Dear Everyone,
We just spent a lovely Shabbos with Rabbi Reuven and Rebbetzin Chaya
Grodner, Leah’s cousins. To my kids they are Dod Reuven and
Doda Chaya. R. Reuven picked up Leah and the kids from the Merkaz
Klitah and drove them to his home. As there was not enough room in
the car for my family and both Anton and I, I decided to keep him
company and take a bus with Anton.
Funnily enough, Anton and I met Robby Davis at the Tachanah Merkazit
at about 5pm on Friday afternoon. He is looking very fit and happy.
He was on his way to Beit Shemesh to spend Shabbos with his sister
and her family.
Anton and I caught the 5.10 bus out of the Tachanah Merkazit to Maale
Adumim. The bus takes a circuitous route through Maale Adumim before
returning to the entrance of Maale Adumim. It then heads off in a
different direction through Maale Adumim (which was quite confusing
given that both Anton and I thought that we had a severe case of de
ja vu!) but we managed to get off at the right stop. In fact, we disembarked
at the “Paz” petrol station in the middle of Maale Adumim.
There was a “Kanyon” (a mini-Chadstone-like shopping center),
which was closed, and lots of palm trees. There was nobody about and
it was really hot and it felt like we had been plonked in the middle
of nowhere. We found a phone, guessed the Grodner’s phone number
(!) and Rabbi Grodner came to pick us up. His car has air-conditining,
Baruch Hashem!
It was a 15 or so minute drive from Maale Adumim to his Yishuv, Kfar
Adumim. The roads wind through the Judean mountains and when we reached
his home at the end of the Yishuv, all you can see are the rolling
hills of Midbar Yehudah, the Judean Desert. As we stepped out of the
car, Rabbi Grodner gave us a “tour” of the desert vista.
As you stand out the front of his home, looking south-west, you can
see faintly in the distance the buildings of Neve Yaakov, where Leah
and Ben live (I waved but they didn’t wave back - how rude!).
Directly in front of the Yishuv are two smaller Yishuvim. One has
about 10 families or so, and is a direct offshoot of Kfar Adumim.
The other one, a bit further away, is a really small Yishuv of only
4 families. Apparently it doubled in size over the last year from
2 to 4 families. To the East you could see another Yishuv (I can’t
quite remember its name) and further East you can make out Jericho
on a good day. The Yishuv “Mitzpeh Yericho” is located
somewhere between Kfar Adumim and Jericho itself. Mitzpeh Yericho
is a thriving community of about 200 families or so and is rapidly
growing. “Wadi Kelt” runs north-southish directly below
the Yishuv and is the ancient border between the lands of the tribe
of Benjamin and the tribe of Yehudah.
Friday night at the Grodners was lovely. There is only one Shule on
the Yishuv where we davened on Friday night. We sat on the right side
of the shule near an open window. There was a very strong breeze blowing
from across the desert and it was surprisingly refreshing. Rabbi Grodner
quoted a passuk that says: the air of Israel makes you wiser. I told
him that it works. He asked how so. So I replied that I learned something
new already! The winds really picked up during davening and I imagined
my tefillos flying through the air, over the desert and up to Shamayim.
It was very exhillirating. From where we were sitting we could see
the sun slowly setting behind the mountains until it became no more
than a dull glow and then darkness. When we walked home, I noticed
how pitch black the desert had become. Aside from the few smaller
Yishuvim, the desert is uninhabited - such large tracts of land are
completely empty.
We ate our Friday night meal in the Sukkah, strange as it sounds.
The Sukkah is really an annexation to the house and is enclosed by
perspex and fly-wire walls. The roof is made of fly-wire (removable
for Sukkos, of course) and the winds that come in off the desert really
cool you down after the hot day. The position of the Sukkah and the
configuration of the perspex and fly-wire walls mean that you get
a nice breeze but not really gusty winds. It was very relaxing.
Rebbetzin Chaya is a great cook. She is in the middle of writing a
cookbook and people call her from overseas to ask her for recipes.
Her baking is outstanding and my stomach and I enjoyed it very much
(not to mention the barbecued chicken ala Rabbi Grodner!) The Rabbi
gave a few divre Torah at the table and I was glad that I’d
studied up on the Parsha so that I was also able to contribute. Anton
wowed us all with his nigunnim (Chassidish and otherwise) and we were
all amazed that despite the fact that we were from Australia and the
Grodners are from Israel (20 yrs prior in the US) we all knew the
same tunes for the zemiros.
I woke up to join Rabbi Grodner for the early minyan, which started
at 7am. The minyan was very nice and I had the honour of an Aliyah.
Immediately after davening there was a very short kiddush before we
returned home to make kiddush for the rest of the family, eat Challah
and entree. After a short rest Rabbi Grodner, Rebbetzin Chaya and
I returned to Shule at 10.30 for the Rabbi’s gemorrah shiur
in Ivrit. We learned Masechet Shabbos, about lighting Channukah candles
(it had to do with quality requirements of Shabbos candle oils compared
to Channukah candle oils). I was surprised that I could follow the
entire shiur and even ask questions and participate in the discussion.
After the shiur I asked the Rebbetzin if the Rabbi specifically spoke
in easy Hebrew and she said that he used the level of Hebrew he always
does, which is of a fairly high standard. The Rabbi was also surprised
that my level of Hebrew was good enough to participate, it was very
encouraging.
Anton had gone to the 8.30 minyan and returned home shortly after
we did from the shiur. We ate main course and dessert (really juicy
melons and ice-cream!) and the Grodners went up for a shluf. I stayed
awake for a short while to review the parsha with Onkelos (a minhag
I picked up from Binyomin) and then hit the sack, myself. I took the
kids to a wonderful park just down the hill, which they enjoyed tremendously
(and were able to let off a lot of energy). At 5.30 I attended another
gemorrah shiur in Ivrit in the Rabbi’s sukkah on Masechet Berachos
and then another shiur in Ivrit at 6 on a different chapter of Masechet
Shabbos. Mincha at about 6.30 with the two boys (they helped me do
Pesicha, which they loved) followed by Seudah Shlishit back at the
Grodners and then Maariv.
The kids enjoyed the Shabbos, except Racheli was a bit scared of the
desert. She said that she didn’t like the mountains. So Zvi
suggested that we hire one of those construction companies to come
by and flatten the area! Racheli thought it was a good idea, but the
Grodners preferred to keep the view!
Rabbi Grodner organised for Anton to take a ride back to the Old City
with someone who was going in that direction, while he drove us back
to the Merkaz Klitah.