Back in Israel

I forget that my blog, Twitter, and Facebook accounts aren't a single entity; yes, I'm back in Israel.

Saturday morning Rachel spoke before davening at a small service whose name I forget, while I davened at Shaarei Shamayim, the large modern Orthodox central shul.

I sat down, in a huge sanctuary in the back, and asked the guy next to me to take me to the secret kiddush club. Naturally, there was one. Secret Kiddush clubs are usually during, or after, haftorah and serve Scotch (and the like), herring (and the like), soda, and crackers. At least, that's what I got at all three secret kiddush clubs that I've been to.

Rachel and I then walked to Beth Tzedec, a vast Conservative synagogue, where she gave a lecture after their kiddush, as well as another one later after Mincha. A little disconcerting to me to see and hear the occasional person with a cell phone. And there was a microphone available, which Rachel didn't use, of course. Though some guy asked her to use it, refused to move forward when she wouldn't, and then got up and left two minutes later.

Meals were arranged, and were lovely. And unlike every household I was in in America, no one (except my father in law) had a vast big screen TV dominating the household, and no one talked about sports.

Saturday night we went to see old friends of hers, the Weinrebs. Later that evening, I tried to do online checkin for El Al, only to have my ticket number refused. A call to El Al revealed that they had secretly changed my ticket number, again. The new one worked.

No further problems for that flight, thank goodness. Except that it was a 767, which didn't have personal video screens. Movies: Post Grad (girls can't find a job after college, and when she finally does, she quits it to be with her boyfriend, the end), Stone of Destiny (Scottish nationalists steal a rock from the English and then let the police take it back again, the end), The Edge (Guys get lost in Alaska wilderness and try to make it home in one piece; decent, but formulaic). I wish I could sleep in airplanes.

Home sweet home. Kids, dog, mail, clean, food, work, sleep.