.
As for the perfectly blessed distraction of my remarkable Texas Rangers, dominating their way into their third ever ALCS (semifinals for the non-baseball types), I have been waiting four and a half decades to see my favorite team bring home their first ever title. Hamas thinks I won't make it that long. (Don't have any illusions though, anywhere I would be in the world, they'd want me dead there too. Let's all put up another prayer to keep my people safe worldwide).
Now go put up your prayers and we'll all prove this pure evil wrong together. (And no, I have no illusions - as amazing as Texas has been, this still may not be their year). But they're giving me a dang good ride! Adolis kept providing my kids with great material in Game 3 - the Rolling Stones tongue and the finger shimmy!!!
And back to reality... since the last post, my friend's brother-in-law fell in battle, valiantly defending Sderot.
--
Now, a word for anyone who's confused, doesn't know who to believe, etc.
This is a battle between good and evil incarnate (big surprise - those are the ones who lie). There's nothing to equivocate about. You wanna equivocate? Go do that in your own little Equivocating about Israel club and please get out of my way.
I am nauseated to even have to waste my energy typing this, but, well, the world hates Jews, so here goes: We have a friend who's a nurse in the pediatric ER of a hospital in the south. She saw the most unthinkable, unimaginable horrors there since Saturday. We're telling the truth, they're lying murderers. Simple as that.
--
So now we brace for what's not gonna be a short war. We pray for miracles of a swift defeat. But today is already the symbolic-around-here day 6 (ala the miraculous victory in 1967), and this war hasn't started yet.
Please keep writing! If I don't respond, know that I feel your love and appreciate it so much.
Israel's national worst nightmare has come to pass. There are no words to describe it.
The support of friends and family has brought me to the verge of tears. We feel your love and really need it right now.
I don't have a ton to say other than thank you! And thanks also to my Texas Rangers, whose futility as a franchise has been a big part of my life for most of the life of the franchise. They and my family are about the only thing keeping me sane, with two HUGE wins in Baltimore, the first interspersed with the worst day of my dear country's history.
I've been using my sports teams as a distraction from geopolitical tension for decades, and it's given me some amazing excitement to share with the kids (we watch the highlights together the next day - lots of Rangers highlights these days, as well as Michigan football this season).
Watching the highlights (the games I just listen to on the radio feed, especially enjoying the local legend Eric Nadel, calling Rangers games since I was born) takes me to this surreal parallel universe, where life is normal right now.
And then I go back to following what's happening (all you really need to read is David Horovitz's columns on Times of Israel - he is an amazing man (was lucky to meet him twice) and journalist. If you're able to support the website financially, they deserve it in a big way). So far I've heard of the nephew of someone who goes to my synagogue being killed in battle. And a friend's colleague's family of 5, all murdered. And a former colleague's husband recovering in the hospital after being wounded and undergoing surgery.
And I dread when I'll (probably) hear of someone I know first-hand...
Anyway, my son is calling me to go watch the Game 2 highlights! It's been a busy day - I still haven't seen Mitch Garver's grand slam!!!
Lots of love and here's to the win that actually matters: a swift victory by my brothers and sisters in the Israel Defense Forces over Hamas and their evil brethren. Amen
P.S. My son's favorite part was Adolis's chest bump and fist kiss (cued up here) after his RBI hit in the 2nd
סוף הקיץ. הקייטנות נגמרות. חופשות. הילדים משתגעים.
במרכזי יום לאזרחים ותיקים, פשוט עובדים כל השנה. אין דבר כזה חופשת קיץ. כשהצגתי תכנית עבודה לליאור שטרסברג, מנכ"ל עמותת מטב (ובהיות מטב ארגון גדול ומקצועי בתחום הסיעוד והזיקנה, ליאור הוא אחד האנשים המובילים בארץ בתחום) הוא שאל אותי - "אם תפתח את מרכז יום מצפה רמון בשבת, יגיעו?" תהיתי לשתי שניות, ועניתי "בהחלט". זה שירות חיוני ומתן השירות ללא ספק מהווה פיקוח נפש. חברתי לעבודה בעבר, רויטל סגרון יעקב, תמצאתה את החיוניות של מרכזי היום בפוסט בפייסבוק מהשבוע ועל ההשפעה האדירה של המרכזים על עשרות אלפי אזרחים ותיקים.
