Monday, November 25, 2013

Make-A-Wish Foundation....Making Dreams Come to Life......

בס''ד
Miles is 5 years old and like all 5 year old boys he likes super heroes, especially Batman. But Miles is not like other 5 year olds... he is a cancer patient suffering from Leukemia. Baruch Hashem, [thank-G-D] his father says Miles is now in remission.

I first heard about Miles, when reading the Facebook postings of an old friend of mine from Hamilton, Cheryll Jutan.

Miles wanted to be Batman and Cheryll was posting about her son Mike, who lives in San Francisco and his involvement to help the Make-A-Wish Foundation make Miles’s dream a reality.

And a reality it was when over 10,000 San Francisco city employees and residents volunteered to turn San Francisco into Gotham City and for a day Miles became Batkid, rescuing a damsel in distress, capturing the Riddler as he robbed a bank, and saving the city mascot from the clutches of the Penguin.
















Batkid and his hero Batman had a police escort as officers on motorcycles blocked traffic and escorted their black Batmobile Lamborghini around the city.

http://mashable.com/2013/11/18/batkid-numbers/ 

My friend Cheryll’s son played the Penguin.





Mike told his hometown newspaper: “I had no idea it was going to be this big.” Mike who is 31 and a software engineer with Industrial Light and Magic in San Francisco was born in Hamilton but grew up in and still has ties to London Ontario. “When I was asked to do it, I thought we would just put on some costumes and romp around a playground for 10 minutes for a little kid.”  
http://metronews.ca/news/london/858224/batkid-baddie-is-london-hometown-hero/



Mike has a beautiful blog called Mike Jutan.com. Yesterday he posted his thoughts and some wonderful pictures. Enjoy!
http://jutanclan.blogspot.co.il/2013/11/the-day-batkid-defeated-me-and.html  

What is the Make-A-Wish Foundation? It is an organization that makes dreams come true for children with life-threatening medical conditions. Founded in the United States in 1980 Make-A-Wish operates in 47 countries around the world through 36 affiliate offices. In Israel Make-A-Wish can be contacted at:  
In English:  
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=iw&u=http://www.makeawish.org.il/&prev=/search%3Fq%3DMake%2Ba%2BWish%2BIsrael

In Hebrew:
http://www.makeawish.org.il/  

or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MakeawishIL

The work Make-A-Wish does is a mitzvah gadola...[a major good deed] The happiness it brings to sick children and the smiles on their faces is worth the thousands and thousands of dollars the dreams cost. May all the volunteers be blessed with good health.











This Wednesday evening, Nov. 27th /25th of Kislev, begins the eight day festival of Chanukah also known as the festival of lights. It marks the miraculous victory of the Jews, led by the Maccabees, against Greek persecution and religious oppression.

Chag Chanukah Sameach everyone!
Until next time..feel free to comment  and share.
Miriam
      

Friday, November 8, 2013

Sisterhood,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

בס''ד
Sisterhood..........

On Tuesday, Coffee Talk, a woman’s Face book group had their fourth ‘face 2 face’ [f2f] get together in Jerusalem.

After a short walk around the famous shuk in Yerushalayim, Mahane Yehuda, the ladies grouped together and headed to the klal Building, where they were going to participate in a jewelry making workshop, headed by Hadassa, a member of our group. Unfortunately, I could not attend. My loss!

Paula very kindly opened her board room to hold the event.

A highlight of the gathering was a Skype call to one of our member-friend, who lives in Colorado. In her words...
http://lady-light.blogspot.co.il/2013/11/skyping-with-virtual-friendsreally.html

A wonderful, descriptive blog with pictures was posted by Batya.
http://me-ander.blogspot.co.il/2013/11/i-bead-like-i-cook.html

What is Coffee Talk you ask?  About two years ago, some of us early risers would virtually meet over coffee and catch up.

Chaya took our early meetings one step further, started a secret Facebook page, called it Coffee Talk and sent out invitations. And so our little group was born.

The goal was to keep the membership low, so that we keep the group informal and personal. We are all ‘sisters’. Thirty-seven women from Israel and the States enjoy each others company over a virtual cup of coffee and share each others news.

When Tehillim or any other davening needs to be said, all it takes is a quick posting and you know it will be done. Have a question...post it and you will get an answer.

