Kosher Kola

Giveaway time!

2012-02-29T21:41:00.001+02:00

http://kosherkola.com/2012/02/giveaway-time/

After a Bag of Hawaiian Splash Beenies …

2012-02-22T21:26:00.001+02:00

…I’m high on sugar (yummy sugar, have you tried eating the pinapple and the coconut ones at the same time?) and artificial colouring (all kosher).

And I’m not alone with that. Since these yummies were on sale at ₪1.70, everyone got a bag of these super yummy beenies. So there are all kinds of crazy and fun things happening, like Izhar getting a hair bow. The first cross-desser in the family, I might add. He also has a pink collar, so yes, someone is really in need of another girl her age in the family.

Matthew’s face is healing nicely. It looked really not good yesterday, but it started to improve this morning, and he was good about not touching all day, and it looks so much better now!

After work I went shopping to start getting ready for Purim. I bought an insane amount of krembos.

If you don’t know what krembos are, they are a cream filled, cookie based, chocolate covered wonder. They are sold in various flavours, and are very similar to some sweets sold under various names in many countries. The cream is like a light marshmallow cream. The most popular flavours are coffee (mocha) and vanilla. They are similar to “négercsók” in Hungary, of which I love both the banana and strawberry varieties.

Krembos are very popular in Israel, and one of my favourite religious singers, Aharon Razel even wrote a song about them! And Krembo has its own Wikipedia article. And there are statistics about how Israelis eat them: 69% from top to bottom, 10% from the biscuit to the cream, and the rest however happen to feel at the moment. There are 9 krembos consumed per capita per annum in Israel, and if you consider that some of my kids hate it, the average krembo eater eats more than that! We eat it primarily in the winter, but I prefer them in the summer, too, straight from the fridge, nicely chilled… yes, they are excellent that way! So I bought two dozen krembos, and yes, I have some saved for Andi! All the rest is gone. And I wanted to take photos! The two youngest ones first frowned at them, but they warmed up to the coffee flavoured ones. They, like me, are not a fan of vanilla krembos, but they had no problem devouring a bunch of vanilla waffers.

I also bought some other things I’ll let Andi take photos of when she gets them.

Want to try one (that’s probably totally flattened in the mail)? Then stay tuned for my giveaway coming up in March!

Now off to watch The Voice with Kevin. Gotta love DVR!

Shavua Tov, or Why I Dislike Sundays

2012-02-19T13:28:00.001+02:00

It’s hard to live in a world where everyone pretty much agrees that Monday is the worst day of the week–except your corner of the world.

You see, the work week starts on Sunday and ends on Friday around noon in Israel. So as the night falls on the Shabbat, we start to wish everyone “Shavua tov”, or a good week to everyone, because our wekend is over for the next 5 and a half days. And then Sunday rolls around.

In Israel, Garfield hates either Monday or Sunday, depending on the translator. Well, I dislike Sundays.

I don’t like waking up my kids and get them ready for school, because the weekend was so short and they will be gone for five and a half days again. Sunday mornings are sleepy, Sunday mornings are cold cereal, Sunday mornings are back to the grind. The magic of the Shabbat is gone, and yeah, who likes the first day back to work?

There are two candle related ceremonies associated with the Shabbat. We light candles to usher in the Shabbat 18 minutes sunset on Friday, and then, at Havdala, we light a special candle at nightfall on Saturday during Havdala. These two ceremonies help us separate the sacred from the mundane, but the joy of the Shabbat carries over till bedtime on Saturdays. That’s one reason why Sunday is so undesirable. Or really, Sunday mornings are.

By the time the afternoon rolls around everyone in my family has discovered the joy that comes with otherwise not-so-fun things, like seeing friends at school or work, having all the shops open, normal television programing, and it no longer being Sunday morning.

Now my kids are at school, Kevin is at work. I finished cooking lunch/dinner. The American girls are running errands, and took the two youngest along, so they can stop by at the playground and let them roam and climb and jump and do what 3-year-olds like to do.

As a side note, I made yetserday’s breakfast again, with the minor change that I didn’t pre-cook my turkey bacon at all. It turned out a lot better, and I got the confirmation from Ágó that uncooked regular bacon works a lot better, too. And it was prettier as well. This is what Ágó made today:

Big Family Brfeakfast Made Fun and Easy

2012-02-18T11:42:00.001+02:00

I’m an avid Failbblog reader, and while I was reading back some, I found this awesome breakfast cake recipe. So I decided to make it this morning.
It was supposed to look like this:

Mine looked like this:

It tasted great, but I think next time I do it, I’ll change some things a tiny bit, especially since I had to use some substitutions.

1. Since I use margarine instead of butter, the bread is pretty bland. I’ll add some seasoning to the bread before adding the eggs.
2. Turkey bacon, if prepared fully in the skillet, burns before the eggs are done. So I’ll cook them only halfway through in the skillet.
3. It definitely doesn’t need to be in the oven as long as the recipe says.

It was a really nice breakfast with all the hiccups, and will definitely do it again. Soon.

And He Is Abroad

2012-02-17T22:56:00.001+02:00

Yep. Yonah is now in Vancouver, BC as I’m typing this, with his boyfriend Yehiel to visit his family. He called us in the early morning hours (for us) to let us know that they are there safely, and put up in Yehiel’s old room… and Yonah has the top bunk! He told me that, his voice beaming with pride, like it’s the coolest thing ever. Maybe it is.

Just before Yonah left, he sat down to have a serious talk with Harel. He explained that while he was going to miss Harel’s first birthday, but he was going to bring him some awesome present to make up for that. To which Harel replied with “duckie”. So Yonah is on a duck hunt.

The thing that cracked me up? The text I got when they landed in Toronto: “The Two Little Africans Are In Canada”. That cracked me up. Yehiel, as I said elsewhere, is of an Ethiopian family and Yonah is half South African.

Yesterday after Kevin dropped them off at the airport, he drove a big box of “stuff” up to Haifa to Yonah’s apartment there. He says it starts to look like someone could actually live there. In a few days I’ll be going up with more stuff, and then next weekend, after I get back from Hungary, I will take up the tea set we painted at Made By You. I’ll combine that trip with a hospital run, and finally, just before he comes home, we’ll fill his pantry. Yonah will have 24 hours before landing back home and his first class, and he still wants to do laundry at home. I mean home. In our home.

I got a package!

2012-02-15T21:14:00.006+02:00

I got a package from Andi. It had an adventorous journey to get to me. On the last leg of the journey it was my twin brother, who was made to sweat by the package. No, not the 4 kg weight caused the sweating, but getting food through customs. Because, contrary to what Andi said, the package didn’t contain a brick but…

Yes, that’s honey. Andi’s parents are beekeepers, and this honey is from their bees. Very yummy and perfect for my sore throat.

There were other things in that package, too!

És tökéletesen illenek a blogom nevéhez.

There are 4 retro style Coca Cola glasses! I love those! They look so cool! And they fit my blog’s name perfectly! That’s still not everything!

My name plaque arrived, too! If you’d like one, too, especially made for you, then go to Kérj bármit! The site is only in Hungarian at this point, but leave a comment, and I’ll give you their e-mail address or something, so you can work details out in email. Two members of our family already have their name plaques, so there are only 14 to go! And there is more! There are rulers (metric) and other fun stuff you can check out on the page.

In one of the many raffles on the Kérj bármit! Facebook page, I won an original drawing. It came in this package, too.

Discipline, Parenting and Other Delicacies, Part 1

2012-02-11T23:45:00.001+02:00

There have been posts by Christie and Annie regarding discipline and corporal punishment that I highly recommend. There have also been questions about how we make a famiuly with 14 kids and young adults work, when we are not much older than many of our boys. We sure must have a prenting philosophy or methodology or something. We must have our set methods for discipline and what not.

Well, we don't really. I mean... my best guidance is thinking of what my parents would have done in any given situation, and do the polar opposite. Because my childhood was that great and their parenting was that wonderful. Of course the possibility is open that my kids will think the same about my parenting style!

One of the things is that having an adoption and trauma background myself, I use intuition a lot of the times. I also read all kinds of parenting books (and have tossed both Campbell's and Gordon's books), and especially read blogs and advice by other parents with more wisdom and experience, and boy, do I get the best ideas from them!

When it comes to discipline, I'm not a fan of corporal punishment. Yes, I've been known to slap the hand of a toddler who was reaching towards the oven, or other things like that before my kids were old enough to understand the dangers, but I think the last time I had to do anything like that was 6 years ago. Definitely long before any of our adopted/foster kids came to us. What I do believe in is grace based parenting. This was something that I always missed in my childhood. My Christian parents were all about grace, except when it came to parenting. Everything had a clear and never changing consequence, and resulting in a cycle of doing something bad, being punished for it, and it reinforcing that I was bad, thus resulting in a why care if I'm already bad attitude... Viscious, viscious circle.

While grace is not such a significant part of my theology as in Christianity--it surely is not emphasised in every second sentence of every sermon--grace is important to my parenting. Religion... not so much. Most of my older kids have been hurt in the name of religion, and they have turned away. Religion based parenting does not work with them. Mention of G-d can make a situation much much worse. So... I work with that. I can kind of relate to that issue.

So what is my grace based approach?

Forgiveness. I forgive, but don't neccessarily forget the offense. Remembering that it happened is not contrary to forgiveness. However, if it's a repeat offense, it can be addressed... the root cause can be found.... the incident resolved. I don't rub their past errors in, and I try to never react with anger. I try, I say, because I'm not perfect. I'm known to yell, to be impatient and moody. I'm not perfect, and neither are my children. (TBC)

Hero

2012-02-11T22:17:00.001+02:00

Today's first post is Harel Skaat's duet with Yehuda (Yuda) Poliker. Poliker is another one of our great artists who happens to be gay, and in light of that, the following song shouldn't be too much of a surprise.And the lyrics, translated by Nina Samokhina:"Now it is the time to touch life without fear, to look forward to the bright horizon, To climb high, to get down from the ladder, to feel, to listen and to breathe the world No, don't be afraid, not even if it will be difficult, dreams will come true, listen silently to the heart beat, and don’t forget that you are mortalHero, take care of yourself, fly high towards the light, they will not break you, hero, take care of yourself, take care, fly freely like a bird, between the fire and frost Go now to a new road, and get this blessing, a new land will be discovered within you, open your eyes, but stay innocent, let love do magic on you, you well know, that obstacles Will occur, and once in a while you will break the rules, and if suddenly unintentionally, you will make a mistake, learn the lesson from it, and take\embrace It as a gift Hero, take care of yourself, fly high towards the light, they will not break you, hero, take care of yourself, take care, fly freely like a bird, between the fire and frost..."

Those Puppy Eyes

2012-02-07T23:22:00.001+02:00

How can you say no to such cute puppy eyes? And the dog's eyes are cute, too.

One thing my kids are all very good at is having the most convincing sad puppy eyes when they want something. I swear Izhar is taking lessons from them about how to have the best sad puppy eyes, ever.

Now at my kids’ school there are two days each semester when they can be absent without a doctor’s note or other official reason, and as we are just finishing the last week of the semester, they made use of those puppy eyes and requested a mental health day, staying home from school. As tomorrow is Tu B’Shvat and they all have a field day because of that, today being a half hearted day anyway, I didn’t say no.

While I do believe school is important and I hate it when my kids miss school for weird reasons (like after re-scheduling a doctor’s appointment 4 times during the summer it ends up being on the second day of school), there are days when it’s simply more important to be home with your family, even if you don’t do anything extra. Especially when you don’t do anything extra.

With my extended absence–first a trip to Hungary, then being hospitalized for a week–today has become quite a bonding experience for the kids and me. Especially Eli. He was thrilled he didn’t have to go to school and we didn’t have anything special to do either. No doctor appointment, no therapist, no paperwork to be done and taken to places, nothing. Just cooking breakfast together, going grocery shopping together, cooking dinner together, watching Festigal 2008 while doing so, talking about silly things and just being together.

Eli… I’ve been planning on writing an update on him. There are challenges in his life much greater than we originally thought or initially experienced. I just have to mention here that my initial gut feeling of him needing to room with Yonah has proved correct and beneficial.

And now that my kids got what they wanted and needed, they can go and practice their sad puppy looks for another 6 months before they can melt dad’s heart again.

Happy Again makes me happy, again!

2012-01-29T14:48:00.000+02:00

So today is the day that Harel Skaat’s new album, “Happy Again” was released. This is a concept album, with 7 songs, centering around love and relationships in this 21st century. 4 of those were released as singles already, but the last three, oh my, were such pleasant surprises! I love them!

On this site all 7 of the songs of the new album can be heard. I have been doing that all morning (chemo day…) as I haven’t been able to pick up my own copy yet! כדורי המואר is my favourite song so far (the third from top), because it’s, once again, simply beautiful! OK, so I know it’s not a very professional review, but what do you expect from me? I’m a fan!

All in all, my least favourite song from the album is still the first single,Love Awaits Me, which I found slightly weird at first. Now I don’t think it’sw weird, but the other songs are better! When it comes to videos,Ways is the best of the three. It’s simple and beautiful, a tiny bit reminding me of the video of Im Hu Yelech. That was a great video, also shot in black and white.

(Mentioning black and white, stay tuned for a review of Biljana Petrova’sawesome novella! What’s not to love about a story featuring a character called Miss Espresso?)

OK, back to what I was talking about. I love Mr. Skaat’s shoes on the cover photo. I have been eyeing a pair that looks similar, in Hungary again. I might just buy it.

Yes, I’m being distracted again. I’d better just get back to listening.

Censorship in the USA - SOPA and PIPA

2012-01-18T12:18:00.003+02:00

My Dear American Friends,

I think many of you believe in your Constitution. I think many of you believe in free speech. I know most of you are bloggers yourself, and you find your blogs an important part of your freedom of speech.

The Congress are about to pass a bill that would allow the blocking of various sites to be viewed by US citizens. It's the same method that China and Syria use. This would pretty much put the content and availability of the Internet in the hands of corporations (who, are, you know, people, just like you and me, in your country, so I can't wait to see Texas execute one).

Before you dismiss the whole thing with a wave of your hand, just think of the sites that could be gone any time: Wikipedia, forums you frequent, your favourite blogs and your own site as well. Your Facebook, other social networking profiles and emails can be censored.

Furthermore, as the US seems to set standards in internet laws, this could affect most countries. Either that, or maybe finally the rest of the world will finally stop following the USA like sheep.

For a more detailed explanation, see this infographic by AmericanCensorship.org and contact your congressman to put an end to this nonsense. And oh yes, I got most of my info from there, from Wikipedia and from Wordpress.org.

Sincerely,
Hevel

An Award!

2012-01-14T11:34:00.000+02:00

Thank you Annie for your award!

To see what I did with it, please head over to Kosherkola.com!

So where am I?

2012-01-07T16:53:00.001+02:00

http://kosherkola.com

Pretty much moved permanently. Will list links here, I think. Maybe not. :D

לעוף

2012-01-02T22:36:00.003+02:00

"לעוף" means to fly in Hebrew. It was the title of Harel Skaat's 2004 Festigal song. Now there were versions with relatively decent video quality but atrocious audio. That annoyed me for about two years, and just recently decided it was time to do something about that. So tweaked around a bit with Windows Movie Maker, and came up with this.

Now I know it's not perfect, there is still a fraction of a second error with synchronization, that I'll try to fix later, and yes, it's a little low with the volume, that I should fix, too. Maybe. I am just quite pleased with my first attempt. :D

11 for '11

2011-12-31T12:06:00.003+02:00

So the last day of 2011 has begun. Here are 11 important events in my life in 2011, in no particular order.

At age 28 I became a grandfather. Not a contender for the youngest grandpa title, though: my foster daughter Bella had a baby.
Our family grew with Nirel and Eli, and we couldn't be happier about that. They are both awesome young men, and I am grateful for having the chance to help guide them in their growth now.
I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and have been undergoing treatment that has put the cancer into remission. Only 2 more rounds of chemotherapy are left for 2012.
I started a master's program in religion. And then almos quit it. I probably stick to it, though.
I went to more Harel Skaat concerts than I can list now. And his new album is coming out early 2012.
I ran my first 5K race since my SCI years ago. I did very poorly, but I finished it.
Katya Dueck getting home. She is the little girl @happymom4 adopted from Ukraine this past summer. While I never met either of them, I have been following their journey for a long time. I'm very happy that she is finally home.
Family holiday in Hungary was awesome. Hopefully we will repeat that in 2012.
We, as a family, got a new dog, a puli, by the name of Izhar Cohen. He is now a very integral part of the family, and he doesn't stink any more.
I faced my fears and met with the woman who raised me. I tried to be gracious and civil about the whole thing, but really, it pretty much backfired. Oh well.
I bought a pair of shoes.

What are your top 11 for '11?

Nothing better to ruin your holiday...

