The Bar Mitzvah - Part II

I am sitting on the airplane on the way back from Istanbul to Boston, and thought I might catch up on the blog. However, when I turned on the iPad to write, I found myself reading the last entries that I drafted on the iPad in August 2014. It seems crazy that it was 8 months ago that I wrote those entries. I had written about Dad's recent death and how much it hurt to grieve. I had also written that I had learned from Mom's death 6 1/2 years ago, that grieving was a process and that I wouldn't always feel as terrible as I did in those first few days and weeks.

Looking back over the time since Dad died, I know again that I was right: Every day *isn't* as terrible as the first few days and weeks. I still miss Dad incredibly and think about him daily, but there are also times when something happens and I can hear Dad laughing or I can picture him at the kitchen table doing the crossword puzzle or watching TV with my boys. At the WK's Bar Mitzvah, I could almost imagine Dad's being there beaming at the WK and getting choked up with tears when the WK finished his Haftarah. But, of course, I could only "almost imagine" him there because I feel his absence constantly. Funny, I just realized that in my post from a couple of days ago, I wrote that I *could* feel Mom and Dad's presence at the Bar Mitzvah; yet I also feel their absence. I guess that's how it is. 

This seems like a good time to go back to writing in the blog about our visit in Israel. I believe I had left off after Shabbat dinner Friday night. Saturday morning we all woke up and prepared to go to synagogue for the WK's Bar Mitzvah with the Shir Hadash community and our friends and family. Pentheus, the boys, and I left the dira around 8:25 to walk to the synagogue. We had a lot of things to carry - more candy to throw at the WK, the WK's tallis and bag, 4.4 pounds of gummy candies to serve at the kiddush, my high-heeled shoes that I didn't want to wear when we walked uphill to the synagogue, and some other things. We arrived just as services were starting, and Pentheus, the WK, and the CK went to sit in the men's section, which for Shabbat was at the front of the room, with the mechitzah behind them, and the women's section behind the mechitzah. (Certainly not the way I would have wanted it, but this was the set up for Shabbat services at Shir Hadash.) I made sure to sit in the front row of the women's section, so that I had the clearest line of sight to the bima, and saved a few seats for the guests who had come from out of town (country!) for the event.

 

The service was good, and the WK read both sections from the Torah and the entire Haftarah magnificently. The WK actually read more on Shabbat than he had read on Thursday morning, and it was great! Rabbi Pear spoke for a little bit before the second part of the service about how wonderful it was that the WK had asked to celebrate with the Shir Hadash community, and how great it was to have our family and friends there.

Following the service, Pentheus and I hosted a luncheon for our guests and the Pear family. It was really a lot of fun. The hard work and stress about details were over; the only things left to do were to eat some good food and spend time with the people we love most. We had a "kids' table" for my boys, my friend Jessie's boys (Remember Jessie? She was one of my roommates my first time in Israel in 1985 and moved to Israel almost 20 years ago. We spent a lot of time together when we were in Israel in 2012 and again in August when the WK and I were in Israel. Earlier this year, Jessie had left her position as Executive Director of B'tselem, and she is now doing a fellowship at Hebrew University on human rights.), and the Pear children; the kids ate pretty quickly and then the boys left the luncheon to run around the synagogue and play games. I so much enjoyed being able to talk to people and not worrying about what was next. Rabbi Pear used his "weakness/privilege" (his words, not mine) as a rabbi to speak for a few minutes about his thoughts on the parsha (portion of the Torah) and how he believes it related to the WK and our family. His words about our family were very kind. He spoke about how we recognize and appreciate the little things that make us happy (like gummy candies) as well as the big moments (like Sam's Bar Mitzvah), and what a great thing it is to be able to do that, especially in our world where there are many negative and broken things. Rabbi Pear even plugged this blog, which works for me!

After lunch, we said goodbye to the Pear family and most of our friends who were there to celebrate with us. Although it was difficult to leave my parents' friends who had come in from Lexington, KY, I will see them in a few weeks at the unveiling of the gravestone for my father where Dad and Mom are buried. We were unbelievably touched that they were with us for the WK's Bar Mitzvah.

