I thought it was beautifully written, Shir. If you don't know where to start? BAM - you got it right there!

Ok, no Buffista note for me. I guess I should figure out what I have in my closet that currently fits and pack my suitcase.

Haha! I'm pretty sure we sang the same one at my Jewish summer camp. Debbie Friedman or one of that crowd, right?

I'm not sure. We learned it in Hebrew, and the only line I can remember is the "al HaTorah, v'al ha'avodah, v'al gimilut chassadim" part.

I just went up to my roof to sit and read for a while, which was nice. How come florescent lights look red for a few minutes after I come in from the sun? (Yes, I know I need sunglasses so that doesn't happen.)

Much success with this Shir.

How come florescent lights look red for a few minutes after I come in from the sun?

Dunno. But there are all kinds of artificial "white" light that really isn't white, but your brain figures out it should be white and then adjusts your perceptions accordingly (so most of the time you never notice).

Well, if you really think you're getting sick, sj, I'd totally exempt you. I've gotten divebombed with enough colds that way to last me forever. Signed, Love to See you If I'm not Sick for A Week Afterwards Shir, good for you. TB, I guess I didn't read that closely...somebody thought it was their government job to do that? That is even more horrible than I envisioned it being.

Thanks, Shir, I'll check it out. Do you follow the Israeli "Idol" show at all? This has been making the email rounds here, about the American woman who entered -

Meet Nikia Brown, a 34-year-old African-American woman who converted to Judaism and made aliyah. She's now a contestant on Israel's version of "American Idol." Link

I don't know when the show was on or what happened to her.

I thought she was very sincere, beautiful, and a terrific singer. Points off to the Israeli judges for 1) commenting on her "soul" and "rhythm" (like they couldn't think of other ways to compliment an African American ?!?) and 2) telling her that her lack of understanding of Hebrew (she can't really "feel" the songs?) and her American accent are huge problems she'll have to fix. Just a little bit of chauvinism there... Non-English speakers sing in English all the time!

I'm not sure. We learned it in Hebrew, and the only line I can remember is the "al HaTorah, v'al ha'avodah, v'al gimilut chassadim" part.

"Al shlosha devarim ha'olam omaid: al ha-Torah, v'al ha-avodah, v'al gemilut chasadim" - it's from the Ethics of the Fathers in the Talmud, IIRC.

We have a big poster of that line that we hang in our sukkah each year!

Points off to the Israeli judges for 1) commenting on her "soul" and "rhythm" (like they couldn't think of other ways to compliment an African American ?!?)

well, it's kind of like the way that people like to tell me that I'm "articulate" and "well spoken". I always want to say "I'm a lawyer, why would you expect anything else?"

telling her that her lack of understanding of Hebrew (she can't really "feel" the songs?) and her American accent are huge problems she'll have to fix. Just a little bit of chauvinism there...

I don't watch Israeli Idol. I don't like reality shows, though I watched some of the first seasons on American Idol.

I can see the remark on her "soul" and "rhythm" in three aspects: one, as an actual compliment. It's a good thing to say to any competitor there - which means, forgetting she's African American and treat her as an Israeli. Two, as a stereotypical thinking - and hey, that comes from someone who was attacked yesterday because someone thought that the fact the she wear pants and cleavage must means she's impure and danger to the humanity. Maybe there's a common thing here between Israeli and the U.S.: both of our countries are a kind of a melting pot; in order to create uniformity, you'd have to reduce your conceptual world into clear (binary) cuts. If contradicting parts are living next to each other in that conceptual world, you've won the cultural game and your culture is strong (see Capitalism and human rights talk for an example - their basic elements are contradicting each other, yet some of the richest people on earth keep giving money to charity). And three, an insult in disguise.

There's a good chance all three aspects are on the same line of thinking, of course.

As for the second remark... well, part of me wants to agree. I don't know if it's because it's my first language, but I feel Hebrew differently. Something in it, in there. It's in my bones, the meaning of the words, and their origins. I can tell what's Aramic and what's from Chazal and what's from the Bible. But it's just in the feeling, as well. I mostly listen to music in English, and there, the words come last or next to last in their significance of my loving to a song. In songs in Hebrew, it's almost the most important thing. I can fall for a song, even in a genre I dislike, just because of the lyrics. While I don't agree that you need to understand the words and speak the language to sing in it, you need to do so to be a good listener of it.

But their remark reminded me of the reaction to Josie Katz, lead singer of The High Windows [link] . Her band mates (including her partner) kept telling her she needed to work on her accent (she didn't understand a word of what she was singing), while hiding from her the praises her singing got.

"Al shlosha devarim ha'olam omaid: al ha-Torah, v'al ha-avodah, v'al gemilut chasadim"

Amazing. Even when it's put into English alphabet, I still understand it faster than I do when I read English-English.