Praying towards the South
Last week we took a trip with our visiting family to the North. As I explained on “Praying towards the West” we always pray towards Jerusalem which means that I have almost always have prayed towards the East. If you travel to the North of Israel you pray towards the center (Jerusalem) which is South. Prayers to the south have a special meaning these days where our brothers are living in fear as terrorists shoot tens of rockets to their cities and our heroic soldiers are fighting for peace and an end to terrorist attacks, so my prayers were towards Jerusalem in the South and beyond to the south of Israel.

From Trip to North Dec. 2008

What does it feel like to live in a country at war? We are a little scared. Although Modiin is still far from Gaza (60km – yes, that is considered far in this small country) see link below, so far the furthest rockets have landed is Beer Sheva (40km).


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Driving through Arab villages in the north was a little more scary that the last time a month or so ago. On route 6, there was a military police on every bridge making sure there are no rock throwers and in every intersection through the Arab villages we drove there were several military police getting ready for potential demonstrations. On the streets and cars there are more people dressed in their soldier uniform, I feel like telling every single one of them “Thank you”.

No water in the north (fire in the south)
Israel is a very dry land and depends every year on the winter rains especially in the north where water accumulates in the Kineret (Sea of Galilee). See Batya and Ilan by the Kineret below.


By the way tonight it’s raining. It feels like a relief to see rain knowing how vital it is.
Our trip to the north was beautiful. It was nice to get out of work and take some fresh air. We visited Safed (a holy and mystical city), we saw the snowy Hermon from far, we visited our grandma’s friend in Kibutz Ein Gev, saw the cows, horses, eat a delicious fresh fish restaurant. It was very nice to see both grandma’s that were old friends in Mexico see each other and ride what we called the Doramovile, the dates and bananas from the Kibutz were also delicious. We slept at the Kibutz hotel/inn right next to the Kineret (sea of Galile). The day after on our way back we visitied Gan-Guru, an Australian zoo in the north of Israel where we fed Kangaroos and so many other animals. Enjoy the pictures below.



It’s sadly quiet at home
This morning we said goodbye to our visiting family. It was great having you and we thank you for your visit. I understand Israel is a couple of miles and dollars (flight) away from Pittsburgh, so thanks for coming and having such a great time with us. We had 2 great Shabbats together, a great party, a couple of visits to the Mall, the nice trip to the North, I even enjoyed watching news together every night as we all fell asleep by the Sofa (Rajel’s bed). Thanks too for all the goodies from Mexico and presents you bought for us here too. Just like we received 5 visits from my father in Law to Pittsburgh completing the 5 books of the Torah (a book per visit), I just started my Talmud collection with your first visit to us in Israel and your present and as you said there are fifty some books for that Talmud, so we are looking forward to collecting them all soon… Please come back soon.
The clock is ticking (on the right of the blog) and we are waiting for our aunt to come.