December 27, 2017 ... time to say goodbye

It's 430AM, we're in the King David Lounge at the airport and I'm NOT happy.

This has been our best visit yet. We seemed to be busier than ever, yet there are so many things we didn't do. We didn't go to any of the museums. We were at the Kotel only once, during Sukkot. The women's side was so crowded I couldn't enter, so no note in the Wall. We did go to the Galilee for the Melabev hike, but we didn't do our usual 2-day trip. I wanted to go to Hamat Gader. We did make it to the Dead Sea. I didn't do any krav maga; in fact the only exercise I got was walking, which I did everywhere. I don't know if I should get on the scale when we get home. Actually I did try something new - pole dancing. Yes, folks, the latest craze for women, especially frum girls, is pole dancing. I read about it in the El Al magazine on the way here, and it turned out that the gym where I took my one and only and never again pilates class offers pole lessons. Believe me, it's way harder than it looks. The instructor has been doing it for 8 years and she's coordinated and graceful. I managed to get about 6 inches off the floor.

We ate out more than we ate in. I did very little cooking, but managed to eat a tree's worth of olives and about 5 kilos of bageles (not a typo - these are 2 inch diameter very crisp, round dry biscuits) and an equal amount of cheese. We tried a couple of new restaurants. Angelica, which everyone raves about, isn't a place we'll go back to. Jacko's is. The goose liver, which is my absolute favorite thing to eat in Israel because outside of France it's not available anywhere else, was sensational. I told Sid I could die happy after a meal like that.

The truth is, I didn't want to leave Jerusalem. There was so much going on that we had very little down time. The days when we had nothing scheduled I usually caught up on office work. We did a lot of cultural stuff - lectures, the Oud Festival, the operetta about the NILI spy ring, the Moroccan concert, the Frank Sinatra concert and we capped it off Sunday night with a performance of the Buena Vista Social Club, direct from Cuba. We had actually gone there last year when we were in Havana. This performance was better. My classes were wonderful. I took two classes at Pardes for the first time, and was almost able to complete a full semester. My Monday morning women's class just keeps getting better and better. I took 3 tiyulim (excursions) with a fabulous archaeologist, and one tiyul known in Hebrew as a yom kef, which means a day of fun. It consisted of performances by singers, a comedian, a Russian balled duo, and a fashion show. Obviously meant for women of a certain age, there were a few reluctant husbands who got dragged along. Mine wasn't one of them.

Socially we were also busy. A housewarming, a bar matzvah, a bat mitzvah, a cocktail party, Shabbat meals.

And we had excellent weather. It's not good for Israel, and they've already declared this a drought year. But for us it was great. We had a couple of days of rain, most recently on Sunday and Monday, when it poured. Otherwise sunny and in the 60's and 70's, which is unseasonable.

It's now Friday morning. The flights were fine and we had a nice driver from O'Hare - an Iraqi Assyrian  who's been in the US since 1980. The weather, however, is awful. It had snowed some time in the past week, not much but enough to be plowed. The temperatures are in the single digits + our infamous windchill. Not engendered to make me happy to be back. 

Already planning the next trip - some time in July for a month or 6 weeks.

Shabbat shalom from Chicago,

Peggy and Sid

PS - I only gained a kilo.

'Tis the Season

The Jewish year is filled with holidays and celebrations. In fact, there is only 1 month of the Jewish calendar that doesn't have any. Hanukkah is a minor holiday. In order to know what that means you have to understand what the major ones are. Basically they are the ones ordained in the Torah - Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the three pilgrimage festivals (Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot). The  post-Biblical holidays such as Purim and Hanukkah are considered minor, but still very important.

The holiday celebrates a miracle that occurred after a victorious rebellion in the year 200 BCE (give or take a few years) against the ruling Seleucid king, Antiochus IV, who essentially outlawed Judaism and profaned the Temple in Jerusalem. (Current scholarship claims it also had elements of a civil war, but I'll leave that to the scholars.) The miracle was that a one-day supply of untainted oil lasted eight days, which was how long it took to harvest, press and transport olive oil to Jerusalem. The oil was used to light the Temple's menorah, and had to be kosher. 

The only religious rituals are to light a special candelabra called a hanukkiah, and ideally place it in a window for all to see. No, it's not a menorah. A menorah has 7 candles, a hanukkiah has 9.

Hanukkah didn't become a big deal until the 20th Century, and for all the wrong reasons. Yes, I am a grinch. In certain parts of Europe it was customary to give kids a few coins, but that was about it. Because of timing, cultural influences, and let's face it, a dilution of Jewish traditions and practices, Hanukkah found itself competing with what I consider the unfortunate aspect Christmas - gimme gimme gimme. Today gift giving and decorating are what define both holidays for a lot of people. We aren't better off for the loss of spirituality.

Like any Jewish holiday, Hanukkah has it's culinary traditions, in this case oil. In Eastern Europe the  food that is linked to Hanukkah is latkes (potato pancakes). In the Middle East and North Africa it's sfinge (a churro type of donut). In Israel it's sufganiyot (jelly donuts). 

Latkes. I made two varieties this year - carrot/zucchini and traditional potato.

Sfinge. Yafit's specialty.

Original jelly donuts. Simple, uncomplicated, strawberry or raspberry, take your pick.

Over the years sufganiyot have evolved from basic raspberry or strawberry filled donuts to the astounding variety available today. Every year something new gets added. The latest twist is savory sufganiyot, filled with meat and tehina. Turn up your nose if you want, but they've really caught on. (Ever hear of chicken and waffles?) 

How do you pick just one?

When I look at sufganiyot I see way beyond temptation and calories. They are a metaphor for Israel. There are many reasons why Israel is the amazing success story that it is. Creative thinking, problem solving, dreaming big, asking why not and not fearing to fail. All of these characteristics are embodied in these wonderful pastries, which have gone from simple to astounding in just 70 years.

