October 16, 2009 Update

Hi Everyone,

I hope everyone enjoyed the chagim (holidays). We enjoyed them a lot, especially Succot. We are just getting back to regular life now, as the lids have restarted school this week, after being off for more than a week for Succot. The house is staring to get organized, and Caryn has already moved the furniture around 3 or 4 times, but I think we are close to final setup. I’m sill waiting for them to decide on my immigrant status, but they told me today that I would have an answer on Sunday, so I will hope for the best.

For Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year), I davened (prayed) at my brother Jonny’s Shul, which was very nice. Ilan came with me too, although he spent most of the time playing outside. On the first day, we had lunch at Jonny and Diane’s which was very nice. On the second day, we got invited over to a family who lives on the same street as Jonny and Diane. The mother of the family, Haley, is in class with Caryn and we like both her and her husband Gavin. They are British, not that that is important, but I like the accents. They have been very helpful to us, giving us a lot of lifts and just generally helping out. Overall Rosh HaShana was very nice, although I was quite nauseous the second day, and didn’t eat much. On the plus side, they skip a whole bunch of stuff in the davening, so we got out at about 12:15 both days.

The week between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur (day of atonement) was uneventful. The kids were off on the day before Yom Kippur, so we didn’t have Sunday free to ourselves. I also davened by Jonny on Yom Kippur, which was really nice, although both me and Jonny agreed that we miss David Ritholtz on Yom Kippur night. I was able to find a Succa (difficult to translate, but basically a little hut or booth that we eat all our meals in for a week) including everythingfor NIS 500, which is only about $135, quite cheap by American standards. It was very easy to put up, although when I put it up, it came crashing down. It was very easy to put up a second time by Caryn, and it was much more stable as well. I have to remember to leave all handy work to Caryn. On Erev Succot (the day before the holiday of Succot), I went with Jonny, my nephew Itiel, and Ilan to Yerushalayim ( Jerusalem ) to by Arba Minim (4 species that you need to own on Succot, See Leviticus CH 23). We went to Machaneh Yehuda, which is a huge open air market. It was lot of fun, and we got a whole set for NIS 35(about $9).

The first day of Succot, we went to Jonny and Diane’s again, which was really nice. I also davened by them and I inadvertently got a really good nap during the reading of Kohellet (Ecclesiastes). Since there is only one day of Yom Tov (days which we are forbidden to do work), we did not actually bring the Arba Minim on Yom Tov, which was quite weird. On Sunday, we went on a hike up the mountain behind were Jonny lives to the Monestary, Bet Gemal. We had done that nine years ago, and there was ice cream at the top of the mountain in the monestary, so the kids were expecting it. All of my kids went, and Jonny, Avidan, Amalya and Shai-El went. It was a fun hike, although there was a fair amount of whining on the way up, although most of it was not from my kids. Ilan loved hiking. Unfortunately, when we got to the top, it seemed deserted, so the ice cream place was not open. After sulking for about 15 minutes, someone came and opened up the ice cream place, so everything worked out.

On Monday, we rented a car and went to the beach on Rishon Lezion with Avidan. We had a great time and we got to see the sun set over Mediterranean , which was beautiful. After the beach, we went to the mal in Mevaserret Zion to eat at the kosher Mcdonalds. The kids all got ahppy meals and there was a succa outside for us to eat out, which also had a beautiful view of the hills outside of Yerushalayim. We enjoyed the meal, but I think the whole concept of McDonalds being cheap is lost on Israelis, as the meal was not cheap by any standards.

On Teusday, we went on a Tiyul (trip) with my bother and his whole family. We went to some caves in Gush Etzion, that you can hike in water, but it was freezing, so we decided not go in once we got there. Freezing by the way, was in the sixties. We decided instead to go to Herodian, which is a mountain fortress where king Herod built a castle inside the mountain. The inside of the mountain was really cool, but the outside was ridiculously windy. That site got mixed reviews. We then went to pizza in Efrat, which was great, as you can tell this pizza was clearly made by Americans, which is the first time we had good old fashion American pizza. We then went to a sandal factory, and then home.

On Wednesday, we took a bus to Yerushalayim ( Jerusalem ) to see Rabbi Zimand and Esther. We had a wonderful afternoon with them, and we found this great playground in Gan Hapa’amon, which the kids really enjoyed. It was wonderful top see them and catch up. The Zimands took us to dinner, which is always a challenge with the kids. Fortunately, the restaurant was empty, so that helped. It was quite a tasty dinner, and we had a great day with the Zimands.

On Thursday we went to a farm just outside of Beit Shemesh. We stayed there for three hours, and the kids had a great time. We also got cotton candy, so me and Gali were happy. The rest of the day we went home and relaxed, as it was an exhausting week.

On Friday, I woke up at 4AM , and went to the Kotel (Western Wall), with Jonny, Avidan and Itiel. It was a unique experience and it was very cool to see the sunrise over the Kotel. There was also tons of Minyanim (prayer services of 10 men or more), so it was really cool to see and hear everybody daving at the same time. We were near a Carlebach minyan, so we got our own nice quick davening, while being able to listen to a loud long Carelbach davening. They were hopping and dancing around like crazy and one of them had like a 6 or 7 foot lulav. Jonny then treated us to American bagels, which was also really good. On Friday afternoon, Jonny, Itiel and Shai-El, took me Ilan, Gali, and Tiki to some caves. They enjoyed it, but I am little to old and big for these caves, so it was quite a challenge.

Shmini Atzeret /Simchat Torah was a lot of fun. Ilan and Gali went with me to shul, and got lots of candy. The services Saturday morning took forever, actually longer then Rosh HaShana. We got invited over to another person’s house who is also in Caryn’s class. They have a really nice house, and we had a nice time. The kids were also reasonably behaved.

This week, we are back to regular life. Gali got sick and missed two days of school, which she was quite happy about. We are getting ready for Shabbat, and even though we have all day to get ready, things are still hectic. I hope everyone is well.

Kol Tuv (all the best),
Zumi