"This fellow's of exceeding honesty, And knows all qualities with a learned spirit Of human dealings." (Othello)

I've already scheduled some shore excursions in Scandinavia and Russia. It was very difficult to find excursions that did not require a lot of walking. I'll have the scooter, but don't know what kind of vehicles will be able to store it. I have no clue as to facilities on these excursions that can accommodate a scooter. But we shall see. Most of the tours are for sightseeing--and they are expensive, especially the tours in St. Petersburg. If you want to schedule a tour that's not connected with the ship, then you have to have a visa in St. Pete. Getting a visa is a real hassle and it's not cheap. So we don't have much choice. No visas for us. Fortunately, all our transportation is taken care of. Robin was gracious enough to arrange our transportation round trip from our place to the ship in Miami as an anniversary "present". I love that gal. As a matter of fact, I love all the gals in the family and that includes Barbara, Sabrina, Hannah, and Katrina.

I keep getting e-mails critical of Obama's stance on Israel. I don't believe any of the reasons given in these documents. I believe any American president is going to support Israel. And I believe Obama when he responds to these concerns. He will be a staunch supporter of Israel, no doubt in my mind about it. When these people go to the polls, I hope their first concern is what's best for America and who's best for America.

"O, what men dare do? what men daily do, not knowing what they do!" (Much Ado)

Tomorrow is the real Memorial Day. Of course, by transferring it to Monday, I suppose it gives a lot of people a three day weekend so that they can go for a drive and enrich the oil barons. So who decided to switch so many holidays to Monday? I simply cannot remember voting on that one. I can't tell you how many people I met who wished me a "Happy" Memorial Day. That is something I cannot fathom; what's happy about it? Is it supposed to be happy? I consider it a day to remember and thus to memorialize those who fell in America's wars. I realize, however, that someone who has not experienced combat cannot really understand the bond that exists between those that died and those that lived. Thus if you're wished a happy Memorial Day does that mean you should be happy you survived? I can't stop thinking about the boys--my buddies--who didn't come back with me; who never had a chance to experience the joys of raising a family and having a career and driving a Porshe. Not that I ever drove a Porshe--but I'm not dead yet. Cogito ergo sum--I think, therefore I am; but on Memorial Day... happy I'm not. I'll wait until Father's Day to be happy.

Today I went to my internist for an ultra sound of my carotid arteries. I thought I only had one of those, but when the nurse went to both sides of my neck I suddenly realized I had two. Of course, I asked her if I passed after she was done oiling around my neck, but she said it's something you don't pass, and that she'll call with the results next week. The reason I went there is because a few days ago I got up dizzy and toddled around for two days like a drunken sailor. Actually, I felt that I was standing still and everything around me was twisting and turning. Perhaps instead of the ultra sound, perhaps someone might want to come and check out the stability of this building.

"There was never yet philosopher That could endure the toothache patiently." (Much Ado)

I feel kind of guilty having done so much research on Baruch Spinoza and Judaism in order to write a biographical novel about one of the greatest philosophers who also happens to have been Jewish. However, because of his unorthodox views he was excommunicated and spent the rest of his life in solitude writing his philosophical masterpiece, "Ethics" and grinding lenses for eyeglasses. My guilt involves my inability to write this novel because of the difficulty understanding his work and because of all the convoluted facts that I had to organize in order to write something that would be readable. But...I'll hang on anyway.

I also feel some guilt in not keeping up with my blogs. I learned in my research that if you're Jewish you have to feel guilty about most things. And so I'm trying very hard to do that. Robin wrote a comment asking if Judaism still practices the Cherem. My response was that in case they do, she better light candles on Friday nights and spin the dreidel at Chanakuh. I do remember at one time in Tallahassee when she first moved into her new house, she had the local rabbi come and put mezzuzzahs on every door while Rho and I and a bunch of neighbors celebrated the event. I don't know if she still does that.

Yesterday we went to the Festival, a huge flea market on Sample Road in order to buy a couple of duffle bag luggages for our trip to Scandinavia in July. They will be much lighter than the heavy bags we usually carry. And now the airlines are getting pretty strict about charging for luggage that is overweight. And for the flight to Amsterdam we are being hit with a daily "fuel charge" of $8 for each person up to a total of $112 each. Our only hope is that Obama or Hillary can do something about the gas companies and their CEOs getting richer by the fillup. Of course, since the flea market requires quite a bit of walking, we put my scooter together and so I scooted around with Rho for a couple of hours. We did find the luggage we were looking for at a decent price. Fortunately my scooter doesn't use up a lot of gas...and when it runs down, we simply plug it in a wall to charge it up...just like a cell phone. Since I hate to have anyone see me driving a scooter, I put a few Harley-Davidson stickers on it to disguise it as a motorcycle. I might do better if I also wore a helmet.

THE "CHEREM"

Baruch Spinoza was an externally quiet but internally disturbed youth who in 1656 was summoned before the elders of the synagogue on the charge of heresy. Was it true , they asked him, that he had said to his friends that God might have a body--the world of matter; that angels might be hallucinations; that the soul might be merely life; and that the Old Testament said nothing of immortality? Spinoza was offered an annuity of $500 if he would retract his views and exhibit loyalty to his synagogue and his faith. He refused the offer and on July 27, 1656, he was excommunicated. Leon Van Vloten has given us the formula for the "Cherem" visited upon Spinoza:

With the judgment of the angels and the sentence of the saints, we anathematize, execrate, curse and cast out Baruch de Espinoza, the whole of the sacred community assenting, in presence of the sacred books with the six hundred-and-thirteen precepts written therein, pronouncing against him the malediction wherewith Elisha cursed the children, and all the maledictions written in the Book of the Law. Let him be accursed by day, and accursed by night; let him be accursed in his lying down, and accursed in his rising up; accursed in going out and accursed in coming in. May the Lord never more pardon or acknowledge him; may the wrath and displeasure of the Lord burn henceforth against this man, load him with all the curses written in the Book of Law, and blot out his name from under the sky; may the Lord sever him from evil from all the tribes of Israel, weight him with all the malediction of the firmament contained in the Book of Law; and may all ye who are obedient to the Lord your God be saved this day.

Hereby then are all admonished that none hold converse with him by word of mouth, none hold communication with him by writing; that no one do him any service, no one abide under the same roof with him, no one approach him within four cubits length of him, and no one read any document dictated by him, or written by his hand.

But fate has written that Spinoza would belong to the World.