Tuesdays in Teverya (Tiberias)

Now that I don’t live in Teverya, I do find that the occasional full day of errand running and taking care of business there can be great. Exhausting, but great.

Not only do I get things done that I need to do (like see a medical specialist and buy shoes for my kids), I also get to bump into random people.

Last time, I bumped into other NBN olim, and some old friends, this time I bumped into a cousin from Jerusalem.

I also get to talk to shopkeepers – I spoke with the owner of a bakery who lamented the fact that Teverya is being underdeveloped and overlooked and that all of his children have chosen to go live closer to the center of the country. This made me sad, but I was so glad to get to hear the perspective of some of the "real people of Teverya".

Today I wanted to shop at the mall. The air conditioning lured me in. Plus the promise of so many stores in one place...

But it wasn’t to be. We had a really hard time finding what we needed, and in the end, the shopkeeper at the last shoe store I went to listened to my complaints about not being able to find suitable shoes for my teenage son, and she told me to go to her branch in the lower city of Teverya. But she didn’t tell me WHEN to go.

Now, I have noted with frustration in the past that it seems that some stores in Teverya just randomly neglect to open again after the 2-4 siesta break. I marveled at their ability to not worry about losing business by not bothering to reopen... So I wasn’t completely surprised to discover that the shoe store we were headed for was closed.

And then, while I was talking with my son about it, we passed store after store in the lower city of Teverya that had not bothered to reopen after the 2-4 siesta! It seemed like they thought it was Friday afternoon!

And it turns out, there is actually an historical reason the stores don’t reopen. My son had heard about it from a tour guide one day...

We found out that for a period of time beginning in 1931, stores in Teverya all closed on Tuesday afternoons because there were planes coming from Athens and Cyprus landing on the Kinneret to deliver mail and passengers (who would reboard in Tzemach for other destinations), and refuel on the way to Bagdhad! How utterly fantastic that all of these shopkeepers keep alive the memory of this spectacle by not doing business on Tuesday afternoons! I wonder how many of their grandparents and great-grandparents actually remember going down to the watch the planes?

And when I say it's fantastic, I mean, it's somewhat exasperating and annoying. And a little bit cool too.

So - you have been warned - Tuesday afternoons in Teverya are for hanging out at the lake. NOT for shopping!

Cross Posting from Frugal and Kosher

I published this on my other blog, but since there are SO many venues for Science Night in the North, I figured I'd cross-post it here as well.

I hope this is helpful information!

Science Night - Free events!

--- Retrieved from http://www.kosherfrugal.com/ ---
 

This year's Science Night is Thursday, Sept 12, 2013, and there will be free events all over the country! These events are designed to make science fun for all, so it's sure to be a night of somewhat geeky fun. PERFECT.

So here's the info you need:

Events will take place at 14 different locations around the country, and all are free.




MadaTech in Haifa will have special programs from 5pm - 10pm

The Technion will have programs for age 9 + (advance registration required)from 4pm - 10pm

Haifa University will have programs from 5pm - 10pm for ages 4+ (advance registration required for some programs

Migal (in Kiryat Shmona) will have free events from 5pm - 9pm

Tel Aviv University will have events from 4pm - 11pm. Advance registration is required.

The Hebrew University in Jerusalem will have events from 5pm - midnight. They will also run programs in Maaleh Adumim at 5:30 pm

The Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem will have events from 4pm- midnight

The Open University will have events at the Raanana campus, from 4pm - midnight. Advance registration is required

The Weizmann Institute will have events from 5pm - 10pm

Ben Gurion University will have events from 5pm - 11pm. Advance registration is required for some events.

Bar Ilan University will have events from 5pm - 9pm

SCE will have events in Be'er Sheva and Ashdod from 4pm - 9pm

The Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute (Eilat) will have events from 5:30pm - 10pm

Moona (in Sakhnin) will have events from 5pm - 9pm

Hope you can find your way to one of these events!
Let me know if you went, I'd love to hear about it!


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Elul Thoughts

We recently moved. We debated and debated and thought long and hard about this move. In the end, we jumped in and bought a house. In the Golan. And we really do love it here. Only there is this issue - that we're really quite close to Syria. I would minimize this issue, but they've been involved in a very bloody, terrible civil war, and are posturing now - threatening to send missiles to Israel. And we all know that they have Weapons of Mass Destruction.

So we have our gas masks, and we sort of know how to use them, but we don't want to ever have to use them...

The threat of war in the week before Rosh Hashana makes me think that this may just be our wake up call. 

It's time for all of us here to remember why we're here - whether we sacrificed much to come to Israel, or if we were born here and this is just "home" - there's a reason we stay here and are loyal to this little country in the Middle East. It's our homeland. And we must remember that this is the homeland of ALL Jews, no matter what type of head covering or, perhaps, no head covering. We are all here in our homeland, together. 

