MARRIAGE IN ISRAEL BY JONA TAYLOR

My common law husband David and I had the crazy idea we would get married in Israel. We forgot the fact that Israeli marriage laws are different than in the United States. In America practically anybody can get married to whoever they want if they are of age. Most states still don’t allow gay marriage, and no state that I know of would let you marry your dog or cat; However, Interracial and interfaith marriages are allowed in all states, even Alabama.

David and I can’t get married in Israel because civil marriage is not allowed. Basically, only Orthodox religious marriages are permitted. Christians may marry other Christians, Muslims may only marry Muslims, and Jews may only marry Jews. Oh, but there’s more, certain ultra-orthodox Jewish sects allow marriage not only between cousins, but even nieces.  Since 1953 the rabbinate has only approved marriages between Jews in Israel conducted in accordance with the Orthodox interpretation of halakha. Therefore for converts to marry in Israel they must have met strict Orthodox guidelines for conversion. That eliminates many Jewish couples especially from America and Russia.

Not to worry, love conquers all. Israel will accept marriages that were performed in other countries. Therefore, although David and I can’t get married in Israel, if we married before coming here, or take a trip abroad to elope, the marriage would be accepted. I was told by my gay friend that Israel accepts his marriage which was performed in a country that allows gay marriage.

So many Israelis go abroad to get married. How ironic is that? A lot of this comes from the old Ottoman Empire, and many of the surrounding countries — aka enemies calling for the complete and total destruction of Israel — have similar laws and customs.

Cyprus is the country of choice where most Israelis travel to marry. In fact, there is the Cyprus wedding cruise ship that leaves port about once a week during wedding season and once a month during the slow season. I’ve never been to Cyprus, so I can’t tell you what it’s like, but obviously they allow civil marriages and are profiting from the archaic Israeli marriage laws. There are couples in the US that refuse to marry until gays can marry. As a matter of principle, David and I should not get married until Israelis born in their own native land are allowed to marry their person of choice in a civil ceremony. 


Jona Taylor is a semi-retired massage therapist and a freelance writer living in Haifa, Israel. To read more about her adventures in Israel go to http://bumblingthruisrael.wordpress.com

ANEMONIES BY ZELDA DVORETZKY

In Vermont, people go “leaf peeping” in the Fall, driving through chilly October

days to watch the trees turn from green to glorious red, gold, ocher and every

shade and color in between. In Texas, people flock to the Hill Country in the

spring to rejoice in the riot of Bluebonnets - wildflowers that carpet the slopes

with a gentian blue so vivid it rivals the skies. Wordsworth’s “host of golden

daffodils” grace England’s hills and dales as well as anthologies of beloved poems.

 
 
Many places on earth display nature’s bounty of beauty. 

In Israel, we have  Anemonies, called here, Calaniot. 




The number of varieties of wildflowers in this small country is too great to count, but the

Calaniot,  in their season,  overwhelm the senses with their profusion of deep red petals.


They are particularly vivid this year, thanks to an unusually wet winter. It is against the law to

pick them; Israel’s self-renewing wildflowers are a national treasure to be cherished and

preserved.

Zelda Dvoretzky was born in New Jersey and grew up in New York. She earned degrees from City College of New York and the University of Michigan, after which she wrote copy for the electronic and print media, and worked in public relations, editing and teaching. She retired to Haifa in 1997, is a member of Haifa Writers, Israel, an organization of writers of poetry in English, and the Haifa Chamber Choir. Zelda stays busy learning Hebrew, teaching English, and keeping in touch with grandchildren, family and friends in Texas, California, and, of course, Haifa. zeldahaifa@gmail.com

TOUR OF JERUSALEM BY EARL J. SHUGERMAN

I just completed a wonderful visit to Jerusalem for the Hanukkah holiday. It is still a thrill each time that I tour the holiest and most fascinating city on earth. My home is in Haifa, but the City of Gold is just a two hour bus ride from my front door.

 
This is a glimpse of the Kotel or Western Wall from my friend Tim in 2009. He was a Southern Baptist envoy to Haifa.

My favorite trip in this glorious nation is to Israel's capital. I always visit the Tower of David, where King David composed the 23rd psalm. The Tower of David (Hebrew: מגדל דוד‎, Migdal David, Arabic: برج داود‎, Burj Daud) is an ancient citadel located near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem.

