From a story by Sotiib (Author's name transliterated from some language to Hebrew and then to English)
A sudden heavy rain surprised an ant. "Where shall I hide so I won't get wet?" She saw a small mushroom, ran to it and go under it's dome. Rain fell harder and harder, but it was dry under the mushroom.
A wet dragonfly came up to the mushroom. "Ant, let me hide under the mushroom."
"How can I?" said the ant. "I can barely fit here myself."
"Move over a little! We can squeeze together!"
So the ant moved over and let the dragonfly enter.
The rain continued. A little mouse came by. "Let me get under the mushroom," he said.
"How can we let you under? There's no room!"
"Squeeze a little!"
So they squeezed together and let the mouse under the mushroom. And rain kept coming down.
Along came a bird. "I'm so wet and tired. Please let me rest under the mushroom till the rain's over," said the bird.
"But there's no room," said the other three.
"Please, squeeze together!" said the bird.
"OK. We'll try," they answered. So they squeezed together and found room for the bird.
Along came a rabbit. "Save me!" he cried. "The fox is after me!"
"We need to have pity on the rabbit," said the ant. "Let's squeeze together a little more."
As soon as they received the rabbit, along came the fox. "Have you seen a rabbit?" he asked.
"How do you think a rabbit could fit under this little mushroom?" replied the ant.
And the fox ran off.
The rain stopped. The four creatures came out from under the mushroom. "How is this?" asked the ant. "At first there was barely room for me. How did all five of us fit under the mushroom?"
A frog jumped out and said, "When it rains, the mushroom...." And he hopped away.
They all looked at the mushroom, and immediately understood.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him... for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt...and thou shalt love him as thyself..."
December 29, 2011
December 28, 2011
MORNING
Morning is the best time to do everything. It's too bad we can't have two mornings every day. Morning is the best time to eat breakfast. Morning is the best time to clean house or tackle a difficult project. Morning is the best time to study, solve problems, or do anything that requires clear thinking. Morning is the best time to research refugees/infiltrators from Africa to Israel. (I don't like it when they call them infiltrators.)
There is an economic side (and several other sides) to absorbing many immigrants. It should be possible to do the morally right thing in a legal way. Why does it always have to get so complicated. I think the missing factor is faith. If you do what is right, even if it costs you something, God will bless. God will return to you what you give, whether in this life or in the next.
It is difficult, in my mind, to tell a nation or a government, "You need to have faith." But it is not so difficult understand that every individual needs to have faith.
Consider the lilies of the field. They toil not, neither do they spin, but God arrays them in glory. They get more than they ask for, and they don't have to work for it. Human beings are required to work, but the blessing on their work comes from God, and when you have faith, the blessing is far more than the amount of work you did.
There is an economic side (and several other sides) to absorbing many immigrants. It should be possible to do the morally right thing in a legal way. Why does it always have to get so complicated. I think the missing factor is faith. If you do what is right, even if it costs you something, God will bless. God will return to you what you give, whether in this life or in the next.
It is difficult, in my mind, to tell a nation or a government, "You need to have faith." But it is not so difficult understand that every individual needs to have faith.
Consider the lilies of the field. They toil not, neither do they spin, but God arrays them in glory. They get more than they ask for, and they don't have to work for it. Human beings are required to work, but the blessing on their work comes from God, and when you have faith, the blessing is far more than the amount of work you did.
December 27, 2011
Reading Hebrew
I solved the problem with vowel-covered websites. Simply click Encoding, Hebrew ISO.
I read the Little Red Hen in Hebrew, which was quite easy, and I learned one useful phrase, "And that is what she did," or "And so she did." There are jillions of stories about chickens, for some reason or other. There probably was a time when everyone was familiar with chickens and probably had a few in their house. I used to raise chickens, and I counted at least a dozen meaningful sounds they make.
By the way a man told me that the other day a chicken was running back and forth on the bus and noone seemed to care or be at all surprised.
I have been taking lessons from a tutor, so I can ask questions about whatever I want to know, including the rules for shwa's and dageshes. I am also learning some things that I would have never asked for. Like some of the horrible things the Christians have done to the Jews. Such as spreading rumors about Jews making matzos with the blood of Christian children, etc, till pretty soon everybody believed it. Sometimes Jews were forced to convert to Christianity, etc.
