a balloontwister’s aliya saga

whew…
what a shabbos.
THe Akselruds and Akselrud took a Van to Jerusalem Friday afternoon to participate in the Bryk Bar Mitzvah.
What a great time we all had.
From Chevron on thursday to the restaurant in Talpiot culminating in the Shabbos at the King Solomon Hotel located right outside the Old city.
Friday night we all walked to the Kotel for davening.. Everyone except Michal who wasn;t feeling 100%. we thought she had strep throat so she stayed back. Dovid’s Girls volunteered to stay behind to keep her company, so Penina was able to come.
This sounds great… except for the fact that we brought Tamar.
Unfortunately when Suleiman built the city walls… he neglected to put in elevators or escalators.
Which means the stroller had to be brought up and down approximately 500 steps.
Tamar also did not seem to care about decorum as she cried the entire time. SO penina could have stayed back and davened at the Hotel.
In any event, it was a great davening. The weather was great and it was a huge crowd despite the thousands that were in Chevron. Apprarently with Thanksgiving weekend, many came to Israel and all of them davened at the Kotel.
At the hotel the food was tasteful and the speeches were also tasteful, expect for a Yossi Zelig joke. For details email me “offline”.
Joel made it a point to introduce every speaker with a joke.
Not an easy task when you figure in there were several at every meal.
Moshe / Mark layned like a seasoned pro. A nice pace. a clear voice. I was told, he knew how to layn from a klaf from age 8.
He’s quite talented. As he can also play piano very well. He also shows promise as a stiltwalker and balloontwister.
Unfortunately, Joel allowed him to become A Jets fan.
Oy.
I will not allow that to happen to My children.
Why have them grow up with the pain and suffering… its not needed.
The most impressive thing was the planning and the details were all done b’deyuk.
Estie Bryk really did a tremendous job in making sure everyone had a great time. From Making sure the kids all had candy shabbos afternoon to ordering an anniversary cake for us. I do not know how she knew… but it arrived Sat. night as we were leaving the Hotel.The cake barely made it home in one piece..it did finally got home with several pairs of fingerprints… not mine of course…. with the entire top layer of cream gone.
It was great spending shabbos with the US cousins… Israeli cousins.. and some cousins that we met for the first time.
Hopefully, we’ll see the Zeligs / Bryks more often as the “aliya” word was thrown about more than once.
Its refreshing to see people that really have a love for Eretz Yisroel.
Last night after we returned to RBS, we went to an open house discussing the Moshav Yishi developement.
Unlike other developements, here you buy the land and then you deal with a builder.
SO you get more say as to what you want in your house.
We were impressed in the fact that the moshav is only minutes from Beit Shemesh / Ramat Beit Shemesh. SO its part of the area, but you’re away from the hustle and bustle, so it has a moshav feel to it.
They also are selling huge plots of land that can be broken down and sold off.
If anyone is interested….
Well, I’m signing off.
Enjoy the day off.
U.D.