Travel – Page 8

“Jazz up” visit to Jerusalem

In the winter, the Yellow Submarine hosts a collection of shows, many of them jazz, as part of the International Music Showcase. (photo from itraveljerusalem.com)

This article was written several months before the daily terrorist attacks began against Israel. While tourists may be understandably hesitant to visit Israel right now, the country needs support, and a visit is one of the tangible ways in which to give that support. (Editor)

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Jerusalem may be better known for its religious and historical context than its music scene but, below the surface, a burgeoning jazz scene featuring some of the best musicians in the country delivers a steady diet of under-the-radar concerts in Jerusalem that frequently wow unassuming tourists and locals alike.

“A lot of the best jazz musicians for a couple of generations have come out of Jerusalem,” commented Steve Peskoff, a jazz musician who has lived in Jerusalem for 30 years and teaches jazz guitar and music workshops at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. “This is the only school in the country granting a degree [in jazz] at the college level,” said the former New Yorker.

Ask around town about jazz, and you’ll typically hear about three mainstays of the scene that are constantly providing a platform for local and international jazz musicians to put their considerable talents on display for the patrons of the Holy City – Birman, Barood and the Yellow Submarine.

If you’re just visiting Jerusalem and don’t have time to wait around for concert dates, then Birman Musical Bistro is your most likely destination.

The popular “musical bistro” located just off the bustling Ben Yehuda Pedestrian street hosts local musicians every day for free-of-charge live concerts. Jazz is the music of choice at least four nights of the week, and the bistro boasts the atmosphere of an old-school music club, with a clientele made up of local musicians, students and music-lovers eager to take advantage of the live music and tasty, yet reasonably priced, food and drinks.

Jerusalem-born Dan Birron opened Birman’s about 10 years ago with live music every night, four of which are usually reserved for jazz, including the Saturday night jam session.

“All musicians in Jerusalem, especially jazz, know my place,” said Birron, who also takes the stage himself on some nights to serenade the crowd with his styles on the accordion. “I’m totally booked for months.”

The performers at Birman are a mixed bag of some of the city’s most established jazz musicians and the younger crop starting out after finishing the army or graduating from the Academy of Music. The city’s jazz scene is “very interesting, with many very talented musicians,” Birron said. “The best ones are coming to my place.”

Not far away from Birman in the picturesque Feingold Courtyard, Barood Bar and Restaurant is one of the most talked-about jazz institutions in the city. Owner Daniela Lerer remembers as a young child hearing jazz and feeling that it spoke to her more than any other genre. It would be another 30 years before she opened Barood in 1995 but, ever since, jazz records have dominated the background music at Barood. These days, you can regularly catch live shows on Saturday afternoons or evenings – in the courtyard during the summer and in the restaurant when the cold weather comes.

After working as a TV producer and at other jobs, she said, “I knew for sure I would have jazz in my bar and restaurant. I began to play jazz here all the time, then I started to bring [other] musicians.”

For many years, well-known American saxophonist Arnie Lawrence, who moved to Israel in 1997, played at Barood once a week until he died in 2005. For the past year, Israeli saxophonist Albert Piamenta, has been playing at Barood one Saturday every month, while other local musicians perform two to three times a month. You won’t find a lot of promotion for the concerts, but most of the hotels in the area keep up to date with Barood’s schedule.

While the jazz community in Jerusalem is relatively small, Lerer has nothing but praise for the local musicians, students at the academy and the small but growing scene. “Jerusalem is very open to jazz now,” she said. “The scene is growing and the young people are really good.”

In addition to the music, Barood also boasts a unique Sephardi kitchen with a Greek influence, where Lerer’s son is chef, featuring pastelicos, a special meat pie made by Lerer, as well as appetizers, salads, main courses, vegetarian dishes, stuffed vegetables, and desserts, all from her Sephardi background.

No list of Jerusalem music institutions would be complete without the Yellow Submarine, one of Jerusalem’s première music venues. For the past seven years, it has offered free weekly jazz concerts.

The weekly night dedicated to jazz is designed to give local musicians the opportunity to be heard, said manager Yaron Mohar, a talented musician, as well as being a sound technician and the director of the School of Engineering and an instructor in the music education department. He explained that the Yellow Submarine is more than just a venue – it is a multidisciplinary music centre, where musicians can rehearse, record and attend programs and performances. It also offers aspiring musicians in high school the chance to earn credits toward graduation through Yellow Submarine courses.

The Yellow Submarine is where you are most likely to catch international jazz acts. Recently, it hosted Austrian jazz guitarist and songwriter Wolfgang Muthspiel and Swedish cellist/bassist Svante Henryson as part of the Israel Festival. In the winter, the Yellow Submarine hosts a collection of shows, many of them jazz, as part of the International Music Showcase.

Within Jerusalem’s community of young, aspiring musicians, there is certainly an appreciation that bodes well for the future.

Ami, a 17-year-old, attends a high school that offers a music major. Beginning in ninth grade, the program concentrates on jazz.

“Jazz is a language,” said Ami, a second-generation pianist. “I’ve been in the program three years but I’ve only actually learned what it means to be part of a jazz community now.”

Ami’s father has a doctorate in music and had a musical career in the United States before he moved to Israel, where he plays jazz piano on a freelance basis at weddings and other venues – and, not surprisingly, frequents jazz nights at Birman.

Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, foreign correspondent, lecturer, food writer and book reviewer who lives in Jerusalem. She also does the restaurant features for janglo.net and leads weekly walks in English in Jerusalem’s market. A longer version of this article was originally published on itraveljerusalem.com.

The High Holidays in Beijing

The Confucius temple is a must-see in Beijing. (photo by Thyristorchopper)

On Sept. 7, I arrived in Beijing for a 10-month adventure – teaching Hebrew at Peking University. (Yes, this is what it is still called.)

Among the many preparations I had to make for this journey were learning some basic Mandarin, downloading and scanning for the students a huge amount of Hebrew material that would not be accessible from China, and packing clothes for three seasons. I also had to think about celebrating the High Holidays away from my family.

On the internet, I learned that Beijing’s Jewish community enjoys two congregations: Chabad, as one would expect almost anywhere in the world, and Kehillat Beijing, “an egalitarian, unaffiliated, lay-led Jewish community organization.” The latter has a rabbi, but only a guest one, and only during High Holidays. This year, they invited, for the second time, Rabbi Jack Shlachter, a physicist-rabbi from Los Alamos, N.M. What a small world! His wife, Bruria (Beverly), who would accompany him, was one of my mini-ulpan students in Santa Fe last year! In an email exchange, she assured me that Kehillat Beijing is a warm and welcoming community and, by the way, would I mind taking part and reading a passage during the Yom Kippur service?

The first few days on campus are full of bureaucratically required errands, and they are a good way to get familiar with the geography of my new and fascinating environment – a beautiful campus, part of which was the southern edge of a huge imperial garden. Surprisingly, it doesn’t feel as foreign as I expected it would. Global village? Still, there are enough things, even those on the mundane side, which are so different and curious, they promise more surprises.

