Willow Tree

3 more dead

Three more Jews were murdered late last night by an Arab monster dressed as a religous Jew. He exploded himself in the car, killing an older couple and another woman.

So what is Israel's choice when the world keeps holding us back from defending ourselves? Hamas is so cheerful about this lastest murder; what will the world say? What will Olmert and the leftist do? Give the Palestinians more land and promise us it will, eventually, (someday when we are all dead) lead to peace? When will the Palestinains actually be held responsible for the crimes they commit?

VOTED

WIth reluctance, because I am not certain as to the worth of my vote in terms of stopping an evil I think could very well happen again (more pullouts) but there it is.

My first time voting in Israel and all the way till I put the letter in the box I wasn't certain.....

The Cat House Down The Street

When I was about 11 or so my cat had kittens. Three I think, but I can't recall for certain. The time came as when kittens no longer needed mom and the parents (mine, not the kittens) needed a bit less expenses. So we did what every child is made to do in that situation; we put the kittens in a box and went door to door with the hopes (on the part of our parents at least) that a combination of pathos and winsomeness would induce some poor, sentimental fool, to take at least one of the kittens off our hands.

Door to door we went, without much luck, until we reached one house where, though refused, the lady of the house suggested "That house around the corner. I know she has a few cats; perhaps she'll be willing to take in another." Unfortunately there was no answer and we returned with three still unwanted kittens. Not to worry, I assured my mother "The lady that has a cat house down the street wasn't home, we'll try again and maybe she might take one."
Luckily the plate my mother was holding wasn't so important.
Then she explained the meaning of the phrase I just used and why it was inappropriate to our neighbors/

Flash forward about 37 years, to our home here in Israel, where we also have three kittens in need. We aren't having much luck and part of me is secretly glad. The Wit accuses me of being a Cat Lady to be and he is right; I could easily see myself takling in one cat after another, one lost sad pup in need of a home. I can see twenty litter pans and plates full of food and water scattered throughout my home, while bills pile up unpaid and the house slowly deteriorates into a horror.

Good intentions can so easily go wrong.
But I want to save the world. I wish I could do more than I do and sometimes I feel overwhelmed.
Who do I, with our limited funds, help? Who gets the support and who must seek elsewhere? How much to this person/group/cause and how much to that?

Sometimes it just seems so hard; I wish that it could be more like taxes. You get a list of needy and a given amount of time and or money owed for each that you file promptly, with possible penalties for failure, along with your taxes. Then I can dismiss the ills of the world and go on with life a whole lot easier; I already gave, it is here in black and white. See?

I don't have to think about Dafur; not on my list. I spent my quota on Katrina, or the blind or the starving. I am AOK in the charity department, in the caring for humanity department. No worries there!

Effort can be directed, by the governing body, at the most important issues of the year, and the world as a whole can eliminate one sorrow at a time from the global pain list.

Of course there are flaws. We aren't suppose to be able to dismiss someone else's pain so easily, even if they aren't on our list. We are one world and the pains are shared, or should be shared, somewhat, by us all. We should feel joy about ending or even minimizing the pain of another, even a little bit. So I guess it all has to stay a bit messy and disconcerting.

I guess there really is no other way.

Redo

If you could take back one thing you said to one person, what would it be and to whom was it said, and what would you say instead?

I know what I would take back: I was waiting outside a Shul in New York city, a rather well known Shul, waiting for my husband to arrive so we could go in and listen to a Torah lesson. A strange (in many ways) woman came up to me, very angry, her face set and hard, and she began ranting about Mikveh, how she hated it, how she didn't really go but only told her husband she went and actually she just went for a walk around the block, on and on...and I sat there stunned, not at all certain what to say. I must have responded somehow, gave some answer to her anger, but I can't remember the exact words.

Then she stopped; her face took on a look of disdain: "You'll probably be one of those who has ten kids!" she spat at me.

"No. Six" I snapped back, because this was what my husband and I had talked about, and I, at that point, was anxious to show I wasn't the kind of woman who just had baby after baby. At that point in my life I wanted a career; children nursed for 6mns, then set to the care of a babysitter, me off doing some good for someone else. "Six" I said, making believe I really was the one in control of the situation.
And if I could II would take back, and would answer instead.
"I'll take ten or I'll take twenty, or half as many or three times agian. I will take whatever G-d gives me and be happy for the blessings I am given."

Now, older, wiser, I wonder how I could have thought that I could named a number of children as if each and everyone granted wasn't worth all the world, as if G-d wouldn't know the right number for me. I wish I had known to appreciate the blessing of carrying, bearing and raising even a single soul in the world.

I have been blessed by my five.

Sometimes I wish I did have this great career where people were amazed by my ablities and accomplisments; plaques and testimonials on the wall, a fat pay check.

But I got my blessings, and I am the luckiest mom in the world.

And I take back everything I said to that woman.

Thank you G-d for blessing me as You have.

