When I was a child, we used to live in a house (Bayit, בית) that my grandparents built on top of Mount Carmel (har hakarmel, הַר הַכַּרְמֶל) in Haifa. They built the house in the 1930s, when the area was pretty wild and people were encouraged to build there.

My mother was born there and lived there all her life. Each time my grandparents were able to raise some money, they built another floor for the house. They utilized my grandmother’s fine cooking abilities and the good air of the mountain and established a little hotel that existed until I was a little girl.

After my parents got married, they took the upper floor and my grandparents lived just underneath. It was convenient and pleasant to live so close to my grandparents, enjoying my grandma’s cooking on a daily basis and having my grandpa around to take me places and make life more interesting and secure.

Summer Vacation Memories

During the summer vacations (Xufshot kayits (חֻפְשׁוֹת קַיִץ, we used to visit our cousins who lived on a farm, growing oranges and chickens. We loved visiting them and we liked it a lot when they came to visit us. They brought their country habits to the city. Under their influence, we started walking barefoot (yexefim, יְחֵפִים) to the supermarket (that was unspeakable in the city), took the bus to the beach, and played cards and Monopoly for hours.

They enjoyed taking the Caremlit (כַּרְמֵלִית) which is a 6-station underground funicular railway in Haifa, so we went up and down many times just for the fun of it. We enjoyed these summers a lot.

 
Current Summer Vacation

Lately my brother had his third child, and called him Carmel in spite or perhaps due to the fact that they live in the south of Israel. In memories of those summer vacations, he suggested renewing the cousins’ summer visits. The idea was happily taken by our kids and my brother brought his (older) children to stay with us for few days.

When I watched the kids play together and enjoy themselves at least as much as we did as children, I felt much complacency (נַחַת, Naxat). I think that having my family (משפחה) close-by (relatively) and creating warm relationships among the young generation of the family is a very important aspect of our life. I am thankful for living here, in Israel, surrounded by my growing family, and enjoying the fruits of good family ties.

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