“ Don’t Stop Believin’ ”-- Journey

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Living here in Israel, my lovely wife and I get homesick for the United States.
And the best way to feel at home?
Watch DVDs! My best friends in the whole wide world!

I own many DVDs of many varieties: drama, sports, comedy, action, TV series, Pixar, home movies…
Impressed?
Of course.

My wife owns many DVDs, as well.

Eighty percent of which are “Star Trek” episodes.
Every single episode of “The Next Generation,” 129 hours, 49 DVDs.

Ahem.
But she’s a girl… so you can’t make jokes about how she’ll never get a girlfriend (ooh, that would be hot, though--- right?).

My wife often forces me to watch the intergalactic escapades of the Star Trek gang—including Geordi la Forge and Worf (the only brothers on TNG, one of them’s blind and the other has a skull shaped like the Agrocrag from Nickelodean’s “Guts”)

But here’s a gem of an exchange between the android, Data, and Lal, his “daughter,” another android:

Lal:
Then why do you still try to emulate humans? What purpose does it serve except to remind you that you are incomplete?

Lt. Cmdr. Data:
I have asked myself that many times, as I have struggled to be more human. Until I realized it is the struggle itself that is most important. We must strive to be more than we are, Lal. It does not matter that we will never reach our ultimate goal. The effort yields its own rewards.
-- (TNG, Season 3, ep. 16, "The Offspring,” written by René Echevarria)

Oh, Data, you so crazy…
That wisdom could’ve come from the mouth of Jesus, Obi wan… or a fortune cookie.
That’s good, profound stuff.

Essentially-- it’s the Journey, not the Destination.
A trite saying, but still true.

And ‘tis the season for a journey!

The holiday of Passover begins this Monday evening, commemorating the Israelites’ exodus from slavery in Egypt. Then they wandered in the desert for 40 years, finally making it to Canaan… later dubbed Israel, and all their problems came to an end.

But the Journey is more important than the destination.
Most Jews have been on a journey.
We’re a nomadic people.
Most Jews have lived OUTSIDE of Israel for most of world history, unsure where to call “home.”

Heck, it even takes the Israelites all 5 books of the Torah just to get to Israel.
And once they’re there… stuff gets complicated.
Y’see, as a nomadic people—sure life sucks, but it’s simple.
You live somewhere. The natives try to kill you… you pack up your stuff and go some place else.

Jules: I'll just walk the earth.
Vincent: What'cha mean walk the earth?
Jules: You know, walk the earth, meet people... get into adventures. Like Caine from "Kung Fu."

-- “Pulp Fiction”, 1994, screenplay by Quentin Tarantino

Amen, Jules.

It’s all about the journey.

Especially when it comes to women and romance.

A night of love starts with dinner—
Sure, dessert is the best part of the meal, but you gotta do some foreplay with the salad and soup before shoving that hot, tasty slice of cherry pie in your face, with whip cream running down your— and the pie might be too hot, you burn your tongue—oh god, the crust is in my hair…

ahem.

… and that’s not good for anybody.

Food-sex Analogy—nailed it.

But I will miss that pie (no no, literal pie) next week, when Passover starts. Observant Jews refrain from eating bread and bread products for a week. Why?


“And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.”
-- Exodus 13:3

“Logic doesn’t really work with Passover.”
-- My lovely wife, earlier today

Amen, Wife.

It’s impossible to truly know what it was like to be a slave in Egypt, but we can limit our diets for one week, suffering a little bit… like slaves.

And really- is it THAT big a deal, to go all “Atkins” for a week?

… hell yes!

But it’s a journey.
A seven-day constipated journey.
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