1.
I was staying at the Chabad synagogue for Shabbat morning prayers, as I always do when I stay at my mother's house. When the worshippers arrived at the "Shibana Beit HaMikdash" at the beginning of Shacharit, one of the regular worshippers (a Lithuanian by the way) exclaimed: "I've been waiting for this song for so long, it's so beautiful.".
And I'm waiting for the real thing, said a Chabad emissary in the place, "I'm tired of this song - 'Let's build the Temple.' I don't want to sing it anymore, I want to be there.".
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It was at the Simchat Beit Hashoeva in the leading Lithuanian small yeshiva, 35 years ago. In those days, Avraham Fried's poem "Baruch Ha-Va Melech Ha-Moshiach" was published. The atmosphere in the yeshiva was clearly anti-Chabad, and the song "Baruch Ha-Va" was perceived as problematic. However, the soloist of the orchestra that performed in the yeshiva hall decided to play the song with a local version: Baruch Ha-Va... in the name of God.
He smiled to himself with satisfaction, happy about the brilliant brilliance - what genius would Einstein have been, he wouldn't have been ashamed of it - and the happiness on the boys' faces was evident.
For many minutes he played the song, and the boys' supreme happiness soared. At a certain point, one of the rabbis apparently realized what was happening, approached the stage and said to the singer: "We can change the song now.".
35 years have passed and I ask myself, how foolish was our behavior back then; was it just youthful mischief? I think not, and I mostly prefer not to be proud of it.
2.
These two religious-nationalist women stood outside Kiryat Sefer this morning with this sign in their hands.
The initial thought that crossed my mind: Do they really think it will help? How likely is it that any resident of Kiryat Sefer Kol will change his position because of the citation of the verse from Numbers?
But then I remembered my studies from the social psychology course, where I came across fascinating studies that teach about the ability of images, ideas, or advertisements to penetrate the brain even when it is not aware of it, or is not interested in them.
3.
""I'm twittering about you, I told Sarah Netanyahu." "Gantz is more handsome than smart." [Reuven Rivlin].
To remind you: this great man was the president of the State of Israel.
We can only blame ourselves.
