Sunday, August 28, 2005

Thursday, August 25, 2005

BUMP

I hit my head on a shelf over the changing table when diapering my daughter yesterday. Now, when I touch someone, an electric jolt courses through me, I launch into a poor imitation of Christopher Walken and can tell whether the person I touched had a bowel movement that day.

Sunday, August 14, 2005

TRAGEDY

Today in the Hebrew calendar is the ninth of the month of Av, (Tish'a B'Av) in which we commemorate the destruction of the first and second Holy Temples, over two thousand years ago. This day is earmarked as an intense day of mourning and reflection on the tragic events as well as the failings of our nation that caused us to merit these calamities. It is also a day of fasting. Interestingly, Tish'a B'Av is one of two fast days on the Jewish calendar that begin at dusk the evening before -as opposed to sunrise of- the day itself. As Tish'a B'Av falls out during the height of the summer months, this means that it is usually the longest fast of the year. As I am a notoriously bad faster, I dread this day for this corporeal reason about as much as for its spiritual significance.

While my personal feelings towards the Gaza withdrawals are that they are a necessary political step, I moan the tragedy of uprooting families and communities that forged their existence out of blood, sweat and tears. It's prophetic that this action's first concrete steps are taken on this day of national mourning for the Jewish people.

UNRELATED TRAGEDY: I read today of a 737 crash near Athens (Greece, not Georgia) it sounds like a catastrophic decompression that caused the pilots to lose consciousness. How could they not have gotten their oxygen on in time to stave off a blackout? Interestingly, the news reports that Greek F-16s scrambled when the plane entered Greek airspace without making radio contact and shadowed the plane as it drifted into a hill. I'm actually impressed that the Greek Air Force reacted so quickly and effectively (as it were) to an airspace violation. How many times do we hear about airspace violations that go glaringly unchallenged even in the mighty good ole US of A?

Friday, August 05, 2005

IT'S NOT RELATIVE

When a Jewish terrorist strikes, the abhorrent act is immediately condemned by all facets of Jewish and Israeli life. The perpetrator is a terrorist and branded as such by Israeli, Jewish and world media. Mind you, despite dire predictions, this sort of thing only happens once in a blue moon (the last incident was around ten years ago) and the last two cases involved clearly unhinged individuals. So don't argue that we're all the same and we resort to the same (terror) tactics as our enemies. That lament just doesn't ring true.