Facebook

So I caved in last week and joined Facebook. I basically just set up a username and password and didn't think anything of it. This morning I decided if I already took that step I might as well really use it - put up pictures, add friends, write messages. I pride myself on being technologically savvy, but as my "wall" says I feel like my grandmother - trying to figure out where everything is and how it all works. I'm the one in the family who teaches my mom how to upload pics on snapfish, who teaches my dad how to video chat on skype, and here comes the kicker...in searching for friends on Facebook - who is already on with a page and more friends than I can find in a day - my dad of all people - I can't see his profile because he has yet to accept me as a friend, though I know he joined recently because he models in his profile holding Adira.

I will persevere and figure out this whole Facebook thing, if nothing else just to say I can. However, any pointers anyone wants to share I am all ears.

On the 2nd Night of Chanukah

Adira decided she wanted to light the menorah!

Almost Time for Chanukah

So it's been pointed out to me by a number of people that I have not posted since Rosh Hashanah. As a new holiday approaches I figured I should at least get a happy holidays post in. Things have been crazy here. We are learning the joys of having our daughter sharing germs with others as she has brought home a cold and the stomach flu that she shared with both her parents. We have only seen flutterings of snow, and as the temperature has generally stayed mild we've been able to get outside for family walks. Adira is such a big girl already - two teeth, full-on crawling and she is starting to cruise - she walked all the way from one end of our couch to the other. Her latest favorite is the "throw all food off your dinner tray" game - we take it as her way of telling us she is done eating, though usually at least a couple of things land on the floor before we get her away from the zone.



We are really looking forward to chanukah and can't wait to introduce Adira to gelt, latkes and suffganiot. Aaron is excited to make latkes from scratch - a task we passed on last year since we didn't have a grater in Israel. Though we will miss lighting our menorah outside, we're looking forward to sharing the time with family and friends. Go Macabies!



And as always enjoy some pictures of Adira over the last couple of months.

Shanah Tova

We wanted to take this moment and wish everyone a happy and healthy new year. May this year be filled with friendship, family, happiness and spirituality for everyone.
Shanah Tova,
Aaron, Ilana and Adira


Thanks Abba for taking the Picture!

Almost Time to Babyproof

Adira is not quite crawling yet, but she is now pulling herself up on her own, as the following video demonstratesm (sorry you have to turn your head). Time to finish those baby proofing projects...

Adira learned to Splash

Adira has discovered that when you hit water it makes a noise - enjoy the video with my narration.

Status Report

Yes it has been a long time since we posted - our sincere apologizes to everyone. We left Israel on June 26th and headed to Chicago for Aaron's sister's wedding. We took time to unpack and repack everything up for our move to Silver Spring, Maryland. Aaron is now in his 3rd week of work and I am about to finish my first. Adira went to her first week of daycare and seems to like hanging out with the other kids and watching the parakeets that they have. We can't believe our time in Israel came to an end - we are so fortunate that we had the opportunity to spend a year there and look forward to continually visiting. As requested, I will try to continue to regularly post here - a little update and pics of Adira (I know that's all anyone really wants to see).
Enjoy!


Don't worry - we made it home ok!

The Scent of the Garden of Eden

View of Ma'arat Hamachpala Site

Last week we were privileged to venture on our last big trip of the year to the grave sites of our fore fathers and mothers. Working backwards, our last stop was Ma'arat Hamachpala were Adam & Eve, Abraham & Sarah, Isaac & Rebecca and Jacob & Leah are all buried. The story goes that nearing their deaths Adam & Eve attempted to jury back to the Garden of Eden. Upon reaching a point in Chevron a voice came out and told them they must stop this is the closest they were allowed to go. Generations later when Abraham was looking for a place to bury his wife he searched out this same location by the scent of the Garden of Eden that Adam & Eve had uncovered. There is very limited access to the site today. Approximately 700 years ago a Mosque was built on the site that prevents descending to the depths of the graves. There are monuments at the 2nd floor level that parallel where the grave sites are below. We were able to enter the Abraham and Jacob hall, though the Isaac hall is off-limits to Jews, except for 10 days out of the year.

Additionally, we got to explore some of the current day Jewish communities of Chevron. We visited some ancient synagogues, Beit Hadassah - the first modern day home of Jews in Chevron and an archeological excavation site which includes the steps to the city walls where they believe Abraham actually purchased the cave to bury Sarah.