2011-12-28T22:31:00.003+02:00

...than being reported to local authorities that you don't allow your children's grandmother to see them and they are concerned for their welfare...

...to have to prove to local authorities that two of your children's three grandmothers are currently guests in your home...

...in additionally, you have to prove to local authorities that your mother is dead, and the 11th anniversary og her death is coming up, which is already hard enough on you, and a major trigger...

...and that the woman who claims to be the grandmother of your children is of no legal relation to them besides being an aunt to their father, and for this you have to dig up a lot of adoption disruption paperwork...

...did I mention that being a trigger?...

...and all this why you are sick with a fever...

Yeah. Thanks, "mother". You took care of yesterday.

Happy Christmas!

2011-12-25T15:54:00.000+02:00

Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas!

Art by the great Tomi Köves. You can purchase his art as prints, cards, bookmarks, mugs, magnets here.

Few songs mean Christmas to me more than the carol, born out of the collaboration of a Catholic priest and a headmaster in rural Austria in 1818. Nearly 200 years later, this song is still sung all over the world, but people, who believe their saviour is the child mentioned in the song, and by those, who don't, but appreciate beautiful music.

Whether you celebrate Christmas, or the fun 6th night of Chanukah, or celebrating both, or are just getting ready for Kwanzaa, or not having anything to celebrate right now, because your faith's holidays are at some other time, I wish you a blessed and happy day!

Merry Christmas, friends!

Chanukah Day 5

2011-12-25T10:01:00.001+02:00

For those of you, ladies, who expressed your love for the Barenaked Ladies, here is one more song from their Barenaked for the Holidays album: Hanukkah Blessings.

Happy Chanukah and Merry Christmas (and whatever else is celebrated today--happy, happy day today)!

Jerusalem, the first night of Chanukah 5772

2011-12-23T16:36:00.002+02:00

I was sure one of the many people videoing this would upload it to YouTube. I actually edited it down to a considerably shorter length, as I doubt most of yopu would care for over a minute of the chit chat between Mr. Skaat and his audience.

Chanukah Day 3 - Light One Candle

2011-12-22T20:50:00.000+02:00

Today's song is "Light One Candle" by Peter, Paul and Mary.

This song is a year younger than me. I grew up with it, listening to it a lot over the years. It has become one of my favourite songs to listen to during this season.

Chanukah Day 2

2011-12-22T11:45:00.000+02:00

As most people know, Chanukah lasts 8 days. This year I'm going to post a song for each of those days. Yesterday was the blessings that we sing when lighting the candles, and today is a song by Matisyahu, "Miracle".

"Bound to stumble and fall but my strength comes not from man at all

Do you believe in miracles
Am I hearing you? Am I seeing you?
Eight nights eight lights and these rites keep me right
Bless me to the highest heights with your miracle"

Happy Chanukah!

2011-12-20T21:06:00.003+02:00

Happy Chanukah!

[CUT-TAG="Translations here"]

The first song that Harel as a child sang translates as:

I have a candle, I have a small thin candle
On Chanukah, my candle I will light.
On Chanukah my candle will glow
On Chanukah I will sing songs.

The three blessings translate as:

Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, Who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to kindle the Chanukah lights.
Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, Who performed wondrous miracles for our ancestors, in those days, at this moment.
(Only recited on the first night of Chanukah) Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, Who has kept us in life, sustained us, and brought us to this moment.

I have a candle, I have a small thin candle
On Chanukah, my candle I will light.
On Chanukah my candle will glow
On Chanukah I will sing songs.

3 minutes and 52 seconds of beauty

2011-12-05T23:09:00.001+02:00

After a busy day today I couldn't wait to sit down at a busy fast food restaurant, where we retreated to from the pouring rain today. Yonah pulled out his tablet (that he bought second hand from baby sitting and lawn mowing money) and made use of the free wi-fi to finally see Harel Skaat's new music video. We were sitting there, listening to this beautiful song, with holiday shoppers all around us. For a moment the world slowed down while we considered how many ways...

Get Ready for Christmas and/or Chanukah! - a post with lots of links!

2011-12-04T11:06:00.001+02:00

So it's now Advent. There is a little more than 2 weeks left till Chanukah, and three weeks left till Christmas. So I'm going to help you with getting ready for the holiday of your choice.Be careful, this will be long!

First of all, I'd like to recommend Christie Minich's Christmas posts! Their many Christmas traditions and her thoughts on the reason for the season can give anyone wonderful ideas how to spice up their own Christmas celebrations.

Want to learn the Chanukah blessings? Here is some help from the very adorable Harel Skaat, the actual blessings starting at 0:29:
Another good charity idea for the opera fans is supporting Opera Seria, a UK based non-profit opera company. You can also book advance tickets to their Easter performance of Handel's Messiah. If you are in the UK at that time, it's something worth going to! I just love the Messiah. I mean the oratorio.
You could make candy canes! It's really not that difficult, if you have access to corn syrup. I might actually make some blue-and-white peppermint sticks to stir hot chocolate over Chanukah... provided the temperature ever gets low enough that anyone wants hot chocolate!
Want to make your own Sufganiyot? Here is my favourite recipe online!
If you are conveniently geeky, make sure you get ready for this year's Doctor Who Christmas Special, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, which will be airing on Christmas Day! Wikipedia tells me that it was partially inspired by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. To prepare, you might want to re-watch last year's special, which was not only great, but really heart warming, and it was based on The Christmas Carol by Dickens.
And now onto the topic of gifts! If you want unique stocking stuffers for your girls, I can recommend the site Wares by Cherry. This young lady takes custom orders as well. Her flowers and stuffed animals are just the cutest, and those flowers are truly multi functional, for whatever your accessory needs might be.
If you like to read, I can recommend the e-books of Biljana Petrova. They can be found here.
A gift of unique jewellery is always nice. Fräulein Pfau's Etsy shop has a lot of new stuff that are worth checking out! One of Fräulein Pfau's and my favourites is this matryoshka bracelet. I think anyone with a connection to Russia or Ukraine would love it! As Fräulein Pfau just confirmed, there are more beads, so she can make child sized versions upon request for a mom and her daughter(s) to match. I think it'd be a perfect gift for some Russian or Ukrainian adoptees and adoptive mums!

Another one of my favourites is the pair of earrings on the right, called pink roses for Ruzica. These are named after Fräulein Pfau's grandma, and I think they are just beautiful. Grandma Ruzica lives in Serbia, so that, too, is a perfect gift for the adoptive mom of a Serbian child!
Sponsor a lone soldier this Chanukah! Or write them a letter! Or just generally, partcipate in this, to cheer them up and say thank you!
More gift ideas: Encaustic art by Ruth Walker.
Another great source for handmade jewellery is Nicole Rose Designs.
And now Chanukah post can be complete without mentioning my TARDIS dreidel. Have fun, everyone!

List Post

2011-12-03T19:55:00.001+02:00

After18 hours of sleep I am feeling semi human again.
MY Facebook/(fluff) Friends friend Yuval is now part of rock history: If you watch this music video, you can see him in the bottom right hand corner at 6:30, clapping. If you ever come to Israel, eating Tnuva cream cheeses is a good choice, as Yuval is making sure the milk going into it is fine. Some of you have heard of him from me as "Cheeses of Nazareth" (he is from Nazareth Illit).
Now that we are talking about important things: I might get to go to one of those Harel Skaat shows after all. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
Fräulein Pfau has some awesome stuff in her Etsy shop.
Today's moment of absolute dumbness: the first sufganiyot kiosk appeared around here on Friday... I bought some... and just ate 4.I think my somach will hate me for that. (Those who don't know what sufganiyot are, they are helly donuts.)
Bella just crocheted me a super soft scarf. Can't wait for a proper winter.
Today's song is "Ani Esh" by Ran Danker.

World AIDS Day - partly a re-post

2011-12-01T23:04:00.001+02:00

Today is World AIDS day. AIDS/HIV is a disease/virus with which people in the West can expect near normal life expectancy, and a disease which kills thousands of people daily in third world countries. The picture above was the habitat of my (fluff)Friend Troy two years ago today.

AIDS is no longer simply the "gay plague" that can be dismissed with a self-righteous wave of the hand. It's killing parents and children. It's making orphans daily, orphans, whose own life expectancies are a lot shorter than any child should have.

I am parenting a teenager who lives with HIV. I do believe there is a bright future ahead of him, no matter what he chooses to do, because he is way more than a diagnosis.

RIP Zdenek Miller

2011-11-30T23:39:00.001+02:00

Zdenek Miller, the "father" of the little mole, kisvakond, #krtek passed away at age 90.
Generations in Central and Eastern Europe grew up on the sweet adventures of the little mole and his friends: the rabbits, mice, birds of the forest.
These little cartoons usually contained next to nothing in spoken language, and therefore they were enjoyable of children of various nationalities without much effort wasted on dubbing. That said, when I bought a DVD for my kids with 6 episodes without any words spoken, I couldn't start it without selevting one of the 6 languages... go figure.

To add to the wishlist I have no right to have

2011-11-28T20:55:00.001+02:00

How could anyone not love this Monopoly game? OK, if it was the Tenth Doctor, it could be even better, but still! I'd love to have it if I didn't already have more gifts for Chanukah than I could ever hope for!

...at least, there was pie...

2011-11-26T16:35:00.001+02:00

So Thursday morning came about. I was really not feeling well, due to a number of reasons, one of them is something I would rather not write about. I didn't even go to the office, but worked from home, then went to pick Kevin up at school and we drove two hours to pick up my sister Emily at base. Having Emily with us made it a lot more happy occasion to drive all the way back to Jerusalem. Have I mentioned that Emily is one of my constant Harel Skaat concert going companions? So we listened to music and talked about Chanukah plans. We were also rather odd looking, with her wearing uniform, me a pink shirt and Kevin dressed in a pine green shirt, but with the oddest tie...

Anyway, we got to the hotel, we were seated in the restaurant and then we waited. I was kind of relieved that the whole meal was supposedly kosher, so there was at least that much that couldn't go wrong. When Mr. and Mrs. Phillips walked in and emily introduced her stepfather to us, the first thing he said was, "Call me Paul!" He was a nice Utah Mormon, and he immediately made me feel uneasy. While I lived quite a bit of my life in the States and now I live in Israel, where everyone is on first name basis, but I was raised to address people properly. Which I still do.

I have to admit that I had been stressing about what to call Mrs. Phillips for days before our meeting. I settled on sticking with ma'am. One can't go wrong with that. :) The two kids were really pleasant, there's a 13-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl. They both speak more English than I expected, and Kevin put his Russian to use talking to them.

I have to admit that pretty much the first sentences blew my fuses.

"Your mother has told me a lot about you," Mr. Phillips said. I smiled, and replied.
"She is not my mother. I have proof of that from the court."

It wasn't the only time I had to remind them several times during the dinner that Mrs. Phillips ceased to have the right to call herself my mother when she and her husband dissolved my adoption. She is not my mother and hasn't been that for a very very long time. To be honest, she was my mother only for about 1/3 of my life.

The group they travelled with was an LDS group. For some odd reason they didn't use Mr. Daniel Rona's company, no idea why, but it was several families from their ward and from the Jewish LDS group. So there was a big LDS prayer before the meal, which we didn't participate in, but being the good Jews we are, Emily, Kevin, a couple other Jews and I recited the apropriate blessings for the food. It made Mrs. Phillips roll her eyes.

Mrs. Phillips told me that I had to let her see her grandkids. I reminded her that I hadn't seen any of her grandkids for about a year now, because I last saw my nieces and nephews over Chanukah last year. She didn't understand at first, so I had to point it out that my children are not her grandchildren.

After a while I needed to get some fresh air to help the throbbing headache I was having, and Kevin and I went to the terrace, holding hands and when I was getting a little cold, he hugged me. We came in, sat down a little further away, and ordered coffee. When we went back to the table, Mrs. Phillips remarked, "You are embarassing me." I have no idea how I didn't respond to that, maybe because Emily hissed at her that it wasn't me, who wanted to meet with them.

And then there was pie. Fabulous cherry pie, lovely chocolate pie, tasty pumpkin pie. And over pie, I had a realization. "Aunt Mary, I can have you in my life as an aunt, but not as a mother. That ship sailed long ago. Please let me know when you can be a loving aunt to a fabulous gay man, who is Jewish, and who doesn't give a damn whether you approve of coffee drinking or same sex marriage." I remember saying that. Kevin says I said a lot more, making my point clear in a calm and reasonable manner. And I can't really believe I used the word fabulous to describe myself. I'm anything but!

Saying good bye wasn't difficult. We will see how things go.

The Road To Thursday

2011-11-24T21:25:00.001+02:00

On Thursday I met the woman I called mother for over ten years...after a good 5 years of having practically no contact with her. This is a brief summary of what led up to this meeting.

Some of my readers know that it was me, who insisted on having no contact with her, while I kept in touch with several relatives from that family.

I was adopted by my aunt and uncle when I was 4-ish. Why and how is a long story, and everyone says different things about it, so I won't go into it. Things went downhill from there. I was (much later) diagnosed with RAD and PTDS, which never got addressed--partly due to religious reasons. I know that it didn't help that soon after the adoption I became ill requiring long stretches of hospitalization, at the same time when my older brother had a complicated heart surgery that landed him in a completely different hospital hours away for 11 months, my adoptive father dying (I don't even remember him!) and Mrs. O having two other kids to take care of. I felt abandoned and I was abandoned by the people who ripped me out of the only family, culture, religion and yes, language that I could call my own. To add to the already toxic mix, Mrs. O remarried, to Mr. O Nr. 2, another Irishman in the States, who was emotionally, verbally, physically and sexually abusive. I know that he had inapropriate sexual relationships with at least one of the children in the home besides me.

We moved a lot during the years, thanks to Mr. O's job. Depending on where and when we were life varied between pretty good and downright miserable. As my brothers went on missions and to college, things were getting harder. My stepfather expected me to be like my brothers: athletic, smart, obedient and religious, a model Christian. That I was not.

The church hopping was all part of his control games. His wife was born to a Jewish mother, raised Catholic, and she was raising her children Catholic. Till new husband decided that Catholicism wasn't true, and he started to look for another faith for the family. He liked the husband rules the family mentality of Jehovah's Witnesses, but the blood thing was a turn off. I guess he liked his black pudding more than Jehovah. Then we went to a few Christian churches before he settled on Mormonism and the whole family converted. He received the priesthood and ruled the family with an iron fist. When I started to pose a threat to him (I was old enough to to understand that what he was doing was a crime) I was sent back to Ireland to live with my then 21-year-old med student brother Seán.We lived in the family flat in Dublin... and we paid rent, paid for our own food, utilities, etc. It was hard, but it wasn't without great times, like our bike trip around Ireland that summer.

Coming out as gay publicly just made things worse. The man who was sexually abusing two boys in his care thought the only apropriate thing to do was to cure me, and Evergreen International and ex-gay camps were to do the job. While it broke me in many ways, it didn't change the sexual orientation G-d created me with.

Adoption dissolution was the next step. At that point I ceased to be a part of the family in the legal sense as well. For three years I was ignored, then there was about a year or so in my life when the O family entered my life again, only to be treated badly by the parents. They pretty much intended to keep the inheritance after my spinster aunt within the family, and as Aunt Luise never changed her will after I was kicked out of the family, they had to make sure I'd give it up by my own free will. A few weeks of kindness, helping with my insurance situation and things like that was enough for me to sign my portion of the property over to my brother (I was smart enough not to sign it over to the parents!) and even consider and prepare for an LDS mission...

Eventually Kevin and I met and we settled far away from her. We had kids, and things started to go better. My relationship with my bio family improved dramatically over the years, even after the death of my mother. At the same time, my brothers and sisters from the O family became more and more distant with their parents, and that didn't improve after the death of Mr. O. either. I was, of course, to blame for this, at least according to Mrs. O. She was constantly trying to get me to do this or that, she was bribing our kids and trying to turn them against us, and yes, she had her little games trying to isolate me from both my bio family and from her other kids. She went as far as to report us to authorities in Hungary as unfit parents. After several unexpected appearances in our door and she once picking up the boys without our knowledge and approval at the preschool resulted in the strictly no-contact decision from my part.

Of course, because I was always in contact with all my siblings--even my annoying little sister Emily, who was adopted at age 10 when I was 18--she always knew more about me than I preferred. Nevertheless, my siblings never gave her my exact address and location. I am really grateful for that.

Shortly after my family's move to Israel, the now all grown Emily converted and made aliyah, and being a lone soldier, she has became a frequent visitor in our home. She kept me informed about Mrs. O, who is now Mrs. Phillips, and her recent adoption of two Ukrainian teenagers. It wasn't till a week ago that I found out that the Phillipses were taking a trip to Israel, and they wanted to meet us. I reluctantly agreed to meet them at the Thanksgiving dinner at one of the Jerusalem hotels.... And that's where we went on Thursday.

Winter!

