Dear Friends, shalom,

Getting things done.

Ettie’s been saying that we should paint the house for about 10 years now. She’s always saying what’s got to be done. The trouble is that we all know what’s got to be done but we keep putting it off.

Eventually about a month ago, Declan, who according to Shaul, on Robby’s recommendation, had painted his apartment with great artistic skill and neatness, came to our house after we called him

The words of Shaul’s recommendation that sunk in were “neatness”, “care” and “covering floors and furniture.”

The pact to paint our house was sealed and Declan arrived, paint and all the day after Tisha b’Av, just the right time to start renewing ourselves in preparation for the New Year (Rosh Hashanah) which will be on Saturday and Sunday the 19^th and 20^th of September, which coincides with the Jewish date of the 1^st and 2^nd of Tishri. The New Year will be 5770 since creation according to Judaism.

Declan’s been painting and doing other things like scraping, puffing and panting like a marathon runner, everyday excepting Shabbat for two weeks. Ettie’s satisfied so it must be good.

Idleness gets me thinking

Each person has something else that gets him thinking. Some people’s minds start working when it starts raining, others when it’s sunny, and others when they stand at the edge of an abyss. Mine starts working when I don’t do something I tell myself has to be done or better when I don’t do something that someone tells me to do.

Idleness can even be valuable if it’s followed by thought. If thought is important for effective living and solving problems therefore so is idleness.

Idleness, however can only take place if there’s something that somebody thinks somebody else must do.

For example my late mother thought I was idle because there were many things she thought I needed to do like my homework, watering the flowers, washing myself, putting on a sweater in the cold etc etc. My wife thinks I’m idle because she has a whole list every day of things she thinks I should be doing.

Once I was angry at my mother and my wife for thinking so negatively about me. Now since becoming aware of what makes me think I’m grateful for the opportunities they gave me to be idle and hence a thinker.

My mother taught me that it’s good to be a thinker but she never taught me how to become one. All she could do was say “ Leon, for goodness sake!!! Think before you do something or think before you speak etc but she never actually taught me how to become a thinker.

I wish I knew how I came to this great discovery of how to become a thinker because I’d like to tell everyone about it.

I would suggest everyone try a bit of idleness. Next time someone says you must do something don’t do it. Try it. What harm can come of it??

If what I’ve said is true then the rebelliousness of children isn’t a bad thing. Its what makes them thinkers.

Tamar, my granddaughter is impressively idle whenever it comes to doing anything I tell her she should do.

Using eco friendly detergents

Yesterday I had a long chat with my brother Bernard about eco friendliness in recycling water and in using electric motors for bicycles and cars.

The conversation took a while and he made a very good suggestion that I sign up with Skype, a cheap phone system.

He told me that in Australia they even have laws about recycling water and collecting rainwater. The government there even subsidizes the installation of water collecting tanks.

I’d like to share the results of my experiments in using refuse water in my garden. Most of the plants irrigated with soapy water from the washing machine are reacting badly so I’ve stopped doing this for the meantime until I can get some eco friendly detergent for the washing machine. I believe there is a product on the market that washes the clothes without harmful chemicals. It’s called Ecofriend. So when I get hold of some of that I’ll go back to using water from the washing machine.

On the other hand soapy water from the dishwashing detergent seems to be quite acceptable to the plants. Apparently dishwashing detergents, unlike clothes washing detergents, don’t have chemicals that are harmful to plants.

I conclude from this experiment that governments need to take stronger action against detergent companies using harmful chemicals and simultaneously pass laws to reuse certain types of refuse water in gardens.

Acceding to Hamas’ demands threatens world peace

Recently there’s been a spate of optimism about talks between Israel and Hamas on the release of Gilad Shalit.

The only issue in these negotiations is really how far Israel is ready to accede to Hamas’ demands in return for Gilad.

Being our enemy and the enemies of Civilization Terrorist organizations are constantly in search of new recruits to their ranks. Israel holds about 5000 potential ones in prison. As long as they are in prison Israel and indeed all the world are a little bit safer from terrorism.

Releasing any of these trained and battle tested Palestinian terrorists (who they call soldiers) is like throwing a bone to a ravenous dog. It’s seen as a weakness and like hungry dogs smelling blood the terrorist organizations become more ravenous.

Swelling the terrorist ranks, especially with those in Israeli prisons is only going to bring the next military confrontation with the Palestinians closer.

Declarations by experts like Shaul Mofaz (ex chief of staff) that the release of one terrorist more or less isn’t going to make a difference to our security, can only be considered as warmongering, something for which Mofaz is well known.

The next battle with the Palestinians will begin soon after more terrorists are released from Israeli prisons.

Wishing you a great no news day

Yours truly

Leon Gork

Come for a Jerusalem Walk with Leon Gork

Jerusalemwalks.com legork@netvision.net.il Tel: 052 3801867