Thursday Thirteen ~ memories are made of this

Click on the illustration to enlarge it for easier reading.

1.  As we sat around the (Kosher) table after dinner last week, the discussion turned to Birthright Israel.  The teenage grandson of one friend at the table is in Israel right now, though not with this program.  It was the first I'd heard of it.

2.  How interesting that, the very next day, I happened across an article about it:

"Birthright Israel, known in Hebrew as Taglit, is a program that sends Jewish young adults on free ten-day trips to Israel."

A few days later, I happened across another article about the Taglit program.  I'm still processing this article.

3.  A friend's email on Sunday randomly asked, "Have you found any opportunities to use your Hebrew that you learned years ago?"  Since the Jewish community provides the Crown Center residences and programs for the elderly, our meals are Kosher (see #1 above), if we choose to eat downstairs rather than in our own apartments.  Before our evening meal on Friday, we have Sabbath prayers over lighting the candles, drinking wine, and eating challah bread.  When the prayers (shown in the illustration above) are recited in both Hebrew and English, I am able to say the words along with those chosen to lead the prayers.  This is a unique place to live, and I'm loving it!

4.  My friend Debra posted something on her blog that linked to one of her earlier posts, and there I found a "conversation in the comments" that Debra and I had had three years ago about cedar flutes.

5.  I haven't played mine lately (it looks a lot like this one), so I got out of my chair and picked up my flute.

6.  Debra mentioned something she'd read on MY blog earlier, so I went looking for it.  What I found was ― surprise! ― another link to the Friday prayers in Hebrew!  Memories and connections are so interesting.

7.  Also on my earlier blog post was a photo of the Mid-County Branch of the library.  This building in the photo has been torn down, and a new one is being built in its place.  Donna and I occasionally drive by on our way home from shopping or eating out, just to monitor how far along construction has come.

8.  We don't all have the same 24 hours, and Jan Edmiston explains why.

9.  Books white people need to read ― there are 100 on the list.

10.  I googled "how to block calls on an LG flip phone" (yes, I have a flip phone like this).  Several answers came up, but none of the options worked on my phone.  Nowhere can I find "Security," much less how to restrict calls.  My 3-year-old phone must be too old for this newfangled stuff about blocking.

11.  Have you blocked spam calls on your own phone?  Was it hard to do?  Tell me what kind of cellphone you have, since I may have to buy a new one to block these stupid robo-calls.

12.  Would an additional $85 a month expense affect your ability to pay other bills?  It matters to lots of people, like the elderly on Social Security and "families in unbreakable patterns of hardship."  Read more in this article:  Crony Capitalism is Making Us Sick by Erin Wathen, the Irreverin I quoted last week.

13.  Hearing loss and how you can help.  Sometimes I have trouble with certain words spoken by certain people, so I can understand this list: