Rock of Galilee

Talk about an exhausting Purim and I didn't even have a bit to drink. It's a good thing Purim sheni is coming up soon for those of us who were driving on regular Purim. We know about Purim sheni because of a gezera shava between the 15th of Nissan and the 14th of Adar. As everyone knows, gezera shava can be one off.

Starting from the end of our Purim, we somehow arrived safely after a thoroughly exhausting day. The last Purim thing we did was give Shalach Manos to Jameel's brother-in-law. Rumor had it that Jameel was spotted in the village where we were eating so we rushed over after we finished the meal with our shalach manos and digital camera to see if maybe he removed the big yellow smiley face for Purim. He must have heard the paparazzi was coming and he left 5 minutes earlier. The guy who answered the door was Jameel's brother-in-law so I gave him the mishloach manos and wished him a happy Purim.

The seuda was great. My wife made EssigFleish (which means eat meat in yiddish) a combination of meatballs and a stringy meat roast cooked together. My sister made spicy steak poppers that were delicious. If you want to try it, post on her blog asking for a date (boys only). If you make it to the third date you may even get it cooked for you. (Past performance is no indication of future results.) There was plenty of other food going on, but those were the highlights. I successfully passed the merlot challenge when I was easily able to tell the difference between Petit Sira and Merlot, though that was the only thing I had to drink :-(.

Before the seuda we spent some quality time with a friend from high school (and his family) who was dressed as charvorna. I had to give 2 shalach manos according to the law so before heading over to his house I went over to fellow blogger Rafi G's house with a basket. He isn't so hard to find. Just drive around his village asking people where Rafi's house is. Everyone knows him. (In Hebrew you would say "Aifoa Rafi?" But since nobody there speaks Hebrew they would just look at you blankly)

By this time we were all quite exhausted. The children could barely stand and I was driving with my eyes closed. (don't worry, we have the new auto pilot system in our car.) They weren't ready for us at the seuda so we decided to go deliver our mishloach manos. I had planned on giving 3, which ended up being good because the last one wasn't delivered until after Purim was over, so it didn't count. I had thought about going hiking because there are some caves in the area that we haven't been in yet, but when I suggested it my children gave signs of revolt.

My brother's kid's bris was a lot of fun. It was a multi-cultural affair which included the great uncle singing piyutim or something and everyone getting a leaf.I think the leaf was to symbolize the fact that God gave Adam a leaf to cover himself when he realized he was naked and its a sign that this baby should not walk around uncovered. The baby was given a fairly settlery type of name which might have deep kabbalistic meaning. The first name is actually a biblical name and is mentioned in the birchat Yaakov for Yehuda. The second name is also mentioned in the Torah in a number of places. My family, Airtime's family, my sister and the father of the baby were the only ones who came dressed for Purim in costumes, which the mother of the baby had said was appropriate, and the grandmother of the baby wanted to know if we were dressed that way because we had just been on a tiyul.

We made it to Shacharis in Modiin and my children were very excited because was davened in the shul where the Macabees heard the Megilla (or somewhat close by). To get there on time, we left our village at 5:05 AM. The plan had actually been to leave at 5AM, but due to some compromising we were 5 minutes late. Those 5 minutes were critical as we got to the shul exactly 5 minutes late. But still 30 minutes before megilla.

We missed our community Purim party because we were planning on waking up at 4:30 to leave. We ended up setting the alarm clock for 4:35. While I was sad to miss the Purim party I was happy that I didn't fall asleep on the road. My dear wife brought along a large hot chocolate in a Dunkin Donuts travel mug, so I would survive the trek.

I drank coffee in Modiin and it was horrible.

Today, Shushan Purim, I'm back at work. I'll leave the pre Purim story for another time.