Holidays: Birthday, Shabbat and Pesach

When you’re in Israel and your birthday is on Friday of the weekend that Passover starts, it’s like hitting the tri-fecta! I was enroute to Ramat Harsharon for a Pesach Seder with the Kobrovsky’s. Cara suggested traveling on Thursday due to the holiday combo: Shabbat and Pesach.

When my friend (and fellow Sar-El-nik) Wayne offered to pick me up in Jerusalem it seemed like a birthday present in itself. Actually finding each other at the Central Bus Station might have been a Seinfeld episode! It may have related to the last line on the directions that said, …”Turn R onto No Name St.” The cell phone calls were fast and furious; we eventually found each other.It was a hallelujah moment!

Traveling by car felt luxurious! We celebrated my birthday in Tel Aviv – great food, too much red wine and a walk on the beach.
Sister Gail called to sing Happy Birthday and was bemoaning the fact that the chocolate cake would not be arriving in Israel. We laughed about it. A little later when we went in search of chocolate cake, there was absolutely none to be found. Not one little hametz of cake! We settled on chocolate ice cream!


We made our way to Ramat Harsharon without getting lost! Wayne and I bid farewell as he was returning to Texas and I would be going on an excursion to Jordan after the Seder. Being back at Cara and Asaf’s felt like I was returning home. The kids provided hours of entertainment.

We met Asaf’s family for Shabbat dinner at a restaurant on the beach in Jaffa. I delicately dissected a fish for my birthday (a first!) and Etty bought some puppets from a hearing impaired man. She wanted us to think they were for the kids, but she was having too much fun!

Feeling the need for a little exercise before the Seder, I headed out on a walk to the center of town. There was a Strawberry Festival in Ramat Harsharon – these are some of my favorites!

























While Cara was busy making macaroons and dipping grapes, I played with the kids.
First the slide, then the bikes and when Yair disappeared into the house, surprise! Mia and I shared the grapes.

As I said before, hours of entertainment!




We washed my clothes one more time and Asaf played barista and made a beautiful cappuccino for me. Caffeine would help the long night ahead!


Cara “prepped” me for the evening – “pace yourself”. She was also kind enough to provide a Haggadah (prayer book) with phonetic transliteration for me. It would be a strictly Hebrew affair.

The Passover table was very long and very lovely. I had a respectable showing reading my portion as twenty-five others were holding their breath! The food was fabulous and abundant. Nice dessert platter,huh? I did pace myself.







An event that could only happen in Israel, Elijah arrived…




we finished the Seder with songs and Mia and her sabra (grandfather) were leading the family.

In the wee hours of the morning, we were calling taxi companies for someone to pick me up at 6:15am for a rendezvous to go to Jordan. Five calls later, we found one company who would make an “appointment”. With each call, the price increased!

With little sleep, my bags were packed and I was ready to go “on time”. I met Malka’s husband, Ken and Raffi at the Arlozoroff bus station. We made a brief stop at the Hotel Adiv in Tel Aviv to leave my suitcase. I would be staying at the hotel my last night in Israel, and they were kind enough to store my suitcase. I had a small bag to make the border crossing easier.

The ride to Yitzhak Rabin border crossing was easy, however, most of the coffee shops were closed. Of course, it was Pesach! We did manage to find one open café and at the second stop in the Negev, the Yotvata café was open. Yippee, ice cream for breakfast!
As we left the café, there was a police checkpoint. I don’t think the officer was happy that I thought of it as a Kodak moment.

Next stop - Jordan
And the adventure continues….