Howard Blas's Posts

The Original Article is Published at JPost.com

DIASPORA AFFAIRS: How to present the much-changed nation to the thousands of Birthright visitors.

I recently had the privilege of participating in the pilot cohort of Birthright Israel’s latest staff training initiative, the Educators Forum, in Israel.

The goal of the program was to bring together an experienced group of Jewish professionals – US and Canadian staff members and Israeli tour educators – so that together we could bear witness to the events that took place on October 7, recognize the new realities that have resulted in Israel in the aftermath of those events, and learn from and with one another to better understanding what is facing the Jewish people – both in Israel and in the Diaspora.

The hope in coming together was to begin creating a shared language that could be taught to all future Birthright Israel trip leaders, especially those who will be leading trips in summer 2024. 

Birthright arrives in Israel to a new reality 

Upon arrival at Ben-Gurion Airport, our traveling group of 20 North Americans, along with five Israelis – who, combined, had staffed more than 200 Birthright Israel trips and positively affected the Jewish journeys of nearly 8,000 participants – were met by members of the educational teams of Birthright Israel, the Taglit Institute for Tour Educators, and M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education, who would be our guides, teachers, facilitators, and co-partners in the weeklong experience. 

PARTICIPANTS IN the Birthright Israel group leaders’ trip. (credit: Courtesy Birthright Israel)

The journey was moving, meaningful, and successful from both professional and personal standpoints. Let me begin with the personal.

I cried three times on Friday, the next to last day of our trip.The first time was at Mount Herzl, when our group paid a morning visit to the freshly dug graves of soldiers killed in Gaza.

The second time – out of pride and joy – was Friday night at the Dan Panorama Hotel in Jerusalem. Our group, which included 10 rabbis of all denominations, backgrounds, and genders (e.g., Chabad, Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist), created a holy space as we welcomed Shabbat together with prayer explanations, songs, and personal stories. How extraordinary that such a diverse group can come together so comfortably to create a community of unity and respect within the framework of Birthright Israel! 

After our group Kabbalat Shabbat experience, about a dozen of us joined nearly 100 worshipers at the hotel’s Kabbalat Shabbat and Maariv service. Most were Yemenite refugees from Yachini (near Sderot), and have been living in the hotel for the past three months. The Ashkenazi rabbi, wearing a black hat and coat, with a full beard, respectfully announced in Hebrew and English that prayers would include the traditions and prayer customs of both Ashkenazim and Sephardim, and that, following the Ashkenazi-led Kabbalat Shabbat service, we would be singing “Bar Yochai,” a song sung by many Yemenite Jews, followed by Maariv in the Sephardi tradition. 

My final tears came as my group came back together in a sharing circle after dinner to celebrate an Oneg Shabbat. Michael, one of the tour educators, shared the haunting story of his son who was serving in Gaza and, during a recent battle, sadly lost a friend and fellow soldier, and who himself was wounded and put into an induced coma. 

Fortunately, his son is recovering, but Michael related to us the difficult conversation he and his wife, and daughter-in-law, had to have in deciding who among them would tell his son about his friend’s death, once he awakened in his hospital bed.

This story was just another example of the complexities and realities of the war and its impact on Israelis and Israeli society.

What an intense, emotional, inspiring week it was for our group. Among us were executive and assistant executive directors of Hillels and Chabads on campus, campus rabbis, Israel program coordinators, Federation professionals, and a handful of others working for various Israel and Jewish educational organizations. We arrived together as individuals with our hopes and expectations for what we would encounter, and we left the program with the feeling, trust, and connection of a family, determined to recruit and bring Birthright Israel participants to Israel in the very near future.

Together, we visited the site of the Supernova music festival, and Kibbutz Aza, where we came face-to-face with the destruction and murder that took place there. We visited Sderot in the pouring rain and looked at an empty plot of land where the local police station once stood. It had been overrun by Hamas and was promptly blown up by the IDF after learning that the Israeli civilians inside had sadly been killed. The IDF acted quickly so the terrorists could not escape.

Later in the week, we visited Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, where we spoke to family members and friends of those still being held hostage. Seeing and hearing these stories of tragedy and loss was extremely difficult and emotionally draining. 