We walked back to the dira after leaving the synagogue, and my sister and bro-in-law moved from our dira to the hotel in Jerusalem where they stayed for a few more days before returning to the States. The boys then decided they wanted to go to the park again to play soccer. When we had the dira to ourselves, Pentheus and I napped. (I am a good napper if you haven't figured that out yet.) We were totally out for several hours because the next thing I heard was someone saying, "The door's unlocked. Should we go in?" and then someone else saying, "Do you think they are home? Where are they?" My two girlfriends who had come to Israel for the Bar Mitzvah had come to the dira to hang with us. (We had totally invited them and expected them - we had just figured we would be awake before they came!) We spent the next several hours with them, and when the boys came home, we all had dinner together. There were lots of leftovers, and we had a good meal. I said goodbye to my friends around 10:00, and it was difficult because I am not sure when I will next see them. I know it was fabulous to be with them and we had a wonderful time together.

After my friends left, we cleared the table from dinner and cleaned up a bit. We packed most of our things in our suitcases to prepare for going to Tel Aviv on Sunday morning. Our friend from whom we had rented the dira (he's a member of Shir Hadash) had given us the name of a taxi driver to call to take us to Tel Aviv. I called him, but he was already driving someone to the Dead Sea on Sunday morning. He told us to call him on Sunday when we were ready to leave and that he would find a friend of his to drive us. Sunday morning we finished packing, took care of some things in the dira, and called the driver. Sure enough, 10 minutes later there was a taxi in front of the dira ready to take us to Tel Aviv. I don't know that we ever found out his name, but the drive was uneventful. We arrived at the Tel Aviv dira we had rented around 1:30.

The Old City and Shabbat Dinner (Plus Lots of Hebrew Words to Learn)

We slept in a little bit on Friday morning, while Pentheus went to synagogue for morning services. (The WK had the day off!) When Pentheus returned around 9:15 or so, he and I went to Palmach Street, home of Café Duvshaneet (my favorite, although my friend the manager Uriel was not there this week at all because he had some surgery), Grill Plus prepared foods, Angel Bakery, Co-op Shop grocery store and a few other stores. After we put together the menu we wanted to serve at Shabbat dinner that night, we started our purchasing at Co-op Shop . From there we went to Café Duvshaneet in hopes of buying the "upside down chocolate babka" that the boys, Pentheus, and apparently everyone else (except for me) love but they were already sold out for the day. Instead we bought some other desserts - a pie tapuach aitz v'duvdevanim (apple and cherry pie) and oogat choco (chocolate cake). Then we were off to Grill Plus to buy lots of (mainly) meat dishes for the evening - oaf paprika, goulash, oaf perot, kishuim yarok eem shum shum, orez eem hummus, marak katom, and kruv malei (paprika chicken, goulash, chicken with fruit, green beans with sesame, rice with chickpeas, orange soup, and stuffed cabbage.) While there were only 12 of us at dinner, we sure ordered and ate a lot of food!! We then stopped at Angel Bakery to buy challah. Our final stop? Back to Café Duvshaneet for natool eem chalav (decaf with milk) for me and a natool eem harbei sucar (decaf with lots of sugar) for Pentheus.

After walking back home with bags of food, our family (the 4 of us, minus my sister and bro-in-law) took a taxi to the Old City. While we would have preferred to walk or take a bus, it was already past 11 am, and we wanted to get to the Old City already before we had to return to the dira to prepare for Shabbat and our dinner guests. I love the Old City. There's something holy about it, and I don't mean to be facile. It's seems impossible to me not to be moved by it. We walked around for a bit and saw some of the archaeological stuff and wandered through the Cardo, an upscale shopping area that used to be the marketplace in Roman times.

(My Mom z"l loved the Cardo, especially a jewelry store named Mira. I have great memories of Mom when I am in the Cardo. I remember our wandering together through the Cardo together with my Dad and brother in May 1995. My Dad z"l made us go back to one store again and again, so that he could "visit" a print of religious Ethiopian men carrying the Torah. After having visited it at least 4-5 times, my Mom finally ordered my Dad to buy it already. My brother and I had to hold the print across our laps for many hours in the car as we drove all around Israel after we left Jerusalem. At Mira, I picked out my 28th birthday present - a beautiful gold and silver ring with a garnet stone.)