The road to get to Rachel's Tomb

Prior to visiting Chevron, we stopped in Beit Lechem at the buriel site of Rachel. The site is now surrounded by the modern day, Arab city of Beit Lechem therefore access is very controlled. There is a whole concrete complex built around the memorial site. As our tour guide put it "we are now hermetically sealed in". Rachel specifically is now as one of our ancestors who will beseech G-d on behalf of the Jewish people. Beit Lechem is on the road that the Jewish people historically took when being exiled and upon returning and her site was always a place to stop.

Overall, the day was a time to reflect back on where the Jewish people have come from and what Israel means to us.

Fathers

Aaron and Adira got to enjoy their first Father's Day together yesterday. They spent a couple of hours in the afternoon bonding and then we all went out to dinner for the special day and as a slightly belated Anniversary Present. Though the days are very hallmarky it is a pleasure to have the opportunity to celebrate Mother's and Father's day this year. Adira is also making every moment enjoyable and she begins to interact more and more with her surroundings and strengthening her own abilities.

Enjoy the pic of the loving father and daughter.

Yom Yerushalayim

This past Sunday night began Yom Yerushalayim (aka Jerusalem day). We decided some celebratory activities were required and headed to town. We first stopped off near Kikar Safra to get some dinner and planned to take in some of the music show they were having there. We arrived at the square at a lull in the music, however, the moment they started Adira jumped - they had the speakers so cranked up there was no way we could stay there. We took a couple of pictures of the scene and headed to the next stop. We walked to the kotel and met up with a number of the girls from the school. We took some time to just reflect that before 1967 we would not have been able to stand in this place. the energy and excitement at the Wall was incredible - there was dancing and singing, marching and flag waving. We stayed for about an hour - saying some prayers, taking in the scene and just reflecting. We then took the No 2 bus home whose route crosses over areas of Jerusalem that were either under Jordanian control or no man's land prior to 1967. Adira enjoyed her first trip to the Kotel and even woke up a little bit to smile for the camera.

Our Visit to the US

So yesterday we stopped in to the US - our apologizes for not getting in touch with everyone, but it was actually only a 20 minute cab ride from our place (though the jet lag is horrible). We went to the US Consulate to officially register Adira's birth, apply for her passport and social security number. Hopefully within 2 weeks she'll be fully in the US system, ready for our flight home next month. She was really cooperative - slept through almost the whole thing and then gave a nice big smile to the agent when he was verifying that she's the girl in the picture. We were so proud of her, we took her out for ice cream (ok, maybe we just said we would).

Next year in...

Silver Spring

I have accepted a job and we will be heading back to the Greater Washington area at the end of July. To our readers in Chicago: We will miss being with you and with family. The consolation prize is that we will be in Chicago for the month of July.

Looking forward to seeing everyone soon.

Just Because...

she looks so cute we had to share (sorry you have to turn your head a little). This week has been relatively quiet, though we are looking forward to an exciting week next week - passport appointments, dress fittings and lag b'omer.

Spike?...Is that you Spike???

This post is going back a few weeks already now but we've been busy and haven't had time to post all the exciting things in chronological order. We went to Neot Kedumim during chol hamoed. We met our friends the Lennons in Modi'in and then cabbed it the rest of the way. The park is a large area filled with floral, fauna, and exhibits. The neat thing about the park is that it connects the different species of plants with the passages in the Tanach and Mishna (similar to the biblical zoo in Jerusalem for those who have been).
We had fun but we picked a bad day to go. It was probably 95 degrees that day and we felt like we could barely walk around the park. So we spent a lot of time sitting in the shade. At one point I got up to use the bathroom and as I opened the door to the outhouse, all of a sudden this guy in the picture runs right at me.

I cornered him just to get a good picture but then he made a break for it. My family used to have a bearded lizard as a pet (same type as picture) and his name was Spike. He was a good pet even when he developed scoliosis in his spine. If it wasn't for the heat I might have gotten a little sentimental.
We found a water spout and I doused myself in water to cool down. Oh man did that feel good!

Last Week in Review

So we are a little behind on our postings, but we'll do our best to catch everyone up. Last week we rented a car to head up north and take a mini vacations for a couple of days. We headed to Kibbutz Lavi as our base - a nice hotel with a really nice breakfast buffet. The first evening we went to a restaurant called Pagoda, which is exactly what it sounds like. The food was good, but you really go for the atmosphere - the whole building is an ornate pagoda right on the shore of Lake Kinneret.



