Dear Maya and Vera! How are you? In Israel it is warm and pleasant and the trees are in bloom. It is the first week of a Jewish month of Nissan, when we have Passover, which is less than two weeks away. Everybody talks about it and is making plans and preparing for the approaching Holiday and the stores display Passover books and everything for Passover Seder and the grocery stores have all the shelves changed for Passover foods.What are your plans for Passover? Last week I went with a group of women from Tzfat to visit the graves of our ancestors – first Jewish fathers and mothers who lived 3000 years ago, but Jewish people still know where they are burried and come visit these places. You know about them too from the stories that we read together – it is Avraham, Sarah, Ytzhack, Rivka, Yakov, Rachel and Leah. The trip took the whole day, because we travelled from Tzfat which is in the North to the south of Israel to Bethlechem and Hevron. On one picture below you can see people praying at the grave of Rachel, which is considered the mother of Jewish people. Another picture shows people going towards the big ancient building tin Hevron hat contains burial places of Adam, Eve, Avraham, Sarah, Yitchak, Rivka, Yakov and Leah. One more picture shows a tree in bloom in Tzfat. I love you, and always think about you.
Dear Maya and Vera, Since I wrote you last week, this is what happened: last Friday morning there was snow in Tzfat! It happens very rarely here, and all kids were outside, screaming, collecting the snow, making snowballs, and sticking out their tongues to catch the snow flakes.Tonight starts the Jewish Holiday called “Tu Be Shvat” and this is the New Year of the trees. That’s when the new growth starts, even though you can not see it. It is a very joyous time in Israel, celebrating nature. This morning I went with a group of women for a hike in the mountains, and we saw new flowers and blossoming trees, and everybody was sharing stories related to trees and the nature.We saw other hikers on the trail, and I took a picture of a group of girls hiking with their teacher, which you can see under my letter. Tonight we went to a very happy Tu Be Shvat party, where many people got together to celebrate fruit trees by blessing and eating the fruits of Israel, and telling mystical stories related to the fruit trees.I love you both very much, and miss you. Babushka
Dear Maya and Vera, Hope you are having a good winter, and went skiing and skating! I miss skiing with you this winter, but I love being in Israel! In Israel the winter is much warmer, there is no snow, but it has been raining a lot since we have been here. Rain is considered here a blessing, because there is not much rain during the rest of the year, and it is a very dry country, so the rain in the winter is very important, and there is even a prayer service for rain in synagogue in the winter. The rain helps to maintain the level of water in lakes to provide water supply for the country. Now I want to answer the excellent questions that you both asked. Maya wanted to know what the children in Israel are like. In the town we live, the children are very lively and friendly, and are a little on the wild side, and I heard that the schools seem sometimes like a “mad house”, but they grow up to be good people, with a sense of responsibility.Many families here have a lot of children, so older children take care of younger siblings, and help their parents. On Friday, there is no school, and we can see in some family-owned stores, how the children take place of their parents to wait on customers, while parents prepare for Shabbos. You can see on the picture below how a girl and a boy in the home goods store help us with purchases. Also the children are quite mature, because even little boys know that when they grow up to be 18 years old, they will go to the army for a few years, where they will be trained to protect their country if needed. The girls don’t need to go to the army (unless they want to), but when they grow up they do public service, also for a few years after they finish the school, helping their country in other ways, accordingly to what they like to do. Some of the things they do are helping poor people, helping in hospitals, working with old people, with disabled children, etc. So the children grow up to know they will have to take responsibilities for their families, communities and their country. Vera also asked if blue is Israel national color. Yes, Israeli flag has blue and white colors, which are the colors of Jewish faith since the ancient times. In Judaism, blue represents the sky, and heaven above it, making one aware of higher reality of G-d and life of the soul. Blue also is the color of water of the ocean, that reflects the color of the sky and in Jewish tradition symbolizes Tora. Jews who settled in Tzfat in 15th century started to paint their homes blue as a source of inspiration. Now too, you can see a lot of color blue in Tzfat. We love you and think of you always. How your school is going? Did you go skiing or skating? What else is going on? Love, Babushka and Eber
Dear Maya and Vera, Eber and I now in live in the North of Israel, in a city called Tzfat. It is on the top of the mountains. It was buid originally many centuries ago to protect its residents from all the bad people who travelled through the area to make trouble. It is build out of stones. It has a lot of walls and a lot of stairs, so to get anywhere you have to go either up or down. Also there are a lot of alleys and archways. Sometimes it looks like a city from the fairy tale. Because it is high on the top of the mountain it is often surrounded by clouds and mist. All thought the city many stones are painted blue. Because Tzfat is very beautiful, there are many artists living here and creating all kinds of art. There are also a lot of kids here, and when we see them we think of you. Because there are a lot of kids, there are also a lot of schools. We love you both and miss you very much. Babushka and Eber.
