Weekend Storm

We had a storm this weekend. The worse in 10 years. Snow and fog and hail and all these other European weather conditions. So they tell me.







In Nahariya, it hailed for 15 minutes or so, some heavy rain, gales of wind, and waves that were over 15 feet. It had started on Wednesday night, so today we went to the beach to see the damage.













We’ve seen worse. It must have concentrated in the higher elevations. Cold, wet but not as bad as we anticipated. Took some pictures – enjoy.

Keeping warm indoors,

Orith

COUSINS and DOLPHINS in EILAT

Spring is forcing its way in; the wind picks up, the temperature is warmer and the cloud cover hesitates in its permanency. It was a hard winter and the feeling that the cold and humidity will never leave the bones, lingers on. It is not over yet, after all February just started, but a weekend break helps.

We spend last weekend in Eilat. Eilat, the southern tip of Israel. Eilat, the tourist pilgrimage of the desert. On the Red Sea, full of sun and warmth and fun. Eilat. We traveled to many countries, friends shared with us pictures of their travelling, but Eilat is one of a kind.

Eilat mountains are coloured red and blue and its sea is as clear as glass. The desert, north of it, exhibits a gallery of vegetation hugging the sand, lava rocks proudly display original formations, and a complicated matrix of natural canals that runs through the dry earth threatening it with flash floods. Ostriches, donkeys and camels graze in the open protected from the hordes of tourists whose population varies with the weather changes and the local politics.

Son number one was born in Eilat almost 48 years ago. The local hospital had no name; the seaport was just being build; divers were working instead of playing, and there were no dolphins in site. The town became a city since then full with shopping malls, hotels, synagogues, and a complicated street map mastered by an army of taxis.

We went to a wedding. Our cousin married his son, outdoors on a warm evening. Strolling in the local Hilton – the Queen of Sheba – we made family connections with halls full of strangers. Some we met again the next day at the private home of the groom’s parents around the fire pit. Our family is growing in every direction. We are finding connections from all sides that we had no idea they existed, children of the same, and some new little ones which are a delight as always.

Willie commented that the most common conversation heard that weekend went something like: “so how are we related? Your grandma on your father side was a sister to my grandpa on my mother side? So we are cousins! Where do you live? Great, come on over for a visit”.

A wedding that was full of good food, good conversation, good weather, good… well, everything. A weekend of sunshine and warmth and family. One cannot ask for more.

Winter is almost over… still cold? Find a cousin, share a ride to Eilat, it will warm you up in a hurry.

Basking in the sun of love,

orith

Candles

Third Light of Chanukah with Family Fourth Candle of Chanukah at the Kibbutz

Honoring Thy Mother...

My mother, Yafa Krinkin, was a poet.

Yafa was born in Merchavia, Israel in 1920 and died in Tel-Aviv, Israel in 1987. She started to publish her poems in children magazines since the time she was 19 and continued to do so weekly. She published 2 children books and one book of poems for adults. She translated many works of prose from English to Hebrew, among them the famous series of “Naddy”.

During my school years, we studies her poems in literature classes. Today, her name is almost unknown. Except… in one kibbutz.

Kibbutz Nir David (Tel-Amal) was the first settlement in Israel to be build with a wall and a tower. It is located near Bait-Shean at the feet of Mount Gilboa. My mother was connected to its’ first settlers and had many friends that she visited a few times a year. On the year that I was born she dedicated a poem to the children of the kibbutz “ha-asi shelanu” = Our Assi. The Assi is a section of a larger river, the Sachne’, where the water are always at 28 degree Celsius. Today, Gan Ha-Shlosha Park that surrounds that river, is a popular tourist place.



Her poem is sung and taught to the Kibbutz children. Some say it became the national anthem of the Kibbutz others call it their theme song, but the fact remains, the poem is known, sung and continues to be popular in Kibbutz Nir David.

She left to me her last book of poems for adults. I was unable to publish it. Often I felt that I dishonored her by not publishing her last work, but still was not able to do so. About a month ago I received a call from the kibbutz; They were planning a celebration for the 75th year settlement on the land. They invited us to join in the celebration and to speak about my mother and her poems. We accepted.

Their party was on this last weekend. We rented a car, drove to the kibbutz, booked ourselves into their guest huts and joined in the celebration. They invited us for a great supper and prepared a great evening of song and dance on stage. The stage filled with performing artists of all ages. They had skits about writers, poets and musicians who contribute to the fame of the Kibbutz and almost at the end of the evening, they called me to speak about my mother. When I completed the 2 minutes speech, about 50 little ones, all wearing white shirts, came on stage to sing her poem. They sang it beautifully.