אני עם צוות מרכז יום נהורה לפני כמעט 20 שנה
אף אחד לא ביקש את השניקל שלי לגבי השביתה של מרכזי יום ברחבי הארץ שנערכה שלשום 15/8, אבל החלטתי לרשום את דעתי בכל זאת. במשך 7 שנים, שמיטה שלמה, ניהלתי שני מרכזי יום מאוד שונים: ב-2015-2017 את מרכז היום הגדול של העמותה למען הקשיש בית שמש, וב-2017-2021 את המרכז הרב תחומי בהפעלת עמותת מטב במצפה רמון. אני גאה לציין שכוח העל שלי בתפקיד היה ניהול תקציב.
באחד הימים מספר חודשים לפני סוף התקופה שלי במצפה, בעקבות עיכוב בקבלת הארכת אישור כיבוי אש (סיפור ארוך ומתסכל), נאלצנו לסגור ליום אחד את המרכז. עבורי זה היה השפל של כל 7 השנים. הזוג שמפקידים להגיע כל יום נאלצו לאכול כוסות מנה חמה (ועוד הרבה סיפורים עצובים) בגלל פשלה אדמיניסטרטיבית. נשבר לי הלב.
כל מרכזי היום ברחבי הארץ סגרו את הדלתות בסגר הראשון של הקורונה באביב 2020 לכמעט 3 חודשים. לא היה צורך בשום מחקר כדי להבין - האזרחים הוותיקים הלכו אחרת אחרי התקופה הזו - אם עד אז הגיעו כל יום למרכז יום והשתתפו בחוג פעילות גופנית, אכלו ארוחות בצוותא עם חבריהם, תפסו תאוצה של שנים כדי להגיע למצב פיזי מסוים; אז ברור שהם הלכו לאחור בגדול בגלל המצאיות הבודדת שהפכה תוך לילה אחד למציאות החדשה.
אמנם מדובר שלשום על שביתת אזהרה בת יום אחד, אבל כל יום ללא הבית השני של מבקרי המרכזים מזיק. מאוד.
לכן הסקירה הדלה בלשון המעטה של התקשורת על יום השביתה חסר התקדים ממש מכאיב ומכעיס. בחיפוש גוגל אין שום פולו-אפ מאז יום השביתה. (כמעט) כאילו לא קרה. האמת כואבת - אנחנו חיים בחברה גילנית מאוד, שכמעט ולא מתעניין בכלל במצב הלא יציב של מרכזי היום - מסגרת קסומה ששינתה אין ספור חיים של גם עשרות אלפי מקבלי השירות וגם צוותי המרכזים. אישית, התקופה שלי כמתנדב במרכז היום במושב נהורה ובבית פרנקפורטר בירושלים ב-2005 ללא ספק גרמה לי להחליט לעלות לארץ כדי להביא ערך מוסף לאזרחים ותיקים ישראלים. מליאת התפקיד במשך 7 שנים היה חלום מטורף שלי מבחינה ציונית ובתור בעל תואר שני בגרונטולוגיה מאוני' בן גוריון.
להלן המסקנות שלי על "השביתה לאן":
1. ישראל חייבת. דחוף.למסד גוף שידאג לאוכלוסייה המבוגרת בסגנון ה-AARP האמריקאית. מהדף בקישור - העמותה הזו מסנגרת עבור הנושאים הבוערים ביותר של אזרחים ותיקים ומשפחותיהם: ביטחון בריאותי, יציבות כלכלית, ומימוש עצמי. העמותה נלחמת בחזית מול נבחרי הציבור ודואגת שאזרחים ותיקים לא יישארו מאחור, כמו שנשארו בגדול בארץ שלשום, ובכלל.
