Meet the Mishpacha (Family)

I was so excited to meet Josh's extended family and had been looking forward to it for a long time. I know Josh well I think - after being together for almost nine years - but there's something to be said about meeting your partner's relatives. You not only learn more about their roots, but also more fully understand their many quirks (such as Josh's random river dancing routines).

For Josh it has been over a decade since he last saw his relatives in Israel but it was clear that time didn't matter. With everyone that we've seen it's felt like family right away, like we see them all the time. So far we've visited over 50 of them. And they are all wonderful. I'm amazed and fascinated at their lives and their stories. As most of you may know I'm an extremely nosy person and so I have been asking many many questions...

Josh with his Aunt Sari (who has so kindly let us stay in her home in Hod HaSharon - our home base - for our visit to Israel) and his Safta - grandma - Sari and Josh's Dad's mom. Safta is first generation Israeli but her family is from Poland. Sadly half of her relatives did not survive the Holocaust.

Josh's cousin Adi (Sari's son) - the one with the big smile, he's honestly one of the nicest guys I know but has a thing with smiling for the camera - and his fiance Adi. Yep, they have the same name. They have been unbelievable hosts to us. Taking us out in Tel Aviv and introducing us to their friends. Unfortunately we'll miss their wedding which is only a few weeks away.

This is a blend of the family. Josh's Mom's twin sister Yaffa in the middle of the photo, her husband Yehuda on the very left, with their three boys in the photo - David, Yoni (and his girlfriend Mo) and Daniel, plus Adi, Adi and Sari. We enjoyed two Shabbat (Friday) dinners at their place where we ate some of the best food we've had in Israel.

Yaffa - Josh's Mom's (Rachel) identical twin sister. This was something else! Not only does she look like Rachel, her voice and her mannerisms are the same. We played Wii bowling and when she got a strike she did a little victory dance that I've seen Rachel do many times. She's wonderful.

Josh's Dad Jacob joined us for the second Shabbat dinner (we've been so lucky to have Jacob with us in Israel for most of our visit). This is a photo just after one of the Shabbat prayers. Josh's cousin David - very left in the photo - was a combat soldier during his three year service in the army. Fortunately you don't hear of this too often especially from close family members.

One of our many outings with Jacob. This one's near Tel Aviv - a view of Tel Avi's skyline and beaches from the Arab quarter known as Jaffa. What a great day.

We went to Haifa (northern Israel) for a few days to visit with Rachel's older brother Zeev and his wife Gabby. They were such gracious hosts touring us around Haifa and taking us to some delicious lunch spots. This photo's from our lunch at an Arab restaurant where we ate our second favourite meal in Israel.

Zeev is the "crazy-scientist" of the family and has been a full time inventor for the past 20 years - he has upwards of 1000 patents to his name. I'm kicking myself because I forgot to take a picture of his workshop which is in the basement of his house. My jaw literally dropped when I saw it although I had no idea what most of the stuff was.

Gabby and Zeev had a big dinner at their place so that we could see more family which included Rachel's other brother Zohar, his wife Tammy and their son Ron - who I called mini Josh - as well as Gabby and Zeev's two kids Maya - who I called young Rachel - and Idan and their families.

I couldn't believe it when I saw Ron - he is a replica of Josh when he was around five years old (from the photos I've seen). Needless to say these two got along really well and Ron had a special fondness for me of course.

One of the many photos I have of Josh with his little cousins. They all loved him.

Josh with his cousins - Sari's three sons Adi, Tal and Ayal. Once again Adi is all smiles. Purdy/Kev/Steve/Pete, you boys would be proud as Josh's cousins were happy to make fun of his pink shirt on your behalf!

Sari's grandchilren - children of Ayal and Tal. Only one missing is Noam - six years old - who refused to be in the picture!

Another family get together with Jacob and Sari's Aunt Nahama, her husband Yossi their daughter and husband and grandchildren. Hadar - in the striped sweater and only 18 years old - had just been accepted to train as a fighter pilot in the Israeli airforce. This is a huge deal (and honour) as apparently there are only four women in the airforce today and something like 1 in 100,000 people get into the program. Over the next 3 years the Israeli government will invest $5 million in her training after which Hadar will serve a 9 year term in the airforce. The ironic thing is that she's afraid of flying but decided at 8 years old the only way to get over it is to fly a plane (true story). When I think about what I was doing at the age of 18 it really helps put things in perspective.

We spent last Saturday with family, at a park in a suburb called Holon. The cousins barbequed chicken kebabs, steak and chicken wings and we had a feast. There were about 20 of us and we had a blast playing cards, Matkot (a variation of ping pong/tennis) and Josh even played a game of piggy in the middle - must have been something in the humus.

Josh with this little cousin Nadav. The two were inseparable. I was starting to get a little jealous! Like most of Josh's cousins's he couldn't speak any English but somehow we communicated just fine.

Me with Sarit (Josh's cousin Tal's wonderful wife) and their oldest daughter Noah.

We've spent a lot of time with these kids (Noah, Nadav and Amit) and we wish we could bring them back to Canada with us!

Hopefully I haven't bored you with all of the family stuff but we've loved every minute and so appreciated the generosity, love and time spent with everyone. We feel spoiled and only hope that when they visit Canada we can attempt to do the same.