2011-11-18T22:08:00.001+02:00

You know when winter arrives as the rain comes in. We really only have two seasons, dry and wet, and there are a few days of dry, not awfully humid ones in the beginning of our summers. So when the rain and storms come in, we know that winter is the current season.

Kevin isn't too thrilled with the rain, but I am. Don't forget, I'm Irish! Rain is the normal thing for me. Or something like that.

I like to pull my chair up to the glass door of the balcony, listening to the rain while I write. I've been writing a lot: future blog posts, the possible book, lesson plans and all that. I enjoy the quiet night rains and I love everything about it... except that poor Izhar doesn't get walked as much in the rain, and when he does, he temporarily stinks. Good thing he loves bathtowels. :) And blow driers! That puppy is like my kids, the louder something is, the more they like it. He also loves the vacuum cleaner. Go figure. :D

Ezra has been talking up a storm lately. He was very slow to start speaking, and we had some testing scheduled with a speech-language pathologist. She suggested that we wait for a 8 weeks, and she was right. While he barely spoke before he turned 3, ever since his birthday he has been speaking a lot in three languages. Armenian, alas, is not among them. The speech-language pathologist had a feeling that he was just adjusting to the multilingual environment, never actually having had a first language, and he was just getting ready. She was right. You know, every once in a while professionals really know better. (Quite often, really.) He has new words, expressions and grammar each day. He is catching up with his sister, so now they actually have conversations. It's funny to listen to two 3-year-olds talking about Serious Things (TM). Like... Is Barbie (the doll) a boy or a girl? Are pink or brown doughnuts tastier? Hubbas or Balamory?

Mentioning Balamory, is there anyone else whose kids watch it? We are in a big turmoil over whether old Josie or new Josie was the better. To be honest, I didn't care much for the character, I much prefer PC Plum. And Miss Hoolie.

In about a month Chanukah is here. We have started to prepare for it, and we are getting excited!

It All Started With The Big Bang

2011-11-13T15:13:00.001+02:00

When I got home from work, my older kids who were already home were watching The Big Bang Theory. It is one of my favourite shows, and I have it on DVD. My older boys seem to like it, especially Yonah, who is going to study aero-space engineering and is a science geek. Some of the other boys don't get the science related jokes at all, but they all have fun watching it.
I made them help out to make a Hungarian potato casserole, aka "layered potatoes", which involve a lot of slicing of potatoes, and canbe done while watching four crazy geeks using the internet to turn their hifi on and off. :) So yeah, that's what's for dinner.
Nirel has been struggling with math big time in school. Any hope of actually sitting the Bagrut, let alone passing it, seems to be slipping away. I am almost sure that I'm more bothered about than I should, or than Nirel is concerned. He is currently enjoying referring to himself as a hyperactive flamingo. I think The Big Bang Theory and an ADHD diagnosis are to blame for that.
I can't believe this week is going to be this long. :(
Today I woke up to this song with my coffee:
I'm back in the negotiation phase with the previously mentioned publisher about the book. So I'm not just completely lazy, I am still not sure what I can post on blogs.

Shabbat Shalom, or a Saturday of Relative Calm

2011-11-12T15:21:00.001+02:00

Yesterday my two oldest boys ~~got in to TA mid morning by bus~~ needed to be picked up at the place where they are stationed. For some odd reason both of them either missed their ride or missed their bus in the morning. Amir, who was supposed to get a ride, was in a worse situation, because he is clear out in the South, and there weren't many bus options. We were lucky that my SIL Maya's parents were coming to visit for the weekend, and they made a little detour to pick Amir up. They got in just about 30 minutes later than Amir would have gotten in after taking a bus from where his ride would have dropped him off. I'm very grateful for the helpfulness of the Sharabi family, too. They have always been wonderful to our family. I hope one day I can return at least a little bit of their kindness!

With Sam we found out that if the birthday girl Noa and I went to pick him up, we'd get back before the next bus would get in, and would be only a few minutes late for Noa's party. So Noa and I drove to get Sam and on the way back Noa was treated to a special soda and chips snack by Sam. It is wonderful to see these "troubled youngsters" being so loving and caring with the younger kids and really feeling like they are home. We sure are proud of them and their determination to succeed in life.

So Noa had a blast already in the morning, which isn't surprising: she got top travel front seat and listen to Yehonathan (aka Gatro). It was her pick, too.

We had a lovely time with several cousins and friends to celebrate Noa's birthday. I can't believe it's only two short years till her Bat Mitzvah! Just the other day she was an 8-year-old setting foot on Israeli soil for the first time...

Last night was fun when the Sharabis and my brother and SIL hung out with us in the garden. It was not the warmest evening, but it was nice. We had a great conversation about... lots of things, but it all started with Bella listening to 21st Century and how I mentioned The Great Gatsby in my blog post about it. We talked about society and culture, we talked about aging and the anti-aging mentality. It was lovely and we had a lovely time.

Today went by in a whirlwind. A nice breakfast that was mostly prepared by the middle kids, eaten outside with my brother's family and in-laws, playing in the sand, enjoying the nice 20+°C weather, and finally framing and hanging up the poster with the prayer for the IDF soldiers that I got a few years ago.

The prayer in full can be read in this beautiful video, set to a contemporary tune of the Ana Bekoach prayer. (The words of the song are not the same as the English text added to it.)

Just a few weeks and we'll get to see both boys again. They won't be able to come home next weekend, and we won't be able to visit during the week, but they will get visitors. It's a surprise who it will be for both boys. :) It was all too soon when Kevin had to take them back to the bus station. They both just called that they got safely back to their place, and found the little gifts that the kids put in their backpacks. And tomorrow... we'll have some lone soldiers stop by to do laundry! Bella is baking some cheese muffins for them to snack on and take back with them.

So yes, it was a calm and quiet Shabbat.

Shavua tov, everyone!

21st Century

2011-11-11T09:23:00.001+02:00

There were several unpleasant things about the last two days, but yesterday (well, really, Wednesday, if we count seeing the below on TV once) had an absolutely great addition to it. And that was my currently favourite song. I have been humming it for a few weeks now, because it is a song that makes me think of how our world and interpersonal relationships have changed in the past decade. It greatly reminds of The Great Gatsby, not because they have much in common, but because what it describes was already present in Daisy and the other heroes (anti-heroes?) of that classic.

Yes, new video! Harel Skaat's second single from the much expected third album, titled 21st Century. The video is rather simple, lacking the extravagant costumes of Lady Gaga and the gazillion dancers and action we get from many of the MTV videos. It's a simple video, shot in one room of Harel Skaat's home. That simple. Yet, great.

In addition to having a nice melody, a superb voice to sing it and a handsome face to go with it, the song has thought provoking lyrics, too:

This tiredness
And this crowdedness
To pull your self up again, every morning
And when you get tired of chasing around your self
You are obligated to stand up straight

And all what is in this city
All the this commotion
To expose your self again each night
And you just feel like erasing yourself
To feel a little drop of reality

And how I wanted you to be real
So you would you come to talk to me
And how I wanted you to be real
So you would come to embrace me
Maybe I was less alone
With you and not in a chase
Maybe we will get to the end of the battle
We will touch, we will rest and we will love

This ritual , and this virtual
That everyone likes to flow to this dream
To this hell, that leads to no were
And how I wanted you to be real
So you would you come to talk to me

And how I wanted you to be real
So you would come to embrace me
Maybe I was less alone
With you and not in a chase
Maybe we will get to the end of the battle
We will touch, we will rest and we will love

We got crazy from loneliness
And we got lost
In a fast world
We forgot to talk

(Found The lyrics beautifully translated on allthelyrics)

Is it only Tuesday?

2011-11-08T23:20:00.002+02:00

Today we celebrated Noa's 10th birthday with her school friends. Her birthday was on Friday, but because of a certain family tradition her birthday was celebrated on the 8th for years. So we celebrate both, and a larger family party will be on Friday. Her major gift was a huge, hand made doll house, with two families of dolls already living there. She spent the evening playing dolls with her little sister.
12 10-year-olds can eat a lot of food at McDonald's, especially if they rarely get junk food. Just letting you know.
A Portugese, a Greek and an Irishman go to a bar and have a beer. Who pays? The German.
If you don't get the above joke (thanks to all the Hungarian Facebook friends who post it), it means you don't live in the EU.
You know why I think I might have a more serious injury to my wrist than just a bruise? I have tickets to Harel Skaat concerts! LOL, yeah, I hit my same wrist really bad this morning, and it's swolen and bruised. I really don't think it's broken, though, but Kevin is teasing me about getting a fluorescent cast on it.
Two of my boys are visiting Tzfat with their school tomorrow. Tzfat is beautiful, one of the four holy cities of Judaism. It's one of my favourite cities in Israel, a place we visit every chanukah and at least once in the summer. A place filled with Jewish mysticism, the place where Lecha Dodi was first sung. I can't wait to go in December. It's also a city where I wouldn't want to live. But it's nice to visit.
On Friday Kevin and I went to see the Idan Raichel Project here in Tel Aviv. They were great, and we didn't only have a blast at the concert, we also met some American expats living here.
My dog ate my homework. I never thought I would ever use that excuse, but this time it's true. No, it wasn't my university stuff, it was the lamb marinade for the cooking course Kevin and I are taking.
November is apparently Adoption Awareness Month somewhere. I guess that somewhere is the USA. This month is making me kind of angry with all the untruths, half truths, truths applying to a specific group or situation being presented as general truths and the outright lies that are being propagated a lot more frequently than normally. While many times--not always--these are posted with good intentions, in the long term they ar enot helping orphans.
Baby Harel pulled up to standing.
Next weekend we'll have both of the army boys home for the weekend at the same time!

2011-11-07T22:05:00.002+02:00

You know why I think I might have a more serious injury to my wrist than just a bruise? I have tickets to Harel Skaat concerts! LOL, yeah, I hit my same wrist really bad this morning, and it's swolen and bruised. I really don't think it's broken, though, but Kevin is teasing me about getting a fluorescent cast on it.
I am also running an unrelated fever.
Two of my boys are visiting Tzfat with their school tomorrow. Tzfat is beautiful, one of the four holy cities of Judaism. It's one of my favourite cities in Israel, a place we visit every chanukah and at least once in the summer. A place filled with Jewish mysticism, the place where Lecha Dodi was first sung. I can't wait to go in December. It's also a city where I wouldn't want to live. But it's nice to visit.
Recommend me something to read.
Harel Skaat is not a midget. It's Idan Roll, who is tall!
I just bought two large containers (850 g I think) of sour cream, as in this morning, and they are practically gone. A piece of bread and sour cream seems to be a popular dinner here.
Yes, some of my kids are from Hungary. :D
I can't wait for the new video for Harel Skaat's song 21st Century. Yes, I'm pathetic.
Actually, I am done with 100 kipot for Craig's bar mitzvah and the fundraisers. Hoever, because of certain things, we, as a family, don't feel like we should support the organization we originally planned to.

A Few Recommendations

2011-11-06T14:59:00.003+02:00

So, it's about time Justin Bieber gets kicked off one of the top spots on my blog's main page. And what better way to do this than recommending you some awesome places to visit?

First of all, my blogging friend Leah is having an awesome giveaway on her adoption blog. For a $20 donation you can have the chance to win this Nikon D3100 set! There is great urgency about it, because it looks like Leah will have to travel to Serbia to complete the adoption of her son L. L, like Leah's two youngest children, Angela and Axel, has Down's Syndrome (don't correct me, it's British English!), and, like Axel was, is in a Serbian orphanage.

Because if the short time available before she needs to travel, the giveaway is only open till November 15. If you do not have the means to donate $20, please feel free to support them with less, or by spreading the word about this giveaway.

Now you all remember Katya, right? She is now home, and is growing and learning. She is attending school with non-special needs peers, and is undergoing extensive medical testing. Unfortunately it was found that Katya has several issues that cannot be fixed, while any potential action plan about the issues that can be fixed haven't been drawn up. Please keep her family in your prayers.

Katya's big sister also started her own blog, displaying some of her crafting ans sewing projects, with some items for sale and others that can be custom ordered. She currently has this charming poppy style flower available. I know someone who will be reading this and who loves stuff like that! Am I correct?

Now, Fräulein Pfau has some great stuff in her Etsy shop. Handmade jewelery, all original, all one of a kind. With Christmas/Chanukah approaching, why not consider getting a pair of lovely earrings like the pair on the left? The best thing? While she already uses nickel free hooks, she can exchange them to sterling silver, which can be also ordered from the page. It's very nice if you have sensitive skin!

I'm Easy To Shop For

2011-11-06T14:15:00.001+02:00

As everyone knows, Chanukah is coming up in like 7 weeks. I've already started Chanukah shopping, and it seems so did my family.

On Wednesday, before I was leaving home my phone rang. It was my dad, who lives here in Tel Aviv, letting me know he got me my Chanukah gift, but then he will need to give it to me a few days before Chanukah. I thanked him and went on my merry way.

An hour later my brother from Jerusalem called, to confirm for the 15th time that indeed we were going to spend the first night of Chanukah with them in Jerusalem, and when I said that we already bought sleeping bags to take along, he said, "Oh, good, because I just bought you your Chanukah gift." I thanked him and didn't give it a second thought till my sister from Herzliyah called... to let me know that she just got me my Chanukah present, and would I please make sure that we spend the evening of the 27th with them.

At this point I started to be suspicious, so I went online to find an update on Harel Skaat's Facebook that tickets were available for his winter mini-tour... On the 18th of December in Tel Aviv, the 20th in Jerusalem and the 27th in Herzliyah. So guess what I'm getting. :) Oh yes.

Harel Skaat at Zappa, lifted from their website

In the mean time, I bought tickets for Yonah and I to see Mr Skaat in Haifa on December 29. :)

I still have a few more siblings and a few more tour dates... so we shall see. :P OK, just kidding. But I'm easy to shop for. A magazine with Mr. Skaat, anything by Crayola, any trendy Judaica and handmade things make me super happy. And books, too. Or just blank DVD's. Oh, and that student edition of the Tanakh and the Stone commentary are still on my wishlist. Yep. Just because I know some of you read here. :)

My 30

2011-11-01T09:28:00.001+02:00

I stole this idea from Marica, because those 7 things just weren't hard enough.

I'm turning 30 on March 31. I can't wait. Seriously, people might actually start taking me seriously.
I come from a very big family. My oldest half brother is 44, my youngest half sister is 1.
3 of my grandparents were born in present day Hungary. My maternal grandmother was raised in Vienna and then in Cork, Ireland, where she married an Irish Catholic man of Spanish Jewish and Irish speaking Irish background. I never knew her, she died when my mother was 4.
I started Junior Infants in Ireland a year early, because I was so smart.
Two years later I failed kindergarten in the US.
I used to be a US American citizen. I'm no longer that.
I've been out of my adoptive parents' home since I was 14, and my adoption was dissolved and I was emancipated at 16.
I went back to my adoptive parents when I was 18, because I was manipulated into giving up a good portion of my inheritance after my aunt.
I served an LDS mission. Well, only a few months, because my health prevented me from serving the rest.
My first language was either Hebrew or Irish. I forgot both, and now I consider myself bilingual in English and Hungarian.
I love musical theatre. No surprise there, I, guess, as I'm gay. I played the role of Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar when I was 16.
I know more about your religion than you think I do. It doesn't matter what your religion is.
I can do cross-stitch, and I'm pretty good at it.
I identify as culturally Hungarian Irish-Israeli. I lived longer in Hungary than in Ireland.
I've spent more than half of my life fighting cancer. Statistically, I should be dead. I am not, so I am super lucky.
I enjoy teaching, and I enjoy doing it the way I am doing it now, team teaching in a highly individualized environment. I am gone about 8 school days a month, and my team teaching partner about 9 days.
I haven't celebrated Christmas for several years now, and I miss it more than any of my kids or my partner. I don't miss the religious aspect, but I miss the completely secular Christmas of our years in Hungary.
I just turned down a book deal for something because the publisher wanted too much control over my material. I doubt I'll ever be published because of that reason.
I'm politically very liberal, yet somewhat old fashioned in my everyday life.
I can argue for everything and the exact opposite of it, if the need arises, thanks to my debate coach.
In the last 18 months there hasn't been a day when I didn't listen to at least one Harel Skaat song. My most listened to song on my playlist is this one:
When I grow up, together with my brother Chalin I want to open a café combined with a bookstore, finish rabbinical school, and name it The Reading Rabbis. I want it to be a place where people come to read, enjoy coffee and to talk when they need to.
I'm a twin.
I'm exteremely opinionated and can be harsh about my opinions. I'm also judgemental.
I love making home made chocolate. I got the recipe from a friend in Transylvania. In the 70's and 80's it was very difficult to get chocolate in Romania, but they could get cocoa powder, so they made their own chocolate. Very yummy.
I miss having proper seasons.
One of my favourite foods is hamburgers, another one is shrimp. Shrimp, of course, is not kosher.
When I was younger, I really wanted to compete in some Idol style show.
American St. Patrick's Day traditions irritate the Irishman in me.
My favourite thing about living in Israel is the close proximity of the beach, the ability to fly kites for most of the year and we can have barbeques for pretty much every holiday.