ישראל אמנם חוקקה ב-1988 חוק מדהים, חוק סיעוד, שאומר שהמדינה תדאג לכל אזרח ותיק שזקוק למטפל/ת סיעודי/ת, והכניס לחוק את מרכזי היום, ועוד דירבנה אזרחים ותיקים לצאת מהבית למרכז יום תמורת 2 (או 2.75) שעות של חוק סיעוד, כשעוד מקבלים יום עשיר של 6 שעות. אבל זה לא מספיק.
חוסר העניין באיתנות של מרכזי היום זה סימפטום. החברה הישראלית לוקחת את מגמת הגילנות (ageism) הרווחת במערב, ומוסיפה את ההידור של החייל בן ה-18-21, אשר מוסיף לדריסת מעמד זקני השבט, האנשים שהקימו את המדינה. גוף מקביל ל-AARP נחוץ ביותר כדי לדאוג שנבחרי הציבור יתמכו במסגרת הקסומה של מרכזי יום ועוד אין ספור מיזמים חשובים.
2. מרכזי היום לא יכולים להרשות לעצמם להתבייש לגייס משאבים. תופעה כזו קיימת פחות או יותר, יותר או פחות - תלוי בגוף המפעיל.
זורק פה רעיון - לגייס תורם גדול שמעוניין בזיקנה ובאיכות הסביבה. מגייס תרומה עבור התקנת פאנלים סולאריים על גגי מרכזי היום (לפחות בשני המרכזים שניהלתי, מתאים מאוד). התורם מבסוט שתרם לאיכות הסביבה, וגם לאיתנות הכלכלית של שירות חיוני שנמצא בקשיים. ומרכז היום לא רק מוריד סעיף תקציבי של חשבון החשמל, אלא מרוויח כל חודשיים "משכורת" מחברת החשמל על החשמל שהוא מוכר חזרה אליה. ואם המבנה שייך לרשות המקומית, אפשר להסתדר עם זה, הרי כולם תמיד אוהבים Win-win.
בונים קומה חדשה? הגג תפוס? אז אולי לבדוק תרומת רכב חשמלי לטובת ההסעות. כולם חוסכים בדלק, ויהיה אפשר לנשום יחסית לרווחה (תרתי משמע).
יש עוד מלא אופציות דומות כדי לשפר את המצב הכלכלי של המרכזים.
3. יש לי עוד מה להגיד. מי שמעוניינים, אפשר לבקש את ההמשך ב-WhatsApp או במייל.
חודש טוב ושבת שלום
נ.ב. אני עובד כבר כמה חודשים בהייטק ונהנה שם מאוד מאוד.
It all begins with visits to my grandparents in Ohio, and their visits to us in Texas. I especially connected with Poppa, whose smile here radiates his essence. Fun-loving, positive, gregarious, he showered us with love, and he had this Yiddishe neshama - a real Jewish soul. I adored him.
He passed away when I was 12, leaving me grandparent-less.
I filled that void at 18 in a first-year Psychology seminar at the University of Michigan called "Late Life Potential", and then at almost 19 when I fortuitously decided to join a Hillel (the major Jewish organization on college campuses) Alternative Spring Break at the Lieberman Center for Health and Rehabilitation in Skokie, IL (I continued as the site leader of this trip the next two years). Those volunteer trips cemented my future direction working alongside like-minded people to strive for the greater good of older adults.
It took a year out of college to cement that direction, but when my friend (and prior participant from one of those Chicago volunteer trips) Jaime Goldberg got a promotion at Little Brothers - Friends of the Elderly (Chicago branch), she told me to apply for her position as a Program Assistant there. That was 20 years ago, the summer of 2003.
I fell in love immediately with making elder care my full-time position - visiting predominantly African American and Latina older adults across the South Side (also coordinating the NPO's food bag program for seniors in need). Their story of urban music and culture deepened and personalized the connection to jazz and blues that my father gave me. Christine Bertrand, the Intergenerational Coordinator at Little Brothers and "adoptive mother" of the Program Assistants, was a true ambassador to the world of elder care, relentlessly encouraging us newbies to stick around in the field and make a career out of it. Needless to say, I heeded that call.
