Dina talks about stress at school, Purim Triangle, Tovy's wedding and Shimon Gat's wedding
Hi, today is Friday, March 8, I think, I do not know, anyway, it's raining a bit here and it's Friday, that is Saturday night. And this Friday, I was waiting for him to come and I was ready to meet him, only he came and he surprised me with the news that next Thursday he is going to America. I knew he was going to America soon, but I really did not expect it to be so fast. Now, this tape, I thought of all sorts of ways how I will send it to you and who will bring it to you, Yasul will bring it to you and you will have it in about a week. It may not be faster than mail, but it's a personal welcome.
Anyway, it was so good to see him, and it was such a surprise that he was leaving so quickly, but it's really exciting that he's going. I do not know, he seems so depressed, but maybe it will encourage him. And I hope he listens, so I do not know, maybe he will be encouraged. He said he would be there for Passover, so he was going to spend a lot of time.
He's leaving on Thursday so I want him to come on Tuesday for a gala dinner. I could not persuade him to come to dinner; He said he would only come for tea and cake after the meal, so I think I would make tea and cake and lynches and ... after the meal. I do not know, we'll see what happens.
I have a lot to tell you in this tape, about Shimon's wedding, Toby's wedding. I saw all the relatives. I can not believe, today we received the letter about the elevator with all the things. I had no idea you were sending so many things, I do not know how to thank you. I'm not clear, I can not think of words. But really, really, really, thank you very much. I do not know, we are missing nothing. I can not think of one thing. We're really rich, I do not know. Anyway, really thank you.
Pressure in school
It's okay that it does not come here for Passover. I mean, it's not the end of the world at all. Eli thought for a long time to go for a walk and waited impatiently for the beautiful weather that he could go somewhere to go for a walk and then he would like to take me with him, but the conditions as they are, I think I will only have an obstacle. So he thinks maybe, if Ari, his brother, can get home, if he has a Passover vacation, maybe both of them will go somewhere for a few days, and I hope they do because, I do not know, he can take advantage of the vacation, and it would be nice for him to go out. And go. If they go out, I guess I'll just stay with Horowitz on Passover. Everything will be fine.
Come see, I'm still not used to talking into a tape recorder after all these times. Anyway, back to the lift, it sounds so great. I really ... I have so many thanks to write. What happens is every letter you tell me one or two more people to write thank you to, and I put all the letters that have people's names inside and make a list of all the people I need to write thank you to. But here and there I go out to do it, but I do not know, I really need to sit down and write a lot of thanks. I was very very very busy at school. I do know I missed a lot at the beginning of the year, and now I'm in the process of catching up, and it also happens to be the end of the semester, so I had a billion tests at once, and I have a billion more. Giving us their kindness, decided to give us a week off from school on Purim week, which is the coming week, because a lot of girls ... why are they doing this? Because usually, in years gone by, they were very lax about submitting works and things. If you did not deliver them on time ... no one delivered ... I do not think there is anyone in the whole world who can fulfill all the requirements of the college within the time they give you in those three years. There is always something you keep until after work to do or you do during the summer.
Anyway, until now, jobs you have not submitted ... they are waiting for you to submit them. You do not get a grade on it until you submit. But if you submit it five years later, then they mark it retroactively, then you get a grade on the course. There are no penalties for late delivery unless the teacher explicitly states so. There's some teacher it does not .. you belong to the family, and they know that everyone has their problems, and it's not like university students who have everything there. They have their dormitories and their food and everything.
Here, even if you live in a dorm, you still have to cook and clean, and most of the girls, especially by the year of retirement, third year, especially in retirement, my year, I think 90% of girls are married and probably 50% of married women, some even have children. And it's very difficult.
So what did they do this year? Got a new department head who is in a very good case, that he has decided ... and of course, his point is clear, that he has decided that he is making a limit to how long it is possible to return jobs. And what does it mean that all the works from the last years, the last years, should be before Pesach, or before Purim. But sure, before Pesach. So for me that means ... I really had six articles I did not do last year. I intentionally did not do them because last year I had a much harder schedule than this year. It was a harder year in terms of courses, and I had 44 hours or so. This year, I have maybe 32 hours. The difference is amazing. And I did not have time last year. I only managed to go to class and succeed in math, that the works for Jewish studies, I thought I would wait until I get married.
I had thoughts of Eli sitting and studying, and I do the works and he reads them. I thought it would be easier. I do not really regret it, but I did them. I've already done four of them, and I have two more to do. But I do not know.
