Empty Corner

Yesterday I was in Jerusalem to pay a shiva call. All Shabbat I kept feeling that "someone" had died and that I'd be at a funeral on Sunday, during the heat of the day. It was frightening and unnerving. I didn't discuss it with anyone, in order not to give it any reality.

Baruch Hashem, after Shabbat ended I didn't hear any unwanted news, so by Sunday morning when I went to the pool, I had calmed down and convinced myself that it was just "nerves." When I was leaving the pool, a friend mentioned that a neighbor's mother had passed away, the beloved French-Jewish educator and mother, grandmother and great-grandmother to a large and ever-growing clan, Madame Malka Picar, zatz"l. Yes, I did spend Sunday, early afternoon, at a funeral.

Back to yesterday...After "nichum aveilim," the "shiva," condolence call, I walked to my next stop and passed the Prime Minister's residence, and I felt that I should have come prepared to stand at the corner and protest. I should have had a large sign with me: "Ehud l'baneicha!" "Ehud, go to your sons!" Olmert's sons both live abroad. They don't serve in the army.

Olmert's government sent my son and many other people's sons and even daughters off to fight, without proper food, training and equipment. The stories coming out are worse than anything you could ever imagine. Only the stories from the War of Independence of Holocaust survivors being sent by the Haganah straight off to the boats without training, weapons and Hebrew are worse.

The IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz admitted today, following a report in Maariv, that he gave orders to sell his investment portfolio just three hours after it was learned that two soldiers had been kidnapped in the north. He took care of his own personal business, but it's clear that the army hasn't been run as well for quite a while.

All reports show that the government is losing support, but when will we have a chance to elect a new one, and whom will we vote for?

In the meantime, maybe someone wants to make a date with me to spend an hour or two in a protest against Olmert and his government. I can't be silent. Writing and blogging aren't enough.