May 31. 2013 Visit with Alan Zeffren

We had a very nice day wit Alan Zeffren, a old high school friend from University Senior High in University City, Missouri where I grew up. Alan moved to Israel 40 years ago after getting a Ms from Yale in Classics. He then decided he would be most happy in Israel rather as a high school teacher than a professor in The Us. He and his wonderful wife Nomi live in Ashkelon on the coast only 8 miles from Gaza. he is retired now but does volunteer work teaching seniors English and helping high school students improve their English so they can get into an University here ( this is the big stumbling block for students as the Universities using English exam results  as a main criterion for admission. Alan has an excellent grasp of the political and foreign issues here and it is a pleasure to talk and learn from him. He also studies Talmud with a group. He walked around and had lunch at Rimon on the fabulous Mamilla mall( because of the sculpture art not the high shops) , which has a wonderful vegetarian buffet. We got him on the light rail train going down the main street Jaffa now pedestrian only for his first time.