There May be Hope Yet!
by: Schvach Yid

And no less thanks to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Yes indeed, jadies and jents, the web site of the ‘The Kingdom’s’ Ministry of Hajj
(found here: http://www.hajinformation.com/display_news.php?id=2174)
is running two headlines of interest to us, as follows:

‘13Nov2010:- Minister of Hajj receives head of Egyptian Hajj Mission’

‘13Nov2010:- Palestinian pilgrims arrive in Makkah as guests of King’

The Hajj, Islam’s annual pilgrimage to Mecca (interestingly pronounced in Arabic as Makkah – one of two Tanakh Hebrew words for ‘plague’), started this evening and runs through Nov 17th. Once there, male participants are not permitted to wear head coverings for davening in the major shul in Mecca.


On a more pleasant note, here is a video of the concert violinist Midori at Carnegie Hall, in 2009, performing as an encore Heinrich Ernst’s set of variations on ‘The Last Rose of Summer’:




Back in the old days, when I was still a native New Yorker living in my beloved home town, I frequented solo recitals (with piano accompaniment, of course) at Carnegie Hall. Alas, since relocating to this corner of America’s Bible Belt, no such joy bejewels my life, except via the internet. Enjoy!