A big stone rolled off my chest, my mother contribution to this country was finely honored. A perfect ending for a busy year.

Happy 75th birthday Kibbutz Nir David,

Happy 2012 everyone.

Orith

Israeli Winter (A Ballad)

On my bed there are three blankets,
A heating pad, a flannel top
By morning when the sun is shining
My heavy socks keep off the cold.

Chills are gripping neck n’ shoulders
Rooms are dark like an abyss
Need to move, to feel a bit warmer
To stop the chattering of my teeth.

Errands waiting in the market
Things to do; by walk, by bus
Fear of freezing, ice my thinking
The sun is up, it must feel nice.

Willie told me once too often,
“Put on clothing, don’t go bare
Dress like onion, beat the winter
Cozy as Canadian bear”.

Layer after clothing layer
Leaves the hangers as a wrap
Un-matching colors, doesn’t matter
For some heat, just bundle up.

Orb of clothing, scarf and mittens
At the door I shuffle slow
Colder then Canadian winter
Sunny sky without the snow.

As the key is slowly turning
And the door is open wide,
My reflection in the mirror
Made me stop and realize:

I can roll downstairs like skiing
I can even shuffle slow
But how one climbs the stairs while bundled?
And where was I suppose to go?

Pining for Heat,
Orith

This Is The Day

After almost four years of praying, hoping, arguing, wishing, crying, demanding and just being general pests, it arrived.

Today, Willie received his Israeli citizenship. He is now far from bilingual but holds a duel citizenship.

We thank God, for His wisdom and His patient and His insistence that it is His will and it will happened. We also thank you who prayed for us, who wished us well, who knocked on wood, who crossed your fingers and toes. Our family and friends and our partners in this journey, to you we raise a Champaign glass for all your love and encouragement during this segment of time.

This is the day that Willie became an Israeli citizen, it is also the day that Willie got his promotion in the spirit. He feels that he had been given a stronger place, a more strategic position, an encouragement that he is right where He want us to be.

We are elated and happy. Be encouraged, good things do come to those who believe, who fight for it, and who wait …

Happy Hunting, Orith

Blessed Tuesday

The gentle breeze from the sea is flowing through the window. It brings both, a relief from the heat, and the smells of the kitchens surrounding us. The last day of Succoth is approaching.

Every kitchen in the neighborhood is sizzling a joyful meal, which will be shared by family and friends. We are hosting a young couple tonight and this time we will have no meat nor poultry nor fish at the table. I am preparing a vegetarian meal.

I keep glancing at my gas stove checking if I am overcooking anything. It is not lit at all. I don’t recognize most of the smells the are drifting through the window, but when it is a slight burning smell I obsessively check again my unlit stove.

The pots and pans are lining up on the counter ready to be used, near by are the vegetables, all color coordinated. I wash, peel, cut, and sort them. Glass bowls are filled with slices of red-green-yellow-orange-dark green papers; others are holding the salted eggplant, the zucchini circles, the diced sweet potatoes and pumpkin and even the onion and the garlic cloves are sliced into a bowl of their own. Parsley is twinned with green chives while the garbanzo beans and the mushroom pieces are in the sieve. Tomatoes quarters and tomato sauce are mixed with black paper, sweet paprika and cumin while the carrots are ready to be boiled with cinnamon and raisins. Rice combined with a special blend of spices that were bought in a specialty store in Zichron Yaacov a day or so ago is ready for sautéing. It takes a longer time to prepare the ingredients than to cook them. But, tonight starts Simchat Torah, The Joy of Torah, the day when we feast the eye and the taste buds. This is the last day of the Feast of the Tabernacle week.

Tuesday is considered a blessed day by the Jewish tradition. During Creation week, God blessed Tuesday twice. Twice He said, “it is good”. This Tuesday, during the Festival of Tabernacles, the nation received a gift from God. Gilad Shalit returned home to Israeli soil. A blessed Tuesday indeed.

There is a sense of relief, of deep, long awaited breath, of accomplishment, of thankfulness, even of a let down. The Nation of Israel held on for over 5 years waiting for Gilad to be freed from his abductors. We prayed and fasted and encouraged the family; we walked in long lines up to Jerusalem from everywhere, we argued, we wished him well. We dreamt of him and talked of him and kept up his face in-front of buses, on walls, on signs along the highways, in store windows, so we will not forget him and be part of the efforts to free him. We welcomed international politicians and taught young children songs about him, and listened to endless interviews where they mentioned his name. We bought a book he wrote when he was 11 and added money to the campaign and voices to his family tent. We had done all we could think about to be a part of the movement to free him.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011 Gilad Shalit finely came home. Many could not fully believe that it is so until his feet touched the earth on the Israeli base. I was skeptical until I saw him hugging his father. In the evening hours I watch the news with my friend, following his every step in the long day of travelling from prison to home.

