Oops! No Water

Like many Israeli suburban locations, our regional council thinks the way to our hearts/votes is with new sidewalks. We would have really preferred they return the bush shelters they replaced with holey tin cans.

Instead they have made our lives difficult, not only ripping out perfectly good sidewalks, but adding another to the other side of the street, which has narrowed the street. Many bus drivers have gotten stuck and refuse to drive by the house. They go a different way, which leaves waiting passengers in the lurch.

Besides that, there's the dirt and dust, and I almost broke my leg the other night. I hadn't realized that the sidewalk nearby had been ripped out, and I stepped into a mess in the dark.

And then yesterday, just as I was about to leave the house for Jerusalem, I tried to wash my hands and discovered that we had no water. I had heard the tractor at the front of my house, and had an awful feeling about it. I ran out and discovered that it had broken the water pipe to, davka, my house.

I ran back in and called the "municipal authorities." Thank Gd they were able to quickly send a plumber to make a temporary repair. If I hadn't been home, I never would have known about it to be honest. That is except for the mess in the yard...

Never dull, for sure.

When people are battling serious illness, I'm not going to get hyper hysterical over inconveniences. Please pray for a refuah shleimah, complete recovery for:
Miriam bat Chaya
Leeba Asnah bat Sara

Statistics Ok

Today, one of Israel's top surgeons was here for the annual "breast check." The female members of Kupat Cholim Le'umit have no excuse. The doctor comes here every year.

I mentioned to him something that had me worried. Three women on my street, same side of the street, have been diagnosed with breast cancer in recent years. OK, not all are the same age, and all grew up in very different parts of the world, but today, they're all on the same street. And it's my street.

He said that he looks at the bigger picture, all of the women in Shiloh, how many, what ages and how many have been diagnosed with breast cancer. That's where our statistics look perfectly fine to him.

Of course, we mustn't forget that statistics represent people. People get sick not numbers.

Please pray for a full speedy and complete recovery, refuah shleimah, for Yifat bat Dina, and all others in need.

Prayers, thanks and misc.

Let's start with the prayers for a refuah shleimah, a full and speedy recovery.

Gitel Chava bas Pesia, ~Sarah's~ mother
Gnaidel Malka bat Michle, a friend of mine
--v'she'ar cholei Yisrael

Thanks to Daf Notes for the excellent Havel Havelim, full of Divrei Torah.

This morning a group of "olei regel," pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem for Pesach passed through Shiloh. Pictures are here. It was a real event, as they let the local kids ride their donkeys. What a wonderful opening for this year's pre-Pesach camp, which is a tradition here for about 24 years. I remember when my daughter and her friends began it. They wouldn't take money, so one of the parents collected money and bought them gifts, the Koren Chumash-Siddur for Shabbatot.

Our local shul, the Beit Knesset Ramat Shmuel is very special. Besides being a local shul, it's well-known in the area for it's "late" mincha. Over the years I've benefited from it finding myself in rides straight the the shul which is in our backyard. Even though it's officially the Ashkenaz shul of Shiloh, our "shul board" is made up of a wide variety of Jews. For years the main gabbai was from Morocco, and now we have a "halabi" on the board, who with great enthusiasm has been fixing it up.



And now, back to cleaning....

Siyat D'Shmaya and Refuah Shleimah

Sometimes, it seems like we're not in control; G-d is. That's a simple definition of "Siyat D'Shmaya."

The other day, when I was waiting for a bus or ride to leave Shiloh, I heard friends talking about an ill neighbor, who's in a hospice. One of them had visited her and said that it's best not to do it alone, since it's rather upsetting. So I said:

"Let's go together on our day off."

And that's what we planned for today, to meet and go there after my "dip" in the pool.

So this morning I went down to wait for a ride to the pool. That's always stressful, since sometimes I end up waiting a long time, and the trip can be complicated in multiple stages.

After just a couple of minutes a car came going to Jerusalem, and I started getting in. I heard honking and turned around. I could see a neighbor trying to tell me something. She used to take me to the pool, but this year she had an everyday morning job.

It did seem clear that she was speaking to me. Could she really be saying:
"Braicha, pool?"

I got out and went to her car door. Yes, she was going to the pool. Baruch Hashem, thank G-d, we went. On the way I told her that I was planning to visit the sick neighbor, and she decided that she did, too and we'd go after the pool. So I called the other neighbor to tell her that I'd be going earlier and we'd meet at the hospice.

The pool was great, pretty empty between the rain and being pre-Pesach, so there were no lines for the showers.

We went off to the hospice, found it easily, went in and asked for our friend.
"We sent her to the hospital this morning; she wasn't feeling well, " the staff told us.

So please doven Refuah Shleimah for her and another friend who needs your prayers:

Chassida Rut bat Sarah
and Gnaidel Malka bat Michleh,

Tizku l'Mitzvot
May you merit more mtizvot

f2f at the fair and ...

First, and this part I'll cross-post on Shiloh Musings--
I'll be, G-d willing, at the International Book Fair tomorrow, that's Wednesday. I'll probably arrive after 1pm or so. I blogged about a f2f for jbloggers, but for some strange reason, I didn't get even a comment. I guess I'll be there for a few hours, unless it's a total waste. I'll go after the pool and after meeting a visiting friend for an early lunch.

I hope the Electric Company strike doesn't foul things up.


Yes, it's spring. You can tell by those flowers, which are suddenly beginning to bloom all over. Of course, it can always snow on Purim, which has happened every few years. Purim weather is very strange, sort or tricky, rather like the holiday itself. G-d calls the shots.

Two of the classes I teach are on their annual 3 day school trips, so I only taught two hours today instead of the usual six. The school changed the schedule, so the classes would be consecutive, rather than with a long break between, so I was able to get home for the weekly T'hilim Psalms reading we do. We share out the entire 150 chapters and dedicate it to the Refuah Shleimah, complete healing, also "match-making" and llui N'shmatom of the dead. After we finished I just had to photograph the sun as it went down over Ancient Shiloh.


And back to the "countdown" before Pesach. This is how my freezer looked when I came home from work today.

We're making progress, but there's still plenty in there.