And, of course, the highlight of this visit to the Old City was going to the Kotel, the Western Wall of the original Temple. I am always in awe when I see the Kotel after we go through security and start the walk down the ramp to the entrance. I had brought a pad of paper and a pen specifically so that I could write notes to put in the Wall.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placing_notes_in_the_Western_Wall)  I wrote my notes and folded them into the smallest pieces that I could, and put the notes in the Wall. I put my right hand on the stones and said the Mourner's kaddish,(http://www.shiva.com/learning-center/prayers/kaddish/). I was very emotional, as I always am at the Wall. I keep telling the boys that I can't come to Jerusalem and not go to the Kotel at least once.

We took a taxi back to the dira and did a little bit of straightening. The boys went back out to the park (that soccer ball we bought on Yom CK was used a lot on this trip), while Pentheus and I napped. Pentheus only slept for about 45 minutes but I was out for almost 2 hours! When I woke up, we cleaned the apartment for our guests, started heating up all the food, and set the table for dinner. We had a great Shabbat dinner that night. As I mentioned, there were only 12 of us, and we all fit, albeit snuggly, around the table. We talked about all sorts of things from politics to religion to our experiences in Israel. We did a lot of laughing, too, and it was wonderful to be with friends! What was amazing to me was that the evening was exactly like a Shabbat dinner would be in Cambridge - the same traditions, same laughter, and even same foods! At around 9:45 pm, we kicked everyone out so that we could clean up, get some sleep, and prepare for the WK's Bar Mitzvah - Part 2!

Yom Bar Mitzvah - Chelek 1 (Bar Mitzvah Day - Part 1)

On Wednesday night, it rained very hard. I mean, it poured like I don't know that I have seen in Israel. It rained all night, with thunder and lighting. We woke up many times from the sound and the bursts of light, and each time I worried that the day would be more difficult because of the rain. My hair would look crappy, even if I blew it dry and used hair spray; I would have to walk to synagogue in my old tennis shoes and carry my new open-toed navy pumps; pictures would be terrible because of the dark clouds in the sky. We were awake before the alarm went off, and Pentheus went to turn on the water heater. (This is very common in Israel; during the day, the sun heats the water using solar energy, and you turn on the water heater when there is little or no sun, like first thing in the morning when it is raining.) At any rate, when Pentheus went to turn on the water heater, a fuse blew and we had no electricity. Pentheus and my brother-in-law tried fiddling with the fuses but there was no way we could have hot water if we wanted electricity. So Pentheus showered in the cold water and I washed my hair with cold water in the sink. Then, when I drank my natool for the morning, we found out the hard way that the milk was spoiled. (While I had only taken one sip, I was so tired and cold that I couldn't figure out why my natool tasted so terrible until my bro-in-law mentioned that he thought there was something wrong with the milk…) Add that to my concerns about the day. However, we decided right then that we would concentrate on the joy of the day -- it didn't matter what else happened, as long as the WK had his Bar Mitzvah. And he did!

As we arrived at the synagogue, the rain stopped and the sun started to peek out. According to the photographer, it was perfect weather for taking pictures, and we took advantage of the beautiful courtyard next to Shir Hadash. The photographer, Andrea Brownstein (Photoli Photography) took a bunch of pictures of the Bar Mitzvah boy, our family, and all sorts of combinations thereof. The videographer (Daniel Sass of Sass Video) shot footage as the guests arrived, and between Andrea and Daniel, they definitely captured the day! (We saw a preview of the pictures but can't wait to see the rest and the video!)

We set up the room for the Bar Mitzvah service, which included some logistics. We had to figure out where the mechitzah (the divider between men and women during the prayers) would go. I had to make sure that I could see everything from the women's side, and we wanted there to be enough seats for everyone. Before the service started, my sister presented the WK with a gorgeous needlepoint tallis (prayer shawl) and case. My sister told the WK the story behind the tallis: that my Mom z"l had started the needlepoint work for the WK's Bar Mitzvah many years ago, but passed away before she could finish it. Mom started working on the WK's tallis 7 or 8 years before his Bar Mitzvah. In her last few days of life, Mom asked her good friend to complete the tallis and bag, and her friend agreed. My sister told the WK how happy and proud his Nana would have been to be there when the WK read from the Torah (although Mom would not have liked the mechitzah!). My sister also told the WK how happy and proud his Zayde (Pentheus's father, who died in April 2014) and his Papa (my father who died in June 2014) would have been. Although we missed them terribly, we felt their presence on Thursday.

