At 10 am, I met with Paul Lipz at the YMCA for another academic interview. Paul was the scholar in residence this past year at Rodef, was a professor for our rabbis at HUC, and immigrated from what was then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe for the geographically challenged) exactly ONE DAY before the Six Day War started. While he was not an American immigrant himself, his experience as one of that generation gave me great insights as well as a great internationalist and comparative perspective to better understand the meaning of American immigration. He's also a professor and is up on all the scholarship in this field. He started reading off books and articles and I wrote like crazy. I'll spend much of Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday at the HUC library locating and reading these selections. Thanks, Paul.
Marci came to join us after Wexner finished and we headed out to get the girls at Camp Ramah at little early. Our friends from the Rodef Trip, Nate, Judy, and Rachel Zilberg, had planned on planting a tree in Israel in memory of Rachel's twin sister who died at age 1 day. Since Rachel celebrated her Bat Mitzvah on the trip, the Zilbergs wanted to do something to remember Arielle, her twin. After a few calls to the JNF, we learned that we could plant our own trees at Yad Kennedy, the memorial to JFK. Trees cost $10/each ($5 for kids). The Zilbergs bought one; we bought one for the girls; another for our parents; and a third for our congregation (Thanks to tzedakah money from the Jaffe family). What a great and meaningful afternoon. We called the Zilbergs at 2:30 am CA time so that they could hear it. They had written up a whole ceremony which they emailed to us the night before. With video camera running, and the cel phone on "speaker," we had a tree planting ceremony and then planted the tree. Nate had sent an image of Arielle's Hebrew name which I printed and then mixed the paper into the soil so her name would literally become part of the tree; and part of new life.
It took much longer than we thought and it was already 2:30 pm before we got back to Jerusalem for lunch. Rebecca and I, especially, were in BAD food ways; especially when we had trouble finding a felafel stand in Jerusalem for some QUICK nourishment. Ah, the joys of travel.
After a few hours relaxing in the room, Marci headed off to the Kotel (western wall) for a kabbalat shabbat Wexner gathering. The girls and I headed to a non-kosher restaurant (and therefore open on erev shabbat) for our anniversary, shabbat, family, not so family dinner. Besides, after a very late lunch and a very high blood sugar number (190 after 4 hours of fasting), I opted for a small light salad. When a BOWL THE SIZE OF TEXAS arrived, filled with all sorts of things, I just declared this the un-anniversary, un-shabbat, un-family dinner, had a few bites and we were out of there is fewer than 30 minutes.
Lailah tov (Good Night)
The only times that I knowingly ate pork in my life... you got it, in the holy land. Your days seem SO packed with meaning. I'm thrilled for you (not that you don't make the most of every day at home!)
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