Prolog

In 2009, Amit, my nephew celebrated his Bar Mitzvah and, as a birthday gift, I took my granddaughter Ya’ara with me to Israel, to be part of the celebration. (http://aviramblogisrael2009.blogspot.com/)

My grandson Elan, who was only 3 years old at the time asked me: “When are you going to take me with you to Israel?” and I promised him that when he will also be 7 years old I will.

In August 2013, Matan (Amit’s brother) celebrated his Bar Mitzvah and we planned a visit along Elan and Yaara.

Since we had a 12 hours layover in Rome, Italy we opted to tour the old city instead of waiting in the airport.

Part 1 – Rome

After a 12 hours flight, we landed in Rome, Italy at 9:00 am. A driver was waiting for us and we headed to the old city. The driver dropped us off at the Vatican and we arranged for him to return at 7:00 pm, to take us back to the airport.

The rest of the day we simply walked.

We visited St. Peter’s Square, The Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Castle Sant'Angelo, Pantheon, and Piazza Navona.

The driver was waiting for us as planned and took us back to the airport and few hours later we landed in Ben Gurion Airport. My brother Ronen and his wife Yudit were waiting for us.

Part 2 – Israel

We landed in Tel Aviv Airport at around midnight. Ronen & Yudit were waiting for us.

We rented a car and headed to Tel Aviv and to the apartment that Simona & Yael Tal let us use during our stay. The place was right in the middle of the city, a short distance walking to the beach, the main market (Shuk Ha-Karmel) and Dizingoff Center Mall.

We found the house without any problems but had a problem in finding a parking spot. After a long search (about an hours), I parked illegally at a bus stop, after was assured by few locals that on Friday night it is okay to park there as the bus companies do not run on Shabbat.

We went to sleep at around 2:00 AM.

Visiting My Mom

On Saturday, at around 10:00 am, Emly came over with coffee and burekas (dough filled with feta cheese). We haven’t seen Emly for quite awhile and it was quite emotional.

At around 12:00 we headed to my mom’s home in the city of Holon. I haven’t seen my 90 years old mom for about a year and a half. We were pleased that she is doing good considering the fact that she is sick with Alzheimer.

Dinner at Simona

We returned to the apartment and took a nap for the rest of the afternoon.

Simona invited us to dinner and we headed to her home. Once again, we had an emotional event as we haven’t seen my cousin Simona, my niece Ortal and my nephews Amit & Matan.

Dinner was SUPERB!!

Visiting Cemetery in Netanya

Today we visited the cemetery in Netanya, where Tova’s parents were put to rest.

Ha-Carmel Market (Shuk Ha-Carmel)

After a delicious lunch at Ha-Lev Ha-Rakhav we shopped at the market.

Bar Mitzvah – Part 1 (Jerusalem)

We woke up and headed to Jerusalem where we met Ronen, Yudit, Ortal, Shachaf, Amit and Matan. After checking in the hotel we headed to the Western Wall for the Bar Mitzvah Ceremony.

The ceremony started when a couple of guys, dressed with white robes, led us from the gate to the Kotel (Western Wall) where Matan's Rabbi was waiting for us and guided us through the ceremony.

The ceremony took about 2 hours and we then visited the tunnel under the Old City, which was discovered recently. It included some structures that were built by Herodian.

We ended up at the Old City’s market and walked around the narrow streets.

Lunch was served at Kedma.

After a short rest at the hotel we headed to the Sultan Pools where we enjoyed a performance by Matti Kaspi and Riki Gal followed up by a short walk to the City of David.

We watched a spectacular event next to David’s Tower: The Night Spectacular is a 45-minute light-and-sound display using the walls beneath the Tower of David as a backdrop, but a simple written description doesn't really do the concept justice. It's hard to fully conceive of what a titanic expanse of age-old monolithic city wall looks like when used as backdrop for the movies until you've seen it done. The moving images, sent from 20 projectors and two projection rooms, tell a wordless, politically neutral pictorial tale of the history of Jerusalem from the time of the Israelite kings down almost to the present day, treating viewers to dramatically larger-than-life reenactments of the deeds of David, the Romans, the monks, Muhammad, the Crusaders, Suleiman the Magnificent and the rest of the historical family. The action hums along a booming orchestral soundtrack by French composed Etienne Perruchon (the display itself is the product of a French multimedia company, Skertzo). It's better than any fireworks show, and while it is child-friendly, adults can enjoy the history lesson and technological wizardry on display

Visiting Friends (Yudit in Zichron Yaakov and Roni Sadeh in Sde’ Yaakov)

The next morning we drove from Jerusalem to visit Yudit Rivner, our friends from the times we lived in Zichron Yaakov, and had a fabulous time reminiscing on the old times.

Our next stop was Sdeh Ya'akov where another friend lives; Roni Sadeh.

The kids had so much fun in her beautiful home and spent most of the time in the pool.

Dinner at Benny Ha-Dayag in Port of Tel Aviv

We arrived to Tel Aviv at around 6:00 and after cleaning up and changing our clothes we headed to dinner at Benny Ha-Dayag, where we met with David, Emly’s boyfriend and Simona & Yael.

Touring Jerusalem with Emly

We woke up in the morning and drove to Jerusalem with Emly where we met our friends Shaike & Chana for lunch.

We then entered the Old City via Damascus gate and walked through the famous market, ending up in Jaffa gate. At one point we entered the Austrian Hospice for beautiful views of the Old City.

The hospice was founded in 1857 and officially opened on 19 March 1863 and is the oldest national pilgrim house in the Holy Land.

At night, we returned to Tel Aviv.

Bar Mitzvah – Part 2 (Rishon Le-Zion)

The reception for Matan’s Bar Mitzvah was in Rishon Le-Zion at the Coliseums Club, which is owned by his brother Shachaf.

We met many guests, some whom we haven't seen for years. It was great.

Next we headed to Hertzelia to meet with Tova’s sister-in-law Irit Okladek and her niece Omer Okladek.

We ended the day at Herzelia’s Marina.

Wingate Institution with My Brother Ronen

My brother Ronen teaches basketball at the Wingate Institute.

We woke up and headed to the Wingate Institute to watch my brother coaching teenagers with basketball techniques.

Wingate Institution (B.A.D 8) With Ishai & Yaffa

Not far from where Ronen coaches we were invited to a ceremony by the IDF. This ceremony is for those who graduated a course in Fighting Abilities.

Ishai, My cousin, was one of the speakers. His daughter Ya’ara Meir was killed in a terrible accident in 2003. My granddaughter Ya’ara was named after her and his speech was very emotional as many of the tough soldiers tried to hold their tears when he introduced our Ya’ara.

After the ceremony we all drove to Kfar Tavor to Ishai & Yaffa's home not before a stop in the city of Afula for a delicious Shwarma and Falafel.

The next day, after lunch, we headed to Alfei Menashe to the beautiful home of Danny & Chana Botensky and after a delicious dinner we returned to Tel Aviv.

Jaffa

A phone call from Emly brought some bad news. Emly was riding on a rolling board, fell and broke both of her hands. The incident happened next to her apartment in Jerusalem. David went there and brought her to Tel Aviv, to his apartment.

I went to pickup Emly as she needed to go back to Jerusalem to be checked again and to settle her account with the emergency room.

Before heading to Jerusalem we visited the Old City of Jaffa.