After the tallis was presented, it was now the WK's turn to show his stuff. The service was lovely, and the WK read Torah beautifully. Pentheus was up at the bima (dais) the entire time the WK read, and it was moving to see them together. (If I can figure out how, I will add the picture to this post!)

Thursday was also Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) and we paused in the service for the 2 minute siren that sounds everywhere in Israel at 10 am on this day. Although some people were concerned about the Bar Mitzvah being on Yom Hashoah, we found it appropriate somehow - mourning the 6 million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust while celebrating in Israel a milestone that proclaimed the continuity of the Jewish people. When the WK finished reading from the Torah and we returned the Torah to the Ark, we threw candy at the WK to shower him with sweet blessings and to note the sweetness in learning.

Following the service, we walked to Katamon Hayeshana Café, about which I have written several times. Once everyone had arrived, I did the motzi (blessing over the bread) to start the meal. The food was excellent! There were quiches, pasta with different sauces, many salads, and more. Not surprisingly, the only things on the WK's plate were toast, rolls, and foccacia! (If the WK is anything, he's consistent!) Before desserts were brought out, the WK gave his dvar Torah (words of Torah) during which the WK presented his ideas and thoughts on the Torah he had read earlier in the day. (For those of you who are curious, yes, "Divrei Wek" (the name of this blog) is a play on words - instead of words of Torah, the blog is words of Wek).

After the brunch, the boys wanted to go to the park to play soccer, and we gladly let them go out for a few hours. Pentheus and I napped! Following a few hours of sleep, Pentheus and I divided up the remaining tasks for the day. Pentheus took our laundry to be done, and my sister and bro-in-law helped me bring some things to the post office, so that I could ship them back to Cambridge (and not have to shlep them around for the rest of the trip). My sister and I wandered around for a while and did some shopping and poking around until dinner.

The celebration continued that evening at Roza, one of our favorite meat restaurants in Jerusalem. When we lived here in 2012, we went to Roza all the time, and the WK wanted to go back. No complaints from us! There were 21 of us at Roza and we had a wonderful time with lots of good food! We didn't get back to the dira until after 10:30, at which point we all went to sleep. It had been a great day!

From Sausage Kebab to Erev Yom Hashoah

I remembered this morning that I forgot to write about the main component of Yom CK that didn't go as planned. Late Tuesday afternoon, two of my long-time girlfriends (we grew up together but now live far away from each other) flew into Israel for their first time here. We made plans to meet them for dinner at Café Yan, the CK's favorite sushi place in Jerusalem (BTW, it's kind of scary to me that a 9-year old has a favorite sushi place in Jerusalem...) Café Yan is a  kosher sushi place right under the Jerusalem Theatre (and coincidentally down the street from where the Bar Mitzvah was). We arrived there first and realized that Café Yan was no longer there. I suggested we check the tafreet (menu) at the new restaurant to see if we wanted to eat there instead. It took me much longer than it should have to see that the restaurant was not going to work for us - it served both meat and milk products (which isn't kosher because meat and milk are not supposed to be mixed) and the specialty was pork sausage kebab. Definitely not going to work for us. Instead, we wandered around the corner and ate at Sapori, an Italian restaurant that used to be Little Italy restaurant for those of you who may be familiar with the area. (It's two doors down from Olive and Fish and across from the King Solomon Hotel.)

Sapori was great, and we all enjoyed what we ate. It was also so great to spend time with my two girlfriends. More than that, I loved that my friends got to spend time with the WK and CK. One of them had visited us in Cambridge last month (and also in March 2014), so she already knew my boys well, but the other had only seen the CK when he was 5 months old and the WK in 2008 at my Mom's funeral. We have been so touched that they came to Israel for the WK's Bar Mitzvah and were so thrilled to spend so much time with them. (We left Jerusalem this morning 19 April to come to Tel Aviv, and I am already missing them!)

