a balloontwister’s aliya saga

Yesterday was a great day. David’s Citadel. Migdal David. I took Yoni and Moshe as Michal had gymnastics and Tamar had her Gan thingee. It is alot different then it was just a few years ago. New Excavations and new exhibits. Of course the film is exactly the same. It looks like Suleman himself directed it. (very old). What made it great is that Yoni just came from the Bar Kochba Caves and there was an exhibit that had a mention and a painting and coin from the Bar Kochba uprising, so this sparked his interest. We climbed and walked around the entire courtyard and had a great time. Its kedai to go back if you’re in town even though you may have been there. It looks totally different than it did. OR maybe I just didn;t see all of it when I was there last time. SOmeone nearby couldn’t wait for the bathroom so he… well…

I guess if suleman and saladin can GO there, why not that dude…?

After we walked to the kotel for mincha and again…. alot of changes. The wall is still facing west but the inside part of the kotel has been totally redone. A new floor and the balcony from the “bar mitzva” section is now overlooking and is connected to the main part. There are also plastic plates on the floor where you can look down and see how the wall goes down another 20 or 30 feet…maybe more. A few hours earlier I remarked to the boys how you always meet SOMEONE in Jersualem. Well, we saw a neighbor from our area and we saw the wife of a rabbi from COlumbus, Oh.

We went to see the cohens in ramat eshkol and then picked up KFC sold the chometz. In Israel, or at least in Ramat Beit Shemesh it works a bit different. THe Va’ad of Beit Shemesh sells the chometz to the goy and the money that people give goes to maos chittim. So Rav Chaim is the shaliach appointed by the va’ad, as opposed to he himself selling it.

I think any day that has davening at the kotel and eating KFC chicken is going to be a great day.

This morning we have a few guests from the old country. Abe Newman my former neighbor is here for the chag and Avi Waldman is here as well. Penina took the kids to the airport to get him so its nice any quiet here. Trying to do some work.

We also have a Mazel tov. My neighbor Issac Montal’s daughter became a kalla. Its been a rough few months with 2 deaths in his family so we are really happy for him as the family gets a much needed simcha.

Well, I think that just about covers a busy erev, erev, pesach. Have a good day!

u.d.