Today is the day after JFK's yahrzeit. Of course his death was not natural so it "celebrates" shooter and victim. But Nov. 22, 1963 was THE date of my youth, just as Dec. 7, 1941 was the date of a previous generation's.
My scepticism of the role of the secret service driving JFK and slowing down as the shots rang out is not a healthy scepticism but an unhealthy one. Unhealthy but necessary.
Today's lesson deals with the Middle East. Born and raised in the Middle West, Winnipeg and Chicago, I always liked the term Middle East. It lent symmetry and completeness to my vital facts. Born in the middle west here to speak to us about the middle east.
Israel Palestine or I/P for short. Simplifies matters.
I am in Brooklyn at the moment. a vacation, a taste of yerida.
Aliya- ascent. In Zionism- when a jew moves to Israel, he makes aliya.
Yerida- descent. When a Jew moves away from Israel, he descends, makes yerida.
Aliya is also the term used to describe the act of being called up to the Torah as in, "The bar mitzvah boy's traditional aliya is the last one of a Sabbath reading, but this is not a hard and fast rule."
I think about the Middle East about 8 to 15% as much as I do when I'm in Israel. maybe even less.
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