The next day we headed to the tip of Israel - Rosh Hanikra. Located right on the Mediterranean and the border with Lebanon, Rosh Hanikra has these amazing grottos that have been created over the years. The day was gorgeous and the sights were beautiful. After doing some signtseeing there we drove down the shore a little bit to a beach to have a picnic lunch. After that we headed back east to Tsipori. It is an archeological site of a city that because they didn't revolt against the Romans their city was not destroyed and there are these amazing mosaics floors that have been preserved.
That night we headed back to Tiberias to go out to dinner again, but were met with a brick wall. The next day was Holocaust Remembrance Day, and since a lot of towns/cities have their commemoration events on the eve of all the restaurants were either already closed or in the process of closing. Luckily, our hotel had a dinner buffet so we rushed back to the Kibbutz to catch dinner there. We probably should have just started there in the beginning, the food was so good. It was also a nice environment since all these people kept on looking over at Adira and smiling. A couple of ladies even stopped us on our way out to coo over her.

The following day we headed back to Tiberias to a nice lookout point over the city and the Kinneret. We then drove around a little bit to visit some of the grave-sites of some of the Talmudic and Biblical scholars. Next we went to go to the Switzerland Forest for some lunch and relaxation before we headed back to Jerusalem. I decided to follow a sign for the forest that put us on a dirt road. This would have been ok except we were driving a car called the Nissan Micro, and it was micro. However, turning back seemed like it might have been worse, so onward we went and luckily it ended soon enough - at a gorgeous lookout point. When we finally reached the forest it was basically deserted and we had the place to ourselves, counting people. There were a lot of horses and cows right nearby. We enjoyed the fresh air and relaxing environment away from all the city noises. We then rushed to Haifa to try and catch the Bahai Gardens before they closed. After getting lost around the city, we were really excited to get to the entrance 20 minutes before they closed. Only to find out that they were actually closed for the whole week due to the Bahai annual convention. We got some great pictures anyway, and maybe another time we'll get inside to actually walk around.

It was a great trip and really exciting to see some new things and places that neither of us had been to before. The weather was perfect and with the spring time everything was in bloom. Hopefully we'll have the opportunity for some other little mini trips before we head back to the States.

Just Because

Adira is too adorable in this picture - we just had to share with everyone.
Enjoy!

Jerusalem on the Wall

In honor of the upcoming 40th anniversary since the State of Israel gained access to Jerusalem, the municipality created a movie that they showed last night portrayed on the old city walls. The movie began with a more current historical perspective of 40 years ago, with some of the soldiers recollections of the emotions they felt when they were first able to go to the Western Wall, a space that was previously off-limits. The movie then took a further step back to look at why the soldiers felt this way and portray the Jewish connection to the city.

There must have been at least 3,000 people there; and this was only 1 of 12 showings during the Passover holiday. The streets were closed, and we actually watched the movie sitting in the middle of a street. After the movie the municipality was sponsoring free tours of the old city. However, we decided to try and work our way home through all the crowds.

Some of the images where just fascinating - hands touching the city wall as if it was the Western Wall, people praying, the notes and prayers people leave at the wall and doves flying across.

It was definitely a neat experience and we look forward to other events the municipality and state will do as we lead up to Jerusalem Day and Independence Day.

Chol HaMoed

It is really hot outside. Ninety-five degrees hot. Even though there is little to no humidity here when you step into the sun it feels even warmer. Consequently, our strategic plan has been to stay indoors as much as possible today. We rented a movie on ITunes and finally got around to cleaning up after the seder we hosted. Not so exciting but that is kind of the feel of the neighborhood now. There are very few people on the streets and even the small mini markets (makolet) is only open a few hours a day during the holiday week.

In other news I present to you:
Weird stories in the Jerusalem Post regarding the craziness of Pesach:

1) The Jerusalem municipality officially switches the regular source of the city's drinking water (the Kineret) to well water. Apparently there is a concern that because fisherman cast bread crumbs into the lake to attract fish these crumbs may then be consumed by the inhabitants of the city. Who knew??

2) There was a religious edict signed by a leading rabbi of Jerusalem that prohibits the use of cigarettes during pesach because there is a possibility that the cigarette may contain derivatives of chametz. To his credit, he also said one should not smoke the rest of the year because of health concerns.

Moadim L'Simcha!

