Talking in Shul...

Chaviva, who is probably working on the latest Havel Havelim as I type this on my keyboard-- so please keep checking her blog so you'll be the first to see it-- wrote about one of her pet peeves, talking in shul (synagogue services.)

We are supposed to "talk" in shul, but we're only supposed to "talk" to G-d. That's what prayer is.  If you ask a rabbi the straight question of whether it's important to understand the prayers or mumble gibberish, you'll be told that you should understand what you're saying.  So if you take that question one step further and ask if you should pray from translation in order to understand the prayers, and have an easier time staying focused on them, most rabbis will tell you to use a bilingual siddur, prayerbook.

Just like the children who disturb in class and are discovered to have some learning problem that makes it hard to follow the teacher, many people who talk non-stop in shul just can't relate to the prayers.  Honestly, it's better to bring a good translation and come for a shorter time.

Prayers time isn't "social" time, and if you talk, you make it harder for others to concentrate.  If you're bringing young children, make sure they have quiet toys with them, not something that will disturb others.  And when the kids get bored, go out.

Our neighborhood Shiloh shul started Junior Congregation and has had a special Children's Kiddush for years already.  There is also a playground behind the shul near the ramp to the "extra" women's section for wheelchairs and baby carriages.

There's nothing educational in taking a young kid to shul where he screams:
"I wanna go home!"

Small spiritual doses are better than tiring the patience of all.  If you want a more social experience, join the crew who sets up the kiddush while the rest of us pray.  I did that when my kids were young.  Now I'm the nasty old lady who shushes.

Most Winter Days, I'd Like to Just Hibernate

I can really relate to the animals that spend the winter warmly hibernating, hiding from the cold and hiding from the food they would have to use to try to heat themselves up.  This winter is cold!  Don't let that blue sky fool you!

Thursday, dry and sunny

You can tell by the green that it's winter, but you'll have trust me about the temperature.  OK, maybe not everyone suffers from the cold as much as I do, but I do suffer.  My feet are numb.  I can't take walks most days, because the ground is so cold.  And I eat more, because I'm cold and hungry and cold and cold and freezing and keep hoping the food will warm me up.

For a few hours of the day, the sun does heat the house a bit.

We've had some sun showers recently.  Can you see the glistening rain?  I hope so.

Friday rain

I walked out during the drizzle to take that shot.  And do you know what frequently accompanies sun showers?

Rainbow, Friday afternoon before Shabbat

Yes, rainbows.  Rainbows are pretty, but you shouldn't think of them as "love letters" from G-d.  They are more like warnings that we should remember G-d's power to punish us.

The meteorologists had predicted rain from Wednesday until Shabbat. It did start raining on Wed, but then on Thursday after the Bibi-Barak team sent in their troops to Mitzpe Avichai to throw people out of their homes and destroy the property, the sun dried up all the rain clouds to punish us all.  We're one people, for good and for bad.

That Friday rainbow was a warning.

Now, how did I get politics onto this blog? Sometimes the posts write themselves.  All I had planned was a rant/kvetch about the cold.  I'm still cold!

G-d is Good!

I should make a series on this topic...

People frequently ask me how I get back home to Shiloh from work in Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin, when I have night shift.  Sha'ar Binyamin is a "shopping center" off of the "highway" that connects Jerusalem, Maale Adumim, Jericho,  Jordan Valley and the Benjamin and Samaria districts.  Its location is very central, as I hear from the various Jewish and Arab customers, but I can't wait for a ride home on the main road, and by the time I finish working buses don't enter. 

The store closes at 9:30pm, and then we straighten up for an average of twenty-thirty minutes before we're allowed to sign out and go home.

That means that I can't start looking for a ride among the Rami Levi customers until close to 10pm, when the store is emptying out.  The supermarket staff is very cooperative in helping us find rides to Shiloh, Ofra, Beit El, Kochav Yaakov, Adam etc.  But it can be stressful not knowing how or when we'll get home.  Some places have more of a chance for rides, because more neighbors shop in Rami Levi.  Davka, Shiloh is the most difficult, because fewer neighbors make a point of shopping there at night or making a special trip, since we're the furthest away.

