From the airport

Bridges 2 Israel Israel Ramble letters  May 29 2012  In This Issue Chess, stress and ambitions Lake kineret corner Young women dancing in a Shavuot bikurim ceremony 1951 - Kibbutz Giva'at Hayeem Meuhad Visit Our Sponsor A Shavuot parade in Kibbutz Yad Mordechai Photo: Rafi Plas Quick Links    Previous Israel Rambles letters  Quick Links  previous Israel Rambles Our Sponsors Our Synagogue You are invited to join services at our Synagogue any time  see details Cantor - Boaz Pnini Greetings,  I am at the airport on my way to Israel right now, so this is going to be a ramble on the fly. My mind feels pretty empty at the moment. I will not have time to send it for editing, so please forgive me my English mistakes, and I will forgive you any mistakes, you are getting a good bargain. The flight is departing in 2.5 hours. I have decided to go on that trip quite abruptly, you can say, it was a surprise. We have a Bat Mitzvah in the family and I jokingly said to my mom that if she send me a ticket I am coming. She asked me how much, and I told her. She said OK. Then it took 24 hours and everything fell smoothly into place, all was arranged, and now I am on my way. It always seems I am running out of things to say, so maybe this journey will give me some fresh perspectives about Israel and I can share them with you.      There is a very kind person who often takes me to the airport, on the way we spoke about my early life chess career, so here is a Ramble about that.   Have a great week,  Boaz Pnini,  Bridges 2 Israel  Chess, stress and ambitions I took it very seriously, and was one of the last servivors playing against Israel champion Moshe Cherniak, but .. I lost that game.   I was to become the champion of the world, and I had a good chance, or so I thought. I was only 13 and already the Kibbutz champion, so I was right on my way to the coveted title of the chess champion of the world, was I not?   On one summer break my mom took me to the Israeli youth chess championship in Haifa, we were walking by the Mediterranean cost line near the Dor beach, she pooled me out of my summer break vocation on the Mediterranean. For the first time ever I needed to use my non Jewish birth date, I did not know what it was we only used Jewish calendar. I found out it was March 21 1957, which is not a bad date, being the beginning of spring.    Being a Kibbutz champion and competing in the real world were too different things. We were 44 players, we played 10 games and I came out even, scoring 5 out of 10 I became number 22. Not quite a world champion yet, but not bad for a 13 years old competing against much older boys.  I used to go with my best friend during elementary school into a bunker in the Kibbutz which was also the Kibbutz chess club. I was extremely competitive, I refused to lose any game and mostly I did not. As a boy I played first player on the Kibbutz chess team, which meant I would always play against the best (adult) player of the other team, I was so ambitious, just thinking about it feels stressful. What was I thinking?   Before important games I would go to the synagogue and pray very hard, I believed God is listening and is going to help me, sometimes he did. It was pathetic, but at the time it felt so important, it was my way of feeling a winner.   At age 8 my dad showed me the chess steps and how it was played. I admired those who were older than me and could play it well.   Eventually my chess career petered out, it was too stressful and I was a teenager eager to explore the domains of art, sculpting, painting, photography etc. and chess became a thing of the past.  I still love to solve chess puzzles once in while and am following the chess championship, for the first time in history it may be a Israeli who win. So far it is a tie 4.5 each.  Stay tune,  The airplane is a coming.. need to go,  Boaz Pnini  Bridges 2 Israel Lake kineret corner   The kineret level started going down, about 1 centimeter a week. It is still 1 meter above last year pick level. Every centimeter represent 1.7 million cubic meter of water. The weather is still pleasant in Israel, around 70 or 80 Fahrenheit.  Please feel free to forward  Israel Ramble letters to your friends and family and anyone who may be interested. You may use the FORWARD link below. Thanks, Boaz Pnini, Bridges 2 Israel LLC

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