Aharon Akiva and Tiferet have now both had their first babysitting jobs, and I imagine they will have as much work as they want. People post on the local Yahoo group all the time looking for sitters.
Shoshana commented that "there are more chances for doing mitzvot here than in Oakland" after we gave a boy a ride up the hill from the highway and into the yishuv near where he lived. Now, it's debatable whether Jewish leadership has more impact in Israel or in the diaspora but it was an interesting perspective coming from her -- she sees me and others giving rides to people all the time (which, by the way, is completely normal here, so many people don't have cars and the busses run too infrequently to be relied upon). Many small moments.
Today she came home from school and said that it was as good as a normal day at OHDS, which is as good a report as we have had all year! That was something. Both she and Hodayah came home with cardboard dreidels with the letter "pei" instead of a "shin" and a note from their ulpan teacher that this is their first Chanukah in Israel and they finally get a "pei" (which stands for "here" instead of the "shin"outside of Israel which stands for "there").
Judah picked up a variety of donuts at the central bus station this afternoon and Shoshana came to the local bakery to peruse their selection. You can't get donuts all year, just around Chanukah, but now they have many choices! Chocolate glazed, caramel filled, sprinkles, custard, just like in America! When I lived here as a child there was one kind. Jelly. Hope you like it. They keep a little container of powdered sugar and a sifter near the donuts so you can give them a fresh dusting before packing them up. I thought that was cute.
Yesterday the host of the morning Tanach shiur (with Tamar Farkas) organized a field trip to Shiloh. Judah has been there before with the shul and was there with Aharon Akiva the next year but I had never been. People find it meaningful because it was the first place the Mishkan stood, for 369 years or something like that, but many people especially go because it was where Chana prayed for a child before having Shmuel. So that was meaningful. And the tour guide made an off-hand comment that she had grown up there when she was young, so I asked her if she knew my friend's family (I had a friend 5th-8th grade who had moved to Jerusalem where I knew her but I remember her telling me that she had lived in Shiloh before and how beautiful it was and how she would play in the open fields nearby). She was friends with her older sister and knows the family, so she took my number and said she would pass it along.
In the background is the area the archeologists believe is likely to have been the spot of the Mishkan. It was cool to hear our guide explain what the clues are -- hewn stones creating a rectangular clearing of the right size, location on the hill, etc. She also said she really hopes they find compelling evidence of this as the location because they already built the visitor's center movie theater with the windows/ screen facing this clearing with a short film on the area's history and it would be too bad if it was the wrong spot... As an aside, I know two kids who want to be archaeologists when they grow up. Not as common an answer in Oakland to "what do you want to be when you grow up" :)
A model of the altar. Hillel thought it made for a great slide and went up and down several times before I had to pick him up because the group was moving on. The building in the background is a relatively recent structure from the time of Turkish rule built on Byzantine era mosaic floors. Very cool.
Tamar ensuring Hillel's safety :)
I am continuing to figure out food (cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, dairy (except cream cheese), pitot, and chummus are better here. I can't find fresh baby carrots, snap peas, snow peas, fresh corn tortillas, or affordable almond milk or almond butter. I did finally find where they sell bean sprouts and oat bran in my supermarket. Well, they don't have the oat bran anymore but the natural food store next door has lots, so that's my new address for oat bran. Which is important for Oat Bran Muffins which are sometimes useful for Hillel to have...
The kids have school tomorrow and Thursday but are then off Friday through Tuesday so one of my jobs tomorrow is to try and map out a schedule for us, whether it's day trips or an overnight somewhere. Of course, that's what the entire country is doing and several of my Facebook groups are buzzing with questions and suggestions about what to do so I am not at a loss for options... My family (mom & her husband, sister and her son, brother and his wife and three kids) is coming for Shabbat and we are all looking forward to that. They were last here right before Tiferet's Bat Mitzvah, so almost two months!
Someone asked for pictures that show how the houses are built with a top level and a bottom level but staggered so people have yards and light. This is the back of our street, looking up and down from the park in the middle:
I don't know if this helps, but maybe we can talk it through on the phone while you're looking at the pictures :)
OK, I should sleep. Chag sameach!
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