The City of Ra’anana has kept in pretty good contact with us through the COVID-19 pandemic. We get regular text message updates on WhatsApp and also emails. As an example, this was an email I received a couple of weeks ago with 25 questions and answers about school starting back up after the lockdown we…
Read moreReading Noah
The parsha (weekly reading from the Torah) this past weekend was Noah and tells the story of Noah’s Ark and the Flood. As I’ve been learning more Hebrew I’ve been trying to read the weekly parsha as much as I can in Hebrew, using the English translation only when necessary. So this week during my…
Read moreOut of Quarantine (again)
We are finally out of quarantine after returning from our US trip two weeks ago. First we went grocery shopping. And I have to say I’m continually just amazed by the produce here. I get that back in the US I didn’t go grocery shopping so much whereas here I have, so maybe that’s just…
Read moreMindfulness?
“Hi all! Happy Wednesday!First, on the positive front, I was very pleased to see XXXX working hard to get the message out that despite XXXX dropping their masking requirement, it is still one of the best things we can do to keep our families, neighbors, and city safe…This is one of the reasons I write…
Read moreNot Taking Pictures
Two things happened to me during trips back to the US, both having to do with taking, or not taking, photographs. The first was when I went for a walk outside on a shabbat afternoon. It was really beautiful outside in the desert and as I walked by the stunning views I regretted not having…
Read moreLooking At US High Schools
We are looking at US high schools for our kids in the event that we come back to the US (Phoenix, AZ) for their high school years. There is a great STEM public charter school in Phoenix and there is also a private college prep school, PCDS (Phoenix Country Day School). PCDS has small class…
Read moreLockdown Number Two + Quarantine – At The Same Time
We are back in Israel after our trip to the US. We returned right in the middle of lockdown number two. Interestingly, the Hebrew word they use here for lockdown is seger – סגר which technically means closure; not quite as dramatic a statement as “lockdown.” And not only that, but our whole family (since…
Read moreSize and Scale
Coming back and forth between Israel and the US has made me thing about size and scale. One of the first things I noticed coming back to Arizona was the overall scale of things. The rooms are very big, the ceilings are very high, the streets are very wide, the distances are very long, etc….
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