Toto, We're not in Shushan Anymore!

Seat belts still fastened?  We continue.  

So Purim was very fun.  The whole city seemed to be up for a party. When Chaya and I went out the Saturday night before Purim, everyone working in the shuk was dressed up.  And these are not religious people.  For the week before Purim you see people walking in the streets wearing silly things.  People working in stores and restaurants add silliness to what they are wearing.  It seems like the children are dressed up for a month.  Lots of face paint.

Minnie mouse ears and devil horns are big.

So after our day of touring Jerusalem, we made our way to our shul, Nitzanim, for megillah reading. It was so packed in the women’s section that women were literally standing in the aisles.  Zoe was sitting on a step.  I was worried that we would not hear everything but he was a good reader and got the job done quickly.

Unfortunately, it was raining which put a damper on festivities around town.  People say that it can be a big party with people hanging out in the streets but the weather really was not good.  Zoe had a school party.  Hannah was at home in Givat Shmuel and had celebrated regular Purim because Tel Aviv U. had their first day of the semester on Shushan Purim.  Seth ventured out to check on the happenings and Chaya and I were a little pooped out.

The next morning, Zoe and I made it to a women’s megillah reading at Ramban.  It was very nice.  I found this article from The Jerusalem Post interesting.The idea that women’s readings started in the States but are now so big here tells you a lot about the trends right now in Orthodoxy.

We hope all of you saw our Fake News Purim shpiel.  We apologize to those of you who missed the “fake” part.

We had a lovely Purim Seudah (meal) at the Pollocks with Benjamin’s parents, Scott and Karin. Homemade pizza and Ben and Jerry’s.  What could be better?

I know we were supposed to get drunk but I was pacing myself. The next day, at 8:30 AM, bright and early, our car and tour guide, Alon Yitzhaki, were arriving for our personal wine tour in the Judean Hills.  Alon is a sommelier who works in a fancy restaurant in Tel Aviv and also has a wine tour company.  He was our host for the day.  

There are three wine regions in Israel:  the Golan Heights, the South/Negev and the Judean Hills.  I chose the Judean Hills because it is closest to Jerusalem for a day trip but also because it has the richest, oldest history of wine-making.  To make a long story short, this area of ancient Israel was a major wine producing region for centuries for several reasons:  the climate, its location -- as wine was sold along the trade route between Mesopotamia and Egypt -- and during Roman times taxes were paid in wine provided for the sitting Roman army.  These were heavy taxes demanding a lot of wine to keep the soldiers happy.  People traveled from all over the ancient world to Israel to be trained in wine-making.  Wine production here was strong until the 7th century, i.e. the Muslim conquest.  

This country was bereft of vineyards and wineries until the mid-nineteenth century.  Thank you Tepperburg’s!  And more famously, in the 1880’s --  thank you Baron Rothschild!  But now the wine is flowing and world class.  We visited three wineries:  Nevo, Tzora, and Tzuba.  Tzora was our favorite.  We learned a lot about how wine is made, the different types of wine, how to drink it, etc.  It was great fun.

Here are some action shots of us during the day.

Just so you know, it is not easy to taste so much wine.  I learned to spit and did some of that.  Chaya did not and by vineyard 3, her taste buds were not as sharp as needed.  But we spent the end of the day eating lunch at Shoresh with a spectacular view overlooking their vineyards – reviving.

It was wonderful.  Thank you to Chaya for this gift of a day.

A little interlude that night.  Zoe had signed up to do the 5K of the Jerusalem Marathon.  She had been training and we needed to pick up her runner’s kit before the race that Friday.  So after Chaya and I got home, Zoe and I made our way to the Pais Arena where they were holding a runners’ expo and distributing the kits.  We had a lovely ride with our GETT driver, Yermiyahu,  where I got to practice my Hebrew which is always ridiculous while Zoe is around because her Hebrew is so good.  I only embarrassed her a little.  I think.

I bet you think that going to an arena in Israel to pick up a packet for a marathon with 30,000 runners would be a stressful, torturous experience. NOT!  So well run and pleasant.  Zoe wanted to write to Michael Bloomberg and tell him how well it went.  I took more pictures of the process just to further embarrass Zoe. Great ride home on the bus and I think Zoe was starting to get excited for the race.