We were given the week before Purim, everyone, to be updated ... after Purim, I mean, everyone will do all the paperwork and be updated. So it's really really hard in ... there's so much to do. And they gave us a week for people to keep up to date. But all the teachers see that we have a week off and they then, "Oh, that's great. After Purim, you'll have a test. You have a whole week to study. After Purim, this work comes."
Everything comes after Purim. So this week, which was supposed to be a vacation, turns out to be worse than anything. I have so many tests right after; I have about four tests the day after we return, big tests, and I have to put in all these documents, and the documents from this year to submit. I do not know, this is not a vacation. I prefer we have a school and then they would not allocate so much.
But as for keeping up with the pace, I was mainly concerned with math because in Jewish studies the courses are more ... they are lectures and they are nice. Too bad to miss them. But there is usually one test at the end of the year. In math, it's hard to understand what's going on without understanding the work until then, and it's much harder to be tested. It's not a connection, it's not really thinking. Need to memorize everything and spit them back in math, so it's hard.
So I decided I was going to force myself to approach For a test with the class. The class was there all three months actually, which I missed. Here and there I was there, I did not understand much, and I did not do any homework, and I really was not in it, but I decided to do the test with them. So that means I committed suicide. And no one was willing to study with me because they had to study on their own.
I killed myself to learn and learned, and I did the test with them. The teacher was very very nice. He's probably very liberal in the way he marked my test because I did not think I would pass. I did not even really want to move. I mean, I wanted to move, I did not expect to move, I did not deserve to move. I just wanted to get a grade. I wanted to get that sign there. In the end, it's an average of three tests, so if I pass the next two, even if I get a 30 on that test, at least I'll have a score, and it's better than zero. But no, I did pretty well, and got a 70. The highest score in the class was 82, and the lowest score was in the 30s or something, one person, and especially in the 60s. I was like in class. It was so amazing, and it was pure luck that I was really ...
Anyway, so I stumbled upon it, and then I had another test in math, which I also passed, it was also quite difficult. In short, I did not get the biggest scores, but I caught on. There's one lesson I did not get into, and I'm already taking the second test right after Purim, so I do not know, it's going to be difficult.
Anyway, things look better than they used to be, but I'm still ... he's a real killer. And it's not ... but I told you it's easier in the third year, that's true. Just that I have all these things to paste.
Anyway, I'm not in the worst condition. There are a lot of people who are a lot worse than me. Many girls have never done any of their jobs. There are only two ... Anyway, they'll be fine.
Problems with hot water
Right now, I'm waiting for the tub to fill up. Our bathroom ... we finally fixed it, it was broken for a while and it kind of fixed itself, maybe the pipes were frozen, I do not know. But the water did not go down and the hot water heater did not work, but it is already hotter and we have less rain, so now it takes maybe five to six hours for the water to heat up, then we have to wait for them to go down to the bath. The thing is that the bath is so big and so long and it is wide, it is about twice the size of a regular bath, so you need twice as much water, because the same amount of water only goes up by half, and it really is .. when you take a bath, until it fills up .. and because That the water is so hot ... the hotter the water, the slower it comes out. And the hot water now comes out in drops, it takes about an hour and a half to fill the tub to a decent tub. And if you forget to turn on the water when you want, then you'm stuck. So I'm waiting for the water .. and then have to run and check and see how many came.
Purim Triangle
Wow, let's see, I really have so much to tell you. Eli is currently sleeping because Purim. I did not explain. Purim all over the world is on Friday, but Jerusalem always celebrates Purim the day after everyone else. Purim is usually on the 14th of Adar, and in Jerusalem it is on the 15th of Adar. This is called the "Purim Lily." Anyway, so what happened this year is, Tu B'Ader falls on Shabbat, and on Purim there are many mitzvot that need to be done: you need to read a scroll, you need to send a parcel and there are a few other things. You must eat a meal that is a meal. Well, this year because it's on Saturday ... so they did not want you to eat the meal, so it's complicating matters. Dishes, it will be difficult to send everything on Saturday, so they spread Purim over three days to people living in Jerusalem.
Thursday night and Friday we read the scroll, it was last night. And on Shabbat you say the prayer, the special prayer that you .., and on Sunday, you have the .. and you send parcels. So it's like a three day vacation instead of one day. This is nice, but the thing is that the rabbis who come or whatever, who have come to these conclusions when you do anything, still have an opinion that a parcel should be sent on Friday as well, and some even say on Saturday. It turns out that if you really want to, if you really want to please all the opinions, you would do everything all three days, but of course it's excessive, because they finally decided what I told you before, Thursday night you read a scroll, Sunday you send parcels and on Saturday You pray the prayer, but there is also one more part of the mitzvah and this mitzvah is to get drunk. There's something about getting drunk on Purim, or at least being happy and ... it's like the happiest holiday. So there are a lot of people who are quite willing to go by all three, all opinions. Well, if anyone says you have to get drunk on Friday, okay, we'll be like this. We will be very strict and careful. No, it's just excuses.
