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
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
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