An unfortunate turn of events means I'm not going to Israel in a few days. Nope, I'll be stateside, which has some other exciting news attached to it. But this video was posted on Twitter today and makes me really bummed I'm not going to Israel, and even more bummed that I'm not going to ROI (well, I was never going this year -- why didn't I push to apply!?). Oh Benji, how I miss you! (Esther, you, too!)
Bad screen cap there if you ask me.
Anyway, sometimes teams don't mesh, and sometimes people get voted off the island, so I'm not going to be staffing a trip to Israel. It's upsetting for me personally and professionally, because I saw a huge change to really impact the lives of some amazing Colorado teens. With my connections, my master's degree in Judaic studies and deep knowledge of the political and religious history of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and love of all things Jewish and Israel, I saw myself as really making an impact. Alas, I'm not going. Hopefully I can find a way to Israel later this year or my chazakah of going every year since 2008 will crash and burn.
The upside? I'm taking a trip to Los Angeles in a few weeks to meet someone I've been talking with online on and off since moving to Colorado. He and I haven't talked about how public I can/should be about the details, so for now, I'll leave it at that.
Well. The truth is often a hard pill to swallow, and this has been one of the hardest. Nay, most frustrating. Nay, most infuriating. This bl...
On Jews
He has made a marvellous fight in this world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished.
The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?
