Hamas used the hudna to increase the range of their missiles and now it seems they are trying to target Israeli infrastructure. From Haaretz:

"Today (brought) another escalation in the terrorist activity of the Hamas movement when for the first time, they launched a rocket into a town in the southern part of the country, Ashkelon, making an effort to hit a strategic target that is one of our largest power stations," Sharon said.

While I was travelling in Israel, I wondered why the terrorist groups weren't targetting these types of places already. After all, it's much easier to sneak into an isolated power station than a restaurant today. The only reasons I could think of for not doing so are: 1) killing Jews makes the news, and 2) the terrorists want to kill Jews. However, I suppose they've learned that their rockets are ineffective at killing Jews, so they need to aim at a bigger target.

Also from the Haaretz article, "Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he had ordered the IDF to take "all necessary steps" against Palestinian militants." I'm sure he didn't use the word "militants," though.

Go get 'em, boys.

A friend's father died last week. She just returned home tonight and is sitting shiva. The Jewish custom is to have prayer services in the shiva home as the person in mourning shouldn't leave their home. The word spread that a minyan was needed and our community responded. Almost 25 people packed her small appartment to pray, enable her to say Kaddish, and lend comfort to her. She was overwhelmed by the response.

I suspect many people find it difficult to meet with someone who's just suffered such an incredible loss. We definitely don't want to see them immediately afterwards - they should get over the initial shock, right? We also never know what to say and are afraid that without the words, we offer nothing. Tonight's experience as well as previous shivas I have attended continue to prove that words are not needed and simply your presence is a great comfort to the mourners. It took me a while to learn this lesson... it's gems like this that make me glad I am finding my way back to Judaism. There's over 2000 years of human experience codified into law and custom and it rarely points the wrong way. After all of humanity's advances over the last couple of millennia, we are still only human.

I want to write something but I'm blocked. Why? I ask myself. It's not as if anyone is actually reading this blog. The few surfers that have wandered in never find their way back. I knew this personal stuff wouldn't be much of a draw for people, or perhaps it's something else. I suspect the anonymity (thank God for Dictionary.com - one loses spelling ability after 30) turns people off as it's hard to engage with someone you don't know anything about. If I read my blog with fresh eyes, I think I would see some confused guy with the occasional opinion about the Israel-Palestine conflict and little else.

But, hey, that's what I am - a confused guy with the occasional opinion on world affairs. We'll see if the confusion dissipates with time.

Another short discussion with my rabbi about faith. He had a couple more ideas for me to think about... Given our busy schedules, I suspect we're going to have many short discussions about faith in God. I like chipping away at this slowly.

One idea he had involved our relationships with people. We put up many barriers between us and others (some people more than others). He suggests that if we work on tearing down those barriers and become closer to people, we will also, by default, become closer to God. It's a simple, but powerful idea. His idea was further reinforced by a passage in For Those Who Can't Believe where Schulweis draws a spiral that starts with Self in the middle and moves out to Family, Community, and Humanity. He states that Godliness hovers over the face of this spiral and can only be reached by embracing all four relationships. (I wish I had picture hosting.)

This idea reverberates strongly for me and explains how I've reached this point in my journey. I was pretty much a loner in high school with just a few good friends. At that point in my life I had shrugged off God and religion. I gained more, closer friends in university and then got married to a woman interested in our Jewish roots. She led a return back to Judaism and a few years ago, we found a Jewish community that we felt very comfortable in. We are now quite involved in various aspects of communal life and have much closer friends than I've ever had before. Even though I continue to doubt, my faith has been strengthened through this process.

What does this all mean? It's hard for me to explain at this point. Obviously, there is a strong connection between knowing people and knowing God. It makes me wonder about the nature of God and where God is truly found. I feel my simplistic concepts of God are falling away. My journey must be continuing.

I am now reading Faith After the Holocaust by Eliezer Berkovits, not because I cannot accept the idea of God allowing the Holocaust to happen, but just to glean his ideas about faith. The book opens with a scathing critique of the complicity of the Catholic Church and all the Western nations. Ouch.