We enjoy sending each other mazal-tov’s for smachot in our families and the posting pictures of children and grandchildren are always a pleasure to see.

Last year, we decided to meet in person, and we held our first ‘face 2 face, in Jerusalem meeting at Café Café. A wonderful time was had by all.

We introduced ourselves and each told a little about who we are.  Our second f2f was in the Negev city of Netivot. The ladies wanted to show solidarity with residents of the South who constantly live with the fear of a missile attack at a drop of the hat.

We shopped in Netivot and then had a wonderful sit down lunch at Gregg’s.

Our third meeting was in Shiloh, the site of the Mishkan. We toured the biblical city of Shiloh. Our tour guide made the Tanach come alive. We ended our tour davening [pray] minchah, at the same spot where Chana the wife of Elkanah, davened and pleaded with Hashem to grant her a child. (Samuel 1:10) Her tefillah was answered and Chana gave birth to a son, whom she named Samuel and later became the first king of Israel. 

And now back to the drawing board to plan our next face 2 face.

Until next time..feel free to comment and share.
Miriam                     

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

The IDF and the terrorists Who Want to Destroy Israel..........

בס''ד
As many you know, my family and I live in the South and have been recipients of many grad missile terror attacks from our neighbors who live in Gaza. The North too, is always on alert for terror attacks from Hezbollah and throw-over from Syria.

We are used to living with IDF helicopters and jets roaring overhead and the hum of the drone surveying the land.  We are thank-full for our army’s protection. Last Thursday, while our chayalim were fulfilling a mission in Gaza, terrorists attacked them and five IDF chayalim, one severely, were injured in an attack. Friday night, Erev Shabbat a mortar was fired at Eshkol. Fortunately there weren’t any physical injuries or damage to buildings.

http://www.idfblog.com/facts-figures/rocket-attacks-toward-israel/

And so the story continues...Israelis are not only attacked with missiles. Across the country, but especially in Yehuda and Shomron, arabs throw rocks at passing cars. Now please don’t think that the rocks are small pebbles that you find along the beach. The rocks they throw are boulders. Rock can and do maim and kill.

The world is watching our every move. All we need to announce is that we will build homes here, there and anywhere, and world leaders are condemning us.

Last week, Israel released terrorists as a ‘gesture’ for peace...and also announced homes will be built in Jerusalem. What did UN chief Secretary General Ban Ki-moon say...........?


Releasing Murderers is Good, Building is Bad.......
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/173422 



So who are these terrorists? The world calls them freedom fighters but we know the truth..they are cold blooded, murdering terrorists who place no value on human life, young men and women, who have so much hatred in their hearts for us the Jewish people and our homeland Israel. They grow up indoctrinated from the time they start nursery school, being dressed up in terrorist costumes, their ‘teachers’ paint their little hands red and makes posters saying Death to the Jews, Death to Israel. They sing and recite poems about destroying the Jewish nation.  In school is where they really get an ‘education’.
http://www.idfblog.com/hamas/2013/07/11/hamas-teaches-gaza-kids-to-be-terrorists-all-year-round/


Fortunately for us, we have the world’s most moral army, The Israel Defense Forces known as the IDF and in Hebrew as Tzahal.

Our chayalim and chayalot [soldiers] defend our land with the love of our homeland and the commitment and devotion. They know and understand what is at stake; our existence, our independence and our security.
 

May The Hand of Hashem guide and protect each soldier and keep them safe.

http://www.idfblog.com/
https://www.facebook.com/idfonline
http://www.flickr.com/photos/idfonline


Until next time, please feel free to comment and share.
Miriam               

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

It's My Birthday........

בס''ד


According to our teachings, the Jewish day starts at sunset and continue until sunset the following day. And so this evening, yud gimmel Cheshvan [13th] and all day tomorrow is my birthday. The secular date is in November.  

I am thankful Hashem has given me another full year of good health, happiness, parnass and nachas from my children and grandchildren. What more do I need? 

Our birthday date is a special day...after all we were born on this date... I often wonder if I’m fulfilling my purpose on earth. Am I the type of person Hashem created me to be? I hope so, but I don’t really know the answer.
 

The internet was a wonderful invention. It allows you to socialize, learn and connect. I have found some lost relatives and friends. I would never have been able to start writing as a hobby and get published without it. It gave me a new type of freedom.

