Weather It Is (Recap Forward)

Good Morning:

It was a very chilly 5 degrees Celcius Tuesday morning during the Passover holiday.  Soon after, the complaints and even threats rolled into my inbox.  It was almost as if the dam broke after a prolonged winter of chill and (blessed) rainy days.  I am not sure if I received a large fraction of letters from my readers or a large number of letters from just a small fraction from all readers, but there were a lot of letters and a lot of complaints.

To be honest, I was a bit perturbed about this.  I had mentioned almost 10 days before the advent of the Passover holiday that I had ordered both chilly and rainy weather for the start of the holiday, and had put in a side order of snow to go along.  I figured that after all my hard work this past winter I should be entitled to one more snow before we flipped the weather calendar to spring.

So, I am the one who should be disappointed.  I did, though, appreciate the heavy rains, lightning and thunder, and air so thick at times with hail it was both dangerous to venture outside without a hard hat or even hear over the din.  One might also mention the 25 centimeters that fell at the base of Har Hermon, and there was even snow at Neve-Ativ (lower down).

And, please, don't forget how nice the weather ended up, rebounding from the chill to reach quite warm, springtime temperatures.  Who can really complain?  Sometimes, it's better to save a letter than to press send, think it over, and see if the passage of time cures all weather ills.

And, certainly, we've turned the corner from winter into spring as anyone with a thermometer or short-sleeve shirt can tell you.  The sky has a bit of haze to it and it's a warm 25 degrees Celcius while I write this blog.

The change in the weather provided folks with the opportunity to head out to the countryside and to visit the Old-City of Jerusalem, for instance.  We actually took a chance and went to a restaurant.

Some of you might remember our previous travails with visits to hotels.  We spent one vacation at the "Virus Hotel," another at "The Broken Air-Conditioner Hotel," "The Spider Hotel," "The Missile Hotel" (there was a war going on, but they said "come"),  "The Dusty Hotel," and the "Stinky Hotel."  Along these lines we waited twice more than two hours for a meal to be served at restaurants.  You can easily relate to the old adage "The house is the best hotel."

However, we were stuck: my wife wore herself out cooking and we had a festival concert to go that evening (for those who should know: my cooking skill are more appropriate for non-Pesach fare). I decided to look for a restaurant. I found one at this helpful link (https://www.eluna.com/holidays/Pesach_rest2018.asp), call "Papagaio."  But, when I mentioned it to my wife, she said that it seems to expensive to serve any real food -- we'll be starving!  We'll end up with giant plates with an olive in the middle.  However, after a careful review of the pricing and fare, I was hopeful that it was inexpensive enough to serve real food, but expensive enough to serve good food.  In fact, Papagaio, a "Kosher Brazilian grill" serves excellent, very tasty, uniquely spiced,  and satisfying portions.  I had a taste-bud stimulating chicken dish, while my wife had her favorite (a salad with liver).  Even the potatoes tasted good. The decor is pleasant. Even nicer, despite the number of people in the restaurant (including our children), it was quiet enough to speak.

By the way, our best hotel experiences have been at Nof Ginnosaur located at the southern tip of  Lake Kinneret, and the Dan hotel in Caesarea.  Ein-Gev on the eastern side of the Kinneret serves good food, and the Kinneret turns from a pool to a wavy sea in the afternoon. So, in case you're wondering, it is possible to find a nice hotel in Israel and get served an excellent and timely meal as well.

Barry Lynn

Weather It Is (The Week To Come)

Good Afternoon:

The weather this Shabbat was certainly beautifully sunny.  The nice weather goes perfectly with the bursting out of cherry blossoms.  The nice weather is courtesy of high pressure over the eastern Mediterranean, and warm southwesterly winds.   I wouldn't be surprised if folks assume that our winter/spring rains are a thing of the past (last winter's past, to be exact).

However, they just might be mistaken.

Despite our beautiful and warm weather on Shabbat, our high pressure system should give way on Monday to a trough of low pressure dropping down from eastern Europe.  This should end our short string of warm days and bring showers soon after. A very slow moving (nearly cutoff) low pressure area will meanwhile establish itself in the eastern Atlantic as we move into mid-week.

Then an unusual situation should develop.  Normally, warmer temperatures over Greenland (as indicated by a negative NAO pattern) leads to warmer weather here as a ridge of high pressure builds in the eastern Mediterranean.  However, as the cutoff low over the eastern Atlantic intensifies, it will instead help to build a very strongly amplified ridge of warm air over Great Britain and far northern Europe.  The developing wind pattern should then favor an influx of cold air from the western regions of Siberia, which should deepen the trough in the eastern Mediterranean as the week progresses (showers continue), and possibly spin up a more potent storm as we turn the corner next week into Pesach.

