Back at The Ranch... Praying for Israel's Victory

Here in Shiloh, thankfully far from the targets, we are trying to do our best for the war efforts.  One of the young women has been inviting the women for T'hillim, Psalms daily.
 

 

 

Most of those who attend come with very young children who play with our hostesses' kids.

 

The saying is:

תהילים נגד טילים

T'hillim negged teelim

Psalms  against missiles

Lots of Jblog Carnivals, HH and KCC, The War and the Home Front

Design by Paula

Esser Agaroth named Havel Havelim #386 the Rocket Edition because of Israel's latest war, which has so far been a rocket shooting competition.  Many of the posts are about  Pillar of Defense.  I'm sure you'll find lots to read there.  Next week's Havel Havelim will be hosted on   Beneath The Wings .  For more information about Havel Havelim, check our facebook page.

Design by Pesky

Yosef Silver of This American Bite is host of the Rosh Chodesh Kislev Kosher Cooking Carnival.  Due to some technical problems, it can be found on storify.  It's full of delicious posts to check out about kosher foods and cooking.  I'll be hosting the next one, Rosh Chodesh Tevet, on Dec. 14 here.  Send in your posts via blog carnival.  If you'd like to host an edition, please contact me.  We also have a facebook page which you can join.

Jewish bloggers from all over the world give a perspective you won't find in the conventional media.  It's definitely worth your while to read our posts.  Thanks

Yes. Life Goes On

I posted a variety of links about the war on Shiloh Musings which you're invited to read and share.  Of course, if you don't I've just wasted an hour or more of my day.

I'm in  a bit of a rush right now, so please enjoy my fruit bowl.

Sunrise, Sunset -- War

Sunrise

Sunset

Israel is at war.  I hope we will destroy the enemy, since that's what the want to do to us. 

We've been in Israel since 1970.  So we remember when these graves were freshly dug.

Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery, graves from 1973 Yom Kippur War

Month of Kislev, Chanukah is On The Way

I spotted this on sale already in Machane Yehuda, just the day before Rosh Chodesh Kislev.  Everything you need for Chanukah.

And the next day I was at Tel Shiloh for Rosh Chodesh Prayers.

Next month, Rosh Chodesh will be Tevet.

Women's Prayers at Tel Shiloh
Rosh Chodesh Tevet
Friday, December 14, 2012
1 Tevet 5773 8:30am
Tour of Tel & Dvar Torah, Short Torah Lesson

Please come and invite family, friends and neighbors

תפילת נשים
ראש חודש טבת בתל שילה
יום ו' 14-12 א' טבת תשע"ג 8:30
יהיה דבר תורה קצר וסיור בתל
נא לבוא, לפרסם ולהזמין חברות, משפחה ושכנות

Tel Shiloh, Shiloh HaKedumah is open for visitors every day except Shabbat. Call 02-994-4019.

 

Rosh Chodesh Kislev. Month of Chanukah

Today my plan is to go to Tel Shiloh to pray.  Considering that there's a war going on here in Israel, that's the most productive and useful thing I can do.

My friends and I come to Tel Shiloh for prayers every Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the Jewish Month.

In another few weeks we'll be celebrating Chanukah, the Holiday of Heroism.  Call it "matching funds."  If we fight properly in the name of G-d, then G-d will guarantee us victory regardless to the quality and quantity of our weapons.

Taking Homework Seriously, At Two

Ahh the grandchildren...

Yesterday I babysat the grandkids.  The little one considers herself no different from her elder siblings, so Miss tagalong  also does homework.

I hope she enjoys it as much when she gets assignments for real.

That Second Wind

Last night at work, my body and the clock had a slight disagreement. 

My boss had told us to close later than usual, ten instead of 9:30, and at one point I was certain that ten was rapidly approaching.  I even found myself a neighbor in the supermarket who could take me home.  But then I looked up at the wall by the cash registers and saw a clock and realized that it was barely nine.

My body had the time totally off.  I was exhausted.  I couldn't go with the neighbor.

I forced myself back into WORK WORK mode and suddenly I had energy.  In the end, the store was pretty empty by 9:15 and we closed at our usual 9:30.

Three tremps (rides) later I was safely home and wide awake.

Not even a nice cup of chamomile tea helped to calm me down.  It took much too long to fall asleep and here I am, starting the next day totally wiped out, and the week isn't over yet and I have lots to do...

Havel Havelim Debut on MyParnasa.com

I'm always glad to welcome bloggers to the ranks of Havel Havelim hosts, and this week we have a new one, Naomi of MyParnasa.com. She has done a fine job.  Please be sure to visit, read the posts, comment and share.

Havel Havelim is a joint project by Jewish bloggers all over the world.  We communicate by email and facebook.  Havel Havelim is a blog carnival, which is like an internet magazine, which has blog posts for articles.  There are all sorts of blog carnivals. 

In a couple of days another Jewish blog carnival will be posted, the Kosher Cooking Carnival.  It's a monthly, which  appears on the first of the Jewish Month aka Rosh Chodesh.  this American Bite is hosting Rosh Chodesh Kislev.  You can send your post/link via the blog carnival site.  More information plus alternate ways of sending links can be found on our KCC facebook page.  If you'd like to host an edition please contact me.

Winter Rains for Real, THANK G-D!!

Yes, Baruch HaShem, may the Good Lord be Praised, we had some serious rain on Shabbat, and it hasn't fully ended.

Remember that a "nice day" during the Israeli winter is a wet one.  So, no complaints, please.  Just take out your boots, raincoats and umbrellas.  Oops! All of my umbrellas were destroyed by heavy winds last winter.  I must buy a new one, or more.

Recycling, In Shiloh, Too

I feel like rewriting "Everything's up to date in Kansas City" as "Everything's up to date in Shiloh, Israel."

The recycling bins and cages get full more and more quickly.

I think that the company/organizations which are supposed to pick the various stuff up, paper, plastic, cardboard and metal should speed up their service.

Here we have neighborhood and street locations for garbage and recycling.  I don't know how many locations there are for the recycling in Shiloh, but we have large garbage cans on every street.  It's much easier than what my parents had to deal with on Long Island.  There, they had a variety of home garbage cans, color-coded for various types of garbage.  They had to put the correct one out by the street on certain days or they'd be stuck with the garbage for another week.

I like our system better.  There are regular pickups twice a week and more before holidays.

Getting on With Life, Go Forward

Just don't look back.  One of the things I'll never forget and I try to implement in my life from the "life coaching" course I took a number of years ago, was to let go of the past.  Don't hold onto the past. Keep going forward.

We were taught a visualization technique to help our clients and ourselves.

There's something we didn't learn in the coaching course, but it's important, too, is to know how and when to lean on, depend on or trust others.

No doubt that someone with a successful coaching or counseling business is successful in generating that sort of relationship with clients.  The client feels the need for the help of the coach and is willing to continue paying.

In real life most of us don't have coaches.  If we're lucky we have family and friends we can trust.  That's certainly something to pray for and thank G-d for.

Decisions and implementing them are up to us, our responsibility and we must take responsibility...

Take a deep breath, let go and go forward...

Lost Potential

Take a good look:

It breaks my heart to see all that lost potential.  G-d gave us so many rich grapes and we didn't harvest them.  We didn't eat them.  We didn't make them into juice nor wine.  This year our neighbors didn't ask for them.

G-d gives us so much.

Do we use all of the gifts, talents, opportunities?

I must admit that I don't.  One of the hardest things I've had to realize after reaching half (plus now) of the "ad me'ah v'esrim" (to 120) blessing is that I've used up, frequently wasted much to much of my life.

Unlike the grapes, which grow annually, we don't start over anew bigger and better every year.  We have to take each day, minute, hour and try to milk  the best of it. 

We can't count on becoming a great new success at an elderly age like Grandma Moses.  I guess I ought to take my own instructions to heart and try to use my life better and live my dreams.

Turning "Meatloaf" Mixture Into Something Special

Most cooks get bored with the same recipes, even when the audience loves them.  Or is it the opposite?  Sometimes it's worth making something that looks special, but you don't have the time or money to use expensive ingredients.

A favorite of mine is taking the same "meatloaf*," chopped/ground meat/poultry that could be in a meatloaf or hamburger and layer it with vegetables.

For a lower calorie protein main course, layer with sliced eggplant. It's bulk that fills people up.   I like using eggplant when it's in season.  I don't bother doing any of the "eggplant preparation" methods, like parboiling or salting.  There's no need.  The eggplants here in Israel are delicious.  If yours aren't, then substitute squash, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, sweet potatoes whatever.