There seem to be several unconnected areas of language learning. Reading children's stories, studying grammar, reading the Bible, reading labels on jars and signs along the road and in stores, listening and speaking--it seems like a never-ending process, and all these different tasks never blend together. I don't remember going through all this in English. I just started reading. (But of course I had already been listening to English for several years.) I remember asking my mother "what's this word," and fearing that I would ask the same word more than once. In Hebrew I sometimes can't get a word to stick in my head and have to look it up twenty times. Sometimes I hear a word and a minute later have to ask my tutor, what was that word again? And a minute later, what was that word again? What tense is that? How do you say it in past tense? How do you spell it? What's the difference between that and this?
And whoever heard of eating breakfast at ten o'clock. Guess I better run and eat.
I read the Little Red Hen in Hebrew, which was quite easy, and I learned one useful phrase, "And that is what she did," or "And so she did." There are jillions of stories about chickens, for some reason or other. There probably was a time when everyone was familiar with chickens and probably had a few in their house. I used to raise chickens, and I counted at least a dozen meaningful sounds they make.
By the way a man told me that the other day a chicken was running back and forth on the bus and noone seemed to care or be at all surprised.
I have been taking lessons from a tutor, so I can ask questions about whatever I want to know, including the rules for shwa's and dageshes. I am also learning some things that I would have never asked for. Like some of the horrible things the Christians have done to the Jews. Such as spreading rumors about Jews making matzos with the blood of Christian children, etc, till pretty soon everybody believed it. Sometimes Jews were forced to convert to Christianity, etc.
There seem to be several unconnected areas of language learning. Reading children's stories, studying grammar, reading the Bible, reading labels on jars and signs along the road and in stores, listening and speaking--it seems like a never-ending process, and all these different tasks never blend together. I don't remember going through all this in English. I just started reading. (But of course I had already been listening to English for several years.) I remember asking my mother "what's this word," and fearing that I would ask the same word more than once. In Hebrew I sometimes can't get a word to stick in my head and have to look it up twenty times. Sometimes I hear a word and a minute later have to ask my tutor, what was that word again? And a minute later, what was that word again? What tense is that? How do you say it in past tense? How do you spell it? What's the difference between that and this?
And whoever heard of eating breakfast at ten o'clock. Guess I better run and eat.
December 19, 2011
1500 Children's Stories in Hebrew
I found an interesting website for practicing reading Hebrew. It has many children's books in Hebrew. Some are actual photocopies of very old books. Some are the Little Golden Books that I read when I was little. Some are folk tales from varous countries. There are several versions of old classics like "Little Red Hen" and "Gingerbread Man" and many others. There are books by Thornton Burgess and Beatrix Potter.
One of my favorites books to look at is called "A Day in the Life of Tony," written in 1900. The drawings are especially good. It was back in the days when women had long hair and wore long skirts and aprons. Tony's bed is a wooden box. Clothes are hung on clotheslines and father comes home from work carrying a spade. Geese wander through the street and there are no cars. Tony, who is just a toddler, cries easily and is pacified easily. He has many toddler adventures. He manages to escape from his mother while she is trying to shop, falls in the washtub, tries to eat a piece of coal, falls asleep in his father's arms at supper time.
The problem with this website is that the homepage is all vowels. I don't know what story I will get until I click a link.
One of my favorites books to look at is called "A Day in the Life of Tony," written in 1900. The drawings are especially good. It was back in the days when women had long hair and wore long skirts and aprons. Tony's bed is a wooden box. Clothes are hung on clotheslines and father comes home from work carrying a spade. Geese wander through the street and there are no cars. Tony, who is just a toddler, cries easily and is pacified easily. He has many toddler adventures. He manages to escape from his mother while she is trying to shop, falls in the washtub, tries to eat a piece of coal, falls asleep in his father's arms at supper time.
The problem with this website is that the homepage is all vowels. I don't know what story I will get until I click a link.
December 7, 2011
Psalm 6
This is a really interesting Psalm. It has lots of colorful vocabulary. It also comes in handy for many different circumstances in many different ways.
Some of it is rather mysterious. Like verse three, which doesn't sound like a complete sentence: "But thou, O LORD, how long?" I'm sure it's left open and indefinite for a reason. That's the way trials are--you don't even know what question to ask.
"..in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" If I were dead, would I wish I were alive so I could give thanks? (Pardon the oddness of this remark.) But I am alive, so I can give thanks. No matter what my situation now is, I am alive, so maybe I can even give thanks for this seeming mess/ disappointment/ catastrophe. After all, it's part of life, and I do like being alive.
