Shabbat April 29-30

How was Passover in Israel, you ask? Well, even if you didn’t ask, I’m going to tell you. The weather is measurably better than what the great North East had this year. Warm and sunny days, cool dry evenings, really perfect. That is very typical for April in Israel. For us, of course, the highlight was the ability to spend the holiday with family and extended family. We celebrated the Passover Seders with Elan, Nomi, Shoshana and Shlomo, Ariel and with the Goldberger family, Nomi’s parents. It was great; lots of lively discussion, singing, more discussion, and terrific food. The Goldbergers hosted all the big meals and we returned the favor on our second night.

We also were able to do a bit of touring; we went to the coast off the Mediterranean, towards Haifa, called Chof Dor. Here is our Bible lesson for today; as you know Jews are commanded to wear Tzitsit, fringed garments. There is a biblical commandment to dye at least one of the fringes Tchelet, or blue. The only problem is, the source of the blue dye that was used is not known. Scientific research and comparison with ancient texts seems to point to the source being a snail, M. trunculus, found off the cost of Israel stretching from Dor to the Lebanese border. This area is home to an ancient sea port, a fortress, a Christian Church and Crusader stronghold, and even the place where Napolean tried to invade when he moved into the middle East. But today the focus is the snail and we went Scuba diving to catch some (and throw them back) and to learn about how the dye is made from them. We then went south to Netanya, where we went out for lunch on Passover to a beautiful restaurant on the cliff above the sea. Israel is packed with restaurants all open on Passover. In North America, Passover is the time most restaurants take holiday. In Israel it seems that this is the hottest time of year for people to go out! You gotta try it.

We spent another lovely Shabbat in Modiin, as well as the last days of the Passover holiday. We were joined by Gail Jaffe and Ashie, as well has his new bride to be Dassy (they are getting married on May 22nd). It was fun to host them, and also to get to know Dassy (wishing the new couple many happy years together!). Passover ended for us on Tuesday evening and since we were not at home, the post Passover clean-up was pretty fast.

We then left Modiin for a few days away on the coast in Netanya. Barbara and I spent a few day s here last year, and it is really a great place to get away from it all. We stayed at the King Solomon Hotel, right on the boardwalk overlooking the Mediterranean. This is the ideal place for long walks, seaside dining, and, when the weather is hot (which is all relative, but right now it is in the low 20’s) it’s great for lying on the beach. Thursday was raining, so we drove around, did some indoor touring and then welcomed Monty and Daniella back from spending Passover in Toronto (Netanya is on the way from the airport to where they live in Haifa). In the evening, we met Rabbi Ronen and Michal Sela, ex-Montrealers. Israel was hit with a whole run of huge thunderstorms, which started in the late evening and continued through till about 5 AM. The lightning was pretty amazing (sorry, no pictures) and is a very unusual weather pattern for this time of year.

Our trip is coming to an end; back to reality tomorrow night. The final Shabbat will be spent in Netanya, and we’ve been joined on the beach by Elan, Nomi and family and Monty and Daniella. The nearby synagogue is the Young Israel of North Netanya, which is an Anglo bastion which would be easy to transplant to Montreal, London or New York! The people are very friendly and so it is a nice place overall to spend Shabbat.

Amazing, actually, if you think about it. When our children are young, we anticipate what it will be like when they grow up. When they do grow up and the nuclear family starts to move out in many directions, we miss the times that we were only one unit. It makes times like these, when we are all together, especially across all these miles, extremely precious. There is no taking for granted the importance of family being together. We wish you all a tremendous and meaningful Shabbat!

Barbara and Bruce

We wish Chuck Wagner, Jessica Samuel and Bilha Fruchter a very Happy Birthday!

