Dear Friends and Family,

What ever happened to 2006? Must have been there, we must have done something. But we didn't report, sorry about that. And you all thought that we had disappeared. But 2006 did have some high spots. Here is a short recap of that lost year.

There was that unfortunate Second War in Lebanon with Haifa and the north of Israel suffering missile attacks that disrupted life in no small way.

Scenes of Katyusha rocket strikes in Haifa during the Second Lebanon War.

I (it's me Steve) met up with the Arazis (Doron, Arianna and Yannai) in February at Disneyworld for a spin (after having been stranded in frozen Switzerland for a day on the way due to airplane mechanical problems). Later Avinoam/Avital/Dori managed to get to Texas to see the Arazis, spending much quality time together.

Yannai and I at Disneyworld Dori being greeted at the Austin airport by Yannai

The Shaafs had some great main events in 2006: Aviva turned 40! (What does that say about her parents?) You will note that the Shaafs’ wanderlust never ceases. In August, When Daniel returned from a business trip and a visit to Saravasty Abbey in Washington State, the whole family hopped over to Antalya, Turkey for a week to rest after the War in Lebanon. Aviva spent three weeks in Sept.-Oct. exploring Vietnam and Cambodia (with a little rest and shopping in Bangkok in the end), a trip that started with a flight to Bangkok on the day the military coup took place.

North Vietnam Angkor Wat, Cambodia

And to end year 2006, all of us, and that is all of us (including the Arazis who had come from Texas for a visit), made a retreat to a beautiful B&B in the Jezreel Valley for Hanukkah. This B&B had five suites, enough for everyone to be more than comfortable.

The whole family at Kfar Tavor 2006 (Well, OK, it’s a photo montage.)

But we are back on track again now (albeit a little late!) with a report on an event-filled 2007, mostly good stuff. In this world of digital photography and in a family of pro and amateur photographers, we take a frightening number of photos (we’re our own “Big Brother, watching”!). But you get to see only the best here.

Right off the bat, in January Genoveba was off to Texas to spend some time with Yannai. While she wasn't looking, I flew to the Island of Chiloe in the south of Chile, to work as a consultant with a group developing artificial reefs similar to those we developed in Eilat several years ago. Can’t complain about the view… I made some side trips across the island following on the trail of Chuck Darwin who visited Chiloe a few years before me. Got a real feeling of history from this.

This nice view is really 17 pictures (which I digitally stitched together into this panorama ) taken in Castro, Chiloe near the lab I was visiting .

The Chiloe group, I'm in the back on your left Downtown Santiago

As long as I was so far away, I went from Chiloe to Santiago for a few days where I was well hosted by Sammy Bendersky’s twin sister, Sally, who had been Chile’s ambassador to Israel for the previous five years. She gave me a wonderful fact-filled tour of Santiago. She also knew a lot about Israel, things that I could never know -- not being in the diplomatic community,

Moving on from Santiago, now February, I flew to California for my mom's and brother Marty’s birthdays, both round numbers this time. Got a pile of mileage on AA on this trip. (They actually gave me 4500 extra miles, I wrote to them, they were surprised and grateful, wrote me a nice letter, but they took the miles back.)

Mom Julie’s 85^th & Marty’s 60^th; the other guy is older brother David

Having noted that I had skipped town, Genoveba and the Arazis zipped off to Reno to visit with Sal and Barb Reyes and took Yannai to see the snow in Squaw Valley.

