Pesach (Passover) cleaning

In one corner lie mounds of rubbish (garbage if you’re reading this in the United States) and inside the cupboard shine the clean, empty, re-covered shelves, waiting to be filled with Pesach (Passover) products.

(that opened packet of crisps on the top shelf was my reward for all hard work. It won’t be there for long!)

 

Shop til you drop has  a completely new meaning before Passover.

OK I admit it, that pile is also not the most nutritious section of my shopping but it’s what was on the floor when I got my camera out!

Pesach cleaning is my nemesis. I love it and hate it. I hate the thought and the necessity – but I love the result.

And I know that without the necessity it would never get done.

For those of you not in the know, before Passover the house basically gets turned upside down and inside out swept and scrubbed, washed and wiped, cleared. and cleaned, tidied and traumatized – and I didn’t just use that word because it went well with the flow, but my poor house doesn’t know what’s hit it.

All year it’s left alone to gather dust and disorganization and wallow calmly undisturbed – and suddenly, without any warning, over a three week period around spring time it gets hit by a cleaning tornado.

The blessing of cleaning for Passover is that there’s a finite time – it all has to be ready by ………. well this year it’s April 18^th – after that ………………..too late.

Now if I had to rely on the vague possibility of spring cleaning at some time or other, it would never happen.

To all my millions of fans and blog readers  (after all my hard work I’m entitled to exaggerate slightly) I wish  you all a Happy Pesach / Easter.

Don’t work too hard – take time to relax and appreciate all we are blessed with.

This time last year my sister in Teaneck, New Jersey was homeless after a terrible storm. It has taken a full year of building, decorating and negotiating with insurance companies, but a few weeks ago they  finished the rebuilding and decorating.

Thinking back serves as a reminder that there are plenty of things far worse in life than Pesach cleaning.

HOW CAN JUDGE GOLDSTONE MAKE AMENDS TO ISRAEL?

“ Take a feather pillow- cut it open and let the feathers scatter in the wind. Wait a day and then go and gather up all those feathers”

The above scenario is, according to tradition, what the tale-bearer  was told to do to make amends for the ‘lashon Hara”   (disparaging remarks) he spoke   about someone .

In other words, it is impossible to truly make amends for sullying someone’s name.

 

How much worse is it when an ‘eminent ‘ ‘impartial’ judge publishes a damning judgment against an entire country, the State of Israel, full of lies, false accusations  and fabrications. Judge Goldstone’s report which accused Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity, caused hatred against the country , destroyed its name and the reputation of its army, one of the most humane armies ever to reluctantly take  up arms.

Eighteen months later, for some reason which is not yet clear, Goldstone decides to admit that his report was without foundation, totally wrong and was  set up to be biased against Israel from the start.

Is Judge Goldstone’s conscience clear now after that op-ed in the Washington Post?

It shouldn’t be.

Now he has to travel the world from country to country, to the United Nations and all European and international organizations and gather up the  feathers sullied with lies, hatred and Jewish blood that he has thrown to the wind.

Only when he has confessed his libelous and slanderous crimes  to all those  he persuaded to accept his report as ‘factual and honest’ ,will he be able to beg Israel’s forgiveness.

And still it is too late – for those feathers can never be gathered up again.  Words, once said, can  never be unsaid and reports once written can never be unwritten.

The Fogel Family of Itamar

Sometimes written  words don’t add anything.

 

 

Eight things a writer on the go needs

Nowadays we seem to be constantly on the move and as spring approaches, even more so. As you never know when you’ll come across something that sparks the writer within, what should you  make sure you  always have with  you?

1.  I personally don’t carry a lap top. I’m too inclined to lose it or drop it so I use an AlphaSmart, the virtues of which  I described in my very early blog Writer on the move. You can find out more about it  including prices here. I  got mine a lot cheaper on Ebay as people frequently upgrade and  move on

Using it  stops me spending too much time surfing when I should be writing. There are few places in the world where you can’t find  internet access when you need it.

Of course this only applies if you are on the go for a short time and don’t have a deadline while you’re away . If you do then you’d better  take a laptop.

However you might want to read these tips about keeping your laptop safe, before you set off

2. Pen and notebook – can’t beat ‘em  for moments when the muse strikes and you just can’t get anything else to hand.

3. MP3 or  some other  pocket recording device for ideas on the go that you don’t have time to write down or if you find yourself in the company of someone interesting and you want to record him.

I often join an unofficial tour on my travels around the country and it’s great to be able to record the ‘guide’ or whoever is sharing information and not have to worry about writing  everything down.

