JSPCA Day

I was feeling rather ditzy the last few days like spraying my underarms with my hair silicone spray instead of deodorant. Then I'm writing out my "to do" list at work and I notice a co-worker staring at my first item which said "buy bag of greens for 30 shekels". She probably thought I was buying a stash of weed or something, when actually it was for kale and collards which are very difficult to come buy. Israelis think kale is for decoration and never heard of collards. Private people sell these healthy greens for the health conscience and since I'm a woman of contradictions, I can easily eat a large bowl chocolates together with brown rice and greens.

But getting back to the subject matter, I ended up trying to do a good deed by fostering a dog for a bit until someone can adopt him. I took him for adoption at the JSPCA mobile adoption day in our city and this one scary big lug of a woman was the first to request him.

"ANI ROTZEH OTO!!!" she bellowed over and over again (I WANT HIM!!). She was staring at him as if he were her next meal. I was frightened and I prayed - please God do NOT let this pooch go to this woman. Fortunately my prayers were answered because she didn't want to pay the $120 or so (the fee for all innoculations and spaying) whatsoever and thought she'd get a freebie from them. But no one else wanted to deal with pups and he is now still in my house. Any takers?

Cussing the Tee Vee

I spent most of my evening on Thursday looking at Nasrallah's image on TV while he was threatening Israel again with missiles in Tel Aviv if the IDF attacks Beirut.

"Fuck you, you piece of shit!" I said to him, hoping he'd hear me through the tv glass and throwing a pistachio shell at him.

There I was, Mrs. Peacemaker of Jerusalem, suddenly hurling more "F" words at him than Hezbullah's missiles being flung at us daily.

Has it boiled down to this for me?

I'm actually royally pissed off at him and his cronies for fucking up all my plans to visit Beirut one day and take a lovely drive through their once-lovely country and take in some seaside cafes. I'm not the only one who had that vision. But that seems so far off now by light years.

And it seems like it will never end. Each side waiting for the other to be the first one to stop. Well none of them want to be the first. And if they do stop, and Hezbollah does not change its ideology, which it won't, otherwise they won't be called Hezbollah, my fear is that they will only re-arm and re-group and make a stronger attack against us next time. And other similar groups like them might see how difficult it was for the IDF to "smash" them and may join in the conflict to "liberate" the country from us Jews. So what can we really do? It's like if I could ever come face-to-face with a Genie, one of my wishes would be that every militant Islamist be turned into a peace-loving, whirling dervish Sufi. But Genies are hard to find....

To fast or not to fast

It's already 10 am, and not a stitch of water or food has gone into my mouth since last night. I'm a terrible faster and feel terribly thirsty. It's hot here and thank the Good Lord that I have air conditioning which isn't on at the moment, but at the flick of a switch it could be. I don't know if I'll last the full day - maybe yes or maybe no.

I'm a pick and choose Jew. Lots of options to choose from for fasting on Tisha B'av (9th of Av).

Orthodox - 25 hour fast
Conservative - half day fasting - they feel that we have a State, therefore, there is no real need to fast fully because of the Temple's destruction
Reform - no fasting
Me - depends on the year. Sometimes I feel because there is no peace in the region I must fast for peace. I must fast for the Lebanese/Israeli war to end. I must fast for Hizbollah to stop throwing rockets on us and give us back our kidnapped soldiers. The war would end in a second if they did just that. I must fast because my brother's newly married kid just got called up to fight in Lebanon, and his wife is besides herself with worry. Another one of his kids is being called up on Monday - so even as much as I want to ignore this war, I can't. It's too close to home now.

There was a Women in Green walk around the walls of Jerusalem last night - which even my Fox-News-Addict-Hubby said was too right-wing for him to participate in, and then there was this interesting thing called Dveikus which is a group that meets monthly or weekly and they cry and scream together. I'd love to just check it out. But I'd probably end up laughing looking at everyone doing their thing instead of crying and screaming. This is some sort of Jewish healing therapy, which they claim gets prayers answered and opens up the heart. I can kind of understand it, but picture a whole bunch of Jews getting together crying and screaming in a room about whatever it is they want to cry and scream about and it seems more amusing to me than anything. But I'm sure "letting it all out" is healthy and empowering in a way. Sorta like Primal Scream therapy which John Lennon and Yoko were into in the 70s.

Nine Days

I've been busy trying to ignore a war that's going on while Hubby does just the opposite, sitting at home glued to Fox News.

