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We're back from the Pesach Break

I'm lazy. It's true, I should have blogged over pesach. After all, I was at home and had lots of free time to relax and write. Alas, I'm lazy and took the holiday as a vacation. Pesach is strange that way. On the one hand, you work your bottom off cleaning, cooking and entertaining. On the other hand, its not "normal". The things that you deal with everyday are sort of put aside until the holiday is over. For us, that gave us a mental break.

We got a second break when we were invited out for all meals on Shabbat and on the second holiday. No cooking which meant more un-programmed days. My wife and I renewed our regular argument about Sundays. In her book, Sunday is the day you leave the house and do things like touring, sight seeing, or hiking. It is a day to get out of the house and be busy. In my book, Sunday is the day to stay at home without any duties or expectations. Sit and watch a ball game. Play 8 hours of computer games. As long as you are relaxing.

Israel does not have a Sunday. We work Sunday through Thursday and have Friday and Saturday off. This has been a major win for our marriage. The whole Sunday argument has been a moot point for 15 years. This Pesach, we revisited the issue because we had a number of "un-programmed" days. For the most part, we compromised. A little bit of this and a little bit of that.

On Tuesday, we took advantage of our invitations to go and visit the air force museum near Be'er Sheva. Of course, it was the hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures in the upper 90's and zero percent humidity. But, we had a good time. We also visited my son who is currently stationed in that area. It is nice to see him. His program does not believe in free time. Every moment is programmed. We wish him success.

We had no sleep-over guests for the first part of holiday. That's somewhat strange, but ok. We hosted a second seder for about 10 poor souls who felt the need to do it again. That was fun. We enjoy watching others suffer (just joking) through another four cups of wine and great food.

Four boys from AJ (Atteret Jerusalem) came over for the second days. They were keeping two days, which led to the rather strange sight of us eating Pizza while they ate Matza. It is sights like this that make me question our traditions. I mean, clearly, we should be eating Pizza. It is not pesach anymore. So why should they be still eating matzo? I think my wife said it best: "Keeping two days is a penalty for not living in Israel." In my mind, if you keep two days in Israel, you have clearly not accepted Israel as a Jewish state and do not plan on living here. Pay the penalty and move on.

Have a happy year and may we be blessed with health and happiness.



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