Three days after arrival, I venture into the super-modern subway, heading to the Israeli embassy. The ambassador’s wife had invited Israeli women in Beijing for an informal potluck evening to welcome the New Year, and I am on the list. The instructions I receive from a student are clear: change from Line 4 to 10, take Exit B, walk two blocks into the diplomatic part of the city, and I am there.

There are about 20 women from what seems to be a close-knit group. Among them, a now local restaurateur, an architect, some businesswomen, an event planner, the Chabad rebbitzen, embassy employees, and wives of businessmen or embassy workers, taking time off from their jobs in Israel and enjoying all that Beijing has to offer – a good group for a newcomer to get her first tips about life in China. Late at night and after a rainstorm, I safely walk to the subway and back to my campus residence.

photo - Kehillat Beijing has transformed a Chinese antique piece into a small ark. There are Magen Davids on its doors — Kehillat Beijing has transformed a Chinese antique piece into a small ark. There are Magen Davids on its doors. *(photo from Rahel Halabe)*

On Friday night, I head to Kehillat Beijing. I take the same subway station, but Exit A gives me my first glimpse of a busy downtown street, a shopping centre, hotels, the construction site of a large and creatively shaped tower, many tiny little – some elegant – stores (are all stores in Beijing so small?) and street food prepared and sold in small carts.

KB meets every Friday evening on the third floor of the Capital Club Athletic Centre. Local Jews, fluent in Mandarin, living in China for periods ranging from a few years to a couple of decades – business owners, financiers, ESL teachers, people working in the American, Canadian and Israeli embassies, students of Chinese or Chinese medicine, and others – get together with local Chinese who are searching for a new spiritual path, as well as with visitors. These visitors are tourists, exchange students and university professors, here temporarily, or those with great ideas, who come to explore business potentials.

The service this time is led by the guest rabbi in front a Chinese antique piece that has been turned into a small ark. If you look carefully, you will notice the probably unintentional Magen David-like decorations on its doors.

The KB logo has a Magen David that replaces one element of the word Beijing. (image from Rahel Halabe)

The KB logo, embroidered on their kippot, also has a Magen David in it, only here it replaces one element of the Chinese characters denoting the word Beijing. It is something to take home for your kippa collection.

After the service, there are announcements – and a surprise. One of the organizers of Limmud China, which alternates yearly between Beijing and Shanghai, tells us about this year’s event in November, and invites potential presenters to apply. I approach him and offer to do so, in this way compensating for having had to withdraw my offer to present at Limmud Vancouver 2016.

Friday and holiday services at KB are usually followed by dinner. Attendees buy a ticket but, for students, it is subsidized. The social mix at every table ensures interesting and lively conversations.

Saturday is my first day as a real tourist. I visit the Confucius temple site, with its ancient trees and long library “avenue” – all the Confucian wisdom engraved in close to 200 stelas, each more than twice a man-size tall. At the end, a class of university history students stages their version of an ancient bow and arrow shooting competition in historical clothing.

The next day is erev Rosh Hashana and Rabbi Jack leads the service in a meaningful, beautiful way. At my dinner table sits a British journalism professor, an American government envoy here to discuss drug issues with Chinese officials, a father visiting his Chinese-language-student son and an American university librarian hunting for both Jewish and Arabic publications produced in China, accompanied by two young guests: a Chinese woman writing her master’s thesis on Cynthia Ozick’s work and an Arabic-Chinese translator working in Chinese television. For both, it is their first time in a synagogue. The translator speaks to me in the formal literary Arabic he learned at Peking U and in Sudan, and I answer in my colloquial Arabic, explaining the meaning of the various Jewish New Year customs.

The next day, after Kiddush and a bite of challa dipped in honey, we head to nearby LiangMa (Bright Horse) River for Tashlich, right beside a few fishermen sitting patiently, waiting to hook a fish. From there, we walk for a few blocks and sit on the roof of a brewery, reserved today especially for the KB community to share in vegetarian pizza and drinks. It is an enjoyable, almost family-like, holiday gathering that extends to the late afternoon. By now, I feel quite at home. I speak Hebrew and English at this table and another and, from a trilingual (English, Chinese and Hebrew) 10-year-old girl, I get a detailed explanation and demonstration of the different tones and, hence, meaning of two Chinese words that sound equal to my ear.

On the second day of Rosh Hashana, KB does not hold services, and I join Rabbi Jack and Bruria at Chabad for another warm welcome. I am surprised to find a few of my new acquaintances from KB now here at Chabad. Dividing your “Jewish time” between the two very different congregations is not uncommon, I am told. In Beijing, the two communities collaborate, especially when it comes to the local Sunday school.

In between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, school starts, and I meet my new students, as well as sprinkle in another couple of outings. I witness the locals dancing, playing games and singing, individually and in large groups, in their historical, beautifully preserved parks, taking advantage of the still nice weather and the unusually low pollution levels.

The Saturday between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is a musical Shabbat at KB. The service is accompanied by a group comprised of members of the congregation and of Moishe House, with their instruments. Moishe House in Beijing seems to be very active, their events include dinners, movie nights, cultural discussions, speakers, holiday celebrations and community service events. They are also central in the preparations for Limmud and host its organizing meeting.

Yom Kippur I spend again with KB, starting with the meal before the fast and ending with the break fast, but for the first night of Sukkot, I head again to Chabad to sit in the sukka. This evening is busy. On top on their usual varied crowd, they are hosting a group of Chabad followers from New York, a tour organized by the Beijing rabbi as a fundraiser for the local day school, Gannenu. As erev Sukkot coincides this year with the Chinese Mid-

Autumn (Moon) Festival, the sukka, which usually would not be decorated, after the Chabad custom, now has bright, red Chinese lanterns hanging from its schach (covering), and traditional (kosher) moon cakes are served for dessert in small, red paper bags.

Barely three weeks and so much to remember already, with the Jewish aspects only being a part of my experiences so far, albeit a significant part. And there are nine more months to go. For the first time in my life, I have started writing a diary, lest I forget.

Rahel Halabe teaches biblical and modern Hebrew in Vancouver and, this year, in Beijing. She is the author of Hinneh: Biblical Hebrew the Practical Way, and a translator of Arabic literature into Hebrew.

Burger with a side of Elvis anyone?

Uri Yoeli, left, at the Elvis Inn, his restaurant/convenience store/gas station in Neve Ilan. (photo by Deborah Fineblum Schabb)

To appreciate how much Israelis love Elvis Presley, you just have to hear three generations of the Mizrachi family of Rehovot crooning, “Wise men say only fools rush in … but I can’t help falling in love with you.”

The Mizrachis – mom Aliza, sons Asaf and Yehoram, and granddaughter Kahila – had just downed some American-style burgers at the Elvis Inn, a restaurant, convenience store and gas station that proudly claims to be the only Israeli institution devoted to “the King.” And they were busy inspecting the impressive Elvis memorabilia and tchotchke collection on the premises.

