Shabbat February 22-23, 2024

The weeks go by, and the news continues to be unsettling, to say the least. We watched in real time as the Bronfman Building was blocked off by a group shouting Hamas slogans and keeping people away from classes. I am not sure what actually broke up the mob, but it seemed to end without any arrests. Here, the fighting goes on, but perhaps at a less intense pace. Delegations are off to Paris, trying to get some type of deal done for the hostages prior to Ramadan. There was an attack on a highway toward Maaleh Adumim, home to several ex-Montrealers. Trying to stop watching the news feed on your phone is both almost impossible and yet maddening at the same time.  With all that, we all need a bit of sanity, so let’s talk about more fun things.

One of the pluses about Sabbatical in Israel is that we can do grandparent stuff that we can’t do in Montreal. For example, Shabbat with the gang from Efrat! Shlomo did not join because of a friend’s Bar Mitzvah that he wanted to attend, but Nomi drove Shoshana, Nadav, Aryeh and Eytan to Netanya, and Elan came straight from the Airport from a trip back to Toronto. Despite about 20 hours of pouring rain, we had a great time, and there was a 3 - hour period of sun in the afternoon that allowed us to go to the park. Indoor games like cards, Uno, Catan, and Lego filled the time during the rain, as well as some very nice food and drink. Our friends Lori and Alvan join us for lunch, another bonus! 

Next example…last Sunday, Gila who is the educational counsellor at a high school in Tel Aviv, was joining her school on an all-day trip to Jerusalem. So, we came to Petach Tikvah in time for school pickup for Ora and Adi, had dinner, gymnastics class for Ora, homework and playtime and bed…We’re not sure if the kids were tired at bedtime but we sure were! 

This morning, we were able to attend Aryeh’s Siddur Celebration, as all of first grade in his school were given their own Hebrew Prayer Books, a momentous occasion for a 6-year old! The kids put on a presentation of songs and dances, there were a few speeches (though not few enough 😉) and a cute one-person play where one of their (very talented) teachers played all the roles. I think Aryeh was pretty excited to not only have his parents in attendance but two grandparents as well, as you can tell from the beaming picture posted with the blog. 

The continuing saga of repair person (near) disasters: So, we have this Maytag washer that is a rarity in Israel (most appliances are European, very few are American). It is much faster and better capacity than the European ones, which tend to be a bit more energy conscious than the North American ones. Ours is a vintage 2004 model (we have the bill) and we guard it jealously! A month ago, we needed the hoses changed, and found one of the two or three people in the country who actually repair Maytag to come do the job. He actually seemed like he knew what he was doing. This week, after having the gang for Shabbat, there was the usual complement of bedding and laundry to do, and after two loads, the aforementioned Maytag stopped working!! Ok, what to do? We called the same repairperson, who said he would come by Tuesday. He came as planned and within minutes diagnosed the problem and fixed it! Impressive, yes? Small problem. In moving the machine, the drain hose got dislodged. So when we did the next wash, we were treated to a Niagara Falls like deluge of water…. :-(  Plus, we had invited neighbors for dinner that evening. So, all of you who have not inspected Israeli homes; did you know there are holes in the floor in various places specifically to be able to squeegee buckets of water poured on the floor to wash it? This very unique way of floor washing, called “spongia”, seems to be a bizarre way to wash floors in a country that has long tried to conserve water. On the other hand, these drain holes saved the day for us, and we were able to clean everything up, harass the repairperson for his gaffe, and still cook dinner without our friends noticing that anything had been amiss!

After the Siddur Party in Efrat, we went to the mall across the street from the school to pick up some goodies for Shabbat in Petach Tikvah. From sushi dinner Thursday night in Efrat, to Friday night dinner (and the rest of Shabbat) in Petach Tikvah with Gila, Ariel, Elisha, Ora, and Adi. It’s Elisha and Gila’s birthday this week, so the trip to the bakery included a very pretty cake to

celebrate!

This week’s Torah portion, Tezaveh, continues the description of the building of the Tabernacle in the Desert. This became the central place of worship for most of the 40 years of wandering the desert. The first few verses talk in detail about the preparation of olive oil to light the lamp in the Tabernacle as “an everlasting flame”. Not just at night, but day and night. This I believe symbolizes that whatever the situation, there is a never a time of total darkness. There should always be an everlasting light to show us the way and provide optimism that the darkness can be defeated. All in all, we look forward to the news improving, will take advantage of the really nice things in life to keep us sane, and laugh (and not get too frustrated!) at the silly things that happen that are just little bumps along the road.

Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom full of light!

Barbara and Bruce

Refuah Shlema- A speedy Recovery to Shmuel Zev Ben Rachel Ita

Happy Birthday Elisha!

Happy Birthday Gila!