Chol HaMoed

It is really hot outside. Ninety-five degrees hot. Even though there is little to no humidity here when you step into the sun it feels even warmer. Consequently, our strategic plan has been to stay indoors as much as possible today. We rented a movie on ITunes and finally got around to cleaning up after the seder we hosted. Not so exciting but that is kind of the feel of the neighborhood now. There are very few people on the streets and even the small mini markets (makolet) is only open a few hours a day during the holiday week.

In other news I present to you:
Weird stories in the Jerusalem Post regarding the craziness of Pesach:

1) The Jerusalem municipality officially switches the regular source of the city's drinking water (the Kineret) to well water. Apparently there is a concern that because fisherman cast bread crumbs into the lake to attract fish these crumbs may then be consumed by the inhabitants of the city. Who knew??

2) There was a religious edict signed by a leading rabbi of Jerusalem that prohibits the use of cigarettes during pesach because there is a possibility that the cigarette may contain derivatives of chametz. To his credit, he also said one should not smoke the rest of the year because of health concerns.

Moadim L'Simcha!