Cousins That Go Way Back

While in Tel Aviv, I am staying with cousins, Yair and Avrille  (nee Fine) Goldreich. 

Avrille’s grandfather on her father’s side and my great grandmother on my father’s side were brother and sister.  Avrille was born in South Africa and moved to Israel when she was 19.  Yair was born in Israel.  They now live in Petach Tikva, outside Tel Aviv.

I met Avrille’s parents, Sam and Rae Fine in New York in 1965 when I was a teenager. Avrille and Yair came to Seattle in 1997 for a conference, when I met them for the first time.

Avrille and I have stayed in touch over the years; in fact, Andrea and I visited them in Petach Tikva  when I was here last, in 2006.  They haven’t changed a bit.   

Yair is Professor Emeritus of Meteorology at Bar Ilan University, and Avrille is an English editor in the Life Sciences department at the same school.

They have 5 children – 3 daughters and 2 sons, 30 grandchildren  (yes, that’s correct!), and at the time of this writing, 4 great-grandchildren. – all of whom live in Israel. Avrille told me that in October, 2005, there was a family reunion, on her mother’s side with 190 people in attendance.  The next reunion is being planned to be during Sukkot this year.

Since 2005 the following changes have occurred:

-       10 new grandsons

-       13 great grandsons

-       21 granddaughters

-       13 great granddaughters

-       18 new spouses

-        7 deaths and 0 divorces

At their 50th wedding anniversary celebration

Avrille and I are very similar in that we're both very detail oriented.  The records she keeps of her family tree are meticulous, with over 400 people in both of her grandparents' families.    I'm impressed that when she showed me this picture of her immediate family, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, she had no trouble remembering every single name and their positions in each family.   This is when I'm glad I have only three children and three grandchildren, at least for now.

One thing we don't have in common is that Avrille's enthusiasm for cooking is less than mine.  She describes herself as cooking only when she has to.  Maybe after cooking for such a large family, she's tired.  She let me cook dinner tonight after my trip to the Carmel 
 Shuk today, and I was very happy. 

As an aside, you may be wondering why I haven't cooked more in my apartment.  It's because I didn't know how to use the oven, which is a combined convection and traditional oven.  The direction booklet was written in Hebrew and I didn't understand the words or the pictures.  I brought the booklet with me to Tel Aviv where Avrille kindly translated for me.