בס''ד

Rosh Chodesh Elul is Here. What a Special Month!
The summer vacation is almost over. Yeshivot and schools are getting ready to welcome their students back. On the Jewish calendar, today and tomorrow are Rosh Chodesh Elul, a month of introspection leading up to the New Year. Elul is such a special month.

The four Hebrew letters of the word Elul (aleph-lamed-vav-lamed) are the first letters of the four words Ani l'dodi v'dodi lee -- "I am to my Beloved and my Beloved is to me" (Song of Songs 6:3). These words sum up the relationship between G-d and His people.

Sephardim start saying the prayer Selichot early every morning. Ashkenazim start saying Selichot the Moetzi Shabbat before Rosh Hashana.

Starting on Rosh Chodesh Elul until Simchas Torah, we say L’David, Tehillim 27 with its moving paragraph that was said by Dovid HaMelech [ King David] “One thing that I asked of Hashem, that shall I seek – that I dwell in the House of Hashem all the days of my life, to behold the sweetness of Hashem and to contemplate in His Sanctuary.”

The Shofar is sounded everyday except Shabbat after Shacharit [morning prayers].

For my family, Elul brings us two birthdays. My son Eli-Chaim on the 4th and my granddaughter Chen on the 16th. I have yartzheit for my dear father Eliezer David HaKohen a”h on the 28th.

During the month of Elul, we are busy shopping, cooking, baking and preparing ourselves for Rosh Hashana. Elul, the month before Rosh Hashana, is the time for reflection. What kind of person have I been this year and what kind of person do I want to be?

To all my loyal readers I hope that you have enjoyed my blogs. On September 7th will be one year since that first blog. I want to thank-you for taking the time to read my blog and for your comments. I wish you and yours a year of good health, happiness and prosperity. May all your prayers be answered!

A couple of years ago I wrote a poem about Rosh Chodesh Elul that appeared in the Hamodia.

The Message

Rosh Chodesh Elul has arrived.
The month we start to awaken.
Every morning the Shofar blows
a long toooooo……….

So many different shofars.
Short, curly, long and curvy,
each with it’s own beautiful sound.

What is the Shofar saying?
What is the message?
Awake, retrospect,
time to do Teshuva.

Shana Tova to everyone.
K’tiva V’Chatima Tova

Feel free to pass my blog around.

Chodesh Tov to everyone!

Miriam

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בס''ד

Remembering Gush Katif

On Tisha B’Av, the 9th of the Hebrew month of Av, we remember the tragedies that had befallen B’nei Yisrael of yesteryear. The next day, the 10th of Av, we remember another tragedy.

This is when a Jewish Israeli government disengaged its own citizens from our land to appease the American President, George W. Bush and the world. Prime Minister Sharon, known as the father of the settlement movement, wanted to show that Israel was a team player and willing to give up our land to advance the peace talks with the palestinians.

Our holy land, a gift from Hashem, was handed over to our enemy who wanted nothing more than to drive the Jewish people and Israel into the sea.

This year is the 4th anniversary of the disengagement and expulsion from Gush Katif and Northern Shomron.

http://www.archive.org/details/gushkatifexpulsion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl-LmSNmOEo

http://www.gushkatif.net/

Gush Katif was a bloc of Israeli settlements in the southern Gaza strip for nearly 35 years from 1970 until 2005. In August, 2005, around 8,000 residents of Gush Katif were forcefully evicted from the area and their homes demolished as part of Israel’s unilateral disengagement.

Most residents did not voluntarily leave their homes or even pack in preparation of the eviction. On August 15, 2005, the forcible evacuation of the Gush Katif settlements began. Just a few days later on August 22, 2005, the residents of the last settlement, Netzarim, were evicted and the Israeli government began the destruction of all residential buildings.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://english.people.com.cn/200508/23/image
Note: When the google page comes up, type in Gush Katif and click on images.

The names of the settlements from North to South are:

Alei Sinai, Dugit, Nissanit, Netzarim, Kfar Darom, Tel Katifa, Netzer Hazani, Katif, Ganei Tal, Shirat HaYam, Kfar Yam, Neve Dekalim, Gadid, Gan Or, Pe'at Sadeh, Bedolach, Slav, Bnei Atzmon, Rafiah Yam, Kerem Atzmona, Morag

Many of the former residents are still living in makeshift mobile homes called caravillas. Unemployment is very high and family life is in shambles.

Check out this link for more up to date information about the Gush Katif families.

http://gushkatifbook.com/2009/07/

Last August, the Gush Katif Museum was opened in Jerusalem. It is located on Rehov Sha’arei Tzedek.

http://www.gushkatifmuseum.com/

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1218710379199

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3581315,00.html

Just after the expulsion, feeling sick and sadden that a Jewish government would expel its citizens, I wrote this poem called Remembering Gush Katif.

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

This beautiful land
so full of Kaddosh.
It’s residents settled the land
with honour and bravery.

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

“It’s the law
I’m just following orders,”
our soldiers told the residents
when they came to remove them
from their homes.
“You need to leave right now!”

Carrying the residents out one by one,
tears flowed all around
from both soldiers and residents.

One last Mincha was said in the Beit Knesset
and with dignity, tears and heads held high
they temporally said good-bye.

Was the expulsion the law
of a cruel government?
Or was this a decree
made in Heaven?

Only time will tell
when Moshiach will come
and our beloved land
will be in our hands once again.

Post Script:

68% Regret Supporting Disengagement
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/168645

The irony of the disengagement was that instead of Israel having peace and quiet from the palestinians that the world thought would happen, Israeli citizens in the south, especially S’derot, were bombarded with kassams, mortars & grad missiles almost daily. Last December, the IDF had to go back into Gaza and clean it up. So much for peace..........

Please feel free to pass my blog around.

Miriam

בס''ד

The Shuk!


Tuesday is shuk day in Netivot. In Hebrew, shuk means “marketplace.” For hundreds of years, Jews from all over the world have vended and shopped in marketplaces. Merchants would travel by ship to sell their spices, fine perfume, material etc. My ancestors going back to the early 1800’s on my father’s a”h side, traveled by ship from Spain to Romania, where they eventually settled, selling all their wares along the way.

I remember when I was a little girl, my mother a”h taking me to Rachel Market in Montreal. The shochet [ritual slaughter] had a stand in the shuk. I will never forget the sounds of the chickens squawking as they were waiting to be slaughtered.

Once a week in our city, merchants and farmers set up their wares and fruits and vegetables in the open air market. You can buy almost anything in the shuk.

Our market is on a large piece of land in the industrial area. Shopper’s crowd onto the bus with their shopping wagons and hand held baskets. Young mothers with babies in carriages and a toddler or two trailing behind are a common sight. Everyone is going to the shuk to look for bargains. And if you are patient and have the time to really look carefully, you will find the bargains.

And so last Tuesday, along with all the other shoppers, I shlepped my large shopping wagon onto the bus for the short ten minute ride to the Shuk.

The traffic around the entrance to the shuk was crazy. The bus driver was honking his horn as he wanted to pass, early shoppers were loading up the trunks of taxis, a vender was unloading his truck of dresses and hanging them on a rack and people were just mulling around. This was only 9:30 in the morning.

The shuk is a very interesting and entertaining place to shop. I stopped to ask one vendor how much his melons’ were and he told me 3.50nis. As I walked away, I had already seen it for 2.50nis, the vendor called me back “gaverette, gaverette” [literally Mrs.] “3 shekels, tov [good]?” I shook my head no.