This sense of relief is bitter-sweet. The exchange of one young man for 1027 murderers and terrorists who received welcoming honors for killing children on school busses, boggles the mind. Yet, the ancient words of our wise men ring true, “Israel are guarantees one for another”. This is just the way it is. This is the culture. When one is in trouble, we are all in troubles. When one is joyful, we are all joyful. We feel and understand the others. There is a comradeship that cannot be explained away or logic-out, it is just there. It is a feeling that dwells deep in your knower that connects you to the rest of the people around you. This sense of oneness is just under the surface, not quite there, at times you don’t even notice it. But, when an abducted young man comes home to his family after 1940 days in an underground prison, every person in the nation rejoice, feeling that his own son returned. “It is good to have you home” called out the banners, and there was not a dry eye in the land.

The meal was good. The dishes are done. We enjoyed our visitors and had gone for a walk on the beach after black coffee and some chocolate. It is a peaceful day today the day that the Torah is celebrated with joy.

Thank God that our remnant becoming a growing, vibrate nation. Thank God that sons are returning home. Welcome home Gilad.

May your joy will be full, always.

Orith

An Early Rain

In Succot - Feast of the Tabernacle - we pray for rain. This year, the rain arrived almost 3 weeks before its time.

It is good.

We expect a blessed year. Amen.

Erev Rosh HaShana (New Year Eve #5772)

For three days the airplanes circled Nahariya. For three days we wondered if they are protecting, exercising, planning an ambush, waiting for an attack or all of the above. Yesterday, we heard loud noises. All the neighbors ran out to the balconies to watch the skies lit. We thought these were rockets. All except Willie, “these are sounds of fire crackers”. He was right.

The quick run to the balconies was the proof of the heavy feelings and the expectations of war in Northern Israel. Whatever happened in UN and the talks of a new Palestinian State don’t match reality. We are still waiting for the other shoe to fall. Only this time, the shoe is filled with explosives.

Tonight, we left the city behind us and went to welcome the Year number 5772. Two of my cousins with their children, grandchildren, spouses and friends gathered near Haifa. What a joy. We read some notes and sang some songs and ate more courses that I can recall. We converse with everyone from 2 to 70 years old, and enjoyed the evening coffee under the trees. Three hours later it felt like we just started the evening.

I longed for such a family gathering for many years. This was a true blessing.

In Nahariya, after midnight, it was quiet. The airplanes are not circling the city tonight.

Thanks everyone and may you have A Happy, Peaceful and Healthy New Year :)

Orith

Family Reunion

Nona Grazia and Nono Alberto had 7 children: One son and six daughters. Twelve grandchildren were begotten by these children. I was the only daughter of the only son.

When I immigrated to Canada in 1967, I did not know that it would be the last time that I will see my family, for about 40+ years.

Some of Us Then (~1965- Can you find me here? click once to enlarge)

After I lived in Canada for 11 years, my father came for a visit. A few months prior to that visit I accepted Yeshua as my Messiah and returned to believe in God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Like many Israeli Jews, I too, grow up in a Zionist, secular home which did not believe in God. When my father saw my belief, at first he was surprised. Later, when he understood the full commitment I have made he became angry. He did not see my faith as a return to my Jewish roots but as an abdication of my people. His anger turned into a rejection. He, who never believed in God, now refused to see us ever again, repeating, “I don’t believe in God but I will always help every Jew”. The motto of his generation, the holocaust generation. My connection with the family was terminated at his demand. He considered me dead and did not even allow his grandchildren to visit him when they came to Israel 10 years after he visited us.

I returned to Israel three years ago, 42 years after I left it. As I slowly acclimatized myself to the Israeli life style and culture, I began to look for my family. Gingerly, I started to type on Google search engine the names I recalled from memory. Some that I thought I found, had no pictures and I was not sure if these were my relatives. I found a second cousin on my mother’s side. Her daughter and husband, to our great delight, visited us for a weekend. What a wonderful visit that was. We are still in touch. Thank God for FaceBook.

One day, while riding the train, I conversed with a woman who set next to me. When she mentioned the name of the town she lived in, I asked if she ever knew a family that I was looking for. To my great joy, she went to school with a daughter of one of my cousins. She knew in what city this girl lived and what she did. I found her web site. We connected. We visited her home and also met her mother - my cousin. A few phone calls later, and I spoke with a few more cousins.