Happy...

2011-10-31T06:54:00.000+02:00

Happy Reformation Day!

Yeah, I'm not a fan of Luther, but Joseph Fiennes was a hottie.

OK, who am I kidding! Happy bite sized chocolate day!

And let's not forget about Blessed Thomas of Florence. Whoever he was.

A post in bullet points

2011-10-30T22:06:00.002+02:00

Watching River Cottage Christmas Special. I love all the River Cottage shows, because they make me smile. And there are great ideas I can use for my own family and kitchen!

Hungary has Oreo Milka. I stocked up on it. Please help me ignore the fact that they are not kosher.

I hope my blogging friend Ramona is staying safe. Islamic Jihad has the southern part of Israel under attack again, once again attacking our schools and civillian populations. School has been canceled in the South and everyone is on high alert.

Yesterday when I was talking to Craig, he told me that they all went camel riding and body boarding on Friday.

I'm getting the puppy tomorrow in the morning and then we fly home early in the afternoon. I'm so excited about that!

I went grocery shopping early in the morning, so my kids should be super happy with the amount of yummies I'm taking back with me.

While I was out shopping I gave thanks once again that I'm not a woman when I saw how much tampons and sanitary pads cost.

Two packages are put together to be mailed to two Xangans. The trick is, I completely forgot there was gonna be a 4-day-weekend in Hungary. They'll get mailed with the office mail.

I find the ads that pop up on the bottom of Xanga highly annoying, especially because I'm a Premium user.

Thanks to @bogarantyu for reminding me of Michael von der Heide! I really liked his Eurovision song in 2010, but never heard anything else by him. So here is my current MvdH song, Himmelbett:

I'm making a beef goulash, not much different from the one @Cestovatelka shared with Xanga today and will have 3 former co-workers over.

Christmas or Chanukah?

2011-10-29T19:31:00.002+02:00

So... this is what you have for Christmas...

...and this is what we have for Chanukah:

Yeah, I thought you'll agree. :)

Home at last

2011-10-18T19:04:00.002+02:00

For 1934 days, over 5 years, since 25th of June, 2006, my son Craig ended his evening prayers asking G-d to bring Gilad Shalit home, safe and alive.

Tonight he will be thanking G-d for bringing Gilad Shalit home alive.

Rebels without a cause

2011-10-15T21:28:00.003+02:00

I remember when I was an LDS (Mormon) missionary, the wife of our mission president once said that boys should be sent on a mission when they are 16 instead of when they are 19: they know everything and it would be a nice break for the moms! Of course she was kidding, but she had a point. I am not 100% sure what a parent-child relationship is like when someone is 16 or 19, because my parents decided they no longer wanted to parent me when I was 15, and finalized the disruption of my adoption shortly thereafter. So yeah, I am not sure how strained my relationship would have been with them. But even after they removed me from their home and abandoned me, I learned a very important thing: I should respect and honour their rules as long as I'm in their home and always always honour them. I did just that and while they rejected me, when the situation arose I did honour their wishes.

Exodus 20:12 commands "Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." (NIV-UK)

It's a commandment, not a request, not an advice. It says "Honour your father and your mother", without conditions. It's not "Honour your father and your mother unless they set a curfew that you think is too early." It's not "Honour your father and your mother as long as they do what you want." It doesn't even mention parents have to respect their child to be honoured. Those commandments are written elsewhere, and the parents' failure to keep them does not make Exodus 20:12 null and void. Self proclaimed Christian and religious Jewish youths tend to forget this.

The issue with today's society is entitlement. "I have rights," a rebellious friend said once, "they can't make me do things what I don't want to do and they can't kick me out of the house. I have rights." It was a hard slap on the face when his parents had him evicted from their home. Rights end when someone is no longer a minor. Rights, and in a way, parents' responsibility put up with their kids' cr@p also end once the child grows up. Expecting parents to provide for a youth, while he or she is awaiting their dream position is all too common. All the while being disrespectful makes it sting even more. Feeling entitled to parents' resources seems to be the standard. Getting a car, parents paying for college, trips to Europe is not gratefully accepted but expected these days. And if these material goods don't land on someone's lap... airing their grievances on Facebook, on blogs, on twitter, more often than not on devices that were purchased by said parents, seems to be considered a basic human right.

Of course, we, parents, seem to be encouraging this behaviour. The media seem to be encouraging this behaviour. Modern parenting methods definitely make kids and young adults believe they are some special snowflakes. Better than their parents. And it's not only teenagers, who are expected to rebel against everything and the exact opposite of it, but twenty-somethings as well.

So here is some news: they are not.

The world doesn't owe them anything. They will have to work for everything as their parents and grandparents did. It's going to be tough when they are forced to wake up, and find themselves in the real world... with kids on their own who will treat them as they treated their parents.

What a slap in the face that will be.

The Dog Question

2011-10-01T15:40:00.002+03:00

It's been a while since my first, and only dog, my service puppy Gombóc passed away. I initially said I'd never have a dog again, first because they are long term full time commitment, second because I'm afriad of dogs, third, because I don't want to be the one who ends up having to take it on walks.

But then one afternoon Kevin asked, "Why not get a puli?" At that point I knew we were getting a dog. A puli, to be specific. Like the one Mark Zuckerberg's Beast. Except probably black. Pulis are kind of like our family: they come from Hungary, are noisy and playful. So a Puli it will be.

Pulis are herding dogs, so they would totally be able to herd my large and noisy family, you know, keep kids together and stuff. And I'm also only half kidding. They are also great guard dogs. And playful. And they'd love to join Kevin for hist twice daily 4 mile runs.

We are thinking of names, too. One idea was naming our potential puli Bob Marley, and buying him a Jamaican hat or two, but Kevin thinks that would be cruel. The hat part, that is. Which I have to agree with.

The next idea came from one of our boys, to name the dog Izhar, so his full name would be Izhar Cohen. That we also found a good idea. Just in case you have never seen 1978 Eurovision Song Contest winner Izhar Cohen, here is a photo of him (and the previous link will take you to the winning song).

Before anyone chastises me for getting a dog from a breeder rather than a rescue dog, there are some things I want to know about a dog that I'm bringing into my family. That includes its whole life story and any possible trauma background. I also want a young puppy, and the one I'm getting in about 3 weeks time is just what I want. Also, we have two choices of puppies, both of them are male, but both of them having some irregular colour/markings, so they wouldn't be good for competitions and such. We also know the breeder, I used to tutor her kids in English, so instead of charging a reduced fee, we get our puppy free.

So, in about 3 weeks time, we will be the proud owners (or slaves) of a cute little furball we'll name Izhar. Or Bob Marley.

Blackberry, Apple and all that

2011-09-24T09:30:00.000+03:00

Just a few notes for non-UK (or Romanian... or Swiss... or Israeli) readers: Orange is a mobile network in several countries. And a dongle... is usually an active key or mobile internet stick in IT, and well, something else in slang. :P

A cup of hot chocolate

2011-09-23T17:59:00.000+03:00

The weather (currently 27°C) doesn't warrant it, but we started the day with some hot chocolate. Not just the dump the contents of the bag in a cup and hot water type, but the type when I put a 5 liter pot on the stove, with milk, bring it to a boil, and then add sugar and cocoa powder, and in this case, some home made oragne flavouring. We made them from the oranges we grow in the garden.

The kids came one by one, with their various cups, mugs and thermo glasses for a cup of hot chocolate. At that point I realized that there were no two cups on the table as I was distributing our lovely orange hot chocolate. Like.... there are enough of us to warrant several sets of cups, but pretty much all of them are single cups leftover from long gone sets, or individual mugs bought here or there.

So now I have a new quest: buying 20 matching mugs. Not necessarily the same, but matching. Like the matrioshka mugs that come in several colours at the Russian artisan market, or the polkadot one (that actually belongs to a guest, who has been using our couch quite a bit), that probably comes in more than one colour.

Why 20? There are rarely less than 20 people in my house: kids, teens, friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, co-workers and so and so often congregate in our kitchen or living room. We make tea, coffee and hot chocolate in industrial quantities, and it's something that has become a family ritual.

Chocolat

2011-09-18T19:50:00.000+03:00

Please ignore the fingerprints and chocolate on the muffin paper. This was a first attempt, following instructions we got from a friend, who is at least a week ahead of us in making home made bonbons.

So this is a first attempt at making chocolate filled with anything. This one has raisins, because we love raisins. Raisins are nice.

In addition to making chocolate yummies with the boys, we have been dancing quite a bit here. I have posted quite a few songs by a certain artist with a Yemeni (and Iraqi) Jewish background (yes, the adorable Mr. Harel Skaat), and here is another Israeli artist of Yemeni Jewish background, Ravid Kahalani with his project Yemen Blues. He also often performs with the Idan Raichel Project.

And This Was A Friday...

2011-09-17T21:41:00.000+03:00

Fridays are my favourite days next to the Shabbat. Not even Rebecca Black could ruin them. We always apreciate them more during the school year, even if some of the kids go to school on Fridays this year. We are getting into a routine about that already, and we continue to fully enjoy our days. Usually the high schoolers who attend on Fridays get up and out of the door by the time the rest of us get up. They are really awesome about it, and I loved the note saying Yonah had helped the littles two potty, gave them some juice and sent them back to bed for another hour. Isn't he just awesome?

We really didn't have anything planned for the weekend. I made breakfast for the littles, and baked challah and got ready for the Shabbat. As the older boys got home, I was just taking the sweet rolls I made out of the oven. Nirel, formerly known as Newest Boy, sat down at the island next to me with his homework. As I buttered a roll for him, he looked at me and said, "You know, I don't think I'll pass the bagrut."

Bagrut is the Israeli matriculation exam. I wasn't that surprised by this declaration: Nirel went to schools that taught little more than basic reading, writing, arithmetic and an insane amount of Torah/Talmud for most of his life, and while he had attended state religious schools for the last three years, he is struggling in school.

"Even if I pass," he continued as I added honey to the rolls, "I don't think I'd want to go to University."

"So, what do you want to do instead?" I asked, expecting an answer like going into IT, or an administrative work or something.

"I want to be a cake maker and decorator," he said, not daring to look me in the eyes.

"That's awesome," I replied, "have you ever baked anything?"

"No, but I'm pretty good with play dough."

So, what would any loving guardian do in this situation? Yes, I made him bake his first chocolate cake. It's not half bad!

Spock for President!

2011-09-16T21:39:00.000+03:00

see more Very Demotivational

More on Within My Walls

2011-09-16T00:13:00.001+03:00

We had a very hectic week. It was great to get back home, and even with the no sleep for 38 hours on Monday/Tuesday it has been a great week. It was also a very challenging week for me in several areas, and I did find myself in the study, with the door closed and my music playing many evenings after my kids went to bed. I was safe within my walls.

I don't mean the walls of my study. Not even the walls of my home. Well, to be honest, living in one of the safest parts of Israel, I haven't felt completely physically safe in this country since the most recent string of terror attacks. But deep within my walls, the walls that I have been building around myself all my life, I feel safe. As the words of the song say,

Here within my walls there is a memory,
A letter under the door
And not a voice to cry
And not a soul to answer
And no pain will remain
For my walls are a comforting white
And there are no stains of blood
Or bruises
Or tears of the heart

The song, as I have written before, is about something completely different, but at the same time it's about me, my need for protection within these walls.

Within my walls.

With Sunday fast approaching, I feel those walls going up and up and up again. Walls that separate me from the people I love, but keep me strong and going.

And, by the way, the new year is almost here. New year, new beginnings?

A Sunday List

2011-09-11T20:57:00.001+03:00

It's Sunday, and we are enjoying one of the late summer, early autumn days in Hungary. What am I doing?

1. Writing postcards, mostly. Some of you will get some mail from me in the next few days/weeks (depending on when the post office will pick the mail up from the box and how long it takes them to get to you from that point on).

2. Taught the niece how to make peanutbutter cups. Yum. Many thanks to a few people who suggested alternatives to the things we were missing. Like.. peanut butter. :D

3. Also learnt a Skype lesson about fondant from @bogarantyu. I can now make orange fondant and fake marzipan fondant in several colours!

4. I went to Butlers at the advice of @bogarantyu, Maresz and Peti, and came home with several chocolate molds (a bit cheaper than I'd pay for them in Israel) and tiny teeny jars of jam and honey. The latter were super expensive, but I plan to re-use those jars for the kids lunches. :)

5. No meds for a week. Well, no 2 specific meds for a week!

6. We won't be flying home time till nearly midnight on Monday. We will be in TA around 3:45 a.m. Tuesday morning. It will be a super short night for Noah and I.

7. And then I have the class all for myself Tuesday through Thursday!

8. Torchwood final was AWESOME! Oh my, I SOOOOO knew the last twist which I can't talk about yet, as BBC is a week behind America, but it was AWESOME!

9. Doctor Who was boring, though.

10. Making (turkey) spam and eggs for dinner. Yum.

11. Since I haven't posted much Harel Skaat lately, here is a video of one of his performances in California. At 2:10 he sings Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.

Within My Walls

2011-09-07T22:36:00.001+03:00

After reading this post, I was reminded just how much I loved that song Ágó included. A while back when Kevin dragged me to to one of their concerts in Israel I wasn't too enthusiastic. I am not a big fan of world music. Good thing Kevin is, because I got to hear this song, titled, in English, Within My Walls. While the song has a back story in the Rwandan Genocide Museum's room about the Holocaust, it has a message that hits home... Something that describes me, at least to myself.

Click on the image for larger version to open in a new window to read the translation of the lyrics while listening to the song.

Margaret Thatcher in Yorkshire, on a Rainy Thursday Afternoon

2011-09-04T17:30:00.002+03:00

Yesterday I read another hearthfelt plea from a Christian mother of boys to girls and mothers of girls to dress their daughters modestly to protect their sons' purity and prevent their sinning in their spirit. She then also proceeded to post pictured of their beach vacation.

Well, I have to say, my mind blew.

First of all, as a man, I'm offended by her implication that the males of the homo sapiens sapiens species are utterly id-driven creatures, lacking any self control and and acting on any and all desires. As a man I feel like that I am responsible for my own thoughts and reactions. I also don't feel like that women should be serving me, being it always making the sandwiches, mending clothes or completely hiding every square milimeter of their bodies. No, let's face it: men can and should take responsibility of their desires, the welfare of their soul and their purity.

I will never forget the lesson one of my elder brothers taught me about this. I was a young kid, and he was newly married and really living his faith, yet he ended up in a situation when he worked at a beach hotel. Many of the ladies going to that particular beach and the hotel made the girls of Baywatch look as if dressed for the Siberian winter. So I asked my brother how he managed to avoid bad thoughts and he gave 2 very good pieces of advice:

1. Always look the girls in the eyes.
2. When you can't do #1 (because they are far, or looking away), just think of Margaret Thatcher in Yorkshire on a rainy Thursday afternoon. BTW, if you don't know who Margaret Thatcher is... well, click here.

Other tactics I heard was reciting scriptures of humming hymns or repeating the periodic table or some epic poems that are otherwise super boring. Parts of the Illyad come to mind. Or very simply, thinking of the person in front of you as a person rather than a body. It really is not that difficult. It just involves exercising some self control.

The other thing that makes me furious about posts like that is the double standards. After mom pleads for girls to cover up, I see her sons run around without shirts most of the summer, and in short shorts, and wearing pretty much speedos to the beach... but girls should be wearing burqas, because otherwise they might taint poor boys.

That just doesn't fly well with me. I'm a father of both boys and girls. Of course I have been a father of boys a lot longer than that of girls. I am not opposed to modesty, actually, I'm enforcing some of the "oddest" rules according to my secualr neighbours. Like... my no sleeveless top rules, unless it's for the beach/swimming. But then I'd prefer my girls to wear the Muslim Swimsuit Tukha once posted about, because they are all prone to get sunburns. Yes, even my biracial daughter. In my family both boys and girls are to wear sleeves. Neither the boys and girls shouldn't wear shorts/skirts shorter than a certain length, and so on, and so on. But the point is: modesty needs to apply to both genders. If you expect girls to dress modestly, you should expect boys to do likewise. Of course I don't want to dress my daughters to look like sex workers.

Definition of modesty varies between cultures and families. Here we live in a world of extremes, from segregated beaches and buses along gender lines for the Ultra-Orthodox to the ultra-sexy-hardly-any-clothes night and beach life of Tel Aviv. The key for my family has been finding the balance. There's a middle ground between the burqini and the string bikinis. And I think we did find it, we did find what works for my family.

