Friday, April 20, 2012

This year in Jerusalem

Staples of Passover
Religious Jews hoarding Passover staples

Psst. I'm still alive over here. We are coming off a nearly three week Passover school holiday break and I have been remiss about posting blog entries. I have however been posting lots of pics on Instagram and I invite you to follow my meanderings over there. I'll follow you right back. It's quite fun! A billion dollars worth of fun, so says Facebook.

I wasn't prepared for such a long break in the middle of the year. But we threw together a pretty fun itinerary packed with visits with friends, travels north, south, east  and west, a trip to some enchanted caves, a fantastic seder, a surprise and mysterious visit from Elijah the Prophet and camping in the desert. We even had lunch one day with Mr. Rosen at his work in Jerusalem.

I will say that spending Passover in Israel is a very rich experience. Between the meticulous nation-wide spring cleaning (removal of all bread and crumbs from the home), hoarding of eggs, potatoes, onions and matzah, and the throngs of Israelis hiking about the country, it's really a lot to absorb. Never mind that we personally experienced no less than five out of the ten plagues (blood, lice, boils, hail, and darkness). Let's just say it's enough blog material to last forty years wandering in the desert, if only I'd had the energy to write it all down. Dayenu. Maybe I'll be more on the (matzah) ball next year.

For now's here's a smattering of pics from those three weeks. Enjoy!

Dead Sea with view of Jordan
Dead sea and view of Jordan

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Saba grating the bitter herb with traditional protective eyewear.

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Seder table including rice cake "matzah" cover for our glutton free guests

Saba carrying his weight
Elder carrying small Israelite during the exodus.

Passover hike in the Negev
Obeying the voice of God, Moses and Miriam put their arms around each other.

Camel helping us reenact the exodus
Biblical ride

Stalactite/mite awesome
Enchanted stalactite cave

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Not bear proof, but hyena proof.

I found an oompa loompa from the tv room up on this ridge! Doopadee do!
The oompa loompa I found on top of Tzin Wilderness

Descent to Nahal Gov
Descent to Gov River Valley

Escaping the burning sun
Respite from heat.

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Desert in bloom

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At Kibbutz Sde Boker

6 comments:

rachel awes said...

you are living the dream.
i love how your heart + arms reach across the whole wide world.
LOVELOVE xox

Susie Lubell said...

There's a room here for your four Rach. Just say the word.

Sarit said...

Tell Saba to try the food processor next year! It's much less work. Just be ware of the fumes when you remove the lid after grating.

Jennifer Richardson said...

oh these images....thanks for
sharing the riches
of your everydayness:)
-Jennifer

Bella Sinclair said...

Whoa, glorious photos! Gorgeous. And your kids are soooo beautiful. Even the tiny oompa loompa. Ha! Love it.

AG Ambroult said...

just when I thought Stringbean McToothy Face couldn't possibly get any cuter, he morphs into an oompa loompa.
I'm sorry about the lice and other such unpleasant things. My head is itchy now.