Drivers passing through this corner of the hills surrounding Jerusalem often do a double take from the car window when they spot not one, but two way-more-than-life-sized statues of Elvis. Unless, of course, they’re among those who, like the Mizrachis, make a special pilgrimage to the Elvis Inn, located in the small hillside town of Neve Ilan.

photo - Elvis-themed bottles of wine on sale at the Elvis Inn — Elvis-themed bottles of wine on sale at the Elvis Inn. *(photo by Deborah Fineblum Schabb)*

Where else can Israelis hear all Elvis, all the time, piped into a 1950s-style diner while they feast on burgers and fries? Where else can they purchase an Elvis mini-alarm clock, a platter-sized “Elvis in Jerusalem” plate, or a postcard with Elvis wearing tefillin in front of the Western Wall? (The latter souvenir comes thanks to Photoshop, since the King was never in Israel – the closest he got was Germany, and there is no evidence that he ever wore tefillin.) Better yet, buy a cup of coffee for 15 shekels (about $5 Cdn) and you get the ceramic Elvis mug to take home as a souvenir.

But nothing of this Elvis sanctuary was in the picture when Uri Yoeli was a 12-year-old growing up in Jerusalem, the seventh generation of his family to do so. The year was 1958 and the Israeli preteen had a girlfriend who was a hardcore fan.

“She gave me a picture of a man and said it was someone named Elvis,” he recalled. “The next week she gave me a small record – One Night with You.” Back then, his family owned one of just a handful of gramophones in all of Jerusalem, and being willing to repeatedly play the Elvis record instantly made Yoeli one of the most popular kids in the neighborhood.

“I didn’t understand one word of English but I knew this was great music,” he said nearly six decades later. So began a lifelong devotion to the King, punctuated with trips to Graceland (Elvis’ Memphis shrine) and an impressive collection of Elvis memorabilia, much of it now on display at Yoeli’s Elvis Inn.

Even during his years of Israel Defence Forces service, Yoeli’s Elvis fascination continued; he bought whatever posters and records he could get his hands on. In 1974, when he had the chance to open a gas station in Neve Ilan, he put a few of the Elvis pictures on the wall behind the cash register.

“That’s when I saw people’s reaction: ‘Wow, Elvis!’” he said. Thus, the Elvis Inn was born.

Over the years, the venue has grown, adding the two oversized statues – the brass one is a towering 16 feet high – and attracting not only Israelis, but plenty of Americans on vacation looking for some old-fashioned home cooking. (Note: any Elvis fans who keep kosher will have to pass on the food at the inn.)

To read more, visit jns.org.

A warm Penzance welcome

The writer and her husband, Ted Ramsay, hiking along a coastal path near St. Ives. (photo by Karen Ginsberg)

photo - Porthcurno Beach, near Penzance — Porthcurno Beach, near Penzance. *(photo by Karen Ginsberg)*

A trip this spring to Cornwall in southwest England gave my husband and me the opportunity to experience the unique treasures in this part of the world. In addition to beautiful landscapes and breathtaking coastal hikes, we visited the Eden Project, Minack Theatre, Land’s End and the towns of St. Ives, St. Just and Mousehole. It was in Penzance, however, that we enjoyed the warmest of welcomes from representatives of the Council of Cornish Jews, otherwise known as Kehillat Kernow, when we stopped for a day to visit.

We were greeted by Kehillat Kernow chair Harvey Kurzfield, public relations chair Jeremy Jacobson, and Patricia and Leslie Lipert. Patricia serves both as a lay leader for the community, as well as editor of the community’s newsletter and website. Her husband Leslie is the Kehillat treasurer and, for the past several years, he has spearheaded a drive to raise the monies needed for repairs at two Jewish cemeteries, in Penzance and in Falmouth, which is about 50 kilometres away. The name Kehillat Kernow represents both their Jewish and Cornish roots, kehila meaning community in Hebrew, and Kernow, in Cornish, meaning Cornish.

photo - The writer’s husband, Ted Ramsay, centre, with Kehillat Kernow members, left to right, Jeremy Jacobson, Harvey Kurzfield, and Patricia and Leslie Lipert — The writer’s husband, Ted Ramsay, centre, with Kehillat Kernow members, left to right, Jeremy Jacobson, Harvey Kurzfield, and Patricia and Leslie Lipert. *(photo by Karen Ginsberg)*

Keith Pearce, a Kehillat member, co-edited a collection of essays called The Lost Jews of Cornwall, which details the history of Cornish Jews. He has also written The Jews of Cornwall: History, Tradition and Settlement to 1913, which paints an intriguing picture of the first Jews who lived in the Penzance and Falmouth areas of the county since the 1740s and documents how much of their legacy remains. Falmouth, by the way, derives from the nearby River Fal and is an English translation of the Cornish Avber Fal.

The first Jews to settle in the Penzance/Falmouth area were from Bavaria, Bohemia and the Netherlands. They came, in part, to supply the tin mining industry, which was one of the major economic activities in the area at the time. Some were jewellers and clockmakers; they chose Cornwall because they felt it would be a safe haven for Jews.

Alexander Moses, a silversmith, was the first Jew known to settle in Falmouth, with his wife Phoebe in 1740. He became known as Zender Falmouth: Zender was a common diminutive among Jews, as was taking as a surname the name of their hometown. Surnames were not commonly used then.

Looking to the future, Zender built a building in 1766 along the seafront in Falmouth to be used as a synagogue when more Jews settled there. One of the stories told about him is that he had other peddlers in his employ whom he paid if they would come to Sabbath services and ensure a minyan. Later, another synagogue was built in Penzance. Despite Zender’s forward-looking vision, in time and with the coming of the industrial revolution, many people, including Jews who had settled in the area, moved from the rural and small-town settings to the cities. By 1913, the synagogue in Penzance was closed. Today, the building that housed that synagogue is a pub.

Another interesting aspect of the history of the Jews in Cornwall concerns the arrival in Penzance in the 18th century of the Hart family. The most famous member, Asher Laemle ben Eleazar, known later as Lemon Hart, was a distiller and a spirits merchant. Hart earned a national reputation as one of the first suppliers to the Royal Navy after it began giving each seaman a daily ration of blended rum.

Harvey told us that, when he first moved to Cornwall from London in 1971, there was no formal organizational life for Jews and there had not been for quite a long time. He recalled that he slowly began to make the acquaintance of other Jews with whom he and his family could share simchot but that the distances between the small towns in the county and the lack of a formal structure worked against people easily coming together.

That changed when, by happenchance, in 1996, the Cornwall county council appointed David Hampshire as the religious educator, a sort of advisor on all aspects of the religious studies that were part of the required curriculum among county schools. Hampshire was a former monk who had converted from Christianity to Judaism. In the course of his work, he encountered other Jewish families, and a “critical mass” of Jews who knew each other and were interested in meeting together to celebrate Judaism developed.

Kehillat Kernow’s beginnings were modest. There were 40 separate households within the Kehillat and they held Shabbat services in the Baptist church in the small town of Truro.

