Happy Birthday, Nissim!

Today was Nissim's Hebrew Birthday- B"H he is two years old!  Its amazing to look back at where we were two years ago...and to see how much progress he has made.  KA"H he is an adorable little boy, full of smiles and laughs, who is learning how to make lots of trouble (he is officially in the "Terrible Two's" now- and he's making sure to live up to the title!)

I joined him in Gan today for a sweet birthday party- they played some cute music while the kids banged on tamborines, waved flags and pom-poms.  The most exciting part was when they put balloons (and then Nissim!) inside a parachute.  Afterwards we gave out ice cream to his fellow gan-mates, which they really enjoyed!

Of course we had to have another ice cream party in the afternoon with the rest of the Yunger Dynasty (shhh...don't tell them that Nissim and I got to have ice cream twice!)

May we be zoche to share many more wonderful birthdays, and continue to see  much Nachas from Nissim!

Chol Hamoed Pesach- trip to מערת המכפלה

One thing we've always wanted to do was go to מערת המכפלה- I was supposed to go in seminary but our trip was cancelled when the Intifada broke out...and I haven't made it there since.  So when we saw all the ads about special security, transportation, and activities in חברון over חול המועד, we decided to take advantage and go join the tens of thousands of other Yidden who go out to מערת המכפלה during Pesach and Sukkos.

It was a bit of a shlep going there- the buses going straight from Beitar were not leaving until late in the afternoon, and not coming back until the evening- not so conducive for little kids.  So we went to Yerushalayim (some by bus, some by car) where we took a bus from בניני האומה to חברון.  When we got there, the area was packed- Yidden of every color and stripe, all coming to daven by קברי אבות- it was such a beautiful feeling- to be part of a global community that is so varied, yet so united in our desire to connect to the רבש"ע.

After sitting down to eat and refresh ourselves after all that traveling, we waited on line to enter the מערה.  Since there were so many people there, the security was limiting the amount of people allowed inside at one time.  We had סייתא דשמיא and when the soldiers saw that we were waiting with such young children, they allowed us inside so that we wouldn't roast in the hot sun.  We davened by each of the קברים- even the children said some תהילים, and then met up again outside.

On the men's side, Bentzi was listening to a man describing how he went into the actual מערה (deep below the structure where everyone davens) as part of a secret mission about 25 years ago.  He bought a DVD from him, where he describes what he saw there, including pictures, videos, and quotes from חז"ל.  (Bentzi and I watched it at home once we got the kids in bed- and it was really interesting!)

There were many activites going on in the area around מערת המכפלה- singing, projects, donkey rides, and tours.  We decided to take a tour of the old city of חברון- where Yidden lived for hundreds of years, up until the pogroms in 1929.  The tour guide pointed out many different buildings, describing for us what life was like in חברון העתיקה.  We even walked through the Arab שוק, where he showed us where the מזוזות used to be, in the now Arab "owned" storefronts.  There were soldiers positioned all over the place (note the picture below of the soldiers on a rooftop) to make sure that we were safe.

We had a really nice, exhausting day- and while I wouldn't do it every חול המועד, we were very happy we went and hope to go again!

 

Our Erev Shabbos "Bath"

This past Erev Shabbos was a HOT day. And with such a long afternoon ahead of us, we were trying to come up with ideas to keep the kids busy, without creating a huge mess in the house.

The Solution: A pool/bath! We filled up the pool in our front yard (which is shady in the afternoon) and gave everyone a bath in the pool. They had a real blast- we can't fit all five in at the same time in our bathtub, and I let them splash as much as they wanted because it wasn't going to make a mess all over our bathroom! After letting the kids splash and "swim" for a while, we started washing them all down with soap and shampoo (the bubbles from the shampoo caused lots of excitement).

 

Once everyone was finally washed, dried, and brought inside to get dressed, they had let out lots of their energy, and they were happy to sit on the couch and read books- a real win/win situation!

We'll have to try this tactic more often!

Bruria's מסיבת סוף שנה

Phew! Its hard being a mother with 4 kids in Gan!  Aside from the daily ins and outs of taking care of such young kids, it means you have to shlep to all their parties in Gan!  Well B"H I think I'm done for the year (Yisrael will have a סיום on ספר שמות and ספר ויקרא after Tisha B'Av, but that's Bentzi's turn!)

