Israel (2009)

Prolog

Around May 2009 Ronen called me and told me about his plans to have Amit's Bar Mitzva at the Kotel. "Are you coming?" he asked, and I instantly answered: "Of Course... I will not going to miss such an important event". I later discussed my plans with Sharone and asked her what does she think about letting me have Yaara for the trip. Sharone & Gary agreed and I purchased the tickets in the middle of May and started to count the days...

The following blog was written during our stay in Israel and was emailed to my family daily. Upon my return I added the pictures, changed few of the wording, and there you go...

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Friday, December 25th 2009

We arrived at Ronen's house after the long flight and found out that Yudit broke the key inside the key hole and we cannot go inside the house. Ronen called a LOCKSMITH, which charged him 600 shekels since "it is Friday and you said you wanted us to arrive ASAP..". We finally got into the house. After a much needed shower I drove with Ronen to my mom to pick her up, as Yudit & Ronen made a "Welcome Dinner" for us.

My mom was very happy to see us and hugged me for a long time. She also hugged and kissed Yaara while complimenting her how pretty she is...

Mooky, the famous dog, is really cute and friendly. He is also very smart and loves my mom a lot.

After our return to Ronen's house Ortal & Shachaf had joined us as well. I found Shachaf to be charming and very loving. Ortal is as pretty as ever.

Dinner was great and we all sat in the living room watching "Tz'chok Me-Ha-Avoda", which was really funny. One of the lines I will remember was: "Name somethng that was not changed in the last 45 years". The answer of one of the comedians was: "The oil at Mcdonald's"...

Around 10:00 we drove my mom back to her home. She insited that Ronen "stole the grant deed of my home..." as Ronen keeps denying... I felt I am in a 3 Stooges movie... She threatens to file charges... I am still laughing... but it is so sad as well.... she has really lost it....

I took a sleeping pill at around 11:00 and slept for the next 12 hours....

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Saturday, December 26th, 2009

Today we had lots of fun. Ronen woke us up at 11:00 (!!) and we had a huge Israeli brunch

Yaara stayed with Yudit and Matan, who went to the park for few hours while the rest of us (including Shachaf) went to Chamei Yoav (hot springs) but before, I asked Ronen to drive us to Sderot and then to Erez Pass, which is the border with Gaza. We then spent 3 hours at the springs and returned home at 6:00 where we met with Ortal and went to Yaffo for a great dinner.

 

I talked to Sofi and we decided that she will call Monday to arrange seeing us.

Ronit called and announced that Ramat Aviv Mall has a HUGE sale. Ronen got excited and opted to end the night trying to find bargains, as he already promised Shachaf that he will buy him something to wear at the Bar Mitzva. He ended up buying him a leather coat (800 shekels instead of 1500).

We met Ronit and Iris at the mall. (Why do I think that everytime I meet Ronit she brings Iris with her???)

I bought books for Tova and cd's for myself. The books were really for a good price as the sale (mivtza) was: buy one get 2 free. I bought 6 books and payed for 2. The cd's were a bargaing as well (3 cd's for 100 shekels). I also bought Yaara 6 pairs of socks and the spray for the hair (untangling spray). She also received some games, bought by Ronen and a Tiger Doll from me. She insists that the doll name is "Dooby" while she is in Israel but she will rename it to "Simba" when she returns to California....

We are now back home. it is after midnight. The kids are sleeping in the living room after they built themselves a tent out of chairs, towels and blankets. (the house looks like a mess).




Good Night!!

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Sunday, December 27th, 2009

First thing on Sunday morning was to go to my mom's home to convince her that she needs some help.. someone to come over and take care of her. She refused to even hear about it. At least I was able to convince her that Ronen will be her "Power of Attorney". They will see a lawyer soon to finalize it.

We left for Jerusalem around 12:00 and per Ronen' request I was driving and not him, as he was too excited and too stressed. We arrived about 45 minutes later and I was able to find the hotel Crown Plaza right away as it is one of the tallest buildings in Jerusalem.

We checked-in and then started a long walk towards the "Kotel". As we arrived to Agripas Street Yaara saw a name on a restaurant building and started to cry. This was the first time she has cried during this trip. But it was understandable as the name of the restaurant was "Imma" (Mother) and she then realized how much she misses her mom. It took several minutes and she had her usual smile back on her face.

