CaptainRaccoonWhitly

Hopefully it's not too bad tomorrow at work, especially now that the Sun sets an hour later.

Today is the first day in months where it's too warm for long sleeves.

BRB, going to pray to the melon gods for some guidance.

Best response.

Hah!

But seriously, I prefer eating from the rind with a spoon.

It doesn't help that a honeydew's seeds congregate in the centre, which happens to be the sweetest part.

Cutting honeydew into chunks is a process. It's not like watermelon, where the outside is hard enough to actually separate from the pulp.

I won't act like there isn't violence and bloodshed in Jewish history, but it isn't exclusive to Jews. And we're obligated to be critical of our violent history.

I know the story of Esther has a massacre at the end of it. That's put in there as a warning, not as something to be happy about.

The underlying conspiracy about Jews this year involved Purim and "the slaughter of 75000 people".

1. That's not why we celebrate Purim.
2. Read up on Christian/Muslim atrocities before calling out Jews like this.

You're not going to succeed at eradicating us, no matter how hard you try. You might as well give up attempting it.

Jews are often compared to eggs, and you know why? Because they get tougher under pressure.

If this is some scheme to get taxpayers to foot the bill of law enforcement working extra long hours, it's working.

If this is trying to protest Zionism, it's failing.

Meanwhile, police presence in my neighbourhood has increased. And it was already pretty high, with one of the school being a command post.

My rabbi released a statement last night about the shooting, doing it in conjunction with the rabbi from the Thornhill synagogue that was also shot.

TPS isn't as bad as some of what I've heard about in The US, but that's because we've passed laws limiting their power and use of force.

That doesn't mean I want them hanging around a communal space, though.

(It's okay, no one was harmed. It just made going to services really awkward.)

I hereby nominate David Bowie as an honourary Jew.

Meanwhile, my synagogue congregation was shot at in a drive-by attack last night.

It's garbage like this that leads to real life violence.

This is Pizzagate, but Jews, right?

We had a guest singer come in to lead services, and he even led singing at last night's communal Tisch.

Outside of the aforementioned, this was a good Shabbat.

Whenever someone claims that Jews are being paranoid, I always think, "Then prove us wrong!".

Our membership fees were recently increased to provide extra security. Toronto's officers are also getting lots of overtime pay.

They do. This is on top of that.

We also have a volunteer security team that's made up of community members.

We need a good downpour, though. It'll help wash away the dirt in the snow.

In less-upsetting news, it was really warm today. And it barely rained.

He always says hi to me when I come in, and he knows me by name now.

It's sad that he even has to be there.

We have two regular security guards at our congregation. One of them is too much of a softie to be useful in a real emergency, but he's definitely got an intimidating physique.