Shabbat in Netanya May 17-18

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Leaving Montreal in mid-May, on a “balmy” 12C day with clouds and a chance of rain, then arriving in Israel on a brilliantly sunny 28C morning certainly gives you a boost of energy. Then to make it even more special anticipating getting together with friends and family can put you over the top. OK, we’re back! In fact, Barbara has been here since May 6^th, and I arrived on Monday May 13^th.  What was the occasion, you ask? As if we need one, right? Actually, we came to attend the 18^th annual BioMed Conference in Tel Aviv, which took place this Tuesday till Thursday. But, we’ll get there soon!

Barbara spent a busy week last week, especially considering it was the week that included Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror, immediatel

y followed by Yom Ha-atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. That is a great party, and there is much to celebrate regarding a country that is 71 years old, which functions as a democracy in the midst of non-democratic countries, and contributes incredibly to technology, research and development. More about that in the description of the meeting. Yom Haatzmaut was a day of fun with Nomi, Gila, Ariel and the grandchildren, first at Park Herzliah, then in Netanya, with picnics and lots of activities. Elan arrived on Friday, having run a hugely successful Yom Ha’atzmaut program with Mizrachi in Toronto. Everyone stayed in Netanya for Shabbat; the kids really are great together, with little 2 year old Ora trying to run the show!

I arrived Monday AM (see weather description above) and Barbara arrived at the airport after fighting Highway 2 morning traffic. We loaded up the car and took off for Jerusalem where we visited Bilha Fruchter and her new baby Ziv! He is 3 months old and very adorable, and was super easy, going to us without a whimper. We had a great lunch in Katamon (Michael’s, highly recommended on Rehov HaLamed Heh) and really enjoyed catching up with Bilha and meeting Ziv! Then it was off to Neve Daniel to pick up Nadav from nursery, greet Aryeh as he came from day care and hang out with Shoshana and Sholmo and the two younger kids while Elan and Nomi came home from work in Jerusalem! We had a nice family evening which included dinner at Roza. Roza is a meat restaurant and is the answer to the following Jeopardy Question: The world’s only Tex-Mex Smokehouse owned by a Moroccan Chef from France situated in the Judean Hills!

Since the Biomed conference was starting Tuesday morning in Tel Aviv, we checked into the Crowne Plaza Tel Aviv on Monday night. The hotel was right on the beach and besides the BioMed, as you may know, Eurovision was in Tel Aviv this year! The main performances were in the TA Exposition area, to the north of us, but the beach was turned into the Eurovision Village, with lots of stages, musicians, tour guides and other attractions. The city was really alive and, so far everything has come off really smoothly.

Being by the beach also came in handy as Barbara gave Elisha a special “Savti Day” while I was at the conference. Elisha got to go into the pool, into the Mediterranean, play on the beach, roller blade and get Pizza and watch shows, and generally have such a great time that when we said we were spending Shabbat with him in Netanya, he said “I want to go back to the hotel!” Barbara picked up Ora from day care (she is in Tel Aviv) and then Ariel joined us for dinner on Ben Yehuda in TA. We took two tired kids home and it seems like they went to sleep without a whimper!

The BioMed Meeting is really there for two reasons: to showcase Israel’s rapidly growing Biomed sector and for industry, academic and venture capital people to network. The sessions are frequently a strong testament to the Start-Up Nation. Israel is number 3 globally in start-ups, and particularly strong in artificial intelligence and data handling. The investments in Israeli companies grows 10-15% per year and there is a very large appetite from the banking and pharma community to invest here. I think we could learn a bit in Canada about innovation from the ecosystem here. In fact, our research institute has several projects with groups here which are very exciting and meeting our collaborators was another reason to come for the conference.

Wednesday was a day specifically organized to showcase innovation in Rehabilitation Sciences and Barbara attended those sessions. We ended the day with a great dinner with Carol and Davd Novosellor at a steakhouse not far from the convention hotel called L’Entrecote. Thursday was the last conference day, and we were off to Netanya at the end of the day.

Friday was very special. Many of you may know that our granddaughter, Ora, now aged two, had a cochlear implant a year ago due to a hearing deficit in one ear. Ora’s quite amazing, and has completely normal hearing and language skills that would put many two-year olds to shame. Today the hospital that performed her surgery held a conference about unilateral (one sided) cochlear implants as this is a relatively new concept. The keynote speaker was Dr Blake Papsin from The Hospital for Sick Kids in Toronto. Blake was very instrumental in helping us when we started to investigate the question of cochlear implants, answering all our questions and actually having trained the two surgeons at Schneider Children’s Hospital who were involved in her care. There was even a video of Gila and Ora telling the story of how she had adapted so well to the implant, to the point that she complained from the beginning when she was not wearing it, and kisses it goodnight at bed time! It was both a very emotional and informative day and it was great to be able to participate.

Now we are winding down, the soup is on and food will soon be warming up! Sunday is our last full day here and then we will be returning home on Victoria Day. We wish you all a wonderful Shabbat Shalom and a great long weekend!

Barbara and Bruce

Happy Birthday to Ezra Moshe Mazer!

Happy Anniversary to Nomi and Elan!
Happy Anniversary to Daniella and Monty!