Memories

I still have a lot of memories and thoughts about the trip to Budapest to write up - I haven't forgotten, I just have been very busy at work lately.

In the mean time, I wanted to share this video that I just saw:



בלי נדר I'll write up about the amazing food ee ate and things we saw in Budapest in the next few days.

Education - ושננתם לבניך

We Stayed in an apartment that we rented on Veres Pálné utca. The street was named after the woman who established the first woman's Gimnázium (Academic High School) in Budapest. Her statue adorns the end of the street, a few doors from where we stayed.

The school established by Mrs Veres changed the life of my Grandmother who was among the first Hungarian women to attend high school. Her older sister Ella never went to a Gimnázium, but by the time her younger sister Mårta was high-school age, secondary school education for women was very common.

After settling into the apartment where we were staying, we walked around the area. Dad showed us the Presbyterian school that he attended for 2 years (he switched to the Jewish school when his younger brother Janos was denied entry to the school as they had a quota for non-Presbyterian students).

My father attended this school as it was very close to their home, and it was the school that his grandfather had attended.

We also saw the house where my father's grandparents lived. After the war the house was divided (due to the housing shortage) and my aunt Mårta lived in the other hlaf with her husband Ivan. They stayed there until their death in the 1990s. We also saw the apartment my father lived in before the war (including the window he fell out of as a toddler, he still has the scar on his neck from that almost fatal accident).

Renting a regular apartment in that part of town gave me us a small appreciation of what life may have been like - the style of building apartments with very high ceilings built around a common courtyard (with a tap, which at one time may have been the only working tap in the building).

After walking around that part of Pest for a few hours, we headed to the Jewish Quarter for dinner - but that will have to be my next post.

Budapest - טיול שורשים

Well, I just got back from an amazing three day tiyul with my father and siblings in Budapest - the city my father was born, went to school (until age 15), survived the Holocaust, and most importantly the city where our family's roots are firmly buried.

It was a real insight into the world where my father grew up and helped me to understand where our family comes from.

There is so much to write about it's hard to know where to start, but over the next few days I'll try to write down thoughts and memories, and hopefully will be able to make a coherent retelling of a truly amazing three days.

Shana Tova

Well, we just had a wonderful Chag in Buchman Darom.
I wasn't sure where I was going to daven over Rosh HaShana - I had narrowed it down to three options:

• Minyan Lev Achim, which davens in the Beit Midrash of the Bnei Akiva Yeshiva (about 8 minutes walk from our home)
  
• Hesder Yeshiva, which has its Beit Midrsah downstairs in the Bnei Akiva Yeshiva
• The un-nammed Buchman Darom minyan, which moves from place to place, but davened both mornings of Rosh HaShana in a private home, and in the evenings on a street corner.

Well first night I went to Lev Achim, and it was OK - but nothing special.
I had planned to go to Buchman Darom the following morning, but overslept (they started at 6:30, Lev Achim at 8:00), so I went to Lev Achim, and was again disappointed - a lot of noise, not much singing, and when they tried to sing different parts of the room were singing different tunes.

Second day I made it up to the Buchaman Darom minyan, there were about 40 people there, in someones living room, and I think that it was the best Rosh HaShana davening that I've ever experienced, certainly the best since I left Yeshiva (even though merkaz Modi'in where I davened the last few years was also outstanding).
It was a very "Gush" minyan", and I'm now certainly keen to join the Amuta, and hopefully this wondering homeless minyan will find a permanent, or at least temporary location soon.
It is still not known where they will daven Yom Kippur, but I hope that it'll be better than a street corner as my parents will be with us.

I didn't make it to the Hesder Yeshiva, but was there for slichot erev Rosh HaShana, and IY"H will be back again for slichot tomorrow morning.

One more point about Rosh HaShana - As always, Rabbi Lau's Shabbat Shuva Drosha was outstanding. It's amazing how many people they can pack into the Merkaz Modi'in shul (more of an unfinished basement than a shul),.

Home Sweet Home

Well, we're back home in Modi'in, I haven't had time (or energy) to blog since we got back, but I thought that I could share a few thoughts. Hopefully later in the week I'll be back in a regular blogging routine.

The House - we are delighted with our new house, our immediate neighbors seem nice, and a nice mix of native Israelis, Olim, Dati'im, and not-yet dati'im.

The Neighborhood - we have many friends who moved into Buchman Darom over the past few months, and everyone seems happy with the decision to move here. A large percentage of the neighborhood is religious, and there is quite a high percent of English Speakers (ohh no - please don't tell me that I ended up in Ramat Beit Shemesh or Efrat)

Shuls - well, there aren't ANY - not a single shul in Buchman Darom. There are several minyanim in peoples homes on Shabbat (especially Erev Shabbat), and the Yeshiva in Buchman Tzafon is only a few minutes walk from my house, they seem to have nice Shabbat and weekday minyanim - looks like we'll be there for the Chagim.

Schools - all four kids are in different schools, three of them are in new schools and so far everyone seems happy, although I'm sure that I'll have more to write on this topic in the future

Heat - it's HOT, could someone please turn down the heat outside! We still don't have air-conditioning!

Routine - this week, with everyone back in school we have started to get the family back into a routine, makes life easier for everyone

I've got a lot more to say on all of the above, as well as some thoughts on the Parsha, and Daf Yomi - but I've gotta get a document finished for work.

Daf Yomi and the Titanic

I'm back in Modi'in now and there are a million things that I want to write about - Shabbat in Buchman Darom, the choice of minyanim here, my new neighbours, kids and jetlag, the new school year - and hopefully, when I have time I'll talk about all of the above.

Right now I'm frantically trying to catch up on work, so all I'll add is a quick link related to yesterday's daf.
Yesterday we covered the status of a woman who's husband was lost at sea. One of the most famous cases was of course the Psak of Rav Yaakov Misken who ruled for the wife of Shminon Meizner who was on the Titanic.

I searched the Web for a copy of the Psak, and finally found it using the way back machine and looking at the archives of HebrewBooks.com.

You can view a copy of the Psak here.

Stay tuned for Modi'in-related stuff

Ottawa

Well, we just had a lovely three days in Ottawa with three of the kids (Yael stayed back with her Saba and Savta).

A few highlights:

On Sunday we visited Upper Canada Village, a recreation of a Canadian Village from the 1860s. The kids had a great time visiting the various buildings and speaking to people from that period.
If you have a chance to go, allow extra time in the Schoolhouse, which this kids enjoyed the most.

Monday morning we took the kids to the Museum of Civilization which not only has an IMAX (we saw an amazing movie about the Alps), and a very well done history of Canada, but they have an excellent and educational kids museum which kept the kids entertained for hours.

In the afternoon we took them on a river ride which was, well, a boat ride on a river (go figure) .

Sunday night I took Yehoshua to the Sound and Light Show outside Parliament which I'd also recommend if you find yourself in Ottawa on a Summer evening.

On the way back to Toronto on Tuesday we stopped at Sanders farm which has 10 mazes, all with an educational theme, as well as a wagon ride and other activities - again I'd highly recommend it if you're looking for a full day's entertainment for your kids in the Ottawa region.

While in Ottawa I davened at the Young Israel of Ottawa. Interesting to see that the minyan is being taken over by Chabad - at least half the minyan were chabadnikim, and you can see that they are slowly trying to insert Chabad minhagim into the shul - but I guess that's a topic for another Post - or maybe not (don't get me started on Chabad, I may say something that I'll regret later)