The moshavim and kibbutzim in the area have a bus that takes it’s residents for an “outing” to the shuk. The older women love to meet and smooze. For many, it’s their only time away from home.

In Israel, most cities have a shuk day. The famous Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem http://www.fonerbooks.com/guide_30.htm and Carmel market in Tel Aviv http://www.inisrael.com/tour/telaviv/markets.htm are a must stop for every tourist.

No matter if you are a native or a tourist, if you have never shopped in the shuk, you owe yourself the experience.

Happy shopping!

Feel free to pass my blog around.

Miriam

בס''ד

The Three Weeks

Last Thursday, 17th of Tammuz was the first day of the Three Weeks. The last day is on Tish B’Av, the 9th of Av. We started the Three Weeks with a daytime fast and will end with a fast that goes from night to night. There are many do's and don'ts concerning the three weeks.

If you would like more information about the three weeks these links will help you.

http://www.aish.com/h/9av/oal/48943916.html

http://www.chabad.org/holidays/3weeks/article_cdo/aid/144558/jewish/The-Three-Weeks.htm

I wrote a poem called The Day of Sorrow about the ninth of Av.

The Day of Sorrow

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 don’t greet our friends.

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.

Mashiach, Mashiach, where are you?
Come now, come now,
For we have suffered all our history.
And bring glory to this nation.

Feel free to pass my blog around.

Miriam

בס''ד













The Graduate

Just a short blog this time with some family news.

Graduation is a milestone in a person’s life. After years of hard work we are rewarded with the title graduate.

We have many graduations in our life. The first is graduation from gan [kindergarten] to Kita aleph [grade 1]. We graduate from elementary school to high school, from high school or yeshiva to university or an advance yeshiva.

With each graduation we take with us an abundance of knowledge.

My husband and I had the pleasure to attend the graduation ceremony of our oldest grandson.

Yoni, graduated from his Yeshiva high school, Yeshivat Orot Yehuda in Efrat. In Elul, Yoni will start Hesder [part of his army service] in Holon.

Last night, our younger grandson Gilad [11 ½], graduated from his elementary school in Kfar Maimon. In Elul, Gilad will start his high school education at Yeshivat Yashlatz, part of Mercas HaRav in Kfar Maimon.

Saba Avraham and I wish Yoni and Gilad mazal-tov and hatzlacha in all their future endeavors. We pray that your dreams will take you to the highest of your hopes and to the most special places your heart has ever known.”

Saba and I are so proud of the two of you and all your siblings. May we only shep nachas and simchas from our children and grandchildren.

Safta Miriam

בס''ד

Diagnosed with Diabetes

Sunday morning started out like any other Sunday morning except that I had a doctor’s appointment. Little did I know the shock that I was in for later that morning.

I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. My blog is about being a diabetic. I have a need to write about my first experiences. The only problem is that I don’t know where to start. Do I start with the shock of being diagnosed or the 4 times a day I had to prick my finger to check my blood sugar or my new diet, where I have to watch everything I put in my mouth.

Do I write about the fears and frustration that I feel?

Desperately in need of information I spent hours checking out the web sites of the Israeli, American, Canadian and British Diabetic Associations.

These sites were full of practical information, recipes and good suggestions. Diabetes can affect your eyes, kidneys, cause severe fatigue and unusual thirst plus a list of other problems. I recognized that I had many of the symptoms that were listed.

But let me back track a little. I took some routine blood tests you know the ones we all do every now and then.

Checking my results, my doctor was shocked to see that my glucose number was very high...out of control high. ”This must be an error” he said to me as he took me to the nurse’s office and asked her to do a blood glucose check with her hand monitor. The reading...dangerously high 410......

My doctor shaking his head and said that the high glucose came out of nowhere. “Maybe you have an infection or you are very stressed out” he said as he ordered more tests.

Fortunately for me, the diabetic assistant to the diabetic doctor was in her office. She only works in our clinic one day a week. My doctor introduced me to Dalia.

Dalia is very nice lady who is professional, kind and understanding. She explained what the readings meant and how my life was about to change and gave me some helpful tips. When Dalia handed me a blood glucose monitor, her comment was, “this monitor is going to become your best friend.”

Dalia told me to be in touch with the dietician and said that I should make an appointment with the diabetic doctor for the following week. My doctor gave me a prescription for anti diabetic medicine and told me that he wanted the see my blood reading results from the rest of the day the next day.

I don’t know what I would have done without the internet. Dalia gave me good information, but truthfully I was in shock and when I came home I couldn’t remember anything that she said.

So started my daily routine of watching what I ate, checking my blood glucose and recording numbers.

I was so consumed. When I told my children, they were very concerned and had a million questions that I couldn’t answer.

The next day was Monday, I went to show my doctor my numbers, and he was pleased as they were down a little. I asked him for a requisition to see the dietician and he said that she was in the kupot [clinic] that day and called her to come to his office.

In walked Yifat, a young woman who tried very hard to speak to me in English. She was pleasant, professional and kept on apologizing for not having any reading material in English, but translated an instruction sheet line by line.

Yifat told me that I needed to eat five times a day, three small meals and two snacks and then said that I have to loose a half a kilo by my next appointment in two weeks. She gave me very specific foods and amounts I could eat and what I had to stay away from. She told me to exercise half and hour everyday and I could call her if I had any questions.

My husband, our dog Rocky and I go walking every evening. The exercise is good for the three of us.

Having to use the blood glucose monitor everyday posed a sheila [question] about Shabbos. Everything about the procedure and the machine was against the Halachot of Shabbos.

A question was posed to the Rav. He quickly said that he was not versed enough to answer such a question and said he would pose it to a Rav that specialized in Diabetes and would have an answer in a couple of days.

The answer for me was if I am taking pills and I feel okay then I can’t use the machine on Shabbos. I should check my glucose level just before I light the Shabbos candles and again Moetzi Shabbos. If don’t feel well during the day then I can use it. If I take insulin then I must use the machine as needed.
[Every diabetic has to ask their own question]

The week passed quickly, I was still afraid to put anything in my mouth and I lost 3 kilos. My numbers were constantly going down and I really felt okay.

Monday evening was my appointment to meet with the diabetic doctor and Dalia. The doctor, a professor at Soroka Hospital was a middle aged man, with a smile, a good sense of humor and he spoke perfect English.

He looked at my numbers which were getting lower everyday, and asked me when I was first diagnosed. I told him ten days earlier. All he could say was “interesting.” He then turned to Dalia and said, “You see what happens, when you follow a diet and take the diabetes seriously.”

The doctor said to me “I don’t know what you did to have these great results so quickly, but obviously whatever you did was the right thing, so keep on doing it.” He also told me that I don’t have to prick my finger four times a day anymore but only check it four times one day a week.

In two months I have to do all the blood work again. G-D willing my results will be good and my diabetes will be completely in control.

Having diabetes is just one more thing that Hashem has put on my plate, but I see His Hand everyday helping me. Everything fell into place. The diabetic assistant was in her office the day I was diagnosed, the dietician was in her office the day I went for the requisition. The diabetic doctor who only comes twice a month was going to be in his office a week later....but most importantly my glucose numbers are really good and I am feeling well..........

Miriam

בס''ד

So You Think Ketchup is Just for Fries...