Pesach Status

We spent Shabat Hagadol and the 1st day of Yom Tov in Har Nof. The meals and company was great, however, we neglected to take into account the name of the city (Har ie Mountain) when planning our meals. We slept at almost the top of the mt. and ate almost all our emails at various points down the mt. I think a conservative estimate would be that we did over 1400 steps between Friday evening and Saturday night/Sunday morning. On Sunday afternoon we walked back to our place so we could host a seder that night. Both seders where really enjoyable, though we missed having our families to share it with. One of the neatest experiences for me was getting to the point where we sing "L'shana Haba B'Yerushalim" (next year in Jerusalem) and going out onto the balcony of our host's home and dancing and singing, hearing in the background many other families in the community doing the same thing.


Today we ventured out to the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens - a little gem not to far from our apartment that I never knew existed before this weekend. One of the main banks here, Bank HaPoalim, actually sponsors the admission cost to a bunch of museums and attractions around Israel during these intermediary days of Pesach. The gardens being one of them we decided we needed to go. So much was in full bloom now it was gorgeous to walk around. There was even some shady spots to help us deal with the 90 degree weather. Tomorrow and Thursday we are aiming to find some indoor activities since the thermometer is supposed to approach the 100 mark.

Just a picture

End of the Winter Zman

How fast does time seem to fly sometimes? It is really hard to believe that it is almost pesach. Not only that but the number of actual days of yeshiva has dwindled to about 35 days or so. However, it is still too early to start feeling sad about leaving Israel so on to other news...

Ilana and I have been in full swing getting ready for pesach. We will be keeping two days of yom tov so that makes it a three day chag for us here. For Shabbat and the first seder we will be at a friend in Har Nof (one town over from where we live) and then we will walk back to our apartment and host a second seder. We ordered most of the food and will fill in the rest as needed. By the way, pesach food is just as expensive in Israel. Then we hope to have a fun filled chol hamoed (comment if you have any fun suggestions) before we trek out to the desert. Ofakim is out there though highly spiritual. We will be celebrating with Ilana's sister and her family but staying in her cousin's house.

Today I went matza baking in Jerusalem. It was a very intense 3 hours but it was actually quite fun. People kept shouting "L'shem matzos mitzva!!" (declaration of intent before performance of the mitzva) Instructions were barked around the room as if you were on the deck of a ship. The best way I could describe the experience is organized chaos. Things were flying everywhere but we were being extremely efficient. I was essentially in charge of the cleaning of the tables. It doesn't sound like a very important job but rest assured, your matza would not be kosher without me. The picture is the finished product.

Adira found her voice

So Adira learned she could speak ... or at least make some cute noises - though we are hoping she has the Ma Nishtana down pat for the Pesach Seder.



Everything else is going well here. The weather has returned to its seasonal norm - no more 90 degree days, we are back in the low 60s. We are some how managing to get by with out the support of grandparents and are starting to prepare for Pesach. We are going to host the 2nd night seder here. Though we are sad to not be sharing the holiday with our family, we are looking forward to leading our own seder here - so far we have 6 of us for the evening and I think we might end up with 3 more. In other news, we got Adira's birth certificate last week so her name is officially now recorded as Adira Bracha - next stop US Consulate to get her US equivalent of a birth certificate and her passport.

Purim Meshulash

We finally returned to our rewired apartment on Friday afternoon. Even though there was a lot of cleaning to do from the construction it was really a relief to come back to home. We were getting sick of living out of suitcases and eating out every meal. Though we will miss the breakfasts at the hotel -- delicious! Thursday evening began the purim weekend extravaganza. For those who may not know, Jerusalem residents (walled cities) had the special privilege of having purim "last" for three days. Because Shushan Purim fell out on a shabbos this year the obligaitions for the day which are regularly all done on one day are instead spread out over three days. We heard megillah reading at the yeshiva (cap guns were fired at the mention of Haman) and distributed matanos l'evyonim on Friday. On Shabbos we inserted the Al'hanissim prayer into the davening and read the torah reading for purim. Finally on Sunday we exchanged mishloach manot and attended the seudah. Although it was really a great experience to take in an entire weekend of Purim I think I prefer it all on one day. It is very taxing to have such high levels of simcha over three days. It's also a bit annoying to listen to the fireworks and drunks for three days.

Power Status

Many of you are probably sitting there thinking now that Adira is in the picture that is all our blog is going to be about - how many diapers she wets a day, haw many hours she stays awake for and who she looks like more at any given moment. But wait - something else has happened...
Thursday night I feel like there is a small of something fried, though Aaron doesn't smell anything so maybe it is all in my head. However, about 45 minutes later there is a LOUD pop and the electricity goes. So I start calling different people affiliated with the Yeshiva to figure out what we do about this at 7 pm at night. By about 9 pm we realize this is not something that can just get fixed, but a major electrical issue...so we moved out and are now living in a hotel - I guess we always talked about going on a mini-vacation - we just didn't get to plan the dates.

