December 26-January 2

We have definitely been through as interesting, uplifting and at the same time challenging week as you can have. Clearly being in a country where there is a major military event going on poses its challenges (more about that later) but as usual, in Israel, the key to survival is that life goes on irregardless of what is going on around you. So, life in Jerusalem,which is not in the center of the action, motors on, with its tourists, shopping and bustle.

Last Friday we welcomed Monty and Daniella and the rest of the Wagner clan to Israel (although the Wagner’s had arrived earlier in the week). We had a great dinner together at the Inbal after touring around Mea Shearim. Shoshana was passed around from person to person and entertained us all. Shabbat lunch was “chez Fiter”, in the apartment they rented for the holidays on Derech Hebron. If you need a short term rental, speak to them about it, because it’s a great place! We spent Monday with Monty and Daniella in Haifa, with Monty visiting Technion University and the medical faculty there. They have excellent facilities and Monty and Daniella appeared to know a bunch of people there. Tuesday was another travel day for Bruce and Monty; we visited Yeshivat Sha’alvim, Monty’s Yeshiva, and gave Steve and Ryan Fiter a tour. We also visited Bar Ilan University to learn about a new Live Cell Imaging System developed in the department of physics there. Really interesting, and we will be bringing back some potential application to our labs in Montreal. We had a fun dinner with most of tehe families at Papagaio, and of course Mazer family dinner with Daniella and Monty as guest stars (check out a video of Daniella Making Shoshana laugh on Facebook!) Wednesday and Thursday were spent in Jerusalem, with visits to the Supreme Court, the Sorek Stalagtite caves near Bet Shemesh, and to the Menachem Begin Heritage center. Today we did some shopping for gifts, as unfortunately, Barbara must return to teach next week. I’ll be keeping the fort up and the Shoshana pictures flowing for about 6 weeks more. Tonight, the Mazers, Wagners and Fiters will be eating together for Shabbat in what promises to be a very freilach Shabbat.

Rachel Fiter contributed a poem that describes our trip to the Sorek Caves:

Stalagmites stalgtites only caves have got them

Tites are always on the top and mites are on the bottom

Coraltites, helictites they are long and twisty.

Be careful not slip in here cause it might get too risky.

Kol Hakavod!

Anyway, if it sounds like we had a pretty normal week, the truth is, we have. Jerusalem, in central Israel, is on alert, but in fact, we are always on alert. There is more security in the Old City, but there are still many tourists, and lots of groups. Two interesting ironies; we were sitting around the Shabbat table with Steve, Estie and co last Saturday, and Estie asked when we thought that there would be a response to the incessant bombing that Hamas resumed just prior to the end of the Dec 19th cease fire. I commented that it is certain to be any day. In fact it had started an hour before. Also as you know, last week I wrote about our great day in the Negev. Since the war on Hamas began last Shabbat, many of the roads we took have been closed and it’s really been a tense, nervous situation for residents of the south, living or sleeping in bomb shelters. We all pray for a speedy end, with a clear resolution, as there is no reason for the residents of Israel’s south to be fired on at will for no reason. Many reservists including several friends and classmates of Elan’s have been called up. To date, things have been going well from Israel’s perspective; only time will tell if the outcome leads to the ability of both sides to go forward constructively.

We are delighted to wish my Uncle Peter a happy Special Birthday!!

Mazel Tov to Yakov Fruchter and Ryla on their engagement!!! See you in Winnipeg

Please pray for refuah Shelemah for Tamar Dina bat Smadar and Gilad Hillel ben Bracha Mirel

Have a wonderful Shabbat and let’s all pray for peace.

Barbara and Bruce

Addendum: Shabbat was amazing, but what was most beautiful was the thousands of people who decended on the old city to pray at the Western Wall Friday night. It was inspiring to see the large numbers and the spirit. Also note that the only protests in Israel have been to accelerate the end of fighting, with no "celebrations" of our victories or "Death to the Enemy"rallies, unlike elsewhere in the world. I am always amazed that in spite of this, this country gets such bad press. Mi Kamcha Yisrael! More on this next post, which may be earlier depending on the state of events. (added Sat night)

December 19-26

Chanukah in Jerusalem is a a time for lights in windows and in doorways, parties, and lots of donuts! We celebrated with dinner at Elan and Nomi’s with Ariel, Mimon and the Fiter’s. Pizza, amazing Latkes from Barbara and the best Sufganiot in town from a bakery in our neighborhood as voted by the Jerusalem Post! (They actually were really pretty, and not nearly as greasy as most kinds.) The week’s highlights also included Kabbalat Shabbat at the Kotel, meeting Yaacov Fruchter, Noah, Yisroel Cohen (who got married Wednesday night), Stan Nattel, , etc,; an amazing Shabbat dinner at Elan, Nomi and Shoshana’s; lunch at out house with the Fiter and the Moss families, and Motzei Shabbat with new Grandparents Chaya and Michael Brody (Mazel tov!). We were treated to the sound and light show at Migdal David in the old city (spectacular but a bit chilly!) and caught up with Leonid (from our adopted Russian family) who is here on Birthright.

I mentioned last week that we would be taking a day trip to the south of Israel. This was being organized by Udi Zinar, the Business Development Consultant for the new town of Bney Netzarim. The original town of Netzarim is in Gaza, and like the other Gaza towns was emptied of Jewish inhabitants in 2005. The trip’s concept: let’s get people to see a part of Israel that is building, fun, exciting and full of surprises that people don’t generally visit. So the Liebermans, Fiters and Mazers met early Wednesday AM to head south. The trip was an unmitigated success! We started off in the Elah Valley, the site of the battle between David and Goliath. The hill overlooking the battle field is beautiful and covered in stones inscribed with the biblical verses that describe the event. It was probably the coldest day since we were in Israel. No matter, the company and a few refreshments kept us warm! The van then took us to the Air Force museum in Be-er Sheva. We have all been told that this is a must see, and it was. We were guided through a history of the Israeli Air Force including a great exhibit of retired planes. There were some terrific stories, including how two planes were flown into Israel by defectors which led to great advancements in intelligence and anti-aircraft strategies. We had lunch at the coffee shop (and finished all his baguettes…unfortunately he must not be too busy usually) and then went further south to The Soppapo Memorial Park, a memorial for the Paratroopers. This was within visual distance of the Gaza Strip and is near the farm of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s. The location was chosen because Sharon was the first commander of the Paratrooper units; the raison d’etre for these units was to stop the cross border raids that killed Israelis in the early days of the country. Many fell in battle, but the deterrence was effective and raids inflicted on the Israelis ceased for a while. From there we were introduced to the new village of B’ney Netzarim. The community was moved to temporary quarters in a Negev Yishuv but has established an agricultural presence, growing and exporting Organic Peppers and Potatoes. Unbelievable Peppers. Try to imagine being in the middle of the desert, with sand all around, and seeing greenhouse after greenhouse with plants growing in the sand! Just to underline Israeli determination, when we asked how they could conceive of growing plants in desert sand, Udi told us matter of factly- “It’s the best! Clean, fine like flour, no mineral content, no rocks; it’s the perfect soil for organic growing because we can control all aspects.” True to form, the greenhouses and gardens were really impressive. We also saw the town in it’s infancy…next week they turn soil to build the synagogue. In fact, Udi brought some Kiddush to the area, as we participated in a l’chaim on the spot the synagogue will be build. We ended the day by visiting a ceramics workshop on a Shomer Hatzair Kibbutz nearby, and then went to K’far Maimon, to “Ora’s Yard”. This restaurant is run by Reuven, a polish Holocaust survivor and his wife Ora, of Yemenite descent. During their retirement in the last 10 years the couple have grown an amazing orchard with exotic fruits. The restaurant uses the fruits of the orchard to create elaborate salads, liquors and jams, which we sampled gladly. Great food, great company and it was a fitting end to the day; our eyes had been opened to the grit, determination and creativity of Israel’s southern residents.

As we enjoyed ourselves in the Negev, the irony was that it is anything but quiet and peaceful on the border with Gaza. Hamas continues to launch mortars and missiles at the southern communities. We ask ourselves when the government will take some kind of action; to learn the lessons that were learned, painfully as we saw at the Paratroopers memorial, that terrorizing the citizens cannot be tolerated.