Today’s Jewish Council of Cornwall now enjoys the use of two Torah scrolls. One of the scrolls is on loan from a synagogue in Exeter; the second was acquired from the Royal Institution of Cornwall after years of negotiation. This latter Torah scroll is thought to be more than 350 years old and to have come from Bohemia in the early 18th century when the first settlers came to Falmouth. It has been refurbished for its use by this special community of Jews.

Kehillat Kernow has ongoing relationships with both the Movement for Reform Judaism and the United Synagogue (Modern Orthodox), both of which have departments that deal with smaller Jewish communities in England. Its current membership is just shy of 60 family units, totaling about 105 individuals. There are six to seven children enrolled in cheder and, last year, the community celebrated three b’nai mitzvot.

Services – which are held every two weeks – are lay led in a local school building and rotate among two women and three men as leaders. Services are held for all holidays and festivals; there are Hebrew classes, as well as classes in Shabbat cooking and in storytelling; and occasionally there are musical concerts. Conversions are done with local leaders but then formally carried out by a Reform bet din (religious court) in London. Lay leadership officiates at weddings and funerals.

While there is an abundance of fresh fish in local markets, kosher meat is available only from London or Manchester. The community newsletter, published monthly, and the Kehillat’s website are important communications tools to keep everyone up to date. After spending an afternoon with Pat and her colleagues, her description of this Jewish community rings very true: “What has evolved is like an extended family – we look after each other – we take care when we hear about someone needing something.”

Kehillat Kernow is an active participant in an interfaith forum in Cornwall. This forum has been working towards a dor kemmyn, Cornish for interfaith community building. In time, the building would be available for use by the Kehillat, as well as the other religious groups in the forum.

Kehillat Kernow is clearly held in high regard by other religious communities in the area. This is exemplified by the invitations they have received recently from various churches to be part of the churches’ international Holocaust remembrance services. Yet another interfaith group, Friends of Israel, recently invited Kehillat representatives to attend a film about the aftermath of the Shoah and the plight of Jews who were expelled from their home countries with the emergence of the state of Israel, and to say Kaddish within their midst at Holocaust remembrance services.

photo - The entrance to Penzance Cemetery, the restoration of which is being funded jointly by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and organizations and individuals in the Jewish community — The entrance to Penzance Cemetery, the restoration of which is being funded jointly by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and organizations and individuals in the Jewish community. *(photo by Karen Ginsberg)*

One of the Cornwall Jewish community’s most ambitious projects is the restoration of the cemeteries in Penzance and Falmouth. The Penzance Cemetery, which dates to the 1700s, is thought to be the finest example of the 25 Georgian Jewish cemeteries that exist outside of London. The work on it is being funded jointly by money raised from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and organizations and individuals in the Jewish community, including descendants of those buried in the graveyard. The Penzance Cemetery has a rare grave – that of an infant buried on a Shabbat because of a cholera epidemic.

photo - Ted Ramsay in Penzance Cemetery. — Ted Ramsay in Penzance Cemetery. *(photo by Karen Ginsberg)*

In response to a question about what the community’s aspirations are for itself, Harvey’s response tells you everything a traveler might want to know about how you would be greeted, should you find your way to Cornwall. He said, “Continue as we are, attract more people to the Kehillat and its activities, be able to offer more Jewish educational opportunities and, especially, for more Jews from other parts of the world to make a point of visiting with us when they pass through Cornwall.”

Should your travels take you to Cornwall, you are invited to contact Harvey Kurzfield (wannabewriterartist@gmail.com), Pat and Leslie Lipert (patricialipert@yahoo.co.uk) and Jeremy Jacobson (jeremyjacobson@btinternet.com) and to view the schedule of Kehillat Kernow’s activities in their newsletter at kehillatkernow.com.

Karen Ginsberg is an Ottawa-based Jewish travel writer.

Enjoy sunsets, blintzes, more

Some of the most stunning sunsets can be seen right from the Pierside Restaurant while eating dinner. (photo by Baila Lazarus)

As a realtor with more than two decades of experience, Joel Korn knows the golden rule that location is everything. That’s one of the reasons he and his wife have started frequenting a new getaway just south of the border.

Semiahmoo Resort, located across Semiahmoo Bay from White Rock, is just an hour’s drive from downtown Vancouver (with a Nexus pass), making it the closest resort of its kind outside of the Vancouver area.

“I always knew the resort was there,” said Korn. “Mostly I knew about the golf course.” It’s so close (approximately 55 kilometres), he said, they can make it a day trip. Even the hotel manager lives in downtown Vancouver.

photo - Smoked salmon is on the menu of the resorts scrumptious buffet breakfast — Smoked salmon is on the menu of the resorts scrumptious buffet breakfast. *(photo by Baila Lazarus)*

Located on a spit of land a short tugboat ride away from Blaine, Wash., the 212-room resort features a pool, full-service spa and diverse restaurants.

The sheer area it covers is impressive. It’s so large, it has a racquetball court (with plans for a second), tennis court, and full-size exercise centre and yoga room that rivals any fitness club. Enormous outdoor spaces on the beach and the restaurant patio serve as great meeting spaces, especially for events like weddings. Just a short drive away are two acclaimed public golf courses: Semiahmoo Golf and Country Club, and Loomis Trail Golf Club.

“We love the spa,” said Korn, who raves about the hot rock massage. “It’s great just to go down and stay all day in the spa. We love the saltwater whirlpool and the steam rooms.”

Being on a peninsula means a large portion of the building (one quarter of the rooms), including the main restaurant and sports bar, have stunning water views. (Squint your eyes a bit and you can see the white rock on the Canadian side of the border.) And, because of the spaciousness, even when many of the rooms are taken, there’s never a crowded feeling.

The mostly flat surrounding land, bordered by water, makes for great family activities like biking, kayaking, clamming, sand sculpting, kite flying, picnicking or just strolling lazily through the mud flats when the tide is out. The hotel has bikes, croquet or badminton sets you can rent for the day. For the indoor-inclined, there are free fitness and yoga classes daily.

Visitors with pets can book ground-floor rooms that exit directly onto the beach.

Weekends in the summer, guests can participate in outdoor barbecues and marshmallow roasts and take a tugboat called the Plover, which has been running since 1944, across to Blaine for pizza, ice cream, Thai or Mexican food.

Birdwatchers will have an especially enjoyable time as the region’s tide pools and waterways attract thousands of geese, ducks, gulls, loons and shorebirds. The area has made the Audubon Society’s list as one of Washington State’s top birding destinations, and Drayton Harbor attracts endangered species such as bald eagles and peregrine falcons.

photo - Patio dining at sunset just outside Packers sports bar — Patio dining at sunset just outside Packers sports bar. *(photo by Baila Lazarus)*

For those looking to stimulate their palates, the kitchen of French-born culinary director Chef Eric Truglas creates heavenly plates, such as melt-in-your mouth branzino (European sea bass), pecorino cream risotto, minted pea soup and watermelon salad. For breakfast, the orange-zest blintzes and smoked salmon are to die for. The restaurant also boasts an extensive wine list. For more casual dining, Packers sports bar is right on the water with patio seating. Both eateries are perfect spots to catch a sunset.

