PIMG

I admit to being a horrible typist. I can spell just fine, thanks. Typing... sometimes the fingers get a bit messed up. IM chats are the worst. As for text messaging and entering contact names on my mobile phone, I hate it, although the virtual keyboard of an iPhone is far FAR superior to the old telephone touch pad.
So being the geek that I readily admit I am, I send abbreviations when possible. Not your garden variety teenage BFF4eva, but more geeky meaningful messages. My wife Deb, a talented user (and typist) but certainly not a geekess, would often have trouble understanding that IHWTH means "I hate when that happens," and even ROFL needed explanation once upon a time. When leaving the house I would let Deb know I was doing so by sending her a "POOF." When I needed to reach out and let her know I was coming or going--or just thinking about her--a techy "PING" does the trick.
But the problem comes with the aforementioned typing.Somehow leaving the house one day, PING became PIMG. Never noticed it, never thought about it until Deb later that day asked me if I was proud that she was able to figure out that new abbreviation all by herself. Of course I was, but I had no ideas what she was talking about.
She explained it to me with justifiable pride: PIMG... "Poof I aM Gone!"

Shavuot: The Korean War of Jewish Holidays

Shavuot arrives tonight with Torah study, cheesecake and prayer. An enjoyable holiday no doubt. But it is misunderstood, ignored, and even forgotten. Just like the Korean War.

Every year in my school career when we studied history, we started fresh and new in September with the American Revolution, and made our way through nearly 200 years of American history--growth and expansions, wars and battles, elections and assassinations, statesmen and scoundrels, invention, innovation, and great institutions. Yet when the temperature rose and the field days and class trips became more frequent, World War II was wrapping up and the Cold War was on the horizon. Korea? no where to be found. Vietnam and Watergate were still then fresh and not yet history. JFK was a Boston icon and always at the top of the list. But somehow the late 40's to the early 70's disappeared into Flag Day and Summer Reading. Korea? All I know I learned from Hawkeye Pierce and Hot Lips Houlihan.

And in Hebrew School, Shavuot got the same cold shoulder. September started with the High Holidays, Sukkot getting a calender boost at the start and ending with a joyful Simchat Torah.  The winter was filled with celebrations for Chanukah and then Purim, preparations for Pesach, planting tress in Israel for Tu B'Shevat, and inserting lessons of Tisha b'Av and the new observances of Yom HaShoah and Yom HaAtzmaut. Springtime brought Pesach and matzah crumbs, and as the weather warmed, the field day was repurposed for Lag b'Omer. Yet the third of the pilgrimages got lost amidst plans for graduation and summer trips. Poor Shavuot even gets the short shrift in duration, only two days compared to its eight day brethren--was it a shorter trip to Jerusalem in the Summer than Spring or Autumn?

So as an adult, now, with a better understanding of Zman Matan Torahteinu--and a book or two on the Krean War on my reading list--I look forward to some late night study, the story of Naomi and Ruth, and cheescake and blintzes!
Chag Sameach!