Finally a Siyum

On Shabbat I made a siyum, a celebration of completing a section of the Torah. I finished learning the 6 sections of the Mishna. I actually had finished it on Simchat Torah, but it took until now to organize it. We did it at home on Shabbat afternoon. I managed to tie in Chanuka and Bnei Akiva, since it was Shabbat Irgun. I've already started round 2 of mishna. I started this 3 years ago. The learning is in merit good health for my family. This time around I am doing a minimum of 2 mishnayot a day, with the option of doing more. Sometimes I can squeeze in an extra mishna at work.

Speaking about Shabbat Irgun, I was very impressed with the crown here in Katzrin. Our Beit Knesset is also the Bnei Akiva (BA) headquarters and the place was packed with kids. And they were davning, not just hanging out. It's cool that so many kids are excited to be part of BA and involved in davening. After the siyum I went to mincha and the walls were shaking from the kids singing Yad Achim (the BA anthem).

In other news, Odeliya's toilet training is going well. We put here in daycare for half a day. It's a small group in a woman's house. She's amazing and Odeliya is loving it. Hopefully everything will conitnue slowly. Ayelet is enjoying here freer time. She get to play with Yitzchak more this way. We are still working on how to give Netanel and Odeliya the time they need. We're planning to do some tiyuling on Chanuka. Also, with my having Fridays off we can use some of that time too. Hopefully soon I'll have some answers about employment that will allow us to plan the near future a little better.

For now I'm looking forward to a Thanksgiving dinner tomorow night. Even though we're in Israel we still have lots to be thankful for. And this is not a bad custom to hang onto, at least for a little bit.

Animal Flus in Reverse

So every year, in addition to the regular flu we have a scare of some animal disease: avian flu, swine flu, etc. I wonder if the animal kingdom has similar scares to the human world. Are migratory birds banned from landing in their normal winter home because they may be carrying the human flu?

I was just wondering.

Netanel's Heart of Gold

I was helping to make dinner one night last week (now that I finish work at 4:30 instead of 7. I was making chips, er, french fires, er, victory fries (can we like France now?). Anyway, with Odeliya standing on a chair watching me some oil splashed up and burned me as I dropped potatos into the frying pan. I sustained burns in the 2nd degree range and it really hurt. Odeliya spent the rest of my cooking reminding me to be careful. She was visibly upset and concerned for me.

During bedtime, when my finger still hurt, Netanel had me make a fist and bent my finger in several ways to see if I'll be okay. After his detailed axamination he said, "You'll be okay. I'm doing what you do." I thanked him for his concern and expertise. Children see and hear everything. Netanel in particular takes it all in and processes it. You never know when he'll ask a question about a conversation the adults had while he was playing in the other room. I just hope he continues to learn the right lessons.

Here's why I'm not so worried:

We don't stock candies at home. The kids are allowed to eat one if they get them at shul. The processed sugar tends to have a particularly bad effect on Netanel. On Firday night he got 2 candies. He ate one and saved one for the next day. On Shabbat morning he ate the one he saved. He also got more in shul and ate one of those (against regulations). There was a bar mitzvah this past Shabbat and many, many candies were thrown. Netanel collected 2 pockets full of candies. Many of these came from gleaning the floor int he ladies' section to get the candies that didn't quite make it over the mechitza. He did this by slithering under said mechitza (he's not close to 0% body fat). I reminded him of the importance of sharing. At the end of services he had saved one candy for himself and given the rest to friends. This includes running back inside the shul to get more candy for a friend that was crying because he didn't get any.

I am so proud of his sharing and caring. He has an amazing heart. As another example, some kids knocked on our door this evening collection money to help cancer patients. When I explained to Tani what they wanted he ran to his tzedaka box to give them the money.

Lastly, watching Netanel interact with baby Yitzchak is amazing. Tani plays with him and talks to him. He teaches the baby things and congratulated him as he succeeds in getting his fingers in his mouth. Any the baby reacts to him. He looks for his siblings' voices and gets excited when they come to play with him.