Shabbat December 30-31, Goodbye to 2022

 This week brought the conclusion of Chanukah, with the last candles lit on Sunday evening. After a frenetic week of Chanukah, we moved into a bit of a different mode as you will see… 

 In fact, the week of Chanukah ended with Shabbat in Jerusalem. Elan, as some of you know, is the director of Mizrachi Canada, and coordinates educational activities and other programs in Toronto and other Canadian cities. This entails commuting from Israel to Toronto several times a year. Last week, a group of families from Toronto arrived in Israel to participate in a 2-week-long visit to Israel run by Mizrachi. They landed on Friday and their first Shabbat was spent at the King Solomon Hotel in Jerusalem and the Israeli Mazer family joined them. This meant the cousins got together for Shabbat after their time together during the week! Friday night we went to Shabbat services at the Western Wall, which entailed a good hike for the families and their children! It was, as usual, very special and very moving to be there. The pandemic was the last thing on anyone’s mind, as there likely were thousands of people there and not much distancing! Shabbat meals in the hotel were spent among the many groups at the hotel and the food was very good. It rained on and off on Shabbat, so we went to the park with the kids when it was not pouring and raised a ruckus in the hotel (with all the other “trapped” children) when it was raining! Saturday night, we drove to Petach Tikvah and babysat Elisha, Ora and Adi for a bit before we returned to Netanya. Sunday was a very stormy day, so for the first time on the trip we pretty much took it easy with a lot less running around. That was needed as we were leaving the next day for a pretty long drive. 

Essential Tips on How to Prepare for a Long Drive in Israel: When you are setting off for a long drive in a rental car in Israel, there are a few key items that come in handy. Make sure you pack a Tire Pressure Gauge, rain gear, a life jacket or even better, an amphibian car. Let me explain: We rent cars in Israel frequently and on 1 in 2 cars, the Tire Pressure Monitoring System lights indicating an issue with the tire pressure. So what do you do? Check the pressure? How??? It turns out that most service stations we have visited have malfunctioning tire fill up systems. Last visit, Barbara’s attempt to fill a tire led to the tire losing air. This trip, again the TPMS light went on. So, we looked for a gas station; in fact we found two. Neither had a functioning air pressure system and we needed to go to a tire repair store to get them checked out and filled! So, bring a little tire pressure monitor and save yourself some hassles! Second, the rain gear, a life jacket and amphibian car. We drove to Eilat this past Monday. Eilat is in the south of Israel on the Red Sea, over 300 km from Netanya. It’s a gorgeous trip through the Negev desert, with its stark scenery, mountains and arid expanses. However, the roads are full of sharp twists and turns along winding roads through rocky cliffs. It’s also a place which dips below sea level and has absolutely no water drainage. So, when it rains, and especially when it pours, as it did on Monday, the low-lying areas flood and the roads get deluged with water, sand, rocks and tumbleweeds. Which led to quite a bit of white-knuckle driving, navigating over several flooded patches of roads and adding more than an hour onto an already lengthy trip. It really pays to be prepared, but since amphibian cars are not so common on highway 90, perhaps its best to drive when the sun is out! 

 Eilat used to be a tranquil lagoon on the Red Sea with a few hotels, some kiosques and a bit of duty-free shopping. It has grown tremendously over the past few years, with a proliferation of 5-star hotels, multiple brand name stores, large malls and lots of tourists! We stayed at The Royal Beach, right on the Boardwalk, and did a lot of wandering and enjoying the area. The weather was a bit too cool for swimming outdoors, but perfect for walking or hiking. One interesting highlight is The Ice Mall, which as a large mall with a mini-amusement park indoors built around a regulation-sized ice rink! In the middle of the desert with it’s 40C heat in the summer, they maintain an ice surface! There were both skating shows and free skate time for the public; I imagine hockey too but will need to check that out! We had a great time, hanging out around the pool, wandering, enjoying great meals, and just having some well-deserved down-time! 

