"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.

"...the best laid plans of mice and men oft gang agley..." (Rob't. Burns)

So, it's been a while since my last blog. I've been very busy trying to research events in the life of Spinoza because I desired to write a bio/fiction book whose theme would center around his philosophy and his excommunication. However, it's been quite discouraging; I simply cannot digest the thousands of words written about him and the history of Judaism. I really don't think I can handle this goal I set for myself. I knew he was born in Amsterdam, and at one time was a brilliant Talmudic student as a boy. He also had a girlfriend who was the daughter of one of his tutors, but she eventually dumped him for a more lucrative future with another guy. I'm sure this tore him up, and that was the moment he decided to follow philosophy. I have done so much reading on the subject that I'm sure I could pass the test to become a rabbi...assuming there is such a test.

During the Inquisition, many Jews from Spain and Portugal emigrated to the Netherlands where for the most part they prospered. They built the first synagogue in Amsterdam in 1598. Thirty-four years later Baruch Spinoza was born, and when he was eight years old, the first glitch in the Jewish community centered around Uriel a Costa, a fiery young man who wrote a treatise attacking the belief in another life. He was urged by the Synagogue to publicly retract his contention since it went against the very essence of Christianity and Jewish doctrine. The elders of the Synagogue did not want to incur the disfavor of the community that had taken them in and permitted them to practice their religion. Costa was required to lie down in the synagogue while members of the congregation walked over his body. After this damning humiliation Uriel wrote a passionate and virulent condemnation of his judges. Then he shot himself.

But this form of punishment for heresy does not even compare with the punishment endured by Spinoza in 1656. For a long while Baruch was a favorite son of the Jewish community; a brilliant scholar in the synagogue. That is, until he studied and learned Latin and was introduced to the works of many philosophers, and was particularly influenced by the work of Descartes

That is, until he was summoned before the elders of the synagogue and asked if it was true that he said to his friends that God is the world of matter, and that the soul is buried with the body and doesn't go anywhere--but there. Well, all this stuff is fascinating enough to read about, but to put it all together in a fictionalized account is another matter. Perhaps tomorrow I will write about the "cherem" or excommunication...which is wicked!

Today we had plans to go to the Festival Flea Market to find some luggage for our trip to Scandinavia. However, I would need my scooter to get around that place and since the elevator was not working, plans had to change. We decided to go to Costco where scooters are available. Then it started to rain in buckets, so instead of Costco we chose to do some "spring cleaning". We started with the messy closet in the hall by our bedroom and we disposed of three full garbage bags of junk that we never use. Prior to this Rhoda could not remember where she put the instructions for the scooter and the electric charger. She claimed to have looked in every nook and cranny and drawer and closet in the house and couldn't find it. But after pulling a lot of brickabrac out of the closet we were working...well there it was!

"O! How full of briers is this working day world!" (As You Like It)

Today while RH+ went to play cards and the cleaning lady was coming, I took myself to IHOP for breakfast. They had a wondrous 2x2x2= Two eggs, two strips of bacon, and two pancakes. Who could ask for anything more? Before that I took my car to Firestone in order to have them fix my A/C switches. The A/C button that circulates only the air inside the car just always kicks over to the button that takes in outside air, and negates a lot of the cool air. However, I was told that the A/C guy wouldn't be in until tomorrow. So, I took myself to a movie called, "Iron Man."

I'm guessing Iron Man was or is a cartoon character. It was a fun movie, but the special effects were specially suspect. The mayhem that Iron Man was capable of doing were significantly impossible. It involved this guy who owned a company that manufactured incredible weapons for the government. So, after coming back from a war zone, he engineered his iron man costume that had the firepower of a battleship and the jets from his iron feet sped him across the Earth at the speed of light. It was OK and I guess worth the five bucks.

Some bad news. I loaned a neighbor my Yonex driver to try out, and he did fine with it. I asked him for $50 and we made the deal. However, today he told me that someone stole that club from his bag. Now when you lose, or someone steals one of your golf clubs it's like losing a favorite pet. I felt really bad for Jim and decided that the fair thing to do was to split the loss and settle for $25 even though he offered to pay me the fifty bucks.

Yesterday, our travel agent sent us the flight plans for our Scandinavian cruise in July. We will be flying on British Airways to London and then on to Amsterdam where we will board Celebrity's ship Century. We'll stop at Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Berlin, Stockholm, St. Petersburg, and some other place whose name evades me. At the end of the cruise, we'll spend two days in Amsterdam before returning home on July 20. It will take us nine hours to fly to London. I'll freak out!

Polonius: "What do you read my lord?" Hamlet: "Words, words, words."

Mothers' Day has come and gone, and I suppose Hallmark made more money than the oil companies yesterday. I believe it was Hallmark who probably invented Mothers' and Fathers' Day. If I'm wrong, correct me. Perhaps they also invented Grandparents' Day, but Rho and I have never, ever gotten any cards of any kind when that day comes around. It doesn't sadden us; we're used to it. We'd actually prefer that our children and grandchildren do not enrich the card companies when they could send us an e-mail or use the phone--invented by Alexander G. Bell. (Or was it Alexander AT&T?)


I've been doing a lot of research about Josephus Flavius during the Judean rebellion from 67CE to 70CE when Herod's Temple was destroyed by Titus's
Roman Army and tens of thousands of Jews were slaughtered. Josephus was an odd kind of guy who worked both sides of the fence to survive. While he was a captive in Rome, he predicted that Vespasian would become the next Caesar, and after Nero committed suicide and the prophesy came to pass, Josephus's fortunes improved. He eventually become a Roman citizen and took on Vespasian's family name of Flavius. Vespasius gave Josephus a virgin wife whom he subsequently divorced, went to Alexandria, married once more and his wife bore him three children, two of whom died, and his son. Hyrcanus survived. Josephus said this wife "did not behave very well" and he left her, went to Crete where he wed wife #3 and had three more sons.


I'm not certain why I started doing research about the goings on in the first century, since I had in mind to write a fictionalized bio of Spinoza, the philosopher in the 17Th Century??? But to say the truth, the research went so deep that the events, battles, names of people and sects were going way beyond my ability to comprehend, and I really don't know if I have the skill to write such a novel.


So, back to the mundane life of Condoland. Yesterday, Rho and I went to Boca Town Center Mall because I had a prescription for new glasses that required that I buy "Varilux" progressive lenses. The glasses I'm wearing now are not giving me any problems, but Rho encouraged me to do what the Ophthalmologist said. Bingo! $510. For that money I could buy 132 gallons of gas with which I could travel about 3300 miles.


Perhaps I'll write another blog tomorrow. One never knows.