Bruria's end-of-the-year party was something special.  First of all, its a big milestone- after all, she'll be in first grade next year!  Its really amazing to watch how she and her classmates have grown over the years- they are really getting big! 

The גננות that Bruria had this year did an excellent job of letting the girls do their own projects (not so common here in E"Y) and she's really developed her talents nicely.  She is also on the threshold of reading- she knows all her א-ב and while they haven't officially started wtih reading, on her own, Bruria's started sounding out words, and trying to read and write them.

Her "graduation" was a wonderful end to a wonderful year.  They prepared a beautiful program of songs and a short song-skit, all based on the theme of תפילה.  Bruria was singing the songs and practicing the motions in the house for weeks, so it was familiar to me by the actual performance- but I enjoyed it nonetheless.  Bruria really enjoyed her chance to perform- with a smile on her face and a nice loud voice, she was really a star!  (takes after her mother, no?!)

May we continue to see much Nachas from Bruria, as she moves on to 1st grade (we've already bought the uniform shirts!)   May she go מחיל אל חיל!

 

Our visit in מכון למקדש

ACTUAL DATE: 4/11/2012 - 4th day of חול המועד פסח

Anyone who's taken the steps from the Old City down to the Kosel has noticed the Menorah enclosed in a glass case on the way down- (when I was in seminary it was in the Cardo, but has since been moved). The kids were always so excited to see it, and I would burst their bubble and tell them, not its not really זהב טהור, its just a model. And the real מנורה in the בית המקדש was much bigger too (after all, the כהן גדול had to climb up a set of stairs to reach it, didn't he?)

Well turns out that I was wrong on both accounts. Yes, the מנורה is REAL gold, and it is (at least according to some שיטות), the exact size of the מנורה in the בית המקדש. We learned all this and more, at our visit to the מכון למקדש on חול המועד פסח. We went for a very enlightening tour of the different replicas they've made -בגדי כהונה, שולחן, מזבח הזבב, to mention a few! The kids really enjoyed, especially Yisrael who had just finished learning about the משכן and the בגדי כהונה in פרשת תרומה and פרשת תצוה- he participated nicely when the tour guide asked questions to the group, showing how well he had learned these ענינים.

According to what I learned there, the מנורה was not nearly as tall as you'd imagine- the כהן גדול could easily reach the top without the steps- but he needed the steps so that his sleeve wouldn't slide up as he reached upwards to light it. Once climbing up the steps, he would be able to reach straight in front of him to light the מנורה, therefore keeping his arms properly covered (this example of צניעות in the בית המקדש is much less known than the example of the ramp to the מזבח).

This is just one of the many amazing things we learned during the tour, where we were able to see, touch, and even smell many different things that were in the בית המקדש. The last part of the tour was a model of the בית המקדש, which was much more beautiful (and supposedly much more accurate) than any other I've seen.

After the guided tour, we watched a video presentation depicting what it was like to be עולה רגל and bring the קרבן פסח. It was very entertaining for the kids, and made the concept much more real and concrete. They also had an activity center where each child was able to choose a project to make, related to the בית המקדש, as well as a cute skit about bringing the קרבן פסח.

Once we finished our visit in מכון למקדש, we headed down the stairs towards the כותל, and of course appreciated the model מנורה much more (it belongs to מכון למקדש and they display it there). And while davening מנחה at the כותל, surrounded by thousands of other Yidden all being "עולה רגל", I felt much more כונה when davening that Hashem should give us back the בית המקדש- for only one who truly understands and appreciates how beautiful it really was, can really mourn its absence and daven for its return, במהרה בימנו אמן!

Our Pre-Pesach Getaway

Since Bentzi started teaching, he doesn't have much vacation.  Usually we like to do something right after Pesach- when the weather is nice and places aren't crowded.  Only this year, he started teaching the Sunday right after Pesach.  Which meant the only time off he had for Pesach was the week before Pesach, and Pesach itself.   So I hustled and got my Pesach cleaning done early, so that we could have a few days to go away before Pesach started.

