Non-Stop!

We have been going non-stop for the past week.  The fun started last Saturday night when Jay and Kim, my brother and sister-in-law, arrived at the end of a trip though Israel, Egypt and Turkey (while our guest room might not be up to some of the fancy places they stayed, it certainly won out over some of the more rustic places since we have indoor plumbing ;)).

It was terrific to see them!  We hiked through some of the hills surrounding our neighborhood

 and even played in the playground

Their input was really invaluable regarding another big thing that had just happened: Chana had found out the day before that the Jewish college in Manhattan that she was accepted to had room in their dorm for this semester.  Right before we lit Shabbos candles, she hit the "accept" button, so we spent the first few hours of Jay and Kim's visit with me making a plane ticket for her and Jay (a college professor) and Kim (Outward Bound instructor) giving her advice from their professional- and life experience.  I have to say, the timing of their visit couldn't have been better!

We spent the week running around getting Chana ready to leave.  We had a surprise party for her:

gorgeous cupcakes that Penina made!

And brought her to the airport last Sunday morning (a week after she accepted, not, thankfully, two days after).

Meanwhile, our dear ol' pals Richard and Leah arrived in town!  They're here for almost two weeks.  Pictures will be forthcoming!

Shabbat Shalom and I'll leave you with a beautiful sunset photo that Penina took:

Trip to Eilat

During Chanukah, we went to Eilat, way in the South of Israel (our hotel was so near the end of Eilat that we followed the signs that directed us towards Egypt!).

The drive there is through a lot of empty land.  I loved the "beware of camels" signs

B''H, we had SUCH a nice time.  We stopped on the way down at Mitzpe Ramon, one of the Grand Canyon-like places in Israel.  

ibex abound

Our Eilat trip was through Rabbi Beryl Wein's Destiny Foundation.  Rabbi Wein spoke every night, as did Rabbi Zev Leff.  The talks were really wonderful.  It was nice to be with a group as there were lots of English-speakers around and we met some other nice people who also live in our town, but, overall, we were on our own (the tours from the group started at ten each morning and there is no way our kids would have been ready to leave by then.  It's vacation, after all!).

We went snorkeling right off the beach, which was pretty amazing, even for me (as a poor swimmer, I stayed close enough to shore to be able to see people's feet.  And they were standing...., but even I got to see some pretty fish).  Trip highlight was going to the Underwater Observatory .  I actually remember being here as a teenager with USY Pilgrimage (Hi, Cousin Mark!), and I figured that anything that stayed in my memory as "awesome" for 30 years was worth a re-visit.  Yup, didn't disappoint.  It was incredible to be underwater with the fish and coral all around.  And yet we were dry and I wasn't worried about drowning :).

view from the top of the observatory.  You can see coral in the water to the left, before the beach

Looking at the rocky mountains so near the beaches, I had to wonder who first had the idea, "hey, gang--let's make a fabulous resort city right here!".  As you can see, the mountains are RIGHT nearby

  I'll leave you with

--a photo of "boy, the things they have to say on the hotel info in the Middle East!"

--a beautiful sunset photo

and wish you

The Siyyum

Just *some* of the books used Friday morning in final preparations for the talk given Saturday night

When Shabbos ended on December 24, our family went into overdrive cleaning up from Shabbos, lighting the first Chanukah candle, and getting ready for Shalom Shachne's siyyum.   

(aside from this sign, most of the evening was held in English)

He had been a bit concerned that he would not get the ten men required for a minyan, but he clearly needn't have worried.  By the time people had finished squeezing in, we had over 30 people crammed into our living/dining room.  And they were all sitting down!  Penina said it was like how the Bais HaMikdash would expand so all the Jews could fit in.  Taking a tip from cousins Jen and Shmuley, we had moved a bunch of furniture out onto the porch.

It was so amazing to see all the people coming to be with him for this.  Our neighbor, Sharon, leaned over and said to me, "look at all these people coming to be with your family and you've only lived here such a short time".  

Moshe's wife and I sat next to each other in ulpan last year and now our husbands are also friends

We had a wide range of Jews there.  How can one tell?  Look at the men's head coverings: we had some men wearing kippah sruga, some with black hats, and some with shtreimels--and we commented that it felt very much like Malden to see so many different types of people (and so many different ages) together.  

The night's learning was in memory of Shalom Shachne's stepsister Hilary and his Aunt Sunny, both of whom died within the last year, and his father.  It was a beautiful way to honor the memory of these three very special, and much-missed, people.

For those interested in the real "almost-like-you-were-here" experience, here is the whole devar:

Siyum Shabbos

Mazal tov, Shalom Shachne, and kol hakavod on all your hard work.

.....And a Happy New Year!

I saw this sign when I was in Jerusalem last week and really got a kick out of it.  As the sign implies: for all those reading this blog post to whom this applies--hope you have a wonderful holiday!

What is Shabbat Like Here?