"they're pro-Israel" he says to me - because that's true and they are truly in the minority. I'm silently glad someone is pro-Israel. Even though I'm against war at the same time. We all certainly know Mel Gibson ain't pro-Israel, but I have my own secret wish for him - that his children marry ultra-orthodox Jews. Mwaaa haa haa.

How does one forget the ills of her country. I went and got a pedicure on Sunday. I hadn't had one in nearly a year. This is very contrary to all the millions of rabbinic laws that they put on us for the 9 days of mourning before the fast of the 9th of Av on Thursday - the only other 25 hour fast besides Yom Kippur. One shouldn't bathe (I do - it's too hot not to), cut hair (I don't), eat meat (I don't), do laundry (I do), listen to music (I don't), go to the movies (only watch videos) until the fast is over. But my feet were bothering me and I needed a bit of pampering. Anyway, this woman who does my feet is Mrs. Barbie Doll. Her place is all done up in pink puffy pillows and rugs and furniture. You gotta see it to believe it. Next time I go, I'll photograph it. She has the biggest boobs, natural ones, that put Pamela Anderson's to shame. And she toned down her hair to a nice ash blonde instead of the yellow shade she had last year.

"Wow! It's great! Where did you do it?"

It seems that everything she does, I want to do.

She had her laser surgery on her eyes and loves being able to see first thing in the morning. She simply raves about it.

"Wow! That's great" I gushed. "Where did you do it?"

Then she had taken a cruise last year, which I booked for Hubby and me for sometime this summer. The same cruise line she had taken.

"It's great! You'll love it" she gushed just like Barbie would do. And she didn't seem to mind that I wanted the same cruise, the same hair color, the same eye surgery and definitely the same boobs as she has.

The finished product

Sulha organizers

Orthodox Jews - at the Sulha

Prayer time - Sulha

candle-lighting - Sulha

wider listening circle

Listening circles

Sulha - artists at work

Sulha - Jerusalem

I had to take a test for Osteoporosis at Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital on Mt. Scopus. I took a sick day off work, which is something I hadn't done in 4 years, and thought it was high time I did. Normally hospitals give me the creeps, but when you walk into one in Israel, you see the many kinds of people all being given treatment here - Arabs, Druze, Jews - and I thought what a nice place for a "Sulha"

I had to prepare for a visit by 19 interfaith workers from the States later that afternoon and really didn't want to give the impression of being a "dirty Jew" in my home. I ended up doing what I usually delegate to my kids - cleaning the bathroom and thought that'll better my reputation. I managed to give a 45 minute lecture and field questions from the group. The reason they were so interested in visiting with me is that I live over the green line - so that kind of makes me a settler of sorts. I don't live way over the green line, but about a 10 minute drive. And I'm a peace worker. So settlers and peace workers don't usually jive and they were curious to meet me, after one of the members of their group had met me at an olive-picking expedition with Taayush or Rabbis for Human Rights.

"Can I clone you?" asked one of the visitors after my speech.

"Huh? I think my kids would be absolutely horrifed to have two of me around..."

One thought I'd make a good rabbi. A gypsy rabbi. That'll be a first.

I invited another resident of our town to speak because I wanted them to get another perspective of how the majority of people think around here. I'm definitely not in the majority. After he spoke and talked about how awful it was not to be able to pray on the Temple Mount because it is the Jews' holiest site (not the Western Wall as most people think) and expressing wishes that the 3rd temple will be rebuilt right there, someone asked him about the Nakba. Before he arrived, part of my lecture was that we are ignorant of one another and most Israelis don't really know or care about what Palestinians call the Nakba (the 1948 catastrophe where they were forced to leave or voluntarily left their villages inside Israel - after which most of these villages were totally demolished).

"NAKBA??" he walked towards the questioner. "Why is it a Nakba? Because Israel was created?" He seemed to be fuming.

I smiled because - hey - I'm right on. This guy has no clue what it means.

The person explained - "It's because in 1948 many Arabs had to flee their homes and this created many refugees...."

But he didn't continue.

The speaker actually said he would like to come to one of my interfaith meetings, which would be great because then he'd get some more knowledge in, and he wouldn't have to feel so defensive when someone mentions the Nakba or other things Palestinians go through. We certainly know what we go through - the constant fear of terrorist attacks when in crowded buses and streets and cafes - but we simply do not know the fear of the Other. And this is what we have to be brave enough to face as well.

The next day was the 3 hour Sulha gathering in Jerusalem. I tried to pull in others to the gathering, but it was quite difficult at this time. I met up with Hubby and his friend just in from Toronto and a young man who was his driver and friend of this guy's family.

