A bad game of telephone

Note: read the entire post before thinking about it. It was written sequentually.

WHEN I HEARD: So there was a pigua in Jerusalem. It was weird, I had a premonition something like this would happen this morning and I’d have to wake my parents up by calling them at like 4 AM their time. In fact, I called them at 4:30 PM Jerusalem Winter Time, 6:30 AM PST.

AFTERWARDS: However, information through the grapevine is faulty and through a literal game of telephone (text messaging to be exact), a weaponological research center explosion in Haifa becomes a pigua in Jerusalem. I’m OK though (and Haifa is really far away) (I wrote the beginning of this message before I heard that it was in fact Haifa and didn’t want to change it in order to maintain the flow of thought that occurs).

I was in New York on 9/11. It was my first week of school and I was in Hebrew class at the time (B1 to be exact), first of all, one of the planes flew over and there were strange sirens rushing south with a very strong Doppler Effect. I was still unable to process this and when Mike Knopf came back after our 9:15 break to tell us that a private helicopter accidentally flew into the World Trade Center, this is what everyone believed. So too does lack of information and haste lead to people jumping to conclusions so quickly after they happen. These rumors of a helicopter crashing into the World Trade Center were problematic because they led people not to take it so seriously. Sure, there was some rumblings of foul play, but most people assumed it was a beginning flyer who went awry off his flight path. Two 767 passenger jets filled with transcontinental amounts of fuel? No way. So too was the damage done by calling this so soon. I had to call my parents immediately lest they fear for my well-being, as at the time my knowledge was that there was a bombing in Jerusalem.

Involved in my earlier premonitin was the following concern: would it be benificial and halachically okay, for the sake of Shalom Bayit, to carry a calling card or something with me on Shabbat in case, God forbid, something were to happen in Jerusalem so that I could ease my family's concern on a day meant for rest.

Also, as I was calling home to say I was okay (when we assumed it was a terrorist attack in Jerusalem), my phone died. Great.

The quote of the day goes to Ms. Rachel Zisser
Me: Hey Ziss, do you want to help complete an egalitarian minyan?
Rachel: um... no!

Finally, something random in my learning of Russian while working on Philosophy of the 13 Principles with two people of the slavic persuasion:

Здравствулте!, как вы делаете? Вы имеете мустард?
Здравствулте!, как вы делаете? Вы имеете мустард?
Hello! How are you doing? Do you have any mustard?

Chodesh Tov, a happy HAPPY (and safe) new month of Adar,
Matt