בנשמה

Not going to lie. It's been an extremely tough few weeks of attack after attack. Folks who send words of strength, only for then to hear about Brooklyn and a church shooting. And you're left wondering... seriously.... what in the world? We've been overall ok. Looking more than often than usual right and left. Going to work and heading back. We renewed our lease for 4 years. Haven't found another community we'd like to venture to. And the kids are proving to establish themselves more and more. We are excited to welcome family visits this summer and loads of friends who have been stuck because of corona. 

The last time we went on vacation was pre Covid vaccines and when the course of the pandemic was still uncertain. A getaway that would not be too far from Beit Shemesh and with 4 kids has been necessary for some time. Take note - Hannukah traffic in Israel is equivalent to Thanksgiving but instead of one day you're talking a total of eight.  Deep breathing. Many of the things we thought we'd do we also scaled way back.  We stayed at a lovely 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath with a kosher kitchen on the 21st floor of 24 floors in Ir Yamim, Netanya. This was the first time, other than an airplane, that we have been and slept so high and up off of the ground.  Netanya reminded us of Miami, Florida. The streets are clean, diversified people, kosher and non kosher establishments, palm trees and many pools.  The population, though classified as Anglo is made up of mostly British and French retirees. Josh was the youngest at the shul he went to for Shacharit. The nearest com...

 🧡Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end...  It is such a blessing to leave one chapter with love from colleagues. Looking forward to the next adventure. Utilize my Hebrew language skills, support talented team members and work for a great cause.  A special thanks to friends who shared the job opportunity, made recommendations, served as references, encouraged me, believed in potential and for all the pieces falling into place.  Hope to make everyone proud.

November. And it's still warm outside.  Israel radio yesterday said חם מהרגיל. You think?! 😂 Love this new dreidel find. But I'm not sure why it's not the party emoji. Hello, miracles 🥳 For the ש or פ. Excited to add this to the others we have at home.  Take note, dreidel companies.  All is well in the Holy Land.    Going on our 3rd festival of lights here. Looking forward to the moment. And PS Aroma, if you advertise hot apple cider, please have it. Lots of love. Toda. 🍎👌

It has been a long stretch of holidays, Corona isolation texts, testing, family visits, maternity leave and all the while trying to grasp some semblance of routine. Every Friday night, we enjoy reading Torah Tidbits and free newspapers that are distributed throughout the country. Advertised often are new building projects that are sold as what they call "from paper." These projects tend to be less expensive, but a huge risk. Something you wish you knew about 5 years ago and had the chochma (knowledge) and capacity to buy into (word to Jews in America, it's smart to buy and then have a property ready at your own liesure).  Taking advantage of a quiet return to three out of four kids back in school, we drove to check out what has been publicized as Ganei Chashmonaim, rather to find out that it's below an area by the name Ganei Modiin. Location matters in Israel. Driving from the sales suite in Buchman, Modiin, we visited an aquaintance in Ganei M...

Today we took a tour of a very hot Beit Guvrin with Adina Lebor. This gem of history is 20 minutes from Beit Shemesh that it is a crime not to go visit. As always, Adina made the content interesting for children and for adults. She has tons of patience given that our two-year-old was slow on the many steep steps throughout the park. He enjoyed counting the stairs and ice cream at the cafe area. We also managed to pick up souvenirs and a stuffed camel he would enjoy.  Beit Guvrin is expansive and filled with a wide range of sites from dove cotes to cisterns to mausoleums. The northern section of the park has an amphitheater that was used by gladiators. In this area there is also a Roman bath house and other sites to see. For months we would pass through the highway area on our way to Meitar and wonder about the lit up archeological site. The grounds are open, making it a great...

August in Jerusalem is HOT. Add onto that 4 children and getting stuck in every imaginable traffic jam....that is stressful. Which is why capturing those sweet pictures, that trump the craziness, makes it well worth it. One of those, save for the bar mitzvah montage pics.  Luck had it that our little guy spotted the Old City train. Worth it. Look at those smiles.