We’re ba-ack (and you didn’t even know we’d gone).
This weekend we did something we haven't done for years. We went on a little holiday without the girls. We used to go to Sinai without them, when they were babies, but once they were old enough to they came with us. We didn't actually plan this holiday this way. Bish was invited to an event in Katzrin (a town) in the Golan (without kids) and he wanted me to come too. So instead of schlepping all the way there and back on the same day we decided to see if we could find somewhere nice to stay over. We found a lovely B & B in a place called Ma’ale Gamla over looking Lake Kinneret and just by Gamla (well it would be with a name like that, wouldn't it?). Four or five lovely and tastefully decorated chalets, an indoor swimming pool, a special chalet for massages. And best of all, a breath taking view of the mountains of Upper Galilee, fresh mountain air, and quiet, besides the constant choir of birds singing in the trees. The breakfast, served in the chalet, was superb.

When we crossed the Jordan River over Arik Bridge, on the way up, we stopped to look at the flow. We weren't alone. The sides of the road on each end of the bridge looked like a busy city parking lot. Hardly anyone passing by didn't stop to take a peek.

The Golan was amazing, so green; Cows grazing at every turn. We even saw a wolf crossing the road, at night time, when we were coming back from the restaurant. It wasn't the wine. Really. Bish saw it too, and he didn't even have any wine.

There were flowers and water everywhere and in the morning we managed to go and see one of the waterfalls, on the way to Katzrin.






The snowy peak is Mount Hermon.

posted by Imshin 20:46

Thank you R.T. for pointing this out.

posted by Imshin 11:06

There was a big mistake yesterday. Two young Israeli security guards were killed near Hebron, when security forces mistook them for terrorists. The details are pretty awful.
posted by Imshin 11:05

I haven't dropped off the edge of the earth, in case you were wondering. I haven't had anything to say. We're just treading water, waiting for war. I'm fed up of writing about it and thinking about it, and nothing domestic has managed to catch my interest. So I went off to read a lowly mystery novel. I've just finished it.
posted by Imshin 22:20

Ruth, Cervantes and lentil soup.
In high school we read Bialik’s shortened Hebrew version of Cervantes’ “Don Quixote”. It gave me incentive to read the lot and I had a shot at the English translation I found at home. I didn’t get very far but I was impressed with what was written on the back cover. Don Quixote, it said sagaciously, should be read three times in a life: In youth, in adulthood and in old age. I didn’t get it, but it did sound meaningful. It mainly made me frustrated that I wasn’t about to read it in youth, feeling uneasy that I was missing some major thing that I wouldn’t ever be able to recapture at a later date.

We were sitting in the Happy Chef restaurant in Mitzpe Ramon, this weekend. Youngest was telling us about the lentil soup Y’s father brought to the class to help explain about Esau selling his birthright to Jacob. “It was very nice, but not nearly as good as yours and Safta’s, Ima” (Ima=Mom; Safta=Grandma). I’ve told you before about my mother-in-law’s lentil soup. Eldest began talking vaguely about the story of Ruth. For some reason, she was mixing the two stories up in her mind. She couldn’t remember it very well, and I filled in the details for her, trying to make it as concise as possible, in case she lost interest. I got to the bit where the widow Naomi is returning home to the Land of Israel from Moav, following the deaths of her sons, and one of her daughters-in-law, Ruth the Moavite, insists on going with her and says to her “Ki el-asher telchi, elech” (Wherever you will go, I will go) and more. I tried to quote those words but I just couldn’t say them. I was suddenly all choked with emotion. It took me a minute or two before I managed to get them out.

When I learnt the Book of Ruth as a child, and whenever I thought about the story (in my neighborhood of Carmeliya in Haifa, site of last weeks terrorist attack, there was a Naomi street and a Ruth Street, so I did feel a connection to the story), I was taken by the romantic story of Ruth and Boaz. I don’t think I took much notice of Naomi. I saw nothing out of the ordinary about Ruth’s choice.

Now I am a daughter-in-law. I have a wonderful mother-in-law. I’m very fond of her and I know how unusual this is. Hey, I speak to people. I know that friction with one’s mother-in-law is quite common. But, despite our very warm relationship, had Bish died (tfu tfu tfu) before we had had any kids, would I have left my family and my home and followed my mother-in-law, unprotected and penniless, to an unknown foreign land, most likely for a life of degradation and abject poverty, if not worse? Highly unlikely.

It is, of course, possible that Ruth had an awful family and would rather risk death than go back to living with them as a widow. Even so.

Not something I could appreciate as a child.

So at long last I am beginning to understand the words on the back cover of that old copy of Don Quixote. A tale, and its lessons, can be seen very differently at different ages. I wonder how I will feel about the story of Ruth when I myself am a mother-in-law (should I have the good fortune to live that long).

* * * *

One of the best things about blogging is some of the people I have had the privilege to meet (as it were). Alisa here shares some very moving stuff about her life.

posted by Imshin 23:06

I’ve switched to classical music. No point listening to the current affairs programs on the radio all day. They don’t have anything interesting to add. More analysis, more speculation. I'm fed up. We will get a warning before the Americans attack Iraq, we won’t get a warning before the Americans attack Iraq. And in the meantime, plenty of warnings about terrorist attacks.

And then suddenly, amid all the chatter, I get this mental picture of all those young American soldiers, thousands of miles from home. They're like those desert flowers we saw on Shabbat. How many of them will not be going home at the end of this?

So what is there to say? I can't think of anything.

posted by Imshin 17:53

Civax says some things about Palestinian casualties that I agree with.
posted by Imshin 18:20

I keep thinking about 13˝ year-old Yuval Mendelevich's last words. What they mean is that he knew what was about to happen. He realized that the person next to him was a terrorist. He had just enough time to digest that he was about to die and say farewell to his father.
posted by Imshin 17:53

Dinah and Eli Horowitz were sitting at their Erev Shabbat (Friday night) dinner in their home in Kiryat Arba near Hebron. They were murdered by Palestinian terrorists who entered their home and shot them.

posted by Imshin 17:37

Diane has moved. Adjust your favorites.
posted by Imshin 17:26

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