It's all very complicated, but it does look like the latter part of Pesach should be more conducive for outdoor activities.  Of course, we have the advantage of looking at multiple forecasts over time, and if in the end it looks like the early Pesach storm will miss us, we can always change our forecast.

Not so those who sent the Israeli spaceship "Bereshit" (the first or beginning) on its ill-fated mission to the lunar surface.  I have to admit, though, that I was one of the very excited ones watching the lunar landing.  I entertained the idea that not only we be the fourth country to land on the moon, but we would be the first country to discover the little green men (with antennae) that eat the green cheese we all believe the moon to be made of.  I even thought that perhaps we would find out that it's instead made of a white cheese and olive mix, and that all my wife and I would need to do on our next vacation would be to bring the bread to eat it on (or at least my wife; I prefer oatmeal).

But, it was not to be. There's really nowhere engineers can practice those lunar landings except on the moon -- and then it's not practice.  True, computers can be used to test out different scenarios, and to model spaceship behavior during the landing.  But, we don't need a computer to tell us that if the main engine fails on the way down it won't be a good ending.  It's sort of like a child that rides his/her bicycle down the stairs -- it's a great ride until it ends (but that is another story).

As you know Israelis are not very good at long term planning.  As my nephew wrote: "It's really fits the Israeli personality to drive 900 km/h to the moon and to say 'Walla!' [Oops]  I didn't pay attention, there's a moon in my way.  But, the main thing is that we arrived."

Regardless, new plans are being made, and the new ("no pun intended") moon-lander is already being called "Vayikra."

Shavua Tov,

Barry Lynn

Weather It Is (Springtime Storms)

Good Afternoon:

The weather outside is certainly beautifully sunny.  The nice weather goes perfectly with the bursting out of cherry blossoms.  The nice weather is courtesy of high pressure over the eastern Mediterranean, and warm southwesterly winds.   I wouldn't be surprised if folks make the mistaken assumption that our winter and/or early spring rains are a thing of the past (last winter's past, to be exact).

However, they just might be mistaken.

A very slow moving (nearly cutoff) low pressure area will establish itself in the eastern Atlantic over the next few days.  In the meantime, our high pressure system should give way on Monday to a trough of low pressure dropping down from eastern Europe.  This should end our short string of warm days and bring showers and a chill to the start of the week.

Then an unusual situation should develop.  Normally, warmer temperatures over Greenland (as indicated by a negative NAO pattern) usually leads to warmer weather here.  However, as the cutoff low over the eastern Atlantic intensifies, it will help to build a very strongly amplified ridge of warm air over Great Britain and far northern Europe.  The developing wind pattern should then favor an influx of cold air from the western regions of Siberia, which should deepen the trough in the eastern Mediterranean as the week progresses (showers continue), and possibly spin up a more potent storm as we turn the corner next week into Pesach.

It's all very complicated, but it does look like the latter part of Pesach should be more conducive for outdoor activities.  Of course, we have the advantage of looking at multiple forecasts over time, and if in the end it looks like the early Pesach storm will miss us, we can always change our forecast.

Not so those who sent the Israeli spaceship "Bereshit" (the first or beginning) to the lunar surface. There's really nowhere engineers can practice those lunar landings except on the moon -- and then it's not practice.  True, computers can be used to test out different scenarios, and to model spaceship behavior during the landing.  But, we don't need a computer to tell us that if the main engine fails on the way down it won't be a good ending.  It's sort of like a child that rides his/her bicycle down the stairs -- it's a great ride until it ends (but that is another story).

As you know Israelis are not very good at long term planning.  So (as stated aptly by a fellow blogger): "It's really fits the Israeli personality to drive 900 km/h to the moon and to say 'Walla!' (Oops)  I didn't pay attention, there's a moon in my way.  But, the main thing is that we arrived."

Regardless, new plans are being made, and the new (no pun intended) moon-lander is already being called "Vayikra."

Shabbat Shalom,

Barry Lynn

Weather It Is (Springing Forward)

Good Afternoon:

It's been a rainy winter, but the weather (at least the temperatures) are changing.  In fact, we don't see any heavy rain events on the horizon, although some dips in temperatures could be accompanied by showers.