Wishing you a very happy Hanukkah and Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem,

Peggy and Sid

Witnessing History

Ever since Trump was elected one of the threads of conversation among supporters of Israel is will he or won't he move the US Embassy to Jerusalem. Many voiced the opinion that it was just the price of admission to get the "Jewish" vote. Others viewed it through the prism of candidate Trump - he had no need to bribe any particular constituency. Looking back on the campaign, it was more thematic than specific. He talked about the principles and values of flyover America that got him elected. The shock and reaction still reverberate. The Democrats would rather die than cooperate. The Republicans would rather go down in flames than cooperate. Appointments and legislation are stuck in limbo. Leaks coming from government departments border on treason. Every thing is politicized. Anarchy seems to be just around the corner.

Every president since Gerald Ford has promised to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem, where it belongs. It is scandalous that the capitol of a sovereign nation isn't recognized, especially by its nominal strongest ally. I don't know of any other country that is subjected to this kind of humiliation. Moving the embassy has been a law in the United States since 1995, and was reaffirmed six months ago by Congress almost unanimously (a miracle considering how fractured Congress is). So how is it that every president since 1995 (Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump) has been able to get away with not enforcing this law? By a little loophole called a waiver, that has to be signed every 6 months. Since 1995 the one thing every president has in common is their adherence to signing that waiver. In May, when Trump signed, the reaction was deja view all over again. This was compounded when he decided the pick up the gauntlet of solving the Israel-Palestine crisis. A lot of people were disappointed and figured that Trump, like all his predecessors, was just saying whatever he had to say to get elected.

There was a lot of speculation during the past week about a forthcoming announcement concerning the embassy relocation. Will he/won't he? Is it just more hype? Will he again cave to the received wisdom that any change in the status quo will cause the entire middle east to go up in flames?

On Wednesday Sid and I watched the speech that will go down in history. As I listened to the precise and carefully crafted speech, I thought back to November 29, 1947 and May 14, 1948. People were glued to their radios listening to the UN Partition Plan vote and the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel. I thought about the blood and struggle that accompanied Israel's creation, and the wars that have been fought ever since. I thought about ramifications and repercussions, about doing and failing to do, about risks for peace and land for peace. As he's done since the day he announced his candidacy, Trump made it clear that he was breaking the mold (Let Trump Be Trump). In so many words he quoted Einstein's definition of insanity and said enough is enough, no more.

No, the sky won't fall. Security has been ramped up for the promised 3 days of rage that will come and go. But this is nothing new. There is terrorism every day here, but it's not reported outside of Israel. Last week alone an Israeli soldier was stabbed to death in Arad. A 70-year old was the target of a car ramming. He was only slightly wounded, but a bystander was severely injured. A group of kids on a hike was attacked by an Arab lynch mob. The 70-year old and the parents accompanying the hikers were armed and shot their assailants. More Arabs will be killed and wounded because of their self-inflicted violence than Israelis. This has been the case ever since the first of the Arab refusals. The fact has to be mentioned, over and over and over, that if the Arabs had accepted the UN Partition Plan, which gave THEM a state of their own, today they would be making plans to celebrate 70 years of statehood. They would have had everything they claim to want - independence, sovereignty, self-determination. And all that hysteria and hyperbole about blowing up the peace process and the two-state solution? There is no peace and there is no process. If there was any intention by the Arabs of working things out, their leadership would have called for quiet rather than violence. The goal was, is, and always will be to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. They don't want a state, peace or prosperity. It's beyond me that people still don't get that.

And by the way, where was the outrage back in April when Russia recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capitol? Where were the demonstrations against the Czech Republic, which did the same? What about burning the flags of other countries, from Belgium to the Phillipines, that are looking at real estate in Jerusalem? Betcha didn't know that, right? Because it wasn't reported, because there was no rioting in the streets of Ramallah and Gaza, and because the press only reports what makes Israel and the US look bad.

No one should make assumptions about where this will lead. Personally I think the best possible scenario is the absence of violence and terror because there will never be peace until the Arabs decide that's what they really want. Golda Meir said there will be peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate ours. That was 45 years ago, and they are more willing than ever before to use their children as suicide bombers and human shields. A desire for peace has to come from the bottom up, because it certainly won't come from their leadership. In high school, when we studied about the 100 Years War, I couldn't understand how something could go on for that long. Now I do.

In spite of the hysteria, life continues as normal. We had a lovely couple of days at the Dead Sea, one of our favorite places in the world, and we celebrated another bar mitzvah - Moshe and Liat's son Yaniv. Last night we had dinner with Dori and her boyfriend Itzik in Tel Aviv. The big excitement was getting home. Our bus broke down about 15 minutes outside of Jerusalem. While boarding another bus that stopped to pick us up, someone told us if there were no seats left on this bus another would be coming in 5-10 minutes. We were more concerned with getting back to Jerusalem and didn't mind standing. But several people insisted on giving up their seats for us; there are advantages to being, ahem, older. When we got to the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem, the local bus to take us home was waiting and we hopped on. We didn't even get to the next stop and the bus hit a roadblock.  A police car had cordoned off the street and there was no place to turn around so we were stuck for about 20 minutes. We thought it might be more demonstrations by the ultra-orthodox fringe against having to register for the draft. But when they finally let traffic resume I saw the reason for the hold-up - the van from the bomb squad. False alarm, and a fact of everyday life here.

View from our hotel room with the Dead Sea and Moab Mountains of Jordan

Sid, relaxed after a massage

Shabbat shalom from Israel's capitol,

Peggy and Sid

Melabev

In 2013 Sid and I decided to see what it would be like to spend a few months in Israel. We selected the months of November, December and January. We got to experience Thanksgivukkah, the very first time Thanksgiving and Hanukkah coincided (an event that won't be repeated for another 10,000 years), in a place that would give the event special meaning. It was the year of the toaster oven turkey, the postage stamp size apartment, and the meter and a half snowstorm that paralyzed Jerusalem for 5 days. Our granddaughter Dori had made aliya and was getting ready to enlist in the IDF, our granddaughter Meital spent a semester at Muss high school in Beer Sheva, and we celebrated our grandson Nir's bar mitzvah. 

