O' Canada!

Yesterday, I went to Cherna Rosenberg's house for lunch and stuff. Cherna, who lived in Israel from 1964-1984, returned from Canada to Israel in January 2006, to Sderot of all places. Yes, Cherna made Aliyah to a town safer than any gated community in the San Fernando Valley.

Cherna's grub was phenominal - I'm still stuffed! The conversation, however, was even better.

She delighted me with her candor, humor and passion. Cherna did move to Sderot so, umm, the new immigrant's got a little personality to say the least. Cherna, in her sixties, is my kind of lady- she says what's on her mind, always.

Even being the crazy Zionist that she is, her second husband of thirty years comes from the Druze population in Israel. To most people, that might seem odd, but to Cherna - it was an obvious choice. The dude loved Israel and served in the IDF - a zionist at heart- perfect match.

Her house, like many others in Sderot, is not protected from Qassam rockets. If you don't have protection, they say you should go to a room without windows to protect yourself from the shrapnal. But all of the rooms in Cherna's cute house have windows. Uh-oh.

Cherna moved to Sderot to lives two doors down from her daughter and grandkids. She made it seem so matter of fact she moved to Sderot - to her, if given the opportunity, wouldn't anyone pick up and move to be neighbors with their child and grandchildren?

For most people, it would probably depend on whether rockets were falling from the sky on a daily basis. That being the status quo in Sderot, I'd say it's not the norm to retire in Sderot. But when you got the passion and belief of Cherna Rosenberg, it's a no brainer.

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