After Chag Update

Hello all!!!

Now that the kids are back at school and we don't have ulpan today(yeah!!!) i decided to tell you all about our first yom tovim here in Israel.

rosh hashana was very nice. we davened by our neighbors across the street. they have a shul in their basement and it was really convenient. we shared a meal with 2 of our neighbors and we ate outside in our garage it's really a 2 car garage with plenty of room and it doesn't have any doors on it so it opens up to the street and since the kids would be outside playing anyway, we figured we might as well eat there. all the passers-by stopped by for a glance at our meal and some even had a piece of cake!!

Yom Kippur was a meaningful day. i finally got a chance to go to Kol Nidre which i haven't done in about 13 yrs! again, we davened by neighbors and the kids played outside. Shira sat in shul the entire time and really davened nicely. i sat upstairs in the living room with some neighbors and our little kids so they would not disrupt the davening. at some point during the day i went home with Yehuda to give him lunch and then he took a nap with me. by the time we woke up it was almost time for Ne'ela. the fast ended VERY early here since we changed the clocks. we broke our fast and then got started on our sukkah. well, 

Shloimie got started on the sukkah a lot earlier so that he could build our Pergola. for those of you who don't know what that is, it's basically a permanent awning on our porch that pple keep all yr to keep the hot sun out. we bought at Home Depot (in USA) all the wood and

 stuff needed to build this.

      

Shloimie had all the measurements so he knew exactly what to buy and we sent it 

all on our lift. Shira, Ariella and many of their friends helped paint it white 

which was a lot of fun for them all.

 

it took about 2 weeks to completely build the pergola. the reason why it took so long was bec. you can't go out on the porch until about

 4pm bec. it's so hot and then you only have until around 8pm to drill, bang, hammer.... bec. 

then all the kids go to sleep so it didn't give us that much time t

o do it but it got done and then all we needed to do was put a canvas around the whole thing and then we had ourselves a beautiful sukkah, thanks to Shloimie an kids!!! we bought a really pretty canvas with paintings of Jerusalem on the canvas and we had windows and decorations that the kids made. the day after sukkas when i was cleaning out the porch i found a box and what was in it?? well, the sukkah decorations that we were looking for and couldn't find!!! so now we will have some new decorations for next yr!

During chol Hamoed and we went on a trip with dovid and chavie Thee, cousins of Shloimie who live in Israel. we went on a hike with them, 

which is a very popular past time in this country. Everyone is always hiking here. it's a good thing i listened to my Mother and got good leather sneakers!! thanks

Mom! so we went on this hike and ended up in a bat cave. there were millions of bats flying around!! they obviously don't like light so of course everyone was flashing their flashlights on them and they were squeaking like crazy. it was fun. then we continued on to a natural slide made out of rocks. the kids had fun sliding down.

After the caves they came back to our house where we ordered pizza.

The next day we went on a nefesh b'nefesh trip up to Jordan. we traveled up north to 2 shomer shabbat kibbutzim, it was very nice. one of them manufactures their own spices which are exported to different places. i also met my friend's brother who lives on one of the kibbutzim.

then we went farther up north to Jordan. it was a little strange. we didn't need our passports bec., we were only allowed in the part that is still under Israel protection. the jordanian soldiers were quite scary looking. they didn't look like they wanted to be our friends but B'H we made it there and back safely. we didn't really even get off the busses bec. it was getting late but at least we can say that we've been to Jordan.

Frimi and Yitzchak and kids came for Shabbos and we really had a nice time with them. the 2 Yehuda's played very nicely together talking to each other in their own language but we were clearly able to hear them say "MINE" when they were playing (?) with the toys. chana was also very cute trying to get the toys from them but she stopped when they bopped her over the head!

Yitzchak did a good job "squeegee-ing" the floors before shabbos. we don't just allow guests here. they have to work for their food and he certainly earned a piece of cake for that!

On Sunday of chol Hamoed Shloimie got up early (yes, you all heard/read it correctly, SHLOIMIE GOT UP EARLY!!!) and went with our neighbor, daniel Michael to the Har Habayit. i guess he can tell you all about it but he really enjoyed it. he went with Moshe Feiglin and Shmuel Sackett and about 100 other pple and it was very inspiring.

I met Shloimie at the Kotel later on with Lea Michael (Daniel's wife) and all our kids. the Kotel was totally packed with tourists! it was amazing to see so many people there. we stayed for a short time bec. there were just too many people there for me and we went to Ir David, which is right outside the walls of the old City. it's where King David lived and we toured his castle, whatever was left of it. 

Then we went to ben yehuda. how can you go to Yerushalayim and NOT go to ben yehuda?!!! so we took a cab there and walked around for a while. we didn't see anybody that we knew except for our neighbors but it was still so crowded. we bought a bunch of gifts that we needed for upcoming simchas.

The next day was hoshana rabba and erev yom tov so we stayed local. 

the second day(s) of simchas torah was very leibidig. we again went to our neighbors for hakafot the first night. we ended 7:30 pm which we never ended so early in America but it was nice and then on  Simchas Torah day we went to Aish Kodesh which is where Shloimie usually davens. that davening was VERY long. it felt like an American Simcahs torah. we finished Shul at around 3pm.

so yom tov was really very nice and was enjoyed by us all. we really missed all of you guys and were thinking about you all the time,.

A funny story happened the other day. 

i was standing outside waiting to take Yehuda to gan, (which is 2 doors away) and i saw a neighbor of mine standing outside. she said to me that if i had 2 minutes i should go around the corner. why? i asked her. so she said that there were 2 donkeys walking down the street,. a mommy and her baby were taking a walk in ramat beit shemesh just looking at the scenery. so Yehuda and i ( & yosef was with us) went around the corner and saw them. they were being followed by a police car to make sure they stay safe. and of course Yehuda only wanted to go on a donkey ride so we quickly left to get him to Gan before he went donkey back riding!!...only in Israel!

Shloimie and i went to efrat the other night for a friend's daughter's bat mitzvah. it was very nice. that same night ariella had a friend/classmate/neighbor's bat mitzvah in beit Shemesh. she also had a fun time. 

tonight we are going to David Glatt's son's bar mitzvah in Beit Shemesh and tomorrow our neighbors from across the street are making a bat mitzvah in their house and they are using our garage to do the project with the girls, since our garage is big enough for a lot of people. then Wednesday morning we are going to the Kotel. My very best friend, Rachel Keller came from Woodmere on friday for her son's Bar Mitzvah so we will join them at the Kotel and breakfast. we are very excited to see her and some familiar faces.

Anyway, i did a lot of laundry today and i moppped the floors already ( and i got bleach on my skirt when i was mopping which i really annoying) and i folded a bunch of clothing and i took a break to fill you in on our lives until now.

i have to get back to my laundry so i hope to hear from all you soon. we miss you all like crazy and we can't wait to seen Grandma very soon and then Savta shortly after. anyone else who wants to come is more than welcome to visit us!!

Hope you all had nice yom tovim and please send our love to all of your families!!

Love, hugs and kisses from the holy Land,

Elkie