Well, it’s been awhile and we wanted to update everyone on life here as we head towards Purim. This country cracks me up. Everyone has told me in the school that Purim really takes over the whole month of adar (usually around March). “What?” I’ve said with great confusion. “But Purim is only a one… Read More Adar – Purim For A Month!
Along with the comings and goings of our family and the occasional ‘political analysis’ we always like to keep in mind those, ‘only in Israel moments’ and yesterday gave us a perfect example. I have been making regular trips to the post office in Efrat lately to mail information packets for work and had noticed… Read More A Kiddush in the Doar!?!
As Muslim protests over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in Denmark and Norway grow more violent, I continue to return to one simple question…’where’s the balance?’ What do I mean? Not a day goes by when virulently anti-Semitic cartoons depicting Jews in the most obscene, grossly stereotypical ways do not appear in… Read More Where’s the Balance?
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
