We would like to invite our friends from Maale Adumim to two events that are important to us.

Next Thursday, Gimel Tamuz, 25 June, at 6:30 PM, we will be having a Gilui Matzeva unveiling ceremony for my father ob”m at Har Hamenuchot.
If you are able to assist us with making a minyan, please contact me, and tizkeh leMitzvot.

Next Shabbat, Parshat Chukat, we are hosting a special Seudah Shlishit at Nachalat Yehuda (the yeshiva tichonit beit midrash in Mitzpe Nevo). This is a Seudat Hodaya to Hashem, thanking Him for our son Chayim Zvi’s recovery from the traffic accident and brain surgery he went through last year.
See http://chayimzvi.wordpress.com/about/ for the story.
We will be having a special guest speaker – Rav Abba Wagensberg.
Mincha will be at 6:15 (instead of 7:08).
Please RSVP to gidon.ariel at gmail.com (gidon.ariel@gmail.com) or by phone
(054-566-5037) so we can know approximately how many people will be in attendance. We expect a full house! If you can bring a parve side dish, cut up vegetables or cake/dessert, that would be very helpful.

We look forward to sharing many, many years of smachot with you!

If Ima had a beard she’d shave with a razor
And call it her favorite Rabbi Lazer
As soon as she did learn to read
She’s always besimcha tamid!

She made the cut at NDS
She aced it cause she is the best
The like her cause she is so frugal
So they let her play all day with Doogle!

Something changed here recently with hardly a warning
It’s when Ima and Aba wake up on Shabbat morning
To go Rav Abba’s shiur they run
Cause the Emunat Itecha is lots of fun!

Elisheva learns to cook
But not like normal from a book
She studies with the best of chefs
She eats some then brings home the rest!

Besides to cook she’s learning driving
To ace tee-oriyah she’s striving
She’ll have her license and her milaveh escort
But without a car she’ll have to walk!

There’s hardly a school she didn’t try
And when she goes back to visit she feels real high
But for now her favorite place instead
Until late morning is her bed!

Akiva’s ready for high school
To Maale Chever he’ll go real cool
He’ll be a real talmid chacham
Much nachas for the mishpacha and for the am!

The family newspaper will soon come out
The editor in chief is out and about
With many madorim as its claim to fame
But every one’s favorite is computer games!

His recent teuda was the best in his class
He got straight As while others bekoshi passed
What’s his secret? We’d like to take a peek
When he only gets to school two days a week?

Shira Rina’s everyone’s friend
The kind you buy and not just lend
She’s quiet in her own sweet way
And is on the phone each and every day!

She likes to sing and likes to draw
With kishronot like these she’s never bored
But things aren’t always as they seem
She’s rather not do the avoda in mada’eem!

Chaim Zvi has had quite a year
For a normal kid he’s had more than his share
From the top of his head to the bottom of his knee
He’s as grateful to Hashem as he can be!

This tzaddik never misses avot uvanim
But things aren’t always as they seem
He like to learn but even more
To get klafim for the boy next door!

At Shesh Besh Mootzie is aloof
He loves to play it to the roof
Just when you think his day is done
Thet’s when you”ll hear him say “abba, Come!”

Our cutie chamoodie is Moriyah
Named for Bet Hamikdash, she’s really a star
She goes to chana and gan tzeelon
Between that and visiting friends she’s hardly ever home!

Moriyah loves that Curious George
Her happiness when she reads it is really large
I wonder if the reason is
Her curiosity is just as big as his!

So that’s our family in a rhyme
I hope when you listened you had a good time
Brought to you by your Dear Old Dad
I hope this is the best purim you ever had!

Chayim Zvi is thank God doing well. As most visitors to this site know, my father ob”m passed away on Monday September 15th.

I finally got around to uploading the audio files of the eulogies that were delivered at his funeral.

I hope that sooner than later, I will transcribe and translate these eulogies, and upload them here as well.

Thank you all for your kind wishes.

Adam’s Hesped

Gidon’s Hesped

Aviva’s Hesped

Adam’s rav, Rav Gersten, delivers a hesped

Stories with Shraga Shemer, an old friend of Dad’s

After months of campaigning for a seat on the Maale Adumim City Council, I would like to thank all my supporters.

