Although our family's visit got off to a rocky start, we really did have a wonderful two weeks! For those who may not know of our drama, let me recap:
Mom, Dad, Aunt Teresa and Uncle Mark were suppose to arrive on Friday the 5th. Twenty minutes into their flight from JFK, the plane had to go back to NY - an engine blew! Thank God everyone made it safely back to the ground, however due to the fact that ElAl does not fly on Shabbat, they were stuck in NY for 48 hours and could not leave until Sat. night! They arrived on Sunday afternoon. Aunt Teresa was not feeling well before she left and saw a doctor in NY who gave meds for bronchitis. By the time she got off the plane in Israel, she really needed to see a doctor. We took her the next day and it was pneumonia. She spend the next 5 days in bed.
However, once her health improved, everything was back on track. We really had a great time and we were sad to see them go.They had beautiful weather and we packed our days with sightseeing and lots of shopping! It is hard to believe that their visit has come and gone, which means Matt and I only have 4 months and one week left in the Holy Land.
Enjoy the photos!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Photos from Family Visit
Enough to make anyone a little dizzy! Before their plane could make the emergency landing, it had to drop fuel. This was the plane's flight pattern before it landed back in NY.
On the campus of HUC
As we are entering the Old City to go to the Kotel
Dad and Uncle Mark posing with Tiffilin at the Wall.
Aunt Teresa and Erin bargaining in the Shuk.
View of Jerusalem atop the David Citadel Museum
Rachelle and Tamir (Matt's sister and brother-in-law) came to Jerusalem for the day see the family.
Tour through the underground tunnels of the Wall. Major excavation project which takes us on a journey through the history of the First Temple walking alonside the Western wall of the Temple. These tunnels run under the Muslim Quarter of the Old City and span alomost 1/2 mile.
Hanging out in an Aqueduct dating back to the First Temple Period
Evening shot of the Kotel.
Monday, January 01, 2007
One Semester Down - Nine To Go!
Happy New Year Everyone!
Hard to believe Matt has completed his first semester of rabbinical school! Only nine more to go! We are enjoying Matt's two week vacation from school and have had some wonderful opportunities since the break began.
Matt was contacted a few weeks ago by Rabbi Jeff Sirkman, from Larchmont Temple in NY. He was traveling to Israel with a group from his congregation and needed a songleader for a few parts of the trip. Matt led a song session for Friday night dinner and Saturday Havdalah at their hotel, which happened to be right down the street from our apartment! This gave us the chance to meet the incredible members of this congregation and start to get to know some of the families. We then traveled with them Sunday-Monday to the Negev. We were afforded the chance to see so many beautiful sights of Israel we had not yet seen. Next, came the most exciting part of Matt's job - songleading for a sunrise Bat Mitzvah in Machtesh Ramon, the world's largest crater. Although the temperatures were more than frigid, this was an experience we will never forget. Seeing the sunrise over the crater as we were having the Bat Mitzvah was quite a moving experience. We truly thank Rabbi Sirkman and all the members of Larchmont for giving us the chance to travel with them and making us feel so comfortable and appreciated.
Later that week, Matt and cantorial student, David Frommer were given another wonderful opportunity. One of the HUC professors was doing a Bnai Mitvzah on top of Masada and she needed some musical accompaniment. This worked out perfectly for Matt and I because we were planning on going to Masada the same morning for another Bat Mitzvah! One of Matt's Shabaton families from Tifereth Israel in Cleveland was coming here for their daughter's Bat Mitzvah and Matt was planning to surprise her. It all worked out quite well - Molly was extremely surprised and so happy to see Matt and he was able to take part in another beautiful - and very cold service experience.
Lastly, the biggest news out of Jerusalem - SNOW! As you can see from the pictures below, a couple days after Christmas, we had about 3 inches of snow! Its been years since this city has seen snow and it was quite a sight. The city basically shuts down and the driving becomes even worse (if that's possible) than usual. It stuck through the night and melted by the next afternoon. Everyone was outside taking pictures and kids were throwing snowballs. It was our "holy" winter experience! I would say it made us feel right at home - but it seems we have had more snow here than in Cleveland!
We wish you all a healthy, happy start to 2007!
Love,
Erin & Matt
Hard to believe Matt has completed his first semester of rabbinical school! Only nine more to go! We are enjoying Matt's two week vacation from school and have had some wonderful opportunities since the break began.
Matt was contacted a few weeks ago by Rabbi Jeff Sirkman, from Larchmont Temple in NY. He was traveling to Israel with a group from his congregation and needed a songleader for a few parts of the trip. Matt led a song session for Friday night dinner and Saturday Havdalah at their hotel, which happened to be right down the street from our apartment! This gave us the chance to meet the incredible members of this congregation and start to get to know some of the families. We then traveled with them Sunday-Monday to the Negev. We were afforded the chance to see so many beautiful sights of Israel we had not yet seen. Next, came the most exciting part of Matt's job - songleading for a sunrise Bat Mitzvah in Machtesh Ramon, the world's largest crater. Although the temperatures were more than frigid, this was an experience we will never forget. Seeing the sunrise over the crater as we were having the Bat Mitzvah was quite a moving experience. We truly thank Rabbi Sirkman and all the members of Larchmont for giving us the chance to travel with them and making us feel so comfortable and appreciated.
Later that week, Matt and cantorial student, David Frommer were given another wonderful opportunity. One of the HUC professors was doing a Bnai Mitvzah on top of Masada and she needed some musical accompaniment. This worked out perfectly for Matt and I because we were planning on going to Masada the same morning for another Bat Mitzvah! One of Matt's Shabaton families from Tifereth Israel in Cleveland was coming here for their daughter's Bat Mitzvah and Matt was planning to surprise her. It all worked out quite well - Molly was extremely surprised and so happy to see Matt and he was able to take part in another beautiful - and very cold service experience.
Lastly, the biggest news out of Jerusalem - SNOW! As you can see from the pictures below, a couple days after Christmas, we had about 3 inches of snow! Its been years since this city has seen snow and it was quite a sight. The city basically shuts down and the driving becomes even worse (if that's possible) than usual. It stuck through the night and melted by the next afternoon. Everyone was outside taking pictures and kids were throwing snowballs. It was our "holy" winter experience! I would say it made us feel right at home - but it seems we have had more snow here than in Cleveland!
We wish you all a healthy, happy start to 2007!
Love,
Erin & Matt
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