THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
27th May 2023

SHAVUOT FAMILY DINNER

This weekend we celebrated the festival of Shavuot and were happy to welcome the Segolis and Rons to a typical multi-course DDD (Delicious Doreen Dinner). The highlight of the dinner were the vegan shrimps (!) prepared by Maayan with help from Doreen. A good time was had by all!

• We are delighted to report that granddaughter Danielle Ron, who has a degree in Sustainability and Government, has been accepted to Ben Gurion Univesity for a  degree in Biology..
  
• Our friend Myra Simon, who accompanied us on our Galapagos and China trips, passed away this week. Click for pictures.
• Granddaughter Zoe Segoli choreographed her class dance show as part of her school's Shavuot celebrations.
  
• Last week we reported on a family dinner wheree Doreen prepared a beetroot Tarte Tatin (a kind of upside-down tart). Maayan overnighted with us and decided to also try his hand. It was very successful - see video clips here, and Doreen's recipe for its preparation.
  
• We received some lovely pictures from cousin Charles and Sheenagh Levy (see family tree) who are enjoying a visit to Indonesia with thewir daughter Katherine. See some of them here .

THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
20th May 2023

FAMILY and FRIENDS
(Clockwise from left) Morris Kahn, Aviv Ron, Caroline Livne, Louise Braverman, Doreen, Me
(Vered Ron, taking picture)

We returned this week from our holiday in Italy and decided with some family and friends to enjoy the bottle of Brunello di Montalcino we had bought there.
Doreen went out of her way and as usual prepared a great meal. She included Italian bread sticks (grissini - see recipe), Cannalloni and lasagna, and also a delicious onion soup and a very successful tarte tatin (see pictures).

^{THIS WEEK'S NEWS}

• Doreen has written a report with pictures of our holiday in Tuscany at the Villa Poliziana. For pictures of the earlier visit to Rome see here.
  
• Today we visited relative Susan Nathan at the Bet Ha-Emek Retirement Home in Nof Hagalil. She is recovering nicely from her operation. Her son Dan had extended his visit to take care of Susan and flew home this week.
  
• On the way back from our visit with Susan we dropped into Kibbutz Yizrael to see our friend Steve Blass, whose wife Bini passed away a few months ago.
  
• Doreen has written in her column about her visit to Del' Ara Pacis when we were in Rome.

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THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
13th May 2023

VILLA POLIZIANA

Together with son Aviv and Limor we are in Italy, staying at the Villa Poliziana in Montepulciano,Tuscany.
Before going to the Villa we spent a few days in Rome and then drove north. On the way we visited Lake Bolsena (a first for us) and Pitigliano (see pictures), where we have been a few times, the last with granddaughter Dani Ron a few years ago.
Aviv and Limor returned to Israel yesterday and we go back.
(Click here for a report on our visit with pictures.)

THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
6th May 2023

Rome - Dinner at Restaurant AL34

We are in Rome (see pictures), on our way to a stay at Villa Poliziana near Montepulciano in Tuscany. Rome is always interesting even when visited many times. On all our visits to Rome  we have always enjoyed a meal (and the atmosphere) at the fabulous AL34 Restaurant near the Spanish Steps that we discovered by chance on our first visit to Rome many many years ago. The waiter who seated us remembered Doreen and even where we sat (!) on a visit 5 years ago with our children Vered Ron, Aviv Levy and Moran Segoli when we celebrated Aviv's 50th birthday. We also remembered him, and on the chance that he was in a photo we had taken then. I accessed my site and lo and behold there was. We were all thrilled on seeing the photo. We'll look out for you, Renzo, on our next visit to AL34.

• We are happy that 2nd cousin Susan Nathan's health is much improved. The visit by her children Dan and Tanya (see last weeks post) is playing a large part in her recovery. See Hershovitz/Levy tree.
• Daughter-in-law Mikhal Segoli is back from her professional visit to America.
  
• Tomorrow we leave Rome and go with son Aviv and Limor to Villa Poliziana near Montepulciano to continue our vacation.

THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
29th April 2023

Doreen Dives with the Sharks

Doreen's diving insurance expires soon and as she is not sure whether it will be renewed she decided that her (perhaps) last dive should be  dive with the sharks (and of course with son Aviv).
See some more pictures here.

