Too busy!

Every now and then I like to mention our social activities to show how life can be busy and fun for Immigrants in Netanya.  Last week we went out 4 nights in a row, not typical, but not so uncommon. 

On Sun April 7, in the morning we drove to Jerusalem to meet with an MK in the Knesset and then on erev Yom Hashoah we went to the ceremony at the Conservative (Masorti) Beth Israel synagogue which was organized by Rabbi Birnbaum, himself a survivor from Slovakia, and as usual he arranged a thoughful and moving service, with selected readings related to the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the first organized civil rebellion against the Nazis anywhere in Europe. 

On Mon April 8, we drove to Tel Aviv to attend the opening of the art exhibition of our friend from Maryland, Zvi Porath, held in the lobby of the Israel Opera House.  Since Zvi grew up in Israel he has a large group of friends here and so it was a crowded occasion.  Zvi's paintings are very colorful and impressionistic with flowing strokes and highly personal feelings. 

On Tues April 9, we attended the opening of the annual Photography Exhibition at AACI in Netanya, where I had 4 photographs selected.  The show was entitled "My best shot" and was curated by Tom Langford, a well-known photography expert in Israel.  When I spoke about my photos I pointed out that they all captured an ephemeral moment in time, especially the shot of the torii gate off the island of Miyajima, a beauty spot near Hiroshima, Japan.  When I visited there it was shrouded in mist and I caught sight of this gate out in the sea, an unforgettable moment.  Also, when we were driving around the island of Hawaii we stopped at the City of Refuge just when the sun was setting and I caught its last rays behind two totems. 

On Weds April 10, we were invited to a reception for the Friends of Netanya Academic College in a magnificent mansion in Herzliya Pituach.  The house was filled with the scultures of the hostess, Tamar Fuzailov, and there were many lighted in the garden.  She has 7 statues in Netanya, some of which we were familiar with, but did not know the artist's name.   After some speeches she donated a large sculpture to Netanya College and then we had tasty appetizers.

Quite a busy week, with lots of driving (and help from my GPS).  This week we are mostly free so we can make up for last week and rest.