There's a Jewish concept of Siyata d'Shmaya,  the Hand of G-d, and I describe my transportation system as that.  Twice in recent weeks, I saw the same neighbor checking out when I signed out after finishing my shift.  He even lives in my neighborhood, so he doesn't have to go out of his way to help me.  I don't just trust such Siyata d'Shmaya.  I usually send out an email to the Shiloh list asking that if anyone will be there or passing on the way home after 9:30pm that they give me a call.  A few times, that has helped. 

Yesterday when I was already working I suddenly realized that I hadn't sent out the email request, and I had no way of doing it from work.  I called my husband who luckily was still in his office, so he sent it out.

Just after we closed the store and started straightening up I got a call from an unfamiliar number.  They were neighbors who had just passed the Chizme checkpoint and wanted to know if they could pick me up.  I received permission to leave, grabbed my stuff, not even putting on my jacket, signed out and reached the security at the entrance to Shaar Binyamin just as they pulled in.

Yes, G-d is good, and He gave me wonderful neighbors!!

"Life in Israel," The View From Here

Bat Aliyah, a much more recent olah immigrant than myself, just posted a long list of the things she finds most special about living here in Israel, Eretz Yisrael, the HolyLand.  We're different generations and made aliyah decades apart.  The America I left is nothing like it is today or a decade ago.  My husband and I got married in June, 1970, and docked at Haifa Port as olim chadashim, new immigrants early September, 1970, before Rosh Hashanah.

I had to google to find this picture of myself in Maon Betar, Old City Jerusalem, 1970

That was over forty-one years ago, which is ancient history for many.  At that time, pre-internet, cell phones, fax etc, there was an enormous difference between daily life in Israel and most of the "Western world."  When we went on shlichut to do youth work in London, we discovered that some things in London were even more primitive than in Israel.  Living there (London) would have had been much harder straight from NY.  Hot and cold water came out of separate faucets, and refrigerators were the size of washing machines for example.  The Golders Green furnished apartment didn't even have a washing machine.  A couple of times a week I'd schlepp all of the clothes to a laundromat, and that included the diapers after our third daughter was born.

Back to Israel...
I can't imagine living any place else.  I don't feel "at home" in the states.

Some of my favorite things about living here:

• being able to ask a salesperson in a housewares store instructions about what get "tovelled," (mikvah-dipped)
• the public/school/work holidays are Jewish ones
• Hebrew idioms are Biblical or based on Jewish Law
• there's an inescapable feeling of solidarity
• streets names, from the Bible, Jewish History, Land of Israel, Modern Jewish heroes and most exciting... people I've actually known.
• unshaven men on TV, in important public positions etc because it's sefira or the "3 Weeks" or they're in shloshim (first 30 days of mourning a close relative)
• men and women working in all types of jobs wearing religious hair-coverings
• knowing that the rain is a blessing from G-d

And what are yours?

Me, A Feminist?

My good friend and peer, what's a few weeks after all these decades, Risa of Isramom, is tweaking her blog a bit.  She promises a new banner and changed the description. 

In the post announcing this, she wrote about the first word in that description, "feminist" and titled the post "Feminism."

I've always had this thing, negative about feminism.  I guess that's because the feminists of my youth tried to be faux men, OK, not quite in the "dykish" sense, but in their goals in life.  For as long as I can remember, I just wanted to get married and have children.  I never even thought about the next stage, being a grandmother. 

When I first heard about feminism, I got the impression that they thought it a waste of time, energy, talents.  That's a large reason for the fact that the birthrate is so low for the 1970's in America.  There should have been another baby boom when us boomers hit our twenties, but it never happened.  Many postponed maternity until it just couldn't physically happen, or they were lucky to have only one child.  And then they joined the "supermom, we can do it all" club.  In the 1970's I became a young mother and was in Israel, where having babies has always been pretty popular.

Despite my original plans, I ended up working, too.  And I ended up at times sounding like a "feminist."

Has "Feminism" has changed or have I or both?

Risa's description of Feminism fits what I consider women's rights as human beings.  Does that make me a feminist?

When I'm Walking...