You will never see this on CNN: One of the most interesting and I think, heartening aspects of the trip to Eilat was the mix of tourists. The hotels, streets and shops were bustling with tourists, divided pretty equally between Jews and Muslims, all eating in the same restaurants, sitting around them same pools and shopping in the same malls. So, is this unique? Of course not, it’s life as usual in large Israeli cities. Waiting outside a coffee shop on the boardwalk, two women in hijabs approached us, and asked directions to the Ice Mall, in pretty good Hebrew. I was happy to answer (since we had been there the day before) and we chatted for a couple of minutes till they continued on their way. Seems very normal, no? Yes, it is, and that’s the point. As we hear what is going on at many college campuses and in the media, what pictures are painted about the situation in Israel you would imagine this could never happen. Indeed, these were not Palestinians from Gazan camps; they could have been Israeli, Egyptian or Jordanian. But what was impressive was the positive atmosphere and the very normal human interactions. It’s a sign that we can move past the politics and create a better society. 

On our way home, the weather was perfect, so the drive was shorter and much less eventful. We stopped about 90 minutes north of Eilat at the Vidon Arava Agricultural Center, which is in the midst of a farming area in the desert. Is that an oxymoron? Farming? Desert? In fact, a large percentage of produce (cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, peppers, melons) are exported to Europe from the Negev Farming communities! The Center allowed us to learn about and explore the technology behind making a desert bloom; primarily via creative irrigation technology, greenhouse, soil adaptation, domestic bees and use of nature predators instead of pesticides. It's eye opening when you think of the ingenuity; for example, the drip irrigation is now in use in 50 other countries. 

The following 36 hours were ultra-social: Dinner in Petach Tikvah with Ruth and Itamar Maliach, who lived in Montreal in the late 90’s; a visit from Gail Jaffe who is visiting her children and grandchildren, and brunch and a tour of Netanya with Gail and our friends Lori and Alvan Small who are vacationing here from Chicago! Friday AM we said goodbye to Gail, and loaded up the car to spend Shabbat in Efrat with Nomi, Elan and the kids. On the way we stopped in Tel Aviv to visit with Cousin Linda Zysblatt. We had a lovely walk along Rothchild Boulevard (maybe the Los Ramblos of Israel?) and coffee on Shenkin St. Back in the car for the 1 hour drive to Efrat, where we arrived to the excited sounds of a bunch of grandsons running to the car and helping with our bags! 

We wish everyone a wonderful Shabbat and a very Happy and Healthy 2023! 

Barbara and Bruce

Happy Birthday Sheila! 

Happy Birthday Alvin! Refuah Shlema to Adi bat Bilha

Shabbat Chanukkah 2022

Some weeks go by quietly, such as when you are lying on a tropical beach somewhere….Cue the soft music… and some weeks fly by and you wonder where the time went! So this week of Chanukkah flew by with tremendous energy!

We pick up in Efrat, where we were spending Shabbat with Nomi, Elan and the gang. Fresh off Grandparent’s Day, we took Shlomo and Nadav shopping for things for Shabbat, a few treats, a pizza and other sundry things needed for both their house and ours. One amazing thing about their neighborhood in Efrat is how kid friendly it is; there must be 9 playgrounds within a 5 -minute walk of their house, each one having their own theme or cool climbing equipment. I took Aryeh to at least 4 on one outing on Shabbat afternoon! On Shabbat we had great meals, and lots of good times, including movie night with all the kids on Saturday night.

The next morning, we took off for Jerusalem, with a few things in mind; to visit the Western Wall (an essential part of any visit to Israel) and to meet up with Debbie Kamioner and Zev Kessler who were also in Israel for a few weeks. They have an apartment in Jerusalem, in a great location, and we hung out at a Café at Mamilla, an outdoor mall right next to Old City of Jerusalem. Definitely a huge contrast, the upscale mall with all the stores you would expect, along a road that had been a Roman Legion footpath to the Old City of Jerusalem, outside Jaffa Gate. Then down to the Western Wall, where we we bumped into Elaine Brandt and Erez Karp, fresh off a trip to Dubai and spending a week in Israel as well! We picked up Jenna in Jerusalem, then returned to Efrat to pick up Shoshana and a friend who were out shopping but were stranded because the city bus broke down and there was not going to be a replacement for a while. So, like good grandparents, we did not only the pick-up but the chauffeuring to the store they were planning to go to and returned the friend to her house on the way home. Of course, we threw in some gift shopping too, so it was a good detour!Sunday night was the lighting of the First Chanukkah candle, which is of course a very celebratory occasion with lots of singing, dancing and the obligatory Jelly Donuts (called Sufganiot, which can be quite an art form here in Israel). Sometimes they actually look better than they taste….but don’t tell the kids that! At the same time as we were lighting candles, the world was getting set to watch Messi vs. Mbappe, or Argentina vs. France in the World Cup Final (known here as the “Mondial”). Since no self-respecting kid would show up at school the next day not having watched, we did tune in for the entire second half and overtime of what was a very exciting match. The house was divided between those that supported France and those that favored Argentina, but in the end, the best team won (I was pulling for Argentina…. 😊 ). At the same time Shoshana's was participating in her school's a talent show, which I suspect Barbara and Nomi may have enjoyed more than the game!

