Selichot

 Well! Firstly, the good guys nailed the Hezbollah top guy, who was the architect, for decades, of Hezbollah's campaign against humanity. This is very similar to when in WWII, we shot down Tojo in his plane, Tojo being the architect of Japan's militarization and war campaign. 

I read the first 2/3 of The Handmaid's Tale, then realized I needed to get cleaned up to go to the Selichot service. And in short, it was great. First we watched the movie "Golda" and then discussed the hell out of that. I ate three little boxes of popcorn, which is a no-no under the keto diet but you can't have a movie without popcorn. 

In the discussion the rabbi said something about reading articles in Ha'aretz and this is where I really put my foot in it. "You mean the Hate-Retz?" I said. The rabbit said I'm to not use that name for it around him, and he explained, after my saying it's too far left for me, that it has a spectrum of opinions. We both said we've been reading it for years. I realized that I'd been reading it years ago pretty omnivorously, but over the last several years I'd only been reading what was pointed out on sites like Reddit, "Look at this awful article in Ha'aretz". So I'd not been reading it fairly, and I'd been exactly what I hate about the Trumpers, influenced. 

When I got a chance to speak again I explained this, that I'd been wrong. 

The service was pretty nice. It's the kind of "holiday" the West really doesn't have. It's really not a holiday but an observance. We ask for forgiveness for our sins, said sins are listed, and even listed again, and the songs are somber. We had a small band consisting of a guy with a cello, a gal with a keyboard, another gal playing the flute, and a visiting cantor literally named Star Trumpeter. Still not as good as our own cantor, Cantor Shifritz. Get well, we miss you! 

One of the listed sins was listening to cynics, so I really felt taken down a peg or two. So when the service was over and we were just schmoozing, I told the rabbi I'm going to subscribe to Ha'aretz, the printed one because on printed things I read the whole thing where it's too easy to read only what I want to, on a computer site. And then I can take the issues I've read to the temple to put on the table of flyers and pamphlets and things. I said I felt so stupid, being "influenced", just the thing I loathe in the Trump crowd. The rabbi said I'm  a good guy and I got a good firm pat/thump on the back, a wonderful feeling. 

It was now past 10PM and I rode home. Nasrallah. That's the guy who's gone. I swear, every time I hear the name Hezbollah, it makes me think of the story "Kaballa Bonga" by cartoonist Charles Burns of "Big Baby" fame.