History DOES Repeat Itself

Ok, I get it, history does repeat itself! Many of you know that my friend Ellen and I used to have this wonderful routine when we were teens; both our families had cabins on a lake where we would spend the summer. Our favorite summertime activity would be to take her small, motored, row boat into the middle of the lake, turn off the motor, claim it was broken, and pick up boys to tow us home! My mother couldn't believe how many times she would see us being towed up and down the lake! What fun...I definitely recommend it for summer fun! Well, yesterday my mom (now 91) and I tried to make it home in the middle of the snowstorm...the snow was coming down heavily and I couldn't get the car up the hill. Well, someone "up there" must have know my background because who showed up but an off duty fireman with a jeep and, yes, you guessed it...he towed us up the hill! Oh my, what a life saver he was because quite frankly, I was not sure how I was going to get mom home! The good news is, we're safe and warm in the house and the streets have still NOT been plowed! Interesting considering the storm started 24 hours ago and ended around midnight! The day has the possibility of a true Shabbat! Welcome to Connecticut in the winter! Actually it is still quite beautiful since the streets are snow covered and everything is still and quiet!

Yoga and Meditation Shabbat

Today was a very special Shabbat/Saturday for me. I'm not a regular synagogue goer; for some reason I can't seem to connect there. For the past few years, Temple Beth El, the conservative Temple in Stamford, has been running a Synaplex every few months. This is a totally different experience. I have attended a few of them. What I especially like is the yoga practice and the Meditation Service. Yoga starts at 8:45am; there is Hebrew chanting; Hebrew music and basic yoga postures. Very lovely and extremely spiritual for me. Yoga runs until 10:00 and then we go upstairs to the library where there is a Mediation Service. This service is totally amazing; no books, some songs, an opportunity to share, if you want and then some activity to connect us to the Torah reading of the week. This week the Torah portion had to do with Jacob wrestling with the angel (some interpret this angel to be God). When Jacob comes out of the encounter unhurt he is told by the angel that his name is no longer Jacob but rather Israel. So, Daveed, our leader asked us what we imagine would have happened to us if we had wrestled with the angel, would our name have been changed at the end, and, what would the name be and why? My reaction was that I would have won the encounter and my name would be Bella because I would have been happy that God was pleased with me and what I am doing with my life. Another portion of the service, the silent devotion, is done by finding a quiet place, by yourself, in the room. Once you find that spot the suggestion is to have a conversation with God...what a very powerful experience. Today I had one of the most powerful Shabbat experiences I ever had!

Chain of Generations Center

There are always new things to see in Israel. This visit we went the Chain of Generations Center. There were many displays made out of glass with names written in them. It is our tradition to name people after someone who has died; so we are a chain of names from one generation to another. I thought the artwork was so very beautiful. In the middle of the Center was a mikvah (ritual bath) that had been built over with glass so you were actually standing over it. Ok unless you have issues with heights as I do!

We're back!

View of some of the bridges from the canal.

It was a wet, cold day in Amsterdam!

Our first authentic windmill!

Well, back from our jaunt to Amsterdam, Israel and Morocco! What fun! Let's start with Amsterdam; we spent approximately 8 hours in Amsterdam. We were on a layover on our way to Israel. Through some investigation we found a company called stopover Holland. After many emails we arranged to have them meet us at the airport, take us into the city and arrange for tickets to the Anne Frank House as well as the Fysk Museum. One of the best decisions we could have made. I t would have been impossible for us to make all the connections on our own to say nothing of the stress level! We also went on a boat ride through one of the canals. Definitely wetted my appetite for a return visit. The Anne Frank House was quite an emotional experience. Actually being in her house after having read about it so many years ago, I highly recommend a visit.

New York Botanical Gardens

Yesterday was a beautiful day in the greater New York area. We went to the Botanical Gardens with our friends Patty and Jim Samuels. The gardens were hosting a show of Moore sculpture as well as showing their Kiku chrysanthemums! The colors were beautiful; not only were their an array of flowers in warm Fall colors; the Japanese maples were in all their splender. No matter how much I think I am unimpressed with the colors; when I acutally see the splender of the colors it takes my breath away. Here are some pictures.

Mah Jongg Gods Are Smiling

Mah Jongg is a game similar to rummy, played with tiles rather than cards. In China the game is popular among men; there are MJ parlors and, from what I understand, the winnings can get pretty big (that's another way of saying you can loose a lot if you're not careful!). Here in the States the game has been adopted by Jewish women for some reason! I can still hear the tiles being swished around by my mom and her friends and the call of bam, crack and dot as they throw out the tiles! For those of us who were raised with the game it seemed that it was an easy, no brainer game...not as challenging as Bridge...so I, for one, never picked it up. We all knew how to play since Mom taught us so she would be able to play! Well, a few years ago, when Bridge was getting painful to play because the cards were so bad, our Bridge game switched over the MJ! Well, now I've been bitten by the bug! I LOVE to play! As is true of any game of chance, some days you can do no wrong; other days you should just walk in, put your money on the table and have fun! Well, not to scare the MJ gods away; this seems to be a good few days for me; I'm winning. I'm sure in the next few days I'll be crying the blues again about how I NEVER win!

Jewish Arts & Film Festival

For the past 7 years the Stamford JCC has been hosting a film festival that runs for about 2 weeks. This year it was decided to expand the programs to include literature, photography, dance, music, and, of course film.

Saturday night, opening night, we viewed a movie "Noodle". Very wonderfully done! If you have the opportunity to see I suggest you do so.
Last night former Mayor of NYC, Ed Koch spoke. He is quite the personality; had something to say about everything with a great deal of wit in his presentation.
Tonight the speaker was Zion Ozeri, a photographer born in Israel, his family is from Yemen. He told the story of his parents living in a tent when they arrived in Israel . Not only were they in the tent, they shared it with several families! The good news was that his father was a very observent Jew, therefore, when Succot approached his father built a succah attached to the tent. It was the first time since they were married that his parents could sleep alone without an audience. As you may have guessed, Zion was born 9 months later! Sometimes there are more than the obvious benefits of being observent!

Zion's photography is something to behold. Go to his website and check it out www.zionozeri.com. We had the opportunity to ask him questions be it about the subjects of the pictures, technical questions about shooting the pictures, personal questions...whatever. I was interested in why he shot in black and white, what kind of camera he used and did he use film or digital.

He shoots in black and white because all of the photographers he admires shoot in black and white; also, when he is shooting in under-developed countries, he doesn't want to make it look better than it is with bright colors so he uses black and white. Currently he uses film, although he just bought his first digital camera...he's not sure how he will like it! All his cameras are Nikons.

It was a very exciting evening; hope you like his work.