Since I can't afford to join a fitness club, I must find the best and cheapest possible way to keep my muscles at least as tight as they are.  I must admit that I've lost my swim-season look.  The best deal when it comes to exercise is walking, so I walk.

Our neighborhood is pretty flat for the top of a mountain, and the general circuit is over a kilometer, about a mile.  That's how I end up taking all sorts of pictures like my "caption this" series.  I also take pictures of the building going on here in Shiloh as I walk around.

Recently I've begun listening to shiurim, Torah/Bible classes on my new toy, the Q3 my husband was given by some Korean diplomat.  Matan has all sorts of classes online for free, which I enjoy.

Some neighbors have very professional, well-planned and cared-for gardens.  Few have horrendous overgrown messes, like mine.  And some people have... well, how would you caption this?

What Can You Do With One of Those Mini-Pumpkins, aka Butternut Squash?

Too bad I didn't photograph it before cutting this "mini-pumpkin" in half.  But I think you can easily imagine what it looked like.  Like all pumpkins and related vegetables, uncut they last for months.  I honestly don't remember when I bought it, but it had to have been many months ago.

In Hebrew it's called a דלורית and the Hebrew wikipedea gives its latin name as  Cucurbita moschata. It's also known as a butternut squash.

Recently my husband noticed it and was afraid it would spoil before I'd get around to feeling "inspired."  Inspired I was last Friday when cooking for Shabbat.

As you can see from the picture, I split it in half and took out the seeds. Then I chopped up some cabbage, onion and tomato.

I added the chopped vegetables, plus some oil to the "indentations" in the squash.  Then I covered and baked it all until it seemed ready.

It's easy to make and very impressive, colorful, healthy etc.  You can stuff it with chopped meat or top with grated cheese.  There are innumerable ways of preparing the squash or similar vegetables.

Squeezing Myself Back Into HH Hosting

According to Ya'aqov, this must be #342 of Havel Havelim.  Just doing a quick calculation; it seems like this veteran weekly blog carnival must be about ten years old by now.  It was started by Soccer Dad who hung up his blogging mitts a few years ago.  He passed the buck,  the baton, the torch whatever on to Jack who has been lost in his random thoughts of late. 

Next week's Havel Havelim will be hosted by Chaviva.  To send her a link click here. 

So the bottom line is that HH is rather rudderless at present, but you can't hold a good blog carnival down...

Here's the spiel:

Havel Havelim is the most veteran of the jblogger carnivals and probably one of the longest running blog carnivals there is. Blog carnivals are like "floating" internet magazines. They float from blog to blog, like "floating crap games," l'havdil.

Havel Havelim, the international jblog carnival, was established by Soccer Dad, and is now run by Jack. The term “Havel Havelim” is from Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, which was written by King Solomon, who built the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and later on got all bogged down in materialism and other “excesses” and finally realized that it was nothing but norishkeit, “havel” or in English “vanities.” I think that King Solomon and his father King David were the original "bloggers." The books they wrote, when you take them chapter by chapter, can easily be described as blog posts. The stones they used to write on made them last, so that we can read them now. I doubt if today's technology will preserve our words for so long.

There are two other jblogger carnivals, the Kosher Cooking Carnival and JPIX which showcase everything about kosher food and picture posts with Jewish themes. If you're interested in hosting a KCC, please contact me, for JPIX Leora and for HH Jack.

Blog carnival has been limping along, and now for months.  It hasn't been sending out the links to the hosts, but carnival owners can still access the instacarnival, so I still recommend sending them your posts and to be double safe also join the facebook page and find out who's the next host, and then message or email the host.  And who's the next host?  Good question.  But don't let that stop you from sending us links.  Just put hh in the "subject."  I'll post a PS when I get more more news.

And now on with the show!

Let's start with the good news!  A מזל טוב mazal tov to Heshy Frum Satire Fried, who just got engaged!