Monty and Daniella and the rest of the Wagner family have arrived! We are planning on spending Shabbat and the next few days catching up with family and playing the tourist role again. Today we wandered around Meah Shearim and the market (Shook) at Machanei Yehuda together. Everyone looks great and is glad to be here.

We pray for a speedy recovery for Tamar Dina (bat Smadar) Amar, daughter of our friend and former member of Montreal’s Kollel Torah Miziyon, and to Gilad Hillel ben Bracha Mirel.

We wish Yisrael and Tali Cohen Mazel Tov!
Happy Hanukkah to family and friends !
Merry Christmas to those back home celebrating !

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach,
Barbara and Bruce

A Chanuka Message from Nomi and Elan

We are in the midst of celebrating Chanukah, and our victory over the Greeks those many years ago. On Shabbat Chanukah, the worlds of Yosef HaTzadik and the Chashmonaim come together, and through Derech HaAvot we can achieve a deeper understanding of the essence of the battle against the Greeks, and perhaps gain some insight and some chizuk for our daily lives.
The last Rashi in Parshat VaYeshev is very puzzling. After interpreting the dreams of his cellmates, Yosef asks the wine minister, who is to live, to put in a good word for him with Paroh, that maybe he, too, can be released from prison. The minister then goes free and subsequently forgets Yosef until two years later when Paroh is plagued by his dreams. Rashi writes that Yosef was forgotten because of his lack of Emunah – he should not have asked the wine minister for help, but rather relied on G-d to save him from all his troubles. The obvious questions beg to be asked: Did Yosef really have a lack of Emunah in Hashem?! Do we not believe in taking action in our lives, and not relying solely Hashem to save us – אין סומכין על הנס??

After Yosef was freed from jail, we can see that he does not repeat this mistake, and while interpreting Paroh's dreams he mentions the name of G-d no less than five times, and even Paroh, the head idol of an idol-worshipping kingdom, declares that he has never seen anyone with such a G-dly spirit (41; 38).

We see this aspect of Yosef at the beginning of exile to Egypt as well. While working in the house of Potifar, his master notices that Hashem is with him (38;3), and Rashi on this pasuk explains that the name of G-d was constantly in the mouth of Yosef, thereby marking him a man of G-d.
Rashi points out this trait earlier in Bereshit as well, by Yosef's father. When Yaakov, dressed as Esav, went to get the blessing from his father, he says that Hashem helped him find food quickly, (27;20) and Yitzchak gets suspicious because, as Rashi explains, it was the practice of Yaakov to constantly have the name of Hashem on his lips.

This trait is additionally found by Avraham. Rashi tell us (24;7) that as a result of all of Avraham's work in the world, the people of the nations always had G-d on their lips. So to, we see that Avraham and also Yitzchak always named places using the name of G-d.
Looking at the whole picture, we can see that each of the Avot gave center stage to the presence of G-d in their life. Whether naming places, finding food, serving as a slave or speaking in front of a powerful king, the message they bring to us is that Hashem should always be right there, a constant presence in every aspect of our lives.

Skipping forward to Chanuka, the midrash (VaYikra Rabba 13;5) reveals that the Greeks commanded the Jews to write on the horn of a bull – קרן השור – that they had no connection to the G-d of Israel. In commanding this, the Greeks hoped to do away with this special characteristic that was passed down from our forefathers. They hoped in this way that we would eliminate G-d from our daily lives, and live just like them in their Hellenistic society.
The Maharal (נר מצוה) explains that by using the horn of a bull, they wanted to remind the Jews of the Sin of the Golden Calf. They wanted to say that even though we claim to have had a G-dly revelation at Sinai, the truth came out immediately afterwards, when we sinned, and that is who we really are as a nation.

As the saying goes, "If at first you don't succeed, try again." Sometimes that's a very daunting task, and a seemingly easier phrase by which to live would say "If at first you don't succeed – lower your standards." When living at a lower standard, there are far fewer responsibilities and expectations, and far fewer obstacles to overcome. According to the Maharal, the Greeks wanted to tell us that we had not succeeded – so we might as well lower our standards. They wanted to say that we could never reach to such heights as was expected of us, so we should just quit now, because we have already failed. In this way, they hoped to convince us to abandon our G-d and our religion, and join them as they conquered the world and spread their Hellenistic beliefs.
Now we can understand the puzzling Rashi from the beginning. Yosef did not actually do anything essentially wrong, but he lowered his standards, and that was his sin. After so many years of being in exile and keeping G-d in his mouth, he reaches a low point and succumbs to the pressure. However, Yosef does teshuva and raises himself up, returning to the high standard at which he always held himself. He could have given up entirely, told himself that although he was still the same person, he was no longer living in the same world as Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, and been happy at a lower standard, but he refused to give up and go down, and that is the greatness of Yosef HaTzadik. He stayed strong in his exile, and ultimately succeeded in bringing G-d's name even to the deepest corner of Egypt, the house of Paroh.
This was the victory of Chanuka – the refusal of our people to lower their standards, and their steadfast determination to live at a high level.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe writes that the reason people eventually stop living at the high standard they once did is because when they make a mistake – as every human being does – instead of getting up and trying again, they grow complacent with their part in life, and no longer try to move forward. They excuse their mistakes, by claiming that they are no longer who they once were. This is the voice of the Greeks, the attack that the Chashmonaim overcame.
May we take the strength that Yosef showed in Egypt, and the strength that the Chashmonaim showed against the Greeks, and find the strength within ourselves to bring Hashem back to the center and the essence of our lives.

Shabbat Shalom!
Chag Chanukah Sameach!
BeAhava, Nomi, Elan and Soshana (the Mazer family)

December 12-19

I don’ t know if it’s the cold that I have, the major scandal in the financial world caused by so-called Orthodox Jews, or the distraction of thinking about the flood in Monty and Daniella’s house, but I am in a crazy mood these days. So, if things seem to be at a 45 degree angle this week, we can blame any or all of the above!

We are in full election mode; the parties have each had their primaries that present the list of candidates who will be eligible for election in the crazy Israeli election scheme. Likud has been in the lead, and in their primary they elected Moshe Feiglin and a group of his very right wing supporters. The party went into panic mode; how can they say they are a centrist party with this list? So their popularity went up from 34 to 37%. Kadima is next at 20% and Ehud Barak and Labor are in downward plummet at 11%. No one wants Barak again. Driving to Hadassah Hospital, there is a huge display on an overpass which tries to portray Barak as tough guy and a real leader. The signs say: “Not sympathetic: a leader; Not nice; a leader; Not cute: a leader” You get the drift. There is Ehud, baby-faced but trying to snarl. It does not work. So, unless there is a major upheaval, Bibi Netanyahu will get another kick at the can, so to speak. Of course, there ARE another 6 weeks to go, which is forever in politics, right?

Shabbat initiated our week with much simcha. We had Elan, Nomi and Shoshana as well as our friends the Zochers for a very spirited dinner with discussion and learning and lots of giggling by Shoshana. The celebration continued at the Shalom Zachar for a new baby boy, son of Avi and Sarah Lifshitz, friends of E and N from Toronto (Sarah) and Yeshivat Hakotel (Avi). The baby’s brit was Sunday Morning, which was also a lot of fun (even though someone fainted and I spent the brit on the floor with him) and we now have a new member of the tribe named Ezra. That’s him being consoled by his new friend Shoshanna. Monday Barbara went back to school….literally! She went to Bet Shemesh to visit Chaya Kessler and attended 2 of her classes. They were excellent; makes you want to be 18 again (or does it??). We went out to dinner in Jerusalem after class (we like feeding Yeshiva and Seminary kids). Tuesday Barbara travelled to Ranana to speak, but mixed business with pleasure by staying over at Sharon Dalfen’s and meeting our friend Mindy Bigman (ex of Cleveland). Mindy’s daughter Hadass was Daniella’s havruta and friend during her year in Israel and wants to see Daniella when she comes to visit next week! Back in Jerusalem, we had our Tuesday night dinner at Elan’s featuring Sweet Corn Soup and Tacos. Ariel has a friend from New York who comes every week for dinner; he was very disappointed to learn we are not staying all year!

