A very full day (Israel, day 1)
Dec. 25th, 2008 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhuAs I was just uploading the photos off the card, I said "2008-12-, um what was today? Oh, right, the 25th."
H and I woke up around 6am, so we've adjusted. The kids took a while to get up. We had breakfast, davenned, and the kids played with their friends. I forgot to mention yesterday that they picked up just where they'd left off. (That is, the friends we're staying with here were among our closest friends back in Newton before they made aliyah, and their older two girls were bosom buddies with Tani and Alissa.)
It was raining this morning; Israel has been having a drought; the kids were very excited. "Hashem is sending rain!" "That's because we prayed for it!" "I said mashiv ha-ruach!" Ah, the absolute emunah (faith) of children.
We drove up to J'lem, with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
abbasegal driving the younger kids and us with Tani and their eldest. We stopped off at the tayelet (Haas Promenade) to give the kids their first view of J'lem.
Oh, here's a picture of our rental car:
So, then we got back in the cars and drove to just outside Sh'ar Yaffo (Jaffa Gate).
We walked into the Old City, and through the Armenian and Jewish Quarters to the Kotel.
On the way, we saw some outdoor chanukiyot
... and the Churva (Ruin) Synagogue, which is being rebuilt.
... and we walked to the Kotel ...
Both kids were quite moved by the experience. There was a set of barriers by the back of the Kotel plaza with the sign "This passage for men only." How absurd, it seems to me. Are people getting so machmir that they consider the rear of the plaza to be a beit knesset and they won't even walk through a mixed section?
Tani swayed with his eyes closed, and then he wanted to write a note:
"Peace and just enough rain" A wonderful prayer. Tani had lots of questions about the construction of the Herodian retaining wall.
I said a few chapters of Tehillim (Psalms).
Alissa:
The Bratslavers are apparently still around:
We had lunch at Bonkers Bagels, as we usually do when we visit the Kotel. After lunch, we heard what sounded like a marching band drum corps. It was some sort of tour group, being led by three drummers, and singing Hava Nagilah and other favorites. Only in Jerusalem.
On our way back, we swung by the Cardo
and back through the shuk on David Street in the Christian Quarter.
There was an incense shop that had the most beautiful, colorful display:
Along the way, we got this great picture of Alissa
Then we went to the Citadel (Migdal David), which is now a museum of the history of the Old City but has, in the past, been Herod's castle, a Crusader stronghold, and lots of other things.
The dry moat
The foundations of Herod's castle
The kids pretending to be knights shooting arrows from the Citadel
Walking back to the car, we passed a coffeeshop with an amazing window display of sufganiot. So of course we stopped in and bought four. It was another of those experiences where simply being in Israel meant that the minor celebration of Chanukah was available with no extra effort. The kids were so excited that Tani, who has been resisting many of our efforts to get him to use his Hebrew outside of school, insisted on going back to the store to tell the employees "Sufganiyah yafeh meod!" I was so proud of him.
Oh, and they had a great poster for their latkes: לביבות, או לא להיות (Latkes, or it's not worth existing).
We also passed a Columbia sportswear store. We loved the sign:
Then we drove to Kikar Zion (Zion Square). On the way, we passed an amusing awning and sign from the same store:
"Tourist Stuff" (leftmost words on awning) -- well, no question there
Were you sober when you spelled that?
Wandering around the Ben Yehudah Street pedestrian mall...
... we saw a lady in a Santa hat walking a dog who was wearing a red-and-green scarf. What a role reversal! She clearly felt the need to assert her status as a member of the minority religious community. (Sorry, no picture.) Only in Jerusalem.
We then went to an Italian restaurant, Shammai 12, just off Ben Yehudah Street. Wonderful food.
While we were eating, the owner came out of the kitchen with a serving tray carrying five regular coffee cups and one large one. He put them on a table upside down, and then melted candles onto each of the smaller cups with his cigarette lighter. He lit a shammash and handed it to one of the regular customers (I assume), and then as the customer started reciting the berachot from memory, the owner reached over to the bar, grabbed a paper napkin, and held it on his (own) head as a kippah. After the customer who had made the berachot had lit the first candle, they offered to Tani and Alissa to light the other four. They were thrilled, and took turns while the whole restaurant sang Haneirot Halalu and the first verse of Maoz Tzur. What an amazing experience. Only in Jerusalem.
Over dinner, Heather made up the following joke:
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Na
Na who?
Nach
Nach who?
....
(If you don't get it, see the photo of the Bratslaver graffito above.)
