Letter From Avraham

The following is a letter from Avraham a/k/a the Artist Formerly Known as Robbie. Avraham's brother was one of my good friends growing up and our families are still close. Avraham is now an artist in Tzfat, where he lives with his wife and daughter. When Lesley and I were in Israel this past March, we spent a wonderful night at their house in Tzfat. We should all pray for the peace and safety of Avraham and every one of our fellow Jews, both in Israel and in the Diaspora.

b"hshalom,thank you to everyone for writing and for all the heartfelt words of support. i cannot answer all the e-mails personally right now as i have now only a few moments on-line. we (my wife rebecca, daughter ashira, and myself) left tzfat 14 days ago, under fire from ketusha rockets. the bombs started to hit tzfat on the fast of the 17th of tamuz. a few places in tzfat were hit in the afternoon. late afternoon between mincha and arvit (the afternoon and evening prayers), another round of rockets hit tzfat. i was in the abuhav synagogue when we heard the explosions. i rushed home, and on the way saw that a rocket had hit a few streets above our house. i have heard since that a young man was killed in that explosion. a ketusha also hit 6 doors down from our house, injuring a woman and her 5 children, with 2 of her young daughters being seriously injured. (please pray for their recovery: ravital, and bat-tzion bat ravital, and michal bat ravital).

we quickly grabbed some belongings, filled our car with rebecca's brother (who had a ketusha fall 30 meters from him in his house), packed the car with friends and drove from tzfat in the dark as the power in the town went out and more ketushas could be heard exploding. mount meron was on fire as we were leaving.the next week we traveled as refugees from place to place for a week until we rented an apartment for the next couple of weeks in the old city of yerushalayim, where we are now staying. ketushas have been raining down in tzfat and northern israel every day since we left. i believe that well over a thousand bombs have hit northern israel. from what i have heard 80% of tzfat has evacuated and those that remain are living in shelters or more secure rooms.

the old city of yerushalayim is filled with our friends from tzfat. although our experience has been somewhat traumatic, we feel a very high elevation in our spirituality. it is hard to describe the feeling of suddenly not knowing if anything you own exists, being happy and thankful to be alive, and being instantly connected in such a real way to a collective consciousness outside of owns own personal life. it becomes so clear that there is only to try to be with g-d. how the world changes so radically for so many people in just one moment. it feels so messianic to suddenly be removed from our daily routine and to find ourselves with so many of our special community and friends here in the old city of yerushalayim and at the western wall for so many days now, praying for peace and the revelation of oneness in the world. there are so many miracles happening in front of our very eyes. it is so clear to everyone here that we are really experiencing the process of mashiach. not in some distant future, but that we are part of the revelation of geulah in these very moments.

there was a large prayer at the kotel yesterday where many thousands of people prayed together. it was so intensely beautiful to hear thousands of people say shema together, and to call out the 13 attributes of hashem's mercy with the shofar sounds of large silver trumpets like those used in the beit hamikdash.we are personally doing well and are now fortunate to be able to be experiencing this time in this most holy place. our spirits are very high as are those of most of our friends. people are coming together to help one another in every way. some people, especially those who were in the bombing for a few more days before leaving are experiencing various degrees of shock.

we are ok financially, but there are so many people we know from tzfat who are having a very difficult time. there has been no shortage of families opening their homes to host the refugees from the north. it has already been 2 weeks, however, and it is very hard to be in other people's personal space for so long, especially for people we with large families. many people who were just getting by financially before the bombings began, are now without jobs, without homes, and without money. if anyone knows anybody who can donate money to help families from tzfat in these most difficult times, we know many families in great need who we can give the money to.

for those who e-mailed orders for artwork or information from the gallery- we hope and pray that we will be back in tzfat before too long. i have saved the e-mails and when we are, g-d willing, able to be back home again, we will be in contact. for the meantime i am only able to check e-mails very periodically and i have no access to the gallery.we are praying together for shalom, and the revelation of mashiach to help us get there. for the safety of all peoples and our brothers and sisters of the nation of israel. for the safety of our solders and the refuah shelema (complete recovery) of all who have been wounded.

