Channuka O' Channuka (Article #34) 12/28/2006

In our neighborhood (and in many parts of Israel), the majority of the people light their Channukiyot (Menorahs) outdoors. Thankfully, one of our neighbors warned us to go out and get a special outdoor case to keep out the wind and rain (although this year there was almost none).

I was also warned NOT to use my silver Channukiya since it would get stolen. I was disappointed not to use my personal Channukiya which I received as a gift from a former talmid and his family and it holds tremendous sentimental value for me. When I am an owner and not a renter, I will definitely make sure that I have some sort of case built into the wall of my house where I can secure the Channukiya.

Accordingly, I bought the cheapest Channukiya box I could find in Meah Shearim (spending around fifteen dollars or so), since I am only going to use it for a couple of years. It is essentially a simple metal frame, with a metal roof and floor and glass walls, one of which slides out to provide access to the inside.

Rather than buy enough outdoor boxes for the entire family to light outdoors, we decided to have Chaim and I light outside and the rest of the kids inside at the window.

It was kind of cool going to shul Friday afternoon and seeing all the outdoor channukiyot. Some of them were quite fancy and ornately decorated and as I noticed that I came to a realization. One of the first things I mentioned in the first Aliyah Chronicle was our intense desire to go to the land of the Jews and not have our children exposed to other images and influences.

Here I was standing on the first night of Channuka, December 15th and enjoying the multiplicity of Channuka lights as they are displayed indoors and outdoors. As I passed the preschool buildings I saw dozens of flyers and poster pasted on their fences, detailing the various Channuka events and activities that were available to our selves and the kids for the next week. And I haven’t seen a single x-mas tree or lawn ornament all season.

THIS IS PART OF WHAT WE CAME FOR! This feeling of belonging, of being a part of the mainstream of society and not just another minority fringe group. We haven’t had a single child ask us to “go see the fancy x-mas decorations” or “the pretty displays” because there is no such thing here.

We haven’t seen a single Santa ringing a bell, or had to explain what all those wax figures on the lawn represent. What we have seen is a bunch of Channukiyot, dreidels, latkes and perhaps most predominantly sufganiyot.

We have become so acclimated to living in the Jewish homeland that we didn’t even realize what we weren’t seeing. Having this realization is the greatest feeling. It mitigates all the struggles and confusion and panic and fear that we go through. It is the feeling that makes it all worthwhile.

Of course, as new Israelis, Goldie made sure that we had sufganiyot for dessert on Friday night. We had never really been into sufganiyot before, but I guess now that we are Israelis, we have to start (in some small way) acting the part. By the next Shabbat we were so sick of sufganiyot that nobody wanted to even look at one, even if it was still Channuka.

On Saturday night we had a repeat of “pancake night” so that Goldie could enjoy it too. She said that it was because it was Channuka and pancakes are fried foods, but we knew the truth.

Although the kids were off from school the entire week, I still had work and Goldie had ulpan, so we didn’t have the opportunity to do anything as a family until the middle of the week. On Sunday our shul ran an event for the kids that was very entertaining and educational.

There is a museum here called Machon HaMikdash. It is dedicated to the preparation of vessels and other items for the rebuilt Beit HaMikdash and the education of the Jewish people to the various duties and items involved in operating the Beit HaMikdash on a daily basis.

They came into the shul and put on a play about the story and meaning of Channuka (in Hebrew and the kids even understood some of it). After the play they broke up (by age) into groups and did various projects. Batya did a tracing of the Beit HaMikdash in gold foil and Mordechai came home with a bag of spices. Initially we were puzzled, until he showed us the accompanying paper which described the various spices involved in making ketoret and we realized that they had made a facsimile of what ketoret could be.

Aliza had not been feeling well all weekend, with a sore throat and general sick feeling. Goldie took her to the doctor who told us that he didn’t think she had strep (no matter how much Goldie insisted that she knows her own child and that she definitely did have strep) and that he wouldn’t give her antibiotics until she tested positive. Remember this for later on.

In order to take the family as a unit on vacation at the end of the week (as well as attend various simchas the next couple of days), on Monday we switched our rental vehicle from a teeny tiny little car to a huge nine passenger van. The van had a diesel engine, since diesel is cheaper to run here and the rental agencies have diesel cars for the larger vehicles. I can say one thing for sure: Diesel engines run very loudly.

