Pre-Mitzvah Work, Pre-shabbat and Shabbat

It’s 12:15 am as I begin this, after Shabbat. Sorry to leave you all hanging about the poker game; I’ll tease you just a bit longer.

I did get to the Shuk HaCarmel Thursday afternoon, and for those who saw my fb status, I did actually travel by the following conveyances: car to Herzliya, train (3 times) bus (2x) , cab once and sheirut (a mini-bus/shared cab that is sometimes cheaper than the bus and air conditioned) once. I wandered the shuk for an hour, had a great carrot juice (very sweet here, way better that Robeks, feh!) and half a falafel. Got back to Herzliya to go to the Game in Karkur. Great guys, great fun, lost NIS 10.5 (about $2.75) and Yossi and I stayed over at Uri’s since we had to be in the area the next day.

After a quick cappuccino and a couple of small errands, we made our way to Raanana, for an amazing brunch at Makom BaLev for Inge David’s 80th birthday. On our way back to Har Adar, we stopped (just a bit out of the way) at the ever-growing winery of Yossi Yitach at his Katlav Winery. Yossi’s wines are very high end, kosher, and usually out of my price range, but he made it worth the trip. Yossi’s wife Malki is the niece of Tzvi and Ruth Assal in Bethesda (my connection to him, as Ruth was the Kindergarten teacher for both Abby and Michelle). Yossi and I discussed plans for a visiting group of Judean Hills winemakers to DC for the late winter/early spring (I’m on the committee from the DC end of things).

A lovely Shabbat dinner hosted by Yossi and Dina David, including our friends Shlomi and Hila Zadok and their beautiful daughters. Dina is in month two of a professional baking course (5 days a week) and last week was pie week so we had a beef pie and a terrific apple pie, some of Shlomi’s (Ben Hanna Winery) Shalem 2004 (a Merlot varietal) great salads including cole slaw made by Yossi. I crashed toward the end of the evening, the heat and travel catching up with me.

Shabbat in Har Adar can’t be any quieter. I unfortunately got up early enough (6am) to pray outside in the shade, enjoy 2 cups of coffee, read my book (The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, a very enjoyable read) and do the dinner dishes, all before anyone else was awake by 9. We spent the day schmoozing, reading, noshing (I’m trying to lose weight so I kept myself mostly to watermelon, cheese and a couple of crackers) and napping.

I got to Jerusalem by 9:30 or so, ran into Caryn Green from Crossroads, Rachel Lieberman, a friend of Abby’s and the family’s from Potomac, Rabbi Vernon Kurtz, a colleague of my brother’s from Chicago. Not bad for the first 15 minutes in the neighborhood. I avoided all baked goods and ice cream and finished writing this.

Tonight is the Mitzvah Heroes dinner at the Village Green, so there will be lots to report on Monday.

Shavua tov (A Good Week) from the holy city of Jerusalem.