In a few days, we will have lived in Israel for four years.
In a few days, we will have been Jewish for 22 years.
Yesterday, our nation welcomed home a native son who has been in captivity for more than five years.
Is it any wonder that life has not stood still long enough to be written about lately?
It's time for an "aliyaversary" retrospective. I have more pictures than words -- but let me share them with you as they come to mind. The bottom line: We have made a place for ourselves here, a place that makes more sense for us than anywhere, of all the fine and interesting places we've ever been. But we miss you -- and can't wait to see you here!
Our credit card company sends Rosh Hashana greetings.
So does the army!
A banker who has befriended us offers us something sweet for Rosh Hashana.
The ads on the buses advertise sukkah decorations.
My friend Ami got an automated message from Bezeq (the phone company) offering to give him free wake-up calls for Slichot. I love this country!
Even Neve Daniel has a shuk for Sukkot. All the quality, none of the travel.
Mishpachat Mizrachi adds a "Parents' Room" wing to the sukkah, decorated with flags from our States of origin.
Would anybody but my Dearly Beloved think of military guidons as sukkah decorations? (Where's yours, Soldier Boy? We looked for that Golani "Gdud 12" flag everywhere!)
The view through the "blue glass picture window" is still breathtaking. (This one's for you, Bubbe. Thanks for showing up every year, to help your son-in-law with those final construction details.)
History, politics, shellfish -- we've got it all.
Ahhhh... my leichter. The sense of home is complete.
I love the Sukkot table setting best of all.
I never liked honey. But silan -- date honey -- ahhhhhhh!
A "Davening for Stella" excursion to the Kotel...
...is delightfully augmented by a group of Chareidi school girls. "Oiveenee Malkainee..."
With Standing Together, we visit a group of miliumnikim -- reservists. I have two questions for them: "Do you have kids? Do you have pictures?" You should have seen the joy with which the cell phone cameras came out!
The Strung-Out Quartet performed American blues and rock with other musicians at the Neve Daniel Jam Session during Chol Hamoed. It ain't Hershey Park -- but it was a lot of fun nonetheless!
Yaakov and Leah Urso regaled us with an authentic Nashville sound.
Eliezer Barnet playing his homemade cigar box guitar.
We shared our fiddle player Uzi Volman to turn Eliezer into a bluegrass band.
One of the guests in the audience was a mother of a Neve Daniel resident. Commenting on the concert, she said to her daughter-in-law: "I love incongruous things and this is one hell of an example!"
Tzvi Zelevski added a sweet Russian soulfulness to his Hebrew tunes.
As the seasons change, we switch from iced coffee to cafe hafuch -- with artwork!
Finally learned the art of the braided round loaf!
Grilled veggies are so ON this time of year, am I right?
Fall and football, right? Coach gets together for a chol hamoed strategy session with some of his prime gridiron warriors.
The Dearly Beloved took me out for a birthday meal or two, of course...
All of my boys are in uniform these days.
Stunt Man is in an elite Paratroopers unit; and Sports Guy is in an elite football team.
Yes, Doctors Leventhal -- they still leap backwards off of walls. But thanks to your wisdom, I can mostly duct tape and superglue them back together...
When Robert Kraft's wife left this world, he asked the guys who play for Israel to wear her name on their uniforms as they played in the international competition. It was their honor and privilege.
In the IDF, you are permitted to say "shehekhiyanu" when you receive your uniform and your weapon. Why? Because defending the Jewish people is holy work.
Far from giving up their Yiddishkeit due to army service, as we were so often warned, the boys find opportunities to talk about the beauty of faith in Hashem with fellow soldiers who ask GREAT questions, and show much interest.
Yeshiva Bochur earns the "soldier of the week" award. And I thought those "My son is on the TA Honor Role" bumper stickers would make me proud...
Visiting Stunt Man outside his base late one chol hamoed evening. Okay, I know I look a bit "ufgarecht." I spent most of the visit plucking ants out of my clothing. Now I fully understand the concept of "shpilkes."
Gilad Shalit returns to the arms of his parents after one thousand, nine hundred and forty-one days in captivity. We tear our hair over the cost. We embrace him with our full hearts. Huge emotional conflicts. This is what it is to be an Israeli. This is what it has always been to be a Jew.
We miss our family in the Old Country, and cannot wait until they return Home! (This includes ALL of you.)
Glossary: Hoshana Raba: The seventh day of the holiday of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). Slichot: penitential prayers said during the time leading up to the High Holy Days Leichter [Yiddish]: area let up for lighting the Sabbath and holy day candles Davening: praying "Oiveenee Malainee": the way the Chareidi Yiddish for the Avinu Malkeinu (Our Father, Our King) prayers sounded to my ears Chol Hamoed: the intermediate days of Jewish holidays -- spent by Israelis in wonderful fun family trips around the country, and musical festivals Cafe Hafuch: the national drink of Israel, cappuccino -- "hafuch" means upside-down, and we certainly are! Shehekhiyanu: a special prayer recited over any momentous event thanking G-d for bringing one to this place in time Ufegerecht: discombobulated Shpilkes: unable to sit still; ants in the pants -- Don't ask.
We live in a region beset by justifiable paranoia. I can only speak from my side of the argument, as I cannot possibly see inside of the other guy's head.
There is no way for a Jewish Israeli to know which of his Arab neighbors: A) likes him as a human being; B) hates him because he is a Jew; or C) is indifferent to him, and just wants to make a living and raise his kids. So it is easy to paint with a single brush the entire people as The Enemy, and very hard (and historically sometimes dangerous) to give the benefit of the doubt.
Once in a while, a story comes along that reminds me that it's okay to believe that there are individuals within the greater Arab world who don't go along with the more outspoken masses.
Bedouin Sheikh Salam Hozeil, weeping at the vandalism of his protest tent
Such a story was broadcast on the most recent IBA News program.
"A protest tent for abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was defaced [yesterday] in the early morning hours by spray-painted swastikas and the Palestinian flag.
"The tent was built and maintained by Bedouin sheikh Salam Hozeil at Beit Kama [Junction] in the Northern Negev two years ago. According to Arutz Sheva, Hozeil witnessed what he believes to be young members of his tribe fleeing after committing the vandalism.
Hozeil being comforted
"Local police are investigating the incident, and say that the vandals also defaced photographs of Shalit at the tent. Hozeil said that despite continued death threats from locals, which he believes are associated with Islamic Jihad, he will continue his advocacy until Gilad Shalit has been released from his Hamas captors."
Let's not forget the beauty of the Israeli newsman comforting the Arab!
When I am permitted to see the human face of the individual, I am reminded that we might actually all be related, and there may be hope for us yet.
Yom rishon, 16 Tishrei 5770, first day Chol HaMoed Sukkot.
Getting an early start on the first day of Chol HaMoed gives me the chance to get some nice photos.
We had a special guest, a friend the boys grew up with back in the Old Country. As is so often the case in this holy place, the guys are together again, going to yeshiva.
Here, the Dearly Beloved and Shaya remind each other of how to tie the lulav.
While they davened the special prayers for the intermediate days of the Sukkot festival, I took a stroll around the the new neighborhood of the yishuv, and took a few more shots of the most recent settlement construction. (I'll delve into the old neighborhood later, to prove to my friend in New Zealand that we do have more green here than she imagines. Though it cannot be argued that G-d gave NZ a special measure of green.)
This fierce guard dog is protecting his owners' newest home.
Peeking in through one open sukkah door, we saw some lovely art work, and asked the owners if we could take a few photographs. They were happy to oblige, and gave us a little of the history of the beautiful papercuts.
The work was done by the grandfather, who is in his eighties. It is clear that his hands and eyes are still sure. His son proudly explains to us that he still takes care of himself, still maintains his own garden. Before the Holocaust, this grandfather did beautiful papercuts in Hungary.
Thankfully, he survived, to produce beautiful art here in Israel -- some from paper, and some in the form of strikingly handsome children and grandchildren. Thank you, Hashem, for the few bright lights You did not allow to be extinguished.*
Quiz question: Which are the temporary dwellings here?
Fun observations aside, these trailers are the way a lot of young people start out in Israel. The Dearly Beloved and I have very fond memories of our very first and very simple home together. May these young people share equally happy memories of their first "mansions," from within their future beautiful, permanent, child- and grandchild-filled homes here in the hills of Judea -- or wherever else in this Holy Land they choose to build and grow.
Home again. Kedusha, in my own precious sukkah. Baruch Hashem!
This post is in part for you, Micha and Suri. Thanks for sharing, and adding some of your light to our chag.
*Dear Hashem, now that You have caused us to see the film of Gilad (ben Aviva) Shalit, still alive and well, please bring him home to us. You are the only One who can.
For a translation into English of Gilad's words, please visit A Soldier's Mother.
Chol HaMoed: intermediate days of seven- or eight-day festivals
Lulav: palm branch used during the Sukkot holiday; also refers to a collection of palm, myrtle and willow branches
