A Gift

Or as my co-worker, Gene, said:

This one is equally scathing of both sides, so it seemed safe to
forward.

- posted by Z @ 8:47 AM

 
Freeze Peach

That was what we called the student newspaper we ran when I lived in New Zealand - I got to be the editor while I was there. Pretty cool huh?

Anyway, this kind of crap makes me glad my boss is modified hippie freak. (That basically means he drives an SUV instead of a VW bus with a big flower on the front.)
- posted by Z @ 2:33 PM

 
Pinchas Pool

Okay, it's time to set up the pool to see who can guess when the last remaining "elder" leaves Protocols - seems Yehuda has bid us a fond farewell and only Pinchas is left.

On another note, Steven I. Weiss was unceremoniously fired from the Forward. Could this signal his imminent return to Protocols?

And still yet another note, I have been quite vocal in my disapproval of some of the material Luke was posting over there. But in recent weeks, I have to admit, he's toned down the "shock value" stuff and Protocols is actually not a bad place to make a visit. Different than before...but still, so far, not bad.
- posted by Z @ 8:11 AM

 
This By Way of my Friend Michelle...

She writes:

Just got this from the WUPJ newsletter...


INTERIOR MINISTER: LEGAL RESIDENTS WHO UNDERGO NON-ORTHODOX CONVERSIONS IN ISRAEL TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR CITIZENSHIP

Israeli Interior Minister Avraham Poraz says he will confer citizenship on those who undergo non-Orthodox conversions in Israel, and not only on those who undergo such conversions abroad, as long as they are legal residents of Israel at the time of conversion. The Ha'aretz daily reported that Poraz took this stance in a letter to Attorney General Meni Mazuz outlining his position prior to an upcoming Supreme Court session (see WUPJnews #115). In early June, the High Court gave the Interior Ministry 45 days to declare whether it would grant citizenship to 15 Reform and Conservative converts, after seven members of the 11-justice panel said no distinction can be made between those who convert locally and those who do so abroad. World Union Executive Director Rabbi Uri Regev and Attorney Nicole Maor of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) have been representing the petitioners.

Regev is also an attorney and headed IRAC when the petitioners first brought suit.

- posted by Z @ 3:00 PM

 
Fahrenheit 911

Over the weekend, my husband and my friend M and I went to see Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911.

First, I have to admit I was shocked that the theatre was pretty much SRO (standing room only.) Those who figured they'd skip the twenty minutes of previews and commercials figured wrong and ended up sitting in Stiff Neck Seating in the front.

The crowd appeared to be mostly my age and seniors...not so many that were younger than me (born AFTER LBJ's administration.)

As for the movie...I loved it. I went in with full knowledge that what I would see contained partial truths as well as outright misinformation but overall I think what Michael Moore was saying was effective and very well received by the audience.

At the end, the applause went on well into the credits.

In summary, I think his point was pretty much that we need to question what goes on with our government be they Republican OR Democrat or even Green, for that matter. We shouldn't just issue a blank check and carte blanche upon inauguration. We are intelligent people and to be blindly led by "Daddy" in the White House, well, that's basically idiocy of the highest order.

The whole "Daddy" thing, I believe, came about in the Reagan years. And it worked for him. And I really believe that this is the feeling the W Administration wants us to have, only of the McClintock variety. And for some people, I guess, it works.

But the facts remain. There were NO WMD's found even though there was a lot of chatter before the war that their existence was confirmed. And this is what REALLY bothers me. It's not so much that we went to war or even that we're quagmired there now.

It's the fact that we were sold a bill of goods, we believed it and now when the evidence clearly shows we were lied to, we're told..."well, it worked out didn't it?"

No matter WHO you have in the White HOuse, no matter how much you believe in them and think they're the best Administration for the job...you have to keep your eyes open.

And I think Fahrenheit 911 demonstrates that we need to get our "eyes wide open" and now.
- posted by Z @ 11:51 AM

 
Politics Aside
 
I wanted to point you to a new link I have.  Silent Running appears to be an ultra-conservative effort which has a few Kiwis from New Zealand writing for it.  And these bloggers have an up-close-and-personal view of what is happening in Wellington.
 
Politics aside, I think that solidarity now between the J-blogs is important and so I am linking.  The US press has virtually ignored this incident (mentioned in the posting below) and I think it's important enough to link to a virtual everyday update.
 