While surfing the internet, I came across a headline on Yahoo that I just had to click...Five Surprise Uses for Ketchup

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/daily_green_news/43/five-surprising-uses-for-ketchup.html;_ylt=ArJf5td45EXRuh1haJk2rSkazJV4

Didn’t know ketchup was so versatile.

It is interesting to know that so many everyday products that we use, can be used totally different than what the product was meant to do.

For example toothpaste can polish your silverware to a brilliant shine. No need to buy expensive silver polish...

-Have a grease stain on your clothes? Rub a little dish washing soap on the stain before throwing it into the washing machine...

-Lemon juice and the sun can fade away any tomato stain.

-Vinegar is not only for salads. Your child doodled on the wall with a ballpoint pen and you don’t know how to remove it. Just dab some full-strength white vinegar on the "masterpiece" using a cloth or a sponge. Repeat until the marks are gone.

-Candle wax dripped on your wood table.. Vinegar and your blow dryer will do the trick. Soften the wax using a blow-dryer on its hottest setting and blot up as much as you can with paper towels. Then remove what's left by rubbing with a cloth soaked in a solution made of equal parts white vinegar and water. Wipe clean with a soft, absorbent cloth.

-Have gum rubbed into your carpets, use yummy peanut butter to clean the carpet. Scrape up what you can, using an ice cube to stiffen the gum, then rub a small glob of peanut butter into the fibers, and wipe up the whole mess with a cloth. To get rid of any left-behind peanut butter, just dab it up with a mixture of 1 tsp of dishwashing liquid in 1 cup of lukewarm water.

-Dandruff can be an embarrassing. Try massaging 2 tablespoons of lemon juice into your scalp and rinsing with warm water. Follow with a leave-in rinse of 1 teaspoon lemon juice in 1 cup of warm water. Use this daily until your scalp is free of dandruff.

One of the hardest stains to remove is grass stains. Here’s where the vinegar comes in handy. For fabrics (ie jeans) soak in white vinegar. On some fabrics it will work instantly and others it will need to be soaked for up to 2 hours. For non-colorfast fabrics, dilute the vinegar 50/50 with warm water. Note: DON'T use detergent to presoak grass stains- detergent will actually set them in!

Many of these helpful tips I have tried and use on a regular bases. Others I was told about by friends or read on line.

If you have any good ‘tips’ post them in the comment section and I will add them to a blog.

Hope you enjoyed my blog. Feel free to pass it around.

Miriam

בס''ד

Spring has Arrived in Israel















Welcome back!

I hope everyone had an enjoyable and meaningful Pesach.

A couple of week before Pesach, Spring arrives in Israel. Actually, Israel has only two seasons, winter and summer, but Pesach is known as a spring [Aviv in Hebrew] holiday. Children sing a song about Pesach being a spring holiday. Trees are in bloom and their blossoms are beautiful and some smell so sweet. My grandchildren, Chen and Nadav, bring their gan [kindergarten class] to their garden to see their almond trees in bloom.

Soon we will see many of the native wild flowers of Israel, with their beautiful sharp colors growing all over Israel.

My favorite Israeli flower is the Calanit. This flower grows wild and has the most beautiful deep red petals. The first time I saw a Calanit was on my daughter’s kibbutz in Gush Etzion. It was love at first sight. When my son-in-law told me that this wild flower is only a weed, I couldn't believe it. How could a weed be so beautiful?

http://www.sbc.co.il/mba/photo/victor1_calanit_big.jpg

To see some of the beautiful flowers that grow in Israel, check out this link.

http://www.flowersinisrael.com/plant_list_alpha-a.htm

Flowers are a very special gift to the world. They brighten up our day and bring a smile to our lips. Sending flowers to a loved one, sends a message of love. A bouquet of flowers on the Shabbos table adds to the dignity and grace of the table. And of course on a beautiful day, planting your favorite flowers in the garden or a balcony flower box is a great way to relax and spend the day. Whether you plant with seeds or seedlings, caring for your flowers and watching nature in action is a precious sight.

I wrote this poem A Precious Flower a couple of years ago.

A PRECIOUS FLOWER

Look at these flowers
so beautiful and dainty.
With just enough colour
and a faint smell of scent.

Oh Master of the Universe
You created a masterpiece.
So wonderful, so special
for young and old to enjoy.

We thank-you for Your gift
that brightens up our day.
These little flowers
so precious in every way.

Please feel free to pass my blog around.

Miriam

בס''ד

Delicious Salads to Adorn Your YomTov Table.

After you have served all the traditional Seder foods from the Hagada, it is now time to serve the Seder meal.

In Israel, it is customary to serve several different types of salads at Yom Tov meal with the entrée or first course. The salads go great with matza and chraine.

Colorful salads will dress up your Yom Tov table. Israelis love to make salads using cucumbers, tomatoes, different color sweet peppers and some chopped purple onion. When preparing an Israeli vegetable salad use fresh vegetables and cut the vegetables in very tiny pieces. Your salad can be dressed with an oil, vinegar and lemon mixture. Eggplants and colorful peppers both hot and sweet are very popular vegetables used when preparing salads.

Preparing cooked salads can be time consuming, but when you are preparing food for YomTov, it becomes a pleasure.

These salads are also wonderful to serve on Shabbos.

My daughter, who is a great cook and married to a Tunisian, has shared some of her Israeli salad recipes with me over the years since my family and I made Aliyah almost 15 years ago. Usually I make my salads a few days before I want to serve them so that they can marinate.

Here are a several salad recipes.

Eggplant and Tomato salad.
1 large or 2 small eggplants
1 small and ripe tomato
1 large onion
1 small red pepper
2 garlic teeth pressed
oil – for frying
¼ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons tomato paste
¼ cup hot water
salt to taste

1] Cut all the vegetables into small pieces and fry until golden brown. Drain the oil well.
2] Place fried vegetables in a large bowl and add
sugar, garlic, tomato paste, salt and mix well.
Add vinegar, hot water and mix well.
3] Store in container and chill before serving.

Imitation Israeli Chop Liver salad.
1 large eggplant cut in small chunks
2 very large onions
3 raw eggs
oil – for frying
salt and pepper to taste
2 pressed garlic teeth [optional]


1] Fry eggplant and onions until they are golden brown.
Remove from fry pan and drain well.
DO NOT pour out the oil left in the fry pan.
2] Put the eggplant back into the fry pan and add beaten
eggs. On a low heat, stir constantly so that the mixture
does not stick to the bottom of pan.
3] When the mixture is dry [no more raw egg] place in a
container, add salt, pepper.
4] When cooled, put thru grinder to look like chopped liver.

Sweet Pepper Salad
6/7 roasted red/ yellow/orange peppers [mixture]
2 pressed garlic teeth
¼ cup oil
¼ cup vinegar
2 tablespoons hot water
1 tablespoon lemon
salt to taste

1]Roast peppers on a bar b’que or gas stove fire until well done. 2]Place in plastic bag for 1 hour [to make peeling easier]. When cooled, peel, slice and put peppers into a container.
3]Add all the other ingredients. Mix very well. Chill before serving.

Mushroom Salad

½ cup oil
½ cup vinegar
¼ cup water
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. garlic powder or 3 teeth of garlic
¼ tsp. white pepper
¼ cup sugar
Combine all of the ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil.