The next year took me to volunteer mostly at adult day centers in Israel on OTZMA, a 10-month program bringing young North Americans to Israel. I was exposed to a model that is far more widely adapted here in Israel than in the US, which was simply magical. Older adults in need of any number of things were able to join their peers, play dominoes, sculpt with clay and do other artwork, travel the country (we went together to the Dead Sea), eat two delicious meals a day, and just celebrate life! The directors of the two centers that welcomed me (Avi Entebbe in Moshav Nehora and Sima Zini at Beit Frankforter in Jerusalem) seemed otherworldly in their commitment to their participants' wellbeing.
When I returned to the US, I settled into a great position at a spinoff of Little Brothers called H.O.M.E. - Housing Opportunities and Maintenance for the Elderly - Volunteer Coordinator and Program Assistant under the Program Director Jan Takehara. I deepened my connection to minority populations in Chicago. But one Shavuot (the Jewish holiday that is (from Aish.com) "ironically a little-known holiday, given that it commemorates the single most important event in Jewish history – the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai"), I forgot to check my calendar and had scheduled a recruiting session for new clients for our weatherization program, which helped to keep apartments and houses warm in the winter. My recruiting efforts took place at an event put together by a nun, whose Caucasian-ness just stood out so starkly in a room of over 100 African American older adults. This nun gave her life and soul to enhance the lives of her beneficiaries.
Shortly thereafter, I got stuck in Houston on the way to staffing a Jewish youth group Shabbaton (weekend event). As my plane-mates were freaking out about the inexplicable delay, I worked on various exercises from the job-search book "What Color is Your Parachute?" I ended up gaining the longly-awaited clarity I had been searching for: I was meant to pursue a career in elder care in Israel, serving my people, those who overcame unthinkable challenges in order to found our reborn national homeland.
15 years ago, July 2008, I left behind what seemed like a good stable job at H.O.M.E. and made aliyah (lit. ascended to / immigrated) to Israel. A number of months later, that position was eliminated due to the global financial crisis's impacts on their fundraising efforts.
I pursued a Master's in Gerontology at Ben-Gurion University in the Negev - offering me the basics (Hebrew vocabulary in the elder care field), as well as amazing knowledge from the coursework, and connections to classmates and faculty that would prove priceless.
My first full-time position was at Project La'ad (forever) of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Office for Senior Citizens (which has moved around a bunch in Israel's government since). I was the South region coordinator, helping train and supervise volunteers helping with rights clarification and documenting of life stories for Holocaust survivors. I especially enjoyed my work as the client-facing lead in distributing emergency funding to survivors in great financial need, as well as learning the nooks and crannies of my enormous geographic region, from Ashdod all the way to Eilat, our southernmost city.
After a relatively brief stint of underemployment, my friend Louis Miller found a Yediot Acharonot (newspaper) ad for the position of Director of the prominent Adult Day Center in Beit Shemesh. After my experience volunteering under Avi and Sima, this opportunity to try to emulate them was no less than a dream job! My two years there were followed by five more in the same position in Mitzpe Ramon at Matav, the country's leading elder care non-profit, a very professional organization specializing in home health care, but also with a huge footprint in the field of adult day center management across the country.
I was blessed to work with amazing staff members, doing incredibly holy work to serve the centers' participants. I put my stamp on these centers' services. I always remembered that Marion Perlmutter course at Michigan - Late Life Potential - and that served as a compass for my vision of these centers. A programming highlight was my fellow Dallasite and neighbor over the last several years brewing a batch of beer and giving a seminar and tasting in Mitzpe Ramon.
After two years of managing the Mitzpe Ramon center under the COVID-19 pandemic (during which zero of our participants contracted the virus), and all of the resulting personal and family costs, it was time to find the next challenge.
A close friend and former lecturer in graduate school, Doron Sagi, is doing amazing work as we speak to try to make the Gerontologist into more of a brand name in Israel. But as my search dragged on, my networking, multiple interviews for interesting positions, self-reflection and inventory of my strengths and fields that I didn't excel in failed to lead me to the next promised land, and my degree only reliably opened one door (to be a professional worker at a home health care agency, performing home visits and doing the paperwork for new caregivers - which I tried out, meeting incredible staff and older adults at Matav Arad, but which definitely did not play to my strengths)...
