Seizing the moment

I woke up this morning to the news of last nights terror attack in Jerusalem. A group of soldiers were walking to the Kotel to say Selichos. A 19 year old Palestinian upset about being rejected from marrying his cousin decided it was a good idea to drive through the soldiers taking civilians down along the way. The commanding officer of the group, a 24 year old father of 2 assessed that this was a terrorist attack and shot the driver. The area was then cleared out of fear there was also a bomb in the car.

The Canadian news websites had not reported the attack. We decided since our parents knew we were not going to be in Jerusalem yesterday we decided not to wake them up in the middle of the night. In the last few weeks I have become really disgusted with CBC comment section on their website. Everytime they post any article having anythig to do with Israel, it is used as an excuse to debate the Palestinin situation and Israel's right to exist. Every Canadian news story doesn't have some commentary about the hundreds of unresolved land claims by the Aboriginals. I have also never seen a Canadian soldier's death in Afghanistan being identified as a legitimate target for the resistance because Canada is an occupying power.

Channah gets off of school at 1:00 on Tuesdays. So we decided to take one of our last oppurtunities to hit the beach. We took the train to Tel Aviv accompanied with Lorien, Chana 'Bet', and Seffi. The beach was a short bus ride from the train station.

The beach was amazing. The sand was soft. The weather was warm but not scorching hot. The beach was not overcrowded and the water was warm. At first we all went in to enjoy the water. The waves were really strong so I kept a close watch on the girls. Eventually everyone went back to our spot to stop for lunch. I took this as an oppurtunity to go out deeper and enjoy the water and the waves. I must have been out there by myself for at least 45 minutes. I eventually came in for some food and the kids played in the sand. I have always loved the water and I had a really great time. The only thing that could have made the afternoon better was access to a sailboat. I must say the kyte boarding did look like a lot of fun.

Eventually the sun was starting to go down and the kids needed to get to bed. There was a Maariv minyan on the train. When we got home Channah had a quick dinner, bath and then her normal bedtime routine. This really was the only chance to go before the weather starts to cool off. I am looking forward to going back next year.