Shalom to everyone! We are on our last Shabbat for this quick trip. After one Shabbat in Petach Tikvah and one in Efrat, we are having the family here in Netanya. Food is prepared and we are just waiting for the kids to come and check out the beach before Shabbat. Now let’s recap what went on since the last installment!

First, it would be very remiss if I did not start with the horror that occurred in Montreal last Monday evening. We were at a small outdoorcafé in the centre of Netanya when we got the first messages of a shooting in the Cote des Neiges area. We of course know the area well, right near Décarie Square, frequented the Starbucks there and we have shopped at the PA market many times. Just last July, our friends the Kaufman’s from Nashville stayed at one of the hotels on that corner and we had pizza across the street from the shooting area. We all mourn the loss of Michael Mizrachi, a highly charitable gentleman who lived in Cote St Luc and attended the large Chabad near Grandma’s condo. We have several friends who knew him well. We also mourn for the family of Const. Mohamed Lamine Benredouane who was murdered in the line of duty. The perpetrator left a hate filled manifesto which was true lunacy. To say it was anti-Semitic is true, but it was clearly anti-everything considered “establishment”.  We pray for such evil to end and for all to live in safety. 

Now back to lighter things! Shabbat last week was fun in Efrat. All of Nomi and Elan’s kids were home, and we got to have special time with each one. We mentioned Shoshana’s graduation last week, and that she was spending the summer in Canada at Camp Moshava for the second year. Shlomo has shot up and will be my height soon! We had fun with Nadav, Aryeh and Eitan; as everyone grows up the conversations get more interesting and the need to ‘baby’ children definitely decreases! 

We slept over Saturday night as we were to be staying with the kids on through to Monday morning; Nomi and Elan were going to a wedding Sunday night and Monday AM flying with Shoshana to Rome as a grad present and her first leg of the trip to Toronto. We treated Shlomo to an end of school brunch and learned that Café Gregg has a good gluten free menu (for Shlomo) lots of lactose free stuff (for Savti) so it’s now a go to place for dietary specialties! We got to see Nadav at his horse-riding lesson, hang out with Aryeh and play with Eitan. Dinner was at a local burger place; the only reason that was notable was that their computer system was down, and it basically paralyzed the place! No menus as everything was in the cloud, orders by phone to a central system which uses a different cloud, no way to take credit card payments…quite a mess and a lesson about how tech-dependent we have become!

Monday AM, bright and early, everyone was up, dressed, lunch packed and on the way to school. The kids were amazing, getting up and dressed and ready to go to school before 8. Once again, a sign of everyone growing up super-fast! We then went to the far side of Efrat and met our friends Carol and David Novosellor for breakfast at an interesting place; it used to be a bakery called Pat BaMelach (Bread in Salt) but now it is the “Efrat Food Court” a combination of a bagel place, a pizza and pasta place, bakery and cocktail lounge. Quite a gamish! We did not order cocktails for breakfast, even though it was the first page on the menu! The Novosellors are doing well, and we caught up on their lives, their kids’ lives and other events going on. And once again, an IT snag! Their computers were down, and the restaurant could not take credit cards, plus the waitress could not figure out the prices because her tablet would not connect. Well, we solved that with an old-fashioned paper menu and some cash from our wallets!

Tuesday’s big event was a gymnastics exhibition in Petach Tikvah. It appears there are literally hundreds of girls taking gymnastics and this one school, including Ora and Adi! The teacher coordinated a series of dance and gymnastic routines for the kids, divided into groups based on age and experience. We saw 8 routines in an hour, and then the next hour was another group of kids and parents and 8 more routines! Ora and Adi were terrific, and we have a lot of video with their beaming smiles! And of course, we took them to a local place for some food after and guess what? The credit card terminal did not work! This is high tech Israel, not at its finest moment LOL. 

We had thought about going to Efrat Wednesday for Aryeh’s soccer playoffs but another of the things that make Israel unique curtailed our enthusiasm. As you may know, there is a major issue here in terms of drafting ultra-orthodox Jewish students into the army. This goes back to the start of Israel in the 40’s when David Ben-Gurion negotiated with Ultra-Orthodox Rabbis to give the small number of Yeshiva students an exemption to the draft. At that time that population represented about 5% of eligible draftees. Now, the Ultra-Orthodox population in reaching 25% or more, so it’s a very sizeable number of men. The current government enacted a law this year to conscript more of these students, which has sadly led to huge protests, mainly blocking traffic at crucial times of the day. We decided that a 1.5-hour trip to or from Efrat was potentially going to be a three-hour trip (confirmed by Waze) and that navigating the protest convoy was not in our best interest. Of course, it would be in everyone’s best interest if they followed the law without protest, but that’s a discussion for another time!