I decided to move on and try out some other pastures.
My hats go off to Doron and everyone else who is fighting to make our degree a more reliable source for return on investment. But I have a mortgage to pay. Right now. And then next month, and the month after that.
So I will soon (belatedly) update about that exciting next step. But today I thank each and every mentor, colleague, boss, staff member, lecturer in university and many other courses, and especially all of the older adults who bequeathed me such great wisdom that they amassed over their decades roaming the earth. I wouldn't trade these two decades for the world.
Hi Dad, Today's your 10th Hebrew yahrtzeit/אזכרה (anniversary of your passing). I can't believe you've been gone for a decade. When you passed away, your fellow University of North Texas alum Marc Johnson's album "The Sound of Summer Running" was in Mom's car. Tradition is against this (תסלח לי ה'), but his song Union Pacific came on as Mom and I pulled into your funeral. I eulogized you with this what I'm pretty sure you would have called "tasty" tune bouncing around in my step, fitting in my mind for the most optimistic person I ever met. I think it sounds a lot like your soul/נשמה (neshama). I put some words to it for this occasion. You always took care of composing songs and providing us with our soundtrack, but sometimes you left the words to me (I wonder who named your songs Masa and Shalva). Sorry I didn't rhyme though - think you'll dig it anyway. I remember like it was yesterday relating my dating frustrations to you as we crossed the Trinity River in the Turkey Trot. I kept looking for my perfect wife thanks to your love and faith and belief in me, which you expressed to me that day, and always. On the way to work yesterday I pictured you playing the piano at our wedding, instead of an anonymous, if quite talented pianist. And I cried. What I would do for an evening around the piano with Racheli and the kids, Mom, Amy and her family. I can only imagine how much you would be raving about all of us.
You used to pop into my dreams every so often. Haven't seen you there in ages. I miss you with all my heart. On your first 2 yahrtzeits I put together memorial events with friends; both years I played breakup songs that (although that's awkward) really reflected my pain. Posting those YouTubes below. "Less, but it still hurts..." :I'll never get over you..."
Love you Dad!
-----------------------------
Wrapped up
Running the Turkey Trot
8 miles around Downtown Big D
We’re running the Trot
My hopes were runnin’ low on that cold Thanksgiving Day
Never forget it
“Don’t worry I know you’ll find her”
Wrapped up in all your love, all your faith, your belief I got something to give to that lucky lady somewhere
Looking far and wide
Even crossed the ocean lookin for that heart
Then I met my love
She had me cracking up 1 minute into the very first date
Check out that smile
Can’t believe you never met her
Wrapped up in all your love, all your faith, your belief I got something to give to that lucky lady right
here
Halleluyah I just love her so much
Even forgave me when I drove to the WRONG ER
With all that love you gave me,
I just have to pass it all right on
To these kiddos who we made
She’s the best wife and mom
We’re so blessed and she gets more beautiful every single darn day
How does she do that?
Oh my G-d you would have loved her
Wrapped up in all your love, all your faith, your belief I got something to give to my רחלוש she’s right here
Today we remember. Yom HaZikaron, our extremely somber Memorial Day. Two sirens (by night and by day), during a total of three bone-chilling minutes. We remember all of our citizens murdered in terrorist attacks, all of our soldiers who fell in battle. Over 26,000 Jews killed by those who wish we weren't here.
We remember all of our brothers and sisters.
But so much of the world forgets, whether intentionally or not. They forget that where we leave (South Lebanon, Gaza), in return we receive tens of thousands of rockets. I don't wish it on anyone to have to hear a different kind of siren, giving you notice to run to shelter, because a terrorist fired a rocket in the direction of your town.
The closest it has hit home for us is our sister-in-law's brother, who fell in 1991 in Lebanon (here's Ronen's story, for Hebrew readers). Most Israelis are only one or two degrees of separation away from having lost a loved one in war or terrorist attacks.
Israel remembers her fallen.
And now we'll switch to party mode for Independence Day - Yom HaAtzmaut.