From Reno to Squaw Valley and a romp in the snow. Genoveba with Barb and Sal

Not far into the year the word was out that Avital was pregnant as was Tamar, Ezra's wife. They raced neck and neck to the end, with Tamar giving birth to Yonatan’s sister, Naomi Sylvie (a month ahead of due date) just two weeks before Dori’s brother, Ariel Gil, arrived.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Back in February Aviva and girlfriend Revital introduced Avigail to Joel Rapoport (a young dashing industrial designer who worked with Revital’s husband), and things really clicked right from the start. They quickly moved through being friends to going steady, soon moving up to being engaged, and finally ending up being married in October, in New York. Yes, married. While they are planning a nice, traditional wedding, complete with dress, catered food, guests, music, me wearing a tie, and a rabbi, in May 2008, they actually are already married (at least in the state of New York). Gali had some medical problems this year, with a recurring abscess around where her appendix used to be, when she had one. She required some treatment in the hospital, and as I write these lines in mid-January, her problem has still not been solved, but they’re working on it – Gali feels her case will make medical journals some day. She had some good editing gigs in 2006 leading into 2007, and we did see her name in the credits of some of Israel's most popular TV programs. As we move into 2008 she has an extended gig editing 5 episodes of an ongoing Israeli series.

You all will need to meet Joel. Suffice it to say that Joel no longer works in Yuvalim, but is back in Tel Aviv with Avigail. He was actually born in England; his father hailing from England and his mother a veteran Israeli. Avigail and Joel have just moved from Joel's one room flat to a beautifully designed and custom rebuilt apartment, just one flight up in the same building in Tel Aviv.

“Just Married”

In May, Arianna and Yannai flew to California from Texas and I from Israel to join the family convocation at the wedding of nephew Myron to Nirit Michaels. Great wedding held at the Brandeis Camp Institute, where I first got the Israel bug in my head back in 1961 (the reason we are here today).

The Shaaf wanderlust continues: In July, Aviva took Yuval and Ofek to Jordan for a canyoning (trekking in canyons) trip, with a couple of girlfriends and their children (a compromise trip after being convinced that the Sinai has too many el-Qaida folks...). In October Daniel & Aviva used "about to expire miles" and hopped over to Prague for a long weekend while the kids got to spend quality time with their grandparents.

Ofek “canyoning” in Jordan. Yuval on Mt. Nebo in Jordan

Aviva continues her activity with a cycling group for the handicapped called “etgarim” or “Challenge” – I generally join the group when they ride(at the unholy, perhaps illegal hour of 06:30 on Friday mornings – I have to get up at 05:00) to support Aviva and in case anybody should need any help with their bikes along the way. The Shaaf family loves going to the beach, camping and trekking, real outdoors types.

Here are all the Shaafs doing a walking tour through the Kibbutzim River, getting ready for the “Wheels of Hope” Bike Ride, and Aviva riding with me.

Aviva, Daniel and the kids moved to small apartment in Karmiel for during the summer months while they remodeled their home. Almost totally gutted then rebuilt, it’s like a brand new house now with lots of room for everyone – they’re very pleased. Daniel left Source Vagabond systems after 5 years and is now working for a company manufacturing stainless steel vessels. Aviva still works in the world of finance at the bank, making others rich.

Ori’s 2 years old! Loves to emulate Bob the builder. Ofek’s 7 years old! Quite the sportsman. Yuval’s almost 10! cycles, dances and likes to cook!

A big event in October, 2007 was Genoveba's 65^th birthday bash (she sure don’t look 65). Held in a villa in Kfar Tavor, over a long weekend, this elaborate affair was sprung as a complete surprise on the birthday girl, having been planned and executed down to the smallest of details by Aviva. Word was sent out to many to send greetings and memorabilia to be included in the special book that Aviva prepared. This was a family weekend which started on Thursday afternoon, with a group of friends joining us for dinner and cake on the Friday night.

Genoveba at 65 , who would believe? The Friday night bash Dori congratulating

65 did not bring any retirement ideas or plans for Genoveba. She is still very involved in her work with the Middle East Cancer Consortium which has led to additional responsibilities working with the Center for the Study of the Presidency (CSP), a USAID Funded Program working on a Palestine/Israel Health Initiative. She’s busier than ever and with more and more projects keeping her at work 7 days a week. She still takes a few hours aside every week to play with her recorder group. Perhaps if I retire soon, I can get her to ease up.

