Two Degrees of Separation

I am feeling deeply sad after yesterday's hard losses and thinking about the differences between how these attacks are felt from within the community (which can be defined in several legitimate ways) and without.  Noticing the difference between how it feels when I read about it in the New York Times versus the Jerusalem Post.  Even more personally, on the Facebook posts or Blog Posts on Times of Israel.  One difference, aside from the obvious immediacy and the resulting discrepancy in the level of anxiety that people feel about being personally targeted, is that it seems that everyone knows someone who knows the victim.  Dalia Lemkus's younger brother is in 8th grade at Aharon Akiva's school.  She was Liron Kopinski's first cousin.  I decided not to try and find childcare to go to her funeral this morning, but part of me felt like I needed to go and be there with her family.  Sad, frustrated, anxious about the future.

On a more mundane level, the kids seem to be getting more used to the rhythm of school here.  They continue to figure out navigating the support systems available to them -- Ulpan in school, the "Bnot Sherut" and various aids and programs in place to help new Olim.  We have had many fewer tearful nights and anxious mornings and I have been flexible in letting certain people take the day at their own pace when it seems needed.  Thankfully, we have a car, so if someone misses a bus, I can drive to school.  And stop at the bakery on the way for fresh rolls :)

We very much enjoyed having Jay Goldman here for Shabbat -- ask him to tell you about his time here!  We had dinner with Shimona and her family along with a neighbor and his kids (his wife is in the US for business) and then lunch with Adami and Tamar in their new house.  He caught great weather and such clear days that we could see the Mediterranean on the West and the Jordanian hills on the East.  Beautiful.  Feel free to follow his lead, the guest room awaits!

Now that the Bat Mitzvah is behind us, my attention is returning to the house repair and renovation projects that were delayed a bit in the early fall.  I needed to make final decisions about the kitchen (now done) and the process of collecting bids from contractors and maintaining timely communication with them seems to lurch and stall.   One of the fellows who came by must have been using Google translate because his text had phrases like "knowing that you are a very joyous aspects of work because I am a very beautiful work."  Of course, his next text was in Arabic so that didn't help at all!  The whole topic of who one hires to do construction work has reemerged as a controversial topic on our town message board (security concerns, don't-be-judgmental replies, don't-be-naive counter replies... you get the idea) and I can't help but compare the situation here to whatever a parallel would be in the States (early 1900s South?  Colonial times?).  On the one hand, the stereotyping and fear feels familiar, but at the same time there are real differences.

Shoshana and Aharon Akiva are both in after school classes that fill in some of the educational gaps we have since the schools here are not the same (we really do miss OHDS...).  AA has creative writing on Tuesdays with an American Olah and Shoshana has Art on Thursdays with a lovely Dutch woman who has a studio in her basement.  Shoshana also has Zumba for girls which I think is a hoot.

This Shabbat we'll be in the Old City with the Yeshiva and staying in an apartment there, so no long walks to the Eldan hotel like over Rosh Hashana (but no breakfast buffet either :)  We are still getting lovely invitations from people here and looking forward to getting time with them.