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I didn't go to the college this morning because at noon I had a dentist appointment. It was a tooth extraction and it was over in a couple of minutes, and I'm now home, and I'll even be able to eat soft foods soon. There's a television in the clinic, and while waiting for my appointment I watched the news. I'm not overly surprised that at least for now things didn't go well in Islamabad. There was even a report that China may be re-arming Iran and that Trump is threatening them. How many times have we noted that it's easier to start a war than it is to end it?
We did, however, take one important step toward feeling that the war is over. When I got home from my appointment I opened the window in our safe room - not only the glass window to air the room out, but the heavy iron window (if that's what it's called) that offers real protection. We're hopeful both that we won't have to close it again, and that this isn't simply wishful thinking.
I didn't watch the news this evening. Instead I was in a Zoom meeting with about thirty others from Ken Nirim in Los Angeles. I think there were only seven of us from Israel, with all the others in North America (one in Canada) except for one in Scotland. I knew only about half of those who joined, and quite a number whom I would have liked to see didn't show up. I don't know if this was for logical or technical reasons, or if some chose not to take part for political/ideological reasons. I tend to think that that wasn't the reason, but I don't know. Those from outside of Israel wanted to know how we were doing and how we were feeling. Three of the Israelis live very close to the Lebanese border where they have about fifteen seconds to find shelter when an alarm sounds. Today, at least until 20:00, there were fifty missiles fired to the north from Lebanon, so the question was one that definitely merited an answer, and the answer was definitely distressing. We were also asked what they could do to help. I don't think we gave answers, but it was a pleasant two hours (which is longer than it should have been).
It's now 22:50. Tzippi just walked in from her orchestra rehearsal and remarked that this was her first "normal" day since her brother arrived. That meant that she attended a lecture on the kibbutz in the morning, followed by a yoga class and then lunch in the chadar ochel. And then, before she left for her orchestra rehearsal her piano student came for her lesson. So yes, a normal day.
So the talks in Islamabad seem at least temporarily to be off, and Trump continues to threaten - this time blocking the Strait of Hormuz - and we're hoping that the ceasefire will at least last the two weeks that they're supposed to. There is one good thing in the news - it seems that Viktor Orban has been defeated in Hungary, and maybe that means that our wannabe dictator can also be defeated. Orban's successor doesn't seem that much better, but he's apparently less authoritarian, and that can't hurt. In that, there may be a similarity to Israel. The present frontrunner to defeat Netanyahu is a conservative who isn't particularly different from him on the territories. Hopefully more liberal candidates will attract more votes, but if not, anything is better than what we have now. We can hope.
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