But last night we went to hear the scroll in the yeshiva, and when we returned home it was a day of fasting, but I did not fast, but Eli fasted, and the men fasted. We returned home, Yaakov and Bracha (Lebanon) who live upstairs invited us to eat with them, and they also invited more friends so it was very nice, we were both there, and it was very nice, and we talked and sang and ate. It was very very nice. Then then, at about 10:00, we all planned to go back to the yeshiva because they had a Purim party there, but because the three women were pregnant and we were tired of running around all day and everything, and Saturday night and getting ready, so we decided not to go, that way we would not disturb men, they can go And stay as long as they want. So the men left.
Anyway, Eli did not come home until 4:00 in the morning, I do not think he was drunk, but he was a little happy, I guess. He did not even notice what time it was. So today he had to get up early to hear the scroll again, so now, all day, he is asleep. See if he can get up in time to sit down. Just a moment, I'm going to check the water.
Problems with the "Amana" refrigerator
Okay, let's see, a few days ago we were scared with our fridge. It was last Friday and we went to Horowitz to sit because Toby and Arhi were there for their seven blessings, so they wanted us to be there, and right before we went out, when we went out, when the And nano leave, you know how the fridge sometimes works and then it goes out? Then when everything thaws, it goes back to work again. And I noticed he was constantly trying to come back and just failed. It just kept trying and trying and then it stopped. This worried me a lot because it sounded like something pretty serious with the engine. I did not understand what it is. We did not have a power outage ... everything worked. It was already too late on Friday. On Sunday I immediately called the Convention, I called Rabbi Miller. I did not know what to really do. They came on Monday to look at the fridge and by then he was back to work. I did not understand, but I wanted them to come and check because it sounds like it could be something serious. And he came, he thought the fan belt was destroyed or something, I do not know. Disassembled the whole thing in a practical way and said there was nothing wrong. He checked everything and everything was fine 100%. And really, since then I have had no problem at all and it goes on and off. Only now has it risen. It must have heard me, but he said maybe it's because we have a lot of power outages. That the power goes on and off, turns on and off all of a sudden very often, so maybe it caused something, but it's not serious. Or maybe something was clogged in the freezer. Maybe I had something that blocked the ventilation. I do not know. Anyway, I guess the important thing is that everything is working fine right now.
fleshy
Last Saturday we were invited at the last minute to Horowitz (Eli's parents), and I did not think we would go and get on this cooking frenzy, and I do not know, I cooked everything I could find at home. I had a lot of chickens, I had about two chickens in the fridge and some ground meat, and I made a lot of things. I do not know what got into me, with the help of your cookbooks. And I divided it into meals ... I was a really good housewife, I divided it into meals and put it in the fridge and we had enough food for months.
Then, a few weeks ago when Hanna Tao .. when the son of Rabbi Zvi Tao, when he was a bar mitzvah ... I told you that they were originally supposed to come here and she prepared for a big meal, she brought all kinds of things, and in the end did not use it because it was .. ., And she bought a lot of meat, real meat, which is expensive, which I do. I do not think I have eaten since I made it for you for dinner. We eat a lot of minced meat and chicken. Almost every day we have chicken, fish or ground ... Now fish, they have no more. Prices here have gone up so high that ... and I do not really understand, but do not sell fresh fish until Passover. And chickens, we get chicken a week from the Horwitz. And minced meat, I divide it and it can be used for many things.
Anyway, Hannah Tao bought real meat for the bar mitzvah, and she had so much and she did not use it, so she distributed the portions, and gave to the people of the kollel, gave to young families in the kollel, because she could not use so much meat. I really do not understand, I think she can, but I guess it must have been a lot. And she was nice and she gave everyone a little, so I had meat and kept it for a special Saturday. I would use it to sit, but I have no idea how to cook meat. I do not know ... when I first got married, I did not know how to cook anything, but I was already used to cooking chicken and fish and minced meat, but meat, I really ... Except for the one time I made you, I have no idea. So I kept postponing cooking until I had plenty of time to sit and read cookbooks and figure out what to do with it.
