CocaCola backs terrorism

on their promotional worldchill site, zoom in on israel.. not only is it hard for me to map my location in jerusalem, but there seems to be another non-existant state listed Palestine. (to my knowledge no state of palestine was ever declared other than the jewish one???) And for some reason it also abides by the 1967 borders. Further, try and mark where you live in the golan heights, are you a citizen of Syria? because CocaCola seems to think you are.

(Now look for nepal and Kashmir--they aren't there at all and if i knew where other disputed territories were i would look for them.. but basically CocaCola has decided to back a non-existant Palestinian state and take a swipe at the Jewish state.)

ps. now i'm glad i kicked coke a couple o months ago.

apologies

to anyone who finds out this way instead of hearing from me in person.. i just wanted to apologise for my poor social skills.

Shlomit and I got engaged. last wednesday (and we managed to keep it a secret for all of 3 days before her siblings (lead by her younger brother michael) staged a coup and started smsing /iming people--forcing us to tell everyone before we insulted lots of people ; ) )

It's all good

There's a curious passage in the parasha this past week: God tells Avraham, our forefather, that his children will be like this. in context it means 'as numerous as the stars'. in it's deeper context God tells Avraham, koh will be your offspring. the word koh, meaning 'like this', the zohar explains is the source of beracha (blessing), and it comes from the side/source of might and judgement. This is also the source of all suffering and hardship. The next passage is quite confusing, it says "and he believed in God, and he took it to be a kindness." The literal meaning of the passage is: "And Avraham believed in God, and God counted it as a kindness of Avraham." The zohar explains: "Avraham believed in God, and Avraham thought even this was a kindness from God--not a harsh decree or a judgement." even though his children would come from the source of suffering, he chose to see it as a kindness on God's part. he chose to be an optimist. essentially Avraham was the first person to have faith that "it's all good."

shema: further meditations..

the third perek comes last, according to the gemara, because it is only truly applicable during the day. (when we can see the tzitzith) from this i learn: the tzitzith which represent the fine effects our actualized actions have--all the subtle interactions and connections--are far more present and relevant during the day. the night is a much more primal time when the essence far outweighs the details. (w'emunatcha baleiloth -- 'and in the nights, your faith') The day is essentially for splitting hairs--for ironing out the fine details of action--for looking outwards upon the world, whereas the night is the time of deep unions, when people are isolated in their own homes, turned inward.

shema: further meditation..

the second perek of the shema is the first to mention straying from God's desired path. it seems clear that the first perek describes awakening the desire to serve God. the second then describes fleshing that desire out as action. from this i learn: everyone has a deep internal desire to serve God. the mistakes begin when those desires get translated into action. we have to be extra careful when we act.