Daily Funny Story

No, it's not a resolution to post every day. I'm going to let you all in on a little daily occurance. I generally have a "Funny story for the day". I call my sister-in-law or brother, or a friend and let them in on my funny story. depending on how funny the story ranks depends on how many people I tell the story to. It has happened that after I decided on the funny story stomething funnier will happen, which just replaces the last funny thing, and the calls start again. Today's funny story takes the cake. I decided to share it with the world.

I had a voice mail from a number I didn't recognize. The caller in a very Israeli accent said, "Hi Sarra, I am calling from the flower shop, please call me back 054..... It is Yaron."

Intrigued I called Yaron back.

שלום ירון זאת שרה התקשרת לי

איזה שרה

at this point I'm not going to give out any information about me...who is this guy?

מה זה איזה שרה, התקשרת לי יש לי הודעה ממך

מאיפו את

ירושלים

I figured that was pretty much noninformation

אה, יש פרחים

בשבילי

כן בשבילך

מי שלח אותם לי

יש לך חברת אורנג

נכון

ויש לך יומולדת

נכון

טוב בי

and he hung up.

he dind't confirm an address, or ask me to pick up the flowers, or even tell me what flower store he worked for... and what was up with Orange? Is he saying they sent the flowers? Why would they? I"m not their #1 customer, that much is for sure.... Meanwhile there were no flowers waiting for me when I got home today... pretty weird

Canadians Get Credit...

I was giving some guy directions to the main bus station the other day in Hebrew.

תראה את המלון? לא, איזה מלון? המלון שמה! איזה בנין זה מלון? הבנין שכתוב אליו מלון!!! לא רואה.... איפו הוא? ממש שמה הבנין ההוא! אה, ואיפו נכתב מלון? או! סליחה זה רק נכתב באנגלית. לא שמתי לב. התחנה מרכזית ליד המלון. תודה! י

(quick translation: See the hotel? No, What hotel? That hotel there! What building is a hotel? The building that says "hotel" on it!!! No, I don't see, where is it? Right there, it's that building! Oh, where is it wrtten? OH! Sorry, it's only wrtten in English, I had never noticed before. the bus station is next to the hotel. Thanx!

Now don't get me wrong, I'm no Candian lover...but somthing must be said for their fight to have French on all their buildings and signs. It's pretty much a law there. If you're going to have words they must be in French too! How come Israelis aren't bothered by the fact that 1/2 their country is in English? Granted all official government signs are in 3 languages, Hebrew, Arabic and English. But how can they stand the English only signs on businesses? I think English only Sign Posters should be fined until they also put Hebrew on their signs. There is no reason that a native Israeli shouldn't know that the building he is standing next to is a hotel because he doesn't read a foreign language.

Sunshine

I have scheduled a meeting with my Rabbi boss finally to discuss what I'm going to actually do for them this coming year. I have come up with a plan. I can teach on their programs, and act as a tour guide for many locations - The Center, Galil and Golan are my strong points. I just have to stay away from the Negev and I think I'll be ok. Do I know everything? Nope, but I think I have enough of a background to just need to brush up on sites before going to make it work. We'll see what says about this plan.... In any case, until our meeting on Monday I am at peace with my thoughts...

Kermit D. Frog

I don't know why I named it that. I don't know why I am sitting here after a day of not working. I don't know why I am searching the internet for ideas of what to do next year. I do know that I'm not sure what I should/could/want to do next year. ahhhhhh. That's right, I ahhhh'ed. I am sitting here at my friend's house sorta pretending to scour the internet for ideas with her help on the Hebrew sites and her help on ideas of what and where to look. I think the main issue is what to look for. This is the sitch... the program I am creating is not starting this coming year. I failed recruitment 101: Goal, sign up participants. Now, the program will start Sept. 2006. Great. What to do for the rest of this year though... come later in the year there will be full time work for me in the office getting ready for the program, but right now there is nothing. The program has been written. The contacts have been made. The ground work has been layed... so now...uhhh...right... My company needs me to do something worth paying me for. I thought about going back to school myself, but then i remembered how much I HATE the classroom (very mature of me, I know) So that's my rant about my frustration of the week. I have been avoiding my office for fear that they'll ask me what I'm doing, and I won't have an answer. Now, back to mindlessness....

People Who Care Medal of Honor

Hey! More about Shavuot later, but I have a friend who is staying with me over Shavuot from the States...well, just the great State of Michigan...who has on her site a petition that I feel needs to be signed by all of you...
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/IsraelUSEmbassy
She is an entering senior at Wayne State and very active in the Israel/Jewish world there. This is a personal petition that she has created, and will be sending to Pres. Bush, and every single member of US Congress. Kol Hakavod to people who care. I give her the

~~~ People Who Care Medal of Honor ~~~

and honor her with putting a link to her Israel page here....
http://freewebs.com/israelihistory/
The world needs more people who care...

Meeting's Over

Well, I had the close up meeting with the director today about the program. We both agreed that I am not the right person for the job. My new program won't be starting for another year...so what to do this coming year. I'm thinking about becoming a tour guide. I found a 2 month madrich tiyul course to take. Sounds interesting...

Blue, White & Orange...

Tonight amidst a sea of blue, white and orange stood about 15 students holding a sign in Hebrew which read "Jerusalem is the capitol of two countries". The students were wearing blue and white, and had either Habanim Dror or Shomer Hatzair written on their shirts. I want to know why. Why they felt it was necessary to come to the parade celebrating the fact that Jerusalem became a united Jewish city to protest. I want to know why they have to fight for the other side. I want to know why they started arguing with an old lady standing near them who asked them not to block her view of the dancers. I want to know why no one beat them up, but allowed them to march. They did not join in the dancing. They did not join in the singing. How do they feel now? Now that they had the chance to protest the rights of a people who would never stand up for them. They stood against their own people - surrounded by idealists who were just emanating love, happiness and excitement - and fought for what...

Anonymity

Is that enough said?

If we didn't want anyone to read what we were writing, we would do it in a private closed journal. If we didn't want anyone to see what we were thinking, we would keep our comments to ourselves. How is it we give out free reign to people who wish to read and comment on our thoughts, but are stopped by the very idea of knowing any of these people in "the real world". Censorship would certainly play a major role in my blog if my neighborhood acquaintances' knew this address. How do I know they do not. They could have stumbled upon my blog the way I've stumbled upon others. Should I "hide" the blogs I have written about others? Just some thoughts that I came out of a party with...

Shout Outs

I just wanted to give a shout out to Shimi, Miriam and David (and the rest of the cast who I do not know) for putting on an excellent performance of "Princess Bride" at Bar Ilan tonight.

Also to Menachem, who deserves his link b/c I've quoted him, and have finally taken the 8 seconds out to figure out how to link...

And, I did get to spend a second of time with E who is heading back to the States (again!) and trying his hand at Graduate School there. I'll miss you! It's funny, cuz I don't ever really spend time with him, that I should miss him when he leaves, the way he says it I may see him more now that he's going to be in NY then when he was in Tel Aviv...but it's the thought of him going that gets me down. At least while he lives here there's always the chance he'll be in the 'hood and we'll get to chill...

Yodeah Lishol!

One of my favorite sites is Lookjed. It is a list of questions that Jewish educators post and answer. I will admit that most of the answers given completely bother me, but most of the questions I love. This was posted recently.

Recently a student said in my Halacha class: "Oh, come on. That's justgoing too far. I mean, God can't possibly care how I do that." The particular issue was about how to properly use a crockpot for Shabbat based on the rules we were studying. I had just mentioned that some say the outer pot must be covered in foil. Leaving aside the particular case at hand, I'd love to collect responses you've used to this question that students often ask of why Halacha seemsoverly picky with minor details.

All the Best,
Mark Smilowitz
Teacher
Northwest Yeshiva High School
Seattle, WA

Isn't this what it is all about? Don't we want Jewish students to want to care and understand. If the educators in our "system" can't answer simple basic questions, as I believe this to be, now an we expect students in "the system" to keep on the path? Haven't we been taught the difference between Judaism and most other religions is we welcome questions. I think he should be given an award for asking such a great question. Kol Hakavod.