a balloontwister’s aliya saga

Been a really busy week.

Its not that I dont have things to write, but I have been too busy. It was easier when I was at work… trying to pass the time. Every day has been filled with going places… doing things…etc.

I finally have a few minutes to sit… so…here we go.

Last week we had a great day in which we sponsored a party at the girls orphanage. Kad vchomer a company that is beased in jerusalem brought pottery cups and dishes and the girls painted them. The company takes them back to their shop and puts them in the fire… puts some glaze on it… and a really nice cup / dish is the end product. My kids love it. So we did it for the girls at the 0rphage. Little did we know we’d be upstaged by the…

SNOW.

Driving down to jerusalem…the white stufff started coming down…. wow… first no rain… then alot of rain.. then snow….

It was strange seeing it…

The girls were so giddy as some of them have never seen the stuff. MY boys ran outside and proceeded to have a snowball fight with my mother in law..

After that it was supper at a certain place in which the steak and chicken was raw… so for a third time, we ended up getting a percentage free and we got a dessert. I think the word is going to start getting around that the akselrud’s are just going to complain to get a free meal.

The word that the Akselrud’s steal silverware is already making the rounds. … so this would really hurt us.

Snow is rare to see …. we were amazed by the people taking pictures and throwing snow at each other. YEshiva boys / sem girls… it was really funny to see. … NOT so funny to drive in it. It really slowed traffic… We made a detour to pick up estie buchsbaum in Givat Shaul and a 10 minute ride.. turned into a 45 minute odyessey.

All in all it was a great day. chessed and sheleg… with some raw food.

The weather continued to stay cold. With the houses drafty and the heat being these huge behemoth units… the units are on and off all day. Its either chilly and too hot. Usually we leave the heat off until its sweater time. Then we put n the heat for 15 minutes… until its sweater time… then the cycle starts again.

Thursday I had my best run ever. When I was in Baltimore I joined a running group to get a bit of exercise… we’d run 2 times a week around 5 miles… I would run sunday a bit more.. and got up to 7.8 miles.

Thursday I miscalculated my route and ended up runnig alot more than I should have. over 2 hours later I was back home….. 13 miles….. which is 21 milometers… exactly a half marathon, which I plan on running in march in the jerusalem 1/2 marathon. I’m still a bit sore… but because today was a tzom, I took the day off from running and will give it a go tommorrow..

Shabbos was great. I had some time to listen to several divrei torah on my ipod so I was really prepared to talk about the 8, 9 and 10th of tevet… If you have an hour a week I really advise you to listen to Phil chernofsky from the OU website. He has a weekly show called torah tidbits that really hits home. I have the show downloaded on my ipod but if you dont have one, go to the ou site.

Today, I drove the boys to jerusalem and we davened mincha at the kotel. My first time Ive davened there on a fast day. I told the boys, how this fast is bec. the ciy was under siege and the 9th is bec. of the death of ezra who tried to get diaspora jews to come back to israel. SO our coming to the kotel was really important on several fronts.

Well, I have some homework or something,…. so I’ll wrap this one up…

u.d.

RAIN. and more rain.

Well, we’ve been asking for it… now we got it.

We even got some hail…. THATS how cold its been.

Its been a relatively dry winter so far…. until yesterday afternoon.

Huge rain clouds …held the rain just long enough for me to get in a good run… but…

that ended around 3pm.

Heavy rain on and off through the night….. a few leaks in the house… here and there… nothing TOO major…. and the rain continues.

and stops.

Not only is it wet… but it is COLD… I think it may be colder here than in NY. We don’t run the heat usually… but… its just very cold. SO we put it on and off…. intermittently…( I must admit I used spell check..selicha)

This morning my mother in law took the boys on the train to give them a day off. Michal got her day off sunday. SO they went to the malcha mall to see a movie.

In a few hours we are sponsoring a party in an orhpanage in JErusalem so We’ll head down there to pick them up.

A oleh, Dani Lieberman, donated teddy bears for the girls there so it should be a nice party.

I can only imagine how cold it is going to be there. Its damp and cold here… so it must be really windy… and cold there…

brrr….

