January 9-16th

As people working in a largely scientific field, it is not very often when we really take a hard look and try to appreciate the more artsy side of life. These areas may seem in fact dichotomous, but in truth, it is more like a left brain-right brain thing; both are available to you but it depends on how developed one side is over the other. Certain people have the amazing ability to excel at both (like Prof Ronnie Gehr, a frequent commentator on this blog), while others dabble at one and work hard at the other. This was certainly a week where we experienced and really appreciated the arts and music side of Israeli life.

This really starts with Shabbat last week at Barbara’s cousin’s, the Zysblatt’s. Linda and Allen (AKA Zysh) made Aliyah from Vancouver in the early 70’s and have been French Hill residents for 38 years. We have enjoyed visiting them many times and have shared simchas and watched their children grow to be successful adults. Both Linda and Zysh are retired Hebrew University professors, Linda in English and Allen in the Faculty of Law. Well, Friday night was spent with them and 4 close friends from French Hill, all but one who emigrated to Israel from Western Canada in the 60’s or 70’s! It was very cool to meet them, and since they had been in the country through many of its formative years, we heard stories about interaction with politicians and historical figures in the life of Israel.  Among the highlights of the weekend were some incredibly delicious and artfully presented dishes that were served by Linda. These were actually her daughter Nomi’s recipes, part of her catering repertoire.

Now the arts part. The Zysblatt kids are all adults now and extremely successful in their own right. There are no lawyers; rather, Elana is a sculptor, married to an artist who works as a home designer and builder, living in Vancouver; Daniel is an award winning journalist and film maker, based in Indonesia; and Nomi is a musician, who has developed her culinary skills and runs a successful business making designer frozen treats called Paletas as well as being a successful caterer (as noted above).

On Sunday night we had the pleasure of attending one of Nomi Zysblatt’s concerts, at Café Bialik in Tel Aviv. Nomi composed almost all the music played and does her own arranging. She sings beautifully, and her songs are primarily ballads with recurrent nature imagery: light and dark, rain and water, the seasons, fields and other descriptors of beauty.  She performed with a group of friends that included a classical violist, guitar, flute, bass and piano. She herself plays piano and guitar (at least) as well as terrific vocal. There is a link to a sample You-tube below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdxnwx8DuXU

To continue the theme, we jump to Wednesday, when we visited Ein Hod. This is an artist colony, nestled in the hills just south of Haifa. The town was founded in the 50’s and many of the artists live there and have their wares displayed in stores and galleries. We visited a shop where the artist dyed silk and other cloths and then printed on them with gold foil. She also made gold and silver clasps for scarves, and her husband built furniture, and photographed Israeli cloudscapes. Another shop was the home of the Magal family, the second generation of ceramic makers who paint with glaze, which leads to a spectacular effect in color once the glaze is heated to nearly 2000F. The shopkeepers were identical twin sisters who learned this remarkable technique from their mother and whose father was a painter who had come to Israel in the 30’s. Now the third generation, one of the twin’s sons, are also accomplished artists. Quite amazing; makes you want to get in touch with your more artistic side!

The week clearly went by very quickly, with some other terrific highlights. We visited with Ann and Jonathan  Homa and Bilha and Orly Fruchter on Saturday night, visiting the newly renovated “Old train Station” in Jerusalem. They all were doing really well. Since that was so much fun, we went to the old Train station in Tel Aviv the next evening, prior to Nomi’s concert. Monday was Ariel’s birthday, so we celebrated that evening at a new Grill Restaurant in Tel Aviv called Rafael. Highly recommended.

On Tuesday we got really spontaneous and invited old friends, the Selah’s and the Maliach’s, for a late dinner at our home. They both lived in Montreal at the same time (1999-2001) so it was a fun reunion. This was after some beautiful long walks along the boardwalk in Netanya, taking advantage of the two sunny days we have had in the midst of several days of rain. Since rain is good for the country, no complaints…

We are winding down to Shabbat, and Gila, Ariel and Elisha have joined us. It promises to be really nice and lots of fun.  However, we would like to share that we visited Rav Chaim (Howie) Rothman yesterday at the Bet Levenstein Rehablitation center in Raanana. Howie was a victim of the horrible attack on Har Nof and unfortunately is still in a coma. We visited with his family and sat at his bedside, hopefully to give some strength toward recovery.  At the exit to the center, there is a sign on the wall that translates to “A place of  hope”. I think that’s a poignant message after that visit and no less in the aftermath of the attacks in France and the turmoil going on around us in the world.

We wish everyone a meaningful and warm Shabbat Shalom

Refuah Shelema to Zeisyl bat Bella

Refuah Shelema to Rav Chaim Yechiel ben Malca

Happy Anniversary to Roanne and David Wiesz!

Happy Birthday to Zev Kessler!