Spring time in Israel, the days are sunny, warm and it’s still very green, as the consistent 30+ degree temperatures of summer have not yet started to dry out the grass and flowers. Passover finished nearly two weeks ago, and the immediate two weeks after Passover include a mix of somber and celebratory times. The 49 days between Passover and Shavuot, the holiday of the giving of the Torah, are times of semi-mourning, remembering the deaths of 24000 students of Rabbi Akiva during the times of Roman occupation of Israel at the turn of the millennium. In contemporary Israel, during this time we commemorate Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, which took place last Monday, May 6th. Next week on Monday is Yom Hazikaron, Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror, which obviously will have special poignance feel this year in the context of the war in Gaza. On Monday night, we begin Yom Ha-Atzmaut, Israel Independence Day. It will be very interesting to see how they play out in the current situation. More about that next week; let’s talk about what’s happened here and how we are spending the last few weeks of our Sabbatical.
We spent the end of Passover much as we spent the beginning, with family and lots of food! We were in Netanya for the Shabbat in the middle of Passover with Nomi, Elan, and the kids; when we were indoors there were lots of games to play and stories to read, and we could be outdoors in the parks so everyone could roam around, hang from bars and swing as required. We had Sunday to recover and cook some more, and then we went to Gila and Ariel’s house for the last day of Passover. More games and stories, including Elisha beating Bruce in Catan, and time in the park as well as a long walk around Petach Tikvah with Elisha. Very needed to help work off the Matza! All in all, it was a really nice holiday and was uninterrupted by drones and missiles that we had had in the weeks before.
We needed a few days to catch up on work from home; so we decided to be unambitious and spend Shabbat in Netanya. In our neighborhood there are two predominantly Anglo synagogues, Yong Israel of Netanya, and The McDonald International Synagogue. Both are about a 3-4 minute walk from our house. Although most of the time we go to services at the Young Israel, we went to McDonald synagogue on Saturday morning. (no, not MacDonalds!) There were a lot of friendly people there, and as we spend more time here (if all goes well) there appears to be a nice community in our neighborhood.
Following Shabbat, we met Michal and Ronen Sela at an Ice cream shop in south Netanya. The Selas live about 45 minutes away but were driving from the Tiberias area from a family reunion. People may remember that they lived on our street, Sunrise, when Ronen was Vice Principal of Hebrew Academy. Our kids were good friends when they were children, and Monty and Elan had Ronen as a teacher. It was great to spend time with them and plan our next sojourn!
Speaking of reunions, we also met a group of Montreal friends in Jerusalem at Caffit; Haim Fruchter was in for Passover, and we saw Mary Ruth and Ronnie Gehr, Anne and Jonathan Homa, and Barbara Sutnick and her new husband David. We were all young couples together eons ago, and other than Haim, the others all have moved to Isrrael over the years.
Israel; a place for gathering: We were looking for something fun to do on Sunday, and decided it was a good day for wine tasting. We booked a tasting at the Tishbi Winery, 10 minutes outside of Zikhron Yaacov. Well worth the 60 Shekels (about 22 dollars Canadian); each person got 6 tastings, paired with 6 different types of dark chocolate. All the wines were really good. Plus, there is nothing like wine and chocolate to encourage conversation between people. Next to us was a Brazilian couple who were visiting their daughter, who had moved to Israel 5 years before. We had a great time discussing their visit and comparing notes on the Jewish communities we came from. The commonalities far exceeded the differences! This was all despite the fact that our Portuguese sucks and their English was rudimentary. Their daughter was pretty fluent in English and Hebrew and translated in Portuguese. We all had a great time and then went to the restaurant at the winery for a snack. I must admit that it’s pretty easy to meet complete strangers in Israel and find out that you either know the same people or have very similar interests!
