Life in Israel

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Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} November 11 was Remembrance Day in Canada. It is also known as Armistice Day and in the US, it is called Veterans'… Continue reading We Will Never Forget

This is not a surf shop. Nor is it a favela. This is a laundry room. Are you asking why it looks like this? It makes perfect, logical sense if you are an Israeli bureaucrat who sits in the engineering department. And here is the story. Once upon a time (some three years ago), a… Continue reading This Is Not A Surf Shop

The plane descended, submerging us into a thick gray cloud. Then, as if that were not enough, we entered a second set of gray clouds, much like double doors in a high-security building.  We were now officially socked in, severed from the bright sunshine above, and locked into a land where shadows barely appear. Welcome… Continue reading Day and Night

Ohhhmm. It has been decided that I need to chill. Mellow. Unwind. “Mom, take a chill pill,” my kids say. As for my husband, well, he has perfected this part of his life—and he owes this peace of mind to meditation. He eats lunch, davens mincha and then heads off to meditate. Every day. Our… Continue reading Chaval al ha'zman

On Tuesday, I took apart my sukkah. I pulled down my decorations, rolled up the bamboo roof, slid the white cotton fabric off the poles, then washed and neatly folded them.  I swept up the area where our sukkah stood, gathering pieces of tinsel into a neat pile.  After a week full of singing, dining,… Continue reading Zman Simchateinu

Heavy, somber, hushed, introspective. These are the words I would use to describe the prayers that are recited every morning by the Ashkenazim starting before Rosh Hashana until Yom Kippur. (The Sephardim say Selichot a few weeks earlier, starting on Rosh Chodesh Elul.) The Selichot prayers ask for forgiveness on a community and national level. … Continue reading Selichot in Jerusalem