The last of my father’s generation had passed away two years ago, at the age of almost a 100 years. Nona’s grandchildren are all alive.

Last Saturday, we were invited to a family reunion. Ten of the cousins were present. One lives in California and spoke to us via the iPod and one was unable to attend. Most arrived with their spouses and 3 of the next generation were there as well.

Most of Us Now - (2011. Can you find Willie and me? click once to enlarge)

Willie and I experienced a most loving welcome. The company was great, the food exquisite, the conversation flew, and we promised to meet again especially on High Holidays and family gatherings. I found my family again.

All these years later, God restored my family to me. And when that happened, it felt as if we were always in contact and time passed as if it never was. The memories we shared, were not the same at all, as if we spoke of different occasions. I remembered one side of the incident, while they remembered another.

If our memories are so subjective and so specific, how can we insist that we are right in our perceptions? I understood for the first time that all of our memories must be faulty. If our memories are faulty, then there is no room for holding a grudge, or accepting an accusation, or feeling hurt. Someone must have been wrong in their perception. Or maybe both sides were wrong? After all, who would know the whole story except for God who knows all?

God teaches us to forgive, to ask forgiveness, and to allow time to pass so we forget. It seems to be the best solution to every problem. Forgiveness. It is the best solution for incomplete memories.

I told my sons who are still in Canada about the reunion. About the memories that did not match. About the love we experienced. I asked their forgiveness and told them I forgive them for whatever we remember about anything and everything in our joint lives. Just in case. I wanted them to know that no matter what they choose to do or where they choose to be or what they choose to believe, I love them and I want to keep in touch with them. They are my sons forever. We are family.

I hope and pray that this lesson in love and memory will be passed on to all the generations after me. I want the teaching of God’s love to pass on forever.

Amen

For the Peace of Jerusalem

A call for a global prayer arrived at my email this Shabbat morning. Its date - October 2, 2011.

I wrote back: this call for prayer is too late. We need it now. By October 2nd we will be in the middle of war or just after it. We are under attack NOW from within.

Last night, in Nazareth, people demonstrated against the atrocities in Syria by calling, "leave your own people alone, instead attack Israel" - that's is how they demonstrated against the killing of thousands of Syrians, by calling to go to war against Israel! The villages around us are mostly Muslims and they are at unrest that is noticeable right now.

On the Evening News last night, a few times in different segments, reporting different subjects, warning words sounded that within 3 weeks there will be a call for the entire reserve force - that's almost every able body from 20 up to the age of 58 or thereabout - since we are expecting an all out attack from all enemies nations. Police and army personal warned us, “be ready”.

The Ramadan Fast / Feast started last night and will be going on for the next 40 days. Attack is not expected during that time. However, the Ramadan is completed around Sept 7th and our Jewish New Year begins on September 28th, historically, a time for wars. The police and the army are already preparing for it.

Ashkelon was hit this week again, the area was shelled by Gaza over 50 times this past week and the army had to relocate the Iron Dome to protect the south area (Negev settlements such as Sderot) once more.

The call for massive prayer should go out now. We need it NOW.

Willie had been praying for months, “Cancel the war, cancel the words that are talked about it, cancel the affect of the words of war over the population”.

Join us in this prayer. Join us in cancelling the wars and the words of war in and over Israel and the Middle East.

Pray with us for the Peace of Jerusalem.

Blessings,

Orith in Israel

Don't Doubt

This just arrived from a friend who is battling cancer but trust that God is her healer. I like it, so I am posting it for all of you who are in the midst of a battle. God is with you:

Don't Doubt

Mark 11:22: "Have faith in God!"

Mark 9:23: "If you only believe, ALL things are possible!"

James 1:6-8: "Don't doubt or you will become double minded and unstable in all your ways!"

Mark 11:23-24: "For assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain (cancer) be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says! Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray believe that you receive them and you will have them!"

Heb. 10:35-36: "Therefore do not cast away your confidence which has great reward, for you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise!"

Eph. 3:20: "For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that my God is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than I could ever ask or think according to the power that worketh within me!"

2 Cor. 1:20: "All of His promises are Yea and Amen!"

James 5:15: "The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up!"

Psa. 138:3: "In the day when I cried out, You answered me and made me bold with strength in my soul!"

Psa. 28:6-7: "Blessed be the Lord because He has heard the Voice of my supplications! The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusted in Him and I am helped. Therefore, my heart greatly rejoices and with my song i will praise Him!"