When researching for this blog about Jewish birthdays, I came across this description of ‘What is a Jewish birthday’. 

One's Jewish birthday is, of course, the date upon which one was born according to the Jewish calendar. Far from considering it incidental, Jewish tradition regards one's Jewish birthday to be celebrated with meaning and relevance and, in some ways, even a mini-Rosh Hashanah!

The Talmud informs us that on our Jewish birthdays our mazal (good fortune) is dominant. 

The Jewish birthday is the perfect day for reflection about our lives as Jews and is an auspicious time to make new resolutions, to perform good deeds and to deepen our commitment to Torah and the role it plays in our lives. http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144345/jewish/What-is-a-Jewish-Birthday.htm   

On Aish.com I found a page that tells you what your Hebrew name means.


If you don’t know your Jewish birthday date, Hebcal has a wonderful converter. 

Enjoy your special day...I know I will... be spending most of my day in the kitchen cooking for Shabbat..Baruch Hashem!

Until next time...feel free to comment and share!
Miriam   


Sunday, September 1, 2013

Dedicated in Memory of my Dad

בס''ד
 
I would like to dedicate this blog to my father, Louis David Small [Eliezer David Ha Kohen] a”H, who left us and this world on September 9,1980 / 28thElul 5740. 

My dad was a wonderful man. He was a great husband, a super father and a loving grandfather. He was kind. He was good natured and he really cared about the next person. He would give you the shirt off his back, if that was what you needed. Our family was the most important part of his life. 

When my brother and I were children, he was always there for us. No matter the situation. He would do anything for his children. 

My dad would speak softly, but directly to us, never down to us. When I had a problem we would go for a walk or a drive in the country and talk all the way. He made every problem seem not so bad. 

As a teenager, my dad and I washed the supper dishes every evening. He taught me how organize the kitchen and work clean....The few minutes it took to clean-up was my best part of the day. He always asked me how was my day? 

My dad would help me with my homework. One time, when I was ten years old, I had a geography project in school. I had to make a scrapbook about each province in Canada and say what it was known for. Now I had weeks to get this project done, but I procrastinated and before I knew it the project was due, and I had information only on one province. 

The night before the due date, I couldn’t sleep because I was so worried about the trouble I was in. At 10:00 in the evening, I finally told my parents my problem. My father was really upset with me, but gently he told me he would try and help me and that I should go to sleep.. 

A few minutes later he was out of the house and drove to the train station. Since we lived in Montreal, the Canadian National Railways had a very large station underneath the Queen Elizabeth Hotel that was opened all the time. My father was able to get great information on every province. 

Five o’clock in the morning, he woke me up and said to me “here is your information, now get to work.” I worked like I never worked in my life. By 8:30 when I had to go to school, my project was more than half finished. I told my teacher that I would bring my project after lunch. 

In those days, we came home for lunch. I finished the project while munching on a sandwich.  I couldn’t believe it. My project was completed.  I thanked my father a million times for getting the information for me and I promised that I would never procrastinate again. 

To this very day, many years later, I never procrastinate. 

Daddy, even though 33 years have passed, I remember our lasts days together as if it was just today. 

It was Moetzi Shabbos, the night of Selichot. For some reason, I couldn’t go to sleep. I just felt the need to cook for Rosh Hashana and I cooked up a storm until it was time to go to Selichot. When we came home, I went back to the kitchen to continue cooking. 

Eight o’clock Sunday morning my mother a”H called and said that my dad had a heart attack and that I should come to Montreal. I told her I would get the next flight out. I then understood what I was feeling. 

By Sunday afternoon I was his bedside. My brother Yitzchak arrived from Detroit a couple of hours later. We spent as much time as the hospital would allow visiting with and talking with the doctors. 

Tuesday morning, my dad said that he wanted to speak to me alone. He told me to go home to my family. When I protested and said that my family was in good hands he told me not to argue and said I could come back after Rosh Hashana. He then requested to speak to my brother and told him to go home. Yom Tov was the following evening. What I didn’t realize at the time was that he was saying good-bye. 

With a very heavy heart, we returned to our respective homes. I to Hamilton and Yitzchak to Detroit. 

