Japan
Free Hebrew lessons – March 2011 – Training – Day 60
Hello, my friends.
It is with a heavy heart that I come to you this week. I tried to write a lesson, but my attention kept going back to the news of the tragedy in Japan. If you will forgive me, this week I would like to simply pause and be thankful for the good things in my life – my family, my friends, my health and my country.
I have never been to Japan, but I do have a friend there, named Aki, who is also one of our fellow students on Free-Hebrew. Here is what she wrote to me the day after the earthquake:
Hi, Yaron
Most terrible earthquake in Japan I ever know.
Over a thousand of people are dead, and 10 thousand people are missing.
The center of earthquake is 370 km distant from Tokyo. My family is all right.
Still now I feel quakes several times.
Indeed I’m afraid that a nuclear reactor may be damaged…
Please pray for Japan, my friend.
If you have friends or family in Japan, please share about it on our FB Group page, let us know if they are safe.
As I write this, the official number of dead and missing is 13,000, with many more people feared lost or still trapped in land or mud slides. At this point it is simply impossible to know how many lives have been affected. To add to the misery, Japan is reporting that some of their nuclear reactors are leaking radiation into the surrounding area and in danger of a “meltdown.” It is almost too much for the mind to absorb.
Please join me in praying for the lost, the trapped and the injured people of the great country of Japan. Another positive thing we can do is to open our homes to some of the refugees. It has been reported that as many as 450,000 people are living in temporary shelters, often sleeping on the floor of school gymnasiums, and the weather in Japan is very cold this time of the year.
Next week we will pick up with our regular lessons. I apologize for the somber tone of the “lesson” this week; perhaps the real lesson is that we should not waste a second of our lives, and always be sure that our family and friends know that we value each and every one of them, as I value you.
– Japan – Yapan
– Earthquake – Reidat adama (earth – adama)
– Ocean – Ocyanus
– Sea – Yam
– Tsunami – Tsunami
– Dark Rain – Geshem sha^or (rain – geshem)
If you don’t recognize this term, it is a nickname for “radiation fallout.”
– Nuclear reactor – Kur garini
Lehitraot in lesson 61… and let’s hope for good news!