I got me a class

2011-09-03T21:56:00.002+03:00

So... with recent events here, the school that my middle kids attend lost some of the teachers for this year, and I was asked to--at least temporarily--take on one of the classes as part of a two-person team teaching team. I am now teaching a combined 5th/6th grade class with 13 kids: 11 boys and 2 girls. None of the kids are native Israelis, and all are multilingual, English or Hebrew usually not being a first language for them. Many are international adoptees with various levels of academic achievement behind them, some are very recent olim (immigrants), one kid has a profound hearing loss, and we have a number of letter combinations to go with the kids. My teaching partner, Sara, teaches Hebrew and in Hebrew, I teach English and in English...except when I'm teaching very basic words and the alefbet to the absolutely-non-Hebrew speakers. Two of the kids are mine, so it kinda feels like I get to home school them.

Actually, only after 1 day, our classroom was described as a homeschool with uniforms. I think it's quite fitting. We use different books and curriculums for the kids, and we are working on assessing them and creating individual curricula for them. It's gonna be a fun year, I hope.

Happy Founding of the State/New Bread/1948 Constitution/St. Stephen Day!

2011-08-20T10:10:00.001+03:00

It's August 20, baby! And we are in Budapest to celebrate it!

August 20th is the national holiday of Hungary, or at least it was with the previous constitution that defined state holidays and THE national holiday. It is a holiday of multiple purposes.

It celebrates the founding of the state by St. Stephen of Hungary, the first king of the Hungarians. Before him, Hungary had cieftains and Hungarians followed shamanistic religions. Stephen, after much fighting with older family members, particularly his uncle Koppány (nominally Eastern Christian, but a pagan chiftain of the Somogy region), became the head chieftain in 997 and was crowned king in 1000/1001. Before his death in 1038 he forced Christianity on his subjects and established a European, Roman Catholic kingdom. The struggle and coronation was turned into an awesome rock opera titled István, a király (Stephen, the king) in 1983. It's usually shown on TV on August 20th.
As a result of #1, he was canonized in 1083, on August 20th. That was his feast day till the late 17th century, when it was moved, but in Hungary August 20th is still celebrated as his feast day.
The new bread. It was traditional in Hungary to bake the first bread from the wheat of the new harvest for August 20th. Or so I'm told.
The (1948) constitution. Maybe it was the 1949 constitution? Anyway, it was the post-WWII constitution of Hungary. I guess this no longer applies, as the current government tossed it out and came up with a piece of cr@p for a constitution.

The day is usually celebrated with fairs, an air show (though I'm not sure about this year), concerts, and fireworks. THE fireworks means the 30-minute-long display over the Danube in Budapest, broadcast by most non-cable TV stations and witnessed by hundreds of thousands of people. It can be seen from as far away as Újpest on the Pest side! Nowadays there are other fireworks both within Budapest and in other towns and villages. It's totally awesome. This year I'll watch it om TV, and send Kevin and Yonah watch it from one of the bridges. But before that, have a little BBQ on the balcony and go do some fun things in town.

A song from István, a király from the 25th anniversary show. It's called "You are so far from me, yet so close". Yeah, it's about G-d, faith, and the whole thing about Hungary needing Christianity, and the politics vs. faith thing. A lot deeper than just a pretty song.

What I Wish My Christian (and Atheist and Generally Non-Jewish) Friends Knew about Judaism Vol. 3 -

2011-08-13T20:53:00.002+03:00

#What-I-Wish-My-Christian-and-Atheist-and-Generally-Non-Jewish-Friends-Knew-about-Judaism Vol. 3 is the first in a few posts about the Shabbat, that will be posted on Fridays.

Yes, I can already hear some of you gasp, "Oh my, you spelled Sabbath wrong!" Actually, I didn't. The word "שבת" is pronounced, and thus transliterated as "shabbat". The stem of this word is "shavat", meaning "ceasing", that is, from work. I personally think that translating it as rest is incorrect: it doesn't imply rest, and the Shabbat is not primarily a day of rest. The English word "Sabath" was derived, possibly by a reading mistake, from the Hebrew word.

Shabbat denotes the seventh day of the week, based on the creation story found in Genesis. Isaac Asimov also wrote an essay about how weeks came to exist, which is a pretty non-Bible based, but absolutely possible approach.

The Shabbat, the seventh day of the week, begins at sunset, like every other day. That is based on the creation story of Genesis 1 as well: " So the evening and the morning were the first day." It goes like this for the whole week, so our days start at sunset and end at nightfall the next day. More about that will be explained in a post about the Hebrew calendar. Observance, of the Shabbat, however, starts before sunset. As the traditional way to usher in the Shabbat is to light candles, and kindling and putting out fires on the Shabbat is forbidden (unless doing so is to save lives), this traditionally happens 18 minutes before sunset. In Jerusalem, however, the tradition is to light the candles 40 minutes before sunset. It can be done at other times, based on local traditions and decisions by local rabbinical authorities.

Since the Shabbat is such a dominant part of the lives of Jews, we have special greetings we use on this day. Starting somewhere around midday Friday it's apropriate to greet someone with "Shabbat Shalom". Another greeting is "Shalom aleichem", meaning peace unto you. The response to that is "Aleichem shalom."

Shabbat is often referred to as "Shabbat haMalka", Shabbat the Queen. Shabbat is this special for us. Of course the levels of observance vary among Jews just as much as keeping the Sabath holy vaaries among Christians. There are two basic things that all the Shabbat mitzvot (laws) come down to: to enjoy and sanctify it.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. It's a lot easier for me to write about things that my readers would like to know.

What I Wish My Christian (and Atheist and Generally Non-Jewish) Friends Knew about Judaism Vol. 2

2011-08-10T14:18:00.000+03:00

#What-I-Wish-My-Christian-and-Atheist-and-Generally-Non-Jewish-Friends-Knew-about-Judaism Vol. 2 is answering @bmojsilo's question, "So how do you know which Nutella is kosher and which isn't??"

The answer is very simple: kosher products, that are not kosher by default, bear a "stamp", certifying that they are kosher. These labels are given by certain rabbinic authorities to the manufacturers, after inspecting the facilities where certain products are made. Some of these stamps can be seen here:

These can vary from region to region, depending on who the authority was to issue the stamp, or whether the food is classified as meat, dairy or pareve, that is, neither meat nor dairy. Like canned vegetables or dark chocolate or potato wedges. These pareve foods can be combined with either meat or dairy foods, so the above pictured pareve hazenut spread can be eaten both part of a meal containing meat (like in a Nutella pound cake after fried chicken), or with milk based pancakes.

A quick glance on the labels usually tells the buyer whether the food is apropriate or not, however, occasionally, mislabeled products can get to the shelves. In these cases many Jewish websites or newsletters alert the buyers of the mislabeling.

What about bread and meat?

In countries like the USA and parts of the UK, major grocery stores sell kosher bread and meat products. They are labeled as such on their packaging. In other countries, like in Hungary, cities or towns with significant Jewish populations will have kosher stores, or at least a kosher bakery and kosher butcher's. The products from these places are ritually prepared (there should be an entry about baking kosher challah). In places without a significant population bread is usually baked at home by religious Jews. The modern bread machines are a great help in that. The ritual slaughtering of poultry can be learnt and done at the house, too.

Further posts about kosher cooking, and Passover related kashrut requirements will come later.

Hevel on Harel

2011-08-09T20:49:00.002+03:00

Yesterday @bmojsilo commented to @Cestovatelka on my previous post that a rundown on Harel Skaat was in order. I did realise that while half of my blog has to do with the awesomeness that's Harel Skaat, I never quite wrote a proper introduction.

So, what can I say about Harel Skaat? He is currently my favourite Israeli pop singer and has been for about two years now. He just turned 30 yesterday, and he was born to an Iraqi-Yemenite Jewish family in Kfar Saba. He was discovered to be talented in gan (pre-school) and after winning a singing contest as a child he got a small role on one of the children's shows. See below:

The original video I wanted to post (that has much more of cute little Harel) was deleted from YouTube, so now you have to put up with cute big Harel as well.

Somewhere between then and entering the second season of Kokhav Nolad, Israel's version of the Idol shows, he sustained injuries consistent with close contact of a glass door.

During his school career he kept singing. He sang in his school band and then in the IDF communication corps band during his mandatory military service.

After the military Mr. Skaat attended Beit Zvi, a theatre arts college in Ramat Gan. There he won some of the most prestigious awards, Wikipedia tells me. I have to admit that I wasn't quite aware of Beit Zvi till he was already done with it. There are various clips on YouTube of Harel in Beit Zvi shows, if anyone wants to look them up.

The big thing happened when 23-year-old Skaat entered Kokhav Nolad 2 in 2004. Among the other entrants that year were Adi Cohen and Harel Moyal, who placed in the top three. While Skaat seemed to be the more popular, it was Moyal who won the final. Does that sound familiar? Just think of American Idol 2 and Clay Aiken. Oh, yes, I'm a Clay Aiken fan boy as well. :)

My two youngest siblings at the time (Yaron and Ester weren't born then) were dedicated Adi Cohen and Harel Moyal fans, so they kept taping the show and sending it to Hungary for me to decide which one was better. To be honest, I initially preferred Moyal over Skaat, but then Mr. Skaat won me over. Especially in the final with the song "Hineni Kan", I'm here.

So while I wish he had won, neither Harels seemed too bothered with the outcome, and they appeared in that year's Festigal together. The infamous Hebrew Numa Numa song had them (and Ran Danker and a bunch of other Israeli stars) being very... pink.

Festigal is a yearly children's show and song contest that happens during Chanukah. It usually features some if that year's most popular artists, and Mr Skaat has been invited to participate several times. 2004 was his first year, and he sang the song Lauf, "To Fly", a song based on Peter Pan. For English translations click here.

2005 marked the year when Harel Skaat's album, titled simply Harel Skaat, was published. It was immensely successful, with several music videos made from it, including Ve'at (And You), which has been Harel's biggest hit to date, and Im Hu Yelech, which won the year's best video. He won several awards, including Children's choice twice in a row, and he became involved with children's charities.

Oddly enough, my favourite song from this first album is not one of those big hits. It's this one below, titled "The Wind Will Change Its Coourse".

A few years passed, and there was no second album. There were disputes and court cases involving his label and management. He was considered for Eurovision in 2009, but because of his inability to record anything, that fell through. Finally, though, things were settled, and in 2009 his second album, Dmuyot, or Figures, was released. While I had several songs on his first album I didn't like, I fell head over heels in love with this album. My favorite song is the first one "Tmimuti", alternatively translated as "My Innocence" or "My Naivete ". But Boi Hayom (Come Today) had the cutest video:

In 2010 the IBA internally selected Harel Skaat to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest. I was becoming quite a fan of Mr. Skaat around this time, but I wasn't too excited at first: I was pretty sure that quite an awful song would be selected at Kdam.

I was wrong. Milim was actually a very nice song.

Milim placed 14th in the final, out of 25 finalists and 39 entrants overall. The song, however, took home three first prizes: prize of the creators of the competition, prize of the reporters and prize of the commentators. This was the first time in the 55 year history of ESC that the same song took home three of these prizes.

2010 was a year that brought even more headlines to Harel Skaat due to his sexuality. For years there had been speculation about whether Harel was straight or not. In July 2010 he performed at the memorial of the Tel Aviv gay center shooting, after whiche there was a public outing. Harel remained silent then, but after there was more criticism from public figures, going as far as calling him a bad role model for gay youth, Harel had his public coming out on Israeli TV in October of that year. Since then he has often been seen at public events with his boyfriend, the model Idan Roll.

Of course being openly gay in a country that defines itself as a Jewish state is not easy. He has been attacked by religious organizations, and his performance at the National Volunteers gala was controversial. This happened just around the time that he released the first song from his third album, "Love Awaits Me". The song is about shameless love that is still there. And the video does include something easily interpreted as two men on a date.

On July 16 Harel had his traditional birthday concert 3 weeks early. Part of the concert involved his mother reading a letter to her son.Translation is by someone on Facebook:

‎"I'll be quick so he would not say i talk a lot. At every event where I have to carry things Harel says "do it short and businesslike. But he sometimes cannot stop talking at the shows. Harel complains that every year on his birthday we are abroad. Also this year the initial date fell on a trip, but our dear Harel was ahead of the date of the show and I'm glad.
It was a year full of changes, a powerful year. To you Harel, to the family and to the Israeli society that in part still can't accept the secrets of life".

Harelush, Like Grandpa used to call you. This life is your – I love and admire you for taking the power to choose what you want to do. Take the power to love what you want to love. To take the power to control your life, because nobody will do it for you. Take the power to make your life happy and we strengthen your hands".

And this is the Punchline:
"I don't like that you're ride on a bike, and sometimes your crazy haircut will drive me nuts",
And it ends with a blessing: " Continue to fulfill all the dreams, because dreams come true".

And no, the title is not serious. I don't think Idan Roll or my Kevin would approve.

Happy Birthday Mr. Skaat!

2011-08-08T20:31:00.002+03:00

Harel Skaat was born on August 8, 1981. So you can all do the Math!
From this cute little boy:

He grew into this talent show contestant:

And 7 years later, he turned into this handsome 30-year-old:

Happy Birthday, Mr Skaat!

What I Wish My Christian (and Atheist and Generally Non-Jewish) Friends Knew about Judaism Vol. 1

2011-08-06T12:08:00.001+03:00

What_I_Wish_My Christian_and_Atheist_and_Generally_Non-Jewish_Friends_Knew_about_Judaism Vol. 1 is dealing with a very important topic. That is, burgers. As a brief introduction to Jewish dietary laws, also known as Kashrut, I'd like to mention two big no-no's: one is pork, the other is eating milk and meat together. Various people observe this to different levels, like keeping 6 hours between eating meat and dairy. These people usually only eat kosher meat and kosher dairy anyway.

I'm not that strict with my observance of the kashrut, but meat and daily won't mix in the same meal for me. It just won't.

Just recently during my trip to Hungary, I ended up stopping at the fast food chain with the scary clown. The following conversation happened in Hungarian (and slightly paraphrased, as it was weeks ago).

Fast Food Worker with a Dolphin Tattoo on Her Hand: Hi, how can I help you?
Me: Hi, I'd like two hamburgers please.
FFWWADTOHH: Would you like cheeseburgers instead, they cost the same.
Me: No, thank you.
FFWWADTOHH: Would you like that in a meal with a small drink and fries.
Me: Sure, why not.
FFWWADTOHH: I can only get you hamburgers in meals if it's a Happy Meal.
Me: Uhm, do I look like someone who needs plastic toys? No Happy Meal, please.
FFWWADTOHH: So would you like to have a cheeseburger meal instead?
Me: No, no cheeseburger, please.
FFWWADTOHH: But we don't have hamburger meals.
Me: You know what? I'd like a cheeseburger meal, no cheese in the cheeseburger and a hamburger.
FFWWADTOHH: I never had a customer who didn't want cheese in their cheeseburger.
Me: ...

So rule number 2 when it comes to kashrut: we don't mix dairy with meat. And if you want to combine it with rule number 1: We don't eat cheeseburgers with bacon. Well, that's just a general rule, and I can't speak for other Jews who might or might not keep kosher.

So what else? G-d apparently has an issue with rabbit stew and seafood pizza, because hares and rabbits, juts like seafood (anything but scaled fish) are also not kosher. Really, any carnivorous animal isn't. But a safe bet: Coca Cola and Heinz ketchup in plastic bottles are kosher. So is Nutella sold in North America (and in Israel, of course). So fries made from scratch with Heinz ketchup and a coke with a jar of Nutella for dessert is a safe bet to feed your Jewish guest.

Or you can feed them hamburgers. No cheese. :)

My G-d

2011-07-28T21:42:00.001+03:00

There is a song I really like that I was just reminded of by the wonderful Hope Anne.

I have written about two things here frequesntly: my struggle with my faith (or lack thereof) and Harel Skaat. Now there is a song that I haven't listened to for a long long time. The primary reason for that is that it makes me sad, reminding me of something I lack. And something that I desperately want to have. If it makes any sense.

I made an attempt to translate this song. You must remember that my Hebrew is still lacking and well, sometimes the original doesn't make sense to me. Corrections are welcome!

Elohim

Sometimes war and fire and hell
Mask the charred body of a baby
Sometimes G-d you make us cry

G-d I call upon you, do you hear?
Lord, are you with me? I don't know
G-d, answer

Sometimes the sea sometimes the falling leaves,
A baby is born, A cripple can walk
The trees bloom again and the children smile
Sometimes G-d you make us thankful

G-d I call upon you, do you hear?
Lord, are you with me? I don't know
G-d, answer

G-d I'm calling you, do You hear
G-d you're always with me I know
G-d I'm calling you and You hear!
G-d you're always with me I know
G-d ...

A few of my favourite things.