The week’s climax or highlight is the arrival of the Fiter Family. This is the first visit for Ryan and Rachel but their parents Steve and Estie have not been here in over 20 years…It’s pretty exciting for all. We got to see them on Thursday, jet lag and all and had a great dinner together. This morning we all took an Old City tour, particularly of the Herodian Quarter, the Southern Wall excavation and the Tunnels. It is amazing to think that we are walking on the same ground as people did in Temple times, and can see actual proof of the laws, rituals and customs as well as the way of life that we learn about when we study classical Jewish texts like the Mishna and Talmud. It is very humbling, but it does drive home the point that the Jews are all part of a chain that has been adding links and growing for 3000 years.

With Chanukah coming, that means that there will be a bit of time for travel and parties (and as previously mentioned, endless donuts). We are planning a day trip south next week to visit the community of Netzarim, which is a transplant of the community that had been in Gaza prior to the evacuation. We will see how they are doing and get the perspective on what the people of Netzarim think of the politics of why they are no longer in Gaza. This has been organized by Willie Lieberman with one of the town’s development people.

Chanukah is the season of light and we begin to celebrate on Sunday night. The candles represent the miracle of the remnants of pure oil left in the Holy Temple following the Hasmonean victory over the Hellenistic Empire. It is a tribute to many parts of our history; the victory of a small nation over a more powerful one; the symbolism of a remnant of oil representing that which was left after destruction, to light the way for rebuilding the future. Much like our forbearers after the Inquisition, the Crusades, or our most recent horror, the Holocaust. We can take solace in the knowledge that there has always been a small flask of oil to keep the flames alive and to continue to build. Good triumphs over evil, and even one small flask of oil can light the entire world. Now let’s do our part.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach!

Barbara and Bruce

December 5-12

With only 8 more shopping days till Hanukkah (I know there are actually 10, but 2 are Shabbat!) this period is just another of the amazing contrasts between living in Jerusalem and elsewhere. It is definitely unique to this city and a few other areas of the country. Interestingly, Elan and I were in Haifa 2 years ago in December, and the stores were decorated for Christmas in several areas, and certainly in Tel Aviv and other places there is more of a presence for the upcoming New Year’s celebration. Even then, compared to living in the US and Canada, with the proliferation of decorations right from Thanksgiving until weeks after New Years, with the Holiday music everywhere and of course with the cold and snow, it is really a huge contrast to be here. Hanukkah is very understated; there may be a display in a grocery store or a gift shop, olive oil may be in the main display, but there is very little else going on. The major exception is in the bakeries. As you know, Jewish Holidays are made for eating, and Hanukkah is no exception. It’s just that typical Hanukkah fare is a heart attack or stroke waiting to happen. Deep fried donuts called sufganiot are everywhere. They are stuffed with jam and powdered with sugar. And every place has dozens. Today I went the bakery were I buy our Challot and they had a huge display with a giant Sufganiah that proclaimed in macho fashion “Ours are the biggest!” I wasn’t sure if they were the biggest health hazard or donut. Places make caramel versions, chocolate, lemon cream, you name it. It doesn’t seem that potato latkes (pancakes) have as big an attraction in Israel as sufganimania.

We think we have gotten to know our area pretty well, and can pretty much navigate the streets on foot to get to most places easily. However, driving in Jerusalem, with its dead ends, one way streets and circuitous routes is another story. This was driven home particularly well this week when Our friend Robert (Reuven) Sutnick came to pick us up for dinner. Robert and Barbara live in Tekoa and we’ve been friends since they were a young rabbinic couple in Montreal. Anyway, Robert needed directions to get him from our area to the south of the city. After I sent him down 2 dead ends and a one way street, I thought it was better to just close our eyes and point. It could not have been worse!

Our week as usual had many highlights. Shabbat dinner was at the Inbal Hotel at the Israeli Allergy Society meeting. Honestly, if you are a Jewish allergist, you’ll always have good company. We hosted two ‘newlywed’ couples on Shabbat Fishel and Sarah Leah Stark and Gary and Charlotte Ginsburg. Phil (Fischel) and Charlotte are probably familiar to may of you. Ariel and two of his yeshiva mates joined us. We got together with Karen and Robert Goldberger on Monday, and saw a terrific show. Every year the Koby Mandell Foundation holds a series of comedy shows to raise funds for victims of terror. (kobymandell.org/comedy) They brought in 4 great stand up artists; two Jews (Avi Lieberman, no relation) and Modi, Chris Spencer and Mike Loftus. Hysterical. The crowd was completely caught up and falling off their seats laughing. Great fund raiser. We also found out that Elan and Nomi’s close friend, Sarah and Avi Lifshitz, had a little boy! So we have a Sahlom Zachar tonight and perhaps a brit on Sunday. I saw the baby at Hadassah when he came for a check up and he is very cute!

On the other hand, sometimes being away is not all it’s cracked up to be. As many of you may know, Monty and Daniella had a pipe burst in their apartment this week. It caused a lot of damage, but no injuries, thank G-d. We spoke to them a lot and of course our house is being well used as a temporary shelter, but felt bad that we could not help more. Kudos to the Wagner’s for flying in and helping out a ton, and the Fiters and of course my parents for providing shelter and a shoulder or two. Monty and Daniella sounded really composed and in full problem solving mode throughout; really impressive. Hopefully they will be able to join us here as planned; no doubt they need a vacation now!

It’s hard to believe that in just a few days the Fiters are arriving, then the Wagners, Mazers, as well as the Liebermans, Teitelbaums, Abitbols and many others…..Jerusalem will be inundated with friends and family to visit. We’re even seeing Yaacov Fruchter tomorrow. And in an amazing coincidence, Joel Moss has moved in on our street for his 10 month stint on the refugee board. Time is flying!

Have a great Shabbat and get that Hannuka Gelt ready!

Barbara and Bruce

Week of November 28-December 4

I had no sooner gotten into the taxi to go to the Central Bus Station (Tahana Hamerkazi) when the driver said (in Hebrew ) “I can’t believe what is happening in India. They attacked and kidnapped Israelis”. That was the beginning of many tense hours watching the news and hoping, beyond hope, for a miraculous, safe rescue for those who were ultimately savagely murdered at Chabad House in Mumbai. We had gone to Eilat for a few days of sunshine and outdoor fun, but this was soberly tempered by hours spent watching Israel’s Channel 2, Skynews and Fox. The Israeli and British coverage were very detailed and highly outraged. Fox, usually the bastion of right wing, anti-terror rhetoric, was surprisingly (and disappointingly) more focused on the economy than on the carnage going on in India. Of course there were miraculous escapes (Jon Erlich of Vancouver and others) but none more than the 2 year old son of the late Chabad Rabbi and his wife. One clear difference between the Israeli News media and others was in the appellation of those killed. Most news services called them victims; Israeli papers uniformly called them Korbanot, or Sacrifices. Every life is precious, and all killed by these calculated murderers are not just nameless victims, but true sacrifices. Let us hope that the world wakes up to see the dangers of terror that have been plaguing us for decades (if not millennia) and confront them for the good of all.

Eilat is a gorgeous resort town on the Red Sea, bordered by Jordan and Egypt. The area on the water is lined with hotels, shops and restaurants, and the beach and Boardwalk have a flea market and arcades. And, lots of people. All walks of life, all stripes of religion, Jew, Arab, Christian, Israeli, American or European. The symbiosis in Eilat could be a model as everyone suns, swims and enjoys together. We certainly enjoyed, taking long walks, shopping (no VAT in Eilat, so prices are 17% lower) and relaxing. We stayed at a great hotel (Isrotel Agamim) with a beautiful pool area. Shabbat was wonderful (great food!) and we capped off the weekend with a trip to the Aquarium in the coral reef and a self-drive jeep tour of the desert. And since Bruce did not flip our Jeep over or run it off the road, we got to enjoy the spectacular scenery and red, purple and brown mountains. Highly recommended holiday and we can even give you some good restaurants to try.

