Chofesh (Chanukah Vacation) - Part 1

Tomorrow the boys have school after a 10-day break during the Jewish holiday of Chanukah. I think I can speak for most parents in Israel (and for many U.S. parents with kids who will begin winter break in another week or so) when I say that I CAN'T WAIT until vacation ends and the boys go back to school tomorrow! I love my kids, but 10 days of vacation, especially when we have very few friends and no family in Israel, is a hell of a long time!

We tried as hard as we could to make the vacation good, and we did a lot of cool things. On the Friday before Chanukah started, the WK and I went to Tel Aviv for a Human Rights March, sponsored by ACRI (Association for Civil Rights in Israel). There were about 5,000 people marching, a number I am told is lower than both last year and the year before. Although the numbers weren't mighty, the enthusiasm certainly was. We marched with about a dozen people from B'tselem (my friend Jessie's group), including four Palestinians who work for B'tselem and who needed permits to attend the March in Tel Aviv. The WK and I learned about many of the other civil rights groups in Israel, and it was a great experience for us. The March ended in "Kikar Rabin" (Rabin Square), the park in which the late Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin was assassinated in Nov 1995. Here are a bunch of pictures from the March.

 "Bibi isolates me" referring to PM Netanyahu

(Combatants for Peace - Not through gun sights)

(The WK and Jessie's twin sons)

(signing the banner for the Coalition Against Racism in Elections)

(the Rabin memorial with the initial "graffiti" written after his assassination)

Shabbat was relatively low-key for us. We invited a friend of the CK's and his family to Shabbat dinner Friday night, and we had a nice time together. We discussed the reviews of various "sufganiot" (fried donuts that are typically eaten during the Jewish holiday of Chanukah) places in Jerusalem, and prepared ourselves to participate in taste tests of our own! We had a couple from synagogue join us for Shabbat lunch, and we very much enjoyed their company. In the afternoon, the boys went to the Park Moshava, as they often do, and Pentheus and I napped, as we often do. After Shabbat ended, we lit candles for the first night of Chanukah. The CK used his new chanukiah that he received as a gift from Papa!

Sunday morning, the boys and I took the train to Tel Aviv. The train takes longer than the bus (90 minutes as opposed to 55 minutes) and costs a bit more (22 shekels instead of 18 shekels), but the time and money are well worth it for the views of Israel from the train window. The boys had a good time running around on the train as well, and we had fun.

Sunday afternoon, the boys and I went to the Palmach Museum. The Palmach was the elite underground armed forces during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine (before Israel became an official state in May 1948). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmach) The Palmach Museum was incredibly interesting, and it's set up very well. The Museum essentially tells the story of a group of Palmach members from the time the group was formed until after the state of Israel was founded, and the boys and I loved our visit. We each had what looked like a huge cordless phone (think mid-1990's), and every time we walked into a different room in the Museum, the English commentary began. The Palmach   Museum was pretty powerful, and I can understand why visitors had to be older than age 6. The CK stuck by me for much of the Museum, but I know he enjoyed it very much as well.

 After lunch at Yotvatah B'eer (the same place we frequent in Tel Aviv every time we are there!), the boys wanted to hang out on the beach, and that was totally okay with me. Although it wasn't really "beach weather" (it was in the low-60's), the boys played in the sand and made sand castles. I took some beautiful pictures of the sunset over the Mediterranean Sea.

Sunday night, Pentheus joined us in Tel Aviv and we had dinner with friends of Pentheus's from 15 years ago. We ate at Regina's, a Mediterranean/Italian restaurant, in the remodeled train station in Neve Tzedek, the first Jewish neighborhood in Tel Aviv. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neve_Tzedek) We had a great time with his friends (the Sela Family), and the food was really good, too. The CK and I stayed in a hotel Sunday night, and Pentheus and the WK returned to Jerusalem. The CK and I had coffee and fruit juice at Yotvata B'eer (where else?!) Monday morning with the cousin of a family friend, and then headed to Shuk HaCarmel, the outdoor market in Tel Aviv. We bought some gifts for people in the States, and I picked out my Chanukah gift from Pentheus and the boys. The CK and I had a nice time together in Tel Aviv, and I am glad we had some "alone time" together.