Birthday at Rosh HaNikra

It was my birthday, earlier in the week. I just wanted to get out of the apartment and do something that didn't involve walking around a shopping mall. We decided that it was a perfect day to take the 40 minute drive to the Lebanese border to witness 'a love story between the rock and the sea.'  At least that is what the signs said. After years of keeping it on our family to do list, we visited Rosh HaNikra.

We called ahead to make sure it would be family friendly and Corona safe. Although they said it was best to wait until the end of the day, we decided that we would go with enough time to enjoy our day and still be home at a reasonable hour. 

We arrived to find the parking lot closed. Cars were scattered up and down the roads. We took a short drive up the road, just past the sign warning that the border was up ahead. We were able to find parking that wasn't to far away from the entrance to the parking lot. 

View of parking lot from our car

 

We knew which direction to walk. We eventually found our way to the area for purchasing tickets for the cable car. We also decided to upgrade our tickets for an extra activity quasi off the beaten path. We were told that the cable car would be limited to 7 passengers and that it would be an hour wait to get to the bottom. So we headed over to the line, which was staggered into 3 sections. Staff walked through the line at regular intervals to make sure that everyone was still wearing their masks. We also saw some police officers who would have had the authority to issue the 500 NIS fine for not wearing them correctly.

The view while waiting in line

They were not joking about the wait times. We eventually made it onto the cable car, down to our destination. By that point it was lunch time and we were all really hot. We bought a few cold drinks and found a nice quiet spot, on astroturf with umbrellas to offer us shade. 

After lunch it was time to go into the grottoes.  They were absolutely breathtaking. The only issue I had was that there were way too many people who thought they were super models. Their efforts to take the perfect picture, inconvenienced everyone else. It was well worth it. 

After we finished in the grottoes, we walked through a tunnel. The tunnel was built by the British in 1942 to connect Beirut and Haifa, to allow the transfer of military supplies. It was blown up in 1947 to prevent Arab fighters from being able to reach Haifa. 

Shlomo spent the walk telling Hoodie and anyone who would listen that trains used to be here and then they turned it into a museum.

At the other end of the tunnel, our chariot was waiting for us. OK, it wasn't a chariot, it was a golf cart. We had rented it for 45 minutes as something fun and different to do. We were allowed to drive it as far as the nearby beach.  Peri and I took turns driving around and the kids also had fun checking out the area in our slow moving vehicle. Did you know that Israel has trailer parks? We also saw a tent, set up in the kids park, near the beach. I wonder what the story was there. 

From there it was back into the much shorter line up the cable car. We stopped for ice cream at the top. We then headed back to the car to pack it in for the day.  We made it home in time for dinner. 

I had a really great birthday. It was a really fun family tiyul.

Food Distribution - Shlomo the Forklift Operator

The local Food Gemach takes care of families that struggle to provide themselves with the basics. They operate out of the local Bnei Akiva snif. They provide weekly food basics for families in Kiryat Shmuel and Kiryat Chaim. Funding is provided by the city of Haifa. All those receiving a basket are approved by the city social worker. The size of the baskets vary based on family size. Families are supposed to pay a nominal fee for the baskets. I have learned from the few times I have done deliveries that the fee is either waved or payment is delayed. 

There are multiple steps in the preparation and distribution of the baskets.  There are various shifts over a period of two days to take all the steps to pack and deliver the baskets. Normally Shlomo volunteers for the afternoon shift after Gan. His shift involves packing items that are added to the baskets at the very end. He also takes pride in bringing the empty boxes out to the dumpster. When the country went into lockdown, his volunteering temporarily stopped. 

Peri's role with the gemach is to pick up certain food items for the main distribution centre for the Haifa area. Shlomo has been waiting to help out his Eema. However, today was the first time he had an opening in his busy schedule. 

Shlomo was very busy, learning about how the facilities work and the important job they do. He was not afraid to help pitch in. He drove the forklift to empty the garbage bins. After a hard morning work, he was given a fresh peach to cool off on a hot day. 

I Can See A Nose, Can You?

Peri and I took Hoodie with us as we were running errands. One of those stops involved the doctors office. Hoodie and I did a couple of near by errands, while Peri waited for her appointment. When those were finished, I took Hoodie to the park behind the doctor's office. Hoodie went around and tried out all the different activities. She eventually climbed the ladder up to the slide. To her dismay, she discovered that the ground was made up of ropes. There was no smooth surface to walk across to the slide. This would never do. 

