Shabbat in Cleveland!

Cleveland Rocks! Yes, we finally made it across the US border. For the first time since February 2020, we are visiting with Daniella, Monty, Tali and Ezra in person! This is the first visit since the US Mazers moved from St Louis to Beachwood, Ohio in July, for Monty to join the staff of Rainbow Babies Hospital in Cleveland in their Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. We arrived last Thursday and have spent a week here. Details to follow!

This is an auspicious occasion, since the logistics of trip preparation, travel and arrival were almost as complex as going to Israel. With the land borders closed till November 8th, we flew into Cleveland via Washington Dulles. This required a rapid test to be able to prove we were COVID negative. Now, keep in mind Cleveland is a 9 hour drive. We left our home at 6:30 AM, and due to mechanical difficulties with both planes, we arrived here at 8:30 PM! Definitely will drive here in the future.

This trip had a purpose; Daniella and Monty took a much needed vacation in Florida and we had the absolute pleasure of keeping watch over Tali and Ezra. First, a great family Shabbat with the kids favorite, Chinese food from a take-out called Jade Kosher, plus some great home cooked food as well. Cleveland has a very nice, active Jewish Community and their new home is a very short walk to the synagogue campus in Beachwood which has 2 Synagogues and 2 schools within an 8 minute walk. Shabbat was fun and despite the rain through most of the day we got out to the park for a romp in the afternoon. 

Sunday early was departure time to Florida, so our “Adventure in Babysitting” began. Tali is 10 and Ezra is 5. They are both very bright, and at 10, Tali is very confident, very social and takes amazing care of herself and of Ezra. Ezra has a memory like a steel trap, and loves Lego and sports like gaga and dodgeball. Sunday was a beautiful day, and we got to wander around the Cleveland Zoo (what else; in the pandemic we seem to find zoos everywhere!). The sun was shining and we enjoyed feeding the giraffes romaine lettuce, watching the tigers pace around, and trying to figure out where all the other animals were (it’s an interesting layout for a zoo). This was followed by ice cream at Mitchell’s and then dinner. We planned out all our dinners for the next week (the kids favorites of course) and got ready for the next day.

The week did not go exactly as planned; there were a few COVID cases in one of the grades at the kids’ school (not theirs) but unfortunately, the few cases multiplied and the school needed to close for a couple of days. All are healthy here, but the extra precautions were appreciated. So, Barbara was both teacher and playmate as Tali did Zoom school for a couple of days and Ezra got a package of homework. Fortunately, things did stabilize and the kids were able to return to school. The extra time at home was amazing because, having not spent very much time with the kids in over 18 months, it was a pleasant but exhausting bonus!   

Of course, with COVID around we did not do much indoor stuff out of the house. There was the park near the local aquatic center, plus lots of Savti (Barbara) activities like art projects and gingerbread cookies! 

Shabbat will be starting soon, so we will do our last minute preparations. Bruce comes home on Sunday and Barbara gets to spend more time with the kids due to a Ped day Monday. So, I am armed with a negative PCR and will fly out Sunday evening (hopefully no mechanical problems this time!)

Wishing you a wonderful, warm and restful Shabbat Shalom!

Barbara and Bruce