Israel 2007

I went to Tel Aviv with Beany's family. Elliot was being bar mitzvahed this year. Here's a photo of cousins -- Raina (Bobby and Timberly's daughter), Eddie (Danny's son), Mikey and Sammy (Richie and Beany's sons) -- in the baby pool at Kfar Maccabiah.

Just their feet.

We went to eat in a Iraqi restaurant at the market. Richie's cousin David Hachem had taken us around this particular market.

 

 

Beany's boys, Elliot, Mike, Sam, and cousin Eddie. We were touring around Jerusalem.

After Elliot's bar mitzvah at the Western Wall.

We went to tour a museum. Me, Coni (a friend of Timberly's), our tour guide, Timberly, and Elliot in the stripped hat.

Walking up the steps to what was the Huldah Gates.

We went to the old city of Yafo, or Jaffa, or Joppa. This was the city where Jonah found his ship to Tarshish when he was avoiding going to Ninevah.

This staircase led to an interesting series of streets all made of stone.

 

 

 

 

Apparently, Napoleon was here.

 

This was at the family banquet (150 people in the family!?!?) for Elliot's bar mitzvah.

Richie enjoying the pool with the children. The girl is Richie's niece, Michelle, Joe's daughter.

 

I left before the rest of the family. After I left, Elliot, Richie and Beany were invited to meet the mayor of Tel Aviv, who congratulated Elliot on his bar mitzvah. What an honor!

This was my room at Kfar Maccabiah. It was a very nice room, with a balcony and small bathroom (no bathtub.)

I was trying to take a photo of the bathroom. The shower was small. It reminded me of a shower in a Parisian hotel.

The view from my balcony.

The kids enjoying the pool.

Next to the hotel is the apartments that are being built. "A second home in Israel" is the advertising slogan. Richie and Beany bought an apartment, and Danny bought an adjoining one. They vacation there each year, so having the apartments will be much more convenient.

I don't know if there were worms in this garden or not.

A bakery at the market.

This was an interesting variety of candies.

These women bake this flat bread on an inverted wok. Then they coat it with a yogurt like substance (maybe lebni?) and put spices on it. It was delicious.

 

We were just walking through the market. And I passed by this..... head. It was obviously not a kosher place. I had to take a photo because... no one would believe me.

Across the way, if the head was not gross enough, were the rest of the organs. Brains, livers, lungs (complete with wind pipe!), tongues.

There were tons of beautiful fruit and veggies.

And fish.

This guy had a lot of fun trying to scare me with this fish hanging precariously on his net.

This vendor was yelling something -- loud and rhythmic. I think he was saying "Basil! I have fresh basil!" Or something like that.

We drove out to the Salt Sea one day. Danny, Bobby, Joe, Michelle, Coni, and me. We stopped at this place to take photos. This is Michelle.

It was some old house or something. In the middle of the desert.

You can see the sea behind this mountain.

 

 

We drove south from Tel Aviv, through the desert to the Salt Sea. We didn't want to go through the West Bank because of the risk. We went as far south as Beersheba, and then turned north toward En Gedi.

 

On the day of Elliot's bar mitzvah, Richie hired a bus to take us all to Jerusalem. This was a guide who explained stuff to us along the way.

This is Richie's sister-in-law (Bobby's wife) Timberly Whitfield. She has her own web page! (www.timberlywhitfield.com)

Miriam, Richie's cousin Danny's daughter. And Coni, Timberly's friend.

Beany. Everyone else calls her Frannie.

On the way to Jerusalem.

 

 

They have a wall built around the west bank. It isn't complete yet. The wall is surrounded by a buffer area of about 50 meters. The wall is 8 meters high.

Sights along the way to the Western Wall.

 

 

 

Right at the wall, there was re-construction nearby.

Facing the western wall.

We had to find the rabbi in the crowd.

 

We found Benny (the rabbi) and then had to get everything ready. This is looking over the barrier from the women's side to the men's side. Elliot is putting on his tefillin.

 

Mikey doesn't look all that thrilled.

 

 

The torah is beautifully covered in embroidered fabric.

Often, when the Torah is being carried out, there is a lot of noise. Benny was very quiet.

Elliot studied a long time to be able to read Torah.

Richie's brothers, from the left -- Joe, Bobby, Danny.

 

Richie is so proud.

This is a museum about the temple area.

This is the corner of the building, at the top of what would be the Huldah Gates, and at the corner where Robinson's Arch is located.

Inside the museum.

The remains of Robinson's Arch.

Stones that fell from the destruction of the temple.

 

 

These were figs. The food in Israel was just incredible. There were olive trees in the streets, figs.... I wonder if you can pick them when they are ripe?

Beany

Sure were a lotta steps. Beany is standing in the shade on the side!

Looking down over the city of David from the top of the steps.

 

That is a hotel on the Mount of Olives. I can't remember the name.

There is a windmill in Jerusalem. It was built in the 1860s by Moses Montefiore. He wanted to help the milling needs of the people, so he built the windmill. Unfortunately, there is no wind where it is situated.

Overlooking Jerusalem toward the Temple Mount.

 

We went to Yad Vashem -- the Holocaust Museum. Danny and Bobby stayed with the younger children while the rest of us went quickly through the museum.

Beany, Coni and I went in to Tel Aviv to shop. We came across this ska band, so we stopped to listen. Ska is a combination of calypso and jazz.... jazzy reggae... sorta. In the video section, there is a short clip of these guys playing.

 

This is the water at Tel Aviv.

 

I had called Davey from Tel Aviv (I use Skype for my international calls home), and he asked me if I had found him a crown. I took a photo of the King David Hotel for him.

 

Michelle and Coni at the family banquet.

Timberly and Raina

Elliot, Danny, Joe

Beany

Mikey made this face.

They called special people to come and light candles for Elliot. I had the honor of representing the Chans.