The last installment ended before we left for a week back in Canada. I say Canada, because our travels took us to Montreal, Halifax, Ottawa and even Chomedey. However, the story begins with our first ever Shabbat in the Krayot, a group of suburbs of Haifa. Monty and Daniella moved to Kiryat Shmuel last fall when Monty started Medical School at Technion. At the same time, Daniella continued her political science degree at Haifa University. NEWS FLASH: Congratulations to Daniella who has officially completed her course work for her BA in Political Science at York!
Kiryat Shmuel is a great place to spend Shabbat. It is predominantly a Religious Zionist community, which is pretty unique as it is a no-drive zone on Shabbat. This makes the streets very quiet and safe for children to run around and families to stroll under the sun or hang out in the parks. On top of that, it is next to Kiryat Yam, (the suburb by the sea) which means that it is a 5-10 minute walk to the beach! A good number of the married med students in the same program as Monty also live there, so there is a built in community. So, with Daniella and Monty cooking up a storm, lively weather and davening at the Central Synagogue with its 17th century marble Aron Kodesh (Ark for the Torah Scrolls) brought from Italy, it was an excellent combination for Shabbat. Reservations required.
After watching some of the hockey game on-line (the Saturday game that the Habs lost at home) we took a train to the airport and our trip home began. The week was a bit of a whirlwind, with visits to parents (everyone looked pretty good!), two days at work, Barbara off to Halifax to present at the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists annual meeting (where her good friend Annette Majnemer was being honored with the prestigious Muriel Driver lectureship), and Bruce to Ottawa to sit on a scientific panel. I’m glad it was summer, as we both got home Friday after 7 PM. Shabbat was spent in the company of friends, with Steve and Estie Fiter hosting us, the Reichmans and the Guttmans on Friday night and we hosted Bilha and Orly Fruchter and Bilha’s roommate Jessica for lunch. The best news is that Sylvia Fruchter’s recovery from surgery is progressing well; she is now at the Jewish Rehab center in Chomedey and actually at home this weekend on a weekend pass. It was nice to visit with her. We tied up loose ends on Sunday and Monday and then…..
Back to Israel on Tuesday. This was a tough week in the Jewish Community world wide. As most of you know by now, there was an incident in the waters heading toward Gaza. The blockade imposed by Israel by Gaza is not an imprudent act; the inspection of ships and transfer by Israel of real humanitarian aid, while weeding out the possibility of materials to create weapons is self-protective and therefore, very logical. What is fallacious is the knee jerk condemnation of Israel in response to the events that transpired, with navy soldiers who boarded the ship being ambushed by pipe and chain bearing mercenaries from various countries. This led to a gunfight, in which 9 of the soldiers for hire on the so-called peace flotilla were killed. (If you haven’t been inundated with clips and information, I can provide some…) What I wanted to really highlight was what the reaction was here. As the world judged, and even some Israeli’s thought that the navy had overreacted…yet as the footage came out showing the ambush, the country rallied together. The driver of our taxi started out with “So, what do you think about what’s going on?” and then proceeded to tell us that he can’t believe how blind the world is. The following day, as we were walking to Elan and Nomi’s, there was a large solidarity rally in Independence Park (Gan Ha-atzmaut). With orange and green signs waving, lots of police and helicopters making sure the rally was safe, the concept of standing together and supporting those that protect us was really brought home. Even the spectrum of newspapers were supportive (but of course, Haaretz was still an exception). By and large, except for the most fervent leftists, there is a strong sense of unity here. At least there is a positive after a difficult week on the world stage.
Shabbat started of exciting enough, as we were going to get together with Mary Ruth and Ronnie Gehr (on sabbatical) and Robert and Barbara Sutnick from Tekoa for Shabbat Lunch and Nomi, Elan and Shoshana for Friday night. Then, surprise, Ariel said he was free, so we had another guest. This this morning Monty called and said that their Shabbat plans had fallen through, but they could get a ride to Jerusalem, so would we like guests? Of course! So, we are once again a full house for Shabbat, which is as it should be!
May we all have a Shabbat of Peace and Fulfillment (and full houses!)
Barbara and Bruce
Refuah Shelema to Sylvia Fruchter (Zysel bat Bella)
Refuah Shelema to Gilad Schwartz (Gilad Hillel ben Bracha Mirel)
Mazel Tov to Daniella who finished her requirements and will be receiving her BA from York this summer.
Mazel tov to Ali and Zack Isakow on their recent marriage.
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