It was also the 10th Melabev Hike for Alzheimer's.

One day I was reading the Jerusalem Post and saw an ad for a hike being sponsored by an organization I had never heard of, in memory of someone Sid knew who had early onset Alzheimer's. I said we have to get involved with this. A couple of phone calls later we were signed up for a hike in the Judean Desert, along with about 50 other people. We have supported Melabev ever since.

Melabev was founded in 1981 for the comprehensive care of dementia patients. Services include day care centers, support groups for family members and caregivers, wellness calls, placing qualified home care workers, at-home therapeutic activities, a memory clinic, a proprietary software program of mind-stimulating exercises, a Neuronix Clinic and ground-breaking research unit.

I have toured their facility in Jerusalem and spoken with many on the professional staff. Everything about this organization impresses me, but some things stand out. They have a unit, composed strictly of volunteers, who make daily wellness calls to older adults living alone. In addition to saying hello, they provide practical help such as errands and home repair services, and referrals to other non-profits who provide medical equipment and meals. The at-home services include therapeutic activities such as art, gardening, fitness and cognitive stimulation for home-bound patients as well as in nursing homes. Support groups not only support families and caregivers, but also serve as networking centers for people who have to navigate the maze of bureaucracy in order to receive the benefits and services they are entitled to.

Melabev also has a research unit which developed Savion, a computer program designed to maintain and improve memory. The most exciting and optimistic breakthrough is Neuronix, which combines cognitive training and electromagnetic brain stimulation. The system has been proven to work in studies at Harvard and the treatment has been approved by the Israeli Ministry of Health as well as European Commission. Knowing how Europe feels about anything coming out of Israel, their approval really means something.

So yes, this episode is a request for funds.

Sid and I just completed a two-day hike in the Galilee for the 2017 Hike for Alzheimer's. We selected the "moderate" route; from time to time it was moderate, but at other times it was very challenging. When you do something like this there is a big sense of accomplishment, but in the end it's really all about raising funds for this remarkable organization. We urge you to donate in support:

http://hike4alz.melabev.org/hikers/

Just click on one of our names (or both if you insist) and sponsor us in any amount. Feel free to tell your friends. You will be doing a huge mitzvah and contributing to the quality of life for alzheimer's patients and their families. And maybe one day coming up with a treatment for this heart breaking disease. You will have our eternal gratitude.

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem,

Peggy and Sid

The "moderate route" group. We started at Rosh Hanikra.

These nasty bushes were the challenge.
Thorns and thistles, and they hurt when you got stuck.

This is what serves as a trail marker in Israel.

Uh-oh. Are we lost?

This is Chen. At 4'10", she was the security guard and paramedic.
She was a paramedic in the Border Patrol.

We made it to the end!

Our post-hike stop was the Bahai Gardens in Akko. 

Giving Thanks

Even Americans who have lived in Israel for a short time don't necessarily celebrate Thanksgiving. For some it's not even on their radar screen. One of the people I invited to join us responded "remind me, when is it?". For others, thoughts turn to Thanksgiving the moment October turns into November. It's hard to give up a cultural icon. The degree to which Thanksgiving is on someone's mind is indicative of one of the differences between Americans who move here to become Israeli and Americans who move here to be Americans living in Israel.

On the other hand, many Americans I know who have been here for decades have fond thoughts about the holiday. They might not necessarily go to the trouble and expense of making a traditional dinner, but if they want turkey and all the time-honored trimmings several hotels offer Thanksgiving menus.

When we planned this trip one of the things we looked forward to was celebrating this quintessentially American holiday here, for the second time since we started coming for long stays. This time we have a full oven and 5 burner cook top, a big improvement over the 2 burner + toaster oven micro-kitchen we had the first time.

We had an eclectic group of 10 - friends and family - lots of food, wine and conversation. The topics included the inevitable: compare and contrast Thanksgiving and Sukkot, when will the next war break out (imminently, according one guest), and Israeli politics.

One of the guests brought a custom that she, and many of us, grew up with. We went around the table and everyone said what they were thankful for. As I listened I heard a lot more than what they said. Everyone has a back story, some quite painful. Yet here we were, talking about the things in our lives that we are grateful for. My takeaway, and this isn't the first time, is no matter what, we don't have to be ruled by whatever bad things that might have happened or that are still happening. Choose happiness. Choose gratitude. Choose life. 

Green beans, beet/fennel salad, braised cabbage, stuffed persimmons (hey - it's the middle east where a meal isn't complete without something stuffed) chestnut dressing, sweet potatoes with squash

Sid and Moshe in the background tending bar

It's all about color

Arnold and Batia Clevs, Aliza, Sarah Palmer

Moshe, Shefa, Itzik, Dori 

Turkey supplied by Sasson, my butcher

Hoping your Thanksgiving was as filling and fulfilling as ours was,

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem,

Peggy and Sid

Multi-Culturalism

Multiculturalism is alive and well in Israel, and we are the beneficiaries. 

We arrived in time for the 18th International Oud Festival. For anyone unfamiliar, the oud looks like a pregnant guitar with a broken neck. It's an integral part of music from the Mediterranean basin. So is the kanon, which is a trapezoidal stringed instrument that sounds curiously like a harpsichord. We went to 3 performances representing the musical traditions of Greece, Turkey, Egypt, North Africa, and of course Israel. 

My intention was to upload the videos I made at each of the concerts, but I've been defeated by technology. So for this week all that remains to say is ...

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem,

Peggy and Sid

My Kingdom for a Can Opener

This country is booming. 

Israel broke into the top 10 on the Bloomberg Innovation Index for 2017. According to Deutsche Bank, the Shekel is the world's second strongest currency (after the Chinese Yuan).  During the past 12 months the value of the Shekel increased 6.1% over the Dollar, Pound and Euro. This isn't necessarily good because it makes exports more expensive, and contributes to a trade imbalance. And of personal interest, the cost of apartments went up by the same margin. But it speaks to the strength of the economy.

