Yehudah and his family are "dati" (religious) Jews, what we would call "orthodox" in the States. Accordingly, there was no "mixed" dancing (i.e., men and women danced separately). Despite that, there was a ton of dancing! Yehudah's son and his friends studied at a Hesder yeshiva (a formal religious institution that combines study and Israeli army service). You can see in the pics below how much fun the groom and his friends were having! Interestingly, note the pistol tucked into the pants of one of the wedding guests and the rifle slung across the back of another celebrant, one of the groom's friends on active (army) duty who came anyhow. And, yes, the typical wedding attire for male guests is a white shirt, no tie, and dark pants.
The wedding ceremony occurred under the "chuppah" (wedding canopy). There were only 30 or so seats for the ceremony, and those were used by the grandparents of the bride and groom and other older relatives. Everyone else stood at the back of the room and listened to the ceremony. Pentheus and I were in the very back so we didn't see much, but Pentheus held up the camera and took a few pictures. For some reason, it cracked me up that the backdrop behind the chuppah is a photograph of Jerusalem.
Yehudah's son and his fiancee had not registered anywhere for gifts, but I am not sure if registering is something that Israelis typically do. We had decided to give the bride and groom money but didn't know how much until we were told about a great website called "camah cesef?" ("how much?). You enter in the event and how you are related to the person who will be receiving the gift - so in our case it was a "wedding" and we were "friends of the parents", and the website calculates the appropriate dollar amount to give. In case you are curious, "camah cesef" indicated that we should give between 500 to 600 shekels (about $125-$150). I did a quick google check, but didn't see anything quite like "camah cesef" in the United States.
On Wednesday, the boys and I took a planned tour of Beit Lechem (Bethlehem) and Hebron, to see "Kevar Rachel" (Rachel's Tomb) and "Ma'arat Hamachpela" (the Tomb of the Patriarchs). Beit Lechem and Hebron are in the West Bank, and we could only enter the Jewish areas, including the Israeli settlements, in the towns. The tour was through a group that is much more to the right (on the political spectrum) than we are, and I must admit I didn't agree with a lot of what they were saying. That being sad, I was very glad we went to the areas, and that the boys and I could see the sites. I don't think I had been there before, even when I was in Israel 25+ years ago, many years before the "separation fence" was built. I think it's also good that the boys (and I) hear different viewpoints on the issues.
I've tried to write about the West Bank and some of the political issues, but I keep writing and then deleting. Everything is so complicated, with disputes over to whom the land belongs, what the land means to different religions, how and if the land should be divided, who should control the area, and lots of other things. I am going to include some pictures of what we saw and a couple of links to some simple sources.
Here are some pictures from Rachel's Tomb (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel's_Tomb and http://www.keverrachel.com/content.asp?lang=en&pageid=2) and Beit Lechem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlehem):
(This picture was taken on the women's side of the Tomb, as men and women pray separately here.)
(Coffee urn across the road from army patrol spot. It once took 30 bullets intended for the soldier on duty.)
(Picture of the Palestinian area in Beit Lechem; the barbed wire separates the Palestinian and Jewish areas.)
(View of the stone barrier separating Tomb of Rachel from other areas in Beit Lechem.)
Here are some pictures from Hebron and the Tomb of the Patriarchs:
(The WK praying at the Tomb of the Patriarchs)
(Sign noting burial place of Abraham)
(Prayer noting burial places for Isaac and Rachel.)
(The area is also sacred to Muslims, so you can see the verses from the Koran all over the walls.)
The area around the Tomb of the Patriarchs is really beautiful, and the views of Hebron are gorgeous, too:
(Look how tall the walls are!)
(Note the Chanuka menorah in the public square)
(This picture of the water towers with the Israeli flags is cool, and I love the corner shot of the playground.)
(Note the Palestinian flag waving at the top of the building)
Wednesday night, the entire family went to Yan, a sushi and Japanese restaurant near the Jerusalem Theater. Pentheus and the boys had been there before and loved it, but I hadn't gone. We had a great time, and the food was very good. It was very funny because in the middle of dinner, the owner of the restaurant announced that he was going to light Chanukah candles. Everyone in the restaurant stopped eating, and we all lit the menorah together - we sang the blessings and a few Chanukah songs, too. Similar things happened all throughout Chanukah, and even happened again that same night as Pentheus and WK walked home and were roped into another candle-lighting at the makolet two doors down from Duvshaneet. Celebrating Jewish holidays in Israel is totally different than what I've experienced in the States!
