Dear Hearts and Gentle People

I’ve been remiss* in keeping current with this blog. The main purpose of View from Efrat is to show you a bit about life in Efrat and in Israel.

This week Judaism celebrated Tu B'Shvat, the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shvat. According to our tradition, Tu B'Shvat is considered the New Year for trees in relation laws about tithing. If you haven’t heard about it, you’re not alone. Most people, including most Jews haven’t heard about it either.

Here in Efrat, as in much of Israel, there are small local celebrations. Irma and I were privileged to be able to participate in two of them.

On Wednesday night, Alissa Fried Harbater, Efrat Aliyah (immigrant) Coordinator and Bob Lang, Head of the Efrat Religious Council hosted a gathering of Efrat’s new olim (immigrants) at Alissa’s house. About twenty people attended. We enjoyed learning more about Tu B'Shvat, while we ate various Israeli fruits and shared recent experiences in Israel.

One of the purposes of that gathering was for us to meet each other and perhaps form new friendships. Of course, as whenever Jews meet for the first time, we played “Jewish geography.”** We’re invited to Shabbat lunch at the home of our new friends from Cleveland. Amazing!

Last night (Thursday), our little synagogue group got together at the local winery/restaurant for a tour and wine tasting in honor of Tu B'Shvat. We again had a beautiful time with friends from Efrat.

Living in Efrat is a very special, happy experience for Irma and me. We’ve never been happier and we each thank HaShem daily, several times a day, for bringing us to this beautiful place.

Often as I walk down the street, I start singing a certain song from my past. Most of you have never heard this song; you’d have to be older than dirt to have heard it (my brother remembers it).

When I was 7 years old (1949 – older than dirt), Mom bought us a record player*** and a couple of musical records. One record was some “brusha, brusha” thing about brushing your teeth. The other one was Dinah Shore singing, “Dear Hearts and Gentle People.” I must have heard it three hundred times. To me, this town of Efrat and this song go together. Take a minute to click on the link and listen. You're in for a treat. They don’t make music like this anymore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q5yyiaJV8Y

The quote below is the Biblical source for Tu B'Shvat.

Be well, Y’all
Mel

וְכִי-תָבֹאוּ אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, וּנְטַעְתֶּם כָּל-עֵץ מַאֲכָל..."

"And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food…" (Vayikra 19:23)

*For those of you who attended unionized schools, remiss basically means being negligent or slow in doing one’s job.

**Not really a game. Whenever Jews meet for the first time it goes like this; “Where are you from?” “Cleveland.” “Oh, Cleveland; I know someone from Cleveland. Do you know Jeff and Barbara Soandso?” “Yes, we lived across the street from them.”

***For those not older than dirt, before MP3 and music CDs (and cassettes and 8 track), music was sold on round vinyl plastic discs called records. In those days they were all 78 rpm. For more information, check Google or some other search engine.

A View from Efrat toward Bethlehem and Jerusalem