Boy George (remember him?) performed in Tel Aviv last night. From the stage, loud and clear in plain English, he told Roger Waters (who nobody remembers) to f--- off. The list of international artists and performers who will appear in Israel in the next few months is pages long.

The number of states that have enacted anti-BDS legislation increases almost daily, along with the number of BDS resolutions that have been defeated. In fact the BDS movement would be on the ash heap of movements if it wasn't for US college campuses, and the collaboration of "progressive" Jewish groups such as JVP and mainstream organizations such as Hillel, all of whom should be utterly ashamed of themselves. Although this is a topic for another time, it pisses me off and I won't stop railing against BDS and their supporters, no matter who they are. 

And what about breakthroughs in science, medicine and agriculture? Crop yields, water conservation, medical technology, treatments and cures for diseases, you name it and Israel has made the world a better, safer and healthier place. 

Even the self-service check out at the supermarket works.

So WHY can't I open a can?

Two venerable kitchen gadgets that no one can live without are a vegetable peeler and can opener. In all the years I've been coming here I have yet to encounter a kitchen that is equipped with a working model of either one. The vegetable peelers are dull and useless, and the can openers are either non-existent or the ones people used to take on camping trips, also useless. 

To date I haven't seen an innovation for the vegetable peelers, but the issue of the can openers is another matter. Israeli ingenuity being what it is, and clearly in recognition of the fact that no one has a decent can opener, several years ago manufacturers started putting a pop top on cans. Problem solved, right? Maybe in theory, because more often than not the pop top pops off in the middle of opening the can. In most cases it doesn't matter so much, because the can is half opened and the contents accessible. Yes, it's a little messy sometimes, especially when it comes to tuna and sardines, but nevertheless at least you can get the contents out. 

But what happens when you have a big (15 oz) can to open? The pop top pops off as soon as you grab it. And that's just what happened this morning as I was preparing something for dinner. We scoured the kitchen and did find one of those old, useless camping can openers. Of course it didn't work. There was nothing even remotely close to a church key. The only tools we had were a couple of pliers, which we used as hammers, a corkscrew serving as the nail. All I needed was a small opening in order to pour the contents (crushed tomatoes) out. Nothing was going to work, so Sid to the rescue. 

Luckily this happened before he went on his morning run to the grocery store. Going shopping on a Friday is a combat sport and you surely don't want to have to do it twice. He had to go to three different stores until he finally found a decent can opener and I was able to finish my cooking.

Iraqi Buri in tomato sauce

As I've said countless times, embrace the chaos and remember: there's never a dull moment.

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem,

Peggy and Sid

100 Years

A lot has been made this week of two significant hundredth anniversaries: the Battle of Beersheva and the Balfour Declaration.

They are intertwined.

The Battle of Beersheva was the last great cavalry battle ever. It took place on Oct 31, 1917, between the Egyptian Expeditionary Forces (ANZAC Mounted Division and Light Horse Brigades) and Germany's Turkish allies in World War 1. The battle created a strategic opening in the Turkish line which led to the liberation of the Negev and Jerusalem. It was the beginning of the end of the Ottoman Empire which ruled this region for 500 years.

The anniversary of the battle was celebrated with great fanfare. 100 Australian horsemen, from the same units that fought the battle (including some descendants of those soldiers) took part in a reenactment of the defining charge through the desert.

The PM of Australia and the Governor General of New Zealand were here for the occasion. This in itself was a big deal because New Zealand was one of the sponsors of the vicious anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution 2334 of December, 2016, declaring the so-called "settlements" illegal according to international law. The resolution was one of Obama's parting gifts to Israel, and New Zealand's sponsorship created a serious diplomatic rift. Subsequent elections in both the US and New Zealand resulted in governments that have taken vastly different directions in their relations with the rest of the world, especially with Israel. The presence of New Zealand's GG reflected that new direction and the symbolism was obvious to everyone here. 

The Ottomon Empire was crumbling and to the victors go the spoils (unless the victor happens to be Israel and the war happened to be in 1967). The French and British allied powers were going to fill the vacuum and the spheres of influence were codified as early as May, 1916 by the secret Sykes Picot Agreement. 

The Balfour Declaration was issued on Nov 2, 1917 against this background.

But what was the connection?

Last Sunday we went to see an operetta called Intrepid. The quality of the production was high school at best, and the subject matter really doesn't lend itself to a musical. That aside, it was the story of a chapter of Israel's pre-state history that doesn't get nearly enough credit or attention: the story of the NILI spy ring, which was active from 1915-1917.  The NILI group was pro-British and supplied vital information about Turkish logistics, troop movements and geography (particularly the location of water wells) that was vital to the British war effort. While heavy lobbying for a Jewish homeland by the World Zionist Organization, Chaim Weizmann and others had been ongoing, it's fair to claim that the Balfour Declaration was payback for the contribution of the NILI spys to the allied victory in World War 1.  

Another anniversary was marked this week - the 22nd since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. 

The thread that links all these events is the blood that has been spilled for the sake of building a strong, safe and viable Jewish home in this tiny corner of the world.

May the memories of all those who give their lives for the establishment and preservation of the State of Israel be a blessing for those of us who have the privilege of benefiting from their sacrifice. 

Shavua tov from Jerusalem,

Peggy and Sid

What I learned in the Ayalon Valley or: Where do you draw the line?

School started this week. The fall semester begins after Sukkot + one more week thrown in just for fun. Because of adjustments in my schedule I decided to join Sid at Pardes, which is an open Orthodox seminary. Sid is taking 2 classes on Tuesdays - 70 years of Israel: Halachic Challenges of Statehood taught by Rabbi Shai Finkelstein and Radical Responsibility: Thought and Writings of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks taught by Dr Daniel Rose. I am taking The Book of Ezekiel: Ecstacy, Horror, Exile and Rebirth taught by Rabbi Alex Israel. On Thursdays we are both taking 10 Great Jewish Disputes: From Korach to Women of the Wall taught by Peta Pellach. Yes, they love :s.

