Dog days of August

Well, we're into the "dog days" of August. But for me that's a good thing. I love our dogs. Their being canines, as opposed to hominids, doesn't detract from their being full members of our family. When I was doing my annual stint of IDF reserve duty back in the summer of 1993, I was at a small base on the Israeli-Egyptian border about 50 kilometers or so north of Eilat. We were out on patrol one night. Our modified light truck was near the northern end of our patrol route & we turned off the lights & stopped for a break. Our Bedouin tracker made coffee for everyone. I barely sipped mine. We were at least 20 kilometers from the nearest electric light, in the middle of the desert. It was a perfectly clear night & I just stood there looking upward, gaping at the stars. The sky was carpeted with them. I saw the Milky Way. I saw falling stars. I have never seen anything like it either before or since. I felt the wonder & majesty of God that He created such things and afforded me the privilege of being able to see them. Well, when I walk the dogs or just interact with them, I get that same sense of wonder & majesty, I see God's handiwork (as it were) and feel grateful and privileged . Woof!

I mention the dogs because I had a dream a while back in which one of them featured prominently. I dreamed that the bigger of our two dogs carried a very large snake in his mouth. He carried it into our bedroom and dropped it on my wife who was asleep. I know exactly what this means. The dog, as per what I wrote above, is an agent of God. The snake is the same as the one that bit me in my dream on June 6 of last year. The snake that bit me was tiny; this snake was huge. Why? Because a bite from a tiny snake was all I needed to set my mind & heart free. I was well on my way and was ready to be bitten (as it were). My wife (may God bless her!) is nowhere near where I was then, let alone where I am now. She is not ready to be bitten (as it were) and would need the bite of a considerably bigger snake. So, the dog had to drop a whopper on her. In writing this I just realized that my readiness to be bitten was symbolized in my being awake in my dream from June 6 of last year. That my wife is not ready to be bitten may be seen in the fact that she was asleep in my more recent dream.

I had another dream that I was at my Israelite Samaritan friend's home for Shabbat, although I don't remember whether it was his home on Holon or his flat in Kiryat Luza on Aargareezem. It was very late at night & I couldn't sleep because I was anxious and excited about going to the IS synagogue for Shabbat morning prayers, which start before dawn. One day!

I fasted, of course, on the Ninth of Av a few weeks ago although it was solely for appearences' sake. Sigh.

I am looking forward to going back to Aargareezem early next month for my annual visit. By then our youngest son will be back at (boarding) school; our oldest son recently started his IDF service. The boys do not know about the depth of my interest in the Israelite Samaritan (version of our) faith and I would prefer to keep it that way. There has been bad craziness in Samaria of late & I hope it will be OK to drive there.