Sundry Thoughts

My Jerusalemk

jn
One of my regular readers showed me a comedian on Conan talking about the miracles we take for granted. I've thought about this myself, but this guy put it well. It bugs me when an email takes thirty seconds to arrive and someone shouts, "THIS IS SO SLOW!" I think having words go through space and get to you in thirty seconds is pretty amazing. If it took a day I'd still be impressed. And on planes people focus on how cramped it is or how long it takes. Hello! You're flying! Everyone on a plane should be sitting there smiling and exclaiming, "Oh my G-d, I'm flying though the air!"
j bh

People love to complain about flying. The truth is that my flight both ways was quite pleasant. I was thinking about it; a plane is a pretty comfortable place to be. You get your food served to you, have movies available the whole time, and no-one from outside the plane can reach you.

bh j

On a more serious note, one of the highlights of my trip to Israel was discovering Tehillim Cards - very meaningful, chock full of potential. I'd write more about my experience with these cards, but I think it is a very personal thing. I highly recommend getting and utilizing this powerful tool.
h

Another great find was a book called On The Poetry of Zelda. I almost didn't buy it because it's in Hebrew. When I asked the store owner, in Hebrew, if the price was negotiable he replied, "It doesn't matter because you're not interested anyway." I told him, as I began to worry about his stability, that I was very interested but was a bit intimidated by the Hebrew. He cut the price of this rare, used, mint condition book and I bought it. I got my money's worth on the plane. I learned that Zelda asked that none of her letters be made public until twenty years after she died. In general she was guarded about her personal history and therefore not much is known. There is also a cool chapter that deals with Zelda as an orthodox writer and what that means more broadly.
h

According to NPR's Soundcheck Smackdown - Youtube gets twenty new hours of video every minute! And it's the number two search engine on the web. hb
h

I don't think I'm alone in enjoying walking in Yerushalayim more than walking in N.Y. In Yerushalayim hotels advertise that they're a close walk to the Kotel, when they're a half hour away. And people are fine with that. Imagine if a hotel on the Upper West Side said it was walking distance from the theater district (lehavdil)!