Back home Sunday night we went full force into a new week. Barbara spent time with Chaya Kessler on Tuesday and we had a full house for what is now a legend at Yeshivat Hakotel: “Mazer Dinner” at Elan and Nomi and Shoshana’s apartment. We have fun feeding some of Ariel’s hungrier friends. We also had the chance to catch up with Eddie and Michelle Schwartz from Baltimore, here for their nephew’s Bar Mitzvah. We had breakfast with them on Jaffa St. on Tuesday AM, and then we added to the “catching up” by meeting Rav Baruch Plaskow for coffee. On Wednesday the annual Israel Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology annual meeting began, with a twist. For the first time, it was co-sponsored by both the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and by Allergists for Israel, a great organization that organizes fellowships for teaching Israeli trainees and brings together Jewish Allergist from all over at major allergy meetings. Dozens of US and Canadian allergists attended with our Israeli colleagues. I had a great time seeing a lot of my friends from the allergy world, and also spoke at one of the opening sessions. Tonight in fact we are having Shabbat Dinner at the Inbal hotel as part of the conference. Meanwhile, Ariel invited 5 of his friends to dinner here, and is coming to lunch with 3 yeshiva friends as well. They are having a few other kids over after dinner to night for a tish (don’t tell our landlord). If the apartment is still standing, I will write again next week!!

Seriously, with a week that started with Mumbai and is ending with clashes between IDF soldiers and Jewish residents of Hebron, let us pray for a peaceful and meaningful Shabbat and great news for the week to come.

Shabbat Shalom U’mevorach

Barbara and Bruce

PS: Hi to the Reichmans and Stoffmakers!!

November 21-28

Week of November 21-28

I don’t know why this has happened, but perhaps the planets are aligned in a particular fashion that has led to this tremendous coincidence (when the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars…). This dawned on me as we once again filled out an absentee ballot for the upcoming Quebec election. As I am sure that you have noticed, every possible jurisdiction that means something to us has or will be having an election. We’ve had Canada, the US, all Israel Mayoral (as you remember we commented on Jerusalem) now Quebec jumped on the bandwagon…and the piece de resistance, Israel will elect a new prime minister in February. Of course, it’s nice to see the Quebec Liberals ahead in the polls and M. Mario and Co. crash and burn. I don’t even mind telling you that we (like almost every other member of the tribe) will vote Liberal in D’arcy McGee (Go Lawrence!). Charest was better in a minority situation than with a majority, so I hate to see him get cocky again. It just does not look like Mme Marois and the PEQ’s will give him enough of a run for his money. With 10 days to go though, anything can happen, and we will wait and see.

Here in Israel, people are getting worked up about the elections, past and present. The initial polls have the Likud (Biby Netanyahu) ahead of Kadima (Tzippi Livni) by 34-26 seats, plus more friends than enemies to make a coalition with. Netanyahu pulled a PR coup by getting Benny Begin (the late Menachem’s son) to come back to politics after several years of retirement, plus Danny Ayalon, a past Ambasador to the US and foriengn policy guru who had joined another party. What did Tzippi do? She talked Haim Ramon into coming back to Kadima. Ramon is most recently known for being on trial for sexually abusing staff members. Somehow, I wonder why some people go into politics…. Maybe next week I’ll share some of the goings on in the Hasidic political communities that have made the paper; they’ve had us all shaking our heads.

We started last Shabbat in one of the holiest places we’ve davened at since we arrived. No, not the Kotel, but rather, Barbara and I went to a Carlebach Minyan in the upstairs of a local synagogue named Yakar (precious). The minyan is run by Amichai, and each Friday night he packs in dozens of teens, many religious, and many not, boy with earrings and tattoos…The whole group sings and claps and dances. And, there were clearly more women than men. And what elevated the holiness even more was that there were 3 announcements to make sure that if anyone needs a place to eat for Friday night, or has room at their table, speak to Amichai. At least 4 kids needed places, and the few people of our age there swept them up. This goes on every week... truly amazing ruach (spirit) and a wonderful example of what tzedaka and Shabbat can really be about.

We were invited out twice last Shabbat. Friday night we spent with Francesca Levi- Schaffer and her husband Yaacov and 4 of their friends. You may know that Francesca is the scientist I am working with at Hadassah/Hebrew U. The group included another immunologist, a professor of Medieval Islamic History, a concert violinist, an engineer who specializes in restoring ancient buildings; a very eclectic and interesting group. In fact, we were the only religious couple, but Kiddush and Shalom Alechem has a way of unifying all Jews. Shabbat lunch was another treat- we went to (relative) Newlyweds Jason (Yaacov) and Sarah Lerner. Jason’s mother Anna and her sister Marian were in town. It was great to see Anna here and Jason and Sarah are doing great. Steven Lerner, who is in a Nachal Haredi unit in Tzahal, also made a guest appearance (he was exhausted and slept till 1!!) He's doing very well. After Shabbat we invited our friends Michal and Ronen Selah and their children (Moriah, Meytal, Eyal, Yonatan, Tzur, and Efrat; see picture) for a Melaveh Malkah. It was very special to spend time with them; as some of you may remember, the Selah’s were our neighbors in 1999-2000 when Ronen was vice principal of Hebrew Academy. The older kids got a real kick out of seeing pictures of our house covered in snow from last winter’s crazy snow falls.

Yesterday Bruce went to Assaf Harofeh Hospital, located in between Rishon Le’Tzion and Ramleh (nor Ramalah). Assaf Harofeh is the oldest hospital in Israel, and still has barrack like structures from the British Mandate days being used as outpatient clinics. The host was Yitzhak Katz, a former fellow at National Jewish in Denver, and I spoke to the pediatric department about Immune deficiency. It was a good visit, and I got to see Petach Tiqvah (lots of construction) and got lots of sunshine and warm weather. Barbara also travelled, but not for quite as pleasant an occasion. She visited her colleague P’nina Wiess in Ramat Gan, whose father had passed away late last week.

You may notice that this is being posted a bit early this week. We are going down to Eilat for a few days; by agreement, no computers and no work. So, we’ll wish you Shabbat Shalom a bit early and we’ll catch you up on tales from the south next week.

Wishing you a great rest of the week, a Chodesh Tov and Shabbat Shalom!

Barbara and Bruce

November 14-21

When you talk about the rhythm of life in a particular place, you talk about its pace, its vibrations and its people’s tendencies. The rhythms in Israel are different than North America, and those of Jerusalem are different than other places in Israel. Jerusalem is a large mélange, highly spiritual, more traditional than Tel Aviv or Haifa, but still very cosmopolitan, due to the presence of excellent universities and colleges and some high tech industries. That there is a large concentration of religious people who are involved in many of the cosmopolitan pursuits makes things more interesting. An unlike other enclaves that have these large religious populations, such as Bnei Brak or even Raanana, the fact that this is a large city with such tremendous history gives Jerusalem a rhythm of its own. Take Fridays, for example. The work week here is Sunday to Friday, officially, but in many sectors, including the Universities, Friday is a pseudo day off. The city transforms into get ready for Shabbat mode. Traffic is less in the early hours of the day, when most commuters are usually out. Stores are in full sales mode, cafes are busy, as people take time to do errands, chat or scurry around. Meat restaurants are either closed or many become takeout emporiums, setting up buffets for people who wish to save on cooking (but not on money!). The market, Mahane Yehuda, is at its busiest, crowded, noisy and lots of fun (if you have good elbows). Then magically, about 1½ hours before sundown, things quiet down. Traffic is minimal, stores closed, people busy in homes. Then suddenly, a siren sounds from the center of the city. Shabbat. The city rests, so different from the remainder of the week, with its buses and trucks, noise and crowds. People walk, talk, sing…and breath. The ultimate in freedom.

Our week was a busy one, but aren’t they all? (Yours too, I imagine). Shabbat last week was in Modiin, where Elan’s in-laws, Karen and Robert Goldberger, made a Simchat Bat (celebration for the birth of a girl) on Shabbat afternoon. Of course, we were celebrating Shoshana, who co-operated and only slept through part of her party. Many of their very close friends came and we had what could be best described as a “cake marathon”! People came all afternoon and were greeted to trifles, babkas, layer cakes, fruit, you name it! Everyone felt welcome, and besides the cake there was ample amber liquid refreshment that warmed the camaraderie (hamayveen yaveen). We hung out in Modiin until late Saturday, playing with Shoshana and enjoying the family. This week we also got to experience a little culture, treating ourselves to a movie at the Jerusalem Theatre, and last night going to a book launch, the debut publication of Rabbi Ian Pear, Rabbi of the Shir Chadash Congregation (no, not Shira Chadasha for those who know the difference). The book, called The Accidental Zionist, is a compilation of stories and discussions about his life as a traditional but not very well educated Jew to one who became a Rabbi and made Aliyah. The underlying concept is how the modern generation can find meaning in Israel, beyond simply the religious connection. We’ll let you know how the book is when we finish it!