On Monday afternoon we got a call from the doctor to tell us that Aliza did indeed have strep throat. He prescribed an antibiotic that she started taking on Monday night. Remember this too.

I worked (?) late Monday night. The Yeshiva hosted a special Mesibat Channuka for all of our students. We were not only celebrating Channuka; we wished farewell to nine of our students who were leaving us after a year of study in the Yeshiva.

These students live in South Africa and Australia, Southern Hemisphere countries where the school year runs from late January through early December. They had arrived at the Yeshiva the previous January and (having completed their year of study) were returning home to continue their studies in university or otherwise move on. A new group of eighteen students will arrive in late January to take their place.

I know that this is something I will have to get used to, but saying goodbye to these fellows was not easy. They were in the Yeshiva when I first came to work there and I have gotten to know them and it is tough to see them leave. Since our Yeshiva runs a Northern Hemisphere program as well, I get to enjoy this feeling not once, but twice a year.

On the positive side, as the Director of Alumni Affairs for the Yeshiva (fancy title, huh), I will be in contact with them for the rest of their lives and have an opportunity to see them continue to grow as they eventually develop families of their own.

Tuesday morning we took everyone except Aliza (who was at play practice) and Moshe (who had gan) to the Kotel for the Bar Mitzva of Doron Levine, the son of our friends Zalman and Gila Levine (Teaneck, NJ). I have known Zalman and Gila since our days at Y.U. (Zalman and I were on the fencing team together). We have kept in touch and have always shared a very nice friendship throughout the years even though we rarely lived in the same geographic area.

The Bar Mitzva was very nice and we all enjoyed the seuda as well. We had a chance to visit with some people who we haven’t seen in a while as well as some new friends who we hadn’t known would be at the simcha. I cannot express what a treat it is to share the simcha of a friend, especially now that we have made Aliya and have so few opportunities to do so.

Since the Yeshiva would be closed for Channuka break starting Wednesday afternoon, we decided to take a mini vacation and get away for a few days. Goldie spent a lot of time and effort in planning a vacation in the weeks before Channuka and decided that we would go to the Dead Sea resort area for a few days.

Our original plan was to leave early Wednesday morning, but my cousins (Divi and Daniel Engel) had a boy the week before and we had the Bris to attend in Yerushalayim before leaving on vacation.

Tuesday night as we were packing Mordechai began to complain of a sore throat and sickness. Worrying that he was developing strep throat, I quickly took him to the overnight clinic and got a prescription of antibiotics for him as well, so that we wouldn’t have to deal with sick kids on vacation.

We arrived late for the Bris on Wednesday morning. The Bris was being held on Shmuel Hanavi, just below the Meah Shearim neighborhood and we had a little “difficulty” in finding parking. Especially when we got lost in the narrow streets with our huge van and I had to back up thirty feet to get out of a dead end street.

Thankfully (for us at least) the Mohel got to the Bris later than we did, so we didn’t really miss anything. In order to get back onto schedule, we left right away and began our trip to the Dead Sea.

It has been at least a decade since our last visit to the Ein Gedi/Masada region. We had forgotten what a unique drive it is to leave Yerushalayim to the east and find ourselves in the desert only fifteen minutes after leaving the city. We had been in the desert regions before (in our trips to Chevron and Pnei Kedem), but this was the first time the kids really saw Bedouin camps and camels.

As always happens, each time the kids remarked on something unique or surprising to them, Goldie cried. This is not a new event for us. She is often overcome with emotion at the beauty of our land and the fact that we are actually living here and not just tourists. And it brings her to tears very easily.

So she cried when we drove through the desert mountains. She cried when we saw the Dead Sea. She cried when we talked about Masada. She cried just about everywhere, even the kids have begun to say things like, “Hey look – there is a pretty mountain, Eema is crying.”

As we passed various Bedouin camps, Goldie really wanted to stop and have the kids go on a camel ride and pose for pictures. She doesn’t know this (although she will when she reads the first draft of this article), but I was really against doing so.

We live in a small country. We are totally surrounded by arabs, the majority of whom want nothing more than to literally wipe us off the face of the earth, especially those who are living within our borders. I don’t want to give them any more of my money than I absolutely have to, if given the choice.