*what to add to the chopped/ground meat/poultry per pound or half kilo

• diced onion small
• tomato paste 2T
• raw egg
• garlic, oregano whatever spices you want

I bake it in a nice bake serve dish or aluminum pan for freezing or bringing to neighbors for potluck etc.  Yes, it does freeze well.

And A Double Surprise That Fits

Here in Israel, we've been murmuring and worrying about the dry winter weather.  In terms of Jewish weather seasons, there's either summer or winter.  It's either supposed to be wet and rainy, or it's supposed to be dry and sunny.  Spring sort of exists, because isn't Pesach Passover חג האביב Chag He'Aviv, The Spring Holiday? 

Passover "The holiday is also referred to as Chag he-Aviv , (the Spring Festival)..."

But "fall" or "autumn" doesn't appear as a Jewish concept.  At the end of Succot, Simchat Torah, we already start asking G-d to change the weather and two weeks later we begin praying for rain in earnest by adding ותן טל ומטר לברכה v’tein tal u’matar livracha, Deliver Dew and Rain as a Blessing to our prayers.

In Israel, we should ask for rain right after Succot, but we wait the two weeks until 7 Cheshvan to allow the last Jew (who came to Yerushalayim for the chag) to return to his home near n’har P’rat. This applies even in our time when we don’t have real aliyah l’regel, and when modern methods of transportation and conditions would remove the necessity of the two-week postponement. We still learn much from the message of the reason for the two-week “delay”.

Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin

Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin

Is it an "only in Israel" where umbrellas are suddenly on sale the same week we begin praying for rain?

But being Jews, I keep hearing this complaint:

"It hasn't rained yet!" 

That's strange, since I remember that it had rained the other Friday, because we suddenly had to rush out and rescue the almost dry clothes which had been hanging on the clothesline.  There was another day when at work, suddenly all the boxes of unopened stock had to be rushed under cover because of rain.  It definitely has rained.

And I discovered a secret.  G-d sometimes sends us rain in when we're asleep.  Last night, just as I was getting ready for bed neighbors got back to me that they needed the dog food (table scraps I collect for them) ASAP, so I told them to run over immediately.  I brought it to the door and figured I'd meet them half way, but I couldn't.  I had already kicked off my shoes and it was raining.  Yes, a very silent gentle rain, like the touch of a loving parent.  If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have had a clue that it had rained at all.

And for another surprise, one of a more personal nature.  No, sorry, not that at all.  Among the clothes my children rescued from the attic a couple of weeks ago, was this raincoat I wore in the late 1960's.  Yes, it still fits.  I guess it was very large then.  Another raincoat didn't fit.

Havel Havelim Plus Some Memories

Paula, the Soldiers' mother has put together this week's Havel Havelim.  Take a look at it.  According to the official count, it's number 384.  Divide 52 into that and you get not give me a minute here to calculate... ok, that's about 7.38 years, considering holidays, when some weeks were skipped, that means that Havel Havelim is at least seven and a half years old.  But I think it's even older. 

I've been blogging since 2004.  I've posted 5,531 posts on this blog and 5,468 on Shiloh Musings.

…Strength to the Weary was my very first blog post.  I also used to blog to go over notes from classes I took.  I'd try to share them with my readers. 

Here's my very first mention of Havel Havelim.  As you can see, I didn't know how to link posts or anything.  In those days you needed to learn the code or have it written someplace and just keep copying it. 

By the time I hosted Havel Havelim #34, I seemed to have learned what I was doing.  You have to scroll carefully to find the embedding.  Most of the participating blogs no longer update or function.  I guess that makes me a sort of dinosaur of the Jewish blogging world.

I hope those of you affected/damaged/suffering from Hurricane Sandy are now fine, connected to electricity and getting all the damage repaired.  Some of my cousins have been warned that they'd have to wait a total of two weeks or so for full electricity.  They're camping out in all sorts of places.  I wish everyone good health and a hearty sense of humor.

Doing Without

Generally, Americans like to think that life is so much easier in the United States of America.  When my husband and I, as a newly wed couple, made aliyah to Israel in 1970, the feeling and reality was that we were going back in time.  Most Israelis were then getting their first modern refrigerator, first auto-rinse washing machine and first proper ovens.  Many didn't have private phones and if they had phones, they had waited for a number of years.  When we applied for our first phone, there was still an option to get a "party-line," which would cut down on wait time.

