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 Aharon Ephraim ben Kayla Shoshana

Refuah Shelema for Shmuel Zev ben Rachel Ita

Refuah Shelema for Shmuel Yosef Ben Alexandra Ariella