The key event actually happened 2 weeks before we arrived.
Baby Adi Atara was born on December 7th, 2019, sister of Elisha and
Ora, and of course third child to Gila and Ariel! Adi arrived almost 4 weeks
early, but all was well and she was discharged home from the famous Ma-ayanei
Ha-Yeshua maternity ward after a normal stay of under 72 hours. Since then she
has been doing all the right things that newborns should do, such as eating,
sleeping, and doing a nice job of gaining weight. Her excited siblings have
been very happy to have her home (with minimal requests for a return or refund)
and have gotten into the routine of having a new addition with the benefit of
having Ema home pretty much all the time now. Her middle name Atara (which
means Crown) is in memory of Barbara’s mother Mollie, whose Hebrew name was Malka,
which means Queen. Ariel took a week of paternity leave (that’s still the
standard in Israel), Gila’s parents came to help the first Shabbat home, and
their friends and neighbors have been bringing meals and helping with errands.
But the best part of the story is the fact that since she was early, there
wasn’t really a plan for child care when they had to leave for the hospital.
However, our niece Jenna had been invited for Shabbat and was instantly transformed
from Shabbat guest to master babysitter! Clearly, all worked out very well!
This led to our trip preparation, which included a
semi-frantic hunt for the perfect double stroller either in Israel or in
Canada. The specs Ariel and Gila came up with ended up leading us to the Joovy
Qool, a very customizable double or even triple stroller available in North
America. All pieces arrived via Amazon by the Sunday before we were to leave,
plus the assorted Chanukah presents that were also purchased via the internet.
We almost became an Amazon depot due to the delivery frequency before we left.
Plus, thank G-d for Air Canada 50 Elite status! We set off from home with the
stroller in its box, a duffle bag with the bassinet and adaptors plus treats
and other gifts, a suitcase full of Chanukka goodies (generally large boxes)
and a suit case which had a couple of changes of clothes for us. Our trip was
via Zurich, on which the service is great but the landing time in Zurich is
about when you might consider falling asleep, so that’s the downside. We
arrived in Israel on Wednesday afternoon (Christmas Day) went to visit our new
granddaughter and family, and then off to Netanya to catch up on some sleep.
For the first Shabbat, both Israeli Mazer families came to
Netanya! We are now 13, which is pretty much capacity for the number of beds,
mattresses and available sleeping spaces other than using the living room couch
(which may be the most comfortable bed in the house). We think that there may
be some Air B&B Rentals in our future. We shopped and prepared for the
crowd on Thursday and set up place to light umpteen Chanukiot (Chanukka
Candelabras). In spite of a few escapades (including a flat tire), everyone
arrived and checked in safe and sound, all the candles were lit (7 or 8 times,
I lost count) and all the cousins started multiple games, Lego constructions, clubhouse
design, and anything else that a group of kids aged 2-11 could think of! 
December is the usual Israeli rainy season, and this year is
a great year for rain. In fact, there
has been so much rain that the Sea of Galilea has risen by over 20 cm since the
beginning of December. When we arrived, the rain was coming down in torrents at
times, drizzling at other times. This was accompanied by bursts of very
impressive thunder and lightning. When we arrived in Netanya, our neighborhood
was eerily dark; no traffic lights and no lights in the window. The thunderstorm had knocked out the power.
This is indeed a lesson of how dependent we are on simple electricity functioning.
For one, our apartment parking is accessible via an electric gate. OK, so we
can park on the street. Then, even though we live on the first floor (one above
the ground floor), who wants to shlep the above mentioned boxes and suitcases
up the flight of stairs? But, as luck would have it, just as I was about to try
to carry a bag up the stairs, the power came back on, and we were able to park
the car and unload just in time for the power to go off again! We had dinner by
candlelight (though by now we were too tired for it to be a romantic dinner)
and braved two more short power outages until things were restored to normal in
the area. The inclement weather also meant that the kids were housebound most
of Shabbat, which was fun but a touch chaotic considering the close quarters!
