We are now deep into the period knows as "The Three Weeks". A full week has passed. This period of time is meant to be one of mourning over the destruction of the Temples, and also of the various Jewish communities throughout history. It is a time of introspection and self-analysis.

It is difficult to arouse such feelings, in today's day and age. We, for the most part, have little understanding of what life was like with the Temples, and therefore it is difficult to arouse the appropriate levels of "mourning" and consideration. It was a long time ago, we never experienced it, it is very difficult to honestly mourn.

That is why, I think, that the mourning is barely visible on most people. Sure, we keep the customs associated with the time period - we do not listen to music, no weddings, no buying new clothes, etc.. but the actual mourning is missing.

There is one aspect that one will now begin to notice while walking the streets of Israel. That would be: no haircuts or shaving.

All of the sudden, everyone here looks like Bruce Willis. Everyone has the 5 o' clock shadow. Soon everyone will have the short, messy beards. One of the customs of the Three Weeks is no haircuts and shaving.

From what I remember in the US, most people use the excuse of "parnassah" to allow themselves to shave and get haircuts (it is a valid excuse and I am not criticizing it). Meaning, it is detrimental to their earning a livelihood, as it is inappropriate to show up to work, among the non-jews, looking "disheveled" because of not shaving. It is not acceptable, and many shave for that reason.

In Israel, a Jew can live like a Jew is supposed to, if he so desires, and the parnassah excuse is used much less frequently. One can work in the most secular of offices in Israel and does not have to shave. He can follow the Jewish customs and not be concerned about such repercussions.

Just walk down the street and see how suddenly everyone is sporting short beards, which will soon be longer. It is considered acceptable and legitimate to keep your religious practices, and one need not fear any external forces.

Only in Israel. Another reason to live in Israel - a person can live like a Jew.

I left my office today to go to our nearby factory. As I leave the building, I see right across the street a crowd of people with 4 police cars. A lot of activity. I hesitate, not knowing if their was a car accident there, if someone got hurt, a chefetz chashud (suspicious object that night be a bomb) or any one of many other possibilities.

I look around for a minute and decide to keep going. I walk through the crowd. Everyone is talking to each other. It was a crowd of about 20 people standing on a corner outside of the entrance to 3 different (open air)parking lots mingling with policemen. Then I see sitting on the side a woman who looks distraught. She has somebody holding a newspaper over her head to shield her from the light drizzle that had just begun and she was talkign to a policewoman.

As I passed by I looked and did not see her injured, as I still thought maybe a car had hit someone (and I missed the ambulances), and still had no idea what was going on.

I kept going and got to my location. Someone there who came in after me told me that there had been a robbery. The woman I had seen had been attacked and robbed of the merchandise (diamonds) she had been carrying.

There is all sorts of talk of an inside job. Why did the attacker pick her out of the crowd of people? It happened at a time when a lot of people show up for work and there were other people around. Was she randomly selected or did someone tell someone she was leaving the building with merchandise? Was she part of it? The goods were insured, so was an insurance scam involved? Nobody knew details, but lots of rumors are going around.

As I passed by the location again on my way back to the office, things had quieted down and the area had cleared. There was only one policeman left talking to a parking lot attendant about which was the attacker might have gone.

But as I am walking by, I start thinking. What would I have done had I been there 10 minutes earlier? If I walked out just in time to witness the event, what would I have done. The images roll through my mind like a Bruce Willis action film and I picture myself seeing the event unfold, realize what is happening and be aware enough to jump the guy and pound him until he is bloody and can't walk and hand him off to the police.

Then I think I probably would not have registered in my brain what was goign on until it was too late. Even if I had realized in time, I probably would have frozen. Even if not, I probably would have been too slow and stunned to actually even attempt to stop the guy and probably would have gotten hurt in the process of trying...

Ahhhh... our dreams are so much more pleasant. Do all guys imagine the Bruce Willis action movie reaction?