Semiahmoo Resort has gone through growing pains in the last decade. It was owned for 25 years by the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, which closed it at the end of 2012, due to low occupancy, blamed partially on the 2008 recession. It was then bought by Seattle-based Wright Hotels in mid-2013 and remained closed as it underwent a $10 million facelift. The new owners gave it a major renewal with interior upgrades that included new furniture and carpeting, improvements to the restaurants, spa and fitness facility and a completely new image.

The changes have been noticed – the hotel was declared the Northwest’s best resort in the Best of 2014 Readers’ Choice Award in Seattle Magazine.

And, if all this isn’t enough to put the resort on your bucket list, it is so close to Canada that Rogers customers never lose their wifi connection.

Baila Lazarus is a freelance writer and media trainer in Vancouver. Her consulting work can be seen at phase2coaching.com.

Bulgaria: more than cheese

The roof of Sofia’s synagogue. (photo by Deborah Rubin Fields)

Until recently, if someone had asked me what I knew about Bulgaria, I would have said, “Isn’t that the name of a cheese?” Now having visited Bulgaria, I realize how limited was my perspective.

Bulgaria’s colorful Jewish history dates back to antiquity. According to Elko Hazan’s comprehensive 2012 book The Concise Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities and their Synagogues in Bulgaria, over the centuries Jews had a presence in some 40 Bulgarian cities and towns.

scan - Part of an ancient mosaic synagogue floor found in Plovdiv. This photo is from The Concise Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities and Their Synagogues in Bulgaria (Kamea Design, 2012). — Part of an ancient mosaic synagogue floor found in Plovdiv. *(photo from* The Concise Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities and Their Synagogues in Bulgaria *(Kamea Design, 2012)).*

For example, near Plovdiv’s Maria Luiza Boulevard, archeologists uncovered a third-century CE synagogue. Its proximity to ancient Philippopolis’ Roman forum suggests that wealthy Jews in good standing with the Romans built the structure. The accomplishment of these well-placed Jews is all the more remarkable when you consider that Philippopolis had an estimated population of 100,000. Archeologists discovered two mosaic synagogue floors, one over another. The stunning mosaic featured both the Four Species (lulav, etrog, myrtle, willow) and a menorah. The second floor may have had geometric patterns. That more than one floor was found probably indicates the synagogue was renovated in the fifth century and destroyed in the sixth century. (See The Jewish-Greek Tradition in Antiquity and the Byzantine Empire, edited by James K. Aitken.)

Greek inscriptions commended the synagogue’s donors or founders. The east and west mosaic panel read: “‘From the gifts of Providence … Cosmianus, also called Joseph, executed the decoration (of the building). Blessing to all!” The central panel read: “From the gifts of Providence … El … also called Isaac made decoration of 120 feet (mosaic).” The adoption of a Roman-sounding second name attests to adaptation by Jews to the Greek and Roman culture. (See Negotiating Diaspora: Jewish Strategies in the Roman Empire, edited by John M.G. Barclay.) Ironically, as the synagogue remains are in storage, the only way to get a sense of how grand the floor was is to visit the impressive new museum of the (fifth-century) Small Basilica.

The ceiling of Plovdiv’s Zion Synagogue. *(photo by Deborah Rubin Fields)*

But Plovdiv’s charming Zion Synagogue (13 Tsar Kaloyan St.) is still up and functioning (one of two still active in Bulgaria). It was first built in 1886-1887. In 2003, the extensive five-year renovation of the starry-sky ceiling and the colorful geometric-paneled walls was completed. The building is only open for Kabbalat Shabbat prayers, so visitors should contact Eva Mezan (at +359-87-944-8675) to verify hours.

Although there is seating for 250 worshippers, some 20 local men and women attend this service. The second floor ezrat nashim (women’s section) is not used. Instead, an invisible mechitza (divider) has men sitting on one side of the aisle, women on the other. The congregation’s lay cantor leads services from the raised bima adjacent to the aron ha-kodesh (Torah ark). The congregation uses a Bulgarian-Hebrew siddur. Vocal congregants despair over the sad state of their community, with its high rate of intermarriage.

photo - The Jewish cemetery in Plovdiv — The Jewish cemetery in Plovdiv. (*photo by Deborah Rubin Fields)*

Plovdiv’s small Jewish community likewise has difficulty managing the graves in the Jewish section of the municipal cemetery (73 Knyaginya Maria Louisa Blvd.). While there is upkeep of “new” graves, headstones laid as recently as 1923 are somewhat neglected. Near the corner of the Sixth of September and Russki boulevards, Plovdiv’s Jews, however, do maintain a Bulgarian/Hebrew/English thanksgiving monument to the Bulgarian people for their help during the Second World War.

Sofia’s opulent 1,170-seat, 100-year-old Central Synagogue (16 Ekzarh Joseph St.) is also struggling, with barely enough people to hold daily morning prayers. The small on-site Jewish nursery school and the tiny, underdeveloped Jewish museum strikingly contrast with the enormous octagonal-shaped synagogue sanctuary. (Note: museum hours are limited, and not necessarily in accordance with posted times.)

photo - The Jewish community’s Bulgarian/Hebrew/English monument to the Bulgarian people for their help during the Second World War — The Jewish community’s Bulgarian/Hebrew/English monument to the Bulgarian people for their help during the Second World War. (photo by Deborah Rubin Fields)

Within walking distance of the synagogue, visitors may see (upon receiving special written permission from Dr. Lyudmil Vagalinski, director@naim.bg) another example of Bulgaria’s ancient Jewish history in the National Institute of Archeology with Museum’s (2 Saborna St.) lapidarium. A Latin marble pedestal from Oescus – a first- to fifth-century CE Roman town near the Danube – mentions the lay synagogue head Archisinagogus, according to Hazan.

Sofia’s 131-year-old Doctors’ Garden (located close to the National Library and Sofia University) memorializes the 531 fallen medics of the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878), most of whom died in battles at Pleven, Plovdiv, Mechka or Shipka. A good number of these Russian medical personnel were Jewish, a credit to the reforms established by Russian Emperor Alexander II.