^{THIS WEEK'S NEWS}

• This week was Israel's 75 Independence Day (Yom Ha-atzmaut) and we celebrated as always at the home of  Terry and Carol Kessel. It was lovely to see old friends again and of course to enjoy the food and the special Kessel hospitality.
• Yom Ha-atzmaut is celebrated by torch lighting ceremonies. Apart from the central ceremony there are also local ceremonies. We were very proud that granddaughter Lotem Segoli was invited to light a torch together with two team-mates of her victorious Robotics team.
  
• This week was my 83rd birthday. The dates of Jewish festivals are in accordance with a lunar calendar. I was born during Passover but this year year my birthday corresponded to Israel's Independence Day (actually a day later). On my birthay eve Doreen prepared a fantastic delicious meal and the next day daughter Vered Ron organised a dinner for me and granddaughter Zoe decorated a cake. The family surprised me by showing up and we had a virtual one night family reunion.
  
• After my birthday dinner the Segolis and Eilatis slept over at our apartment. Despite the squashing in of so many in our small apartment the grandchildren are always delighted to be together. The youngest Zoe was especially happy to be with Joannie.
• We were delighted to meet relatives on our Levy side. Dan Nathan and his sister Tanya (Nathan) Wood came on a short visit to Israel to visit their mother Susan (my second cousin) who is recuperating after a heart operation. We were glad they managed to meet some of our children and grandchildren who were staying with us. (see picture). We wish Susan a speedy recovery. See Hershovitz/Levy tree.
• Daughter-in-law Mikhal Segoli is in USA doing some research at the University of Minnesota. (Picture)
  
• Next week we will be on holiday with son Aviv and Limor in Italy.

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THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
22nd April 2023

Lotem presents her robotics alliance

As we reported last week granddaughter Lotem Segoli and her Fata  Morgana team, after winning the Israel Championships, are in Houston at the World Robotics Championships.
The contestants are distributed into four sections of 48 teams in each section. The winning team in each section (after semi- and final playoffs play against the winners of the other 3 sections for the "World Champion" title.
The team achieved excellent results in the qualifications winning 9 of their 11 matches (and losing 2 by one point only). They ended up in third place in their section. For the next stage they had to choose an "alliance", 2 non-qualifying teams to be their partners competing against the alliance of the 2nd ranked team. It's not easy deciding whom to choose and the team, under Lotem's direction, studied the performances and form of the possible partners. (see picture).
After deciding, the teams report their alliances - see picture above of Lotem making her announcement. Fata Morgana won their semi-final match but unfortunately lost in the finals.
So the team did not advance to the final stage. It was a big disappointment but Fata Morgana are ranked among the top 8 robotics teams in the world.
Congratulations, Lotem and you team. You achieved a fantastic result that you can proud of.

^{THIS WEEK'S NEWS}

• We spent the weekend in Eilat. Doreen wanted to dive but the weather was not good - perhaps she'll have a chance tomorrow. Last night we went to Greco Restaurant for a family meal.  
• Son Aviv was one of the organisers for a sea "clean-up" in Eilat today when divers removed nearly a ton of debris from the sea floor.
  
• Cricket is the national sport of India, and while in India Dani of course decided to see what it was like with a cricket bat.
  
• Congratulations to Danielle Glasser in Melbourne on her wedding today to Luke Walker. Mazal tov also to parents cousin Mark and Sue. See Glasser family tree.

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THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
15th April 2023

MIMOUNA CELEBRATION
Me, Doreen, Simona (Edri) Grinnart, Nurit (Cohen) Yehuda, Vered Levy-Ron

The Mimouna celebration is a traditional Maghrebi Jewish custom held on the eve of and on the day after Passover, where the first hametz is eaten. (see Wikipedia).
We have on occasion taken part and this year we were invited by Cecila Lugasi and her family to her home. Celia is the sister of Vered's close friend (and classmate) Simona . The Edri family lived in Eilat when we were there and Simona is visiting her family in Israel. (She lives in Australia and on our round the World Trip we visted her and her husband Eyal). We were happy to see her again, and also another close friend of our daughter, Nurit (Cohen) Yehuda.
As expected there was a wide array of traditional Moroccan favourites to enjoy, including of course moffletta, a type of sweet crepe. Click for a picture of Celia preparing mofletta.

^{THIS WEEK'S NEWS}

• The Segolis have returned from their trip to Sinai. It looks amazing - see some pictures here.
  