Of course Tuesday evening is family evening, with babysitting in the afternoon, dinner and Bruce and Elan learning g’marra. Elan is become quite an incredible teacher. He has an excellent, logical approach, he tries to keep me on my toes, and he works things through patiently and clearly. However, what really freaked me out was when he started to explain a section by writing out the different possibilities upside down across the table so I could see them. That was eerie…you can ask my patients, I have been doing that for years when I explain medications and other things about allergy. Very cool indeed-genetics at work.

And the piece de resistance: Shoshana rolled over this week!

So to end I thought I’d share a funny incident. As you know, there are no shortage of places to daven (pray) here; at last count we have been to at least 9 different synagogues or shteilbles on Shabbat in Jerusalem alone never walking more than 15 minutes (except for to the Yeshiva). That does not count the places in Modiin, Givat Shmuel, Raanana, etc. So, I decided to find yet another place to pray, and to do so I would follow the first person I saw who looked like they were walking to shul. I left the apartment at about 7:50, saw someone carrying a talit, and followed his brisk pace for about 6 blocks. Then, he turned into his apartment! I had followed someone coming home from an early minyan. So much for great plans.

We were saddened this week by the news of the passing of Ann Brandt, mother of our friend Elaine Hoffman, and Sam Garellek, father of our friend Shimon. Especially from afar, we wish we could be there to help comfort you.

We also are happy to hear about the engagement of Danielle Elbogen to David Kogut. Save a Lechaim for us!

Happy Birthday to Ken!
And may the Als win the Grey Cup!

Shabbat Shalom,

Barbara and Bruce

November 7 - 14

It’s an absolutely gorgeous day in Jerusalem, sunny, low 20’s, not too humid; we took a long walk to Mea Shearim, buying a few things for a Suedah Shlishit party that the Goldberger’s are having for Shoshana. We are heading off to Modiin for Shabbat in a couple of hours. Believe it or not, this is the first time that we are all going to be together for Shabbat since we arrived in September. Robert Goldberger is a commuting physician, and his trips to Toronto keep him away for several weeks at a time. Everyone is looking forward to this important celebration.

The week past again was busy. We were blessed to celebrate our friend Phil (Fischel) Stark’s birthday on Motzei Shabbat. Phil and his wife Sarah Leah are new olim and newlyweds, and their touching story is on Frumster.com (http://www.frumster.com/success_details_sy.php?successid=159 ).
Barbara again went to Tel Aviv, to be part of a conference and to lecture to a group of health care practitioners who are involved in driving assessment and research. Sunday she met with the physician responsible for driving assessment for the Ministry of Health, to discuss the role of occupational therapy in this important issue. She spent Sunday night in Bnei Brak at her friend and colleague Tamar Wiess. Suffice it to say that Bnei Brak is always an interesting experience. The rest of the week flew by, with our Tuesday dinner with ‘the kids” (Maybe I’ll write a cookbook on cooking on the fly in Jerusalem). Wednesday we had dinner with our old Denver friends Reuven and Chani Or, and one of their sons Matan.
And of course, you are all waiting for the election results: Nir Barakat won by 51% of the vote. Porush 42%, Gadymak 3.5% and Dan Birron (inhale) 1%. This is probably good for Jeruslaem, but only time will tell.

We have all encountered people who seem to be just a little more in tune to what is going on, how to help others or just go a little extra. We’ve been very fortunate to have been exposed to many outstanding friends, relatives and others over the years. Since we’ve been in Israel, we have had the pleasure of benefiting from a little extra attention from our friends Pnina and Yithak Zocher. Many may know the Zochers, from the time that Yitzhak was the educational director of Hebrew Academy from 2002-2006. From day of our arrival literally they have been our major resource. The first morning we were here, the first phone call was Yitzhak. The second morning (OK closer to noon, we were pretty jet lagged) the phone rings: have you been outside your apartment yet? The Zochers left a bag of fresh bagels and Rogelach. To this day those were the best bagels we have had here, and the closest thing to Montreal bagels in this country. We needed someone to help clean the apartment? The Zochers found “Rina”. We have had a Shabbat dinner there; always the teacher, Yitzhak taught us parshat hashavua (weekly torah portion) using a book he has just completed tying things in the Torah Portion to symbols in Jerusalem. All this, in spite of Pnina’s mother passing away before Yom Kippur, and other things going on in their life with 4 children and 10 grandchildren. Last week they took us on a walk that covered famous mezuzot collected at the great synagogue, the oldest Jewish neighborhood developed by the British (important reading: The memoirs of Elizabeth Finn, the governess of Jerusalem in the late 1880’s) and to the military cemetery to light a Yahrtziet candle in memory of Hanah Senesh, a young Israeli woman from Hungary who is famous for her poetry and for being captured in a mission during WWII to help rescue Hungarian Jews. She was captured and executed as a traitor to Hungary, but has a special place in the military cemetery as a heroine.

In fact, last week was not only the anniversary of the death of Hannah Senesh, but anniversary of Krystalnacht, as well as the murder of Yitzhak Rabin. There was a very moving ceremony for Krystalnacht near our home, where the German and Austrian ambassadors both spoke. Television last week included documentaries on Rabin, the Holocaust, and a brand new historical docudrama about Hanah Senaesh (again thanks to the Zochors for that tip). The juxtaposition of the Krystalnacht and Hanah Senesh, both important Holocaust related events, with Rabin’s assassination is sobering. We are reminded that we must always be on our guard, never be too complacent, as there are forces in the world that can always rise against us. To ensure our survival, we not only must be on our guard, but be sure that, as we learned from the case of Rabin, we do not lift our hands against each other and allow our unity to deteriorate.

Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom and Go Als Go!

Barbara and Bruce

PS: Send in a caption for the picture!

November 1-7

We are now heading into a new era….Jerusalem will have a new mayor in 4 days! (And you thought I meant the Obama era…well, the world is still spinning, isn’t it?). Seriously, now that the US election is over (Kol Hakavod l’Barack Obama, he ran a great campaign) we can concentrate on the Jerusalem elections. Actually, mayors and city councils all over Israel are up for election on November 11. The voter turnout in each city is variable, with small towns having generally high turnout (Your vote does make a difference!) whereas in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, people tend to be a bit more apathetic. In Jerusalem this is coupled by the fact that less than 5% of the Arab residents vote, primarily for political reasons rather than apathy. The claim is that if they voted in a Jerusalem election, that is tantamount to admitting that the city actually exists and has a democratic leadership. For them, the preferred alternative is….actually it’s not clear. In any case, they don’t vote, then they have no one to complain to when their municipal services are not the same as those of the other sectors of the city. It is why there are a small number of Arab citizens trying to increase the voter turnout. We’ll see.

As for the candidates, there is a lot of room for the sarcastic and satiric commentators. First, the mayor appears to be running separate from the parties that make up the council. No one can explain why. The most serious candidate, Nir Barakat is the frontrunner. He has been leader of the opposition for 4 years. He has an impressive track record of successful projects, especially in the education sector. He lost the last election to Uri Lupolianski, the Haredi mayor, because the Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) population voted en bloc last time. This time, the Haredi candidate is a real politician, Meir Porush, who was housing minister under Netanyahu. The reason the incumbent is not running again is due to an agreement between Degel Hatorah and Agudat Yisrael, two haredi parties, that they would alternate candidates. Great in theory, but it only worked the first time. This time, it took a long time to wrangle out who would run, because Lupolianski thought that since he was Mayor and the city is still standing, he would automatically win again. However, based on the agreement, he could not, so he tried to find away to run anyway, but eventually did not. Then the former head of Shas, Aryeh Deri (freshly out of jail for bribery) announced his candidacy for Mayor, but the courts ruled that it was too close to his release. The indication is that the Haredi community is going to vote with their consciences this time, rather than by rabbinic decree (probably because no one agrees this time).

