Sunday, August 28, 2005

The countdown is on

Well, we are a week out now, and starting to feel the pressure of it all. Phew.

Yesterday we escaped to the quiet of a mountain creek, sun bathing and swimming - a very welcome and enjoyable break from the buzz of West Hollywood. The water was still running and was chillier than I had anticipated, but damn it was good! We splashed around most of the early afternoon, and got to spend some great alone time, eating, drinking, and reading together. The sun was mighty hot, and we have a gentle blush to prove it.

Will most assuredly return in a couple of weeks. Very tempting to go next weekend and to hell with the festivities - but that would be very naughty!

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

The sun comes up...I think about you...

It's all I fucking think about.
My mind is nothing but a constantly rotating slide show of wedding details...

I guess it is the way these things are supposed to be?

I sure as shit don't know.

Monday, August 22, 2005

Shalom l'chem

Okay, so maybe I only catch every other word, and maybe by the time I catch that second word they are on to the next subject...But I like listening to Israeli radio...

Galgalatz, Radio Tel Aviv (102 FM), and RadiYo (Elat) once in a while.

Of course being 10 hrs behind it is pretty much always the evening hours with that smooth-voiced lady on Galgalatz that tries to put me to sleep with her silky "Shabbat shalom l'chem" as she spins mellow sleepy tunes to slumbering soldiers.

Takes me back to the Kibbutz - well, sorta.


With the disengagement in smooth - and yet incredibly painful - progress, listening at least gives me the illusion of being connected. The Gaza is pretty much empty, the demolitions have started, and now it is on to the 4 settlements in the West Bank to contend with. All very abstract for me, never having really been to the West Bank (except the bus that runs - ran - from Bet She'an to Yerusalem via Yericho a couple of times), and never having been south of Tel Aviv on the coast.

It is all very strange. The only person that I really share emotion with over it all is Merav. We have very similar feelings on most things Israeli. Definitely left wingers, but with hearts that can feel any political direction - especially with the photos of crying soldiers and settlers wetting each other.

I just hope that the country is able to heal. I downloaded a bumper sticker that says "Just as long as we don't separate from each other" - sums it up for me.

Laila tov achim'li.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

So here we go

We had our first meeting with the Rabbi to talk thru the wedding.
Oh my - much more to it than I think we had anticipated. So many details to consider.
I think they invented Excedrin for just this kind of headache...

Monday, August 15, 2005

And so it begins

The online newspapers carry photos of crying girls and davening men, praying for a miracle I think they know will not - can not - come. It is painful to think of the individual families that are leaving the homes they have known for so long. I can't imagine how horrible it must be, particularly since it was the government - and Sharon - who sent them there in the first place.

But the reality is that being an occupier has changed and damaged the Israeli psyche. We are not made to laud over other peoples. What a cruel twist of history to reverse our fortune in a generation.

To have the blood of another people - and I would say, more importantly the blood of our own children - on our hands is just too horrible for words.

May the pain of the things we will see, and the pain of what we will bear atop of what we already do be one day replaced with the joy of knowing that this sacrifice will indeed bring the flowering of the Psalmist's dream - that all will sit beneath their vines and fig tress, and none shall be afraid.

My thoughts are with the families who must leave behind their homes, and with those who must build theirs.

U'fros alienu sukat shlo'mecha.

Monday, August 01, 2005

Parting is but sweet sorrow

Well, my friend went away. I miss her terribly.

Friday, I did something I had sworn I wouldn't do again and went to her schule with her. It used to be mine too, once long ago. Well, sort of. A lifetime it feels, and being there again reminded me that it really was never "my" schule, either. Just not my kind of Judaism. Flat, joyless, wrapped in sadness and pain.

But I went, because I realized that it was going to be a while before we would daven together again.

Afterwards we went out with another friend for a drink - okay, so not exactly shomer, but what the heck. I walked from my house, does that count?

The Abbey was packed with people - all kinda of people. Amazing, pure theater. There is an area that is slightly raised in the "great hall' and so we stood watching - not unlike gentry in the viewing stand. So fun. Chatting in Hebrew together (no, nothing bitchy, it was shabbat after all).

Then home to bed.

I house sat in Brentwood this weekend, so over to walk the dog and marvel at how big some peoples homes are. What a waste of resources. Then across to Glendale for the farewell soiree.

For those who know LA - Brentwood to Glendale is no mean feat. With pitstops in West Hollywood to get changed, buy food, etc.

A lovely evening in the backyard at Maggie and Dave's house. Lots of interesting people, tho it was a little segregated (rocket scientists over there, Jews over here, Israelis with small children in the back).

A lovely havdalah circle in the starlight, some dancing, some eating and some drinking.

Belying the fact that she is indeed leaving, and we will, indeed, miss her terribly.