• The travelling Rons: Aviv is back from India, and Lior and Gal are back from Istanbul (see pictures)
  
• Granddaughters Amit and Ilay Levy came up north to us for a couple of days and enjoyed Tel Aviv. They didn't enjoy the trip home - a 5 1/2   trip home to Eilat took over 9 hours due to the roads being flooded.
• Uri Jeremias' restaurant was burnt down during the last riots. After reading about Uri Jeremias  and his unwavering belief in co-existence,  Doreen and I drove to Uri Buri, his rebuilt restaurant in Acre, and enjoyed a meal there.
  
• Good luck to granddaughter Lotem Segoli and her robotic group Fata Morgana. Today they flew to USA to take part in the FIRST World Robotics Championship.
  
• We visited 2nd cousin Susan Nathan in hospital after her heart surgery. We wish her a speedy recovery.

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THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
8th April 2023

Passover Seder 2023
at the home of Aviel and Bar Amar

We celebrated the passover seder in Eilat with daughter-in-law Limor's mother Margalit Sadeh and many of her family.  Daughter Vered and Aviv Ron, grandchildren Maayan and Lotem Segoli, Lior Ron and us joined son Aviv and Limor Levy and our grandchildren Itamar, Amit and Ilay for the celebration at the home of Limor's niece Bar and Aviel Amar. Although there were some special Moroccan traditions the seder was basically the same as our Ashkenazi seders and symbols. The food, especially the salads, was Moroccan style but the big difference for us was that it was a fully traditional seder not an abbreviated version that we usually have.
Thank you Aviel for conducting the seder, and Bar and Aviel for opening up your house so generously to the 30 participants. Thanks too to the Sadeh family for making sure we had plenty of tasty food and for inviting us.

• While in Eilat we celebrated Itamar's birthday. Maayan had baked a cake for him but when it was time to eat the cake Maayan was diving, so Itamar cut his own cake under the direction of his friend, May.
  
• The travelling Rons: Vered has just returned from USA, Aviv flew to India to be a few days there with Dani, and Lior went to Istanbul for a few days with Gal.
• We were given a large quantity of fillet steak and we're not sure what to do with all of it. Today we invited friends Dani and Ruti Erez and Doreen's sister Louise to lunch. Doreen did some google research and prepared absolutely delicious and tender Fillet Mignon steaks in pepper sauce. With roast potatoes carrots, sweet potatoes and garlic and a  few salads (including ingredients from our garden) it was a meal fit for a king.

THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
1st April 2023

Marriage Certificate -Maurice Glazer - Gertie Nickel

Last week I posted the marriage certificate of my parents, and this week here is the certificate of Doreen's parents who were married in Johannesburg on January 10th, 1937. The place of marriage is not listed. Maurice's occupation is 'shop keeper' and Gertie's 'shop assistant'. We know that they had their own shop (see Doreen's account in her column) but we're not sure whether Maurice owned the shop or whether he worked in a shop before they married. The addresses are 104 Plein street and 106 Plein street - were they neighbours or living together or was this the address of their shop?
(For both the country of birth is listed as Poland although Maurice was born in Lithuania and Gertie in Belarus. At that time these countries see-sawed between independence and 'belonging' to Russia , Poland or other empires. My grandfather was listed as born in 'Russia' even though he was born in Lithuania.)
Doreen's family trees:
On her father's side - Gordon/Glasser  and  Schank
On her mother's side - Nochimovitz/Nickel

 

^{THIS WEEK'S NEWS}

• Eleanor Pines, Doreen's close friend from school days in South Africa, is visiting Israel with her companion  Dennis Feinberg (see picture) and we met twice for lunch. Doreen and Eleanor were close friends in South Africa and my first memories of  Doreen are of her being always with Eleanor. Eleanor lives in South Africa but we have met a few times, in Israel and South Africa and once even in London.
• We wish all our friends and relatives a very happy pesach - Passover. We will celebrate the seder in Eilat with our Eilat Levy family and with daughter-in-law Limor's family. Some of the Segolis and Rons will also join us.

