Short & Sweet

My cousin and I!



so cute!

I went to visit my family for shabbat dinner. I only stayed for a few hours and then spent the rest of the weekend with my friends!

Weekend in Tel-Aviv

 

Benjamin Netanyahu

 So this past Thursday my section and basically all of year course went to Jerusalem for the 100th celebration of Hasdassah. We got there at like 3 in the afternoon and stood around not knowing what to do for a few hours...typical year course. But anyways so once the whole event started, we ate....& the food was absolutely AMAZING! They had so many options...it was the best. After we all ate and everything we went to a different place and heard a bunch of people talk, including the prime minister of Israel. That was pretty cool. The event finished at like 8:30pm and we took a bus to Bat Yam, which is near Tel-Aviv.


Rooftop view of Tel-Aviv from the Carlton Hotel

I stayed with a friend that night & the next day we went to the shuk..which is a market. Everything was so cheap! It was fun just walking around. Oh & I ran into someone in the city who knows my rabbi and a bunch of people I know! Not going to lie, but it actually made my day. It was the funniest thing ever considering that never happens..well because I live in Alabama. So basically we spent the day walking around to different shuks. Later that day, I went to the Carlton hotel in Tel-Aviv and stayed there with like 10 people. The reason why we went was because my friend Rachel's grandmother came to Israel for a long weekend so she insisted on getting a hotel for all of Rachel's friends. She also payed for everyones dinner, drinks, and dessert. It was very nice of her to do that! It was such an interesting experience though. haha The next day we all went to breakfast and her grandmother payed for all of us again. It was also an expensive breakfast. It was 120 sheks per person meaning 30 dollars per person! Afterwards, everyone went back to the room and slept or left to go back to their apartments. Instead, I went to the pool and the beach. By the end of the day it was just me and three others. We went to eat sushi and then back to the hotel. Rachel left to have dinner with her grandmother, so then it was just me and two others. We ended up watching movies and staying another night at the hotel, which was so relaxing! Overall, it was a pretty grand weekend!
                      
          

Dancing with the Torah

This past weekend was Simchat Torah. This is supposed to be one of the happiest days of the year because you drink and dance with the torah. For this, I went to Tsfat which is one of the holiest cities in Israel. Tsfat is a very artsy and orthodox city...& it is also beautiful!

I went there with my program. We left early Sunday morning and stayed in a hotel for the night. When we got to the hotel, we had refreshments and a chance to Shake the Lulav for the last time. We had some free time after, so we decided to walk around the city for about 30 minutes. It was actually very chilly, which felt nice.


After this, we had orientations and lectures....which were not that interesting. We also lit the candles, had a mincha service, kiddush and more refreshments. After all of that, we went to a different building and started dancing with the torahs Hakafot/Hasidic style. We all had to wear long skirts and shirts that covered our elbows, which was annoying because it got really hot. It was still really fun! We danced with the torahs for about an hour and a half and finally went to dinner. They had so much food, it was crazy! They passed out a lot of wine, beer, and vodka as well. After the meal, we went back to the other building and danced some more for a few hours. We had the option to go to lectures with the Rabbi, Farbrengen, or just have free time. I was so tired, so I decided to go to sleep.  The next morning we slept in and of course I wasn't feeling well, but I just got ready for the day anyways. We went to the other buliding again and danced again. They passed out more wine, beer, and vodka. I did not really have any energy so I sat and watched for a little bit. I missed breakfast, so I was also hungry. After dancing all morning, we had a torah reading and service for an hour. When we finished we finally ate lunch...I was starving. After lunch, we had some free time and then more lectures and workshops. I went to the "Bringing Spirituality Down to Earth" workshop. I felt like it lasted forever and the rabbi would never stop talking. When it was finally over, we had a tour of Tsfat. It's such a beautiful city. I started feeling sick again and started getting a fever, so the second we got back to the hotel I went to sleep. I felt bad for missing all the activites that were going on, but I could not handle it. I slept for a good hour and felt much better afterwards, but not great. When I woke up it was dinner time, so I ate a very light meal, went to my room and packed. We left the hotel around 9pm and went to another area in Tsfat. We danced and danced on Jerusalem Street. The women and men were separated since it was orthodox...same as the night before. It was a really good experience because I had never done anything like this before. I'm very happy that I was able to experience this in Israel. I always have celebrated Simchat Torah, but not like that. I usually celebrated by going to synagogue and having dinner. I won't ever forget this experience.

                            

This had to be on my blog.

Ale is my madricha and no one likes her. & she's so indimidating. In case you did not know, a madricha is a female counselor. She lives with us at Yemin Orde...we try to avoid her at all times.

Night Life

Every Thursday, we are off for the weekend. Usually I go visit family, but this time I stayed with my friends. We decided at the last minute to go to Haifa for a few hours. When we got there, it was around 9pm so I thought things would be closed, but I was wrong. There were thousands of people there and many different events going on. There were mini concerts and acrobat people all over the place. It was crazy!

 

Everyone was just walking around or eating dinner. It was pretty overwelming I must say. I went with about seven other friends. We ended up splitting up and going to different restaurants, but at the end we met up again. We left around 1 or 2 in the morning and the streets were still insanely crowded. We took a bus back to Yemin Orde. The second we got back, I was exhausted so I just crashed in my bed. Overall, it was a pretty fun night!

Basketball Games & Beach Days in Haifa

After being stuck in Yemin Orde for a few days, the village decided to plan a night trip to a basketball game in Haifa. I'm not really a big fan of basketball, but it was still fun to get out and actually go somewhere. We sat at the top and ate popcorn and nachos...which were gross.

Rachel (my roommate) & I

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The next day after our volunteering shift, our whole group went to the beach for the afternoon. This was a big surprise because our madricha paid for the cab ride there and actually planned this for us. She didn't go with us, which was good because no one likes her....but it was a fun and relaxing afternoon. The water was warm, so it felt so nice. I kept feeling things touching me, so I decided to get out of the water and just hang out with friends.

Stephanie, Rachel G. & I

We also got to watch the sunset, which was beautiful.