A few blocks away is the street named after biochemist Asen Zlaratov. The street plaque mentions he helped to set up the Committee for the Protection of Jews. Even beforehand, Zlaratov published a newspaper article critical of Germany’s book burning.

photo - Sofia’s Doctors’ Garden memorializes the 531 fallen medics of the Russo-Turkish War — Sofia’s Doctors’ Garden memorializes the 531 fallen medics of the Russo-Turkish War. *(photo by Deborah Rubin Fields)*

More than 51,000 Jewish Bulgarians (most of the community) moved to Israel in the mid- to late-1940s. Between 1967 and 1990, Communist Bulgaria had no diplomatic relations with Israel. Today, estimates are that 5,000 Jews live in Bulgaria. Chabad Rabbi Yosef Salamon and Rabbi Yossi Halprin and their spouses supervise Jewish educational, social and religious functions for the small remaining Bulgarian Jewish population. According to the Hebrew language Chabad Bulgaria website, Bulgaria has more than 15 organized Jewish community centres or Shalom organization representation. In Sofia, Chabad runs King David, a kosher restaurant offering take-outs and hotel deliveries.

photo - The interior of Sofia’s synagogue — The interior of Sofia’s synagogue. *(photo by Deborah Rubin Fields)*

Over the centuries, Bulgarian Jews have influenced both their own community and the larger non-Jewish community. Here are some of the “big names”:

For his second wife, Tsar Ivan Alexander married the formerly Jewish Sarah (born in Tarnovgrad in the early 1300s). As the Empress Theodora, she was an ardent supporter of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. She provided for many churches. Unfortunately, her religious zeal may have motivated her to set up a church council against her former coreligionists.
Rabbi Joseph Caro (1488-1575), author of the Shulchan Aruch, considered the standard legal code in Judaism, lived in Nikopol for 13 years before eventually settling in Safed. Nikopol has a monument dedicated to Caro, as well as a permanent exhibit in its city museum, notes Hazan in his encyclopedia.
Nikopol-born Eva Frank and her father Jacob Frank tried to pass themselves off as messiahs in the late 1700s.
Modernist painter Jules Pascin (1885-1930) was the son of a Bulgarian Sephardi father. Ernest Hemingway recounts his relation with the sociable, but depression-driven, painter in A Moveable Feast.
Nobel Prize-winning writer Elias Canetti (1905-1994) was a Bulgarian-born Sephardi Jew. In his book The Tongue Set Free, Canetti describes his early Jewish home life in pre-First World War Bulgaria. In his Ruse birthplace, there is a square named after him, and the Technical Institute has a commemorative plaque.
Andrei Luka-nov was one of the few communist Jews to hold a central position of power. He served as Bulgaria’s prime minister from February 1990 to December 1990, resigning when the country’s economy went into a tailspin. He was the son of another Bulgarian communist, Carlo Lukanov, a Russian Jew who was Bulgaria’s foreign minister from the late 1950s to the beginning of the 1960s. In 1992, he was held in custody for allegedly taking money from public coffers. No charges were filed against him. He went on to head up the Russian-Bulgarian gas company Topenergy. Mysteriously, he left the company shortly before his Oct. 2, 1996, assassination by unknown assailants. At the time of his murder, the media reported that “Red Baron” was supposedly the eighth richest man in Europe.Apropos, thousands of other Bulgarians who fell out of Communist favor ended up in 100 internal forced labor camps. For a taste of this period, visit Sofia’s Museum of Soviet Art (7 Lachezar Stanchev St.).

Solomon Passy, PhD, was Bulgaria’s foreign minister in the early 2000s. Today, he is president of Bulgaria’s Atlantic Club. Passy campaigns for public access to wifi for the whole European Union, an option he regards as a universal human right and the EU “fifth freedom.”

Many more signs of the once vibrant Jewish community still exist, but it takes experts like Elko Hazan to guide us to them.

Deborah Rubin Fields is an Israel-based features writer. She is also the author of Take a Peek Inside: A Child’s Guide to Radiology Exams, published in English, Hebrew and Arabic.

Some additional facts

The Bulgarian equivalent to Israeli-made Bulgarian cheese is “sirene,” a dairy product usually derived from cow’s milk, but may also be made from sheep or goat’s milk. Unlike Israeli-made Bulgarian cheese, it does not have a salty taste.
While for many years Bulgaria was an agricultural country, today it is the world’s ninth “most preferred” outsourcing destination in consultancy. Experts, however, contend that Bulgaria must make it easier to hire foreigners, stop a brain drain, attract natives who graduated abroad and improve quality of life. (Financial Times of London)
Several years ago, the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture attempted to find funding to refurbish the once beautiful, abandoned Vidin synagogue, but apparently nothing came of these efforts.
King Boris III (whose heart is interred at the famous Rila Monastery), the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (including Archbishop Stefan of Sofia and bishops Neofit of Vidin and Kyril of Plovdiv) and several brave Bulgarian parliamentarians (such as Dimitar Peshev) saved the country’s Jewish population from deportation to Nazi death camps. Yet, 11,343 Jews from Serbian Pirot, Greek Thrace and Yugoslavian Macedonia – countries Nazi Germany ceded to the Bulgarian government – were brutally hauled off to Treblinka. (See ushmm.org and yadvashem.org.)
For more on Bulgaria during the Holocaust, read “The little country that defied Hitler” by Anna Levy.
For more information about Bulgarian Jewish cemeteries, see the 2011 online report of the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.

Folk music in the Holy Land

The author enjoying a day of folk music from around the world at Israel’s Jacob’s Ladder festival. (photo from Miri Garaway)

I have always been a folk music aficionado, so when I heard about the Jacob’s Ladder Music Festival in Israel, I planned a trip there entirely around the idea of attending the festival. Not only was it a phenomenal event, it exceeded all my expectations and was the highlight of our month’s stay.

photo - Jacob's Ladder Festival sign — *(photo from Miri Garaway)*

Established in 1976, Jacob’s Ladder (Sulam Ya’akov) is held twice a year, in May and December, with the spring festival on a larger scale. It is billed as “Israel’s friendliest musical and social event, a unique bluegrass, folk, country, blues, Irish and world music extravaganza.” That it was.

With the venue on the grounds of Kibbutz Nof Ginosar on Lake Kinneret, nine kilometres north of Tiberias, the setting could not be more beautiful and the atmosphere is very relaxed, “green” and peaceful. Approximately 4,000 people attend the spring festival, yet it did not feel crowded or overwhelming.

How wonderful to be able to attend a two-and-a-half-day event and know that there is free camping on site, in addition to the pleasant Hotel Nof Ginosar. From the moment we entered the site, on a Thursday afternoon in May 2014, we could feel the energy of the special event that was about to take place.

The organizers have registration down to a science. We bought our tickets upon arrival, received our fluorescent wristbands and joined the throngs of festival goers entering the site. Considering the volume of people arriving, we were amazed that we only had to wait a short time in the line-up for tickets. Pre-festival online tickets helped to ease any congestion.

And, perhaps only in Israel would they provide free agalot, large wheely carts in the parking lot so you can carry all your belongings into the grounds. I found this so civil and convenient and it was fun to watch the hordes of people streaming in with their tents, barbecues, bicycles, chairs, strollers, blankets, duffle bags, food coolers and other camping paraphernalia.

This is a festival that everyone can enjoy: young families, teenagers, baby boomers, aging hippies and young-at-heart seniors. While it originated as more of an anglophone festival, today, many non-anglophone Israelis and tourists attend, too.

The festival is extremely well organized, with activities such as free early morning outdoor yoga and tai chi classes, holistic treatment kiosks, a craft fair, children’s handicraft workshops, a children’s puppet-making workshop, storytelling, juggling, Irish, tap and square dancing workshops. Food booths are also set up on site with pre-purchased tickets to be used throughout the festival.