We also experienced the incredible sense of hope, resilience, and unity that has taken root and flourished in the country. We met with Adir Schwartz, 29, one of the leaders of the Jerusalem Civilian Command Center in Jerusalem, which, only hours after learning about what was happening in the southern communities bordering Gaza, began coordinating efforts to do whatever was necessary to help fellow citizens – whether it was collecting and distributing food, finding clothes or apartments for evacuees, supporting soldiers with needed equipment, and so on. To date, the center has spent NIS 10 million to help Israelis in need, and will continue until it is no longer needed.

In many ways, everyday life in Israel has returned to normal. The shuks are full, the streets and roads are flooded with foot and vehicular traffic, and groups and individuals are visiting the country. Our El Al flight and the one that departed two hours before ours were overbooked.

And Birthright Israel participants are already on the ground! They include Birthright Israel Onward participants, who have been traveling to Israel since early November for one- to two-week volunteer programs, as well as participants in classic 10-day Birthright Israel trips. Registration is currently open for summer 2024 trips, which are to bring thousands of participants from around the world to Israel.

THROUGHOUT OUR week in Israel, we were inspired by our group leaders and the Birthright Israel staff. Gidi Mark, international CEO of Taglit Birthright Israel, said to us: “In light of recent events… we must come together to ensure that we are providing the support, knowledge, and perspectives that our participants need, now more than ever, to continue to thrive and develop their Jewish identity.” 

Dr. Zohar Raviv, international VP of educational strategy for Birthright Israel, described our group as a “traveling think tank in Israel” charged with helping outline Birthright Israel’s educational philosophy and approach in the wake of October 7.

“We uphold the seminal need to be wholly reactive to these events, while remaining strategically proactive in realizing the fuller potential of solid Jewish and Israel education in the broadest sense…. We wish to articulate a strategic blueprint whose impact not only functions vis-à-vis October 7, but extends far beyond that day.” 

We also met with historian and author Prof. Gil Troy, who serves as the chairman of the Birthright Israel International Education Committee.

We heard from an avocado farmer in the fields of Be’eri who remains a believer that peace will soon come, even after his next-door neighbors at the kibbutz were kidnapped and murdered. And we had lunch with Shlomi at a Tunisian shul in Netivot, where this modest man, who lost 22 friends since October 7, quietly feeds 10,000 civilians and another 6,000 soldiers each week through the charity he founded at age 15.

We met with a Bedouin woman in Beersheba, from the Desert Star program, learning how she empowers women and girls in the community to get a better education.And we spent the first half of a day at ANU – Museum of the Jewish People, in Tel Aviv, walking through Jewish history and culture and taking turns guiding our peers through various exhibits and relating our personal Jewish narratives.

TO MY mind and clearly in the assessment of Birthright Israel, the weeklong program was a success. The organization is now recruiting to bring two larger cohorts of the Educators Forum to Israel in March, with a goal of training 140 trip leaders.

Throughout the trip, we never lost sight of the mission, or stopped considering how we will teach, guide, and share our knowledge and passion with our future Birthright Israel participants. I know that my new friends and colleagues who participated in the Educators Forum are up for the challenge.

We need to return to our campuses and communities and assure students and Jewish young adults that it is safe and important to come to Israel now!

Within the next few months, we will all return to Israel, leading trips and presenting the new and always evolving Israel to the thousands of Birthright Israel participants who will soon take advantage of the gift Birthright Israel provides.

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The Original Article is Published at JPost.com

Leah embraces the words of one of her many beloved rabbis and teachers who encourages people to “be where history is being written” – in Israel.

Leah Haziza came to Israel after high school for two very compelling reasons: “I felt very stuck in Greece – there was no way to get a significant Jewish education, and it was hard to meet Jews. And I came because my mother said to go!”

Her mother, Rebbetzin Shulamit Arar, knew a thing or two about Israel and leading a life committed to Jewish practice. She grew up in France to parents who left Romania for Paris before the Holocaust, then moved to the South of France. Haziza reports, “She was brought up in a Catholic boarding school. She always said that life started when people brought her to Bnei Akiva.”

Rebbetzin Arar made aliyah in 1960 to the religious Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu. She might have stayed in Israel her whole life had she not returned to visit family in France and met her future husband, Jacob Arar, a Greek rabbi in France at the time learning shechita (kosher ritual slaughter) and furthering his rabbinic training. They married, and Rabbi Arar went on to serve as chief rabbi of Athens for 46 years. They eventually made aliyah in 2011.