Hubby had already prepped him about my peace work. They were totally not into it.

The young guy, a cute 22 year old, explained to me his difficulties when he served in the army while going into Ramallah for an operation searching for terrorists.

"There was a man there with his kid. He was holding a gun towards us. We're given orders that if they have a gun on them, we're allowed to shoot. Look, it's either us or the guy." He paused. "So I shot him"

I didn't ask - what did the little kid do? What did you do about him? I just said "That is absolutely awful." How awful to have to make life and death decisions like this when you're no older than 18 or 19 years old yourself.

And with that sad thought, I walked towards the Sulha gathering in Jerusalem's Gan Sacher park where you couldn't help but notice the large circle of people sitting quietly in a meditation for peace. Arabs from the North had come in droves with their families - some traumatized by the Katyushas. I invited some Arab teens to stay in my home and they thanked me, but I think they still want to return to their families later in the evening.

We spoke in a listening circle for an hour - everyone spoke from their heart about their anger, sadness and hope about today's situation in Lebanon and Gaza - after which we listened to some prayers. Standing in a circle, we sang together one traditional prayer in Hebrew (Ein K'eloheinu - "there is no God but our God") and Arabic (la illa il Allah - also - "there is no other god besides God") in a particularly beautiful melody, which is still ringing in my head this morning, and my soul was happy to be in the midst of an oasis of peace in a public park in Jerusalem where many curious onlookers looked but didn't join. Seeing is believing though and I hope they went back to their families to tell them about seeing this unusual large group of Jews and Arabs sitting peacefully together.

And as the evening ended, I had a spiritual revelation of sorts. Remembering that these are the 9 days before our ancient fast of Tisha B'av when the Jewish Temple was destroyed 2,000 years ago, where even the 9 days take on some aspects of mourning, many Jewish sages have said the reason the temple was destroyed was because of baseless hatred between Jews. Then there was the split of the Israeli kingdom to become separate kingdoms of Israel (North) and Judea (South) around 500 or 800 b.c.(and am too lazy to look up the exact date) and the subsequent destruction of the first Temple on the same date of Tisha B'av.

An Orthodox Jewish onlooker spoke to me about our group and said "The North and South of Israel are really divided" - the North is feeling the war, and the South feels nothing. Not to mention all these refugees trickling into Jerusalem from the North.

Perhaps God is somehow "dividing" the North and South of this country again so we can do a "tikkun" (repair) of an ancient wrong. And I think somehow we are doing this tikkun, as many many people from the North are being hosted by people from the South - people here are opening up their homes. I see public notices in newspapers of people willing to host Northern families. I get daily e-mails by the dozens about this not to mention Jerusalemites going on holiday who are giving their empty homes over to Northern families until this situation quiets down...

Somehow - this, together with the Sulha, makes for a really good tikkun.

A Must Read!!

This is a "must read" about the situation we are in right now - Israel and Lebanon. He is a terrific writer. I think he hits it right on. Unfortunately.

wishful thinking

I've been getting e-mails from many different sources about the conflict - most are hopeful. The first is from Taayush

"Dear Friends,

Please find below a link to a new forum – "JULY 2006: IF NOT NOW, WHEN". Nestled in between the thunder of the guns and the wailing of the media, this is a place for Israelis, Lebanese, Palestinians and everyone else connected with or affected by the conflict to directly exchange views, information, experiences, and sometimes also blows, I guess. The forum will also host digests from media on all sides of the conflict, as well as links and excerpts from blogs from the field. It will be great if you would be the first to pick up the gauntlet and to start posting – if each would just tell a bit about herself or himself (age so and so, doing such and such, living there and there), so that when new people show up to the forum they don't find it completely empty.

Moderator vacancies are open, by the way.

The link is here "
==================================================

The second e-mail I got today is from this guy, whom I don't know - and I don't really know what light workers do, but whatever it is, it's much better than what's going on between our country and Lebanon.

