Sliding...

We spent 3 nights (4 days) vacation with Savta Nusha at the Hof Gai Hotel (thanks to the Dolev's for the recommendation). The kids had an amazing time at the water park. As pictured above the all were going down a small slide together. Dani and I also raced down the huge slides -- he always won. After the second day, even Ronit was ready to go down the huge slides. I'm not exactly sure when, but sometime in my 30s I decided that I'm afraid of heights. Nonetheless, I couldn't exactly say no to Ronit, so up the hundreds of steps I went to take her again and again down the huge slide. Finally she got so comfortable that she let Dani and Margalit take her. Phew!

Hakafot Shinyot

They've got something here that is new to me, its called Hakafot Shniyot. Basically it means that the evening after Simchat Torah, everybody gets together again for another night of dancing with the Torah -- only this time you can have a live band! Ra'anana is very organized and has a huge celebration in Yad Libanim (same place as the Sukkah Shouk). We were only able to attend for a short while because the kids were getting tired, and I had to take Savta Nusha to the airport. In that short time we were able to:

• See somebody thank the new mayor Hofri, the deputy mayor Uzi Cohen, the head of informal education, the chief rabbi and some other guy. He then introduced the mayor, who....
• Thanks the deputy, the head of informal education, the chief rabbi and some other guy. The new mayor then hands the stage over to his deputy, who
• Thanks the head of informal education, the chief rabbi..

Wow, I'm getting tired of writing all this. I bet your tired of reading it, and you can imagine what the kids were thinking standing around listening to it. Finally the band started, the torahs (as pictured above) were brought out, and the party began.

Now you might get nervous that with all that music, and public celebration that the men might see, or even dance with, the women. Never fear. As soon as the music started the Frum squad (see picture below) ran to the nearest synagogue and started wheeling out the portable mechizot. To say the least, I was disgusted.
All in all (ignoring the mechizot), it was a huge party and fun to see so many people out dancing with so many torahs. When I got back from my airport run at 10pm the music was still blaring. In fact we could hear it from our appartment until 11:30. Now that's a city that likes to party!

Where my Sun?

I guess I knew it would happen sometime -- but it seemed like the honeymoon would never end. Perhaps I should have got the hint when Dena stopped putting honey on the Challah after the end of sukkot. So I woke this morning and looked outside, and the skies weren't blue. I think that happened a few weeks back also, but today the skies seemed unreasonably dark. Something different was in the air. At 7:20AM Dani said, "Abba, will you take me (ride bikes) to school, I want to get there early for basketball and I need you to carry the basketball". Luckily Dena convinced him to at least have a bowl of cereal before leaving. That gave me enough time to get out of pajamas and into long pants. I rode with Dani to school, turned around and made it back home just in time to ride Ronit to Gan. Not a bad way to start the day. Still though, the skies were darker than normal. Then to the office for a little bit of work. By 10:30 the wind was blowing all through the house, Dena was wondering if we had taken all the clothes off the line (we hadn't), and I was thinking that I'd better close up the windows. Two seconds later it was really raining. I wasted no time in typing my query into google, "Rain Days Tel Aviv". The results: I can expect 3.2 days of rain in October, 7.5 in November, 10.9 in December, 12.8 in January, 10.0 in February. I'd gotten so used to sunny days, I'd thought they'd last forever.

From the other side of the Atlantic I've been hearing about snow, recieving pictures of nephews shoveling, the tenants at Oxford Rd. have sent urgent email because the heater in the Family room wasn't working, and Ami in Florida reports that thanks to Wilma he just spent 2 days without electricity and 3 without Internet. So all things considered, a little rain ain't so bad.

Being that it was a rainy day, I picked Ronit (and her bike) up at school and took her out to eat for felafell -- well felafell for me, Pita and chips (french fries) for her. We had a nice lunch together. Ronit was a little busy with her new Barbie maze book -- she finished 4 by the time lunch was over, and as soon as we got home she finished the remaining 11. That book didn't last nearly as long I had expected.

