Things I love and miss about the US

After a lovely three week vacation in the US, the family is back home in Israel ... A wonderful break, but before getting back to reality - a short list of the things I love and miss about the US.

1. Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.  It really should be a must in every super market in the world.
2. Fishing on the Sound.  Well worth it, especially the 20+ pound blues.
3. Not needing these 3am alarm clocks to watch the Cowboys hammer the Giants, or the Rangers hold onto their 4 game lead in the AL West.
4. New York City.  Need I say more?
5. The drivers.  I pressed they horn once while driving almost daily for 3 weeks.  During this morning's 10 minute after leaving my house?  4 times! 

This post is lovingly dedicated to my father in law!  :)
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Reb Aryeh, II

Abraham Axelrod recalled: One day Reb Aryeh came to visit us in the prison camp in Latrun. It was an extremely hot day, and we had been going about dressed almost like Tarzan in the jungle. Suddenly we caught sight of Reb Aryeh approaching the camp, and we scampered to our quarters to get dressed properly, in shirts, trousers and of course, hats or kippoth. His sharp eye however, saw enough signs of our scurry and flurry, and he understood all. First he led us in minha, the afternoon prayer-service. Then he gave each and every one of us personal messages of greeting from families and dear ones. After that he began addressing us in his gentle voice that never chided:

"Today it is very hot, and you were going about dressed comfortably. If you changed your way of dressing because of me, that was not good. Perhaps my visits impose a burden on you."

Not another word did he say about it. He himself was dressed in his usual black coat and hat, and the temperature was surely higher for him than for us. And probably he would have liked to see us clothed according to his own idea of proper dress (like his own children, for example). Yet he was unique in his capacity to understand us, and he accepted us as we were. This was the very main reason why we always had such a boundless love and admiration for him.

This is taken from Simcha Raz's A Tzaddik in our Time.
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Justice for the 96

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