Today we all went South to our cousin’s graduation from Marva where he had a 6 week military training program.
I will have a future post with photos from our trip to the South, in the meantime I wanted to share with you the photos and videos of the graduation ceremony.
The ceremony was held in the Negev (southern part of Israel, desert) in Sde Boker by the grave of David Ben Gurion (Israel’s George Washington :) ) who had his humble home right there with a breathtaking view of the desert. His dream was to populate and make the Negev fruitful, today the biblical city of Beersheva is the 4th largest Israeli city and it’s located in the middle of the desert. By the way we were there and had a very fruitful meal.
Hillel we are very proud of you and were so glad to be able to be there with you in such an exciting moment. You have a month to go on your program and we are sad to see you go but at the same time glad we were able to spend time with you. Congratulations on this achievement!
For those of you that would have liked to be there below are the photos and videos to make you feel closer to the event. Enjoy.
I just thought about it but today we were closer to Sinai where the giving of the Torah happened.
Chag Sameach to all.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
A time to bless and a time to give
I wanted to share with you a couple of incidents that happened to me the last couple of days that are very simple and seem to be insignificant, however if you think about it they are so special and they are the little things that make Israel so special.
Scene 1:
Last Sunday on the way to Herzliya I stopped at a red light. A peculiar happy jumping bearded guy, dressed in white with a large white knitted kipah (skullcap) carrying a big Tehilim (Psalms book) stopped by my window, he wished me for a good day and a good month (it was Rosh Hodesh). I’m not sure why but he sounded as a California surfer who just returned from an awesome day at the beach. He gave me as a gift a miniature Tehilim (Psalms book) and a CD with pictures of many white bearded Rabbis (no, I’m sure it was not a ZZ top CD), then asked for some charity. As I looked for some coins to give I realized the only thing I had was bills for more than what I wanted to give so I asked for change, he said he didn’t have, the light turned green and he then wished me again a good day. I did listen to part of the CD on my way back home, I reserve my comments… Hey it was a freebee….
On Monday morning I decided to put some coins in the car so that I have for parking meters (which I did not have that Sunday and had to ask at a store) and in case I encounter any other person that might ask for charity.
Scene 2:
Today on my way home I stopped at a red light. A man dressed in a black coat with a large black kipah (skullcap) and long beard was walking from window to window and sweating in the warm weather. I was glad I had some coins to give this time. I opened the window and gave him charity wishing him a good day and a good month. He smiled at me and asked if I had a cigarette. I replied I did not have one and mentioned they are not really healthy. He reached out to grab my hand and asked me to give him a blessing so that he leaves the cigarette addiction mentioning his complete Hebrew name (Pluni ben Pluni), the light turned green and I didn’t really have time to put together a coherent blessing for him so as we shook hands I told him (in Hebrew of course) “May all your problems be solved soon”…
Maybe in the end I blessed him for something higher than what he requested.
I guess one day you can get a blessing in return for nothing and another time it’s your time to bless and give.
The End.
Scene 1:
Last Sunday on the way to Herzliya I stopped at a red light. A peculiar happy jumping bearded guy, dressed in white with a large white knitted kipah (skullcap) carrying a big Tehilim (Psalms book) stopped by my window, he wished me for a good day and a good month (it was Rosh Hodesh). I’m not sure why but he sounded as a California surfer who just returned from an awesome day at the beach. He gave me as a gift a miniature Tehilim (Psalms book) and a CD with pictures of many white bearded Rabbis (no, I’m sure it was not a ZZ top CD), then asked for some charity. As I looked for some coins to give I realized the only thing I had was bills for more than what I wanted to give so I asked for change, he said he didn’t have, the light turned green and he then wished me again a good day. I did listen to part of the CD on my way back home, I reserve my comments… Hey it was a freebee….
On Monday morning I decided to put some coins in the car so that I have for parking meters (which I did not have that Sunday and had to ask at a store) and in case I encounter any other person that might ask for charity.
Scene 2:
Today on my way home I stopped at a red light. A man dressed in a black coat with a large black kipah (skullcap) and long beard was walking from window to window and sweating in the warm weather. I was glad I had some coins to give this time. I opened the window and gave him charity wishing him a good day and a good month. He smiled at me and asked if I had a cigarette. I replied I did not have one and mentioned they are not really healthy. He reached out to grab my hand and asked me to give him a blessing so that he leaves the cigarette addiction mentioning his complete Hebrew name (Pluni ben Pluni), the light turned green and I didn’t really have time to put together a coherent blessing for him so as we shook hands I told him (in Hebrew of course) “May all your problems be solved soon”…
Maybe in the end I blessed him for something higher than what he requested.
I guess one day you can get a blessing in return for nothing and another time it’s your time to bless and give.
The End.
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| From Other |
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Chag Sameach! – Our City of Peace
I just wanted to share a quick video of Ilan singing in honor of Yom Yerushalaim (reunification of Jerusalem). Chag Sameach.
Also we received a very special guest, our cousin on uniform (but without boots…local joke). We are looking forward to his graduation next week.
By the way the Next Family visit clock was reset already. Liorita, we already want to see.
Also we received a very special guest, our cousin on uniform (but without boots…local joke). We are looking forward to his graduation next week.