From Montreal to Hamilton the flight is a little over an hour. I arrived in Hamilton in time to go and pick up my daughters from school. As we entered the hall of our apartment building, I could hear my telephone ringing. It was my mother, saying that my dad had just passed away. Two hours later, Yitzchak and I were on our way back to Montreal.   

Daddy, in your memory, I wrote these words to you......

Thirty-three years have passed,
where has the time gone.
Since you were taken from us 
to a better world above.

So many grandchildren do you have
and great-grandchildren too!
Oh how we miss your presence
in our daily lives,
to share in our simchas
or to comfort
when we need a good cry.

We know you are watching over us
from your resting place
and smiling down at us
happy we all live in Eretz Yisrael.

Fourteen years ago Mommy left us
to join you in paradise
we miss you both so very much
that no words can ever say.


The younger generation lost out
on knowing two special people. 
Oh how they would have loved to bounce
and sit and play upon your knee. 

And the nachas you both could have shepped
when they entertained.
Shomer Mitzvah Jews
so proudly they remain!

So many of the grandchildren 
And more than 40 great-grandchildren 
share your looks, your character and your talents. 

Daddy, now it is time to end my poem
two more lines to say 
we love and miss you everyday 
NEVER FORGOTTEN in any way.


A loving daughter....       

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Growing Older..Do you regret or are you proud?

בס''ד
One day last week, as I was surfing my Face Book page, a poster appeared saying:
DO NOT REGRET GROWING OLDER. IT IS A PRIVILEGE DENIED TO MANY

I shared the poster and commented..I never understood why some people want to remain 39 forever...Guess they just don't see the Bracha that has been handed to them...

My friends wrote in the comment section: Yes it is. Volunteering my time for 15 years in the Chevra Kadisha back in Hamilton, taught me that very valuable lesson. I just enjoy growing old and becoming an 'old geezer', so far I've made it to 70... I'm with Miriam, Never was embarrassed of my age [48]. Have a friend less than a year older who will never say her age and gets upset if asked. Old school...An another way of looking at age..a friend commented: it depends on the goal. If you want to reach 120, you can't stay at any age. If you want to have children and the doctors say 38 is too old, then staying 35 or so makes a lot of sense to me.

Personally for me, I don't want to be 39 any more. When I was 39, I was living in Canada, working 2 jobs, raising my young family, and chief cook, cleaner and bottle washer at home. Life was tough.

As I have gotten older, I now realize age is just a number...it is the amount of years Hashem has already blessed me with. And, please don't get me wrong...I am truly blessed. My husband and I just celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary. I still work part-time, but I'm my boss and I choose my days and hours. I'm still chief cook, cleaner and bottle washer, but instead of raising a young family, I shep nachas from my 13 grandchildren and enjoy watching my children raise their families.

I joined a Face Book group called Sixty and Me. https://www.facebook.com/sixtyandme
Sixty and Me is about reinventing and celebrating the next amazing chapter of your life as a 60 year old woman. The group welcomes a community of like minded women who don't feel old, but who are passionate about living life, embracing change, trying new things, meeting new friends, and exploring new lifestyles. 

Today, the group administrator posted this poster and asks this question: When someone asks you how old you are, what do you say?









With permission, I am posting what my friend and columnist Yocheved Miriam Russo so eloquently answered:
Assuming that you're financially secure, once you get to be 60 or so, it's easy to admit how old you are -- you can even be proud of having reached that age, getting prouder as the years go by. But if you're still in the job market, competing against "young" people who allegedly are more energetic, more knowledgeable, more up on industry trends, easier to work with (not so set in their ways), who "fit in" with the other staff more easily -- not to mention that young people are generally more pleasant to look at, and who will work for less money -- then it's much, much harder. That's especially true for women -- men grow older, and they become more distinguished, more respected. Women grow older, and we become .... invisible. And in Israel, magnify those problems by a factor of ten -- here, employment ads unabashedly advertise for "young" men and women. If you're approaching 50 -- let alone be over that age -- it's generally conceded that it's going to be near-impossible for you to get a job as someone's employee. So yes, "being a senior is a blessing" -- of course it is. But not having to find a way to support yourself in your 50's, 60's and even 70's, is an even bigger blessing -- If you need to earn an income, then growing older isn't nearly so pleasant.


Smiling, I answer, "I am 67 and I am proud!" 

