Pre Purim Stuff

1. You're in Europe, flying home to Israel on EL-AL. When you land at the uber-modern Terminal-3 of Ben-Gurion airport you wait at the luggage carousel only to discover your luggage was taken off the plane before the plane left Europe.

More precisely, your luggage was "bumped" to allow 2 EL-AL employees to fly, since the plane was overweight, and the pilot decided that it was more important for 2 EL-AL employees to get a free ride home than it was for a paying customer's luggage to accompany them on the flight.

Customer service at its best -- it's all here on Haaretz (in English).

2. If you have a hectic schedule and never seem to have enough time for anything (let alone blogging), the OU has come up with a brand new program to help people get some extra time in for "learning" about Judaism on a daily basis.

If you find "Day Yomi" or even "mishna yomi" too challenging, the OU has come up with a revolutionary program: "Ot Yomi" -- only one letter a day.

"The OU’s Ot Yomit program opens up Torah learning even to those who are able to study only on a very basic level. No previous learning is required; just the willingness to devote yourself to a daily regimen of spiritually rewarding and inspiring Torah knowledge.

If Daf Yomi or Nach Yomi is too challenging for you, this is something you can really do! The Ot Yomit cycle takes slightly longer than either of these two older programs to complete, but learning the entire Torah letter by letter is entirely achievable. Never let anyone tell you it is not so. Just be sure to take the time to read each day’s selection at your own speed—as with any course of study, the more time you spend with the text, the more you will get out of it.

Reading the day’s letter may take you so little time, you’ll want the thrill of studying it again and again!"

See it all here (including an inspiring video on the value of learning just one letter a day....)

3. But seriously, here are pictures from around Israel. Who needs Purim shtick when you have real life here.

"Keep this place clean"

Do the math: The pool is meant for 650 people.

60 people in the pool, 500 on the grass (pool side)

Welcome! Cadet Training Unit.
(sign below to the right, cadets are forbidden to enter)

Smile! Everything is for the best...

Fine, too busy now for much more. Gotta get back to studying the letter "bet" for today.


Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד