Dear Friends and Family,

There should be a gag order when it comes to Mass Murderers and the Media. The only motive for senseless killings like the type we all woke to last week is Attention and Notoriety.  That is exactly what “HE” got. There should be a blackout of his name and face so no fame is associate with his evil actions.  The only names and faces we should be reading about are the victims of this heinous crime. By the way, is it really necessary to allow all citizens to legally own automatic assault weapon killing machines?

On another evil note, Syria is in full control of their chemical weapons supply with deep concerns by the Syrian people and their neighbor, Israel. If Bashar al Assad doesn’t use this weapon of mass destruction on his own people, there is a terrifying chance it could end up in the hands of Hizbollah which is causing the increased need for gas masks this week in Israel. Let’s hope Assad falls before more tragedy occurs.

Leaving the Evil personalities of the week and moving onto the Good and “Right Stuff”.  Sadly, our first female astronaut, Sally Ride, passed away this week at the early age of 61 from pancreatic cancer. Sally hitched a Ride on the space shuttle in 1983 (and again in 1984) and revived the tune Mustang Sally as “Ride, Sally, Ride” became her motto.  When asked if she would wear a bra and make-up in space (as sexist as that is…), her reply was “there is no sag in zero G” which means, I assume, no bras are needed in outer space.

Welcome home Tamarack Western trip and especially our son, Aviv, who for the past 4 1/2 weeks visited the following National Parks: Rocky Mountain, Arches, Bryce, Zion, Yosemite, Grand Teton and Yellowstone.  Have any of you reached all of these in your lifetime, let alone one summer?  Tamarack trips are awesome.  Incidentally, our other son, Mataan, is on Michigan’s very own National Park as he hikes the perimeter of Isle Royal.

Our Jewish Holiday of Tisha B’Av (9th day of the month of Av) starts this Sunday.  It is too complicated for me to explain so here is an Aish crash course for your reference.  http://www.aish.com/h/9av/mm/Crash_Course_on_Tisha_BAv.html

Long before Jews were involved in the Civil Rights movement of the 60s, they were at the forefront of anti-racism in the US and South Africa with one of our Zionist leaders Ze’ev Jabotinsky heading up the fight.  http://tinyurl.com/Z-Jabotinsky   (thanks, Julie Z. for this source).

The Olympic opening ceremony is showcasing in London tonight WITHOUT a Minute of Silence for the Munich 11.  To help keep track of the Israel Olympic team, check out this great site: http://olympics.israel21c.org/

Lisa