Playing In The Street Because We Can! 9-24-12

Yom Kippur is a legal holiday in the modern state of Israel. There are no radio or television broadcasts, airports are shut down, there is no public transportation, and all shops and businesses are closed. In 1973, an air raid siren was sounded on the afternoon of Yom Kippur and radio broadcasts were resumed to alert the public to the surprise attack on Israel by Egypt and Syria that launched the Yom Kippur War.

It is considered impolite to eat in public on Yom Kippur or to sound music or to drive a motor vehicle. There is no legal prohibition on any of these, but in practice such actions are universally avoided in Israel during Yom Kippur. The exception being emergency services.

Over the last few decades, bicycle-riding and inline skating on the empty streets have become common among secular Israeli youngsters, especially on the eve of Yom Kippur." 

(Taken from Wikipedia)

Not sure if it was a good thing teaching him he can run in the streets.....

The night riding was so refreshing the temperature was cool so it made it such a blast to be out.

This is us riding down the freeway on our bikes.

One of our favorite streets here is called Hanassi, but we call it shady lane because the road is lined with these huge trees that shade the whole road.

Simchat Torah 10/7/12

We were invited by some friends who knew a Jewish Rabbi, to the Celebration of Simchat Torah. This is where for the year they have finished the reading of the Torah and roll it back to the start. There is a lot of prayer,singing, and dancing. We had a lot of fun and it was a really neat experience.

The Torah Scroll

This is where they read from the Torah the end of Deuteronomy and then they roll it back to Genesis.

This is the process of them rolling back the scroll

The man in the blue shirt is the United States Ambassador for Israel, there was only a small group of Americans, so we thought it was really fun to be there at the same time as him. He had body guards there of course.

It is a terrible picture, but I got to hold the scrolls.

A video of all the singing and dancing. The people take turns carrying the scrolls and dancing with them.