The other two mayoral candidates are also worth some digital ink. Arkady Gedymaki is a Russian Businessman, famous for buying Bikur Cholim Hospital when it was in a hole, and building a camp for Sederot children and renting a hotel for refugees from northern towns during the second Lebanon war. So far so good. Only problem with this extremely wealthy individual is where he made all his money. If he loses the election he will likely end up in France where he is on trial for arms running into Angola. Then there is Dan Birron, an entertainer and the head of the Green Leaf party. That’s pretty funny, made more so when you see M. Birron’s picture or hear him speak. He’s been smoking a bit too much of that Green Leaf. The best irony, however, I leave for the Meretz Party. Their two slogans are “Free Jerusalem from being Haredified (loose translation)” and “a Jerusalem for all” which may be contradictory. Their posters portray a smiling guy with a long grey beard who looks like Fidel Castro, “the great liberator”, but is actually a guy named Pepe Alalu, a Meretz city counselor (check him out on Facebook). Next to these posters are caricatures of a smiling gentleman with a long white beard, made to look like Meir Porush (http://www.porush.co.il/) . Two bearded gentlemen, at either end of the political spectrum? Maybe Meretz has a guilty conscience? Or maybe they haven’t been to Cuba to see the wonderful quality of life of the population (especially the Jews) there?
In any case, let’s hope they get few votes.

Several highlights this week included Barbara spending 3 days in Tel Aviv, presenting to a day long workshop at Tel Aviv University with her friend and colleague Isabelle Gelinas. It was very successful (they even got to the beach!) and we enjoyed having Isabelle visit. The professors of Occupational Therapy at TAU showed them around in true Israeli style. There was a lineup of people to take them to interesting neighborhoods in Tel Aviv, Jaffa and Mini-Israel as well as to dinners and lunches. Next week Barbara returns to Tel Aviv for another seminar and a meeting in the Ministry of Health to discuss driving rehabilitation strategies. Tuesday night we restarted our dinners at Elan and Nomi’s, which had a hiatus for the chagim. I think with Nomi retuning to school, our cooking will be even more appreciated. Ariel also joined us, and now that he is eating Yeshiva food again….well, you get the message. We had a sleepover with Shoshanna on Wednesday night, to let Ema and Abba go to a close friend’s wedding. Eizeh Booba! (what a doll!).

We just came back from a tour of several interesting Jerusalem sights with our firneds the Zochers. More about this extraordinary couple next week. Shabbat will be in Yerushalyim to recover for the week to come. Besides political commentary I am doing experiments and finished after 8:30 in the lab Thursday night…..

Shabbat Shalom and the best to all!

Barbara and Bruce

October 24 - 31

So where are we living while we are here? We are in a section of the city known as Old Katamon, which is basically a residential area located between Rehavia on the northwest and Talpyot on the southeast. The area is well known because of the presence of the Jerusalem Theatre, and it is around the corner from the President’s Residence. Our street, Mevo Yoram, is a dead end street between Ha-gdud Ha-Ivri and a park that leads up to the Jerusalem Theatre parking lot. If you are looking for central, you’ve come to the right place. We are 15 minutes walk from Emek Refaim, 12 minutes from the Great Synagogue and Melech George, 20 minutes to Ben Yehuda and 30 minutes to Elan’s and Nomi’s apartment and Elan and Ariel’s Yeshiva in the old city. It was actually a lot of mazal to link up with the landlord and to have Elan be able to visit quickly so we could grab it. The apartment has two bedrooms, a large living room/dining area and a nice sized apartment kitchen. My favorite part is the fact that within a 5 minute walk we have a little grocery store (depaneur or Makolet), two hardware stores, a photo shop, a bakery, a meat take out place, a dry cleaner and a supermarket. If we want to do big time shopping we walk 20 minutes to Talpiyot, home of about 6 supermarkets and a shopping center with am Office Depot, Home Center, and anything else you need. You may have noticed that I have mapped everything out in terms of walking distances. Yes, we are doing A LOT of walking. For one, we don’t have a car, a conscious decision based on a) the environment b) the price of gas c) the parking d) the excellent cheap public transport e) the exercise…OK I can keep on with bu um…excuses, but in truth, we aren’t martyrs. If we need a car to take a tiyul, we will rent one. Otherwise, for all the above reasons, you don’t really need a car here.

This week, I was at a scientific meeting on Mast Cells (anyone who wishes to know more about Mast Cells, feel free to ask). What is fun about going to meetings in Israel is 1) We don’t eat out of tin foil (unless you want to) 2) I found out that Hebrew University Givat Ram Campus (as well as the Knesset and the Israel Museum) are less than 30 minutes walk 3) I can translate for all my US and European colleagues. It was interesting to hear one of my colleagues from Virginia say “you know, I don’t usually feel like a minority, but I sure do here…I can’t speak the language, it’s not my religion…makes me think about how all the foreign students in my lab must feel.” So for a change, Jews are the majority and the norm. And if the fact that Israel is an open society with excellent universities and attracts scientists, teachers, and other academics here, and they can realize the same things as my friend from Virginia, maybe we are being an Or La-Goyim after all (Light unto the nations). (Try feeling that in Sudan or Chechnya).

Barbara has a busy week coming up, with a major day long seminar in Tel Aviv next week. Her friend and co-researcher Isabelle Gelinas from Montreal is here to present at the seminar as well. Today they went to Masaada and the Dead Sea and had a great time. Friday it is Yad Vashem and Shabbat preparations. Elan arrived back from Poland at 6 AM and we hope he and Nomi and Shoshana will be coming for Shabbat Lunch. In fact, having Nomi and Shoshana here from Friday till Tuesday was great and we suffered from withdrawal for the next couple of days (it’s fun to wake up to baby babbling in the morning). Shoshana is a good sleeper so we really did not have the “Early Morning Baby Blues” (sung by Tex Ritter) (who???).

Unless you have been on Jupiter for the last few months, you know that there is a US election coming up. So do Israelis. I think that the man on the street in Jerusalem is following the progress of McCain and Obama a lot closer than many Americans. In true Israeli fashion, every one has an opinion, of course. Clearly the favorite in the dati leumi community is the more conservative of the politicians. Looked at from Israel’s perspective, any candidate that would negotiate with Iran or Syria with no preconditions is not going to garner favor here. This is reflected in the exit polls for US expatriates who have voted here. If this would reflect US voting pattern (which it does not) the republican candidate would walk away with the election. Of course, the latest CNN poll has Obama 47-44% for McCain, much closer than the 11 point lead of a few weeks ago. As a non expert, I will reserve my comments, only to say that anyone who would pick Zbigniew Brzezinski as foreign policy advisor (Jimmy Carter’s Secretary of State and a very left leaning Columbia Prof in my era of 77-81) can’t really say he is the beacon of change. At the same time, there are municipal elections here for Mayor (Nov 11) which we can look at the humorous side next week, and of course the general Israel Election in February which everyone is predicting will be neck and neck between Bibi and Zippi. And of course the last word goes to Jon Stewart…”Did anyone notice that our neighbor to the north had an election?”

Shabbat Shalom!

Bruce and Barbara

September 19-26

We are all heading into a New Year and our adventure in Jerusalem continues. In truth, it's been a very different type of time in Jerusalem...Barbara commented the other day that we haven't done anything touristy...we haven't even visited the kotel! We have been very close, though, as Elan, Nomi and Shoshana live overlooking that Holy site. We have been going with the rythm of living in this beautiful city, shopping, working, shul, buses...fun and anything but touristy.

So I left you last week about to leave for Elan's Mussar at the Yeshiva. He was amazing, passionate, and humorous to capture his student's attention. He spoke about Responsibility (Ahrayut) an important concept as we wnter the Yamim Noraim. We followed that with singing, a short d;var torah from me welcoming Shoshana to the family and Kiddush of chicken wings, Kugels, cake and drinks. All enjoyed. The Old city is bursting every Thursday night since the beginning of Elul; my cab took 45 minutes just to get out of the Rova. People flood the place for Slichot at all hours of the night!

Shabbat was spent in Givat Shmuel with our friends the Maliachs, who are doing great. They are building a new house in the neighborhood. They daven at this huge 300-400 person Carlebach minyan that sang and danced for 90 minutes on Kabalat Shabbat and more singing throug till the end of Shabbat. Fun and inspiring, considering the number of people packed into a big trailer. Slichot was back in Jerusalem at the Shir Hadash Minyan, also carlebach style. Sunday was a work day (!) with the lab at Hebrew U/Hadassah being very welcoming and stimulating. Nomi had an exam, so Barbara babysat and then took Nomi shopping. We spent Tuesday night at a wedding in the middle of no-where; former Montrealers Barbara and Robert Sutnick's daughter got married. Barbara spends her days working and taking walks; meeting friends (such as new Oleh Charlotte from Toronto) and babysitting. On Thursday night we made dinner with Elan and Nomi and played with Shoshana. As you've seen from the pictures, she's amazingly cute.

Everyone is scurrying around and preparing for Shabbat and Rosh Hashana. The streets and stores are busy. We have Chaya Kessler staying for Shabbat and Elan and Nomi for luch tomorrow. Tonight we are invited to Elinor (Gehr) and Aryeh Kofman's with a roup of people. Shabbat here is always a welcome experience.

Have a wonderful Shabbat and K'tiva V'hatima tova!

September 29-October 3

What a magical week! We started last Erev Shabbat by greeting Chaya Kessler, who is studying in Bet Shemesh in her second year at a seminary called Machon Maayan. It sounds like a excellent program, a mixture of classes, Torah Study and community service. Chaya volunteers at a program run by NCSY for English speaking new Olim who are struggling with their Jewish Identity. Believe it, even in Israel, or maybe especially in Israel. A lot of these kids are American, British or South African teens, whisked away from their friends, their schools and their malls to a foreign place by idealistic, religious parents. It works for some, but it is very hard for others. Consider that a move within the same city is hard, try to Israel…It is challenging and Chaya is doing really good work.

Shabbat was great; Friday night at Elinor (Gehr) and Aryeh Kaufman’s, meeting a YU/Stern young married couple they are friends with (Both on the fencing team so they know Steven Lerner) and we did not get home till almost midnight. Shabbat morning included davening at 8:10 (finish by 10…I could get used to that) and then we had Elan and Nomi for lunch with Chaya. We had a great time, highlighted by spending the afternoon with Shoshana and taking her for a walk. (Sounds mundane but you should try it….). Everyone stayed at our apartment till after Havdalah. Barbara and I went out and ‘cruised’ Ben Yehuda ( well, we went to the art stores off Ben Yehuda) while a cold wind blew into Jerusalem. It ouf course did not last, today was over 26, but it was cooler all week.

Rosh Hashana was truly amazing. We davened both days at Yeshivat Hakotel; this was an experience. Firstly, the boys are really committed- davening started at 6: 20 and when I got in at 6:40 it was 90+% full (at least on the first day). The most impressive part is the singing. It is a major part of the davening, singing, clapping, dancing and no one seemed to tire, even though we went till 2 PM. I can see where some of Monty’s inspiration comes from (I am sure Shaalvim was no less raucous). The other great thing was being able to look out over the Kotel during the services. As you say “Jerusalem your city will be rebuilt speedily in our day” and can look out at the city, your emotions can really play havoc. We are the only people who are so inspired to pray for Jerusalem, no one else, and I hope that we are fortunate enough to see this city in our hands for many years to come. Both nights of Rosh Hashana were spent with family; Elan, Nomi and Shoshana on Monday night and Ariel, Chaya Kessler and three of her friends on Tuesday. Lots of food, discussions, singing, and especially the Yeshiva and Seminary kids enjoyed a good home cooked meal (so did Elan and Nomi but they themselves are great cooks!)

Since Rosh Hashana ended Wednesday night, we really only had Thursday which was a work day and today, which let us take a trip to Meah Shearim for some perusing and minor purchases…including another inexpensive cell phone, so we now have a second number (052-729-0856). Feel free to use it.

One last quick anecdote: To walk to Rehavia from our place (near the Kings Hotel), you have to walk past a ‘checkpoint’. In the middle of a residential area, there is the Prime Minister’s Residence. It is surrounded by Fences and cameras, and there are a few soldiers with rifles and booths, but people stroll through unimpeded, saying high and Shana Tova to the soldiers, with no real cares (you can even bring liquids in…!) Try to imagine that happening near the White House (if you can get near it!) Of course, 24 Sussex Drive is kind of bland and no one would do anything there anyway…

Have a great Shabbat, Shana Tova and Ktiva V’Chatima Tova!

Barbara and Bruce

October 3-10

Another week, another Yom Tov. We all knoew that feeling this time of year. Here, though, we are in the midst of a yerushalmi and Israeli academic environment. What does that mean? For one, university does not start until November 2, a week after Sukkot ends. Also, things that are not on the semester system like labs and offices (including the one I am working in) are closed pretty much all of Sukkot. In fact, although I am sure there are die hard profs and researchers who will work through Col Hamoed, the buildings are locked, so you need special passes to enter. Sorry, I wasn’t given one!

Yeshiva is also on this schedule, so Elan has some time off from his learning and teaching, and Ariel is off almost till Rosh Chodesh of Cheshvan; 10 days after Sukkot finishes. Elan is gainfully employed till the holiday doing …what else? Selling etrogim. Not just any etrogim…high end ones. Put in your orders quick, you only have till Monday.

Speaking of which, we are still amazed with the uniqueness if being in Jerusalem. It is really fun that everyone at work wished each other G’mar Chatima Tova as we were leaving on Tuesday evening. Religious, secular, Russian, Ethiopian, American/Canadian/Brutish/South African, Israeli…very neat. Sure beats Merry Christmas. Second, the street corners are abuzz with religious commerce. If you can’t find a guy selling a lulav or an etrog, you can find a Sukkah. We weren’t planning on putting up a Sukkah, but who know what kind of clearance price we can get at 3 PM on Monday??? Definitely a wonderful environment, and it isn’t even Brooklyn.

My best street corner visual was at the bust stop that I take from Hebrew U Med School. Tuesday PM there was a young yeshiva Bochur with a carton. I thought it was etroging, since the carton said “Pri Eretz Yisrael” (Fruit of Israel). On closer inspection, he had two chickens, for Kapparot, of course. He didn’t have too many takers, but I could just picture someone waving a chicken and the bus arriving and pulling away quiclkly, as they regulary do. Atzor!! Stop!! Nahag!! Driver!! And chicken in hand, he/she runs off chasing the bus! (OK, at least I could picture that….).

For Yom Kippur, we joined an Israeli minyan in our area for Kol Nidre, and spent all on yesterday in the old city at Yeshivat Hakotel. Kol Nidre was fun; wee were invited to the shul of our friends Yitchak and Pnina Zocher, (former head of Hebrew Academy). It was a medium sized minyan, probably 100 people, and all the people knew the nuggunin and singing along. The ruach was great and is was very enjoyable, The Yeshiva was intense! 6: 20 till 2:10, 40 minute break, then Minha, Neila. Singing, crying, dancing…..every emotion possible. As the dusk was coming and we looked upon the Kotel and the sunset, you felt clearly that the minutes were ticking away and that this group of people felt they only had a few short moments to bring atonement to everyone around- present or remote. Pretty amazing for a group of young men. We ended by dancing down to the kotel for Shofar and maariv. Gabi Cohen had come (his second time) and a Toronto family we know (the Javaski’s) and lots of young, very involved men and women (the ladies section was packed with Seminary girls).

We broke the fast at Elan’s and Nomi’s and then went home, tired but very uplifted. We are having Elan, Nomi and Shoshana, as well as a friend of Elan’s and Elinor and Aryeh Kaufman (nee Gehr). We can’t wait to play with Shoshana and let her parents have a long nap while we wander around….OK< time to fnish cooking. I’ll write more about our erev Shabbat-chag wanderings in the future but next week, being sukkot, promises to be as terrific as this one.

Shana Tova, Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach!!

