Gollar: After our wedding and the Shabbat Khatan, I suggested we go to Israel for our honeymoon, as I hadn’t seen my father-in-law for two years, and Sasson missed his family too. On the way to Israel, we stopped for a “real” honeymoon in Rome and Athens to see the historical places — because I was crazy about history — and on the way back we went to Istanbul.
From the way, Sasson sent telegrams to his father, saying that we’re arriving on a specific day. On the flight Sasson said: “You’ll see, the whole family, 100 people, will come to welcome us in the airport!” But when we finally arrived, there was no one there! We only knew they lived in Kadima, so we took a taxi to Kadima. Poor Sasson was so ashamed, upset and angry, and we didn’t even know which street they lived on! It took a while for us to find them. When we finally did, we saw nothing was prepared. We saw painters painting the rooms!
What happened? Five-year-old Yolanda received the telegrams, put them in a drawer, and forgot to tell her father. They hired painters to make the apartment nice for the bride and groom who were coming, but didn’t know exactly when to expect us.
After the initial shock and frustration, we could finally laugh about the whole thing. We had a marvelous time with Sasson’s family, and then went home via Istanbul, which was Sasson’s wish. We went to two places of my choice on the way to Israel, and one place of his choice on the way back. Israel was, of course, a joint decision.