OK, now here is where we go into overdrive! After a fun breakfast visit with old Montreal friends Carol and David Novosellor (who live in another part of Efrat a few minutes from Elan) we picked up Nadav (age 8) and Aryeh (age 5) after candle lighting and dinner and drove to Netanya. The next morning, Gila came to Netanya with cousins Elisha (age 8) Ora (5) and Adi (3). Clearly the adults are outnumbered here particularly in the energy level! We drove off to a young child’s paradise called Shvil Hatapuzim, meaning the “Orange Grove” which is a superb combination of jungle gym and playland in the midst of orange groves. Plus, in the summer it’s a water park! So after 3 hours of jumping, climbing, sliding, riding electric scooters, and generally having a riot, we packed back in the cars and went home for a celebratory Chanukkah dinner of Mac and Cheese (made with Aged Canadian Cheddar we imported, thank you Costco!) fresh potato pancakes (Latkes to those in the know) and more Sufganiot. Then, in case they were not tired out enough, the next day we went to iJump, a huge trampoline paradise. What’s great about the kid combination is the matched ages, with Nadav and Elisha born 10 days apart and being great friends, and Ora and Aryeh deciding they were each other’s BFF from a very young age. Of course, Adi, being a third child, knows how to elbow her way into the mix and is never left out!

But, that’s not all sports fans! We were not going to leave out the older kids! So after jumping to their hearts content and lunch in the mall, the younger kid were taken back to their respective homes and “traded” for Shoshana (14) and Shlomo (11). So, we downsized to 2 instead of five and stopped having to worry about who was going to take off across the busy street, get lost or fight over the same toy (LOL). I drove to Jerusalem, switched kids at Nomi’s office at Hebrew University, and joined Barbara at Ariel and Gila’s house to light candles with them! We then returned to Netanya and feasted on salads, latkes and Deli sandwiches.

The next day was Shlomo’s 12th birthday (which is of course one year from Bar Mitzvah year!) and we celebrated in style with some daytime activities, awesome burgers and an Escape room based on “The 100”; the kids honestly were much quicker at solving the puzzles than we were (as it should be). Plus if you don’t know what “The 100” refers to, neither did Barbara and I. So, feel free to email me and I’ll explain it (or Google it!)

In the midst of all this, practically at the stroke of Midnight, Benjamin Netanyahu cobbles together his coalition, meaning Israel will have its umpteenth new government in the last 2.5 years. The country can certainly use the stability, although things do seem to be running OK despite the multiple changing of the guards over the past few years. Perhaps we’ll write more about that next week. Friday morning we set off with Shoshana and Shlomo for Jerusalem. Elan brought in a group of families from Toronto and the Israeli Mazer clan were joining for Shabbat at the King Solomon hotel. More about that next week, plus Barbara and I will be driving to the south of Israel to spend a few days in Eilat to decompress from this whirlwind week of Chanukkah! The fun of the week more than compensates for the exhaustion!! We wish everyone a wonderful Shabbat Shalom, and to our friends celebrating Christmas, best wishes for the Holiday and may you spend special time with family and friends Barbara and Bruce

Happy Birthday Gail! Happy Birthday Debbie! Refuah Shlema to Adi bat Bilha

Pre-Channuka Shabbat December 16-17, 2022

 With Canada out of the World Cup, are there still people interested in the “Mondial” tournament except for the countries participating? Of course! Why do you think it’s a World Cup? In particular, the semi-finals were very polarizing here in Israel. As you may know (like I said, you may have stopped following when Canada was jettisoned from play by more experienced teams), one Semifinal was Argentina and Croatia, and one France and Morocco. All over Israel you can find lots of French Expats, and lots of Moroccan Expats (kind of like Montreal, except in the Jewish community where the Moroccans appear to outnumber those from France). Argentina is a sentimental favorite too, because of Lionel Messi, who has visited Israel several times. Indeed, the bars and streets were very busy watching soccer. In Netanya, where we have our apartment, the city centre square has a large screen with lots of chairs set up for people to sit and watch the games. So, the France-Argentina finals on Sunday will be a big deal here!  