Add
2 small cans of mushrooms or 1 large can
1 cup diced red peppers
1 cup diced yellow peppers
1 cup diced green peppers
1/2 cup onions sliced in circles.
Simmer for 5 minutes

Remove from heat and add 2 tsp. basil [optional]
Chill overnight for the best taste.

And now for those who are not faint of heart. This next salad is very HOT. If you are not used to eating hot salads, taste with caution.

Nishweya salad [Hot pepper & tomato salad]
NOTE: cooked hot peppers can burn your skin. Hold by the stem and use a knife and fork.

10 straight hot peppers [mixture of red and green]
2/3 ripe tomatoes
2 tablespoon olive oil
6 sliced garlic teeth
juice from whole lemon
salt to taste.

1]On each hot pepper make a small x with a knife to keep the peppers from exploding and then roast on all sides on a bar b’que or stove fire.
2]Repeat with tomatoes.
3]Place all the cooked vegetables in a plastic bag for 1 hour. [makes peeling easier]
4]When cooled, carefully peel and dice the peppers and grate the tomato.
Add all the other ingredients and mix well. Chill overnight for best taste.

There are many delicious salad recipes and if you would like any additional recipes, please contact me thru the comment section at the end of this article.

Enjoy the salads. Feel free to pass the recipes around.

Have a good Pesach!

Miriam

בס''ד

Erez Yisroel is Calling You!

Israel is in the news everyday. We are just a small country surrounded by enemies who want to see our destruction. I fear for my country. Our precious homeland has known many wars in our short 60 years of the modern state. Politics is the most popular discussion, every citizen and non citizen has an opinion....and of course all kids play soccer and/or basketball.

Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people and we must always be the majority.

Israel has too double its population. We have room for every Jew. Aliyah is the only answer.

On May 31st, 1994, my family made Aliyah. During the past fifteen years our lives have been enriched in many ways.

We notice things that we never noticed before, even though they were in front of our face. We don’t have any more money than we had in the ‘old country’, but we always have B"H what we need. We have an appreciation for rain. We appreciate the quiet. We just went through a war. I love to look at the perfect blue sky sometimes with soft white clouds.

When you walk the streets of the old city in Jerusalem or Beer Sheva....you know this is where Avraham Avinu walked. I live in Netivot and the original old city where Avraham Avinu lived is just 5 kms. away. Today, it is a nature park with a small stream where families go to picnic, hike and just relax. My grandchildren love to go to the ‘forest’. Sometimes if you are lucky and dig down a little in the earth you will find artifacts from biblical times.

There are many only in Israel stories.... interesting things that happen only in Israel.

-like the time when my brother was living at the Merkaz Klita in Kiryat Arba. He was sitting in the front seat of the bus when the bus was rocked by arabs throwing boulders. My brother had is arms crossed across his chest when a boulder flew through the front window and broke both his arms. After receiving medical attention, my sister-in-law asked if there was any compensation he could claim as he couldn’t work....the clerk said nonchalantly, “are you crazy, just be happy it wasn’t his head.”

-or the time when Avraham & I were sitting on a very full bus. A lady we didn’t know got on from the back door with an infant. She plopped the baby in my arms, yes literally plopped her baby and said she was going to the front to pay. Just imagine if this would happen in North America?

-or the time when we were living in Modi’in and across the street from a very large supermarket in the middle of the city was an empty field. We watched in amazement as the Bedouins' brought their goats, sheep and cows to graze in the field. The animals would sometimes break away and run along the busy thrufare. One time there was a posting on the Modi'in e-mail list. The subject line simply was... this is not a joke posting. The city is looking for people to help round-up the cows because they ran away and were seen on different city streets.

-where Christmas lights and tinsel are used to decorate the Sukka.

But the best only in Israel story is.....traffic lights everywhere in the world are red, yellow and green. Red means to stop, yellow slow down and green to go. Only in Israel does yellow mean to speed up before the light turns red. I guess that is why Israelis are horrible drivers.

Making Aliyah is a difficult decision. It affects every member of your family. Living in Israel is both a honour and priviledge.

I wrote a short poem called Erez Yisroel is Calling You!

Jews of the world......
Erez Yisroel, the land of our people
is yearning for you.
This Holy land, a gift from Hashem
needs it’s children to come home.

You say, “how can I leave my city,
my job, my home, my security.
My family and friends will miss me so much
to go to a land with such uncertainties.”

“Where will I live?
Where will I work?
And to learn a new language
oy vay, oy vay
this pressure, I do not need.”

Our Holy land needs more Jews
to settle and populate.
The world thinks Israel is a puppet on a string
and our bitter enemy deserves our land.
Jews of the world, your country is calling YOU!

The One Above gave us this land
not to give away.
G-D forbid,
if we don’t populate
in years to come
we will be a minority in own homeland.

It’s up to you
Jews of the world
to fulfill the prophecy
Erez Yisroel, the homeland of the Jewish people
is here for now and all eternally.

Feel free to comment and pass around.

Miriam

בס''ד

Cookies, Cakes, Pies & More.

There nothing as pleasurable as a house where the smell of freshly baked cakes, cookies and pies is emerging from the kitchen. The aroma gives the house a very warm and inviting feeling.

Over the years I have accumulated many wonderful recipes, and with Purim just around the corner, I would like to share some of my families favorite baked goods.

All of my recipes are very easy, inexpensive to make and will bring loads of compliments.

Hamentashen Cookie Dough

3 eggs + 1 single egg to use at the end.
1 cup oil
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
½ cup water
½ cup orange juice
1/8 tsp salt
4 cups flour plus 2 more cups on the side for rolling etc.

Combine ingredients in order, using enough flour to make a soft but not sticky dough. Let sit 20 minutes before handling. Divide into 4 parts. Roll ¼ thicknesses on a floured board. Cut in 4 inch circles. [use a coffee mug]. Place a spoonful of filling in the center of each circle. Form triangles by folding sides into the middle. Brush with beaten egg. Bake at 350F or 180c on a lightly greased baking sheet or use baking paper for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Makes about 5 dozen.
Preparation time: appox. 45/60 minutes.

Fillings for hamtentashen.

1. Prune filling.

1 lb. or 460 grams prunes, stewed, pitted & chopped
1 cup raisins chopped
¼ cup chopped nuts [optional]
½ lemon juice & rind
½ cup sugar
1tbsp. honey

Combine all ingredients and mix well.

2. Poppy seed filling

½ lbs. or 230 grams poppy seed
4 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp sugar
juice of ½ lemon

Soak the poppy seeds in boiling water overnight. Drain well, dry and grind in food chopper using finest blades. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Apple muffins

½ cup water or apple juice
1 egg
¼ cup oil
1 cup chopped apple
1 ½ cup flour
1 package baking powder [3 tsp.]
½ cup brown sugar
coconut [optional]

Combine egg, water & oil. Beat well.
Add dry ingredients and beat.
Mix in the chopped apple and mix well.
Grease muffin pan and fill ½ full.
Sprinkle muffin tops with coconut
Bake 180c for 30/35 minutes or until done.
Preparation time: 10 minutes

Raisin and Pomegranate Juice muffins.

2 eggs
½ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 package of baking powder
1 tbs. vanilla
1 tbs. lemon juice
½ cup pomegranate juice
2 cups flour
¾ cup raisins [soak for 1 hour so they won’t burn]
1 cup chopped apples [optional]

Beat eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla and lemon juice.
Add dry ingredients and pomegranate juice and continue beating.
Add apples and raisins and mix.
Grease muffin tins and fill ½ full [makes 18 muffins]

Topping

2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons oil
5 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
Mix well and sprinkles on muffin tops.
Bake 180c 30/35 minutes.
Preparation time: 15 minutes.

