ISAACS FAMILY NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2021
The first draft of the family update was
soooo looong we dispensed with the quasi-philosophical (or BS) meandering introduction
(you will be glad to hear). Let’s get stuck in.
Starring Dori
Dori (16 months; daughter of Elon and
Leetal) has a sure future on stage. Leetal calls her an actress. She has developed
the most wonderfully expressive features and gestures including “Where is…“; ”Open
the door”; “Oy vey”; and my favourite one seems to asks timidly “Am I in
trouble?”.
Like 4 billion other people on the planet, Dori’s current fad is mobile phones. After an initial cuddle and kiss, she always asks to play with my mobile phone. Her favourite app is the gallery, but anything with colour and movement enraptures her. One outcome of this “game” is that things on your phone are liable to appear or disappear. Yesterday, I hunted high and low to access my email, google search bar and phone settings. On the other hand, she downloaded the weather widget which was actually quite useful. Sorting out the phone is a small price to pay for spending time with Dori. She is so warm, friendly, smiley, easy going and smart. She makes grandparenting “grand” fun.
Ram - “Add to favourites”
In a newsletter from 2005, I noted soulfully
that as small babies, all my boys preferred their mother over me (it’s hard to
compete with on-demand nursing). Kindly people comforted me that little girls are
more attached to their Dads. Not mine. They all preferred their Mum (and their
Boobie Barbara) too. Read the rest of that story
Who would have dreamed that Ram (10
months; son of Orly and Chen) would turn the tables. You see, I am Ram’s
favourite grandparent. I get the biggest smiles. He wants ME
to hold him. He comes crawling after ME. Why? I don’t
know. But I admit, I do enjoy it.
Ari “Oxon”
Ari has moved to Oxford where his
girl-friend Shona is working on a medical research project. Oxford is a nice
place - away from the big city, open spaces, historic buildings. Not for me
though. Just walking the streets I would feel that everyone is smarter than me.
At least Ari doesn’t have that problem.
Ari’s current hobby is climbing. He
climbs walls with tiny little footholds and handholds to prepare himself for
climbing rocks with even tinier, almost invisible footholds and handholds. He has
been on climbing holidays with Shona (also a climber) and her brother (a
serious climber). I have made enough ”climbing the walls” jokes at Ari’s
expense, so I won’t make any more here.
Elon and Leetal – going with the ebb
and flow
As the fourth Corona wave is receding
and the fifth has not yet arrived, Elon’s business is back in business. Chanukkah
is a boon. Magicians wish that small jug of oil had burned for 16 days. Since
they moved to Kfar Saba, we see Elon, Leetal and Dori over weekends. Most
Fridays there is a pilgrimage of Isaacs’s to Kfar Saba; today (you think I have
time to write newsletters during the week?), Kfar Saba came to Elkana.
Naphtali and Adi – No “cheese”
Congratulations to Adi who has completed
her studies and is now starting to look for work in human resources. Like the
Prime Minister’s wife - and several hundred thousand other Israelis - Naphtali and
Adi felt the need to escape abroad while Covid was in recession and chose
Prague. Naphtali and Adi are not the types that photograph everything they do,
see and eat. But a visit to historic Prague surely should be an exception. On
the family whatsapp, Elisheva asked Naphtali to send photos. He replied with a
screenshot of Prague from an Israeli travel site. When Judy wrote back
insisting on “photos of you!!”, he sent a beautiful pic of Naphtali and Adi - from
their wedding.
Orly and Chen – the difference
between karma and hashgacha
Last newsletter I reported that Chen
had taken a fantastic new job (which he loves) in a company located in the same
building in which Orly worked – and that “karma” was pushing them together (they even lunched together). The
“karma” reference was a theological slip up. As an orthodox Jew, I should have
said “hashgacha pratit” (Divine providence), because “the powers that be” or “the
big guy in the sky” decided to mix things up. You see, Orly has taken a new job
herself at a company called SAP – a phenomenal international company with
100,000 workers and revenues that could fund a small country. Their offices are
located in North Raanana – 25 kilometers away from where Chen now works. (So much
for the “karma” pushing them together). But there is another twist to the tail.
The SAP offices are literally next door to a new Amdocs building, currently
under construction, where I will be working in less than one year from now. Hashgacha
pratit.
Abigail לא הביישן למד
(“Shy people cannot learn” (Ethics of Our Fathers)
Abigail is half-way through her first
semester of her Maths & Computer Studies degree. This takes up about 90% of
her waking hours, although she does find time to fill in for her gymnastics
teacher from time to time. Abigail is doing extremely well. She loves most of
the courses, but daily we hear of the nightmare known as “Infy” which none of
the students understand, and how awful her “Infy” lecturer is. (“Infy”, it
transpires, is short for “infinitesimal calculus”). Judy and I encouraged Abigail
to ask questions in the lesson and keep on asking till she understands. And she
did. After one particular lesson, where she grilled the professor even more
than usual, she went to thank him at the end. I think he was thrilled to have a
student who cared enough to ask, and commented that she is one of the best
students in the class (of over 100).
Elisheva, licensed to… drive
“Beware! Elisheva is about”. “Insurance
premiums are on the rise”. “Amdocs (the providers of my company car”) is in
mourning”. These are just some of the signs penned by loving sister Orly and plastered
over the walls of our house since Sunday when Elisheva passed her driving test,
at her first attempt, aged 17 years and 2 months. Well done Elisheva, you would
think. However, her siblings were quick to point out that one passed their test
at 17 and one month; and another when they were still 16. Also, four of the six
passed on gear cars, while Elisheva learned on an automatic (or what we call a “bimba”);
and finally, Elisheva took more lessons (they would say nearly more than all
the others put together). Naturally I ignored those excuses as sibling rivalry
and congratulate Elisheva for her outstanding achievement. I greatly look
forward to being her tutor, coaching her driving for the next six months, and
screaming at her irresponsible, incompetent and dangerous driving and threatening
never to let her near a car ever again if she so much as thinks of pressing the
accelerator without my explicit instruction.
Elisheva, by the way, has been
accepted into the IDF as a computer programmer. She will take a 6-month course
before joining the army, and then serve for 6 years. This is the fulfilment of a
plan Elisheva hatched in 7th grade. I take my hat off to you, Elisheva.
Happy Chanukah
Judy, Michael, and all the Isaacs
Elkana family