"Dear light worker,

This is a letter from Israel, my name is Jacob Avidan and I'm light worker and I live in Israel as well as you know the middle east is in a state of war as a light worker im sending love and light to the battle zone everyday recently Ihave noticed a powerful energy that sent from around the world to this area so I start receive this energy and anchored it with my body and spirit and now I'm receiving everyday this powerful energy and I want to say thank you from the center of my heart for sending this powerful love yesterday as I'm working with this powerful love I received an understanding about focusing the energy and I need your help

At Friday morning im gathering a group of light workers to anchored this energy in three points at of the battle zone:

At 9 am in the Golan heights
At 11 am in the Galilee
At 1 pm in Haifa


These three points will create a triangle that will be the base of a powerful pyramid that you and the group going to create I hope that this energetic work going to help the people of the middle east

With your wonderful love and open their hearts and end this ancient hate

So send your love to Israel Friday July 28 2006 at 9am 11am and 1pm and we will receive it

If you have any question please write to me

humangel@nana.co.il

Love and light

Jacob Avidan, Israel"

The third e-mail I got was about a Sulha for Palestinians and Israelis to take place in Jerusalem on Thursday (pre-empting the big one in August) between 5:00 and 8:00 pm at Gan Sacher. I hope to be there.

The fourth e-mail was from a macrobiotic food group thinking to expand and include not just Jews from Israel but everyone from the Middle East - peace through eating...

So we all have our hopes for peace, and the e-mails seem to be coming in more frequently with people more desperate to want to end the conflict. Unfortunately, I heard some news that a katyusha hit the village I went to visit in May - Mughrar in the Galilee - a village with Moslems, Druze and Christian Arabs. A young teenage girl was killed. And with that, I will print out the e-mail I received today from Arthur Waskow of the Jewish Renewal Movement who sent out a revised Mourner's Kaddish (prayer) for this occasion.



Yitgadal V'yit'kadash Shmei Rabah

May the Great Name, through our expanding awareness and our fuller action, lift Itself to become still higher and more holy;

May our names, along with all the names of all the beings in the universe, live within the Great Name;

May the names of all whom we can no longer touch but who have touched our hearts and lives, remain alight within our memories and in the Great Name;

May the names of all

who have died in violence and war

be kept alight in our sight and in the Great Name, with sorrow that we were not yet able

to shape a world in which they would have lived.
(Cong: Amein)

B'alma di vra chi'rooteh v'yamlich malchuteh b'chayeichun, u'v'yomeichun, u'v'chayei d'chol beit yisrael, b'agalah u'vzman kariv, v'imru: --

May Your Great Name lift Itself

still higher and more holy

throughout the world that You have offered us,

a world of majestic peaceful order

that gives life to the Godwrestling folk

through time and through eternity ----

And let's say, Amein (Cong: Amein)

Y'hei sh'mei rabbah me'vorach

l'olam almei almaya.

So therefore may the Great Name be blessed, through every Mystery and Mastery

of every universe.

Yitbarach, v'yishtabach, v'yitpa'ar, v'yitromam, v'yitnasei, v'yithadar, v'yit'aleh, v'yithalal -- Shmei di'kudshah, -- Brich hu, (Cong: Brich Hu) >

May the Great Name be blessed and celebrated,

Its beauty honored and raised high;

may It be lifted and carried,

may Its radiance be praised in all Its Holiness –-- Blessed be!

L'eylah min kol bir'chatah v'shir'atah tush'be'chatah v'nechematah, de'amiran be'alma, v'imru: Amein (Cong: Amein)

Even though we cannot give You enough blessing, enough song, enough praise, enough consolation

to match what we wish to lay before You –

And though we know that today there is

no way to console You

when among us some who bear Your Image in our being

are slaughtering others

who bear Your Image in our being.

Yehei Shlama Rabah min Shemaya v'chayyim { aleinu v'al kol Yisrael, v'imru Amein.

Still we beseech that from the unity of Your Great Name flow a great and joyful harmony and life for us and for all our family, the Godwrestling folk;
(Cong: Amein)

Oseh Shalom bi'm'romav, hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu v'al kol yisrael v'al kol yishmael v'al kol yoshvei tevel -- v'imru: Amein.

You who make harmony

in the ultimate reaches of the universe,

teach us to make harmony

within ourselves, among ourselves --

and peace for the Godwrestling folk,

the people Israel;

for our cousins the children of Ishmael; and for all who dwell upon this planet.



(Cong: Amein)

wishful thinking

I've been getting e-mails from many different sources about the conflict - most are hopeful. The first is from Taayush

"Dear Friends,

Please find below a link to a new forum – "JULY 2006: IF NOT NOW, WHEN". Nestled in between the thunder of the guns and the wailing of the media, this is a place for Israelis, Lebanese, Palestinians and everyone else connected with or affected by the conflict to directly exchange views, information, experiences, and sometimes also blows, I guess. The forum will also host digests from media on all sides of the conflict, as well as links and excerpts from blogs from the field. It will be great if you would be the first to pick up the gauntlet and to start posting – if each would just tell a bit about herself or himself (age so and so, doing such and such, living there and there), so that when new people show up to the forum they don't find it completely empty.