Built to strengthen a strategically weak point in the Old City's defenses, the citadel that stands today has ancient foundations and was constructed during the 2nd century BC and subsequently destroyed and rebuilt by, in succession, the Christian, Muslim, Mamluk, and Ottoman conquerors of Jerusalem. It contains important archaeological finds dating back 2,700 years, and is a popular venue for benefit events, craft shows, concerts, and sound-and-light performances. The name "Tower of David" is due to Byzantine Christians who believed the site to be the palace of King David.[1] They borrowed the name "Tower of David" from the Song of Songs, attributed to Solomon, King David's son, who wrote: "Thy neck is like the Tower of David built with turrets, whereon there hang a thousand shields, all the armor of the mighty men." (Song of Songs, 4:4)



This week's visit was joyous. The museum was filled with visitors from all over the world. Christians from Belgium, Muslims from Haifa, and Jews from Israel and abroad shared the almost mystic spirit of the shrine and the holiday atmosphere of Hanukkah. The area of the holy sites has upscale shopping, cafes, educational campuses and spiritual centers. It was Hanukkah and therefore Sufganiot or donuts were everywhere. Fried foods are a holiday tradition, a reference to the oil that miraculously burned for eight days.

I dined at a beloved Arab restaurant, and enjoyed the cuisine of traditional Arab cooking accompanied by a Miller Light. Then, I crossed the street towards The Tomb of Jesus, where I am always inspired by the visit. It still amazes me that the distance between The Tower of David, my favorite restaurant and the Tomb of Jesus is just a few minutes walk. The Western Wall,or Kotel was the highlight of the tour. It is a remnant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple's courtyard, and is one of the most sacred sites in Judaism outside of the Temple Mount itself. According to the Tanakh, Solomon's Temple was built atop the Temple Mount in the 10th century BCE and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The Second Temple was completed and dedicated in 516 BCE. Two thousand years ago Jews were expected to pray in The Temple. According to classical Jewish belief, the Temple acted as the figurative "footstool" of God's presence and a Third Temple will be built there in the future.

My first trip to Jerusalem was seven years ago. I was accompanied by my cousin Chaya, which is the Hebrew female name for life. Life has very special meaning to the people of Israel. We must never forget the Holocaust. Six million lost souls who died for the "crime" of praying in a Synagogue. Twenty thousand souls have perished defending this small and brave nation. Israel is a nation of only seven million citizens.

Chaya is Jewish Orthodox and by the age of thirty had six wonderful children. She is also an American Olah or immigrant to Israel. Her family immigrated to Israel two decades ago. Their intention was to be in the holiest city in the holiest nation on earth. My pride and joy is her now eight year old son, Elchanan. He is a handsome, brilliant, and very precocious young man with dark hair, brown eyes, and a very enchanting but somewhat sly smile. His mom refers to him as a walking Chamsin (turbulent storm), and his proud grandma jokes that he is Israel’s greatest threat to stability!

Chaya, like most residents of the holy city takes great pride in giving guided tours of her beloved metropolis.

During my visit, we enjoyed touring the city on Israel’s double decker bus 99. El Chanon managed to get into everything and talk to everyone to the merriment of all, including our bus driver Haim. He has been a resident of the city for forty years. Chaim told us in great detail about his recently born and first grandson. We were enthralled to hear a Druze visitor from the North tell us about his families support of the Jewish Yishuv during Israel's War of Independence in 1948. We chatted with a group of Christian pilgrims from Belgium. They were seeing Jerusalem and neighboring Bethlehem for the first time.

The 99 bus navigates a route of both scenic and cultural interest. Mount Scopes boasts a visage encompassing the Old City, the Temple Mount and Bethlehem. As the Old City passes into the remote distance, the New City boasts iconographic sites. The Knesset houses Israel’s parliament. The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial remembers all those that were the victims of history’s most insidious crime. The Israel Museum is a testimony to Jewish endurance and continuity of their presence in the Land of Canaan (between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea). It is also the home to one of the most impressive and famous discoveries dating back more than two thousand years. The Dead Sea Scrolls written by a group called “The Esseim” describes life in this region in the era of The Second Jewish Temple.