The second biggie for 2007 was the December birth of Ariel Gil, a new son to Avinoam and Avital. He was a big fellow weighing in at 3.450 kgs (which is a nice 7.5 lbs.). Mother and son did well. Father seems to have survived also. Gil means happiness as does sister Dori's middle name, Osher. (Remember Hava Nagila; that means, "come let’s be happy". See the gil in Nagila.) Ariel is a biblical name, a euphemism for Jerusalem. Avital has left El Al for maternity leave, does not plan to return. She is taking a course called “First Step” which deals with special education and care of babies. And Dori (our own little Shirley Temple) was 3 this year. She experimented with ballet (liked the tutu, but not the class), and enjoys her gymnastics class a lot.

Avinoam, Avital, and Dori Dori, in a pose All smiles

Ariel Gil – now one month old

Meanwhile in Texas, Doron, Arianna, and Yannai made some changes this year. Arianna and Yannai (almost 7 now) are both home now, having made the decision to homeschool first grade. The “experiment” has been so successful, that they plan on continuing to homeschool in the foreseeable future. Yannai enjoys his enrichment activities, which include abacus class, swimming, gymnastics, and piano lessons. Toward the end of the year Doron started a new job as a Project Engineer with ISMI, a division of SEMATECH, which is a consortium focused on semiconductor manufacturing effectiveness. This job will require temporary relocation to the Albany, NY area later this year, but we’ll write more about that in next year’s letter.

Yannai loves to swim And play in the snow All the Arazis

Doron’s birthday A, D, and Y at Squaw Valley

Ezra (Marcus) ended his tenure at the University of Haifa. He continues with his research for the Austrian Academy of Sciences and with his many projects funded through the University here. They, he and Tamar and young Yonatan, visited the U.S. in the summer and, as noted above, are the parents of a new daughter, Naomi Sylvie. Tamar is now on maternity leave from her job (special education) after giving birth in December. Ezra’s sister, Paula, came from the States for a short visit and played babysitting aunt while Ezra made a work trip to Vienna.

Ezra, Tamar and young Yonatan … and even younger Naomi Sylvie

Still another biggie, at least in our family’s mind, was the completion of Genoveba’s first cookbook. Called "What's for Eating? – I'm Starving (what Avinoam would say every day when he came home from school and was “starving”)... Ema’s Book of Recipes". It is an illustrated collection of recipes of many of the foods that Genoveba has served to all of us over the last 40 odd years. This 200 page first edition was printed and bound in 6 copies and delivered as a surprise to all family members at Hanukkah. This is a soon to be collector’s item for rare book enthusiasts. Comments are already coming in for revision and addition (“you forgot my favorite so and so”), and surely an updated edition will be published, by popular demand, in the future. Perhaps to be really published?

After going for 35 years at the U with an average annual absence due to illness or injury of 3 days per year, I suffered a slipped disk or something like that, in March. I had to be hospitalized for 5 days and spent about 30 more in moderate and more than moderate pain. All in all, I responded quickly to treatment and healed well. But since my work is somewhat physical, the doctors were reluctant to return me to work and I was on sick leave for 90 days. (I still have 820 left so no need to worry on that score.) Even though the retirement age is now 67 in Israel, I am hoping, due to the physical nature of my work, and some growing problems with my hearing, that I will be able to retire in 2008, soon after my 65^th in April. I still ride my bike a bit and manage to get to the squash court several times a week. (I am living proof of one of God’s great mistakes of Creation – that being that one loses fitness much faster than one can build it up again. There are others, like the much too large pit in the avocado and, all that yucky sand on the beach instead of lush grass.)

We had a great end-of-the-year visit with Jim and Sally Didrickson and daughter Kristin who spent a few days with us here in Israel on their way to tour Turkey. It’s always good to be able to catch up with and enjoy the company of old friends.

Well now you have it. An update as to our doings and some new pictures that show the kids growing and us ageing. But that is just the way of things and we don’t mind.

Hope all is well with you and that you will be in touch sometime in 2008. Have a good year!

Genoveba & Steve, et. al.

Should you be overcome by the urge to write, we still hang around at:

stephen@research.haifa.ac.il

veba@research.haifa.ac.il

aviva.shaaf@gmail.com

breitstein-arazi@alum.calberkeley.org

avinoam5@netvision.net.il

avigailyael@gmail.com