I'm NOT war blogging,

OK? In case you haven't noticed. Not interested in the stress; I have enough, thanks.

If you want war blogging, go read Treppenwitz. He's saying a lot of what I'm thinking, especially here and here. Oh, and here. And this is pretty thought-provoking, too.

So far (thank God) there is only one way this war has affected me: My mother called from the States and made me promise a few days ago not to take any buses or eat in restaurants, because she's afraid that the suicide bombing will start up again in Jerusalem soon.

Because she is my mother, and I love and respect her, and because she rarely asks anything of me, I agreed to do as she asked for one week. Two days later, I told her that if I have to work from home for a whole week I'll be miserable, and to please release me from my promise, which she did. (She rationalized her way to feeling better by telling herself that "the suicide bombing won't be this week, anyway, because the terrorists are busy being bombed. It will be afterward." I guess she'll worry about it then. My poor mom!) I'm now writing this from my table at Tal Bagels.

In non-war news, an extremely intelligent and talented acquaintance of mine has started a new blog, Borei Hoshech, in which she explicates the Jewish morning liturgy through the lens of her depression. It's meant to be a meeting place for Jews to talk about depression and anxiety disorders, and the intersection of those things with Jewish ritual (for better and for worse). I love the title, which comes from a blessing we say each morning, showing gratitude to God who creates light and who creates darkness.

Oh, one more thing about the war: Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshuah, and David Grossman are all extremely talented novelists, but don't seem to read the news, or they'd know that "cease fire" has long since ceased to mean anything to Hamas other than "chance to re-arm." I'd love peace as much as they do, but the articles they've recently published are so much hot air, if I kept a few copies in my apartment then Liza and I wouldn't have to pay such a fortune for heat.

That said, I'm wondering: When Ehud Barak says that we'll keep attacking Gaza until "all our goals are met," to what goals, exactly, does he refer? Are there specific targets or people they are still going after? Are they waiting for some specific announcement? Continuing attacks until the Israeli populace feels satisfied with the amount of revenge it's gotten? I'm seriously confused. Emphasis: I agree Israel has to do something - in fact, a response to the thousands of rockets that have rained over Sderot is way overdue. But now that we're finally doing something, how long do we plan to do it? And does anyone really think that we're really accomplishing anything? What would accomplishment look like?

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But I'm NOT WAR BLOGGING, OK????