Leah Arar Haziza came to Israel earlier, making aliyah in 1987, inspired in large part by her mother.

“My mom always told me, ‘Greece is not our place.’”

A Greek national flag flutters as people visit a beach, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Athens, Greece, April 28, 2020. (credit: GORAN TOMASEVIC/REUTERS)

Moving to Israel, studying at university

Leah’s aliyah came one year after high school, and although she concedes that her dream had been to see the world, she notes in heartfelt fashion, “The truth is, the world was here, in Israel, and I get to meet them!”

Leah continued getting to know the world at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem through her studies in international relations, along with courses in economics and Italian.

She recalls the experience as “pretty challenging.” She notes, “I went to college and did a four-year course, so I had to stay!” A tip she offers to other young olim.

The program and the experience of living in Israel were not easy. “It took me two years until I felt I was not in Athens but Jerusalem.”

Her pre-university mechina (preparatory program) helped expand her social world and her familiarity with Israeli society and helped improve her Hebrew language skills. She met many Americans and was invited to work in the Tikvah Program (for campers with disabilities) at Camp Ramah in Massachusetts, an experience she still values.

During her time at Hebrew U, she got involved with Bnei Akiva, the Jewish youth movement that had such a big impact on her mother. She also learned additional languages (she speaks four and understands five or six). She stresses the importance of knowing languages but concedes it is not always easy.

“I cried taking notes in Hebrew my first year – but you get better.”

She also notes the importance of making friends outside the university to ease the process of integrating into Israeli society. She volunteered through Gadna (a short IDF program)and participated in Jewish Bnei Akiva learning programs.

Jewish learning has become a central part of Leah’s life in Israel. She reflects on the lack of Jewish learning opportunities growing up in Greece and is delighted with the opportunities available in Israel. She notes how fortunate she was to have met the revered Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, who told her, ‘If your level of Judaism stays like that of a child, people will want to leave Yiddishkeit.”

“Through learning texts,” she says, “my Hebrew has become significantly better.” She has learned in many places and attended many shiurim, which only makes her want to continue to learn more.

After eight years of living in Israel, Leah met her husband, Netanel “Nat” Haziza, an architect born in Montreal who moved to Toronto for eight years before making aliyah in 1996.

Nat has a great deal of experience in architectural design and consulting, creating elevation facades for buildings, landscape architecture, and residential and interior design.

Leah is proud of her husband’s work and enjoys walking around Jerusalem with a person who truly understands, knows, and appreciates architecture.

Nat initially came to Israel on a tourist visa which, at the time, permitted him to work and “test it out.” He reports, “I felt at home and never looked back.”

Nat feels that having a good base in the Hebrew language was useful. He continued to “build on the base through work and interactions.” He is proud of his ability to write fluently in Hebrew as well. Having relatives and family friends in Israel also contributed to a smooth aliyah process.

“I had hashkafa pratit [Divine providence] from the minute I got off the plane! I quickly found work and met Leah within four months of arriving,” he says. They have a daughter, Tiferet, who is almost six.

OVER THE years, Leah has had many meaningful jobs and volunteer opportunities in Israel, such as working for CAJE (Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education), the Joint (JDC), The Center for Business Ethics & Social Responsibility/Machon Lev (Jerusalem College of Technology ), Chidon Hatanach International Bible Competition, and Hadassah Hospital and Hadassah Academic College. She has also served for decades as a translator from Hebrew and English to Greek, and from Greek to Hebrew and English for the courts, embassies, Foreign Affairs Ministry, and various other government and educational institutions.

In recent years, Leah has been working on various art projects and devotes a lot of time to her daughter, and currently, to working with children relocated from the South.

Leah acknowledges that this past year has been difficult, noting “We are all in pain.”

Yet, she says, “I have started to fall in love again with the map of Israel and the people of Israel.”

She observes that every part of life has ups and downs and points out, “For anything substantial, you have to choose it every day.”

She stresses the importance of “knowing why you are here and what you are giving” and reminds people that the Hebrew word kasheh (“difficult”) is “not a bad word.”

