Chol Hamoed - Israel Style

When Eitz Chaim changed its yearly calendar to be more in sync with the Jewish Calendar I was quite upset. Not that I disagreed with the thought and theory behind the change, I actually agreed that we should all live according to our own Jewish calendar and timeline. So we made aliyah! Now when my kids are off on Sukkot, Chanukah and pesach time and not over "winter break" time , we also will be and actually so will most of the country. I won't be grappling to find child care while I have to work and I won't be sitting home alone when I have time off in December and my kids are in school. We are now off as a family and will spend the chag together exploring and discovering our country.
Well I already described what first DAY was like and it was absolutely wonderful. Motzei Chag came and the phone was ringing and arrangements being made. Avital's tzevet was organizing a "mangal" , a bar-b-que. What was refreshing for me was the way it was put together. Her friends have what they call a phone chain, anytime they arrange to get together they start the chain. One calls the other and so on until everyone is in on the plans. So this week the kids were planning a mangal at someone's sukkah. Avital gets a phone call asking if she can bring one of four or five items to the mangal. I look in the freezer, yes we have meat, you can bring hot dogs. She crosses hot dogs off the list and calls the next person and asks if they can bring any of the next items. They all meet at the hosts sukkah and have a great time. Wow, I say again, no parental involvement, no planning and running and organizing just a quick call bring what you have, no big deal and NO PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT in the planning. I love the youth here, they really are a unique bunch!
Our first day of chol hamoed is spent going on a Yishuv Tiyul. We all meet at the gates of the yishuv in our personal vehichles and head out to the hills near Tekoa. i had not been to Tekoa yet, Darrell had gone with the kids to their outdoor pool. It was a beautiful drive out behind Efrat and through the many Arab villages. The little Arab kids on the side waved to us and were so thrilled when we waved back. It was a weird sensation looking at the people and wondering about their thoughts or even involvement in "activities". I thought it might be similar to when one would meet Germans or Poles of the "right age group" and wonder. Sara screams out that she needs to go to the bathroom "RIGHT NOW!!!!" Well sweetheart, we can't go right now, we are in the middle of an Arab village. OOOOOOH I need to go right now, right now, it is hurting me. Well you are going to have to wait. Finally, right outside the gates to Tekoa, we stop the car at the side of the road. I hold her and wait for her to go. Go Sara, we're in the middle of nowhere, at the side of the road. "GO, GO, GO , GO SARA!" the kids chant from inside the car. Stop it you guys it's too much pressure for her. GO ALREADY SARA! I yelp out as I hold her in mid-air. The Frankls pull up behind us...everything okay they call out....oh yeah, we're just waiting for ...SARA! Ema it won't come out, I don't need to go anymore, let's go! She hops in the car, Darrell and I look at each other, and off we go up the hill to Tekoa.
In Tekoa, we meet our guide, we are standing at the edge of a waadi we are about to hike down. He takes out a tanach and starts reading pesukim and explaining who walked here before us and what happened here. I look around at my fellow yishuvniks and I chuckle. I remember being amongst North American tour groups and we would see these Israeli groups come through with their tanachs, their hebrew guides and their many children......WE are now THEM. I am very proud to be a part of the Neve Daniel group! We hike down the wadi to enter and explore the caves. It is absolutely gorgeous and so wholesome and fun.....This sure beats the mall with the indoor playground. We see the cave where the two young boys were killed while wandering and exploring the beautiful surroundings. My heart aches, how could something so awful happen surrounded by a place of such beauty. And how could any human being kill two young, innocent boys so brutally , so close to their homes....I turn and walk on trying to move on to the tiyul at hand.
After the caves in Tekoa, we head off to Herodian, where we eat lunch in the sukkah at the bottom of the hill. We meet the Brauer family, who were on shlichut in Toronto many years ago. Their son has a scorpion he has trapped in a bottle....my boys are fascinated. His mother tells me how he knows every tree, plant and animal....it's amazing. We do the Herodian thing and head back home. It was an awesome day, and it just felt great being outdoors and enjoying eventhough it happened to be cold, windy and even rainy.....it was still yom tov in chutz! We head home and are getting set to go to Bet Shemesh for the evening music festival when we hear it is cancelled. Oh well.
The next day, I need to shop and cook for Shabbat but Darrell and the three younger kids head off on an organized tiyul from a shul in Efrat. They go to Neot kedumim (near modiin) where they get to see all kinds of interesting sukkot and learn about the halachas of sukka building. There is also an orchard where the arba minim are grown...and they saw "massive , huge etrogim!"There was a sukkah on a boat, a sukkah on a camel, and even a two storey sukkah. On the way back they stopped at shlomo carlebachs moshav and enjoyed some songs and stories. I think it was a good time. We met up in Efrat and enjoyed some Burgers Bar in the sukkah!
Friday, was a quieter day, cleaning up and getting ready for the sabbath. This was our first shabbat having two meals at home. Chaviva Mittleman came with Penina Cohen. It was a nice shabbat and we enjoyed having the girls. The Kodeshes (our future next door neighbour) came for lunch and we just relaxed and enjoyed. Shira Persoff (Shauna and Jerry's daughter) dropped by with her daughter EMuna (who my kids adore). oh yeah and of course.....Chaim was standing guard duty with his M16 Rifle today (see previous blog entry). I tried to imagine what I would feel when I saw him with his gun in front of the shul...would I laugh or cry? In the end I mostly felt proud of him...proud and grateful.... proud that he was protecting us, our community and our homes and grateful that hashem had brought us to this place where we are able to protect ourselves and not rely on foreign parties to do it for us. How many times in Jewish History were we persecuted and executed and we could not defend ourselves?
Last night Darrell and Yonatan went to a melava malka at tzomet gush, where three young lives were shot down. Today we are going to a Simchat Beit Hashoeva at an army base and tonight we head over to Chashmonaim for a reunion with a few of our fellow former Torontonians at the Halpert's. We'll update you on all that later!