Now, it's time to set aside our differences, stop the bickering, and try to find a way to implore Hashem together - in all our many ways we daven - to watch over us and protect us.

Hidden Gems

It was the last long Friday of the year.

Obviously, we had to do something, as starting the week right after, we'd be ushering in Shabbat BEFORE 5 pm. We actually thought everyone else would have the same idea, and that the parks and whatnot would be packed.

I imagined finding a park and then having to help my kids navigate playground politics (just exactly how long is a child allowed to stay on a swing when there is a line forming?!).

The boys wanted to practice their baseball skills with my husband, and the girls really didn't care where we went, as long as there are slides and swings.

I know, baseball is not exactly your typical Israeli pasttime...

I was really hoping to find a park with a great playground, big wide open grassy fields, and public bathrooms.

In the end, we didn't find exactly that, but we did find a gem of a place anyhow! It was lacking the big wide open grassy fields, but we went to Park Rabin in Migdal Ha'emek, since we knew it had bathrooms and a great play area.

I really expected crowds, as we only got there in the afternoon, and schools were all out already. But it was practically empty! There was one couple with a toddler there, a family with a few little kids, and 4 kids on bikes. For most of the time we were there, those were the only other people we saw.

The boys got to practice their baseball in a field that was dotted with olive and other trees. Makes for interesting baseball.

When the girls needed the bathroom (they always need the bathroom when we are out), we found the one unlocked toilet and discovered it was very clean, but lacked toilet paper and soap. Luckily I carry toilet paper around in my backpack, and hand sanitizer too, for when we find ourselves without soap...

The girls loved the lack of playground politics in the kiddie playground.




 
But when we ventured up to the upper play area and discovered the HUGE slides... well, they were ecstatic! (And the boys had fun there too.)








 

Those were really huge slides. The kids love all those colors zooming past them as they come sliding down. We literally had to drag them away so we could go home and finish getting ready for Shabbat...

 

Trains and Planes

Recently, we visited the historic train station at Kfar Yehoshua, which is a moshav that neighbors our pretty little town. The site is a small one, and it has old train station buildings (Ottoman period), some of which have been restored and are in use as the  museum, and some are crumbling ruins. It's really quite interesting. The train that ran through here connected Haifa to the line that ran through Jordan and Syria. However, the train stopped running once the War of Independence broke out, and it was never rebuilt.

Well - soon it will be. Israel Railways has announced a plan to rebuild the "Rakevet Ha'Emeq"! There will be a train running from Haifa to Bet She'an again in the next few years. But - why is Kfar Yehoshua still a stop? Why not Kiryat Tivon, Ramat Yishai, and Migdal Ha'emek?

I can only hope that they'll build a great shuttle system!

While we were at the train museum, we caught some up close glimpses of army fighter jets flying low overhead. Actually, we see these jets a lot. The other side of our town basically backs up to a very large airbase. The Air Force practices overhead a lot (although usually higher in the sky). My kids really think it's cool. It is such an impressive reminder of the strength and might of our Israeli Defense Forces. And we get to see it almost every day!

Accidental Siren

When you live in Israel, whether you like it or not, you will become familiar with the unmistakable wail of an air-raid siren. Some places (in the South, right now) regularly have air-raid sirens due to the very real missile attacks from Gaza. Those of us in the North only know these sirens from the occasional Pikud HaOref drill.

Until today. I was in my kitchen, trying desperately to pull together lunch in our very poorly stocked kitchen this week before Pesach. (Some people call it the "pre-Pesach famine" and I loved that name so much, I may just have to appropriate it!) This was after we had a close encounter with a bee. My 4 yr old had spent her morning crying, snuggling, and finally sleeping a bit. Then she woke up hungry and in need of the bathroom.

My kids were in various places around the house - one at the table, one on his computer, one playing with toys, and one on the toilet...

Suddenly, we heard the unmistakable wail of an air raid siren.

I hadn't heard of any drill going on today (they do have those, as they regularly test the siren system to be sure it is working). My heart stopped for a second. Then very calmly, I said, "Everyone run down to the miklat (bomb shelter)." Three children went. My 4 yr old calls out, "But Eema, I'm on the toilet!". I ran into the bathroom and said, "It's ok, let's just go down to the miklat." "But", she says, "I just made poopy!" Ok. Quickly, I grabbed a wipe and cleaned her up. Scooped her and the package of wipes from the bathroom, and we joined the other kids in the miklat, all before the siren had stopped its wailing.

