The Adventure Continues

The Jewish Sabbath Is on Saturday and begins at sundown on Friday. Most offices, schools, and government institutions close at noon. Even though Tel Aviv is largely secular, there is a very festive feeling in the streets as the Sabbath approaches. Families are out strolling, sitting at outdoor cafes, buying flowers. By mid afternoon, there's an amazing reduction in traffic, and the streets are quiet. By late evening, though, it resumes again as young people go out to party until the wee hours as they don't have to work on Saturday.
Friday afternoon to went to hear chamber music, at one of the many venues in Tel Aviv for music. This one was the Felicia Blumenthal Centre, named after a Viennese born Brazilian pianist who eventually came to Israel. Two trios performed music written by Yehezkiel Braun, an eminent Israeli composer. What impressed me most was the number of children in the audience, many of whom are no doubt learning to play musical instruments, who sat enraptured throughout the performance. Israelis take their music very seriously and obviously it starts at a young age.
The next morning I was awake at 6am. My cousin Elie was picking me up at 6:30 so that we could go for a 6k walk and a swim at a beach in northern Tel Aviv called Tzuk. Except for the odd taxi, the streets were deserted and it was barely light. I was sure we'd be the only people on the beach. There were already a goodly number when we began walking, but as we progressed, the foot traffic increased. The crowd was mostly post 50, no doubt working off the Sabbath meal of the night before. There were signs everywhere saying no fishing allowed, but you wouldn't have known it from the number of people fishing. When I mentioned it to my cousin he gave me a one word explanation. "Jews!"
Joining us on the walk was Elie's friend, Idit, who's a retired professor of literature at Tel Aviv University. When she found out I'm Canadian, she engaged me in a discussion on the works of Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood.
After the walk, Elie and I went for a swim in the Mediterranean. We were the only ones without surfboards. The waves were high and frequent, and absolutely thrilling to dive into. The water was much warmer than the Pacific in Vancouver in summer, even though the air temperature was only about 65.
We were showered, dressed, and ready for breakfast by 8:40am! And what a start to the day that was.
Yesterday I spent the better part of the day with another cousin, Bruriah, who is 81 and a native born Israeli. She takes a weekly class in biblical interpretation, free, and sponsored by the City of Tel Aviv. The subject for the lecture was the siege of Samaria, from the Book of Kings in the Old Testament. Even though I was completely ignorant of the subject matter, I was captivated by the artful story telling, and the erudite interweaving of ancient art and modern poetry with the biblical material. The class members were mostly women in their seventies and eighties who were clearly familiar with the material, and who didn't hesitate to call out comments and questions at will. It made for very interesting and humorous ( to me) discussion. My cousin, Bruriah, was the most vocal of all.
In the afternoon I determined yet again to get an Israeli Sim card for my phone. Despite a couple of previous attempts, I had not yet been successful. This time I wasn't going to take no for an answer. I wandered into a shop on Ben Yehuda, one of the main streets of Tel Aviv. Between Daniel, the gruff but very competent owner who threw people out of his shop if he didn't like them, and Valerie, the Russian girl who lots of face piercings, and lots of grumblings from both about Fido and Rogers with whom they evidently have experience, the job got done. I now have an Isreali Sim card and get and make calls within Israel without being gouged by my Canadian carrier!