On Thursday, the boys spent most of the morning at the park, and in the afternoon, the CK and I went to the Bible Lands Museum with my friend Jessie, her twin boys and one of their friends. The Museum is very interesting and explores the people, places, etc. that are described in the Bible. They had kids' programs available, and the boys worked with clay. Here's what the CK made at the museum:
(a pair of candlesticks, three bowls and a hot dog in a bun)
That night we had been invited to Danielle and Dror's place for Chanukah candlelighting and snacks. It's Dror's family tradition to make sufganiot (the fried donuts that are typically eaten on Chanukah), and they were really good! We had brought store-bought sufganiot in a bunch of different flavors - coffee, strawberry jam, dulce de leche, chocolate cream and caramel. We had a very nice evening, and we will miss the Heller family when we return to the States. Danielle thinks she has a conference in Boston next year, so hopefully we will see her then!
(It's unbelievable how many different kinds of sufganiot there are here!)
I loved hanging with the 3-year old girl and being silly with her. Tami and Yaron are trying to convince us to come back to Israel in June for their son's Bar-Mitzvah. We'd love to do so, but I don't know that it will work out for us. Both families are very sad that we couldn't get together earlier in our adventure, but timing and location never seemed to work out. Tami keeps threatening to see us one more time before we leave - hope she makes good on the threat!
We had a nice Shabbat, very quiet. Friday night we had dinner just the 4 of us, which was good; it had been a while since that had happened. When the boys were getting ready for bed, however, we lost all power in the dira. Pentheus and I tried a bunch of things, like flicking the switches in the fuse box, but we couldn't get the power to go on. It was pretty cool outside (in the mid-40's), so Pentheus and I each took a boy and snuggled under a bunch of blankets that night. It was cold but we did okay. We were supposed to have our Cambridge friends' daughter (the one who is here for a year on a USY program) and her friend over to Shabbat lunch, but I walked over to the synagogue where she and her friend were praying to tell them that we wouldn't be able to have them over. We had bought and made lots of food for lunch, but we couldn't heat anything. (And, because the boys kept opening and closing the refrigerator, the food inside didn't stay cold. We ended up throwing away 500-600 shekels worth of food.) We told the boys to pig out as much as possible at the kiddush after services, and then we ate cold snacks in the afternoon. The CK and I took a nap that afternoon while the WK went to Park Hamoshava.
As soon as Shabbat ended, an electrician whom we met through synagogue came over to see what the scoop was with the power. We were able to isolate what we think the problem was - probably moisture in the "sheka" (outlet) for the washer, and the power came back on. To be honest, we lost power a couple more times that night but we were able to get it back ourselves. Saturday night (the last night of Chanukah), we had been invited to dinner and candlelighting at our neighbors' dira, so we went over there. Our neighbor had made homemade mac-n-cheese that was delicious! The CK must have had a growth spurt while we were sitting at our neighbors' table because he had 2 helpings of mac-n-cheese, corn on the cob, a lot of cut-up peppers and cucumbers, a banana, two big clementines, plus 2 pieces of chocolate ruggelach for dessert! Lighting candles was really nice:
Sunday was the last day before school began again (yay!). In the morning, the boys and I went bowling at Lev Talpiyot Mall.; the CK and the WK each won a game, which was good for their spirits. After that, we made what might have been our last trip to Rami Levi, the big supermarket. I know I am obssessive about this, but for about the 14th time since we came to Israel, the price of the fruit nectar juices changed! At least this time the price is cheaper than before:
In the afternoon, after lunch, the boys and I went to Gan Hapa'amon (Liberty Bell Park), located kind of between the Emek and downtown. Gan Hapa'amon is a huge park with lots of different sections for lots of different sports, including basketball, soccer, and ping pong, plus a big playground, empty field and an exercise station. We had planned to meet another family there, but one of the daughters was sick, so it ended up being just the boys and I. They had a great time running around and playing all sorts of things, but I was a bit cold because it was windy. When we visited Israel on family vacation in 2010, we went to Gan Hapa'amon a lot because it was only a 5-10 minute walk from our hotel, but that was in May when it was much warmer!
In almost every blog post, I have written something about our going to the "makolet" (grocery/convenience stores). You can find one on almost every couple of street corners. We primarily go to what we call "Felix's" makolet, located about 2 1/2 blocks from us. Even though it's a convenience store and most people drop by to pick up a few things (as opposed to doing a huge grocery shopping), many people have an ongoing tab at their neighborhood makolet. The running tab system is decidedly low-tech - Felix keeps a plastic box with ruled index cards, and every family in the neighborhood has its own card on which the account is kept. It's actually rather sweet; everyone trusts one another.
Finally, the other day I saw this sticker on the glass pane door at the local dry-cleaners where we take our stuff to get cleaned:
The sign reads essentially, "Lashon Hara, Not Spoken Around Me." Lashon hara ((literally, "evil tongue") is the Hebrew term for speaking derogatorily against someone else, and the Torah and Jewish law have fairly strict definition for it. Lashon hara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lashon_hara) is considered a serious sin under Jewish tradition. I think the sticker is kind of neat and wish I could find one for our house.
I'm afraid your lives will be a bit boring to you when you get back! We are looking forward to it though!
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