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On December 7, a date which Frank Roosevelt said would live in infamy, 50 MOOP members set out for an excursion to the Shomron.

Remarkably, all of them, as well as the Shomron, survived intact, and without international incident.

For the uninitiated, MOOP is an acronym that I coined for Modi’in Organization of Old People.  They actually refer to themselves as Modi’in Seniors, but MS sounds like a disease and the term “seniors” summons to my mind echoes of high school.  The absolute last image that should arise when picturing this assemblage of septuagenarians is high school.  Except for the fact that all of us are on medication also.

Anyway, I hadn’t been to the Shomron in quite a long time and I always look forward to listening in on the scintillating MOOP bus conversation as to when the next bathroom stop will be, so we signed on.  My wife bought (and hid from me, as is her wont) snacks to share on the bus, as well as her signature MOOP excursion specialty, which has won her a loyal following among MOOP women: two rolls of toilet paper, which she graciously shares as they line up outside the ladies room of the moment.

We met at 8:00 a.m. in the municipal parking lot across from the Modi’in Cultural Center (and across from English Cake, which opens at 6:30 and, as every MOOP knows, has toilet facilities as well as coffee and pastries).

Everyone was early, which is the beauty of arranging trips for old people.  If we are not early, you may assume that we have died, and the bus can leave on schedule either way.

I expected to have a relatively unremarkable day, to see a sight or two, and to come back wondering what induced so many foolhardy people to live in what a respected and clever friend facetiously referred to as “injun country” when she heard where I was going.

What I did not expect was to have a beautiful and meaningful experience so powerful that it  recharged my Zionist batteries that had been steadily losing strength under the onslaught of daily life in Israel and all the political bickering.........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)