Speaking of consternation, the war action has decreased to a simmer, primarily on the Northern Border. Hezbollah keeps attacking and then Iran complains when Israel retaliates. The most fascinating aspect of this back and forth is that Lebanon and Israel are both equally annoyed with the US for agreeing with Iran that the actions of Israel in Lebanon are a condition for the peace MOU. From a Lebanese point of view this only strengthens Iran’s grip on their country, and empowers Hezbollah, which is the last thing they want. From an Israeli point of view, there is no interest in a fight with the Lebanese people or their rightful government, just with Hezbollah and their missiles and drones in order to get the more than 100,000 displaced citizens back to their homes. There may be some common ground here, and hopefully Israel and Lebanon can work together to improve both of their positions. 

New restaurant alert! Thursday night we went to a restaurant called Maree, on top of the Vert hotel (15th floor). We sat on the terrace, overlooking the beach, Cesaria and Tel Aviv in the distance. The view was gorgeous, the food was excellent, and the atmosphere terrific. 

The majority of diners were young people, and they were having a very good time! If you want something a bit more upscale, try it out!

Now it’s full-blown summer in Netanya! That means the beach is packed, the water is warm, people are swimming, jumping through the waves, and building castles in the sand. Plus, in the case of Adi and Eitan, you can always search for shells along the shore. Our gang descended on the beach to get some rays of very warm sun, some salty surf and fun in the sand. This was a great way to transition from the week to Shabbat!

We wish you a warm and happy summertime. Shabbat Shalom!

Barbara and Bruce

 

Happy Birthday to Andy (Today!)

Happy Birthday to Steve!

Happy Birthday to Karen!

Happy Anniversary to us! To the most special partner ever, there is no one in the universe I could even dream of being with! 

Refuah Shelema for Chaya Leah bat Hadassah Eta Hanah

Refuah Shelema for Edna Bat Osnat

Refuah Shelema for Lori, everyone please give her a hand!

Refuah Shelema for Aharon Ephraim ben Kayla Shoshana

Refuah Shelema for Shmuel Zev ben Rachel Ita

Refuah Shelema for Shmuel Yosef Ben Alexandra Ariella

Shabbat June 19-20, 2026

Welcome back everyone! Its Israel adventure time again. But be prepared! We will be travelling at breakneck speed, so hang on tight and enjoy the ride!

A good place to start is with preparations for our flight. Although we all know the outcome now, about 9 days ago the passage from Montreal to Israel was still only about 70% assured. When we took off on Wednesday evening, we knew we would make it to Athens, but then, what if things went haywire with Iran, the Houtis, or Hezbollah? Would Sky Express, an airline we had never heard of before a few weeks ago, actually fly to Israel? In preparation for uncertainty, Elan, who by coincidence was on the same Sky Express flight as we were, had booked as a backup a refundable El Al ticket in case of a change in flight plans. 

We all arrived in Athens midday Thursday, scheduled to take off at 8:30 PM but not sure what the next move will be…but with CNN on the big screen nearby and checking our phones constantly, we finally saw that that the evening would be calm and we would be able to take off. However, we were delayed 1:15 hr due to an unforeseen circumstance (it seems a baby travelling with his family did not have a ticket/visa?). Hopefully this would be the only hiccup in the trip. 

Now to really provide context, we were travelling to do things that grandparents can do only if they are in the vicinity of their grandchildren; go to graduations, recitals, year-end events, and the like. Fun stuff!  

Friday morning, we prepared for Shabbat, which was going to be in Petach Tikvah with Gila and Ariel. We picked up a few groceries, some Shabbat take-out and took off to Petach Tikvah. We were greeted by Elisha who must have grown 4 inches since we were here this winter! He is now 12 and graduating grade 6 (an event we will attend next week). Ariel and Gila outdid themselves with great meals and the kids were amazing. Ora, now 9, and Adi, 6 are into gymnastics and of course K-Pop dance! We had a terrific shabbat which included a bar mitzvah lesson; I have had the pleasure of working with both Elisha and Nadav who are celebrating their bar-mitzvahs 3 weeks apart in March 2027. Save the date for a lot more blogs and stories!

 

Back to Netanya Saturday night, followed by a jet-lag sleep (one of several) and we the got organized for a busy Sunday. We drove to Efrat, picked up Eitan and had a bar mitzvah lesson with Nadav. Then off to an open house at Aryeh and Nadav’s elementary school. We were taught Torah and the history of the area around Efrat by our grandchildren and participated in activities like virtual reality, calligraphy, and other art projects.  The kids were great and the school was really hopping. We returned to Elan and Nomi’s home for dinner with the kids, including Shoshana, who was to graduate high school the next day!

Sunday night our plan we to sleep in Jerusalem at a hotel. If you can remember that far back, Israel continued to pressure Hezbollah, Iran threatened to retaliate, and Trump kept intervening and told everyone a peace deal was near. When we went to bed Sunday night, we did not know if we would spend it in a hotel room on the 6th floor or in a shelter on -3! As it turned out we were able to stay in our room all night, due to the imminent Trump peace deal. More about that later.