Jerusalem has been the holiest city in Judaism and the ancestral and spiritual homeland of the Jewish people since the 10th century BCE. It has long been embedded into Jewish religious consciousness. Jews have studied and personalized the struggle by King David to capture Jerusalem and his desire to build the Jewish Temple there, as described in the Book of Samuel and the Book of Psalms. Many of King David's yearnings about Jerusalem have been adapted into popular prayers and songs. The 23rd Psalm is my most revered. Traditionally, Jerusalem has been the focus of longing for Diaspora Jews who were forced from their land and the Temple of their God. Psalm 137 is the well-known lament of the Babylonian Jews who wept "by the rivers of Babylon" and declared, "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither."

For Christians, Jerusalem's place in the life of Jesus gives it great importance. Jerusalem is considered a sacred site. The city is holy in both Sunni and Sunnite Islamic tradition, along with Mecca and Medina. Islamic tradition holds that previous prophets were associated with Jerusalem, and that the Islamic prophet Muhammad visited the city on a nocturnal journey.

The Holy City is one of the most studied and most controversial in the world. Jerusalem has great spiritual value to both Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It is a political arena as well. Should Jerusalem be the capital of the Jewish homeland, Palestinian homeland, or both? The Jewish people was denied the right to pray at our spiritual center openly and freely for two thousand years. The 1947 United Nations Mandate for Palestine made East Jerusalem an international city with guaranteed access for all. We were denied that access by Jordan until 1967. Israel is both the homeland of The Jewish people but also of Judaism. The City of Gold is its heart.We must never be denied our heritage again.

 



Earl Shugerman, a sixty four year old Oleh Hadash, immigrated to Haifa, Israel from Western Colorado in the United States. He was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended the University of New Mexico. Prior to moving to Israel, Earl worked in the State Government of Colorado and for other government agencies promoting employment services for people with disabilities. He is now retired and loves his new home of five years in Haifa where promoting dialogue between faiths and cultures as well as writing are his great passions. Many of E.J.'s stories about life in Haifa as a new immigrant have been published worldwide by well known websites. Earl received the AACI North Volunteer of 2013 award, which has been announced at the National AACI Annual General Meeting on June 2013.

WATER OUT OF A STONE BY DANA KEREN

I told you before, Ms. Kinengeser, that one of the "spatial privileges" phoned me yesterday and confirmed that I am entitled to health insurance doled out by the governmental Health Insurance Company for the Sick and the Desperate. They followed it up by sending me an e-mail detailing each step that I should undertake. And so, after choosing the paint for my apartment, I went home and phoned the misken (unfortunate) insurance company Maccabi in order to remove from their coffers all the enormous sums of money that I have paid them. To my chagrin they had already removed it from my account instead of waiting till the Dec. 1st date, as they were expected to do. Mrs. Olga was on vacation, but Mrs. Malka instructed me to bring a copy of the email from the lady of the "spatials" and a letter from me in which I should declare that I know that I will not be covered until I will be covered (no kidding!!!) My printer is still on its Atlantic Ocean cruise so Rysis had to be summoned. He printed my letter from the "spatials" and that suggested that I write my letter in English, expecting the Maccabi Company to be more favorably impressed.
 

The entrance 'gates' to the building of the Ministry for Internal Affairs, Haifa

After many adventures, I arrived for my meeting with Malka exactly at 9:00 feeling distraught over the letters. Malka takes one look at my beautiful letter in perfect English which cites with impeccable logic, on two pages in large font, all the events that contributed to the present tragic situation - trying at the same time not to offend anyone. At the very end I declared officially that I recognized that I will not be insured until I will be insured. After taking one look at my masterpiece, Malka says: what is this jabber? Write something in Hebrew and sign it. I say: “please dictate, seeing that neither my computer nor I can write in Hebrew”. I am in kita alef (grade one). She starts dictating and decides that I am definitely not in grade one! In point of fact, I only asked her about every seventh letter and not every 2nd. The letter mercifully consisted of three sentences. Signature,

Thus end of discussion. I will be in touch with you during the day, says Malka.





I am on my way to tick off the first thing on my list: going to the Ministry for Internal Affairs in order to update my Identity Document. By now I learned already to ask whether the bus will go where I want to get to, otherwise - disaster will strike me for sure. I get on the bus, the driver smiles and says: boker tov! (good morning!). I ask him whether he is going to the Ministry for Internal Affairs. He says: I sure hope so! I was just about to say that hope deludes the fools but instead I told him that hope is a wonderful thing. To the young man next to me I said how nice it was to have drivers with a sense of humor. And, of course, just as we were leaving the next stop, some old lady, just a bit late for the bus but intent on getting in, started waving her cane around and said cane actually hit the bus! The driver stopped the bus, let her on, smiled and said: it's a good thing you didn't hit me with that cane. My chum sitting next to me and we looked at each other and burst out laughing.

