Sunday, July 29, 2012

To Expect the Unexpected


Colorado (USA) and Norway (Europe) are known as two western ,modern, democratic, rich states.
The horrible shootings - recently in Colorado, Aurora, and last year in Norway, Utoya island - pose at least two questions besides the one about the easiness of gun acquisition .

Both gunmen had no previous violence record. How does a mainstream guy suddenly turn into a mass killer?

Well, we get some answers  from Anders Behring Breivik's testimony in court. The norwegian killer who left 77 dead at a youth camp in the little island of Utoya (including the eight dead in the preceding explosion at a government building in Oslo) - declared, that he was actually a nice, caring, sane person, not a psychiatric case at all.

To be able to attain his goal - which was to alert his country Norway and the whole of Europe to what he saw as the dangers of immigration (loss of culture and identity), he realized that he would have to undergo a process of de-humanization and de-emotionalizing. It took him five years to train himself before the bombing and shooting attacks.


(We don't know yet about James Holmes's motives for killing 12 people and injuring 58 at a premiere of the latest Batman movie in Aurora theater. It appears that like the norwegian, he has also thoroughly planned his rampage if not for years, probably for weeks ).

Both gunmen were shooting freely and uninterrupted until the police arrival at the scene of crime. Nobody in the crowd had made any attempt to immobilize the shooter. How come?


That kind of attitude is sad, and throws a certain light on education in western countries.  Apparently, modern, liberal education fails to instill in youngsters values such as courage , bravery, inventiveness in a life emergency ; the consequences are often tragic.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Hamei Gaash - Hot Springs and Spa


Health, health, health - that's what you get at Hamei Ga'ash . Here, in the water coming from the dephts of the earth, everyone is a gymnast. The body does whatever you wish it to do and it feels good.
In addition, the overall atmosphere of recreation, fun, even...romanticism highly contributes to one's well being.

romantic couple in  hot pool (mist is from the vapors)

The place is located in a  charming,  pastoral setting, between two major central israeli cities :Herzelya and Netanya,  and is operated by the nearby kibbutz Ga'ash. The hot springs were discovered by accident when excavating for gas deposits.

 Hamei Ga'ash offers the visitor three hot thermal mineral pools (of different temperatures 37-40 degrees ) - one of them with lots of jacuzzi jets (which I'm sure is of great help to people with low back pain), dry and wet sauna, sulfur pools, showers, lockers, water coolers ,an outdoor swimming pool, a toddlers'  pool, professional massages, a cafe, a restaurant, a tiny shop , a  lecture hall, and many green spots , chairs and tables, for resting between the treatments.

pools'  hall

women taking a shower(before and after dipping in the pools)


pool with  jets

shaded cafe garden

On the day of my visit, there was a group of arab men at the Spa,  who were engaged in dancing and producing music on  a  percussion instrument. One of the men, a young arab dressed in a red shirt, bald and chubby, exhibited an impressive dancing ability.

drum beat and  dancing men

the 'red shirt' man in action

The elegant Spa with its thirteen (13) treatment rooms and  a trained staff ,offers a great variety of massages, among them; reflexology, massage with hot stones, swedish massage , thai massage etc..


 Spa reception room

In case one doesn't have  the time to take a professional massage, it's possible to get a- six minute automatic one, for less than a dollar coin, while sitting  on one of the two special, comfortable  armchairs , in the main area , close to entrance, exit and pools. The more coins you insert the more minutes of massage you get. I tried it;  not bad at all. Of course it cannot be compared with a massage done by human touch.

armchairs for automatic body massage

I think it's  important for us people to go  now and then to places such as Hamei Ga'ash which offer a good opportunity to recharge our energies, to relax our body and soul.