Now for the News (appropriate background music)……We are in Israel (which should be no surprise, since that is the theme of this blog). What some of you may not know is that over this summer we recently purchased a small apartment in Netanya to allow us to be a little closer to our kids and give them and us a place of refuge. As we have said before, Netanya is a small city near the Mediterranean. We have a really nice location and there is enough room for our children to visit.
We arrived in Israel on the day before Yom Kippur, with lots of luggage in tow, including “stuff” for the new apartment and a car seat for Monty and Daniella, who are expecting a baby (not the one in the picutre!) this December. After a very rapid blurry eyed stop at the apartment (we left all the lights on when we left), we took off for Haifa, where we would be spending
Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is a solemn day of fasting, prayer and introspection, but we had the privilege of joining Monty’s synagogue, where he led Shacharit, the Morning service on Yom Kippur. He is really great at this, and the congregation was full of praise and congratulated us on his awesome performance. Of course, we did not have much to do with it, but the praise and pride of hearing him do so well was great.
Yom Kippur ended with a great meal at Monty and Daniella’s with a group of their friends (it began with the same group at another of their friends) and then we were back to Netanya. The next four days were run at breakneck speed, as we made the first inroads into setting up the apartment. Meetings with people to do some basic repairs, painting, electrical, shopping for essentials, looking at furniture….thank goodness for our kids here. They’ve been a huge help with lots of practical advice. Thanks to Monty and Daniella’s shopping, we equipped the place with beds before we arrived. In addition, kudos to Ariel who came to Netanya from Jerusalem to allow the bed installers into the apartment. We ran around and learned more about this new community in a very short time than we thought possible. The finishing touches included the building of our Sukkah, a temporary dwelling outdoors for
the holiday of Sukkot. This holiday was made for Israeli weather (and most certainly not for rainy, chilly Canadian weather). We have a very small balcony but it is sufficient, and with Ariel’s considerable help we put up the sukkah in record time.We began the holiday of Sukkot back in Haifa (a 1 hour drive), where Monty had proudly put up a Sukkah about 3 times the size of ours on his balcony. He and Daniella were again great hosts, and we contributed by shopping in the Hasidic district of Netanya (called the Sanz quarter or Kiryat Sanz, after the group that lives there). We learned the best places to shop there for great home style food (if you are a Hungarian Hasid, that is) including amazing chopped liver, herring and potato kugel. Rib sticking stuff! Monty and Daniella hosted friends at each meal and we had a great time. Then back down the highway and we began to prepare for Elan, Nomi, Shoshana and Shlomo to come for Shabbat. We spent Friday with all the family together; in fact the Haifa group joined us for a walk along the boardwalk, and a lunch on Independence square. We aren’t quite set up to sleep more than 6 yet, but we plan to have enough accommodation so we can have everyone together in the same space for many years to come.
Shabbat here was great, with nice meals, going to synagogue, walks to the park and lots of time chatting with Ariel, Elan and Nomi and playing with the kids. Shoshana, age 3 is a real big girl, very happy, great precocious language skills and an excellent big sister. Shlomo, age 10 months, is into everything (as he should be) and keeps everyone on their toes.
After Shabbat, we went for a walk back to the town square, and received a surprise phone call. Our friends Ronen and Michal Sela, who
lived in Montreal over 10 years ago, said they were in the car and how would we like visitors? Of course we would like visitors! So with almost their entire family in tow (5/6 kids and their eldest daughter’s boyfriend) they arrived for a tour of our apartment, a walk on the beach and a tour of the neighborhood. It was great catching up, seeing the kidsWhat else is going on in Israel? Well the big news of course is the prisoner exchange for the Israeli Soldier Gilad Shalit who was kidnapped in 2006. There will be approximately 1000 prisoners released to Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank when Gilad is liberated. There are, of course, mixed feelings about this. On one hand, no one debates that it is wonderful for the family of Gilad Shalit that they will get their son back. The question is, what price does one pay for this? Among those who will be released from prison are terrorists who planned the operation that blew up the Park Hotel during a Passover Seder and murdered over 30 people, and those that planned the explosion in the Dolphinarium dance club that killed teenagers. Does this mean that there will be more kidnappings since the ultimate settlement is so generous? Only time will tell. The prisoner exchanges should begin by Tuesday.and strolling in the clear cool air.
This was really a packed 10 days and this little summary does not really do it justice, but I don’t want to bore you with too many details. One thing for certain; the people we have met here are very warm and welcoming. Neighbors have knocked on our door, people in synagogue have been very helpful, and we have really felt like this home away from home will be a lot of fun. Come join us!
Wishing you all a great week and Chag Sameach/ Happy Sukkot
Barbara and Bruce
We would like to wish a great friend Chaim Fruchter a very Happy Birthday!
Also very very very happy birthday wishes to our two daughter’s in law, Nomi and Daniella, whose birthdays fall in the next two weeks. We could not have picked better people for our sons to marry!