I don't know if you all noticed this but in each bus, on the plastic partition behind the bus driver there is a sign saying: "Ve-ahavta et-nahagkha ka-mokha" which means "love thy driver as would love yourself". Well, I am only asking you guys! 


The 'rocket' building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Haifa

So my chum and I started talking and saying how terrific those bus drivers were and I told him that I collect such stories. So of course he got curious and started asking me questions. And he asked me where my accent is from. I told him. Then I asked him where his accent was from - Arabic. We discussed the differences in Arabic accents in Haifa and in Jerusalem, the matter of his cousin in Norway who doesn't like living there at all. He asked me why I was collecting those stories. I answered. It came out that I am writing two separate collections of memoirs. During the conversation the story about my Haifa grandmother came out, about my Haifa cousin who was killed in the War of Independence and what motivated me to start writing the story (the remark. I once overheard my Poor Boy make to his friend) and so the story about my being in Jerusalem during the Six-Day War also came out. My chum's name is Eham, he is 20 years old, born in Haifa. He said he had never in his life met such an interesting person as me. He must be leading some kind of a boring life, right?

I went to the Ministry for Internal Affairs, where the security people check my bags and packages and I tell them that I am here in order to update... Go to the first floor! - says the security guy. I stood there dumbfounded. How do you know? Well, you said you were going to update - so it's your identity card. Counter number 11 or 12. Behind counter no. 12 there was an old guy filling out his sudoku. So I went to counter no. 11 where within 15 seconds I acquired an updated identity document, complete with a postal code. That's when I found out that every citizen is supposed to go to the Ministry for Internal Affairs and update their identity documents every time they move. Go figure! And right after that Malka from the Insurance Company for the Sick, the Unhappy and the Desperate phoned and confirmed that Tel-Aviv promised that my hard spent monies would be returned to my account on Dec. 5th.
 


Tomorrow I will phone Rachel from the Absorption of Returning Citizens in order to give her a chance to meet me in person this time, as per instructions from Tel-Aviv. Did the capital of Israel move to Tel-Aviv while I was away?

Dana Keren

 



Born in Post-war Poland, made aliyah in 1964, studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, moved to Canada in 1974. Retired from the University of Toronto Library and returned to Israel in 2010. Lives in Haifa.

THE IMPORTANCE OF HANUKKAH BY EARL SHUGERMAN

Hanukkah is one of the most and misunderstood holidays of Judaism. I am looking forward to celebrating the festive occasion with my Chabad friends in my home of Haifa Israel. We have just started a Jewish study group for English speakers in our community. This will be our first Hanukkah together in the land where it all started.

The eight-day Jewish celebration known as Hanukkah or Chanukah commemorates the re -dedication during the second century BCE of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabees Revolt. Hanukkah, which means "dedication" in Hebrew, begins on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar and usually falls in November or December. The timing is based on the ancient lunar calendar. The celebration is based on events that occurred on about the year 200 BCE. However, there are no written records of any holiday observance of Hanukkah until about 500 years later, in the Talmud. Christmas, was not officially celebrated on December 25th until the third century. I have learned from studying both the old and new testament in Haifa that there is no certainty that the date of either is exact. The spiritual significance of the holidays is what is important and should be celebrated and coveted.

The Festival of Lights holiday is celebrated with the lighting of the menorah, traditional foods, games and gifts. Many Jews and non- Jews consider the holiday to have special significance with the return of the Jewish people to the land of our roots. Many of us in Israel and elsewhere consider Israel to be the third "Bayit" (home) or Temple.

According to the Tanakh, Solomon's Temple was built atop the Temple Mount in the 10th century BCE and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The Second Temple was completed and dedicated in 516 BCE. Two thousand years ago Jews were expected to pray in The Temple. According to classical Jewish belief, the Temple acted as the figurative "footstool" of God's presence and a Third Temple will be built there in the future. Traditionally, Jerusalem has been the focus of longing for Diaspora Jews who were forced from their land and the Temple of their God. Psalm 137 is the well-known lament of the Babylonian Jews who wept "by the rivers of Babylon" and declared, "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither."

