Temporary Exile

I landed on Friday in the morning and saw the gorgeous and redone Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. My family and I were picked up by my brother Benjy who helped get my parents settled into the Hilton. Then we larked about until the coming of Shabbos where I spent an amazing 25 hours with Benjy and all the other Goldbergs. After Shabbos, my sister Elisheva and I went to see Happy feet while Benjy, Ari and Noam saw Borat…..Needless to say, everyone was pleased. EET IZ NAICE! I LAIKE EET!

After we got home I got very sick (and I am still not feeling 100%) because I tried chicken on Shabbos for the first time in 15 years. Big mistake.

In any case, on Sunday, Benjy and I met up with  Ramahnik-turned-Oleh Jon Goldstein and we went for a little tour of the west bank. I haven’t had a chance to post photos yet, but when I do, they will be amazing. Promise. Monday, we slept late and I took the train down to the mall at Azrieli to have dinner with a buddy of mine. Sandwiches at Cafe Aroma. Yum.

Tuesday, I took the train to Haifa to meet up with my long time friend Laromme. Of course, from the moment he picked me up, the Yemenite hospitality kicked in and swept me off my feet. Going all over the city, visiting the houses of family to get introduced to *everyone* and a thousand cups of mint tea. I even got to chew gat and do nargila (also known by the more pedestrian name, Hookah) with the 100+ year old family patriarch in his gorgeous marble house. The gat helped my stomach and life is good. Last night we went to a cute little restaurant called Pasto with some of his friends.

Today we will hang around the city and then drive back down to Tel Aviv.