2011-07-24T14:36:00.001+03:00

OK, so I'm not original, okay? I stole this from the wonderful @Cestovatelka and the talented @NVPhotography (whose idea for an it gets better video I'm still not sure I understand).

Most of these photos are stolen from the Internet. Some used with permission.

These are things I love, I am obsessed with or I am passionate about, other than my family. In a very random order.

Religions, and items to go with them, like these Sunday School reward cards. Religions are fascinating. Faith is something I envy in people who actually can believe.

Urban fantasy. This picture really has nothing to do with anything, but it gives out urban fantasy feelings. I especially like Sergei Lukyanenko's Night watch and its sequels.

Burgers are a love of mine. While I'd eat McD, I much prefer when I can put my burgers together myself. Lots of places in Israel and a few in Hungary will serve the patty on a bun, with everythinge sle next to it on a plate and you can just put it together as you like. Since I'm allergic to lettuce, it suits me just fine.
Bonus points if you know where the screenshot above comes from. Marica, I'm fairly sure you do know. :)
Also going with this picture is pretty hands. I love pretty hands.

Making expensive tasting cheap coffee at home.

Cookies! Need I say more?

Christopher Moore's books, especially Lamb. While often deemed sacriligious, esp. by those, who haven't read it, this is a most brilliant book that made me see Jesus is a much more positive light.

Dr Who. While the Tenth Doctor will forever be my Doctor, I surprisingly enjoy Matt Smith's Eleven. I hope his contract gets renewed, and we get at least another season of him. Especially since the lives of the Doctor are fast running out.

The Eurovision Song Contest is an ongoing passion. I have watched it all my life and intend to continue watching it. The key is not taking it all too seriously.

Geraniums. OK, so there is something else in this picture I love.

Israel. There is a reason why I don't write too much about certain things and why I felt apprehensive about re-posting some of my old, pre-Xanga posts, and that is not wanting to open a door for bashing something that's very important to me on my very own blog. So, I might just add, I love moderating negative comments about important things. My blog is not a democracy.

Oh, how much I love my kipot! I still owe @tukhahaha a post about my kipot, and they are going to happen. The same way it's important to @happymom4 (who needs a new username like happymom5), or @fabulousclown to cover their hair, it's important for me to have a head covering as well. It's part of my identity, it's my choice and I love my kippah.

Hungary is forever going to be a love affair. I spent some really great and some really challenging years there. It's the original home of 3 of my children. It's the home of my ancestors. I keep returning to #Hungary regularly, and it feels like home.

הראל סקעת

I mean... Harel Skaat. I'm pretty sure you've already noticed that.

Languages and Judaism. The two topics are separate, but on this picture by @Bogarantyu, they kinda sorta collide. I speak English and Hungarian well, I'm starting to speak Hebrew decently (though not reading or writing it), I have some usable German, or at least I can read Germans' handwriting, and a tiny bit of Russian.

Pálinka! #Pálinka is one of the greatest gifts Hungary has given the world. Forget Szent-györgyi and Vitamin C! These kosher pálinkas are something that are now carefully wrapped in T-shirts and twoels in the bottom of my suitcase, making the journey back to Hungary with me.

Chazzan (cantor) Shimon Craimer.

This above video is Oseh Shalom, recorded for Israel's 60th birthday a few years ago. Chazzan Craimer is British born, BTW.

Starbucks. This has more to do with snobism than anything else. I might point out that there's no Starbucks in Israel.

My favourite local chain (also available in Romania, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the USA) is aroma.

Tea. What did you expect, I'm Irish! :) Yes, I do drink it with sugar and lemon, or with brown sugar and milk.

Torchwood. What's not to love about a British TV show that's willing to kill off major characters mid-season? Also, there is a whole lot of cute Jack/Ianto and Jack/Jack in it. :D

Just kidding, okay?

Today's post... a QR code

2011-07-21T23:09:00.002+03:00

Just scan it with your mobile!

The "Club" of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

2011-07-19T17:34:00.000+03:00

So in Hungary the new law regulating churches and religious organizations just passed, leaving only 14 official churches in the country. This includes the boig four (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, Baptist), all three of the Jewish organizations (though I'm sursprised that anyone bought that Chabad is the continuity of the old Status Quo Ante), the Unitarians (don't think UU), a charismatic Christian sect, and a bunch of Eastern Catholic/Orthodox churches that have been in Hungary for centuries.

Didn't make the cut, along with any of the Islam organizations, the Methodists, Scientologists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Krishna consciousness and the Buddhists, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And now there is panic. Because while the Krishnah guys and the Methodists do have a chance to get official recognition through government agreements due to their public services, the LDS folks relied heavily on the third category saving their tax exemption that was introduced in the original bill.

You see, there were three categories: 1. Historic churches, which include the 14 recognized churches, 2. Churches entering an agreement with the government, based on their public services (The Methodists have a wide spread school and pre-school system for disadvantaged kids as well as several homeless shelters, the Krishna conscious folks feed the homeless), and 3. Churches that are memberes of world-wide churches with ties to foreign churches. The first two categories are included in the final law, but not the third. I guess thatw as to remove the Scientologists completely. And possibly Jehovah's Witnesses.

I'm fairly sure that the Mormons will appeal based on their "Mormon Helping Hands" being public service, but I doubt they will be able to get more than a hearthfelt laughter out of the government. Donating incubators that don't work with 220V and a handful of wheelchairs and cleaning some public buses will not put them in the same league with the Methodists, or even with the two Reformed Jewish congregations who maintain hospital services. Oh well.

Of course everyone on Facebook is talking about opression and all that. My former shul didn't get recognized either, and they immediately decided to go the suggested route: forming a civil organization, club or alliance. I wonder what the Mormons will do... possibly change their name to something that is not abreviated into a word that means "you are bored of me". (That said, the Hungarian CTR ring looks like a dairy worker's ring, as VAJ means butter...)

So back to the topic, one of the questions I've heard asked is whether the LDS church will get to use the word church in their name. I was also asked if I thinkthe LDS church could step up with their public service and get that government approval. My answer is no, I doubt it would be able to. However, I don't think much will change in the lives of the local memebers. The Mormons are known to keep carrying on. It will definitely fuel their persecution complex, but hey, it will also make them feel better about themselves.

Now visas for missionaries and dissemination of LDS literature might change. And definitely the handling of tithing slips and tithes themselves will need to change. I do believe that the LDS church will finally be accountable for the funds received in Hungary from members.However, I repeat, I doubt a lot will change.

I went to a concert!

2011-07-18T22:13:00.001+03:00

Yes, that's actually Harel Skaat singing Lauf. :)

Fabulous is the word!

2011-07-17T16:43:00.001+03:00

Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous! The concert last night was just THAT! #Harel-Skaat did an awesome show! Awesome if I say so! One of the highlights for me (other than snatching tickets for NIS 79 for the boys, so we had a bunch of us there) was Harel singing The Impossible Dream, which is a favourite of mine. Since I haven't found much uploaded from the show last night on YouTube, I will include an older performance of this song by him. Here is a TV spot about it.

We left home early to go to the show. We needed a good spot, one that is close enough to the stage, but not too close. A spot where I won't be knocked over. I actually got a few bruises, but that's all my fault. Anyway, we went, we had fun, we ended up a lot closer to the stage towards the end than we ever planned and we saw Idan Roll close up, too. :D

After the concert I treated the boys to junk food and ice cream. It was one of the last occasions that we could go out like this with Amir, so we all tried to make the most of the day. Actually, most of the night. I was ready to sleep 12 hours when we got home, but alas, the alarm clock rang a mere 3 hours later. I surprisingly survived the day and didn't even cry (much) in the afternoon when saying bye to Amir. With contract signed, replacement CD by Mr. Skaat in hands, we are ready to go back to our vacation tomorrow.

Something's in the air

2011-07-10T18:53:00.005+03:00

So what happened is that Newest Boy's cast should be coming off on the 15th. He is super excited, because having to keep your arm wrapped in cling wrap and holding it above the water is not too much fun. The naive person I am, I just figured I'll pay the Hungarian health services for the x-ray and the cast removal, like I tend to do when it came to the kids who are not insured in Hungary. Of course since Newest Boy is not listed as my child on my ID and he is a minor I found out that wouldn't be possible. Unless, of course, I went to a private clinic. Calling a few of those clinics I found out that paying them for the x-ray and cast removal would be about the same expense as flying Newest Boy back to Israel. That idea arose when my dad told me that it was absolutely neccessary for me to be in TA on the 17th and possibly the 18th for business and to see a certain young man off to his new adventure in the military.

When my dad called, I was somewhat grumpy about missing most of the trip to Patrik's hometown and to Serbia, but really, Newest Boy would benefit from the quick trip. And then dad added something, "There's also something else to put in your RL shrine if you get home on the 15th!" My absolutely adorable dad bought me tickets to Harel Skaat's concert on the 16th! My sisters Emily and Serach and Serach's fiancé will join me. :D Should be FUN!

One odd thing about Hungary is that it's hotter here now than at home. I mean seriously, how likely is that? Yeah, not very likely. This morning we slept in, and then the kids decided it was too hot to make the 1km walk to the lake, so we have been having fun in the garden, in the cheap pool that we got at OBI or Praktiker or Baumax or Tesco or somewhere two years ago. We already went through 1 bottle of SPF 50 and 1 bottle of SPF 20 sunscreen, a 10-gallon-bag of ice, 1 huge soda cartridge, several boxes of ice cream. Unfortunately Yonah left the Harel Skaat CD I have for Marica on the breakfast table this morning, so it's now hot just like Mr. Skaat, but no longer playable. So guess what I'll do now... Yes, look for another one!

Journey!

2011-07-07T20:39:00.001+03:00

Today we left here...

...to fly here...

...to then cross a border here (and to get a kick out of the last 6 letters of the name)...

...to finally arrive here...

This day, too, shall pass

2011-06-30T22:10:00.000+03:00

The last few days, but especially today, have been difficult. Nothing in particular made them so, but still they feel like a struggle. An on-going four day struggle that I am trying not to show. Because nothing is wrong in the world. Whatever is wrong is with me.

There was something that kept me going till this morning, and that was being excited for @happymom4 and her daughters. Now that they are safely on their way home, most of the drive from that excitement is gone. There are other things I have the chance to focus on, and it might not be the best for me.

Even going to the kids' open house at school didn't break the funkiness of the day. As proud as I am of the kids, this visit also reminded me of my failure as a parent in bonding with some of them, in particular my two youngest. I blame my RAD on it, and I make it a daily priority to spend time with them, to love on them, and yes, I do love them, just the bonding is not going too well. And yes, it's been over 10 months... Yet, at the same time, I am well bonded with their sister, and Patrik, and bonding goes pretty well with the older kids as well... That's why I feel like I failed these two little ones. RAD doesn't just go away once a kid grows up and starts a family. Growing up my only healthy, positive attachment was to my brothers and sister who were 5, 6 and 7 years older than me, and I think that makes it easier for me with the middles and the teens. I am not a professional, though, so that is only my guess.

The day went downhill from the open house. With me realizing that I most likely signed myself up for failure with the 5K run/walk I am entering. Considering that only a year or so ago every step I took was a miracle the fact that I can now walk 5 km is blowing my mind. Yet, I'm not sure I can walk my 5 km within the time limits. So I'm pretty much setting myself up for failure for a cheap and ugly t-shirt and... driven by some utter jealousy at my friend who just run around the lake Balaton, 212 km in total, in 31 hours and 32 minutes. The knowledge that I'll never ever be able to do that bites. I'll have my brother Efrayim join me for this walk, and I'm making a playlist to last me the cca. 1 hour it will take for the 5K. There's only one song on the playlist so far, Harel Skaat's Lo Mehamer (which means no hurry, or don't hurry...), but even this makes me anxious and worried. Maybe I won't make a playlist any more.

My absolute inability to make things better for Yonah and the Newest Boy in their physical struggles is eating me. As Young Man's heart gets broken by a boyfriend I can't help but hurt with him. I keep worrying about Hope Anne and her dughters as they travel. I keep worrying about finances as I reduce my work hours to be able to teach part time for reduced tuition for our kids. Oh, and to finally finish that novel... I stress, I worry, I just feel beaten by the world, by my reality.

As the house quiets down, I turn on my music and open up my blogs, and suddenly I find myself listening to this song...

Harel Skaat's Yamim Acherim from the first album... Other Days.... I am listening to this in repeat and clinging to the chorus (in very liberally free translation): Other days will come, with the sun and with G-d, and the morning will be all right.
Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Just a Photo found on the Internet

2011-06-27T22:57:00.001+03:00

Conversations with my Other Half

2011-06-27T21:45:00.000+03:00

Kevin and I were talking about... Harel Skaat.
Me: He is totally hot, but I don't think he is as pretty as people say. He has a kind of horse face.
Kevin: What, do you expect a stud (as in a stallion) to have a goose face?

It sounded better in Hungarian, I swear.

Much ado about Something

2011-06-26T13:52:00.000+03:00

School ended for the secondary students almost a week ago. The primary kids will finish the year on the 30th, so since our school is Sunday-Thursday, rather than the more common Sunday-Saturday schedule, they still have a full week left. P has some testing to finish up, and the twins have projects days, but really, it's just regular school. With the exception of no after school care and no hot lunches. Oh well.

Thursday will be class day for all the kids, with the Topic Book Fair and Open House. The Primary school, Kitah Alef and up, functions with theme blocks. Depending on the topic, one to three weeks are dedicated to a certain theme/topic. This is incorporated to the teaching as much as possible, and the daily class life as well. At the end of the topic period, each kid has to create a topic book on their level. They save these and display them for everyone to see three times a year. At the end of the year they come home, but photocopied versions of the ones the class chooses to be outstanding remain in the class library. I might add, that those kids, who entered Kitah Alef together stay together as long as they are in the school. So over the years they build up quite a library this way. It's nice to walk in to the 6th graders and see all their topic books on the same, repeating topics through the years. Some of the junior high classes keep up the tradition and intend to till they finish school! I am not sure if we'll stick with this school for secondary or the kids will go to the state schools, like the older ones do now, but I'd love to see what they have to say in high school.

This week they do their last topic book. By tradition, this topic book is about anything they want to write about. The kids look forward to this topic book all year, but really, this is the hardest assignment they get, because they do have to choose the topic, have to research it, and make it the most beautiful book they make all year, as they had the whole school year for it! So this year, Matthew decided to type up the whole book, in two column format, one column in Hebrew and one column in English. He included photos as well, nicely embedded to the text, printed and then heat bound. His choice of topic was the lake Balaton in Hungary, where we send some time each year. He missed not going this year! Justin, on the other hand, made the whole thing by hand, even attending a basic book binding workshop with his auntie Meyra in May to make it just perfect. He drew, copied, and glued photos in, and did a great job. His topic was bananas: where they come from, what types exist, how you can eat them, what else you can do with them, and why it's a stupid idea to grow them in Israel. Patrik went the typing route, and made a book report in English about one of his favourite Hungarian books. With some help, he even translated passages into English. He did just great! Noa's book is about food in Armenia, complete with recipes. They all worked very hard and did a good job, even if Matthew only started working on it last week!

Yonah had a surgery on his leg on the 22nd. While it started out as a minor adjustment, it ended up being a complicated reconstruction. The surgeon decided on a change to reduce over all recovery time and avoid another surgery in the fall. He did a great job, and while Yonah experienced some complications, he is scheduled to come home on Wednesday, in time to come to the younger kids' open house at school on Thursday.

The newest, albeit possibly temporary member of our family is napping next to me on the couch. He is nursing a spiral fracture to his upper left arm, and for some odd reason our couch in the basement is the most comfortable place for him to sleep. Which is odd, as the couch is the most uncomfortable thing ever, and we have been planning on replacing it with something that doesn't cause blisters on our buttocks...

Also: Thanks to the commenter who linked me all the "Harel Skaat kissing his boyfriend in public" videos. Can I just say, I don't care? (In part because I've seen that happen before, in part because I think he has the right to having a private life.)

I purchased all the tickets for our vacation in Hungary. Two of the boys won't be able to come, though. They volunteered to take care of the house while we are gone. I'm slowly starting to shop for the holiday, and we will start packing sometime during the week. Oh, it will be so much fun!

Not Giving Up Om Gilad Shalit

2011-06-25T09:37:00.002+03:00

On the day my brother Chalin came to visit my family in Budapest 5 years ago, Gilad Shalit was kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip by Hamas terrorists.

On the day I arrived in Israel, Gilad Shalit had been kept captive by Hamas terrorists for 2 years.

Gilad Shalit has been a captive for 5 years.

June 21

2011-06-21T19:57:00.000+03:00

Today my sons Justin and Matthew turned 8. They were born on the evening of the day that saw the then newest Harry Potter book, and they almost got named Harry and Ron. Or Fred and George. Lucky for all of us, in Hungary in case of a C-section names are recorded to be sent to the registrar before the birth. So we stuck to the names we chose ahead of time.