Moderator vacancies are open, by the way.

The link is:

here "
==================================================

The second e-mail I got today is from this guy, whom I don't know - and I don't really know what light workers do, but whatever it is, it's much better than what's going on between our country and Lebanon.

"Dear light worker,

This is a letter from Israel, my name is Jacob Avidan and I'm light worker and I live in Israel as well as you know the middle east is in a state of war as a light worker im sending love and light to the battle zone everyday recently Ihave noticed a powerful energy that sent from around the world to this area so I start receive this energy and anchored it with my body and spirit and now I'm receiving everyday this powerful energy and I want to say thank you from the center of my heart for sending this powerful love yesterday as I'm working with this powerful love I received an understanding about focusing the energy and I need your help

At Friday morning im gathering a group of light workers to anchored this energy in three points at of the battle zone:

At 9 am in the Golan heights
At 11 am in the Galilee
At 1 pm in Haifa


These three points will create a triangle that will be the base of a powerful pyramid that you and the group going to create I hope that this energetic work going to help the people of the middle east

With your wonderful love and open their hearts and end this ancient hate

So send your love to Israel Friday July 28 2006 at 9am 11am and 1pm and we will receive it

If you have any question please write to me

humangel@nana.co.il

Love and light

Jacob Avidan, Israel"

The third e-mail I got was about a Sulha for Palestinians and Israelis to take place in Jerusalem on Thursday (pre-empting the big one in August) between 5:00 and 8:00 pm at Gan Sacher. I hope to be there.

The fourth e-mail was from a macrobiotic food group thinking to expand and include not just Jews from Israel but everyone from the Middle East - peace through eating...

So we all have our hopes for peace, and the e-mails seem to be coming in more frequently with people more desperate to want to end the conflict. Unfortunately, I heard some news that a katyusha hit the village I went to visit in May - Mughrar in the Galilee - a village with Moslems, Druze and Christian Arabs. A young teenage girl was killed. And with that, I will print out the e-mail I received today from Arthur Waskow of the Jewish Renewal Movement who sent out a revised Mourner's Kaddish (prayer) for this occasion.



Yitgadal V'yit'kadash Shmei Rabah

May the Great Name, through our expanding awareness and our fuller action, lift Itself to become still higher and more holy;

May our names, along with all the names of all the beings in the universe, live within the Great Name;

May the names of all whom we can no longer touch but who have touched our hearts and lives, remain alight within our memories and in the Great Name;

May the names of all

who have died in violence and war

be kept alight in our sight and in the Great Name, with sorrow that we were not yet able

to shape a world in which they would have lived.
(Cong: Amein)

B'alma di vra chi'rooteh v'yamlich malchuteh b'chayeichun, u'v'yomeichun, u'v'chayei d'chol beit yisrael, b'agalah u'vzman kariv, v'imru: --

May Your Great Name lift Itself

still higher and more holy

throughout the world that You have offered us,

a world of majestic peaceful order

that gives life to the Godwrestling folk

through time and through eternity ----

And let's say, Amein (Cong: Amein)

Y'hei sh'mei rabbah me'vorach

l'olam almei almaya.

So therefore may the Great Name be blessed, through every Mystery and Mastery

of every universe.

Yitbarach, v'yishtabach, v'yitpa'ar, v'yitromam, v'yitnasei, v'yithadar, v'yit'aleh, v'yithalal -- Shmei di'kudshah, -- Brich hu, (Cong: Brich Hu) >

May the Great Name be blessed and celebrated,

Its beauty honored and raised high;

may It be lifted and carried,

may Its radiance be praised in all Its Holiness –-- Blessed be!

L'eylah min kol bir'chatah v'shir'atah tush'be'chatah v'nechematah, de'amiran be'alma, v'imru: Amein (Cong: Amein)

Even though we cannot give You enough blessing, enough song, enough praise, enough consolation

to match what we wish to lay before You –

And though we know that today there is

no way to console You

when among us some who bear Your Image in our being

are slaughtering others

who bear Your Image in our being.

Yehei Shlama Rabah min Shemaya v'chayyim { aleinu v'al kol Yisrael, v'imru Amein.

Still we beseech that from the unity of Your Great Name flow a great and joyful harmony and life for us and for all our family, the Godwrestling folk;
(Cong: Amein)

Oseh Shalom bi'm'romav, hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu v'al kol yisrael v'al kol yishmael v'al kol yoshvei tevel -- v'imru: Amein.