My husband and I have been blessed with 12 grandchildren. When the grandchildren come to our house the first thing they want to know is “where is Rocky” [our dog]? Next question is “are there any cookies”, even though they know that the cookie jar is always full. Safta’s cookies are their all time favorite. Even the big kids, their parents enjoy my cookies with coffee.

Safta’s Special Cookies

1 cup sugar [or ½ cup white & ½ cup brown sugar]
7/8 cup oil
2 eggs
1 package baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon orange or lemon juice
2 ½ cups flour

Beat sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla & juice. Add baking powder and continue beating.
Add flour and mix together until well blended.
Line baking pans with baking paper. Using 2 teaspoons, drop cookie mixture.

Topping

Sprinkle a mixture of cinnamon and sugar [optional coconut, colored candy sprinkles, sesame seed or drop of jam in the center of cookie.]
Bake at 190c for 10/12 minutes or until brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan. Makes 5 dozen medium size cookies.
Preparation time: 15 minutes.

We always like to end the Shabbos meal with dessert. Two of the favorites in our house are fruit cocktail upside down cake and lemon meringue pie.

Fruit cocktail upside down cake [optional- you can use pineapple chunks]

Topping

¼ cup oil
½ cup brown sugar
1 can of fruit drained, save juice
Mix oil and brown sugar and stir into a large round baking pan.
Place fruit in pan and arrange so that the bottom of the pan is covered.

Cake

1/4 cup oil
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup of saved juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 package of baking powder
Combine oil, sugar, eggs and beat well.
Add dry ingredients alternately with juice.
Pour batter evenly over fruit mixture. Bake 180c for 40/45 minutes.
Cake should be dry when tested with toothpick.
Remove from oven and allow to stand 5 minutes before flipping cake onto a cake plate. [tip: to remove cake easily, place cake plate over the pan, flip gently and cake will left out perfectly]
Preparation time: 15 minutes

Lemon meringue pie

Crust:

1 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt [optional]
½ cup oil
3 tablespoons cold water
Combine all the ingredients in a large round slightly greased pie plate.
Gently knead with your hands until you have a ball.
Cover the bottom of the pan with the mixture.
Bake 15/20 minutes 180c or until dough is dry. Remove and let cool 5 minutes.

Filling:

1 ¼ cups water
¼ cup lemon juice
1 cup sugar
Bring to a boil.
Separate bowl:
3 egg yokes separated [save whites for meringue
¼ cup cold water
¼ cup corn flour [optional corn starch and potato starch]
Beat together and on a very low fire, add mixture to boiling liquid.
Continue stirring until lemon fill become desire thickness. Filling will burn if you stop stirring.
Pour lemon filling into pie crust. Top with meringue.

Meringue:

3 egg whites
1/3 cup of sugar
Beat egg whites until thick adding sugar slowly.
Brown meringue in hot oven 200c for 5 /10 minutes.

Option:

Prepare the same recipe in a large square pan and cut as squares.
Preparation time: 20 minutes.

Baking is fun whether you are a new baker or an experienced baker. It is fun to experiment and see what else you can do with the recipe. Happy baking and enjoy the recipes.

Chag Purim Sameach!

Feel free to comment and pass my blog around.

Miriam

בס''ד

Our Precious Miracle

The theme of my blog Miriam’s Words is family. In this blog, I would like to tell a story about how a medical miracle brought happiness to our family.

The medical section of newspapers and magazines are full of articles pertaining to medical advances that have been discovered by this lab or that lab. We read about the drugs that have the potential to prevent cancer and alzheimers or the controversy concerning stem cell research.

Articles on how to prevent heart attacks, lower cholesterol and tips on good health are found in most magazines. The question is, would all of these wonderful medical discoveries have been discovered without The Hand of The One Above guiding the researcher and research? And the answer is a resounding no! Each medical advancement is a miracle that glorifies Hashem.

The medical miracle that I want to write about is In Vitro Fertilization also known as I.V. F. This medical miracle was discovered many years ago and has been improved over the years.

When the first talk about In Vitro Fertilization was taking place, I remember the controversy pro and con over this procedure. I.V.F. is a procedure in which the eggs from a woman’s ovary are removed and fertilized with sperm in a petri dish or test tube [hence test tube baby] and after several days the fertilized eggs are returned to the woman’s uterus.

Many people and I was included in this group, argued that man was taking nature into his own hand and playing G-D. Imagine a child being conceived in a small glass test tube. When the first little girl was born in 1978 and she was very healthy, it was something to behold. Little did I understand then, that it is Hashem that decides who, when and where a child is conceived.

Many write about the pain, personal suffering and disappointment, but hardly ever do you read the success stories, the stories that give hope to a childless couple going thru treatments. I decided to write about I.V.F. to tell a positive story.

You see, many years after IVF was discovered, my husband and I were blessed with a grandson, born from a frozen egg. My daughter jokes and calls him her 'Sanfrost' [an Israeli band of frozen vegetables] baby, because her egg was implanted after being defrosted.

After many years of marriage, my daughter and son-in-law made the decision to try I.V.F. in order to have a family. After some failed procedures, I won’t forget the day she called and said the pregnancy test was positive. She was laughing and crying for joy so hard it was difficult to understand what she was saying. On the 27th day of Tishri, 5758 [October 23rd 1997], our miracle grandson was born.

Today, our grandson Gilad is eleven years old. He is a gifted child, a Ben Torah, who would have never been born, if this medical technology had not been discovered. Our family would never have had the pleasure of shepping nachas listening to him discuss a parsha or his writing and delivering of a D'var Torah. Gilad, the oldest child in his family is the brother of five siblings, 4 sisters and one brother.

Gilad will be graduating from his elementary school in June and has been accepted to the southern branch of ”Yeshivat Yashlatz”, in Kfar Maimon, which is the high school of the prestigious “Yeshiva Mercaz Ha Rav”.

My understanding in this medical miracle has grown since our daughter first talked to us about their decision to try to have a family thru IVF. I have seen first hand the fears and disappointment, when a procedure doesn't work and I have seen the exhilarating happiness when the results of a procedure are positive.

Though this miracle, childless couples now have a chance to fulfill their dreams and know the joy of becoming parents. And we in the older generation are also blessed with a grandchild.

So next time we hear about a medical discovery, let's not be so quick to argue its downfall. We need to remember that each medical discovery is The Hand of The One Above at work. Your family's happiness may depend on it.

Our Gilad




















Thank-you Devorah for permission to tell your story.

Please feel free to comment and pass my blog around.

Miriam

Special Note:

I have been asked by the AACI Southern Branch to post this notice.

The AACI Southern Branch provisional committee has adopted its first fund-raising project.

We will be selling Purim cards in lieu of mishloach manot (shalach manos).
Our own talented artist, Ruth Gresser, http://ruthgresser-ruthart.com/home/ has kindly donated the card design. The cards, with envelopes, will sell for 10 for NIS 100 or 20 for NIS 180, plus postage, and we will provide a tax-deductible receipt. All proceeds will be earmarked for planned future programming and other activities to help facilitate the absorption of new olim to our region, as well as continued service to long-time Anglo residents of the South.