You might think of a great story line and want to capture it before it gets away or even a spark or thought for an article. Just turn it on and  record your thoughts quickly.

4. A good ( doesn’t have to be the latest and greatest) digital camera.

Even if you don’t usually supply  photos, they are always great for reminding you about a place/ event / person and can capture things you don’t even notice at the time e.g. the weather, the kind of people who were there, the clothes people wore etc.

5. Mobile phone  (and charger). If you get a great idea for a story and want to check in with an editor you have worked with before call and run it past them and get an angle.

A new editor wouldn't want a pitch by phone so gather the information, take the photos as though you were writing the story and when you get to a computer pitch the story.

6.Comfortable walking shoes and clothes.  Sun glasses and sun screen and  a hat if you’re in a hot climate – you don’t need sunstroke.

7. Books to read – if you;re travelling you will hopefully have time to catch up on some of those books you’ve been promising yourself you’ll read one day. Don’t miss the opportunity.

8..power cords / batteries/ chargers / USB chargers that can be used in an electric outlet – anything that keeps all your equipment working.

Have an enjoyable and fruitful trip.

WRITING IN ISRAEL

 

I’m often asked whether its not difficult finding writing markets living in  a non-English speaking country.

The truth is that  today a writer can live anywhere in the world and write for publications anywhere in and even  ‘off’ the world i.e. online.  No one even needs to know where you live – unless it’s to send the cheque ( that spelling gives away that I’m an ex Brit)

If you want to write about developments in hi-tech / bringing up children / advances in medicine /  latest building techniques / house decorations / spring cleaning /  car design /  sports or in fact anything and everything  - you can do it from New York / Paris / Tokyo / Jerusalem or  the top of Mt Everest  ( if your laptop functions there).

 

BUT – the fact that you can research and write from your bedroom doesn’t mean that you can expect to get your articles published if you  turn out inferior internet-research laden  pieces.

Any worthwhile publication will require expert input and up to date information that can be checked by their fact-checkers. And each publication will want interviews with sources and experts in their particular country or even town or state.

But that isn’t  difficult to achieve – it just requires putting in some effort. if you  contact  an organization like HARO  ( help a reporter out) or one of the many other sites ( google  something like ‘find an expert in home decorating’) they can match you up with an expert in your field in the country you need.

You can then make contact and interview  them by email / telephone / Skype or whatever your preferred method.

You may well find that some of the cutting-edge research in many fields is taking place here in Israel. I remember once researching a medical topic and all the top  experts came from the Weizmann Institute in Rechovot. A quick check with the editor assured me that they were happy to  have an interview with an expert from here as well as others more local to the publication.

As I mentioned above with the word cheque/ check, you will also have to match your spelling to the publication. English is not spelled the same in Britain and the USA. Again this is not an insurmountable problem. Here’s one site of many that can help you.

Of course this is assuming  that you want to write on subjects which are international. There are of course subjects which are much easier to write from Israel than anywhere else.

But that’s for another blog post.

I WISH YOU GOOD HEALTH

Have you noticed how  difficult it is to focus on anything else when you’re not well?

Your whole energy seems to be taken up on sleeping and trying to will yourself to feel better.

I remember the last time I had pneumonia was during  Operation Cast Lead, the  incursion into Gaza in January 2009 intended to stop the incessant rocket attacks on Israel.

I lay in bed listening to 24 hour news reports feeling helpless and useless. Not that I would have been called up to my unit or anything really useful like that.

But at least during the 2nd Lebanon war three years previously we had been able to help by hosting families from the northern towns who had fled the shelling. But there I was in 2009 not even able to make myself a meal let alone offer to host a family.

it wasn’t that I was full of self-pity. I knew that P.G. with the help of anti-biotics I would be well again soon. But it was just that in the meantime I was useless and frustrated.

Thank G’d nothing so dramatic was going on over the last  two weeks. Well not so close to home. But as I watched and read of the unfolding  dramas and revolutions in Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Iran et al  I couldn’t help but feel that my illnesses do seem to spark international incidents.

I’d better try and take better care of my health in future.

CHANGE THE WORLD – CHANGE YOURSELF

 

It’s the beginning of  February – anyone out there still keeping up their  new year resolutions ?

Anyone even remember what they were? You probably do because I bet they were the same as last year’s and the year’s before.

If  you have ever wondered what drives you , what makes you do the things you do and  how you can change that if you want to – watch the below twenty minute video with Tony Robbins – a world renowned  personal motivator and  coach.