Until July 16 things continued at a the same frenetic pace. David was working insanely hard with his three courses and then the final week of this period was a killer: he taught three afternoons in a row for Bnei Akiva just outside, with the last day requiring him to return in order to give The Whole of Tanach in One Hour in Tel Aviv. This sounds bad, but you haven't factored in the following information: that David was physically and intellectually exhausted, that the weather was extremely hot and that we didn't have enough money for him to get a taxi from where he was dropped off at the Shoresh intersection to where he was actually teaching a few kilometres away ...and let's not even bother talking about buses.(he had to hitch). It was tough, but thankfully he made it through...and all his courses were fantastic...So we thought that David would have the chance to rest, but then we discovered that Simon was actually scheduled to leave on the following Sunday. Poor Simon had been patiently waiting for our crazy schedule to let up in order for him to go with David to Sfat, where his grandparents were born. I had originally hoped that David would have an opportunity to rest on the Thursday after his last talk, but with Simon now leaving on Sunday, rest had to be knocked off the agenda and the three of us made our way to Sfat.
Naturally, things began badly. We were expecting to catch the train to Haifa and then a bus from Haifa to Sfat, but of course, it just so happened that all trains were cancelled that day for maintenance and the transport authority had not scheduled extra buses for the occasion (welcome to Israel). Fortunately, we still found places on a bus to Haifa, then immediately caught a bus on to Sfat, where we arrived in the early afternoon.
It is ten years since David and I were last in Sfat and this was Simon's first visit. It is easy to forget just how beautiful the old city of Sfat is and what an amazing vista of the surrounding hills one finds on arriving in the town. And surprisingly, all our previous memories of the madness of Sfat seemed to be overly coloured by prejudice (fancy that!). This time the place seemed less crazy and more beautiful and I think that we are both very keen for it not to be another ten years before we visit again...We wandered around the artists market, visiting Josh Burde...and his goat.
We also went to see Avraham Lowenthal - we have a piece of his art hanging on our wall (a gift from the Schwartz family for our wedding) - and David Friedman. Amazingly, when David went over to introduce himself to Avraham Lowenthal, who was in the midst of wrapping things for the large group of American tourists in his studio, Avraham stood up and said "Wow, this is such an honour" and gave David a hug. He was very excited that David had come to visit and knew him from many of his Sinai Live clips. We stayed and chatted with him for a while ...really, a lovely man with a beautiful gentle energy!
Apart from having to negotiate the tsunami of American tourists, we actually really enjoyed exploring the area...and for Simon, of course, it was very meaningful.
We made our way back via Jerusalem, in order to escort Simon to the Petra Hostel, where he stayed for a couple of evenings in order to get a better feel for Jerusalem before he left. David and I eventually returned home in the early hours of the morning - ready for some serious R&R.
Simon left early Sunday morning bound forGreece and then later home. His return journey was beset with problems but that is a story for him to tell.
Sunday also marked the beginning of the week's break that I had promised David - his mini holiday in between the madness of early summer and the demands of late summer. It took a few days for him to settle into taking a break but he managed to have a couple of days of rest ...well deserved too...
Meanwhile, I hadn't fully realised until reality bit me on the nose that while David was due to take a break, I was actually needing to get into gear and things started getting really busy for me. On Sunday July 27 we 'officially' launched the book of The Whole of Jewish History in One Hour where David also gave the talk at the same time. Fortunately, with a little help from Natalie and a few others, we expanded our audience range as well as being given the lead listing on Jerusalem Blueprint for the event. The result, fortunately, was a good turn-out of a younger and more diverse audience. Amazingly, we also managed to have the book reprinted in time for its launch (this is more of a miracle than you realise!).
Wonderfully, the transition to the course also went well, so that last Tuesday night (July 29) David began Jewish History in Six Chapters (for the third time in Jerusalem) to one of the largest audiences we have had so far for a course. Great news.
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