Upon waking and checking the e-mail this morning at 6:30am I was stunned to learn of the death of First Sergeant Yoseph Yitzach Goodman z’l (Yoseph Yitzach ben Chanah v’Mordechai). We know Yoseph’s parents and Romi teaches two of his siblings in Efrat, so when I told Romi she was quite shaken. Our plans for… Read More And the Angels Wept….

Today was the day that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was scheduled to have angioplasty to close the small hole in his heart that was said to be the source of his ‘very minor stroke’ of two weeks ago. Instead the country awoke to reports that the PM was still in surgery for a major stroke… Read More …and the music played

For the first time since we made aliyah 18 months ago, the parents Sussman (that’s Romi and Josh for the uninitiated) went away for a brief mini-vacation, thanks to the visit of Grandma and Grandpa Sussman. We spent the night in a nice little hotel in Zichron Yaakov. About 30 km south of Haifa, the… Read More Surprise in the Shadows of Smokestacks

We’ve had quite a busy week of Chanukah thus far and, surprisingly, took a bunch of nice pictures that we thought we would share. The senior Sussmans are visiting and they have been kept quite busy. One day at the science museum (and then dinner in Beit Shemesh with the Brothers Wiener), a full day… Read More Mid-Chanukah Wrap-up

Last Sunday, I was struck throughout the day at how much I didn’t realize that it was Christmas Day. My mom visited for the past week and she kept remarking, as we were shopping, how there weren’t any Christmas decorations in the mall, any Christmas music blaring in the stores, and any “Merry Christmas” announcements… Read More Chanukah Is Here!!

On Motsei Shabbat (Saturday night) Josh and I took the opportunity to hear the recent Noble Prize winner, Professor Yisrael Auman. He spoke at the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem, 20 minutes from our home. It was awe inspiring to be able to listen to a religious Jew talk about his experience only a few weeks… Read More Washing Your Hands with the King

With the first night of Hanukah tonight, the synagogue had a massive celebration. Our synagogue has been under construction for the better part of five years and is finally complete (well, 95% complete, but what’s five percent among friends). Most of the money was donated by a Brazilian family with relatives in Alon Shvut who… Read More Hanukat HaBeit Knesset Mercazi

A few funny things today. Early last year Matan brought a friend home from school. The friend asked me if I had seen his “petek” and I had no idea what he was talking about. He looked at me as if I were crazy – everyone knows what a petek is. And now I know… Read More Notes from school and Pretty flowers…

A regular week in Israel…every day seems to be packed with so much. Last week we were able, FINALLY to secure our mortgage. It was a major accomplishment, as the mortgage process is much more tedious and interesting, shall we say, than it was in America. So, as a thank you to our friends who… Read More A Week In The Life

Last night at the end of Ma’ariv (the evening prayer service) someone announced quickly that anyone who was interested in going to Hevron the next morning at 5:45am, should let him know. It turns out the Neve Daniel has a long-standing minhag (custom) of going to daven Shacharit on the Friday before Rosh Chodesh (the… Read More Quick Trip to Hevron…