When you start to think NZ is one of the safest places in the world for just about anyone, think again.  Jews in NZ, I fear, are in a terrible position and one that they were placed in by their elected PM.
 
 


- posted by Z @ 10:29 PM

 
Confusing the Issue
 
New Zealand's PM Helen Clarke is apparantly confusing the issue in her refusal to condemn (despite what this article says, my sources IN Wellington have said she has not done this yet) what the desecration of sixteen tombstones in a Jewish cemetary in the capitol of Wellington.
 
I urge you, on behalf of my friends in Wellington and all of New Zealand, to contact the New Zealand Embassy at :
 
37 Observatory Circle NW
Washington D.C. 20008
United States of America
Telephone: 1 (202) 328 4800
Facsimile: 1 (202) 667 5227
Email: nz@nzemb.org
 
Please tell them that it is imperative that PM Helen Clarke condemn what happened to these tombstones immediately. 
 
My friend in Wellington, who took his 15 y/o son to see the damage, says they are not damaged...they are completely beyond repair. 


- posted by Z @ 5:15 PM

 
Another Shabbat
 
Here's wishing you a restful and peaceful Shabbat.  I'll be at knitting class this weekend.  Last night I spent the whole evening in the kitchen whipping up "chicken yumsticks", cold sesame noodles, and a waldorf salad for tonight's Shabbat meal.  Should be quite tasty.


- posted by Z @ 2:29 PM

 
Coming Home

I couldn't help but get choked up when I looked at the Gallery on the nefesh bnefesh website today...to see all of the olim and realizing that they were TRULY going home.

I have never really considered aliyah - but deep inside I know I would love, one day, like these olim, to just go home.
- posted by Z @ 1:01 PM

 
Is Less More?

Aidel Maidel writes today about throw away umbrellas and says she doesn't really need a michig set of china.

I happen to agree.

Eleven years ago I was displaced when my company went insolvent. They paid me off handsomely for the system development we were doing and so I took my nest egg and moved my family from congested Northern Virginia back to sweet and simple western Pennsylvania.

My husband is a social worker and so we lived on his poor salary for six years, until I finally went back to school and then back to work.

We had visions that things would get better - a bigger house, a bigger yard, better furniture.

Well, here we are eleven years later...five years after I went back to work. Is it better?

Depends on how you look at it.

About six months before I got my first job out of my second round of schooling, my husband went on permanent disability. He works a part time job but we have no idea how long he'll be able to do that. His health problems are...um...complex. He has a congenital heart condition and wears oxygen...in the hot and humid western PA summers he sleeps in our living room by the air conditioner.

We buy furniture second hand and could really use some new mattresses. We have no savings other than my 401K which I contribute to as much as I can. We need tires on the minivan and the Saturn could use an oil change. It will happen but it's definitely something we have to budget for.

I had always thought by this time in life we wouldn't be struggling but most days it seems like we're struggling more than ever before.

Sure, we have plenty to eat and a roof over our heads. I have great health insurance through my job and we can go on vacation to the beach every August (thanks greatly to my father's annual spot at a summer campground!) Our son is healthy and happy and has a PlayStation which he loves to use every day.

Aidel Maidel is right. It's funny how, when you don't have what you thought you would, you realize it really IS okay to have less. And in fact, sometimes it's better.

I don't support a large lifestyle now and that means I don't have to worry so much about supporting one later.
- posted by Z @ 9:29 AM

 
Summertime Blues

It's that lonely time of the synagogue year called summer. Our rabbi and two other families are in Israel for a few weeks. Everyone else has fled to the mountains or to the shore. The rest, well, who knows?

Services are threadbare at best, oneg virtually non-existent on Friday nights.

What I love best is when someone who shows up once or twice a year turns to me, who shows up every week, and asks in a very condescending tone "Who are YOU? I haven't seen you around!" No duh!

The good part though is that I get to play mah jongg nearly every week. I have the seat of a friend who is in Israel for five weeks. I actually won last night - woohoo! Once summer is over though I am sidelined until someone else doesn't want to play which isn't often.

My goal then....world domination in mah jongg, or at least domination of my little group in the meantime!
- posted by Z @ 9:25 AM