Wednesday morning.  Up early.  Coffee for Chaya and almond croissant for me from Lechem shel Tomer.  And then we made our way to the White City, i.e. Tel Aviv, for two days of exploration.   And when I say White City, I really mean it.  The first thing we did after checking into the lovely Rothschild Hotel was make our way to the Bauhaus Center on Dizengoff Street.  Besides having a great gift shop, you can rent an audio walking tour that begins with a movie in their basement.  Then they hand you a map and send you on your way for an hour long walking tour.  Here is an “action shot” of Chaya on the tour.

So Tel Aviv is called the White City because of its endless urban landscape of monochromatic white Bauhaus/International Style buildings that were built in the 30’s.  There are over 4000 such buildings and Tel Aviv has been designated a World Heritage Cultural Site by UNESCO.  There is a big preservation campaign underway and it makes a huge difference when the buildings have been restored.  It is wonderful to see.  A few of the buildings had “for sale” signs in front advertising apartments and I was very tempted to go shopping.  Even Dizengoff Square is currently being refurbished to its original beautiful circular design and I am excited to see that on a return visit in the future.

All that culture made us hungry. I know that people complain that there are not a lot of kosher restaurants in Tel Aviv but there were plenty along Dizengoff when we were walking; we went into an amazing hummus and grill hole-in-the-wall that could not have been better.  We were looking forward to walking off our lunch but the skies started to turn grey so we decided to take out our umbrellas and walk to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art to take cover.  It was a wonderful way to pass a rainy hour or two and when we emerged, the sun was out.

After a GETT mishap, we decided to just walk back to the hotel which was very pleasant since Chaya is an excellent navigator and we did not spend even a second being lost.  A big thumbs up for the Rothschild Hotel 96 (there is more than one Rothschild Hotel) which is in a beautifully restored historic building along Rothschild Blvd.; it is wonderful, small, well designed and very service oriented.  In each room, they provided a combination scrap book/photo album of Baron Rothschild’s relationship with Israel which was fascinating and, yes, I actually read it.  I have added Baron Edmond Benjamin James de Rothschild to my list of Jewish heroes. He might be at the top.  I did know about him but, wow!  The Jewish people are just really lucky sometimes and he is an example of the right person at the right time making a world of difference.  

So we were supposed to meet Hannah at a restaurant called Rendezvous but upon arrival it was closing for a private party.  I mention this because it looks like a really nice place and should be checked out on your next visit.  It took some research to find a newer exciting kosher restaurant so I was disappointed but we decided to make it easy and went back for sushi.

Here we are.  Chaya took the pic.

The next day was all about our feet and how far they could take us.  We started on Rothschild Blvd (See these shots from our hotel balcony) and just kept walking.  Our first goal was the Carmel Market, Tel Aviv’s version of the shuk.  Crazy, overwhelming and filled with a lot of junk.    There is food and produce as well, but also lots of cheap goods for locals and chazurai for tourists.  Then onto Neve Tzedek which is just lovely urban living.  Really beautiful. And then we continued to make our way to old Yafo.  

I suggested to Chaya that we walk along the beach so she could air out her lungs before her return to NYC. What a treat.  It was a spectacular day.  The sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky. There was an intense breeze off of the water but it felt great.  We passed lots of Arab school children on school trips and watched some intrepid Russians plunge into the water.

Old Jaffa or Yafo has lots of history.  It has been a port for thousands of years, mentioned as the spot of Jonah’s embarkation, and a major site of Allenby’s defeat of the Ottoman Empire.  Here is the picture we took looking at Yafo.  And here is the picture taken with Yafo at our backs of the modern Jewish city of Tel Aviv that grew in its shadow.

Yafo is fun to walk around and has a crazy flea market that some of you may have been to.  There is some great stuff here and great food.  I have no idea if this stuff is overpriced but it was really fun to walk around.

Walked all the way back to our hotel where I had to say goodbye to Chaya.  She was spending the evening with relatives and flying out that night.  Chaya had not been here for ten years and a lot goes on here in that time.  It was a treat for me to be a tourist with her.

I made my way to Arlozorov Station for the bus to Jerusalem.

Stay seated.  The story continues.