We live in the coolest country in the world.
Exhibit א: Omer Avital and his band of ridiculously cool cats (dare you to try not to smile/bop your head back at them) -
Exhibit ב: a dad (Hanan Ben Ari) says to his kvetchy daughter, "we can't complain, our life is Tutim" (strawberries).
Exhibit ג: Moroccan Woman, Beit Shemesh-based bluesman Lazer Lloyd's ode to his North African wife.
In what I consider one of the greatest traditions in Jewish musical history, we're hoping to catch ב and ג tonight in the Holy City of Jerusalem in our millenia-old, renewed homeland. Those are just 2 of hundreds of artists playing around the country tonight FOR FREE to toast a happy 68th to our amazing, diverse, crazy country.
I'll add to the list from Yom HaAtzmauts past:
2005: David Broza (with fireworks going off of the roof of the building where we lived!)
2010: Beit HaBubot, Monica Sex
2012: that time when I missed Mati Caspi
2013: Avraham Tal, Mati Caspi
2014: Udi Davidi
2015: Karolina
I received some serious inspiration from both this incredible diary entry from Israel's first election in 1949, and then a visit to the one-and-only Ester Golan (a dear friend from Jerusalem's Cafe Europa where I used to volunteer). Ester has now voted in all 19 of Israel's elections (!).
Here I am, aspiring to slowly catch up with Ester by voting for my second time. I took the lead of the author of the above journal entry and said the Shechiyanu prayer before placing my envelope into the old-school ballot box. What an incredible honor to take part in the Jewish state's election, to do so while wearing my grandpa's ring!
My first time around, I was both more confident in my vote and more public in even writing about it in the Chicago Jewish News (and of course my old blog). This time I'll answer with the "no comment" approach.
I once again immensely enjoyed taking part in this year's campaign. Without a doubt the most hilarious moment was this Eretz Nehederet parody of a disgustingly racist ad by the Sefardi Ultra-Orthodox Shas party.
On a more meaningful note, Ben-Gurion University organized a massive get out the vote program by bringing most of the major parties' leaders to campus for lectures and panel discussions. My two central takeaways were the Yesh Atid party's Yaakov Peri calling not to move towards a marriage with the West Bank leadership of the Palestinians, but rather a divorce. And a Tnuah representative urged the student body to vote: "A political party isn't a pair of pants or a shirt--there's no such thing as a perfect fit." His plea to the students was to shy away from small parties. I'm all for the Israeli electorate settling into larger parties in order to ensure greater governmental stability.
Election Day is a national holiday, which made it easy to make my return trip to my old haunts of Jerusalem's Baka neighborhood to vote. My Jerusalem bus to make my way back to Beer Sheva took me right by the Knesset--I put up a little "G-dspeed" for my party and its representatives to do me proud in the 19th incarnation of the Knesset.
And now I'll go back to 2012, which wrapped up with quite a bit of bad news for my family:
Albert Oscar Brotkin, 3/18/1948 - 12/25/2012. A pure, happy soul who spread a lot of laughter and smiles, who loved his family (especially his great-nephews Jake and Ben), blackjack, and his Cincinnati Reds. Mom and Amy were there to bury him in Dayton next to his parents. יהי זכרו ברוך- may his memory be a blessing.
And my sister Amy's eulogy:
Uncle Al, you were always a very positive force in my life. Growing up with you as my uncle was a very special experience. You taught me to appreciate the simple things in life. You were always kind, loving and silly--and gave the best hugs.
I hadn't seen you in several years, but the boys and I truly enjoyed our phone conversations with you. Hearing your voice on the other end of the line always lifted my spirits. I'm sorry you didn't get to see Jake again and meet Ben.
