it is nearly 8 p.m. in the holy city of safed. it is nearly time for my nightly hour walk around the neighborhood. the dogs have gotten out and run away. i am too tired to search for them. i know i haven't posted any writing in months. i have been on facebook. i spend many hours on facebook commenting on just about everything that's posted. i communicate with old friends in australia; family and friends in the states and my chabad family in dehli. india. it's a compulsion. it gets me very wired and i don't sleep until 4 a.m.
i mostly read everything posted out there on covid. i am amongst the unvaxed. i am a traitor to my country and a disappointment to my orthodox community. i turned 70 in july and according to the covid news; i should already be dead. i am very tired from all the turmoil. i spent the first year in isolation. i went to the supermarket at 6 a.m. and took the dogs out when no one was around. i did visit a friend or two. i stayed away from synagogue and any place that involved people.
i went on a strict health regimen and started intermittent fasting. i gave up sugar, chocolate and processed foods. i started walking. i lost around 45 pounds. i spent the summer at the local neighborhood outside pool. i turned brown. i learned how to swim or dog paddle and get to the end of the pool. i went to see the grandkids in jerusalem. i bought a few new things to wear. i went to a maul once with a friend.
i recently had some tasty pizza. i haven't been to a restaurant yet and i don't do takeout. i eat very simple food and don't feel comfortable eating other peoples' cooking. i went to the gyn oncologist and the lung surgeon but i failed to do a brain MRI; nor see the neurosurgeon. yes, i am still walking around with a huge, benign brain tumor and a microscopic cancerous tumor in my left lung. who cares about covid. oh the good news; is that i am still in remission.
tomorrow begins the weeklong festival of sukkot. the sephardi family downstairs; built an immense wooden sukkah dwelling with curtains and windows and blinds. the father of the clan lives in this wooden dwelling all week long. he prays in it and sleeps in it and of course; eats in it. i felt sad last year without my own little sukkah upstairs. sukkot is definitely; a man's world and a man's holiday. women are not obligated to eat or sleep in the sukkah.
i decided to assemble my sukkah this afternoon. it took me about 4 hours. i have a collection of plastic vines and grapes and pomegranates and apples. i do not have the patience to play around with this and string up these fruits this year. i am exhausted. i was up and down off a metal chair for hours. my body hurts and it was hot outside. i want the dogs to come home and i want to take my walk. tomorrow i am cooking a holiday meal for my friend and myself. she doesn't want to be around a lot of people so i won't be joining the sephardi family for the holiday. i think my son and family will come for shabbat so i will be with everyone then in the huge sukkah downstairs.
i am planning on making stuffed peppers, spicy barbecued chicken wings, chopped liver, humus, tahina, green salad, tabouli salad, and buckwheat and bow tie pasta. it is actually 2 holiday meals and the dogs have to eat, too. nice talking to you all again. Happy holiday to all my jewish readers.
t