The changes harbinger a change in weather regimes as the storm track moves to our north, and higher pressure from the warm south builds further north.  I was asked why this winter has been so different from past winters.  This is a great question, but the answer will require quite a bit of research to answer.  However, we can point out how the past drought has most likely impacted this winter storms.  The drought has most likely led to an increase in atmospheric dust, which when absorbed into storms often leads to an increase in lightning.  As to our extended winter, we can say storm tracks were consistently passing through the eastern Mediterranean, and that there was plenty of cold air to our north over Scandinavia and Siberia to spin up these storms into significant rain storms.  But, as to what led to the increase in storms, that's an open research question.

People also wonder if there is really something to the "mother in law" thing.  One person said to me: "I lived for 20 years with my mother in law,  and now 20 years later I finally miss her."  On the other hand, you find people who really like their mother in laws.  The article here (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/relationships/relationship-women-theirmothers-in-law-often-fraught-itneednt/) offers some possible reasons why it can be hard to get along with your mother in law, but (I am guessing that) there are plenty of people who do get along with there mother in laws.  One might also keep in mind that one child or the other may act differently in the home of their parents, and suddenly the new bride, for example, finds herself married to a different person.

Another question people have wondered about is whether there is anything left to us after death.  People report seeing a "light," and some attribute this to the afterworld, while others say that there is a (not) simple scientific explanation (https://www.seeker.com/why-we-see-the-white-light-near-death-1791574897.html).   This was especially relevant because my mother in law, Aziza Shula Romano, passed away after a very long illness that suddenly progressed to her end.  One evening, but a few days before the wedding of my nephew, she reported seeing a bright light.  When it was pointed out that the lights of the hospital were quite bright, she insisted that no, this was the light of G-d.  Later, she was asked why if she could see the light of G-d she couldn't ask for an extension to her own life until after wedding.  She responded that it was written on the door to "heaven" that this was her time and that she would have to "enjoy" the wedding from above.

Regardless, let's just say that watching someone arrive at their end was not pleasant.  I was and am very sad.  I asked myself, how can this be?  She was just my mother in law, not my real mother.  Yet, I don't remember ever arguing with her, or finding anything she ever said to be disagreeable.  She just encouraged me to be a good husband and father, and that we and our children should be blessed. I had the opportunity to explore my "strange" reaction during the eulogies, which I have included here.

Shula:

Shula was special – very special.  

We all lived under her special Neshama, and our children grew up knowing their Safta.  What a Safta.  She cared for everyone and they cared for her. Yet, this would never have happened if not for the dedication of her children, who took care of her – especially my wife, Rachel.  Rachel did not give of herself hours in a week, but days in a week to nurture and to love her mother, to care for her, and to bring her until this point where she (Shula) said: enough is enough.  I am too tired to continue – but not to bless all of you with health and happiness. 

One might wonder why I am crying? After all, Shula was the dreaded “Mother in Law.”  Yet, like she said I was her son, she was really my mother – my other mother, and just as I love my mother, I loved and still do my “other” mother. 

How did she become my mother?  Well, I married Rachel, but of course that is not enough.  She became my mother because she knew how to communicate, to listen, and understand, and to act on her understandings.  [When my wife was late to our first meeting and] When I called from the restaurant and in my broken Hebrew asked: “where is Rachel,” she said: “Don’t worry, she’s coming,” and I knew [understood] what she said and what she meant.  And Rachel arrived, and so did Safta’s grand children.

Yet, it must be said that my wife might never have arrived if not for her mother’s sacrifice.  After sustaining an injury to her head, she was told that she should end the pregnancy or risk losing her eye.  She didn’t end the pregnancy, but she did lose her eye.

And, then, as she grew older and developed a cataract in her only “good” eye, she turned down the opportunity to have cataract surgery.  Thus, with time she became not just blind in one eye, but blind in the second.  

Yet, she could never be blind to our love for her or we her love for us. 

I spoke to her last Erev Shabbat at her home, one-on-one.  I don’t remember exactly what I said and certainly the time was too short as it always is in the end.  I didn’t thank her for Rachel, my wife – I’d already done that as I do every day.  

And now, I miss her voice. I want to hear her voice!

When Safta became ill, I decided to read Psalm 26 for her every day. I’ve done this for 10 years now, except for Hagim.  I read and read and read it again, with always her in mind – in the hope that this prayer would give her another day to be with us.    It describes her so well, and here it is (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+26&version=NKJV)

[We should have only good tidings.]

Barry Lynn