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Small town perfect for biking We finally bought some bicycles.  I already have a nice Cannondale hybrid in storage in Phoenix but I decided to get another one here.  The kids had outgrown theirs and so would have needed new ones anyway.  The first bike store we looked at carried very nice bikes, European brands,…

First official safety announcement from the army, city, and schools We received this WhatsApp message this morning.  All the schools in Tel-Aviv were closed due to the rockets.  It seems they have stopped for now.  In Ra’anana where we live, a bit north of Tel-Aviv, everything was open as usual. But we discussed the news…

Yom HaAliyah Yom HaAliyah was this past week and so we had a celebration in our ulpan.  We sang some songs and discussed the different countries people come from, and took turns telling a little bit about our own Aliyah stories (in broken hebrew, of course 😅) But the main event was the “pot luck”…

Drive-Thru Zoo in Ramat Gan and The Iron Kippah During the Sukkot holiday we spent one of the days with another family we met who has a boy in one of our boys’ class at school.  We went to a drive through zoo in Ramat Gan, just a bit north of Tel-Aviv.  It was really…

Went back to Phoenix to work for a week We’ve now been here for about four months.  When you make Aliyah the government of Israel does give you some money for the first six months to help you get on your feet.  That really does help but its not enough for most people.  Thankfully we…

Bircat Kohanim During chol hamoed – the intermediate days of Sukkot – we drove to Jerusalem to see bircat kohanim.  That’s the priestly blessing given by Kohen’s to this day.  In the US they do it once a year on the high holidays, but in Israel they do it every shabbat.  That means that instead…

The Chaggim Yom Kippur was an experience.  The services were good, the fast was OK, not really different than here, long and annoying etc, but the fact that nobody drives at all in the whole country really does change things.   From our balcony we could see people walking and biking on the highways, and even…

Before Yom Kippur 5780 Our first Rosh HaShana in Israel has come and gone.  Wow, its unbelievable to think how far this past year has brought us.  Literally.  We’ve been here now just over three months. The initial set-up is done, the kids are finally settled into school and we are settled into our ulpan….

Almost Rosh Hashana We just had our last ulpan class before the holiday today. We had class for half the morning then we had a large party/gathering in the auditorium.  We sang jewish and israeli songs led by a group of ulpan students who had volunteered about two-three weeks ago to be in the ulpan…

Election Fever Israeli elections are next tuesday and its starting to heat up here.  I thought I’d share with you some of the election posters I’ve seen around Ra’anana.  As far as “what people are saying here” to be honest I don’t have such a good feel for the political pulse here.  My hebrews not…

School, Ulpan, and Chugim Its midway through our second week of school and ulpan.  The kids are already starting to get used to school.  In that they don’t complain quite as much about being bored all day not understanding anything.  But they are enjoying their ulpan hours during school, and they are allowed to bring…

The produce here is really good.  And we learned how to make shakshuka 😀 The produce here is really good.  You can get it in a variety of large grocery stores but there are also specific little fruit and vegetable stores along the street and they seem to have the best produce.  Honestly, the grocery…