Well, we asked for it… and we definately needed it. In shul the chazzan hasa been saying the tefilla right before modim asking for rain. When the chazzan this morning said it …we kind of smiled at each other… not sure if you say it WHEN its raining… and pouring…on you.

Well, I’m going to get back to work. Have a good day and… keep asking for rain… its a bit wet… but we still need it….

U.D.

Sorry about the long lay off.

Been trying to enjoy the family, chanuka and Israel…. so the blog had to take a back seat.

Chanuka is over.. .although a latke from last monday is still weighing down my stomach….more about that later.

Its been great. Its just great to:

a. Be in Israel to celebrate chanuka

b. NOT be in America so I don’t have to celebrate christmas.

(Although I DID see a few lights go up on derech chevron towards bethlehem…)

I get a few emails from my non frum co workers in baltimore..and its… WE had a ham lunch….at work… our family watched a christmas story…etc…

Glad to be away from that. Its nice not to be bombarded with that. I can honestly say that this year I’ve heard more divrei torah about chanuka than years past and have seen almost no xmas commercials…..decorations….. (the frum non jews of baltimore had their lights up for months..).

Out of sight and out of mind. We are a product of whats around us…and while things arent always perfect in Israel….. we are able to surround our kids with the chanuka menorahs and torah themes and not the “goyish” influences… enough about that… let me put the soapbox back in the …er…soapcloset? shower?

Its nice to see all the chanukiahs in the street… no better way to show how the greek decrees against public display of mitzvos.. .then to light in the street. LAst friday night I took the kids for a walk and pointed out all the chanukiahs in the street…. lit inside the “fishtank” covers…

The best part was hearing our Israeli Tamar pronounce Meno-CHa… not sure how to spell it . but its the israeli way to say menorah…. Its just too funny.

For 2 days last week we all packed up and headed down for 2 days to Mitzpe Ramon. Its a small desert town between beer sheva and Eilat. A hotel on the nice side…but a bit pricey.

As someone I met told me ” Its no more than a 75 dollar hotel in the US, because its israel, its alot more”

I couldnt agree more. In Israel if there is a pool, that puts the hotel in a different price range.

Things were going great until we heard the hot water pipes around midnight…. bing.. ping…

After complaining….we were given a free meal in the restaurant.. The night before the bill ran over 400 NIS … so not a bad “sorry we tried to screw you over with a room that has loud noises”.

Yoni had 6 hot dogs one night and schnitzel the next so he was happy. Moshe was Israeli. As we waited to be seated and pay… .we look up…. and Moshe has a plate filled with food and is on line for more.

It wasnt a very yeshivish crowd. SOme with kippa serugas. A few velvet ones. SOme without. but there were alot of chanukiahs around and donuts.

Again. It was nice to be able to go away and be in your own element. Be with your own people. Im sure most of you have been to israel for a yom tov so you know what I mean. A bit different than going to work where there is a huge tree and a small electric menorah.

Well, I’m going to head to mincha. Penina, michal and my mother in law are in Jerusalem….

I have the other kids….

LAter,

u.d.

Well, flying on shabbos and serving non kosher… all EL Al has to do now is be courteous to its passengers and it will be like a regular airline.

Rim shot!

Due to the strike in Israel. El AL flew on shabbos from Miami to Israel and served non kosher sandwiches on a flight from MOscow to Israel due to the kosher food being spoiled because of the flight delay that resulted from the strike in Israel.

That has to be the longest sentence I’ve written in weeks.

Well, naturally the hareidim are calling for boycotts and urging people to fly israir….

I personally would like El Al not to fly on shabbos…BUT…. is it better for them to lose money and raise ticket prices? Is it a cause for boycotting? I’m not sure how many people would switch airlines. Never for a moment do I think to Fly El Al bec. they dont fly on shabbos. If it wasnt cheaper and convenient I would not fly with them.

When israir flys often… I’ll switch to them. Does El Al have shiurim on the plane? I don’t think its a very jewish experience when I fly with them. Its a non issue for me. THe flight attendants are not shomer shabbos for the most part. I never saw one with a kippa. The men either.

I just can’t see the significance here. In the US you see jewish people and most are shomer shabbos.

