Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Yom HaZikaron

We are at the end of Yom HaZikaron, Memorial Day.  The sirens last night and this morning, already wrenching, felt like they were at a whole new level--our little town is mourning the death of one of its own, a 20 year-old soldier who was killed in a tank accident last Shabbat

I know the Jewish world as a whole is small and I know where I live is also small, but I am really seeing it up close as it seems like truly everyone here has a personal connection to this family.  In our case, Penina is a classmate of one of his younger sisters.  This morning she made her first shiva call without a parent with her....

Hearing the sirens and thinking of this family in the midst of sitting shiva for their son, grandson, brother.....There are no words. 

May the memory of Eliyahu ben Roni be for a blessing and may his family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.


Thursday, April 12, 2018

Pesach Roundup

Definitely had some noteworthy moments over Pesach:

Like when I was at the grocery for the final, final shopping round the morning that the holiday started (don't go late, because EVERYTHING closes early) and I was told at the checkout that I couldn't buy something because "it's scanning as 'not kosher for Passover', so I can't sell it to you" (!!!!).  Which was made even more odd because it was, at this time, literally impossible to buy anything that wasn't Kosher for Passover in my town.  For example, the supermarket that I was in had anything not "KLP" in one aisle with giant pallets stacked at both ends of the aisle preventing entry.  And the item I was trying to buy had both a very high level kosher certification on it *and* a prominent "kosher for Passover" stamp on it as well.  I saw later that they continued to sell it for the rest of the week, so I assume somewhere along the way the computer system got updated.  But, wow, that was very interesting.  I guess that those who want a sandwich on Passover do not move to religious cities :)

We had some great tiyyulim, going around the country while the kids had off schoolChana was in for two whole weeks, so everything was more fun.

The first day of Chol Hamoed was Sunday, and we discovered that the entire family very much needed a "proper Sunday" Remember, Sunday is a work/school day here:
Sunday here = Monday in the US

We finally made it out of the house at 3:30 pm and went to the Kotel and walked around the Old City (made all the more interesting because it was Easter, so where we usually see mostly Jews and some Muslims that day was mostly Jews and some Christians)
photo by Penina

We also drove down to the Negev desert to "The Salad Trail" and learned about agriculture in there.  Let's just say it hasn't been easy turning the dessert green.  And we came home with the best "field trip souvenirs" we ever got:




My favorite day was when we went flower picking
and then to the Ben & Jerry's parlor.  Quote from daughter: "It was worth it to make aliyah just to be able to have a hot fudge sundae at Ben & Jerry's on Pesach".  (I will refrain from putting in a picture because it just seems too "nyah nyah" to those of who you couldn't join us)

We finished up the day by going to the beach in Ashdod, which was a teeming throng of religious people (yet big enough that it didn't feel too crowded, thankfully).  I had never been at a beach with so many other religious people.  I'm not sure I've *ever* seen a man in a suit and tie at the beach before, but that day I saw many.   It was also very interesting to look around and see the differences in how people were dressed--not like "who will wear a bikini" because, in this crowd, the answer was 'no one', but more like 'who will take off their shoes to walk on the sand and who keeps at least socks on, even when walking in the water'.  My favorite was this couple--the man was wearing a long bekeshe coat and was holding a hat box that likely held his fur shrtreimel, which he had replaced with a navy baseball cap with stars on it.  



A photographic farewell to Pesach: