Beach Day, First Time in Decades

Yes, that's me in the water

The other day a couple of friends and I went off for a very short beach day. The last time I may have gotten fully wet in the ocean at a beach was well over forty years ago. I don't remember much about the water, since I was busy taking care of my three daughters who were pretty small at the time. My strongest memory of that day was the awful sunburn I got on my back. It was probably the worst sunburn I've ever suffered. As a child, being the "dark one" in the family, I was never considered sensitive to the sun, so it was a real shock when I found myself burnt.

This week's adventure was different. First of all, it's part of my:

• Why not? Let's do it.
• If not now, when?
• Take advantage of every opportunity.
• Live it up...
• Pleasures of retirement. 
• Etcetera...

We had a full day together starting with our weekly Tanach, Bible studies, then lunch in IKEA, my first visit there. For ages, I've been calling myself: 

"Probably The Only Person Who Has Never Been To IKEA." 

Now my husband is the sole holder of that title. And since he doesn't like shopping, he may hold it even longer than Queen Elizabeth has held hers.

IKEA was chosen as the lunch venue, since not only is it strictly kosher, but it also charges relatively little for a meal. If you're wondering if I bought anything in IKEA, just a little thing to prop up my phone and some paper napkins. I wasn't even tempted by anything else.

Since we had guessed that the beaches would be empty, and we wore modest bathing suits, we went to Palmachim Beach. It was a good choice. The end of summer vacation meant that few people were there. It's also a lovely beach, clean and with all the facilities we needed.

We took turns falling, but I had no problem getting up.

As an extra treat, we had some ice cream. I must admit that I ended up tasting some of the beach water, which was saltier than I had remembered. One thing that surprised me was the oily feel of the water. I don't remember ocean water as oily. Please don't tell me that it's pollution. Since we sat on folding chairs, the same ones we had taken to Shakespeare last week, oops I still have to blog about that, we didn't get full of sand. I must admit that I didn't shower off before leaving. The natural ocean water was a pleasure after three months of pool chlorine.

The trip back to Jerusalem was without delays, and miraculously I made it in time for a Shiloh bus. Again Gd was good to me, since Yermiyahu Street was clear, and the ride home was relatively fast and uneventful.

"Joys of Retirement" for sure. We must do it again.

Medura Lag B'Omer Bonfire, Senior Style

When we first moved to Shiloh late summer 1981, we were among the older residents and the few with children old enough to be in school. Now all of us from that time and many who moved to Shiloh years later, are old enough to be in the 55+ group, old enough to enjoy a special range of activities.

Many of us "veterans," or vattikim as we're called in Hebrew are already retired. Consider us as a whole "young seniors," but last night we were all very happy that our Lag B'Omer midura,  or campfire/bonfire had chairs to sit on. Very few of us would have stayed or been comfortable if we had been expected to sit on old rugs and blankets like the kids, or like we had done easily decades ago.

Just like at the Medura Lag B'Omer Bonfires of old, we sang kumzitz style/genre, Israeli folk songs and told stories, plus some Divrei Torah. Unlike the kids, our menu was mostly fruit and watermelon. We do want to stay healthy active seniors for as long as possible, Gd willing.

Gd willing we'll enjoy many more together.

Chag Sameach!

Adventure on The New Jerusalem High Speed Train

One great advantage of our age and being retired is the opportunity for spontaneity. There are very few strictly scheduled events to worry about. After a lovely lunch in Center 1 with friends from all over the world, my longtime buddy and I decided to take the lightrail to the center of Jerusalem. Since we had a few minutes before the trolly's arrival, she wanted to ask some questions at the nearby Navon Train Station of the new Jerusalem High Speed Train. The young man at Information informed us that "today," meaning yesterday, we didn't need advance reservations to take the new train to Ben Gurion Airport. All we needed was our trusty Rav-kav.

And so, within seconds, we were on our way. The young friendly help staff assisted us in "purchasing" our free roundtrip tickets. We're still young enough to enjoy an unplanned adventure.

We had read about the Jerusalem High Speed Train, which like when the lightrail was new, is offering free rides. I must admit that I had been nervous about the long escalator ride underground. I'm still traumatized by old wooden escalators in the London Underground at Kings Cross to the Northern Line, which I had taken forty-three years ago. I must tell you that these new Jerusalem escalators are wonderful. I felt very safe and didn't feel any ear pressure when we got deep underground to the tracks.

In keeping with the festive mood of the pre-opening of the Jerusalem High Speed Train, we were given little chocolates. It was clear that many of the passengers, including young families, were on the train as a lark, like us, but there were also quite a few who appeared to be legitimate airplane travelers. They had lots of luggage with them.

We sat in the upper part of the train and looked out of the window, but it was disappointing to discover that a large portion of the route was in tunnels. We could see at times that we were speeding much more quickly than the cars of the parallel road.

The biggest time-waster was when we got back to Jerusalem and couldn't find an up escalator. All there seemed to be were a few much-too-small elevators. They were crowded and slow in coming. I think that only one was actually working. If that's so, then Gd willing it should be easier to get up once they're all fully functioning.

For people who live in or near Jerusalem, the Jerusalem High Speed Train is great. To and from Shiloh it isn't. We're actually as close to the airport as we are to Jerusalem. That's another reason why I enjoyed yesterday's adventure. I may never have another real opportunity to take the train.

eating the free chocolate candy

The actual train ride is just over twenty minutes in each direction, and there's a train every half hour.

In just over 90 minutes we traveled to Ben Gurion Airport, walked around the arrivals area and took the train back to Jerusalem.

Living it Up in Retirement, New Life

As many of you must know by now, I'm retired, and I'm having great fun. For the very first time in my life I'm enjoying "school." I'm studying in two different places, Matan and the senior citizens program in Ofra.

One of the extra enjoyable "bonuses" in the Ofra program is our interaction with the students. We study in the girls high school. I like to say that we're a three generation family in the school, since two of my daughters are graduates, I have granddaughters studying there and now, so am I.

Today we heard a presentation by girls studying graphic arts about how they designed the logo for our program.

It has an "eye-catching" wise owl look, which really grabs attention and honors our wisdom. The large Hebrew writing says:

מועד ג
moed gimel (3)
"third chance*"

Followed by:

כיתת וותיקים
kitat vattikim
senior citizens class

The girls chose the gold color for the phrase "golden age," which as you know is one of the euphemisms for the elderly.

We had a wonderful time looking at the graphics exhibit about the special programs in the high school of which ours is one.

*moed is a testing time, and usually there are two, moed alef (1) and moed bet (2.) A euphemism for post-retirement is the "third" stage of life, which is alluded to in the logo's moed gimel.

"60+ is Fun," Getting Together Talking About Wars

Salute to Israel Parade, New York, 1970
NCSY Dance Group
That's me holding the flag. (photographer unknown)

Here in Shiloh new genres of social activities are developing as we get older. One of them is the "60+ is Fun," which can also be called "empty-nesters." Few of us still have children at home, and the children who live at home are adults, too. The group includes retirees and those still working.

There are two reasons for these activities. One is that as the house empties, we find ourselves with empty evenings. And the other is that so many young families live in Shiloh now, we are no longer the "face of the community," meaning that our interests/experiences/needs are different from Shiloh's young mothers of today.

Some of our activities are also for men, but every month or so we gather around someone's table, which fills with nosh, for some discussion or other activity.

Last night we celebrated Yom Ha'atzma'ut, Israeli Independence Day by reminiscing about the 1967 Six Days War. About half of us were in late high school at the time, and we all had very clear and different memories of the war and the tense weeks leading up to it.

We also come from a number of places; half were raised in Israel. I brought these two pictures to show my friends in order to try to give them an idea of what it was like to be a "Jewish activist" and Zionist fifty years ago in New York.

It's a shame that the discussion wasn't recorded, since it had very serious historical value. It was led by a retired History Teacher.

Salute to Israel Parade, New York, 1970
NCSY Dance Group
That's me holding the flag. (photographer unknown)

Wednesday Walking in Jerusalem

Most weeks I wake up in Jerusalem on Wednesdays. That's because I am part of a small Tanach, Bible, learning group that meets in Matan early on Wednesdays. I generally sleep Tuesday nights in Jerusalem, walking distance from Matan. It's a great way to start my day.

After our chevruta learning I go to a class, Isaiah: Prophet of Poetry, Passion and Principle taught by Dr.Yael Ziegler. After that I have a break of about 90 minutes until Biblical Politics: Challenging Assumptions About G-d, Leadership, and Land by Yael Leibowitz.