I really do not even know what piece of meat it is. I imagine it was ... I do not know, what is it? edges? I do not really know, but in the cookbook there are different types of meat, I know it was not a good steak, but yesterday I decided I would make it sit, but I really did not know what to do with it. I started making a stew out of it. I do not know what happened. In the end I decided I would make this thing called a cooked dinner. I read it in the cookbook, boil the meat, brown it and boil it in water for a long time. I probably did something wrong, but it turned out to be a soup with meat in it, with a large chunk of meat in the middle. I guess it's beef soup, I have not tasted yet. I put in all kinds of vegetables. But the meat is very very hard, not tender. So I do not know, it seems. I just need to do some serious cooking ... and I've made a potato kugel that I've never made before. I did it with a wonder pot, I never thought of doing it before and it came out very well. I had already eaten almost half of it, but I had not eaten the meat. So anyway, this is my cooking.
The stress ahead of Tovy's wedding
Wow, I talked for so long and did not get to the important things. I want to tell you about weddings. First of all, I will tell you about the wedding of Shimon (relative). Simon's wedding was two days before Toby's wedding, Toby before the wedding "went crazy." I thought mine was stressful at my wedding when at the last minute I ran around and bought things and sewed, but I was 20 times better than Toby. She was .. she had nothing ready. She had all sorts of little things to fix, and little things to do and finish sewing to make multiples and extend and contain. And she herself "went crazy," she was so nervous. It was funny, except it was serious. I told her I would come and help her and sit with her and help her sew. When someone else is there and you do something and you just ... so I was with her there every Sunday and every Monday.
The wedding of Shimon Gat from Kibbutz Naan [relative]
Monday night was Shimon's wedding. The problem with transportation is that it ends at 9:30 pm and his wedding was at 6:30 pm, which means it does not ... No, it ends at 8pm intercity and his wedding at 6:30 pm and it's late, so no We knew if we were going or not. I do not know.
I made a dress for Toby's wedding and it did not turn out well. It looks just like a nightgown. I did not like it at all. I did not really want to wear. So I had a hidden motive. of course. Monday was a very nice day, but it was complicated to walk, have to change bus a few times and who knows how we will get home. I talked to Isul and Leah Ben David [Isol's girlfriend] and we drove. We took a bus to Ramla and from there to Rehovot and from there by taxi to Kibbutz Naan. We got there very early. We got there an hour and a half before the wedding was supposed to start, so we walked around the kibbutz, that is Was very nice, it is a very beautiful kibbutz. Later, Aunt Lil, when she came, she told me it was the kibbutz you have pictures of, I did not know it was this kibbutz, but it is a beautiful kibbutz. It was amazing, there was a huge dining room.
Anyway, around 18:30 other people finally started arriving and I saw Aunt Lil and all the relatives came. Oh, Eli did not come, because on Monday night he goes to class he did not want to miss it because he also teaches on Wednesday, or he had a class on Wednesday and he had to miss it because of Toby's wedding, so he did not want to miss both . So he could not come. I went with Isul and Leah Ben David. I was so excited because at Mina's wedding, Moshe and Shoshana were there and not all the kids were there and you did not get to meet everyone, but at this wedding, everyone was there. It was so nice. It really was. I very much enjoyed seeing everyone and talking to everyone.
As for the wedding itself, I did not have such high expectations, because a few weeks before I was at Eli's cousin's wedding at Kibbutz [Hulata] I think it was a wedding ... I do not know, I thought, you know, usually it's a kibbutz and everyone ... it's nice for the kibbutz and no one .. I do not know, I did not have high expectations, but this wedding was so nice. I was so excited, I really am. Under the canopy they had such a nice rabbi, he was so nice. In both kibbutzim, both Naan and Givat Brenner are non-religious, and he did not do all this great thing as they do with all kinds of sermons that everyone will be bored to death. And on the other hand, he did not distort facts and did not underestimate, he did it so that it spoke to the people there. He said very nice things and seems to have gotten to know Shimon in advance and get to know Ada, who is his wife, in advance. He later mentioned that he had invited them both to sit down so he could meet them. He did not just come and get married quickly because he could, he was so nice. The people, everyone was quiet, you can imagine, and they listened. Oh, the tape is about to run out. I'm going crazy. But it was so nice, and the wedding itself was nice. Simon is such a nice guy, and his wife Ada, too, are very nice and warm people. I do not know. It was so pleasant.
Then, later, after the canopy they ate a meal upstairs. I thought I would not be able to eat because the kibbutz is not a kosher kibbutz. I planned not to be hungry, I thought of eating fruit. I just did not want the cooked food, but they had a "Chafetz Chaim" dinner [fancy kosher] and a large table full of kosher meals, because Jane's family is religious. I forgot about it, so there was something to eat and there was singing, and it was so hot and so nice. Then Mina and Oded came and I gave them the money and they are very grateful, she probably already wrote you a letter and said thank you very much. I talked to Aunt Lil and everyone was so happy. The whole kibbutz sings. It was such a pleasant wedding. I was so glad I went. I felt bad because I did not want to go. I had such a nice time. Lil took some pictures and they took them. I do not know if they will send you or not.