And then we drove home, and the kids zonked out
Hi-res versions of these photos, and a few others that didn't make this cut, and some videos at the Kotel, are in my Picasa album.
H and I woke up around 6am, so we've adjusted. The kids took a while to get up. We had breakfast, davenned, and the kids played with their friends. I forgot to mention yesterday that they picked up just where they'd left off. (That is, the friends we're staying with here were among our closest friends back in Newton before they made aliyah, and their older two girls were bosom buddies with Tani and Alissa.)
It was raining this morning; Israel has been having a drought; the kids were very excited. "Hashem is sending rain!" "That's because we prayed for it!" "I said mashiv ha-ruach!" Ah, the absolute emunah (faith) of children.
We drove up to J'lem, with
abbasegal driving the younger kids and us with Tani and their eldest. We stopped off at the tayelet (Haas Promenade) to give the kids their first view of J'lem.Oh, here's a picture of our rental car:
So, then we got back in the cars and drove to just outside Sh'ar Yaffo (Jaffa Gate).
We walked into the Old City, and through the Armenian and Jewish Quarters to the Kotel.
On the way, we saw some outdoor chanukiyot
... and the Churva (Ruin) Synagogue, which is being rebuilt.
... and we walked to the Kotel ...
Both kids were quite moved by the experience. There was a set of barriers by the back of the Kotel plaza with the sign "This passage for men only." How absurd, it seems to me. Are people getting so machmir that they consider the rear of the plaza to be a beit knesset and they won't even walk through a mixed section?
Tani swayed with his eyes closed, and then he wanted to write a note:
"Peace and just enough rain" A wonderful prayer. Tani had lots of questions about the construction of the Herodian retaining wall.
I said a few chapters of Tehillim (Psalms).
Alissa:
The Bratslavers are apparently still around:
We had lunch at Bonkers Bagels, as we usually do when we visit the Kotel. After lunch, we heard what sounded like a marching band drum corps. It was some sort of tour group, being led by three drummers, and singing Hava Nagilah and other favorites. Only in Jerusalem.
On our way back, we swung by the Cardo
and back through the shuk on David Street in the Christian Quarter.
There was an incense shop that had the most beautiful, colorful display:
Along the way, we got this great picture of Alissa
Then we went to the Citadel (Migdal David), which is now a museum of the history of the Old City but has, in the past, been Herod's castle, a Crusader stronghold, and lots of other things.
The dry moat
The foundations of Herod's castle
The kids pretending to be knights shooting arrows from the Citadel
Walking back to the car, we passed a coffeeshop with an amazing window display of sufganiot. So of course we stopped in and bought four. It was another of those experiences where simply being in Israel meant that the minor celebration of Chanukah was available with no extra effort. The kids were so excited that Tani, who has been resisting many of our efforts to get him to use his Hebrew outside of school, insisted on going back to the store to tell the employees "Sufganiyah yafeh meod!" I was so proud of him.
Oh, and they had a great poster for their latkes: לביבות, או לא להיות (Latkes, or it's not worth existing).
We also passed a Columbia sportswear store. We loved the sign:
Then we drove to Kikar Zion (Zion Square). On the way, we passed an amusing awning and sign from the same store:
"Tourist Stuff" (leftmost words on awning) -- well, no question there
Were you sober when you spelled that?
Wandering around the Ben Yehudah Street pedestrian mall...
... we saw a lady in a Santa hat walking a dog who was wearing a red-and-green scarf. What a role reversal! She clearly felt the need to assert her status as a member of the minority religious community. (Sorry, no picture.) Only in Jerusalem.
We then went to an Italian restaurant, Shammai 12, just off Ben Yehudah Street. Wonderful food.
While we were eating, the owner came out of the kitchen with a serving tray carrying five regular coffee cups and one large one. He put them on a table upside down, and then melted candles onto each of the smaller cups with his cigarette lighter. He lit a shammash and handed it to one of the regular customers (I assume), and then as the customer started reciting the berachot from memory, the owner reached over to the bar, grabbed a paper napkin, and held it on his (own) head as a kippah. After the customer who had made the berachot had lit the first candle, they offered to Tani and Alissa to light the other four. They were thrilled, and took turns while the whole restaurant sang Haneirot Halalu and the first verse of Maoz Tzur. What an amazing experience. Only in Jerusalem.
Over dinner, Heather made up the following joke:
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Na
Na who?
Nach
Nach who?
....
(If you don't get it, see the photo of the Bratslaver graffito above.)
And then we drove home, and the kids zonked out
Hi-res versions of these photos, and a few others that didn't make this cut, and some videos at the Kotel, are in my Picasa album.