LadyLight reviews Rabbi Trugman's (of Ohr Chadash) new commentary on the Torah, Orchard of Delights and really enjoyed it.
Shari blogs about her feelings living here in Israel, truth behind the headlines.
Sharon shows us security walls.  Some are even pretty!
Shoshanah complains about difficulties for handicapped olim.  If anyone can help, contact her in the comments.  She also helps needy kallot; read all about it.
Ricki's mom gives us a very important reminder.  Highly recommended
Read about Miriam's winter gardening.
Susan gives good advice re: antibiotics and the importance of consulting with a pharmacist.
Here's something serious from Jenifer about kids growing up.
West Bank Mama predicts war in Gaza.
It's summer time in Baleboostehland.

Miriyummy blogs about knitting not cooking this time.
Rafi G. lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh, so if you want to know what's happening from a first person perspective, check out his Life in Israel.

Here's a little halacha lesson from Leora and her new Mayor, Gary Minkoff.
I've been trying to make sense out of the new Jerusalem bus routes which aim to get force travelers to take the lightrail.

Seraphic Secret and I both blogged about turbans.  I prefer them, wrapped scarves and kerchiefs, to other hair-covering options.
Love of the Land is a good source for pro-Land of Israel articles.  Here's one by Naftali Bennett.
Elder of Ziyon tells the truth about the fake refugees of 1948.
Ruti hits the perfect note in her article about kol isha, the sound of women's voices.

How's this for a tongue twister? "Risa's red mailbox in Rechovot"
Ima 2 Seven writes of the problem in Nachlaot.
doc writes about a serious problem, choosing a guardian for her child.
Frume Sarah writes about an organization that gives a break to families who have a special needs child, Refua V’Chayim.
Paula writes about Shabbat.  I can't imagine a life without it, even though I wasn't raised with it at all.

The multi-lingual Ilana-Davita gives advice about learning a language.
Shelly's goal is Ahavat Chinan.
Our Shiputzim blogged food while fasting.
Read Pesky's history lesson.
I blogged about how healthy laughter is and the Rebbetzin's Husband wrote about the importance of 8 hugs a day.
My husband criticizes Daniel Kurtzer's policy towards Israel.  He also sees improvement in American policy.
Hadassa's kids are growing up, but she still posted about babyproofing.  Is that a hint?
The bima ima seems too busy reading to blog.
Shirat Devorah bakes challah in memory of her sister.

And let the show go on.  Please share this far and wide and visit all the blogs and comment etc. Thanks to all of you.

Trying to Make Sense of the New Jerusalem Bus Routes

From what I've been led to understand, part of the deal (spelled OLMERT?) cooked up for the Jerusalem Lightrail was the elimination of any "competing" bus routes.  That means that if bus and train go on the same road, like we now have on Sderot Herzl (Blvd.) between Mt. Herzl and Kiryat Moshe-Jaffa Street Junction, the buses will be eliminated.  In a short-sighted way, it may make sense. Why have two modes of public transportation on the very same road? 

Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with Jerusalem, you should know that the entire distance isn't more than about a mile, kilometer plus.  I've walked it many times; it doesn't take long.  It's the middle of the trip to many places for many people.  That means that if you get on the train from a "feeder bus" you're going to have to get off the train and then take another bus, if not more, to your destination. 

The more vehicles one must take to get to one's destination the more difficult, physically and emotionally etc the trip becomes.  Why else are people very willing to pay extra money for non-stop flights? Think about it!  For the elderly, those schlepping babies and young kids, packages etc, this new set-up is a nightmare.

Besides all those points I mentioned, there's the challenge of figuring out new and better ways to get places bypassing the train altogether.  I couldn't make much sense out of the ads in In Jerusalem, so I waited for the new Jerusalem bus route maps to be published on the internet.  That's right; click here, and try to figure it out and then remember the changes.

I promised an elderly friend I'd help her with this.  Wish us luck!

Jerusalem Scene, Caption This

As I was walking through Jerusalem, downtown, "center" I just couldn't resist shooting this.  How would you caption it?

Shabbat Shalom everybody...

Simple, Healthy, Low Calorie, Low Carbohydrate Vegetable Soup

Today, like on many Jewish fast days, I cooked soup.  I find vegetable soup to be the best way of breaking a fast.  Many of you know that I have a popular vegetable soup I've been making for ages.  But today, I felt like making something else. 