We chose to stay at the kibbutz guesthouse, Hotel Nof Ginosar. Although the hotel is fully booked for the festival from year to year, the reservations clerk suggested we put our names on the waitlist (this was in October) with a good chance that a room would become available closer to the date of the festival. In the interim, we booked a nearby bed and breakfast to ensure that we had some accommodation in place. We were fortunate that space at the hotel did open up a couple of months before the festival.

It was convenient to stay on site rather than commuting. The hotel is basic, but clean and comfortable and every room has a fridge. The bountiful and delicious Israeli breakfast, included in the room rate, gave us a great start to the day.

While exploring the grounds, I met my Israeli cousin from a nearby moshav, who promptly invited us to his tent for a communal Shabbat dinner. Suddenly, we were among family and friends for a feast. This unexpected rendezvous was indeed a treat.

Jacob’s Ladder is easy to navigate. The main stage is a huge expanse of grass where you can put down blankets, towels or low chairs to reserve a spot for the entire weekend. This is unheard of at most festivals, since you usually have to collect your things at the end of the day and race for the coveted spots each day. It is an unspoken rule at Jacob’s Ladder that if you are not using your space, anyone can sit in your place until you return. The whole area is covered by an enormous see-through tarp, so the sun does not beat directly down on you. Once you are settled in, it is pure joy to sit back, relax and enjoy the outstanding talent and the incredible music. On many occasions, people are moved to get up and dance. You also get to know your neighbors and it feels like a community within a community. It is interesting to make connections with the people who are around you.

There is also the lawn stage, a smaller space with chairs set up on the plaza outside the hotel lobby. Another music venue within the hotel is Hermon Hall, an indoor auditorium, as well as the balcony stage and the sports hall for music and dance workshops.

The performers are often available to meet right after the concert, at a table beside the stage, where they sell their merchandise.

In addition to Israeli artists, musicians come from all over the world to perform at the Jacob’s Ladder. A sampling of some of the stand-outs for 2014 included the Jammin Divas; Maya Johanna, Shay Tochner and Yonatan Miller in a tribute to Pete Seeger; the Slocan Ramblers; and a variety of singers who belted out a moving medley of the songs of Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton and Ray Charles. From the strumming of the Ukeleles for Peace Children’s Orchestra to the lilting sounds of Nava Tehila singing Jewish world music for Kabbalat Shabbat, this was a festival that moved and energized me.

The hotel kindly allows jamming sessions in the lobby and bar areas and people bring guitars, banjos, violins, flutes, clarinets, harmonicas, drums and an assortment of other instruments to showcase their talent. What a wonderful hive of activity and a delight to hear music wafting throughout the hotel. There are also pop-up jamming sessions on the grounds, away from the stages. People-watching is an activity unto itself.

If you want to take a break, there is a swimming pool, as well as the lake beach of the Kinneret, but we came for the music and it was truly an exceptional experience.

Miri Garaway is a freelance travel writer.

Cuban shul in distress

Rabbi Yacob Berezniak in Havana’s Agath Israel synagogue. (photo by Baila Lazarus)

On a small side street in Old Havana, an innocuous sign on a decaying wall announces “Synagoga Adath Israel.”

A few steps away, on Picota Street, an entrance leads into the basement of an old building to reveal a modest but well-appointed synagogue that has been serving Cuban Jews for almost 100 years.

Rabbi Yacob Berezniak greets me, though I’ve made no appointment, and talks proudly about the synagogue, but is distressed at the situation with the Jews in Cuba. The community is dwindling, he says, and aging.

photo - Interior of Adath Israel Synagogue in Old Havana — Interior of Adath Israel Synagogue in Old Havana. *(photos by Baila Lazarus)*

The Jewish community in Cuba started growing with an influx from Poland and Russia after the First World War and continued for almost three decades. At its largest, it’s estimated to have been more than 20,000. Not only was it big enough to build and maintain one synagogue, but, as tends to happen in many Jewish communities, it supported a break-away group that moved into a building next door.

After the Cuban revolution, however, changes in the political and economic structure, as well as restrictions on religious observance, caused many Jews to leave – for the United States, Israel and Mexico, among other locations. Today, according to Berezniak, the community numbers only 1,200 in all of Cuba, with 900 being in Havana.

“Most of the members are very old,” he said. “And they’re very poor.”

Poverty in Cuba is a controversial topic. There are those who talk about how the reforms after the revolution provided an ideal lifestyle. Indeed, there are few who would argue that Cuba has had some of the best educational and health reforms in the world. Many foreigners have been coming to Cuba to get health care they may not find in their own countries.

But good health care does not mean that the poorest can afford medications, Berezniak lamented.

There is definitely a two-tiered system in Cuba. Those who are strictly living in the socialist economy have a token stipend that may only amount to a few dollars a month. They receive their money in Cuban pesos (CUP) that are worth about $0.05 Cdn. Their needs are supposed to be met with ration coupons for food and other necessities that often don’t fulfil the requirements of a large family. They live in homes that have been inherited from their parents. If their family grows, they can’t simply move into another location.

Those who have managed to get business licences, especially if serving the tourist industry, have a different story. They are paid in Cuban convertible pesos (CUC) valued at $1 US. A taxi driver can make 50 CUCs for a half-day’s work taking tourists around Havana.

To help the oldest and poorest, Adath Israel offers free meals whenever they can. Every Friday, for example, they have a free fish dinner that fills the synagogue.

“For many of the people who come to that dinner, it’s the biggest meal they will have all week,” said Berezniak, adding that he is also concerned that the Jewish community will simply disappear. “The community has been getting smaller. There are no young people here to support the older ones.”

The poverty and shrinking Jewish population are two reasons why Berezniak welcomes donations – financial and otherwise – to the synagogue. On my visit, a friend and I dropped off bags of clothing, cosmetics and toiletries – items that we take for granted but are very costly in Cuba. Prescription and non-prescription medical supplies are also needed.

With the decision in January by the Obama administration to lift the U.S. embargo of Cuba, it will be easier for certain Americans to travel and bring some supplies in small quantities, but it’s hard to say how long that will take to impact the small country. As well, larger exports are still restricted. Limited products such as telephone, computer and internet technology are now open to trade, and investment in some small businesses is permitted. But general U.S. travel tourism is not open yet. It’s expected that tourist trips will be limited to supervised groups, and there has been no agreement yet about airline flights.

If you are thinking of seeing Cuba, consider going while it’s still building and renovating its infrastructure for tourism. Havana travel agent Ivan Barba said Havana is already almost at its maximum for the number of tourists it can hold; and it will get worse as the U.S. decision opens the door for more.

Food and lodging are still quite affordable, and there are numerous all-inclusive flight and hotel deals direct from Vancouver.

To contact Adath Israel, call 1-537-860-8242 or email adath@enet.cu. Allow a lot of time for email response, however, as internet service is sporadic.

Baila Lazarus is a freelance writer media trainer in Vancouver. Her consulting work be seen at phase2coaching.com.

