Passover in Israel is a time to travel, a time to be
outdoors, a time to celebrate the beauty of spring. We were no exception. The
weather is beautiful, sunny, warm, and very inviting. We celebrated the Seder Monday night with the
entire family and then Wednesday and Thursday we we in the outdoors. Wednesday
we went to a place known as Shvil HaTapuzim (thanks to Daniella for finding this!),
The orange orchard. It is a young kids paradise; a playground with tons of
activities all interwoven into an orange orchard about 20 minutes from Netanya.
There were places to climb, ride and jump and even mini-golf. The day
culminates in a chance to pick oranges, 6 kg for about 3 dollars. Shoshana,
Shlomo and Tali has a super time, as you will see by the pictures. Between the
riding toys, the giant slides, and the oranges, I don’t know what the best
activity was!
Thursday, Ariel’s in-laws, the Twerskys, joined us for a day at the beach. Gilah has 10 brothers and sisters, and 7 joined us! We went to the park, had lunch, and played in the sand and water. It was great; Shoshana and Shlomo either had a bunch of new siblings or baby sitters!! It was terrific to see how everyone played so well together.
Of course the holiday started off on Monday night with the Seder.
The Seder (meaning order) is the ultimate educational experience. It is aimed
at educating ourselves and our children about the birth of our nation, the
Exodus from Egypt. Actually, this Seder goes beyond educating; we try in many
respects to relive the experience. The goal is to build a connection between
the past and the present, and carry it to the future. By connecting our
families, young and old, to the beginning, we are trying to ensure that that
there is a future. The linking of generations to history is a key aspect of the
preservation of what is truly important. To watch Shoshana and Shlomo sing the
songs, tell the story and identify the key aspects of the Seder ceremony is
amazing and very heartening. We can hardly wait to see Tali join in more as
well (although she certainly participated a lot!)
I just want to share a short, slightly political story. I
was saddened to read that 200 North American universities participated in
Israel Apartheid week. This now annual pursuit of Israel bashing is very
unfortunate and upsetting, particularly because it is based in a major
distortion of the truth. I won’t’ downplay the plight of Palestinians,
especially in refugee camps. However, the concept that there are no rights for
anyone but Israeli Jews is clearly false. As an example, at The Orange Orchard,
on the second day of Passover, the park was packed with hundreds of people.
There were Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs, their children playing mini golf
side by side, riding toy cars and climbing the same structures. No apartheid,
no separation, just children playing together. Same today on the boardwalk;
everyone sitting in the same parks, skateboarding along the same paths. This is
as it should be, people living together with respect. The annual university
hate fests should visit and see the reality and then we can talk.
So, a few more days to go in Israel before we leave! Shabbat
will be spent with Daniella, Monty and Tali and special guest Stephen Lerner
and Shmulik Rosenberg. Then a couple more days of holiday and back next
Wednesday. Hopefully we can update from home next Friday!
We wish everyone an Shabbat Shalom, Chag Sameach and Happy
Easter!
We wish Elan a very happy birthday!