I was so excited to receive both a copy of Shalom Sesame’s Welcome to Israel and Chaunkah: The Missing Menorah.  My 5 and 7 year-old’s quickly ran into the living room to watch them both.  Having just returned from a trip to Israel and also anticipating the upcoming holiday of Chanukah in our home, there was much excitement over these about to be released DVD’s.  Both come from the creators of Sesame Street and feature well-known American and Israeli celebrities like Debra Messing, Achinoam Nini, Mira Awad, Jake Gyllenhaal, Christina Applegate, Greg Kinnear, Debi Mazar and other recognizable talent.  Both DVD’s were just released by SISU Home Entertainment.

In Welcome to Israel, Grover and host Anneliese Van Der Pol (from That’s So Raven and Broadway’s Beauty and the Beast) travel to Israel to meet people and learn new things in this 12-part series.  It actually reminded me of our own recent trip – the plane ride, the fallaffel stands, walking through the streets of Tel Aviv.  Designed to help bring the vitality of Jewish culture and tradition, as well as the diversity of Israeli life to American children and their families, each 30-minute live-action and animated DVD will focus on storylines drawn from Jewish cultural traditions, highlighting lessons on Hebrew letters and words, unique sites in Israel and Jewish values.

In Chanukah: The Missing Menorah, Grover is bringing the latkes to celebrate Chanukah, and all is well until Anneliese gets caught in a game of tag with a chicken and loses her special menorah.  My friends were glued to the television during this special show, waiting to discover if her friends could help find the missing menorah in time for Chanukah.

There hasn’t been a lot of Jewish-themed videos for my kids with main-stream television characters that they’ve grown up with like the ones from Sesame Street.  Even though they grew out of that program long ago, they both gravitated toward these videos with no hesitation.  They knew that there would be a common thread, linking them to their religion and heritage that was quite special for me, as their mom, to see.  I know I’ve done a good job on that front after seeing them rush to watch these programs.

There is also a new web content on ShalomSesame.org (free, too) that goes along with these shows in the forms of activities, games, videos, caregiver tips and activity suggestions for parents and educators.

These DVDs are available for $14.95 SRP and can be ordered at 1-800-223-7478 or at Sisuent.com.

Disclosure: These DVDs were provided to me for my review but no opinion was asked of me.  Everything expressed is my own opinion.

Often, that’s how I feel when I stay at a hotel.  You are truly a visitor in a city.  As you pass though the lobby with bell hops and desk attendants at your beck and call, you are constantly reminded.

We had a town in mind.  My brother-in-law lives in Raanana.  It’s known as the city in Israel where all the Anglos settle, and the majority of its residents are English-speaking, deriving primarily from South Africa, England, Canada, and America.  It’s a lovely town, just 20 minutes from Tel Aviv.  It also has a great downtown high street, gorgeous parks, gardens and cultural programs.  It’s full of good restaurants.

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One of my most vivid memories of being in Israel for the first time at age 16 was being a very special place called Caesarea (pronounced Kaysarya).  Standing amongst the ruins from hundreds of years of ruling empires certainly left its mark on my memory.

So, when a very good friend suggested we meet there during my recent trip to Israel, I jumped at the opportunity.  My two kids and one niece drove the 45 minutes from where we were staying down the coastal highway and were there by lunchtime.

We met at the marina, the old harbor.  Since it is now part of a national park in Israel, you have to pay a fee to enter the ruins.  I hadn’t expected that, but once we entered the area, I completely understood.  The ruins are so maintained, yet you feel like you are entering a time machine.  The place is captivating – ruins on the Mediterranean.  It was about 100 shekels for the four of us, about $25, which was not a lot for what we were able to see.  Entrance into Caesarea  for an adult costs 36 shekels (approx $10). Children enter for a reduced rate of 22 shekels ( approx $6).    My kids wanted to read every sign in order to understand what they were seeing for the first time in their lives.

Built during the time of Herod the Great, Caesarea was one of the most prominent cities of the Roman Empire’s eastern area.  It flourished during the Roman and Byzantine periods, but lost its standing in the seventh century A.D. when the Arabs took over the area.  Israel regained the area in 1948.  Herod’s Castle was built on the reef, which sticks out into the sea, and you can see a special mosaic floor, reserved from the period.  There are columns and mooring stones still anchored in the ground to give you a vision of what once was.  The views of the sea from the ruins are dazzling.

Once you’re inside the marina, you have access to beautiful restaurants with views of the ocean.  We chose to dine at Hatsalbanim which offers lovely kid’s meals of chicken schnitzel and fries, while we dined on salads, fish and glasses of wine.  I hadn’t seen this friend in 15 years and it was the perfect place for a reunion.  Lunch cost around $75 for the five of us.

After lunch, we walked over to the shops.  There are artist’s galleries and souvenir shops all over the grounds.  I bought some Judaica items and miscellaneous memorabilia for the kids.  There is also a fabulous ice cream shop near the crusader gate entrance, which sells a wide variety of delicious ice cream.  We didn’t have time for the free visual presentation that tells the park’s story.

