Open House, Haifa (Part I), and Lots of Cows

Wednesday evening, the CK had a “bayit me’areach” (open house) at the home of one of his classmates from Kitah Alef (first grade). The kids in each class are divided up into groups of 5-6 kids, and three or four times a year, these small groups meet in one of the children’s homes to do a special art activity or group project. Because Israeli schools typically do not include Kindergarten or Pre-K, there are no “feeder” schools from which the Kitah Alef classes are populated. The idea behind the “bayit me’areach” is simply to create bonds between the Kitah Alef children because, presumably, the kids in Kitah Alef will most likely be in their class for at least the next 5 years, and possibly 11-12 years, if the kids go to the same high school as well. I had thought that the “bayit me’areach” only happened in the Szold School, but apparently, these occur across the country in all Kitah Alef classes.

When I brought the CK to his "bayit me’areach", he initially requested that I stay at the house with him and the other kids, but I told the CK I wouldn’t be staying. I thought that my being there would constrain the experience for him, and I didn't want to “mess up his groove.” The CK was totally okay with my not staying, and, in fact, the second we arrived at his classmate’s apartment, the CK ran into one of the rooms and played with the other kids. The CK had a great time overall, and we were all glad that he went, even if this is the only one he will attend. During the bayit me’areach, I had a natool and pastry at a nearby café and researched our trip to Haifa that started on Thursday morning.

So, the whole family went away for a long weekend to Haifa, then to Alon HaGalil, and then back to Haifa. Pentheus and the WK picked up a rental car late Wednesday afternoon and then picked up the CK and me from the CK’s bayit me’areach. We left the dira Thursday morning and drove straight to Haifa, about a 2-hour trip from our dira in Jerusalem.  Our first stop in Haifa was the Israeli Train Museum in the port of Haifa. There was nothing about the Train Museum in our Frommer’s book, but we had read about it in Things to Do in Israel with Kids. When we decided to go to Haifa, Pentheus remembered it from the book. The museum was great – we climbed in, on, and around actual trains, and we learned about the different types of wheel arrangements (Co-Co, as opposed to Bo-Bo, etc.). Another building of the Train Museum was filled with lots of train-related items, like the actual tickets from the past 65 years, different types of train whistles, telegraph machines, schedules, etc. The museum was really neat, and the boys had a great time. The WK kept saying, “This is awesome!” Big “yays” to Pentheus for remembering it.

(I love this picture with the old, wooden trains in front of the super modern-looking building!)

After the Train Museum, we tried to get lunch. We followed the directions in Frommer’s to go to Yotvatah restaurant (remember the Yotvatah B’eer in Tel Aviv, where the boys, my Dad and I had dinner and breakfast, and where my sister Karen and I had dinner?) at the end of the beach boardwalk, but we couldn’t find the restaurant, just an empty building. When I called the phone number in Frommer’s, and the line had been disconnected, we figured we needed to find another place to eat. We looked around and in the area where we were in Haifa, there weren’t many restaurants. We drove more into Haifa and found a restaurant called Abu Zhid, and after we looked for parking for a long while, we found a spot and were seated at the restaurant. Unfortunately, there was nothing on menu for us, except for hummous and very expensive fish entrees, although Abu Zhid had a great variety of (non-kosher) meat and true seafood. Instead, I went to a “makolet” (convenience store) down the street from Abu Zhid and bought yogurts, pita breads with za’atar or melted cheese, bananas and water, and we ate a “picnic” lunch if that’s what it’s called when one eats on a park bench on the corner of a busy street.

From lunch we went to the National Maritime Museum, also in the port of Haifa. There we bought “museum passes” that allowed us entry to many of the Haifa museums. I think we paid 50 shekel/adults (about $12.50) and 40 shekel/child (about $10), and we used the pass to get in to 4 different museums. The National Maritime Museum was kind of interesting, and had a good exhibit on piracy, but none of us thought the museum was that great. The most compelling part of the museum, at least according to the boys, was the National Geographic video that explained how ships are made (and, to be honest, I think anything on a TV screen would keep the boys mildly entertained). We kind of sped through the museum and headed for the Clandestine Immigration & Naval Museum right next door.

We all enjoyed the Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum. Aside from having lots of interesting items and information about the illegal immigration by the Jews during and after the Holocaust and World War II, the museum included one of the actual boats, the Af Al Pi Chen (Nevertheless) that was  used to transport illegal Jewish immigrants from Europe. Inside the museum, we found out how our street, Yordei Hasira, got its name, and read the story about the 24 seamen (23 members of the Hagana and a British major) whose ship disappeared whilst on a mission to destroy fuel depots in Tripoli. Parts of the museum reminded us, especially the CK, of the illegal immigration camp in Atlit and the Hagana Museum in Tel Aviv, both of which we visited last month.

Unfortunately, the Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum closed at 4 pm, and by the time we arrived there, it was after 3:15. We wish we had gone to that museum before going to the National Maritime Museum, which didn’t close until 5 and didn’t have that much we wanted to see. The CK gave me a particularly hard time about it, which wasn’t that much fun for me.

