World Changing Events That Surpass Even Windows 10 And the ICloud

               World Changing Events That Surpass Even Windows 10 And the ICloud

                                                    Part I

   I recently checked what people thought were the most significant world events. As you would imagine - the list began with the Greeks defeating the Persians, etc. - the Roman Empire - etc. - Martin Luther - the American Revolution - we're skipping a few of course - the the Industrial Revolution, WWI and WWII - communications satellites - the internet - and Taco Bell..not exactly in that order - but close. BEWARE...THIS IS LARGELY WESTERN CIVILIZATION - and this is generally how they have been educated. None of this is necessarily true, but large parts of this history have been witnessed and recorded and you can review many books and pictures, letters and other recordings, to your own satisfaction and draw your own conclusions. Still, this is what the scrapbook of Western Man looks like. 

   The Bible also records a series of events of magnitude over a span of many centuries and generations of men. It includes names and locations as well as careful descriptions of names of persons and families, tribes of persons, plants and animals, struggles, pleasures and pains,  and a current of "life can be tough - get used to it" - and - here's what's good and here's what's bad - so if you mess up don't say I didn't warn you. "This world is not a resort, you are dead meat no matter what you do, so you'd better listen up and make the most of the time you're here." 

   Most people are turned on somewhat by the challenge, do the best they can to stay out of trouble, and try a thing or two all their own to make a name for themselves...

   If you've read down this far, you haven't wasted your time. This world's power structure has recently changed - and - that's very good for all of us. We're looking at a much brighter future, despite thousands of years of sinking deeper and deeper into the mud and confusing hopelessness with.life. It's not supposed to be that way. 

The first Kosher Deli in the Middle East

The first Kosher Deli in the Middle East

   

   My brother Denny and I sold our house and most everything else we owned, bought tickets for an El Al flight to Lod, Israel and were off to a brand new start in life. My father had passed away and it seemed like a good time to take a long vacation. We had much to learn about who we were - or thought we were - or even where we were. 
   I remember a short stocky man with a beret in the airport when we arrived. He carried a stalk of bananas over his shoulder. This was different. This was not going to be the same as I thought. A camel's head passed by the high window of the Hebrew language  classroom we sat in on the first day of classes in Carmiel, Israel. The class tittered. It was not expected, but there he was. What was this country really about? 
   There was a general enthusiasm among the Israelis. They had just won an impossible war. It was like David vs Goliath. The whole world expected Israel to be crushed and instead they beat the pants off of a hundred million Arabs. It was, indeed, amazing. This is what drove me to decide to find out what Israel was about - to take a break in my own struggles and look at things from another perspective, while I had the opportunity. 
   There were some problems, of course, that were totally unexpected. Imagine, just imagine for a moment; Israel, a country where you would expect everything to be Jewish - you know - bagels, lox, kosher pickles - corned beef specials. Forget it. The only bagels in Israel might have been at the King David Hotel - maybe - but certainly not on the menu. How can Israel be a Jewish country without bagels and lox? You think I'm kidding you! I'm not!! The closest corned beef special was, perhaps, one thousand miles away in in the south of France!! - if that!! "Jewish" was not Jewish - not the Jewish I learned! No way. This was all explained to me by a classmate in The Ben Gurion University of the Negev when we were studying "instrumentation" for chemical analysis. He was an American like myself. "These people are not Jewish Bill"  He was religious and wore his kippah everywhere. He was also a very bright student and was doing his master's degree. He must know what he is talking about.    ...In fact both he and I were Ashkenazim (European Jews) as opposed to most of the Israelis who were Sepharadim (Spanish or Jews from North Africa and the Middle East). In fact, it would become much clearer to me later that the Jewish I knew about was really "Europe". Indeed - My father's family were from Lithuania - "Litvaks" and my mother's family were from Ukraina - Kiev - the Ukraine - the home of stuffed cabbage and possibly corned beef. Who knows? I sure didn't. Where was I? My Israeli born wife, who's dad was from Berlin, and mom from Holland, had maybe an inkling of what I was talking about and could cook up matzo ball soup, still looked at me funny when I tried to explain what a corned beef special was - or corned beef at all. Instead she'd fry up some "Schnitzel - or turkey fried like veal with breadcrumbs and sauce. It was actually pretty good. She made eggs with tomatoes and I don't know quite what, but it was called "Shakshuka"  and was and is very popular in Israel. Before I go any further here, two things that are very important. One, the bread in Israel is incredibly good - so are the breakfasts. Eggs and fresh vegetables, sour cream - all garden fresh and very nutritious. Israel has a climate all its own of course and thousands of years of tradition for preparing local dishes - all excellent. Two, I lived in Judea - the ancient and modern home of the Jewish (Judean people) - it was very Jewish - totally Jewish there - only I was thousands of years behind and thousands of years away from my ancestral homeland. 
   After the Ulpan (teaching center) in Carmiel,  my brother and myself moved to Bat Yam, where I'd met my future wife and decided to work at cooking up something that would seem like home. Pizza. Which at that time was totally impossible. Maybe it was the lack of seasoning, the wrong dough, maybe the tomato sauce or the cheese. Who knows? It didn't work. Didn't even come close. Right around the corner though was a stand with an electric spit and lamb on a rotisserie which a guy sliced as it turned and put the meat into a pita with vegetables and sauce. Heavens - here it was - the Middle East - Deli - these guys knew what they were doing!! They call it Shwarma - wow - beats corned beef any day of the week!! It wasn't long and we began to catch on. You're not going to find Vermont Maple Syrup on the bayou in Louisiana - or fresh brook trout in Saudi Arabia - or probably not. But, goodness, Israel and the Middle East have their share of very fine food - and believe me - it's totally Jewish - and kosher too!!...