We ask you all to participate in this important project. You will have the satisfaction of helping to revitalize the Southern Branch of AACI, and to encourage new olim to make their home in the South.

For more information, to coordinate orders in your community, or for your personal needs, contact:

Barbara Goldman at barbarag@netvision.net.il, 08-6432843 or 050-8155681; or Tamar Iancu at mumwawa@bezeqint.net or 08-641-7560.

בס''ד

Shavua Tov!

Dedicated to the Cousins.


The computer is a wonderful invention. We can use it to better our lives, for information, entertainment or it can also be used for garbage. We all have free choice on how and why we use the computer.

This new entry on my blog is dedicated to my husband and his cousins. Using the computer, my husband and I have been able to find and reconnect with his entire family from his father’s side, who we hadn't seen in years.

My husband Avraham’s extended family, aunts, uncles and cousins were an average size family. The family was originally from Montreal. Over the years, for one reason or another, everyone went their own way and most lost touch with each other.

Unfortunately, all the aunts and uncles and my husband’s parents a”h have passed away.

Their children, our cousins are spread out all over... Florida, Toronto, Montreal, Iowa and us in Israel.

One day, several months ago, my husband and I were talking about the family and how it was too bad and sad that we lost touch. I suggested to Avraham that we try a search on Facebook.

We started with his oldest cousin Stan, typed in his name and two fellows with the same name, popped up. One had a picture the other didn’t.

After looking and looking at the picture, it had been forty years since we last saw him, I sent a note asking if his parents were so and so.

A few hours later, we received a note back. Yes! Those were my parents. Back and forth, he and Avraham wrote and sent pictures of children and grandchildren.

So much news to catch up on. As it turned out, our cousin and his wife were planning a trip to Israel in November. We arranged to meet and they came to visit us in Netivot. We took them to meet one of our daughters and some of our grandchildren. I can’t even start to describe what this reunion was like.

From Stan we got the e-mail address for his brother, Barry. He also gave us the address to another cousin, Bev but wasn’t sure it was still active.

Avraham sent a note and sure enough it was her. After writing about her family she sent us the e-mail addresses of her sister Ava and twin brother David.

Attached to her first note were several pictures of the cousins as children. Memories were flowing and more pictures were arriving.

After contacting the rest of the cousins, the correspondence and more pictures were going back and forth.

One day last week, my husband opened Google talk, saw that his cousin in Iowa was on, so Avraham sent a hello note. The two cousins must have ‘talked’ a half and hour maybe more when his wife joined in to say hello, nice to meet you. After speaking for a few minutes we discover that she had family in Israel. Our cousins asked what our phone number was and a minute later the two cousins were really speaking.

Avraham was so happy.

We sent all the cousins pictures of themselves from our wedding. Stan was an usher at the wedding. The others were children. We had a great picture of all the aunts and uncles sitting together. I always say, pictures are not for today, but for tomorrow.

So to Stan and Helen, Barry and Lori, Bev and George, David and Rachel and Ava, we are so happy to have you back in our lives.

Family is so important, even if the relationship is long distance.

Perhaps some time soon we can arrange a family reunion in Israel.

Miriam

בס''ד

Our Daily Bread............

Several years ago, we lived in Modi’in [between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv]. My laundry room window faced the parking lot, and after living there for a couple of days, I noticed that a flock of small birds would congregate each morning and look for food. ‘What can they find in a driveway I asked my husband?” He made some comment saying birds are dumb.

I took a slice of old bread, broke it into several small pieces and threw it out to the birds. Their initial reaction was to fly away, but a minute or two later they returned and pecked at the bread.

So started my daily routine of feeding the birds.

Early each and every morning, I would open my window wide, call “birdies” throw out my pieces of bread and before I knew it, my ‘bird friends’ were pecking away.

This ritual became sort of family experience. Everyone enjoyed watching the birds eat, even though they laughed at me for calling the birds. Even our dog got into the act. He would jump up on a chair, put his two front paws on the window still, look around and hope a piece of bread would fall his way. Somehow small pieces always ‘fell’ down to his chair.

After awhile, the bird population in my parking lot grew. It was if the small birds told their friends and neighbors how to get free and easy food. It was amazing to see nature at work.

Very early one morning, before I fed the birds, we heard the triss [shutters] in our laundry room rattle. At first we just ignored it, thinking it was the wind, but a few seconds later, the rattle was louder. I opened the triss a little, and to my shock, several birds were sitting on the window still. They knew where the bread came from and were looking for food.

I remember thinking, is this what it was like, when the Jews were walking through the desert and their only food was the manna that fell from the sky each night. Waiting and looking for your daily ration is a humbling experience.

Like the birds, we are dependent on Hashem for our needs. Today manna doesn’t fall from the sky. We need to work to provide for ourselves and our families. But it is Hashem who decrees our livelihood. He is our Father in Shamyim [heaven] watching over us and we are His children. He knows our joy, he knows our pain. He is always with us.

I don’t know where the minhag [custom] of not throwing any left over bread from the table into the garbage came from, but I do know, if we collect the old bread and put it outside to feed the birds and where I live the chickens, we will always have food on our table. Around our apartment even the cats enjoy the left over bread.

We now live in Netivot. The birds congregate behind our apartment. Now it is not me who feeds the birds, but my husband, who every morning as soon as he sees the birds, goes and scatters the pieces of left over bread and comes back to the apartment to watch them eat. When a cat comes around, the birds fly away, and as soon as the cat is gone, back come the birds. More than once, he has chased a cat away who was lingering around trying to catch a bird to eat.

One day, a neighbor of ours, who happens to be a Rav, saw my husband scattering the bread. He asked him what he was doing and when my husband said that he was feeding the birds, the Rav told him that feeding the birds was a very important mitzvah.

He reminded my husband that the Shabbos, on which the Torah parsha of Beshalach is read, is known as Shabbos Shira. One of the customs associated with this Shabbos is to place crumbs outside for the birds to eat.

The chirping of birds is not 'noise'. It is the way that birds praise Hashem for providing them with their needs. Because, on this Shabbos, we too sing praises of Hashem, we recognize the constant song of praise chirped by the birds by feeding them, as a form of reward.

After four years, on the last day that we lived in Modi’in, I finished throwing out my pieces of bread I asked my husband, “who will feed the birds tomorrow?” He told me not to worry, they’ll be fed.

I hope you enjoyed my blog. Feel free to pass it along.

Note: This coming Shabbos is Shabbos Shira

Shabbat Shalom

Miriam

בס''ד

Where, Oh Where is the Rain?




The weatherman is reporting another rainy day. Better to take with an umbrella if you plan to go out. This forecast could be given almost anywhere in North America or Europe

In Israel the story is different. Everyday I listen to the weather forecast and all I hear is above normal temperatures, no rain expected for several more days.

The Kinneret is Israel's largest freshwater reservoir and the nation’s primary source of drinking water. The standard of measure currently stands more than 3.3 meters lower than its favorable level. Soon we will not be able to pump anymore water from the Kinneret.

I read that in the Kinneret, every drop of water ten centimeters in height represents 17 million cubic meters of water, or roughly 3.5 times Israel's national consumption. Only 60% of our usual rainfall has been recorded. In the Negev, where I live , it is very dry. There is not a drop of water to waste anywhere in the country.

The winter months and rainy season in Israel is from after Succot [October] until Purim [March]. For the past couple of years, Israel has not received enough rain.

