Shabbat Shalom and Aloha!

Aloha! Welcome to Hawaii! We are now completing the first week of a two-week holiday in celebration of an anniversary. The last time we took such an extensive holiday (ie on our own!) was 10 years ago, also for an anniversary. Being in a tropical location right near the beach (which is kind of like we do in Netanya) is pretty cool, so it is a good opportunity to share some important survival tips for those of you who would like to travel to this part of the world. One more note before we launch this guide…as you know, this is also the way we wish everyone a wonderful Shabbat! One little detail: the time in Hawaii is 6 hours earlier than Montreal, and 13 hours earlier than Israel! It was pretty confusing calling Israel last night (Thursday) and talking about what we would be doing tomorrow (ummm, today) when it was yesterday while we were speaking to our kids in Israel today. Did you get that? Anyway, as we move into Shabbat on Maui, most of you will already be much later on Friday, or even Saturday when you get this. So, it is a Shabbat Shalom and Shavua Tov (Have a great Week) message all at the same time

Now the guide to Maui!

Survival Guide for the Kosher Traveler in Maui: The first question everyone asked us when we planned this trip was “What will you eat?”. I think that if we were going to Bombay or Cambodia that would be a complicated question. But in Maui, no sweat. First, we rented an amazing condo, right on a beach, next to a pool, with a big kitchen. By coincidence it is the only one in the area with a Mezuzah, as it is owned by a Larry and Miri, a couple from Vancouver. The condo has all the comforts of home, including a well-stocked kitchen with a self-cleaning oven and a cupboard full of spices from Trader Joe’s including Montreal Steak Spice! Then we went to Costco. Costco in Maui has more kosher products than Montreal’s. Plus a huge selection of fresh fish: Hawaiian Mahi-Mahi, two types of salmon, halibut, haddock, tuna, you get the drift (LOL). Plus the Costco here has Kosher wine, cheese, and tons of other stuff. The local Safeway has another huge, American selection of products (including frozen unbaked Challot), and of course, there is the fresh produce. The pineapples, mangoes, papayas, melons, etc. No traveler is starving here, kosher or not.

Of course, there is also Chabbad (which is located near the Airport, which we are not) and a small synagogue called the Jewish Congregation of Maui, under the leadership of Rabbi David Glickman. My Uncle Peter and Greta were married there. It is a unique synagogue, which meets the needs of the eclectic Jewish population who live or visit here. For example, the synagogue functions as a Conservative synagogue, but there is a fold away Mechitza (partition that separates men and women) as is found in an Orthodox shul. This Shabbat, they were celebrating two events: a destination Reform Bat Mitzvah, and a Shabbat afternoon Bar Mitzvah. The synagogue is only a 20 minute walk from where we are staying, but one needs to walk along a highway with no real sidewalks, so I think we will pass.

Survival Guide for the Rain Forest Traveler: On Wednesday, we decide to visit an area called Ole’o Gulch, home to a national park with waterfalls and “seven sacred pools”. In truth, there were only 4 and they weren’t really ever sacred, but I digress. To get there, we could  take a costal road, with a 20 mile unpaved stretch, or a narrow winding road through the rain forest. We decided to take the coastal road, but as we reached about 45 minutes into the trip, we learned that it was closed 4 miles from the park. So, we turned around and went the other way. This was quite an experience; the road was gorgeous, but it is advertised as having 617 twists and turns and 57 single lane bridges. It came as advertised: the ride of 80 km took nearly 3 hours! We did see a few beautiful waterfalls, gorges and a bamboo forest, but the drive was a bit hair raising, stopping to let people pass, having to break and yield, etc. The park was lovely; we took a couple of mile hike to a waterfall, then a second trail to the pools, which were full of bathers splashing around. We, of course, heeded the signs about the dangers of swimming off the rocks. After about 2.5 hours in the park, we headed back along the costal road (see above). You remember those 20 miles of unpaved roads? They were not joking. We twisted and turned along a remarkable stretch of roads that hugged the cliffs above beautiful beaches. Fortunately, there were almost no other people on the road (obviously, smarter than us) but we got home just a bit exhausted but ready for the obstacle course driving test!

Survival Guide for those who need their Starbucks Fix (or Gap or Hilfiger…): On Thursday, after a great long walk along a very uncrowded and pretty beach, some splashing in the waves on boogie boards (Thanks Rivka!) we decided to go to the old town of Lahaina, which is a pretty town build along a beach. Front Street is the main drag for shops, with 3-4 blocks of pretty boutiques, tourist shops, fish restaurants and cafes. It was very quaint, and included an outdoor Hawaiian music concert and a Hula exhibit. That and a gorgeous sunset made for a great time. But, in case the funky Hawaiian theme gets to be a bit much, the last block of shops is a big outlet mall (outdoor, of course, no snow here) and you can shop at the Gap, American Apparel, and all your other favorites. Across the street is McDonalds, Starbucks, and a couple of other icons. Who said Hawaii is roughing it? In fact, we have passed Starbucks almost everywhere, except along the twists and turns of the rain forest.

