Rega lifney Shabbat...

Shalom All,

So I tried to think about the passing week. Rotem wasn't feeling that great,

she has the flu and her suppervising officer gave her some rest at home. I

cought it from her for about 36 hours, but it wasn't too bad at all. Roy had

a test at school, right now he took the bus to Tel-aviv with some friends -

he went to buy some clothes and have fun. Bar celebrated his 9th birthday,

had a different friend over every day and went to school happily every

morning. David and I were busy with some stuff for the house, and of course,

busy at work. My mother went to a concert, my mother-in-law is thinking

about retiring. My niece had a minor operation and she's fine. Basically,

the week was filled with normal, every day issues. Family things. The kids,

friends. Nothing extraordinary, nothing out of routine, nothing crazy. It

was almost normal.

Almost. Out there, just a heartbeat away from this week's quiet flow, just a

person away from our personal issues, so many other issues stand so strong

that they hit you in the face when you peek at them. Unemployment. Children

and youth at risk. The future of Israel proper - our periphery that is

rapidly being lost.

And there is a lot of stubborn, energetic hope. Countless NGO's,

foundations, business people and good, private citizens who all give a

helping hand to make these issues a little more bearable. Naomi Shemer, one

of Israel's greatest song writers, called them "Good people in the middle of

the road".

But this week, this past week - was the first in many, many weeks that we

were so surrounded by our simple, trivial actions, so simple that had I not

worked for the Jewish agency - I wouldn't have noticed the surrounding

burden at all. In this corner of the world, it's a luxury one doesn't enjoy

for long - nor can. But for one week, for 7 days, it was almost quiet.

Tomorrow is "family day" at school. I will go with Bar to his celebration,

and at our Shabbat dinner we will have an extra special family blessing. In

view of the above, I couldn't think of a more appropriate way to end the

week.

Shabbat Shalom,

Liat