More Holidays

It has definitely been an experience to be in Israel during the high holidays. For Yom Kippur, Jordana and I went with the Schwartz’s to a reform synagogue that is within walking distance from their house. It is actually illegal to drive in Israel on Yom Kippur, so after Kol Nidre everyone goes out and walks up and down the main street. I walked with David and it was quite a sight. Almost everyone is dressed in white, there are groups of teenagers and families pushing strollers. Many people on bikes who seem to swerve at the very last second to avoid crashing into you. Hannah described it as a street fair except with no fair…and everyone is fasting. It was also amazing how many people packed into the synagogue for kol nidre and then for the last service before break fast. They were spilling out of the doors. Hannah and David were hosting the breakfast so about 50 people showed up at various times after we got back from services. It was a lot of fun and the food was delicious.

On Friday we headed to Jerusalem and met up with Jill and Jeff there. We stayed in Lynn and Lee’s extra apartment which worked out really well. They had us over in their apartment for Friday night dinner which was amazing. We spent Saturday walking around the new city and then hit Ben Yehuda street Saturday night. Jeff runs into someone he knows every hour or so in Jerusalem, but I actually ran into some people from Ulpan on Sunday. Sunday we did the Cardo and Miriam met us for dinner in the German Colony! Miriam and I went to camp together back in the day and it was great to catch up with her again. She’s at Hebrew U for the year.

After the J-ru trip we had one day back in Haifa and then it was off to the South with the International School for some Dead Sea, Masada, and hiking. We took the short way to walk up Masada and then the long way down. Floating in the Dead Sea was fun as always, and not nearly as cold as when I was there with my family in December. We spent the night in a gigantic tent at a campsite in the middle of the dessert. It was amazing to wake up and realize we were surrounded by sand dunes. And there were Levi and his wife Illana doing the blessings for sukkot (holiday which closely follows Yom Kippur) with their lulavs and etrogs while looking off into the dunes. We did a 6 hour hike that day near Ein Geddi. A lot of it was through a stream with intermittent breaks for swimming in pools. It was very beautiful and made me think of what walking through the bottom of the Grand Canyon might be like. The Grand Canyon is probably bigger though.

We got back to Haifa late Thursday night and then Jordana and I left for Tel-Aviv Friday morning. We stayed in a very cute hotel right next to the beach. Friday we just walked through the craft fair off magen David square and down Shenken street a bit. I bought new flip flops to replace ones that broke in Jerusalem. We ran into Colette and Lital, two girls from Haifa. I am getting used to running into people in Israel all the time. I’ve almost come to expect it. Jordana and I went for a great run along the boardwalk as the sun was setting, and then met my friend Lerone for dinner at a sushi place. Lerone is my good friend from home Avi’s older sister. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I had seen her so it was great to catch up. She says her dad is coming to visit in December and those of you who know Mr. Lessner will understand how excited this made me, I hope I get to see him when he visits! We ended our first night having tropical drinks at a restaurant right on the beach. Saturday we spent the morning at the beach doing some homework and reading and then moved up to the balcony on our hotel when it got too windy. We went for another run and met Jeff for pizza and then got milkshakes on the beach. Sunday we walked to Old Jaffa and checked out the flea market there. Then took the very crowded train back to Haifa.

That night we met up with Laura, Hannah and others at the Haifa film festival which happens during sukkot. We saw the documentary “Praying with Lior.” It’s about a boy with down syndrome preparing for his bar mitzvah. It was very well done.

This week we finally start class again although I don’t have any real classes besides Hebrew until next week. I am excited to be starting a normal schedule!

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