Since the least expensive vegetables in Rami Levi discount supermarks are carrots and white cabbage, they were the main ingredients. 

Following are the ingredients.  Sorry, but I don't give exact quantities.

• a handful, plus of white beans
• an onion
• garlic
• 4 cut carrots
• half cabbage, cut in small pieces
• a couple of ripe tomatoes, cut in small pieces or use tomato paste or even catsup.
• some oil and lots of water
• I seasoned with coarse pepper and sweet paprika, salt optional

First you have to start cooking the beans.  If you have a long time, then just leave them soaking in boiling water for a few hours; cover the pot.  If you're in a rush, boil them on the stove for ten minutes, and then cover the pot with a heavy towel for at least an hour, preferably two.  Next pour out the water from the beans and add fresh boiling water. 

• Start cooking the beans again. 
• add the oinion, garlic and carrots
• add a couple of spoons of oil
• when the carrots are getting soft, add the cabbage and tomato
• season
• cook covered another half hour

That's it.  I love it!  I've been eating bowl after bowl all night.

I Had Dreamt That...

I decided to go back to sleep after the alarm went off.  Well, it's fast day today, 10th of Tevet, which means that there's no coffee, water, food etc to help me wake up.  The past couple of days I had done a lot of walking.  Yesterday I walked form Shmuel Hanavi to Matan on Rashbag, via town.  And the day before I walked to the Israel Museum, also from Shmuel Hanavi after doing some errands in "Jerusalem Center."

I had planned to take advantage of today's predicted winter sun and do laundry.  I knew I must get up and put in a wash.  I dreamt that I had done it, twice actually, but when I finally forced myself up and 8am the sun was shining and the washing machine empty.

Yes, the first thing I did was... turn on the computer, and then I gathered lots of dirty laundry and started wash #1.  And now...

So now I ought to take a break from this norishkeit and get on with my day!

You Don't Need a Hat Box...

I cover my hair for religious reasons.  According to Jewish Law, a married woman is supposed to have her hair covered.  There are all sorts of ways to do it and rabbinic opinions as to how.  And like with many of our Laws and customs, there are those who are convinced that it's a Law to be ignored.  In this picture I'm wearing a very simple flowered scarf.  I've had that scarf for twenty years.  It's rare for a hat to stay "stylish" and wearable for so many years. 

The purple scarf on the dummy in the upper picture can be wrapped like this white one.

Simple soft hats can also be dressy and easy to pack.  I really like the mitzvah of covering my hair.  It definitely is in the running to be my favorite of all mitzvot, G-d given commandments.

With a simple change in hair-covering, we can totally change our looks.  It's a lot healthier than hair dye.

Here I am with my friend Sharon Katz, after one of her performances.

For those who'd like to try scarves but "doesn't know how," there are some great instructionals on youtube. Some are for Jewish Women, some for Muslim women and others for women who have lost their hair due to illness and chemo treatments.



No doubt that there's nothing more exotic or glamorous that a turban, and you don't even have to be Jewish.

Low-Carb Latkes, Veggie Burgers

These "Low-Carb Latkes, Veggie Burgers" don't have to be reserved for Chanukah.  They can be served any time at all, even Passover or no special occasion.

*I used the food processor shredder on:

• carrots
• oinions
• celeriac
• squash
• and one little potato

Then I mixed it with a couple of eggs, added salt and pepper and then a bit of matzah meal.

I shaped them into "patties" as you can see, dribbled a bit of oil on each, and then baked them in a medium oven until ready, cooked on both sides and inside, too.

Those at the Chanukah Party who are trying to keep their weight down were very happy with them.

*There's no such thing as exact measurements, sorry.  Choose the veggies you want, and you can add others, plus cooked/soft beans or lentils, and you need enough eggs to mix it and enough matzah meal to shape them.

How Far Did I Walk?

Today I walked a lot, an awful lot.  Since I didn't have any shifts, and I'm angry with Egged, Jerusalem, I am reducing my bus expenses whenever possible.  Today I visited my daughter in the Israel Museum. If you haven't been there recently, you're missing a great treat.

