By Avner Avrahami and Reli Avrahami
RehovotW The cast: Udi (29), Einat (29), Avishai (11 weeks).
W The home: Detached, with a yard, white (peeling) walls, on squat pylons (Jewish Agency-style), faded tile roof, car in the front.
W The yard: Three dunams (3/4 acre), verdant. Starts with hibiscus and a red gate, continues with a shaded concrete path and ends in a grassy back area with lemon, guava and avocado trees, and a Labrador dozing in the December sun. He's called Koka and his house is the shed next to the covered motor scooter. It's a chilly Friday. Three steps lead to the entrance.
W Entering: Next to the door hangs a mirror, which offers a parting glimpse. Having duly glimpsed, we step into a small foyer that opens into a larger one. All is well washed, tidy, exuding cleanliness. In the center is a dining table covered with a green tablecloth; next to it is a computer with a small library ("The Israeli Guide for Parents") and a baby stroller (details below). From here we can access the kitchen, the living room or the bedrooms, which are separate as in the past, before people began to "unify" spaces. We decide to stay and observe the crack.
W The crack: The dining corner turns out to be a historical addition to the house from the time of Einat's grandfather. The crack, she says, widened a bit during a recent earthquake, which was felt strongly in the Rehovot area. Now for the tour.
W The tour: In the old but well-kept kitchen a small dishwasher stands on the marble work space, spices are set out neatly on a shelf, and there are also two red oven mitts and a door to a veranda. The bedroom has green curtains, soft lighting, a red double bed and a blue cradle. In the beige living room are two brown sofas (bought in South Tel Aviv), a cabinet embraced by two huge loudspeakers and two bookcases ("The Myth of Sisyphus," Hanif Kureishi, Dahlia Ravikovitch). Further on we discover another half-room - a former porch that was closed in on the occasion of the baby's birth, stocked with an array of toys whose day will come.
W Real estate history: The 70-square-meter house was built in the 1950s by Einat's grandparents, was inherited by their son (Einat's father) and has for the past three years served ("to our delight") as the home of Einat and Udi ("It's a temporary situation").
W Livelihoods and occupations: Udi is an electronics engineer for a company, located in the Rehovot science park, that develops GPS solutions for the cellular market. He designs the bit of silicon that becomes a chip ("chip design"), working a five-day week, 9-10 hours a day ("I try not to go beyond that"). He travels back and forth ("2 minutes from the house") on a small second-hand Sanyang motor scooter that he bought recently (NIS 3,000). In addition, he has a company car from a leasing company (Mazda 3).
W A good day at work: "All days are good." He is mulling an idea for a startup of his own.
W Einat: Has an master's in sociology and is a research coordinator in the department of social work at Ben-Gurion University in Be'er Sheva. She's now on maternity leave, which she would like to extend past the 14 weeks she has accrued. She will begin her Ph.D. studies next year ("It's not completely settled"). Her daily routine depends on Avishai, whom she sometimes takes to "baby Yoga" in the Dharma Center at the science park, or takes on visits to friends or family. She will breast-feed, she says, "as long as it's possible."
W Einat's bio: Born in Rehovot in 1978 to native-born parents (Rehovot, Rishon Letzion) - her father a commercial lawyer, her mother working with him in the office - she is the eldest of three sisters. In high school she majored in dance, then did military service as an operations secretary in the air force (at Ben-Gurion International Airport). Afterward she went south to study sociology in Be'er Sheva, living in several of the city's neighborhoods - a wonderful experience, she says, which ended in a "certain abhorrence."
W Udi's bio: Born in Rehovot, the second of three children, to parents who immigrated from Romania in the 1960s. His father, on the administrative staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Rehovot-based faculty of agriculture, is an expert in animal nutrition; his mother is a secretary at the city's Weizmann Institute of Science. Udi's high-school major was jazz (saxophone). "It was a dubious pleasure," he says. "I would get up at five in the morning [to get to school in Givatayim]." In the musical sphere, he notes, his "abilities have faded." His army service was in the Golani infantry brigade - three years in the 51st Battalion ("the folly of youth"), partly in the territories, partly as an instructor for new recruits. He recalls the period as a hard time mixed with feelings of missed opportunity. After his discharge (with the rank of staff sergeant) he worked for an Israeli moving company in New York for six months, returning to Israel at the end of 2000 to study electrical engineering in Be'er Sheva, where he met Einat again. They had first met long before.
