OK, I admit it. I still get a bit mushy when they have the annual fly-over on Yom HaAtzmaut. Since 1948 Israel has celebrated its independence with unique traditions, such as the Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers which precedes Yom HaAtzmaut. Another unique custom involves the afore-mentioned fly-over in which Israeli jets fly the length of the country from Metulla in the North to Eilat in the south. It's fairly consistent -- starts at noon and you can usually see several groups of jets flying overhead. I tear up every time.

Sorry that I didn't get a photo of our Yom HaAtzmaut Celebration. It was lovely and I was just sorry that my house isn't bigger so that I could have had more people over. Basically, I invited friends -- people for whom it would be hard to get out of town or who are on their own. We told everyone to bring whatever they want to grill and I made some salads.

I started the grill up (I've gotten quite good at it and if we hadn't had so much to grill, I could have done the whole thing with wood -- didn't use a speck of lighter fluid either!) and then my neighbor took over while I went inside to deal with the salads. We had about 20 guests -- old-timers, new olim, a family with 2 sons presently serving in the army, etc. Once I saw that I had enough chairs I could relax and, thanks to a lot of beer, a few bottles of wine and a lot of good will, we did our country proud.

As the celebration wound down everyone reflected on the tremendous "zechut" (privilege) that we have to be living in Israel today. After countless centuries of persecution we live freely as Jews in a country that protects us. I always think of Daniel Gordis's article that he wrote in 2002 after the attack on Israelis in Mombassa Kenya. In explaining his decision to move to a "dangerous neighborhood" he wrote "our family does come first. And that's why we're here. To raise our kids in a place that's all about them, about their history, their future, their sense of being at home. To live in a place that unlike that old neighborhood, matters very much."

Thank you Daniel for expressing what I feel but can't qu

This past year has been a doozy. We've lost more members of our little English-speaking community than I care to count -- most of whom weren't very old.

I knew most of the people who passed away and at some point, it became almost too much to bear....good people who never did anything to hurt anyone weren't given the opportunity to live out their lives. I know that God has a reason for everything, but.....it was hard.

One of the good things -- if you can call it that -- that came out of this year of friends passing was that a number of people in the community organized themselves into an organization that will be on call if someone needs assistance. So, for instance, if someone is sick the organization will mobilize to make sure that the person gets food  and help. I don't know how much they're going to be able to do because such an organization is only as strong as the people who support it, and let's just say that not everyone is prepared to be on call to help as needed. That's probably true in any community -- you have the doers and those who are not as involved -- but it stands out more in a small community like ours.

Anyway, this organization was named for one of the people who passed away this year, Chaya Tikva. She was a true character in a way that only Tzfat people can understand but she had a heart of gold and an organization such as this one

Part of this year's Purim Sphiel. I'm honored to live in a town with so much talent....especially since I don't add much to the talent pool here (but I love to enjoy my neighbor's efforts)