To start early, let's begin with Thursday.  I usually shop right after ulpan ends.  I bring my "Granny Cart" (or "the car", as I used to call it before we got Jazzy) to ulpan and stop in the mercaz on the way home.  A little of this and a little of that ensues: I go to the fish store for salmon (in Hebrew, the word is the same, but it's pronounced with a very strong "l", which always makes me smile), the greengrocer for fruits and vegetables, to the "lettuce lady", who sits outside at her makeshift store--a folding table with a little cash register and credit card swiper (she's there only Wednesday afternoons and Thursdays until she runs out of herbs and lettuce to sell), and, finally, to the grocery store to get whatever is left on my shopping list.  Sometimes I'll go to "HaKol LaShulchan" ("Everything for the Table") to get paper plates (which are surprisingly hard to find at regular stores here--they only sell plastic plates!), or the butcher shop, or the Shabbos takeout place, or one of the other little stores in the mercaz.  It's all there, just took me five or six months to figure that out, and learn where every store is (I'm hoping next summer to give a tour for new olim to save them a few months of learning).

Fast forward through a lot of cooking and cleaning and we arrive at Friday afternoon right before candle-lighting time.  Shabbos music is blaring from speakers in the mercaz.   The stores have all been closed since around 1:30.  And then, the big moment: the music stops and is replaced by the Shabbos siren: it's time for lighting Shabbos candles.  I wish we could hear this better from our house, because it's....incredible.  First, I always feel happy that the siren is not announcing anything scary.  Then I think, "wow--so cool that everyone is on the same calendar here and wants to know when to light".  Then, invariably, I run around trying to finish up getting ready and actually light :).  The custom is for Beit Shemesh to light at the same time as Jerusalem, so we light 40 minutes before sundown, rather than the traditional 18.  As I'm running around those final few minutes, the thought always pops into my head that even if Shabbos started at midnight, I'd still be rushing around at 11:50 pm.....

I've walked through the mercaz around candle-lighting time and it's eerily deserted.  Not long after, it's hopping, with tons of freshly-washed, well-dressed kids playing in the streets (my favorite is seeing large groups of girls jumping rope.  So darn wholesome!), and people rushing to get to shul for services.

The streets are very quiet all through Shabbos.  Because our city is "nestled in the Judean foothills", there are sometimes bicyclists who come through.  Cars are rare; there are probably about 5 "regular" cars that I see driving on the main street over the course of the entire 25 hours (nothing on the side streets) and a few emergency services vehicles.  It is blissfully quiet on the traffic front, and I enjoy walking in the middle of the big streets: because I can.

Shabbos here is a nice mix of things to do and time to rest.  I greatly enjoy the spirited singing on Friday nights at our shul, and I enjoy hearing the Rabbi's talk (Friday nights, he switches off between speaking in English one week and Hebrew the next.  Shabbos morning is always in English).  There is a women's English learning class Shabbos morning at a different shul that I go to if we don't have guests for lunch (so it's kind of rare that I go, but it's nice to know it's there).  This past Friday night, Penina went to an oneg at a classmate's house.  Now that Shabbos starts early, there is a men's learning class Friday night that Shalom Shachne attends.

Saturday night, after Shabbos is over, Ilana and Shalom Shachne often go to Avos u'Banim, Parent-Child Learning, at yet another shul (there are *9* in my small neighborhood!).  This past week, Shalom Shachne and I went to an informational party for a local organization.  The night included sushi and a wine tasting and a great talk, titled "From Rock Star to Rabbi: How a Kickboard Changed My Life" it was every bit as enjoyable as we thought it would be (plus I signed up to do some volunteering for the agency).  Most Saturday nights are not quite as exciting, and mostly consist of washing a whole lot of dishes :).

This motzei Shabbos promises to be an exciting time.  Shalom Shachne is making a siyyum as he has finished learning masechta Shabbos!  He's been working almost three years to complete this and we are all so proud of him.  (Wikipedia translation: "A siyum (Hebrew: סיום‎‎) (“completion”) is the completion of any unit of Torah study, or book of the Mishnah or Talmud in Judaism. A siyum is usually followed by a celebratory meal, or seudat mitzvah, a meal in honor of a mitzvah, or commandment. Siyum also refers to the celebration.") 

Shabbat Shalom!

Vroom, Vroom

Chana has done the mildly-impossible: she passed her Israeli driver's test on the first try!  She worked VERY hard in the US to finish her lessons and take her test before we made aliyah (she made it just under the deadline--her test was less than two weeks before we moved).  We did this because the process of getting an Israeli license for the first time is much more complex and expensive than transferring a driver's license (which was complex enough.  Glad we didn't have to do anything else!).

Seen in this picture, she has her green paper license (still need to go stand in line at the post office to pay even more to get the actual plastic license with the picture on it), a little sign for the back window that proclaims her a "Naheget Chadashah" (new driver.  Only a legal necessity if she *hadn't* had a US license already, but seems like a good idea anyway) and a greeting card saying, "You Passed Your Test".  Here is our translation of the card, which we all thought was a riot:

"Now is the time to repay your debts
To everyone who shlepped you and did good for you
You have permission to go and conquer your city.
To gather your friends
And, of course, to drive carefully!"

Way to go, Chana!  Vroom, vroom!

Wow, These Floors are Hard!

Wow.  That's a Le Creuset pan that merely slipped out of my hands and fell on the floor!  I didn't even know pieces could break off those things---they're cast iron!  This one had been going strong since we were engaged--Irwin and Barbara got us a set and it certainly won as "engagement present used the most over the years".

Off to contact Le Creuset about their warranty!