Noam's 3rd Birthday

Noam turned three on Wednesday night, at least Halachically, albeit not according to the Social Security Administration. As with the other two boys, our minhag is not to let their hair grow long, rather we give them haircuts and kippot way before they are three, basically as soon as they are willing to wear them. But Noam does get his first pair of Tzitzit when he turns three, and Abba sits down with him to go over the Alef Beis. Abba didn't take him to the Rebbe, or by a special honey cake, or even put honey on the letters in the book and have Noam lick them, the way he did with Ezra and Elazar. It just didn't make sense to bring Noam into Har Nof and I didn't have anyone in the Yishuv I felt comfortable asking.

Noam didn't seem to mind, although I'm sure he will see the pictures of Ezra and Elazar on this blog one day and say, "how come you didn't do that for me". I guess at that point I'll show him these pictures:

 of this nice #3 cake that Ima made for him

and the new bicycle that we bought for him

and hopefully that will suffice.

Noam, it's hard to do everything that you do for one child for all the other children. Just look at the number of pictures we took of Elisheva when she was little. Ima and Abba were new and excited about being parents then, and we had a lot more time on our hands as the parents outnumbered the children. But if it is any solace, chances are there will be more pictures of you than Tali...

Tiyul in the Desert

In Har Nof we used to take family tiyulim in the Jerusalem forest. There were many trails as well as picnic tables and playground equipment scattered throughout the forest. We always managed to find something new, either man-made and natural but taking a different path.

Before we moved to Mitzpeh, I wondered if we would have the same luxury, since how much is out there in the desert, other than sand, and more sand. But so far so good. On a Sunday when Abba had off from work and Ima had enough, Abba took the boys into the desert, just beyond the boundaries of the Yishuv. The winter temperatures in the desert are just right during the day. The sun feels warm on you, but you don't feel the intense heat like you do during the summers. We took a water bottle but didn't end up using it until we returned home.

We found an old deserted army base/fort not far from the Yishuv. It's located up that middle path behind the boys. The boys were facing west as the sun was low in the sky mid-afternoon, which is why Noam and Ezra are squinting and Elazar is rubbing his eyes.

I showed the boys where the soldiers would position themselves in the man-made trenches, which the enemy doesn't even know exists when coming uphill. There were also two large swivel holsters bolted into the rock that would obviously hold large cannons or machine guns on top of the fort. I showed them how the soldiers from this position could monitor a vast space from Jericho to the north east, to the highway on the south, with a clear view of the Jordan River and the hills of Jordan behind it, as well as the Dead Sea. The army fort looked like it had been deserted for quite some time, although it also looked like it could be easily be operational in a couple of hours or at one day.

We continued on past the army base/fort on a particular trail for about ten more minutes until it ended. Along the way we saw little Sukkah structures that some people had made, as well as lots of junkyard stuff that some people had obviously dumped in the desert, including one car/jeep that we found on the bottom of a steep ravine.

Just like the forest of Har Nof, the great thing is that we were never more than 30 minutes from home the entire time, and by the time the kids are hungry and tired and complaining, we are only a few minutes from the Yishuv and a few more minutes from home.