I have to admit, I'm very spoiled by the caliber of the teachers at my Monday women's class. Maybe it's not fair to use that as a yardstick, but I will anyway. And I have to say the teachers at Pardes measured up. I look forward to a rewarding semester.

A friend of mine expressed surprise when I told him we are attending classes. You're going to school? Yes, that's what we do when we're here. The greatest collection of Jewish thinkers in history is to be found here. The opportunities for learning are everywhere, and it gives both of us a great deal of satisfaction to be able to absorb a tiny bit of that knowledge.

Learning also takes place outside of the four walls of the classroom. I went on an amazing tiyul (tour) last week. The guide was Rabbi Kapach, of the famous Yeminite rabbinic family. We spent the day in the Ayalon Valley, where G-d made the sun stand still.

Rabbi Kapach, who looks more like Indiana Jones than the scion of a scholarly Yeminite family.

Something I find compelling is when archaeology confirms the Tanach. The first stop on our tour was at a place called The Rocks of the Five Kings. The story of the battle in Ayalon Valley is in the Book of Joshua (look it up). For the purpose of explaining the importance of the site we visited, the Cliff Notes version is that Joshua and the Israelites ran into some opposition when they entered the Promised Land. They needed just a bit more daylight in order to finish the battle, which is the sun standing still part. The rocks part takes place just before, when large stones fell from the sky like hail and killed many of the enemy. In modern military terminology this would be the artillery softening up the opposing army before sending in the infantry. The site itself looks like the Biblical description - a hill strewn with very large rocks that appear to have been dropped from above. What makes it interesting is that the rocks don't belong there. The area is limestone, which is sedimentary. The rocks are granite, which is igneous and not native to that particular area. I'm not saying that rocks literally dropped out of the sky, but it does confirm the location of this very famous battle.

The Rocks. In the background you can see a limestone ridge on the top of an adjacent hill.

The Valley is about 20 minutes from Jerusalem. It's a wine growing region. In fact, there's some historical evidence that the Chardonnay grape, native to this valley, was imported to France by Crusaders who wanted to take something from the Holy Land back home with them. The name Chardonnay probably evolved from the Hebrew "shaar l'adonai" (known today as Shaar Hagai) which means gate to heaven, because the road from the valley leads up to Jerusalem.  

A commercial vineyard. The grapes were picked about a month ago.

From there we went to a lovely national park called Canada Park. Well, it used to be called Canada Park. Its name was changed to Ayalon Park a few years ago, in what I consider to be a cowardly example of politically correct appeasement. The original name was in appreciation to the Canadian Jewish community who paid for the park. Then came the disastrous Oslo Accords in 1993 and lots of things changed. One was that the location of the park was all of a sudden "disputed". The Canadians, not wanting to be seen as taking sides, insisted that the name of the park be changed. This is what is known in Yiddish as a shonda - an embarassment - and they should be ashamed of themselves. On the other hand, everyone here still calls is Canada Park, and that's the last word.

Another disputed matter relates to the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv train which is scheduled to become operational in April, 2018. The amount of time it takes to build anything in this country is a joke. The light rail in Jerusalem was TWELVE years overdue. I frankly don't remember how long the rail line has been under construction, but I think it's close to 20 years. However, in both cases there are reasons. The light rail delays are because archaeological finds were uncovered almost everywhere they wanted to set the rails. The Department of Antiquities had to investigate the site and determine whether or not the finds warranted re-routing the rail lines, which did happen. The issue with the inter-city train was political. When the planned route was submitted to the Ministry of Transportation, department lawyers had a stroke because (you guessed it) the route went through a "disputed" area. The lawyers put the project on hold for several years, until the plans were finally approved. It looks like the train will become a reality in my lifetime, which wasn't always a sure thing.

Lines were a theme that ran through the day. The Ayalon Valley is triangular. The rail line bisects the valley. The road to Jerusalem goes up at an angle. All of this is situated in an area that some fools claim is contested. There was never a border, only a cease-fire line. So indeed, where do you draw the line?

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem,,
Peggy and Sid

Herding Cats

Israel does something for its senior citizens that I think is unique in the world. There are programs for people of retirement age that include everything from classes to museum visits to concerts and plays to day trips all over the country.  

Today I went on a tiyul (tour) to Tel Aviv, organized by the community center where I take ceramics and drawing. We were to meet at the center at 9AM, promptly. Because the bus schedules aren't always 100% reliable, and because of the the legendary traffic jams in Jerusalem, I decided to take an 8AM bus. Not only was the bus on time, but the traffic was unusually light, so I got to my stop at Mamilla at 810AM.  Since I had time on my hands I took a stroll thru the Mamilla Mall, a relatively new and very upscale mall which runs more or less parallel to the Old City walls. It was a perfect morning; mid- 60's with a slight breeze and a cloudless blue sky. I took my time walking and window shopping, then headed over to the community center. Of course the bus and half the group were late, but by 920AM we were on our way to our first stop ... Habima Theatre.

Habima (literally The Stage) is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. I'd never been to a performance there so this was a big deal for me. The one-act play, Something Good, is a humorous and poignant play about life. One of the 3 actresses, Lia Koenig, is the grande dame of Israeli theatre ... still acting at the age of 85. But that's almost beside the point, since a lot of the action was in the audience.

It began with the complaints from people who weren't happy with their seats. How come I'm sitting here and my friend is sitting there? I don't like this row, I want to be higher. Or lower. Or facing the stage. Or not facing the stage.

That finally got sorted out, the house lights dimmed, and the usual "turn off your cell phones" announcement was made. In the 100 years since the theatre opened I'm sure they never dealt with an audience like this one, because several thought that turning off cell phones was optional. I have to finish sending this whatsapp. I'm in the middle of an email. I'm talking to my daughter, it'll just be a minute. When the lights came up and the actress said her first line she was interrupted by all the shushing and scolding and arguing going on in the audience. She had to stop and the house manager had to come out and restore order.  