Today they are 8, and I could sense their grandma's sadness as she called to wish them a happy birthday. If they'd be LDS, like the rest of the family, they'd be getting baptized soon. I left the LDS church before they were born, but I still view turning 8 as a milestone.

I spent most of their birthday at a hospital, where Yonah was supposed to have surgey at 6 a.m. So we did the cake thing at sunset, so Yonah could have at least some juice and whatnot. Of course the surgery was kept being pushed back to 9, 12, 4 and 7... finally, at 7:30 p.m. we were told it was rescheduled for 6 a.m. tomorrow... Too early for Yonah to have a meal... Argh. I was home in the afternoon with the kids, taking them to the park and doing homework, and finally getting around to ordering the cake for their party on Friday. Then headed back to the hospital expecting Yonah to go into surgery... which, of course, didn't happen.

The twins are pretty easygoing about their messed up birthday. It happens more years than not. They had a party at school, and we will do gifts on Friday. Yonah has been a trooper, but not having eaten for 24 hours, being on very limited pain meds for his knee and having had very little liquids all day is catching up to him. He is not happy about the prospect of spending the night in hospital, but he was even less thrilled about the idea of getting up at 4 a.m. again. I still have to get up then, though...

Harel Skaat!

2011-06-19T10:57:00.000+03:00

Skaat has a new single out. I know, it has already been two days, but I spent the weekend in Rehovot, where we listened to this song over and over again, but I didn't have reliable Internet.

So, the new single. I'm not entirely convinced I like it as much as any of the songs on Dmuyot, but hey, it took me all these year to get attached to his first album, and Kol HaTziporim is still gets the skip on my playlist more times than not.

Yet, I'm excited for the third album. Also, the video has cute photos. That's all.

On Small Worlds and Closed Minds

2011-06-11T20:36:00.000+03:00

Today I was asked to think about this question:

"How does someone's world get too small? Does it happen when they stop trying to make it bigger, or when you get comfortable where you are?"

My first instinct was to reply it was most likely the second case, but immediatelly I corrected myself. Actually, I believe, if one is comfortable where they are, their world will just start growing. The world will continue to shrink if one feels threatened about where they are. When they don't dare to look outside of their tiny sphere lest what they hold true, or precious, or basically what they put all their life and energy into, starts crumbling. When you don't dare to ask questions, listen to reason or think for yourself, to investigate what you are taught fearing that you might be "tainted", then your world becomes tiny and even more limited by blinders. If one is really comfortable where they are--in this case spiritually and in lifestyle choice--they can stand up, question, investigate and find confirmation. If they are truly comfortable with their lifestyle, they can mingle and not be "tainted" or corrupted.

We live in an ever expanding universe*, so for an individual's world to be static or shrink is unnatural. To have such significantly limited world view is not natural. Of course, there have always been hermits and separationist groups. Cults are often found to behave like this: appear outgoing and super kind to draw in converts, and then separate and alienate the recruits from the rest of the society, with theology that they are better, special, or simply, the only true believers. It's super hard to see the line between a closed-knit community and cult.

Just think about what if Galileo had been "comfortable" with where he was. Or Leonardo. Or Edison. Or Luther, Calvin, Hus, or the other great Christian Theologians. (Or really, Maimonides, or Szentgyörgyi, who helped sythetise vitamin C a lot easier than before.) Just think about where we'd be today. (OK, so some Amish and plain Baptists and Haredi Jews think we would be better off, but hey, I'm trying to illustrate a point here). Just think about how we wouldn't be able to grow if we only always accepted the things they were and the way they had always been. When I was in 5th grade I was taught that there have been no extrasolar planets ever detected and we didn't have a way to detect them. That very same year three exoplanets orbiting PSR B1257+12 were detected. And I'm not that old.

Sometimes I'm asked, "Don't you ever worry that you are not right? That Christ was the Messiah after all? Or that he wasn't, but G-d spoke to Muhammad? That there was never a singularity and there's no G-d?" My answer is I am constantly uncertain about everything I believe in. I don't know anything for sure, and that makes me want to learn as much of the world as possible, so I can make my own mind up, and then, when the time comes, I can honestly take responsibility for who I have become. There is so much I don't know, but I know that being arrogant in my faith doesn't make up for what I lack. There are so many people with whom I don't agree with on religion, or lifestyle or politics, but... I respect them, respect their choices and try to learn from them.

*Our Universe might collapse in several billion years, but humans won't be around to witness it if it happens,or it might keepon expanding for eternity.Just thought I needed to clarify that.

Your Blog Rocks! - A competition

2011-06-11T12:35:00.000+03:00

I am 100% sure that your blog rocks! As a matter of fact, I think there are a lot of lesser known and unappreciated blogs out there. Our blogs need a little love and attention, and what better way to get some exposure but through some competition!

Your Blog Rocks! is hosted at http://kosherkola.com/blogsrock, to make it accessible to everyone whether they blog under their own domain or on a site like Xanga or LiveJournal. You can read the current list of categories there, and till June 17 you are welcome to suggest new categories! Any category with at least 5 nominations will be in the final voting.

So what do you need to do to enter? Find the appropriate category in which you think your blog best fits, and leave a comment on that page with your blog's link and a brief description, no longer than 50 words. If you would like to use an image other than your blog's screenshot, please email it to hevel at kosherkola dot com.

You can also nominate blogs that you like to read. It would be nice to get the approval of the blog owners beforehand, but we will contact them to confirm they allow their blog(s) to participate.

If you feel like your blog fits more than one category, you can nominate it in up to 3 categories.

What are the requirements? Your blog has to be public, at least in part. It also has to ethical: no spam, no stolen content, and alas, no explicit sexual content. You also have to be at least 18 years old. By nominating your own blog, you actually agree and admit the above.

Nomination is open till June 20. As blogs are entered, the category pages will be updated with the pictures and descriptions. On June 22 the pages will be updated with the polls, and voting will be open till July 1. That date is only tentative at this point. Depending on the number of blogs in a given category, the top, top 3, top 5 or top 10 blogs will be declared winners.

What will you win? Other than officially knowing that your blog rocks, you will get a little graphical confirmation that you won. Regional prices, as volunteered by other bloggers, might actually happen.

The Bonus Competition! Part of the reason for this competition is just having fun and getting to know other bloggers. So there will be two more cute graphics available to anyone, who fullfills the requirements: "I commented on all the blogs in a category" and "I commented on all the blogs in the competition!". Be aware that it only counts if your comment is relevant to the post it's left on, and not just shameless self promoting. We don't want to encourage spam. This we won't be able to measure, so we count on your honesty in telling us when you are done. :) This one will be open till the end of July, to give everyone enough time to read and comment!

OK, so a disclaimer is in order: This is for fun. We are just simple bloggers. We are not 100% sure what we are doing, but hoping everyone will behave themselves and have fun.

Any questions? Comment below!

!!!חג שמח

2011-06-07T22:20:00.002+03:00

Chag Sameach! Happy Shavuot! It's finally finally finally Shavuot! A holiday all about the giving of the Torah and yummy dairy foods.

I am now freshly shaved, and I'm happy to report that between Pesach and Lag B'Omer I managed to grow a respectable amount of facial hair, so that point of the new year's resolution is all done! And it's only June!

So tonight begins the holiday of Shavuot, when we celebrate the children of Israel receiving the Torah. Because our forefather were all lazy and slept through the thing, we today spend the night awake, studying Toray and drinking way too much coffee for our own good. It's of course one of the great things about the night. Also the fact that my younger kids who wanted to stay awake all night are now fast asleep in the middle of the family room. :)

How the Internet really began

2011-05-28T23:49:00.002+03:00

This is something I got in an email. No idea who originally wrote it.

In ancient Israel, it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot. And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder, and long of leg. Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.

And she said unto Abraham, her husband, "Why dost thou travel so far from town to town with thy goods, when thou canst trade without ever leaving thy tent?" And Abraham did look at her - as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load - but simply said, "How, dear?"

And Dot replied, "I will place drums in all the towns, and drums in between, to send messages saying what you have for sale; and they will reply, telling you who hath the best price. The sale can be made on the drums, and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. The drums rang out, and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever having to move from his tent.

To prevent neighboring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew. It was called Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS), and she also developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures: Hebrew To The People (HTTP).

But,this success did arouse envy. A man named Maccabia did secrete himself inside Abraham's drum and began to siphon off some of Abraham's business. He was soon discovered, arrested and prosecuted for insider trading.

And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading, as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy, at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums, that no one noticed that the real riches were going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land. And, he did insist on drums to be made, that would work only with Brother Gates' drum heads and drumsticks.

Lo, Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham, what we have started, is being taken over by others!" And, as Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel , or eBay, as it came to be known, he said, "We need a name that reflects what we are." And Dot replied, "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators." "YAHOO," said Abraham. And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com.

Abraham's cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside. It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything(GOOGLE).

And that is how it all began.

50 books to read before you turn 50

2011-05-28T13:00:00.000+03:00

I bolded the ones I've read.

1. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
2. 1984 by George Orwell
3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
4. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
5. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
6. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
7. The Rights of Man by Tom Paine
8. The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
9. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
10. The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
11. The Wisdom of the Desert by Thomas Merton
12. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
13. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
14. The Art of War by Sun Tzu
15. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
16. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
17. Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot
18. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
19. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
20. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
21. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
22. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
23. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
24. The Republic by Plato
25. Lolita, or the Confession of a White Widowed Male by Vladmir Nabokov
26. Getting Things Done by David Allen
27. How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
28. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
29. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
30. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
31. The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
32. The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene
33. Outline of History by HG Wells
34. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
35. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
36. On Old Age by Marcus Tullius Cicero
37. Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
38. Heidegger's Being and Time - Stephen Mulhall
39. Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche
40. Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
41. The Ultimate "Unseen Hand" Behind the New World Order (666 Pandora's BOX) by Alex Christopher
42. The Aesthetical Essays by Frederich Schiller
43. The Jew and the Lotus by Rodger Kamenetz
44. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
45. The Philosophy of Torah by Rabbi Israel Chait
46. The Metaphysical Significance of Pi by Patrick Mulcahy
47. The Giver by Lowis Lowry
48. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
49. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
50. Dante's Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso
51. BONUS: BONUS: How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman
52. BONUS: On the Future of our Educational Institutions by Friedrich Nietzsche
53. BONUS: Memnock the Devil by Anne Rice
54. BONUS: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

A lousy weekend

2011-05-27T21:19:00.000+03:00

Quite literally. This morning as we were getting ready to go to one of the museums and then to the beach, Noa asked me to do her hair. Which was the point where I discovered we were dealing with a head lice issue. All 4 of my kids in that school had some lice. Ugh. They are also the ones that are inseparable, joint at the hip, and the boys are prone to share hats/kipot... So instead of the museum and beach, off to the pharmacy we went and spent most of the morning dealing with the lice. It was easy with the boys, but Noa has nice long hair... so yeah.

By the time we were over the lice issue, and we were getting ready to go to the park (no water on the lice treatment hair for 2 days!), one of Kevin's exes dropped us a mail, saying, "Hi, isn't this your mommy dearest's blog?" and the link of a blog.

It is my adoptive mother's blog. She and husband number 3 are currently in the process of adopting two teenagers from Ukraine. I read back a bit, and holy Molly, am I the devil's spawn or what! Their first adoption was a disaster, because the kid (me) was hell bent from day one to make the family miserable! Fortunately she didn't ellaborate beyond me causing the family to eventually fell apart (I'm sure that the abuse husband number 2 inflicted upon all of us had nothing to do with that) and how much better things have been since she has had the chance to restart it all. Well, I'm happy for her, if that's true, but Emily (my youngest sister that I actually met) thinks that's not entirely true. Oh well. Maybe starting a completely new family at 57ish will be good for them. Who knows. I can only hope.

Ch...ch...changes

2011-05-15T23:20:00.001+03:00

So. Since I'm still not supposed to be posting.... Just bullet points.

Young Man #2 is back home here after his attempt of moving back to his home town. He pretty much showed up with his backpack yesterday and things are back to the way they used to be. Except... not. Fridays are a lot more relaxed with his new schedule.
I signed the contract with the younger kids' school. I'm gonna teach there two hours each day. At the same time I'm handing some of my responsibilities over to my new team lead and switching to a part time in office at work. Yay. Of course the teaching and the shul job will more than compensate for that.
Craig and Yonah permanently switched bedrooms.
Ezra is doing super well, all things considered.
Kevin's parents are leaving on June 2. I wouldn't have thought just two years ago that I'd say this, but I'll miss them.
At the end of August two American girls will join the clan as au paires. One Jewish, one LDS. It's pretty much cheaper than paying for gan, after school care and general babysitting for the kids.
My little Armenian now speaks flawless Hungarian. Scary.

Happy 63rd, Israel!

2011-05-09T22:00:00.001+03:00

With sunset the solemn day of Yom Hazikaron, the Israeli Memorial Day has ended, and the day of celebration began! Happy Birthday, Israel!

Israel's population stands at 7,746,000. Since last year, over twice as many people decided to make Israel their home as those who decided to leave. Among 24,500 new arrivals are my sister Emily, cousin Patricia, her husband Gabe and their two children. Among the many babies born in Israel were three nephews and great-nephews and a niece, and my sister. :)

We celebrate with shaving foam, lots of flags, lots of music, a barbeque and a special cake with 63 candles (firehazard, of course).

Yom Hazikaron

2011-05-09T10:02:00.002+03:00

From last night's program for Yom Hazikaron, Israel's Memorial Day:

Unscheduled update

2011-05-07T14:16:00.001+03:00

I know, I know, I said I'd not update till Memorial/Independence Day, but things have been happening, so... here is a very brief update.

Yonah broke his leg, open fracture thanks to soccer. He had surgery and now he is hopping around on two crutches. That resulted in some bedroom changes (his bedroom is in the basement), so now I have an early morning coffee and Torah partner right next door. Craig, however, sleeps a lot better in the basement, so the bedroom change might be permanent.
Ezra had his heart surgery on the 3rd. He did fabulously, and the surgeon and cardiologist are both confident that he won't need another one for a long time... or possibly ever. He is coming home tomorrow, and it will be great to have all the kids back together in the same house again.
Patrik turned 10 on the 4th. There was only a very minor celebration, with him choosing to open gifts at his party and a bucket of ice cream. His party is today, and we are very excited about it. It's going to be a Lego themed party, of course, with little Lego party favours. And a Lego cake. Thank heavens for food colouring!
My brother Chalin's cancer is in remission! Woohoo!
Please don't forget about Katya. Her family is traveling on the first trip next week. They have the funds covered for that, but are still fundraising for trip two.

Yom HaShoah, the Holocaust rememberance day

2011-05-01T18:33:00.001+03:00

At ten o'clock the siren sounds...

...and the city stops. The cars stop, engines turned off. The people stop. The knife rests, vegetables can wait to be chopped. The pencil stays still, worksheets can wait to be filled out.

The siren sounds and we pause to think of those who perished in the Shoah... in the Holocaust. We remember...

The video contains well known images from Holocaust. Just be aware before you play it.

Never again.

Between Shabbat and Pesach... a quiet evening

2011-04-17T00:40:00.000+03:00

Torchwood Series 2 and Children of Earth spoilers ahead!

With the Shabbat over and the younger kids in bed, Kevin and I took over the couch, hunting for Easter eggs on (fluff) Friends, and watching Torchwood Children of Earth again with some of the older children. Yes, this is the series of Torchwood that features full frontal nudity of a male character, and also proves that someone doesn't need a six pack and perfect muscle definition to be hot. Yes, talking about Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman from this post). And yes, I watch this show with my older kids.

Torchwood, if possible, is more of my favourite than Dr Who has been recently. I still haven't gotten over the shock of the 11th Doctor.

Watching Day Four again, I keep wondering why the death of a character I knew was going to die makes me sad again and again and again. In Series 2 I was choked up by the deaths of Tosh and Owen. An hour ago, when Ianto and Jack speak about how Jack will see Ianto grow old and die I teared up over the thought of how that will never happen. It reminded me of the first time I saw that episode, and how I was hoping that Jack will get to grow old with him. Being a firm believer of Jack being the Face of Boe theory that was reasonable to start with.

Ianto was not one of my favourite characters when the show started out, and he was still my fourth favourite when Children of Earth rolled around, and then only 4 of the original regulars survived... Heck, I think I even liked his loud brother-in-law (who can be seen in bed naked from behind as well, but much less pleasing than Captain Jack, but who has one of the greatest lines of the show). But his death was something I hated. And not only because of the pain for Jack. By Day Five I was hating Jack just a little bit anyway. Even if I knew he had no other choice... I was hating him for saving the world.

I could go on how much I love this show and the thing I love most about it are the things that are only possible because it is not an American show. And I'm not even talking about a nekkid Jack. The tragedy of a no-win situation for the individual when faced with a global choice, the triumph of humanity being an awful sacrifice of Biblical proportions for one individual are among these. It's something that makes me think again and again.