Holocaust Remembrance Day: Following wine tasting, we attended a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at the Young Israel of North Netanya. There are still 130,000 Holocaust survivors in Israel, but their numbers are dwindling. Several live in our neighborhood and are members of the local shuls. The main part of the ceremony was a mini documentary made by a congregant about a Hidden Child of the Holocaust. Ariel Edler was abandoned by his parents at age 4 in Antwerp as the Nazi’s were arresting and deporting Jews. Neighbors were supposed to smuggle him out, but this arrangement did not work out. They eventually found non-Jewish foster parents in a small town in France. Ariel lived with them for over 2 years as “Henri” to camouflage his Jewishness. Imagine the trauma of being left behind as a small child. This story had a reasonably happy ending, with Ariel being reunited with his parents as WWII ended, and him staying in touch with his foster mother and sister. Ariel is now 86 and was present for the documentary. He said that he never really got over the trauma of being left behind and was forever grateful for his loving foster mom. The documentary chronicled Ariel Edler, but discussed that he was one of thousands of Hidden children, left with foster families, or at convents, churches, and other measures that fleeing families did to try to and preserve at least a shred of their family. Many stories did not have such positive endings and by creating the documentary, this important story is being preserved.
In keeping with this theme, I would be remiss if I did not pay tribute to Mr. Ernest Ehrmann, who passed away Wednesday and whose funeral we watched yesterday. Mr Ehrmann is father to our friend Debbie Feldman. I did not know Mr. Ehrmann well, but he is a legend in Holocaust Education in Montreal. He travelled to Poland as a survivor/educator at least 16 times, on the March of the Living and on Federation missions. Mr. Ehrmann must have touched thousands of students and adults with his stories of the Holocaust and of oppression. A genuine survivor, he built a life from nothing, has two wonderful daughters, 4 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren, and was a highly respected business person in addition to his contribution to the community. He will be greatly missed.
Fun Day with Ora: One of the benefits of being here which we are trying to take full advantage is being with grandchildren for their birthdays. We have to date spent a day spoiling Elisha (remember the horses?) and Nadav (remember the pancakes?) and now it was Ora’s turn. So, a perfect day for a 7-year-old; pizza for dinner, a morning on the beach, a trip to the toy store to choose a present, hot dogs and fries for lunch, and more shopping and one on one time. Talk about fun!
Iris Reserve: On the border of the newly developed area of Netanya called Ir Yamim is the Iris Nature Reserve. This place is supposed to be spectacular in the winter (January to April) with tons of blooming irises. We took a 4.5 kg hike all around the reserve yesterday, and there were still lots of flowers and greenery. It was a fun hike and we will definitely do it again, especially in the winter.
Shabbat in Jerusalem: We are now in Jerusalem for Shabbat with Lori and Alvin from Chicago, and Debbie and Zev from New York; the connection being we are all friends from Denver days. We are only missing Michelle and Eddie, who are arriving in Israel next week. We are planning a full reunion next Wednesday. We have reunions almost every summer, so to get together in Jerusalem is an upgrade over the wilds of Pennsylvania or Jamestown NY!!
We continue to monitor the situation on McGill Campus and across the US and Canada. This is seemingly going from bad to worse. The encampments appear immovable, the university administrations appear to have their hands tied or are unsure which side they want to upset, with the outcome being complete chaos. Meanwhile, the IDF has moved into Rafah, has secured the border between Egypt and Israel and has made limited excursions to clear out the tunnels. We will see what will happen. How this weeks’ Israel Remembrance Day and Independence Day transpires will be very interesting to see. Stay tuned…!
We wish everyone a pleasant Shabbat Shalom!
Barbara and Bruce
Our sincere condolences to Debbie and Chaim Feldman on the passing of Debbie’s father, Ernest Ehrmann.
Our sincere condolences to Rabbi Eliyahu and Sara Gaetano on the passing of Rav Eliyahu’s mother, Ruth Gaetano.
We wish a speedy recovery (Refuah Shlema) to Shmuel Zev ben Rachel Ita
We wish a speedy recovery (Refuah Shelma) to Chaim Tzvi ben Shaindel
We wish a speedy recovery (Refuah Shelma) to Moshe Aharon ben Leah
Happy Mothers Day to all the moms in our life, in particular Grandma Phyllis Mazer, the matriarch of the family!
Happy Birthday to Karen Kofman!
Happy Birthday Rivka!
Happy Birthday Rhona!
Happy Birthday to Bruce!
Happy Birthday to Bilha!
Happy Birthday to Elliott!
No comments:
Post a Comment