I can go on talking about the wedding, it was very very very nice, and everyone asked about you and sent a greeting and said how are you coming in the summer. So everyone is really excited. Was very very very pleasant. I really enjoyed it. Oh. I'm waiting for the tape to end. I can not go on to tell you about Toby's wedding until the tape is finished [the first side]. Let me see ... I like to be alone when I'm recording, but Eli's hanging around here, but what can I do?
The other side of the tape -
I told you about Shimon's wedding. Of course I kept talking for another 20 minutes until I realized the tape was over, but in short, I told you we had a ride from the wedding back to Ramla with one of Shoshana and Moshe's daughters, I do not know which one it was, one is Hannah and one is Bracha, I confuse them. From there we took a service taxi to Jerusalem. We could not just take a taxi because they are exploiting people like us, it was late at night and we wanted to go to Jerusalem, so we came home fine. It was very very nice. It really was a very nice wedding. I had many gifts that I could choose some of them to give as wedding gifts. We have so many cups and things like that I could always give them to other people for wedding gifts when the time came, but I did not know what to do, because both Shimon and Ada are from the kibbutz, and they do not need cups. I do not know, they get everything from the kibbutz, I will have to choose something else.
Dina sprained her ankle
Let me see. I'll tell you about Tovy's wedding. Let's see ... today, well, first of all I'll tell you what has happened since then until today. I sprained my ankle today. I guess because I'm heavier now or something, sometimes I lose my balance when I bend down to clean, or sometimes on the bus. And today I went up the stairs and turned my ankle. I was in college, I had so much to do, so many things to study for exams and I had to do some of them in the library because I do not have the books here. I went to the library today and sprained my ankle. I immediately called Horowitz because I did not know what to do, because I could not walk. And Rabbi Horowitz came and took me to Shaare Zedek Hospital, where they photographed my leg and everything. So it's not broken or anything, it's just a sprain. Now I'm stuck at home. I'm lying in bed now. I really can not walk around too much, at least not today.
I wanted to invite Isul to a nice dinner and everything. He wanted it to be just tea and cake, it looks like it's going to be tea and cake, because I really can not make and I can not ask Mali to make dinner.
Tovy's wedding [Eli's best friend and sister]
Anyway, I'll tell you about Toby's wedding. Toby's wedding was the day after Simon's wedding, on Wednesday night. It was at the Center Hotel [near the Clal Center] downstairs they have the big ballrooms. It's a huge place. It has two rooms that are separated by sliding doors, when they are fully open, you do not really notice that it is two separate rooms, but you kind of know there are beams in the middle, sort of. So one side was for men and the other side was for women . They planned, I think about 500, 600. guests. It was a huge wedding. I think more than 1000 people came.
Aria's parents are from Chicago. They are the people of Chicago of yesteryear. Horowitz, also originally from Chicago, so the whole world was there. I did not really know anyone. Someone told me that being at this wedding, that's your life. You just met everyone, all kinds of people who had not met each other for years and years, were together and hugged and kissed each other. So that was nice, I guess.
Toby was pretty nervous before the wedding and in the few days before the wedding I was with her most of the time. She had a lot to do, sewing and a lot of last minute things that ran around her so much, so much more work than me, with her scarf and her dress. So many last minute things. She really was kind of nervous before the wedding. So the last few days I’ve been with her most of the time, I wanted to at least ease her as much as I could, because you don’t have to get into your wedding stressed and running around and tired. You should rest and not worry about a lot of things, so I was with her, I stayed with her a lot and sewed hems and sewed little things and ironed her, and all kinds of little things. Just to be with her on her wedding day.
After Pesach they are going to live in Petah Tikva, because Arieh will study at Bar Ilan University, he is going to study law, so they will be there for at least three years or something, so they rented an apartment in Petah Tikva, it is a nice little town, but Arieh should not be there Until after Pesach, then until then, they rented an apartment in Beit Vagan, just across the street where my apartment was in college, last year [Summit Street], so they planned to go there right after the wedding. Only Arieh's parents were in the hotel, and Arieh has a little sister and a brother, so they decided it would be easier for them to stay in the apartment they rented, and Toby and Arieh would stay to sleep in the hotel, because that way if they stayed in the hotel they would have to rent two rooms. one. At that time, they thought they could get a room at the Center Hotel for a whole week, but it did not work out, it turned out that they could only get this room for two nights, Wednesday and Thursday evenings.