Let it rain

A lot has been happening lately and so I haven't had a chance to sit down to record it all. Sunday, October 16th, we sent Margalit to Maytal's house for a sleep over. This was a big step, not only was Margalit having her first sleep over at a friend's house here, but she was going to walk over by herself. She packed her bags, brought a book and left. Not bad. But then, 5 minutes later the front door bell rings. Who could that be? Margalit? She comes running through the door shouting, "It's raining!!! It's raining!!!" I never thought anyone could be so excited for rain. It turned out to be not much more than a shower, but it was the first real rain we've seen in months. All the kids ran out to the porches, and ran around the house celebrating the rain.

As it turns out, it usually doesn't rain in October. The next week we also had one day of rain, but since then, we've been back to sunny skies. That's good because we didn't want the rain to interfere with our vacation in the Golan.

It takes a family to build a sukkah

Lest you think that Dani was the only sukkah builder operating under the authority of the Rav, I've got photgraphic evidence of other helpers.

Everybody needs a Rabbi

Friday noon and Margalit is home from school. Dena is out rushing to get Dani from Meged school, and then Ronit from Gan. I've got Margalit for 60 minutes in which we need to finish packing and get her to the Tsofim bus for her troop's shabbaton. Luckily Dena had already put everything together, and Margalit just had to empty her backpack of 30kilos of books so she could fill it with stuff for the weekend. She spied me taking the Shabbas chicken out of the oven and begged to have some -- there must be a word to describe her, oaf-ivore? Chickivore? One things for sure, she ain't no herbivore.

Margalit was full of energy and ready to go off alone. Parents were invited to the shabbaton, and Dena wanted me to check with the counselllors to make sure Margalit was not the only one with out parents tagging alone. Not to fear, only two others familys had joined the Shabbaton. I asked Margalit just to make sure we were making the right decision -- "I'd really rather you didn't come." I'll see if I can get her to add the details from the Shabbaton.

Last night, Dani and I headed down to Yad Lebanim to purchase a sukkah. Just as we jumped into the car, I realized I had forgotten to measure the porch. Dani said, Abba, we'd better go measure, we can run upstairs in two seconds flat. After a little hesitation, I agreed and we ran backup the 3 flights to measure -- 280cm.

There's been a sukkah bazaar going on for a week, and even at 9pm on Saturday business was brisk. 3 different booths selling booths -- and some many different options. 2x2, 3x3, 3x4, etc. I was really feeling glad we measured, otherwise we might have ended up with 3x4 sukkah that didn't fit. Finally we found a place selling 2.5x4. Perfect! There were many many booths selling Lulav's and etrogs -- but I had already purchased two sets on Friday.

The sukkah was delivered (in pieces) this morning. Dani got home early from school at 12:45 and was eager to set it up with me. Finally at 2:15 we sat down for lunch, almost, but not quite finished. 20 minutes later Margalit bounces through the door, home from school. She takes one look at the sukkah, and shouts, "Its not kosher!!!!" We had not yet tied down the sides, and according to Rav Margalit the sides are not allowed to flap in the wind. Margalit was very excited becuase she had just learned about it in school. The next time I have a halachic question, I'll know who to ask.

P.S. My old rabbi seems to be taking it in stride. She still gets to rule on most of the other family decisions.

Yom Kippor in Ra'anana

We'd been repenting for weeks -- well 10 days, and finally Yom Kippor arrived. I'd briefed the kids about the facts -- 4 times as many biking accidents as a usually day, emergency rooms over flowing with scapes and bruises. Luckily we played things safe and walked to shul. We decided to attend Kehilat Ra'anan, the reform shul for Kol Neidre, Sharit and Neilah for several reasons -- the kids are getting comfortable there, and since we are members, we actually have a row of seats with our names on it. Hol Neidre was standing room only, so it was nice to know we had a spot. The kids lasted for about 10 minutes, and after the 3rd repitition of Kol Neidre, scrambled out and gave up their seats to others.

After shul, Ronit saw here friends from Gan running accross the street, so she very quietly asked me, could she too cross the street alone? Sure! It's Yom Kippor. She spent the next 10 minutes running back and forth across the street, entirely enjoying her new found freedom. Kids were biking everywhere, and there was even a kid riding one of those small battery powered ATVs for kids. I couldn't help but think that it was on the edge of being approriate. I suppose there really are now rules, other than now cars, but that seemed like a car.

