It is October 7th

It's been a year. Well, a secular year, but how am I supposed to mark a year to the day on Simchat Torah? Many many many events today, in-person and virtual. I don't know details for any of the events, because I'm not going. Because. Because.

But a week ago, I got a link to a new song from Koolulam, a group that I like, and I ended up watching the video in the bomb shelter with the kids during the recent Iran rockets. And it's exactly the sort of song I expected from Koolulam: poignant and uplifting and all that stuff, and it breaks my heart anyway.

So I watched it again today. Because.

Lyrics are at this link, and here's a translation:

"Start From the Beginning" (Original Naomi Shemer Title: "The Party is Over")

And sometimes
The celebration ends:
Lights out.
The trumpet says
Goodbye to the violins.
The middle watch meets the third--
Get up tomorrow morning and start from the beginning.

Get up tomorrow morning with a new song in your heart.
Sing it strong, sing it in pain.
Hear flutes in the free breeze,
And start from the beginning.

From the beginning,
Always create your world in the morning:
The earth, the grass and all of the lights.
Then from the dust, in the image of people--
Get up tomorrow morning and start from the beginning.

Get up tomorrow morning...

Also for you,
The celebration ends.
And at midnight,
The way home
Is hard for you to find.
From the darkness we ask,
Get up tomorrow morning and start from the beginning.

Get up tomorrow morning...

Dichotomy

Honestly? I kind of want a war with Lebanon. The current situation is not tenable.

But during one of my meetings today, someone stepped out to take a call from the reserves. When he came back, I asked if he was staying or leaving. He said he just got called up. My unfiltered reaction? "Dammit."

I do want a war. I just don't want any Israelis to have to fight in it. 

Gateway Book

I recently brought home a free copy of Matilda (in Hebrew) for BSM, who enjoyed reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (also in Hebrew) a few months ago. I'd rather convince him to read Matilda in English, but I figure that reading in any language is a good thing, and anyway his Language Arts teacher told us the boy should read more novels. Having twisted my arm, I brought Matilda home, and BSM giggled his way through it, stopping periodically to tell me and Husbinator what was going on in the book, and how great it was.

BSM finished Matilda on Shabbos morning, with a huge smile on his face. So I told him the library has more books (also in Hebrew) by the same author. I further told BSM that we also have more books (in English) by the same author, including some books that the library probably doesn't have translated copies of. 

I figured that was that, but a few minutes later BSM asked exactly where these alleged more books could be found. Shortly thereafter, BSM was back at the couch with four Dahl books. He read James and the Giant Peach on Shabbos afternoon, and he's currently going strong through The Witches. 

Little Drama

A few weeks ago, I woke up to the sound of something falling, followed by loud crying from Baby WW. I ran to her room, but had trouble opening the door. Eventually, I figured out that although Baby WW was definitely on the floor and was very close to the door, she was not what was making it hard to open the door. 

Turns out she had escaped from her little crib (obviously), and knocked over a folded step ladder, which was now leaning against the door.

Within a minute of picking her up, Baby WW was smiling and ready to play. Her mood made it clear she'd been having a great time until she startled herself, and looking around the room made it clear that her main source of entertainment had been the garbage can. Ah, tissues. 

So I brought Baby WW to Husbinator (assembling this crib is one of the very few DIY tasks that I'm more familiar with than Husbinator is), and I collected pieces of the big crib. Huge thank you to Husbinator for storing the crib components behind and above furniture on the second floor, instead of bringing them to the attic! Also thank you to BY for staying in bed after waking up as soon as I touched the first crib component next to his dresser. Why that boy was so chipper at 3 am I don't want to know.

Assembling the crib, including collecting parts, only took about half an hour, which I think is VERY impressive, given the hour and lack of preparation. Speaking of impressive, I only put in one crib piece the wrong way. Unfortunately, that required taking off three pieces to fix, but thus crumbles the cookie. Also, I forgot that the drop-side railing doesn't stay up reliably, which is why we always make sure that side of the crib touches a wall. Naturally, the day-bed next to the crib means there's no room to slide the crib toward the middle of the room and just turn it around, so I gave up. 

