From the Kibbutz to Yom Kippur

Shalom L'Kulam!

Since we last talked much has happend.

The weekend after my last post I spent a Shabbat at Kibbutz Hannaton in the Galilie region up north. Before we got there we stopped in the Daylat al Karmel...a Druze village outside Haifa. They had some nice shops and stuff. After that we went the Kibbutz, checked in and chilled for a while. Ryan and I explored the area, we saw what we thought was the sea of Galilie/Kinneret but it was actually a reservoir. We then went back and had Kabbalat Shabbat services at the Kibbutz's Shul. It was the first egalitarian minyan I had been to in Israel so it felt like home, since that's what I was used to. After that we had dinner...a lot of this remined me of Hillel, so I started to reminisce. Anyway, I realized that it was 23 Elul which meant it was my Hebrew Birthday so I got an Aliyah the next day at services in the morning.

After dinner we had a talk about Rosh Hashanah to get us ready for the holiday and then sat around and played mind games for a while and went to bed. In the morning we had services, lunch, and then we got a tour of the Kibbutz. On the tour we got to see how they milk cows! I'd never seen that before, so it was interesting. All the cows line up by individual machines and then the milk things are comupterized to take the milk from them and it goes into a bottle below which is taken away and sent off. Later on we had dinner, Mincha, Maariv, and Havdalah. It reminded me of my last Shabbat at UMass and I started to miss it. However, Israel continues to be awesome.

Later that week we had a read through of Annie, and he still hasn't picked the parts.

Then on Thursday it was my 22nd birthday! I had people over and we had Pizza and cake. Thanks everyone for coming :) It was a great birthday! I sang Master of the House for the umteenth time. Oy, I need a new song. After the party died down, a few of us stayed and discussed religion and politics, one always seems to lead to the other. It was all in all a great birthday and a great way to end 5769.

The next day, Ryan and I left for Efrat for Rosh Hashanah at my Cousin's. It was nice weekend. We davened (prayed) at Chabad and then came back for dinner at my cousins's. Afterwhich, I played some basketball with Ryan, Asher, and David while Steak the dog watched. The next day we went to Chabad again, had lunch and then chilled at the house for the afternoon. Then we davened at Chabad and had dinner which was a quiet one since some of my cousins and their friends went to dinner elsewhere. Ryan and and I then played Set, a card game, with Shmuel. The next day, Went to Chabad, this time we heard the Shofar since it wasn't Shabbat. In the afternoon, we had lunch and then went to an old aquaduct in Efrat for Tashlich, a ceremony where you cast away your sins into water. After that, we and played football and soccer and then we rested and went back to Jerusalem.

I must say that Efrat is such a nice town. It's a quiet place where everyone knows everyone...kind of like small town america. Everyone you pass says "Shanah Tovah." It really has the feeling of a community.

Then...the week from hell began... THE END OF ULPAN!!!! The first day we talked about the fact that we also have an oral exam on top of our final exam. We all got nervous...we had to read 3 texts, study it and then be able to answer questions about it in Hebrew.

In the meantime, That afternoon we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museam. It was my second time. Despite the fact that I heard the stories throughout my life, it's important to hear more so that we can pass the story of the Holocaust on to future generations so it's never forgotten and it never happens again. When genocide does happen again, like in Darfur, it is equally important to stop it in its tracks.

I was struck while standing in front of an Auchwitz-Birkenau bed, about the fact that 3 people were in the bed and they were so close together that if one turned the other had to turn which would wake everyone up. In addition, they didn't get much sleep anyway since they were woken up at 4 am.

At the end of the tour, we walked outside and saw Jerusalem in the distance. It was fullfiling, seeing the fact that now Jews have a homeland and never again will we have to deal with the horrors of the Holocaust, despite what the pseudo-President I'm a dinnah Jacket of Iran has to say. Am Yisrael Chai! The nation of Israel lives!

That night, I went to dinner with Alma and Eric and then went to Beit Midrash...a study session with a partner about Judaism. For the past few weeks we've been reading "Gateway to Happiness"...It talks a lot about controlling your thoughts to think more optimistically. It's a really nice one-on-one talk for an hour, and puts me in a good mood at the beggining of the week.

Then in Ulpan it was crunch time before the final...we rushed to the end of the book and reviwed. Tuesday afternoon, did Taschlich again in the Herbew U Botanical Gardens. Afterwhich I got in a deep philisophical discussion with Ria, John, and Kyle, mainly about the messiah. Interestingly enough, I was the only person there who believes that messiah has not come yet. Anyway, we left Kyle off at his place and continued the conversation as we walked to the Kfar, where Devorah joined us and we kept talking Moshiach (Messiah), we then went to John's room where we talked for a few hours about the world and what our purpose in it is. Then it was 6 and we hadn't started studying for the oral exam, which was the next day. So, we studied all night. I read and then Devorah, who is in Gimel (Level 3) asked John and I questions about the texts, which helped a lot.

The next day we had the exam, which was easier than I thought, the asked me a couple questions after I picked 2 out of the 3 stories I studied out of a hat. After all that, we had a party where we sang songs played 1 truth and 1 lie. I sang Master of the House again. Although, it was the first time I said "welcome Madame"... my Teacher was my guest.

That night I went to a soup place with John and some others to study for the exam...it was a really chill place with good soup. It helped a lot for the exam, I learn better talking with people than alone I've been realizing.

Then we had the exam, I wrote a story about Shabbat and the exam took 2 hours and wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. and then... I WAS DONE WITH ULPAN!!!! I was so happy, and soooooo tired. I went back to my room and all of our roommates were talking about it and we were so tired we forgot how to speak English, what a day. It was sad though that day as well, Jenny moved out :( She moved into a new apartment, she will be missed, but will be down the street, so we can still hang out.

That night we had a bonfire to celebrate the end of Ulpan! Afterwards, Eric, Ryan, and I went to his place and planned our trip to EGYPT!!!! It looks like it's going to be a lot of fun.

The next day Ryan and I went to Tzfat, to visit some other cousin's of mine. They live in the old city, which was cool, I felt like I went back in time. my cousin Meir is a cantor at a Carlebach minyan, which is shul with dancing and singing! Very spiritual! The next day he took us around the city and explained all of the rich history! At night, went to havdalah, where Meir played his guitar while we danced in the new week. Hannah also found some family pictures which was a nice way to look back and connect the family.

Then we went back to Jerusalem for Yom Kippur. I went to the Student Center for the pre fast meal and the to the Regency Hotel for Kol Nidre. In the morning, Ryan and I went to a nearby conservative synagogue for services, since I wanted something familiar on the holiest day of the year. Avigail, the UMass Hillel Israel fellow from my sophmore year was davening there as well, which was another Random Israel meeting!

Went back later for Mincha and Neliah and broke the fast at Ryan's.

Today, planned more for Egypt/Jordan...and tommorow we're off to Tel Aviv for visas.

That's all for now...L'hitraot!