The History of Hanukkah

The events that inspired the Hanukkah holiday took place during a particularly turbulent phase of Jewish history. Around 200 BCE, Judea region —also known as the Land of Israel—came under the control of Antiochus III, the Seleucid king of Syria, who allowed the Jews who lived there to continue practicing their religion. His son, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, proved less benevolent: Ancient sources recount that he outlawed the Jewish religion and ordered the Jews to worship Greek gods. In 168 BCE, his soldiers descended upon Jerusalem, massacring thousands of people and desecrating the city’s holy Second Temple by erecting an altar to Zeus and sacrificing pigs within its sacred walls.

Led by the Jewish priest Mattathias and his five sons, a large-scale rebellion broke out against Antiochus and the Seleucid monarchy. When Matthathias died in 166 BCE, his son Judah, known as Judah Maccabee (“the Hammer”), took the helm; within two years the Jews had successfully driven the Syrians out of Jerusalem, relying largely on guerrilla warfare tactics.

For an entire generation, the ancient Judeans waged a struggle for freedom, which, in terms of intensity, has almost no parallel in human history. It was among the first recorded wars of liberation and it laid a model for nearly every revolution that followed. With an unbreakable faith and willingness to sacrifice, a handful of valiant Hebrew fighters forged the eternal covenant that resistance to tyranny is the highest and truest service to the universal creator and the highest moral value. Judah called on his followers to cleanse the Second Temple, rebuild its altar and light its menorah—the gold candelabrum of which seven branches represented knowledge and creation and were meant to be kept burning every night.

The Hanukkah "Miracle"

According to the Talmud, one of Judaism’s most central texts, Judah Maccabee and the other Jews who took part in the re-dedication of the Second Temple witnessed what they believed to be a miracle. Even though there was only enough untainted olive oil to keep the menorah’s candles burning for a single day, the flames continued flickering for eight nights, leaving them time to find a fresh supply. This wondrous event inspired the Jewish sages to proclaim a yearly eight-day festival. .

Jewish families across the world are celebrating this Inspiring holiday. Our children enjoy spinning dreidels, lighting menorahs and opening presents on the first night of Hanukkah. I enjoyed eating "Sufganiot" or donuts at the Dan Panorama Mall in Haifa. This is holiday tradition that our of us enjoy. Jewish and non Jewish children sing holiday ballads for mall visitors - many of them visitors from all over the world!

On the first night of Hanukkah, Jewish families began by lighting the menorah, the nine-branched candelabra. Two candles are lit on the first night: the shamash (the helper candle, which is usually the tallest) and one other. On the second night, the shamash and two other candles are lit, on the third, the shamash and three others are lit, etc. This continues for eight nights. To pay homage to the miracle which kept the oil burning, it is typical to eat fried foods such as latkes (potato pancakes) and jelly doughnuts. Children play dreidels (spinning tops), open gifts, eat gelt (chocolate coins) and families say prayers together. It is also customary to increase the amount given to charity during the holiday.

Nearly two thousand years after Judah led his successful revolt, the Jewish people are again free to practice our faith in "The Third Temple". This year marked the sixty fifth of our return to the place where it all started. Hopefully, we will all understand that the greatest and truest message of Hanukkah is that freedom is worth any price that needs to be paid. 





Earl Shugerman, a sixty four year old Oleh Hadash, immigrated to Haifa, Israel from Western Colorado in the United States. He was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended the University of New Mexico. Prior to moving to Israel, Earl worked in the State Government of Colorado and for other government agencies promoting employment services for people with disabilities. He is now retired and loves his new home of five years in Haifa where promoting dialogue between faiths and cultures as well as writing are his great passions. Many of E.J.'s stories about life in Haifa as a new immigrant have been published worldwide by well known websites. Earl received the AACI North Volunteer of 2013 award, which has been announced at the National AACI Annual General Meeting on June 2013. 