Anyway, then they had the room on their wedding day. Toby went there on Wednesday and I went with her early. She rested up there and she got dressed there, and bathed there. I'm really happy. Now that I remember they offered me to take a hotel room too, but I'm really glad I did not, because it was not so nice. It was a small, cramped room, there was nothing to do there. There was no kitchen and no food. There were no books, but anyway, it was nice, and she got dressed. Then, we went down to the wedding. And before the wedding they took family photos. I have been there since the beginning of the day with Toby. Everyone was supposed to come and be photographed, but somehow there was a misunderstanding and Eli did not think he should be there, so he arrived late, so there are a lot of pictures I am in that he is not in. But in any case I will send you copies. Anyway, later on, they put him in the pictures.
As soon as I entered the hall, it was clear. The wedding was scheduled for 5:30 pm and it was 5:30 pm and suddenly I hear someone shouting from the other side of the hall: "Dina!" And I could not guess, and I looked and it was Mr. Kaufman. I was really negligent, I had not seen him at all yet, because before my wedding, he came in the summer and I always planned to go visit him, but I was very busy running around and all that. Then he went to America and until he came back, I do not know how, somehow I just did not get to visit him. It was the first time he had seen me since eighth grade or something, ninth grade. It was very funny. It was very good to talk to him. We spoke. He did not believe. He kept saying, "Wow, you look so great, you're married" It was funny. And his wife sends a greeting. I told you you're coming this summer and she's really excited. Everyone, a lot of people from Washington here, Mrs. Lewis also asked about you, and I do not know, everyone. And the owners were there too, yes, but I did not see any of the men. I do not know, I guess she had about the same amount of crowd as there was at my wedding, except I did not notice so much at my wedding. I did not have that much free time.
But anyway, let me see, I do not know, there were a lot of people there and everyone sends a greeting and asked about you. I'm trying to think if there was anyone really special there. I do not know, how many relatives were there. Mostly Chicago people, I do not know, friends of Neiman or Horowitz from a long time ago.
But the wedding, it was close to 5:30 pm and you know how things go. The canopy was only at about 6:30 p.m., or maybe even at 7 p.m. Aria came and he put the veil on Toby. It was really nice. And my job was .. at my wedding, the wife of Rabbi Horowitz's father, at my wedding she did not have the opportunity to be in the canopy, she was not given a place near the canopy and when she went up there, it was too busy and she missed it. She did not want to miss it at Toby's wedding, so my job was to go with her to the canopy, I had to take care of her and make sure we got to be near the canopy. And the same with Aria's grandmother. She is also an adult, so Aryeh's sister went with this other grandmother, but it was not so simple, because they walk very slowly and all the boys danced with Aryeh. We tried to make our way and were pushed. It was very cold outside. It was a beautiful day, but really cold. So we got pretty close and the canopy was very nice, it was fine. There were all the blessings and then everyone sat down and there were not enough tables for everyone to sit because a lot of people came by surprise. You know how everyone brings friends and relatives, but they had enough in the end. They set up more tables. And that was fine. I was hungry so I ate well and then they danced and sang like at our wedding, I guess, except I could not see, because the men were all the way on the other side. The girls danced a little, but I did not dance. I wanted to, but someone told me, another friend of mine, who is also pregnant, she told me that she had a girlfriend who went to a wedding and danced in the eighth month. We just talked about it, we both sat there and talked, neither of us took any step to start dancing. Anyway, it lasts a long time. I do not know, Then again, they took some pictures. But that time I was very, very tired, because after being with Toby all week and I guess all the excitement and tension, and also walking [to Simon's wedding] on Monday and all, I was really tired. So the Horwitz took us home and that's what it was.
Toby and Aria stayed at the hotel that night, and the next day they were also at the hotel. The next night they had seven blessings in the Beit Midrash [B.M.T] yeshiva of Rabbi Horowitz. So he did not know what to do, he was in a dilemma because he did not want to invite all the boys, but still he had some kind of responsibility. He could not invite everyone, but he still wanted them to attend somehow, so he made seven blessings there for the boys in the beit midrash and the whole family. So we went. It was nice.
On Friday night, Toby and Aria were at the Peace Hotel, on Saturday night they were at her parents' house, then on Sunday night, Monday night and Tuesday night they were at the Kings Hotel and then, on Tuesday or Wednesday, Aryeh's parents left, so they finally moved To their home and garden apartment. Now, they are at home and in the garden for a few weeks and then they will move to Petah Tikva, so they are moving more than we were, we were only in three or four places, but they really moved. They are very happy, I think. I did not talk to Toby, I wanted to go visit her today, but things did not work out that way. Then, I imagine they must be happy in the apartment, semi-permanent.