Our rabbis organize prayers for rain. Many people, men, women and children daven at the Kotel. We pray and pray for rain. Although some rain has fallen, it’s not nearly enough.

I find it hard to understand. Israel is the home of the Jewish people. The land that Hashem promised to Avraham Avinu, so why is He denying us rain?
In my opinion, could it be that we don’t deserve the rain because we are not prepared to protect our country and not give any land away? We allow other nations to convince us that for the good of mankind and peace in the area, we need to give away our precious land.

One of the lessons that we learn in the second paragraph of Shema Yisroel [Deuteronomy 11-13-21], is that Hashem tells us that if we keep His commandments, He will provide rain for our land in the proper time, the early rain and the late rain so that we can gather our grain, wine and oil. But if we go astray and follow other gods [the world] then the Heaven will be restrained and there will be no rain and the fields will be dry.

Our governments, past and present, have not been strong enough to say no to the world..this arrangement is not in Israel’s best interest. We want the world to love us. We want and need that pat on the back and the Noble Peace Prize.

Hopefully, Moshiach will come soon and save us from us.

I would like to end my thoughts with this poem that I wrote a year ago, pleading with Hashem to grant us rain.

The Rain

The wind is blowing
The sky is dark.
It looks like rain.

Anxiously, we wait
for the rain is needed.
The ground is dry.
The trees hang over
desperately wanting to drink.

The sun is shining brightly
fire burns the grass and fields.
Our precious land is being destroyed.
Oh rain, where are you?

We pray for rain
We need to be granted this Bracha
Hashem, are You listening?
Oh rain, where are you?

The dark sky lights up with lightning.
The quiet is broken from thunder.
It’s raining, it’s raining, it’s raining!

Baruch Hashem, our prayers have been answered.
May we be granted a plentiful rainy season.

Feel free to comment and pass my blog around.

Miriam

בס''ד
Shavua Tov!

Thank-You IDF

A ceasefire has been called. Our troops have left Gaza and have been redeployed on the Israeli side of Gaza or / and are returning to their loved ones. I am so proud of our soldiers. They did a magnificent job.

Our reservists, when called upon to serve their country, once again did so with pride. They dropped everything in their private lives and went to war.

Two soldiers were given time to get married and to return the next day. One young soldier became a father for the first time. He too was given some hours to go and visit his wife and new son and then eight days later returned for the bris.

To the soldiers who were injured, I wish you all a refua shelayma.

You should know that the residents of the South are grateful for your service. Hopefully we will now have some quiet and life can return to normal.

Our army is a Jewish army with a heart and compassion.

I wrote a little poem to thank our pilots and soldiers.......

Thank-you dear soldiers & pilots
of the Israel Defense Forces.

Thank-you
for your service
in defending our nation.

Thank-you dear reservist
for answering the call
to serve
so that our country will not fall.

To those who so bravely
fought the war in Gaza
our prayers were with you
for success and good health.

The Hand of the One Above
watched over you
night and day
to complete your goals
and return you safely to your family.

Click and listen to this video from all places the BBC. The interviewee is speaking about the IDF in glorifying words and will not let the interviewer speak badly about the IDF.

http://www.bicom.org.uk/videos/bbc-news--military-analysis

I hope you enjoyed my blog. Please feel free to comment and pass it around.

Miriam

בס''ד

Shavua Tov!

Kassams and Grads Part 3........
Not all doom and gloom.......

Most of the articles that have been written about the Gaza war, including some of the blogs that I’ve written, have a doom and gloom feeling about them.

But truthfully, all is not doom and gloom. First of all, for the first time in many years our country is united. Except for radical left Israelis, who personally I feel are misguided, everyone agrees that Hamas must be stopped and brought down.

Israeli flags are everywhere. One might think that Yom Haatzmaut) [Israel’s birthday] is around the corner. You see citizens proudly flying Israeli flags from their cars, on balconies, from windows, and in Sderot, the residents strung long banner of flags across all their streets. Everyone wants to show support for our country and our soldiers. Our flag is proudly waving in the breeze on our mirpestit [balcony].

Companies and organizations have shown what good citizens they are. Children of the South have been given respite days and taken to the large Biblical Zoo, to concerts and plays, the Kotel in Jerusalem, Ramat Gan Safari park, out to eat, just to name a few activities. My school age grandchildren went to Hadera to see The Israel Electric Power Plant.

Clowns are everywhere and when the children didn’t go on an outing and were in shelters all day long, the entertainment came to them.

Some of most popular children’s entertainers put on shows in the shelters. Entertainers who make balloon figures brought smiles and laughter to the children. The performances may have been for only an hour or two, but this was an hour or two that children forgot about the war.

Arts and craft teachers and art therapy experts spent time with children having them create magnificent art work and at the same time, worked out their fears.

Across the south and the rest of the country, beautiful things are happening. There are so many projects to provide warm clothes for our soldiers. Private people are preparing care food packages and are sending them to the front. Restaurants and pizza shops have been donating pizza, pop, sandwiches you name it.

Tehillim groups are everywhere. One group divided the Tehillim into sections and women are saying the entire Tehillim everyday. Prayers for a refua shelayma for our injured soldiers and prayers for the well being of our soldiers on the battlefield are recited privately and in shul. Everyone is doing their part.

Strangers in the rest of the country are opening their homes to the residents of the south. They have offered open invitations to come and stay with them for a few days or Shabbat.

Companies are giving large discounts on their services. Bank of Israel is helping people who can’t get out to do their banking, major allowances on their overdrafts.

Slowly life is coming back. Children are learning in fortified classrooms and bomb shelters. Residents are starting to go back to work. Shops that were closed for a week or two are now opened.

My husband was in downtown Netivot yesterday, and he told me that the center of the city was busy.

Even though people are doing what they have to do, everyone has in the back of their mind that a siren could go off at anytime and they only have fifteen seconds to seek shelter.

And guess what happened a half and hour after my husband came home.... you got it, we had an air raid siren.

G-D willing, our actions in Gaza will be successful and the raining of rockets will stop forever. Am Yisroel Chai!

בס''ד

Life In a War Zone...Personal Perspective...

Our oldest grandson was born in Jerusalem during Chanukah in 1990. Thirty days later was his Pidyon HaBen. It was also the start of the first Gulf war.

As a new Safta, I came from Canada to meet my grandson. Several days before the Gulf war, my daughter presented me with a gas mask. She told me that the government was expecting Saddam to start sending scuds any day and there were regulations to know and follow. So started my experiences with living in a war zone.

I remember the first time the siren went off. It was in the middle of the night. I was sharing a room with another daughter. I jumped out of bed so fast, grabbed my gas mask that was sitting on a table next to the bed and my Siddur. We had about 45 seconds to get into our safe room, my daughter’s tiny bedroom.

In this room were my daughter and son-in-law, my other daughter, and my newborn grandson in some sort of tent that was the protection for babies. I put on my mask and my son-in-law adjusted it for me. I felt like I was being smothered. The chin strap was cutting my throat and it was hard to speak. I tried to daven but couldn’t, because the part for the eyes was too wide and didn’t allow me to read.

The safe room was nothing like it is today. In those days all you did was cover the windows with heavy plastic and masking tape. On the floor you put a wet towel by the door. We spent hours in this room until we got the all clear siren.