So back to last Wednesday. My sister and brother-in-law had arrived Tuesday night to stay with us in the dire, and we spent much of Wednesday with them. We all went to kikar tzion (Zion Square, the downtown, outdoor pedestrian shopping/restaurant area) to pick up some gifts and wander around. From there we went to Machene Yehuda, an old-fashioned outdoor market with hundreds of stalls selling everything from dead fish to gummies to clothes to spices to the most unusual vegetables and fruits. (http://www.inisrael.com/news/?p=984)  The CK was very excited because his aunt gave him her camera "to document the day." This led to a rak b'yisrael (only in Israel) story: an elderly man came up to my sister in the market and started speaking very quickly to her in Hebrew. He then came over to me and started with "At m'deberet ivrit" (Do you speak Hebrew?) When I indicated that I did, the man went off on me, babbling about how my sister shouldn't let the young boy play with the camera, that it's not a toy, that maybe he'll drop it or lose it or break it, and why would she let him use it. I somehow don't see that happening in Market Basket in Somerville!

As you may know, in Judaism, the new day begins at sundown the previous evening, so, for instance, for Shabbat, we light the candles before sundown on Friday night, and Shabbat ends at 42 minutes past sundown on Saturday evening. Last Thursday, the day of the WK's Bar Mitzvah, was Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), which means that Yoni Hashoah began at sundown Wednesday evening. Yom Hashoah is a national Israeli holiday, and almost every store, restaurant, makolet (convenient store) closes at least for the evening of the holiday when it starts, if not for the whole day following as well. If you remember from reading above, the CK still hadn't had sushi as part of Yom CK, and we knew if he didn't have it on Wednesday night, it would be hard for him to have it in Jerusalem because of Bar Mitzvah events and Shabbat.. So the four of us headed down to the Emek (Emek Refaim is the name of the main street in the German Colony neighborhood of Jerusalem. We went to Sushi Rechavia, which the boys loved, but we had to eat early because the restaurant closed at 6:30 pm for Yom Hashoah. We headed hone and tried to get a good night's sleep before the Bar Mitzvah on Thursday morning.

Saturday night, 18 April, Shavua Tov

A couple of hours ago, Pentheus, the WK, the CK, and two of my close friends for almost 35 years, and I did the havdalah service that officially ends Shabbat (the Sabbath) and starts the new week. And, it has been quite a week. I haven't posted for 5 days, and I am sure I won't be able to catch up completely tonight, but I do want to write about what's been happening here.

It has been a week filled with some of the highest highs and, to be honest, some of the lowest lows. We've been here to celebrate the WK's becoming a Bar Mitzvah, the rite of passage for the WK into being a man in the Jewish religion. (To quote a good friend of mine whose Bar Mitzvah was three years ago, "Today I am a man. Tomorrow I go back to the 7th grade.") This week was the accumulation of many hours of practicing and learning Torah by the WK and arranging and organizing by Pentheus and me. The WK read from the Torah on Thursday morning with a small group of 35-40 family and friends, and then read some more Torah and Haftara this morning (Saturday) with the entire Shir Hadash community.

In Spring 2013, when the WK first asked Pentheus and me if he could have his Bar Mitzvah in Jerusalem at Shir Hadash, the synagogue we joined when we lived in Jerusalem for 5 months in 2012, we were thrilled he wanted to do it. Pentheus and I had talked about how great it would be but weren't sure if/how we should mention is to the WK. Luckily, the WK scooped us and we didn't have to decide!

As you can imagine, there was a lot of planning that went into the two services during which the WK read Torah, and the accompanying events (mainly a lot of eating!) for our family and friends with whom we were honored to share this simcha (happy event). Those of you who know me well know that I am a planner - I don't like to wait until the last minute to do things. I like to make lots of "to do" lists (and check things off those lists) and plan things in a meticulous, organized way. Not possible when dealing with Israel and Israelis. Seriously, NOT possible. Whenever we tried to formalize anything, everyone we contacted in Jerusalem kept saying, "Ahl t'dagi. Aha t'dagi." (Don't worry, don't worry.) Sure, we had contacted some of the vendors we wanted to use for the celebration (see previous blog post http://divreiwek.blogspot.co.il/2014/08/shabbat-and-amazing-riba-jam.html)  - for example, I had spoken to Sharon at the Café where we held the brunch on Thursday, and we had emailed a couple of times, but all we had determined was that the brunch would be on Thursday, April 16 and that the WK wanted to make sure Katamon Hayeshana Café had the food the WK liked. Ahni d'ahgtee, ahni memash d'aahgti. (I worried, I really worried.) It wasn't until Tuesday morning when we met with Sharon that we discussed menu items. Sharon appropriately suggested that we serve more than toast and jam because "Anasheem oolai rotzeem yotair me rak lechem l'echol" ("people might want more to eat than just bread.") It wasn't until that morning that the cost of the brunch came up - we didn't have a contract to sign, there was no deposit to reserve the café, etc. Kacha zeh b'aretz (That's how it is in Israel.)