But before I write more about the museum, this is the route I walked:

• Shmuel Hanavi to Strauss,
• down Strauss to Yaffo
• Yaffo to the Erroca eye glass place on Ben Yehuda
• Ben Yehuda to Mordechai Ben Hillel
• Ben Hillel to King George
• a few stores up King George to the "Ullman-Emanuel Opticians," which has a new sign on top
• from that optician to the WC in the Horse Garden
• Horse Garden/Park to Betzalel and all the way up over the bridge past the Supreme Court
• Supreme Court past all the old Government Office Buildings
• to the Israel Museum

Then, no surprise, I walked around the museum.  There are all sorts of films and benches, so I did sit a bit.  The Design Wing has nice stuff.  If you haven't been there recently, there is so much to see.

And then I walked to the Central Bus Station.

Did I walk enough today?  How far did I walk?

Too Bad I Don't Write Fiction...

Sometimes I think that it would be better for me as a "writer" if I could write fiction.  There's a bigger market; I think.  Nobody wants to pay me for my opinions, but if I could spin a tale...

Walking around the neighborhood, I spied this, shot it and thought that it would make a nice "caption this" photo.

But maybe I'm wrong.  Maybe I should be forcing myself to invent a past to the scene.  As an English Teacher I've given assignments like that.  "Make up a story" about one of these pictures.  I never make up stories.

What do you think?

I Want Those Hats!

Age shouldn't be a factor when choosing clothes, except I'd say for little kids being dressed Lolita-like.

One of my close friends sent me this film.  She has a great sense of style.  Recently I've had to assemble outfits out of clothes I've "received," since I don't have the money to buy new clothes.  It's a challenge.  I love the way some of the women in the film dress, most especially their hats!

Practicing Before Getting Back into the HH Saddle

It has been almost two years since I've hosted a Havel Havelim, so I'm just warming up, practicing. 

Havel Havelim is the Jewish Blog Carnival. What's a "blog carnival?"  I like to describe it like a floating internet magazine.  HH is one of the oldest blog carnivals still traveling the international internet.  It was established/started by Soccer Dad who no longer blogs.  Then Jack took it over, and now it's sort of floundering, so Esser Agaroth's Ya'aqov and I are trying to get it back on track.  That's why he started a Havel Havelim facebook page, which you can join.  Our big question will be how to submit your links so they'll be included in Havel Havelim.  I hope we'll get control of the blog carnival account, so the weekly host can receive the list from them.  So, in the interim, I'm requesting that you send your link to bc and fb message or email the upcoming week's host.  The info will be on the previous HH and on the fb page.  Since I'm coming out of "retirement" for next week, please email me.

So, enough with all the prelude, on with the show!  And don't forget to visit, comment etc all the blog posts included and share this post far and wide. Thanks!

I'm dreading fouling up all sorts of sign-ins because I just got used to 2011 and now it's 2012, but Chavi's happy that she's starting a new year.  The Baleboosteh, the mother of all those gems is raising wonderful children.

Read about Risa's lovely Friday in Rechovot.  I sympathize with Ricki; I can't imagine having to sleep with that thing on my head.

Israel has no peace, not even a cease-fire with its neighbors. Subscribe to QassamCount.

The Elder of Ziyon takes on Ilan Grapel.

Leora's Shepherd's Pie is very different from the one my trekker son and I used to make.  I guess I hadn't blogged about it, but we made one with chopped meat and potatoes and other veggies.

Pesky brings up a good point about the negative side of Jews only coming to Israel when dead, especially when there's no family here. What's the point?

More on the Bet Shemesh and RBS situation by Rafi, who actually lives there.  I wrote about mixed seating on me-ander and what I think of those who are fixated with little girls on Shiloh Musings.

NO, this isn't a Havel Havelim.  It's just a practice to get ready for next week.  Please visit the blogs included and share this around, thanks.

Gender Separate Seating, Really?

As I wrote on Shiloh Musings, and you must have read in other places, or Hillary Clinton's psak opinion, gender separate seating is big news here.  There are some Jews who look to embellish Jewish Law and have declared it an awful sin for men and women to sit together in a bus.  To prevent temptation, there has been a trend in recent years for some bus lines to have men in the front and women in the back.  Married couples and other mixed sex travel companions are also "forbidden" to sit together.  It is outrageous and not Jewish Law.

