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Hebrew grammar

So yesterday went by fairly uneventfully. In keeping with my self-diciplinary ideas I cooked my own dinner instead of going for Schwarma, and then ate it with Quentin. I also managed to spend large part of my post Ulpan day in the company of the future tense verbs of binyan Paal. And I'm starting to grasp them which means I'm back where I was the last time I took my Hebrew studies seriously, 5 years ago.

I also waisted my time debating a fairly nasty letter that the NGO Women at the Wall had directed to the Israeli government and the general public. They were basically describing Orthodox people as a screaming, feces-throwing mob, while disingenuously seeking monopoly for their own brand of Judaism. I fail to understand why feminist Reformniks, who make a point of breaking every Hallacha they come across, feel it absolutely necessary to imitate prescribed Orthodox and male behavior in the one place in the world where it will be seriously hurtful - the Western Wall. Then again, The Israeli Rabbinate, along with a minority of Charedim, is hardly doing their part to decrease tensions.

Other than that I was in a strangely great mood yesterday, even after talking to the seriously sour lady at The Western Wall Herritage Foundation to change the bookings for the Underground Tunnels tour for a US friend.

The night ended with Ester trying unsuccessfully to first hypnotise Noddy, and then via mental powers make him light as a feather, so that we would be able to lift him on our fingers. This after some serious persuasive manoiuvers courtesy of Tweety. So Ester would repeatedly tell him that she would make him "light as a feather, light as a feather, light as...". After which 4 persons would press down on his head and....well. Try to lift him from the chair using two fingers under his arms and knees. None of it worked. Noddy seemed to be saddened that he wasn't able to be hypnotised, but with the screaming and shouting going on in the loft passageways, outside our open door, it's hardly surprising. Personally I strongly doubt I could get hypnotised in a sound-proof studio. I'm a control freak. I'd just get bored. At best.

"Light as a feather, light as a feather, light as..."

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  1. Isak BK AasvestadOctober 21, 2010 at 2:03 AM

    Not all women who pray wearing tefilin and tallit are "Reformniks, who make a point of breaking every Hallacha they come across".

    I've met quite a few tallit-wearing feminists who are very Orthoprax, doing everything halacha requires a Jew to do, including covering their hair after marriage.

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  2. Ofer MaimonOctober 21, 2010 at 1:30 PM

    Indeed. But they don't do it by the kotel and they don't read from Torah in the presence or earshot of men. I also never understood what is feminist about imitating male religious behavior, rather than concentrate on the female. There are however many feminist orthodox struggles I support, one of the most important is the fight against get refusal. In my view male chauvinism (or any chauvinism) has no place in judaism.

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