Lately I was told that I have a strong Irish accent, with a South African tang.
I was also told I have an accent when I speak Ivrit.
What`s wrong with you guys? Ayyyy?

I usually don't find praying easy but this week with the kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, and the murder of 18 years old Eliyhu Asheri, the words of King David rolled automatcally from me.
It took me back to 1987 when a soldier from Ra`anana , where I grew up was kidnapped in Lebanon. Every day we recited Psalms, I remember the intense prayers, the naive belief that if I will pray from my bottom of my heart, with full atention, I can help brng him back home to his parents. I still see them in Ra`anana. His body was discovered and exchanged few years ago, he is burried in Ra`anana.
I also pray for peace. How obviouse, as if I am in Miss Universe compatetion and I am asked about my hopes for the world.
But I am, I mean that. I think its about time for a mirecal, isnt it?
inTill peace arrives you can join me:

Psalms Chapter 121
א שִׁיר, לַמַּעֲלוֹת:
אֶשָּׂא עֵינַי, אֶל-הֶהָרִים-- מֵאַיִן, יָבֹא עֶזְרִי. 1 A Song of Ascents. {N}
I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: from whence shall my help come?

ב עֶזְרִי, מֵעִם יְהוָה-- עֹשֵׂה, שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ. 2 My help cometh from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

ג אַל-יִתֵּן לַמּוֹט רַגְלֶךָ; אַל-יָנוּם, שֹׁמְרֶךָ. 3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; He that keepeth thee will not slumber.

ד הִנֵּה לֹא-יָנוּם, וְלֹא יִישָׁן-- שׁוֹמֵר, יִשְׂרָאֵל. 4 Behold, He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep.

ה יְהוָה שֹׁמְרֶךָ; יְהוָה צִלְּךָ, עַל-יַד יְמִינֶךָ. 5 The LORD is thy keeper; the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.

ו יוֹמָם, הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ לֹא-יַכֶּכָּה; וְיָרֵחַ בַּלָּיְלָה. 6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

ז יְהוָה, יִשְׁמָרְךָ מִכָּל-רָע: יִשְׁמֹר, אֶת-נַפְשֶׁךָ. 7 The LORD shall keep thee from all evil; He shall keep thy soul.

ח יְהוָה, יִשְׁמָר-צֵאתְךָ וּבוֹאֶךָ-- מֵעַתָּה, וְעַד-עוֹלָם. 8 The LORD shall guard thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth and for ever.

I couldnt stop laughing. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q00Umq7TjnQ

1. Got back, not sure I landed yet.
My nephew offerd me to move in thier house when I am back in Israel, so we can play together everyday and it will never be boring. Sweet.

2. Didnt do any shopping. It feels good.

3. Heathrow is bad for you. Have they never heard about AIR CONDITIONING????

4. Two months to go. Sad.

Thanks for all of for calling/emailing/texting to see how I am doing, I am much better thanks. Heading to the airport in ten minutes. Hope to have some accses to the internet in the next 10 days, if not I will update you all when I am back from Israel.

You never know how your day will end. You wake up, go through the usual stuff, and then you find yourself in a place you never imagined, just like in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
I found my self at the King George Hospital for five hours, trying to figure out why I cannot breathe, a breath taking evening (you can put her any cliche about being breath-less etc, been there done that.

The NHS surprised me - very efficient and helpful. The doctor that saw me looked like Lucy Lu 13 years old sister on roller blades, I had to sit in a wheel chair, (a bit of an Andy& Lou moment), and every possible test was done to me. And I had to have an oxygen mask. H said she went to a pub that does it as a treat (expensive one I guess) must go there too.

What can I say?
1. Thank you H!!! You saved me, you are the queen of kindness. Thanks A for coming and getting me back home.
2. Its always better not to take your skirt off. I just looked fabulous with the hospital pajama - the mix between my denim skirt and floral yuck hospital jammies was quite.. Breath taking???
3. I have been asked if I take cocaine. I don't thanks for asking.
4. Nail polish interferes with the test of the blood oxygen. (They put a clip on your nail that supposed to show somehow what's the oxygen level, My shocking pink nails were not very helpful in this case, which caused a very painful blood test. But I still think that having your nails polished nicely is a higher priority than making it easier to check your oxygen level - just think about the statistics of this happening.
5. Always but always carry a camera with you. I really regret not been able to show you how glamorous I was with the pajama, oxy mask, in a wheel chair, through the ECG, those moments are treasured forever with H and me.

I am much better, thanks. Leaving tomorrow night to Israel, a bit worried from not being able to breath on the air plane, but work is not about having fun so it all make sense.
Don't try any of this at home. Under any condition.

