Weather It Is (Fluctuations)

Good Afternoon:

The weather is certainly nice, and it will continue to be nice until the end of the week.

The end of the week will bring back a bit of warmth (or heat, as some call it).

The warmer temperatures will last into next Sunday, but Monday through Wednesday of next week should see a cool down to more fall like temperatures (not much different than today).

Looking further ahead, we see a bit of a warm up, with a small chance of it being either quite warm or even quite cool.

We've entered the period of fall weather fluctuations, when the weatherman can't decide whether he should heed the call for winter or return us to summer.

Please feel free to write and make your opinion heard, as the New Year holidays fall in October, and a cool and rainy October would put a damper on any outdoor activities.

However, what we may worry about and what may be are not always the same. The Climate Forecast System Version 2 Model is predicting drier, but cooler than normal temperatures over the next few months.

We were blessed to celebrate our Bat/Bat Mitvas with my parents in attendance.  For the first time, my father gave me a blessing during the blessing of the Cohanim, with his grandson in our line of 3. It was very special.

Our children gave speeches about the significance of their names.  Here, I copy my speech, which I think bears repeating.

1)   Good Evening.

2)   I’d like to thank the Romano family for helping us to set up the Bar/Bat Mitva.

3)   You’ve probably seen the pictures of our children.

4)   While looking through these pictures, my wife remarked: “you were a handsome man, then.”

5)   Obviously, we’ve all changed a lot since these pictures were taken.

6)   Our kids have grown up.

7)   But the ways we’ve changed are not always seen. 

8)   I have to thank our children for helping me to become a better parent – they’re good kids.

9)   I have to thank my wife for doing the extra/special things to make this a party we’ll remember, for helping me raise children I am very proud of.

10)                   Of course, given what you all know about my messes in the house, I have to thank her for letting me live in the house.

11)                   In Yael and Efrat’s Bat-Mitzva parsha “Va’Etchanan”  we read: “The Lord will disperse you among the nations, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will lead you.  There you will serve other gods, the handiwork of man. Of wood and stone, which do not see, nor hear, nor cut nor smell.” (I used Eretz Yisrael in the Parashah, for my sources.)

12)                   The Chasidic master, R. Shalom, of Belz interprets a related Gemara as follows: “Jews who live outside the land do foreign work in purity.” That is, they work for the sake of others.  All the effort they put into building up the lands of exile is foreign to them, for whatever they build or produce there eventually falls in the hands of others.

13)                   In Yair’s parsha, “Re’ey,” we learn that “Dwelling in Eretz Israel is equal to all the Mitvot of the Torah.”  Eretz Israel is central to our religion, because this is the only place where a Jew can keep all of the Mitzvot.  Even giving charity is really a mitzvah related to the land of Israel.

14)                   In a simple sense living outside of Israel is a waste of our effort, and only in Israel can we live a “proper” and fulfilling Jewish life.

15)                   Yet, such a simple approach to life does not really do justice to all those have helped make the State of Israel the way it is.

16)                   For instance, there is a joke: “how do you make a small fortune in Israel? You start with a large fortune.”

17)                   What they don’t say is that it is often someone else’s fortune that becomes smaller when children or grand children move to Israel.   And, don’t forget all that those living in the Galut have done to help in the building of hospitals and our education system, etc.

18)                   We’re now in the fifth generation of children since the founding of the State.

19)                   While the State of Israel has much to admire, it will be up to you, my children, and all of our children, to be blessed to continue to build the State, and to make it truly an independent and self-sufficient state.