I'm taking a break from blogging to welcome our High Holidays : New Year (Rosh Hashanah), The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
These are sacred days - days of awe, days of feasting and fasting, of prayer and spirituality.
These days are important for the reflections on the past and for shaping our life in the present, experiencing belief and hope in God.
See you soon!
The above idiom means that everyone gets eventually a chance to be successful at something, sometimes, in his/her life. The phrase even appears in Shakespeare's play, 'Hamlet'. There was also a successful movie with this title. It is said to have been first uttered by Queen Elizabeth 1.
The idiom can also mean revenge. In hebrew this is a very popular revenge saying :(kol kelev ba iomo) כל כלב בא יומו The source in this case is arabic, and the word 'dog' stands for a despicable person whose day of punishment will sure arrive. Strange as it may seem, I believe there's some truth in this rather primitive saying. How come?
Well, I notice over the years, that although I've completely lost touch with people that have done me wrong at one time or another, nevertheless , news about them reach me through all sorts of unexpected ways, as if to notify me that 'justice has been done'.
I never ever rejoice at bad news ( I get sad even when I hear of a captured terrorist being "neutralised"), but being human, I can't help feeling sometimes pleased that things have come full circle. The person who has done me wrong has been somehow punished (or.. perhaps not; if it's a divorce, may be he's happy about it, lol).
Anyway, the mere belief in this kind of saying, sets one free from remembering such a person or having any feelings about him - and that's a big Relief.
Starting with May next year, there will be some new visa regulations for those who intend to visit countries of the European Union. There's still time to look into these regulations and see what's it all about. The news ,however, made me think of visas and passports in general, and how they have become a highly profitable business in particular.
Not only does the service of issuing / renewing/replacing a visa/passport cost the applicant good money, but countries are willing to sell these documents to those not elligible at all, for a substantial sum of money invested in a house/business/bank account . Requirements such as basic knowledge of the language by the applicant for the passport, has been shamelessly removed in many cases.
Don't you worry, said someone to me; after getting the money for the passport, at the tiniest move or request they'll send the new passport owner to learn the language and culture of the place. Money first, national pride next, but still there.
A passport does not only serve as a travel document, but is also evidence of citizenship. I've got double citizenship : romanian (by birth) and israeli. As Romania is part of the European Union its passport is an european one.
An additional passport is an asset, and a sort of investment. It might help with retirement, relocation, taxes, work, studies, life improvements.
At my age, I don't plan any relocation , but one never knows what God's plans are. Suppose personal safety gets treatened by certain events (war, famine,earthquake,crime) one might consider migration to what looks like a safer place.
In my nearby area, Cyprus followed by Portugal, seems to be a popular EU citizenship source. Many hundreds of russians, brits, and israelis have relocated on this island.
Among the non-EU passports in the near area, the turkish one is quite sought after. No wonder, Turkie has a more or less steady regime, it is more or less a self-sufficient country. We, in Israel import quite a lot of essentials from Turkie ; it's all good stuff (potatoes, mineral water, canned food etc..) and no less important, decently priced.