And for those that think it should only be about Adira - here is one of the latest pics.

Our first family outing

Today, we had our first 3 person family outing, and it was very exciting. We got the stroller downstairs and Adira all bundled up (it is still a little chilly in Israel) and headed out for a walk to the Tipat Chalav office (the socialized medical centers for children's immunizations in Israel). In order for her to get any shots she needs for the next 4+ months we are here we need to register there. The hospital also wanted her weight checked today to make sure everything is going ok (she's doing a great job, slowly gaining weight). She has her 1st month check-up set, at which point she'll get officially registered. The nurse at the center was extremely nice - speaking hebrew slowly to make sure we understood everything and didn't even yell at us, when in new parent style, we did not bring a diaper to change her into after she was weighed (we weren't even processing that newborns are weighed in their birthday suits, and since it is only 7 minutes from our house we figured we'd change her, if need be when we got home). She did amazing - not fusing at all about getting undressed or weighed and practically slept through the whole thing. We headed home and got back just in time before a light rain shower hit. We don't have any more outings planned, but we do know now for any future outings, no matter how short, to always have a diaper and diaper cloth with us.

Adira Bracha is home

Adira came home on Friday and we've made it through the first 36 hours plus. Aaron and I are learning her routine and how to change diapers in record breaking speeds.
Adira was greeted into her first Shabbos with her Shalom Bat on Friday night - some great dvar torah's (especially by her Abba), accompanied with some singing and dancing.
A lot of people have asked us about the name and we'll try to explain a little bit.
Adira started out as a name we both just liked - it literally means mighty and we wish for her a life filled with strength of character and the power to be a mighty, influential woman in this world. Bracha was originally thought of, for as many of you know, the opportunity to have a child did not come so easily to us. We recognize and thank Hashem for this amazing blessing he has bestowed upon us. Those were are initial thoughts, as we looked into the name more and after sharing it with people on Thursday we realized how much more fitting it was and really is the right name for her. I am being called for feeding duty, so I will let Aaron fill you in on those other ideas.

The Moment You've All Been Waiting For...

It is with the greatest pride and joy that I am writing this post. Ilana and I are thrilled to have welcomed are first child to the world. Ilana gave birth on Tuesday evening (Adar I, 14th) to a beautiful baby girl. She surprised us all a bit because she wasn’t due for another few weeks. No matter though; we’ll keep her anyway! She was 3.1 kilograms (6 pounds, 13 ounces). The “613” phenomenon did not go unnoticed. We also have it in our anniversary (6/13). Mom and Baby are both doing well and the name will be given tomorrow.

Mid-Winter Break

This weekend the yeshiva had its annual mid-winter break. That means that the students have a long five-day weekend to relax and get ready for the next half of the zman. We started the break early though. On Wednesday evening we had the pleasure of attending the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. This was a special concert in regards to the selection of music that they played. The program for the evening was comprised of soundtracks from famous movies. The highlights included the following: Lord of the Rings, Mission Impossible, James Bond, Pink Panther, West Side Story, The Godfather, Harry Potter, Fiddler on the Roof, Indiana Jones, Star Wars and many more. The only curious addition to the program was "Yugoslavian overture for accordion." In the middle of the program, the director walks off stage and comes back with an accordion. He turns around to face the audience and then goes through a 10-minute piece. It seemed completely out of place but it was actually rather amusing. I don't think too many people expected that they would see an accordion performance.

On Thursday, we went out for Ilana's birthday dinner. Down Emek Refaim there is a Latin American restaurant called La Boca and we had read excellent reviews. It didn't disappoint. The food was fantastic and the ambiance was good as well. I enjoyed the dessert more than anything else: Hot churros with a side of ice cream.

If the first few days of the break were relaxing, Friday was a day of contrast. We had company for both meals. Ilana had agreed to have guests on the condition that I do all of the cooking. I enjoy cooking but I discovered that it is a lot harder than it looks. Fortunately though, I had a good menu and everything actually turned out pretty well in the end. It was also reassuring to know that we had Sunday to recover. Shavua Tov!

Tennis or Soccer

This past weekend we went up to Ramat HaSharon to see Israel play in the Davis Cup Tennis tournament. It is different than regular tournaments, for you are playing for your country, not as an individual. This is the first time Israel has ranked high enough to play in the world group, so it was a pretty exciting time. We were looking forward to seeing some great tennis in a relaxing, pleasant fashion. However, we were in for a surprise. Though the players were playing tennis, the audience felt they were at a soccer match. People had drums, flags waving (though Aaron was also one of the people waving a flag), noisemakers and techno chants. You don't think it could happen - check out the videos (make sure your volume is up loud).