On our way home we crossed Ahuza street --- the main drag of Ra'anana. As expected it was crowded as can be. All of Ra'anana was out walking, biking, or skating the street. I can't quite say that it felt like Yom Kippor, or certainly not my conception of Yom Kippor. Of course there were plenty of people returning from Shul too. Margalit, Miriam and I walked down Ahuza to Yad Libanim so that we could soak up the secular feeling of Yom Kippor.

Overall the fast was very easy this year. Dani also decided to fast (with a few drinks of water, because we had stressed that he must drink). We had a lively debate about whether or not the early daylight savings time helped make the fast easier -- perhaps it did. I think the abbreviated Neilah service of Kehilat Ra'anan didn't hurt either. We raced back home for a quiet breakfast -- somewhat missing our regular minyan crowd.

Alas, no pictures from YK. I was tempted to bring a camera to photograph Ahuza, but it didn't seem in the right spirit.

Savta Arrives

The kids have been counting the days until Savta arrives, and finally she arrived!

Margalit, Miriam and Ronit tumbled into the car and I had to endure the usual fight over who gets to sit in the middle. I cannot keep track of who sat where when. Margalit somehow managed to get the middle seat -- if only for a 5 minute drive to her ceramics class. After she jumped out, Miriam, Ronit and I continued on our way to Ben Gurion Airport. Strangely enough, neither girl tried to take the middle seat -- apparently, since the ride started with all three girls, the middle seat was 'claimed' by Margalit, whether or not she was present. Ben Gurion airport is brand new this year, and nothing like the old airport. Israel has made it to the 21st century. No more walking on the tarmac to get to the terminal, this terminal has real gates with jetways. It is a really modern airport with great connections to the train practically in the basement of the terminal, and lots of short term parking right near the terminal. We arrived somewhat early, so the kids convinced me to buy them ice cream cones -- okay, I wanted to try the triple chocolate too. The girls were very patient, and finally Savta arrived. Two huge suitcases and a carry on. All I could think of was, "why didn't they put an elevator in the building?". After arriving home, the kids tore open the suit cases -- there were practically no clothes inside, but lots of presents.

Two seconds later and the girls had changed clothes, Ronit wearing here new princess outfit with crown, and Miriam similarly dressed. Oh what fun.

Ever since Savta has arrived we've been eating outdoors twice a day, breakfast and dinner (instead of just our normal outdoor breakfast). The porch is great, and we are loving the wonderful weather here. October is just beautiful in Israel.

Caesaria

Picked up the kids from school on Friday and raced to the beach at Caesaria where we met Iris, Alon, Omer, Maya and Noa for a day at the beach. The waves were not big enough to catch, but were large enough for the little ones to have fun. The water has cooled considerably since the summer so that it is now very comfortable (i.e. it is no longer too hot).

We climbed the Roman Aquaduct and marvelled at their amazing engineering feats to build an aquaduct that can last 2000+ years. How long has Newton North lasted? 30 years?

Then up to Haifa for a weekend with David, Muriel, Eden and Eli -- and a refresher course on Tarrot.

Zionism is thriving

A picture speaks a thousand words. (Taken on Rosh Hashanah next door to our house).

Rosh Hashanah in Israel

I keep thinking about the saying, "Next Year in Jerusalem," everytime we celebrate a holiday -- even if it isn't quite Passover yet, and even if Ra'anana ain't Jerusalem. As you can see above, we more or less decided to conform. Dani and I went out last one evening week to purchase white shirts. White is not my color, but it is the uniform for Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippor. Margalit and Miriam were delighted to buy new white dresses, and were excited all week leading up to Rosh Hashanah to wear the new dresses. Ronit refused! No way, no how was she going to get a white dress. We obviously did not insist.

The first evening we met Dena's cousin Ofra at the Reform Synagogue. It was a relatively familiar service and the kids enjoyed playing games in the foyer. After shul, we had Dena's relatives over for the evening meal -- Ofra, Oren (and Oren's girl friend), Dafna, Hedva, Ilan, Guy and Mor. Shir and her husband Ram did not make the trip from Be'er Sheva, and Amnon was travelling in the Sinai despite the governmental warnings about terrorist attacks. You couldn't pay me to go to Sinai even though I would love to see it. Many Israeli's apparently cancelled their trips, or turned back -- not Amnon.