Survival Guide to relaxing on the Pacific: Ok, so what is the best way to decompress on a holiday? How about a 5 hour cruise on the pacific and snorkeling? We signed up with a company called Sail-Trilogy (highly recommended) who were fun, super accommodating, and navigated the very high winds along the Maui coast like pros. We were supposed to go to Molokini Crater, but because of 45 knot winds (hang onto your hats!) we only went to Oluwalu Reefs, where there was an amazing coral reef with beautiful fish and a sea turtle or two. Now, if you are a swimmer or enjoy the water, snorkeling is a natural. But I have to admit, I am a real land animal (after all, I am a Taurus). The last time I snorkeled was almost 15 years ago. It took me a good 10 minutes to start to trust the snorkel and the flotation device I was using. Most everyone else was splashing around and seeing the sights. But slowly, getting used to the rhythm, I let myself glide along the water and view the sights. It’s like being in an aquarium, with sea creatures passing you by. If you don’t splash too much, they go about their business and it’s quite spectacular. Then, we cruised slowly back to the harbor, with beer and mai tais served by the friendly crew, and saw a school of dolphins! All in all this is THE way to decompress!

Stay tuned for more tips and adventures next week!

 

We wish everyone a warm and restful Shabbat, and  great week ahead!

Barbara and Bruce

PS: Did you know that the national fish of Hawaii was named by an Israeli? He saw this grey fish in the market and asked “Mahi? Mahi?” (What is it? What is it?)

  

Shabbat June 17-18 Mazel Tov to Ariel

For all those fans of this blog who thought that we were in Israel a few weeks ago (but we were really in Buffalo!) we decided not to disappoint you! At this very moment I am writing from our apartment in Netanya on a very quick trip (4 days!?!) Of course the trip has a purpose aside from the terrific entertainment that the blog brings and the great pictures of our grandchildren.

We are celebrating Ariel being called to the Israeli Bar and his official installation as a lawyer.

First, let’s start with the main subject of the story. Ariel completed law school in February 2015, and worked at a large law firm, Fisher Behar Chen in Tel Aviv as a legal intern for a year. He apparently did quite well, as at his exit interview he was offered a position to start this coming August. That was great news, of course. To fully benefit from the position, he needed to pass the Bar. He completed his stage on Feb 29 and Bar school started on March 1 for an exam on May 2! Needless to say, after countless hours of reading and studying, Ariel distinguished himself very well. Following the written, there is also an oral exam, which also went really well, which brought us to the Ceremony on June 15th. 1450 new lawyers were invited to receive their license/certification at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem. The pass rate was 53%, actually lower than last year when 1900 were licensed. The ceremony was divided in two parts: a formal welcome to the new grads in the main convention hall, and then they were split up into smaller groups to receive their diploma certificates. Interestingly, families were only invited to be present during the diploma distribution; they were left to watch the proceedings on big screens in the diploma rooms. More about that in a minute.  The cast of speakers was very distinguished: The President of the Israeli Bar Society, the President of the Israeli Supreme court Miriam Naor; the minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked; and other well-known legal experts in Israel. Everyone imparted words of wisdom, and there was a lot of praise for those who were able to pass the Bar considering that almost half fail. There was musical entertainment and a cool light show at the beginning. Then the groups went to their respective rooms to meet their proud families.

Of course, for Gila and I and all those consigned to sit in the rooms away from the main stage, we were amazed at how a technologically savvy country like Israel can put together an amazing, high class program and still have people laughing and shaking their heads. I will give you a few examples: we in the peanut gallery were treated to the first 20 minutes of speeches with no audio. Apparently there was a glitch in the sound system. We could see the speakers (the dress code was for white shirts and black ties for males, but the MC wore an orange tie, which stood out, but not in a good way). We were able to read the speech in subtitles that were being typed as they spoke, which was obvious since the transcriptionist made lots of typos and kept erasing what he/she was writing. Finally, the sound came on, and we were treated to the president of the Israeli Bar promising to make the exam harder and harder-he campaigned on the platform that Israeli schools graduate too many lawyers. We can discuss that another time. Then the singer came on, but all we heard was static! Plus the minister of justice, Ms. Shaked, sent a You-Tube Greeting, but she was staring into the camera with a horrified expression as if someone was trying to heckle her as she spoke (LOL). A few more speeches, then a graduate gave a kind of valedictorian speech, and then they were to come to the diploma rooms to see their proud but now very fidgety families. Finally, the piece de resistance: they called up the three top scores on the Bar Exam. Number one, a young woman, Number two: another woman and Number three: a young man. Except, that they got the names mixed up and they had no diploma for him, and then called up one more person- who was not there. I guess they were not to be outdone by Miss Universe (ask Ariel if you didn’t get that one). Finally, Ariel arrived in our conference room, received his diploma and we took some great pictures. AND we are extremely proud of all he accomplished. We also give many kudos to Gila and Elisha, who had to deal with countless late nights and all the accompanying hard knocks it takes to deal with a legal intern (sort of like a peds resident, right Daniella?)