INVITATION FOR HANUKKAH CELEBRATION IN THE CHABAD HOME FOR ANGLOS IN HAIFA BY EARL SHUGERMAN

I am sitting at The Haifa Dan Panorama Mall writing this post at my favorite café. The upscale mall houses high end clothing and jewelry stores. There are several restaurants, a beauty salon, and a pharmacy. The community Chabad center is located here as well. It is my spiritual home and favorite place to buy religious artifacts and handmade paintings and home décor. The Rabbi is named Levi Yitzchak. He is about thirty, razor thin, dark hair, and smiles consistently. He has six children ranging from eleven months to eleven years in age. My favorite is his eleven month old daughter named Devorah or bee. She already beams her father’s smile. I visit the store almost daily in the hope that the kids will be there.



In the course of two years Levi and I have discussed the need to promote English language courses in our community in various topics of Judaism. Chabad is recognized throughout the world for the superb quality of its spiritual teachings. I chose to study at a Chabad center for a year before immigrating to Israel. My classes included Talmud, Tanach or Bible, and tutoring in Hebrew. They have my deepest appreciation for their support.

What is Chabad-Lubavitch?

Chabad-Lubavitch is a major movement within mainstream Jewish tradition with its roots in the Chassidic movement of the 18th century. In Czarist and Communist Russia, the leaders of Chabad led the struggle for the survival of Torah Judaism, often facing imprisonment and relentless persecution for their activities. After the Holocaust, under the direction of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchaak Schneerson and his successor, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, Chabad became a worldwide movement, caring for the spiritual and material needs of all Jews, wherever they could be found.

Today, over 3,000 Chabad centers are located in more than 65 countries, with a new center opening on the average every ten days. In South Africa, South America, Russia, Australia, the UK, and many parts of the USA, and of course Israel. Chabad has become a dynamic and dominant force within the Jewish community.

This week Rabbi Levi Yitzchak and I decided to act on our dream of establishing a study center for English speaking immigrants and visitors in Haifa.

We visited the Habad center in Safed to meet their leader there Eyal Riess.www.tzfat-kabbalah.org). He has decades of experience in planning and administering programs for English speaking individuals. He speaks the tongue of Shakespeare wonderfully but sounds a bit British. He actually was born and raised in Israel.


He is housed at The International Center for Tzfat Kabbalah was founded in the Old City of Safed in 2007 by the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach, Florida, in cooperation with the Israeli Ministry of Tourism and the Jewish Agency for Israel to promote Safed as a kabbalah center.

The center has a "Visitors center on the history of the Kabbalah of Safed", a lecture and study room, and a library. The center holds seminars and workshops in receipt of Safed rabbis, visitors, and local residents.


Eyal Riess (on the right), yes, with Paula Abdul!

Eyal Riess and Rabbi Levy Yitzchak have a list of English speakers from Haifa and the surrounding communities who have inquired about starting classes in our city. We added a team leader Zecharya Gonsher, who was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. He made aliyah at the age of 28 where he met his Israeli wife through the help of a Chabad shadchanit (matchmaker). Zach earned his MSW in family clinical therapy in St Louis, MO, where he connected to Chabad. He lives in adjacent Kiryat Ata with his wife, Liat, who works as a doula, pregnancy and birthing coach, and newborn twins.

The Reform Jewish Movement has some classes in our community. My very close friend Rabbi Edgar Nof hosts a Pirke Avot group one day a week, for example. However, there are those Jews who are more oriented to other streams of Judaism. We are planning to have an open house in the fall to build a garin or seed of those interested in supporting this program. It will be sponsored by our Dan Panorama center.

On August 20th, we held our first activity. Rabbi Riess hosted and spoke at a “meet and greet”. He presented a spiritually uplifting lecture about Jewish values. We had more than two dozen participants. Most committed to attend and support further activities in our program. They did and our group has grown.

We added a crash course on Yom Kippur, our most holy day of observance on September 10th. Two days later we celebrated the holy day together. We converted the upstairs café in the mall to a bet Knesset or synagogue. Dozens of people attended prayer and thanked us for the convenience of a prayer site in our community. “Several of us are senior citizens or have medical limitations and came to pray by local homes” noted one of those attended our make shift sanctuary. Israel does not generally permit transportation on Yom Kippur. I loved the fact that my home is directly across the street from the new place of prayer.

The host also hosted a Party in the Sukkah on the 23rd at the largest Synagogue in our community. Thirty to forty of us sang, told stories about Sukkoth, eat lots of food and drank a bit of Jack Daniels. Kids danced and laughed to the joy of us all.