And on with the show. 

Anyone who's ever gone to a play, movie or concert knows that inevitably some moron doesn't turn off their cell phone. In today's audience, there were several morons, and they all got phone calls during the show. Most of them silenced their phone, but one actually took the call, and got into an argument with the people around her about it.

And on with the show.

There were about 150 people in the audience. It's a small theatre, like many in Chicago. I'm no maven, but I think the purpose is to bring the audience and actors close to each other for a more connected experience. Maybe this isn't such a good practice in Israel. On several occasions audience members decided they had to throw in their two cents, and at times actually engaged the actresses in conversation. A couple of times 85 year old Lia actually responded, then without missing a beat, got back into character and continued delivering her lines. This sort of thing is actually quite common here. Total strangers will jump into conversations in all kinds of situations - on the bus, waiting in line at the grocery store, on the sidewalk, in restaurants - offering opinions or advice, wanted or not. But I've never seen or heard of it happening during a play. 

And on with the show.

Eating is a national pasttime here. As soon as our bus left Jerusalem everyone pulled a sandwich out of their purse for the morning snack. When the play ended at 1PM everyone needed something to eat. There were 2 cafes next to the theatre, and we had to rush. We only had 30 minutes before it was time to board the bus for our next stop. Several of us went into one of the cafes and told the barista that we were in a big hurry and all we wanted was something to drink. She said to sit at a table and she'd send a waiter right away. There happened to be a menu on the table, which we looked at. When the waitress came to take our order they started to think about what they wanted. The clock is ticking, ladies. Finally we got the drink orders (3 coffees, 1 tea), one coffee cake and one carrot cake. Once the order was placed they all opened their purses, brought out sandwich # 2 and started eating. Even for me this was shocking. I told them if they tried this in the States they'd be thrown out of the restaurant. But this is Israel.

The coffee cake and drinks came out right away, and the waitress said she'd be right back with the carrot cake. I guess she got lost because by 125PM we needed to leave. We asked for the check and said to cancel the carrot cake. A minute later a waiter brought it to the table. We said, sorry, too late. He offered to wrap it. Then the person who ordered it decided to just take half of it in a napkin. Then she tasted it and said it was the best carrot cake she ever had. To hell with what time it was, she wasn't going anywhere until she finished the cake. Meanwhile, our group leader (who will forever more be known to me as the cat herder) came through the cafe to hurry us all to the bus.

Our next stop was Neve Tzedek, a gentrifying neighborhood on the city's south side that pre-dates Tel Aviv by about 25 years. We had an excellent guide who gave us the history of the quarter as we walked through it, in spite of interruptions and comments from the peanut gallery. 

We had to cut the tour short in order to get back to Jerusalem. Why the rush? Two reasons. One, rush hour traffic in Tel Aviv is insane. Two, at 5PM the entire country was going to come to a standstill for a nationwide demonstration against the government by the ultra-orthodox fringe. Why? To protest the end of enlistment waivers.

A bit of history. When the modern state of Israel was founded in 1948, David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister, implemented 400 exemptions for full time yeshiva students. The purpose was to keep Torah learning alive after having been 99% wiped out in the Holocaust. That was 70 years ago. In the meantime, the number of full time yeshiva students has grown astronomically. The 400 exemptions are still on the books and the number hasn't been increased, nor has it been enforced. This is a big bone of contention here, and a couple of years ago the government decided it was time to review the policy. The conclusion was to cancel the blanket exemptions and to require the ultra-orthodox to serve either in the army or national service. It's hard to describe the to-do that erupted over this. Although only about 10% of the population, they have enormous clout. Israel is a parliamentary democracy, and is governed by a coalition. The ultra-orthodox parties are critical to any coalition so they pretty much get whatever they want. And one of the things they want is exemptions. Lots of them. The way they get their point across is by blocking the roads.

It took about 40 minutes to get from where the bus picked us up to the highway to Jerusalem - a distance of maybe 3 miles. Tel Aviv was founded in 1909. In the old part of the city, where we were, the streets are very narrow. Bus drivers in this country are very skilled, and it requires special talent to drive on streets that were built before cars. At one point, while making a very challenging turn, one of the ladies on the bus said to the driver - a few of us can get out and lift the car that's in your way onto the sidewalk. Fortunately he didn't need their help, but if it came to that it would have happened.

Traffic moved quickly once we got on the highway all the way to Sha'ar Hagai, which is where the highway heads up the mountain to Jerusalem. The peanut gallery was hard at work, telling the driver which would be the best way to get into the city. Take the back road via Hadassah Hospital. Take the road that runs thru Gush Etzion. Take the Givat Shaul entrance to the city. Go via the spur to French Hill. Because all of them knew exactly where the roads were blocked, even tho none of them looked at a news site on their cell phone. Why bother when you can call your husband, daughter, son or neighbor and ask them? One of the women has a daughter who works at a TV station. She did call her daughter, who said the only road blocks were at a specific intersection in one of the very religious neighborhoods and along one of the downtown streets. Public transportation was functioning. Naturally no one paid any attention. And the driver had WAZE, the amazing Israeli navigation system that also factors in road and traffic conditions. But that didn't stop anyone from offering advice on the best way to go.

We finally got into the city (via the spur to French Hill), and rather than take a chance of getting stuck in traffic I opted to get off the bus and take the light rail. As it turned out, the light rail was blocked between Damascus Gate and the central bus station. No problem for me. Damascus Gate is walking distance to my bus stop.

Except ... it was already 6PM, and I had an event to go to at 730.  I had a dilemma. To go home and eat something or have something quick at a restaurant or grab something from a take-away? Since the weather was so nice, I opted for #3. I started walking towards Emek Refaim, the restaurant street, that also leads to Talpiot where the event was taking place. I figured I could find a bakery or take-away, then hop on a bus to my destination. I made much better time than I thought, grabbed a boureka (similar to an empanada) from a bakery, and continued eating my way. (National pasttime, remember?) By the time I finished the boureka I was within a couple blocks of where I was going, and actually got there half an hour before the event started. I googled the distance afterwards; it was only 4 kilometers (about 2.5 miles), but you also have to factor in the hills.