After the quiet night, we had breakfast at the hotel which was a bit too quiet with only a handful of people around. I guess that’s what turmoil does to tourism; the quality of the breakfast, however, was excellent. After a walk around the park overlooking Yemin Moshe and the Old City, we picked up Shoshana, who had just completed her second to last exam. We took her to lunch and shopping at Malcha Mall, and then home to prepare for her graduation ceremony.

We were told that Israeli graduations were not quite like one’s that we have experienced in North America; they are much more informal with not as much focus on the graduates as individuals. The Horev Girls School in Jerusalem had 5 Grade 12 classes with 150 students. The graduation ceremony was held in the school gym, and we sat around tables munching on fruits and veggies and cookies while people spoke from the podium (and spoke and spoke) and the families chatted. No awards, no recognitions for graduates, but then, diplomas were given out by class. That led to families pushing and jostling for position to take the best pictures. We are super proud of Shoshana, who did amazingly academically, ran a bunch of programs to help out farmers during the war with Hamas, and was accepted into a top-flight post high school seminary program at Migdal Oz next year. She is a spectacular young woman, and the sky is the limit for her!

Now things get a bit calmer….we returned to Netanya on Monday night and spent Tuesday and Wednesday walking along the beach, minor shopping and a great dinner out at a beach-side restaurant called The View, appropriately named because you can catch the most beautiful sunsets there.  After a bit of clean up and catching up on messages and emails, we set out Thursday for Petach Tikvah for another grandparent special. We picked up Elisha, Ora and Adi and took them for a “fancy” lunch to the local café and then home so Elisha could prepare for the play he would be in that evening. He has been part of a local drama troupe for at least 3 years. At the play, Elisha had a big cheering section (Ariel, Gila, Ora, Adi, Sabi, Savti, Jenna and her fiancé Noam, more about that soon!) and he put on a great performance. The play was very original, about integrating a colony of Jewish kids who had been living on a space colony on the star Brocolloni, back into life on Earth. Great themes of tolerance, cooperation, etc, after the initial reaction of both parties to being thrust into a very uncomfortable situation. Elisha was brilliant, not only acing his lines but reminding the others in the troupe when to come in and what to do! He is super expressive and a natural at acting. Kol HaKavod-Well done! 

The Trump peace agreement, or MOU, is, to be charitable, a real head scratcher. It is no secret that the Israeli public were much more pro-Trump than the American population, considering the US actions a year ago by sending B-52 bombers to the Iranian nuclear sites. What has leaked out of this agreement not only appears on the surface as a monetary win for the Iranian regime, but includes restrictions on Israel in terms of its defense against Hezbollah. Trump’s approval rating in Israel has now tanked like in the US. For now, there are 60 days to see what happens. Obviously, it would be wonderful if the cross-border bombing stopped and people in both northern Israel and southern Lebanon could live in peace. In this instance, the protagonists in Tehran and Hezbollah have not changed; it’s hard to see this as more than a pause to reload rather than a peace agreement. 

But wait, there’s more! We are thrilled to announce that our niece Jenna Weisz, daughter of Roanne and David, sister of Danielle/Brandon and Aviva is engaged to Noam Bar-Yaacov! We also are thrilled to be here to celebrate at their engagement party on Friday morning. We met Noam several months ago and he rapidly received the stamp of approval from all the assorted Israeli Mazer grandchildren! What more do you need? The party was at Noam’s parents’ home in Nes Harim, which is (for those who know Israeli geography) is past Bet Shemesh and before Tzur Hadassah on the road to Efrat. It was very special to meet Noam’s parents and sisters, they were very welcoming and it all looks like a perfect match! 

So, now that we were 20 minutes away from Efrat, of course our next cross-country move was….to Efrat to spend Shabbat with Nomi, Elan, Shoshana, Shlomo, Nadav, Aryeh and Eitan. This coming week, Shoshana is going back to Camp Moshava in Ennismore, Ontario to be a counsellor. She is flying to Canada via Rome and will spend a day in Rome with Nomi and Elan! Now, you may ask, who will be staying with the rest of the kids? I know, despite Shlomo and Nadav being very mature and responsible, we are staying anyway just to make sure all goes smoothly! That will lead to more great adventures to share next week.

We wish you an amazing Shabbat Shalom!

Barbara and Bruce

Happy Birthday to Andy (next Friday!)

Happy Birthday to Joey Brook!

Happy Father’s Day to all the wonderful fathers! Make yourselves a BBQ! 

Refuah Shelema for Chaya Leah bat Hadassah Eta Hanah

Refuah Shelema for Edna Bat Osnat

Refuah Shelema for Aharon Ephraim ben Kayla Shoshana

Refuah Shelema for Shmuel Zev ben Rachel Ita

Refuah Shelema for Shmuel Yosef Ben Alexandra Ariella