October 12, 2011 It is more that 1900 days of prison for the sweet geeky Gilad Shalit in prison. Many of the people for whom he is being exchanged committed some pretty sordid murders of people, some of whom even more geeky than Gilad. Some of my family is tired of family in the middle of the long holidays, and want to travel around the country. Some of my family just wants to cling to family at times like these. All responses are legitimate. Me, I'm getting used to becoming agarophobic and waiting for test results. Don't know what it would be like to do anything else. I wonder if that isn't going to happen to the Shalits. On the one hand there is probably no Jewish family in Israel who does not have someone in the army, or who will be in the army, and if the army cannot promise it will do its utmost of ensure their return, all of us have something of a reluctance to entrust our child to it. On the other hand, if we add up the number of life sentences that we have commuted, what we have done is total madness, suicide. I think repeatedly of the Arab woman who seduced a Jewish teenager on the internet to come to her, to his death. And I remember that I have grandchildren who surf. October 13, 2011 We went to Yafo this morning again to try to take the movie for the show "Wait for me" on Russian tv. It is pretty clear we're not good at this since this is the third attempt, but today was quiet enough to chase away the few tourists who walked in front of the camera chattering and there wasn't all that much wind, just a gorgeous view of Tel Aviv. If it works, maybe my brother and I can meet the only cousin we have on our mother's side, the only relative who escaped the holocaust. October 14, 2011 While I've still got my fingers crossed for the Shalit deal, I'm fearful of sabotage. So many people don't want this deal to go through. And whatever happens, I want to thank Gershon Baskin whose long-term devotion to peace makes him a constant role model for me. I keep hoping that Gilad Shalit will come back 'whole' but no matter what Gilad Shalit's mental or physical state. I've come around to believe that we didn't make a really bad deal, After all, terrorists to Gaza? Coals to Newcastle.
October 15, 2011 After a day of grandchildren I was set to go to sleep, but Rachel as usual seduced me out of bed with an exhibit of contemporary Mosaics in Netanya. I'll see if I can get the pictures downloaded tomorrow.
Internet problems. Sorry. Ezi had to buy a new router and we're still reorganizing. By the way the internet has been a major factor in this entire Gilad Shalit episode. I doubt whether he would have been in the public eye for so long here if there had been no facebok.