Back to the events of the week…we pick up in Petach Tikvah. Ariel and Gila cooked up a storm, supplemented by some take-out from Jerusalem. We went to synagogue (including services on the grounds outside their condo building, attended by over 100 people under the stars!) and played with the kids. Elisha, Ora and Adi were in great form, with the biggest problem being how to make sure everyone gets a turn sitting next to everyone else (more complex than solving a Rubix Cube). Saturday night we went out with old friends Michal and Ronen Sela. Ronen was a vice principle at our kids’ school over 20 years ago and they lived on our street. It was great to catch up, follow the exploits of their kids who are growing up (some even having their own kids) and coincidentally, celebrating Ronen’s birthday. 

 In the planning for this extended stay in Israel we built in work time for the first couple of weeks, but that did not preclude doing other things…such as taking advantage of the beautiful weather (yes, I know, cold and snowy back home this weekend, sorry) and taking a long stroll along the beach in Netanya. The surf was quiet, a few “polar bears” were swimming, others boating, but at about 20C it was the perfect temperature for a walk. On Monday morning, we went wine tasting to a winery that we had never heard of that happened to be in the vicinity of Netanya. Alexander Winery is run by the grandson of a Tunisian Family who learned wine making in Italy and brought this art to Israel. It’s a small boutique winery which produces 50-60000 bottles a year, almost all for export. They have won multiple awards using grapes from Northern Israel (very much like Nappa valley grapes) and have developed a local vineyard and are working on wines which are based on grapes grown in the warner Mediterranean climate near Netanya. I must admit, the selection of wines we tasted were all excellent! 

A sidebar. Residents of Montreal are likely to agree that municipal or even provincial construction projects appear to take a tremendous amount of time. The refurbishing of the Lafontaine Tunnel in projected to take 3 years. The Ville Marie took 4 years. Repaving one block of Emerson in Cote St Luc took almost 4 months!! Not to mention the project in downtown Montreal, when the destroyed the sidewalks to redo the infrastructure, paved them after 6 months, then destroyed them again to put in Hydro, then again to put in gas…you get the idea. So, here’s the contrast. Going to Elan’s home on the outskirts of Jerusalem (or just about anywhere else in the city) necessitates coming in on highway 1, going through “Knisat Hair” or the Gateway to the City, which was more like “The Bottleneck to the City” into lots of traffic, twists and turns. This time, as we are speeding along highway 1, Waze tells us to take highway 16. We had never heard of Highway 16! OK, so this is a highway that was built with a tunnel through a mountain, started about a year ago and completed 18 months ahead of schedule! We bypassed the congestion and traffic and this new highway took us right to the Begin Expressway, which bisects Jerusalem and takes us to the highway to Efrat. We probably saved 20+ minutes in the process. This is reminiscent of building two tunnels that cut down travel to Haifa by 20-30 minutes which opened when Monty and Daniella lived there. I can’t say I know how they pull of these engineering feats, and I am sure that the lack of freezing weather contributes to the efficiency. However, it’s very impressive to see 2 or 3 lane highways being widened all over the country and infrastructure projects that are completed on time if not earlier! 

 So now, the piece de resistance! Unfortunately, we rarely get to go to school recitals for the kids. So when we learned that Shlomo and Nadav’s school was hosting a Grandparents day on the 16th of December, we were very excited. They called the day “Sababa”, a play on words. Sababa is used in Hebrew slang like we use “awesome” (a bit overused, but you get the idea) and is also a play on the Hebrew words for Grandfather (Saba) and Grandmother (Savta). So we got to see the kid’s school, a presentation on a project the whole school took part in on Acts of Charity and Kindness within their community, Hanukkah songs and music by the school band. That topped off an evening program on Thursday night when I took Nadav and Shlomo to a family learning session which was attended by lots of kids and parents at their school and gave me the pleasure of studying with 2 grandsons in person! 

 Following a successful Grandparent’s day, we will spend Shabbat in Efrat with Nomi, Elan, Shoshana, Shlomo, Nadav, Aryeh and Eitan and lighting the first Hanukkah candles here. 

