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