--
Then a few days later, we lost our cousin Toker, my "host father" during my year on OTZMA. I left his funeral at the family's Kibbutz Urim cemetery so grateful that I heard about and decided to come to Israel on OTZMA eight years ago. That lent me the opportunity to get to know the side of my family that came to Israel instead of America. Toker taught me a ton of Hebrew, even more "Israeli-ness," ragged on me in 2006 after my Mavs choked against the Heat (אתם לוזרים-atem luzerim - as it looks: "you're losers"), was such a proud tour guide of his kibbutz, had a huge heart (I sat next to him when he saw on the news that his friend's daughter was killed in a terrorist attack in Sinai during my OTZMA year--he squealed in pain for his friend's family), and was just a super cool, fun guy. He left a gaping hole in his family here, but we will always remember him fondly.
I've done plenty of catching up at too many celebratory events to count. But I'll take a step even farther back and now recount an important story from the time when Dad was sick:
Some things you just don't procrastinate
I flew to Dallas between grad school semesters almost two years ago to visit my very sick dad. The day I flew back to Israel, he lost vision in his eye. A few days later we learned the cancer had spread to his eye, and that he was no longer eligible to continue in his clinical trials. The doctor said he'd have two good months during which he could scratch some travel destinations off his to-do list. As such, I planned a return visit about a month later.
In what can only be called השגחה פרטית- hashgacha pratit: G-d becoming involved on a personal level in my life, I encountered Doron, a PhD student in my department, at his farewell party before traveling to Australia for his post-doc (we had previously enjoyed practicing our new languages on each other by the water cooler). We headed together to the bus stop to catch the bus to Jerusalem. There was a suspicious item on the bus we were supposed to catch and so it never left the central bus station, which led to a 45-minute wait for the next bus. With all that time to talk, I told him about my dad's situation.
Doron said immediately and adamantly: "You're waiting too long. You need to move the ticket up and go see your dad. This will have a huge effect on your life; it'll even impact your relationship with your kids."
It sounded at first a bit over dramatic--I believed pretty blindly in modern medicine and Dad's doctor's prognosis and timeline. But when I got home to Jerusalem that night, I moved up my ticket by a week.
In the end, I was able to be there for and with my sweet dad, thanks to Doron, for the last full week when Dad was himself, including when he said, "I've had enough fun to last the entirety of the universe." The day of my original ticket was the beginning of a serious downhill slide.
So now I've finally fulfilled my promise to Doron to get this story out. You just can't procrastinate the essential things in life!
Israel's life expectancy is fifth longest in the world (for males, second only to Switzerland). This year I was too busy at work to join the Asperger's Taglit group I staffed three previous winters, but they got some great press in the Times of Israel. Israel, which for many years has been parched by the Middle Eastern sun and suffered many winters of drought, went for a nice binge drink a couple weeks back. Here are some spectacular snow pictures, and this piece includes some more.
On that note, I'll have to call it a note as the laptop battery is going fast. The voting booths will be locked up at the end of the hour, and then the fun will just begin.
Merry Christmas to all my friends and readers celebrating!
Here in Beer Sheva, we don't get this holiday off, so you'll find me tonight at a training session for new volunteers for Project La'ad at Ben-Gurion University, and tomorrow laying the groundwork to expand our program for the benefit of the Holocaust survivors in nearby Kiryat Malachi and recruiting new student volunteers at Achva College.
Last week, my program brought volunteers from across the country to Jerusalem for a tour of Yad Vashem. This was the second of my nine tours of Israel's national Holocaust museum led in Hebrew, and as always, I picked up some new vocab:
נצר / netzer = stem, shoot.
This is a special usage referring to the lone survivor of an entire family. Our tour guide told us that Yad Vashem knows of 114 such last stems of their family tree who fell in Israel's War of Independence.
Our tour guide also emphasized a list of numbers of Jews by country, compiled during the Wannsee Conference and its Final Solution, a.k.a. extermination of Europe's Jewish population. The list included Estonia, with its relatively insignificant population of a few thousand Jews. So now our job as part of Project La'ad is to reach as many of Israel's roughly 230,000 survivors as possible in clarifying their rights, documenting their life stories in Project LeDorot (a joint program with Yad VaShem), and through a friendly visiting program--all without missing a single town, no matter how small its population of survivors.
At the end of the tour, where the main exhibit opens up to the spectacular rolling Jerusalem foothills, with a group of students from Ein Gedi who recently joined Project La'ad.
