This year in Jerusalem

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 and view of Jordan


Saba grating the bitter herb with traditional protective eyewear.


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


Elder carrying small Israelite during the exodus.


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


Biblical ride


Enchanted stalactite cave


Not bear proof, but hyena proof.


The oompa loompa I found on top of Tzin Wilderness


Descent to Gov River Valley


Respite from heat.


Desert in bloom


At Kibbutz Sde Boker

Why is this uncle different from all other uncles?

We had Passover Seder at my brother's house last night and as usual the highlight was a surprise visit from Elijah the Prophet. My older brother knows the drill at this point (I have two brothers - one hosts, the other is the prophet). We wrap him in a sheet and a tallis and he wears a wool Rasta hat and sunglasses and then walks in doing the customary Elijah jig. He grabs the wine glass and shimmies out as mysteriously as he arrived. I'm not sure why he takes the whole glass but that's his shtick. The adults are cracking up at this point and the kids are vacillating between fear and exhilaration. My son turned to me in the car later and asked if that guy was Santa. My nephew is almost six so I'm not sure how much longer he'll believe in our Rastafarian prophet. So far no one has made the connection between the entrance of Elijah and the disappearance of Uncle Aaron. I guess we're good for another year.