In the meantime, my husband and son were in Canada, worrying day and night. It took several hours to call Israel or for me to call Canada and when we finally got thru, we were usually cut off a minute or two later.

This scenario repeated itself daily. When it was time for me to go back to Canada and leave my family in Israel, I was very scared for them. My son-in-law was expecting to be called up to the army and that would have left my daughter alone with a new baby. When my son-in-law drove me to the airport we had to travel with our gas masks. He gave me instructions not to sit near any windows in the airport.

Now it is many years later and we live in Netivot. Over the past couple of years Netivot has been on the receiving end of grad missiles. In the beginning, Hamas could only reach the outer outskirts of the city, so they didn’t send too many rockets, just enough to let us know that they were around. This was more of a nuisance than anything else. But today, the situation has totally changed.

Now that Hamas has perfected their missiles and can shoot them further, we are receiving more attacks. Netivot has had some serious injuries and damage. Netivot has also had one death.

It is very hard to explain the stress one feels living under the threat of the air raid siren going off, rushing to the safe room and waiting for the boom.

It is not scary to hear the siren, it’s the anticipation of if and when the siren will go off, that causes of the anxiety. Like waiting for the other shoe to drop.

My husband has been driving for fifty years. We come from Montreal and he has driven in the worst winter weather. Our son was in Gush Etzion visiting his sister and her family all week and the plan was for us to go for Shabbat and we would all come home together.

I can’t tell you how stressed out he was about driving. The main route to the Gush is through all the cities and towns where the kassams and grad missiles were landing. At one point, he considered sending a taxi to pick up our son. He changed his mind so many times about driving.

The fact that he was stressed out about driving made him more stressful. My husband has a heart condition and seeing him so stressful only made me stressful. It was really a catch 22

The kassams and grads have also cost me parnassa. I teach English at home and my students are not coming. What parent would want to risk taking their children out for a lesson when a siren could ring at any time?

Doing daily everyday activities are also a challenge. When my husband walks the dog a couple of times a day in an open area, he worries what he will do if the siren goes off when he is walking. He won’t let me walk the dog because he says he can run home faster.

Going shopping for groceries or just window shopping and having to wait for the bus is another stressful activity. We can’t even just go for a relaxing walk. On Shabbat, there are usually so many kids playing outside and families going for a Shabbat stroll. Today the streets are empty. Sometimes you feel like a prisoner in your own house.

A friend of mine, who also lives in Netivot, wrote on her blog Operation Cast Lead and Me, that she had a dilemma. How was she going to take a shower? She has two young children, five and eight, and what would happen if the siren went off when she was in the shower? She decided that the only answer was that she could only shower if her husband was home. An everyday occurrence becomes another stressful situation.

Her link is http://meandcastlead.blogspot.com/

I mention this dilemma because we had a discussion on this very topic in our home. My son asked me what he should do if the siren goes off while he is in the shower. I told him to close the water and stay in the shower area.

Last week, just as my husband was coming out of the shower, you guessed it, the siren went off. He rapped himself like a mummy in a large bath towel and ran into the safe room. An everyday occurrence becomes another stressful situation.

On Moetzi Shabbat, when we came home after being away for Shabbat, we decided to stop and pick up a pizza before going home. We called ahead but, when we arrived at the pizza shop it was not ready. My husband had to wait fifteen minutes while my son and I waited in the car. My son asked me what happens if the siren goes off. We both felt like sitting ducks. [We were parked to far to run into the pizza shop.]

Depending on how many rockets have been sent during the night, determines if there is going to be mail delivery in the morning.

Last week we were waiting for three very important envelopes. We hadn’t had any delivery for a day or two. Finally, my husband spoke to our mail lady and she told him that she had the three envelopes in the sorting office, but didn’t know if there would be any delivery that day. My husband arranged to go and pick up our mail at the post office. Just another stressful situation.

When you don’t sleep all night because your sleep has been disturbed by either the siren going off or the booming from the army, you feel “bugged out” all day. After this happens for many nights, it is difficult to function during the day. Lately, I have missed so many full nights of sleep.

As I have written before, when the siren goes off we have 15 seconds to get shelter. Not only do I worry about our safety, I also worry about the safety of our daughter and son-in-law and their 6 children. Let me tell you what you can’t do in fifteen seconds.

My daughter and her family live in Ma’agalim a Yishuv five minutes from us. Yesterday, she proved what she couldn't do 15 seconds. They live in a split level house. My daughter was in the basement doing laundry. Her 2 year old daughter was sleeping on the top floor of the house. The siren went off...my daughter ran from the basement upstairs to get her daughter [ about 20 stairs], grabbed her out of the crib and started back downstairs to the basement where their safe room is. She didn't make it. By the time she reached the first level, the siren stopped and she heard the boom. If G-D forbid the kassam had landed in Ma'agalim and hit her house, it is shattering to think what could have happened. By the way, a kassam landed last Shabbat in the back yard of her neighbors house 3 doors from her house.

We all have our own levels of stress and fear. We learn that Hashem never gives us more stressful situations than one can handle. I pray that Hashem helps me and my family handle this stressful situation.

May Hashem guide our government to make wise discussions, protect our brave soldiers and brings them home safely and protects Am Yisroel!

בס''ד

A Respite Shabbat in Gush Etzion

We spent this past Shabbat at our daughter and son-law’s home on their kibbutz on Rosh Tzurim in Gush Etzion. After a week of air raid sirens and booming from the grad missiles and kassams that the terrorists were attacking us with in Netivot, we decided to go away, even if it was only for a Shabbat.

Our son had been at the kibbutz for the entire week. We were going to join him and spend Shabbos with our family. We rented a car and left early Friday morning.

My husband said Tefillah HaDerech [traveler’s prayer]with much kevana and we put our lives in Hashem’s Hands.

Because the rockets were landing all along the regular route that we take to the Kibbutz, we had to take a round about direction. Otherwise we would have had to drive thru Sderot, Ashkelon, Kiryat Gat and Kiryat Malachi.

We had another possible problem area on the trip. Just out side of Gush Etzion is the arab village of Tzurif. These arabs are very pro Hamas and they don't need a reason to riot and throw rocks and boulders at Jewish cars passing by.

When we arrived at the check point, my husband asked the soldiers if it was safe to pass Tzurif. They gave us the okay, but said to not to travel past Tzurif at night. That’s when all the trouble was. Passing Tzurif, we could see all the rocks and boulders on the sides of the road. Fifteen minutes later we arrived safely at the kibbutz.

Coming home Moetzi Shabbat was another story. My son said Tefillah HaDerech and we started the trip home. This time we had to go to from Gush Etzion to Jerusalem in order not to pass Tzurif. This was way out of our way. We had the radio on and heard that during the day, Netivot had three sirens and that there were injuries and a house took a direct hit. We also heard the announcement that our IDF ground troupes had entered Gaza.

I couldn’t wait to get home. Our 1 ¼ hour trip took almost 2 ½ hours but B"H we didn't have any problem on the road and thankfully, we came home safely.

Thank-you dear Soldiers

Thank-you dear soldiers
of the Israel Defense Forces.

Thank-you
for your service
in defending our nation.

Thank-you dear reservist
for answering the call
to serve
so that our country will not fall.

Our prayers are with you
for success and good health.

May the Hand of the One Above
watch over you night and day
and bring you home safely
into the arms of your loved ones.

Please say Tehillim [Psalms] 121 and 142 for our soldiers, 130 for our country.

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