Leah feels that living in Israel has become easier over the years. Those considering aliyah have the benefit of better communication (including WhatsApp to stay in touch with family abroad), and such organizations as Nefesh B’Nefesh to assist in the aliyah process.

She notes playfully that these days, a person can “live in Israel without a word of Hebrew.” However, she encourages those considering aliyah to “invest in Hebrew, Jewish history, and emotional maturity.”

Leah embraces the words of one of her many beloved rabbis and teachers who encourages people to “be where history is being written” – in Israel.

She loves living here, stressing that “there is beauty everywhere” and that it “forces you to think about your relationship with Hashem.” ■

Leah Haziza From Athens to Jerusalem, 1987

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The Original Article is Published at JPost.com

With her new book, Adeena Sussman has made the special taste and excitement of Shabbat accessible to everyone, whatever their level of observance or lack thereof.

Prolific cookbook writer, recipe and product developer, and Tel Aviv resident Adeena Sussman is particularly suited to bringing the essence of Shabbat to an audience beyond the traditionally observant – to those simply looking for a day of rest and relaxation accompanied by great food.

Sussman’s latest cookbook, Shabbat: Recipes and Rituals from My Table to Yours, offers recipes, ideas for entertaining on Shabbat, and explanations and tidbits for readers of all backgrounds who have one thing in common: a willingness to put in time and effort to create beautiful, freshly made breads, soups, salads, main courses, and desserts for the day of rest.

The Shabbat cookbook follows the success of her acclaimed Sababa: Fresh Sunny Flavors from My Israeli Kitchen. Sussman has authored or co-authored 15 cookbooks, including one with American model and TV personality Chrissy Teigen. Three have also been New York Times bestsellers.

Growing up in her family’s observant Palo Alto, California, home, Sussman looked forward to Shabbat each week. She would watch her working mother, Steffi, jot down menus on recycled scraps of paper throughout the week and rise early to start the Shabbat cooking process on Wednesdays.

She learned her first kitchen hack from her mother – cutting brown paper bags into makeshift parchment paper. During those years, kosher products weren’t readily available in that part of the United States, so her family would pick up kosher meat delivered to a local synagogue once a month and keep it stocked in a freezer in their garage.

Shabbat (Illustrative). (credit: MENDY HECHTMAN/FLASH90)

In the book’s introduction, Sussman writes, “Shabbat is the North Star of my kitchen identity; after all, it’s been a central part of my whole life.” The family came together to observe Shabbat, relax, unwind, socialize, and eat. Today, no longer fully Sabbath observant, she concedes that “it took almost leaving Shabbat cooking behind to realize how much I actually needed this respite. Shabbat is a weekly opportunity to slow down, chill out, and feast along the way.”

Sussman’s personal journey and years living in Israel help inspire her recipes, which offer innovative twists on familiar Shabbat dishes, ranging from soups such as dushpara, (Uzbecki-Jewish dumpling soup), to kugels and stews (Ashkenazi cholent and cauliflower hamin), to brunch and cocktail options for secular Israelis getting together with family and friends.

She describes the Friday rituals in her childhood home, which included dressing in special Shabbat clothes, attending synagogue, and a series of pre-meal blessings. She offers tips (it is best to knead challah by hand), weaves in explanations for why there are traditionally two challot on the Shabbat table, and offers recipes for five types of challah, jachnun (rolled Yemenite Shabbat bread), and dabo (Ethiopian Shabbat bread).

Sussman intersperses her recipes with stories, as well as tributes to friends and colleagues. When introducing her jachnun recipe, she recounts how her friend Merav Tzanani Perez, “known as Tamati at the coffee shop her husband Miki named after her,” would come home from clubbing late Friday nights and be tempted by the aroma of jachnun slow-baking in the oven. Café Tamati, near Shuk HaCarmel, is just around the corner from Sussman’s home, where she loves to meet friends and hold meetings.

She introduces her Ultimate Egg Salad recipe (which can be prepared with raw or caramelized onions – “I’m firmly team caramelized,” writes Sussman) by recounting the history of egg salad as shared by her friend, the late food historian Gil Marks. She quotes him, noting that “egg salad is a Shabbat staple food” dating back to 11th-century Franco-German Jews.

