G-D Bless power outlets and free wifi!

Leaving the Promised Land proves just as difficult as finding it. 10 days ago when I turned up in Barcelona for my flight to Tel Aviv I was informed that the airline I was flying on had gone out of business, literally, in the hour and a half I was in the air flying from Portugal. Got that sorted by being forced to buy another ticket.

Now I'm at the airport, after being stopped twice on the way by Israeli security, I come into the terminal and there are no check-in positions open. After asking a group of journalists what was going on I was informed of a labor strike of airport workers, which will perhaps be over in 2 hours. Of course because the airport workers themselves are on strike there are no helpful announcements, just the automatic repeating in Hebrew and English—warning people not to smoke, carry weapons or leave bags unattended. Thank you! Consequently, there are many people wandering around who don't speak either English or Hebrew and have no idea what's going on. I tried to help one forlorn man from Kazakhstan who couldn't understand what had happened to his 8am flight, which he had hoped to be on 2 hours previously. All I could do was speak loudly and slowly jabbing at the phone number on his itinerary and miming making a phone call. He's still wandering around looking lost. Fortunately I had breakfast before I left Jerusalem, I've now found a power outlet and free wifi—it's Israel!— been interviewed by a news crew about my reaction to the situation, so I'm all set. I may not be as sanguine in 4 hours if I'm stilling sitting here on the floor. But wait! There are promising stirrings of airport workers going about their labours. Lines are forming . . .

G-D? WTF? The Tanakh (Jewish Bible) commands us various times to respect and to be in awe of G-d. Part of the concept of awe requires respecting the Holy Name. In Jewish tradition, we do not write any of the names used for HaShem (The Creator) in full on documents that may potentially be thrown out or destroyed. The reason is that any paper that His names are written on become holy and therefore have to be given a kosher burial. So that we don't accidentally destroy a document with one or more of His names on it, we don't write them in full.