This summer we went to Isreal for Jacob's Bar Mitzvah. We had the ceremony on the Goldman Promenade overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem. The promenade had a magnificent view. We could see Jordan and the sea of Galilea. Our tour group was comprised of several families having sons and daughters Bar and Bat Mitzvahed on Masada. We broke off to have our's seperately in Jerusalem. The 2 week trip was great. The weather wonderful. Paula adored Israel and could imagine living there. She is a born traveler. The best. My mom came with us. She loves Israel and would thrive there. She has so many friends here and she's a total Zionist.
Our tour guide Ofer was a former intelligence officer who takes groups to China and Russia as well. His wife is an artist. He was brilliant although heavy on the Zionist perspective. Jacob enjoyed connecting with the history of the place and the people. At first Ofer was pretty pissed off with us because my mom, who is 84, was almost always the last on the bus, us and another family with little kids and we loved that family. But he mellowed out when he got what a special lady my mom is. She put her charm spell on everyone. But for me she's still Kryptonite.
Our Rabbi for the ceremony was Michael Klein-Katz, an amazing guy. He's a Reform Rabbi from Philadelphia and he was perfect for us. Michael is also a medical clown and has a terrific sense of humor.
Yad Vashem is a museum and memorial to the Holocaust. I was there in 1971. It's much bigger now. It's got art galleries. The crowds of people from all over the world were immense. It was Disneyland packed.
Jacob has already been to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, but that was on more of a pleasure trip to D.C. Here he participated in a ceremony at a shrine and seemed to take it quite seriously. I guess he's growing up.
Our first dinner together was a mind blower. There was so much food it was insane. Course after course after course until we were dizzy.