Sukkot, Part II

Sukkot continued and we continued to enjoy ourselves. Wednesday we rented a car and traveled a bit north of our home to a place called Park Utopia. It's the project of Kibbutz Bahan--a nature park/garden. First is an indoor orchid park and outside there are mazes made from shrubbery, a butterfly garden, a topiary garden and much more. It was nice, but not great. From there we headed toward Netanya and ended up at an amazing restaurant in the industrial zone--always the best place for good eats. Bat HaIkar (the Farmer's Daughter) is a restaurant specializing in freshly grilled skewered meats. The highlight however was the homemade pita (plain or with zaatar or with tomatoes) freshly cooked in the taboun oven and the 26 (literally!) salads that covered our table upon arrival. Josh actually wrote down every single one, so for your reading pleasure (and perhaps to inspire a little jealousy:):

1. egg salad
2. cole slaw
3. spicy tomato salad
4. roasted eggplant
5. spicy roasted eggplant
6. babaganoush
7. techinah with onions and peppers
8. tabouleh
9. broiled potatoes
10. tomatoes and basil
11. spicy carrot salad
12. corn and mushroom salad
13. cabbage with parsley and cucumber
14. salsa
15. roasted peppers
16. olives and pickles
17. red cabbage with mayonnaise
18. green cabbage with vinegar
19. beets
20. chopped liver
21. deep friend eggplant and peppers
22. sweet potatoes with onions
23. israeli salad
24. rice
25. mashed potatoes
26. pickled vegetables

With a little hummus, mmmmm...

From there we headed to the beach in Netany

a to enjoy the last sun of the day.

On Thursday, we decided to stay closer to home and went to the Soreq Cave. Very cool (see pics). We picnicked in

the nearby JNF forest and then headed over to a local beach.

It was covered in sea shells, so in addition to enjoying the waves

and the sand, Sidney collected a ton of beautiful shells. Not sure what we'll do with them, but...

Friday was again the evening of a festival, Simchat Torah. We had a lovely celebration at our synagogue followed by a festive meal in the gymnasium. Not sure if I've mentioned...our synagogue

meets in the local elementary school. We have our services in a 4th grade classroom and social events in the gym. Many synagogues function in such a way as the primary function of a synagogue here is for services--the other roles that such an institution would fulfill in the U.S. are accomplished through other parts of society. In any case, the dinner was lovely--almost 200 people came. The next morning we returned for what is the longest service of the year. Outside of Israel, the holiday is two days long and has two names--Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah--the prayers are split between two days. However, here the holiday is only one day, so everything is squeezed into one service. In honor of Simchat Torah, every adult member (those over bar/bat mitzvah age) was called up to the Torah for an aliyah. This was accomplished by splitting into four groups each with its own reading to expedite things. While this was going on, the kids received a bag of goodies. I think that Sidney had more candy yesterday than in the rest of her life combined. Not sure if that is more of a comment on the amount of candy or my craziness regarding processed sugar, but still. After everyone had an aliyah we took a break for a large potluck kiddush and then returned to services for a single communal Torah reading. Josh had the first aliyah at this reading and then they did a special blessing for our family as new immigrants. People got up and danced and sang with us to officially welcome us to our new community. It was really nice and a little overwhelming. We then continued with the regular prayers and at some point the kids were treated to popsicles. Israel really is the land flowing with sweets and treats.

I assume that the conflicts in Jerusalem over the last week have also been widely publicized outside of Israel. They stem from a fear on the part of Muslims that Jews are going to storm the al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock and take over the Temple Mount. These fears are really unfounded as religious Jews won't even step foot on the Mount for fear of accidentally stepping on the holy sites; however, extremist leaders choose to spread this fear and hatred for what can only be personal and political motives. Any Jews who want to go up to the Mount are most likely tourists who are interested in learning about the exquisite Muslim sites. It used to be a common point of cultural exchange; I remember going with my parents to see the Mosque and the Dome of the Rock when I was here with them as a child. But everything is different now, I suppose. Last week a friend's son wanted to go to the Western Wall during one of his days of vacation. Muslim worshippers had been throwing rocks down from the top at those praying at the Wall, and his mother thought it too dangerous. She tried to explain what was happening to her seven year old. "Why are the Jews and the Muslims fighting?" he asked. "Because they don't know how to share," was her response. Hmmm. Do we ever really learn how to share? What should we have to share? I thought of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where the various Christian groups have worked out a rotation to share the holy space. Could that be a model? I thought of our sharing problem again on Saturday. Part of the liturgy is a prayer for rain at this time of the year, the beginning of the "rainy" season. This country, this area, which has suffered drought over the last several years, causing dangerous drops in the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea and the aquifers...we need rain. And to make peace, to have enough water to share in order to make peace, we need rain. May God bless us with rain...and with peace this year.