"This wouldn't happen in Cambridge, would it?"

Yesterday morning the WK and I went to Cafe Duvshaneet, so that I could get my natool before going to Coop Shop (that's what it is called in Hebrew, too) to get a few things for Shabbat dinner. On the way back from Coop Shop, Pentheus called me on the cell phone. Olamit (the mother of Gideon, the boys' friend from the Moshava Park) had called Pentheus a few minutes earlier to invite both our boys to "the North" for the weekend. Her husband's family lives in Kfar Keesh, which is between Afula and Tiberias, about  2 1/2 hours away.

Both boys really wanted to go. CK was particularly excited, even though he's only been away from us for that long once or twice, and at those times, the boys stayed with their aunt and uncle whom they see all the time. Pentheus and I talked to the boys and then to each other, and we couldn't think of a reason why they shouldn't go. I called Olamit, who was pleased the boys would be joining them in the North and asked that the boys come to her house as soon as possible. So, Pentheus walked with the boys to Olamit's house. When Pentheus returned to our dira, I commented to him that this wouldn't happen in Cambridge. I don't know that we would let the boys go away for 2 days with a family whom we had met once. Pentheus laughed because apparently when he left the boys at Olamit's, Olamit had commented how, "This wouldn't happen in Cambridge, would it?"  When I told my Dad about Olamit's invitation, he asked how long Pentheus and I had to think about our answer - a second or a millisecond?! The boys are gone until early Sunday afternoon.

At any rate, Pentheus and I are alone in Jerusalem this weekend! We've been having a good weekend. Yesterday, we met Rafaela (Rafi), our tour guide's daughter, who is going to be the boys' Hebrew tutor. Rafi seems great. She has tutored before and came to the meeting with some sample books that she thought she might use with the boys. Rafi has great ideas about how to make learning fun, and we're very excited for her to start. Her first couple of lessons are this Tuesday morning and next Sunday morning. After the boys are back in school after Sukkot ends, we hope that Cheli will allow Rafi to tutor the boys for an hour a couple of times a week at the Szold School.

I tentatively hired a guitar teacher for the CK. The teacher, named Orr, seems like a nice man. Orr has never taught someone as young as the CK, but we're going to have an initial meeting/lesson in a couple of weeks to see how it goes. We didn't bring a guitar to Israel for the CK to use, but Orr has one that the CK can use. I hope it goes well. It would be great for the CK to have guitar lessons again; he needs something to look forward to doing.

(OK, as I was typing, I looked up at the TV. WVU is beating Baylor in football with a score of 70-56, and Baylor is about to score with 3+ minutes left in regulation. 70-56? Seems pretty high of a score, doesn't it? Oh, Baylor scored - 70-63. Even the announcer just asked whether they were playing basketball or football. The QB had 8 TDs and no interceptions. Wow.)

News Flash: it's raining! It's the first time it has rained in Jerusalem since we arrived in early August. When Pentheus and I were walking to dinner (taking advantage of the boys being up North!), we thought we saw lightening a few times. And, now it's raining! It stopped after about 10 minutes, and then rained again for a few. Hopefully, the rain will cool things off a bit. It has been in the mid 90's again all week.

Anyway, after we met with Rafi, we  walked on the Emek for a bit and then went to look for a lulav and etrog for the holiday of Sukkot. (http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Sukkot/Sukkot_101.shtml) Pentheus and the boys had begun to build our sukkah on Thursday, and most of it has been completed. Sukkot starts at sundown tomorrow night (Sunday) and lasts 7 days. (It is followed by the Jewish holidays of Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, but I will write about those in next week's blog postings.) We've been invited to Rabbi Pear's (Shir Chadash's Rabbi, whom I like very much) for the holiday meal tomorrow night. I assume we'll go to services on Monday, and then we're having dinner in the sukkah on Monday night.

We've built a sukkah in Cambridge for the past few years (thanks L&B!), but it's unbelievable how beautiful, intricate and big the sukkahs are around here. Almost immediately after Yom Kippur, and many times, even before, people start building their sukkahs. On the main streets, there are multiple tables with people selling wholesale lulav and etrog, plus other sukkah materials. Everyone seems to have a sukkah, even the restaurants, including Roza, where Pentheus and I had dinner tonight:

More on Sukkot as the holiday begins....