They have seven blessings every night. We only had seven blessings at Judith [Klinspiz] and then on Shabbat, the people in Mevaseret also did seven blessings for us. I did not cook to sit, so we ate at someone else's house. We then had seven blessings. Another night we were at another friend of Eli's for dinner. It was not really seven blessings, but anyway, really, I do not know, I do not know how Toby managed to do it, to run around every night somewhere else. We were invited to a lot of them, but we only went for two because we did not have the strength or time to really run around.
Anyway, now they're pretty neat. After I told you we have a week off this week, and next week there are a lot of tests. But after Pesach, when Toby is already in Petah Tikva, she will be able to finish school. I think what she will do is that she will have to come to Jerusalem not every day. She will probably have to come to Jerusalem and sleep for a few nights, because all her courses are a bit spread out, but even if she misses a lot of lessons, first of all, this Passover end of the year is only a few weeks. It's not that serious anymore because here she's senior. Its been a recent year in recent weeks, and the teachers are very, very considerate. They really, really do everything they can for married women, especially for those out of town. I think the main thing is that she will pass the tests at the end of the year and then she will be fine, then she will be able to finish the year. And this is her last year. She finishes
So anyway, that's about it, I think. Everyone enjoyed. It was a nice wedding. It was much much bigger than me ... I do not think it was, I do not know, it was nice. Anyway...
Three days of Purim
So what else can I tell you? Purim! I told you a little bit about the first side of the tape, this year we had three days of Purim. On Friday night, I told you that I invited Bracha and Yaakov [Lebanon] to dinner, just to prepare ... Many times we eat at each other, we cook anyway, just to be nice, it was nice. I served the meat I cooked that I did not really know how to cook. I made some kind of soup out of it, unintentionally, I do not know exactly what happened. The soup was really tasty.
The meat was fine for me. I think it was like Dad liked, it was delicious. I cooked the soup and had a good time. I do not know. That was fine. So on Saturday it was a beautiful day and Eli and I went for a long and pleasant walk. On Saturday night, we went to Rabbi Zvi Yehuda's class. I wrote you a letter from there. There's all this business of politics here, it's very very mixed, it's very very confusing. Right in the heart of everyone, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda manages everything somehow. In the middle of Saturday night a bunch of people from the radio came to interview him and everything. He was on the radio. It was exciting.
Sunday was Purim day where the delivery is divided into portions and there is the meal. I got up early on Sunday and did all the parcel deliveries and then we went, Eli and I went to Rebbetzin Sharabi, the lady I would help in the Judean camp. It was so happy. We went and everyone there is Spanish Jews who live there. And everyone has a yard outside their home. There were all kinds of people, everyone came to give wishes and everything to Rebbetzin Sharabi, and inside, they sang and danced, but Arabic music, because they are Oriental Jews. It was really funny. Kissed me, and all kinds of hugs. She wanted me to have a drink for life or something, but we did not have time. We had to hurry.
We went to visit Zakia [a passing woman that Dina accompanied before she got married] and that too was nice. She sends greetings to everyone. She was so happy. She started sending a greeting to everyone: to you and her cousins she has in New York. She thinks I know them. I keep telling her I'm from Washington, but she thinks Washington and New York and America are the same thing, and that she has cousins there, I have to get to know them. And I'm tired of telling her it's a big place and I do not know all of her cousins in New York. She thinks I do, so she always tells me to send them greetings and send you greetings.
From there, we went, to visit the Horwitz, but we were not with them for a meal, for a meal we went to a friend of Eli Oded in Kiryat Moshe [Rabbi Oded Wolansky]. I do not know how they do it, but they had about, I guess, 50 people there for dinner. It was really nice. Everyone was there, all the young couples of the yeshiva came. Judith [Kleinpiz] was there and she brought her little baby Hayla and Yaakov and Bracha [Lebanon] were there and Elyakim and Esther were there. And who else do you know? I do not know, all the young couples of the yeshiva were there, and all the babies were there, all the children were there. It really was something. But I do not know, they sang and said the words of the Torah. It was nice. And we ate. It lasted until late at night, we returned home God.
And that brings us to yesterday. Yesterday was about a lazy day, even though I planned to go to college to study, like I wanted to go today, but instead I sat outside all day and read. I have to tell you.