With Hanukkah starting on Sunday night, we hope that everyone has a bright and inspiring Shabbat Shalom and A Festival of Lights that brings warmth and peace to all. Barbara and Bruce 

 Happy Birthday Elaine! 

Happy Birthday Danielle! 

Happy 12th Birthday Shlomo! 

Missing Auntie Rose who would have celebrated her 102nd birthday today. No one celebrated life like Aunt Rose!

Shabbat Dec 9-10, 2022

 Hey everyone, welcome to another installment of our messages from Israel. We’ve been here for almost a week, which has absolutely flown by, partly because we have been back and forth across the centre of the country once already, and partly because of still being trapped somewhere between the Eastern time zone of Montreal and the later 7 hour time zone of Israel. I think we are still floating somewhere in the Twilight Zone (cue the spacy scary music). 

The trip did start off quite auspiciously. When we were settled on the plane and seemed ready to take off, there was suddenly a call overhead “Is there a doctor on the plane?” Considering we were on a flight to Israel, I figured that 50 guys would be rushing to the front, but of course I was mistaken. There was me and a fellow from Toronto who was an EMT. What was the problem, you ask? A gentleman was running to the gate of the plane, fell and thought he dislocated his shoulder. Not a fun was to start a trip, for anyone. Anyway, we were able to temporize, he decided to take the trip, and was greeted by EMTs upon landing to be taken to a nearby hospital for care. I hope he got fixed up and enjoys his stay. 

We, on the other hand, had an otherwise uneventful (albeit with minimal sleep) night in the airplane. We landed, picked up luggage and car, and off to Netanya, where we did something very Israeli: We had lunch at a gas station! I believe I have written a bit about the gas station restaurant culture before, but it bears repeating. Some of the best places to get good fast food are next to gas stations in Israel. Perhaps it’s because it’s hard to park elsewhere, perhaps because there are often bus stations nearby so there is a clientele…who knows? However, don’t ignore gas station cuisine. As an example, one of the best shawarma sandwiches is found at Hello Teman, in the gas station off highway 4 in Givat Shmuel. We ate at Falafel Netanya which is legendary, giving each client a fresh, hot, crispy on the outside and delicate on the inside ball of fried chickpeas as you come to the counter to make your order. Great stuff, wrapped in a pita with salads or in a large laffa, enjoy! 

Now, what else did we do besides search out cool restaurants? Of course, we visited family! On Tuesday and Wednesday we went to Petach Tikva to visit Gila and Ariel. Elisha, Ora and Adi were in fine form. Wednesday was Adi’s 3rd birthday! Obviously with all 3 families outside of Montreal, we don’t get to that many birthdays, so this was a treat! We celebrated with burgers and opened presents and had a lot of fun! We also need to wish a major happy 11th birthday to Tali, who is spending this Shabbat in Miami with the Wagner family. Great week to celebrate birthdays! Plus, we get to celebrate with Shlomo in person later this month. On Thursday morning we left Petach Tikvah and picked up Elan at the airport coming home from Toronto, then drove off to Efrat. We were greeted happily by Nadav, who was the first home from school “I have not seen you for so long I forget when it was!!!” I think he remembered pretty soon after. Then came Shlomo, Aryeh, Eitan and Shoshana. Eitan in 18 months old, walking around, saying a few words, a much bigger boy than the 11-month old who we saw in the spring. Everyone is busy doing great things, and Barbara got to watch Nadav in a performance as part of his youth group’s programming. 

So what else is going on in Israel? As those who read the news knows, there is a new government (what again??). This one may last a little longer and the coalition of center-right and right wing parties seem to want to make it work. Who knows if it will last. Although there have been all kinds of doomsday scenarios in the news about this new coalition, led by Binyamin Netanyahu who is Israel’s longest serving Prime Minister, life appears very normal and there’s no sign of Armageddon on the horizon. On the brighter side, we have a week to go till Chanukkah, and you can tell from the decorations in the streets and the proliferation of amazing Chanukkah donuts in every bakery! More on that (and more pictures!) that next week.

Have a warm and wonderful Shabbat Shalom! 

Barbara and Bruce

Happy Birthday to Adi!

Happy Birthday to Tali! 

Happy Birthday to Zander! 

Happy Birthday to Queenie! 

Special wishes regular readers EB and to the Goldbergers who are in Dubai at this time! Salam Aleukum and Shabbat Shalom!