Visits, Visitors and Biking

Did I mention two Shabbats ago? We had a great time staying with the Perlmans in Jerusalem, having Shabbat dinner with them and then hanging out all day Saturday.

In the afternoon, we visited old family friends, Lionel and Margot Kestenbaum, which was lovely. Margot put out a yummy array of child and adult friendly snacks and it was really good to catch up. Two doors down on Alfasi St. from Lionel and Margot is the apartment we lived in two summers ago (just a coincidence!). We became friends with the owners, with whom we swapped homes that summer. Dan and Merav and their daughter, Rachel also fed us well and we felt as if we could have talked all night. Rachel and the girls made cookies.

Then this week, the Bostonians (Newtonians) showed up. Dena and her girls came by for a visit and lunch on the beach. Then they dropped of Ronit for a 2-day playdate with Raizi. Ronit was here for Shabbat and then went to school with Raizi on Sunday. On Shabbat, we also went to the beach with Claire Caine and Anna, who were visiting Claire's family close by. I think my girls enjoyed having English-speaking friends around. Raizi and Ronit sure were giggly.

Monday, Raizi and I, Dena and Ronit and Claire and Anna all went to Caesarea, the amazing seaside archeological site first built as a palace and port city by King Herod, and then conquered and destroyed and rebuilt over the millenia by the Byzantines, Mamluks and Crusaders. Check out Raizi's blog for a good description.

That's Anna and Raizi at the top of the amphitheater steps. Here's Raizi washing her hair in the Roman bath:

And of course we had to have a snack.

Yesterday, Andy and I rented bikes in a small town called Alonei Abba. We biked to another town called Beit Lechem HaGlalit. The ride was gorgeous, what with all the blooming and sprouting all over. Also, the towns were interesting, having been founded by German Templars. Thus, there are the kind of buildings you see in the German Colonies of Jerusalem and Haifa, but not usually in country towns.

Between the two towns we stopped at THE MOST AMAZING spice place I have ever seen. In the middle of nowhere, reachable on dirt roads, was Derech HaTavlinim (Spice Way). There were all the spices you can imagine, and then mixes of spices -- 20 for rice, another 20 for fish, then chicken, meat, etc. Then there were teas and tea infusions, mixes of dried fruit, granolas. It was incredible.

I am sure there is no place like this in the States. Even if there were, it couldn't be so beautiful, with all the bulk spices piled high in the open, given the health laws. In fact, I bent down to smell something and a teeny bit got on the tip of my nose. That just wouldn't go over at home.

Speaking of Bike Rides, Here is an important letter from Andy:

Friends:

Please sponsor me! The 5-day bike ride I'm riding in here in Israel is coming up soon, March 6-10, to raise funds for the Israeli Reform movement and support the important work they do to build pluralistic Judaism with liberal values in Israel. Will you sponsor me so I can meet my goal?

Here's the story about the ride: We will cover about 160 miles over five days, biking from the town of Modi'in (between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv) all the way to Masada. Our group will make visits on the route to some Israeli Reform congregations, bringing a message of friendship and support that I think will be especially meaningful. I am especially looking forward to spending this time while I'm on sabbatical in Israel experiencing the beauty of Eretz Yisrael up close, by bike, in the beautiful month of March, when the weather will already be warm, and many flowers will still be in bloom. Plus, I am also looking forward to the major physical challenge that this ride will present me.

I'd like to ask you to sponsor me on this ride. Funds that I raise will help the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) run its excellent Reform Jewish summer camps for Israeli children, build its Mechina progressive Jewish values program for high school graduates who are seeking an extra year of study and activism before entering the army, help the Jerusalem campus of HUC-JIR which trains Israeli rabbis, and offer support to the growing number of Israeli Reform congregations around the country, who are always engaged in their own struggles because they get no support from the State, unlike Orthodox synagogues. During these first 6-7 weeks of mine in Haifa, I have already met a number of exceptional Israeli Reform leaders who are pursuing their vision for a meaningful, pluralistic and modern Judaism that will thrive within Israel. I love the tag line of the IMPJ: "There is more than one way to be a Jew." This message very much needs to be heard in Israel.

To add your donation to sponsor me, just click to this link, http://riding4reform.org/Eng/2011/Pages/PaymentInstructions.asp#Sponsorship%20Donations , scroll down to the middle of the page, and look for the words "credit card donations". Where you see the words "Sponsored Rider / General Donation," write my name ("Andrew Vogel") in the box, and click "make a donation"; then you can enter either your credit card information, or PayPal information, whichever you prefer. I am told that your donation is 100% tax deductible. Whatever you can donate is helpful. I am grateful for your sponsorship!

To learn more about the IMPJ, or about the bike ride, click here: http://www.riding4reform.org/Eng/2011/Index.asp.

Thank you for your support!

Andy Vogel, rabbi

on sabbatical in Israel through June 2011

Playing Hooky with the Girls

On Monday we took the girls out of school for a trip to Mt. Tabor. On the top we read the story of the prophet Deborah, which the Bible says took place there, and hiked a loop around the summit. Now the Church of the Transfiguration sits there, where (correct me if I am wrong) Jesus is said to have first revealed himself as the Son of God after a meeting with Moses and Elijah.