WHEN SUSSMAN suggests that cooks keep “a few staples” in their kitchen, she refers to amba, harissa, tahini sauce, labneh, pomegranate molasses, preserved lemons and preserved lemon paste, schug, and za’atar spice blend. Having these staples on hand makes it easier to follow the recipes in her “Appetizers, Dips, and Salatim” chapter, which includes Moroccan Carrot Salad; Cauliflower and Green Bean Masabacha; and Lachmagine (chewy-crispy Syrian flatbreads).

The section on kugels includes recipes for Colorful Vegetable Kugel; Caramel Apple Noodle Kugel Ring; and an explanatory note about Yapchik, a potato kugel studded with beef flanken and cooked for hours in a low-temperature oven.

Following recipes for a Shabbat dinner

In preparation for a recent family Shabbat dinner, we followed a few recipes from Shabbat: Recipes and Rituals from My Table to Yours, using its beautiful photos as a guide. Shredding the two types of cabbage needed for the Crunchy Slaw with Chickpeas and Creamy Sesame Dressing was time-consuming, but the results were as colorful as the picture in the cookbook, delightfully crisp, and refreshingly tasty.

Although we substituted the pargiot (chicken thighs) with chicken breast based on our family preference, we closely followed the recipe for Baghdadi Chicken Curry with sweet and nutty rice. The spices were perfectly balanced, and the cashews and apricots added a unique and flavorful touch.

For dessert, the Apricot Tahini Shortbread Bars were subtly sweet with a robust tahini flavor. We chose apricot preserve, suggested as an alternative, over fresh apricots or plums, unavailable in Israel in the winter months. In general, we chose recipes based on the availability of ingredients and look forward to trying the Lime-Coconut Custard Pie and the Pear and Cherry Phyllo Strudel when those fruits are in season.

Sussman’s recipes require some advanced planning and a fair amount of time to prepare. The dishes are well worth the effort – creative, well balanced, and delicious. 

With her new book, Sussman has made the special taste and excitement of Shabbat accessible to everyone, whatever their level of observance or lack thereof. Hosts and guests alike can look forward to many tasty and inspiring days of rest.  

  • SHABBAT: RECIPES AND RITUALS FROM MY TABLE TO YOURS
  • By Adeena Sussman 
  • Penguin Random House
  • 384 pages; $23
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The Original Article is Published at JNS.org

“The Jewish community was a huge support—with Israeli flags (some bearing the slogan ‘Bring the Hostages Back’).”

When Israeli wheelchair tennis player Guy Sasson boarded a plane from Houston to Israel on Oct. 7, he had no way of knowing what the next three months would have in store for himself or for his homeland.

Sasson was set to change planes in Istanbul but the flight to Israel was canceled and he was sent back to Houston, where he and his family are currently residing for his wife’s specialist medical training.

He has spent these last few months deeply immersed in three worlds that are dear to him—tennis, Israel and family. Sasson, the #33 ranked tennis player in the world for singles in the quads wheelchair division, made it to the finals in both singles and doubles of the recent Australian Open Grand Slam. He was one of two Israelis representing Israel at the Australian Open (Mika Buchnik lost in the second round of the junior girls’ tournament).

Sasson, the owner of IsraMich (real estate) investments in Israel, is a very actively involved parent and with his wife helps manage the complex lives of four children. In addition, he helped arrange for fellow top Israeli wheelchair tennis player Adam Berdichevsky and his family from an Israeli community near the Gaza Strip to relocate temporarily to Houston.

Unlike many tennis players, Sasson never intended to play tennis professionally. He grew up non-disabled in Ramat Gan, served in the Israel Defense Forces, attended the University of Michigan, married Aya Mohr (now Dr. Aya Mohr-Sasson) and started several businesses. He became a wheelchair user in 2015 after falling off a cliff while snowboarding in France.

Sasson has come a long way since this harrowing ordeal, when after his accident his future was uncertain at best. He recounts: “They flew me to Tel Hashomer Hospital in Israel, I had major surgery on my spine and hand, and the doctors told me I won’t walk again. It turns out, I was in a rehab hospital at Tel Hashomer for one year and did walk out—with braces and canes.