Day one we went to the non-elagitarian Conservative synagogue with the new Rabbi from Cincinnatti. They have men's seating, women's seating, and family seating. It reminds of Dairy, Meat and Treif dishes. It was a pretty standard conservative service, Dena chatted with the Rabbi who has a couple of small children, and is very friendly.

The second evening we hosted Paul Mills (and family) and Alan and Lisa (recent Olim from Brooklyn). Dena cooked up a huge amount of delicious food -- Chicken soup, Brisket, and checken. Lisa brought quinoa salad with pomegranate seeds (a reprise from last year), tzimis with butternut squash instead of carrots, and a sunken apple tort. I was all fabulous -- and in case you are wondering, I've never tasted quinoa before and I liked it. It was a very fun evening. Alan played Dani in Chess -- Alan used to play speed chess and is a good match for Dani, though usually in the end he gets the upper hand. I played blockus with Margalit, Paula, and her son Nadav. Somehow Margalit managed to win. How does she always do that? We skipped shul the second night.

Day two we deliberated between the conservative and the reform shul. Finally after lots of discussion Dena and I decided that we would go to the conservative shul. After all, it probably is a better match for us, especially since we think the Rabbi is going to try to push it to be more egalitarian. (His wife is a hazzan.). Then we told the kids, and Dani got his chance to over-rule the parents. He voted for Kehilat Ra'anan -- the reform shul. His reasoning was quite simple -- kehilat Ra'anana has a nice air condition foyer -- a perfect place to sit and read "Eragon".
Savta Nusha is arriving tomorrow with the newly released second book of the series, Eldest, and Dani wanted to have a fresh memory of the first. Alan and Lisa joined us there, so Margalit, Miriam and Ronit had friends to play with.

In the afternoon we had lunch with the family of one of Margalit's friends. Margalit and Maytal are in the same class at Yavneh. It was a little bit of a zoo. Maytal's family has 5 kids, and present were the grandparents, and Maytal's Aunt, Uncle and their 6 kids. As they say here, ברוך השם, bless god, there was another family with just 3 kids. Otherwise, I might have felt like we didn't fit in -- even with my white shirt! If you're not good at counting, I'll do the math, 18 kids and 10 adults. That's too many people to sit around a table even in a small Israeli house, so we all sat in a huge oval on chairs in the livingroom. I felt a like we had just been transported to Meah Shearim in Jerusalem. All in all, it was a very nice afternoon. Maytal's dad, and her uncle and the other visitor all work in the hitech instustries, so they are all good contacts, and Maytal's parents used to work at the Ramah camp in Palmer Mass for many years and were very interested to hear about Dena's curriculae.

On their refrigerator was a magnet with a saying, "Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling tge walk before it stops snowing". I couldn't help but think that my parents taught me to shovel early and shovel often -- or was the advice about voting? BTW, I am about to start the book, "Steal This Vote". I still am smarting over Al Gore being robbed in 2000.

Scouting

Last night was the opening ceremony of Ra'anana Har-El Tsofim Dati'im. (צופים דתיים רעננה הראל). As you can see the lit up a bunch of signs in hebrew for the ceremony and the older kids put on skits. Margalit got her official shirt and yellow tie. Next week Margalit has an overnight with the scouts.

Anyone for Tennis

Anyone for Tennis? Wouldn't that be nice? Dani has been playing twice a week since the beginning of September. Normally he bikes to and fro by himself, but yesterday we had to race off to a physical exam for basketball afterwards. So I dropped by to watch him play a little. He's gotten really good. I watched two games against kids that have been playing for a couple years. Dani has a great forehand and backhand. He lost the first game, won the second and then lost the third. Not bad though. Of course his coach thinks we should send him 5 days a week for private lessons. If only basketball didn't also want him so much.

The accident

Margalit's turn to write....

During the first few weeks in Israel we went to a museum with Alon and Iris, Mama's and Abba's friends. One of the things that was there, was an accident ride showing you to always wear a seatbelt. Although it was a little scary it was fun. Here is what happens. First 2 people sit down in the car and put on their seat belts. Then the car slowly moves backward to the top of the hill. Then the car drives down the hill at 5 mph and crashes into something and nothing happens to you because you have a seat belt on but if you didn't something bad would happen. When I went on it a doll sat beside me without a seat belt. When the accident happened the doll went flying and died. It just goes to show always wear a seat belt.

