And now a sukkot video

Thanks to Frum Satire for posting it on his blog.

A video for Yom Kippur

Thanks to Billy Ray Sheet.

Gmar Chatima Tova!

Rosh Hashana and Sukkot meal planners

Carolyn from Juggling Frogs has posted these neat meal planners for you to download for Rosh Hashana, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah. Go check it out!

A long overdue post OR back to reality

Well, back to reality. After a great, relaxing, low key summer back home in Israel it is back to the real world and the daily grind.

It was great to be home this summer and no it really wasn't weird to see other people living in our house (not to me at least). Maor was a bit upset that they put Winnie the Pooh stickers up in her room but we assured her they come off quite easily. Again I need to thank our friends for hosting us and especially Les and Leeann (and Tomer and Chagit) who took us in for almost the entire 2 months.

Reflections on the summer:
1. It is wonderful being able to walk into a supermarket and buying anything you want without having to look at hechsherim. And the abundance and variety of the fresh meat counter is unbelievable!
2. Things really do progress - sometimes you just need to step away for a while to see it. On the macro scale, many roads that were being worked on have been opened. The road (531 I think) that connects Kvish 6 at Tzomet Chorshim to Tzomet Ra'anana (without having to drive through Kfar Saba and get stuck at every red light on Weizman) is a joy. One side of the machlef at Tzomet Glilot (coming from Herzlia Pituach) is open although traffic still backs up. And the entrance to Yerushalayim has undergone changes as well. On a micro scale, there are new mailboxes on the yishuv, conveniently located near the office. There is a nice little flower garden near the beit knesset which was planted last Tu B'shvat in Liam's memory. And last but not least, Zufim has a new roundabout complete with fountain, affectionately dubbed kikar halama.
3. The corollary - some things never change. Or in other words, Israeli politics. Are we really going to have elections with Ehud Barak and Bibi Netanyahu? Again? The government is still corrupt and aggravating as anything. One of the first things Shimon Peres did after becoming president was pardon Naomi Blumenthal. And Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev STILL are not home.
4. As the poem says: make new friends but keep the old; those are silver these are gold. Although we have made some good friends in San Jose, it is nice to be among the people who have known you for a while. They know your history, the good and the bad, and some things just don't need to be explained. We were blessed to have some of our "old" old friends and "newer" old friends with us at Maor's bat mitzvah. Thank you for being a friend.



And one reflection on coming back to San Jose: it is MUCH EASIER coming back when you know what is waiting for you. Although Maor was sad to leave Israel (and so was I) once we got back, she was fine. She has friends here. She knows the school. She knows most of the teachers. So far, the transition has been fairly smooth.

I started school August 24th and Maor started the 28th. I am taking 3 classes this semester and once again I am floored by how much work it is. (I know, I know, it's graduate school, quit whining)
There is so much reading assigned and though I love reading for pleasure, I am not so keen on school reading. One of my classes is required: Information Organizations and Management, a challenge for me since I've never worked in a library and never been a manager. My other 2 classes compliment each other which is a nice bonus: online searching (Yes, there is actually a class in that. It deals mostly with one particular database, Dialog, but the skills should be transferable) and vocabulary design (when you search for mercury how do you get information on Mercury the planet as opposed to mercury the element or the car). So I feel overwhelmed (again) and like I never have enough time (good thing I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the summer).

Maor's teachers are basically the same except for her language arts teacher. The exciting news at her school is that they got a whole bunch of new kids, some from the closing of Etz Chaim, the smaller Jewish day school in San Jose, and others from Israel or wherever. So middle school has gained about 20+ kids, many of whom she knows from our shul/neighborhood. She now has 12 kids in her class, 7 boys and 5 girls. And I have people to carpool with. A new experience.

Well, I doubt I will blog again before next week (YIKES, is Rosh Hashana really so soon?! You know Pesach is only 6 months away, right? Oh wait, it's a leap year, 2 Adarim) so let me take this opportunity to wish you all a shana tova and ktiva u'chatima tova. May the new year bring you peace, health, happiness, and all the good things you wish for yourselves.

And as promised, better late than never, attached are some pictures from Maor's Bat Mitzvah. May we only celebrate smachot together.

AND I changed the settings so all of you who told me you couldn't leave comments on the blog itself should now be able to (so no excuses guys).

View a slideshow of Maor's bat mitzvah:



Click below to see some pictures from Maor's bat mitzvah:

Bat mitzvah

Books are for enjoyment, dammit!

