Yeah, I’ll be there tonight…I’m very cynical about it, but not in the way that was publicized in Haaretz. I’m just a big cynic regarding one of the sponsors. You can check Sarah’s blog to see what I think of them.
We had a very nice vacation, and I highly recommend what we did! We spent three nights (Thursday through Sunday) at the Belmont Hotel at Kibbutz Tzuba. By staying at the hotel, you get free entrance to Kiftzuba and the pool.
Kifzuba is great for kids 2+, but even our little one enjoyed the play area which they have for babies. She was able to crawl around with other kids, be tossed (gently, I assure you) in the ball pit, and even go on some of the bouncing castle type toys. (She also went on the train, but I don’t think she liked it so much.) The bigger girls went on the bumper cars, bumper boats, slides, inflatable houses etc.
The down-side of Tzuba, is that it isn’t a religious kibbutz. They do have kosher food, but there aren’t activities appropriate for Shabbat. I took the girls for a hike up Tel Tzuba, which is ruins up on a hill. It was outside the Eruv, so we couldn’t carry water, but we did enjoy the walk. On the way, we saw a man picking Sabra fruits for his family. He used a long piece of wood, with a tin can on the end to pluck them from the cactus plants. We asked him a bit about how he knew they were ripe etc.
At the top of the Tel, you can walk in and out of the buildings, and even on the roof. We saw some lizards, and beautiful views. The little one was terrified to enter the buildings, but I enjoyed it. Both girls also made friends with the other kids staying at the hotel, and engaged in some games of Tag and “Dag Maluach” (It is similar to red light green light)
We ate most of our meals on the Kibbutz, but we did do take out (delivery) from Burgers Bar. That was a great idea provided by some helpful person on Janglo.
We managed to get to and from the kibbutz with taxis/van service. I’d say it would have been better if we had our own transportation, but on the whole everyone had a good time.
Devra and I met doing the tour of the hospital to prepare for the birth of her youngest daughter, and my middle one. Please send some prayers/good thoughts, whatever you do forChayim Zvi Ariel
May everything go well today.
Sometimes I feel like I’ll never really be Israeli…that is something for my kids….but it doesn’t make me any less proud to participate in “Israeli activities” or when I remember to do something (generally for the kids) which is part of the “Israeli Lifecycle.”
The example of the former was this evening when we went to our synagogue’s Yom Hazikaron/Yom HaAtzmaut gathering. After the afternoon prayers (Mincha), they did an “Erev Shira” (sing-along) where they sang songs that are associated with the army. They put the lyrics on an overhead projector (remember those?) and we sang…well I think I knew one or two of the songs, and I knew several of the composers, but it was nice to hear people singing them. I should specify..not just people, but adults…mostly men in their 30s.
After the sing-along, there was an opportunity to talk about how people relate to Israel’s 60th birthday. It feels strange to hear people talking about friends and family they had lost during service in Israel’s army.
The evening ended with a prayer service where we said Hallel. There is a debate in some of the Orthodox Jewish world about the appropriateness of saying it regarding the State of Israel. It was nice to be part of a group where this wasn’t even an issue. I like that my girls will grow up with the reality of Israel. As to whether or not this is the beginning of the redemption, I will leave that to others.
The Israeli Lifecycle part, will be saved for next time…I’m off to watch fireworks on the computer! I can also hear them, but not see them from my apartment.
Apologies go out to the non-Jews, and non Hebrew speakers, but this one was too funny to miss…
We were reviewing the weekly Torah Portion and going over the questions for the week.
Q: What two fibers are forbidden to be combined?
Her A: צמר ופלישתים
(wool and Philistines)
(The correct answer is צמר ופשתן wool and linen)
I guess “plishtim” and “pishtan” are rather close.
A second best question was “Who is it forbidden to curse?”
Her A: A blind man (correct answer a deaf man–blind/deaf what is the difference?)
Yesterday I worked and let the hubby be home with the girls. They are all off on vacation, but I still needed to work.
Here are the results:
And now today on my day off, I am with the same three girls, and so far:
Somehow we will be done, and way before midnight (which sometimes seems to be our custom)
On Friday afternoon (shortly before Yom Kippur) I saw our neighbor’s son outside with a brand new bicycle. Previously he had been riding his older sister’s pink bike. I said to him ooh….a new bicycle, did you get it for your birthday? His response “no, for Yom Kippur.”
To get a better understand of that phenomena, take a look at this article. (Read down to the bottom)
This is probably the earliest I’ve actually made physical progress preparing for any holiday other than Passover!
Big girl is helping me make Taiglach. We stopped counting how many balls after we hit 100. This recipe we used calls for 2.5 POUNDS of honey. Making the balls takes forever but the results are well worth it.
Wishing everyone a sweet New Year!
Note: ours contain walnuts and ginger…no raisins or coconut as mentioned by Wikipedia.
Update: I just spoke to my Great-Aunt and she informed me that this is my Great-Grandmother’s recipe. That makes my big girl the fifth generation to use this recipe!
I apologize the lack of translations in advance, but I’m just not up to the task.
After a conversation with the big girl about how Spain can have a king if there is only one King in Shamayim (heaven). We started talking about kings, such as David and Saul.
Big girl then asked me: “Why do we sing “David Melech Yisrael, Chai Chai Ve”Chayyam” if he is really “met” (dead)?”
Good question…
I did find an answer at Ask Moses, but not good enough for a six year old.
I am an evil mother. Last night I was forced to spend nearly two hours at my daughter’s end of year party (misibat siyum). This is something not for the faint of heart. They started at 6 pm (Isn’t that when we normally eat dinner?) and ended at nearly 9 pm (isn’t that nearly two hours after her bed time?) And what went on in the middle? G-d help us all!
Lets see….
There was a song sung by the girls to their mothers…I didn’t catch all the words, but a friend (read: fellow cynic #1) said isn’t it a bit sickening that the girls (who are 5-6) are singing about getting married and being mothers of sons (banim). Well, yeah that was a bit icky.
The boys at least danced with their fathers and sang “HaMalach HaGoel” (a very nice biblical song). Another fellow cynic (who didn’t come) mentioned how much she can’t stand the separation of sexes at this age. What is a single parent of the opposite sex child supposed to do?
Another few notes about the girls’ song…the teacher told us when to hug our child. And we were all given scarves to wear on our heads. I didn’t put one on, since I already wear a scarf, and neither did the other mother who covers her hair. Big girl questioned why I didn’t wear the scarf, but luckily I had “mom #2″ to point to.
Cynic #1 also pointed out to me the next day that this party was nothing more than a photo shoot. He said that there was absolutely no content showing us what our children learned during the year. Sad but true. Husband of cynic #2 commented that he got some great shots in his video camera of parents fighting over spots to take pictures. Cynic #3 doesn’t even come with a camera…she was also infuriated over the little girls coming out with bridal veils!
Although I’m glad I had these fellow cynical parents to commiserate with, my little one will not be attending the same kindergarten.
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