Avram Wedding Videos

Yes Yes it finally happened. After sitting next to and listening to lots about it, it finally took place.
Avram and Talya got married and what a great wedding it was.
So Avram and Talya -- I wish the 2 of you all the best in your new life together. I wish you only the best things in life and as they say you get to build your "bayit neeman beyisrael"

Talya -- you need to introduce Avram to some new music, because, well -- wedding music can only be listened to for so long before it gets tedious.

On another note once again my own "aishes chayil" proved invaluable at the wedding as she remembere the camera, so as the saying goes " Wives - don't leave home without one"

anyway - here are some videos

Avram's Wedding

Tisha B'Av thoughts

I know it's a little late, but this is the first time i have had to write this...

If we go back to the origins for Tisha B'av the whole eternal damning of this day came out of negative propaganda and people believing it. 10 leaders were able to persuade the whole nation that Israel was not worth fighting over, not worth working hard for. They painted a gloomy picture
"and they spread an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying: 'The land, through which we have passed to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature"

This, some may say is still true today -- the land definitely "eats its inhabitants" in more ways than you could really imagine.

With Israel fighting boycotts, a negative media image, NGO's criticising Israel for anything it does, and countless other negative vibes, it is very easy to think that this is the spies again coming back out and saying - its not worth it.

Sitting in Shul on Tisha B'av its clear to see that its always been like this.
This antisemitism is sadly told of over and over in the kinot read -- how the nations of the world will cause problems (i cant find the exact wording right now), how they will jeer and reject us.
The problems described are as old as the destruction itself.
I think its one of the reasons why Sinat Chinam( baseless hatred) destroyed the temple. But i see it on a national level, not just a personal level.

10 leaders persuaded all the Jews to hate Israel for no good reason
1 unwanted invitee to a party persuaded the Romans to hate Israel
1 rogue photographer in last years war got his photos published on CNN and the world thought much worse of Israel
The stories go on.


Sadly it does not take much to make the world hate Israel, so when G-d said that because we cried on this night for no reason, he would give us a reason to cry -- this is our punishment.
Sinat Chinam destroyed our chance, so sinat Chinam keeps happening.

A footnote on this is to add that i am really against those who equate the tragedy that happened in Gush Katif last year to what happened on Tisha B'av. I think it belittles Tisha B'av. Tisha B'av is about national tragedies happening to the Jews from other nations, not from ourselves.
Israel has made enough mistakes on the part of its own people, without claiming that evicting people from their homes falls under the category of a Tisha B'av proportion.

Eicha ends on a semi-positive note -- a hope that we return to Israel again, so I want to end with a story.

Napoleon was once walking through the streets of Paris. As he passed by a synagogue, he heard the sound of people weeping inside. He turned to his assistant and asked, "What's going on in there?"

"Today is Tisha B'Av," came the reply, "and the Jews are mourning the loss of their Temple."

Napoleon looked toward the synagogue and said, "If the Jews are still crying after so many hundreds of years, then I am certain the Temple will one day be rebuilt!"


Please G-d he will put an end to our suffering and bring about complete salvation

Ilan's 1st Birthday Party

Today we had Ilan's first Birthday party.

Strike

In order to increase the chaos that is about to happen in this country, this Blog is on strike.
The strike will only end once we get better fonts, better templates, more regular readers and more comments.
This blog will not report on the national mood about Tisha B'Av, that the basic problem of Jewish negative attitudes and criticism started the whole problem, and that the day when Israel as a nation takes stock and hears the nations of the worlds comments, reads Eicha and realises the problems never have, and never will go away.

This Blog will also not be commenting on the other thoughts which have occurred to me

Of course -its also (now the 3 weeks are over) reminding about the Jerusalem ROCKS! concert --


I might have my thoughts on Tisha B'Av ready for tomorrow if a late night deal is brokered between my reader.

Friday Brunch

Took part today in a great tradition - the long Friday Brunch.
Mum's out visiting at the moment, so she treated us to brunch at caffit
If you've never done it, do it.
Too much to do before shabbat .. posted up these photos on
facebook . You don't need to be a member to see them
latest ones of Ilan
enjoy.

More about my interests

I like technology.. a lot and love gadgets. I am pleased I have a wife or else I would have no money, but have a great collection of toys and gadgets. (my sort-of impulse purchase before I got married was a great Bose radio alarm clock - it cost a lot but you have never seen soo many features on a clock-radio before)

I like internet related things, but never really got into web design (although i do have domain www.aaronandruth.com which is more of a holding site until i find some time to do things.
I use VoIP services like Jajah and Skype

I work for a telecoms company and for about 2 years was involved in working with VoIP customers in connecting to our network.

I live on facebook now thanks to too many people including my wife who slowly got me addicted -so if you want to join my zombie army, i'll be happy to bite you.

I don't have a television, don't want a television, but will probably lose the argument and eventually get one, but I prefer to pick the programs I want to (download and ) watch. This means I am a big fan of sites such as alluc.org, tv-links.co.uk and really liking DivX Stage 6

I live on websites like The Register, Technology Review, BBC News,
I read Haaretz newspaper

This is a bit more about me .. am sure you'll learn more -- but for now I am off to bed - just got bitten by another mosquito and its really not that fun now.

Introduction

Welcome
This is the start of a brand new blog.
Its not exactly the first blog I've tried and I am sadly sure it won't be the last - -but none-the-less, here we go.
I thought i would start with an introduction.
I am Aaron - 29, originally from Scotland, went to Uni in Manchester (studied Artificial Intelligence), worked in London and then moved here about 3.5 years ago.
I am married to Ruth - who is a Londoner, and we have been married just over 5 years.
We have 1 son called Ilan, who is just under 1 year old, crawling all over the place and generally finding out what life is all about.

I hope you enjoy this blog as much as i might get round to writing it.
I dont have a theme for it other than documenting life in all its forms.


I dont pretend that living here is easy, i dont pretend that everything in this country is perfect.
You'll find my political views shift from one end to the other depending on the issue at hand, and all will become clearer in the future. One thing is clear -- I am where i want to be.
I am happier here than I could ever have been if i stayed in London.