Caesarea is also home to a renowned Amphitheater that was partially destroyed by the sea and has been preserved to host programming of all kinds, from concerts to horseracing during the summer and is a great place for the kids to run around.  The Caesarea Aquaduct Beach is beautiful, clustered around ruins on the sands, and we managed to spend some quality time on them on a different afternoon.  There are also a few museums in the area: the world’s only underwater museum and the Ralli Museum, with a focus on Latin American and Sephardic Jewish artwork.  If you are in the park and have time to explore, you will also see old bathhouses and Temples from the Byzantine era,

The park is open all year round, although in the summer season between April and September the park opens between 8am and 6pm. It closes at 4pm the remainder of the year, and an hour earlier on Fridays.

Even if you are not interested in the Roman excavations, the beautiful Mediterranean sea front location of Caesarea alone should dazzlefr you. It really is a great place to visit, but make sure you leave plenty of time.  It’s a terrific day out for adults and kids of all ages.

The city also holds many special memories for me as I attended part of high school and college in the city. I know Jerusalem as intimately as I know my own hometown, perhaps even more so.

The city was established 5,000 years ago and literally means “The City of Gold”.   The entire city is built with a special stone, the Jerusalem limestone, which makes its architecture incredibly unique and beautiful.  Jews, Christians and Muslims live here and there are many religious shrines and monuments for everyone.  The city truly shines, in more ways than one.

Here’s a short list of 25 reasons why I love Israel. I can already think of 25 more.

1. With my curly locks and dark skin, I fit right in.

2. I love it when hummus and tahini are acceptable foods to eat at all times of the day.

3. I love the way everything closes on Shabbat and a sense of tranquility covers the streets.

4. The mix of cultures.

5. You don’t have to travel long distances to see everything. It’s a small country, and it’s gotit all – seasides, mountains, deserts, cities, and, of course, Jerusalem

6. Floating in the Dead Sea.

7. Feeling safer than anywhere else in the world.

8. The awesome sense of community you feel as soon your plane lands on the ground.

9. Getting off the plane and picking up your bags with groups of people praying at the wall on the way behind you as you exit out to customs.

10. The shuks, or markets, where you can buy amazing produce and crafts by artists who’ve come from all over the world.

11. Meeting people everywhere you go who are open and want to tell you their stories of how they got to Israel from their native land, and their thoughts on their new home.

12. The beaches which are the most dazzling on the planet.

13. Climbing to the top of Masada at sunset.

14. The fruit, the cottage cheese and bread that are made on kibbutzim. Other Israeli foods include melawach, jachnun, kubaneh, shwarma, fallafel and all the eggplant salads, olives and fatouch.

15. Haifa, a gorgeous coastal city with the Bahai Gardens which are oh, so beautiful.

16. Experiencing the mystic cities of Sfat and Tiberius.

17. Experiencing any major Jewish holiday and having the whole country celebrate with you.

18. Wireless Internet everywhere, even in Ben Gurion Airport.

19. How proud everyone is to serve their country and how parents do not think twice of having their children serve in the army.

20. Speaking my minimal Hebrew and hearing from Israelis how impressive it is (well, the kids and I communicated, anyway).

21. Hanging out in Eilat, the southern most tip of Israel, with beaches that are out of this world.

22. Letting my kids run and play freely in the parks around my flat in Raanana.

23. Feeling flustered and lost on the highway and while stopped in traffic, the guy next to me rolled down his window and offered his assistance.

24. Feeling the history of not only the land, but the people, who have come from far and near escaping persecution to settle here.

25. Having a sense of pride for how far the country has come in the mere 62 years it has existed in this world.

I spent my freshman year of university in Jerusalem with a guy named Avi Liberman (pictured above).  I always remembered him as a genuinely nice, funny guy and was happy when we reconnected on Facebook a few years ago.  The program we went on either convinced you to move to Israel or turned you in a real Zionist, doing what you can for Israel from wherever you are.

Avi came up with the idea seven years ago while visiting Israel during the height of the Intifada.  Since then, he has seen the shows develop into something that Israelis rush out to buy tickets for as soon as  they go on sale.  He brings different comedians from North America’s comedy scene every year, twice a year.  His goal is to make people laugh and forget the news going on around them.  This was certainly what Israelis needed during my visit, after the flotilla incident caused such a negative international reaction.

This time Avi invited renowned and established comedians Wayne Cotter, Johnny Sanchez and Bob Zany to join him on stage to crack jokes about Americans living in Israel, their visit to the country (the first-time for all of them), their lives back in the U.S. and other news-worthy topics.  They were all hilarious and much of the audience was in tears during the performance.  The audience mainly consisted of Americans and other Anglos who have migrated to Israel.  Quite often, the comedians turned to the audience for participation and there was an open Q&A; at the end of the show.

Avi opened up the show saying they had added another performance on a cruise ship to Turkey (which got a lot of laughs) and included a list of the top ten things you won’t hear in Mea Shearim  (“I forgot my gym clothes!”); Zany, a regular on Leno, said his next stop would be the Tel Aviv Kentucky Fried Chicken; Sanchez, the first Latino to ever join the tour, talked about his impressions of the country and included an accurate statement about how the country’s beauty is never included in media images of what’s happening; and Cotter talked his own experience of visiting Israel for the first time and having a child late in life, amongst many other topics which cracked the audience up.

They were all so funny, just what the doctor ordered for this group of English speakers living in Israel.  Sometimes, you just gotta laugh, and Avi’s team delivered the laughs.

Seeing the show made me so proud to know Avi.  It also gave me an opportunity to get away from the kids for a night!  As much as I love them, being away for 3 weeks with not one night out did make me crave some time alone, and I got it that night.  I got my dose of culture, while contributing to a cause I care so much about.