Thank G-d It's Friday

Friday.

TGIF

I always look forward to Friday. It is the day we get to prepare for Shabbat, which as I get older I realize is g-d's greatest gift to humanity. I have been fortunate that I have been able to enjoy Friday for many years. About 10 years ago, one of my Sephardic friends mentioned to me that he doesn't go to work on Friday in the summer. I couldn't believe it. What do you mean you don't go to work on Friday in the summer  ( you lazy *%^&*).

It was mind blowing. I then found out that almost none of my Sephardic friends went to work on Friday in the summer. Sephardim  have many cool customs.  They make a lot of sense, like being able to eat rice on Passover.

I have always admired my Sephardic friends ability to live life. They seemed to have a good balance between work and play.

All I had was potatoes on Passover , and constant dread. I had to work hard because any day the Germans can come and take everything  You needed to put away gold bars ...

Anyway I decided I would take on this Sephardic custom. ( can Kitniot be far behind???)

And I saw it was good.

After a while I became more observant and decided to take this custom to the next level. I stopped going to work on Fridays all year round. I have been very stringent with this custom ever since.

I wish I can say that I spend all day Friday preparing for Shabbat but alas that is not the case. When I lived in Manhattan I would go to the movies on Friday. Many of our Manhattan neighbors thought this was nuts.

It was but it was fun.

It also can't be said that it did not help with my Shabbat at all. It did give me a whole day to get work and other problems out of my head. It also made me realize how I have been very blessed for a long time.

Now that I live in Israel I have a new Friday afternoon activity. For the last month I have spent Friday afternoons, reading the news all day waiting to see how many causalities there will be in Gaza. As I am writing this, none have been reported so far today.

Sidenote :  Today is the Naksa commemoration. Naksa is Arabic for setback and is the remembrance of the Six day war. I guess it was a setback in the sense that they once again wanted to wipe us off the map but it went sideways for them.

Naksa is not to be confused with Nakba, which means catastrophe(  which is May 15th ) and commemorates the loss of the war they started with us in 1948.

That went sideways for them also.

This has been my Friday activity for the last month.

It is not a good way to bring in the Shabbat.

I am cognizant of the fact that it is worse for them. That does not make me feel better, it makes me feel worse. We know that their leaders are using them as pawns to hide their corrupt and inept leadership. We also know that for some of them getting shot, or dying, is a better alternative as their families will be taken care of financially.

The most depressing aspect of all of this is that the news agencies will only report this as an Israeli agression against the peaceful and defenseless Palestinians.

It doesn't matter that Hamas is calling for people to break through the fence and kill Israeli's , if they are not successful then they are peaceful.

It doesn't matter if they through rocks, petrol bombs etc.. as long as no Israeli's get killed they are being peaceful.

It doesn't matter that Hamas is cynically sending their children to die. As long as their kids are dying and ours are not , then they are peaceful.

The seemingly oppressed are always right. Those trying to protect what is theirs are the villains. Last week a mortar landed in a nursery. That was OK because none of the kids got injured or died, so it wasn't a horrible thing.

Very depressing.

This leads me to what is going on in college campuses in the USA, and the world ( I am not really sure of the connection but roll with it)

Last weekend I was in Amalfi at the wedding of my partners son. I took the opportunity to speak to my partners nephew who is a senior at George Washington University. A few weeks earlier he gave an impassioned speech protesting the acceptance of a divestment campaign initiated by BDS. He gave his point of view as an African American Jew on a college campus today .(it is worth    watching https://www.facebook.com/StandWithUs/videos/10155626446697689/UzpfSTIxOTQyNjoxMDEwMzg1OTk4ODI5OTMwMw/?id=219426&hc_ref=ARSAOAdBFdAzdxHG6PDwHRpa1Bjmuaya0ZfI-rAlv7GFUaiBQ2MhHsXY2khJYZCJn0k )

For those of you who don't know I was a very active, pro Zionist, student at NYU ( stories for a different day) . I thought that I had figured out how to deal with BDS on campus today ( as I am smarter than ALL the professionals dealing with this for the past few years, right)

I felt that most of the BDS supporters, especially the Jewish ones, did not know that part of the platform of BDS is the call for the right of return of over 7 million refugees to pre-1967 Israel. We all know that means the end of the Jewish state.

Are Jewish kids really calling for the end of Israel ? So I told Noah ( the nephew) how I had a full proof way to get Jewish kids to question their support of BDS. Make them realize that what BDS is really trying to accomplish is not equality for the Palestinians but the end of the Jewish State , the destruction of Israel. Once they know that they can't possibly support BDS. ( you can read it on their website)

Then he dropped the bomb.

He said they were fully aware of what BDS is trying to accomplish and it did not matter.

I couldn't believe it and I am hoping that he is wrong but my gut tells me he is most likely right.

We can see this from the waning support of the Democratic party for Israel. This was never an issue before and now almost 40% of the under 40 supporters of the democrats have a more favorable view of the Palestinians than Israel . It has also recently been reported that younger Evangelicals are also not supporting Israel in the same numbers as their parents.

My generation, has taken Israels existence for granted. We have not imbued the next generation of the need for and our right to have, our own country. My parents grew up in a world where the idea of a Jewish State was nothing more than an idea. Today, Jewish kids are seeing the creation of Israel as an injustice.

As a person who always thinks he has answers, I am stumped on this one ( for now) .

It depressing to think about BDS

It is depressing to think about Gaza

It is depressing to think about how the world will never let us live in peace.

But for now I need to put that all aside.

Shabbat is coming and I must prepare myself for the Shabbat bride in my own country , which is my inheritance and  to participate in g-ds greatest gift.

Shabbat Shalom