Dear friends (especially Pittsburgh and U.S friends).

Do I need to say more?
Come and visit Israel.

Have a great and Happy month of Adar.

It was a great Tu v’Shbat!

As I mentioned in my previous post, last week we celebrated Tu V’shbat, the “New Year of the Trees”. As part of the holiday I attended one school party with Batya, a gan (kindergarten) party with Ilan where he was dressed up as a gamad (dwarf) and a tiyul (excursion) I did with the kids and Rajel (our newest family member in Israel) to a hill 10 minutes walking distance from home.  Also a couple of weeks ago Rajel and I took a tour of Modiin old and new that was guided by Modiin’s deputy Mayor, the tour included some very cool views of the city as well as an ancient Maccabean synagogue that’s very close to our home.

Enjoy the photos:

 

During our Friday night Shabbat dinner Rajel prepared for us a Tu v’shbat seder where she explained to us and the kids about the Shivat Haminim (7 species) that are written on the Torah as special and holy produce of the land of Israel. We ate each of the species that Rajel bought at Machane Yehuda (remember the Sabra album Machane Yehuda edition?)

It was a great Tu v’shbat!

Ma’aser for the first time

Last week we celebrated across Israel (as well as outside of Israel) Tu V’shbat, the “New Year of the Trees” which has become kind of the Earth day of the Jewish Holidays. This holiday takes such a different meaning when you live it in Israel. Not only because of all the dried fruit that is sold across the supermarkets but because it also represents the planting and growth of our land, the land of the Jewish nation.

Out of the 613 Mitzvot (commandments) we are given, several of them cannot be performed because we do not currently have the temple, others depend also on a Cohen (priest) performing them, others are gender specific, and others are dependant on being performed in the land of Israel.

A couple of months ago for the first time in my life I was able to fulfill the Mitzvah of Maaser (Tithe) which is made on any produce grown in Israel and is therefore a commandment that can only be performed in the land of Israel. It dates back to the giving of Tithe to the Levites (Maaser Rishon) as well as the gathering of Tithe to take to Jerusalem during the days of the Temple in certain years of the seven year cycle (Maaser Sheni).

Note: Consult your local Rabbi for details. :)

Below some pictures of us performing this unique Mitzvah for the first time in our lives.

Step 1: Gather the fruit - We are lucky to have in our garden oranges, lemons, passion fruit, olives and grapes. We gathered oranges and lemons this time.

From Ma'aser

From Ma'aser

From Ma'aser

Step 2 & 3: Cut small piece of each kind of fruit and say the brachot (blessings)

From Ma'aser

Step3: Put cut pieces on bag and let them go bad before throwing them away.

From Ma'aser

Step 4: Enjoy the fruit of the holy land (blessing of the fruit before eating of course)

From Ma'aser

From Ma'aser

Soon I will put some pictures of Tu V’shbat, kids school parties, a small tiyul (excursion) maybe tell you about the great Seder Tu V’shbat Rajel did for us and show you some nice pictures from a tour around Modiin with our Deputy mayor as a tour guide.

Chanukah 5770 in Mexico

We had a great time last month in Mexico and wanted to share many photos we took over there.

Thank you all for the hospitality, great time and your love. And for you some photo treats.

We miss you.

Enjoy pictures from different events as well as pictures from the wedding.

Ech omrim “Trajineras de Xochimilco”?

First things first, if you have noticed the “Next family visit” clock just got to 0. The Israeli nation gained last night with the arrival of Rajel who just moved to Israel. We are so excited to have her here and are so proud of her. Congratulations Rajel!

Now with the post title, I need to give credit to Benji from www.whatwarzone.com blog for inspiring me with him post Ech Omrim "I'm Wearing Shorts in January"? Ech Omrim means “How do you say” in Hebrew.

Now with the Chinanpa de Xochimilco. Last month we visited Mexico and I felt so much like a tourist when I was there, an Israeli tourist that is.

As good tourists we went to Xochimilco which was declared a World Heritage site by the UNESCO and is a series of canals on what was an ancient lake many centuries ago. The fun thing to do is rent a Trajinera (special boat) and it’s driver and go trough the canals, seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling and listening to everything around you. Think gondola in Venice, but in Mexico.

Below are some photos from beautiful Xochimilco. But just before that a quick story:

As we were in the Trajinera enjoying Xochimilco we passed by one of the many commercial Trajineras and a man (picture below) with a Polaroid camera asked if we wanted to have a picture taken (and sold) as I was taking photos with my digital camera left and right, I kindly said in Spanish “No thank you, I have my own” and the wise man with the Polaroid replied “With that one (camera) you can only see, whit this one you can see and touch” :)

From Xochimilco 2009

So now enjoy the pictures however they do no justice as you can only see Xochimilco but cannot really “see and touch” Xochimilco.

Now for a taste of Xochimilco’s sounds enjoy the following video of the Mariachis, including the negotiating tips of our driver, the show and the actual negotiation with the Mariachis, extremely funny…

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes - Happy 2010!

Dear loyal and non-loyal readers:


I wish you many changes for the good in 2010.


Lets be thankful to G'd for all the good changes and opportunities he provided in 2009 and those that are already coming in 2010.
Cheers for a great new beginning!
Here is a picture I recently took of a shelf full of Rompope. Lets celebrate! (remember from my previous blog post From Rompope to Eggnog to Sachlav?)

From Other

And to celebrate this Shabbat Vayechi as a new calendar year, lets take a look at what Vayechi looked like a year ago.

First: Ilan singing Hamalach Hagoel, the blessing Jacob gave to Joseph's children Menashe & Ephraim (Genesis 48:16)




Second: Batya explaining parsha Vayechi 100% in Hebrew (after only 5 months in Israel)





Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes...........

A message from the Chairman of the Mexican Steelers Fan Club in Israel

The boys gave a good game yesterday against the Ravens but odds are against us and I don’t think we will make it to the playoffs. Nevertheless my support to the Steelers continues from the Holy Land.

I guess we each have our own Holy City.

I recently came across the following video (Thanks Yossi).Enjoy on the link below and you will understand what I mean.

http://www.post-gazette.com/multimedia/?videoID=102712

Sincerely,

The Chairman of the Mexican Steelers Fan Club in Israel

Other post about the Steelers as seen from the Holy Land:

Summer is over

מ.ג (XLIII) is in our hands