I was
trying to describe what a country of physical contrasts Israel is to one of my
students, who hails from China. The first major contrast is its size. In a
world where Israel is on the front pages of national papers on a regular basis,
people who have never been there think that it must be at least the size of
India or even Egypt, with millions of people. Learning that you can drive from
west to east in a little over an hour, and from top to bottom in under 6 hours,
and that Israel is only a little larger than New Jersey about a quarter of the
size of Maine makes people really wonder how such a small place can have such
impact. The second major disconnect is the diverse geography. Fit into this
tiny land is a warm and exciting Mediterranean coast, a green and fertile
northern portion, home to fine wines;
the cool, hilly spiritual capital of Jerusalem, and a vast arid dessert,
full of canyons and rock formations. In one holiday driving less than a 250 km
radius we experienced balmy temperatures, wind and sand storms, driving rains,
and beautiful snowflakes, all in the same 5 day period. Not easy to duplicate anywhere else, that’s
for sure.
We left off
as we were heading for Shabbat in Netanya with Gila, Ariel and Elisha. This was
a time to wind down, relax and marvel at how quickly babies change and develop.
Elisha has progressed to crawling, standing up, cruising and climbing on all
kinds of things in a short period of time. We had fun playing with Elisha and I
think he enjoyed not having to share attention with the other kids (but we
definitely missed them).
Sunday was
Bruce’s last full day in Israel. We spent the day in the sunshine, taking walks
and enjoying a visit from Carol and David Novoseller, who escaped from Efrat to
enjoy some coastal sun and great views of the sea. It was terrific to catch up
with them. That evening was a real treat as well. We went to “Sorcerer’s Night”
at a dinner theatre called “Punchline” in Tel Aviv. This evening of magic
included visits from several magicians to each table for some close-up card
tricks and other sleight of hand, followed by a one hour+ show which included
some amazing memory tricks (Matan Rosenberg reciting the names of all 150
people in the audiences after talking to them while showing off his cards) and
an ESP demonstration (including having a sealed envelope with 7 random numbers that
matched the numbers chosen by 7 random people!). It was a great show, all in
English, and definitely worth the price of admission! I think they do weddings
and bar mitzvah’s as well…
Monday was
a day of tidying up and closing down the apartment, and one more family dinner
at Ariel and Gila’s house before Bruce would be off to the airport and Barbara
would go to Jerusalem for a conference. Here was another “only in Israel”
moment. We did take-out dinner to let Elisha go to sleep at his normal time.
Where did we go? To “Hello Teyman (Yemen)” a popular Shawarma place that is
located “in the gas station on the exit for Coca-Cola Junction (direct
translation)“. Who eats at a gas station? Well, in Israel,
you find good fast food in all kinds of weird places (and let me assure you, the
shawarma is first class there). And what is Coca Cola Junction? The highway exit that leads to the towns of
Givat Shmuel where Gila and Ariel live, and adjoining city of Bnei Brak has the
country’s Coca-Cola Plant and Distribution center. So the exit is named for
this famous bastion of “healthy” beverages!
The meeting in
Jerusalem is the 4th International Conference on Pediatric Diseases Disability and Human
Development. There are major Canadian Connections at
this conference. First, it is sponsored by Gerry Schwartz and Heather Reisman of the Onex investment firm
and the Chapter’s/Indigo Bookstore chain. Secondly, there is a large Montreal
contingent presenting at the meeting, including Barbara, Debbie Feldman, Neomi
Dahan, and Dana Anaby representing both McGill and Université du Montreal. Thirdly,
Israel is a country that has some tremendous resources for the handicapped, and
one story I will relate had a surprise Canadian and family connection.
When we
spent Shabbat at Barbara’s cousin Linda and Allen’s home 2 weeks ago, they told
us a story that happened some 40+ years ago. It seems that an 18 year old
student from Vancouver, the son of close family friends, was going to spend some
time in Israel before going to an exchange program in Paris and then off to University,
ultimately to study law. So Linda invited Carey Samuels to spend Shabbat with
them. As luck would have it, Carey sat next to a Rabbi on the bus who asked
what his plans were. When he was told that Carey was going to study French
culture for a few months, he responded that he should really spend the time
learning about his own culture. The Rabbi gave Carey his card and invited him
for Shabbat the following week. He took up the offer, and slowly became greatly
enamored with studying Judaism. He was a superb student and progressed rapidly
in his new found field. This led to his giving up his plans of law school,
immersing in Jewish study and marrying at a young age.
However, the couple’s
first child Yossi had a severe reaction to a badly prepared lot of vaccine, and
became quite handicapped. Carey and his wife put tremendous efforts into giving
their child all they needed. After several years and contact with many other
families with special needs children, they realized that there was a tremendous
need for programming and respite for families with special-needs children. So,
they began an organization. What began
on a small scale has grown into Shalva, with state of the art facilities and highly
innovative programs for handicapped kids. Today Carey Samuels, now known as
Kalman and his wife Malki are the guiding forces behind this amazing
organization. In fact Kalman spoke at the conference, and told his inspiring
story. And to think it all happened because of a bus ride to Linda and Allen’s
house!
Check out their website, http://www.shalva.org/ and see what else is going on, especially the link to the new Shalva center to open in August of this year! Also, check out this video of the Shalva Kids Choir doing Leonard Cohen!!
However, the couple’s
first child Yossi had a severe reaction to a badly prepared lot of vaccine, and
became quite handicapped. Carey and his wife put tremendous efforts into giving
their child all they needed. After several years and contact with many other
families with special needs children, they realized that there was a tremendous
need for programming and respite for families with special-needs children. So,
they began an organization. What began
on a small scale has grown into Shalva, with state of the art facilities and highly
innovative programs for handicapped kids. Today Carey Samuels, now known as
Kalman and his wife Malki are the guiding forces behind this amazing
organization. In fact Kalman spoke at the conference, and told his inspiring
story. And to think it all happened because of a bus ride to Linda and Allen’s
house!Check out their website, http://www.shalva.org/ and see what else is going on, especially the link to the new Shalva center to open in August of this year! Also, check out this video of the Shalva Kids Choir doing Leonard Cohen!!
Barbara’s
presentation was on Thursday and was extremely well received. She then enjoyed
a wonderful steak dinner at the home of newlyweds Bilha and Chai. The
conference will be wrapping up Friday and then she’ll be back to Ariel ad Gila’s
house for Shabbat and the flight back to Montreal (via Toronto) on Saturday
night. It’s been quite a ride over the
last few weeks!
Best wishes
for good health and speedy recoveries (Refuah Shelema) to
Zysel bat
Bella
HaRav Chaim
Yechiel ben Malka
Raizy
Perton
Mazel Tov
to Avi and Nancy Hazan on the birth of a baby boy. Mazel to proud grandparents Rochelle and Jeff Rein (as
well as Jackie and Pascal Hazan and Nancy’s parents, who I don’t think will see
this unless someone sends them the link!)
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