Until next time..feel free to answer the question and please share. 
Miriam        

Monday, August 5, 2013

Searching Our Hearts...



בס''ד

The long hot summer is almost over. Families are returning from vacations and children are preparing to go back to school. And we the Jewish people are also starting to prepare for our new year, not by partying, but by searching.  

Tonight starts Rosh Chodesh Elul, a month before Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. 

Why is this month so special to us?  According to Jewish tradition, the World was created by Hashem on the twenty-fifth of Elul. This is according to the opinion in the Talmud of Rabbi Eliezer. Elul is called the month of repentance, the month of mercy and the month of forgiveness
  
The word Elul also means search.The time of the year when we search our hearts. It is a time to take a good look in the mirror and see what we don’t like about ourselves and prepare to make changes. 

Elul is spelt in Hebrew אלול [alef lamed vav lamed] and is an acronym of Ani l’dodi v’dodi li..I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine.  Shir HaShirim 6:3.  My Beloved is Hashem and I is the Jewish people.   

We learn that from the beginning of Elul until Yom Kippur, Hashem is the closest to us. It is a time for us to do teshuva, to repent and ask Hashem and those we have hurt for forgiveness.   

Starting in Elul, Sephardic men wake up earlier in the morning to recite Selichot before Shacharit.  Ashkenazi Jews will gather to recite Selichot at midnight, the last Moetzi Shabbat before Rosh Hashana.  

We include Tehillim 27, in our davening,[prayers] from Elul until Hoshana Raba... One thing I ask of the Hashem, that I seek-that I may dwell in the House of the Hashem all the days of my life, to see the pleasantness of the Hashem and to visit His Temple every morning.   

The Shofar, the ram’s horn, is blown from the second day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, and until the day before Erev Rosh Hashana.  The custom is to blow four sounds from the Shofar every weekday morning. The Shofar is not blown on Shabbat.  


May the month of Elul prepare us to enter the Rosh Hashana with a new perspective in life and to meet our challenges. 


Wishing everyone a year filled with Brachot. May you be sealed in the Book of Life גמר חתימה טובה


Until next time...feel free to comment and share.

Miriam           

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Tish B'Av...A Day of Sorrow.......

בס''ד
During the long hot days of summer, six weeks after Shavuot, is a mourning period known as the Three Weeks. A time of sorrow for the Jewish people


Tish B’Av starts on Monday evening July 15th and ends Tuesday evening July 16th. May this be our last sorrowful Tish B’Av. Waiting for Moshiach....when will we be ready for you to come?

For more information: Aish   The ninth of Av
                             Chabad The ninth of Av overview 





The day of sorrow,

the ninth of Av.

The blackest day,

we Jews know.



Hashem commanded us to fast

and to give up our comforts.

We read Megilla Eichah

And say kinot.



Why do we have this terrible day?

Is it because we cried for nothing so long ago?

Hashem said “you want to cry,

I’ll give you something to cry about.”



So many tragedies have struck

the Jewish people on the 9th of Av.

Many were murdered on the 9th of Av

in pogroms and the Holocaust

for no other reason than they were Jews.



Moshiach, Moshiach, where are you?

“Come now, come now,” the people beg.

For we suffered all our history.

And bring glory to this nation.



Wishing you an easy fast!

Miriam

Monday, July 8, 2013

Where is the Promised Peace?

בס''ד

Next week will be the 8th anniversary of the expulsion of Israeli citizens living in Gush Katif. Over 8,000 Jewish residents were forcibly removed from their homes and land. Twenty-one communities made judenrein..[free of Jews]. Beautiful homes, manicured gardens, field of produce, schools, community centers and Beit Knessets were all destroyed on orders of the Israeli government.



And today, do we have the peace that was promised by abandoning our land? The answer is NO NO NO.... all we have is missile terror, kassams, mortars and grads. Our beautiful land is now used as terror camps by Hamas. By abandoning our land, we gave the terrorists the opportunity to come closer and fire rockets deeper into the South of Israel.  Some peace...right!



A few days after the disengagement, I wrote a poem called Gush Katif.

Gush Katif

Gush Katif
paradise on earth.
In one week
destroyed and no more.    

This beautiful land
so full of Kaddosh
With honor and bravery
the residents settled the land. 