We arrived to the Shuk (Mahne Yehuda Market) and found Rachmo Restaurant right away. Lunch was good but not as great as in the past years. I learned that the owner, who inherited the recopies for the tasty food from her father had passed and her husband (Itzik) is now in charge and had hired a new cook.

We continued to the Midrachov Ben Yehuda, where I had planned to buy Yaara some new cloths for the Bar Mitzva (her dress she brought from home had a stain in the middle of it). I ended up buying her a skirt, 2 blouses, a sweater, tights and new shoes. While there, Stpehanie (Sharone & Gary's friend) called and we met her at one of the stores. This was the second time that Yaara cried as Steph reminded her of home.

Steph lead us as we walked towards the Kotel. We arrived at Mamilla, the new mall, which connects the new and old in the city. It is such an amazing place.

The $150 million, pedestrian-only Mamilla mall is outside Jaffa Gate. The mall boasts international brands such as: Rolex‚ MAC‚ H. Stern‚ Nike‚ Polo Ralph Lauren‚ Nautica‚ bebe‚ and Tommy Hilfiger‚ as well as local brands like Castro‚ Ronen Chen and Steimatzky Books.

The Mamilla Jerusalem Hotel is located at the entrance of the mall and is one of the most beautiful luxury hotels in Jerusalem. Stpeh mentioned that it took many many years to complete. She wasn't sure how many but "For sure more than 10 years..."

We walked through Jaffa Gate market arriving to the Western Wall at dusk and it was an amazing sight. I am sure Emly, Sharone & Gary can testify to that.

We spent about an hour at the wall and then took a Taxi cab back to the Crown Plaza Hotel. The view from our room was just out of this world as the skyline of Jerusalem were clear and so beautiful.

 

We then took the elevator down to the pool area where we found an Olympic size pool.As we passed the Gym, I saw a familiar face on the stationary bike. It was Shaike, an Israeli we met on our South Pacific Cruise. We hugged and he pointed to me where Hana, his wife, was (at the pool).. She almost drowned when she saw me, as we hardly kept in touch and all of the sudden she saw me there.

After an hour of swimming we called it a night. I gave Yaara a bath with lots of bubbles. She really enjoyed it.

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Monday, December 28th, 2009

We woke up early and entered the hotel's dining room where we had a delicious Israeli breakfast and then reurned to our rooms to get dressed for the big occasion. Today Amit will go through the rituals of his Bar Mitzva.

 

We took a taxi cab to the kotel. (leaving behind our luggage at the hotel's storage and the car at the parking lot).

It took the cab about 45 minutes to arrive as traffic in Jerusalem is horrible. We arrived to "Sha'ar Ha-Ashpot" where friends of my second cousin Yiftach Meir were waiting for us and lead our group to the Western Wall, blowing the shofars, and playing the horns and drums while leading us all in singing Israeli songs. It was really amazing.

We arrived at the Kotel. I noticed that some of my family members had not made it there yet, including my brother Nimrod (and his family) and my cousin Ishai. Ronen called them and they told him that they are stuck in traffic.

We were assigned a table alongside the wall, which separates the men from the women and the Rabbi started the ceremony. Amit was great and was very emotional. Ishai showed up later and like magic, Yaara recognized him and was instantly attached to him. (From that moment they were connected through the rest of the day, holding hands.)

When Amit carried the "Sefer Torah", a shower of candies from Ezrat Nashim welcomed him.

Right around this minute, Nimrod showed up and spotted me as I was with Amit. He approached me and wanted us to shake hands. I instead hugged him to let him know that I want more than a hand shake from my brother. He said something like "You had changed...." to which I replied "and you too...". To my dissppointment, these were the last words we had talked to each other for the rest of the event.... I did talk to his grandchildren (later) and they are very charming and reminded me of thier mom a lot. Bat-7 as well just said hi and something like "Meet my girls". She did hug and kissed Yaara and commented how the hair is like Sharone's.

After the ceremony at the Kotel we were all invited to a spectacular show called "Chain Of Generations" next to the Kotel. It was amazing and a moving experience that relates the fascinating story of the Jewish people throughout the generations. This story took us through 3,500 years- from exile to statehood, from destruction to rebuilding, and from crisis to hope. The show is displayed with lights and pictures through many chambers. As I said: Purely Amazing!!

