Hi Woody, it's a lovely idea, but for theological reasons I think it would be tough for people to celebrate all holidays. But we can at least learn acceptance of others...America does a much better job of this than Israel does.

Thanks Rachel!

Hi Woody, nice to hear from you! The rabbis say Lot knew they were angels based on the way Genesis 19:1 is phrased: "And there came two angels to Sodom at evening; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom; and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face to the ground;" Whereas relative to Abraham and his visitors it says (Genesis 18:2)"And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the ground," I have not heard any current rabbis excusing Lot's behavior by saying offering sex was standard hospitality in those days. To the contrary, most join the rabbis of over 1000 years ago who condemned Lot's willingness to disgrace his daughters. There are a variety of interpretations regarding Lot's reluctance: some say he was a sinner himself, and didn't want to separate from sin, others that even if he wasn't a sinner one becomes attached to one's "home" no matter how flawed. Similarly with Lot's wife -- they say she was focused on the past, symbolized by looking back, and not on the future. Down by the Dead Sea there is a pillar of salt you can from the road they call "Lot's Wife."

Peter, the view from here is different. From my perspective, the leadership on both sides is messed up and more concerned with their popularity rankings than with peace. You are quite right that the Palestinians should not have let nine months go by before sitting. They were wrong to do that. And Netanyahu is wrong to insist on them recognizing Israel as Jewish. Both sides are playing games. Neither side is serious. Sadly, I'd have to say that with the current constellation of political leadership, the chances of peace in the next one to two years seem to be relatively nil. My guess of the likeliest scenario is that the PA will make a unilaterial declaration of statehood next year, and will immediately seek recognition and will probably get it from a vast majority of the world's countries. They see Kosovo as a viable model for them.

Hi Peter, my experiences in Iran 30 years ago may color my perception, but I maintain my analysis is still valid. Iran is #18 in military strength; Germany was #1. Iran is not the same existential threat to others that Germany was. Heck, Iran can't attack anyone these days: Americans are in Iraq and Afghanistan, America supports all the other countries surrounding Iran (Pakistan, Persian Gulf, etc.). As I point out, Israel could hurt Iran a lot more than Iran could hurt Israel. I think sanctions are unlikely to work, I think Israel and the US are not willing to pay the price of a "military solution" (I'm certainly not--I don't think it's worth 40,000 Hizbollah rockets raining down on my head), so I think we better get used to an Iran that has "nuclear ambivalency," maybe they do, maybe they don't have a bomb...

Thanks Philip, give my regards to Linda. Every Sukkot I think of one time in Richmond when we had our sukkah on our balcony, watched the sunset over Vancouver Island, watched the geese flying south, and admired an owl on the roof of the house next door. Truly beautiful (We won't mention our other year in Richmond when it was so rainy we never managed to eat a full meal in our sukkah! :-) ). Come visit us in Israel!