Family in Israel

WoW!!!

On the first Sunday evening of being in Israel, Gabi, (2nd from Rt) organised a fantastic evening of extended family get-to-gether. Unfortunately quite a few couldn't make it. But these did. Sitting on the floor, from left, Itamar, Ray, Mel, Tony, Eric.

One level up, on chairs, from left, Danny, Lesley, Ugo, Ayla (with Chananya on her lap), Shifra, Susan, Shiffi (?), Lami, Stan (with Naama on his lap), Gabi and Warren. Frank is behind them, and right at the back standing is Gita with Allen and Tehila next to him. I think I got that all right?

Missing were, Noa (at the jazz fest in Eilat), Archie and Edi, Marlen and Micky and family, and most sad of all, Safta, whose lift didn't pitch.

As I said, WoW!

Quite a gathering

Mel in Israel

Visiting Israel was an experience on many levels for me. I can hardly put it all together myself yet. I'll try sharing some of it through the photographs I have. Here is the very first view I ever had of Jerusalem. If you click on the pic to enlarge it, you can see the very famous "Dome of the Rock", the golded dome in the old city, next to the Ancient Wall (Kottel). This was probably the most moving moment I had in terms of really cognisising that I was there, in the Holy Land, the Promised Land, the holy city of Jerusalem. I loved that moment. As did I love the moment of sharing it with my brother. The pic of us together was taken by my cousin Allen who took us on a tour of Jerusalem that day. It was an interesting way to visit for the first time as Allen is ultra-orthodox religious and therefore put the slant on from that perspective. I later returned to Jerusalem with Luc, and experienced it quite differently. But in this first moment of seeing the old city, from this vantage point, I was really honoured and grateful to finally get to see this. Note, I especially wore a long sleeved top, although the heat was scorching, as a mark of respect for the ultra orthodox, who find the sight of a womans bare arms extremely disturbing. My brother on the other hand wore long sleeves cos he's scared of the sun. Perhaps an even better reason for covering up.