I'll start with more...I think one of the most interesting events of
this week was the hijacking of the oil tanker MV Sirius Star in the Indian Ocean
off Kenya. Why is this so interesting for me is because I actually sailed some
of those waters, where now much of the piracy takes place. From Port Sudan
to Djibouti. Through the strait of Bab el Mandeb where the Red Sea
opens up into the Gulf of Aden, I was sailing in a 30 ft. catamaran for a
month. There were pirates then too, 30 years ago, maybe a dozen hijackings a
year, so we were always on the lookout. And this particular evening we were in
the straight and the strait was narrow. A main shipping lane, and I was at the
helm in the middle of the night by myself. We were motoring was along slowly in
the windless night with the automatic pilot. I was not permitted to make any
maneuvering changes. I was meant to be awake and Shomer and we say in
Hebrew. Suddenly, over the horizon, I saw a faint light. Within minutes it was a bright light of a large ship coming right at us.
It was still a distance away, and I thought to myself, I don't want to wake up
the captain and his wife, this ship can't possibly hit us. And so I just watched, and as it got closer and closer I began to pray.
I wasn't even religious then. !!! It all happened so fast, there hardly would
have been time to make the changes had I woken up the captain. A few minutes
later the large bright and noisy ship went sailing right past right me. I could
see the people on the deck. I could have thrown a stone and hit it, how close
it went by. The waves from the passing ship rocked our small boat. They never
saw me, and they soon disappeared into the vast darkness. I thought to myself,
1/4 of one decimal point to the east and they could have cut us in two without
ever noticing. I never said anything to the Captain when he came to relieve me
an hour or so later. He did however remark that he had felt the boat rocking
...
Its not very easy to hide in the vast ocean. At one point we
were boarded by a Saudi patrol boat. The forced us to stop in the middle of
a full tack in treacherous conditions. The captain's wife, the only other
occupant of the boat was furious at the soldiers for dirtying her clean white
fiberglass deck with their big polished boots. But that's another story.
The law of the seas was always help your neighbour in the sea. We see that
this is far the reality in these days.
Parshas Chaya Sarah : About 25,000 people are expected to be
in Hevron for this Shabbas Hevron. From my front door, its just a hop skip and a
jump, overland if I started walking now, an hour till candle lighting, I would
be there in time to light. The Parsha in which Avraham, our father bought the
cave of HaMachpalah, as a burying place for his wife Sarah Imainu." And Sarah
died in Kirat Arba,the same is Hevron, in the land of Canaan." The Ohr HaChaim
translates Kiryat Arbah as the Settlement of Four and Hevron literally
translates as connector. Sarah departed the physical world composed of the Four
elements (as known in early science Fire, Air, Water and Soil) . After leaving
behind the physical world Sarah by virtue of her righteousness would continue to
connect material existence with an infusion of spirituality as she did in life
through their personifying G-D's will as expressing the Torah, letter and
spirit.(Posted by Bernard S. Antin)
Important Numbers
