Shabbat January 18-19, 2024

After a couple of high energy weeks to start off our trip, this past week was more about catch up; sleep, apartment, work etc. As it happens, it turned into a pretty social week. Last Shabbat was spent with Lori and Alvan Small, after our outing to the new Galei Sanz Hotel and it’s popular Shabbat Food take out store. It was fun not to have to cook, and the company was excellent. On Sunday we went to visit Ariel and Gila and the kids in the late afternoon, and stayed over that evening as Bruce was planning to go to Safra Children’s Hospital where he will be working part time on a few food allergy projects.

Safra is the pediatric hospital that is associated with Sheba Hospital, the largest hospital in the Middle East. The reason we stayed over is that although at best the drive is about 40 minutes, that does not happen often during the day and between traffic snarls and parking hassles, we figured perhaps it would be best to stay about 15 minutes away (where they live in Petach Tikva). As it happened, it was a 30-minute drive in traffic, so we continued to look for alternatives. I went back on Thursday and this day took the train from Netanya to Tel Aviv (35 minutes) and then a bus that took 20 minutes from the train station to the hospital. Pretty low stress and plenty of place to work on the train, so this may be the go-to method of transport. 

Tuesday evening, we met our friends Anne and Jonathan Homa (ex of Montreal and Livingston, NJ.) They are now living in Netanya after almost 10 years in Jerusalem. They are renting in an area called Ir Yamim, The City by the Sea, AKA the Riviera of Israel. We had dinner at a cool Japanese place with sushi, poke bowls and stir fries call MoJo San. It was busy and the food was fun and very good. 

Wednesday night after a day of work and touch ups in the apartment, like hanging pictures and installing bathroom heaters (if you need a handyman, we were given the name of an absolute gem!) we went grocery shopping and decided to stop for dinner on the way. In true Israeli fashion we stopped at a restaurant at a gas station on the highway. Israel is famous for having the best food at these highway stops. Let me introduce you to BP, a Bistro and Diner that was packed (we waited 15 minutes for a table) and had some of the most interesting grill and delicious diner food you’ve ever seen. 

To continue the social scene, Nina Glick is joining us for Shabbat! She is here having led a solidarity mission to Israel from her community in Teaneck, NJ. We look forward to catching up with her this weekend.  On top of that, Sharon and Robert Dalfen came from Ra'aana to see Nina and enjoy the Tayelet/Boardwalk in Netanya. 

I was going to write more about the situation here this week, as it definitely deserves comment. There is a lot of information flying around; some of it is more accurate; some of it appears to be bending the narrative to fit specific points of view. Just to underscore this point, let’s examine what’s going on in neighboring countries. This week has been fairly tumultuous outside of Israel. One of the key funders and trainers of Hamas of course is Iran. Last week, there was a suspicious bombing at the memorial for Suleiman, the Iranian commander who wrought havoc on Western targets for years. While 100+ people were killed, Iran was quick to point fingers at Israel but the randomness and primitive nature of the attack certainly does not fit any Israeli MO. In the past week, Iran has bombed sites in Iraq and Pakistan, with the excuse that they are wiping out Zionist spy enclaves. Neither the Iraqi nor the Pakistani governments has been effusive in congratulating them for ridding them of spies. In fact, it’s the opposite, the attacks were unprovoked and Pakistan has even filed with the UN security council against Iran. This is in addition to the Iran backed Houthi-Yemenite incursions on ship traffic and drones against American targets, and Hezbollah sending showers of rockets into Israel from Lebanon and Syria. Plus, all the imported anti-Semitic hatred that is now being manifested on North American Universities; kudos to our friend Stephanie Steinman’s husband Neil Oberman for taking this head-on at Concordia. Notice I have not mentioned Gaza or Palestinians till now…The take home message is that the Iranian involvement in attacking Israel is not a question of land, territory, borders, or two enemies trying to position themselves. This is a much broader issue of the Iranian wish to exert control over the middle east and to remove all shreds of Western influence. 

We were sad to learn of the passing of our uncle, Paul Weinstein, husband to Sandra and brother in law of my parents Phyllis and Sid (Z”L). I will share a link to an amazing piece by Mike Cohen in the Suburban who knew him very well. I wanted to share some personal reflections. I have known Paul since I was 6 years old, so basically most of my life. He was always so full of life. When we were kids, he would regale us with stories about his time as a camp counsellor and how he and the other staff drove the kids crazy and about crazy pranks he and fellow students pulled off in dental school. At my Bar Mitzvah as I was about to start the Torah reading Paul leaned over and said “First shot on goal, you will be just fine” using the hockey metaphor to calm my nerves. All through university and med school, he always had encouraging words and sage advice. He took amazing, personalized care of our kids’ teeth (ours too of course, for quite a while) and always took a very sincere interest in what everyone was doing, where they were studying, how the grandchildren were, etc. To learn from talking to others and reading the comments to his family that he did not reserve that generous behavior for family, but all his clients, friends, neighbors, and anyone he touched felt he was genuinely interested and cared. That’s a very special legacy and will carry on for many years. When he fell ill this summer, we hoped it would be like previous health scares, that someone so full of life would overcome it. Sadly, it was not to be this time. We send sincere condolences to my Aunt Sandra (Ruffy to all of us), cousins Jon and Elena, Mitch, David and Jen, and their children who Paul cherished and loved. We feel their pain at this time of loss.

For more see this amazing tribute

https://www.thesuburban.com/blogs/cohen_confidential_with_mike_cohen/dr-paul-weinstein-mourning-the-passing-of-everyones-favorite-pediatric-dentist/article_728c05d0-b59e-11ee-bb6d-43dd9d282ee3.html

We wish you all a peaceful Shabbat!

Barbara and Bruce

Refuah Shlema to Aliza Bat Chaya

Happy Birthday to my best friend and the most amazing wife ever, Barbara

Happy Birthday to Linda Lieberman!

Happy Birthday to Roanne (next week)

Happy Birthday to Jacob Mazer (and Mazel tov)!