"I am weary," so weary, but "the LORD will receive my prayer."
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Some of it is rather mysterious. Like verse three, which doesn't sound like a complete sentence: "But thou, O LORD, how long?" I'm sure it's left open and indefinite for a reason. That's the way trials are--you don't even know what question to ask.
"..in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" If I were dead, would I wish I were alive so I could give thanks? (Pardon the oddness of this remark.) But I am alive, so I can give thanks. No matter what my situation now is, I am alive, so maybe I can even give thanks for this seeming mess/ disappointment/ catastrophe. After all, it's part of life, and I do like being alive.
"I am weary," so weary, but "the LORD will receive my prayer."
| הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי | save me! | עָשְׁשָׁה | she was consumed, wasted |
| חַלְּצָה | deliver! | כָל-צוֹרְרָי | all my enemies |
| חָנֵּנִי | have mercy on me! | כָּל-אֹיְבָי | all my enemies |
| יָגַעְתִּי | I was wearied | בְּאַפְּךָ | in thine anger |
| תְיַסְּרֵנִי | you will chasten me | בַּחֲמָתְךָ | in thy hot anger |
| תוֹכִיחֵנִי | you will rebuke me | אַמְסֶה | I will water |
| אֻמְלַל | weak | אַשְׂחֶה | I will make to swim |
December 2, 2011
Food Prices
Vegetable prices.These we bought at a vegetable market. At grocery stores the price might be double.
In Dollars per Pound.
eggplant .68
bananas .79
local apples .85
onions .45
plums 1.70
cucumbers .85
carrots .45
strawberries 4.86/package - expensive. In a couple weeks they'll be a lot cheaper.
Other prices:
Instant coffee: $16/pound
Ground coffee: $17/pound
Bread: 3 dollars for 1.6 pounds. Usually pretty good bread, not white stuff.
Butter is roughly 2 dollars a pound.
Old-fashioned oats: $3.24 for 18 oz.
Mayonnaise: $4.00 for 1.1 pound
110 teabags: $4.86
Ground beef: $8 a pound
Extra large eggs: $6/dozen, guaranteed UnFresh
Canned tuna: $6 for 6 oz
Chicken breasts: somewhere around $7.00/pound
Cocoa powder, unsweetened: $4.48 for 5 oz. A little goes a long way, provided you're not drinking it. I put a teaspoon on my cereal every day. (A day without chocolate is like a day without sunshine.)
In Dollars per Pound.
eggplant .68
bananas .79
local apples .85
onions .45
plums 1.70
cucumbers .85
carrots .45
strawberries 4.86/package - expensive. In a couple weeks they'll be a lot cheaper.
Other prices:
Instant coffee: $16/pound
Ground coffee: $17/pound
Bread: 3 dollars for 1.6 pounds. Usually pretty good bread, not white stuff.
Butter is roughly 2 dollars a pound.
Old-fashioned oats: $3.24 for 18 oz.
Mayonnaise: $4.00 for 1.1 pound
110 teabags: $4.86
Ground beef: $8 a pound
Extra large eggs: $6/dozen, guaranteed UnFresh
Canned tuna: $6 for 6 oz
Chicken breasts: somewhere around $7.00/pound
Cocoa powder, unsweetened: $4.48 for 5 oz. A little goes a long way, provided you're not drinking it. I put a teaspoon on my cereal every day. (A day without chocolate is like a day without sunshine.)
December 1, 2011
Psalm 5, Tableizer
Tableizer sort of works. However I don't know how to align the first column to the right. And it doesn't like Hebrew and puts periods in the wrong places. Easy to fix--simply put the cursor on the right side of the word and type a period and it types it on the left side. Elementary, my dear Watson.
<><><><><><><><><>
| יַחֲלִיקוּן | they will flatter | .ח.ל.ק | hifil future | ||
| יְרַנֵּנוּ | they will shout for joy | .ר.נ.נ | |||
| הוֹלְלִים | the foolish | ||||
| הַאֲשִׁימֵם | destroy them! | .א.ש.מ | bring the consequences of sin | ||
| הַדִּיחֵמוֹ | cast them out! | .נ.ד.ח | hifil | cast down, thrust, drive, bring down | |
| בִּינָה | consider! | .ב.י.נ | |||
| אֶעֱרָךְ-לְךָ | I will direct to thee | .ע.ר.כ | |||
| אֲצַפֶּה | I will look up | .צ.פ.ה |
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