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 through 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 lunch tomorrow. Tonight we are invited to Elinor (Gehr) and Aryeh Kofman's with a group of people. Shabbat here is always a welcome experience.

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