At this point, I was pretty sure that there had been some mistake. We didn't hear any sirens or booms, although from the safety of our miklat, I'm not 100% sure what we would hear from outside. I told the kids we should stay put for a few minutes and then we'll assume it's all clear and go back to eating lunch. My 4 yr old (who had been cold, as she was only a little bit dressed, having shed most of her clothing in the bathroom, so she was now wearing my sweater and her tights...) starting singing "Eliyahu HaNavi" - one of her favorite songs to sing on Motsaei Shabbat. So we joined her, I figured it must be calming for her, and we could all follow her cue.

When we were done, we ventured out. I had a list in my head of all the things we need to stock the miklat with (my 7 yr old asked if we had any water or food in there, 9 yr old wanted to know what to do if we were in there and we needed the toilet, my 13 yr old and I had been discussing flashlights and a battery-powered radio...). And we went back upstairs and ate lunch, grateful for the news that it had merely been a system error - an accidental siren.

More musings on family

I have been mulling over the theme of family and belonging lately, and I started writing about it last week.

There are so many ways to define family. Most of us think of family as our closest relatives - spouse, children, parents, siblings. Then, there are some families who are very much enmeshed with a larger circle of relatives - aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents. Some, and I have been lucky enough at times to enjoy this, even embrace second cousins and beyond. I have second cousins and second cousins once removed dotting this country up and down. MOST are in the Jerusalem area, but some are even here in the North. I have first cousins here in the North too. All of this is great. Sometimes we'll be out somewhere and bump into one of those 100 or so cousins (first or second, no matter), and then the country feels like one big family to me.

Other days, we feel like we're all alone. And that's where the other "family" comes in. Those people whom you adopt as your family. We have a small group of homeschooling families, from all around, 1/2 an hour or so in every direction, who get together regularly. In a way, we have become family.

How can I say this? No, it's not that I take the definition of family lightly. But let me explain. When I first made Aliyah (yes, I've done this twice), I really really wanted my sister to do so with me. She didn't. (This was about 20 yrs ago.) So, I went to university here, and made friends with the other olim (there were quite a few, even 20 yrs ago), and we all took care of each other, like family. We didn't have a "home" to go to like our Sabra counterparts, when we were sick, or on vacation, or just to rest on Shabbat. So we made our own little homes, and carved out our own little groups who acted as family.

So when one of our homeschooling friends told us she was pregnant, and worried about feeling all alone right after the birth, we all decided to pitch in. Some people live really close to her, and have been able to help out with her older kids. Some of us cooked up a storm and are storing food in our freezers for her, which will be delivered later in the week... We all call, and sent gifts, and we're all trying to fill in for her absent family. I truly hope that she, and other olim, no longer have to feel alone. We can all support each other, even just emotionally...

Family and Belonging

My cousins finally made it here for a visit! To be honest, it is not their fault that it took so long. I have been delaying the invitation, hoping for the day that my house is guest worthy and I'm not too tired to make guest worthy food. My cousins and I grew up 6000 miles apart, and I wanted to be sure they enjoy coming to my house!

Making aliyah does strange things, like taking these cousins who are your blood relatives but you hardly ever got to know in the earlier years of your life, and puts them within driving distance of your new home (of course, the flip side of that is that many other relatives are now 6000 miles away. But while we were in the States, we spent many years living between 900 and 1500 miles from our families. So although 6000 miles is further, but I think I have seen my younger sister MORE often since making aliyah than I did in the 3+ yrs prior to that. And she lives in the NY area. Go figure.).

So, Purim day, we tried to spiff up our house, the weather was gorgeous, our Rakafot are in bloom, cascading down the rocky area in front of our house, our lemon tree is still full with lemons (not sure we will manage to use them all), and I think I made guest-worthy food (to find out more about THAT, you'll have to check out my other blog here, although I haven't written up our Purim menu yet)!

And 2 of my cousins with various delegations from their families, came to visit! How amazing to have relatives who live within 1/2 an hour of my home. Now that we are all grown up, we can get to know each other in a way that is different if we had been cousins who played together throughout our childhood. Most of our conversations are in Hebrew (my second language, their first), although from time to time they try out their English on us. Usually they are forgiving of my mistakes...

This visit really made our family's day. It's good to feel like we belong.

Lights all around

I have absolutely neglected my blog, because life just sometimes gets in the way. We are still living in the gorgeous Northern Israel, and I hung out the laundry tonight on my mirpeset with an amazing breeze (yay! the laundry will dry quickly!), and a gorgeous nighttime view of the city lights, the dark Kinneret, and the lights of the various surrounding cities and towns... absolutely stunning.
It made me stop and think about the way the lights shine, and sometimes you can catch the twinkle of lights in a single house, and sometimes it's all a jumbled big mess of lights. Here in Israel, it's so much more likely to be the lights of each house. And each house is significant. We are all part of the future of the Land, the People, the State - and I'm so grateful and happy that we have been able to come back home.