Since the ceremony ended in Jerusalem at about 7:30, and we would not get back to Gila and Ariel’s home till after Elisha went to bed, we saved the celebratory dinner for Thursday. I spent the night in Netanya and did some work and came to Givat Shmuel to meet Elisha, Gila and Ariel in the park. We had lots of fun, in spite of the parking cop’s over-exuberance (we got a parking ticket while I was walking back from the meter to put the receipt in the car), and then had a great dinner at a new Japanese restaurant near their home. Of course we will also celebrate when they come to Montreal to visit on June 22! Elisha is terrific, talking long sentences, and very active (as it should be). He takes great pleasure in somersaulting backwards down a mini-side at the play structures in the mall (much to his parents’ horror)!

Friday noon is the Wedding of Nomi Zysblat, cousin Linda and Alan’s youngest daughter, to Adi near Jerusalem. This should be quite an experience as Nomi has many musicians friends (we saw Nomi perform last year and she is amazing) and a lot of their friends/guest will be bringing instruments.  The wedding was awesome and I promised Linda a special blog about it next week! Ariel and Gila will be in Jerusalem too, and we will return to Netanya together for Shabbat. We are really looking forward to some down time after a hectic week; in fact, next week Gila finishes classes, Gila, Ariel and Elisha will come to Montreal for a few weeks. Stay tuned!

 

We wish you all a warm and sunny Shabbat Shalom!

Happy Father’s Day on Sunday, to all the Dads!

Welcome to Ezra!

It’s hard to think of a much more exciting or heartwarming event in life than the arrival of a new baby. Everyone is moved by the miracle of a new life, by the unlimited potential of the new baby, and by the joy of the parents and the whole family. So, this Israel-based blog takes a turn to the North, as we are in Buffalo to celebrate the arrival of the newest Mazer, Ezra Moshe, born last Wednesday May 25^th, 2016 to Daniella and Monty and to big sister Tali.

We (Bruce, Barbara and Grandma) left Montreal for Buffalo on Tuesday, in order to celebrate the baby’s Brit Mila, or ritual circumcision, on Wednesday morning. If you think about it, this creates another link in an unbroken chain that connects Ezra to the Jewish people starting from Abraham through the millennia to today. The custom is that a baby boy is circumcised and receives his name on the 8^th day of life if he is in good health. Thank G-d that all was aligned and Monty and Daniella and Daniella’s parents Rochel and Chuck Wagner, planned out a lovely celebration with the help of the local caterer Bob Alt. We chipped in with some Montreal delicacies from Kosher Quality, including cheese bagels, mini-danish and pretty cookies. The cheese bagels will get some repeat business for Mr. Klein, that is almost guaranteed! The service was performed by Rabbi Koropkin of Toronto, the Rabbi of the Wagner’s Synagogue.  We were joined by a large number of the Young Israel of Buffalo Community, as well as family and friends who came from near and far to join; Daniella’s siblings Yonati, David and his wife Sharona, and Adin; Elan and Shoshana came from Toronto, Chuck’s sisters Jeannie and Evy, Andy and our nephew Jonah, as well as friends from T.O., the Greens (x2), the Shields, the Piwkos, the Hermanns, and Zev Kessler from Cleveland. To top it off, we had a surprise special appearance from Nina and Rabbi Mordechai Glick from Teaneck NJ! All went well with the baby, the breakfast was terrific and a great time was had by all.

After the Brit, we spent time at our hotel (conveniently located across the street from the synagogue and only a few minutes walk from Daniella and Monty’s house. We spent the afternoon chatting with Zev and Andy, and playing with Tali, hanging around the pool, playing soccer (Sabi has to learn how to play goalie; the ball kept going through his legs!!) and starting the numerous art projects that Savti is THE expert at. As long as it has purple, we are cool, right Tali?

Like any new baby, sleep time for the parents is precious, and Daniella’s mom and dad have been super helpful. We have chipped in with errands and some of the cooking as we head toward Shabbat. Yonati is coming back for Shabbat and we will soon pick up Tali from school. I think we can all agree that there is nothing like family being together and we treasure these special moments.

To end, I think it is appropriate to include a thought from the D’var Torah Monty delivered at the Brit. The weekly Torah portion is called B’chukotai, meaning “with my laws”; it begins “If you observe my laws and follow them” and proceeds to describe the blessings of following the laws and subsequently the curses of not following G-d’s ways. The concept is really that of a covenant, or “Brit” in Hebrew. In the next week we will celebrate the holiday of Shavuot, which is the holiday commemorating when the Ten Commandments and the Torah were given, the most concrete sign of the covenant between G-d and the Jewish People. We welcome Ezra with the Brit Mila to be a full member of a people who have had many ups and many downs, just like the blessings and the curses that are described in the Torah Portion. We pray that our new arrival, Ezra Moshe, will have nothing but blessings and many many years as a healthy productive member of our people and society!

We wish you all an amazing Shabbat!

Happy Yom Yerushalayim!

Happy Birthday to Grandma!

Happy Birthday to our niece Aviva!

Happy Anniversary to Nomi and Elan!

Happy Anniversary to Daniella and Monty!