In contrast, on Sunday things dried out considerably. It
being Chanukah, the kids were all off school, so it was field trip day. We went
to a great zoo not far from where Ariel and Gila live,
Safari Park Israel, which has both a drive-thru with lots of
interesting animals like zebra, hippos, rhinos, elk, and birds roaming around,
and a great walk-through zoo with something for everyone. This was followed by
a sushi/stir-fry dinner at Japan-Japan in Givat Shmuel. This was followed by
child-care job number 1; Elan and Nomi’s older kids had the next day off school
too, so Shoshana, Shlomo and Nadav got to sleep over at our apartment so we
could be “in charge” the next day. The big outing that followed was going to see
Frozen 2! This was a crowd pleaser with something for everyone; great humor,
music, action and adventure, giants and spirits with great powers. Definitely
went over well with our gang. Child care job number 2 came that evening, as we
gave Elan and Nomi the night off. The 3 that slept over in Netanya the night
before were a breeze, but little brother Aryeh (age 2) preferred to stay up and
wait for his parents to come home! A huge thank you to Shoshana who proved her
worth as a baby sitter; she saved the day.
We slept over in at Elan and Nomi’s home that night and then
visited Jonathan Homa, our friend of many years who was originally from
Montreal. His father had passed away a few days before and he was sitting Shiva
(the 7 day period of intense mourning after a parent, spouse or sibling passes
away). Jonathan and Anne now live in Jerusalem, but his father lived in Ottawa,
where he was buried, which meant a good deal of travelling for the family. We
then went on to Givat Shmuel to see baby Adi and help out with child-care job
#3; I was entrusted to put Elisha and Ora to bed while Barbara and Gila went to
visit an apartment they were considering purchasing. Both bedtime and the
apartment visit went very well!
Wednesday was our first day of “down time” since we arrived,
but Thursday included errands, lunch in the center of Tel Aviv with Ariel,
picking up Ora at her day care after which Barbara drove her home and spent the
evening with Elisha, Ora, and Adi before returning to Netanya.
Meanwhile, I was invited to Jerusalem by Elan to participate
in the Completion of the Talmud, better known in Hebrew as Siyyum Hashas. This
is an extraordinary concept, so let me explain. The Talmud, which contains 64
volumes, and over 2000 pages of text, has been the mainstay of Jewish law
interpretation for the past 2000 years. Over 90 years ago, Rabbi Meir Shapirah
proposed at the World Council of Rabbis meeting in Lithuania that people commit
to learning one page of Talmud per day. This would achieve three things: It
would encourage daily study of Torah and Jewish Law, it would ensure that
people would not forget the sacred texts, and most important, it was an attempt
to unify Jews of all nationalities, religious beliefs and persuasions in an act
of unity. The cycle takes 7 ½ years to be completed. This Daily Page of Talmud
program (in Hebrew Daf Yomi) has now completed its 13th cycle,
despite tremendous changes in the world, including World War 1, WWII and the
Holocaust, the destruction and displacement of European Jewry, the
establishment of the state of Israel, and the wars that ensued, and now our
technology driven world in which ADD is the norm. Yet, on Wednesday night there
was a Celebration of the Siyyum with over 95,000 people at Met Life stadium in
New Jersey, and tonight, thousands of people in Jerusalem joined together to
complete the 7½ year study cycle. There was music, lots of speakers, and the
last section of the last book of Talmud was taught. This was a very inspiring
evening, to say the least. And in case you did not follow along this time, you
can start all over Sunday as the 14th cycle begins!
Now, to the sounds of Peppa Pig and a video game we are
getting ready for Shabbat in Netanya with Adi, Ora and Elisha (and of course their
parents!). Next week in Efrat with Elan
and Nomi and Co, with a stop in Jerusalem in between. More to come!
We wish everyone a wonderful Shabbat Shalom!
Barbara and Bruce
Happy 2020 to all!
Mazel Tov to Dvorit and Ollie!
Happy Birthday to Sheila!
Happy Birthday to Gail!
Happy Birthday to Uncle Peter!
Happy Birthday to Debbie Feldman!
Refuah Shlema to Pinchas David ben Adel
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