Friends and Fun

Oh, where to begin?  So I will try and relay all of my exploits but not necessarily in the right order.

I have had big college guidance adventures.  While I am here, I want to visit Israeli universities that my American students are interested in, so I made arrangements to visit Bar Ilan University and IDC Herzliya.  Two weeks ago, I traveled to Ramat Gan to get a tour with Josh Weixelbaum, the Director of International Student Recruitment at Bar Ilan, who spent a day with me.  

The HIGHLIGHT of the day for me was being greeted by Hannah Ruby as I got off the bus.  She was using the Bar Ilan libraries to study for finals, as the university is right next door to Givat Shmuel.  For those of you who do not know, Bar Ilan is the largest national university in Israel and it is also the only religious one, meaning that students are required to take Judaic courses along with their general studies program.  Not everyone who goes there is religious nor are they even Jewish.  It is a very good university and they have an international program that is taught in English.  That is what I was going to check out specifically.  So Josh drove me around in a golf cart and introduced me to students and staff.  Most of the Farber students who are studying right now in Israel are at Bar Ilan.  Partially, that is a practical choice based on where they live (Givat Shmuel) which is also really a social choice.  When you are on your own as a new immigrant, having a community is so important. Anyway, I really liked the school.  It is a nice campus and they are trying to grow the international program.

I had a little down time at one point because Josh went to his office to do some work so I hung out at a BESA conference that happened to be taking place on campus. Some of you might be familiar with BESA but I was not.  It stands for the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.  It is one of the feathers in the cap of Bar Ilan, an academic think tank that is well respected by international governments for its research; it is on the right politically and directs its research toward the government in matters of national security and its work is sought by all sorts for its analysis of the Middle East.  

I was lucky enough to be at Bar Ilan while they were conducting a one day conference called Strategic Challenges in the Eastern Mediterranean.  I sat in on a panel of presenters in English which included Konstantinos Bikas, the Ambassador of Greece to Israel. The fun began after the four presenters opened up the floor to questions.  Guess who was in the audience?  You will never guess. The newly reinstated Turkish ambassador to Israel who was a little miffed that he was not asked to be on the panel.  He was invited to attend, however, and probably last minute, as Turkey and Israel literally just reestablished diplomatic ties about a week prior to this event.  Well, I got to see diplomacy in action as the Turkish ambassador took issue, most respectfully, with the Greek ambassador on his discussion of Cyprus and many comments that were made about Turkey in relation to Russia.  Everyone was very polite and let the Turkish ambassador speak his peace until the end, when the BESA professor said he happily welcomed back the Turkish ambassador, who we all could see was a persuasive and effective diplomat, but the professor took offense at the Turkish ambassador’s comments on Hamas; in that respect he had gone too far.  What fun.

Then this past week, I got the royal treatment at IDC Herzliya. I made my way to Arlozorov Station in Tel Aviv and was picked up by Wendy Keter, the Director Emeritus of IDC’s international program. She drove me to campus, introduced me to the staff of the program, took me around and treated me to lunch.  I know Wendy from her visits to Farber and so arranged this day with her.  It was wonderful and I was so impressed with the international program.  

For those of you who do not know about it, IDC is Israel’s first private university founded 22 years ago and their Recanati International School has really set the bar for international programs in the country.  Very beautiful campus, well run, professional and organized, it feels very different from the 9 national universities in the country.  I think it is a great choice for American students who want a different college experience.  Taught in English, the international program currently has 2000 students from all over the world.  There are an additional 5000 Israelis in the Hebrew language programs.  About 9% of the students are not Jewish but I love the fact that the international school is filled with Jews from all over the world.  86 countries are represented in the program.  The two wonderful women who run the financial aid office let me in on some trends in the Jewish world:  Venezuela has no economy any longer and Argentina is close behind; Brazil as a country is a mess so while the Jewish community there is strong, Jews are still trying to leave; South Africa’s economy is so bad now that while Jewish students want to come to Israel, the rand is making it almost impossible to do so.  I arrived on a day when MASA (a program of the Jewish Agency that grants scholarships to students to study in Israel) declared that they were allocating extensive funds specifically for South Africans because of the economic situation there.

Anyway, amazing place and I highly recommend it.  

Detroiters are still visiting.  Zoe and I hitched a ride with Allison last Monday to visit the Kresch’s in their new apartment in Bet Shemesh. The apartment is beautiful and it was wonderful to see Susie, Eddie, Talya, David and Atara. There is a mall on the lower level of their complex and we went to Waffle Bar for dinner and, in typical Kresch fashion, Eddie insisted that he, Allison and I celebrate our birthdays together in the last days of February since we could not be together in August.  Sparklers came to the table and everything.

Then Julie Sherizen arrived for our giant pajama party that lasted from Wednesday night to Sunday afternoon. Lots of fun catching up, eating, exploring and doing Jerusalem.  After a rainy start the weather got beautiful and the sky turned an amazing Jerusalem blue for the duration.  Here is a picture of us returning with the granny cart after shopping for Shabbat at Pasha (the best Shabbat take out!)  

Here is a picture of us eating at our terrific corner falafel stand.  

Julie got to meet Cobi the wonderful owner who is Israeli with a thirty year sojourn in Australia.  Recently returned, he has been making wonderful improvements to the tiny property on the corner of Pierre Koenig and Rivka.  

Julie has confirmed that לחם של תומר (Tomer’s Bread) is the most magical of bakeries (obviously pictures can't do it justice, but see for yourself)

and that the pickles from the Bet Lechem produce store could indeed be the best pickles in the world.  

Allison, Julie and I spent a perfect Friday morning having breakfast outdoors at Café Kadosh under the awning during a brief downpour.

On our way to breakfast !

And Julie had a special Nitzanim Shabbat where she got to meet our rabbi and ran into former Detroit shlichim, Chen and Amotz.  Then Seth and I put Julie in a cab and sent her on her next adventures.

We have so much to look forward to in the coming weeks but I do not want to give anything away.  You will have to keep reading.

For now, let me just say that so far Adar has proven to be a month filled with pre-Purim joy.  Zoe barely has actual school because her school days are filled with Adar fun and she keeps being let out early.  Hannah has finished her first round of finals.  Amazing!  (Here is Hannah the poster child for Tel Aviv University, sitting center with her friend Tova, as they appear on the TAU website.)

And finally for the merriest moment of all.  Today as I was folding laundry, I glanced out my window to the gan (nursery) next door just in time to view a playground full of Santa’s elves making Adar fun in the Holy Land.  Seth insists that they have no idea who Santa is, let alone his elves, and they just think it’s dress up.  In any case, it was a riot and made me as happy as a holiday can.  And Purim is not even here yet.

So be happy!

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