By the way the Next Family visit clock was reset already. Liorita, we already want to see.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Revolt by the Mediterranean
Revolt by the Mediterranean
Last week we celebrated Lag Baomer (celebrating the victory of Bar Kochva’s revolt against the Romans among other things) and went with friends camping by the beach. We had a very good time and the kids were so excited about the adventure. The adventure started even before we arrived because we had to look for wood to put together our bonfire, no wonder why I saw a week or more ago children all over Modiin gathering pieces of wood, so what we did was stop by an industrial city and look by their waste areas. We celebrated Lag Baomer by lighting the bonfire which also served to enjoy our hot dogs, marshmallows and handmade Pitas. We sang and even studied about the holiday by the fire. At night I witnessed what must have been a youth revolt outside our tent given the loud voices of drunk singing kids in addition to their firework show that went all night long, so we did not get much sleep that night (the kids did). It seems like tents have a peculiar acoustic property that make the outside sound as if it was right next to the tent.
In the morning we enjoyed the beach and then visited a nearby town (Zichron Yaakkov). We had a great time. Enjoy the pictures.
Sabra Album
You become a local if you start breaking some of the nonsense laws, a couple of pictures to illustrate with an example. I guess we are becoming locals now. This can be part of the Sabra Album. (You can also visit Sabra Album Take 1 , Take 2 , Take 3 and Machane Yehuda Edition if you missed them. Continuing to post pictures that talk about how Israel is such a special and interesting place. These pictures are so unique to Israel that I’m calling them “Sabra Album” (Click here for definition of Sabra).)
You can see we camped right there.
Just a stroll through the beach on “beach clothing”
An amazingly brave girl
It was 3 weeks already since Batya broke her elbow. She was so brave throughout those 3 weeks. The cast did not stop her. She went by writing with her left hand and the last week she even started to use her right hand. At her school the teacher said that she refused to be helped and did not want any special treatment, she pushed hard to be able to accomplish what she needed. The cast was taken out last Monday and she was not afraid at all (she just mentioned she was a little nervous), I remember when at 13 they took my cast out and I cried like a 5 year old (I guess 5 year olds don’t cry, at least not my daughter). Now that she doesn’t have the cast every new movement she does is a celebration and accomplishment, very soon she will be back to normal. I’m so proud of her.
Below a couple of new pictures with my grandmother signing on Batya’s cast.
Last week we celebrated Lag Baomer (celebrating the victory of Bar Kochva’s revolt against the Romans among other things) and went with friends camping by the beach. We had a very good time and the kids were so excited about the adventure. The adventure started even before we arrived because we had to look for wood to put together our bonfire, no wonder why I saw a week or more ago children all over Modiin gathering pieces of wood, so what we did was stop by an industrial city and look by their waste areas. We celebrated Lag Baomer by lighting the bonfire which also served to enjoy our hot dogs, marshmallows and handmade Pitas. We sang and even studied about the holiday by the fire. At night I witnessed what must have been a youth revolt outside our tent given the loud voices of drunk singing kids in addition to their firework show that went all night long, so we did not get much sleep that night (the kids did). It seems like tents have a peculiar acoustic property that make the outside sound as if it was right next to the tent.
In the morning we enjoyed the beach and then visited a nearby town (Zichron Yaakkov). We had a great time. Enjoy the pictures.
Sabra Album
You become a local if you start breaking some of the nonsense laws, a couple of pictures to illustrate with an example. I guess we are becoming locals now. This can be part of the Sabra Album. (You can also visit Sabra Album Take 1 , Take 2 , Take 3 and Machane Yehuda Edition if you missed them. Continuing to post pictures that talk about how Israel is such a special and interesting place. These pictures are so unique to Israel that I’m calling them “Sabra Album” (Click here for definition of Sabra).)
 |
| From Sabra Album |
You can see we camped right there.
 |
| From Sabra Album |
 |
| From Sabra Album |
Just a stroll through the beach on “beach clothing”
An amazingly brave girl
It was 3 weeks already since Batya broke her elbow. She was so brave throughout those 3 weeks. The cast did not stop her. She went by writing with her left hand and the last week she even started to use her right hand. At her school the teacher said that she refused to be helped and did not want any special treatment, she pushed hard to be able to accomplish what she needed. The cast was taken out last Monday and she was not afraid at all (she just mentioned she was a little nervous), I remember when at 13 they took my cast out and I cried like a 5 year old (I guess 5 year olds don’t cry, at least not my daughter). Now that she doesn’t have the cast every new movement she does is a celebration and accomplishment, very soon she will be back to normal. I’m so proud of her.
Below a couple of new pictures with my grandmother signing on Batya’s cast.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Be Happy!
Just a quick post to wish you all a Shabbat Shalom.
Below a cake given to us last night by good friends to cheer us up.
By the way I have been thinking and promising for a while to write about the job search experience in Israel, I have been getting great material lately. I’m thinking of naming that post “My Big Fat Israeli Interview”. Any other ideas? Feel free to post a comment with ideas.
Below a cake given to us last night by good friends to cheer us up.
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| From Other |
By the way I have been thinking and promising for a while to write about the job search experience in Israel, I have been getting great material lately. I’m thinking of naming that post “My Big Fat Israeli Interview”. Any other ideas? Feel free to post a comment with ideas.
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