A bus was waiting for us all and we were driven to "La Boca" restaurant in the "Moshava Germanit". The atmosphere and food were out of this world. I sat next to Simona (my cousin

from my dad's side) and we became good friends before the day was over.

Yaara played aith Ophir (Shachar's daughter) and they were talking to each other in English as other kids looked in amazing faces how Yaara and Ophir, who were just a minute ago talking in Hebrew are now conversing in a different language. We listen to the "drashot" by Amit and Ronen and at about 6:00 we left with the bus, which took us to the Parking area.

Ishai found his car and drove us to the hotel where I picked up my luggage. A couple of hours later we were in Kfar Tavor. Yaara who slept the entire trip, was wide awake when we arrived. She "clicked" with Yafa right away. Yafa gave her a box with coloring pencils and a book full of pictures as they both sat together for a couple of hours coloring book. The book and coloring pencils belonged to Yaara Meir when she was a child.

We also met the Meir's cutest dog. His name is Greg. I was wondering why they call him so, but was promised that I will find out in the next couple of days.

 
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Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Today I left with Ishai pretty early, letting Yaara catch up on her sleep. We arrived to Ramat David army camp and to High School Amal, where Ishai gave a lecture about Driving Safely. I had many tears before he finished (45 minutes later) as he described his relationship with his late daughter and when he vivdly described the moments which lead to the accident.

We drove to Kibbutz Sha'ar Ha-Amakim where Zvi Dromi (my uncle) is a resident at home for the elders but to my disappointment he only reognized us for about 30 seconds before drowning back to his blank memory. The Alzhimer desease has taken his memory forever. We spend about an hour with him.

From there we drove to Sde' Yaakov to surprise Roni Sadeh but she was not home. On the way out I saw a sign of one of the companies in the Moshav and called them asking if they know Roni's cell. They gave it to me with no hassle (only in Israel...) I called Roni who was so happy to hear my voice. She said she will try to come to Ishai's home later but instead called me later to let me know that she will not come as she must take an afternoon nap. "I am very weak" she said and continued to tell me that a cancer was diagnosed in one of her breasts and it was removed. I started to cry... I promised that I will come to her house no matter what to see her.

We visited Nahallal and met with Yafa's sister (Anat) and her husand Eyal Yardenai.

We returned home and took the ladies (Yaara and Yafa) to Kfar Kama for lunch, which was delicious. The location of the restaurant is so great as it sits at the end of a field, which leads to Mount Tabor.

Our next stop was at the "Marzipan Factory" in Kfar Tavor, founded in 1998. We entered the workshop where Yaara was given some raw marzipan and she created some small animals with them. The marzipan is actually almonds made into dough. We visited the factory, the lecture hall (where we saw a 15 minutes movie about how marzipans are made) and the exhibition room where we discovered many sculptures made of marzipans by the owner, who is a world famous artist.

As we returned back home, Yafa and Yaara went to the supermarket. Later on, my best friend Mendel Avgar came over and spent the next three hours we had a lot to talk about and promised that we will see each other in a couple of days to complete our conversation and also to have a chance for me to see his wife Edna, who was in Tel Aviv helping their daughter Inbal who recenctly gave birth to a baby girl. During the evening Yaara was at her best as she showed off her skills in reading, painting and even solving mah problems. Mendel was pretty impressed!!

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Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

We woke up pretty early and after breakfast started our day. Rain was pouring down as we started to drive. Ishai had a prayer: "May the rain stop when we get there and it is okay to continue after we leave".

We were driving to the Galilee to visit "Lake Ha-Hula". I guess Ishai has some special relationship up there as the rain had stopped as soon as we arrived. We rented a "Golf Cart" for four passengers and as I was paying for the rental I heard some Americans talking to their tour guide. You know me... few minutes later we were part of the group. Yaara got friendly instantly with one of the boys and off we went.

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The lake is just one of the wonders of the world. I am not exageerating when I say that at least 250,000 birds were at the reservation while we were there. The guide explained to us how the birds start their journey in Europe and right now are "lay over" around here on their flight to Africa, where it is so much warmer than Europe.

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I am sure you can imagine how my camera worked non stop in documenting this wonder. Not only birds are there, but many different animals who feed off the birds. A whole Ecco System.