I came across this great article by Harry Mount, Our reverence for books is ludicrous in which he basically says that we should read books for enjoyment and not because we want to pretend to be cultured, well-read snobs. His opening paragraph is entertaining, thought provoking, and right on:

Do you ever start talking to an incredibly boring person at a party and say to yourself, after five minutes: "Well, he's incredibly boring, but I'll talk to him for another 30 hours. He's bound to get better." Or, when you've finished with a newspaper you've enjoyed, do you ever put it on a shelf on prominent display so that you can admire it from a distance and never read it again?

I admit that this used to be me - if I started a book, I had to finish it, no matter how painful and debilitating this was. What cured me? My daughter's fourth grade English teacher. We live in Israel and my daughter was in the native English speakers' English class. When it was time for their first book report her teacher gave out guidelines which stated that one section of the book report needed to be "why I liked this book." The teacher said: "Do not say I did not like this book. Reading is for enjoyment. There are enough books to choose from. If you don't like the book, put it back and choose another one." WOW! So simple and yet it was like an epiphany for me. Why didn't I ever think of that myself? I do not have to read every single book ever published. My tastes change over time and are influenced by many things. Today I try genres that I was never a huge fan of before. And if I hate the book and can't get through it, so be it. I have enough books on my TBR list that I WANT to read. Sometimes I will listen to a book on audiotape if I think it is something I should read but don't think I'll be able to get through it. Sometimes it works out okay - Steinbeck's Cannery Row which I listened to after visiting Monterey was boring but bearable and other times, the audio can be agony as well (I abandoned Reading Lolita in Tehran in the middle but suffered through six hours of The Road).

Now thanks to Harry Mount's article I no longer need to feel guilty for being the worst read English major or for the fact that try as I might, I just CANNOT make it through Moby Dick (thank you Mr. Cliff).

How am I behaving

I found this great picture at Jameel's The Muqata blog. Too good not to post.

Real Zionists make aliyah

I found this very interesting post titled The Aliyah Guilt Trip at Friar Yid's blog. I was lead here by a post on Oy Bay, the Jewish Blog by the Bay, which I subscribe to.


Friar Yid discusses comments made by Rabbi Avi Weiss, of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah on the Israel National News (Arutz 7) Aliyah Revolution radio show. Rabbi Weiss states, “A Zionist is someone who lives in Israel” and as a strong supporter of Zionism he classifies himself as a doresh Zion, or seeker of Zion. Friar Yid takes exception to Rabbi Weiss' remarks and feels that Diaspora Jews in general, and American Jews in particular should not be guilted into feeling inferior for choosing to stay where they are.

Many moons ago when I was a newlywed making every decision with an eye towards aliyah, we attended a Jewish Federation gathering in Philadelphia (I think) and the old timers were wearing buttons that said "Real Zionists pay Dues." Of course we young die hard Zionists who were really going to make aliyah laughed this off and someone ran out and got t-shirts or buttons printed "Real Zionists make Aliyah."

I don't think anyone should be made to feel guilty for their life choices but what can I say, I do believe that Israel is the place for Jews to be. Part of it is probably related to being the daughter of a holocaust survivor but I just feel like Israel is home. If you missed my previous post here again are 12 things I love about living in Israel:
1. Being in a supermarket before any holiday and knowing that everyone is in the same boat, religious or non-religious, Sephardic or Ashkenazi; - everyone is hosting or being hosted, buying rimonin, matzot, cheese for cheesecake.
2. The period between Pesach and Shavuot, when Israeli flags are flying throughout the country for the upcoming Yom Haatzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim.
3. The togetherness and solemnity of Yom Hashoah and Yom Hazikaron, when the country shuts down its stores and entertainment.
4. Knowing if chalilah something is wrong by the music on the radio.
5. Really feeling the New Year start in the fall, with Rosh Hashana, as the whole country gets ready for the chagim.
6. Acharei hachagim, and how nothing gets done until then.
7. The kids can play outdoors and go to friends by themselves.
8. Dropping in and visiting neighbors without advance notice.
9. Finding short sleeve or elbow length shirts year round.
10. Not paying thousands of dollars a year for my child to get a Jewish education.
11. Hebrew rap music (Hadag nachash, Subliminal)
12. The feeling that I am truly at home.

It is far from perfect and by no means a Utopia, but it is ours, warts and all. And as Dorothy says in The Wizard of Oz, "there's no place like home."