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THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
25th March 2023

Marriage Certificate - Hayman Levy + Queenie Shapiro

Last year I relinquished most of my positions in the European and World Bridge Federations. I still retain a few, but I have more time on my hands which I am spening on updating and expanding our family trees. This week I found the marriage certificates of my parents (above) and Doreen's parents (to be posted later).
I had assumed that my parents were married in Port Elizabeth where I knew they lived (and where I was born) but the certificate shows they they married in Kimberley where my mother's parents lived. I also now know that my mother's occupation was stenographer. My parents married in 1931 and (so I was told) soon after their marriage they had a motor cycle accident where my mother broke her hip bone and as a result she wouldn't be able to have children. However 10 years later I was born and soon after that my sister Fern. I was told that there was also a still-born boy after Fern.
My family trees:
On my father's side - Matz and Hershovitz/Levy
On my mother's side - Goldberg

THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
18th March 2023

David and Wendy Ginsberg, Doreen and I

On our London trip we had a serendipitous meeting with Doreen's cousin Wendy Ginsberg. On our penultimate day in London Wendy and Dave (who live in Capetown South Africa) arrived in London to visit their daughter Natalie and Ryan Smith. There was an underground strike but we took a train and spent a pleasant afternoon with them. Different countries limit contacts, and Doreen (and I) rarely see our cousins who live in South Africa and Australia so it is always an extra pleasure to see them. By chance, it seems that we and the Ginsbergs might be in the Netherlands in July at the same time so another meeting is possible.
See Nochimoviz/Nickel family tree.

THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
11th March 2023

Borough Market - London Bridge

We are enjoying a short vacation in London. We've visited London many times but this was the first time we went to the Borough Market, in London Bridge. We've also seen many markets in various places in the world, and this one is on a par with the best of them. The variety at the market is amazing and I recommend anyone going to London to take a morning to visit.
The market, and also London,  is almost entirely "cashless" - even a bottle of water can only be bought using a credit card.  At Tesco we paid  54 cents for 2 bananas - by credit card!

• Of course when in London a visit to a pub is mandatory, so we were happy to meet our friend Peter Hassenson at the Dogget Coat and Badge Pub.
  
• We saw two operas in London, both set in ancient times but completely different from each other, and both were exceptional. At the Royal Opera House (ROH) we saw an outstanding production of Puccini's Turandot, set in legendary China. The production, singing, costumes, acting - everything was perfect. I think this is the best opera production I have ever seen.
• The second opera  was a 'modern' opera at the English National Opera (ENO)  - Philip Glass's Ahknaten, set in ancient Egypt. The production was amazing and highly original. The action was like a slow motion movie and merged well with the seemingly endless repetitive minimalist music. The opera was also visually stunning with various actions (including juggling) in different tableaux taking place at the same time.
  
• There are pictures of last week's Purim costumes on the pages of  grandchildren Maayan and Zoe.

THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
4th March 2023

Doreen as a Pirate, a British Lady, an Astronaut

Eitan, as a Viking, a Renaissance Scholar, a Greek Warrior

PURIM 2023

This week we celebrate the happy festival of Purim, commemorating the saving from death of Jews in the 5th Century BCE as described in the Book of Esther. The festival is marked by Purim parties and dressing up in fancy dress and costumes and during Purim the streets are filled with a variety of  people in a variety of costume. Years ago the main Purim attraction was an Adloyada Parade through the streets of  Tel Aviv, and this tradition is still retained in some locations, for example in Midreshet Ben Gurion where the Segolis live. We usually attend this parade (see here for example) but this year we are giving it a pass.
Instead of finding or arranging special costumes this year we took the easy way by utilizingf the "Time Machine" app of  My Heritage to show how we might have been and might have looked in the past. And while we were about it we asked the app to show how we might have looked if van Gogh had painted us.

THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
25th February 2023

28th Family Reunion

This weekend we celebrated Moran's 50th birthday and our 28th Family Reunion at Selina Glamping in Mizpe Ramon. It was a most successful gathering enjoyed by the whole  family. Unfortunately Limor and Ilay were not well and couldn't join us.

There is a description of the Reunion with pictures and links on the 28th Reunion page.

^{THIS WEEK'S NEWS}

• We had lunch this week with cousin Shirley Kansky  and second cousin Joel and Beryl Klotnick. Last week we saw the Geffens and Sydney Losin, so it's been a family week for us.

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THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
18th February 2023

THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
11th February 2023

Anthony and Doreen are engaged!

Melly Braverman, Gertie Glazer, Louise Braverman, Hayman Levy, Ray Brower Levy, Me, Maurice Glazer, Doreen, Dave Zolty  (best man), Fern Levy

This coming Tuesday is Valentine's Day. I don't remember celebrating Valentine's Day when we were young but the above picture shows that despite no cards we did celebrate our love.
Although originally a religious holy day today Valentine's Day has become an important commercial event with billions of greeting cards actual or digital. In Israel secular Jews celebrate both Valentine's Day and the Jewish version "Tu B'av" as a holiday of love.