We let Yaara drive the vehicle (Sharone: don't worry it can reach a max of 10 km per hours...). Anyhow, she was just having the time of her life and was in 7th heaven.

We finished the guided tour in about 90 minutes and then continued our day. We were heading to Zefat as the rain showed up again. However, as soon as we parked in the old city, it stopped again. We toured the sites and met interesting (and weird) people along the way.





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We were back in the car and drove to Mt Meron where we found a nice little restaurant. Yaara ordered: "Humus, Salat, Chips ve-Kabab" along with Fanta Orange. She became such an Israeli to my delight.... Her Hebrew is just unbelievable. She is also such a pleasant companion and easy to travel with.

As we left the restaurant the rain returned and we ran through it to the parked car and got soaked!!

A couple of hours later we returned to Kfar Tavor. Yankale took Yaara with his car and they both returned an hour later with Sapir, Yankale's girlfriend, which is so cute and lovely. Yaara had a new friend now and they both spent a couple of hours painting.

We were supposed to go out (Ishai & me) to a pub so at around 9:00 PM I took a short nap to get re-energized... I woke up at 6:00 AM....

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Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Ishai & Yafa were already after breakfast at 6:00 in the morning, reading the morning papers. I had an omlette and then woke up Yaara (around 8:00).

Yafa already left to work (She is a volunteer teacher at Ort Afula). Roni & Sofi called and Ishai promised them that we will be in Sde' Ya'akov at around 11:00. We left Kfar Tavor and then stopped at Ort Afula to say goodbye to Yaffa, who took Yaara inside the school and showed her the class where she teaches.


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 We stopped at a shopping strip mall and Ishai pointed to a Cafe'. with the name Greg. "Here is where Sapir found our dog. Now you know why we called him Greg". We then stopped at a stationary store. Ishai gave Yaara a cart and told her to fill it up with watever she wanted. The total bill was 600 shekels! I am just wondering how much the overweight lauggage will cost...

We entered the center of Afula. The time was already 11:30. Roni and Sofi called to find out where we were and Ishai promised them that we are "Just about to leave". Oh well... we had few more stops in the city. We bought a delicious Falafel, sunflowers, and some CD's and only then left the city. It was now 12:15.

We arrived to Sdeh Ya'akov at around 1:15. The meeting with Roni was very emotional. Sofi in the meantime called and Roni invited her as well. She came with Matan Shira and her new baby (forgot her name..)

At the beginning we planned that Sofi will take Yaara to Beit Lehem Ha-Glillit to a cow farm but then we realized that since Sofi's car is full with baby chairs in the back it was just impossible to shlepp Yaara as well. We then decided that Ishai will drive Yaara to Sofi's house and will stay there taking (a much needed nap) but few minutes later Ishai was asleep on the couch at Roni's house and we all stayed. Roni's daughter Edva, was there too with her baby.

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At around 3:30 we said our goodbyes and drove to Kfar Saba. First thing after arriving to the city was to visit Park Kfar Saba where Uzi Medan (Haya's grandson) just completed a project where he made three statues of Giraffes and named this section after Oded & Uzi Harpaz. The creation is just astonishing.

The park offers many games and activities for kids. Yaara played there for about half an hour and we then continued to Haya's home where hot dinner was already on the table.

After dinner Orit Dromi(Yossi & Aliza's daughter) had joined us. Haya gave Yaara a doll, and Yaara called the doll: Elika.

We left an hour later and visited Ester Meir (Ishai's mom). She was seated in a wheelchair and has a Phillipine girl living with her. She is still clear in her mind and looks terrific.

We arrived to Rishon Le-Zion at around 8:30 p.m.. Yaara, who was already sleepy in the car, went to straight to bed as me & Ronen waited for midnight to spend the last hours of the decade together.

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Friday, January 1st, 2010

This morning Ronen & I left the house and after visting the local bakery (Ronen bought Challahs for Shabat) we drove to Yafo. Yudit stayed home with Matan (who claimed he was sick and did not go to school...Later on when I found out that he wanted to stay home and play with Yaara I told him that I think he has a new illness called "Yaara's Fever")

When we arrived at the busiest intersection of the city, Ronen's car broke down. The gear (rest in peace) was out!!! I am sure you can imagine the comotion and the sound of the horns of maybe 50 cars in our ears as we pushed the car to the side (my back is hurting again... ). An hour later a tow away truck showed up and Ronen left with him towards Holon.