As soon as she was back down on the ground, she says 'This is not a good park for me.' and begins to walk away. The only practical option was to head up to the waiting area with Peri.

Hoodie was really excited to be with her Eema. She decided to invent a new game to play, that has now been named,  'I see a nose.'  If someone wasn't wearing a mask properly, she would say 'I see a nose.' If a person was wearing a mask properly, she would give them a thumbs up.  She finished playing when she could no longer find any more noses.

The Mousse Barber

Shlomo and I went for haircuts. Normally a haircut would not be an interesting activity.  These are not ordinary times. Earlier this week, they made hair gel in Gan/Camp. He had it in his hair and brought home a small container as well. I guess it is better than slime. He was super excited. Within half an hour of him arriving home, another parent from a different Gan that did the same activity said that their kid's hair was falling out. We had our doubts about the connection but decided the right thing to do was to rinse it out right away.

When Shlomo finished his haircut, he asked the barber for hair gel. Our barber doesn't believe in hair gel. However, he does use mousse.  He put mouse in Shlomo's hair and he put about a quarter of a cup of  mousse into a plastic cup to take home. After my haircut Shlomo insisted that the barber put some in my hair as well.

I really needed the haircut, so I am happy. Shlomo was really happy with mousse.

Taking a Bed for a Walk

When Hoodie started climbing out of her crib, we had no choice but to immediately move her into her own bed. The problem was that she shares a room with Shlomo and there was not enough room for two beds in the room. We temporarily set up the trundle from under Shlomo's bed, as her bed until the move.

There have been a number of times where we have been 2nd in line to obtaining a bed frame. We finally managed to find one with our names first on the list. The problem was it had been left outside and we had a very small window to in order to pick up before it was passed on to the next in line. 

We immediately drove the 240m to pick up the bed frame. Once it was in our possession the question became how to get it home. It would not fit in our van. Should we take it apart and risk having problems with the reassembly or should we walk it the 160m home.  What would a typical Israeli do?

There was a guy standing at the corner next to a big truck. So we asked him if there was room in his truck to move the bed. He said that it was full but he needed to call his boss. He wandered off, as we continued to discuss our options.

He came back and said that his boss had given him the approval to carry the bed to our place. He picked up the bed, put it on his back and asked where he was going.  He only accepted help, when he reached our building and some complicated maneuvering was required to get it around the stairwell.

When we suggested paying for his help, he was upset because he didn't want to have the mitzvah taken away from him.  He did accept the small bottle of water that we keep by the door for delivery people who have to schlep stuff up the flight of stairs to our apartment.

We are all grateful for his help, especially Hoodie.

Tish B'Av - How Could it Be

I just finished reading Eicha. I initially joined eicha reading with my shul via Zoom. Our shul reads from a claf. The feed died out during the third perek. I said the rest on my own.

Artscroll translates the word as 'Alas' but what does it really mean. The most meaningful answer I have heard was that it asks the question 'How could it be?'  How did we get to this point. Eicha are the words, I said over and over again as I cried myself to sleep the night my Gabi died.

Here I am again, the word Eicha has an extra sharpness to it this year. Our whole world has been turned upside down. We spent months in lockdown, waiting for the danger to pass over us, hoping and praying would leave us unharmed. I sat and watch other countries around the world that chose to ignore the danger, as they suffered the consequences of their actions. There was a certain level of unity in our nation as we all adjusted to life during a very upside down time. And it came to pass that the danger was going away and we could begin to return to the world we once knew.

The Government promised to move slowly to make sure that the coast was clear. Something went wrong. Our unity was broken. All of a sudden the Government said lets start allowing A, B and C and see what happens. People got angry. People protested. How could A be allowed and E not allowed. So things started moving faster and faster. Suddenly most things were open. People were being somewhat respectful of the rules but more than not they weren't. The danger was still going away.  How could everything else be open but not the schools. So they opened the schools and the 2nd wave began. As predicted the 2nd wave is much worse than the first one.

The Book of Abraham by Marek Halter was published in 1986. It is the story of a family of scribes who pass on their family history from generation to generation. The story begins with the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash and the struggle of a world turned upside down. What was it like living in the shock of the Beit HaMikdash being overturned. Eicha.  What do we do now?  Where do we go?