Why?

Because the people that you see that are jewish are mostly religious.

In israel the average person walking down the street is jewish. When you go to the park in Tel Aviv and you see only a few people with kippas or dressed tznius… that means that most people are going to be here shabbos and not at a seuda. Its the way it is. SO if the airline has a flight on shabbos… doesn’t mean much to me.

KOSHER on the other hand is different. Because it CAN affect me. If non kosher is served. Does that mean that the regular food is not kosher? (same oven). Can I trust the drinks are kept seperate from non kosher utensils?

The reality is the strikes at the airport are the reason for all this. Cutbacks to staff, benefits… when there is a strike there is just no way to cope. Nothing new. I think this is the second strike at el al since I made aliya. THe post office went on strike. The teachers went on strike the year before I made aliya.

I think if they made the strikers eat the food they would cave and get back to work..

I think serving the non kosher food is worse and sets a bad precedent. Just recently it was found out that non kosher was on the planes due to flight attendens bringing in their own non kosher food. This is why people order the glatt kosher meals. Its double wrapped. The regular kosher is not. THe stuff looks the same (almost like food) probably tastes the same (almost like food) but without a double wrapping…. problematic.

A friend of mine eats the regular meals on he flights. I’ve been blessed in where I eat before and have enought wine that I can fall asleep before the meal comes.

If a tray is in front of me…. I eat it. Theres like nothing else to do on the plane for 11 hours… hey, if I eat… thats only 10 hours and 45 minutes left…..(assuming Im not 3 blatt behind.. which I usually am)

This weekend I was in Baltimore and it is getting COLD….. Shabbos I chose places to eat that were close by so I wouldnt have to walk far AND where I could get a nap in the afternoon.

Didn’t work out that way.

Not only did the meal go through the afternoon……

“so….. lets sing another song.. while the dessert is almost ready……ZZZZ.zzzzzz..”

“Er, I know I’m a guest.. but can I please leave… I don’t want pareve ice cream….. or rainbow cake”

“SO…… can I ask you a favor”

I knew it was coming…I think people are friendly to me NOT because they are friendly. But because they want things taken back to Israel.

“Sure”

“Can you take something back to israel for us.”

“Of course, just next time servce me oats and hay because I’m just a mule. My real name is Moishe. Moshe Movers.”

Small Granite item. Small but weighs 10 pounds easy.

Actually, its no big deal. I should have said.

“well, the dessert was subpar and there was only a little meat in the cholent.. so I’ll take something that weighs 1 pound.”

Maybe next time.

Turns out I went from shul to the seudah. Back to shul. No nap.

On sat. night I went to a Blast game… and I had a blast…

Indoor soccer.

Not as boring as regular soccer. (Neek is going to kill me for this). Regular soccer. There is 30 passes for every shot. Guys with long hair falling and flopping all over the place. ..and one goal every 3 weeks.

Indoor soccer haas 5 players plus a goalie and the field is alot smaller.

Like a hockey rink I think… without the ice..

SO there is more scoring and more shots on goal. The blast won the game and I got to meet a player afterwards.

Lee Tsanreit… or something…. used to play for the Staten Island Vipers.

Who?

Soccer team that played in Staten Island where I was the balloon twister and mascot for a season (blame Korn for that one). … This Lee guy is a year older than me… and he plays with the most intensity. … runs …. gritty player.

Kind of the way I play… except the intensity, gritty, and running part.

Sunday I went for a run…. as I’ve been getting into recently… I did my best run ever.

7.3 miles… whew….

Then watched the JEts beat up the packers and the giants lose to the cowboys. I mean… what a day. I actually have to pat myself on the back. I held myself back. I think Im maturing.

My friend avrumi strauss, the american one, was at the game with his boys. I called to speak to him on his cell when the game was tied.

I did NOT call when the g-men lost. I didn’t hassle him. Thats part of the fun of the people who can’t make it to the games.

You can be there.

WE can call and harass you when they lose.

I knew he was going to have a long ride home. Its not easy to cry in front of your sons. I hope the strauss boys can appreciate the mesiras nefesh their father has by counting the tears on his face.

I think I’m going to cry.

J