Over thirty years ago,
our brave IDF
reclaimed our land
in a victory so bold.

"It's the law
I'm just following orders,"
our soldiers told the residents.
"You need to leave right now,
or we will move you out
one by one."   

As the proud residents were being carried out
tears from both soldiers and residents
flowed all around. 

On some yishuvim
one last mincha was recited in the Beit knesset
and with dignity, tears and heads held high
they temporally said good-bye.

The  expulsion was the law
of a cruel government.
When Moshiach will come
our beloved land
will be in our hands once again.
 
Netivot, August 2005.

I would like to recommend a very special book that is very appropriate for this anniversary.     

Shifra Shomron, who at the time of the expulsion, was a teenager living with her family in Neve Dekalim, put her thoughts and feelings on paper and wrote Grains of Sand: The Fall of Neve Dekalim.


Reading this book you smile, laugh and cry. You feel the author’s pain. This book should be a reading requirement for every high school student.

The story starts off introducing an everyday family, parents, 2 teenage children living in Neve Dekalim going about their daily lives before there was any talk about disengagement. We learn about the mortar, kassam and rock throwing terror the families had to endure and when the first rumors that P.M. Sharon wanted to expel Israeli citizens out of Gush Katif. Life becomes an emotional merry-go-round..no one wanted to believe such a horrible deed could ever happen.

The one line in the book that I’m sure was on every child’s mind..the teenage boy in the story asked his father, if the expulsion really happens, what is going to happen to us, where will we go, how will we live? This fear, I’m sure was worse than any fear of missiles.

Shifra, thank-you for writing this marvelous book...I'm only sorry that because of an Israeli government this is a true story and not a figment of your imagination. 

Until next time, feel free to comment and share.
Miriam                     
      

  

           







Friday, May 24, 2013

From Two to Twenty...

בס''ד
Moetzi Shabbat and Sunday on the Jewish calendar is the 17th of Sivan. And why am I telling you this? Well because, my husband Avraham and I will be celebrating our 46th wedding anniversary.


















We were married on 17th of Sivan 5727 corresponding to June 25th 1967, at the Young Israel of Chomedey in Chomedey, Quebec. For those who do not know where Chomedey is, it is a suburb of Montreal.


Believe me, when I write that back then it never occurred to me that we would be blessed with 3 amazing kids, 2 daughters and a son, 2 super son-in-laws, 13 precious Sabra grandchildren, 6 who are 10th generation Israeli, make Aliyah and live on a Sephardic yishuv.

Oh yes, another fact that I would have never believed would happened is that I would have a pet dog. Truthfully, I am a little afraid of dogs I don’t know, but for the last 18 years Rocky and now Patches, have been part our family and good friends. Rocky passed away 3 years ago.   
 
Our wedding was almost put on hold, because of the 6 day war in Israel and shuls were not allowing weddings to take place.


Fortunately for us and many other couples, Israel won the war in 6 days and our wedding was a happening.

Our wedding was a real princess wedding. You know the kind with all the trimmings. I am posting in green, because that was my color scheme. Being the only daughter I was the princess of the family. Sometimes I think that my mother a”H planned my wedding, to make up for her wedding having to be just a chuppah in the Rabbi’s study.

My parents were married in Montreal in 1943. A few days before their wedding date, my father a”H, who was a soldier in the Canadian army was called up and received his orders to be deployed 72 hours later to Europe to fight in the war. 

They didn’t know what to do. The time was during the nine days in Av, when weddings do not take place.

After asking a she’la [question] to the Chief Rabbi in Montreal, the answer was that they must get married before my father left and that he [the chief Rabbi] would do the ceremony. The ceremony was arranged for the next day. Their wedding was supposed to take place 3 weeks later.

24 hours after the ceremony, my father was deployed to Europe for three years.

My mother told me that a couple of days after my father left, the store where she bought her wedding dress called to say that her dress was ready and she told them to give it way. She didn’t want to see it finished.

My parents were only married for 37 years 






 


















My parent’s engagement pictures. Being the 9 days, the Rav wouldn’t allow them to take a wedding picture.


So much water has passed under the bridge since that wonderful rainy Sunday evening in June. 

May we be blessed to dance at the weddings of our grandchildren and to welcome great-grandchildren. 
Miriam