In the mishna Nazir, we are confronted with a very sad case. A bunch of people took the oath of Nazir on a temporary basis. They go to Yerushalyim to bring the sacrifices that allow them to finish their Nazir cycle. They arrive, only to discover that the Beit HaMikdash is gone. In some scenarios they may be able to have their Nazir status nullified. In others they are left in a status of nazir for their entire life.  All because they could never have contemplated such a terrible tragedy could prevent them from completing the Nazir process.

In the year 2020, the world is upside down. Eicha. How did this happen?  More importantly, how do we go forward?

In the passed month or two I have allowed frustration to periodically allow my morale to drop. I am frustrated with those who are constantly downplaying what seems so clear to me. There is a threat and we need to take appropriate steps to keep not only ourselves, but everyone else safe. I am frustrated with people who are being careless about following rules designed to protect our health and safety. I am tired of the conspiracy theories about how the threat is just a hoax.

There is one thing I have learned from those times that the words Eicha has cried out as a whole in my heart. After we are finished with the pain and the tears, there is one question we must ask. Where do we go from here?  How do we heal?  What is next?


Eicha gives us the answer.


 הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ יְהוָה אֵלֶיךָ וְנָשׁוּבָה, חַדֵּשׁ יָמֵינוּ כְּקֶדֶם.

Bring us back to You Hashem and we shall return, renew our days as of old.


No matter how bad things get. We can make them better.  We can guide our world to a time when everything will be normal again, even if that normal is not what we thought the plan was going to be.

Bezeq and the 10 Spies

In this week's parsha (those outside of Israel will need to wait until next week), the Jewish people are on the cusp of fulfilling the purpose of leaving Egypt. Before taking on the enormous task of settling in the land of Israel, the Jewish people decided it was important to take a pilot trip. Not that I know from first hand experience, but a pilot trip can be an important component of putting the pieces in place for a successful aliyah. As we learn in the parsha, it is possible to get lost in the logistical details and forget the whole reason for the trip in the first place. For the generation in the midbar (desert), it meant 'Living the Dream' would be left for the next generation.

Buying and moving into a new home presents many challenges and obstacles. Throughout the process I was amazed over and over again at the hashgacha pratis involved and how  many of our challenges we were able overcome. Some of those challenges were pretty absurd.

After a long period of calm, in the weeks leading up to the move my anxiety levels reached a point that if they were any higher they would have spun out of control, which has not happened in a long time. The level and frequency of panic attacks were also something that hadn't faced in a very long time. There were some challenges with the move that could have easily pushed me over the edge.

Peri and I had been contemplating if we should change keep our ADSL provider or if we should switch to cable internet. In the end we decided to take the pressure of switching providers would be too much for me before the move. We signed up for the 100 mbps package, not knowing what speed we would actually get and reevaluate when we settled.

They day before the move the tech comes to the apartment and discovers there are no ADSL lines. He said that we would need to hire someone privately. Our contractor said that it would cost 3000 NIS to pull the line and there was no guarantee of what kind of speed we would get. We called the cable company that the previous occupants had used. They had a reputation of offering a good product with lousy customer service.

At first they said that our address didn't exist.  Our apartment has 2 different addresses. The main one for the front of the building and one for the back off the building that is off an alley. They were able to use the second address and we signed up for the 200 mbps package. Customer service was excellent. Speed tests since installation have come in at the 170 - 190 range.  The downside was we had to go another few days without internet. My perspective on the whole episode was that, we were being forced to make the decision that we should have made in the first place. I was calm the whole time.

Earlier this week our A/C conked out on us. We were very nervous as that can turn into a very expensive repair. While trying to troubleshoot, I discovered the really hard to reach filter was in urgent need of replacing. We ended up calling the tech who installed the system, whose day job happens to be an engineer on the Rafael project. It turned out to be a burned out wire, which is a very minor repair and something that can happen with any system. The benefits of having the tech explain the in and outs of the system were incredibly valuable. He also plans on taking an idea that Peri shared and using it on the Rafael project. I am happy that the wire burned out because the knowledge and experience from the visit will allow us to make our home better.





It is not hard to look out into the world and be afraid of what we see around us. With this new home, I am doing a better job of seeing passed that. Perhaps on some level, I have internalized the lesson that the 10 spies missed.