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Speaking of powerful, Dov Lipman's piece here gives plenty of motivation to continue my dad's convivial attitude in greeting everyone he saw with a smile and a 100% genuine "how are you?".
Here's a really powerful Harvard Business Review piece about honesty and making day-to-day decisions with integrity (thanks to my co-aunt (urbandictionary.com's term for my sister's sister-in-law) Jenny).
Dave Brubeck and sitar legend Ravi Shankar left the world in the same week. In addition to catching Brubeck with Dad, thanks to Michigan's University Musical Society, which brought Shankar to Hill Auditorium (and gave students a crazy discount for good measure), I ended that rough week for the music world feeling extremely grateful to have seen both those, among so many other, legends in concert.
Peace and love from the capital of the Negev!
אריק/Eric
The war (עופרת עמוד ענן/Oferet Amud Anan- Operation Pillar of Defense) started as far as I was concerned when I got the following text from my boss:
חיסלו את מפקד החמאס אז תזהר.. בטח יהיו נפילןת [sic]
The Hamas commander was killed so watch out...there are gonna be rocket hits
From there I underwent the longest 17 hours of my life with 20 sirens, made it to Jerusalem (where I was interviewed on WGN), and all the way north to Carmiel, the bag I packed for a week and a half lasted me exactly the correct duration, and then a couple weeks ago I got back home to the South.
Everything, believe it or not, is back to normal. It certainly was odd to report on my timesheet for that "Rocket Thursday" I couldn't get to the office because of war. Anyone reading here ever had to report that on their timesheet???
But I am thrilled to be back in the Beer Sheva I love, that of the pool, the free concert series where I was thrilled to see Peter Rot, one of my favorite singer-songwriters, the weekend spectacular moonlight hike that the student association put together at Yerucham Lake to our south. And this week I've lit candles with some friends from the university. Life is good and I'm very busily back to work.
The incredibly Koby Mandell Foundation opened up its Comedy for Koby shows to Southern Israel residents--I made the trip to Jerusalem for my free show, but will certainly be a regular attendee and help fund raise for their future shows. A friend and former colleague from work at Masa reviewed the show as part of her job at the Jerusalem Post. As Rachel reported- Named for 13-year-old Koby Mandell who was killed by terrorists in 2001, its biannual shows help raise funds for activities benefiting Israelis who have lost loved ones to terrorism. Check out the Foundation's website--I especially enjoyed this list of Koby's favorite jokes.
חנוכה שמח/Chanuka sameach- Happy Chanuka! I enjoyed Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks' basic historical piece on Jewish celebration of this holiday.
Israel's nurses are on strike for the ninth day, sending shock waves throughout the country and the health care system. As the son of a nurse in her fourth decade in the field, it hurt to read the scathing picture this Israeli nurse painted of her work conditions (written very clearly for the layman, for the Hebrew readers among you).
Dad--you missed my performance of RSVP for your אזכרה/azkara - memorial last spring, but I'll keep learning your music and give you a nice show upstairs. The Jazz 101 course you taught me was front-loaded with Brubeck. Your enjoyment for his odd time-signatures and unique voice, which so clearly left its mark on yours, passed to me immediately when you got me into his stuff when I was in high school. And then we caught him live at Ravinia at their summer jazz festival, one of so many you came up to Chicago to enjoy with me.
Doctor Sekeres' New York Times blog post on cancer patients holding out for family visits or celebrations before succumbing to the disease hit home especially hard on a week when I received the heartbreaking news that another friend lost his mother to cancer.
Richard Behar, a financial journalist looking professionally from the outside in at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict proved himself extremely adept at presenting background on the situation.
Stevie Wonder let me down big time by succumbing to pressure and backing out on his LA concert for the Friends of the IDF. Stevie--if you're reading my blog :), I met you back on Martin Luther King Day in 2003 after you spoke and played at the Northwestern University MLK Day event. Then you urged Bush to stop the war in the Middle East. While I disagree with your decision to cancel your performance, I see that an IDF-related event might not be the best match for you. But I sure would love to see you find an alternative cause in Israel to support. We love you and need you Stevie!