You who make harmony

in the ultimate reaches of the universe,

teach us to make harmony

within ourselves, among ourselves --

and peace for the Godwrestling folk,

the people Israel;

for our cousins the children of Ishmael; and for all who dwell upon this planet.



(Cong: Amein)

Weekend Survival Tips

We survived the weekend with the two Haifa refugees, and our newlywed daughter and Hubby. We even had a more traditional Shabbat than usual. Son-in-law didn't care what we do in our home but my daughter had more angst about it.

"Make sure you have a 'plata' on" she begged - a plata meaning a hot plate where one doesn't cook on the Sabbath but is allowed to warm up pre-cooked foods on a hot plate instead. Plus her Hubby drinks tons of mint tea, so the water had to be pre-boiled and put on the hot plate as well for drinking throughout the Sabbath.

I needed some peace and quiet this weekend, so they came at a good time. We banned all cellphones (on vibrator only) and there was no TV or music playing. Only the quiet noise of backgammon and chess playing and the rustling of newspapers could be heard.

My married daughter and I usually have a routine of pretending we're Russian women at mealtime on Friday night, where we talk in Russian accents and curse in Russian. My daughter started.

"Peederas!! (homo!)"
"Piesdietz!! (slut!)"

The blonde teenage refugee looked absolutely horrified, as we laughed at these naughty words. We realized we cannot play "Russian" this weekend - her folks are Russian and she can not only teach us more words, but can understand what was being said.

The refugees together with my daughter went to town later that night and sauntered back in around 8:30 am on Saturday. Hubby had set up the tent for them on our porch, but by 10:30 am, the heat was unbearable and they collapsed on our couches.

"Why are THEY all sprawled out on the couch?" asked my daughter.

Hubby - "Because I forgot to lock the porch door."

The two laughed.

We had time to taunt each other throughout the day. The Complainer wanted a job waitressing where my married daughter waitressed.

"She can't even speak English properly - how can she waitress?" asked one of my older daughters.

"Would you like some piss-ghetti with ong-ions???" she asked - mimicking the way the Complainer actually pronounces these words.

"That might get her extra tips if the customers have a good sense of humor" I interjected.

Anyway, many of the waitresses in the meat section of that restaurant are now engaged to be married in the next few months. Maybe it's a lucky restaurant. I think I'm gonna send my next two oldest daughters there to work and find decent husbands.

Anybody take Ong-ions with that please?

Another Peace-nik in Iran

Didn't think there were any peaceniks there, didya? Well I came across one . I really believe there are more out there. And besides, I like the flying peace dove on his site better than the one on mine!

A misfit in Lebanon

I came across this site and I think we are kindred spirits. Here's a guy who sincerely wants peace. Like I do. And it also seems like he's going against the grain/wind or whatever. Not too many people up there are thinking like him. He seems like a really good bloke. Let's give him some support!

Great Deals on B&B's

My brother called me up this afternoon,

"There are great deals on zimmers (B&Bs) in the North! They're practically giving weekends away."

Yup. Dunno if he was joking or not, but summertime is when Israelis flock to these picturesque country zimmers, nestled in the Galilean hills - some are decorated simply for families with enough yard for a barbecue and some are luxurious for couples with a jacuzzi and romantic breakfasts for two. They are pretty much empty now.

I told him I had about 11 people over for the weekend, for Sabbath dinner.

"Are they all Jewish?" he asked. Which got me thinking that I could ask my Israeli Arab friends from some of the Northern villages if they are ok – and if they wouldn't mind sending some of their (older) kids down to me. They're probably better behaved than my kids and would get a crash course in English.

He continued - "How can you afford this?"

Afford what? Having guests? I learned from both my Ultra-Orthodox Jewish friends and my Arab friends that having guests is not a financial issue. If there are guests – then it's a blessing. And anyways, I have to work on myself on the guest issue. I'm certainly not as generous as Ibrahim from the Mt. Of Olives who has built a separate wing of his home just for guests, mostly internationals who pass by for a few weeks or even months, but sometimes for Jewish Israelis who want to get a taste of Arabic culture. I wish I could learn from him how he does it. Here I have guests for 5 days, and I'm nearly tearing my hair out. Maybe it's just because they're teenagers. Maybe I need adult guests. Or a separate wing to my house so if I want to disappear from the friendly chatter, I can.

But I was insulted at being asked if I could afford guests. I could only answer him with what I hear both my Arab and Ultra-Orthodox Jewish friends say – God will provide.