Weather permitting, I take a walk during the break

I try to keep busy.

"After the Holidays," אחרי החגים

Here in Israel and in some of the Jewish World, there's a frequently heard phrase:

"After the Holidays,"
Acharei hachaggim... אחרי החגים

The "Holidays" referred to are Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Succot and Simchat Torah. From beginning to end, not counting all the preparations, mostly in the kitchen but spiritual, too, this is a period lasting a minimum of three weeks plus to almost two months.

Jews out of the Land of Israel who observe traditional Torah Judaism don't have the twenty-three hour break before Shabbat that I have. They are now in the third week, out of four, in which a two day holiday is immediately followed by Shabbat. We, here in Israel, just had it once with Rosh Hashanah.

sukka partially undone

Since we're not supposed to do any "unnecessary work," like laundering, we have a backlog of dirty wash. I asked my husband to take down the sukkah walls, so I could hang wash easily this morning. So now one wash is already hung to dry in the sun, and a second is being laundered in the machine.

Today, I'll do the side dishes for our Shabbat meals. The meat and poultry were cooked before Simchat Torah.

This coming week begins more of my study schedule. Matan's regular classes will begin, though my senior citizens study program in the Ofra Girls High School began at the beginning of the regular school year with the teenagers.

When I was a high school remedial EFL teacher, this part of the year, from after to holidays until Chanuka, made up the bulk of the time we had to teach all of the year's curriculum. TU B'Shvat was sometimes too soon after Chanukah, and then, if there wasn't an extra Jewish Month of Adar, Purim took over the kids' time much too quickly and lasted a lot longer than you'd expect. Don't forget that almost immediately after Purim comes Passover, and by then the school year is well over, considering how many Bagrut, Israeli Matriculation tests the kids must be prepared for. Honestly, I'm glad to be out of that high pressure wringer. Yes, sometimes retirement has its advantages.

Meeting Some Visitors From China

The other day a neighbor called with an "offer I couldn't resist." 

"Are you and your husband available to speak to a group of Chinese Christians visiting the country?" 

And luckily we were free at the time she needed us. It was great fun. We talked about living in Shiloh and a lot about our town of Shiloh in the Bible.

They were a very friendly and supportive audience. We also got to speak to a number of the group while eating lunch in the sukkah.

I've always loved these little jobs. It's fun for me to talk to groups, especially when they're better behaved than my students had been. I hope we'll get some pictures of us on the stage, and if so, I can post them, too. When I was talking, I could see that some of the audience was recording everything on their phones.

Nowadays very few people use an actual camera. Why should we? The phone cameras are better than reasonably priced cameras and are part of the "package." I'd rather spend a bit more for my phone and get a camera at the same time. I've found that phone camera is easier to control/adjust than the camera is.

I really do appreciate the freedom that retirement has given us. We both now have "small businesses," so that when we're hired for jobs, we can give receipts. And I really do love the fact that I'm not working at Yafiz, since the store is open also on Chol Hamoed, the "intermediate" days of Succot and Passover.

Trying to Learn Names of Local Plants

Growing up in New York, I had a pretty good grasp of the names of the local flora, especially after successfully completing a Girl Scout Badge which required not only recognizing the trees by their leaves, but also their barks. Well over a half a century later, I really don't remember much, but even thirty-forty years ago, when my children were young, it wouldn't have helped much. Here in Israel, I never knew the names of the local plants.

Due to different climates and continents, the native flora here in Israel and my native New York have very little in common. And you can't really expect the same sorts of gardens to grow in both places. I do have roses, which grow in New York, but we just don't give them the care they need to blossom much.

Last Thursday at the "Vatikim," "senior citizens" program in the Ofra Girls High School, a substitute teacher gave us a nice talk about plants according to the month they appear/flower. She'll be teaching my 2nd grade granddaughter this year.

I'm sure that most everyone else in the room knew all the material presented, but for me it was new. So I took pictures in hope to actually remember a bit of it. Here they are:

chazav, flowers before leaves come out

chelmonit named for yolk of egg which is same sort of yellow

marva

rakefet grows in hidden places like between rocks

duda'im, mandrakes mentioned in Bible as good for fertility

I'd need to hear the lecture a few times to remember more.