Mezuza with frozen car glue

Ilana playing dreidel.



Dan sporting his Tzitzis. Check them out.



Dan and Chaim.



Miriam on a horsey! She also played with their live cat.



Last night (Sunday night) we went to the Berkuns for our final Chanuka party of 5769. Oleg and Ilana had prepared an entire meal, and had bought a bunch of fruits and plasticware for us, and a new knife so they can cut the fruits for us.

Their children, 11-year-old Chaya Mushka (named after Chayale) and 2-year-old Dan were very excited, and though it took Miriam a little while to get used to the new faces, soon she was running around with Dan.

Since we didn't have any more plastic Menorahs, we brought our second oil one (which Benny had bought for us back in New York the day before we left) and gave it to them, since we know they will definitely be using it. We lit by the window with olive oil, and then had a wild game of Dreidel, in which Chayale lost early, but only because Miriam ate all her chocolate coins.

We spoke for a while, and then I took out the Mezuza we had brought (donated by R' Dovid Cohen) to put up in their house. They wanted to know how to pay, so we told them to visit a poor Jewish family and bring them supper.

Then we went to look at the doorpost where the Mezuza would be, and saw that it was steel. So Oleg ran out to buy some glue. But the stores were closed, so we used some kind of car-glue from the USA which had frozen somehow. When Oleg tried to squeeze it out the front, the back of it exploded and glue went flying all over.

But we got the Mezuza in place, and gave their home a blessing. It was very nice.