-Margalit

Spare me the commute

Did I tell you that I got tired of commuting to Tel Aviv, and so now I work from home? I'd love to say that it was the recent headline (To Conserve Gas, President Calls for Less Driving) in the NY Times that convinced me -- but alas, it was the Tel Aviv traffic.

Last week a friend at work showed me how to run VmWare ESX server and make my Dell computer act like both Linux workstation and an EMC Celerra. So now I can develop HighRoad from my third floor apartment in Ra'anana.

The first day I dropped the Dell 1850 into the office next to my iMac and corporate issue laptop. Wow it is noisy. Actually noisy is an understatement. Deafening might begin to describe it. The next day I put the computer in the Boidem (attic like area). I had to drill a hole in the cinder block to get the network cables to the computer, and that turned out to be fairly easy since Mark Leiter had left me David Dolev's drill. I worked like that for a few days, but the noisy was still a problem, and the heat meant that I had to leave the Boidem door opening, allowing the heat and noise to spill into Ronit and Miriam's room.

So today, I figured out the ultimate solution.....at least until the winter rains start.


Yes, my Dell 1850 is chilling on the מרפסת (porch) with the laundry hanging in the background :-)

What's better?

Dena overheard Ronit and Miriam having a discussion about school yesterday. Ronit was sure that Israeli Gan is better than Temple Emanuel. Since I bike with Ronit to school and drop her off everyday, I can attest to her prefernce for Gan Lotus (kindergarten). This summer it used to take Ronit 10-60 minutes to get settled at Camp Polliwog, and before that she was starting be less than enthusiastic about going to Temple Emanuel. At Gan Lotus -- we lock our bikes outside. I take Ronit inside and help hangup here helmet and backpack, and then I find her something to do. The first few days, I needed to find one of her english speaking friends Jenny, and ask Jenny to hold Ronit's hand. Now though, Ronit picks out where she wants to go, and that's it. Abracadabra -- I'm invisible. Maybe I help her find a blue magic marker or something else, but as often as not, she starts playing and does even know that I exist. Yesterday, Ariel came over to play. Today when we got to gan, Maya right away said hello to Ronit, and then joined Ronit at the drawing table. I said hello and introduced myself to Maya to which she responded, "I can speak english too like Ariel. Ariel had a playdate with Ronit." So it appears that Ronit has another admirer. I promised Maya we would set up a playdate for her and Ronit too.

Back to the question, what's better? Miriam was pretty sure that JCDS was better than Yavneh (her school here). Margalit and Dani were not around, but you can be pretty sure how they would vote.

On the topic of hebrew langauge acquisition.... Ronit loves mazes, and for the past few weeks instead of reading a story before bed, she wants me to draw here a maze. Somedays I've made a maze in the shape of a house, or a pencil or the ocean -- whatever Ronit requests. Yesterday she asked for שמים (Shamiyim) meaning sky. I asked her if she knew how to say it in English. Sheepishly she said, "I forget". Not for too long. Within about a minute she remembered.

Dani the crossing guard

This week Dani has crossing guard duty for school. There's good and bad in that. On the good side, as I'm sure Dani would love to explain, you miss a lot of class. Each week 8 kids from the 6th grade are on crossing guard duty and they spread out to 3 or four big intersections near the school. Dani got one of the intersections that is not so close to school -- that's a good thing if you want to miss class.

Dani has to get to school at 7:25 instead of 8:00. There he grabs a stop sign on a stick and walks with 3 buddies to the corner of Hefetz Hayim and Hahayil. At about 8:05 after the first bell has rung, its time to head to school. Then in the afternoon, since school lets out at different times, he has crossing duty from 12:40 until 1:05, and also from 1:25 until 1:45 -- and his school day doesn't end until 2:15, so you can imagine there is not too much learning happening after 12:40.

Today Dena and Miriam went to check up on Dani. He was doing a great job!

Ronit's Drawings

While Dani, Margalit and Miriam get a continual diet of Torah Judiasm, and I suspect a little bit of right wing politics, Ronit seems to be getting a pluralistic message at her school. Last week Dani, Margalit and Miriam collected Tzedakah for kids who were displaced from Gaza, and they've all written letters to the kids too. On the surface it all seems fine, I just wonder what else is happening that I may not hear about.