it is impossible to express in words the incredible spiritual awakening we are feeling here in these intense times, the countless miracles we are seeing, and the countless acts of loving kindness as the nation of israel is coming together to help one another. it says in the kabbalah that every suffering in the world is really a hidden blessing. that sufferings work to help us to come together and to remember what is really important. may we be blessed to truly come together and to really know what is important so that we do not need to go through what the world is suffering through today. may we be blessed with abundant faith and the realization that there really is nothing but g-d. may we be blessed to realize that everything in the universe is pushing us all forward towards our spiritual awakening as we are being made ready for the most awesome divine light that is, g-d willing, in the process of becoming revealed very very soon in all the world!

shalom from yerushalayim,avraham

Grease Monkey In The Middle

Our row at shul has an occupational diversity that not many other congregations can match. I and fellow attorney Noah Daddy anchor the row. With marketing maven Air now living in Israel, next in line is our favorite auto repair shop owner. After that is Firefighter Jerry a/k/a the Great American Hero.

I therefore found this Harris Interactive poll interesting. The respondents ranked how prestigious 22 different occupations were. While we attorneys ranked thirteenth, right behind athletes and directly ahead of entertainers, firefighters rank number one. Of course, I wonder if the answers would have been different if the respondents were told that a particular firefighter serves stale buns and showed "Date Movie".

Movin' On Up To The East Side

It's finally happening. This coming Monday, God willing, Lesley and I will be moving to our sort of new house in Huntington Woods. I write "sort of " because, as many of you know, we actually bought the house last year. We have not moved yet for two reasons. First, we wound up doing a lot more work on the new house than we first expected. Second, we had not sold the old house. Fortunately, other than the carpeting in the master bedroom, the work on the new house should be done by the end of tomorrow. Meanwhile, during the move this coming Monday, we will have to break away for an hour or two for the closing on our old house. Comcast will also be at the new house that day to install our Internet access. Needless to say, Monday will be a hectic day

Not that it's been so calm the past few weeks. My office staff must know our new address by heart from all the times they've heard me provide it for various orders, like switching our Internet, Direct TV, newspaper delivery, etc. While we had already moved a lot of our stuff to the new house when we first listed the old house for sale some ten months ago, we still have a lot of stuff left. Among the items we've encountered the past few weeks are Macabee's daughter's Bat Mitzvah gift (yes, she celebrated the occasion on Purim of last year, but at least we'll beat the Feldmans to the punch) and pop bottles and nacho chip bags with "use by" dates from 2004.

As excited as we are about the move, there is a certain sadness in moving from our first home. I have some great memories of the house. It was where Lesley and I first professed our love for each other. It's where we have had wonderful Shabbat meals, some of which were just the two of us and others, lasting as late as 4:00 a.m., with the expanded table filled with great food (credit to Lesley), lots of alcohol (can't forget the bourbon slush) and most important, our families and friends. It's the site of Hanukkahpaloozas I-V. It's where our two behemoths of dogs (actually behemoth and a half) grew from tiny, eight pound puppies.

On the other hand, the new house will be the first home into which we will move together. We hope to have many years of great memories there. Those memories will, as always, include our families and good friends. So feel free to stop by and say hi. For the amount of time and money we put into it, I'll be damned if I'm not going to have people see it. The first few weeks will be a little hectic and you might have to climb over some boxes, but the more the merrier. After all, we could use some extra hands in unpacking.

Tell 'Em Dan!

From coverage of yesterday's rally in New York comes this great quote from Israel's U.N. ambassador, Dan Gillerman: "To those countries in there who claim that we're using disproportionate force, I have only this to say: You're damn right we are. Because if your cities were shelled the way ours were, if your citizens were terrorized the way ours are, you would use much more force than we are using."

Props to senators Hillary Clinton and Frank Lautenberg for attending the rally and speaking in Israel's defense. By the way, it's quite noteworthy that the rally's participants called for peace and resolution. At the same time, Muslims rallying in Berlin chanted things like "death to Israel."