My Kids Constantly Amaze Me

It isn't necessarily so much what they do but it is who they are; how wonderful they have turned out. I think; how could I, who am so flawed, have given birth to these beautiful souls. I feel overwhelmed with joy for their being. I look around at the other children in the world and my heart swells and I feel an enormous pride in myself for having been given the children I was given; as if I had anything to do with it.

I guess all parents feel this way inside; but hey, I know the truth.
Whether or not I deserve it: My kids rule.

More Children's Programming

From our pals the PALS. Yes children, step right this way; you too can murder and mutilate your way to heaven....
And it gets you out of homework and housework too.

Lovely lovely lovely.

Yeah, I'm disgusted, and going to drag anyone who wants to read further way out into left field and than back again.

This type of thinking, and the kind of thinking reminds me of an episode from Star Trek.

Now if my dh were here and not working he would not only tell me the-episode the following was from but the complete dialogue of the scene. As it is, you'll have to do with my pathetic rendetion.

Diana is speaking to Capt. Piccard about the difficulties of negotiating a peace treaty between two different peoples. She holds a cup in her hand and says a made up word. "Now, what am I talking about?" She asks, and when he responds "cup" she tells him "you could be right. But I could also be referring to the stuff inside the cup, or the color of the cup, or about things with handles or some other concept completely." There needs to be some common basis for understanding what the other person is saying.

Many people have harped on this throughout the years; I'm saying nothing new. But I do not see how we can have peace with the "enemy" if their ideas of what constitues peace, what constitues good morals is so radically different than ours. How can we shake hands with people who would make a hero of a man who cold bloodly and cruelly murder a young child barely out of diapers? How can we make peace with a people who place such little value on the lives of their children that they willingly turn them into weapons? How far does one bend to accept the "culture" of others before one realizes that one has given away ones soul.

Even if the Palestinians were a legitatmite people, no peace process can possibly come about while their morals are so radically different from ours and whose understanding of the language is so different than ours. Before we can shake hands to any agreement we must make certain that we are both signing on to the same thing, even if they agree to rein in terrorism and "accept Israel".. We have to have a mutal agreement as to the meaning of the words, and that agreement must be verifiable, they can't say one thing to us and the world at large and another to their people.

Furthermore, their educational system must change, their media must change, their society must undergo a radical shift in thinking; one to, let me dare say this, as I know it isn't politically correct, one to MORAL thinking.

At the very least they must start valuing the lives of their own children just a bit more.

Not My Idea of a Hero

But apparently men who bash in four year old girls head with the butt end of their guns are hero's to the Palestinian people. One such monster was just awarded honorary citizenship by the PA. The PA put it this way:

followed:
"We bless the family members of Samir Quntar, we are with you. He is your son but he is also our son, the son of Palestine. We ask of Allah, that there will be 100 more Samir Quntars, 1,000 more Samir Quntars, 1,000,000 more Samir Quntars, that do and act for the Palestinian issue."
[PATV, Aug. 18, 2004]

Palestinian version of a hero: Murders of unarmed men and little girls.

Normal definition of a hero:A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life

And up is down and down is up.
Got it?

Oh, Wow!

This man is very interesting. He is a former evangelical minister who converted to Orthodox Judaism.
He has a whole blog on why. He also has a radio program and a second blog on other issues.

It's Purim

So while your noshing on those Oznei Haman (Hamantaschen) send me your funniest joke, the funniest movie clip, song or what have you.

Spread the joy and Happy Purim!
My contribution.

Okay, These People are Nuts

Wackos abound all over the place, don't they.

Well, that's another organization I'm not joining.

Give an Ear To This

Dr. Wafa Sultan is a Syrian born, now American psychologist, speaking out against the violence on the part of many Muslims. She is not a Muslim, Christian, or Jew. She considers herself a secular humanist. Tovia Singer, one of my favorite radio personalities, interviews her on Arutzsheva. Go listen.

From another interview:

The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights, on the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings. What we see today is not a clash of civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete.

[...]

Give an Ear To This

Dr. Wafa Sultan is a Syrian born, now American psychologist, speaking out against the violence on the part of many Muslims. She is not a Muslim, Christian, or Jew. She considers herself a secular humanist. Tovia Singer, one of my favorite radio personalities, interviews her on Arutzsheva. Go listen.

From another interview:

The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights, on the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings. What we see today is not a clash of civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete.

[...]

Instead of CandyLand do they play JihadLand

I mean what else is left?

Please don't tell me the game already exists.

HA.! HAHAHAHA!!!! HA!

I got a set! I got a set. Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah!!!

Ah, no fair, you got my sixes. And I was about to get a set. POUT.

GO FISH...hehehehehe

Really, the only way to survive your umpteenth game of go fish is to act like your six.

Your kid likes it that way too.

And one of these days I'll win!!!!

Kittens

Meet Tiara

Kiko (the black and white kitty with back towards us) and Midnight... the kitten we will keep. Kiko is the only boy.


and cutie pie Dina

The camera is quasi working. It takes pictures but we can't see what we are taking through the view screen. We have to do it the old fashioned way.

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