Today I stopped in a Kupat Cholim (sick fund clinic) located in a chareidi neighborhood on my way to catch my bus.  I needed to pick up some vitamins from its pharmacy.  There were a few seats.  Almost all were occupied by men.  When I walked in, I was the only woman waiting my turn.  There were two empty seats next to each other, between the window and an elderly man, dressed in the standard chareidi way with a full beard, too.  I took the seat by the window.  I like sitting by the window.  A few minutes later, a young chareidi mother with twin toddlers came in.  She parked herself in the seat between me and the chareidi man.

NOW, WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENED NEXT?!

Almost everyone in the pharmacy was chareidi; I was an exception.  Well, do you think the man got up?  According to all the articles in the paper and internet, that's the Law.  Men and women aren't supposed to sit next to each other.  Nobody spoke.  Obviously, we were all strangers, including the woman and man who were sitting next to each other.

So, what do you think happened? I'll tell you. Nothing.  That's right.  Nothing happened.  We all politely waited our turns.  The man had the number before mine.  He told me, after I had gotten up, before it was my turn.  I had gotten up, because the room was getting very crowded, and I didn't need to sit anymore.

And today when I caught the bus to Ofra from Jerusalem, it was almost full.  The only empty seat I could find was next to a man.  I sat there.  Did you expect me to stand?  He didn't have on a kippah, but he made a point of sitting as far away as he could.

Real life isn't like those headlines.  Real life's much more boring and tolerant.

"Weird Names?" By Whose Definition?

No doubt I'm not the only blogger who's going to blog this one!

NRP aka Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home)'s MK Zvulun Orlev has proposed a bill to restrict parents' rights to choose names for their children, to prevent "weird" names.  Maybe "weird" isn't the right word, since I did check the A7 Hebrew article, too.  What he wants to prevent is negative names, those that could "damage." them in some way, open them to mockery, for instance.

In Hebrew, unlike English, every combination of letters seems to mean something.  Picking a name (or a word) because you like the sounds can be very risky in Hebrew.  Also, we're a country of immigrants, and an ordinary acceptable "name" from one language may be an extremely negative or foul word in another.

For a short time I subbed in the Ofra Girls High School, Ulpanat Ofra.  I taught a class of Ethiopean immigrants. Actually, some or most were probably born here in Israel, but they needed remedial help.  Not a single one of the girls had a Hebrew name.  I have enough problems remembering names and faces, but in that class it was impossible.  For my ears their names were jumbles of sounds.  We'd spend the longest time each lesson just trying to take attendence, as they tried to teach me how to pronounce their names.  I complained to the person in charge of their program that keeping those names would hold back their full absorption in Israeli society.  If they would apply for a job, the lack of a familiar/pronounceable name would put them on the bottom of the pile.

We gave our children names from the Bible, mostly pretty obscure ones.  Their feelings about their names are rather mixed.  The one child who got totally conventional names had her nickname added officially to her identity.  I made that nickname up.  She doesn't mind having a unique name.  I love the names I gave my kids.  There's a lot of special meaning to their names.

After our second daughter was born, someone told my husband that her name was weird and would make life tough for her.  We didn't agree.  Having that name gives her a special connection to the Bible and to a street in Jerusalem.  I study Bible in Matan, and whenever one of the teachers (who actually knows her) mentions her name, she gives me a special smile. 

There's one downside for me about my children's names.  I can't be discreet about adding the names of the singles/still unmarried to any lists to pray for.  Nobody else has these names, especially combined with the "middle-name" and mine as "mother of."

If this law becomes law, no doubt people will sue if stopped from registering their children's names.  In Israel most children are named in religious ceremonies, and only later are the names registered.  Boys get their names at their Brit Milah and girls are named in synagogue when the father, or some other relative/friend, is called to the Torah.  In the end, even if the parents and authorities don't agree, the parents will use the name they wish, and the child will add or change her/his name when applying for an identity card.