GolanShabbat

The thing about Israel is that it is small. Many families use the last two weeks of August to see relatives, enjoy nature and recharge. Without daycare, you are forced to stay cation or really go somewhere. As you can see, go we did.

A few notes. Given the country's size, there really is no reason not to go back home for shabbat. As new olim, ok fine, going on year two, we watched as other families sat with their siblings, parents, grandparents and this made us feel, well, rather alone. For myself at least, no parents and no grandparents at all. The feeling was strange and I ended up missing my parents, a lot. At the playground I asked our son if he knew why we moved here. He looked at me and replied "because saba and savta are here." I asked ok, what else "because it's our homeland." 

Bingo.

In the constant moving around during the week, we didn't feel lonely at all. Motzei shabbat we learned all the families would return home and were weirded out by the idea that we would be stranded. No thanks. 

Shabbat ended up being a time we missed foods we make (I serve chicken soup every Friday night like my mom would). Most large groups kept to themselves and children didn't play together as we thought they might. The yishuv also closed its gates at night, making us realize the really great ammenities and comforts that we have in Beit Shemesh. Not that we didn't realize it before, just that this round when we turned onto our block, we felt at ease.

We were also extremely lucky not to run over a deer on a very dark, deserted road in the Golan, of which we were 2 inches away from doing. Sven, our car, definitely properly named did a good job, though surprised in the dark that it didn't pick up the object. Our own eyes did and just took us a few more seconds to process and react accordingly. Along the way another car decided to quickly pass a truck and didn't have enough clearance on our side. As our son said "that was too close for comfort." We maintained six vigilant eyes on the road (two adults, one child), marveled at the moonlight on the Kineret and beauty of teverya. 

The Jews in the Golan certainly not only live a 'dream' ....which is detached from many realities... there is a misirut nefesh for them living there, the way that they do. We learned a lot about ourselves and our needs along this journey. The kids, at least one, nearly cried when we left Aloney Habashan and told us she had the best time. 

I thought a lot about this Living the Dream as we watched the sunset before Maariv.

Hope this break keeps us going and stronger as we continue to grow in many aspects in both as they say ruchniyus and gashmiyus.

Shana Tova to all and may angels keep protecting all of us from harm and continued comfort.

** as promised, a happy meal before shnat halimudim. 

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