The event was the launch of a book titled Totaled, written by Brian Blum who by coincidence I met several years ago. It's the fascinating story of an electric car network called A Better Place that raised close to a billion dollars, opened locations in Israel, Japan, Denmark, Holland and Hawaii, had a showroom in China, and went belly up within 5 years.

It was 9PM when I left. It had been a long day and I was looking forward to the bus ride home. Enough walking already. But the buses had another idea. This is also something that happens here, which is why I don't fully trust the schedules. The two buses that would have taken me home didn't show up. The electronic screen showed that they were due in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 minute. Then 15 minutes. It takes about 20 minutes for me to walk home, which is what I did and how I ended my very fascinating day.

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem,

Peggy and Sid

Geshem Bracha

We've been here 10 days and the jet lag has been bad. I'm usually OK after a couple of days, but not this time. Even worse for Sid. The rule of thumb is it takes 1 day for each hour of time difference, so we should be adjusted by now. Maybe age is a factor, much as I hate to consider the possibility.

It's wonderful to be here for a holiday, especially Sukkot which lasts a week. Schools, businesses and  factories are closed and there is a very festive atmosphere everywhere you go. It began last Wednesday (Oct 4) night. Of course we went to Batsheva and Eli's for dinner. Food, as always, was sensational and we ate way too much. 

  

          

These adorable mis-shapen lemons are etrogs. They cost upwards of $100, depending on size and shape. Prices were even higher this year due to a blight in Calabria, where most of the etrogs that are used here come from.

Sid wanted to go to Shira Hadasha on Thursday morning. We were the only ones without a lulav and etrog, and we had no excuse since they were being sold at every corner (above). Shira Hadasha has changed over the 15 or so years we've been going there. The service is the same but the crowd is different. Neither one of us saw anyone we knew, which is unusual. What surprised us was that the announcements were in Hebrew only. They used to be made in both Hebrew and English. This shows how the demographics have changed. It's still basically an Anglo shul, but Hebrew is the first language of the kids and grandchildren, making English redundant. Time marches on.

Friday: I was dead tired, having been up most of the night, for the second night in a row. But with a lot of shopping to do we had to go to the shuk. We got a late start and by the time we got there it was more crowded than I've ever seen it. Not just with shoppers but with tourists, since it's become the most popular tourist destination in Jerusalem after the Kotel. There were choke points where people just stopped moving and I was on the verge of a panic attack. This is no place for someone with claustrophobia.

We stopped at my butcher, who greeted us like long lost relatives. As we were leaving I told him I will need to order something in November. Before I finished the sentence he said yes, I know, a whole turkey. I was stunned. The last time we were here for Thanksgiving was 4 years ago, when I made half a turkey in a toaster oven. I can't imagine how he remembered.

We went to the conservative shul on Shabbat morning. Each time we go there are fewer people than the time before. Sad really. If it wasn't for student and camp groups who rotate thru, and the adjacent conservative seminary, they would have closed their doors by now. The movement never caught on here.

Sunday (Oct 7). There's no time like a pilgrimage festival to be in Jerusalem. About 90% of the country is on vacation, and Jerusalem, the focal point of the pilgrimage, attracts enormous crowds. The streets were jammed and the Kotel was so crowded I couldn't even get into the women's side. There was a very large security presence and thankfully no incidents. 

                                          Sid directing traffic:
                                         Wall-to-wall crowds on the way to the Wall

                                     Western Wall Plaza

                 Cute, right? Based on their hand positions I think they want to be rappers.

                                   
There are sukkot everywhere you look. On balconies, sidewalks and in public places.

                                         Public sukkah near the Western Wall

                                       Private sukkah on a balcony

                                   Private sidewalk sukkah in our neighborhood

The restaurants also build sukkahs for the holiday. We met our friends Vicki and Gary for dinner at Pompidou, one of our favorite restaurants, and sat at a coveted table in theirs.

It rained on Monday. Actually it poured for about an hour and our street turned into a river. This was unusual, because the seasons actually do conform to the prayers for dew in the summer and rain in the winter. The switch occurs twice a year, at the end of Passover in the spring and the end of Sukkot in the fall. By that calculus it wasn't supposed to rain until yesterday. Much as I would like another few weeks of warm, sunny weather I shouldn't be so selfish. The Kinneret, the main source of fresh water, is at a record low and is replenished for the most part by rain. Altho Israel leads the world in desalination, this is still a desert with a growing population and increasing demand. As we've seen recently in the US, rain can be destructive. The rain we pray for is "geshem bracha" - rain that is a blessing and not a curse. May this rainy season bring only blessings.

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem,

Peggy and Sid

Getting Here is Half the Fun

Getting here was characterized by a series of minor hiccups. But when you're leaving for 3 months, hoping you didn't forget to pack something important or leave your passport at home, minor hiccups can turn into whooping cough.

It started when our Uber driver called to say he was stuck on Stratford, in the middle of a line of cars, waiting for a garbage truck to finish emptying trash receptacles. And it looked like it was going to take a long time. And there was no way for him to break the logjam. Even tho it seemed like forever, the delay was only 5 minutes. We got to the airport at 435PM for our 7PM flight. And we got to sit in the brand new Flagship Lounge, which is reserved for first and business class passengers only. It was very nice; finally American has a lounge that is up to the standards of most international carriers.

Did I say 7PM flight? Oops. We went to the gate at 630, when boarding was due to begin but hadn't. There were several guys wearing jackets with the word MAINTENANCE going in and out of the jetway. Not a good sign. The clock kept ticking while the gate agents stood around chatting. Finally one of them made the announcement we'd all been waiting for: there was a problem with one of the tires and the brain trust was trying to decide if it really had to be changed. The consensus among the passengers was: of course you change it. Taking off and landing a fully loaded 777 (766,000 pounds - I googled it) with a bad tire is a bad idea. Duh. Maintenance finally agreed. OK, a one hour delay. Not bad for that kind of job, and they were going to board us while doing the repair. But they didn't, nor did they make any announcement to let us know what was happening. 