Yeah, it's science fiction. Yeah, Doctor Who is about hope, as dark as the Tenth Doctor's period ended up being, it's about hope. Torchwood, on the other hand... Yes, we can have hope. But we do have to make sacrifices. And we have to experience loss.

Snuggled up on the couch with the man I love, petting, feeding and gifting cute virtual pets, munching on leftover french fries, life is perfect. Unlike in the south, there are no rockets. No sirens and alarms. Just a fictional character I don't even like all that much, is going to die. And it makes me sad. It makes me sad because off all the loss I've experience in my life. It makes me sad, because it lets me feel human. And I'm kind of looking forward to that moment, because it allows me a few seconds to get teary eyed over people I loved and miss, and I can blame it on a TV show.

I don't expect this will make sense to anyone.

Ready for Passover

2011-04-16T14:40:00.000+03:00

House is clean, chametz (foods not kosher for Passover because they contain leavening of any sorts) carefully packed away, ready to be nullified Monday morning. Our pantry is full of matzah, kosher for passover wine, drinks and snacks.

With the Seder question resolved (everyone will be at our place, and yes, we have extra chairs) we have a bittersweet change coming up: Young Man #2 will be moving back to his hometown on Sunday. He will not be staying with his father, but he is going to be close, attempting to re-build a relationship with him. We'll miss him, but it's not like we won't see him any more.

Good news: I'm feeling well enough (and my bloodwork came back good enough) that I gave in and promised Craig I'd take him tomorrow night for the concert. I had completely forgotten that they have Monday off, so he can sleep in. We agreed that when either of us gets over tired, we will be heading home, and will leave the rest of the crew with Kevin. I'll pick him up after school on Sunday, and will hang out at our favourite coffee and cake place for a bit, you know, enjoying chametz while it lasts. :)

We have a final date set for Ezra's surgery, and even if the hospitals will be striking, this should be happening on May 3. prayers and good thoughts are appreciated. We are looking at 3-5 nights in hospital and a few weeks recuperation at home.

Yonah... we had a parent-teacher-conference and it seems that he will be eligible to sit the Bagrut exams next year, which he has been worried about not being able to do because of hsi educational background. He really wants to go to university.

Another parent-teacher-conference was for Bella. We agreed with the headmaster and her teachers that she'll be home schooled for the rest of the school year, and we'll also try to bring her up a grade. What has been keeping her back was English and Maths, but she has been progressing greatly in both areas. She and Craig are about at the same level on top of their classes, but as she is older than the class, and Craig is younger, it would be healthier if she'd be with her own age group. She will be tested for advancement before school starts back up, during the last week of August. She is excited about it, as it will take her a year closer to graduation.

Baby Harel is growing so fast. He is a curious little thing, he always wants to see what's going on around him. He loves to be held, and he loves to help mum do her schoolwork! He loves when his dad comes and throws him in the air. He loves bathtime, but he hates getting his face wet.

Now, those friends outside Israel, who asked me about kosher-for-Passover Coca Cola, and what the difference is between regular Coke and kosher-for-Passover Coke. Regular Coke is kosher, but because it contains corn syrup, it's considered chametz, therefore it can't be used during Passover. The kosher-for-Passover version contains cane sugar. Yes, the taste is different, it's like classic Coca Cola, I'm told. Around this time of the year they are sold all over the States and the UK, so if you want to try it, this is the time!

Get your own Seder Plate at ChaiSpace!

7 weeks without blogging

2011-04-13T20:33:00.001+03:00

So. I decided that during the period between Passover and Shavuot I will not be blogging. I am working on some entries now to schedule for Yom HaShoah, Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haatzmaut, and yes, I might just make an appearance on here on Lag B'Omer, but otherwise... 7 weeks when I won't be blogging and will seriously limit the time I spend on reading blogs. It's not that I will particularly missed, but gosh, I'll miss my blogs! I won't even update Ein Od Milvado.

So what will I do with all the time on my hand? Well, I might just work more on Kosher Kola. so many articles to write and organize there! Then there's this whole plan in my head about working on my Hebrew and also on my Torah knowledge. And possibly doing more work and less blogging at work. :) Hm, that would make my boss (my dad) happy!

So, it's gonna be a longish 7 weeks.

50 years in space

2011-04-12T21:22:00.001+03:00

50 years ago is happy family man, ice hockey player and basketball coach, Yuri Gagarin became the first man to enter outer space. The world changed in some ways that day. We were no longer just treading the earth. We were reaching for the stars.

It has been half a century since his famous flight, an all-too-short orbit compared to later cosomonauts' and astronauts' time spent in space. But he was the first one, and with that he became a hero on both sides of the iron curtain. He died too soon, too young, but his legacy lives on, not only in his two daughters, but in the bright eyed children, who look up at the night sky and say, "Dad, one day, I'll travel there."

Seder headache

2011-04-10T14:15:00.001+03:00

OK, so we still have a week before Pesach (Passover) Seder. But it seems that whole week will be swallowed up trying to find a solution of who goes where and when to fit everyone.

Let's just start with the fact that two of the children/youth in my home are not Jewish. One of them expressed that he'd like to not participate in the Seder, and to be honest, organizing a sleepover for him has not been easy. He, being the great person he is, offered to just suck it up and lock himself up in his room with his music and books, but I'd much rather have him have some fun. We had something planned for him, but because of certain things going on he prefers not to visit that family. We are at the point of "I might just come upstairs and eat with you" as of just right now, "and watch Dr Who while you are doing religion."

My other non-Jewish kid is... Bella. And it's getting super complicated with having Baby Harel, Harel's dad and Bella's other family, and our family... and unlike in the Diaspora, we only have one Seder. (In the Diaspora the first two nights of Passover are Seders.) Bella's other family is now "safe", so they could go up to spend Seder there, and also they could go to Kirill's family, which Kirill would really like. Bella, however, doesn't want to spend the night elsewhere with the baby, so someone would have to bring them home late at night. It might work that Kirill comes to celebrate with us, but it's understandable that his parents would like to spend some time with their grandson. Of course day trips to Hadera and them visiting us during the Pesach vacations can be arranged. I feel like Bella would like to just stay home and have Kirill visit. And possibly his parents and sister. In which case I need to head down send someone to IKEA to get some more chairs.

A joyful thing is that my twin brother Daniel is coming for Pesach with his daughter, and he is going to stay with us. I'm super excited about that. I really miss him. My dad and step-mom are going to Eilat for the holidays with their kids, and we are still not sure if Efi will be home for Seder or not. So you can see, getting it all ready... has been a challenge when I don't even know how many people will be sitting around the table and how many kids will be looking for the afikomen... And please click on the piece of matzah below.

I am Fire

2011-04-04T21:48:00.001+03:00

As much as I'd like to be, I'm not the type of father who plays cars with his children on the floor, or who goes to long walks with them, or who pushes their swing on the playground to fly higher and higher. I'm not the father who teaches his sons to play ball and who takes his daughters to father-daughter dances. I'm not the father who plays catch with his children or who tosses the baby up in the air to make him giggle.

It's mostly my own physical limitations that prevent me from doing so. I can't easily get down to the floor, I can't kneel, I can't walk long distances, I definitely can't run. I wouldn't dream of tossing a baby in the air, no way. But then the kids have Kevin for that.

I'm the kind of dad that spends hours with his daughter by the piano, teaching her the basics, because she suddenly realized she wanted to learn to play. I'm the father who will explain entropy and how the Universe could have began and could end to my 8-year-old. I'm the one that reads Shakespeare with his 12-year-old and lets him discover the layers of the Tempest. I'm the one that teaches his daughters to recite the blessings and light the Shabbat candles, and at the same time I'm the one who only does something he is passionate about, and doesn't really feel like convincing his son to do English homework... but is happy to help. I'm the parent who takes his 12-year-old kid to a late night pop concert on a school night, who lets his kids eat bread and butter dunked in white sugar, who lets his kids watch TV with the adults. And I'm the dad whose collectible action figures are all over the playroom floor where Captain Kirk is substituted to Ken more often than not.

And I'm the dad who is rewarded with a comment by his son that his birthday wouldn't have been as much fun if I hadn't gone to his school and have Pepsi floats with them, and could we please do that again?

I might not be able to show them the sensation of the wind on their face as we ride a bike, but I can show them the Universe. I might not be able to teach them how to climb a tree, but I can teach them to enjoy and protect the nature around them. I may not be able to play soccer with them, but I can help them be passionate about life. Because I'm fire. I'm the wave of the sea. I'm the wind that lifts the leaf, dancing on the surface of the lake.

The video above is by Ran Danker (yay!), titled Ani Esh, I'm fire. Nothing really to do with my post.

Happy Birthday to my Son!

2011-04-03T16:11:00.001+03:00

Today my son Craig is turning 12. The first time I met him he was a tiny almost-4-year-old, and now, at 12, he is not the shortest kid in class... and he is two years younger than his classmates.

Today started with Craig's favourite breakfast: scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, sausages, toast and marmalade, hash browns and fried tomatoes. And pancakes. And orange juice. No. Kid is not Irish, why do you ask? :)

He will get his presents at dinner tonight, and then on Friday he will have his party with his friends. As some of his friends are from his class, and thus older than him, and some of them are from shul, and the same age as him or a year younger, we had to be creative with what to do for his party. So it's gonna be bowling. Everyone loves bowling, and those who don't, well, there are video games to try as well. We rented 3 lanes for 4 hours, so it should be fun. We will have cake and a bunch of snack foods. For "snack" Craig took cola and ice cream and they had Pepsi floats for the whole class. Did I mention he has a really good class? Great community, great teachers, and the parents are fun, too. They look out for Craig, and he gets involved in all the activities. Last year he was invited to bar mitzvah parties, even though he was uncoolly young. I can only assume that next year they'll show for Craig's bar mitzvah celebration as well!

Happy birthday, Craig! Thanks for being awesome!

The Birthday List

2011-04-02T13:55:00.002+03:00

On my birthday I wrote a list of things I want to do before I turn 30 next year:

1. Get comfortable enough with my Hebrew not to start every single conversation with new people asking if they speak English. Or Hungarian. :)

2. Finish my way through the Tanakh, using the Stone commentary and take the Talmud study more seriously.

3. Watch the last episodes of SGA, BSG, JAG.

4. Get fitted and pay for a sports leg. Might not be ready in time for 30.

5. Walk in a 3K walking event.

6. Stop using kiddie band aids.

7. Take down my fanboy wall. Maybe donate it to the kids? :)

8. Grow a proper beard.

9. Last through Passover without eating chametz. Go with Ashkenazi tradition on this, so no cheating with egg matzah.

10. Make a decision about the second cochlear implant and stick with it.

11. Eat a proper breakfast every day for at least a month, try to make it a habit.

12. Visit my mother's grave.

13. Get back into teaching.

14. Win Kochav Nolad. Enter a karaoke competition.

15. Do a month-long junk food fast, and donate money saved to... TBD.

16. Stop going to every single Harel Skaat concert nearby.

17. Finish another NaNovel, and this time make it intelligable to others. Distribute freely.

18. Go to swim with the boys at least once a week.
19. Act more grown up.

All I have to say about today...

2011-03-31T21:03:00.001+02:00

...is that a Harel Skaat photo cake was involved...

...and also a commentary on the Tanakh (the Writings, what most people call Old Testament) that Kevin ordered the minute it went on sale on Amazon...

...and also cheesecake and green tea...

...and the best baked fish dishes one can imagine...

...and really cute napkin rings made out of toiletpaper rolls and what not...

...and banana cream pies...

...and very little insecurity and kicking myself over things...

...and lots of sticky kisses from lots of little kids...

My early birthday present

2011-03-29T21:59:00.000+02:00

As this gets posted the concert is about to start. It's another one of my favourite songs, to which--though not the breaking up part--I can relate all to well. It is just one of the most beautiful songs... to me. Many will probably disagree.

[CUT-TAG="For a translation of the lyrics that I found online click the cut!"]

    Coming back to the empty house
    After a show in the North
    My trembling body
    In my ears, still voices of the crowd


    Pictures of my childhood smile
    On the wall that we aren't white =s =s
    The silence now
    That reminds me of my old self

    So maybe
    The day will come and you'll come back to me
    If there's a small chance, tell me when
    And I'll come to you

    Taking off my extravagant clothes
    At night, I hide away
    And imagine a bit
    That I'm just another, different person

    And how everyone is around me
    I still feel so alone
    The other man
    Stands there in my place

    Come to me
    And I'll hug you in my two arms
    When I wake up, then I'll find out for sure
    That you're not with me
    My innocence

A Ran Danker post with lotsa music vids

2011-03-26T20:55:00.002+02:00

OK, so by now everyone who has ever been to my blogs knows I'm obsessed with a fan of Harel Skaat. There are other Israeli singers (and actors) that I like, too, and one of them is Ran Danker. He is not only a great singer and one od Israel's sexiest men (as evidenced by several polls), but he is also an awesome actor. I don't only mean his appearance in Our Song, really.

Now, of course, I can't post about Israeli pop music without having Harel Skaat involved, so here is a song from the 2005 Festigal.
[CUT-TAG="Read on! The videos and more fun below the cut!"]

Yes, it's the same crew as in the infamous Numa Numa video.

And since this is for Tukha on Xanga, I couldn't pass up the opportunity of having her suffer through Ran Danker singing in French.

Peace

2011-03-24T23:18:00.001+02:00

Every day, I utter the word "Shalom" countless times. Shalom. Shalom aleichem. Peace be unto you.

Countless times "As-salaamu alaykum" rolls off the tongues of millions of people. Peace be unto you.

"Áldás, békesség," members of the Hungarian Reformed Church greet each other. Blessings and peace.

A wish for peace is deeply engraved in the human soul, yet looking around, there is destruction and war all around the world. Human history and progress is about killing more and more people from a distance every increasing. From the first wooden clubs to the nuclear warheads, nothing really has changed. The greatest force beyond human invention continues to be military research.

Yet we all wish for peace.

I am still not a Christian, but there is something in this song that I wish to all my Christian friends. And Shalom, Salaam. Peace be unto you.

Happy Purim Everyone!

2011-03-20T14:00:00.001+02:00

Yes, it's Purim!

I decided to resurrect http://kosherkola.com to celebrate the day, and added entries about... Purim! Go check it out!

Kosher Kola

Giveaway time!

After a Bag of Hawaiian Splash Beenies …

Shavua Tov, or Why I Dislike Sundays

Big Family Brfeakfast Made Fun and Easy

And He Is Abroad

I got a package!

Discipline, Parenting and Other Delicacies, Part 1

Hero

Those Puppy Eyes

Happy Again makes me happy, again!

Censorship in the USA - SOPA and PIPA

An Award!

So where am I?

לעוף

11 for '11

Nothing better to ruin your holiday...

Happy Christmas!

Chanukah Day 5

Jerusalem, the first night of Chanukah 5772

Chanukah Day 3 - Light One Candle

Chanukah Day 2

Happy Chanukah!

3 minutes and 52 seconds of beauty

Get Ready for Christmas and/or Chanukah! - a post with lots of links!

List Post

World AIDS Day - partly a re-post

RIP Zdenek Miller

To add to the wishlist I have no right to have

...at least, there was pie...

The Road To Thursday

Winter!

It All Started With The Big Bang

Shabbat Shalom, or a Saturday of Relative Calm

21st Century

Is it only Tuesday?

A Few Recommendations

I'm Easy To Shop For

My 30

Happy...

A post in bullet points

Christmas or Chanukah?

Home at last

Rebels without a cause

The Dog Question

Blackberry, Apple and all that

A cup of hot chocolate

Chocolat

And This Was A Friday...

Spock for President!

More on Within My Walls

A Sunday List

Within My Walls

Margaret Thatcher in Yorkshire, on a Rainy Thursday Afternoon

I got me a class

Happy Founding of the State/New Bread/1948 Constitution/St. Stephen Day!

What I Wish My Christian (and Atheist and Generally Non-Jewish) Friends Knew about Judaism Vol. 3 -

What I Wish My Christian (and Atheist and Generally Non-Jewish) Friends Knew about Judaism Vol. 2

Hevel on Harel

Happy Birthday Mr. Skaat!

What I Wish My Christian (and Atheist and Generally Non-Jewish) Friends Knew about Judaism Vol. 1

My G-d

A few of my favourite things.

Today's post... a QR code

The "Club" of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

I went to a concert!

Fabulous is the word!

Something's in the air

Journey!

This day, too, shall pass

Just a Photo found on the Internet

Conversations with my Other Half

Much ado about *Something*

Not Giving Up Om Gilad Shalit

June 21

Harel Skaat!

On Small Worlds and Closed Minds

Your Blog Rocks! - A competition

!!!חג שמח

How the Internet really began

Much ado about Something