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I decided to stay in Yafo and walked through Shuk Ha-Pishpeshim to the Clock Tower and then to my favorite Humus joint in the world: Ali Caravan. The place was full with people and I ended up sitting on the sidewalk consuming the entire content of a deep plate full with Humus. YUM!!!

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I walked through the old city and when I returned to the Clock Tower I sat down for a delicious Cafe' Latte in a small coffee shop called "Pesek Zman" and then called Ronen (using the waiter's phone) to ask if he is coming to pick me up. We decided that it will be best if I pick up a Monit (Taxi) which I did. As it turned out the cost to repair his car was 3,500 shekels ($1,000) but included a loaner... a cute Mazda.

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Back at the house, I found Yudit still standing and cooking as tomorrow they invited many people to continue the celebration of the Bar Mitzva. My mom declined to come... ("nobody invited me over..")

Yaara & Matan played basketball in the backyard.

After giving Yaara a bath at around 3:30 PM, she took a nap and at around 7:00 I tried to wake her up to go to Simona for Shabbat Dinner. Oh boy!!! this was so hard. At the beginning she just said "NO" to everything I had said. I even told her: "Did you become the 'NO' girl?" to which she replied: "NO". "Are you my princess?" and she kept saying "NO". I picked up some clothes for her and she said "NO" to all of them. Anyhow... at the end she was more cooperative and by 7:45 she was with her usual smile back on her face.

Ortal and Shachaf showed up and we arrived to Simona's home at around 8:00. She welcomed us with open arms. She lives in "Savyon" which is a big thing here and her house is spacious and nice.

Right off the bat she told us that Nimrod, who was invited as well as his family, called and said that "Bat Sheva has a terrible flu so we cannot come". I wasn't surprise at all since few hours earlier Nimrod called Ronen and told him "I hope you don't expect me to be friendly with Aviram during dinner".
Also invited (and showed up) were Simona's family (on her late husband side). Yael, Shira, and Itai.
Dinner was excellent. It was a Romanian style with all kind of salads (including my favorites: chopped liver and eggplants salad, Romanian style), 4 different kind of beef and delicious deserts. Simona is making a living in the catering business and she is used to cook for many people, which was shown during the entire evening.



After dinner Simona brought few boxes full of pictures. Most were of my dad, her mom and our grandparents with their entire families. She even gave me a couple of pictures to keep. Simona knows a lot about my ancestors from my dad's side and told us some stories about my dad and my grandparents.



We were back home at around midnight.

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Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

Happy birthday Nadav!!!

The morning started in the local synagogue where Amit read from the Torah, the 2nd time this week and many candies where thrown over from the second floor, where the women were seated. He did pretty good and we were all proud of him.

After services we returned home with the invited guests. Lunch was Yemenite style with many Yemenite salads and "Jakh-noon". The kids played basketball 2 on 2 and Ortal took part as well.

The guests left at around 3:00 and afternoon rest Ronen, Matan, Yaara and I drove to Ramle to watch the women basketball team take practice. One of the new players was Noel Quinn, who I have met when she played for UCLA with Ortal and luck brought them to play together for Ramle.

We spent about an hour and then Ronen drove me and Yaara to Givatayim to meet Mendel & Edna at the local mall "Canyon Givatayim". We sat in a cafe' and talked for about a couple of hours.

Mendel drove us back to Ronen's house.

We went to sleep at around 1:00 am.

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Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

We woke up at around 9:00 am. ronen left me the Mazda so I could spend a day with my mom.

Yaara & I arrived to Holon at around 10:30 and after meeting with my mom, I decided to go to the local supermarket as her refrigerator was just about empty. I took Yaara with me and we filled up a cart full with goodies. My mom stayed home as she can hardly move. I discovered that one of her bone (right leg upper bone) is out of its place and she refuses to see a doctor...

Later, we walked (very slowly) to a restaurant and had a delicious meal.

I hugged and kissed my mom as we said goodbye.

We returned to Rishon and at around 8:00 pm Ronen showed up and took us to the airport . Ortal joined us later on to say goodbye as well.

We boarded a US Air flight and 21 hours later landed in Los Angeles.

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