War update number 6

Life under war is no picnic.

For all involved.

We are still OK, still here, still alive and not harmed, none of our loved ones or any of our possessions, so things are still OK here in our little corner of the world.

Days and nights are long, many missiles coming in from Iran and from Lebanon.

a photo taken between sirens near our studio to send to Drupon Tsering Rinpoche who asked how we are

The Iranians have figured out our interceptor tactics and where they meet their missiles and changed something in their strategy.

First of all, they started to launch what is called Cluster missiles which hold between 30 to 60 small bombs in each missile and that missile opens up at high altitude and spreads the 3 kilo explosive bombs on a large area. As far as I remember these cluster bombs/missiles are against the Geneva agreement but I am not judging the Iranians, they are doing whatever they can to destroy Israel and have no interest in what is humane and what is not.

To lunch cluster missiles on civilians is just bad. Many bombs, smaller than 1-ton explosive missile but very devastating to where ever they hit.

So now we have that to deal with.

Every time our interceptors have a success in hitting one of the missiles up in the sky it makes a huge explosion and it jolts our house, even if it is very far away from us, so we hear a lot of booms all around even if we do not have a siren going off in our community where we live.

Life in war is bad. It changes the mind stream, not sleeping well really changes the mood and that is a whole new practice!

What fortune it is to have found Buddhism so many years ago and have a practice to hold onto in these crazy days and nights, or maybe just very good karma… or past lives aspirations… who really knows…. Not I.

something strange

As prayer wheel makers for the past 18 years, we have noticed something amazing that continues to amaze us even after all these years and that is the fact that we live in Israel.

People stop ordering prayer wheels from us every time Israel goes to war, have war start on it and have to defend itself, or anything in that fashion.

People see us as oppressors or colonizers or other words they want to use but we are just little people, nothing special.

Ayelet didn't even go to the IDF for service (one of the very fortunate few that were not drafted because of over drafting at that time) and I spent only 11 months there as a soldier (booms in the sky all around as I write this now on my desktop at the studio) because I was born with a very serious bee allergy and all my medical records show that in very bold letters (this is a 100% sure cause not to be drafted at all to the army) so I had to convince the family (or should I say village) doctor to lie for me on my draft forms to try and at least make it into the army, and he agreed at first and lied on my forms which gave me a 72 profile giving me the option of at least be a tank soldier and not in a high infantry unit like commando or stuff like that so I was happy! I can drive a tank!

But the doctor later changed his mind and wrote another letter to the army telling them he made a mistake on my forms and they recalled me and interrogated me for a few hours in which I lied to them again and down size my bee allergy so I could at least "be" in the army… they gave me a 31 profile (my lies worked) and gave me a one choice and that is to be a driver. I took that offer and became a personal driver for a high-ranking officer. That position gave me a glimpse into the army at the highest of levels where the top-ranking officers serve and have meetings. I would hear very classified stuff and pretend I heard nothing… that made me very sad, to see what it looks like from the top and not what it looks like at the foot soldier level where all my friends were…

but I said noting. just cried when i got home for weekends.

One day I said as a joke to my commanding officer as we were driving home from the base that I lied in my medical tests and he scolded me badly telling me that when we return back on Sunday, he is sending me to the medical committee to tell the truth. I told him that they would for sure throw me out of the military and he did not care. He was true to the core and I respected that.

And of course they discharged me on the spot.

I only served 11 months in the army.

So, neither me or Ayelet are soldiers in any way or form, we did nothing to take part in any of the wars, we do not stand with our government and its choices, we are not "Jewish" in any way or form but we are treated as if we are the worst of all people on earth just because we were born here… this makes me very sad… but I understand.

I do not understand the Jewish karma and why it is the way it is, why are Jews so hated all over the world, why are they the reason for all that is wrong in this world, and what makes me laugh the most is the fact that so many inventions came out of Israel and by Jews that almost everything in our world today has some Jewish patent behind it so to boycott Israel is a joke, if you really stood by that you can go live in a cave.

That is the truth, like it or not… sorry.

So, when we get zero orders of prayer wheels (again, this ONLY happens in times of war) and even get orders canceled and refunded we understand that it is again this "Jewish/Israeli" karma that we were born into, like it or not…

But, since we are still prayer wheel makers we craft prayer wheels for the shop that when this war ends (if we are still alive and well) they will be sold as they always were in the past after sometime has passed and the war has ended…

So for all of you out there, if you are interested in our prayer wheels and wish to have one made, we have the time now, no 10 to 12 weeks delivery time… and there are some on the shop ready to be sold and shipped.

And, it also gives me a chance to be creative and maybe create a prayer wheel never been done before, and that is also something that almost never happens since we are always crafting orders that came in. maybe there is some blessing in that too, who knows?

For now, it is like this.

Thank you all for all your kind emails and reaching out to us, we are so grateful for you all and for your care! It feels really good to receive these emails or Facebook messenger, or WhatsApp's or any of the ways you all reach out to us at this horrible time…

where is this all going?

I do not know where this is all going, I hope not to WWIII but to a peaceful solution to this never-ending fight.

I hope that the US and Israel are not secretly teaming up to take over the Iranian oil and to change the rules of the game (heard the other day our crime minister say that they are now planning to build gas and oil pips from Saudi Arabia to Israel's ports to take the Hormuz straights out of the game) and start a whole new evil plan that would take down Russia and China and make America too powerful, Israel included.. I wish we could just all understand that we die in the end and take nothing and all we really can do is to help each other out in the short time we spend here on earth in this body… it is so short, we take nothing when we go, only our regrets at the end… and that just makes me sad.

As the undertaker of this community for the past 12 years I have seen a lot of dead bodies. I can tell you from my own experience that when people die, they usually fight and that is seen on the body they leave behind. Only 2 cases I have seen have died in peace and that says a lot. It shows me each and every time the futility of our doings when we are still here, trying our best to collect stuff only to lose it all in the end and fight to not leave here, but this fight is doomed to failure. We all die, no one ever won that fight, so why not just understand it now and let go of all of our self-grasping personality we have made up and just help each other out till we die?

This just boggles the mind… at least on my end of things.

May all be free!

May all have peace!

May we get to live a little longer and craft more prayer wheels for this world that would last long after we have gone from here to our

next life…

We love you all so much

Thank you for making our dreams come true!     

Micha (and Ayelet of course)