So Tuesday morning, Pentheus and I met with Sharon at the Café. Following that meeting, we went to Rabbi Pear's house to speak with him and finalize details about the service. Rabbi Pear is one of the reasons we liked Shir Hadash so much. The WK was a key participant in the meeting; both we and Rabbi Pear strongly believed that this is the WK's Bar Mitzvah, and the WK gets as much input as anyone. While we were leaving Rabbi Pear's, my cell phone rang - it was the caterer for the luncheon following the service on Shabbat. For the first time, we talked about what we might serve as the menu and the cost of the meal. Again, there had been no discussion about payment, a deposit to reserve the staff, or a contract. In fact, because on Shabbat business is not supposed to be conducted, we haven't paid yet for today's event! I had asked the caterer about this on Tuesday, and he suggested I just call him on Sunday (tomorrow) or Monday, and I could pay over the phone using a credit card. Five minutes later, the photographer called to finalize details for Thursday morning, and I had already spoken to the videographer earlier the previous day. It felt great to have so many of the details nailed down. It helped calm me down considerably.

The rest of Tuesday was "Yom CK" (the day of the CK). It has been hard for the CK for the past several months because at times it has seemed to be all about the WK - getting excited about the Bar Mitzvah in Jerusalem and all that it entailed - not just the WK studying with his Bar Mitzvah tutor or the vendors for the events, but everything, including booking plane tickets for us to go to Israel, finding and securing an apartment where we are staying in Jerusalem, invitations, planning the services, etc. Plus, the demands of our daily lives of work and school and everything else that keeps us busy in Cambridge. We know that the CK got shafted a bit in terms of attention from us and the focus wasn't much on the CK. Accordingly, Pentheus had the fabulous idea that while we were in Israel, there would be a Yom CK - a day to do what the CK wanted to do, eat where the CK wanted to eat. Unfortunately, some of the Yom CK events had to be modified for reasons beyond our control. For instance, the CK had wanted to play miniature golf, but the mini golf where we went many times in 2012 is now permanently closed. The CK was a good sport about it, and our family went bowling instead! But, we did do lots of things the CK wanted, like take the public bus to the place where the mini golf had been, and buy several pounds of gummy candies to ship to Cambridge and to serve at the Bar Mitzvah today, and buy a soccer ball so that the WK and the CK could play at the park and go out to dinner and get to order fresh squeezed hot apple cider and to play on my phone for several hours. Tuesday night, one of my sisters and brother-in-law joined us at our dira in Jerusalem. They had been to Amsterdam for 3-4 days and then flown to Israel and been in Tel Aviv. It was great to have them with us.

(Yikes, it's almost midnight now, and I have to stop to get some sleep. I have only covered one day in this blog entry. There is definitely more to share. Stay tuned.)

Back in the 'hood (13 April 2015)

Ahalan and shalom from the Katamom in Jerusalem! Pentheus, the WK, the CK, and I arrived in Israel last night after an uneventful trip from Boston. As you may remember, the last time I wrote, the WK and I were in Israel for some chofesh (vacation) but also to check out and start planning for the WK's Bar Mitzvah. That was late August, and suddenly we're already at mid-April - how the hell did that happen so fast!?!

We have rented an apartment in Katamon (the same neighborhood where we lived in 2012) for a week, and it's great to be back in the 'hood. The CK and I walked around for a while this morning, and it was fun watching him remember places and stories from our time here. The CK is now 9 (almost 10, he would have me inform you), and some of his memories are a bit foggy. It was hilarious how he remembered every makolet (convenient store) where he had bought an artik (frozen popsicle), and the CK swears that the chatool (cat) we saw this morning is the very same one from 2 1/2 years ago!

We landed around 8:15 last night and only had to wait a little while to get through Passport Control and customs. After we landed, I was totally overcome with emotions - good, bad, sad, excited, (plus really tired) and started to sob. I had pulled myself together by the time we had to talk to the man who asked us questions as he checked our passports. When he asked why we were in Israel, it was very exciting to say, "For my son's Bar Mitzvah." Of course, the guard wished the WK "mazel tov" and let us through.