Brief Kauai vacation tutorial

The path to Nounou Mountain is a gentle incline through a forest of magnificent Norfolk pine trees. (photo by Lauren Kramer)

There were only a few items in my grocery basket so, when the cashier asked me for $100, I insisted on seeing the receipt. There it was, a single loaf of ordinary brown bread – no seeds, nothing fancy – listed at $7.50. There had to be a mistake, I thought, walking the loaf to the returns department of a Kauai K-Mart. But no, I was told. That was the price. A loaf that would cost $1.99 anywhere else in the United States was $7.50 on the island of Kauai.

We’d come as a family to enjoy a week in the December sunshine of the tropical island and learned quickly it would be anything but an inexpensive vacation. Our first shock was when we’d tried to book a furnished house or flat, thinking it would be a perfect way to avoid the cost of eating out every day. We checked the usual sites: vrbo and airbnb, and the listings showed beautiful accommodations, close to the beach and within our budget. So we booked air and went back to the website to secure a place to stay. That’s when we discovered that all those listings were controlled by agencies and, though they appeared “available” online, when you actually tried to book them, you discovered they weren’t. The “hard sell” began the moment I called the agencies. “There’s nothing left on the island,” the agents would say by way of introduction. Then, after a moment’s pause … “All I have left is this apartment at $350 per night.” Pictures of said apartments showed rooms last updated in the 1970s, tiny places that looked entirely unappealing. We learned visitors to Kauai book their accommodation up to a year ahead, sometimes more. And they pay premium prices for their island sunshine.

After many hours scouring online we found accommodation at a modest three-star resort, where we crammed four people into a tiny room and filled the excuse-for-a-refrigerator with snacks, lunch and breakfast foods. Still, the mostly lousy dinners we were forced to eat in restaurants, dining on food that was consistently overpriced, were memorable only for their pitiful quality.

photo - The Napali Coast on the island’s north side is one of Kauai’s great beauties — The Napali Coast on the island’s north side is one of Kauai’s great beauties. *(photo by Lauren Kramer)*

Kauai Vacation Lesson 1: Book early, ensure you have a kitchen, then visit Costco in Lihue and stock up.

Price sticker-shock aside, we were quickly bowled over by Kauai’s lush beauty. Drive around the island and there are exquisite beaches around every corner, the palm tree-lined stretches of sand you see in brochures, lapped by warm water that makes swimming pure pleasure. We had brought boogie boards and snorkel gear, and spent our days exploring beaches on different parts of the island. In Poipu, which has the island’s busiest beach, we snorkeled over the shallow reefs, while in Port Allen we marveled at a massive monk seal, stretched in languid repose on the shore. In Wailua, the kids surfed for hours, riding small-but-strong waves onto the beach before venturing back for more. In Princeville, we watched a massive turtle swim leisurely, oblivious to the swimmers and snorkelers nearby. With sunscreen and a picnic lunch in hand, the hours spun by beneath the Hawaiian sun, a perfect tonic after the grey, cold winter back home.

photo - Endless stretches of white-sand beaches with tumbling waves means there’s no shortage of space for kids to boogie board or snorkel — Endless stretches of white-sand beaches with tumbling waves means there’s no shortage of space for kids to boogie board or snorkel. (photo by Lauren Kramer)

Kauai Vacation Lesson 2: The beach is all you really need.

“You have to see Waimea Canyon,” folks told us. We had good intentions of visiting the “Grand Canyon of Kauai” but when we started out and learned it would be close to two hours each way, four kids fighting in the back seat, the canyon felt a whole lot less appealing. Instead, we contented ourselves with a hike up Nounou Mountain, through a forest of Norfolk pines with ringed trunks that felt straight out of a fairytale. The hike was exhilarating and muddy, taking us past locals’ back yards, where orange trees hung heavy with ripe fruit. Never has fruit theft felt more appealing – though we kept our hands to ourselves. Later, at one of Kauai’s farmers markets, we had ample opportunity for tasters. We purchased $5 coconuts from a young man who wielded a machete and expertly sliced them so we could drink the sweet milk before devouring the soft interior. And we gratefully accepted samples of colorful rambutan, miniature apple-bananas, massive avocados and Kauai-made chocolate spreads, jams and honey. There’s a farmers market somewhere on the island every day of the week and when you find one, it’s a great opportunity to interact with locals and stock up on fresh local fruit and vegetables. Just don’t even think about bringing them home. Produce export is strictly monitored at the airport and we even witnessed the confiscation of a small container of peeled mango someone had tried to save for the flight.

The only time we opted for a group excursion with a local tourism vendor, we wished afterwards that we hadn’t. The kayak tour we took mentioned a paddle upriver and snorkeling in a secluded cove. What it didn’t mention was that the river was very unremarkable, and that we’d need to commute an hour each way to reach the excursion. The disappointing outing robbed us of a precious day on one of the island’s better beaches and our dinner later that night, at a Hanalei restaurant, represented a new low in our island eating experience.

Kauai Vacation Lesson 3: Rent a car, buy a guidebook and explore on your own.

Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond, B.C. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net.

Israel issues travel warnings

A view of shore from a dive shop in Dahab, South Sinai, Egypt. (photo by B. Simpson via commons.wikimedia.org)

During the upcoming school holidays of Passover, followed by the summer months, many Israelis travel abroad. Europe is only a few hours away by plane, and the beaches of Cyprus and Greece are even closer. Vacations abroad, even including the flight, are often cheaper than local getaways because of the high price of Israeli hotels. However, the Israeli government has issued travel warnings for 41 countries, including Europe and Asia.

“Recent terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists in Belgium, Canada, Australia, France and Denmark raise concerns over additional attacks against Western targets, including Israeli and Jewish targets, by veterans of the fighting in Syria and Iraq who are affiliated with global jihad (including Islamic State) and by local elements inspired by the terrorist organizations.”

The travel warning, issued by the National Security Council Counter-Terrorism Bureau, noted that is illegal for Israelis to travel to “Syria, Iraq (including Iraqi Kurdistan), Iran, Lebanon, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.”

The warning comes amid a spate of attacks on Western and Jewish targets including the Charlie Hebdo magazine and the Jewish supermarket in Paris, the shooting in Denmark and, just this weekend, an attack on a synagogue in London.

Israeli terrorism experts say Israelis do not seem to be the primary target of these attacks.

“Until now there have been two main targets – governmental targets in Western countries and Jewish institutions,” Reuven Ehrlich, a terrorism expert, explained. “Israelis have not been the target, but I cannot tell you what it will be in the future.”

However, the warnings do not seem to be affecting travel plans. Israelis have one of the highest rates per capita of travel abroad, taking two million trips a year, although there are no statistics about how many of them are travelers who fly several times a year. Israeli travel professionals say they are telling their clients to maintain a lower profile.

“We are asking our passengers to be a little quieter, which is a good thing no matter what,” said Mark Feldman, chief executive officer of Ziontours in Jerusalem. “Israelis tend to be loud and raucous and call attention to themselves. We have several groups going to Europe in the next few weeks and we have told them not to congregate in the lobby, not to speak in loud voices and, if possible, not to speak in Hebrew.”