On this first video you can hear the people chanting Israel Oleh - meaning Israel will rise and after singing that for a little bit they would scream out the players name - in this case Dudi Sela. Also, feel free to note the head referee asking people to remain quiet during play - part of the problem is they kept on announcing this in English and I'm not sure that most of the people there had a clue what he was saying.

This next video is a techno version of a religious hebrew song - an interesting selection for the mostly secular crowd at the stadium - the words mean that we are believers, children of believers and we have no one in which to place trust, except for our father who is in heaven.

On Friday we also had a slight rain delay - it actually only rained for about 5-10 minutes, but who thinks it rains in Israel. Even though this is technically the rainy season, the past number of years, including this one, has seen Israel in more of drought condition than rain. Drying the courts is what took the time - almost an hour for that.

Sunday, was great - from the parking lot to the actual stadium was taking me almost 30 minutes to walk - but on Sunday, some nice lady stopped her car only 3 minutes into the walk and asked if we were going to the tennis center, when we said yes, she replied that it is too far for me to walk with a stomach like this and gave us a ride the rest of the way - only in Israel does someone stop to do that, and do we get in the car. Sunday was also gorgeous weather to be outside - at least 70 degrees and nice and sunny.

Since we rented a car (which Aaron was very excited about that I still fit behind the wheel and could reach the pedals - I had about 1 inch to spare) to get around for the weekend we also got to do a drive through of Herziliya on Saturday night - the houses and marina there are beautiful. We also got to do some grocery shopping and stocked up on all those heavy, cumbersome stuff that is a pain to carry back from the grocery store. It was a great mini vacation.

Winter Wonder(Holy)land

When we woke up this morning this is what we found looking out the window. We woke up really late because there was really nothing to wake us up. The street was completely silent. We were hoping that our power wouldn't go out due to a downed wire. There would have been a lot more of that if not for the warmer temperatures. We really didn't dip below 32F all day so most of the snow that fell during the night washed away. It was crazy to hear the Israeli media reporting the snow. It was as if Armageddon was arriving. The silliest thing I heard was a bulletin to let Israelis know that if they hear a "pop" in their leg while skiing they should seek medical attention. Duh!

It was raining and hailing for most of the day. Ilana actually came close to going outside to get this picture but she is under our mirpeset. The snow is definitely a nice change of pace but it is also driving us a bit stir crazy. Ilana hasn't left the building since Saturday evening. Fortunately, we have found a movie website that works well.

Yes, this is what I looked like after spending a mere 10 minutes outdoors (without winter gear). It was especially nasty because the wind was really blowing. You may be asking yourself, "why does Aaron have green shoes?" Well, if you come to Israel with no boots and there is 3-4 inches of standing water/snow in the street then one "solution" is to wrap your shoes in plastic bags. This was only effective for about 7 of the 10 minutes I was outside. 70% is good in many things but not in shoe waterproofing. I would say nothing less than 100% is acceptable.

Pics from Eilat

Tel Be'er Sheva - We got to see Abraham's well (at least according to some archeologists)


The Great Crater (There are three natural craters like this in the Negev)


We are in Israel - the mountains behind us our Egypt - it is a little hard to see, but it is a completely unprotected border - they figure the 200 foot rocky drop in between the two plateaus is enough of a deterrent.

Our Jam Packed Week

Our week began Saturday night with a speech by Dore Gold (former ambassador to the UN from Israel) discussing our importance to recognizing our claim to Jerusalem, especially appropriate with the current Bush visit. Right after that, we figured that wasn't enough for the evening so we headed up the block for a concert by Pharoah's Daughter (their first tour in Israel). The concert was GREAT - a nice, small, intimate theatre that allowed us to sit in the 4th row for only 20 shekels a pop. The percussionist and the chick playing the recorders definitely took center stage. The percussionist had bells and things attached to his ankles and was playing a old fashioned clay jug as if it was a drum. The recorder lady was switching between about 7 different recorders and when she needed multiple sounds, she just decided to play two at a time.



This was just the beginning of the week, for bright and early Monday morning we headed down to Be'er Sheva and Eilat for a couple of days. Sun, touring, good food and a nice hotel made it a great couple of days. Here is a pic or two and hopefully Aaron will fill in more soon.