We didn't get to sleep until after midnight or so (and I think that Pentheus was awake until 3 am) and woke up at 5:30 am, 90 minutes before the alarm was set to go off. Pentheus and the WK went to synagogue early, so that they could see what the room looks like for services. (Shir Hadash, our synagogue here, is renting new space than when we were here in 2012. Shir Hadash is now renting from another synagogue, Ohel Nechama, right next door to the Jerusalem Theatre.) The CK and I walked to Café Duvshaneet, my old favorite, for some natool and a cinnamon roll. My friend, the manager, wasn't there yet, so I didn't get to see him.

The CK and I then joined Pentheus and the WK at synagogue. The way the room was set up, the men had 4/5ths of the space, and there was barely room for the other 2 women and me in the "women's section" behind the mechitzah (separator). When we have the WK's service on Thursday morning, we will definitely be rearranging the room - that's one of the reasons we wanted to make sure we saw the space today.

After t'fillot (services), we walked to Katamon Hayeshana, the restaurant where we will eat after the Bar Mitzvah. The WK loves this place for its toast and jam - sounds silly, I know, but the boy is definitely onto something - it is so delicious!! The WK and I ordered Crispy Simi (the name for the toast, jam, and cheese breakfast plate), while the CK had Belgian waffle, and Pentheus had shakshuka (http://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/2010/07/summer-2010-travel-blog-shakshuka/), which he enjoyed a lot!

We went back to the dira for a bit. I rested while the boys did some unpacking, reading, and watching TV. Around 1:15, we took a cab downtown to do a bunch of errands and to walk around. We had stopped at the flower shop near Katamon Hayeshana after breakfast and ordered some flower arrangements for the room where the Bar Mitzvah will be. It was kind of funny how clueless we were about what to order, how much to spend, etc. The guy at the shop was very helpful, and we put together what (we hope!) will be some pretty arrangements. We were trying to figure out when/how to pick the arrangements up before Thursday morning. The store doesn't open until 9 and we need to be there before 8:30. The guy told us not to worry, and showed us where he has his cell number taped to the front window of the shop, so that people can call him whenever they want. While we were talking with the man about the flower order and we had told him we were here a couple of years ago and that our son wanted to come back for his Bar Mitzvah, he asked why we hadn't thought about making aliya? We're here only 15 hours, and we already got the question! (He thinks we should move to Israel, though wanted to let us know it's kashe (hard).

While we were downtown, we bought some kippot (yarmulkes) for men and k'suee rosh nashim (head coverings for women) in case our friends and family don't have them for the Bar Mitzvah service. Plus we picked up some gifts for my nieces, a necklace for the CK, plus some other gifts. We went into a bunch of women's hat stores, and I had a great time. I love hats! We had a late lunch of shwarma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawarma) pita bread and the CK had steak on a baguette.

After some napping and downtime at the dira after the shopping, we headed out to Emek Refaim, onethe main streets of shops and restaurants in this area. One of our standby restaurants is no longer there, which bummed out the WK, who was looking for pasta for dinner. (I think it's funny that the WK was upset - he doesn't like anything, and I mean anything, on his pasta, so in theory, it's pretty much the same wherever we go.)  We ate dinner at a different Italian place, and it was okay. Pentheus and the WK went back to the dira while the CK got some ice-cream (second time today!) and I went to Aroma for some natool. (I took a couple of pictures, but haven't figured out how to include them in the post yet.) Aroma is kind of the Starbucks of Israel - primarily a coffee house with some food and sweets, and a bunch of small tables for sitting and shmoozing. Aroma is known for giving mini chocolate bars with every coffee order, so the boys like going there with me. Anyway, while the CK and I were waiting for my natool to be ready, there was a table of 3-4 men who were being kind of loud. Suddenly, a man from another table started screaming in Hebrew, "Ahl titzahk; ze café tzeeboree" (Don't yell; this is a public café!") I mean, he screamed it very loudly. After I translated what he said, the CK said to me, "that's kind of ironic."

Now we're back at the dira and hopefully we'll all get a good night's sleep. We're definitely cranky, and we've got an exciting week ahead! More soon. Laila tov (good night)!