Shabbat in Netanya January 10-11

Welcome to Friday, another week has gone by, but not one with the frenetic pace of the last two. We needed a bit of time to catch up and even do a bit of work. Of course, there were a few other highlights aside from sitting in front of laptop.

I did not mention that we had volunteered for an afternoon at an organization known as Leket Yisrael. Leket is a food rescue and redistribution charity. It was started by someone who realized that there was a lot of food left over from catered events, like weddings and bar mitzvahs, and that there were a lot of individuals and families struggling to make ends meet. He started asking if leftovers could be taken to places which would redistribute them to families. This has grown tremendously and now they not only do food recover from hotels and restaurants but also help by approaching farmers who are growing vegetables that can’t go to market because of small defects and bringing these to charities who distribute them. They also have farms and orchards where people can pick produce for the charity. On the day we were there, we went to the logistic facility not far from where we live to sort vegetables: beets, peppers, avocados, more beets, carrots, and more beets. There were also potatoes and a few other vegies that needed placing into baskets from massive crates, then stacked on palates for delivery. There was a sizeable group who attended that day, including our friends Anne and Jonathan Homa. We were told we sorted almost 18000 kg of vegetables that day. That’s a lot of beets!

Last Friday we had brunch with Michal and Ronen Selah, who live in the Shomron. We met them where their son Eyal lives, in Hadera, and also saw their daughter Meytal. We realized we first met in 1999, so the friendship is 25 years old, and we watched all the children grow up, which is quite spectacular. Seeing adult Metal and Eyal, both parents, was very cool. People who remember the Selas from their time in Montreal may remember that Eyal was a very fearless pre-schooler. Well, now he’s a social worker and doing great things, but he is still the first to jump into the pool (or fountain!).

We had brunch at Café Feinberg, which is named after the original builders of the home, Israel Feinberg, who it’s told help drain the swamps that led to the founding of the city of Hadera, right off the coast of the Mediterranean, 12-15 minutes north of Netanya. The Feinbergs were helping to prepare land in the early 20th century, pre-World War 1, during the Ottoman Rule. His son, Avshalom, was a spy for the British who supposedly was a talented poet (there are some of his writings on the wall of the Café.) He was sadly killed on a mission in the area that is today Raffa in Gaza. The café in the house supposedly has many artifacts from the early days of Hadera, prior to the founding of the State of Israel. 

Shabbat was very nice, with good weather, and time to chill and take walks. We even treated ourselves to ice cream after Shabbat. Now the debate can start. Who has Netanya’s best ice cream: Tony’s or Golda’s? Let the votes come in!On Monday we joined Gila’s family for the Pidyon Haben or Redemption of the First Born. This is an ancient practice; the main ministers for Temple Services are the clan of Priests, Cohanim, the direct decedents of Moses and his brother Aaron. However, tradition has it that the first borns were responsible for the communal worship services. Since they no longer are needed for this, but still have the obligation, if a son is the first-born son in a family he is “redeemed” in a ceremony at the age of 30 days. I am told I had one (no recollection of course) as did Monty, and Elisha, Ariel’s eldest. Gila’s brother Hillel and wife Rotem just has a baby (mazel tov) and the Pidyon Haben was on Monday evening. After the brief ceremony of course there’s a party with great food and music. It was fun to see Gila’s parents, Geula and Yitzchak, and a bunch of Gila’s siblings and families. 

Our good friends Lori and Alvan Small have arrived to spend 2 months in Netanya as they have the past few years, and it’s fun for us to have good friends just down the block from us! We had dinner with them on Tuesday evening, at Bistro Place, one of those amazing gas station restaurants that seem to be everywhere in Israel (I have blogged about gas station eateries before!). After a fun dinner, we went shopping, which would not ordinarily be newsworthy. However, the supermarket we went to, Osher Ad, has a self-checkout option with a handheld bar-code reader which weighs your purchases at the end and tells you if you are OK to pay. The first time we did it last year, we did not account for the weight of our shopping bags, so we had to do it all over! This time, we went through like pros! I think we will start blogging about shopping tips in our next career. 

OK, we have a busy Shabbat coming up, with all the Israel Mazer’s descending on Netanya. There is now an apartment right across the hall that is on Air B and B which means we have very comfy accommodations for two families. Elan will even be speaking at our synagogue this Shabbat. We look forward to a busy and lively Shabbat and hope those who are in cooler climates will stay warm!

We wish you a meaningful and fun Shabbat Shalom!

Barbara and Bruce 

Happy Birthday to Damien!

Happy Birthday to Ariel!

Happy Birthday to Zev!

Happy Birthday to Jeff!

Our heart and prayers go out to all those who are in Los Angeles and are affected by the horrendous forest fires. May they be safe and spared from such tragedies.