I have a movie I started a long time ago that I want to take advantage of, and I want to post it because you guys want to see what I look like. I keep, at almost every opportunity I have, that it's a nice day and it's not a Saturday, that Eli has time. I love filming, I really do not have that much and I constantly want to use this film. I have decided that today I intend to use it, and send it to you with Yasul so that you can pay in advance for development, but I will be faster that way. But I did not do it, because instead I fell down the stairs, so I did not have a chance to finish it. So I will not send it to Isul, but I will finish it and send it soon, because it's a shame, so you can get the pictures. But nothing special, just pictures of the house that will show what it looks like, even though you will probably be here when summer comes. I do not know.
Thoughts of moving to their permanent home in Pagi
We asked the guy from Sanhedria when he was leaving and we could get in. At first they stopped building because of the war. They did not have ... this guy has no construction workers because they are all Arabs and everyone has fled. Nor did they have a means of transportation, for everyone was in reserve. They did not have someone to deliver all the materials they needed to build and everything. Everything stopped, and the construction industry suffered more than almost anything, so all the small apartments that were in the middle of construction were completely stopped. So there was a delay in construction. We were supposed to pass last month, I think, according to what he said. Now, then they said Passover, and then they said, no, at the beginning of summer. So let's see. Now it's getting very close. I would like to move in there before the baby is born, because I want to clean up there and straighten out there thoroughly.
So whatever happens will happen, I guess. These are things we have no control over, because of work, and the people from Sanhedria, it's not their fault. They want to move like us, so as soon as they leave we will move into our house.
Let me see, I'll send you the tapes and I do not know, I'll look around to see what else to send with Isul. Uncle Sydney is coming? He had not heard from him. He received one letter from him two weeks ago. Since then, he really has not said.
The music that reminded her of Gary, a childhood friend
Do you want to hear the funniest thing? A few minutes ago I was listening to the radio and there is one station that has mostly classical music, so I like to listen to it. Sometimes they have opera and such, that it was really disgusting but sometimes they have good things. Anyway, all of a sudden they're not really listening, they had this concerto of something they played. I found myself listening to it. Then I thought I could not understand how I know it, because it was not a famous thing, it was not a piano concerto. It was a clarinet concerto. And all of a sudden I remembered it was a piece that Gary played, I was probably seven or eight years old, and he played the clarinet. That's one of the things he used to play. It was in the back, in the back ... you know how he used to play it over and over and over and over again? It was one of the things that is in the back of the memory. And suddenly I found myself singing it. It was so funny. It was really nice. So I wanted to tell you this. I actually wanted to record it, but I did not manage to record, I do not know if he will really remember it, and I could not record in time.
Technical matters
From all the material you sent, the three pieces, the three piece dress pieces, I made two dresses. I made one of them from the green and blue you sent with Malta. I'm wearing it now. I made it from orange and white. It was really beautiful. Oh, I wanted to tell you, Lynn, who brought the orange and white. I did not hear from her. She was not at the wedding. I have to write to her. I got the package from her, it had shampoo and tomes in it, which by the way, helped a lot, and I'll tell you about it in a minute, and the stuff. But somehow she's sure, the battery for the watch must have slipped out, or maybe it's in her suitcase or something, but I did not see it.
So I will have to write to her and ask her to look for it, because so far none of the most expert watch manufacturers in Israel are known. The watchmakers are looking at Eli's watch and they've never seen anything like it before, so in the meantime the watch is not working and it's a shame. So I'll have to write to her and get it from her.
The pills really helped a lot. I do not have time for that now with the pains and things like that, like before. And now, I feel very restless most of the time. I do not sleep so much. I'm normal, like it's normal. Doing a lot of things at home and then I get ambitious and I bake and even learn a little. I clean a little, sew a little. I do not know, there is something. I need to understand what it is, but sometimes I get terrible and terrible heartburn. I need to understand what it is. I need to pay attention to what I eat, and I need to pay attention to when I get heartburn, after what foods, because it's such a funny thing. I'm like an old woman with heartburn and I have to sit, and I can not sleep and I have to sleep with a lot of pillows. Sometimes I'm tired all the time. And now, especially with my leg. I really feel like I'm about 90. Oh well, what can I do?
Let me see, what else? How is cycling progressing? Probably nice weather there so far, right? Now it's warming up there and sunny and beautiful, right? You can do a lot of cycling now, probably nice.
Okay ... Isul and Leah Ben David [Isol's girlfriend] here and I'm going to let them tell you something. So I'll let them talk.
Leah Ben David: "Hello Bernice, hello, I'm happy to be with Debbie and Eli now, Isul is going now .. soon, not now, soon, to the United States and he will be with you, have fun. I'm happy for him. I'm sorry not to be there with all of you, and I wish you a pleasant day and a pleasant time together. Greetings to all of you. I want to tell you that Debbie and Eli have arranged everything so beautifully. '