From there we drove to Alon HaGalil, a moshava (a one-time collective farming community but now a small town) about 40 minutes away from Haifa, to visit Pentheus’s friend, Uri and his family. Pentheus worked with Uri in 1990-91 and remained in touch with him over the years. Pentheus had last seen Uri when Uri had been in Cambridge in 1999 for a business meeting, and I had met Uri then as well. Uri, his wife Michal, and 3 daughters are “good people” and we had a great time with them. They live on a fairly large plot of land and have 3 dogs, a cat, and a horse. Despite the fact that it was pouring rain (and dark) when we arrived in Alon HaGalil, we all went outside to meet the animals and to feed/pet the horse. It was a lot of fun.

Uri and Michal, had planned for us (Pentheus and me) to go to a movie with them Thursday night, and Uri’s youngest daughter (Yasmine, who is a junior in high school) was going to hang with the boys, but we couldn’t find a movie we wanted to see enough to get us out of the house during the horrible rain storm, complete with thunder and lightning. (We did, however, teach Uri the phrase “chick flick” when he read us the descriptions of the movies that were playing.)  It ended up being a great low-key evening during which we sat at the kitchen table and talked with Uri and his family while the boys drew pictures and played “Go-Go” (the next generation of the stupid Supergoal card game that I hate) until they fell asleep on the lounge chairs in the living room.  After the boys finally went upstairs to sleep, the grown-ups stayed awake and talked until after midnight.

We had many great conversations with Uri and his family. They all speak English fairly well, and the conversation bounced between Hebrew and English. I learned a lot of new Hebrew words (“l’tzachtzeach” – to brush teeth; “l’havreesh” – to brush hair; “sheegrah” – routine; “l’ahbehd” – to process; “madeem”- uniform; and “t'zoonah”- nutrition, to list just a few). At one point, Uri’s two older daughters, one of whom is in the army right now and one who is 3 years out of the army and in University now, had an “argument” about whether Operation Pillar of Defense had been a “lechima” (fighting action) or a “milchama” (war). After going back and forth for a while, the daughter who is in the army now said that if she and her friends are the ones doing the actual fighting in the thick of it, then they get to decide what it was – and, according to her, it was definitely a “milchama.”

I could write for a long time here about the “hafsakat aish” (cease-fire), in terms of what the English newspapers and the people with whom we talk are saying about it, but I am certain that I would not do the analysis justice. Accordingly, I’ll just offer a few sentences. There are lots of articles in the Jerusalem Post about how Netanyahu didn’t do enough and that the “hafsakat aish” was weak, and plenty in Ha’aretz about how Netanyahu did the right thing by not engaging Israel in a brutal ground invasion. I’ve heard some people talk about how upset they are with Netanyahu because they voted for him based on his promise of security and his hard stance against Hamas, and others praise Netanyahu for his restraint and for still seemingly being open to resolving the conflict, even if it involves working with Hamas, albeit via a middle party like Egypt. (I must admit, it’s scary that Egypt, torn between facing loss of aid from the U.S. and loss of face in the Islamic states in the Middle East, acted as the middleman - not quite the uninterested party.) The two things on which almost everyone agrees, at least from what I have read and heard, is that the “hafsakat aish” is likely only temporary, and that Netanyahu's handling of the conflict improved his relationship with Obama and the Obama administration. (As an aside, in the last few days, the WK has stopped sleeping with a kipa on his head, and the CK is down to sleeping with only 4 stuffies, instead of 5.The CK is still hyper-attentive to any siren, but it doesn’t stop him from doing what he wants to do.)

It rained all night on Thursday and it continued on Friday. After a leisurely breakfast with Uri and his family, we planned our day. We had wanted to go to the National Museum of Science, Technology, and Space, but it was closed on Fridays. We looked for other museums that were open but didn’t find any. It didn’t matter because at the CK’s “bayit me’areach” on Wednesday night, the mother hosting the event had told us about “Shveel Peerot Hachalav” a dairy farm in Beit Lechem HaGlilit, near Yokneeam, about 15 minutes from Uri’s house. Despite the rain, our family, plus Uri, Michal, and Yasmine headed out to the farm. We had a great time – feeding calves, petting and milking cows, making butter and chocolate milk, and learning all about the dairy farm. I have never heard the word "peetma" (nipple) used so many times in one hour!

We left the dairy farm, said our goodbyes to Uri and his family, and picked up a quick lunch of homemade pita (made by the wife of the man who sold them to us!) with chocolate (for the WK), za’atar and hummous for Pentheus, and hummous for me. (The CK preferred to eat a few jelly beans, potato chips and a bite of a candy bar instead. We decided not to push it because he had a big, healthy breakfast that morning.) We drove back to Haifa and checked into the Nof (View) Hotel, which truly has the best “nof” in Haifa. Windows on both sides of our room showcased panoramic views of Haifa – one side the city and the other the beautiful port. We took desperately needed showers (remember, we had been at a working dairy farm in the rain!). After Shabbat started around 4:15, Pentheus and the boys then took a walk around Haifa, and then we got ready for dinner. We had pre-paid for the dinner buffet at the hotel, and it was okay. There was a decent selection of meat, chicken, and fish entrees, plus a lot of salads, side dishes, and multiple desserts. After dinner, we went to bed fairly early and got a good night’s sleep.