Gifts from the Holy Land

My parents recently visited Israel, and they brought back some fabulous gifts for me, my husband, and my son. For my husband, my parents brought back chocolate bars. A lot of them reminded us of chocolate bars that you can find here, and some of them actually were chocolate bars you can find here -- but you would only know that if you can read Hebrew :)

The beautifully painted dreidel

For my son, they brought home a dreidel -- a request of mine. The lady they purchased it from wrote down what each of the Hebrew letters mean -- I have not copied that paper for myself, but when I do, I will share what the symbol showing means. *The letters are an acronym for the Hebrew words, נס גדול היה שם, Nes Gadol Haya Sham—"A great miracle happened there" (referring to the miracle of the oil that took place in the Beit Hamikdash).

My fabulous earrings

 And for me, my parents brought a beautiful pair of earrings with a beautiful blue shell set in silver metal. I can't remember the name of the shell right now, but if you think of it, please let me know what it is. They also brought back some hand-carved Christmas ornaments made with olive wood. They are quite beautiful, and I can't wait to hang them on my tree this year. They remind me of ornaments that my parents would hang on the tree when I was a little girl.



*http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061120202440AAMU6ud