A VERY Happy New Year

Driving to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem eleven days ago Malcolm and I ruminated on how familiar we are with the hospital. Over the last three years Gila has had five surgeries there but this time would be different. By that afternoon we would be grandparents for the first time. When Gila and Tzvi had told us at five weeks that she was pregnant (so early!) we thought the time would go by very slowly, but in fact it has flown by. The cesarean was originally scheduled for September 5th with the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, starting on the evening of Monday 6th. Gila had been told she would be in hospital for four days so we had booked ourselves into the hotel at the hospital as we don't travel on the Sabbath or Festival days. Ten days before that Gila then received a call from the doctor saying they were moving her surgery forward to the 2nd so that she wouldn't be in hospital for Rosh Hashanah.

Despite Covid we were all allowed in the hospital, all being Malcolm, myself and Tzvi's parents Bianca and Chaim, although the medical staff were amused that Gila was accompanied by so many people. Gila and Tzvi were given matching bar coded wristbands. Eventually the others were sent off to the waiting room whilst Gila was taken for her epidural then Tzvi went into surgery with her. Baby boy Kanterovitz was born shortly after at 2.7kg, small but perfect. Tzvi went with the baby to the nursery and I went to keep Gila company in recovery.

The care in the hospital was great. Each room had beds for two mothers with curtains forming two cubicles and a shared bathroom. The two rooms by the nurses station were designated for mothers who had cesareans. Baby was given his own wrist band to match his parents. For the first 24 hours meals were brought to Gila, but after that she was encouraged to walk down to the family room which also doubled as a dining room. Shutters on one side of the room lifted to reveal a canteen style selection of hot and cold food, plentiful and nutritious. Mothers were ticked off the list although staff turned a blind eye to husbands sharing the food. The hospital has a shopping mall with several cafes and fast food options, but for Shabbat Malcolm and I had brought our own food, as the mall is shut over Shabbat. Staying at the hospital hotel it was strange to walk through the central atrium of the hospital, silent and calm, when normally it is a hub of activity. Our simple Friday night dinner, with Gila and Tzvi, in the family room was very special, with Malcolm giving the traditional Friday night blessing to his grandson for the first time. The next morning Malcolm went to the one of the Shabbat services being held in the hospital, in the beautiful synagogue with the Chagall windows. I think most people associate prayer rooms in hospitals with sadness, but every man called to the reading of the Torah that Shabbat was celebrating the birth of a baby! It couldn't have been more joyous.

On Sunday afternoon, after it took three adults half an hour and a youtube video to work out how to lengthen the straps on the car seat, and a list of instructions from the midwife, we bid farewell and a happy new year to Bianca and Chaim and set of for Netanya to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with the newest member of our family.

The day after Rosh Hashanah, Thursday, the baby was eight days old, when Jewish boys undergo their circumcision, a Brit Mila, an important ceremony in the Jewish lifecycle, a symbol of the covenant between Abraham and G-d. Saba Raba (Great Grandfather) Rabbi Michael Kanterovitz held the baby during the circumcision. Saba Chaim gave the blessing afterwards and read out the name, and Saba Malcolm held the baby for the naming. Traditionally a baby boy's name is not revealed until the blessings said after his circumcision. Baby K was named Elia Yosef - Elia meaning 'In God I trust' and Yosef after Malcolm's late father Joe (Joseph/Yosef) so it was very emotional for Malcolm to be holding Elia when he was named. Whilst it was strange not having family and friends from England with us, we were supported by, and celebrated with, the wider Kanterovitz family, our lovely friends from Netanya, and Gila and Tzvi's fabulous friends who came from all over the country, with several of Tzvi's comrades from his former army unit joining us.

There has been much discussion over what we should be called by our grandchildren and all our children felt that they should have an input. We have tried out a few names and we rejected Grandma and Grandpa (we just don't feel old enough, although we are), and the children rejected Grannie Annie and Papa Malki ( our first choice, partly because we liked them, but partly because it annoyed the children so much) and have finally settled on the Israeli version, Saba and Savta. I suggested "Saba and Savta by the Sea" to differentiate us from Tzvi's parents who are already Saba and Savta, but that drove Gila nearly as hysterical as Grannie Annie. According to her it's a sentence not a name - well time will tell!

A happy and healthy New Year to everyone and well over the fast.