mundane monday

Tonight is the first Sunday night without a holiday or commemoration involved in five weeks.
First came Passover (technically a Monday night) with a visit to my sister Batsheva's kibbutz, Shlukhot. My parents were also there, plus my other two sisters, Tova and Pnina, and four out of five of Batsheva's kids (one son wasn't able to get leave from the army), plus Batsheva's daughter- in-law and grandson. Tova's four kids and Pnina's three kids. Also present were Batsheva's brother-in-law and his family. It was nice. (I was in charge of a trivia quiz, which didn't go so well this year. The movie part of the quiz, movies that take place in Egypt, was a bit too easy. And the bible part of the quiz, focusing on the Hebrew words for hurrying (khipazon) and lass (alma), was a bit too hard. But I'm being a bit too hard on myself.)

The next week was the last night of Passover. (Passover is a seven day holiday, the first and last days are "real" holidays, when turning lights and computers and t.v.'s on and off is forbidden.) A friend of mine from Chicago is in Israel for a few months. He's real bright (brighter than me) and socially inept (more inept than me). I took him to my uncle's for the Sunday night meal. My uncle is a year and a half younger than me. (My mother's father divorced my grandmother and remarried and had Kenny or Kalman as the only son of his second marriage.) Kenny (known as Kalman to all his Israeli friends and wife) has five kids. The oldest, a son, about 22, got married last October. His newlywed wife was there. Also present besides Kenny's other four kids were Kenny's wife, Nomi and Nomi's sister and her husband and if I counted right their six kids. My friend, Richard, is an intellectual and has intellectual interests and so does Kenny and so they had much to discuss, but mostly it was very crowded and very noisy.

The next week was Holocaust remembrance day. I'm all for remembering the Holocaust, although I prefer to call it something a little less dramatic, like the Nazi genocide of the Jews. But I tend to remember it a bit too much without any prompting from the calendar. It is a bit problematic that Israel put it on the calendar a week before Independence Day with the express purpose of signifying a certain cause and effect- This is what happens to us when we don't have a country of our own to protect ourselves. But I don't really mind a little propaganda now and again, I just mind being reminded of the Holocaust when I think about it too much in any case without any prompting.

Then last week was Independence Day. The day before Independence day is memorial day, in memory of all soldiers killed and people killed in terrorist attacks. Of course that's a downer, but I accept it as part of the deal. Unlike Holocaust Day, it is necessary to have a Memorial Day and why not have it the day before Independence Day- this is the price we pay for having a country.

On Independence Day most people go to the park to picnic and my friend, Richard, instigated a picnic as well. There were seven of us- three married guys who came without their wives and three unmarried guys (including me), plus the ten year old son of one of my friends. It was fun.

This week there is no holiday and I'm breathing a sigh of relief.