a balloontwister’s aliya saga

Happy new year to all those who are out of israel, Its also January here, but there is chanuka to celebrate, so no one pays much attention to the english calendar. NO fireworks, no staying up to midnight. On Sat. night we had the family party… YOni made balloons.. I was off. Moshe Kolodny represented the kolodny family. Eli and Rona and company was there as well. We had a very nice time. In Israel with the kids in school 6 days a week, you rarely see cousins that don;t live in your town so it was nice to see the Reich’s. Eli was Alex trebek and brought questions… i.e. Which tehillim is said 10 times a year? Which is said 14 times a year… etc. We got a few at least…
The kids then put on a show, sheitel heads were chopped off, people were stabbed with balloon swords.. at least the kids aren’t exposed to violent images. Sunday we took the kids to the Burma road put ended up hiking down a different path, as the burma road would have killed my car. I learned a very important lesson… Looking at a cactus is better than trying to take a piece of it home. I still have a thorn in my finger.. 1 day later. Then we went to the hakedoshim forest. Penina, Moshe, Tamar and I walked up most of the mountain. The other kids were too tired from the first hike. Moshe had the most energy so he got all the way to the top. Its incredible how much you can hike and enjoy the beauty of the land. The weather is in the 70’s.. sunny… its been incredible. LAst night I went to Ra’anana to teach kids balloon twisting and then we went to the hospital. Sponsored by the Kollel there. All in all I trained 10 kids how to make a few sculptures and we ended up making balloons for approx 20 kids in the hospital in Kfar Saba. My first time in that area. It was really alot of fun. The family went to the Malcha Mall for supper. THis morning I had another balloon gig. Yad Sarah hosted a party for foster kids and families. Its a huge building in Jerusalem and I was hired to open for eugene the magician. The party was for these families that took in the children. Some children have downs, others are in a wheelchair…. I don’t know how they do it, but there are alot of people with HUGE hearts. Kol Hakoved to the families and to the organization that is in charge of finding families to help the children.
Well, there about 5 hours left to chanuka and then it gets quieter. Moshe already went back to school today and the big kids go back tommorrow. ALot of lessons were learned I feel. Chanuka to me is not just a battle that happenned 2,000 years ago. But its a battle that goes on every day. We have to fight against outside influences that are outside of Torah Judaism. The kids saw how fighter pilots risked their lives to help Israel. We walked on the burma road, designed by people who risked their lives to save Jews that were under siege in Jerusalem. Its not just a holiday for eating jelly donuts. Well, that IS a big part of it. Its also about spreading LIGHT to those without light. (Insert almost anything in place of light)… spreading chessed… toys… balloons.. smiles… torah…. There is TOO much darkness here…. we all need to spread light… whether its bringing toys to kids in a hospital … or teaching torah…. or trying to make the chag special to kids who have no LIGHT in their lives. Signing off….
U.D.