We now have a Parashat Ha Shavuah twice a month led by Zacharia. Women study together in a group hosted by Zach’s wife Liat. Our group continues to grow and share the joys of studying our faith, Judaism together. We host people from all streams of the Jewish world joining together to learn and enjoy friendships new and old.

Come and join us this week for our first Hannukah celebration together and share the joyous occasion together. Come all and bring a friend!! Special Mazal Tov to our friend and mentor Rabbi Eyal Riess and his Bat Mitzvah “student” Paula Abdul.

Zecharya for details – 058-545 4770 from Haifa!

ARE YOU A GIRL? BY SHARON AMOV.

MY GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER, GILI, IS THREE YEARS OLD. SHE IS VERY SMART, EXTREMELY DRAMATIC AND HAS A LOVELY VOCABULARY. SHE IS AN ENGLISH SPEAKER AND IS IN THE PROCESS OF LEARNING TO SPEAK HEBREW AND

SHE IS A QUESTION ASKER!

GILI'S ENTIRE FAMILY IS CHARREDI. I AM A REFORM JEW--I WEAR SLACKS--DO NOT COVER MY HEAD AND I DD NOT KEEP KOSHER.

HAVING SAID THAT, OUT OF RESPECT, WHEN I VISIT MY DAUGHTER'S AND GRANDDAUGHTER'S HOMES FOR SHABBOS, I DRESS APPROPRIATELY. WHEN MY FAMILY COMES TO MY HOUSE I DRESS IN AN ORTHODOX FASHION AND ONLY SERVE THEM KOSHER FOODS.

LAST WEEK GILI AND I WERE PREPARING FOR HER BATH. AS I HELPED HER TAKE OFF HER BLOUSE OVER HER HEAD, SHE POPPED

HER LITTLE HEAD OUT AND ASKED ME "NONNIE, ARE YOU A GIRL"?

"WHY ARE YOU ASKING MY SWEETHEART?" (I ASKED, PLAYING FOR TIME, BECAUSE I KNEW IN MY HEART THAT SOONER OR LATER SHE WOULD ASK ME QUESTIONS--BUT I WAS HOPING FOR LATER).

"I AM ASKING BECAUSE MY IMMA, MY ZOFTA AND ALL OF MY FRIEND'S IMMAS WEAR SKIRTS."

"WELL HONEY, I QUIVERED. NONNIE IS VERY OLD AND ALMOST NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I WORN SKIRTS. BUT IF YOU WOULD LIKE FOR ME TO, I CERTAINLY WILL." "BUT YOU SAY THE SHEMA AND LIGHT CANDLES" SHE COUNTERED. (SHE ALREADY SEES THE CONNECTION.)

"I WILL TELL YOU ABOUT THE SHEMA" I IGNORED THE CANDLE

LIGHTING ISSUE ON PURPOSE AND HELD BACK GIVING HER THE MORE COMPLICATED REASONS FOR BOTH HER SAKE AND MINE.

I NEEDED TIME TO COMPOSE MY "REFORM JUDAISM SPEECH".

NOT AN EASY TASK.

"NOW I WILL TELL YOU ABOUT NONNIE AND THE SHEMA. WHEN I WAS A LITTLE GIRL LIKE YOU I SAID THE SHEMA EVERY NIGHT WHEN MY IMMA AND ABBA PUT ME TO BED. I STILL DO AND YOU KNOW I ALWAYS SAY IT WITH YOU. WE WILL TALK ABOUT IT TOMORROW--GOOD NIGHT--LAILA TOV--SWEETHEART". AND WE SAID THE SHEMA TOGETHER.

THE NEXT EVENING WE WERE AGAIN PREPARING FOR HER BATH.

"NONNIE I HAVE DECIDED" SHE SAID EMPHATICALLY--"I WANT YOU TO WEAR SKIRTS--THEN YOU WILL BE A GIRL".

"GILI, I PROMISE THAT I WILL TRY TO WEAR SKIRTS AS MUCH AS I CAN--AND OF COURSE I WILL CONTINUE TO SAY THE SHEMA--OK?"

"OK NONNIE--I LOVE YOU." "I LOVE YOU TOO MY SWEETHEART."

WHEW! THAT WAS NOT SUCH A HARD TEST TO PASS. HOWEVER I AM VERY SURE THAT THE NEXT TESTS WILL BE MUCH MORE COMPLICATED AND I WILL PREPARE FOR THEM AS HONESTLY AS I POSSIBLY CAN.