W Long before: In ninth grade. Udi was her first boyfriend and Einat was Udi's first girlfriend. They broke up after two months and didn't see each other again until the reunion in Be'er Sheva.
W The reunion: In 2000, when Einat had completed her first year of studies at the university and Udi had recently arrived from New York. They immediately became friends. Their relationship, they say, had its ups and downs, including a serious quarrel about their shared future. Einat was already sure; Udi chose to vacillate. After she got her degree (2002) he underwent a change and they went to India together. When they returned (two months later) they started living together (in one of Be'er Sheva's lower-class neighborhoods). The wedding was "in the summer of the evacuation" (of Gaza).
W The wedding: Summer 2005, outdoors in the Ela Valley at 6 A.M., 150 guests who got up around 4-5 A.M. ("They complained, but had a good time"). It was a religious ceremony, conducted by a young rabbi (30, from Beit Shemesh). Udi wore orange unrelated to the color's symbolism at the time ("I wrestled with it a lot, because I also had a kippa on the side"). Einat wore clothes designed by Naama Bezalel. The food was dairy (based on goat's milk cheese); there was no deejay, only a band with fantoms ("the last musical instrument invented in the 20th century, by a Swiss scientist" - Udi). They missed the sunrise by 5 minutes.
W Daily routine: Usually (depending on Avishai) they get up at 8. Udi diapers the baby and watches over him while Einat showers, then heads for the washroom himself, dresses, has a cup of instant coffee and takes off on the scooter. Einat feeds Avishai. Her days flow according to his needs, though occasionally she sits down at the computer for a look-see. Udi usually skips lunch; Einat, too. Some days he comes home to eat - his company has no cafeteria - sometimes he takes a lunchbox ("real food, like chicken, beef and pasta") and prepares his meal in the employees' kitchenette. He gets home for good around 7, and the two of them try to make a hot meal ("or we just end up with an omelet and a salad"). Until the birth they were devoted cooks. Udi is from a family with a culinary tradition; his father is a serious cook. "Everything Einat knows about cooking, I taught her," he says. Einat: "That's true." In any event, now they "take turns" eating while one of them holds the baby ("who cries"). They have no energy to go out. They watch cable TV, particularly Channel 8 (nature, history, science; they like "Child of Our Time," a BBC documentary series), and hit the hay.
W The birth: Kaplan Hospital, Rehovot, by suction. Einat wanted a natural birth, but nature, she says, had other plans. She has not yet formed an opinion about Avishai's educational orientation, though when the time comes they may well opt for one of the city's three anthroposophic kindergartens. They haven't yet made a final decision about how many children they want in the future: Udi - 1; Einat - 2-3.
W Choice of name: "We wanted a name with three syllables, a name with presence." The shortlist also included Itamar and Yonatan.
W First-child project: Udi estimates the cost at about NIS 14,000. They bought some things via a Web site that sells second-hand items.
W Specifications: Stroller - NIS 5,000 (Bugaboo, Dutch, the last word); sling/carrier - NIS 1,000 (Baby Bjorn, Swedish); bed + chest of drawers (Ramle market) - NIS 3,000; clothes, disposal diapers, toys - NIS 3,000; and more.
W Romance: Einat says it will always have something to do with food (Katit Restaurant). They love being served a "chocolate bomb," a cake by Karin Goren ("the revered high priestess of sweets").
W Quarrels and making up: "You could say sweepingly that we do not quarrel."
W Good time: Divided chronologically: before the birth, parties all over the country; after the birth, dinner with the parents ("which is a good time").
W Iranian bomb: "Sometimes I think we should have an escape route" - Einat. Udi: "It's all nonsense. There will not be a nuclear war here. No one wants that." His father, he says, renewed his Romanian passport.
W Children in the face of threats: "We want a family because we are selfish creatures" - Einat.
W Dreams: Einat - to get a Ph.D. (involving the connection between technology and culture); Udi - to go back to music (electronic).
W God: Einat believes there is a guiding hand, but without reward and punishment; Udi says he is a heretic and the son of a heretic, though in his heart he believes ("But without all the ritual").
W Organ donor card: They both have one and had no compunctions about it. Einat: "What is the body after death?"
W Happiness quotient (scale of 1-10): Udi - 9; Einat - 10.
Source: Avner Avrahami, Reli Avrahami Family Affair / The Zambels. Haaretz.com (3 January 2008) [FullText]Labels: Rehovot People
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