Monday, April 30, 2018

Eilat Overnight Adventure

Monday April 30 / 15 Iyar
Nothing like starting a relaxing adventure by stressing out being ready on time! But somehow, we did it. We were ready to leave for Eilat at 8:00am. Too bad it took us a full half hour to load the van and run back for forgotten items. It's OK, we were still doing well. Today we were joined by Tami from Nof Tours. She's a sweet charaidi tour guide with her own van and a great sense of adventure. She claims I didn't drive her crazy, but I did write to her at least ten million times trying to figure out what we were doing.
We started off with a jeep tour in the desert. It was an open window jeep. Rikki joined us for this part while Tami stayed with Huvi. The jeep went bumping all over. At first Rikki was enjoying it. After a little while she didn't find it as fun. Zahava told me she isn't going jeeping with me again. And Shauly found it a bit on the tame side. You know how it is  ... Two Jews / three opinions! Can't please everyone.


Rikki made the trip loads of fun. She didn't enjoy being strapped into a car seat. This smart little munchkin figured out that all she had to say was, I need to make, and like magic, we would stop and pull her out of the car seat. After the third time in like 30 minutes, we told her we weren't stopping anymore.
Finally made it down to Eilat (Hurray for sleeping kids!) We checked into our hotel, ate a little lunch and then headed out. We decided to do the Underwater Museum Observatory.
You go in this funny looking building, and go down a bunch of stairs. You end up before sea level. What's cool is you look right out into the ocean.
Then we went up. And up and up and other family members gave up, but I didn't. I climbed to the top of the tower. The view up there was fantastic. That little grey speck on the round part is Sheindy. You can also see Zahava with the carriage.
There were lots of other exhibits as well. What did Rikki enjoy the most? The little play area. Could have stayed home and taken her to the park there. Lol.
Dinner was at Café Café. And then, back to the hotel. Sheindy took a little dip in the pool that is right outside our patio. That is, until someone came by and said she isn't allowed in the pool at night when there is no life guard. Truthfully, it doesn't make much sense, since the life guard can't see a lot of the spots, like where we are. Oh well, the plan is for her to go swimming at 8am.
One cool side note - - I saw this bus today when Rikki had us stop at Ein Gedi. Notice the 414? That's what caught my eye. I figured it was a message for me, and it was  The first part says, He's always with you.

Sunday, April 29, 2018

An Easy yet Hard Day

Sunday April 29 / 14 Iyar /Pesach Sheni
Today was more of a relaxed day. Sheindy and Zahava enjoyed playing Mario Brothers together. We didn't end up leaving until around 12:30. The mission for today was to find some skirts for Sheindy and for me to order the aitz chaim and mantel. Sheindy's mission was, of course, very hard. She is picky in what she likes. In a way, it's good, because she only gets stuff she loves. (Versus me who will buy it because it was on sale or a great price, but I don't totally love it. Then it ends up sitting in my closet in the "What-was-I-thinking" pile.) So it took a while, but happily she left with 4 skirts.
I wish I could say the same for me. My mission was not accomplished. Have you ever redone a room, and tried to buy white paint and new hardware? You think this is a breeze and you'll be done in a blink. Wrong! There are 800 shades of white to choose from, and enough hardware to fix every cabinet in the world 10x over. That's how it was there. Too many choices! I thought the aitz chaim would be a prefect place to start. Nope. Do you want this little doo-hickey on it or that one? All silver or a crown on wood? Engraving? And just when you think you're done, you have to decide the shade of wood you want. Ok  nevermind, I'll look at the mantel, the cover for the Torah. Same deal. Leather or velvet? Blue, black, brown, or burgundy?? Gold or silver trim??? What wording do you want on it? When I started to explain to the woman why I needed it, it made me so sad. I'd rather not have to do this  It's about as much fun as picking out the headstone was. Except then we were pretty much in shock as we had just gotten up from shiva. It's too hard, too real. The same way I despise writing a"h after Yossi's name. It just makes it too real. Which is just a mind trick, because absolutely nothing has changed before or after. Quid pro quo. The woman who spoke English had to go, so it bought me some time. I'll come back and do it later.
Hashgacha protis had it arranged that tonight I was meeting up with a sister in pain, another bereaved mom. Unless you're in the club, and we do NOT want new members, you probably won't understand the need to be with someone who gets you on such an intimate level. It doesn't matter if the loss was a baby, teenager, or married child with kids of their own, we've all been there done that. Sitting with another bereaved mom brings tears and smiles. It's a breath of fresh air, where any mask you've been wearing comes off. I guess that's why we like to get together with each other when we travel.
Off to bed. Big day tomorrow ... Heading down to Eilat.

Holy Shabbos in the Holy City

Shabbos April 28th / 13 Iyar
As I said yesterday, I got a chance to bring in shabbos early.
Because of the way Pesach fell out this year, Sheindy and I lost two parshios, Acharai Mos & Kedoshim. Eretz Yisroel is a week ahead of the US in parshios.
Friday night found us hosting Shmueli and Akiva. These two are former Virginians (Shmueli in an unofficial sense; he's an honorary Virginian.) As always, it's always such fun to have them around. Shauly's building hosts a shabbos elevator, which is annoying IMHO. It beeps when it is about to close and you can hear it on other floors.
Shauly and Zahava wowed us with lots of yummy food.
Shabbos morning started early for me, with Huvi waking up at 6am as usual. That's easy too early for me. I read until 9, and then went back to sleep. However, it messed me up sleep wise, since I usually use shabbos to catch up on missing sleep. (Not good, I know. It's just the way I operate.)
Shmueli, and Penina, Yitzi, and Yaffi joined us for lunch. It was such a nice meal. I kept saying I wanted to go to the shuk to see the art on the gates until Shmueli pointed out in going to want to take pictures. So I took a nap instead.
Motzai shabbos was a cool treat. Pizza from Pizza Hut with Ben & Jerry's ice cream for dessert. Both were obviously kosher and cholov Yisroel.





Saturday, April 28, 2018

Looking Back to Look Ahead

Friday, April 27 / 12 Iyar
I slept in until 6am, and somehow still managed to leave late. We had the Kotel Tunnel tour scheduled for 9:40. First mishap  ... We couldn't figure out how to get out of the building. We were running around trying to find the door, and couldn't manage it. Finally, I said to retrace our steps and I went the way the other guy in the elevator did, which lead us to an exit. Next mishap, arrive at the tour to be told that we needed our tickets. We were already 10 minutes late. We run to where we were supposed to pick up our tickets, and run back. Luckily, they let us just join our group.
The tour was slightly different than I remember from last time. The heavy rain from the day before meant that the last stop had rain falling inside that was still dripping from the day before. Sheindy really enjoyed that tour, so that was great.
Next stop was next door for a virtual reality tour of the Bais Hamikdash. Big shout out to my friend Ora for telling me about it. That was my favorite part of the day. You really feel like you are in the Bais Hamikdash. I felt such a strong strong yearning for Moshiach. I can't wait to go to the actual one!

I davened shacharis by the Kotel, and then we were headed off to the Hurva Synagogue. Last time I saw a little of the inside. Zahava had asked if I walked around the top. I hadn't, so it was on the bucket list for this trip. It got checked off.
The tour guide we got was a hoot! A feisty little guy who had us in stitches. Sheindy said he's her favorite guide so far.


We stopped for some pizza for lunch. Sheindy was extremely happy to pocket a ten dollar bill she found!
Next, I was determined to show Sheindy around. We did manage to get lost ("How do you go wandering around in a strange city you don't know your way around?" Sheindy asks me. Very easily. Like this!) OK, I did manage to get us to the spot I wanted to take her too. At this point though, it's eruv shabbos and it's getting late. So we head towards the Yaffa Gate to get a cab to Har Nof. A little bit of bargaining and we were off in a cab with a Jewish driver.
I visited with Adam, the sofer who is writing the sefer Torah. It was so cool to see his progress. Now I need to get the aitz chaim and mantel!
Best part of being on vacation ... I got to light shabbos candles at the time everyone else does! I lit them 40 mins before shkiyah, as is the custom here.

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Part 2 / Backpacks & A Mabul

After the Chevron tour, I was famished. So we met Zahava and Penina at Tommy's. As we were finishing up, I see a cop car come down the street the wrong way. I saw the officer get out, and he is running around. At first I thought, maybe someone got here. In America, often the fire department comes when someone calls for an ambulance. I saw the group of boys clear out of the restaurant as well. Meanwhile, as this is all going on, we hear thunder several times and dark clouds are rolling in. The weather report was calling for heavy thunderstorms. Penina bugged out to try and avoid the storm. We decided to call a cab. As we are leaving, there is another cop car blocking the street  The cab couldn't get in and we were going to walk to him. Then Zahava explains, there is a backpack that doesn't belong to anyone. They clear the area. If no one claims it, they blow it up. Our cab was turning around so we run over to him. After we get in, he turns the corner. There is a bus in the other lane going in the opposite direction. Some genius on a motorcycle decides to pass the bus on the left. Basic rule of driving, don't pass on the left, especially when the bus has its left blinker on. So we are coming around the corner on this narrow street and the motorcycle gets to close to our cab. His rear view mirror goes flying off. Our driver stops, opens the door, yells at the guy, then drives away. Ok then.
It was just starting to rain. No idea what happened with the suspicious package.
A while later, the skies literally opened up. The rain poured down like a broken water pipe gushing out. It might have even been hail. Zahava noticed her floor was wet. A lot of water had gathered on her outside sill, and the drain couldn't handle it. When I say it was coming down in buckets, you can't begin to imagine the amount of rain that came down. I saw a video that the neighbor below Shauly took off the road outside their window. Looks like the Negev when the water floods over there. Tragically, there are 9 kids who lost their lives from this freak storm. The videos of Mamilla Mall and Geulah are insane!
That sorta killed our afternoon plans of walking to the shuk. It's OK, cuz I got a nap in.
And that's the last two crazy Israeli adventures I had today.
Hoping tomorrow is a quiet, normal day.

Exploring Your Roots and A Mabul

Thursday April 26 / 11 Iyar
I think that the first spot to visit in Israel is the Kotel. Chevron is my second choice. I know not everyone agrees with this order, but it's my personal preference.
When planning this trip with Sheindy, we focused on what she wanted to do. She told me in no uncertain terms that she did NOT want to dragged around to a bunch of graves. I said OK with the exception of Meoras Hamachpaila, Kever Rochel, and Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. So today I dragged her up to the Avos.
My wonderful daughter-in-law Zahava was kind enough to walk me to the post office to pick up a package (which was a whole experience in and of itself  - - postal workers are the same everywhere it seems!). She then walked us to the hotel to meet our tour. Our first stop was at Kever Rochel.
I was able to say my tehillim that I had planned to say. However, my class's tehillim list is sadly so long that I wasn't able to complete it all. I figured I finish it at Maoras Hamachpaila. Chevron gives me the chills. The Jews who have chosen to live in this city seeping with kiddusha is just mind blowing! The day was cold and dreary  with heavy threats of thunderstorms coming. I learned some interesting facts about Meoras Hamachpaila. It started drizzling, so we headed inside.
Now, just so you know, these are not the actual graves, but more like symbolic markers. The cave is 100% beneath the building. The question is, where is it exactly? People have tried to find out, and it's very interesting if you ever want to Google it. The only "graves" we couldn't visit was Yitzchok and Rivkah. They are under Arab control, and Jews are only allowed in there about 10 days a year.


The palm tree is supposed to be where Adam and Chava are buried.
Last up was Yaakov & Leah. (Hey, three guesses who walked into the men's shul while they were davening trying to get to Leah's spot? Said person didn't realize it was set up as a shul because the last time she was there it wasn't. Big hint - - she doesn't look good in the picture but is willing to post it anyway because of the meaning behind it.)
Next stop in our tour was supposed to be to the Rebbitzen Menucha Rochel. However, there were workers on the road who were blocking it.
Sheindy (and Chanie) were both born on her yartzeit. I was able to get a picture of Sheindy next to a plaque dedicated to her. 
We stopped at the hospital that a bunch of women were holed up in. It houses that gorgeous museum inside. Last time I was so overtaken with the beauty of the walls that contrasts the horrors of what had happened there that I took no pictures. I wanted to rectify it. Our tour guide spoke to the group outside while Sheindy and I ran through there. We had 5 mins. I grabbed as many as I could. It's still on my list to come back to get again on my next trip to try and combine the two opposites in one visit.




That was our last stop, and we headed back to Yerushalayim. I think I'll write a separate post about after the trip. Ttfn

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Headed for Greener Pastures

Tuesday April 24 / 9 Iyar ~ Wednesday April 25 / 10 Iyar
Anyone who knows me knows I am famous for being a last minute type of person. Why do it today when you can do it tomorrow? So if course, I waited until the last minute to pack. Tuesday morning found me running around, doing exchanges, and still trying to finish packing.
My husband advised me to go to the airport at 1, or 1:30 the latest. Waze however told me I only need three hours to get to BWI. So who do you think I listened to? It was raining all day, and my hubby is very smart  So yes, I picked Waze. I was also running around to the last minute, packing food, last minute items, you know  ... Image my distress when we hit stand still traffic in NOVA! I know, what a shock, right? Traffic in NOVA, who would have thunk, huh? Then we hit more traffic, and more traffic. The arrival time kept getting pushed back, and I did start getting very nervous. Shauly kept telling me, Tracht gut vet zein gut. So I put it in my head, I was going to make it. Missing the plane was not an option. We arrived at BWI at 6:30 for a 7:30 flight. Baruch Hashem I had the foresight to pay extra for Premium Access (or whatever it's called). At TSA I got to go on the shorter line! And since Sheindy is a minor, she had to go through the metal detector rather than that other machine. You know, the one that leaks radiation and stores naked pictures of you? I asked if I could go through it as well. The answer was yes, and we made it to our flight 10 mins before they were boarding!
That flight sat on the run way forever. Thankfully, Newark is a short flight. We saw one of those cars that drive people in the terminal, and Sheindy asked if we could take it. Another piece of hashgacha protis! When we got to the gate, there was only one woman standing in boarding section 3. I told Sheindy we were waiting in line. We stood there for about 40 mins, but again, Baruch Hashem, because there were so many people in line. Flights to Israel are always packed to the max, full planes. Overhead storage was going to be tight and I don't know how to travel light. That flight was 10 hours of pure torture. Every fliers worst nightmare  .... Crying babies. One baby literally shrieked for hours. The guy sitting next to me said the mother was sitting there doing nothing. I don't like to be judgemental, but in this case, it was so hard not to understand why that mother let the baby cry like that for so long. No one said anything, but everyone was upset. I got about an hour of sleep. I'm so happy Sheindy was able to get some sleep, as she really needs it.
Then the big moment  ... Our arrival in the Holy Land!
We landed in some really nasty looking black clouds. Once I got in touch with Shauly I heard there was a horrible freak storm in Yerushalayim. Heavy heavy rain, with hail at one point. It's not even really the rainy season here anymore. If you read about my last trip, you may recall that when I arrived last time, Yerushalayim was getting a rare snow. What is it with me and crazy weather that I bring????
Of course, one of the anticipated highlights was surprising my grand daughters with our visit. My daughter-in-law prepared her a little by saying there was a special gift at home. Two of them. And when Rikki walks in, she runs all excited to ... Uh no, not us, but   ... Her sister Huvi! Who she sees everyday. She didn't even give us a second glance. Hilarious!
My "adopted" son Shmueli came to take me and Sheindy to the Kotel. I feel it's the most appropriate place to go to first in Eretz Yisroel.

After that, we tried to figure out where to eat. Gross greasy food was turning our stomachs. We decided to head to Yaffa Gate and take a taxi to Tommy's, the place where Shauly used to live. But when we got there, I remembered there are a few places to eat in Mamilla Mall. We walked through looking at all of them, almost gave up, but then went back to Rimon, a milchig restaurant. Shmueli let Shauly know, who rode over on his electric bike. (It's really cool, btw!) We had such a delightful time together.
Before we went to sleep, Shauly advised us to take melatonin. Nope, I know better. I was beyond exhausted, so I was really worried I would over sleep and miss my first tour. Maybe one of my goals this trip should be to learn how to take advise from others. Guess who woke up at 4am??? I guess it's good, cuz I'm not going to miss my tour. And it gave me a chance to post to my blog. And so ended the first day of our excited adventure, which for me was over 24 hours long!
If you follow me on Instagram, you will see more pictures that I post as we go along. Feel free to join the fun!

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Staying in the Moment


Where your thoughts are,

there you are,
all of you.


One of my favorite all times quotes. Years ago I discovered it on one of my favorite sites, chabad.org.  It's a problem I've been plagued with for years and years. After I read it, I got to thinking. How many times did I pick the kids up from school, say HELLO! and then not listen to anything they said, cuz I was thinking of all the million and one things that I had to do, grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, etc. My body was in the car, but my brain was elsewhere.  I really am trying harder to "get in the moment". My kids know that if I am on the lap top, or reading, they have to have eye contact with me to know that I am truly listening and hearing them. It's sorta sad, but it's the truth. My mind wanders so quickly.

Well, for the last few weeks, I've been checked out again.  So much so that not once, but twice I drove right by the street I was supposed to turn on to pick up for carpool. Ooops! 
Where is my mind? For weeks now, I've been living and breathing ... Israel! Yup! Guess who is headed back? Me! And Sheindy! Special mother daughter journey in honor of her becoming bas mitzvah this past February. 

Stay tuned for more updates  I won't wait 4 months to write again.