Pre-Pesach April 18th

Welcome to our Passover adventure. Anyone who has ever prepared for Passover knows what it entails; a marathon of shopping, cleaning, more cleaning and cooking. Instead of marching in to the Seder, the festive Passover meal, with enthusiasm and vigor, for many it is just a question of barely surviving, exhausted, when you reach the main event. This year, we thought, it was going to be different! We decided that we were going to join our children in Israel, instead of bringing them home. After all, two tickets had to be cheaper than 4 or 6 or however many we could corral. So we organized to go to Israel. We were graciously invited to Elan’s in law’s, the Goldberger’s , to celebrate the Seder, and we rented an apartment in the city of Moddin, which is known as the home of the ancient Macabees, the heroes of Chanukah (but that is a different holiday!). So this excerpt is the lead up to the Seder, which will be on Monday night. We flew to Israel via Toronto, and our flight was packed full of people doing exactly what we were doing; taking off for a Passover holiday. So there we were, a few Montrealers, and about half of Thornhill taking off. Boarding started with the call for people who need assistance, families with small children, and “priority passengers”; people with enough frequent flyer miles to get early boarding. Usually, it’s a half a dozen, may be 10, maybe 20….but on this flight, it looked like ½ the plane was priority! Even the flight crew commented that they had never seen so many in the so-called priority line. It was actually faster to get on the plane in the regular line! OK, we survived our priority boarding. We knew several people on the plane, including Robert Goldberger and Ashie Stenge, who is getting married in May (Mazel tov!) Once we got on, it was good flight, and we were excited to arrive and see our kids and spend Shabbat with them. We picked up a rental car and arrived in Modiin mid-day Thursday, and dropped off our bags in our apartment. You can picture us travelling light, can’t you? Well, not exactly, as we had a duffle bags full of clothes for Shoshanna and Shlomo, other stuff for Monty, Daniella, Elan and Nomi, and a full bag of home-made Passover baked goods for Ariel (although there are enough to share!). We picked up, went to Jerusalem to visit and have dinner with Elan, Nomi and kids and Ariel, and then back to Modiin for sleep. Fortunately it is only half an hour away, since it appears we will make the trip a few times in the next week or so… Sha bbat was terrific, as we had the whole family together before Monty and Daniella were to take off for Toronto. Now, as Passover was rapidly approaching, who was going to cook for Shabbat? Many of you know about this gem of a takeout place on King George in Jerusalem, Marvad HaK’samim. We have used them before, great food, very reasonable (ask Alvan Small). The one catch is that shopping there is like being in the market. Under normal circumstances it is busy and chaotic….but for the Shabbat before Passover the chaos was ratcheted up a notch! However, we got out before there was no food left, and everyone ate really well. We enjoyed each other’s company, with special time at the park for Shoshana and Shlomo. After Shabbat we took the Toronto bound people to the airport, and went home to sleep and get ready to organize the apartment for Pesach. As I mentioned, usually preparations take days if not weeks. We had Sunday. In truth, the place was pretty clean and Elan had done some shopping before we came, but we still needed to organize the kitchen and pick up some last minute things. Now, in case you think Passover shopping in Israel is simple because “It’s Israel; everything must be Kosher” let me explain that there are two wrinkles to this axiom. Israel is a secular society, and so outside of very religious population centers, supermarket will more or less cater to those keeping Kosher for Passover, and even more complex, there are differences between the customs of Eastern European (Ashkenazic ) vs Sephardic Jewery as to what is considered Chametz, (leavened or unfit for Passover). The eastern European custom is more complex and stringent, and excludes many grains and seeds that are eaten by Sepharadim (for example, corn and rice). Even among sepahridim there are differences. What it boils down to is that in the grocery stores in Modiin, you have to read every label first to make sure the product is Kosher for Passover, then to see if it is made for one custom or the other. Confused? Exhausted? Just be grateful you shop at IGA or Sobeys’! Of course, there are many other great reasons to be in Israel for Passover. The weather is amazing, (for those of you freezing in Canada). Everyone in the streets, religious or not, wishes each other a Chag Sameach (Happy Holiday). But most important, this is where it all began, where our people were born and where we returned after thousands of years of Exile Monday night will be the first Seder, the celebration of the birth of the Jewish nation and the annual rebirth of our people through the recounting of the Exodus from Egypt over 3000 years ago. Yet, for every child from a very young age, the images of the exodus are as real as if it happened in contemporary times. This is the magic of education. Wish everyone a Happy and Kosher Passover. May the holiday of our freedom be an inspiring and (not exhausting) experience, where we are awakened to the marvel of the beauty of our religion, culture and the amazing chain that is built as the Passover Seder is recounted and the concepts passed from generation to generation.

Chag Sameach,
Barbara and Bruce

For a real treat, here is a great way to learn your Passover Songs from our granddaughter Shoshana!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVixrlPjg_I&feature=youtube_gdata

We wish our dear Brother in Law David a Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday to cousin Karen Mazer and nephew Joshua Samuel
Happy English Birthday, Elan!
And Most of all: Go Habs Go!