Yes, they work in construction and as assistants to our plumbers, gardeners, etc. I understand that they work as busboys and other similar jobs throughout the country. I don’t have a choice there. In this instance I did have a choice and I chose not to give any more support to the arabs than I absolutely needed to.

As we approached the Dead Sea, we were all amazed by the amazing blue color of the water and the majestic contrast of the mountains to our right and the sea, the lowest point on earth to our left. As we continued down the coast and the sea grew nearer, the entire family was awed by the beauty of the scenery. And Goldie cried.

We decided to see Masada on the way to our hotel. It was on our list of things to do, and there was plenty of sunlight left to tour the mountain. Our kids had not heard the story of Masada and were fascinated to hear it and then see the places we were actually talking about.

We had originally told the kids that we would be climbing the snake path up the side of the mountain and when they saw how tall the mountain was they began to freak out. While I think Chaim would have enjoyed the hike, there was no way we were going to try and make the hike with Batya, Mordechai and Moshe.

With the exception of Moshe (who is too little to understand what he is seeing) I would say that everyone took something away from the Masada tour. They were fascinated to see the different areas where the people lived and to see the locations (from atop the mountain) of the Roman encampments surrounding the mountain. The water cisterns were a big hit, as was any location with a view (and there are plenty of great views on the mountain).

As I was reading the map and pointing out different places to the kids, I read something that I had not known. Apparently, the original fortress/palace on Masada was built in Hasmonean times and there is a strong possibility that it was built by Yonatan Hamaccabi. Realizing this and visiting Masada on the holiday of Channuka added another dimension to our visit.

The only negative was the heat. After almost ninety minutes of touring the mountain, we had run out of water and the kids were complaining and hot. We decided to end our tour, rather than fight them and see the whole thing, so we missed about twenty percent or so of the excavations.

We got to our hotel just as it was getting dark. We hit the pool for an hour or so and then went in for dinner.

Dinner - in fact - all the meals, were a big hit. Other than a Pesach week several years ago, our family has never been in a kosher hotel before. The chance to walk into the main hotel dining room and eat whatever we chose was a unique experience for us. The food was awesome each meal and the kids especially loved that they were able to serve themselves anything they wanted from the buffet.

My sister had mentioned that Israeli hotel breakfasts are lavish, but we were still unprepared for the abundance of choices available at every meal. It is a good thing that Goldie had only ordered breakfast and dinner for us; I don’t think we had any room for lunch.

After that first dinner, Goldie and I put the little kids to sleep and left the bigger kids babysitting so that we could explore the tourist town of Ein Bokek, home to all the Dead Sea resorts. We were able to walk the shopping strip and buy some stuff for the kids and also some Dead Sea skin care products.

We also got a little taste of what we used to have in the US. You see, Chabad of the Dead Sea had a grand Channuka lighting with one of those giant Channukiyot (just like the one in Cedarhurst), followed by music, dancing and an impromptu concert by the local Chabad Rav.

As we stood near the shore, Goldie noticed that there seemed to be lights twinkling across the sea and wondered what they were. She was stunned to realize that they were most likely a similar set of resorts on the Jordanian side of the sea.

We also were surprised to see how close the seashore was to the mountains of the Israeli desert. There was a huge mountain right across the street from our hotel. Further, realizing that the sea has been receding by 3 feet a year we realized that the entire area of the hotels was once totally underwater and the water literally reached the feet of the mountains at some point.

On Thursday morning we went for a dip in the Dead Sea. Batya had woken up not feeling well, but a little bit of advil perked her right up and we were all excited to head to the beach.

The water was unbelievably cold, but since we were paying to be there it made no sense not to go into the water. It definitely took some getting used to the temperature, and some of the kids (Aliza and Moshe) had terrible stinging reactions to the water. Moshe’s reaction was so bad that he cried in Chaim’s lap for fifteen minutes and then fell asleep for a half hour from exhaustion.

I was initially the only person who stayed in the water long enough to adjust to the temperature and float. I had never floated on the Dead Sea before (Goldie had never been to the Dead Sea at all before). Once the kids saw that I was able to float, Mordechai and Chaya joined me for short while and even Goldie took some time in the water.

That afternoon we took the kids to a neighboring hotel to go bowling. Unless you want to go on mountain hikes, there are very few entertainment options within Ein Bokek other than going into the sea. Bowling is one of them.

