Shabbat was excellent, with terrific food (we have plagiarized a couple of Daniella’s recipes for this Shabbat) shul, sleep, hot weather and a walk on the beach. On Motzei Shabbat we split up, with Bruce going back to Jerusalem and Barbara staying in Haifa as she was speaking at Haifa University on Monday. So, while I went on the bus, Barbara and Daniella went to the mall to buy a new wireless router, so the Haifa Mazer’s house is now completely connected again.
Barbara got to spend two days on the Mediterranean, with another long walk on the beach, dinner from the Fruchter’s hometown in Kiryat Ata, and some quality time with Daniella and Monty. Monday afternoon, she went up to the very top of Haifa where Haifa University is. It is a very striking site, with most of the campus consisting of very low buildings with one very tall (over 20 story) main building right in the middle. From far (like from Monty’s street) you can see the main building clearly rising above the others. The faculty of Rehabilitation is there, and Barbara gave a presentation that was hosted by her colleague Naomi Josmin and attended by therapists from all over the country. As usual, the crowd was very engaged; when you give a seminar in Israel, prepare to field lots of questions, and entertain opinions. You’ve seen Israeli bus and cab drivers, grandmothers and storekeepers? Wait till you see Israeli Scientists! It reminds me of the old joke. Obama and Netanyahu are having a meeting. Obama, in his most patronizing tone, says, “You know, Bibi, I am President in a land of 300,000,000 people.” Replies Bibi; “All due respect, Barack, my friend, but I am Prime Minister in a land of 7,000,000 Prime Ministers.”
Anyway, after the talk the group of Rehab researchers’ went for dinner in Zichron Yaacov, about 2 minutes from Haifa, at the Tishbi Restaurant (yes that of the Tishbi Winery fame). A beautiful setting and a great way to finish the day….except there was still a bus ride back to Jerusalem (from Tel Aviv this time!).
Meanwhile in Jerusalem, Bruce continued with lab work, primarily on a project with Nomi and her lab partner Dahlia. They are making really good progress. I am very impressed at how quickly they picked things up and how organized their work is. The project will continue for several weeks after we leave, but it looks like all the techniques are in place. This week is a big one with some crucial preparations and experiments, so hopefully everything will go well!
It is also soon exam time in Israel, so both Nomi in Jerusalem and Monty in Med School in Technion are going to be spending some intense times with their books. Daniella is almost finished, with only two papers left to complete, and Elan studies all the time, with a different (Rabbinic) exam schedule for his studies.
We rekindled a tradition from our Sabbatical: Tuesday Night dinner with Elan and Nomi and of course Shoshana. Barbara picked up Shoshana on Tuesday afternoon and she played here after her nap. Then everyone came to our house for dinner. In lieu of learning (which was a highlight of last year) we went to the Jerusalem Festival of Lights again. This was the second to last day and the streets of the Old City were packed with people wall to wall. We could hardly move. It was great to see so many people enjoying the Old City and its surroundings. No light shows on the Western Wall; that has remained non-commercial.
Wednesday we decided to check out the Bible Lands Museum, a little gem (but underused) on the same campus as the giant Israel Museum. This museum was established in 1987 and is based primarily on the private collection of Dr. Eli Borowski, a professor of Antiquities who lived in Toronto. His wife was the first curator and is still very active. The theme is based on relics and artifacts from the countries that contributed to the personalities and stories of the Tanach (Bible) from before Abraham (app 4000 years ago) through Moshe and Egypt, till the Exodus and return to Canaan, the times of the Judges and Kings and the two expulsions from Israel and Temple destructions. In keeping with the theme, artifacts from Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia and Turkey are all included. We and the Gehrs participated in a great English tour of the main exhibits and then had another tour of their new exhibit on Jewish Magic called Angels and Demons. Definitely a great place to visit. The evening was topped off with sushi for dinner and lots of chatter about being a grandparent (we have all come a long way, I guess!)
We need this like a hole in the head department: As if there is not enough negative publicity in the Jewish world today, with Gaza, flotillas and spy scandals, the headlines in Jerusalem were of 100,000 black garbed Haredim protesting in the streets of Jerusalem and in Bnei Brak. The nature of the protest has to bewilder those of us who come from communities like Montreal, where Ashkenazim and Sepharadim work together to strengthen institutions, learn together and work together. This protest had to do with the Emmanuel school, a girls school populated mostly by Slonin Hassidm, but part of the government school system. The school has segregated areas for the Sepharadi girls; walls have actually been built to separate the two groups. The government has ruled against the school, and in a landmark decision, ordered parents of over 30 Hasidic families imprisoned for 2 weeks because they refused to send their children back to school after the walls were removed. Integration of one group of religious students with another can only ultimately strengthen both, but clearly there is a lot of support for segregation not only among the Chasidim and especially their spiritual leaders. Now to be fair, maybe the government did not have to put people in jail for keeping their kids out of school (so they could become heros to their communities). And to be fair, the Chasidic leaders did not have to call a huge rally in their honor). But they both did, and nobody ends up looking so good. We have Turkey and Iran on one side and…..what next?
And to top off our week, we had a wonderful sleepover party with Shoshana, who continues to stampede along with her vocabulary and lead the league in cuteness. Friday morning we wandered around with her doing errands and ended up in the Jewish Quarter to return her to her parents and pick up Ariel for lunch. Shabbat will be in Jerusalem, and we have Ariel and Ryan tonight for dinner, with Elan, Nomi and Shoshana and Yitzhak and Pnina Zocher joining us tomorrow. Next week, we plan a mini vacation to Netanya starting Thursday and hopefully all the Mazer’s will be together there next Shabbat!
Wishing everyone a wonderful Shabbat,
Barbara and Bruce
Mazel Tov to Dina Ellbogen and Yoseph Tugenburg and their families on their upcoming Wedding!
Mazel Tov to Naomi Yunger and Tzvi Glustien and their families on their upcoming Wedding!
Mazel Tov to Anna and Ivan Lerner on Stephen being honored by the Israeli Army at a dinner in Montreal!
Refuah S’hlema (a complete and speedy recovery) to Gilad Schwartz (Gilad Hillel Ben Bracha Mirel)
Refuah S’hlema (a complete and speedy recovery) to Sylvia Fruchter (Zissel bat Bella)
Refuah S’hlema (a complete and speedy recovery) to Robert Goldberger (Shmuel ben Sarah)
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