This past holiday week has been long and full. I drove with Becca and Avraham and Ashira to Avraham's parents' house in Raanana the night before the seder. We arrived several hours after Chaim and Bara got off the plane from Denver with their children. Since Matanya and Dana were still in a different time zone, we all took a midnight dip in the pool before bed. Ashira was thrilled to be in the water, but couldn't stay in long because the night air made her shiver.

The next day, the rest of the relatives arrived in stages. Seth and Rachel rode in with Aunt Eva from Jerusalem. Lisa and Moshe drove with their kids from Tel Mond. Alte Bubbie and Sabbah Rabbah came from the home with their helper Rodell. At the seder, the kids sang the mah nishtana together very well. It was great catching up with everyone. Ashira derived special glee from playing with her cousins, and I think the temptation to chase after Mordechai was a strong motivation to finally get a firm grip on her previously shaky and infrequently-used walking skills. Now, she's a regular power-toddler, and she even tries to run.

On Friday, I went back to Tzfat to spend a quiet Shabbos at home to decompress after all the excitement of Seder with kids. I had lunch at the home of Andy and Nili, neighbors of Becca and Avraham, along with Yehudit and Reuven Goldfarb (no relation to the Goldfarb branch of the family, as far as we know) and some friends of theirs that turned out to know Chaim and Bara from when they were living in Jerusalem. Insert obligatory "small world" remark.

On Sunday, I played some tricks with my work schedule to make time to meet my friend Mishael in Jerusalem to do some hiking in the hills near Betar. I'd only planned to stay in the Jerusalem area for a day or two, but since I got invited to spend the last day of Pesach at Mishael's parents' house, I stuck around through the end of the holiday. I camped out at Seth's apartment, but the restaurant was so busy from all the holiday tourists that I really didn't get much time to visit with Seth. Wednesday, the last day of chag, I twice encountered friends that I wasn't expecting to meet, which was a pleasant surprise. The trip to Jerusalem came to its finale on Thursday night, when I (along with select members of the old Nachlaot gang) attended the engagement party of my friend Mark, to whom I wish a tremendous Mazel Tov: it was worth all the effort.

After so much social activity packed into about one week, I'm glad to be back to my Internet-steeped hermitage, stuck inside for a couple days, sheltered from a rainstorm that ironically decides to strike just after we stop praying for rain.

Well, the most interesting thing that happened last week was a visit from Noam, a friend whom I've had the pleasure of hosting several times in the past. He works as a madrich (guide/counselor) at a yeshiva around the Jerusalem area, and he called me up on Tuesday saying that he wanted to visit Tzfat for a little spiritual retreat.

Noam arrived on Wednesday afternoon, and after we'd set up the guest bed and settled him in, he went off to dip in the Ari's mikva while I finished up work and my house chores. He spent most of the evening wandering around town and finding places to meditate while I made pudding pie as part of my desperate attempt to use up the last of the food in my house before Pesach.

The next morning, I took him on a hike in the Nahal Amud nature preserve west of town. I led him on a relatively tough trail, but at the end we got to rest at the babbling brook at the bottom of the valley, and Noam sat for another meditation session while I stalked off to poke the trees and stones and water.

He went back home early Thursday afternoon, and I hope he accomplished his goal of preparing and centering himself spiritually for the upcoming holiday. I really just enjoyed hanging out with someone else who doesn't constantly need to talk just to fill up the air.