Business Not As Usual

If It's Thursday, It Must Be The Motor City

In the past week and a half, I have gone to Nashville and back twice. The first leg of my odyssey was driving to Music City, via Louisville, with Lesley. She was (and still is as I type) a vendor at the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (formerly known as the Future Homemakers of America) conference. We went a few days early for a little vacation.

We were both pleasantly surprised at how nice a city it is. Of course, part of our appreciation comes from our being big country music fans. As apparently every Nashville visitor must do, we toured the Country Music Hall of Fame, which was especially cool with its special exhibit on Ray Charles. Being the fan that I am, there was little about the Genius that I didn't already know, but it was still pretty neat to see some of the photos, artifacts, videos, and especially his tuxedos. For anybody who questions whether Ray Charles was actually blind, they only need look at some of the clothing he wore to cast aside any doubts.

In the evenings, we went downtown and just walked. Most of the bars had their doors open so you could hear the live bands playing inside. The bars into which we stopped had some really great music. The country karaoke bar was, however, a mixed bag. After hearing some typical karaoke (in other words, bad), I was about to volunteer my singing services (I was leaning towards "Friends In Low Places", which I assume is a very cliched selection in that part of the country, but what the heck), but hearing some singers who were actually good nixed that notion. The drunk redneck girl who seethed with Morrissette-like angst while singing "Jolene" was another story. We also went white water rafting on the Ocoee River, which served as the course for the 1996 Olympics kayak races. It was a lot of fun, even if I did take an unintentional dive into the water.

After a nice Shabbat and getting Lesley settled in at the Opryland Resort & Convention Center (it's really nice but, if you ever go there, take rations and some bread crumbs to leave a trail-you will get lost), I flew back home. Having a ton of frequent flyer miles and some slow time at work, I decided to fly back on Tuesday evening and so I could spend more time with Lesley and help her sell chocholate at the convention. I flew back again this morning.

Two other things. First, we went to nearby mall yesterday and saw "Superman Returns". It was very good, with Kevin Spacey's Lex Luthor being the best comic book bad guy I've seen since Jack played the Joker. Of course, I'm sure that Noah Daddy can give a much more detailed analysis of the subject.

Second, this sign, which we once again passed on our way to Louisville, will always make me laugh.

Happy Slurpee Day

Since I will likely be on the road most of tomorrow's work day (court in Flint and then a possibly lengthy stop in Pontiac) and then am flying back to Nashville (when I get a chance, I will report on the highlights of a city that pleasantly surprised us), I want to wish all of you in advance a happy 7/11 tomorrow. For those wishing to participate in this festive day, which should really be a national holiday, remember that you can get a free cup of what I like to call the nectar of the gods at your local 7-11 establishment tomorrow. For those of you having doubts about our country's future, it's comforting to know that these youths are fighting the good fight for us all. You can also read a little about the Slurpee, including its kosher status, over at Wikipedia.

Nothing Says Independence Day Like A Paternity Action

Today, like just about any other work day, I have been listening to Yahoo Radio for background music. I usually listen to my own station, which plays songs based on the ratings I have given to thousands of songs, artists and albums. In fact, if you ever want to listen to it, it's called Zwickeroo.

I sometimes opt for one of the dozens of stations that Yahoo has. You can choose a particular genre, mood or era. Today being the day before Independence Day, I chose the special July 4 station. I heard the expected fare, starting with John Cougar Mellencamp's "ROCK In The USA". Throughout the next few hours, the station played some good John Phillip Sousa marches, Ray Charles' classic version of "America the Beautiful" and songs from artists like the Beach Boys and Chuck Berry that are as American as they come.

Then came "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson. I know that most of these songs get into a particular playlist by a computer picking them based on similarities to other songs or artists. I still found this selection hilarious. As just about anyone knows, the song is about a man, ostensibly portrayed by the King of all Freaks, facing a paternity action by a woman with whom he danced. There are many themes and topics that reflect American values. Other than Maury Povich, I cannot think of too many people in this country who find value in a woman accusing a man of being the father of her child. In retrospect, knowing what we know now about Wacko, the song is funny on any day of the year. On July 4, the song is even more absurd.