Grains of Sand....everywhere

While Commenter Abbi had a blast down south, the Muqata family ventured up North last week via a first-time-ever family camping experience on the beach of the Mediterranean.

Camping on the beach was the fulfillment of a promise I made to the kids that during the summer we would camp out one night...and I'm happy to report, the kids had an amazing time (which is ultimately the reason we do such things.)

However, the #1 downside issue with the beach and kids is: SAND.

It gets everywhere: Clothes, tent, food, cellphones, hair, eyes.

BLECH.

We tried valiantly to keep it out of the tent, but we were only partially successful. My wife's idea to pack a separate sand-free suitcase for the rest of our trip up North was a lifesaver.

I did a decent job of keeping the sand out of the food I grilled...but some of the hotdogs had that gritty, "beach" taste.

Sleeping on the sand in our tent was not the most comfortable experience for me (not that the kids care), and I think my wife decided this would be her first and last tent camping trip on a beach. Yet in her ever-optimistic philosophy on life, my wife summed it up as follows:

The only redeeming factors of the beach camp-out were:

1. The kids had an absolute blast.
2. Maybe the experience will help with our understanding that the Jewish people will be as countless as grains of sand...and we should merit that blessing.

And since life in Israel is incessantly interwoven with the Jewish experience, I guess it wasn't a coincidence that I heard the following advertisement on the radio this morning:

Want a great job? Israel is now starting the once-every-ten-years national census! We need people in your area to coordinate and manage teams of census takers in a highly rewarding job that pays well too. Contact us at our website... (note: The English Website for the press release "Recruitment Of Coordinators For 2008 Population Census" is blank but the Hebrew one works)

And of course, how can one count the Jewish people in land of Israel? Aren't we countless as the grains of sand in our tent? This question comes up every 10 years, as people are discouraged from participating in the census due to religious issues.

A fascinating roundup of the issue can be found here by R' J. David Bleich, "The Controversy Concerning the Israeli Census" -- which can be viewed online here in "Contemporary Halachik Problems"

More on our vacation later...but I think we will start a regular section here about kid-friendly vacation ideas around Israel (and we welcome submissions too! Thanks Abbi!)

PS: The tent picture above isn't our tent. In our rush to leave for our vacation, I forgot our camera, so I don't have pictures of it. Then again, it was probably for the best as I probably would have gotten it full of sand anyway)

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד