It’s the beginning of another spring month and the weather is still cool with some occasional showers.


Flowers in the garden

My daily diet has been including such things as: artichokes, kale, swiss chard, fennel, kohlrabi, beets, lettuce, radishes, and white mulberries from the garden and omelets (made from our chicken’s eggs) and freshly baked sourdough bread. Supplemented of course with dried fruits, nuts, and grains from our co-op and fruits from the friendly neighboring grocer in the next town.

The days are also counting down with fewer holidays left for this Jewish year. In fact I believe there is just one. Shavuot. We just ran through 3 of them, Yom HaZikaron (Remembrance Day), Yom HaAtzma'ut (Independence Day), Lag B’Omer.

For both Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzma’ut they are commemorated by a long siren throughout the entire country that sounds for 2 minutes. It’s such an eerie sound as everyone stops what they are doing to stand in a moment of silence. Even Israelis driving in their cars will pull over and get out of their car to stand. It is always a sorrowful yet beautiful moment for me especially when I reflect on how many millions of people are standing together at that exact moment.

Lag B’Omer is traditionally celebrated by families and friends getting together and lighting bonfires. It’s an amazing site to see with so many fires and so much smoke. For the festivities Yigal and I went for a hike through this beautiful mountainous forest near Jerusalem and met up with the rainbow festival camping out there. Needless to say there were tons of bonfires, singing, and music playing.