While we were at the bowling alley, Chaya suddenly became miserably uncomfortable (complaining of a sore throat, stomachache and a fever) and we could see that she was sick. Goldie immediately knew that it was strep throat and called our health plan to find out what we could do for a doctor.

There are no doctors based in the Dead Sea resort area. According to our health plan, the nearest doctor was hours away in Eilat. Since this was obviously out of the question, they suggested that we call a house call doctor service and pay for the visit. Our hotel suggested that we use their on call doctor (for a fee) as well. However, both options required a two to three hour wait before the doctor could get to us in the hotel.

We decided to try to go to a local pharmacy to see if we could convince the pharmacist to sell us antibiotics on the basis of 2 kids already having strep and being on medication. Guess what else is not in Ein Bokek? A pharmacy! The nearest pharmacy is in Arad, a half hour’s drive away.

Realizing that any doctor’s visit would require a trip to Arad to pick up medicine, we called the health plan to find out if they had offices in Arad. They didn’t, but when I asked them about a Terem facility, they told me about one that was due to open for the night in only forty five minutes.

A Terem facility is essentially an emergency room. If it is after hours and there is no health plan overnight clinic available in your neighborhood, you go to the Terem clinic instead. These clinics have special deals with the health plans where they collect some of their fee from the health plan and some of their fee from the patient.

Since we needed to go to Arad anyway (that is where the pharmacy was), we decided to go to the Terem and see a doctor there, shortening our wait time to be seen and hopefully paying less for the visit. We also decided that it would be smarter to bring Batya and Moshe (who had a runny nose and a fever by that time as well) to be checked, once we were going to the doctor.

So we headed down the coast and then into the mountains for an incredibly scary ride to Arad. We were essentially driving around the mountains in absolute darkness. There were very few stretches of straight road. Being in the dark, without being able to see very far along the road and what was coming, I was very happy to see the lights of Arad.

While we were driving, my cellphone rang with a text message. Apparently, our elevated height in the mountains had triggered our cellphone company that we were somewhere close to the borders of the country. The text message read (translated) “Pay attention – You are in the Jordanian coverage area. If you are in Israel, manually select Cellcom” (our Israeli cellphone company).

If that wasn’t surprising enough, about two minutes later the phone rang again with another text message that read (in English), “Welcome to Jordan and thank you for using UMNIAH GSM network. We wish you a pleasant stay in Jordan.”

Welcome to Jordan? Even though I knew I was in the right spot, there was a nagging thought way in the back of my mind that perhaps I had made a wrong turn somewhere.

Going to Arad for medical care was an excellent choice. Not because the medical care was so good – it wasn’t. The doctor took forever in his diagnosis, and the nurse wanted to put the kids on I.V. for dehaydration. The one thing we did get out of him was that all three kids had strep throat and that we were simply passing the bug around.

Since both Aliza and Mordechai were already on medication for having had strep throat and Chaya, Batya and Moshe would be going on medication that night, the doctor put the rest of us on antibiotics as a preventative measure in order to stop us from continuing to pass the infection around from person to person (I can hear all the USA doctors screaming at the paper as they read this). So, right now we are all taking antibiotics so we can finally be rid of this infection.

In the morning as we packed to go home, both Goldie and I (the two people who had spent the most time in the Dead Sea waters) commented how soft our skin felt. Before we had visited the Dead Sea, neither of us really believed that there was any truth to the idea of “healing powers” of the water. However, we are really believers now. Goldie even added later that her arthritic joint pain in her hands and ankles was totally gone for several days after soaking in the sea.

On erev Shabbat we welcomed our Shabbat guests, Rikki Schoenbrun and Elisheva Nelson who are both here for a year of study in Israel. We actually skyped with the Schonbrun household in the USA so Rikki could see her brother Yoni who just had his upsherin (Mazal Tov).

Skype is a software program that allows the user to connect a camera and microphone to their computer and have a live video conference for free via the internet. We just installed our camera within the last couple of months. We have been skyping with some of our old neighbors and await some more family members (Bubbees and Zaidees) to set themselves up for the kids to enjoy as well.

Shabbat also saw the first rains we have had since Parshat Noach. The rain situation has been so bad here that the Rabbanut issued a call for all people living in Israel to add a special tefilla for rain in their Shemona Esrei. Thankfully it rained quite a bit on Shabbat and again on Motzei Shabbat and we hope this is a sign of more rain to come (we really need it).