Monday, December 13, 2010

Shalom from Stormy Israel

Written December 13, 2010
 
To my dearest kinderlach, grandchildren, family, friends, neighbor, shalom !
How are you? I am fine. Just nursing a cold I brought with me from Morocco. As it turn out, a drastic weather change in Israel, rain storms & low temperatures,make it more difficult to recuperate. But, on Thursday, I will be leaving for Eilat,  (the city on the tip of the Red-sea, most southern city in Israel, where the temp. today read 23C or 74F )  to bask in the sun...... Tel-Aviv temp.today, was at 14C = 57F at high and 8C =36F low.
 
No matter what I will write or tell about Morocco, I will not be close to the actual experience. The visible conflict of old & new, rich & poor, color & plainness, rainy city of Fez & dry golden Sahara, mountains & valleys, are all mixed with the noise of the markets & the smell of food & spices.  The important part of the tour, was our guide, Micki, who was born in Morocco, speaks the language, well versed in the Geography, History & culture of the land.  At the time of the Jewish expulsion from Spain in the 15 century, many found refuge in north Africa especially in Morocco. However, after the establishment of the state Of Israel in 1948, the majority of the Jewish population had to escape Muslim Morocco. Though, king Mohammad the 5th, the reigning king of the time, was kind to the Jews, the hotile atmosphere at the time was bad for the Jews. In the most beautiful city of Marrakesh, from a population of 35,000 Jews, only 126 persons are left, most are old.
A wonderful event of the trip was, getting up at 4:30 am, one morning day, driving in Jeeps to the edge of the sand dunes of the Sahara, climbing on camel's back, and riding  a camel convoy, ( like post cards) into the desert.  The last high sand dune we did on foot. (even the camels could not make it....) I must stop here and confess : I was helped & pushed from behind by my camel owner... so I could reach a peak. Once there, we sat Until we saw the first sunrise. And what a magnificent site this was. Sahara was GOLDEN.
Because it was a "kosher Tour", we traveled with two (2) cooks. Three meals we ate in Jewish communities (Fez & Casablanca) and on Shabbat we were invited to eat at the home of Isak Ohayon. And what a Shabbat it was, and what meals we ate ???  In the tradition of the Morocco cuisine & hospitality.
 
We celebrated Chanuka in Morocco, so I failed to wish you a happy Chanuka.  However, Last Saturday night, I went with my friends the Hammers, from Nahalal to Haifa. We drove through the Christian-Arab section of the city, and we could tell that X-mas was in the air. 
 
To all of you celebrating the holiday season I wish you:
 
Merry Christmas  a Happy Neyear.   Season  greetings to you all ! ! !
 
I miss you all, Love, Ima, Savta, The Shvig, Estherika, Ludmilla,  me, Esther.