Wait for the three stars

Wait.
Just wait for three stars.
Make the first star the past you left behind.
Let the memories hug you.
Cuddle them.
You are a protected child coated with love and milk.
Befriend your past, breath with it.

Make the second star the present.
Check yourself. What has changed?
Look at your hands.
Touch your fingers, try to memorize every wrinkle.
It will all change.
Let the time freeze for a minute
Be locked within it.
What would you change?

The moon is bigger,
so are the stars,
smell the fresh air.
The third star is out.
And so are you.
Ready for the future,
for the new week,
that just has begun

***
Wrote this two years ago.
I guess its my own Havdala prayer.

Birkat Cohanim- the Preists Blessing

Not too often I find myself thinking about the Cohanim -the Priests, not owing any land but having the novelity, being so near G-d, being his little helpers, dealing with all the scrafise, a lot of stuff but I really struggle to understand how can they bless me, or anyone else. Is them saying the blessing changes something in the world? In G-d? In me? whats the mechanism here? Why in Israel we say it every Shabbat, and here only on the 3 festivals? whats the story?
As a child I loved it. Hiding underneath my father`s talit or a siddur as I got older and moved up to the women gallery. It was one of the reasons for me going to shul as a kid, around the age of ten or twelve(I liked that bit of the prayer and kdusha).
But still. How can they bless me? Not sure.
Today at shul thought about it again as it was part of theweekly portion.
Maybe its not only about them blessing us, its about our responebilty to repeat the blessing by saying Amen and reassuring it validity.
(Hope it make sense outside my head.)

G-d will bless you and keep you;
G-d will make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
G-d will lift up his countenance/face upon you and give you peace

The one about the frogs

I find myself recently missing my father, may he rest in peace. It might be this time of the year when he bravely tried to fight against cancer eight years ago. it might be because its decision time, and I am completly rubbish with making decisions. His PhD was along the lines of "rational arguments & decision making".
It might be time to say goodbye to so many friends and loved ones. Not sure why but I think about him.
I walked into in office and saw one of my frogs. I used to have more than 50 of them (My cleaning lady asked me once how many childern I have...) and then I auctioned them in his memory - the money went to Chai. It was good to see that specific frog, and its good to think about my father in contation to that funny evening, and what great sense of homour he had etc.
Here is a photo of some of my collection, now spread all over london, mostly at a specific buliding at N12.

Not complaining at all

Dont get me wrong.I love it, its finally summer the way it should be: Hot, sunny with this added value of making everyone happy. (not sure I understand why people take off there cloths off that easily as sun gets out, but never mind that)...

The thing is: I need to buy more cloths. I thought not to as I am going to Israel next week and go shopping in a place where the price makes sense (and you dont feel immoral as I do when I shop here), but I am in need for few nice tops, skirts and you know, the basics for these few days.

Last summer there was no need - no summer and the nice things I bought in NY are a bit too big now. The cloths from the summer before are outdated, not my style and they just look funny, the colours are all wrong.
So.... hello Brent Cross, you will see me after work.
(A scary presentation... not complaining!)

Ikea thoughts

Went with S to a walk in the park today (lovely), she told me she went to Ikea to buy some stuff and it took here ages.
Here is a thought: If time is money, how come Ikea is considered to be cheap?
You spend so much time trying to get through the faked living rooms to the faked kitchens to the faked towels, oh, they are not faked. They just look like. So you basicaly lose money as you lost time.
How would like to join my Ikea ban???

Minister of Exams

Too many things are happening, or not hapenning and I am quite confused.

I Choose this poem while thinking about the exams and tests we are putting on ourselves. its By Brian Patten,one of my favourites. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Patten


Minister for Exams

When I was a child I sat an exam.
This test was so simple
There was no way i could fail.

Q1. Describe the taste of the Moon.

It tastes like Creation I wrote,
it has the flavour of starlight.

Q2. What colour is Love?

Love is the colour of the water a man
lost in the desert finds, I wrote.

Q3. Why do snowflakes melt?

I wrote, they melt because they fall
on to the warm tongue of God.

There were other questions.
They were as simple.

I described the grief of Adam
when he was expelled from Eden.
I wrote down the exact weight of
an elephant's dream

Yet today, many years later,
For my living I sweep the streets
or clean out the toilets of the fat
hotels.

Why? Because constantly I failed
my exams.
Why? Well, let me set a test.

Q1. How large is a child's
imagination?
Q2. How shallow is the soul of the
Minister for exams?

Brian Patten