He was keen to keep active and contacted the Israel ParaSport Center in Ramat Gan. After seeing the tennis facilities and learning that Ofri Lankri, a professional tennis player who played on Israel’s 2014 Fed Cup team, would be serving as coach, Sasson, who played tennis when he was a child, became interested. He started slowly and without sharing the news with others. “At first, I didn’t tell anyone—not even my wife.”

Sasson progressed quickly, began competing professionally, and represented Israel in the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021. He was recently reclassified from the open to the quads wheelchair division due to some changes in his upper body functioning. He competed in this summer’s U.S. Open in New York where he was ranked #7 and reached the quarterfinals in both singles and doubles.

Jennifer Flink, national executive director of the Israel ParaSport Center, U.S., watched Sasson at the U.S. Open this summer and says, “Watching Guy Sasson play tennis at one of the largest events in the world was exhilarating.” She recognizes the important work she and her colleagues have in store given the numbers of newly wounded and disabled from the current war. 

“At Israel ParaSport, sport is more than just a game. It empowers children and adults living with physical disabilities to succeed in all aspects of life. Not all become champions, but all become champions in life. And if the result is a world-class wheelchair tennis player like Guy, then that is the icing on the cake,” Flink notes.

Guy Sasson plays Sam Schroder (not seen) of the Netherlands at the Australian Open, Jan. 27, 2024. Photo by Josh Chadwick/Tennis Australia.

Kicked off in Australia

Sasson says that the current professional tennis season, which kicked off in Australia, got off to a great start. He won the Victorian Wheelchair Open for singles (Jan. 8-12), he won the doubles of the Melbourne Wheelchair Open (Jan 14-19) and he reached the finals in the Australian Open for both singles and doubles (Jan. 23-27). 

He admits that he was a bit worried about how he would hold up away from home for so long. “I am usually gone for no more than 10 or 11 days. It is hard to be away from family and it is physically and mentally hard.” 

His hard work, coupled with support from many Jewish and Israeli fans, contributed to his success in Australia. “They supported me at all Grand Slam matches and even at all of my practices. They came in the hundreds and there were 1,000 people from the Jewish community at the finals! They were a huge support—with Israeli flags (some bearing the slogan ‘Bring the Hostages Back’) and shouting in Hebrew.”

Sasson was impressed that his playing in the tournament seemed to provide a forum for the Jewish community to come together in support of Israel. “This sports event was an occasion for a big coming together—even for people who were not tennis fans! That is the power of sports!

“The players were really surprised at the number of people who came out from the Jewish community to support a wheelchair tennis player.” [At the U.S. Open, only a handful of fans came to watch any of the wheelchair tennis matches.]

Sasson has not experienced any anti-Israel sentiment on the tennis tour. “I haven’t heard any negative comments about being Israeli or displaying ‘Bring Back the Hostages’ slogans.

Houston, Texas

Both during his world travels and at home in Houston, he remains very connected to events in Israel. Most of his family members live in Israel, and Sasson’s brother spent two months in the IDF reserves in Gaza.

Sasson worked hard to help bring his close friend and fellow Israel wheelchair tennis player Adam Berdichevsky to Houston. Berdichevsky is a member of Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, one of the communities near Gaza, which was assaulted by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. Six members of the kibbutz and an IDF soldier were killed and eight hostages were taken captive on the day of the attack.

Berdichevsky, his wife and three young children spent many hours in a safe room and survived. Sasson and Israel Sports Center helped get the family to Houston where they live in an apartment near the Sassons.

“The Jewish community hugged them. They have welcomed them and want to hear their stories. They have invited them for Shabbat dinner, helped raise money for a car and place to stay and helped the kids with school,” reports Sasson, who regularly practices with Berdichevsky at the Houston JCC’s outdoor and indoor tennis courts.

The Sassons appreciate the love and support they have received from the Houston Jewish community, where they are spending several years during Mohr-Sasson’s gynecology fellowship program at the University of Texas Health Center in Houston. Their children—ages 5, 8, 11 and 13—are settled in at school.

Sasson wakes at 3 each morning to work with his real-estate team in Israel. He also follows a strict training regimen, which seems to be paying off, and continues to seek sponsors to support his worldwide tennis travels. He hopes to play in upcoming tournaments in the U.S., South Korea and Japan.

But this all depends on family matters being in order. He notes sadly, “Our au pair just quit!”

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