Bruce and Barbara

October 10-17

Last week I wrote a little about how it was fun and refreshing to be in a place where life buzzed with the spirit of the Chagim. It is pretty easy to be moved by the Yamim Noraim, Rosh Hasashana and Yom Kippur. No matter who you are, these tend to stir you. Sukkoth is a whole different ball game. To have the opportunity to buy a Sukkah next to where you pick up the news paper is one thing. To see a city alive with Sukkoth and really feel like there is something special going on is really quite an eye opener.

We had a superb Shabbat last week, having Elan and Nomi stay over with Shoshana for the first time. I think everyone had fun, perhaps for different reasons. Elan and Nomi caught up on sleep and Barbara and I caught up on smiles and giggles (not to mention an few whimpers…). Shoshana just embodies cuteness. We also were looking forward to Sukkoth in Modiin where we would be spending the first 2 days with Nomi’s family. Ariel and a frind of his from Toronto Noam Gryssman also joined us. We had a great time, but unfortunately Robert was not there, having returned to Toronto to be wit his parents who had been in a car accident. All is OK, they are home, but he really is able to better assess the situation in Toronto than from afar. We definitely missed his presence in the Sukkah.

So here we are in Modiin, a very Israeli town, and we are keeping 2 days of Yom Tov. Why you ask, why not when in Rome (or Israel) do as the locals do? Well, its very complicated, and I could go into a long discourse on the various customs and manipulations thereof that “Hutznikkim” (People who live out of Israel or Hutz La-aretez) go through, but I won’t. Suffice it to say that a prevailing rabbinic concept is that if you are definitely returning home (we are) you keep your own custom from home. So we were a few souls keeping 2 days amongst a sea of Israelis who only had one day of holiday. Pretty weird to have our hostess ask if she could drive us to shul….Anyway the second day of Yom tov, there was a minyan for the non-Israelis; about 16 people came, including Lionel Rabinovitch from Montreal, who was visiting his daughter Emily. Now, if Roanne is sitting, he told me that he will be a great grandfather soon; Debbie’s eldest daughter is expecting! Exciting news. The weather in Modiin was hot and himid on Tuesday and then overnight it rained quite a bit. Not enough to wreck our sukkah partying, and we enjoyed a cooler day 2 in the Sukkah.

Back to Jerusalem on Wednesday night Barbara and I saw the world premier of Against the Tide, a Simon Wiesenthal production about the stonewalling by the US government during WWII when the word of the Nazi’s annihilation of the Jews came out. This was aided and abetted by the World Jewish Congress, especially its’ President Rabbi Stephen Wise. It was a very sobering movie, with some very uplifting messages about several activist groups that were able to fight the madness and get some political action.

On Thursday was the piece de resistance. As you know, the biblical term for the three major holidays, Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkoth (who said Chanukka?) are the “shalosh regalim” ; the three ascents (regel is literally foot) when all of Israel marched to Jerusalem to serve God in the Temple. Today, we got just a small taste of that. During each Pesach and Sukkoth, there is a mass, communal Priestly blessing performed at the Kotel. Today thousands of people converged in the morning to be part of this. We were able to participate, away from the crowds, on the roof of Yeshivat Hakotel with a fair view. The numbers of people were huge. The Jewish quarter was alive all day with music, singing, plays and people were flocking to celebrate. Then in the afternoon, a historic event. Following the 7th year of the Shmita cycle, the people of Biblical Israel all were commanded to descend on Jerusalem, and hear passages of the Torah read by the king. This year completed a cycle of Shmita (more on that in the future, if anyone is interested!) and so a Hakhel (Literally, gather people) ceremony was held. I think 200,000 is a conservative number for the amount of people who descended on the western Wall Plaza for this. The current chief rabbis and recent chief rabbis were present, and there was music and dancing. Since there was no king available, and Shimon Peres does not read torah (the previous President, Katsav, did read torah 7 years ago; now he is being investigated for rape….) so the Torah reading was divided amongst high ranking rabbis. Just to be part of this gathering, to be linked with history and a gathering of people of this magnitude, and especially to feel as if we were part of the ascent to Jerusalem along with people from all over Israel, Europe, North and South America etc…the biblical commandment of descending on Jerusalem to celebrate the holiday is very much with us today as over 2000 years ago. We also had pretty tired raglayim (feet) from the walking we did today!

We are preparing for Shabbat in Ranana, and Shmini Atzerert and Simchat Torah to come….

Week of October 17- 24

Week of October 17- 24

It is commonly said in Israel that nothing really gets started until “acharei ha-chagigm” literally, after the holidays. That applies to everyone, religious, traditional or secular. Whether you have been in shul, your sukkah, at the beach or camping in the Galil, people celebrate this time of year as something special. As it should be.

We completed the Marathon Month of Tishrei (wait, it’s not over) with a visit to Ranana on Shabbat. We stayed with former Montrealers (and Ahavat Ysirael members) Sharon and Robert Dalfen. They are doing really well. They have 4 daughters 6-16 who are all terrific. Robert had a unique opportunity a couple of years ago, as a company he was working for was purchased and he was given a generous severance package. Never having spent a year in Israel after high school to study, he decided to take advantage and ‘went back to Yeshiva’. He has really become very proficient and continues to study Talmud in the morning and work long afternoons for a startup company. He knows that if the new business is successful he will have to work full time, but he is enjoying this phase and clearly is not missing a beat, combining family, work and study in an impressive way.

While in Raanana, we had the opportunity to get together with other former Montrealer firiends, including Gerry Yampolsky and his wife Michelle, Rochelle August, Debbie Berzan (all Herzliah Snowdon grads). We caught up on lots of people, but it was kind of surreal to talk about high school people after so many years…..

Sunday was another one of those days that you would want to last forever. We attended a Bat Mitzvha (Sara Leah Eisenberg) whose parents are also McGill MDs and are on Sabbatical as well. There was a ladies prayer service at the Southern Kotel excavation site, and a great lunch at the new Luigi Restaurant in Katamon (add that one to the list, Monty and Estie). In the evening we celebrated Nomi’s birthday with dinner in the Sukkah at Café Rimon at the new Mamilla Shopping district. Ariel joined us and a good time was had by all. Shoshana wanted some pasta but it was not on her diet.

Monday was Hoshana Rabbah. I could go into great depth about where I went to daven (the Katamon Shtiblach) since it is a really unique place but I’ll save that for next week when I give you an account of our neighborhood.

Simchat Torah and Shmini Atzeret are celebrated together here, which leads to the contrast of having Yizkor following wild dancing and celebrating. We spent the day at Yeshivat Hakotel, which has the custom on Simchat Torah Morning to do short hakafot (after 4 hours of dancing the night before) to go to different places in the Old City. The majority of people went to the Muslim Quarter, where we celebrated the completion of the Torah Reading dancing through areas once inhabited by many Jews. The simcha was tempered by the description of pogroms in the 20’s and 30’s during the British Mandate, the last time there was a significant Jewish Presence in that area of the Old City. We also visited a newly renovated synagogue in Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim, in a building that has been owned by Jews for 150 years or more but has been destroyed several times. Families in the US and Canada have to contributed to its renovation, completed last month. It was spectacular.

The Simcha of the chag and our life here is always tempered by the fact that we are living among those who do not want us here. Yesterday an elderly gentleman in Giloh was unfortunately in the line of a 21 year old who jumped out at a check point and attacked the border police with a large knife. Clearly premeditated. The border policeman will survive the terror attack but it shows that we must not take things for granted.

In case this was not a busy enough week, the Vancouver Samuel Family Moe, Oren and Elie have come to Israel for two weeks. Linda and Allan Zysblatt had everyone over last night, so we trecked to French Hill for some quality family time, Ariel in tow (after he came over to iron his shirts!!) Great food and great company (not that we need more food after Chag and Shabbat is coming…)

Elan is off with his Yeshiva to Poland as a madrich (group leader) for 40 first year Yeshiva kids. He left at 5 this morning. We are having Nomi and Shoshana for Shabbat and we could not be more pleased!

Let me know what you would like to hear about, or if you don’t mind this stream of conciousess blogging, that’s fine too. Feel free to comment! Also, since I will be posting this to a website, we will have a record for all the comments, so it can lead to a bit of networking!!

Wishing you a wonderful Shabbat Shalom

Barbara and Bruce