I can only surmise that the politics at Ronit's Gan are a little different. Today she came back with several pictures that she drew there (see above and below). A picture speaks a thousand words. I asked her if everybody drew flags, or if the teachers told her how to draw the flags, and she said, "no." One can only guess where it came from. Maybe she's been reading the newspaper or watching the news while I wasn't paying attention.

Miriams Birthday

Catching up a little late on Sunday's big event -- Miriam's Birthday party. Miriam could not have been happier. On Saturday night Dena and decorated her chair so that it was ready for her at breakfast. In the morning she opened presents from Grandma, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Jeff, and Savta.

While Miriam was at school -- for those previous 4.5 hours, Dena and I ran downtown to get her presents, party favors, and art projects for the party.

In the afternoon she had a party with the triplets from her class, Adi, Maya, and Noa, and Bayle. Each girl got to paint a box, and they all made such pretty designs. It was a pretty quiet bunch of kids. Dena reports that the triplets have a reputation of not speaking to adults, and they did not disappoint. Somehow as soon as all the grown-ups left the room though, magically the party got louder. Miriam was in her glory.

In the evening, we had a little family part with too, so that Dani and Margalit would not miss out on the celebration.

Up to Jerusalem

After being in Israel for 7 weeks we finally made it to Jerusalem to visit the Lehmanns. For Margalit and Dani it was a great opportunity to get together with Shira and Eli -- and for the grown ups, it was a fun to get together with the adults see Jerusalem again.

I haven't been in about 12 years, and the place has really changed. The first shock was trying to navigate to the old city. After more or less accidentally driving right through Mea Shearim (Dena dove beneath the seat to find a modest shirt to throw over her sleaveless top), all of a sudden I was driving through a tunnel beneath Jerusalem, and the next thing I know we were right outside the Jaffa gate. Wow! After much confusion, I dropped off Dena and the girls at Mt. Zion and they walked in to the Kotel. Dani and I parked the car and entered through Jaffa gate. I tried to take a short cut to the Jewish Quarter, but I made one wrong turn. So we turned around and took the long way. We arrived just in time to meet Dena and the girls for a tour of the tunnel excavations along the Western Wall. For ages (since Dena and I were last here together), I've been hearing about the excavations and about how Aunt Roz had been a big contributor. We finally got to see the tunnels. Wow! It was facinating to walk along the entire length of the Western wall many feet beneath the Shuk, through old cisterns and aquaducts. The tour is very well done, with really cool models showing the topography and structures from the second temple period. Dani was fascinated and cannot wait until we return to see the model of the second temple at the Holy Land Hotel. We've promised him a visit next month when Savta visits.

After the tunnel tour, we grabbed falafel and shwarma in the Jewish Quarter and waited to meet the Lehmanns. Together we walked the ramparts from Jaffa gate back to the Kotel. The kids loved running along the wall. The views are great. One can't miss the huge dumping ground in the Armenian quarter and not wonder why it hasn't been developed. And then its hard to miss the graffiti saying "Death to A----" on the park bench. Yuck!

We stayed at a great hotel in the Baka section of Jerusalem just two blocks from the Lehmans. It is an old house converted into a hotel , 20 foot ceilings and all. Our suite had two bedrooms and a total of 6 beds, so it could have easily fit us all even if Dani and Margalit hadn't had a sleep over. Shabbas evening we went to Shir Hadash, an egalitarian Minyan with a Michitzah. It was packed with english speakers even though the announcements were made in Hebrew. On Saturday morning we went to Mayanot -- a much smaller egalitarian minyan were everybody sits together. Mark Ivker and old friend recognized Dena pretty much immediately. It was great to see him again -- 12 years and 3 kids later.

We spent the late afternoon in the Talpiot park overlooking the old city. A great view and a truly mixed part -- Jews and Arabs enjoying the view together. We had a tough game of ultimate frisbee --Lehmans umpteen, Glasgows 1.

Welcome to Israel

So we landed in Israel on August 1st, 2005. Exactly 14 years after Dena and I landed here for our first extended stay together in the holy land. This time we came with a least 3 times as much luggage and 4 kids.
I'm now thinking about documenting the trip via a blog -- not that the whole world really cares about the glasgow trip to Israel, but it might be a convenient place to post photos to share with others.