Shabbat March 1-2 , 2024

The weeks are flying by! It’s hard to believe that we have been away for two months. Although, considering the things we have done, I guess we have had sufficient activity to easily fill two months, if not more! Here then is a synopsis of the family, the country and all the news that’s fit to post….

Theme 1: Family Birthdays: Last shabbat we were in Petach Tikvah. Elisha celebrated his 10th birthday last Sunday and Gila (his mom so I won’t’ say how old) celebrated her birthday Monday. We were in charge of the birthday cake for Shabbat dinner (if you are a kid, you certainly don’t mind a 4-5 day birthday extravaganza) so we picked up a really cool fancy cake at a bakery in Efrat. Shabbat was great, and Ariel and Elisha planned the menu full of Elisha’s favorite foods, which turned out absolutely awesome! The cake just topped things off well. Elisha’s present was the game Catan, which is a game developed in Germany about building up an uninhabited countryside. It takes skill and strategy, and is quite complex for beginners. Unfortunately, everyone was a beginner, so the game was a combo of playing and  deciphering instructions. We needed to import an expert like Shoshana or Shlomo (or maybe Nomi!) but I am sure that Elisha will master it!

After Shabbat, we met Lori and Alvan Small in Ir Yamim (South Netanya) at MoJo San which looks like it’s becoming a go to place for Japanese style cuisine. In the Piano Mall; check it out!

Tuesday evening, we went back to Petach Tikvah for a Burger Birthday dinner. It was supposed to be a restaurant meal, but Tuesday was also election day (more later) which meant a lot of people were off work and the restaurants were pretty packed! So, we did take out, and a very good time was had by all. 

The birthday carousel continues with Nadav’s birthday coming up this coming Thursday. That was a pretty intense 10 days in 2014 when both Nadav and Elisah were born in two different countries (and we were able to attend the Brit Milah (Ritual Circumcision) for both!

Theme 2: What’s happening in Municipal Elections? We started last week with municipal election discussions about Netanya and Efrat. In Israel the mayoral candidates and the parties that make up council are separate ballots. You can easily have a mayor who has a minority of councilors from their party on the council. Also, the mayor needs at least a plurality of 40% to be elected on first ballot, even if they are in the lead among all the candidates. So, first take home message. Asking people to vote during a war is probably not the best idea. Israelis are usually political animals, but the turnout was under 50%, much lower than usual. This may have led to some surprises. In Jerusalem, the incumbent got 82% of the vote. Who does that other than Putin and the president of Iran? In Netanya, our incumbent mayor Miriam Feirberg squeaked through 43-40% for the leading challenger, and there will be no runoff election. Not so in Efrat, where there were a whole bunch of candidates; the incumbent will take on the leading challenger. In Tel Aviv, they elected the same mayor who has been there for over 30 years. I guess people like him!

Theme 3: The hostages: We are all praying and hoping that the hostages in Gaza are released and that there can be some resolution to this conflict. However, it’s probably not helpful for the President of the most powerful nation in the world to telegraph messages while eating ice cream and telling Hamas that they need to dig their heels in more…just saying that it’s not a strong negotiating position….

Theme 4: More fun stuff with grandchildren: This morning we were back across the country to Efrat as 4th grader and soon to be birthday boy Nadav and the rest of the 4th grades celebrated completing their first round of study of the Chumash, the 5 books of Moses. The children showed off things they had learned, did class recitations of passages and made their parents and grandparents very proud. It was definitely worth the 1:20 minute drive! Plus a bonus, we will be spending Shabbat here with Elan and Nomi and the kids. 

We wish Daniella, Monty, Tali and Ezra a wonderful first shabbat in their new house in Beechwood! May they have many years of enjoyment and good fortune and may their neighbors always be a welcoming as they have been this week!

Note as we go to Press: As we write this, the population of Iran are supposedly going to vote for their Supreme Leader’s Advisory Council and a new President. A turnout of as low as 18% and as high as 30% is expected. The Reform party was not allowed to field a slate of candidates. And so it goes….

We wish everyone a wonderful Shabbat Shalom!

Barbara and Bruce

Happy Birthday Alex!

Happy Birthday Isabelle!

Happy Birthday to Nadav!

Mazel tov to Orly and El on the birth of a baby boy! Mazel tov Haim and Rhona, Bilha and Hai and Yacov and Ryla and their families on the new arrival. Also, Mazel tov Rhona on the birth of a grandson in South Africa!

Refuah Shlema to Shmuel Zev ben Rachel Ita

Refuah Shelma to Chaim Tzvi ben Shaindel