When I'd had enough of waiting I asked the gate agent what was going on. She said that it wasn't just a tire that was the problem; a part was broken which made the repair more complicated. They were deciding whether to repair this plane or put us on a different one. Departure time was still 8PM, which was getting less and less realistic by the minute. Finally an announcement. There was a plane that was supposed to go to Dallas at a nearby gate and they were talking to operations about making a swap. While all this was going on the flight crew were milling around the gate area. All of a sudden they all started to head in the direction of the other gate. I decided to follow. They got to the other gate, but didn't board. After several minutes of trying to figure out just what was happening, they all marched back to the original gate. While following them, the dreaded text came: AA150 has been cancelled. We're working to re-book you and will send an update soon.

OH NOOOOO

When I got back to our gate, the agent was trying to calm a bunch of agitated passengers, all of whom got the same text. Don't pay attention to that text, she said. Really? What's the point of signing up for flight info texts if they aren't accurate? Indeed after only 8 minutes another text came: AA150 has been reinstated, with a new departure time of 845PM. But a few minutes later they rolled in a very big rack of snacks - sandwiches, chips, soft drinks. Not a good sign in my opinion; we were in for another long delay, so we might as well go back to the Lounge. Who needs their crappy saran-wrapped sandwiches when we could be having something really good in a setting that was much nicer than the gate area. I did ask the gate agent if we had time to return to the Lounge; all we needed was for us to be sipping Bollinger while our flight took off. She assured us that it would be OK, so back to the Lounge we went. We barely got settled when they announced that our flight was boarding. We finally left at 945PM, a delay of nearly 3 hours.

We had an unusual experience on the flight. The head flight attendant went thru the cabin and introduced herself to each passenger. I don't know if this is some new AA policy, or if it was just her style. Whatever it was didn't quite compensate for the fact that they ran out of single malt and vegetarian meals. But considering the fact that it was 1030PM we didn't care about the meal service; we were going to go to sleep anyway, altho Sid was pissed about the scotch.

I slept well and didn't wake up until I heard a flight attendant say it was last call for breakfast. Not that I was hungry, but I wanted coffee and maybe a piece of fruit. When she got to my seat she said all they had left was quiche Lorraine. In that case, just bring me coffee and a croissant. I must have looked annoyed because she came back to my seat with a fruit plate that somehow magically appeared. She was probably keeping it for herself. And the basket of rolls contained not one single croissant. Imagine ... a flight to Paris and not a croissant in sight.

We made up an hour in the air and arrived in Paris with 2.5 hours to connect to our El Al flight. I was a bit concerned because El Al security is thorough and time consuming. I should have been more concerned about getting thru the transit area and security at DeGaulle. We had to walk about a mile to the security checkpoint, and as we put our stuff on the conveyor we were asked for our boarding passes. Uh oh. We didn't have them because AA couldn't print them in Chicago. OK, so let me see your reservation. Big UH OH. Because in my very misguided attempt to get with it and enter the 21st Century, I didn't print it out. Hey, there's an app for that. But in order for apps to work you need wifi. Fortunately there's wifi at the airport and I signed on, but couldn't get either of the 2 apps I have to display the reservation. The most I could show the guy was the flight number and when boarding was due to begin. So he pulled us out of line and called a supervisor. I had to convince her that we really did have a valid reservation, but I had nothing to show her. She finally believed us and let us thru. 

We actually had time to sit in the El Al lounge, which was pretty nice. But we hadn't cleared El Al security yet and I was wondering when this was going to happen. We decided to go to the gate a few minutes before boarding, and as we approached we heard ourselves paged over the loudspeaker. We had to pass El Al security, which was done at the gate. The agent asked the usual questions - who packed your luggage and has it been with you the entire time? What flight did you take to Paris? Can I see your boarding passes for that flight? How many bags did you check? Can I see the claim checks? When he called someone to verify the bags, he took a picture of the claim checks with his cell phone and sent it to the baggage handler. So how come everyone else is in the 21st Century and my apps don't work???? When everything checked out we got our boarding passes and were on our way.

El Al is a pleasure to fly. I remember the days, long long ago, when El Al was the acronym for Every Landing Always Late, and the inflight service motto was: get it yourself. Not any more. The flight attendants were cordial and even the food was good. Their slogan, roughly translated, is feel at home wherever you fly. And it's true. 

Israeli passport control was very crowded and we had to get into separate lines. Mine went faster than Sid's. Way faster. Citizenship does have its advantages. I retrieved all our bags before he came out. He must have been in the line with the passport control agent who asked even more questions than El Al security. 

We took a sherut to Jerusalem. The driver must have been in a big hurry to build his sukkah because he made it from the airport to the entrance to Jerusalem in 28 minutes in heavy traffic. In fact he was in such a hurry that he backed all the way up our one way street, which is about 3 blocks long. We were the last to be dropped off. As we shlepped our very heavy suitcases up to the second floor I realized that we had an extra bag. The driver just emptied the luggage compartment and drove off without either one of us realizing that he unloaded an additional suitcase, which happened to resemble one of ours. I called Nesher (the taxi company) to let them know. The bag's owner had already contacted them. Nesher took my phone number and gave it to the hapless suitcase owner, who called and thanked me profusely, and came right over to get it.

By this time it was around 1030PM. Luckily we have a 24-hour convenience store right up the street. We bought the necessities (coffee, milk, rolls and butter) for the morning, did some unpacking and went to sleep around midnight.

I slept fairly well till 8, Sid was up at 4. We went to the super market for a few more items to cover us for the next 48 hours, finished unpacking, made a few phone calls, and here I sit finishing my first post for this trip. 

Sukkot begins at sundown. 

Chag sameach from Jerusalem.