We also saw all kinds of caves.

It is just starting to bloom here.

Ulpan, Kinim, Yom haMishpacha, and other adventures

A highlight since the last post is Shana. It was so exciting to pick Shana up at the airport, and we so loved having her here.

After a few days of wandering, playing games and hanging out in Cafes, I went to Jerusalem for Ulpan, and Shana started her program in Nes Tziyona.

So, last week I spent at Ulpan Or, in Jerusalem, having Hebrew therapy. Ulpan Or is a unique ulpan in that it teaches Hebrew on a one-on-one basis. There are several programs and I chose the intensive one-week program. Let me tell you, it was intensive and intense. The first three hours every day you meet with the same teacher, alternating ½ hours between listening to your fully loaded MP3 player, and reading (self study) and talking to the teacher and translating English into Hebrew. Then there is a short break and you spend the next two hours with another teacher on a tiyul – a little trip – in Jerusalem. You prepare for these with little booklets in English and Hebrew about the site. Then YOU are the tour guide, b’Ivrit, in Hebrew. Each tiyul ends with in a café with coffee and chatting (b’Ivrit!). So its 5 hours of Hebrew, and then homework. It was exhausting, but great.

And it was Hebrew therapy because, for me, it addressed my fears. First of all, the teachers are incredibly supportive and encouraging. They expressed great surprise and pleasure at how good my Hebrew is. It was as if no one has ever entered their offices with such good Hebrew. It is a big confidence booster. Second, I had time to think about what holds me back, and I think it is the feeling of being judged. I realize I am more afraid to speak Hebrew in front of American Hebrew speakers than Israelis. Most of all, those closest to me!

Also, my new motto is, I’m almost 50, so who _____ cares?! It is helpful for me to feel that way with Hebrew.

Here I am at graduation with my teacher:

In Jerusalem, I stayed with Connie (Kestenbaum) and David Green and Ithai, their 17 year old son, which was great, and I felt completely at home (maybe that’s because the Kestenbaum home was my second home growing up, and my first home for watching TV). There was a lot of eating and catching up to do, so between that and homework, I never slept. But I put my bags in Avishai’s room. Avishai is in the army, but he was home for the first day. Sadly, my great photo of Connie and Avishai in uniform is stuck in a camera from which I can't download . . . Having little American girls, it is hard for me to imagine having a hulking young man for a child, let alone a soldier. Amazing.

Now, for you Jewish, non-Hebrew speakers, does the word kinim sound familiar. If you meditate on it, do you sort of hear it in a sing-song way? Perhaps you want to dip your pinky in a glass of wine? Exactly!! It is a plague, from the Passover Haggadah. Well, Halleli had it and it is called lice. Here she is receiving her treatment while eating edamame:

We got a call from school, and when Andy went to pick her up, he asked a friend of Hallel’s whether she’d ever had lice. She said, “oh about a million times. In fact, I think I have them now . . .” Well, lice are just a fact of life in Israel, and they don’t even require you to take your kids home, so they just hop from head to head.

Yom ha Mishpacha – Family Day – at the Leo Baeck School was amazing for one reason, especially: my daughter, Raizi, performed in 4 pieces, one of which she choreographed with 5 friends and no teacher, and in another of which she sang a solo line. We were awestruck. Sadly, the videos are stuck in my little Flip camera that won't download!

The performances took place in the auditorium, in between about 1000 poems and songs that were projected onto a screen and read or sung by individuals or the whole crowd. There was also family Israeli dancing (seems Raizi is too shy to do that) and yummy parent-prepared food in each classroom. It was a warm, happy time.

Now for the critique: Most of us (liberal Americans, that is) would have freaked at the auditorium presentation in general. The poems were about how ima (mom) met abba (dad), or, “when I was in Ima’s tummy” or other politically incorrect characterizations of the family. Finally there was a long poem about different kinds of famiies – with one parent, or with a grandparent, or whatever – and at the end it said, “but what connects us all is blood.” Oy! I can just picture the stampede into the principal’s office if this had happened at home.

What else? Andy and I went with a wonderful guide to Tzipoori and Beit Shearim on Tuesday, both archeological sites. Tzipoori has beautiful ancient mosaics and was a city shared by Jews and Romans from around the year 0.

Of course, the history is complicated with various wars, revolts, earthquakes and fires, but suffice it to say that it sits on a hilltop in a valley – a gorgeous setting – and is where Rabbi Yehuda HaNassi compiled the Mishna.

Beit Shearim was also a Jewish city and is now known for its amazing necropolis – a whole network of burial caves with sarcophaguses all over. It was apparently THE place to be buried.

Another lovely thing about the tiyul was that things are starting to bloom all over. Apparently, it is very late for all this blooming because of the lack of rain earlier in the winter and last year. One of my favorites is the wild rosemary.

Andy is now in Bethlehem on a program for Jewish leaders called Encounter, meeting with Palestinians and generally experiencing the Palestinian West Bank. We go to Jerusalem to meet him and spend Shabbat at the Perlmans.



Oh, I forgot to mention last Shabbat. Oh never mind -- here are some pictures:

PEACE and LOVE