Purim comes early to Netanya

Stu, Abby, and I left Tiberias this morning (Sunday) after a second stop at Rabbi Akiva's tomb and at the gravesite and well of Rachel, Akiva's wife. Both were emotional stops where we sent prayers up for our friends and family in need. Then it was south and across country to the mediterranean. Unfortunately, the weather was totally overcast with limited visibility.



We stopped on the way to Tel Aviv in the beach town of Netanya. The streets were crowded, the sidewalk cafes filled. The children (they go to school from Sunday to Thursday) had been released from school early. They roamed the streets in great numbers, all dressed in a variety of Purim costumes. Forget Herod and Esther garmets, these clothes rival anything you might see on Halloween. The children were festive, the teenagers sometimes dress alike, and our favorite were Marge Simpson complete with coif and yellow skin, and superman with tzitzies. After coming from Tiberias, a more modest and religious city, we were unprepared for the revealing dress and heavy makeup of some of Netanya's teens. These teenagers could have been living in any city anywhere in the world. They palled around together, hung out on near the beach, and drank beer and smoked cigarettes. We somehow emotionally expected that the aura of the religious Israel would permeate everyone, but our brains tell us that that just isn't so.

Stu got his first sight of the Mediterranean, albeit limited due to the foggy weather, but lovely nevertheless. Some young men in wet suits were trying to surf board on the rather limited waves. You could have been at a beach in the US.



We needed a snack and wandered through the festive streets in search of falafel. Voila. A small cafe with swarma and falafel. We ordered the falafel on pita, then went to the salad counter where open bins welcome you to eat your fill. The salads continue to be our favorite repast and we did eat our fill--grilled eggplant, babaganuch, cabbage, carrots, and beet salads, olives, marinated onions with fennel, and more--all for the taking in unlimited quantities. We loved it.

One last bite and we were off to Tel Aviv.



Tel Aviv is a big city, cosmopolitan, filled with new high rise condos. All the majors appear to have offices here: Mcrosoft, Sanyo, Teva Pharmacy, Pfizer, Sony and on and on. We were impressed by the modern apartment buildings, many with shops on the ground floor. This is a city on the move--a bit of a cultural shock for us after spending a week in the pastural Golan.

Our Tel Aviv apartment is one block from the beach--we'll get there tomorrow, and located on famous Dizengoff Street, known for its many cafes and favorite attraction--people watching. The 1 bedroom apartment is Israeli style, one room is a bomb shelter. For the past 20 years Israeli building codes require every unit to have at least one room that is a shelter. Our bedroom has a heavy metal door with its own lock and steel shutters covering the window. We certainly feel safe.



Once settled into the apartment it was time to take Abby to her aunt and uncle's home in a nearby city, one of the foremost "Black Hat" areas in Israel. On the many busy streets every male is attired in a long black coat, black brimmed hat, and white shirt. There is little variation. The women were modestly dressed in long dark skirts generally pushing baby carriages or carrying shopping bags as they hurry home to finish dinner preparations. In this area, the rabbis have declared that eating in a restaurant is not modest, so there are no restaurants. Streets are closed off on Shabbat. The young children, some dressed early for Purim which doesn't officially begin until Monday evening, were dressed as old rabbis with their own Beaver hats, or soldiers with plastic rifles. The shops display black and gray long dresses, fresh fruits and vegetables. Every block seemed to have more than one synagogue. Abby told us that the young people here have no access to television and rarely leave their community. Girls marry at 18, young men not much older. We saw black hats with ipods, cords dangling from their ears. Abby told us they are studying Torah, we wondered if they weren't sneaking in some rap tunes. There are other ironies. It was interesting to us that this area developed in the most modern city in Israel, one block outside the black hat shetel is a modern city, secular Jews and non-Jews, cafes, and up-scale clothing stores. One can only wonder if the shetel residents ever take a peek outside their community, and if they do, what do they think.



A short stroll on Dizengoff Street and a shared casserole of Hungarian Blintzes filled with eggplant, garlic, and cheese, completed our day. Tomorrow, another adventure.