But now, more than forty years down the road, there's no real difference.  Israelis are more gadget and tech-crazy than Americans.  Cell phones were considered a necessity here before in the states.

Living a rather rural life here in Shiloh, I've had to do without water and electricity on occasion.  For my American family and friends, this was considered the height of insanity and primitive conditions.  But things have changed as storms annually ravage Long Island, NY, my old hometown.  I wonder if the people who now own my parents' old home have electricity and if the house and street are safe.

I'm used to getting help from my neighbors, such as the last couple of weeks, when we didn't have a functioning washing machine.  This notice I read in the Long Island Herald about showers being available for those without hot water made me smile:

For residents still suffering from power outages, shower facilities will be available at the Nassau County Aquatic Center at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow.
The facility will be open for residents from 8 a.m to 11 p.m. beginning Saturday, and will open each day until further notice.

It's nice, but considering the gas shortage, I hope people can arrive safely.  Long Island living is based on having a a drivable car or two or more.

credit

I guess the message is that nobody is immune, and we have to learn that all the modern conveniences we consider as necessary can just disappear. 

G-d is in charge of it all.

Making Plans For A Trip

I really ought to visit my parents more.  Everyday is a miracle for them.  They break records every morning they get up alive.  Nobody I know of in their families has lived longer than either of them. 

A number of years ago I began making a point to visit every summer, and that has been the routine, but it doesn't seem to be enough.  Caring for them is all on my sister in Arizona, where my parents now live.  No, not in her home, but still they can no longer do much anything for themselves.

I'm planning a visit different from the previous ones.  I won't go to New York.  The idea of being in New York in the winter and having to deal with the weather there and possible delays...

A very dear friend has been asking me to visit.  She lives in a city I've never been to, a category which includes just about every place you can imagine, so I'll do that too.  Last summer I took a cousin's offer for a day in Philadelphia and it was great!  Now to just clarify dates, get approval and get the tickets.

Learning a Totally Different Set of Rules, I'm Not Good With These Icons

Yes, it, my new washing machine, a Samsung digital, has arrived.  It wasn't as simple as it may seem.  The repairman delivery man had warned me that he couldn't take it up the stairs, NY style front stoop, and I should find someone to assist.  So after he called me up yesterday morning to say he was about a half hour away, I began making phone calls.  The email request for help to the local list hadn't born fruit.  It took quite a few calls.  Either nobody had fit young sons home or their doctors didn't approve either, but then I finally called the neighbor who always comes to the rescue. This time he gave me his son's cell phone number, and the young man easily delivered the machine to my front door.

The spot in the laundry room was "cleaned" and waiting.  That is if you  can distinguish between stains and dirt.  The floor looks like a used car lot.  That last machine had been leaking motor oil.

After the machine was moved into its new home, I got instructions, paid and was left alone to try my first wash.  B"H, that went well.

Today I decided on a more complicated wash, and I think I misread the icons.  Of course I can't find a good icon guide, even in the instruction book, but no big deal.  I'll figure it out.  I can reread the book with stronger glasses for a start.

This certainly isn't the first washing machine I've had to figure out.  It's just the first digital and the first Samsung.  Don't forget that I'm from the generation that still laundered diapers and there were times I had to do them by hand pouring boiling water into a large bucket.  You have no idea how many buckets cracked, but I didn't.

Delicious Healthy Meal in Jerusalem

A couple of weeks ago I met a friend for lunch.  She loves eating in Jerusalem's Village Green, which now has a branch just off of Emek Refaim, on Rachel Imenu Street.  You have more choices there.  Besides their famous salad bar, you can order prepared meals.  That's what we did this time.  We both had a very tasty and attractive salad, all sorts of lentils, quinoa and vegetables in a tasty sauce.

It came with their delicious rolls and butter, which I took and ended up giving to my son, whom I visited afterwards.  The portion was sufficient for me and humongous for my friend, so they packed her leftovers, which she could then eat for another couple of meals.

We had a pleasant time sitting outside.

5 Rachel Imenu St. , Jerusalem.
Phone: 02-6500106
Open Hours:
Sunday - Thursday 08:30 - 23:00
Friday 09:00 - 15:00