So early Tuesday morning, with the kitchen turned over and the house ready for Pesach, we packed up the van we rented (no room for our whole family in our regular car!) and headed up North- our destination:  the Golan/Kinneret area.  We headed up along the shore of the Mediterranean, with a stop in Ikea in Netanya where I got some goodies for the house.  They've got a great (free) "babysitting service" there, where you can leave the kids in this huge play area for an hour- they get proper supervision and we get to shop without five kids in tow (we kept Naftali and Nissim with us).  Afterwards, we treated the family to soft-serve ice cream.

Next we stopped by the beach in חדרה for a picnic lunch and to play in the sand.  The water was cold, so we just stuck our toes in (except for an over-eager Bruria who got her whole skirt soaked!)  Sorry, no pics- I was too busy supervising  and couldn't double as a cameraman!

Then we headed towards our final destination for the day- a camping grounds right off the Kinneret.  We found a lovely beach called "חוף גופרה" which had quite a few frum families - enough for a minyan (I guess we weren't the only ones who finished getting ready for Pesach early!)  We barbequed hot dogs and roasted marshmallows, and finally fell asleep in the tent (thank you Menucha for lending us your equipment!) after a busy but enjoyable day.

The next morning, the kids had a blast playing in the water- the כנרת was much warmer and they enjoyed splashing in the water and collecting seashells while we packed up the tent and got ready to head out (don't worry, they were well supervised the entire time!)  Then we headed out to Moshav Yonatan, in the Golan, to visit our Saba Mordechai.  The kids had a nice time visiting with Saba and munching on the rest of his chometz which he had to finish off!

We had hoped to go on a really fun water hike, the מג'רסה, but when we got there, we found out that the site was closed temporarily.  So instead, we  headed towards טבריה, where we took a small boat ride out onto the כנרת.  We had a fun time seeing the shore from a different perspective, and we even saw a few fish splashing through the surface of the water! 

By the time Tatty davened Mincha (and we had some ice cream while we waited) we headed towards the campgrounds.  Only problem is that by the time we got there...it was closed- apparently they only allow entrance until sunset.  But we had wonderful סייעתא דשמיא and were able to find a nice vacation resort nearby- and we "happened" to meet the manager, who let us stay for the night at a rock-bottom  price.  Not quite as cheap as camping, but the accomodations were definitely more comfortable!

After a good night's sleep, and a filling 5-star breakfast (we were shocked to discover that the products they served were actually הכשרים we use!) we got ready to go home, with one final attraction on the way- we went "sledding" and "skiing" on הר גלבוע.  While it was a bit ouf of place- it was a hot sunny day- we had a lot of fun (especially since I've never gone skiing before!)  Basically, they have special matting laid down on the slope of a mountain, with cold water sprayers, to make it feel a bit like you're on the snow.  The kids had fun sledding down the mountain- forwards, backwards, doubled up, and all four holding onto each other's sleds- and Bentzi and I took turns supervising and skiing down the slopes.  The kids also enjoyed watching their Mommy ski, challenging me to try the more difficult slope- which I must admit was actually more fun!

After a few hours of (hot) fun, we ate a quick lunch, and headed back to Beitar- just in time for בדיקת חמץ!

B"H we all had a really nice time, and came into Yom Tov feeling refreshed.  And the one of the best parts was that we were able to eat as much Chometz as we wanted, without having to do the "chometz dance" and worrying about bringing crumbs into the house!

Cute Quote: What kind of Jew are you?

On Shabbos, we were discussing the various different minhagim you'll find across the different "sects" of Yidden, come Pesach time.  I was explaining to the kids that the ice cream we had for dessert was not Chometz, but it has kitniyos in it- so even though we can't eat it on Pesach, ספרדים can.

Then one of the kids asked, "What are we?"

At first, I answered "אשכנזים" and then I added that we are also "ליטאים".  To which Bentzi interjected- "Well, we're also somewhat חסידים" (we don't eat Gebroks and we daven נוסח ספרד).

Naftali, listening to the conversation, had one thing to say - "אנחנו טעים"- and he continued to eat his ice cream!

And you know what?  He's right!  No matter if we're ליטאים or חסידים or אשכנזים or ספרדים ...to Hashem, we are all חביבים (which I guess is similar enough to 'yummy')!