africa continues

As you can see on their faces, Eric and Heather are so very happy. They are presently in Ghana, Africa at the YES School. Each day, they go into the classrooms and teach. Heather has been teaching songs, dances and animal habitats and Eric has been doing magic, math and taking pictures. The students are mesmerized by them....they have never gotten close to a white person before. They can't stop touching them...their hair, skin, etc.....

I want to go to africa.

happy thanksgiving

• Wishing all of you a Happy Thanksgiving! Here is an e-mail that I got and wanted to share because I thought it was appropriate!


• 
  I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, "This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to G-d said in prayer are received." I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world. Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.
  
  The angel then said to me, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section.. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them." I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.
  
  Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. "This is the Acknowledgment Section," my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed. "How is it that? There's no work going on here?" I asked. "So sad," the angel sighed. "After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments.
  
  "How does one acknowledge G-d's blessings?" I asked. "Simple," the angel answered. "Just say, "Thank you, G-d." "What blessings should they acknowledge?" I asked.
  
  


• "If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep ... you are richer than 75% of this world.
• "If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.




• "And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity."
  
  Also .....




• "If you woke up this morning with more health than illness ...... you are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day.




• "If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ... you are ahead of 700 million people in the world.




• "If you can attend a synagogue meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death ... you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world.




• "If your parents are still alive and still married. You are very rare.




• If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you are unique to all those in doubt and despair."
  
  Ok, what now? How can I start?
  
  If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.
  
  Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you want, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.
  
  Attn: Acknowledge Dept.: Thank You G-d! "Thank you G-d, for giving me the ability to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful people to share it with."
  

African Adventure

Eric and Heather left for Africa last Thursday. As you can see from the photos, they traveled very light. Just 2 backpacks and 2 small carry- ons and that's it. One carry-ons was filled with medical supplies and gifts to hand out to orphanages, etc. The other had mainly camera equipment. Amazing, they will be traveling for 6 months and each of them only brought 2 of each clothing item (which includes the outfit they were wearing). They will end up buying clothes there, but the things they brought were specialty items made for backpacking and travel. (special fabrics which keep them dry, etc)

So their first stop is Ghana. They made it safely, with all of their luggage, and were picked up by a family who was hosting them for a few days. They said the family was sooooo hospitable. I only spoke with Eric briefly, he said he'd call in a few days. I also got a very short email which said "don't worry, things are better then great".

They are true soulmates...

adam and ileya

Ileya and Adam

The two moms--

Breaking the Plate Ceremony

Inlaws

Last weekend, Ileya's mom, Ellen, had an engagement party for Adam and Ileya. It gave the two families time to meet and greet, although we have known Ellen for many years now. In fact, we will soon be her new neighbor...

As part of the party, the two moms performed a very special ceremony. This is an almost un-heard of ritual performed by the bride's and groom's mothers to emphasize the seriousness of the commitment of the man and the woman who formally announced their plan to marry. It is, the act of breaking a ceramic plate. Customarily, the bride's mother and the groom's mother, drop the well wrapped plate onto a hard surface. Breaking the plate indicates that just as breaking the plate is final, so too the engagement is final, not to be terminated.

When a couple decides to marry, they announce the occasion with an engagement party. In Yiddish this event is called a vort, which means a "word." At the vort the man and woman traditionally give their "word" and formally commit to marry.

This custom to break a ceramic plate is at the vort. This symbolizes the seriousness of their commitment to each other: Just as breaking the plate is final, so too the engagement is final and not easily terminated.

Breaking the plate also tempers the intense joy of the occasion, similar to the glass which is broken under the chupah. It reminds us that the Temple is not yet rebuilt.

Customarily, the couple's mothers are the ones who break the plate. They hold the plate together and drop it onto a hard surface.

Some have the custom to make a necklace for the bride from the broken pieces. Others give the broken pieces to eligible "singles" as if to say "may a plate soon be broken for you." Some break the plate at the wedding just before the chuppa. Being the mosiac tile artist that I am, I'm planning on making some type of art piece for them with the pieces.

Goodbye Eric and Heather

The CYJ Staff

The following article was written by Yael Kahalnik, Assistant Camp Director of Camp Young Judaea, for their online newsletter. Thank you for the beautiful article!

Eric and Heather left today for their journey to travel the world....



Goodbye Eric and Heather
By Yael Kahalnik- Assistant Camp Director


Eric Grosman has served as the Director of Operations for CYJ for three and a half successful and exciting years. Throughout Eric’s stint running the CYJ Retreat Center during the year and ensuring a seamless summer at camp, he has brought passion, commitment, and a creative touch to every project he took on. Eric took on the challenge of growing our retreat center and has successfully increased the number of groups that utilize CYJ exponentially, developed new and attractive marketing materials both for the retreat center and for Camp, and took great pride in the upkeep and beautification of our facilities.

One of Eric’s great passions is environmentalism and he has continuously challenged us to “greenify” everything that we do, including the inception of a recycling program and the replacement of Styrofoam cups with reusable coffee mugs. With his warm and friendly personality, his eye for aesthetic beauty and artistic hand, and his hard-working, determined nature, Eric will be an irreplaceable member of the CYJ team. It is with heavy-hearts that we report that this November, our dear Eric will be leaving us to travel the world for with his beautiful wife Heather.

“Eric is a team player who will be missed. My hope is that he comes back to us after traveling the world.” says Frank Silberlicht, Camp Director.

Looking toward the near future, Eric and Heather are excited to begin their adventure around the world together.

“The first rule to our journey is..there are no rules. Anything goes!” says Eric.

With only a small amount of clothing, a big camera, some Pepto-Bismol, and a few other basic items in one carry-on size backpack each, the happy couple will be gone for about a year traveling to West Africa, East Africa, India, and Nepal in the first six months of their trek. While second half of their trip is still undecided, they have expressed interest in leading a Jewish youth trip to Israel or Central America over the summer. Hopefully we can convince them to return to the Judaean family to staff one of our exciting Summer Israel Programs! Eric, your smile and sense of humor will truly be missed. We wish them good luck on their journey and “nessiah tovah”.

I love pumpkin

Isn't she the cutest pumpkin you've ever seen!!!! We captured Sophie one day and took to a local pumpkin patch. (the grocery store)

Follow the bouncing ball

Working can sometimes be detrimental to your health. I learned this quickly, yesterday. While watching my students on the playground, another older student from a different grade, was walking past a ball laying on the ground and decided to kick it into the crowd of kids. I caught it right in my eye, knocked me to the ground. Immediately i had severe pain in my head and my vision was very blurred. It pays to have doctors in the family, my dad called up an ophthalmologist and got me in. Luckily, no torn retina or hemorrhaging. Wow, i had such a headache the rest of the day. Kids just don't think about the consequences of their actions.

I've got blog burn-out

In the summer, when things are quiet and calm, I loved blogging. Suddenly, my blog world seems to have hit a brick wall. Perhaps it's because i use so much of my energy at school, teaching 5 and 6 year olds. Wow, tough age. This year, my class is much more challenging. I didn't realize how lucky and easy it was for me last year. So by the end of the day, i'm almost brain dead. i will try to entry more, but don't expect it. I have blogger burn-out.