In the elections held yesterday, the Tovah HaAretz MA list did not reach the threshold to gain a seat in the council.

Running on a platform of western-style representational democracy and personal accountability, I was hoping to bring these values to the Maale Adumim City Council, and especially to Mitzpe Nevo, Klei Shir, and the native English speaking community in our city.

Evidently, the experience of the other parties in elections as well as the platforms which they highlighted were more attractive to voters than ours, and Maale Adumim will continue to have a nearly identical party makeup in the council.

I congratulate my opponents upon their victory, and am confident that they will all serve Maale Adumim with integrity and the interests of all residents in mind.

As I declared before the election, I believe that the candidates of all parties were sincere when they expressed their hope to serve with me on the Council, and my disappointment over not working with each of them is second only to that over not being able to serve the community in the capacity of councilman.

However, I remain motivated to continue serving our community as a community activist. I invite all residents who want to work with me on community projects to be in touch, so we can continue the grass-roots activities of Maale Adumim until the next election, when please G-d bli neder I will run again.

I would like to take this opportunity to apologize publicly to anyone who felt slighted or hurt by me during our campaign.

I would also like to profusely thank all of my supporters who helped in the campaign. I refrain from naming names here to keep this message less than a mile long. I must, however, mention my colleagues on our Tovah HaAretz list, namely Alice Eigner, Roi Biton, Gidon Charlap, Zeev Orenstein, and Yonatan Adar. Although I initially recruited these five people to fulfill a bureaucratic requirement, I was time and again impressed by each of their contributions to the campaign. I also must mention Amitai Cohen, who advised me on my odyssey, and Shai Cohen, who stepped in during the last week to work “the shetach.” I appreciate the efforts of all my supporters who did so much for our campaign. I would especially like to thank my wife Devra, who has supported my political habit from the day we met, and continues to put up with things that should by right find me locked out (or locked up:-).

Finally, I give thanks to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, for instilling within me the yearning to serve him and His people with love. I pray that I will be able to continue to do so for many, many years.

Thanks,
Gidon Ariel
Tova Haaretz Meod Meod

I am happy to say that we have reached a milestone. Not long ago Chayim Zvi went for a follow-up MRI. Dr. Contstantini has seen the results and the results are that there is no sign of any tumor. This is obviously fantastic news, and we are deeply grateful to G-d, who has carried us so far and for so long.

However, we remain in need of G-d’s mercy for the long haul – in general and specifically for Chayim Zvi. While the likelihood of tumor reoccurance for this type of growth is low, it is still a possibility. Chayim Zvi will be going for follow-up MRIs once every 6 months for years to come.

Therefore, we request that people continue to have Chayim Zvi’s continued good health in mind in their personal prayers.

Thank you to everyone out there for your interest, support and love!

Devra

Phone calls are being accepted at 972-2-5354586 (land line) and 972-54-5665037 (cell phone).

We were deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to have Dad near us for the past two plus months, and we were also grateful that we were able to fulfill his wish to return to Israel and to die and be buried here.

I hope that Gidon will have time to write up some of the words he spoke in his eulogy. My father-in-law was an extraordinary man, a holocaust survivor, and a lover of humanity.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127587

Devra

The first step to being a kidney donor is to be in perfect health. The second step is to have a compatible blood type. Asaf has a blood type of B negative.  That means that possible donors are people with B or O  blood.  We recently learned that Rh factor is not an issue in donor transplants, and that should make our search somewhat easier.  B- is one of the rarer blood types, occurring in only %2 of the general population.  B+ is a bit better at %9.

Please pass along a link to my blog, or to Asaf’s father’s blog (above) or Gila’s post, or RivkA’s, and let’s get the word out. The Blogosphere can work wonders for people and there IS a live donor kidney out there that can save Asaf’s life.

I believe that there is a General Manager who runs this world, and created everything in it. the Internet is a G-d-given tool, and used properly we can be partners in miracles!

May we all merit good health!

Devra