^{THIS WEEK'S NEWS}

• I was very sad to hear of the passing of my second cousin Jeffrey Geffen.  Jeff stayed in our home while studying as a pharmacist in Durban. He was about 13 years older than me and I looked upon him as a big brother. I have many fond memories of him and his keen sense of humour. He was a keen sportsman until tubercolosis curtailed most of his sport activities. Jeff and his wife Doreen (Altshuler) made aliyah to Israel and lived in Ashdod. He founded and developed the sport of Badminton in Israel. Click here for a picture in badminton outfit.  See Levy family tree.
• My cousin Sharon (Levy) Leibowitz in Australia is not well. We all wish her a speedy recovery and a return to her active life.

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THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
4th February 2023

Moran on his way to 50

Congratulations to our youngest child Moran on his 50th birthday this week. We'll be celebrating it with Family Reunion #28 in a few week's time.
Here are some pictures of his younger days.

^{THIS WEEK'S NEWS}

• We were saddened by the passing of Bini Blass, a friend from our South Africa days. Condolences to husband Steve and family. See also a visit to them on Kibbutz Yizrael earlier this year and more links.
  

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THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
28th January 2023

From Zelig Goldberg to Isaac Shapiro  

    Belopolye, 26 January 1915
    8 February¹

    ^{Dear children}

    ^{We are all in good health thank God and thank God it is quiet here. Mother is good health thank God too, also in Zeimelis the children are all in good health.
    Your letter of December we have received, thank God you are in good health. Unfortunately I have lost my job due to the closure of the brewing factory and I still 
     have no other job. Send a bow2 to your children.
   
    Father Goldberg.}

• We had lunch this week with Archie Ogden, from our days in St Thomas in the Virgin Islands. We were very friendly with Archie and Ella and had many happy times with them.

• Happy Birthday this week to:    Merle Lewenson, Ilai Levy, Merle Lewenson (28th),  Rafael Braverman Dvir,  Mandy Gordon,  Alex Hock  (29th),  Moran Segoli , Aharon Klotnick (30th),  Eitan Haberman , Shai Geffen (31st),  Anna Korbel, Jonathan Stern, Stella Kahn, Kyle Kahn (1st Feb),  Shira Bortz, Ann Weisz, Erin Gordon, Andrea Minto (2nd Feb)

THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
21st January 2023

Gertie, Louise, Maurice and Doreen Glazer

This January marks 50 years since the passing of Doreen's father Maurice on 16th January 1973.
 See Doreen's column.

THIS WEEK'S NEWS

• Daughter Vered Ron returned this week from USA and now all our children and grandchildren are in Israel
  
• We were saddened this week by the passing of Tirza Naor whom Doreen had befriended for a number of years.
  
• Tiina Drui (see Schank family tree) is a very talented artist. Her painting of her husband Heini acurately depicts him. This painting and some more of Tiina's artwork can be seen here.
  
• Last week we saw pictures of the Segolis in Tromso viewing the Northern Lights. It looks like an amazing sight. That's something we've never experienced or even come close to. Our visits to the far north were all in summer. At least we did see the midnight sun in Tromso and had lunch and bought a tee shirt at the Northern Lights Inn in Labrador!
  
• Granddughter Lotem Segoli's robotics team took first place in the Israel Robotic Competition preliminaries. We're proud of her team and of Lotem who was also nominated for the FIRST Dean's List for excellence. FIRST is an international not-for-profit organisation that sponsors mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills for high school students. 
  
• Like father like son: About 50 years ago the Chief Rabbi of Israel Ovadia Yosef visited Coral World and I showed him around the site. This year his son, Chief Rabbi Yitschak Yosef visited Coral World and my son showed him around the site. Click for pictures

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THIS WEEK'S PICTURE
14th January 2023

For my 50^th birthday, we went to see the Northern Lights in Tromso, Norway

We climbed a mountain to see the ‘almost’ sunrise (the first sunrise this winter is on the 21/1), went on snow-shoe hike with a sledge dog puppy, warmed up with a fire on the ice, went whale watching and saw Killer whales and Humpback whales.

The weather wasn’t good – cloudy and snowing but on our last day we managed to see the Northern Lights in the one hour that the clouds cleared up.