Luckily, Husbinator came in around then and said No, we couldn't just leave the side down: Baby WW had just climbed out of a crib with a low side. Seeing my Look, Husbinator said of course we didn't have to disassemble and reassemble the whole crib: we'd lift it up and rotate it in the air, above the height of the adjacent. It worked. Everyone went back to sleep. Whew.

Music

Last summer (wow, almost a year ago now!) I did a lot of daytrips with BSM and FF (and Baby WW, but she hardly counted, except when she cried). Lots of daytrips meant lots of driving, and lots of driving meant lots of requests to listen to music in the car. 

I have a very simple rule about the kids listening to anything while I'm around: if it irritates me, don't do it where I can hear it. You want kids' songs or stories that grate on me more than nails on a chalkboard? Put on headphones, or take it to another room.

This is all fine and dandy at home, but for the car, we obviously needed a Plan. I liked my Initial Plan for the car: we only listen to music on my phone that I like. Eventually, though, the boys started asking me to add music to my phone for upcoming car rides.

It turns out that the Boys' Plan (which is still in effect a year later) works very well: I get to screen the requested songs on my own time, and choose whether or not to add the songs to my phone. And I get an idea of what songs the boys are listening to, and I even get exposed to new stuff that I like (along with some stuff that I don't, but I like most of it).

One of the songs the boys taught me blows my mind every time I hear it. The song is called "Guardian of the Walls," ["שומר החומות"] and was written in 1977. It's the chorus that blows my mind:

כן, כן, מי חלם אז בכיתה
כשלמדנו לדקלם על חומותייך ירושלים
הפקדתי שומרים
שיום יגיע ואהיה אחד מהם...

Yes, yes, who dreamed back then in class
When we learned to recite, "On your walls, Jerusalem,
I stationed Guardians" [Isaiah, 62:6]
That the day would come and I would be one of them? 

Here's the version of the song that I added to my playlist. For your viewing pleasure, the Border Police also has a nice recording of the song.

Checking the News

I just realized something, as I loaded The Hill yet again.

When I'm checking the news more than, say, twice a day, what I'm really doing is hitting refresh on HasTheLargeHadronColliderDestroyedTheWorldYet.Com (a delightful website that I've mentioned in a previous post). 

No, the LHC has not destroyed the world yet. (To quote the above website: "NOPE.")

No, the world isn't qualitatively crazier than it was a few hours ago. Let it be.

Before the Bath

Me: BY, do you have to pee?

BY: I feel that.... Yes.

Me: Okay, go pee. 

BY [in Hebrew]: Okay, I'm going to relieve myself (להתפנות), bye!   

Another Goof

BY, brother of FF, saw q-tips.
"Oh look, to-picks!" he exclaimed.
"Q-tips. Q-tips," I corrected.
Many giggles from BY, who finally gasped out, "No! Bananas!" 

Weather

It's pouring across Israel today, and it is a Mighty Rain. As in, any bits of you that aren't encased in rain gear are guaranteed to get soaked if you go outside.

When I spoke with my boss, who does a good bit of farming on the side, he made a comment that I found unexpectedly comforting.

This rainstorm. It's the malkosh [late rain]. As in:

"ונתתי מטר ארצכם בעתו יורה ומלקוש ואספת דגנך ותירשך ויצהרך"

["And I will provide the rain of your land in its time, early rain and late rain, and you will harvest your grain and your wine and your olive oil"]

from the second paragraph of Shema.

10 Years

On Shabbos, someone was asking for our kids' ages, and BSM  said that he's more than 10 and a half. At which point, Husbinator pointed out that our 10-year Aliyah-Anniversary must be coming up. 

He's right. 

It's today. 

Wow. Wow, wow, wow.

OK, though, but that's the English date. We have another week-and-a-half or so for the Hebrew date. Gotta plan some sort of falafel-fest or something! 

10 years. Wow. Good for us!